In the US, the race for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination continues. War Hawk Joe Biden tries to endure the long slog but with his sobbing on TV this week and his bizarre attack on a CBS NEWS reporter (Ed O'Keefe) which included Joe touching the man, it's obvious that Joe's nearing his breaking point.
This precisely how I would ask @JoeBiden WHY he keeps lying about his decades-long support for the Iraq War + cutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid:
More bad news for Joe as Bernie Sanders leads in New Hampshire. Jake Johnson (COMMON DREAMS) reports Bernie is in the lead and that the Vermont Senator has a double digit lead -- 14%. At SLATE, Jim Newell observes:
It’s not just that Sanders had another strong polling week, with a CNN poll showing him overtaking Biden nationally and a New Hampshire survey showing him blowing out the competition there. It’s what’s buried in the crosstabs that’s so promising. The rap on Sanders has been that he’s a “high floor, low ceiling” candidate whose position at the left pole of the party limits his ability to grow. But in the CNN poll, 77 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents said they would be either enthusiastic or satisfied with Sanders as the nominee, versus 23 percent who would be either dissatisfied or upset. That was the best spread of any candidate, and Sanders was also leading Biden among both white and nonwhite voters. In the New Hampshire poll, Sanders had easily the widest favorability of the top contenders, too. These numbers suggest that Democratic voters don’t view him as the disastrous, niche outlier who would automatically lose the general election that party officials (and certain former rivals) believe him to be. If Sanders can win the first two contests, Democratic voters might fall in line quicker than the party apparatus would hope.
This reality hasn't led to better coverage in the corporate media. In fact, Benjamin Wallace-Wells has just turned in a piece at THE NEW YORKER that announces he's the new Peggy Noonan with garbage 'reporting' like this: "Watching him watch Finkenauer, I had the fleeting sense that his gaze was essentially paternal, that is all somehow had to do with the death of Beau Biden . . . " Benjamin hasn't begun channeling dead Presidents and First Ladies for his bad writing but, at this rate, it's just a matter of time.
At THE NATION, Zephyr Teachout endorses Bernie and explains:
Forget the 2016 stereotype: Bernie has developed an extraordinary cross-race and cross-class coalition. He is leading in the polls among Latino voters (a recent poll showed him winning 32 percent of Latino support in California); his support among African Americans is second only to Joe Biden’s; and he is leading Biden by 12 percentage points among African Americans under 35. The top Sanders donors are teachers, Walmart workers, and Amazon workers. Among people under 50, he is the clear leader. And his supporters are very enthusiastic. This broad, committed coalition will matter enormously in the fall, when Facebook is infested with lies, Trump’s campaign is pushing misinformation, and foreign and corporate actors are trying to twist people into nihilism and hatred.
Some of the hardest people to convince on Sanders are those who believe in his policies the most -- older progressive voters. Because they are so heartbroken and beaten down by decades of fearful politics, they have decided they should settle for something less. Sanders is impossible, they think. Unelectable. They remember the Cold War and fear the word “socialism.” Young people (by the way, under 40 isn’t that young) don’t have the same reaction. The truth is that if we settle for something less, too many people may stay home. Sanders is giving people a vision to fight for, and though they know it won’t be easy, they are ready for the fight.
So if you’re on the fence, I want you to feel confident that if you support Bernie, he will not let you down in a fierce general election. I have watched him over the last 30 years, and his political abilities are among the most underrated in the country. In 2006 he won a Senate seat, held by Republicans for generations, with a whopping 65 percent of the vote, the same year a Republican won the governor’s race with 57 percent. When I ran for Congress, a professional communications adviser made me watch Sanders answer questions on Fox News over and over because of his unique ability to refocus questions on what matters to listeners and not get distracted.
This campaign is not just about me. It is about building a movement of human solidarity and saying that when one of us hurts, all of us hurt.
Bernie surges and Joe sags. So much baggage Joe has to carry. Henry J. Gomez (BUZZFEED) reports;
Anita Hill said Thursday that it’s too late for a proper apology from Joe Biden, reopening a decades-old conflict that has followed Biden into his third run for president.
“The statute of limitations for his apology is up,” Hill said in response to a question from the audience at the University of Iowa, where she gave a lecture on ending sexual harassment.
Hill, a law professor, accused then-Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment during his 1991 confirmation hearings. Biden, then the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, presided over the hearings and has faced persistent criticism since for how he and the all-white, all-male panel treated Hill during her nationally televised testimony.
Her appearance was part of the school’s MLK Human Rights Week program, but also came 11 days before Iowa holds the nation’s first presidential caucuses. Biden is among the frontrunners.
Anita's right, the day has passed. It is far too late for Joe to offer a sincere apology for what he did to her -- what he did to her in the hearing, what he did privately as he told various Republicans that she was lying. It's too late. Joe loves to lie.
Joe Biden's campaign is based on lies...
Lies that he hasn't been fighting to cut Social Security for 4 decades.
Lies that he wasn't an enthusiastic proponent of the Iraq War.
Lies that he marched in the Civil Rights Movement.
Legal scholar Jonathan Turley calls Joe out on his nonsense regarding Joe's deadbeat dad son Hunter Biden:
We have previously discussed the denials of former Vice President Joe Biden that his son did anything wrong in Ukraine. As I have written, not only did Hunter Biden clearly enter into a corrupt (but arguably lawful) contract but Joe Biden did not do enough to confirm that his son was not engaging in influence peddling. Nevertheless, this week, Joe Biden continued this indefensible position and declared bizarrely that “no one has suggested my son did anything wrong.”
According to the Washington Post, Joe Biden declared on the campaign trail that “There’s nobody that’s indicated there’s a single solitary thing that he did that was inappropriate, wrong … or anything other than the appearance. It looked bad that he was there.” He then curiously added “He acknowledges that he in fact made a mistake going on the board.” So, in other words, he did nothing wrong but he apologized for it.
Joe Biden continues to maintain that “no one” has accused his son of wrongdoing when there is a chorus of such allegations. He seems to be drawing a distinction between what is criminal and what is not — as if the criminal code is the only measure of wrongdoing or unethical conduct.
Hunter Biden not only clearly engaged in influence peddling but he is clearly a relevant witness.
Deadbeat dad Hunter may avoid the impeachment trial in the Senate but he can't continue to avoid the Arkansas court which is demanding he show up. This is the case of the 18-month child that he refuses to pay child support -- the child he denied was his -- at one point even denied he knew the mother. DNA testing established Hunter is the father. For over a month, he's been making up excuses to avoid turning over financial documents and to avoid appearing in court. He's a deadbeat dad and Joe's okay with it. That tells you the reality about Joe's thoughts on family -- he'll let his grandchild live in poverty, he's okay with that.
What a sham, what a sham, what a mighty, mighty bad sham.
In Iraq today, protests continue. Plural. Protests are always plural in the sense that the ongoing protests that have lasted for four months and counting are spread out across the country and not just in Baghdad. Today, they're plural in other way. In addition to the ongoing protests, Shi'ite cleric and movement leader called on a march in Baghdad demanding US troops leave Iraq.
XINHUA notes:
Iraqi Shia leader Moqtada al-Sadr on Friday called for a scheduled withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq through peaceful means.
Al-Sadr made the call in a letter sent to a massive rally of Iraqis in al-Jaderiyah district, central Baghdad. "We will try to pursue all peaceful political, economic, social, cultural and popular means," the leader said.
Tens of thousands of Iraqis, mainly al-Sadr's followers, gathered to reject the presence of U.S. troops in Iraq, in response to an earlier call by al-Sadr.
CBS NEWS notes, "CBS News correspondent Charlie D'Agata said it was being called the 'Million Man March,' and while the actual turnout wasn't confirmed, he said he could see himself that it was huge, with crowds stretching for miles in every direction."
Iraq right now.
The presence of millions of Iraqis in protest against the US demanding the deportation of US troops from Iraq
- Hundreds of thousands heeded the call for a "Million Man March" in Baghdad, calling for US troops to leave Iraq amidst a heavy security presence https://cnn.it/2ve5Ff3
No No USA
Shocking reporting of amazing rally in Baghdad, estimated at about 2 million chanting US troops out!
The Associated Press @AP said "hundreds" & BBC opted for more sophisticated misinformation & said “thousands”. After videos emerged, CNN had to admit to “hundreds of thousands”
Are you watching Trump?
Are you watching Boris Johnson?
Are you watching BBC?
Where is your correspondent in Iraq? You show few hundred pro-US-occupation individuals but ignore millions on the streets of Baghdad. You are a bankrupt news medium.
#جمعة_السيادة
#USTroopsOutOfIraq
Awesome #Baghdad !
It does look like like millions of people have responded to the call to rally in Baghdad today to show the US that the Iraqi people will never bow before their might.
I will report later with video footage of the sea of humanity chanting
#USTroopsOutOfIraq
Again, protests. The march was only one. After the march in Baghdad, THE JERUSALEM POST notes, "Some protesters headed to join separate anti-government demonstrators at Baghdad's Tahrir Square, and others boarded buses to go home." Qassem Abdul-zahra and Samya Kullab (AP) add:
Apparently seeking to show control, al-Sadr's supporters did not engage in altercations with security forces or target the separate, anti-government protests in neighboring Tahrir Square, a possibility feared by activists in the lead-up to Friday's march. Officials and experts said the rally was the cleric's attempt to capitalize on brewing anti-American feeling and show he had the upper-hand on the Iraqi street as negotiations among political elites over who should be the next prime minister stumble on.
REUTERS notes that Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistan echoed the demands of the ongoing protests, that Iraq's politicians move "to form a new government as soon as possible and to respect protesters' right to express themselves." Protesters continue to be killed by security forces. One death was noted today at the protest in Basra.
#Iraq Misleading heading! Protests have been going for nearly 4 months! The violence against civilians, death toll, injuries is horrific. This is 2nd murder in #Basra in recent days. “Iraq protester gunned down in second night of violence” http://almon.co/3b7e via @AlMonitor
The Iraqi government has again pulled the kill switch on the internet in an attempt to keep the world from watching.
Iraq cuts off Internet access in Baghdad, southern regions as protests leave 3 more dead https://fxn.ws/34yvp26 #FoxNews
Later on, the US embassy in Baghdad had posted security updates regarding the protests in Baghdad.
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