You can look upon the release of the Israeli hostages — that is, those still living after two years of unspeakable horror — with joy.
You can also note this moment grimly as you think of the dead, and the long recovery so many of the living hostages have ahead of them, if then even do return to any bearable form of future life. Trauma on this level tends to lead to lead to scars that never heal completely.
But here’s something of lesser note that at least celebrating without reservation, to some extent:
This bipartisan release isn’t at all surprising to me. It’s what I would expect. While there is a lot of partisan silliness to be sure (mostly, it seems, generated by the so-called “Freedom Caucus”), relations between Democrats and Republicans aren’t nearly so grossly dysfunctional in Columbia as they are in Washington.
But since bitterly divisive conflicts are what makes most of the political news that is thrown at you day after day, I thought I would share with you this note from two decent people who disagree about many things — one a Republican and Christian, one a Democrat and Jewish — but gladly come together over such things as this.
And look at that — I wrote a short post for once…
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While the release of the hostages is great news, i will measure the true success of this most recent ceasefire a year or more from now. We’ve heard the same things from politicians going back 50 years that “this time they REALLY mean it”.
I’ll believe it is true when we cut the spending of US tax dollars to Israel. Billions have been wasted that would have served Americans better.
Also, in the name of bipartisanship, shouldn’t you have said something like “Trump gets credit for some of this achievement”? I am still waiting to see how things pan out domestically, especially on tariffs which may take a year or two to truly assess. I’d give him a B- so far.. needs to reduce the chaos but very happy with what he’s done on illegal immigration.
Well, as you can see if you review this, I in no way announced that we have peace on the Gaza front.
I just said it’s worth celebrating the return of these latest 20 live hostages, while mourning the 75 who died in Hamas captivity, not to mention the more than a thousand Israeli civilians deliberately killed outright on Oct. 7, 2023, or the 67,000 Gazans killed in the fighting that was inevitable after that brutal and completely unjustifiable initial attack.
Of course, my point here was to share that press release from Beth Bernstein and Larry Grooms. We all should see more of that sort of thing, and the average citizen out there simply does not…
and they said “especially the efforts of President Trump”
Agree?
Of course; I was praising the agreement, and that’s part of it. That goes without saying.
Now if I had been writing it, I wouldn’t have said, “especially,” but this was a consensus statement. I expected Grooms wanted that word and Beth went along.
Trump was a big part of it. But I’m not going to play down the roles of Bibi and the Arabs agreed to the terms. And if the Donald made that happen by twisting their arms in ways I don’t know about, then good for him. I don’t care what caused him to act like a diplomat, but I’m glad he did — assuming that’s what happened.
And I’m very worried that it’s not going to hold together. I’d like to be wrong about that.
Bottom line, I simply think it’s worthwhile to express joy that the last few living hostages are back — whatever happens from here,
Jimmy Carter still gets credit for the Camp David Accords- and that was a great achievement that not many expected.
But to Republicans he still wasn’t a good President.
So those that oppose Trump can give him a bit of credit for the end of the war while still considering him a lousy human being and a lousy president.
Very low threshold for bi-partisanship here. Even the entirety of the US Congress is in agreement on celebrating the the hostage release. In terms of bi-partisanship, this is no watershed moment.
Most of the time, things look more like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-fUaKOjnhM
And, really, who would you consider the reasonable, rational — or simply most mature — party in this exchange?
Yes, we live in the age of low thresholds.
As for who is the more reasonable — well, I know Beth, and the word fits her. Larry Grooms has existed for years at the outskirts of my perception, but I’m ready to give him a pat on the back for working constructively with Beth.
Nowadays, that’s worth something…
I would be impressed if bi-partisanship meant condemning the following (from D. Brooks’ recent column):
“The second Trump administration has flouted court decisions in a third of all rulings against it, according to The Washington Post. It operates as a national extortion racket, using federal power to control the inner workings of universities, law firms, and corporations. It has thoroughly politicized the Justice Department, launching a series of partisan investigations against its political foes. It has turned ICE into a massive paramilitary organization with apparently unconstrained powers. It has treated the Constitution with disdain, assaulted democratic norms and diminished democratic freedoms, and put military vehicles and soldiers on the streets of the capital. It embraces the optics of fascism, and flaunts its autocratic aspirations.”
And that’s just a partial list.
Such condemnation could be a step toward creating the resistance movement that Brooks is calling for.
See: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/11/autocracy-resistance-social-movement/684336/
Well, you know, Brooks is nearly always right….