Monday, March 14, 2022

Good for Dolly

Dolly Parton is a class act.  CNN reports:


Dolly Parton, one of popular music's most beloved stars, is taking herself out of the running for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's 2022 class of inductees.

In a statement shared to her social media accounts, the country chanteuse said that while she was "extremely flattered and grateful" for the nomination, she didn't feel she'd "earned that right."
"I really do not want votes to be split because of me, so I must respectfully bow out," she said.
    Parton was the sole country star on this year's ballot, which also included Eminem, A Tribe Called Quest and Dionne Warwick. 



    Good for her.  It is so good to get into that hall -- especially if you're a woman.  It takes guts to walk away and class.  Good for Dolly.



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


    Monday, March 14, 2022.  The persecution of Julian Assangec ontinues, truth tellers continue to fight back against the corporate media, and , in Iraq, Moqtada appears to be reaching out to Nouri.



    Starting with the ongoing persecution of Julian Assange.  US President Joe Biden wants to attack the free press and the First Amendment which is why he continues the government's atack on Julian Assange for exposing War Crimes -- such as in Iraq.  Joe will never punish the War Criminals (he'd have to punish himself) but he will go after Julian Assange.

    Kristinn Hrafusson is the editor-in-chief at WIKILEAKS and he speaks about the persecution of Julian in the video below.






    Jamse Bradford has a question:


    If Britain has a free press why is Julian Assange still in prison for publishing the truth?
    1:32 AM · Mar 13, 2022



    Luke Rudkowski Tweets:

    Julian Assange of
    @wikileaks
    had a pretty good approach at trying to prevent WAR, too bad the U.S illegally locked him up, tortured him and threw away the key as he is still rotting away in jail RIGHT NOW for the crime of journalism!
    12.9K views
    0:32 / 1:58
    11:42 AM · Mar 10, 2022


    In other news, THE GUARDIAN notes:


    The WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange will get married in Belmarsh prison on 23 March, with just four guests allowed to attend.

    Vivienne Westwood is designing a wedding dress for the 50-year-old’s fiancee, the lawyer Stella Moris, and a kilt for Assange, whose parents have links to Scotland. The designer has been a staunch supporter of Assange.

    Moris, who met Assange when he was living in London’s Ecuadorian embassy seeking political asylum, will marry the WikiLeaks founder in the high-security jail nearly three years after his arrest. The couple have two children.

    Moris, who spoke to her fiance on Sunday, told the PA news agency they were both “very excited” despite restrictions on the ceremony.


    Meanwhile, US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is set to fund al Qaeda with US tax dollars.  What are talking about?




    If you're late to the party . . .  Not Woke Enough Tweets:


    Just your family reminder that
    @SpeakerPelosi
    rammed through the #OmnibusBill from 12 am to 130 am. Included..... 14 BILLION dollars to Ukraine. Because sending 14 BILLION to Ukraine helps the U.S. government operate. WAKE. UP. PEOPLE.
    5:09 AM · Mar 11, 2022


    While Sasha Tweets:


    Why are sending so much aid to Ukraine over 14 billion dollars but you can’t help out Americans by cancelling student debts? You could do it but you expect Americans to just take crumbs while paying for everything else! AMERICANS FIRST we can’t afford new cars food or gas!
    10:12 AM · Mar 10, 2022


    A certain Swedish government has been in the news for possibly funding ISIS.  There's no question that Nancy's $14 billion gift would fund al Qaeda.  


    She wont help the American people.  Chris Floyd Tweets of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelsi:


    Pelosi is perhaps the most inept, ineffective political leader of our time. I won't attribute it to her age, because I know several people older than her who are sharp, insightful, vigorous and wise. I will, however, attribute it to her wealth, which has separated her from even

    the slightest understanding of the lives of ordinary people in this godforsaken century. She's lived in this golden circle of riches and power for 50 years and is utterly tone-deaf to anything outside of it.
    7:40 PM · Mar 13, 2022


    Margaret Kimberley observes:


    And she is Speaker precisely because she is rich and well connected and tone deaf.
    9:10 PM · Mar 13, 2022


    The editorial board of WSWS notes:


    As the conflict develops, the US and NATO are involving themselves ever more directly in the proxy war against Russia. The imperialist powers provoked the conflict with the idea that they could bog down Russia in an Afghanistan-like conflict, using the fact that Ukraine is not officially part of NATO to pursue the war without provoking a direct conflict between Russia and NATO.

    However, as the war has developed, the fiction that NATO is not directly involved is increasingly impossible to maintain. Over 20 countries, including most members of NATO, have poured missiles, anti-aircraft systems, aircraft, vehicles and other weapons into Ukraine. The United States, having transferred over $350 million in weapons to Ukraine in the span of just two weeks, authorized another $200 million in military equipment over the weekend.

    [. . .]

    The escalating war between the US-NATO and Russia over Ukraine is at the same time a war against the entire working class. With surging prices causing real wages to plummet, workers are simply told to grit their teeth in the name of defending “freedom”—that is, the right of Ukraine to join the NATO military alliance. “NATO Needs More Guns and Less Butter,” demanded a March 7 op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, calling for Social Security and Medicare to be gutted.

    In just a matter of weeks, the war has set the stage for a massive realignment of government expenditures around the world. Last week, the United States passed the largest military budget in history, while slashing remaining funding for the COVID-19 pandemic. Germany has utilized the crisis to triple its military budget.

    The war will, in other words, become the occasion for a massive reduction of living standards for the working class, in which real wage declines caused by runaway inflation are accompanied by social austerity and court-mediated injunctions against strikes in the name of “national security.”



    Cindy Sheehan offers the following:


    I have lived through the Domino Theory in Southeast Asia;  “WMD” in Iraq and the demonization of many world leaders, including, but not limited to: Fidel Castro; Saddam Hussein; The (fill in the blank) Terrorist Group; M. Qaddafi; Hugo Chavez; Evo Morales; etc, etc. Some of those leaders stayed strong, but most met the final solution fate of Empire. Under Republican and Democrat regimes alike, the crapaganda has been strong and their voters very weak and gullible. Today, the current "bad guy" is Vladimir Putin of Russia.

    Back before my son was KIA in Iraq (after Saddam was hung and beheaded), I remember Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina (since, opposed the war; now deceased) changing the name of “French” Fries to “Freedom” Fries in the Capitol’s dining room. At that time, I would have considered myself proudly liberal, and I thought the Republicans were being the biggest xenophobic drama queens on the face of the earth. It was hilarious. There was a frightening aspect to the fearporn on steroids, though: many Sikh were attacked because dopes thought they were Islamic. Today, we are seeing an increase in attacks on Russian business owners here in the states. Most of these people have said that they are not pro-Russia invading Ukraine, but the attackers also don’t get the irony that the neo-Nazi regime in KIEV has been murdering Russian speakers in east Ukraine for eight-years; so not only do they “stand” with Ukraine, but they are doing its dirty work, as well.

    Now, over 20 years later, I am not liberal, in fact, they terrify me. Ever ones to jump on the newest cause célèbre, liberals, who I am sure, couldn't name the president of Ukraine two weeks ago, are pledging devotion and love to the U.S. puppet Zelenskyy (displacing the now mostly forgotten Anthony Fauci) (READ ABOUT THE REAL ZELENSKYY HERE).  Liberals are the ones dumping out their Russian vodka (many brands here are NOT made in Russia) and boycotting Russian dressing: A product of Vermont. The weirdest thing to me is that they don’t see how truly preposterous they are being with their double-standards. Most democrat faithful still believe the now discredited lie that Putin stole the election from the horrific Hillary Clinton and that somehow Trump is pulling his strings to this day. Currently with this vilification of Putin, a Democrat is steering the War Ship of state in DC.  So, falling easily into the trap of the imperialists,  "antiwar" liberals are now demanding no-fly zones over Ukraine; increased funding for NATO; more armaments for Ukraine; and eliminating Putin all together (okay, that was an anti-Trump conservative, Lindsey Graham). I said it after the 2016 election when they were screaming for increased sanctioning of Russia, that these liberal Democrats would rather have World War III than admit their shitty candidate lost on her own demerits. With their cries for increased hostility and not diplomacy, their allegiance to the bloodiest Empire in human history is despicable and dangerous for all life on planet Earth.

    No one has to gaze across the miles to Russia to look for the reason the world is on the brink of another World War—they just have to look at the criminals in WashedUp, DeCeit and their stenographers in the legacy media. Dopey Joe Biden is the spearhead of this latest crisis.

    "Garland Nixon
    @GarlandNixon
    BREAKING NEWS: Anonymous US officials report that Russian troops are taking babies out of incubators and throwing them on the floor in Kuwait."

    In 2014 (not ancient history), the U.S. poured millions of dollars to promote and support a “color” revolution in Ukraine. Of course, many times these protests begin with legitimate grievances from the people; but as the diminutive Democrat, Rahm Emanuel famously said, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” The State Department’s apparatchik on the ground at the time was the notoriously belligerent Victoria Nuland and the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt did everything in their power to depose the leader and install one more friendly to the US, and, as it happens, more friendly to neo-Nazi elements in Ukraine.


    In Iraq, who's back in the news?  Nouri al-Maliki.  Jawad Bashara Tweets:


    Après la dernière manœuvre de Muqtada al-Sadr pour contacter Nouri al-Maliki et arriver en principe à sortir de l'impasse et du blocage politique, il annoncera très bientôt une alliance politique qui se considérera comme le plus grand bloc au Parlement sous le nom [Alliance pour
    5:05 AM · Mar 14, 2022


    October 10th, elections were held in Iraq; however, all this time later, still no president, still no prime minister.  Farhad Alaaldin (RUDAW) reports:

    As political stalemate continues in Baghdad, rumours are swirling around the leader of the Sadrist movement’s nomination for prime minister. In recent days, Muqtada al-Sadr has made rounds of phone calls to Iraqi leaders, including his arch-rival Nouri al-Maliki, to discuss his choice of potential candidate. Sources suggest he is keen to nominate his cousin for the post: Iraq's ambassador to the United Kingdom, Mohammad Jaafar al-Sadr (MJS).
     
    Little is known about him, but MJS is the son of the revered Shiite leader Sayeed Mohammad Baqir al-Sadr, the founder of the Islamic Dawa Party, and movements such as the Sadrists and Asaib Ahl al-Haq, who follow his ideals.
     
    MJS worked at the Ministry of Foreign affairs for some time, and was elected as a member of parliament in 2010 with the State of Law, led by Maliki, whereupon he resigned a few months later.
     
    In a rare interview published in Elaph in 2010, MJS discussed his ideals and shared his hopes for Iraq and its future.


    Last week, KURDISTAN 24 Tweeted:


    According to the Shiite cleric’s office, before speaking with KDP President Barzani, al-Sadr called Mohammad al-Halboosi, the Iraqi Speaker of Parliament, and his long-time rival, Nouri al-Maliki.
    kurdistan24.net
    KDP President Masoud Barzani and Moqtada al-Sadr discuss government formation on phone
    The alliance has called for a majority government, while the opposition favors maintaining the consensus-based formation, a political institution since 2005.
    4:03 AM · Mar 11, 2022


    Whether this will move the stalemate towards resolution is anyone's guess.  Though the US press ignored it, the two met -- along with others -- back in December in a meet-up organized by Hadi al-Amiri.



    The following sites updated:




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