I've never been one much for"This land is mine - God gave this land to me"or "God told me to blow your ass up"
Whenever God gets involved in politics shit goes haywire pretty quick. The hardliners on both sides don't want any resolution. Starting fights is their job. Pays pretty well I bet.
There is a very perceptible glee on the Right -- which is riddled with pseudo-Klansmen, neo-Nazis, and just plain garden-variety Nazis – in being able to hurl the antisemitism accusation at people on the Left who oppose the wholesale slaughter in Gaza. They are almost equally tickled – considering they are also riddled with misogynists of every stripe from sex pests to Evangelical purity fetishists – to have an opportunity to accuse the Left of being “pro-rape” for not supporting the immediate extermination of every man, woman, and child in Gaza as retaliation for the rape of Israeli women.
It's galling because the only response is to ignore the accusations or respond with some adult version of “I know you are but what am I?” As usual, you can’t really argue with these people because their positions aren’t held in good faith, they don’t actually give much of a shit about Israel itself other than to have their eye on the countdown clock to Armageddon.
Dec 29, 2023·edited Dec 29, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso
Can't wait to see what's #1... I'd pick today's #3 as my #1, but we'll see...
Anyway:
"Hamas’ kidnapping, abuse, and occasional murder of Israeli hostages on October 7..."
TBH, that's backwards; ~1200 killed, a few hundred kidnapped.
But I'm ever amazed by the historic huge shitshow Hamas triggered (no pun) with 10/7:
Showing that the IDF and Israeli IC -- the former, at least, with our liberal (likewise) support -- is pretty much a fiction, a myth, now likely to incite yet more terrorist acts which is to say making less safe;
Breeding a generation of terrorists with the war crimes in Gaza;
Our higher education heads being pilloried for filing to reduce a complicated situation to a yes-or-no answer for a performing RWNJ -- I mean, that there's no way in a lucid, functional society where Stefanik's the good guy in this;
Make Israel a pariah state to the extent it's never been before; and
The increase of antisemitism by the both the Israeli and our conservatives conflating being Jewish with being a Zionist.
Spoiler: It doesn't take zillions of dollars to exploit a chink in the armor.
And the twin blowbacks at play here: Britain's handling of the Palestine Mandate from Balfour to 1947 and, of course, continued blowback from our overthrow of Mosaddegh.
None of that's a defense of Hamas exactly, but mandatory required reminder: With Netanyahu, there's be no Hamas, certainly not one controlling Gaza.
As for the cancel culture complex, the mandatory reminder that Taibbi is making the most money in his career pushing this bullshit.
Succinct and on point. Thank you. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming of Trump, Trump and more Trump, as if that bloviating bag of psychopathology has any positive contributions to fixing our nation’s problems.
“While one of the most disgusting developments of 2023 was Hamas’ kidnapping, abuse, and occasional murder of Israeli hostages on October 7, the most disheartening development was Israel’s “kill ‘em all, let G-d sort ‘em out” campaign against Palestinian civilians who had fuck-all to do with it — and Israel’s continued insistence that if you opposed these ongoing war crimes, or were even bothered by them, you’re an antisemite.”
Well said! As a Jewish person who has been equally critical of the Iraq War and Netanyahu’s policies and right-wing government; I must be the ultimate anti-Semitic Jew. Not really!
That said, I’ve always stated Bibi is more an amalgamation of both Trump and Cheney. Part evil genius, part ruthless authoritarian kleptomaniac.
And Bibi isn’t winning over converts easily. He abandoned most American Jews who are critical of his West Bank and Gaza policies, in favor of the messianic evangelical’s, who support Israel exclusively for the rapture. Imagine the PM of Israel abandoning his Jewish constituency for a bunch of religious zealots who want to see us all Jews in hell? Oh wait, he’s doing the same in Israel, and make no mistake; the Jewish settlers and the most religious Jews, don’t even believe people like myself are even Jewish.
