Ryan Girdusky clashed with British-American journalist Mehdi Hasan on Monday night.

Ryan Girdusky clashed with British-American journalist Mehdi Hasan on Monday night.

CNN has banned a conservative commentator from appearing on the network again after he told a Muslim journalist “I hope your beeper doesn’t go off,” an apparent reference to the spate of exploding pagers in Lebanon that killed members of the Hezbollah militant group last month.

Ryan Girdusky made the comment during a heated debate with Mehdi Hasan, a prominent British-American broadcaster and an outspoken critic of Israel’s war in Gaza, on “CNN Newsnight” with host Abby Phillip.

The guests were discussing the racist jokes made by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe, which overshadowed former President Donald Trump’s rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden on Sunday and continue to make headlines two days later.

As the debate turned fractious, Girdusky and Hasan sparred over whether the latter had been labeled an anti-Semite. “I’m a supporter of the Palestinians, I’m used to it,” Hasan said.

Girdusky replied: “Well I hope your beeper doesn’t go off.”

  • nonailsleft@lemm.ee
    13·
    23 days ago

    All of your problems are just one and the same: statistical probability of civilian casualties. And the nice thing with discussing the ethics of the choice to do it here is that we have the exact results. Around 2750 Hezbros hit with around 10 civilian deaths.

    When they destroyed ISIS in Mosul 8 years ago, they turned that dial up all the way to a 1-on-1 ratio. 10.000 innocents for 10.000 Isibro’s.

    When they destroyed them in Raqqa, they went even higher, to around 1.5.

    And if it makes you happy to call it ‘terrorism’ when you see civilian casualties, go ahead.

    • octopus_ink@lemmy.mlEnglish
      3·
      23 days ago

      Their “success” was entirely down to luck, and all my problems were to illustrate the uncertainty built into every second that elapsed from the time they sold the pagers until the time they were detonated.

      • nonailsleft@lemm.ee
        12·
        23 days ago

        I think you overestimate the number of Lebanese that would steal pagers from Hezbollah.

        As I said, the results just prove they made a good call (no pun intended) and with the large sample size luck just can’t be a factor

    • ChronosTriggerWarning@lemmy.world
      11·
      23 days ago

      All of your problems are just one and the same: statistical probability of civilian casualties.

      “All of your problems boil down to the fact it’s indiscriminate. Get over it. The problems end when you do.”