#Eugene Rogan

[shannybasar]

Eugene Rogan writes in ‘The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East, 1914-1920’ that the post-war partition of the Ottoman Empire was solely to advance British and France’s imperial expansion: “Had the European powers been concerned with establishing a stable Middle East, one can’t help but think they would have gone about drafting the boundaries in a very different way.”

[eretzyisrael]

Why is Avi Shlaim recycling ‘Baghdad bombings’ theory?

Why is Oxford professor Avi Shlaim blaming Zionist agents for forcing the Jews out of Iraq with a series of bombings? The answer lies in his new childhood memoir, argues Lyn Julius in The Jewish Chronicle:

Avi Shlaim, a professor of history at Oxford, has been no stranger to controversy, attracting criticism from his fellow academics.

Benny Morris has called Shlaim “sloppy”, and slammed his work for “one-sidedness and plain unfairness.”

Now in retirement, Shlaim has just published Three Worlds: Memoir of an Arab-Jew. This is a personal account of his childhood and teenage years straddling three worlds: Iraq, where he was born, Israel where his family resettled, and the UK, where he has lived since 1966.

Aged five, his was a brutal uprooting from a comfortable Baghdad mansion with servants. At a time of rising antisemitism during the 1948 war with Israel, the family fled Iraq to begin new lives in Israel. His father, a prosperous importer of building materials with influential Muslim friends, was completely undone by the move and his much younger wife, once a society hostess, was forced to work as a telephonist.

The marriage broke down. Young Avi brought his emotional baggage to his Jewish school in London, where a friend testifies to the fact he smuggled in non-kosher burgers to spite the headmaster.

During his academic career, Shlaim became more and more stridently anti-Israel. Today he calls it a “colonial settler state”, even though Mizrahi Jewish communities, now comprising over half of Israel’s Jews, predated the Arab conquest and Islam by 1,000 years or more.

The “Arab-Jew” of the title will raise a few eyebrows: the expression is used by some anti-Zionists who deny Jews from Arab countries a separate identity.

But the plaudits have been flowing from reviewers’ pens for Avi Shlaim’s new book. Eugene Rogan, author of “The Arabs” called it the best book he had read all year.

Max Hastings had this to say in the Sunday Times: “This remarkable upside-down tale… A personal story, not a polemic… provocative… His personal odyssey confers on Shlaim an exceptional authority for his words; he can say things that others of us cannot… his thesis deserves to be considered with respect.”

The thesis in question is that “the Zionists” planted bombs in Baghdad to help eradicate the presence of Jews in Iraq. “The shocking truth about the Baghdad bombings of 1950 -51” blares the title of a review by Justin Marozzi in The Spectator.

But Shlaim’s theory is far from conclusive. The only fatal bombing took place in January 1951 (six weeks before the deadline for legal Jewish emigration from Iraq was due to expire) in the Massouda Shemtob synagogue, then being used by “the Zionists” as a registration centre for departing Jews. Three of the five bombs were planted three months after the emigration deadline had passed and caused no casualties.

It is a mystery why “the Zionists” might have thought it necessary to bomb the synagogue when, by late 1950 a backlog of 80,000 Jews, who had already registered to leave for Israel, were stranded in Iraq. Indeed, the Iraqi government toyed with the idea of dumping these Jews on Israel’s border with Jordan or in the Kuwaiti desert because Israel was not shipping them out fast enough.

All the evidence for the bombings points to the nationalist Istiqlal party as the culprit. An Istiqlal member confessed to an Iraqi historian, Shamel Abdul Kader, that he planted the first bomb in April 1950. The Israeli new historian Tom Segev produced evidence blaming the synagogue bombing on Iraqi nationalists.

Iraqi Jews already had reason enough to seek a haven in Israel – rising pro-Nazi sentiment, the memory of a vicious Baghdad pogrom in 1941, the execution of the wealthy non-Zionist Shafik Ades in 1948, arrests, extortion, racist laws persecuting and dispossessing them. A vibrant community of 150,000 is now reduced to three Jews.

But Shlaim claims there was no antisemitism in Iraq until the Iraqis ‘turned on the Jews’ for their alleged complicity with the British invasion of 1941 and the foundation of Israel.

It is a travesty that Shlaim should not only fail to blame Arab regimes for the mass ethnic cleansing of their Jewish citizens, but that his reputation as an Oxford academic should lend ‘exceptional authority’ and respectability to these highly controversial claims,

What lies behind Shlaim’s anti-Zionism? In reviewing ‘Israel and Palestine’ Benny Morris pronounced himself puzzled.

“Many intellectuals, in Israel as in the West, have been moved by the Palestinians’ history and their plight, but at the same time they have remained sympathetic to Israel’s predicament…. In Israel and Palestine, by contrast, there is no sign of any such complex sympathy.

“For Shlaim, Israel and its leaders can do no right. It all begins to seem very personal. What is the source of this bias and this resentment? ‘

It appears that Shlaim’s memoir holds the answer. Israel is responsible for his unhappy childhood, his family’s impoverishment and his broken home.

Read article in full

More about Avi Shlaim

Point of No Return

[hvlthgxth]

Joe Rogan brings on gun[redacted] to discuss how scary communism is.

Gun[redacted] instead enumerates just how much killing is required to maintain global capitalism

Rogan hard pivots to fucking eugenics AND welfare Queen rhetoric for some reason with "Are they gonna let the under 85 IQ vote for what to do with the billionaires money? They're gonna vote for Twinkies and mountain dew!" Which doesn't land. Proving he's got less sauce than the redhead inbred he stole that line from.

[lenbryant]

Don't debate the quacks. It just legitimizes them.

