Noam Chomsky vs Margaret Kimberly

Yes, he met with Jeffrey Epstein, and yes, he met with him more than once, per a leak of Epstein's calendar, reported on by the Wall Street Journal. And, yes, he got tetchy when asked.

But, contra Margaret Kimberly's bullshit on Twitter:

I knew Chomsky was a “leftist” gate keeper telling us to vote for democrats every 4 years. But I’m also finding out that he supported the “humanitarian” interventions in Libya, Syria, and Yugoslavia.

— Margaret Kimberley (@freedomrideblog) May 1, 2023

Israel-Palestine is the only specific foreign policy issue mentioned as having been discussed by the two in the WSJ piece. 

As for Libya? Took 5 secs, via Democracy Now, to show his position was "nuanced." I don't agree with him on even supporting a no-fly zone; Noam should have seen the "flypaper" possibilities. But, gatekeeper? No. Reminder: The no-fly zone was a UN Security Council measure by official vote. NATO member states were authorized to be the "enforcers," yes, but it was a UNSC action.

As for Chomsky opposing BDS, mentioned elsewhere in her thread? The details, per Mondoweiss, and at The Nation, followed by responses from people at The Nation, are ... nuanced. They're more nuanced than Norman Finkelstein's, who simply flat-out rejects the one-state solution ideologically, not on pragmatic grounds, and because of that, flat-out rejects BDS. As part of that, Chomsky says that Israel's actions are actually worse than South African apartheid.

And, behind that, per another tweet in her thread, I reject the conspiracy theory (not held by her alone) about Epstein being a Mossad agent. And, Barry Levine's book on Epstein is good, non-conspiratorial, and unlike Julie K. Brown's, not self-serving. And, at this NY Mag roundtable, Brown, along with three of four others responding to the particular issue, rejects the idea he was a Mossad agent. It IS bullshit from "a master bullshit artist" who "cultivated this entire persona," per Gabriel Sherman. Brown herself, there says "suicide with help," while three of the other five say "suicide" period, a fourth says "I really don't know" and only one says "he was whacked." And yes, Epstein killed himself, unless you think Lee Sirhan Ray offed him.

I told Kimberly her hack job is not surprising and I await Danny Haiphong doing even worse. And, I added that Black Agenda Report continues to go downhill.

As I noted about BAR and the pair drinking the Tulsi Kool-Aid several years ago, BAR has gone in the crapper since Bruce Dixon died. This is just the latest example. Kimberly and Haiphong are all about Max Blumenthal-type clickbait.

And, I've already tackled Noam the duopolist myself. At one time, nearly a decade ago, he seemed to leave the door open for non-duopoly voting by saying that if no third-party candidate existed, one might have to vote for the least bad duopolist. Setting aside the idea of undervoting a race that he ignored, this seems to indicate that he supported third-party voting when available. But, I wasn't so skeptical of him nearly 20 years ago to try to further nail him down.

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That said, re Chomsky and others who met with him after his 2008 conviction and completion of sentence. Congrats for believing in rehabilitation. Does that extend to poorer and non-white people? I think it does with Chomsky, but am more skeptical about the others.