Thursday, June 18, 2020

The rigged system

In the midst of a pandemic as so many lost their jobs or worked with reduced hours, Americans needed $1,200 a month from the government.  But the government was more interested in giving our tax dollars to corporations.  You may remember fake ass Bernie Sanders saying each American needed $1,200 but then doing nothing to make it happen while also going along with looting the public money -- our tax dollars -- to give hand outs to corporations.

All they did was give a one-time $1,200 and not every American got it. 

A pandemic and they betrayed the people yet again.

Andre Damon (WSWS) reports:



 On Sunday, White House Economic Advisor Larry Kudlow made clear that the Trump administration will not allow an extension of emergency jobless aid to workers laid off during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We’re paying people not to work,” the former Wall Street executive declared. “Almost all businesses,” he said, understand that the additional unemployment benefit “is, in effect, a disincentive” for people to get back to work.
Three months ago, Congress passed the CARES Act. While handing vast sums to big business, it included a $600-per-week emergency payment by the federal government to supplement the far lower state unemployment benefits, which are, for example, capped in Michigan at approximately $350 per week.
More than 20 percent of the US workforce—some 36.5 million people—have been thrown out of work because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
For millions of people in newly unemployed households in America, the additional $600 assistance has been a vital lifeline, allowing them to avoid hunger and homelessness.
Even with the subsidy, which millions of workers have never received, the number of food-insecure households has more than doubled, hitting between 22 and 38 percent, as food pantries across the country report running out of food. And millions of families are facing foreclosure and eviction.
Kudlow complained that the $600, plus state unemployment benefits, was “better than their salaries would get” if workers had never lost their jobs. But this is not an expression of the generosity of the government, but rather one reflection of how low wages are in the United States for millions of workers.
Amid a wave of mass layoffs and corporate consolidations triggered by the pandemic, in which an estimated 42 percent of jobs lost during the pandemic will not return, the White House’s refusal to extend emergency unemployment aid will mean destitution for many working class people.

Kudlow’s aim is open and brutal: to extort workers into returning to factories that have become hotbeds for the transmission of COVID-19, even as the disease is in the midst of a major resurgence throughout large portions of the country.
We are nothing to our government.  We are suckers who hand over money and are happy to see corporations rip it off and our way of life sink lower and lower and lower.

We need a better government and we need real public servants.

Ugh.

Go read Ruth's "Stevie Nicks' "The Tower"" and Trina's "Go away, Bernie, we don't need your cowardly ass" and Marcia's "Dionne Warwick's Hidden Gems."

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


Thursday, June 18, 2020.  Turkey continues to terrorize Iraq and a petition is started about Joe Biden.







The Turkish government continues to terrorize the Iraqi people.  XINHUA notes the Turkish government is insisting that the 500 "targets" they have destroyed in Iraq belonged to the PKK.  They are patting themselves on the back for the terrorist operation they have dubbed Operation Claw-Tiger.

Along with bombing northern Iraq, Operation Claw-Tiger has also seen the Turkish government send foot soldiers into Iraq.  That would be an invasion but many in the press try to spruce up the 'news' by using other terms.


Senior Turkish official told Reuters that #Turkey plans to set up more temporary military bases in northern #Iraq after stepping up its strikes against #PKK. He claims that "the effort would ensure border security"


Sundays bombings left dozens of Iraqi children injured and more displaced as Turkey elected to bomb a refugee camp.

Zhelwan Z. Wali (RUDAW) reports that among the 'terrorists' killed so far is Abbas Maghdid, a 30-year-old shepherd who lived in Harir and who, Mayor Ihsan Chalabi states, "had gone out to graze his sheep when Turkish airstrikes hit the spot."  No, he wasn't a terrorist.  He was another civilian killed by the Turkish government while they pretend they are killing PKK fighters.  The Turkish government will, if pattern holds, never mention Abbas Maghdid by name or acknowledge that they murdered an innocent civilian.

Who is the PKK?  Aaron Hess (International Socialist Review) described the PKK in 2008, "The PKK emerged in 1984 as a major force in response to Turkey's oppression of its Kurdish population. Since the late 1970s, Turkey has waged a relentless war of attrition that has killed tens of thousands of Kurds and driven millions from their homes. The Kurds are the world's largest stateless population -- whose main population concentration straddles Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria -- and have been the victims of imperialist wars and manipulation since the colonial period. While Turkey has granted limited rights to the Kurds in recent years in order to accommodate the European Union, which it seeks to join, even these are now at risk."

 
 Stratfor notes, "The escalation of Turkey’s operations against Kurdish militants in northern Iraq has shown Ankara’s willingness to encroach on Iraqi territory, even if it risks damaging ties with Baghdad."

Turkey has regularly targeted PKK military camps in northern Iraq by ground and air, including in large-scale operations in 2007 and 2018.
The recent assault may be an attempt by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to project power, Bakawan said. “Turkey is deeply engaged in the conflicts of Syria and Libya, and hopes to get involved in Yemen,” he told AFP. “It aims to present itself as an essential power when trying to resolve conflicts in the Middle East — and Iraq forms a part of this,” Bakawan added.

