The Common Ills: Tara Reade -- the name US corporate media continues to avoid

Saturday, April 11, 2020

Tara Reade -- the name US corporate media continues to avoid

In the US, the media has crowned Joe Biden the Democratic Party's presidential nominee. THE DAILY MAIL notes:

Tara Reade, who served on Joe Biden's senate staff, filed a criminal complaint against him with the Washington Metropolitan Police Department
The complaint comes after Reade alleged Biden sexually assaulted her in a Senate corridor on Capitol Hill in 1993
Reade accused Biden of shoving his hand under her skirt and penetrating her with his fingers
She tweeted on Friday that the statute of limitations on the allegation had passed, but that 'there is justice in just being heard in a dignified way.'
The woman first made the allegation on a podcast last month and Biden has denied the claims

Jace King (THE JOURNAL) explains:

The story begins in 1993. Then-senator Biden was enjoying his fourth term, and the #MeToo movement was only a dream amongst sexual assault survivors. Tara Reade was working as a staffer for his Senate office, and was dictated by her superior to bring a gym bag to the Russell Building of the Capitol for Biden. Once she arrived to deliver the bag to Biden, the incident that occurred should exclusively be described in her own words. “And then he — it was one, as I described, fluid moment. He was talking to me, and he said some things that I don’t recall. And I was up against the wall. And he — I remember the coldness of the wall. And I remember his hands underneath my blouse and underneath my skirt, and his fingers penetrating me as he was trying to kiss me and I was pulling away. And he pulled back, and he said, ‘Come on, man. I heard you liked me.’ But he was angry. It was like a tight voice. And he tended to smile when he was angry. And he isn’t like the Uncle Joe like everybody talks about now. He was younger. He was my dad’s age at that time and very strong. And he looked insulted and angry. And I remember feeling like I had done something wrong when he said that statement. And then I was standing there when he said — he was still near me. He said — pointed his finger and said, ‘You’re nothing to me. You’re nothing.’ And he walked away.”

THE ARMENIAN REPORTER notes this Tweet from Tara:

Thank you to the endure reporters @ryangrim @kthalps @RichMcHugh and also
And stars that have actually waited me @SusanSarandon @johncusack @rosemcgowan I submitted an authorities record for security factors just. All crim statistics past restrictions. Gratitude for all that have actually waited me. https://t.co/VpdUF8jez1
— taratweets (Alexandra Tara Reade) (@ReadeAlexandra) April 11, 2020

Renia Sulton (WEAR YOUR VOICE) offers:

Look, I get it. I was once a Vote Blue No Matter Who girl myself—and thankfully Allah is the Most Forgiving. I reluctantly mailed in my ballot to vote for Hillary Clinton from f**king France to try to save this God-forsaken country from a Donald Trump presidency. I supported a warmongering racist who never supported me for one second because I thought it was my Patriotic American Duty™ to vote for the lesser of two evils. But how f**ked up is it that seemingly every four years, we as a country do a collective sigh and cast a vote for whatever person we’ve deemed least likely to ruin our g**damned lives?
It’s so f**ked up that I simply refuse to do it anymore. I will no longer subscribe to the idea that choosing between two alleged—I say alleged to not get sued, but I believe Tara Reade and all of Trump’s accusers—rapists is democracy. It’s not. You’re trying to tell me the will of the people is Trump versus Biden in the year 2020? IT’S. NOT.

Here’s a cute listicle of the reasons why I won’t be voting for Joe Biden. I don’t have all day and I’m honestly not sure the WYV website can handle an article long enough to delineate everything bad he’s ever done, so consider this f**ks**t which is just the tip of the giant iceberg:

4. He’s Been Credibly Accused of Sexual Assault

The Alyssa Milanos of the world might only care about rape allegations when they involve Republicans, but EYE believe Tara Reade. I am horrified by the fact that many of the same people who championed the #MeToo movement and highlighted the allegations against Trump are pretending they don’t know what Tara Reade so bravely shared.

Every single time I say I’m a prison abolitionist, people ask me what we’ll do with the rapists. We’ll let them run for president, Karen. And we’ll shame the people who don’t unite behind the Democratic rapist to beat the Republican rapist.

Turning to Iraq . . .

Ali Choukeir (ASIA TIMES) notes:

Iraqi President Barham Saleh nominated spy chief Mustafa Kadhemi on Thursday as the country’s third prime minister-designate this year, moments after his predecessor ended his bid to form a government.
Kadhemi, the 53-year-old head of the National Intelligence Service, has ascended to the role as Iraq faces a budget crisis brought on by the collapse in world oil prices and the spread of the novel coronavirus.
“This is a huge responsibility, and a difficult task,” Saleh said in his nominating speech, describing Kadhemi as someone with integrity and reason.

His nomination was attended by ministers, political rivals and even the United Nations’ representative in Iraq, indicating widespread support for Kadhemi that neither of the previous PM-designates had enjoyed.
[. . .]
Kadhemi was able to secure that support after weeks of lobbying that peaked in a flurry of meetings in Baghdad over the last week, sources close to him told AFP.
Among them were gatherings attended by Iranian General Ismail Qaani, who has headed Iran’s powerful Quds Force foreign operations unit since a US drone strike in Baghdad killed his predecessor Qasem Soleimani in January.
One hardline Iraqi faction accused Kadhemi of conspiring with Washington to carry out the strike, but the spy chief was able to repair his ties to Iran, several political sources close to the talks told AFP.

“Kadhemi recently travelled to Beirut to overcome this obstacle,” said one source close to Lebanon’s pro-Iran movement Hezbollah.

In other news, Lolita C. Baldor (AP) reports, "New air defence systems are now protecting American and allied forces at military bases in Iraq where troops have been attacked by Iranian-backed forces in recent months, according to US officials." SPUTNIK adds, "Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley confirmed Thursday that hundreds of troops from the 1st Brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division would remain in Iraq due to the threat posed by Shia militias. According to Milley, US troops would remain hunkered down in Iraq 'until such time that we think the threat has subsided'." ALMASDAR NEWS reminds, "The United States has accused Iran and allied armed groups of launching missile attacks on its forces in Iraq."

The following sites updated: