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.
You mean when religion gets involved in politics. Religion and God are mutually exclusive. And I’ve never after heard god’s interpretation of the Old Testament, New Testament or the Koran.
I have heard various interpretations of each Bible by a bunch of know-nothing charlatans, and religious fanatics posing as God’s prophets, but definitely not god him/herself...:)
Yeah, it has reminded me that the great old song “This Land Is Your Land, This Land Is My Land…” is another distortion: it was not made for you and me, was it.
The Book of Exodus, a remarkably accurate history of the region, written contemporaneously, is very clear on who The Big Guy gave the land to. Who are we to gainsay the Floating All-powerful White-bearded White Man’s decisions?
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.
A reasoned argument for directing the entirety of the national security-fetishizing media to just ignore the fascist cosplay shitstirers and celebrate instead the occasional Good Thing That Happened Today.
Buckhorn State Park just got a new electric all-terrain wheelchair so disabled people can enjoy more of the park, reporting courtesy of Spectrum News.
But don't spread it around, OK? If Speaker of the Assembly Robin Vos ever hears that our park system is trying to be more INCLUSIVE, there'll be hell to pay.
There's a reason the right has been trying hard to define 'antisemitism' soley in terms of "are you critical of Israel, in any capacity, under any circumstances, ever?"- makes scattershot accusations of "antisemitism" a very effective tool for derailing criticism of middle-eastern military adventurism.
Sure, it's pick your Armageddon of choice: a fundamentalist biblical interpretation of Come Lord Jesus or the endless military adventure of MOAR BOMBS will fix it.
Fog of culture war thrives on fog of bullshit, and Israel-Gaza is the latest tool. It sure is a lexicon expander, to grasp the level of DARVO, EAIAC, accusation in a mirror coming from the Israel lovers of the Great Replacement mob.
No he didn't. There's a verse to White Christmas that isn't in any of the movies (the "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas" bit is called the chorus in Tin Pan Alley-speak) where the lyrics are about being in Beverly Hills at Christmas. That's why he's dreaming. It's a great verse, should have been in Holiday Inn, the movie that premiered the sang.
Interesting, sort of an ironical twist that gets left out. Christmas, our least-ironic holiday. I can see why it wouldn't fit the movie, though, which was filmed in snowy fake-Connecticut.
That's the thing, at the end of the movie Bing is in Hollywood on a movie set re-creating Holiday Inn, he's come back to win the girl he pushed away so she could become a big Hollywood star. He's right there, next to Beverly Hills. Thing is, a lot of verses didn't get written until the song becomes a hit. Somewhere Over The Rainbow is one of them.
True, by perpetuating the most monstrous lie in American history, she'll be behind trump by TWELVE points instead of FOURTEEN. Well, that was sure worth it.
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.
" "Hamas’ kidnapping, abuse, and occasional murder of Israeli hostages on October 7..."
TBH, that's backwards; ~1200 killed, a few hundred kidnapped. "
Yes, but the (apparently) official narrative is not the original dead – it is almost exclusively the entunnelled hostages. So I'm giving the boss a pass on this particular point.
Amongst Netanyahu’s continuing, increasing fuck ups is ensuring that the hostages are ever less valued to Hamas and, probably, getting killed by IDF bombings etc.
It's pretty amazing that "But what about the hostages?" seems to carry zero weight with the Israeli government and military. Like their lives were written off on 10/8.
The frosting o the shit cake is that more than enough Israeli voters seem to mostly be cool with it. And if Netanyahu is repellant to the voters, they're still cool with Likud and Likud's coalition of even worse parties.
Theoretically, the lesson from all this -- all the cycles of this shit -- is that what they thought was security wasn't and maybe it's time consider an alternative. Highly doubtful the lesson's been learned.
Well, nothing goes on forever, and eventually people can get tired of all the mutual hatred and murder. Look at Northern Ireland, for example (although looking at recent news, that might have been a case of just redirecting the hate away from the Protestants and towards the immigrants.) Hey, there's an idea, can we find some THIRD group that Israelis and Palestinians can join together in mutual hatred of? Are the Mormons available?
