Presto! Change-o #2! It's a Hybrid RAV 4

Not MN 62, 
but you get the idea

Several weeks ago, I was minding my own business as I drove over to the kiddos to kiddo-sit while the Mr. and Mrs. Junior Son went out for the evening. Now, if you know the Twin Cities, you might happen to know that on MN 62, (aka the Crosstown) as you crest the hill by Cedar Avenue, the traffic almost always stops for no apparent reason. Since it was after dark, that long line of red, not moving tail lights was a dead giveaway and frankly, there was ample opportunity to stop on perfectly dry pavement. Assuming, of course, you're paying attention. I was. The car ahead of me wasn't paying quite as much attention and swerved onto the shoulder. I stopped, but left him room to straighten himself out. The BMW behind me was also paying attention, and he was slowing to a stop with ample room behind me. The jackass behind him, however, in the big-ass pick-up truck was not paying attention and slammed into BMW-guy who, in turn, was far enough away from me to just tap my rear bumper. 

I pulled off the road and went to see if I sustained any real damage that would keep me from getting to the kids. BMW-guy got outta his car and came running toward me yelling, "Are you okay? Are you okay?" I was fine until I realized BMW-guy running toward me was in one very elegant overcoat and a suit. OMG! A groom hit me! was all I could think because this guy was tailored and no one dresses like that in Minnesota except guys going to their own weddings. He was absolutely adorable and I, not being a cougar type, only wanted to feed him matzah ball chicken soup to make sure he was okay.

"I've never been in an accident!" he cried, panic in his eyes. "What do I do?" 

"Not to worry," I reassured him. "I'll call the cops. We hafta do that." We walked over to big-ass truck guy who was freaking out. For good reason. There were truck parts strewn all over the Crosstown. He clearly wasn't paying attention. We got him calmed down, took out licenses and insurance cards to the BMW and thank goodness for cell-phones, we all photographed our stuff. I called 911, got a variety of instructions, and told the guys to return to their cars, get in, and put their seatbelts on. I called the Junior Son and he was able to find me on the highway traffic cam. 

Once State Trooper Ostertag appeared on the scene like a Viking materializing out of the mists, I was given the okay to leave with a promise that I'd have the accident report later that night. 

Turns out, I didn't get love-tapped by any ol' guy in a suit. I got tapped by a major sports star whose name I had just heard on the news before I left the house because he had scored the winning goal in a shoot-out. I could not believe I did not recognize the name when I saw it on his license, much less his face....which I have shaded out here, along with his number. Let's just say he was darling. He was clearly shaken after seeing the mess of Silverado all over the road and the back end of his BMW. And he was still worried about the little old lady in the little old silver Rogue. 

As it turned out, the Rogue actually needed some repair. Not much, but the rear bumper was cracked. The guys who took over at the body shop (Superior if you're in Eagan...highly recommend) were terrific. As I was picking up the car, Eric, my restoration advocate, pointed out some emerging issues and gently suggested it might be time to begin thinking about a new car. 

Looks okay for 12 yrs old, eh?
See Presto! Change-o! It's a Rogue

Actually, I had already started the process. I really loved my Rogue and thought about just getting another one. The kids wanted me to get a Subaru, but I really wanted a hybrid. It was time to cut my footprint, so I began doing homework back in the summer. I drove the kids' Subarus with some regularity, but they weren't as nimble as I'm used to. There is a hybrid something coming in the 2025 model year according to reports, but getting information about it was almost impossible despite calls to two dealers. Rogue is no longer offering a hybrid so as much as I loved my car, it wasn't gonna happen. 

I had three big requirements for a new car: heated, leather super-adjustable seats, a sun/moonroof, and mud flaps. These may sound random to you, but every time I "built" a car online, those were three things I looked for in the accessories packages. I shopped the car types, went over every possible contender, did my homework and narrowed the field down to 2 hybrids: the RAV 4 and the Honda CR-V. 

My first test drive, the Honda CR-V, was surprisingly good. It handled well and was very responsive on the freeway, but I wasn't crazy about the control screen and the driver's seat. I sit up straight. as high as possible, and pretty far back; I couldn't find a comfortable spot.  The sales guy, however, was very nice, unlike the one from 12 years ago when I went to look at cars at that same dealership. 

