lennybird

lennybird , 4 days ago

Middle man supply chain injection. I’d be surprised if ceo knows anything.

lennybird , 5 days ago (edited 5 days ago)

Mehdi Hasan: And he’s a war criminal who should be on trial?

Jill Stein: Well, by implication.

Mehdi Hasan: You’re struggling here to say something very simple. This is why people have their doubts about you with Russia. Why is Benjamin Netanyahu a war criminal but not Vladimir Putin?

Jill Stein: Well, as John F. Kennedy said, “We must not negotiate out of fear and we must not fear to negotiate.” So if you want to be an effective world leader, you don’t start by name calling and hurling out that.

Mehdi Hasan: So how will President Stein negotiate with Israel then, if you’ve called Netanyahu a war criminal?

Jill Stein: Well, because he very clearly is a war criminal.

Mehdi Hasan: Oh, so Putin clearly isn’t a war criminal?

Jill Stein: Well, we don’t have a decision, put it this way, by the International Criminal Court.

Mehdi Hasan: Yes, we do. Yes, actually, actually, you’re wrong. There’s an arrest warrant for Putin and there isn’t an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, so why is Putin not a war criminal, but Netanyahu is?

Anyone remotely supporting Stein is either as ignorant as she is (claimed there were 600 members of Congress LOL), or drinking Russian vodka.

This is also just the Chef’s Kiss in terms of having of all people Mehdi Hasan take down Stein.

lennybird , 5 days ago

Bullshit. Our involvement or not is utterly irrelevant to identifying a war criminal. She tried to cop out by claiming we don’t have a verdict with the criminal court; neither do we with Israel but that didn’t stop her, did it… ? Smells like Russian vodka to me.

lennybird , 5 days ago

Evidently many here, including Hasan, disagree. In fact, her own response proves otherwise when she claims it’s because the criminal court didn’t issue a verdict. Once again, a double-standard in her clear declaration of Bibi being a war criminal despite lacking the same verdict.

You’ve got no logic to support your argument.

lennybird , 5 days ago

Boohoo. And she’s a self-defeating clown openly exploiting the Spoiler Effect to derail Democrats and help Republicans. Fuck her.

lennybird , 5 days ago

You’re right. Because she already proved herself to be a deceitful piece of shit, full of hypocrisy. Would be like taking Trump at his word.

lennybird , 8 days ago (edited 8 days ago)

I’m seeing a lot of shitheads paint this guy as a leftist Democrat. No. Tell them, “if he’s a left-wing Democrat, then so is Dick Cheney.” Absurd.

This guy:

• Voted Republican in 2008
• Voted Republican in 2012
• Voted Trump in 2016

The primary reason, as he detailed in his own self-published book, for leaving Trump and beginning to support Democratic candidates was his disastrous anti-Ukrainian policy. Once that occurred [the broader veil of bullshit became unmasked — see this archived tweet — and he became pissed off that he was grifted. Yet in January of this year he was still pushing for Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy— bleeding heart liberals? — to unite and defeat Trump in the the GOP Primaries.

It doesn’t change that he’s still a conservative Republican.

lennybird , 11 days ago

To him, it’s win-win. Either he expands territory and genocides Ukraine, or her consolidates power as a wartime dictator and commits internal genocide by purging dissidents, ethnic minorities, etc. All the while further concentrating power.

Our modern Hitler.

lennybird , 11 days ago (edited 11 days ago)

Society isn’t failing young men hard — let’s be more specific — Republican toxic masculine rhetoric is failing young men hard. There’s a reason there is so much overlap between MAGA and Inceldom, and it revolves around the false perception of what it means to be a manly man. They stifle their own emotions, yet rage on roids, get buff, and treat women like pieces of meat and then turn around and ask, “why can’t I connect with anyone!?” Well, because drank the bullshit kool-aid of Jordan Peterson and Joe Rogan and Donald Trump and jumped fully onboard with frat-bro culture.

And let me just as a relatively young white male — you have no idea. You have no idea how hard it is for women right now all the same. After all, does the reversal of Roe really impact you or me the same way? Of course it doesn’t. And another thing: All the economic woes facing men are also facing women just the same, I hope you understand.

