That's Chase Rice. "Bench Seat" is from his new album I HATE COWBOYS AND ALL DOGS GO TO HELL -- which I praised here. It's a great album.
I like Brad Paisley and he was probably the first country
artist considered 'new' back when I first praised him here. He's very
talented and you can consider me a fan. But . . . AP reports:
A
year ago, country star Brad Paisley watched the news on television as
Russian troops invaded Ukraine and, like many people around the world,
he felt helpless at the images of people fleeing their homes.
“The world felt like it was in a new place that it hadn’t been in decades," the three-time Grammy winner recalls.
That
is garbage and deeply disappointing. He can do a song for the people
of Ukraine. No problem with that at all. But to the leader? Stop
sucking the penis of the powerful. Honestly. I thought Brad was more
of a man than to worship some leader. That's without factoring in
Zelensyy's very troubling history. I don't care if it was Macron or
Trudeau or whomever. Celebrate the people 100%. Let's stop treating
leaders as though they're heroes -- especially when their actions aren't
heroic.
That leaves a
very bad taste in my mouth. I really was not surprised when I learned
that Brad had done a song for the people of Urkaine. I was going to
hunt down the video and highlight it here. I thought, "That is so great
that he's showing support for them." And I Google for the video and
the AP story pops up at the top of the search.
So
no. No video getting posted here. I don't like encouraging people to
worship human leaders as though they're God. Don't approve of it, won't
co-sign on it.
Remember,
I'm trying to do another album review for Sunday. It'll be Diana Ross
SURRENDER which AMAZON was supposed to deliver January 27th but only
just now arrived on Tuesday.
Starting
with the war on the LGBTQ+ community, let's note this report from QUEER
NEWS TONIGHT on the over 120 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced in January by
Republican politicians across the country. Over 120.
Critics have long argued that theTimes is
falling short in its LGTBQ+ coverage, particularly of trans kids, but
the debate around the publication’s standards exploded into public view
last week.
Thousands of Times contributors signed onto an open letter, organized by the Freelance Solidarity Project and
delivered to leadership on 15 February, which voiced “serious concerns
about editorial bias in the newspaper’s reporting on transgender,
nonbinary, and gender nonconforming people.”
The
letter accused the storied paper of violating its own ethical standards
around neutrality by treating “gender diversity with an eerily familiar
mix of pseudoscience and euphemistic, charged language, while
publishing reporting on trans children that omits relevant information
about its sources.”
The
letter pointed to a recent article referring to a person seeking
gender-affirming healthcare with the term “patient zero,” and another
instance where a source’s affiliation with an anti-trans hate groups
wasn’t mentioned.
The document noted with dismay that coverage by The New York Times has
been cited by various GOP officials who are waging attacks on trans
youth in court and in legislatures across the country; it argued that
the Times was fueling a similar media-political feedback loop
that saw previous generations demonise those with HIV/Aids and those who
were gay.
You
may remember the great Glenneth Greenwald snickering and pooh-pahing
the letter. It's because he doesn't know journalism. He had some legal
training -- not good legal training -- though I do love the story from
those years about how he went on a transphobic rant when a group of
friend proposed they see PARIS IS BURNING, it's so very Glenneth -- but
he's had no journalistic training at all and he doesn't understand what
it's about to this day.
It's
no surprise that Glenneth would join NYT in endorsing the attacks,
that's how he made his pathetic name, after all, by joining NYT's war on
Iraq. That is his history.
You'd think by now he'd put some effort into being a decent human being but you would be wrong.
And he runs with others who are, at best, disappointing.
Max
Blumenthal is disgusting.
He attacked Jaqueline Luqman on Jimmy Dore's YOUTUBE program -- with Aaron Mate nodding along. He lied about her.
BLACK POWER MEDIA called his lies out.
He lies about her.
He attacks Jaqueline Luqman with lies and then we see his followers
throughout the thread -- a bunch of White racists and Indian
racists attacking her for her race. And no one's supposed to notice
that?