(LATimes) Sorry, Joe Rogan: Scientists should never ‘debate’ anti-vaccine quacks. Here’s why

By Michael Hiltzik, Business Columnist June 22, 2023

Given that we live in a world in which almost everything, including presidential politics, takes on the trappings of cheap entertainment, it’s no wonder that the purveyors of anti-vaccine and anti-science claptrap are demanding that legitimate experts validate their positions through the spectacle of public debates.

The experts are right to say no.

The most recent example of this demand erupted after webcaster Joe Rogan, an enthusiastic promoter of COVID-19 conspiracy-mongers, anti-vaxxers and other sources of pseudoscientific hogwash, hosted anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on his program for three hours.

I could no more sit down with RFK Jr. than I could sit down with a white supremacist and discuss eugenics. You should not give them the moral equivalence.

— Immunologist John P. Moore

When vaccine expert Peter Hotez tweeted a link to a thorough critique of Kennedy’s lies and misrepresentations by Vice.com, Rogan challenged Hotez to participate in a public debate with Kennedy.

Hotez refused, though he offered to engage Rogan — whose show he had appeared on before — one on one, a context in which Hotez was prepared to address Rogan’s misconceptions serially. Rogan treated that offer as an evasion, which led to Hotez being accosted at his home by a stranger demanding that he take the bait.

There are many reasons why serious scientists should reject these invitations. One is that it gives liars and deceivers legitimacy. “You should never equate, morally or practically, true science and pseudoscience or quackery,” says John P. Moore, professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College. “By just appearing with these people, you give them a stature that implies they’re equivalent, and they’re not.”

Moore’s insights come from his experience with AIDS denialists including the notorious Peter Duesberg starting around 1999. An expert in HIV and AIDS, Moore was appalled at the decision by Thabo Mbeki, the president of South Africa, to deny antiretroviral drugs such as AZT to AIDS patients in favor of herbal nostrums.

Mbeki was motivated by scientific advisors who questioned that AIDS resulted from a virus; his policies have been blamed for more than 330,000 unnecessary deaths in his country.

The denialists “were always saying, ‘come and debate with us,’ ” Moore told me. Serious virologists tried posting accurate information to combat the misconceptions, to little avail. “It was just a waste of time, because you were never going to persuade the hard core to change their position.”

Their refusal to engage in public debate frustrated the denialists, Moore recalls, “because they wanted the validation of being on the same stage with us.”

Another reason not to debate “gaslighters,” as Science magazine editor Holden Thorp labels them, is that in many cases the debate is settled. The safety and efficacy of the Moderna and Pfizer COVID-19 vaccines are well established after hundreds of millions of doses administered in the U.S. and billions worldwide.

Although rare side effects have occurred, they’re typically mild compared with the risks from contracting the disease itself — contrary to the fabricated and unethical claims of anti-vaccine propagandists such as Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo.

Also well-established is the uselessness against COVID of drugs such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, both of which have been promoted by Kennedy. No public debate could outweigh the reams of validated evidence for their ineffectiveness.

There’s nothing new about the insistence of anti-vaxxers and other cranks and hucksters that public debates are all that’s needed to establish the truth. Nor is there anything new about the thirst of newspapers, news programs and consumers of social media posts for spectacle and clickbait, facts be damned.

The late pseudoscience debunker Robert L. Park opened his classic 2000 book “Voodoo Science” by telling the story of one Joe Newman, whose claims to have invented a machine that could produce an inexhaustible supply of energy — if only the business establishment and the patent office got out of his way — were promoted credulously by CBS News, which led to an appearance on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson.

Newman rented the Superdome in New Orleans to demonstrate his machine, ending his presentation by issuing a challenge to “any PhD physicist in the crowd” to come down and debate him. The crowd began to titter as Newman shaded his eyes, pretending to look into the stands for a challenger. But scientists, properly, ignored him.

Newman, like today’s cranks, got mileage from the refusal of real scientists to debate; knowing that their challenge will go unmet, they try to use that as proof that they must be in the right.

(Park is known for the best comeback to those who claim that they are being persecuted for speaking scientific truths to power — as many of today’s pseudoscientists do: “Alas,” he wrote, “to wear the mantle of Galileo it is not enough that you be persecuted by an unkind establishment; you must also be right.”)

Scientists and experts who have accepted invitations to debate — some out of hubris, some from a genuine desire to point the public in the right direction — almost always find themselves overmatched. Often this is because scientists seldom have the training to make cogent presentations of their work in an adversarial setting; they’re more comfortable staking out their positions through painstaking exposition in writing or before conferences with their peers.

“Common ‘live public debate’ formats favor science deniers because they are not bound by science or even the truth,” observes the veteran pseudoscience debunker David Gorski. The deniers’ arsenal includes “obscure studies, bad studies, studies that don’t support their points, and even irrelevant information that superficially to nonexperts appears to support their arguments.”

Such debates treat science as a sort of cabaret act, in which “glibness, rhetorical skill and the debater’s charisma” register “far more than facts, logic, reason and science,” Gorski says.

That’s the problem with any debate staged for popular consumption, whether through television or social media — try to think of the last time that a presidential candidates debate yielded anything like hard information, as opposed to impressions of the participants’ demeanor, gift of gab or ability to avoid a verbal stumble or gaffe.

When science is on the agenda, the peril is even greater. The contest is often between the nuances of scientific inquiry and the cocksure bluntness of pseudoscience.

“Scientists are rooted in the truth; it’s what you’re trained to do,” Moore says. “You won’t lie, you won’t dissemble, you will often express yourself with caveats, acknowledging gray areas. They’ll come back with what they say are hard facts: ‘Vaccines kill,’ or ‘this athlete dropped dead because he was killed by a vaccine.’ You can’t deal with subtleties when you’re having blatant lies thrown at you one after another.”

