Monday, July 24, 2023

Iraq snapshot

Monday, July 24, 2023.

Another week, another question of when will Ron DeSantis end his war on intelligence?



If you missed it, Ron's new education curriculum is all about anything but the truth.  Slavery is now nothing but an alternative school, a trade school, a DeVry that provided basic life skills and tools.



Here's some reality the country better start grasping real quick.  We cannot afford Ron DeSantis.

We can't afford to become a dumbed down population.  



US Vice President Kamala Harris addressed this issue:





THE VICE PRESIDENT:  I am a product of teachers and an educational system that believed in providing the children with the full expanse of information that allowed them to then — and encouraged them — to then reach their own conclusions and exercise critical thought in a way that was directly intended to nurture their leadership.

I am fully aware that it is because of that approach that I stand before you as Vice President of the United States of America.  (Applause.)

So when I think about where we are today, and who we are as a community of people within the beauty of the diversity that I see in front of me, I know that there are many things we share in common.  And, first and foremost, we share in common a deep love of our country and the responsibility we each have, then, to fight for its ideals.  That is so critically important on the subject, then, that gathers us here today.

Because, you see, when we think about it, part of true patriotism means fighting for a nation that will be better for each generation to come.  (Applause.)  Right?  Believing that our nation is worth the investment in fighting for the children of America, that we will provide them with the information they need to go into the world and lead.  (Applause.)

I will tell you, as Vice President of the United States, I have now met with over 100 world leaders — presidents, prime ministers, chancellors, and kings.  One of the things about who we are as Americans is we can walk in those rooms with the authority earned, for the most part — except recently, sometimes — (laughs) — earned authority to walk in those rooms talking about what it means to uphold democracies, the importance of rule of law, human rights.
And when we walk in those rooms, we do it proud of the fact that we have been held up and held out as a role model. 

Well, the thing about being a role model is this: When you’re a role model, people watch what you do to see if it matches what you say.  (Applause.)

So, understand the impact that this is happeni- — having not only for the children of Florida and our nation, but potentially people around the world.  Because, on a more specific point, in that regard, we want to know that we are sending our children out as role models of a democracy, who, therefore, know the importance of speaking and telling truth, the importance of understanding when you are a leader, you must know history.  (Applause.)

And, by the way, be really clear — be really clear: All the folks that we would go out and send our children to go and meet around the world are clear about our history, and we’re going to send our own children out to not know what it is?  Building in a handicap for our children, that they are going to be the ones in the room who don’t know their own history when the rest of the world does?

Think about this for a moment — the levels of proportion. 

So when I think about where we are, I do believe that our strength as a nation has always been because we are continuously and always invested in fighting to reach our ideals. 

And let’s remember the preamble to the Constitution of the United States.  Ben Crump. 

MR. CRUMP:  Yes, ma’am.  (Laughter.)

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  “We the People…in order to form a more perfect union” is part of the spirit behind our founding as a democracy.  Implicit in those words is we understood we must strive to form a more perfect union.  Implicit in those words was an understanding we are imperfect.  And we must be honest about that to understand, then, our history, where we’ve been, and then have a North Star in terms of where we must go.  (Applause.)

So when I think about what is happening, then, here in Florida, I am deeply concerned.  Because let’s be clear: I do believe this is not only about the state of Florida; there is a national agenda afoot.  (Applause.)  And what is happening here in Florida?  Extremist so-called leaders for months have dared to ban books.  Book bans in this year of our Lord 2023. 

Extremists here in Florida passed a law, “Don’t Say Gay,” trying to instill fear in our teachers that they should not live their full life and love who they love. (Applause.)

And now, on top of all of that, they want to replace history with lies.  Middle school students in Florida to be told that enslaved people benefited from slavery. 

AUDIENCE:  Booo —

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  High schoolers may be taught that victims of violence, of massacres were also perpetrators. 

I said it yesterday: They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us — (applause) — and we will not have it.  And we will not have it. 

 And, you know, as parents, we teach our children to tell the truth.  It’s one of the first things we teach our children: love and honor their parents, their God, and tell the truth.  We teach our children not only to tell the truth, but to seek knowledge and truth. 

It’s part of what we know is about putting them on the road for them to grow and develop for the sake of our mutual well-being and prosperity.  These are the things we tell them. 

Well, I think we should model what we say.  (Applause.) These extremist so-called leaders should model what we know to be the correct and right approach, if we really are invested in the well-being of our children.  Instead, they dare to push propaganda to our children. 

 This is the United States of America.  We’re not supposed to do that.  (Applause.)

And here’s the other piece about this.  Now, when adults know what slavery really involved — come on — adults know what slavery really involved.  It involved rape.  It involved torture.  It involved taking a baby from their mother.  It involved some of the worst examples of — of — of depriving people of humanity in our world.  It involved subjecting to people the requirement that they would think of themselves and be thought of as less than human. 

So, in the context of that, how is it that anyone could suggest that in the midst of these atrocities, that there was any benefit to being subjected to this level of dehumanization?  (Applause.)  In the midst of these atrocities, that there was some benefit?  (Applause.)  

So, it is not only misleading; it is false.  And it is pushing propaganda.  People who walk around and want to be praised as leaders, who want to be talked about as American leaders, pushing propaganda on our children.  Pushing propaganda on our children. 

And when we think about it, you know, when we send our children to school, as parents, we want to know that they are be taugh- — they are being taught the truth.  It is a reasonable expectation.  It is a reasonable expectation that our children will not be misled.  And that’s what’s so outrageous about what is happening right now: an abject and purposeful and intentional policy to mislead our children. 

And so, let us be clear: Teachers want to teach the truth.  (Applause.)  Teachers want to teach facts.  And teachers dedicate themselves to some of the most noble work any human being could take on: to teach other people’s children — (applause) — for the sake of the future of our nation.

And so, they should not then be told by politicians that they should be teaching revisit- — revisionist history in order to keep their jobs. 

What is going on?  (Applause.)

Our teachers who fear that if they teach the truth, they may lose their job.  As it is, we don’t pay them enough.  (Applause.)  You know!  I know.

And these are the people — these extremist, so-called leaders — who all the while are also the ones suggesting that teachers strap on a gun in the classroom instead of what real leaders should be doing and be engaged in reasonable gun safety laws.  (Applause.)

These are the same extremist leaders — so-called leaders — who make teachers fear losing their job for having a photograph of their spouse on their desk.  (Applause.)

But let’s be clear: On this issue, as it — with — this is not the first time in history that we’ve come across this kind of approach.  This is not the first time that there are powerful forces that have attempted to distort history for the sake of political ends.

Think about in the past how we have seen attempts to minimize and even deny the Holocaust.  (Applause.)  Think about those who tried to rewrite the history of the Japanese internment camps, erase our nation’s dark and sordid history in how we have treated the Native people and, in particular, through educational systems.  (Applause.)  Those who have tried — and there are states where they have — to ban teaching Latino and Hispanic history.

This is not the first time.

But when we think about it then in the context in which we should — understanding there is a national agenda afoot, understanding that there are many aspects of our history that some would like to overlook, erase, or at least deny — let us think about then what this creates as a moment for us to also then rededicate ourselves to the coalition.  (Applause.)  Our responsibility at moments like this to understand nobody should be made to fight alone.  We are all in this together.  (Applause.) 

And take a look — because, you know, there are a lot of teachers here, I think.  So I’m going to tell — you know, one of the things I love is Venn diagrams.  Any math teachers in the room?  I love Venn diagrams.  And I have — I have done an exercise of — of looking to see from where are we seeing the attacks on things like voting rights, LGBTQ rights, a woman’s right to make decisions about her own body, book bans.  And you will not be surprised to know a lot of them revert to the same source.

So, let’s think about this then as an opportunity to build back up the coalition of all people who believe in our foundational and fundamental truths — the truth that we are and will be a more perfect union when we fight for justice — (applause) — when we fight for equality, when we fight for fairness, guided by a belief in who we are as a nation and telling our truths.

And I will — I’ll close with this.  History has shown us that, in our darkest moments, we have the ability to unite — (applause) — and to come out stronger.  We know E Pluribus Unum, “Out of many, one.”

That is who we are in this room.  Out of many, one.

Americans who came here through Ellis Island.  Americans who were kidnapped and brought over on slave ships.  Americans who are native to this land.

Our history as a nation is born out of tragedy and triumph.  That’s who we are.  Part of that is what gives us our grit — knowing from where we came, knowing the struggles that we have come through, and being stronger in our dedication to saying, “No more” and “Not again.”  (Applause.)

It is part of what makes up the character of who we are as America.  So let’s reject the notion that we would deny all of this, in terms of our history.

Let us not be seduced into believing that somehow we will be better if we forget.  We will be better if we remember.  (Applause.)  We will be stronger if we remember.

We fought a war to end the sin of slavery.  A civil war.  People died by the untold numbers in that war, many of whom fought and died because of their belief that slavery was a sin against man — (applause) — that it was inhumane, that it was not reflective of who we believe ourselves to be as a country, and certainly not reflective of who we aspire to be.

So who then would dare deny this history?  Who would dare then deny that these lives were lost and why they were lost and what was the cause that they were fighting for and what were they fighting against?

They weren’t fighting and dying because they thought people were — were going to be okay with this thing.  (Applause.)  It’s because they knew that it had to end because it was so, so criminal.

So, we know the history, and let us not let these politicians, who are trying to divide our country, win. 

Because, you see, what they are doing — what they are doing is they are creating these unnecessary debates.  This is unnecessary to debate whether enslaved people benefited from slavery.  Are you kidding me?  (Applause.)  Are we supposed to debate that?

Let us not be distracted by what they’re trying to do, which is to create unnecessary debates to divide our country.  Let’s not fall in that trap. 

We will stand united as a country.  We know our collective history; it is our shared history.  We are all in this together.  (Applause.)

We know that we rise or fall together as a nation.  And we will not allow them to suggest anything other than what we know: The vast majority of us have so much more in common than what separates us.

And so, let us stand always for what we know is right.  Let us fight for what is right.  And when we fight, we win.  (Applause.)





We used to talk about the need to increase, for example, science knowledge for our kids.


Not anymore.  Now we're reduced to fighting some insane hate merchant to insist that basic facts are taught in school.  Do we realize how, in a year's time, this nation's suffered as a result of Ron DeSantis?  

If not, look at one Florida college that Ronald has destroyed.  Molly Sprayregen (LGBTQ NATION) reports:

Amidst Gov. Ron DeSantis‘s (R) hostile takeover of the Florida education system, the New College of Florida is struggling to hold onto its faculty.

In January, DeSantis appointed the far-right anti-LGBTQ+ activist Christopher Rufo, among other conservatives, to the New College’s board of trustees in an effort to make the school more conservative. The college had a reputation for being progressive and queer-friendly, but Rufo said the board would conduct a “top-down restructuring” of the school that will involve designing “a new core curriculum from scratch.”

But now, Provost Bradley Thiessen says 36 faculty have left in the past year alone. In a school with fewer than 100 full-time faculty members, that’s a lot. The Tampa Bay Times reported that it often takes over a year for universities to fill full-time positions, and without any advanced notice from the majority of the departed faculty, the school is now struggling to provide all of the courses that students need.

Currently, the school is relying on visiting faculty, but it’s still not enough. Former New College professor Liz Leininger said that although she felt guilty leaving her students, she ultimately decided to leave after the former school president Patricia Okker was fired upon the new board’s first meeting. Leininger left a vacancy in the neuroscience department, also leaving students like third-year Alaska Miller in the lurch.

“Either I don’t graduate on time or I’d have to abandon my major,” Miller said, referencing the fact that there is only one faculty member left in the school’s neuroscience department and no courses offered this fall.

During his time in office, DeSantis has waged war on public education, most notably through his “Don’t Say Gay” law and his vendetta against the teaching of racial and LGBTQ+ issues in schools. 


Ron DeSantis is a hateful bigot and he wants to make the world as small and as hateful as his own vision of it is.


An ex-Guantanamo Bay detainee says he remembers, to this day, how Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis smiled at him from behind a fence while watching him get force-fed, per the Daily Beast. 

The Daily Beast reported on Saturday that they obtained a verified transcript of an unaired VICE documentary titled "The Guantanamo Candidate." This included an interview with a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, Mansoor Adayfi, who was suspected of being an al Qaeda operative before his release in 2016. Adayfi now lives in Serbia.

Adayfi said he first met DeSantis in 2006 when the Florida Republican went to Guantanamo along with several groups who'd "arrived to bring the camp under control." At the time, Adayfi and the other detainees were on a hunger strike to protest against their imprisonment, per Adayfi's account. DeSantis, who was then a US Navy lawyer, was providing legal advice to the detention center.

"As I'm looking at you now, I could see them standing behind the fence, watching and looking at us," Adayfi said, per the transcript, adding that DeSantis was "smiling."

"While being you, screaming and shouting and bleeding and like, throwing up and sh[**]ting on yourself, and someone is smiling at you? You cannot forget that," Adayfi continued.

Adayfi added in the documentary interview that he came across DeSantis' photo years later, and saw his name. 

"I cannot forget when he was there watching us with the force-feeding," he said. "You cannot forget that because those people left really bad scars in your soul." 



Ronald  is betraying all that came before.  He is betraying those who fought for freedom.  He is betraying history. 


And he's a criminal.  He should be in prison for what he did to detainees.  And he should be disbarred.  Instead, PARAMOUNT has stepped in to prevent SHOWTIME from airing the documentary.




We have way too many idiots running for president.  That's Ronald and it's Junior.

 Robert F. Kennedy Jr and his embarrassing campaign.  I was very sick last week and I'm still a little sick this morning.  But help me out, yesterday, was Sunday, right?  

Because on 7/23/23 at 8:08 pm, Junior's campaign sent out an e-mail entitled "Help us end censorship today."  It being Junior, it's not about ending censorship, it's about him.  He is a bastardization of his uncle's famous statement which now reads, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what it can do for me, Robert F. Kennedy Junior."

Here's the opening pargraph:

This week, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. testified at a Congressional hearing on censorship and the weaponization of the federal government. Incredibly, in a brazen attempt to censor the hearing, committee member Debbie Wasserman-Schultz moved to make it an executive session so that the American public would not be able to see it. The irony of censoring a hearing on censorship was not lost on the American public.

Again.  I'm still under the weather, but yesterday was Sunday, right?  So on Sunday night, they're writing about "this week" when they mean "last week"?

The campaign is as stupid as the candidate.

They then try to beg for money by citing The First Amendment.  It's not about the first amendment, it's about Junior who, the e-mail wants you to know,  "is one of the most censored figures of recent times."

It only gets worse:


 On Thursday, Aug. 17, Team Kennedy is putting on a Roundtable on Censorship bringing together leading experts and journalists like Glenn Greenwald, Michael Shellenberger, Sharyl Attkisson; Jenin Younes,  and former New Jersey Assemblyman Jamel Holley. Each has been a steadfast defender of the First Amendment. 


No, they aren't defenders of The First Amendment.  Sharyl is a reporter, for example, who claims her work computer was hacked (I believe her) when she was at CBS.  She's a working journalist.  She's not a defender of The First Amendment.  Nor an expert on it.  Glenneth Greenwald is even worse.  

And never forget that Ed Snowden turned over thousands of things to be exposed by Glenneth and Glenneth took his big payday check and then didn't reveal it.  He's still sitting on it and, per him, he has a copy of everything.  He can't hide behind THE INTERCEPT anymore.  It's not stopping him.  If these were details and revelations so important that Ed had to flee the country, then they need to be out there for the American people to judge.  Yet a decade later, Glenneth sits on them having revealed approximately 17% of what Ed handed to him.


Please note, that the campaign is about Junior.

Not what he can do for you because he's clearly not interested in any topic other than speaking about himself.  

And we're all supposed to pretend this passes for presidential.





Kat's "Kat's Korner: Yusuf/Cat Stevens has still got it and then some" went up yesterday.  The following sites updated:


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