Law, Power, and Justice

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  • Cohen Testimony

    2 PM

    • Cohen: There’s “no shame” in being personal attorney to the president.  The kay word here is “shame.”  Admitting he wanted so badly to go to the White House and being dismissed as cruelly as Trump dismissed him, makes him feel shamed.  I don’t know why that’s difficult to understand.  He, like most men, is not being honest with himself.
    • Being dishonest with yourself is different from lying.
    • Trump, of course, is staring at Cohen.
    • Trump is paying attention, according to the CNN commentator because he wants to see what is happening.  No Trump is a predator and a sadist and enjoys watching other people suffer.
    • (Note: Mention “Man in Full” quote about there not being men like men around like me anymore.  They want to eliminate men like me.
    • Ahitccording to texts between Cohen and his daughter, Cohen was having a difficult time getting tickets to the inauguration.  Cohen’s daughter said that Trump and his new people are “walking all over you.”  Obvious, dummies, Cohen does not want to admit his own hurt and especially does not want to admit being shamed by another man IN FRONT OF HIS DAUGHTER.
    • Trump is reportedly “staring intently” at Cohen.  (Note: Yes, I have seen cats do exactly this, staring at a potential victim.)
    • CNN is showing Jim Jordan attacking Cohen in 2019 about not being chosen for the White House.  This means that the prosecution knew that this was a potential line of questioning and potential problem.  They did not prepare Cohen for this.
    • The fake cases Cohen forwarded to his then attorney and used in an attempt to get early release from prison were the subject of a hearing.  The judge found that Cohen had inadvertently used an app on the computer that provided him with what he thought were relevant citations, but were not. The judge found that he had done this due to sloppiness and error, not malicious behavior.
    • Blanche is now asking about a phone call to Keith Schiller.  October 2016 phone call.  Blanche reportedly at ease.  Blanche is asking about specifics of the phone call to imply that if Cohen doesn’t remember, he is an unreliable witness.
    • Trump never made phone calls. Like most mob bosses, he got somebody else to call for him.  Blanche asking about a call on October 24, at 8:02 PM.  Jesus.
    • Alyssa Griffin (former Trump white house) says Cohen could have never joined the administration because he would have to passed a background check.  (Note: Remember Jared Kushner?)  She also says Cohen wasn’t specific about when he broke with Trump.  (Note: He was, his family basically did an “intervention.”)
    • Griffin also comments that this case, if lost, could be a “disaster.”  (Note: My exactly words.) She says she can’t say that she would convict based on Cohen’s inaccuracies and not admitting that he wanted a job at the White House
    • Texts between Cohen and Schiller, according to Tapper, eroding the testimony that this call was about Stormy Daniels since Cohen left a message about a prank caller.
    • Coates: “This is a documents case.”  They have corroborated Cohen’s testimony. 
    • Blanche is raising his voice, TV attacking bout the subject of the call.  Cohen is, reportedly, calm.
    • Blanche is “pacing and flailing his arms.”  Reporter CNN in courtroom.  Honig: The texts don’t support that theme.
    • Honig: This call hasn’t been mentioned in earlier testimony of Cohen?
    • Tapper: “It does seem pretty bad.” Referring to Cohen’s testimony. 
    • (Note: We filled up the bird/squirrel feeder and they are so happy.  Purple finches, woodpecker that looks like a flicker, but I don’t think it is.  Nuthatch.  Our little cat, Hiram, loves to watch them out the bedroom window.  He loves the birds and the squirrels.  He only once went after a hummer (poor thing) but never again.)
    • Cohen said he had this phone call to Keith Schiller to get to Trump (Tapper points out that it is revealing that Cohen had to go through Schiller to get to Trump.) October 2016.   Blanche is trying to say that the call was about a prank caller.  There are logs and texts between Schiller and Cohen about getting SS assistance. 
    • (Note: Missed some of the testimony because of recording)
    • CNN now as the bimbo (?) doing the discussion.  (What a bad idea).
    • Rejoining coverage after lunch.
    • Mike Dubke, former Trump person.  “The president’s feeling comfortable.”
    • MSNBC
    • 3:26 PM. 
    • Defendants rarely take the stand.  So, Blanche has not done this a lot. 
    • Former US attorney, Barbara Quade: The prosecution knew this day was going to come.  They prepared Cohen.
    • CNN
    • Reporter inside: “Cohen says Santucci “used to ome to the office quite a bit” so he was surprised when he heard ABC through Santucci was fighting for Daniels’ story.” (Note: This says so much about the press.)
    • Honig is arguing that this was “devastating” cross.
    • MSNBC
    • There is a possibility of the defense calling a legal expert. 
    • End of day.

