Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

You know it’s bad when the Project 2025 people have to create training videos on “How To Be Normal”.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

Anyone who bans teaching American history has no right to shape America’s future.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. keep building.

White supremacy is terrorism.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

Republican speaker of the house Mike Johnson is the bland and smiling face of evil.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

It’s the corruption, stupid.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

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56Comments

  1. 1.

    lollipopguild

    Several gop aholes are blaming President Biden for the attack.  They somehow think Israel is our 51st state and we have to protect and defend as if it were.

  4. 4.

    kindness

    What ever the ending, it won’t end well for either the Israelis or the Palestinians.  And it won’t end with simply crushing Gaza.  I’m fearful of the onrushing wave of hatred both over there and here at home.  This will not end well.

  5. 5.

    bjacques

    Thanks for posting this. It’s the first time I’ve seen any Palestinian spokesperson on the news.

  6. 6.

    JaneE

    Yep.  Declared or undeclared, Israel and the Palestinian people have been at war since I was born.   Depending on which slice of time you pick, one side or the other appears to be the aggressor and the other the victim.  Much like today’s Republican party, there are too many extremists imbedded on both sides to ever let the moderates claim any kind of solution, because that would almost necessarily not be a “victory”.  And the continuing tit-for-tat just widens the gap and makes the extremists look more normal.  Rabin was the last Israeli to really try to work with Palestinians for peace (IMO), and look what he got for his efforts.

    The efforts of the Arab nations to keep the conflict going never seems to get much coverage.   Maybe not today, but for the first several decades of the conflict they were one of the main reasons that the Palestinians did not want to compromise.  Now, it is just axiomatic, family tradition, or the way they have to be.  Israel could have done more to integrate Arabic citizens instead of making them second-class citizens, which didn’t help either.

    Bad news for both sides for quite a while longer, I am afraid.

  7. 7.

    Jeffro

    The GOP is trying to tell its cult members that somehow, the $6B in frozen Iranian assets that the U.S. freed last week for future humanitarian aid purchases instantly went into Hamas’ coffers and funded the assault on Israel.

    As if that’s how these things happen: one day, folks just chillin out in Gaza, the next day, BOOM – $6B in the bank account and off we go.

    I know Biden & Co have a LOT to manage with this crises and all the other crises going on at the moment, but I sure hope they take a moment to publicly shame the lying liars of the Republican Party.

  8. 8.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    This is a blog entry written by a guy a friend of mine knows. He’s an Israeli journalist and a reserve officer. His perspective is not the only one, of course.

    ISRAEL AT WAR – Yom Kippur IIom Kippur IOCT 7, 2023, 4:34 PM 

    This was the doomsday scenario we drilled in IDF military exercises over the last decade and a half: terrorists infiltrate Israel en masse, take over entire Israeli towns, kill civilians and take others hostage for later negotiations. Incessant rocket fire, chaos and fog-of-war on the Israeli side.

    This scenario played out exactly today – the only difference was the military scenario envisioned Hezbollah attacking from the north, not Hamas from Gaza. No one thought Hamas had such capacity, especially with the intelligence coverage by Israel’s Shabak and IDF Intelligence.

    But it happened. We are in the first hours of what will be a long war. The scope of the blow will become clear in the next days, but already it is clear that there are over a hundred Israelis dead – both civilian and soldiers – and, worse, Israelis taken hostage in Gaza.  A few initial points:

    • This was a colossal intelligence and operational failure of the IDF and the security services. Not only did the incursion come as a total surprise, but the border barrier and other means of sealing off the Gaza Strip collapsed.
    • Israel is at war. Tens of thousands of reservists are being called up now. There is a real danger Hezbollah may join the war, and that would turn this into one of Israel’s greatest wars.
    • Israel will have to conquer large parts of Gaza – both to restore its deterrence (otherwise Hezbollah will be tempted to attack Israel in a similar fashion in the future), and as leverage for the release of Israeli hostages.
    • The international public opinion, initially sympathetic to Israel, will sour soon — with days, or a week or two — especially as Israel deepens its operation in Gaza. Jewish communities abroad should be prepared for an onslaught of hate in the coming month.
    • The disunity in Israel created by the legislative overhaul weakened Israel’s deterrence and likely played a role in Hamas’ calculation to attack. Separately, talks of peace with Saudi Arabia may also have put pressure on Hamas and the axis of evil led by Iran to launch war in an effort to torpedo normalization that would have left them isolated in the Arab and Muslim world.

    These words written now will soon become stale. The region will change after this war in ways we can’t know. There will be many dead.  In the end, Israel will prevail. For now we need your prayers.

    About the Author: Jacob Dallal is an IDF reserve Major and was acting head of the IDF Spokesperson’s international press branch in the Second Lebanon War in 2006.

  9. 9.

    Tony Jay

    At the end of the day, I don’t expect Palestinians to condemn these attacks on Israel any more that I’d expect Ukrainians to condemn attacks on Russia. That the starting point of most Western coverage of this latest Bibi-inspired episode of bloody waste is a demand that everyone first says how horrible these ‘unprovoked terrorist attacks’ are just underlines how the sclerotic post-911 narrative still works for our News Media.

    Palestinians simply aren’t going to go on TV and hand Tel Aviv a sound bite justifying the terror attacks Bibi is going to unleash on Gaza’s civilians. That shouldn’t be a surprise.

  10. 10.

    Geminid

     

    @kindness: This war will end with a ceasefire, sooner or later. The Gaza war of May, 2021 ended with a Qatari-mediated ceasefire after 11 days. But Hamas holds scores of Israeli prisoners, both soldiers and civilians, and that is a major difference between this war and the last one.

  12. 12.

    Princess

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: yeah, this checks out. I see only a terrible outcome for all decent people and emboldening of the wicked. There aren’t two sides here. There are at least four, and in fact manY more, all with different interests and allegiances. Neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians are united.

    But I’m shocked at people who say they’ve never seen a Palestinian spokesperson before. We used to see Hanan Ashrawi all the time on TV.

  16. 16.

    Geminid

    @Geminid: I think another difference between this and the last war is that this one will prove to have a major impact on Israeli politics. But that story will be told in November and December.

  18. 18.

    JPL

    Earlier I saw that Cory Booker and his staff have left Israel.  The US is making plans in case they have to evacuate Americans.

  20. 20.

    Barbara

    @JPL: ​In other words, Iranian drones for Russia in exchange for currency is totes cool. I’ve never seen people so committed to compartmentalizing their views as if Iran is actually two separate countries.

  24. 24.

    WaterGirl

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: This part in particular makes me think there will destruction of thousands of people who had no part in these attacks.

    • Israel will have to conquer large parts of Gaza – both to restore its deterrence (otherwise Hezbollah will be tempted to attack Israel in a similar fashion in the future), and as leverage for the release of Israeli hostages.

    As in “we have to crush them for what they did”.  Not sure whether the urge to throw up is stronger, or the need to cry

    edit: haven’t the hostages already been released?  Or was there more than one set of hostages?

  25. 25.

    Alison Rose

    I’m just gonna quote myself from FB because I still can’t really organize my thoughts any better.

    I barely know what to say about what’s happening in Israel…as is basically always the case when anything is happening in Israel.

    The attack by Hamas is horrific, and the goal is of course terror and eradication. Yet it feels odd and unsettling to see all the declarations of “standing with Israel” from this country and many others, as though Israel is a poor innocent babe in the woods that has never done anyone wrong. The citizens did not deserve this attack, but neither have the victims of Israel’s attacks been deserving of them. I want Israel as a nation to exist, but I loathe the form in which it exists at present (and has for a while). All Jews everywhere are my kin, my fellow Members of the Tribe, but Netanyahu and his coterie are hateful scum who wouldn’t even consider me a Jew (Reform Jews don’t count, to them).

    The majority of the citizens of Israel are just citizens, just people trying to live. The same is true of Palestinians, who have as much a right to life as Israelis, as anyone. I would imagine most people on both sides want nothing more than to simply coexist, with or without camaraderie, but their leaders have made it clear, with bombs and settlements and more, that their vision of “coexisting” is basically “the other side stops existing”.

    Israel has enemies, that is not in doubt. It has also often been its own worst enemy and has tried to use the hatred some feel toward them to justify things that can never be justified. Hamas is not an organization to idolize, but expecting one side of a constantly-roiling war to only and ever be on defense while condoning the other’s ceaseless offense is inane. Peace will never be achieved unless and until leaders on both sides are able to truly see their counterparts as humans worthy of that peace. Sadly, I don’t see that happening any time soon. So I grieve for the lost Israeli lives, and I grieve for lost Palestinian lives, and I grieve for a world that seems intent on burning itself to the ground, and I grieve for what might have been if more people chose to use the free will God gave them for the generous good of everyone rather than the self-serving benefit of themselves alone.

  26. 26.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Alas, the only good guys are the Israeli and Palestinian civilians caught in the crossfire.

  27. 27.

    Kent

    @Barbara: @JPL: ​In other words, Iranian drones for Russia in exchange for currency is totes cool. I’ve never seen people so committed to compartmentalizing their views as if Iran is actually two separate countries.

