While
some country stars including John Rich, who does not sell Bud Light at
his own Nashville bar, because he found it wasn't selling, support
Brooks' stand others have spoken out against the beer brand. Travis
Tritt, for example, has banned Budweiser products from his tour.
"I
will be deleting all Anheuser-Busch products from my tour hospitality
rider. I know many other artists who are doing the same," he posted on
Twitter.
Do you understand what that
means? Most people don't. If you're loving Travis for the above, all
it means is he's not drinking Bud Light. He's not banning it from the
facility -- he doesn't have that power, he doesn't own the arena or bar
he's playing in (I doubt he could fill a stadium so he's probably a
summer shed tour). All he's doing is saying no Bud Light for him. The
rider covers whatever the performer wants left for them -- the crafts
table. Van Halen, for example, wanted M&Ms with all the brown ones
removed. He's fake posing and tricking people into thinking he's actually doing something.
Thursday, July 12, 2023. When you're deeply removed from reality you
make stupid calls for increased oil production in a country already
suffering from climate change, in the US we find another hate merchant
who thinks equality does not matter and that she can also refuse
service, the grifters of YOUTUBE and their hidden cabal continue to plot
and scheme, and much more.
Starting in Iraq, KURDISTAN 24 reports,
"Iraq has so far witnessed more than 375 confirmed cases of
Crimean-Congo
Hemorrhagic Fever, a tick-borne disease that transmits from infected
animals to human beings, the country’s health minister announced on
Wednesday. The fatality rate to the disease in Iraq is 14 percent, Iraqi
Minister
of Health Saleh Mahdi Al-Hasnawi, told reporters in a presser held
following a ministerial meeting on the status of the disease, of which
377 infections have been recorded since January this year." Iraq has so
much on its plate and so much to deal with and address. Which makes Haitham El-Zobaidi's column at ARAB WEEKLY even more appalling:
Then there is the “Development Road” project recently announced by Iraqi
Prime Minister Mohammed Shiaa al-Sudani, which would establish a
railway link between the Gulf and Turkey that would cut the time
normally spent by ships travelling that distance.
[. . .]
The more pointed question is to what extent does the project constitute a priority now?
Okay, that part seems reasonable. And with the TotalEnergy deal we noted in Monday's snapshot
being hailed as a historic deal worth $27 billion with a supposed $10
billion investment in southern Iraq over the next 25 years, people are
seeing dollar signs and thinking what to do with them.
But then his column swerves into nonsense:
If money is available for investment in Iraq today, it should be
first spent on oil production and expansion of the gas industry
infrastructure.
Iraq’s oil production is not commensurate with the country’s
potential as one of the world’s largest oil reserves. Some say that Iraq
is the largest unexplored oil reservoir in the world, and that seismic
surveys have only explored a small part of that reservoir.
Not
on the infrastructure that matters the most to the people? Not spent
on the sewage infrastructure which would address the flooding in the
rainy seasons? Not addressing the electrical system that forces so many
Iraqis to rely on generators because 20 years after US 'liberation,'
Iraq still doesn't have dependable electricity. The money shouldn't go
to those things or to addressing the various health issues of which
Congo Fever is only one example.
No, the
columnist maintains, the money needs to "be first spent on oil
production and expansion of the gas industry infrastructure." Which is
spending more money, please note, destroying Iraq. He wants even more
oil pumped out of Iraq. Iraq which is already set to be one of the most
harmed by climate change according to every climate model out there,
needs to produce even more oil? And that's going to help Iraq? It's
dealing with water issues already. And the answer is to waste even more
water on oil production and to destroy even more of the environment?
Maybe
if he wasn't the chair and publisher of ARAB WEEKLY, someone would have
stopped this article from being published long enough to ask him, "What
the hell are you thinking?"
Clearly, he wasn't
thinking a damn thing. Every day, Iraq is facing worsening effects
from climate change And nothing seems to wake anyone up. Not last
week's dead fish, nothing.
Mohammed Hamid Nour is only 23, but he is already nostalgic for how
Iraq's Mesopotamian marshes once were before drought dried them up,
decimating his herd of water buffaloes.
Even at their centre in
Chibayish, only a few expanses of the ancient waterways -- home to a
Marsh Arab culture that goes back millennia -- survive, linked by
channels that snake through the reeds.
Pull back further and the water gives way to a parched landscape of bald and cracked earth.
Mohammed has lost three-quarters of his herd to the drought that is
now ravaging the marshes for a fourth-consecutive year. It is the worst
in 40 years, the United Nations said this week, describing the situation
as "alarming", with "70 percent of the marshes devoid of water".
"I
beg you Allah, have mercy!" Mohammed implored, keffiyah on his head as
he contemplated the disaster under the unforgiving blue of a cloudless
sky.
The buffaloes of the marshes produce the milk for the thick clotted "geymar" cream Iraqis love to have with honey for breakfast.
As
the marshes dry out, the water gets salty until it starts killing the
buffaloes. Many of Mohammed's herd died like this, others he was forced
to sell before they too perished.
"If the drought continues and
the government doesn't help us, the others will also die," said the
young herder, who has no other income.
Haitham
El-Zobaidi wants Iraq to produce even more oil each year. And he wants
any investment money coming in to be devoted to the oil industry. I
don't know if he's divorced from reality, but the two are at least
legally separated.
Palm trees need consistent care: watering, pruning and fertilizing. And when farmers had to leave, the trees suffered.
“So
many people are forced to sell their land for very cheap and,
oftentimes, farmers have found themselves working on land that they used
to own,” Rubaii explained.
Iraq has also been getting hotter and drier. According to the UN, it is the fifth-most vulnerable country to the impacts of climate change.
“There’s
a section of the southern part of Baghdad, if you drive through, you
can see a lot of trees that look like they’ve been decapitated,” Rubaii
added, “because sometimes when trees die, they keel over or, if they’re
not surviving, sometimes they get cut from the top.”
Making
matters worse is Iraq’s construction boom — especially in bigger cities
like Baghdad. It means that more farmers are choosing to cut down palm
trees entirely to make way for building projects.
Turning
to the US where noted bigot Jonathan Turley is no doubt working in
secret again with his Federalist Society buddies to create more test
cases to expand hate in this country while destroying democracy, John Russell (LGBTQ NATION) reports:
The owner of a Michigan hair salon is refusing to serve some members
of the LGBTQ+ community, flouting a state law banning discrimination on
the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in the wake of the
Supreme Court’s recent decision in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis.
In a recent Facebook post, Christine Geiger, the owner of
Studio 8 Hair Lab in Traverse City, Michigan, wrote that “If a human
identifies as anything other than a man/woman, please seek services at a
local pet groomer. You are not welcome at this salon. Period.”
Geiger added that she and her staff would refer to customers who request
to be addressed by a “particular pronoun” as “hey you,” regardless of
what Michigan’s H.B. 4744 states. The legislation, signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (D) in March,
added the categories of sexual orientation and gender identity to
Michigan’s 1976 Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA) banning
discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodation within
businesses, government buildings, and educational facilities on the
basis of religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height,
weight, familial status, and marital status.
Geiger’s post follows the Supreme Court’s ruling in 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis,
which said that certain business owners have the right under the First
Amendment’s free speech protections to deny service on the basis of
their personal beliefs. The court ruled in favor of a Christian web
designer in Colorado who argued that the state’s LGBTQ+-inclusive
anti-discrimination law violated her free speech rights by potentially
forcing her to create wedding websites for hypothetical same-sex
couples.
While some have argued that the decision narrowly applies to
businesses that provide “expressive services” and does not provide carte
blanche protection for any businesses to discriminate against LGBTQ+
people, many have predicted that anti-LGBTQ+ business owners inclined to
discriminate would interpret the ruling as a license to do so, despite state laws banning anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination.
I wasn't feeling blogging last night. I'm not feeling it today.
Sorry. I'm just tired of all the hate being hurled at the LGBTQ+
community. I just, I'm tired of it. I'm a mother of a gay man and it's
not abstract to me. These efforts to take away rights? It's not
abstract.
[. . .]
I feel very frightened for what this country is testing out on LGBTQ+
people. I feel very sad that a country of people who are loving and
caring people are being tricked and deceived by liars who are trying to
stir up hate. I feel very angry at grifters like Katie Halper who
cannot address what is going on but can chat and giggle with convicted
pedophile Scott Ritter or waste all of our time on yet another
look-what-they're-doing-to-Roger-Waters-now!!!!!
