"A deal with the devil"

The Times of Israel's daily briefing discusses the ceasefire/hostage deal with editor David Horovitz.

Will the deal hold?

I hope the ceasefire deal works but I have to admit, I don't see how it can. Here's the deal that President Biden posted ...

- There's no mention of the unfairness of the number and kind of Palestinian priisoners Israel is expected to release in order to swap for hostages. Here's what The Times of Israel says about that ...

The TV report [on Channel 12] added that over 1,000 Palestinian security prisoners will be freed in return for the 33 [hostages], including at least 250 terrorists “with blood on their hands.”

- And there's no mentionof getting rid of Hamas. This agreement appears to leave them unmolested in Gaza after the deal. The Wall Street Journal wrote about the regrouping of Hamas ... Hamas Has Another Sinwar. And He’s Rebuilding. And there's this ...

Even as they came out of their holes last night, they made sure to have their human shield with them. Check out the child on 25 seconds into the video. https://t.co/NXv2ybRfVh

— Lt. Col. (R) Peter Lerner (@LTCPeterLerner) January 16, 2025

I hope for the best, but to expect terrorists to keep their word is just insane.

A deal

Israeli official says ceasefire-hostage deal reached, Trump is first leader to confirmhttps://t.co/VilJqfR6Ss

— The Times of Israel (@TimesofIsrael) January 15, 2025

More later as details emerge.

Hegseth confirmation hearing

Watching bits of Pete Hegseth's Senate confirmation hearing for Secretary of Defense. It is sickening to see all the Republicans, even Joni Ernst, rolling over for Trump, their Lord and Master, to support someone even they know is both unqualified and a lying creep.

Compassion

Among tens of thousands of displaced Angelenos, celebrities face the same devastating losses

Is it just me? When I see headlines like this, I do feel some compassion for those whose homes and neighborhoods have been lost to fire, but I can't help thinking that those living in the expensive areas, those who are rich and famous, will be ok. They still own their property, probably have insurance, and most likely have more than one home. Not to mention, just money.

At the same time that people in L.A. are being burned out, there are a lot of homeless people in California as well. Homelessness went up 18% in the US last year (and 12% the year before). Those people don't have any property, no insurance, no extra abodes, no money. They have nothing. But the news almost never writes aboit them, excpt as some kind of plague we normal people want to get out of sight. Where is the compassion for them?

Pam Bondi

Why would we be surprised to learn that everyone Trump has chosen for his administration reflrcts rhe kind of person Trump himself is. God help us all.

L.A. fires

Horrible fires in my state. I'm 400 miles away up north, but I've been to L.A. many times, from when I was a kid (Disneyland!) to visiting my sister who lived there to on my honeymoon. The threat of fire in a city is so scary, given the strong winds and dry conditions. Makes you realize that no one is really safe.

The man who bought the world*

Elon Musk helped Trump win. Now he’s looking at Europe, and many politicians are alarmed

Really? When you let the richest person in the world buy a country ... mine .... did you not know he was going to then want to buy them all?

I think all the important people of the world were so busy being impressed by and trying to impress the cool zillionaire who made electric cars and sent rockets into space, that they forgot that he is also a mentally and emotionally disturbed person with no limits on his behavior.

Wake up, fools. Stop being his beta male suck-ups and put him in his place while you still have an independent democracy. Sadly, it's too late for us in America.

* The Man Who Sold the World

Jan 6

- Police and congresmen barricade the doors and draw weapons to defend themselves against the mob at the Capitol on January 6, 2021

More from Rachel Maddow ...



Four years ago, Trump supporters violently attacked the Capitol to try to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power and keep Trump as presient (or dictator?) though he had lost the election.

Today the transfer of power was indeed peaceful because the Republicans won, unlike four years ago, and the Democrats actually respect the rule of law and the Constitution.

Next up on this - Trump will apparently pardon the "patriots" who peed and pooped in the halls of Congress and beat police men and women, while screaming "Hang Mike Pence".

My country is circling the drain :(

Antony Blinken

"Why there hasn't been a unanimous chorus around the world for Hamas to put down its weapons, to give up the hostages, to surrender - I don't know what the answer is to that." Anthony Blinken 🤔

War is a contest of wills. The world sent Hamas many signals to continue to fight. pic.twitter.com/KqmkjiRxHC

— John Spencer (@SpencerGuard) January 5, 2025

From Blinken interview with The New York Times. Europe and many in the US have chosen to ally themselves with the bloody terrorists of Hamas. Oops - I forgot - we don't call them terrorists anymore, though they raped and tortured and kidnapped and murdered civilians. Now they are "militants". After all, we don't want to sound too pejorative - yesterday's terrorist could be tomorrow's head of state.

Helen and Paris

I don't spend all my time online reading the news. Sometimes I visit the museums :) ...

Les Adieux de Pâris et Hélène
par Augustin Liancé sous la direction de Louis Simon Boizot @MuseeLouvre pic.twitter.com/cqdUEVdxcl

— Au Louvre j'aime (@O_Louvre_jaime) January 3, 2025

Listen to a soldier

Listen to a young Israeli special forces soldier talk about what it's like to be fighting in Gaza.