    In 2023 the reality is that both Russia and Hamas are now client states of Iran.  And it is Iran that is fueling both the invasion of Ukraine and the invasion of Israel with weapons and support.

  29. 29.

    Kent

    @Villago Delenda Est:Alas, the only good guys are the Israeli and Palestinian civilians caught in the crossfire.

    Honestly, I don’t know if they are the good guys either.  At least not all of them.  Neither Netanyahu nor Hamas got where they are without lots of civilian support.

  31. 31.

    Another Scott

    There’s a candidate forum for a union endorsement in the California US Senate race happening now. YouTube.com

    Just the 3 declared Democratic candidates (Lee, Porter, Schiff).

    (via RollCall.com)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  32. 32.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Kent: Fair point.  I think Alison is definitely on the right track with her post above mine, though.  What distresses me most is that so many Israelis don’t actually believe in “Never Again” as is reflected in so much of the attitude toward Palestinians.

  34. 34.

    West of the Rockies

    A massive, decades-in-the-building shit show.  Kidnapping wheelchair-bound senior citizens won’t help generate much sympathy for Palestinians, who are already short-changed on that front.

  35. 35.

    MisterDancer

    @Alison Rose: I’m just gonna quote myself from FB because I still can’t really organize my thoughts any better.

    You said it brilliantly, and underlined the tragedy at the heart of this situation.

  37. 37.

    marklar

    I posted most of this yesterday in response to a comment of “stop the illegal occupation or shut up (I’ve added a bit more today), but it fits here.

    A few questions:

    1- What is the definition of “occupation”?  Does it mean the territory conquered in 1967, or all of Israel?  You’ll get very different responses from different people. For instance, Hamas defines it as the entire “Zionist entity.” Likud denies that anything is being occupied.

    2- If Israel unilaterally withdraws from the occupied territories, and Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and others launch attacks on Israel to reclaim what they believe is all their land (including Tel Aviv), what would an acceptable Israeli response be?  One hundred thousand rockets aimed at Tel Aviv will result in hundreds of thousands of casualties. Israel’s response would likely result in even more Palestinian casualties.  What can we do to assure that such an outcome doesn’t happen?

    3- The only way to end this stalemate and avoid hundreds of thousands of casualties is a two-state solution with autonomy and security guarantees for both sides.  Does either side have leadership that can work towards such a solution? Would such a leader even be able to survive attacks from their own people (e.g., Rabin)?

    The Israeli-Palestinian problem is currently intractable because it is between two parties that BOTH have legitimate claims to the same land, two parties that BOTH have legitimate grievances* resulting from demonization and inhumane actions of the other, and two parties that BOTH feel justified in the moral outrage, which can feed their militancy.

    Placing the blame on one side (e.g., Stop the illegal occupation or shut up”; “They invaded yesterday, targeted civilians, killed hundreds, kidnapped many more…how can that go without a response that will punish and deter?”) without placing shared blame on the other only serves to augment the sense of justification and outrage of one side, and grievance and outrage on the other. That will not lead to any resolution.

    I agree with Watergirl about the necessity here of presenting BOTH sides. Getting the two parties to see their shared responsibility and destiny (well, that or genocide) is the only way forward.

    * note: These grievances build upon each other through history. Consider the following timeline:

    a) Israeli partisans feel justified in attacking Gaza because of the horrific attacks yesterday

    b) Palestinian partisans feel such attacks were justified because of 50+ years of occupation with no movement towards resolution providing autonomy.

    c) Israeli partisans feel the occupation is justified since there is no Palestinian leadership that can guarantee Israel’s security concerns. Heck, for much of the occupation the Palestinian leadership was still intent on destroying the entire country of Israel. Hamas still is.

    d) Palestinian partisans feel justified in wanting to eliminate the entire country since its creation was the result of British/Ottoman colonialism. From there perspective, Jews were given land by colonialist occupiers who had no right to give away that land.

    e) Israeli partisans feel justified in being granted a ‘Land for Jews’ after centuries of systemic discrimination/genocide at the hands of Christians and Muslims. What better place than the ancestral land of the founders of the religion?

    f) Palestinian partisans feel justified in denying Jewish claims to that territory since even the Jewish Bible (the book used to justify Jewish claims to that land) acknowledge that the land was conquered from others living their beforehand.

    Rinse, lather, repeat.

  38. 38.

    MisterDancer

    What stuck me was reading a forum of Iranians and ex-pats who have been reporting on the situation in their county. When an Israeli posted there about the situation, that person got an outpouring of support and understanding.

    I hesitate to say that social media is helping to undermine the most obvious and odious outcomes, here. For certain I foresee an uproar in BOTH antisemitic and islamphobic bollicks on the ‘Net, and in Real Life.

