Update no.1151

Update from the Sunland

No.1151

29.1.24 – 4.2.24

Blog version:  http://heartlandupdate.blogspot.com/

 

To all,

 

I have nothing reasonable or worthy to report or discuss this week. I trust everyone is doing well and in good health. Perhaps next week will be more fruitful. Until then, Godspeed and following winds to all.

 

Comments and contributions from Update no.1150:

“The political stress continues, it will only subline when politicians start behaving like adults doing the task we set them. If they are incapable of doing that then the exit door must be emphasised and painted a brilliant bright colour.

“Excellent cover for your latest ‘To So Few’ Winston does look good. We need more leaders of his calliper, and we need them now.”

My reply:

Oh my, yes, the political stress continues and is quite likely to intensify as Tiny’s various civil and criminal court cases play out amid the silly season, and we move farther through primaries and to the general election in November. This is going to be a buckle up buttercup year.

Expecting our politicians to act like adults and patriots is a very tall order. Very few among our current crop of politicians have stood to the mark. We must vote the election deniers, anti-constitutionalists, conspiracists, and outright grifters out of office. Everyone must vote.

Thank you for your comment on the cover. Numerous people have offered very positive comments, so I guess we hit the mark on that one. By the way, were you able to find the first book?

Winston was a flawed man as we all are. He had his quirks and beliefs that I cannot accept. Nonetheless, there is a very distinct and palpable reason we chose Churchill alone for the cover of Victory. There is also comparable reasons TIME magazine chose Sir Winston as their Man of the Half Century in 1950. Yes, we need many more like him. If only . . .

 

Comment to the Blog:

“Congratulations on the new book!

“Interesting Bible quote and comment: https://www.threads.net/@mspeacefrog/post/C2qBbFPACIU

“Look for Tiny to go bankrupt again soon, complicated by the fraud findings.

“The RNC can only crown Tiny as the candidate, not the office-holder. He’s making Biden and others look better with each new outburst and conviction.

“Actual issues continue. Biden continues steering us toward another unjustifiable ‘war.’ Chaos at the border continues. Congress is paralyzed by the chaos within the Republican party.”

My response to the Blog:

Thank you very much. The passion fire still burns, and the words continue to come.

Great response to that pastor. Oh so true. As so many on the right, among conservatives and evangelicals of all sorts, define freedom as what they agree with. They seek conformity to their beliefs by whatever means they can muster up. While they occasionally have important, valuable things to say and contribute, the good is masked and clouded by their parochialism.

Perhaps, but from what I see, he still remains successful as a grifter conman convincing gullible people to give him money—give! The court may demand bankruptcy to liquidate his corporate empire to pay for all the accumulating judgments against him. Further, he likes to portray himself as the victim, like Jesus before the Romans, but he has only himself to blame; this is all his doing. There is no conspiracy against him.

True all the way around from my perspective. Unfortunately, the consumers of his snake-oil elixir do not care; they believe they are cured. They believe and that is all that counts to them. Tiny’s outbursts, tantrums, rants, and whining show him for what he is, but his believers apparently like that behavior. He needs to disappear into oblivion, removed from the public eye.

Quite so. Our societal struggles continue. I do not agree with your statement that President Biden is steering toward war. He is obligated to confront those who threaten American citizens, commerce, and presence wherever it occurs. We can eliminate the chaos with the Republican Party by voting them out of office. Let them speak like the rest of us common citizens and get out of the way of progress.

 . . . Round two:

“I realized as a skeptical 11-year-old that the Bible and other sacred texts have enough material to fuel all sides of most arguments. That would leave the fate of society in the hands of a priesthood, but over time more rational governments have arisen.

“Raising $83 million plus the other judgments by fleecing the flock may be difficult even for Tiny.

“The current undeclared war resembles Vietnam and all the rest since. The ‘threat’ we’re defending against is losing Netanyahu as a business partner, and the part few talk about is that there are natural resources off the Gaza coast. The Houthi are attacking shipping bound for Israel and doing self-defense. Meanwhile, Israel is doing siege warfare in hopes of starving all the Palestinians.”

 . . . my response to round two:

It is unfortunate that the separation between church & state was relegated to a single letter from Thomas Jefferson years after ratification rather than preserved in the Constitution and codified in common law. But hey, that is what we have. To me, theocracy is just a different form of autocracy or even dictatorship. Religion of any form does not make autocracy better.

It may be difficult, but Tiny appears to be doing a good job of it. He had reportedly spent more the US$50M in legal expenses alone on his various indictments—all donor money. He is an accomplished grifter and snake-oil salesman. The NY fraud case ruling is due any day now; it is potentially an even greater judgment than the liable / sexual assault judgement.

I cannot agree with your assessment of military action in the Middle East. I do not condone Israel’s iron fist approach to the Hamas situation, but I do not see Israeli actions as “starving all the Palestinians.” They have taken unusual and uncommon initiatives to move the population in an effort to isolate Hamas infrastructure before they destroy it. We have not seen the intelligence. Many of the munitions have been precision, deep penetrator weapon as indicated by the near columnar explosions. I do not want innocent Palestinians injured, set aside killed, but conversely, they cannot permit Hamas to use them as human shields.

 . . . Round three:

“I’ll insert my usual caution about marketing versus fact. Israel is destroying every structure in Gaza, not just things they claim belong to Hamas. In the meantime, they block any and all humanitarian aid. That leads directly to starvation and the absence of any medical care. That, in fact and law, constitutes genocide.”

 . . . response to round three:

The difficulty we have with this topic is neither one of us has access to the intelligence. Sure, we see what appears to be residential and office buildings being leveled and whole swaths of districts being turned into rubble. It appears to be indiscriminate. We have even seen videos of surprisingly well constructed tunnels and chambers. What we do not know is the correlation between the surface buildings and the tunnels presumably underneath those buildings. Israel contends those buildings were acting as shields and hidden access points for the operative tunnel network below them. The videos of the bombs indicate that the IAF was using high yield, deep penetrator, precision guidance bombs. I saw no evidence they were using area bombing techniques.

The conundrum the Israelis face is how to regulate aid to the Gaza Palestinians. How do they keep that aid out of the hands of Hamas? That process was made even more difficult when UN aid workers were found helping and participating in Hamas terror operations against the Israelis.

Let us be very careful with how far we stretch facts to the general situation. I have not seen evidence of genocide as is alleged. The accusation is a Hamas narrative intended to turn world opinion against the Israelis, and it is having some success as we have seen.

 . . . Round four:

“I understand that most Americans favor the government of Israel, even if many of them hate Jews. I assume that it's because of Christianity originating there. I'll note that the Christians in the area are far less enthusiastic about exterminating their neighbors. Somehow you can ignore casualty counts, the destruction of hospitals, and widespread starvation in favor of marketing announcements from Israel. We are not the same.”

 . . . my response to round four:

My oh my, I am not sure if you used the 2^nd person ‘you’ in the singular or plural context. The former is a direct attribution to me personally. Just in case that is your intent, let me emphatically state for the record as clearly and unequivocally as I possibly can. I have not and do not ignore casualty counts. We can see the dead and wounded for ourselves. What I do not trust is any information coming from Hamas; they are tainted by every possible metric. Further, I do not want any civilian of any heritage, ethnicity, race, religion, or any other of the social factors, harmed in any manner—physical, mental, or emotional. I do not and never have ignored the destruction of hospitals for anyone. That said, I loudly condemn Hamas for using hospitals, schools, mosques, and other community property to hide or shield their nefarious operations. I do not and never have ignored the widespread hunger of Gaza Palestinians. No one deserves such treatment. Where we apparently differ is, I blame Hamas solely and fully for the abuse of Gaza Palestinian people rather than the Israelis. Are there abuses and criminal conduct by Israeli Defense Force (IDF) personnel? Yes, no doubt, as there have been in every military body ever gathered. Every military organization is a reflection of the community they serve, and just as there are bad men in communities, there are bad men in military organizations. When abuses occur, they must be investigated and prosecuted. Let us not go too far with generalities.

 . . . Round five:

“If the shoe fits, wear it. I'm not interested in Netanyahu's talking points. I'm trained to write crap like that. The facts are that all the hospitals in Gaza have been destroyed, tens of thousands of non-combatants have been killed, and all humanitarian aid is blockaded.”

 . . . my response to round five:

Indeed! I am emphatically NOT a fan of Netanyahu or any of his right-wing comrades & supporters. They continue to poke the Palestinians with these damnable West Bank squatter settlements and wonder why the Palestinians are angry.

There is no argument. The destruction is Gaza is real, documented, palpable, and tragic. The reasons for the destruction are not so clear.

 

My very best wishes to all.  Take care of yourselves and each other.

Cheers,

Cap                  :-)