I enjoyed people repeating the Clarence Darrow quote: “I’ve never killed a man, but I’ve read many obituaries with great satisfaction.” A close second is the Mark Twain one, “I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a letter saying I approve of it.”
Of course, Biden got pretty salty himself, for a politician. Everyone is highlighting the phrase “he continued to offer his views and ideas” in Biden’s official statement, and I agree it’s cold. But for me the killer line is the first one, “I’ll never forget the first time I met Dr. Kissinger, I was a young Senator and he was Secretary of State” And then…he just leaves it to stand alone. I’ve never seen that particular opening line left hanging quite like that, it’s always followed by telling a praiseworthy or heartwarming anecdote about what subsequently happened at that first meeting. But Dark Brandon just said it, then dropped the mic.
"Syosset is served by the Syosset LIRR station, the Syosset Post Office, the Syosset Central School District, the Syosset Public Library, the Syosset Fire Department, and the Jericho Water District."
I agree wholeheartedly on Kissinger; good riddance! Or perhaps we should at least offer “thoughts and prayers!” Not!!!!
Let’s not forget Kissinger played a key role in the U.S. carpet-bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War, which killed hundreds of thousands of civilians and helped enable the rise of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime that killed over four million.
Ironically, he would share a Nobel Peace Prize for helping to end the Vietnam War, even though it was his strategy to stretch out the war after Nixon was elected, in order to negotiate better terms for a settlement; tens of thousands additional Americans and hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese died as a result.
I could go on and on, including his escapades in Indonesia (East Timor invasion in 75’) and the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, what’s the point.
The man was nothing more than a water boy for US multinational corporations and American imperialism. Sadly, he is still well respected and considered a mentor to people like Hillary Clinton.
Additionally, his tentacles after leaving office still infested our democracy for decades to come. He was THE perennial neo-con, and Paul Bremer (Kissinger Associates partner), and acolyte, would eventually become the leader of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq after the 2003 invasion.
It was Bremer who dismantled the Iraqi Army putting over 400,000 Iraqi trained killers out of work; leading to the insurgency that eventually killed thousands of Americans and destroyed any semblance of peace in Iraq for decades. He also outlawed the Ba’ath Party which put over 50,000 Iraqi’s out of work; the same people who knew how to run the government, and including teachers, engineers and doctors.
Kissinger and his minions were nothing more than a blood-sucking plague unleashed on America and the world. And we’re still paying for it, whether you consider the manufactured war in Iraq or the rise of Trump.
They all have their roots in neoconservativism, for which Kissinger was a founding member.
Here the news of Kissinger’s death was quickly buried under rumors of Taylor Swift coming to Lambeau Field and whether she’ll invite Simone Biles to join her in her private box.
I am the oldest person in my workplace, having at least 20 years on everyone else. My co-workers have a vague notion of who Kissinger was, but no clue as to what Kissinger did. So they could not understand why I was so happy yesterday; why I said the world is a demonstrably better place because Henry Kissinger is finally dead.
But he is, finally, dead. And the world is a better place for it.
Nuthin'. I got nuthin'. I go by the murder site of Orlando Letelier and Ronnie Moffitt most every day. Haven't seen anything but that in my head for the last several hours...
I do remember the good ol' days listening to Mae Brussell on the radio, banging on about various Kissinger-related fascist programs. Fun times...
Haven't seen any LOL, but the closest to funny I saw was the Yankees' statement or whatever it was.
As for Ackerman's piece, it had the breadth of a Times obit but with a proper POV and was, more importantly for the young who didn't live through it, properly visceral.
As for an old's lack of sympathy or whatever: With advanced age (up to dementia or death), one learns more and more how the world works and, well, the more you know about Kissinger even if you leaned towards not speaking ill of the dead or whatever, fuck him. At best he far too little good in him to balance the foreign policy shit in which he was involved.
Oh, wait, something that can be read as black humor if one tries hard enough:
The Disintegration of Henry the K will lead inexorably to an enormous wad of cynical, disaffected and bitterly hateful decomposers, slowly organizing into a monstrous terror organism, ready to do its worst on the rest of our normal, peace-loving microbes, and causing the entire planet eventually to flame out in one last Major Mortality Event.
I am old and often up in the middle of the night. Like a fool I check my phone to see if somehow maybe we got lucky and that rancid asshole Trump died while I was sleeping. So I woke up the other night and checked for some good news. I saw the headlines and nodded to myself , thinking, I'll take it!
Edit: I did a college book report on Kissinger's laudatory biography of Klemens von Metternich, written back in the early Sixties. It occurred to me, as dense as I was then (and not much brighter now), he was laudatory toward Metternich because he wanted to *be* Metternich.
Tom Lehrer once said that "Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel peace prize." Tom is still alive. I'd love to hear what he has to say. Maybe he'll start a new set of satirical songs.
I have my own "Is so-and-so even in this thing?" list for that arcade claw machine meme. Mitch McConnell is right up near the top.
“Important to remember that while Kissinger was a bloodthirsty liar, relentlessly cruel and callous in the prosecution of both an illegal war and overthrowing democratically elected leaders, manifesting nightmare atrocities that make the mind reel still...
I'm considering starting a gofundme to buy a disco ball, strobe lights, and dee jay for the gravesite.
Bless the Cussednesses!
I enjoyed people repeating the Clarence Darrow quote: “I’ve never killed a man, but I’ve read many obituaries with great satisfaction.” A close second is the Mark Twain one, “I didn’t attend the funeral, but I sent a letter saying I approve of it.”
