Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills): 6/27/21

Saturday, July 03, 2021

The 5th Dimension

There are many reasons to revel in Summer of Soul, the acclaimed music doc premiering on Hulu this weekend. Across six days in 1969, tens of thousands of people streamed into a park in Harlem to see performances by Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, B.B. King, Sly and the Family Stone, and many more. Respectfully compiled by first-time director Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, the forgotten footage from the Harlem Cultural Festival has been condensed into a two-hour movie that’s more than just another concert film. From Sly’s anthemic “Everyday People” to then-and-now interviews with audience members, and even an Afrocentric TV ad from the festival’s coffee-maker sponsor, the movie is a time capsule of shifting trends in music, fashion, and politics in black America as the Sixties wound down.

And yet another reason to applaud it? It finally gives another one of its performers, the 5th Dimension, an overdue spotlight.

As co-lead singer Billy Davis Jr. acknowledges in the film, the 5th Dimension were blessed and cursed. Coming together from worlds as varied as pop and gospel, the quintet were, in a way, a black version of the Mamas and the Papas. Their harmonies were similarly sunny and enveloping, and one of their earliest hits was, in fact, a cover of John Phillips’ “Go Where You Wanna Go.”

But it was 1967’s “Up, Up and Away,” Jimmy Webb’s cottony ode to balloons (literally or metaphorically), that vaulted the 5th Dimension into the worlds of Top 40 radio, nightclubs, and TV. From then and into the early Seventies, they were a ubiquitous presence — on tour, variety shows, and radio, especially when singles like the sublime sad-sack classic “One Less Bell to Answer” or the ebullient “Wedding Bell Blues” connected.

As their segment in Summer of Soul demonstrates, the 5th Dimension were a proud throwback at a time when R&B and soul were evolving, growing more socially conscious and rejecting musical conventions. Onstage in Harlem, they’re wearing matching orange outfits (“creamsicle”-colored, as one interviewee bemusedly remarks), with the three male members in matching red ties. Their clip is dominated by “Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures),” their medley of songs from the hippie musical Hair that was impossible to avoid on pop radio in 1969. With their synchronized dance moves, celestial harmonies, and eager-to-please aura, you can see why they were regulars on the likes of The Ed Sullivan Show, but Davis’ throaty ad-libs during the song’s second half bring the performance back to church, where he began singing. (And check out studio bassist Joe Osborne’s insane bass line during the “Let the Sunshine In” part of the studio recording.)

But in a scenario that’s nearly impossible to imagine for a modern act, the 5th Dimension also became victims of their own success. In an extended Summer of Soul segment, Davis and Marilyn McCoo, the group’s most prominent female member, rewatch the footage with equal degrees pride and pain. “We were constantly being attacked because we weren’t ‘black enough,’” McCoo says. “Sometimes we were called the black group with the white sound, and we didn’t like that. … Our voices sound the way they sound. How do you color a sound?” As Davis adds, “Everyone thought we were a white act until they saw pictures.” Those poignant moments recall similar put-downs that Whitney Houston endured two decades later, after she began pulling in both black and white audiences with her first two albums.

Billy Davis Jr. and Marilyn McCoo are still together and still making music. I reviewed their brand new hit album BLACKBIRD: LENNON & MCCARTNEY ICONS.

I didn't see that in David Browne's article but it may have been. I don't know because my mascara is ruined and I'm dabbing my eyes.

No, nothing bad happened. I was looking for something to watch and saw MOTHER'S DAY on NETFLIX. I hadn't seen it before and Gary Marshall films may not be 'cool' with some people but they were always funny.

This one was no exception but it almost made me cry several times. And it really makes a great showcase for Jennifer Aniston, by the way. She doesn't get a lot of credit for her talent but she is very talented. Everyone does a great job including Jack Whitehall and Timothy Olyphant and Julia Roberts.

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

Friday, July 2, 2021. Let's spend another day on Donald Rumsfeld because his War Crimes were immense.

TEEN VOGUE notes:

Accused war criminal and torture defender dead at 88

Donald Rumsfeld, Accused War Criminal, Dead at 88

Rumsfeld is considered an architect of the U.S. invasions in Afghanistan and Iraq.

4:45 PM · Jun 30, 2021

Yes, Donald remains thankfully dead. Before we get into the War Criminal, let's note a basic truth: If you've spent the last days with more attention on Bill Cosby than on Donald Rumsfeld, you really aren't much of an adult.

