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Henry Kissinger Has Died

nytimes.com

451–460 of 673 posts

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#451

> He has a brother who came to America when he did. Recently, the brother was asked why he had no German accent but Henry did. “Because,” said the brother, “Henry never listens.” https://jacobin.com/2012/08/gore-vidal-dead-and-yet-henry-ki...

Henry is such a strange name for a child. It just doesn't make sense to me. Henry is like an adult name :/

How about this one then, my grandmother is named Lillemor which is Swedish for "little mother". It was a fairly common name even. People out there naming their kids "little mother".

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#452

> He has a brother who came to America when he did. Recently, the brother was asked why he had no German accent but Henry did. “Because,” said the brother, “Henry never listens.” https://jacobin.com/2012/08/gore-vidal-dead-and-yet-henry-ki...

Henry is such a strange name for a child. It just doesn't make sense to me. Henry is like an adult name :/

His birth name was "Heinz Alfred" but I don't know if that makes it any better.

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#453
post #395

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. What a refreshing directness: > He was a swine of a man and a jabbering dupe of a president. Nixon was so crooked that he needed servants to help him screw his pants on every morning. Even his funeral was illegal. He was queer in the deepest way. His body should have been burned in a trash bin. How come they could publish this without getting sued into oblivion?

You can't libel the dead

Except in the Philippines, where it is a crime to commit libel/slander against a dead person (under Art. 353 of the Revised Penal Code). Although actual lawsuits from the family of a dead person are quite rare.

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#454
post #360

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But from the same paper: > One such theory is that health and longevity are related to differences in medical care. The present analysis provides limited support for this theory. Life expectancy for low income individuals was not significantly correlated with measures of the quantity and quality of medical care provided, such as the fraction insured and measures of preventive care. The lack of a change in the mortali…

There are also pretty significant differences in diet and substance use between different income quartile...

And stress. If I had to guess I would say stress matters more than both of those on average.

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#455
post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That last sentence is a massive step beyond common knowledge, if it's true... and I don't think it is, what can doctors do?

> The gap in life expectancy between the richest 1% and poorest 1% of individuals was 14.6 years (95% CI, 14.4 to 14.8 years) for men and 10.1 years (95% CI, 9.9 to 10.3 years) for women. Second, inequality in life expectancy increased over time. Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4866586/#:~:tex... .

That being true, I do doubt that a single obituary writer falls in the poorest 1% of individuals. If I were to take a guess, I think the average salary of a journalist who writes obituaries may fall in the top 25% of income. Does the gap in life expectancy continue to be that large if we compare the top 1% and the top 25%?

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#456

> He has a brother who came to America when he did. Recently, the brother was asked why he had no German accent but Henry did. “Because,” said the brother, “Henry never listens.” https://jacobin.com/2012/08/gore-vidal-dead-and-yet-henry-ki...

I remember that he visited his old football club in Germany a couple of years ago and spoke in German on the occasion.

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#457
post #395
post #370

I am reminded of Hunter S Thompsons euology for Nixon. Good Riddance! Should have died in jail. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1994/07/he-was-...

Wow. What a refreshing directness: > He was a swine of a man and a jabbering dupe of a president. Nixon was so crooked that he needed servants to help him screw his pants on every morning. Even his funeral was illegal. He was queer in the deepest way. His body should have been burned in a trash bin. How come they could publish this without getting sued into oblivion?

There's a little known law in the USA which states the following;

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

It's not always followed but it does remain fairly important in the mind of American citizens

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#458
post #398
post #132

As a person from the third world and more specifically Africa, I cannot find myself to mourn his death or say any good thing about Kissinger. Good riddance actually. I would have loved to see him get his day in court when he was still alive. What he masterminded in Angola and several other African countries that ended up in civil wars because of him are some of the greatest atrocities to people of the third world. I…

I think many people from the Global South would agree with you and not just Africans. That was also exactly my thought when i read the headline, even though he did nothing against my native Kenya. Also, the phrase "Third World" isn't the most appropriate one to describe a good chunk of the world.

"Third World" is very much a Cold War term, with roots in French history:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_World#Etymology

While often used in condescending or pejorative ways...do consider what happened to the French First Estate and Second Estate during the French Revolution.

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#459
post #449

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rest of the west is allied with the US because they’re the least evil guys, not because they’re the good guys. I’m Dutch and knowing that the US has a constant threat of extreme violence against us written into their law scares the crap out of me. We’re supposed to be happy jolly NATO allies but srsly that shit is not cool.

Least evil by what metric?

All countries of comparable power are murderous autocracies. By that metric. At least I cannot think of any that isn't, feel free to try to proof me wrong.

Re: Henry Kissinger Has Died

#460
RIP Henry Kissinger. I am as far apart on the political spectrum from Kissinger as can be imagined, but it is useless to imagine a counterfactual, somehow better, history where he did not make his mark.

We often think powerful people have the power to command the course of history, and therefore is somehow more culpable than the cheering onlooker. But we are all vessels on the tides of history.

Applying criminal law to state leaders, spearheads of broad sectors of society is therefore fraught with peril bordering on a misuse of the judiciary, unless they broke some law that is also applicable to anyone else, like theft, willful deceit or bodily harm to others (in their vicinity).

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