Chit Chat

By Ted Belman

From now on comments on every post must relate to the content of the post.

Comments that don’t relate to the post must go here.

Any person who contravenes this demand will be put on moderation. Also their offending comment will be trashed.

The reason for this demand is so that people who want to read comments which pertain to the post, don’t have to wade through the chatter.

Everyone will be happier.

April 16, 2020 | 8,592 Comments »

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50 Comments / 8592 Comments

  1. fquigley is a winner just like in the clip from “Trouble in Tahiti” by Leonard Bernstein who he thinks stinks, hey it rhymes! 😀

  2. AI Overview

    +16
    No, Leon Trotsky, the Russian revolutionary and theorist, was not a musician. He was primarily known for his role in the Russian Revolution and his intellectual contributions to Marxism. He was a prominent figure in the development of Bolshevism and later a key figure in the Left Opposition against Stalin.
    While not a musician himself, Trotsky did have an interest in music and the arts. He was known to enjoy classical music and opera. However, his primary focus and activities were in the realm of politics and revolutionary theory.
    There are some bands that have names referencing Trotsky, like Trotsky Icepick and Trotsky Vengarán, but these are not related to Trotsky as a musician.

    😀

  3. @fquigley
    What you call for makes no sense.

    The relatives of hostages had to be helped physically and loved, but not one inch in accommodating Hamas.

    They don’t want your love and physical help. They want their family members back, and that means accommodating Hamas, and this is what has come about thus far with the return of all but a couple dozen living hostages to go.

    As I noted before, which you responded with your preferred reference to your granny and some eggs, the goals of returning the hostages and a decisive victory are in complete contradiction with one another. So they can not be addressed in unity, as one must suffer to the success of the other. Upto this point, it has been the decisive victory over Hamas which has suffered in preference of seeking the return of the hostages. But that is about to change, presumably.

    Also, Edgar is right. There is no lesson from Trotsky to be useful here.

    In fact, Trotsky’s heavy handed use of force over the masses would have seen the govt fall, likely thru a US orchestrated op, and the complete capitulation of Israel to her enemies, if not something far worse. What Israel lacks at this juncture is not the rule of a tyrant, but the independence to pursue its own self interest. This would not be changed by Trotsky or any other historical figure you care to name. This requires a steadfast policy of developing its own MIC, and this in turn requires the passage of time, not Trotsky.

  4. Mozart Symphonia Concertante for violin, viola and orchestra – Gidon Kremer (Israeli Jewish violinist, Yuri Bashmet, Russian Jewish violist)

    https://youtu.be/ckp3k9FzNgQ?si=3SqaHDfkigT651n1

    You can hear the Jewish influences. As with Haydn, delightful alternating contrasts between Viennese and traditional Jewish sounding melodies and embellishments or riffs in jazz terms and it the syncopation does make it sound jazzy in places..

    You can really hear it here because they are emphasizing the Jewish expressivity of it whereas many if not most performers emphasize the classical Viennese stylistic elements. And listen to how they use rubato to effect. Really stands out in this performance. Gloriously so.

    I play both violin and viola, mostly viola – I switched – though I’ve only played the orchestral part on viola.

  5. I don’t see how Trotsky always but ALWAYS comes into the conversation even if not for any perceived purpose.
    He died in sordid circumstances with no followers, 85 years ago and he is not relevant today or even since. His influence died with him except for some misguided brainwashed people who still live in the past.

  6. TROTSKY and LENIN didn’t smash the pogromists to help the Jews except incidentally .They smashed them to bring them under their control solely and avoid loose cannons.

  7. Sebastien Zorn

    I realise your motivation is to ward off my attacks. But save yourself the trouble.

    The relatives of hostages had to be helped physically and loved, but not one inch in accommodating Hamas. That’s why clear leadership was necessary and I would have used the HISTORICAL LESSON of Trotsky and Lenin in smashing the Pogromists of Ukraine 1919 to smash up those reactionary OSLO like forces inside of Israel.

    Instead Peloni dallied with the Bear Kleins of this world

    It’s still the same need because it is still a question of Israeli leadership. Nothing has fundamentally changed.

    Russia, the Jews and the world youth need badly Trotsky or a Trotsky and Stalinism set us back seriously in August 1940

  8. Sebastien Zorn

    On October 7 Zionism had massive support if they had played their cards correctly. An existential war against islam which Hamas represented. Step one was extricate civilians physically and the Egyptian tunnels into Gaza by al Sisi which came to light showed the way.

    Then reduce Hamas to nothing militarily and politically

    That’s the lesson of Trotsky in 1919 in essentially Ukraine which you never talk about

    That’s why Mr Zorn you rate zero in my eyes

    I have stated clearly that defeating this jihad started in ISRAEL and started with revolutionary changes there

    Meaning graphically jailing of traitors and people like Netanyahu into oblivion into a home for the bewildered

    By the way your films stink.

  9. Peloni and Edgar

    It shows you are on a loser when you selectively misquote. Bad medicine for Zionism and it’s standing with Trotskyism

    So please stop trying to show your granny how to suck eggs.

    What i said was

    “I try to understand as clearly as I can

    Hamas must be destroyed expelled etc. and this is the way the only way to save the hostages.

    It is a Unity. They go together.

    I will not talk ever about hostages being secondary.”

    I am a Marxist and a Trotskyist and I will not place the hostages secondary but equal. ”

    Out of that Peloni the master of excision excised SEVEN words

    Moreover I said to Reader a comment in the days after October 7 that Israel must not fight on the ground prepared by the enemy.

    Israel did exactly that. I remember all the carry on at the border of Zionism in action . I remember Bennett showing up bursting with fat out of his uniform. Big deal

    They were gung ho doing what I warned Reader they must not do.

    So it became clearer then that the Zionist leadership had betrayed the people of Israel and this had caused October 7…

    Not Hamas at all they didn’t betray. They acted out their hatred the same as Banderaism has done to Jews for over a hundred years.

    My constant refrain to Peloni…clear up and act on your own website. But Peloni is the talker par excellence.

    Moreover in the same vein I wanted revolutionary action in Israel

    A Trotskyist party if alive in the sense of existing would have acted in a totally different way

    Inside Israel martial law to end the counter revolution which took up again and based on miseducated relatives of hostages, not all but a goodly number

    A new leadership to be given power based on the commanders I saw in action on the Gaza seashore…if they would work with us Troysky people that is.

    Netanyahu gone. All connected with the treason like Barak in prison and they were numerous

    Blow away El Sisi’s miserable border.The whole Gaza population in Sinai fed by Arabs if they wanted to.

    Mobilise all of the Israeli population as well as America to finish with Palestinism in all areas…as seem to be partially doing now, although cannot be sure of anything with Netanyahu and Glick still there. And it is years late with many dead Jews.

    You cannot say Trotskyism has no strategy. In 1918 to 1921 Ukraine Pogroms we proved different. We literally wiped the floor of the Pogromists.

    Peloni you are part of the Zionist ascendency. I am not. I am prepared for revolution. You definitely are not.

    Don’t talk to me about strategy or tactics. You do not understand my and THE history of the Trotsky tradition. The complete maestro of strategy.

    My tradition wiped out the Pogromists in 1919 and to crown it all young Jews flocked en masse to Trotsky and his RED army. Not a feature in Pelonis discussion circles.

    You understand nothing about the needs of this coming era.

    FURTHERMORE YOU WILL NOT LEARN

  10. Rep. Ritchie Torres is calling on New York City officials to cancel a Central Park performance at a city-sponsored event by Kehlani, a performer who has called for the destruction of Israel and Zionism.

    Kehlani is set to perform in June at an event for Pride month sponsored by the City Parks Foundation, an independent nonprofit which receives city funding to promote arts, sports, education and other programming in city parks.

    But Mayor Eric Adams has disputed whether the mayor’s office has any ability to cancel the performance or withhold funds.

    – Jewish Insider

    Full story: https://jewishinsider.com/2025/05/ritchie-torres-central-park-kehlani-anti-israel-eric-adams/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR6-6hbbHQe3Apc6LXyWsUtXuv8vpq5Vq_PP-z4h6Z8ndPSkJGrUFp-ZXY7DPA_aem_RiL1NekI4PM-_2uuLTX_Hg

  11. FELIX-

    They cannot be equal. 850 IDF heroes have already given their lives to the Gaza War much hindered by concern for almost invisible “civilians” and hostages ………….
    I’d rather see every hostage dead, that is, the remaining 23-4 than another 100 IDF. For me the logical desired outcome is clear.

    With NO decisive permanent Hamas destruction, NO Potential hostage will EVER be safe in Israel and the Diaspora.

    Netanyahu and the govt are 100% RIGHT……RIGHT…..; Hamas destroyed Number ONE.

