Posts Tagged ‘Israel Hamas war’

Five AM Thoughts Under the Fedora Chicago on the Potomac What are they Hiding? , War involves killing? Who wouda thunk it! ,Get on With it, Adjusting the Schedule

Posted: March 25, 2024 by datechguy in Israel vs Hamas, News/opinion, under the fedora
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During the Obama years when his administration was young I pointed out repeatedly that he was basically a cheap Chicago Machine Pol.

It’s apparently much worse in the sense that his administration and the Biden admin that his people control have basically brought Chicago politics to the national level, where every part of government is used to quell & destroy opposition on one hand and the levers of power simply exist to enrich friends and perpetuate the machine, even down to the lowest civil service level.

They have remade the courts, the civil service and even the military in their image and the consequences of this are likely to destroy America or drive it toward Civil War and worst of all they’ve done it at the behest of our enemies.

I really don’t have words to describe what I think of the people who have allowed it to happen for the sake of power, status and greed but that’s a post Christian society for you.

A couple of days ago I saw it theorized that the reason Gallagher is resigning in a way to prevent his +15 GOP seat from being filled is to help the Democrats get the House long enough to declare Trump an “insurrectionist” and try to disqualify him per the SCOTUS ruling that killed the cases in Colorado etc.

There was a time when I would have laughed such a theory out the door but the incredible irrational fear and obsession the deep state and the left has of Trump has demonstrated that no tactic is beyond them.

This type of fear suggests that however bad and whatever illegalities and unconstitutional acts I might suspect have been going on during the Biden/Obama years, it’s much worse and they’re totally afraid of being exposed.

I must confess that I’m completely confused by how some people react to events in Ukraine and Russia

They are at war with each other and now have been for over two years. During war both sides try to attack the other, try to destroy infrastructure and target the other side. This tends to lead to death and destruction the scale of which depends on the size of the parties involved and the state of their military. This is how war actually works. It’s why it’s something to be avoided if at all possible.

So will people PLEASE stop having fits when Ukraine hits Russia and when Russia hits Ukraine and acting all shocked when it happens and concentrate on finding ways of ending the war instead. Surely there are easier ways of acquiring graft then this and frankly for those worried about the Russian Bear the lessons of this war would seem to be that the bear is not what people think it is.

Speaking of Military Confusion I’m a tad confused by Israel’s delay in moving into that final big Hamas City. I understand there might be logistical issues that they may be working out and given what we’ve seen there is plenty of mopping up to do farther north but I suspect if anything is going to move Hamas to made a deal for those hostages it’s the impending fall of that final safe haven.

Of course I’m still shocked they haven’t gone all General Sherman or more General Lemay on Gaza but that’s their call not mine.

Finally day one of up at five off to work at 6am, mass at 6 pm and home maybe 7-8 has gone without incident. It’s been 20 years since I’ve done 10 hour days so the real test isn’t the easy Sunday, it will be the Monday facing rush hour traffic and the Wednesday when I’ve done four straight.

Given the Biden economy & and the debt it’s helped me accrue combined with the empty tip jar I’m thinking of picking up a part time job on that now free day I have but I’m going to wait till I’ve done this a month or so to see how this sixty something body handles 10 hour days over the long haul first.

This Explains a Lot Some Important Context Hamas vs the Clans in Gaza

Posted: March 17, 2024 by datechguy in Israel, Israel vs Hamas
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One of the things disadvantages that people in the west have when it comes to understanding what’s going on in Gaza is their lack of knowledge of the structures that exist there. One of these structures are the clans:

Most of these large families are “native” Gazans; as in, they’re not considered 1948 refugees (30 percent of Gazans are labeled “native” – with the Strip being their ancestral origin). Gaza’s clans, such as Dogmosh, Helles, Shawwa, Sweerky, Attallah, Abdel-Aal, Mushtaha, Sager, Abu Amra, and many others, have different forms of power and influence and are prominent in various sectors of Gazan society. They have more money, land, and resources than average families in the coastal enclave, and have had essential roles in governance and political factions. They also tend to have large stockpiles of munitions and arms (not ones used in “resistance” acts against Israel but strictly for internal purposes) that they’ve used in their fights and disputes with others.

This comes from Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib who has a Palestinian American from Gaza has some knowledge of the clans and how they work.

When reports came out that Hamas had executed the head of an important clain in Gaza and that the clan in question has declared open season on members of Hamas over this attack. I suspected this might be big trouble for Hamas but apparently not only have Hamas and the various Clans have been at odds for some time but apparently it was bringing of the clans under control that gave Hamas their popularity:

I remember vividly widespread armed clashes that the Palestinian police were powerless to stop. It was Hamas that reigned in those clans and violently/robustly crushed their thuggery and clipped most of their wings, ensuring almost complete obedience and compliance with the Islamist group’s rule. Part of Hamas’s popularity in Gaza actually stemmed from the group’s ability to force and institute law and order upon clans due to its iron grip that established a monopoly on violence.

