Is absolutely perfect.
Better than jewels!
Merry Christmas everyone.
Merry Christmas 2023.
Is absolutely perfect.
Better than jewels!
Is absolutely perfect.
Better than jewels!
260 thoughts on “Merry Christmas 2023.”
Comments are closed.
Is absolutely perfect.
Better than jewels!
What a cutie!
Merry Christmas.
We got him a couple weeks ago. But he’s our present to us.
Lucia,
Merry Christmas! Tell me about your kitten.
Does he or she have a name? Is it a certain breed? What color is that, the color and stripes are similar to the bobcats that we catch on our cameras. Inside cat or outside cat, do they put microchips in cats, are you going to raise cats?
The Ukrainians sank another Russian warship, a Ropucha-class landing ship in the port of Feodosia in Crimea. The Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed that Novocherkask was lost.
From NOELREPORTS “The explosions and secondary detonations indicate the ship was carrying ammunition of some sort. There are ongoing rumors the ship was transporting Shahed drones from Novorossyisk to Feodosia. A huge strike by Ukraine.“
Russia is losing the war at sea to a country without a navy.
Ship on fire:
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1739570760228733303?s=20
His name is Indigo. Why? Dunno. No, he is neither blue nor purple. He was prenamed. We call him “Indie”. The color is sort of “tobacco” with darker and lighter. The stripes break into spots some places.
He’s totally inside, neutered. We got him at the Dupage County Shelter. They neutered him in August when someone turned him in. They also chipped him.
He is getting along well with our other cat, though he wants to play rougher than the other one prefers. We aren’t going to raise cats. We just like them as pets. This one is very cuddle. If you look carefully you’ll see Jim’s blue pjs through the holes in the afghan.
Russel,
I’m sure Ed will appear and remind us that Russia is a much bigger country with many, many more weapons and can deal with losing yet another ship.
My daughter’s cat took weeks before it would come out of hiding in her apartment. It adjusted.
Lucia, “His name is Indigo. Why? Dunno.“
We had a shelter dog who came with the name ‘Red’ and he was not red. The best dog we ever had was a shelter dog who came with the name ‘Samantha’.
Maria Druska posted earlier today that F-16s have not arrived in Ukraine and I have yet to see independent confirmation of F-16s in Ukraine. Maria describes new air defense tactics they are using to down the Russian fighters. Maria is a government spokeswoman who has been very reliable in the past, but this sounds like BS. The tactics description starts at 1:00 in the following video:
https://x.com/maria_drutska/status/1739422110148128919?s=20
Maria also revealed a new Ukrainian sea surface drone called ‘Mamay’ that travels at 110 KPM, uses satellite navigation, and carries an 800 kg charge.
It’s stunning in appearance:
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1739693881535463770?s=20
Second explosion aboard the Russian warship. The military cargo goes KABOOM.
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1739709449353253098?s=61&t=q3_InP1nXWdPIXqj8656mQ
Lots of collateral damage from the big warship explosion. NASA FIRMS fire image shows five areas burning in and around the port.
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1739741895209693337?s=20
Lots of images and videos are showing up, including a Volkswagon-sized piece of the ship in the front yard of a business a quarter mile from the harbor. Today satellite images show a lot of damage to the port facilities and at least one other ship sunk.
OSINT site ‘Special Kherson Cat’ has assembled a lot the images and videos here:
https://x.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1739448352020873541?s=20
Lucia “I’m sure Ed will appear and remind us that Russia is a much bigger country with many, many more weapons and can deal with losing yet another ship.”
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Absolutely correct. The loss of a landing ship has absolutely no effect on the war strategically or even control of the Black Sea.
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Russia is pushing forward on all fronts and continues to grind the Ukraine army down. Lack of NATO ability to replace ammunition and equipment in the needed quantities will continue to constrain Ukraines ability to go on the offensive. This will enable Russia to dictate both the tempo of operations and the locations of operations.
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Ukraine trained manpower losses continue to exceed Ukraines ability to recruit and train replacements. Ukraine is on record of requiring 20,000 additional recruits monthly just to stay even, which indicates the level of losses they are incurring.
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Ukraine is moving to go to full mobilization to draft 500,000 additional raw recruits. There is no ability for Ukraine to either effectively train, arm, or equip such numbers. Vast numbers of troops with only several weeks (at most) training will do little except die. Such a full national mobilization will totally destroy what little of the Ukraine economy still exists.
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The above is only made worse with the US beginning to wobble on continuing to fund Ukraine at the level Ukraine needs to try and survive.
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So yes, Russia is still the odds on favorite to achieve its objectives, which are the destruction of the Ukraine army, change of Ukraine’s regime, and no Ukraine entry into NATO.
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Some news you may have missed…
On November 13, 2023, Romania opened its first European F-16 Training Center at the Feteti Air Base in southern Romania. The training facility is intended to increase interoperability between NATO allies and other partner nations, including Ukraine.
“to face the complex challenges in Eastern Europe and the Black Sea region,” Romania’s Defense Ministry said.
So, even tiny Romania is no longer afraid to publically confront Russia. NATO is united and cooperating more than ever before. There is a coalition of eleven countries training Ukrainian pilots to operate F-16 fighter jets. [Denmark, Norway, Belgium, and the Netherlands pledged to provide US-made F-16 fighter jets to Kyiv.]
ED Forbes likes to tell you what is going to happen in the future. I like to tell you what has already happened.
https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2023/11/16/romania-inaugurates-an-f-16-pilot-training-center-for-nato-ukraine/
From https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/12/27/biden-endgame-ukraine-00133211
Many US arms have gotten glowing reports from the battlefield, but the undisputed champion has been the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. While its main purpose is to transport soldiers into battle the highlight has been the offensive prowess of its chain-gun autocannon.
Video of the Bradley Bushmaster chain gun in battle:
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1740061576454136036?s=20
From AI: The M242 Bushmaster chain gun is the main armament on the Bradley fighting vehicle. It is a 25 mm (25×137mm) single-barrel chain-driven autocannon. The standard rate of fire is 200 rounds per minute. The weapon has an effective range of 2,000 metres (6,600 ft). It shoots one-inch shells that come in a variety of forms, including armor-piercing and incendiary.
More Bradley battle vids:
https://x.com/TheDeadDistrict/status/1739573911916831076?s=20
https://x.com/Tendar/status/1738520331990528202?s=20
https://x.com/visegrad24/status/1736846091214344467?s=20
https://x.com/Osinttechnical/status/1737749262706851937?s=20
There also are videos of the Bradley’s survivability under fire and its ability to safely deliver its soldiers to the battlefront.
Lucia,
” They also chipped him.”
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I assume that means he has an identifying chip inside his body.
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I wonder, just a bit, how long before the ‘progressive left’ decides that everyone (at least everyone not anointed by the left) is required to be “chipped”. Bad people doing bad things.
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There are not enough guns in the world to deal with that (inevitable?) eventuality.
No need to chip people when we are carrying unique DNA! We will just need to supply some DNA everywhere we go to make sure we have acquired enough social credits for things like traveling.
Ton scharf,
“We will just need to supply some DNA everywhere we go to make sure we have acquired enough social credits for things like traveling.”
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Umm….. Why does that not make me feel any more confident about the future?
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We are talking about the totalitarian left here, in all it’s grotesque, obnoxious, totalitarian glory. They do not give the tiniest shit about personal liberties, and will happily crush/destroy anyone who disagrees with them.
SteveF
Useful if he gets out and either gets lost or starts marauding. Whoever captures him takes him to a vet who reads the ID. Then they can contact him. It’s done routinely at shelters. They have an interest since they take in found cats!
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You aren’t required to get a cat chipped, but we always adopt from shelters, so ours always are.
Lucia,
“You aren’t required to get a cat chipped.
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Sure, but that is cats. I ratter suspect the radial left thinks “chipping” anyone who opposes their policies is perfectly OK, and not far behind “chipping” cats. These are bad people doing bad things.
SteveF,
Maybe. I’ll defer worrying about that for now!
I think the government can figure out who most of us are, right? Except for illegals perhaps, and I wouldn’t argue that that’s a good thing, that there are unknown untracked illegals in the country.
The success of the US weapons on the battlefield is good for business….
Reuters: Wars raise profit outlook for US defense industry in 2024
“Shares of the biggest defense companies, which have handily beat the benchmark S&P 500 stock index for the last two years, are expected to keep rising, according to Wall Street estimates.”
The defense contractors may have a thing or two to say behind closed doors about what the US does in Ukraine.
From: Jay Bhattacharya, @DrJBhattacharya
“I just finished @krisnewby’s Bitten, which tells the history of the US government’s secret program in the 1950s and 1960s to weaponize ticks to deliver deadly bacteria to incapacitate unsuspecting populations.
It is possible (& perhaps likely, though not proven) that the emergence and spread of Lyme disease may have been caused by this research program, which included large open-air testing of intentionally infected ticks on US soil.”
There’s more:
https://x.com/DrJBhattacharya/status/1740029782967148624?s=20
Ed Forbes, I think there has already been regime change in Ukraine, but what are you saying is Russia’s goal here?
HaroldW,
I saw that article too. Stein: Something that can’t go on forever will stop.
Russell Klier “the US government’s secret program in the 1950s and 1960s to weaponize ticks to deliver deadly bacteria to incapacitate unsuspecting populations.”
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Any story which begins with “it is possible” means exactly the opposite, the story will be almost impossibile, implausible imagination.
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“It is possible (& perhaps likely, though not proven) that the emergence and spread of Lyme disease may have been caused by this research program, which included large open-air testing of intentionally infected ticks on US soil.”
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Suffice it to say that in nearly 40 years of general practice I had to remove no ticks from people and never treated anyone with Lyme disease.
The chance that ticks would suddenly start to bit millions of people and give them weird unusual bacterial diseases is just not a starter.
MikeN,
Some of Russia’s goals are clear: Ukraine not in NATO, permanent annexation of Crimea, effective control of eastern Ukraine, even if not formally annexed. Hard to say what else.
angech,
Yes, it is improbable that Lyme disease came from lab research, since the spirochete that causes the illness is common in rodent populations, and the ticks which transmit the bacteria are very common in much of the USA, especially where deer populations are high. (Adult ticks often feed on deer, nymphs feed on rodents.)
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The illness is no joke; a cousin of mine nearly died from it a few years ago (was in his early 70’s) before the illness was correctly diagnosed and treated. He is an avid hunter, and so is often exposed to ticks. My father-in-law (now deceased) had one of the very first cases that was diagnosed in the 1970’s. He lived not far from Lyme Connecticut, after which the illness is named. In good weather he often walked a couple kilometers through a forrest to/from where he worked…. again a high exposure risk. It took him several months to fully recover.
Politico, “Moscow warns Finland will ‘suffer,’ in latest round of saber rattling”
Russia doesn’t have much left to invade Finland with… Perhaps squads of Babushkas riding in commandeered Ladas….
In other news:
Stars and Stripes, “Security deal with Finland gives US unfettered access to 15 military sites”
They are threatening Finland! Do they not know which countries have balls?
If they were going to threaten a Scandinavian country it should have been Sweden.
Sweden doesn’t border Russia.
SteveF, you write, “So yes, Russia is still the odds on favorite to achieve its objectives.”
Perhaps you have forgotten what Russia’s objectives are–stated and restated frequently.
There is no question that Ukraine, like Russia, has suffered many casualties–although Russia has apparently suffered many more.
There is no question that Ukraine, like Russia, faces challenges in reconstituting their armed forces–although Russia stands to lose more in terms of economic output due to cyphoning off their workforce to throw into meat assaults.
And maybe Russia is happy to trade off a LST loaded with Shaheds for the ruins of Marinka. But the 250,000 Russian resettlers in Crimea who have decided to return to Mother Russia apparently have a different opinion.
Ukraine is currently not winning this war. Neither is Russia.
But if Russia does build up to the 1.5 million armed forces that is currently being bruited about, and if they manage to defeat the Ukraine armed forces, it will not be sufficient to occupy and hold a country of 40 million. Just not enough of them to hold a country the size of Texas.
If this transitions from army vs. army to a partisan resistance, Russia still loses, just as they did in Afghanistan. Javelins are easy to smuggle in.
It will just take longer. And the Russian economy, demographics and society will continue to decay and some US military strategists will consider it a victory, regardless of what Ukrainians go through.
Nah that was Ed Forbes, not SteveF.
Thanks mark.
I do see the current situation as a military stand-off, but how it plays out, and when negotiations to end the fighting begin, are impossible to know. I think much will depend on how long voters in the USA and Europe will keep spending a lot of money to support Ukraine (both its military and its government structure). If it is going to require US$150 billion a year (as it has), then I expect Herbert Stein’s quote in my above comment will be applicable.
Everything at the Ivy League just requires “context” now. NYT:
“The issues were found in Dr. Gay’s 1997 doctoral dissertation, in which Harvard said it had found two examples of “duplicative language without appropriate attribution.”
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If only there was a word for that behavior, ha ha. Hilarious. One could argue that alleged DEI hires are also getting DEI behavior standards here. There’s probably a way to state that theory with better context. These people really need to clean up their act before they completely lose all moral authority, if they haven’t already. This is the predictable result of constructing a Gordian knot of different standards for different identity groups. Microaggressions > Calls for genocide.
“Wars are good for the arms industry”, news at 11! This is always true of course but some new things have occurred. Small drone technology and the increased vulnerability of large armored systems such as tanks and ships have been demonstrated. The US defense industry is large, plodding, and monolithic but they will learn these lessons and adapt. One thing that still hasn’t changed is artillery matters.
Tom Scharf,
“One could argue that alleged DEI hires are also getting DEI behavior standards here.”
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Just as night follows day. When you hire an incompetent for purely political reasons, (eg Kamala Harris), you will inevitably have to cover for that incompetent when they screw up.
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“Very competitive” schools are looking bad, and it is likely going to get worse for them.
It’s unclear that this war will be worth it even if they do defeat the Ukraine army eventually at great cost. The economic isolation for what looks like decades at this point isn’t going to be helpful and was self inflicted. Just the loss of Europe as a fossil fuel customer was simply dumb. Nobody is going to invest in Russia after they effectively nationalized all the foreign investment. This is a path they have chosen, but it wasn’t necessary.
MikeN “I think there has already been regime change in Ukraine, but what are you saying is Russia’s goal here?”
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Putin was clear that one of the main Russian goals of the war is to “denazify” Ukraine. The current Ukraine government is heavily influenced by a large neo-nazi component.
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“..Far-right groups have also gained political currency in the past decade, none more chilling than Svoboda (formerly the Social National Party of Ukraine), whose leader claimed the country was controlled by a “Muscovite-Jewish mafia” and whose deputy used an antisemitic slur to describe Ukrainian-born Jewish actor Mila Kunis. Svoboda has sent several members to Ukraine’s Parliament, including one who called the Holocaust a “bright period” in human history, according to Foreign Policy.
“..Just as disturbing, neo-Nazis are part of some of Ukraine’s growing ranks of volunteer battalions. They are battle-hardened after waging some of the toughest street fighting against Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine following Putin’s Crimean invasion in 2014. One is the Azov Battalion, founded by an avowed white supremacist who claimed Ukraine’s national purpose was to rid the country of Jews and other inferior races. In 2018, the U.S. Congress stipulated that its aid to Ukraine couldn’t be used “to provide arms, training or other assistance to the Azov Battalion.” Even so, Azov is now an official member of the Ukraine National Guard…”
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https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/ukraine-has-nazi-problem-vladimir-putin-s-denazification-claim-war-ncna1290946
A moment of silence for Gaston Glock, dead at age 94.
I urge everyone to go purchase a Glock today in memory of him.
Tom Scharf (Comment #227572)
“Small drone technology and the increased vulnerability of large armored systems such as tanks and ships”
The increase in FPV drone lethality has been dramatic. The initial videos looked like they were hitting tanks with spitballs. Now it’s ‘one shot, one kill’.
Sample vids:
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1740418692478119995?s=20
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1740417918368657536?s=20
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1740417583013323215?s=20
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1740413594154713555?s=20
The WSJ posted an in-depth video about this:
“How Ukrainian DIY Drones Are Taking Out Russian Tanks | WSJ”
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1740416009025319078?s=20
One problem, many components are sourced from China.
Small drones can’t carry much weight, thus not a lot of bang when they get to their target. I suspect their success against tanks and armored vehicles is very low. Their main use seemed to be harassing troops near the front lines and dropping grenades on them. Medium size drones are a bit better but I think a major vulnerability here is they aren’t automated and required a real time high bandwidth communication system for control that can likely be easily jammed. Most of the videos show the signal breaking up as they approach a target. Personally I think being within a mile of an enemy tank to launch a low probability drone attack is pretty high risk. You also need to have a high energy comm system to talk to the drone which is going to be like a beacon that can be triangulated and potentially attacked quickly. One of the videos looked like a guy was holding up a directional antenna.
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They aren’t going away but the cheap commercial ones will likely get obsoleted pretty quickly. Autonomous drones and/or more robust comm seem like near term advances.
Tom,
“Medium size drones are a bit better but I think a major vulnerability here is they aren’t automated and required a real time high bandwidth communication system for control that can likely be easily jammed.”
That WSJ video talks to this issue:
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1740416009025319078?s=20
Tom Fuller “But if Russia does build up to the 1.5 million armed forces that is currently being bruited about, and if they manage to defeat the Ukraine armed forces, it will not be sufficient to occupy and hold a country of 40 million. Just not enough of them to hold a country the size of Texas.
If this transitions from army vs. army to a partisan resistance, Russia still loses, just as they did in Afghanistan. Javelins are easy to smuggle in.”
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I am coming to believe that this is why you will not see “large arrow” Russian operations to end the war quickly. It’s looking to me that it’s more likely Russia wants a long and very bloody war to seriously attrit the Ukraine male population to point there is no Ukraine enthusiasm for a partisan resistance at the wars final end. Ruthless, but effective.
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Also Ukraine is no longer a population of 40 million. Some reports suggest that after the mass migration out of Ukraine to Europe, it may now number as little as 30 million and I expect this number to continue to drop under continuous migration due to a Ukraine mobilization in mass.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/296122/total-population-of-ukraine/
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The tech has been here for awhile. At least for the US military, the roadblock is that they still refuse to remove the human from the loop.
Not saying I necessarily disagree with that, just that the issue is more one of policy than technological advance.
Fire and forget weapons are effectively autonomous (not require real time guidance) but the hunter / killer robot variety of autonomous is a luxury the US can choose to restrict use on itself … right up until the point it starts losing a war. It’s best to continue to develop these weapons because we know others will and leave their use to a political decision. It’s a sad way to look at the world, but realistic.
Tom,
Yes. In fact there are systems in use that blur the lines; anti-missile systems on ships make decisions and act without a human in the loop because superhuman speed would be required; the ‘man in the loop’ part is the decision to let the autonomous system go live.
As you say, in some sense it’s an arms race. So long as anybody is willing to go there, we’re probably going to eventually all end up there.
mark bofill (Comment #227576)
“A moment of silence for Gaston Glock”
My Glock experience was about 30 years ago. We had a liaison deputy who worked with my department at Sarasota County. He was a ‘Range Deputy’… he patrolled the jungles of Eastern Sarasota in his Jeep. He was among the first to go from the old-fashioned six-shooter to a Glock. The first day he got it he was in my office and couldn’t wait to show it off. He was as proud as a new poppa.
SteveF
Thanks for the anecdotes and the observations on Lyme disease history in America, very helpful.
I understand it is a real and serious disease in America whereas here
With different native mammalian vectors and harsher climates it does not have a foothold and is diagnosis that people with chronic fatigue syndrome seek as an alternative.
I note that the American CDC claim 10 times the annual incidence of this disease, say 300,000 cases a year when the actual reported diagnosed incidence is only say 30,000.
An underhand way of using statistics
Russell,
Yeah. It’s been awhile since I’ve spent time with a Glock, probably about 30 years as well. Taurus makes reasonable quality guns that are extremely similar (G3C, G4) for half the cost. Still, I remember them fondly.
And now there are two. Keeping Trump off the Maine ballot seems especially egregious since the decision was made by a politician from the Antidemocratic party.
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I wonder if she took the CO decision as permission to do the same.
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This must be stopped.
Mike M,
Now the SC will almost certainly have to intervene unless the Democrat political hack in Maine loses in state court.
SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy just launched the US military’s X-37B space plane from the Cape. Why they needed the Falcon Heavy on this mission is classified. Officially the flight’s main objectives “include operating the reusable space plane in new orbital regimes,”
https://www.space.com/spacex-falcon-heavy-x-37b-space-plane-launch-success
This is an extremely secret project, every launch is a complete mystery. Speculation includes using the big rocket may mean a moon shot. Who knows.
Amid all the smoke of all the convictions of the Jan.6 rioters, I can’t tell — has any of them been charged, or convicted, of insurrection? I recall mostly “obstruction of an official proceeding” or something like that.
Speaking of the Maine Secretary of State, it would seem to require for *Trump* to be considered to have engaged in insurrection, that the rioters must be convicted of that specific crime, as well as establishing that Trump ordered such action.
Ed Forbes, ‘Regime change’ is a change in the actual ruling structure, not a change of leadership. Are you saying Russia’s goal with regards to Ukraine’s government is removal of Nazis.
HaroldW (Comment #227590): “Amid all the smoke of all the convictions of the Jan.6 rioters, I can’t tell — has any of them been charged, or convicted, of insurrection?”
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A few of the Proud Boys and/or Oath Keeper types have been charged and, I think, convicted.
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There seems to be a strong legal case to be made that to run afoul of Section 3 there would have to be an official Proclamation pursuant to the Insurrection Act. Somebody above (MikeN, I think) provided this interesting link:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3749407
It is from before Jan. 6, so not specific to Trump.
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From in Section II, subsection B “Engaging in Insurrection or Rebellion”:
By that standard, there was no insurrection on Jan. 6.
The Russian definition of ‘Nazi’ is anyone who resists Russian aggression.
Colorado Secretary of State has announced Trump will remain on the ballot following the Colorado GOP filing an appeal with the US Supreme Court. She stated that he will only be removed if the Supreme Court refuses to hear the appeal or hears the case and rules in favor of Colorado. Trump’s attorneys have yet to file an appeal, but say they will.
It just blows my mind that the legacy media cannot even bring themselves to question the morality of partisans throwing an opponent off an election ticket, much less the wisdom of that strategy. It’s not a good look. At all. It really hardens opposition to progressives, not just for one election cycle, but for a generation. Their silence is a complete shame upon them. It’s embarrassing.
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Ironically when I did vote for Trump previously it was mainly for making sure the Supreme Court didn’t get overtaken by these crazy people who think they have all the answers and can’t be bothered with input from the moronic rubes.
It also must be said the even more devious clever progressive lawyers know it is better to wait until after Trump wins the primary to make these constitutional challenges to his eligibility, especially in battleground states. You can’t stop these challenges from happening, you can only have faith the system will reject them and have the electorate hold those who support these challenges accountable. The good part here is all the politicians will not be able to dodge this issue, even with a non-functioning 4th estate. I doubt most independents will look kindly upon people who support this strategy.
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The thermonuclear option here is declaring Trump ineligible after he wins the election. DC will burn to the ground.
Russell , I will copy the below from the prior post that I will assume you didn’t see. The US congress also recognizes Ukraines problem with neo-Nazis, so its not just Russia. The media changed the way they took photos of Ukraine troops due to the large numbers of tattoos of Nazi symbols appearing. I get “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” thinking, but lets not blind ourselves to the reality of what the “friend” actually represents.
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“..Just as disturbing, neo-Nazis are part of some of Ukraine’s growing ranks of volunteer battalions. They are battle-hardened after waging some of the toughest street fighting against Moscow-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine following Putin’s Crimean invasion in 2014. One is the Azov Battalion, founded by an avowed white supremacist who claimed Ukraine’s national purpose was to rid the country of Jews and other inferior races. In 2018, the U.S. Congress stipulated that its aid to Ukraine couldn’t be used “to provide arms, training or other assistance to the Azov Battalion.” Even so, Azov is now an official member of the Ukraine National Guard…”
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https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/ukraine-has-nazi-problem-vladimir-putin-s-denazification-claim-war-ncna1290946
Ed Forbes,
Statement by Scholars of Genocide, Nazism and World War II:
“We strongly reject the Russian government’s cynical abuse of the term genocide, the memory of World War II and the Holocaust, and the equation of the Ukrainian state with the Nazi regime to justify its unprovoked aggression. This rhetoric is factually wrong, morally repugnant and deeply offensive to the memory of millions of victims of Nazism and those who courageously fought against it, including Russian and Ukrainian soldiers of the Red Army.”
“We are scholars of genocide, the Holocaust, and World War II. We spend our careers studying fascism and Nazism, and commemorating their victims. Many of us are actively engaged in combating contemporary heirs to these evil regimes and those who attempt to deny or cast a veil over their crimes.”
The statement is signed by hundreds of Nazi scholars
https://jewishjournal.com/news/worldwide/345515/statement-on-the-war-in-ukraine-by-scholars-of-genocide-nazism-and-world-war-ii/
Also:
That old NBCnews article you linked to doesn’t say what you think it says. It says Russia’s claims are BS. Here are quotes:
“On its face, Putin’s smear is absurd, not least because Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish and has said that members of his family were killed during World War II.”
“There is also no evidence of recent mass killings or ethnic purges taking place in Ukraine. Moreover, labeling enemies Nazis is a common political ploy in Russia, especially from a leader who favors disinformation campaigns and wants to stir up feelings of national vengeance against a WWII foe to justify conquest.”
Mike M. (Comment #227592) Mike M, Lucia would differ 🙂
Ed Forbes (Comment #227365)
December 21st, 2023 at 9:36 pm
The only instance I have found that could remotely bring a legal charge of insurrection is if one has been charged with refusing to disperse after a presidential declaration of insurrection. And that is VERY problematic.
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The legal system is big on definitions. Law with undefined legal terms get tossed on a regular basis.
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18 U.S. Code § 2383 – Rebellion or insurrection
Whoever incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than ten years, or both; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.
(June 25, 1948, ch. 645, 62 Stat. 808; Pub. L. 103–322, title XXXIII, §?330016(1)(L), Sept. 13, 1994, 108 Stat. 2147.)
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Alan Dershowitz
“We don’t even know what an insurrection is! He hasn’t been charged with insurrection, he hasn’t been convicted of insurrection.
—————-
lucia (Comment #227366)
December 21st, 2023 at 9:54 pm
Ed,
You are so far off base it’s a waste of time to engage.
Russell “That old NBCnews article you linked to doesn’t say what you think it says. It says Russia’s claims are BS. Here are quotes:”
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Of course it says what I think it says. It’s their quotes. They started the article with the required spin, then proceeded to give the actual facts in question.
This might be big:
NOELREPORTS @NOELreports, 4h
“A Russian Tu-22M3 bomber has reportedly dissapeared from the radar in the Kursk region in Russia. Information that is spread about the bomber being shot down are way too preliminary and unconfirmed.”
Another Russian Warplane down, 77 miles from the Ukrainian border. An F-16, [none of which has officially arrived in Ukraine] could have shot this plane down without crossing the border.
Tu-22M3 [aka Backfire] bomber is a long-range supersonic missile carrier bomber that costs about 40 million dollars.
Mike M. : [in the context of the charge of insurrection] “A few of the Proud Boys and/or Oath Keeper types have been charged and, I think, convicted.”
I found this stating that some had been convicted of seditious conspiracy; conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding; conspiracy to prevent Members of Congress and federal law enforcement officers from discharging their duties; civil disorder; destruction of government property; assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers; and robbery involving government property. Nothing about 18 U.S. Code § 2383 – Rebellion or insurrection.
And I agree with Alan Dershowitz (not for the first time) as Ed Forbes cited in #227599.
HaroldW (Comment #227602),
Yes, I had confounded “sedition” with “insurrection”. They are related but not the same. Nobody charged with insurrection.
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Also, the article I cited agrees with what Ed Forbes said in Comment #227599.
Risky to the point of reckless…
President Zelenskyy of Ukraine is recording his daily address out side in the open in Avdiivka under the town banner, 2 km from the front line. Avdiivka is the hottest part of the battle zone.
Image:
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1740832111018525166?s=61&t=q3_InP1nXWdPIXqj8656mQ
I would be utterly amazed if Zelenskyy didn’t have FSB sleeper agents watching out for him and acting as his guardian angels.
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Zelenskyy’S fear of assignation comes from the ultra right, not Russia. If Russia wanted him dead, he would be.
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If he even hinted he would sign a surrender, his own SBU would kill him and stage a coup.
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Zelenskyy is publicly giving the Russians his daily position on the front lines to ensure that the Russians wouldn’t engage the sites by artillery or air by mistake.
There is just no end to the crazy.
Ed Forbes,
“Zelenskyy is publicly giving the Russians his daily position on the front lines to ensure that the Russians wouldn’t engage the sites by artillery or air by mistake.”
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Please. You are out in the weeds.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_attempts_on_Volodymyr_Zelenskyy
It’s all a cover I guess. An elaborate ruse to ‘flush out’ the neo nazi’s and enable holy mother Russia to defend herself against the evil NATO aggressors who want to plunder her, and so on and so forth.
Puhleeze. Apply Occam’s razor, rinse and repeat.
https://nypost.com/2023/12/28/opinion/oh-now-our-public-health-poohbahs-tell-us-our-covid-approach-was-narrow-minded/
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I do wonder how many times the obvious will need to be restated. Worse, I wonder if public health officials can ever recognize their failures and NOT DO IT AGAIN. So far, I have seen nothing to suggest that. I am forced to conclude they are idiots.
mark bofill,
Cross posted.
Public health is going to give public health opinions with a massive helping of CYA. It was up to politicians to balance the needs of different inputs. The scolding “blindly follow the science” media did everyone a disservice. Dumping on the outgroup was a higher priority for them. It’s a complete fantasy without any support that public health was doing that multifactor tradeoff.
Maybe the walls of reality are closing in:
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2023/12/27/biden-endgame-ukraine-00133211
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I think Biden can’t afford to waste precious political capital on this, and will soon start to pressure Ukraine to negotiate. Nobody knows for sure, of course. All the “Putin is signaling” and “Ukraine’s offensive has failed” talk suggests a negotiation could happen. I certainly hope so, but who knows?
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Nobody.
Zelenskyy is in a hole that he will die in if he stops digging.
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On the one hand you have the Americans who are split between the 3 letter intelligence agencies and the state department, with 2 diametrically opposed agendas.
