Saturday, May 29, 2021

Covid

From Thursday's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED on NPR:
 
 
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stopped tracking every case that occurs when a COVID-19 vaccine fails to protect someone. Instead, the CDC is focusing on people who get very sick or die. It's a controversial decision. NPR health correspondent Rob Stein has the story.
ROB STEIN, BYLINE: The COVID-19 vaccines are very effective, but they're not perfect. People can still sometimes get infected. It's rare, but the CDC says more than 10,000 fully vaccinated people have still caught the virus. So the CDC has been tracking these so-called breakthrough infections to find out more about them, but the CDC recently decided to concentrate on people who are so sick they end up in the hospital or die. Here's CDC director Rochelle Walensky at a recent briefing.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
ROCHELLE WALENSKY: These vaccines were to studied to prevent severe illness, hospitalization and death. And as we look at these breakthrough infections, those are the ones we're most concerned about.
STEIN: Because in most breakthrough infections, people don't get very sick or don't even know they've been infected.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
WALENSKY: What we were starting to find is a large portion of them were fully asymptomatic. And in fact, when we went to study them and even sequence them, there was inadequate virus to even do so.

What do you think of jobs enforcing this? Maggie's a nurse and, before COVID, if she didn't get the flu shot (she always got it) she would have been required to wear a mask like we're all wearing now. I wonder if they could do that, the employers? I don't know otherwise. It seems tricky I also don't go for people being deprived of their jobs and their right to work. (I am vaccinated. For anyone wondering.

Now for music. Click here to see Run DMC's Rev Run rap "It's Tricky" in traffic.  

 

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

 

 Friday, May 28, 2021.  Some news is seen fit to print.


At the top of yesterday's snapshot, the following appeared:


The militias surround the prime minister's compound and you may be saying, "Huh? This wasn't on THE NEWSHOUR or CBS EVENING NEWS or . . ."  No, it wasn't.


To its credit, 13 hours ago THE NEW YORK TIMES published Jane Arraf and Falih Hassan's report on what's been taking place:

Iraq’s leader has been under intense pressure to rein in the dozens of paramilitary groups that are nominally under the command of the Iraqi government but have proved seemingly impossible for him to control.

That was made abundantly clear this week, when Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi ordered a move against one militia leader and quickly paid a price.

After government forces arrested a paramilitary commander on Wednesday, Iraqi militias backed by Iran mounted a show of force in and around the heavily guarded Green Zone in Baghdad, in a confrontation that goes to the heart of who controls security in Iraq.

Curbing the Iranian-backed militias that emerged in 2014 to fight the Islamic State — and have now become an entrenched part of Iraq’s security — was one of Mr. Kadhimi’s key promises when he took power last May. Bringing to justice those who kidnap and kill government protesters was another pledge.

A year later, he is seen as having failed to deliver on either of them.

The catalyst for the latest confrontation was an interior ministry arrest warrant in the killing of two young Iraqi activists shot in the Shiite holy city of Karbala. One was shot dead on May 9 by gunmen on motorcycles using silencers. He had survived a previous attempt on his life that killed a fellow activist, Fahem al-Tai, in Karbala last December.


As noted in yesterday's snapshot, while the western press (wire services) were avoiding the issue of the activists, the Iraaqi press was reporting that the charges included the targeting of activists.  The one that is referred to in the last NYT paragraph above, the one who had survived one assassination attempt before being killed earlier this month, was Ihab al-Wazni.


As THE NEW ARAB notes:


Qasem Muslih is accused of giving the order to kill anti-government campaigner Ihab Al-Wazni, who was shot outside his home by men on motorbikes on 9 May in the holy city of Karbala.


Ihab al-Wazni was on the minds of activists that turned out in massive numbers on Tuesday



The protest movement in Iraq is organizing a mass demonstration on May25under the slogan(Who Killed Me)to demand justice for Ihab Al-Wazni, Hisham Al-Hashemi, Reham Yacoub and 800 others who have been killed with impunity since October 2019 #Tishreen_return_in_May
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"Liar Kadhimi! Liar!" a woman holding an image of assassinated protest leader Ihab al-Wazni leads a chant as protesters gather for a mass demonstration in Baghdad to condemn government failure to end killings of activists. rudaw.net/english/middle


Also, freedom of expression is lacking in Iraq when you are a civil activist and criticize the parties and militias of Iran. You will be killed, as happened by the Iraqi activists, Ihab Al-Wazni, Fahim Al-Ta’i and others, thousands who were killed because of saying the truth.


