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You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / They Like Journalists Who *Don’t* Get Murdered, Okay?

They Like Journalists Who *Don’t* Get Murdered, Okay?

by Anne Laurie|  October 20, 20185:47 pm| 92 Comments

This post is in: Foreign Affairs, Hail to the Hairpiece, Republican Venality, All Too Normal, Our Failed Media Experiment

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Pro tip: if an essay about Saudi Arabia has a sentence like “this is not to suggest that the killing of Khashoggi is justified” in it, you can stop reading right then and there.

— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) October 19, 2018

To repeat myself: I don’t pretend to understand Saudi politics, but these All-American mooks…

Eric Trump on Fox: Are we just supposed to throw away our relationship with Saudi Arabia because they murdered a journalist?

"You can't be executing journalists … at the same time who are our friends in the ME, what are you going to do, take that and throw all of that away?" pic.twitter.com/KYrCter1wc

— Lis Power (@LisPower1) October 19, 2018

Had Osama bin Laden himself entered an American consulate to surrender, only to have his fingers chopped off, then to be decapitated and dumped into a meat grinder, I'd have a problem with it. https://t.co/Ie0UnX80rh

— Patrick Nonwhite (@NonWhiteHat) October 20, 2018

The positive articles about bin Salman seem bad now, but in fairness, how were grown adults living in 2018 supposed to know that absolute monarchies are bad?

— Osita Nwanevu (@OsitaNwanevu) October 19, 2018

Should our boys have their live's ruined because of an alleged fight that occurred 17 days ago? I won't even let my son go to an embassy with 15 friends and bone-saw anymore.

— Argle-Bargler (@ABargler) October 19, 2018

“Kashoggi’s killer was a rogue figure named Ben Ghazi.” – some Republican any minute now.

— The Hoarse Whisperer (@HoarseWisperer) October 19, 2018


"How Liberals Overreacting (As Usual!) To A Journalist's Murder And Dismemberment By A Totalitarian State Drove Me To Trump For The Fourth Time This Week," by Tota llyrealperson in the Federalist For Ladies

— SuperDuperHat (@Popehat) October 19, 2018

The whisper campaign comes not only from the fever swamps and usual talk radio know-nothings, but also from those who fancy themselves as foreign policy sophisticates at the forefront of efforts to counter Iran’s nuclear ambitions and regional aggression. https://t.co/G68YE14dwj

— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) October 19, 2018

Backstory, ICYMI:

You spelled "murder" wrong. https://t.co/vbohgTpBOT

— Rick Wilson (@TheRickWilson) October 20, 2018

“A brawl and a fist fight” pic.twitter.com/Yqu8LOyGhY

— Yaroslav Trofimov (@yarotrof) October 19, 2018

Completely looks like a guy who would start a fight with 15 men. pic.twitter.com/GkFDwxcCG6

— Schooley (@Rschooley) October 19, 2018

Friday corpse dump.

— Zedward D Wood Junior (@Zeddary) October 19, 2018

My timeline is back to 99% news and views on #Khashoggi and everyone is a lot angrier. Apparently the Saudis picked Friday night, hoping for the news to be buried through the weekend. They didn’t realize it will hit an army of journalists on twitter with 2 full days of free time.

— Negar (@NegarMortazavi) October 20, 2018

Here is Saud al-Qahtani, the MBS enforcer and “information czar” ousted tonight as part of the Khashoggi clean-up, referring to himself last year as the “executor of the orders” of the king and crown prince, saying essentially, you think I do things “without guidance”? https://t.co/Xx4vGDpKMm

— Evan Hill (@evanchill) October 19, 2018

NARRATOR: It most definitely can be written off as a cover up. https://t.co/sQPRTPqrGt

— Nahal Toosi (@nahaltoosi) October 19, 2018

The Saudis say they are creating a commission that will have one month to release a report. Conveniently this is AFTER the midterms. Prediction – Trump & @GOP will stall on any action saying: “Let’s wait for the Saudi report to come out first.” https://t.co/ET8VNWHv6I

— Beau Willimon (@BeauWillimon) October 19, 2018

I’ll believe that Jared Kushner is growing into his role as a White House staffer when he stops being terrified. https://t.co/VkGn6CJWmG pic.twitter.com/NkCqzSRhwZ

— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) October 20, 2018

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Previous Post: « Now if I tell you that you suffer from delusions
Next Post: Saturday Evening Open Thread: Look Forward, Not Backwards »

Reader Interactions

92Comments

  1. 1.

    smintheus

    October 20, 2018 at 5:56 pm

    On the positive side of things, it’s now legal for some Saudi women to drive their husbands to the consulates where they’ll be dismembered.

  2. 2.

