Twice Now

They're just not going to let Trump win. As the IRA used to say, Trump has to be lucky every time. They only have to be lucky once. Yes, we're quoting Steyn's quoting the IRA, but we wrote that quote before reading Steyn's quote today.  And that, more than any other reason is why we take the black pill.

We dined at a lovely Middle Eastern restaurant last night. The year being 2024 we told the girls to remove their Chais and Stars of David. We weren't really worried about ownership. Our concern was some jackass rando seeing a Chai and starting his own holy jihad, shouting 'Death to Israel!' and charging us while his wife does that Arab ululating thing. [Yes because every Arab is prone to violent psychopathy - Ed]. It's 2024. Picture the headline, 'A New Jersey man....'

Related, it looks like Netanyahu is on the verge of removing Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and replacing him with New Right party leader Gideon Sa'ar, or a man of Sa'ar's choosing. Gallant is less hawkish on Hezbollah, they say while the IDF is urging the government to hit Lebanon soon. Sa'ar would bring four more seats to the governing coalition and give Bibi some flexibility vis-a-vis the Orthodox and Haredi parties. Gallant is a Likud man so he has no recourse. This blog assumes he'll be bought off with a fancy ambassadorship or some such. The Times of Israel has a brief on the matter. See how complex Israeli coalitions are? See how Bibi loves negotiations? Never cut a deal with Bibi. 

Election 2004 and More. Though the press bias wasn't as bad or blatant as it is now, in 2004 the press was blatantly biased toward John Kerry. Newsweek's Evan Thomas* said media bias was worth 15 points. That's an exaggeration but the media being in the tank for Kerry made a election close. The press ran with a modern Kerry/Camelot vibe. Why John Francis Kerry even had the same initials as Kennedy. JFK skippered a PT boat, Kerry skippered a Swift Boat. The media constantly portrayed Kerry as a brave military vet. Oh how the media lapped it up when Kerry began his 2004 convention speech with, 'I'm John Kerry and I'm reporting for duty.'  Kerry was a devout Catholic, you see.  And he was a 'strong finisher' whatever that meant. 

Well, we'll be working on our Irish lad rocking out at the pub short story this week. We're calling the story, Morning Rory. Monday Metal is related, with yet another Rory Gallagher piece. Enjoy the brilliant rhythm and lead guitar of Whole Lot of People:

*Newsweek and Time were the third member of the media triumvirate, the other two being the big three TV networks + CNN, and the papers; the NYTs and WaPo. To put it another way, the news mag rags were important.