Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

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

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

“The difference between stupidity and genius is that genius has its limits.”

I desperately hope that, yet again, I am wrong.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

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

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

“Loving your country does not mean lying about it’s history.”

The current Supreme Court is a rogue court. Very dangerous.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

Shut up, hissy kitty!

Let’s finish the job.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Henry Kissinger Is An Ex-Parrot

Henry Kissinger Is An Ex-Parrot

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Henry Kissinger Is An Ex-Parrot

This news just broke:

Henry A. Kissinger, a scholar, statesman and celebrity diplomat who wielded unparalleled power over U.S. foreign policy throughout the administrations of Presidents Richard M. Nixon and Gerald Ford, and who for decades afterward, as a consultant and writer, proffered opinions that shaped global politics and business, died Nov. 29 at his home in Connecticut. He was 100.

This fact made me go hmmm…

His death was announced in a statement by his consulting firm, which did not give a cause.

Some folks have families to let the world know of their passing. Others, it seems, have consultants for that job…

Nil nisi bonum and all that, so I got nothing more to say…except that I’m really glad Jimmy Carter outlives him.

Over to you.

Open thread.

Image: Hans Holbein the Younger, The AmbassadorsThe Ambassadors, 1553

Reader Interactions

159Comments

  3. 3.

    Lehrjet

    About time that POS kicked the bucket, need to have a shot of good whiskey to celebrate his demise.

  5. 5.

    Suzanne

    Oh man. I am now having fun fantasizing about all the celebratory death threads that we can look forward to.

    TFG, Thomas, Alito, Squi’s Buddy, McConnell, Bill Barr, Steve Bannon….

  6. 6.

    bbleh

    De mortuis nil nisi bonum.  So I got nothin’.

    @Manyakitty: Yay Jimmah! As noted earlier, I hope he wants to hang around a while longer, cuz he deserves it.

  7. 7.

    Chetan Murthy

    B-J and LG&M both put up Kissinger posts,  like, lickety-split.  Makes me wonder if the liberal blogosphere is gonna have an orgasm.  Been waiting so long for this, all of us.

  11. 11.

    Adam L Silverman

    Unless they found his soul vessel and destroyed it, he’s not dead. He’s just hijacked someone else’s body.

  17. 17.

    Aussie Sheila

    His longevity is the best proof of the absence of any God.

    I don’t look forward to the lists of the global atrocities he was both responsible for and a contributor to. It will read like my adult memories of international affairs. His work shaped a political generation in many far flung places of the world.

    Good riddance, but sadly long after the evil he did festered and congealed to make the world we all live in.  My thoughts are with the peoples and nations he well and truly effed over. May they heal, but never forget.

  18. 18.

    Frankensteinbeck

    Elon today reached brilliant new levels of entrepreneurship.  In an interview on camera, he told all the advertisers who don’t want to advertise on Twitter because of his antisemitism “Go fuck yourself.”

    And then it got weirder.

    Because he said they would have to answer to ‘the Earth.’  When the interviewer suggested that the advertisers might think Musk’s actions were the problem, he said “Tell it to Earth.”

    So I guess he thinks he’s being so oppressed that the entire human race will rise up to defend him?

    EDIT – Oh, and I left out that after he said “Go fuck yourself” he did that thing where you look around waiting for the applause.  He got crickets.

  29. 29.

    Ken

    @Frankensteinbeck: It might be part of TESCREAL, that weird philosophy-cult where you can justify anything you want to do by claiming that it’s really for the benefit of the trillions of future humans yet unborn. Someone posted a link to Charles Stross’s discussion of it. Musk’s drive to colonize Mars loosely falls under that.

  30. 30.

    frosty

    @John Cole: Giuliani can’t go yet. He’s got to look out through his cell window at the exercise courtyard for a couple of years first.

    Cheney? Yeah, any time, just get on with it and follow Kissinger now.

  31. 31.

    raven

    Huff Post

     

    Henry Kissinger, America’s Most Notorious War Criminal, Dies At 100

    The titan of American foreign policy was complicit in millions of deaths — and never showed remorse for his decisions.

  33. 33.

    dm

    Here’s something nice to say about Henry Kissinger: my daughter worked in Harvard’s Semitic Museum. At some point in his career Kissinger had an office there (presumably post Nixon administration).

    Someone bombed his office late one night.

    Here’s the good part: the bombs knocked a hole in the wall, revealing a storage room that had been sealed up sometime in the previous century.

    Inside the storage room was a treasure trove of glass negatives of photographs from a nineteenth century Harvard expedition to the Middle East.

  34. 34.

    grumbles

    One horrid vampire down, finally.

