Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Roberta Flack

Okay, it's just one song.  But I'm excited.  Maybe we'll have a new Roberta Flack album soon?



  • Hello FB friends, Told you the other day about the recent song I recorded, "Running". If you'd like to own it, I'm told you may listen to it through iTunes, Amazon or Spotify. Thank you. iTunes -...
  • For you all. Love is a Song! --Roberta







  • What do you think?

    I really like the song.

    And I'm waiting for a new Roberta album.  The Beatles cover album was inspired.





    roberta flack


    Roberta's had so many great songs.


    1. Roberta Flack - First Time Ever I Saw Your Face


    1. Now Playin On Razors Hot Radio DB: Where Is the Love by Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway Listen Live: (Fan Page) Buy song
    2. Now playing: Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway - The Closer I Get To You - Come listen at !
    3. Two. Roberta Flack Chapter Two and Roberta Flack Quiet Fire. Chapter Two has a version of Just like a woman that is Everything. Everything!! Do what you gotta do is awesome too. Now forget about em cause I shouldn’t have told ya.




    1. Now playing Making Love by Roberta Flack listen here:
    2. En español: Te amo Ingles: I love you. Aerosmith: I don't wanna miss a thing Scorpions: When you came into my life. Roberta Flack: First time ever i saw your face. Engelbert Humperdinck (cover): Can't take my eyes off you. Moto boy: Blue motorbike. Zayn: Let me. R5: Do it again.
    3. Day 13: Roberta Flack - killing Me Softly With His Song





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


    Tuesday, November 27, 2018.  In the US or Iraq, nothing ever changes.


    We'll start with this Tweet from Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.

    If you’re a vet in financial trouble because you’re experiencing a late payment our Rapid Response Team will do all we can to connect you with non-profit resources in your area: Our bandwidth is limited, but we’ll try to help as many as we can.





    The problem that never goes away.

    Remember when it first surfaced?  We were at the first House hearing, check the archives, and remember the member of the Committee who blamed the veterans?  She's not on the Committee any more.  She's behind bars.  In prison.  Probably still wearing a really ugly wig.  Corrine Brown.  She attacked the veterans over and over in hearing after hearing whenever the VA made a mistake.  She couldn't call out the VA (not when Barack was president).  And as if that's not bad enough, what happened next?  Nancy Pelosi made Corrine Ranking Member on the Committee.

    The woman couldn't speak coherently.  She attacked veterans -- which is why all the Veterans Service Organizations backed Tim Walz and not Corrine for the post.  But that's who Nancy wanted.  And Nancy got her way.  For a little bit.  Corrine's a convicted felon.

    Nancy's judgment has always been questionable and it remains so.

    All the challenges to Leader Pelosi are coming from her right, in an apparent effort to make the party even more conservative and bent toward corporate interests. Hard pass. So long as Leader Pelosi remains the most progressive candidate for Speaker, she can count on my support.





  • The idea that Ms Pelosi is not beholden to and a defender of corporate interests is laughable. I understand not wanting to give up a perceived advantage. But if you don’t reform the party now,you never will. And it won’t matter which D is speaker.




  • You’re right. I think that putting her back in there is little different than putting any 1980 Republican in same spot. Speaker determines what liberal direction + issues will even be discussed.




  • Glad AOC proving a savvier politician than is NEVER the feeds on chaos & burning it all down disorganized left. AOC wise 2push 4change where she can, like by calling4 climate change SC rather than ousting competent Speaker n favor of the nothing out there 2take Pelosi's place.




  • I didn't say she wasn't competent. I am saying she is corrupt and feckless and I want her gone. Understand the difference?




  • Who would you like to see take her place?




  • Not my problem to find someone to replace her. That's a straw man, but u may be asking sincerely. We all the time under the law convict criminals and 'who will replace this man and take care of his family'? isn't a consideration for the court. Why should this be different?




  • B/c you don't have any realistic solutions, then u shouldn't even have suggested that AOC shouldn't vote in favor of putting Pelosi back into the Speakership.




  • That makes no sense at all. So if the court in my analogy doesn't replace the rapists income and make sure they provide a solution, then they should just shut up and let him proceed with his life. Your argument is not logical.




  • You're analogy doesn't work here. Either Nancy Pelosi or someone else is going to be Speaker. What's your solution? At this time the challenges are coming from the right (the ). AOC either dissent in their favor or vote for Pelosi. Those are the only options.




  • And your suggestion that Pelosi is "criminal"--"corrupt" & "feckless" is opinion--not a verdict. The black caucus, including beloved liberal Brenda Lee, is all in for Nancy Pelosi, to whom they never refer as "criminal", "feckless" or "corrupt".


    Replying to   and
    Keep trying. You refuse to address my logic analogy so you must not have much. Explain to me why Pelosi took any investigation of the Bush cabal Iraq fiasco off the table - torture, theft, corruption, war, murder et al? We have a rule of law and she failed. For that alone ….


    Replying to   and
    I knew you were going to take this route because you have no solutions to the speaker problem.




  • And you keep deflecting and ignoring my points. What if she died tomorrow? If she is the ONLY person who can fill that position they are in even worse shape than I believe. Any party that is that reliant on one person ….




  • Ur the1 who has no solution4 replacing Pelosi. Suggested WaPo reading: "Dont blow it Democrats; there's only1 choice 4Speaker", authored by 08 "progressive" who had no intention of voting 4Pelosi & what changed her mind. And why she thinks we shld keep Pelosi til Trump is out.




  • You just don't get I don't have to provide you a solution. The caucus needs to provide the speaker. They have to provide the solution. No different than candidates. They decide. You can propose if you want. I can say whether they meet my standards, same as you. Yes or no. Period.





    The notion that it's Nancy or no one is laughable.  She did a lousy job as Speaker from 2007 through the start of 2011.  Seven years later, she's going to be re-installed and people act like it's normal.  No, it's not.  When you suffer the defeat the Dems did in the mid-terms of 2010, you don't go back to leadership.  You're eased out.  But because she brings in the big bucks, she gets to remain.

    Nancy has accomplished nothing.  She was always a poor communicator but that's only gotten worse as she's gotten older.  It's time for new blood.  That doesn't mean a freshman member of the House.  There are many qualified members who could be Speaker.

    Nancy became speaker in 2007 on her promise to get US troops out of Iraq.  That never happened.



    Soldiers get ready to board a CH47 during a live-fire training exercise in Iraq, Oct. 31, 2018. photo by 1st Lt. Leland White






    They remain in Iraq to this day.

    Will she become Speaker?  Probably.  She got rid of a rival for leadership a few years back by blackmailing him with photos of him and underage boys drinking and partying.  Nancy always knows how to win -- dirty.  The people supporting her are supporting corruption.  Granted, most are knee-jerk supporting her (Cher) because Nancy's a woman.  But as far as history will be concerned, it will be Nancy's power plays and blackmail that she's remembered for, not her gender.


    In Iraq, protests resume in Basra City. President of Basra Tribal Council: nothing has changed, still no jobs & dirty water. Protests will spread throughout the province. If security forces use violence, we will take decisive action.




    Nothing has changed in Basra.  The protests started in July.

    It's now November.

    Over 100,000 people have been sent to the hospital for drinking the water in Basra.  Even that's not been fixed.  All around the world, politicians pocket money and refuse to serve the people they are supposed to represent.

    On the topic of lawmakers, ALBAWABA offered:


    Iraq’s parliament will vote on Tuesday to approve the remaining eight ministers in Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi’s government.

    The process is not expected to go smoothly after the Sunni National Axis Alliance, allied with the Binaa bloc, threatened to obstruct any vote on the Defense Ministry portfolio, which 28 nominees are vying for.
    Ahmed al-Jabouri, a leader in the National Axis Alliance and a deputy at the Legal Affairs parliament committee, told Asharq Al-Awsat Monday that the bloc must have power over choosing the next defense minister because it represents Sunnis in the country. He cited how other blocs submitted candidates based on their representation of the Iraqi people.


    The actual wording, for the above to have been a news report, should have been "Iraq's parliament is scheduled to vote . . ."  That's reporting.  "Will vote"?  That's predicting.

    And guess what?  They got their prediction wrong.

    There was no vote today.  MIDDLE EAST ONLINE reports:

    Iraq's parliament will vote next week on whether to approve the remaining eight candidates for Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi's cabinet, the speaker's office said on Monday.
    The session initially scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 27, was delayed late on Monday night by one week.
    Lawmakers last month confirmed only 14 out of the 22 ministers Abdul Mahdi initially presented, but nevertheless approved a confidence motion, allowing him to become prime minister.

    Eight ministries, including the vital defence and interior portfolios, remain vacant. Parliament initially said it would vote on the remaining ministers earlier this month but the vote was delayed due to disagreements over nominees.


    Adel Abdul al-Mahdi still can't form a government.  Maybe he needs to follow through on his threat earlier this month and just resign?

    Iraq's suffering and he can't even get a Minister of Defense confirmed?




