With High Hopes For 5785

Ever hear of something called Rewards For Justice ? It's a federal program, part of the Department of State, and falls under the aegis of Bureau of Diplomatic Security. I kid you not. 

Our Mission is to lead worldwide security and law enforcement efforts to advance U.S. foreign policy and safeguard national security interests. Our Vision is to be an agile and proactive intelligence-led security and law enforcement organization to further diplomacy around the world. 

 

Rewards For Justice is exactly what it sounds like: a bounty system. 

Rewards for Justice (RFJ), the U.S. Department of State’s national security rewards program, was established by the 1984 Act to Combat International Terrorism, Public Law 98-533 (codified at 22 U.S.C. § 2708). Administered by the State Department’s Bureau of Diplomatic Security, RFJ’s mission is to offer rewards to obtain information that protects American lives and U.S. interests and furthers U.S. national security.  

It even has a button at the top of the page for Submit A Tip . The drop-down menus will link to a variety of information in each of the global areas the office covers. Go read through the list under Terrorism. Quite the education there.

But that's neither here nor there. I'm just pointing out that these things do exist and there are "public enemy" lists for terrorists as well as for cyber criminals. I didn't believe this was true when Bill Maher suggested the State Department pay the IDF the reported $7M bounty on Hassan Nasrallah and just say thank you. So I went looking and tripped across this bureau. On the other hand, I don't think I was surprised that it exists. 

screenshot from Al-Manar TV

What did manage to surprise me was how Hassan Nasrallah was portrayed as some kind of jolly father-figure with a Santa Claus beard in news organs all over the place. Many of the pictures show him in social situations, smiling, glad-handing... happy politician poses, but don't go into detail about the number of people he has killed. They neglect to mention that his sole desire was to remove Israel and her people from the map...even though he claimed to have no problem with Jews. The BBC described him as having

...steered Hezbollah's evolution from a militia founded to fight Israeli troops occupying Lebanon, into a military force stronger than the Lebanese army, a powerbroker in Lebanese politics, a major provider of health, education and social services, and a key part of its backer Iran's drive for regional supremacy. 

He also steered Hezbollah into murderous and destructive conflicts that impact all of the Lebanese population. He altered their government and attempted to replace it with an Iranian puppet rule. If you're of a mind to learn more, read Foreign Affairs article, What The Lebanese People Really Think of Hezbollah from July of this year. It's eye-opening.

Israel has just begun a "limited" ground incursion into Lebanon. Like everyone else on the planet, no one knows what that means. For this writer, it may mean my departure for Israel is delayed. And no, I am not happy about that at all. 

At this writing, there is no additional word on the hostages as we approach the one-year mark. The UN has, once more, proven itself to be worthlessly toothless, and an elegantly written op-ed piece on that subject in the Jerusalem Post is worth reading.  The BBC is finally being called out publicly for its blatant anti-Israel bias, something long overdue. I've completely given up on NPR; their subtle anti-Israel bias, like that of the New York Times, isn't as glaring as the BBC, but it's the lack of criticism of Hamas, the missing recognition of the hostages still in Gaza. It's as though they are the nice Germans who just close the curtains. Ignoring the reality on the ground doesn't make it go away; it just lets it fester. It's okay to complain about Israel's actions but not okay to hold Hamas or Hezbollah for embedding its command posts in civilian neighborhoods, in hospitals, and under children's bedrooms.

The exploding pocket pagers, a surgically precise operation that probably saved far more lives than it took, was still castigated from all sides. It doesn't matter what Israel does to defend itself...whether it's bombing known terrorist compounds, or just castrating a few thousand known terrorists....the results are the same: Israel is condemned. Which should tell you, to be perfectly frank, Israel is NOT entitled to defend itself no matter what the UN or anyone else says. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. There is no path to self-defense for Israel that would meet anyone's approval. And Israel is the only nation held to that standard...but you knew that already.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we're getting ready for Rosh HaShana. There's a whole lotta cooking going on, and that is actually comforting. My Big Bro is coming for his annual Minnesota sojourn and I'm looking forward to sitting with him in shul. 

