Today is Monday, October 30, 2023, one day before Halloween. For those of you who are unaware of what’s going on in Denver, let me enlighten you: today a court case is being heard in a Denver courtroom that seeks to remove Donald J. Chump from the ballot in 2024 in light of the 14th Amendment, Section 3, that says U.S. officials should be disqualified from seeking office if they “engaged in insurrection” or have “given aid or comfort” to insurrectionists. This developing story is reported on by CNN reporters Marshall Cohen and Devan Cole online in their article entitled “Takeaways from Day 1 of the Trump disqualification trial in Colorado.”

Here in this courtroom, a group of voters are trying to use the Civil War-era amendment to remove the former president from the 2024 ballot, citing his role in the January 6, 2021, riot.

On this first day, it was Chump’s legal team that clashed with the challengers, bashing their case as an “antidemocratic” (what hypocrisy to use this word to describe the actions of these challengers, when it was their client who engaged in the antidemocratic coup against his own government!) strategy to derail Chump’s campaign without giving voters a say. The challengers argued that their litigation was an unfortunate but necessary step to ensure a “fair” 2024 election by keeping an ineligible candidate off the ballot. Touche!

In addition to opening statements, a U.S. Capitol Police officer who was on the front lines of the violent assault and Rep. Eric Swalwell, a Democrat who recounted the horrors of running from the pro-Chump mob, testified for the challengers.

The case revolves around Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, as I mentioned above. However, the Constitution is vague about how this ban should be enforced, and it has only been used twice since the 19th century.

The trial is expected to last for one week and the judge has said she wants to issue her decision by Thanksgiving, so there is time for appeals before the ballot-printing process begins in January for the GOP primary in Colorado on March 5, 2024. This would be filed only if the judge rules in favor of disqualifying Chump from running in the primary based on the challengers’ case.

Lawyers for the Republican and independent voters who filed the lawsuit said in their opening statements that “Our Constitution prevents people who betrayed their solemn oath, as Trump did here, from serving in office again,” which is attributed to Eric Olson, an attorney for the challengers. Continuing his argument, Olson stated, “Colorado law gives these voters the right to make sure their votes will count by coming to this court and ensuring that only eligible candidates appear on our ballots. Trump engaged in insurrection, and therefore cannot appear on the ballot.” Seems obvious here, in my mind, but you don’t know how the judge will rule in this unprecedented case. Olson added, “No person, not even the former president, is above the law.”

The presentation also featured footage from the deadly January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and clips from the 2020 campaign in which Chump praised violence by his supporters, including his infamous comment to the right-wing Proud Boys group to “stand back and stand by.”

The voters are trying here to connect Chump to the violence on that day, which faces an uphill climb. Citing evidence from the January 6 committee, Olson said Chump “summoned and organized” the mob and “knew” they were “armed and dangerous.”

Olson mentioned that Chump helped this mob out by refusing to mobilize resources to stop the attack.

The Chump legal eagles had their say in court as well when Trump lawyer Scott Gessler, a former Colorado secretary of state, blasted the proceedings and said the case was “weak,” “antidemocratic” and relied on “fringe” theories. I sincerely wonder how engaging in an insurrection, as the Orange Hemorrhoid did here, is considered a “fringe” theory. It was never done before – not before January 6, 2021. Actually, it was done once – during the Civil War.

Gessler urged Colorado District Judge Sarah Wallace to not “interfere” with the 2024 election removing Trump from the ballot. Didn’t Chump “interfere” in the orderly transition of power on that infamous day? Just a thought here, as Chump’s legal assholes defend his sorry ass here in Colorado.

Testifying for the anti-Trump challengers, Swalwell described the “haunting” experience of sheltering in the House chamber on January 6 while the right-wing mob surrounded the premises.

A California Democrat and fiery anti-Trump critic, Swalwell recounted how he realized in real time that Chump was endangering him and his colleagues by directing his supporters to go to the Capitol. The challengers used Swalwell’s testimony to try to connect the Orange Blob’s actions and words to the violent rampage by his acolytes.

After the rioters breached the building, the mob nearly reached the House chamber. Swalwell described how the chaotic situation became extremely grave – with the Electoral College proceedings halted, police officers ordering members to put on gas masks, the House chaplain praying, and a gunshot ringing out in the distance.

Swalwell provided haunting testimony as to how he coordinated with Rep. Reuben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat and former Marine, to prepare to fight the rioters if they ever got into the House chamber. Swalwell told the court that Gallego helped lawmakers put on their gas masks and gave Swalwell a pen to use to put it in the rioters’ neck if need be.

Outside of court, Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold said today on CNN that she hopes the trial will provide guidance on Trump’s eligibility for the ballot.

