Sunday, June 12, 2022

Iraq: Walking, walking, we all fall down

And this is why we love John Stauber:

Billionaire-funded “independent” media are getting worried about #NuclearWar, so are uniting for collective peace-posing and handwringing. Nukes go off in Europe, #fallout and #NuclearWinter go global - very inconvenient! 🙄🇺🇸🇺🇦👎
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Quincy Institute
@QuincyInst
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Join @QuincyInst, @theintercept, and @thenation for a webinar on "The Day After" and the threat of nuclear war this Tuesday, June 14 at 5pm ET. Register: quincyinst.org/event/the-thre
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8:29 AM · Jun 12, 2022


That Tweets going to bruise a lot of feelings.  But it's the truth.  And that's why we love John Stauber.  He tells the truth.  Maybe that's why the YOUTUBERs posing as 'independent media' won't have him on their programs.  (And, yes, I'd ever repost Jimmy Dore or CONVO COUCH here if they had John Stauber on as a guest.)


These are the people who egged it on.  They wrote their idiotic pieces, even if they were with CodePink, justifying war on Russia.  They are idiots.


Speaking of idiots, a person e-mailed the public account wanting me to know that a celebrity has done everything she can for Ukraine and should be praised.


Sure, I'll praise her.  Mila, thank you for being trash and breaking up Demi Moore's marriage.


Mila, thank you for being trash and playing Meg on FAMILY GUY for years now, what a great moment for female pride, right?  Playing the most pathetic and picked upon victim ever in animation.  


Mila, thank you for standing up for the right to not bathe your children.


Mila, thank you for sending your stinking kids around others.  What a great mom you are -- both you and Ashton smoke, but you don't bathe the kids so they smell and they reek.


Maybe Mila can close her mouth  -- one that used to claim she was Russian -- long enough to grab a bar of soap and clean her kids. 


Most of all, Mila, thank you for selling war.  I didn't think you could ever become  bigger trash than you were but, hey, you surprised me.


Just like you surprised Frito-Lay when their big ads with you and Ashton went belly up.  Your negatives were so high that they killed the campaign.  Better hold onto that demeaning FAMILY GUY role and keep your fingers crossed for THAT 90S SHOW, you need the money.  Somebody has to pay for all those family get togethers of you, Ashton and Danny Masterson, right?  Danny can't pick up the tab, he's got all those legal bills since the trial's finally about to start.

See, I can offer praise for Mila.


Turning to people who actually mattered:


Never Forget, 19 year old LaVena Johnson who was found in her tent in Iraq in 2005. She had a broken nose, black eye, loose teeth, burns from a corrosive chemical on her genitals to cover evidence of rape, and a gunshot wound. The U.S. government ruled her death was a 'suicide.'
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1:35 AM · Jun 9, 2022



Maybe if we had an independent media and maybe if they could focus on something other than who insulted whose joke and who's been picking on Jimmy Dore, LaVena Johnson's family would have finally gotten justice by now.


The 'independent' trains the stupid.  Here's a Tweet from Sandwich Lady Jesse Epstein who wants to minimize the murder of journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in Palestine (Israeli forces shot her dead):


I’m not justifying it but she was in the cross-fire of an active urban firefight. These things accidentally happen. They happen in war. 71 journalists died in the Iraq war, its a tragedy but it is a risk they take.


71?  "A tragedy," she says.  The tragedy is that she thinks she's smart enough to Tweet.  The Committee to Protect Journalists noted:


At least 150 journalists and 54 media support workers were killed in Iraq from the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003 to the declared end of the war in December 2011, according to CPJ research.


What an idiot.  And on Shireen Abu Akleh, we'll note this from CNN (written report credited to Zeena Saifi, Eliza Mackintosh, Celine Alkhaldi, Kareem Khadder, Katie Polglase, Gianluca Mezzofiore and Abeer Salman):

Several shots ring out in quick succession, cutting through a clear, blue spring morning in Jenin, in the West Bank. Crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack.

