I taught college political science courses for 43 years, and I've lost all faith in the "mainstream media" and their coverage of American government, and especially of U.S. foreign policy. Has no one at CNN, the New York Times, the Washington Post or the major TV networks learned anything from the Vietnam War, the invasion of Iraq or the continuing violence in the Middle East? Thank goodness for the insightful coverage of commentators like Jack Mirkinson. Dana Bash is only the latest talking head to mindlessly parrot the lies and biased talking points of the national security state. If, God forbid, President Biden loses the election in November, it will be because he insists on carrying his 20th-Century Cold War mentality into the 2020s. And no one in the mainstream media is doing anything to warn him about the impending catastrophe.
Remember, Biden fell hook, line and sinker for the beheaded babies lie and repeated it in a national speech. The power of propaganda to steer government policy is staggering. In this case, the amount of money and military weaponry unconditionally being given to Israel by the Biden administration is outrageous and unless Biden snaps out of it, it's going to cost him, and us, dearly in November.
He's said it more than once, even after the WH supposedly walked his original comment back. That's the kicker. He's saying it on purpose. There is nothing for him to snap out of--this is it.
He will lose. Ever notice how the wealthy are rarely worried about fascism? They see no slot for themselves in the Niemöller progression. They will be looking the other way when the pike parade finds them, and if Donny DrillDrillDrill gets in that will come about, because the kids are the only ones with skin in the climate crisis game; the rest of us will cash in whatever chips we have and climb onto our WALL-E people deck chairs - the ones salvaged from the Titanic.
FWIW, eric adams needs to be reminded that ANYONE protesting genocide, if their so called country is signatory to the UN Convention on Genocide then those citizens are doing what the convention requires: taking action to prevent. Anyone not doing so is complicit.
Finally, couldn’t resist this observation: as I regard Dana Bash’s literally chiselled (ok, scalpeled) face, I realized that even though her makeup is wrong, you can’t miss The Joker’s gash of a grin.
2+2=5, we’ve always been at war with Eurasia, the fascist beatings will continue until morale improves. Etc. We know this song and dance and it’s not working and they’re increasingly desperate. They’re emptying the cupboard trying every dirty trick they can. Outside agitators! Invoking the Holocaust! Antisemitism is at an all time high! Israel is the middle east’s only democracy! But what about the hostages?!? Don’t believe your lying eyes and ears those ‘clashes’ were actually both sides fighting and not state-permitted violence by one side! And on and on and on. Hence why you have disgusting screeds like the type covered here, because it’s all they have left. To crib a legal aphorism, they can’t bang on the law, they can’t bang on the facts, so all that’s left to do is to bang on the table because they’ve got nothing left.
The antisemitism part is what enrages me the most though. It’s true, this Jew has never felt less safe in this country. But not because of anything the Palestinian protesters are doing (because they’re right and courageous and brave and so obviously on the right side of history) but because of the bloodthirsty and psychotic zionists and their cronies and bad faith allies who are all gleefully utilizing the brutal mechanisms of the police state in an effort to quash those who voice dissent. That the zionists don’t understand that those same tools will one day be used against them (or ‘us’ meaning Jews writ large) when the inevitable backlash comes around is terrifying.
Well said friend, yes it is terrifying. The ongoing destruction of Gazza demonstrates how the coming wars will be, like the old wars on steroids with a side helping of genocidal intent.
Take your pick amongst boomers, libs, centrists who stan Joe Biden, zionists, anyone really who is trying to in any way cast doubt on the validity and rightness of the Palestinian protesters. But given the subject of this blog and the fact they ran the same playbook post 9/11 for the invasion of Iraq and before that during the civil rights era, the “they” I’m primarily referring to is the ‘liberal’ media like CNN, NYT, etc.
I'm a "boomer," you ignoramus. Watch your mouth. I spent years as an activist for the Palestinians, even living in the middle east.
The US government, and its news media, always defends its position of defending the powerful. There is no such thing as a "liberal" news media because it almost always leans to the right.
Congrats on being part of the most destructive generation in modern history. When you’ve all shuffled off this mortal coil the rest of us will be left picking up the pieces on the broken cinder of a planet we inherited thanks to your generation’s unheralded greed and avarice.
You always write what I want to before me! What time do you even get up in the morning? But seriously, so shameful. And, did you catch the CNN segment that called the wife of Sami Al-Arian a "wife of a terrorist?" Their daughters, Lama and Laila, brilliant journalists both, I don't even know how they deal with something like that.
Dana Bash sucks. Her family history is a genuine tragedy, but she wields it like a cudgel while being a nepo baby (her dad produced Good Morning America), marrying the CIA and DOD chief of staff, then going on to be a nepo wife (married John King, who gave her "Inside Politics" when he left). I wouldn't expect any more from a woman who married, might I repeat, the CIA and DOD chief of staff.
