I knew that if I wrote "cheap whore" there would be a flood of hair on fire hysterical comments with no relevance to the substance of what I wrote, only tone police.
I will not add to the "cheap whore" subject, as interesting as it has become.
If someone like Bono receives such an award in the 'dying' days of Biden, (hopefully and based on his criminal deeds and the number of deaths in Palestine, still continuing to this day) then Bono obviously equals the achievements of yet another who received the same award (as a result, obviously now a worthless low grade award), this person being the "we came, we saw, he died" Clinton woman, the epitome of everything one should dislike in a person, man or woman, anywhere.
Bono and Clinton. A perfect summary of Biden’s leadership.
so we insult cheap se workers by suggesting that they're undiscriminating in their sexual availability...actually they're discriminating, even the "economy-priced" ones?
I find your disparagement of sex workers offensive, prejudicial, biased, and YET understandable (and commonly misunderstood)
Some things to think about on the subject:
(1) Ask yourself - why does one go into sex work? Think of all the different reasons. Is it financial hardship? Is it growing up in an environment of destitution? Is it bad parenting? Is it an unfortunate unfolding of events during one's lifetimes that are beyond the individual's control? Is it to support children? Is it to fund an education? Is it unhealthy societal dynamics? Is it sex/human trafficking? Is it one of few options available to marginalized/disadvantaged groups?
(2) On what basis do you assume that "most sex workers are addicts"? Is that a statistical observation or a biased opinion?
(3) Ask yourself - if they are addicts, why are they addicts? Is it because they have been unable to find better ways of dealing with life's problems? Have they been coerced/inculcated/etc. due to sex/human trafficking? There may be many reasons for being addicted to drugs - including structural and systemic exploitation of capitalism and all that it entails.
Most life decisions (whether they are consciously or unconsciously taken) are never simply black-and-white, but rather a complex (and sometimes random) assortment of many different factors.
Good on you Chang! Writing from a privileged standpoint, we have no business disparaging the disadvantaged struggle for survival - in a short, nasty and brutish world.
Among the working class, sex workers must be the most exploited.
Our humanity here in Caitlin's Newsletter would be a farce and a hypocrisy if we do that.
I looked it up. Artists are exempt from income tax on their income from their art, up to 50,000 Euros. So, that lets Bono out. But yes, artists are exempt from income tax on their work. To a point.
They give him an award so they can hang out with him at the party. In grade school, there was this kid who used to give ice cream bar tickets to the cool kids. Same thing.
As an Irishwoman I can assure you all that Bono is detested in Ireland. He is called a WestBrit by most people, i.e. a person who is more British than Irish. A most derogatory term.
The person embodying the Irish tradition of anti-colonialism, rebelliion and rejoicing is not Bono, who doesn't pay his taxes in Ireland and doesn't speak our native language, but our President, Michae D. Higgins, poet, intellecdtual, linguist and humanitarian.
As for Biden, his Irish heritage has been greatly exaggerated. He is more English than Irish, but then he has always modelled himself on the Kennedys.
Bono is also a mediocre singer. Take a listen to the duets with Frank Sinatra to see how pathetic he is.
Just an ordinary person who is now 75yrs old. Sometimes elderly people have WISDOM. One looks back on life and realises (in many cases) we were wrong to support: Destruction of countries. NOT one 'ism works.
4 countries I have lived in and they are all the same.
Colonialism is NOT the future of the planet which is why I support BRICS
GREED (I was born in Sri Lanka 1949).
The ONLY person I can commend (reading) is the Diaries of Leonard Woolf.....yes married to the most ignorant woman: Virginia Woolf.
IN the USA Virginia is a.................HERO. Why? Because these ignorant people do not know her background.
She told her husband Leonard to get rid of all these black people who came to visit.
Queen Victoria loved the idea of Leonard Woolf. Her court at the time was filled with Sari's. AS a woman (QUEEN of England) she hated constraints with regard to dress.
Me and my mates in England and the rest if The UK also call him that. He is just another globalist parasite - like many of the so called "celebrities".
He'd still be looking down on them, just from the yet another perceived "height" in his mind.
Such people don't have morals. They'll do anything to rake in another token of adulation. Just look at all those Sirs and Dames of the entertainment industry the cunning British have produced. Domesticated from then on for good.
Sir Paul McCartney. Sir Elton John. Give me a f-ng break!
I think he's a human being and we all can get the wool pulled over our eyes by the powers that be. I think of Cornel West repeating they Uyghurs canard or lauding Navalny. Not everyone avails themselves of Scott Ritter or Caitlin Johnson videos ;-)
If you are unable to distinguish between the perfect diction, rhythm, phrasing, intonation, richness of tone, effortless presentation, in short absolute mastery of Sinatra, as opposed to the thin, weak, forced effort of Bono, that's your problem.
Because it's a beautiful, poetic language? "Thanks" in Irish: "Go raibh mait agat", literally "May goodness be upon you".
Because learning a second language, especially as a child, facilitates the learning of further languages? I can testify to that.
The way we Irish speak English is flavoured by our native language, which may be why we have more Nobel Prizes for Literature pro capita than any other country.
However, the main reason you should learn Irish, or any other language, is to widen you horizons and to keep your brain active.
Knowledge of the language of a country greatly improves your understanding of the culture of a people.
I learned pronunciations from my friends when I was there. We were in the western counties and in many places all the signs were in Irish. (“Irish! Not Gaelic!”) They’d point to one and ask me to pronounce it; I actually got pretty decent at it 🙂
You’re right it IS a beautiful, melodious language.
I wonder what level of proficiency is achieved on graduation. Are kids able to fully communicate in it afterwards? Would it be out of place for someone to stop by at some shop and speak Irish exclusively?
Is this because of U2's campaign to get Irish/Americans to stop sending money to the IRA? Because that terrorist Liberation Theology-driven militia deserved to have their resources dried up and none too soon. They are like the Irish version of ISIS/al-Qaeda.
And what country shit all over by Britain are you from where you were occupied by its thugs, and what did YOU do about it? I'm personally averse to violence but I'm not the kind of asshole who tells colonized and brutalized people how they should behave.
Telling them how they should behave? Excuse me, I will tell them so if it's my money [hypothetically] they are asking for. The Left in the 80s had a big blind spot getting behind every Yayhoo who picked up a rifle and hit the streets. Not murdering innocents should be the bottom line In Ireland, Israel, Ukraine and anywhere there's anyone else seeking to be looked upon with kind humanitarian eyes: https://youtu.be/Yv5U0A10hrI
I bet they went around asking for a lot of wallets at the end of an AR-15 X-D And yet only Israel and Ukraine should be criticized for their inhumanity? Wow, guess it's a little tougher when it's closer to home, eh?
I think the IRA is irrelevant, and the region is much safer for people since it's been relegated to the dustbin of history. AND... U2 did a great thing in stopping them from getting the funds they did not deserve.
As a Gen Xr who grew up in the 80s, being 13 when WAR came out, Bono and band were lights shining in the darkness. For anyone that didn't actually live (or can't remember back that far) the topic of nuclear annihilation was ever present. Bono's anti-war cries were like a healing balm for me in an age of absolute madness.
And then came... the long slow descent into being a total shill for the Empire. Soul death by a thousand cuts? He really should be studied for such a complete reversal of character and how power corrupts bit by bit, ounce by ounce until a person is completely taken over. (A lesser, albeit similar example might be Mark Hamill making one of the most spectacular inversions ever, likening Ukraine as the rebel alliance standing up against the imperium.)
Peter, thank you. Back in the eighties, and even the nineties, U2 were an inspiration to me. I loved their music, up to and including Zooropa and even Pop. I don’t know what happened to them in the twenty-first century. Bono, at least, seems to have lost his way, both as a person and as a musician. I don’t know if I can bear to listen to War and October any more, given what they have become.
There's a line on Mother (the album Pop) that may hold the key... "No one tells me no". Really a testament to how distorted someone can become from living one's entire life with no one ever pushing back.
U2 put forth several good to excellent albums up to and including Pop. Since then, holy crap. Perhaps Bono fell off a cliff artistically precisely because of what he was becoming as a human being? Whatever the case, the guitarist came across as an arrogant dick even when the music was good—but that didn’t deter me from enjoying the work.
Examples of favorite bands of mine require caveats. For example, I love Yes up to and including Going for the One, but dislike what came after. Genesis with Steve Hackett is brilliant, but after he left the band became something quite different. Supertramp had a great run in the 70’s with Crime of the Century, some of Crisis, What Crisis?, Even in the Quietest Moments, & Breakfast in America—but I didn’t like later albums.
So I was “prepared” to not like U2’s output at some point. But I remember thinking in 2000, geesh that sucks!
Well said Peter Harris! - especially this line >>"He really should be studied for such a complete reversal of character and how power corrupts bit by bit, ounce by ounce until a person is completely taken over."
I was a fan when their first handful of activist albums came out, then there was Zoo. It was a total collapse and I stopped listening to them after that. It was a sellout to the capitalists in the U.S. Then he switched to supporting popular activist projects, like apartheid in South Africa and others, which showed the world that he had moved on from his Irish roots and embraced the money instead. Now, he gets an attaboy from the yanks.
While Bono is receiving awards for selling out freedom, heroes like Roger Waters are getting cancelled for actually telling the truth and standing up for freedom.