My other stop was Luther Toyota all the way across town, owned by the same group as my Nissan dealership... as good a reason as any to make the trip. Twelve years of using a Luther shop for routine maintenance was enough of a recommendation. Again, it's the lone woman thing and I wanted a place where the management stood behind their cars and treated all customers as equals, something I rather liked about walking into the Nissan dealership.  Plus, I was going to see Scott Smith who I've known for years. We have talked about the RAV4 for years. I wanted to hear what he had to say, then drive a car with him. Even if I hadn't known Scott, he made the process easy and I would work with him again in a heartbeat. 

It didn't hurt that a RAV4 in the configuration I wanted (but not the color) happened to have just arrived and wasn't sold. Until that minute. But I will tell you what actually sold me on the car: the driver's seat.  

I love it. I'm still finessing the final position but one of the cool features is that I can set the positions, and if someone else drives, I can get my seat adjusted back to where I want it with a push of a single button. This is seriously handy when other people like to recline the seat so far back so that when I get in, I fall over like a turtle. For some odd reason, they view this as a spectator event and think it's very funny. 

There are so many bells and whistles on this thing that I make it a point every morning after minyan to take a moment to learn something new. You need a master's degree in engineering to figure out some of this stuff. I will eventually psych it all out and I'll find my radio stations. Yeah, I still listen to the radio.

Side note: Apple-head that I am, I've never talked much to Siri before, but she's kinda part of the deal. We have come to an understanding. When I say, "Hey, Siri?" she just answers, "Hmmm?" 

I can live with that.  

So I said Shehecheyanu, the prayer for firsts, the first time I sat in the car and prepared to drive. Then I stopped off at the Junior house just as Little Miss was getting off the school bus, so we said Shehecheyanu together. Then I leaned over and whispered, with any luck, this is your first car. The look on her face was priceless. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Only you can figure out when it's time to let go of shit,

when to let it slide off your plate.

Stop thinking there might have been something 

you could've done to fix it. 

To kiss it and make it all better. 

Chances are nothing would've helped 

and it wasn't your job in the first place. 

Be Careful What You Wish For

Dean Phillips

By the time most of you read this, the New Hampshire primary will be underway. It's really not much of a primary; everybody but Niki Haley has bowed out of the GOP side, Biden is the incumbent Democrat, and Congressman Dean Phillips, (MN-D, 3rd District) is running a campaign to give Democrats an alternative to Biden.

Phillips is an interesting guy. His dad, Artie Pfefer, was killed in Vietnam when he was 6 months old. His mother, DeeDee, married Eddie Phillips (whose mother happened to be Dear Abby) when Dean was about three. Eddie adopted him, hence his surname is Phillips. But that's neither here nor there. What makes him interesting is that he's a three-term Congressclown, having beaten the incumbent GOP clown with 55% of the vote in 2018. No Dem had held that seat since 1961, so that should tell you something about him. 

Like Feckless Loser, he inherited his first conglomerate, Phillips Distilling, but he didn't drive that into the ground. Not at all. As per Wikipedia,

Phillips served as the company's president and CEO from 2000 to 2012. He then stepped aside to run one of his other corporate investments, Talenti gelato, until it was sold for an undisclosed amount to Unilever in 2014. In 2016 he founded Penny's Coffee, a coffee shop chain he still owns, which has two locations in the Twin Cities metropolitan area as of 2022.

[Confession: The best Talenti flavors are Sea Salt Caramel and Pacific Coast Pistachio. And they're all OU. Just sayin.']

The guy knows how to run a business. He has a proven track record. Plus, he's 55 years old. He appears to be in good health. Is he perfect? No. Is he squeaky clean? Probably not. Am I supporting him? Not at this time. Have I thought about it? Yes. 

I don't think he's undermining Biden; I think he's asking some seriously legitimate questions that need to be asked. There is no small number of voters on both sides looking for an alternative candidate. A third party candidate might be a disaster. But the right candidate might bring a wide enough swath into the voting booth to stop the fall. Can one be found? I have no idea, but it's nice someone is trying. 

As long as the American public continues to drink the Kool-Aid that Biden is lousy for the economy, there may not be a viable path to salvage his campaign. So far, the only one talking loud is Feckless, and his minions don't care what he says. 

I'm gonna go out on a limb here and predict Feckless is gonna get another shot at the presidency. This worries me on two very different planes.