    Adam L Silverman

    October 20, 2018 at 5:59 pm

    Jared’s terrified because he, based on all reports, disclosed highly classified intelligence to MBS. Kushner is not an original classifying authority and, as a result, has no authority to do so. MBS, nor anyone else for that matter, is not entitled to receive US intelligence except through established normal intelligence sharing protocols.

  3. 3.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    October 20, 2018 at 6:02 pm

    “Kashoggi’s killer was a rogue figure named Ben Ghazi.”

    This totally reminded me of this scene from the Matrix:

    I’m going to be as forthcoming as I can be, Mr. Anderson. You’re here because we need your help. We know that you’ve been contacted by a certain individual, a man who calls himself Ben Ghazi. Now whatever you think you know about this man is irrelevant. He is considered by many authorities to be the most dangerous man alive. My colleagues believe that I am wasting my time with you but I believe that you wish to do the right thing. We’re willing to wipe the slate clean, give you a fresh start and all that we’re asking in return is your cooperation in bringing a known terrorist to justice.

  4. 4.

    SFAW

    October 20, 2018 at 6:02 pm

    So Khashoggi was an Islamist extremist, eh?

    Sort of like Joe Manchin is an ultra-left-wing socialist Lie-beral Dem, I guess. As was George W. Bush

    If these motherfuckers had any shame . ..

  5. 5.

    Ken

    October 20, 2018 at 6:04 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: Did Kushner ever complete a security clearance? Last I heard – which was nearly a year after he started wandering around the White House reading classified documents – he was still making “corrections”.

    (In fairness, a lot of people are wandering around this White House.)

  6. 6.

    trollhattan

    October 20, 2018 at 6:06 pm

    @SFAW:
    George W Bush–secret Democrat[sic]

  7. 7.

    Ruckus

    October 20, 2018 at 6:07 pm

    @SFAW:

    If these motherfuckers had any shame . ..

    They’d sell it for pennies as they don’t believe they have anything to be shameful about. It must be difficult to see the forest when you live in the middle of it.

  8. 8.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    October 20, 2018 at 6:07 pm

    @Ken:
    A lot of this shit stems from R’s either being too scared of their base or too willing to use Trump to get what they want to ever hold his administration accountable when it actually matters in any meaningful way.

  9. 9.

    randy khan

    October 20, 2018 at 6:10 pm

    It’s no surprise that the Saudis don’t really understand much about a free press; increasingly it’s not a surprise that the Trump Administration also does not.

  10. 10.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    October 20, 2018 at 6:11 pm

    @Ruckus:
    Could a sense of shame be tortured into them? Only a rhetorical question.

  11. 11.

    zhena gogolia

    October 20, 2018 at 6:12 pm

    I don’t like making jokes about this, but Hot Fuzz said it best: “She tripped and fell on her own shears.”

  12. 12.

    Jerzy Russian

    October 20, 2018 at 6:12 pm

    Wasn’t there some report that Khashoggi was murdered because he criticized Trump? The Saudis know how to play Trump like a fiddle, and putting this out there strokes Trump’s ego a bit more, making it even less likely he does anything about the murder.

  13. 13.

    zhena gogolia

    October 20, 2018 at 6:13 pm

    @zhena gogolia:

    linky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zvW78UX7QU

  14. 14.

    Ruckus

    October 20, 2018 at 6:13 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:
    ¿Por qué no dos?

  15. 15.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 20, 2018 at 6:14 pm

    If the past couple of years have taught me anything, they’ve shown me that I have deep reserves of hatred far beyond anything I previously imagined I was capable of tapping. It’s astonishing and genuinely kind of scary to realise how much I hate these people.

    I don’t at all like that in myself.

  16. 16.

    Ken

    October 20, 2018 at 6:15 pm

    @zhena gogolia: Or the Blackadder version, “He accidentally brutally cut his own throat while combing his hair.”

  17. 17.

    Waldo

    October 20, 2018 at 6:15 pm

    He started a fistfight, so naturally they cut off his fingers so he couldn’t make a fist? Yes, it’s all starting to make sense now.

  18. 18.

    Jay

    October 20, 2018 at 6:16 pm

    @Adam L Silverman:

    The “Quiet Genius’s” “Middle East Peace Plan” was to let Israel take over the West Bank and Gaza and expell the Palestinians and Beduins. Sawdi Arabia’s role was to prevent Arab Governments from responding militarially, and to pay for the refugee camps.

    When the Sawdi Prince Mohammed Bone Saw pushed his senile Dad aside and all but took the bloody Crown, US Intelligence Communities prepared analysis and lists of other Royals, Officials and Dissidents who would be opposed to having Mohammed Bone Saw in charge and his agenda. That information was included in the Presidential Daily Briefs, which Prince Jared was intensely interested in.

    Having used his position as Prince Jared to try to get bail out money from the Petty Kingdoms for his bankrupt properties, Prince Jared owed Prince Mohammed Bone Saw big time, so he leaked those lists to the Prince, in the hopes of closing the deal on a sudden trip to the Kingdom of Sawdi Arabia.

    Prince Mohammed Bone Saw boasted about it to his BFF’s.

    In his late night Bromance chats with Prince Mohammed Bone Saw, Prince Mohammed Bone Saw was whining about the mean Journalist Kashoggi who was out of his reach in America, and Prince Jared said, ” why don’t you just lure him to a Consulate, kidnap him, torture him, and murder him, like you guys have to so many times before?”

    Prince Mohammed Bone Saw said, “But we can’t, he’s almost American, the fall out will be “yoouge”!. ( a shout out to Prince Jared’s real Daddy, not the fake one in jail.)

    Prince Jared replied that between the over $20 billion dollars the House of Sawed spends in the US buying Politicians and Media every year, The Insane Clown POSus belief that the $120 billion dollar arms deal is real, and that Republicans are now fine with radical Islamic Muslims chopping the heads off kidnapped prisoners, everything will be okay, and nobody will know.

    Once the shit hit the fan, Prince Jared and Prince Mohammed Bone Saw continued their late night chats,

    How do we spin this?

    Can we blame Turkey?

    Can we say he was fine when he left the Embassy?

    Can we say it was rogue elements?

    Can we say it was accidental or suicide by bone saw?

    Can we say it was self defence? Does the Kingdom of Sawdi Arabia have a “stand your ground law” or “castle doctrine”?

    Can we spin it that he was a dangerous Sawdi terrorist, worse than his BFF Bin Laden and the real super double secret Evil Mastermind behind 9/11.

    And at the end of each call, Prince Jared and Prince Mohammed Bone Saw made kissy kissy noises to mimic the tradition of cheek kissing, rubbed their glowing orbs for a few minutes, and said goodnight, one to go to sleep, the other to start their busy busy day of ordering head choppings, whippings, stonings and crucifixions. ( time zone differences, doncha know!)

    And about 28 different Nations Intelligence Communities have the tapes, not just Turkey, Israel and the USA

  19. 19.

    Ruckus

    October 20, 2018 at 6:19 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:
    What sort of torture might shame them?
    They are grown humans. If they have no sense of shame by now, they aren’t finding some under a basket somewhere.

  20. 20.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    October 20, 2018 at 6:22 pm

    The Saudis haven’t been our allies for 100 years, KSA didn’t exist 100 years ago. Do they teach History at Harvard?

  21. 21.

    NotMax

    October 20, 2018 at 6:23 pm

    Pretty good rundown from a Turkish newspaper (although always keep in mind nothing published doesn’t bear Erdoğan’s tacit approval).

    …Turkish authorities, including prosecutors, forensic and security officials, have already reached some conclusions as part of their investigation into Khashoggi’s death.
    [snip]
    According to a Turkish official who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonimity on Oct. 20, Turkish investigators are likely to find out what happened to the body.

    He added that Khashoggi’s DNA samples were being procured from Turkey, meaning that investigators would not need to ask Saudi Arabia for samples at the moment. Source

    FYI.

    A black van that allegedly carried the body of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi from the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to the consul’s residence was searched for three hours by Turkish forensics expert, local media reported Oct. 19.
    [snip]
    Forensics teams studied in the van for three hours by using special chemicals, including Luminol, to find an evidence on the suspected murder, the report said.

    Turkish police are also investigating other consular vehicles that visited places in and around Istanbul immediately after the disappearance. Source

    Also,

    Meanwhile, a former head of Britain’s MI6 overseas intelligence agency said Khashoggi was probably killed on the orders of people close to Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

    John Sawers, who headed MI6 between 2009 and 2014, said “all the evidence points to it being ordered and carried out” by people close to Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler.

    Sawers told the BBC that “I don’t think he would have done this if he hadn’t thought he had license from the U.S. administration to frankly behave as he wished to do so.” Source

    Also some reports that Pompeo has scrapped a looming deadline for some Turkish troops to withdraw from Manbij in Syria, indeed agreeing to extending their presence significantly.

  22. 22.

    Baud

    October 20, 2018 at 6:25 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: On the plus side, you can now come sit by me.

  23. 23.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    October 20, 2018 at 6:26 pm

    @Jay: Sawdi, nice touch.

  24. 24.

    boatboy_srq

    October 20, 2018 at 6:27 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Hatred of evil is nothing to be ashamed of. And if these mofos are not evil then the word has no meaning.

  25. 25.

    NotMax

    October 20, 2018 at 6:29 pm

    “In tonight’s performance, the role of April Glaspie will be played by Jared Kushner.”

    //

  26. 26.

    zhena gogolia

    October 20, 2018 at 6:29 pm

    @Jay:

    Sadly plausible.

  27. 27.

    boatboy_srq

    October 20, 2018 at 6:30 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Does Harvard give grades higher than F to students who don’t attend classes?

  28. 28.

    lgerard

    October 20, 2018 at 6:31 pm

    The first order of business on January 20, 2019 should be investigating Jared”s security clearance and his handling of classified information with the goal of sending him back to his previous job of kicking old people out of their apartments in order to raise the rent.

  29. 29.

    p.a.

    October 20, 2018 at 6:31 pm

    Those who go through life consequence-less become sloppy, incompetent (assumption of original competence is optional.) Then when caught: flail/fail. “How dare you see through our bald-faced lies!” (Hi Brett!)

  30. 30.

    germy

    October 20, 2018 at 6:31 pm

    Here’s a story from June that didn’t receive quite the same amount of attention:

    Israeli army kills Palestinian nurse in Gaza border protest: medics

    GAZA (Reuters) – Israeli forces killed a Palestinian nurse on Friday as she tried to help a wounded protester at the Gaza border, according to health officials and a witness, while Israel said militants had attacked its troops with gunfire and a grenade.

    Najar, a 21-year-old volunteer medic, was shot as she ran toward the fortified border fence, east of the south Gaza city of Khan Younis, in a bid to reach a casualty, a witness said.

    Wearing a white uniform, “she raised her hands high in a clear way, but Israeli soldiers fired and she was hit in the chest,” the witness, who requested anonymity, told Reuters.

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-israel-palestinians-protests/israeli-army-kills-palestinian-nurse-in-gaza-border-protest-medics-idUSKCN1IX5OA

  31. 31.

    Mike in NC

    October 20, 2018 at 6:33 pm

    The final approved version of this story will be that Kashoggi was in fact deeply depressed and he killed himself before those 15 counsellors were able to stage an intervention. Sad!

  32. 32.

    Ruckus

    October 20, 2018 at 6:33 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:
    And yet all of us continue to go in this direction, because really turning the other cheek, peace, love and understanding only goes so far. You’ve probably spent your whole life never having to realize how bad things can get, most of us are in the same position. Yes we’ve had personal bad days/years but most of us not that tough of a life. A crappy one occasionally, maybe. You surely remember the stories of the depression, many having to beg for food, actually living under a bridge, hoping to catch that sparrow. My grandfather told me he worked every day of the depression and did OK. He owned a garage in Hollywood and repaired stars cars. The depression was just a time he lived through. Great numbers of people could not make that statement. What we are living through now is of course different but only in kind. We are at a crossroads in this country (and many others) where liberals want to make the world we have a better place and conservatives want to go backwards 200-300 yrs, in every imaginable way, except for their cars, mcmansions and whiteness.

  33. 33.

    SFAW

    October 20, 2018 at 6:37 pm

    @lgerard:

    The first order of business on January 20, 2019

    I think the new Congress gets sworn-in and seated before then. If so, they shouldn’t wait two weeks — I want them to give the Traitor-in-Chief incentive to go completely open-loop in his Grift of the Union address.

  34. 34.

    boatboy_srq

    October 20, 2018 at 6:39 pm

    @germy: So Mike in DC was right, and eemom was hyperventilating without hard evidence.

  35. 35.

    Gelfling 545

    October 20, 2018 at 6:42 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne: Finding these feelings in myself has been horrifying. If I had perchance to be in the same room as Trump I doubt I could restrain myself from slapping him along side the head. If I read of his death, I could feel no sympathy. This adds just one more layer of misery to the general awfulness.

  36. 36.

    Ruckus

    October 20, 2018 at 6:42 pm

    @SFAW:
    January 3. Unless the prior congress changes the date. I’d imagine to the next Monday, rather than Friday or the weekend.

  37. 37.

    Jay

    October 20, 2018 at 6:43 pm

    “Last Friday night, the Proud Boys, a Republican street gang known for their violence and unfortunate facial hair choices, chased and beat down several activists protesting their leader Gavin McInnes’ reenactment of the assassination of a Japanese socialist at the Metropolitan Republican Club in New York City.

    This week, Nelson Diaz, the Chairman of the Miami GOP, also joined a group of protestors that included both Cuban conservatives who probably have framed pictures of Batista on their walls and some Proud Boys — notably Miami Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, who attended the Unite The Right protest in Charlottesville last year — in chasing down Nancy Pelosi and yelling at her about how she is a communist. There was no question that Tarrio was a Proud Boy, given that he was wearing the official Proud Boy outfit and also yelling “Open up, it’s some Proud Boys in here!”

    https://www.wonkette.com/miami-gop-chairman-lead-proud-boys-in-riot-at-democratic-campaign-office

  38. 38.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    October 20, 2018 at 6:43 pm

    @Baud: Careful, Subaru Diane has a history of jumping out of perfectly good airplanes.

  39. 39.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    October 20, 2018 at 6:44 pm

    @boatboy_srq: Don’t know, I went to a public university.

  40. 40.

    Ruckus

    October 20, 2018 at 6:44 pm

    @boatboy_srq:
    Really? I’d never noticed this before.

  41. 41.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 20, 2018 at 6:44 pm

    @Baud:

    That pretty much makes it all worth while.

  42. 42.

    Brachiator

    October 20, 2018 at 6:46 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??:

    The GOP do not fear the base. They realize that they have achieved something remarkable. The base belongs to Trump and will follow him anywhere. When the sheep are this gullible, they simply must be sheared.

    And so, all restraints are off. McConnell can signal that he is going to repeal Obamacare and gut Medicare, and the base will say, “that’s okay with us. Medicare is for lazy moochers.”

    The Republicans are going to use the lame duck session to put in place as many right wing judges as they can, even though they previously promised the Democrats that they would back down and build bipartisan bridges.

    No matter what happens during the midterms, the GOP are doing everything they can to keep their power. As far as they are concerned, the base is just along for the ride.

  43. 43.

    NotMax

    October 20, 2018 at 6:48 pm

    @SFAW
    20th amendment (excerpt):

    Section 1. The terms of the President and Vice President shall end at noon on the 20th day of January, and the terms of Senators and Representatives at noon on the 3d day of January, of the years in which such terms would have ended if this article had not been ratified; and the terms of their successors shall then begin.

    Section 2. The Congress shall assemble at least once in every year, and such meeting shall begin at noon on the 3d day of January, unless they shall by law appoint a different day.

  44. 44.

    Jay

    October 20, 2018 at 6:48 pm

    @Brachiator:

    Yup, double yup.

  45. 45.

    Jay

    October 20, 2018 at 6:50 pm

    “In the last two years, three Saudi princes living in Europe have disappeared. All were critical of the Saudi government – and there is evidence that all were abducted and flown back to Saudi Arabia… where nothing further has been heard from them.”

    https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-40926963

  46. 46.

    boatboy_srq

    October 20, 2018 at 6:50 pm

    @Ruckus: You missed a horrid clawfest, that got a commenter I otherwise value pied for being thoroughly obnoxious.

  47. 47.

    Brachiator

    October 20, 2018 at 6:50 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: It appears that Bolton is Trump’s Rasputin. Hope you get a chance to write about the nuclear treaty mess. Things are really jumping

  48. 48.

    sukabi

    October 20, 2018 at 6:51 pm

    @Adam L Silverman: it’s extremely likely that Jared isn’t the only admin official selling intel. That he’s selling ‘hit lists’ puts him in his own special category though.

  49. 49.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    October 20, 2018 at 6:52 pm

    @Ruckus:
    I’m morbidly curious if what happened to Winston Smith at the end of 1984 could be reciprocated in real life on our “friends” across the aisle. I’d never seriously advocate such a thing, however. These people really do disgust me with their depravity.

  50. 50.

    boatboy_srq

    October 20, 2018 at 6:54 pm

    @Jay: And yet KSA is valued by the Reichwing is a rock of sability.

  51. 51.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 20, 2018 at 6:55 pm

    @lgerard:

    The first order of business on January 20, 2019 should be investigating Jared….

    The 116th Congress actually convenes on January 3, 2019. Fully agree on the priority investigation. I’m delighted to think he’s having lots of sleepless nights. Wishing him many more.

  52. 52.

    Jay

    October 20, 2018 at 6:55 pm

    “The clandestine recordings — more than 10 hours of conversation — were provided to The Washington Post by Abdulaziz, a close associate of the missing Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. They offer a chilling depiction of how Saudi Arabia tries to lure opposition figures back to the kingdom with promises of money and safety. These efforts have sharply escalated since Mohammed became crown prince last year, rights groups say.

    Several of Khashoggi’s friends said that senior Saudi officials close to the crown prince had contacted him in recent months, even offering him a high-level job working for the government if he returned to the kingdom. He said he didn’t trust the offer, fearing it was a ruse. According to U.S. intelligence intercepts of Saudi officials, Mohammed had ordered an operation to lure Khashoggi back to Saudi Arabia from his home in Virginia and then detain him.”

    https://www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/world/secret-recordings-give-insight-into-saudi-attempt-to-silence-critics/2018/10/17/fb333378-ce49-11e8-ad0a-0e01efba3cc1_story.html

  53. 53.

    boatboy_srq

    October 20, 2018 at 6:56 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: The rat-cage apparatus worked because the government knew Smith was terrified of rats. What are these Wankers terrified of?

  54. 54.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    October 20, 2018 at 6:57 pm

    @boatboy_srq:
    Being cucked by non-white people?

  55. 55.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 20, 2018 at 6:59 pm

    @Gelfling 545:

    Exactly. You put it perfectly.

    I still don’t like to confront myself as a hating person, no matter the provocation. But I’m getting used to it.

  56. 56.

