How about this: All those orders you’ve placed with Amazon, not just for Christmas celebrations a month from now, but regular stuff, like sets of sheets, and replacement Nikes for your worn-out running shoes, and two new mattresses – the kind that come compressed and rolled up in a box – for new twin beds for your guest bedroom, and a new down jacket for that ski trip to Utah you’re planning for January, and a new coffee grinder to replace the one that gave up the ghost last month…
Lucian, your analogy was spot on. For us not to support totally the Ukraine??? This is NOT the United States I knew as a youth. tRump has made the once sane GOP into the MAGA party. I cannot believe that literally tens of millions of American voters want to re-elect a criminal who attempted on January 6th to overthrow our democracy. And they watched it live on television and now deny it happened. OMG. And using your stat of more than 80% of MAGA voters want to cut off all aid to the Ukraine?!? Another OMG. To not stand with the Ukraine against Russia who attacked a sovereign nation is mind blowing. It reminds me of the old piece which I will not give all the verses since your readers know it, but starts with- First they came for the socialists, and I did nothing because I was not a socialist...
Excellent construct, Lucian. Unfortunately, Rs/cons and the MSM could be standing on the Empire State Building's 86th Floor Observatory and your piece would still fly far over their noggins.
There isn't any issue, topic or subject that Rs do not first view as to how we can gain a political advantage, all at the expense of good governance and sound policy making.
Yet the media continues to ignore what is while dumbing it down to R v. D or Right v. Left. Said another way, nonsense is the same-same as sense because both words include the word sense.
Have to wait until I stop laughing, thanks again for summing up the absurdities.
It seems they don't even comprehend any way to stop perpetrating them - the " pretzel logic" they deploy - the mass media with very few exceptions, Rs as settled disposition to inflict their depraved indifference to human life and good governance - is beyond whacky.
On the serious side remains incomprehensible to me how Rs/cons have twisted and inverted the founders of democracy, the Ancient Greeks view of politics. They saw politics as being noble service with political discourse and speech as reason and persuasion. Or as my ancestors refer to it as ~thunder~.
In America political speech remains the most protected of all speech. Rs/cons seized that opportunity to weaponize it including to dehumanize "the other". The second most protected speech is that of a free press. It is that free press that is leveraged to amplify and multiply the absurdities, lies, falsehoods and fallacies knowing full well there will be little or no pushback. (The current exceptions are a mere rounding error). Not satisfied with leveraging the MSM, Rs/cons created and birthed their own. They knew the MSM wouldn't check on what they said on alternative media, then confront them during interviews in print or on teevee.
One of the many examples is Bill Kristol who for years double-dipped, appearing on FNC's echo chamber then be on a panel on CNN or MSNBC doing his best to sound reasonable. I cite him not so much as far double-dipping. more so for long being wrong on big issues over the decades. In any other profession or walk of life being long wrong is an instant disqualification.
Last week I cited Dan Senor now being a CNN go-to on Israel, Bibi, and war. Unbelievable. Have yet to see a single interview with the opposition parties within Israel. WT cares about what Americans think and believe rather than what Israelis and Gazans are living? The same goes for (ret) US FO/GOs. They have no insight into the IDF's war plan, Hamas and the other 10 or so black-flag groups, and most of all Jewish and Palestinian culture. The hubris! Am ashamed for them.
I concur, the sub-culture is toxic and influential out of all proportion to their minimal expertise, much less the farcical example of Kristol you cite, along with Senor and the ex-military / ex-state types. I have seen some ex-FBI officials competent and on point as can be - but they were also the ones trashed by Trump and his lackeys, fired or otherwise illicitly cheated out of deserved pensions (Andrew McCabe, court case he filed to reverse it I think is still proceeding) or defamed (Peter Strzok, James Comey), for the most part. They're the exceptions.
Edit - And the FBI folks were focused in on subjects they knew well and not bloviating immediately upon arriving in South America floating in a balloon over Tierra del Fuego informing us it was windy -but no worries, the experts would solve that soon.
To be fair, “this year's aging walrus” 👏 has been a consistent supporter of aid to Ukraine. Although he's not entirely blameless since he doesn't seem to be willing to, uh, stick his neck out too far to lean on the maga-meshuga element of his party.
But I doubt it would come to much, because we're at a point where anyone espousing anything approaching a reasonable position has already been sidelined in favor of the truly insane - embodied by MTG, Boebert, Gaetz and the like. Johnson has already shown us that he couldn't care less about what Moscow Mitch has to say. It's truly terrifying that their point of view on Ukraine has now been adopted by the majority of “Republicans”. It's emblematic of a an Amurrica-first mindset brought on by a total breakdown in critical thought.
They would rather ape Putin than Churchill, and they're going to be awfully short on answers when their hero overruns a good part of what we now know as Europe. Somehow they'll make it Biden's fault.