Let's pretend that at least one or two of Max's fans honestly do not get it and let's try to walk them through slowly.
If
someone is racist, they aren't your friend. It's not a
can't-we-work-together-in-Congress Dem and Rep issue. This is someone
signing up for your destruction. No, you cannot ask African-Americans
to just try to get along with racists. Do racists stay racist their
whole lives. No. People can learn and they can grow. But it's not the
responsibility of an African-American to educate a White racist (or one
from India). Nor should anyone dismiss concerns of violence.
African-Americans have very good reasons -- historical -- for not
electing to mix with racists. You're too entitled and privileged if you
can't see that on your own.
And asking them to 'work together'?
How very Phyllis George of you, Max, how very Phyllis George.
Before
Gayle King put CBS THIS MORNING on the map, the show was a joke for
decades. Never so much as when Phyllis George had her infamous moment.
Gary Dotson had just been released from prison after the woman who said
he raped her, Cathy Webb, admitted she lied. CBS just knew the thing
to do was have them both on the program at the same time. At the end of
the segment, Phyllis suggested, "How about a hug?" (CRAPAPEDIA is yet
again wrong, she did not ask them to "hug it out" -- she did not use
those words, nor would anyone have in 1985 -- so CRAPAPEDIA needs to
take them out of quotes. I would love it if I didn't have to dictate
and anticipate e-mails at the same time. But I did say, "Stop, look up
Phyllis George on CRAPAPEDIA and tell me if they quote her." They did.
They have it wrong. Refer to Tom Shales, WASHINGTON POST report in real time --
May of 85 -- and if the link for it isn't there when this goes up, give
me an hour or two -- we're doing Zooms -- and I'll have put it in
myself.)
That's
what Max basically wants, an African-American to give a racist a hug
and then come work with him and the racists on his issue.
That is disrespectful and its ignorant.
And
how dare you ask the oppressed to make nice with their oppressor. On
the face of it, Max should have realized how stupid this was.
Max
and his ilk whine about both-side-ism all the time. What's more
both-side-ist than asking someone targeted with racism to work with a
racist. Civil rights and racism are not two equal views.
Max chose to go with racists and transphobes and that's, sorry, because he is both.
That's
why Anya Panya can't stop mocking trans persons online at her Twitter
account. It's why Max can't recognize that African-Americans are not
his minions. Just because he wants -- he says -- to avoid a nuclear war,
doesn't mean they give up their own agency and their own beliefs to toe his
line. But when you don't see a person as a person due to their race,
when you think you own their actions -- and, indeed, think you own them,
that's racism. Racism is also evident in Max's response to Jacqueline.
He attacks her because she won't do what he wants, he attacks her with
lies and tries to ignite his White (and Indian) mob against her. Max,
you're doing everything but disclosing her address as you hand out white
sheets.
It is not a good look for you.
Once
upon a time, Max, you were a very cute little boy who had the widest
smile and the biggest heart. If you've let the world beat that out of
you, that makes me want to cry. That's who I saw for years now when
others picked on or attacked you and why I rushed to your defense over
and over. You are so much better than your current behavior indicates. You owe it to who you were
to take a look at how you're behaving right now.
Michael
Anderson: I was bartending that evening when the attack began. I felt
more terrified than I ever have before. I ran for my life that night
and hid -- praying and hoping the violence would end. When I stared
down the barrel of that gun, I realized I stood no chance against a
weapon of that power, magazine capacity, and seemingly automatic firing
rate. While I prepared for my life to end in that moment, I prayed. I
panicked. And I prayed some more. God must have heard my prayers
because two brave men stopped the shooter moments before he would have
inevitably found me. I saw my friend lying on the floor, bleeding out,
knowing there was little to no chance of surviving the bullet wound. I
had to tell him goodbye while I continued to fear for my life, not
knowing if the attack was truly over.
