Did Abigail Spanberger have her Dukakis moment?
In a 1988 presidential debate, Dukakis was asked if he’d support the death penalty if his wife Kitty were raped and murdered. His answer was considered cold, but then again the question was extremely strange coming from the moderator:
In the recent debate between the two candidates for the governorship of Virginia, Democrat Spanberger had a similarly cold reacion to a “what if?” question, this time asked by her opponent:
If fantasizing about murdering a dad and his two boys isn’t enough for Abigail to drop her endorsement of Jay Jones—what is?
Does he have to actually pull the trigger? pic.twitter.com/0UiItW4WMZ
— Winsome Earle-Sears (@winwithwinsome) October 10, 2025
Spanberger is the frontrunner.
Hostage releases, prisoner exhcanges, and the Israeli death penalty
It was inevitable that after the announcement of the Israel/Gaza peace plan agreement and the initial euphoria about the hostage return, two things would occur fairly quickly. The first is that the Palestinians would declare this to be a victory for them, and the second is that Israel would be releasing tons of very dangerous and fanatical prisoners who would then go on to attempt to wreak destruction on Israelis and on Israel.
And sure enough, this sort of vicious murderer is rumored to be about to be released, among others too numerous to mention. And yes, Gazans are celebrating in their own very special way:
One group of Gazans was captured on video chanting “Khaybar, Khaybar, ya Yahood, jaish Muhammad sa yaoud.” That is, “Khaybar, Khaybar, O Jews, the army of Muhammad will return.”
The fact that they’re chanting this is a clear indication that there will be no peace, as this chant is nothing less than a call for genocide.
I expect nothing less from them.
Still, Israel has shown an impressive ability to find and kill its enemies, wherever they may be, so I doubt the released prisoners will feel entirely safe. Then again, isn’t it ironic that Israel doesn’t execute such killers in the first place – keeping them alive and making itself vulnerable to hostage-taking in order to free them – and yet executes them extra-judicially with drones and the like?
It has to do with some peculiarities of Israeli law:
Capital punishment is a legal penalty in Israel. Capital punishment has only been imposed twice in the history of the state and is only to be handed out for treason, genocide, crimes against humanity, and crimes against the Jewish people during wartime.
An argument could be made that terrorist attacks fall under this definition, but it’s not the way the law has been used so far. This reluctance has a basis in Jewish tradition. It’s ironic that Jews are portrayed as “eye for an eye” justice-seekers when in reality that acted as a limiting principle, and Jews have long been reluctant to impose the death penalty:
Israel’s rare use of the death penalty may in part be due to Jewish religious law. Biblical law explicitly mandates the death penalty for 36 offenses, from murder and adultery to idolatry and desecration of the Sabbath. However, in ancient Israel, the death penalty was rarely carried out. Jewish scholars since the beginning of the common era have developed such restrictive rules to prevent execution of the innocent that the death penalty has become de facto abolished. Moses Maimonides argued that executing a defendant on anything less than absolute certainty would lead to a slippery slope of decreasing burdens of proof, until we would be convicting merely “according to the judge’s caprice”. His concern was maintaining popular respect for law, and he saw errors of commission as much more threatening than errors of omission. Conservative Jewish religious leaders and scholars believe that the death penalty should remain unused, even in extreme cases such as political assassination.
One of the reasons is that during the 1948 war, an Israeli officer was accused of espionage, court-martialed, and then exonerated because the charges turned out to be false.
In recent years, Israel has been edging closer to having the death penalty be available for terrorists, but it’s not yet the law. That means that such people remain in Israel’s prisons, which would seem to be an encouragement for hostage-taking rather than a deterrence, given Israel’s willingness to make such exchanges in order to get hostages back. If there were no Arab terrorist murderers in Israeli prisons, there almost certainly would be less motivation to take hostages because the terrorists would get smaller fish in exchange.
This article presents the argument against the death penalty for terrorists (both in the US and in Israel), which goes like this: execution wouldn’t be a deterrent because terrorists don’t care if they die, and don’t mind being martyred, either. The idea is that it creates an incentive through martyrdom rather than a disincentive for terrorism.
That makes a certain amount of sense regarding terrorism, although I don’t really buy it because even in prison such people become heroes and martyrs. And it doesn’t make any sense regarding hostage-taking with the goal of freeing prisoners, which it encourages.
Roundup
(1) Pigs fly, and MSNBC gives Trump credit for his Middle East negotiations.
(2) Letitia James must have thought she was immune from having to answer for her own deceptive record-keeping. But instead she’s been indicted for fraud:
New York state Attorney General Letitia James was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury in Virginia on charges of bank fraud and making false claims to a financial institution that netted her nearly $19,000 in savings on a loan for a second home, according to the Department of Justice.