Whatever your position is on the Israeli Palestinian conflict right now one thing is undeniable: Hamas attacked Israel in the most atrocious barbaric display of terrorism that has been seen in a very long time. And what’s happening now in this country started on October 7 when the reality of this attack was turned into the poor downtrodden Palestinians. It was no longer defeat Hamas already because without getting rid of Hamas it’s gonna stay a shit hole because they have siphoned off all the foreign aid that has ever gone to that area. Continuing to argue, whether or not Israel committed genocide by defending itself, is so far off the track of what’s really happening. And right now you know that in Congress aid for Israel is starting to look like a toxic move because as we all know nothing that gets done in Congress is anything other than for their political suicide mission. Israel was pressured into a cease-fire that Hillary Clinton, who negotiated the last cease-fire in 2012, made it a point to say was only going to make Hamas stronger it was misguided and a mistake. And yet it’s very apparent that US support for Israel is dimming and will probably doom that country. Clearly, Israel was pressured by Biden, and the threat of losing support into the cease-fire. That is a no level for their benefit as Hamas dribbles out hostages. Bottom line is we no longer have politicians in Congress and the Senate who care about anything other than saving their skin from the next round of elections no matter how much they carry on like they’re in control they know they’re hanging on by a very thin thread. Even the Koch people have put their money now behind Nikki Haley because they’re finally admitting that Donnie boy is unelectable. He’s not who they want to support. Absolution already pointed out, support, for Ukraine was always short of giving them a chance and victory. They were just treading water. All hell is breaking loose right now and we have screaming monkeys in Congress working a sick agenda that makes sure that nothing gets done. It’s the entire breakdown of this country, of democracy, basic decency, intelligence that we’re seeing play out all over the place and I shudder at the thought of what 2024 is gonna look like.
Well said, AJ, A very good summation. One hostage was three months old and still not released. What kind of monsters would take a baby into captivity? The adult hostages were fed mostly rice with occasional bread and with no showers were full of lice. That baby could die of malnutrition or be so severely malnourished that could cause physical/mental damage.
The Gaza population is suffering, yes, but whose fault is that? Do any of them blame Hamas for attacking Israel in such a barbaric way that they had no choice but to attempt to wipe out these savages to the last man. Do they ever blame Hamas for embedding themselves and firing t rockets from civilian structures, then hiding in their midst when attacked? Their anger should be directed at Hamas, not Israe. Yer as the convoys carrying hostages home the Gasan civilians were rocking the cars as they moved slowly through the crowds and scaring then m to death. The Gazans are crying over their own suffering but was a single tear shed for the dead and injured Israelis on Oct 7? Did they ever even appreciate when Israel pulled out of Gaza forcibly removing their own civilians residing there? Israel was assuming this would cut down resentment but instead Hamas used to opportunity to build up their strength so they could attack Israel. I am not Jewish but I am ashamed of our GOP Congress for hesitating over aid to Israel aid as well as to Ukraine. If Lucian;s in imaginary scenario ever comes true the blame will be fully on them.
Yes, you’ve read this correctly. It’s just barbaric. I just saw a video by a young Israeli woman describing another young women’s, witnessing of the rape, mutilation and death of a young Israeli woman. I cannot find it in my heart or soul to understand why there is not a wellspring of outrage about this treatment. It comes down to hating Jews more than they want to see justice. Where are all the women in this country using the me too hashtag for so long? I’m sure there are many Palestinians, who would really rather Hamas went away but by and large? They share their hatred of Israel, and their culture is extremely deprived. In New York City during the early pro Palestine protests, young men were playing videos of the atrocities on their cell phones, jeering and exulting and laughing, and many were violent. Still are. You have 300,000 Jews went to DC to protest, and there was not one incident. As it’s often been said in this country oThey share their hatred of Israel, and their culture is extremely deprived. In New York City during the early pro Palestine protests, young man we’re playing videos of the atrocities on their cell phones, laughing, and during they were violent. Yet 300,000 Jews went to DC to protest and there was not one incident. It was peaceful and heartfelt. As it’s often been said in this country over the last few years, there are not good people on both sides. I am Jewish I’m not religious, but I’m spiritually Jewish and this has just really broken my heart. And made me afraid.
Hi AJ, that is so sad. So many young people with apparently no compassion or empathy for the suffering and humiliation by innocent people, many just trying to enjoy the festive occasion. I am not religious either although raised in the Christian tradition, but like you subscribe to the spiritual perspective. This overall historical hatred of Jews is beyond my understanding. I have talked to Jewish friends about it. I have mentioned before about my near death type experience many years ago and one important revelation to me was that while justice may be evaded here there is ultimate justice in the sense that for example those perpetrators of the atrocities will pay a heavy price in that they are living a hellish existence now that will actually continue for them on a spirit level after death. The state of their heart and soul with the violent thoughts and hatred continues into and actually created their next reality along with the collective minds of others like themselves. I have witnessed this. Of course no way to prove it. Even people who don't directly harm others but who indirectly bring about suffering and hardship or who gain financially in less than honest ways will find that it was all for naught in the end.
Well said. I would add one suggestion, based not so much on my own encounters with "near death experiences" as any kind of influence on the suggestion, or other "higher states of consciousness," but on philosophical considerations raised, surprisingly enough, within the philosophy of mathematics and logic! And subsequently, within what became called "linguistic philosophy," or sometimes, "The Oxford School," although that's too all-inclusive.
Specifically by Ludwig Wittgenstein, when he was - over the course of several decades, beginning around 1912, then during his service in the Austrian army in The Great War / War to End All Wars, all the way through his early philosophy and the later very different philosophical views he developed in the late 1920s until his death - struggling with the notion of "proof" - what does it mean to prove a proposition?
