The uncharacteristic ignorance of Walter's takes with regards to Iran are incredibly conspicuous.
He starts by assuming that we're perfectly justified in denying Iran a nuclear weapon despite the facts that we're the only nation to ever actually use one and that we're covering for Israel who lies about having them. Then, he memory-holes our nuclear agreement with Iran (which Trump pulled out of for no reason other than to help justify this war for Israel) and in so doing ignores the fact that Iran is still abiding by the agreement and have the right under that agreement to enrich to 60% after we reneged. Then, he proceeds to pretend that the 60% enrichment is evidence Iran is attempting to make a nuclear weapon despite the fact that it is widely understood to have been a negotiating tactic, giving themselves something to negotiate away. Next, he pretends that the 60-day warning about negotiations from Trump was legitimate and that we were negotiating in good faith as apposed to the truth which is that we had poison-pilled the negotiations with a completely unjustifiable demand that Iran perform no enrichment what-so-ever. Then, he pretends that our intelligence services wouldn't know if Iran was building a nuclear weapon (despite IAEA inspections) because of their "bad track record", completely ignoring the fact that our intelligence services knew there weren't WMDs in Iraq and that the entire Iraq war was waged under false pretenses, EXACTLY LIKE THIS IRAN ATTACK! And finally, for the coup-de-grace, he basically claims that none of this matters because Iran can't do anything to us anyway and they didn't do anything when we killed Soleimani. As though that was just a risk-free foregone conclusion and there are no other effects like precedent, or encouraging nations to get a nuclear weapon to avoid this kind of bullying, or degrading our world standing, or tax-payer expense, or general morality.
Frankly, I find it implausible that Walter is so profoundly uninformed/misinformed on just this one issue. If I had to guess I'd chalk it up to either copium, TDSDS (any Trump criticism must be overblown), or residual Boomer anti-Muslim racism.
Also, with regards to the straw man that commenters were complaining about your gallows humor... the only humor-related complaints I saw in the last episode's comment section were directed at Matt's reaction to Israel bombing a news station.
Also, are aware we had a nuclear agreement with Iran that:
1. Limited their enrichment and
2. Allowed us virtually unrestricted access to inspect all of their nuclear facilities
Trump tore up that agreement despite all sides agreeing that Iran had followed the deal to the letter. Put aside whether we have the right to dictate whether other countries have nukes while maintaining our own. Exiting that agreement was not the action of someone legitimately trying to avoid Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, it was the action of someone looking for a pretense to bomb Iran at the behest of the US uni-party war machine and Israel.
I don't know how you guys take live comments. Are all these people paid subscribers? I'd guess if they're paying customers then they're probably not trolls but it's still hard to believe. But many props, depending on the video, each week you have people from alternating viewpoints with the need to express disappointment in your commentary and I find that refreshing.
I remember a time when one of America's best coping mechanisms was the ability to laugh at ourselves and difficult situations. My generation, admittedly ancient, laughed at everything. When the Challenger shuttle blew up, we all told Christa Mccauliff jokes through our tears. We weren't horrible people, we just found laughter united and soothed us. Now, everyone is offended by everything. No one is talking, no one is laughing, everyone is offended. My time was better.
I think part of those coping mechanisms were trying to find a way to acknowledge what had happened, while also acknowledging life has to go on.
Maybe a lesson is learned, maybe a cautionary tale is crafted, maybe a lot of jokes are told. But time doesn't stand still.
Some sort of decision has to be made so everyone can get back past the present tragedy, get back to building their own lives, and get back to building up the resolve and energy to deal with the next unpleasant surprise the world will throw at us.
I don't think any of those things are possible when a person's entire being is consumed with very emotional outrage that never ceases because the outraged person is ALSO outraged at everyone who isn't outraged to the same extent and about the same things they're outraged about.
Enough! You both speak of an Iranian nuclear program as if it is a reality. How does Iran prove a negative. Two well read guys, yet, both lack haven read knowledge authors on the topic of Iran, think, Noam Chomsky. Could your rhetoric on Iran, your friendly-ish comments about Israel, particularly Benjamin Netanyahu (a genocidal psycho) with a tint of fear of Israel’s powers over Hollywood and other media. It is likely most writers in that industry requires approval from Israeli-run powerhouses capable to make or break deals with talented writers. Too many talents are forced to self-censor or echo bullshit to please the powers that be.
A quick highly focused comment on the commentary re: death to America.