On the other hand you have the Ukraine ultra right who will not willingly step back from total victory and are heavily represented in both the army and SBU and in an excellent position to seize power if they see a need.
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All with the specter of little or no funding coming from Congress this year.
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And the monster of Trump likely to take over the US administration in the fall with a complete change in US policy.
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The Russians are looking at the above and are asking themselves: Do they take the money now looking to be on the table and call it a day, or do they double down waiting for the wheels to fall off as the American money dries up and take the entire pot.
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Decisions , Decisions
At the beginning of the war, Zelenskyy refuses the US offer to evacuate, saying:
“I need ammunition, not a ride”
Yesterday, two years later, with the sounds of battle around him, he delivers another of his daily messages to his people, Video, with English subtitles:
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1740909561266188316?s=20
He is the most inspiring wartime leader of any country I can remember.
Eventually shoveling human and capital resources at largely stagnant lines is going to compel a change of strategy. Either you double down on the military offensive or you negotiate. I think Russia has tried to double down several times already, but we haven’t even gotten to the preliminary stages of negotiations where they meet and reject each other’s terms and walk away. It’s going to be a while. It looks like Ukraine will fight the Russians with rocks and sticks if necessary so I don’t foresee any occupation being anything other than a long term bloodbath.
The scale of destruction in Gaza is approaching Raqqa levels. Anybody who believes this isn’t a campaign of punishment and retribution is fooling themselves. This may not be morally justified (and possibly it is depending on your moral framework) but that doesn’t mean it won’t achieve it’s goal of future deterrence.
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The Ruined Landscape of Gaza After Nearly Three Months of Bombing
https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/gaza-destruction-bombing-israel-aa528542?st=injl0p9o3nnv7ou&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
“An analysis by the Shelter Cluster, a coalition of aid groups led by the Norwegian Refugee Council, concluded that after the current war, it will take at least a year just to clear the rubble”
Tom Scharf,
Is there a measure of retribution happening in Gaza? Yes, there probably is: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/28/world/middleeast/oct-7-attacks-hamas-israel-sexual-violence.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Jk0.OARC.DwsHmGcWmtRr&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
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It is the Christians who say “turn the other cheek”.
Those who would murder young women with knives, even as they are being raped, don’t get any benefit of the doubt. Hamas MUST disappear. This is non-negotiable among the rational. Unfortunately, the opposition to negotiated peace in the Middle East is not rational.
Tom Scharf (Comment #227616)
The scale of destruction in Gaza is approaching Raqqa levels. Anybody who believes this isn’t a campaign of punishment and retribution is fooling themselves. This may not be morally justified
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Thanks for reminding people of Raqqua
“The Guardian
Raqqa is in ruins like a modern Dresden. This is not ‘precision bombing’23 May 2019 — More than 11,000 buildings are uninhabitable and Raqqa is widely considered the most-destroyed city of modern times.”
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“Everyone ” felt morally justified in wiping out Isis.
Not one word of condemnation at the time of the massacre.
Journalists , politicians and all the people ignoring their bloody hands.
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It has gone beyond punishment and retribution.
The goal is to force the world into accepting that Gaza must be emptied of Hamas supporters, resettlement seems the only viable option after enough men vs are killed to reduce further attacks.
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Will not work in that the West Bank will still be occupied by Palestinians, but that is a longer strategy.
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The short term strategy should be effective in that it will establish a pure Egyptian Israeli border with defined enemy lines.
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Nothing else will change.
“Thanks for all the fish”
Might have to change to ” thanks for all the land”.
angech,
After reading your comment three times, I still have little idea what you are trying to say. Fish? Land? Beyond obscure. Exactly what do you think the Israelis are going to do? What do you think they should do?
Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy reference, although a bit vague in usage. angech’s poetry is not always clear, ha ha.
Not sorry to see 2023 in the rearview mirror. Here’s to the New Year- may it see a return of a measure of sanity and prosperity for all!
mark bofill,
“Not sorry to see 2023 in the rearview mirror. ”
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Hear, hear.
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Never in my 73 years have I seen the decline in social coherence I saw in 2023. I fear we are headed for a terrible political/cultural clash.
Stalemate with losses on both sides, Russia figures they have more people they can drain Ukraine. Strategy change has to be on Ukraine/NATO’s side. Sanctions didn’t work. Destroying ships and planes raises the cost for Russia. So would increasing drilling for oil, but instead Zelensky made calls for renewables to satisfy EU.
2024, and Trump is still here. It’s like a bad reality TV show.
Tom Scharf (Comment #227625): “2024, and Trump is still here. It’s like a bad reality TV show.”.
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The sad thing is that Trump is still necessary.
SteveF
” Exactly what do you think the Israelis are going to do? What do you think they should do?”
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They are in a bind.
Strangers in a strange land [Heinlein?] even though they claim it as their own.
In essence, having been displaced two thousand years ago, most Jewish people were replicas of the societies they lived in as well as retaining an extremely strong,religious, family structured micro identity.
Kids I went to medical school with were as Australian as the rest of us, a couple wore tiny head caps, the rest followed Australian football [footy], drank beer, did cryptic crosswords and partied, but studied harder.
Normal people. I imagine American Jews as being similarly American people and German Jews being , well, German.
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Take a world war and concentration camps and oppression and some bright sparks come up with the idea of Putting the community back into the “Holy Land”.
Be careful what you wish for.
Ultra orthodox and impassioned and impoverished people thought the idea of displacing other people from their homelands was a good idea.
Breaking both the 8th and 10th commandments
8 “You shall not steal.
10 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house;
A house built on false premises is like a house built on sand, in trouble from the start.
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Now they are established and trying to survive in conditions which are both inimical and artificial to the life styles that many of them had prior to the move.
There has been no great flood of other Jewish people to the homeland despite their teachings.
A few kids pretending to work on Kibbutzes to establish their “identity”.
A lot of overseas people offering lip service by sending money or services.
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So we have two Jewish identities.
“Real “‘in Israel. Israelis
JINO’s in the real world.
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What are they going to do?
Everything they can to survive.
Like Davey Crockett at the Alamo.
Currently this means getting rid of Palestinians in the Gaza strip.
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Guardian 2 hours ago
“Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, reportedly called for the return of Jewish settlers to the Gaza Strip after the war and said Gaza’s Palestinian population should be encouraged to emigrate. “To have security, we must control the territory,” Smotrich told Israel’s Army Radio in response to a question about the prospect of re-establishing settlements in Gaza. “In order to control the territory militarily for a long time, we need a civilian presence.”
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What do I think they should do?
Short term as above.
Long term? They should resettle in another land that welcomes them, Australia perhaps, and get a couple of Rabbis to make it legal by promising a new Holy Land rather than the old one.
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*Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy reference [Tom Scharf ]
well spotted.
Very good recap of the year on technology and the strengths and weakness of both sides going forward into the new year.
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The author doesn’t see that any major changes in the war at the front is likely until the issue of drones is dealt with. Development of drone technology is moving at “warp speed” on both sides.
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End of 2023 Roundup – Update on the War’s Technological Progress
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https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/end-of-2023-roundup-update-on-the?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=182d3m&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
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It is a site supporting Russia, but I found the embedded vid at the end interesting. Seems to be a Russian version of what I remember seeing at Disneyland years ago on “America the Beautiful”. I contrast this production with the current “woke” war on traditional America values and history and my anger at the progressive left does nothing but increase. I see a dark future for my kids. At 72, almost none of the worst I see coming in the future will “happen on my watch”, but I fear their lives at their retirement will be much worse than mine.
The most convincing argument I have seen as to whether the office of President in included in section 3 of the 14th Amendment:
https://reason.com/volokh/2023/12/31/donald-trump-and-section-3-of-the-14th-amendment/
Mike M, I totally agree with you
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In a previous post
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Ed Forbes (Comment #227243)
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I linked to
https://reason.com/volokh/2021/01/20/is-the-president-an-officer-of-the-united-states-for-purposes-of-section-3-of-the-fourteenth-amendment/
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and quoted from the article
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“..Fund v. Pub. Co. Accounting Oversight Bd. (2010), Chief Justice Roberts observed that “[t]he people do not vote for the ‘Officers of the United States.’” Rather, “officers of the United States” are appointed exclusively pursuant to Article II, Section 2 procedures. It follows that the President, who is an elected official, is not an “officer of the United States.”….”
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Also in this article was another court ruling on who is considered an “Officer of the United States”
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“..In United States v. Mouat (1888), Justice Samuel Miller interpreted a statute that used the phrase “officers of the United States.” He wrote, “[u]nless a person in the service of the government, therefore, holds his place by virtue of an appointment by the president, or of one of the courts of justice or heads of departments authorized by law to make such an appointment, he is not strictly speaking, an officer of the United States.” ..”
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Multiple court rulings, over a wide span of time, confirm that the President of the United States is not, by definition, an “Officer of the United States”
New Year’s Day brain scramble, building windmills negates the Milankovitch cycle.
angech,
Thanks for clarifying. I fear you may not be operating with complete information about immigration: there has been a huge flux of Jews to Palestine (and now Israel), starting in the early 20th century: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aliyah
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Immigration has added enormously to Israel’s total jewish population of ~7.2 million, with huge numbers from eastern Europe once the communists regimes started allowing people to leave and the USSR dissolved. There was a net inflow of about half a million from many Muslim countries after 1948 (many driven out in retaliation for the founding of Israel). Those Muslim countries now have essentially no Jewish citizens (AKA ethnic cleansing; and we should contrast that to Israel, with about 2.5 million Muslim citizens). Since the 1967 war there have been about 100,000 US born Jews who immigrated to Israel, and even a few thousand from Australia. Argentina lost a large fraction of it’s jewish population to Israel, no doubt due to poor economic prospects.
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WRT Jews all leaving Israel: Not sure if you are joking. The USA population is as likely to decamp to Europe, Africa, and Asia and leave the country to native Americans. Neither is ever going to happen.
Mike M,
I am betting the SC goes 7-2 or 8-1 to stop the efforts to remove Trump from ballots, although they could still kick the can until after the election if the removal efforts are limited to Colorado and Maine. Colorado’s order is already stayed, and Maine’s very well may be, making action by the SC less urgent for someone with a weak ‘constitution’, like Roberts.
I sincerely hope they do not kick the can. Any true decision is no worse than no decision.
Lucia,
A decision is worse than no decision? Or did you mean the opposite?
I just noticed something I’ve never seen my cat do before. Cold morning here, but my cats wanted to go on my back porch regardless. One of my cats actually appeared to stalk and pounce on a sunny spot on a chair. Pretty much the only and first sunny spot on the porch this morning. Got low to the ground, shifted weight from paw to paw, tail lashing, a leap; the whole nine yards. I feel like this ought to be telling me something about how cats look at the world, although I’m not quite sure what.
Anyways.
mark bofill,
Try a laser pointer if you want to see that behavior times 100.
SteveF,
Edited. 🙂
LOL. I’ve seen the laser pointer behavior and I get that. I expect the cat treats the dot as prey, since it doesn’t understand what the heck the dot it. Somehow its probably related, you’re right, although I’m still a little surprised that the cat doesn’t instinctively know ‘a sunny spot’ isn’t prey (actually, I’m pretty sure the cat understood that).
Was it just play, happy behavior because it found something pleasant? I’m leaning that way right now.
I spend WAY too much time thinking about my pets..
Ed Forbes (Comment #227631),
Yes, I have seen arguments on both sides as to the precise meaning of “officer under the United States”. Both seem plausible, neither seems convincing. The thing I found significant about the info in the link in my Comment #227630 is that “President or Vice President” was deliberately edited out.
The SC would do us all a favor with a unanimous decision that shut down all overly clever legal tactics that allow partisans of the opposing party to unilaterally disallow someone running for office (or as it is more commonly known “saving democracy”).
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It is better to do it now because I have zero faith these a**hole lawyers won’t file these same claims in larger quantity after Trump wins an election, then it becomes a real threat for political violence and further polarizes society.
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Trump will hopefully lose anyway, but it is better to shut down this entire class of legal tactics. The states can in turn firm up their own thresholds for excluding candidates.
Tom Scharf,
“…it becomes a real threat for political violence and further polarizes society.”
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For sure; trying to keep Trump from holding office AFTER he wins a majority of the Electoral College would almost certainly lead to violent political action. That doesn’t mean the SC will have the courage to put a stop to it now; after all, Mr. mealy-mouth, “it’s a tax”, sniveling Justice John Roberts is on the court. Clearly the most destructive SC nomination by a Republican president in a long time.
Justice Roberts does not control the Court, I doubt he can stop them from making a decision on the Trump disqualification cases. But he will want the court to make a unanimous decision. That might lead to a narrow decision that leaves the door open to other states using alternate arguments to circumvent the decision. I hope that does not happen.
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I doubt that the Court will want to rule on whether Trump participated in an insurrection or that they will want to rule on the hypothetical standards of what is enough to activate Section 3. My guess is that they will uphold the decision of the lower court in Colorado: Section 3 does not apply to the President or Vice President. That would have the advantage of there being no way around the decision.
Mike M,
“That might lead to a narrow decision that leaves the door open to other states using alternate arguments to circumvent the decision. I hope that does not happen.”
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I agree. It would be a horrible result, but since Roberts is a mealy-mouth worm, it could actually happen…. leading to utter chaos If Trump wins the electoral college. And that chaos will be 100% on Roberts….the…. mindless…..worm. The guy has NEVER stood on conviction…. never.
“WRT Jews all leaving Israel: Not sure if you are joking.“
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I realise that in practice they won’t.
That is a fact.
In theory they could and should.
One of the options that would alleviate the situation and avoid a century plus of repeated cycles of death and dying.
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As you point out ethnic cleansing has already occurred naturally in many Muslim states since the formation of Israel.
It is an artificial construct made by man and politicians.
As such it can be deconstructed against the wish of those living there and with great cost and emotional trauma but it is doable and overall save many more people tragedy than the current construct.
I would like to mention a near unbroachable subject that troubles me.
The question of our priorities in life, ethics and love.
I can distantly fathom Melania.
I cannot fathom the new Mrs Biden whom I know very little about as unlike Melania the newspapers do not go there.
Love might make me marry Hunter.
Would it sustain me through the revelations of his lifestyle?
Is it something to do with Ivy League wives behaviour?
The sheer social embarrassment.
Does lifestyle really outweigh personal pride?
Surely it cannot last.
Angech,
There are all sorts of people out there.
Happy New year!! 🙂
angech
Really? The Hunter we hear about in the news? Not me! Not unless I was blithely unaware.
MikeM
He can’t make them do that.
They won’t. They almost never make judges of “fact patterns” . The will more likely make decisions like this:
(a) the process by CO was sufficient, there is no clear error, CO Supremees were right about Article 3 being self executing and CO can proceed on the basis they think it was insufficient to keep him off their ballot. (These leaves open whether he can take office if he gets elected anyway, but clear the way for lots of states to take him off– if they use some process that is at least as due as CO.
(b) The CO supremes were wrong about article 3 being self executing. Or it doesn’t cover the President. Or process was not sufficiently due. Or….
Some of these leave open the question ab out whether states could keep him off a primary or presidential ballot with a sufficiently due process or whether he can be blocked if he gets enough electoral votes. Others close the door.
