Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills): 10/9/16

Friday, October 14, 2016

It should have been Joni Mitchell or John Lennon

I don't get sexism. Do you?

It's bad enough that Bob Dylan got an award (Nobel) because he's not done anything of true importance since the sixties and, even then, we're dealing with him ripping off old melodies.
But to read drivel like this from Jeffrey St. Clair?

+ The announcement that Bob Dylan has won the Nobel Prize for Literature induced much carping from uptight academics about the alleged degeneration of the award. How dare they honor a rock singer? My question is what took them so long? The crusty Nobel committee should have recognized the role of popular music at least 35 years ago and given the prize to Bob Marley. Even Dylan would probably admit that Smokey Robinson should have been in line ahead of him.
+ Still Dylan deserves the recognition. He’s the greatest white blues singer and probably the best songwriter of the rock era. My favorites from across the decades: Masters of War, Highway 61 Revisited, Just Like Tom Thumb Blues, Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again, I Want You, All Along the Watchtower, The Man in Me, Forever Young, I Shall be Released, If You See Her Say Hello, This Wheel’s on Fire, Tears of Rage, Hurricane, Precious Angel, Blind Willie McTell, Julius & Ethyl, Heart of Mine, Don’t Fall Apart on Me Tonight, Dark Eyes, Everything is Broken, Love Sick, Not Dark Yet.

+ But I hope he tells the committee to shove it, as did Jean-Paul Sartre. If not, I trust he will stay in character and mumble Dylanesque obscurities to a mystified audience.

Dylan is not a great singer.

Blues or otherwise.

Around "Lay Lady Lay" he start keening.

And, of course, for the last forty years, he wheezes his way through a song.

There's no point to him.

And isn't it telling that Jeffrey names two to give us a triad,, Bob, Smokey Robinson, Bob Marley.

Not a woman among them.

Not even feminist John Lennon who wrote better songs and sang better than Bob Dylan ever could.

Along with John Lennon, I'd say Joni Mitchell deserved the award.

Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Friday, October 14, 2016. Chaos and violence continue, Haider al-Abadi is said to survive an assassination attempt, the refugees and displacements that Mosul liberation or 'liberation' will create is a given and should be addressed now, and much more.

US President Barack Obama is hoping to both bolster his legacy and deliver the election to War Hawk Hillary Clinton via a 'victory' in Mosul.

Mosul was seized by the Islamic State in June of 2014. Over two years later, it's suddenly time, a month before the US presidential election, to liberate or 'liberate' it.

And you get US government spokespersons trying to gin up US public interest with press releases like "Liberating Mosul Will Be Iraq's Biggest Fight, OIR Spokesman Says."

So -- get this -- the US government is preparing.

Preparing for propaganda, preparing for using Iraq, preparing for lying . . .

Preparing for everything, apparently, except helping Iraqis.

Reminder:

‏@UNICEFiraq

Shahad, 3, in a tent in a camp south of #Mosul, is one of 4.7 million children in #Iraq who currently requires humanitarian assistance. 

0 replies28 retweets18 likes

Iraq's already got a displacement crisis.

‏@UNICEFiraq

Shahad, 3, in a tent in a camp south of #Mosul, is one of 4.7 million children in #Iraq who currently requires humanitarian assistance. 

0 replies28 retweets18 likes

Liberating or 'liberating' Mosul will result in more displacement.

This is a known. Where is the preparation by Barack to deal with that?

‏@Oxfam

We call for genuinely safe routes for civilians to escape #Mosul fighting & get to the shelter/help they need: oxf.am/Z6y8 #Iraq 

2 replies23 retweets23 likes

‏@savechildrenuk

An assault on Mosul risks 600,000 children's lives. 
Children will be in the line of fire - unless we act now  save.tc/b6Ux304XRX5 #Iraq 

0 replies43 retweets32 likes

Many are warning what's coming. There's no excuse for Barack's failure to prepare for this. The White House better get on it and if they fail in this task the news outlets might want to try to remember there's supposed to be a difference between journalism and hagiography.

And Ken Roth better ask himself if pimping for Hillary Clinton is worth short changing human lives? I'm talking about the failure of Human Rights Watch to warn of this impending disaster while Roth sends his 'coded' Tweets of support to Hillary (which include pimping the lie that WikiLeak's revelations are due to Russian hackers). Roth would do better to focus on humanity and stop cheapening his reputation with election politics.

The timing of Mosul faces complications due to the ongoing animosity between the governments of Iraq and Turkey. Turkey has troops in Iraq. The government of Iraq wants them out. Turkey is refusing to remove the troops.

