What Will Happen If Trump Is Indicted on Tuesday?

Former President Trump has announced that he is expecting to be arrested on Tuesday and indicted over a hush money arrangement with adult film actress Stormy Daniels. Trump has called on his supporters to protest the possible arrest.

Trump himself today upped the ante by saying, in effect, that it doesn’t matter what’s in the indictment. Instead, he is warning all of us, point-blank, that he will violate the law if he wants to, and if you don’t like it, you can take it up with the mob that he can summon at will. This is pure authoritarianism

Any indictment of a former president would be historic. In fact, such a criminal indictment would be a first in our nation’s history. One thing we know about historic firsts: We view them as test cases for what is possible. If Bragg were to move forward on an indictment and lose his case, it would have a ripple effect, both legally and politically, on future cases against Trump.

If you hope that Donald Trump will face criminal charges for at least some of his misdeeds, there is a prospect worse than the possibility that the former president won’t be indicted. It is that he will be charged and escape punishment anyway.

Is Israeli-Saudi Normalization Still a Possibility?

After months of speculation about Saudi Arabia normalizing relations with Israel, Saudi Arabia made headlines by normalizing relations with Iran instead. Does this make the possibility of a breakthrough with Israel less likely?

… exchanging pledges of mutual non-intervention with Iran can also suggest that Saudi Arabia is still preparing for possible normalization with Israel. Many Saudis are already moving in this direction. After all, if the Saudis sue for peace with Israel, the last thing they want is to have an antagonistic Iran instigating against them.

Of course, it can be argued that if Tehran behaves itself going forward, then Israel loses the important card of “The enemy of my enemy is my friend.” But I would argue that this card was never going to be sustainable, it relies on too many variables.

On Thursday, the kingdom set terms for what it would need from the United States as a price for normalizing relations with Israel: a security agreement of some kind with the United States, a civilian nuclear program and decreased restrictions on U.S. arms sales.

Is It OK to Mention the Occupation at Pro-Democracy Protests?

An ideological debate is taking place within the pro-Democracy protest movement in Israel: should the protests focus solely on judicial reform, or should protestors also be demanding justice for Palestinians?

To strengthen the far left is to undermine democracy, because it alienates Israelis on the soft right, and the hope for making a change in Israel is to bring soft-right voters to the center… At the first couple of demonstrations, you had far leftists coming with big Palestinian flags, and that was a gift to Netanyahu. He would retweet those photographs and say, ‘This is my opposition.’

One day I hope to see mass protests with Israelis waving Palestinian flags alongside the blue and white. That may be far off, but perhaps the democracy movement will spur a comprehensive rethinking of where Israel needs to be.

Whom do the flag-wavers hope to convince? At every demonstration, they look in horror at the nagging “nudnik” who insisted on bringing a Palestinian flag and reminding them that there’s still that thing, you know, the occupation. “You’re right, but what good does it do?” they mumble.

Is Netanyahu No Longer Welcome at the White House?

President Biden continues to express concerns over proposed judicial reforms in Israel with PM Benjamin Netanyahu. At the same time, Netanyahu has conspicuously not been invited for an official meeting with Biden at the White House.

Conspicuously, Netanyahu has not been invited. If it walks likes a deliberate act of discontent from the United States and talks like a deliberate act of discontent from the United States, it’s probably a deliberate act of discontent – from President Joe Biden.

President Joe Biden has known Netanyahu for decades, the two have spoken by phone, and senior officials in both countries have made visits since Netanyahu’s government was formed in December, despite Israel’s spiraling political crisis. But the lack of a White House visit underscores both the desire of the Biden administration to see different policies in Israel and what critics say is a reluctance to take more forceful steps.

Sunday marked the 80th day since Netanyahu returned to the premiership, and prime ministers have historically visited the White House by now. The absence of an invite has been a sore subject for Netanyahu who reportedly told his cabinet last week that as long as he doesn’t get a sit-down with Biden, almost all other ministers would be barred from scheduling meetings with their American counterparts.

Why Is It So Hard to Define “Woke”?

Bethany Mandel, the conservative author of a new book about “woke indoctrination” in public schools, went viral when she couldn’t define the word “woke” in an interview.

Just because one person struggled to define a term that has become useless and riddled with bad-faith connotations from every angle does not mean the underlying issues disappear. On the contrary. But perhaps we can all agree, at bare minimum, to set ourselves the task of limiting our reliance on in-group shorthand, and embracing clear, honest, precise, and original thought and communication.

The right’s co-opting of the word “woke” and the way it uses it to distort debate and camouflage bigotry is nothing new. Conservatives have always been very good at wringing words dry of their meaning and repurposing them strategically. “The elite”, for example, now means anyone with an education and not billionaires like Donald Trump.

If I was asked to define woke I would say that it’s a secular religion which teaches that society is systemically oppressive towards certain supposedly marginalized groups. It believes that our institutions were built expressly with the purpose of oppressing these groups, and the only way to combat the oppression to tear the institutions down and restructure society…

Have You Tried “Bare Minimum Mondays”?

Are “bare minimum Mondays” the cure to your “Sunday scaries”? Check out these takes on the new TikTok trend to find out:

Much like “quiet quitting,” “bare minimum Monday” encourages employees to ease into their work week by doing just enough to get by. Rather than stress over post-weekend productivity, subscribers are encouraged to first prioritize self-care and mental health before delving into their tasks for the day.

Most comments I’ve received about Bare Minimum Monday are either “You’re living my dream” or “What an entitled millennial who doesn’t know the value of hard work.” At one point in my corporate career, I probably would’ve rolled my eyes, too. But after experiencing burnout, I get it.

In practice, however, even Gen Z-ers who manage to execute bare minimum Mondays (or quiet quitting) will, in all likelihood, still enjoy an inferior ratio of effort to reward to the boomers and Gen X-ers who went before them. The same was true of millennials as they entered the workforce. The difference is, Gen Z knows what’s coming.

Today’s Hot Issues

What Will Happen If Trump Is Indicted on Tuesday? Is Israeli-Saudi Normalization Still a Possibility? Is It OK to Mention the Occupation at Pro-Democracy Protests? Is Netanyahu No Longer Welcome at the White House? Why Is It So Hard to Define “Woke”? Have You Tried “Bare Minimum Mondays”?