News Miscellany

[erimir]

at the notion that these attacks could distract Americans from The Trump Show.

Also are you arguing now that Israel is responsible for these chemical attacks?

[Miss Shelby]

Woman Arrested For Beheading Boyfriend Tells Cops: ‘Let Me Get My Heads’ | Daily Wire

[Watser?]

I'm not arguing at all anymore, there's no point, keep cheerleading that US-Russia war.

[erimir]

Enjoy cheerleading for Assad.

This sounds so familiar https://t.co/WYy56iSZbq

— (((YousefMunayyer))) (@YousefMunayyer) April 8, 2018

Syria's new 'absentees law' could see up to 13 million refugees lose property and land https://t.co/i2slrEOObW pic.twitter.com/ror7BetAfp

— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) April 7, 2018

And since you're so binary in your thinking, that thinking that Assad is a murderous dictator means that I must support invading Syria and starting a war with Russia* despite never saying either of those things, I'll point out that you must enjoy being on the same side as FOX News.

Tucker Carlson Goes on Marathon Rant Questioning Whether Assad Is Behind Attack in Syria https://t.co/c0fdYG51xg (VIDEO) pic.twitter.com/tDbPGM9Xew

— Mediaite (@Mediaite) April 10, 2018

Also, by your logic, your focus on Israel's crimes must mean that you support invading Israel, right? If you think they're bad guys doing bad things, you must want to invade! You would like the Netherlands to invade Israel to stop their crimes against Palestinians, right? And you would like to do that even though it would invite confrontation with Israel's patron, the United States? Therefore, your belief that Netanyahu is a war criminal equates to supporting the Netherlands getting into a war with the USA. You warmongering piece of shit! Why do you want to start WW3 between the US and the EU?

*notably, you don't ever seem to ever suggest that Russia would bear any responsibility for a confrontation in Syria escalating into a full-blown war, curious that. Syria is so essential to their interests that Russia has no choice. Putin has no agency, apparently. However, I can think that both Putin and Trump are pieces of shit and blame both.

Of course, the more likely story is that Russian propagandists would like useful idiots around the world to think that pushing back against Russian activities anywhere by any means automatically equates to courting WW3 through full-blown war with Russia, so that people like you will call even putting sanctions on Russia "warmongering".

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Misc Facebook, free speech, incitement, etc:

Zuckerberg Was Called Out Over Myanmar Violence. Here's His Apology. - The New York Times

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Mostly over my head but here you go:

Cyber Threats To Canada's Democratic Process

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

NYC's First Girl Scout Troop Consisting Of Homeless Children Finally Has Its First Cookie Sale | BLAVITY

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Misc:

Oh wow, the pilot who steered Southwest 1380 to safety after a harrowing engine failure today was was one of the first female fighter pilots in the Navy’s history, and the first woman to fly the F/A-18. https://t.co/pTV1fIHE04

— Lara Seligman (@laraseligman) April 17, 2018

[JoeP]

Comment:

Can't wait to see Tom Hanks pull this role off

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

So here's a thing:

Raul Castro To Step Down As Cuba's President

[erimir]

Dear Bashar al-Assad Apologists: Your Hero Is a War Criminal Even If He Didn’t Gas Syrians

[mickthinks]

Originally Posted by erimir

Dear Bashar al-Assad Apologists: Your Hero Is a War Criminal Even If He Didn’t Gas Syrians

Strange false dichtomy! There is a (lot of) middle ground between on the one hand, crediting Trump, May and Macron with the moral high ground they so ardently desire to claim as they escalate both the conflict in Syria and the profits being made in the military-industrial complex, and so flirt with WWIII, and on the other, worshipping Assad as a hero.

Accept that and the whole piece makes no sense.

[erimir]

Originally Posted by mickthinks

Strange false dichtomy! There is a (lot of) middle ground between on the one hand, crediting Trump, May and Macron with the moral high ground they so ardently desire to claim as they escalate both the conflict in Syria and the profits being made in the military-industrial complex, and so flirt with WWIII, and on the other, worshipping Assad as a hero.

Accept that and the whole piece makes no sense.

True, there is a middle ground (which both I and the author occupy!), but the people who defend Assad as being the "good guy" in Syria definitely exist. At recent "hands off Syria" demonstrations, there were people carrying Syrian regime flags and pictures of Assad, etc.

But the piece is primarily about the denialism of various of Assad's crimes, which exists to a much higher degree than those who claim him as a heroic figure.

The author criticizes Trump et al's actions at the beginning. So I don't think he's making the false dichotomy you're claiming.

[mickthinks]

If he is addressing his tirade at the tiny number* of people whose opposition to Trump's punishment bombings stems from their hero worship for Assad, then yes, the dichotomy his piece relies on is sound.

It seems to me though that he is addressing himself to a much larger number of protestors, in which case the dichotomy is plainly false for the reasons you and I agree on.

*I concede that I have no hard evidence for the tinytude of the Assad worshippers. Happy to hear from you why you think it is a large enough group to justify the kind of public correction/admonishment going on here.

[erimir]

The piece primarily concerns denialism of Assad's crimes. And while it claims not to be about the chemical weapons attacks, it gives an overview of that as well.

Pretend instances of "hero" are replaced with "ally" or whatever attenuated term you prefer ("situational ally", "preferred victor in the Syrian civil war", whatever). I don't see how that affects the piece all that much. Yes, the title of the piece is misleading/hyperbolic/uncharitable, but I don't see how that renders the piece nonsensical as you claim.

The people who are Assad admirers are not a huge faction, but there are plenty of people who claim that various war crimes committed in Syria and attributed to Assad are either false flags or hoaxes. More honest ones might argue they're evils made necessary by the intervention of external powers like the US and Saudi Arabia, etc. while not considering Assad admirable.