Northern Ireland had leaders on both sides who wanted a resolution. No such thing’s happening in Israel. Netanyahu and his fellow travelers have ensured that there’s no one to negotiate with and, for that matter, Israel has no interest in anything but the status quo of repetition of terrorist acts followed by a disproportionate reaction all while the Israeli presence on the West Bank is ever increased. Nothing’s going to happen til Israel wants peace and some version of what the British should have worked on in the lead up to 1947. I suppose greatly limiting emigration of Jews to the Palestine Mandate was their solution -- something like a Jewish homeland with as few Jews as possible.
In your defense, the 10/7 death toll is kind of minimized as a result of Netanyahu's rapid, nearly immediate pissing away of the good will Israel had for ~24-48 following the attack.
Might not be clear from the comment but I'm ever amazed what a shitshow he's created starting with enabling Hamas ~2006 right up to this minute.
My guess is that a lot of Israeli military and political elites are totally fine with a war that goes on for a thousand years, because they've got more and better guns. They don't even bother to pretend they want anything else.
Not sure where it is at the moment, but Israel used to have a pretty active peace movement. Proportionally, probably bigger than the peace movement has ever been in this country.
Yes, about 10% of the nation’s population showed up at a rally in Tel Aviv to protest the Lebanon incursion. And in the time since, the electorate has moved way rightward.
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.
But... but... his lawyers made another worthless legal motion that has zero chance of surviving in the courts! Let's bring in Neal Katyal to talk about it for half an hour!
Funny how everyone on MSNBC can see that these meritless motions are just a transparent effort to manipulate the legal system without seeing that, either: 1) They're also a transparent attempt to manipulate the media, or 2) They're all participating in a transparent attempt by MSNBC to manipulate its audience.
Meanwhile, proper framing in the reporting would require the word frivolous and to note there’s no merit, just an exercise in delaying things til he can pardon himself.
Funny thing is they do say all that, and THEN spend half an hour chewing it over with a panel of retired federal prosecutors. Please, MSNBC, if you say it's frivolous and worthless, I promise I'll take your word for it, no need to prove it to me at length.
“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...:)
Imagine their dismay when they realize that they heard it wrong and it's actually the raptors! Who did they think was gonna carry their sorry asses into the clouds?!
As a group, I don’t have a lot of use for the people who invented “American Exceptionalism” and made Donald Trump their supreme leader, but there are good people everywhere. There just aren’t enough of them.
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!
My impression is that they hate his guts even more, and that they’re coming together to support the survivors and the displaced, but that we should not mistake that for pro-government fervor.
Whoa, expecting any significant movement of the electorate leftward/peaceward is expecting a lot. It’s the end of the end of the year so I’ll try to be hopeful and note that I might be wrong.
I hope you're right too. Bibi made a deal with the voters: let me do what I want and I'll keep you safe. He blew it, and they know it. They've gotta be thinking long and hard about that quote from Rorschach "I'm not trapped in here with you, you're trapped in here with me" with them being the prisoner and Hamas being Rorschach.
The problem is that the odds of replacing the fucker with anyone significantly better is low. Likewise, I doubt enough voters realize that Netanyahu’s not the whole problem but that the problem is the right wing parties that they elect more and more.
Meanwhile, the Israeli voters are oblivious to or don’t care that the IDF has been shown to be far less competent than their rep and that Israel’s en route to becoming a pariah state.
Now, if the west was much less free with weaponry there’d maybe be some leverage for getting the resolution needed.
Well, as Foster Brooks said, admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery. The political parallels between the US and Israel are to numerous to belabor, but we both gotta start somewhere. Other people who claim to underatand these things have said Bibi has somewhat gamed the electoral system there to make it extra-hard to vote him out, so yeah, no easy way out for them. The IDF and Massad had the kind of reputation the CIA wishes it had, but the recent unpleasantness, plus Bibi throwing them under the bus, has left a mark. But like with voters in the US, I have to believe than when the shit that hits the fan actually hits THEM, there's gonna be a reaction, and not before.
Firstly, Israel the state still has no interest in resolving the ancient problem of one land/two peoples. The problem Israel admits to is the one resulting from their actions: the cycle of create terrorists, experience acts of terrorism, respond with disproportionate violence that does not to ensure that the cycle is broken.
As to eyes opening, I tend to expect the Israeli voters would tend to support pretty much more of the same: continuing the cycle but with better training of the IDF.