Also, she talks big, but when she became a trustee of Jewish Women International, she came under scrutiny for the organization's pro-choice stance. After conservative blogs pointed out this stance, she immediately resigned. She was a major supporter of JWI because of its zionism, but the second it was pointed out that they're pro-choice, she was out of there.
She pays lip service to understanding anti-zionism is not anti-semitism at certain points in her history, but that's all it is--lip service. I do genuinely think she's terrified of a variety of things and has gone kind of off the rails because of that fear. It's not an excuse (and made even worse by her position as a rich white woman), but I do think the failure comes down to two things: her and her beliefs AND the network for allowing this terrible, terrible journalism to air.
I would say something along the lines of Eric Adams needing to crawl into a soundproofed hole and never emerge, but given the recent history of New York mayors, I'm genuinely frightened of who might replace him.
Same here. I find it nauseating. Wolf Blitzer alone had made me almost throw a ceramic vase through my TV. I don't watch TV news at all anymore. I also canceled my subscriptions to the NYT and WaPo.
At least let's get daily marches around Union Square in NYC and a march on the DC mall. People don't like seeing genocide. And Joe's response today makes me wonder if he's intentionally throwing this election.
Leaving aside whether or not this is genocide vs urban warfare against fanatics willing to sacrifice their own civilians, the left's success with violence in 2020, coupled with the authorities not being complicit in the narrative this time around, assures we'll have riots again. The pro-Hamas support may appear wide, its certainly loud, but I doubt its more than an inch deep.
It actually IS deep. Democrats under 40 put adjusting the US-Israeli policy high on their list of priorities. Somewhere in-between health care, the environmental catastrophe and the housing crisis. Right now, young Democrats are sounding a lot like Sinn Finn MPs in Dublin in that they are proclaiming that we can't be a society that says it values human rights unless we address the truly awful actions of the US and Israel this century. Nothing pro-Hamas about it.
Maybe time will tell, but so far this "movement" seems to be limited to a highly privileged few with time on their hands, and the looming prospect of joining the ranks of the excess elite. Shallowness extends to shallowness of thought as well. None seem to know, or care, about any of the history prior to late last October, nor what would be the plan for the day after any ceasefire. The 17th cease fire since 2006 I believe. All violated by guess who.
You say there's nothing pro-Hamas about it. I wish you were right, and I'm sure there are some chanting for unconditional peace. But not many. Listen to what the rest are saying. They're not even being coy.
Honestly, one can't help but think this is as much about those snappy scarfs they get to cosplay in as anything else. After all they're far more fetching than a N95 mask.
I wasn't going to engage any further, but I looked at your bio. Are you serious? You are old enough to know that some of what you wrote above was used against Vietnam War protesters (and totally discredited) and yet you are using similar talking points in 2024.
You subscribe to this blog (thanks!) and yet you disagree with the journalists who run it. They have written on multiple occasions that:
1 The Palestinian flag is not a swastika
2. Those Six Words are not a call for the destruction of Israel.
3. The tents on campus are not Kristallnacht. While Charlottesville was an attempt to pull off a Kristallnacht in 2017.
4. No one has been shown to prevent a student from entering a building, Jewish or no.
5. A couple of protesters have been shown yelling "I Am Hamas." Not something I would say, because it is inflammatory. But anyone who thinks that's an honest chant of allegiance to a confirmed terror organization is a fool. The FBI and NSA heard it. The phrase is meant to offend. It means "I'm Brown. I LOOK LIKE a Palestinian. And since Israel is bombing all of Gaza, a ghetto full of fanatics willing to sacrifice their own, as you put it, Israel is counting all the dead as....wait for it.....HAMAS! Saying I Am Hamas means I'm Brown. Bomb ME you bastards.
And how did the US count Vietcong dead? Oh, they counted all the dead as VC.
History, son. You either pretend not to know it or you really don't know it.
I taught college political science courses for 43 years, and I've lost all faith in the "mainstream media" and their coverage of American government, and especially of U.S. foreign policy. Has no one at CNN, the New York Times, the Washington Post or the major TV networks learned anything from the Vietnam War, the invasion of Iraq or the continuing violence in the Middle East? Thank goodness for the insightful coverage of commentators like Jack Mirkinson. Dana Bash is only the latest talking head to mindlessly parrot the lies and biased talking points of the national security state. If, God forbid, President Biden loses the election in November, it will be because he insists on carrying his 20th-Century Cold War mentality into the 2020s. And no one in the mainstream media is doing anything to warn him about the impending catastrophe.
Remember, Biden fell hook, line and sinker for the beheaded babies lie and repeated it in a national speech. The power of propaganda to steer government policy is staggering. In this case, the amount of money and military weaponry unconditionally being given to Israel by the Biden administration is outrageous and unless Biden snaps out of it, it's going to cost him, and us, dearly in November.