Birce Bora (ALJAZEERA) observes, "Only weeks before Iraqi troops and their local and international partners start their push to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS), the leaders of Turkey and Iraq have been caught in a war of words that could derail the Mosul liberation efforts."

In other news out of Iraq today, there's this:

‏@TheBaghdadPostE

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi survived an assassination attempt today.
#Iraq 

0 replies0 retweets0 likes

THE BAGHDAD POST apparently has the exclusive, if the attempt took place.

What is known and established by others right now is that Haider al-Abadi was in Kirkuk earlier today.

‏@iraqi_day

#Iraq PM walking around in Al Basheer district southwest #Kirkuk and now back in Kirkuk govt complex.
#تحرير_الموصل
#ولد_الملحه_بالحدباء

0 replies0 retweets1 like

Mohammed Jabaal (BAGHDAD POST) reports that there was a shelling on a post where al-Abadi had been ten minutes prior. No one was injured in the shelling.

Haider was put in check on Tuesday by Iraq's federal courts who overturned his decision (unconstitutional decision) to do away with the post of vice president. This means that Osama al-Nujaifi, Ayad Allawi and Nouri al-Maliki remain vice presidents.

Nouri is the former prime minister and thug of Iraq whose actions -- persecuting the Sunni people, among his many actions -- nearly destroyed Iraq.

So it's no surprise that this is one response to the news:

‏@MiddleEastMnt

Iraqi Shia cleric calls for demonstrations against Maliki’s return to a vice presidential position. | #Iraq 

0 replies7 retweets5 likes

Moqtada and Nouri have long been foes and rivals for control of the Shia population.

And the US Defense Dept announced Thursday:

Strikes in Iraq
Attack, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 10 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:
-- Near Huwayjah, a strike destroyed an ISIL boat and a vehicle bomb.
-- Near Rutbah, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed three vehicles.
-- Near Bashir, a strike engaged an ISIL staging area and destroyed two ISIL-held buildings, two fighting positions, two tunnels, a storage cache and an ammunition cache.
-- Near Beiji, a strike destroyed two ISIL ammunition caches, two vehicles, a mortar system and a tunnel entrance.
-- Near Kisik, two strikes destroyed three ISIL tunnel entrances and damaged another tunnel.
-- Near Mosul, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed a vehicle.
-- Near Qayyarah, two strikes engaged two ISIL tactical units and destroyed three supply caches, two vehicles, two mortar systems, two rocket systems and a heavy machine gun.
-- Near Sultan Abdallah, a strike destroyed five ISIL homemade explosive caches, two vehicles and an artillery system and suppressed a mortar position.

Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike.

I know a few people are posting this morning.

I'll add the following community sites posted when they go up:

iraq

Oh, Hillary, when does it ever end?

Now who was racist?

Hillary called Donald Trump racist in Sunday's debate.

Is he?

Maybe.

Maybe not.

But for someone crying racism at others . . .

Well this is just disappointing:

‏@wikileaks

WikiLeaks: Clinton campaign push-polled 'Muslim' attacks on Obama and cocaine use http://hill.cm/hpFwXzQ 

https://wikileaks.org/podesta-emails/ 

3,410 retweets3,085 likes

Very disappointing.

I supported Hillary in the 2008 primary, I gave her the benefit of the doubt.

I was sooooo wrong.

And I'm not too big to admit when I'm wrong.

But I was sooooo wrong.

Closing with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Thursday, October 13, 2016. Chaos and violence continue, deceptions about Iraq continue, Turkey's government continues to refuse to pull troops out of Iraq, and much more.

At THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER, Bonnie Kristian points out:

It has become something of a ritual at this point: The Obama administration announces more United States troops are going to Iraq. We quibble over whether they'll be in combat, and no candid answer is forthcoming. Orwellian word games ensue, and the public forgets about it as dozens or hundreds more U.S. soldiers are shipped off to join an unknown number of forces fighting an undeclared war with an undetermined goal and no end in sight.
It has become something of a ritual at this point: The Obama administration announces more United States troops are going to Iraq. We quibble over whether they'll be in combat, and no candid answer is forthcoming. Orwellian word games ensue, and the public forgets about it as dozens or hundreds more U.S. soldiers are shipped off to join an unknown number of forces fighting an undeclared war with an undetermined goal and no end in sight.

This is not a plan -- repeatedly increasing troop numbers is not a plan.