The first is that of late, he makes speeches that make no sense....the WORDS don't make sense. Two nights ago, in one of his speeches about January 6th, he consistently confused Nancy Pelosi with Nikki Haley, claiming she was the one in charge of security during the January 6th insurrection:

Nikki Haley, you know they, do you know they destroyed all of the information, all of the evidence, everything, deleted and destroyed all of it. All of it, because of lots of things like Nikki Haley is in charge of security. We offered her 10,000 people, soldiers, National Guard, whatever they want. They turned it down. They don’t want to talk about that. These are very dishonest people."

Twins!

Haley was never in Congress; she was, however, his representative to the United Nations. 

The gaffs are too numerous to list,  but if someone doesn't begin to call this orange's mental acuity and fitness into question, then no one is doing their job. That his followers don't seem to mind that he cannot put together a cogent sentence is terrifying. Are they willing to elect a guy with obvious cognitive decline to carry the nuclear codes in his back pocket?

Add to that this dictator on day one business. The New York Times printed parts of the December 5th, 2023 FOX Town Hall with Sean Hannity:

But Mr. Hannity, a longtime Trump ally, was apparently unsatisfied, and five minutes later, he brought up the issue again. “You are promising America tonight, you would never abuse this power as retribution against anybody?” he said.

 

“Except for Day 1,” Mr. Trump said breezily. There was the smallest silence. “Except for—” Mr. Hannity responded, sounding a bit flustered.

 

“Look,” Mr. Trump joked to the crowd watching him in Davenport, Iowa. “He’s going crazy.”

 

And even as Mr. Hannity tried to clarify that Mr. Trump had no intention of abusing his office, Mr. Trump did not state a clear aversion to the idea of authoritarian power.

 

“This guy, he says, ‘You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?’” Mr. Trump said, referring to Mr. Hannity. “I said, ‘No, no, no — other than Day 1.’ We’re closing the border. And we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.”

As we say in  Minnesota, Ja, sure, you betcha you're gonna stop. 

During the immunity hearing, the following exchange took place between Judge Florence Pan and Feckless Loser's attorney, D. John Sauer:

Judge Pan: I asked you a yes-or-no question. Could a president who ordered SEAL Team 6 to assassinate a political rival, who was not impeached, would he be subject to criminal prosecution?  

Attorney Sauer: Qualified yes – if he is impeached and convicted first.

With SCOTUS firmly in his pocket, his belief that he can order a hit on an opposition leader, do you really think the Constitution as we know it will hold up against his promised power grab? I don't. 

I think the Constitution will be repealed and dismantled in parts, supported by a court that doesn't give a flying fart in space for anything but their own pockets. And those members of the court who dissent? They will be impeached, disbarred, and disinappeared*. 

Ready for part two? Ever ask yourself What happens if he runs and loses?

The idea that he could run and win is not nearly as terrifying as what happens if he loses again.

This time, it won't be a failed insurrection at the Capitol building. This time, his anti-democracy minions have had more than enough time to not just learn from the January 6th failure, but how to start a civil war.  These guys have not stood still. Behind closed doors, deep in the forests, and tucked away in the hills, those guys Feckless Loser told to stand down have done exactly that. They stood down, stepped back, and are planning the demise of the United States as we know it. Feckless, of course, will think he's the dictator, but we all know that's poppycock. He will be the puppet whose strings are jerked by the new versions of Bannon and Miller. 

There is no clear dividing line as there was in the first Civil War. A division will not be cleanly cut. A friend in the military pointed out that most of the brass would uphold their oath to defend the constitution and fight to save a democratic republic such as it is. The troops, on the other hand, may not understand the nuance. That is dangerous on a whole bunch of other levels. 

What happens in the US matters across the globe. If we fall, other democracies will fall without our support...places like Ukraine and Israel. 

And if Israel falls?

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Think long and hard about your political choices. 

*Disinappeared: an original word by the Senior Son.

Firing Up The Ol' WABAC Machine for this one.

Thank you, Senior Son.

For reasons I cannot readily or flippantly excuse, I fired up Mr. Peabody's ol' WABAC Machine and drifted through posts from 2015 and 2016, wondering about what I said the first time. I remember being fairly prescient about Feckless Loser....referred to back then as Rumpled Trumpskin....and I was already concerned this guy could actually win. There were a whole lotta moving parts at the beginning of 2016. On January 11th, 2016. I wrote:

Not to be left out, the Donald has his own issues. According to the Huffington Post, Herr Trump has received the coveted endorsement of the American Freedom Party. If you are unfamiliar with their True American Platform, you might want to check them out. After all, they have dialed over 200,000 robo-calls in Iowa on Herr Trump's behalf. [Listen to the call;] this is the voice of the New America...according to supporters of the Donald. These guys are the direct descendants, and proud ones, at that, of the Brown Shirts. And they have every intention of promoting that cause through the Donald.

And boy did they ever do that. Face it folks, those jackbooted assholes showed just how successful they were when, in the summer of 2017, they took up their tiki torches in Charlotteville. Suddenly, we weren't laughing as loud. 

It was a confederacy of deceit, although at the time, I don't think anyone, including me, fully understood the depths of depravity we were about to witness in the campaign and subsequently in the White House, reaching the apex, but not exactly culminating with the insurrection on January 6th, 2023. 

From The Washington Post

But now, the Iowa caucus numbers are rolling in and while I may not have had all that much respect for people who would voluntarily live in Iowa, I have even less now. One might have hoped Haley would've done better, but she didn't against that mysogynistic box o'anti-semitism Ron DeSanctimonious,,,which should tell you something right there. Iowans are not looking for any sort of middle ground.

With 85% of the vote counted, the yet-to-be-convicted Feloniousa Trump has over 51% of the vote. What does this really say about Iowans?

1. They actively seek to end the Constitution of the United Stated?
2. They actively seek to control women as chattal owned by the state and the federal government?
3. They actively seek to repeal civil rights for those who do not line up with their religious views?
4. They prefer a philandering, failed business man as their leader?
5. They prefer a man who cheats, lies, and is clearly suffering from early signs of dementia to lead this nation?
6. They prefer an oligarchy to control all aspects of financial dealings?
7. They prefer to allow lower income Americans to starve, freeze, or die from lack of available care?
8. They believe in Christian Nationalism?
9. They believe in White Supremacy?
10. They actively seek to replace the office of the President of the United States with a dictator?

Pick a concept, any concept. 

Of course, some GOP voters will tell you that's not what they believe in, yet they vote for a guy who has guaranteed that on day one of this next term he will declare himself dictator. From The Washingon Post, Decmber 6th, 2023:

Fox News host Sean Hannity pressed Trump on two occasions during the event in Davenport, Iowa, on whether he would promise not to abuse his powers upon returning to the White House. In both occasions, Trump circumvented the question and did not outright deny the possibility. 

“Under no circumstances — you are promising America tonight — you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?” Hannity asked Trump during the latter exchange. 

“Except for Day One,” Trump quickly replied.  

“Except for Day One. Meaning?” Hannity asked.

“I want to close the border, and I want to drill, drill, drill,” Trump said as the crowd cheered. 

“That’s not retribution,” Hannity responded.

“We love this guy,” Trump said of Hannity. “He says: ‘You’re not gonna be a dictator, are ya?’ I say: ‘No, no, no — other than Day One.’”

Trump then doubled down on his promise to close the U.S.-Mexico border and expand oil drilling on his first day, adding: “After that, I’m not a dictator.”

Sure, you're not. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

The Chiefs won their game against the Dolphins, the Eagles continued their downward slide which personally breaks my heart for Wyatt, Ellie, and Bennett Kelce who are faced with Uncle Travvy winning again instead of their father. Truth be told, I'm a Jason fan. 

And at last, the Wild showed signed of life today, shutting out the Islanders after this weekend's piss poor performances against Philly on Friday, and Arizona on Saturday. I am delighted to say Mats Zuccarello scored the game winning goal at Monday's game. 

At least the Vikings are done and I don't have to run out to the cemetery in sub-zero weather to make sure Ziggy has clawed his way up.

Who knew I cared?

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

I am so NOT looking forward to this election cycle. 

Are you? 

Probably not, either.

Nothing you can know that isn't known...

I was supposed to be in LA last week, attending an Emmy event on the technical side with one of my cousins, a film editor. I was packed and ready to go when, at 4 a.m., my phone fired up with a text message. All bets were off: COVID arrived in LA ahead of me. I have to say the JW Marriott was lovely and waived the cancellation fee. As did Delta, although now I have an unused ticket. I am certain I can put it toward something. So, instead of wearing a chic little cocktail suit, high heels, and real makeup while chatting up people in the industry, I was puttering around the house in sweats and fuzzy slippers. And yes, I was about as grumpy as I ever get. I'm more of a make lemonade kinda person. Or take a nap. One or the other. I opted to split the difference. Not to worry; we'll figure it out. And the most important part....my cousin is finally on the mend. 

So now, I have to learn a new skill: screenwriting. 

