Hills To Die On. . .

(Hills To Die On. . .)

The Rolling Stones have it right. You can't always get what you want. A lot of people want a lot of thing, all at cross-purposes. As all this gets sorted out, someone will be coming up short. But who will be making the sacrifice ? Which hill will one die on ?  A lot of hills. President Biden wants to fund Ukraine. House Republicans want a secure border and to support Israel.. Higher education types, the dumbest smart people from the likes of Havard, Penn and MIT are apparently having trouble deciding the morality of genocide. And the President is warning the Israelis to temper their actions against Hamas as its "global standing" could be adversely affected.

Those who have enthusiastic support for Ukraine are starting to re-assess their position. The so-called offensive by the southeast European country has effectively stalled. It has inflicted serious damage to Russian forces but Moscow has staying power that Kiev does not. Any pretense that facts on the ground will change in Ukraine and there is little utility in supporting a lost cause. At least not without securing the border first. In essence, that would mean finishing the wall.

So, in order to support Ukraine, will the President swallow his pride and finish what is still Trump's Wall ? Many House Republicans have been ambivalent to the Ukraine campaign in the first place and that position is un-likely to be altered unless Biden agrees to close the border.

In the Ten Commandments, one of the admonishments is "Thou shall not kill." But the Commandments is a Jewish document, not a set of universal truths. So, when those college presidents were unable to clarify if genocide was specifically that against the Jews, were somehow more acceptable than similar actions against other groups or that Jews, as a race, are somehow "expendable." That is what was not spoken at that Congressional hearing the other day. What those ladies wanted to really say was that Jews are a separate class and can be considered as such. Such sentiments are a quality of the elites, of which the three university presidents most assuredly consider themselves. That there has been this re-action could have been surprising. No one believed that a resignation would happen.

That being said, the three administrators, and the institutions that they represent, are backing Hamas in the current war. From the River to the Sea ? What river ? What sea ? Do they even know ? The point has been repeatedly made that Israel will prosecute its objectives independent of all external influences. Biden is saying that Israel's global standing will be diminished. An irrelevant comment from an irrelevant President.

Not everybody will get what they want. Too many hills to die on. But if you try some time, you might find, you get what you need. . .