If Bill is guilty of what he was accused of, his crimes shrink in the scope of Donald's crimes -- unless you only care about American people and feel other people -- especially people in the Middle East -- don't matter at all. I don't like Bill Cosby. I've never liked him and I've never owed him a damn thing. But he rescued a lot of people's careers over the years and it was so sad/strange to watch those people play dumb in public. I'm not talking about TV actors who worked with him. I'm talking about people whose careers were over and who he helped restart their careers. I'm talking about people like Cher who were a joke and who were over but Bill put his reputation behind Cher and Sonny to help their comeback.

I don't like Bill. I never have. I've encountered him many times. (He doesn't like me either, it's mutual.) But if he'd ever helped me in some way, I think I would at least state something publicly like, "That's not the Bill I knew. I'm deeply saddened if the charges are true." But we didn't get that. And so many in Hollywood owe Bill. That's why he was able to get so many people to make idiots of themselves by appearing in LEONARD PART 6.

Bill's not guilty because the conviction was overturned. Legally, he's not guilty. This wasn't a pardon. This was the conviction was overturned. "On a technicality!"

Yes, and it's a hell of a technicality.

So much so that if you care about justice, you should be in agreement. If a legal agreement is reached in 2004, the government can't overturn it a few years later because they don't like it.

The 2004 agreement never should have been made but it was made. Instead of building what appeared to be a strong case on real evidence, the prosecution went too far -- and the judge overseeing the case allowed them to go that far. The government is not supposed to go unchecked.

Do I think Bill committed the crimes? Yes, personally I do. I also don't feel it was that difficult of a case to be built. But the government chose to cut corners and to cut basic principles in our legal system. That was outrageous. They deserve to have their work disputed and spat upon.

There is no conviction now. I'm sorry if you were assaulted by Bill. I hope you get whatever help a failing system can provide. But this is our legal system and it is better that a guilty person go free than that the system is abused and destroyed so that many more suffer. (Even when not abused, our system still suffers and that's evident by the huge number of people incarcerated throughout the US.)

The system doesn't guarantee you justice -- a fact that many don't appear to grasp. It guarantees you -- or is supposed to -- a public say. The government abused the system and a higher court rightly called that out and overturned the verdict.

Donald Rumsfeld was a War Criminal who is responsible for the deaths of millions. He was in a position of trust -- not because he was an entertainer but because he was a public servant -- a role that comes with the expectation that the public can trust the person. The public couldn't trust Donald and were wrong to have thought that they could. He abused democracy, he advanced torture and he is responsible for the deaths of millions.

"Rape!" Yes, rape is an important issue and I'm not saying it's not. But if you're unaware of how many rapes have taken place in Iraq because of the illegal war (and let's include 'trial marriages' in that category as well as forced marriages where underage girls were married off to elderly men against their will), that's really on you.

Don't pretend to me that rape matters to you if you're unaware of, for example, Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi who was gang-raped and murdered on March12, 2006 while Donald was still Secretary of Defense. She'd be 29-years-old now but she instead she's dead.

Donald set the tone. He had US troops torturing people -- in CIA black sites, at Guantanamo, in Abu Ghraib and many other places. That's what send the message that US troops can get away with rape and murder.

And US troops gang-raped and murdered Abeer. While they were taking turns raping her, she could hear her five-year-old-sister and her mother and her father being shot dead in the next room.

The focus on Bill Cosby at the expense of Donald Rumsfeld? It may be part of the refusal to own what our government has done. It may be part of the natural gossipy nature of our society to focus on celebrities. It may also have some elements of racism. There was a glee with which Bill was taken down. I don't like Bill. I actually loathe him and that's been clear for years. But I was sent reeling by the glee that surrounded this entire chapter.

Rape is a serious issue. If you're unhappy that Bill's not behind bars -- and is no longer guilty of rape (a verdict overturned means it no longer exists) -- you need to blame the government for how they argued the case and how, in arguing it, they abused the system.

[ADDED: 3:13 PM EST, 7/2/21 E-mails coming in have noted that Jonathan Turley weighed in earlier this week on Cosby's verdict being tossed aside:

In their 79-page opinion, the judges found that a “non-prosecution agreement” reached with Cosby should have barred the prosecution. In the earlier agreement, the prosecutor, Bruce Castor Jr., agreed not to charge Cosby in return for his civil deposition. He proceeded to incriminate himself in what the Court said was a bait-and-switch. The later prosecutor then just ignored the nonprosecution agreement. The trial was also undermined by the decision of the trial court to allow women to testify as witnesses on uncharged alleged crimes against Cosby.

