Gerald Posner

The word genocide is back on a loop. Macklemore is dropped from a tour, AOC calls the cancellation a cover-up of “the genocide in Gaza,” and Greta Thunberg says artists who stay silent in the face of “genocide” will not be forgotten.

Before the word does any more work it has not earned, read what it actually requires.

I have unlocked the paywall on Genocide for Dummies — the 6,000-word primer I wrote as a lawyer and reporter. It walks through the legal definition and the four modern cases in which a competent court has actually found genocide, and explains why Gaza does not meet the legal standard.

It is time to stop using it as inflammatory political rhetoric.
🔗 justthefacts.media/p/genocide-for…

Representative Anna Paulina Luna decided there was more than one gunman in Dallas before she had opened a single JFK file. Now, with Democrats taking control of Congress, her JFK fishing expedition might be coming to an end.

Luna just survived the closest race of her career, in a district redrawn to be a bit friendlier to her, and the AP needed two days to call it. She was hailed as a MAGA star after her 2024 victory and the next year launched a high-profile hearing into the JFK assassination. Oliver Stone was one of her star witnesses, and she stacked the witness list toward conspiracy and coverup, ignoring offers from those who had reached a different conclusion to testify or provide information to the committee staff. I never heard back from her after sending her a copy of Case Closed.

As the results came in Tuesday night, Rep. Robert Garcia, who is expected to chair Oversight, told Republicans to “lawyer up.” The priorities he has described include the Trump family’s business dealings, ICE, and Epstein. The JFK files are not among them.

Where I stand: for years I have called publicly for the release of every sealed JFK document. I have faulted Biden and Trump for holding back when the law gave them the power to release everything. I have faulted the CIA for slow-walking files that almost never concern the shooting itself, only some embarrassing side operation or “sources and methods.”

Transparency is not optional. But what Luna launched was “oversight” in which the conclusion was already in the can, and the hunt was for files to prove the thesis. Release it all, then follow the evidence. I’ve done that for more than 30 years, and when it comes to the question of ‘who killed Kennedy,’ it still ends with one gunman on November 22, 1963.

Qatar’s PM calls his talks with Trump and Vance on a US-Iran deal “positive.”

After the midterms rout and polls showing deep bilateral discontent with the war, I worry this administration is desperate for any exit deal. No one should be surprised Qatar is now the trusted broker. What could possibly go wrong?

A total reversal of the pediatric gender ban in Texas? Elections have consequences.

Democrats flipped the Texas governor's office and the House on November 3. On the first day lawmakers could pre-file bills for 2027, Rep. Donna Howard filed HB 126, a sweeping repeal of the state's abortion restrictions. Buried in it is a repeal of SB 14, the 2023 law that bars puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgeries for minors.

I have reported extensively about the permanent adverse effects and consequences of this unproven “care” for children. Decisions made at 14 that can't be undone later..

Sweden, Finland and the UK are some of the countries that have pulled back.

The first Democratic move in Texas goes the other way.
It won't pass the Republican Senate. But the governor-elect said this wasn't her priority, it’s a messaging move. Her own House caucus just told voters that reinstating pediatric gender hormones and surgery is an early priority for Texas Democrats.

This is one of those days