Think it, don't say it

“…You talk too much, you worry me to death. You talk about people that you've never seen. You talk about people, you can make me scream…” You Talk Too Much… Joe Jones… The human brain is relentless, shy of death it never shuts down. Everyone, like it or not, walks around with a myriad of thoughts, mostly just passing thoughts, but sometimes more complex, that could range from creative energy to intense anger, depending on the person. Most of these thoughts are never verbalized, they’re just passing thoughts, analyzed and discarded. If we verbalized half of what has gone through our head, we’d be labeled as the village idiot. or get a visit from the cops. If it’s the President of the United States, constantly musing out loud the whole world mutters “holy shit” in unison. Therein lies the problem of Donald Trump, every random thing that goes through his head comes straight out of his mouth. A classic example is his “off the cuff” remarks that the US should take over Gaza, displace a couple of million Palestinians and rebuild their homeland as a Mideast Riviera. The last time anyone said anything that stupid was 1984 when the Portland Trailblazers announced they were taking Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan with the first pick in the NBA draft. The Gaza Strip, also known simply as Gaza, is a small territory located on the eastern coast of the Mediterranean Sea; it is the smaller of the two Palestinian territories, the other being the West Bank, that make up the State of Palestine. Inhabited by mostly Palestinian refugees and their descendants, Gaza is one of the most densely populated territories in the world. An end of 2024 estimate puts the population of the Strip at 2.1 million. Gaza is bordered by Egypt on the southwest and Israel on the east and north. (per Wikipedia) Simply put, Gaza is to the Middle East what South Central is to L/A –the kind of neighborhood you don’t want to be in after dark. Armed by Iran, controlled by Hamas terrorists, Gaza is a collection of bad actors who hate America just slightly less than they hate Israel. When questioned by reporters, Trump acknowledged that the US military might be involved. Before saying more stupid shit, Trump might remember something General Colin Powell told President George W Bush, “…it’s the Pottery Barn rule, “…you break it, you own it…” A ranking Special Forces commander put it more bluntly, “…the US military is built to break things and kill people, we don’t do very good at nation building….” Before he uttered a word, Trump should have remembered Vietnam, Lebanon, Iraq and Afghanistan, all started out with the best intentions and turned into bloody quagmires, easy to get into, decades to get out of. As to the Mid-East Riviera concept, it’s too screwy to be taken seriously. I can see the travel brochure —blue seas, sunny. sandy beaches, nightlife, friendly locals. The kids and their sand shovels can spend hours digging up thousands of pounds of unexploded ordinance. The adults can head downtown and spend a romantic evening watching the car bombs explode. Even if you miss the adventure of getting kidnapped by Hamas terrorists, you may have the opportunity to meet the Israeli Special Forces guys when they blow your hotel door off the hinges with breech charges, put a black bag over your head, and give you a free helicopter ride to meet a nice young lady who seems to be amused by your answers and keeps pointing the positive lead of a battery charger at you. Any idea of the US taking over Gaza is asinine, and let’s hope it’s just Trump being Trump, revving up the press and showing off for Benjamin Netanyahu. Either way Trump needs to remember the old adage, “think it, don’t say it….”