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Friday, January 19, 2024

Late January 2024 News.

 

There are new tensions between President Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu. The issue is that the Biden administration wants Israel to accelerate a plan to have a 2-state solution in the future. Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, refuses to have a 2-state solution. Netanyahu is a far-right extremist who allows illegal settlements in the West Bank, massive bombings of areas in Gaza causing massive civilian causalities and supporting fascists like Orban of Hungary. Blinken of the Biden administration has been strident to promote both the truth about the evil nature of Hamas and the mass deaths of Palestinians in the Middle East being very horrendous. The conflict in the Middle East is very complex. Multiple things are true. Jewish people indeed lived in the Middle East continuously for over 3,000 years. It is also true that Arabic people lived in the Middle East for thousands of years too. The Nakba against Palestinians was indeed evil, wrong, and unjust. It is also true that every single Jewish person in Israel didn't collectively steal land as Jewish people were in Israel in the Ottoman Empire days and prior. There were Jewish people in the days of the Crusades almost 1,000 years ago. Therefore, the only solution is a viable 2 state solution, an end to occupation in the West Bank and Gaza, and a real reconstruction of the region.


Conservative Supreme Court Justices consider weakening federal agency power. This means that many Justices want to weaken federal rules to help protect the environment when many judges don't know about fisheries or other aspects of the environment. Many in the far right want to eliminate all of the progressive blessings that existed in the previous 20th century like voting rights, environmental protections, civil rights, housing rights, the rights of women, immigrant rights, and other rights. Some extremists want to strip the power of federal agencies to give the power to lifetime appointed judges. Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson doesn't want judges to be uber legislators. The court is about interpreting the law not making any law that it desires by fiat. There is a separation of powers as cited by Montesquieu for a reason.


Donald Trump acted unhinged during the E. Jean Carroll defamation case. The judge said that he would move Trump out of the courtroom if he continued in his antics. E. Jean Carroll is accusing Trump of defamation over Trump's sexual assault allegations. Last year, the jury found that Trump sexually assaulted Carroll and defamed her in his 2022 statements. Judge Lewis Kaplan said that the verdict will carry over to his defamation trial, so the trial will be limited to damages. E. Jean Carroll testified that she received threats over her testimony and story. When she testified, Trump interrupted and said that it is a witch hunt which caused the judge to condemn him for his outbursts. Carroll has accused Trump of raping her years ago. Carroll has been cross-examined by the defense. Trump's character is truly repugnant by his actions.

There is more news going about. The IRS recently collected more than $500 million in back taxes from delinquent millionaires. That means that to this day, some super-wealthy people refuse to pay their fair share of taxation. In 2023 alone, the world's wealthiest families became $1.5 trillion richer. The GOP is so extreme that a Senate comprehensive immigration bill is rejected by MAGA House Republicans. This is part of xenophobia in some far-right people believing in the lies that undocumented immigrants are terrorists, every immigrant is taking American jobs, and they are ruining America. We know that the unemployment rate is below 4 percent at a historic level. America's homicide rate has been massively declining since 2022. The murder rate is down in Baltimore and other cities of America now. Trump is using language that Hitler used to bash immigrants.


Yesterday was the Birthday of Sister Angela Winbush, and she is 69 years old. Angela Winbush is one of the most underrated artists of R&B music. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri to be involved in R&B, soul, gospel, and new jack swing genres of music. From her early childhood, she sang in the church like many icons of music have done. A middle-class area of St. Louis is the location where she grew up. She studied architecture at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Then, she sang in the church with gospel legend Richard Smallwood. Later, she was in a group called "Hot Tea." She changed her major to music education and made a demo in 1977. She sang backing vocalist in Stevie Wonder's group Wonderlove. She was part of the group Rene & Angela. Rene is the singer Rene Moore. They had the albums of Rene and Angela in 1980 and Wall to Wall in 1982 including Rise in 1983. One of their hit songs were I Love You More and My First Love. Moore and Winbush wrote and produced four songs for Janet Jackson's 1982 self-titled debut album like Young Love. Angela Winbush's debut solo album was Sharp. It has the hit of Angel in 1987 showing her four-octave range. She wrote songs for more artists like Sheena Easton. The Real Thing was Winbush's 2nd solo album. It has hits like It's the Real Thing, No More Tears, and Lay Your Troubles Down. By the 1990's Angela Winbush worked with The Isley Brothers and other people. Angela Winbush can play the piano, the keyboard, and is a songwriter, arranger, producer, and session musician. Angela Winbush, Karyn White, Stephanie Mills, Jody Watley, and other R&B singers of their generation were very influential in music in general. Angela Winbush has her faith in God and has overcome ovarian cancer. I wish Sister Angela Winbush more Blessings. 



By Timothy

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