To a Sicilian like me it sounds a lot like a mafia turf wars and it was Hamas ruthlessly ending them that gave them and sustains their mandate among those in Gaza. They are playing Tito over and if they go the various clans will try to assert their authority in their own territories.

He seems to think that the clans are not a good alternative to a foreign Arab force taking over. I suspect he knows a lot more about the subject than I do but I don’t see how such a force doesn’t get co-opted by the various clans seeking control over turf and the literally billions that are going to come in to rebuild once the war is over. I suspect you will see the various commanders getting rich by suppressing some Clans and favoring others or if it’s left to the clans it becomes a vast Mafia like territory with each Clan looking for the maximum piece of the pie involving turf wars and the like, either alternative doesn’t sound good for the people of Gaza.

But then given that the alternative is a fanatical Islamic group like Hamas moving in under Iranian control to wage proxy war against Israel if I’m the Jewish state I’m more than happy enough to let the clans have the place and let the Gazans fight with each other over the coming international gravy train as long as they leave Israel alone thus freeing the Jewish state to give Iran’s other proxy Hezbollah their full undivided attention.

Some Israel Gaza Tweets Worth Seeing

Posted: February 28, 2024 by datechguy in Israel, Israel vs Hamas, middle east
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With the league Draft a few days away ( and a 2nd league draft one week farther out) let’s turn to twitter for some updates on the war between Israel & Hamas:

A really big roundup here

Check out #7 from the above tweet:

7. Mid and upper-level Hamas government administrators, political members, and families of senior Qassam Brigade fighters & commanders are super set with access to all the tents, aid, food, supplies, medicine, and resources needed to sit the rest of the war out.

Cue my shocked face

What’s that old saying? Familiarity breeds contempt.

Well in fairness none of the leaders in the middle east jobs are at stake over this war.

Perhaps he should be called an anti-social worker

However bad you think the UN in general and UNRWA in particular are, it’s not enough.

A tragic reminder of the dangers of delusions:

Reality doesn’t care what positive attributes you assign to those trying to kill you.

Although some people are capable of learning after the fact:

Help Help I’m being repressed!

Do you really want to live in a society where you can’t hijack planes and throw Molotov cocktails? If you don’t the US won’t stop you from leaving.

And finally in response to the insane lionization of the fellow who burned himself to death.

That fellow was the ultimate useful idiot.

How DARE those Jews rescue their hostages!, An Old Fashioned Rand Paul, Mahomes Twice in one game, Glenn Reynolds on Biden and consequences and Just a Shrove Tuesday Coincidence Under the Fedora

Posted: February 13, 2024 by datechguy in Blame Biden Administration, culture, election 2020, election 2024, elections, Israel, Israel vs Hamas, nfl, politics, Sports, under the fedora
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The speed of cultural change in this country amazes me. A recently as 5-10 years ago and definitely 20 years ago a military operation that successfully recused civilians taken hostage unharmed that took only one casualty slightly wounded and killed multiple terrorists in the process would be universally hailed by both sides of the political aisle and lionized by the press.

Instead it has at best been ignored and at worst attacked by sitting members of congress as a “massacre”.

There have been quite a few national disgraces over the last few years. This is one of them.

Rand Paul did something yesterday that we don’t see much of. An old fashioned filibuster of the Ukraine Bill where people actually hold the floor and talk.

While I concede that the current cloister rules are what allowed the chances at SCOTUS which finally doomed Roe I approve of both the Filibuster and Paul’s use of it here and would bring it back if I could, HOWEVER I’d only approve of the real thing.

You see for the last few decades rather than actually holding the floor and making the face a filibuster was considered as read if enough senators indicated they were behind it. I’ve always felt that was lazy. If a bill is worth filibustering it’s worth doing it for real.

Because of a previous vote Paul’s filibuster is limited but he’s playing out the string like Jackie Robinson remaining on the field watching Bobby Thompson circling the based ready to protest if he missed any of them on his way around them in the excitement of the moment.

Agree or disagree on various issues he’s a man of principle. We need more of them in congress.

The difference between a good player and a great player is how they perform when the chips are down. 

While Tom Brady will always have the edge on Patrick Mahomes because of their head to head record in the playoffs (favoring Brady 2-0) Mahomes with his 3rd Superbowl win proves he belongs in the GOAT conversation not just by the victory. But by the fact that TWICE in the same game he lead his team down the field to score the tying or winning points where failure would have meant defeat and did so with less than 30 seconds on the clock.

