Again

NBC - U.N. condemns Israel after 6 workers killed in Gaza school strike

The Times of Israel - IDF names 9 Hamas operatives, including 3 UNRWA staffers, killed in strike on school

First, we do all know that these schools in Gaza are not actually operational schools full of children, we know these are "former" schools, right?

Second, we also know that it has been shown in the past, by the UN itself (Washington Post - U.N. fires Gaza staff, citing possible involvement in attack on Israel), that many UNRWA employees are also terrorists, right?

For once I would like to see a headline that doesn't just state "x number of Palestinians killed" but instead states "Hamas claims that x number of Palestinians were killed. Of those killed, x number were terrorists justifiably killed in a war".

9/11

Jane

The latest song in my head is Jane by the Jefferson Starship (1979).

I think I mentioned before that one of the then band members, lead guitarist Craig Chaquico, was someone my sister and I knew in high school. Strange to watch the famous him ;)

The Debate

I'm watching it now.

I'm at the point where Trump is lying about the Democratic abortion policy .... that it is ok now to "execute" a baby after it is born. Do Republican voters actually believe this crap? At least the ABC hosts pointed out after his rant that there is no state in America where it is legal to kill a baby after it is born.

I read that part of the Harris strategy for the debate was to make Trump lose his cool, and I think that effort is working. Trump is now going on and on about immigration, from his plan to deport millons, to the idea that immigrants are eating our pets. Harris is smiling.

Now the upset Trump is going on about crime. He says it's really bad now, but David Muir points out that the FBI disagrees. Boy, Trump does hate the FBI - he's accusing them of lying. This is a great opportunity for Harris to point out that Trump is a convited crook, and she takes it. Is that smoke coming out of Trump's ears?

Uh oh - Trump is talking out of his acceptable time period. Isn't his mic supposed to be muted when it's not his turn? He's going on about how Biden's DOJ has been weaponized against him. Persecution complex on display.

Hah - the moderators are asking Harris why she has changed her stance on things like fracking and healthcare for all. The answer seems obvious ... she wants to win over more centrist voters ... but I don't think she's going to admit that. As a progressive, I'm disappointed in her change in policy. She went on for a bit, but still didn't mention why she changed her position on fracking. Trump is taking advantage of this opportunity to list all the changes she had made in her stance. Ouch.

Oh, now the moderators are asking Trump about the Jan 6 riot. Trump denies all responsibility. He says Nancy Pelosi was responsible for security on that day, not him ... a bold-faced lie. Now Harris is commenting on Jan 6, and I think Trump's hair may soon burst into flame.

Yep, Trump's self-destructing now. He's going on about how he really won the last election. He didn't really lose them. It was all rigged. Hard to see how anyone not a member of the Trump cult could believe this rubbish.

Now they're being asked about the Israeli/Hamas war. I don't like Harris' answer .... immediate end to war with release of hostages, and a 2 state solution. It's hard to understand what Trump's answer is on this ... gobbledygook.

Om Ukraine, Trump says he'd make a deal between Russia and Ukraine because Putin likes him so much. Now he rants about NATO.

They talk about Afghanistan. Nobody does well.

Racism comes up. Then the economy. Then healthcare. Guns - hmmm - Harris is a gun owner? And climate change. And Trump brings up Hunter Biden/China.

Help. I'm pooped. How much more is there? At this point I don't care about anything anymore. Oh good - closing statements.

I'm not thrilled with Harris. I heard someone comment that she is the candidate for everyone. That's not true. She is the candidate for the middle class. Yes, that's better than Trump as the candidate for the rich and the crazy, but I'm sad to say that I doubt I will ever see a candidate in my lifetime who is for the poor, the disabled, the homeless, the elderly. Cuz, you know, they don't vote, do they? But anyway, I do think Trump lost the debate. I must say, credit goes to ABC news and David Muir and Linsey Davis for having the courage to ask the questions that really matter and for not backing down in the face of Trump's anger.

The safe zone isn't safe

CNN: 'They told us this area was safe': Israeli-designated humanitarian safe zone in Gaza targeted by strike

The Times of Israel: IDF says it hit 3 Hamas commanders in Gaza tent camp, contests claim dozens killed

The humanitarian zone was safe, until the terrorists moved there, put their command centers there, launched rockets from there, etc. Even then, the IDF says it has taken measures to limit civilian death. Conflicting reporting on the number of casualties .... why does the press always accept the terrorists' claims on the death toll?

If the Israelis are forced to fight a war with no civilian casualties, there will be no war. I guess that's the terrorists' hope, and the press and the international comunity seem onboard with this - abandon the remaining hostages, and stop trying to bring the rapists and murderers and kidnappers to justice. Call it Peace.

Saw this today, which sums up the problem. Writer Douglas Murray with Piers Morgan ...

Another Masterclass by Douglas Murrray! 🇮🇱

I have literally never seen a more eloquent, calm, and decisive presentation on live TV.

Douglas Murray just fit 100 books and 300 podcast episodes into this 3-minute soliloquy.

He completely shut down Pierce Morgan’s argument,… pic.twitter.com/LSsiDZnGq7

— Rabbi Shmuel Reichman (@ShmuelReichman) September 3, 2024

The Babys

This was my earworm today. The song is Every Time I Think Of You by The Babys, sung by John Waite and female vocalist Annie Bertucci.

A day at the vet

Lately Hansel (see above) hasn't been eating and was getting very thin. Blind-as-a-bat me finally noticed that she was still hungry, but seemed to have trouble actually eating. I was afraid she would actually starve.

My sister was able to get a photo of Hansel's mouth with her phone and we could see one of her canine teeth seeming to stick out at an odd angle. While my sister was trying to get a photo of Hansel, I took one of Snowy ...

and also one of Olive ...

But anyway, we decided to take Hansel to the emergency vet place, as it was Sunday. When we got there, they took Hansel away, but said it would be about 3 hours before they could even examine her because there were so many people before us. My sister played solitaire on her phone and I worried.

Finally we were able to see a doctor. We explained what we thought was wrong and she said she didn't notice any tooth problems with Hansel, and that they didn't do deentristy stuff there. We were so disappointed ... would we even be able to catch Hansel again to take her to another vet ... how long would it be before we could get an appointment ... how much was all of this going to cost?

The doctor said she would look at Hansel again. She was back in just a few minutes with this ...

It was Hansel's canine tooth (and root). She said it was so loose, she decided to just grab it and yank it out. What a relief! They gave us pain meds for Hansel and she got a long acting antibiotic shot, and we could finally go home.

The first thing we did was offer Hansel some canned food with pain medication on it, and she gobbled it up. Today she ate some more. She hasn't eaten any dry food yet, but hopefully she will eventually.

So glad this turned out as well as it did. There are 15 cats here and a lot of them are now becoming elderly - Hamsel is about 10 years old. When I think about how I will manage to take care of them all, the worry is crushing, so I just go day by day and hope for the best. Today was a good day.

Munich

In the news ...

Police kill armed man near Israeli consulate in Munich terror attack

German police shot dead an armed man after a terror attack near the Israeli consulate in central Munich on Thursday, officers said, prompting an investigation by state prosecutors ....

The suspect may have been influenced by religious extremism, the Bavarian attorney general’s office said on Tuesday, after launching an investigation into the shooting.

“There are indications that the perpetrator was known in the Islamist environment. The investigation is ongoing, so nothing concrete can be said at this stage,” chief public prosecutor Florian Weinzierl, said on Thursday. Officials will investigate whether other people knew about the crime ....

The incident took place on the anniversary of the 1972 Munich Olympics terror attack – when a Palestinian militant group entered the quarters of Israel’s national team. Eleven Israeli athletes were killed in the ensuing standoff ....

This made me think of the movie Munich ...

a 2005 epic historical drama film produced and directed by Steven Spielberg, co-written by Tony Kushner and Eric Roth. It is based on the 1984 book Vengeance by George Jonas, an account of Mossad assassinations following the Munich massacre ...



If you want to know more about those events, see ... Munich massacre and Mossad assassinations following the Munich massacre

James Darren

I see that actor/singer James Darren has passed away.

I can remember the first time I saw him ... in the movie Gidget Goes Hawaiian when I was 10. I thought he was so wonderful ;)



I didn't think about him again until I saw him on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. He played Vic Fontaine ...

a holographic representation of a 1960s-era Las Vegas Rat Pack–style singer and entertainer, as part of a program run in the holosuites at Quark's bar.



Sad to see he's gone.

Bret Stephens

Opinion piece in the New York Times by Brett Stephens ...

A Hostage Deal Is a Poison Pill for Israel

[...] In 2006, an Israeli soldier named Gilad Shalit was captured by Hamas and held in Gaza. He was released five years later in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian security prisoners — a euphemism, in many cases, for terrorists. The deal, which was approved by Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, included the release of Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of Oct. 7.

These two reference points are now at the heart of the debate Israelis are having about what comes next in Gaza. Huge demonstrations in Tel Aviv, coinciding with the heartbreaking funerals of six murdered hostages, have demanded that the prime minister agree to a cease-fire deal to obtain the release of additional hostages, at the cost of conceding one of Hamas’s core demands: an Israeli withdrawal from a strip of land known as the Philadelphi Corridor, which separates Gaza from Egypt. Netanyahu has refused, insisting in a news conference on Monday that Israeli forces will not leave.

Netanyahu is right ...

Stephens goes on to describe two main aims of the war ... to make sure Oct 7 never happens again ... to save the hostages. These two things seem to be in conflict, and a lot of people in Israel, including Defense Minister Gallant, think the second aim is the more important.

One thing the press hasn't mentioned (that I've seen) is that while Gallant voted against Israel keeping control of the Philadelphi Corridor, all the other Ministers in the Cabinet voted with Netanyahu to stay.

Stephens agrees with Netanyahu that if Israel loses control of the Philadelphi Corridor, it will be almost impossible to get it back, Hamas will re-arm, and there will be another war to fight.

We can't say what will happen, and it's compelling to do the thing that will render immediate desired results ... release of hostages and a ceasefire. But Netanyahu can't be just a person, he has to be the leader of his whole country, and Stephens writes that "the weight of outrage should fall not on him but on Hamas".

I hope there is a way to get back the hostages and crush Hamas too. I don't know how, but I hope. Maybe if the US helped more ...?

Justice

DOJ charges senior Hamas leaders over involvement in Americans' deaths during Oct. 7 attack on Israel

The Justice Department unsealed charges Tuesday targeting multiple senior members of Hamas' leadership for their alleged involvement in the kidnapping and murdering of Americans during the terror group's Oct. 7 attack on Israel.

The criminal complaint, unsealed in the Southern District of New York, names six members of Hamas' leadership structure and details extensively their alleged terrorist activities on behalf of the group ....

Garland said. "The Justice Department has a long memory. We will pursue the terrorists responsible for murdering Americans -- and those who illegally provide them with material support -- for the rest of their lives."

I'm really glad they are doing this. I'm not sure what this will mean, since some of them may be hard to reach, but in today's State Dept press briefing ...



Matt Miller made some interesting observations when a reporter asked about justice for Hamas leaders (at 39:50).

Matt said that US policy was usually to apprehend terrorists and bring them to trial in the US, but that wasn't always possible, so they sometimes had to pursue other means to bring them to justice. The reporter then mentioned Osama bin Laden (assassinated by the US military). Matt replied, "Correct, and many others over the years".

So. It's not just Israel who is after them now.

Who is to blame?

- Gilad Shalit Salutes Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on his return

Still thinking about the hostages that were just murdered by Hamas. As I see it mentioned on the news shows, I've noted that Netanyahu is often blamed for their deaths more than their actual murderers, and that a ceasefire, apparently that meets all of Hamas' demands, is seen as the way to save the remaining hostages.

I think all that is wrong.

Let's talk about Gilad Shalit.

Gilad Shalit ... is a former MIA soldier of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) who, on 25 June 2006, was captured by Palestinian militants in a cross-border raid via tunnels near the Israeli border. Hamas held him captive for over five years until his release on 18 October 2011 as part of a prisoner exchange deal ....

On 18 October 2011, Shalit was eventually released in a negotiated agreement, securing his freedom after more than five years in isolation and captivity. In exchange, 1,027 Palestinian prisoners were released, some of whom were convicted of multiple murders and carrying out attacks against Israeli civilians. According to Israeli government sources, these released prisoners were collectively responsible for 569 Israeli deaths ...

The Prime Minister of Israel at the time of this prisoner exchange was Benjamin Netanyahu, and one of those released prisoners was the present head of Hamas, the architect of the Oct 7 attack on Israel - Yahya Sinwar ...

In 1988, Sinwar planned the abduction and killing of two Israeli soldiers and the murder of four Palestinians whom he suspected of cooperating with Israel. He was arrested on February that year; during questioning he admitted to strangling one of the victims with his bare hands, suffocating another with a kaffiyeh, inadvertently killing a third during a violent interrogation, and accidentally shooting the fourth during an attempted abduction, and showed investigators an orchard where the four bodies were buried. He was sentenced to four life ...

It's not Netanyahu's fault those hostages died, it is the fault of Hamas, who kidnapped them and murdered them. Would the hostages have been released if Netanyahu had given Hamas everything it wanted ... the IDF leaving Gaza completely, a final end to the war, the release of hundreds of terrorists from Israeli prisons, Hamas surviving in a re-built Gaza?

I think it's probable that Hamas has no intention of giving back all of the hostages, but plans to keep them for insurance, and they would basically have won the war.

All this misery, all the suffering, all the deaths of both Israelis and Palestinians, was brought about by the effing terrorists. No one else. And they should pay for that, not be rewarded.

More

More about the murdered hostages from The Times of Israel's daily briefing ...

No

Bodies of 6 hostages, murdered by Hamas just days ago, found in Rafah – IDF

The bodies of six hostages abducted alive by Hamas on October 7 were recovered from a tunnel in southern Gaza’s Rafah a few days ago, shortly after they were murdered by terrorists, the Israel Defense Forces announced Sunday.

The hostages were Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, Eden Yerushalmi, 24, Ori Danino, 25, Alex Lubnov, 32, Carmel Gat, 40, and Almog Sarusi, 27.

Goldberg-Polin, Yerushalmi, Lubnov, Sarusi and Danino (an off-duty noncommissioned officer) were abducted from the Nova music festival near Kibbutz Re’im, while Gat was taken from Kibbutz Be’eri.

IDF Spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said the six were “brutally murdered” by Hamas shortly before troops arrived — possibly only a day or two before they were found ...

This is devastating. The poor families. I've prayed for all the hostages but especially Hersh. What good did it do? Hamas needs to be utterly destroyed.