Hopefully you also discuss H.R. 867 the IGO Anti-boycott act that was opposed by MTG and Massie but pushed by other republicans which would impose jail time up to 20 years and up to a million dollar fine for Americans who take part in boycotts of nations, say like a boycott of Israel, if international governmental organizations (like the UN or EU) advocate those boycotts.
A bi-partisan effort to criminalize speech, protest, and our general freedom of association as Americans, forcing us to comply with U.S. foreign policy goals even in our purchasing habits.
And by the way, that resolution would have expanded the laws already on the books which criminalize Americans taking part in boycotts of nations if other countries which we oppose geopolitically are advocating those boycotts. If you even fail to report a request from a country to boycott a nation that the U.S. favors, say Israel for example, that itself is criminalized.
This is an attempted massacre of our rights, especially free speech. This cannot be ignored.
To my utter lack of surprise, neither of them mentioned this topic despite the fact that the only reason it wasn’t voted on today was due to efforts by Massie, MTG, and a few others.
Apparently neither Taibbi nor Kirn see this as a free speech issue at all. Or perhaps they both stopped caring about free speech as an issue.
Either way, not worth discussing for even five minutes for these two. Much more important to talk about the Luigi musical or cry about a story about strawberries.
You are on point about everything Andrew but I think the bill is only targeting boycotts of Israel. Not just other nations. How fucked up is that? You can still boycott an American company without breaking the law but not Israel. Seems like pretty big news to me.
From what I understand it isn’t about Israel specifically in the language of the bill. The target of a boycott doesn’t determine whether it would be criminal under that new law to support it.
It’s actually whether or not a designated country or international governmental organization (the IGO part of the name of the bill) like the UN or EU is advocating or “in agreement with” said boycott.
If you are found to be “in agreement with” such a country or IGO in your acts of association and your power of purse, then you are violating that law and are subject to imprisonment and fines.
SCOTUS has ruled in the past that boycotts are free speech/ expression. I'm surprised that 38 states have managed to make contracts and jobs unavailable to anyone who supports BDS. The excuse, as always is "national security", though like most of America's military adventures and foreign policies, Israel is just another black hole for money laundering and war profiteering.
Or they have a lot of other things they decide to work on and do not wish to engage with Jew haters such as yourself. You trolls lurk around Taibbi and Kirn articles that you can weasel in some connection to Gaza.
running burning man: And arses like you pull out “Jaw hater” as if we are scared. What is wrong with a Jaw hater, anyway? Jaws don’t help non-Jaws, no way, no how, and haven’t for centuries if not thousands of years. Jaws help Jaws ONLY. When was the last time you witnessed, or heard about, a Jaw helping a non-Jaw? Never, or so close to never, it being negligible. That is a legitimate reason to hate Jaws, or it just “the behavior” of Jaws we should hate? Jaws are on the hook, non-Jaws are holding Jaws accountable,—for oh so little things like for every Jaw killed in the State of Isrule, twenty Palestinians “get deaded,” and it is because of weapon-disparity, you know, lethal missiles vs. stone-throwing.🖕🏼
I think that a critical mass of Matt’s audience need to demand that he speak out. As long as he is going to give into audience capture, we may as well be the captors.
Don’t bother speaking out one way or another for the State of Isrule. Isrule rules America. Isrule won’t fall until the USA falls. USA is crumbling, or hadn’t you noticed? Heard of any Maryland bridges that are about to fail and won’t be replaced?
Free speech to both Taibbi and Kirn was always and only shorthand for ‘stupid bigots get to use the n-word and men get to make rape threats and harass women without any consequences whatsoever.’ Neither one of these two assholes ever gave a single molecule of concern about government restrictions on opinions or expression; they did resent it when women called them out for making disgusting misogynistic comments.
Can any of you bigots actually defend Kirn and Taibbi? Show me where either one of them has ever actually defended a real victim of government oppression based on speech? Show me where either one of them has actually NOT been a vicious woman-hater?
Where and when has Matt Taibbi defended a woman?
Where and when has Walter Kirn advocated for increasing women’s autonomy and economic and government power?
NJ Democrat Josh Gottheimer and NY Republican Mike Lawler, and also 20+ other members of the house from both parties co-sponsored it.
It seems to me that this is standard Trump admin behavior and it is absolutely clear that with people like Massie opposing it, and with Trump targeting and feuding with Massie, this could become a point of contention which feeds into the schism growing within the GOP between true America First ideologues like Massie and Israel First sellout traitors like Lawler and, yes, Trump.
Are you guys kidding me? I'm Irish Catholic and laughed my ass off. Walter, your wife got it too. There's nothing better than a Catholic joke (and an Irish joke). The joke is that Prots are offended (who despise the Pope).
Matt Taibbi has swallowed the rotting seed of cowardice, still refusing to mention the genocide in Palestine, and unless he spits it up he'll be consumed. Watch and see if I'm wrong.
I don't really care anymore that Matt is completely neutered on Israel/Palestine, that's not really an issue with the show. The issue with the show is the non-stop slop that it dishes out instead of covering the abuses of the Trump admin towards free speech.
Matt is apparently traumatized and can never seriously criticize Trump again because of how much the media has inappropriately catastrophized him and Walter Kirn is literally a Trump shill who spends every second he can interrupting Matt to tell him why even the slightest concern he may have can be explained away by some kind of elaborate narrative explanation.
It used to be a serious show about serious topics, now all they do is rag on mainstream media and the Democratic party. I don't think they've actually had any problems between the two of them with a single thing Trump has done. At least never a complaint that is registered as they were under the Biden admin.
It's the game of pretending to still be the outsiders fighting the machine when in fact "your guy" is the head of the machine. But people like Kirn think Trump is "their guy."
I think there are enough Taibbi subscribers to force him to take on the issue if we just consolidate our request. If that interests you, follow my Substack (free) and let’s organize the rest!
Tell you what: You've heard my message, now shut me up for good by tacking the issue head on. Why is Matt Taibbi silent about the most important free speech issue going: the silencing and arrest of people protesting the Genocide?
If you haven't figured it out by now, I probably can't help. But I will try. That guy is a one trick pony who seeks attention through engagement on comment boards. Ignoring his (its?) posts takes away the attention his narcissistic personality seeks.
Most countries control immigration. If you need a workforce to harvest crops, you can give seasonal VISAs. There is no need for exploitable illegal immigrant slave labor except to make business owners richer.
The pardon only applies to federal law and while that would be more satisfying to most, states can still prosecute Fauci and people can, and should, sue him for the damages he caused.
All the poorer countries which could not afford the mRNA vaccines did much better with Covid. Probably due to immunological interactions between superior natural infection immunity and the leaky vaccine immunity (possibly as a result of Original Antigenic Sin?) Really surprising how pitiful the science was during Covid (intentional?)
This has become unlistenable. I didn't make it past the first 15 minutes. Walter ruined the show, but Matt went along with it. I've never seen two journalists refuse to criticize power so consistently. Maybe the rest of the show was different, but I doubt it.
My favorite bit was Matt finally mentioning Rümeysa Öztürk, but only to say that we need to take Rubio’s concerns about her suspected terrorism seriously.
He says he gets annoyed because people say she was arrested for an op ed even though the state department says there is more to it.
Well then how about they fucking state what that is and provide a shred of evidence then?
No. Matt thinks that we have to hold open the possibility that this is all on the up and up and we are just being tricked by that clever mainstream media again!
It’s pathetic honestly.
Hey maybe Iraq really DID have WMD and we just didn’t get told the whole story, right Matt?
Truth. And Rümeysa is just one of a number of people rounded up for protesting the Genocide, to say nothing of people shipped to El Salvador just to make an ICE quota.
I think Matt's subscribers need to speak out forcefully and often to compel him to explain himself.
I don’t think that will work to be honest with you, I don’t think Taibbi gives a shit what his audience thinks. If they don’t cancel the sub that’s all that matters. Money talks, angry comments walk.
Anyway, that doesn’t mean I’ll stop calling this out for however long I remain a paying member.
I take a personal delight and pleasure in fighting Israeli influence and calling out people who advance it or allow it to fester unchallenged and unnoticed. I also take a delight in calling out hypocrisy, defending the rights of Americans, and reporting truthfully the threats to those rights.
So I’ll keep posting the comments about the attacks on American rights by the Trump admin and our governments overall capture by Israeli interests.
Matt and Walter can ignore them all day, but my comment clearly drew interest and the more people that are aware of these issues the better, even if the two running this account don’t care themselves.
I just like doing this too much to stop. I experience physical waves of pleasure when I sense my words have upset a Zionist or a neocon. It’s addicting.
Looking forward to it. Just by chance today I was searching for performances in SF using Grok and it came up with the Mangione play.
This is what it said: Luigi: The Musical is a 60-minute satirical comedy inspired by Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024. The musical imagines Mangione sharing a prison cell with Sam Bankman-Fried and Sean "Diddy" Combs at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, exploring themes of "friendship, justice, and the absurdity of viral fame." It uses satire to critique institutions like healthcare, tech, and Hollywood, drawing comparisons to Chicago for its take on celebrity criminals. The show is described as "wildly irreverent" and "razor-sharp," with campy elements like a song about Mangione’s regret over buying McDonald’s hash browns.
Dates: June 13–28, 2025, with five scheduled performances (all sold out as of May 2025). Additional shows may be announced due to demand.
Tourists have stopped going to Santa Monica because of the homeless drugged out people that have shut down 3rd Street… however there used to be a lot of German tourists and Germany has its own share of Crazy that could also be contributing… plus the wildfires destroyed the beaches of Malibu and Santa Monica. And now they are diverting water in wine country by shutting down dams so there goes more tourism, SF lost tourism a long time ago and New York is screwed up so why and where would you go in the US?
Orlando is still popular both for theme parks and cruises. National parks like yellowstone and grand canyon are a pull. Vegas. Pretty much anywhere that didn't commit seppuku via covid lockdowns, defunding the police and electing incompetent DA's is still doing well.
I spent a week in San Francisco last summer. It saddens me how far the state has fallen, and how blind my remaining friends are to the decline. A lot of Californians still have the "flyover country" superiority complex, which is no longer deserved. It's kind of sad to see how small minded these enlightened souls are.
I'm sorry to hear that Santa Monica is no longer a nice place to go to. Is Santa Barbra still nice? Is state street littered with homeless and needles?
Pork chops and lima beans tonight! And they're "Fordhook" lima beans!... I don't know what the hell that means, but Publix charged me a buck more a bag than regular lima beans.
Walter always sees past the obvious simplistic responses of MSM to the context and broader implications of events. I't why it's important to listen to him.
Hopefully you also discuss H.R. 867 the IGO Anti-boycott act that was opposed by MTG and Massie but pushed by other republicans which would impose jail time up to 20 years and up to a million dollar fine for Americans who take part in boycotts of nations, say like a boycott of Israel, if international governmental organizations (like the UN or EU) advocate those boycotts.
A bi-partisan effort to criminalize speech, protest, and our general freedom of association as Americans, forcing us to comply with U.S. foreign policy goals even in our purchasing habits.
And by the way, that resolution would have expanded the laws already on the books which criminalize Americans taking part in boycotts of nations if other countries which we oppose geopolitically are advocating those boycotts. If you even fail to report a request from a country to boycott a nation that the U.S. favors, say Israel for example, that itself is criminalized.
This is an attempted massacre of our rights, especially free speech. This cannot be ignored.
To my utter lack of surprise, neither of them mentioned this topic despite the fact that the only reason it wasn’t voted on today was due to efforts by Massie, MTG, and a few others.
Apparently neither Taibbi nor Kirn see this as a free speech issue at all. Or perhaps they both stopped caring about free speech as an issue.
Either way, not worth discussing for even five minutes for these two. Much more important to talk about the Luigi musical or cry about a story about strawberries.
Perhaps disappointing but totally unsurprising.
You are on point about everything Andrew but I think the bill is only targeting boycotts of Israel. Not just other nations. How fucked up is that? You can still boycott an American company without breaking the law but not Israel. Seems like pretty big news to me.
From what I understand it isn’t about Israel specifically in the language of the bill. The target of a boycott doesn’t determine whether it would be criminal under that new law to support it.
It’s actually whether or not a designated country or international governmental organization (the IGO part of the name of the bill) like the UN or EU is advocating or “in agreement with” said boycott.
If you are found to be “in agreement with” such a country or IGO in your acts of association and your power of purse, then you are violating that law and are subject to imprisonment and fines.
SCOTUS has ruled in the past that boycotts are free speech/ expression. I'm surprised that 38 states have managed to make contracts and jobs unavailable to anyone who supports BDS. The excuse, as always is "national security", though like most of America's military adventures and foreign policies, Israel is just another black hole for money laundering and war profiteering.
Or they have a lot of other things they decide to work on and do not wish to engage with Jew haters such as yourself. You trolls lurk around Taibbi and Kirn articles that you can weasel in some connection to Gaza.
I'm no Jew hater, and I oppose all foreign aid, but I don't understand why so many commenters feel justified in telling Matt what to cover.
running burning man: And arses like you pull out “Jaw hater” as if we are scared. What is wrong with a Jaw hater, anyway? Jaws don’t help non-Jaws, no way, no how, and haven’t for centuries if not thousands of years. Jaws help Jaws ONLY. When was the last time you witnessed, or heard about, a Jaw helping a non-Jaw? Never, or so close to never, it being negligible. That is a legitimate reason to hate Jaws, or it just “the behavior” of Jaws we should hate? Jaws are on the hook, non-Jaws are holding Jaws accountable,—for oh so little things like for every Jaw killed in the State of Isrule, twenty Palestinians “get deaded,” and it is because of weapon-disparity, you know, lethal missiles vs. stone-throwing.🖕🏼
Here is my take on Matt’s silence on Israel:
https://substack.com/home/post/p-162427092
I think that a critical mass of Matt’s audience need to demand that he speak out. As long as he is going to give into audience capture, we may as well be the captors.
Don’t bother speaking out one way or another for the State of Isrule. Isrule rules America. Isrule won’t fall until the USA falls. USA is crumbling, or hadn’t you noticed? Heard of any Maryland bridges that are about to fail and won’t be replaced?
Free speech to both Taibbi and Kirn was always and only shorthand for ‘stupid bigots get to use the n-word and men get to make rape threats and harass women without any consequences whatsoever.’ Neither one of these two assholes ever gave a single molecule of concern about government restrictions on opinions or expression; they did resent it when women called them out for making disgusting misogynistic comments.
Taibbi and Kirn are both obnoxious bigots.
Shut up Karen
Is your name ironic?
Can any of you bigots actually defend Kirn and Taibbi? Show me where either one of them has ever actually defended a real victim of government oppression based on speech? Show me where either one of them has actually NOT been a vicious woman-hater?
Where and when has Matt Taibbi defended a woman?
Where and when has Walter Kirn advocated for increasing women’s autonomy and economic and government power?
Oh, what does the “n-word” mean? N-ggers? There, I said it out loud. Ni-gers. Nig-ers. Nigg-rs.😱Oh, I am so afraid.😱Nigge-.
What was the point of this? Did it make you happy to be offensive? I’m serious — why did you think this was so important?
Who are the sponsors of this bill? Their in-bins need to be relentlessly flooded.
NJ Democrat Josh Gottheimer and NY Republican Mike Lawler, and also 20+ other members of the house from both parties co-sponsored it.
It seems to me that this is standard Trump admin behavior and it is absolutely clear that with people like Massie opposing it, and with Trump targeting and feuding with Massie, this could become a point of contention which feeds into the schism growing within the GOP between true America First ideologues like Massie and Israel First sellout traitors like Lawler and, yes, Trump.
Thank you. (shaking my head.......)
My two cents on Matt’s Israel quietude: https://substack.com/home/post/p-162427092
Now, do you think Matt ever raised this issue in any of his hearings before Congress? Did he ever write about it?
“This cannot be ignored”? You don’t know Matt Taibbi!
Are you guys kidding me? I'm Irish Catholic and laughed my ass off. Walter, your wife got it too. There's nothing better than a Catholic joke (and an Irish joke). The joke is that Prots are offended (who despise the Pope).
Matt Taibbi has swallowed the rotting seed of cowardice, still refusing to mention the genocide in Palestine, and unless he spits it up he'll be consumed. Watch and see if I'm wrong.
Why should Matt mention something that does not exist? We got NPR or NYT for that.
I don't really care anymore that Matt is completely neutered on Israel/Palestine, that's not really an issue with the show. The issue with the show is the non-stop slop that it dishes out instead of covering the abuses of the Trump admin towards free speech.
Matt is apparently traumatized and can never seriously criticize Trump again because of how much the media has inappropriately catastrophized him and Walter Kirn is literally a Trump shill who spends every second he can interrupting Matt to tell him why even the slightest concern he may have can be explained away by some kind of elaborate narrative explanation.
It used to be a serious show about serious topics, now all they do is rag on mainstream media and the Democratic party. I don't think they've actually had any problems between the two of them with a single thing Trump has done. At least never a complaint that is registered as they were under the Biden admin.
It's the game of pretending to still be the outsiders fighting the machine when in fact "your guy" is the head of the machine. But people like Kirn think Trump is "their guy."
Vance is Kirn’s guy. He just wants to live long enough to see Vance take control and establish OCP-style corporate fiefdoms.
My own take on Taibbi’s cringing attitude towards Israel:
https://substack.com/home/post/p-162427092
I think there are enough Taibbi subscribers to force him to take on the issue if we just consolidate our request. If that interests you, follow my Substack (free) and let’s organize the rest!
Stop already with the self promotion. Posting your blog once is enough.....
When enough of Matt's subscribers are ready to push him to talk about the genocide my work on earth will be done.
(Why aren't you one of them?)
When you become a spammer, people will tune out the message you seek to amplify. Just some friendly advice, take it or leave it.
Tell you what: You've heard my message, now shut me up for good by tacking the issue head on. Why is Matt Taibbi silent about the most important free speech issue going: the silencing and arrest of people protesting the Genocide?
What a bizarre exchange. I don't know why he avoids the issue, and even if I did know you would not shut up.
If you haven't figured it out by now, I probably can't help. But I will try. That guy is a one trick pony who seeks attention through engagement on comment boards. Ignoring his (its?) posts takes away the attention his narcissistic personality seeks.
He will always have the last word.
Strawberries are harvested now, not August. And yeah, let's talk about the bill that shuts down our rights to criticize Israel.
Most countries control immigration. If you need a workforce to harvest crops, you can give seasonal VISAs. There is no need for exploitable illegal immigrant slave labor except to make business owners richer.
Thank you to RFK! I still hope that the pardon of Fauci can be overturned due to Biden’s lack of cognitive ability to make rational decisions.
The pardon only applies to federal law and while that would be more satisfying to most, states can still prosecute Fauci and people can, and should, sue him for the damages he caused.
All the poorer countries which could not afford the mRNA vaccines did much better with Covid. Probably due to immunological interactions between superior natural infection immunity and the leaky vaccine immunity (possibly as a result of Original Antigenic Sin?) Really surprising how pitiful the science was during Covid (intentional?)
This has become unlistenable. I didn't make it past the first 15 minutes. Walter ruined the show, but Matt went along with it. I've never seen two journalists refuse to criticize power so consistently. Maybe the rest of the show was different, but I doubt it.
My favorite bit was Matt finally mentioning Rümeysa Öztürk, but only to say that we need to take Rubio’s concerns about her suspected terrorism seriously.
Seriously what the fuck is wrong with Taibbi?
He says he gets annoyed because people say she was arrested for an op ed even though the state department says there is more to it.
Well then how about they fucking state what that is and provide a shred of evidence then?
No. Matt thinks that we have to hold open the possibility that this is all on the up and up and we are just being tricked by that clever mainstream media again!
It’s pathetic honestly.
Hey maybe Iraq really DID have WMD and we just didn’t get told the whole story, right Matt?
Truth. And Rümeysa is just one of a number of people rounded up for protesting the Genocide, to say nothing of people shipped to El Salvador just to make an ICE quota.
I think Matt's subscribers need to speak out forcefully and often to compel him to explain himself.
I don’t think that will work to be honest with you, I don’t think Taibbi gives a shit what his audience thinks. If they don’t cancel the sub that’s all that matters. Money talks, angry comments walk.
Anyway, that doesn’t mean I’ll stop calling this out for however long I remain a paying member.
I take a personal delight and pleasure in fighting Israeli influence and calling out people who advance it or allow it to fester unchallenged and unnoticed. I also take a delight in calling out hypocrisy, defending the rights of Americans, and reporting truthfully the threats to those rights.
So I’ll keep posting the comments about the attacks on American rights by the Trump admin and our governments overall capture by Israeli interests.
Matt and Walter can ignore them all day, but my comment clearly drew interest and the more people that are aware of these issues the better, even if the two running this account don’t care themselves.
I just like doing this too much to stop. I experience physical waves of pleasure when I sense my words have upset a Zionist or a neocon. It’s addicting.
Love Matt but I’m really here for Walter’s take. Please Walter don’t ever go away
Looking forward to it. Just by chance today I was searching for performances in SF using Grok and it came up with the Mangione play.
This is what it said: Luigi: The Musical is a 60-minute satirical comedy inspired by Luigi Mangione, a 26-year-old accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in December 2024. The musical imagines Mangione sharing a prison cell with Sam Bankman-Fried and Sean "Diddy" Combs at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, exploring themes of "friendship, justice, and the absurdity of viral fame." It uses satire to critique institutions like healthcare, tech, and Hollywood, drawing comparisons to Chicago for its take on celebrity criminals. The show is described as "wildly irreverent" and "razor-sharp," with campy elements like a song about Mangione’s regret over buying McDonald’s hash browns.
Dates: June 13–28, 2025, with five scheduled performances (all sold out as of May 2025). Additional shows may be announced due to demand.
Great show as always Matt and Walter!
Tourists have stopped going to Santa Monica because of the homeless drugged out people that have shut down 3rd Street… however there used to be a lot of German tourists and Germany has its own share of Crazy that could also be contributing… plus the wildfires destroyed the beaches of Malibu and Santa Monica. And now they are diverting water in wine country by shutting down dams so there goes more tourism, SF lost tourism a long time ago and New York is screwed up so why and where would you go in the US?
Orlando is still popular both for theme parks and cruises. National parks like yellowstone and grand canyon are a pull. Vegas. Pretty much anywhere that didn't commit seppuku via covid lockdowns, defunding the police and electing incompetent DA's is still doing well.
I spent a week in San Francisco last summer. It saddens me how far the state has fallen, and how blind my remaining friends are to the decline. A lot of Californians still have the "flyover country" superiority complex, which is no longer deserved. It's kind of sad to see how small minded these enlightened souls are.
I'm sorry to hear that Santa Monica is no longer a nice place to go to. Is Santa Barbra still nice? Is state street littered with homeless and needles?
Walter - thanks for the heads up that the antisemitism speech bill died on that old tired vine. Thank God!
No thanks to Matt or Walt.
Pork chops and lima beans tonight! And they're "Fordhook" lima beans!... I don't know what the hell that means, but Publix charged me a buck more a bag than regular lima beans.
They have to be good, then!
They're bigger. You can shishkabob them on a fork and get a big mouthful. That's worth a buck more.
I should say so!
The Luigi Musical!
Walter strikes again.
Sure hope Luigi strikes again!
And Palestine right?
Walter always sees past the obvious simplistic responses of MSM to the context and broader implications of events. I't why it's important to listen to him.
Looking forward to the discussion, guys! Thanks as always. It feels like a real antidote sometimes :)