Of course, Biden got pretty salty himself, for a politician. Everyone is highlighting the phrase “he continued to offer his views and ideas” in Biden’s official statement, and I agree it’s cold. But for me the killer line is the first one, “I’ll never forget the first time I met Dr. Kissinger, I was a young Senator and he was Secretary of State” And then…he just leaves it to stand alone. I’ve never seen that particular opening line left hanging quite like that, it’s always followed by telling a praiseworthy or heartwarming anecdote about what subsequently happened at that first meeting. But Dark Brandon just said it, then dropped the mic.
Savage. A head shot.
Preferably not the gravesite.
from the Wik:
"Syosset is served by the Syosset LIRR station, the Syosset Post Office, the Syosset Central School District, the Syosset Public Library, the Syosset Fire Department, and the Jericho Water District."
You know which one is the chef's buss.
I agree wholeheartedly on Kissinger; good riddance! Or perhaps we should at least offer “thoughts and prayers!” Not!!!!
Let’s not forget Kissinger played a key role in the U.S. carpet-bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War, which killed hundreds of thousands of civilians and helped enable the rise of the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime that killed over four million.
Ironically, he would share a Nobel Peace Prize for helping to end the Vietnam War, even though it was his strategy to stretch out the war after Nixon was elected, in order to negotiate better terms for a settlement; tens of thousands additional Americans and hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese died as a result.
I could go on and on, including his escapades in Indonesia (East Timor invasion in 75’) and the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, what’s the point.
The man was nothing more than a water boy for US multinational corporations and American imperialism. Sadly, he is still well respected and considered a mentor to people like Hillary Clinton.
Additionally, his tentacles after leaving office still infested our democracy for decades to come. He was THE perennial neo-con, and Paul Bremer (Kissinger Associates partner), and acolyte, would eventually become the leader of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA) in Iraq after the 2003 invasion.
It was Bremer who dismantled the Iraqi Army putting over 400,000 Iraqi trained killers out of work; leading to the insurgency that eventually killed thousands of Americans and destroyed any semblance of peace in Iraq for decades. He also outlawed the Ba’ath Party which put over 50,000 Iraqi’s out of work; the same people who knew how to run the government, and including teachers, engineers and doctors.
Kissinger and his minions were nothing more than a blood-sucking plague unleashed on America and the world. And we’re still paying for it, whether you consider the manufactured war in Iraq or the rise of Trump.
They all have their roots in neoconservativism, for which Kissinger was a founding member.
End of story!
Here the news of Kissinger’s death was quickly buried under rumors of Taylor Swift coming to Lambeau Field and whether she’ll invite Simone Biles to join her in her private box.
I am the oldest person in my workplace, having at least 20 years on everyone else. My co-workers have a vague notion of who Kissinger was, but no clue as to what Kissinger did. So they could not understand why I was so happy yesterday; why I said the world is a demonstrably better place because Henry Kissinger is finally dead.
But he is, finally, dead. And the world is a better place for it.
Nuthin'. I got nuthin'. I go by the murder site of Orlando Letelier and Ronnie Moffitt most every day. Haven't seen anything but that in my head for the last several hours...
I do remember the good ol' days listening to Mae Brussell on the radio, banging on about various Kissinger-related fascist programs. Fun times...
Haven't seen any LOL, but the closest to funny I saw was the Yankees' statement or whatever it was.
As for Ackerman's piece, it had the breadth of a Times obit but with a proper POV and was, more importantly for the young who didn't live through it, properly visceral.
As for an old's lack of sympathy or whatever: With advanced age (up to dementia or death), one learns more and more how the world works and, well, the more you know about Kissinger even if you leaned towards not speaking ill of the dead or whatever, fuck him. At best he far too little good in him to balance the foreign policy shit in which he was involved.
Oh, wait, something that can be read as black humor if one tries hard enough:
https://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2023/11/henry-kissinger-lied-about-me.html
The Disintegration of Henry the K will lead inexorably to an enormous wad of cynical, disaffected and bitterly hateful decomposers, slowly organizing into a monstrous terror organism, ready to do its worst on the rest of our normal, peace-loving microbes, and causing the entire planet eventually to flame out in one last Major Mortality Event.
Live Nation has tix.
The good die young and, like Kurasawa
said, The Bad Sleep Well.
I am old and often up in the middle of the night. Like a fool I check my phone to see if somehow maybe we got lucky and that rancid asshole Trump died while I was sleeping. So I woke up the other night and checked for some good news. I saw the headlines and nodded to myself , thinking, I'll take it!
I defer to Twitter's "Is Henry Kissinger Dead Yet". https://twitter.com/DidKissingerD1e
Edit: I did a college book report on Kissinger's laudatory biography of Klemens von Metternich, written back in the early Sixties. It occurred to me, as dense as I was then (and not much brighter now), he was laudatory toward Metternich because he wanted to *be* Metternich.
Tom Lehrer once said that "Political satire became obsolete when Henry Kissinger was awarded the Nobel peace prize." Tom is still alive. I'd love to hear what he has to say. Maybe he'll start a new set of satirical songs.
I have my own "Is so-and-so even in this thing?" list for that arcade claw machine meme. Mitch McConnell is right up near the top.
Steve Albini on Bluesky:
“Important to remember that while Kissinger was a bloodthirsty liar, relentlessly cruel and callous in the prosecution of both an illegal war and overthrowing democratically elected leaders, manifesting nightmare atrocities that make the mind reel still...
He was also a real piece of shit that guy.🎈”
My pick would have been another one of the Biden quote-tweets, but yours is funnier.