There Is No Explanation

 An active duty Air Force guy self-immolated in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C, on February 25th. He sent out a bunch of statements on social media about his forthcoming suicide, then live-streamed it. According to the New York Times:

“I will no longer be complicit in genocide,” a man says in the video, echoing language that opponents of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza have used to describe the war. “I am about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it’s not extreme at all.”  

Standing in front of the gates of the Israeli Embassy in Washington, he sets his phone down to douse himself in a clear liquid from a metal bottle. He then lights himself on fire while yelling, “Free Palestine!” until he falls to the ground.

I cannot fathom why anyone one in their right mind would think this kind of martyrdom is useful. His death is basically meaningless in that he dies; he can no longer fight for his cause. America is fickle on a good day, callously uninterested on most days, so after the initial news report, no one cares. 

The guy self-identifies on the video as Aaron Bushnell, 25, of San Antonio. Was he Muslim? Did he have family or other close ties to Gaza? If he's military, how does he not know martyrdom by suicide is basically pointless here? I'm not suggesting that he was not passionate about what was happening in Gaza. Clearly he was, but he was an American! How could he not know this is the home of the free to be apathetic? Did he think committing suicide while live streaming would actually change minds? 

Lots of us remember the days of self-immolating Buddhist monks during the Vietnam War era. And I remember asking my Dad about it. I'd seen photographs of burning monks and honestly? They terrified me. My dad explained that these people believed that sacrificing their lives in that way would help to bring about the end of the war. I asked how that would happen, hoping to find something I could latch onto. His answer, however, was less than satisfying. He said, "I don't know."

The horror experienced while watching his live stream (which has now been scrubbed from the internet) only lasts a few minutes. You can't unsee it. But we also know you can't unsee people being hunted in their houses and the streets by terrorists who live stream that. The difference is one is voluntary; the other is murder in cold blood. I get that it's a protest. I just can't see why anyone would think it would be useful.

But then again, useful isn't always very dramatic and clearly he was going for drama. Y'know, that's a shortcut. We know what he said in his posts, but do we really know what he was thinking? I don't have to agree with his opinions or his passion to say if you wanna make a difference, you have to work at it. In Mr. Bushnell's case, it's Poof! He's gone.  Any good he might have done is over. 

Talking to a friend in Israel this morning, I asked about Rafah. Her answer was, frankly, not surprising. "I'm losing my humanity over this." I don't blame her one bit; I know I'm losing mine. Hostages are yet to be released, UNRWA weapons caches are still being uncovered, and Hamas moves its population around their shrinking chessboard as human shields. Does it only stop when everyone is dead except the guys in Qatar?

I keep asking myself, what happens when it is over? Does Hamas rearm and go for round 2? Well, if Hamas is still controlling Gaza, you better believe they will rearm and attack again. 

But where does this leave the Palestinian people? Still starving in squalor because their government will continue to spend all capital on tunnels and arms, never giving their people a thought about an economy to actually have a self-reliant state? Who is responsible for their well-being?

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."                                                                  

Rita Mae Brown in Sudden Death (1983)

For over 70 years, the Arab nations have been attacking Israel. Usually with armies, but not this time. The latest attempt to rid Israel of its indigenous inhabitants began on October 7th with an act of terror, not a declaration of war. There was no army involved...only marauders on motorcycles, in trucks, and cars murdering civilians in their homes, in their towns, and at a music festival. Attack, withdraw, repeat. Again and again and again. Insanity, no?

But now, the world says Israel isn't entitled to defend itself and its citizens, that the genocide attempted and failed on October 7th was really Israeli terrorism. That's like saying Ukrainians are terrorists. The difference between Israel and Ukraine is that Israel has been fighting to survive 70+ years. Give the Ukraine a little more time and before you know it, people will be protesting on behalf of the Russians. Wait for it, folks. It's coming. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

The news from North Carolina is curiouser and curiouser. My favorite soon to be ex-congressclown, Jeff Jackson, posted a video about possible tampering with the primaries in his state. Take a moment to listen before you read the rest. 

Remember this name:

And Justice For All PAC. From WRAL News:

As North Carolina’s 2024 primary elections heat up, it appears that at least hundreds of thousands of dollars have begun pouring in to influence some key races on the Democratic side from an unlikely source: Secretive outside groups tied to top Republican leaders. 

The Democratic primary for attorney general pits U.S. Rep. Jeff Jackson against Durham District Attorney Satana Deberry and Tim Dunn, a lawyer from Fayetteville.On Friday Jackson accused an outside group — which has been heavily promoting Deberry as the more progressive candidate in the race — of being a fake liberal group that’s actually backed by GOP interests, based on a report by Charlotte public radio station WFAE. 

“It is now on track to spend $1 million just to beat me in the primary,” Jackson said in a social media video Friday. “But here's the kicker: It's funded by the other party. So I'm now running in a primary where the top spender isn't me or my opponent, it's the other party.”  

Jackson, Deberry and Dunn are running to replace Democrat Josh Stein, who’s running for governor to replace term-limited Gov. Roy Cooper, a fellow Democrat. The winner in the Democratic attorney general primary will face Republican U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop in the general election. Bishop is running unopposed. 

Deberry criticized Jackson for attributing the mailers backing her candidacy to a secret GOP operation, noting that there's not currently any indication of who paid for the effort. 

"As any candidate for attorney general should know, it's wildly irresponsible to make assumptions about the source of funding without proof," she said.

There’s no direct proof the group behind the pro-Deberry ads, the And Justice For All PAC, is backed by Republicans. In part that’s because almost nothing is publicly known about it. The group only formed this month and has yet to submit paperwork that could show who’s funding it, or other identifying information. The political action committee’s physical address leads to a mail center in Washington, D.C., and its phone number goes straight to voicemail. The group’s listed contact did not respond to a request for comment. 

But there are some clues about who is behind it.  

The small, niche bank in Virginia it uses was founded by a former Republican U.S. senator and media reports indicate it serves a clientele made up largely of Republican politicians and political groups. The PAC’s ad buyer is Political Communications Advertising, which public records show has worked almost exclusively for Republican clients in the past — mostly the National Republican Congressional Committee, a group run by U.S. Rep. Richard Hudson, a Republican from North Carolina and a colleague of both Bishop and Jackson in Congress. 

While that PAC is seeking to bolster the more progressive candidate in the Democratic primary for attorney general, a separate dark money group with deep ties to GOP leadership at the state level is taking the opposite tactic.

And you thought Putin was trying to buy elections.

The problem with Jeff Jackson is that he keeps posting these videos about how government really works for transparency's sake. The GOP in NC damn well better be afraid of him if he wins the AG job.

Frankly, I think he should be running for president in 2028.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

If an opportunity arises to do something a little different, you should take it. 

Like hosting an impromptu mah jongg game on a Monday 

instead of writing the blog. 

It was more fun than you can possibly imagine...even if I did lose all my quarters. 

 

To Make Or Break A Community?

Photo credit - D. Getsug

Today, our beloved Grand Avenue in Saint Paul was papered over with signs. Not the signs we are used to seeing these days, but pictures of Gaza children with the label MURDERED by Israel. The text on the flyers is very interesting and bears closer scrutiny:

Since its creation in 1948, Israel has committed the most atrocious crimes on the Palestinian population. Murders and brutalities that extend far beyond October 7th. 

As the world silently watches a systematic genocide, we will continue to raise our voices and our stories - of murder,

mutilation, targeted attacks of civilians, and the grim reality of a

ruthless and bloody apartheid 

Spread the truth. Change the narrative. Take a photo.

Palestinians have every right to their land.

Palestinians have every right to resist.

Spread the truth? Change the narrative? 

What narrative would you like? One that buries the history of the region? Instead, how about facing historically verified the truth and confronting your own historically inaccurate narrative?

Israel was created in 1948? They left off the BCE part. 

Apartheid? Genocide? 

How about ethnic cleansing? 

They'll never mention the removal of Jews from Arab lands in 1948. Nope. They conveniently forgot about that housecleaning part. 

Sure, let's forget that since 1948 CE, the Arab countries en masse have been attacking our own indigenous population that is a tiny fraction of the population of the Levant....and can't manage to win.  

A calendar that provides an emerging population with events to be celebrated as a unified community is the first step in creating a unified culture. The Hebrew calendar as set down in the Torah gives us our framework to be unified as a community. From shabbat to the biggies like Rosh HaShannah and the harvest trio, we observe momentous events together. This is true for any unified culture. Christians have Christmas and Easter, and a raft of smaller holy days. Islam has Ramadan, Hindus have a whole raft of holy days, the French have Bastille Day, the Welsh have St. David's Day, and the US has Thanksgiving and July 4th. Every country has a calendar. 

In his novel, The Book of Laughter and Forgetting, Milan Kundera wrote:

The first step in liquidating a people is to erase its memory. Destroy its books, its culture, its history. Then have somebody write new books, manufacture a new culture, invent a new history. Before long that nation will begin to forget what it is and what it was... The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting.

Isn't that exactly what that poster is doing? The creators deny the history of Israel, refuse to acknowledge that Judaism predates Islam by more than two thousand years, and take no responsibility for their part in keeping a government that uses their own people as human shields, denies humanitarian aid to the population, and openly robs their own population of a working economy that would bring stability...and quite probably statehood...to their own land. 

I would present a very different version of truth: the Eben family of Ba'eri, Israel:

Chen and his wife Rinat and their four children - Alon (16), Idan (14), Tomer (12) and Nir (8) - began to suffocate from the smoke, ran outside and hid in the bushes. They decided to lie in a pile to protect the children. Little Tomer and Nir laying down, with Alon and Ido on top of them and the parents on top of them.

They were found and shot - Chen, Rinat, Ido and Alon were killed on the spot, while Tomer and Nir were saved. They hid quietly under the bodies of their family members, and in a moment of silence they ran to the window of a neighbor’s apartment and knocked on it. The neighbor opened it and pulled them both in, thus saving their lives.

Comparisons, as Miss Pease, our civics teacher, used to say, are odious, and comparing the tragedy of October 7th to the tragedy of Gaza probably is certainly odious. The genesis of one is really not comparable to the genesis of the other. People asleep in their beds and dancing at a music festival were hunted down, shot, tortured, raped, murdered. 

The war came to Gaza with the hostages. Return the hostages, the war stops.

Still, one cannot dismiss the ponderous sadness and disconsolation of both. The children and civilians of Gaza did not ask to be human shields. They were unwitting participants in a battle they may have known little about. I'm certain had they known their leaders were living the high life safely in Qatar and some of the other states while their homes, school, and hospitals sat over miles of weaponized tunnels and armament command centers, they might have been concerned about their own safety. They expected UNRWA and other UN agencies to provide promised humanitarian aid, completely unaware that it was diverted to support Hamas operatives in a grand style. One can hardly blame them for swallowing and digesting all the propaganda fed to them and to their kids in school, blaming Israel and the West for their abhorrent conditions. Never mind that when they went to Israel for medical care, they were cared for just as any Israeli was cared for. But the poison was already in their veins, fed to them by Hamas. All those dead kids and civilians are a tragedy because they didn't have to die. Their leaders chose that fate for them. 

Keep in mind that when Hamas held that fateful election in 2006, they ran on a platform of cleaning up corruption and establishing an economy. The exit poll for that election is a fascinating study of expectation vs reality. No sooner than Hamas had wrested control, they threw out the rest of the existing government to establish an Islamic state.There have been no real elections since; hence, no opportunity for Gaza to replace them. And beginning a new campaign to replace Hamas is the same as volunteering for a death sentence. 