I'm just discouraged.
Understandable. It's not every day we see democracy destroyed by a corrupt Supreme Court.
That
decision created a two-tier system of citizenship -- declaring that
straight people (and presumably bi) have full rights but gay men and
lesbians don't have full rights. Their basic rights are dependent upon
the 'religious' beliefs of others. They can lose their rights -- as
they did in the illegitimate Court's ruling that found a hateful, ugly,
evil woman named Lorie Smith could refuse them service. As Justice
Sonia Sotomayor noted in her dissenting opinion, "Today, the Court, for
the first time
in its history, grants a business open to the public a constitutional
right to refuse to serve members of a protected class."
In
a statement to WWTV, Traverse City’s LGBTQ organization, Polestar, said
the comments made by the business owner “are not welcomed” in the city.
“Hate has shown time and time again to be a losing business strategy
and we must not allow this blight to take root in our town,” the
organization said. Traverse City is in northern Michigan about 140 miles
north of Grand Rapids.
Let's turn to the
media. She won't save anyone because she can't save herself, yes, we're
talking about the disgusting Katie Halper. Exiled from the left for
going on the grift. Life's hard for Katie. Her latest segment of THE
KATIE HALPER SHOW? Posted for 13 hours now and only a thousand
streams. Poor Katie. She's already lost integrity and ethics and now
she's losing so much more. When the ship goes down, she better start
batting her eyes at men from THE NATIONAL REVIEW because the left won't
have her. She's cozied up too much to transphobes and registered sex
offenders. No one will have you, Katie. And the only thing stopping me
from getting your WBAI program pulled is that I'm too busy right now
with too many other things. Pray my plate remains full, Halper, pray.
What's
that? BLACK POWER MEDIA. We posted the video last Friday shortly
after it went up online. Ava and I knew it was something we had to
address at THIRD so I've held off until we could do that. From our
piece at THIRD "TV: Trusting the audience versus attempting to manage it:"
Last
Friday, BLACK POWER MEDIA offered a segment entitled "A Green Party
Response to Cornel West." It was entertaining -- as BPM usually is --
and it was informative -- again, as BPM usually is. However, it was
also groundbreaking. Reality is not allowed on YOUTUBE. But somehow, we got some.
It was served up by Kamilah Harris and Renee Johnston as they spoke with Dr
Jared Ball about the Green Party. Jill Stein? Not liked. Not liked in
the rank-in-file. And people are asking about the 2016 bill she left
the Green Party with and why she continues to receive funds.
In
fact, tea was getting spilled left and right. A long code of silence
was exposed. Bri-Bri? She got name checked. The Medicare For All
campaign that Jimmy Dore was promoting. People jumped on it and Bri-Bri
was one of them. Renee pointed out that there was the whole issue of
why are they just focused on The Squad as opposed to pushing all
Democrats in the House to support Medicare For All: "Why
are we only trying to force a few people to support this? Why aren't we
going after all the people who claimed they would sign on to Force The
Vote?" That is a good point. We learned that this
'spontaneous' movement wasn't so spontaneous -- and that Jimmy Dore
pocketed money -- money raised for that cause but not spend on it.
"Nothing came of it," Kamilah noted, except a tiny march in DC with
Jackson Hinkle.
This group
was previously activated with regards to The People's Party -- Jimmy,
Bri-Bri, Cindy Sheehan, serial plagiarist Chris Hedges . . .
The
People's Party was not accountable to the people and refused to be
answerable to their so-called membership. "Nobody was elected to this
top board, by the way," Kamilah explained. "Nick Brana appointed
everyone to this board." Pressuring for accountability led to scripting
on what could be said at the meeting with the top board. Another
response? Appointing Cornel West and Jimmy Dore to the board. No,
there was no input from members. Nick just made another decision yet
again.
Listen
and note how the same group of people keep popping up -- behind the
scenes -- Bri-Bri, Jimmy Dore, Jill Stein, Cornel West, serial plagiarist Chris Hedges,
Medea Benjamin, etc etc. As Jared pointed out, "the same people caught
up in it. You've got Chris Hedges, you've got Cornel West, you've got
Jimmy Dore, you've got talented microphoned, you know, spokespeople.
You got somewhat celebrity -- football players, who ever."
Darryl
LC Moch (chair of the Green Party's Black Caucus) joined the
discussion briefly and he noted how the MPP tried to meet up with the
Green Party and Peace & Justice and other third parties -- "In terms
of trying to build a national front and to move the conversation and to
work better together in some ways without tearing each other apart."
Why, Darryl, asked were they trying to build a new party when they had
the Green Party already with ballot access.
Darryl
was the one who came up with the notion of the Green Party doing a
shadow government and it was noted that when Jill Stein later ran with
the idea (we'll note she did so without crediting Darryl for it), that
she couldn't even do that correctly. She created a shadow government or
announced she had but failed to follow through -- the plan was to
present what the Green Party would be doing so that you could show the
differences between the Democratic Party and the Green Party. And no
one's being gifted with the nomination, not Cornel, not anyone, "We not
handing you s**t. You've got to do the work. .. . You've still got to
earn it. "
Jill
Stein, Chris Hedges and Ajamu Baraka were called out for their
underhanded maneuvers. "Just be real with the public," Kamilah Harris
said with exasperation. "There's a whole lot of this that should be
discussed, that should be part of the process," Renee Johnston noted.
Reality,
Cornel is not even a candidate for the Green Party's presidential
nomination. Not only is he not the nominee, he's not really even a
candidate. He has filed no papers, no one has yet. Which is what
Darryl tried to walk viewers through as he said point blank, "We have no
recognized candidates at this time." And then, "We are nowhere near
the nomination yet."
The
sainted Jill Stein. When did that happen by the way? She was a lousy
campaigner in 2012 and in 2016. Oh, that's right. This same group
embraced her because they need to take on Russia-gate but couldn't
without her because they are that pathetic. And that's why they can't
-- and won't -- tell you -- whether it's Katie Insipid Halper or
whomever -- that Jill's not popular in the Green Party. A two-time
loser, she's not popular. Kamilah noted all the rumors currently
swirling around her (including that she's trying to get on the Green
Party ticket again but this time as the vice presidential nominee).
These things come up because she is so hated and because her actions are
so questionable.
"After
2016, the campaign she ran with Ajamu Baraka ended up in debt, "
Kamilah explained. And "she's still collecting money from her principal
campaign committee through the FEC. Like they just had a report that she
had just brought in, already in the first quarter, over $14,000."
And, as Renee pointed out, she's involved to this day in a lawsuit with
the FEC. But let's not talk about that, let's ignore real issues and
all be whores like Katie Halper.
These
behind the scenes tricksters. The first time we called out Jimmy
Dore, we gave him the benefit of the doubt. We thought he wasn't seeing
his own hypocrisy. He was seeing it, he just didn't give a damn.
We're talking about his 2020 and 2021 whines that the Green Party did
not make Jesse Ventura their presidential nominee. Now 2016 saw the
Democratic Party fix the primary to benefit Hillary Clinton. And some
Democrats found that outrageous. Then in 2020, Barack Obama and others
orchestrated the mass exodus to ensure that Joe Biden got the
nomination. So to hear him say that Jesse should have been given the
nomination? This wasn't a misunderstanding on Jimmy's part. He truly
believed that Jesse, who refused to run for the nomination, should have
just been given it. Why? Because Jimmy knows best, Jimmy knows better
and you damn well better go along with him -- that is his attitude. And
that's why you need to pay attention to all the backdoor deals and
efforts that they are participating in because they don't believe in
democracy, they don't believe people should have a say, they believe
people should be told what to do and told what to think.
Last
week, BLACK POWER MEDIA trusted their audience and it's really sad that
we think they deserve a standing ovation for that. Taking nothing away
from BPM, why in the world are we wanting to stand up and cheer for BPM
doing what everyone should be doing? Why? Because no one else seems
to want to do it. No one else seems to actually trust their audience.
Next
time you see Katie Halper fawning over Jill Stein and whoring for Jill,
grasp that there's so much that you don't know. And also grasp that
there's a cabal working behind the scenes not just to manage Cornel
West's campaign but to manage what you're going to know and what you're
going to think.
These grifters aren't imparting
knowledge, they're refusing to do that. They're telling you
half-truths and outright lies. They're making you their mark.