Iraq has objected to the violation of its sovereignty and the violation of international law as a result of Turkey's actions.  RUDAW Tweets:

#Iraq's foreign ministry has summoned #Turkey's ambassador, Faith Yildiz, over the continuing military incursion into northern Iraq for the second time this week : Iraq Foreign Ministry




Baghdad Thursday demanded Ankara immediately halt its assault in northern Iraq, where Turkish special forces and helicopters have been targeting Kurdish rebel hideouts.
Turkey early Wednesday launched a cross-border operation into the mountainous regions of northern Iraq where the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), considered by Ankara to be a "terrorist" group, is thought to be hiding out.
Iraq's foreign ministry summoned the Turkish ambassador on Thursday and handed him a "strongly-worded memorandum calling for a halt to such provocative actions".
"We stress that Turkey must stop its bombardment and withdraw its attacking forces from Iraqi territory," the ministry said in a statement.
"We affirm our categorical rejection of these violations."



The letter called on Turkey to stop such "provocative acts and rejected violations," the statement said.
The letter also demanded Turkey to withdraw its forces from the Iraqi territories, which the Turkish forces entered on Wednesday, as well as its former presence in a military camp in Bashiqa area, some 30 km northeast of Nineveh's provincial capital Mosul.
Iraq "retains its legitimate rights to take all measures that will protect its sovereignty and the safety of its people, including demanding the UN Security Council and the regional and international organizations to assume their responsibility," it added.
On Tuesday, Iraqi Foreign Ministry also summoned the Turkish ambassador to Baghdad and handed him a letter of protest over airstrikes on PKK positions in northern Iraq.
On Monday, the Iraqi Joint Operations Command condemned in a statement a series of airstrikes conducted by 18 Turkish warplanes late on Sunday night on refugee camps in Sinjar, some 100 km west of Mosul, and Makhmour, about 60 km southeast of Mosul.

ARAB NEWS notes, "Saudi Arabia condemned Turkish and Iranian aggression against Iraq in Iraq on Thursday."

We'll again note yesterday's report from TASNIM 

The Arab Parliament -- the legislative arm of the Arab League -- on Tuesday denounced Turkey’s recent raids in Iraq, calling on Ankara to respect the sovereignty of its neighbor and put an end to its unilateral military operations there. 

Arab Parliament Speaker Meshaal bin Fahim al-Salami said in a statement that “these actions are an infringement on the sovereignty of Iraq, a flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations, international law and international norms, and in violation of Security Council resolutions.”
The statement also voiced support for Iraq’s stance against Turkey’s moves.
Iraqi lawmakers also reacted to the latest developments, condemning Ankara’s operations in a statement and calling on the Baghdad government to take action to protect civilians and stop Turkish violations of the country’s sovereignty.


ARAB NEWS reports this morning:

The UAE has deplored the Turkish and Iranian military interventions in the brotherly state of Iraq, a statement from the foreign ministry said Wednesday.
It said it denounces their violations against the state's sovereignty through aritrikes in northern Iraq.
 "UAE denounced the Turkish and Iranian military interventions in brotherly Iraq, through their bombing of areas in northern Iraq, which constituted a violation of the sovereignty of a sisterly Arab country and led to intimidation and the spread of terror among innocent civilians," a foreign ministry statement said.
The statement affirmed the country’s “unwavering principle in rejecting all interference in the affairs of Arab countries." 


 In the US, there is largely silence.  And pretense.  The only one really raising the issue is neocon Michael Rubin which suggests to the world that we on the left don't actually care.  I care.  I have to wonder at the others who are looking the other way instead of doing their usual generic post that they use to rush into any tragedy temporarily?  I guess they don't feel there's enough media attention in it for them?


These attacks from Turkey come as Iraq's new prime minister has only been in office for one month.  May 7th Mustafa al-Kadhimi became prime minister.  He was not the people's choice.  He was especially not the choice of the protesters.  The US government and the Iranian government liked him.  But can they keep him in power?

Grasp that he came into office looking weak.  This was because of his backing from foreign governments.  It was also because he could not form a Cabinet in 30 days. 


Now he can't defend Iraq?  He's not said a word, please note, about the Turkish military being on the ground in northern Iraq or about the bombings.  He looks weak.

And he looks weak as the Iraqi people are angry.  See ALJAZEERA report below.






The previous prime minister, Adil Abdul-Mahdi, please remember, left office because the people wanted him gone.  He was inept and he did nothing.  Mustafa should really be worried about how he's seen by the people he supposedly represents.


Speaking of the way people are seen, we were asked to note this CHANGE.ORG petition started by Avalon Clare about Joe Biden:


JUN 17, 2020 — 
Joe Biden continues to prove that he is both unfit for office and the absolute wrong person to lead our country in this moment in history. Earlier this month he suggested that police could shoot assailants in the leg instead of the heart. There could hardly be a more perfect example of why Biden’s leadership is inept than this quote about shooting people in the leg. We are in the midst of nationwide protests against racism and police brutality, and we’re expected to believe that Joe “shoot em in the leg” Biden is the best the democratic party can do? Indeed, if Biden is our best chance against Trump, it does feel a bit like a shot to the leg. Painful, possibly deadly, and only marginally better than the alternative (if at all). 
In fact, as Branko Marcetic wrote in Jacobin, “There are good reasons to believe passing the baton from Trump to Biden isn’t going to result in any profound change when the next uprising comes — which, between the pandemic, a historic depression, looming food shortages, and the ongoing ravages of climate change, it will certainly do. In fact, if tens of millions of liberals simply switch off and fail to resist the next presidency with the fervor they brought to Trump’s four years, it could end up much worse.”
Between Biden’s role in the 1994 Crime Bill, his opposition to Medicare For All, his record of inappropriate touching, his penchant for lying, and the credible allegation of assault, it could not be more clear that Biden is neither fit for office nor suited for this moment in history. 
I want more from the democratic party, and I know you do, too. In 2016 Nina Turner said, “I’m a democrat, and that’s worth fighting for,” and her words feel more prescient to me now than ever.
After signing and sharing the petition, many of you are wondering what can be done next. First, we must continue talking about Tara Reade and the way she has been smeared by the media. Since my last update, yet another person has come forward corroborating Tara Reade’s story. Joseph Backholm is at least the 8th person to corroborate Reade’s allegations. Additionally, Tracy Clark-Flory has a new piece in Jezebel breaking down the classism in the smear campaign used against Reade. She writes, “Here, facts are not facts, they are selected within a classed frame that implies significance around credibility. That frame reveals the enduring myth of the “perfect victim” and casts histories of abuse and poverty as incriminating evidence.”
I also highly recommend Tracy Clark-Flory’s previous article about Tara Reade, in which she wrote, “Dogged, diligent reporting that seeks relevant corroboration around an allegation is what it looks like for journalists to take sexual assault seriously. But calling up a bunch of landlords and giving them a bullhorn to vent about missed rent payments only contributes to a culture of silence in which the majority of victims never report their assaults (data show that three out of four sexual assaults go unreported). Laura Palumbo, communications director for the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, told Jezebel that there are many reasons victims delay or decide against the disclosure of sexual harassment and assault, among those most relevant here: “fear of not being believed,” “fears of privacy invasions,” and “being made the subject of gossip and slander.” The media is one of the most visible stages on which those fears are exemplified. “Survivors of sexual harassment and assault are often judged by baseless ideas of how ‘real victims’ would or should behave,” said Palumbo. “When harsh judgments and victim-blaming myths play out in media, this has a chilling effect on others speaking up and leaves many survivors feeling triggered and retraumatized.” In this case, it may leave victims to consider just which “aggrieved acquaintances” in their life, whether former landlords or ex-boyfriends, will give a journalist the grabby quote needed for an explosive-sounding headline.”
But aside from sharing articles, what else can we do? I think it is past time to email politicians directly about this. I encourage you to write your own email about why you believe Tara Reade and why you signed this petition. Ask your representatives what they will do to support survivors. Ask them why they have been silent about these allegations. Email the DNC. Email your local representatives. Email the other democratic candidates. We can and must continue to bring attention to this.
Below are a few email addresses of politicians, as well as the DNC, and the websites where you can find contact information for your senators and house representatives:
AOC: us@ocasiocortez.com
Ilhan Omar: Rep.Ilhan.Omar@house.mn
Bernie Sanders: info@berniesanders.com
Elizabeth Warren: info@elizabethwarren.com
In 2016, thirty-six republicans called for Donald Trump to step down and withdraw his campaign for presidency. Although they were unsuccessful, their prominence and numbers are telling. It is deeply embarrassing that there are more republicans who called for Trump to step down in 2016 than democrats who have so much acknowledged that the allegation against Biden even exists. From Jacobin, “While a diverse array of high-ranking Republicans almost immediately denounced Trump and even called for him to step down, Democratic lawmakers refused to respond to questions about the Biden allegation in the days immediately after it went public, and continued to do so for as long as a month after. In contrast to the GOP, not a single Democrat has yet called for Biden to step down or rescinded their endorsement; not one has condemned Biden’s alleged assault.”
It is time to pressure these democrats to condemn Biden's assault and stand with victims of sexual violence. 
I’ll end with this quote from Christine Rosen’s article for Commentary:
“Going forward, can the public expect the standards that so many in the media have embraced with regard to Reade’s allegations about Biden to be the same ones they will embrace in the future if the accused man isn’t a political ally? Is the bar for credibility when it comes to leveling accusations at prominent Washington figures the new one the mainstream media have set for Tara Reade? Will publications such as the Times, which has frequently reminded readers of the allegations against Trump in their coverage of Reade’s claims against Biden, now do the same by mentioning the Biden accusations when they write anything about claims made against Trump?”



The following sites updated:










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Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Nothing ever changes

Chris Hedges (COMMON DREAMS):

 Police take the knee. NASCAR and the U.S. Marine Corps ban the display of the Confederate flag. Nancy Pelosi uses a kente scarf as a political prop. Joe Biden, one of the driving forces behind militarized police, the massive expansion of mass incarceration and the doubling and tripling of sentences, speaks at George Floyd’s funeral. The National Football League apologizes for its insensitivity to racism, although no teams appear to be negotiating with Colin Kaepernick.

The mayor of Washington D.C., Muriel Bower, had the words “Black Lives Matter” painted in 35-foot-tall letters on a street near the White House but has also proposed a $45 million increase in the police budget and the construction of a $500 million new jail. The press, which does not confront corporate power and rarely covers the poor, rendering them and their communities invisible, engages in circular firing squads, sacking or admonishing editors and journalists for racially insensitive thoughtcrimes, to advertise its commitment to people of color.
Once again, we see proposed legislation to mandate police reform—more body cameras, consent decrees, revised use-of-force policies, banning chokeholds, civilian review boards, requiring officers to intervene when they see misconduct, banning no-knock search warrants, more training in de-escalation tactics, a requirement by law enforcement agencies to report use-of-force data, nationally enforced standards for police training and greater diversity—proposals made, and in several cases adopted in the wake of numerous other police murders, including those of Eric Garner, Michael Brown and Philando Castile. The Minneapolis Police Department, for example, established a duty to intervene requirement by police officers after the 2014 killing of Brown in Ferguson. This requirement did not save Floyd.
Police unions, often little more than white hate groups, continue to have the unassailable power to brush aside would-be reformers, including community review boards, mayors and police chiefs. These unions generously bankroll the campaigns of elected officials, including public prosecutors, who do their bidding. Police unions and associations have contributed $7 million to candidates running for office in New York state alone, including $600,000 to Andrew Cuomo during his gubernatorial campaigns.

It is, as Yogi Berra said, “déjà vu all over again.”

Or, as they say in those twelve-step groups, nothing changes if nothing changes.

And, boys and girls, nothing is changing.

It's all fake assery.



As Stevie sang back in the 80s, "Nothing Ever Changes."

They think they can fool us, but we see reality.

And I saw a video of "Priest of Nothing."  It's a track Stevie recorded when she was recording her ROCK A LITTLE album.



I'd never heard that song before.  Stevie has so many songs she's recorded but hasn't released.

I love "Priest of Nothing."

I wish she'd do a new album or at least release an album of previously unreleased songs.



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


Wednesday, June 17, 2020.  Turkey has invaded Iraq yet again with ground troops.  Yet again, western media searches for alternative words for "invasion."





Isn't it cute the way the play and pretend -- video or text report?  That's FRANCE 24.  Below is ARAB NEWS.






Is reporting that hard?  Or is lying just that easy?

Invades. 

That's the accurate term.  As in: Turkey invades Iraq.

If Mexico sent troops into California or Texas today, the US press would be saying, "Mexico Invades US."


Its ten paragraphs into the DW report before you come across this:


The government of Iraq summoned the Turkish ambassador on Tuesday to protest the initial aerial offensive. Baghdad called the airstrikes a violation of its sovereignty and said it broke international law.

AP waits until its tenth paragraph to note Iraqi objection:
Iraq's government however, summoned the Turkish ambassador on Tuesday to protest against the aerial offensive.
AP can't be bothered with noting issues like sovereignty or international law.


The Turkish government calls it Operation Claw-Eagle, the world should be calling it what it is: terrorism.  And it continues daily including today.  This morning, THE JERUSALEM POST notes:



Turkish aircraft and Iranian artillery targeted the town of Haji Omeran in the Erbil Governorate of Iraq on Tuesday, according to Sky News Arabia.
Haji Omeran is located along the Iran-Iraq border in northeastern Iraq.
The district mayor of Haji Omeran, Farzang Ahmed, told Rudaw that Iranian artillery has targeted Iranian Kurdish opposition groups in the area before, but that Turkish strikes on the area were unheard of.
"We suspect that the two sides are in coordination, because this is the first time that Turkey has bombed this region," said Ahmed to Rudaw. "This region is frequently and every year under Iran's shelling, on the grounds that they are targeting Kurdish opposition parties."


This is terrorism.  The US government remains silent.  The world remains silent.  Day after day, year after year, Turkey violates Iraq's sovereignty and terrorizes people who live in northern Iraq.  Hiwa Shilani (KURDISTAN 24) reports:

The Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday announced that it had summoned the ambassador of Turkey in Iraq and handed him a complaint memo condemning the violation of Iraqi sovereignty and its airspace after recent Turkish airstrikes in the Kurdistan Region.
A statement from the foreign ministry announced that Iraq had “summoned” Turkish Ambassador Fatih Yildiz “against the backdrop of the Turkish bombing that affected a number of regions in northern Iraq, causing terror to the population, and spreading panic among them.”
“Ambassador Abdul Karim Hashim met the Turkish ambassador and delivered him a protest note, which included the Iraqi government’s condemnation of violations of the sanctity, sovereignty, and Iraqi airspace.”

The Arab Parliament -- the legislative arm of the Arab League -- on Tuesday denounced Turkey’s recent raids in Iraq, calling on Ankara to respect the sovereignty of its neighbor and put an end to its unilateral military operations there. 

Arab Parliament Speaker Meshaal bin Fahim al-Salami said in a statement that “these actions are an infringement on the sovereignty of Iraq, a flagrant violation of the Charter of the United Nations, international law and international norms, and in violation of Security Council resolutions.”
The statement also voiced support for Iraq’s stance against Turkey’s moves.
Iraqi lawmakers also reacted to the latest developments, condemning Ankara’s operations in a statement and calling on the Baghdad government to take action to protect civilians and stop Turkish violations of the country’s sovereignty.

I'm confused here, is the Arab League a non-entity to AP, DW and other outlets? 

Here's how AP could have written their story:

Today, Turkey invaded Iraq with foot soldiers on the ground.  This is part of the 'new' attack labeled Operation Claw-Eagle which is also reported by some as Operation Claw-Tiger.  The operation is said to target the PKK but the reality is that it targets Iraqi civilians and has left thousands of Iraqis wounded and many dead.  The PKK has headquarters in the mountains of northern Iraq.   Aaron Hess (International Socialist Review) described the PKK in 2008, "The PKK emerged in 1984 as a major force in response to Turkey's oppression of its Kurdish population. Since the late 1970s, Turkey has waged a relentless war of attrition that has killed tens of thousands of Kurds and driven millions from their homes. The Kurds are the world's largest stateless population -- whose main population concentration straddles Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria -- and have been the victims of imperialist wars and manipulation since the colonial period. While Turkey has granted limited rights to the Kurds in recent years in order to accommodate the European Union, which it seeks to join, even these are now at risk."

Dropping bombs from the sky earlier this week resulted in an attack on a refugee camp which left dozens of children injured.  Time and again, civilians are the targets though the Turkish government always insists otherwise. Everyone the Turkish government harms, they label a "terrorist" or a "PKK fighter."  Even when it's children and the press takes a moment to note this reality, the Turkish government never apologizes and never acknowledges that they've killed civilians.

These attacks, these acts of terrorism, have been carried out for over and over  since the start of the Iraq War.   On Tuesday, the Iraqi government lodged an objection with Turkey over the violation of international law and of Iraq's sovereignty.  In addition, the Arab League, an international organization created in 1945, weighed in on Tuesday with a rebuke to Turkey over its actions.


XINHUA notes today:
The residents of ten Iraqi villages near the border with Turkey were displaced due to a military offensive by the Turkish forces on Wednesday on suspected positions of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, the Iraqi official television reported.
The Turkish artillery and aircraft bombardment on border areas of Zakho, Haftanin and nearby villages forced the residents of ten villages to leave their homes to safer areas, the state-run Iraqiya channel said.
This is terrorism.  Families in ten different villages have had to flee their homes because Turkey is attacking.  Terrorism.  Call it what it is.



On May 21, according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), in the last five months, 77 percent of armed clashes and military operations involving Turkey and the PKK have taken place inside the Kurdistan Region, in northern Iraq, while only 23 percent of such incidents have occurred inside Turkey.
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has repeatedly told Ankara to cease airstrikes within the Kurdistan Region and has been critical of the PKK for using its territory as a base from which to conduct operations within Turkey.

Terrorism.  And terrorist is what Recep Tayyip Erdogan is.  He's the thug who's dictator of Turkey -- apparently for life.  He was titled prime minister from 2003 to 2014.  In 2014, he began using the title president.  Terrorist is the only title he's ever won the right to.

Some might argue he's also won the title "garbage" due to his proposal that rapists marry their victims and then they would be set free (that would set free 3000 rapists at the time he proposed it in 2016) but that's actually just another example of how he's a terrorist.
Let's remember that in May 2017, Andrea Mitchell and Erik Ortiz (NBC NEWS) reported:
Bodyguards belonging to the Turkish president's security detail were involved in Tuesday's mass brawl outside the Turkish ambassador's residence here, senior U.S. officials confirmed to NBC News.
The well-dressed guards in suits and ties were captured on social media purportedly showing protesters being kicked and bloodied as uniformed authorities tried to contain the flaring violence. Nine people were hurt and two others were arrested, police said Wednesday, although none of those detained were guards — raising questions about their impunity under the law.
That's just how he rolls.  And he gets away with it.  The US lets him get away with it over and over again.  He attacks the people in Turkey as well and the US looks the other way.  You hear Medea Benjamin and others scream and yell about Saudi Arabia but they never say a word about Turkey.  Not even when Recep is proposing pardoning rapists.  Not when he's using his goon squad to attack peaceful protesters in Turkey. 

I know what the US gets out of their silence -- that mountain operation base near the Kurdish border that Turkey gave to the CIA.  I'm not sure what Medea and others get out of their silence.

At THE INDEPENDENT, Ahmed Aboudouh offers:
Shrapnel of the troubled relationship between the civilian-turned-general Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his military have shattered many countries in the Middle East. The failed military coup of July 2016 re-energised the most dangerous of Erdogan’s obsessions – the fear that he will be pushed out of power by the military.
The massive purge in the army’s ranks following the failed putsch was aimed at repositioning the army’s role in Turkish political life, and in doing so, neutering it as a threat to the presidency. Having cleaned up the forces from all followers of Fethullah Gulen and his other opponents, Erdogan is now on a mission to reshape the military in his own image.

In recent years, the Turkish president has allowed Islamist allies of his Justice and Development Party (AKP) to tighten their grip on critical military posts. The purge was not only a process of sidelining officers with different political leanings but an attempt to Islamise the army too.
The intensity of this military-civil mutual fear has helped to form Turkey’s expansionism abroad based on its military might. This is very obvious in the ongoing Libyan civil war, where Turkey’s military support of the Tripoli government, against general Khalifa Haftar, has altered the war balance.
Early on Wednesday, Ankara launched land operation Claw-Tiger against the strongholds of the insurgent Kurdistan Worker’s Party (PKK) in Northern Iraq – seen by many as an invasion of Turkey’s neighbouring country.
 






The following sites updated:






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Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Carly Simon roundup

How about a music roundup?



Carly Simon is a one-of-a-kind artist.  She's a legend.  That's her above performing her first hit, "That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be."

Clive Davis threw a Zoom party to raise money for the United Way. Guess who his surprise guests of performers included? Carly Simon:



Like all Clive’s dinners, the performers were all kept secret. So when Carly Simon turned up live from her barn on Martha’s Vineyard with a band, I was verklempt and so were the 400 plus other guests who were logged on. And Carly’s big surprise was that her band included one of our favorite actors, Tony Shalhoub, on guitar. The rest of her outfit included son Ben Taylor, David Saw, and John Forte. They kicked off with an old song called “It So Easy Then” from Carly’s “No Secrets” album, and then hit a home run with a gorgeous, flowing, “Anticipation.” Carly said she was singing in a lower key than she did in 1971, but she was sure radio ready. A triumph! (She should be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by now!)



