…don’t know about you lot…but I’m…well, reeling a little would probably not be too far off…so…I know I’ve been throwing a lot of clips of this guy into the mix of late…to the point that I could see how it might suggest I think anyone & everyone ought to listen to him & his takes…&…that’d probably be an overstatement…if you asked me, anyway…but then I come from “a people” for whom understatement is somewhat of a birthright…so I figure I get dibs on that part…I mention this because if you peck around to find out who he is & what his mama called him & whatever else…some of the whatever else is…in some grey areas where you kind of have to pick whose version you think is true & inherit their judgements as to how nice a chap he might be…it’s a whole conversation & I forget where I saw him write up his side of it so I don’t propose to open that can of worms…but I bring it up because…well…I think a good bit of what I’ve watched of those clips takes a measured tone I find mostly to have been lacking in a lot of what I’ve seen & read & listened to…& I figured a little more of that couldn’t hurt
…that would be the other thing, I guess…I find it pretty much endlessly interesting to read & discuss current events…& do so largely in the abstract…in several senses, even…sometimes…because in large part that’s where my interest(s) lie(s)…&…I do think that happens to be a worthwhile thing…but…if I take something like this
US has seen increase in domestic threats since Hamas attacks in Israel, FBI says [Guardian]
…& then scatter droppings from something like this
What It Would Mean to Treat Hamas Like ISIS [NYT]
…&…I’m not saying david french doesn’t know what he’s talking about…he almost certainly knows more than me about a host of pertinent things…which I’d assume is what makes much of that piece of his sound pretty solid when it talks in fairly stark terms about a thing that look like it’s looking more likely than not will happen…& in something very much resembling the way he describes that sort of thing going…even if I can’t honestly say that the ease with which he dispatches with the possibility that only one side wouldn’t…absurd as they sound when we talk about war…follow the rules…or, indeed…follow the meaning of the rules when you look at the way the military write those…which…might be…something I’m not as sanguine about as he appears to be, shall we say?
…so…I was going to fill up the bulk of my block-quote oversupply from this well today…but…well…this here is a thing I can no longer truthfully lay claim to being unaware of…so my conception of “fair use” took suddenly to its deathbed with a mysterious malady…since this bit right here?
3. Quoting me in your own articles, blog posts, and social commentary:
Again, the basic rules of Common Usage apply:
- You don’t need my permission to quote me
- Quotes should be short, no more than a paragraph
- You must quote me verbatim. In context would be nice too, just saying.
- Proper attribution is required, though you don’t actually have to include a link to Stonekettle Station.
…kinda suggests to me that per something elsewhere on that page it means I owe jim an email I didn’t know to send over a post or two somewhere over the years that by his lights I missed my chance to send before it was too late & he’d likely be mad at me if he ever stumbled over those…so I hope he won’t begrudge me another paragraph out of that in a good cause…because…you see…I wouldn’t want to make jim mad…not even by calling him jim without checking that was okay & I shouldn’t be going with mr stonekettle
If you repost my material without my express permission or without giving me credit, then you are stealing from me and I will take the appropriate legal action to get my property back along with as much of your money as the courts will allow.
If you alter my material in such a manner that it appears to support political, intellectual, social, commercial, or religious positions that I did not intend or endorse, I’ll sue your ass into the poor house, so don’t do it.
I have standing agreements about republishing my stuff with certain websites. They are exempt from certain portions of this rule, they know who they are. Do not assume you are one of them.
…problem being…I seem to be a serial offender…since I couldn’t so much as narrow that quote to a single short paragraph & have it say what I wanted it to for this to read like it halfway makes sense…let alone get across what I was trying to have it be part of me saying…& that already sounds like it risks accidentally misreading some part of it badly enough to tip into misrepresenting it inadvertantly or looking like I’m trying to co-opt his words in order to make a point of my own there’s a risk he wouldn’t thank me for associating him with…like now when I circle back to insert the part where in addition to the wrath of jim wright…which is plenty scary enough for me…there’s more…to wit
running afoul of my huge pointy-toothed wolverine-like legal department.