Exactly. The artists who stand up for peace in the world--true peace and an end to war and genocide everywhere--are ignored at best and persecuted at worse. Remember everyone: BDS works! Boycott Bono's recordings and concerts and anything else he puts out and tell others to do the same. Support Roger Waters and others who support Palestinians.
Wtf ! It is China’s socialism plus a bit of managed capitalism that has lifted millions out of poverty while western capitalism is making millions homeless. Bono talks through his hat. You are right about corruption of art, with a blank canvas selling for $1.5 million - the last laugh being on western “civilisation.”
And 'evil' Stalin and his 'evil' Bolsheviks that ended a thousand years of Russian famines (which happened every 7-10 years) brought literacy, free education, and health care. Those hateful commies, we have been taught to hate can't hold a candle to the World Economic Forum!?...
Of course, the winner in this 'ism's campaign is Trotskyism (which covers almost every flavour of the 'left' today) and its ability to make sure (through the copious eloquence of 'ultra left' revolutionary' rhetoric) that the working class status quo of division, ignorance and exploitation continues unassailed.
But let's have some wishful Trotskyist thinking about workers uniting and forever enlightening revolutions of the soul coming to save mankind....the unattainable bollocks served with an MI6/CIA approved side dish of hippy 'feel good' factors.
'Stalinism' a made up term by Trotskyists. There is no such thing. 'Revision' implies a rewriting of history. Is it a rewriting of history or the very real problem finding the evidence for 'history' written by MI6/CIA assets? People like Robert Conquest.
A number growing rapidly. And just wait till the U.S. is forced into the very kinds of austerity programs that it (through the IMF / World Bank) has demanded of other bankrupt States. With annual interest payments alone at roughly $1 Trillion, and about half of the globe seeking to de-dollarize, it won't be too long before the U.S. isn't able to keep printing new IOUs to cover its past ones.
Another anti-freedom, pro-Israel, pro-Genocide law has passed in NY.
The New York state antisemitism vandalism act:
Enacts the New York state antisemitism vandalism act which establishes the crime of vandalism of pro-Israel print, which provides a class A misdemeanor for any individual who intentionally destroys, damages, removes, or causes to be destroyed, damaged or removed any banner, poster, flyer or billboard which is located in a public space, where the intent or purpose of such banner, poster, flyer or billboard is to bring awareness for Israeli individuals who have been victims of a crime, or to positively support the country or citizens of Israel in any way.
And America thinks it stands for freedom and democracy. Such behavior (i.e. policies/laws) make America a sick joke being played on ordinary Americans AND the rest of the world.
There’s a joke in here somewhere, someone probably said to him once “So you wrote a song called “Bloody Sunday” what do you want, a medal?
He doesn’t get a free pass just because he’s Irish. I’ve always had very low expectations of Mr Bono, he’s been a millionaire since his 20’s so I never expected words of wisdom from him - it’s like waiting for Musk to publish poetry.
Bono is to music what Captain America and Marvel Comics is to literature. Either way, it's the not-so-subtle glitzy promotion of imperialist war via clever imagery (with either boring predictable harmonies or boring predictable special effects for support). And either way, jello-brained acolytes with undifferentiated cultural "tastes" lap it up to fill their own emptiness with flaming narcissist celebrity culture. That weak-brained, culturally barren, amoral Scranton/Delaware Joe should be the originator of an award for such pure Western Capitalist rubbish is a fitting tribute to the fact that the man's been emblematic of US political mediocrity for decades, a man I'm sure many Irishfolk would be anxious to disavow. Joe's the one who should get the world medal of mediocrity, awarded for having done zero to promote world diplomacy and peace, while infinitely engendering forces to kill maximal innocents per square meter of planetary surface.
No argument re: his fascism, Jenny. But my take is that the entire USA enterprise is Fascist as defined by Mussolini in the 1920s. Those who resist that central ethic of this sordid dungheap country must have a stiff moral/ethical backbone. The problem is the vast herd of ethical mediocrities who readily comply. Joe has been a leader in demonstrating compliance -- reference his speech in the early 1980s in which he openly declared his corruptibility. Sorry don't have a link at hand. I detest the man -- have more respect for someone who openly admits his support of corporate-government fuckery than for a spineless worm like Joe, who's available to the next highest bidder.
An interesting take. Since corporatism is mediocre because of its employed opportunities for corruption, ditto the corruptibility of government bureaucracies, I guess you could readily argue for natural spontaneous evolution of the two doing a dance in Mussolini's conception.
Bono is at a U2 concert in Glasgow when he asks the audience for some quiet.
Then he starts to slowly clap his hands, saying softly, “Every time I clap my hands, a child in Africa dies.” A voice from near the front pierces the silence: “Well, fookin’’ stop doin’ it then!