WACH57 notes:


 Governor Henry McMaster used music to describe and thank his Accelerate SC team Tuesday, using the lyric's from Carly SImon's 1977 hit "Nobody Does It Better."





That's from PIGLET'S BIG MOVIE.  The song is "With A Few Good Friends."  Which leads into ROTOSCOPERS interviewed composer Carl Johnson:


Piglet’s Big Movie you worked with Carly Simon for the songs. What’s that like working with a collaborator for a film?

Unfortunately, I didn’t get to work with Carly Simon directly on Piglet’s Big Movie. She had written the songs long before I was hired. In an animated feature, the songs are usually written while the script is being written. The composer for the underscore isn’t hired until many months later when the animation has been finished. At that point, it was my job to incorporate the melodies from her songs into my underscore to make the whole thing sound like a unified work. I did get a call from her as we were mixing the score and she said how pleased she was with how it was all sounding. That was the closest I got to meeting her!


Related, many people think Carly and Michael McDonald sat down together and wrote "You Belong To Me."  No.  Michael wrote the music and sent the music to her.  Carly and Michael never even met before "You Belong To Me" was recorded.

Marcia Buhl (BUFFALO NEWS) writes about the times we're living in and nots Carly's "Anticipation:"
In Carly Simon’s powerfully evocative lyrics, “we can never know about the days to come, but we think about them anyway,” she’s singing about the universal experience of an-ti-ci-pa-tion. The story goes that awaiting a date with Cat Stevens prompted these memorable lines.
For my mother and her 10 siblings growing up in rural Michigan, the buildup and excitement to Christmas wasn’t simply for those modest gifts under the tree but for the rare oranges they would find in their Christmas stockings. That kind of charged expectancy, a pleasurable tension, otherwise known as anticipation, is part of the reason we get out of bed each morning.
The last couple of months mandating a “pause” on all normal activities reminded me just how significant anticipation is in our lives, in both large and small ways. My preschool neighbors have had to set aside that antsy, jumping up and down experience of anticipating the next day’s field trip, birthday celebration, seeing Ms. Sandy, their teacher, or even those fish in the fish tank at their school.

Here's Carly performing "Anticipation" in 1988.

Brian Dowd (MARTHA'S VINEYARD TIMES) interviews Seth Meyers and look whose name pops up:


 There’s all those different, cool dreams people can bid on; what would you bid on? A peanut butter sandwich with Carly Simon? A walk-on role on “Curb Your Enthusiasm”?

A peanut butter sandwich with Carly Simon would be pretty outstanding. She was going to have a concert in New York City in March that I was going to host that unfortunately got pandemic-canceled, so yeah, a peanut butter sandwich with Carly Simon.
I feel like there’s enough people on Martha’s Vineyard that have connections to the Red Sox, you know, I wouldn’t ask for much, just maybe start at center field for like a weekend. Obviously not against the Yankees or something, but let’s say the Orioles. I’d love to get like 12 to 15 at-bats, just to get my timing down. I think it would be very unfair if they would judge me on just one or two trips to the plate.

Lou Fancher (SAN FRANCISCO CLASSICAL VOICE) reviews Ian Zack's new biography of Odetta:

His subject’s tremendous influence and importance in music history are obvious in words spoken or written by generation-spanning artists including Bob Dylan, Carly Simon, Joan Baez, Tracy Chapman, Rhiannon Giddens, Miley Cyrus, and more. Belafonte favorably compared her voice to that of orator and bass-baritone singer Paul Robeson and said, “Her voice is enormous. And the depth and range of it is never-ending.” About her physical appearance, Belafonte told CBS executives, “She’s a Nubian Queen. She is the mother of history, of all of Africa.”

Here's Carly performing "Anticipation" in 1971.



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

 
Tuesday, June 16, 2020.  Turkey continues to terrorize Iraq, the new prime minister of Iraq is good at gathering the press but not good at actually demonstrating anything that they should cover, US House Rep Tulsi Gabbard introduces legislation regarding burn pits, and much more.


Starting in Syria where hundreds took part in a demonstration in Aleppo to protest Turkey's continued bombing of northern Iraq.



Dropping back to yesterday's snapshot:



This morning, Zhelwan Z. Wali (RUDAW) notes the Turkish government is yet again claiming that they targeted terrorists, however . . . :

 PKK-linked Firat News Agency claimed the strikes targeted a refugee camp and a hospital. 
“ The Turkish state has launched a wave of air raids in southern Kurdistan, northern Iraq tonight. The strikes targeted several positions in the regions of Qandil, Maxmur (Makhmour) and Shengal (Sinjar), including a refugee camp and hospital,” it said.
Makhmour camp hosts more than 12,000 Kurdish refugees who have fled persecution by the Turkish state, largely in the 1990s. The camp has a governing council and an armed force, the Makhmour Protection Units, established in 2014 when Islamic State (ISIS) militants attacked the area. The units are believed to have ties to the PKK.
Bedran Pirani, co-mayor of the Makhmour Camp Municipality, told Rudaw that strikes near the camp left several children unconscious, who were then rushed to hospital.

"The airstrikes lasted an hour from 12:10am to 01:10am. They were a large number of unmanned drones and jets hovering overhead," Pirani said.