Here, it would be proving that at least the key, crucial elements of what you outlined about a continuity of "karma" from this life, on this third planet from the local sun, into a life or existence or reality encountered after our demise here, are valid - fair and accurate enough, if by no means
the entire story.
"Shuffling off the mortal coil," so after that, a proof might amount to what Wittgenstein called "assembling reminders of what we already know." But wait -
of course that's impossible, apart from one of these "glimpses into the infinite" you mentioned, thus, to wrap this up: it would proceed by closely examining hundreds of cases of "near death experiences," to verify or falsify that basic, crucial model of continuing karma.
Then the arguments about how convincing, or unconvincing, the "proof" is would continue. It seems those disputes are baked into our inevitable, shared encounter with human mortality - the mortality, or insubstantial nature, of all compounded things, as the Buddha put it.
As 2023 winds down, the news from my enclave in Queens County is ominous . A teacher in a local high school was hidden from a mob of angry students who were protesting the bombing of Gaza by Israeli armed forces. The teacher had posted her support of Israel on social media.
As a young teacher some 45 years ago, l was assaulted by rampaging students in a public high school. My response was passive resistance which resulted in an overhaul and reorganization of the school by the district office.
The present situation is even more complex and will require great skill in disarming. Teaching cannot go on in a hostile workplace and students who attack the school cannot become the norm!
I followed that story, as well as the support for Gaza and attacks on Jews in Harvard, Columbia, many institutions of supposedly higher learning. Very little repercussion being handed out by school administrations thus putting anybody who’s pro Israel in jeopardy including professors Just this morning somebody posted a photo on my FB feed of a large swastika somebody made on the floor of a bathroom stall in Baruch College. All of these acts are horrifying and having the desired effect. Combined with Donnie Boy’s Hitleresque ravings that the media is simply not calling out strongly enough, that needs to be taken seriously, the rampant antisemitism has made a fearful environment. Of course, we know it is always been there, but it has not been so out front before.
I concur with what you have said about increased incidences of hatred and violence.
My father-in-law, born in a shtetl near Lviv when it was considered Poland, fled persecution as a teenager. He studied law in NYC, and taught me the importance of understanding both sides of an argument . When my husband and l studied together in lsrael in 1976, the climate of was considerably less extreme despite the hijacking of an El Al airplane to Uganda.
We were warned by our tour guide to stay on the path to avoid terrorist land mines on a mountain climb to Ein Gedi nature retreat!
This documentary examines the experiences of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, using interviews with survivors more than 50 years later. First, the film sets the context with the rise of Fascism. Then, in 1936, Spain's military revolts against the elected government, and the U.S. and Europe agree not to intervene. In response, volunteers snuck past border guards into Spain to fight with the Republicans. The men and women veterans describe the perils of reaching Spain, limited training, responsibilities of command thrust on the very young, deprivations of a soldier's life, lack of matériel, horrible rates of casualties, and ultimate vindication at the end of World War II.
Studs Turkel, the quintessential Chicago intellectual!
How we devoured his work connecting Americans of all stripes, even the skeptics, with vivid portraits in prose. And 40 plus years of radio tapes are still available online. What a treasure!
His genuine curiosity and enjoyment of humans of all sorts, and the possibilities for improving our lives, was absolutely, unmistakably part of his approach to every interview I ever saw or heard him broadcast.
There's simply no one around like that now, that is, with access to a mass media audience, and engaged in such a wide range of issues and topics.
"The Good Fight..." can be rented from Amazon for $1.99.
In 1969 I rented a house in Fuengirola for all of August from a British diplomat. It overlooked the Med. The first full day there we went to the near empty beach. I saw a small obelisk-shaped monument. It was on that spot that Col. Franco and his Spanish Legion launched the Spanish Civil War. Later we made friends with a retired Infantry Colonel in that Legion who owned a castle nearby. We used to have cocktails with him on his spectacular terrace overlooking the sea. I was sure he had tons of blood on his hands, but that is what civil wars always end up bringing about. He was a lonely guy, though with his many pictures of him with Franco.
Rich! It's free free free via the You Tube link, far be from it for me to scorn Amazon, I order stuff from them sent to designated Hub in Whole Foods Market, that's not it - but it's up there simply by "googling" The Good Fight doc on You Tube, unless you have a setup that forecloses routing internet streaming?
No. I subscribe to just about everything (Netflix, Amazon, Max, Hulu, Apple, Acorn, Kanopy, Peacock, PBS Passport---keeps me out of trouble and movie theaters). But I use Justwatch.com to find where stuff is being streamed. Unfortunately, Justwatch.com is not nearly100% correct.
A great description of our dystopian nightmare. I have to take exception, however, to your calling our esteemed Speaker an "aging walrus." He's clearly an aging turtle and those creatures seemingly live forever.
Your view into the future is frightening. MAGA Mike delayed aid to Israel and Ukraine for the most petty reasons. The House has yet to pass the Defense Authorization Act and Tommy Tuberville still continues to block the promotions of nearly 400 Flag and General Officers. What will it take? Of course if this happens they will default as always to blaming President Biden rather than take responsibility for their petulant actions. Of course Trump and his Fascist cabal still are plotting to destroy democracy and at any cost. Can you imagine what happens to military readiness for war if he declares the Insurrection Act and puts troops in the streets to harm American citizens?
