How can anyone know if the hostages in Gaza are still alive? Apparently, two aren’t—their bodies were recently recovered.

Has Israel been careful in its destruction of tunnels and rooting out Hamas fighters and caches of weaponry, not to mention its relentless bombing? Have they had some idea of where the hostages are so they don’t kill them in the process of their scorched-earth retaliation?

I see that a deal may have been worked out where a pause will be taken, so refugees can flee and women and children hostages can be returned. Sucks being a guy sometimes. Anyway, progress of a sort.

A pause in a war… sounds a bit counter-intuitive, like it would be difficult to pull off. I wonder if not starting back up again sounds appealing, ever crosses anyone’s mind.

And there it is.

Just when some might have been ready to give Mike Johnson a bit of credit for navigating the latest path, albeit temporary–again, to funding the government, we hear he’s ready to drop 40,000 hours of sensitive (and edited?) video footage from January 6, apparently in obeisance to the Freedom Caucus, and to keep his job– because, you know, he dared work with Democrats.

The disappointment never ends. The Republican caucus is a toxic mess.

Trump leads Biden in a poll. Ho hum. It’s a year out, folks.

Notice I didn’t even mention the fact that Trump faces 4 indictments and 91 felony counts, but none of that seems to matter? Or that he’s woefully incompetent and a fascist wannabe and has wet dreams about Hitler? Or that his intentions are glaringly obvious– he doesn’t want to lead, he’s just a sore loser intoxicated by the thought of having all that power? Or that the people around him have as much if not more skin in the game, and he’s just their ticket into a depressingly creepy show?

This country is a melting pot alright, but the current amalgamation is a real witch’s brew. No gold, not even tin. How about just a growing slag pile?

Markwayne Mullin. Poor guy almost has an obligation to live down to his name.

Grown men acting like schoolyard idiots. When it comes to working things out, that’s the best they could do? In a Senate hearing.

Kudos to Bernie.

So, will the truth, or something closer to it, soon be revealed, after 60 years?

I was in elementary school when it happened. Teachers were crying, the flag was dropped to half mast, we got out of school early. It was a helluva weekend. His alleged killer was shot– on live TV– and died a short time later, before any real investigation could unfold. And the Warren Report was supposed to be the final word on what happened.

Sounds like maybe that’s not the case. Conspiracy theories aside, it’s been difficult to let this go. The longer one has to mull it over, the more likely it is that one may question the finding that Oswald acted alone. It was no secret that there was no love loss between certain factions and JFK—the CIA, LBJ himself. And I was surprised to recently learn of an actual conversation, a week after the assassination, between LBJ and J. Edgar Hoover, in which Hoover is alleged to have said, out loud, that there was more than one gunman.

So, either many await vindication for their “cockamamy” grassy knoll beliefs, or enough time still hasn’t passed, and the official word will still be, in effect, “all you hair-brained conspiracy junkies are out to lunch.”

It would be deliciously rich to hear, though, that there was a plan, that it wasn’t just a lone, angry man pulling off one of the more shocking events in our nation’s history. Which then begs the question, “How could they keep such a plan under wraps for all these years?”

I don’t consider Rob Reiner to be a hack. I hear he might have something to add to the conversation. He doesn’t seem to be getting a lot of attention, though, so maybe it’s just the latest instance of being unable to take “no conspiracy” for an answer. Who knows? Maybe time will finally tell.

When I listen to and watch clips of Trump speeches, where he sticks to the teleprompter, I almost automatically think that it’s not him I’m hearing. The big words and concepts, the rhetoric, the poison are all products of other minds, other people who are still tagging along and writing this drivel and vitriol.

Trump is a mouthpiece. It seems all he’s doing is saying the words because he thinks they have a nice ring to them, and maybe they resonate in the depths of his own depravity and anger.

We know Stephen Miller is still part of the Trump entourage, and who knows who else. Miller is a damaged individual with dark thoughts. His influence has loomed large in this whole nightmare. In some ways, Trump is just a slimy real estate guy mesmerized and intoxicated by the siren song of authoritarianism. Well versed in deception, no doubt, but caught up in something much bigger than himself. A willing sucker, a talking head, a spokesperson for the real “visionaries” around him who can get him to say just about anything.

Which doesn’t absolve Trump, a 77-year-old adolescent who’s capable of saying some pretty mindless stuff on his own.

Ah, Mike Pence and the rest of the Mormon plastic people. Straight off the toy shelf at Walmart, straight out of a Barbie movie. Somehow naive, sheltered and protected from the world, a holier-than-thou vibe. Kind of a strange, almost creepy lot.

Pence in particular has always gotten under my skin by merely speaking. There’s something about his tone of voice, like he’s on a game show telling the contestants what they’ve won.

The cadence of his speech, the delivery, the faux gravity and seriousness, his brown-nosing subservience to Trump, wearing his faith on his sleeve– it was all too much. I’m glad he’s out of the race. He had no business being there in the first place.

Kind of feel sorry for him, because it seems almost impossible for him to turn off the animatronics and be human. And his attempts at humor invoke nothing but eye rolls and embarrassment for his efforts. It might have one wondering what his formative years were like.

Haley, Christie and the rest—pretenders all. Forty-plus points behind the former POTUS, who keeps sailing along despite 91 felony counts and a lifelong history of being a scumbag’s scumbag. The latest debate was laughable—predictably unenlightening and a showcase for the tired tactics of going low and avoiding questions.

Meanwhile, Trump was just down the road, seeking solace from his lackeys, playing the room, spewing his poison.

All of it useless, yet telling.

It’s pretty safe to say that the Belichick era in New England is over, and Mac Jones will be playing somewhere else next year. Or maybe he won’t be playing anywhere. Awful performance in Germany yesterday, 10-6 loss to the Colts.

It was a nice run. Patriots fans won’t see such a thing for a long time, if ever again. Brady made the difference. He may have bought into Belichick’s system, but he also was just that good, the difference maker.

It’s amazing how fortunes and opinions can turn. It happened again yesterday, with the gushing love coming from the CBS panel of experts after Cleveland beat Baltimore. It’s like they all climbed onto the Deshaun Watson bandwagon.

I’m amazed at how much verbiage is expended over football. Breathless analysis and discussion and arguments over nothing. And the cherry on top was Fox’s set at the Air Force Academy, with all those weapons of war sitting in the background. Veteran’s weekend or no Veteran’s weekend, it certainly kept with Fox’s America–love it or leave it vibe. The Fox shtick creeps into everything.

Meanwhile, hell on earth continues to unfold in Gaza.

I wonder if cameras will be scouring the sidelines looking for a guy with Groucho moustache and glasses. Barring an 11^th hour pardon, Jim Harbaugh won’t be coaching his team when they play Penn State at Happy Valley.

I don’t think it will matter much—PSU has a knack for coming up short when they play contenders.