 The Iraqi Joint Operations Command (JOC) condemned on Monday the Turkish airstrikes against suspected positions of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in several areas in northern Iraq.
A JOC statement said that 18 Turkish warplanes carried out a series of airstrikes late on Sunday night on refugee camps in Sinjar, some 100 km west of Nineveh's provincial capital Mosul, and Makhmour, about 60 km southeast of Mosul.
The Turkish warplanes also flew over the areas of al-Kuwayr, Erbil and al-Shirqat, with 193 km deep inside the Iraqi territories, the statement said.
The JOC described the Turkish airstrikes as "provocative act and is inconsistent with the good-neighborliness in accordance with international conventions and is a flagrant violation of Iraqi sovereignty."
Iraq called on Turkey to stop the violation of Iraqi territories and said that it is "fully prepared for cooperation between the two countries to control the security situations on the common borders," the statement added. 
When will other government join the Iraqi one in condemning the terrorism that Turkey continues to carry out?  When will Turkey be forced to respect Iraq's sovereignty?


The Turkish government calls it Operation Claw-Eagle, the world should be calling it what it is: terrorism.  And it continues daily including today.  This morning, THE JERUSALEM POST notes:



Turkish aircraft and Iranian artillery targeted the town of Haji Omeran in the Erbil Governorate of Iraq on Tuesday, according to Sky News Arabia.
Haji Omeran is located along the Iran-Iraq border in northeastern Iraq.
The district mayor of Haji Omeran, Farzang Ahmed, told Rudaw that Iranian artillery has targeted Iranian Kurdish opposition groups in the area before, but that Turkish strikes on the area were unheard of.
"We suspect that the two sides are in coordination, because this is the first time that Turkey has bombed this region," said Ahmed to Rudaw. "This region is frequently and every year under Iran's shelling, on the grounds that they are targeting Kurdish opposition parties."


This is terrorism.  The US government remains silent.  The world remains silent.  Day after day, year after year, Turkey violates Iraq's sovereignty and terrorizes people who live in northern Iraq.  Hiwa Shilani (KURDISTAN 24) reports:

The Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday announced that it had summoned the ambassador of Turkey in Iraq and handed him a complaint memo condemning the violation of Iraqi sovereignty and its airspace after recent Turkish airstrikes in the Kurdistan Region.
A statement from the foreign ministry announced that Iraq had “summoned” Turkish Ambassador Fatih Yildiz “against the backdrop of the Turkish bombing that affected a number of regions in northern Iraq, causing terror to the population, and spreading panic among them.”
“Ambassador Abdul Karim Hashim met the Turkish ambassador and delivered him a protest note, which included the Iraqi government’s condemnation of violations of the sanctity, sovereignty, and Iraqi airspace.”

Twitter is more alive than the corporate media. 


The Terrorist Turkish strikes in Iraq reflected Turkey's underestimation of international law and its relations with its neighbours

Image





All of us condemned Turkey’s airstrikes on several areas of northern Iraq as part of a pattern that had become a cause for concern, The strikes represent an attack on Iraqi sovereignty and are taking place without coordination with the government in Baghdad.



Help Iraqi refugees to reach safety by delivering their voice to the whole world to rescue them from the 4to8 years of harsh wait in the host countries(like Turkey). Tell countries to receive their files to save their future.. They lost everything in Iraq&during the long wait.



May 7th, Mustafa Al-Kadhimi became prime minister of Iraq.  June 10th, he took a press gaggle to Mosul.  John Davison of REUTERS published his report on June 11th.  Today, Alissa J. Rubin (NEW YORK TIMES) offers her report:

 Mr. Kadhimi is in many ways a Western-style leader. He has a message for every event, and he stayed on schedule through a 12-hour day. His chief of protocol ensured that everyone with him was constantly supplied with disinfectant gel.
But nothing could prepare Mr. Kadhimi, 54, for the anger and grief that people called out to him every chance they got.
Among his first stops were the Mosul Museum, its collection hacked to pieces by ISIS, and the Al Nuri Grand Mosque, a renowned Iraqi landmark with an intricately carved leaning minaret.
The wind blows through the lower part of the mosque now, which was badly damaged in the fighting., During the Islamic State takeover of Syria and Iraq, the militant leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi declared himself the group’s caliph from its pulpit.
If ever there were a place where the stones have voices, it is Mosul. The destruction is almost audible. Whole blocks are piles of debris, chunks of concrete are massed three and four stories high, and clinging to them are shacks, tacked together out of scrap metal and canvas. This is what passes for homes today in Mosul.
The prime minister only glimpsed this chaos as he swept through the city in a motorcade of cars and army vehicles, tearing down streets emptied of people to ensure his safety.

It's been a little over a month.  Not seeing much change.  Not seeing any effort to get moving on holding elections -- that is the primary job he is tasked with.  His is not supposed to be a four year term.  He is supposed to quickly set a timetable for elections.  


Human Rights Watch Belkis Wille just offered a look at censorship in Iraq (here) and we noted it yesterday. Today, we'll note Paul Aufiero's interview with Belkis about the report:



What is different about this moment in Iraq?

In October 2019, a massive protest movement hit the country, with millions of people in the streets. Young people in the center and south of the country came together through a non-sectarian lens to call for basic human rights for all Iraqis, regardless of ethnicity, language, or belief. Their demands and the wave of protests they sparked forced Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi to resign in November, marking the first time popular protests in Iraq led to a change in power.