    If you cannot see that , whilst your sentiment is a credit to you, your visions of overall strategic benefits are woefully lacking, which surprises me, seeing that you are a considerable thinker and theorist as well as activist ..for GOOD not EVIL.

  12. @fquigley

    It is a Unity. They go together.

    Actually, they are in fact contrasting objectives. The plight of the hostages are still holding Israel back from victory, and even as the war proceeds, and the offensive is expanded, it is clearly stated that the purpose of doing so, and doing so in so delayed a manner as has been pursued, has been to apply pressure to Hamas to release the hostages at the expense of achieving a decisive victory.

  13. Edgar

    “PELONI and I are absolutely right and any who disagree are totally wrong and can’t see the wood for the trees.”

    I try to understand as clearly as I can

    Hamas must be destroyed expelled etc. and this is the way the only way to save the hostages.

    It is a Unity. They go together.

    I will not talk ever about hostages being secondary.

    I am a Marxist and a Trotskyist and I will not place the hostages secondary but equal.

  14. AI Overview
    During the Barbary Wars, the Barbary States (Tripoli, Algiers, Morocco, and Tunis) would seize American ships, capture crews and passengers, and hold them for ransom or sell them into slavery. The United States initially responded by paying “tribute” to these states to avoid attacks, but eventually resorted to military action and naval battles.
    Elaboration:
    Hostage Policy:
    The Barbary pirates, acting under the authority of the North African states, routinely targeted merchant ships in the Mediterranean, capturing crews and passengers. They held these captives for ransom or sold them into slavery, contributing to the broader Ottoman slave trade.
    Tribute:
    Before the Barbary Wars, the United States, like many other European nations, paid tribute to the Barbary States to ensure safe passage for their ships. This involved financial payments and gifts to the rulers of these states, in exchange for a promise to avoid attacking American ships.
    Shift to Military Action:
    As the costs of tribute increased and the United States grew in strength, they began to resist the Barbary States’ demands and engage in military action. The First Barbary War (1801-1805) and the Second Barbary War (1815-1816) saw the US Navy directly engage the Barbary States, seeking to end their piracy and secure the release of American captives.
    Impact on US Foreign Policy:
    The Barbary Wars had a significant impact on early US foreign policy, reinforcing the belief in the importance of a strong navy and establishing a precedent for using military action to protect American trade and maritime interests.
    Ending Piracy:
    Through a combination of military action, diplomatic negotiations, and the eventual French conquest of Algeria, the Barbary pirates’ practices of piracy and ransoming of captives were eventually ended.

  15. PELONI and I are absolutely right and any who disagree are totally wrong and can’t see the wood for the trees.

    Did we sacrifice nearly 900 of our best IDF to rescue 300 hostages many already dead.

    Only a fool would say “YES”. Worse than a fool……..

    From the very first moment the Israeli STATED position was

    1) to utterly destroy HAMAS to a degree that it could never rise again, and
    2) the Hostages although very im
    portant were secondary and could be regarded as already casualties.

  16. I am not very happy with the way this is posed by Peloni and Edgar

    Peloni to bring them back it is necessary to defeat the terrorists and those who support them, if necessary in battle and to expel from the state, and to administer the land

    Absolutely this was not the program of Israel at any time and it was a time to spell out the program

    To talk about the hostages being less important etc. is very wrong in every way

  17. A chariot imported from Egypt cost 600 shekels of silver, and a horse 150.

    Chronicles 1:14:17

    Man, talk about inflation. I sure hope Trump and Bibi can do something about that. 😀

  18. I queried:

    Alexa, how much would 600 shekels of silver in King Solomon’s Israel be worth in U.S. dollars today,

    and she replied:

    In King Solomon’s Israel, 600 shekels of silver would be valued at approximately 2.2 U.S. dollars, taking into account the historical context and conversion rates.

  19. @Edgar
    Indeed, and you were correct to do so. The policy of capitulation in response to Jew Ransoms is not a sustainable policy. It was not the policy pursued during Operation Jonathan, and it can not be the policy pursued today.

    Failing to act in the interest of the Jewish people with the unconscionable Shalit deal is what gave Sinwar the freedom to lead Hamas on its road to Be’eri and it is what has lead to the capture of over 200 Israelis on October 7.

    Instead of chanting ‘Bring them Back’, the chant of ‘Go Get Them Now’ should be ringing by one and all.

  20. PELONI-

    Exactly what I’ve been reiterating ad nauseam, 1) The total destruction of Hamas 2) the Hostages although important are secondary to #1.