I prefer not to dwell on the possible, when the impossible is already sitting on the mantle piece , begging to be dusted. Bookshelves aching with seldom read novels: White Noise by Delillo comes to mind. James Baldwin's Another Country or Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man.
When prose is that vivid, it sticks in my craw.
And then I return to the stacks of unpublished writing, in chronological boxes, all neatly typed. Writing for the drawer, as my Professor Tom Bird, used to say of the Russian and Soviet men and women who write furtively and who circulate their work on pain of death.
The standoff in Ukraine where neither side is now gaining ground seems increasingly like the trench warfare of WW1. Thousands died, and many more suffered from undiagnosed PTSD. That standoff was finally broken by pouring more and more resources into the battle, significantly by the US. Our country needs the same resolution, at least by funding Ukraine, if this stalemate is to ever be broken.
An 85-year-old Israeli peace activist who was kidnapped by Hamas and later released, described how she confronted the Hamas chief, Yahya Sinwar, in a Gaza tunnel and told him he should be “ashamed of himself” for his role in ordering the 7 October massacre of 1,200 Israelis.
Yocheved Lifshitz, who was freed in October before the current series of hostage and Palestinian prisoner releases, said she met Sinwar in a part of the Hamas tunnel network where she was being held captive, which she previously described as an extensive warren.
“Sinwar was with us three to four days after we arrived. I asked him how he is not ashamed to do such a thing to people who have supported peace all these years,” Lifshitz told the Hebrew-language newspaper Davar, while attending a protest for the return of hostages still held by Hamas on Tuesday evening.
“He didn’t answer,” she added. “He was silent.”
Lifshitz, who spent years campaigning for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, is the latest released hostage to indicate she had encountered Sinwar during her captivity as it emerged that hostages held in different places by different factions appeared to have experienced different conditions of imprisonment.
With her husband, Oded, 83, who is still being held by Hamas, Lifshitz had helped sick Palestinians in Gaza get to hospitals in Israel.
Lifschitz’s comments to a Davar reporter follow reports that Sinwar also met other kidnapped Israelis who were abducted from kibbutz Nir Oz within a day of being taken hostage.
During the visit, Sinwar and his brother Mohammed, a senior figure in the group’s armed wing, told the hostages they would not be harmed and would be returned to Israel as part of an exchange deal.
According to a relative of a recently released hostage, quoted by Israel’s Channel 12, Sinwar introduced himself to a group of hostages from Nir Oz in Hebrew, saying: “Hello, I am Yahya Sinwar. You are the most protected here. Nothing will happen to you.”
Sinwar learned Hebrew while serving a long prison sentence in Israel for the abduction and murder of two Israeli soldiers, being freed in 2011 as part of the prisoner exchange to secure the release of the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
An Israeli soldier in the Jenin refugee camp.
Eight-year-old boy among four reported dead in Israeli raid on Jenin
Read more
Sinwar’s encounters with Hamas hostages in the tunnels, on top of the heavily choreographed nature of the hostage releases, appears to suggest that Sinwar, accused by Israel of being one of the masterminds of the 7 October massacre, was conscious that an exchange of hostages for prisoners was a possibility.
Lifshitz had previously described the scenes of horror she had witnessed on 7 October. After her release she said: “They went rampant in our kibbutz. They blew up the electronic fence, that special fence that cost $2.5bn [£2bn] to build but didn’t help with anything.
“Masses mobbed our homes. They beat people, took some hostage. They didn’t distinguish between young and elderly. It was very painful. They brought us to the entrance to the tunnels. We arrived in the tunnel and walked for kilometres on wet dirt. There is a giant system of tunnels, like spiderwebs.”
*******
"An Essay on Man" is a poem published by Alexander Pope in 1733–1734. It was dedicated to Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (pronounced 'Bull-en-brook'), hence the opening line: "Awake, my St John...".[1][2][3] It is an effort to rationalize or rather "vindicate the ways of God to man" (l.16), a variation of John Milton's claim in the opening lines of Paradise Lost, that he will "justifie the wayes of God to men" (1.26).[4] It is concerned with the natural order God has decreed for man. Because man cannot know God's purposes, he cannot complain about his position in the great chain of being (ll.33–34) and must accept that "Whatever is, is right" (l.292), a theme that was satirized by Voltaire in Candide (1759).[5] More than any other work, it popularized optimistic philosophy throughout England and the rest of Europe.
Hope Springs Eternal is a phrase from the Alexander Pope poem An Essay on Man.
Lucian, your analogy was spot on. For us not to support totally the Ukraine??? This is NOT the United States I knew as a youth. tRump has made the once sane GOP into the MAGA party. I cannot believe that literally tens of millions of American voters want to re-elect a criminal who attempted on January 6th to overthrow our democracy. And they watched it live on television and now deny it happened. OMG. And using your stat of more than 80% of MAGA voters want to cut off all aid to the Ukraine?!? Another OMG. To not stand with the Ukraine against Russia who attacked a sovereign nation is mind blowing. It reminds me of the old piece which I will not give all the verses since your readers know it, but starts with- First they came for the socialists, and I did nothing because I was not a socialist...
Excellent construct, Lucian. Unfortunately, Rs/cons and the MSM could be standing on the Empire State Building's 86th Floor Observatory and your piece would still fly far over their noggins.
There isn't any issue, topic or subject that Rs do not first view as to how we can gain a political advantage, all at the expense of good governance and sound policy making.
