I appreciate your discussion re the stabbing, and the manner in which you dealt with the event.
I find myself not wanting to think about the images that I’ve seem, but I know that we all must, eventually. The event encapsulates so much of what has gone wrong with our country the past decade; the continuing deinstitutionalization of insane people, the anti-incarceration movement, the general breakdown of order, the inability to talk about racial issues plainly & honestly, not insisting on appropriate bail for repeat offenders, the way the press tried to censure & spin this story and hide the truth, the idea that we should be passive and not defend ourselves (or others who are vulnerable), even the irony that the poor young woman was from war-torn Ukraine.
Nobody in their right mind wants to live in the world this killing represents. Good people need to wake up.
Also, I agree with your approach to the Gaza issues - it’s especially hard to be rational about events over there - so much emotion and propaganda, so little knowledge, or understanding. A 1,000 year old dispute, that our grandchildren will not live to see resolved. Maybe better to not take a side.
This is why we can’t have nice things, like a community live stream with Matt and Walter. Because trolls get on and are just obnoxious. You may have to just stick to the prerecorded or close the comments if you aren’t going to kick assholes off. It’s not about free speech or dissenting opinions - they are there to distract and sabotage. Ruins it for everyone.
Looking forward to further discussion of The Hound of the Baskervilles, that civilized novel from a civilized time about some most uncivilized carryings on.
I hope that you, along with Walter and myself, are enjoying a reproduction of the monthly installments published starting April 1901 in The Strand. Too lovely. Even the arrangement of lines, illustrations, the typeface, all speak, along with Sir Arthur's prose, of a time more leisured, more contemplative, than ours. It's a great place to visit, too bad I can't live there.
I ordered the Strand edition of the book but sadly it’s going to take a while to arrive. In the meantime I have various online editions. Anyway, the writing is delectable..witty dialog and fantastic descriptions. Plus it really is the kind of book you want to immerse yourself in when the days are getting shorter and the nights are nippy…
“I’m really mad at you for not having a strong binary opinion about something you don’t have expertise in, because I need you to help me feel more secure in my anger!!”
….the knot of inconvenient nagging little doubts not addressed by the transparently thin “colonialist” indoctrination and lost $$$ and time of their wasted youth.
Matt, you accused Gladwell of ‘not packing anything down there’ but one has to wonder what you’re packing with your mealy-mouthed vacillating about Israel.
Let me simplify it for you— you and Kirn tell us you have a major problem with us sending billions in weapons to Ukraine that would be better spent at home. Where is that same concern when it comes to Israel? If you add up all of the US economic support to that tiny country, you’ll see Ukraine is chump change.
Walt was a a little more honest, and revealed why he’s so reticent, when he told us he feared the blowback.
Ever ask yourself what you do and don't understand about a situation? Matt can have whatever reason he wants to not wade into that subject, it's not up to you are anyone else. With so many others covering this day in and day out, head over to those outlets. Don't like what's going on here, STFU and GTFO.
Pffft... Anyone who assumes that they are "right", especially in a time when we can't even begin to understand what it is we are seeing (and why), and or, don't know what we don't know, is on a fool's errand.
I just heard about that stabbing today. Even though it horrifies me, I'm glad you two showed the video and discussed it so I have a better understanding of what happened.
I also appreciate your arguments about NOT wanting to discuss Israel. If I may add my two cents...Matt and Walter are their own bosses here at Substack, so they do have a right to pick and choose what they want to discuss and what they don't want to discuss. So many people here make it sound as though if Matt and Walter weigh in on this issue, that will resolve it. No, it won't; it will just pour more gasoline on the fire. Every other media outlet is covering this issue, so you can always look elsewhere for news and insight.
Looking forward to more discussion of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" this Friday.
My sister was the TV critic for a major Canadian newspaper in the 1980s. Every time I hung out with her and her colleagues in the Entertainment section --- the rock critic, the arts reporter, the opera guy, whatever --- they were the most informed and interesting people I ever met, on any topic. They didn't say, "I'm the guy who interviews Van Halen. What do I know about Apartheid?" Why? Because they were in the news business. They got into it because they cared what was going on in their communities, their country, the world. And one day, the rock critic was assigned to the provincial government beat, and today he's one the best political columnists in the country. The rock critic that followed him now covers community and civic issues. These kinds of career progressions were not uncommon in the old media landscape that we mourn.
