Wednesday, September 22, 2021

Team Johnny

Johnny Depp has rightly called out cancel culture. He made his remarks today.



He is correct. I don't believe Amber Heard, by the way. She beat him and I've known that for a long, long time. Remember, C.I. knows Johnny and she wrote about the recording with Amber beating him years ago -- it only emerged publicly in 2020. She's trash and C.I. said it to him when he married her. C.I. said, "This is not Kate Moss, this is not Vanessa Paradis. This is a destructive woman and she's going to destroy you. She is not to be trusted, she doesn't know what she wants but when she doesn't get stardom and glory from marrying you, she will turn on you and try to destroy you." And sure enough, that's what happened. I was there when C.I. had that conversation and I was honestly shocked because she usually stays out of it. But that's how strongly she felt about Amber. Rebecca will swear C.I. is psychic. C.I. insists she is not and, on this would just say she could tell Amber's character.

I don't believe C.I. likes Kim Kardashian. But when Kanye was getting married to her, C.I. said she'd never say a word against Kim again. And she didn't. And she even told Kanye when he was all over the news with people picking on him (and still with Kim) that if they ever broke up, she would not say a negative word about Kim because Kim could have easily walked for popularity.

So you're never going to hear a negative word about Kim from C.I.

When she told Johnny that Amber was going to destroy him, she wasn't joking. And she really didn't do a, "Let me prepare you for what I'm about to say." She just jumped in when he asked her what she thought.

And C.I. was right.

Amber is disgusting and she's a liar.

I won't see any film she's in. I love Jason Momoa but I'm not going to see his past AQUAMAN because she was in it and I'm not going to see any future Aquaman film if she's in it.

I also don't use Loreal products because she's their 'ambassador' and not only is she disgusting for the reasons above, let's also note her pissing the bed repeatedly while married to Johnny -- revelations that came out in the UK hearing last year. Sorry, Loreal, I don't want to look like a woman who needs Depends. June Allyson was never the face of glamor.

So, yeah, I'm team Johnny. 100%.


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


Wednesday, September 22, 2021.  The press exposes itself yet again and it's really ugly.




In his new book, “The Bidens: Inside the First Family’s Fifty-Year Rise to Power,” Politico reporter Ben Schreckinger says that evidence points to Hunter Biden’s laptop being legit.

While we appreciate the support, the truth is The Post’s reports always have been true, and it’s only because the media wants to protect Joe Biden that they keep referring to the laptop as “unsubstantiated.”

Schreckinger notes that “A person who had independent access to Hunter Biden’s emails” confirms two of the e-mails the Post published, including one about a potential deal with China with the line “10 held by H for the big guy?” — that is, Joe Biden.

But Hunter Biden’s former business partner Tony Bobulinski already said those e-mails were authentic — the media just ignored him.

Schreckinger adds that e-mails released by the Swedish government also match e-mails from the laptop (Hunter had gotten into a kerfuffle when he was staying in a Swedish embassy building). That’s also been reported.


For those who have forgotten, Joe Biden was protected by corporate media.  They lied for him, they whored for him.  Tara Reade made credible claims of assault by Joe Biden when he was a US senator and PBS' THE NEWS HOUR, THE NEW YORK TIMES and others let the Biden campaign lead them around by the rings in their noses instead of doing their own work.  They spoke to who the Biden campaign told them to and they ran the smears from the Biden campaign without ever attaching names.  If most of their copy had been sourced, people would have been a lot more outraged than they already were. They got away with killing a real scandal for Joe and then , October 14, 2020,  .THE NEW YORK POST, published a report by Emma-Jo MOrris and Gabrielle Fonrouge:

Hunter Biden introduced his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, to a top executive at a Ukrainian energy firm less than a year before the elder Biden pressured government officials in Ukraine into firing a prosecutor who was investigating the company, according to e-mails obtained by The Post.

The never-before-revealed meeting is mentioned in a message of appreciation that Vadym Pozharskyi, an adviser to the board of Burisma, allegedly sent Hunter Biden on April 17, 2015, about a year after Hunter joined the Burisma board at a reported salary of up to $50,000 a month.

“Dear Hunter, thank you for inviting me to DC and giving an opportunity to meet your father and spent [sic] some time together. It’s realty [sic] an honor and pleasure,” the e-mail reads.

An earlier e-mail from May 2014 also shows Pozharskyi, reportedly Burisma’s No. 3 exec, asking Hunter for “advice on how you could use your influence” on the company’s behalf.

The blockbuster correspondence — which flies in the face of Joe Biden’s claim that he’s “never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings” — is contained in a massive trove of data recovered from a laptop computer.

The computer was dropped off at a repair shop in Biden’s home state of Delaware in April 2019, according to the store’s owner.

Other material extracted from the computer includes a raunchy, 12-minute video that appears to show Hunter, who’s admitted struggling with addiction problems, smoking crack while engaged in a sex act with an unidentified woman, as well as numerous other sexually explicit images.


THE POST published the story and immediately the media attacks began as Jimmy Dore noted in this video he did on the day the Hunter story broke.




Twitter immediately refused to allow THE POST article to be linked to on Twitter.   That's Twitter, founded in 2006, censoring THE NEW YORK POST, established in 1801, censoring the country's oldest newspaper still in circulation.  RT notes, "Twitter censored the Post’s reporting, citing its hacked-materials policy without any evidence that the laptop had actually been hacked. Not only was the Post’s account blocked for over two weeks, but users of the social media platform were prevented from sharing the article."

It was and remains an outrageous moment.  As Elaine observed last night, "So what does this mean for Twitter -- they blocked coverage of it, they claimed it was false.  So did NPR, NPR was still lying at the start of this year.  They can't stop lying."


