In For A Penny
05/11/23 07:03
There were a lot of stories in the news over the last couple of days about Jews both inside and outside our country coming under attack from groups sympathetic to the current plight of Hamas and the Palestinians residing in the living hell known as Gaza. One story had to do with a plane that arrived in Russia from Tel Aviv and was allegedly stormed by a mob looking for Jews. What they planned to do with the Jews that they found is anyone's guess, but it probably wasn't good. Another story out of Cornell University in New York saw multiple antisemitic comments posted somewhere within the University threatening Jews with violence. In a vacuum, these sorts of things seem both innocuous and random and well within the scope of our judiciary to resolve. Unfortunately, these events are part of a larger and more complex fabric of anti-Jewish sentiment across the globe due largely to Israel's alleged heavy-handed response to the murderous attacks by Hamas that unfolded in Israel on October 7th, 2023. I don't have a good feeling about any of this.
Is the new Speaker of the House, Michael Johnson, just another neocon? He's previously voted against funding for Ukraine based, I think, on the fact that we're spending more money to protect the borders of Ukraine than we are protecting our own borders. I like the fact that he wants to separate the funding bills for Ukraine and Israel when the bill comes up for consideration later this week in Congress. I'm troubled by his recent comments to the effect that if we don't stop Putin in Ukraine now, no country in Europe will be safe from Putin's aggression. It's just nonsense. That's Washington-speak for we'll fund Ukraine for as long as it takes. Johnson has been Speaker for a week now at best, and he's already folding to the Military Industrial Complex. Has he been threatened? Has he been offered untold riches? It would be consistent with what we see from the old fool, McConnell, in the Senate. He's all in for whatever it takes in Ukraine despite the wishes of the American people. Americans can't afford to feed their families, while Biden is opening our borders and funding and feeding every illegal alien that can find their way to our country. It doesn't seem to matter what the American people think or want anymore. I hope I'm wrong about Johnson.
I think there's a trial today in Colorado on the issue of removing Trump from the ballot for the upcoming 2024 presidential election. Maybe it doesn't matter what they decide since the final arbiters of such tomfoolery can only be decided, ultimately, by the nine justices of the Supreme Court. I think the original law in play here dates back to the Civil War and refers to something about insurrection. What took place on January 6th, 2020, in Washington DC was a lot of things, but it was not an insurrection. Call it a riot if you wish. Those were the exact words of Jonathan Turley, a conservative attorney and legal scholar, on the issue, if I'm not mistaken. I think Trump's attorneys are arguing that the state of Colorado doesn't have the authority to remove a candidate from the ballot in a Federal election. Just so we're clear on what's happening here, one man's insurrection is another man's protest. That is to say, we see plenty of protests these days that Republicans call insurrections, but the Democrats call protests and vice versa. This is just one more Hail Mary by the Democrats to demean and denigrate Trump and discourage his supporters from voting for him come November 2024.
I tweeted something yesterday about the fact that everyone and their brother across the globe are putting up posters with pictures of missing and presumably kidnapped Israelis. I'm talking about the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7th here. I further tweeted, has anyone seen even one poster of a missing and kidnapped American? Why have we seen no pictures, no posters, no newscasts, not one damn sign of our missing American brothers and sisters? Is it because it wouldn't benefit Joe Biden and his Democrat party in the upcoming 2024 presidential election? Why do we not hear the cries and demands of their loved ones on social media for the release of their parents, their children, and their relatives? Have the demons in the Biden administration secured their silence by convincing them that if they speak up that their loved ones will likely be targeted or held for ransom? Was it not the Biden administration who paid Iran $6 billion dollars for 5 American hostages? Here's the bottom line: Biden couldn't give a shit about the lives of American hostages. He's interested in one thing and one thing only - his re-election in 2024 for another four-year term.
This whole Iran nexus thing when it comes to who's really funding the terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas is interesting. As far as the Mullahs in Iran care, Hamas is expendable in the scheme of things. Iran funds these two terrorist groups and probably others that are less well known. If one goes down, they just put another together, and off they go. Their sole objective, at least one of them anyway, is the destruction of Israel, so those battles will continue until the State of Israel falls into the sea. Before the frightfully inept and corrupt Biden administration pushed Iran into a security relationship with Russia and China, we had an opportunity to assist Israel with the crushing of Iran for their sponsorship of the activities carried out by Hamas on October 7th, 2023. Now that I think of it, maybe we're in bed with China and Iran, knowing what we know about Biden being a fully paid asset of the Chinese Communist Party and the Biden administration's efforts behind the scenes to assist Iran with securing the means to produce a nuclear weapon. Are we playing both sides? To what end? Maybe none of this makes sense because Biden and his minions haven't a clue as to what they're doing. That much is obvious.
What is this nonsense about Matthew Perry? Who the fuck is Matthew Perry? Do I give a shit about who Mattew Perry is? The news of his death came across the wire on social media like a virtual firestorm. You would have thought they were announcing the second coming of the Big Guy himself. I hate it when that happens. I had an inkling that he was some twat on a sitcom a decade or two ago, but that was just a hunch on my part. I had no idea that his death was such a big deal. Why was it such a big deal? It's not like they don't find Hollywood types dying prematurely or floating face-first down in a hot tub after a night of ingesting God only knows what into their bodies every other week or so these days. We've seen the passing of a lot of Hollywood types this year. Most warrant a mention or two for a day or two, and then it's over and done with. Not this clown. No siree, Bob. Will I make any effort to go back and watch reruns of Friends to see what all the hullabaloo is about? Not on your life. Even more bizarre is the fact that here we are, some two weeks out from his death, and his co-stars on the show have yet to offer up their condolences. What do they know that we don't? Why should we care if they don't?