Yet the media continues to ignore what is while dumbing it down to R v. D or Right v. Left. Said another way, nonsense is the same-same as sense because both words include the word sense.
Have to wait until I stop laughing, thanks again for summing up the absurdities.
It seems they don't even comprehend any way to stop perpetrating them - the " pretzel logic" they deploy - the mass media with very few exceptions, Rs as settled disposition to inflict their depraved indifference to human life and good governance - is beyond whacky.
On the serious side remains incomprehensible to me how Rs/cons have twisted and inverted the founders of democracy, the Ancient Greeks view of politics. They saw politics as being noble service with political discourse and speech as reason and persuasion. Or as my ancestors refer to it as ~thunder~.
In America political speech remains the most protected of all speech. Rs/cons seized that opportunity to weaponize it including to dehumanize "the other". The second most protected speech is that of a free press. It is that free press that is leveraged to amplify and multiply the absurdities, lies, falsehoods and fallacies knowing full well there will be little or no pushback. (The current exceptions are a mere rounding error). Not satisfied with leveraging the MSM, Rs/cons created and birthed their own. They knew the MSM wouldn't check on what they said on alternative media, then confront them during interviews in print or on teevee.
One of the many examples is Bill Kristol who for years double-dipped, appearing on FNC's echo chamber then be on a panel on CNN or MSNBC doing his best to sound reasonable. I cite him not so much as far double-dipping. more so for long being wrong on big issues over the decades. In any other profession or walk of life being long wrong is an instant disqualification.
Last week I cited Dan Senor now being a CNN go-to on Israel, Bibi, and war. Unbelievable. Have yet to see a single interview with the opposition parties within Israel. WT cares about what Americans think and believe rather than what Israelis and Gazans are living? The same goes for (ret) US FO/GOs. They have no insight into the IDF's war plan, Hamas and the other 10 or so black-flag groups, and most of all Jewish and Palestinian culture. The hubris! Am ashamed for them.
I concur, the sub-culture is toxic and influential out of all proportion to their minimal expertise, much less the farcical example of Kristol you cite, along with Senor and the ex-military / ex-state types. I have seen some ex-FBI officials competent and on point as can be - but they were also the ones trashed by Trump and his lackeys, fired or otherwise illicitly cheated out of deserved pensions (Andrew McCabe, court case he filed to reverse it I think is still proceeding) or defamed (Peter Strzok, James Comey), for the most part. They're the exceptions.
Edit - And the FBI folks were focused in on subjects they knew well and not bloviating immediately upon arriving in South America floating in a balloon over Tierra del Fuego informing us it was windy -but no worries, the experts would solve that soon.
Repubs want to get back to doing business with Russia now that Russia is no longer “communist”.
All they care about is power & money.
To be fair, “this year's aging walrus” 👏 has been a consistent supporter of aid to Ukraine. Although he's not entirely blameless since he doesn't seem to be willing to, uh, stick his neck out too far to lean on the maga-meshuga element of his party.
But I doubt it would come to much, because we're at a point where anyone espousing anything approaching a reasonable position has already been sidelined in favor of the truly insane - embodied by MTG, Boebert, Gaetz and the like. Johnson has already shown us that he couldn't care less about what Moscow Mitch has to say. It's truly terrifying that their point of view on Ukraine has now been adopted by the majority of “Republicans”. It's emblematic of a an Amurrica-first mindset brought on by a total breakdown in critical thought.
They would rather ape Putin than Churchill, and they're going to be awfully short on answers when their hero overruns a good part of what we now know as Europe. Somehow they'll make it Biden's fault.
Whoa...dystopian nightmare...and it won't make a dent in the stupid thinking of the MAGAs...they don't care one sou...sad. sad.
Whatever your position is on the Israeli Palestinian conflict right now one thing is undeniable: Hamas attacked Israel in the most atrocious barbaric display of terrorism that has been seen in a very long time. And what’s happening now in this country started on October 7 when the reality of this attack was turned into the poor downtrodden Palestinians. It was no longer defeat Hamas already because without getting rid of Hamas it’s gonna stay a shit hole because they have siphoned off all the foreign aid that has ever gone to that area. Continuing to argue, whether or not Israel committed genocide by defending itself, is so far off the track of what’s really happening. And right now you know that in Congress aid for Israel is starting to look like a toxic move because as we all know nothing that gets done in Congress is anything other than for their political suicide mission. Israel was pressured into a cease-fire that Hillary Clinton, who negotiated the last cease-fire in 2012, made it a point to say was only going to make Hamas stronger it was misguided and a mistake. And yet it’s very apparent that US support for Israel is dimming and will probably doom that country. Clearly, Israel was pressured by Biden, and the threat of losing support into the cease-fire. That is a no level for their benefit as Hamas dribbles out hostages. Bottom line is we no longer have politicians in Congress and the Senate who care about anything other than saving their skin from the next round of elections no matter how much they carry on like they’re in control they know they’re hanging on by a very thin thread. Even the Koch people have put their money now behind Nikki Haley because they’re finally admitting that Donnie boy is unelectable. He’s not who they want to support. Absolution already pointed out, support, for Ukraine was always short of giving them a chance and victory. They were just treading water. All hell is breaking loose right now and we have screaming monkeys in Congress working a sick agenda that makes sure that nothing gets done. It’s the entire breakdown of this country, of democracy, basic decency, intelligence that we’re seeing play out all over the place and I shudder at the thought of what 2024 is gonna look like.
Well said, AJ, A very good summation. One hostage was three months old and still not released. What kind of monsters would take a baby into captivity? The adult hostages were fed mostly rice with occasional bread and with no showers were full of lice. That baby could die of malnutrition or be so severely malnourished that could cause physical/mental damage.
The Gaza population is suffering, yes, but whose fault is that? Do any of them blame Hamas for attacking Israel in such a barbaric way that they had no choice but to attempt to wipe out these savages to the last man. Do they ever blame Hamas for embedding themselves and firing t rockets from civilian structures, then hiding in their midst when attacked? Their anger should be directed at Hamas, not Israe. Yer as the convoys carrying hostages home the Gasan civilians were rocking the cars as they moved slowly through the crowds and scaring then m to death. The Gazans are crying over their own suffering but was a single tear shed for the dead and injured Israelis on Oct 7? Did they ever even appreciate when Israel pulled out of Gaza forcibly removing their own civilians residing there? Israel was assuming this would cut down resentment but instead Hamas used to opportunity to build up their strength so they could attack Israel. I am not Jewish but I am ashamed of our GOP Congress for hesitating over aid to Israel aid as well as to Ukraine. If Lucian;s in imaginary scenario ever comes true the blame will be fully on them.
Yes, you’ve read this correctly. It’s just barbaric. I just saw a video by a young Israeli woman describing another young women’s, witnessing of the rape, mutilation and death of a young Israeli woman. I cannot find it in my heart or soul to understand why there is not a wellspring of outrage about this treatment. It comes down to hating Jews more than they want to see justice. Where are all the women in this country using the me too hashtag for so long? I’m sure there are many Palestinians, who would really rather Hamas went away but by and large? They share their hatred of Israel, and their culture is extremely deprived. In New York City during the early pro Palestine protests, young men were playing videos of the atrocities on their cell phones, jeering and exulting and laughing, and many were violent. Still are. You have 300,000 Jews went to DC to protest, and there was not one incident. As it’s often been said in this country oThey share their hatred of Israel, and their culture is extremely deprived. In New York City during the early pro Palestine protests, young man we’re playing videos of the atrocities on their cell phones, laughing, and during they were violent. Yet 300,000 Jews went to DC to protest and there was not one incident. It was peaceful and heartfelt. As it’s often been said in this country over the last few years, there are not good people on both sides. I am Jewish I’m not religious, but I’m spiritually Jewish and this has just really broken my heart. And made me afraid.
Hi AJ, that is so sad. So many young people with apparently no compassion or empathy for the suffering and humiliation by innocent people, many just trying to enjoy the festive occasion. I am not religious either although raised in the Christian tradition, but like you subscribe to the spiritual perspective. This overall historical hatred of Jews is beyond my understanding. I have talked to Jewish friends about it. I have mentioned before about my near death type experience many years ago and one important revelation to me was that while justice may be evaded here there is ultimate justice in the sense that for example those perpetrators of the atrocities will pay a heavy price in that they are living a hellish existence now that will actually continue for them on a spirit level after death. The state of their heart and soul with the violent thoughts and hatred continues into and actually created their next reality along with the collective minds of others like themselves. I have witnessed this. Of course no way to prove it. Even people who don't directly harm others but who indirectly bring about suffering and hardship or who gain financially in less than honest ways will find that it was all for naught in the end.
Well said. I would add one suggestion, based not so much on my own encounters with "near death experiences" as any kind of influence on the suggestion, or other "higher states of consciousness," but on philosophical considerations raised, surprisingly enough, within the philosophy of mathematics and logic! And subsequently, within what became called "linguistic philosophy," or sometimes, "The Oxford School," although that's too all-inclusive.
Specifically by Ludwig Wittgenstein, when he was - over the course of several decades, beginning around 1912, then during his service in the Austrian army in The Great War / War to End All Wars, all the way through his early philosophy and the later very different philosophical views he developed in the late 1920s until his death - struggling with the notion of "proof" - what does it mean to prove a proposition?
Here, it would be proving that at least the key, crucial elements of what you outlined about a continuity of "karma" from this life, on this third planet from the local sun, into a life or existence or reality encountered after our demise here, are valid - fair and accurate enough, if by no means
the entire story.
"Shuffling off the mortal coil," so after that, a proof might amount to what Wittgenstein called "assembling reminders of what we already know." But wait -
of course that's impossible, apart from one of these "glimpses into the infinite" you mentioned, thus, to wrap this up: it would proceed by closely examining hundreds of cases of "near death experiences," to verify or falsify that basic, crucial model of continuing karma.
Then the arguments about how convincing, or unconvincing, the "proof" is would continue. It seems those disputes are baked into our inevitable, shared encounter with human mortality - the mortality, or insubstantial nature, of all compounded things, as the Buddha put it.
As 2023 winds down, the news from my enclave in Queens County is ominous . A teacher in a local high school was hidden from a mob of angry students who were protesting the bombing of Gaza by Israeli armed forces. The teacher had posted her support of Israel on social media.
As a young teacher some 45 years ago, l was assaulted by rampaging students in a public high school. My response was passive resistance which resulted in an overhaul and reorganization of the school by the district office.
