Thoughts for the Day, October 15, 2025: Human behavior disgusts me some time.
I will never understand some human behavior. Sometimes it sickens me.
It didn’t take long for Hamas to turn on its own as it works to reestablish its power in Gaza. The Wall Street Journal and the NY Times are reporting on the executions of Gaza citizens that are being carried out by Hamas. Rather than focusing on rebuilding the country, the first thing Hamas appears to be doing is reestablishing it power base by eliminating its potential political rivals.
I will never understand human behavior.
Per the WSJ, the U.S.-brokered cease-fire has hit pause on the war between Hamas and Israel. In its place, a fight between Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip is now under way.
As Israeli troops pulled back last week to facilitate a deal that freed the living hostages still held in Gaza, Hamas surged security forces in behind them—a public assertion of authority intended to make clear the group remains the enclave’s governing power.
Those forces immediately began cracking down on rival militias controlled by prominent Palestinian families, engaging in firefights and conducting public executions that have spread fear and raised concerns that a spiral of internecine violence could bring new pain to a long-suffering population.
Clashes around a hospital in Gaza City on Sunday left dozens dead, according to the Hamas unit that conducted the raid and members of the family it was fighting. Videos that emerged Monday—verified by Storyful, which like The Wall Street Journal is owned by News Corp—show Hamas fighters dragging a number of men from the family into a public square in broad daylight, forcing them to kneel and executing them in front of a crowd of onlookers. See the below image taken just before the executions.
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A total disregard for the law. Republican members of Congress are complicit with their lack of holding President Trump accountable.
I know it. You know it. Subscribers to this blog know it. Congress knows it. Every member of the Trump administration knows it. World leaders know it. Yet, everyone sits back and allows Trump to use the military to kill Venezuelans because he believes they are drug dealers. In the last month Trump has ordered the military to kill 27 alleged drug dealers on six Venezuelan boats that were in international waters of the Caribbean Sea. To date Trump has offered no proof confirming those killed were drug dealers.
Even if they are drug dealers, international laws and U.S. laws do not allow for the killing of them without a fair trial. President Trump is killing citizens of another country and violating U.S and international human rights laws. He is flaunting it every time he does it. He knows that he will not be held accountable because of the gutless Republican members of congress, and SCOTUS who has ruled that anything he does in his role as president is immune for criminal prosecution no matter how heinous it is.
From the WSJ today. President Trump on Tuesday announced another lethal military strike on an alleged drug-trafficking boat off the coast of Venezuela, which killed six people.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, under Trump’s direction, ordered “a lethal kinetic strike” on a boat affiliated with what the administration says is a terrorist organization that was engaged in narcotrafficking, the president said in a post on Truth Social.
U.S. intelligence determined the vessel was trafficking drugs, Trump said. He didn’t disclose further details.
In the last month Trump has ordered the military to kill 27 alleged drug dealers on six Venezuelan boats that were in international waters of the Caribbean Sea. To date Trump has offered no proof confirming those killed were drug dealers.
This leads to my Quote of the Day by conservative lawyer George Conway who posted: “That’s twenty-seven flat-out murders. That’s twenty-seven lives taken without even a semblance of a legal justification under domestic or international law.”
The Shutdown
The government shutdown has lasted 15 days, with no resolution in sight. According to all reports, the Trump administration and the Democrat leaders are not talking. Both sides feel they have the upper hand and see no need to negotiate.
I know that many people don’t care about the shutdown and how long it lasts because they are not directly impacted by it. Others don’t care because they think it is a good thing because it is a way to reduce government expenditures.
Soon, many of our friends and family members are going to be impacted. The lack of receiving a paycheck will start to catch up with them as monthly expenses become due and day-to-day living expenses add up. The pain is going to hit home in the next week for thousands of government employees, many of whom are required to be on their job. I feel for these government employees. I feel for their families.
It is unfortunate that our government leaders in Washington only care about whether their side wins and the other side loses. It is also embarrassing that our government leaders think that this is the right thing to do. I don’t get it.
The last time the U.S. passed an annual budget was 1997. They have only passed four annual budgets since 1977. This is not the way to run our government. It leads to my Question of the Day. Since the federal government has not passed a budget in 28 years, why do we have a federal Office of Management and Budget? Why do we need Russel Vaught as the Director of the Office of Management and Budget?
Quote of the Day: See above from George Conway.
Orchid of the Day: Lady Luck, who was on our side. On Sunday evening Leah and I were sitting in the living room when we heard a very loud noise coming from the basement. I ran down the basement and saw water coming through the ceiling light fixtures and falling onto our carpeted basement floor. I quickly turned off the main water valve. I then went upstairs and found the source of problem. The plastic/rubber tube running from the hot water line to the sink faucet came loose. Within 15 minutes I had the problem fixed and we were up and running again. We cleaned up the water and were back in the living room within 30 minutes.
In the morning, I called the catastrophe cleaning company, and they were out by noon starting the drying out process. They had to rip up portions of the carpet, some of the drywall and some of the molding. The damage, including the cleanup, will be less than $3,000, most of which will be covered by insurance.
We were lucky that we were home and were able to react so quickly. In addition, we had just put a deposit down for new carpet in the basement, so we were not concerned about the damage to the carpet. Lady Luck was on our side.
Onion of the Day: Congress and the Trump administration for allowing the government shutdown to continue.
Question of the Day: Why do we have an Office of Management and Budget when we haven’t approved a budget since 1997?
Lyrics of the Day: I like to dream. Yes, yes, right between the sound machine on a cloud of sound, I drift in the night.
Any place it goes is right. Goes far, flies near to the stars away from here
Well, you don’t know what we can find. Why don’t you come with me, little girl
If you know the answer, send me the answer in the comments section of the blog or email me at thomasdbiggs@gmail.com.
Lyrics of the Day for October 13, 2025. Raspberry Beret by Prince
Image of the Day: See above of Hamas prior to executions of fellow Gazans
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