She correctly indicated to CNN, “We’ve never had this type of situation occur where a sitting president incites the insurrection and then has the audacity to run again. So there are real questions about whether Section 3 of the 14th Amendment disqualifies him. I look forward to the judge giving guidance on the topic.”

“The defendants sued Trump and Griswold, who hasn’t taken a position on whether the former president is disqualified and has said she’ll do whatever the judge orders her to do.”

Griswold said on CNN that she believes Chump incited the January 6th insurrection, but added that it will be up to the judge to decide whether it means he “engaged” in the coup and is disqualified from office. Let’s hope she has the guts to come to this obvious conclusion.

Griswold brushed aside the notion that the lawsuit could be seen as a political abuse of the legal process by targeting the GOP (“Guns over People”) front-runner. How in God’s name is that, pray tell me!

The Colorado Secretary of State wisely retorted, “It’s an appropriate mechanism to file a lawsuit. What is inappropriate is trying to steal an election from the American people, inciting an insurrection, having a scheme of fake electors, having conversations about stealing or seizing voter equipment.” She added, “Those things are unreasonable. A court case like we’re seeing play out here, I think is just fine.”

The group challenging Chump extensively used his own words against him, playing clips from his infamous speech on election night 2020 when he falsely claimed victory, and from January 6 when he urged his supporters to “fight like hell” at the U.S. Capitol.

They also showed the Orange Menace’s social media posts from the tumultuous postelection period, including a December 2020 clip in which he told his supporters to come to Washington, D.C., for the “wild” protest on January 6.

The challengers also cited many of the findings from the bipartisan House committee that investigated January 6, which recommended Chump’s disqualification under the 14th Amendment.

So it looks like this case is going ahead in the Centennial State and we might have a definitive decision within a week or so as to whether Donald Chump could be disqualified from running for office in 2024. Wouldn’t it be lovely if he’s dealt another legal setback next month? No one should have any sympathy for this demon.

In the meantime, the Israeli-Hamas conflict has entered its third week and there is no resolution in sight. Today Israel said its ground offensive will “intensify” after troops appeared to advance more than two miles into Gaza, according to a CNN analysis. Meanwhile, aid groups say civil order is breaking down in the enclave, as airstrikes compound a devastating humanitarian crisis caused by Israel’s blockade on basic necessities including food and fuel. This is from an online CNN article on the conflict by Abel Salman, Ivana Kottosova, Amir Tan, Pierre Mailman, Paul P. Murphy, and Simone McCarthy entitled “Israeli troops advance in Gaza, hostage freed and ‘impossible’ hospital evacuation: What to know Monday.”

Over the weekend, Israeli authorities said it had entered a “second stage” of its war against militant group Hamas, which controls Gaza, following weeks of aerial strikes on the isolated territory.

Israel is prepared for a “long and difficult ” war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday, as it seeks to root out and “destroy” Hamas after it killed more than 1,400 people in the attack on Israel earlier in the month.

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza since then has left at least 7,960 people dead, mostly civilians, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Ramallah. Nearly three-quarters – 73 percent – of those killed are from vulnerable populations, including children, women, and elderly individuals, the ministry said yesterday.

During Israeli ground operations in Gaza, an Israeli soldier who was among the more than 200 hostages taken by Hamas in its October 7 attack was rescued, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) said today. A 23-year-old German-Israeli woman who was abducted from a music festival and taken to Gaza was not so fortunate, as she has been declared dead, Israel’s foreign ministry said earlier in the day.

Israel’s expanded operations sparked new warnings from leaders about the risk of broader regional conflict, as well as heightened calls from the United Nations for a humanitarian ceasefire to deliver desperately needed supplies to Gaza.

The situation is volatile here in the United States, as incidents of antisemitism and anti-Arab sentiment have risen exponentially since October 7. As I sadly read the dispatches from the region and watch the news on CNN or MSNBC, I think back to the 1990s when Rodney King said famously at a press conference in reaction to the riots that resulted after his merciless beatdown by Los Angeles cops, “Can we all get along?” This is how I feel over this complicated situation engulfing the Mideast right now.

Boo! Enjoy Halloween tomorrow! Elliot and I are treating tomorrow as just another regular day; we have no intention of going into the city to watch the parade. I’ve done this several times before and because of what is happening in Israel right now, I’m in no mood to celebrate. I think of Elliot’s cousins living in a residential area of Tel Aviv and what they must be experiencing at the moment.

Stay safe and be well.

Here are some cool Halloween decorations in front of this house in Queens.

A scarecrow under an umbrella.

This display was discovered on a walk to Metropolitan Avenue last week.