Hostages

MODERN-DAY MACCABEE: What Bat-Sheva Yahalomi has endured until now is unfathomable. She survived an abduction attempt, she is treating her son who survived Hamas captivity, and she is doing everything she can to get her husband home from Hamas’s Terror Dungeons. We honor… pic.twitter.com/qXQNtrrv3v

— Israeli Citizen Spox (@IsrCitizenSpox) December 31, 2024

As the New Year approaches, I can't help wondering if the American and Israeli hostages held prisoner by Hamas will ever be released or rescued. Here's the latest on a possible deal ...

Hamas said willing to free only 22 of 34 living hostages demanded by Israel in deal

Palestinian terror group Hamas has partially rejected a list of hostages that Israel insists must be released in the first phase of any ceasefire deal, according to a Monday report.

Kan news, citing an unnamed Palestinian source, said Hamas is willing to release 22 of the 34 hostages on the list, but is refusing to agree to the release of the other 12. Instead, the report stated, the group offered to release 22 living hostagesand 12 bodies during the first phase of a potential deal.

Israel turned down the notion and made it clear that it would only accept living hostages during the initial stage of a deal, the report added ...

I've come to the conclusion that Hamas will never release all the hostages, but will keep them for years as leverage so that they can stay in power after the war. It makes me feel sick that they might get away with all the damage they have done.

H-1B visas

Interesting talk on the current rift in MAGA about the H-1B visa program .... Elon Musk for the visas and Steve Bannon against the visas. I have to say, I agree with Bannon on this subject - invest in American workers, instead of importing them.

An intriguing bit of info from Stuart Stevens in the video above ... he said that it's generally believed that Musk lied on his documents when applying to become a naturalized citizen of the US, and that people who do this are usually deported. Can we? Can we jusrt deport him? Please let it be true! We could send him to Germany, as that seems to be the latest country he's trying to buy - Berlin accuses Elon Musk of seeking to influence Germany's election

But back to the visas - read what Robert Reich has to say about this ...

Robert Reich: Why Musk Is Wrong About Opening America To Skilled Workers From Abroad – OpEd

When I was secretary of labor, America’s emerging big tech industry pushed to raise the cap on the number of skilled workers allowed into the United States under the H1B visa program.

I resisted the pressure, telling business that if they wanted skilled workers so badly, they should train Americans for these jobs, including their own workers ...

Jimmy Carter: RIP

BREAKING: Jimmy Carter, whose tireless humanitarian efforts made him one of the most respected former presidents in U.S. history, has died. He was 100.

Read more about his life and legacy: https://t.co/7vx5J4CEU4 pic.twitter.com/nwSArnvAjf

— ABC News (@ABC) December 29, 2024

Sad to see he has passed away. He was a good presient and a really good person ... among other things, he said Pope Francis should let women be priests :)

Jimmy Carter: Women’s rights the fight of my life

Attack on the hospital

Today's news briefing from The Times of Israel has their military correspondent talking about the raid on the Gaza hospital that has been in the news recently. I think most people are getting their news on this and all things Israeli/Hamas war from US and European news sites, which mostly seem to only give the Hamas side of things. I guess that's what people want t hear, but it's not really "news' if it isn't impartial and factual.

Olivia Hussey: RIP

Actress Olivia Hussey has passed away ... ‘Romeo And Juliet’ star Olivia Hussey Eisley dies at 73

It is as Juliet that I mostly remember her, in the 1968 movie directed by Franco Zeffirelli, Romeo and Juliet . My English class in high school took us all to see it. Here's a clip ...



But I also remember her as Mary, Jesus' mother, in Zeffirelli's tv series Jesus of Nazareth ...



Sad she is gone.

Tulsi Gabbard

God help us all :(

Field hospitals

- International Medical Corps field hospital in Gaza

In the news, most headlines on this subject are like this one from CNN ...

Israel arrests hospital director and other staff in raid on last functioning facility in northern Gaza, health officials say

That headline cites its source of information as the Gazan health ministry = Hamas. And the headline gives the impression that Israel just wiped out the very last place where Palestinians could get medical care.

That is not true. The Times of Israel's story on thus below states that patients were taken by the IDF to the Indonesia Hospital in northern Gaza. And there are also a number of field hospitals in Gaza run by aid organizations like the Red Cross, Doctors Without Borders, and the International Medical Corps.

Tha CNN article also does not say why the hospitals have been attaccked. You get the impression it's because the IDF is evil. But the hospitals have been attacked ... after patients and staff are evacuated to other hospitals ... because terrorists have opened up shop there ...

IDF completes raid on north Gaza hospital, says some 240 terror suspects arrested

See the page for the International Medical Corps and its work in Gaza.

And - Humanitarian Supplies Looted En Route to Field Hospitals in Gaza

Hamas turned hospitals in Gaza into bases for its terrorist army.

Listen to what a British doctor told France 24 last year about what it was like working at Shifa hospital in Gaza City:

"The main point was when I was first asked to work there, I was told there was a part of the… pic.twitter.com/16YaXZHbaw

— Daniel Rubenstein (@paulrubens) December 28, 2024