Thoughts on Labour Drubbing Tories in U.K. Election

While the Fourth of July is synonymous with American independence from Britain, on this Fourth of July U.K. voters declared their independence from the Tories after 14 years in power giving the Labour Party a massive majority government with Keir Starmer soon to replace Rishi Sunak as Prime Minister.

As of this writing, with only about half a dozen seats left to be determined, Labour has won 410 seats with the Tories reduced to 119 seats - a loss of nearly 250 seats. A dozen Tory cabinet ministers lost their seats including former Prime Minister Liz Truss who served only 45 days at Number 10 Downing before being succeeded by Sunak.

This result was widely expected. Although Labour's victory is monumental, their percentage of the popular vote only increased by 2% from their disastrous 2019 election. However, in the first past the post parliamentary system vote percentages don't always translate into seats.

For instance, the far-right Reform U.K. won 14% of the vote while the Greens won 7% of the vote yet both ended up with four seats apiece including one for the notorious Nigel Farage.

On the other end of the political spectrum, former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn won a seat as an independent as did four other anti-Israel independent candidates. Of course, it was Starmer who cleaned up the mess Corbyn made of Labour with his toxic brand of anti-Semitism. 

Labour wasn't the only party who had a good night. The Liberal Democrats had their best showing in over a century earning 71 seats. 

Conversely, the Tories had some company with their misery with the Scottish National Party (SNP) losing 38 seats almost exclusively to the benefit of Labour and now rendered as a rump of 9 MPs following their recent troubles following Humza Yousaf's resignation as Scotland's First Minister back in April. 

In the grand scheme of things, this election was less an endorsement of Labour than it was a rebuke of the Tories who saw five Prime Ministers in 14 years and voters wanted something different.

I suspect we will have a similar dynamic in Canada with voters tossing out the Liberals to the benefit of the Tories after being tired of nearly ten years of Trudeau the younger. The Tories have enjoyed double digit leads in the polls throughout nearly all of 2024 and it is Pierre Poilievre's to lose just as the U.K. election was Keir Starmer's to lose. 

I will offer a bit of praise for the U.K. Tories. They were unhesitating in conceding defeat. When soon to be outgoing Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt narrowly retained his seat, he praised Starmer as a decent person and paraphrased President Biden in saying that one cannot be for democracy only when you win and that it was the obligation of the Tories to regain the trust of the people. This matters because these are words which shall never be uttered by defeated, former President Donald Trump and his GOP cult as they embrace authoritarianism. 

Still, even if U.K. voters wanted to rebuke the Tories, they still had to pick someone to succeed them and with that in mind they have given Keir Starmer and Labour a chance. I can only hope they make the most of their opportunity.

SC Rules The President of The United States Is Not Above The Law - Unofficially

In response to defeated, former President Donald Trump's claim of presidential immunity in the January 6th case, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today that the President of the United States is not above the law - but only unofficially. 

In a 6-3 decision made on ideological lines, the Court ruled that Presidents cannot be prosecuted for official acts within his constitutional powers. So even if the President does not faithfully execute the laws of the United States, the President cannot be prosecuted for his faithlessness. Indeed, Chief Justice Roberts proclaimed the President must have "absolute" immunity where it concerns "core constitutional powers". Trump has been demanding and has now received the "total presidential immunity" he sought. 

In her dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor stated:

Whether described as presumptive or absolute, under the majority’s rule, a President’s use of any official power for any purpose, even the most corrupt, is immune from prosecution. That is just as bad as it sounds, and it is baseless. Finally, the majority declares that evidence concerning acts for which the President is immune can play no role in any criminal prosecution against him.

With the January 6th now back in D.C. District Court, special prosecutor Jack Smith will likely have to go back to the drawing board and either draft a superseding indictment or drop the case altogether. 

For his part, President Biden blasted the ruling stating, "It's a dangerous precedent, because the power of the office will no longer be constrained by the law. The only limits will be self-imposed by the president alone."

President Biden respects the boundaries of the law. Defeated, former President Trump does not. 

Should we see fit to return Trump to the White House, he will get his wish to be "dictator for a day" and for much longer than that. 

Within hours of the ruling, Trump signaled his intent to have the verdict in the New York hush money case set aside on the basis of today's Supreme Court decision. Sentencing in that case is scheduled to take place on July 11th. 

But under the circumstances, I would be shocked if this sentencing ever comes to pass. If the New York verdict is overturned on the basis of the Supreme Court decision than any chance Trump is held to account will disappear along with what's left of our democracy. 

In Two Months, The Houston Astros Have Gone from Last Place to a Winning Record

Two months ago today, I wrote about the Houston Astros surprisingly poor start to the 2024 season:

From where I sit, the biggest surprise through the end of April is the Houston Astros finding themselves in last place in the AL West with a 10-19 record entering May 1st. 

Since 2017, the Astros have won six of the last seven AL West titles, four AL pennants and two World Series titles albeit in controversial fashion.

Considering these circumstances, I cannot imagine anyone had them behind the soon to be and wandering Oakland A's at the any point in the season and yet here we are. 

Yet I cannot imagine the Astros being in the cellar for very long. 

I made this argument because at the time the most of the Astros' starting rotation was on the IL and the AL West is MLB's weakest division.

Well, the Astros have not been in last place since May 11th. In the past two months, the Astros have gone 33-22 with a MLB best 17-8 mark in June and yesterday finally climbed over the .500 mark with a 10-5 extra inning win over the New York Mets. Today, they spoiled Canada Day for the Toronto Blue Jays with a 3-1 victory which puts them at 43-41 for the 2024 season. The Astros are now only 3 games back of the division leading Seattle Mariners. 

As is often said, baseball is a marathon, not a sprint. The Astros dug themselves a hole but found their way out of it. There were complaints about new Astros manager Joe Espada amid their slow start. Today not so much. 

Despite some grumbling, it would have made no more sense to fire Joe Espada after a bad month than it would to ask Joe Biden to abandon his re-election campaign after a bad night. Democrats take note.

Why I Don't Think French Jews Should Trust Marine Le Pen & The National Rally

Yesterday, Marine Le Pen's National Rally won the first round of French legislative elections.

Despite its long history of anti-Semitism, National Rally gained significant support from Jewish voters alienated by the indifference of French President's Emmanuel Macron's centrist Renaissance Party and repelled by the even more overt anti-Semitism of the far-left New Popular Front which has consistently refused to condemn Hamas attack against Israel while praising Hamas as a resistance movement.

Although Le Pen has been courting Jewish voters for years and has received the support of Holocaust survivor and Nazi hunter Serge Klarsfeld, I do not trust Le Pen and the National Rally.

Le Pen has long demanded that Jews not be permitted to wear yarmulkes in public and has denied Vichy France bears any responsibility for rounding up Jews who were sent to Nazi death camps, a fact that makes Klarsfeld's support all the more shocking. How does Klarsfeld ignore the Vel d'Hiv Roundup?

This isn't to say the far left isn't a more clear and present danger to French Jews while Macron talks a good game on anti-Semitism but is short on action. But so long as the National Rally, the National Front or whatever it likes to call itself tells Jews they must hide their identity while denying France's role in the Holocaust is unworthy of the trust of French Jews.

Meanwhile, regardless of the outcome of the second round of French legislative elections later this month, the end result is French Jews will continue their exodus to Israel despite the war with Hamas and ongoing tensions with Hezbollah. Yet it perhaps fitting considering it was French anti-Semitism arising from the Dreyfus Affair which sparked the modern Zionist movement in the first place.