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1 month Ago

Tucker Carlson interviewed Vladimir Putin for over two hours

Published by marco on

I listened to the The Vladimir Putin Interview by Tucker Carlson (127 minutes), which is also available as Ep. 73 The Vladimir Putin Interview (Twitter). The article Tucker Carlson Interviews Vladimir Putin by Tucker Carlson (Scheer Post) includes a transcript found on the Kremlin’s website. You have to subscribe to Tucker Carlson to get the transcript from him. Those dirty commies in the Kremlin just gave it away for free.

 Vladimir Putin

The interview was over two hours. What follows are just some longer quotes I took from the transcript, with a few notes of my... [More]

Yemen steps out of line

Published by marco on

The article The US/UK attack on Yemen and the global eruption of imperialist war by WSWS Editorial Board (WSWS) describes how the U.S. and UK opened a new front in their war on the middle east.

“[…] supposedly it is Yemen that is the “aggressor,” carrying out “unprecedented attacks” on US military forces deployed in the Red Sea, thousands of miles from the US border. American imperialism, which has a military larger than that of the next 10 countries combined, claims to be waging a “defensive” war on the other... [More]

The fleas are the problem

Published by marco on

The article When META Met Society by Scott H. Greenfield (Simple Justice) writes about the evils of META (Most Effective Tactics Available). The author cites an essay by Megan McArdle. Neither one of these fools can think of an example of META that corresponds to actual power. That perennial dipshit McArdle thinks that a 17-year-old swatting hundreds of people is a good example. Greenfield sticks to the obvious, as cited below.

If you were big and strong, you could beat up someone small and weak. You could steal their wallet, watch... [More]”

Jeremy Scahill is on a tear

Published by marco on

Jeremy Scahill was absolutely en fuego in this 90-minute interview. I’ve cleaned up the YouTube transcript—it gets most of the words, but includes verbal tics, has no punctuation, has a very cavalier attitude toward capitalization, and simply will not transcribe certain words correctly. Anyway, Jeremy and Briahna had a great conversation about terrible, terrible topics.

IDF Soldiers DESECRATE Gaza Cemetery and Other Israel BOMBSHELLS (w/ Jeremy Scahill) by Bad Faith (YouTube)

At around 24:00 they talk about the circumstances surrounding the recent defunding of UNRWA.

Jeremy It’s hard to shock... [More]”

The U.S. has never been the good guy: on Kennedy, Cuba, and Iran

Published by marco on

The more I listen to the Blowback podcast, the more it’s clear that the U.S. has never been ruled by good people—or by smart people. They may be intelligent but their ideology makes them stupid. Or they’re just stupid. Either way, none of them are good. None of them have anything approaching universal principles. They are nearly all at least self-serving hypocrites. They are nearly all raging egos, bastards who don’t take the blame for anything. They are more than occasionally actual... [More]

Four months of posting on the middle east

Published by marco on

A friend asked me for my opinion on the situation in the middle east, specifically on Israel/Palestine. Hoo-boy.

I wrote something like the following, although I’ve enhanced it a bit.

Israel is interested in clearing all of the Palestinians off of that land. They will shoot them if they have to, but starving them into leaving the country is also acceptable. Once they’re finished in Gaza, they’ll finish up in the West Bank, where they’ve already increased the ferocity of the occupation. It’s... [More]

2 months Ago

Keeping the empire in line

Published by marco on

 It’s a bizarre thing that some countries just get to fly over other countries with their militaries—with their air force, to be more precise—and just bomb them on any day they feel like it. Like Israel just up and bombs Iraq, Lebanon, or Syria whenever it feels like it and no-one blinks an eye. The article US and UK Bomb Dozens of Sites in Yemen by Dave DeCamp (Scheer Post) writes that this just happened recently. No-one really cares—not enough to even dream of doing anything about it. No country that the U.S.... [More]

The purpose of jails and prisons

Published by marco on

The article Go Straight to Jail by Jack Norton, Lydia Pelot-Hobbs, and Judah Schept (The Baffler) discusses the effects of jails on the communities in which they’re located.

These numbers represent real people—hundreds of thousands of people who are directly impacted by the violence of jail incarceration and detention, millions of people who are affected by the extraction that jail facilitates, and by the violence that is perpetrated on families and communities through policing and incarceration across the varied geography of the United States.”

 Jails and... [More]

3 months Ago

Empire decides

Published by marco on

Similar to the article Cheerleading for the … what’s the opposite of underdog?, the content below appeared in my Links and Notes for October 13th, 2023, which I managed to publish on October 23rd. I’ve edited things lightly, but I’m publishing these reactions again to have them in a separate article and because I think my initial take has aged relatively well.

The article The Spiral of Violence that Led to Hamas by Peter Singer (Project Syndicate) writes,

“Hamas reportedly holds roughly 150 hostages, and has said that it... [More]”

Cheerleading for the … what’s the opposite of underdog?

Published by marco on

The content below appeared in my Links and Notes for October 6th, 2023, which I managed to publish on October 21st. I’ve edited things lightly, but I’m publishing these reactions again to have them in a separate article and because I think my initial take has aged relatively well—especially as compared with that of European leaders like Frau Baerbock of Germany.

The article Netanyahu regime staggered by Palestinian uprising by Alex Lantier (WSWS) was published on October 8th and writes,

“The World Socialist Web... [More]

Strawman battles: rape is never OK!

Published by marco on

The article The Rot On His Own Side by Scott H. Greenfield (Simple Justice) writes,

“There is no principle that enables Schumer, or Biden, or any liberal, to find common ground with people who can make excuses for rape, together with the litany of horrors perpetrated by Hamas.”

I’ve written about the author a few times because of the extremely sharp turn he took on October 7th, 2023. See Losing the plot completely on November 1, 2023, Some commentator are still MIA on November 6, 2023, and Moar unhinged commentary on November 23, 2023.

At the beginning of December, Greenfield was still... [More]

“End of History” is just another fairy tale for the masses

Published by marco on

The article No ‘End of History’ in Ukraine by Scott Ritter (Scheer Post) mentions Francis Fukuyama, citing him at length on what he meant by “the end of history”.

““Liberal democracy,” Fukuyama wrote, “replaces the irrational desire to be recognized as greater than others with a rational desire to be recognized as equal.” “A world made up of liberal democracies, then, should have much less incentive for war, since all nations would reciprocally recognize one another’s legitimacy. And indeed, there is substantial... [More]”

Capital punishment cannot help but be monstrous

Published by marco on

This kind of thing happens with awful regularity in the U.S. the Florida executes man after US Supreme Court denies his intellectual disability claim by Kate Randall (WSWS) is about a guy who is very obviously intellectually disabled. He is not ready for the world as she is. He had the kind of life that no-one would want to have, not in a million years.

 Michael Duane Zack III

“Zack suffered a litany of horrors in his childhood. His lawyers wrote in a court filing that his mother drank heavily throughout her pregnancy. He was hospitalized... [More]”

Glenn Greenwald interviews Max Abrahms

Published by marco on

This video is from a while back and I included in my weekly notes, but it was an interesting enough example of the kind of person that Glenn Greenwald is willing to interview—even though there’s not a lot of overlap between Glenn’s principles and whatever passes for Max Abrahms’s principles. The guy is pretty popular in some circles—he writes for the Atlantic, surprise, surprise—so it’s good to hear what he’s got to say instead of just dismissing it out of hand.

Glenn Greenwald & Max Abrahms Debate Israel-Gaza, Free Speech, & More by Glenn Greenwald (YouTube)

I think this is pretty... [More]

Picking on Israel’s war crimes

Published by marco on

Israel doesn’t have a right to exist because no state has any rights, least of the right to exist. What a silly concept! Can you imagine if the Russian Tsars had taken the Bolsheviks to the ICC[1] because their right to exist had been violated? What a concept.

People have rights. International law regulates various aspects of how states may interact, but does not grant any rights to them. There is no “no takebacks” clause in international law. Any state can disappear or change shape if the people... [More]

Not the best of This is Hell! 2023

Published by marco on

I recently wrote about how good the Best of This is Hell! 2023 end-of-hear series has been. The episode Best of 2023: Living and Reliving the U.S. Invasion of Iraq / Rasha Al Aqeedi (This is Hell!) was a counterexample. I thought Rasha’s analysis was more superficial than the standard set by the other episodes.

  • She says no-one should cheerlead a war, especially when they’re not involved, that any war is a tragedy, a diplomatic failure … but then she says that she’s totally pro-Ukraine. ARRRRGGGGHHHH.... [More]

Blowback: Iraq, Israel, and no-nothing know-it-alls

Published by marco on

So I’ve been listening to this podcast called Blowback by Brendan James and Noah Kulwin. It’s an American history podcast, but with a focus on foreign policy. I started listening to the fourth season, which is about Afghanistan. It’s in progress and up to episode 8 of 10 as of yesterday.

When I’d caught up to episode 7, I started in immediately on their inaugural podcast, S01, which is about Iraq. It’s not just about the invasion of in 2003. It starts in the early 20th century, explaining how British machinations kicked off... [More]

Analyzing Patrick Lawrence

Published by marco on

The article Undivided Loyalties by Patrick Lawrence (Scheer Post) starts off with this anecdote about Walter Lippmann.

“Lippmann, the celebrated editor, commentator and author attended a dinner party in Manhattan one evening, and at the port-and-cigars stage of the occasion the host announced an intellectual amusement. All those who advocated socialism were to stand on one side of the dining room, and on the other those who favored the capitalist system. The guests duly divided. And when they were done sorting themselves out, Lippmann... [More]

There is no word for “irony” in German

Published by marco on

The article German Group Won’t Present Arendt Prize to Masha Gessen Over Gaza Essay by Brett Wilkins (Scheer Post) is just one example among many recent ones, where both the German government and its cultural institutions are in increasing lockstep in controlling the narrative—controlling how its citizens are allowed to think.

 German ultranationalist intelligentsiaIn the case cited in the article, Masha Gessen will still receive the Hannah Arendt award, but it will be presented “without the participation of the Heinrich Böll Foundation”, whatever the hell... [More]

They’re all the same

Published by marco on

I heard part of this guy’s Jim Himes’s speech in the following video,

Media Pushes Obvious Deep State PsyOp by Glenn Greenwald (YouTube)

I was struck by my utter inability to tell which party he was from. My only hint was that he was calling for more money for Ukraine, so I figured he must be a Democrat.[1]

But all of the rest of the words were the same words a Republican would use to encourage continued war. Let me throw a bit of the transcript in here, taken from H5846 − December 12, 2023 (Congressional Record)

“Mr. HIMES. Madam Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from Ohio for... [More]”

Notice: Vivek Ramaswamy is just as full of shit as the rest of them

Published by marco on

Look, I know the title isn’t going to come as much of a surprise to anyone who knows me, but I’ve heard that he’s the “sane one”. I’d heard the same thing about Nikki Haley, though. It didn’t take at lot of research to belie that hypothesis. Here’s a very little bit of research on Vivek, based on the 20-minute interview below.

Israel Can Defend Itself However They Want – Vivek Ramaswamy by Jimmy Dore (YouTube)

Dore let him talk. A lot. He didn’t even disagree with him, even though he said some pretty outrageous and clearly incorrect—at best, misguided—things.

 ignorance is strengthVivek is... [More]

Ilan Pappé is on a tear

Published by marco on

The next in my ongoing series of people on tears, following Gideon Levy is on a tear, Amira Hass is on a tear, and Norman Finkelstein is on a tear, so I put this one in the series.

Extended episode: Israeli historian Ilan Pappé on Genocide of Palestinians by Useful Idiots (YouTube)

 Ilan Pappé's couture inspirationI don’t know whether he chose his shirt to signify that he feels like he’s in prison, but it sure as heck looked like a prisoner’s uniform.

0:00	Intro
o1:10	The Four Food Groups of News
16:21	Ilan Pappé interview
16:53	Becoming and anti-Zionist
21:41	Israel is a plan of ethnic cleansing
34:04	Historical context... [More]

Gideon Levy is on a tear

Published by marco on

I was going to name this article a more serious-sounding “The situation in Israel according to Gideon Levy”, but then realized that I’d already written Amira Hass is on a tear and Norman Finkelstein is on a tear, so I put this one in the series.

Starting at 24:00, the Gideon Levy interview is just 100% gold. Katie and Aaron ask good questions, but it’s really more of a lecture on Israel, as she is in 2023.

Extended episode: Israel’s Nazi Proposals w/ Gideon Levy by Useful Idiots: Katie Halper & Aaron Maté (YouTube)

00:00	Intro
01:43	The Four Food Groups of News
19:52	An Ode to Henry Kissinger
24:00... [More]

Saul Williams & Abby Martin: a bit too much of an echo chamber

Published by marco on

I’d never heard of Saul Williams before, but I very much like Abby Martin’s work. I recently published an article called From their mouths to God’s ear, about a video of hers from 2016, where she interviews Israelis in the streets of Jerusalem.

In this video, there was some interesting stuff, but I felt that they accompanied each other down the rabbit hole a bit too much.

Saul Williams & Abby Martin: Israel's High-Tech Barbarism by Empire Files (YouTube)

They formed their own little echo chamber. It was a fine discussion, but no progress made to figure out how to reach... [More]

YES OR NO

Published by marco on

The article New Survey Showing Public Ignorance About the Holocaust Among Young Americans wrote the following about a survey about the Holocaust.

“The question in the survey asks respond[ant]s whether they “strongly agree,” “tend to agree,” “tend to disagree,” “strongly disagree,” or “neither agree nor disagree” with the statement that “the Holocaust is a myth.” In the sample as a whole, only 7% picked “strongly agree” (2%) or “tend to agree” (5%). But among young people (age 18-29), the figure... [More]”

4 months Ago

Destroying democracy in order to save it

Published by marco on

A while back, I read the article Colorado Lawsuit’s Strategy for Keeping Trump Off Ballot Is Starting to Spread by Marjorie Cohn (Scheer Post), which is about subverting democracy in exactly the ways that the author fears that Trump would.

These people are rudderless, adrift. They have no sense or irony, no morality, and no self-awareness. It makes them so stupid. This mess is just embarrassing for everyone involved.

This gleeful horseshit where people are delighted that they’ve found some old clause of some document... [More]

Indoctrinated citizens of empire can still be innocent

Published by marco on

A while back, I took the following notes from the article ‘Innocent Israelis’ by Patrick Lawrence (Scheer Post). These comments are from an ordinarily lucid reporter writing on October 11th. We didn’t know then what we know now, but we did know that collective punishment is wrong, and that there is most certainly such a thing as the concept of a innocence. Lawrence in this article seems to be arguing for a pretty strict restriction of the definition of that word, as illustrated below.

“To assume the responsibilities that... [More]”

Norman Finkelstein is shit-posting tragedy

Published by marco on

Normal Finkelstein has woken from a slumber, finally being interviewed and questioned about his deep knowledge of Palestine, Israel and their shared history. I’ve written relatively extensively about him recently, in Norman Finkelstein is on a tear, but also in many Links & Notes stretching back over 10 years (with several from the last six weeks), from when I reviewed the film Lemon Tree in 2016 or when I reviewed the film Defamation in 2013.

He’s usually absolutely strictly no-nonsense, but... [More]

Moar unhinged commentary

Published by marco on

Man, I saw the title of the article Murder And Rape For The Cause by Scott H. Greenfield (Simple Justice) and my heart sank. I wrote about why in Some commentators are still MIA, where the author featured prominently.[1]

I don’t even have anything to cite from this article because it’s so insipid. I just wanted to keep in my notes that, once again, an ordinarily useful writer and thinker simply cannot keep his shit together or think of justice when his team’s been attacked.

Greenfield is Jewish. He loves Israel. He cannot stand to... [More]

Osama bin Laden wrote an online rant

Published by marco on

The article TikTok teens aren’t stanning Osama bin Laden by Ryan Broderick (Garbage Day) discusses a recent flare-up in the mainstream, western (mostly U.S.) media and governing bodies whereby there were several calls to ban TikTok because it’s radicalizing the youth.

At issue, of course, if the failure to indoctrinate them properly to be able to ignore war crimes and still sleep at night. So, what you need to do is to make a lot of noise about a world-girdling social network—😱 RUN BY CHINAMEN 😱 YELLOW PERIL ALERT... [More]