He's said it more than once, even after the WH supposedly walked his original comment back. That's the kicker. He's saying it on purpose. There is nothing for him to snap out of--this is it.
He will lose. Ever notice how the wealthy are rarely worried about fascism? They see no slot for themselves in the Niemöller progression. They will be looking the other way when the pike parade finds them, and if Donny DrillDrillDrill gets in that will come about, because the kids are the only ones with skin in the climate crisis game; the rest of us will cash in whatever chips we have and climb onto our WALL-E people deck chairs - the ones salvaged from the Titanic.
FWIW, eric adams needs to be reminded that ANYONE protesting genocide, if their so called country is signatory to the UN Convention on Genocide then those citizens are doing what the convention requires: taking action to prevent. Anyone not doing so is complicit.
Finally, couldn’t resist this observation: as I regard Dana Bash’s literally chiselled (ok, scalpeled) face, I realized that even though her makeup is wrong, you can’t miss The Joker’s gash of a grin.
We see you, Dana.
2+2=5, we’ve always been at war with Eurasia, the fascist beatings will continue until morale improves. Etc. We know this song and dance and it’s not working and they’re increasingly desperate. They’re emptying the cupboard trying every dirty trick they can. Outside agitators! Invoking the Holocaust! Antisemitism is at an all time high! Israel is the middle east’s only democracy! But what about the hostages?!? Don’t believe your lying eyes and ears those ‘clashes’ were actually both sides fighting and not state-permitted violence by one side! And on and on and on. Hence why you have disgusting screeds like the type covered here, because it’s all they have left. To crib a legal aphorism, they can’t bang on the law, they can’t bang on the facts, so all that’s left to do is to bang on the table because they’ve got nothing left.
The antisemitism part is what enrages me the most though. It’s true, this Jew has never felt less safe in this country. But not because of anything the Palestinian protesters are doing (because they’re right and courageous and brave and so obviously on the right side of history) but because of the bloodthirsty and psychotic zionists and their cronies and bad faith allies who are all gleefully utilizing the brutal mechanisms of the police state in an effort to quash those who voice dissent. That the zionists don’t understand that those same tools will one day be used against them (or ‘us’ meaning Jews writ large) when the inevitable backlash comes around is terrifying.
Well said friend, yes it is terrifying. The ongoing destruction of Gazza demonstrates how the coming wars will be, like the old wars on steroids with a side helping of genocidal intent.
Who, exactly, is "they"?
Take your pick amongst boomers, libs, centrists who stan Joe Biden, zionists, anyone really who is trying to in any way cast doubt on the validity and rightness of the Palestinian protesters. But given the subject of this blog and the fact they ran the same playbook post 9/11 for the invasion of Iraq and before that during the civil rights era, the “they” I’m primarily referring to is the ‘liberal’ media like CNN, NYT, etc.
I'm a "boomer," you ignoramus. Watch your mouth. I spent years as an activist for the Palestinians, even living in the middle east.
The US government, and its news media, always defends its position of defending the powerful. There is no such thing as a "liberal" news media because it almost always leans to the right.
Congrats on being part of the most destructive generation in modern history. When you’ve all shuffled off this mortal coil the rest of us will be left picking up the pieces on the broken cinder of a planet we inherited thanks to your generation’s unheralded greed and avarice.
For those who don't whine and blame, read this:
https://www.karenmccullough.com/understanding-boomers-contribution/
I have no problem being a baby boomer.
Wow, you're an immature idiot. Who knew?
Blocked. You're bonkers, and an illiterate antisemite.
The depressing thing is, it’ll work 100% as intended. Americans are not bright, and CNN’s audience will likely accept this as factual reporting.
On CNN’s audience sure. But thankfully that’s an increasingly small audience. Young people aren’t buying this false bill of goods.
Why did you find it necessary to insult the intelligence of the American author of this bit, Jack Mirkinson?
America is in a pretty fucking grim place right now.
You always write what I want to before me! What time do you even get up in the morning? But seriously, so shameful. And, did you catch the CNN segment that called the wife of Sami Al-Arian a "wife of a terrorist?" Their daughters, Lama and Laila, brilliant journalists both, I don't even know how they deal with something like that.
Dana Bash sucks. Her family history is a genuine tragedy, but she wields it like a cudgel while being a nepo baby (her dad produced Good Morning America), marrying the CIA and DOD chief of staff, then going on to be a nepo wife (married John King, who gave her "Inside Politics" when he left). I wouldn't expect any more from a woman who married, might I repeat, the CIA and DOD chief of staff.
Also, she talks big, but when she became a trustee of Jewish Women International, she came under scrutiny for the organization's pro-choice stance. After conservative blogs pointed out this stance, she immediately resigned. She was a major supporter of JWI because of its zionism, but the second it was pointed out that they're pro-choice, she was out of there.
