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Tuesday, February 25, 2025

Republicans and Medicaid



Yep, Republicans plan to gut Medicaid in order to fund their tax cuts for the rich.

Medicaid is what I use to pay for the 20% of my medical expenses that Medicare will not cover. Medicaid is what allows me to afford to pay for my prescription drugs. Medicaid is what I use to pay for dental expenses, which Medicare doesn't pay for at all. I'd like to say that Medicaid is what I use to pay for my prescription eyeglasses, but even here in California, Medicaid will no longer cover eyeglasses for adults.

I've read that the Republicans believe everyone who uses Mediccaid is on Welfare. That's their excuse for why it's ok to cut it.

I'm not on Welfair. I am officially "disabled" (legally blind) and I actually worked for 20 years before my vision deteriorated, paying into Social Security for the benefits I now receive.

But anyway, what kind of country doesn't want poor people, those who may be on Welfare, to get health care? Answer - a stupid and cruel country, one obviously run by Republican politicians.

I have news for those politicians ... a lot of your constituents are on Medciad, and they will stop voting for you if you take it awasy from them.

Monday, February 24, 2025

Go Now!



The first song I can remember hearing from The Moody Blues was this one - Go Now! - in 1964. It was sung by Denny Laine, seen above in the video. Later Denny left The Moody Blues and was replaced by my favorite Moody Blues member, Justin Hayward. Eventually Denny joined Paul McCartney's band, Wings, and thus we see him above with them, doing his old Moody's song.

The makeover of Hamas

Hamas Official Expresses Reservations About Oct. 7 Attack on Israel

So, they are already trying to clean up Hamas, in expectation of leaving them in power in Gaza. It won't work. Let's take a look at this "improved" version of the terrorists, as exemplified by this guy living comfortably in his luxury apartment in Qatar ...

[...] one of Hamas’s top officials is publicly expressing reservations about the assault, which also touched off a humanitarian crisis that displaced nearly two million and led to critical shortages of food and health care.

Mousa Abu Marzouk, the Qatar-based head of Hamas’s foreign relations office, said in an interview with The New York Times that he would not have supported the attack if he had known of the havoc it would wreak on Gaza. Knowing of the consequences, he said, would have made it “impossible” for him to back the assault ...


Yeah, if it had been his call, he wouldn't have OKed that attack. Why not? Because he was horrified at the raping and torturing and kidnapping and murdering of Israeli civilians, many of them women, children, and the elderly?

No. He would not have OKed the attack because his side got smashed as a result of it. He's pissed because their attack failed.

As one of his western friends comments in the article, "he's not a nihilist". Wow, talk about low bars. What a sport he is, what a great humanitarian! Let's make him the next president of Gaza! I'm sure peace shall reign forever afterwards!

Nope.

Perhaps someday, when he's dwelling on the Oct 7 attack from his new home in Indonesia, or wherever else Trump sends the Gazans, he'll actually feel some remorse for the people Hamas raped and tortured and murdered. I'm not holding my breath.

Junior's Farm



Paul McCartney and Wings performing Junior's Farm in 1974 on BBC's Top of The Pops.

Sunday, February 23, 2025

"The ongoing horror show"



The daily briefing of The Times of Israel discusses how the recently returned hostages were treated in captivity, some chained hand and foot, some kept in total darkness, underfed, the Muslim hostage, already mentally disturbed, kept completely alone for about a decase.

And then there were the two hostages who were not yet to be released, Evyatar David and Guy Gilboa Dallal, who Hamas brought to the "ceremony" last weekend and told to beg for their lives, filming it all as propaganda ...

:)

Saturday, February 22, 2025

Illegal orders



John Yang of PBS asks why Trump would fire top military officials and JAG officers. His guest responds by mentioning that when Trump was president before, he ordered soldiers to torture enemies they captured, something that is illegal.

Of course that's why he is replacing top military commanders and JAG officers, just as he has been replacing the heads of the Justice Department, the FBI, etc. He wants his yes-men/women to be in place so that when he drops the hammer on our democracy, they will do his bidding without questions about legality.

Shiri Bibas home



Shiri Bibas’s body returned to Israel; officials assess she was ‘brutally’ murdered with sons in Gaza

Chilling



A chilling episode of Meet the Press Now today.

There really is no way to stop what's happening to our government. All power ... the military, the Justice Dept, the FBI, the Congress ... is in Trump's control. The Courts ... even the Supreme Court ... can give opinions on his actions, but they cannot enforce them. The voters can object to what is happening, but they only have power if there are elections ... there are no elections in the future for Trump, for Musk, and what can anyone do if Trump delays or does away with the midterms for Congress? Nothing.

Friday, February 21, 2025

“with their bare hands”

Fate of Bibas Family Recalls Trauma of Oct. 7, Renewing Fears for Gaza Truce

[...] Early on Friday morning, the Israeli military announced that the body of Ms. Bibas — nominally returned, along with those of her sons, by Hamas to Israel on Thursday — appeared to be that of someone else. And an autopsy of the two boys, aged 4 and 8 months at the time of their abduction, revealed that terrorists killed them in Gaza “with their bare hands,” the military said ...



Meanwhile ...

Thursday, February 20, 2025

Where is Shiri Bibas?



Israel says Bibas boys were among the dead bodies returned by Hamas – but not their mother

Israel says it has identified two of the dead bodies returned by Hamas on Thursday as Ariel and Kfir Bibas – but tests show another body that was expected to be that of their mother Shiri is not hers – and does not match any other Israeli hostage. The Israeli military also said forensic evidence and intelligence suggested the boys were murdered ...

Ghouls

At the publicity event this morning of the hand-off of the bodies of the dead hostages ...

In the video below, you can see Gazan civilians singing, dancing, celebrating the deaths of an Israeli woman and her two babies and an elderly peace activist.

Reminds me of the middle ages, when people would take their families for a fun day viewing a public execution.

The hostages' bodies



There were at least three different terrorist groups at the publicity stunt of giving over the coffins of the hostages they murdered to the Red Cross - apparently you can tell them apart by the differing colors of their ninja outfits.

Shown below is a poster set up on a stage there by the terrorists, depicitng Netanyahu and the hostages.

Wednesday, February 19, 2025

Tech bros, mining, and Trump

- Mountain Pass, the only rare-earth mineral mine in the US

So why is Trump pushing so hard to get Ukraine's rare-earth minerals? I figure for the same reason he wants to take over Greenland - because his wealthy tech donors and Silicon Valley investors ... Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz ... want him to.

Many of them have connections to a mining company - KoBold Metals - that uses AI to search out those rare-earth minierals needed for the smartphones, laptops, electric vehicles, etc, that make the tech bros rich.

Wikipedia has a section on the negative environmental effects of mining rare-earth minerals.

More ...

Trump’s Greenland Obsession May Be About Extracting Metals for Tech Billionaires

AI-Powered Mineral Exploration: Billionaires-Backed Kobold Metals Raised $491 Million

Rare Earth Elements—Critical Resources for High Technology

Trump executive order targets rare earths minerals and China (2019/2020)

Ukraine



Trump lies about the war between Russia and Ukraine, lies about President Zelensky. He uses the talks with Russia in Saudi Arabia to rehabilitate Putin, a war criminal, while working to rape Ukraine of its natural resource of rare-earth minerals. God help Ukraine.

Tuesday, February 18, 2025

And this is why

Two Tiny Captives, Symbols of Hostage Crisis, to Come Home Dead, Hamas Says

For more than a year, many Israelis and others around the world have anguished over the fates of a mother and her two young sons who were captured by gunmen and taken to Gaza during the Hamas-led assault of Oct. 7, 2023 ...



This is why Trump's plan of moving the Palestinians out of Gaza sounds reasonable to some. And this is why no other Arab country in the region wants those same Palestinians to move in with them.

The Hanford nuclear site



Rachel Maddow talks about the firing of specialized nuclear safety workers at places like the Hanford Site by Musk and his creep team .

DOGE targets Hanford Nuclear site for more federal layoffs

- H reactor at Hanford after its nuclear entombment

God help us all :(

Monday, February 17, 2025

John Oliver on Trump 2.0



Twitter

Yes, I'm still calling it that. Many people have left it for all kinds of reasons, but I still visit a few sites, mostly to look at the photos and videos those sites post. Here are some of my favorites ...









Sunday, February 16, 2025

In the yard

The yellow fowers are back ...

Prince Wendell tries to groom his back :) ...

Fig gives me the gimlet eye ...

Weird mushrooms are growing on the dead tree ...

The shakedown



Ukraine Rejects U.S. Demand for Half of Its Mineral Resources

President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, during a closed-door meeting on Wednesday, rejected an offer by the Trump administration to relinquish half of the country’s mineral resources in exchange for U.S. support, according to five people briefed on the proposal or with direct knowledge of the talks ...

Boss Trump: "Nice little country you've got there. It would be unfortunate if something were to happen to it."

It is shameful that Trump is negotiating with Putin about the destiny of Ukraine, without Ukraine's consent or input.

Watch Meet the Press today for the full interview with Zelensky ...



Thursday, February 13, 2025

Valentine's Day

Domestic news

It's actually easier to read about foreign wars than it is for me to concentrate on the piecemeal destruction of my own country. But I guess I should note some of what's happening.

There's Prezident Elon Musk getting first dibs on meeting with India's Prime Minister Modi.

There's Democratic mayor of New York, Eric Adams, making a deal with Trump to get out of a corruption case against him in return for helping with the mass deportation of immigrants.

There's Trump making a deal with war criminal Putin to screw over Ukraine, as if that country was his to dispose of.

There's every Republican Senator except Mitch McConnell selling out our country by voting for RFK Jr. as HHS Secretary, knowing it will lead to American deaths.

There's Trump's tariff frenzy, which experts say will raise inflation and raise costs on all Americans for basically everything.

