Lame.

Sill male, straight, happlily married, retired and enjoying life. You?

Don't bother. My last visit. Enjoy your bubble.

Just dopped in by ...

'stuffed with overpaid credentialed lefty activists who don't realise that their vehemence and authoritarian bullying streak has blinded them to matters outside their Marxist catechisms.'

No impovement, I see. ;-)

tomo,
It will be a good thing if doctors learn that the bureaucrats very much *don't* have their backs; it might incline them to engage their minds a bit more actively. I'm pretty sure the pollies and bureaucrats are just waiting, hoping for time to fade the memories of COVID. Their wings will still be clipped if the doctors (and the rest of us) stay awake to their treachery.

Here is an *excellent* talk between John Anderson (former Australian Deputy PM) and Victor Davis Hanson (American columnist and academic).

Big surprise for me is how strongly and openly Americans are supporting Israel. Not the politicians of course, but the people. And the politicians, it appears, are falling into line (I need to see where my people have gone so I may lead them). Similarly, universities that have been ambivalent in their condemnation of Hamas are finding it hits their bottom lines as donors walk away. Very pleasing news. Hope it catches on here (though, even if it does, I won't be seeing it reported on the ABC).

Interesting too that he believes Hamas only intended to take hostages, but couldn't restrain their forces who went on a rampage. That sounds like a better explanation than mine (deliberate provocation of rage, in the hope that the inevitable harsh reprisals would lead to international opprobrium for Israel).

Anyhow, his take on it almost tempts me to optimism.

Tomo @ Nov 10, 2023 at 10:56 PM

"...overstated the climate impact of products that it sold"

That must be a strong contender for an Understatement of the Year award. Electricity suppliers still get away with claiming '100% green energy' by buying these things (ultimately at customer cost).

tomo,
Certainly not good to see state-backed vendettas in the once land of the free. Magnificent country, great people, putrid state.

As for the Danish tree harvest, we might anticipate a flood of close-grained oak furniture, though maybe a shortage of woodworkers means it'll all be ground up and shipped across for Ikea's production.

.,
Broken eggs, omelettes and all that. In this modern ecology, the sacrifice of the koalas is necessary for the wellbeing of the endangered subsidy farmers.

Mailman,
We're off into the weeds. I'll happily agree that Vietnam was very badly executed, but I'll continue to believe it was closer to a gung-ho "kill the baddies and damn the consequences" effort than was Malaya. But rather than continuing to drift, and maybe finding ourselves arguing about the strategies of Napoleon, or the Peloponnesian War or whatever, let's get back to Gaza.

You pooh-poohed my lamenting that innocents had to die when Israel retaliated, asserting that there were *no* innocents in Gaza. You would, I think, strongly agree with what Douglas Murray says here (and says eloquently and vehemently).

I largely agree with him too, and I *don't* think much of the line that Piers Morgan starts with. I particularly liked Murray's skewering the "Israel has been perpetrating genocide" notion by asking where these millions of Gazans came from. However Murray's passion gets ahead of logic in places: the mob spitting on the woman isn't "random" is it? It's a self-selecting pile on. I bet there's also a North Korea effect of having to do what's expected of you.

Earlier you expressed a hope that Israel would "see this through to completion" (words to that effect). I should have asked you to clarify what constituted "completion". Instead, I assumed a ruthless killing spree akin to the Americans napalming, shelling Vietnamese villages, etc. Maybe you had something more nuanced in mind. I'd be interested to hear.

Showing my hand: my view is there is no "completion", because there isn't a finish line. The people of Gaza are far from the top of the list in Israel's worries. It is how other countries (allies and enemies) perceive their actions in Gaza that is their greater concern. "Completion" in Gaza won't be great if Israel then finds itself invaded by an incensed new alliance of Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and no recourse to a "we can no longer stomach you" ex-ally, USA.

Spotted this COVID lawsuit in a comment at Jo Nova's. His Down Syndrome daughter died in an American "COVID hospital". My chief objections on COVID were failure to treat, stupid epidemiological measures and the rush to vaccines, so this case of treatment that went badly isn't on my COVID hymnsheet. OTOH, the legal side (AIUI) is interesting in that, because the doctors took actions that they knew were likely to kill the girl, it was murder, not malpractice: no medical indemnity insurance and no legal indemnity.

It's widely held that the "just following orders" excuse doesn't wash anymore. I hope "just following guidelines" follows it out the door.