Scientists are also trained to look at the totality of evidence when taking a position, Moore says. “The anti-vaxxers or denialists will cherry-pick factoids. Scientific literature is so vast and so mixed in quality that you can always find something that is going to support your position. We are trained as professionals to tune out the occasional outrider that is the product of incompetent or twisted science.”

Even people skilled at communicating scientific principles to nonexperts have been lured into the debate trap. One is Neil DeGrasse Tyson, the most renowned science communicator in the world today. In April, Tyson allowed himself to be enticed into a webcast debate with anti-vaccine crusader Del Bigtree. He must have thought that his command of the art of public speaking would allow him to hold up his end.

He was wrong. Tyson’s first mistake was to agree to appear on Bigtree’s webcast, rather than in some neutral setting. But his main problem was that, as an astrophysicist, he simply did not have the knowledge to counter Bigtree’s torrent of anti-vaccination propaganda. The result was a train wreck for legitimate science in which the anti-vax position prevailed, or such was the impression that was left.

The “debate me” agitators assert that research only gains from being subjected to inquiry. That’s true, but it doesn’t gain from being subjected to criticism from people unfamiliar with the underlying science and arguing from a position of ignorance.

Their goal is merely to sow doubt, for their own interests and often for political goals. The attacks on Hotez, on Anthony Fauci — one of Kennedy’s targets — and on science in general have a clear partisan slant. Deniers of global warming and of the link between tobacco and cancer have been carrying water for the big businesses that profit from fossil fuels and cigarettes.

They’ve made common cause with anti-vaxxers because they see an opportunity to make political hay for Republican and conservative interests. (Never mind that the COVID-19 vaccines were developed during the Trump administration; even Trump has provided a platform for vaccine deniers.)

But the consequences of their campaigns can be measured in sickness and death. The anti-vaccine movement is complicit in the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. alone by discouraging people from getting the shot.

That may be the best reason for responsible scientists to reject invitations to debate. “The spread of vaccine disinformation has hurt a very, very large number of people in a very horrible way,” Moore says.

“That’s the moral dimension,” he says. “You cannot forget what these people have done. I could no more sit down with RFK Jr. than I could sit down with a white supremacist and discuss eugenics. You should not give them the moral equivalence.”

(Photo)  Joe Rogan, purveyor of anti-vaccine disinformation, challenged vaccine expert Peter Hotez to a debate. Hotez has rightly refused. (Douglas P. DeFelice / Getty Images)

[thejdw81]

It would be cool if it preyed on low IQ individuals

@tomsegura

[properdead]

"Fully updated to cover the Arab Spring" Just a bit of light reading, thanks.

[fionaapplerocks]

SPOTIFY

OK I’ve been putting off making this post for a few days but this compilation of Joe Rogan saying the N-word has pushed me over the edge.

So lets start with Joe Rogan, does he deserve to be cancelled?

At the start of Joe’s $100 million deal with Spotify they quietly removed “a few episodes”...

Alex Jones of InfoWars (far-right conspiracy monger)

Gavin McInnes (Proud Boys founder)

Milo Yiannopoulos (ex-Breitbart News editor)

Charles C. Johnson, who’s been described as a ‘race-baiting troll’

Owen Benjamin (alt-right political commentator/comedian)

Stefan Molyneux, who “amplifies ‘scientific racism’ eugenics and white supremacism” per the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Carl Benjamin (anti-feminist personality).

Heres the full list of deleted episodes (it is more than “a few”). So this shows us that Spotify knew full well how problematic Joe’s show is, but they figured they could just sweep all the worst parts under the carpet because $$$.

The covid misinformation: heres a summary of those claims fact checked via the BBC.

Joe has published his thoughts on all this here “its just a conversation, we need to hear both sides” but he also clumsily revealed that he has no idea who Joni Mitchell is.

Now Neil Young - some people have complained “Neil is only kicking up this fuss because he has his own streaming service” - It is true that Neil started a project with the Pono hardware player and then pivoted into a streaming service which nets him $600,000 per year, so his protest may be partly self serving, but whatever you think of Neil doesn’t mean he is wrong on this issue - just that he is one of the very few artists with the freedom to walk away.

The vast majority of younger musicians are tied into recording contracts which mean the record company controls where their music is sold and played, and you know the record companies only care about the money.

Similarly the majority of older artists (Springsteen, Fleetwood Mac, Tina Turner, Shakira etc) have sold all their music rights to big corporations so they also don’t have any control.

You know who does have control: You do, you can just quit!

But My Playlists!

Keeping your precious playlists is not as hard as it used to be, if you sign up for the French streaming service Deezer they have a simple import button which will bring in all your Spotify playlists, favorites etc in 10 minutes.

If you prefer to use Tidal or YouTube Music or Apple Music then tunemymusic.com can be used to import songs and playlists (the free version is limited to 500 songs, but you can just do them in multiple batches.) for iOS users there is the SongShift app.

Will this kill off Spotify? I doubt it, even if every one of my followers were to delete Spotify, that would be like a rounding error in Spotify’s profit, but you know sometimes it just feels good to take out the trash.

[mamadkhalik]

Istana Dolmabahce

Tulisan ini ada hubunganya dengan tulisan sebelumnya yang berjudul Tarhib dan Spanduk, bisa stalking-stalking dulu hehe

Dalam Kajian Mulkan Jabariyyan, Ustadz Salim menceritakan di masa akhir Kekhalifahan Ustmaniyah ada sebuah proyek pembuatan Istana yang bernama Dolmabahce. Tujuan Sultan membuat istana ini tak lain adalah untuk menyaingi istana-istana eropa dan menjadi yang termegah diantaranya. Namun, di zaman itu Ustmani mengalami kemunduran dari segala aspek. 