Nor is this announcement from the US Defense Dept about Wednesday's actions:

Strikes in Iraq
Attack and fighter aircraft conducted seven strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

-- Near Fallujah, a strike engaged an ISIL tactical unit.

-- Near Mosul, four strikes destroyed two ISIL mortar systems, an ISIL-held building, a weapons cache, a supply cache and a tunnel.

-- Near Qayyarah, two strikes engaged an ISIL tactical unit and a staging area, and destroyed two command-and-control nodes.

Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target. Ground-based artillery fired in counterfire or in fire support to maneuver roles is not classified as a strike.

These things go on and on.

There is no clearly defined mission or goal.

Nor is there any clear threat to the US' national security that is being protected.

There is only a never ending war.

And lies that are used to prolong it.

Dog Eat Dog
It's dog eat dog
I'm just waking up
The dove is in the dungeon
And the white washed hawks
pedal hate and call it love
Dog Eat Dog
Holy hope in the hands of
Snakebite evangelists and racketeers
And big wig financiers

Dog Eat Dog
On prime time crime the victim begs
Money is the road to justice
and power walks it on crooked legs
Prime Time Crime
Holy hope in the hands of
Snakebite evangelists and racketeers
and big wig financiers

Where the wealth's displayed
Thieves and sycophants parade
And where it's made
the slaves will be taken
Some are treated well
In these games of buy and sell
And some like poor beast
Are burdened down to breaking
-- "Dog Eat Dog," written by Joni Mitchell, first appears on her DOG EAT DOG album

Earlier this week, Thomas Walkom (TORONTO STAR) offered an honest appraisal of what Canadian troops are doing in Iraq that included:

It has always been a myth that Canada’s soldiers in Iraq don’t do combat. Now the myth is even harder to sustain.

On Thursday, a senior general acknowledged that, over the last few months, Canadian special forces operating in northern Iraq have become increasingly involved in front-line skirmishes against Daesh fighters.

“The mission has changed,” said Brig.-Gen. Peter Dawe. “We are more engaged on the line … the risk has increased.”

Will the same honesty make it to US publications?

When does the bubble pop for those living in it?

Take this poor soul.

‏@KingEric55

Folks didn't want "their" country back when GOP lied us into Iraq war, tortured ppl or destroyed economy. It took election of Blk president.

5 replies114 retweets184 likes

No.

You've been fed a diet of lies and distortions.

But at some point, it's on you to push that plate away.

TAKING BACK AMERICA came out in March of 2004. And there was no bi-racial man in the White House at that time. Bully Boy Bush occupied the White House then. (And Barack claimed the status of bi-racial then -- I should know, having just met him months before.)

Both sides have cried Take Back America in some form or manner for decades now.

But in your world -- a world that ignores the illegal spying, the ongoing wars, the persecution of Chelsea Manning, the war on all whistle-blowers, etc -- you just keep eating all the bulls**t while pretending your breath smells like a rose.

Let's move over to Amal Clooney.

She threw a tantrum and tried to spark an international incident as she attempts to use the Yazidis to promote war -- as the bulk of their western 'supporters' do. She attempted to demand a meeting with the prime minister of Iraq -- Haider al-Abadi -- but when she couldn't get her way on that, she settled for Iraq's Ambassador to the United Nations Mohamed Ali Alhakin. She proceeded to lecture him about the Islamic State and the Yedzidi people.

She then tried to ambush him with a camera crew -- because if you enter into a marriage of business, you want to get all the press you can before your husband decides maybe he doesn't care what the world thinks and ends the marriage.

And feel for Amal, it's got to be very hard for her, in a marriage that only came about to end rumors that George Clooney was gay. And since the former TV star never delivered at the box office and most recently is famous for one of the biggest bombs of last year -- one of Disney's biggest flops ever -- you know days with him can't be too much fun -- reassuring him that the plastic surgery hasn't gone too far, that the career's not dead yet, that the gesture does look masculine . . .

Amal, you just enjoy the moment, keep that bit in your teeth and let whatever jockey's riding you ride you right to the finish line before the marriage ends and you're left trying not to come off quite as bitter as Phyllis Gates.

Meanwhile tensions continue between the governments of Iraq and Turkey as Iraq continues to demand Turkish troops leave Iraq. David Romano (RUDAW) recaps events this way:

The latest argument over all this seems to involve the big Turkish kid that no one really invited to the festivities. Turkey seems very intent on crashing the party to liberate Mosul and Raqqa. Turkish troops surprised the United States and others when they suddenly stormed into Syria two months ago. In Iraq most of the smaller Kurdish kids seem a bit too cautious to say much on the issue, but the kids in Baghdad have been fairly vociferous in their demands that Turkish troops leave their playground. Iraqi Prime Minister Abadi warned of a regional war if Turkey did not end its occupation of Iraq, to which Turkish President Erdogan responded: “Iraq had certain requests from us regarding Bashiqa [the base in northern Iraq with the most Turkish troops], and now they are telling us to leave," he said, "But the Turkish army has not lost so much standing as to take orders from you."
At the risk of hurting the Iraqi kids’ feelings, Mr. Erdogan then helpfully added: “Who’s that? The Iraqi prime minister? First you know your place! You are not my interlocutor; you are not my equal. You should know your limits.” Apparently the weaker Iraqi Prime Minister is in elementary school and the junior high school Turks are demanding some respect and deference (even while they play in the elementary school’s yard). The high school Americans try to defuse things, but don’t really want to get in the middle of a thankless task – hence State Department spokesman John Kirby’s statement that "The Turkish forces that are deployed in Iraq are not there as part of the international coalition and the situation in Bashiqa is a matter for the governments of Iraq and Turkey to resolve."

John Kirby?

Yes, things have gotten so tense that the self-confessed uninformed-on-Iraq Kirby had to take questions on Iraq at Wednesday's State Dept press briefing. Such as this:

QUESTION: Another question on Mosul. So it seems not only Mr. Abadi will decide which forces will take part in the Mosul – the battle for Mosul, as President Erdogan as well is insisting on his forces playing a role in the liberation of Mosul. Are you in talks with Mr. Erdogan about a possible Turkish role? And is the U.S. welcoming Turkey’s role or you think it’s going to complicate the situation on the ground?

MR KIRBY: We’re not in direct talks with the Turkish Government about their participation in Mosul. The campaign – again, I’ll say it – to liberate Mosul is an Iraqi campaign plan. And the composition of the forces that will be involved in that operation is for the Iraqi Government to make, not the United States Government. And we’re not litigating this and we’re not legislating who is or who isn’t going to participate. This is up to Prime Minister Abadi.

QUESTION: But he expressed opposition to any Turkish role and you know – familiar with the tension between Baghdad and Ankara.

MR KIRBY: This is an issue that we encourage the Iraqi Government and the Turkish Government to talk about amongst themselves.

QUESTION: But do you think that Turkey’s role could be helpful in liberating Mosul or --

MR KIRBY: I’m not – look, I’m not going to speculate about military matters. What we’re all focused on – and I can only speak for the United States and I can’t even really speak for the United States military – what we’re all focused on is doing our part to support the Iraqi Government as the Iraqi Government liberates Mosul. Again, the composition of forces, the execution of that campaign plan, those are – that’s – those are Iraqi decisions to make, to own, and to explain. And we’re going to continue to support Prime Minister Abadi as he works through the decision-making process.

We’ve talked about the tensions between Iraq and Turkey in the past, and again, I would say our view is that those two nations need to continue to have a dialogue and talk about this going forward. But ultimately, how Mosul gets liberated – and it will be – is an Iraqi campaign to speak to.

REUTERS reports:

Turkish troops will remain at a military camp in northern Iraq until Islamic State is driven out of the nearby city of Mosul, Turkey’s deputy prime minister said on Wednesday, signalling no respite in a row with Baghdad over the deployment.

This is not sitting well with Iraq's prime minister Haider al-Abadi. ALMANAR reports:

Abadi’s spokesman, Saad al-Haythi, said, “[Turkey's president Recep Tayyip] Erdogan’s remarks are irresponsible and reflect an exaggerated speech.”
“We have come to the belief that Turkey is not keen on resolving any issues or withdrawing its troops from Iraqi territory.”
“Turkey does not respect the mutual interests of between it and Iraq, and this could lead to a security threat in the Kurdistan Region, Iraq and the wider region in general,” Hadithi explained on Wednesday.

AP offers

"We will liberate our land through the determination of our men and not by video calls," Haider al-Abadi said late Tuesday night on his Twitter account, mocking the Turkish president's nationally broadcast video call to a TV journalist amid a failed coup attempt in July.

Where does it end?

Because, end of the day, every truly independent country has the right to order any foreign troops out from within its borders.

The following community sites updated:

Mikey Likes It!

That meaningless party platform

8 hours ago

Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude

benghazi was preventable

8 hours ago

Like Maria Said Paz

We're going to need a database

8 hours ago

SICKOFITRADLZ

Tom Hanks is a man?

8 hours ago