    Some people, you can see how they went bad. Not sympathize, but empathize. People like Kissinger, I just do not understand.

    At least the rest of us can exist in a little more peace now.

  35. 35.

    dr. bloor

    I rarely speak ill of the dead, but it’s About Fucking Time.  I will fall asleep tonight with visions of Henry and Dick wallowing in one another’s excrements in the 1973rd circle of hell.

  36. 36.

    BellyCat

    Rolling Stone, #Good Riddance:

    ”Henry Kissinger, War Criminal Beloved by America’s Ruling Class, Finally Dies”

  39. 39.

    trollhattan

    There is a God, just addled on Xanex and hasn’t slept a wink in two centuries.

    Good bye, you fucking monster. Did you take anybody with you?

  44. 44.

    Ken

    @dm: Inside the storage room was a treasure trove of glass negatives of photographs from a nineteenth century Harvard expedition to the Middle East.

    Maybe the expedition also brought back some cursed artifact or occult tome that turns a person into a lich? That would wrap everything up into a neat package.

  46. 46.

    Scout211

    @Frankensteinbeck: Oh, and I left out that after he said “Go fuck yourself” he did that thing where you look around waiting for the applause.  He got crickets.

    More details:

    “I don’t want them to advertise,” he said at the New York Times DealBook Summit in New York. “If someone is going to blackmail me with advertising or money go f**k yourself. Go. F**k. Yourself,” he said. “Is that clear? Hey Bob, if you’re in the audience, that’s how I feel” he added, referring to Disney CEO Bob Iger, who spoke earlier at the summit on Wednesday.

    Disney did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Musk’s remarks.

    I guess he thinks it’s super cool now to smear Disney like DeSantis did and everyone will applaud and high five him. He really lives in a bubble.

  47. 47.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @West of the Rockies: Roger Stone is a real scumball. Mofo has been behind a lot of dirty tricks. Also Dick Cheney. Newt Gingrich is another scumball who started the polarization in congress. Newt and Turtle should share in a cell in hell.

  48. 48.

    A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan)

    Great news, but it sure took him way too long to exit.

    OT: I don’t play Wordle, but just read a review of a new book about games played around the world, and the author posits that “TALES” is the best starting word.

    He also says the best properties in Monopoly are the orange ones, followed by the red ones, and build 3 houses on them. In Risk, control of North America has the best risk-reward ratio. I haven’t played any of these except Monopoly,  but thought some jackels might find these thoughts on games interesting.

  51. 51.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Ken:

    If it is, he doesn’t understand TESCREAL either.  That hideous philosophy says pretty much nothing about humanity as a whole judging your actions.  Almost the opposite.  Doesn’t explain his weird ‘waiting for applause’ thing, either.  That was so bizarre.  He was looking around at the audience expecting them to cheer.

  53. 53.

    NotMax

    Breaking news lede* from Fox:

    “This is what happens when you’re o-o-o-old, like Biden.”
    //

    *AFAIK, imaginary thus far.

  54. 54.

    David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    Dying at age 100, Kissinger proves yet again only the good die young

  56. 56.

    kindness

    I don’t believe dancing at the news of another person’s death is typically appropriate…. but sometimes exceptions have to be made!

  59. 59.

    Origuy

    Once you’ve been to Cambodia, you’ll never stop wanting to beat Henry Kissinger to death with your bare hands. You will never again be able to open a newspaper and read about that treacherous, prevaricating, murderous scumbag sitting down for a nice chat with Charlie Rose or attending some black-tie affair for a new glossy magazine without choking. Witness what Henry did in Cambodia – the fruits of his genius for statesmanship – and you will never understand why he’s not sitting in the dock at The Hague next to Milošević.

    Anthony Bourdain

  64. 64.

    Scout211

    Good bye to you, Kissinger.  I thought you were already dead.  Oh yeah, you’ve been dead to me for decades.

    You will not be missed.

  68. 68.

    Mr. Bemused Senior

    @Frankensteinbeck:Because he said they would have to answer to ‘the Earth.’ When the interviewer suggested that the advertisers might think Musk’s actions were the problem, he said “Tell it to Earth.”

    Algernon: He’s not earthed.
    …
    Professor Foot: He’s an idiot. Degree in woodwork. I ask you.

  70. 70.

    CaseyL

    Good riddance.  May the Devil have him fast before anyone else knew he was gone.

    He was bad enough.  That he was lionized for years should have given us all a clue that the MSM has been a cesspool for decades and decades.

