Beltway Insider: Biden/Israel Cease-Fire, US Aid/Ukraine, Trump Guilty, Sentencing, Presidential Pardon

Details: Category: Beltway Insider; Published on Sunday, 02 June 2024 10:12; Written by Janet Walker

President Biden announced a three-phase cease fire in the eight-month Israel-Palestinian war that has left the region concussed by unprecedented retaliation, suffering from a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, mass casualty and a shocking civilian death toll.

The President's job approval rating, according to the website fivethirtyeight.com, for the period ending June 2, 2024, increased by 0.2% to 38.6% of those polled who approve of his effectiveness as President and those who disapprove of his effectiveness decreased by 0.2% to 56.0% of those polled who disapprove of his effectiveness. A slight 3% of the population polled have no opinion. Ratings are calculated weekly.

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Israel/Gaza Cease Fire Terms Announced

Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have been tirelessly working with partners in the region to formalize the hostages release critical to the cease-fire.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's war strategy to deconstruct Hamas, the terror organization behind the October 7, 2023, coordinated attack, that left more than 1200 Israelis slaughtered and nearly 300 taken as hostages, including women and children, has been successful which led to the Israeli cease-fire offer.

"Israel can make this offer without further risk to their own security because Israel has so degraded Hamas's forces over the last eight months, as the President explained. At this point, of course, Hamas is no longer capable of carrying out another October 7. Its military capacity has been significantly eroded. And its leaders are dead or in deep hiding," a Senior White House official said.

The cost of the eight-war war goes beyond the obvious. A catastrophic humanitarian crisis, coupled with an appalling and tragic famine, along with unparalleled devastation is all that remains of the Gaza strip. Netanyahu's war strategy, which resulted in the International Criminal Court to indict him for war crimes, repeatedly targeted innocent women and children, who were unfortunately used as shields by the terror organization Hamas.

The agreed upon cease-fire, if Hamas agrees, will begin immediately with a six-week cease fire, and the repatriation of all hostages, living or dead, to their countries. The plan also calls for a total withdrawal of Israel from Gaza, and an increase to 600 humanitarian supply vehicles per day to begin addressing the devastation.

With the temperatures of both Netanyahu and the Palestinian negotiating team running high, the hope of all parties is that each follow the plan without breeching the terms triggering another round of violence.

The underlying structure of Biden's plan remains loyal to Israel security. With Hamas currently fractured without the ability to initiate attacks on Israel, the possibility of immediate threats to Israel's security have greatly diminished. With Israel's security in place, addressing the immediate needs of the war-torn Palestinian is paramount and further embarking on a three-to-five-year plan to rebuild Gaza is the third phase of the cease-fire negotiation.

While the region wants to call this a peace deal, their will never be peace in the middle east. The Netanyahu and a designate leader from Hamas will never shake hands, this is not 1977 when Egyptian President Anwar Sadat launched an October attack on Israel and then Prime Minister Menachem Begin, like Netanyahu, handed him a decisive victory, ushering in forty years of peace. The world can only hope for the same.

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Ukraine Receives Permission to Use U.S. Weapons

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy finally received permission of the United States, after a coalition of NATO allies agreed to allow the Ukrainian military to use weapons received from the coalition, to use U.S. weapons to target weapons depots, transportation hubs, and communication facilities inside Russia's borders.

The battel for Kharkiv region, which has been brutalized by Russian forces as Zelenskyy waited for U.S. permission, could possibly see a shift in the momentum as NATO allies and the United States, have each given Zelenskyy the authority to use mid-range rockets to strike targets inside Russian's borders, to alleviate the Russian offensive.

"Now Ukrainians can use U.S.-provided rockets and artillery to hit some Russian positions behind the front lines, potentially delivering relief to Kharkiv, where the front has mostly stabilized. Still, there are doubts in Kyiv, Washington and across European capitals about whether the change will be enough to transform battlefield conditions or turn back Russian forces," reported The Washington Post.

Leaders across the European continent see the Russian advancement through a different lens than House Republicans, who slowed the military aid package in early May, causing a catastrophic bombardment as Russian President Vladimir Putin seized the lag and pummeled the region with air raids.

Putin's determination to reunify Russian to its Cold War strength, is seen clearly by NATO and European leaders with the potential of an empowered Russia advancing across European with little to no resistance. It's doubtful that Putin will attempt any further advancement into western Europe. Dismantling the Russian offensive should be a priority.

Zelenskyy, understandably, is dependent on military aid from the United States, and is therefore reluctant to fight the war on his own terms, while Biden is cautiously concerned over the advancement, he has refused to allow Zelenskyy to use long-range weapons to further reduce Russia arsenal.

Former President Donald J. Trump Found Guilty on All Counts

Coronavirus Totals

According to the World Health Organization the death toll from Covid-19 has dramatically decreased, as has transmission of the virus. Even as confirmed new cases arise, fewer are dying from the newer variants. The CDC has recommended every person from age six months, including senior citizens, should receive at least one shot of an updated covid vaccine. Vaccines and boosters are still considered the most effective agents against contracting the Coronavirus.