After the commentary re: Might make right, it seems a bit disconnected. Additionally, not once has the US atoned for its sinister meddling in Iran's internal affairs leading to the tyrannical Pahlavi (sp?) regime which of course resulted in the Iranian people feeling aggrieved.
Lastly, in my personal life I started on a path 36 years ago that requires me to make amends to those I've harmed. I don't do it because of virtue, I do it because it is a better way to live (for me). Imho, this is the path I would have the US on if I were calling the shots.
Something I haven't heard anyone discuss is Cruze’s comments near the end of the Tucker interview about the sanctions on Russia prior to their invasion of Ukraine. He basically said that the US was trying to push Russia out as an energy provider to Europe. Maybe it's old news but a very important detail to that whole mess.
Gents, good job on the attack on the nuclear sites in Iran. Illegitimati non carborundum. The strange thing about our current media-based era is nobody starts from American patriotism and unity, then argues from that premise. We should demand this, over and over. Hines and Schiff, neither of whom is a leader who starts from that premise (perhaps because they can’t accept the result of the last election and therefore can’t rationally start that way), have made themselves irrelevant to those of us who do.
Iran has been threatening us for decades now.. Death to America. Death to America and they’ve been working fervently to create a nuclear arsenal to carry out those repeated threats.
This is most similar to a man sitting across the street with a rifle and saying he’s going to kill you and everyone you know while He Loads the Rifle..
Are you just going to sit there and watch Him continue to load to the very last round? Or do you take away the weapon and the ammo?
Trump Hadthe balls To take his weapon.. The first president to do it..
Jesus, you two are having a time of it. Better you than me. Except for the literary part of what you do, which is priceless and one of the best segments on any show anywhere, I sense a struggle to resist the urge to drop-kick most of your audience into the nosebleed seats.
It’s a remote possibility that I may be one of those annoying pests, despite my admiration for you both. Walter has already shunned me on X for a perceived slight I still have trouble remembering as an actual criticism. I would love the chance to go over that with him and apologize, but won’t lose sleep in the meantime. Life is short, and what’s left of mine is even shorter.
Regardless, I have a perspective that aligns intellectually and morally with both of yours, but which includes a couple of wrinkles. I especially agree that it’s not wrong or dumb to keep your enemy from being able to do to you what you’ve done to others. It is not wrong to attempt to destroy anyone’s capability to launch an apocalyptic weapon. It is not wrong to plot and carry out actions against entities who want you and yours obliterated.
But where I go further is in positing that “we,” as in the American/British-led global capitalist empire, is actually responsible for the entire geopolitical morass in which we are mired today. What I do not do, however, is assume as others mistakenly do that that empire is necessarily “evil” and should be violently “resisted.” I suspect that there have been damn good existential reasons for keeping nations divided and conquered, and for championing the goals of Western civilization, as opposed to the harsh paradigms coming out of Asia and other quarters of the globe. I do think “we” can do a hell of a lot better. Anyway, carry on, and try not to kill yourselves like some of our other heroes did.
Some men are still cavalier about tossing around suicide as a joke. I'm with it!
I remember as a girl child 1960s, repeating the phase, "Ack, I'm going to kill myself!" No therapy, no therapy jar, just an outlet of a pre-adolescent moment. Therapy jars came a little later...70s, I think.
Tucker Carlson had an excellent interview with Scott Horton today that basically covers the modern history of Iran. I'd highly recommend that @MattTaibbi and @WalterKirn spend the time to watch it. If they can't be bothered to spend 2 hours enlightening themselves about perhaps the most important foreign policy issue in the world (or can't provide a cogent rebuttal) then I'll have no choice but to stop giving them the benefit of the doubt that they're awful takes are the result of ignorance and instead will be forced to assume they're motivated by something else.
I'm getting used to the distribution of Monday livestreams as recordings. Anyhow, thanks for giving us viewing options that let us shun YouTube! I suppose you have no instructions on what you might prefer between Substack and Rumble, so I'm on my own. (I'll watch live on Substack; recorded on Rumble--as long as I know what day it is. Thank you!!
The uncharacteristic ignorance of Walter's takes with regards to Iran are incredibly conspicuous.