  • WHY COHEN CAN’T ADMIT WANTING TO GO TO THE WHITE HOUSE FOR DUMMIES

    AFTERNOON NEWS NOTES: TRUMP ELECTION FRAUD TRIAL

    1:00 pm: Cohen Cross

    • Blanche: You offered your testimony to everybody and they turned you down.  Honig doesn’t understand how Cohen could have been offered a “substantial assistance letter” after he plead.  (Note: A lot of what went on with Cohen is not understood by these lawyer commentators.  The Barr Justice Department was the same kind of mobster operation Trump was). 
    • Palentine: It doesn’t make sense that Cohen was offered a substantial assistance letter and turned it down.
    • (Note: I am beginning to believe that none of these people on CNN have any understanding of human nature at all.  Andrew Weissmann commented the other day on MSNBC that part of the issue working with mob informants who turned and testified was their difficulty in being honest to outsiders.  But, a more serious problem was the informant being honest with themselves.  This entire line of questioning of Cohen about wanting to be part of the White House team involves Cohen
    • being honest with himself.  He cannot admit to the defense attorney because he cannot be honest with himself about just how much he wanted to go to the White House.
    • Men do this all the time.  The think that they most desperately want is the thing they will go to almost any lengths to deny wanting.  Wanting, especially desperately wanting anything is a vulnerability.  Therefore, it makes total sense that Cohen would deny to himself and everybody else that he has desperately wanted this and was cruelly denied it.  It just hurts too much.
    • If the prosecutors make this clear on rebuttal, it will humanize Cohen to the jury.  Unless the jury is as socially and emotionally dumb as everybody on CNN.

  • AFTERNOON TRIAL NOTES: Cohen Cross

    12:16 PM Thursday

    Cohen Cross (Second Day)

    • This seems to be turning into a disaster.  Commentators can’t believe that the Prosecution didn’t deal with this very issue since it tripped Cohen up earlier during the civil case.
    • They’ve gotten his goat, it appears.
    • CNN commentators smell blood (Cohen’s) in the water.
    • Cohen said before Congress that he would never accept a pardon from Trump, but he admitted on the stand that he would have.
    • Palatore (former Trump lawyer).  Giuliani told Cohen that he wasn’t getting a pardon and not to bring it up again.
    • (Note: Rob Costello comes off like a mobster.  They may well call him, because he is willing to lie, repeatedly, like any mobster.)
    • Honig: The theory of the defense is that Cohen will lie in any situation where it is to his benefit.  Now and in the past.
    • Cohen is not the defendant in this case.
    • Blanche moving to the scum Robert Costello.  Costello spoke with him after the FBI raided Cohen’s home.  Costello “testified” before this ridiculous committee on Capital Hill yesterday. 
    • Costello testifying: “flipping” “that’s the term we use in the trade for cooperating.”  (Note: What trade? The Mob trade?)
    • Costello briefly represented Cohen and repeatedly asked Cohen if he had anything on Trump  that he could use to cooperate.  (Note: Does this seem like a mob operation or what?  He wasn’t there to help Cohen, he was there to see if Cohen had damaging information on Trump, i.e., whether they needed to have someone kill him.)
    • (Note: Of course Cohen told Costello he didn’t have any incriminating information on Trump.  Cohen already testified that he didn’t trust Costello, and thought Costello told Giuliani everything and Giuliani told Trump).
    • Costello testified in front of the grand jury.
    • March 5, 2019 claims in front of Congress he would never accept a pardon and talks about intimidation, even of his family.
    • Cohen testified that Costello was mistrusted was “sketchy.”  This came out on direct.  (Costello was saying Cohen had friends in high places and didn’t need to flip.)
    • Costello represented Giuliani.  He has not been paid for this work even though Costello and Giuliani went to Mara-Shit-Go to beg for money.
    • Donald Trump perks up in court and looks at the witness when he smells blood.  (Note: That should tell you everything you need to know about this bastard.)

