Day 994 – 3 Things, Israel, Catherine

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

Last night I heard Tim Kaine, our senator from Virginia, point out something I knew but hadn’t realized. By that I mean I never thought about it in the way he expressed it. That is – there is only one party in our country that tries to shutdown the government, that blocks nominations of diplomats, and stops military advancements. He didn’t even mention that they run up the debt while blaming others. It is astounding when you think about it in those terms. The Republican party has no plan, no policy, no vision. All they have is grievance. They have aligned themselves with people set on destroying our government, our economy, and our way of life. Some want to replace it with what some would call authoritarianism, but that’s just a nice word for racist and religious bigotry or to put it bluntly nazism. Now I’m sure some would say, “oh no,” or there’s “the other side does it too” argument, or the “what about?” argument. But let’s not forget that the last time this happened was the lead up to WWII. Nazis held rallies in Madison Square Garden and they infiltrated our Congress, and used the congressional franking privilege to send out mass mailings of Nazi propaganda. It was mainly done by Republicans. So we’ve seen this before, and it’s here again. Don’t be fooled.

Now Israel. Hamas somehow managed a coordinated attack. That’s terrible. But so too is Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, especially under Netanyahu. His party is called conservative. They are conservative like the MAGA Republicans are conservative. Which is to say there is nothing economically conservative about them but rather it’s a “my way – period” philosophy. Philosophy? That’s being kind. More like “this is what we are going to do, and keep doing – tough shit” approach to governance. Similar to what all the Republican Speakers of the House have tried to do since and including Newt Gingrich. They have all failed spectacularly.

Somehow, if you confine people to a small strip of land, don’t let them out, give them no opportunity, and go in from time to time and destroy what little they have – like shoot the water tanks on top of their buildings so they have no water – they seem to get pissed off after twenty or so years of this treatment. Wonder why? Then Bebe says or does an invasion of land that belongs to Palestinians and decides to take it and put Jewish settlements on it so the people who own it are dispossessed and have nothing. And then he puts up a wall to make sure that the people who came to work in Israel can’t and now those people have nothing and some wonder why the Palestinians are pissed off?

To be fair, the Palestinians don’t help their cause much because they are just as unwilling to compromise as the Israelis. They have an 800 year outlook. As in “eventually it will be ours.”

The whole thing is stupid, but there’s a lot of stupidity in the world. And how come the most conservative Jews – the ones with the long locks and huge funny hats – don’t have to serve in their military? Seems weird to me. And why do the Jewish folks who wail and bemoan their fate and ask us to see the injustice and brutality done to them are more than willing to do something brutal to others when they are in charge? I know, it’s not the same yada yada yada. 

But they, like our politicians, they are treating (or reacting to) the symptom, not the cause. As long as that goes on, and as long as there isn’t a change of heart, nothing will change.

For some reason I was thinking about Catherine Deneuve. I fell in love? passion? infatuation? with her when I was in my mid teens and she appeared in Life Magazine. There was a black and white horizontal photo of her on the left side. She had her hair running through her fingers and draped out such that her hand was in line with her face with gosamer strands of her hair in between. There was a light coming from behind. She was young and very beautiful. Opposite this photo were the words in large bold type – “I Want to Abandon Myself to Passion.”

I was smitten. Then I went to see her in the movies. She wasn’t that good. Maybe, she was miscast. I dunno. I was pretty unsmitten. I never wanted to see another movie with her in it because the vision I had of her was – well, not destroyed, but lessened. It wasn’t the high sense of passion that the Life Magazine photo had communicated. I didn’t want to loose that vision.

A year or so later Ursula Andress walked up the rise on the beach in Doctor No and my jaw was on the floor. I remember where I was exactly in the theater when I saw that scene. That was a different kind of experience, but wow. And now that the film has been edited for TV that scene has been cut. So what’s the point of watching the movie? It’s a really bad movie when you think about it. Okay. Don’t think. But remember. Never forget! 

Meanwhile, Taylor Swift’s movie has a huge pre-sales. Last I heard it was over $100 million. I don’t know if that makes it the largest pre-sales box office in history. And it’s not eligible for an Oscar. There is no category for that sort of film. If I was the Academy I’d dream up a category quick. Need help? Ask Mitch McConnell, he’s pretty good at ramming something through pronto when he wants to. Too bad he doesn’t want to do that with military appointments. Better get him when his brain is actually functioning.

Hey. Wait. To quote Arlo Gutherie, “This isn’t what I came to talk to you about.”

What I wanted to tell you about was my new website, app, and SNL skit. (All are currently incomplete, but stick with me here.) Imagine if you will Kenan Thompson sitting with his Cheshire Cat grin and somebody says something. Maybe, it’s news worthy. Maybe, it’s slightly off base. Regardless, Kenan says, “There’s a conspiracy for that!” 

And that is my boffo idea – There’s a conspiracy for that!

It’s an app and a website, promoted via an SNK skit. You’ve heard of AI? Well this is II (“eye-eye”). AI stands for Artificial Intelligence but II stands for “Idiot Intelligence”. What my app would do is plum the web for stupidity based on keywords it hears someone say or type then it responds with a bunch of garbage but it is wrapped in some thinly worded hidden veiled conspiracy theory. Maybe, using some emojis  too. Yeah, that’s it. This is a variant on the kid who runs up to you on the playground and says, “Hey, did you hear?” or the person who tells you some fantastical sexual experience they had with another couple who are in the same room and seem to have no idea who this person is. Yeah. I think this is a winner.

I got this fab idea after hearing various news programs ferreting out conspiracy theories about Taylor Swift and her boyfriend, the NFL, etc. 

I also saw a clip of Taylor from 2011 playing with James Taylor, whom she was named after. How cool is that?

Hey, did you hear? …

Gotta go.