The cameraman filming the scene scrambles backwards to take cover behind a low concrete wall. Then a man cries out in Arabic: "Injured! Shireen, Shireen, oh man, Shireen! Ambulance!"
When the camera operator pans around the corner, Al Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh can be seen lying motionless, face down on the ground as another Palestinian reporter, Shatha Hanaysha, crouches down beside her, using a tree trunk for cover. Hanaysha reaches out and tries to rouse her as gunshots continue. There's no response. Both women are wearing helmets and blue protective vests marked "Press."
In the moments that follow, a man in a white T-shirt makes several attempts to move Abu Akleh, but is forced back repeatedly by gunfire. Finally, after a few long minutes, he manages to drag her body from the street.
The shaky video, filmed by Al Jazeera cameraman Majdi Banura, captures the scene when Abu Akleh, a 51-year-old Palestinian-American was killed by a bullet to the head at around 6:30 a.m. on May 11. She had been standing with a group of journalists near the entrance of Jenin refugee camp, where they had come to cover an Israeli raid. While the footage does not show Abu Akleh being shot, eyewitnesses told CNN that they believe Israeli forces on the same street fired deliberately on the reporters in a targeted attack. All of the journalists were wearing protective blue vests that identified them as members of the news media. ​
"We stood in front of the Israeli military vehicles for about five to ten minutes before we made moves to ensure they saw us. And this is a habit of ours as journalists, we move as a group and we stand in front of them so they know we are journalists, and then we start moving," Hanaysha told CNN, describing their cautious approach toward the Israeli army convoy, before the gunfire began.


Ms. Epstein, stick to Tweeting about FIDDLER ON THE ROOF and shul, you won't look so stupid and we'll all grasp that you're a Zionist.


In Iraq, the political stalemate continues.  October 10th, elections were held and they still don't have a prime minister or a president.  The Court has stated that the carry over government has limited powers.  This hasn't been taken to the court yet but that also means this 'Cabinet minister meets with Saudi Arabia counterpart' nonsense the press keeps reporting really needs to stop as well and don't be surprised if this gets taken before the Court.  They're not allowed to do certain things.  They were supposed to be dissolved.  Now a new hiccup, Qassim Abdul-zahra (AP) reports:

Dozens of lawmakers who make up the biggest bloc in Iraq's parliament resigned on Sunday amid a prolonged political impasse, plunging the divided nation into political uncertainty.

The 73 lawmakers from powerful Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr’s bloc submitted their resignation based on his request, to protest a persisting political deadlock eight months after general elections were held.

Parliament Speaker Mohammed Halbousi accepted their resignation.

Al-Sadr, a maverick leader remembered for leading an insurgency against U.S. forces after the 2003 invasion, emerged as the winner in the election held in October.

The election was held several months earlier than expected, in response to mass protests that broke out in late 2019, and saw tens of thousands rally against endemic corruption, poor services and unemployment.


 The Atlantic Council's Abbas Kadhim offers this analysis:


The Sadrist Mivement submitted their resignation letters to Parliament Speaker Halbousi and he placed his approval signatures on them. When they become final, if it gets there, the law allows the next vote getter to take the seat vacated by every resigning MP. (1)

This will redistribute 73 parliamentary seats among various political blocs. It is expected that the Framework Coalition will benefit, by increasing their seat numbers, and some independents may also het seats. Again, if the Sadrists make their position to withdraw final. (2)


Most likely, Sayid Muqtada al-Sadr will receive many appeals from varions Iraqi — and non-Iraqi — voices to reconsider his decision. The Sadrists are an important piller in current Iraqi politics. He may reconsider if his conditions, or most of them, are met, but unlikely. (3)


This latest Sadrist decision, if final, will force a re-shuffle of the entire govt formation alliances and negotiations and it will reconfigure the balance of powers, which means the extension of post-election uncertainty period. Don’t expect a government formed soon. (4)

I do not expect the Framework to do anything, other than appealing to Sayid Sadr to reconsider his decision and return to the table. They will only act & talk on basis of the new reality after the CoR membership is redistributed & finalized, if this happens. (5)

If it does, one of these possible scenarios may materialize: A) the Sadrists leave the official politics and become popular opposition (they can’t be a parliamentary apposition). This will lead to an early election. (6)

B) a government is formed with pro-Sadr participation under their own banners (Sayid Sadr may leave the option open for some people close to him to participate on their own). It will be a bit hard life for the new govt, but better than scenario “A”. (7)

C) the life of current government is extended with a mandate to prepare for another early election. Parliament has to vote to dissolve itself for this to happen and send a good-will to the Sadrists that they are not excluded. (8)

D) a new government is formed by a compromise candidate with a declared purpose of preparing for early election. This is better than scenario “C”, because the new govt will have full authority to govern, as opposed to the current caretaker govt whose powers are truncated. (9)



Kat's "Kat's Korner: JUDY IN LOVE -- an artistic masterpiece" went up yesterday.  The following sites updated: 







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