Matt: I don't want you to speak about Israel and Gaza because it's the "issue of the day." I'm not looking for your flag pin or your Facebook emoji. I just want to see that you have A) some sense of humanity when presented with a horrific story of epic human suffering, and B) some basic journalistic curiosity in how this came to happen.
You say you don't have the time to research Israel's history from square one. Before Oct 7, I was like you --- my sympathy leaned toward the Palestinians, but I didn't care to look deeply into the issue. After Oct 7, I simply listened to a few people talk about the history. Norman Finkelstein in particular, but also Gabor Mate, his son Aaron, Katie Halper, Russel Dobular and Keaton Weiss. All Jewish. It didn't take me long to come to a basic, solid conclusion about Israel.
I find it hard to believe that you have not been exposed to the same podcasts. You co-hosted a show with Katie Halper. You have been on the Due Dissidence podcast. I'm sure you know Aaron Mate personally. You are in this orbit as a JOURNALIST, not just a passive audience member like myself. It's not that you don't have a right to sit on the fence. It's more that your claim of ignorance just comes across as very odd from a person who should have simply absorbed this information by journalistic osmosis.
Matt is a big shot when shooting down other journalists for mispronouncing his name. Malcolm Gladwell he tells us has no balls for making an embarrassing admission. Yet Matt turns into a quivering snowflake when asked about Israel. Walter Kirn was the more honest of the two when he told us he can’t be bothered because he fears the blowback.
On the fence with Israel…would that fence still exist if the roles in this genocidal famine were reversed? Are you on a fence with 250+ reporters being killed?
Palestinians live in an occupied land (Israel). They are controlled by Hamas…not a bastion of democratic principles…no elections, no weapons except stones. A peaceful protest against the Israeli occupation back in 2018(?) was met with gunfire, injuries and death. Palestinians have no power, but are in the midst of a genocide. Irony, Palestine was a safe haven for Jews during Nazi rule. Not like the US and other countries that turned Jews away.
The family (father/brother/mother/etc) is Hamas and Hamas supporters. Again, Israel did not ask for this crazy level of fanaticism, corruption, and garden variety stupidity.
October 7th was a terrorist attack simply because civilians were victims…Israeli victims and now, for the past 2 years, Palestinian victims. October 7th, horrible as it was, was another tragic incident that’s been going on for nearly 75 yrs…Israeli occupation is the root cause.
Civilized people address the types of grievances the Palestinians have through negotiation. Oops, that did happen but Palestine has repeatedly (five times) refused deals to have its own state. Can’t fix stupid (and corrupt) I guess.
Kirn- “If you don’t like our content why do you listen?” I bet Rachel Madow etc are thinking the same thing. The difference is that Racket monetizes the content of the alleged scoundrels. Is ATW above scrutiny? If so, you have seamlessly traded the cover of “hate inc.” for two equally obnoxious asshats. I will criticize ATW until they ban me.
I personally didn’t care about ATW having a view on Gaza. Even after Walter’s dick sentiment about missing his kids graduation because of protesters in April of 24. But these two taking the side of Trump in the Harvard kerfufel, without mentioning Israel fealty , was ominous. Is there a Taibi sex tape out there somewhere?
I’m not like Matt. I won’t pretend that he’s just wrong when he is obviously lying. When every administration is shitty with dual citizenship cunts hiding under every stone, are they Vatican City citizens? Am I funding a military intent on Vatican City expansion? Does the Vatican City mow the lawn every now and then? The brazen audacity of this retarded false equivalency infers a contempt for the intelligence of the audience. The audience continues to deserve such contempt as evidenced by the bulk of comments.
Walter, maybe get a puppy if you need unconditional adoration.
People get mad if you don’t love what they love but get REALLY mad if you don’t hate what they hate
Hate is the new Love in America.
Haha!! I’m laughing because it’s TRUE!
Yup.
Good show., thanks for being a voice of reason in a complex world.
I agree. I feel grounded after a bout with Matt & Walter.
Yes, it's reasonable they don't want to be journalists about Israel Two hundred thirty something Press have been killed in Gaza.
It’s not a fucking genocide. They keep repeating the word to override our common sense and to pretend they have the moral high ground.
When every offense is called a genocide, the word loses its meaning.
I appreciate your discussion re the stabbing, and the manner in which you dealt with the event.
I find myself not wanting to think about the images that I’ve seem, but I know that we all must, eventually. The event encapsulates so much of what has gone wrong with our country the past decade; the continuing deinstitutionalization of insane people, the anti-incarceration movement, the general breakdown of order, the inability to talk about racial issues plainly & honestly, not insisting on appropriate bail for repeat offenders, the way the press tried to censure & spin this story and hide the truth, the idea that we should be passive and not defend ourselves (or others who are vulnerable), even the irony that the poor young woman was from war-torn Ukraine.
Nobody in their right mind wants to live in the world this killing represents. Good people need to wake up.
Also, I agree with your approach to the Gaza issues - it’s especially hard to be rational about events over there - so much emotion and propaganda, so little knowledge, or understanding. A 1,000 year old dispute, that our grandchildren will not live to see resolved. Maybe better to not take a side.
This is why we can’t have nice things, like a community live stream with Matt and Walter. Because trolls get on and are just obnoxious. You may have to just stick to the prerecorded or close the comments if you aren’t going to kick assholes off. It’s not about free speech or dissenting opinions - they are there to distract and sabotage. Ruins it for everyone.
I agree. I find the chat scroll distracting even without the trolls.
And the chat scrolling by covers up the comment that the moderator is highlighting - frustrating
Right on. Listening to them switch gears on topic discussions and reading the live stream . . . It was — illuminating.
Expand the screen, and the comments disappear.
Looking forward to further discussion of The Hound of the Baskervilles, that civilized novel from a civilized time about some most uncivilized carryings on.
Yes! I’m loving this book.
I hope that you, along with Walter and myself, are enjoying a reproduction of the monthly installments published starting April 1901 in The Strand. Too lovely. Even the arrangement of lines, illustrations, the typeface, all speak, along with Sir Arthur's prose, of a time more leisured, more contemplative, than ours. It's a great place to visit, too bad I can't live there.
I ordered the Strand edition of the book but sadly it’s going to take a while to arrive. In the meantime I have various online editions. Anyway, the writing is delectable..witty dialog and fantastic descriptions. Plus it really is the kind of book you want to immerse yourself in when the days are getting shorter and the nights are nippy…
You can find a free loan of a replica at Internet Archive (archive dot org). They have several.
Thank you!
My pleasure! Sharing is a good thing, so I have heard . . . and I like to.
“I’m really mad at you for not having a strong binary opinion about something you don’t have expertise in, because I need you to help me feel more secure in my anger!!”
🤣
….the knot of inconvenient nagging little doubts not addressed by the transparently thin “colonialist” indoctrination and lost $$$ and time of their wasted youth.
Matt, you accused Gladwell of ‘not packing anything down there’ but one has to wonder what you’re packing with your mealy-mouthed vacillating about Israel.
Let me simplify it for you— you and Kirn tell us you have a major problem with us sending billions in weapons to Ukraine that would be better spent at home. Where is that same concern when it comes to Israel? If you add up all of the US economic support to that tiny country, you’ll see Ukraine is chump change.
Walt was a a little more honest, and revealed why he’s so reticent, when he told us he feared the blowback.
Ever ask yourself what you do and don't understand about a situation? Matt can have whatever reason he wants to not wade into that subject, it's not up to you are anyone else. With so many others covering this day in and day out, head over to those outlets. Don't like what's going on here, STFU and GTFO.
Who made you hall monitor? I agree with Matt when I think he’s right, and I’ll let him know when he’s full of BS.
Pffft... Anyone who assumes that they are "right", especially in a time when we can't even begin to understand what it is we are seeing (and why), and or, don't know what we don't know, is on a fool's errand.
I just heard about that stabbing today. Even though it horrifies me, I'm glad you two showed the video and discussed it so I have a better understanding of what happened.
I also appreciate your arguments about NOT wanting to discuss Israel. If I may add my two cents...Matt and Walter are their own bosses here at Substack, so they do have a right to pick and choose what they want to discuss and what they don't want to discuss. So many people here make it sound as though if Matt and Walter weigh in on this issue, that will resolve it. No, it won't; it will just pour more gasoline on the fire. Every other media outlet is covering this issue, so you can always look elsewhere for news and insight.
Looking forward to more discussion of "The Hound of the Baskervilles" this Friday.
Pleased to see that Matt and Walter are not diving in to the middle
east morass.
It's not a morass. The whole thing would stop in an instant without US funding. Israel would cease to exist.
I like the idea, but I'll bet for every $ lost in direct US funding would be replaced by EU social media fines on US companies.
Somehow magically Israel, Ukraine etc would have the same funding as previous years.
Quit apologizing. Fuck them.
^^^
This
My sister was the TV critic for a major Canadian newspaper in the 1980s. Every time I hung out with her and her colleagues in the Entertainment section --- the rock critic, the arts reporter, the opera guy, whatever --- they were the most informed and interesting people I ever met, on any topic. They didn't say, "I'm the guy who interviews Van Halen. What do I know about Apartheid?" Why? Because they were in the news business. They got into it because they cared what was going on in their communities, their country, the world. And one day, the rock critic was assigned to the provincial government beat, and today he's one the best political columnists in the country. The rock critic that followed him now covers community and civic issues. These kinds of career progressions were not uncommon in the old media landscape that we mourn.
Matt: I don't want you to speak about Israel and Gaza because it's the "issue of the day." I'm not looking for your flag pin or your Facebook emoji. I just want to see that you have A) some sense of humanity when presented with a horrific story of epic human suffering, and B) some basic journalistic curiosity in how this came to happen.
You say you don't have the time to research Israel's history from square one. Before Oct 7, I was like you --- my sympathy leaned toward the Palestinians, but I didn't care to look deeply into the issue. After Oct 7, I simply listened to a few people talk about the history. Norman Finkelstein in particular, but also Gabor Mate, his son Aaron, Katie Halper, Russel Dobular and Keaton Weiss. All Jewish. It didn't take me long to come to a basic, solid conclusion about Israel.
I find it hard to believe that you have not been exposed to the same podcasts. You co-hosted a show with Katie Halper. You have been on the Due Dissidence podcast. I'm sure you know Aaron Mate personally. You are in this orbit as a JOURNALIST, not just a passive audience member like myself. It's not that you don't have a right to sit on the fence. It's more that your claim of ignorance just comes across as very odd from a person who should have simply absorbed this information by journalistic osmosis.
Matt is a big shot when shooting down other journalists for mispronouncing his name. Malcolm Gladwell he tells us has no balls for making an embarrassing admission. Yet Matt turns into a quivering snowflake when asked about Israel. Walter Kirn was the more honest of the two when he told us he can’t be bothered because he fears the blowback.
On the fence with Israel…would that fence still exist if the roles in this genocidal famine were reversed? Are you on a fence with 250+ reporters being killed?
That’s where Matt’s Switzerland shtick comes apart
Palestinians live in an occupied land (Israel). They are controlled by Hamas…not a bastion of democratic principles…no elections, no weapons except stones. A peaceful protest against the Israeli occupation back in 2018(?) was met with gunfire, injuries and death. Palestinians have no power, but are in the midst of a genocide. Irony, Palestine was a safe haven for Jews during Nazi rule. Not like the US and other countries that turned Jews away.
Correction: Palestinians = Hamas.
So a 5 yr old kid is Hamas?
The family (father/brother/mother/etc) is Hamas and Hamas supporters. Again, Israel did not ask for this crazy level of fanaticism, corruption, and garden variety stupidity.
The Palestinians started the whole infernal thing on October 7. Israel didn’t do that, but Palestine did. Grok that.
October 7th was a terrorist attack simply because civilians were victims…Israeli victims and now, for the past 2 years, Palestinian victims. October 7th, horrible as it was, was another tragic incident that’s been going on for nearly 75 yrs…Israeli occupation is the root cause.
Civilized people address the types of grievances the Palestinians have through negotiation. Oops, that did happen but Palestine has repeatedly (five times) refused deals to have its own state. Can’t fix stupid (and corrupt) I guess.
Lots to discuss ... Matt you sure had a busy week last.
Impossible to keep up
Can’t wait.
Kirn- “If you don’t like our content why do you listen?” I bet Rachel Madow etc are thinking the same thing. The difference is that Racket monetizes the content of the alleged scoundrels. Is ATW above scrutiny? If so, you have seamlessly traded the cover of “hate inc.” for two equally obnoxious asshats. I will criticize ATW until they ban me.
I personally didn’t care about ATW having a view on Gaza. Even after Walter’s dick sentiment about missing his kids graduation because of protesters in April of 24. But these two taking the side of Trump in the Harvard kerfufel, without mentioning Israel fealty , was ominous. Is there a Taibi sex tape out there somewhere?
I’m not like Matt. I won’t pretend that he’s just wrong when he is obviously lying. When every administration is shitty with dual citizenship cunts hiding under every stone, are they Vatican City citizens? Am I funding a military intent on Vatican City expansion? Does the Vatican City mow the lawn every now and then? The brazen audacity of this retarded false equivalency infers a contempt for the intelligence of the audience. The audience continues to deserve such contempt as evidenced by the bulk of comments.
Walter, maybe get a puppy if you need unconditional adoration.