INT/ HOME OFFICE - LATE NIGHT.  CLUTTERED WITH BOOKS, PAPERS, ELECTRONICS...2 MACS, A PRINTER AND BLUE DENBY TUDOR MUG. 

THE AUTHOR 

I'm a playwright, damn it; not a screenwriter. 

[BIG GIANT SIGH AS SHE LEANS BACK IN HER CHAIR AND CLOSES HER EYES IN FRUSTRATION. SHE SUDDENLY SNAPS UP.] 

Who knew they had cockamamie formats for this? This is insane...but I'm gonna hafta script the pilot myself. Or so I am being told. The look-book is gorgeous they say, the story is compelling, and going forward, they're gonna wanna see some attempt at a screenplay.Bah Humbug! But I'll figure it out and do it. I am tough stuff.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch....

My bull-o'meter is off the scale from city councils adopting resolutions demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. Really? City Councils?

Last time I looked, no city of any size has a role in international politics. Having listened to today's exercise in asininity at the Minneapolis city council, I would be embarrassed to admit it if I voted for some of those people. (I don't live in Minneapolis, thank G-d) One jackass stood up screaming "When I look at Gaza I see genocide!" Really? You got that from looking at the television? 

What's happening in Gaza is unspeakably horrible. Most Israelis feel the same way. Netanyahu is routinely hated, but in the middle of a war, it's tough to flush an entire government. I wish they could oust him. The man is single-handedly damaging the entire State of Israel. He should be stopped. But that's another post. 

But here's the thing, none of those self-righteous idiots ever gave a damn about Palestinians. Never. Not once. All those years Palestinians were dying at the hands of the Syrians and the Lebanese, where was your outcry? Where was your outrage when:

1. 

   Listen to the post

   ...more than 4000 Palestinians in refugee camps were slaughtered in the Syrian civil war
2. ...it was exposed that the Palestinian Authority is torturing Palestinian prisoners
3. ... 850,000 Palestinians were displaced in the Syrian civil war
4. ...the Lebanese militias killed 2500 refugees in refugee camps
5. ...Hamas dragged bodies of Palestinians through the streets of Gaza for "cooperating" with Israel
6. ...Palestinian women were being raped by their husbands because it is legal in Palestine
7. ...innocent people were beheaded in Palestine for being gay? You will never hear about them; you will never hear about their stories, you will never know they even existed.

I vetted the numbers and she is pretty accurate. And she is certainly correct about rapes and gay men. And yes, many more have died in recent weeks during this war, but she raises a valid point: when did you start caring about the Palestinians?

Or, did it become your issue when Jews/Israelis defended themselves against a terrorist attack of such heinous proportion that it rivaled viciousness of the ghetto attacks during the Holocaust? When did it become not okay to defend your citizens, your homes, your country? Or are you just expecting Jews to be weakling victims? 

But, wait! What if it's Montreal, Canada raiding Montpelier, Vermont....or Chukchi, Russia attacking Nome, Alaska? Would that make a difference? What do you think those terrorized cities would do? Sit down in sackcloth and ashes?

City councils across the United State are engaging in nothing more than mental masturbation when it comes to these absurd resolutions. They are opening the door to tacitly sanctioned antisemitic attacks. Jews who live in communities where these ridiculous statements are being made are becoming targets for the haters, and perhaps, what's worse, is the implication that Jews are no longer welcome in those cities. 

Brilliant at Breakfast's Jill in Durham, NC wrote to their mayor after one of these absurdities was presented at the city council meeting:

Nowhere in Durham's charter is there a call for participation in international affairs.  A local resolution does NOTHING for the Palestinian people, but signals Durham's tacit support for Hamas to keep their extermination campaign against Jews going.  In turn, the message locally will be of the Council's support for open season on Jews and Jewish businesses in Durham. Passage of a resolution will tell a segment of our city’s population that they are not welcome here.  Far from being a message of diversity, equity and inclusion, a resolution from the city council calling for Israel to essentially accept its own extermination by Hamas via a permanent ceasefire, even in the face of continued Hamas attacks, only serves to make the city appear to endorse what is a dog-whistle for antisemitism, not just anti-Zionism.

Better they should demand the return of the hostages....those women, children, and BABIES still in the hands of Hamas...because that would bring an immediate cessation of hostilities. But that will never happen because, after all, we're talking about Jewish babies. And Hamas is not about to give up its biggest bargaining chip...although it would mean saving hundreds of Palestinian lives. 

