Today is Monday, September 25, 2023. I’m happy to report I made it through another 26-and -a-half-hour fast for Yom Kippur that started yesterday at around 4:30 when I finished my heated-up dinner and ended today around 7 (yes, it might have been a little earlier than what the calendar indicated would signal the end of the holiday) this evening when Elliot and I indulged in a repast consisting of bagels, lox, cream cheese, tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers, and onion soup that Elliot prepared earlier. Without saying, everything tasted delicious.

I’m happy to say that fasting today so many hours caused me no discomfort and no headaches, which used to plague me at an earlier time because of my caffeine dependence, but not anymore. I would have preferred better weather, though; we were in the grip of another tropical storm all weekend long, Ophelia, and it influenced our decision not to go to Jersey City last evening to attend services at Elliot’s late aunt’s synagogue. I decided then to go to services at the Jacob Javits Center to attend CBST (Congregation Beit Simchat Torah) services which usually can attract an audience in the thousands. To protect myself against the specter of COVID-19, I decided to wear a face mask all throughout the service.

The new revelations concerning Democratic U.S. Senator Bob Menendez’s corruption-related charges for a second time very recently have riled me up since so many Democrats are getting on the resignation bandwagon without giving the once-indicted senator a chance to clear himself of these latest charges. To me, this push on behalf of Democrats just highlights the total hypocrisy evidenced by the opposition party, the cult of Trump, when so many similar instances of clear corruption do not result in any repugnicans calling for the resignation of their members of Congress as readily as Democrats do. An opinion on my smartphone by CNN by Dean Obeidallah is entitled “Menendez indictment tells all you need to know about today’s GOP” and it confirms my feelings about this disgraced party.

These new charges against the senator accuse him of accepting “hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes” in exchange for the senator’s influence. The alleged bribes included gold bars, cash, and a luxury car.

Menendez has denied any wrongdoing while critiquing prosecutors for, in his own words, “making false claims against me.” (For those who might recall, a mistrial was declared in an earlier corruption case, and prosecutors dropped the charges.)

Thus the reaction from some of Menendez’s fellow Democrats to the new indictment might surprise those accustomed to how many Republicans have responded to criminal charges against former president Donald Dumpf, which is, basically, in silence and in attacking the levers of justice for charging him with crimes in the first place. And what about those repugnicans calling for the immediate resignation of first-term House Representative George Santos? Have you heard of any screaming for his resignation, despite lying about everything in his background and even being indicted on fraud charges? No, because there haven’t been any.

In just claiming this about the dishonorable GOP, the Number 2 Democrat in the Senate, Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, agreed the charges against Menendez were “very serious,” but told CNN’s Dana Bash on State of the Union that the decision to step down was up to the senator and his constituents. At least he didn’t promptly call for Menendez’s resignation as did New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy who did call for his immediate resignation within hours of the charges being pronounced.

Among those New Jersey Democratic members of Congress who echoed that sentiment include U.S. Reps. Mike Sherrill, Josh Gotheimer, Bill Pascreli, and Donald Norcross. New Jersey General Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin also joined the voices calling for the senator to resign, noting in a statement, “The charges laid out against Senator Menendez today go against everything we should believe as public servants.”

Even Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania became the first fellow senator to publicly call for Menenedez to step down. And Democratic Rep. Andy Kim of New Jersey went one step further once Menendez had rejected calls to resign. On Saturday, the third-term member of Congress announced that he would run against the senator in the 2024 Democratic primary.

To contrast the Democratic response to the current indictment against the long-term senator, we have the reaction of some House repugnicans who expressed outrage when the FBI executed a court-approved search of Dumpf’s Mar-a-Lago estate in 2022 in pursuit of classified documents. At the time, people such as current House Speaker Kevin “Jackass” McCarthy called the search part of the Justice Department’s “intolerable state of weaponized politicization.”

And after Dumpf was charged in early April with 34 felonies in New York over falsifying business records related to a hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels, GOP House Committee Judiciary Chairman “Gym” Jordan – a Dumpf stalwart – held a taxpayer-funded field hearing – more of a clown show than anything else – in New York to discredit Manhattan District attorney Alvin Bragg, who had handed down the charges.

To continue their attack on the workings of the Justice Department for having dare charge the former president with any crime, after Dumpf was charged with 37 felonies over mishandling of classified documents, including with violations of the Espionage Act, some Frump allies went beyond calling the matter a “grave injustice” and a “brazen weaponization of power” like McCarthy did.

And after Dumpf was indicted last month in Georgia on 13 charges over efforts to overturn the 2020 election results in that state, some Georgia repugnican legislators called for defunding the district attorney who spearheaded that investigation. One GOP senator went so far as suggesting a civil war was possible if the prosecution continues, saying he did not want to have to “draw (his) rifle.”

We can take refuge in believing that when it comes to their beloved Orange Hemorrhoid, many repugnicans clearly reject the idea that “no one is above the law.” Thankfully, though, some Democrats are showing us with their actions that this concept is not an empty cliche, but a principle they champion, even though their repugnican colleagues definitely do not.

Anyway, we’ll see what happens with this developing story. If Senator Menendez does resign, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy will appoint a Democratic successor to his seat to carry out his remaining term in office.

This time I will deliberately miss the second Republican debate airing this Wednesday once again without the criminal frontrunner Dumpf on that stage. I can’t imagine what nonsense will emerge from this shitshow. I don’t want to waste another two hours of my precious time.

Stay safe and be well.