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Hhmmmm I guess they could define “insurrection” in some specific way clear or “participating” in a specific way and then send the decision back to Colorado. (Wasn’t that the sort of thing they did with the Cake Baker?) That would kick things back and might not be better than where we are. It wouldn’t necessarily be worse though. At least we’d have a definition of “insurrection” and or “participating” (or whatever the actual verb is. Involved?)
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But I would really be surprised if they actually weigh the facts of the case and decide if Jan 6 was an insurrection and Trump participated. That’s just not what they usually do.
Re: Tom Scharf (Comment #227616)
That it isn’t much different from what’s described in this 1992 essay by Edward Said should say something. But it won’t because that’s how deep the problem is in Israel and the West.
RB,
They should have accepted the originally proposed UN partition, just as the Jews did at the time.
angech,
“In theory they could and should.”
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Seems to me your sense of what the Israelis should do is quite irrelevant. They never will, and that is a fact. And Russia is not giving back Crimea, nor the USA giving back Texas, nor the Hungarians and Poles giving back what was German land before WWII, nor the Ukrainians giving back the land that was Polish.
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What the Israelis will do is whatever they can to stop Palestinians from killing Israelis. How horrible that becomes depends mostly on the Palestinians; if they continue to insist Israel must not exist, then it will continue to be a horror show….. mainly for the Palestinians. People need to accept reality.
Similar to South Korea, the birth rate in China has dropped by half over the last 25 years.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/china-population-births-decline-womens-rights-5af9937b?st=zhlidfwl6ucozel&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
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Climate change is solved, ha ha!
The “Fog of War”, yadda, yadda, yadda, I know, take this with a grain of salt then.
One OSINT site analyzes the relative numbers of equipment lost as verified by photographic evidence. A recent change in Russian artillery loss by type:
“December we saw a dramatic change, a big reduction in standard 152mm guns, and a dramatic increase in the big weapons 203 and 240mm. I suspect that the most likely reason is that Russian stocks of 152mm are now gone, and there is just the flow direct from the factories, plus North Korea’s ammunition. But, the NK ammunition is so low quality that Russian gunners are not using it. The increase in the big Guns might be because this is the type of ammunition they still have left.”
Graphs and more analysis:
https://x.com/verekerrichard1/status/1741906641425989931?s=20
I don’t think anybody believes the latest round of hostilities in Gaza are going to solve anything. This is just another round of mowing the jihadi grass, it’s just getting a more robust mowing this time. This problem is just being managed on a periodic basis. I would anticipate the Gaza border being heavily militarized and effectively shutdown completely. Gaza will spend a decade rebuilding and continue to fire rockets into Israel at a low intensity. Eventually there will be armed conflict again. Iran will get nuclear weapons, become more openly hostile, and Israel and Iran will ultimately settle this dispute with great carnage. The only out here is Iran’s religious fundamentalist government being thrown out of power.
Crimson: Harvard President Gay Resigns!
I guess the “duplicative language without appropriate attribution” was too much. I always find it entertaining how things change from unanimous support to “you’re fired” in about a week. Gay also apparently had a rather thin resume for being a leader of an Ivy league institution. Once the Harvard board started getting threatened then she was tossed. The board has more -ism’s than one can count I guess.
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Ironically the views they expressed about free speech at the House hearing were the correct ones that will stop them from getting canned, if only they were applying that standard for everyone. They weren’t. The schools and administrations need to stop making political statements and only provide a forum for the debate. Virtue signaling got them fired when they exposed their bias for everyone to plainly see.
The Harvard Board couldn’t have handled this worse. They publicly supported her racism and plagiarism for a month. The depth of her depravity played out in public. Then they publicly dumped her. Collateral damage …. it showed how weak a candidate she was in the first place. She got the job because she was black.
The next president of Harvard will for sure be more cautious about staying quiet amid calls for genocide against Jews, but most certainly will not apply Harvard’s rules on speech uniformly, most certainly will continue to hire less qualified people based on race, and will continue to admit students based on race, not merit.
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The extreme left will continue to get a pass on just about everything said, while speech supporting policies from the center to the right will be actively suppressed. Like the scorpion stinging the frog, acting on extreme leftist philosophy is Harvard’s nature.
Tom Scharf,
“I would anticipate the Gaza border being heavily militarized and effectively shutdown completely. Gaza will spend a decade rebuilding and continue to fire rockets into Israel at a low intensity.”
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I agree with everything except the rockets. That is most surely going to stop.
Bill Barr on the Trump disqualification:
https://www.thefp.com/p/bill-barr-banning-trump-from-the
“The key issue is who gets to set these procedural and definitional rules. Is each state free to make up its own rules? Or is it Congress’s job to set up a uniform enforcement mechanism? “
Tom Scharf (Comment #227663): “Bill Barr on the Trump disqualification”.
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Good article. Thanks for the link.
Steve,
The problem is the rockets are extremely easy to make homegrown devices. Essentially, if the Gazans have access to pipe, they have access to rockets. It’s hard for me to imagine a functioning society of 2 million people who have no access to pipe.
Apologies, the more I think about it the more certain I am that you must have already known that. I’m not sure what you’re envisioning when you suggest that the rocket attacks will cease.
Re: Tom Scharf (Comment #227657)
The ‘mowing’ is also happening in the West Bank, where there has been a continuation of the opportunistic annexation that has been in place since before 1948 and as a strategic goal, since the inception of the Zionist movement during Herzl’s time.
Victor David Hanson:
[he says these things more genteelly than I do but he makes the same basic points]
“To paraphrase Churchill, Harvard had an initial choice between a scandal and dishonor; it chose dishonor and now it will have scandal.”
“If Harvard appoints as its permanent president another candidate on the basis of DEI without a record of substantial scholarship, intellectual probity, recognized teaching, and administrative excellence, then the university will only reinforce the now growing consensus that it has abandoned even the veneer of meritocracy. And the institution will thus continue on its current Target/Disney/Bud Lite trajectory.”
https://x.com/VDHanson/status/1742277342561800260?s=20
I have a new heroine…. New York Republican Representative Elise Stefanik, my champion in the DEI wars. Axios “ Representative Stefanik grilled the three university leaders and asked a yes/no question on whether “calling for the genocide of Jews” violated the schools’ codes of conduct.”
Her response yesterday to Gay getting canned:
“Neither the resignation from Claudine Gay nor the statement from the Harvard Corporation included any apology for the morally bankrupt testimony. Neither statement included any mention of their failure to protect Jewish students on campus or a pledge to combat antisemitism. As I said, this is just the beginning of a reckoning.”
Get ’em, Tiger!
mark bofill,
The rockets Hamas uses are not just a pipe with solid propellent. Yes, most anyone could put together a steel pipe, some fins, and a solid propellent; heck, I made ‘bazookas’ from a steel pipe and CO2 cartridges as a kid! But to be effective, there is also a warhead, some kind of guidance, and a detonation control (impact, altitude?). I expect many of the things that go into a rocket will be blocked at the border, but in addition, I think Israel will retaliate manyfold for any rocket attack, and do whatever needed to stop production of rockets (and other weapons) by a combination of bombing and search-and-destroy operations. The Palestinian Arabs can avoid all this by, well, not launching rockets from Gaza.
Apart from Mossad going to sleep on the job there are two things that stand out in this conflict.
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The first is the Arab and Muslim community that was able to organize both the rocket and arms shipments in and the building of the extensive tunnel network.
This took the combined efforts of both Sunnis and Shiites, the diaspora of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, UAE, Yemen, Turkey, Iran, Irak and Afghanistan.
Often mutual enemies but all combining to see Israel out.
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All providing money, arms and moral support to help fund a suicide mission in aim of furthering their cause.
Central to the cause while professing Western love is Egypt.
A bitter hatred born out of past failed wars and humiliating defeats.
The only way for rockets in is through Egypt. The only exit for the massive miles of tunnels is Egypt.
Not only did they turn a seeming blind eye to gun and rocket smuggling activity, they deliberately misled the Americans to the extent of the tunnel building.
Further they twist the knife by pretending that they cannot take refugees from Gaza.
Egypt has its own terrorist concerns and a very active police and spy network to survive yet let goods and services flow freely into Gaza.
They should be called out and held accountable as a major player in this scenario..
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As to the rockets, as long as Egypt lets them into Gaza they will fire them at the Israelis.
Steve,
My impression (possibly mistaken) is that the whole rocket is homegrown and low tech from start to finish. There IS NO guidance system if I recall correctly (hence the designation of ‘rocket’ rather than ‘missile’), and the detonator is a nail facing a bullet facing a homemade fertilizer based explosive.
I hope the Israelis do not continue to tolerate such attacks. I get the sense that Iron Dome made them somewhat complacent. I think a missile defense system should be the last defense, not the primary thing to be relied on. The real answer is to put a stop to the situation where people are firing rockets by whatever device.
Bill Ackman:
“Under DEI’s ideology, any policy, program, educational system, economic system, grading system, admission policy, (and even climate change due its disparate impact on geographies and the people that live there), etc. that leads to unequal outcomes among people of different skin colors is deemed racist.”
“As a result, according to DEI, capitalism is racist, Advanced Placement exams are racist, IQ tests are racist, corporations are racist, or in other words, any merit-based program, system, or organization which has or generates outcomes for different races that are at variance with the proportion these different races represent in the population at large is by definition racist under DEI’s ideology.”
https://x.com/billackman/status/1742441534627184760?s=61&t=q3_InP1nXWdPIXqj8656mQ
As someone who spends a lot of time with folks who tend to vote straight Democratic Party, I liked this article “To My Friends Across the Political Divide”:
Harold,
Thanks for that. That captures the essence of my position these days.
mark bofill,
While some of the rockets have come from Iran and other aligned countries, Hamas is claimed to have their own rockets now capable of traveling 100 miles…. putting most of Israel under potential attack. I doubt these are as simple as a pipe with propellent. But it seems you mat be right about guidance…. all they want to do is terrorize, so inaccuracy is probably not much of an issue: just point in the general direction and light it off.
Unintended consequences….. “The NATO countries Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Spain under the umbrella of the NATO’s Support & Procurement Agency (NSPA) agreed to procure 1,000 Patriot missiles.
This contract is valued at 5.5 billion USD and makes it one of the biggest-ever purchases by the NSPA.”
Putin invading Ukraine has caused Europe to arm for war, and they are sending boatloads of money to the US to pay for it.
I am shocked (shocked!) this has happened:
“President Javier Milei suffered a judicial blow Wednesday as a court suspended labor rule changes he recently announced as part of sweeping deregulation and austerity measures aimed at reviviving Argentina’s struggling economy.
The ruling by a three-judge court came on a legal challenge brought by the main union group, the General Labor Confederation, which argued that the changes affected workers rights.”
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The only way Argentina returns to anything like normal is if Milei’s party and supporters get 51% of both houses. He is a very long way from there. I hope the Argentine voters don’t take their eye off the ball, but I fear they will.
Angech –
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> They should be called out and held accountable as a major player in this scenario…
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How is it determined who needs to be held accountable? Should the US somehow be accountable for $10s of billions in military and economic aid to Egypt? How about over $100 billion in military aid to Israel?
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Its a very complicated situation re arms smuggling from Egypt into Gaza. I’d suggest you read a bit about it before thinking you understand it.
Apparently Claudine Gay is not the only one who thinks that she was forced out because of racial bias, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu also thinks so.
Thanks for reengaging, Joshua.
I had been more than a bit harsh previously.
Apologies.
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re> Egypt “They should be called out and held accountable as a major player in this scenario…”
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“How is it determined who needs to be held accountable?”
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I am, as you understand, talking about how the current conflict was allowed to develop due to Egypt playing the major role in allowing rockets and weapons to get into Gaza.
There is no way an armed and ready state like Egypt could possibly have weapons and tunnel digging equipment and concrete walls brought in through the borders of Egypt and across the border to Gaza without knowing compliance at all levels.
A Herod like handwashing and mealy mouthed denials does not absolve that responsibility or that trail of guilt.
I think a perusal of that reasoning would lead most logical people to that conclusion or determination but you could put up reasons against that if you so wish.
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“Should the US somehow be accountable for $10s of billions in military and economic aid to Egypt? ”
believe that if they have given that aid they are responsible for it
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How about over $100 billion in military aid to Israel?
Ditto.
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“Its a very complicated situation re arms smuggling from Egypt into Gaza”
Since the arms have gotten in from Egypt to Gaza, you seem to agree that this is so, then it could not have been that complicated.
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Scenario… Ayatollah, Here are the rockets we made and here are Afghanistan’s donations of US weapons sundry to purposes.
60 Concrete trucks, 60 excavators and a 200 fleet of transport trucks carrying euphemistic medical supplies..
We will help you construct that desert road to the Gaza Border you need, plus we well tell our lot to stop attacking your lot. The Americans have given us back 5 billion dollars recently so we will give you 2 billion if you look the other way.
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Very complicated?
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As an aside if you insist on a reliable determination process I believe there is a lass in Maine more than willing to help out with such matters.
Angech –
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Your simplistic assertions suggest to me you’ve done little or no reading on the topic. Maybe I’m wrong, but since you’re asking questions it might behoove you to do some reading.
Here’s one article that touches the surface of the complexity:
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https://www.israelhayom.com/2023/10/22/floods-and-bombs-this-is-how-egypt-handled-hamas-smuggling-tunnels/
Just thought of drop this off here, as maybe it’s a perspective on DEI that might gain some (tiny) measure of respect from folks here who generally have great disdain for how DEI is generally practiced.
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https://x.com/mcuban/status/1742690628465484204?s=20
Elon Musk commented three times yesterday on DEI:
Elon Musk @elonmusk 9h
“DEI, because it discriminates on the basis of race, gender and many other factors, is not merely immoral, it is also illegal”
Elon Musk @elonmusk, 9h
“Discrimination on the basis of race, which DEI does, is literally the definition of racism”
Elon Musk @elonmusk 10h
“DEI is just another word for racism. Shame on anyone who uses it”
I may have broken ChatGPT over the basic contradiction inherent in DEI:
ChatGPT
I apologize if there was any confusion in my previous response. Let me clarify:
Bias in hiring based on any factor unrelated to qualifications, skills, or job-related criteria is against the principles of fairness and equal opportunity. This includes biases based on race, ethnicity, gender, ideology, or any other characteristic.
In the context of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, the goal is to create fair and inclusive environments where everyone has equal opportunities. However, some diversity initiatives may consider diversity factors, such as race or ethnicity, to address historical disparities or systemic barriers that certain groups have faced. The intention is not to discriminate but to ensure that opportunities are accessible to everyone and to create a more diverse and inclusive environment.
The distinction is that while considering diversity factors, the focus should remain on promoting equal opportunities and addressing historical inequalities rather than engaging in discriminatory practices. Fairness and merit-based decisions should always be the foundation of hiring practices, irrespective of the characteristic under consideration.
You [my response]
“Bias in hiring based on any factor unrelated to qualifications, skills, or job-related criteria is against the principles of fairness and equal opportunity” is contradictory to ” However, some diversity initiatives may consider diversity factors, such as race or ethnicity, to address historical disparities or systemic barriers that certain groups have faced. ”
ChatGPT
ChatGPT
I see the potential contradiction in those statements, so let me clarify:
The principle of fairness and equal opportunity dictates that hiring decisions should be based on qualifications, skills, and job-related criteria without bias. However, in certain contexts, diversity initiatives might consider diversity factors such as race or ethnicity as one aspect among several in efforts to address historical disparities or systemic barriers that certain groups have faced.