  • PRELIMINARY AFTERNOON NOTES ON COHEN TESTIMONY



     



    Afternoon News Notes (11:54 AM)



     



    Cohen Cross



    ·      
    Cohen
    is arguing that his tax fraud charges were not legitimate, or deserved.  He says he wants the information out tat the prosecutors
    in the Southern District of New York were corrupt.  Cohen says yes.



    ·      
    (Note:
    This is a bad road to go down.)  (Note:
    This is the situation where they threatened to indict his wife on a Monday to
    pressure him to plead.)



    ·      
    Cohen
    criticized the judge (Pauley) and said he was “in on it.”



    ·      
    This
    is the goal of the defense to get him agitated. 
    Cohen says he was not guilty of crimes he pled guilty to.



    ·      
    They
    have succeeded in getting Cohen to be defensive.



    ·      
    Adam
    Kaufmann, former DA:



    ·      
    Q:
    Did you plead guilty to protect your wife?



    ·      
    A:
    Yes.



    ·      
    Q:
    Did you feel the charges were too harsh?



    ·      
    A:
    Yes.



    ·      
    Q:
    Are defendants allowed to feel that the charges against them are too harsh?



    ·      
    A:
    Yes.



    ·      
    Q:
    Does feeling like the charges are too harsh make you wildly different from
    other people who are prosecuted?



    ·      
    A:
    No.



    ·      
    (Note:
    This is so easy to explain.)



    ·      
    Q:
    Are you in some ways more competent to hold this position (that the charges
    were too harsh) because you were an attorney?



    ·      
    A:
    Yes.



  • PRELIMINARY TRUMP ELECTION INTERFERRENCE TRIAL NOTES FOR SECOND DAY COHEN CROSS



    THURSDAY 16 MAY 2024



    AFTERNOON NEWS NOTES: TRUMP ELECTION INTERFERENCE TRIAL



    10:10 AM



    ·       Trump’s
    little Congressional cheerleading group is there in court this morning, including
    Matt Gatz and that Bobert woman.  What a
    pair, whoops (Note: What a pair.)



    ·       Blanche
    is having Cohen watch his own podcast where he says: “Picturing Donald Trump
    being led through the booking process…fills me with delight and sadness at the
    same time.”  (Note: And, the point of
    that particular tidbit is what?  That
    Cohen is human?)



    ·       Reporter
    from the Courtroom note that Cohen’s voice is considerably different on the podcast.  (Note: I tried to listen to cohen’s podcast
    and couldn’t stand the fact that he screamed during the first 10-15 minutes.)



    ·       Blanche
    is playing Cohen, talking fast, saying f…ing hope Trump ends up in prison.  I want this man to “rot inside for what he
    did to my family.”



    ·       (Note:
    The are going to use that horrible lawyer as a witness.  Robert somebody.  He was before Congress yesterday.)



    ·       (Note:
    Cohen’s soft point is his family. 
    Blanche has to figure out how to bring his family into this.)



    ·       (Note:
    Members of Congress’s travel is not being funded by Trump.)



    ·       (Note:
    Regarding the “he lied before so why would you trust anything he says” issue:
    Somebody needs to talk to a sociologist about the effects of culture.  Cohen grew up in and lived in a criminal
    subculture, TRUMP’S SUBCULTURE.  Doing
    the kinds of things that Cohen did for Trump was just a normal part of that
    subculture – lying, manipulating, bullying, fast talking, loyalty to the gang
    and boss.  The prosecution should ask Cohen
    how long he lived in that subculture. 
    Then, they should ask why he came to see that it was a subculture, one
    that was working badly for him (family). 
    Then, the prosecutors should ask if this transition happened all in one
    day?  “Did it take you time to find your
    way operating in this new subculture in which you weren’t trying to scam, lie,
    manipulate, cheat, fool, bully everybody? Was this transition an overnight
    thing?  When you decided to leave that
    subculture did it suddenly make it hard for you to make a living?  (Disbarred, etc).  So you had to learn how to make a living
    without a law license, without all the contact you had built up over the years,
    and Trump and his minions actively working against you?  This humanizes Cohen and helps explain what
    the Defense is trying to make a problem, i.e., that Cohen didn’t just have a
    miraculous visit from God and afterward become a saint who never lied or scratched
    to get a job.