There is one Rosh Ha'Shana tradition, however, that I both love and hate: kever avot....visiting the graves of our parents. It's a tradition to place a stone on top of a headstone to show that someone has visited the grave. Years ago, my dad began the tradition of painting a rock green for his mother, my veddy British Grandma Sarah who happened to be born on Saint Patrick's Day....and died the day after her birthday back in 1979. I have carried the tradition forward, and now we paint rocks to put on headstones. 

My folks may be in New York, but Ziggy is here. As is FIL. This year was the first time Little Miss and Young Sir came. I had prepared white painted stones and brought markers to the cemetery, but when they got out of the car, they already had painted stones in their hands. I was verklempt. I love that they have adopted this silly little family minhag (custom) as their own. Dad would've loved that. So we put our painted rocks on Ziggy's headstone, talked about him for a while, then took a walk around the older parts of the cemetery and talked about the interesting headstones. They saw family names that are familiar to them because they are family names of their friends. There were questions to be answered and even jokes to be shared. They were comfortable there.

It wasn't scary. It was life. Ziggy woulda hated that we were visiting him, but he really woulda loved the painted rocks. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Wishing all my dear readers, Jewish or not,

שנה טובה ומתוקה

a good and sweet New Year.

May 5785 bring an end to hostages and hostilities,

and the beginning of peace throughout the region.

The Elegance of Low Tech

Toon by Rick McKee/Cagle Cartoons

A couple of things happened this week that are worth mentioning. 

First: Exploding pagers and other electronic devices. Let me go on the record as saying this was an incredible, positively elegant use of technology. 

According to Arutz Sheva, Israel National News, the detonation occurred earlier than planned:

Israel only intended on detonating the Hezbollah terrorists' pagers if war were to break out, but decided to execute the plan early due to suspicions by some of the terrorists, Al Monitor reported on Wednesday. 

According to the report, two Hezbollah terrorists suspected that something was wrong with the devices leading Israel to quickly decide not to wait for a war. 

On Tuesday night, the New York Times, citing American and other officials, reported that Israel hid explosive material within a new batch of Taiwanese-made pagers imported into Lebanon. 

The pagers, which Hezbollah had ordered from Gold Apollo in Taiwan, had been tampered with before they reached Lebanon, some of the officials told The New York Times. Most were the company’s AP924 model, though three other Gold Apollo models were also included in the shipment, the report said.

The explosive material, as little as one to two ounces, was implanted next to the battery in each pager, two of the officials said. A switch was also embedded that could be triggered remotely to detonate the explosives.

At 3:30 p.m. in Lebanon, the pagers received a message that appeared as though it was coming from Hezbollah’s leadership, two of the officials said. Instead, the message activated the explosives.

 Could an attack be any more precise, targeted, or almost surgical in scope? I think you'd be hard pressed to find another one quite like this. Since Hezbollah leadership had downgraded to pagers because they were convinced smartphones were tracking their every move (duh,) Israel's ingenuity was dazzling. Pagers in hand blew off hands. Pagers in pockets blew up other body parts. Here are two things to think about:

1. There was some interesting collateral "damage" for the pager-caper. Anyone who went to a hospital with injuries consistent with a pager explosion was now easily identifiable as a member of Hezbollah leadership. All sorts of data would've been captured in admitting. And I am certain Israel would have no trouble hacking their medical databases to gather that information. 
2. It sent a really interesting message to terrorist fighters: if you're gonna use rape and sexual abuse as tools of war, expect to get your dick blown off. There is some poetic justice in that. Over the last few decades, ISIS, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah, and Hamas have all used sexual abuse in war. Whether it was the forced marriages and pregnancies during the Iraq/Syria period or in the tunnels of Gaza, one thing was consistently clear: rape was a method of control and terror. I do not believe for one New York minute that the developers of this plan did not have that thought cross their minds. Especially if there were women on the project which there most certainly were. 

