Recent Comments

1. 21 minutes ago on Ted Rall

   And, to get in ahead of the inevitable replies, Khymani James (aka Intifada Urkel) is a obnoxious loudmouth, not a fighter.

2. 23 minutes ago on Ted Rall

   The right wing is trying to make the campus protestors out to be the Weather Underground, but other than some toxic pro-Hamas stuff at the fringes & some pushing & shoving when pro-Israel students try to walk through draped in a flag, it’s pretty much nothing. I hope no college head is foolhardy enough to be prodded into becoming the next Kent State over fears of losing billionaire money for a year.

   Outside the campuses, it’s getting worse, but not on par with the weekly Civil War reenactments the Proud Boys & Anarchists were doing in 2020.

   And, while I disagree with Ted on some things, the stuff in the US is nothing compared to the full scale war Gazans have been experiencing. Let’s focus on getting Hamas & Israel to agree on a ceasefire, not bringing violence here.

3. about 1 hour ago on Nick Anderson

   I’m well aware of Khymani. He decided being super edgy & confrontational is good politics as a high schooler & was generally rewarded despite saying egregious things because his personal life story is filled with trauma. I hope he gets help & gets his life back on track.

   I’ve also seen interviews with students who can’t name the river & the sea from the chant, or are completely ignorant of Hamas’ goals.

   Being ignorant & wrong isn’t a reason to bring in National Guard. Unless they become more aggressive than refusing to take down tents, leave ‘em alone & most will go home when the dorms are locked up & they can’t shower.

4. about 12 hours ago on Nick Anderson

   Some of what the student campers are saying is dumb & toxic, but they aren’t throwing rocks & molotov cocktails. A university head who allows the sometimes slightly problematic protests to go on for a couple weeks until the kids go home will face the wrath of conservatives, but presiding over another Kent State will be a career ending event.

5. about 12 hours ago on Phil Hands

   It would be great if all the student campers would limit their demands to a ceasefire. Unfortunately, some demand Jews leave Israel, leave their campuses & openly threaten to murder them. Their claims that Israelis are “European colonizers” is detached from reality & originates from Communist propaganda. Go read John Ganz’ post “Go Back To…Morocco?” on his Unpopular Front blog. Then read “An open letter to the Columbia University Gaza war protesters from a pro-Palestinian activist in Israel” by Haviva Ner-David for the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

   Telling Jewish students in the US to “go back to Poland” is in fact, deeply anti-semitic.

6. about 12 hours ago on Phil Hands

   “I don’t hold out any hope for peace in the region until one group or the other is destroyed or leaves. And I don’t mean, “pushed into Egypt’s desert”, that will just shift the direction of the fight to the Egyptian border.”

   Israel has been at peace with most of the Arab nations for nearly 50 years. If every Jew disappears from the land, Sunni & Shi’a, Arabs, Persians, Kurds, Druze, Houthis & others will keep on fighting until they realize negotiation & diplomacy are better for everyone than war.

   “I mean not within 1000 miles of the place.”

   After the war of 1948, nearly a million Jews were driven out of Muslim countries in the Middle East & North Africa. 2/3rds settled in Israel. They don’t want to leave & couldn’t go back, even if they wanted to. This isn’t about peace or justice, it’s expressing a preference for a different genocide than the one being claimed.

7. about 12 hours ago on Phil Hands

   “I don’t understand what authority permitted the Allied forces to displace the Palestinians at the end of WW2”

   What alternative history is this? The allies did not displace anyone. A small number of British troops were in Mandatory Palestine by 1945. Britain tried to negotiate an agreement to divide land between Arabs & Jews. The Arabs refused to take part & started a war to drive the Jews into the sea. Arabs have been attacking Jews in the land since long before Zionism existed.

8. 2 days ago on Mike Lester

   Jumpy youngsters with guns don’t need an order. I’d put blame on the fools who brought National Guard to put down a student protest where the worst violence was students throwing beer bottles at cops for shutting down college bars.

   It’s worth noting the current campus protesters are even more restrained than those at Kent State. I don’t agree with “river to the sea” nonsense, but it’s speech. No one is throwing beer bottles.

9. 2 days ago on Henry Payne

   Iran does not have nukes, but they’ve learned through experience to put their centrifuges deep underground. They have enough material to enrich to the point that they can make several nukes in a week or two. Unfortunately, Iran recently spent most of their ballistic missiles in an attack that saw almost every one of them destroyed without hitting the ground in Israel.

   Israel already has ~ 100 nukes & some of them are on submarines that can exact revenge, even if Tel Aviv is hit by an Iranian nuke. Israel routinely shows they can hit targets in Iran with impunity. In nuclear terms, Israel is the Goliath by a wide margin.

   But, what about conventional forces? Iran has 10 times the population of Israel & most reports suggest their army is more capable & more committed than the forces Saddam has in Iraq, back in 2003. They could field a huge army, if they want. But, they don’t have the ability to send hundreds of thousands of troops to the borders of Israel without quickly being detected. Israel has complete air superiority & would be hitting Iranian troops as they tried to make the 800 miles trip to Israel’s border. So, Israel is still the Goliath.

   This is something I think the “river to the sea” protestors miss. US support of Israel is a luxury, but history suggests even if the US completely cuts off arms sales, Israel will find another weapons supplier. The State of Israel isn’t going anywhere. If it disappeared, the region would be thrown into even more chaos & violence.

10. 2 days ago on Michael Ramirez

    So, Iran could build a nuke in as little as a few days, but they haven’t. They claim their interpretation of Islam forbids it. Your depiction of Muslim nations being the only ones that use lies & ambiguity in foreign policy would be amusing if it weren’t so horribly bigoted. Iran recently launched nearly every ballistic missile they had capable of reaching Israel & it was a dud.

    Meanwhile, Israel has nukes & missiles capable of pinpoint accuracy with a demonstrated ability to strike targets in Iran, not to mention a submarine based second strike capability that means anyone nuking Tel Aviv will get payback.

    Iran getting nukes would be bad because it would likely trigger other countries in the region to acquire their own nuke. More nations with nukes, means more chances someone makes a mistake & launches them. A second Trump term brings back the neo-con regime change crowd. Heaven help us, but the best hope of survival is if Jared Kushner comes back to run a morality free foreign policy that prioritizes lining pockets over aggression. I’m guessing you missed Jared’s op-ed on Biden’s effort to bring back the JCPOA:

    “While many were troubled by the Biden team’s opening offer to work with Europe and rejoin the Iran deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, I saw it as a smart diplomatic move,” Kushner wrote.