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WAR AND A FREAK SHOW

While on his way to Israel, a huge explosion occurred in the Gaza Strip Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital parking lot.  Early reports indicated a thousand people were sheltered in this 80-bed hotel, and hundreds perished.    Initial media reports blamed an Israeli air strike.  The Arab world erupted, with protests against the American embassies.  Then, more recent news seem to indicate that the cause was an errant terrorist rocket.  This whole war has been stoked by mis-information and fake news, so it will be some before any conclusive evidence will become universally accepted.

In the meantime, after arriving in Israel, Biden met with a lot of leaders and gave two speeches.

    • Said Israel was not responsible for hospital bombing.
    • Repeated, you are not alone
    • Promised considerable humanitarian and military aid.
  • This was the first visit to Israel by an American president during a time of war.
During all this consternation, a tiny country called Qatar has risen out of this miasma.  I was there in 2010.
  • Can you believe that the most read posting in my 15th years of this blog was this Qatar report?
  • The day before, November 7, 2010, I said:
    • The Emirate of Qatar is less than half the area of Hawaii with about the same number of people, about 1.3 million.  However, somewhere near 75% are foreign guest workers, around 200,000 from the Philippines.  (You can hardly see Qatar in this map.)
    • The latest data (from 2007) show that the per capita carbon dioxide emission (metric tons/year) of Qatar is 55.4, the worst by far in the world, with a bunch of Arab countries and Caribbean islands around 30.  The USA is #11 at 18.9.
    • I bet you thought Al Jazeera came from Saudi Arabia?  Nope, Doha, Qatar.
  • On November 8, 2010 I indicated:  Doha is the capital of Qatar, a country less than half the area size and one-fifth the citizen population of Hawaii.  However, they will probably sell $30 billion worth of oil this year and has the third largest known natural gas reserves in the world.  The potential, then, is incredible, but only for a few more decades. (Qatar has 30% more reserves than the USA, which is 850 times larger in area.)
  • Also refer to my Huffington Post article on Can Qatar Lead the World Toward Sustainability?
But back to Qatar today, according to the New York Times:
  • There is a sense that Israel has given up on actually rescuing any hostages, for the battleground makes this all but impossible, with tunnels, booby traps and more.  Plus they have no idea where these hostages are being kept.  In war you sacrifice human lives, and this is war.
  • Diplomacy is thus the only option to actually save hostages.
  • Qatar has extensive ties to terror groups, something neither the USA nor Israel has.
    • Only this week, they were the mediator for the repatriation of four children back to Ukraine from Russia.
    • No one heard about this one, but recently an American nun and aid worker were released from Africa, worked out by Qatar.
    • In the past, they are on record for getting journalists out of the Middle East.
During his longer speech there was evidence of how much his body is being affected by the travel and stress of the job.  Surely, he must now be reassessing whether he should take steps to insure for an able Democrat to replace him on November 5, 2024 if he is unable to run.
  • Perhaps he should open up the competition against him in orchestrated debates so that if the worst happens, there is some better option than just Kamala Harris.
  • Some parameters can be drawn together to select individuals for this purpose.
  • Clearly, he would need to first secure the commitment of key Democrats to participate, like Michelle Obama and Gavin Newsom.
  • There can be a nomination process established for the Chicago Democratic National Convention in August of 2024.  It is not too late.
  • If nothing else, this process would groom a better candidate for 2028. 
Next, the clown show occurring in the House of Representatives.  This would be funny if it was not so serious.  In fact, the Republicans are now entering into something like a freak show.  There was time that something like Freaks was allowed.  That movie was released in 1932.  Here is another 42 minute analysis.  Mind you, Rotten Tomatoes gave Freaks scores of 95 by reviewers and 88 by audiences.

So back to the what is now happening in the House side of the U.S. Congress.  The best the Republicans could do was exhibit Jim Jordan again.  In many ways, he is a political freak, if not criminal.  He was linked with Donald Trump and his chumps through the 6 January 2021 coup attempt.  So today the House voted for the second time, and the final count was more Republicans voting against him.  Thus the freak show in the House of Representations continues, while the country, plus Israel and Ukraine, wait.  

Looks like another side show, since no Republican really wants the speaker's job, so they will choose their latest freak, even though he certainly looks normal, Congressman Patrick McHenry, to make him more official.  Not sure of the legality, but they just don't want Democrats involved in any solution.  They can bypass this continued freak show by just working out a bipartisan deal, and gain a lot more credence than if they continued their attempt at horror.

Yesterday I lamented that the LSU basketball team was ranked #153, when the women's team last year won the national championship.  Today, the LSU women's basketball team was ranked #1 for the coming year.  Why?

  • Well, they are national champions.
  • Their coach, Kim Mulkey, agreed to a 10-year, $32 million, extension, making her the highest-paid women's basketball coach in the country, surpassing Geno Auriemma of UConn.  She's already won four national championships and is three-time coach of the year.  Her teams have had an 86% winning percentage over her 23 years of coaching.
  • LSU is led by All-American Angel Reese, plus Flau'jae Johnson and Keteri Pool.
  • Through the transfer portal added Aneesah Morrow of Depaul and Hailey Van Lith of Louisville.
  • They just had the #1 recruiting class in the nation.
Tropical Storm Norma will today attain hurricane strength and become a Category 3 storm tomorrow.  However, weakening is anticipated as the eye moves toward Baha

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