Dijelaskan dalam “The Fall Of The Khalifah” tulisan Eugene Rogan, Barat sudah sangat maju dalam militer dan teknologi, yang di sisi lain Ustmani masih menggunakan teknologi-teknologi kuno dari masing-masing matra militer. Ekonomi merosot yang mengakibatkan bank-bank Ustmani tak memiliki kontrol penuh dalam kebijakan-kebijakan negara. Keadaan sosial sangat parah, hal ini terpengaruh pasca perang Balkan yang memunculkan perlawanan dari provinsi-provinsi luar anatolia, dari keinginan melepaskan diri, sampai menuntut otonomi penuh. 

Sultan tak memiliki kuasa penuh, yang memang pada waktu itu Ustmani menggunakan sistem parlementer yang dipimpin oleh Turki Muda. Seruan Jihad Perang Dunia 1 agaknya tak mendapat respon baik, terutama di provinsi mesopotamia yang tak terlalu “merasa memiliki khalifah” dan berkompromi dengan Penjajah Inggris dan Prancis. 

Tetapi proyek itu tetap dilanjutkan oleh Sultan.

Ustadz Salim berpandangan, bahwa manusia memiliki kecenderungan untuk terlihat baik di mata orang, meski tak menjamin apa yang sebenarnya dalam hati. Manusia akan senantiasa menutupi kekurangan-kekurangan yang dimilikinya, dan memoles penampilan secara besar-besaran demi mendapat simpati orang. Dalam hal ini Utsmani yang mendapat julukan “The Sick Man of Europe” mencoba menutupinya dengan hal-hal yang kurang fundamental, salah satunya membangun istana.

Refleksi sederhana, tapi cukup ngena. Penampilan yang megah atau keren dimata orang nyatanya tak mampu menyembunyikan kerapuhan yang ada di dalam. Malahan, terkesan terlihat munafik atau menyepelekan masalah yang harusnya segera diselesaikan. 

Memang dunia ini penuh ujian. Semoga dikuatkan.

[loashipper]

How Ned sits is very pretty. Cute as a rice ball

The colors are too vivid and may don't suit Ned's soft atmosphere.

So let me post the line.

References

T.E.Lawrence's robe reserved at Ashmolean Museum

https://www.ashmolean.org/professor-eugene-rogan-arab-robe-worn-t-e-lawrence

A picture of T.E.Lawrence and Lowell Thomas

https://www.gettyimages.de/detail/nachrichtenfoto/british-soldier-adventurer-and-author-thomas-edward-nachrichtenfoto/52086880

[newagesispage]

OCTOBER                           2021

 THE RIB PAGE

*****

We miss U Charlie Watts!!

*****

The Stones performed at a private party for Patriots owner Robert Kraft of all people. The test run looked like just that. Shark jumped. I am becoming disillusioned.

*****

SNL is back with Owen Wilson as first host of season 47. Kacey Musgraves is the musical guest. Episode 2 will have a ridic choice for host. Halsey will sing. I suppose $ is power with the Kardashians. I could think of about 10 million other people to host but more and more Lorne goes for the shiny object , what he THINKS people want instead of taking risk. Beck Bennett is out.

*****

Is everybody watching the Amber Ruffin Show?? I loved her before but now… I learn so much from her show. Sometimes it takes a comic to get to the real serious shit. For example: Have you heard of drowning towns? Towns like Oscarville, Kowaliga, York hill, Seneca Village, Prentiss and countless other black towns that were drowned out to make lakes for the local whites. Central Park was also made after a black community was erased from history. Development displacement? Alleyway dwelling authority? Even those rabid for history can find out new things everyday. Thanks Amber!!

*****

Bob Woodward and Robert Costa are finally giving us Peril !!!!!!  I’ve been waiting!!** I was in political nerd heaven on Sept. 24 when Yamiche hosted Robert, Bob and Weijia Jang on Washington Week. All of my favorite pundits all together at one table, my dream team!!

*****

Iman looked great at the Met Gala!! Other great looks belonged to AOC, Tessa Thompson, Maluma, Helen Lasichanb and Pharrell Williams. Gigi Hadid, Kiki Layne, Ashton Sanders, Hailee Steinfeld, Kehlani, Zoe Kravitz, Michaela Cole, Lili Reinhart, Kate Hudson and Shai Gilgeous- Alexander were great. Whoopi Goldberg seemed a bit off.

*****

Jason Isbell is back with his latest offering, Georgia Blue.

*****

I see a lot of Title Max type establishment are closing down. Are they a thing of the past? Let’s hope.

*****

Law and Order is coming back to NBC for season 21. Dick Wolf will own 2 entire nights of television. Some of the old cast is reported to be returning.

*****

Britney Spears Father was suspended as her conservator.

*****

Timothy Chalamet, Rowan Atkinson, Sally Hawkins and Olivia Coleman will star in Wonka.

*****

The 2022 Super Bowl halftime show will bring us Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Dr. Dre and Kendrick Lamar.

*****

People are doing test runs for school board positions to see if their political ideas will play well for the big leagues. If they don’t seem to work, at least they can sometimes change the rules in their own area.

*****

Joe Rogan got Covid.

*****

Lake Michigan beaches were closed down thanks to a US Steel plant chemical leak.

*****

Is this country the master of endless administrative work?  None of us should have been surprised at the red tape that the slowed down the end of the war in Afghanistan.** Uber donated 50k for rides and meals to the Afghans when they arrive.**And why do so many waste taxpayer $ on useless recounts and recalls when people need real help with food and healthcare? They must really hate humanity.

*****

R. Kelly was found guilty of 8 counts of sex trafficking and 1 count of racketeering.

*****

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. – Dwight D. Eisenhower

*****

Texas has put a law into effect to allow most Texans to carry open without permit or training.

*****

Texas has banned abortion at about 6 weeks. Uber and Lyft will pay drivers legal fees if sued under Texas abortion law. Lyft donated $1mil to Planned Parenthood. ** Look for the ruling in the Mississippi law over Roe V. Wade in June 2022.**Hear us roar!** BTW.. Go Jen Psaki!!!!!!!

*****

They seriously banned plastic straws and abortion before assault rifles? – Eden Dranger

*****

Please stop banning abortions, the last thing the world needs is more Americans. –Sarah Beattie

*****

Women don’t inseminate themselves. Vasectomies are reversible. Should every man have one until he’s deemed financially and emotionally fit to be a Father? – Bradley Whitford

*****

90 year old William Shatner will go to space for Blue Origin.

*****

The Q Anon Shaman pled guilty to a felony for obstructing the Electoral College proceedings. I say 20 years and a $250K fine.** 600 others have been indicted.

*****

Days Alert: The Beyond Salem thing was ridic but it was so great to see some old characters.  Days is so great at visiting old family. Who can resist Shane, Austin and Carrie, Billie and the old Kristen? I do wish that Peacock would get their kinks out!! Back to the real Days: Are we smelling an Emmy for Susan Seaforth Hayes and Bill?? ** Good to have Abigail back. It is always fun to wonder which actress and or personality it will be. ** Deidre Hall got her star on the walk of fame.**And just in time for Halloween, the Devil is making a comeback. The end of the year in Salem is always the best!! It is so brave to give the 96 year old man the old switcheroo into the Dark Lord.  It was fun to see the grandkids discover Grandma Marlena’s story. Delicious!! Hail Satan!!** It is past time for Tate and Teresa to come back to town. Brady needs to be put in his place. And thanks for the Philip and Chloe flashbacks!!

*****

The breakdown of the vaccinated: 90% of Atheists, 86% Hispanic Catholic, 84% Agnostic, 79% White Catholic, 73% White mainline protestant, 70% Black mainline protestant, 57% white evangelical. 1 in 500 Americans have died of Covid.

*****

So Mike Lindell and Jim Baker have teamed up to sell children’s Bible pillows.** Piers Morgan has returned to the Murdoch organization by joining Fox. That sounds about right.

*****

Please stop saying the vaccine does not have severe side effects, I took my shots and now I’m alive and have to keep working. –Mohand Eishieky

*****

In theatres Oct. 22: The French Dispatch.** October also brings us a new season of Curb your enthusiasm and Oct. 17 will catch us up on Succession. Whew!!!

*****

So people under conservatorship are not free to marry who they want? What?

*****

46% of Americans believe in ghosts.

*****

Simone Biles, Mckayla Maroney and Aly Rasiman testified at  the Senate judiciary hearing about the FBI’s handling of accusations against Larry Nassar and it was eye opening!

*****

We wanted a no -nonsense Dem who pushes on and does not puss out.  I am a bit surprised to see we have it. There are so many pressing issues that I hope Biden works a bit more on Haiti though.

*****

The National Police Act was passed to celebrate cops. Still no police reform.

*****

John Mulaney and Olivia Munn are going to have a baby.

*****

The Emmy’s were a little different this year with more of a Golden Globe look.  Cedric the Entertainer hosted with Reggie Watts as DJ. Lots of minority noms but barely a win. It was a white people night. Ted Lasso had a great night. Mare of Eastown took home a few with Evan Peters, Julianne Nicholson and Kate Winslet. Now, Kate is great but how did Anya Taylor- Joy not walk away with that? Queens Gambit did win a couple and gave the longest speech with the seemingly arrogant director Scott Frank who opened up 2 page acceptance. Categories were tough but I was routing for Renee Elise Goldberry and Bowen Yang but perhaps next year. The people in England who had their own party for all the statues that the Crown won seemed to be having more fun! Hacks won for writing and directing and Jean Smart!! It was nice to see the Norm Macdonald love which was barely mentioned by Lorne but celebrated by John Oliver. Colbert ‘s election night special won as did JB Smoove. Hamilton won and Debbie Allen got the big one. I do not understand why real singers and or musicians have to be there for the in Memoriam. It takes me out of it a bit and concentrates the focus on them. Do they think that people will pay attention more? Do they want to keep the home audience or live audience from the bathroom?  My best dressed were Anya Taylor-Joy, Michaela Cole who won for I may destroy you, Jean Smart, Josh O’Connor, Kathryn Hahn, Billy Porter, MJ Rodriguez, Keenan Thonpson, Leslie Odom Jr., Catherine O’Hara, Trevor Noah, Eugene Levy, Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys, Bowen Yang,  Anthony Anderson, Leslie Grossman, Amber Ruffin, Allyson Felix, Renee Elise Goldberry, Samira Wiley and Rege- Jean Page. My worst were Sarah Paulson, Gillian Anderson,  Beanie Feldstein, Elizabeth Olsen and Aidy Bryant. To me the best part of the show was the enthusiasm of Conan and the way he injected himself into much of the evening .He was the show.  Go Conan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*****

Next year there must be some Emmys for Sarah Paulson and Cobie Smulders in Impeachment!!!!!

*****

Oh Boy!! The Eyes of Tammy Faye!!

*****

Looking forward to the Electric Life of Louis Wain with Benedict Cumberbatch and Claire Foy.

*****

Abba has a new album!!

*****

Shang Chi is the biggest Labor Day opening with a $71.4 mil opening.

*****

Sen. Amy Klobuchar has announced she has breast cancer.

*****

Is it the 70’s? A streaker ran past the studio of the Today show.

*****

Rascal Flatts Joe Don Rooney was arrested for DUI.** Nicholas Cage was thrown out of a prime rib pace in Vegas after being drunk and disorderly.

*****

Jennifer Eckhart has filed a lawsuit against former Fox news anchor Ed Henry for rape and retaliation after allegedly being handcuffed and beaten.

*****

Scarlett Johansson has settled her Disney lawsuit.

*****

Pete Buttigieg and Chasten had twins they named Penelope Rose and Joseph August.

*****

I noticed a commercial for Dancing with the Stars. Are we onto the E list because I have heard of hardly any of these people. ‘Stars’is really stretching it. And as I post this I see there are some covid issues there as well.

*****

Virgin River was renewed for 2 more seasons.

*****

Trevor Noah is right? Why do they stop giving lollipops to adults at the doctor?

*****

Jon Stewart is back on Apple tv with ‘The problem with Jon Stewart.

*****

Brooklyn 99 had about the best finale (other than Newhart) that I can recall. I had my fingers crossed that Chelsea would be back. Will they honor us like they did in the show and come back for a special about once a year? That would be fucking awesome!!

*****

Don’t expect compliments from an insecure person.- Mr. Pickles

*****

Thousands and thousands of people are in need. Haitian refugees and other immigrants have seen nothing like this what with assassination, a hurricane and earthquake. The Southern border is a mess.** Why does Fox news keep telling refugees the border is open as they sit back and laugh at Biden’s predicament.  Spreading false info to intentionally hurt poor, distressed people has no end for them.

*****

Do companies know how fucked up their employment websites are? It is true that some people do not want to work. It is true that people schedule interviews and don’t show up. It is also true that companies have made it so hard to apply that many can’t. I suppose it is easier for them but the poor who may really want to work have a hard time. Paper applications are almost completely gone. The old fashioned way of walking into low paying job sites and finding a connection with a manager rarely exist. Some places only accept texts or have long ridiculous psych tests that a working Mother may not have time for. A Father working many hours already, may not be able to go to the library to get online if they cannot afford a computer. Many websites tell you that there no positions available in your area while there is a huge sign in front of the establishment. Can’t find people to work.. Gee I wonder why?? And treat people with respect once you find them, how about that?

*****

Keep your head up in failure, and your head down in success. –Jerry Seinfeld

*****

Hey.. There was a van air B’n B biz going that got busted. Hey.. The poor need vaca’s too. It is wrong but If they are willing to sleep in a van, why not. I truly think that many do not understand how much people are struggling.

*****

Free coffee day came and went but only a few places really gave you free coffee without rules to govern the promo. Some places wanted to sell you something else and some made you belong to their club. Starbucks held that customers had to come inside for the free cup of Joe, handicapped or not.

*****

One would think the Republicans would run out of $ for recounts but they have deep pockets. Just think how much good they could do for the huddled masses with that scratch.

*****

Sad to lose Mick Brigden, protégé of Bill Graham who managed The Stones and worked with Frampton, Dylan and Santana.** And the comics were very vocal about the loss of Norm Macdonald. He was one of a kind and he will be missed!

*****

R.I.P. Ruth Marx, Lee Scratch Perry, Willard Scott, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Isadore Bleckman, George Wein, Michael K. William,George Holliday, Anthony Johnson,  Basil Hoffman, Al Harrington,Willie Garson, Mick Brigden, Tommy Kirk and Norm Macdonald.

[thisdayinwwi]

Mar 26 1917 saw an Ottoman victory at the First Battle of Gaza. This battle blocked the Allied forces from moving up the Mediterranean Coast from their bases near the Suez Canal. Original B&W picture at the LoC.

Regimental Standard presented to the defenders of Gaza, who repulsed the first British attack, 1917. LC-DIG-ppmsca-13709-00116

The image is also the cover of the book, Year of the Locust: A Soldier's Diary and the Erasure of Palestine's Ottoman Past by Turjman, Ihsan Salih

The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East (Danish Osmannerrigets fald) by Rogan, Eugene

[pizzettauniversale]

Israele e Palestina.

Dove informarsi, libri, film, reportage seri per capire qualcosa tra chi dice che quelle terre sono degli ebrei perche gli arabi le hanno vendute e le abitavano solo come nomadi, e chi dice che gli ebrei si sono appropriati di quelle terre illegittimamente (al netto dei loro motivi religiosi).

Qual è la VERITÀ STORICA?

Qui faccio parlare il mio ragazzo laureato in storia con una tesi in Storia dei paesi Islamici e lui consiglia per quanto riguarda i libri: 

Il conflitto israelo-palestinese di James L. Gelvin 

Storia della Palestina modera; una terra, due popoli di Ilan Pappé 

Il conflitto arabo-israeliano di Fraser Thomas G. 

Breve storia dello stato di Israele 1948-2008 di Claudio Vercelli 

Hamas: che cos’è e cosa vuole il movimento radicale palestinese

La guerra per la Palestina. Riscrivere la storia del 1948 di Avi Shlaim e Eugene Rogan 

In tempo reale consiglia il subreddit: r/Palestine 

Per i film: 

Paradise Now di Hany Abu-Assad

e anche Valzer con Bashir di Ari Folman anche se parla dei conflitti Libano che culminarono nel massacro di Sabra e Shatila del 1982 (questo lo consiglio io, molto bello) 

[the-literata-letters]

reading list - 900: history & geography

CLICK HERE TO ACCESS MY OTHER READING LISTS.

✵ ACTIVELY UPDATING ✵

☐  901: FOUCAULT, Michel – Les mots et les choses ☐  901: GOULD, Stephen Jay – Questioning the Millenium ☐  901: McNEILL, William H. – The Rise of the West ☐  902: WEIR, Stephen – Encyclopedia Idiotica ☐  907: JONNES, Jill – Eiffel's Tower ☐  909: HARARI, Yuval Noah – Homo Deus ☐  909: ROGAN, Eugene – The Arabs ☐  909: TOYNBEE, Arnold J. – A Study of History ☐  910: POOLE, Robert M. – Explorers House ☐  911: BROTTON, Jerry – A History of the World in 12 Maps ☐  914: SHANAHAN, Brendan – In Turkey I Am Beautiful ☐  914: WEST, Rebecca – Black Lamb and Grey Falcon ☐  915: FLETCHER, David – Brian on the Brahmaputra ☐  918: SIMONS, Eric – Darwin Slept Here ☐  919: KAVENNA, Joanna – The Ice Museum ☐  920: COLLINS, Paul – Banvard's Folly ☐  920: STRACHEY, Lytton – Eminent Victorians ☐  933: PEROWNE, Stuart – The Life & Times of Herod the Great ☐  936: TACITUS – Agricola ☐  937: BEARD, Mary – SPQR: A History of Ancient Rome ☐  937: SUETONIUS – De vita Caesarum ☐  937: TACITUS, Publius Cornelius – Annals ☐  938: McKEOWN, J. C. – A Cabinet of Greek Curiosities ☐  938: THUCYDIDES – History of the Peloponnesian War ☐  939: CLAPP, Nicholas – The Road to Ubar ☐  940: CHURCHILL, Winston – The Second World War ☐  940: MARKS, Leo – Between Silk and Cyanide ☐  940: TUCHMAN, Barbara – The Guns of August ☐  942: FRASER, Antonia – Faith and Treason ☐  943: HETT, Benjamin Carter – Burning the Reichstag ☐  946: ORWELL, George – Homage to Catalonia ☐  946: SHRADY, Nicholas – The Last Day ☐  949: ROSEN, William – Justinian's Flea ☐  951: SCHELL, Orville & DELURY, John – Wealth and Power ☐  951: SPENCE, Jonathan D. – The Gate of Heavenly Peace ☐  955: AXWORTHY, Michael – Revolutionary Iran ☐  956: ROBERTS, Jo – Contested Land, Contested Memory ☐  960: MEREDITH, Martin – The Fate of Africa ☐  966: De VILLIERS, Marq & HIRTLE, Sheila – Timbuktu ☐  967: DINESEN, Isak – Out of Africa ☐  970: KING, Thomas – The Inconvenient Indian ☐  971: HELE, Karl S. – The Nature of Empires and the Empires of Nature ☐  972: GLASSMAN, Steve & ANAYA, Armando – Cities of the Maya in Seven Epochs ☐  973: CUMMINGS, Joseph – Ten Tea Parties ☐  973: DUBOIS, W. E. B. – The Souls of Black Folk ☐  973: FOOTE, Shelby – The Civil War ☐  973: HOFSTADTER, Richard – The American Political Tradition and the Men Who Made It ☐  973: McPHERSON, James M. – Battle Cry of Freedom ☐  973: TURNER, Frederick Jackson – The Frontier in American History ☐  973: WILLIAMS, William Carlos – In the American Grain ☐  974: CARO, Robert A. – The Power Broker ☐  974: SHORTO, Russell – The Island at the Center of the World ☐  978: DRURY, Bob & CLAVIN, TOm – The Heart of Everything That Is ☐  981: LÉVI-STRAUSS, Claude – Tristes Tropiques ☐  985: ADAMS, Mark – Turn Right at Machu Picchu ☐  996: ALEXANDER, Caroline – The Bounty ☐  998: MULVANEY, Kieran – At the Ends of the Earth ☐  999: LEMONICK, Michael D. – Other Worlds

BIOGRAPHY

☐  ADAMS, Henry Brooks – The Education of Henry Adams ☐  ANGELOU, Maya – I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings ☐  BASCOM, Tom – Chameleon Days ☐  BATE, Walter Jackson – Samuel Johnson ☐  BETANCOURT, Ingrid – Even Silence Has an End ☐  BOYD, Julia – The Excellent Doctor Blackwell ☐  CAMPBELL, Olivia – Women in White Coats ☐  CHANG, Jung – Wild Swans ☐  CHENEY, Margaret – Tesla ☐  EVERITT, Anthony – Cicero ☐  FRANK, Anne – The Diary of a Young Girl ☐  FRANKLIN, Benjamin – The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin ☐  GILMOUR, David – Curzon ☐  GOWING, Lawrence – Vermeer ☐  HACKEL, Steven W. – Junipero Serra ☐  ISAACSON, Walter – The Code Breaker ☐  JAGER, Eric – Blood Royal ☐  JOHNSON, Paul – Mozart ☐  KALANITHI, Paul – When Breath Becomes Air ☐  KAPLAN, Fred – Thomas Carlyle ☐  KAY, Adam – This Is Going to Hurt ☐  LEKUTON, Joseph Lemosolai – Facing the Lion ☐  LEVI, Primo – Se questo è un uomo ☐  LOFTIS, Larry – The Princess Spy ☐  MALCOLM X – The Autobiography of Malcolm X ☐  MAN, John – Attila ☐  MAN, John – Gutenberg ☐  MARCHANT, Jo – The Shadow King ☐  MARKHAM, Beryl – West With the Night ☐  MEYER, G. J. – The Borgias ☐  MILTON, Giles – Samurai William ☐  MUKHERJEE, Siddhartha – The Emperor of All Maladies ☐  NABOKOV, Vladimir Vladimirovich – Insomniac Dreams ☐  NABOKOV, Vladimir Vladimirovich– Speak, Memory ☐  NIMURA, Janice P. – The Doctors Blackwell ☐  OLSZEWSKI, Erin Marie – Undercover Epicenter Nurse ☐  PARKER, Richard – The Improbable Return of Coco Chanel ☐  PAUSCH, Randy & ZASLOW, Jeffrey – The Last Lecture ☐  RANDALL, Margaret – Che on My Mind ☐  SCHILLACE, Brandy – Mr. Humble and Dr. Butcher ☐  SINCLAIR, David – The Land That Never Was ☐  SKLOOT, Rebecca – The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks ☐  STEINEM, Gloria – Marilyn ☐  TWAIN, Mark – The Autobiography of Mark Twain ☐  WALLS, Jeannette – The Glass Castle ☐  WASHINGTON, Booker T. – Up From Slavery ☐  WEATHERFORD, Jack – Genghis Khan ☐  WELSH, Mary Sue – One Woman in a Hundred ☐  WESTOVER, Tara – Educated ☐  WHITAKER, Robert – The Mapmaker's Wife ☐  WOLFF, Tobias – This Boy's Life ☐  WOODHAM-SMITH, Cecil – Florence Nightingale ☐  WRIGHT, Richard – Black Boy ☐  XUE, Xinran – Sky Burial

[fearsmagazine]

WEREWOLVES WITHIN - Review

DISTRIBUTOR: IFC Films

SYNOPSIS: Newly arrived forest ranger Finn has come to the small town of Beaverfield to look into the divisions that have risen in the community over a proposed pipeline. When a snowstorm traps its residents together inside the local inn it is up to Finn and the local postal worker Cecily to try to keep the peace and uncover the truth behind a mysterious creature that has begun terrorizing the community.

REVIEW: WEREWOLVES WITHIN is based on the Ubisoft VR video game in which players discover what characters sitting around the campfire are werewolves. There were other little twists, turns, and elements to the game, but you get the basic idea. Author turned screenwriter, and ex-wife of comic Marc Maron, Mishna Wolff (kind of ironic her last name is Wolff) turns the concept into a cinematic who-done-it comedy with interesting characters and fresh dialogue. It’s a fun setup that harkens back to cinematic comedies like “Clue,” “Murder by Death,” or even “Shaun of the Dead.” She’s discarded most of the game’s elements other than the basic premise that there is a werewolf hiding amongst the group and they’re trying to figure out who it is before anyone else dies.

Director Josh Ruben does an excellent job of capturing the grandeur of this picturesque mountain town and some funny moments. The film focuses more on the comedy than the werewolf, but there are some grisly moments, after all it is a werewolf movie. The big reveal transformation scene is no “The Howling” or “An American Werewolf in London,” but as it is kept mostly in the dark body movement and sound design go a long way to add creepiness to the scene. There are also many creative edits that add a bit of smoke and mirrors to the plot. Ruben does an excellent job of maintaining the film’s energy and delivers a fun, engaging and entertaining view.

The film is a delight to watch largely due to the work of actor Sam Richardson and actress Milana Vayntrub, yes the AT&T spokeswoman from the commercials. When they work together to try and unravel the mystery it turns into this buddy type situation with their unique personal issues and problems. The performances are grounded, but there is also this light and airy element to the performances that make it enjoyable and delightful to watch. I have to admit that I only had a limited awareness of their other work and was mesmerized by their performances here. I was shocked to see the body of work credited to these actors. The rest of the cast does an excellent job creating these characters grounded. They could have easily become these clinched stereotypes that were simply there to serve as victims, but it is an enjoyable ensemble cast.

I never played the Ubisoft VR video game WEREWOLVES WITHIN so I could not tell you if there are any “easter eggs” in the film that involved the game. In a time when I’ve sat through so many Seth Rogan, Danny McBride, James Franco, or any of the sophomoric comedies of the last few years it’s refreshing to watch a film that relies more on the craft and performances than 1that of vulgar and the exploitative elements for  comedy. Director Josh Ruben’s work makes a solid case for my argument that there is a unique parallel between horror and comedy in that it all comes down to the timing. The film has a talented ensemble cast and two stellar leads that make WEREWOLVES WITHIN a howling good time… pun intended!

CAST: Sam Richardson, Milana Vayntrub, George Basil, Sarah Burns, Michael Chernus, Catherine Curtin, Wayne Duvall, Harvey Guillén, Rebecca Henderson, Cheyenne Jackson, Michaela Watkins, and Glenn Fleshler. CREW: Director - Josh Ruben; Screenwriter - Mishna Wolff; Based on the Ubisoft, VR video game; Producers - Jason Altman, Margaret Boykin, Andrew Lieberman, Natalie Metzger, Matt Miller, Sam Richardson, and Benjamin Wiessner; Cinematographer - Matt Wise; Score - Anna Drubich; Editor - Brett W. Bachman; Production Designer - Bret August Tanzer; Costume Designer - David Tabbert; Special Effects Supervisor - Eugene Hitt; Visual Effects Supervisor - Jeffrey Kalmus. OFFICIAL: www.ifcfilms.com/films/werewolves-within FACEBOOK: N.A. TWITTER: N.A. TRAILER: https://youtu.be/wryaiTGFKak RELEASE DATE: In theaters on June 25, 2021 and on Digital Rental & VOD on July 2, 2021.

**Until we can all head back into the theaters our “COVID Reel Value” will be similar to how you rate a film on digital platforms - 👍 (Like), 👌 (It’s just okay),  or 👎 (Dislike)

Reviewed by Joseph B Mauceri

[thejdw81]

Schizophrenics. I don't think it's a terrible thing to show up in a padded wagon.

Bryan Callen

[sparklingdali]

learning about Barbarossa in historical context is so wild I thought he was a weird British pirate and in the meanwhile he was a Muslim officer in Ottoman Empire and wore a turban