Twelve Angry Men

(Twelve Angry Men)

Over the last 36 hours, the expected Israeli retaliatory strike was launched against Iran. Its nuclear facilities, however, were not hit. Nor were any drone or missile launch sites. The IDF placed ordinance somewhere within the confines of the Islamic Republic but did virtually no damage. The message from Jerusalem is that they can really (expletive deleted) things up for Iran continues to show aggression. either directly or by proxy.

As for the Donald Trump hush money trial, the jury has finally been seated. As has been repeated time and again, this is un-precedented legal territory, but the verdict has all but been rendered. One can recall the Stanley Kramer classic, Judgment at Nuremburg. At the core of the film was "Feldenstein Case," which was the trial of a Jewish owner of an apartment building that was accused of having "relations" with a young tenant, illegal under the Nuremburg Laws. However, what was subsequently revealed was the proceedings were not a trial at all but, as Burt Lancaster put it, as the presiding judge, later admitted that "it was not a trial at all. It was a sacrificial ritual. That he had reached his verdict, guilty with a death sentence, in the Feldenstein Case before he had ever set foot in the Courtroom."

When it comes to Trump's case, how many of those jurors would seriously consider voting not guilty ? If it gets leaked of that Indvidual's action, consequences could ensue. Like Herr Feldenstein, Trump's is a sacrificial ritual of his own. The trial is keeping Trump off the campaign trail and that has allowed President Biden to tie Trump in Pennsylvania. And tie Trump elsewhere. The fact is that the "verdict" will be announced long before Trump could appeal to some other venue. And that won't be able to take place until after the election.

In the original Twelve Angry Men, starring Henry Fonda and Lee J. Cobb, it was one juror that held out till he convinced the other eleven vote his way. That cannot happen here. The jury selection in this case is a mere formality. The American system of Jurisprudence required a jury trial by one's peers. But, as has been mentioned, Donald Trump has no peers in New York. And it will be dangerous to pretend otherwise.