Israel’s insistence on eradicating Hamas is a fool’s errand. As much as Hamas needs to go away, and even if Netanyahu does exact retribution on every single one of those involved in October 7, does he think his work will be done? Does he somehow believe that Hamas—or some offshoot—won’t rise from the ashes with a long memory for the scorched-earth Israeli response, including the death of 39,000 (or is it more like 92,000) civilians and counting?

The rest of the world doesn’t understand, Mr. Netanyahu. I suppose in part because we aren’t you, we can’t plum the depths of your personal motivations or the extent of the scars and the long memory you and fellow Jews must have of the Holocaust– never mind the long history of exile and assaults on identity that have come before and since.

From the outside looking in, though, the incessant revenge cycle is simple madness, nothing more. Winning means nothing, because it’s not really a win. It’s just a lull in further violent payback that will, with something approaching inevitability, rear its ugly head.

What happens if your no compromise stance prevails? Will everything and everybody just fall in line? Will peace finally come?

Religious wars are the worst, the height of irony and disingenuity, and deception. What kind of god condones this insanity, on an ongoing basis?

Bibi says he wants to finish the job, destroy Hamas, and bring the hostages home—both the living and those who have died. The numbers of the living are slowly dwindling. Is there any connection between a prolonged conflict and the likelihood that more hostages will die as a result?

Netanyahu obviously has some sort of plan, but his obstinacy and consistent reluctance to consider any ceasefire proposals seems counterproductive, somehow heartless.

His address to Congress yesterday was vintage Bibi—predictably blunt, bordering on belligerent, critical of the “useful idiots” protesting outside, since he makes no distinction between Hamas and the masses of civilians who have been caught in the crossfire, and he makes no effort to hide his disdain for anything Palestinian.

Netanyahu and the military minds around him have made the decision to ignore the Hamas tactic of hiding among civilian populations, which really is a cowardly, bush league move but also contributes to the devastating and mind-numbing casualty numbers.

Israel attacks wherever they think Hamas figures are hiding, regardless of civilian losses. They will claim that they try their best to be careful, even… surgical? But that’s much easier said than done in the fog of war. It must be easier to lump innocent civilians and complicit combatants together, and let history decide who held the moral high ground.

The Olympic Summer Games are off to a smashing start, with the misbehavior at the opening match of Men’s football. Spirits run high and all that, football fans are passionate, blah, blah, blah. We all know there’s no excuse for the hooliganism and hysteria that often unfold at these matches.

And here’s hoping no one gets dysentery from swimming in the Seine.

The wait now is for the Harris team to choose a running mate. If I had wagering tendencies, I’d place money on someone from a swing state—Shapiro or Kelly. But I’m hoping it’s Pete or Gretchen (also from a swing state). The Republicans may spontaneously combust either way—a Black woman of Asian descent and a gay man, or an all-female ticket. A few heads would likely explode, or at the least they’d have something else to criticize and gripe about.

Harris has options. There are many who are supposedly capable—at this point, anyway, before the mudslinging and closer looks commence. Things have already gotten ugly with the racist, misogynistic invective directed at Harris, so much so that even Republican officials are telling their colleagues to find better words, tone things down. That’s unlikely to stop, especially with Trump at the top of the ticket.

So, the Democrats will have to choose between engaging these ignorant attacks, or focusing their energy on traveling the country and telling people what their plans are. I hope it’s the latter.

I get a kick out of the energy surrounding Kamala’s ascendency, though it’s over the top, unsustainable. It’s a wildly optimistic vibe and exciting for the moment, but feels like eventually the Red Bull is gonna wear off and the slog will kick in, when Trump and company attempt their takedown and drag her through the mud, the appearance schedule starts feeling like a hamster wheel, and the inevitable scrutiny and critique of Harris’ record begins in earnest.

It’s nice to know that the Trump machine might be panicking a bit, since they had geared up to face Joe Biden in November. They may even decide to deep-six J.D. Vance, since in their hubris and overconfidence they picked a VP candidate who appeals to no one but voters who are already locked in. The emergence of Harris has changed Republican calculus. The stretch drive is just getting going and it seems there are yet lots of surprises in store.

I’m beginning to wonder if Joe wasn’t dragging his feet on purpose, deciding himself or advised to wait until the right moment to announce his withdrawal from the race. Who knows? One thing’s for sure– the media attention and hype have already grown to annoying levels. Left-leaning outlets are gushing over Biden’s patriotism and selflessness and Harris’ emergence, while Fox and their ilk are of course crying foul and hoping for litigation and some top-notch muckraking to stanch the flow and quash the Dems’ momentum.

