Benjamin Hall vs. Greg Gutfeld

 Benjamin Hall lays in a hospital in Ukraine where he was wounded and his cameraman and producer were killed while covering the war.

Gutfeld sits safely in New York City putting together his late-night comedy show - or what he thinks passes for comedy.

Hall had become a fixture on FOX News reporting on the war in Ukraine from Ukraine. How could Gutfeld state that the media is manipulating the news in order to generate a profit?

His point is they are using clips over and over again, making things look worse than they are in order to evoke an emotional response. If you begin watching coverage when you first arise and watch until you retire some 14+/- hours later, yes, you are going to see redundancy in the footage. Getting what they do show is harrowing, and as Ben Hall will tell you, not without danger to life and limb.

Does that repetition diminish the horror that's taking place? Not to me. We're seeing, often in real-time, offices, apartments, hospitals, and schools being leveled. Dead citizens in the streets which are full of bullet-ridden, burned-out cars. Streams of people are flooding pathways, highways, and railroad stations in an effort to get out. Many are women with toddlers in tow.

Hall and his colleagues, from all the news outlets, are there as the warning sirens wail in the background, to keep us informed as to just what is happening. 

Perhaps Mr. Gutfeld would like to take Mr. Hall's place and report on the media excesses in real-time. Let him get a crew together and visit the action. Hopefully, he wouldn't suffer the same fate.  I'd not wish anyone to be injured. I would like to see him rethink his glib observations and ground his sophomoric humor long enough to apologize to Benjamin Hall.

You might get the idea I'm not a fan of Greg Gutfeld. You would be correct. I don't have much time for anyone who designates themselves an arbiter of truth when they've been nowhere near the source of their suppositions.

The Measure of a People

President Zelenskyy was not the most popular of Presidents when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began. That turned instantaneously when asked if he needed a ride to safety and his reply was he didn't need a ride, he needed ammunition.

That, my friends, is the measure of a leader. He has done nothing but enhance his image ever since.

Now, what about the Ukrainian people? Right or wrong, I often judge people by how they treat animals in general and pets in particular. If they don't like animals I doubt I'm going to like them.

The news clips I can't escape have shown hundreds and hundreds of Ukrainians fleeing their country with little more than a backpack and, yes, their pets. Everyone from the tiniest of children to the elderly. 

Pair that with both the men and women who have stayed to fight and you have a people worthy of the admiration, and yes, the staunchest of support, from the world. Why are they not getting it?

Well, take a look around at the hand wringing of the world's leadership.  Heaven forbid we should irritate Putin. It might escalate the war. I don't think the Ukranians want to hear it.  They're losing the country they love chunk by bloody chunk with every day that passes. 

Do our leaders really believe Putin will stop with Ukraine? One thing he is known for is telegraphing his intentions. We knew this is coming.  We also know the Baltics are next. And NATO. 

If I were a young man and able, I think I would probably join the Ukrainian cause. Even if in reality it would be tilting at windmills. Putin's wars have to stop. If our leaders don't have the moral courage to do so, may the people have the strength. 

If someone doesn't come forward, and soon, we too shall be hit one way or another.  All because we're afraid of one man.  What's wrong with us?

Nickle and Diming Putin

 This is pretty much how I feel after having watched the evening news reports on the war in Ukraine. I know, I've been harping on it for a while now and I still don't get it.

Get what? Why do the U.S. and NATO continue the threat of the WWIII narrative?  I, of course, don't know for sure, but here's my take.

Putin will not go into his nuclear arsenal to attack us.  He knows full well that if he does, he too will be attacked and we would all be obliterated.  This is not his game plan.  He cannot rebuild the old Soviet Union if he is dead.

He may unleash chemical weapons on the Ukranians if the war continues to go against him.  Should that happen I can't help but wonder if we will hide behind even more sanctions that seem to be hurting us more than him while at the same time turning his people against us.

Why can't we quit huffing and puffing and step up to the plate? Determine what the Ukranians need to give them an advantage and get it to them.  Get them the planes they need. Get them the ammunition they need and the arms. And quit blaming others for our lack of action.

