Archive for the ‘middle east’ Category

Litmus Testa, Keeping the Base Happy, Dead American Hostages Wrong Perps, The choice of Agonies, and the Real Danger to California is Ohtani Under The Fedora

Posted: December 24, 2023 by datechguy in baseball, Israel, Israel vs Hamas, middle east, under the fedora
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Q: How can you tell if President Trump has a Chance of winning a state with a Democrat Governor?

A: If said governor publicly opposes the move in Colorado, odds are Trump would have zero chance of carrying their state.

Although in fairness in Gavin Newsom’s case, the voting process in California is so corrupt that even if Trump was polling in the 60’s the chances of him winning would be under 50-50

RFK Jr. has been denied Secret Service Protection for the 3rd time by the Biden Administration, or whoever is actually making those decisions in the administration.

I suspect that it’s a question of keeping the left’s violent base happy because after this video

They would be really pissed if old Joe didn’t let them get a crack at him.

Oh and we’ve had the first American Hostage held by Hamas who has died offically

Biden was in office when American Hostages were taken once before but neither those hostages nor the dozens of Americans killed by Hamas on Oct 7th are newsworthy to the left or a source of outrage for the Media/left.

Of course for the left/media American lives don’t matter unless their deaths can be blamed on the right people do they?

It hit me today that I have a few Jewish relatives as one of my nephews married a nice Jewish girl and have a fair sized family.

Haven’t seen him in years and the kids are now grown but I’m hoping they aren’t getting trouble where they are. 

Of course if anyone decided to harm any of them the real question would not be what would happen to such people, it would be a question of which grandparent on my nephew’s side would take vengeance, the special forces one or the Sicilian one. I suspect the special forces one would be quicker but the Sicilian one would be more memorable and lasting.

As a devout Catholic I of course could not condone either but if it did happen the Sicilian in me would be nodding. Personally I don’t think vengeance is worth losing one’s soul over.

And finally on a financial note a lot of folks in LA are celebrating the signing of Ohtani to his $700 million dollar deal but I suspect the folks in Sacramento are horrified at the deal’s structure because of the precedent it might set:

Ohtani this month agreed to play for the Dodgers for a decade at $70 million per season, but from 2024-33, he’ll draw just $2 million per season. Ohtani is deferring $680 million — more than 97 percent of his earnings — until after his 10-year deal with the Dodgers expires, when that money comes back to him in equal annual payments from 2034-43.

When Ohtani receives the bulk of the money, he’ll no longer be under contract with the Dodgers; experts say that the structure of the contract appears likely to save Ohtani between $90 and $100 million in state taxes, so long as he lives outside of California when the deferred money is paid out.

Another key component in potential tax savings is how he has timed the deferral payments, spanning a decade. A 1996 federal law forbids states from taxing retirement income on out-of-state residents when payments are made in “substantially equal periodic” amounts over at least 10 years

Athletes playing on California teams are the one set of millionaires not in a position to leave the state, but if they go the Ohtani route, not only will they wisely have funds to live on when their playing days are done but will keep the state from taking the bulk of their cash when they do.

Couldn’t happen to a nicer state.

The Single Most Important Bit of the Douglas Murray Cenk Uygur Bit

Posted: December 23, 2023 by datechguy in Israel vs Hamas, middle east
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There are plenty of stories in conservative media celebrating Douglas Murray taking apart Cenk Uygur in their discussion on the Israel/Hamas war (and full credit to Uygur for having the guts to have the discussion). That Murray could do this was no surprise as he does tend to do shoe leather reporting and such work regardless of the quality of sources always superior from pontificating from afar.

But the real news here wasn’t that debate or even that it took place, the news was an assertion Murray made during the exchange that I think is the single most important fact concerning the Palestinians in the west bank of the Jordan. To wit:

If there was an election tomorrow in the West Bank, Hamas would win. 

emphasis mine

Run that through your head for a second.

Hamas has committed one of the worst and most barbaric attacks on civilians that we have seen in decades including the mass rape of women, the desecrations of corpus and the kidnap, murder and even baking of babies. The video of the livestreams of these events have left people who have seen this video, even seasoned reporters and those experienced in dealing with trauma visibly shaken.

Furthermore the actions of Hamas has led to the Jewish state invading Gaza and putting the residents in such a state due to it being a war zone that they have an issue with basic supplies, their economy such as it is, is crushed and their future prospects for anything resembling a normal life are shaky at best and non-existent at worst.

Yet despite these facts Murray, an experienced reporter who has direct experience of the area asserts that Palestinians in the west bank would, not a year ago, not before Oct 7th, not before seeing the end result that it has led to for Palestinians in Gaza, TODAY despite everything choose to vote for Hamas to lead them.

In fairness the kleptocracy of the Palestinian Authority does deserve some credit here but even so the idea that they would vote Hamas seems insane. But if we are to believe Murray consider:

  • The murder of the Jews doesn’t bother them
  • The kidnapping, atrocities against woman and babies doesn’t bother them
  • The risk of their own areas being flattened in response to a potential Hamas attack bothers them

All that matters to them is that Hamas is willing to attack and kill Jews. That willingness to do so overrides all other considerations.

You can’t make peace with such people, the only thing you can do short of destroying them, expelling them or ruling them with an iron fist, is contain them which seems to be the goal of Israel. It involves risk and will cost lives but is the only way to avoid the other unacceptable choices.

The sooner the world learns that the better.

Update: Been gone all day to the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Salette which in addition to being an awesome Catholic shrine with mass, confession and a large collection of Christmas Creches from all over the world has a rather more famous Christmas light display so I didn’t have any idea that I’d been Instalanched till my son mentioned it in passing as we were getting ready to leave for home. Thanks Ed and welcome all, take a look around. Be aware that our first fundraiser in a couple of years will be kicking off after Christmas. The goal is $3k overall with 5 new subs at $20 a month. If you want to get us started toward that goal it would be much appreciated.

When it’s all Over I’d Put Israeli Arabs in Charge of Gaza

Posted: December 21, 2023 by datechguy in Israel vs Hamas, middle east
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Last week I pondered the problem of who to put in charge of Gaza once Hamas is exterminated. 

Given the Gazans participation in the attacks of Oct 7th and their previous support of Hamas obviously Israel can’t allow Hamas to be replaced by Islamic Jihad or whatever new permutation of the “Let’s kill the Jews” lobby rises up. Democracy is a fine thing but it’s not a suicide pact.

Further given the indifference at best or complicity at worst of the various UN and other International NGO as Hamas prepared for their grand slaughter leaves them out.

And forget Egypt, the last thing they want is the Gaza population. Getting them off their hands was the one bright side to their losses to Israel.

And it goes without saying that the Palestinian authority shouldn’t be let anywhere near Gaza, remember the reason why the Gazans voted in Hamas is they knew the PA were a bunch of corrupt bastards (they had to find out that Hamas was the same but only more murderous).

So if Israel doesn’t want the spectacle of about 2 million Arabs being governed by Jews there is a only one solution.

I would make a special sub committee of the Israeli Knesset consisting only of Arab members and put them in charge, under the supervision of am Arab member of Israel’s supreme court.

This would thread the needle. The Arab Israeli’s have an incentive prevent terror attacks as their own families and people are not immune from such attacks while the people of Gaza whose hate for Jews has been the origin of all these troubles can avoid being directly governed by them.

If it works out then Gaza could actually thrive and prosper, furthermore this is basically the only way to I can think of to DeNazify the strip. Two or three generations of Arab Israeli rule just might be enough to wean Gazans from their insane hatred of Jews while giving them a chance to actually have a better life.

And if it fails, if the Israeli Arabs are either unable to govern or if it’s impossible to convince the people of Gaza that trying to kill Jews is a bad thing, then whatever happens next, it’s on them.

The Dear School of Experience Visits A Survivor of Kibbutz Nir Oz 

Posted: December 15, 2023 by datechguy in culture, Israel, Israel vs Hamas, Uncategorized
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K’Mtar: [Alexander has just dropped an opponent in the Holodeck] Po’tajg! Po’tajg! Finish him. [Alexander drops his bat’leth and walks away. The Hologram Klingon gets up knife ready to kill him from behind] Freeze program. [To Alexander] You should have killed him when you had the chance.
Lt. Worf: Why did you not?
Alexander: I don’t know.
K’Mtar: Look at him! He did not care that you showed him mercy. He was going to kill you.
Lt. Worf: K’mtar, that is enough.
K’Mtar: If this was real, he’d be dead by now. 

Star Trek TNG Firstborn 1994 via chakoteya.net

Experience keeps a dear school, but fools will learn in no other.

Ben Franklin Poor Richard Almanack 1758

Yesterday I talked about the problem of Gaza post Hamas, over at the daily links at Elder of Ziyon I saw this story and video that emphasizes that problem, a story that is both heartbreaking and maddening

“We thought that Palestinians are good people. All they want is peace and prosperity,” Lahav told the Washington Free Beacon in an interview from a hotel in this Red Sea resort city where she and most of her community were temporarily relocated. “It’s just that Hamas is forcing them to be in this aggressive situation.”

When terrorists first shook the door of her safe room on Oct. 7, Lahav was sure that she and her 22-year-old daughter were about to be killed. But a makeshift lock she had fashioned out of an oar and a vacuum cleaner thwarted three separate break-in attempts. The women lay in the darkened room for about 10 hours listening to sounds of automatic gunfire and grenade explosions. At one point, they heard a group of teenagers robbing their house.

Later, Lahav learned from other Nir Oz survivors that Gazan women and children as young as 10 years old had followed Hamas terrorists into the kibbutz, looting, helping the armed terrorists, and apparently enjoying themselves.

Here is the video

It’s heartbreaking because better than one in four of the people in her Kibbutz were killed or kidnapped. But it’s also maddening because this woman is in her 60’s and the evidence during her entire life has been that the Palestinians have wanted them dead, have cheered when terror attacks had taken place and only saw the Israeli peace camp as useful idiots to be exploited.

Yet it took the slaughter of her neighbors for her to learn this lesson and the only reason she and her daughter lived long enough to learn that lesson was that her makeshift lock held out.

How many of her neighbors would still be alive today if they had learned that lesson before Oct 7th?

And let’s ask two more important question to folks here in the states, questions whose answers I believe are just as clear:

  1. How many of those protesting in the streets today in NYC, DC and elsewhere would kill the Jews they encounter here if they thought they could get away with it?
  2. Is there any reason to believe they would or will stop with the Jews when they are done

I submit and suggest that the answer to question 1 is “Yes” and the answer to question 2 is “No” and the only reason you will not likely see this happen in the US is that the citizens of this country are the most heavily armed civilian population in the world today, possibly in history.

Which explains why the left wants us disarmed.

May Israel grow wiser from these event and may the west profit from this horrible example. Finally to those who don’t think this could happen here, I wish you the best of luck, may the dear school of experience never take residence in your town.

Update: She wasn’t alone in her naïveté and her reeducation

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