  71. 71.

    mvr

    I don’t generally like glee over any deaths. But when someone wins a Nobel Peace Prize for bombing the fuck out of a country (and another one not even at war) and sabotaging peace talks in order to get a high prestige job, and then threatens to quit that fancy job or a related one in the face of press questions it does seem like it would be deserved.

    I have said for decades that if I had an island to exile people to it would be HK and my 6th to 8th grade gym teacher who lived on it with only grass and water to sustain them. At some point, perhaps in the 90s I added Trump.

  75. 75.

    Splitting Image

    Orgasms for everybody!

    Those of you who’ve been saving up a bottle of bubbly for the occasion, please drink responsibly.

  79. 79.

    Adam L Silverman

    I hate to rain on anyone’s celebratory parade, but unless something changes in the next two hours, the Israel-Hamas is over:

  80. 80.

    mvr

    @mvr: ​
     I had neglected Chile and East Timor in my initial post but then edited. Apparently something did not work and the edits got lost. My apologies for leaving out important facts.

  82. 82.

    Martin

    @Frankensteinbeck: Musk is definitely a doomer. He doesn’t seem interested in the EA part of it. But he does have the transhumanism, singularity, jazz going on. But he’s been hiring doomer/EA folks.

    But all of these people believe they are humanity’s saviors, that only they can save us by their actions. And that really fits Musk, even if a lot of the other stuff doesn’t.

  83. 83.

    frosty

    @A woman from anywhere (formerly Mohagan): ​Played a lot of Monopoly in my youth and I believe it on the red and orange properties. I always went for the greens because it was my favorite color. Since we played so you could borrow from the bank instead of going bankrupt, I never went bankrupt. But I always ended up deeper in debt than the other guys. The greens sucked!!

    My brother went for Boardwalk and Park Place and the railroads. We’d hit a railroad and he would build a house. He didn’t end up in debt like I did.

  86. 86.

    Mike in NC

    Who’ll be the first Beltway pundit to write a glowing tribute to Henry K? My money’s on George F. Will.

  88. 88.

    Alison Rose

    which did not give a cause

    I mean. Isn’t “he was 100 fucking years old” the cause? People do die of old age.

    As others have said, I’m glad Jimmy Carter outlived the bastard.

  93. 93.

    Princess

    If Joe Biden is smart, he’ll keep his mouth shut about Kissinger. Joe Biden is pretty smart, so let’s see.

  97. 97.

    Jeffro

    @Aussie Sheila:

    His longevity is the best proof of the absence of any God.

    I don’t look forward to the lists of the global atrocities he was both responsible for and a contributor to. It will read like my adult memories of international affairs. His work shaped a political generation in many far flung places of the world.

    Good riddance

    and a hearty AY-MEN to all of that!

  98. 98.

    Splitting Image

    @frosty:

    Played a lot of Monopoly in my youth and I believe it on the red and orange properties. I always went for the greens because of the color. Since we played so you could borrow from the bank instead of going bankrupt, I never went bankrupt. But I always ended up deeper in debt than the other guys. The greens sucked!!

    The greens are the worst properties for the same reason the oranges are the best. People land on “Go To Jail” instead of rounding the corner or they get a card that sends them past that side of the board. The blues are easier to develop because there are only two of them.

    In my games the greens were almost always the last set of properties to get bought.

  99. 99.

    Salty Sam

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:   About time.   No, I’m not proud of myself for thinking that. 

    I understand the spiritual strictures around speaking ill of the deceased, and generally comply.   But there walks among us some who are so heinous, so unspeakably evil, that the only rational response to their demise is celebration.  I am certainly celebrating the death of Kissinger, and look forward to a whole host of others to come.

  104. 104.

    Another Scott

    @Princess: He was a former Secretary of State.  I would be surprised if President Biden didn’t make some statement of condolences to his family, and a recognition that he was the first Jewish SoS, at the very least.  (You know the RWNJs will make any lack of a statement into a huge ordeal, so he should do things on his own terms).

    As you say, we’ll see.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  106. 106.

    Poe Larity

    Y’alls attachment to corporeal forms is dated and quaint.

    The coup attempt to stop Henry’s integration into OpenAI has been de-couped. Know you know the rest of the story.

  108. 108.

    TriassicSands

    @Manyakitty: …shiny side up…

    Yes, but he must miss Rosalind terribly. Seventy-seven years married to one and other. That’s amazing. Of course, the flip side of that is that Kissinger had to live with himself for 100 years. That’s pretty good punishment — not exactly a beloved figure.

    @eclare:

    I had never heard that before. Priceless. I’m glad I never got on Bette’s hit list.

  109. 109.

