Evil Penevil

There's never "more" to antisemitism than an irrational hatred of Jews. A great many people "understand what he means and why he is doing it." His mental health issues* may have helped cause him to express age-old antisemitic tropes about a Jewish conspiracy controlling parts of the economy. Whatever "evil underbelly" exists in the music and entertainment business is not the result of a Jewish conspiracy. For Ye to say otherwise simply means he's fallen for a false conspiracy theory. It's been happening for 2,000 years. *"Kanye West has said he was misdiagnosed with bipolar disorder, and has now been diagnosed as autistic." He formerly took medication related to bipolar disorder which can interfere with cognitive processes. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/feb/06/kanye-west-ye-autism-diagnosed

Kanye West's antisemitic attacks are particularly egregious because many Black children and teenagers have followed his example. His remarks in 2022 had widespread effect as he has an estimated 31 million followers on social media, largely young people who are easily misled. Report: Kanye’s Anti-Semitic Rhetoric Led to Assaults, Vandalism "Yeah, do it for Kanye!" a group said while assaulting a Jewish man in a grocery store, one of many such incidents detailed in an Anti-Defamation League report “Ye is Right” Antisemitic Campaign Continues The impact of Ye’s words continues to be felt across the country, including through vandalism and harassment incidents at K-12 schools, colleges and universities, Jewish institutions, public areas and commercial locations.

Carradine was a TV and movie star with a huge following. It would have been impossible to keep the details of his death from the public. Celebrities sacrifice privacy for fame and are treated differently by authorities and the press.,

This is intended as background information, not speculation. Speaking in general terms and with no specific reference to the case of James Sangwine, a deliberate GoFundMe fraud could be considered theft by deception in the UK and the US. https://www.stuartmillersolicitors.co.uk/obtaining-money-deception-sentence-uk/ https://www.nealdavislaw.com/blog/white-collar-crime/go-fund-me-scam/ On a separate note, but again, as background info and not speculation: it is standard practice for the police in many countries not to release to the press or public details of the death of a tourist who met his end under circumstances which could prove embarrassing to his family. It's relatively rare, but it does happen tourists die because of drunken misadventure or accidental drug overdose. It can be the reason a family member "disappears" while abroad. The police or embassy will tell the family the real circumstances, but then all info dries up.

I think it was nevertheless clear to nearly everyone that my reply was a joke response to a joke, not a serious criticism.

Since we're talking about an incident in Pattaya, don't forget, "I promise I won't cum in your mouth."

The Daily Mail pays for such stories. Articles about Western tourists who have bad experiences abroad are hugely popular and attract tons of online hits. Moreover, blubbering to the press can sometimes help in getting insurance payouts in cases where losses can't be documented. No insurance company wants to read comments from readers that state travel insurance is useless because it never pays out. Insurance claims are more likely to be approved in high publicity cases. Neither the British tourist nor the Pattaya police chief give a convincing version of events, but the cop's version has fewer holes.

Coons is the bald-headed guy. https://www.coons.senate.gov/

Just to keep all the victimized British tourists in a row- The Jan. 20th story in the Daily Mail concerned a 29-year-old man who'd been locked up over 'a few days''' overstay. He can managed to smuggle in a cell phone that he used to capture the images that illustrated both stories. He photographed the 55-year-old, 300-lb guy lying in the cell. The heavy guy also contacted the Daily Mail and they ran his story of abuse and theft. Even his flipflops were stolen! I have to agree both stories have significant holes and a lot has been left out. Here's an example of how the Daily Mail has been forced to backtrack on yet another recent Thailand atrocity story. From Feb. 3: British businesswoman who said she was unfairly locked up in a Thai jail after 'confronting a client' is 'seen on CCTV with fellow Brit who threatens to "f**k up" a man in his home while pinning him down' https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14354435/British-businesswoman-said-unfairly-locked-Thai-jail-confronting-client-seen-CCTV-fellow-Brit-threatens-f-k-man-home-pinning-down.html This is the original story on Jan. 26, 2025: I was locked up in a hellhole Thai jail after a row at WORK... I had to bribe a guard to get wet wipes - now I'm facing a 20 year sentence https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14317785/I-locked-hellhole-Thai-jail-row-WORK-bribe-guard-wet-wipes-Im-facing-20-year-sentence.html There were, indeed, some important facts left out of the earlier story!

Elon Musk's nomination for the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize is neither as surprising nor odd as some BMs seem to feel. Every year the names of several hundred individuals and organizations are submitted to the five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee as candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2024, no less than 197 individuals and 89 organizations were registered as valid nominations. Thousands of individuals all over the world can make nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize, so it's no wonder some strange suggestions could show up. I'd bet my 401K that some idiot, somewhere, has nominated Hamas and Hezbollah for the Peace Prize. Information about nominees and nominators is kept secret for 50 years and then only released on a very selective basis. We know about Elon Musk's nomination because his nominator (Branko Grims) chose to make it public. You can read more about the nomination and selection process on the official Web site of the Nobel Peace Prize. https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/peace/ The criteria for nominators is broad and could include thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of people. https://www.nobelpeaceprize.org/nobel-peace-prize/nomination/criteria-for-nominators

And she played what was perhaps history's greatest vamp. ,,,,

The original Vampira {real name Maila Numi) was indeed a vamp.

The ultimate vamp and sex symbol, Marilyn Monroe. A classic vamp, Ma West. ,,,

Israelis have been doing since 1967 what Jews have been doing since Biblical times- fighting for survival. It's been a forever war for a very long time, Nothing new about that, except since 1948, Israelis have been fighting to defend a homeland for the world's Jews. You mean there might be a repeat of what happened in Germany to Jews between 1933 and 1945? Wow, isolating half the world's Jewish population as outcasts sounds a lot like the messages of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Mein Kampf. I agree there are many signs of a resurgence of overt antisemitism in the world today and that does not bode well for Israel. However, Jews have gotten a lot better at fighting the forever war. Palestinians and their supporters who seek to destroy the Jewish state won't have an easy time of it. Never again is today- and tomorrow- and forever. But of course another scenario is possible- that Hamas and all other Palestinians choose to recognize Israel's existence as the homeland of the world's Jews and negotiate a permanent peace on that basis.

All seven Israeli women released Jan. 19 and Jan. 25 showed "symptoms of mild starvation with low vitamin levels, said Avi Benov, the deputy chief of the Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps. Their mental health, he said, was a very complicated issue." Hamas had fed the hostages better and allowed them to wash and change clothes before their release "for propaganda purposes." https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/27/middleeast/israel-hamas-eight-hostages-dead-intl/index.html The source @Neeranam quoted in his earlier post (https://www.thenation.com/article/world/the-invisible-lives-of-israels-thai-workforce/) paints a very grim picture of the way Manee Jirchat, one of the 31 Thai workers kidnapped on Oct. 7. was treated by Hamas during his 47 days as a hostage, https://www.thenation.com/article/world/the-invisible-lives-of-israels-thai-workforce/ From the article: "The vehicle was too small to hold all six, Manee recalled, so the Hamas fighters executed two of the men at random. " "After his abduction, Manee was taken into a tunnel along with other Thai hostages, berated, and hit. ... One struck Manee in the head with his gunstock." The article also indicates the Thai hostages only got a half piece of bread and half bottle of water some days. Remember, too, that Hamas murdered 39 Thais on Oct 7 as well as the 31 taken hostages. An article from The Times of London carries the subheading, "Migrant workers were shown no mercy by Hamas. Many were abducted — and one who fought back was left for dead" Manee is the Thai looking down the barrel of the rifle in a screenshot from the video broadcast by Hamas. https://www.thetimes.com/article/my-son-one-of-the-forgotten-thai-hostages-taken-from-israel-on-october-7-shjvzk53g?region=global The full story of how the hostages were treated is unlikely to be made public for a long time, if ever. It's unlikely the freed hostages will say anything which could endanger the release. Many may choose to remain silent for years because speaking about their time as a hostage would be too traumatic. The one thing that is certain is Hamas never treated its hostages well.

Very basic dishes, but an excellent combo when done well. Tom yum kung ( hot and sour shrimp soup) and pad krapow moo (stir-fried pork with Thai holy basil), with a bowl of jasmine rice topped with fried egg on the side. Thai cuisine is famous for balancing and contrasting and both characteristics shine through in these two everyday dishes. And to complement the meal, on of the best sweet dishes ever, mango with sticky rice, Again, a great balance of flavors. .

As has been explained many times, the high deah rate among women and children in Gaza is a result of Hamas using civilians as a cover for its military activities in what had been one of the most densely populated urban areas in the world. The strategy and tactics favored by Hamas have resulted in huge suffering for the civilian population of Gaza. What did the civilian population gain through the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas compared with how much death and destruction the attacks caused?

There's no genocide in Gaza, but I regard the 2000-lb bombs and other U.S.-supplied weapons used by the IDF against Hamas to be the best possible use of my tax dollars. The fewer terrorists there are in the world, the better off we all are.

One advantage of being the world's richest man with a net worth over U.S. $400 billion is that you don't have to care what other people think of you. https://www.forbes.com.au/news/billionaires/top-10-richest-people-in-the-world-january-2024/

Forget all the discussions about the age of consent in Thailand. They aren't relevant when it comes to prostitution. . The Prevention and Suppression of Prostitution Act, B.E. 2539 (1996) in Section 8 makes it illegal to pay for sex with any person under the age of 18. Penalties are even tougher if they are under 15. https://web.archive.org/web/20140228033956/http://www.thailaws.com/ Moreover, virtually all Western countries claim extraterritoriality when it comes to prostitution with under*ge partners. That means you can be prosecuted for acts committed abroad. Even if a foreigner is able to escape prison or get a light sentence in some countries through bribes, he can still get a heavy sentence when he returns home. Thinks of it this way, gentlemen: there's no country in the world where it is legal to pay for sex with a partner under 18. End of story.

The video of Musk's speech is like one of those optical illusion pictures in which the same image can be seen in two different forms, depending on the viewer. Which do you see, an old crone or young woman? When I saw the video, I thought he extended his arm in a gesture to reinforce and illustrate the words he was using, "My heart goes out to you," He began with his hand over his heart and flung his arm out at an angle. That's not at all the Nazi or fascist salute, in which the arm is initially held at the side of the body and then raised. Moreover, it would be extremely peculiar for Musk or anyone else to use a Nazi salute along with words of thanks. It just doesn't make sense. Musk has used the phrase "My heart goes out to you" before to convey thanks. Some sources say it's a bit of a catchphrase of his. When I saw it, I didn't think it was an awkward gesture but unwise one due to the possibility (likelihood?) of misinterpretation. Some people saw a Nazi salute because they wanted it to be a Nazi salute. If you want to see real fascist salutes from people who embrace a fascist-like ideology, take a look at these below. For @stevenl and any other BM who believes Musk gave the Nazi salute- Are these photos evidence "Nazism is back" in Palestine? Pro-Palestine protestors at the Paris Olympics who gave the Nazi salute and shouted "Heil Hitler" during the Israel-Paraguay football match. https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/other/video-shows-pro-palestinian-activists-heil-hitler-at-the-olympic-soccer-match/ar-BB1qQRCL Palestinian students give Nazi salute at a ceremony at Birzeit University in Palestine. https://www.cufi.org.uk/news/palestinian-students-photographed-performing-nazi-salute/ Palestinian scouts in Lebanon pledging allegiance to Palestine with Nazi salute: https://palwatch.org/page/23962 For good measure, a popular clothing store in Gaza named for the man the owner considered to be the "most anti-Jewish person." https://www.jpost.com/Arab-Israeli-Conflict/Name-of-shop-is-Hitler-and-I-like-him-because-he-was-the-most-anti-Jewish-person-432190

Not yet, but it will. Israel has been fighting for its survival as the homeland of world's Jews every single day since the State of Israel was proclaimed in 1948. Israel's history is a series of armed conflicts. But as long as Hamas and other Palestinian groups have the destruction of Israel and elimination of Israelis as their goal, there will be no end to the death and destruction. Israel has no choice but to defend itself and its citizens from constant attack. Here's a list of the major conflicts Israel has fought since 1948: 1948 Arab–Israeli War (November 1947 – July 1949) Palestinian Fedayeen insurgency (1950s–1960s) Suez Crisis (October 1956) Six-Day War (June 1967) War of Attrition (1967–1970) Yom Kippur War (October 1973) Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon (1971–1982) 1982 Lebanon War (1982) South Lebanon conflict (1982–2000) First Intifada (1987–1993) Second Intifada (2000–2005) Israel–Hezbollah War (2006) First Gaza War or Operation Cast Lead (December 2008 – January 2009) 2012 Gaza War or Operation Pillar of Defense (November 2012) 2014 Gaza War or Operation Protective Edge (July–August 2014) 2021 Israel–Palestine crisis or Operation Guardian of the Walls (May 2021) Israel–Hamas war or Operation Iron Swords (October 2023–present) 2024 Israel–Hezbollah war or Operation Northern Arrows (September 2024–present) In addition, the IDF has been involved in dozens of operations outside of major conflicts since 1948. These range from the airlifting of the Jewish populations of Arab countries and the rescue of victims of hijackings to assassinations of terrorist leaders and the bombing of nuclear facilities. Palestinians have faced a string of defeats since 1948 at huge cost to their population. As long as Hamas remains in power and keeps attemptsing to push the Jews into the sea, Palestinians will suffer. The day they throw out Hamas and recognize Israel's right to exist, life will improve enormously for the Palestinian people.

That is the key point. Starmer and some politicians in many Western countries, including the U.S., want to extend the exceptions to free speech to words that offend and hurt, not just words that cause actual harm. Freedom of speech and expression has always carried many exceptions: defamation; lying under oath; words crucial to the commission of a crime ("Give me all your money" by an armed robber); inciting to crime; and fraud, for example. In modern times, false advertising and revealing confidential medical, financial or trade informaion have been decided not to be protected by free speech. The common characteristic of all of the above exceptions is that they cause actual harm; people suffer measurable harm because of the publication or utterance of certain words in certain circumstances. The recent trend is to place words that offend or hurt under the same umbrella, often with the argument such words also causepsychological harm. It's a dangerous limitation on free speech because judgments as to the offense or hurt from words is always subjective and depends on an individual's reaction.

I wasn't claiming James Fenimore Cooper was a great writer, only that he was superior to Charles Reade. I know Mark Twain lampooned his style of writing as overly wordy, but Cooper was nevertheless the most profilic and widely read American author of the first half of the 19th century. Despite his shortcomings, he's been called by some, including the Britannica Web site, "the first major American novelist." https://www.britannica.com/biography/James-Fenimore-Cooper Humanities, the magazine of the National Endowment for the Humanities, had an article titled, "In Defense of Cooper." The suheading stated, "James Fenimore Cooper was a major literary innovator with fans such as Herman Melville and Joseph Conrad. Take that, Mark Twain." https://www.neh.gov/humanities/2007/septemberoctober/feature/in-defense-cooper The first paragraph of the article notes, "Almost single-handedly in the 1820s, Cooper invented the key forms of American fiction—the Western, the sea tale, the Revolutionary romance—forms that set a suggestive agenda for subsequent writers, even for Hollywood and television. In producing and shrewdly marketing fully 10 percent of all American novels in the 1820s, most of them best sellers, Cooper made it possible for other aspiring authors to earn a living by their writings. Cooper can be said to have invented not just an assortment of literary genres but the very career of the American writer." You can read more academic assessment and critical essays of Cooper at A Historical Guide to James Fenimore Cooper. https://academic.oup.com/book/48372?login=false Those academics don't regard his writing as a joke or laughingstock.

Your list of attributes of a historical novel is very subjective and not one that is universally accepted. It's almost impossible to argue objectively that Charles Reade's The Cloister and the Hearth better fulfills the points you named than the works of Scott, Dickens or Fenimore Cooper, all of whom are generally regarded as superior writers to Reade. The one exception could be Reade's attention to historical detail, but that's not a "make-or-break" characteristic of a historical novel.