The Common Ills: 2022-02-13

Saturday, February 19, 2022

Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "What Motivates Nancy To Run"

Isaiah's latest THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "What Motivates Nancy To Run." Nancy Pelosi announced, "I think I won't run for re-election so I can spend more time with you, my family." Christine Pelosi exclaims, "What!" A glum Paul Pelosi Jr. declares, "We don't want you around here." Alexandria Pelosi insists, "He means we wouldn't dream of taking you away from the nation. They, uh, need you. Yeah. A lot." Isaiah archives his comics at THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS.

Iraq: American accused of torturing in the KRG; political stalemate continues

Ross Roggio is a name in the news. He's an American from Philadephia who has been arrested. CBS 21 NEWS notes:

A Pennsylvania man has been charged with torture and conspiracy to commit torture after he "directed and participated in the systematic torture of an employee over the course of 39 days" in Iraq.

Ross Roggio is charged "with suffocating a victim with a belt, threatening to cut off one of the victim’s fingers, and directing Kurdish soldiers to inflict other severe physical and mental pain and suffering on the victim," according to a report from U.S. Attorney John C. Gurganus.

According to the indictment against Roggio, he allegedly lead interrogation sessions where he directed Kurdish soliders to suffocate the victim with a bag, "taser the victim in the groin," and jump on the victim while wearing military boots.

AP adds, "Roggio and the Roggio Consulting Company were previously charged in 2018 with illegally exporting firearms parts and tools from the United States to Iraq as part of a weapons project in Kurdistan." Sydney Kostus ( INFORM NY) notes:

Roggio was taken into custody on Thursday night in Pittston. We spoke to a former neighbor about Roggio and when the FBI raided his home back in 2018.

“What he said was he works in construction. That he had worked in the army and was in the construction corp there. It was crazy, I still don’t know very much about it but it was insane,” stated Steve.

His mother spoke exclusively with Eyewitness News. She says ross is her caretaker here at their home and she is heartbroken.

“I’m a mother of course everybody thinks I’m wrong. A wrong idea everybody thinks of me. But I just can’t live without him,” explained Soon Roggio.

Soon Roggio spoke to us about the moment she found out her son, Ross Roggio, was taken into custody for allegedly torturing a person who worked for him in Iraq.

Roggio's is a curious case and there's much more that will come out.. For example, he's claimed to have been kidnapped in Iraq (by business partners) and had his passport stolen as a result. That's what he told customs at JFK Airport when he returned to the US in early 2017. Also at JFK, his communication devices were confiscated which his attorneys have argued were a violation of The Fourth Amednment. On today's news, Kanishka Singh (REUTERS) reports:

Roggio, 53, is the second American citizen - and the fourth person overall - to be charged with violating a U.S. torture statute that went into effect in 1994, the department said. He was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit torture and one count of torture.

"The grand jury charges that the defendant directed and participated in the systematic torture of an employee over the course of 39 days by Kurdish soldiers in Iraq," said John Gurganus, the U.S. attorney in Pennsylvania handling the case.

Roggio and the Roggio Consulting Company LLC previously were charged in a 37-count indictment in 2018 with illegally exporting firearms parts and tools from the United States to Iraq as part of the weapons project in Kurdistan.

Meanwhile, still no progress towards an Iraqi government. The stalemate continues, months after the October 10th elections were held. RUDAW reports:

Shiite influential cleric Muqtada al-Sadr said on Friday that the members of his tripartite alliance for the formation of a new government in Baghdad have been threatened again.

“Once again some people threaten our allies and partners who have called for a national majority government … Stop threatening. I reaffirm that we will not give up and will not allow terror and corruption to control us,” said Sadr in a tweet without providing information about the alleged threats and those involved.

Hours later, Mohammed al-Halbsousi - who leads Sunnis in the tripartite alliance with Sadr and the largest Kurdish bloc, Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) - said that they will not accept such threats.

“There are some incomplete attempts to violate the sovereignty and dignity of the state. We are not afraid of their weapons and do not accept their threats,” he said in a tweet.

Stop threatening, hiss Moqtada. MEMO notes, "Al-Sadr did not mention the names of the sides threatening him over his plan to form a majority government, but he confirmed that the threats were reccurent." MEMO also notes, "A bomb attack targeted the party headquarters of Iraqi Parliament Speaker Mohamed Al-Halbousi in the western Anbar province, according to a local security source on Saturday, Anadolu Agency reports." That would the head of the group of Sunnis that have joined with Moqtada. It appears that they aren't very popular with their own. In fact, that's what the earlier attack suggested as well but a head-up-the-ass western press wanted to blame that on the pro-Iranian militia groups. For them to carry that out in Baghdad was possible but not likely. For them to carry it out in western Anbar not possible, not without drawing attention to themselves.

The following sites updated:

Dr. Luna Oi Joins Revolutionary Blackout | International Leftist Coalition

Trudeau - Is This Your Liberal Hero?

Joy Behar REFUSES To Stop Wearing Masks

Changing of the Gods Docu-Series Releasing 2/22

Dear Bioneers:

I want to let you know that at long last I’ve finished “Changing of the Gods,” the indie 10-episode docu-series I’ve been working on for many years. It will have its initial release for a limited 2-week free screening beginning of 2/22/22. This will be the only chance to see it for the foreseeable future. You can see the Project Overview Deck on this link.

You can register and see the trailer at https://changingofthegods.com.