Additionally, taking eight hours to respond to a terror attack by the same group Bibi has been calling the greatest threat to Israel’s existence, extremely disturbing. Not to mention, moving most of Israel’s troops on Gaza’s border to the West Bank a month before the attack, knowing full well of Hamas’s intentions, leads many, like myself to believe it isn’t coincidental.
Bottom line: I’m not buying what Netanyahu is selling: not today, tomorrow or ever! And I’m not going to war to support a bunch of despicable messianic Jews, who believe god gave them all of Judea and Samaria: Period!
“Cancelculture crybabies go cancelculture!”
Agreed, I can’t stand Barri Weiss; not sure who that Yascha Mounk guy is, but it’s par for the course. And it’s not just these “so called” conservative pundits. It’s the Republican politicians, media and leadership. How many of these politicians and Media outlets showed outrage during the Charlottesville white nationalist march that left 17 wounded and a teenage girl dead? Very few! And the ones that did feign outrage, did so with crocodile tears and useless platitudes. Not unlike, when there’s a gun massacre: “thought and prayers, but we shouldn’t be discussing gun reform when the nation is in mourning....blahblahblahblahblah.
Enough said, and wishing a wonderful weekend and New Year to all...:)
The seeming inability to recognize that it is possible for contradictory notions to co-exist in our tiny, little minds - e.g., Hamas is barbaric and so is Bibi, just with slicker weaponry - makes it difficult to achieve reason in a mad world gone binary. But the truth is still the truth.
I take Mommadillo's point this way: I'm not obliged to love France or Germany or the Marshall Islands just because they're allies of my country -- hell, the USSR was our ally for four years and Republicans hated them!
So it should be OK to say fuck any of those places. I'm sentimental enough that I reflexively make a distinction between the government and the people, who I understand hate Netanyahu's guts now. We'll see whether they follow through on ousting their despised leader. Come for think of it, the rest of the world could say the same about us and Trump!
I love how Harvard (a place not normally on my "love" list) just told these assholes to fuck off and waited for the storm to pass, which, of course, it did. What are we supposed to be OUTRAGED about this week?
Charges of anti-semitism create the bizarre situation of a common opinion, kind of three-pronged--support Israel’s right to exist, condemn Hamas, oppose mass slaughter in Gaza--held by people who are neither Jewish nor Muslim and only want to see less hate and violence in the world, and a humane solution to Palestine’s decades-old misery, being driven underground, when those are the voices that are most needed in this discussion.
"Who are you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?"
There's a Marx Bros. quote for everything, even the collapse of Western Civilization. We're all being buried alive in Gaslighting and expected to behave and think rationally about it. On top of that, Our Failed Media insists we must engage with Gaslighting, fact-check it, debate it, consider its side and the circumstances that drove the Gaslighter to such a regrettable necessity. In short, we're all being driven insane, just like poor Paula Anton, only no Brian Cameron is going to save us (thanks, Wikipedia).
Dec 29, 2023·edited Dec 29, 2023Liked by Roy Edroso
This thing with the University Presidents is such a nice example of the shit that catches our attention while other, more profound changes fly under our radar. Sure, Elise Stefanik skillfully created a shitstorm that lasted about two weeks (Is anyone talking about this now? Except as we see it here, one item in a year-end roundup?) Meanwhile, there's a profound shift in public opinion towards sympathy for the Palestinians and towards challenging the US supply of weapons to Israel. A shift that is most pronounced among young people, but not confined to young people. And yet this change mostly goes unremarked-upon in the media, except insofar as it fits into the standard "More Trouble for Biden" narrative.
Might be a reason we always see the right-wingers as being so effective at media manipulation, at "messaging", while we see our own team as ineffective, unable to get its shit together enough to practice the same kind of ruthless "message discipline" that the Right is known for. Meanwhile, public opinion inexorably - inexplicably - moves in our direction. So perk up and Happy New Year, everyone!
"fuck off into outer space."
That's a keeper!
I've never been one much for"This land is mine - God gave this land to me"or "God told me to blow your ass up"
Whenever God gets involved in politics shit goes haywire pretty quick. The hardliners on both sides don't want any resolution. Starting fights is their job. Pays pretty well I bet.