The New York Times quietly deleted its assertion that an October article from the New York Post about the business dealings of Joe Biden’s son Hunter was “unsubstantiated.” In the reworked report, the outlet reported on a Federal Election Commission decision that dismissed a Republican complaint arguing Twitter violated election laws by blocking users from sharing the story during the heat of the 2020 election.

When the New York Times posted the report early Monday afternoon, it read: “The Federal Election Commission has dismissed Republican accusations that Twitter violated election laws in October by blocking people from posting links to an unsubstantiated New York Post article about Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s son Hunter Biden.”

A tweet from the outlet's main account, which started trending on Twitter, similarly called the New York Post article an “unsubstantiated article." New York Times national political reporter Shane Goldmacher, who wrote the initial draft, similarly called it “unsubstantiated.”

Neither tweet was deleted as of Monday evening, but the New York Times article was changed without any editor’s note, which happens in the media business. However, this article stands out, as the rewrite was substantial and the original version drew intense scrutiny and backlash with its word choice.

The new version, published hours later with technology reporter Kate Conger added to the byline, removed the “unsubstantiated” claim and other significant details from the story. If not for screenshots taken earlier, the full version of the original report may have been difficult to track down as the original URL now redirects to a new one.


If only that were the worst of NYT on this story.  It's not.

Let's stop a moment to remember hard drug using Kathy Scruggs who slept with government sources because, hey, isn't that what journalism is?  She smeared Richard Jewell and destroyed his life.  She's thankfully dead and can inflict no more harm.  But when JEWELL came out, we were told that it was sexism for the movie to note what a whore she was.  

No, it wasn't.  But damn if some non-feminists want to play that game all the time.  They don't care about women.  

I don't know anyone at THE POST (not since they parted with Liz Smith), and I don't know their bylines.  But looking up that original report, I noticed something.  It was written by two women.  Is that why it was so easy to attack?

Because the article was attacked.

I'm thinking of the garbage that THE NEW YORK TIMES ran where they quoted no one by name but told you that the journalists at THE POST were embarrassed by the story, that they didn't think it should have been published, that . . .

That TIMES' article was an embarrassment in real time.  But it's only more embarrassing now when you grasp that the paper used resources and space to try to discredit a report by two women who were, in fact, right in their reporting.

TIME magazine, like many other outlets, ran their own garbage attacking the article, remember?  They claimed it had been shopped in Ukraine.  

A lot of claims were made and Twitter allowed those claims to be circulated.  They refused to allow THE POST report to be linked to.

The press is yet again exposed as lying, whoring hypocrites.  Maybe now they'll get honest (ha!) about who fed them the 'scoops' on Tara Reade?  Maybe they'll ask Alyssa Milano who in Time's Up was feeding her attacks on Tara Reade because, if you've forgotten, when Alyssa originally came out on Tara Reade, she was against Tara, Tara was not to be trusted and Alyssa knew that because of her friends who were part of Time's Up.  It was a smear campaign against Tara and the press knows who fed them the attacks but refuses to get honest.

They won't get honest about what they did with regards to THE POST report.  It's too embarrassing and too humiliating for them and it goes against everything that journalism is supposed to stand against. 

Not only was the laptop real, Hunter, as his father ran for president, was being sued in court for being a dead beat dad who wouldn't pay child support.  But the press was portraying him as a happily married man and ignoring the reality of what his ex-wife asserted in court documents and what the young woman who gave birth to his child was doing in court.  And, as his father ran for president, Hunter was an active crack user.  I believe that's called a "security risk."  When you have to lie about your actions -- because you're embarrassed and/or the actions are illegal, that's a security risk.

There were so many reasons for the press to pursue the truth about Hunter Biden.  But they elected to fluff and pretend to see nothing.  Not unlike, by the way, when Dan Quayle's alleged pot dealer was quickly hustled away from the press.  


Glenn Greenwald Tweets:

We're working on a definitive video report of how the corporate media, CIA and Big Tech united to lie about the Biden documents before the election and *censor* them from the internet - it will be up tonight - and it's beyond infuriating how purposely and relentlessly they lied.
Image
3:11 PM · Sep 21, 2021
 

Hunter's scandals and inappropriate and unethical behavior continues.  Casey Michel (THE ATLANTIC) reports:


t some point in the coming weeks, hundreds of thousands of dollars will be funneled to the son of the sitting American president—and none of us will know anything about who sent the money, or where it originally came from, or why anyone chose to send it in the first place.

The transactions will nominally center on artwork created by Hunter Biden, President Joe Biden’s son. After spending years working alongside post-Soviet oligarchs—work that complicated his father’s anti-corruption efforts in Ukraine—Hunter has tossed on a new hat as an emerging “artist.” CNN has reported that his debut shows—one in Los Angeles, another in New York—will be held in late September, though the dates haven’t been announced (which may be because of the scrutiny the sales have received). Whenever they happen, Hunter will make the transition from unqualified oil-and-gas adviser to budding Basquiat—and will offer his artwork to the highest bidders his gallery can attract. The sales have raised concerns that buyers will purchase the art to curry favor with the president, creating an ethics minefield for the White House.

Hunter’s artwork isn’t bad, per se. A certain base-level skill is evident in the paintings. Sebastian Smee, the Pulitzer Prize–winning art critic for The Washington Post, told CNN that Biden was comparable to “a cafe painter. By which I mean, you see a certain kind of art in coffee shops, and some of it is OK and a lot of it is bad, and sometimes it’s surprisingly good. But you wouldn’t, unless you were related to the artist, spend more than $1,000 on it.”

