MOUNT SINJAR REVISITED

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My Sunday began with Meet The Press. Then lunch at Lisa’s with the family. They had just returned from swimming at Fort Zach.

On the way home, I stopped at Don’s Place to watch the PGA. No PGA when I arrived. It had been shut down for an hour due to rain. Chatted instead with Jimmy and John. Bocce one of the topics. Bocce season begins Thursday night.

I was not in the mood to return home yet. Went downtown to look over Lobsterfest. Lower Duval a zoo. Jam packed. Everyone enjoying the lobster brunch I detailed yesterday. Not just lobster alone. Things like lobster lasagna, paella, and mac cheese. I was stuffed from lunch and tried none of the items.

Watched most of the PGA after returning home. Fantastic outstanding golf! Five hundred plus yards and these guys are on in 2. No way could Jack Nicklaus or Arnold Palmer have done it. It is the clubs and balls. All manufactured to go farther and straighter. Plus these guys are all physically conditioned. Did you ever see Nicklaus without a belly?

I thought playing the last two holes in semi dark and dark was wrong. An insult to the players and the PGA.

I would be remiss if I failed to comment once again on Mount Sinjar.

The number seeking safety on the mountain has gone from 30,000 to 150,000. Who really knows. The situation is being described as a Chamber of Horrors and Mountain of Death.

ISIS has changed its name. It is now IS. Islamic State.

Bad people.

They are beheading Yazidis. A soldier will grab someone and slice their head off with a hunting knife. This is also being done to children, In addition to beheading, children are crucified and amputated. IS has a thing about cutting off a person’s hands and feet.

Women and girls are raped. Wives and daughters are raped in front of the husband/father and then the husband/father is killed. The women and girls not killed are taken to be sold outside Iraq as slaves. Women and children are being buried alive.

Some corpses are beheaded and then hung on a cross. In addition to those crucified alive.

Yazidi men are lined up, made to kneel, and then shot in the head from behind. IS members not shooting watch, laugh and some take pictures.

The internet is rampant with photos and videos of the carnage. Many taken by IS members themselves and placed on the internet via social media.

Whole villages are given the option of converting from their religion to the Islamic faith. If they refuse, they die. Agreeing alone is not sufficient. A person converting must prove the conversion is sincere. Such is generally accomplished by forcing the person converting to kill non converting family members.

Sick. Wrong. Perverted.

All so bad that I cannot in good faith end this blog as I generally do. I am left speechless.

SPIT IN BABY’S MOUTH

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I was enjoying a quiet Saturday evening meal last night at Roostica’s. A large bottle of water was on the table. A drink, of course. My meal. Braised short ribs over a bed of brown rice covered with some greenery. Delicious! The ribs especially. No bones. Small chunks of meat that had fallen away from the bones during the cooking process.

My date was a tablet. I was reading yesterday’s New York Times.

An article on the Iraqi/ISIS/Mount Sinjar situation caught my attention. Heavy stuff!

There are 30,000 people on Mount Sinjar. They have been there for a week or two. No water, no food. The article reported that parents are spitting into their children’s mouths to provide them with some liquid.

Most of the 30,000 are Yazidis. A religious group. Neither Muslim nor Christian. ISIS is grabbing women and young girls off the mountain. They are offered a choice. Convert to Muslimism and immediately marry a jihadist. Or die. Most convert. Some prefer death.

Mount Sinjar is a humanitarian crisis.  As is the Mexican border crisis in the United States where some 70,000 children have come into the United States this year alone. Congress has failed to act to help these kids. Obama has reacted to Mount Sinjar and is having food and water dropped.

There is another aspect to the numbers. Kurdistan is part of Iraq. Technically. However it acts independently and governs itself. ISIS is causing havoc in Syria also which is next to Kurdistan. Between refugees from Syria and those who are trying to escape the Iraqi war itself, 580,000 refugees have arrived in Kurdistan. Two hundred thousand since last Monday.

Some in the U.S. complain about 70,000 children. Look at what Kurdistan is dealing with!

I spent most of yesterday laying in bed watching the PGA. Great golf! Some of the finest I have seen. Most of the players are on in 2 and regularly sinking long putts. Today’s final round is going to be some contest. Any one of a dozen players can win.

This weekend has been Lobsterfest time. Today is the last day. Featured is what has been described as a decadent lobster brunch. Included are lobster tails, lobster ravioli, lobster benedict, lobster paella, lobster lasagna, lobster mac and cheese, and more.

Plus water.

I started this blog with 30,000 people on Mount Sinjar without food and water. Now a lavish Key West spread. Hard to relate the two. Life goes on.

Today is Captain Tony’s birthday. He was born August 10, 1916. There will be a birthday party tonight at 8 at Captain Tony’s.

What a life the Captain had. Four wives, 13 children, a saloon keeper, booze runner, boat captain, gambler and who knows what else. Even mayor of Key West. One of his campaign managers was Jimmy Buffett.

Enjoy your Sunday!