In any event, the race has gotten more interesting, and now the felon is also the old man.

SCOTUS members are human beings, right?

One might dare think that they’re as sick of Donald Trump as the majority of the rest of the country is. But they’re not supposed to show that. They’re supposed to be above such surrender to emotion, treat the cases at hand with an almost inhuman restraint and neutrality, solely on their jurisprudential merits or lack thereof.

And yet, why is it that many feel that the six members of the six-three majority seem to have migrated to the dark side, seemed to have succumbed to a certain laziness or apathy when it comes to applying the law to Donald Trump and the mindset that spawned him?

I guess it just seems that way to those of us who have long tired of Trump’s antics and his lack of a soul.

The prosecutor versus the felon.

Too convenient, won’t last as a theme. Even as it is true. Everyone knows Trump and his cohorts will do their best to turn what sounds like an advantage:Harris into a Mike Dukakis debacle. They’ll somehow turn the tables and take the wind out of sails, or at least try to.

Harris, if she (likely) remains the favorite, will need more than her California bona fides to prevail against a political machine that is absolutely shameless and bereft of even a shred of honor. This is going to be a bare-knuckled cage match from here on out.

Even as the contrasts are real and striking—a narcissistic, delusional incompetent with an abhorrence for losing, versus a decent, passionate, strong-minded woman who deserves a shot at the job—Trump and the lost men and women around him are going to try their damnedest to make us lose our focus and scare us into some sort of panicked decision.

We just won’t let that happen. Because we’re on to ‘em.

They’ve got nothing.

Except… beware the SCOTUS.

So, at least one writer/reporter thinks people are jumping too quickly on the Kamala Harris bandwagon. What does that even mean?

I know, in a general way, that people are paid to remain neutral, to dissect, take a step back, not get too excited about possibilities and the shot of adrenaline that this campaign was in need of, but the critique arrived quickly. I guess there is concern over the lack thus far of a process in which others are allowed a say and the opportunity to throw their hats in the ring and challenge Harris for the nomination.

In other words, her ascendance is not supposed to be an automatic thing, even thought she’s VP and has Biden’s endorsement.

There is a process, then? Sounds like it best be followed or worked out, in order to maintain peace within the party, and to tamp down Republican outrage (good luck with that) over this significant change in the ticket at not quite the 11^th hour.

Sounds like the uproar is fomenting legal action from Mike Johnson and Company, who are now grasping at straws, making stuff up, running scared and scrambling to hatch a new plan for dealing with a younger and more scrappy candidate.

And we thought things were getting ugly when Joe was running.

This is gonna devolve beyond nasty, now that another woman—and a woman of hybrid lineage at that—may end up at the top of the ticket. Republicans will be way beyond beside themselves over such a travesty! Hopefully the Dems can work through what needs to be worked through, and Harris—or whoever emerges as POTUS candidate—can withstand the barrage of Hail Marys that’s coming.

Beware the SCOTUS.  

May Kamala Harris emerge as the nominee. May she beat Donald Trump once and for all, expose his motives and leave no doubt in anyone’s mind that he’s always only been in this for himself. May she rise to the occasion and become the first woman to hold the office of POTUS.

It’s gonna be a slog, the fight of her life. I hope she’s up for it.

And Joe Manchin need not apply. Please, Joe—stay away. Don’t kid yourself, and don’t ruin this moment, you blatantly opportunistic chameleon! 

Talk about drama queens and opportunists. The WSJ is portraying the choice of Joe Biden in 2020 as an “epic miscalculation.” Sure. Why not? Now’s the time to start second-guessing and showing that your cage is rattled because suddenly you’re having to deal with an unknown quantity who might spoil hopes and dreams of getting Trump back into office.

It’s no secret that the financiers and billionaires and venture capitalists and the rest of the money-grubbing power brokers are more comfortable when a Republican is POTUS, so there’s no time like the present to be finding fault and piling on after Joe Biden steps aside and endorses Kamala Harris four months before the election.

Kinda makes things interesting for Democrats, but also puts sand in the gears of Republicans who may have already been planning for a second Trump coronation.

If money is power, then Ms. Harris just inherited a bunch of power. If she prevails at convention, may she use it to full advantage, so as to annihilate Trump and give notice to all the one-percenters who think they’re indispensible and own the place.