The Reality-Based Community

Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.

  • Home
  • About
  • Cannabis Science & Policy Summit
  • MJ Legalization: The Book
  • BOTEC Analysis
You are here: Home / Coincidence

Coincidence

November 10, 2006 By Mark Kleiman @markarkleiman

I walked past a bookstore in DC today and saw the latest Commentary in the window, featuring an essay by Amir Taheri on “regime change” in Iran. (It was paired with another about “military options” for Iran.) The essay starts with a canned history of US-Iranian relations since the fall of the Shah, which is all about how Democrats are wimps while Republicans have big, swinging dicks. It somehow never mentions “arms for hostages.”

When I got home, I found an email from a Jewish friend in LA, forwarding an email message that has obviously been making the rounds, reporting that Iran was going to require Jews to wear yellow stars. It had all the markings of an Internet hoax: no date, no link, no signature. I vaguely recalled having seen the same story before, so I checked it out on Snopes.com. Sure enough, it’s pure bunkum, based on a completely false story in the Canadian National Post, which the newspaper itself has utterly disavowed.

The author of the original story? Amir Taheri.

Three questions:

1. Who decided to revive this hoax just now?

2. Is there anything at all that can discredit a right-wing commentator in the view of right-wing editors?

3. With 87% of American Jews voting Democratic this year, why are central Jewish organizations still under reactionary management? (Commentary is published by the American Jewish Committee.) Is there no way to create Jewish organizations that represent the views of the overwhelming majority of Jews?

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Medicare

Popular Posts of the Week

  • Advice to Alex M
  • Does cannabis availability help prevent opioid overdoses?
  • Unlearning How White People Ask Personal Questions
  • Television Was Not Always a Vast Wasteland
  • The Secret Dubbing of Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady

Blogroll

  • Balloon Juice
  • The Belgravia Dispatch
  • Brad DeLong
  • Cop in the ‘hood
  • Crooked Timber
  • Crooks and Liars
  • Echidne of the Snakes
  • Firedoglake
  • A Fistful of Euros
  • Healthinsurance.org Blog
  • Horizons
  • How Appealing
  • The Incidental Economist
  • Informed Comment — Juan Cole
  • Jonathan Bernstein
  • Kevin Drum
  • Marginal Revolution – Tyler Cowen
  • Marijuana Monitor
  • The Moderate Voice
  • Obsidian Wings
  • Patheos
  • Philosoraptor
  • Plato o Plomo – Alejandro Hope
  • Political Animal
  • Politics Upside Down
  • Progressive Blog Digest
  • Progressive Blue
  • Slacktivist
  • Snopes
  • Strange Doctrines
  • Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • The Volokh Conspiracy (Washington Post)
  • Vox Pop

Recent Posts

  • “Insane” ≠ “insensé”
  • Joy Ann Reid and the tyranny of technical expertise
  • Does cannabis availability help prevent opioid overdoses?
  • Television Was Not Always a Vast Wasteland
  • Home

Archives

Topic Areas

Copyright © 2017 The Reality-Based Community  •  Designed & Developed by ReadyMadeWeb LLC