    Alison Rose

    @Princess: I don’t think this has anything to do with “smart”. Biden is a diplomatic man who understands that politics sometimes means being civil to or about people you dislike. Kissinger was, in a very negative sense, someone who had a huge impact on the country and the world. I would be surprised if the Biden admin didn’t say anything, and if Biden is asked directly by reporters, he would have to respond in some way, and I doubt he’d just throw on the aviators and say “hope he’s got some aloe vera” or something.

  110. 110.

    RaflW

    What I hope for most is that, other than occasionally and very forcefully remarking on now-dead Henry Kissinger’s horrible war crimes, that we basically stop discussing him.

    The most fitting coda for that man is for him to just keep shrinking in the rear view mirror, into nothingness.

    Even bothering to despise him gives energy he doesn’t deserve. Just the cold stasis of silence should be his ‘reward’.

  111. 111.

    TriassicSands

    Henry Kissinger, who shaped world affairs under two presidents, dies at 100
    Only 100 years late.

  116. 116.

    piratedan

    I guess that since he was the go-to touch base source for almost all GOP foreign policy pundits says enough regarding his legacy about ethics, morals and compassion that has shaped GOP foreign policy for the last 50 years.

  119. 119.

    Peke Daddy

    @raven: Well, more like Eisenhower, who seriously considered nuking Vietnam to save the French in Operation Vulture. Kennedy did not put a single combat troop into Vietnam during his administration. Also he issued NSAM 263 10/2/1963, calling for total withdrawal by 1965.

    https://jfkjmn.com/nsam-263/

    Which was reversed by Johnson the day  Kennedy lay in state at the Capitol with a modification of NSAM 273, a response by the Kennedy Administration to McNamara finally being told 12/20/1963 the war was being lost.https://jfkjmn.com/new-page-77/

    Notice Section 2 of the original draft of NSAM 273 specifically stating nothing in the memo altered the timeline for complete withdrawl set forth in NSAM 263. This memo was modified by Johnson to remove the caveat that only additional resources to the South Vietnamese were to be provided, allowing US combat involvement. Fuck LBJ, indeed.

  122. 122.

    Grover Gardner

    There’s a (possibly apochryphal) story about Eugene Ormandy, the Hungarian-born conductor who led the Philadelphia Orchestra for 44 years.  He was lauded by the public but often loathed by the musicians who worked under him.  When told of his death, one orchestra player remarked dryly, “It’s not enough.”  I think that’s highly applicable here.  “Kissinger’s dead?…It’s not enough!”

  127. 127.

    Planetjanet

    When I saw a glimpse of a headline about him I came straight here.  I knew there would be a party going on.

  128. 128.

    Planetjanet

    And more glad tidings, for me at least.   Owen Farrell, the England Rugby flyhalf announces he is taking a break from international rugby.  Always a thug.  Can good things also come in threes?  What could be next?

  129. 129.

    Tehanu

    @Grover Gardner: ​
      OT, but are you the Grover Gardner who reads Lois McMaster Bujold’s Vorkosigan books? If so, may I say how much I enjoy your readings? You’re the best audio-book reader I’ve ever run across!

  130. 130.

    Steve Crickmore

    @Villago Delenda Est:  You seemed have gauged the dissonance or blindspot of the Liberal establishment correctly. For example, I never could understand why the Clintons were so close to Henry, that they would vacation together, every Christmas in the Dominican Republic?

  131. 131.

    Captain C

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    Because he said they would have to answer to ‘the Earth.’  When the interviewer suggested that the advertisers might think Musk’s actions were the problem, he said “Tell it to Earth.”

    So I guess he thinks he’s being so oppressed that the entire human race will rise up to defend him?

    Either that or he thinks he is the planet Earth (or at least its avatar).  Ketamine is a hell of a drug.

    With regard to the death of Heinz K, all I’ve got is the old saw:  one should only say good about the dead.  Kissinger’s dead.  Good!!!

  132. 132.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @Frankensteinbeck: So I guess he thinks he’s being so oppressed that the entire human race will rise up to defend him?

    It means Emo took a nose dive into the old designer anti-depressants.

    Speaking about Emo Musk, I saw an actual cyber truck on the way to work (I work next to the Tyrell Building Tesla Plant in Fremont) My god is that an ugly vehicle.

  133. 133.

    Captain C

    @John Cole: Giuliani’s corpse is quite possibly going to be found in an even more squalid situation than two wetsuits and a dildo.  Like, William S. Burroughs-esqe-level squalid.

  135. 135.

    SFAW

    @Don K: ​
     

    One of the LGM commenters speculated that Jimmy has an Arya list of people he has to outlive.

    Somewhere in Hell, Joffrey Baratheon is saying “At last! I’m not the worst person here anymore!”