James indicted Trump for far far less – essentially, a made-up crime. I would bet she never thought the GOP would go after her, despite this – and/or she thought she’d be successful in her prosecution of Trump and he would never have the power to go after her.
(3) One might think that the “Israel is committing genocide!!” folks and the “Ceasefire now!!” crowd would be singing Trump’s praises. Nope:
The people who’ve been noisily clamouring for an end to the war in Gaza are either mute or they’re moaning. Don’t trust that snake Benjamin Netanyahu, some say. If I thought a genocide was being executed in Gaza, a crime as cataclysmic as anything the Nazis did, I’d be on the streets celebrating this morning. Yet these people can barely be arsed to put a thumbs-up on Instagram.
We know why: it’s because Trump has called their bluff. In fact, this could prove to be one of the most consequential bluff-callings of modern times. Trump hasn’t only managed to get two mortal enemies to sign on the dotted line of a deal. He has also, as a side effect, torn off the veil of pacifism worn by Israel’s legion loathers in the West and compelled them to come clean. He has created a situation where the true aim of this army of Israel haters – the dismantling of the Jewish State – will have nowhere left to hide. …
They’re iffy about Trump’s plan for some one simple reason: it leaves the Jewish State intact and it demands the surrender of Hamas. It thwarts their dystopic dream of dragging the Middle East back to 1948, before the modern state of Israel existed. Everyone can now see that what falsely presented itself as a peace movement was in truth a ruthless campaign of delegitimation, demonisation and even destruction waged against the world’s only Jewish nation by our post-reason elites.
(4) The man arrested for starting the Palisades fire seems to be a Trump-hating guy who was obsessed with climate change worries, but also was just very very odd and angry, threatening relatives as well. This seems to be the pattern for so many recent killers and other public enemies: a combination of politics and mental disturbance fuels their violence.
(5) A documentary about Melania Trump will be released in January. The woman is incapable of looking bad. There’s only good and very very good and excellent.
(6) Trump didn’t get the Nobel Peace Prize, but then again the nominations were closed at the end of last January. Meanwhile, it was awarded to Venezuelan activist Maria Corina Machado, who dedicated it to “the suffering people of Venezuela and to President Trump for his decisive support for our cause!”
Amazing.
Open thread 10/10/2025
Some of these are quite impressive in their attention to costuming details:
And then there’s Katie Porter
Things continue to deteriorate for California gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter. In what appears to be a coordinated opposition research drop, and a well-deserved one at that, the Democrat has faced multiple leaked videos showing her less-than-stellar temperament.
As RedState reported, she recently blew up on a local reporter, ending the interview and chastizing her for asking follow-up questions. Shortly after that clip went viral, another video emerged of Porter cussing out one of her staffers for being “in her shot.”
The moral of the story is that you’re overwhelmingly obnoxious as well as abusive to your staffers, they may extract revenge by leaking some stuff that reveals exactly how dreadful you are. That appears to be what’s happening to Porter. Never mind opposition research leaks; her opposition is her own ex-staff – or perhaps her present staff?
Here’s the interview with the local reporter, in case you haven’t watched it. Porter is imperious and seems to believe no follow-up questions should be asked of her:
The Leading CA Democrat attempts to implode her own campaign in one single interview pic.twitter.com/cpVJ2hgnzJ
— OC Scanner ?? ?? (@OC_Scanner) October 7, 2025
I have to hand it to the reporter, though.
Another post about Jay Jones – but it’s not just about Jones
It’s not just what Jones said (which I covered already, here as well as here). His venomous hatred of Republicans – even to the point of wishing death on one Republican’s small children – and his failure to take responsibility for an extreme case of reckless driving, as well as the delay in his apology for any of it – should utterly disqualify him for the post of Virginia’s AG and he should drop out of the race. But to do that would take a sense of morality, decency, responsibility, and shame, which he so far appears to lack.
But that’s just Jay Jones. He’s just one person. What’s far worse is the failure of his fellow Democrats to demand he drop out. They pay lip service to expressing disapproval, but it comes with a “yes, but” about the rest. In other words, they support his candidacy. And it’s highly possible that enough Virginia voters will agree and end up electing him. It is shocking that this is how he’s polling even after the revelation of his vile behavior:
In the wake of their publication on October 3, Jones’ polling has suffered. According to an internal poll for the Jones conducted by Hart Research Associates and reported by The New York Post, Jones is leading Miyares 46 percent to 45 percent. The poll of 600 Virginia voters was conducted between October 4 and 6. This shows his lead declining from previous polling.