In May, a new prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, took over. Al-Kadhimi is a former journalist and went into exile under Saddam Hussein. When he came back to Iraq, he became the head of the Iraqi National Intelligence Service. Since becoming prime minister, he has been vocal about tackling some of the most difficult and sensitive human rights issues in Iraq, which is quite incredible. So with this new leadership, there is an opportunity to realize one of the loudest demands of protesters: that authorities reengage with the public.
This is also one of the first times since 2003 where the violence in the country has diminished to the point that Iraqis can start talking about things not related to war. The country has endured years of conflict, through the United States-led invasion and occupation, a civil war, and the Islamic State (also known as ISIS). Now Iraqis can finally demand politicians engage in issues affecting their human rights not through the lens of national security.

But there is another story taking place alongside this. What does your report describe?

Since the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, those he oppressed have been interested in opening the country in terms of elections and free speech. But things took a turn in the opposite direction over the last decade. Authorities have dealt with critics not only through violence, which we have seen when protesters were beaten and killed, but also through campaigns using laws to prosecute speech they don’t like, intimidating people into silence.

Who is being targeted in this campaign? Why?

In the autonomous Kurdistan Region in the north, like in Baghdad-controlled areas, there is almost no money for independent media, so most of the outlets are funded by one of the two main Kurdish political parties, or smaller groups. Journalists working for the outlet of one party are often sent to cover protests instigated by that party in territory controlled by another and are sometimes arrested or beaten by Kurdish security forces, or even killed. And prosecutions against journalists are also happening in Kurdistan along political lines.

But this is happening across the country, also in Baghdad and the south. Authorities are using vague legal provisions to target journalists, activists, and frankly, anyone posting criticism on social media, including people writing on their own Facebook pages. This should not be illegal.

In Baghdad, the penal code has provisions that broadly deal with defamation. You could be prosecuted if you say anything that “insults” an Arab country or someone in power, for example. But there is no definition of what constitutes an insult, so these provisions are extremely opaque. Another set of provisions deals with incitement, and authorities use these against people they claim posted something online that could either incite someone to carry out a criminal act or threaten national security. But there is no standard for what this means in practice.

And in addition to being arrested, a lot of these people are getting threatening messages on their phones saying, “You’re next. We’ll kill you if you keep writing about this [topic].” And there is a systemic problem in Iraq where if those receiving threats go to the police, the police do nothing to protect them.

What penalties do people face if found guilty of these vague charges?

Depending on the provision someone is charged under, they could face up to 10 years in prison, a fine of up to about US$800, or both. And some say security forces beat them while interrogating them. But what is interesting is that we documented very few cases where someone is forced to serve an actual prison sentence. Authorities are clearly not interested in filling prisons with these people. I suspect that the point of these prosecutions is to intimidate people so much that the next time they want to post something critical of the government on Facebook, they don’t. It’s about harassment and silencing.

In the course of your research, were there any cases that particularly stood out to you?

One man, Haitham Sulaiman, is a 48-year-old protest organizer based near Baghdad, who got involved taking on corruption in Iraq. In early April, after hearing that the local health department might be making exorbitant profits off the cost of paper masks amid the Covid-19 pandemic, he posted the allegation on Facebook and called on authorities to investigate. The next day, intelligence officers from the Ministry of the Interior came to his house and left a warning that he had to stop writing about corruption. A few days later, four men in plain clothes arrested him and took him to the intelligence office, where they beat him and forced him to sign a document saying the Iraqi protest movement of 2019 had been bankrolled by the US. They then charged him under the penal code for willfully sharing false or biased information that “endangered public security.”
Another woman, “Amal” (not her real name), has protested corruption in Basra for years, been openly critical of different political parties online, and had posted videos of herself protesting in 2018, at the time of large-scale protests in southern Iraq. Around that time, while at home one night, she saw three masked men open gunfire on her house. She fled the city with her children but came back three weeks later. A few days after returning, an armed man came to her house and threatened that if she didn’t leave with her family, they’d all be killed. She has since fled the country.

What hope does the new government offer to address these issues?

The first thing the government should do is institute legal reforms and amend the penal code and other problematic laws to limit the abusive impact of these vague provisions. Security forces should investigate threats and acts of violence against journalists, activists, and social media critics.

But the prime minister, having seen the power of the country’s protests firsthand, should send the message down through Iraq’s government structure that he will no longer put up with those who abuse their powers to go after people who said something they don’t like, and will punish them. And maybe for the first time in Iraq’s history it’s possible this could happen.

We'll close with this from US House Rep Tulsi Gabbard:
More than a million of our brothers and sisters who served in the military are suffering every day as a result of being exposed to toxic burn pits during their time overseas. This is the Agent Orange of our post-9/11 generation of veterans. Yet, the Department of Defense and the VA have so far failed to ensure every veteran and servicemember dealing with health issues related to their exposure to these toxins gets the care and benefits they deserve.
This is why I’ve introduced H.R.7072 — the SFC Heath Robinson Burn Pit Transparency Act — and other legislation to prevent another generation of veterans from suffering in the way that our brothers who served in Vietnam did.
LEARN MORE ABOUT H.R. 7072
Heath Robinson was one of too many servicemembers who deployed to the Middle East, only to come home and fight another battle — for Heath, a 3-year battle with lung cancer. A father, husband, and patriot, he recently lost that battle with cancer and died as our nation's leaders failed to acknowledge the link between his diagnosis and his toxic burn pit exposure.
This is an egregious failure to those who serve. Our veterans deserve better. Their families deserve better. Our veterans deserve care, compensation, and disability benefits.
It is too late for some like Heath, but more are suffering and more need help. Congress must act now.

LEARN MORE ABOUT H.R. 7072


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