Still no major movement into Gaza and now we’re providing aid for Hamas. But don’t worry, Pudding Brain’s people say that if Hamas tries to steal the aid, they’ll condemn it. This is not looking good.

On the other hand, the IDF is still talking victory – that they will totally destroy Hamas in Gaza. Can’t see how they do that while allowing us to feed Hamas…but I can only assume they at least think they’ve got a plan that’ll work. We’re going to find out.

Pudding Brain went to Israel and it was just so entirely humiliating…this aged, senile crook out there to provide cover for aids who are desperately trying to get Israel to surrender to Hamas. We are a very pathetic nation right now. The pissant King of Jordan refused to even meet with Biden. I’m sure the Israelis didn’t want to…but as he’s the guy signing the checks, they had to put up with it. While Israel has built a robust domestic arms industry, there are still come crucial elements which come from us so I guess Israel still feels over a barrel.

For future reference on Israel’s part, I’d buy about 100 Panzerhaubitze 2000 from the Krauts (given the past, the Germans would likely do an easy-payment deal); its a 155mm self propelled howitzer which has an effective range of 67 kilometers. This means, depending on where positioned on Israeli-controlled territory, it can hit anywhere in Gaza or the West bank and very deep into Lebanon and Jordan, as well. Get about a million rounds of ammo for it (the stuff keeps forever) and anytime anyone in range causes trouble, just level an area with cannon fire. 155 mm is very common and no matter what is going on, you’d be able to replenish ammunition from some source. One thing the IDF has always had a lack of is tube artillery; when fighting conventional forces, that isn’t much of a handicap but when confronting dug in irregular forces like Hamas, it is just what the doctor ordered.

The GOP still can’t come up with a Speaker. The battle is between those who want a MAGA purist and those who want a conventional GOPer who can be relied upon to fully fund Democrat priorities. To me the easy deal is to agree to the RINO with a proviso that any funding bill will, once it gets to the floor, be stripped down to its components for an up or down vote. For instance, Pudding Brain wants us to cobble together a bill for Ukraine, Israel and border security. Fine. But once it comes time for a vote, it is broken up into 3 separate bills. This doesn’t mean all of it fails…but it does mean there will have to be some real horse trading…like in return for Ukraine aid, we get, say, funding to Texas for building a border wall (if we give the money to Biden, his people either won’t spend it or will buy something ineffective). On and on like that.

This battle over the Speakership is causing all sorts of heartache…in government and the pundit class. Most Americans are probably only vaguely aware of it and don’t care one way or the other. This will not hurt GOP prospects for 2024 unless something really ridiculous happens, like some RINOs joining Democrats to make Jeffries Speaker. I really do discount this – though the rumor does abound. Any GOPer voting for such a thing has got to know the career ends with that vote. There will be a successful primary challenge.

Meanwhile, GOP prospects brighten by the day – some recent polling shows any of Trump, DeSantis or Haley beating Biden (keeping in mind that anything less than Biden +5 in the popular vote likely means a GOP victory). This is not because the GOP is any good – it isn’t, and we just about universally despise it, as a thing – but because Biden is just so very bad. There have been rumors of Democrats trying to ditch Biden but I don’t think it’ll happen. Though Obama and Clinton people are all over the Democrat establishment, they generally don’t like each other and getting them to agree to an alternative is going to be hard (especially as Clinton’s people would probably want Clinton to be the alternative); if they don’t come together, then the Biden people hold sway…and as they only survive in power as long as Joe does, they simply will not let it go. Unless Biden dies, he’s the guy. And there may come a point when the Democrat powers that be just let it alone – knowing that Joe is a goner. Trump if he gets back in is only for one term; if its DeSantis they figure they can still win Congress in 2026 and do to him in 2028 what they did to Trump in 2020.

As the Gaza war has gone on we’ve been treated to some MSM lies astonishing in their scope and, indeed, arrogance. Some people are pretending to be shocked about this. They also pretend to be shocked when the corruption of our government is revealed. Everyone knows. It isn’t a surprise. The MSM lies, it lies all the time and about everything. So, too, the government. But here’s why a lot of people pretend it is all shocking: they know what it means to admit that our government and media are just liars. It means we can’t allow either to go on as is.

I’ve been pointing out for a while that the First Amendment cannot sanely be construed to protect lying. That our Founders knew we would have liars does not mean they were trying to secure a right to lie. They were trying to secure a right to tell the truth – what we Catholics called rightly ordered freedom: The freedom to do what is right. While we all can do evil, we are not being free when we do so…we are, in fact, enslaving ourselves when we do wrong. What I’m saying is that we, the people, can enact laws punishing lies. We can make anyone who publicly utters a lie pay for it – in civil or criminal court, or both. And we are going to have to do this – because the MSM cannot at this point correct itself. It is, as it were, determined to lie at this point. In a sense, they’ve told so many lies that they are committed to lying. Not really, of course; anyone can repent. But in their minds to admit that they’ve been lying for years is too humiliating. So, they’ll just double and triple down on the lies. But we can’t have a Republic if liars are allow to lie with impunity…so we will have to stop them.

The other thing I’ve been yammering on about is the need to end government secrecy. It really does have to go, and in its entirety. Whatever tiny advantage we gain against foreign adversaries by having secrets is vastly outweighed by government’s ability to hide corruption and incompetence under a veil of secrecy. For us to have a Republic we must know what the government is doing as it does it. Only thus can we judge if our agencies of government are working in our interest. We must enact laws requiring the government to do everything out in the open. No secrets. Ever.