Worth Knowing, Probably Not Quite Threadworthy 11/24

[SVPete]

The Other Cease-Fire: Hezbollah Still Stuck On FA, Number 2 FO's

https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2025/11/24/the-other-cease-fire-hezbollah-still-stuck-on-fa-number-2-fos-n3809221

Almost exactly a year ago, Israel signed a 60-day ceasefire with Lebanon that paused – not ended – the October 7 war with Hezbollah. The agreement required Lebanon to disarm Hezbollah and for both to abide by UN Security Council 1701, which decades earlier had ordered Hezbollah to evacuate the sub-Litani and Bekaa Valley areas of the country. The government in Beirut has since ordered Hezbollah to disarm but has taken no steps to force the issue, and Hezbollah continues to operate in both prohibited areas of Lebanon.

In recent weeks, Israel has increased military strikes on Hezbollah positions and personnel. Yesterday, however, the IDF took aim at Hezbollah's top leadership and killed the man most responsible for their recent attempts to reconstitute their position in southern Lebanon:

Israeli forces killed Hezbollah’s military chief of staff on Sunday with an airstrike on Beirut, the first attack on the Lebanese capital in more than five months.

The attack, which hit a residential building in the densely packed neighborhood of Haret Hreik in southern Beirut, targeted Haytham Ali Tabatabai, a Hezbollah veteran considered one of its highest remaining military officials. Israeli and Hezbollah officials confirmed Tabatabai’s death. ...

“We will not allow Hezbollah, the terror organization, to recover and rebuild its strength and threaten Israel from anywhere inside of Lebanon,” said Shosh Bedrosian, a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office. Hezbollah’s “activities continue to constitute a violation of the understandings between Israel and Lebanon,” she added, without providing details about how the group has been trying to rebuild its capabilities.

Lebanon lacks the will - and possibly the ability - to disarm the Hezbos, so whatever happens WRT Gaza and Hamas, the conflict with the Hezbos will almost certainly continue.

[SVPete]

Jay Leno Drops a Truth Bomb on Comedy

https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2025/11/24/jay-leno-drops-a-truth-bomb-on-comedy-n4946341

Jay Leno figured out what audiences actually want, and it turns out they want to laugh without the political sermon. I know, shocking, right? The 75-year-old comedian and former Tonight Show host has been on tour with his stand-up act, and he made a wise decision a while back that is paying off: He ditched the political material entirely, and the results speak for themselves.

During a recent appearance on NBC's Today with Hoda Kotb, Leno laid out his strategy in plain terms. He took politics completely out of his comedy routine while performing across the country. The results speak for themselves: Ticket sales jumped by 20-30%. The reason is simple. Nobody wants a lecture when they show up for a comedy show.

The choice was practical, not ideological. When you’re playing all over the country, you’re going to have politically mixed audiences. Coincidentally, I recently bought tickets to see Leno in Niagara Falls next year, and one of the reasons I had no qualms about buying the tickets is that I know he doesn’t want to alienate half his audience.

Leno estimates that roughly a third of any given crowd is going to disagree with whatever political stance a comedian takes. So why alienate them? Late-night TV is different. On television, you can tailor your monologue to a self-selecting audience that already agrees with you, and there is a built-in laugh track to paper over the awkward silences. That luxury does not exist when you are standing on a stage in front of real people who paid real money to be entertained, not preached to.

IMO, TV-yakkers feed their audience's self-selection process. If, hypothetically, I hear John or Jane TV-Comedian making denigration of pretty much any politician a staple of their nightly shtick, I'm moving on. Even if the pol being denigrated is someone with whom I disagree, the denigration will be boring and unfunny.

I don't know if Leno figured this out by noticing the Ditzy Tricks' or Kathy the Griffin's career self-destruction or independently with common sense. Many "comedians" and musicians seem not to have learned from those examples of career-self-destruction-by-politics.

As an aside, Leno is demonstrating the practical meaning of, "For better or for worse, in sickness or in health," in caring for his wife Mavis, who is in fairly advanced dementia.