Not to keep dragging this dead horse (puppy?) through the mud, but there is a fundamental difference between farm dogs (and cats) and “pets” besides the former not being kept inside a house. They are working animals, and no farmer calls them pets. But that doesn’t mean farmers don’t love them. In his latter years, my dad had a dog he took everywhere (except into the house). We kids (and grandkids) and our mother never made it onto their Christmas card photos. But Sparky did.
I wonder if Kristi Noem's little anecdote was intended for an audience of one. She's, ahem, gunning for the VP spot and Trump's contempt for dogs is well documented, he's always quick with the likes of "died like a dog", "fired him like a dog", etc.
"Pro Peace?" One side was violently attacked and wants revenge. The other hides among its populace to use as shields. Neither wants peace but domination. Too the highly educated students - most interviewed seem to have little understanding of what is happening. Why Palestine-Israel has peaked in their minds vs Ukraine- Russian or any other conflict I don't know.
Virulent antisemitism is a common theory, and while I think that is a part of it, I think the main reason is more benign, if not less dismaying: they’re jumping on a bandwagon, because that is what addle brained, phone addicted young people do these days, when not tending to more pressing matters, like taking pictures of their food. TikTok tells them get whipped into a frenzy over Gaza, and so they whip away. As soon as their social media overlords tell them to get excited about something else, they’ll do as they’re told. There is an assumption that attendance at elite colleges is proof that the attendees must be bright. It isn’t, and they’re not.
i agree w- 'addle-brained'. but my guess is that your dismissal of an entire generation [it's not just the students at the 'elite' colleges who are demonstrating] is akin to the opinions of my generation [boomers] of Gen X and Millennials, and my parents' generation's opinion of the Boomers. and while many of the boomers demonstrated and were stoned on weed much of the time during their adolescence and into their 20s, and have effed up a lot of things later in life, many of the generation performed and accomplished good and sometimes great things in their lives. i expect the Gen Z collegians will have their own ledger of positive and negative accomplishments too.
Yeah I guess some of the strokes I brushed were overly broad; I didn’t mean to dismiss the ENTIRE generation. I’m sure that there are lots of intelligent young people among us who are thoughtful, literate, independent minded and can think critically. It’s just that the drama queens of the college campuses, with their masks, their tents, and their “demands” are clearly not among them.
Thrasher - Report the news or be the news - choose a side. Noem - Romney got smashed by driving with his dog on the car roof. I guess you saved gas mileage by reducing the drag and shooting the dog.
Even worse is Kristie Noem's refusal to answer why she put the lie about meeting Kim Jong Un in her book. When asked about that, she dissembles like crazy & refuses to answer. At one interviewer's attempt to get an answer out of her, it sounded like she didn't read the book she supposedly wrote.
Again, right on Garry! It is apparent that she outright fabricated a meeting with Kim Jong-un which never occurred and also alleges that she canceled a scheduled meeting with French President Marcon, but his office has since replied that there was never any scheduled meeting with her, although she could have been part of a group at an event that Marcon was attending.
So now we know that she is a liar, and also that she is incredibly stupid to make up things that can easily be found to be untrue. I'm a conservative, and among my network of like-minded family and friends I can tell you that Noem is now thought of as not terribly bright and insipid at the least, and vile and despicable by many others of us.
And, I have not seen any reference to it in the PS commentary, But it is widely believed that the married Norm was also conducting a not very hidden affair with Corey Lewandowski, the former Trump campaign manager with stories of their friskiness together in the hotel bar at the CPAC conference. Even beyond the profound moral implications of infidelity, how incredibly stupid would this be for someone who was widely thought to have national office aspirations??
Noem has rendered her further political aspirations DOA by her own words and actions. We can all hope that this pathetic person will soon fade from public view. South Dakota voters, get on it!
I seriously doubt she's met any world leaders. There's no reason for any of them to go to South Dakota & if she went overseas, the leaders there would go, 'Where the hell is South Dakota & tell that moron to go away?"
First Noem: She's a worthless, violent person with no redeeming qualities. Her victims' lives were and are not hers to take. She and her ilk make the world a horrible place, creating pain and suffering because they have no empathy, thinking themselves above accountability because god loves them so much he granted them dominion. People with empathy should replace them at every level of government but for those without empathy who vote.
Second the Gaza mess: The protesters really do need to think before they speak, ensuring that they message properly. In this case, they problem are the terrorists called "settlers" who murder Palestinians and steal their property to drive them out in their attempt to cleanse what they claim as their holy land and a right-wing, conservative, religious government that supports them. Not all Jews are such Zionists and so the protesters need to ensure that they don't broadbrush all into the violent zealot group.
The settlers didn't murder & drive out anyone. Some bought the land & the rest left when the Arab armies told them to leave so they could have a free field of fire to kill all the Jews in Israel in 1948 & then they could return when all the Jews were dead. Except it didn't work out that way & Israel defeated the Arab armies that year & in every war since.
You are just another anti-Semite lying about this!
LOL! Oh, here we go! The ol' "anti-semitism" accusation! Yes, "settlers" murder Palestinians and drive them from their property to steal it. Some "settlers" may have bought the land properly and have just title, most have not. They, religious zealots, are the problem here and there.
LOL! Whatever. The "settlers" are terrorists and thieves and the Israeli government fully supports them and so makes the situation worse. That is an absolute fact and no amount of your pathetic whining will change that. Call me what you want, I don't give a damn about you or your opinion. You and your ilk are THE problem, you always have been.
You're scum. You have no point so you go directly to name calling. Such is your ilk. Accepting the fact that the "settlers" are the problem, murdering and terrorizing Palestinians and stealing their property, with full support of the right-wing Netanyahu government is something that many Israelis confront as we are forced to confront the right-wing Evangelicals and their GOP supporters here. Anti-theocracy is a legitimate liberal position and as an unapologetic liberal I am unapologetically anti-theocracy.
Like Eric, I'm not sufficiently informed about Middle East conflicts to take a confident position concerning who is justified in doing what.
But I do have some experience in rearing children, which makes a lot of the combatants' rhetoric sound familiar. My fantasy is for a couple of seasoned grandmothers -- any ethnicity will do, because childish behavior transcends culture -- to have the authority to grab Israel and Hamas by their metaphorical ears. "I don't care WHO started it or who is to blame. People are getting hurt and that has to STOP! Both of you sit down at this kitchen table now and talk. No playtime or supper or TV or anything but sitting until you can work out a fair way to stop hitting. You don't have to like each other, but you do have to act like civilized humans if you expect to be treated as such."
Honestly, the world would function a lot better if it were run entirely by mothers and preschool teachers, who invest their very lives in human well-being, rather than as a contest of testosterone.
"Neither side recognizes the humanity of the other, which is why nothing ever changes" -- Neil Steinberg from a recent column. I think this says it all.
Hi Wendy - I'm going to respectfully disagree with you on this. The majority of Israelis are favorable to a two-state solution if there can be sufficient guarantees of peace and security. However, the Hamas charter explicitly calls for the destruction of the state of Israel, and polls consistently reflect that a majority of Palestinians also share the view that they do not accept a two-state solution and will never accept Israel's right to exist. That's what has made this an intractable situation. Many people feel that Netanyahu is not an Israeli leader who can find their way to a final resolution, but it appears that the far bigger challenge is to identify Palestinian leadership who genuinely wants peace with Israel.
I don’t think you should have fallen on your sword, Eric, in response to the people who criticized you for saying that “most of these demonstrators have the same long-term goal: Peace.” You were right when you wrote that. I still think that is what most of the protestors want. They are young people who were taught in school that we were the good guys, and when they grew up and learned to think for themselves, they realized that our schools whitewashed our history, and that our ancestors were guilty of genocide of the indigenous North Americans, that our government started and fought many wars and military operations to protect the financial interests of American businessmen and corporations, and that we have, in general, a sorry history of trying to dominate other human beings rather than to cooperate with other human beings. Many of the protestors see the Palestinians as the indigenous people of the area, which they certainly are. They see the civil war that led to the creation of Israel filtered by their knowledge of wars that displaced other indigenous people, like those in North America. They want self-determination for people, and they see Palestinians who have been displaced, and are continuing to be displaced by continuing settlements in the West Bank as indigenous people who are being mistreated. I find the current strife in the Middle East to be very difficult. I can see arguments on both sides. It’s tragic, and I wish the parties could find peace and a two-state solution. And I think that is what most of the protestors want. Treat people like people, not animals. Shortly after October 7th, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, “I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.” The Palestinians are not animals. They are people. And I think most of the protestors want an acknowledgement of that, and they want the Israeli government to act accordingly, and not to slaughter innocent Palestinian women and children which the Israeli government has been doing. Please understand, I favor a two-state solution. People need to learn how to live in peace. Killing begets more killing, always in the name of right and honor. Julius Caesar is depicted in George Bernard Shaw’s Caesar and Cleopatra as saying, “You have slain their leader: it is right that they shall slay you. If you doubt it, ask your four counsellors here. Then in the name of that right shall I not slay them for murdering their Queen, and be slain in my turn by their countrymen as the invader of their fatherland? And then can Rome do less than avenge her sons and her honor. And so, to the end of history, murder shall breed murder, always in the name of right and honor and peace, until the gods are tired of blood and create a race that can understand.” It’s time for that. For a race of people that can understand.
Excuse me for a moment while I reign in my uncontrollable laughter from having read the words “…and when they grew up and learned to think for themselves”. There. Now I’m back.
I am sure that one could point to many examples of people young and old who have freed their minds and learned to think independently, but one would be hard pressed to find a worse example than the groupthink governed mobs that are literally setting up camp, making noise and generally epitomising a demagogue’s super deluxe toolkit on college campuses all over the country.
I’m not sure why you seem to think that these 20 year olds have been treated to a “whitewashed” American history. Maybe they have, but considering their age, I’d venture a guess that the jaundice eyed version of our history that you seem to think should predominate is the one that they’ve been largely weened on, which is part of the reason that they seize the “America is the Real Empire of Evil”sceptre with such zeal.
Speaking of that jaundice eyed view of American history, there has never been any shortage of soapbox proselytisers who have made it their specialty to hammer home this theme to their followers, Jim Jones being one that comes immediately to mind. Do you think that the People’s Temple followers had all learned to think for themselves?
Your rejoinder is a good example of Paul Grajciar’s comment below which states: “In reading the mail here I am rather amazed at the volume of people who seem to be conservative, both politically and socially, who post comments here. What is not amazing is that most of their comments are negative and confrontational in nature. It’s as if they have to affirm their beliefs for the rest of us.”
Only I’m not conservative, neither socially nor politically. If my refusal to recognize large groups of narcissistic, zombie-like, smartphone addicted TikTok marionettes as wizened sages in possession of some sort of deep, profound wisdom, well, it’s really not fair to shoot the messenger just because you don’t like the message he delivers, is it now Joanie?
I am taken aback by the "you kids get off my lawn" attitude of many of the comments. "Addlebrained, phone addicted," "groupthink governed mobs," "narcissistic, zombie-like...TikTok marionettes." Perhaps they don't consider themselves conservative, but it reminds me of the folks who tried to run me and my boyfriend off the road when i was in college because we were "America hating hippies!"
If you were taken aback by the cited words, I hope that you are at least as unnerved by the bleak reality that they describe, especially the matter of phone addiction, which is a full blown national health crisis, and is fuelling an epidemic of mental illness among our young. Sorry, but some things are just too depressing to try to put a positive spin on, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t need to be said.
Liked all but the first VTotW - I had it narrowed to the Chicago vs Chicago In The News and Women/Rattlesnakes, and chose the former. (We have friends - many of them well-educated - from around the country (especially in Red states) who cannot conceive of how anyone could live within the city limits of Chicago, given the way Chicago is portrayed - especially by right-leaning outlets.) The sentiment of the Women/Rattlesnakes VTotW is one I share, however.
EZ - I applaud you for your mea culpa on last week's PS opinion on the two sides of the campus debate on the Hamas-Israeli war. I respect a person who is willing to re-visit their views - and openly cop to it.
Hamas' use of civilians as human shields is despicable, as is Hamas' overt, ultimate aim of annihilating Israel. I agree with you that it is Israel's overreaction to what most college students are reacting. In the last week I've seen some very disturbing video of pro-Palestinian protesters not merely "peacefully protesting", but outright preventing their fellow students from accessing parts of campus. (And college security personnel - apparently with administration consent - allowing such things to occur.) I am fairly absolutist on free speech and protesting, but when the protesting morphs into illegal action (and I do not count peaceful trespassing which does not inhibit others as illegal action), that's where I draw the line.
Wow, what an interesting column today! First, this-"Yes, Hamas embeds and hides among the civilian population, but reports of some 35,000 Gazans killed in response to the killing of roughly 1,000 Israelis on Oct. 7 is what prompted these campus uprisings". This is shortsighted. Imagine if we could go back in time and return Jews to the region where they lived for centuries. Imagine if we could erase the Holocaust and return Jews to a European existence. A few more than 35,000 Jews have died between European antisemitism, the Holocaust, and the fight to create Israel.. Jews are still "the people that killed Christ". But even that is simplistic. It's not as if Jews were universally loved in the region long before the appearance of Jesus. The life of Abraham and his teaching just made them too different than everyone else. If time could be changed, there might not even be an Israel.. The protests show an uneducated student and anti-semitic student population, no matter how great their schools are supposed to be. Faculty members backing them are even worse. Peace is a wonderful thing. Tell that to Hamas and all the other groups trying to erase Israel.
I am glad Eric doesn't mind being compared to Bill Maher. My problem is that it is not only liberals that object to Trump. Many Republicans do as well. Most are just too chicken to stand up to the bully. There is also an ugly side to his support. Many conservatives are unleashing ugly feelings they have had for years. Trump gets a lot of blame for creating things, but I don't see it that way. He has simply greenlighted behavior that has always existed in this country and too many people no longer feel the need to hide racism, greed, or a lack of respect for others to get what they want. If that sounds unpatriotic of me, so be it. We are, contrary to public opinion, not God's chosen people merely by being American.
To be truthful, I will continue to call the social media site formerly known as Twitter Twitter out of lazy inertia. But, it feels good to pretend I'll be doing it out of spite and contempt for its owner.
Some days I love it, some days I hate it: having to look up words that I don't know (heterodox). In the early days at J School at SIU I was told that newspapers were written at a 13 year old's reading level. Would like to meet the 13 year old who can define heterodox. But today is a good day. Happy to learn a new word.
I commend Eric for reflecting on his previous writing on the college protests and admitting that he was at least partially incorrect. How many people in public life actually do that? Very, very few.
In reading the mail here I am rather amazed at the volume of people who seem to be conservative, both politically and socially, who post comments here. What is not amazing is that most of their comments are negative and confrontational in nature. It’s as if they have to affirm their beliefs for the rest of us.
And their defense of Christie Noem is a perfect example of this behavior.
I just can't fathom the idea of killing a dog (puppy) and then just dumping it in a gravel pit. That act signals a depraved indifference to the dog's (puppy's) life that is sickening and on the level of a sociopath. A normal person would have had the self-awareness to see how bad this looks and at LEAST try to explain why more training or rehoming the dog (puppy) was not an option. But then to go on and describe the satisfaction of killing the dog (puppy) along with just dumping the dog (puppy) down a pit? I have not looked up her religious affiliation, but I will hazard a guess it is a Christian sect. I thought Christians are supposed to be kind and have empathy towards the sufferings of all living creatures?
Hey Matthew - I am in total agreement with you. I am a professed Christ follower, and Scripture provides very clear guidance that all of nature is a gift from the Creator for which we have an obligation of good stewardship. While we are explicitly prohibited from judging other people, we can certainly call out their actions, and Noem's self-described actions with her puppy richly warrants the widespread visceral condemnation she is now receiving.
You have to realize that rural farmers and ranchers view animals as a commodity and treat them accordingly. Dairy farmers will slaughter a bull calf because it’s basically useless for their needs.
That’s understandable.
I visited Wyoming a few years back in the pre-Trump era and it was spectacular. The people were friendly then and curious about an urban lib from CA like myself. Many of their families had been there since the mid 19th century.
But one rancher and I got onto the subject of Yellowstone and the conservation efforts in the are surrounding it.
He despised the movement and said that the park was useless and if he had his way he would shoot every elk, buffalo, and wolf he came upon.
“The waste of those grasslands are criminal” he said.
Now not every rancher has this outlook but generally they resent the Park Service because of the unnecessary restrictions that a federal agency puts upon them.
Tourism is a billion dollar business in Wyoming and Montana and the Tetons and Yellowstone are some of the great natural wonders on this earth.
But the mindset of many people there who farm and ranch is one of
entitled pragmatism coupled with distrust of the federal government.
And they feel they should be able to do pretty much what they want and call it Liberty.
Wyoming has 2 senators and 1 representative for their entire population, which is something like 660,000 people. They do not talk about "democracy," they favor using the term "republic" to describe the USA. My response to that while they may be describing a way in which the states and federal government set-up works, most people who are dying to come to the US are not coming for republicanism. They want freedom and democracy like the rest of us. I vote that we send Trump to a prison (if convicted) in Wyoming. And there is enough land there for ALL the immigrants who have come in recently. Someone just has to set up industries that need workers, and there would be many takers who could find work. My dream life. . .
"Someone just has to set up industries that need workers." We already have them, of course, and nobody enforces laws against hiring undocumented workers. Thus, large portions of the agriculture, meatpacking/food production, food preparation, groundskeeping, construction, and cleaning workforces are made up of undocumented workers. Trump didn't stop that. Indeed, he made no real dent in the large population of undocumented workers in the U.S., and they kept on coming. Trump was only effective in sharply, and stupidly, limiting legal immigration, which has the effect of sending the world's best and brightest to other countries.
The large numbers of immigrants come in large part because the work is here. If we all of a sudden stopped that and, worse, deported everyone, as Trump farts and sputters about doing, we would suddenly make the labor in those jobs less available and more expensive, which of course would raise consumer prices. Fewer undocumented workers to work at the chicken plant means more expensive chicken, means higher grocery bills, more expensive fast food, just the shit they complain about now.
It's but one of three planks in Trump's Triangle of Sadness that would cause inflation, the others being asserting political control over the Fed to lower interest rates and pump money into the economy when that would be stupid (as where the economy is already running hot), and, most obviously, massive tariffs that would make consumer goods more expensive or require substituting them for more expensive domestic alternatives.
however, i believe your reasoning on commenters and their comments to the PS has an embedded logical falacy [the name of which escapes me]. you assume that negative and confrontational comments to the PS are written by conservatives. and you are not amazed that conservatives' comments are negative and confrontational.
as a long-time reader/subscriber to the PS, i have found that both conservatives' and liberals' comments can be negative &/or confrontational. and to that i am not amazed.
I respect EZ accepting spite as valid motivation.
Not to keep dragging this dead horse (puppy?) through the mud, but there is a fundamental difference between farm dogs (and cats) and “pets” besides the former not being kept inside a house. They are working animals, and no farmer calls them pets. But that doesn’t mean farmers don’t love them. In his latter years, my dad had a dog he took everywhere (except into the house). We kids (and grandkids) and our mother never made it onto their Christmas card photos. But Sparky did.
I wonder if Kristi Noem's little anecdote was intended for an audience of one. She's, ahem, gunning for the VP spot and Trump's contempt for dogs is well documented, he's always quick with the likes of "died like a dog", "fired him like a dog", etc.
"Pro Peace?" One side was violently attacked and wants revenge. The other hides among its populace to use as shields. Neither wants peace but domination. Too the highly educated students - most interviewed seem to have little understanding of what is happening. Why Palestine-Israel has peaked in their minds vs Ukraine- Russian or any other conflict I don't know.
Virulent antisemitism is a common theory, and while I think that is a part of it, I think the main reason is more benign, if not less dismaying: they’re jumping on a bandwagon, because that is what addle brained, phone addicted young people do these days, when not tending to more pressing matters, like taking pictures of their food. TikTok tells them get whipped into a frenzy over Gaza, and so they whip away. As soon as their social media overlords tell them to get excited about something else, they’ll do as they’re told. There is an assumption that attendance at elite colleges is proof that the attendees must be bright. It isn’t, and they’re not.
i agree w- 'addle-brained'. but my guess is that your dismissal of an entire generation [it's not just the students at the 'elite' colleges who are demonstrating] is akin to the opinions of my generation [boomers] of Gen X and Millennials, and my parents' generation's opinion of the Boomers. and while many of the boomers demonstrated and were stoned on weed much of the time during their adolescence and into their 20s, and have effed up a lot of things later in life, many of the generation performed and accomplished good and sometimes great things in their lives. i expect the Gen Z collegians will have their own ledger of positive and negative accomplishments too.
Yeah I guess some of the strokes I brushed were overly broad; I didn’t mean to dismiss the ENTIRE generation. I’m sure that there are lots of intelligent young people among us who are thoughtful, literate, independent minded and can think critically. It’s just that the drama queens of the college campuses, with their masks, their tents, and their “demands” are clearly not among them.
to that qualifier i say, 'amen'.
Thrasher - Report the news or be the news - choose a side. Noem - Romney got smashed by driving with his dog on the car roof. I guess you saved gas mileage by reducing the drag and shooting the dog.
Even worse is Kristie Noem's refusal to answer why she put the lie about meeting Kim Jong Un in her book. When asked about that, she dissembles like crazy & refuses to answer. At one interviewer's attempt to get an answer out of her, it sounded like she didn't read the book she supposedly wrote.
Again, right on Garry! It is apparent that she outright fabricated a meeting with Kim Jong-un which never occurred and also alleges that she canceled a scheduled meeting with French President Marcon, but his office has since replied that there was never any scheduled meeting with her, although she could have been part of a group at an event that Marcon was attending.
So now we know that she is a liar, and also that she is incredibly stupid to make up things that can easily be found to be untrue. I'm a conservative, and among my network of like-minded family and friends I can tell you that Noem is now thought of as not terribly bright and insipid at the least, and vile and despicable by many others of us.
And, I have not seen any reference to it in the PS commentary, But it is widely believed that the married Norm was also conducting a not very hidden affair with Corey Lewandowski, the former Trump campaign manager with stories of their friskiness together in the hotel bar at the CPAC conference. Even beyond the profound moral implications of infidelity, how incredibly stupid would this be for someone who was widely thought to have national office aspirations??
Noem has rendered her further political aspirations DOA by her own words and actions. We can all hope that this pathetic person will soon fade from public view. South Dakota voters, get on it!
I seriously doubt she's met any world leaders. There's no reason for any of them to go to South Dakota & if she went overseas, the leaders there would go, 'Where the hell is South Dakota & tell that moron to go away?"
First Noem: She's a worthless, violent person with no redeeming qualities. Her victims' lives were and are not hers to take. She and her ilk make the world a horrible place, creating pain and suffering because they have no empathy, thinking themselves above accountability because god loves them so much he granted them dominion. People with empathy should replace them at every level of government but for those without empathy who vote.
Second the Gaza mess: The protesters really do need to think before they speak, ensuring that they message properly. In this case, they problem are the terrorists called "settlers" who murder Palestinians and steal their property to drive them out in their attempt to cleanse what they claim as their holy land and a right-wing, conservative, religious government that supports them. Not all Jews are such Zionists and so the protesters need to ensure that they don't broadbrush all into the violent zealot group.
The settlers didn't murder & drive out anyone. Some bought the land & the rest left when the Arab armies told them to leave so they could have a free field of fire to kill all the Jews in Israel in 1948 & then they could return when all the Jews were dead. Except it didn't work out that way & Israel defeated the Arab armies that year & in every war since.
You are just another anti-Semite lying about this!
LOL! Oh, here we go! The ol' "anti-semitism" accusation! Yes, "settlers" murder Palestinians and drive them from their property to steal it. Some "settlers" may have bought the land properly and have just title, most have not. They, religious zealots, are the problem here and there.
You actually are an anti-Semite, so of course you're accused of it!
LOL! Whatever. The "settlers" are terrorists and thieves and the Israeli government fully supports them and so makes the situation worse. That is an absolute fact and no amount of your pathetic whining will change that. Call me what you want, I don't give a damn about you or your opinion. You and your ilk are THE problem, you always have been.
"My ilk"
That alone makes you an anti-Semite & you're scum!
You're scum. You have no point so you go directly to name calling. Such is your ilk. Accepting the fact that the "settlers" are the problem, murdering and terrorizing Palestinians and stealing their property, with full support of the right-wing Netanyahu government is something that many Israelis confront as we are forced to confront the right-wing Evangelicals and their GOP supporters here. Anti-theocracy is a legitimate liberal position and as an unapologetic liberal I am unapologetically anti-theocracy.
Like Eric, I'm not sufficiently informed about Middle East conflicts to take a confident position concerning who is justified in doing what.
But I do have some experience in rearing children, which makes a lot of the combatants' rhetoric sound familiar. My fantasy is for a couple of seasoned grandmothers -- any ethnicity will do, because childish behavior transcends culture -- to have the authority to grab Israel and Hamas by their metaphorical ears. "I don't care WHO started it or who is to blame. People are getting hurt and that has to STOP! Both of you sit down at this kitchen table now and talk. No playtime or supper or TV or anything but sitting until you can work out a fair way to stop hitting. You don't have to like each other, but you do have to act like civilized humans if you expect to be treated as such."
Honestly, the world would function a lot better if it were run entirely by mothers and preschool teachers, who invest their very lives in human well-being, rather than as a contest of testosterone.
"Neither side recognizes the humanity of the other, which is why nothing ever changes" -- Neil Steinberg from a recent column. I think this says it all.
Hi Wendy - I'm going to respectfully disagree with you on this. The majority of Israelis are favorable to a two-state solution if there can be sufficient guarantees of peace and security. However, the Hamas charter explicitly calls for the destruction of the state of Israel, and polls consistently reflect that a majority of Palestinians also share the view that they do not accept a two-state solution and will never accept Israel's right to exist. That's what has made this an intractable situation. Many people feel that Netanyahu is not an Israeli leader who can find their way to a final resolution, but it appears that the far bigger challenge is to identify Palestinian leadership who genuinely wants peace with Israel.
I appears that Kristi Noem enjoys shooting animals she owns and then bragging about it.
I don’t think you should have fallen on your sword, Eric, in response to the people who criticized you for saying that “most of these demonstrators have the same long-term goal: Peace.” You were right when you wrote that. I still think that is what most of the protestors want. They are young people who were taught in school that we were the good guys, and when they grew up and learned to think for themselves, they realized that our schools whitewashed our history, and that our ancestors were guilty of genocide of the indigenous North Americans, that our government started and fought many wars and military operations to protect the financial interests of American businessmen and corporations, and that we have, in general, a sorry history of trying to dominate other human beings rather than to cooperate with other human beings. Many of the protestors see the Palestinians as the indigenous people of the area, which they certainly are. They see the civil war that led to the creation of Israel filtered by their knowledge of wars that displaced other indigenous people, like those in North America. They want self-determination for people, and they see Palestinians who have been displaced, and are continuing to be displaced by continuing settlements in the West Bank as indigenous people who are being mistreated. I find the current strife in the Middle East to be very difficult. I can see arguments on both sides. It’s tragic, and I wish the parties could find peace and a two-state solution. And I think that is what most of the protestors want. Treat people like people, not animals. Shortly after October 7th, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said, “I have ordered a complete siege on the Gaza Strip. There will be no electricity, no food, no fuel, everything is closed. We are fighting human animals and we are acting accordingly.” The Palestinians are not animals. They are people. And I think most of the protestors want an acknowledgement of that, and they want the Israeli government to act accordingly, and not to slaughter innocent Palestinian women and children which the Israeli government has been doing. Please understand, I favor a two-state solution. People need to learn how to live in peace. Killing begets more killing, always in the name of right and honor. Julius Caesar is depicted in George Bernard Shaw’s Caesar and Cleopatra as saying, “You have slain their leader: it is right that they shall slay you. If you doubt it, ask your four counsellors here. Then in the name of that right shall I not slay them for murdering their Queen, and be slain in my turn by their countrymen as the invader of their fatherland? And then can Rome do less than avenge her sons and her honor. And so, to the end of history, murder shall breed murder, always in the name of right and honor and peace, until the gods are tired of blood and create a race that can understand.” It’s time for that. For a race of people that can understand.
Excuse me for a moment while I reign in my uncontrollable laughter from having read the words “…and when they grew up and learned to think for themselves”. There. Now I’m back.
I am sure that one could point to many examples of people young and old who have freed their minds and learned to think independently, but one would be hard pressed to find a worse example than the groupthink governed mobs that are literally setting up camp, making noise and generally epitomising a demagogue’s super deluxe toolkit on college campuses all over the country.
I’m not sure why you seem to think that these 20 year olds have been treated to a “whitewashed” American history. Maybe they have, but considering their age, I’d venture a guess that the jaundice eyed version of our history that you seem to think should predominate is the one that they’ve been largely weened on, which is part of the reason that they seize the “America is the Real Empire of Evil”sceptre with such zeal.
Speaking of that jaundice eyed view of American history, there has never been any shortage of soapbox proselytisers who have made it their specialty to hammer home this theme to their followers, Jim Jones being one that comes immediately to mind. Do you think that the People’s Temple followers had all learned to think for themselves?
Your rejoinder is a good example of Paul Grajciar’s comment below which states: “In reading the mail here I am rather amazed at the volume of people who seem to be conservative, both politically and socially, who post comments here. What is not amazing is that most of their comments are negative and confrontational in nature. It’s as if they have to affirm their beliefs for the rest of us.”
Only I’m not conservative, neither socially nor politically. If my refusal to recognize large groups of narcissistic, zombie-like, smartphone addicted TikTok marionettes as wizened sages in possession of some sort of deep, profound wisdom, well, it’s really not fair to shoot the messenger just because you don’t like the message he delivers, is it now Joanie?
What I said is fair.
I am taken aback by the "you kids get off my lawn" attitude of many of the comments. "Addlebrained, phone addicted," "groupthink governed mobs," "narcissistic, zombie-like...TikTok marionettes." Perhaps they don't consider themselves conservative, but it reminds me of the folks who tried to run me and my boyfriend off the road when i was in college because we were "America hating hippies!"
If you were taken aback by the cited words, I hope that you are at least as unnerved by the bleak reality that they describe, especially the matter of phone addiction, which is a full blown national health crisis, and is fuelling an epidemic of mental illness among our young. Sorry, but some things are just too depressing to try to put a positive spin on, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t need to be said.
Liked all but the first VTotW - I had it narrowed to the Chicago vs Chicago In The News and Women/Rattlesnakes, and chose the former. (We have friends - many of them well-educated - from around the country (especially in Red states) who cannot conceive of how anyone could live within the city limits of Chicago, given the way Chicago is portrayed - especially by right-leaning outlets.) The sentiment of the Women/Rattlesnakes VTotW is one I share, however.
EZ - I applaud you for your mea culpa on last week's PS opinion on the two sides of the campus debate on the Hamas-Israeli war. I respect a person who is willing to re-visit their views - and openly cop to it.
Hamas' use of civilians as human shields is despicable, as is Hamas' overt, ultimate aim of annihilating Israel. I agree with you that it is Israel's overreaction to what most college students are reacting. In the last week I've seen some very disturbing video of pro-Palestinian protesters not merely "peacefully protesting", but outright preventing their fellow students from accessing parts of campus. (And college security personnel - apparently with administration consent - allowing such things to occur.) I am fairly absolutist on free speech and protesting, but when the protesting morphs into illegal action (and I do not count peaceful trespassing which does not inhibit others as illegal action), that's where I draw the line.
Wow, what an interesting column today! First, this-"Yes, Hamas embeds and hides among the civilian population, but reports of some 35,000 Gazans killed in response to the killing of roughly 1,000 Israelis on Oct. 7 is what prompted these campus uprisings". This is shortsighted. Imagine if we could go back in time and return Jews to the region where they lived for centuries. Imagine if we could erase the Holocaust and return Jews to a European existence. A few more than 35,000 Jews have died between European antisemitism, the Holocaust, and the fight to create Israel.. Jews are still "the people that killed Christ". But even that is simplistic. It's not as if Jews were universally loved in the region long before the appearance of Jesus. The life of Abraham and his teaching just made them too different than everyone else. If time could be changed, there might not even be an Israel.. The protests show an uneducated student and anti-semitic student population, no matter how great their schools are supposed to be. Faculty members backing them are even worse. Peace is a wonderful thing. Tell that to Hamas and all the other groups trying to erase Israel.
I am glad Eric doesn't mind being compared to Bill Maher. My problem is that it is not only liberals that object to Trump. Many Republicans do as well. Most are just too chicken to stand up to the bully. There is also an ugly side to his support. Many conservatives are unleashing ugly feelings they have had for years. Trump gets a lot of blame for creating things, but I don't see it that way. He has simply greenlighted behavior that has always existed in this country and too many people no longer feel the need to hide racism, greed, or a lack of respect for others to get what they want. If that sounds unpatriotic of me, so be it. We are, contrary to public opinion, not God's chosen people merely by being American.
To be truthful, I will continue to call the social media site formerly known as Twitter Twitter out of lazy inertia. But, it feels good to pretend I'll be doing it out of spite and contempt for its owner.
Some days I love it, some days I hate it: having to look up words that I don't know (heterodox). In the early days at J School at SIU I was told that newspapers were written at a 13 year old's reading level. Would like to meet the 13 year old who can define heterodox. But today is a good day. Happy to learn a new word.
I commend Eric for reflecting on his previous writing on the college protests and admitting that he was at least partially incorrect. How many people in public life actually do that? Very, very few.
In reading the mail here I am rather amazed at the volume of people who seem to be conservative, both politically and socially, who post comments here. What is not amazing is that most of their comments are negative and confrontational in nature. It’s as if they have to affirm their beliefs for the rest of us.
And their defense of Christie Noem is a perfect example of this behavior.
I just can't fathom the idea of killing a dog (puppy) and then just dumping it in a gravel pit. That act signals a depraved indifference to the dog's (puppy's) life that is sickening and on the level of a sociopath. A normal person would have had the self-awareness to see how bad this looks and at LEAST try to explain why more training or rehoming the dog (puppy) was not an option. But then to go on and describe the satisfaction of killing the dog (puppy) along with just dumping the dog (puppy) down a pit? I have not looked up her religious affiliation, but I will hazard a guess it is a Christian sect. I thought Christians are supposed to be kind and have empathy towards the sufferings of all living creatures?
Hey Matthew - I am in total agreement with you. I am a professed Christ follower, and Scripture provides very clear guidance that all of nature is a gift from the Creator for which we have an obligation of good stewardship. While we are explicitly prohibited from judging other people, we can certainly call out their actions, and Noem's self-described actions with her puppy richly warrants the widespread visceral condemnation she is now receiving.
You have to realize that rural farmers and ranchers view animals as a commodity and treat them accordingly. Dairy farmers will slaughter a bull calf because it’s basically useless for their needs.
That’s understandable.
I visited Wyoming a few years back in the pre-Trump era and it was spectacular. The people were friendly then and curious about an urban lib from CA like myself. Many of their families had been there since the mid 19th century.
But one rancher and I got onto the subject of Yellowstone and the conservation efforts in the are surrounding it.
He despised the movement and said that the park was useless and if he had his way he would shoot every elk, buffalo, and wolf he came upon.
“The waste of those grasslands are criminal” he said.
Now not every rancher has this outlook but generally they resent the Park Service because of the unnecessary restrictions that a federal agency puts upon them.
Tourism is a billion dollar business in Wyoming and Montana and the Tetons and Yellowstone are some of the great natural wonders on this earth.
But the mindset of many people there who farm and ranch is one of
entitled pragmatism coupled with distrust of the federal government.
And they feel they should be able to do pretty much what they want and call it Liberty.
Wyoming has 2 senators and 1 representative for their entire population, which is something like 660,000 people. They do not talk about "democracy," they favor using the term "republic" to describe the USA. My response to that while they may be describing a way in which the states and federal government set-up works, most people who are dying to come to the US are not coming for republicanism. They want freedom and democracy like the rest of us. I vote that we send Trump to a prison (if convicted) in Wyoming. And there is enough land there for ALL the immigrants who have come in recently. Someone just has to set up industries that need workers, and there would be many takers who could find work. My dream life. . .
"Someone just has to set up industries that need workers." We already have them, of course, and nobody enforces laws against hiring undocumented workers. Thus, large portions of the agriculture, meatpacking/food production, food preparation, groundskeeping, construction, and cleaning workforces are made up of undocumented workers. Trump didn't stop that. Indeed, he made no real dent in the large population of undocumented workers in the U.S., and they kept on coming. Trump was only effective in sharply, and stupidly, limiting legal immigration, which has the effect of sending the world's best and brightest to other countries.
The large numbers of immigrants come in large part because the work is here. If we all of a sudden stopped that and, worse, deported everyone, as Trump farts and sputters about doing, we would suddenly make the labor in those jobs less available and more expensive, which of course would raise consumer prices. Fewer undocumented workers to work at the chicken plant means more expensive chicken, means higher grocery bills, more expensive fast food, just the shit they complain about now.
It's but one of three planks in Trump's Triangle of Sadness that would cause inflation, the others being asserting political control over the Fed to lower interest rates and pump money into the economy when that would be stupid (as where the economy is already running hot), and, most obviously, massive tariffs that would make consumer goods more expensive or require substituting them for more expensive domestic alternatives.
first, i stipulate that kristi noem is a moron.
however, i believe your reasoning on commenters and their comments to the PS has an embedded logical falacy [the name of which escapes me]. you assume that negative and confrontational comments to the PS are written by conservatives. and you are not amazed that conservatives' comments are negative and confrontational.
as a long-time reader/subscriber to the PS, i have found that both conservatives' and liberals' comments can be negative &/or confrontational. and to that i am not amazed.