Echo Chamber 198
When my darling dad was going through the the expensive and painful trauma of divorce , at the most productive period of his career as an Electronic Boffin, designing the EMI bodyscanner, he decided to save money by brewing his own grapefruit hooch instead of buying booze at inflated prices. It produced high quality , day-long migraines.
At the same time I was reading about sociology and discovering that sociology agrees with monetarism, printing supplying what money you need.
Monetarism has produced the Military Industrial Complex, endless War and Genocide.
So the moral of the story is that trying to be clever and bypassing the normal.limitations of traditional economics, or even booze, can get you into a much worse predicament than old-fashioned manufacturing and trade rules.
Sometimes you can be 100 % right about something, but also ultimately 100 % wrong at the same time. Life is nuanced.

Posted by: Giyane | Nov 27 2023 23:40 utc | 203

Does any church of any religion, cause inflation when it spends the money it has collected on good causes ?
No ?
Good – get them out of the way then. No need for charity in religion. Get the middleman out of the way. Instead of playing pass the currency to the charity.
Infact, get the Church of any religion to instruct its followers to march on their governments and DEMAND that they fund the good causes using government keystrokes directly.
Then humanity has finally made some progress. In so, so, so many different ways. The good that came out of it, would be so great, it would be difficult to measure.

Posted by: Echo Chamber | Nov 28 2023 0:15 utc | 205

Posted by: Echo Chamber | Nov 27 2023 21:14 utc | 183
F’n lighten up dude.

Posted by: Seer | Nov 28 2023 0:33 utc | 207

@Ново з | Nov 27 2023 17:21 utc | 157
Thanks for your reply.
Doctorow, I think, is still worth reading, although I don’t read his blog as often as I did. He provides an interesting insight into Russian media and the general mood in Russia. But with his previous essay on Gaza, he exposed his naïve belief in Israeli propaganda, despite it being thoroughly debunked by multiple reputable sources. His readiness to regurgitate vile Israeli lies severely damaged his credibility, imho.

Posted by: tawharanui | Nov 28 2023 1:13 utc | 209

WHAT THEY (The Zionist Jews) NEVER TOLD ELON MUSK and have been hiding from the world since 1948 and even suppressing since 1922
Real Names of Stolen Villages, Illegal Settlements of the Gaza Perimeter
Date: October 25 2023
Author: Perla Issa
blog Series: Genocide In Gaza

If you are to read Western news reports coming from Israel, you would likely believe that Kfar Azza, Be’eri, Erez, Nahal Oz, and the other settlements that surround Gaza are “idyllic spots,” “little pieces of paradise, little pieces of heaven;” and “small farming communities.”
What is missing from this picture, what is missing from the vast majority of Western news reports on the genocide unfolding in Gaza is that these “pieces of paradise” are built on stolen land — stolen by Zionists from the Palestinian people through violence. And that the Palestinian population have been huddled and caged in one small corner of their original lands for over 75 years. That is what is currently called the Gaza Strip. About 80 percent of Gaza’s population are refugees, refugees from what today is called the Gaza perimeter. As Palestinian resistance increased over the years, as Palestinians, generation after generation, have tried to break the cage and return home, that cage has become tighter and tighter.
That is how the Israeli residents of these “farming communities” — around 50,000 people living on 1,038 squared kilometers of stolen lands (the Sha’ar HaNegev, Eshkol, and Sdot Negev regional councils)— have been able for years to live, prosper, raise families, have dinners, swim in pools, dance, sing and celebrate “unity and love” in large concerts just a few kilometers away from where over 2.1 million people live on 365 squared kilometers, usurped from their lands, subjugated to daily humiliation, purposely impoverished and caged in, unable to move, live, fish in the sea, and certainly unable to celebrate “unity and love.”
A simple glance at Google maps puts this reality in plain sight. How can such an urban reality exist? A people density of 5,753 people per squared kilometer next to a people density of 48 people per squared kilometer.
https://www.palestine-studies.org/en/node/1654492

Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Nov 28 2023 1:44 utc | 211

The Jews just did a “Theresienstadt” to Elon Musk!
On June 23, 1944, as planned, two delegates from the International Red Cross and one from the Danish Red Cross visited the ghetto, accompanied by Theresienstadt commandant SS First Lieutenant Karl Rahm and one of his deputies. The facility had been “cleaned up” and rearranged as a model village. Hints that all was not well included a bruise under the eye of the “mayor” of the “town,” a part played by Paul Eppstein, the Elders’ Council member representing German Jews. Despite these hints, the International Red Cross inspectors were taken in. This was in part because they expected to see ghetto conditions like those in occupied Poland with people starving in the streets and armed policemen on the perimeter.
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/theresienstadt-red-cross-visit
The Theresienstadt “camp-ghetto” existed for three and a half years, between November 24, 1941 and May 9, 1945. During its existence, Theresienstadt served three purposes:
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/theresienstadt
RED CROSS HOLOCAUST INSPECTION VISIT to the TEREZIN (THERESIENSTADT) ‘CAMP-GHETTO’,1944
http://www.jewishwikipedia.info/RedCross.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theresienstadt_Ghetto_and_the_Red_Cross

Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Nov 28 2023 1:50 utc | 213

Some barflies might enjoy this, from Adrian Kreutz:
Algeria, Palestine, and the Limits of Humanism

As demands for a ceasefire in Gaza gain global political momentum, I think it is worth critically exploring Albert Camus’s thoughts on French colonial history in Algeria for parallels and breaking points with the present moment.

https://mondoweiss.net/2023/11/algeria-and-palestine-parallels-and-differences/

Posted by: Aleph_Null | Nov 28 2023 2:11 utc | 215

I think Musk wants to take another shot and a nuclear war. He [might have] helped to avert one by not allowing the Ukrainians the use of StarLink around Crimea.
So many evil people and too few light poles…

Posted by: Seer | Nov 28 2023 2:27 utc | 217

Debt equals control and subservience. Not like that’s some great revelation
Posted by: bubbles | Nov 27 2023 22:17 utc | 193
I hate to discuss another topic, but this is too important a topic to ignore.
Conservative economics are what drive debt increase.
Understand this. The government does not need your tax receipts to fund it’s expenditures. In fact- the money in your bank account *is* the deficit.
Riddle me this- if, at the end of the year, the government taxed out every dollar it spent into the economy at the beginning of the year (a balanced budget), how much money would be in your bank account at the end of said year? (the answer is none, in case you didn’t get it- think this through)
No deficit means the only other money that can be created to sit in your account is by the banks, and they can only create temporary money, ie- debt. When the government has a balanced budget, surplus or even does not spend enough to meet demand for the currency (deficit too small), more and more debt must continually be created to cover the interest of previous loans- this is why any line on a graph representing debt looks asymptotic when viewed on a large time scale in capitalist systems.
There *can* indeed be too much money in circulation, but as long as there is no shortage of goods, inflation is not caused by injection of additional money (greedy capitalists simply raising prices and pointing to the extra money is not the fault of the extra money- it is the fault of the greedy capitalists).
Remember- When the government spends into deficit and auctions off treasuries- very few of those treasuries are purchased by the private sector or foreign governments-most of those treasuries are purchased by the federal reserve. Now where does the fed get the money to buy those treasuries? *poof* They type it into existence. Understand this as well- if the government decided to have the treasury print up all the cash it needed (or minted trillion dollar coins) and purchased and retired all of the treasuries held by the fed tomorrow- not an additional cent would be added to circulation, as that money was added initially by the federal reserve in the first place. We only have debt because we want to have debt, and that “debt” is simply a gift from the US gov to people with enough money to buy treasuries- the interest is a risk-free giveaway that comes with the free parking.
Now- taxes *do* have a purpose. Your desire to use dollars is not driven by your *faith* in the dollar. You are required to work to acquire dollars because you must pay taxes in dollars or go to jail (or lose your possessions). Taxes are what create faith in the dollar. This goes doubly for the dollar as a reserve currency- as long as foreign governments want to sell goods into the US market, they will be forced to acquire US dollars, as that is the only real export we have. To become the reserve currency requires running very large, sustained trade deficits. Any nation that does this will find its industrial base thoroughly destroyed. Do you think the Chinese will do this? The Russians? No- they are not stupid. That is why the dollar, even if its use in bilateral trade is drastically reduced, will still remain the only real reserve currency in third party transactions. No other currency will substitute its status for a very, very long time, because no other nation is stupid/cruel enough to impoverish its own citizenry in order to acquire reserve currency status.
Sensible economics are not “conservative” or “liberal”. A society decides what its goals are, such as enriching is population/promoting the general welfare/however you want to put it, and then honestly and transparently structures its economy/markets to achieve that goal. “Conservative” and “liberal” economics are nothing but code words for rapine, and they both favor the same small minority of corrupt thieves in any society that claims to use said economics. There is a reason nobody in the US is taught how money is actually created, how money circulates, who benefits from the current status quo, and any alternative systems/philosophies/methods of managing economies and markets. The first clue that someone knows nothing about economics is when they speak in favor of “free markets”, or “fiscal conservatism”- this is a cop out to prevent their doing the work to understand how things actually work (because if they actually knew how the actual policies obscured by these brain-dead buzzwords pick their own pockets they’d be pissed) and an abrogation of their own rights and well being (unless they are one of the tiny number of people getting obscenely rich on the rapine). The so-called conservative economics espoused by the cabal behind both corrupt parties that run this shithole (and parroted by the ignorant propagandized populace that know no better) are the reason it’s a shithole. Wake the f*** up.
Now- I am not saying I like this system. This is just the system we are forced to live under and how it actually operates, whether you or I like it, or not.

Posted by: Arkady Bogdanov | Nov 28 2023 3:07 utc | 219

Looks like Asperger photographic memory creative guy Elon (who is not religious but practices Transcendental Meditation) has been strong-armed? into not providing star link communications for internationally recognized aid groups in Gaza. (Fwiw I read his father opposed the apartheid state he, Elon, was born into.)

An Israeli government spokesperson, Eylon Levy, declined to say whether Musk was invited or came on his own. X did not respond to a request for comment.
Israel also settled a spat with Musk over his Starlink satellite internet company, with Starlink agreeing to operate in Gaza only with government approval.
“As a result of this significant agreement, Starlink satellite units can only be operated in Israel with the approval of the Israeli Ministry of Communications, including the Gaza Strip,” Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi tweeted.
The two had tangled online previously after Musk promised that Starlink would support connectivity to internationally recognized aid groups in Gaza, drawing a rebuke from Karhi,
“>https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2023-11-27/elon-musk-visits-israel-to-meet-top-leaders-as-accusations-of-antisemitism-on-x-grow

Posted by: Suzan | Nov 28 2023 3:52 utc | 221

Fwiw I read his father opposed the apartheid state he, Elon, was born into.)
Posted by: Suzan | Nov 28 2023 3:52 utc | 221
I sincerely doubt that.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Nov 28 2023 4:19 utc | 223

I sincerely doubt that.
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Nov 28 2023 4:19 utc | 223
Everybody’s a freedom fighter after the fact. It sounds good.
I also read his dad was abusive, violent, beating on his wife and kid. Who knows what’s fact. The wife did leave him. BTW I only read this today when I was trying to understand Elon’s childhood. I don’t usually delve into such.

Posted by: Suzan | Nov 28 2023 4:25 utc | 225

Israel a ‘terrorist state, apartheid regime’, says son of 1948 Israeli general
“Palestinians will not be defeated.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o9tTXjMbBQ
Video has surfaced showing what appears to be a U.S. Marine in Israel whipping up war fervor among his fellow Delta Force soldiers, insisting that they would soon level Gaza’s cities and demand the enemy dig their graves “deep and wide,” all delivered in a thick southern accent. So does this video indicate that American troops have been deployed to Israel and either are or soon will be trying to root out Hamas from the tunnels beneath Gaza?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOGyJsCxxEY

Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Nov 28 2023 6:03 utc | 227

@ Lavrov’s Dog | Nov 28 2023 6:03 utc | 227
—
Musk has come a long way since his mini-sub cave rescue grandstanding days.

Posted by: too scents | Nov 28 2023 7:50 utc | 229

https://thefloutist.substack.com/p/an-open-letter-to-joe-biden
Current U.S. policy lends unqualified and unquestioning support—in word and deed—for what Israeli leaders have announced is their determination to slaughter unlimited numbers of Palestinian civilians. Under your leadership, American policy constitutes the absolute evil of the crime of genocide. Such evil should never be invoked in support of a nation’s “right to defend itself.” Not to oppose the crime of genocide is to join in its commission. If genocide is not opposed now, it will forever become the norm in international relations. In retrospect, the logic of exterminist Nazi political ideology will have proven itself not to have been an aberration—the temporary and unrepeated suspension of humanity’s implicit universal valuing of every and all life—but the fulfillment of the depravity of political power’s assertion that the unlimited exercise of the violence of unanswerable force finally constitutes power’s only universally recognized relevant currency of self-justification.
Wish Biden could read this and understand it- and act upon it

Posted by: Paul from Norway | Nov 28 2023 7:54 utc | 231

One should not be too hard on Musk as there are multiple ways any interested parties can hold him by the balls as explained by Andrew Torba, CEO of Gab, who has had similar experiences. Torba shared his insights at the time an earlier confrontation Musk hd with ADL or “Anti-Defamation League”. https://news.gab.com/2023/09/why-elon-cant-bantheadl-even-if-he-wanted-to/

Posted by: Jonathan W | Nov 28 2023 8:50 utc | 233

Religion was the very first attempt at neoliberal globalisation. Still pushes for it today and always has done.
That’s why you will NEVER in a million years, see Church leaders or the spokesman of the invisible being in the sky. Ask their believers to march on governments to DEMAND good causes are fully funded by government keystrokes.
That is the antithesis of how religion acts. They’ll never ask their followers to do anything apart from give them money.

Posted by: Echo Chamber | Nov 28 2023 8:59 utc | 235

So does this video indicate that American troops have been deployed to Israel and either are or soon will be trying to root out Hamas from the tunnels beneath Gaza?

Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Nov 28 2023 6:03 utc | 227
I remember A.A. Hajizadeh, the commander of Aerospace Force of IRGC, two days after the US Helicopter crash (start of Gaza genocide) said to Iranian media that “they lost a helicopter because of nonstop heliborne back and forth to Gaza”. In the discussions beneath this news, there were comments by some people, perhaps military or intelligence analysts, who mentioned that the soldiers heliborned into and those dead and injured taken back from Gaza belonged to Delta Force, without mentioning the news source.

Posted by: Framarz | Nov 28 2023 9:08 utc | 237

The Original Crimes of Britain in Palestine 1917-1948
This simplified short documentary investigates the contradictory promises and actions which defined British Mandatory rule in Palestine and laid the groundwork for the Nakba (the catastrophe) and the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. The roots of the contemporary social, political, economic, and environmental landscape of Palestine and Israel can be traced back to this period.
1,353,494 views 11 Apr 2023
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hOJqLTc6RkU
Then comes the Disconnect:
Israelis Speak Candidly to Abby Martin About Palestinians
“I would not trust any of them. We should carpet bomb them.”
1,096,093 views 2 Oct 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e_dbsVQrk4
Then back to today:
How Zionist anti-Palestine censorship is surging w/Dylan Saba | The Chris Hedges Report
Similar to what recently occurred at the Harvard Law Review, Dylan Saba, a lawyer for Palestine Legal, was asked to write a piece on the silencing of pro-Palestine voices by The Guardian—only to then be informed at the last minute that his piece had been killed.
25 Nov 2023
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0hk0qPJglE

Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Nov 28 2023 9:18 utc | 239

Many thanks to Suzan, Framarz, too scents for your comments, and also to ‘pq’ for that prisoner exchange post.
May things become more bearable soon. I know I need to back off a lot and take a long break from this. Cheers

Posted by: Lavrov’s Dog | Nov 28 2023 9:51 utc | 241

When you think the Satanists have arrived at the lowest level they proof you wrong
https://pravda-en.com/world/2023/11/28/200756.html
Borrell is not human thats for sure
Posted by: 🌶️Mike | Nov 28 2023 10:49 utc | 242
I never took the WEF agenda of killing people very seriously but how else to explain this? The question is not so much how someone can say this but rather how he can get away with it.

Posted by: Jonathan W | Nov 28 2023 11:04 utc | 243

There was some hope that Elon Musk might do something positive in relation to Gaza,
Posted by: anon | Nov 28 2023 11:05 utc | 244
It’s a measure of how far down the toilet the world has gone that anyone would put any hope for even a moment in that glorified snake oil salesman whose only achievement in life was being put in charge of one or two projects of dubious success at best.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Nov 28 2023 11:41 utc | 245

It’s a measure of how far down the toilet the world has gone that anyone would put any hope for even a moment in that glorified snake oil salesman whose only achievement in life was being put in charge of one or two projects of dubious success at best.
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Nov 28 2023 11:41 utc | 245
So that we do not lose hope, who are your top ten living heroes who give you hope?

Posted by: william paul | Nov 28 2023 12:10 utc | 247

So that we do not lose hope, who are your top ten living heroes who give you hope?
Posted by: william paul | Nov 28 2023 12:10 utc | 247
1. Vladimir Putin
2. Hassan Nasrallah
3. Leila Ali
4. Mordecai Vanunu
5. Khalid Meshaal
6. Abdul Malik Houthi
7. Mohammed Deif
8. Norman Finkelstein
9. Mahatir Mohammed
10. Prof. Mohammed Mirandi
These are just the living, and just the top ten.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Nov 28 2023 12:45 utc | 249

Clear indicators of Israel’s intentions in Gaza are also in evidence during the truce:
– leaflets telling Gazans not to return to the north of Gaza
– reported for the last couple of days – not allowing fuel and other into north Gaza
In case you have missed this touching and telling letter of gratitude to Hamas from an Israeli mother (and daughter) who were released by Qassam brigades on the first day:
https://www.palestinechronicle.com/from-danielle-and-emilia-freed-israeli-woman-thanks-qassam-brigades/
The closing lines:
“I will forever be a prisoner of gratitude because she did not leave here with a lifelong psychological trauma. I will remember your kind behavior, granted here despite the difficult situation you were dealing with yourselves and the severe losses you suffered here in Gaza.
“I wish in this world we could truly be good friends.
“I wish you all health and well-being… Health and love to you and your families’ children. Many thanks.
Danielle and Emilia”

Posted by: JB | Nov 28 2023 13:20 utc | 251

My hero is Banksy, the best known living artist, whose real identity is paradoxically a mystery. He reminds me of what Andrew Finney said of the Cathedral of Chartres in the film Two for the Road:
“Nobody knows the names of the men who made it. To make something as exquisite as this without wanting to smash your stupid name all over it. All you hear about nowadays is people making names, not things.”
That’s also the allure of a forum like MoA which is run by someone who calls himself b.

Posted by: Jonathan W | Nov 28 2023 13:37 utc | 253

Question Barflies:
What are the odds that tens of thousands of battle hardened Chechen, Tatars, and Dagestanis show up next Spring (March?) to join the fight ?

Posted by: Exile | Nov 28 2023 13:49 utc | 255

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Nov 28 2023 14:01 utc | 256
In fact, we’ve been shown pictures of a killed African Hamas fighter who was apparently the leader of a rocket manufacturing squad. We know Russian citizens living in Gaza were allowed to exit the Rafah crossing, and it’s reasonable to assume these Muslim Russians were from the Islamic republics of the Russian federation. If they are there are civilians it’s likely some are there as fighters. This indicates Muslim volunteers from throughout the Muslim world are already present in Gaza.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Nov 28 2023 14:07 utc | 257

All the nations surrounding the Zionist state have been coopted precisely to prevent reinforcement/rearmament of the Palestinians, with the exception of the neighbors to the north, whose border is being watched intensively

Posted by: Delhiliterally | Nov 28 2023 14:14 utc | 259

Iran’s position on resolving the Palestinian issue stated by Iran’s FM in an interview.
The relevant excerpt:
He further said occupation is an ominous phenomenon, which will never be recognized under international law, stressing that the Palestinian land belongs to the Palestinian people.
“We believe that helping the Palestinian people in the face of the occupation and providing the occupied Palestinian land with political support has a legal, humanitarian, Islamic, and religious basis,” Amir-Abdollahian asserted.
He said Iran’s political solution to the Palestine issue involves a referendum among the original residents of Palestine, including Jews, Christians, and Muslims, under the supervision of the United Nations with the financial contribution of other governments.
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/11/28/715419/Iran-US-Israel-consequences-Gaza-war

Posted by: JB | Nov 28 2023 14:23 utc | 261

Posted by: JB | Nov 28 2023 14:23 utc | 261
I miss the old Irani F.M Javad Zarif. He spoke cold fire while he still ran the show.
The new one seems a little colorless to me.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Nov 28 2023 14:37 utc | 263

Posted by: Seer | Nov 28 2023 2:27 utc | 217
Always. follow. the money, yo.

Posted by: sln2002 | Nov 28 2023 14:47 utc | 265

So that we do not lose hope, who are your top ten living heroes who give you hope?
Posted by: william paul | Nov 28 2023 12:10 utc | 247
1. Vladimir Putin
2. Hassan Nasrallah
3. Leila Ali
4. Mordecai Vanunu
5. Khalid Meshaal
6. Abdul Malik Houthi
7. Mohammed Deif
8. Norman Finkelstein
9. Mahatir Mohammed
10. Prof. Mohammed Mirandi
These are just the living, and just the top ten.
Posted by: Arch Bungle | Nov 28 2023 12:45 utc | 249
THANK YOU- although I did hope see a Buddhist there, or is one or more of the ten a Buddhist?
I suggest you append this list to each of your comments, or at least a link to your list since b has setup a way to include a link.
I am also going to suggest to b that each user must include a link to a similar list as a means of establishing and strengthening credibility!

Posted by: william paul | Nov 28 2023 14:59 utc | 267

BACK UP THE SANITATION TRUCK! A yuge load of bullshit ahead.

Earlier this month, a group of about 20 distressed White House staffers requested [BWAH!] a meeting with President Biden’s top advisers, as Israel’s war in Gaza entered its sixth week.
[…]
Adding to the sensitivity, the unwavering embrace of Israel that many staffers find upsetting stems in large part from Biden’s personal lifelong attachment to the Jewish state, aides said. Biden often cites his 1973 meeting with Prime Minister Golda Meir as a seminal event that crystallized his view of Israel as critical for Jewish survival.
[…]

oh really? About Joe’s 1973 meeting with Golda: Fact check: Biden tells inaccurate story about his 1973 meeting with Israeli prime minister

Facts First: Biden misspoke about when his meeting with Meir occurred. The meeting took place about five weeks before the Yom Kippur War in 1973, not during the Six-Day War in 1967. More significantly, Biden inflated his importance to Israel at the time. There is no evidence that Meir had any intention of using him as any sort of “liaison” between Israel and Egypt.
At the time of the Six-Day War in 1967, Biden was still a law student and Meir was not yet prime minister.
Biden’s “liaison” claim is vague, but experts on the Yom Kippur War say it is also clearly inaccurate. While Biden did visit Egypt in 1973 just before he visited Israel, and told Meir what Egyptian officials had told him, there is zero indication that Meir wanted to use a 30-year-old American who had had never previously been to Israel and who had been a senator for only nine months as an intermediary in a complicated and critical conflict. In fact, an Israeli government official’s written summary of the meeting said Biden had seemed inexperienced and that Meir had vehemently rejected his proposal for Israel to unilaterally withdraw from certain territory as a step toward peace.
[…]
An Israeli summary of the meeting
Meir died in 1978, and it’s impossible to know precisely what was said between her and Biden 48 years ago. But the Israeli summary of the 100-minute meeting, an internal memo written by a government official at the time, provides useful information.
The summary, which was discussed in the Israeli media in 2020 and is available online in Israel’s state archives, said Biden acknowledged he was not an expert on Egypt, said Biden was greeted warmly on his trip to Egypt but had met with only second-tier officials, and said Meir made extended remarks in which she argued against Biden’s proposal for Israel to pursue peace by withdrawing from certain territory he didn’t think had strategic value. (The summary didn’t identify the territory Biden was talking about but said it wasn’t the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights or Sharm el-Sheikh.)
[…]

It’s a goshdarn good thing that wikiwtf excluded this seminal event from Joe’s illustrious career.

Posted by: sln2002 | Nov 28 2023 16:12 utc | 269

Anyone see any evidence of beheaded babies? Can you post a link?

Posted by: Delhiliterally | Nov 28 2023 16:42 utc | 271

@ malenkov 250
“Grownups don’t have heroes.”
Utter nonsense. You are obviously suffering from anomie. Intelligent people ask themselves how people they respect would try to solve the problem, in an attempt to try-fitting a template to see if it works. This is not hagiography and it works even when the so-called “hero” had or has serious problems. If you don’t then all you will learn from are you r own bitter failures, instead of other peoples’ failures and successes.

Posted by: JessDTruth | Nov 28 2023 20:34 utc | 273

Adding a link to your list would give instant credibility for the newcomers to this discussion site reading your postings for the first time.
And also increase the number of converts to your views!
Posted by: william paul | Nov 28 2023 17:49 utc | 272
That’s a dumb notion.
So, you mean one could spout any nonsense and just as long as you drop a few good names everything’s good?
Are you twelve years old?
Let me tell you a secret that your intellectual peers never seem to have imparted to you:
Ideas stand on their own merit.
Logic is constant regardless of who utters it.
Pure Reason is pure uttered from the mouth of Satan or God.
Those who need a namedrop to have their views accepted commit a classic logical fallacy: Appeal to Authority.
You are in fact advocating the corruption of logic and reason with this fallacy.
This is counter to the Ideal of Truth.
This is Satanic Inversion.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Nov 29 2023 3:48 utc | 275

william paul 272
Maybe you are projecting your own lack of approval onto Mr Arch. Bungle is his first name I take it, as in Kim Yong Un.
Sorry, only joking. Only joking.
Posted by: Giyane | Nov 29 2023 2:44 utc | 274
My suggestion that it might increase converts to his views hardly seems like “lack of approval.”
Finding out his top ten just might give more appreciation of his views
when examined without so much rancor which makes them less palatable.
In particular, my experience with Buddhists does contrast considerably with his postings.
I have been cursed with a penchant for seeing both sides, so it has been a little unsettling to see there are many on MOA who apparently can see only one side.

Posted by: william paul | Nov 29 2023 7:51 utc | 277

@ Arch Bungle | Nov 28 2023 12:45 utc | 249
No more heroes anymore, as The Stranglers sung from way back 1977.
Still, i feel the need to express my sincere respect and sympathy for Mordechai Vanunu who is still facing trials & tribulations by the Zionist state for blowing the lid off its “secret” nuclear arsenal.
I find especially tragic & appealing that he is still prohibited from leaving a country that treats him as a traitor, even after the fact that the current Minister of Heritage Amihai Eliyahu has openly confirmed that the Zionist state not only possesses nukes but that it considered using them on the Gaza Palaistinian population.
Clearly these are sufferer’s times.

Posted by: Memory Man | Nov 29 2023 9:25 utc | 279

Posted by: Memory Man | Nov 29 2023 9:25 utc | 279
No more fairy tale heroes, for sure.
But my conception of a hero has always been of the ancient greek model:
The flawed, even mortal character who transcends fate and denies the gods in order to show mankind their better destiny, paying a price for his disobedience to fate:
The Prometheus, foremost among all, who steals fire, out of love for mankind, and is tormented upon a rock for all eternity, yet would do it all again if asked. He too could offer only so much, but even he could not conquer the gods.
Achilles, who despite all his splendour and valour, yet perished from a tiny flaw in the heel.
Odysseus, despite all his brilliance and strength, still the fool could not read a map or ask for directions.
The Christ, despite being called the son of god, and perishing on the cross, bearing the hopes and faith of his followers, yet called out in despair: “eloi, eloi lamaa sabachtani?”. My lord, my god, why hast thou forsaken me?”
Boudicea, who gave all she had for her people and their honour, yet died defiled and destroyed at the hands of Empire.
Even Siddhartha forsook his duties as a father in order to seek Nirvana.
It is not because they shine for all eternity that they are stars, it is because they illuminated the darkness for just a little while, showing us the next foothold, the next handhold, the next crack in the wall of the Eternal Pit mankind must climb towards transcendence.
Their light is always momentary, but inch by inch they illuminate The Way.

Posted by: Arch Bungle | Nov 29 2023 11:44 utc | 281