The Common Ills: Plane down in Iraq, foolish nominee in the US

Thursday, March 17, 2016

Plane down in Iraq, foolish nominee in the US

Hamdi Alkhshali and Ralph Ellis (CNN) report that an Iraqi military plane carrying five people crashed on Wednesday in nothern Iraq and that the Islamic State is claiming they shot the plane down. REUTERS shares a photo of what is said to be the wreckage -- the photo was taken in Hawija.

Hawija is home to the notorious massacre of a few years back, the April 23, 2013 massacre of a sit-in in Hawija which resulted from the Iraqi security forces storming in on the orders of then prime minister Nouri al-Maliki and slaughtering citizens. Alsumaria noted Kirkuk's Department of Health (Hawija is in Kirkuk) announced 50 activists died and 110 were injured in the assault. AFP reported the death toll eventually (as some wounded died) rose to 53 dead. UNICEF noted that the dead included 8 children (twelve more were injured).

If indeed the Islamic State did down the Iraqi military plane, it will be seen by some as a highly symbolic action/victory as a result of/response to the 2013 massacre.

Meanwhile, Barack has nominated Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. The undistinguished man is 63 years old.

By contrast Chief Justice John Roberts is only 61 today. And when Bully Boy Bush nominated him, Roberts was 50 years old.

Smart people take lifetime appointments seriously.

Smart people do.

Barack's yet to demonstrate any great intelligence.

But he is a good little groupie to the powerful. Which is how Gore Vidal would see this nomination. Merrick has been a good servant to the interests of the government, if not to the people of the United States. His most high profile case (which he continued to supervise even though he was not lead counsel) would be the one where the judge repeatedly admonished the government for failing to turn over evidence.

Merrick long ago demonstrated he would break and bend the law for the government.

Now he gets rewarded with a nomination.

In his down time from the government, Merrick concerned himself with helping big business.

Anyone still believing the myth that failed community organizer Barack Obama was going to make a difference as president?

Or that biracial Barack would mean better lives for African-Americans?

This is Barack's third nomination for the Court.

Not one of the three was African-American.

Apparently, searching all over the country, Barack can't find a single African-American worthy of serving on the Supreme Court.

Let's be sure that the history books include that when writing of Barack's legacy -- or his lack of one.

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