…so instead of that…here’s a link coming up to a post of his I would have littered this one with bits of…& I hope you’ll read because I hope it gives you a similar sense to the one it does me that there might hopefully still be people like these gentlemen serving in various places…because they sound like them & sassoon could have been friends if…to quote one of those jun tzu tracks…the people of the world spent a little less time “picking fights” & more “buying beer”…or in parlance that might be more akin to @luigi-vuoto ‘s chosen path…with a lot less slapfights & more “pushing hands“
…so…maybe pop off & have a read of this
https://www.stonekettle.com/2023/10/sides.html
…that way he won’t get mad at me but I still get to sort of talk about it in lieu of talking about this sort of thing
…or this
…or this
…let alone get started on the likes of this
‘A dangerous game’: Republican chaos and indecision as crises shake the world [Guardian]
Supreme Court to Hear Another Broad Challenge to Agency Power [NYT]
Russia targets lawyers for imprisoned opposition leader Navalny [WaPo]
Behind a Senator’s Indictments, a Foreign Spy Service Works Washington [NYT]
The Secrets Hamas Knew About Israel’s Military [NYT]
…on account of how the potential to start sounding off in ways that might accidentally imply I know what the fuck I’m talking about enough to line myself up to trip & fall as painfully as that first clip from fifth column talks about is higher than I’m willing to risk just at the minute…& I think maybe another of his explains the why of that better than I would & all…so here’s that one & then I’ll start thinking about nicer sounding stuff?
…they’re in french…blame @farscythe
[…my french is a little rusty & my command of idiom is decades out of date…but genius really do do pretty good work if anyone’s interested?]
no major war crimes happened yet
woo!
but yeah….in a sane world…that fucking worry wouldnt be a thing
i could do with some nice young men in clean white coats
…as I said to someone just the other day…feels like bill might have been a dangerously vote splitting 3rd party independent these days
…& there’s even songs on the full rant in e-minor
…but…yeah…might all be on the one page of the hymn book, there?
i vote for praise uppu
his pinchiness has an eye on all of us
you know…..i wasnt expecting to spend an hour and a bit of my day listening to bill hicks today……but here i am…..nearing the end…and thinking…well…the mans not wrong
whoop whoop!
no party lasts forever
On the light/silly side, to go *with* your Crab rave, I’ll add the two things it *immediately* made me think of😉💖
And on your point, ’bout how “getting rid of the Taliban” went for us US-type Americans, there’s this honest bit of wisdom, that *apparently* no one but us Gen-Xers, and a few folks to either side of our generation ever *truly* groked;
I wish it were as simple to be friends but as well all know that people don’t/can’t/won’t always get along let alone in couples/families/teams/gangs/nations/alliances. It’s just people are people and a number of us are assholes or in a few cases, misunderstood.
The saddest thing in this world of ours is we’re too reactive. It is the fault of our damn brains. For every connection to the fore brain (the logical centers), we have 3 going to the amygdala… aka the lizard brain aka the ID. This is why we respond to patriotism and propaganda so well and act with violence/fear/without reason or sanity.
It takes a lot of effort to stop the ID (that’s what I’m going to call it cause I’m lazy) from doing what it does (flee or fight). Many of us can’t/won’t do that. That’s what the ID does and it worked well for us as hairless apes on the African savanna, but it’s not what we need now.
I can think of a number of times that would have gone horribly for me if I let my ID run amok. Violence, emotional cruelty, sadism. And that’s just family! Forget the odd supervisor, manager or coworker. Or the Former Housemate/friend. Or even the Cokehead Narcissist.
I was fortunate to have cooler heads (not mine) prevail and guide me off the precipice of insanity/inanity/violence.
This week I watched a number of managers/senior workers get let go this week. Many I’m sad to see go because they were good people. The few remaining… I had issues with them… some were personal and others intellectual because of the stupid things they proposed that would have made the lives of my coworkers and I more miserable. I could have laughed like a howler monkey at the misfortune of those I disliked, but I didn’t (hey I can show some class… sometimes.)
The common thread among those folks I disliked was they were all bullies. They behaved the way they do because they’re afraid of what they’re lacking and they react poorly to those they recognize who have “it.” That’s why they belittled good capable people and pushed less willful people around. It’s also why they pushed stupid things because they weren’t willing/capable to accept that their ideas needed tuning or ditching. This is why no one will ever miss them or the things they did.
It’s unfortunately part of the human condition to react the way we do.
I also know that most of these bullies won’t ever hold the positions they had at work (or if they do, they won’t last long in many companies.) Most were promoted way over their heads. Some were picked because they were the perfect pricks to keep the labor force down.
I understand what they are going to go through and I can’t gloat even when I want to. It was tough enough to find a job that paid me enough to get out of the debts I incurred trying to stay alive during 18 months of unemployment. I was tough enough to survive (sort of) but people this emotionally brittle… jesus, may the lord have mercy on them. They have to live with themselves… I don’t.
