The Chief Executive of a big nation made impromptu remarks on his return from Israel the other evening. We had not intended to view the show, but like other events in this amazing comprehensive political campaign it did not work out that way. Instead, the program was run twice more over last weekend and we got smacked with the contents of both of them. We think that amounts to three viewings of something we had vowed to ignore. That is our modification to standard communication procedures in the post-pandemic landscape.

Then came a hot ground war in Israel. Apparently the two events The first disconcerting event was the second GOP ‘debate,’ which was an event attended by seven or eight distinguished politicians who managed to castigate their way into detailed remarks criticizing how each of them would do better than the others if given the opportunity to run the nation’s affairs. We tried to ignore the first iteration and mostly succeeded. What surprised us was the fact that despite a valiant attempt to dodge some of the opinions we were unable to do so.

That is what is making us a little uneasy this morning. The repetition of Republican thought over both weekend afternoons with identical repeated philosophies made us nervous that something similar was about to go down with the Chief’s remarks. We had a suspicion they would be scheduled for some sort of repetition, possibly starting as soon as this afternoon.

We presume the problem may actually be the lack of back-up programming to stand alone when there is nothing else to say. And the current void is profound with sprinkles of doubt and deceit neatly sprinkled on top. You can appreciate the difficulty that places on simple communication. In this case, we are expected to accept the injustice imposed on the Palestinian people by ruthless Zionists. That is a parallel process to one in which more than a thousand Israelis were outright murdered.

Jerusalem’s leaders have declared they are at war after the Hamas-led attacks on music camps and festival activities. The swirl of blame and approbation yesterday was about a purported IDF rocket strike on a Gaza hospital. Hundreds of Palestinians were claimed killed in a series of fevered journalistic reports. It seemed the Israeli response was being launched even as the official Experts were changing interpretations of what happened. Like the video of a rocket falling out of a cloud fired from Gaza to Israel.

There will be more, of course. We expect high explosives to be part of it in what may be a two-front war against the Jewish State. The Gaza Strip in the south has featured Hamas rockets fired north. Hezbollah, another Palestinian front group, is firing rockets south from bases in Lebanon. There is plenty of trouble available for anyone who wishes to find it. We may be hearing a repetition of remarks made yesterday in the Oval Office this afternoon. We understand we may be swearing to have someone’s back. It is a reasonable commitment while they have the front of what is going on. We apparently are pledging to provide rockets and warheads to blow up people who have sworn to blow up other people.

We understand the Fog of War, having been lost in it before. It is possible something similar to Britain’s entry into World War II is in progress now. In 1939, the British Ministry of Information launched an information campaign urging citizens of the UK to ‘Keep Calm and Carry On.’ We think that is an admirable course of action to pursue. Regrettably, there is another. The quote was even something with which we could agree, though comments on the war over in Ukraine predominated. The Oval Office highlights included: “the United States remains committed to the Palestinian people’s right to dignity and to self-determination. The actions of Hamas terrorists doesn’t take away that right.”

We liked the new twist on an old phrase. There has been plenty of discussion about paying and playing in the current conflict. We saw a new one we liked yesterday, with just a mild modification: “Pay-to-Slay.” That would include Iran, of course. We may be seeing some of those words again, like:

“Iran is — is supporting Russia’s U- — in Ukraine, and it’s supporting Hamas and other terrorist groups in the region. And we’ll continue to hold them accountable, I might add… The people of Gaza urgently need food, water, and medicine.”

We will have to hear all that again, and maybe we will this afternoon. The first shipment of humanitarian assistance from the United Nations to Palestinian civilians in Gaza has been announced and Israel may have something to say or do about it.
In a sense, Israel is engaged in a war of self-defense by seeking to eliminate Hamas. We may hear something about that again. As soon as this afternoon. It is not like repeating the message makes it less true, you know?

Copyright 2023 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com