THE FURTHER CORRESPONDENCES OF MARC SUSSELMAN PART 16
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20 December 2023
MS said:
Bill Maher gets it right. Bravo!
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KP-CRXROorw"
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MS said:
"It was a wise man who said that there is no greater inequality than the equal treatment of unequals."Felix Frankfurter (dissenting in Dennis v. United States, 339 U.S. 162 (1950))
Eric has cited a resolution which Sen. Sanders has indicated he will be introducing condemning Israel’s military action in Gaza and comparing it to the Allied bombing of Dresden during WWII, which has been regarded as an atrocity. Sen. Sanders is not one of those wise men who recognizes the inequity of comparing unequals. The people of Dresden did not start WWII. I do not know that there are data indicating how many of Dresden’s residents belonged to the Nazi Party, or who supported Hitler. Terrorists from Dresden did not invade the United States and massacre American civilians, rape women, and decapitate babies. There is no evidence that the bombing of Dresden was necessary in order to destroy tunnels which were being used by a faction of people in Dresden to kill American soldiers, or to launch rockets into the United States, France or England. Comparing Israel’s bombing of Gaza to destroy tunnels, schools and hospitals which Hamas has been using to launch its rockets against Israel and to hide munitions and weapons to the bombing of Dresden is a comparison of unequals and spurious.
If one picks up one end of a stick, one picks up the other end as well. Commenters on Wolff’s blog are fond of holding the U.S. responsible for all sorts of consequences of its decisions, e.g., the election of George W. Bush, who launched a senseless war against Iraq based on false intelligence that it was harboring weapons of mass destruction. Since he was our elected President, we are all responsible. Hamas was elected by the Palestinians living in Gaza, which they preferred over the less militant Fatah. On October 7, 2023, elements of their elected government invaded Israel, massacred 1,400 Israeli civilians; raped Israeli women; and beheaded Israeli infants. The Palestinians picked up one end of a stick by electing Hamas; they also picked up the other end of the stick.
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MS said:
Typical. You note a technical numerical error, but say nothing about the specious comparison between the bombing of Dresden and Israel’s bombing of Gaza in order to flush out murderous Hamas terrorists who killed 1,150 Israeli civilians, and 200 IDF soldiers, in a sneak attack, which also included raping women, beheading infants, and abducting some 200 hostages.
Watch Bill Maher’s analysis. Superb and accurate.
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[Jesting, S.Wallerstein posted on Dr. Wolff's website that Wallerstein and Professor Zimmerman could represent the Jewish people, and that those who insult either man could be deemed antisemitic.]
MS said:
Wallerstein, this is more of your bull-shit. I have never claimed that Israel has the right to speak for Jews; nor have I claimed that criticism of Israels equates to anti-Semitism. It does not. I have frequently criticized Israel’s policies, particularly their plans to expand the settlements. I have told my Jewish relatives and friends that I believe Netanyahu is the worst prime minister Israel has ever had, and that he squandered opportunities to open new peace negotiations with the Palestinians.
My criticism of you and Zimmerman derives from your disregard of the history of the founding of Israel and the Palestinian opposition to the creation of a Jewish state; their persistent refusal to recognize the right of Israel to exist; their refusal to agree to an end of hostilities and their scuttling of every attempt to make peace by insisting on the right of return; your erroneous use of the word “occupation” and your fallacous claim that Israel is engaging in “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza. Bill Maher, who is not Jewish, has a better understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict than you or Zimmerman.
None of this has to do with any claim by me that Israel speaks for all Jews, including you, Zimmerman, Wolff, or me. You have flagrantly misrepresented my views on Wolff’s blog, and I resent it.
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MS said:
I have a difficult time taking seriously a jerk who does not know how to spell “wrath” and who knows absolutely nothing about why Spinoza was excommunicated by the rabbis of Amsterdam. And Zionism is a “fascist and racist regime”!!! The desire of Jews, who have been persecuted, forced into conversions, tortured, burned at the stake, exiled for centuries, to have a country in which they are a majority and can defend themselves from such atrocities – that makes them fascists? So, then, are the Italians, the French, the British, the Chileans, the Algerians, the Tunisians, the Nigerians, the Chinese, the Finns, and on and on, who all want to have a country of their own in which they are the majority, they are all fascists. What a moron.
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MS said:
Once more, Wolff displays his ignorance about the law and the United States Constitution. The Supreme Court will reverse the decision of the Colorado Supreme Court not because it will “hypocritically” disregard the doctrine of strict constructionism, but because under the Constitution only the federal courts may decide who can qualify to run for federal office in a state. The Supreme Court of Colorado could hold that a candidate for Colorado state office could be barred from running for state office in Colorado, but it did not have jurisdiction under the Constitution to determine whether a candidate for national office had a right under the 14th Amendment to be on the ballot in Colorado. Nor did it have jurisdiction to determine that Trump’s conduct on January 4th constituted incitement to an insurrection under Sec. 3 of the 14th Amendment. The Supreme Court will reverse the decision of the Colorado Supreme Court, and it will not do so because Trump nominated three of them to the Court, or because the Court will have hypocritically ignored the strict construction doctrine. It will do so because the Colorado Supreme Court exceeded its authority under the Constitution.
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21 December 2023
MS said:
wallerstein finally wrote something sensible about U.S. law. Correct, under the 14th Amendment, government may not deprive a person of life, liberty or property without due process of law. Colorado’s decision that Trump may not appear on the ballot in Colorado to run for President deprives Trump of liberty – his right to run for President - without due process. He has never been tried or convicted of fomenting the January 6th insurrection. The Colorado Supreme Court is claiming that he had due process in the course of defending himself in the proceeding before it. But the lawsuit to keep him off the ballot was filed by a number of citizens of Colorado. They did not have standing under the 14th Amendment to contest Trump’s right to run for President in Colorado.