The one hope I have is that these bullies gain a bit of perspective (doubtful.)
incidentally….as we are all being cheerful over here
we has a new bakhmut
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-pummels-east-ukrainian-town-avdiivka-heavy-fighting-2023-10-13/
This has always been my fear from the start…
https://www.vice.com/en/article/7kx7gq/israel-gaza-ground-invasion-next-stage-is-coming
Spoke to my daughter today and she said that yesterday was super crazy in London, she didn’t know what was going on. Many “tubes” were not running & crowds were everywhere. This was a big part of it…
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-67110119
*sigh*
i’m pro palestine
fuck hamas and the current israeli gubment
but i stand with palestine….
seems for the moment behind closed doors talks are delaying the mass murder of innocents in the name of killing terrorists….
hopefully that delay becomes a cancelling
but you know…..if in doubt israel should look to the us of a
20 fucking years and how talibanless are we now?
…pretty sure I said something not too far off that last bit just the other day?
[ETA https://deadsplinter.com/jokes-on-who-dot-12-10-23/#comment-121397]
seems you did lol
to be fair….it takes me a while to process what you write :p
your english is way beyond what we get taught in england…….i was gonna make a cheap joke about what we get taught in the netherlands……but tbh…..i think its on par
…it was late in the day, as these things go…you reminded me, was all
…& to be honest I’m more than content that anyone might be reading me wittering on…so…you know…in your own time & suchlike?
…as for the english…I read a lot?
…don’t rightly know which is the chicken & which is the egg, there…but it feels like that’s arguably more of what brings that on than the schools…if my contemporaries are a guide, any road…I guess it’s sort of like my version of sudoku or whatever we’re supposed to do now to forestall dementia?
it wasnt a complaint mate
you have a mastery of the language i can not match
thats just fact
is what is
you write beautifully
…I’m about the color of that avatar pic of yours now…but thank you…I take that as high praise given my own estimate of your ability to turn a phrase
…words was had…& some of us are of fewer than others…always did get told it was smarter to listen than talk, anyway…so I’m pretty much a dumbass by some standards?
Speaking of that whole “liking to read” thing–and knowing that you, *too* are a bit of a…hedonist(?😉🤣💖) about
cramming*filling* one’s brain with as much information & knowledge as possible about the world around us… particularly if that fulfillment comes in the *written* form**…I can’t *help,* but think back to an article I can’t seem to find… because I can’t recall quite *which* magazine i read it in–Glamour, Ms., Cosmo, Mademoiselle??? It seems to be lost in the ether–or at least the ethernet *somewhere*…
But if I recall *correctly,* it was published in the late 90’s, or early 00’s, and it was about what life was like, for young people of the late Gen-X cohort, who were living on either side of the line/the checkpoints in Isreal & Palestine.
How *to a person*–no matter which side they grew up on, Jewish or Muslim, they ALL wanted PEACE, but they *also* felt… basically trapped, by the politics & fighting/power struggles of the older folks in power, who actually *controlled* everything.
This article runs similarly parallel;
https://msmagazine.com/2012/08/27/israeli-and-palestinian-women-defy-checkpoints-to-socialize/
although it’s *not* the one I was thinking of–nor is it *quite* as old.
The whole damn *THING* is a mess. As an American, it feels as futile as the old battles between the Hartfields & McCoys–and from what I’ve been reading/hearing for the last *at least* half-decade or so, i can’t *help* but think/wonder, exactly *how* much of this whole damn mess, has to do with Bibi being a right-wing asshole for *decades,* and him also *now* being one, who wants to avoid those corruption trials by any & *every* means possible.🙃
The man’s been holding on to power by a *thread* for YEARS now, baaaaarely made it BACK into power–then set about *overturning* the power of the Israeli Supreme Court, ASAP once he *had* his position back.
With the rumors that they *sat* on the information for three days after they were warned, the fact that *other* Israelis are now calling out Bibi and the rest of the leaders for ineptitude, cronyism, & corruption, and that the *general* Israeli population is *STILL* incredibly frustrated, over the *WHOLE* “overturning the power of the Courts” thing?
It feels like the Palestinian *citizens* and the Israeli *citizens* are stuck in the middle of a bunch of powerful asshats, who are too damn caught up in their OWN damn greed & egos, and who are playing “Chicken” with each other, while racing top-of-the-line sports cars, down a dusty washboard-gravel road (where there *IS* no traction to avoid the inevitable spinouts & crashes!🙃).
It’s just a frickin’ MESS, and too damn many innocents on both sides will suffer for the egos of the asshats in power in both countries.
(**Rip, my friend, I think you are one of probably only about two or three people I’ve *ever* “met,” who I think might honestly like words, lit, and language even *more* than *I* do–and THAT is impressive!😉😁🤗💖💫💝)