It's 34 degrees here this morning. Brrrr rabbit. The good news is that it's 57 degrees here in the house. And, no, we don't have the heat on. Is it true what they say about some people making an effort not to turn on their heat until November 1st at the earliest? Old wives' tales aside, it just feels too early to turn on the furnace, so I'm not going to do it. I have a portable heater that I turn on from time to time, and which I turned on this morning for a few minutes for the first time this Fall. You know, just to take the chill off a tad. I don't know if we had our first frost or not, but I'll probably start whacking away at the grasses and dead sunflower stalks hereabouts just to tidy things up ahead of the first snowstorm. It's the usual Fall cleanup. I'll need to check the oil in my snowblowers and generator and top off or change if necessary. The missus will be away during the day on either Saturday or Sunday, so I'll have no personal commitments to distract me from my tasks. I missed my bike ride yesterday because of the day-long rain, so I'm pleased as punch to be back in the saddle today. The missus said something about stopping by a shop in Portsmouth today on her way home today for calzones. That sounds good to me.
I'm very distracted this morning. There's a little mouse in the house and every little noise I hear has me looking here and there where I might have a chance to get him. I'd happily usher him outside if I had a chance to do that, but I don't think that's an option. I actually left the door open in the room here for a few minutes, hoping against hope that he'd find his way out and that would be the end of it. I left the door open long enough for him to get up and leave, but he either didn't know the door was open, or he decided that he'd take his chances inside where it was warm and he had things to nibble on here and there. There was even a good flow of cold air coming in through the door, which I thought, at a minimum, might entice him to move along and rejoin his family in the great outdoors. The last time we had a little mousie in the house, I made sure that we kept him contained in the room where we first discovered him and, ultimately, got the little bastard with one of those little wooden traps that snaps their fucking necks when they go for the bait. It took a couple of days, but we finally got him, and that was that. The good news for the missus, who spends a good deal of her time during the day in this room, is that little mousies sleep during the day and only come out at night. We'll be loaded for bear when he comes around after dark.
Israel dropped a bunker buster in the middle of a Gazan refugee center yesterday, which killed a lot of civilians and an untold number of Hamas militants. I know they dropped a bomb that killed lots of people, and based on the resulting hole in the ground that was seen on television worldwide, I'm guessing it had to be a bunker buster. The Israelis were no doubt targeting the tunnels beneath the refugee center, and, according to the Israelis, they killed a high-level commander in the Hamas organization in the attack. Civilian casualties are collateral damage during wartime, and this attack was no different. Reports this morning say that nine or so hostages also died in the attack. It's no secret that Hamas was keeping their hostages in the tunnels beneath Gaza, so no one should be surprised by this development. The seemingly indiscriminate nature of the bombing by Israel, despite this one being targeted as it was, has to be a source of great frustration and concern to those whose loved ones are being held hostage. Every one or more of some two hundred-plus families awaiting the safe return of their loved ones from the clutches of the Hamas militants in Gaza will now have to wait to find out if one or more of their loved ones were among the casualties found beneath the rubble in the bombing of the refugee center. #SleeplessNights
I have to laugh when I hear these fools on television going on and on about the fact that we can't let Russia win in Ukraine. If we stop funding Ukraine, then Russia will win. If Russia wins, then there is no stopping them. They will not stop with Ukraine. The entire continent of Europe will be at risk. What they are unwilling to admit is that Russia is winning in Ukraine. Some might say that Russia has already won. The only unanswered question at this point is when Ukraine will admit defeat and negotiate an end to the conflict. Of course, if they admit defeat, any and all funding flowing into Ukraine to arm and support the war effort there will slow to a trickle, if not stop altogether. Ukraine has become so dependent on the funds flowing into their country that they are willing to continue sending their young men into the meat grinder that awaits them on the battlefields of Ukraine so as not to disrupt the flow of funds. Meanwhile, the Russians are perfectly happy bleeding the West dry of their capital in the form of weaponry and other resources that might be needed in other conflicts across the globe. Is that the real endgame here? Does this have anything to do with Taiwan? How about the current conflict between Israel and Gaza? Good questions all.
I signed up to go to a local gym, which is right down the road from where we live. They offered a deal that was hard to refuse, so I'm officially now on board. Just between you and me, I have both the time and the inclination to do this sort of thing, so I think I'm good to go. They have no television screens for the people using the treadmills, and that is going to take some getting used to. I'll probably just pop my earbuds in and listen to my usual radio shows. It's not a big deal. Would I rather have shows to watch? Of course, said the horse. They require a 30-day notice for people wanting to quit, so I'm not tied into some extended deal that charges my credit card well after I've lost interest. I'm guessing this stint will take me into early Spring, when I typically start to ramp up my biking activity. I bike all winter long, although there are more off days than on days due to the weather, as you can probably imagine. Some days are just too cold to bike. I draw the line at single digits. Here's hoping that I don't tire too soon of the gym experience. I should just think of it as a way to get in shape ahead of what could be a grueling winter season, according to the Farmer's Almanac. Everything snow removal-related is on my shoulders, so let's do this. Git er done, Johnny.
I wonder if there is any truth to the rumor that every country in the Middle East views Hamas as a cancer and is secretly pleased as punch that they are taking the beating of their lives at the hands of the Israelis. They would like nothing better than to see Hamas as a terrorist organization wiped off the face of the earth. They also want to see Israel go down in flames, so they must be mightily conflicted if any of what I'm suggesting is true. I'm also a little curious as to why countries surrounding Gaza haven't jumped into the fray using Israeli's heavy-handedness as an excuse to weigh in with their armies or militias. Maybe they're waiting for Israel to finish the job they started before expressing their angst with the tactics used by Israel and, with Israel's forces largely exhausted and their resources stretched, move in for the so-called kill. Is that why the United States has roughly 100,000 troops in the Middle East? Biden can't find his butt with both hands, so don't give me this shit about him playing five-dimensional chess. He keeps talking about a cease-fire to appease his supporters in states like Michigan, who see him standing by twiddling his fucking thumbs while their fellow Palestinians die by the hundreds in Gaza. Netanyahu is having none of his twaddle. He wants to finish the job he started. Can you blame him?
I don't know what Xi is waiting for. If he wants to take Taiwan, now is the time to do it. The only country with the military wherewithal to run interference if and when China invades Taiwan is the United States, so there's that. I read this morning that the United States and Canada have warships moving through the Straits of Taiwan. Is that supposed to send a message to Xi that we've got Tawan's back if he has any half-cocked ideas about going into Tawan? I didn't even know Canada had a navy, so what's up with that? I'm also guessing that Xi isn't terribly concerned about the US pushing back since Biden is allegedly a wholly owned asset of the Chinese Communist Party. What cards might he play to out Bumbles and his entire family if Bumbles does something stupid? Who doesn't think that Xi and his boys have the receipts when it comes to the Biden Crime Family? Congress has had the goods on the Bidens all along, but they are either too stupid or too compromised to get anything off the ground. Xi would likely have no such compunctions. On the other hand, China seems to have more of a bark than a bite when it comes to international affairs, so it's possible that they could give two shits about Taiwan. I don't know. It's all very confusing. Maybe they just like to keep everyone guessing.
We're hearing about another 7,000-plus human caravan heading up through Central America coming to a neighborhood near you, thanks to Joe Biden. He's fucking destroying our country. Just add them to the eight million already here since Biden's inauguration in 2021. I hear the leader of that caravan is actually mocking Biden for his abject idiocy in promoting the destruction of his own country. Don't kid yourself. This is all Obama. Where did I see the other day that Biden is working with Obama on all things Artificial Intelligence? What the hell is that Kenyan goat herder doing anywhere near the White House? It's no secret that our beloved White House is crawling with Obama hires, so one has to wonder if Obama himself is the one pulling all the strings. It makes perfect sense. Obama promised to transform America fundamentally, and now we know what the hell he meant by that. I heard someone refer to New York City as the new Caracas, an obvious reference to the poisonous infusion of millions of migrants from all over the world thanks to Joe Biden. Well, thanks to Obama anyway. So that you know, Caracas is an open sewer.
The leader of Hezbollah, whose name escapes me at the moment, is expected to step up to the microphone today at 3 p.m. Beirut time. That's about an hour and a half from now in Eastern Standard Time. My guess is that he'll be giving the green light to his followers worldwide to jump into the war that's been declared by Israel. I need to brush up on who this guy is and who he represents, but I think we're talking about all things related to Iran and Iran's militias. How many additional fronts are likely to open on the current conflict as a result of his speech is anyone's guess. Does Israel have enough incendiary devices to keep what could be coming their way at bay? Is this the nightmare scenario that keeps every Jew on the planet awake at night? It could well explain why we have so many military assets off the shores of Israel, with more arriving every day. You know that this thing could go nuclear. Right? Netanyahu will not stand by and see his country and his people destroyed. Who will be the unlucky recipient of this bomb should it come to that? Would it be enough to stave off their enemies for another day and time when they might have another opportunity to push the Jews into the sea? It's not helping that both Russia and North Korea are now openly admitting to backing the Palestinians in the conflict.
I think we got the Ev man's toilet thing squared away. Finally. It seems like it all started when he broke off a section of a snake that he was using to unclog his toilet while unclogging his toilet. He finally got that out, but it was still not working quite right. What he wasn't saying was that the toilet wasn't flushing properly. The bowl would fill with water, but it would just swirl and not empty. It worked just often enough so that he didn't have an emergency on his hands, if you get my drift. He and I finally decided that we'd call in a work order to get it fixed. No one ever showed up, so I took a look on YouTube and came away with an idea or two. I decided that there were likely some mineral deposits that had built up along the inside of the rim of the toilet, and they were preventing the jets from releasing enough water into the bowl to effect a good flush. Listen to me. I sound like Joe the Plumber, for chrissakes. I picked up some mineral-busting product at Walmart and poured it into the back section of the toilet, and let it sit for a half hour or so before flushing it down. Voila! I gave the jets a bit of brushing for extra measure, and you could literally see the now-loosened mineral deposits running down into the toilet bowl. I don't think I've seen the Ev man with that big of a smile since God knows when. It's all good.
I like what Speaker of the House, Michael Johnson, is trying to do with the funding for Israel. Biden and the Democrats want both Ukraine funding and Israel funding tied together in one bill. Johnson is having none of it. There is also funding for the southern border in one version of the bill or another, which effectively helps to facilitate the movement of illegal aliens into our country. That's never a good thing. Johnson is taking a fiscally responsible approach to the funding of Israel by offsetting monies that would otherwise go to the funding of the IRS and the 87,000 new agents hired by Biden last year. Biden is threatening to veto the bill because Ukraine is cut out of the bill. That does not sit well with some of the Democrats who understand that Israel's needs are more pressing. I think the bill passed last night but may be dead on arrival in the Senate. If it gets to Biden's desk, let him be the one to veto the bill, and he can explain to Israel why they aren't getting the funds they need to fight the war they find themselves in. Would anyone put it past Biden to put American boots on the ground in Israel if Israel no longer had the means to wage war? Biden would do it out of spite, and he would blame Republicans for any American blood spilled as a result of their failure to fund both conflicts as he requested. I can see the old fool standing over the flag-draped caskets of American soldiers now. He's the guy checking his watch every two seconds.
I think the new gym is going to work out pretty well. I've been twice now, and I'm already starting to feel a little more toned than usual. The human body is an amazing thing. My body has always been very responsive to this or that form of exercise, be it biking or weight lifting. I don't mind using the treadmill, and I prefer to use it prior to moving on to weights. We have a treadmill at home, but I rarely use it for whatever reason. One thing I'd change if I had a magic wand, would be to have something to watch while I'm treading. Planet Fitness had televisions to watch, which offered a pleasant distraction from the monotony that sets in while using something like a treadmill. For now, anyway, I'm tuning in to a radio show that I like to listen to every so often. This gym is extremely spacious and airy, which I also like. They have more equipment than I knew even existed. They even have monkey bars for those inclined to use them. Everything is new, which is also nice. The next time you see me, which is never, I might add, I'll have a bit of a spring in my step. That's a good thing.
We ordered a few different spices from an online store called Penzy's Spices. I'm not sure why I'm referring to the store as an online store since they have at least one physical location in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which I've been to a couple of times or more. The owners of this business are probably about as far left on the political continuum as you can get without being full-blown Marxists. If you go to their store online and look at the categories in the header, you'll see that they have one category entitled "Republicans." I learned about their political leanings long before I decided to purchase anything from them, and them being leftists would not, in the normal course of business, be a show-stopper for me. The same can be said about other businesses like Starbucks, for example, and that's never stopped me from grabbing a flat white from them from time to time. I've never bothered clicking on the "Republican" category on Penzy's website. I imagine it's fraught with all kinds of nonsense about Republicans and, God forbid, even Donald Trump himself. It's probably the kind of pablum you probably see on CNN and MSNBC on a daily basis. That's pretty ballsy to have an actual category called "Republicans," though. You have to admit. In case you were wondering what I ordered, I ordered Ceylon cinnamon and cumin. Would I have ordered from them if I didn't have a gift certificate for their store? Probably.
There are a number of elections next Tuesday (November 7th) in places like Virginia, which may offer some insight into the kinds of issues that will drive people to the polls next November. I saved a link to a story entitled "10 races to watch next Tuesday." I think they refer to these as bellwether races. The Virginia races will decide who will run their House of Commons. I think that's what it's called. Word on the street is that if Republicans win, we may see Glen Youngkin, the current governor of Virginia, enter the 2024 presidential sweepstakes. If that happens, he shouldn't expect a warm, boozy embrace by either DeSantis or Haley. It bears mentioning that Youngkin would not have won the governor's seat in Virginia were it not for the Trump supporters who came out of the rural areas in Virginia at the behest of Donald Trump to vote for him. The other race I'm watching is the governor's race in Kentucky between Cameron and Beshear. Beshear recently vetoed a bill that would have kept men out of women's sports. He's a radical's radical who presents himself as the guy next door who you wouldn't mind having a beer with. He's nothing of the kind. Voters in Kentucky need to kick him to the curb next Tuesday with extreme prejudice. Did I mention that Beshear is also a proponent for whatever that surgery is that cuts off young women's breasts and young men's genitalia before they ever have a chance to get the counseling they need? This is who they are. This is what they do. I'm talking about the Democrat party.
These people taking to the streets of our country on behalf of the Palestinians in Gaza and against Israel are unbelievable. There are literally thousands upon thousands of them. Where the hell are they coming from? I know Michigan has a sizeable Muslim population, so I can see them taking to the streets on behalf of their brothers and sisters being slaughtered by the Israelis in Gaza. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of marchers in the streets around the White House last night. It's another insurrection, I tell you. Nope, not one of them will face justice. They can climb as many walls as there are to climb; They can deface as many statues as there are to deface; and they can call Bumbles Biden all the names in the book for his failure to insist on a cease-fire in Gaza. If you are not there to sing the praises of Donald J. Trump, you are good to go. It all has a terrible antisemitic feel to it. I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable in their presence if I were a Jewish person. I would probably agree with the rioters that there has been little about Israel's response to the horrors of October 7th that feels proportional. I would also agree with Israel that Hamas is now, more than ever, an existential threat to Israel's very existence. What I really want to know is, how many of these marchers have come into our country illegally from the Middle East. I guess I'll never know since it's against the law to ask about that sort of thing. You know who does know? Biden.
Mark Levin had some guy from some institute on his show on FOX last night, and they were talking about the various and sundry shortcomings of Joe Biden and his administration and how it all manifested itself in what we're seeing across the globe at this very moment. Mark's guest said something about Biden's appeasement of Iran, as evidenced by Biden's failure to enforce sanctions. Consequently, Iran has been making billions of dollars as a result of their oil sales to countries like China. I think he has it backward. This is all about Biden's appeasement to China, not Iran. The Biden family has allegedly been taking money from China hand over fist for years, and those chickens are now just coming home to roost. China is getting oil from Iran because Biden is looking the other way on those sales and transfers. Biden is looking the other way because he has been paid to look the other way.
I don't know why Mark's guest just couldn't come out and say it. We have the receipts for chrissakes. Let's not forget the alliance just signed off on by Iran, China, and Russia. Biden is there, presumably and by virtue of the evidence collected to date, to grease the skids and do the bidding of Xi and his Communist Party. They didn't talk about this, but I'll throw it out there anyway: What are the chances that Israel takes advantage of their war against Hamas to bomb the living bejesus out of Iran's nuclear facility before they have a chance to fire up the reactors? Alternatively, is it possible that the American armada sitting off Isreal's coast is really there not to protect Israel but rather to prevent Israel from leveling Iran's Nuclear infrastructure? In for a penny, in for a pound. Right?
Is the new Speaker of the House, Michael Johnson, just another neocon? He's previously voted against funding for Ukraine based, I think, on the fact that we're spending more money to protect the borders of Ukraine than we are protecting our own borders. I like the fact that he wants to separate the funding bills for Ukraine and Israel when the bill comes up for consideration later this week in Congress. I'm troubled by his recent comments to the effect that if we don't stop Putin in Ukraine now, no country in Europe will be safe from Putin's aggression. It's just nonsense. That's Washington-speak for we'll fund Ukraine for as long as it takes. Johnson has been Speaker for a week now at best, and he's already folding to the Military Industrial Complex. Has he been threatened? Has he been offered untold riches? It would be consistent with what we see from the old fool, McConnell, in the Senate. He's all in for whatever it takes in Ukraine despite the wishes of the American people. Americans can't afford to feed their families, while Biden is opening our borders and funding and feeding every illegal alien that can find their way to our country. It doesn't seem to matter what the American people think or want anymore. I hope I'm wrong about Johnson.
I think there's a trial today in Colorado on the issue of removing Trump from the ballot for the upcoming 2024 presidential election. Maybe it doesn't matter what they decide since the final arbiters of such tomfoolery can only be decided, ultimately, by the nine justices of the Supreme Court. I think the original law in play here dates back to the Civil War and refers to something about insurrection. What took place on January 6th, 2020, in Washington DC was a lot of things, but it was not an insurrection. Call it a riot if you wish. Those were the exact words of Jonathan Turley, a conservative attorney and legal scholar, on the issue, if I'm not mistaken. I think Trump's attorneys are arguing that the state of Colorado doesn't have the authority to remove a candidate from the ballot in a Federal election. Just so we're clear on what's happening here, one man's insurrection is another man's protest. That is to say, we see plenty of protests these days that Republicans call insurrections, but the Democrats call protests and vice versa. This is just one more Hail Mary by the Democrats to demean and denigrate Trump and discourage his supporters from voting for him come November 2024.
I tweeted something yesterday about the fact that everyone and their brother across the globe are putting up posters with pictures of missing and presumably kidnapped Israelis. I'm talking about the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7th here. I further tweeted, has anyone seen even one poster of a missing and kidnapped American? Why have we seen no pictures, no posters, no newscasts, not one damn sign of our missing American brothers and sisters? Is it because it wouldn't benefit Joe Biden and his Democrat party in the upcoming 2024 presidential election? Why do we not hear the cries and demands of their loved ones on social media for the release of their parents, their children, and their relatives? Have the demons in the Biden administration secured their silence by convincing them that if they speak up that their loved ones will likely be targeted or held for ransom? Was it not the Biden administration who paid Iran $6 billion dollars for 5 American hostages? Here's the bottom line: Biden couldn't give a shit about the lives of American hostages. He's interested in one thing and one thing only - his re-election in 2024 for another four-year term.
This whole Iran nexus thing when it comes to who's really funding the terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas is interesting. As far as the Mullahs in Iran care, Hamas is expendable in the scheme of things. Iran funds these two terrorist groups and probably others that are less well known. If one goes down, they just put another together, and off they go. Their sole objective, at least one of them anyway, is the destruction of Israel, so those battles will continue until the State of Israel falls into the sea. Before the frightfully inept and corrupt Biden administration pushed Iran into a security relationship with Russia and China, we had an opportunity to assist Israel with the crushing of Iran for their sponsorship of the activities carried out by Hamas on October 7th, 2023. Now that I think of it, maybe we're in bed with China and Iran, knowing what we know about Biden being a fully paid asset of the Chinese Communist Party and the Biden administration's efforts behind the scenes to assist Iran with securing the means to produce a nuclear weapon. Are we playing both sides? To what end? Maybe none of this makes sense because Biden and his minions haven't a clue as to what they're doing. That much is obvious.
What is this nonsense about Matthew Perry? Who the fuck is Matthew Perry? Do I give a shit about who Mattew Perry is? The news of his death came across the wire on social media like a virtual firestorm. You would have thought they were announcing the second coming of the Big Guy himself. I hate it when that happens. I had an inkling that he was some twat on a sitcom a decade or two ago, but that was just a hunch on my part. I had no idea that his death was such a big deal. Why was it such a big deal? It's not like they don't find Hollywood types dying prematurely or floating face-first down in a hot tub after a night of ingesting God only knows what into their bodies every other week or so these days. We've seen the passing of a lot of Hollywood types this year. Most warrant a mention or two for a day or two, and then it's over and done with. Not this clown. No siree, Bob. Will I make any effort to go back and watch reruns of Friends to see what all the hullabaloo is about? Not on your life. Even more bizarre is the fact that here we are, some two weeks out from his death, and his co-stars on the show have yet to offer up their condolences. What do they know that we don't? Why should we care if they don't?
It's 34 degrees here this morning. Brrrr rabbit. The good news is that it's 57 degrees here in the house. And, no, we don't have the heat on. Is it true what they say about some people making an effort not to turn on their heat until November 1st at the earliest? Old wives' tales aside, it just feels too early to turn on the furnace, so I'm not going to do it. I have a portable heater that I turn on from time to time, and which I turned on this morning for a few minutes for the first time this Fall. You know, just to take the chill off a tad. I don't know if we had our first frost or not, but I'll probably start whacking away at the grasses and dead sunflower stalks hereabouts just to tidy things up ahead of the first snowstorm. It's the usual Fall cleanup. I'll need to check the oil in my snowblowers and generator and top off or change if necessary. The missus will be away during the day on either Saturday or Sunday, so I'll have no personal commitments to distract me from my tasks. I missed my bike ride yesterday because of the day-long rain, so I'm pleased as punch to be back in the saddle today. The missus said something about stopping by a shop in Portsmouth today on her way home today for calzones. That sounds good to me.
I'm very distracted this morning. There's a little mouse in the house and every little noise I hear has me looking here and there where I might have a chance to get him. I'd happily usher him outside if I had a chance to do that, but I don't think that's an option. I actually left the door open in the room here for a few minutes, hoping against hope that he'd find his way out and that would be the end of it. I left the door open long enough for him to get up and leave, but he either didn't know the door was open, or he decided that he'd take his chances inside where it was warm and he had things to nibble on here and there. There was even a good flow of cold air coming in through the door, which I thought, at a minimum, might entice him to move along and rejoin his family in the great outdoors. The last time we had a little mousie in the house, I made sure that we kept him contained in the room where we first discovered him and, ultimately, got the little bastard with one of those little wooden traps that snaps their fucking necks when they go for the bait. It took a couple of days, but we finally got him, and that was that. The good news for the missus, who spends a good deal of her time during the day in this room, is that little mousies sleep during the day and only come out at night. We'll be loaded for bear when he comes around after dark.
Israel dropped a bunker buster in the middle of a Gazan refugee center yesterday, which killed a lot of civilians and an untold number of Hamas militants. I know they dropped a bomb that killed lots of people, and based on the resulting hole in the ground that was seen on television worldwide, I'm guessing it had to be a bunker buster. The Israelis were no doubt targeting the tunnels beneath the refugee center, and, according to the Israelis, they killed a high-level commander in the Hamas organization in the attack. Civilian casualties are collateral damage during wartime, and this attack was no different. Reports this morning say that nine or so hostages also died in the attack. It's no secret that Hamas was keeping their hostages in the tunnels beneath Gaza, so no one should be surprised by this development. The seemingly indiscriminate nature of the bombing by Israel, despite this one being targeted as it was, has to be a source of great frustration and concern to those whose loved ones are being held hostage. Every one or more of some two hundred-plus families awaiting the safe return of their loved ones from the clutches of the Hamas militants in Gaza will now have to wait to find out if one or more of their loved ones were among the casualties found beneath the rubble in the bombing of the refugee center. #SleeplessNights
I have to laugh when I hear these fools on television going on and on about the fact that we can't let Russia win in Ukraine. If we stop funding Ukraine, then Russia will win. If Russia wins, then there is no stopping them. They will not stop with Ukraine. The entire continent of Europe will be at risk. What they are unwilling to admit is that Russia is winning in Ukraine. Some might say that Russia has already won. The only unanswered question at this point is when Ukraine will admit defeat and negotiate an end to the conflict. Of course, if they admit defeat, any and all funding flowing into Ukraine to arm and support the war effort there will slow to a trickle, if not stop altogether. Ukraine has become so dependent on the funds flowing into their country that they are willing to continue sending their young men into the meat grinder that awaits them on the battlefields of Ukraine so as not to disrupt the flow of funds. Meanwhile, the Russians are perfectly happy bleeding the West dry of their capital in the form of weaponry and other resources that might be needed in other conflicts across the globe. Is that the real endgame here? Does this have anything to do with Taiwan? How about the current conflict between Israel and Gaza? Good questions all.
I signed up to go to a local gym, which is right down the road from where we live. They offered a deal that was hard to refuse, so I'm officially now on board. Just between you and me, I have both the time and the inclination to do this sort of thing, so I think I'm good to go. They have no television screens for the people using the treadmills, and that is going to take some getting used to. I'll probably just pop my earbuds in and listen to my usual radio shows. It's not a big deal. Would I rather have shows to watch? Of course, said the horse. They require a 30-day notice for people wanting to quit, so I'm not tied into some extended deal that charges my credit card well after I've lost interest. I'm guessing this stint will take me into early Spring, when I typically start to ramp up my biking activity. I bike all winter long, although there are more off days than on days due to the weather, as you can probably imagine. Some days are just too cold to bike. I draw the line at single digits. Here's hoping that I don't tire too soon of the gym experience. I should just think of it as a way to get in shape ahead of what could be a grueling winter season, according to the Farmer's Almanac. Everything snow removal-related is on my shoulders, so let's do this. Git er done, Johnny.
I wonder if there is any truth to the rumor that every country in the Middle East views Hamas as a cancer and is secretly pleased as punch that they are taking the beating of their lives at the hands of the Israelis. They would like nothing better than to see Hamas as a terrorist organization wiped off the face of the earth. They also want to see Israel go down in flames, so they must be mightily conflicted if any of what I'm suggesting is true. I'm also a little curious as to why countries surrounding Gaza haven't jumped into the fray using Israeli's heavy-handedness as an excuse to weigh in with their armies or militias. Maybe they're waiting for Israel to finish the job they started before expressing their angst with the tactics used by Israel and, with Israel's forces largely exhausted and their resources stretched, move in for the so-called kill. Is that why the United States has roughly 100,000 troops in the Middle East? Biden can't find his butt with both hands, so don't give me this shit about him playing five-dimensional chess. He keeps talking about a cease-fire to appease his supporters in states like Michigan, who see him standing by twiddling his fucking thumbs while their fellow Palestinians die by the hundreds in Gaza. Netanyahu is having none of his twaddle. He wants to finish the job he started. Can you blame him?