He starts by assuming that we're perfectly justified in denying Iran a nuclear weapon despite the facts that we're the only nation to ever actually use one and that we're covering for Israel who lies about having them. Then, he memory-holes our nuclear agreement with Iran (which Trump pulled out of for no reason other than to help justify this war for Israel) and in so doing ignores the fact that Iran is still abiding by the agreement and have the right under that agreement to enrich to 60% after we reneged. Then, he proceeds to pretend that the 60% enrichment is evidence Iran is attempting to make a nuclear weapon despite the fact that it is widely understood to have been a negotiating tactic, giving themselves something to negotiate away. Next, he pretends that the 60-day warning about negotiations from Trump was legitimate and that we were negotiating in good faith as apposed to the truth which is that we had poison-pilled the negotiations with a completely unjustifiable demand that Iran perform no enrichment what-so-ever. Then, he pretends that our intelligence services wouldn't know if Iran was building a nuclear weapon (despite IAEA inspections) because of their "bad track record", completely ignoring the fact that our intelligence services knew there weren't WMDs in Iraq and that the entire Iraq war was waged under false pretenses, EXACTLY LIKE THIS IRAN ATTACK! And finally, for the coup-de-grace, he basically claims that none of this matters because Iran can't do anything to us anyway and they didn't do anything when we killed Soleimani. As though that was just a risk-free foregone conclusion and there are no other effects like precedent, or encouraging nations to get a nuclear weapon to avoid this kind of bullying, or degrading our world standing, or tax-payer expense, or general morality.
Dave Smith points out the utter idiocy of this argument better than I could hope to: https://youtu.be/uEnAIgbkDZ8?t=560
Frankly, I find it implausible that Walter is so profoundly uninformed/misinformed on just this one issue. If I had to guess I'd chalk it up to either copium, TDSDS (any Trump criticism must be overblown), or residual Boomer anti-Muslim racism.
Also, with regards to the straw man that commenters were complaining about your gallows humor... the only humor-related complaints I saw in the last episode's comment section were directed at Matt's reaction to Israel bombing a news station.
Have you been in a coma for the last forty years as our lawmakers handed billions to Iran to develop a nuclear program?
Where were you while Barack Obama handed $170 billion to them?
Where was anyone?
Hypocrites
Are you referring to the $1.7B ( https://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-administration-acknowledges-1-7-billion-transfer-to-iran-was-all-cash/ ), not $170B, he returned as part of a long-running arbitration dispute?
Also, are aware we had a nuclear agreement with Iran that:
1. Limited their enrichment and
2. Allowed us virtually unrestricted access to inspect all of their nuclear facilities
Trump tore up that agreement despite all sides agreeing that Iran had followed the deal to the letter. Put aside whether we have the right to dictate whether other countries have nukes while maintaining our own. Exiting that agreement was not the action of someone legitimately trying to avoid Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, it was the action of someone looking for a pretense to bomb Iran at the behest of the US uni-party war machine and Israel.
I don't know how you guys take live comments. Are all these people paid subscribers? I'd guess if they're paying customers then they're probably not trolls but it's still hard to believe. But many props, depending on the video, each week you have people from alternating viewpoints with the need to express disappointment in your commentary and I find that refreshing.
I remember a time when one of America's best coping mechanisms was the ability to laugh at ourselves and difficult situations. My generation, admittedly ancient, laughed at everything. When the Challenger shuttle blew up, we all told Christa Mccauliff jokes through our tears. We weren't horrible people, we just found laughter united and soothed us. Now, everyone is offended by everything. No one is talking, no one is laughing, everyone is offended. My time was better.
I agree.
I think part of those coping mechanisms were trying to find a way to acknowledge what had happened, while also acknowledging life has to go on.
Maybe a lesson is learned, maybe a cautionary tale is crafted, maybe a lot of jokes are told. But time doesn't stand still.
Some sort of decision has to be made so everyone can get back past the present tragedy, get back to building their own lives, and get back to building up the resolve and energy to deal with the next unpleasant surprise the world will throw at us.
I don't think any of those things are possible when a person's entire being is consumed with very emotional outrage that never ceases because the outraged person is ALSO outraged at everyone who isn't outraged to the same extent and about the same things they're outraged about.
Enough! You both speak of an Iranian nuclear program as if it is a reality. How does Iran prove a negative. Two well read guys, yet, both lack haven read knowledge authors on the topic of Iran, think, Noam Chomsky. Could your rhetoric on Iran, your friendly-ish comments about Israel, particularly Benjamin Netanyahu (a genocidal psycho) with a tint of fear of Israel’s powers over Hollywood and other media. It is likely most writers in that industry requires approval from Israeli-run powerhouses capable to make or break deals with talented writers. Too many talents are forced to self-censor or echo bullshit to please the powers that be.
A quick highly focused comment on the commentary re: death to America.
After the commentary re: Might make right, it seems a bit disconnected. Additionally, not once has the US atoned for its sinister meddling in Iran's internal affairs leading to the tyrannical Pahlavi (sp?) regime which of course resulted in the Iranian people feeling aggrieved.
Lastly, in my personal life I started on a path 36 years ago that requires me to make amends to those I've harmed. I don't do it because of virtue, I do it because it is a better way to live (for me). Imho, this is the path I would have the US on if I were calling the shots.
Something I haven't heard anyone discuss is Cruze’s comments near the end of the Tucker interview about the sanctions on Russia prior to their invasion of Ukraine. He basically said that the US was trying to push Russia out as an energy provider to Europe. Maybe it's old news but a very important detail to that whole mess.
Gents, good job on the attack on the nuclear sites in Iran. Illegitimati non carborundum. The strange thing about our current media-based era is nobody starts from American patriotism and unity, then argues from that premise. We should demand this, over and over. Hines and Schiff, neither of whom is a leader who starts from that premise (perhaps because they can’t accept the result of the last election and therefore can’t rationally start that way), have made themselves irrelevant to those of us who do.
Iran has been threatening us for decades now.. Death to America. Death to America and they’ve been working fervently to create a nuclear arsenal to carry out those repeated threats.
This is most similar to a man sitting across the street with a rifle and saying he’s going to kill you and everyone you know while He Loads the Rifle..
Are you just going to sit there and watch Him continue to load to the very last round? Or do you take away the weapon and the ammo?
Trump Hadthe balls To take his weapon.. The first president to do it..
This may be the most retardedly backwards comment I've ever seen.
Jesus, you two are having a time of it. Better you than me. Except for the literary part of what you do, which is priceless and one of the best segments on any show anywhere, I sense a struggle to resist the urge to drop-kick most of your audience into the nosebleed seats.
It’s a remote possibility that I may be one of those annoying pests, despite my admiration for you both. Walter has already shunned me on X for a perceived slight I still have trouble remembering as an actual criticism. I would love the chance to go over that with him and apologize, but won’t lose sleep in the meantime. Life is short, and what’s left of mine is even shorter.
Regardless, I have a perspective that aligns intellectually and morally with both of yours, but which includes a couple of wrinkles. I especially agree that it’s not wrong or dumb to keep your enemy from being able to do to you what you’ve done to others. It is not wrong to attempt to destroy anyone’s capability to launch an apocalyptic weapon. It is not wrong to plot and carry out actions against entities who want you and yours obliterated.
But where I go further is in positing that “we,” as in the American/British-led global capitalist empire, is actually responsible for the entire geopolitical morass in which we are mired today. What I do not do, however, is assume as others mistakenly do that that empire is necessarily “evil” and should be violently “resisted.” I suspect that there have been damn good existential reasons for keeping nations divided and conquered, and for championing the goals of Western civilization, as opposed to the harsh paradigms coming out of Asia and other quarters of the globe. I do think “we” can do a hell of a lot better. Anyway, carry on, and try not to kill yourselves like some of our other heroes did.
https://biffogram.substack.com/p/take-me-to-your-leader-oh-wait-never
Some men are still cavalier about tossing around suicide as a joke. I'm with it!
I remember as a girl child 1960s, repeating the phase, "Ack, I'm going to kill myself!" No therapy, no therapy jar, just an outlet of a pre-adolescent moment. Therapy jars came a little later...70s, I think.
Tucker Carlson had an excellent interview with Scott Horton today that basically covers the modern history of Iran. I'd highly recommend that @MattTaibbi and @WalterKirn spend the time to watch it. If they can't be bothered to spend 2 hours enlightening themselves about perhaps the most important foreign policy issue in the world (or can't provide a cogent rebuttal) then I'll have no choice but to stop giving them the benefit of the doubt that they're awful takes are the result of ignorance and instead will be forced to assume they're motivated by something else.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HVGLCRp3I8
"Operation Throbbing Manshaft" - Oooh. I don't find actual war funny, but, I love you guys.
Fuck this traitorous piece of shit.
I'm getting used to the distribution of Monday livestreams as recordings. Anyhow, thanks for giving us viewing options that let us shun YouTube! I suppose you have no instructions on what you might prefer between Substack and Rumble, so I'm on my own. (I'll watch live on Substack; recorded on Rumble--as long as I know what day it is. Thank you!!