Thanks for the reminder about massive intelligence failures. Plus change, plus more change, pretty soon you're talkin' real money...or something.
There is a very perceptible glee on the Right -- which is riddled with pseudo-Klansmen, neo-Nazis, and just plain garden-variety Nazis – in being able to hurl the antisemitism accusation at people on the Left who oppose the wholesale slaughter in Gaza. They are almost equally tickled – considering they are also riddled with misogynists of every stripe from sex pests to Evangelical purity fetishists – to have an opportunity to accuse the Left of being “pro-rape” for not supporting the immediate extermination of every man, woman, and child in Gaza as retaliation for the rape of Israeli women.
It's galling because the only response is to ignore the accusations or respond with some adult version of “I know you are but what am I?” As usual, you can’t really argue with these people because their positions aren’t held in good faith, they don’t actually give much of a shit about Israel itself other than to have their eye on the countdown clock to Armageddon.
We gonna cancel Nikki now? National Enquiring minds wanna know...
The First* Civil War was caused by the hidden hand of the market, doncha know.
*roughly
Can't wait to see what's #1... I'd pick today's #3 as my #1, but we'll see...
Anyway:
"Hamas’ kidnapping, abuse, and occasional murder of Israeli hostages on October 7..."
TBH, that's backwards; ~1200 killed, a few hundred kidnapped.
But I'm ever amazed by the historic huge shitshow Hamas triggered (no pun) with 10/7:
Showing that the IDF and Israeli IC -- the former, at least, with our liberal (likewise) support -- is pretty much a fiction, a myth, now likely to incite yet more terrorist acts which is to say making less safe;
Breeding a generation of terrorists with the war crimes in Gaza;
Our higher education heads being pilloried for filing to reduce a complicated situation to a yes-or-no answer for a performing RWNJ -- I mean, that there's no way in a lucid, functional society where Stefanik's the good guy in this;
Make Israel a pariah state to the extent it's never been before; and
The increase of antisemitism by the both the Israeli and our conservatives conflating being Jewish with being a Zionist.
Spoiler: It doesn't take zillions of dollars to exploit a chink in the armor.
And the twin blowbacks at play here: Britain's handling of the Palestine Mandate from Balfour to 1947 and, of course, continued blowback from our overthrow of Mosaddegh.
None of that's a defense of Hamas exactly, but mandatory required reminder: With Netanyahu, there's be no Hamas, certainly not one controlling Gaza.
As for the cancel culture complex, the mandatory reminder that Taibbi is making the most money in his career pushing this bullshit.
Succinct and on point. Thank you. Now back to our regularly scheduled programming of Trump, Trump and more Trump, as if that bloviating bag of psychopathology has any positive contributions to fixing our nation’s problems.
Bari Weiss and Yascha Mounk are lazy, and happy that Christopher Rufo is doing their work for them.
“While one of the most disgusting developments of 2023 was Hamas’ kidnapping, abuse, and occasional murder of Israeli hostages on October 7, the most disheartening development was Israel’s “kill ‘em all, let G-d sort ‘em out” campaign against Palestinian civilians who had fuck-all to do with it — and Israel’s continued insistence that if you opposed these ongoing war crimes, or were even bothered by them, you’re an antisemite.”
Well said! As a Jewish person who has been equally critical of the Iraq War and Netanyahu’s policies and right-wing government; I must be the ultimate anti-Semitic Jew. Not really!
That said, I’ve always stated Bibi is more an amalgamation of both Trump and Cheney. Part evil genius, part ruthless authoritarian kleptomaniac.
And Bibi isn’t winning over converts easily. He abandoned most American Jews who are critical of his West Bank and Gaza policies, in favor of the messianic evangelical’s, who support Israel exclusively for the rapture. Imagine the PM of Israel abandoning his Jewish constituency for a bunch of religious zealots who want to see us all Jews in hell? Oh wait, he’s doing the same in Israel, and make no mistake; the Jewish settlers and the most religious Jews, don’t even believe people like myself are even Jewish.
