Edition #1152

Tuesday. As always happens after Monday. And I just thought the image above was funny, and quickly taken down after complaints…for being too true? Not sure.

On yesterday’s Nugget on the Voyager spacecraft, apparently most of you did not do the math, or if you did, you decided not to embarrass me. I stated that light travels at one hundred eighty-six miles per hour, only leaving out the word “thousand.” So if you did the math as I laid it out, you would have come out with a very different distance between V-Ger and us. And thank you, Brad, for notifying me of my error.

“The genius of you Americans is that you never make clear-cut stupid moves, only complicated stupid moves.” Gamal Abdel Nasser, quoted in the Financial Times.

And in the spirit of the quote above, we can look at our present situation with Iran. At this point, to me at least, the only question that remains is what dangerous, idiotic, humiliating deal will Trump eventually sign on to in order to extricate himself from where we are? Ok, maybe one more question…What part of that eventual deal will Trump emphasize to the extreme to tout this whole thing as not only worthwhile but as an historic success? Probably something related to the Strait of Hormuz being open to traffic, even if now under the control of Iran, although it was a recognized international waterway and completely open before all of this. Or maybe that Iran has no nuclear program left, except for a thousand pounds of highly enriched uranium probably, but not certainly, buried underground at Fordow, and perhaps some hidden centrifuges at Pickaxe Mountain. Or will he just walk away, leaving a very unstable status quo, and hope that he can create some other bright shiny object to distract everyone? What incompetence.

So here is the reality that I see in the current dynamics with Israel, Hamas, and Gaza. The end game of Israel withdrawing from all of Gaza, Hamas completely disarming and turning over governing authority to some new technocratic entity, is still the endgame (not counting Israel’s far right and hardline Hamas-aligned folk). But, as they say, the devil is in the details. And for now, the main issue is one of trust. Hamas does not trust Israel to leave Gaza once Hamas is disarmed, and Israel does not trust Hamas to follow through on disarming. So the current plan, as outlined by Hamas and approved by Trump’s team and the leadership of the Board of Peace, was one of stages, where Hamas would disarm in an area, that area would be turned over to a newly formed international security force, with Israel incrementally withdrawing from Gaza. Hamas was reluctant to agree to this as they don’t trust that Israel would withdraw, and Israel is also distrustful of Hamas actually disarming and thus wants a full disarmament before they withdraw at all. Netanyahu also has an election coming up in a few months and is desperately trying not to lose any of his support on the far right. Bottom line is that the only way to overcome the lack of trust on all sides is for a trusted third party to force the issue and guarantee the process. Enough said?

It seems that more and more people are expecting Russia to instigate some military activity against a NATO country in the next year or two. Partly to shock European countries to reevaluate their support for Ukraine, and partly to measure how the US reacts. As you know, any attack against a NATO member triggers Article 5, which requires members to come to the aid of the member attacked. The only instance when that article was triggered was after the attack on the US on September 11, 2001. Putin is in need of a change of the current reality where his troops are suffering great losses with very little, if anything, to show for it. The great Russian war machine has proven to be entirely vulnerable and impotent. Putin’s personal position and safety seem to be at risk as his “little operation” has proven to be a complete failure, exposing Russia’s vaunted weapon systems to be less of a match than advertised. All around, this was a huge mistake…sounds familiar, no? But to get back to the original point, is Putin’s way out to enlarge the war to NATO and see if that proves to be the breaking point, allowing him to negotiate an out on acceptable terms?

Quickly, the framers of our Constitution were rabid about free speech. It was paramount to their understanding of what was necessary to protect the freedoms that were otherwise guaranteed in the structure that they created. And although they also understood the realities of the human condition, they assumed that the authors of ideas would, to an almost exclusive extent, be clearly identified. In sharp contrast with the realities of the late eighteenth century, today we live in a world where anonymity is the norm. And this anonymity allows insane, unsupported, divisive, and dangerous ideas to proliferate at warp speed across the world. So I pose the question as to whether there should be some methodology incorporated into the internet and all social media, texting, and emails, where verified identities are required. If someone is not willing to stand behind their thoughts, why should they be allowed the protections of freedom of speech? Maybe such a protocol would have no impact on the insanity of what we see today if implemented, but maybe it would. And at least it would prevent some from being able to hide behind the shield that is currently available.

As a close to a shortened edition today, I offer a public service announcement. Apparently, there is a growing scam being committed across the country where scammers call, posing as law enforcement officers attempting to collect fines for failure to show up for jury duty, lest they send officers to arrest the negligent juror immediately. They have gained access to your cell phone, tracking your whereabouts, watching what you are doing on your phone, and keeping you on the phone, insisting that you send funds in cryptocurrencies or other means immediately. Why anyone would not see through this and just hang up or call 911, I do not know. But given the human condition, once someone has convinced you to stay on the line and put enough pressure on you, then your panic mode sets in…fight or flight. And the scammers take full advantage of this. So beware. Be skeptical. Be smart. And, for heaven’s sake, show up for your fucking jury duty appointment.

What will happen today that I can write about? I don’t know, but I have a list of items that keep getting put on the back burner. Someday, I assume. Stay healthy and be good to each other.

Me.