The present situation is even more complex and will require great skill in disarming. Teaching cannot go on in a hostile workplace and students who attack the school cannot become the norm!
I followed that story, as well as the support for Gaza and attacks on Jews in Harvard, Columbia, many institutions of supposedly higher learning. Very little repercussion being handed out by school administrations thus putting anybody who’s pro Israel in jeopardy including professors Just this morning somebody posted a photo on my FB feed of a large swastika somebody made on the floor of a bathroom stall in Baruch College. All of these acts are horrifying and having the desired effect. Combined with Donnie Boy’s Hitleresque ravings that the media is simply not calling out strongly enough, that needs to be taken seriously, the rampant antisemitism has made a fearful environment. Of course, we know it is always been there, but it has not been so out front before.
I concur with what you have said about increased incidences of hatred and violence.
My father-in-law, born in a shtetl near Lviv when it was considered Poland, fled persecution as a teenager. He studied law in NYC, and taught me the importance of understanding both sides of an argument . When my husband and l studied together in lsrael in 1976, the climate of was considerably less extreme despite the hijacking of an El Al airplane to Uganda.
We were warned by our tour guide to stay on the path to avoid terrorist land mines on a mountain climb to Ein Gedi nature retreat!
Exactly, I have nothing to add to a summary that eloquent.
EDIT! Except this link, free free free with no infernal commercials, either, huge bonus that it's
narrated by the late great Studs Terkel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_G_JkaTlBU
0:01 / 1:38:42
The Good Fight: The Abraham Lincoln Brigade in the Spanish Civil War | Full Documentary Movie
Kino Lorber
69.8K subscribers
14,847 views Sep 27, 2022 #freemovies #fascism #documentaries
This documentary examines the experiences of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, using interviews with survivors more than 50 years later. First, the film sets the context with the rise of Fascism. Then, in 1936, Spain's military revolts against the elected government, and the U.S. and Europe agree not to intervene. In response, volunteers snuck past border guards into Spain to fight with the Republicans. The men and women veterans describe the perils of reaching Spain, limited training, responsibilities of command thrust on the very young, deprivations of a soldier's life, lack of matériel, horrible rates of casualties, and ultimate vindication at the end of World War II.
I loved that I knew Studs and Ida. I was lucky to have lived in Chicago at a great time for news people.
I'm envious but in a good way, if you know what I mean!
I do. Siskel and Ebert and I were "the young newspaper kids" in town. They added television to their portfolios. I chose not to.
Studs Turkel, the quintessential Chicago intellectual!
How we devoured his work connecting Americans of all stripes, even the skeptics, with vivid portraits in prose. And 40 plus years of radio tapes are still available online. What a treasure!
He really was as plain as an old shoe. And warm. And friendly. He was as far left as anyone I knew.
Kind of "Old School" democratic Left politics
His genuine curiosity and enjoyment of humans of all sorts, and the possibilities for improving our lives, was absolutely, unmistakably part of his approach to every interview I ever saw or heard him broadcast.
There's simply no one around like that now, that is, with access to a mass media audience, and engaged in such a wide range of issues and topics.
"The Good Fight..." can be rented from Amazon for $1.99.
In 1969 I rented a house in Fuengirola for all of August from a British diplomat. It overlooked the Med. The first full day there we went to the near empty beach. I saw a small obelisk-shaped monument. It was on that spot that Col. Franco and his Spanish Legion launched the Spanish Civil War. Later we made friends with a retired Infantry Colonel in that Legion who owned a castle nearby. We used to have cocktails with him on his spectacular terrace overlooking the sea. I was sure he had tons of blood on his hands, but that is what civil wars always end up bringing about. He was a lonely guy, though with his many pictures of him with Franco.
Rich! It's free free free via the You Tube link, far be from it for me to scorn Amazon, I order stuff from them sent to designated Hub in Whole Foods Market, that's not it - but it's up there simply by "googling" The Good Fight doc on You Tube, unless you have a setup that forecloses routing internet streaming?
No. I subscribe to just about everything (Netflix, Amazon, Max, Hulu, Apple, Acorn, Kanopy, Peacock, PBS Passport---keeps me out of trouble and movie theaters). But I use Justwatch.com to find where stuff is being streamed. Unfortunately, Justwatch.com is not nearly100% correct.
Thanks for the explanation with a link to look into!
A great description of our dystopian nightmare. I have to take exception, however, to your calling our esteemed Speaker an "aging walrus." He's clearly an aging turtle and those creatures seemingly live forever.
Lucian,
Your view into the future is frightening. MAGA Mike delayed aid to Israel and Ukraine for the most petty reasons. The House has yet to pass the Defense Authorization Act and Tommy Tuberville still continues to block the promotions of nearly 400 Flag and General Officers. What will it take? Of course if this happens they will default as always to blaming President Biden rather than take responsibility for their petulant actions. Of course Trump and his Fascist cabal still are plotting to destroy democracy and at any cost. Can you imagine what happens to military readiness for war if he declares the Insurrection Act and puts troops in the streets to harm American citizens?
Peace and stay safe,
Steve Dundas
I prefer not to dwell on the possible, when the impossible is already sitting on the mantle piece , begging to be dusted. Bookshelves aching with seldom read novels: White Noise by Delillo comes to mind. James Baldwin's Another Country or Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man.
When prose is that vivid, it sticks in my craw.
And then I return to the stacks of unpublished writing, in chronological boxes, all neatly typed. Writing for the drawer, as my Professor Tom Bird, used to say of the Russian and Soviet men and women who write furtively and who circulate their work on pain of death.
The standoff in Ukraine where neither side is now gaining ground seems increasingly like the trench warfare of WW1. Thousands died, and many more suffered from undiagnosed PTSD. That standoff was finally broken by pouring more and more resources into the battle, significantly by the US. Our country needs the same resolution, at least by funding Ukraine, if this stalemate is to ever be broken.
Reminiscent of HG wells “War of the Worlds”, and more specifically, Orson Wells 1938 radio broad cast.
Meanwhile, Hitler was about to invade Poland and the rest is history. And that doesn’t even include Stalin’s diabolical two-step tango.
Honestly, my dears, it’s getting more difficult to give a damn.
Going to hell in a hand basket comes to mind, but only with the proviso that you still do have a mind!
Amazingly stated, and very vivid picture of the hypocrisy and selfishness of Rethuglicans in Congress. I wish more people would read this.
All I can say is, it's going to be hard to get happy after this!
Au contraire mon frere, it's an opportunity to engage in a good fight!
From the "Hope Springs Eternal" Department:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/29/israeli-peace-activist-85-yocheved-lifshitz-told-yahya-sinwar-hamas-chief-he-should-be-ashamed-of-himself
Peter Beaumont
@petersbeaumont1
Wed 29 Nov 2023 09.27 EST
First published on Wed 29 Nov 2023 09.25 EST
An 85-year-old Israeli peace activist who was kidnapped by Hamas and later released, described how she confronted the Hamas chief, Yahya Sinwar, in a Gaza tunnel and told him he should be “ashamed of himself” for his role in ordering the 7 October massacre of 1,200 Israelis.
Yocheved Lifshitz, who was freed in October before the current series of hostage and Palestinian prisoner releases, said she met Sinwar in a part of the Hamas tunnel network where she was being held captive, which she previously described as an extensive warren.
“Sinwar was with us three to four days after we arrived. I asked him how he is not ashamed to do such a thing to people who have supported peace all these years,” Lifshitz told the Hebrew-language newspaper Davar, while attending a protest for the return of hostages still held by Hamas on Tuesday evening.
“He didn’t answer,” she added. “He was silent.”
Lifshitz, who spent years campaigning for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, is the latest released hostage to indicate she had encountered Sinwar during her captivity as it emerged that hostages held in different places by different factions appeared to have experienced different conditions of imprisonment.
With her husband, Oded, 83, who is still being held by Hamas, Lifshitz had helped sick Palestinians in Gaza get to hospitals in Israel.
Lifschitz’s comments to a Davar reporter follow reports that Sinwar also met other kidnapped Israelis who were abducted from kibbutz Nir Oz within a day of being taken hostage.
During the visit, Sinwar and his brother Mohammed, a senior figure in the group’s armed wing, told the hostages they would not be harmed and would be returned to Israel as part of an exchange deal.
According to a relative of a recently released hostage, quoted by Israel’s Channel 12, Sinwar introduced himself to a group of hostages from Nir Oz in Hebrew, saying: “Hello, I am Yahya Sinwar. You are the most protected here. Nothing will happen to you.”
Sinwar learned Hebrew while serving a long prison sentence in Israel for the abduction and murder of two Israeli soldiers, being freed in 2011 as part of the prisoner exchange to secure the release of the kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
An Israeli soldier in the Jenin refugee camp.
Eight-year-old boy among four reported dead in Israeli raid on Jenin
Read more
Sinwar’s encounters with Hamas hostages in the tunnels, on top of the heavily choreographed nature of the hostage releases, appears to suggest that Sinwar, accused by Israel of being one of the masterminds of the 7 October massacre, was conscious that an exchange of hostages for prisoners was a possibility.
Lifshitz had previously described the scenes of horror she had witnessed on 7 October. After her release she said: “They went rampant in our kibbutz. They blew up the electronic fence, that special fence that cost $2.5bn [£2bn] to build but didn’t help with anything.
“Masses mobbed our homes. They beat people, took some hostage. They didn’t distinguish between young and elderly. It was very painful. They brought us to the entrance to the tunnels. We arrived in the tunnel and walked for kilometres on wet dirt. There is a giant system of tunnels, like spiderwebs.”
*******
"An Essay on Man" is a poem published by Alexander Pope in 1733–1734. It was dedicated to Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke (pronounced 'Bull-en-brook'), hence the opening line: "Awake, my St John...".[1][2][3] It is an effort to rationalize or rather "vindicate the ways of God to man" (l.16), a variation of John Milton's claim in the opening lines of Paradise Lost, that he will "justifie the wayes of God to men" (1.26).[4] It is concerned with the natural order God has decreed for man. Because man cannot know God's purposes, he cannot complain about his position in the great chain of being (ll.33–34) and must accept that "Whatever is, is right" (l.292), a theme that was satirized by Voltaire in Candide (1759).[5] More than any other work, it popularized optimistic philosophy throughout England and the rest of Europe.
Hope Springs Eternal is a phrase from the Alexander Pope poem An Essay on Man.
"Putin-loving tools" reads well too.