Israel Attempts to Decapitate Hezbollah

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Israel uses “tens of tons of explosives in a missile attack on the underground headquarters of Hezbollah outside Beirut.  Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was believed to be in the building complex struck by the attack.  Based on the photos if he was there he’s almost certainly dead.

It appears that Israel is not interested in a limited response.  They seem to be preparing for a major confrontation with at least Hezbollah.

I guess the question is will it also include Iran?

Things may be getting out of hand.  I wonder what are the chances we can stay out of this thing.  Well, we’ll find out pretty soon.

 

 

 

 

The Honeymooners – Complete Series Review – Episode 2 – Funny Money

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Spoiler Alert – I review the plot.  Skip down to the last paragraph to get my take on the episode but avoid reading the detailed plot summary.

This episode involves a suitcase full of counterfeit hundred-dollar bills that is left on Ralph’s bus.  A gangster left it on the bus because of a cop he saw.  The mobsters can’t claim the suitcase because it would have to be opened and that would expose them to arrest.  Knowing that after a month the bus driver would be given the suitcase, they bide their time until Ralph is given the case by the bus company.  When Ralph gets home with the unopened suitcase, his mother-in-law is talking with Alice.  She insults Ralph several time about the impoverished state of their apartment and is thrown out by Ralph.

Ralph begs Alice and then Ed Norton to lend him some money to pay his back dues at the Raccoon Club.  But Alice refuses him and Norton has no money.  Right after this Ralph opens the suitcase and goes insane with the desire to spend the money.  He buys a new wardrobe, has telephones installed in every room including the bathroom and fire escape, buys a whole new set of kitchen appliances and negotiates to buy a boat with three propellors.  And to top it all off he insults his boss and quits his job at the bus company.  When his mother-in-law finds out about the money she tries buttering him up by calling him “sonny boy” and claiming he’s her favorite son-in-law.  It succeeds to the extent that Ralph gives her $200 for her and her husband to go to Florida so he doesn’t have to see them.  When Alice finds out about Ralph’s reckless spending, she warns him that something is very wrong with the whole situation and all this spending would lead to disaster.

Naturally everything comes crashing down when he finds out the money is counterfeit.  In order to avoid arrest Ralph puts the remaining money in the oven and burns it.  Immediately afterward the gangsters show up at his apartment and demand the cash.  But before they can shoot him for not having the money,  Ralph’s mother-in-law shows up with two policemen to arrest him for giving her counterfeit money.  Ralph and the gangsters are arrested and brought to the police station.  Ralph is able to convince the police that he had nothing to do with the counterfeit money other than finding it and so the mobsters are jailed and Ralph is freed.

The episode ends with Alice berating Ralph for how he went crazy and spent the money.  Ralph defends himself by saying that no harm was done and for a few days he got to live like a millionaire.  Then she reminds him that he has quit his job and the episode ends with Ralph realizing Alice was right and he was in deep trouble.

Review

This is a very odd episode.  Now, granted, in many cases the actions from one week don’t seamlessly continue into the following episodes.  But in this adventure Ralph pretty definitively quits his job followed by calling his boss a “bum.”  That’s kind of hard to ignore in the next episode.  And there is a sort of pointlessness and unlikeliness to the action in this episode.  But in defense of it, we do get to see Ralph’s ego given full rein.  It does show that if he actually had money, he would be a free spender so it does give us an insight into his true nature.  And there are a few good zingers thrown between Ralph and Alice’s mother.  But all in all, I’d say this was a minor episode.

 

 

 

27SEP2024 – Quote of the Day

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Therefore I must say that, as I hope for mercy, I can have no other notion of all the other governments that I see or know, than that they are a conspiracy of the rich, who, on pretence of managing the public, only pursue their private ends, and devise all the ways and arts they can find out; first, that they may, without danger, preserve all that they have so ill-acquired, and then, that they may engage the poor to toil and labour for them at as low rates as possible, and oppress them as much as they please; and if they can but prevail to get these contrivances established by the show of public authority, which is considered as the representative of the whole people, then they are accounted laws.

Thomas More

I’m Shocked, Shocked to Find …

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Eric Adams is a former NYPD officer, former Brooklyn Borough President and the current Mayor of New York City.  He has been a known quantity for decades.  Without a doubt he has been a part of the graft and corruption that is the status quo within the New York political system.  He has flunkies and nepotistic individuals embedded throughout the city government and the odds that he hasn’t been receiving kickbacks and bribes for decades are zero.

But low and behold! The Feds have discovered there are kickbacks and bribery going on in New York City and Eric Adams is involved!  Amazing.

Well maybe not so amazing.  All of this surfaced when Adams started complaining about Washington relocating tens of thousands of illegal immigrants in New York City and it blew up the city budget.  So because he made the Biden administration look bad they’re coming for him with an indictment for doing what he’s always been doing.  It’s like in Casablanca when Claude Raines’ character Captain Louis Renault tells Rick that he’s shocked, shocked to discover that there is gambling going on in Rick’s Cafe just as the croupier hands him his gambling winnings.

ZMan Has a Good Post on the Weirdness

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The post considers the unlikely events that seem to be happening more and more frequently.  He points to the two Trump assassination attempts and some of the other weird things that just get passed off as random.

It’s well written and thought provoking, so I won’t write a summary.  I will say that it’s obvious that clandestine operations by agents and subcontractors of the United States government have been given permission to do things that formerly would have been forbidden for fear of being discovered and thus delegitimizing the agencies involved.

Apparently they’re no longer worried.  That can’t be a good sign for us.

Strange Days

A Strange Kind of Hope

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Over the last twenty years I and countless others have been disillusioned about the realities of how America works.  We’ve learned how phony the Republican “conservatives” really are.  And we’ve discovered how things actually get done in Washington and where the real power resides.  We watched as all the promises to conserve and restore the decent aspects of American life were broken by the people we voted into office.  Instead, injustice and depravity were installed as the law of the land.  None of this is hyperbole.  In fact, it’s understatement of the reality we now live in.

So, it might seem paradoxical that I am actually more hopeful for the future than I was when most of these defeats had not yet happened.  And this optimism is based on two causes.  The first is because clarity provides confidence and confusion engenders fear.  Back when I was trusting in people like the Bush family and the other frauds I was always confused when our election victories led to policy defeats.  This disconnect led to a feeling of hopelessness.

The other cause for hope is a consequence of facing the facts about our real political situation and formulating actions that I myself can take to make my situation better.  In other words, instead of depending on elected officials to do the right thing I will take matters into my own hands and improve things myself.  You might think that realizing that political progress is hopeless would be demoralizing.  But it’s the opposite.  Once you are realistic about what can be done and assign the agency for getting things done to yourself it’s liberating.  Since you’re the one who has to do the work, you become realistic about what you are capable of achieving and concentrate your efforts on achieving what’s most important.  Realistic goals create the environment for success.  It’s limited success.  But that is much better than attempting too many things and diluting your effort and achieving nothing.

I know this is not the stuff of triumphalism.  How could it be?  We have not won any victory except maybe over delusion.  We were fooled by the people who run the show.  We were told that the government worked for us.  That was a lie.  We work for the government.  Or rather for the people who run the government.  We’re just their former serfs.  But now they don’t need serfs anymore so they’re working out a plan to make us and our children disappear.  And they’ve got the schools and colleges and social media and Hollywood to convince the kids that they should “disappear” themselves.

And since we now know that’s what they’re doing we can try to use this knowledge to try to avoid this fate.  Probably the smartest thing you can do is don’t send your kids to public schools.  Send them somewhere where they won’t be programmed to die.  Speak honestly with your children about what they’ll have to do to avoid being chewed up by the death cult that is now the default culture.  And support the kids anyway and every way you can.  The truth shall set you free.  But then it’s up to you as to what you do with that freedom.  Think carefully.