i don't want to downplay the release of the hostages too much. these are 20 lives that were saved. in broad calculations of the general game being played, those lives are really not very important or valuable, and are not my primary consideration, or the primary consideration of the decision makers on the ground. to the individuals themselves, and their families, nothing could be more important or valuable.

i'm just annoyed by the motive of christian dogooding, playing into the naivete and the ignorance.

the outcome is extremely predictable.

the "stabilization force" will walk in and try to exist parallel to hamas and hamas, with iranian backing, will start bombing them. the result is a predictable civil war in gaza with hamas backed by iran and the international force as a weak government with no clear direction, as the turks and arabs fight with each other.

trump didn't write the plan, so i don't want to pretend this is his fault, but it demonstrates a fundamental misunderstanding of the conflict as being about muslims and jews. frankly, if it was that simple, it would be over by now. the underlying problem is that islam was a colonizing empire that left an array of warring indigenous groups and invading populations in constant conflict with each other, when it collapsed. they don't get along with each other on anything, and palestine is just one of a myriad of conflicts. 

in a real sense, the israeli bombing has been stopping an inevitable muslim civil war in the broader region, as well as a war between iran and saudi arabia. if the americans are demanding israel step back and not do this, and the muslims to take initiative, it will just expose and trip and exacerbate those fault lines allow that civil war to finally happen.

it is the egyptians that will need to get aggressive with hamas, but it will generate a response when they do, and it will then escalate and spiral out of control. 

israel can't let it get too out of hand, and they may have to step back in very soon. but, in the short term, we may see continued bombing of gaza by arabs instead of by jews.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/video/2025/10/13/very-skeptical-of-where-this-is-all-headed-expert-on-israel-hamas-ceasefire-deal/

let me warn everybody: if you buy this house to evict me, i will take everything with me when i go. you will be deeply disappointed with what you end up with, which won't be what you thought you were getting.

it's a huge space for a low-income rental, which is what i wanted and got (~600 square feet in the apartment, up to 700 including the laundry and closer to 900 including the in-unit garage. the upstairs units don't manage space well because they've been converted into apartments, but this is the entire basement of what used to be a moderately sized house). it's been partially recently redone; the hot water and furnace are fairly recent. there's new inside doors, new flooring in the bedroom. somebody tried to give a fuck and gave up, which left me with a lot to work with, and i'm going to finish the job.

i'm sorting through what kind of furniture i need to make sense of this new space, which is relatively large but also extremely rough and therefore very cheap, and i'm realizing i can do some unusual things with it, for it's price range.

this is a $1000/month basement in the bottom of a house with a busy drug dealer living on the top floor. i have no reason to call him in at this point, and won't so long as i'm not smelling weed, but he couldn't be more fucking obvious. he's got somebody banging on his door every 20 minutes.

for reference, the apartment i just abandoned was $1200/month, on the third floor and somewhat smaller in total footage, but also more finished and came with three other apartments in the building full of potheads that were polluting my air space. the basement i got evicted from in the spring was less than $800/month and discernibly smaller than either. the basement i got evicted from in 2018 was less than $700 when i left (i signed at $650) and about the same size as this one, overall, but far more finished.

i've thought through how i want to do this and have decided that the new space is going to consist of the following rooms or areas:

1) a small but usable bedroom, partly because much of the storage that you expect in a bedroom exists elsewhere in the apartment, but big enough for a stereo system, a study/writing desk and a bedside computer pc typing system

2) a large enough bathroom for substantive shelving, full wall mirrors and a makeup table

3) a walk-in closet off of the bathroom (not the bedroom) with built-in laundry and a dedicated sewing area

4) an eat-in kitchen with expanded counter and shelving space

5) a side entrance with a space for coat and shoe storage

6) a voip phone and zoom (via voip videophone) area off of the kitchen

7) about 150 square feet of studio space

8) a small couch area with a stereo for listening

9) space for an exercise bike off the front entrance

10) a device charging area behind the front door

11) a 150 square foot work and storage area as a functional in-unit garage or actual basement in parallel to the apartment, with functional 2-level storage built in.

12) sufficient wall space for cd and book storage

it's cheap because of the drug dealer and the various problems a drug dealer creates to property values, but i've been told they're getting evicted. the front door, for example, is pretty brutal. i haven't seen the effects of the drugs yet, but i'm sure i will. i have recently seen somebody passed out beside their shopping cart around the corner, because they couldn't make it over the bridge, and i jumped to probably correct conclusions. he just fell over; he might have been technically dead.

it's going to take a few weeks, maybe a few months, to set the apartment up. right now, i'm not sure the furnace works, and i'm waiting for the owner to do some minimal but necessary cosmetic work.  

i hope i don't get evicted to raise the rent, again; i'm unfortunately realizing the necessity of planning around it, and want to focus on buying if i have to move again. some small houses in windsor are starting to list under $180K.