It is clear that, absent the agreement, Cosby would never have agreed to the four depositions. Free of the threat of prosecution, Cosby incriminated himself. Dolores Troiani., counsel for Andrea Constand, asked “When you got the Quaaludes, was it in your mind that you were going to use these Quaaludes for young women that you wanted to have sex with?” Cosby replied, “Yes.” That and other statements were used at his criminal trial.

Kevin Steele, the Montgomery County district attorney who convicted Cosby, issued a statement that was embarrassing in its evasion of responsibility. He dismissed the ruling as “a procedural issue that is irrelevant to the facts of the crime.” Obviously, it was quite relevant because Steele proved a crime by unconstitutional means. Yet, Steele seems entirely unwilling to acknowledge his errors and declared that

“My hope is that this decision will not dampen the reporting of sexual assaults by victims. Prosecutors in my office will continue to follow the evidence wherever and to whomever it leads. We still believe that no one is above the law — including those who are rich, famous and powerful.”

The statement is breathtaking. Of course it could undermine such reports since Steele engineered an unconstitutional verdict that led to Cosby prevailing. Moreover, Steele is right, “no one is above the law” including prosecutors who are not allowed to pursue convictions at any cost in popular high-profile cases.

Judge Steven T. O’Neill (who the defense sought to force off the case for bias) also has much to answer for in this wrongful conviction. O’Neill at trial seemed hellbent to try the case. He virtually mocked the defense arguments on the nonprosecution agreement: O’Neill, rejected that claim, saying, “There’s no other witness to the promise. The rabbit is in the hat and you want me at this point to assume: ‘Hey, the promise was made, judge. Accept that.’”

I didn't see that. Rough week. But we'll include it and add it into this snapshot before it gets reposted elsewhere. As I've noted here before, I agree with Jonathan about 95% of the time -- a huge number for me -- and I think he has one of the best legal minds in the US -- why isn't he on the Supreme Court? Thank you to Billie, Sabina, Ahmed and Lewis for pointing out Turley's opinion on the Cosby case.

While I'm adding, let's also add Katie Halper addressing the press treatment of Rumsfeld versus the way they treater the late Senator Mike Gravel.

That's from Krystal and Saagar's BREAKING POINTS which aired earlier today -- and is already up as an individual entry.]

Rumsfeld.

"Unlike the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, Afghans, and so many others killed in the wars he launched and in the torture cells he oversaw, Donald Rumsfeld died peacefully," Phyllis Bennis observes at THE NATION and from that basic truth she stumbles and falls flat on her fat ass. By the time she's noting deaths and using what we now know is a US government backed website (Iraq Body Count) for her numbers, she's just an embarrassment. Do we need Elaine to publicly shame her again to get her to use THE LANCET? Bitch, I don't have time for your s**t and, quite honestly, the world can't afford it.

Phyllis just needs to shut her damn mouth and keep it shut on Iraq. In the summer of 2006, the last day KNIGHT RIDDER existed, before it officially became MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS, Nancy A. Youssef published an important article about how the US government was, in fact, keeping track of Iraqi deaths despite their denials and repeatedly insisting that they didn't "do" body counts. Weeks later, Phyllis goes on FAIR's COUNTERSPIN to bemaon the fact that there are no body counts being kept on the Iraqis being killed. This was when Phyl was the Iraq expert and pretended she actually followed the subject and topic.

And Elaine had to publicly slap the bitch for pimping undercounts of the dead in Iraq when many solid counts -- non US government counts -- existed. Phyl was part of the fake ass United for Peace and Justice (aka the turnout the vote auxiliary of the Democratic Party) so she couldn't take the embarrassment and upped her count but now she's back and she's pimping IBC. Because she's a liar? Because she's a coward?

I have no idea. She's a useless bitch and she's made that her life's role, take it up with her. We can't afford her or her garbage. She tells you no one wanted the war more than Donald Rumsfeld.

That's cute.

Bully Boy Bush is still alive but let's continue to give him a pass, right, Phyllis? And I'm not sure Donald wanted it more than members of press that worked overtime to pimp and promote the war -- and to keep it going once it got started -- while shaming and bullying anyone who spoke out or questioned.

I'm not seeing any acknowledgement in Phyliss' garbage that the press turned Donald Rumsfeld and others into media heroes. VANITY FAIR can act as woke as it wishes it were -- I don't really thingk that sexual harassment there is buried but, I'm sure Conde Naste hopes it is -- but the reality will always be that they did a glossy spread on Bully Boy Bush and his administration and Annie Leibovitz can lie all she wants but she didn't use that opportunity and her camera to serve up Diane Arbus type type portraits of the War Criminals for that issue but instead became the Leni Riefenstahl of still photography.

Phyllis, the 'expert' on Iraq, offers a lot of words that do very little. She never addresses the press in any real detail. The name "Thomas Friedman" is but one of many that fails to appear, for example. Or the hideous Tim Russert or . . . And, again, step out of line and be shamed and bullied -- or worse. If you were outside the US, there was much worse.

Henry Michaels at WSWS on April 9, 2003:

Journalists’ organizations have demanded investigations into two incidents in which US military forces killed three journalists in Baghdad on April 8, including Al-Jazeera correspondent Tariq Ayoub, and seriously wounded several others. The attacks came amid broadcasts showing some of the mounting slaughter being conducted by US troops throughout the Iraqi capital.

Ayoub, a 34-year-old Palestinian Jordanian, was killed in a direct missile strike on Al-Jazeera’s Baghdad offices. Surviving Al-Jazeera staff sought shelter in the nearby offices of rival satellite station Abu Dhabi TV, which then also came under US attack.

At one point, Abu Dhabi TV correspondent Shaker Hamed issued an emergency on-air call for help, saying “Twenty-five journalists and technicians belonging to Abu Dhabi television and Qatari satellite television channel Al-Jazeera are surrounded in the offices of Abu Dhabi TV in Baghdad.”

Hamed called on the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Organization of Journalists, Reporters Sans Frontieres and the Arab Journalists Union “to intervene quickly to pull us out of this zone where missiles and shells are striking in an unbelievable way.”

Shortly after the Al-Jazeera strike, two cameramen died when a US tank fired on Baghdad’s Palestine Hotel, which houses more than 200 international correspondents—nearly all of the “non-embedded” journalists left in the besieged city. The victims were Reuters cameraman Taras Protsyuk, 35, a Ukrainian national, and Jose Couso, 37, who worked for the private Spanish television station Telecinco. Another three members of the media were injured.

The strike on Al-Jazeera’s broadcasting facilities was undoubtedly deliberate. Al-Jazeera had written to US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on February 23 giving the precise location of its office so as to avoid being targeted.

Both Ayoub and a cameraman, Zuheir Iraqi, who was wounded with shrapnel to his neck, were standing on the station’s roof in preparation for a live broadcast when the missiles hit the building, leaving Al-Jazeera’s bureau in ruins.

BBC reporter Rageh Omaar, who is stationed in the nearby Palestine Hotel, described the bombing as “suspect.” He said, “We were watching and filming the bombardment and it’s quite clearly a direct strike on the Al-Jazeera office. This was not just a stray round. It just seemed too specific.”

Where's that in your 'analysis' or 'commentary' or just vomitary of words? It's no where to be found, Phyllis.

Here's a few examples of much better analysis than Phyllis offered.

Elaine's "POLITO lies again" went up a few minutes ago and the following sites also updated:

Thursday, July 01, 2021

Jim Morrison

I was feeling blah Tuesday night, sorry. Not sick or ill. Just lazy. I was hungry but lazy so I went to my bedroom and turned on the TV thinking I'd blog shortly. Didn't happen. After awhile the hunger got to me but not enough to make me get out of bed so I went into the little night stand by my bed where I keep some snacks in a drawer -- some individual packages of cheese and crackers, some Cheetos bags, some Doritos bags. I grabbed the Cheetos and ate them while watching both of Nate Bargatze's NETFLIX specials. I've watched those repeatedly but they still make me laugh even when I know the joke coming up. He really is a great stand up.

So, music. Kevin Reed (WSWS) notes:

The Collected Works of Jim Morrison: Poetry, Journals, Transcripts, and Lyrics, a 600-page coffee-table book published by HarperCollins on June 8, gathers together most of the previously published writings of the songwriter, poet and vocalist for the 1960s’ band The Doors, along with poems, lyrics and other writings culled from 28 recently discovered notebooks.
The new volume—published in advance of the 50th anniversary of Morrison’s death on July 3—presents for the most part the artist in his own words. Along with rare family photos from his youth and later years, the book contains scans of original pages from Morrison’s legal pads, stenographic notebooks and journals in which he wrote down poems, notes and other fragments.
The material previously published includes The Doors’ song lyrics from 1967–71, several self-published collections of poems entitled The New Creatures and The Lords/Notes on Vision and the posthumously published poem An American Prayer.
Among the newly published items are a poem Morrison wrote at age 10, numerous never before seen song lyrics, notes from his September 1970 obscenity trial in Miami, a movie script for his unreleased film, HWY, a full reproduction of his “Paris Journal”—believed to have been written during the final months of his life—and an outline for a new book.
The new anthology was supported by Morrison’s estate and contains a prologue by his sister, Ann Morrison Chewning. This element provides a glimpse into the artist as seen by those who were close to him before and during the years of his rise to popularity.
One of the aims of both publisher and family is to detach Morrison from his rock-star persona, present him as a serious poet and introduce a wider audience to his poetry and other works outside of his music.
For example, Morrison’s sister Ann Chewning writes in the prologue, “After The Doors’ first album came out, I followed Jim’s career, loved the music, and, when I returned to California [from London], visited Jim and Pam Courson in LA. Seldom without a notebook and pen, he self-published his poems and published others with Simon & Schuster and in literary magazines. He wrote a movie script and filmed it with friends. Some of his poetry and his film were personal works, exclusive to him, and some of his writings became an integral part of The Doors’ lyrics.”

Does Kevin Reed know anything about Jim Morrison? He wasn't close to his family. They have no insights to offer. I felt that way about Kevin Reed as well. Didn't read the piece thinking I'd end up slamming it. Thought it would make an interesting read and allow me to use it as a jumping off point to ask the needed question: When will Marianne Faithful be held accountable for her actions with regards to Jim's death? Anytime I went on the road with any band -- as a photographer, not a groupie -- sooner or later Marianne's name would come up with the issue of Jim's death.

In 2014, this issue got brief attention. From THE GUARDIAN (no byline to piece):

Marianne Faithfull has said her then boyfriend was responsible for the death of Jim Morrison in July 1971. In an interview with Mojo she claimed Jean de Breteuil, a heroin dealer, gave the Doors singer drugs that killed him.
“He went to see Jim Morrison and killed him,” Faithfull told Mojo. “I mean I’m sure it was an accident. Poor bastard. The smack was too strong? Yeah. And he died. And I didn’t know anything about this. Anyway, everybody connected to the death of this poor guy is dead now. Except me.”
Faithfull could have joined De Breteuil on his visit to Morrison, but chose not to. “I could intuitively feel trouble,” she said. “I thought, I’ll take a few Tuinal [barbiturates] and I won’t be there.”

From Kory Grow (ROLLING STONE):

Marianne Faithfull said in a recent interview that her boyfriend at the time, a heroin dealer named Jean de Breteuil, was responsible for Doors frontman Jim Morrison‘s death in the summer of 1971. The singer recalled a sense of foreboding when Breteuil told her he intended to visit the Doors frontman so she decided to stay at their hotel and take barbiturates. “He went to see Jim Morrison and killed him,” Faithfull told Mojo. “I mean, I’m sure it was an accident. Poor bastard. The smack was too strong? Yeah. And he died. And I didn’t know anything about this. Anyway, everybody connected to the death of this poor guy is dead now. Except me.”

It was everywhere -- USA TODAY, WASHINGTON POST, etc.

But it's not accurate. She lied for years and she gets 'honest' and still lies. Long before she gave her limited hang out confession or 'confession,' it was already widely spoken of and she was there.

From time to time, people will e-mail and say something like, "You're a woman and you don't support Marianne Faithfull. You never write about her." I don't. And Elaine and C.I. have heard the same stories as I have. They never note her either. And that's why we all avoid her.

And that is all I planned to write when I saw the story at WSWS. I was excited and thought it would be a good article.

Instead, it reads like a prude wrote i and an extremely judgmental prude at that. I've rarely seen WSWS heap so much scorn on anyone not named Trump.

Be sure you read all of last night's theme posts:

22 hours ago

22 hours ago

22 hours ago

Thomas Friedman is a Great Man

NASA

22 hours ago

Ruth's Report

THE KATIE HALPER SHOW

22 hours ago

Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude

'the electronic intifada'

22 hours ago

Like Maria Said Paz

SHADOW PROOF

22 hours ago

Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills)

NATELAND

22 hours ago

Ann's Mega Dub

Howie Hawkins

22 hours ago

SICKOFITRADLZ

The Karen Hunter Show

22 hours ago

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

Thursday, July 1, 2021. Hell's a little richer today, but the world has lost a War Criminal.

That's Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Requiem for a War Hawk" which ran November 19, 2006 -- Bully Boy Bush, Dick Cheney and Condi Rice gather due to the departing Donald Rumsfeld -- who was Rumsfled at that point. He argued 'stay the course' in Iraq but, of course, he fled his own duty, leaving his post as Secretary of Defense while the illegal war he helped start continued to drag on (and still does continue).

Rumsfled has fled again. He's passed away.

Below, the cast of THE WIZ reacts to the news of Donald's passing.

At the age of 88, the War Criminal passed away. Bully Boy Bush issued a statement apparently crafted by someone else in which he hailed Rumsfled as "intelligent" to which a disbelieving world yells back, "Spell it!"

We all know he's too stupid to spell the word.

Dick and his equally homophobic wife* Lynne Cheney issued a statement about the "huge change he made in our lives" -- I guess it's not surprising to learn that he waterboarded Dick and Lynne -- Lynne did write that trashy sex novel so their kinkiness really isn't all that surprising. (Dick and Lynne now embrace their lesbian daughter. In 2004, when the issue of gay rights was raised in a vice presidential debate between John Edwards and Dick Cheney, Edwards spoke about the importance of equality and hoped that Dick would agree since Mary was a lesbian. The response was to try to shame Edwards, the Democratic Party and the whole wide world because a lesbian had been acknowledged.)

Donald lived to be 88. Most of his victims were not so fortunate.

AFP reports:

Iraqis responded on Thursday (Jul 1) with a mixture of bitterness and indifference to the death of Donald Rumsfeld, former United States defence secretary and architect of the 2003 invasion of their country.

"I'm not saddened by the death of an occupier," said Saad Jabbar, a transport ministry employee, a day after Rumsfeld's family announced his death at the age of 88.

The US "left us nothing but memories of occupation and destruction".

In charge of the US military for most of George W Bush's presidency, Rumsfeld led the charge into devastating wars in Iraq and Afghanistan following the Sep 11, 2001, attacks on New York and the Pentagon.

The Iraq invasion, based on false claims that Baghdad had weapons of mass destruction, removed dictator Saddam Hussein, and Washington promised it would bring democracy and freedom to the region.

In reality it sparked years of sectarian violence and led to the emergence of the jihadist Islamic State group.

"I don't think history will look kindly at (Rumsfeld and Bush) because of the catastrophes they caused, including to the Iraqi people," said a tribal leader from Iraq's Anbar province who asked not to be named.

Glenn Greenwald Tweets:

There's nothing that Donald Trump managed to do that got close to the worst and most destructive acts of Donald Rumsfeld and his comrades. greenwald.substack.com/p/no-matter-th

2:44 PM · Jun 30, 2021

Abby Martin's EMPIRE FILES Tweeted:

A hallmark of Donald Rumsfeld’s legacy: he was always jovial and laughing it up! Even when thousands of people were dying from his malicious lies, it couldn’t get him down! https://youtu.be/C3LFbOSPfrE

10:46 PM · Jun 30, 2021

Katie Halper Tweets:

We lost a sexy one today, fam.

7:52 PM · Jun 30, 2021

Sad but true. Ugly men -- on the inside and on the outside -- like Donald and Bully Boy Bush were openly gushed over by the press. Their masochistic tendencies were on full display daily.

From April 23, 2006, that's "Ego Mania vs. the United States."

George Zornick Tweets:

The torture memo signed by Donald Rumsfeld, 12/2/02, authorizing 20-hour interrogations, removal of clothing, the use of phobias, and stress positions for up to 4 hours.

Note his handwriting at bottom: "However, I stand for 8-10 hours A day. Why is Standing limited to 4 hours"

2:29 PM · Jun 30, 2021

Margaret Kimberley Tweets:

Donald Rumsfeld armed Iraq to attack Iran with WMDs. Then he used WMDs as the pretext to invade Iraq. He killed a lot of people.
Good to remember that no one escapes the grim reaper.

