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Your link is broken - for "who leapt at the early reports "

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A girl can dream…

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Great piece on the “jump the gun” declarations of terrorism.

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Quick thought on Santos: he could be lying, shouldn’t we find out? Remember why Cawthorn got drummed out? He was repugnant the entire time but once he spilled the tea on blow and orgies then they swing the sword.

Once An Accident, Twice A Coincidence, Three Times A Pattern.

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Appears to be more like Alice in Wonderland until you realize it’s a very old, thick and growing Swamp. Murky indeed.

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founding

I first heard the news of this crash from CBS.I like to get the news from many sources,CBS,NBC,CNN and Washington Post.I don't consider FOX to be news but just opinion.That said,everybody reported that it could be terrorism.I'm not sure this started from FOX as you stated, but I have no doubt that they would really run with it.Whenever a media outlet like CNN,NY Times or Washington Post get their stories wrong, they admit it,appologize for it and then take actions to correct it.When this happens at FOX,you get silence.This is par for the course for FOX just as it is for their leader Donald Trump."Birds of a feather flock together.

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You can say that again!

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As for Gaetz, I’m in line with the Republicans on this and wish them speedy success.

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"Anti-Israel students then created a group chat, according to a senior at the school quoted in the report. “Hundreds of kids” then “flooded into hallways,...chanting, jumping, shouting, and waving Palestinian flags or banners.”"

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As a country, we are doomed based on actions taken by some high school and college students, who apparently have nothing that they need to be studying to better themselves. IMO, these "protesters," especially at the high school level, have no real clue as to what they are actually condemning, they are just mindlessly parroting others.

At the high school level, the bovine scat being spread cannot be more than echoes of what they are seeing and hearing from either their parents (who deserve to be investigated by child protective services for abusing the mental health of their kids by teaching hate) or by teachers who *should* know better than to conflate a people -- Palestinians -- with a known terrorist organization -- Hamas, but don't care because to condemn Hamas violates progressive talking points of Israeli genocide and Ethnic Cleansing. (Maybe these "educators" should look up the definition of "genocide" and compare it to what the Israeli leadership is doing -- morally questionable at best but not genocide -- and the Hamas covenant that *specifically* calls for Palestine, and then the entire Middle East, to be made judenrein.) These so-called adults are doing nothing more than poisoning impressionable minds by their spewing of their hate. These teachers need to be sanctioned in some manner and the students involved should be suspended for disrupting classes (see below regarding consequences).

At the college level, the trend of so many professors moving further and further towards "progressivism," and their involvement in intimidating those they deem not progressive enough, needs to stop. While proclaiming their leftist beliefs they are showing themselves to be as illiberal as those who dwell in the MAGAverse. A primary function of colleges and universities is to encourage a healthy discussion on differences of opinions. Anyone, professor or student, who bucks the on-campus preferred ideology is either othered or ostracized, or self-censors to avoid conflict (especially professors who can and likely will be removed from the faculty for wrongthink). To make matters worse, administrators take no actions to prevent the activists from bullying those students who came to the school for an education and not to improve their CVs by being willing foot-soldiers for a cause. The students must be made aware that they will be held accountable for their actions, that there are consequences for what they do. If they don't learn this lesson now they will constantly be reminded by their future employers who don't take kindly to employee disruptions. (BTW, this complaint of professors who stray so far from the core purposes of college: education, preparing the students to live in the non-academic world and to open their minds to new ideas, applies to schools with a conservative lean also.)

fnord

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You are omitting Tic Tok et al as a source of information. Any one who has teenagers to talk to knows the role of the interned on young people. It is an unfair assumption to put the blame solely on teachers. I think teachers would love to have that much influence.

Another thought is that maybe you should be reassured that young people care enough about geopolitics to exercise their First Amendment rights and demonstrate and speechify. Not to be cynical but five years from now most of those students will have toned down their social activism as they realize there are other ways to spend their time that are more pressing, like getting educated and trained to get a job. Their politics might change but they will remember how to demonstrate for what they believe. I'm not defending their point of view. I'm just saying that if you disagree with them you have the same right to free speech. High school support of the Palestinian cause is not the end of the world as we know it. Give them room to figure some things out for themselves. Most of us do, eventually.

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I don't discount the effects of social media, including Tik Tok (a truly depressing statistic: 14% of all Americans get their news from Tik Tok, the breakdown numbers are even scarier, 32% of 18-29 year olds and 15% for those between 30 and 49 https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2023/11/15/more-americans-are-getting-news-on-tiktok-bucking-the-trend-seen-on-most-other-social-media-sites/) which I point out in my reply to TW Falcon below, but I will still place some of the blame on the teachers (not solely as you imply that I do).