Some would make the case that this was bringing the war into homes, but I would disagree. These explosions did not bring down buildings or collapse towers; these were small detonations which caused personal injury. People standing around were not automatically in harm's way in the same way a grenade or a missile would explode. No. These were small, lethal explosions that sent a very serious message: "We're on to you."

Of course, the retaliation will not be nearly as clean or surgical, and that will be a price Israel will pay. But overall, this pager-caper was beyond brilliant. 

The second item on my list is a statement by Feckless Felon. Let's put reality into perspective before we go there. According to the Pew Research Center, about 2.4% of the US population identifies as Jewish. Identifies is an interesting word that is, in many ways, meaningless. It does not take into account people who may be Jewish by birth but consider themselves something else, or people who just claim to be Jewish but really aren't, or even people who might actually be Jewish and don't know it. But 2.4% does sound about right. That means, 97.6% of the population is not Jewish. So it's a little strange when, at the Israeli American Council's summit, he says:

If I don't win this election - and the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that if that happens because if 40%, I mean, 60% of the people are voting for the enemy - Israel, in my opinion, will cease to exist within two years.

But if Jews don't vote for him, we're gonna be responsible for the loss? How did he draw that conclusion? Are we in charge of the ballot boxes or voting machines in such a way that our votes are worth more? What kind of narishkeit...nonsense is that? 

Ah, but it's not nonsense. It's another one of his dog whistles putting Jews in the cross-hairs of his militia movement. While claiming to be our protector, he has painted a target on us, over us, and around us so that we will be the scapegoat, the fair game for his coup d'etat. 

Interestingly, his constant and continual denigration for our military has not gone unnoticed by our military. He seems to be under the impression that in order to overthrow the government he can a) do it without the Joint Chiefs and military support, and b) he only needs his Proud Boy et als militias to take control. Which, when you think about it, is just as doable as 2.4 % of the US population costing him the election. 

Now, the powers-that-be in uniform have noticed this flight of fancy and are starting to come forward about their position on his rhetoric. Remember, they have all sworn to uphold the Constitution. The leadership of the NSL4A have written the following :

 September 22, 2024

To the American People,

This election is a choice between serious leadership and vengeful impulsiveness. It is a choice between democracy and authoritarianism. Vice President Harris defends America’s democratic ideals, while former President Donald Trump endangers them.

We do not make such an assessment lightly. We are trained to make sober, rational decisions. That is how we know Vice President Harris would make an excellent Commander-in-Chief, while Mr. Trump has proven he is not up to the job. As leaders, we know effective leadership requires in-depth knowledge, careful deliberation, understanding of your adversaries, and empathy for those you lead. It requires listening to those with expertise and not firing them when they disagree with you.

Vice President Harris has proven she is an effective leader able to advance American national security interests. Her relentless diplomacy with allies around the globe preserved a united front in support of Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression. She grasps the reality of American military deterrence, promising to preserve the American military’s status as the most “lethal” force in the world.

The contrast with Mr. Trump is clear: where Vice President Harris is prepared and strategic, he is impulsive and ill-informed. He has heaped praise on adversarial dictators like China’s Xi Jinping, North Korea’s Kim Jung Un, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, as well as the terrorist leaders of Hezbollah. Conversely, he has publicly and privately excoriated the leaders of our most steadfast allies, including the United Kingdom, Israel, Australia, Canada, and Germany. He abandoned our Kurdish allies while ceding influence in the Middle East to Russia, Iran, and China.

Further, Mr. Trump denigrates our great country and does not believe in the American ideal that our leaders should reflect the will of the people. While Vice President Harris follows the democratic norms we expect of any political leader—including promising to abide by the outcome of the pending election and respecting the rule of law—Mr. Trump is the first president in American history to actively undermine the peaceful transfer of power, the bedrock of American democracy.

