Roundtable

Jim:  Roundtable time and we're focusing on the assault on Gaza.  Participating our roundtable are  The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava, and me, Jim; Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude; Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man; C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review; Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills); Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix; Mike of Mikey Likes It!; Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz); Ruth of Ruth's Report; Trina of Trina's Kitchen; Wally of The Daily Jot; Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ; Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends; Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub. Betty's kids did the illustration. You are reading a rush transcript.






  

Jim (Con't): So any observations.

Ruth: I find it telling that Tara Reade is suddenly dropping all of her online friends.  I was not aware she could make it through a day without, for example, reTweeting Marjorie Taylor Greene.  Ms. Greene being a hate merchant didn't bother Tara but MTG attacking the Palestinians did become the straw that brought Ms. Reade's back fat.  And then some.  Maybe she will learn from it?  I doubt it.

Rebecca: Another crackpot who used to pretend he was left, Jackson Hinkle, also had to stop reTweeting his right wing buddies.  They really should have checked them out before hopping into bed with them especially since assaults on Palestinians are rather common.  It's a rare year that the Israeli government isn't doing some form of assault.  Some of the reluctance to call out the assault of Gaza may be related to that in that it has to be huge before a lot of people get outraged.

Ty: There's a lot to be outraged over.

Elaine: There sure is but, sadly, nothing can restart Naomi Wolf's brain.  And she's thrilled that her husband is reTweeting a man who repeatedly insults "White liberal women."  She's not a feminist.  Most likely, she never was.  She just wanted attention, heard Judith N Shklar's lectures, knew she could rip off Judith and did so.  She was one of the big con artists of the 20th century but people have caught on.

Marcia: "Facing The Beast."  "The Beast."  That's what she titles her book.  She's so Old Testament she should turn into a pillar of salt.

Jim: Anyone been a big disappointment during the assault on Gaza?

Mike: Yeah.  THE PROGRESSIVE.  I believe they filed one report and it was more of a both-sides report.  That's really sad.  I'll applaud the work done by COMMON DREAMS, COUNTERPUNCH, THE NATION and IN THESE TIMES.  I do not, however, understand why THE PROGRESSIVE even exists anymore.

Jim: They really are disappointing.  They have no strong online presence at this point and haven't since Matthew Rothschild left many, many years ago.  Okay, who's the most disgusting American online these days?

Rebecca: Tie between Glenneth Greenwald and John Stauber.  They're both nuts and hate merchants. 

Jess: Since Stauber will soon be dead from old age, that just leaves Glenneth.

Jim: Who is someone who really deserves applause for their work last week?

Betty: I'll go with Nora Barrows Friedman.  She's a familiar voice to KPFA listeners and she and her program ELECTRONIC INTIFADA have really done a great job.

Jim: Anyone else?

Isaiah: I'd give Amy Goodman and DEMOCRACY NOW! credit.  They've been hitting hard like they used to in 2003, 2004 and 2005.  It's been a tremendous resource.

Jim: So that's Nora Barrows Friedman and Amy Goodman, anyone else?

Isaiah: I'd also give credit to Jeffrey St. Clair of COUNTERPUNCH.

Elaine: Agreed.  Let's also note BLACK POWER MEDIA and their REMIX MORNING SHOW.

Ann: What's Rania Khalek's show because I'd praise the work they did.

C.I.: BREAKTHROUGH NEWS.  

Jim: Okay so we've got Nora Barrows Friedman, Amy Goodman, COUNTERPUNCH, BLACK POWER MEDIA, COMMON DREAMS, THE NATION, IN THESE TIMES and BREAKTHROUGH NEWS.  Anyone else?

C.I.: THE MAJORITY REPORT and Kyle Kulinski's program both hit hard on the topic from the start.  

Jim: I was surprised by that too -- pleasantly surprised.  I'd see you'd reposted their videos at THE COMMON ILLS and I'd stream and think, "This is first-rate work."  So, yes, praise for them as well.

Stan: I'd praise C.I. at THE COMMON ILLS where she picked up the topic and ran with it with no equivocation or both-sides nonsense.  And, as Trina pointed out in one post, C.I. was where others would be a day or so later.

Trina: She got the generational split before anyone noticed it.  She also got what that split meant.  The knee-jerk apologists for the Israeli government are dying out and a thing of the past.  We're a better educated people than we were 20 years ago.  

Rebecca: Well -- and I'm participating by telephone and assuming C.I. is shooting daggers at all participating face-to-face --

Jim: She is.

Rebecca (Con't): -- but it needs to be noted -- and I've noted it many times at my site, that what the US did to Iraq really woke Americans up.  There has been so much work -- even before that -- but we are more educated as a people and the knee-jerk response days are over -- whether elderly members of our government grasp that or not.

Cedric: I think this took a lot of US politicians by surprise.  They thought that they could go after Rashida Tlaib or whomever. I think they were very surprised to learn that demonization was not going to work.  

Wally: We didn't talk about politicians.  The most disappointing one for me would be US House Rep Barbara Lee who, as usual, could not be counted on to defend the Palestinians.

Stan: Well she's old.  She's ancient. 

Wally: She kept Tweeting about Israel's rights and how, if you were an Israeli and needed help getting to safety to contact her office.

Betty: What I found so hilarious was she was also Tweeting about Indigenous Day.  I know her face is cracked, but is her mind as well?  The Indigenous people right now are the Palestinians.  They are akin to the Native Americans.  It's their land that was stolen.  Barbara Lee and her tired old ass need to leave Congress.

Kat: And shame on the people who keep pimping her for the Senate.  She's too old.  She's not that left and how dare you, as Gaza is under assault, push for this War Crimes denier to be put in the Senate.

Jess: On that idiot, I want it noted that she Tweeted "It is overdue for Congress to put a spotlight on human rights abuses in Egypt and question our military assistance" but never Tweeted anything suggesting that the Congress do the same with regards to Israel.  She's a fake ass.

Betty: I'm blogging tonight about a ridiculous idiot gas bag who is saying that Katie Porter and Adam Schiff owe it -- OWE IT -- to Barbara Less to drop out of the race.  Hell.  No.

Jim: Good points.  And with that, we're going to wrap up.  This is a rush transcript.