    Ruckus

    October 20, 2018 at 6:59 pm

    @boatboy_srq:
    You can’t see me so I’ll let you know, my tongue is very, very firmly planted in my cheek.
    I was there. I had pied said commenter several weeks earlier and only about 2 weeks prior to said evening I unpied said commenter.
    I would have pied again but didn’t need to.
    ETA and yes it was ugly. And got uglier by the minute.

  57. 57.

    Jay

    October 20, 2018 at 7:01 pm

    “Saudi dissidents in exile have unexpectedly vanished long before journalist Jamal Khashoggi disappeared two weeks ago in Turkey. Now, a Saudi prince living in Germany tells how he, too, narrowly avoided a kidnaping just a few days before Khashoggi.

    On a dry, dusty day in Cairo in late September, a conspiratorial meeting took place in a hotel in the Egyptian capital.

    Saudi embassy staffers walked into the lobby with a check worth “several million,” according to Saudi Prince Khaled bin Farhan al-Saud.

    In an interview with DPA, Prince Khaled — who lives in Germany in exile and is a critic of the Saudi regime — said the embassy workers met with one of his relatives and made an offer.

    “They told my relative that they wanted to help me because I have no more money,” he said. “I only needed to go to the Saudi embassy in Cairo to pick up the check. But I knew it was a trap.”

    https://www.dailysabah.com/world/2018/10/16/saudi-prince-exiled-in-germany-says-he-avoided-kidnapping-days-before-khashoggi/amp

  58. 58.

    boatboy_srq

    October 20, 2018 at 7:02 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??: That already happened in 2008 and 2012. We need something more viscerally horrifying.

  59. 59.

    schrodingers_cat

    October 20, 2018 at 7:03 pm

    @Jay: Wikipedia tell me that GM is one of the founders of Vice media, and an actor, so a media personality and a Canadian. He got a glowing fluff piece in Garbage Times this week. I wonder how many MSMers he is friends with. How many NYT reporters are “proud boys”?

  60. 60.

    Ruckus

    October 20, 2018 at 7:11 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    But I’m getting used to it.

    This is the part I don’t like. The getting used to it part. Part of what I think makes us better is that we hate, well hate. Getting used to hating takes that away from us. But then sometimes things get to a point that one can no longer ignore, not just specific things, but can not ignore anything. And then getting used to that forces it’s way in.
    A counselor once taught me that hate is an emotion, and really like all the others. Ignoring it won’t make it go away, but we can control it, use it to drive us to make things better, to change our situations so that the hate doesn’t control us.

  61. 61.

    boatboy_srq

    October 20, 2018 at 7:12 pm

    @Ruckus: I’m just glad I’ve not had an exchange like that myself.

  62. 62.

    Brachiator

    October 20, 2018 at 7:15 pm

    @Ruckus: I haven’t been online much recently, but I guess I missed a very contentious thread.

  63. 63.

    jl

    October 20, 2018 at 7:16 pm

    @smintheus: ” On the positive side of things, it’s now legal for some Saudi women to drive their husbands to the consulates where they’ll be dismembered. ”

    Looks like allowing women drive was a piece, maybe the only piece, of window dressing for an apparently fraudulent social liberalization in Saudi Arabia. they’ve been throwing women in jail so quickly for making trouble and asking for rights, that they have a too many women in jail crisis on their hands. Want to contract with US of help on managing women’s jails. I guess that is one of the Gabillion dollar contracts and gizagillion jobs the Sauiis are producing for us that make our economy run.

    Trump’s lies about the importance of all these Saudi contracts get more ridiculous and outlandish every day. I heard on the news Trump is babbling about a million US jobs created by Saudi something or other. I don’t doubt that Trump is panicked about a very important Saudi flow of funds drying up, but he just can’t talk about it.

    Only good thing I can see is that I haven’t heard a news report from a respectable (aka not Fox News) outlet that takes Trumps BS seriously. I guess the idea of the US being OK with countries luring a journalist into a trap, jumping, cutting off fingers, and beheading said journalist has made an impression on reporters and news actors.

    I note some commenter above mentioned that Turkey (aka Erdogan) is starting to get its hush money or favors. So, this outrage will probably go down as just a minior cost of doing business among thugs like MBS, Erdogan and Traump.

  64. 64.

    Ruckus

    October 20, 2018 at 7:21 pm

    @boatboy_srq:
    @Brachiator:
    I’ve cut back on my online presence as well and yet I still didn’t miss the fun and excitement.
    It went from ugly to very bad very rapidly. Less an open exchange of ideas to a war declared in 3, 2, 1……..
    Best if you get attacked like that to just close BJ and watch Netflix because nothing anyone says will change a closed mind.

  65. 65.