Mr. Trump threatens our democratic system; he has said so himself. He has called for the “termination” of parts of the Constitution. He said he wants to be a “dictator,” and his clarification that he would only be a dictator for a day is not reassuring. He has undermined faith in our elections by repeating lies, without evidence, of “millions” of fraudulent votes.

He has shown no remorse for trying to overturn the 2020 election on January 6th, promises to pardon the convicted perpetrators, and has made clear he will not respect the results of the 2024 election should he lose again.

That alone proves Mr. Trump is unfit to be Commander-in-Chief.

We believe, as President Ronald Reagan said, that “America is a shining city on a hill.” Yet in this election, one of President Reagan’s more ominous warnings is equally relevant. “Freedom,” he said, “is never more than one generation away from extinction.”

Our endorsement of Vice President Harris is an endorsement of freedom and an act of patriotism. It is an endorsement of democratic ideals, of competence, and of relentless optimism in America’s future. We hope you will join us in voting for her.

Sincerely, 

President of National Security Leaders for America:  Rear Admiral Michael E. Smith, USN (Ret) 

Steering Committee of National Security Leaders for America:

Ambassador Charles C. Adams, Jr. (Fmr)

Ambassador Jeff Bleich (Fmr)

Ambassador Judith Beth Cefkin (Ret)

Major General Peter S. Cooke, USA (Ret)

Thomas M. Countryman, Minister Counselor (Ret), former Acting Under Secretary of State

Ambassador Cindy L. Courville, Ph.D. (Fmr), former Special Assistant to the President, National Security Council

Rear Admiral Scott Deitchman, M.D., M.P.H., USPHS (Ret)

Brigadier General John Wade Douglass, USAF (Ret), former Assistant Secretary of the Navy

Linda Jackson, Spouse of retired Senior Military Leader

Rear Admiral Katharine L. Laughton, USN (Ret)

Lieutenant General Charles D. Luckey, USA (Ret)

Major General Randy Manner, USA (Ret)

Brigadier General Mark A. Montjar, USA (Ret)

F. Whitten Peters, former Secretary of the Air Force

Ambassador Robert Annan Riley, III (Ret)

John C. Rogers, former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense

Rear Admiral Todd Jay Squire, USN (Ret)

Jack Thomas Tomarchio, former Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Homeland Security

Brigadier General Daniel P. Woodward, USAF (Ret)

Senior Military Spouse Advisors:

Theresa T. Buchanan, J.D.

Becky R. France, MEd,

Dale Allen Hamby

Mary Jo Myers

Brook Rich

Rebekah Sanderlin

Ellen Waterfield Smith

Anne M. Squire 

You can read the rest of the 700 names here: NSL4A Endorses Kamala Harris for President of the United States 

See, here's the thing: if these guys thought Feckless Felon's threat was serious enough to warrant this kind of statement, perhaps we should take them seriously. As they state on their website:

We are a 501(c)(4) bipartisan organization comprised of individuals who served in various senior leadership positions that include all six military branches, elected federal and state offices, and various government departments and agencies.  Our members bring a diverse and unique perspective on what a healthy Democracy needs to thrive. Our experts can also recognize the most remote warning signs that signal when a Democracy is in danger.

I think January 6th, 2021 was a trial balloon. Dismiss it at your own peril.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

The plan is to be out of the country for the last two weeks prior to the election.

Ergo

Stuff On My Mind: Recent Ramblings.

That Taylor Swift endorsed the Harris/Walz ticket should come as no surprise to anyone with a functioning brain. The woman is unquestionably and passionately feminist. The timing of the endorsement was pitch perfect, coming immediately after the debate concluded. If you have not seen the text, here it is. I really just want to have it on record in this blog for posterity:

Like many of you, I watched the debate tonight. If you haven’t already, now is a great time to do your research on the issues at hand and the stances these candidates take on the topics that matter to you the most. As a voter, I make sure to watch and read everything I can about their proposed policies and plans for this country.

Recently I was made aware that AI of ‘me’ falsely endorsing Donald Trump’s presidential run was posted to his site. It really conjured up my fears around AI, and the dangers of spreading misinformation. It brought me to the conclusion that I need to be very transparent about my actual plans for this election as a voter. The simplest way to combat misinformation is with the truth.