I don't know what Xi is waiting for. If he wants to take Taiwan, now is the time to do it. The only country with the military wherewithal to run interference if and when China invades Taiwan is the United States, so there's that. I read this morning that the United States and Canada have warships moving through the Straits of Taiwan. Is that supposed to send a message to Xi that we've got Tawan's back if he has any half-cocked ideas about going into Tawan? I didn't even know Canada had a navy, so what's up with that? I'm also guessing that Xi isn't terribly concerned about the US pushing back since Biden is allegedly a wholly owned asset of the Chinese Communist Party. What cards might he play to out Bumbles and his entire family if Bumbles does something stupid? Who doesn't think that Xi and his boys have the receipts when it comes to the Biden Crime Family? Congress has had the goods on the Bidens all along, but they are either too stupid or too compromised to get anything off the ground. Xi would likely have no such compunctions. On the other hand, China seems to have more of a bark than a bite when it comes to international affairs, so it's possible that they could give two shits about Taiwan. I don't know. It's all very confusing. Maybe they just like to keep everyone guessing.
We're hearing about another 7,000-plus human caravan heading up through Central America coming to a neighborhood near you, thanks to Joe Biden. He's fucking destroying our country. Just add them to the eight million already here since Biden's inauguration in 2021. I hear the leader of that caravan is actually mocking Biden for his abject idiocy in promoting the destruction of his own country. Don't kid yourself. This is all Obama. Where did I see the other day that Biden is working with Obama on all things Artificial Intelligence? What the hell is that Kenyan goat herder doing anywhere near the White House? It's no secret that our beloved White House is crawling with Obama hires, so one has to wonder if Obama himself is the one pulling all the strings. It makes perfect sense. Obama promised to transform America fundamentally, and now we know what the hell he meant by that. I heard someone refer to New York City as the new Caracas, an obvious reference to the poisonous infusion of millions of migrants from all over the world thanks to Joe Biden. Well, thanks to Obama anyway. So that you know, Caracas is an open sewer.
The leader of Hezbollah, whose name escapes me at the moment, is expected to step up to the microphone today at 3 p.m. Beirut time. That's about an hour and a half from now in Eastern Standard Time. My guess is that he'll be giving the green light to his followers worldwide to jump into the war that's been declared by Israel. I need to brush up on who this guy is and who he represents, but I think we're talking about all things related to Iran and Iran's militias. How many additional fronts are likely to open on the current conflict as a result of his speech is anyone's guess. Does Israel have enough incendiary devices to keep what could be coming their way at bay? Is this the nightmare scenario that keeps every Jew on the planet awake at night? It could well explain why we have so many military assets off the shores of Israel, with more arriving every day. You know that this thing could go nuclear. Right? Netanyahu will not stand by and see his country and his people destroyed. Who will be the unlucky recipient of this bomb should it come to that? Would it be enough to stave off their enemies for another day and time when they might have another opportunity to push the Jews into the sea? It's not helping that both Russia and North Korea are now openly admitting to backing the Palestinians in the conflict.
I think we got the Ev man's toilet thing squared away. Finally. It seems like it all started when he broke off a section of a snake that he was using to unclog his toilet while unclogging his toilet. He finally got that out, but it was still not working quite right. What he wasn't saying was that the toilet wasn't flushing properly. The bowl would fill with water, but it would just swirl and not empty. It worked just often enough so that he didn't have an emergency on his hands, if you get my drift. He and I finally decided that we'd call in a work order to get it fixed. No one ever showed up, so I took a look on YouTube and came away with an idea or two. I decided that there were likely some mineral deposits that had built up along the inside of the rim of the toilet, and they were preventing the jets from releasing enough water into the bowl to effect a good flush. Listen to me. I sound like Joe the Plumber, for chrissakes. I picked up some mineral-busting product at Walmart and poured it into the back section of the toilet, and let it sit for a half hour or so before flushing it down. Voila! I gave the jets a bit of brushing for extra measure, and you could literally see the now-loosened mineral deposits running down into the toilet bowl. I don't think I've seen the Ev man with that big of a smile since God knows when. It's all good.
I like what Speaker of the House, Michael Johnson, is trying to do with the funding for Israel. Biden and the Democrats want both Ukraine funding and Israel funding tied together in one bill. Johnson is having none of it. There is also funding for the southern border in one version of the bill or another, which effectively helps to facilitate the movement of illegal aliens into our country. That's never a good thing. Johnson is taking a fiscally responsible approach to the funding of Israel by offsetting monies that would otherwise go to the funding of the IRS and the 87,000 new agents hired by Biden last year. Biden is threatening to veto the bill because Ukraine is cut out of the bill. That does not sit well with some of the Democrats who understand that Israel's needs are more pressing. I think the bill passed last night but may be dead on arrival in the Senate. If it gets to Biden's desk, let him be the one to veto the bill, and he can explain to Israel why they aren't getting the funds they need to fight the war they find themselves in. Would anyone put it past Biden to put American boots on the ground in Israel if Israel no longer had the means to wage war? Biden would do it out of spite, and he would blame Republicans for any American blood spilled as a result of their failure to fund both conflicts as he requested. I can see the old fool standing over the flag-draped caskets of American soldiers now. He's the guy checking his watch every two seconds.