    Iraq's Sadr calls on prime minister to finalize cabinet





    Meanwhile the flooding in northern Iraq continues to claim lives.





    Seven killed, thousands displaced in flash flooding in Iraq - Death toll reaches at least 25 (UPDATE)





    The following community sites -- plus BLACK AGENDA REPORT -- updated:








  • Monday, November 26, 2018

    I stand with Julian

    unfriend

    Sunday, Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Unfriend" went up.  And I did two reviews over the weekend: "Kat's Korner: BLOOD RED ROSES, Rod Stewart's latter day classic" and "Kat's Korner: Don't miss Diana Ross' Christmas classic."

    I was honestly hoping to do three reviews but time ran out, sorry.

    I loved this Tweet:

    Some journalists keenly cite FBI informer Marcy Wheeler's wild & eager speculations on EDVA's indictment. But indications so far in fact point to the indictment relating to @xychelsea's case & @WikiLeaks revelations of US wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Cablegate, GITMO.
    165 people are talking about this



    FBI informer Marcy Wheeler!

    That's really what she is and how we should refer to her.

    I stand with Julian Assange.  He needs to be free and free of persecution.

    Marcy Wheeler has always been a problem.

    She's a good self-promoter, a bad writer (I'm referring to lacking any style or grace -- prose is her personal enemy) and a knee-jerk opinion columnist trying to pass herself as a hard news reporter.

    She's like Nancy Grace but really rough looking.

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


    Monday, November 26, 2018.  As flooding continues in Iraq, the ineffectual government stands revealed to all the world.


    Jonathan Swan and Alayne Treene (AXIOS) note:


    President Trump twice raised to the Iraqi prime minister the idea of repaying America for its wars with Iraqi oil, a highly controversial ask that runs afoul of international norms and logic, according to sources with direct knowledge.
    Trump appears to have finally given up on this idea, but until now it hasn't been revealed that as president he's raised the concept twice with Iraq's prime minister and brought it up separately in the Situation Room with his national security team.


    Why does this matter?

    The authors argue:


    Why it matters: Trump's desire to raid Iraq's oil is illegal and unworkable. But it reveals a great deal about his approach to the Middle East. Trump remains hellbent on extracting payments from Middle Eastern countries, in the form of natural resources, for the trillions of dollars America has spent since the early 2000s. Bob Woodward and others have reported on the formal steps Trump took to push his team to extract rare minerals from Afghanistan as repayment for the war. (Security concerns have stymied that effort; though Afghan's leadership was more open to Trump's pitch than Iraq's leaders have been.)

    No, idiots, that doesn't cut it.

    UK EXPRESS offers a summary of the article but also can't grasp reality.  MEDIAITE also summarizes the article but can't actually report.

    What is going on in the world these days that everyone's decided to play dumb and stupid?  Oh, they're not playing?

    Donald Trump proposed this as a candidate.  We thought it was a stupid idea.

    Candidates say many stupid things.

    Donald Trump is now president.  That doesn't make the proposal any smarter.  It's still stupid.  But he's now the government.  So his comments come with a different context and I'm really not thrilled that so many asses can't do their own job.  They're the ones claiming to be reporters.

    The US government twice tried to get Iraq to pick up the tab recently (recently = since 2017)?

    Why would that be surprising?

    Did everyone hit their head and forget the past?

    Lee Russ (WATCHING THE WATCHERS) June 2006:

    If you can remember that far back, before the invasion of Iraq, Dick Cheney and friends were arrogantly sure that (a) the cost of the war would be minimal, and (b)  Iraq's oil revenue would fund reconstruction efforts; it would virtually be a no-cost war, one that paid for itself.

    In March 2008, THE NATION offered quotes from several who insisted the Iraq War would pay for itself.  Here's a few they noted:


    “Iraq has tremendous resources that belong to the Iraqi people. And so there are a variety of means that Iraq has to be able to shoulder much of the burden for their own reconstruction.”
    Ari Fleischer
    White House press secretary
    February 18, 2003

    “When it comes to reconstruction, before we turn to the American taxpayer, we will turn first to the resources of the Iraqi government and the international community.”
    Donald Rumsfeld
    Secretary of Defense
    March 27, 2003

    “There is a lot of money to pay for this that doesn’t have to be US taxpayer money, and it starts with the assets of the Iraqi people. We are talking about a country that can really finance its own reconstruction and relatively soon.”

