Saying it feels a little  better than “dammit,” but neither addresses the situation sufficiently.  Politics so often trumps morality.  (This post is sorta stream of consciousness):

In Michigan, Muslim and Arab American Voters Reconsider Support for Biden

From <https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/28/us/michigan-democrats-biden-palestinian.html>

Don’t misread me; I think I see both sides of the conflict, but….Piffledinger!

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HOW DID I MISS THAT

You probably don’t know who Buckel was, which is a point in the “individual actions are futile” column:  A prominent L.G.B.T.-rights lawyer, Buckel was as responsible as almost anyone else for making gay marriage the law of the land. Then, in 2018, he set himself on fire in a park in Brooklyn to protest inaction on climate change.   Opinion Today by Ron Currie. NY times  10/28/23

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CALMING

Edward O. Wilson calms me, somehow.  When I get riled up by current reality or Ernest Becker’s The Denial of Death, I calm down with Wilson’s words.  Becker writes that “Creation is a nightmare spectacular taking place on a planet that has been soaked for hundreds of millions of years in the blood of all its creatures,”

Wilson’s words tend to calm me.  For instance:   “The arts are not solely shaped by errant genius out of historical circumstances and idiosyncratic personal experience. The roots of their inspiration date back in deep history to the genetic origins of the human brain and are permanent….The reason is that the exclusive role of the arts is the transmission of the intricate details of the human experience by artifice to intensify aesthetic and emotional response.  Works of art communicate feeling directly from mind to mind, with no intent to explain why the impact occurs.  In this defining quality, the arts are the antithesis of science.”  Concerning metaphors,  favorites of mine, Wilson writes that metaphors are the building blocks of creative thought and  are the “consequence of spreading activation in the brain during learning.”  It saddens me that A.I. can be creative.

Consilience, the Unity of Knowledge  1998  by Edward O.Wilson. ( p 218-19).

The Denial of Death  1973 by Ernest Becker. (p 283)

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RED HERRING IN OHIO

False leads started to become known as “Red Herrings” in the early 1800s when an English journalist named William Cobbett used the term to compare the media’s premature reporting of Napoleon’s defeat to the practice of using smelly fish to distract hound dogs from chasing rabbits.

In Ohio we will vote on state Issue One, a State Constitutional Amendment Relating to Abortion and Other Reproductive Decisions this  Nov. 7.  I was surprised to get partisan mail from both the pros and cons this year. Although the amendment does NOT address or change any laws involving parental rights over minors, that is the loudest song being sung by  the Republicans against the issue: definitely a red herring non-issue.

• The U.S. hit targets linked to Iran in eastern Syria. The airstrikes were intended to deter both attacks on American forces in the region and a wider war.  ny Times 10/27/23

[Definition: deter: discourage (someone) from doing something by instilling doubt or fear of the consequences]

Does this mean that WE are now at war too?

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• The Texas House voted to allow local police agencies to arrest migrants, a challenge to the federal government’s power over immigration.
• ny Times 10/27/23

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• Representative Dean Phillips, a moderate Minnesota Democrat, is running for president in a challenge to Biden.
• ny Times 10/27/3

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I know what I resolved, and I’m trying to just write for myself too — just backslid a little  temporarily, I hope.

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Sorry about the following, too.  I just wanted to get some of my earlier research off my “N”.  Have included earlier definitions:

What are the five major religions in the world? Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism are considered the five major religions. However, the five most popular religions are Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Shintoism. Judaism, compared to these, is a fairly small religion. From <https://study.com/academy/lesson/different-religions-world-overview-facts.html>

What are their gods?

CHRISTIANITY:  Yahway or Jehova.  [Or, I presume, God]   — Elohim, the first name of God mentioned in the Bible, emphasizes His role as Creator. In addition to the personal name of God YHWH (pronounced with the vocalizations Yahweh or Jehovah), titles of God used by Christians include the Hebrew titles Elohim, El-Shaddai, and Adonai, as well as Ancient of Days, Father/Abba which is Hebrew, “Most High”. (Also known as “GOD,” I presume)

ISLAM: Allah. The word “Islam” means “submission to the will of God.” Followers of Islam are called Muslims. Muslims are monotheistic and worship one, all-knowing God, who in Arabic is known as Allah. Followers of Islam aim to live a life of complete submission to Allah. From <https://www.google.com/search?q=islam+definition+simple&sca_esv=575511268>….Muhammad^[a] (Arabic: مُحَمَّد; c. 570 – 8 June 632 CE)^[b] was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam.^[c] According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the monotheistic teachings of Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets.^[2][3][4] He is believed to be the Seal of the Prophets within Islam, with the Quran as well as his teachings and practices forming the basis for Islamic religious belief.ISLAM   Jihad Definition & Meaning  The meaning of JIHAD is a holy war waged on behalf of Islam as a religious duty; also : a personal struggle in devotion to Islam   (Also jehad)   https://www.merriam-webster.com › dictionary › jihadhttps://www.merriam-webster.com › dictionary › jihad ….   Its original Charter identified Hamas as the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine and declares its members to be Muslims who “fear God and raise the banner of Jihad in the face of the oppressors.” The charter states that “our struggle against the Jews is very great and very serious” and calls for the eventual creation of an Islamic state in Palestine, in place of Israel and the Palestinian Territories,[3] and the obliteration or dissolution of Israel.[4][5] It emphasizes the importance of jihad, stating in article 13, “There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are all a waste of time and vain endeavors.”[6] The charter also states that Hamas is humanistic, and tolerant of other religions as long as they “stop disputing the sovereignty of Islam in this region”.[7] The Charter adds that “renouncing any part of Palestine means renouncing part of the religion [of Islam]”.[1] The original charter was criticized for its violent language against all Jews, which some commentators characterized as incitement to genocide.[8][9]