A previous Washington Post-Schar School poll last Friday for instance, conducted before the texts were published, showed Jones ahead of Miyares by 51 percent to 45 percent.
So some Jones supporters have deserted him. But not all that many. Of course, more and more people may have heard about him since. But still, it’s an indication of our general loss of moral compass.
This isn’t an uncorroborated unproven accusation of sexual harassment. This isn’t some college indiscretion. This isn’t something minor, nor is it disputed that he said or wrote these incredibly hateful and violent things indicative of a warped, sick mind. But such thoughts are now mainstream among many Democrats. I’ve heard death wished on Trump so many times, stated so casually and glibly that it seems the speaker assumes that of course everyone within hearing agrees, that it no longer surprises me.
And this from the party that likes to call Charlie Kirk a “hater.” From the party that supports rage at “micro-aggressions” so minute they can barely be discerned.
Let’s assume the hostages come home
Caveat: I’ll believe it when I see it.
But let’s assume it really does happen. I hope it really does happen.
The price paid will be the release of an enormous number of terrorists, which Hamas will call a victory. But everyone knows that – at least at this point – the entire last two years has been no victory for Hamas.
That doesn’t mean they’re destroyed and ready to surrender. It does mean, however, that Israel reacted much more aggressively than expected, destroyed their infrastructure and leadership as never before, and may even be starting a process that will dismantle Hamas’ grip on Gaza.
Ah, but doesn’t the release of prisoners by Israel encourage the taking of new hostages? My answer is: no more than what has already happened. There have been many such exchanges already in this war, and the terrorists well know the value of taking hostages. In fact, they well knew it even before October 7; that’s why they took so many. It tears Israel apart, and Israel is willing to pay a huge price to get them back.
This time, Hamas also paid a huge price.
Part of that price is that many of Hamas’ Arab and Iranian sponsors may not be quite as keen in the future about dumping tons of money into Hamas coffers. This time, they themselves paid a big price – and I’m not talking about just money.
The return of the hostages will help Israel heal. The Netanyahu-haters, much like the Trump-haters, will never give Netanyahu credit and will continue to try to destroy him. But much of Israel will heave a huge sigh of relief.
And then there’s the worldwide Jew-hatred that’s been unleashed. Note that I say “unleashed” rather than “created.” I think it was there all the time, and was exhibited even on October 8, before Israel retaliated for October 7. The left, Iran, China, the UN, many Middle Eastern countries, academics world round, the press, and NGOs have been pushing it for decades. It will remain a big problem, but without the war to give it constant fuel, I think its expression will die down somewhat.
I’ll close with this from Isaiah:
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified.
4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolations of many generations.
Open thread 10/9/2025
The art of the Hamas deal
Who knows how this will really go?
But if the hostages do come back home – what a wonderful thing.
Israel and Hamas have struck a deal for Hamas to release all remaining hostages and for Israel to withdraw its forces to an “agreed upon line,” President Trump announced Wednesday, in what he called the “first Phase” of a peace deal to end the two-year-long war.
“This is a GREAT Day for the Arab and Muslim World, Israel, all surrounding Nations, and the United States of America,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!”
It’s from the Sermon On the Mount:
From the CBS article:
Two regional sources told CBS News there is an agreement on all sides in principle on a hostage release, but procedural issues remain.
We’ve all learned to be skeptical, but I’m both skeptical and hopeful. Those two things can coexist.
More:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also released a short statement on the hostages that read, “With God’s help we will bring them all home.” …
Hamas also confirmed in a statement it had reached an agreement.
The terrorist group praised Qatari, Egyptian and Turkish mediators in helping broker a deal, and specifically thanked Mr. Trump for his “efforts.”
Time will tell. But this is good news so far. Israel has accomplished a lot – and one of those things it has accomplished is that it knows that Hamas cannot be trusted, and so it must always always be on guard and high alert.
It’s been two years and a day since October 7, 2023.
The anti-ICE neo-Confederates
In Chicago on Saturday, a mob of protesters surrounded ICE agents on a routine patrol, ramming their vehicle and boxing it in with 10 cars to frustrate immigration enforcement efforts.
Chicago officials allegedly ordered the city’s police to stand down and not assist the federal agents — even though one of the “protesters” was armed and shots were exchanged.
Armed resistance to US government officers executing the law, with police refusing to back them up? That was no accident.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker didn’t condemn the violent resistance, but he did condemn the feds.
Reynolds goes on to mention the light sentence received by Roske (see this), and the vile spewings of Democratic candidate for Virgina AG Jay Jones and the failure of Virginia Democrats to demand his dropping out (see this). Both things signal that it’s okay for the left to try to kill people on the right, or to threaten to do so.