One key factor is changing whom they idolize. Time to start idolizing the likes of Tim Walz and not Andrew fucking Tate.

lennybird , 11 days ago

My software engineering program was about 15:1.

lennybird , 12 days ago

Is Loony Loomer another Russian asset asshat? Hmm…

lennybird , 12 days ago

False. In fact, that would still be better than the handful of random swing states. Proportionality matters.

Besides, campaigns are run in the digital sphere anyway.

lennybird , 12 days ago

Israel is a terrorist state. No different than Russia.

lennybird , 14 days ago

“I could make a deal with Hitler to stop this war tomorrow!”

lennybird , 14 days ago

Reminder that Zelenskyy basically called Trump’s bluff on his plan, encouraging him to share it now.

lennybird , 13 days ago

It would be great if we stopped spending money on fighting Hitler, but why can’t we all just adopt an anti-war position and give Hitler what he wants rather than out-warmonger him!?

Genius plan.

You want the warmongering to stop? Then get on Telegram and starting telling that to Russians. Tell Putin.

lennybird , 13 days ago (edited 13 days ago)

Yes he is. He’s pretty much Hitler in every way. What, are you waiting for 1940s Hitler and literal gas chambers to pop up until the dots become connected?

• Invading foreign nation under the false pretenses of protecting Ethnic minorities.
• All the while actively purging dissidents inside Russia.

Seems pretty Hitler-like to me. You’re right, Hitler didn’t listen to calls for him to step down either.

lennybird , 13 days ago

No, not all; just more so than you.

lennybird , 15 days ago (edited 15 days ago)

No they’re not the good guys, but it’s also important to understand radicalization doesn’t manifest out of thin air. Like a child who suffers abuse and abuse and abuse, there can often come a breaking point, whether that’s suicidal or homicidal ideation. Oxford shooter comes to mind. Radicalization/terrorism is effectively this at a larger collective scale. People don’t just suddenly wake up one day wanting to murder a bunch of civilians. Such animosity is trans-generational and deeply rooted.

What are some of the ingredients to radicalization?

• Lack of opportunity. (infrastructure in rubble)
• Lack of education. (schools now in rubble.)
• A deep feeling of being oppressed or a perceived injustice unresolved. (lack of free travel, blockades, territorial annexation)
• Pure desperation or loss of all hope. (orphans, parents who lost their kids).

That isn’t to excuse it, but to understand it and hint at solutions.

Ultimately religion to paraphrase Seneca is a source of hope for the downtrodden, a tool for the powerful, and an excuse for the wicked. It’s why you see such an overlap with extremism.

I’m pro-civilian above all else. When Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th, I condemned it. When Israel inflicted dozens of October 7ths upon civilians of Gaza, I too have continued to condemn it.

lennybird , 16 days ago

Is… Is there a Hamas command center under me right now?

lennybird , 18 days ago

If it peels off never-Trump Haley voting Republicans from not voting to voting Harris when they see all these old-guard Republicans endorsing Harris… Then I guess the enemy of my enemy is my friend after all.

lennybird , 19 days ago

Devil’s advocate here and please inform me if I’m missing something here, but:

• If agents visited and could do literally nothing about the kid saying these things, then walked away.
• And no actual legal restrictions were placed upon the father or son…
• … How is the father culpable for that which even police could not address?

Doesn’t this mean the law needs changed so that preventative action can occur instead of looking for a scapegoat?

That is: If this was such a red flag on hindsight, then why the fuck wasn’t it a red flag then and why aren’t the police who ultimately did nothing being arrested for homicide?

Speaking as someone who has no problem advocating for a national firearm ban along other measures, this feels like scapegoating without actually addressing the core reasons why this shit happens in the first place.

lennybird , 19 days ago (edited 18 days ago)

There just seems to be some incongruity with the fact that he was completely legally allowed to own a gun and without any evidence of being an accomplice to the actual crime the parent is held culpable for what his son did even after cops “paid him a visit,” which means absolutely nothing… Oh, and the son is being tried as an adult. There are just several disconnects here that I’m not comfortable with.

Like, I’m curious… If he took a steak knife that was bought by his father and left in the kitchen drawer and used that on classmates, would the father still be considered an accomplice? I seriously doubt it.