Unfortunately for the White House, the people about to profit from Hunter’s foray into the art world are anticipating far higher returns—and suddenly presenting the Biden administration with a new Hunter-related headache. Hunter’s gallerist, Georges Bergès, has said he’s expecting as much as $500,000 for some of the paintings. That’s a pricing echelon that would put Hunter, a person with no formal artistic training, “in the very top tier of emerging artists,” according to Artnet. (“The whole thing is very, very weird,” added Artnet’s Ben Davis, not least because the Bergès Gallery’s previous best-known client was Sylvester Stallone.) For his part, Hunter has been clear about what he’d say to those questioning the propriety of his shows: “Other than f**k ’em?”
  


Turning to Iraq, Chloe Cornish (FINANCIAL TIMES OF LONDON) notes, "For a brief window this summer, Moqtada al-Sadr, the former US foe who is now one of Iraq’s most influential political figures, withdrew his party from next month’s parliamentary elections."  That's the closet you're going to get to confirmation that the US government paid Moqtada off to reverse his boycott stance -- "the former US foe."  That's what happened and we told you.  We told you about Nouri al-Maliki's paranoia -- based on the CIA's assessment that they circulated through the State Dept in 2006 -- and how, to the US government, that made him the ideal choice for prime minister because they could use that extreme paranoia to manipulate him.  It's interesting, also, how the people in Sadr City continue to live in a slum but Moqtada gets richer and richer each year.  What the Paddy Cockburns refuse to report, the Iraqi people notice -- especially those in Sadr City.  

It's this corruption that fueled The October Revolution  which kicked off protests in the fall of 2019 and forced the prime minister to step down and early elections to be announced.  As ARAB WEEKLY notes, "Tens of thousands of Iraqi youths took to the streets to decry rampant corruption, poor services and unemployment. Hundreds died as security forces used live ammunition and tear gas to disperse crowds."  This is what forced the resignation of one prime minister and has led to national elections which are supposed to take place October 10th.  (Members of the Iraqi military will vote October 8th.  Two election simulations have been carried out by the IEC and the third and final one will take place September 22nd.)    that the candidates for Parliament include 951 women ("close to 30% of the total number of candidates") who are running for the 329 seats.  Halgurd Sherwani (KURDISTAN 24) has reported Jeanine Hannis-Plasschaert, the Special Representiative in Iraq to the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, declared that Iraq's "Female candidates face increasing levels of hate speech, violence, and blackmail intended to force them to withdraw their candidacy." 



Sinan Mahmoud (THE NATIONAL) counts 3,249 people in all seeking seats in Parliament  BROOKINGS notes this is a huge drop from 2018 when 7,178 candidates ran for office.   RUDAW is among those noting perceived voter apathy, "Turnout for Iraq’s October 10 parliamentary election is expected to be a record low, with a recent poll predicting just 29 percent of eligible voters will cast ballots." Human Rights Watch has identified another factor which may impact voter turnout, "People with disabilities in Iraq are facing significant obstacles to participating in upcoming parliamentary elections on October 10, 2021, due to discriminatory legislation and inaccessible polling places, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Without urgent changes, hundreds of thousands of people may not be able to vote.  The 36-page report, “‘No One Represents Us’: Lack of Access to Political Participation for People with Disabilities in Iraq,” documents that Iraqi authorities have failed to secure electoral rights for Iraqis with disabilities. People with disabilities are often effectively denied their right to vote due to discriminatory legislation and inaccessible polling places and significant legislative and political obstacles to running for office."  Another obstacle is getting the word out on a campaign.  Political posters are being torn down throughout Iraq.  Halgurd Sherwani  (KURDiSTAN 24) observes, "Under Article 35 of the election law, anyone caught ripping apart or vandalizing an electoral candidate's billboard could be punished with imprisonment for at least a month but no longer than a year, Joumana Ghalad, the spokesperson for the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), told a press conference on Wednesday."  And there's also the battles in getting out word of your campaign online.  THE NEW ARAB reported weeks ago, "Facebook is restricting advertisements for Iraqi political parties and candidates in the run-up to the country's parliamentary elections, an official has told The New Arab's Arabic-language sister site."

THE WASHINGTON POST's Louisa Loveluck Tweeted: of how "chromic mistrust in [the] country's political class" might also lower voter turnout.  Mina Aldroubi (THE NATIONAL) also notes, "Experts are predicting low turnout in October due to distrust of the country’s electoral system and believe that it will not deliver the much needed changes they were promised since 2003."  Mistrust would describe the feelings of some members of The October Revolution.  Mustafa Saadoun (AL-MONITOR) notes some of their leaders, at the recent  Opposition Forces Gathering conference announced their intent to boycott the elections because they "lack integrity, fairness and equal opportunities."  Distrust is all around.  Halkawt Aziz  (RUDAW) reported on how, " In Sadr City, people are disheartened after nearly two decades of empty promises from politicians." 


After the election, there will be a scramble for who has dibs on the post of prime minister.  Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has 90 candidates in his bloc running for seats in the Parliament and one of those, Hassan Faleh, has insisted to RUDAW, "The position of the next prime minister is the least that the Sadrist movement deserves, and we are certain that we will be the largest and strongest coalition in the next stage."  Others are also claiming the post should go to their bloc such as the al-Fatah Alliance -- the political wing of the Badr Organization (sometimes considered a militia, sometimes considered a terrorist group).  ARAB WEEKLY reported, "Al-Fateh Alliance parliament member Naim Al-Aboudi said that Hadi al-Amiri is a frontrunner to head the next government, a position that can only be held by a Shia, according to Iraq’s power-sharing agreement."  Some also insist the prime minister should be the head of the State of Law bloc, two-time prime minister and forever thug Nouri al-Maliki.  Moqtada al-Sadr's supporters do not agree and have the feeling/consensus that,  "Nouri al-Maliki has reached the age of political menopause and we do not consider him to be our rival because he has lost the luster that he once had so it is time for him to retire."