Were I hopeful that some day there would peace there, I certainly don’t expect to see it in my lifetime.
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!
"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.
You mean when religion gets involved in politics. Religion and God are mutually exclusive. And I’ve never after heard god’s interpretation of the Old Testament, New Testament or the Koran.
I have heard various interpretations of each Bible by a bunch of know-nothing charlatans, and religious fanatics posing as God’s prophets, but definitely not god him/herself...:)
Cue Abbie Hoffman: "It's one thing to say that you know god. It's another thing entirely to say that you know his telex number".
Hearted for the vintage-technology reference.
Yeah, it has reminded me that the great old song “This Land Is Your Land, This Land Is My Land…” is another distortion: it was not made for you and me, was it.
“And on the other side it didn’t say nothin’
That side was made for you and me”
Because we can't read?
The line before what I posted goes:
"As I was walking I passed a sign there
And on the one side it said No Trespassing"
Conclude your own.
The Book of Exodus, a remarkably accurate history of the region, written contemporaneously, is very clear on who The Big Guy gave the land to. Who are we to gainsay the Floating All-powerful White-bearded White Man’s decisions?
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.
A reasoned argument for directing the entirety of the national security-fetishizing media to just ignore the fascist cosplay shitstirers and celebrate instead the occasional Good Thing That Happened Today.
Buckhorn State Park just got a new electric all-terrain wheelchair so disabled people can enjoy more of the park, reporting courtesy of Spectrum News.
But don't spread it around, OK? If Speaker of the Assembly Robin Vos ever hears that our park system is trying to be more INCLUSIVE, there'll be hell to pay.
WHO IS PAYING FOR THAT????
The taxpayers didn't buy me a pair of hiking boots, UNFAIR! UNFAIR!
Just wait til the ebike gangs take it over.
There's a reason the right has been trying hard to define 'antisemitism' soley in terms of "are you critical of Israel, in any capacity, under any circumstances, ever?"- makes scattershot accusations of "antisemitism" a very effective tool for derailing criticism of middle-eastern military adventurism.
Sure, it's pick your Armageddon of choice: a fundamentalist biblical interpretation of Come Lord Jesus or the endless military adventure of MOAR BOMBS will fix it.
Fog of culture war thrives on fog of bullshit, and Israel-Gaza is the latest tool. It sure is a lexicon expander, to grasp the level of DARVO, EAIAC, accusation in a mirror coming from the Israel lovers of the Great Replacement mob.
"their positions aren’t held in good faith, they don’t actually give much of a shit about ______"
I took out "Israel" and left a blank space in case anyone needs to reuse this.
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
In case the point isn't rhetorical, Haley will be fine. You're maye thinking of a saner, more civilized nation with some morals.
Funny, but I can't remember thinking of a saner, more civilized nation with some morals for many moons...
I was dreaming of a white Christmas, but I didn't get that either. Irving Berlin LIED.
No he didn't. There's a verse to White Christmas that isn't in any of the movies (the "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas" bit is called the chorus in Tin Pan Alley-speak) where the lyrics are about being in Beverly Hills at Christmas. That's why he's dreaming. It's a great verse, should have been in Holiday Inn, the movie that premiered the sang.
Interesting, sort of an ironical twist that gets left out. Christmas, our least-ironic holiday. I can see why it wouldn't fit the movie, though, which was filmed in snowy fake-Connecticut.
That's the thing, at the end of the movie Bing is in Hollywood on a movie set re-creating Holiday Inn, he's come back to win the girl he pushed away so she could become a big Hollywood star. He's right there, next to Beverly Hills. Thing is, a lot of verses didn't get written until the song becomes a hit. Somewhere Over The Rainbow is one of them.
Beverley Hills is about as white as it gets.
I hear they do have this one cop...
The "hidden hand of the market" wasn't hidden; it was holding a whip.
If I'd meant 'whip hand' I woulda said whip hand, mister! But yeah...
it was a kitten?
I'm of the opinion she'll GAIN a few points in the polls. She's not pitching to the middle, she's pitching to the MAGAs.
True, by perpetuating the most monstrous lie in American history, she'll be behind trump by TWELVE points instead of FOURTEEN. Well, that was sure worth it.
I toldja, SURGE!!!!