How can our leadership sit by and watch this carnage and do little more than posture?  And lie. Yes. Lie. They seem to forget that we are watching this war unfold in real-time.  We're watching the shelling destroy homes.  We're seeing the bodies lying dead in the streets. We're watching millions of people trying to flee.

This is a war that didn't have to happen. I just wonder what more is in it for our leadership than what Hunter Biden and his Uncle have already brought home for family and friends. 

It disgraces the United States of America and us.  You.  Me. We deserve better and so does the world. 

November can't get here soon enough. And remember, both parties need to purge their leadership and start over again. This should be a bipartisan effort because neither side deserves the following they have so far duped.

Yes. I'm old and I'm tired.  Tired of war to be sure. And even more tired of politics as usual.

Think About It

 I've been thinking a lot lately.  Mostly about questions for which I have no answers.  It is very frustrating.

One subject that is at the forefront of the current dialog.  If we create a  no-fly zone over Ukraine we will start World War III. This seems to mean that Putin will unleash his arsenal of nuclear bombs on the western world.

Would he really do that?  Would it not mean instant retaliation?  And, if we lose wouldn't he? Therefore, why would he do it? Or is it weak rational the west for doing nothing?

Two. If we open up drilling again it would delay our march toward ending fossil fuels. Well, let's look at this.  First of all, clean energy just isn't ready for prime time and until it is - well,  government dictates are what's hurting the American people. Plus, just because there are a lot of oil leases out there, they may well have been explored and found to be non-productive.

Three. If we lived in a fossil-free world, would it really prevent bad actors from attacking whomever they please? I'm thinking not. First, all those battery-powered vehicles will need to be charged. What do you charge them with? Electricity.  How do you get electricity? Even if it's generated with green energy, sophisticated hackers are more than capable of shutting down the grids - not to mention old Mother Nature.

I don't know.  I've got an appointment so I'm putting my thoughts on hold for a while. Something else to think about while I'm gone, however. What can we do to stop this madness NOW? There are things but world leaders just don't want to take any chances. "Tsk. Tsk. We can't do that. It may anger Putin."

Tough. I'm already paying the price I'm told is coming.  I can't afford groceries or gas to get out and get them. 

Think about it.

We Dilly Dally While They Die

 This is how I feel by the end of the day.  Mostly because I watch too much news during the evening, yet I cannot bring myself to ignore the news coming out of Ukraine.

The politicians are still dithering about what we can and cannot do or should or should not. It seems to me figuring out Putin and what he might do is pretty simple.  Just look at his history.  This isn't something new that he has just sprung on the world.

I'm not going to rant about this today, however.  I have a new topic! Tuesday is the International Day of the Woman. My heartfelt salute goes to those of us who are mothers.  Especially young mothers with young children. You, ladies, are a most formidable force and I think there just may be hope for the world as I watch you.

Never, ever, underestimate a woman who fears for her child. We began seeing it in this country with all this nonsensical wokism and critical race theory and gender identity, etc., etc. being taught in the schools. Parents, and especially mothers have been at the forefront of the war against it.  Oh, it doesn't compare to the war in Ukraine?  The children are not being killed by bombs. Perhaps not, but their minds are being killed.

Let's move on from that too. Let's look at the images coming out of Poland and Ukraine of the women and children fleeing the horror. They are mothers.  They are resilient.  They've left their husbands behind with little more than they can carry - and their children.  They have no idea where they will go nor what they will do or whether they will ever see their husbands and loved ones again. Will they even have a home to which they can return? Many will not.  And they know it. Yet still, they go - not to save themselves, but to save their children.

These children, both here and abroad, are the future of the world.  We all know it. Here, the parents are beginning to catch on to a country fraught with subtle dangers.  In Ukraine, the danger is blatant. I do believe the mothers will prevail. I hope the children surviving these experiences will look a whole lot more like President Zelensky than either Putin, Biden, or Trump. Those who put self-interest and/or ego before their nations and their people.

Tuesday will come and go with few realizing it's another declared "Day". But since it is, to those of us who do know of it, let us celebrate these women - these mothers. Those who provide the stiffness to the backbones being formed by not only the bad being experienced, but the good that comes from a mother's nurturing.