New content at THIRD:



The following sites updated:





Posted by at

Tuesday, September 21, 2021

Well surprise, surprise, surprise

From NPR's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED:


LEILA FADEL, HOST: The man portrayed as a hero in the Hollywood film "Hotel Rwanda" has been found guilty on terror charges. His family and human rights groups call his trial a politically motivated sham. NPR's Eyder Peralta reports.

EYDER PERALTA, BYLINE: The panel of judges in Kigali said they believed that Paul Rusesabagina had founded an armed group that launched terrorist attacks in Rwanda. The court provided English interpretation.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED INTERPRETER: They burnt down houses and vehicles, looting and abducting people. And all of those are terrorist acts.

PERALTA: Rusesabagina, who was being tried alongside 20 others, has been boycotting the proceedings. So without him in the courtroom, judge Beatrice Mukamurenzi announced his fate.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

BEATRICE MUKAMURENZI: The court finds that they should be found guilty for being part of this terror group, MRCD-FLN.

PERALTA: Rusesabagina was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Are you surprised? I'm not. Keith Harmon Snow told the truth when so many others (Samantha Power, for example) lied. We did not endorse that hideous fairy tale because we were all familiar with the work of Keith Harmon Snow. If you're new to his work, please check out his website.

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


Tuesday, September 21, 2021. US troops leaving Iraq?  Just another wave of Operation Happy Talk, just another wave in an ocean of lies.




Starting with false promises.  The Iraq War has been filled with them.  These included the 'progress' claims -- we dubbed them Operation Happy Talk as far back as 2004 and noted that every claimed "turned corner" just led back to the same spot.  Recently, it became acceptable to note that the American people have been lied to over and over with claims of 'progress' in Afghanistan but they still can't note that reality about Iraq in the corporate press.  


Instead, every insipid claim is treated as reality -- even though the lies are now recycled and should be prompting a sense of deja vu if not outrage.  


A few people have e-mailed the public e-mail account (common_ills@yahoo.com) insisting that we are not covering the big story about US troops leaving Iraq.  Big story? You mean empty garbage?


Because that's what it is.


US troops will leave Iraq, the claim goes, after the elections.  (US President Joe Biden insisted in July that it would by the end of the year.)


That would be?


After.  The. Elections.


Now if you read coverage of the upcoming Iraqi elections where the reporter has spoken with some Iraqis, you will find some talking about their apathy and talking about how promises are made every election cycle and nothing ever changes, some will note that their streets haven't been paved in years, some will note the continued electricity shortages . . .


The US government was selling the claim to the press and it didn't get the traction it needed so Prime Minister Mustafa Kadhimi has taken to letting the empty words fall out of his mouth.


He is the point of the claim or, rather, his getting a second term.


The US is backing Mustafa for prime minister in the October elections.  The boast/claim (lie) is intended to increase his number of votes.  "Look!  He's getting US troops out of Iraq!  Let's vote fo him!"


He's doing nothing of the sort.  Which is why we haven't wasted a great deal of time on this garbage  But we're not the only ones catching on.  


Yesterday, we noted Dave Phillips's report for THE NEW YORK TIMES


A taut line of soldiers crossed the sprawling Army post’s parade ground in the afternoon, hoisting flags draped with a rainbow of streamers from past deployments: Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, Korea, Germany, France, Civil War battles and even skirmishes with Plains tribes on horseback.

“Present colors!” a sergeant yelled. The soldiers turned and dipped the flags toward their commanding colonel, who stepped forward and carefully wrapped each one in camouflage sleeves.

At that very moment — 1:29 p.m. Mountain time on Aug. 30 — the last U.S. military plane took off from the Kabul airport in Afghanistan.

American flags across the country had been lowered to half-staff to honor the 13 U.S. troops killed there by a suicide bomber. And at the front gate of Fort Carson, women set out 13 pairs of boots and 13 cold Bud Lights as a memorial.

But the ceremony on the parade ground was not marking the end of America’s war in Afghanistan. The 4th Infantry Division’s 1st Stryker Brigade was wrapping its flags to mark the beginning of its latest deployment. It was going back to Iraq.

Although the mission may have dropped from public attention, the United States still has boots on the ground in the other nation it invaded in the wake of 9/11. About 2,500 U.S. troops are in Iraq now, the embers of what was once a scorching and divisive war, now carefully scattered to protect a few strategic bases. For the next nine months, roughly 2,000 soldiers from 1st Brigade will take over much of that duty.


US troops are not leaving.  


The qualifier?  "Combat troops."  It's a weasel word and one that various generals rejected with regards to the withdrawal of 'combat troops' under then-President Barack Obama.  


Barack Obama ran for the presidency in 2008 claiming that, if elected, he'd have US troops out of Iraq in ten months.  Check the archives, I'm not in the mood to spoon feed.  Among other things we noted in 2008 about this claim?  Samantha Power getting fired from the campaign because the BBC was about to air her interview where she revealed this wasn't a promise and that Barack would decide what to do after he got elected.


This was when Barack was hammering Hillary over the Iraq War.  That interview could have been very damaging.  Fortunately, Whore John Nichols was present to lie yet again.  When Barack's campaign was reassuring the Canadian government that NAFTA was staying, that talks on trade were just empty words to get votes, along comes Whore John Nichols.  Where does a whore take his wares?  Amy Goodman's DEMOCRACY NOW! of course.  This is where, after all, the conspiracy kooks proclaimed that Wes Clark wasn't really running for the nomination, that it was part of a Clinton conspiracy and that, at the convention, Hillary would be declared the nominee -- even though she wasn't campaigning that year.  They told a lot of lies on that program.


So Whore John Nichols knew to go there for his lie.  He was working on a new story, he explained, it would blow the AP scoop (about Barack and Canada) out of the water.  It wasn't Barack, no, he was as pure as as a teen with a chastity pledge.  It was Hillary!  AP got it wrong, it was Hillary!  And he had sources and his expose would be published shortly!