I want to be pissed off, too. But I want to both have the law actually make sense and get to the root of the fucking problem, too. Maybe we should actually look at why there is rising adolescent suicidal and homicidal ideation…? Arrest the cops for consistency sake? Create the red flag law, or you know, ban the selling or ownership of the gun in the first place that is for all intents unnecessary?

Edit: lots of down-votes but not much in way of a response. Don’t be shy, what do you take issue with?

lennybird , 18 days ago

Fair points and thanks for the discussion. I had to dig through a couple articles to actually find that it seems that it was indeed illegal for his father to give him that firearm in the state of Georgia unless he adhered to certain exceptions for hunting and what not — which it doesn’t look like that was the case. That certainly changes things.

lennybird , 19 days ago

Is this nationally or do they break down to state level? Because it’s unfortunately somewhat meaningless beyond the likes of Pennsylvania.

Edit: Just national.

lennybird , 19 days ago

Christ you should watch some interviews with Bassem Youssef or Mehdi Hasan. Absolutely. Even Rashida Tlaib is the only member of the squad (and only Palestinian-American congresswoman) to not endorse Harris.

It’s self-defeating but my only hope is it’s a bluff…

Edit: sorry should clarify I’m mostly referring to Not Voting as opposed to voting for Trump, but that’s still a vote for Trump.

lennybird , 19 days ago

Thank you for highlighting that. I need to read closely because that’s a big deal. If margins are truly that wide I can’t imagine Harris campaign isn’t testing these further with internal polling. I wonder how that coincides with whether a permanent ceasefire is achieved. I kind of get the impression Harris is toeing the line until all hope is lost for that (which now seems all hope is?)

lennybird , 19 days ago

I’m seriously getting close to saying they should ask for forgiveness than permission.

Alternatively, the US should just give permission and publicly deny, no differently than Russia’s little green men of 2014. “Oops, how did that long-range ATACMS missile get there!?”

Pretty sick and tired of giving Putin the edge while Bibi is getting anything he wants as he absolutely annihilates civilians.

lennybird , 19 days ago

What they usually do, just relabel who is who in the video. Or yes, claim this is staged.

lennybird , 21 days ago

I don’t think people realize just how disastrous all these fires in the world would be if it was still Mike “Pomous” Pompeo still in charge. If I’m honest I think Blinken is one of the best Secretary of States that I can remember. I’d pretty much mirror his approach were I in his shoes. But I don’t envy his position.

Bonus: Blinken playing, “Rockin’ in the Free World” in a Kyiv night club a few months ago.

lennybird , 21 days ago (edited 21 days ago)

The US State Dept does a lot of good work and I’m not going to subscribe to this notion that they’re some inherently evil entity; sounds like tankie pro-CCP thing to say, if I’m being honest. The state department is a tool whose use is dependent on the party that is in power. The vast majority of “imperial” criticism I have revolves around its use under Republican administrations; chiefly the neocons of the Bush era, and the Trump administration. If you’ll remember:

• Bush was responsible for Iraq
• Bush was responsible for Afghanistan
• Obama & Biden was responsible for withdrawing (and getting Bin Laden in the first place)
• Trump killed more civilians in one year (2017) than Obama & Biden’s presidencies combined.
• There has been no “imperial” ambitions under the Biden administration; quite the opposite, really in countering imperial ambitions of Putin, while also coming down harder on Israel than quite literally any past Presidential administration in history, with more to come I guarantee.

Now to the real source of what’s pissing you off:

WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU SENDING WEAPONS TO ISRAEL STILL

I’ll tell you the cold, hard, honest brutal truth why:

1. Because the election is 62 days away. Withdrawing aid from Israel will immediately by framed by right-wing media, Republican opposition, AIPAC, Russian and Israeli troll farms as being “Antisemitic.” Forget the fact that the Jewish-American group who normally votes Democrat is far larger (and sympathetic to Israel) than the vehemently Anti-Aid group.
2. Nuttyahoo will conveniently ignore “intelligence reports” (again) of an impending terrorist attack by Hamas, then immediately point the finger at Democrats, “Why did the evil Democrats leave us defenseless!?” — And allllllllllllll the gullible low-info voters will fall for this hook, line, and sinker. <- Hint: This would be this election’s October Surprise.
3. It seems blatantly obvious that the second this election is over and Harris is in power that the tone is going to shift drastically both with Putin and Bibi.
4. Ultimately, 62 days of trying to carve the largest electorate possible to defeat Trump is more important than acting now only to lose to Trump and then have him immediately reverse and cause hell in both Ukraine and Israel for 4 years… Or more. Battles vs. Wars thinking at play, here.

