Kinky Friedman and One Of His Best Problematic Song Titles

The first time I heard a song by Kinky Friedman and his country band, The Texas Jewboys, it was on a college radio station. Those were the only stations that would play They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore because it contains language the FCC does not approve for airplay. In fact, it probably includes almost all the language the FCC does not approve for airplay. Look it up, if you dare. 

But the Friedman song I like most, and the one most appropriate to this occasion, is Ride 'Em Jewboy.

Talk about haunting images! "Now the smokes from camps are rising, see the helpless creatures on their way" ... "dead limbs play with ringless fingers" ... "How long will you be driven relentless around the world" ... "rounded out and made to move along." You get the point.

   

There is a lot more energy in his 1970s' Austin City Limits performances, which are easily found on YouTube, but that slower 2020 performance at Echo Hill really suits this song.

Force, the Last Resort of Nations (Mitigated By Good Manners If You're Lucky)

A convoy carrying much-needed humanitarian assistance crossed the Rafah border this morning into Gaza to address the growing humanitarian crisis. We thank our partners in Egypt and Israel, and the United Nations, for facilitating the safe passage of these life-saving shipments.

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) October 21, 2023

"Life-saving shipments." Okay, but let us be clear that what is coming to HAMAS in Gaza is about life taking, fundamentally, and there will be little scope for humanitarian considerations until that war is concluded.

Don't take it from me, take it from one of the finest judicial minds this country has ever produced.    

"I believe that force, mitigated as may be by good manners, is the ultima ratio, and between two groups of people who want to make inconsistent kinds of world I see no remedy except force." - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.

Holmes knew about force and irreconcilable conflict, having served as an infantryman in the Civil War where he was wounded three times. At Antietam he was shot through the neck and left for dead on the field, one of 23,000 casualties in that single battle.

Be prepared to see Civil War-size casualty numbers once the Israeli Armed Forces really tear into HAMAS. Let the IDF mitigate that reality by abiding with the laws of war, to whatever extent those good manners may apply to a sub-state adversary, but realists should expect to see a nearly-Carthaginian peace imposed on HAMAS in Gaza.

  

The Conflict to be Known as The GoPro War.

This will be known as the GoPro War. https://t.co/EYzm4yv16x

— TSB (@TweetingTSB) October 15, 2023

I like the slow roll-over that is performed at the end of this clip by the HAMAS troop who was wearing the camera, that accidental videographer of his own death. 

There are hours of these clips on the internet now, from both sides. No modern conflict has been so intensively covered by body- and helmet-worn cameras. 

  

It's only forerunner is Blog del Narco, that gem of citizen journalism that provides both sides of the Mexican drug wars. 

Be the One Holding the Rifle

It’s a whole different outcome when the woman is holding the rifle. https://t.co/IBNoOCvsSP

— TSB (@TweetingTSB) October 8, 2023

True in any kind of interpersonal violent conflict, but so much more true when it's a woman confronting HAMAS terrorists. 

That said, those HAMAS-ites don't look so dangerous when they are in ones and twos, it seems to me. Their whole terror thing might depend upon them having overwhelming numbers. Indeed, the two in the photo look quite tame and submissive. 

However poorly they may perceive women in general, they evidently respect that 5.56mm carbine when a competent troop is aiming it at them.

It's Called 'Shock and Awe' When We Do It

IDF publishes footage of its massive airstrikes against Hamas sites in the Beit Hanoun area in northern Gaza. pic.twitter.com/KWZFscjzwC

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) October 8, 2023

HAMAS' Own Clips Show How Attacks Began; @manniefabian Credit

A compilation of Hamas clips shows how the terror group invaded southern Israel yesterday. First they bombed Israeli observation towers and weapons systems on the border, then fired hundreds of rockets as terrorists on paragliders flew over the border. Moments later, Hamas… pic.twitter.com/D4iIoCV51q

— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) October 8, 2023

Nikki Haley's Old Curtains Become an Issue Again

Bottom Line Up Front, as we now say on memos: Nikki Haley was not responsible for ordering expensive curtains for the - very expensive - UN Ambassador's official residence back when she was our UN Ambassador.

The old accusation, which is based on a 2018 New York Times story that was later dialed back to remove the insinuation against Haley, came up this week to liven up the Republican candidates' debate. 

See Fight Over Expensive State Department Curtains Animates Sedate GOP Debate:

Nikki Haley and Tim Scott got into a heated exchange Wednesday during the GOP presidential debate over expensive curtains the State Department bought for the residence of the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Haley called Scott’s allegation that she bought them “bad information.” She maintained that they were already there by the time she assumed the position of U.N. ambassador under former President Donald Trump.

Haley then told Scott to “do your homework,” saying that the Obama administration was actually who bought them.

For more on the curtains and the residence, see see this 2018 post.