[mickthinks]

... there are plenty of people who claim that various war crimes committed in Syria and attributed to Assad are either false flags or hoaxes.

Are there? As I said, I don't believe there are anywhere near enough to merit the kind of public admonishment that the article represents. Whichj makes me think it is aimed at a much larger target; those including me who find the justification for the precipitate action taken by Trump et al. suspect.

[erimir]

...You realize Watser is one of those people, right? He thinks that the chemical weapons attacks are all faked and has been claim that I want to start WW3 with Russia because I don't buy into his conspiracy theories.

And no, Mehdi Hassan is not a supporter of military intervention in Syria. This was stated in his article and is easily evident in his other pieces and statements about Syria.

Part of his point is that you can believe Assad is a war criminal without supporting intervention or the US and allies' actions there. Do you think he's really trying to support Trump or something?

[Crumb]

Are you aware that Watser has left the ?

[Sock Puppet]

I wasn’t. I don’t know why he went from passionately advocating for Palestinian rights to shutting down all reasoned discussion with any of us, but I’ll miss the Watser? who was here for many years.

Probably more so than in years, I actually spent a lot of thought on a post to , or possibly a PM to him, with a heartfelt explanation of how I don’t give a shit for Hillary Clinton, but that I voted for her because I have to live in this country, and my daughter has to grow up in it, and Trump would do (and is currently doing) even more damage abroad, while doing possibly irreversible damage here. Yes, we enjoy inordinate privilege here that’s been built on atrocities and suffering of others. Our government has preached democracy while exporting fascism wherever it furthered its masters’ (plutocracy or whatever you want to call it) interests. Shamelessly and catastrophically. The Palestine region is a particularly horrific example.

But I don’t see how giving a home-grown fascism the reins of power explicitly and officially helps anyone, anywhere. Those outside the US can call it chickens coming home to roost, and they’d be right. Maybe even justice for all of our silent complicity and happy acceptance of the benefits of same. Serves us right. But it serves nobody any net benefit. Our little dance on the brink of an honest embracement of the fascism our leaders inflict on others will not improve the life of anyone on the planet except the fascists in power themselves.

So forgive me — or don’t — if I oppose this attempt at more bald-faced, technically more “honest” domestic fascism. No matter how much I might benefit from the status quo, not every change will do fuckall to right any wrong whatsoever.

[Ari]

Indeed, I enjoyed his earlier posts on Palestine and what general fuckery Israel was getting up to as it's a serious issue that's rarely covered in the US and when it comes to picking Israel or Palestine I'm pro-palestine, but it doesn't make them untouchable good guys. His sources kept getting further and further off the cliff and views harder and harder assuming that everyone here was an enemy for questioning them. I'm not sure when but at some point I moved from reading or at least skimming many of the stories he posted to ignoring them as conspiracy theory nonsense.

At the very least his posts have taught me to question Israel and the US's fawning over them as underdogs.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

I'd like to re-up these two twitter accounts as worthwhile to keep abreast of Middle East, Africa, and southeast Asia issues:

Hend Amry (@LibyaLiberty) | Twitter
Qasim Rashid, Esq. (@MuslimIQ) | Twitter

[erimir]

Originally Posted by Crumb

Are you aware that Watser has left the ?

I was not, but I guess it's only been just over a week. I don't check the Countdown thread.

Originally Posted by Sock Puppet

But I don’t see how giving a home-grown fascism the reins of power explicitly and officially helps anyone, anywhere. Those outside the US can call it chickens coming home to roost, and they’d be right. Maybe even justice for all of our silent complicity and happy acceptance of the benefits of same. Serves us right.

The thing is that the people in the US who are most guilty in that regard are not the ones who are suffering or will suffer under Trump.

The folks at Fox News, or the Koch brothers, the Bushes and Karl Roves and John Boltons, the worst thing that will happen to them is that they may be frustrated by political results if Democrats do make a comeback that's even stronger (an outcome that Watser certainly wouldn't cheerlead anyway). In the meantime, John Bolton has a job in the White House.

But does anyone think that Trump's election is actually punishment for anti-Muslim bigots?

It's the people being rounded up by ICE who are being punished. Or the minorities who are subject to police brutality that will face absolutely no accountability from Sessions's Dept of Justice. Or the people of Puerto Rico, being left to fend for themselves after a major disaster. The damage done to the environment won't be limited to the US, and it won't harm rich warmongering Americans first and foremost. And given the correlation between anti-Muslim sentiment and support for bombing Muslim countries... having an anti-Muslim bigot in the White House won't help that either. And so on and so forth.

It doesn't help anyone who needs or deserves help. It's just him embracing spite.

[erimir]

Originally Posted by erimir

The folks at Fox News, or the Koch brothers, the Bushes and Karl Roves and John Boltons, the worst thing that will happen to them is that they may be frustrated by political results if Democrats do make a comeback that's even stronger (an outcome that Watser certainly wouldn't cheerlead anyway). In the meantime, John Bolton has a job in the White House.

And to go on a little more, since Hillary Clinton is one of the most guilty in Watser's view as well...

Hillary Clinton is still a rich-ass woman with a comfortable lifestyle and the ability to go on TV or address cheering crowds whenever she likes. To be sure, the frustration of her presidential ambitions hurt her. I'm sure that it hurt a lot. But she'll be fine (and she's said as much).

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Queen Elizabeth celebrates her 92nd birthday with pop concert = CBC News

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Kim Jong Un just supervillained himself into a pile of shit he may not be able to contain:

Chinese scientists say North Korea's nuclear test site has collapsed — and could pose a radioactive risk