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MS said:
There is an even more serious problem with the decision of the Colorado Supreme Court than what I have stated in my prior email. Sec. 5 of the Amendment states, “The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.”
Private citizens who believe that a state government has violated their rights under the 14th Amendment, e.g., confiscating their property without due process, are authorized to sue the government pursuant to 42 U.S.C.. § 1983. Congress has never enacted legislation authorizing enforcement of Sec. 3 of the Amendment. Without such legislation, no person or government has authority to enforce Sec. 3.
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MS said:
LFC once more demonstrates his ignorance regarding law in general, and the U.S. Constitution in particular, despite his claim that he has a law degree. Can a citizen be barred from voting based on the allegation that s/he “engaged in murder,” or “engaged in robbery,” or “engaged in rape,” without have had a trial and been convicted? Of course not.
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MS said:
Mr. Pillette, who also claims to be an attorney, asserts that for the S. Ct. to reverse the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision barring Trump from appearing on the Colorado Presidential ballot the Justices would have to hypocritically disregard their textualist constitutional interpretation doctrine. Mr. Pillette, pray tell, can you cite what Congressional legislation was enacted pursuant to Sec. 5 of the 14th Amendment whereby Congress authorized the State of Colorado to enforce Sec. 3 of the 14th Amendment?
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22 December 2023
MS said:
And now aaall also gets it wrong. Sec. 3 of the 14th Amendment is not self-executing. Under Sec. 5, it requires passage of legislation by Congress to authorize who and how it will be executed. Congress has not passed any such legislation since the 14th Amendment was adopted.
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MS said:
Here is some cinema trivia which may interest s. wallerstein. The movie Maestro, about Leonard Bernstein, is now available on Netflix. Early in the movie, there is a dinner party at the home of Claudio Arrau, the renowned piano virtuoso. Arrau was Chilean. He was a child prodigy. At the age of 4, he was already playing Beethoven sonatas, and he gave his first piano recital at the age of 5. At the party, Bernstein meets his future wife, Felicia Monteategre, who was also Chilean.
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MS said:
John Avlon is a political journalist who has been spouting nonsense about the decision by the Colorado Supreme Court barring Trump from appearing on the state’s primary ballot. Avalon is another one of these so-called experts who does not know what he is talking about. He has a B.A. from Yale, and an M.B.A. from Columbia. He is not a lawyer, and by no means a constitutional scholar. But he is filling the airwaves with his bunk.
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24 December 2023
MS said:
s. wallerstein what if you are only 1/2 or 1/4 spam?
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MS said:
An interesting article which criticizes Hollywood for promoting a myth that hard work pays off in a capitalist meritocracy.
Opinion: ‘The Boys in the Boat’ joins a film canon selling this misleading myth
"https://www.cnn.com/2023/12/23/opinions/the-boys-in-the-boat-underdog-berlatsky/index.html"
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26 December 2023
MS said:
Chris Cuomo gets it right.
"https://www.newsnationnow.com/world/war-in-israel/chris-cuomo-israel-military-film-hamas-attack/"
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27 December 2023
MS said:
The Michigan Supreme Court, to its credit, has rejected a challenge to Trump’s right to appear on the primary ballot in Michigan. The contrary decision of the Colorado Supreme Court will be reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court.
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MS said:
[A commenter states they no longer distinguish Netanyahu from Putin.]
You may not be senile, but you are assuredly ignorant.
You will undoubtedly send this comment to spam, because you cannot tolerate the truth.
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29 December 2023
MS said:
In the video link below, Piers Morgan moderates an excellent debate in which Douglas Murray, a British journalist, destroys claims by Cenk Uygur, the host of the show The Young Turks, that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and debunks every other false claim against Israel.
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beOiJcG0UMk"
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1 January 2024
MS said:
In an 8-7 ruling, the Supreme Court of Israel has rejected Prime Minister Netanyahu’s attempt to limit the judicial power of the Court. Hopefully the U.S. Supreme Court will likewise reject former President Trump’s claim of immunity for all acts he took as President, but not by such a close margin.
By the way, do any of Wolff’s ardent anti-Israeli commenters believe that comparable justice would be meted out by a court controlled by Hamas, by Fatah, in Syria, in Egypt, in Iraq, in Afghanistan, etc. And still they reject the assertion of Israel and the U.S. that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East.
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2 January 2024
MS said:
Eric, who, if I am not mistaken, is Black, has apparently never heard of reverse discrimination or preferential treatment based on race, so he thinks it is incomprehensible that President Gay was appointed President of Harvard with a skimpy resume’ of peer-reviewed articles. By the way, the person who accused President Gay of plagiarism is a retired Black female professor from Vanderbilt, who thought it was outrageous that she was getting away with her multiple instances of patent plagiarism. Harvard’s defense that Gay was only guilty of “minor inaccuracies” was b.s. She had repeatedly quoted/paraphrased passages from the works of other academics without attribution. It is a shame that Gay, the first African-American President of Harvard, has brought this disgrace on the African-American academic community, among whom are numerous excellent and honest scholars, more qualified than she.
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MS said;
aaall, in his typical knee-jerk liberalism claims that the resignation of President Gay was a “right-wing hit job.” No, it was not. She was a serial plagiarizer who did not deserve the appointment to begin with, and the person who accused her of plagiarism was not a right-wing White Republican, but a female African-American academic from Vanderbilt University.
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The End.