I think the new gym is going to work out pretty well. I've been twice now, and I'm already starting to feel a little more toned than usual. The human body is an amazing thing. My body has always been very responsive to this or that form of exercise, be it biking or weight lifting. I don't mind using the treadmill, and I prefer to use it prior to moving on to weights. We have a treadmill at home, but I rarely use it for whatever reason. One thing I'd change if I had a magic wand, would be to have something to watch while I'm treading. Planet Fitness had televisions to watch, which offered a pleasant distraction from the monotony that sets in while using something like a treadmill. For now, anyway, I'm tuning in to a radio show that I like to listen to every so often. This gym is extremely spacious and airy, which I also like. They have more equipment than I knew even existed. They even have monkey bars for those inclined to use them. Everything is new, which is also nice. The next time you see me, which is never, I might add, I'll have a bit of a spring in my step. That's a good thing.
We ordered a few different spices from an online store called Penzy's Spices. I'm not sure why I'm referring to the store as an online store since they have at least one physical location in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which I've been to a couple of times or more. The owners of this business are probably about as far left on the political continuum as you can get without being full-blown Marxists. If you go to their store online and look at the categories in the header, you'll see that they have one category entitled "Republicans." I learned about their political leanings long before I decided to purchase anything from them, and them being leftists would not, in the normal course of business, be a show-stopper for me. The same can be said about other businesses like Starbucks, for example, and that's never stopped me from grabbing a flat white from them from time to time. I've never bothered clicking on the "Republican" category on Penzy's website. I imagine it's fraught with all kinds of nonsense about Republicans and, God forbid, even Donald Trump himself. It's probably the kind of pablum you probably see on CNN and MSNBC on a daily basis. That's pretty ballsy to have an actual category called "Republicans," though. You have to admit. In case you were wondering what I ordered, I ordered Ceylon cinnamon and cumin. Would I have ordered from them if I didn't have a gift certificate for their store? Probably.
There are a number of elections next Tuesday (November 7th) in places like Virginia, which may offer some insight into the kinds of issues that will drive people to the polls next November. I saved a link to a story entitled "10 races to watch next Tuesday." I think they refer to these as bellwether races. The Virginia races will decide who will run their House of Commons. I think that's what it's called. Word on the street is that if Republicans win, we may see Glen Youngkin, the current governor of Virginia, enter the 2024 presidential sweepstakes. If that happens, he shouldn't expect a warm, boozy embrace by either DeSantis or Haley. It bears mentioning that Youngkin would not have won the governor's seat in Virginia were it not for the Trump supporters who came out of the rural areas in Virginia at the behest of Donald Trump to vote for him. The other race I'm watching is the governor's race in Kentucky between Cameron and Beshear. Beshear recently vetoed a bill that would have kept men out of women's sports. He's a radical's radical who presents himself as the guy next door who you wouldn't mind having a beer with. He's nothing of the kind. Voters in Kentucky need to kick him to the curb next Tuesday with extreme prejudice. Did I mention that Beshear is also a proponent for whatever that surgery is that cuts off young women's breasts and young men's genitalia before they ever have a chance to get the counseling they need? This is who they are. This is what they do. I'm talking about the Democrat party.
These people taking to the streets of our country on behalf of the Palestinians in Gaza and against Israel are unbelievable. There are literally thousands upon thousands of them. Where the hell are they coming from? I know Michigan has a sizeable Muslim population, so I can see them taking to the streets on behalf of their brothers and sisters being slaughtered by the Israelis in Gaza. There were hundreds, if not thousands, of marchers in the streets around the White House last night. It's another insurrection, I tell you. Nope, not one of them will face justice. They can climb as many walls as there are to climb; They can deface as many statues as there are to deface; and they can call Bumbles Biden all the names in the book for his failure to insist on a cease-fire in Gaza. If you are not there to sing the praises of Donald J. Trump, you are good to go. It all has a terrible antisemitic feel to it. I'm not sure I'd feel comfortable in their presence if I were a Jewish person. I would probably agree with the rioters that there has been little about Israel's response to the horrors of October 7th that feels proportional. I would also agree with Israel that Hamas is now, more than ever, an existential threat to Israel's very existence. What I really want to know is, how many of these marchers have come into our country illegally from the Middle East. I guess I'll never know since it's against the law to ask about that sort of thing. You know who does know? Biden.
Mark Levin had some guy from some institute on his show on FOX last night, and they were talking about the various and sundry shortcomings of Joe Biden and his administration and how it all manifested itself in what we're seeing across the globe at this very moment. Mark's guest said something about Biden's appeasement of Iran, as evidenced by Biden's failure to enforce sanctions. Consequently, Iran has been making billions of dollars as a result of their oil sales to countries like China. I think he has it backward. This is all about Biden's appeasement to China, not Iran. The Biden family has allegedly been taking money from China hand over fist for years, and those chickens are now just coming home to roost. China is getting oil from Iran because Biden is looking the other way on those sales and transfers. Biden is looking the other way because he has been paid to look the other way.
I don't know why Mark's guest just couldn't come out and say it. We have the receipts for chrissakes. Let's not forget the alliance just signed off on by Iran, China, and Russia. Biden is there, presumably and by virtue of the evidence collected to date, to grease the skids and do the bidding of Xi and his Communist Party. They didn't talk about this, but I'll throw it out there anyway: What are the chances that Israel takes advantage of their war against Hamas to bomb the living bejesus out of Iran's nuclear facility before they have a chance to fire up the reactors? Alternatively, is it possible that the American armada sitting off Isreal's coast is really there not to protect Israel but rather to prevent Israel from leveling Iran's Nuclear infrastructure? In for a penny, in for a pound. Right?