The non-Trump candidates have about 3 points that they trade around amongst themselves, just so nobody forgets they're there.
Veep energy.
I see she also promised to pardon Trump if elected (ha ha). He doesn't lack for lackeys.
Although Nikki may flunk the test for flunkies.
Harsh but fair.
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.
" "Hamas’ kidnapping, abuse, and occasional murder of Israeli hostages on October 7..."
TBH, that's backwards; ~1200 killed, a few hundred kidnapped. "
Yes, but the (apparently) official narrative is not the original dead – it is almost exclusively the entunnelled hostages. So I'm giving the boss a pass on this particular point.
Amongst Netanyahu’s continuing, increasing fuck ups is ensuring that the hostages are ever less valued to Hamas and, probably, getting killed by IDF bombings etc.
What a world...
It's pretty amazing that "But what about the hostages?" seems to carry zero weight with the Israeli government and military. Like their lives were written off on 10/8.
Yes, it does seem that.
The frosting o the shit cake is that more than enough Israeli voters seem to mostly be cool with it. And if Netanyahu is repellant to the voters, they're still cool with Likud and Likud's coalition of even worse parties.
Theoretically, the lesson from all this -- all the cycles of this shit -- is that what they thought was security wasn't and maybe it's time consider an alternative. Highly doubtful the lesson's been learned.
Well, nothing goes on forever, and eventually people can get tired of all the mutual hatred and murder. Look at Northern Ireland, for example (although looking at recent news, that might have been a case of just redirecting the hate away from the Protestants and towards the immigrants.) Hey, there's an idea, can we find some THIRD group that Israelis and Palestinians can join together in mutual hatred of? Are the Mormons available?
[Moroni checks calendar] I got nuthin’
Northern Ireland had leaders on both sides who wanted a resolution. No such thing’s happening in Israel. Netanyahu and his fellow travelers have ensured that there’s no one to negotiate with and, for that matter, Israel has no interest in anything but the status quo of repetition of terrorist acts followed by a disproportionate reaction all while the Israeli presence on the West Bank is ever increased. Nothing’s going to happen til Israel wants peace and some version of what the British should have worked on in the lead up to 1947. I suppose greatly limiting emigration of Jews to the Palestine Mandate was their solution -- something like a Jewish homeland with as few Jews as possible.
Fair point about the death toll -- and of course everything else
In your defense, the 10/7 death toll is kind of minimized as a result of Netanyahu's rapid, nearly immediate pissing away of the good will Israel had for ~24-48 following the attack.
Might not be clear from the comment but I'm ever amazed what a shitshow he's created starting with enabling Hamas ~2006 right up to this minute.
My guess is that a lot of Israeli military and political elites are totally fine with a war that goes on for a thousand years, because they've got more and better guns. They don't even bother to pretend they want anything else.
Probably.
But again, the question is the Israeli electorate and I'm sure what with insecurity being their heritage they're fine with a 1,000 year war.
Still amazing...
Not sure where it is at the moment, but Israel used to have a pretty active peace movement. Proportionally, probably bigger than the peace movement has ever been in this country.
Yes, about 10% of the nation’s population showed up at a rally in Tel Aviv to protest the Lebanon incursion. And in the time since, the electorate has moved way rightward.
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.
He EMBODIES our nation's problems.
That explains a lot about the body he's living in.
Clarificación: not from Roy, but the main stream muddle-ah.
Wait. There's MORE Trump??!!
It's King Toads all the way down.
As much as you want. No, MORE than you want.
But... but... his lawyers made another worthless legal motion that has zero chance of surviving in the courts! Let's bring in Neal Katyal to talk about it for half an hour!
Funny how everyone on MSNBC can see that these meritless motions are just a transparent effort to manipulate the legal system without seeing that, either: 1) They're also a transparent attempt to manipulate the media, or 2) They're all participating in a transparent attempt by MSNBC to manipulate its audience.
Or both.
Meanwhile, proper framing in the reporting would require the word frivolous and to note there’s no merit, just an exercise in delaying things til he can pardon himself.
Funny thing is they do say all that, and THEN spend half an hour chewing it over with a panel of retired federal prosecutors. Please, MSNBC, if you say it's frivolous and worthless, I promise I'll take your word for it, no need to prove it to me at length.