The aim of these initiatives is not to discriminate against any group but to create more inclusive environments by providing opportunities for historically underrepresented groups. This approach involves balancing the principles of fairness and equal opportunity with efforts to rectify past inequities.
It’s a complex balance between ensuring fairness in the selection process and addressing historical disparities. The key is to strive for a fair and inclusive process that considers various factors without unfairly advantaging or disadvantaging any individual or group.
A second technique you use that annoys me, Joshua is this recurrent posting to people who disagree with you that you use consistently.
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“Your simplistic assertions suggest to me you’ve done little or no reading on the topic. Maybe I’m wrong, but since you’re asking questions it might behoove you to do some reading.”
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The simplest way to deal with it is to call it out and then roll around the floor laughing at your insipid attempt a chutzpa.
Get serious man.
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our simplistic assertions suggest to me you’ve done little or no reading on the topic. Maybe I’m wrong, but since you’re asking questions it might behoove you to do some reading.
October 28, 2023 | Flash Brief
Hamas Tunnels to Egypt Played Key Role in Arming Hamas
Latest Developments
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) confirmed on October 26 that Hamas smuggled weapons and ammunition through tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border in the runup to its October 7 attack. The terrorists reportedly carried the materiel under the Philadelphia Route, a narrow land corridor that separates Egypt from the Gaza Strip. Hamas’s smuggling operation took place as the Israeli Air Force continued to strike Iranian arms shipments in Syria and Lebanon. Now, fears swirl that the terrorists could flee to Egypt through the same underground network.
Expert Analysis
“The United States has long turned a blind eye to Iranian smuggling through Egypt to arm, equip, and train Hamas. Like everything post-October 7, we need a reset on how we view the Egyptian-Gaza border and how we will work with the Egyptians to shut down illicit smuggling routes.” —Richard Goldberg, FDD Senior Advisor
“Hamas smuggling tunnels below the Philadelphia route raise two challenges for Israel, as they enable the illicit transit of weaponry into Gaza and may facilitate the escape of Hamas leaders, thus circumventing Israeli apprehension or attacks.” —Joe Truzman , Research Analyst at FDD’s Long War Journal
“Israel has made it clear that one of the primary goals of the war is to demilitarize Gaza. If Egypt wants to see an end to the war, it should neutralize the tunnels that have provided a critical artery for supplying weapons to Iranian-backed terror organizations in Gaza. Cairo must also ensure that Hamas leaders don’t use those tunnels as an escape hatch to avoid the consequences of their atrocities.” —Enia Krivine, Senior Director of FDD’s Israel Program and National Security Network
Joshua,
From your link:
“You may not agree, but I take it as a given that there are people of various races, ethnicities, orientation, etc that are regularly excluded from hiring consideration.”
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I do not agree, it is absolute rubbish. I have consistently seen the opposite in US businesses: “under represented” people are often hired over more qualified people.
Can’t say I’M surprised:
https://nypost.com/2024/01/03/opinion/its-not-just-trump-democrats-are-moving-to-bar-republicans-from-ballots-nationwide/
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Anybody can be banned from the ballot based on their political speech? Sounds more like Iran than the USA. I think the SC needs to stop this nonsense ASAP.
Harold, your analysis makes sense if, and only if, you are correct when you write, “But let’s assume he’s only a politician. He’s not Hitler, Godzilla or the Beast of the Apocalypse—just a guy with a loud mouth and a desperate need for attention.”
And I understand–I used to laugh when Republicans characterized the Democrat du jour–from Clinton to Gore to Kerry to Obama to Clinton to Biden–as Satan’s Spawn and the worst threat to civilization since Attila the Hun. Of all the potential candidates in the world, how could we Democrats so consistently choose the most evil person in the world as our candidate?
Painting your opponent in the worst possible light is both common and common to both sides.
John McCain, Mitt Romney and Nikki Haley would not be bad presidents–they would just do a ton of stuff I don’t agree with.
Donald Trump is a horse of a different color.
Joshua (Comment #227685): “Just thought of drop this off here, as maybe it’s a perspective on DEI that might gain some (tiny) measure of respect from folks here who generally have great disdain for how DEI is generally practiced.”
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Cuban’s statement is standard DEI claptrap. The norm is to hire the best people possible. In reality, DEI is not about that; it is about discriminating against supposedly favored groups.
Tom Fuller (Comment #227691):
I have to agree. Haley et al. would do a whole lot that I disagree with but would not be bad in the many ways Biden is bad. And Trump is indeed a very different beast: He will actually do a whole lot that I strongly agree with. Much to be preferred, even if I hate his style.
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I am guessing that is not quite what you meant. 🙂
Angech –
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I’m guessing that it’s just coincidence that you left out other material from that page on that website?:
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>”Under former Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, Cairo tacitly allowed Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, and other bad actors to exploit the tunnel system. **Cairo cracked down on the underground network after current President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi took over in 2013.**
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Unless it was by accident or just remarkable motivated reasoning, which I can’t rule out of course, that’s really a pretty disgraceful example of cherry picking.
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You really ought to do some reading. It’s a very complex situation. No doubt corruption in the Egyptian military is a factor. But there are many other vectors that converge: the logistical difficulties involved, pressure from Iran, pressure from the populous in Egypt, pressure from the Muslim Brotherhood and other hostile elements like Hamas and other Islsmists, pressure from Israel, and the US, pressure from Bedouins in the Sinai. The simplistic notion that the current Egyptian government is indifferent to, or actually favors, heavily armed Islsmist radicals on its border just because they’re A-rabs is inane beyond belief
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Hiya Mike
Your guess would be correct. 🙂
I must reluctantly confess that I consider Mr. Trump as potentially the most dangerous man on the planet. Or at least in my neighborhood…
Cuban had a follow-up tweet:
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https://x.com/mcuban/status/1742901695707840688?s=20
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Of course it’s possible that Cuban’s just deceived by his ideological biases and his enormous success as a businessman don’t really inform his view. Of course, we could just dismiss his arguments as to why, even from a pure business/PR perspective, there are good reasons to consider diversity as an explicit goal. Of course we could argue that Steve’s experiences in business (or those of any other successful person in business who disagrees with Cuban) trump Cuban’s. Of course Cuban could effectively just be lying, and he’s merely signaling ideas he doesn’t really believe because he wants to be liked or thinks it brings him do other advantage. I certainly don’t think that his “authority” from his success is some kind of dispositive force.
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What I do think is that this issue, like many others, is more complex and nuanced than how it is typically manifest in public discourse. Often arguments get pared down to cartoonish depictions, in service of identity-protective and identity-aggressive reasoning (on both sides) . So while I expected that Cuban’s views on DEI might just flatly be rejected, and that likely there was nothing there that anyone might consider as something they hadn’t already considered and rejected, I thought there was also a chance that his tweets might add some nuance in support some conditional-probability reasoning on a hot-button topic of interest. No harm done by trying.
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Steve –
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> I have consistently seen the opposite in US businesses: “under represented” people are often hired over more qualified people
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Just as a matter of pure logic, there’s no reason why your experiences and Cubsn’s need be mutually exclusive. First, you may just have had different experiences among the range of possible experiences (perhaps related to different contextual factors). But even beyond that
“consistently” and “regularly” are doing a lot of work when you look at whether people from underrepresented groups are “consistently” hired over others (perhaps for either valid or invalid reasons) or are “regularly” excluded.”.
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I’m not interested in a back and forth on this issue. If Cuban’s tweets just drop into your bin of” sane old nonsense,” that’s fine.
I would like to know where this happens, at what companies. I would like to know in what geographic regions of the U.S. this is believed to occur, and I would like to know on what actual evidence this claim is based. Because it DOES actually run contrary to my experience. I don’t think it is unreasonable to ask for this, but if it is unreasonable, I think I can live with it.
Mark –
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Let’s say your experiences are generalizeable. Then how would you explain Cuban’s statement? Is he lying? Deluded?
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Not to say that asking for quantified evidence isn’t important. I think it is. But certainly Cuban’s statement is worth interrogation unless you have good reason to just flat out reject it, no? I’m sure we’ve both seen some evidence of things like lower hiring rates based on presumptions about someone’s name. Do you think all such evidence is invalid? Do you really think that all implicit biases have been eradicated, or over-compensated for?
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There’s an inherent selection bias problem here. I’d say that to find a path forward here its pretty important to find ways to collect reliable,longitudinal data that controls for a variety of contexts and many potential biases in various directions. Seems to me that more than anything else, people come to this issue to bang on culture war drums.
Hmmm. Forgot about the no rhetorical questions standard. I guess I should correct to say that I think it’s unlikely that all implicit bias has been eradicated or overcompensated for. Nor do I think it likely that all evidence of implicit bias is invalid
Joshua,
Well, for starters I don’t assume that I’m obligated to explain other peoples statements. This said however, Cuban is a billionaire and Steve and I are not. Shooting from the hip, it seems possible and maybe even likely that this impacts the business and social interactions Cuban participates in. His wealth and income level are far more atypical than Steve’s or mine, perhaps it would not be unreasonable to suspect that his interactions are in a similar manner far less typical.
We’d need to particularize and look at some specific evidence I think.
No, actually this is not my claim. There is some level of ‘problem solved’ at which the problem of discrimination against minorities is at the noise level, comparable to random injustices, like ‘I didn’t get hired because the interviewer was having a bad day’. It doesn’t mean it never occurs, it means that it has become infrequent enough that it is no longer worthy of cultural concern. I DO claim that liberals have shot their bolt and accomplished their mission; generally speaking, minorities are not merely tolerated but welcome in most if not all aspects of our lives. It will never be the case that no discrimination anywhere occurs, just as it will never be the case that there are no murders or rapes or robberies. But I think what can be done has been done. This is my opinion based on my experience and observations, obviously YMMV.
Mark –
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I will say, part of my view is based on my experiences working in construction some 20-30 years ago, and my experiences subsequent when I have had interactions with flat-out racists and antisemites who assumed I was racist or not Jewish. These are generally from outside a business context where people might be more likely to censor their opinions and biases, and to some extent therefore may not generalize very well to environments where you have gained your experiences.
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Just to clarify, I wasn’t expecting you to be obliged to explain Cuban’s comments. Of course there could be any of a variety of potential explanations and we can’t actually know what the answer is. His comments don’t have to be reconciled in order to justify your views. But again, I think it’s worthwhile to interrogate his statements and not simply flat out reject them unless along with rejecting them, one explains why they’ve done so. It’s not a matter of obligation, but one of analysis.
Joshua,
There’s a whole ‘nother topic right there. I’m not sure if I care if people ‘sin in their hearts’ so to speak. If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck.. But I haven’t thought this through carefully.
As for the rest, fair enough.
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I will admit, I AM curious about the particulars of this:
if you care to share some of the details of your experience. It never ceases to astonish me that I’ve lived in the South since I was a kid and I have yet to bump into obvious racism here [Edit: and yet I get the impression it is believed that racism is alive and well and widespread in our country.]
Mark –
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Not a lot to it. Working in construction, when there weren’t black people in earshot, I routinely heard people making racist statements. How inferior black people are was a regular topic of conversation. Rather like I’d hear antipathy towards liberals or gay people. I will also say that as a teacher working with kids, I would also hear kids making racist or homophonic statements reasonably frequently, and the homophonic statements weren’t often self-censored based on who was in earshot.
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In construction, NO ONE assumed I was Jewish. So I’d often hear comments like about how someone tried to “jew someone down” on a price.
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Again, these experiences were quite a while back. Things may have changed, but I tend to doubt it. The people I’m taking about came mostly from particular demographics – like say heavily white, working class communities in South or Northeast Philly, where there’s a LOT of racial antipathy.
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Again, how those experiences might map onto hiring decisions wouldn’t be straightforward, especially in 2024, but I have a hard time believing there’s no meaningful signal at all.
As for racisn in the South versus the North, there’s interesting speculation about the possible differences. Although the neighborhood I grew up in was highly integrated, many areas of Philly are even to this day heavily segregated. One idea is that races in the South tend to interact more, which can largely affect the manner and degree to which racism might manifest. IOW, it might be more structural in the South and more interpersonal in the North. Although again, it would be highly context-specific.
mark bofill (Comment #227698): “Because it DOES actually run contrary to my experience.”
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It runs contrary to my experience as well.
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I think that discrimination based on race and sex still existed 50 years ago. But by the time that I was involved in hiring decisions in the 1990’s, affirmative action was institutionalized, although there were still a few troglodytes around. Affirmative action can serve a purpose but can also go too far; one can make a case that it has outlived its usefulness. DEI goes WAY beyond affirmative action. It is racism, plain and simple.
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Joshua (Comment #227699): “Then how would you explain Cuban’s statement? Is he lying? Deluded?”
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He is letting ideology and virtue signalling trump observation. The position he expressed is a lie told by DEI proponents to get a foot in the door and to get the gullible to believe that DEI is reasonable and its opponents are not. But that is not what DEI is. It is racism, pure and simple. Most people, even if they see that, won’t say so for fear of being cancelled.
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Hurrah for Elon Musk!
Joshua,
Thanks for that. FWIW, I cut children a certain amount of slack.
So – if we are counting political antipathy, then let me clarify that I have certainly experienced that. And participated in that. I think this is straying somewhat far afield from DEI though. I play online MMORPGs and have experienced what might be termed ‘political bigotry’ towards conservatives, but I don’t think this is a problem progressives are generally interested in solving. Quite the contrary.
The argument that Claudine Gay was not a DEI based hire is amusingly betrayed by how the legacy media consistently frames her: “Claudine Gay, the first black woman to become President of Harvard”. This framing occurs in almost every article I have seen to the point of monotony. What I have never seen is a framing such as “Claudine Gay, an imminent scholar who won award X…”.
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She may be both a DEI hire and completely qualified but I haven’t personally looked very hard. My point is that the media can’t have it both ways. They clearly see her as a DEI hire but because of their alleged good intentions and morals they can “celebrate” it. Criticizing a DEI hire as potentially unfair to others is seen as racist by this group who then confusingly try to obfuscate the fact whether there was DEI involved at all.
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Reportedly Harvard’s hiring process at that time eliminated anyone who didn’t meet DEI qualifications, whatever those were. It was the usual opaque process as admissions.
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Personally I don’t think the botched testimony was a firing offense mostly because it was later “corrected”. I don’t have enough insight to the standards of plagiarism to determine if that was a firing offense. The problem for Harvard though is whether she could effectively lead the institution in the next few years or whether it was going to more likely further degrade their reputation. I think they assessed the latter.
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I think she was a DEI hire in the aspect that her identity mattered to Harvard and also her outspoken ideology for promoting DEI was something Harvard * wanted *. It was unfortunate for her that she took office right after the SC affirmative action decision and the pendulum started swinging the other direction.
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I completely disagree with her DEI ideology but Harvard can hire whoever they wish and promote whatever values they deem fit. They got exactly what they wanted at that time but my assessment is that the backlash against DEI and Harvard’s outspoken support for it was causing (justifiable) reputational damage to their institution.
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The SC basically said Harvard is racist, they botched a layup question on genocide because of their bizarre sorting of identity groups, and then were forced to publicly apply an apparent lax DEI standard of plagiarism by their President. If there is one thing greater than DEI, it is Harvard’s self worship so she was let go.
Maybe I should explain the context more.
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When I was about six, my family moved from a higher status white neighborhood to a more middle class and mixed income mixed ethnicity neighborhood. My parents sold their noise to a black family and got a lot of shit from their neighbors about doing so.