But the reality right now is Hamas controls Gaza and views its only objective to be the dismantling of Israel and the removal of Jews from their own homeland. On the other side of the fence, Israelis are working to get aid into Gaza. They are protesting the actions of their own government on behalf of the people of Gaza. They are NOT celebrating the deaths of Muslims caught in this horrendous war. And therein lies the biggest difference of all.

Only one group wants this war....and it ain't Jews. 

Meanwhile, back in Minnesota, 2 cops and a fireman/EMT were killed by a crazy barricaded in his house very early Sunday morning. The two cops were from the Burnsville Police Department, and the fireman/EMT guy was a member of the SWAT first responder team. The EMT guy was killed while tending to one of the fallen cops. You can read about it in the link above. Try not to vomit. 

The shooter had 7 kids in the house, 5 of them were his. In fact, he had been awarded 2/3 custody because he had a "stable, high paying" job. He had priors, as well as an injunction forbidding him to have guns. Like that mattered. According to his ex, the kids adored their dad yet he "invited" them to go with him when he killed himself. 

Burnsville isn't far from me. I have friends who live there. It's a suburb like any other, full of just regular people going about their business....while having unfettered access to guns. How is that even possible? I just don't know. This town is shattered. But like everywhere else, nothing will come if it. 

Yeah, we don't have a gun problem in this country. People kill people.

But here's the thing, We, the People are proving ourselves to be completely delusional when it comes to politics and politicians. No one is willing to stand up against the epidemic of people killing people. No one wants to confront a seditious old man who lies non-stop every time he's handed a mike. This is something so disturbing about this and I don't know which disgusts me more: the refusal of We, the People, to admit our lawmakers aren't doing their jobs, or that We, the People, keep re-electing them. 

You tell me.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

My Aunty Gladknit turns 95 this week

and to celebrate

she became a first time great-grandmother!

Mazel tov, Aunty G!

The woman is a total rock star!

Down the Rabbit Hole

This has been a busy week on a whole lotta levels. I learned about stuff I didn't know. Some of it good, some of it not so good, but nothing earth shattering. In between trying to learn how to operate the new car....and I do set a few minutes aside every morning to learn another function... but you still need an engineering degree ...and thinking about war (yeah, I know) I've also had to examine and re-examine some of my previously held-dear concepts. 

First, let's talk cars. I finally got the full accident report on the Rogue and holey buckets! there was one heck of a surprise in there. Big-ass-truck driver was drunk. Yep. Six o'clock on a Saturday evening and he blew a .15 on the ol' breathalyzer. Officially drunk in Minnesota is .08. I guess I didn't get close enough to him that night, but apparently he had serious booze-breath because he was "alcohol suspected" on the form. Now I know why he was so freaked out. I have been hit by a drunk before, so I'm not a fan of the drink'n'drive club since that last one almost took out my then 4-year old son. Thank G-d I was in the Volvo that day. 

I also learned about Pearl Harbor this week. I mean, long ago I learned the big chunks, but I never paid much attention to the numbers. It was, after all, WWII and lots of people died in that war. But I went down a research rabbit hole on this one. The official death toll at Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 was 2,403 and that was military and civilian deaths. There had been no declaration of war prior to December 7th. In fact, the declaration of war from Japan came about two days after the attack. Ergo, we were not at war with Japan even though there were tensions over Japanese expansion into China and restrictions of trade between Japan and the US. Then I thought about Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Between 110,000 and 210,000 died from the atom bombs dropped on those cities. They can't be sure of the number because so many people were incinerated. 

After reading about the lead up to Pearl Harbor and the aftermath of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I came to the only conclusion there was: if you start a war, people will die. It's really just that simple. The bombing probably saved millions of lives: Japanese, Asian, and others. It might've been done with one, not two bombs, but in the end, it stopped the war...and that saved lives...especially in Japan. No, it wasn't humanitarian...it was efficient. In war efficiency used to count. And if it stopped the killing, so be it. 

War, however, is never really simple. There are two or more sides. Both sides will skew numbers to their benefit. Both sides think only stupid people cannot see the truth...their version of the truth, at least. And sometimes history set in stone is treated as propaganda, facts are dismissed as convenient fiction, and people on both sides still die. And people will lie forever about the causes. I mean, even Niki Haley didn't think the Civil War was about slavery yet a whole lotta people died for that one. But I digress. 

This brought me around to thinking about death. 

This month is Adar Alef. This year, there's also an Adar Bet. See, the Hebrew calendar doesn't have a leap day, it has a leap month. Okay, try wrapping your head around this: 

A leap year in the Jewish calendar has 13 months and occurs 7 times in a 19-year cycle. In Hebrew, a leap year is referred to as Shanah Me'uberet, or pregnant year.

L to R: Budge, Dave, Mom 

And I have no idea how this works mathematically, nor do I wanna know. What I do know is that Adar, whether it's Alef or just plain Adar, begins the spring yahrzeit parade for me....Grandma Sarah first, then my mom, then my Uncle Dave, then my MIL, then Grandpa Moishe, then Uncle Budge, and finally, Ziggy. There are more yahrzeits than you can shake a stick at...or put a rock on a grave. Whatever. It's a tough time for me and my thoughts do turn to my own demise. Did I do a good enough job for the kids? Did I do right by the old folks? Am I leaving anything undone? What would Mom have done? What can I still fix? 

Ah, there she is: the fixer. I want to kiss all the booboos and make them go away. I want to smooth all the paths. I want everyone to love each other and play nice. The truth is, I cannot do that. No one can. But somehow I manage to periodically beat myself up for things I coulda, woulda, shoulda. When I stand at the edge of that particular rabbit hole, I now know enough to force myself back from the edge. A couple of weeks ago, I caught myself wanting to fix something that the conscious me knows can never be fixed because, frankly, it's not a me problem; I simply adopted it because it needed to be fixed and I truly believed in kisses and band-aids. 

Which brings me back to, believe it or not, war. Honestly, it must be the flawed end of human nature that makes us fight to the death. Since the very beginning, history has been nothing but a long line of hateful actions that end in war. And we all know if you start a war, people will die. Even the familial/interpersonal wars...those are death by a thousand slights...but pieces of one's heart die when the wars cannot be stopped.

That teeny tiny white speck is Israel

My heart is dying in pieces for my people, the Jewish people. We make up less than .2% of the world's population. Our traditional homeland, the place where we have continuously lived for over 4,000 years, is about 8,550 square miles, about the size of New Jersey. The Arab nations of North Africa and the Middle East are about 5,000,000 square miles. That means Israel takes up about .17% of the land. A veritable speck. Why do they want to throw us off so tiny a parcel? Is there something we could've done to prevent this...I mean short of marching into the sea? Can this be fixed and still have our home intact? I think every one of us asks that question every day.

Yet, every war that has been started against the modern State of Israel has been lost. Even when statehood was offered, it was refused because Hamas and its predecessors wanted all the land to be Judenrein...Jew free. Why do they hate us? Because. Abraham sent Ishmael away? Because we learned to be portable in exile? Because we have succeeded wherever we have gone without being permitted to own any land?

Or is it because we are a stiff-necked people who refuse to bow down to other versions of God because we have retained our identity as Jews? 

Folks, if you are so threatened by this tiny sliver of population on this tiny sliver of land, you have other problems that need fixing and shitting on us isn't gonna fix your issues. Stop wasting your time trying to kill us; we don't die. We reinvent and we survive. Jews playing the victim went out at the end of World War II. We no longer have any interest in placating your issues while dying in the process. Deal with yourself and your own shortcomings. Build yourselves an economy. We did it, and the civilized world wants to help you do it. Build industries, not tunnels. There. Isn't that easy?