Bari Weiss and Yascha Mounk are lazy, and happy that Christopher Rufo is doing their work for them.
Not so much lazy as unskilled. From the tone of their writing I get the impression they couldn't make so much as a cheese sandwich without an editor.
Bari’s writing is a land of contrasts.
I agree, and will give Rufo one and only one compliment: the prick is industrious, no question.
Young man in a hurry (to ruin everything)
“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...:)
"support Israel exclusively for the rapture"
Imagine their dismay when they realize that they heard it wrong and it's actually the raptors! Who did they think was gonna carry their sorry asses into the clouds?!
"Blessed are the cheesemakers, for they shall enable tasty sandwiches."
Cheese don't need no sandwich. Cheese stands on its own, salty, proud, free and smelly as necessary.
I'm goin' to heaven in an oversized and overpowered Ford pickup?
Gift rapt!
I read that line initially as "exclusively for the rUpture" and that, of course, makes no sense.
There seems to be a lot more "antisemitic Jews" than there used to be all of a sudden. Back in my old religion, that's how sects were formed!
Yeah. Now, with the apocalypse and all, there's fewer and fewer insects.
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?
No group of people are monolithic. Israel has as much political dysfunction as here. Although you hate the country, do you hate all Americans?
I personally hate our government when republicans are in charge, and tolerate it when democrats are charge; but that’s me...:)
As a group, I don’t have a lot of use for the people who invented “American Exceptionalism” and made Donald Trump their supreme leader, but there are good people everywhere. There just aren’t enough of them.
Agreed...:)
"... and I tell them to fuck off into outer space."
Amen, brother.
Hope you have a good 2024!
I want "Fuck off into outer space" to be a B-52's tune.
Cosmic Thing and Planet Claire aren’t good enough for you anymore?
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.
Here's one I ran into the other day, edited for conciseness: "I really, really, REALLY hate Hillary Clinton, so Vladimir Putin must be an angel."
For concision, how many "reallies" did you redact?
Seven.
Yoicks!
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!
My impression is that they hate his guts even more, and that they’re coming together to support the survivors and the displaced, but that we should not mistake that for pro-government fervor.
Whoa, expecting any significant movement of the electorate leftward/peaceward is expecting a lot. It’s the end of the end of the year so I’ll try to be hopeful and note that I might be wrong.
I hope you're right too. Bibi made a deal with the voters: let me do what I want and I'll keep you safe. He blew it, and they know it. They've gotta be thinking long and hard about that quote from Rorschach "I'm not trapped in here with you, you're trapped in here with me" with them being the prisoner and Hamas being Rorschach.
The problem is that the odds of replacing the fucker with anyone significantly better is low. Likewise, I doubt enough voters realize that Netanyahu’s not the whole problem but that the problem is the right wing parties that they elect more and more.
Meanwhile, the Israeli voters are oblivious to or don’t care that the IDF has been shown to be far less competent than their rep and that Israel’s en route to becoming a pariah state.
Now, if the west was much less free with weaponry there’d maybe be some leverage for getting the resolution needed.
Not that I’m planning to live that long...
Well, as Foster Brooks said, admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery. The political parallels between the US and Israel are to numerous to belabor, but we both gotta start somewhere. Other people who claim to underatand these things have said Bibi has somewhat gamed the electoral system there to make it extra-hard to vote him out, so yeah, no easy way out for them. The IDF and Massad had the kind of reputation the CIA wishes it had, but the recent unpleasantness, plus Bibi throwing them under the bus, has left a mark. But like with voters in the US, I have to believe than when the shit that hits the fan actually hits THEM, there's gonna be a reaction, and not before.
Eh.
Firstly, Israel the state still has no interest in resolving the ancient problem of one land/two peoples. The problem Israel admits to is the one resulting from their actions: the cycle of create terrorists, experience acts of terrorism, respond with disproportionate violence that does not to ensure that the cycle is broken.
As to eyes opening, I tend to expect the Israeli voters would tend to support pretty much more of the same: continuing the cycle but with better training of the IDF.
Were I hopeful that some day there would peace there, I certainly don’t expect to see it in my lifetime.
Thanks for sticking with this all day today. Much appreciated.
😊
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.
Netanyahu would be happy if the only voices we ever hear from were him and Hamas.
"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!