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When we moved to the new neighborhood, the one adjacent was almost exclusively white (with a relatively large Jewish population). Within a relatively short humber of years, that neighborhood turned over to being now, almost exclusively black.
These demographic shifts came along with and reflected high levels of racial antipathy..White people felt that their neighborhoods were being degraded because “the blacks” (I’m being selective here in using that particular label) moving in.
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My immediate neighborhood didn’t change over to a large extent. The resin being that the realtors in that neighborhood and the people living there valued diversity and explicitly resisted the prejudices that had such a dramatic effect of “white flight” in the other neighborhoods.
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Anyway, I’d often run into white people who would freely express their incredulity that I still lived in a neighborhood where “the blacks” were so prevalent. Even in my neighborhood, when I was hanging out with the Irish Catholic kids who still lived there, it wasn’t uncommon to hear racist discussions taking place.
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The dynamics of neighborhood changeover was a critical element that I’m sure brought more latent prejudices closer to the surface and while some areas of Philly no longer have those pressures it’s still pretty relevant in other areas. Of course similar dynamics take place when aflfuent whites are encroaching into typically poorer minority areas closer to center city.
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My non-expert understanding of Egypt is that they are no fan of Hamas and neutral on the plight of the Palestinians. The government does not want any Palestinian refugees because the current government fears infiltration of the wrong brand of Islamic radicals will cause long term internal political dissent, they just don’t want anything to do with the conflict. Whether they look the other way for arms smuggling is hard to say but I doubt it. A lot of arms probably do go through Egypt but that is because it is easier than smuggling through Israel. These arms also tend to be small arms.
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The Israeli/Palestinian conflict is kind of like Trump in a way. Everyone involved in the conflict comes out worse and it is best to just not get involved.
Joshua,
To be fair, you were six a long time ago.
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Tangentially related: My wife is an SLP, she works in a rehab facility with mostly elderly people. She’s related stories about people she’s treated who are suffering from one form of dementia or another, and extremely (shockingly) racist sentiments have been expressed by some of her patients. She and I aren’t sure if these people are regressing to what they believed as children or if it’s just random noise / part of the mental malfunction people with dementia suffer near the end. Her opinion is that these incidents express beliefs held in childhood.
Mark –
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I’m sure that things may have changed from the stone ages, no doubt..
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That said, I moved back to Philly as an adult, into a predominantly black neighborhood. It wasn’t at all uncommon for me to run into white people who would feel pretty unconstrained in expressing racial antipathy when they found out where I lived. Again, it wasn’t all that uncommon when being in some convo that was out of earshot of black people to hear racist comments.
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I’ll acknowledge my own selection bias and a kind of reverse recency bias. My experiences have been in contexts that are questionably generalizable. I’m sure things have changed since I was a kid. But I’m skeptical that if you scratch much beneath the surface how deep those changes extend – particularly in areas where the ongoing legacy of the racial antipathy, like housing prices and neighborhood conditions, are still salient.
“diversity as an explicit goal” is illegal when this means quotas and hiring less qualified people over more qualified people. The legal backlash against DEI has been using equal opportunity laws to shutdown many of these explicit programs which were ironically put in place for the same objective.
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DEI markets itself as allowing for diversity by balancing admissions and hires of equally qualified people in different identity groups. The question is whether that is what is really happening. Activists have crossed that line and poisoned the entire effort by * explicitly * practicing reverse racism as an antidote to historic racism. The DEI platitudes do not match reality on the ground (see SAT scores by identity group, it is not a tie breaker). If DEI activists called out their peers for crossing the line into Kendi territory then they would be more effective, instead anti-racism ideology has taken hold and endangers the entire effort however well intentioned by many.
Regarding homosexuality, there’s definitely a plurality (I’d hazard that it’s a majority) of Southerners who believe that homosexuality is sinful. Should this be categorized as bigotry? An argument can certainly be made. I think this sacrifices important nuances though.
Former State Dept official with Egyptian background also states that
Under the break it, you own it, paradigm Egypt hasn’t wanted to be held responsible for fixing a Gaza broken by Israel. Here’s Mubarak in 2007 to Barak in an interview in the New Yorker
If Israel’s war was against Hamas and not the civilians, they could allow Gazans to evacuate to the West Bank. But by now, given the indiscriminate bombing and intentional starvation, it is pretty clear that this is a war of retribution. Civilian death rate per strikes is >13X of what it was in Raqqa and this is happening in a much shorter time.
Private businesses that virtue signal on issues unrelated to their core business need to determine if this gains more customers than it loses, and also importantly need to determine if that issue could blowup in the future to their detriment. It’s a risk. Many companies support the military with initiatives for example which is pretty low risk. Hot button topics such as trans support didn’t work out for Bud Light. I find most of these private business to just be pandering and not really part of their “corporate values”. Their real corporate value is increasing business.
A scene I’ve seen video of that has been repeated numerous times since the Russian offensive began…. Russian armored column attacks single file, in daylight, no Russian artillery cover,across a minefield. Ukrainians pounce. After destroying the armor, cluster munitions take out the infantry that is left. Russia is taking territory slowly but at great cost in men and materiel.
This is not pretty:
https://x.com/tendar/status/1742845353622118907?s=61&t=q3_InP1nXWdPIXqj8656mQ
A somewhat balanced view on the Gay affair from the WSJ’s news side:
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/education/harvard-president-claudine-gay-university-b911ca7e?st=k9lscm0792bfb80&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
“He (Urton, who was dismissed from Harvard) told her that while he found both diversity and merit important in the hiring process, he would prioritize merit.
“She became quite distressed and argued that there was no inherent conflict between diversity and merit,” Urton said. “She was saying that if you build diversity, it will, in the end, strengthen the faculty, even though some candidates, on the merits, might seem stronger.””
Tm Scharf,
“She was saying that if you build diversity, it will, in the end, strengthen the faculty, even though some candidates, on the merits, might seem stronger.”
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Standard DEI irrational claptrap. Stronger candidates are, well, stronger. They should be hired. Weaker candidates, if hired, weaken the faculty. Harvard can do what it wants with hiring, of course, they just shouldn’t get any federal funds if they are acting as racists…… and they are.
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““diversity as an explicit goal” is illegal when this means quotas and hiring less qualified people over more qualified people.”
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And that is exactly what is always means.
I watched the Providence-Seaton Hall basketball game last night. Oddly enough, most every player on both teams was black. Should colleges be required by their DEI officials to field inferior teams with a “suitable mix” of white, Latino, and Asian players? No, that is pure madness. The teams are almost 100% black because they happen to be better players! Excellence is always the right way to choose who advances.
Joshua (Comment #227694
“Angech –I’m guessing that it’s just coincidence that you left out other material from that page on that website?:
Unless it was by accident or just remarkable motivated reasoning, which I can’t rule out of course, that’s really a pretty disgraceful example of cherry picking.”
”
Using your third typical technique of denigrating other people’s comments by claiming they cherry pick examples.
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You made a claim.
I did quick search for my claim and found said article which put forward my views on Egypt exactly.
I did a further check on the article source site which claimed a recommendation from McMater.
I cut and pasted the article heading so you and others could find it easily.
I cut and pasted the salient parts of all the salient points listed which proved my point.
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You are good at “giving advice” and quick to insult and disparage while claiming that others do that to you.
Argue your points on what I present, not on some imagination of yours.
Oh, and do some reading.
I imagine (heh,heh) there are thousands of other articles out there if you bothered to look rather than telling other people to look.
That’s fine, Angech.
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> I cut and pasted the salient parts of all the salient points listed which proved my point.
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It was purely a coincidence that you selected the quotes from the article that supported your point and failed to note the critical information that contradicted it.
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I had already read that article, in fact. I thought it was curious that you failed to provide a link, but I thought it was striking that you left out that critical information that I remembered was in the article. The information that added important context to all of the quotes you clipped.
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So I’m glad you explained it was purely coincidence. But nonetheless it might still strongly support my suggestion that you actually read a bit more – even a bit more in the articles you selectively quote from.
Joshua,
I gently suggest you avoid telling people to read more; it is a bad look for you. I am certain many on this blog (and elsewhere) do in fact know quite a lot more than you do about many subjects. Better to simply accept that people often draw vastly different conclusions, even when presented with the same facts. Humility and grace tend to go hand in hand. I do not claim to always adhere to that paradigm, but we can all try.
Steve –
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I suggest that you evaluate my recommendations for further reading in context. I didn’t make some general recommendation for “many on this blog” generally, or on any particular topic. I recommended it specifically for Angech on a subject where I’d say he’s displayed quite a bit of obvious ignorance; specifically his conclusions regarding weapons from Egypt into Gaza can conform to a simplistic analysis.
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I’m not remotely suggesting that I’m any kind of expert on the topic. I’m not particularly well read on the topic. But even there it seems rather obvious that suggesting Angech read more on the topic is entirely reasonable.
Joshua (Comment #227724)
“I’m not remotely suggesting that I’m any kind of expert on the topic.”
“I’m not particularly well read on the topic.”
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This might explain your jumbling together of two different things Steve F said to you, which you ignored to your detriment.
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“I gently suggest you avoid telling people to read more; it is a bad look for you.”
“I am certain many on this blog (and elsewhere) do in fact know quite a lot more than you do”
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People do turn off when true things are pointed out to them and then resort to deflection and misinterpretation.
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“I didn’t make some general recommendation for “many on this blog” generally, or on any particular topic.”
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SteveF made a general observation about you giving people advice to read more, that is all.
He then informed you, separately, that many on this blog know more than you, and me, about a lot of things.
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He did not say that you made some general recommendation for “many on this blog” .
Again that is a sad misrepresentation on your part, attributing to others things they did not say.
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Perhaps since you say you are unread in certain areas, this might help you understand the meaning of what SteveF actually said.
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Passive Impersonal: One, You, Everyone, Us All
Because of its Latin derivation, the passive in Italian is also used in other less identifiable constructions: Among them is the impersonal passivante voice, which is widely used in Italian and most convenient. It is a good way to explain rules, customs, or general behavior without assigning fault or responsibility or singling out individual behavior. The agent is one, everyone, or us all: the people. There is really no perfect translation in English that has the same tone, sometimes easy, sometimes more formal.
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Nonetheless it explains why commenting on your behavior in general is not the same as commenting on my behavior in particular.
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I apologize to you others on the blog at going so far down the rabbit hole with you but it is fun to debate the issues and even agree with you on those occasions when you are correct.
A cat for Christmas
Is absolutely perfect.
Better than jewels!
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For Lucia,
Larsen the Far Side
“Arnie, being deaf, spent several years protecting the family mules.
Angech -.
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Once again, the very article you excepted (without providing a link) makes it clear (of course in a segment you coincidentally didn’t excerpt) why your statements reflect ignorance regarding the complexity of the topic. If your hot takes made based in a lack of knowledge are good enough for you or Steve or anyone else, that’s just fine with me.
Since you’re dismissive of what I have to say on the topic at hand, just go with what Tom has to say since he’s certainly one of the many (on this blog and elsewhere, lol) who no doubt “in fact know quite a lot more than [I] do about many subjects.”
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https://rankexploits.com/musings/2023/merry-christmas-2023/#comment-227710
[EDIT: Changed some of the wording, added some stuff, and removed a previous edit which was in error.
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Anyway, this has become unpleasant enough that I’ll take my leave now. I’ll allow my erudite superiors to carry on without the annoyance of my lowly interference.]
Joshua,
If its any consolation, I absolutely positively know I am not sufficiently informed on the topic if Israel and Gaza.
Lucia –
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> If its any consolation, I absolutely positively know I am not sufficiently informed on the topic if Israel and Gaza.
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Indeed, I think a big part of the problem is that many people think that they are sufficiently informed on that topic, which is one of incredible complexity. Even worse, perhaps, many people seem to think they understand clearly and confidently what the solutions or best choices are despite not having spent years studying the context. I will say only that I’m far more informed than I was on 10/6, but that’s still far from what I would call sufficient.
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Regarding information, this article sheds a small amount of light onto the specific topic regarding the complexity of the relationship between Israel and Egypt vis a vis Hamas.
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https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/11/egypts-puzzling-role-in-the-israel-hamas-war.html
From the NYmag article above
This is one of the problems. Continuing settler dispossession of Palestinians in the West Bank and the PA’s inability to do anything about this or other daily indignities, besides being corrupt, has led to extreme unpopularity for the PA. Bibi preferred that there was no strong unified leader on the Palestinian side as being essential to prevent the two-state solution from happening. While America navel gazes about whether or not students in colleges are making genocidal chants, the people in power in Israel are executing a ‘river to the sea’ Eretz Yisrael policy.
RB –
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> the people in power in Israel are executing a ‘river to the sea’ Eretz Yisrael policy.
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I think it’s worthwhile to elaborate a bit on that. Clearly, not many Israelis are looking forward to a two-state solution, currently. There are even a lot of former peaceniks in Israel who have largely given up on a two-state solution as a goal. Currently, it seems that almost all Israelis are focused on vengeance and (what I consider to be an unrealistic and ill-defined goal of) “eradicating Hamas.”
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Even still
…
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>Bibi preferred that there was no strong unified leader on the Palestinian side as being essential to prevent the two-state solution from happening.
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I think the proximal goal was maybe more to appease the religious fanatic ultranationalist settlers, for the sake of political expediency. Although Bibi has long argued against the very idea of any sort of Palestinian state (from 1978):
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1c-DSZ_l9Q
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(6:50, and 9:05 are key moments)…in the end he’s a politician fighting for his political life, who needs the lifeline of support from those religious fanatics. Maybe it’s splitting hairs to decide whether he’s ultimately motivated by preventing a two-state solution (or a one-state solution where Palestinians have full equal rights) or appeasing the fanatical settlers, since those goals are effectively aligned and can’t be disaggregated.
Lucia,
“If its any consolation, I absolutely positively know I am not sufficiently informed on the topic if Israel and Gaza.”
Ditto here. In addition to the incredibly complex current situation, there are 6,000 years of history of ethnic and religious hatred and killing to try to understand.
That having been said, I believe the Israelis did not start this round of violence but I am betting they won’t stop their retaliation until they are certain they have secured the situation for the foreseeable future. This is not unlike the US position after Pearl Harbor… complete destruction of the Japanese homeland and unconditional surrender was the only outcome we would accept. Admiral Halsey called his Japanese enemies ‘Little yellow rat monkey bastards’. I think that summed up the mood in the country.
There seems to be a parallel between the current residents of Gaza and the common people of WWII Japan. The peasants had absolutely no say in their government. The Emperor ruled an absolute monarchy. The Ministry of War [Army] and Navy Ministry were cabinet offices responsible only to the Emperor and yet the peasants were fiercely loyal to them. They paid dearly.
LOL. The latest from our sanctuary cities.
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NYT: New York City Sues Bus Companies That Brought 30,000 Migrants From Texas
The lawsuit accuses 17 companies of carrying out a plan by the governor of Texas to send tens of thousands of migrants to New York.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/04/nyregion/nyc-migrants-texas-bus-lawsuit.html
“New York is seeking more than $700 million in damages from those companies, an amount the lawsuit describes as the cost of caring for and sheltering the migrants.
The lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court in Manhattan, argues that purposely transporting the migrants with the “evil intention” of shifting the costs of their care to New York violates state law.
