Moderate Rebels, a New Podcast

We just released our first episode: Democrats and the Russiagate Delusion https://t.co/8d3jHdHP05

— Moderate Rebels (@ModerateRadio) August 3, 2017

Max Blumenthal

3 July update: I asked Hattie her thoughts on Max:

Re: your retweet of this:
https://mobile.twitter.com/marcushjohnson/status/881712703424933889?p=p

What do you think of Max Blumenthal nowadays?

Posted by: Poppa Zao | July 03, 2017 at 02:26 PM


Hattie


Huh. He and his friends need to understand that only a broad center-left coalition can save us.

Posted by: Hattie | July 03, 2017 at 09:21 PM
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Will this develop into a giant West Side Story-style dance off between alt-left and centrist factions?

Only someone who has never toiled at the lower rungs of the workforce would say something like this https://t.co/8oF3HrgYl6

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) July 3, 2017

Didn't you have a pretty pampered upbringing? Can ask your parents.I didn't.Maybe throw stones at someone who wasn't on public assistance

— Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) July 3, 2017

Didn't you grow up in Georgetown? You really want to compare notes on toiling jobs? Happy to do so.

— Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) July 3, 2017

No, I didn't. And why compare notes when your wholesale sell-out to corporate elites, Gulf tycoons & Likudniks is a matter of public record?

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) July 3, 2017

As a journalist, do some follow up on this. You can start by calling your dad.

— Neera Tanden (@neeratanden) July 3, 2017

Seriously, @MaxBlumenthal, stop shaming your parents. Remember where you come from...and how you got where you are. Because I do.

— Joan Walsh (@joanwalsh) July 3, 2017

The Flag: When Familiarity Breeds Contempt

.@realDonaldTrump In that case, punish all flag desecrators pic.twitter.com/tmGnrGpQDQ

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) November 29, 2016

"VFW Angry Over Kid Rock Super Bowl Poncho."

The VFW is upset that media outlets are ignoring the poncho Rock wore during the Super Bowl halftime show, which was made by cutting a slit in an American flag. Rock later tossed the flag into the crowd.

The VFW’s commander in chief, Edward Banas Senior, says Rock’s outfit was “in poor taste and extremely disrespectful.”

12 December update: That could describe Kid Rock's new line of Trumpian T-shirts and baseball caps.

12 December update #2: Keith Olbermann runs afoul of the flag code by donning a flag as a shawl. (Maybe Max Blumenthal can compile a series of photos of people misusing the American flag, although with the best of intentions.)

The anti-fascist resistance, brought to you by Gentleman's Quarterly pic.twitter.com/VznLLR0cYq

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) December 13, 2016

The U.S. Flag Code.

§176. Respect for flag
No disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of America; the flag should not be dipped to any person or thing. Regimental colors, State flags, and organization or institutional flags are to be dipped as a mark of honor.
• (a) The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.
• (b) The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water, or merchandise.
• (c) The flag should never be carried flat or horizontally, but always aloft and free.
• (d) The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery. It should never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds, but always allowed to fall free. Bunting of blue, white, and red, always arranged with the blue above, the white in the middle, and the red below, should be used for covering a speaker's desk, draping the front of the platform, and for decoration in general.
• (e) The flag should never be fastened, displayed, used, or stored in such a manner as to permit it to be easily torn, soiled, or damaged in any way.

Remember this?

Tampa Bay Times, "The Buzz: Did Allen West Violate Federal Law by Scuba Diving With U.S. Flag?"

Put those b!tches in jail for life. No one 🔥 my 🇲🇾 https://t.co/QUYilnMCqO

— Jenny Boyle (@jenniferboyle69) November 30, 2016

Right. But why is she using the emoji for the Malaysian flag?

Proyect vs. Blumenthal

Get your popcorn.

Louis Proyect: "Max Blumenthal Follows Ben Norton Down the Bloody Primrose Path."

We'll see if Blumenthal replies to Proyect. Though he concedes anti-anti-Assadism has been "confined to marginal websites, including some very unsavory ones."

The fear factor is why analysis challenging regime change has been largely confined to marginal websites, including some very unsavory ones

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) October 3, 2016

Update: He does, sort of.

Cheer on Al-Nusra and bash the left for failing to do the same https://t.co/m6WVl1TvWh #WokeSyriaHandbook

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) October 3, 2016

The Max Blumenthal New-Book Watch

Very much looking forward to reading @MaxBlumenthal's new book, to be published by @VersoBooks in July. pic.twitter.com/iojB1DdyS3

— Asa Winstanley (@AsaWinstanley) May 15, 2015

Dyson vs. West

Michael Eric Dyson vs. Cornel West, explained by Max Blumenthal.

Max Blumenthal's New Book: Due This Summer

However, Goliath was delayed a few times as he put more material in. Don't be surprised if his new book might be published a little later for the same reason.

Seems like an appropriate time to announce my next book - The 51 Day War: Ruin and Resistance in Gaza http://t.co/Swa13HCvao Due out in July

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) March 11, 2015

Blumenthal & White At the Movies

If Max Blumenthal and Armond White ever have a debate about American Sniper, I'd watch it. Then I hope they'd make like Siskel and Ebert and get a show.

Go #AmericanSniper! Sergeant York for Millennials. http://t.co/JObWMiQ4Fe

— armond white (@3xchair) January 20, 2015

On @oreillyfactor, @iptuttle calls me "the worst offender" against American Sniper: http://t.co/nOY7gnWTkl I graciously accept this honor.

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) January 22, 2015

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The box office forecast for this weekend:

Forecast (Jan. 23-25)
1. American Sniper - $56 million (-37%)
2. The Boy Next Door - $18 million
3. Paddington - $13.1 million (-31%)
4. The Wedding Ringer - $10.7 million (-48%)
5. Mortdecai - $7.5 million
6. Strange Magic - $6 million

Not a Pawn

@cvaldary @Julia_C_Salazar we will stay where we are and not be chess pieces in a rapture ready Christian Zionist's childlike fantasy.

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) April 27, 2014

While @jstreetu is silent, conservative FIRE slams the suspension of @NortheasternSJP and chilling of campus speech http://t.co/ZaN5oNYDwV

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) March 16, 2014

D.J. Max Blumenthal

Tonight Max Blumenthal was a guest DJ on the New Jersey-based freeform radio station WFMU and played these songs. The show concluded just before 9 p.m. Hawaii time. He was glad for this change of pace.

More soon.

Proyect vs. Blumenthal

The things one finds at three in the morning.

Louis Proyect: Thoughts Triggered by Max Blumenthal Tweets About Ukrainian Fascists.

Rep. Louie Gohmert Piles on Max Blumenthal

Gohmert condemned me as anti-Semitic during an extended rant warning that BDS will lead to the second Holocaust http://t.co/xLu7E8WNgY #PT

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) January 10, 2014

Max is mentioned at the 3h 17m mark.

A discussion about this is on Max Blumenthal's Twitter account. What stands out to me is the unseemliness of Gohmert, a Gentile, calling Blumenthal, a Jew, anti-Semitic, for his vocal and sustained anti-Zionism.

11 January update: A transcript of the remarks.

Goliath and Free Speech

An Atlantic article on Goliath and its place in the canon of polemics.

Packed room at the National Press Club to hear me discuss Goliath. @cspan is here to film. pic.twitter.com/iOUAszSymx

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) December 2, 2013

Goliath Arrives

I received my copy of Goliath in the mail yesterday. It's a substantial book, which Max Blumenthal began writing in 2009. I think publication was delayed a few times so he could include more material. Following his Twitter account these last few years is how I learned about the persecution of African migrants in Israel.

Some people have crowed that the book is a "flop" (especially when compared to the sales for Killing Jesus and Rush Revere and the Brave Pilgrims). Two reasons why it hasn't gone gangbusters, I think, are:

It deals almost exclusively with the situation inside Israel, whereas Republican Gomorrah was about American politics. And, it is a very critical overview of Israeli history and society. So, the cable-news shows that featured RG in 2009 have not done the same with Goliath because it's not America-centric and because it "goes there" on Israel. Yet, the book is one of Amazon's top sellers on the topic of Israel.

This review, at Religion Dispatches, is mixed, but also worth reading.

9 November update: Towards the end of Goliath, Max focuses on young Israelis immigrating to the U.S. and Germany. Berlin has a sizable Israeli population.

10 November update: "Attacks on Max Blumenthal's Goliath Escalate Veer Into Wingnut Land."

AmConMag Review of Goliath

A review of Goliath with the stark title"Will Israel Go Fascist?"

And...

Positive review of @MaxBlumenthal's "Goliath" in Der @Forverts, Yiddish edition of @jdforward: http://t.co/SFFXwCJbT0 @

— Abe Greenhouse (@grinhoyz) November 5, 2013

Much to Write About

Help the great @davidsheen write the first book on the plight of non-Jewish African refugees in Israel: http://t.co/RbJAS8pikX

— Max Blumenthal (@MaxBlumenthal) November 5, 2013

It sounds better than another cutesy/clever/navel-gazing novel.

I Wouldn't Talk

The bad language is in this person's tweet. I apologize in advance.

.2 radical leftist assholes go to war against each other: @Eric_Alterman attacks d-bag @MaxBlumenthal http://t.co/KClvOFjk8m #tcot #p2 #fun

— Matthew Vadum (@vadum) October 29, 2013

I wouldn't call either Eric Alterman or Max Blumenthal "radical leftist." Alterman is left-liberal and Blumenthal is left. The terms a**hole and d-bag apply to Alterman and certainly to the tweeter. Just look at his face.

7 November 2013 update: Takes one to know one.

Dear Mondoweiss dipshits. Phil Weiss has repeatedly tried to get me to debate him and I always say "no" because it would be a waste of time

— Eric Alterman (@Eric_Alterman) November 8, 2013

Max Blumenthal Further Discusses His Book Goliath

Max Blumenthal discusses his book Goliath in an interview with TruthOut.org.

He acknowledges the book has received far less attention than his previous book Republican Gomorrah, because it's easy to look at the religious right but not Israel.