8:25 PM · Jun 30, 2021

Sarah Abdallah Tweets:

Donald Rumsfeld will be remembered as one of the war criminals who spearheaded the illegal invasion and destruction of Iraq - an aggression that led to the death, torture and displacement of millions of innocents.

He won’t be missed.

3:08 PM · Jun 30, 2021

Fiorella Isabel Tweets:

Ok at least we got one warmonger traded for an anti imperialist taken too soon. Rest in hades Donald Rumsfeld.

Donald Rumsfeld dies at 88

Former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has died at the age of 88, according to a statement from his family

3:25 PM · Jun 30, 2021

Kevin Gosztola offers this Twitter thread:

Donald Rumsfeld was war criminal. He didn’t merely “oversee” Iraq War. He was an architect, who backed extrajudicial executions and systematic torture at Abu Ghraib, Bagram, Guantanamo Bay and other prisons. He approved torture plans for Mohamedou Slahi and Mohammed al-Qahtani

5:03 PM · Jun 30, 2021

But Rumsfeld died without ever facing any accountability or justice for his actions because President Barack Obama’s administration refused to prosecute former Bush administration officials implicated in torture and other war crimes.

5:03 PM · Jun 30, 2021

Obituaries for Rumsfeld from establishment news media reflect a government and society that decriminalized torture by its leaders

5:03 PM · Jun 30, 2021

Richard Medhurst Tweets:

Rumsfeld is dead

GIF

9:55 PM · Jun 30, 2021

Member of the European Union MEP Radek Sikorski Tweets:

I worked with Donald Rumsfeld as Poland's minister of defence during the Iraq war 2005-2007 and I agree with this assessment. The man was a spiteful prig who landed the U.S. and its allies into a sea of unnecessary trouble.

How Rumsfeld Deserves to Be Remembered

America’s worst secretary of defense never expressed a quiver of regret.

12:31 AM · Jul 1, 2021

Akilah Hughes Tweets:

Donald Rumsfeld died by drowning in all the blood on his hands from the Iraq war. Really makes you think.

2:19 PM · Jun 30, 2021

Julian Borger (GUARDIAN) observes:

Donald Rumsfeld’s name will forever be associated with the biggest military fiasco in US history, the 2003 invasion of Iraq in pursuit of non-existent weapons of mass destruction, alongside the widespread use of torture that has dogged America’s reputation ever since.

It is not just the poor decisions he made as defence secretary for which Rumsfeld will be remembered, but also his efforts to cover up inconvenient facts that did not align with his version of reality.

Documents surfaced after the invasion that showed that Rumsfeld was quite aware of the gaping holes in the intelligence about Iraqi WMD, but he consistently presented the claims to the public as if they were cast-iron certainties.

He also played down the growing insurgency against the US-led occupation after Saddam Hussein’s fall, dismissing the collapse of law and order in Baghdad with the insouciant phrase “stuff happens”, which would go on to haunt him for the rest of his life.

His reluctance to heed warnings that did not fit in with his world view alienated the generals and the military rank and file. His insistence there was no serious threat in Iraq contributed to the fact that the US military was driving around in lightly armoured Humvees a year after the invasion.

In November 2006, the Army Times took the unusual step of calling for his resignation.

“Rumsfeld has lost credibility with the uniformed leadership, with the troops, with Congress and with the public at large,” an editorial said. “His strategy has failed, and his ability to lead is compromised. And although the blame for our failures in Iraq rests with the secretary, it will be the troops who bear its brunt.”

Iraq, the land of orphans and widows, remains a disaster thanks to Donald Rumsfeld and his ilk. As they struggle with one day after another over 100 degrees F and with little to no electricity, the protests resume. Zhyan English notes:

Arbat residents protest against lack of electricity and water and give the authorities a week deadline to meet their demands, southeast of Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region, Iraq, July 1, 2021.

Photos by Goran Abdulla 

#ZhyanEnglish #Electricity #Water #Sulaimani #TwitterKurd

7:18 AM · Jul 1, 2021

And they continue to protest in Basra.

Video of the protests in #basra #iraq tonight.

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Basra Today | البصرة اليوم

@basratoday__1

 · 15h

البصرة قبل قليل.

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5:47 PM · Jun 30, 2021

Protests continue, as MIDDLE EAST EYE notes, in spite of the attacks on the protesters.

The following sites updated:

Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills)

Saturday, July 03, 2021

The 5th Dimension

Thursday, July 01, 2021

Jim Morrison

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