…
He (Gov Abbott) added that the migrants who boarded buses or flights to New York “did so voluntarily, after having been authorized by the Biden administration to remain in the United States.”
…
The city is making a novel argument based on a law that has not been enforced since the Supreme Court declared in 1941 that such laws violate a constitutional right to travel — although it is possible the right to travel does not apply to noncitizens, said Roderick Hills, a professor at New York University’s law school.”
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Over 300,000 people were processed crossing the border * last month *, a record. It’s clearly criminal! … errr … what those bus companies are doing. Texas is on the border so it is their responsibility alone to shoulder the burden, at least according to sanctuary city mayors. This has gotten truly comical.
Joshua,
I definitely don’t know what the best solution is.
For what it’s worth: I tend to side with the Israelis. I do feel bad for the many innocent people in Gaza too. I think they are pawns.
Lucia” If its any consolation, I absolutely positively know I am not sufficiently informed on the topic if Israel and Gaza.”
Joshua
“Indeed, I think a big part of the problem is that many people think that they are sufficiently informed on that topic, which is one of incredible complexity. Even worse, perhaps, many people seem to think they understand clearly and confidently what the solutions or best choices are despite not having spent years studying the context”
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Context matters, as we all now know.
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I think that being an expert on a subject and knowing [being informed] about a subject are adjacent and complimentary.
I cannot build a computer or a rocket ship but it does not mean I do not have enough knowledge to form logical opinions on them.
Sometimes it is a bit like feeding babies, multiple so called experts have offered multiple bits of advice over the last 100 years and no one is any closer to an answer.
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Most of us have been in this world 60 plus years and have a wealth of experience in our lives dealing with work, family and friend conflicts, if and when they occur.
Most of us have some knowledge of religions, politics and science.
The map is not the territory.
No matter how detailed our knowledge no one will ever get it all right.
So we have to have opinions based on what we do know, not what we do not know.
Our opinions matter because the more people who have the same opinion the more likely that point of view will be expressed.
When people use the argument that others are not well informed or not expert it behooves them to put forward why their view has more credence than another.
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Fact
There are no fewer than 1,300 tunnels, with an estimated total length of 500 kilometers (311 miles) underground, with some as long as 70 meters.
Fact the support of Iran [alone], which significantly increased the annual funding for the military wing of Hamas in the last year from 100 million dollars to about 350 million dollars.[ WIKI on Iranian support.]
Fact Egypt borders Gaza, has tunnels where a billion dollars in goods go through a year and is a highly armed dictatorship.
It did claim to destroy some tunnels vears 10 years ago, but based on the current activity, supervised through an armed state, one can only assume that the tunnel destruction mentioned by Josh at the behest of USA/Israel was window dressing at best.
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Incredibly complex?
The Syrian crisis simplified: Who’s fighting whom and why?
Who is fighting who in Syria – 9GAG. easy ….see
Every Muslim group fighting in Syria unites to fight the Israelis
Tom
Whose state law?
Now that’s a strategy… based on a law declared unconstitutional….
Sure… but … I guess I need to read the theory why that would mean someone else can’t give them a ride. Maybe NY can block them– but NY didn’t manage to do it.
angech,
Sure. I admit I have a bias and an opinion. I’ve even stated it above.
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But I’m not spending time lecturing people to tell them their opinions or judgement might be wrong. Because I don’t know much.
New today, Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant outlined the plan to end the war. It’s pretty close to the same as I predicted in comment #227733 above.
Gallant: “It will continue for as long as is deemed necessary.” and: “Israel’s war in the territory will continue until it has secured the return of the hostages taken on October 7, dismantled Hamas’s “military and governing capabilities”, and removed any remaining military threats.”
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/4/israeli-defence-minister-outlines-new-phase-in-gaza-war
https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/israeli-defence-minister-yoav-gallant-unveils-plan-for-post-war-gaza-4803052
They aren’t stopping till they are sure the threat has been eliminated.
Here’s their motivation:
“On October 7, Hamas terrorists waged the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust — slaughtering babies, raping women, burning whole families alive, and taking hundreds of innocent civilians hostage. Since October 7, more than 1,300 Israelis have been killed, and today are still holding 129 men, women, and children, in captivity”
https://www.ajc.org/IsraelHamasWar
In my mind, they are justified in securing the safety of their homeland.
Lucia,
NY has some very strange ‘legal theories’. This one is probably meant only to intimidate bus companies so they try to refuse to bring more illegal aliens to New York, or just stop routes headed to New York. The bus companies have broken no laws, but if they refuse to take passengers based on their immigration status, that surely would break laws. Desperate and unprincipled people, like the governor of New York, often do desperate and unprincipled things.
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This crazy shit makes me think we are fast approaching maximum illegal immigration, when Ben Stein’s observation about things stopping will apply. Biden’s policies will likely increase the undocumented population in the USA by about half (~9-10 million increase) over 4 years. No other developed country in the world would tolerate an illegal population approaching 8% to 9% of the total population. This is madness. Each time I think we have experienced the worst possible president, the Democrats surprise me with someone even worse.
Not to get preachy [I am not a religious scholar], but understanding the history of Israel requires reading the Biblical text.
The Israelites believed that this area, then known as Canaan had been promised to them by their God. They left Egypt and wandered the desert for forty years looking for it. When they found the promised land it was inhabited by people known as Canaanites.
According to the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament), when God called forth his people out of slavery in Egypt and back to the land of their forefathers, he directed them to kill all the Canaanite clans who were living in the land (Deut. 7.1-2; 20.16-18). The destruction was to be complete: every man, woman, and child was to be killed. The book of Joshua tells the story of Israel’s carrying out God’s command in city after city throughout Canaan.
https://www.reasonablefaith.org/writings/question-answer/slaughter-of-the-canaanites
Thus, 1,200 years BC the bloodshed began… “An eye for an eye,” the Hebrew bible says. The bloodshed has reigned since that time. I see today as the logical continuation of it.
[This is not to suggest that Islam is a religion of peace. The Koran has equally gruesome directions of genocide from their God. I just can’t quote them]
Now comes the preachy part…..
The New Covenant, as directed by Jesus was “Turn the other cheek” and “Love thy neighbor”. It never really caught on in this region.
NYC: discriminating people based on their immigration status is morally reprehensible and therefore we will make it illegal and turn NYC into an immigrant paradise! Welcome one and all!
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Also NYC: Stop coming here!
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I’m pretty sure there’s some obscure, under investigated, part of human psychology where, if you offer incentives for someone to do something which benefits them, they are more likely to do it, even if you tell them not to! Clearly more research is needed so NYC, and everywhere else that keeps offering morally ambiguous people incentives to do socially destructive things, can figure out how action and consequence works.
Lucia –
> For what it’s worth: I tend to side with the Israelis. I do feel bad for the many innocent people in Gaza too. I think they are pawns.
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The description I heard used that makes sense to me is that both gevernments have effectively colluded to create a violent equilibrium as it serves their (the governments’) benefit and sustainability.
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I tend to side against both Hamas and the Israeli government and I think both are using their citizens as pawns – albeit while Israeli citizens have a more robust enfranchisement. Hamas, of course is more obviously barbaric and more murderous. I feel bad for both citizenries, as imo, they’re both obviously deeply triggered by intergenerational and likely inherited trauma
Joshua,
Sounds fair enough.
Joshua,
I would add that the blockade of Gaza is untenable. The daily oppression in the West Bank as documented by various human rights organizations is also untenable. The events of 10/7 were atrocities and Palestinians have experienced this multiple times in the last 75 years. The general cycle is occupation->resistance->repression->terrorism->counter-terrorism->innocent lives lost. Here in the West, there is a lot of disinformation such as that Arafat turned down a good deal, something that the actual negotiators involved have denied. Even in this war, everything that CNN publishes has to be approved by an IDF censor. West Bank conditions are no different from apartheid SA. Unlike for the ANC though, it is hard to see where the international pressure is going to come from. Given that more than half of the 80+ vetoes in the UN cast by the US have been to shield Israel, often standing alone (besides Nauru or Micronesia) it is pretty clear that this is a toothless organization that serves no useful purpose.
RB –
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The South Africa parallel is an interesting one. I’ve have an on-going discussion with people about whether Israelis can come to accept a Palestinian state as the Afrikaners eventually [edit: came to accept an end to apartheid] and how conditions might affect why or or why not.
One key difference may be that the ANC was pretty explicit to denounce targeting of civilians. It’s interesting to interrogate the implications of that difference.
[edit: of course there’s the oft’ heard “where’s the Palestinian Mandela?” which isn’t a completely ridiculous question as long as the one posing it is willing to look at how Israel has treated peaceful resistence.]
One of the best ways to become better informed on a subject is to state your amateur opinion and see what happens. If it is off base you will be informed of that pretty quickly. At a minimum you will at least see the various talking points each side has.
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As for the Palestinians, you either accept the argument they have an inherent right to the land in Israel or you don’t. Regardless of that, the intentional and targeted slaughter of civilians is immoral to Western culture and simply a bad tactic. This plays better in Middle Eastern culture. Although I may empathize with Gaza civilians, I do not sympathize with their government or their tactics at all. My view was probably set in stone during the PLO era with the 1972 Olympic massacre, the hijackings, and the suicide bombings. Not much has changed.
I tend to be skeptical about whether Israelis would be susceptible to external pressure. (And it’s not entirely clear to me how much external pressure “caused” the end of SA apartheid).
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In their current state, I tend to think Israelis would just double down with greater unity in the face of what they perceive to be a heightened existential threat. It’s hard to know if that might change over time in the ongoing pressure of a constant war. It didn’t take that long for many Americans to shift in their opinions of an existential threat they perceived from Iraq and terrorism. Although certainly the perceived existential threat to Isrealis is more real than imagined, in comparison to the one that Americans perceived from Iraq.
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I think it’s always useful to remember that the nature of the conflict has changed over time in the past. Sometimes it feels like that’s impossible now, but maybe it isn’t.
“Even in this war, everything that CNN publishes has to be approved by an IDF censor.”
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This is not really true. What is true is if the Israeli army escorts the media to the warzone then the stories that are published based on that escort need to be reviewed. Ostensibly for security purposes but no doubt propaganda purposes as well.
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If CNN wants to go into Gaza for independent reporting then Israel isn’t going to protect them or escort them across the border. The reality is that hanging out in Gaza is life threatening so media outlets just don’t do it. There are threats of getting killed accidentally or on purpose if your reporting is not approved of by the locals. There are threats of being taken hostage by the usual suspects. On the ground independent reporting just hasn’t happened in Syria or Gaza.
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CNN and other media outlets hire locals in Gaza to report on the war where the same thing happens. The locals cannot report bad things about Hamas or the results are much more severe than censoring. It is mostly self censoring now because everyone knows what the rules are. We only really know that we aren’t getting an accurate picture from either side.
Not sure what ‘Israel’ means but the negotiations by Abbas involved not more than 150,000 getting a right of return while Barak/Olmert argued for less.
On CNN, IDF is in fact censoring:
https://twitter.com/RBrulin/status/1743084449837818061
Or at the very least under the shadow of the IDF censor
https://theintercept.com/2024/01/04/cnn-israel-gaza-idf-reporting/
“Israeli bombing will be described as blasts …”.
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This is because of their faulty original reporting on the hospital “blast” which was falsely attributed to an airstrike early in the war. This is CNN self censoring for accuracy. See the correction at bottom of article here:
https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/17/middleeast/israel-gaza-rafah-crossing-week-2-tuesday-intl-hnk/index.html
More than the slanting of coverage, what I find problematic is the effect of reflexive whining about slanting of coverage, which. imo far outweighs the actual impact of the slanting of coverage.
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Just the same old; people on both sides blaming “the media” for the inherently problematic aspects of the conflict – totally in line with their ideological agendas. Nothing surprising as the same dynamic plays out on so many issues (notably here, climate change).
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But I have been surprised by the extent to which coverage appears to be limited in Israel. I guess it should he expected on a country at war but I find it surprising I nonetheless. One aspect where I’ve learned new things.
Tom Scharf,
“As for the Palestinians, you either accept the argument they have an inherent right to the land in Israel or you don’t.”
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That is and has always been the fundamental issue, no matter all the other issues that are constantly discussed. Starting with the originally proposed UN division of the land in Palestine in late 1947 (https://cdn.britannica.com/55/3355-050-CB05E0A7/UN-partition-plan-Palestine-1947.jpg), Muslims in general, and Arab Muslims in Gaza and the West Bank in particular, have rejected the right of Jews to have a state in Palestine, making any accommodation effectively impossible.
“WHETHER REPORTING FROM the Middle East, the United States, or anywhere else across the globe, every CNN journalist covering Israel and Palestine must submit their work for review by the news organization’s bureau in Jerusalem prior to publication”
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This is editing for accuracy, once again CNN’s decision. The game is played the same everywhere. If CNN has a habit of providing unflattering coverage of Israel, especially occasional unflattering AND inaccurate coverage, then Israel will deny them inside access to important stories and route that access to friendlier news organizations. I do not find CNN’s coverage of this war any more pro-Israel than anybody else. It is remarkably homogenous across the board IMO, similar to Ukraine. I absolutely can believe that some reporters who are more pro-Palestinian find their work to be edited more aggressively and perhaps unfairly.
One of the historical problems here is that if the Zionist movement had started a century earlier, it would have had less trouble today. But the movement started when colonialism was still in vogue. The state came into being when colonialism was going out of fashion and a Palestinian nation-state identity had become established. In 1947, the Jewish population was 1/3 with ownership of <7% of the land while being awarded 56% of the land. An Arab population that had been in continuous struggle ever since the turn of the century never accepted this. Dean Acheson correctly identified the issues with the creation of the state, that we are still grappling with today. The resistance too has evolved given the ‘facts on the ground’. The Oslo talks began after the PLO acknowledged the right of Israel to exist, something the PA still does today.
RB,
“The Oslo talks began after the PLO acknowledged the right of Israel to exist, something the PA still does today.”
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Um… along with a demand for the “right of return” of some 5 million decedents of Palestinian Muslims to Israel, even though 99% never set foot in Palestine, and most of whom have parents who never set foot in Palestine. How about every Muslim country agreeing to the “right of return” for every Jew (about 2 million) and their many decedents who were driven from those countries, with full rights of citizens.
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The decedents of those Palestinian Muslims are not ever going to “return” to Palestine. They need to get over it.
RB (Comment #227756)and (Comment #227745)
“historical problems here is that if the Zionist movement had started a century earlier,” and “In 1947, the Jewish population was 1/3 with ownership of <7%” “Palestinians have experienced this multiple times in the last 75 years.”
You are either ignorant of history or intentionally distorting history. It’s like the climate scientist who tries to erase the warm periods in Roman times and the Middle Ages.
The history of Israelites fighting for this same land goes back 35 centuries. You are pretending that it started one century ago and that is disingenuous.
Russell Klier (Comment #227758)
I am not denying the historical claims. But Jews have had a minority presence for the last 1000 years (pre-1947)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographic_history_of_Palestine_(region)
RB,
“But Jews have had a minority presence for the last 1000 years (pre-1947)”
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OK, so what, kill them all? Drive them into the sea? Please. The disconnect from reality on the ground is frightening.