I will be casting my vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz in the 2024 Presidential Election. I’m voting for @kamalaharris because she fights for the rights and causes I believe need a warrior to champion them. I think she is a steady-handed, gifted leader and I believe we can accomplish so much more in this country if we are led by calm and not chaos. I was so heartened and impressed by her selection of running mate @timwalz, who has been standing up for LGBTQ+ rights, IVF, and a woman’s right to her own body for decades.

I’ve done my research, and I’ve made my choice. Your research is all yours to do, and the choice is yours to make. I also want to say, especially to first time voters: Remember that in order to vote, you have to be registered! I also find it’s much easier to vote early. I’ll link where to register and find early voting dates and info in my story.

With love and hope,

Taylor Swift
Childless Cat Lady

Possibly the most important thing she says is right up front, in the first paragraph. She states, unequivocally, DO YOUR OWN HOMEWORK. Whatever you think about her, her music, or even her boyfriend, this is a woman who has a powerful platform and who uses it judiciously. You gotta admire that woman's smarts.

Now, on to the real episode

Three disparate things crossed my brainpath this week. One, of course, was the debate. The second is an essay penned by playwright Tom Stoppard. The third was Ukraine. At least they seemed disparate to me until I started putting this week's episode together. Maybe. Maybe not.

The debate was a spectacle of gladiatorial proportions. Yes, I used the mute on occasion, but not nearly as much as I thought I would. The split screen was totally brilliant. I don't know how she managed to keep as straight a face as she did, but her grins and pursed lips (worthy of Meryl Streep or Sidney Schwaidelson) were fantastic. 

My favorite moment came when Harris was talking about how Feckless Felon invited the Taliban to meet at Camp David. Watch the video, you see her lips purse, clearly forming an "M" word before she quickly changes it for former president. I fear she misspoke there. She has said more than once what her favorite inappropriate word is, and I think she was about to say "Motherfucker." I am not alone in that supposition.

I think she shoulda said it. Not really. But it woulda been the most memorable moment of the debate.

What I will remember is the aftermath; how Feckless Felon claimed all the polls declared him the winner. Only that wasn't true. Even FOX said Harris won. Only Newsmax. If you want to scare yourself silly, go read the "news" on that website.

Tom Stoppard
photo by Matt Humphreys

On to the second thing that crossed in front of me today: an essay by Tom Stoppard, the English playwright. Born in what was then Czechoslovakia, Stoppard did not discover that he was a Jew until he was an adult. The essay Tom Stoppard: On Turning Out to be Jewish,  written for The Huntington, a theater company in Boston was published on September 11th, 2024. Yes, it's very recent. It's long, frank, sometimes brutal, but well worth your time to read because it's also timely. For me, the most devastating revelation came near the end of the piece:

A few days after my mother died [1996], Ken [Stoppard’s step-father], whom from England onward I had called “Daddy” or “Father” or “Dad” (though he objected to “Dad,” which he thought was lower-class) wrote to me to say that he had been concerned for some time about my “tribalization ” by which he meant mainly my association, 10 years earlier, with the cause of Russian Jews, and he asked me to stop using “Stoppard” as my name. I wrote back that this was not practical. 

Leaving aside the anti-Semitism and, frankly, the dottiness, I know what made Major Stoppard, himself the father of two half-Jewish children, so angry. Whatever his opinions about Jews, his prejudice had an obverse side, a paternalism toward other races who were grateful to adopt English ways and modes of thought. Blacks were admirable when they were Anglophile Indians. Gurkhas were especially admirable. But when it came to Jews (or Indians) who to their good fortune received honorary membership in the club but persisted in their “tribal” ways nonetheless – that was sheer ingratitude, an insult to his country. Don’t you realize I made you British?