The
shooting also left twenty-five people injured. We'll quote former US
House Rep Carolyn Maloney from a US House Oversight Committee press
release on that hearing:
“Last month, a person with
an AR-15-style assault rifle entered Club Q—a nightclub that served as a
haven for LGBTQI+ people in the Colorado Springs community—and opened
fire on unsuspecting bar patrons and staff. The attacker’s depravity
robbed us of five innocent lives—Daniel Aston, Raymond Green Vance,
Kelly Loving, Ashley Paugh, and Derrick Rump,” said Chairwoman Maloney
in her opening statement.
“Let us honor them by recommitting to the bold action necessary to
ensure that every person in the United States can experience the freedom
to live authentically and safely—regardless of who they love or how
they identify.”
The great Glenneth, of course, rushed forward to insist that the shooter being non-binary meant that it wasn't homophobia.
It was shocking because you'd think if anyone would be an expert on internalized homophobia, it would be Glenneth.
As
we noted then, it was very likely that the shooter was dealing with
issues of homophobia -- whether the shooter was non-binary or not.
Detective Rebecca Joines testiftied that Aldrich ran a neo-Nazi
website that featured a white supremacist training video glorifying mass
shootings, posted an image of a Pride parade with a rifle scope trained
on it, and used anti-LGBTQ+ and racist slurs
while gaming. Joines said that while those who knew Aldrich were
unaware that they identified as nonbinary, Aldrich had told them that
their mother, Laura Voepel, was nonbinary and had taken them to gay
bars. Aldrich’s defense showed a photo of Aldrich and Voepel at Club Q
taken in August 2021.
We'll wind down with this from the one and only Jody Watley, the legend, the trend setter, the
show stopper, the dance queen, the fashionista, the all around wonderful
person, will be hosting her own program starting next month. Reposting
from Jody's site:
“Check out Jody Watley! She
is out here making boss moves. For instance, in celebration of Women’s
History Month, the musical icon will host a new monthly 2-hour show
exclusively on SiriusXM’s The Groove. The first guest will be Emmy
winning actress Sheryl Lee Ralph.
Two
former House GOP candidates say the Air Force alerted them this month
that their military records were improperly released during the midterm
campaign.
Sam Peters, a Republican who challenged Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) in November, and Kevin Dellicker, who fell short in the GOP primary race to take on Rep. Susan Wild (D-Pa.),
both received Feb. 8 letters from the Air Force notifying them that
Abraham Payton of Due Diligence Group made “multiple requests” for their
military personnel records last year.
In both Peters and Dellicker’s cases, the Air Force identified Payton, a former research director for
the Democratic group American Bridge, as having “inappropriately
requested” copies of their records for “for the stated purpose of
employment and benefits.”
Peters
and Dellicker are the fourth and fifth known recipients of Air Force
letters regarding the records releases, which have sparked an
investigation by House Republicans. They are joining Reps. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) and Zach Nunn (R-Iowa)
in seeking an additional investigation of any illegal activity that may
have occurred surrounding the requests for their military records, a
push first reported by POLITICO on Tuesday.
Abraham
Payton needs to be sent to federal prison. No plea deal. No slap on
the wrist. He lied to obtain forms -- "for the stated purupose of
employment and benefits." That's fraud and he knowingly
misrepresented. He needs to go prison. A message needs to be sent to
all political operatives that if you break the law, you go to prison.
At least three personnel files improperly released by the Air Forcein
the lead-up to last year’s midterm elections belonged to Republican
House candidates, the result of an Democrat-funded investigative firm’s
effort that the targeted lawmakers say went beyond dirty politics — and
was criminal.
The
chairs of the Republican-led House Oversight and Armed Services
committees said in a letter to Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin last week
that an internal Air Force audit had showed 11 files were improperly disclosed to Due Diligence Group, LLC between October 2021 and December 2022.
Reps.
James Comer (R-Ky.) and Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said the firm had
“allegedly misrepresented itself in order to obtain access to the
personnel records without authorization or consent.”
I agree. And any Democrat who did business with Due Diligence Group, LLC needs to publicly rebuke them. This is outrageous.
I'm not a lawyer but I do wonder if the false claims act would apply in any way here:
Many
of the Fraud Section’s cases are suits filed under the False Claims Act
(FCA), 31 U.S.C. §§ 3729 - 3733, a federal statute originally enacted
in 1863 in response to defense contractor fraud during the American
Civil War.
The
FCA provided that any person who knowingly submitted false claims to
the government was liable for double the government’s damages plus a
penalty of $2,000 for each false claim. The FCA has been amended
several times and now provides that violators are liable for treble
damages plus a penalty that is linked to inflation.
In
addition to allowing the United States to pursue perpetrators of fraud
on its own, the FCA allows private citizens to file suits on behalf of
the government (called “qui tam” suits) against those who have
defrauded the government. Private citizens who successfully bring qui
tam actions may receive a portion of the government’s recovery. Many
Fraud Section investigations and lawsuits arise from such qui tam
actions.
The
Department of Justice obtained more than $5.6 billion in settlements
and judgments from civil cases involving fraud and false claims against
the government in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2021. More
information about those recoveries can be found here and the 2021 FCA statistics can be found here.
If so, it would appear any citizen could sue over this matter.
Thursday, February 23, 2023. Iraq activists are under assault, Anya
Panya and the faux activists from the weekend continue to be called out
for their racism and transphobia, look who took a plea deal, and much
more.
We get busy and things get dropped all the time as a
result. I was planning, months ago, to announce news in a criminal
proceeding. It's several months old, the Justice Dept's press release,
but I was talking to a veteran with a VSO yesterday and he brought up
when Nancy Pelosi was Speaker of the House and shoved an unqualified and
corrupt member of Congress down a committee's throat. To give a little
background, the VA was having one scandal after another. The most
recent one ahead of this shoving was the VA's failure to deliver the
checks for veterans going to college. Veterans had to pay it themselves
or take out loans. They knew it -- the VA knew it was going to happen
ahead of the fall schedule. And, as Christmas approached, some veterans
still hadn't received their checks. Their family holiday was on hold.
It was disgusting and it was disgusting the way the media walked away
from the story long before it was over.
The
work of so many on that Committee -- Democrats and Republicans -- was
important in fixing this issue for the veterans. I especially would
cite Stephanie Herseth Sandlin whose work on a House VA Subcommittee
really helped get answers -- especially after the media had
Baby-cried-the-day-the-circus-came-to-town and moved on.
The Committee worked as a team to help the veterans on this issue . . . with one exception.
Wig woman.
Bad wig woman.
Corrine Brown.
The Snuffleupgus of K-Street herself, "Can you tell me how to be crooked, how to be crooked on K-Street."
There
was Corrine explaining how she stayed up late nights eating and
watching cable 'news' and FOX told her that this was the veterans fault
and if those dumb veterans had done their paperwork right, there never
would have been a delay and blah blah blah.
She
couldn't fix her wig, did we really not notice that over and over and
over. Con artist was blaming veterans to let the VA off the hook, even
after testimony in Stephanie's subcommittee hearing revealed that the VA
knew this was going to happen, was warned over four months before the
start of the fall semester that it would happen. But facts don't matter
to a con artist.
Over
the uproar of many veterans, Speaker Pelosi decided her friend was just
the crook to head the Democratic Party side of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. VSOs were
begging for Tim Walz. Walz was a member of the Committee, he was also a
veteran. Unlike Corrine, Tim spoke English.
But Pelosi installed her friend Corrine the Crook.
Where's Tim today?
Serving his second term as governor of Minnesota. Congratulations to him.
