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