    But. But — if I’m reading tea leaves correctly — there’s a small, slim chance that we can speak truth to power in this, and help avoid turning this into jingoism. That there’s a desire out there, among all these countries, to connect the current revolutionary mood in Iran to the uprising in Israel and a whole lot more.

    The right wings in all these lands would love nothing more than to have that 9/11 style drumbeat, as would, of course, Putin. I…I don’t really have a coda to this rant, save that I need to think on this some more.

  39. 39.

    JPL

    @marklar: Hamas would lose their power structure and they don’t want that to happen.

    Some of it is a catch 22 and I understand that, but the Palestine people are caught in the middle.

  40. 40.

    marklar

    @JPL: “Some of it is a catch 22 and I understand that, but the Palestine people are caught in the middle.”

    I agree 100%. At this moment in time, they are the ones bearing the brunt of this situation, and have been bearing it for a couple of generations.

    The solution, however, is not going to be found by swinging the pendulum in the opposite direction so that the Jewish people currently living in a country (whose founding may or may not have been justified…there are legitimate arguments on both sides) will bear the brunt in return.   The solution is to stop the pendulum from swinging altogether.

    People applying force to one of either direction of the pendulum will not solve anything. Neither will ignoring its movement (which has been the case for the last 20 years)– things will just continue to swing against the Palestinian people while Israelis exist pretty much oblivious to their daily suffering. Applying force to BOTH SIDES will need to be done.

    As an aside, one first step I’d like to see is the United States telling Israel that for every dollar they spend in the Occupied Territories, we will cut $2 in our financial assistance, which will be given over to the Palestinian Authority. We could also be doing more to fund infrastructure projects within the occupied territories to strengthen the hand of the Palestinian leadership who embrace a 2- state solution.

  41. 41.

    HumboldtBlue

    @marklar: ​ 

    Adam made a great point yesterday that the leadership on both sides have what they want — conflict. We have ways to address and fix the problem, but you never hear from those who propose peace, just from the belligerents who want to maintain the status quo and who have forced any talk of compromise out the door never to be heard from again.

  45. 45.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @WaterGirl: The righteous embrace the Niemöller doctrine.  There are more than a few Jews who are utterly disgusted by the unrighteous Bibi’s vile regime.

  46. 46.

    Betty Cracker

    @Tony Jay: Thanks again for sharing the summary of the featured clip in comments in the earlier thread. We rarely if ever get that point of view in mainstream media here in the U.S. either, and it’s so important to hear.

  47. 47.

    WaterGirl

    @Betty Cracker: Thanks for the (likely unintentional) reminder – I had forgotten to add the h/t to Tony Jay up top, which has now been remedied.

    And thanks to you for finding the link to the video and sharing it in the other thread.

  49. 49.

    Betty Cracker

    @Princess: Rightly so!

     

    @WaterGirl: Unintentional! I’m grateful to TJ for the reminder that the MSM coverage of that region is hot garbage too, and it’s on us to look for the voices they leave out.

  50. 50.

    Geminid

    @Betty Cracker: I imagine broadcast media coverage of this story is a mess. There is still a lot of good reporting in “print” media sites like Middle East Eye.

    Al Monitor and Al Jazeera are good too.

    Al Jazeera may be especially interesting because it to some extent reflects the policies of the Qatari government. The Qataris mediated the ceasefire that ended the 11-day Gaza war in May of 2021, and will likely be mediating this one.

  53. 53.

    Tony Jay

    @Betty Cracker:

    We don’t get it over here either, which is why it struck me so powerfully. NFLTG, direct and unabashed by the concern-troll chorus.

    Meanwhile I’ve heard it reported that the UK Government are ordering all Govt buildings to display the Israeli flag and use lighting to show support for Bibi. While Sir Starmer the Plastic Peer is tromping around the heavily-manufactured Nu-New Labour conference here in Liverpool swearing eternal support for whatever slaughter Israel decides to unleash.

    We really have sunk lower than dirt.

  54. 54.

    Betty Cracker

    @Geminid: Thanks! I’m not familiar with MEE but will check it out.

     

    @Tony Jay: Even good US politicians tend to be depressingly one-sided on this issue. But that may be changing. Netanyahu has only himself to blame for that. He squandered a ton of good will by throwing in his lot with the US hard right.

  55. 55.

    Geminid

    @Betty Cracker: Besides news from the Middle East, the Middle East Eye has a lot of good reporting on Africa including the Wagner Group’s presence there. Their reporting on Sudan got so depressing I stopped reading it.

    I ran into the MEE through Ragip Soylu (@ragipsoylu), their Istanbul Bureau Chief. They’re based in London.

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