The News & Topicality Thread

[Del]

I saw a report today on Babylon Bee....

Apparently under the Trump Administration, the number of genders has reached record 10-year low.

[sweetandsour]

From the "what am I listening to" thread: Trump's speech to Congress. I don't think he ever took one of those Dale Carnegie courses, how to win friends and influence enemies.

I'm speechless. He's laying it all out there.

[Del]

From the "what am I listening to" thread: Trump's speech to Congress. I don't think he ever took one of those Dale Carnegie courses, how to win friends and influence enemies.

I'm speechless. He's laying it all out there.

After they have failed to respond to all polite invitations to join with the forces of truth and justice and democracy....

Sometimes, the only way to influence those "enemies" is to expose them to mockery and public ridicule. It's not violent, and it's not law fare.

"Against the onslaught of laughter, nothing can stand." -- Mark Twain

[Del]

Babylon Bee:

REMINDER: It Is Offensive And Possibly Illegal To Photoshop Anything On These Democrats' Signs That Would Make Them Look Foolish

[Biff]

Babylon Bee:

REMINDER: It Is Offensive And Possibly Illegal To Photoshop Anything On These Democrats' Signs That Would Make Them Look Foolish

Why is Riff Raff front & center?

[Jocose]

Babylon Bee:

REMINDER: It Is Offensive And Possibly Illegal To Photoshop Anything On These Democrats' Signs That Would Make Them Look Foolish

Why is Riff Raff front & center?

He is?

[Biff]

Babylon Bee:

REMINDER: It Is Offensive And Possibly Illegal To Photoshop Anything On These Democrats' Signs That Would Make Them Look Foolish

Why is Riff Raff front & center?

He is?

Yes:

riffraff.png (124.55 KiB) Viewed 12118 times

[Wosbald]

+JMJ+

Title: Antisemitism in the Oval Office [Analysis, Opinion]
Source: Thinking About…
Link: snyder DOT substack DOT com/p/antisemitism-in-the-oval-office

The Money-Quotes:

It was all there, in the Oval Office, in the shouting and in the interruptions, in the noises and in the silences. A courageous man seen as Jewish had to be brought down. When he said things that were simply true he was shouted down and called a propagandist. There was no acknowledgement of Zelens'kyi's bravery in remaining in Kyiv. The Americans portrayed themselves as the real heroes because they provided some of the weapons. The suffering of Ukrainians went unmentioned. An attempt to refer to it was cruelly and falsely reduced to a "propaganda tours" led by Zelens'kyi. The Americans portrayed themselves as the real victims of the because they paid for some of the weapons. It was all, bizarrely, about money. There is this odd Trumpian notion, unique to Ukraine, that aid should be paid back as if it were a loan, with Trump himself just making up the amount owed. Zelens'kyi was portrayed as someone who was taking our cash, giving is nothing in return, ripping us off. He was also mocked for not knowing how to dress for the space, as not belonging. And his deference was demanded: "Have you said thank you once?" "Offer some words of appreciation." And then was thrown out of the White House. And told to resign his office as president of Ukraine.

[…]

To conclude that the scene in the White House was antisemitic, one does not need to know anything further. It's all right there: the demand for deference, the obsession with money, the claims of corruption and dishonesty, the encirclement, the loud voices, the bizarre grievances, the underlying sense that a Jewish person does not fit and must be expelled. The context was evocative enough, and nothing more is really needed: those historical markers of antisemitism; Zelens'kyi's Jewish origins; the particular way he was treated by non-Jews.

[…]

In writing about antisemitism, I am also making a political claim. The antisemite really believes that the Jew must defer, that the Jew cannot fight, that a state led by a Jew must duly crumble. This was one of Putin's mistakes, two years ago. And now, I suspect, it is also Trump's, and Musk's. America does have the power, of course, to hurt Ukraine. Just as Russia does. The combination of American and Russian policy is killing Ukrainians right now. The costs of the emerging Russian–American axis will be terrible for Ukraine. But Ukraine will not immediately collapse, nor will the Ukrainian population turn against Zelens'kyi. What he will personally do I couldn't say and won't try to predict: and that, of course, is my point.

In the world of the antisemite, all is known in advance: the Jew is just a deceiver, concerned only with money, subject to exclusion, intimidated by force. As soon as he is humiliated and eliminated, everything else will fall into its proper place. Consider the smirks in the Oval Office last Friday: the antisemite thinks that he has understood everything. But in the actual world in which we actually live, Jews are humans, perilous and beautiful like the rest of us. The United States has never elected a Jewish president, and perhaps never will. But Ukraine has; and that president represents his people, facing challenges that those who mock him will never understand. Those Americans have chosen to add their own to the evil he must confront. But that does not mean that they will control what happens next.

∗∗∗

Seems as if Zelensky is joining Soros in the pantheon of ciphers for "Globalists & other Shadowy Forces".

[FredS]

Not really sure Zelenskyy or Ukraine is Jewish and I'm not sure why that matters. Regardless, we (the US) have given them $3 billion and have committed even more, so if he/they are, we're hardly coming across as antisemitic. To the extent that we want Ukrainians (who evidently are Jewish) to stop dying - more than their leader does - we seem pretty pro Jew.

[Wosbald]

+JMJ+

Not really sure Zelenskyy or Ukraine is Jewish and I'm not sure why that matters. Regardless, we (the US) have given them $3 billion and have committed even more, so if he/they are, we're hardly coming across as antisemitic. To the extent that we want Ukrainians (who evidently are Jewish) to stop dying - more than their leader does - we seem pretty pro Jew.

Attitudes which suggest that one can buy one's way out of charges of Antisemitism are textbook examples of the problem.