Hard
time in prison. It was supposed to be five years but COVID panic
allowed her to get an early release on April 22, 2020. She then thought
Florida voters were insane and would vote for her so she ran in the
Democratic Party primary for a seat . . . and came in fourth. But
Corrine isn't just a convicted felon. She's also a convict who doesn't
want to go back to the big house. A technicality from a lower court
meant she was facing a second trial set for May of last year. Which
is why she entered into a plea deal right before then:
Former Congresswoman Corrine Brown Pleads Guilty To Corrupt Obstruction Of The Administration Of The Internal Revenue Laws
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Florida
Thursday, May 19, 2022
Jacksonville,
Florida – United States Attorney Roger B. Handberg announces that
Corrine Brown (75, Jacksonville) today pleaded guilty to engaging in a
corrupt endeavor to obstruct and impede the due administration of the
internal revenue laws. After accepting her guilty plea, Chief Judge
Timothy J. Corrigan sentenced Brown to the time that she had already
served in the custody of the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, specifically two
years, eight months, and nine days. Brown was also ordered to pay
$62,650.99 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service.
According
to the plea agreement, between October 15, 2009, and October 15, 2015,
Brown caused her certified public accountant to file individual income
tax returns for tax years 2008 through 2014 that did not include income
associated with cash deposits into her bank accounts. During the same
period, Brown also over-reported her charitable giving by inflating
total gifts to charitable organizations and non-profit entities. Brown
signed each referenced tax return under penalty of perjury, knowing that
each one contained false information. In addition, Brown caused two
Jacksonville non-profit entities to create letters that did not
accurately reflect her donations so that Brown could use those letters
during an IRS audit.
Brown was previously convicted by a federal jury for various offenses; after Brown’s appeal, her earlier conviction was vacated.
The
Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Internal Revenue Service –
Criminal Investigation investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys
A. Tysen Duva and Michael J. Coolican of the Middle District of Florida
and Trial Attorney Michelle Parikh and former Deputy Chief Eric G.
Olshan of the Criminal Division’s Public Integrity Section prosecuted
the case.
Crooked Corrine. The felon.
That's
who Nancy Pelosi put in charge for the Democrats on the House Veterans Affairs
Committee. Not Tim Walz, crooked Corrine, who suffers from both mush
mouth and a nasty addiction to bad wigs. Nancy 'knew' that was the
right decision and she rejected the leaders of every VSO to put Corrine
in charge.
When
they write about her legacy, Crooked Corrine should be a large chapter
in THE BOOK OF NANCY. And we should all wonder why Nancy refused to
employ a veteran to be the head of the House Veterans Affairs
Committee? She chose a crook over a veteran. That's her legacy -- that
and being Speaker when ROE V WADE was overturned -- and failing to push
for it to be codified in 2009 when she was also Speaker (running for
president, Barack Obama lied that codifying ROE would be the first thing
he would do as president).
I
need to correct the idiot Anya Parampil. When not expressing her
transphobia or cozying up to the right wing, she likes to insist that
she's smart. Pretense. She gave a bad speech on Sunday insisting that
four presidential candidates were present. Uh, no.
Anya The Transphobe apparently never learned to count.
One.
Not four.
One.
Use your fingers if you have to, Anya, but I'm pretty sure even you can count to one.
Jill Stein was the Green's presidential candidate in 2012 and 2016. The rest weren't
presidential candidates.
Tulsi
Gabbard was not a presidential candidate. She did not run for
president. You run for president, you're a presidential candidate.
Tulsi is a failed candidate for the Democratic Party's presidential
nomination. Similarly, Ron Paul has run twice for a party's
presidential nomination (Republican) and he has not won it. Dennis
Kucinich also twice pursued a political party's presidential nomination
and twice failed. He's not
really a presidential candidate. A presidential candidate is on the
ballot in the general election -- or running as a write-in nominee in
the general election. It's kind of like saying Tulsi or Ron or Dennis
graduated
top of their class in medical school when, in fact, they applied but
were not accepted.
While we're
dealing with the transphobe Anya Parampil, let's note a few more things
about her and her racist action. She has a Tweet, by the way, where
people have again called her out and she's whining that's she's tired of
being called a racist and a transphobe.
She's tired of it.
I think the country's tired too -- of her racism and transphobia. Let's note some of the responses.
We could go on and on. And I'm sure the truth hurts for Anya Panya.
And
here's a truth, they could have had two past presidential candidates
participating in their fake action over the weekend. Cynthia McKinney
taped a video for them -- just like Roger Waters. Now maybe Anya used
too much time truing to strut on the stage? Who knows? But they
refused to show it at the rally. They did briefly post it to their
website before pulling it down.
She's not a
racist and it wasn't a racist event, they insist. But the only
African-American woman who was to speak was censored. Cynthia was the
2008 presidential nominee for the Green Party.
Tell
us again, Anya Panya, how you're not a racist and it wasn't a racist
rally but Cynthia was removed from the program? Former member of
Congress, former US presidential candidate.
And
everyone grasp that they decided to remove her after they were already
under fire for the racist nature of their rally. Grasp that. Anya
Panya better get used to being called a racist because she is one. If
she doesn't like being called that, she needs to do the work required to
end her own internal racism. She can start by publicly apologizing to
Cynthia McKinney. If she can't do that? She's just a liar.
Iraq’s environmental activists
are facing threats, harassment, and arbitrary detention by government
officials and armed groups, Human Rights Watch said today.
On February 16, 2023, leading Iraqi environmentalist Jassim al-Asadi
was released after being abducted on February 1 by an unidentified armed
group and held for more than two weeks. Al-Asadi said in a TV interview
that he was subjected to “most severe forms of torture” using
“electricity and sticks” during his captivity, and was moved from place
to place. Human Rights Watch confirmed with his family that the voice in
the interview is his. It appears he was released after intervention by
the Iraqi government. Al-Asadi’s kidnapping is the latest in a string of
acts of retaliation against environmental activists apparently intended
to halt their advocacy.
“Rather than taking decisive steps to solve Iraq’s critical
environmental issues, Iraqi authorities are instead attacking the
messenger,” said Adam Coogle,
deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Decimating the
country’s environmental movement will only worsen Iraq’s capacity to
address environmental crises that affect a range of critical rights.”
Government agencies have detained and prosecuted other activists for
speaking out about environmental problems. Salman Khairalla, another
environmentalist and co-Founder of Humat Dijlah
(Tigris River Protectors Association), told Human Rights Watch that he
believes armed groups and Iraqi officials are targeting key members of
the environmental movement to silence them and send a threatening
message to others.
In November 2022, Human Rights Watch released a report
documenting that Iraqi authorities have failed to ensure any
accountability for state security personnel and state-backed armed
groups responsible for killing, maiming, and disappearing hundreds of
demonstrators and activists since 2019.
Iraqi authorities should immediately hold accountable those
responsible for extrajudicial punishments such as kidnapping, stop using
the justice system to harass and retaliate against environmental
activists, and drop all abusive legal cases against them, Human Rights
Watch said.
Al-Asadi’s brother told Human Rights Watch that al-Asadi was driving
on the highway with his cousin on the morning of February 1 when two
cars stopped him six kilometers south of the capital. Armed men in
civilian clothes handcuffed him and forced him into one of the vehicles,
taking him to an unrevealed location and leaving his cousin in the car
on the side of the road. His brother said he did not know the motivation
behind his brother’s kidnapping but that many government backers were
not happy about his environmental activities.
Al-Asadi is the founder of the local nongovernmental organization, Nature Iraq, which aims,
“to protect, restore, and preserve Iraq’s natural environment and the
rich cultural heritage that it nourishes.” Al-Asadi has appeared
regularly in local and foreign media outlets to raise awareness of the
threats facing the country's southern wetlands, including drought and
loss of vegetation coverage.
His brother said that the family reported the kidnapping to a
National Security office in Baghdad and Iraqi security forces began
investigating the case. The case reached the attention of Iraqi Prime
Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, who assured the family
“that there’s no armed force above the law and that everyone is subject
to the authority and law of the state.” A few days later, Al-Asadi was
released, but the reason for his detention and identity of the
kidnappers have not emerged.
Although the Iraqi government appears to have taken steps to
intervene and secure al-Asadi’s release, in other cases Iraqi
authorities themselves have been responsible for retaliation against
environmental activists in response to their efforts to draw attention
to human rights breaches linked to the country’s environment and
climate.
In late 2019, Iraqi authorities arbitrarily detained Salman
Khairalla, another environmentalist, prompting the then-UN special
rapporteur on human rights defenders to intervene to demand his release. After Khairalla was released on bail, he left Baghdad.
Another activist, Raad Habib al-Assadi, head of
Chabbayish Organization, an environmental organization, told Human
Rights Watch that during the 2019 and 2020 droughts that struck Iraq, he
criticized the Water Resources Ministry for its poor policies and
responses to the worsening water situation. He said that he published
basic information about the droughts in the marshes in Nasiriyah, such
as how much the water levels were dropping. The ministry retaliated by
taking him to court.
On October 5, 2020, Dhi Qar Federal Court of Appeals ordered Habib to appear in court under Article 434 of Penal Code,
which criminalizes insulting any person or imputing the reputation of
another, and carries a penalty of up to one year in prison and/or a
fine.
A court acquitted him in February 2021, but ministry representatives
subsequently filed a second case against him, under Article 229 of
Iraq’s Penal Code, which criminalizes insults or threats to, “an
official or other public employee or council or official body in the
execution of their duties or as a consequence of those duties.” This
“crime” is punishable by up to two years in prison or a fine.
Habib told Human Rights Watch that the court also acquitted him of
the new charges, with the final acquittal coming on December 10, 2022.
But ministry officials continue to appeal the acquittal.
Habib said he is forced to attend the appeal hearings to avoid prison
and believes that ministry officials are drawing out the case to punish
him. “Every Monday and Thursday I have to go to the court [to deal with
the appeals],” he said. “But nothing happens when I go to court. I
attend and then the appeal is delayed – one week or 10 days or 14 days.
But if I don’t attend, the authorities can issue an arrest warrant.”
He said ministry officials have offered to drop the case against him
if he pledges to stop criticizing the ministry, but he has refused.
“I did nothing wrong, I only shared information about the droughts in
marshes and they treated me as a criminal,” Habib said. “I can’t travel
or do anything because I have to go to the court every Monday and
Thursday. The ministry officials told me, ‘We want to quiet you.’”
“The Iraqi government’s muzzling of environmentalists who are trying
to raise awareness around the country’s grave challenges is part of a
broader attitude that sees civil society groups as threats rather than partners,” Coogle said.
It seems clear that now is the moment of truth as it is time for Iraq
to comply with American conditions as set out by US Ambassador Alina
Romanowski and as discussed in Turkey and finalised in Washington.
Iraqi Prime Minister Muhammad Shiaa al-Sudani has not hesitated to
inform the leaders of the Coordination Framework that the honeymoon with
the country’s Iranian neighbour is over. He warned that the time had
come to jump from Tehran’s sinking ship, otherwise they would all drown
because prevarication no longer works and everyone is under the
microscope of Federal Reserve monitoring.
The political system in Iraq has come under the supervision of the US
Treasury, whose decisions are more consequential than those of the
State Department and the Pentagon.
Iran can no longer receive a single dollar from Iraq, while Iraqi
banks that used to funnel dollars to Teheran are now threatened with
closure and loss of assets.
Sudani told his audience that any attempt to circumvent US restrictions would amount to playing with fire.
Let's wind down with this from Defending Rights & Dissent:
Australian publisher Julian Assange is a political prisoner. After being abducted out of the Ecuadorian embassy, he has languished in Belmarsh prison for nearly four years. In the intervening time, press freedom groups, major newspapers, and civil libertarians have all condemned the US’s unprecedented charges against Assange. After years of grassroots advocacy, now members of Congress are starting to speak out. But they need to hear your voice.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) is currently circulating a sign-on letter calling for Attorney General Merrick Garland to drop the charges against Assange. Other members of Congress can join the letter, but this is an issue that demands courage. They need to hear from you, their constituents.
Will you write your members of Congress right now and ask them to join Rep. Tlaib’s effort? The future of the First Amendment is at stake!
