The Witness Chronicles, 1/16/25

There was good news, for about a minute

Photo by Hongbin on Unsplash

There is Good News Today, Fingers Crossed (oops, not so fast)

A hostage and ceasefire deal negotiated by both the Biden and incoming Trump administrations

I’m going to do something you might never see me do. I’m going to give Trump some credit for today’s announcement of a deal between Israel and Hamas. The lion’s share goes to the unending efforts of Joe Biden in the face of complex politics on all sides.

But nearly 47,000 Gazans have died and hundreds were killed just this past week. And over twelve hundred Israelis were killed in the Hamas terrorist attack that started this war. Those numbers are horrible and they ripped apart Americans as we watched the death tolls mount and the endless images of dead children.

The question now is will it last, will both sides really try to stick to it, and how many of the hostages will be released, alive or dead? The deal has three stages and each depends on a real balancing act on both sides, an act that any incident could destroy.

The world needs this conflict to end but the question in my mind today is, does Bibi Netanyahu need peace? That’s an open question as he needs his government to hold together or he personally risks prosecution for corruption.

Based on that uncertainty, they are not celebrating in Israel. The people on both sides know that until actual things change, any celebrations may be premature.

We will all be watching.

[Update: I wrote the above on Wednesday the 15th. Since then the Israelis have bombed Gaza again, killing at least 70 people. Netanyahu has delayed their Parliament’s approval vote until the weekend. This is not a done deal and, frankly, I am disgusted. Netanyahu is a war criminal, does not represent the Israeli people, could care less about the hostages, and is not our friend.]

I watched Biden’s farewell speech to the American people as I was writing this. I have to acknowledge his amazing contribution to the American Constitution over a fifty year lifetime of service. It is really an unparalleled story. It’s very unfortunate that Kamala Harris will not be continuing that story, and Biden is partially responsible for that by reneging on his promise to be a one term president. That is water under the bridge now.

The President’s speech was brief, outlining his considerable accomplishments, but steering his focus to fears about the rise of an American oligarchy not seen since the Robber Barons of 125 years ago, when the equivalent of today’s billionaires were making decisions about vital issues like transportation, steel production, and other major industries.

Those decisions back then were exclusively made by those wealthy men to benefit themselves and gather more power. The rise of a liberal government and the determination to break the trusts that those oligarchs created ended that power gap and helped create the middle class of the twentieth century.

A good and relevant history lesson, but I seriously doubt anyone watched Joe’s speech. Biden’s popularity is low right now, undeservedly so, but his speaking ability is impaired by age and people’s attention spans can’t handle speeches that require them to pay attention and listen.

It’s a disease in this country these days.

Last night, when I started this post, I was happy to write about something positive. It’s so rare these days, though personally I remain an optimist. But the skeptic in me this morning is disgusted by the inhumanity being displayed by everything about the Trump nominees, and the Republicans in Congress, who are kissing Trump’s ass and proud of it. Will they ever learn that their actions have consequences? You know, karma?

This country desperately needs a shot of good news and instead we are getting a relentless message of how bad things are. They’re not, at least not on the ground where most of us live. Maybe I’m nostalgic and old but there was a day when politicians said positive things about the country, the whole country, not just the parts that voted for them.

Negativity is not sustainable, though it has a lot of short term power to rile things up. Keeping all of us in a constant state of conflict with our neighbors is just a form of cover for grifters and opportunists. And right now the Republican Party has embraced those people. Not one of Trump’s nominees for Cabinet positions, with the possible exception of Marco Rubio, is qualified in any way to help lead the country.

Donald Trump vowed retribution for those who opposed him or were less than loyal in his eyes. But I think he wants retribution against all of us, the American people. The man sees the world through the lens of his own vanity, and there is never enough for him.

I’m no psychoanalyst, but I see a child here who was never good enough in his father’s eyes. Combine that with a sense of unearned privilege and you get the giant infant we elected to run our country. Shame on us.

I write about these things every day and I try to see a way forward. But every once in a while that path is unclear. My apologies for this rant, but seeing the unbelievable cynicism and selfishness of men like Netanyahu and Trump this morning caught up with me.

I’m not deleting anything in this piece. It represents my frustration and anger about where we find ourselves right now. That will pass because I really am an optimist about people in general. The vast majority of us are decent, respectful and want good things for each other. But somehow we have a concentration of men and women in the Republican Party leadership who are none of those things.

That should tell us everything about the reality of Donald Trump. It’s toxic.

Want to help me keep this going?:

Small one time donations: Buy Me A Coffee.

Subscribe to my personal growth journal: The Remarkable

Upgrade to paid for to my take on the greater political and environmental world: The Witness Chronicles (see below)

Thank you,

Martin