  21. On January 12, 2017, President Barack Obama announced the immediate cessation of the wet feet, dry feet policy. Since then, Cuban nationals who enter the United States illegally, regardless of whether they are intercepted on land or at sea, have been subject to removal.
    https://en.wikipedia.org
    Wet feet, dry feet policy – Wikipedia

  22. Antisemites attack Jews in Crown Heights with their Kaffiyehs covering their faces which need to be pulled off on camera.

  23. ACTION ITEM –> Send a letter to NYC’s Anthology Film Archives. They have shown at least 24 Palestinian films this year, most if not all with anti-Israel bias! They have not shown A SINGLE Israeli/Jewish film related to Oct 7 and its aftermath. Their public funding needs to be cut: https://tinyurl.com/AnthologyFilmBias

    – post on FB group, Nee Yorkers Fighting Against Antisemitism

  24. Jewish Conservative commentator dead at 86

    Says he was a Marxist in his youth. Omits that he was a red diaper baby. I read his autobiography and followed the bibliographical trail he left like Hansel and Gretel’s breadcrumbs. helped lead me out of
    The forest, let me tell you. Big loss. The other David Horowitz is the publisher of the leftist rag, Times of Israel. Now no chance of confusion. How does the joke go again, in which the punchline is God says, “Oops. Missed.”

  25. All of GAZA Judea and Samaria is part of Israel which is a Jewish Country and our Jewish Homeland. We Jews are the native indigenous people of the region. The area was legally part of the 1922 League of Nations Mandate which gave Israel and today’s Judea and Samaria as the Jewish Homeland legally by international law. The League of Nations mandates which also created Jordan, Syria, Lebanon with the same mandate cannot be rescinded under International Law. Jordan is Palestine not Israel including Judea and Samaria. Our homeland cannot be given away for any peace treaty or anyones legacy. No expansion of the Abraham Accords. No Public stunt or millionaire business deals is worth our religious, historical or territorial rights.

    – posted by B.C. – in FB group: A Heb of Trouble: Supporters of a strong israel

  26. You can vote if you are Jewish for the World Jewish Congress, if you do not live in Israel. Check out article and link to vote before May 5.

    The ‘secret’ elections shaping Israel’s future
    Most of the Jewish public is unfamiliar with the World Zionist Congress. On May 4, a significant opportunity will open for American Jews to influence the future of Zionist institutions and Israeli policy.

    Most of the Jewish public is unfamiliar with the World Zionist Congress, despite it being essentially “the parliament of the Jewish people.” Since Theodor Herzl convened the first World Zionist Congress about 127 years ago, it has met every five years, bringing together delegates from around the world. In just a few days, on May 4, a significant opportunity will open for American Jews to influence the future of Zionist institutions — and Israeli policy.

    “We’re not asking American Jews to help us physically in the Land of Israel,” explains MK Ohad Tal, who is leading the new party affiliated with the Religious Zionist movement. “We’re telling them: Come and influence the policies of the State of Israel from the Diaspora. You can’t vote for the Knesset, but through the Zionist Congress, you have a real opportunity as Jews to impact Israel’s direction.”

    The World Zionist Congress is composed of about 500 delegates: one-third appointed by Israel’s Knesset, one-third elected through voting in the United States, and one-third from the rest of the world. Every five years, Jews worldwide vote for their representatives, determining the leadership of four key national institutions: the World Zionist Organization, Keren Hayesod (United Israel Appeal), the Jewish National Fund (JNF-KKL), and the Jewish Agency for Israel.

    Only the Voters Make a Difference. Continue for full article by clicking below and to vote!

    https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/407531

    PS – If you vote in the USA, I suggest you vote for the ZOA slate.

  27. Not a coincidence, but a deliberate stunt to downplay the horrors of the holocaust while simultaneously comparing and appropriating the holocaust and Jewish suffering onto the “palestinians”. A very sick and evil display. I am so fucking sick of this gaslighting.

    Ben Schapiro: Yale set up checkpoints for Jews on Holocaust Remembrance Day!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t78YzqkRxjY

  28. Avi Abelow FB Post:

    THE CANCELING OF ITAMAR BEN-GVIR AT A SYNAGOGUE IN NYC

    I have no problem acknowledging that some Jews, especially outside of Israel, feel uneasy about figures like Itamar Ben-Gvir. People can argue about his past actions, his political style, or certain statements, and not want to vote for him in Israeli elections. Reasonable people can have real discussions about these things.

    But what’s so disappointing — and dangerous — is how many simply refuse to recognize the reality behind his popularity among so many Israelis today.

    They ignore the fact that Ben-Gvir is not a racist, not a terror supporter, and not the threat they want to believe he is. His appeal isn’t rooted in hate. It’s rooted in a deep, painful awareness that Jewish survival in our homeland requires strength — and an unflinching acknowledgment of where the threats against us are really coming from: an Islamonaz*I enemy that exists within a 1,400 year culture that still today chants in celebration “Khaybar, Khaybar ya yahud”, celebrating the time when Muslims massacred the Jews in Khaybar back in the 7th century, and a society that today seeks Israel’s destruction.

    That reality isn’t comfortable. It doesn’t fit Western “progressive”, really regressive, narratives. But it’s the truth that Israelis live with every single day — and ignoring it only costs more Jewish lives.

    Reading some of the reactions to Ben Gvir’s appearances in America, one thing becomes heartbreakingly clear: too many Jews, even now, still don’t understand the reality we are facing.

    Worse — the Western progressive values they have internalized are actively crippling their ability to even recognize the most basic Jewish instinct: the right and necessity of self-defense.

    One recent example summed it up perfectly. A commentator warned that a “Judaism addicted to power” is as bad as terrorist movements around the world. Addicted to power? Since when did the Jewish people — after two thousand years of exile, persecution, pogroms, gas chambers, and now jihadist slaughter — need to apologize for finally reclaiming power to defend ourselves?

    Power is not evil. Power is survival. Without Jewish power, we are dead. Without Jewish strength, there would be no Israel, no free Jewish communities, and no future for our children anywhere.

    The real moral perversion isn’t Israelis voting for leaders like Itamar Ben-Gvir who promise to defend them — the real perversion is Jews, whether in Israel or in the diaspora, preaching weakness, restraint, and moral equivalence at a time when Jewish blood is flowing freely on the streets of the Land of Israel.

    Let’s be crystal clear: the Jews who elected Ben-Gvir — by the hundreds of thousands — are far more connected to the authentic values of the Jewish people today than the Jews writing these hand-wringing posts whether in Israel or from behind their keyboards in New York or Los Angeles.

    Israeli Jews who live in Ashkelon, Sderot, Jerusalem, and Judea and Samaria know exactly what’s at stake. They know that survival depends not on hollow slogans of “unity” and “restraint” but on armed, unapologetic Jewish strength — the kind of strength Torah values have always demanded when facing evil.

    The Torah commands us, “If someone comes to kill you, rise up and kill him first.” It does not say: Hold back lest you be accused of ‘supremacy.’ It does not say: Worry about how CNN or your progressive neighbors will feel about your response.

    It says: Defend the lives of the Jewish people. Without hesitation. Without apology.

    Those accusing Ben Gvir and Jews in Israel of “supremacy” simply because they want to live safely in their ancestral homeland have absorbed the anti-Western, anti-Israel, anti-Jewish narratives of our times. They have replaced Torah values with progressive dogma. They have neutered the Jewish survival instinct under a delusion of moral “purity” that demands we lay down and die in order to be loved by others.

    There’s no virtue in weakness. There’s no holiness in surrender. There’s no peace that comes from appeasing those who seek your destruction.

    It is no accident that it’s precisely a majority of the Jews most grounded in our land, our history, and our faith — especially the Jews living in the towns and cities closest to danger — who overwhelmingly reject the suicidal ideals of the progressive world. They know better. They feel it in their bones.

    They understand that Jewish sovereignty demands Jewish strength. That Jewish freedom demands Jewish courage. That Jewish life demands Jewish power.

    When some Jews lecture Israelis for “celebrating Jewish power,” they reveal how distant they’ve become from the living, breathing, fighting spirit of the Jewish people.

    October 7th should have shattered every illusion. It should have been the final death blow to the “progressive” fantasy that Jewish “niceness” would protect us. Instead, some Jews are doubling down on the same suicidal softness that has made Jews throughout history easy prey for our enemies.

    We cannot afford to listen to them anymore.

    We must embrace basic Jewish pride — a fierce, unapologetic, courageous pride rooted in our land, our Torah, and our God-given right to survive and thrive.

    Not “addicted to power” — committed to survival.

    Not “supremacy” — sovereignty.

    Not “terror tactics” — self-defense.

    That is the only Judaism that will ensure a Jewish future — in Israel and beyond.

    Like him or hate him, today Ben Gvir represents a healthy understanding of our reality and self-preservation that many Jews deeply influenced by Western education and values are afraid to accept.