Although the series is a personal project independent of my work with Bioneers, it draws deeply on core Bioneers ideas, and the cast features numerous Bioneers, including Chief Oren Lyons, Luisah Teish, Eve Ensler, john a. powell, Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, Tom Linzey, Mari Margil, William Keepin and Jeremy Narby. Our longtime Bioneers colleague Louie Schwartzberg co-directed the series with me.

Inspired by the landmark book “Cosmos and Psyche” by cultural historian, scholar and archetypal astrologer Richard Tarnas, the series is a Russian doll, with stories enfolded within stories. In one dimension, it’s a deep exploration of cosmology. Who are we as human beings and what is our place in the cosmos? Do we live in a random, meaningless universe? Or is there order in the chaos? Could there be a correlation between the movements of the planets and entire epochs in human history? As Shakespeare put it, “There are more things in Heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”

In other dimensions, “Changing of the Gods” depicts a sweeping historical view of “the arc of the moral universe” by chronicling the evolution of social movements for liberation, freedom, rights and justice from the French Revolution up to the “fierce urgency of now.” We turn an archetypal eye, rooted in depth psychology, to explore the deeper nature of the human psyche. Lastly, it’s a detective story that propels us into the mystery of consciousness itself.

There is so much more to say about this project, but a picture is worth a thousand words. I hope you get a chance to view the series during this limited 2-week preview run.

I honor and thank the Bioneers community for our amazing shared learning journey together over these three decades that has shaped me to be able to tell this story.

Love and Thanks

Kenny Ausubel

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The Carlos Watson Show: New Guests, New Action

Feb 19, 2022

Hey Ozy Family,

We wrapped up another week at The Carlos Watson Show, and went live with a series of visionary guests who have changed the world in some exciting ways, including mountaineer Silvia Vasquez-Lavado, musician Taylor Dayne, Vet TV’s Donny O’Malley and Nick Betts, and Louisiana Senate candidate Gary Chambers. We also had an eye-opening conversation with Egypt Sherrod and Mike Jackson, where we learned about their story, the value of engaging with the world around us, and all about their new HGTV show Married to Real Estate.

Egypt and Mike each spent time in the entertainment world and grew their own real estate expertise before joining forces to journey through life together. They shared some stories about how they navigated their own hurdles and what it means to work together as a married couple. We got some great insight into the importance of real estate in building wealth, generating income, and providing education – their 10-year-old daughter is a budding real estate entrepreneur herself. She makes us wonder: what does it mean to develop financial literacy at such a young age, and how do we empower our children to create a brighter future? I’m really excited for you to check this one out – you can catch the episode here.

Next week’s lineup is just as varied and thrilling, filled with up-and-comers and icons of our generation. On the docket, we’ve got actress Laya DeLeon Hayes talking about her life and her role in the series The Equalizer. We’ve got author, celebrity watchdog, and blogger extraordinaire Perez Hilton. We’ve got 23-year-old former White House staffer and firebrand New Hampshire Congressional Candidate Karoline Leavitt. And we close the week on an epic note with Wu Tang Clan’s own RZA. New episodes every weekday — check us out on The Carlos Watson Show.

Every one of these guests has enthralled us with their enlightening and impassioned dialog, and they’ve expanded our horizons in line with the Season 4 theme: Elevate the Conversation. We’ve heard recounts of following dreams, the fulfillment of public service, and broadcasting messages in public forums. We’re excited to have you on the ride, and we can’t wait for you to see what’s next.

Cheers,

Carlos

YOUR VOTE: THE NEXT TCWS GUEST INTERVIEW?

Left Takover UPSETS Viewers...What happened here?

Sam Seder CALLS OUT Jimmy Dore, Jackson Hinkle, Leftists, and The People's Party

#FreeAssange with Kyle Anzalone

Marianne Williamsons out of touch candidate forum PR failed tactic US plans attack Bitcoin Data Gate

Trudeau Threatens to Freeze Protestors’ Bank Accounts

Talk World Radio: Jonathan Katz on What You Don’t Know About Smedley Butler

Talk World Radio: Jonathan Katz on What You Don’t Know About Smedley Butler

https://davidswanson.org/talk-world-radio-jonathan-katz-on-what-you-dont-know-about-smedley-butler

Talk World Radio: Jonathan Katz on What You Don’t Know About Smedley Butler

https://davidswanson.org/talk-world-radio-jonathan-katz-on-what-you-dont-know-about-smedley-butler

AUDIO:

https://soundcloud.com/davidcnswanson/talk-world-radio-jonathan-katz-on-what-you-dont-know-about-smedley-butler

Talk World Radio is recorded as audio and video on Riverside.fm. Here is this week’s video and all the videos on Youtube.

VIDEO:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqU4ipZeVYw

This week on Talk World Radio we’re talking about Smedley Butler with the author of a terrific new biography called Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, the Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America’s Empire. The author, Jonathan Katz, based here in Charlottesville, Virginia, as most of the coolest people are, received the James Foley/Medill Medal for Courage in Journalism for reporting from Haiti. His first book, widely praised, was The Big Truck That Went By. You can find him at https://jonathanmkatz.com

For more on the topic of World War II try Leaving World War II Behind.

Total run time: 29:00
Host: David Swanson.
Producer: David Swanson.
Music by Duke Ellington.

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David Swanson is an author, activist, journalist, and radio host. He is executive director of WorldBeyondWar.org and campaign coordinator for RootsAction.org. Swanson's books include War Is A Lie. He blogs at DavidSwanson.org and WarIsACrime.org. He hosts Talk World Radio. He is a Nobel Peace Prize Nominee and U.S. Peace Prize Recipient.

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