It was never published because it never existed.  I saw recently that someone -- Katie Halper? -- had John Nichols on.  We didn't highlight that clip.  We don't highlight lying whores.  John also wrote a book about impeaching Bully Boy Bush.  It had just come out when Nancy Pelosi declared impeachment "off the table" should Dems take control of the House in the 2006 elections.   John stopped promoting it.  He's a whore and if you think I'm angry about it, you should talk to the people at the publishing house of that book.  There's no term I could apply to John that they haven't already.


He's a dirty whore.  I have no idea why anyone on the left would want to pretend otherwise and sell him to their audience.


But there was John covering up for Samantha.  While we were talking about the interview, John was saying she was fired, Samantha was fired, for calling Hillary a "monster" -- that's not why she was fired.  And that it was silly because Samantha and Hillary were old friends and -- No.  No, they weren't friends, they weren't acquaintances, Hillary had never spoken to her.  But whores lie and there was John Nichols -- supposedly against the war -- so against it, please remember, that at one point he was blaming Barbra Streisand in print for the war (great column, people at THE NATION) -- distracting from reality.  He never wrote about Samantha's claim.  He's a dirty whore.  And I'm sorry but so are you if you bring him on your program.  We've talked about three examples of his lying and we could go on for two hours and still be on this topic.  That's his record.  Shame on you if you're presenting him as a voice worth listening to.  


(In July, Tom Hayden would lie that he'd just discovered what Samantha had said.  Dam liar.  We spoke face to face in April of 2008 about that when I called him out for pretending to care about Iraq and yet avoiding the news that Barack's promise wasn't a promise at all.  Wally and Ava were present at that encounter -- I think Kat was too.  But on the July 4th weekend, he would pen a column claiming to have just learned of the remarks by Samantha and then lying further by claiming Hillary Clinton's campaign did not draw attention to them.  They did.  It was the press that chose to ignore them.)


So Barack is sworn in as president at the end of January of 2009 and then, in February of the same year, does just what Samantha had told the BBC he would do: Announces that his ten month withdrawal is off, it will be ten months plus ten more months.  


"We want to end the war! And we want to end it now!" he had thundered over and over at one campaign stop after another throughout 2007 and 2008 -- apparently he did so only because it was the biggest applause getter.  He staked his whole campaign on the Iraq War -- and the press let him get away with it -- and he hadn't even been in the White House for a full month before he broke the promise and the press was too busy tonguing his nuts to notice.


When the 'withdrawal' finally took place, it was "combat troops."  August 2010, no 'combat' troops in Iraq.  A lie that was called out repeatedly in Congressional hearings, but, hey, the press didn't care, they were too busy covering for Barack.  So when ugly realities were brought in about the 'withdrawal' at the end of 2011 -- of 'all' troops, not just 'combat troops' -- by the late Senator Kay Hagen and others, it was time to distract so they focused instead on nonsense between Senator John McCain and  Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, treating it as the ultimate bitchfest and insisting that the two were at each other's throats.  It made for good soap opera if not for good reporting or honesty.  The two were laughing with each other moments after the exchange.


Time and again, the US press failed to tell the truth about Iraq.   


The 2011 withdrawal wasn't.  The DoD called it a "drawdown" because that's what it was.  They called it that before it took place and they called it that after it took place.  


But we've had "combat troops" leaving repeatedly.  Even when Barack got press attention in 2014 for sending US troops back into Iraq (he'd already done that in 2012 as Tim Arango reported though everyone looked the other way), he'd later claim that ''combat troops'' were out.  The US military would disagree when appearing before Congress and they'd note that if you're flying, for example, bombing missions, that's combat.


So with all the above, who's the idiot who's still going to believe that US troops are leaving Iraq because Joe Biden and Mustafa al-Kadhimi say so?


And now we know that approximately 2,000 more are being sent in for a rotation.  If you're not getting it at this point, it's because you are choosing not to get it.  PRESS TV notes, "The United States is deploying around 2,000 troops to Iraq despite an announcement to end the American combat mission in the Arab country, The New York Times reports."

   

Yesterday's snapshot noted Iraq War veteran Mike Prysner calling out Bully Boy Bush in Los Angeles.





THE DAILY SABAH covers Mike's brave action:


A veteran of the United States invasion of Iraq, Mike Prysner, publicly called out former U.S. President George W. Bush, a viral video circulating the internet showed late Monday.

“Mr. Bush, when are you going to apologize for the million Iraqis that are dead because you lied?” he asked.



Moving on to the upcoming elections in Iraq, Bayan Sami Abdul Rahman is the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) Representative to the United States of America.  She speaks with KURDISTAN 24 on that topic.



Meanwhile, THE NEW ARAB reports:


Campaign promises by candidates from political parties taking part in the Iraqi elections next month have stirred up fears among the families of thousands of disappeared civilians in Iraq that they will be 'bartering' on the issue of their relatives, as demands mount for the government to take responsibility.

Thousands of Iraqi civilians have been forcibly disappeared - arrested, detained or abducted without their family being informed of their whereabouts or fate - predominantly in the north and west regions of the country during the last decade.

With the pre-election period in Iraq underway, various promises have been made by numerous candidates and those political forces backing them. However, in the provinces of Anbar, Saladin, Diyala, Nineveh, Kirkuk, Babel and the Baghdad belt, candidates have focussed on the issue of the disappeared and promised to attempt to find out what happened to them.


The disappeared.  People have not stopped disappearing in Iraq.  There are secret prisons and torture chambers.  They existed in 'liberated' Iraq under Nouri al-Maliki and they exist under Mustafa al-Kadhimi.  In the last few years, the disappeared have included many activists from The October Revolution.