There's more, but you get the idea.

Tuesday, February 11, 2025

Abdullah II of Jordan

Trump meets with the king of Jordan and they talk Gaza ...



The king of Jordan, Abdullah II, a constitutional monarch, is an interesting guy. His mother, Toni Avril Gardiner, is British, the daughter of a British army officer stationed overseas, and she met his father, King Hussein of Jordan, in an interesting way ...

Gardiner met the King of Jordan, Hussein, while working as a secretarial assistant on the film set of Lawrence of Arabia. The King had allowed his troops to work as extras on this film and would occasionally visit to monitor the production's progress. However, there is another report, stating that Gardiner and the King met when her father began to work as a military adviser in Jordan. Gardiner married King Hussein in Amman, Jordan, on 25 May 1961, changing her name to Muna Al Hussein upon marriage.

Here's a photo from Wikipedia of Abdullah as a baby with his brother and parents ...

His country has had a lot of Syrian refugees and has a very large Palestinian population, which has created a lot of instability, and is probably part of the reason he isn't keen on taking in Gazan refugees.

The broken clock



Hamas says it will postpone hostage release, blaming Israel

Israeli Hostages’ Accounts of Abuse Raise Alarms for Remaining Captives

First, I don't think the Israelis have broken the truce. If Gazans approach them, the IDF has orders to shoot warning shots to keep them away, only actually shooting people if they keep on coming.

Second, how has Hamas not broken the truce by torturing the hostages? I think this is just stalling from the terrorists, who I believe have always planned to keep some of the hostages forever as an eternal ace in the hole.

Third, Trump is doing what Biden should have done - telling Hamas to give back all the hostages now, or else. Biden was too worried about alienating the most liberal members of my party before the election. How'd that work out?

Fourth, I find it just perplexing that Trump, who I think is trying to become a dictator, has done something good .... getting tough with the terrorists ... but I guess even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Sunday, February 09, 2025

Palestinians opine

The New York Times has an opinion piece about the future gvernance of Gaza, which is a roundtable discussion between ... five Palestinian scholars and analysts in Gaza, the West Bank, Egypt and the United States about what they believe the future holds for their people.

I think the discussion illustrates why the two state solution will not work ...

First, when people ask "what would it be like if Palestinians governed themselves", I'd say that it looks exactly like the present situation. The Gazans are already governing themselves. Israle left Gaza in 2005, twenty years ago. One year later, in 2006, Gazans elected Hamas, and in 2007 Hamas took military control over Gaza from Fatah (PA).. The Palestinians chose a government of religiously extremist terrorists who then spent all the taxpayers' money and all the aid money on building tunnels and weapons. Yes, there has not been an election in Gaza since then, and most Gazans are too young now to have voted then, but from polls it seems that Hamas would still win any election in Gaza now.

The Times' piece shows how many Palestinians still believe Hamas should stay in power, how many think the PLO (the PA) is worthless and should not govern Gaza, how none of them seem to have any awareness of their own share of responsibility for the present situation, and most importantly, how many Palestinians do not believe any plan can include the continuing existence of Israel.

Anyway, the article is worth a read if only to give you an idea of what some Palestinians think about their possible political oprions for the future. I have my own perspective and I'm no political scholar or expert on the region, but I don't see how a self-governed Gaza of the future will work any better than it has for the last 20 years of continuous fighting.

Here's the beginning of the article ...

The Political Future of Palestinians, According to Palestinians

[...] The questions surrounding Palestinians’ political future have become even more urgent since President Trump scrambled the regional calculus, suggesting the United States could take over Gaza and send its roughly two million people packing. (The next day, aides tried to walk back aspects of the proposal.) Coupled with last month’s cease-fire, which paused the 15-month war, we have again arrived at a time when Palestinians are moving fast to figure out how to run their own lives.

Times Opinion spoke to five Palestinian scholars and analysts in Gaza, the West Bank, Egypt and the United States about what they believe the future holds for their people ...


Saturday, February 08, 2025

The stupid



From The New York Times ...

Hamas Makes Gaunt Israeli Hostages Thank Captors Before Release

Hamas released three Israeli hostages on Saturday in exchange for 183 Palestinians jailed by Israel, in a staged handover where rifle-toting Hamas fighters prodded their gaunt captives to give short speeches, effectively at gunpoint, thanking the militants who had held them captive for 16 months ....

In a statement on the hostage release, Hamas said, “This confirms that our people and their resistance have the upper hand.” But if Hamas saw the scene in the city of Deir al-Balah as propaganda for its claim to have treated its captives benevolently, it had the opposite effect in Israel, where many people found the images almost unbearab ...


If Hamas thinks their treatment of the hostages and their show of force will cause Israel to give up on the war, they are not only evil, they're also f*cking stupid.

Three hostages released

Reuters: Hamas frees three hostages, whose frail condition shocks Israelis



Hamas staging a sham ceremony with the hostages ...

Friday, February 07, 2025

The hostages



Eli Sharabi: to be released, but without his family to come home to