A lot of stat guys are not believers in “Clutch” performers. Mahomes as well as Brady proves such an assertion is nonsense. Having Mahomes follow Brady It’s like watching DiMaggio come after Ruth or Mantle after DiMaggio.

Oh and full marks to Brock Purdy the idea that a Mr. Irrelevant forced Mahomes in a situation where he had to do that is astounding

Law Professor Glenn Reynolds, the Blogfather has been worth reading for 23 years and if I actually had a bucket list lunch with him would be on it.

At substack yesterday he posted one of the best assessment of Joe Biden’s current situation that I’ve read. That something Reynolds has written is good is a given, but this is SO far above even his standard that you must read it. There are two bits that jump out at me:

As Time magazine reported shortly after the 2020 election, a “cabal” — Time’s word — of “left-wing activists and business titans” worked to get rid of Trump. It pushed mail-in voting. It moved to block election fraud suits brought by Trump and supporters. It employed social media censorship to mute pro-Trump arguments and amplify anti-Trump arguments. It sponsored protests.

Time called this a “conspiracy to save the election,” but in truth it was a conspiracy to save the election for the Democrats. The consequences in terms of lost faith in democracy have been severe, but the worst effect is that the winning ticket was never seriously vetted by the media or the campaign process. 

As one of those who was muted by twitter and is still muted by Youtube for this reason that really strikes home. The second:

After noting the Democrats desperate to replace him he makes what I think is THE critical point:

But whatever the Democrats do about 2024, I would like to see some accountability for the election of 2020.  A cabal of insiders colluded to control the outcome, through all sorts of underhanded tactics.  (Tech companies censored the Hunter Biden laptop story broken by The Post, and retired intelligence officials falsely claimed it was fake, Russian disinformation).  The press allowed Biden to campaign from his basement, covering up the truth that he was already unfit for office.

Now we’re in a pickle.  Whatever happens in this election, I would like to see some consequences for the games played with our democracy in 2020.  Elections belong to the voters, not the insiders.  Or at least they should.

To get that point across, we’re going to have to impose some costs on the folks who rigged the last one.

This states a basic truth that blue cities that were once the envy of the world and are now lawless places where police can be assaulted with impunity, where open air drug markets reign and business have fled. There have been people trying to steal elections for as long as there have been elections just has there have been thugs, drug deals and thieves in all of human history. They only get away with it when those whose job it is to stop them turn a blind eye for their own purposes and let them do it. 

Unless there are consequences for these actions both for those who did it and those who allowed it, it will happen again until the people finally say ENOUGH! 

I suspect if it reaches that point, ENOUGH will not be conveyed via an excellent essay on substack.

Finally as you might recall the WQPH 1st Annual Shrove Tuesday Brunch is scheduled to begin at 10:30 AM at Slattery’s Restaurant in Fitchburg. There have been a lot of small coincidences that have taken place to retard this event that seemed to be overcome. About 48 hours ago it appeared there was one that would not be, the projected storm that closed my place of work today with the potential of 13″ of snow falling fast right at the travel time. The restaurant mindful of the storm and scheduled to be closed on monday gave us till 4 PM on Sunday to cancel or reschedule. After discussion with the head of WQPH we decided to go ahead even if it meant half or less would show but dreaded that is was the wrong one. Yesterday I came home from Eucharist Adoration (cancelled today because of the potential storm) to a phone message from the owner who was there because of a funeral luncheon asking for one more confirmation one way or the other.

I called the head of the station again, our speaker coming down from NH and bringing a relic of the Crown of thorns was determined to come and give his talk on the feast of the Holy Face of Jesus. It was at this time I remembered General Patton’s famous weather prayer written by Fr James H. O’Neill a Catholic priest. I tweaked it and tweeted it out while sending a copy to the head of the station who email blasted it out to her prayer group. It reads:

“Almighty and most merciful Father, we humbly beseech Thee, of Thy great goodness, to restrain the immoderate weather due tomorrow with which we have to contend. Grant us fair weather for Spiritual Battle. Graciously hearken to us as soldiers who call upon Thee that, armed with Thy power, we may advance from victory to victory, and crush the oppression and wickedness of our enemies and establish Thy justice among men and nations.

We ask this through Christ our Lord Amen”

As of this moment (4:47 AM woke up coughing) the snow that two days ago was predicted to start at 1 AM and end at 3 PM has not yet started (although it’s predicted to do so shortly and is now scheduled to end at 1 PM with an 80% chance of 1-3″ in my area, a walk in the park for any New Englander.

The Biden admin not withstanding this is still a free country and if you wish to believe this is a coincidence you are welcome to do so. If you don’t and are one of the folks who prayed that prayer at our request, thanks much for making the prayer and thanks to he who answered it.

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