Wazni’s family have publicly accused Musleh of killing Ihab. "We charged him with the murder of my brother Ihab. My mother filed a lawsuit against him. We are sure that he was the mastermind of my brother's assassination," Marwan al-Wazni told MEE.


The Crisis Group's Lahib Higel offers her take in the following thread:


[Thread] As embarrassing as today’s events seem for Kadhimi there may be something gained for political elites that stand with the ‘state’ against the ‘non-state’.


Whether Muslih is released or not, the reaction of Hashd faction’s only serves to discredit their own image. Since the Tishreen protests, and even before, the Hashd’s sanctity has been on steady decline among Iraqis.



The killing of Ihab al-Wazni in Kerbala provided an opportunity for the government to capitalise on the street outrage and renewed calls for accountability.


It facilitated the protests and utilised it as a pretext to target Muslih, whose background is not coincidental. From Kerbala, he long served as a commander of the Atabat security but during the war on ISIS turned to pro-Iran, Liwa al-Tufuf.


With October elections around the corner, the government and its political backers, may benefit from provocations that discredit the forces opposing it.


The question remains, however, to what degree these forces are ready to up the pressure. So far, it appears that negotiated settlements keep the political peace.


In comparison to the aftermath of the June 2020 Dora raid when arrested KH members were released, the detainee is now held in shared custody of the joint operations command and the security of the Hashd. A minor nuance, yet a concession on part of the Hashd, even if temporary.


I'm sure it was a political calculation as much as anything else.  Elections are supposed to take place this fall.  Despite stating he was going in as prime minister for a very brief time, he'd get elections and then get out, Mustafa quickly changed his mind.  He now wants a second term.  


Where are the votes going to come from?


Not from supporters of former prime minister and forever thug Nouri al-Maliki.  His alliance is strongly critical of Mustafa.  The October Movement (the activism that began in the fall of 2019) might seem an ally; however, factions of the movement have announced that they don't intend to vote because Mustafa has done nothing as one activist after another has been killed.


Remember, this is the movement that overthrew the previous prime minister. 


And Tuesday's huge protest in Baghdad (and elsewhere, but Baghdad had the largest turnout) no doubt reminded Mustafa and his advisors of just how strong and large The October Movement actually is.  


Due to COVID, a number had stopped turning out at the protests in recent months.  Rallying behind the assassination of Ihab, they turned out in full force and then some.


That could be a huge voting bloc.  And Mustafa needs something to get a second term.  He's done nothing as prime minister. Nouri is his enemy (Nouri's State Of Law remains a large bloc with strong support) and the only one he's had any success with when it comes to reaching out has been cleric Moqtada al-Sadr whose influence has waned.


Let's go into that for just a moment because it goes to the power of The October Movement -- a movement the US outlets have largely ignored -- from WSWS on through the corporate media.  Moqtada is a failue all by himself.  But people need hope and they rallied around him when he returned to Iraq after fleeing yet again.  He seemed to mature with the realization of how many people were vested in his success.  But then came The October Movement.


As Moqtada always does, he saw a popular movement and tried to co-opt it and tried to use its popularity to argue for his own.  He didn't organize, he didn't inspire.  He tried to hitchhike on an already popular issue -- just like he did recentl on the demonstration in support of Palestinians held in Baghdad.  He was one of many militia leaders calling for a large turnout.  But the lazy, western press credited the turnout to him in one wire article after another.  Despite the fact that he and his spokesperson have a public record of verbally attacking the Palestinians going back to 2006 -- a reality ignored by the wire services but well documented on Arabic social media.


Moqtada forgot that he had hitched a ride and then began trying to control the movement -- issuing orders to people who were not his followers.  When they refused to comply, he denounced them.  This resulted in a huge backlash so he quickly backed off that.  


Then he tried to controlling them.  He issued orders that men and women could not protest together.


That went over about as well as you would expect.


At the next demonstration, women were only more prominent and various activists carried signs denouncing Moqtada.  He just couldn't let it go and still can't.  It was only weeks ago that he was serving up a veiled threat that women who are protesting should be "gang-raped."  Out of concern, you understand he raised the issue of "gang-rape."


This is the man the western media refuses to challenge and instead glorifies over and over.  It wasn't always that way.  (Reminder, this is the same western media that reduced these protests to men only while we repeatedly objected to that lie.  I note that the wire services, when they carry photos of this week's demonstrations make a point to select ones that include women; however, with their large turnout, it's really impossible for the wire services to continue to ignore the women.)