    Paul Wolfowitz
    Deputy Secretary of Defense
    testifying before the defense subcommittee
    of the House Appropriations Committee
    March 27, 2003


    Donald Trump is now the head of the US government.  Ahead of the war, various mouths in the US government told the public that Iraq would pay for reconstruction via oil.  That's not what's happened.  One take away on this latest development would be that Donald Trump tried to follow up on the US government's earlier promises to the American people.

    I don't support the idea.  But I didn't support ahead of the war.

    The feckless press that's so applauded today by airheads like Meryl Streep?  They're the ones who sold the war.  As just the three quotes above convey, this notion was floated publicly and floated repeatedly.  And the press wasn't shocked by it.  It wasn't awed by it.  It thought the plan was perfectly normal.  And those of us who spoke out were the crazies.  Forgive me for not wanting to wash the blood of the press that sold the war today because they finally found a sense of outrage after Donald Trump was elected president.

    Here's a little more context that actual journalists should be conveying but they aren't: All the prime ministers since Saddam Hussein -- including the current one -- were little cowards who fled Iraq and lived outside Iraq for years and years.  How did they spend those years?  Begging the US to invade.  Cowards who fled then begged another country to invade.

    They don't serve the Iraqi people.  But they sure do enrich their own pockets. From that point of view, it can be argued that the government of Iraq should be paying.

    For years, during the early years of the Iraq War, Iraq Veterans Against the War would insist that right now there needed to be reparations paid to the Iraqi government.  I would argue against it here.  Because I'm opposed to reparations?  No, because the government was corrupt and not representing the people of Iraq.  Nouri al-Maliki was one of the biggest thieves but he was far from the only thief of Baghdad.

    Handing millions over to a crooked government is not reparations.

    And if we're going to get offended by Trump today (and I agree we should) let's note that he's just following on the promises the US government made before he was a part of it.  And let's especially note that the US press rolled over in real time, never treated the promises made by Bully Boy Bush and his administration as outrageous -- though they were outrageous.

    Speaking of things that were treated as normal by the press, the death of David Kelly.

    “I believe the state narrative on this strange death to be organised falsehood. You don’t lock up the truth for 70 years in the National Archive. I aim to get to the heart of this...” by George Galloway — Kickstarter
     
     




    In Iraq today, still proof that the government does not represent the people.

    Heavy rainfall in Iraq kills at least 21, displaces thousands
     
     



    For days now, there has been flooding in northern Iraq.  AFP reports, "At least 21 people have died and tens of thousands displaced by heavy rains that have battered Iraq over two days, the health ministry and United Nations said on Sunday.  Women and children were among the dead, health ministry spokesman Seif al-Badr told AFP. Some had drowned, but others had died in car accidents, were electrocuted, or were trapped when their houses collapsed."  Rescuing people is not an easy task and we should all be asking why that is?  ALJAZEERA explains:

    In Mosul, the heavy storms submerged two floating bridges along the Tigris river, which bisects the city.
    They were the only way to move between Mosul's eastern and western halves, after all its bridges were bombed during last year's months-long operation to retake the city from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) armed group.


    Mosul's bridges were destroying by bombings last year.  Last year.  2017.  We have one more full month left in 2018.  And those bridges haven't been reconstructed?  And who bombed them because if the answer has been these floating bridges, it's probably Iraq and/or the US-led coalition that bombed the bridges.

    Nearly a year without bridges being rebuilt.  And we're supposed to pretend that the Iraqi government works for the Iraqi people?



    ! The suffering of my people continues !!! Is it enough for Iraq? Occupation, injustice, ignorance, sectarianism, corruption and poverty ???
     
     
     



    Torrential caused severe across , displaced thousands & killed & injured many. Some 10,000 people in Salah al-Din & 15,000 in Ninewa governorates need assistance, including thousands of families living in IDP camps
     
     
    Side of the suffering of residents of camp in Nineveh north , after heavy rains and floods swept their tents, executed the remaining aspects of their lives amid the absence of another place to resort to after demolishing their homes and loss of everything they have.
     
     



    Competing visions for the future of have manifested themselves through violent, sectarian conflict over the Iraqi state & its resources, have been used by political elites to deflect attention away from poor governance & corruption by
     
     




    Meanwhile . . .





    The U.S. govt is offering a reward of up to $3M for info leading to the arrest and/or conviction of an Iranian national who allegedly illegally acquired technology used in roadside bombs against U.S. & coalition forces in Iraq from 2008 through 2010.
     
     






    Kat's "Kat's Korner: BLOOD RED ROSES, Rod Stewart's latter day classic" and "Kat's Korner: Don't miss Diana Ross' Christmas classic" went up Saturday.  Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Unfriend" went up last night.  New content at THIRD: