Roundup
(1) Jim Jordan has made progress in his quest to secure the speakership, but it seems he’s still got a way to go. I hope he makes it soon.
(2) The Hamas terrorists wore bodycams on October 7th. They are proud of snuff films and have been for quite some time. I wonder if some of them watch the sort of violent porn that’s taken over online these days.
(3) Trump gag order is issued by the judge in the Jack Smith Trump trial. Of course. But all of this is not election interference – oh no, surely not.
(4) The UN says that Hamas stole from it:
The United Nation organization that works with Palestinian refugees and their descendants said Sunday that Hamas authorities in the Gaza Strip had apparently stolen fuel and medical supplies meant for refugees from its premises in Gaza City, during the fighting triggered by the terror group’s deadly shock attack on Israel.
And then they deleted the message, and were met with this comment from the Israeli Foreign Ministry:
The Foreign Ministry mocked UNRWA for deleting the posts.
“Did Hamas also break into your Twitter account? Or are you just scared of disappointing your terrorist friends?” the ministry wrote on an X account it manages, known simply as “Israel.”
In one of the many bleak ironies of the Middle East, the UN is one of the terrorists’ chief enablers. Probably second only to Iran.
(5) This is a big topic, and I may return to it another time – but we’ve been hearing a great deal about “proportionality,” which is the idea that somehow Israel shouldn’t hurt the Palestinians too much. But what does the word really mean and what does the law of war say about Israel’s response, as opposed to how the press tries to tell it? You can learn the answer here as well as here:
(6) DeSantis expedites bringing Floridians back from Israel, and takes a very firm stand against receiving a single Palestinian refugee in this country.
This is reported to be footage from a Hamasite’s dead body cam as he learns FAFO. It does not show is fellow terrorist getting, deservedly, lit up.
Not graphic, you don’t have to read between the lines.
https://redstate.com/bonchie/2023/10/16/watch-hamas-body-cam-shows-the-moment-an-israeli-kibbutz-fought-back-n2165115
Good for DeSantis. The correct number of refugees we should be taking is: zero.
The standard used to be that refugees were admitted to and cared for the nearest safe country, until they could be safely returned home. We do not need to accept refugees in our country who are culturally, linguistically, and religiously distant from us, not to mention a potential source of danger, or at the very least friction and discord.
I don’t care if our government provides some money to look after refugees in a 3rd country BTW.
All the refugee resettlement non-profits are a racket. 70% or more of their funding comes from Uncle Sam, and much of that money goes to generous salaries and lavish perks for their executives. They also make political donations that go primarily to the Democratic party, making them in effect nothing but a money laundering operation.
Father Bill, the priest in my former parish church in the Chicago Archdiocese, used to preach proportionality in war. I tried to explain to him that this was an impracticable concept, not least because, when scrupulously applied, it tended to prolong conflicts and thus increase the overall suffering and misery of all involved. But he didn’t budge on it. This was the same priest who unilaterally excised “Jaweh is a warrior” (“Let us sing to the Lord, he has covered himself in glory”) in the Easter Vigil. I’m long gone from that parish, since moving to northwest Indiana. Too bad, it was such a pretty church.
I know I’m posting while feeling intense emotions, but:
[how] do you, or does anyone, fight a deadly war- using proportionality?
That is not logical.
To quote a Smothers Brother’s song:
“If you can fight your war, without blood and gore, then I’ll be the first to fight it”.
I am not against military actions, but-
To me- war is chaos, disaster, + destruction.
I don’t think there is a way to fight a well-measured war.
Asking for, “proportionate measures” in a war or a combat, is a very strange thing to request.
Times of Israel, “In first, Hamas terror group releases clip of hostage it captured in Oct. 7 onslaught” — https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/in-first-hamas-terror-group-releases-clip-of-hostage-it-captured-in-oct-7-onslaught/
She’s an Israeli-French dual citizen.
My 4 great-grandparents on both sides, Irish and German, had to obtain proof of sponsorship before they could even book passage on the boat to America. It was a rigorous process, lots of letters and cash transfers to (and from) the respective Irish and German immigrant communities in America where their sponsors resided. The point being, of course, that they not would arrive destitute and be a burden on the society they had just joined. It was good system, sure, so much so that all the male members of military age in my Irish family who immigrated here enthusiastically enlisted and fought in the Union Army in the Civil War.
Not so strange if you can suppose that those who demand it have taken sides with the Iranians-Hamas-Hezbollah, and are content to see Israel go down to defeat, however long that may take. So that pretense of humanitarianism is an extremely good place to hide ones actual aims.
And re proportionality, again: Does that mean that Israeli soldiers may legitimately murder civilians, rape women, and behead babies? Wouldn’t that be proportional in the context of Hamas’s way of war?
It is utter insanity israel takes meticulous care whereas hamas conducts farhud arabic word for pogrom
sdferr,
You bet.
And as I believe is also your position-
I do not support it, + neither do I agree with it. That’s that.
Cheers.
That one came from the riot in baghdad in 1941 that killed only 250 jews, the horrors multiply
So much “By Proxy” going round these days: https://english.alarabiya.net/News/middle-east/2023/10/17/Iran-s-foreign-minister-warns-of-preemptive-action-against-Israel-in-Gaza
Iran fights its revolution through foreign armies, the Hamasmonsters, the Hezbollahfreaks, the Huthitrash, and so on. Is it not time the IRGC was made to die on its homeground? Oh? Not yet? Or, oh! Not ever!
As I have commented before, the people calling for proportionally don’t know what the term means. Either that or do and they are liars.
Much like the sudden & widespread popularity of the BLM slogan “defund/abolish the police” (or even “ACAB”) during the Summer of Floyd–it appears the current
use of the phrase “collective punishment” has gained much popularity in the media.
I believe that there are over 10K UN workers in Gaza to “help” the Palis. Did they help in ignoring the attack that was to come? Would not put it past the UN.
Seems that the only Wars we fought since 1900 that were not proportionality were WWI and WWII. All the others we have held back. Well maybe the First Gulf War was also an exception.
Is a joke, keeping Hamas and Palestinians out of the USA, when they can just stroll in from Mexico. Right, Dopey Joe? And Mayorcas!
Tablet Mag youtube — Jacob Siegel, Lee Smith, and Joe Kent, “Israel’s War and America First” (1hr6mins): https://youtu.be/hyp6v6pcT00?si=kuAMYs2_H7eUHHNf
And there it is: https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/blinken-said-to-tell-pm-allowing-humanitarian-aid-into-gaza-critical-for-keeping-global-support-for-idf-op/
Israel cannot fight while obeying Obama-Malley-Biden edicts, and cannot expect to sustain itself with an open American enemy. Screwed coming and going. By intention from the American diplo’s point of view.
Blinken: Jump!
Israel: Yessir! How high?
“Proportionality” in war is a laughable concept, especially when you consider who Hamas targeted, tortured, and murdered.
“In one of the many bleak ironies of the Middle East, the UN is one of the terrorists’ chief enablers.”
A snake pit of disparate motivations that align on the necessity for a scapegoat.
“Morally obtuse at the best, morally obscene in my view”.
@IrishOtter49
As to proportionality. From what I can tell the leftists of the West believe this: Since rape, murder and kidnapping are simply crimes, they are not to be counted as part of a military action. Israel must therefore identify suspects from videos and pictures then send only lightly armed police officers to arrest those criminals in Gaza.
You can then send in the IDF to kill exactly the number of uniformed Hamas fighters to equal the number of IDF members killed. If you can’t find uniformed Hamas fighters that will come meet you on a battlefield well away from civilians then they must already all be dead.
Otherwise you are being crazy vicious war criminals.
Martin:
Sad to say, you have a point.
Proportionality in war is NOT a laughable concept
I repeat my comment from the weekend:
Proportionate means not unreasonable collateral damage for military purpose of the attack. Wipe out a city block to get a sniper? Not proportionate. Destroy Hamas HQ under hospital, destroying hospital in process? Proportionate.
Proposing ‘proportionality’ for an unprovoked ambush offensive is the same thing as asking to get away with it.
There are 3 levels of civilization:
1. Civilian: violence is reserved to authorized police; no one is authorized to commit physical violence against another person absent imminent threat of harm. Resolve your differences through the court system.
2. Conventional War: OK to hurt or kill the military, no intentional harm to civilians.
3. Traditional War: No limits; kill them all, let God sort it out.
We transitioned from Level 1 to Level 2 on 12/7/41. In the European theater, we stayed Level 2 mostly, except for SS soldiers whose behavior was Level 3. In the Pacific, we started on Level 2, because that is who we are, but soon went Level 3 when it was obvious that the Japanese started there and stayed there.
The Israelis are Level 2 to a fault with their enemies, which explains why their babies were murdered and women were raped last weekend.
We live in a Level 3 world.
West TX:
Good one!
PS: I grew up in TX.
Lee Smith, Tablet Mag — “The Biden Administration Tries to Hide What It Knew About an Impending Massacre, While Leaving U.S. Backing for Iran Untouched” :
https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/biden-administration-tries-hide-knew-impending-massacre-leaving-iran-untouched-hamas-lee-smith
This is how Hamas and their supporters / enablers view proportionality.
https://babylonbee.com/news/hamas-clarifies-they-meant-to-start-the-type-of-war-where-they-get-to-do-whatever-they-want-and-no-one-fights-back
More on the topic of “proportionality.”
https://redstate.com/brandon_morse/2023/10/16/proportionality-in-war-is-a-joke-n2165133
I saw an episode of “Gutfield!”, today.
It went something like this: “Proportionality in a war? That will never happen. It’s like fighting someone on the playground- if you punch someone in the forehead, he or they will want to punch you back twice.
If you punch somebody in the head, they’ll want to kick you 30 times in the b*lls. Nobody’s going to make a war or a fight…fair for you.”
Also, in my point of view-
if you got [Israel’s military] + Hamas to agree to equal fighting, such as: “OK, day one…we will attack with tanks, and then you attack with tanks.
Then: day 2…we will attack with armored cars, and then you attack with armored cars.
Then: day 3…we will attack with rifles, and then you attack with rifles.”.
If both sides of a war to agree on things, as much as that, then [they would be willing to NOT have a war at all].
IMHO Proportionality as a concept actually prolongs and encourages war by letting leaders decide that losses are acceptable. If faced with the idea that their actions will be met with overwhelming force, many of these terrorist actions would never occur. That is the philosophy Russia has used when dealing with terrorism, and it works. The idea that there is an acceptable level of terrorism will lead to a non-zero level of terrorism.
@ LordAzrael > “The idea that there is an acceptable level of terrorism will lead to a non-zero level of terrorism.”
That is the same calculus the thieves and thugs looting and rampaging in Blue Cities use: the Democrats have established an acceptable level of crime, and it is very high.
Ditto border incursions, election fraud, corruption in politics, etc etc etc.
The Palestinian situation is even worse because of the other unalterable reality of the Biden Inc foreign policy perversity: what you subsidize, you get more of.
In re (6): I wish all 50 governors would take a cue from DeSantis and repatriate their citizens.
If the charter airlines are insufficient for them all, they could send their own Air National Guard.
Or ask some of the Climate Change warriors to loan out their private jets for the work, since we know they don’t have any noxious emissions to worry about.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/aug/10/private-jets-are-awful-for-the-climate-its-time-to-tax-the-rich-who-fly-in-them
“Private flights pollute up to 14 times more than commercial ones – yet are taxed less. Let’s change that”
Ya want proportionality?
Here ya go:
The last time Hamas kidnapped an IDF soldier he was ransomed by releasing 1027 terrorists from jail. That’s a ‘proportional’ exchange of Pali scumbags for Israeli citizens.
So with the current Israeli victim count around 1350 we have:
1350×1027=1,386,450
Come back and squawk about proportionality after Israel kills a million Palis.
……….
From an Israeli meme circulating widely in Hebrew.
Don Bacon is my Congressman. He’s opposing Jordan. Big mistake.
Regarding Hamas “bodycams”: There is an audio recording (the technology just barely existed in the 1940s) of Heinrich Himmler telling a gathering of Nazis, speaking of the murders of innocents in the Holocaust, “This is a chapter of our history that must never be written”.
Himmler was one of the architects and chief perpetrators of the Holocaust. But even this profoundly evil and depraved individual knew somewhere inside him how horrible it was. Contrast that with Hamas, as well as Isis, Al Qaeda and the other Islamic fanatics who glorify the worst of their own violence for the purpose of humiliating their enemies. I am Jewish and grew up in the shadow of the Holocaust – very close in age to neo – so could not imagine anyone stooping that much lower than even the Nazis. But here we are.
Neo, I believe, alluded to the Ohio State sexual abuse by a team doctor named Richard Strauss of wrestlers who were coached by Jim Jordan during the 80’s and 90’s. Jordan is accused of knowing of the abuse and doing nothing to report or stop it.
The left has labeled him “Gym Jordan” to tie him to the scandal. Jordan has claimed to have not been aware of the abuse.
It’s not that simple.
From a Wikipaedia article:
“Strauss was hired as an assistant professor in the OSU College of Medicine in September 1978; shortly afterward, he began volunteering as a team physician at Larkins Hall, OSU’s physical education building. He was appointed to a position in the Athletics Department in 1981, and to Student Health in 1994.[2]:?2? In Athletics, Strauss served as a team physician for multiple teams, including men’s wrestling, gymnastics, fencing, lacrosse, and swimming and diving; he additionally treated students on the hockey, cheerleading, volleyball, soccer, track, golf, baseball, tennis, water polo, and football teams. Strauss was not formally appointed to a position at Student Health until 1994, but was known to have started performing treatments there as early as 1978.?”
“By 1979, Athletics Department officials knew that Strauss conducted unusually prolonged genital examinations on male athletes, and that athletics staff were not permitted to be present during these examinations. In addition, Strauss was known to shower alongside male students at Larkins Hall, a behavior which was unique to Strauss among team physicians. Between 1979 and 1996, multiple students complained about Strauss’s excessive and unnecessary genital examinations, but no action was taken by OSU until January 1996, when he was placed on administrative leave in response to patient complaints.”
“The investigators conducted interviews with 177 students who provided evidence that Strauss had committed sexual abuse; although not all of the students felt his behavior was abusive, consultation with independent medical doctors confirmed they were not appropriate patient–doctor interactions. The majority of abuse (143 victims) was categorized as genital fondling associated with medically unnecessary genital or rectal examinations. Of the 177, 153 were student-athletes, of which a plurality (48) were members of the men’s wrestling team.”
It wasn’t until 2018 that the allegations about Strauss’s abuse became public knowledge and Jordan was accused of knowing of the abuse but failing to do anything about it.
Sound familiar? Sound like a hit job?
Many of the athletes didn’t think it was sexual abuse at the time, but just part of the examination, where Strauss would touch their genitals.
As an aside, Perkins Coie investigated the incident around 2019.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ohio_State_University_abuse_scandal
I had something similar happen when I was having a physical to play soccer at a college in Southern College in 1968.
It wasn’t a team doctor, but a private physician in the town. I was told to completely strip by the nurse, before the doctor came into the room. While he examined me (mostly by just looking at me), he did the turn your head and cough routine. At the time I though it strange I had to strip naked– but whatever. I have no idea whether Strauss spent more time touching than this doctor did– but while I was uncomfortable, I never considered it some kind of abuse– sexual or otherwise. How naive of me.
I hope Americans will see that what Strauss did as a homosexual predator was reprehensible, but that the allegations much, much later against Jordan is just the left’s attempt to smear Jordan.
@ Brian E – I read this coincidentally today and note its application to the abusive doctor topic, although that is not its primary intent.
https://graboyes.substack.com/p/take-your-clothes-off-oppressor
The entire essay is worth reading.