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Let’s recount. Israel: modern democracy (I’ve been there), 9 million citizens (including ~2 million Muslims), high per capita GDP, among the highest life expectancy, strong technology sector, with 100+ nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them, and a very sophisticated military. Palestinians: poor, intolerant (they all want to throw gays from rooftops, as demanded by Sharia), no equal rights for women, overwhelmingly violent and like to murder innocents, and unwilling to accept reality. Gee, I wonder who will win this argument.
I’ve been through this once before, where my words are twisted. This time, apparently, it is that I’m saying that Israel today doesn’t have a right to exist. Not engaging with this falsehood.
One of the terrible things in the Levant conflict is that both Israel and Hamas make the same awful calculus. Israel is prepared to kill 100s of Gazans to protect one Israeli, and Hamas is prepared to allow 100s of Gazans to died so they can kill one Israeli.
SCOTUS will hear next month arguments regarding Trump’s eligibility to be on the ballot in Colorado, thank goodness.
mark bofill,
Apparently the SC justices are not completely disconnected from reality. Let’s see: hear the case February 8, rule on it…. June 8, July 8? I hope they have the sense to rule on this within a few weeks…. March 1 would be sensible. This isn’t even a hard decision… preserve the union, or let things go completely sideways, maybe leading to armed revolt. The choice before them could not be more clear.
RB,
“This time, apparently, it is that I’m saying that Israel today doesn’t have a right to exist.”
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I do not want to twist anyone’s words, but I do insist they accept reality. What exactly do you see as a resolution to to the 75 year old conflict over the existence of Israel and the Palestinian claims which make that existence essentially impossible? What do you see as the path toward peace?
RB (Comment #227759)
“I am not denying the historical claims. But Jews have had a minority presence for the last 1000 years”
And 1,000 years ago many of the people who are now called ‘Palestinian’ didn’t live anywhere in the region. They were scattered throughout Arabia and Northern Africa. Every time you play the history card, the Israelites will be able to trump it.
Russell Klier (Comment #227768)
The context of demographics and land apportioning in 1947 was to highlight the conditions as they existed when Arabs then took arms although the conflict had been in existence for decades already. The question of whether Israel should exist or not is moot today as it should be as generations have taken root there. Having got that out of the way, Israeli founder Ben-Gurion was under no illusion of the conditions under which the state of Israel was created then and understood why the Arabs did not accept what was essentially forced on them by Western powers.
That was then, as it stands the peace negotiations have involved 22% of Mandate Palestine land, and that is where any peace plan is going to be resolved, if ever.
RB –
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I find what Einstein had to say quite informative:
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https://x.com/LT_Greenwald/status/1719140244996636865?s=20
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https://x.com/kthalps/status/1732257318534844839?s=20
Joshua,
I have read that letter by Einstein denouncing the Irgun/Lehi for their terrorism in the Deir Yassin massacre. A more recent example prior to Gaza was the massacre in the Sabra/Shatila refugee camps in 1982 where the IDF stood guard while their contract militia went on a rampage.
Gandhi too believed that the claim of the Jews did not supersede that of the Arabs who already lived there.
Israel is in a weak position as time and demographics take hold. The pressure of a higher birth rate than the Israeli moderates for both its ethnic Arab and ultra religious Jewish populations will push the political parties holding power to the far margins. This will push the state to continue its slide into apartheid, which will continue the states loss of international support, mainly from the US.
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Without support from the US, the state of Israel collapses.
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I see a dark future for the residents of Palestine as a wider regional war is inevitable if a full apartheid regime is established by Israel, which looks to be increasingly likely. This regional war could easily turn nuclear as the state looks into the abyss of its destruction.
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This regional war may have already started as Iran is blaming Israel for the recent major terrorist incident causing hundreds of casualties. In addition, missile and drone attacks on shipping in the Red Sea is increasing and the US is threatening retaliation in an attempt to keep the shipping lines open. This threatened US action will bring Iran into the conflict in support of its threatened allies.
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A very bleak situation for all concerned
More useless information… Video of a Ukrainian Air Force pilot getting HER first introduction to the F-16 at a training facility in Nevada:
https://x.com/rklier21/status/1743575017219080260?s=20
Ed Forbes,
“Without support from the US, the state of Israel collapses.”
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I don’t think so. See for more detail: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economy_of_Israel
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The demographics of different populations is a real, though very long term issue, at least to the extent it generates greater political division in Israel.
RB,
That statement from Gandhi was in 1938, before the murder of ~6 million Jews by the Nazis, before the pogroms against Jews in Eastern Europe, and before WWII. Gandhi could not have seen the horrors of the near future. In that statement he called for fair treatment of Jews everywhere…. so far from what would unfold over the next 7 years as to make his suggestions sound ridiculous.
Joshua,
Thanks for explaining. In my view, politics is an applied philosophy problem, sort of analogous to the idea that engineering is an applied science problem. So I don’t hold ‘end justifies the means’ thinking in the same contempt when it comes to politics [that I do in other areas], far from it, because the application or ‘end’ is what this is all for. If my theoretical ideas lead me to a place in empirical reality where the country is plunged into chaos and conflict, that’s a powerful indicator that the theoretical ideas are either (a) wrong or (b) have been misapplied somehow. This may look an awful lot like flip flopping if that’s the way one wants to view it, but I’m not sure how useful that idea would be to me.
But again, I appreciate your taking the time to explain what you meant.
Under the rules of war, every spot above a Hamas tunnel is a valid military target. Every place Hamas is hiding is a valid military target. It is nice that Israel is warning people to evacuate before bombing – but not necessary. If I were Israel I would be bombing over the tunnels in Egypt or any other country they extend into. Flood the tunnels and bomb them out into the open where they can be killed or surrender.
Steve,
On the issue of the Israeli economy without strong US support, consider the effect of no US veto on UN proposals of economic and other sanctions. Israel is not a popular state internationally. Only the US veto has kept Israel from being sanctioned, which would devastate their economy.
The latest demands from the left are that Trump appointed SC justices should recuse themselves. Good luck with that one.
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If Trump get tossed by partisans and Biden gets elected then there will be chaos and violence. The likely end result of that would be the laws being changed to provide a very high bar for getting removed from a ballot in the future. The legislatures will not be able to functionally go forward with this capability remaining under the power of partisans, they will lose the will of the people. The left will agree because they will rightfully fear this will be used against them.
Ed Forbes:
If you really think the USA, China, Europe, and India will economically sanction Israel, you are so disconnected from reality that discussion with you seems pointless.
RB (Comment #227769)
You wrote: “The context of demographics and land apportioning in 1947 was to highlight the conditions as they existed when Arabs then took arms although the conflict had been in existence for decades already.”
Your context and history lectures are boring.
Israel is retaliating based on visceral facts like this:
“Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7 is the third-deadliest terrorist attack since data collection began in 1970, based on number of fatalities, with the 9/11 attacks on the US representing the worst mass fatality terrorist attack.”
On October 7, 1,200 innocent civilians were murdered, and thousands of other atrocities were committed.
Israel will not stop attacking because of some historical diplomatic duplicity to the Palestinians. After 9/11the US population wanted to attack, and attack we did. Israel is in attack mode and I do not expect them to stop until they are sure Hamas is wiped out and their future is secure, history be damned.
https://www.csis.org/analysis/hamass-october-7-attack-visualizing-data
Russell, RB,
I respectfully disagree. I think RB’s comments are interesting.
SCOTUS has announced they will hear the case. I moved the more recent Trump/CO-ballot/SCOTUS comments to
http://rankexploits.com/musings/2024/looks-like-scotus-doesnt-plan-to-dodge/
“It is nice that Israel is warning people to evacuate before bombing”
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Not so much this time around. In previous conflicts they would make phone calls and tell people to evacuate specific targets, then drop dummy bombs to tell citizens a building is about to be destroyed (I think they called this a knock knock or something). Their intent was to destroy infrastructure.
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They provided no such warning when they took out tunnels under a “refugee camp” recently and they stated they did not want to give Hamas targets a warning. They did kill their target and a bunch of civilians. The rules of engagement are different now and more aligned with how everyone else in the world runs their wars.
Rick –
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I’m certainly not going to be able to add anything of value specific to the context beyond what Lucia already offered.
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Here’s how I look at the situation more generally. It kind of reflects a general model that I use…
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I think that the question of states’ rights versus centralized federal power is a fairly complicated one, that requires a delicate balance and a sophisticated evaluation in context.
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I think that there’s at least some merit to the idea that the CO Supremes would at least evaluate whether someone, that a lower court ruled was involved in an insurrection, could or should be removed from the ballot as a presidential candidate.
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When someone who is typically a strong advocate for states’ rights says this case is a slam dunk in the other direction, I get skeptical. I don’t have a terribly strong opinion one way or the other on this particular case; I haven’t studied the issues or the relevant laws in sufficient detail to develop a strong opinion. (That Lucia, who seems to have spent some time looking at it in-depth seems to think there’s not an unequivocal answer, reinforces my perspective that it isn’t a slam dunk.)
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If someone who seems a serious analyst and who generally is at least somewhat equivocal about the balance between states’ rights and centralized federal power were to say this particular case is a slam dunk one way or the other, then I would be likely to attach more weight to such an opinion than if someone who typically is an advocate for states’ rights says that this is a slam dunk in the other direction. The same would apply if someone who is typically a strong advocate for limiting states’ rights were to say that in this case it’s a slam dunk that states’ rights should apply.
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As I understand it, the CO Supremes didn’t argue that it was a slam dunk, but that this was a decision they didn’t take lightly.
ISIS claimed responsibility for the Iran terrorist bombings. It makes sense as this kind of strike is not the MO for Israel or the US.
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Iran said “Israel commanded ISIS to bomb Iran”. Although this statement is obviously for domestic consumption I doubt even the partisans in Iran are buying that one.
Tom Scharf,
ISIS is Sunni. Iran is Shia. There is a many centuries long ongoing conflict between the two sects of Islam.
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I don’t think Israel works closely with ISIS, nor tells them who to attack.
Thanks Mark. Along the lines of Tom Scharf’s comments above, there are reports that the damage caused in Gaza may be the intention.
https://www.972mag.com/mass-assassination-factory-israel-calculated-bombing-gaza/
It won’t be until much after the war ends that we will find out more.
Also a thread comparing the current urban campaign against the one the US conducted in Raqqa.
RB,
I think collective punishment of civilians has been standard practice for a long time. Russia’s attacks on the Ukraine power grid, etc. Usually it’s justified as destroying dual-use infrastructure but everyone knows there is dual-intent. It almost never works with immediacy to the endpoint of civilians demanding an end to the war, but it puts pressure on the leaders to negotiate a settlement and/or acts as a future deterrent. The morality of this is debatable. Bin Laden justified 9/11 by saying he was attacking US taxpayers and voters who tacitly support Middle East interventions by the US. The Japanese would execute 10 prisoners for every one that escaped. Israel seems to have an unacknowledged minimum 10 to 1 rule.
Tom Scharf,
That may be. I don’t know how effective it is either as this has been a recurrent theme in Gaza in just the last 17 years alone. There are also reports of gunning down civilians who are carrying a white flag or asked to evacuate from one building to another location. This seems possible based on how Israeli hostages were gunned down and based on what happened to an Israeli good Samaritan who had his hands raised. Lastly, besides the 70000+ killed or injured, 575,000 are classified as being in Stage 5 starvation (80% worldwide). So, there is also a lot of plain retribution going around.
I am afraid I might be about to veer across the line into conspiracy theory territory.
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Who was running the Pentagon last week? The public not being informed of Austin’s hospitalization is one thing. But Austin’s deputy, who was supposed to acting Secretary, was on vacation and apparently unaware that she was acting Secretary. And nobody in the White House knew what was going on across the river. So who was running things?
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I suspect the answer is: “the same people who run things every other day”. In other words, the permanent bureaucracy, who think that they should be running the government. Biden, Blinken, Austin, the hack at NSC, and so on are just a Potemkin government. They enjoy the perks of power while letting the Deep State run the show. That is not democracy.
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The Austin kerfuffle is just a case of Toto tugging on the curtain and giving us a glimpse of the little men pulling the levers of the Great and Powerful Oz.
Austin’s behavior requires an explanation to the public. I suspect he went in for some minor surgery he wants to keep private (and may have a right to keep private) and things didn’t go well. That does not relieve his responsibility to make sure people know he was having surgery, especially if anesthesia was involved.
Tom Scharf (Comment #228025): “Austin’s behavior requires an explanation to the public.”
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I don’t see any reason that the public would need to know any medical details. I don’t actually see why the public needs to know that he was in the hospital, other than that established procedure says that should be disclosed. Another case of the Biden administration violating norms which must be somehow different from the Bad Orange Man violating norms.
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But not telling people with a need to know inside the administration? That is inexcusable. I doubt there is an acceptable explanation for it.
Re: Tom Scharf (Comment #227747)
BTW, there is a documentary “Once upon a time in Northern Ireland” on PBS. While those of us who wish for peace condemn civilian targeting which includes ‘collective punishment’, targeting civilian life has been a part of Western culture contemporaneous with what was going on with the PLO.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Troubles#Responsibility
No wonder that the majority of people in Ireland are sympathetic with Palestinian civilians.
There is a new Rasmussen poll out that shows Trump with a big lead and doing much better than Haley or DeSantis. I was wondering if it is an outlier, so I went to RCP data and took all polls from the last month that asked about all three matchups vs Biden.
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Format is first 3 letters of poll name, end date, then R/B where R is the Republican. Trump is doing 5 points better than the other 2 in the spread; that is, he is 4 points ahead of Biden while Biden beats the others by a point. The comparisons look fairy consistent except that Fox looks like an outlier for Haley.
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Candidate … Trump DeSantis Haley
Ras 01/09 … 49/41 . 42/41 .. 36/38
Eco 01/09 … 43/43 . 41/44 .. 36/41
FOX 12/13 … 50/46 . 47/47 .. 49/43
Har 12/14 … 52/48 . 41/44 .. 40/42
averages_ … 48/44 . 43/44 .. 40/41
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Ras = Rasmussen Reports
Eco = Economist/YouGov
FOX = FOX news
Har = Harvard-Harris
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Sure looks like Trump is the strongest Republican candidate. Weird.
I note that that undecided is 8% for Trump, 13% for DeSantis, and 19% for Haley. So one might argue that the not Trump candidates have more room to pick up support. Against that is the fact that Biden is so unpopular that a generic Republican will look attractive until the Demonization Party gets their propaganda machine working on him/her.
With Comment #228361 I was hoping to start a discussion on a topic other than the tedious one on the other thread. Can any of you make the case that Trump is not the strongest Republican candidate against Biden?
Mike M,
The Israel/Hamas fighting: agreed…meh. Seems nothing more to be said.
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I suspect Trumps’s negatives are mostly very firm (‘not ever going to vote for him, no matter what’), whereas someone like DeSantis (or Haley) is less well known (outside the most politically active observers), and so has has a little more potential upside. Your point of the MSM/Democrat attack machine gearing up as soon as a candidate is selected is well taken, but a non-Trump candidate can better fight back since they don’t have Trump’s uncontrolled mouth. I mean, it will not be the same as Obama V Romney, where the attack machine was successful in making Romney look bad next to (the heroic) Obama. I think Biden is the weakest candidate the Democrats have fielded since Jimmy Carter.
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Finally, I think DeSantis hurt himself a lot with the Florida ‘heartbeat ban’, and Haley has hurt herself by seeming to stridently support every possible war, including ones that have not yet happened. Those are not positions I think will age well over the next year.