On my weekly YouTube videocast “Halitics” political news seemed to be everywhere. Hal Ginsberg felt the Israeli aggression in Gaza might hurt everything Jewish: religion, the Israeli state, the people, etc. I felt and hoped the Israeli government and its leader Benjamin Netanyahu would be blamed, but increased antisemitism points to a wider blame for Jews that may last a long time.

We discussed the Charles Kirk assassination fallout and the MAGA attempt to frame him as a hero for all Americans. Hal and I pointed out that Kirk has a history of right-wing positions that put him far from the mainstream. And we wondered why ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel got fired (temporarily, fortunately) for mild statements that weren’t critical of Kirk, but “Fox and Friends” host Brian Kilmeade is still working for Fox News despite literally proposing America’s homeless should be killed!

Another topic was the independence and impartiality that historically occurred in the Justice Department in previous administrations. That seems to have disappeared under Trump who makes all the decisions about who should be indicted and which lawyers will prosecute the cases against individuals most often perceived as enemies of Trump.