Things Just Fall Apart

Well, I am hanging out in Spain, again, but head back home in a week. I have been following the news and writing inconsequential posts on X (nee Twitter) and have tried starting a post on this inconsequential blog several times but find myself repeating more than a dish of fried garlic. 

Here goes, again.

The new war in Middle East churns on. Seems the Israelis have begun their land invasion of Gaza, and seem going about it in a very methodical way. Good. I also notice that Israel continues to use those American bombs which only land next to one of the 30,000 hospitals which apparently exist in Gaza, and only kill children. No adults, just children. They might want to switch up their ammo supplier; some advice from an old man behind a computer screen.

I have no doubt the Israelis can handle Hamas, Hizbullah, and any other threats in their neighborhood. I have less confidence in the ability of the West to do so. 

I wrote years ago about this, here is one example:

The cause of Islamic "radicalization" is not Guantanamo, Western troops, or women in short skirts. The radicalization, as the word "radical" makes clear, comes from the root of Islam, the Quran. This basic text of Islam is held to be, quite literally, the precise word of Allah as revealed to Mohammed. No deviation is allowed or accepted; it is the Final Word. Period. No further revelations follow. We see, therefore, the rage with which mainstream Islam treats the Ahmadiyya sect which holds to subsequent "revelations" that call for more compassion and understanding. When I served in Pakistan, a major center of the Ahmadiyya faith, attacks on and killings of Ahmadis were common. Jews and Christians, likewise, come in for Islamic hatred and rage, because they do not accept the Quran as the word of God or Mohammed as his Prophet. Forcible conversion, slavery, and death serve as the prescribed remedies for this blasphemy. It is right there in the Quran, aka, the book of instructions on "How to be a Muslim." 

We see the streets of London, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Paris, Copenhagen, etc,  taken over by frenzied anti-semitic crowds "supporting" Palestine--could they find it on a map?--shouting the "River to the Sea" call for Jewish slaughter. 

Thank you, universities.

Many, many of those demonstrators would find themselves raped, tortured, and murdered precisely by the people they purport to support. I love the line from the march organizers that many Jews took part. I have my doubts about how many Jews did, but let us not forget that the Nazis had their Kapos in the camps and outside -- e.g., George Soros and clan --helping them annihilate European Jewry: Yes, Jews who worked for the Nazis--an ugly truth. 

Hamas, a mafia-like, blood cult, wants to kill all Jews, including the Kapos, and--surprise!--Christians. They also want to kill LGBTQ (etc) people, and women in short skirts, and on and on. They have a long list.

We are "immigrating" ourselves into a collective suicide. Our own borders remain wide open; we have no idea who is among the millions who have crossed it and continue to do so while we worrying about Ukraine's borders.

Anyhow, no ceasefire until Hamas is destroyed. Hizbullah should be next. It can be done; look at how Trump destroyed the ISIS caliphate in short order. 

I have written before that Islam needs to suffer one devastating defeat after another before there is any chance of reform. It's a long war.

 

Hamas Goes Tet

Along with anybody civilized, I have been horrified by the video and photos coming out of Israel in the wake of the Hamas attacks. Hamas. an Iranian proxy, have gone all in trying to sow terror, showing no regard for noncombatants, be they elderly, children, women, Israeli or foreign. 

They apparently have kidnapped and killed foreign tourists attending some goofy peace concert, dragging them back to Gaza and parading them naked through the streets. No animal does this; only human scum of the sort that belongs on death row.

Hamas, in my view, have adopted a Tet Offensive strategy. 

Before you jump on me, let me say that no historical analogy is perfect, but this one seems pretty close.  Hanoi, you will remember, convinced the Viet Cong (VC) into launching a frontal attack on US and ARVN forces across South Vietnam on a holiday, taking over cities such as the old imperial capital of Hue, terrorizing pro-Saigon officials, and, most important, getting lots of media attention, e.g., attacking the US Embassy in Saigon. If you read subsequent accounts by VC leaders they argued against this strategy noting that the VC would get annihilated, but they went ahead. Well, it all went per Hanoi's plan: the VC caught the US and ARVN forces off-guard, terrorized the populace, temporarily seized (with NVA help) Hue, attacked the Embassy, etc. The media reporting, of course, helped foment the belief that the VC were some sort of invincible force, blah, blah, and blah. Once the US and ARVN got their act together, the predictions of the VC leadership came true: the Viet Cong got annihilated, and never again was a significant military force. It was now Hanoi clearly in charge.

Hamas has launched, on a holiday, a major attack on Israel, including attacking military bases, catching the Israelis asleep at the switch.. They are getting their fifteen minutes in the media; they inevitably will get themselves killed by the Israeli counterattack. What will be left of Hamas will be purely an Iranian puppet, however, they will have reminded the world, as was done fifty years ago in another Yom Kippur War, that the Israeli intel and military are not invulnerable and all-seeing. Netanyahu might not survive the following political fall out in Israel. 

Iran will have its main terrorist sock puppet left, Hizbollah, which after all is Shia and much more compliant to Tehran, and it will have destroyed the peace talks between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

I think there can be no doubt that Iran has been emboldened in promoting this massive attack by the weakness of the West, especially the USA under its current "leadership." The US, aside from resuming funding for "Palestine," seems interested in placating Iran, allowing the once starving regime to resume oil sales on the world market, returning frozen assets, and generally ignoring Iran's drive for a nuclear weapon capability. In addition, the chaos on the streets and borders of Europe and the US, have convinced the Mullahs that this is the time to strike.

Don't be surprised if we see similar terror on the streets of Europe and America.

Bottom Line for 2024

Spending too much time on X (nee Twitter) and getting caught up in the nonsense there.

Time to focus on the real issue.

The country and its people were far better off under Trump than under the Zombie now in the White House. 

That's the bottom line.

The country and its people will be better off after the elections under a Trump or DeSantis administration than under a Biden/Harris/Newsom administration. 

That's all that matters. 

The rest is just noise.

The Debate, Part 2

Meh. Very unimpressive overall. Poor moderation, too, by the hosts, including the usually excellent Stuart Varney.

Who won? 

Well, the easy answer is Trump. 

It confirmed the wisdom of his not participating. He remembers, obviously, what he did to Jeb Bush back in the debates of 2016. We forget that the wise opinion then was that Bush would be the nominee, and that Trump was just a distraction. In those debates, Trump lasered in on Bush, and demolished him. Why would Trump, the clear-front runner now for the nomination go up there and be the punching bag for 7, 8, 9 whatever the number of opponents? Not saying it's fair or just or ideal, just saying that's how the politics play out this time around.

The debate?

Lousy questions and a clear effort (I think) to marginalize DeSantis. I haven't seen the analysis of how many questions or how much time each candidate got, but doubt it was DeSantis with the most.

Despite Varney's presence, the economic questions were flat. I am surprised no candidate, especially DeSantis, didn't just butt in and say what we all know, "The economy is in terrible shape. You don't need fancy stats to tell you. Go to the supermarket, go to the gas station, try to get a mortgage or a car loan, look at your bank account. You used to have money, now you don't. Go downtown in almost every major city: see the havoc wrought by Bidenomics and its Soros allies in the DA offices. Look at the border. Our money goes to protect Ukraine's border and ours stays wide open. Look at our foreign policy as we skate ever closer to a major hot war with Russia, drive China closer to Russia, and placate the mullahs in Iran, and the dictator in Venezuela."   

Nah, none of that. 

No mention of the weaponization of the justice system, and the blatant corruption of the Biden family and administration. 

Nah, none of that.

Just a lot of shouting and talking over. 

Haley (horrors!) had the best reply on education issues and on that basis alone I would give her the "win." It's a meaningless trophy, but it's hers. Her foreign policy stuff, however, was just typical DC establishment blather about the importance of Ukraine. The debate about the curtains at the Ambassador’s residence was nonsense.

DeSantis better step up his game if he wants a real shot.

More thoughts later.

A Little Vignette on What's Bad and Good About Life in America

As the four or five regular readers of this irregular blog know, I own two Corvettes bought on line at the height of the pandemic hoax. Well, yesterday after dinner the Diplowife asks me to take one of my son's friends--he's dog sitting--to my son's house which is about 20 miles away. She said, "Take him in the Corvette. He's never been in one. He'll be thrilled." Well, dear readers, you know me, I am all about thrills. So I uncovered the six speed, 2013 427 and got this friend into the thing. I put the top down. I don't know if he was thrilled as he spent the whole ride texting to various friends. By the time we approached my son's house it had gotten quite dark, and North Carolina can be quite dark once away from the big cities. I missed the turn-off and decided to go ahead to the next street to turn around. 

Now the adventure begins!

As I reentered the road, out of the darkness, at high speed with no lights on, a small SUV came charging down the road and--WHAM!--into the Vette. Both cars stopped. I got out and approached the other driver, who leaned out the window and mumbled ¿Que pasa, hermano? While waving his arm in circles. ¿Que pasa? You've smashed my car. He waved his arm, and muttered,"Bah."  I asked in Spanish and English if he had insurance and a driver's license. I got back the same, "Bah." I then told him in Spanish and English, "I am calling the police." 

That was the starting gun, I guess. He accelerated his car, ripping off a piece of his own vehicle, and sped away. I got the license number and called the police.

Meanwhile, neighbors had come out of two houses. The nicest people you could imagine. All offering me their homes so I could wait for the police and the tow truck. One gent even offered to drive me home the full 20 miles. One lady said I could come to her house and she would give me something to eat, and so forth and so forth. Wonderful folks.

Did I mention all of these ten or so people who came out to help were black? It shouldn't matter but in today's charged and divided atmosphere, I think that's worth noting. 

The police came and arrived at the same conclusion I had: the other driver was an illegal alien, probably drunk and with no driver's license. The plate number I gave them came back to a completely different car than the one I described. Probably switched or stolen plates. 

Anyhow, the bad and the good.

That is all.

Back and Unhappy

Got back from Spain a couple of days ago. Not happy. 

Have been spending way too much time and energy on X (nee Twitter) duking it out with the supporters of the Biden Crime Family. A hopeless enterprise; they lie and gaslight to an extent hardly seen before in modern American politics. They insist that things you see with your own eyes, smell with your own nose, and experience with your own wallet, just ain't so. No. Not at all. Biden is the most wildly successful President in American history. He is honest, strong, truthful: he is the epitome of the patriot. There is no two-tier justice system. 

Everything bad is due to Orange Man! Kamala has fixed the border and will now fix "gun violence." OK.

Ignore the collapse of the border; the censorship; the growing insecurity on the streets; the rising prices at the pump and supermarket; the drop in real wages; the decline of the real estate market in the face of skyrocketing construction prices and mortgage rates. Insulin is going to cost seniors less! The military is going to be evermore diverse and inclusive! You are going to pay off the college loans of all those feminist literature majors! Buy a $60,000 electric vehicle, but don't charge it unless we say it's ok. 

Be happy and grateful!

I am at the point of giving up trying to make a go of it in the USA. Should I live out my remaining years in this mess? Maybe go somewhere where I can live in peace, and get good coffee.

I don't know.

Spanish Birthday

Back in Spain to "celebrate" my birthday. Relatives here make a big deal out of a birthday, while I would rather ignore the date. No such luck. Big lunch is scheduled for later today at a nice restaurant in San Sebastian. I will be forced to smile, while secretly looking at my watch.

My son is here with his kids and they are seeming to enjoy Spain. It's still a good country for raising kids. The numerous parks are full of the little ones and dogs until very late at night; parents sitting on benches or at near-by terraces having drinks and snacks. The parks get power washed every morning. Quite amazing.

The news from home is not cheery. The methodical destruction of the American nation continues apace.

The imbecilic mummy in the White House and his giggling VP put out a steady stream of delusional tweets and press releases about "wins" and progress that nobody in his right mind could possibly believe. All very Orwellian. There is a constant distortion of inflation data which belies what one sees with his own eyes in supermarket, gas station, and retail stores of all kinds. Mortgage rates are through the roof, along with car loans. Meanwhile criminal gangs have the OK to steal and loot, with those seeking to protect their property made out as the villains. 

The border? Not even mentioned anymore. Millions pour across, and hardly a peep. 

The power elites continue their Stasi-like war on the political opposition, locking up opponents, hitting them with outrageous sentences, and a docile press goes along.

What will the next few years bring? 

I kinda hope not to be around to see. I feel great sorrow for my grandkids; they are going to inherit a collapsed Western civilization, worthy of a Mad Max film.