    ·       (Note:
    That was the way I was used to operating, the way I had operated for
    years.  It was hard for me not to fall
    back on that, or to maintain some of the secrets just by instinct.



    ·       Honig
    has a book (of course)



    ·       We are
    beginning the long walk through all Michael Cohen’s lies over the years. 



    ·       (Note:
    Also overcomes the argument that Cohen sometimes lied for himself not just
    for  Trump)



    ·       Ron
    Kuby, Defense Attorney, makes the point that juries regularly accept
    corroborated testimony from the worst people against other bad people.  White collar cases, criminal mob cases.



  • TUESDAY 14 MAY 2024

    Afternoon News Notes: Trump Trial, Ukraine, Israel

    • The White House condemned an attack on aid trucks by Israeli settlers.  They convoy was heading to Gaza.  The settlers threw packages of food into the road and set fire to the vehicles (Guardian 5/13/24).
    • The Russians are attacking closer to Kharkiv.  It is thought that they do not have sufficient forces to take Kharkiv, but they are nibbling away.  This is a significant Russian gain.
    • The Ukrainians do not have adequate weapons to fight the new Russian incursion.  People are being evacuated.
    • 810th day of this invasion of Ukraine.  The Ukrainians are exhausted.
    • Interesting article about Israel: Pinkas, Alon (5/13/24) “This Independence Day, Israel has Split into Two Incompatible Jewish States.” Haaretz.
    • Israeli tanks have reached residential portions of Rafah (Guardian)
    •  
    •  

    Trump Election Interference Trial

    • Cohen admits that after the break with Trump, he missed him.
    • Cohen idolized Trump, and when he felt betrayed by Trump, he turned on him and there is a lot of hurt and anger there.  Who could feel differently?
    • Over on AMVO (Steve Bannon’s channel) they are going on and on about the border, nationalizing the National Guard. 
    • A potential appeal could involve using the state law against a federal candidate. 
    • We are not sure what the crime there was an attempt to conceal.  We don’t know exactly what that crime is and the prosecution has finished.  What is the trial strategy of not making this specific. 
    • Why didn’t the federal government bring charges against Trump?  They charged Cohen and mentioned Individual #1 in the charging document.  (Note: F…ing Merrick Garland)
    • Another appeal issue might be the breadth of Stormy Daniels’ testimony. 
    • What is the basis for making this a felony?  The prosecution has not made this clear.  It is the prerogative of the DA to not choose a specific underlying crime. 
    • Chris Jansing is asking whether this refusal to make explicit the underlying crime feeds into the distrust of the justice system and if the prosecutors don’t owe the public this information.
    • There might be multiple underlying crimes.  Three different crimes were brought out at the beginning of the trial.
    • Weissmann: (Burglary versus trespass).  It’s normal not to tell the defense anything.  Trump was given more information than most defendants. 
    • (Note: MSNBC has brought in Andrew Weissmann and two other people (Catherine Christian) and broken up this disastrous Jansing/Tur/Mitchell trio.)
    • Jury Consultant: Leslie Ellis: How are Cohen’s answers playing with the jury.  Asking on direct, takes out some of the sting.  Making distinctions between lie and inaccuracy, bugs jurors.  Does having political allies of Trump showing up matter to the jury.  “It could a little bit.”  It is helpful to see that there are supporters.  They weren’t there during the beginning, might wonder why they have shown up there.  How about the sleeping? Mouth open?  Jurors pay attention to everything.  “They are watching every move everybody makes.”  (Note: the note passed by Habba). 
    • (Note: Commentators are saying that this cross is likely to take a long time because Trump wants Cohen to be viciously attacked on everything).
    • CNN now continues coverage including two former Trump lawyers.
    • Michael van der Veen, Former Trump Attorney.  Better opening question would have been “Do you consider yourself an honest man.”  The prosecution gave all the context, and the defense now doesn’t have to do that.  She helped the defense.
    • Van der Veen: Trump would probably like to push, push, push and get as many witnesses as possible.  “I thought for sure he would testify.”
    • William J. Brennan, former Trump attorney: The prosecution could rest after Cohen. 
    • Tapper: Pomerantz wrote a book saying that Bragg was too chicken to bring this case. 
    • (Note: The tee shirts, the Tiktok, all of it is bravado, building his courage to take on Trump, his father who has betrayed him.  I would like to see Jr. or Eric do this.  They don’t have the cojones.”
    • The cross is over for the day.
    • Trump reads out a list of people he wants targeted.  Now he’s going on about terms he “made up” “Biden immigrant crime.”  Trump is showing a picture of a “criminal.”  “We would have had no inflation with me.”  People cannot “find hope.” 
    • MSNBC: During jury selection, the prosecution asked the potential jurors if they understood having a hit man, directing action but not taking part in it.
    • (Note: Ihave to say, if you want intelligent  discussion, Nicolle Wallace wins out.)