Stoppard's recognition of "tribalism" really signals just how deep tacit anti-semitism goes. It is so deeply rooted in the culture that it's tacitly accepted as the norm and what's worse, expected. Is it any wonder that the British behaved as they did when they fundamentally ruled the world? They were roundly hated by every population they occupied.

Not really. My British grandmother used to tell me it was okay to love Shakespeare, Keats, Austen, and Carroll, but I needed to understand that in their world, in the real world of British life, I would never be their friend because I was a Jew. I got the same warnings from my Odessan grandmother who, while she loved to see the Grand Duchesses arriving on the Imperial Yacht Standart, you could not trust the Tsar to keep you safe...because we are Jews. "Never turn your back on a Cossack," she used to warn me. To her, anyone in uniform (except her cousin Sammy who was NYFD) was a Cossack and could not be trusted. 

You know by now, of course, that Odessa is not in Russia although it was when Grandma Bessie lived there. But it really is Ukraine. And that means there are Cossacks there. Times, however, have changed a bit, and now Volodymyr Zelensky, a Jew, is the President of Ukraine. 

And that's the third piece. Editor-at-Large for the Jewish Chronicle, a UK based paper, Stephen Pollard wrote a fascinating piece: If Ukraine must be allowed to fight, why isn’t Israel?

I've been wondering the same thing myself, lately, especially after the debate when the candidates did a whole lotta posturing about Ukraine. Pollard points out that Putin's push into Ukraine does not demonstrate Russian strength, but just the opposite. 

After two and a half months Russia has still not managed to push Ukrainian forces out of the Kursk region. The Russian economy is in chaos – interest rates are now 19 per cent and inflation is off the charts. It is now effectively economically dependent on China (and militarily dependent on weapons from  Iran and North Korea), which also limits its freedom of action. However much Putin blusters about red lines and hints about using nuclear weapons, the Chinese will not allow it. So let’s please stop hearing any more about the risk of Russian retaliation. The only risk comes from our refusal to let Ukraine do the job of repelling Russia. The future of the century depends on Ukraine.

Ring any bells? You can substitute Israel for much of the above. While Ukraine is fighting Russia on behalf of the rest of Europe’s security, Israel is doing the West’s dirty work fighting Islamists on our behalf. 

Pollard also points out that at the end of the 2019 summit, Macron and Merkel stood on one side of the room chatting up Putin while Zelensky watches from the other side. Not exactly a member of the club. But we know all about that sort of thing, don't we?

It's pretty clear to just about everyone in any government....but not the pro-Hamas puppet protesters here in the States, that the 3-Hs are proxies for Iran. Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis are financially incapable of maintaining their fighting forces without outside assistance. It's pretty clear from the machinery in use that it's all coming from Iran and its allies, Russia and China. The UN talks a great game about Islamist attacks in Africa and the Levant, but their own people are openly aiding the Islamist regimes. What's a country to do? Warning them is pointless. Sending them on a free trip to Gaza isn't happening. They just keep drinking the Kool-Aid because Jews are not telling them the truth about anything. 

Nowhere else in the world is a sovereign population told to march themselves into the sea. No other nation is told not to defend itself from rockets, missiles, or terrorist incursions. Only Israel. And that, without question, is because we are Jews. 

So here's what I think is gonna happen. We will survive as a nation and as a people. Israelis of all backgrounds know their lives are infinitely better in Israel than any other country in the ME. We'll figure this all out, and if we're real lucky, the residents of Gaza will figure out it's not Israel preventing them from having an economy. 

I keep hoping. Seriously. What's Plan B?

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Early voting begins on Friday in Minnesota. 

Vote like your life depends on it.

The Silence of the Remote

In a perfect world, I would tell you that I’m gonna wait until tomorrow night …after the debate…to do this. But this is not a perfect world.

Feckless Felon's speechifying centers mostly on batshit positions and policies. On Saturday, he posted the following on Truth Social:

“CEASE & DESIST: I, together with many Attorneys and Legal Scholars, am watching the Sanctity of the 2024 Presidential Election very closely because I know, better than most, the rampant Cheating and Skullduggery that has taken place by the Democrats in the 2020 Presidential Election. It was a Disgrace to our Nation! Therefore, the 2024 Election, where Votes have just started being cast, will be under the closest professional scrutiny and, WHEN I WIN, those people that CHEATED will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the Law, which will include long term prison sentences so that this Depravity of Justice does not happen again. We cannot let our Country further devolve into a Third World Nation, AND WE WON’T! Please beware that this legal exposure extends to Lawyers, Political Operatives, Donors, Illegal Voters, & Corrupt Election Officials. Those involved in unscrupulous behavior will be sought out, caught, and prosecuted at levels, unfortunately, never seen before in our Country.”

Loosely translated.....he's gonna go after his political opponents. With the new powers of immunity granted by SCOTUS, this is not an idle threat if he wins. Even Dick Cheney is worried, and that's nothing to sneeze at. This is from his ad for his daughter Liz Cheney's campaign; he calls Feckless Felon a coward, and goes on the endorse not only his daughter, but Harris as well:

“In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump. He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again.”

He's also threatened bloodshed at the border. From this month's The Atlantic:

At a campaign rally in Wisconsin yesterday, [Saturday, September 7, 2024]  Trump talked about his plans for “mass deportation” of border-crossers. “In Colorado, they’re so brazen, they’re taking over sections of the state,” he claimed, presumably alluding to reports of gang activity in an apartment building in a Denver suburb. “And you know, getting them out will be a bloody story. They should never have been allowed to come into our country. Nobody checked them.”

What did Trump mean by bloody story? He often fantasizes about unleashing state violence against groups and people he dislikes. Speaking to New York City cops in 2017, then-President Trump crowed about how “rough” immigration officers are and urged the police, “Please don’t be too nice” when making arrests. During the protests and riots of summer 2020, Trump similarly demanded that police “crack skulls” and “beat the fuck out of” demonstrators. “Just shoot them,” he repeated again and again at meetings attended by top officials, according to a book by the Wall Street Journal reporter Michael Bender. And in 2023, Trump suggested on Truth Social that  Mark Milley, Trump’s own former top general, deserved the death penalty. (Trump was angry because of a report in this magazine that Milley had assured Chinese military leaders in October 2020 that Trump was not going to order a sneak attack to justify keeping power after his impending election defeat.)

It's hard enough to listen to him talk about women, including Vice President Harris, in such abusive and disgusting ways, but that's who he is. Like his choice for veep, J.D. Bedbug, they believe women have no place, much less deserving of any respect, in this country. If you want to delve deeper into that batshit, just look at how he plans to pay for his much touted parental leave plan cooked up by Ivanka and Marco Rubio a few years ago that he intends to put into place if elected. It's a dilly. From a speech he gave at the Economic Club of New York last Thursday:

“Well, I would do that, and we’re sitting down, and I was, somebody, we had Sen. Marco Rubio, and my daughter Ivanka was so, uh, impactful on that issue. It’s a very important issue. But I think when you talk about the kind of numbers that I’m talking about, that, because, look, child care is child care is. Couldn’t, you know, there’s something, you have to have it — in this country you have to have it.”

Never mind that his remarks are notable for their incoherence, I mean, it does sound like gibberish, but how he plans to pay for that parental leave is stunning in its absurdity'; it punishes people for having kids. The LA Times explains it well:

The idea was to allow new parents, including adoptive parents, to receive up to 12 weeks of paid family leave. That sounds pretty good so far: The idea of paid family leave was (and is) enormously popular with voters, and providing it to American families would finally bring the U.S. into line with every other high-income nation in the world.

But in the proposal by Rubio and Ivanka Trump, families would have to raid their Social Security to pay for it by reducing or delaying their retirement benefits. As the Urban Institute calculated, for every 12-week leave, new parents would have to delay their Social Security benefits by more than twice that period, or as much as six months.

Parents who took four 12-week leaves, according to this analysis, would lose 10% of their retirement benefits, for life.