Hamas doesn't want you to see what's behind the curtain; they only want you to see the propaganda they manufacture. They don't want you to know if the hostages, especially the children and babies, are dead or alive. For Hamas, there is only one endgame: destroy the State of Israel and rid it of all Jews first, and then on to the other religions. That's not opinion, that's from their charter document. 

That, in common parlance, is genocide. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Nothing you can know that isn't known

Nothing you can see that isn't shown

There's nowhere you can be that isn't where

You're meant to be

It's easy

All you need is love....

and a really good screenwriting template. 

What They Really, Really Want

I've gotten into the habit of ringing in the New Year on my own. That's not to say I wouldn't accept an invitation to go out, but to date, I've not gotten a better offer than me making something I like to eat, drinking something I like to drink, and reading. I've rarely noticed the ball drop since I left the retail world of china, crystal, and silver when I would watch the Waterford ball drop over Times Square...but that was because I knew the designer of all those crystals triangles and counted Jim O'Leary (z"l) as a good friend. And yes, I do think of him on New Year's Eve as I drink my beverage of choice from a Waterford stem. It's a fine tradition and unless something really enticing comes along, I'm gonna stick with it. 

This year, however, came with a whole lotta thinking about the state of the world, and the State of Israel, and not much celebrating. It's pretty well known that I detest Bibi, that I think he's the harbinger of the destruction of the State of Israel, at least in the court of public opinion....not that it matters much... and he has reduced the moral imperative to a mere shadow of its former self.  I am not so naive as to deny there is a certain mythology within the creation of the State of Israel...from both sides. People will construct their own truth based on what they want that truth to be, whether or not it's fact-based.

As revisionist as Israeli history can be, it doesn't hold a candle to the unmitigated fantasy the Palestinian propaganda machine is pumping out. I'm not going to rehash that here,  but let's succinctly say Palestine was NEVER its own country, Jesus was NOT a Palestinian...he was a Jew from the Kingdom of Judea, and the Temple Mount is called that because that's where the original Temple stood in Jerusalem, the capital city of the Kingdom 600 years BEFORE the creation of Islam. This is not opinion; this is historically accurate. Not that facts ever get in the way of good propaganda. 

So, here's how I ended the year in thought:

All those people shouting From the river to the sea and Free Palestine, may not fully understand that Palestine would be Judenrein...Jew Free. IF it's supposed to be Jew Free, what happens to the Israelis that already live there? Do they 

1. move to Brooklyn? 
2. Move to the middle of Australia? 
3. Move to Africa?
4. Or, as Hamas and the other radical jihadists propose, driven into the sea to die?

If option 4 is on the table, isn't that the same kind of genocide all those protesters are railing about? Or is it GOIIAJ.....genocide's okay if it's a Jew?

I've also been listening carefully to the pro-Palestinian pundits on the talk shows. I read what they say in the media. I hear their podcasts....but I never hear an endgame for what happens to the Israeli population....Jews, Arabs, Christians, Druze, Bedouins, or Bahá’ís...after Palestine is free from the river to the sea. 

Approximately 9 million people live in Israel. Where do they go?

And what's worse, NO ONE seems to be asking that question on the chat shows or even in the press. I do think that they are:

1. Scared of the question
2. Scared of the answer
3. Scared to ask the question
4. Scared to admit their interviewee really is advocating genocide

I don't think:

1. Hamas, nor Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, or Iran have a viable endgame in place
2. no part of their endgame includes Jews remaining alive
3. Hamas wants this war to end at all lest they no longer be thought of as victims. 
4. this war is going to end any time soon, so long as Bibi is in power.

As long as the war does go on, it's increasingly difficult to fire Bibi as PM. But that also plays into the Gazans-as-victims playbook, relieving them of any and all responsibility for the massive death toll. The blame falls squarely on Bibi with no other factor in consideration. Never mind that human shields are procured, designated, and deployed rather successfully by Hamas. Instead of bemoaning the result of human shielding, they are called martyrs. Who doesn't want to be a martyr and go straight to heaven?

The next time you watch a chat show or read an "in-depth" article or listen to a podcast, ask yourself, What do they really want? If you're being honest with yourself, the answer can be terrifying. 

Just sayin'.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the New Year

Confronted by pro-Palestine activists?

Engage in conversation if at all possible.

The question to sneak in is:

If Palestine is free from the river to the sea, 

where do the Israelis go?

Then, either leave a comment here or

 send an email with their response.

Inquiring minds want to know.