  • US reaction to settler violence

    The White House has condemned an attack on an aid convoy heading to Gaza by Israeli settlers who threw packages of food into the road and set fire to the vehicles.

    apple.news/ArjIjFkvKRGyeadFy8yMmyQ

  • Art:Cubism

    getdailyart.com/en/24726/juan-gris/guitar-with-inlays

  • Georgia protests: Riot police face off against foreign influence bill demonstrators

    Thousands have gathered outside parliament in Tbilisi to protest the bill they say is Russian-inspired.
    — Read on www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-69001339

  • Essential Podcast: Russian Shakeup

    podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-week-ahead-in-russia/id1444602808

  • https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/13/world/europe/secret-hamas-files-palestinians.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

    Hamas surveillance.

  • Trump puts planet up for sale.

    podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-hartmann-report/id1265276064

  • Justice system.

    x.com/mluckovichajc/status/1788941557061570746

  • TRUMP TRIAL AND ISRAEL/HAMAS



    TUESDAY 7 MAY 2024


    Trump Trial (CNN and MSNBC)



    ·       (Note:
    Commentators seem to think that jurors are going to be put off by the fact that
    Daniels had sex with Trump and without a condom.  I wouldn’t exactly call this “salacious” bit
    of information, and I’m older than most of them.)



    ·       The
    defense is trying to portray Stormy Daniels as a gold digger who made up most
    if not all of this story.



    ·       (Note:
    One commentator made the statement that the defense was using the fact that
    Daniels planned to get something out of her relationship with Trump.  I think Trump damn well thought he was going
    to get something out of his relationship with her.)



    ·       (Note:
    CNN and MSNBC need to have some sociologists and intelligence experts on and
    not just lawyers.  We are being
    repeatedly dragged through every legal issue raised in the case, but none of
    the wider implications.  I, for one,
    would like to hear a conversation about the scuzzy, low-life world of grifters
    and money grubbers Trump wallowed around in. 
    I would like to hear a conversation about capitalism and the types of
    personalities it creates.)



    ·       (Note:
    Finally Nicolle Wallace is at work. 
    These folks like Anna Cabrerer and Chris Jansing just don’t have much
    interesting to say.  They are hard to
    listen to and they ask four paragraph questions.)



    ·       “How
    did I misread this so badly to get here?” 
    Stormy Daniels



    ·       She
    thought the interaction would be good for her career.



    ·       Daniels
    was asked if she hated Trump.  She said
    yes.”  (Note: Good for her.)



    ·       Daniels
    made some jokes in the beginning of her testimony.  The jokes were in “bad taste” at the very
    least, but she is a nervous, chatty talker and evidently felt uncomfortable in
    the beginning.



    ·       (Note:
    The Cross will last into Thursday).



    ·       (Note:
    Last night on CNN, Erin Burnett informed us that there was one day between
    Tuesday and Thursday.  She also once
    after the San Bernardina terrorist shooting that the woman who took part must
    have been suffering from post-partum depression????)



    ·       Trump
    introduced Daniels to McDougal as some event 
    We don’t know whether this was before, during or after his “affair” with
    her.



    ·       (Note:
    What the hell is going on with Ted Blanche?)



    ·       “This
    is a problem from the left.”  Trump is
    referring to the demonstrators for Palestine. 
    The right loves this. 



     



    ISRAEL: Haaretz



    ·       Citizens
    in Israel are in the streets protesting in support of prioritizing the release
    of the hostages.



    ·       There
    is a Hamas delegation in Cairo for hostage talks.



    ·       Gallant:
    The Rafah operation will not stop until Hamas is defeated or the first hostage
    is released.



