So is Gaza now the New Riviera?

It must be the end of the world.

PHOTO BY MOTAZ AZAIZA

For a lot of us, 2025 so far has been a real motherfucker.

Fires, ( I live in LA ), plane crashes, midnight raids on our basic freedoms, and guys who puree mice alongside their morning smoothies are now making decisions about YOUR health care and mine.

There also appears to be a strange unelected man roaming The White House who has secured every government contract under the sun and has unfettered access to your Social Security Number and much, much more. On top of that he really seems to dislike people, specifically women who have earthly addresses and instead longs for the comforts and good times of, umm, Mars?

Perhaps he will retire there ( please god ) with the twelve kids he has had with three different baby mamas! After all, rumor has it he “Has Rocket; Will Travel.”

May I also mention this guy? The one who is about to lead our national defense? His own mother doubts his sobriety and sanity but apparently Jesus has stepped in now, so no more throwing women in closets or getting loaded on the senate floor. Phew!

Dodged a bullet there…

Plus of course a very special shout out must go to the possible new director of the FBI. He has a personal enemy hit list a mile wide and frequent lapses of memory where he has interfaced with white supremacists and conspiracy theorists.

But who's counting? What’s a Nazi or two in the scheme of things anyway?

Right??

Basically our lives have become either the most insane episode of Black Mirror or just a typical Tuesday in the US of A.

And truth being told, it is not doing my mental health any favors. Like many I have pulled back on my news. It all seems unhinged anyway. Instead every morning I try and read various journals and articles that give some sort of neutral perspective so I can ascertain generally what the fuck is going on in the world.

But my bad. Last night while surfing the TV for my NFL updates I inadvertently came across what I think was a press conference.

OH.

MY.

GOD!!!!

Two men are on the screen side by side, at one point even having a fireside chat. The taller oranger one, who seems to occupy every crevice and second of American life with his complete inability to get a good night's sleep or turn off his phone during his excessive and all consuming bathroom breaks, was saying a lot of words.

At first it seemed like I was watching an ad for a timeshare. You know, where they get you to invest at ‘ground level’ so you are able to upgrade your condos finishes before the next financing deadline? He was describing in detail and very enthusiastically the most “incredibly beautiful location" that was remote and untouched and experienced by not many!

It had Views! Waterfront access and countless swim up bars ( Okay; maybe I made the part up about swim up bars). It actually seemed like he was on the verge of taking reservations; he was getting so excited.

Full payment upfront of course!

Then I focused. Really focused. This tangerine hued person was actually proposing building a resort town, a luxury playground for destination weddings, bachelorette parties and even golf tournaments ( maybe he would join ), on a very, very specific piece of land.

Gaza.

He was talking about Gaza.

Gaza. The sacred and broken space of death, smoldering and cracked with bones and bodies of children and moms and dads and families. And Aid workers and doctors and nurses and grandparents and cousins and siblings and family pets. And yellow and lime parakeets and stuffed animals and unfinished homework and shattered pencils, with dinners left uneaten and beds not slept in and dreams that will never, ever be realized.

Ocean front property. Desirable real estate. At any cost.

Caveat or perhaps a slight oversight?

There are still 1.2 million people there, struggling, starving, homeless, missing family members, limbs, hearts and hope. A pile of trash to be negotiated and recycled elsewhere, obliterated like they never existed or mattered or laughed or loved or put their feet in the ocean to watch the sunset? Not one tiny particle of their DNA is even considered to be human. Not one iota.

I turn off the TV and sit quiet. Over sixty thousand dead, at least twenty thousand who are children. Another one hundred and eleven thousand injured, not to mention those who are homeless and starving.

On Tuesday February 4th, 2025 the 47th President of the United States went on national television and proposed turning a killing field into a resort town.

Like Sandals?

Maybe a Club Med?

Or god forbid;

GAZA DISNEY?

Would you go?

That is the question.

If you appreciated this post please share. Grazie MJx