At any rate, Mustafa wants a second term but doesn't have the votes.  The arrest can be seen as a campaign offering, no question.


I'm glad that THE TIMES reported on what's going on; however, it needs to be noted that the story was published hours after the US State Dept had already issued its own statement raising the issue:


           Rule of Law in Iraq

The United States is outraged that peaceful demonstrators who took to the streets to urge reform were met with threats and brutal violence.  Moreover, the violation of Iraqi sovereignty and rule of law by armed militias harms all Iraqis and their country. We welcome every effort by the government to hold accountable the militias, thugs, and vigilante groups for their attacks against Iraqis exercising their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly as well as for their assault on the rule of law.

We reaffirm the U.S. government’s enduring commitment to the Iraqi people and a strong, sovereign, and prosperous Iraq.


The following sites updated:



Thursday, May 27, 2021

Chase Rice


That's Chase Rice's "Drinkin' Beer. Talking God. Amen."  C.I. has a friend at Chase's label which is why she put the song into a snapshot weeks ago (she disclosed that at the time).  I heard it because of that and I posted it here.  It was like 120,000 views back then and it's now already up to 1.5 million. That's because it really is a great song.  You listen to it and you love it -- unless you just hate country music.  


His new album comes out tomorrow.

New album out Friday, May 28 🤘



And he's a dog lover.


One of the best days of my entire life, y’all meet JackFolded hands Camera with flash:
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Every morning, Chase Rice makes it a priority to talk to God a little bit. And in one particular, pre-pandemic conversation, the North Carolina native had a rather an interesting request.

“I remember telling Him that I needed some real in my life, because I truly didn’t know what was real anymore,” Rice remembers in a interview just days before the Friday (May 28) release of The Album, the completed version of the multi-part project he began putting out in January 2020. "How do I calm this down? How do I get people around me that aren’t just there because of the music?"



Read More: Chase Rice Is a Changed Man, and 'The Album' Proves It | https://tasteofcountry.com/chase-rice-the-album-interview-2021/?utm_source=tsmclip&utm_medium=referral

“There was this group of families who hung out with me at my farm,” Rice remembers of sweet days in the middle of the shutdown. “We sat around fires, we had a Beer Olympics, we had a Top Gun volleyball tournament -- we lived in a way that we will never do it again.”
And much as in his current single with Florida Georgia Line, “Drinkin' Beer. Talkin' God. Amen.,” there were plenty of conversations around the campfire. "A lot of it wasn’t about music -- it was about what was going on in your life and my life," remembers Rice, who snagged his first No. 1 song back in 2018 with "Eyes on You."
"Those are the conversations I will take into my music and on the road and in that mindset that there is a life outside of that tour bus and on that stage," he continues. "I learned that you could have the calm and the chaos at the same time. Before, it was just the chaos.”
Fans will hear the backbone of this newfound philosophy all over The Album.
“All these songs are songs that didn’t belong, but they finalized my album,” Rice says of the record. "These songs came to be when I had a moment to step back and write real songs as opposed to trying to write songs. I’m writing about whatever happens. I’m living life again for the first time in eight years, and it’s been pretty awesome.”



I'm going to try to make time to listen to it this weekend.


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

 Thursday, May 27, 2021.  An arrest takes place in Iraq though the western media and the Iraqi press are in conflict over what the arrest was for. The militias surround the prime minister's compound and you may be saying, "Huh? This wasn't on THE NEWSHOUR or CBS EVENING NEWS or . . ."  No, it wasn't.




One day after protests across Iraq against the wave of terrorism gripping the country since activists with The October Movement started getting assassinated, someone is finally arrested for terrorism.


REUTERS explains, "Iraqi security forces on Wednesday arrested militia commander Qasim Muslih, the military said, in a move security sources said was linked to attacks on a base that hosts U.S. forces."


Oh.


He is thought to have carried out attacks on the activists but, to read the western coverage, that is apparently not part of the charges currently against him.  Elsewhere?  It's a different story.  Iraq's NRT reports:


Iraqi police arrested a senior official in an Iran-backed armed group Wednesday (May 26) on suspicion of orchestrating the murder of a prominent pro-democracy activist, a security source told AFP.

Qasem Muslah, a commander in the state-sponsored Hashed al-Shaabi paramilitary coalition, is the first high-ranking official in the powerful group to have been arrested in relation to a wave of murders of pro-democracy activists and journalists that started in 2019.

