PugJesus

"How dare you accuse NATO of being voluntary, just because it's a long and miserable process to get into that can be withdrawn from unilaterally at any time!"

The new, ISIS/fundamentalist linked

You do realize that ISIS was one of their primary foes, right?

They’ve specifically stopped the clandestine supply of goods and arms to the Palestinians.

By that do you mean the Iranian supply of goods and arms?

Golly gee, I wonder why they wouldn't want the country which supported Assad's regime with a supply of troops and direct Iranian assistance in genocidal massacres continuing to operate in the country?

Must be a mystery - or a love of Israel!

Allowed Israel to carry strikes inside Syria against their internal enemies.

'Allowed'

You mean like Assad 'allowed' it? Or have you forgotten Israel's numerous incursions into Syria during the past decade and a half?

Syria is not, and has not been for a long time, in a position to resist Israeli attacks. Not really sure what you expect the current freshly minted government to respond with.

And, Christ, accusing Israel's 'support' of Alawite communities as being against the Syrian government's enemies?

Most people are just going to see the meme, and their views will be reinforced according to what they think the consensus is portrayed as in their media milieu.

(for example they allowed them to use their airspace for the initial attack)

Wow I wonder why Syria would allow one of their enemies to attack another of their enemies

This may be radical, but two things can be bad at once (US imperialism and the imperialism of anti-US countries).

"Some Democrats have failed to endorse Mamdani in the first week after his primary victory"

"Clearly the entire party apparatus hates him more than Donald Trump! We all remember how the Dems mandated endorsement of Donald Trump!"

Fuck's sake. You can hate the neoliberal ghouls and hypocrites in the Dem party without peddling nonsense.

maybe let the people who actually vote for the party decide who they prefer as candidates

Those people said "Clinton" and then "Biden". Both over Bernie, who was far more charismatic than both and with a fucking spotless record, unlike both.

Not sure that the primary voters'll be delivering a progressive savior unless the demographics of who votes in Dem primaries changes radically.

(the closest we’ve ever been was Sanders, and the DNC ensured that he was not going to be on the ballot.)

Ah, yes, when the DNC forged millions of votes to make Sanders lose. Twice.

Fuck's sake. Show up for the primaries next time, goddamn you.

A man of many talents, champion chef too

https://www.flickr.com/photos/101561334@N08/9797301664/in/album-72157635609259603

https://harpers.org/archive/2020/03/koftaesque/

One day, President Saddam Hussein invited some friends onto his boat. He took along several bodyguards, his secretary, and me, his personal chef, and we set off on a cruise down the river Tigris. At the time, we weren’t at war with anyone, everyone was in a good mood, and Salim, one of the bodyguards, said to me, “Abu Ali, sit down, you’ve got the day off today. The president says he’s going to cook for everyone. He’s going to make koftas for us.”

“A day off.” I smiled, because I knew that in Saddam’s service there were no such words. And because there were going to be koftas, I started getting everything ready for the barbecue. I minced some beef and lamb and mixed them with tomato, onion, and parsley, then put it all in the fridge so that it would stick well to the skewers later on. Only then did I sit down.

In Iraq every man thinks he knows how to barbecue meat. He’s going to do it even if he doesn’t know how. And it was the same with Saddam: people often ate the things he cooked out of politeness; after all, you’re not going to tell the president you don’t like the food he has made. I didn’t like it when he got down to cooking. But that time I thought to myself, “It’s almost impossible to ruin koftas.”

Half an hour later, Salim came back carrying a plate of koftas. “The president made some for you too,” he said. I thanked him and said it was very good of the president, broke off a bit of meat, and wrapped it in pita bread. I tried it and felt as if I’d burst into flames! “Water, quick, water!” I threw a glass of water down my throat, but it didn’t help. “More water!” My cheeks and jaw were burning, and there were tears pouring from my eyes. I was terrified. Poison? I thought. But why? What for? Or maybe someone was trying to poison Saddam, and I’ve eaten it?

I am still alive. So it wasn’t poison. But in that case, what was he playing at?

That was my first encounter with Tabasco sauce. Saddam had been given it by someone as a gift, but because he didn’t like very spicy food, he decided to play a joke by trying it out on his friends. And on his staff. Everyone on the entire boat was running around pouring water down their throats while Saddam sat and laughed.

Twenty minutes later, Salim came back to ask if I’d liked the food. I was furious, so I said, “If I’d spoiled the meat like that, Saddam would have kicked me in the butt and told me to pay for it.”

He did that sometimes. If he didn’t like the food, he’d make you give back the money. For the meat, the rice, or the fish. “This food is inedible,” he’d say. “You’ve got to pay fifty dinars.”

I never expected Salim to repeat this to the president. But when Saddam asked him how I’d reacted, that’s what he had said, in front of all Saddam’s guests. Saddam sent Salim back to fetch me. I was terrified. I had no idea how Saddam was going to react. You did not criticize him. Not the ministers, nor the generals, let alone a cook.

Saddam and his friends were sitting at the table. Some of the guests had red eyes; evidently, they’d eaten the Tabasco-flavored koftas, too. “I hear you didn’t like my koftas,” said Saddam, in a very serious tone. Everyone was looking at me. I couldn’t suddenly start praising the food; they’d know I was lying.

I started thinking about my family. I had no idea what might happen. But I wasn’t expecting anything good.

“You didn’t like them,” Saddam said again. And suddenly he started to laugh. Then all the people sitting at the table started laughing, too. Saddam took out fifty dinars, handed them to Salim, and said, “You’re right, Abu Ali, it was too spicy. I’m giving back the money for the meat I wasted. I’ll cook you some more koftas, but without the sauce this time. Would you like that?”

I said yes.

So he cooked me some koftas without any Tabasco. This time they were very good, but I tell you: it’s impossible to ruin koftas.

Sustenance is temporary, collections are eternal!