BUDDHISM: Siddhartha Gautama was the first person to reach this state of enlightenment and was, and is still today, known as the Buddha. Buddhists do not believe in any kind of deity or god, although there are supernatural figures who can help or hinder people on the path towards enlightenment

HINDUISM:   Hindu God name: the one supreme god Atman or Brahman has three major forms known as the trinity. All of existence is also a form of god, as he created creation from himself. The Hindu trinity is of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. They are respectively the creator, preserver and destroyer of the universe.  List of Hindu Gods    Hinduism is the dominant religion of the Indian subcontinent. It comprises three major traditions, Shaivism, Vaishnavism and Shaktism, whose followers considered Shiva, Vishnu And Gods from the Vedas, Ramayanaand Mahabharata.  Shakti (also called as Devi) to be the supreme deity respectively. Most of the other deities were either related to them or different forms (incarnations) of these deities. Hinduism has been called the “oldest religion” in the world, and many practitioners refer to Hinduism as “the eternal law”. From <https://budaipedia.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Hindu_Gods>  Formed in 1982 in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Hizballah (the “Party of God”), a Lebanon-based Shia terrorist group, advocates Shia empowerment globally.   From <https://www.google.com/search?q=hezbollah+meaning&sca_esv=575511268z>

JUDAISM:  Yahweh, name for the God of the Israelites

SHINTOISM:  “Shinto gods” are called kami. They are sacred spirits which take the form of things and concepts important to life, such as wind, rain, mountains, trees, rivers and fertility.   Who is the main god of Shinto?    The Sun Goddess Amaterasu is considered Shinto’s most important kami. Some prominent rocks are worshiped as kami. In contrast to many monotheistic religions, Shinto does not have absolutes.

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DEFINITIONS

HAMAS — see also ISLAM way above.  The Hamas Covenant or Hamas Charter, formally known in English as the Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement, was originally issued on 18 August 1988 and outlines the founding identity, stand, and aims of Hamas (the Islamic Resistance Movement).  A new charter was issued by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal on 1 May 2017 in Doha.

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JORDAN  —  If your map calls Palestine “Jordan,” then be advised that per Wiki, “In 1946, Jordan gained independence and became officially known in Arabic as the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.[11] The country captured and annexed the West Bank during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War until it was occupied by Israel in 1967. Jordan renounced its claim to the territory in 1988, became the second Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, and since supports Palestinian statehood within a two-state solution.[12]  From <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan>        So…Israel…Under the British Mandate (1920–1948), the whole region was known as ‘Palestine‘…. And speaking of Palestine,  I read in the Times today that they may be being unfairly maligned.

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The above info is as correct as I can make it.  I obtained all this info via Google.  If you spot any error please let me know!

Hard to believe that I may be the only U.S. citizen ignorant of the current war situation.  Most of what I’ve learned about Judaism has come from the Kellermans’ mystery novels.

Oh I know about the pogroms and  the holocaust deniers, and even visited Auischwitz in 1989, and know about Anne Frank too. And the lines  “Then they came for the Jews And I did not speak out. Because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me. And there was no one left.”

And I remember I was puzzled by Bush’s rather extreme “Anti-Semitism” Law.  (Fortunately  I filed it at the time:)  “Today I signed the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act of 2004.  This law commits the government to keep a record of anti-Semitic acts throughout the world, and also a record of responses to those acts.”  (Rense.com)

21 Journalists Have Been Killed in Israel-Palestine War Since October 7

So, I tried to educate myself just a tad (I’m sure an extension is needed in tomorrow’s post):

DEFINITIONS–

ZIONISM  is a nationalist movement that emerged in the 19th century to espouse support for the establishment of a homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine, a region roughly corresponding to the Land of Israel in Jewish tradition.

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HAMAS   is an acronym  meaning “Islamic Resistance Movement”  The group’s charter calls for establishing an Islamic Palestinian state in place of Israel …HAMAS’ strength is concentrated in the Gaza Strip and areas of the West Bank.

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PALESTINE  Historic region on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, comprising parts of modern Israel, Jordan, and Egypt

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HEBRON    Hebron is in the southern West Bank  of Palestine and is  holy for Jews, Muslims, and Christians. That’s why sharing it peaceably is a challenge.

From <https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/the-intensity-of-hebron-in-palestine>

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ISRAEL  Two definitions–a republic in southwest Asia, on the Mediterranean: formed as a Jewish state May 1948. 7,984 sq. mi. (20,679 sq. km). Capital: Jerusalem (but not recognized by the international community).

and

• the people traditionally descended from Jacob; the Hebrew or Jewish people. From <https://www.dictionary.com/browse/israel>

There goes my mind! Catch it!

“Tonight, President Biden is scheduled to give his second-ever prime-time address from the Oval Office. He plans to call on Congress to approve tens of billions of dollars in military aid for Ukraine and Israel.”

I can understand Ukraine, but Israel, whose side are we on?  Or which side :should we be on?  I’m confused.  I admit to being puzzled about the whole thing.

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And speaking about being puzzled, I just received an “Are you satisfied with our services” questionnaire and afterwards asked if they can make a video recording of my endorsement.  A video?!

How? Is A.I. inside my condo now?