Israel: What Went Wrong

That is the title of  book (which I have not read) by Omer Bartov.  Dr. Bartov was born in Israel, raised in a Zionist household, served four years in the IDF, and currently teaches at Brown University where he is a professor of Holocaust and genocide studies.

Bartov says that Zionism had two faces:  one that was liberating and pluralist; the other was ethnonationalist.  Since the founding, he says, the emancipatory element has receded while the ethnonationalist element has become a “state ideology.”

A country founded as a refuge from intolerance has acquired the traits of an increasingly remorseless ethnonationalism.  He is pessimistic about the future, noting that neither Israel nor the Palestinians have leadership capable of getting out of this morass.

I probably should read the book, but the Sunday Times review by Jennifer Szalai sounds absolutely depressing to anyone who hopes for peace in the Middle East.

Dissecting the War Against Iran

A few years ago I bought a course from “The Teaching Company” entitled “History’s Great Military Blunders and the Lessons They Teach.”  The course was taught by professor Gregory S. Aldrete.  The course analyzed ten or 15 battles ranging from ancient Greece to modern times.  Dr. Aldrete said battles were lost for any of four reasons, often in combination.  

I thought the war in Iran makes an interesting case study.  I’ll let you decide how many of the causes of failure apply.

1.  Failures in planning.  Includes failure to define objectives and failure to pay attention to intelligence and the strengths of the enemy.

2.  Failures in leadership.  Includes incompetence, working above one’s ability, and inability to work with other leaders.

3.  Failures in execution.  Includes such problems as splitting one’s forces, moving too early or too late, and not knowing when to cut one’s losses.  Reinforcing failure is a common theme.

4.  Failures to adapt.  Change occurs, and a leader must be ready to adjust to meet those changes.

Pretty amazing, isn’t it?

Susan Collins sets record, remains a jerk

Susan Collins, who has been in the Senate for 29 years, has not missed a Senate vote in all that time, casting her 10,000th vote and setting a Senate record.  And she is proud of it.  Proud of voting for Brett Kavanaugh, who helped to overturn Roe v. Wade, proud of voting to send people to El Salvador to a prison where they were tortured, proud of funding ICE and backing Trump’s policies.  

The Democratic candidate in Maine, Graham Platner, has done some stupid things, but if he is elected, he will not vote to support Trump’s authoritarian and fascist polices.  Susan Collins, I’m sure, never got questionable tattoos and may never have posted stupid or nasty comments online, but she sure has done nothing of substance to fight the polices of Donald Trump.  I am not impressed that she cast 10,000 votes.  She is a disgrace.

Info for this post came in part from Carl Hulse, “Casting Her 10,000th Vote, Collins Sets Senate Record,” New York Times, (June 7, 2026), p. 18.

Save Our Bacon

California and Massachusetts have passed laws that you can’t sell pork in those states if pig growers use gestation crates.  These are crates for the pregnant sows that are so small the pigs can’t even turn around.  They are not given straw to make a bed, and, in my view, are treated in cruel and inhumane manner.

Now the Republican House has passed a bill to override the state laws.  The legislation has been given the cute name of “Save Our Bacon,” but it really is a law to legalize cruelty.  Pigs are incredibly intelligent animals much smarter than horses.  But Big Pork has lobbying power.

Here is another solution.  If you must eat pork, then buy it from local butchers who buy their pigs from local farms that raise pigs in traditional ways.  Or forego pork entirely.  Eat eggs.  You don’t need to kill the chickens to get the eggs.

Ten Endangered Rivers

Every year the American Rivers organization puts out a list of the ten most endangered rivers.  The criteria are that the rivers can be saved if public pressure is brought to bear; if the river has significance to people and nature, and if the threat will harm the river and its communities.  Here’s the list and the threat:

Potomac River.  Threat–data centers

San Joaquin.  Threat–mining

Boundary waters Canoe Area Wilderness.  Threat–mining

Lumber River (NC).  Threat–forever chemicals and feed lot waste, mostly 

from pig farms

Rogue River.  Threat–mining

Chilkat River (Alaska).  Threat–mining

Nissequogue River (NY).  Threat–a dam

Dan River (VA and NC).  Threat–pipeline projects

Amargosa River (Nevada).  Threat–mining

Suwannee River (FL and GA).  Threat–excessive water withdrawals and 

pollution

Here is the problem.  The Trump Administration is a cheerleader for the mining, pipelines, and pig farm interests.  The Potomac is already over-burdened with data center issues, and the North Carolina pig farms are not about to stop using huge manure lagoons which often overflow.  People are still moving to Florida.  Perhaps the dam on the Nissequogue can be stopped, but environmentalists don’t seem all that popular or powerful these days.  

I would have added the rivers that flow into the Great Salt Lake.  The lake is drying up.  That will be an environmental disaster.

How to tell if they are members of the MAGA cult

Not all Republicans, even the ones who voted for Trump in the past, are true believers willing to follow him anywhere.  There is an easy way to tell if they are MAGA cult members or just normal voters who were either misguided or perhaps not too bright.  

Just ask them:  Do you think Trump won the 2020 election?  If they say yes and claim he actually was cheated out of the presidency, they are cult members.  If they say no, Biden won that election, they are at least rational people who haven’t bought Trump’s conspiracy theory.  Try it.

Democrats are really bad people

My friend John C. was working the polls on election day and a Republican at the polling place was also handing out literature.  Her cards had this message:

If you haven’t figured it out yet, Democrats have chosen

The enemies of Israel, over Israel

Muslims over gays

Rigged elections over democracy

Communism over capitalism

Criminals over police

Globalists over America

Wall Street over Main Street

Illegal Aliens over citizens

Transvestites over men and women

and Satan over God

I don’t quite get the “Muslims over gays” thing.  The “Wall Street over Main Street” is also kind of weird.  And “criminals over police” is dumb in light of the “slush fund” for cop killers at the Jan. 6 riot.  Do Republicans really believe this junk?  I guess many of the MAGA types do.  Scary stuff.