I am surprised that more sources are not remarking on the fact that, in the event of a Trump victory, J.D. Vance would be, as the saying goes, “one heartbeat away from the presidency.”
Vance is the Junior Demagogue. He has shown himself to be as energetic a liar as Trump and, it may be, even more angry and full of threats than Trump.
It is difficult to keep track of the number of non-combatants the Israelis have killed in Gaza and the West Bank. The news highlights their success in killing one or another leader of the forces opposed to them, but it is hard to keep track of the number of Palestinians they kill in the process.
If I had the real figures, perhaps I could figure out how many civilians they kill while pursuing and killing one enemy. Maybe I could work out a ratio, e.g., 20:1, i.e., twenty civilian Palestinians for one Hamas leader. Really, I think that 20 is too low a number, but I’ve no idea how high the number would be in reality, 30, 50, 100, 200, etc.
The Israelis are trying to delude themselves and the world into thinking that the Israeli forces are only trying to destroy Israel’s sworn enemies and all the rest who are destroyed are regrettable collateral damage. I can’t believe this. Israel’s policy is to displace Palestinians, whatever it takes, even if it means killing them. Well, God gave the land to the Israelis.
It makes me think of the American West and the erasure of the Indians. The whites confined them in ever shrinking reservations, to make way for “settlers” and in the hope that the Indians would simply die off on the reservations and become extinct. Sometimes a few Indians went off the reservation on a raid and white people were killed, and in response came mass murders and mass deportations. What is our excuse for this barbaric behavior? Manifest Destiny! God has taken the land away from the Indians and given it to US.
The United States Army awarded 19 medals of honor for service at the Massacre at Wounded Knee. I wonder how many medals Israel will be awarding for service in Gaza and the West Bank.
I encountered this headline online: “EXPLOSIVE Interview Sparks Legal Trouble For MAGA Liar.” It made me somewhat curious, since “MAGA Liar” is not a proper, but a common noun, i.e., it describes most of the leading people in the so-called MAGA movement. It turned out that the liar in question was Corey Lewandowski — a former Trump flunky, long ago variously discredited. But as is the case for so many Trumpists, Corey’s shame is his gain. It seems he has been rehabilitated, if that is the correct term for it, and made a leader of some part of the Trump-Vance campaign. Scum rising to the top.
Headline on Fox News today: “Israel launches major West Bank counterterror operation that kills 9 militants, IDF says.”
There is some truth to this, i.e., “Israel … kills.”
But Israel launching a counterterror operation is almost absurd, because most of Israel’s operations are terror.
As if we needed reminding, R. Kennedy’s endorsement of Donald Trump shows us again what a little shit he really is. He is a sun-baked ne’er-do-well whose craving for public notice matches that of his new hero Trump. He, like Trump, is also a magnet for crazies and their conspiracy theories, so I suppose Bobby is Made for MAGA.
Why is this bum still haunting the fringes of American public life. He too, like Trump, exploits the naivete and cupidity of the media that leads them to give free publicity to any famous name, even if the famous person is a scoundrel.
Rep. Nancy Mace appeared in a panel on CNN. In the course of the discussion she kept mispronouncing Kamala Harris’ name, this despite, or, maybe because of repeated corrections by the other panelists. The final result of their efforts is reported as: “Mace pushed back, saying she would ‘say Kamala’s name any way that I want to.’ She mispronounced Harris’s name again as she spoke.”
Now Rep. Mace’s insistence on “any way that I want to” is as childish as anything we might expect from Mace’s leader, Donald Trump. But there is more than simple childishness here.
“Any way that I want to” could be a slogan or motto for the whole MAGA enterprise and summarizes their ultimate corruption of American “freedom.” Reality does not matter, truth does not matter, decency does not matter, for I’m free to act and think and believe “any way that I want to.”
This reminds me of a woman with whom I served on a jury. The rest of the jury were for finding the obviously guilty man guilty. She held out, and all arguments based on facts and logic could not bring her to re-consider her position because, she said: “That’s how I feel!” That is to say: “I don’t care what the reality of the situation may be, I’ll act as if it were the way I want it to be.”
Chapter 14 of the Book of Daniel in the Septuagint Bible tells how Daniel destroyed the Great Dragon of Babylon. This Dragon was adored by the Babylonians as a genuine living god. But Daniel obtained permission to try to “kill the dragon without sword or club,” and verse 26 reports: “Then Daniel took pitch, and fat, and hair, and boiled them together: and he made lumps, and put them into the dragon’s mouth, and the dragon burst asunder. And he said: Behold him whom you worshipped.”
I wonder if we are going to see a similar end for America’s reptilian demi-god, Donald Trump. Maybe the current campaign is going to stuff into Trump’s mouth enough lumps of multi-racialism, optimism, respect for all, and generosity that he will be blown away along with those who promote his worship.
I received today a flyer from a local Republican politician, Adam Schwadron, who is running for Secretary of State of Missouri. It says a variety of things about Mr. Schwadron that are bound to appeal to reactionary voters. Along with his other achievements is listed the following: “Adam made Eagle Scout at age 13 and continued on until age 18.” That is truly impressive. But the blurb continues: “Sadly this once proud organization has been lost to woke culture.”
Well, the Boy Scouts of America has been lost to the rule of law. Its shame was made manifest and it was forced into bankruptcy, like some Catholic dioceses, by law suits arising from a history of child abuse within the organization. It has changed its name to “Scouting America” by way of starting over. It wasn’t any “woke culture” that destroyed the Boy Scouts of America, no, it was the criminal behavior of its adult members.
Now Mr. Vance is married to Usha Chililukiri who is the daughter of Indian parents of the Telugu people who are immigrants into the U.S. J.D. and Usha have three wonderful children. Now, if Vance finds Trump’s binary racism totally reasonable, he is eventually going to have to answer the question: “Are your children white or are they Indian?”