I don't understand how someone who wrote a song, Bullet the Blue Sky, completely against american imperialism in Central America, which america is still trying to overthrow, could turn into such a supporter of the empire. Even other musicians with lyrics which are very escapist or pop came out against the Genocide of Gaza.
Amen! I simply cannot understand what he’s become. What’s happening in Gaza is the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life. All you need is basic empathy to oppose it. Why doesn’t Bono, then? What happened to the passion and compassion he used to have?
Bono was given a gift from God - the voice of an angel - but unfortunately, God gave him the brain of a gerbil. Why we consider artists worthy of our respect when it comes to their political opinions mystifies me. Most aren't all that bright with Bono being a prime example of the "dumb as a sack of hammers" end of the gene pool.
If the establishment is good at nothing else, it is very good at determining whom to co-opt, whom to buy off, whom to neutralize, whom to ignore.
In the case of "Bono", a few tchotchkes and a ceremony was more than enough and he rolled over like an economy-priced sex worker.
"rolled over like an economy-priced sex worker"--nice wording
I knew that if I wrote "cheap whore" there would be a flood of hair on fire hysterical comments with no relevance to the substance of what I wrote, only tone police.
Feral, can I use the term “cheap whores” to describe US Congress?
Or would “syphilitic whores” be more appropriate?
Be my guest.
I will not add to the "cheap whore" subject, as interesting as it has become.
If someone like Bono receives such an award in the 'dying' days of Biden, (hopefully and based on his criminal deeds and the number of deaths in Palestine, still continuing to this day) then Bono obviously equals the achievements of yet another who received the same award (as a result, obviously now a worthless low grade award), this person being the "we came, we saw, he died" Clinton woman, the epitome of everything one should dislike in a person, man or woman, anywhere.
Bono and Clinton. A perfect summary of Biden’s leadership.
what did the sex worker do? insulting sex workers to insult bono....
so we insult cheap se workers by suggesting that they're undiscriminating in their sexual availability...actually they're discriminating, even the "economy-priced" ones?
Elevating sex workers is not a good look. Most sex workers are doing so because they are addicts.
I find your disparagement of sex workers offensive, prejudicial, biased, and YET understandable (and commonly misunderstood)
Some things to think about on the subject:
(1) Ask yourself - why does one go into sex work? Think of all the different reasons. Is it financial hardship? Is it growing up in an environment of destitution? Is it bad parenting? Is it an unfortunate unfolding of events during one's lifetimes that are beyond the individual's control? Is it to support children? Is it to fund an education? Is it unhealthy societal dynamics? Is it sex/human trafficking? Is it one of few options available to marginalized/disadvantaged groups?
(2) On what basis do you assume that "most sex workers are addicts"? Is that a statistical observation or a biased opinion?
(3) Ask yourself - if they are addicts, why are they addicts? Is it because they have been unable to find better ways of dealing with life's problems? Have they been coerced/inculcated/etc. due to sex/human trafficking? There may be many reasons for being addicted to drugs - including structural and systemic exploitation of capitalism and all that it entails.
Most life decisions (whether they are consciously or unconsciously taken) are never simply black-and-white, but rather a complex (and sometimes random) assortment of many different factors.
Good on you Chang! Writing from a privileged standpoint, we have no business disparaging the disadvantaged struggle for survival - in a short, nasty and brutish world.
Among the working class, sex workers must be the most exploited.
Our humanity here in Caitlin's Newsletter would be a farce and a hypocrisy if we do that.
The real " prostitutes" are people like Bono.
DEI comment for sure.
What's offensive is standing up for and elevating sex workers.
Insulting prison guards to insult sex workers: https://nypost.com/2025/01/06/world-news/female-prison-guard-who-admitted-having-sex-with-inmate-in-recorded-cell-romp-learns-her-fate/
Nice pix there 😳
Uhhh, elevating sex workers is really not a good look.
its not looking good already
That doesn't make sense. But okay.
That’s funny and Bono is a joke 🤣
Well stated, Feral.
Your Imperial Feline Majesty sums it up very neatly. He'll still never find what he's looking for, whatever the fuck that is.
Sex workers are at least honest about what they do and who they work for.
There would be no sex workers if there were not a demand for sex workers
Social Credit Scores for Politicians. Let’s put the digital cage back on them where it belongs. https://joshketry.substack.com/p/social-credit-scores-are-a-good-idea
The Devil never sleeps.
Huffy, I believe he moved to Switzerland in order to avoid paying the higher taxes in Ireland! 😂
I thought artists didn't pay taxes in Ireland.
Clearly, that’s not the case…
I looked it up. Artists are exempt from income tax on their income from their art, up to 50,000 Euros. So, that lets Bono out. But yes, artists are exempt from income tax on their work. To a point.
They give him an award so they can hang out with him at the party. In grade school, there was this kid who used to give ice cream bar tickets to the cool kids. Same thing.
He has kids.
That’s unfortunate.
So when do you think his children will come out as "transgender"? That seems to be the fashionable thing for this group of people to encourage.
As an Irishwoman I can assure you all that Bono is detested in Ireland. He is called a WestBrit by most people, i.e. a person who is more British than Irish. A most derogatory term.
The person embodying the Irish tradition of anti-colonialism, rebelliion and rejoicing is not Bono, who doesn't pay his taxes in Ireland and doesn't speak our native language, but our President, Michae D. Higgins, poet, intellecdtual, linguist and humanitarian.
As for Biden, his Irish heritage has been greatly exaggerated. He is more English than Irish, but then he has always modelled himself on the Kennedys.
Bono is also a mediocre singer. Take a listen to the duets with Frank Sinatra to see how pathetic he is.
I thought Biden was an Israeli!
Hey Jen! Your comment just made my day. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Just an ordinary person who is now 75yrs old. Sometimes elderly people have WISDOM. One looks back on life and realises (in many cases) we were wrong to support: Destruction of countries. NOT one 'ism works.
4 countries I have lived in and they are all the same.
Colonialism is NOT the future of the planet which is why I support BRICS
GREED (I was born in Sri Lanka 1949).
The ONLY person I can commend (reading) is the Diaries of Leonard Woolf.....yes married to the most ignorant woman: Virginia Woolf.
IN the USA Virginia is a.................HERO. Why? Because these ignorant people do not know her background.
She told her husband Leonard to get rid of all these black people who came to visit.
Queen Victoria loved the idea of Leonard Woolf. Her court at the time was filled with Sari's. AS a woman (QUEEN of England) she hated constraints with regard to dress.
Leonard spent years fighting the British.
Sri Lanka became a Sovereign Country in 1949
Hi Cecelia
My friends in Ireland call him a “tit”.
Me and my mates in England and the rest if The UK also call him that. He is just another globalist parasite - like many of the so called "celebrities".
Never liked him.
Joshua Tree was a fantastic Album......even I liked it BUT he does not have an Irish heart.
The best writers and raconteurs have come from Ireland.
It's musical writing which many people do not understand.
WB Yeats
Culture/humour (which the US cannot understand) is written in their hearts.
The British never understood.
Bono. The only thing left is for him to call himself Catholic. If he already has then the next stop is Vatican.
He'd never do that.
It would prevent him from looking down on the vast majority of Irish people.
He'd still be looking down on them, just from the yet another perceived "height" in his mind.
Such people don't have morals. They'll do anything to rake in another token of adulation. Just look at all those Sirs and Dames of the entertainment industry the cunning British have produced. Domesticated from then on for good.
Sir Paul McCartney. Sir Elton John. Give me a f-ng break!
👋🏼🤣
Thank you for that info. You are a hero of heroic people standing with Palestine when most of Europe isn't.
Also, pretty much every Vocal Coach who's analyzed Bono's technique has raved about him. Just sayin'.
That's irrelevant to the fact that he is a horrible person.
I think he's a human being and we all can get the wool pulled over our eyes by the powers that be. I think of Cornel West repeating they Uyghurs canard or lauding Navalny. Not everyone avails themselves of Scott Ritter or Caitlin Johnson videos ;-)
I am a classically trained singer and the little I have heard of this bozo sucks.
Whatevs. Their most recent release Songs of Surrender, a re-recording of their older material for showcasing how Bono sings now speaks for itself.
Every time I hear him strain I wonder whether he has a device to keep his hemorrhoids from popping.
Haven't heard 'im in 10 yrs, eh?
Can't bear to. Always afraid for his output plumbing.
I think you should petition world dictionaries to have another entry for "pro bono". One of the meanings will be your name.
I have. Your point?
If you are unable to distinguish between the perfect diction, rhythm, phrasing, intonation, richness of tone, effortless presentation, in short absolute mastery of Sinatra, as opposed to the thin, weak, forced effort of Bono, that's your problem.
IF you can read the Irish Language you would know he is a phoney.
Why should I or anyone bother with a language < 5% of the population has bothered to learn X-D
Because it's your native language?
Because it's a beautiful, poetic language? "Thanks" in Irish: "Go raibh mait agat", literally "May goodness be upon you".
Because learning a second language, especially as a child, facilitates the learning of further languages? I can testify to that.
The way we Irish speak English is flavoured by our native language, which may be why we have more Nobel Prizes for Literature pro capita than any other country.
However, the main reason you should learn Irish, or any other language, is to widen you horizons and to keep your brain active.
Knowledge of the language of a country greatly improves your understanding of the culture of a people.
Hi Cecelia
I learned pronunciations from my friends when I was there. We were in the western counties and in many places all the signs were in Irish. (“Irish! Not Gaelic!”) They’d point to one and ask me to pronounce it; I actually got pretty decent at it 🙂
You’re right it IS a beautiful, melodious language.
WTF do you know about it?
The Irish language is a prerequisite in schools in Ireland!
It's not a prerequisite, i.e. you don't have to already kno0w it to be allowed into a school. It is however a compulsory subject.
After all it is our first language.
Yes, Cecelia, that’s what I meant. Sorry if I phrased it incorrectly.
It was beautiful to see the young daughters of my friends practicing it 🙂
I wonder what level of proficiency is achieved on graduation. Are kids able to fully communicate in it afterwards? Would it be out of place for someone to stop by at some shop and speak Irish exclusively?
Then show me stats that say otherwise. I wasn't the one who brought the Irish language into this convo, as if it matters a hill of beans ;-)
You talking about hundreds on YouTube? If they pick someone to “review” that’ll be to rave. As they need views.
You don't know what you're talking about.
Do the enlightening bit will ya?
Excuse me? I already gave you the places to look. "How to sing like Bono" on YouTube. Do your own research.
And I already told you what I think of those.
Have you heard of "beauty is in the eye of the beholder"? Some think Bob Dylan's a singer.
Follow the crowd!!!!
You are a shallow person.
Says the guy who thinks Bono's singing technique is relevant to his morals, or lack thereof.
I never said they were. That was just something rattling around in your otherwise empty head :p
Is this because of U2's campaign to get Irish/Americans to stop sending money to the IRA? Because that terrorist Liberation Theology-driven militia deserved to have their resources dried up and none too soon. They are like the Irish version of ISIS/al-Qaeda.
And what country shit all over by Britain are you from where you were occupied by its thugs, and what did YOU do about it? I'm personally averse to violence but I'm not the kind of asshole who tells colonized and brutalized people how they should behave.
Telling them how they should behave? Excuse me, I will tell them so if it's my money [hypothetically] they are asking for. The Left in the 80s had a big blind spot getting behind every Yayhoo who picked up a rifle and hit the streets. Not murdering innocents should be the bottom line In Ireland, Israel, Ukraine and anywhere there's anyone else seeking to be looked upon with kind humanitarian eyes: https://youtu.be/Yv5U0A10hrI
Your money they are asking for? As long as they haven't demanded that you hand over your actual wallet, you should shut up.
I bet they went around asking for a lot of wallets at the end of an AR-15 X-D And yet only Israel and Ukraine should be criticized for their inhumanity? Wow, guess it's a little tougher when it's closer to home, eh?
This is an incredibly stupid and ignorant statement.
Occupied people have a right under international law to resist that occupation by any means necessary, including force of arms.
Nope. Not and murder civilians. Not by any law whatsoever. Stop supporting terrorism: https://youtu.be/5Chq5PY-TzE?si=OKmnJfF4v35tha_H&t=219
I never said anything about civilians, builder of strawmen. The British Army are not civilians.
Well it would appear that was not their sole target: https://youtu.be/5Chq5PY-TzE?si=OKmnJfF4v35tha_H&t=219
You quote U2 as a credible source of anything?! ROFLMAO.
Screw you Kevin. The first photograph I ever saw of a dead Palestinian child was in an IRA publication I purchased in Ireland.
The IRA. Are HEROES. I suggest that you never visit the Emerald Isle; those who criticize the IRA are not dealt with in a pleasant manner.
Thanks for confirming my suspicion, that you guys and your blind hatred of U2 had to do with them being involved in taking your toys away from you ;-) https://youtu.be/5Chq5PY-TzE?si=OKmnJfF4v35tha_H&t=219
I have no “blind hatred” for the man.
I just think he’s completely irrelevant.
I think the IRA is irrelevant, and the region is much safer for people since it's been relegated to the dustbin of history. AND... U2 did a great thing in stopping them from getting the funds they did not deserve.
Then you would know this. I thought artists didn't pay taxes in Ireland. Or am I a few administrations behind?
As a Gen Xr who grew up in the 80s, being 13 when WAR came out, Bono and band were lights shining in the darkness. For anyone that didn't actually live (or can't remember back that far) the topic of nuclear annihilation was ever present. Bono's anti-war cries were like a healing balm for me in an age of absolute madness.
And then came... the long slow descent into being a total shill for the Empire. Soul death by a thousand cuts? He really should be studied for such a complete reversal of character and how power corrupts bit by bit, ounce by ounce until a person is completely taken over. (A lesser, albeit similar example might be Mark Hamill making one of the most spectacular inversions ever, likening Ukraine as the rebel alliance standing up against the imperium.)
Peter, thank you. Back in the eighties, and even the nineties, U2 were an inspiration to me. I loved their music, up to and including Zooropa and even Pop. I don’t know what happened to them in the twenty-first century. Bono, at least, seems to have lost his way, both as a person and as a musician. I don’t know if I can bear to listen to War and October any more, given what they have become.
There's a line on Mother (the album Pop) that may hold the key... "No one tells me no". Really a testament to how distorted someone can become from living one's entire life with no one ever pushing back.
U2 put forth several good to excellent albums up to and including Pop. Since then, holy crap. Perhaps Bono fell off a cliff artistically precisely because of what he was becoming as a human being? Whatever the case, the guitarist came across as an arrogant dick even when the music was good—but that didn’t deter me from enjoying the work.
Examples of favorite bands of mine require caveats. For example, I love Yes up to and including Going for the One, but dislike what came after. Genesis with Steve Hackett is brilliant, but after he left the band became something quite different. Supertramp had a great run in the 70’s with Crime of the Century, some of Crisis, What Crisis?, Even in the Quietest Moments, & Breakfast in America—but I didn’t like later albums.
So I was “prepared” to not like U2’s output at some point. But I remember thinking in 2000, geesh that sucks!
I feel you. How does one go from "Sunday, Bloody Sunday" to... whatever this is?
Well said Peter Harris! - especially this line >>"He really should be studied for such a complete reversal of character and how power corrupts bit by bit, ounce by ounce until a person is completely taken over."
Thank-you for reminding us there was a time when Bono stood tall in his activism and spoke out against American interventionism in Latin America.
I was a fan when their first handful of activist albums came out, then there was Zoo. It was a total collapse and I stopped listening to them after that. It was a sellout to the capitalists in the U.S. Then he switched to supporting popular activist projects, like apartheid in South Africa and others, which showed the world that he had moved on from his Irish roots and embraced the money instead. Now, he gets an attaboy from the yanks.
Zooropa came out after Apartheid had started to be dismantled?
Mark Hamill is unhinged by TDS, like so many.
While Bono is receiving awards for selling out freedom, heroes like Roger Waters are getting cancelled for actually telling the truth and standing up for freedom.
Exactly. The artists who stand up for peace in the world--true peace and an end to war and genocide everywhere--are ignored at best and persecuted at worse. Remember everyone: BDS works! Boycott Bono's recordings and concerts and anything else he puts out and tell others to do the same. Support Roger Waters and others who support Palestinians.
Hi TRC
Roger is my hero and Pink Floyd blew U-2 outta the water.
“Dark Side of the Moon” is the best album ever recorded.
No doubt one of the best. Genesis, Yes, and Pink Floyd (another caveat—with Roger Waters) will always be the best for me.
TRC 🎯
Free Leonard Peltier.
Medals of honour my arse!
Bono was always a tool of the establishment. He is ivery full of himself and hasn't a clue that he's receiving this award from a genocidal maniac.
I doubt he cares.
Of course he knows that. He’s not stupid.
I’ve been forced to learn not to underestimate stupidity.
Wtf ! It is China’s socialism plus a bit of managed capitalism that has lifted millions out of poverty while western capitalism is making millions homeless. Bono talks through his hat. You are right about corruption of art, with a blank canvas selling for $1.5 million - the last laugh being on western “civilisation.”
And 'evil' Stalin and his 'evil' Bolsheviks that ended a thousand years of Russian famines (which happened every 7-10 years) brought literacy, free education, and health care. Those hateful commies, we have been taught to hate can't hold a candle to the World Economic Forum!?...
Of course, the winner in this 'ism's campaign is Trotskyism (which covers almost every flavour of the 'left' today) and its ability to make sure (through the copious eloquence of 'ultra left' revolutionary' rhetoric) that the working class status quo of division, ignorance and exploitation continues unassailed.
But let's have some wishful Trotskyist thinking about workers uniting and forever enlightening revolutions of the soul coming to save mankind....the unattainable bollocks served with an MI6/CIA approved side dish of hippy 'feel good' factors.
Revising Stalinism. Good luck with that.
'Stalinism' a made up term by Trotskyists. There is no such thing. 'Revision' implies a rewriting of history. Is it a rewriting of history or the very real problem finding the evidence for 'history' written by MI6/CIA assets? People like Robert Conquest.
👏👏👏🫡
You forgot the taped banana. The price might have been lower without it, although it’s replaceable.
CG it's estimated that there are 772,000 homeless people in the US.
A number growing rapidly. And just wait till the U.S. is forced into the very kinds of austerity programs that it (through the IMF / World Bank) has demanded of other bankrupt States. With annual interest payments alone at roughly $1 Trillion, and about half of the globe seeking to de-dollarize, it won't be too long before the U.S. isn't able to keep printing new IOUs to cover its past ones.
So true! It's tragic that so many artists are corrupted, becoming a voice for the forces that oppress us.
Bono is a wanker!
You insult Onanists, Sir!
Hmmm. Somehow no one is coming to their defense the way they came for "sex workers".
But really, sex workers make for a poor comparison when considering Congress Critters. They really should be likened to murderers & thieves.
I agree that politicians are much worse than prostitutes. In fact, nothing can be worse than a politician.
That doesn't make prostitutes look good though.
Another anti-freedom, pro-Israel, pro-Genocide law has passed in NY.
The New York state antisemitism vandalism act:
Enacts the New York state antisemitism vandalism act which establishes the crime of vandalism of pro-Israel print, which provides a class A misdemeanor for any individual who intentionally destroys, damages, removes, or causes to be destroyed, damaged or removed any banner, poster, flyer or billboard which is located in a public space, where the intent or purpose of such banner, poster, flyer or billboard is to bring awareness for Israeli individuals who have been victims of a crime, or to positively support the country or citizens of Israel in any way.
I 💖NY NY 💖 Genocide
NY 💖 Genocide
NY 💖 Genocide
And America thinks it stands for freedom and democracy. Such behavior (i.e. policies/laws) make America a sick joke being played on ordinary Americans AND the rest of the world.
Chang...🎯
Where's Terry Gilliam when we need him?
There’s a joke in here somewhere, someone probably said to him once “So you wrote a song called “Bloody Sunday” what do you want, a medal?
He doesn’t get a free pass just because he’s Irish. I’ve always had very low expectations of Mr Bono, he’s been a millionaire since his 20’s so I never expected words of wisdom from him - it’s like waiting for Musk to publish poetry.
Bono is to music what Captain America and Marvel Comics is to literature. Either way, it's the not-so-subtle glitzy promotion of imperialist war via clever imagery (with either boring predictable harmonies or boring predictable special effects for support). And either way, jello-brained acolytes with undifferentiated cultural "tastes" lap it up to fill their own emptiness with flaming narcissist celebrity culture. That weak-brained, culturally barren, amoral Scranton/Delaware Joe should be the originator of an award for such pure Western Capitalist rubbish is a fitting tribute to the fact that the man's been emblematic of US political mediocrity for decades, a man I'm sure many Irishfolk would be anxious to disavow. Joe's the one who should get the world medal of mediocrity, awarded for having done zero to promote world diplomacy and peace, while infinitely engendering forces to kill maximal innocents per square meter of planetary surface.
Not mediocre Biden.....full on facist Biden.
No argument re: his fascism, Jenny. But my take is that the entire USA enterprise is Fascist as defined by Mussolini in the 1920s. Those who resist that central ethic of this sordid dungheap country must have a stiff moral/ethical backbone. The problem is the vast herd of ethical mediocrities who readily comply. Joe has been a leader in demonstrating compliance -- reference his speech in the early 1980s in which he openly declared his corruptibility. Sorry don't have a link at hand. I detest the man -- have more respect for someone who openly admits his support of corporate-government fuckery than for a spineless worm like Joe, who's available to the next highest bidder.
Fascism is mediocre. Don’t do anything and you end up there, naturally.
An interesting take. Since corporatism is mediocre because of its employed opportunities for corruption, ditto the corruptibility of government bureaucracies, I guess you could readily argue for natural spontaneous evolution of the two doing a dance in Mussolini's conception.
Absolutely agree with all you say Vin.
An American President or politician speaking truth......simple idea but unlikely. Too late for that now I think.
Bono is at a U2 concert in Glasgow when he asks the audience for some quiet.
Then he starts to slowly clap his hands, saying softly, “Every time I clap my hands, a child in Africa dies.” A voice from near the front pierces the silence: “Well, fookin’’ stop doin’ it then!
Hahahahaha
I don't understand how someone who wrote a song, Bullet the Blue Sky, completely against american imperialism in Central America, which america is still trying to overthrow, could turn into such a supporter of the empire. Even other musicians with lyrics which are very escapist or pop came out against the Genocide of Gaza.
Amen! I simply cannot understand what he’s become. What’s happening in Gaza is the worst thing I’ve ever seen in my life. All you need is basic empathy to oppose it. Why doesn’t Bono, then? What happened to the passion and compassion he used to have?
Bono was given a gift from God - the voice of an angel - but unfortunately, God gave him the brain of a gerbil. Why we consider artists worthy of our respect when it comes to their political opinions mystifies me. Most aren't all that bright with Bono being a prime example of the "dumb as a sack of hammers" end of the gene pool.
The stupidity is written all over his face.
Surely receiving a medal from the likes of Mr. Biden is a disgrace beyond which nothing further can be said.