As for "young people care enough about geopolitics to exercise their First Amendment rights and demonstrate and speechify[,]" if they care enough then it behooves them to have, at least, a minimal grasp of what they are protesting for. As I also said in my response to TW Falcon, there probably aren't even 15% of the high school protesters that understand that their repeating the slogan "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" calls for the total eradication of Israel and the extermination of Jews -- not Israelis, Jews only.

I don't deny that most of those students will "tone down" their SJW urges as they mature. In my case, my active protestations of the Vietnam war were tampered down when I graduated college and entered the workplace, and I expect that the same thing will occur with the high schoolers as they grow up. Let me add here that I also appreciate that these young adults take their 1A rights seriously, and I don't condemn them for exercising those rights. I firmly believe that you/they have the same rights as me, with the obvious exceptions of those rights that have an age minimum like voting, owning a firearm or drinking.

"High school support of the Palestinian cause is not the end of the world as we know it." This is true, but the students conflate the Palestinian cause with Hamas actions and there are apparently no adults in the room to disabuse them of this mix. They are being taught that the IDF is indiscriminatingly bombing Gaza and intentionally targeting Palestinian noncombatants, with little to no mention of Hamas doing that very thing: purposely aiming at Israeli citizens.

Let the high schoolers protest to their hearts' content, but someone needs to teach them that while all Hamas fighters are Palestinian not all Palestinians are Hamas affiliated. There is a difference between a people and a terrorist organization claiming to "protect" those people. The Palestinian cause is worthy of support while Hamas deserves nothing less than world-wide condemnation for its efforts to rid the world of "the Zionist entity," and its overwhelming desire to make Palestine, and then the entire Middle East, judenrein (but I'm not going to hold my breath waiting for the MSM around the world to point out this minor detail).

fnord

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founding
Nov 27, 2023·edited Nov 27, 2023

I think you are incorrect at blaming the teachers for this. There are reasons to believe it is social media that is driving it.

Particularly in the case Charlie cited where the students were acting against a teacher who was not defending or excusing Hamas but, on the contrary, had posted and demonstrated in support of Israel.

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It's very likely that social media contributes to the problem, but I think we both realize that it is way more complicated than the contributions of a single source or even multiple sources. I still contend that there are teachers at the high school level that add to the disharmony by their actions and speech -- intended or unintentional. My main gripe, though, is aimed at professors and administrators at the postsecondary level. When I attended college back in the dark ages the Vietnam war was at its height. My professors allowed some anti-war protesting in class (and outside-the-classroom protests were something to behold), and obviously some professors took part in the protests too, but all retained control of their classrooms; students did not call the shots like it appears to be happening these days. Yes, we did disrupt some classes, but most of us knew that there could be some serious fallout for our actions. I consider myself to be one of the lucky ones, I was a member of YAWF and graduated into the SDS, but I got away with it.

As for Mr Sykes' specific example of the high school teacher showing support for Israel, the other teachers and the administration showed a dereliction of their duties. The bedlam continued for two hours with minimal, if any, attempts to restore some sense of order and decorum. The students were allowed to spew out the hatred they must have been taught by their parents unabated. I can't believe that most of the student protesters actually understood the slogans they were shouting; I'd wager that fewer than 15% realized that they were promoting genocide when they repeated "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." They see Hamas as freedom fighters, not terrorists, because that is how the media -- including social media -- is portraying them: Hamas good, Israel bad. Young minds soak up everything, and if there are no adult voices disabusing them of their hate-filled rhetoric it will become ingrained and continue to be passed down to future generations.

Even young adults need to recognize that there can be repercussions (positive or negative) resulting from their actions.

fnord

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"Thank you, Sen. Joe McCarthy, for weighing in."

I'm not sure where I am branding anyone as a Communist, nor am I saying that the people I'm referring to should be blacklisted from any future pursuits within their chosen profession. Are you suggesting that the actions taken by the students should be ignored? Maybe that actions don't have *any* corresponding consequences, good or bad? Possibly that employers don't have a problem with disruptive employees? (Oh, wait... I know... an employee making enough waves to distract fellow workers from competently performing their jobs should get a promotion and a raise, yes?)

If anyone in real life can't grasp the fact that for every action there is an equal reaction (again, positive or negative), where do you think they'll end up? Someone at the postsecondary education level (almost always old enough to vote and carry a firearm, but not to drink) who doesn't understand this basic rule of life, that there are ramifications for what one does or says, will not survive in the world outside academia. Reality will devour these poor souls.

fnord

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Can you please be so kind as to point out where I call for blacklisting students? I don't see where I suggest that student protesters should be denied employment in their chosen field, like actors and writers were under McCarthy's Red Scare. Certainly there are employers who will not hire someone or rescind a job offer based on the student's actions, e.g. Ryna Workman, President of NYU's Student Bar Association, students at Columbia and Harvard and many other schools.