Now I don’t think Blinken or Biden or Harris are some evil psychopaths akin to Trump or Putin who do not care. Do you really have that impression? Hopefully not. If so, then you need to ask yourself, “Why would they support this?” Do you really think they like to be associated with Bibi’s war crimes? And herein lies one’s first lesson in an administration not being able to outright say the 4 points I listed above to the public and why there seems to be a disconnect between what we see and what they’re doing.

(Also Blinken can actually jam pretty well and is pretty well known around DC. Yeah, he’s politician first, musician third but you know… At least he’s got good taste in music and at least he’s got the balls to go to Kyiv in the first place unlike his predecessors.)

lennybird , 20 days ago

Thanks for the good discussion.

Well I think it’s pretty lighthearted. See, you put them in a damned-if-they-do, damned-if-they-don’t situation. After all, how many times do you hear about how distant from the people politicians are? How unrelatable. Too little and they’re not “one of us,” and too much and it’s, “This is inappropriate, get back to work!” To me this shows a more human aspect of a personality, and certainly this was less-than-official business — and Blinken is still human after all.

We’re sort of trying, but not on the same level as if it was happening in Philly or Austin or something (or in Tel Aviv.)

Well to be fair, it is happening in Philly and Austin. From drug addiction to childhood homelessness — maybe not to the extent of what is depicted in Gaza, naturally, but there is certainly a massive amount of dissonance at play when you juxtapose the Olympics and some rich man’s 5th yacht and what our bottom 1st percentile is going through. Still, I get what you’re saying. In that respect, it is indeed a duty of the people to hold their leadership to account.

From the position of Blinken, with their experience and with what intelligence reports and conversations they’ve had behind closed doors, I again can’t say I envy their position — especially when public-facing positions cannot always give the full story on what is classified behind the scenes.

Keep in mind the intermittency of our support to Ukraine falls almost eentirely on Republican opposition; after all, it was Trump who directed Mike Johnson to block aid — and ultimately, aid to Ukraine was blocked for an entire year. So we can nitpick the low-hanging fruit of whether X system or capability should’ve been granted sooner, but again, I’m not the one responsible for American lives both here and abroad first and foremost. (and with that, I seriously doubt Mike Pompeo and a Trump administration would’ve negotiated such an impressive prisoner swap for innocent Americans). Arguably if Republicans wouldn’t backstab us for eScalAtiOn and stop spreading Russian propaganda among their media outlets (having a conversation with my FIL last week, he parroted this exact shit), then we’d have complete solidarity. Not unlike Obama’s Syrian red line on chemical weapons, which then Republican Congressmen refused to support a response.

Ultimately let’s not let perfect be the enemy of good; especially when the alternative is evil. Nobody is perfect, and if you put yourself or me in that position I guarantee the bluster would change on a dime.

To your point on the song choice, you can look at it like that; but you can also look at it that Blinken is the type of guy who grew up listening to Neil Young; to Crosby Stills; to Buffalo Springfield; to Bruce Springsteen, etc. And that may signal exactly where he’s coming from. That if you sat down with him, I suspect you’d get some poignant answers as to why he chose that song. I’m just saying, don’t be so quick to judge without hearing his perspective — for just like, “Why are we still giving aid to Israel?” is far more complicated as I tried to show. I like the guy. I think he’s down to earth and I’m just so thankful we have thoughtful minds in office as opposed to that shit-stain Pompeo who preceded him.

Edit: I got curious and I watched this. JESUS CHRIST MAKE IT STOP. As with many things, George Carlin said it far more succinctly than I could.

LOL. No comment.

lennybird , 21 days ago

They did. They’re just announcing some of what they’ve been doing now.

lennybird , 21 days ago (edited 21 days ago)

I have not seen a single indication of genius by Musk. I see a spoiled trust fund man-child in the right place at the right time and who frequently pays other people to come up for ideas for him. I can literally think of dozens of people I’ve known over the years who are far more intelligent and would do much more with his starter funds from daddy.

lennybird , 23 days ago

Putin could’ve actually improved his country or invested these resources into things like medical or scientific advancements but no, that would be too hard for a pencil-pusher shoved out of sight in an office in the kgb.

lennybird , 23 days ago

Since when did Bibi ever listen to the courts? Keep going.

lennybird , 24 days ago

So as news is coming out, do I have this right that Hamas shot these hostages in retaliation for Israel’s assassination of that top Hamas leader a few days ago?

lennybird , 25 days ago

I saw more than I should’ve with the recent Kharkiv bombings by Russia.

Ukraine should absolutely be able to strike as far as they desire into Russia.

After all, it’s not escalation; it’s parity.

lennybird , 24 days ago

You’re absolutely right. I thought about this later and meant to come back and edit.

lennybird , 25 days ago

These Fuckers made the exact same excuse when they struck the World Central Kitchen convoy back in April.

All their rhetorical damage control speaks exactly like the Kremlin.

Even if it turns out true, boy, have they lost all trust.

lennybird , 25 days ago

I hope he continues calling it insane. This stunts Republican turnout as it did in 2020!

lennybird , 27 days ago

Gaza, mostly thanks to Israel, remains the most dangerous conflict for aid workers now and perhaps in history.

• USAID - Samantha Power: "The United Nations recently described Gaza as the “most dangerous place in the world for aid workers,” and in my own engagements with partners working there, aid workers have consistently described the conditions and dangers they face as among the worst they have ever seen throughout decades of responding to crises. "
• UK Guardian - Amy Neilson: "I have worked in the world’s most dangerous combat zones. Never have I felt as unsafe as I did in Gaza.

Don’t forget when IDF killed 3 Israeli hostages escaping Hamas who were shirtless, unarmed, and waving a white flag.

At every turn, Israel and Bibi need to be associated with Russia and Putin — for that’s exactly how they behave.

lennybird , 29 days ago

I get Republican ads in the mail (hey, let them waste their money) and the latest commits a large chunk to desperately trying to distance Donnie from Project 2025 lol.

lennybird , 29 days ago

No but another battleground state, so yeah… It must be a pretty consistent message.

lennybird , 30 days ago

• Rhetorically, it helps make the case to any naysayers who’ve enabled an age-minimum but decry an age-maximum is wrong.
• It effectively achieves the same result of tying the age-limit to retirement age without giving legislators the incentive to simply raise retirement age.
• It will always float significantly below the median life-expectancy, which even if life-expectancy overall improves marginally by a couple of years (in itself a good thing of course), it still gives a buffer to the point where cognition begins to increasingly wane.

Realistically I’d be fine with a final term beginning at 65 and ending at 69.

lennybird , 30 days ago (edited 30 days ago)

Yeah thanks for the cordial discussion.

Oh yeah no doubt mass student protests have very often fallen on the correct side of history and there is no question they will be on the right side now. While it can be used as a point to get media time to break through echo-chambers, I worry that advocates are falling for a sort of pattern where the target of their frustration is Biden/Harris where instead they should be explaining to their out-of-touch aunts and uncles, “Have you seen the Palestinian father whose twins and wife were murdered by indiscriminate bombings by Israel? Did you know…” and so on… Of course then polls change; then administrations respond. But targeting the administration when their hands are effectively tied in reflection to polls puts the cart before the horse in my view. After all, popular policies tend to get adopted by both parties when they aren’t controversial (e.g., the no taxing of tips thing, regardless of how good it actually is…)

I know Putin’s long-term plans drastically differ, depending on a Trump or Harris administration. I assume that goes for Bibi as well.

lennybird , 29 days ago

Still better than Trump. Also, digging up a video from SEVEN YEARS ago? hahahah

Newsflash: People can change. Only Harris is advocating for a permanent ceasefire; Trump is trying to undermine it with calls to Bibi LOL.

lennybird , 29 days ago

Aw I’m sorry buddy – it’s not my problem you can’t read and adhere to the rules hahaha.