For the 7-day period ending June 2, 2024, the total of confirmed coronavirus cases reported by The World Health Organization remained at 775,522,404 confirmed cases, increasing by 41,078 confirmed cases. The total worldwide death toll increased by 241 to 7,049,617 deaths. The United States has stopped providing Covid data to the World Health Organization. (Data updated May 19, 2024, from The World Health Organization).

COVID U.S. Totals

As hospitalizations and infection rates rapidly decline in the United States, masks and personal protection choices in dense settings are still effective in stopping the spread of any viral infection. Hospitals across the United States are no longer required to update the CDC on Covid-19 admissions, increases or deaths.

To date, more than one-third of the U.S. population has, since the onset of the Covid-19 virus, contracted the infectious disease. For the 7-day period ending June 2, 2024, total coronavirus cases in the United States have increased to 111,820,082 and total deaths have increased by 29,365 to 1,219,487 total U.S. deaths. (Data posted April 13, 2024, from World Meters).

Road to the White House – Trump Guilty, Sentencing, Election 2024

Former President Donald J. Trump, after twelve hours of jury deliberation, 15 days of testimony, 20 witness, and 200 pieces of evidence, a jury of both men and women, various ethnicities, and socioeconomic backgrounds found the former president guilty, on all 34 counts.

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"Bragg (D), the elected Manhattan district attorney, had weathered a tide of criticism for bringing charges against the former president for allegedly falsifying business records related to a hush money payment ahead of the 2016 election," The Washington Post reported.

And while the American public have never seen the dirty tricks of any president since the Watergate Scandal, the historic trial unpacked the former president's dirty laundry, including his infidelities with a porn star and his hit squad designed to shut down any information that may disrupt his 2016 Presidential campaign, and proved his effort to secure the White House, were more akin to a hostile business takeover.

Sentencing Phase

Speculation on Trump's sentence has already begun with many calling for a light prison sentence. However, it seems highly unlikely that Trump will receive consideration from the presiding judge, as he was clear throughout the trial to keep Trump in check and uphold the dignity the law necessitates.

Without an appropriate sentence the law becomes symbolic, without real measure or restriction. Pundits, between now and July 11, when Judge Juan Merchan will introduce the American public to every possible sentencing scenario.

The now convicted Trump faces a possible four years on each count, a more likely sentence would be a four-year sentence at a minimum-security prison. Once the 2024 election is over, the incarcerated Trump could seek a presidential pardon. A possible presidential pardon scenario, pre-incarceration, could include the caveat that Trump never seek to hold a public office again.

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Presidential Pardon

Presidential pardons are granted annually, and former President Richard M. Nixon was granted a presidential pardon for the crimes committed by himself and his aides during the 1972 re-election campaign.

President Ford announced his decision to '"grant a full, free, and absolute pardon unto Richard Nixon for all offenses against the United States which he, Richard Nixon, has committed or may have committed." Shortly after the announcement former President Nixon released a statement accepting the pardon. Although such a statement wasn't required President Ford felt it was very significant. By resigning and accepting the pardon, Nixon was publicly acknowledging his guilt in the Watergate cover up," documents retrieved from the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library state.

Election 2024

What does this mean for the presumptive 2024 Republican presidential candidate? The now convicted former president, could withdraw from the race, and bow out gracefully with some level of dignity intact. That's doubtful.

The more likely scenario is that he will attempt to rally his base of marginalized, disenfranchised, right wing radicals, with a thunderous speech of injustice, reaching these voters on a personal level, appealing to this ingrained underlying seed of injustice that his base lives with daily. It is the rallying cry that fueled January 6, 2021, and he will tap that same vein rallying this base to violence if necessary.

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His support from evangelicals isn't based on religion, clearly not his religious beliefs, but based on the idea that he can talk the talk while living a life of deceit and dishonesty, a double life, that many, especially in the Chirstian church use to sway the sincere hearted into egregious injury.

During the 2016 and now again in the 2024 election Trump has been using a tick-the-box scale to make himself over in the image that attract this base of voters. Just as it is impossible to reason with a cult is it impossible to reason with Trump followers.

"If they can do this to me, they can do this to anyone," Trump declared in a rambling speech that was covered by every major news network in the lobby of his Manhattan condo tower Friday morning. "These are bad people," The Washington Post reported.

For more information on President Joe Biden www.whitehouse.gov.

Janet Walker is the publisher and founder of Haute-Lifestyle.com. A graduate of New York University, she has been covering international news through the Beltway Insider, a weekly review of the nation's top stories, for more than a decade. A general beat writer/reporter and entertainment/film critic, she is also an accomplished news/investigative news/crime reporter and submitted for Pulitzer Prize consideration "Cops Conspire to Deep Six Sex Assaults" in the Breaking News Category. Ms. Walker has completed five screenplays, "The Six Sides of Truth," "The Assassins of Fifth Avenue," "The Wednesday Killer," "The Manhattan Project," and the sci-fi thriller "Project 13: The Last Day." She is a member of the Los Angeles Press Club, Online Writer's Association, and International Federation of Journalists.