What I did say is that the student protesters are ignoring, or don't understand, potential problems based on their decidedly illiberal actions They can, and should, support Palestinians in general, but being Hamas apologists, rationalizing the cowardly assault on Israeli civilians as being justified by previous Israeli governmental bombings of Gaza, is a step too far for many. If they don't experience any pushback whatsoever for what they are doing, they will continue in the mistaken belief that they will not be held to account for future actions; ones that could cause irreparable harm to their employers.

fnord

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Nov 28, 2023·edited Nov 28, 2023

Please don't feed the troll. Trolls live in echo chambers and aren't really listening to your arguments: they're totally enchanted with their own eruptions, which aren't really connected with your views at all. You and your ideas deserve better.

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Thank you, Al, for your kind words and support.

fnord

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Thank you Charlie. Excellent post today.

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Our dear Leader of His Majesty's Loyal Opposition, Pierre Poilievre, Conservative Party of Canada, rose in the House of Commons that afternoon to demand to know what the Prime Minister was doing about this "terrorist" attack at the Rainbow Bridge. When a Canadian journalist confronted him later with the facts, Poilievre complained about left-wing media bias and doubled down on his previous bullshit. You guys don't have the monopoly on stupid.

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One would think that Mr. Poilievre would have bigger things to think about, if he read yesterday's Big Read in the Financial Times, "How Geopolitics Caught Up with Canada":

https://www.ft.com/content/b5d91bce-4e36-427a-8fbd-00764bfa3460

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Take that, R Mercer and all those looking to flee to Canada!

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Si les Anglo-Canadiens et les Américains sont si préoccupés par le terrorisme, que diriez-vous de mettre en lumière le traitement séculaire réservé aux Québécois par le gouvernement Canadien, membre du Commonwealth Britannique!

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Look for Fox News to plug George Santos into a prime-time evening slot. The man is a natural.

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George Santos was actually the host of The O'Reilly Factor for almost twenty years, and prior to that he played Jed Clampett on the Beverly Hillbillies.

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I beg to differ...he played Jed's nephew, Jethro Bodine.

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Na.He played Gilligan on Gilligan's Island

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Ginger

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founding

George Santos in drag.

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A common misconception.

He actually played all three characters using a (at the time) highly experimental video compositing process that he invented.

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founding

Another common misconception,he played all Characters on Beverly Hillbillies and Gilligan's Island.

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Slow News Night? No problem. With this man fiction is stranger than truth.

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I doubt Ru Paul would want him.

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Fact-check( and spell- check) Republicans!

This is an anti-Biden sentiment. They are trying to prove our borders

are unsafe. If you listen to them, expect a terrorist under every bed.Well then, another war should maybe be started?!

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A lot "had nots' for an unfortunate car crash.

Thanks

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And now with a FOX New & Entertainment update concerning the fiery Bentley crash on the Rainbow Bridge border crossing:

"Had Joe Biden not talked the Canadian government into holding back on its infrastructure remedies for installation of new safety barriers on their side of the bridge, the couple would not have lost their lives. Another sad day on Biden's watch --- more lives lost!

And this just in...Had not Joe Biden ridiculed Bentley Motors that his Chevrolet Corvette's off-the-line speed could easily whip the Bentley Silver Spur, the KISS-loving couple would be alive today."

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The song Detroit Rock City come to life.

Talk about life imitating art....

Twelve o'clock, I gotta rock

There's a truck ahead, lights staring at my eyes

Oh my God, no time to turn

I got to laugh 'cause I know I'm gonna die

Why?

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founding

I'll give you props for the lyrics...

...but this is not suicide----

Wait...what do we call MAGAs who are so enthusiastic to run into headlights (voting for the Wannbe Authoritarian) and they will laugh for 4-years of Trumparianism.

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Oh, Kari.... The first line of that tweet! "Dr. Freud... Paging Dr. Freud..."

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Forget about HAL. It's FOX. AI* Artificial Information....

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Surely you mean "Artificial Idiocy".

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In retrospect, you have a point. Nothing artifical over at FOX. Take Jessie Watters. Authentically Inbred to be sure...

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Another great piece from you, Charlie, one that I will share. I agree with you 98.8% of the time (I didn't agree with your take on withdrawing from Afghanistan, for instance), but there is one thing in this piece on which I would pump the brakes a bit, namely Heaton's tweet. After reciting a litany of generalizations, which I suppose is unavoidable in a tweet that is supposed to prompt discussion, she calls people whose views are different from hers regarding Hamas and Israel "brainwashed" and refraining from uttering the same condemnations that she does "afraid." That doesn't sound like someone who really wants to hear and process different perspectives on the matter.

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Or has already heard all the anti-Semitic "perspectives" that she feels she needs to understand where they're coming from.

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Not all criticism of Israel derives from anti-semitism. What happened to the anti-colonial impulse that animates many on the left? Is it somehow ruled out that anyone can find a problem of that sort in the Israeli project?

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For intellectually honest, informed people yes, I think so: https://quillette.com/2023/10/21/its-not-the-occupation/

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