Based on the average benefit retirees receive this year, that would mean a hit of nearly $200 a month, taken at a time when many have few other financial resources if any: About 40% of retirees depend on Social Security for half their income or more, and for as many as 15%, Social Security represents 90% of their income.

Deferring retirement benefits, the Urban Institute observed, could “create financial hardship for people who develop health problems or lose their jobs as they approach retirement.”

I cannot wait for this debate. I really want the mics to be open if there's cross talk. Let's all  hope that Harris put her prosecutor hat on so she can be the indisputable adult in the room. 

The WP's Tip o'the Week 

There's a really handy secret button on your remote control.

It's the one with the X next to a speaker.

If you press it while batshit is being spewed, 

silence occurs. 

"I Know You Are No Longer In Danger."

Top: Almog Sarusi, 25, Alex Lobanov, 32,  Carmel Gat, 40,

Bottom: Ori Danino, 25,  Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23,

6 hostages executed by Hamas this past week. 

Executed.

At close range.

"The bodies were taken to the National Center of Forensic Medicine, where an examination determined the six had been killed by 'multiple close-range gunshots' within the previous 48 to 72 hours, according to... a spokesperson for Israel’s Health Ministry.                                                          The Washington Post

Hamas has hinted that the hostages were executed because IDF troops were close by.

In a statement, the spokesman for the military wing of Hamas said that following Israel’s successful hostage rescue in Nuseirat in June, new protocols were given to terrorists guarding the abductees that they were to follow should Israeli troops approach.                                                                                       Times of Israel

Let's guess what those new "protocols" are. 

And in case you've forgotten, today is day 333 in Israel.

 Hostages by the numbers

at least what appears to be accurate...no one is completely sure

as of September 2, 2024

251 hostages taken  by Hamas

including some who were already dead.

They took the bodies into Gaza and kept them.

An estimated 97 hostages, including 2 children under 5, remain.

Of those 97, 33 have been declared dead by Israel

64 hostages are believed to still be alive.  

Grief in Israel and throughout the Jewish world is painfully palpable. The streets in Israel are crowded with protesters, demanding the government make a deal for the hostages. Everyone wants an end. Israelis believe, rightfully so, that their government has utterly failed them. It has. It has failed not only Israel, but world Jewry. We are all under attack now no matter where we are. 

Once, we could point a finger at Hamas and blame them. We still can; they started this war and gee, what did they think was gonna happen? But now, Netanyahu and his evil sidekicks must take responsibility for their part in this ongoing debacle and fix it. 

War is expensive....in blood, bodies, economics, and morals. Eventually, someone goes bankrupt. For the sake of Klal Yisrael, it cannot be us. 

Rachel Goldberg Polin, Hersh's mother, speaks poignantly for all Israel in her son's eulogy. 

You should listen to her. 

"Now, I no longer have to worry about you. 

I know you are no longer in danger."

In my heart, I know that could be one of my friends, my family, my neighbors, even me. I could be speaking about my child or grandchild snatched from a music festival, had an arm blown off by a grenade but managed to survive...only to be abused, tortured, and executed at close range.

Just because we are Jews. 

Let's be real clear: this war isn't really about a strip of sand near the Mediterranean; it's about power and money, the Palestinian people be damned. Hamas will never just relinquish their stranglehold on Gaza or the West Bank. They don't give a rat's ass about their own people. They steal their humanitarian aid, their building supplies, their medicine, and their dignity to line their own pockets. For this war to really end, the Palestinians must rise up and throw off their own shackles. Blaming everyone else is not going to help them.

Y'know, when Jews began returning to the land in earnest during the 19th century, they had nothing but the money raised from their own communities. There was no humanitarian aid for malaria or infrastructure support from some NGO. Israel was build with sweat equity. Palestine had similar opportunities that went unused. Why is that the Jews' fault?

The Wifely Person' Tip o'the Week

Tomorrow is Rosh Hodesh Elul.

The shofar will be sounded every morning.

Time to wake up, people.