Saturday Miscellany

First, just in case you misunderstood Hamas… just in case you thought that they were looking to negotiate a two-state solution with Israel, here we have a spokesman Ghazi Hamad explaining its goal on Lebanese television:

“Israel is a country that has no place on our land. We must remove that country. . . . We are not afraid to say this with full force. . . . We must teach Israel a lesson and we will do it again and again. The Al-Aqsa flood is just the first time, and there will be a second, a third, a fourth. . . . We are called a nation of martyrs and we are proud to sacrifice martyrs.” 

The television interviewer asks: “Does that mean the annihilation of Israel?” Response from Hamas chief: “Yes of course. The existence of Israel is illogical.” 

Second, David Goldman offers some clarity about the Hamas practice of using civilians as human shields on Twitter.

Using civilians as human shields is a universally recognized war crime.

Third, novelist Lionel Shriver often has insightful observations about the state of the world. In this paragraph she raises the issue of Hamas strategy. If they appear to be shocked to see the strength of the Israeli response to their barbarity, they did not plan very well.

Shriver wrote in The Spectator:

Cause and effect being alive and well, then, when Hamas decided to pour into Israel and murder, rape, mutilate and kidnap every Jew they could get their hands on, what did they think was going to happen? Perhaps a cowed, contrite appearance by the country’s Prime Minister on national television. ‘My dear terrorists,’ Benjamin Netanyahu would surely begin. ‘We had no idea you felt so strongly about our presence on what is really your land. Given that little unpleasantness on 7 October, we’ve learned our lesson. We don’t belong here. So we are declaring a ceasefire, but only to give us time to evacuate every last Jew from the land formerly known as Israel. This second exodus of the abruptly un-chosen people will take a good fortnight, but if you’re patient, at least by Halloween we’ll leave you with a Semitically immaculate Palestine from, to coin a phrase, the river to the sea.’

Fourth, given the appalling rise of anti-Semitism, most of which has been perpetrated by Hamas supporters and other Muslims, our vice president, brain dead and tone deaf, decided that it was a good time to declare war on Islamophobia.

This is from Douglas Murray in the New York Post.

Because on Wednesday Harris announced that the Biden–Harris administration was planning to leap into action and present a new “National Strategy to Counter Islamophobia.”

You might have thought that it is Jews who most need a strategy right now to counter Jew-hatred.

But no, despite the fact that the figures are in.

As FBI Director Christopher Wray said at a Senate hearing this week on hate crimes against Jews, “The reality is that the Jewish community is uniquely targeted by pretty much every terrorist organization across the spectrum. And when you look at a group that makes up 2.4%, roughly, of the American population, it should be jarring to everyone that that same population accounts for something like 60% of all religious-based hate crimes, and so they need our help.”

That’s quite a stat that: 2.4% of the population, but 60% of the victims of hate-crimes.

But Kamala doesn’t seem to know this figure, or doesn’t know what to do about it, and so on a video posted to X this week she said “For years, Muslims in America and those perceived to be Muslim have endured a disproportionate number of hate fueled attacks. As a result of the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, we have seen an uptick in anti-Palestinian, anti-Arab, antisemitic and Islamophobic incidents across America.”

And, of course, Kamala’s step-daughter Ella Emhof is out raising money for Gaza!

Fifth, there is the case of the Wunderkind who is running American foreign policy. That would be one Jake Sullivan. He worked for Obama and now he works for Biden, but he is recognized on the American left as a great mind destined for great things.

Jeremy Stern takes the measure of Sullivan on Tablet. That is, he takes the measure of Sullivan’s record of failure:

His record includes a rapidly escalating stampede of failures: the botched Afghanistan withdrawal, the failure of deterrence in Ukraine, the failed Ukrainian counteroffensive, the economic war with China, America’s disastrous border policy, and now, decisively, U.S. policy toward the Islamic Republic of Iran—which enjoyed the financial and diplomatic backing of Biden and Sullivan as it enabled the rape, murder, and kidnapping of thousands of Israeli Jews by a fascist death cult. The failure of the administration’s Iran policy, which Sullivan has shaped and promoted for a decade, has in turn forced Israel into a war of regime change in Gaza, sinking hopes for a peace deal with Saudi Arabia while promising to fill Vladimir Putin’s coffers with spiking oil prices. It is arguably the most rapid-fire set of American foreign policy failures on record, and their handmaiden, if not their author, in each and every case, was Sullivan.

Signs of a well-earned reputation.

Sixth, in the world of renewable energy, this was not a very good week. Tyler Durden sums it up nicely on his Zero Hedge blog. Call it a case where reality bites:

The renewable energy industry is in full collapse mode this week. First, Orsted A/S, the world's largest offshore wind farm developer, abandoned two major US projects due to supply chain and interest rate impacts, and now solar stocks are being clubbed like a baby seal in US premarket trading on Thursday after solar equipment-makers SolarEdge and Sunrun reported dismal guidance amid waning demand. 

Seventh, here is the latest from the therapy world. Just in case you have tried getting in touch with your feelings and have worked on your emotions, to say nothing of your cognition, perhaps you believe that you could really use a good therapeutic cuddle. 

Fortunately for you, you can now have a good cuddle, for a mere $150.00 per hour. It's quite a bargain, don’t you think. For reasons that escape me, all of the professional cuddlers seem to be women.

Fair enough, it’s not quite as lucrative as Only Fans, whatever that is, but still, the New York Post has the story. Before she became a professional cuddler, Ella used to teach art in school:

With her waiting arms open wide, the single mom from Washington Heights gives warm, comforting hugs on a daily basis. She loves snuggling, no matter the position — be it standing up, sitting down or spooning on her plushy queen-sized mattress.

But the folks she holds the most aren’t her kids — they’re her clients.

“I’m a professional cuddler,” Ella, 48, a former art teacher in NYC public schools-turned-touch therapist for cathartic care company, Cuddlist, told The Post.

For $150 an hour, Ella — who chose not to disclose her last name for privacy purposes — invites patrons into her boudoir, nurturing them with a loving embrace in a myriad of intertwinements, including head-to-chest, face-to-face and bear hugging, as a form of healing relief.

Apparently, she learned the sophisticated skills required to cuddle, from what is called the Cuddlist certification program. 

Surely, you did not want to be cuddled by some amateur.

Just in case your mind has gravitated to the place I expect, cuddling therapy forbids sexual contact, even if one or the other participant wants it.

Eighth, on a more personal note, I am looking for a literary agent and/or a publisher for my new book: Can’t We All Just Get Along. It is timely and topical. If you have any ideas, suggestions or recommendations, write to me directly-- StuartSchneiderman@gmail.com

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