As Reynolds says, there’s “a whole infrastructure of funding, messaging and legal defense” supporting a rhetoric of violence against the right and supporting actual violence against the right, and against enforcement of federal policy such as deportations. He adds “Dare we call it an insurrection? If not, what is it?”
Well, you may recall that, during Trump’s first term, the left called it The Resistance – remember? They immediately – and I mean immediately – styled themselves as WWII-style freedom fighters, conjuring up the anti-Nazi comparison by that self-serving phrase Resistance.
Victor Davis Hanson has come up with a good descriptor [emphasis mine]:
In blue cities across America — Portland, Oregon, especially — often violent protesters now seek to surround ICE facilities to stop federal officers from fulfilling their assigned and legal duties of arresting illegal aliens. …
The masked rioters assault anyone in their way. They count on exemption from punishment for committing violence against federal officers through the goodwill or indifference of kindred local and state officials who hate the Trump administration more than they respect the law. An Orwellian scenario follows in which federal officers are attacked by Antifa, which in turn counts on the non-intervention of local police. …
America fought a Civil War over Confederate states’ efforts to ignore federal law and confiscate or occupy federal property within their state jurisdictions.
As late as 1963, Alabama Gov. George Wallace thought he could nullify federal law by using his state guard to deny black students’ enrollment in the University of Alabama — until the Kennedy administration federalized all state troopers and sent in additional federal troops. …
So what we are witnessing in Portland—and elsewhere—is a neo-Confederate attempt to supersede federal law and, in reactionary fashion, invoke states’ and cities’ rights. …
In other words, both Antifa and the appeasing Oregon officials are our new neo-Confederate secessionists. They feel that their states are now autonomous entities that are still entitled to federal money but not obligated to follow federal laws. …
For a party that has been quick to shout “insurrection,” it is ironic that Democrats and their useful, though violent, Antifa insurrectionists are in rebellion against the federal government and its agents.
Indeed. But isn’t it an old Democrat tradition?
Can the news on Jay Jones get even worse? Yes, it can.
Let’s see: Democrat AG candidate Jay Jones wanted the GOP Speaker of the Virginia House to be shot and his small children to be killed as well – supposedly in order to change the guy’s policies. Nothing like a little murder to bring you over to the Democrats.
Jones was also convicted of reckless driving and instead of serving time he did community service – with his own PAC.
But guess what? He didn’t have permission to do that:
… Jay Jones, the reckless driving and reckless texting Democrat running for attorney general in Virginia, may be in even more trouble. Restoration News has learned Jones did not have authorization to complete his community service time for reckless driving with his own political action committee (PAC). …
Court documents obtained by Restoration News show Jones waived his arraignment, with the first hearing in his case set for April 26, 2022. Then, Jones somehow got a continuation on his case six separate times—including because of a previously scheduled court matter, his wife getting called out of town, and Jones’ attorney not being available. The hearing— conveniently for Jones—finally happened after Jones had completed so-called “community service” and a driver improvement course.
Jones’ community service attestation included a letter from an organization called Meet our Moment (MOM)—oddly enough, Jones’ own PAC. The letter states that MOM’s mission is to “train civic leaders.” MOM’s website says it “recruits and trains minority Democratic candidates to run for and win state and local offices.” The attestation letter to the court appears to be a clear misrepresentation of the group’s purpose.
Not only is MOM a political group, but it’s also Jones’ own organization that has donated directly to the Democratic Party.
How did Jones, whose father was a prominent Virginia judge and former state legislator, get by with what appears to be special treatment? It took over two years for his case to be resolved and he completed community service for his own political organization.
Seems the Democrats should have vetted Jones just a mite better. Then again, so far they’re standing by their man. But there is a hint of something brewing on that front:
Virginia Democratic Attorney General candidate Jay Jones abruptly canceled a fundraising event Thursday night amid intense backlash from leaked text messages he sent calling for the Republican former state House speaker to be shot. …
Donors who reserved spots at the event were contacted by Jones’ campaign and told their donations would be refunded, sources told the outlet.
When I said that Democrats were still standing by him, I meant this sort of thing:
Most Virginia Democrats have condemned Jones’ comments — but many are still publicly backing him in the race against his opponent, incumbent Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares.
Kaine told reporters on Tuesday that he is “still a supporter,” of Jones — but called Jones’ comments “indefensible,” according to Axios.
“Indefensible” – but I’m defending him and want him as the state’s top legal mind.
I think it’s pretty simple: if Jones’ polls drop enough, and if they were able to replace him with someone else, they’d abandon him. But since they aren’t allowed to replace him – it’s too late – I think they won’t do much of anything.
And in fact, it’s even possible that he might win.