Kevin Hart's 'jokes' about violence towards children (if you think they're gay) was disgusting.
I wasn't thrilled about his use of "f*g" as a punchline but I can and did ignore him.
So when his fanbase repeatedly tried to bring up others, I wasn't having it. It wasn't did Sarah Silverman of whomever use gay as a punchline.
I didn't care about his other 'jokes.' I was offended that he was promoting violence against a youth community that was already targeted with violence.
Kevin's offered an apology or as much we can ever expect from him.
So let me go besides Kevin for a moment.
Chelsea Handler and Sarah Silverman didn't bother me. Jokes can bomb. I get that. Kevin's jokes about gay men might have just been bombs. (Again, for me it was targeting children that bothered me.)
struck
But there is one woman who has bothered me repeatedly with her 'jokes.'
Whitney Cummings. I liked her once upon a time. Then I saw her in concert and loathed her.
She insults men in the audience -- it's a bit she usually works into every show -- by calling them gay. Then she riffs throughout the concert on this, calling this say man seated somewhere upfront gay. Insulting him and mocking him for being gay. Presenting gay as something to laugh at.
I can't stand the bitch anymore.
So, no, it's not just Kevin that I hold accountable.
Whitney's jokes are told with real hate.
She reminds me of Big Edna. Have I told this story before?
When I was starting out in photography all those years ago, Big Edna was something at a magazine. She wasn't an editor but she had some power and some pull.
And she was the meanest and crabbiest woman I'd ever known. She was 64 when I met her and she was hideous, everyone hated her. But as I got to know her, I realized that she was once this really beautiful woman and, when she was young, her saying these hateful and mean things struck people as funny because she was so young and cute. It was a contrast. But old and sour didn't work.
Whitney's long ago aged out of 'cute.'
I'll call her out gladly. She's a hateful person who repeatedly thinks it's funny to use being gay as an insult and something to laugh at.
The only thing to laugh at is her drum majorette haircut at the age of 36.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo arrives in Iraq in an unannounced stop on his Mideast tour meant to promote the White House's hard-line position on Iran. abcn.ws/2CYeX09
0:22
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The Iraq War, the ongoing Iraq War, hits the 16 year mark in two months
and still US officials have to make "unannounced visits." All these
years later.
ABC avoids
reality by allowing Elizabeth McLaughlin and Conor Finnegan to insist,
"The president visited Iraq, also unannounced, the day after Christmas,
saying the U.S. still could use bases there for operations in Syria."
BAGHDAD
— In an unannounced visit shrouded in secrecy, Vice President Joseph R.
Biden Jr. came to Iraq on Thursday for the first time in almost five
years, ...
New York Times
As US president, Barak Obama made one visit to Iraq in his two terms (eight years). Guess what? It was unannounced.
BAGRAM
AIR BASE, Afghanistan — President Obama arrived in Afghanistan on
Sunday for an unannounced visit to mark Memorial Day with U.S. troops,
now in ...
Almost every visit by a Western figure to a warzone since the US-led
invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 has been done without warning. US President Barack Obama made regular unannounced visits to Afghanistan, as did Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair to Iraq. Earlier
this year Secretary of State John Kerry turned up in Somalia, a
war-ravaged state currently waging an armed campaign against al-Shabab
Islamist rebels - with reports suggesting even Somali officials believed
a more junior US official would be attending. But clearly these
leaders - and their advisers - judge that the advantages of paying these
visits outweigh the attendant security risks, both in terms of boosting
morale of personnel overseas and in giving the leader in question a PR
lift.
For those attempting to provide 'context,' grasp that there was a world
before President Donald Trump (and there will be a world after him).
Back to Pompeo:
Pompeo Makes Surprise Stop In Iraq During Mideast Trip To Rally Allies
AP notes: In Baghdad, Pompeo met with Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi,
President Barham Salih, Foreign Minister Mohamed Alhakim and Parliament
Speaker Mohamed al-Halbousi. Pompeo and the Iraqi officials made no statements to the media.
The US State Dept issued the following this morning:
Readout
Office of the Spokesperson
Washington, DC
January 9, 2019
The below is attributable to Deputy Spokesperson Robert Palladino:
Secretary Michael R. Pompeo met today with Iraq’s Council of
Representatives Speaker Mohammed al-Halbusi and members of the Council
of Representatives Foreign-Relations Committee. The Secretary emphasized
U.S. support for the long-term bilateral partnership, anchored by the
Strategic Framework Agreement, and the necessity of supporting Iraq’s
democratic institutions, economic development, energy independence, and
sovereignty. Secretary Pompeo emphasized the U.S. commitment to
addressing Iraq’s security challenges, including the continuation of our
security partnership with Iraqi Security Forces.
U.S. Secretary of State Michael Pompeo made an unannounced visit to
Baghdad on Wednesday, which appeared partly aimed at patching up
relations strained during Donald Trump’s surprise visit last month.
The
U.S. president upset Iraqi lawmakers when he visited troops at the Ain
Al-Asad base west of Baghdad but didn’t meet with the country’s new
prime minister, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, though the two leaders did speak by
phone.
If that was the point of the visit, it doesn't appear to have been very successful:
Iraqi Council of Representatives’ Foriegn Affairs Committee met today and called for reviewing US-Iraq relations following Pres Trump’ “uncoordinated” Visit to Iraq’s Anbar Province last month.
If US Gov fails to handle Iraq file properly, it may lose it.
Again, if that was the purpose of the trip, it doesn't appear to have
been successful. But when has the US government ever delivered success
in Iraq?
Never.
Well, that's not fair of me. They have helped Big Business make tons of
money off the lives of Iraqis because -- blood stained or not -- greed
requires dollars, dollars and more dollars.
I'll tell you who is *really* unhappy at the thought of pulling out of Syria and Afghanistan. The contractors and the generals connected to the contractors. $$BILLIONS$$ @realDonaldTrump
Iraqi persecution of Sunni men helped to transform Al Qaeda in Iraq into ISIS. Now Iraq is doing it again--collective punishment of Sunnis that may help transform ISIS into ISIS 2.0. bit.ly/2FlzsFZ
In Iraq, the government’s harsh counterterrorism strategy, which is widely perceived as collectively punishing the
Sunnis, is generating new grievances that could increase local support
for an Islamic State 2.0. More than 19,000 people have been detained on
terrorism-related charges since 2014. Over 3,000 have been sentenced to
death in rapid-fire trials that are sometimes decided in less than 10 minutes.
Convictions are often based on thin and circumstantial evidence, the
testimony of secret informants, or confessions induced through torture,
making it easy for innocent people to be falsely accused and unfairly
punished.
These injustices are fueling anger, and with it, a new wave of violence. Since 2016, the average number of Islamic State attacks in Iraq — including suicide bombings and targeted assassinations — has risen to 75 per month. In August, U.S. and U.N. reports estimated that the number of Islamic State fighters active in Iraq and Syria might exceed 30,000.
In our working paper based
on an original household survey of over 1,400 Mosul residents — the
Islamic State’s former de facto capital in Iraq — we identify two
serious flaws in the government’s approach to prosecuting and punishing
individuals accused of joining or supporting the Islamic State. First,
it is unwilling to recognize variation in the severity and voluntariness
of “collaboration.” Second, it relies heavily on unproven criminal
justice and counterterrorism theories.