    ·       Israel
    grants control of crossing between Gaza and Egypt to a private US firm.



    ·       Opinion
    by Amira Hass: attacks of Palestinians by Jewish settlers has increased.



    ·        



    ART



    Wednesday



    Bazille’s Studio by Frederic Bazille



  • ISRAEL AND HAMAS

    WEEKEND NEWS NOTES

     SATURDAY/SUNDAY 4, 5 MAY 2024

    BBC News Newshour (5/4/24)

    Israel/Hamas

    •        We’ve been here before, but reports are that a cease fire is imminent.

    •        Protests in Israel by hostage families continue.

    •        (Note: Haaretz publishes piece arguing that Netanyahu is purposefully standing in the way of a peace agreement.)

    •        Netanyahu’s partners in the coalition say that without a ground offensive in Rafah, they will leave the government and bring it down.

    •        Finance Minister Smotrich says a deal without an offensive in Rafah would be a “disaster.”

    Interview with Amir Avivi, retired military now with a defense think tank in Israel.  Israel insists that even with a cease-fire (of about 40 days) the ground invasion in Rafah will begin once this is over.

    •        It is felt that a complete cease-fire will mean that Israel will lose the war and the past six months will “be for nothing.”

    •        Hamas is not going to release all the hostages.  We need to free them with military action.

    •        Sinwar is in Rafah.  Rafah is the last stronghold.  This is going to be  the decisive battle where Hamas will be destroyed.

    Assassination of Sikh Indian activist

    •        Hardeep Singh Nijar’s death in Canada.  (Note: This followed an attempted assassination of another Sikh activist in the US).

    •        Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has alleged that the Indian authorities could have been involved.

    •        Nijar worked with groups who wanted to carve out part of India as a separate Sikh state. 

    •        It is described by a reporter, Stephen Chase, Globe and Mail in Ottawa, as a gangland-killing.

    •        The Indian government regards the Sikh movement to establish a separate state, seditious, and they want Canada to arrest these people and ship them back home.

    •        The government claims that these groups are sending arms back to India.  They have provided no evidence of this to Canada.

    •        In the United States, there was a separate attempted assassination of another Sikh activist.

    THE NATION PODCAST: The Time of Monsters, Yousef Munayyer, Palestinian Writer

    •        The campus violence is not something Americans have seen in the recent past.

    •        The scale of what’s taking place is impressive.  What took so long?  How widespread this is…the diversity of the students involved…students willing to sacrifice…expulsions, evictions…people are willing to “pay a price.”

    •        “It’s been seven months and seventy-five years.”

    •        “Palestinian dispossession…”

    •        There was a “lot of planning and a lot of organizing.”  (Note: Get podcast of reporter going to Columbia.)

    •        “Joe Biden is undermining his own coalition.”

    •        The cost of our relationship with Israel is getting too high.

    •        Biden’s approach may well cost him the election.

    •        Biden’s national security people completely misread the region. 

    •        25 min.

    SUNDAY

    News Notes

    Israel/Hamas

    •        Netanyahu has turned down a ceasefire proposal which would have involved releasing hostages. 

    •        The US has “paused” some funding for Israel (CNN, 7:54).

    MSNBC (Ayman)

    •        Tim Scott was asked six times if the 2020 election was legitimate.  He evaded an answer.

    •        House pressure to stop the ground invasion of Rafah.  They are urging him to withhold some offensive military aid to Israel.

    •        There is a national security deadline over military aid in three days.

    •        Netanyahu has blocked Al Jazeera broadcasts in Israel.  An Al Jazeera office was raided today.

    •        This is the first time Israel has shuttered a news outlet. 

    •        Foreign Press Association: This is a dark day for democracy.

    •        Foreign journalists are barred from Gaza unless they are embedded with Israeli troops.

    •        Israel has been accused of targeting journalists.  Israel denies this.

    •        Israel has a disturbing history of jailing journalists.

    •        Managing Editor, Al Jazeera, Mohamed Moawad: Al Jazeera has provided the primary coverage of Gaza.  The ban covers Israel proper, not the “occupied regions.”  The ban is ambiguous and Al Jazeera (AJ) is not certain exactly how it will be implemented.  AJ is accused of being a threat to national security.  AJ has been criticized by the Arab world for having Israeli officials on the network.