House Shutdown Ends!

" How do you face people and tell them we couldn’t do our job?”

After three weeks of futility the Red Team finally selected a leader.  Applause....

Next up, funding the government.  Trump wanted a shutdown.  Will "MAGA Mike" give the former president what he wants?  

I suggest the new Speaker cover his genitals.  

Update 10-28-23:  I expect significant dysfunction in Congress under Johnson's Speakership.  By the time 2024 rolls around most people may be too disgusted to vote.  And that may be the plan.

Update 10-31-23:  The House will pass a bunch of bills that go nowhere (but provide campaign slogans).  They have eighteen days to do their job funding the government.  

Update 11-2-23:  The Insane Red Team is back at work.  They told Sean Hannity that job #1 is to impeach President Biden.  Former Congresswoman Liz Cheney said having Mike Johnson as Speaker of the House is dangerous to our democracy.  Red Team Congressman Ken Buck said ""Too many Republican leaders are lying to America" in reference to election denialism and the January 6th insurrection.  He plans to retire and not seek reelection.  A vote to expel George Santos from the House failed.  Incurious George gloated.

Gaza Hospital Deaths

Hundreds of people in a Gaza hospital were killed after a bomb explosion.  Palestinians say it was an Israeli bomb while Israel said it was a failed rocket launch from Islamic Jihad.  Who are we supposed to believe?

Israel is yet to let 500-600 American citizens leave Gaza.  Hamas pretended to have "governing its priority" while it planned its horrific terror attack.  

President Biden visited Israel and said the hospital bombing came from "the other team," as if describing events at a football game.  Biden is physically in Israel, not far from U.S. citizens trapped in Gaza.  How is our close ally not letting them leave?  

As for aid the U.S. and Israel "agreed to develop a plan that will enable..."  Inspiring?  Definitely not.

The common person is not a priority of those in power.   We do get the fallout from their retaliatory impulses.  Seeing widespread death and destruction is heartbreaking.

Update 11-12-23:  On Face the Nation National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Israel is "searching for ways" to keep Gaza City hospital patients safe.  How about not attacking them?  

Sullivan spoke after Margaret Brennan interviewed the head of Doctors Without Borders.  The doctor described non-functioning hospitals jammed with sick babies and post surgical patients.  

Gaza hospitals need to be evacuated to functioning hospitals in the region.  That's what a humane international community would do.  Anything otherwise (what Jake said) is purposeful death and further disability.  

I'm sure Sullivan spoke forcefully about Russia's attacks on Ukrainian healthcare facilities and the killing of medical workers.  Sullivan told CNN's Fareed Zakharia:

Russia continues to show every single day that it is acting in monstrous ways.

The U.S. public sees America whitewashing Israel's actions, the very same ones for which we condemn Russia.  It's not a good look.

Disclosure:  I helped evacuate two hospitals, one completely inoperable from flooding and the other prior to a Category 5 hurricane.  I can attest inoperable hospitals need to be evacuated ASAP and to the difficulty of moving hospitalized patients in a limited time frame.  Neither of those evacuations was in a war zone.

Update 11-13-23:  The Guardian has a piece on the situation at one Gaza hospital.  It's a nightmare.  NBC News reported:

U.S. President Joe Biden said Shifa hospital “ must be protected ” and called for “less intrusive action” by Israeli forces. 

It's more than a little late....

Update 11-15-23:  100 State Department officials signed a letter regarding Israel's war with Gaza, calling it genocide and citing war crimes under international law.  The letter stated President Biden is complicit with genocide.

Update 11-19-23:  WHO called Gaza hospital a death zone.

Update 4-5-24:  The world is horrified by the killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza. Jesse's Crossroads Cafe wrote:

Over 30,000 innocent civilians and 196 aid workers have been systematically targeted and murdered in Gaza in this ongoing act of ethnic cleansing. The aid workers and food convoys are being targeted to promote the starvation of a civilian population. Their lies and phony claims are disgraceful, and transparent to the rest of the world. Yesterday's strike that targeted seven Western aid workers has finally provoked a response. More misery and pain is being inflicted in the West Bank, in what can only be said as a 'grab for land' of other people.

Razing Gaza

AP reported:

Over 180,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip are packed into U.N. shelters as Israeli warplanes pound the tiny territory of 2.3 million people after their Hamas militant rulers launched an unprecedented weekend attack on Israel.

NPR reported:

All of the Gaza Strip's borders are closed, leaving Palestinian civilians with nowhere to escape and around a tenth of Gaza's population of about 2.3 million people internally displaced seeking shelter. Gaza has been under a blockade by Israel and Egypt for 16 years.

Reuters reported:

Egypt is moving to avert a mass exodus from the Gaza Strip into its Sinai Peninsula, as Israeli bombardment halted crossings at the main exit point from the Palestinian enclave on Tuesday, Gaza officials and Egyptian security sources said.

Insider reported:

Israel dropped bombs near a Gaza border crossing full of civilians following officials' advice to flee.

International humanitarian law requires warmakers to follow specific rules.  Hamas did not follow those rules and will reap what they've sown with their horrific attack.  

That said, 2.3 million people in Gaza are not all Hamas.  Currently, they are prisoners on an eventual death row.  

The conditions of war kill more people than bombs or bullets.  How many innocent people will die as a result of being trapped in a war zone?

Update 10-13-23:  Israel ordered more than a million people to leave the northern half of the Gaza Strip within 24 hours. The United Nations and other organizations warned of a disaster if so many people were forced to flee.

Israel gave a Gaza hospital two hours to evacuate (before giving the hospital the night to clear out).  

Terrorist Hamas called for a global day of rage.  Man's inhumanity to man is front and center.  Lord help us all.  Protect us from horrible leaders who perpetuate violence against innocent persons.   

Lord grant us a global day of peace, then a week, a month and a year.  Provide us leaders who will work together to solve the many problems we face.  Our hearts are broken over all the death and destruction.

Update 10-14-23:  NYT reported:

John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said that Israel’s blockade was for now preventing the American government from transporting its citizens out of Gaza. He said that the White House was in talks with Israel and Egypt about the safe passage of civilians out of Gaza, including Americans, but that no breakthrough had been reached.

“Right now, they — they can’t leave. So, we would have no physical means of permitting that transit out,” Mr. Kirby said.  U.S. officials estimated that 500 to 600 American citizens were in Gaza.

U.S. citizens in Gaza cannot get out.   And this is from an ally?  It shows every one of us is expendable.

Update 10-15-23:  As for helping people get out of hellscapes there is recent history (May 2022).  "______ stressed the imperative of enabling humanitarian access and evacuations from besieged areas."  Chris Hedges points out razing Gaza is the objective.  

An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind...

Update 10-16-23:  There is no ceasefire for aid to enter Gaza. 

Update 10-18-23:  Hundreds of Palestinians were killed when a bomb struck a hospital in Gaza.  It's important to know whose bomb it was.  President Biden said it was "the other team."  Really, that's what you have for the American people?  It's not a $%#@ football game.  American citizens are trapped in stinking charnel house.

Update 10-26-23:   If Palestinians were Ukrainians the U.S. would be apoplectic that people couldn't leave an active war zone.  Israel has used collective punishment for decades.  It's more than an eye for an eye, it's ten Palestinian eyes for an Israeli eye.   Fox News had someone on who said all Palestinians in Gaza are Hamas.  That person wants 1,000 Palesinian eyes for an Israeli eye.

Update 10-29-23:  Business Insider reported:

A French diplomat offered:

"Hamas has set a trap for us, and this trap is one of maximum horror, of maximum cruelty. And so there's a risk of an escalation in militarism, of more military interventions, as if we could with armies solve a problem as serious as the Palestinian question. 

There's also a second major trap, which is that of Occidentalism. We find ourselves trapped, with Israel, in this western bloc which today is being challenged by most of the international community.

The debate shouldn't be about rhetoric or word choice. The debate today is about action; we must act. And when you think about action, there are two options. Either it's war, war, war. Or it's about trying to move towards peace, and I'll say it again, it's in Israel's interest. It's in Israel's interest!"

Update 10-30-23:

 Update 10-31-23:  Former President Trump said:

“If you spill a drop of American blood, we will spill a gallon of yours.”

He upped the ratio:  for every one drop of American blood, Trump would take 15,140 drops of the attacker's blood. 

Israel bombed a Gaza refugee camp to kill a senior Hamas commander:

At least six airstrikes hit residential areas in the Jabalia refugee camp on Gaza City’s outskirts on Tuesday, killing more than 50 people and injuring about 150 people.

A UNICEF spokesperson said:

“The numbers are appalling,” said a Unicef spokesperson, James Elder. “Gaza has become a graveyard for thousands of children. It’s a living hell for everyone else.”

Update 11-1-23:  U.S. Senator says there are no limits to Israel's revenge:

 Now what has Graham said about innocent people killed in Ukraine?

Update 11-6-23:  Bill Ackman spoke to CNBC about his concerns regarding speech on Harvard's campus.  Jordan's Queen Rania shared her thoughts about the horrific Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

People can protest the killing of innocent civilians and not be pro-terrorist. 

Update 11-8-23:   The intractable nature of the conflict can be heard in this video.

Update 1-7-24:  Only 15% of Israelis want Netanyahu to stay Prime Minister after the Gaza War ends.

Update 1-14-24:  Over 50% of Gaza buildings have been damaged or destroyed.  That rises to 80% for building-s in North Gaza.

Update 1-18-24:  Israeli citizens raising concerns over Gaza deaths have been jailed.

Update 1-20-24:  System Update takes on South Africa's genocide claims against Israel in Gaza.  Sky News reported on Catholic Church deaths in Gaza.

Update 1-26-24:   The Executive Director of Chatham House challenged Israel's heavy handed response to the Hamas terrorist attack.  How long before some billionaire calls that person anti-Semitic?

Update 3-2-24:  The U.S. vetoed a UN resolution condemning the killing of Gazans seeking aid from food trucks.

Update 3-3-24:  The U.S. airdropped food and water into North Gaza.

Update 3-7-24:  More deaths in war are caused by the conditions of war, not direct fighting.  This long known fact has been ignored by world leaders.  Famine, starvation, dehydration....are predictable.   Yet, no one saw it coming.....  This is the horse hockey shoveled onto the masses.

Update 3-14-24:  Israel attacked an aid station in Rafah, killing people seeking food and water. 

Update 3-19-24:  The current razing of Gaza prompted a suggestion from Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner that waterfront property be developed.  Of course the Palestinians would have to go.  Does that mean offshore oil/gas rights go to the new waterfront property holders?

Update 4-5-24:  The world is horrified by the killing of seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in Gaza. Jesse's Crossroads Cafe wrote:

Over 30,000 innocent civilians and 196 aid workers have been systematically targeted and murdered in Gaza in this ongoing act of ethnic cleansing. The aid workers and food convoys are being targeted to promote the starvation of a civilian population. Their lies and phony claims are disgraceful, and transparent to the rest of the world. Yesterday's strike that targeted seven Western aid workers has finally provoked a response. More misery and pain is being inflicted in the West Bank, in what can only be said as a 'grab for land' of other people.

U.S. House Leaderless as Israel Wars with Hamas

Many U.S. citizens are disgusted by politics.  The brief relief from a bipartisan effort to keep the government operational ended when members of the Insane Red Team took out their own Speaker.  The Red Team thought they had the weekend to recover from excess emotions that could have resulted in fisticuffs.  They didn't get that opportunity.

Hamas launched a series of deadly attacks from Gaza against Israel.  The attack occurred during the Jewish holiday of Simchat Torah and on the 50th anniversary of the Yom Kippur war.  Over 900 people are reported dead.

President Biden declared it a terrorist attack and promised full U.S. support for Israel.  

The President of the Arab League flew to Moscow to update Russian President Vladimir Putin.  Saudi Arabia and Qatar blamed Israel for the violence.

Hundreds are dead and thousands are injured at leaders choose violence, death and destruction as means to accomplish their ends.  

Israel will wipe out Gaza as players in the region pick sides.  Last week was sad.  Today and the coming week will be tragic and horrific.  

Surely we can do better.   

Update 10-13-23:  It's been ten days since the Insane division of the political Red Team ousted their leader after he did not shut down the government.  The clown car continues to spin and throw out candidates.  Meanwhile, Israel asked 1 million people in Gaza to leave the northern portion of the Gaza strip for a pending ground invasion.

Update 10-17-23:   Insane Red Jim Jordan is up for Speaker of the House.   Jordan helped plan the January 6th insurrection. 

Update 10-18-23:   Jordan wants the speakership without delay and is utilizing tactics rarely seen since "the Hammer" Tom DeLay served as House Majority Leader.  I lived in DeLay's Congressional district for five years.

Update 10-19-23:  The next Speakerama continues as Jim Jordan seeks to cancel vote number three as vote two showed increased opposition.  Thug tactics mean the total votes against could rise further in a third vote.  

Jordan wants the third vote back on.  

Update 10-21-23:  Trump style bullying backfires on Jim Jordan.  Can the Insane Red Team recover?

Update 10-23-23:  An overwhelming 67% of Americans say the House should elect a speaker as soon as possible

Update 10-24-23:  Speaker candidate #3 pulled out of the race.   The Insane Red backdoor government shutdown continues as it enters its fourth week.  The public is not pleased.

Gaetz Virus Disrupts Brief Bipartisan Treat

Americans wanting the warring Red and Blue political parties to work together to solve problems received the briefest of treats when the House of Representatives did not shut down the government, extending funding for 45 more days.

The symbolic petit four lasted but a few days before Rep. Matt Gaetz unleashed his acrimonious norovirus motion to vacate the Speaker of the House.  His verbal diarrhea landed in spurts on the House floor.  Now the House must be closed for cleaning.

Update 10-8-23:  The House will reopen....?

Update 10-18-23:  The House is yet to reopen as areas around world choose terrorism and violence.  The current nominee for House Speaker is a leader of the Jan. 6th insurrection who refused to testify before the committee investigating that disturbing day.

Insane Reds in House Trash Speaker McCarthy

The world is a dumpster fire, at least watching today's action in the U.S. House of Representatives could lead one to believe such a thing.  The Insane Red branch of the Republican Party moved to remove Speaker Kevin McCarthy and they actually succeeded.

The House can do no business on behalf of the American people until it elects a new speaker.  The Insane Reds didn't get to shut down all of government but they did the next best thing.  They paralyzed the House of Representatives, already behind the clock and under pressure to perform the people's business.  

Former President "Bone Spurs" remained on the sidelines of this fight.  He does like to watch when things get particularly gory.  

We'll see what attack dog Matt Gaetz does with his pound of McCarthy flesh.  I expect he'll sell it on Ebay.  The price will be higher if he takes the time to autograph it.  Matt's handlers will have to get it out of his mouth first.