    Brickley Paiste

    October 20, 2018 at 7:22 pm

    Khashoggi was a Bernie-bro.

    https://www.inquisitr.com/5125029/in-secret-final-interview-jamal-khashoggi-says-only-bernie-sanders-was-willing-to-stand-up-to-saudi-arabia/

  66. 66.

    germy

    October 20, 2018 at 7:22 pm

    @Ruckus: Was this a recent thread?

  67. 67.

    Jay

    October 20, 2018 at 7:25 pm

    @schrodingers_cat:

    Sorry about that, Gavin’s just another douche bro that went from techbro libertarian leftier than thou, to full bore Nazi.

    Canadian Hate Law’s havn’t kept pace with 21st Century social media, due to having Con’s in Government and now, Con’s in opposition.

    Sun Media and Rebel Media became the Con’s favorites, and as they spiralled downward into full Nazi, Ezra Levant’s little Nazi You Tube Camp spun out McInnies, Faith Goldi and a small horde of other slime.

    That lead to other slime.

    Cases are hard to prove, civil suits they evade by bankruptcy, and both the jail sentences and other punishment’s, such as loss of Internet access and pulling of Passports arn’t used often enough.

    Too many Judges think it’s just “talking shit on the web”.

    They are starting, slowly to wise up as the same faces return time and time again on the same charges.

  68. 68.

    boatboy_srq

    October 20, 2018 at 7:26 pm

    @jl: I have always wondered why it is that US foreign policy does not prioritize energy efficiency for geopolitical reasons. KSA is a powerhouse only because the petroeconomy continues to drive growth: moving past oil-based energy production would deprive them of their one real revenue stream.

    I’ve also wondered why it is that, when it comes to proof of Election®, the FundiEvangelicals are so willing to do what their Muslim crack dealers oil providers demand with their huge houses and Hummers and diesel-powered megayachts.

  69. 69.

    germy

    October 20, 2018 at 7:26 pm

    I’m not sure what point Kurt is trying to make here:

    30 years ago, Spy magazine sent “refund” checks for $1.11 to 58 rich people. The 26 who cashed those got a another check, for $.64. The 13 who cashed those each got a check for $.13. Two people cashed the $.13 checks—Donald Trump and Jamal Khashoggi’s arms-dealer uncle Annan.— Kurt Andersen (@KBAndersen) October 19, 2018

  70. 70.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    October 20, 2018 at 7:26 pm

    @boatboy_srq:
    I meant literally, but whatever

  71. 71.

    ??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ??

    October 20, 2018 at 7:30 pm

    @germy:
    Guilt by association is my guess.

  72. 72.

    Brickley Paiste

    October 20, 2018 at 7:30 pm

    @boatboy_srq:

    Some colleges that check attendance?

    Jeesus, that’s sad.

  73. 73.

    smintheus

    October 20, 2018 at 7:34 pm

    @jl: It’s damn well about time they woke up. Those same journalists have been busy for the last year or more selling us the Prince Bonesaw as moderate western reformer bullshit. It was as if they were just dusting off the risible propaganda they published in the early ’80s and replacing every occurrence of the name “Yuri Andropov” with “Prince Bonesaw”.

  74. 74.

    Jay

    October 20, 2018 at 7:35 pm

    @jl:

    “I note some commenter above mentioned that Turkey (aka Erdogan) is starting to get its hush money or favors. So, this outrage will probably go down as just a minior cost of doing business among thugs like MBS, Erdogan and Traump.”

    Rumours are Turkey, being in an economic down turn, is doing it to blackmail the Kindgdom of Sawdi Arabia for investment money.

    Other rumours are that it’s pushback against Sawdi Arabia for backing the Kurds,

    Other rumours are that it’s about Sawdi support for the al Quida franchises in Ildib,

    Other rumours are that it’s about Turkey knocking down Sawdi Arabia a couple pegs as a Regional Power compeditor and Sunni community influence.

    So far, they are just rumours as to why Turkey’s exposing the Kingdom of Sawdi Arabia and Prince Mohammed Bone Saw.

  75. 75.

    boatboy_srq

    October 20, 2018 at 7:35 pm

    @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)  ?? For them I think it WAS literal. TABMITWH wqs cause for an eight year freakout, and the artifacts are still rolling around (in VA literally, as the Teahad Gadsden Flag plates are all over NoVA).

  76. 76.

    Jay

    October 20, 2018 at 7:37 pm

    @germy:

    Cheap penny pinchers.

  77. 77.

    John Revolta

    October 20, 2018 at 7:38 pm

    @germy: I remember that stunt. At the time I don’t think anybody thought anything about it other than what an asshole Trump was. Mind you, this was already well known in NYC even back then.

  78. 78.

    boatboy_srq

    October 20, 2018 at 7:39 pm

    @Brickley Paiste: Thinking more about certain higher learning institutions where degrees can be purchased instead of earned.

  79. 79.

    boatboy_srq

    October 20, 2018 at 7:44 pm

    @Jay: In hindsight, it says a lot more about Lord Dampnut, and how threadbare his successful businessman schtick has always been, that should have been more common knowledge.