She pays lip service to understanding anti-zionism is not anti-semitism at certain points in her history, but that's all it is--lip service. I do genuinely think she's terrified of a variety of things and has gone kind of off the rails because of that fear. It's not an excuse (and made even worse by her position as a rich white woman), but I do think the failure comes down to two things: her and her beliefs AND the network for allowing this terrible, terrible journalism to air.
I would say something along the lines of Eric Adams needing to crawl into a soundproofed hole and never emerge, but given the recent history of New York mayors, I'm genuinely frightened of who might replace him.
Also depressing: no one wants to run for the job! Abolish the office I say!
I got off the cable news train in 2020 so every time I briefly check in I feel like I have a concussion. Just straight up propaganda!
Same here. I find it nauseating. Wolf Blitzer alone had made me almost throw a ceramic vase through my TV. I don't watch TV news at all anymore. I also canceled my subscriptions to the NYT and WaPo.
I see one way to remedy this. Make this a summer of big, peaceful public protests.
[proceeds to play People In The Streets by MGMT]
Fat chance, but good thought. I'm thinking it'll be more like another 2020 "Summer of Love".
At least let's get daily marches around Union Square in NYC and a march on the DC mall. People don't like seeing genocide. And Joe's response today makes me wonder if he's intentionally throwing this election.
He sounded like an old Richard Nixon tape. Biden's views were formed in that era.
Leaving aside whether or not this is genocide vs urban warfare against fanatics willing to sacrifice their own civilians, the left's success with violence in 2020, coupled with the authorities not being complicit in the narrative this time around, assures we'll have riots again. The pro-Hamas support may appear wide, its certainly loud, but I doubt its more than an inch deep.
It actually IS deep. Democrats under 40 put adjusting the US-Israeli policy high on their list of priorities. Somewhere in-between health care, the environmental catastrophe and the housing crisis. Right now, young Democrats are sounding a lot like Sinn Finn MPs in Dublin in that they are proclaiming that we can't be a society that says it values human rights unless we address the truly awful actions of the US and Israel this century. Nothing pro-Hamas about it.
Maybe time will tell, but so far this "movement" seems to be limited to a highly privileged few with time on their hands, and the looming prospect of joining the ranks of the excess elite. Shallowness extends to shallowness of thought as well. None seem to know, or care, about any of the history prior to late last October, nor what would be the plan for the day after any ceasefire. The 17th cease fire since 2006 I believe. All violated by guess who.
You say there's nothing pro-Hamas about it. I wish you were right, and I'm sure there are some chanting for unconditional peace. But not many. Listen to what the rest are saying. They're not even being coy.
Honestly, one can't help but think this is as much about those snappy scarfs they get to cosplay in as anything else. After all they're far more fetching than a N95 mask.
I wasn't going to engage any further, but I looked at your bio. Are you serious? You are old enough to know that some of what you wrote above was used against Vietnam War protesters (and totally discredited) and yet you are using similar talking points in 2024.
You subscribe to this blog (thanks!) and yet you disagree with the journalists who run it. They have written on multiple occasions that:
1 The Palestinian flag is not a swastika
2. Those Six Words are not a call for the destruction of Israel.
3. The tents on campus are not Kristallnacht. While Charlottesville was an attempt to pull off a Kristallnacht in 2017.
4. No one has been shown to prevent a student from entering a building, Jewish or no.
5. A couple of protesters have been shown yelling "I Am Hamas." Not something I would say, because it is inflammatory. But anyone who thinks that's an honest chant of allegiance to a confirmed terror organization is a fool. The FBI and NSA heard it. The phrase is meant to offend. It means "I'm Brown. I LOOK LIKE a Palestinian. And since Israel is bombing all of Gaza, a ghetto full of fanatics willing to sacrifice their own, as you put it, Israel is counting all the dead as....wait for it.....HAMAS! Saying I Am Hamas means I'm Brown. Bomb ME you bastards.
And how did the US count Vietcong dead? Oh, they counted all the dead as VC.
History, son. You either pretend not to know it or you really don't know it.
Your dedication to making the world a better place ranks right up there alongside the top most humanitarian people on the planet.
Israel has been a terrorist state for 75 years. The pro Israel protesters were the violent ones. Dana must have missed that🙄
"missed"
The shamelessness is amazing
so much wrong going on on MSM BS...propaganda
Grateful for your efforts to memorialize the counter-record… AKA the truth
And this was even before she was part of the derelict duo who ran the Trump-Biden debate.
Well, at least they’re not being hung like in Iran.
Western simps, cheerleading for these clowns.
So hope you get to live under them someday.
You can kiss your post-modern nihilism right goodbye.
Sorry- a syerotypical airbhead.