The The October Revolution  kicked off protests in the fall of 2019 which forced the prime minister to step down and early elections to be announced.  As ARAB WEEKLY notes, "Tens of thousands of Iraqi youths took to the streets to decry rampant corruption, poor services and unemployment. Hundreds died as security forces used live ammunition and tear gas to disperse crowds."  This is what forced the resignation of one prime minister and has led to national elections which are supposed to take place October 10th.  (Members of the Iraqi military will vote October 8th.  Two election simulations have been carried out by the IEC and the third and final one will take place September 22nd.)    that the candidates for Parliament include 951 women ("close to 30% of the total number of candidates") who are running for the 329 seats.  Halgurd Sherwani (KURDISTAN 24) has reported Jeanine Hannis-Plasschaert, the Special Representiative in Iraq to the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, declared that Iraq's "Female candidates face increasing levels of hate speech, violence, and blackmail intended to force them to withdraw their candidacy." 



Sinan Mahmoud (THE NATIONAL) counts 3,249 people in all seeking seats in Parliament  BROOKINGS notes this is a huge drop from 2018 when 7,178 candidates ran for office.   RUDAW is among those noting perceived voter apathy, "Turnout for Iraq’s October 10 parliamentary election is expected to be a record low, with a recent poll predicting just 29 percent of eligible voters will cast ballots." Human Rights Watch has identified another factor which may impact voter turnout, "People with disabilities in Iraq are facing significant obstacles to participating in upcoming parliamentary elections on October 10, 2021, due to discriminatory legislation and inaccessible polling places, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Without urgent changes, hundreds of thousands of people may not be able to vote.  The 36-page report, “‘No One Represents Us’: Lack of Access to Political Participation for People with Disabilities in Iraq,” documents that Iraqi authorities have failed to secure electoral rights for Iraqis with disabilities. People with disabilities are often effectively denied their right to vote due to discriminatory legislation and inaccessible polling places and significant legislative and political obstacles to running for office."  Another obstacle is getting the word out on a campaign.  Political posters are being torn down throughout Iraq.  Halgurd Sherwani  (KURDiSTAN 24) observes, "Under Article 35 of the election law, anyone caught ripping apart or vandalizing an electoral candidate's billboard could be punished with imprisonment for at least a month but no longer than a year, Joumana Ghalad, the spokesperson for the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), told a press conference on Wednesday."  And there's also the battles in getting out word of your campaign online.  THE NEW ARAB reported weeks ago, "Facebook is restricting advertisements for Iraqi political parties and candidates in the run-up to the country's parliamentary elections, an official has told The New Arab's Arabic-language sister site."

THE WASHINGTON POST's Louisa Loveluck Tweeted: of how "chromic mistrust in [the] country's political class" might also lower voter turnout.  Mina Aldroubi (THE NATIONAL) also notes, "Experts are predicting low turnout in October due to distrust of the country’s electoral system and believe that it will not deliver the much needed changes they were promised since 2003."  Mistrust would describe the feelings of some members of The October Revolution.  Mustafa Saadoun (AL-MONITOR) notes some of their leaders, at the recent  Opposition Forces Gathering conference announced their intent to boycott the elections because they "lack integrity, fairness and equal opportunities."  Distrust is all around.  Halkawt Aziz  (RUDAW) reported on how, " In Sadr City, people are disheartened after nearly two decades of empty promises from politicians." 


After the election, there will be a scramble for who has dibs on the post of prime minister.  Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has 90 candidates in his bloc running for seats in the Parliament and one of those, Hassan Faleh, has insisted to RUDAW, "The position of the next prime minister is the least that the Sadrist movement deserves, and we are certain that we will be the largest and strongest coalition in the next stage."  Others are also claiming the post should go to their bloc such as the al-Fatah Alliance -- the political wing of the Badr Organization (sometimes considered a militia, sometimes considered a terrorist group).  ARAB WEEKLY reported, "Al-Fateh Alliance parliament member Naim Al-Aboudi said that Hadi al-Amiri is a frontrunner to head the next government, a position that can only be held by a Shia, according to Iraq’s power-sharing agreement."  Some also insist the prime minister should be the head of the State of Law bloc, two-time prime minister and forever thug Nouri al-Maliki.  Moqtada al-Sadr's supporters do not agree and have the feeling/consensus that,  "Nouri al-Maliki has reached the age of political menopause and we do not consider him to be our rival because he has lost the luster that he once had so it is time for him to retire."



The following sites updated:





Posted by at

Monday, September 20, 2021

On the eve of his divorce, Lindsey claims Stevie is in still in love with him

"You're So Vain" could have been written about Lindsey Buckingham and not James Taylor. Lindsey's telling the press that Stevie Nicks is still in love with him.


No one is in love with him Not even his wife who has moved out and filed for divorce. That would be the same wife that, a week ago, he was insisting to the press was his happiness and satisfaction and that, he insisted, Stevie wasn't even married.

When Lindsey started that nonsense, C.I. wrote "The truth about Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham" so be sure to check that out It puts it all in perspective.

Buckingham was never an attractive man. He had a cute phase up to about 1978. Then he went to the world of ugly and he's never left. His receding hairline just makes him uglier today. And makes me think of what Joni wrote about James Taylor, "Dreaminng of all the pleasure I'm going to have watching your hairline recede my vain darling" ("Just Like This Train"). It's rare that a man is so vain that two women write songs about his vanity but James has Carly Simon and Joni Mitchell both attesting to his vanity. I'm sure many women could speak of the same with regards to Lindsey.

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


 Monday, September 20, 2021.  A War Criminal roams free in California where a crowd embraces lies and the liar while booing and hissing an Iraq War veteran, in Iraq elections are looming.


In the video below, Richard Medhurst offers reality as he reviews the many lies told to start the Iraq War.  



Remember the realities that Richard Medhurst lists the next time a Condi Rice shows up whoring to claim that Iraq is better off because of the illegal war and the lies told to start it.  Or worse yet, when it's Bully Boy Bush lying today -- he's apparently done hiding under a rock.  A few hypocrites in the center and on the slight-left want to hug him out of fear of Donald Trump and suddenly he thinks the world is welcoming him back.



That's Iraq War veteran Mike Prysner raining reality down on Bully Boy Bush's paid speech yesterday on as The Saban Theater on Wilshire in Beverly Hills.  Tonight, the War Criminal will be heading to The Terrace Theater at 300 E. Ocean Blvd in Long Beach.  


While the series takes place at multiple locations, only Los Angeles and Long Beach were trashy enough to host War Criminal Bully Boy Bush.  Pasadena, Thousand Oaks and Redondo Beach took a hard pass on that demonstrating that some still have standards.


There were no standards in Los Angeles as Mike was prevented from noting the friends he lost in Iraq and the Iraqi people who are being killed in the war.  They didn't want truth at the Saban Theater, they wanted lies and that's why they turned out for Bully Boy Bush -- a War Criminal, a known homophobe, a disgusting piece of trash.  And that's who those present elected to side with, not the Iraq War veteran trying to tell truth.


Some are far too invested in lies and hypocrisy to break free from them.


And so US troops continue to be deployed to Iraq.  Dave Phillips (NEW YORK TIMES) reports:


A taut line of soldiers crossed the sprawling Army post’s parade ground in the afternoon, hoisting flags draped with a rainbow of streamers from past deployments: Afghanistan, Iraq, Vietnam, Korea, Germany, France, Civil War battles and even skirmishes with Plains tribes on horseback.

“Present colors!” a sergeant yelled. The soldiers turned and dipped the flags toward their commanding colonel, who stepped forward and carefully wrapped each one in camouflage sleeves.

At that very moment — 1:29 p.m. Mountain time on Aug. 30 — the last U.S. military plane took off from the Kabul airport in Afghanistan.

American flags across the country had been lowered to half-staff to honor the 13 U.S. troops killed there by a suicide bomber. And at the front gate of Fort Carson, women set out 13 pairs of boots and 13 cold Bud Lights as a memorial.

But the ceremony on the parade ground was not marking the end of America’s war in Afghanistan. The 4th Infantry Division’s 1st Stryker Brigade was wrapping its flags to mark the beginning of its latest deployment. It was going back to Iraq.

Although the mission may have dropped from public attention, the United States still has boots on the ground in the other nation it invaded in the wake of 9/11. About 2,500 U.S. troops are in Iraq now, the embers of what was once a scorching and divisive war, now carefully scattered to protect a few strategic bases. For the next nine months, roughly 2,000 soldiers from 1st Brigade will take over much of that duty.



In other news, THE NEW ARAB oofers an AFP article which examines voter mood ahead of the upcoming national election:


Mohammed, an economics graduate who works in a shop selling olive-, almond and other types of oils, says he feels "the election won't bring change".

At age 30, he keeps postponing the idea of marriage because of the searing economic difficulties.

"Basic services are not provided to me. Why should I go to vote?" he said, as the country suffers daily power cuts.

"The last time roads were paved in my neighbourhood was before 2003," added Mohammed, who like many Iraqis prefers not to give his full name when discussing politics.

In his Baghdad constituency, he said he knows two of the five candidates, but hasn't bothered to check their electoral platforms.

"The political factions have been the same since 2003; the only thing that changes are the faces," he said.

He denounced Iraq's entrenched clientelism, saying "the only people who vote are those who've been promised a job, or people who vote for someone close to them or from their tribe".


The The October Revolution  kicked off protests in the fall of 2019 which forced the prime minister to step down and early elections to be announced.  As ARAB WEEKLY notes, "Tens of thousands of Iraqi youths took to the streets to decry rampant corruption, poor services and unemployment. Hundreds died as security forces used live ammunition and tear gas to disperse crowds."  This is what forced the resignation of one prime minister and has led to national elections which are supposed to take place October 10th.  (Members of the Iraqi military will vote October 8th.  Two election simulations have been carried out by the IEC and the third and final one will take place September 22nd.)    that the candidates for Parliament include 951 women ("close to 30% of the total number of candidates") who are running for the 329 seats.  Halgurd Sherwani (KURDISTAN 24) has reported Jeanine Hannis-Plasschaert, the Special Representiative in Iraq to the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, declared that Iraq's "Female candidates face increasing levels of hate speech, violence, and blackmail intended to force them to withdraw their candidacy." 



Sinan Mahmoud (THE NATIONAL) counts 3,249 people in all seeking seats in Parliament  BROOKINGS notes this is a huge drop from 2018 when 7,178 candidates ran for office.   RUDAW is among those noting perceived voter apathy, "Turnout for Iraq’s October 10 parliamentary election is expected to be a record low, with a recent poll predicting just 29 percent of eligible voters will cast ballots." Human Rights Watch has identified another factor which may impact voter turnout, "People with disabilities in Iraq are facing significant obstacles to participating in upcoming parliamentary elections on October 10, 2021, due to discriminatory legislation and inaccessible polling places, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Without urgent changes, hundreds of thousands of people may not be able to vote.  The 36-page report, “‘No One Represents Us’: Lack of Access to Political Participation for People with Disabilities in Iraq,” documents that Iraqi authorities have failed to secure electoral rights for Iraqis with disabilities. People with disabilities are often effectively denied their right to vote due to discriminatory legislation and inaccessible polling places and significant legislative and political obstacles to running for office."  Another obstacle is getting the word out on a campaign.  Political posters are being torn down throughout Iraq.  Halgurd Sherwani  (KURDiSTAN 24) observes, "Under Article 35 of the election law, anyone caught ripping apart or vandalizing an electoral candidate's billboard could be punished with imprisonment for at least a month but no longer than a year, Joumana Ghalad, the spokesperson for the Iraqi Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC), told a press conference on Wednesday."  And there's also the battles in getting out word of your campaign online.  THE NEW ARAB reported weeks ago, "Facebook is restricting advertisements for Iraqi political parties and candidates in the run-up to the country's parliamentary elections, an official has told The New Arab's Arabic-language sister site."

THE WASHINGTON POST's Louisa Loveluck Tweeted: of how "chromic mistrust in [the] country's political class" might also lower voter turnout.  Mina Aldroubi (THE NATIONAL) also notes, "Experts are predicting low turnout in October due to distrust of the country’s electoral system and believe that it will not deliver the much needed changes they were promised since 2003."  Mistrust would describe the feelings of some members of The October Revolution.  Mustafa Saadoun (AL-MONITOR) notes some of their leaders, at the recent  Opposition Forces Gathering conference announced their intent to boycott the elections because they "lack integrity, fairness and equal opportunities."  Distrust is all around.  Halkawt Aziz  (RUDAW) reported on how, " In Sadr City, people are disheartened after nearly two decades of empty promises from politicians." 


After the election, there will be a scramble for who has dibs on the post of prime minister.  Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has 90 candidates in his bloc running for seats in the Parliament and one of those, Hassan Faleh, has insisted to RUDAW, "The position of the next prime minister is the least that the Sadrist movement deserves, and we are certain that we will be the largest and strongest coalition in the next stage."  Others are also claiming the post should go to their bloc such as the al-Fatah Alliance -- the political wing of the Badr Organization (sometimes considered a militia, sometimes considered a terrorist group).  ARAB WEEKLY reported, "Al-Fateh Alliance parliament member Naim Al-Aboudi said that Hadi al-Amiri is a frontrunner to head the next government, a position that can only be held by a Shia, according to Iraq’s power-sharing agreement."  Some also insist the prime minister should be the head of the State of Law bloc, two-time prime minister and forever thug Nouri al-Maliki.  Moqtada al-Sadr's supporters do not agree and have the feeling/consensus that,  "Nouri al-Maliki has reached the age of political menopause and we do not consider him to be our rival because he has lost the luster that he once had so it is time for him to retire."


A new Parliament could mean a new president.  The post is held by a Kurd, a prime minster has to be Shi'ite and the Speaker of Parliament has to be Sunni.  ARAB WEEKLY reports:.


Sources close to Iraqi President Barham Salih say he wants to seek a second term in office.

The sources told The Arab Weekly that it is generally agreed in the region that Salih has discharged the role of president in a balanced manner and has worked hard on rapprochement between Iraq’s neighbours.

They add that Sunni and Shia political forces see him as the most suitable for job. However, the matter will depend ultimately on the Kurdish parties’ agreement on him serving for a second presidential term, after the parliamentary elections, which are scheduled for October 10.

The Iraqi president’s Erbil visit on Friday, coincided with his announcement he would like a second presidential term. He noted that much will depend on the outcome of the elections.


The post of President of Iraq since the 2003 US-led invasion, Iraq has had Jalal Talabani as president (2006 to 2014), Fuad Masum (2014 to 2018) and Barham since 2018.  


On The October Revolution, Florian Neuhof (NEWSLINES) reports:


The family house of Ehab al-Wazni lies at the end of a narrow cul-de-sac in a warren of low-slung houses, one of the many nondescript residential blocks that make up the city of Karbala, southwest of Baghdad. The crumbling, sun swept facades bear no resemblance to the elegant, gilded spires of the Imam Hussein shrine at the edge of town, one of the holiest sites in Shiite Islam. Dusty and desolate in the sweltering summer heat, the alleyway hints at menace.

Wearing a black abaya and a worried look on her pale face, Ehab’s mother Samira keeps a watchful eye on the TV in the corner of the living room. Security cameras project onto its screen, picking up any movement outside. Their reach falls just short of the spot where her son was shot on May 8, felled by two bullets to the chest, three to the head.

Ehab had been one of Iraq’s most prominent political activists. In October 2019, a wave of protests had swept the country, fueled by anger at government corruption and failure to provide basic services or jobs.

Radiating from Baghdad’s Tahrir Square, the protests came to be known by the Arabic word for October: Tishreen. It was the young who took to the streets. With around 700,000 people entering the job market each year, at least 1 in 4 young Iraqis are unemployed. But the discontent went beyond economic grievances. A generation that had grown up with sectarian conflict after the 2003 U.S.-led invasion had wearied of rule of law being trumped by the rule of the gun. They were fed up with the outsized role of sectarianism in society and politics, and theocratic Iran meddling in Iraqi affairs.

In Karbala and beyond, Ehab had fanned the flames of dissent by spending countless hours on the streets and on social media.

“Ehab was the engine of the protests. He was trying to unify the movement. He encouraged protests all over Iraq,” his brother Ali al-Wazni said.

Ehab’s murder was only one of a tragic and unbroken string of killings. As the largely peaceful demonstrations spread throughout the country, the protesters were met with a hail of bullets and teargas canisters. At least 700 perished at the hands of police and shadowy militia groups over the past two years.

There is little doubt among the protesters that the militias are behind Ehab’s murder. Formed in the wake of the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, the militias grew as a Shiite insurgent force and engaged in a brutal civil war with Sunni extremist groups. They consolidated their position during the war on the Islamic State group, when they were crucial in defeating the terror group. Many have deep ties to Iran and have formed their own political parties. Woven into the fabric of power, the militias have an interest in propping up the system. More powerful than the state itself, they are a law unto themselves and have few consequences to fear.



Posted by at
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)