Great post. I can’t comment on the Biden story, I find it too confusing. I honestly thought that in 2020 he ran on the basis that it would be a 1 term presidency to handle a moment of crisis.
I think Jake Tapper’s release of the book was ill timed and cruel, in light of the Biden’s diagnosis. Where was the outrage when Trump’s lies about Covid killed a million Americans? Who was reporting about his dangerous narcissistic personality disorder and psychopathy during the election? Certainly not the mainstream media. Did the Biden administration go after the Trump kids who grifted while in the White House? When Merritt Garland fecklessly fiddled and never got around to prosecuting Trump or his close henchmen for January 6, Biden didn’t fire him and replace him with an aggressive AG as Trump did when his AG recused himself. No, he hired Bill Barr who acted as his personal attorney and lied shamelessly for him. We all see how even now, Trump is dividing the country and stirring up violent feelings that will likely spark more violence. But, indeed, let’s gossip about Biden and beat the Democrats to a pulp because tabloid journalism and smut has become the discourse in America. Shame on Jake Tapper and CNN. CNN has become Fox lite.
Thanks Tina. As a born Dutchman we grew with the myth of the nation standing up to the Nazis, while it was only a small percentage that actively engaged in resistance. The Nazis took over a government apparatus that indeed carried most of the hunt for Jews. It was not until 2011 (!) that a detailed book/study emerged about the, often gruesome, complicity of the Dutch police apparatus.
I watched the pbs documentary immediately and it was very sad yet powerful. But how is this different from what the jews are doing in gaza? Killing babies and confining to a small space forcing them to live cramped resembling a ghetto? Warsaw ghetto had how many jews? 450k jews in 2 sq mile area. How is gaza any different?. This was not supposed to happen again
"The jews" are not doing anything in Gaza. The Israelis are conducting unspeakable war crimes and crimes against humanity, at the behest of a PM whose main interest is staying out of jail, and his appalling henchmen who are motivated by bigoted hatred of Palestinians, which found a ready audience among a population traumatised by October 7th. I have read varying polls about the proportion of the Israeli population which supports the government on this, some (but not all) show it as shockingly high. However, the Israeli population are largely denied access to the detail of what is actually happening in Gaza, according to foreign correspondents there covering the situation.
Regardless its all in the name of religion and when you treat a group of people as subhuman like the Palestinians have been and force them to live in an area that small there will be hate and violence. Israelis or jews whatever they call themselves they are committing the genocide that happened to them for their silly religion. The hypocrisy is big
“Israelis or Jews or whatever they call themselves”? “Silly religion”. ? Do you understand how insulting that sounds.? Do you know that there are Arab Israelis that are not Jews or do you just want to lump all 12 million Jews that are left on the entire planet all over the world that could fit into Ohio and call them Israeli when they are nothing of the sort .Israeli is a nationality. Judaism is a religion. Are you LGBTQ? If you are, go to Gaza and be out and proud. They would kill you even before you got off the plane. Israel only became a state in 1948. Do you know Jews lived in ghettos in Venice for 500 years? Did you ever read Shakespeare? You obviously don’t know anything about Jews or Jewish history. Maybe you ought to get some books and read them before you make a comment like that again. You don’t know over thousands of years how Jews have been treated like subhumans…and still are. And that was way before Oct 7th and Israel and the Holocaust.
Respectfully, prior to the Intifada, 30-40% of the Gazan labor force worked … in Israel. When Israel withdrew from Gaza, the first rocket attack on Israel occurred within 24 hours. Israelis did not funnel billions upon billions into terror tunnels, rockets, and guns. Israel did not place offensive military weapons, command, and control in Gaza’s densest residential buildings, schools, and hospitals. While there is no question that plenty of those on the Israeli right are happy to see Palestinian self-immolation and perfectly comfortable with the idea of Gaza as an open air prison, can you consider the possibility that the clear beneficiaries and financial backers of perpetual Palestinian misery are sitting in foreign capitals, not least Teheran? It was obvious then but we now know with certainty that October 7th was encouraged to put the kibosh on Saudi-Israeli normalization.
This need not justify every Israeli action. Indeed, the far right in Israel, at least from the humble view of this foreigner, seems to play into the hands of the jihadists. But shouldn’t thoughtful people who are truly concerned about Palestinian (as well as Israeli) misery begin to question the narrative of Israel = bad as the root cause of it?
Let me give you one counter-example of mass displacement. After World War II, millions of Germans were forced westward from modern-day Poland and Lithuania. They fought and lost a war. Is this still a cultural issue? Yes. Is it still a cause of violence and suffering? No. Why? Primarily because there is nobody to fund and foment the suffering. There are many other similar examples, none of which is a perfect analog to the Palestinian situation. And then there is the Eastern Congo, a perpetual violent conflict funded by natural resource export. The instructive point is that perpetual violent conflicts are perpetual for a reason.
Questions about just conduct should be in the discourse of any nation at war, as they are today in Israel and may be in Gaza. What just society wouldn’t have qualms about the sobering cost of even the most righteous of modern wars? However, as a citizen of neither Israel nor Gaza, I feel obliged to approach the question with great care. And, respectfully, analogizing today’s Gazans to the Jews (and others) murdered in the Holocaust does not to me show great care.
Nations, not just leaders, go to war. The terrible costs paid by the citizens of Gaza, like those of Dresden and Hiroshima before them, are not exculpatory of their role in their nations’ armed conflicts. No more than should the success of the Israeli military in this conflict or Allied Forces in World War II color one’s view of the justness of their societies’ war aims. Given the extraordinary cost of modern warfare, we cannot let society, any society, off the hook for going to war.
By contrast, as Tina reminds us, most Holocaust victims were fellow citizens of those who facilitated their deaths or murdered them directly. They were not a nation with an Army. Their fathers, sons, brothers, sisters, were not “enemy combatants”because there was no combat. With apologies to Monty Python, the Popular Front for the Liberation of the Shtetl was not a thing. The Holocaust’s victims were simply “the other” in European societies.
Quite confused why Tapper is receiving criticism for writing his book. The lies and cheating from the Biden family covering upBiden’s decline is a story to be told. We were led by a team and not the President after 4 pm and it seems that apparently is okay with many.
Trump is being followed carefully, his days are coming. He is the most hated man in the world, certainly in the US. Donnie Jr will be swept along with the tide. We are all complaining about trump, but, most of us sit on our duffs waiting for someone else to do something.
I would very much like to hear from someone (anyone!) who can explain the sudden rage, sadism and demonic ferocity shown by so many in so many places? Ostensibly these people didn't stand out within their communities. And yet, they sound manic and psychotic. Oddly, the trampoline incident bothered me the most. Are the people who'd get their jollied shooting naked people for fun the same as the people (mostly men, I guess), who watch snuff porn? OMG. I can't say more.
PSA test is a difficult issue. It’s not recommended for men over a certain age, I think 70. The man who invented it wrote a Times op-ed saying he regretted having invented it. Moving commentary on the Holocaust documentary.
Yes, not recommended for men over 70 because they feel it's slow growing and most men will die of something else and may never know they had it (unless they are unlucky like Joe, but I read about so many men who die of prostate cancer). I have a friend who was in his late 50s and went to get life insurance, was in "perfect health" Luckily they checked his PSA as part of the test. PSA levels were off the charts. Stage 4 prostate cancer, surgery, radiation and he was "fine". Until it came back and he had to have more treatments. He is now in remission...again and just turned 70. But I am truly shocked that regardless of age, that is not a standard test for any President having their physicals at Walter Reade, but how great can they be when they have doctors like "Doctor Ronny" the Candyman and drunk who couldn't keep the ambien and Xanax and other drugs in stock.
I just finished watching Simon Schama's program on the Holocaust. Simply unforgettable, with several themes I have not seen explored before. Thank you for the recommendation.
The acceptance of a hate-filled society is indeed terrifying. Will watch Schama’s documentary and look forward to his memoir. As always, you illicit so many emotions. I appreciate
the light tone of comparing Biden’s possible memory loss to Gigante “wandering around Greenwich Village in his bathrobe.” But in the end, these are troubling times. I always look forward to reading Fresh Hell. Thank you.
The Biden story right now is yet another road block/diversion in forming a unified plan to win elections in 26 and 28. I want to see a huge movement now taking hold and I don’t see that. I see scattered efforts by well meaning individuals. (The road to hell is filled w good intentions someone said.) Thanks Tina-you shine light on the peripheries which maybe where we can extract insight on what is driving this new political moment in the US.
Brilliant, as always, and nicely bifurcated, between Tina’s witty glee over our “marbles free” president, and the appropriately somber tone of her descant on Schama’s arresting documentary.
Great post. I can’t comment on the Biden story, I find it too confusing. I honestly thought that in 2020 he ran on the basis that it would be a 1 term presidency to handle a moment of crisis.
That he ran in 2024 is beyond my comprehension.
I think Jake Tapper’s release of the book was ill timed and cruel, in light of the Biden’s diagnosis. Where was the outrage when Trump’s lies about Covid killed a million Americans? Who was reporting about his dangerous narcissistic personality disorder and psychopathy during the election? Certainly not the mainstream media. Did the Biden administration go after the Trump kids who grifted while in the White House? When Merritt Garland fecklessly fiddled and never got around to prosecuting Trump or his close henchmen for January 6, Biden didn’t fire him and replace him with an aggressive AG as Trump did when his AG recused himself. No, he hired Bill Barr who acted as his personal attorney and lied shamelessly for him. We all see how even now, Trump is dividing the country and stirring up violent feelings that will likely spark more violence. But, indeed, let’s gossip about Biden and beat the Democrats to a pulp because tabloid journalism and smut has become the discourse in America. Shame on Jake Tapper and CNN. CNN has become Fox lite.
Great Post
Thank you for your kind words.
Thanks Tina. As a born Dutchman we grew with the myth of the nation standing up to the Nazis, while it was only a small percentage that actively engaged in resistance. The Nazis took over a government apparatus that indeed carried most of the hunt for Jews. It was not until 2011 (!) that a detailed book/study emerged about the, often gruesome, complicity of the Dutch police apparatus.
Tina, This post does full justice to the name of your newsletter.
I watched the pbs documentary immediately and it was very sad yet powerful. But how is this different from what the jews are doing in gaza? Killing babies and confining to a small space forcing them to live cramped resembling a ghetto? Warsaw ghetto had how many jews? 450k jews in 2 sq mile area. How is gaza any different?. This was not supposed to happen again
"The jews" are not doing anything in Gaza. The Israelis are conducting unspeakable war crimes and crimes against humanity, at the behest of a PM whose main interest is staying out of jail, and his appalling henchmen who are motivated by bigoted hatred of Palestinians, which found a ready audience among a population traumatised by October 7th. I have read varying polls about the proportion of the Israeli population which supports the government on this, some (but not all) show it as shockingly high. However, the Israeli population are largely denied access to the detail of what is actually happening in Gaza, according to foreign correspondents there covering the situation.
Regardless its all in the name of religion and when you treat a group of people as subhuman like the Palestinians have been and force them to live in an area that small there will be hate and violence. Israelis or jews whatever they call themselves they are committing the genocide that happened to them for their silly religion. The hypocrisy is big
“Israelis or Jews or whatever they call themselves”? “Silly religion”. ? Do you understand how insulting that sounds.? Do you know that there are Arab Israelis that are not Jews or do you just want to lump all 12 million Jews that are left on the entire planet all over the world that could fit into Ohio and call them Israeli when they are nothing of the sort .Israeli is a nationality. Judaism is a religion. Are you LGBTQ? If you are, go to Gaza and be out and proud. They would kill you even before you got off the plane. Israel only became a state in 1948. Do you know Jews lived in ghettos in Venice for 500 years? Did you ever read Shakespeare? You obviously don’t know anything about Jews or Jewish history. Maybe you ought to get some books and read them before you make a comment like that again. You don’t know over thousands of years how Jews have been treated like subhumans…and still are. And that was way before Oct 7th and Israel and the Holocaust.
Okayyyy, Michelle Stegemeier, enough said. I think we can all clearly see exactly where you're coming from.......
Respectfully, prior to the Intifada, 30-40% of the Gazan labor force worked … in Israel. When Israel withdrew from Gaza, the first rocket attack on Israel occurred within 24 hours. Israelis did not funnel billions upon billions into terror tunnels, rockets, and guns. Israel did not place offensive military weapons, command, and control in Gaza’s densest residential buildings, schools, and hospitals. While there is no question that plenty of those on the Israeli right are happy to see Palestinian self-immolation and perfectly comfortable with the idea of Gaza as an open air prison, can you consider the possibility that the clear beneficiaries and financial backers of perpetual Palestinian misery are sitting in foreign capitals, not least Teheran? It was obvious then but we now know with certainty that October 7th was encouraged to put the kibosh on Saudi-Israeli normalization.
This need not justify every Israeli action. Indeed, the far right in Israel, at least from the humble view of this foreigner, seems to play into the hands of the jihadists. But shouldn’t thoughtful people who are truly concerned about Palestinian (as well as Israeli) misery begin to question the narrative of Israel = bad as the root cause of it?
Let me give you one counter-example of mass displacement. After World War II, millions of Germans were forced westward from modern-day Poland and Lithuania. They fought and lost a war. Is this still a cultural issue? Yes. Is it still a cause of violence and suffering? No. Why? Primarily because there is nobody to fund and foment the suffering. There are many other similar examples, none of which is a perfect analog to the Palestinian situation. And then there is the Eastern Congo, a perpetual violent conflict funded by natural resource export. The instructive point is that perpetual violent conflicts are perpetual for a reason.
Questions about just conduct should be in the discourse of any nation at war, as they are today in Israel and may be in Gaza. What just society wouldn’t have qualms about the sobering cost of even the most righteous of modern wars? However, as a citizen of neither Israel nor Gaza, I feel obliged to approach the question with great care. And, respectfully, analogizing today’s Gazans to the Jews (and others) murdered in the Holocaust does not to me show great care.
Nations, not just leaders, go to war. The terrible costs paid by the citizens of Gaza, like those of Dresden and Hiroshima before them, are not exculpatory of their role in their nations’ armed conflicts. No more than should the success of the Israeli military in this conflict or Allied Forces in World War II color one’s view of the justness of their societies’ war aims. Given the extraordinary cost of modern warfare, we cannot let society, any society, off the hook for going to war.
By contrast, as Tina reminds us, most Holocaust victims were fellow citizens of those who facilitated their deaths or murdered them directly. They were not a nation with an Army. Their fathers, sons, brothers, sisters, were not “enemy combatants”because there was no combat. With apologies to Monty Python, the Popular Front for the Liberation of the Shtetl was not a thing. The Holocaust’s victims were simply “the other” in European societies.
Quite confused why Tapper is receiving criticism for writing his book. The lies and cheating from the Biden family covering upBiden’s decline is a story to be told. We were led by a team and not the President after 4 pm and it seems that apparently is okay with many.
Trump is being followed carefully, his days are coming. He is the most hated man in the world, certainly in the US. Donnie Jr will be swept along with the tide. We are all complaining about trump, but, most of us sit on our duffs waiting for someone else to do something.
Brilliant, trenchant, wide ranging. All hallmarks of TB style —- which make Fresh Hell a must read.
BRILLIANT.
I would very much like to hear from someone (anyone!) who can explain the sudden rage, sadism and demonic ferocity shown by so many in so many places? Ostensibly these people didn't stand out within their communities. And yet, they sound manic and psychotic. Oddly, the trampoline incident bothered me the most. Are the people who'd get their jollied shooting naked people for fun the same as the people (mostly men, I guess), who watch snuff porn? OMG. I can't say more.
PSA test is a difficult issue. It’s not recommended for men over a certain age, I think 70. The man who invented it wrote a Times op-ed saying he regretted having invented it. Moving commentary on the Holocaust documentary.
Yes, not recommended for men over 70 because they feel it's slow growing and most men will die of something else and may never know they had it (unless they are unlucky like Joe, but I read about so many men who die of prostate cancer). I have a friend who was in his late 50s and went to get life insurance, was in "perfect health" Luckily they checked his PSA as part of the test. PSA levels were off the charts. Stage 4 prostate cancer, surgery, radiation and he was "fine". Until it came back and he had to have more treatments. He is now in remission...again and just turned 70. But I am truly shocked that regardless of age, that is not a standard test for any President having their physicals at Walter Reade, but how great can they be when they have doctors like "Doctor Ronny" the Candyman and drunk who couldn't keep the ambien and Xanax and other drugs in stock.
I just finished watching Simon Schama's program on the Holocaust. Simply unforgettable, with several themes I have not seen explored before. Thank you for the recommendation.
The acceptance of a hate-filled society is indeed terrifying. Will watch Schama’s documentary and look forward to his memoir. As always, you illicit so many emotions. I appreciate
the light tone of comparing Biden’s possible memory loss to Gigante “wandering around Greenwich Village in his bathrobe.” But in the end, these are troubling times. I always look forward to reading Fresh Hell. Thank you.
Once again: everything I hoped this substack would be and more.
The Biden story right now is yet another road block/diversion in forming a unified plan to win elections in 26 and 28. I want to see a huge movement now taking hold and I don’t see that. I see scattered efforts by well meaning individuals. (The road to hell is filled w good intentions someone said.) Thanks Tina-you shine light on the peripheries which maybe where we can extract insight on what is driving this new political moment in the US.
Tina in Jake’s book you get a shout out for your interview in Aspen last June, the day after the ill fated debate!
Brilliant, as always, and nicely bifurcated, between Tina’s witty glee over our “marbles free” president, and the appropriately somber tone of her descant on Schama’s arresting documentary.