Additionally, taking eight hours to respond to a terror attack by the same group Bibi has been calling the greatest threat to Israel’s existence, extremely disturbing. Not to mention, moving most of Israel’s troops on Gaza’s border to the West Bank a month before the attack, knowing full well of Hamas’s intentions, leads many, like myself to believe it isn’t coincidental.
Bottom line: I’m not buying what Netanyahu is selling: not today, tomorrow or ever! And I’m not going to war to support a bunch of despicable messianic Jews, who believe god gave them all of Judea and Samaria: Period!
“Cancelculture crybabies go cancelculture!”
Agreed, I can’t stand Barri Weiss; not sure who that Yascha Mounk guy is, but it’s par for the course. And it’s not just these “so called” conservative pundits. It’s the Republican politicians, media and leadership. How many of these politicians and Media outlets showed outrage during the Charlottesville white nationalist march that left 17 wounded and a teenage girl dead? Very few! And the ones that did feign outrage, did so with crocodile tears and useless platitudes. Not unlike, when there’s a gun massacre: “thought and prayers, but we shouldn’t be discussing gun reform when the nation is in mourning....blahblahblahblahblah.
Enough said, and wishing a wonderful weekend and New Year to all...:)
Israel can fuck off. I don’t even like THIS country, and I live here. What makes them think I give two shits about their views?
"... and I tell them to fuck off into outer space."
Amen, brother.
Hope you have a good 2024!
The seeming inability to recognize that it is possible for contradictory notions to co-exist in our tiny, little minds - e.g., Hamas is barbaric and so is Bibi, just with slicker weaponry - makes it difficult to achieve reason in a mad world gone binary. But the truth is still the truth.
I take Mommadillo's point this way: I'm not obliged to love France or Germany or the Marshall Islands just because they're allies of my country -- hell, the USSR was our ally for four years and Republicans hated them!
So it should be OK to say fuck any of those places. I'm sentimental enough that I reflexively make a distinction between the government and the people, who I understand hate Netanyahu's guts now. We'll see whether they follow through on ousting their despised leader. Come for think of it, the rest of the world could say the same about us and Trump!
I love how Harvard (a place not normally on my "love" list) just told these assholes to fuck off and waited for the storm to pass, which, of course, it did. What are we supposed to be OUTRAGED about this week?
Charges of anti-semitism create the bizarre situation of a common opinion, kind of three-pronged--support Israel’s right to exist, condemn Hamas, oppose mass slaughter in Gaza--held by people who are neither Jewish nor Muslim and only want to see less hate and violence in the world, and a humane solution to Palestine’s decades-old misery, being driven underground, when those are the voices that are most needed in this discussion.
"Who are you gonna believe, me or your lying eyes?"
There's a Marx Bros. quote for everything, even the collapse of Western Civilization. We're all being buried alive in Gaslighting and expected to behave and think rationally about it. On top of that, Our Failed Media insists we must engage with Gaslighting, fact-check it, debate it, consider its side and the circumstances that drove the Gaslighter to such a regrettable necessity. In short, we're all being driven insane, just like poor Paula Anton, only no Brian Cameron is going to save us (thanks, Wikipedia).
This thing with the University Presidents is such a nice example of the shit that catches our attention while other, more profound changes fly under our radar. Sure, Elise Stefanik skillfully created a shitstorm that lasted about two weeks (Is anyone talking about this now? Except as we see it here, one item in a year-end roundup?) Meanwhile, there's a profound shift in public opinion towards sympathy for the Palestinians and towards challenging the US supply of weapons to Israel. A shift that is most pronounced among young people, but not confined to young people. And yet this change mostly goes unremarked-upon in the media, except insofar as it fits into the standard "More Trouble for Biden" narrative.
Might be a reason we always see the right-wingers as being so effective at media manipulation, at "messaging", while we see our own team as ineffective, unable to get its shit together enough to practice the same kind of ruthless "message discipline" that the Right is known for. Meanwhile, public opinion inexorably - inexplicably - moves in our direction. So perk up and Happy New Year, everyone!