The New Coffee Room

Wonderful news! Congratulations to all involved!

One of my laptops isn't capable of making the transition...allegedly.

Netanyahu doesn’t want the hostages. He wants the land.

I liked this place because as much as I love being told what I'm thinking is correct and well-reasoned, I like to listen to reasonable, thoughtful information that contradicts and challenges those beliefs.

I like to read and listen to reasonably smart people with whom I disagree on an issue.

With respect to Israel, Sam Harris ain't the guy to listen to. He's taken the position that Islam=BAD, thus Israel=GOOD. Nuance, critical thinking=BAD.

Students protesting Israel's actions = clearly delusional, misinformed, and antisemitic.

"Gee, Sam - have you explored any of the videos or written evidence by the International Criminal Court, Amnesty International, etc. documenting IDF atrocities? You know, things that those ill-informed students watch?

SH - "don't need to... Here's Douglas Murray who saw Gaza - at the invitation of the IDF. Have you been gone to Gaza? - Best, of all, he agrees with everything I want to believe. And he's not Jewish - so therefore, he's independent and credible."

And this from the guy who claims he values truth. I have little doubt that if the IDF were to gas all of the inhabitants of Gaza, Harris would argue that it brought peace to the Middle East - and ultimately saved lives.

He used to say that he didn't want to invite pro-MAGA people on because they would invent facts. Well, why not invite one of the noted Israeli scholars who argue that Israel has been pursuing a land grab for decades - and uses pretenses to achieve its goals - Norman Finkelstein has studied this for over 30 years. He's pretty up on the facts. There are numerous other Israeli scholars who could argue point as well.

Congrats to all involved on the team.

A few decades ago, I was working on a contract for GM. There was a woman engineer who I worked with who was perhaps the most attractive woman I'd ever seen who wasn't a photograph in a men's magazine. We were staffing an exhibit at a booth promoting a GM software standard - not exactly exciting stuff. In any event, I had a pile of cash to help with set-up of the booth - as one typically would need to bribe exhibit hall staff for whatever one needed - but it soon became clear that all I needed to do was to turn to my colleague and ask her to request whatever was needed - and no cash was ever needed. They'd have eaten ground glass if she asked them to or moved our booth on stage - nothing was impossible if she asked.

The "invisible hand" reaches out and strangles the less fortunate.

For some reason, Tik Tok has had videos supposedly showing Chinese aircraft dropping aid onto Gaza. NOT True - but I wonder the origin of the videos. In one video, they alleged that the cargo planes were escorted by Chinese fighters - fiction - but for what purpose?

There's been an uptick on China is great material passing through my pages - more in the past few months. They don't have to work too hard to demonstrate their achievements.

Mik lol