  141. 141.

    Another Scott

    Meanwhile, …

    Josh Eidelson
    @josheidelson
    10h

    Breaking: @UAW is launching simultaneous public organizing campaigns at 13 automakers including Tesla, Toyota, and VW, and says thousands of workers there have signed union cards bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

    New UAW Unionizing Drive Targets 13 Carmakers Including Tesla and Toyota

    The United Auto Workers union is launching simultaneous, public organizing campaigns at more than a dozen automakers including Toyota Motor Corp., Volkswagen AG and Tesla Inc., an audacious effort to…

    bloomberg.com
    Nov 29, 2023 · 8:15 PM UTC

    Good, good. More, please.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  145. 145.

    Ruckus

    @Frankensteinbeck:

    So I guess he thinks he’s being so oppressed that the entire human race will rise up to defend him?

    That’s a safe bet.

    His thinking seems to be a tad over optimistic…..

    That tad is doing a hell of a lot of work….

  148. 148.

    trollhattan

    Elmo might not be dead, but he’s looking to kill his own company via refusing to shut his own piehole.

    In a profanity-laced outburst, Elon Musk has slammed advertisers that have left X, warning they will kill the social media platform.

    At an event in New York, he accused companies that have joined an ad boycott of the site formerly known as Twitter of trying to blackmail him. “Go [expletive] yourself,” the billionaire said in an interview.

    Some firms have paused advertising on X amid concerns over antisemitism, including a post from Mr Musk himself. The Tesla and SpaceX boss apologised on Wednesday for that post, saying it might be the “dumbest” thing he has ever shared online.

    But it was his response to a question about an advertising boycott by companies including Disney, Apple and Comcast that caused a stir at the gathering of leaders from the worlds of business, politics and culture.

    “I don’t want them to advertise,” Mr Musk said at the New York Times’ DealBook Summit. “If someone is going to blackmail me with advertising or money go [expletive] yourself.

    Ha-ha-ha, you’re really smart.

  150. 150.

    Ruckus

    @TriassicSands:

    Of course, the flip side of that is that Kissinger had to live with himself for 100 years.

    I have been and am trying to come up with something better than – “Henry Kissinger is dead. And the world is a better place.”

  151. 151.

    Bruce K in ATH-GR

    One odd habit I had on Twitter was that I’d routinely wish damnation on people causing unnecessary pain to others, so that I could refer back to them when they finally died and I could point back to those sentiments without technically speaking ill of the dead. Did it for Rush Limbaugh, got loads saved up for Mitch McConnell, Alito, Thomas, Trump, and their ilk.

    I didn’t have any such sentiments saved up for Henry Kissinger. Perhaps because by the time I became aware of politics, he’d already done his damage and gone on to burnish his reputation.

    I take comfort that a modern-day equivalent wouldn’t be able to whitewash his image quite so well. For good or ill, the online age has allowed people to become more aware of atrocities.

    I hope Kissinger’s victims can find some small measure of peace.

  152. 152.

    Tony Jay

    Nothing wrong with speaking ill of the happily dead.

    I hope he went alone, in pain, and very afraid. And I hope someone equally as unpleasant was waiting for him when he opened his eyes.

    Rest In Shame, murderer.

  155. 155.

    lowtechcyclist

    The world is better for his absence. But so much for my fantasy of seeing him tried for war crimes at The Hague.

  156. 156.

    Ken

    @lowtechcyclist: They could disinter the corpse and have a cadaver synod. It might be easier to get the conviction now that he’s dead; they could present it as finding the judgment of history.

  157. 157.

    JML

    Kissinger is dead and will not be missed. An arrogant and evil bastard who was consistently wrong about so many things, and never changed and learned. A useless retread who somehow managed (apparently through personal charm and obsequiousness?) to keep gaining access to those in power long after he should have faded into obscurity, since sadly he was never put on trial and sent to prison for his many crimes.

    Honestly, it’s one of Hillary’s biggest failures: cozying up to Kissinger instead of ensuring that he was exiled from the foreign policy community forever.

    Congrats to Dick Cheney, who now holds the title of “evil old fuck who did massive and ruinous damage to the world and refuses to die”.

  158. 158.

    Miss Bianca

    @Alison Rose:

    if Biden is asked directly by reporters, he would have to respond in some way, and I doubt he’d just throw on the aviators and say “hope he’s got some aloe vera” or something.

    Altho’ speaking personally, that would be kind of awesome.

  159. 159.

    Warblewarble

    When they show who they are believe them. Those who come to praise Kissinger . are telling us who and what they are. Take note.

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