And The Weird Just Keep Getting Weirder.

I am so glad this is a short campaign season. And that, G-d willing, I'[;; be outta the country for a chunk of it.

Anyone remember Hannibal Lecter? You know....the guy from SILENCE OF THE LAMBS ?  Feckless Felon keeps bringing him up, making him sound like he's a real person. During his acceptance speech at the RNC, Feckless Felon said:

Has anyone seen ‘The Silence of the Lambs’? The late, great Hannibal Lecter. He’d love to have you for dinner. That’s insane asylums. They’re emptying out their insane asylums.

Oooookay. I could get a single, jokey reference, but this seems to be a recurrent theme. According to the Washington Post, he's used the theme over 70 times, beginning with a rally in Iowa in 2023.  What's the message here? He's already calling the immigrants rapists and criminals. I guess adding cannibals into the mix isn't a stretch. On the other hand, Feckless Felon is a guy who supposedly understands branding; maybe using Hannibal Lecter as another face of the other becomes plausible to his minions when it comes outta his mouth; Lecter, representing the ultimate horror story, morphs into a real person who commits unspeakable acts...just like the immigrants. This is seriously deranged thinking and unspeakably sick. 

Even Anthony Hopkins, the man who played Lecter, doesn't understand it. Interviewed for DEADLINE by Dominic Patten, it came up:

DEADLINE: I have to mention your one of your greatest characters, Hannibal Lecter …

HOPKINS: Why?

DEADLINE: Because he’s come up a lot during this election campaign here in America with Donald Trump speaking about him at his rallies as if he’s a real person.

HOPKINS: As if he is real?

DEADLINE: Yes.

HOPKINS: [Laughs] I didn’t know that. [Laughs again.] Hannibal, that’s a long time ago that movie. God, that was over 30 years ago. I’m shocked and appalled at what you’ve told me about Trump.

I think he was being polite. 

All sides are guilty of contributing to the garbage, although one side is clearly better than the other. Appearances and perception are the only things that count. Homework be damned! Facts be damned!

Montezuma Pass, Arizona. OlivierTouron/ Associated Press

And this one is totally brill. Feckless Felon had a border wall photo op at Montezuma Pass in Arizona. This location has been used before. It's picturesque, but not really representative of the activity at the border. There's only one, maybe two minor problems: the standing section was built during the Obama administration and the rusting stack of metal was left there, untouched by anyone, during the Feckless administration. How did the PR advance team possibly miss that minor bit of info?

From the Washington Post:

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump came here on Thursday to heap praise on the structure standing to his right — “the Rolls-Royce of walls,” he called it — and lament the unused segments lying to his left. Joining him, Border Patrol union leader Paul A. Perez called the standing fence “Trump wall” and the idle parts “Kamala wall,” after Trump’s Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris. 

Those labels were inaccurate. This section of 20-foot steel slats was actually built during the administration of President Barack Obama. Trump added the unfinished extension up the hillside, an engineering challenge that cost at least $35 million a mile. The unused panels of 30-foot beams were procured during the Trump administration and never erected.

See what I mean about real life versus fiction? This is just one more reason I cannot wait for a presidential debate. I want to see him take on Kamala Harris. Right now, I'm rather enjoying the "open mic" argument. I love that Harris wants open mics. After all, it was Mike Pence's inability to stay quiet that gave us that fabulous rejoinder, "I'm speaking now," during the vice presidential debate. If I were on Feckless Felon's team, I'd want a muted mic because he cannot keep his mouth shut. I suspect Harris would have a fabulous slice'n'dice field day with him. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch.....

Delta had already cancelled my return flight to the US on election day, but now, they cancelled my flight to Tel Aviv. This is not unexpected, but what they offered me was nonsense. I called right away and asked for the international re-accommodations desk. This is travel-agenterse for someone who understands you-cancelled-over-the-water-,I-didn't. Normally, one of the over-the-water segments designate the carried on which a ticket is issued. 

To make a long story short, since I was returning on an El Al code-share with Delta, I wanted El Al through JFK on the way out. The lady was super-helpful and called El Al. And, considering what's going on in Israel, they did not exchange the ticket, they revalidated it with the new flight from JFK to TLV. AND, they happily provided the record El Al locator when I asked for it. Within an hour, both websites showed not only the correct sequence of flights, the seats were there, too. 

Having been a corporate travel agent for more than 2 decades (artist shitty day-job) I understand just how crazy travelers can be on the phone. And I know anyone who sits on the fix-it desk is ready to deal with the crazies. I could almost hear the sigh of relief when, after explaining what happened and what I thought should happen, I used the terms PNR and over-the-water. After that, we had a fair amount of fun figuring out how to make what I wanted happen with the least amount of ticket disruption possible. There are times knowing too much is a pain, other times, it really helps to allay everyone's fears. I firmly believe if I can get 'em to laugh, I win. And we ended up laughing a lot on that call. 

In the end, there's still a war waging in Israel. I won't make the final decision about whether or not I'm going until a few days before I go. The ticket is fully refundable, so I'm not worried about that. I am cautiously optimistic that it will all be over before I go, that the remaining hostages will be returned, and that I'll get to go have breakfast near the sea in Herzliya after my friends pick me up at the airport. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

אני מאמינה שתהיה הפסקת אש בקרוב 

I believe there will soon be a ceasefire. 

I have to.