  80. 80.

    eemom

    October 20, 2018 at 7:46 pm

    @boatboy_srq: @Ruckus:

    Fuck y’all, idiots. ?

  81. 81.

    Jay

    October 20, 2018 at 7:48 pm

    @smintheus:

    Alternet has a good post up on The Moustache of Understanding and the dynamic of the royal “we”, in regards to Prince Mohammed Bone Saw:

    https://www.alternet.org/saudi-loving-corporate-media-pundits-run-cover-wake-jamal-khashoggi-outrage

  82. 82.

    eemom

    October 20, 2018 at 7:51 pm

    I don’t need to say this, but I will anyway. I do not have a goddamn thing to apologize for or regret, to anyone possessing the capacity for reading comprehension.

    That said, carry on with your bullshit. And your pies.

  83. 83.

    SiubhanDuinne

    October 20, 2018 at 7:52 pm

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Careful, Subaru Diane has a history of jumping out of perfectly good airplanes.

    Do something once in your life and all of a sudden it’s “a history”?

  84. 84.

    smintheus

    October 20, 2018 at 8:05 pm

    @boatboy_srq:

    “You have to give me a passing grade, I paid for the course.”

    A former student at Lehigh University, who turned out to be exactly right in his prediction. I had assigned a failing grade to him and to several of his buddies because they cheated flagrantly on *all* of the take-home exams, and refused to hand in some of the assigned papers, and ignored the instructions for other assignments, and did virtually none of the required readings, and worked together to disrupt the course constantly and prevent us from covering material they didn’t want to be responsible for, and lied about nearly everything they did. And then there were a bunch of “white power” gestures around minority students.

    And the university over-ruled me on every single sanction I tried to impose on these goons, without explanation. The university decided without explanation that I couldn’t throw them out of the course for being disruptive. Then it decided without explanation that they had not in fact admitted to me that they cheated on all the exams. Then, that it was not quite sufficiently clear they had cheated. And finally the university decided that all the cheats’ F grades needed to be expunged, again without explanation. In fact the administrators never looked at the students’ work or their grades, they just felt somehow that the students deserved passing grades. Two of the cheaters apparently demanded and apparently got ‘A’s. The university also did nothing about their white-power disruptions, after promising that it would look into my complaint.

    It was quite an eye opener. Thankfully I don’t teach for Lehigh any longer.

  85. 85.

    boatboy_srq

    October 20, 2018 at 8:29 pm

    @smintheus: There was a time in the UK that “public school boy” described the product of such pretences to education.

  86. 86.

    Ruckus

    October 20, 2018 at 8:31 pm

    @germy:
    Within the last few days, I don’t remember which day.
    Adam was on top of it pretty quickly.

  87. 87.

    lgerard

    October 20, 2018 at 8:33 pm

    @germy:

    I’m not sure what point Kurt is trying to make here:

    BOTH SIDES!!!!!!!!!!

  88. 88.

    Ruckus

    October 20, 2018 at 8:37 pm

    And the pie filter works just fine, thank you Cleek and Alan, very much.

  89. 89.

    Zelma

    October 20, 2018 at 8:45 pm

    I have never had a high opinion of the human race. I’m a historian. But the last two years have turned me into a misanthrope. Wish I didn’t have kids and grandkids.

  90. 90.

    J R in WV

    October 20, 2018 at 9:55 pm

    So, that treaty Trump has said he intends to revoke, the nuclear arms treaty with Russia…

    Is that a treaty approved by the Senate, or just a pseudo-treaty signed by a President that can be undone by a subsequent president?

    This is an important question, because if it was approved by the Senate, it’s the law of the land, and no President, least of all a treasonous pig like Trump can revoke it at all.

    BBC has an article about numerous Saudi Princes being kidnapped in Europe and various mideastern countries, and being disappeared, some of them forever, so far, and others released to seek health treatment in the US, then kidnapped again. These are members of the Royal Saud family, so I feel pretty sure that those guys wouldn’t hesitate to dismember a commoner in a foreign country.

  91. 91.

    Dave

    October 21, 2018 at 1:14 am

    @Jay: I saw what you did there. Nice touch.

  92. 92.

    Dave

    October 21, 2018 at 1:21 am

    @Zelma: When I was in my early 20’s (I’m an old man now), I worked for a guy in his 40’s who told me, “Dave, you could take 95% of the population of the planet, put them under your thumb, do a good rub and not lose a thing.” As he said this, he would demonstrate by rubbing his thumb on a flat surface, as if 95% of humanity were underneath it, being wiped out at once. A great disturbance in the Force, as it were, and Star Wars wasn’t even a twinkle in George’s eye at the time.

    I didn’t really agree back then, but I’ve come much closer as I’ve aged. Except he may have estimated a little low at 95%.

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