In the end, all any of us want as Jews is to be left alone to be Jews in the place we've called home for 4,000 years. You want to share that space? Fabulous...do it respectfully and democratically. Work hard, play hard, send your kids to school, drink potable water and use the electricity. Serve in the government...you get a voice, you know. But understand this: Israel is Israel is Israel is Israel is Israel. It is our home and we're not leaving. 

Can you possibly grok that concept?  

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Still pushing to free Palestine?

Great idea! Free them from Hamas

because that's who's holding them back. 

The Long Game

I am not yet in a place where I can write about the news, political, domestic, or international without my head in explode mode. Which, loosely translated, means I have little to say about anything tonight that won't come out like a whiny screed. And that's the last thing I wanna do. So instead, I'm gonna make a few observations, toss 'em into the ring, and see if I ultimately hit the mark farther down the road.

 

Nikki Haley is one smart cookie and I hope she doesn't drop out of the race. Yeah, I know you're all thinking she's a waste of time and money, but I don't think so. I think she's playing the long game on this one and she's betting on Feckless getting convicted in at least one trial and getting jail time along with it. As a felon, he may not be able to vote in Florida, but apparently there is no prohibition against his serving from a cell if elected. 

Section 3 of the 14th Amendment states: 

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

So it's possible. Haley, I suspect, will go after him on sedition if he's convicted and will align herself as an MOR GOP kinda candidate. Not that it would get her elected. IF We, the People see fit to elect a convicted seditionist, the fight is functionally over.  As is the Constitution. 

For the moment, Nikki Haley appears to be the only sane person in the room, and that's not sayin' much.

At the same time, do I think Taylor Swift is a Pentagon asset? That her romance with Travis Kelce is a sinister plot to influence the election? What is so scary about two people in the early days of a relationship? I mean, really folks. Why can't two high profile people date without absurd speculation? Why is she so scary? Because they are an attractive couple? What magical powers radiate from her friendship bracelets? 

All these fear-mongers do is telegraph their own lack of penis size. What? Her vagina is gonna bite them? They wish. Even failed GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy posted something that sounds like it's out of a bad novel:

And I wonder if there’s a major presidential endorsement coming from an artificially culturally propped-up couple [wink wink] this fall. Just some wild speculation over here, let’s see how it ages over the next 8 months.

Ja, sure, you betcha! What is this guy smoking....that makes him think anyone believes this shit?

Oh, wait. We already know they believe Feckless is some kind of messiah figure. 

But maybe Taylor should be?

Look, I am no Swiftie, or a Taylor Swift devotee, or even like her music very much. I don't have a single Taylor Swift song on any playlist. Ed Sheeren? Yup. Imagine Dragons? Fer sure. Stevie Nicks? Absolutely. But that does not keep me from being in total awe of this woman who took on Scooter Braun and the music cabal. I've listened to a boatload of interviews and chat show appearances trying to figure out what makes her so appealing and why I think all girls should grow up emulating her fierce determination to be captain of her own ship. Take the time to listen to her acceptance speech for Billboard's Woman of the Decade speech in 2020. She's really something: smart, erudite, blunt, direct, prescient,  and brooks no shit. 

         

She lays it all on the line and she is spot on. Swift says stuff ALL women artists, whether we're musicians, painters, sculptors, photographers, or writers have and are experiencing. For this speech alone, she should be on a stamp. I know it's long, but if you're not a female artist, or living with a female artist, or the parent of a female artist, you might not fully realize the gender inequity we all face now and will continue to face in a future that will probably be dominated by AI. 

Here's the real conspiracy theory: if these pencil dicks manage to win or usurp this election, count on the suspension of the Constitution of These Here United States. Count on the immediate implementation of martial law to "keep the peace."

And kiss democracy, however imperfect, goodbye.

I've said it a billion times: you elect the government you deserve. 

Yeah, I know I'm being whiny et al, but folks, it's just too hard to keep quiet.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

I wish we had a candidate as compelling as Ms. Swift.

I am not suggesting she run for POTUS, 

only that we should find someone 

cut from similar cloth. 

Preferably a woman.

Lord knows men have been screwing this country long enough.