A spokesman and other sources within the Hashed said Wednesday evening that Muslah had been released, but the government has yet to confirm the move.

"At dawn in Baghdad, police intelligence arrested Qasem Muslah, Popular Mobilization Forces (Hashed) operations chief for Anbar province, who gave the order to kill Ihab al-Wazni on May 9 and another activist Fahim al-Taie in December 2019," the security source said.

Anti-government campaigner Wazni was shot dead outside his home by men on motorbikes using a gun equipped with a silencer early on May 9 in the holy shrine city of Karbala, sending protest movement supporters onto the streets to demand an end to such bloodshed and official impunity.

Wazni had for many years criticized Iraqi armed groups and Iran's influence in the country, leading protests in Karbala, where pro-Tehran armed groups hold major sway.


The arrest warrant was issued on May 21st. 


ALJAZEERA notes, "A copy of the arrest warrant issued for Muslih that circulated on social media and was verified by the security sources said he was arrested under the anti-terrorism law, but did not have further information."


ALJAZEERA's Shelly Kittleson offers this thread:


#Iraqi #Shia militia commander/w. #Anbar #PMU chief Qassim Musleh was arrested today, allegedly on terrorism and corruption charges. Accused of activists' murders. Militias entered the Green Zone to try to force his release.I have interviewed him twice (pic in #Karbala)/thread
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In a 2018 interview with him for , he told me: “This [attack] only happened because they took it away from us and gave it to the army, which is under the Americans (...)The army is weak. It can’t control anything.’’


"Local security sources contacted by in #Qaim claimed that non-local PMUs were actually behind the attack. The sources said the move was in retaliation for cutting the route used by PMU fighters to bring supplies into #Syria, and to prevent investment"


"Musleh said Danish forces shot at the PMU headquarters in Qaim and spoke of the United States as the enemy throughout the entire interview, barely mentioning IS at all except to claim that the Americans were supporting it."



"Musleh made some easily disputed claims throughout the interview, such as that the city of #Rawa had been liberated before #Qaim (...) “When the PMUs entered Abu Kamal’’ just across the border in #Syria, he added, grinning, “that was the final blow to the US"


Conflicting reports as to whether he has since been released. Iraqi Commander-in-Chief spokesman says he "will remain in the custody of the Joint Operations Command until the end of the investigation"


From my 2nd interview with him for : "#Musleh, the deputy head of security at the #Karbala shrines, said "#Israel and #America" were trying to create divisions(...) he holds both a governmental position and one within the religious establishment"



Not everyone is happy over the arrests.  Syed WaQas Ali Tweeted:



Red circle Iraqi resistance commander Qassim Musleh was arrested earlier today on bogus charges by order of the US puppet Mustafa al-Kazemi. #Iraq
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And the PMF has issued demands:


3 conditions have been given by the PMF: 1. The immediate release of Qassim Musleh 2. An official apology by al-Kazemi 3. Abu Ragheef's resignation


That was online.  Offline?  AP reports:


Shortly after the arrest, forces affiliated with the PMF, which maintains offices inside the heavily fortified Green Zone, were deployed surrounding Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi's headquarters.

Tensions reached fever pitch when Iraqi security forces and the elite Counter-Terrorism Service were deployed to protect the government and diplomatic missions, sparking fears of violence. Some armed PMF factions gathered around the Green Zone's entrance gates.

 The presence of the PMF inside the seat of Iraq's government was considered by some senior Iraqi government officials as a way to pressure al-Kadhimi to release Musleh.


The prime minister described the show of force as “a serious violation of the Iraqi constitution and the laws in force," adding in a statement “we have directed an immediate investigation into these movements.”
 


Antonio Guterres is the Secretary General of the United Nations.  Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert is his Special Envoy to Iraq.  She Tweeted the following:


 Any arrest case should run its course, as goes for any Iraqi. And surely, nobody should resort to a show of force to get their way. Such behaviour weakens the Iraqi state and further erodes public trust. State institutions must be respected at all times. Nobody is above the law.

 

In Karbala some took to the streets to protest the arrest.


Demonstrations in the holy city of Karbala infront of Imam Hussain’s shrine denouncing the kidnapping operation of a leader of the Popular Mobilization Units by Al-Kadhemi, Abu Ragheef and the US.
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A much larger presence turned out in Baghdad on Tuesday to protest the killings of protesters, the government's corruption and much more.



Iraq's High Commission for Human Rights reports 2 protesters were killed in Baghdad during the Tuesday demonstration with at least 20 more injured.











 



The following sites updated: