Tuesday, January 07, 2020

Popcorn, Carly Simon, books, music

Loved Trina's "Popcorn" and I hope you read it already.

I also always loved the hat Carly Simon wore on the cover of her NO SECRETS album.


  1. Carly Simon in London during the recording of the album 'No Secrets', 1972
  2. 1973, Carly Simon's 'You're So Vain', (with Mick Jagger on backing vocals), started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart.

carly simon ❋ 1972
 



On the topic of Carly, she picked her books for 2019 at AMAZON:

Celebrity picks: Carly Simon's favorite reads of 2019

Simon_Carly.jpgCarly Simon is best known for her music, but she has also been pals with some fairly famous people, including Jackie O. And in Simon's new memoir, Touched by the Sun, she shares what it was like to be dear friends with an American icon and former first lady--what they talked about, laughed and cried about, what they listened to, and who said what at what party. It's a genuine and heartfelt ode to their friendship, and the secondary characters are not bad either (Mike Nichols, Alec Baldwin, James Taylor, the Clinton's to name drop a few).
We had the chance to ask Carly Simon about her favorite reads from 2019, so check out what she loved and why. And if you want to learn more about her memoir and friendship with Jackie O., read our interview with the legendary singer. 
I am fascinated by neuroscience and how it intersects with the science of the rest of the body.
Shop on Amazon
Print Book | Audible Audiobook
Identity: A Novel by Milan Kundera
This book examines the complex way that we view ourselves and our identities and how they change according to who we are relating to. He's one of my all time favorite writers.
This is a book I delve into from time to time to load up on some of the grand insights into the human condition, especially Nabokov.
I’ve always known intuitively that trees communicate with each other and this seems like proof. In fact, I have two right outside my window that are talking so loud I can hardly hear myself.



Carly's book TOUCHED BY THE SUN made the community's list of the best of 2019, see "2019 in Books (Martha & Shirley)."  Also on Carly, she had an album on THIRD's "50 essential albums of the '10s" so you can check that out too (her album comes in at number 22). 

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


Tuesday, January 7, 2020.  Julian Castro's endorsed Elizabeth Warren for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, Bernie Sanders is noting real differences with War Hawk Joe Biden, Joe's dealing with CNN fact checking him and charges that his drug addict son Hunter posed as his dead son Beau, all that and much more including, yes, Judge Judy.


Starting in the US where the race for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination continues.  And it continues with one less candidate.  Julian Castro dropped out last week.  Now he's announced who he's backing for the nomination.

Just days after ending his 2020 campaign, former HUD Secretary Julián Castro is endorsing Sen. Elizabeth Warren for president.
 
 


With .'s endorsement, a good reminder that Elizabeth Warren has highest rating on 's Presidential Scorecard. Castro also rated in top three for policy solutions important to Black and Brown voters.
 
 


“Castro, who had been the only Latino candidate in the presidential field, said he was endorsing Warren because she was “one candidate I see who’s unafraid to fight like hell to make sure America’s promise will be there for everyone.”

Right now our government and our economy are working great for the wealthy and well-connected, but not so much for everyone else. Every family should have the opportunity to thrive, and and I are going to fight for that—together.
Elizabeth Warren and Julián Castro.
 
 






There's speculation that Elizabeth might be announcing Julian would be her running mate.

Meanwhile charges of identity theft swirl around Joe Biden.  No, not about the way Joe keeps pretending to be Barack Obama's conjoined twin separated at birth.  It's his rascal of a son Hunter Biden.  When not seeking out hookers and drugs or sending strippers out of the club to fetch a fresh dildo to use on him, it appears Hunter may have been pretending he was someone else.  Stephanie Pagones (FOX NEWS) reports:

Newly submitted court documents link Hunter Biden, the son of Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden, to an identity theft case from 2016 when he was allegedly being checked into an unidentified Arizona facility.
The court papers were filed Monday in an Arkansas court as part of a paternity battle over a child the Hunter Biden shares with Lunden Roberts, who met the scandal-plagued businessman at a Washington, D.C., strip club where she worked. While the question of whether or not Biden is a father is no longer an issue — a DNA test confirmed he is the baby's father — the parents are at odds over issues such as child support.
[. . .]
The court papers, which cite a Prescott, Ariz., police report, describe what allegedly happened on the morning of Oct. 28, 2016, when a Hertz rental car employee reportedly received a phone call around 10 a.m. and subsequently discovered "suspicious" items inside one of the rental cars.
“Stolen identities were used to check defendant Robert Hunter Biden into an Arizona facility and providing false statements to the Prescott Police Department,” the document states. “These stolen identities include his deceased brother Joseph R. Beau Biden III, and Joseph McGee.”
An attorney for Biden, whose full name is Robert Hunter Biden, did not immediately respond to FOX Business’ request for comment. His brother, who went by Beau Biden, died in 2015.


Spencer Neale (WASHINGTON EXAMINER) adds:

“A bag containing the suspicious items, a cellular telephone (Apple) belonging to Shauna Stanglr, who is also known as Puma St. Angel, and a Delaware attorney general badge belonging to Hunter Biden's deceased brother Joseph R. Beau Biden III were provided to the police officer," the filing stated. The existence of the Delaware attorney general badge was first reported last May.

Puma St. Angel is the co-founder of Grace Grove at Rejuvenation and Performance Institute, a "lifestyle center" in Sedona, Arizona.

So they used the image Beau Biden had created through a lifetime of real and hard work to try help the drug addict?  Hunter's never had to take responsibility for anything, that's true.  But to do that to Beau's legacy?  What was Joe thinking?  And causing him more problems?  TV's JUDGE JUDY.  Reed Richardson (MEDIAITE) reports:

TV personality Judge Judy Sheindlin, who is now starring in a campaign ad for Mike Bloomberg’s 2020 presidential run, damned with faint praise Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden, saying he was “a very nice man” but that he “wasn’t great for 40 years.”
Speaking with CNN host Chris Cuomo, the notoriously blunt Sheindlin tried to more diplomatically make the case for her Bloomberg, while taking some not so subtle swipes at Biden’s legacy. Sheindlin is currently on a media tour touting the former New York City mayor’s prospects in defeating President Donald Trump, telling The Five that writing Bloomberg off as simply a “rich guy” would be “one of the greatest injustices.”



Also hurting Joe?  Pete Buttigieg isn't the only candidate calling out Joe these days.



Joe Biden helped lead the effort for the war in Iraq. He voted for trade deals that cost us millions of jobs. He pushed a bankruptcy bill that has been disastrous for working families. That is not the kind of record that will bring forth the energy we need to defeat Trump.
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1:00
 
 


Imagine if 'anti-war' Tulsi Gabbard had called out Joe in the July debate instead of using both chances Jake Tapper provided her with to instead say nothing -- and then used the next three days of press interviews to praise Joe.  What an anti-war warrior she was (that's sarcasm).

Bernie Sanders on CNN tonight: “Joe Biden has been on the floor of the Senate talking about the need to cut Social Security or Medicare or Medicaid." Fact check: True 👇
 
 


"Joe Biden voted, and helped lead the effort for the war in Iraq. Joe Biden voted for the disastrous trade agreements like NAFTA and PNTR. Joe Biden has been on the floor of the Senate talking about the need to cut Social Security. Joe Biden pushed a bankruptcy bill"
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0:33
 
 


Even CNN is calling Joe out.



l

Link to headline article




The Emperor's got no clothes on
No clothes? That can't be; he's the Emperor
Take that child away
Don't let the people hear the words he has to say

One small voice
Speaking out in honesty
Silenced, but not for long
One small voice speaking with the values
   we were taught as children


So you walk away and say, Isn't he divine?
Don't those clothes look fine on the Emperor?
And as you take your leave
You wonder why you're feeling so ill-at-ease
Don't you know?

Lies take your soul
You can't hide from yourself
Lies take their toll on you
And everyone else


One small voice speaking out in honesty
Silenced, but not for long
One small voice speaking with the values
   we were taught as children
Tell the truth
You can change the world
But you'd better be strong

-- "One Small Voice," written by Carole King, first appears on her SPEEDING TIME


Not a fan of Pete's but he deserves credit for calling out Joe and refusing to be shamed for doing it.  Glad Bernie's seriously drawing lines between what he does and what Joe has done.  Should have happened a lot sooner.


RT notes:

          
CNN has blasted Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden for claiming once again that he opposed the Iraq War from the beginning, when in fact he was an advocate of the war, speaking in favor of it many times.
In a piece published on CNN's ‘Facts First’ blog Biden was scolded for “dishonestly” claiming he opposed the invasion of Iraq. The fact-check came after Biden told a voter in Iowa at the weekend that he was against the war “from the very moment” George W. Bush launched it. In reality, Biden “repeatedly spoke in favor of the war both before and after it began,” CNN wrote.
The network called Biden's comment “highly misleading even under the most generous interpretation,” given that the former VP was “actually a vocal supporter” of military action and voted to authorize Bush's use of force. 


Maybe we can start talking about Joe's actions in destroying democracy in Iraq?  The 2010 election that he overturned?  The way he sided with Nouri al-Maliki and Iran -- including the now dead Soleimani -- to overturn the votes of the Iraqi people?  Oh, look, Adam Kredo (FREE BEACON) finally goes where everyone else has refused to.  Joe's 2010 move was as damaging to Iraq as his 2002 vote was.  It's about time people start dealing with it because the people of Iraq have been dealing with it for years now.  While we're noting Soleimani, let's note that if he was invited into Iraq last week by the outgoing prime minister, it wasn't about Saudi Arabia.  The only reason Mahdi's ever met with Soelimani was when he was trying to destroy a rival (usually cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr) or when he was trying to get backing from Iran.  As outgoing minister, something Mahdi doesn't want to be, all of his statements are suspect as is any interaction he's had with Soelimani since he (Mahdi) announced he had 'resigned.'  Let me also be clear, this site doesn't exist to advance Mahdi's lies.  His comments about the protesters are slander and meant to cover his own ass and to try to allow him to remain prime minister.  He is scum and he's supposed to be out of office.


The ongoing protests in Iraq might not have been needed if the US government hadn't overturned the votes of the Iraqi people in 2010.  But the protests continue.


Replying to  
We have been protesting for three months for our bad government and for this protest iraq government and iran killed a 931 Peaceful protesters and 20,000 injured in this three months I agree with any one can end iran Interventions from iraq
 
 

We have been protesting for three months for our bad government and for this protest iraq government and iran killed a 931 Peaceful protesters and 20,000 injured in this three months
 
 


The protesters have been targeted all along.  The targeting continues.

Protest sites in Nasiriyah & Basra attacked yesterday by funeral processions for Gen Suleimani In Basra shot at sit in square and burned tents Nasiriya killed 1 demonstrator



We'll wind down with this from an essay at MEDIUM written by an Iraqi protester:


Today as I wait for more awful things to happen to us as they usually do in this doomed region, I am feeling an incessant need to keep reminding myself and everyone else who is reading this to NEVER FORGET ABOUT TAHRIR!
With all the "World War III/Impending Doom" hot takes that are flooding conventional and social media, news of an imminent proxy war that is going to be fought in Iraq between the US and Iran has made it even easier for many to overlook the fact that many people in Baghdad and several other Iraqi provinces have been relentlessly protesting systematic corruption since October 2019.
The Tahrir Uprising has impressively morphed itself from scattered, unorganised protests into a larger-than-life, invincible sociopolitical "movement". Unlike some previous protest waves in this country that were unfortunately marred by outright sectarian bigotry and public manifestations of extremist ideologies, Tahrir protesters have made a point of embracing a wholesome Iraqi identity and affirming the patriotic nature of the Uprising from the start.
One of the MANY strengths of Tahrir is its inclusivity, the fact that it has become a welcoming home for all concerned Iraqi patriots regardless of their individual backgrounds. Tahrir not only tolerates but embraces and encourages the active participation of female protesters, The authentic Iraqi flavour of Tahrir is a major contributor to the continued public support of the Uprising.
Protesters have endured weeks of brutal oppression by players on the pro-government side. Despite the fact that the intensity of the protests has understandably lessened recently for obvious reasons protesters are still admirably determined to continue with their revolution until their demands are met.
One of the most important demands of the protesters has always been restoration of Iraq's sovereignty and a swift end to ALL malevolent foreign interferences in the country, they want a homeland that is free and stable, they want a system that puts the interests of Iraqis first and foremost and makes sure to safeguard their welfare at all times.




The following sites updated: