The News

 

The News

Some observations on the news of the last day:


--Biden has a Hollywood agency contract. What possible value does this inept and physically destroyed man bring to the table of any enterprise? Who would want to reward this man in any way? Or maybe it's just the reward of white privilege and male hierarchy.

--Several wild-eyed demonstrators have criticized Musk, crying out "I did not vote for him!" This is true, but what has he done so far? He is only an adviser. But it inconveniently--for them--raises the big question he is investigating, that of unsupervised government legislation by unelected bureaucrats. So their unhappiness with Musk should be generalized to all unbridled bureaucrats.

And...who voted for Jill Biden?


--The USAID kerfluffle has wisely avoided the content of the USAID actions (many quite outlandish and peripheral) and centers on the process of attacking it. How, the critics say, can the program be interfered with by executive action? It should be monitored and shaped by the only lawgiver, Congress. They are concerned over the assumption of executive action outside its purview. This is a lovely meal, rare and delicious, because the USAIDS program was not created by the legislature but rather by JFK's executive order. I am no fan of Trump's assumption of executive orders but I am opposed to all assumptions of power. The controlling of USAID by executive order is almost poetic in its symmetry.


--Gaza. I am unsure what Trump is offering with his grand suggestion the U.S. take over the Gaza Strip. But it is heart-stopping in its clear implication. He is saying, I think, that the current state of management of the Gaza Strip is humanitarianly intolerable. More, a military solution threatens the world and is inconceivable. Israel will not suffer terrorism any longer. And they will not suffer a knockout or take a standing eight-count. Israel will punctuate any defeat that compromises the country with nuclear retaliation. That will mean the end of the Middle East as a functioning entity.

So the current endgame in the Gaza dispute cannot be military. Period. Military positions will not be enhanced through negotiations. Intrangecence is homicidal and suicidal. There is no interest in this country to police crazies anymore. Being the only grownup at the table costs us too much--especially since everyone else at the table has no vision larger than their own provincial myopia. (What is the intent of the madmen in Yemen other than death and destruction and commercial disruption?)