The US Treasury’s assistant secretary is in Iraq to meet with top
officials on combatting corruption and the smuggling of the dollar
abroad as the Iraqi dinar’s value continues to plummet and dollars
remain scarce in the market.
Elizabeth Rosenberg, Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and
Financial Crimes at the US Department of the Treasury, arrived in
Baghdad on Tuesday to make “progress on int’l [international] anti-money
laundering & banking reform” to “help combat corruption &
support international invest in Iraq,” US Ambassador to Iraq Alina
Romanowski said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Rosenberg met with Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani on
Wednesday, discussing joint US-Iraq financial cooperation “and the Iraqi
government’s measures to implement financial and banking reforms to
reduce corruption in all its forms,” said a statement from Sudani’s
office.
Not everyone was pleased with the meet-up.
October 11, 2020, Kataeb Hizbollah and the US government declared a cease fire. That ended on both sides in February 2021. Kataeb Hizollah ended it on February 15, 2021 when they attacked a US base in Erbil (KRG part of Iraq). For the US government, it ended on February 26th when they launched air strikes on Kataeb Hizbollah in retaliation for the attack on the US base.
The group came to prominence in 2007 for attacks against U.S.-led Coalition forces in Iraq,[35][51] and was known for uploading videos of its attacks on American forces on the internet.[52] The militia's main tactics were to fire rockets and mortar shells at U.S. bases, sniper attacks, and detonate roadside bombs along routes where the forces moved.[53]
On 15 March 2007, four U.S. soldiers were killed in eastern Baghdad when IEDs planted by Kata'ib Hezbollah detonated near their unit.[54][55]
On 25 September 2007, Staff Sgt. Zachary B. Tomczak was shot dead by a Kata'ib Hezbollah sniper in Baghdad. His killing was captured on video and posted online by the KH militia.[56][57]
On 4 October 2007, U.S. Army Spc. Avealalo Milo
was killed by a Kata'ib Hezbollah sniper shot in Baghdad. The attack
was recorded and subsequently published online by the militia.[58][59]
On 4 June 2008, Kata'ib Hezbollah conducted a rocket attack that
was meant to target Coalition forces but instead killed 18 civilians in
Baghdad.[60][61]
In mid-2008, U.S. and Iraqi forces launched a crackdown against the group and the "Special Groups",
the US military term for Iran-backed militias in Iraq. At least 30 of
its members were captured during those months. Many of the group's
leaders were also captured and US officials claimed that "as result much
of the leadership fled to Iran".[62][63]
On 2 July 2009, the group was added to the U.S. State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. The group was held responsible for numerous IED attacks, mortar, rocket and RPG attacks as well as sniper operations, targeting US and Iraqi forces, including a November 2008 rocket attack that killed two U.N. workers.[51]
In December 2009, the group intercepted the unencrypted video feed of MQ-1 Predator UAVs above Iraq.[64]
On 12 February 2010, a firefight with suspected members of the group occurred 265 km (165 mi) southeast of Baghdad
in a village near the Iranian border, the U.S. military said. Twelve
people were arrested, it said. "The joint security team was fired upon
by individuals dispersed in multiple residential buildings ... members
of the security team returned fire, killing individuals assessed to be
enemy combatants," the military said in a statement. The Provincial
Iraqi officials said many of the dead were innocent bystanders, and
demanded compensation. They said eight people were killed.[65]
On 13 July 2010, General Ray Odierno named Kata'ib Hezbollah as being behind threats against American bases in Iraq.
"In the last couple weeks there's been an increased threat ... and so
we've increased our security on some of our bases," Odierno told
reporters at a briefing in Baghdad.[66]
On 6 June 2011, Kata'ib Hezbollah militants fired rockets at Forward Operating Base Loyalty in eastern Baghdad killing six U.S. soldiers.[67] Another five soldiers were also wounded in the attack.[68]
On 29 June 2011, Kata'ib Hezbollah fired IRAM rockets that struck a US base near the Iranian border – COP Shocker. The attack resulted in the deaths of three American soldiers.[69] A videotape of the rocket attack was published online by the militia.[70]
In July 2011, an Iraqi intelligence official estimated the
group's size at 1,000 fighters and said the militants were paid between
$300 and $500 per month.[71][72]
The Al-Qa'im border crossing
has seen hastened military activity as the group is expected to play an
important military and security role as the crossing with Syria is
officially opened on September 30, 2019.[73][74]
Across the country, the hate merchants lie and sport
stupidity. Which was Mike Pence doing recently? Wednesday, NEWS NATION
held a townhall where former US Vice President Mike Pence, now running
for the GOP's presidential nomination, took questions.
Charlie Nash (NEWS NATION) notes one mother asked the following:
Melissa McCollister: Good
evening, vice president. I am an LGBTQ member and I have trans
individuals in my family. Recent anti-LGBTQ bills have been signed into
law all around this United States, including here in Iowa. So far, in
2023, 15 transgender individuals and gender-nonconforming people have
been murdered. The vast majority of those people have been Black and
Latinx transgender women. It is very hard for me to ask these questions
after just hearing what I heard. What is your policy plan to protect the
transgender community, specifically Black and brown trans women from
historically high levels of violence?
You can read Nash's article for the long winded response
from Mike Pence. We don't have the time
(as Ben Taylor sings). What we
do have time for is to correct the record.
It's
the same incorrect information that Ron DeSantis declared and we called
him out. He's the governor of Florida, he should know Florida law.
Pence was governor of Indiana until 2017. He should know the state's
law.
More to the point, when are journalists going to do their damn job?
I'm really not in the mood.
Here's the part of Mike Pence's response that is factually wrong:
For
me, what adults do in their lives, decisions that they make, including
transgender adults, is one thing, but for kids under the age of 18—
there’s a reason why we don’t let you drive ’til you’re 16. In the state
of Indiana, you can’t get a tattoo until after you’re 18, you can’t
drink until after you’re 21, that’s because we understand that kids
don’t fully understand the consequences of their actions.
"In the state of Indiana, you can't get a tattoo until after you're 18." No.
That is wrong.
It sounds wrong. It should sound wrong to everyone. And it is wrong. It was wrong when Ron lied about Florida law.
That, say it with me, requires parental permission if you're under the age of 18.
Okay,
I get ticked when reporters don't care about facts. A NEWSWEEK editor
can tell you how long I screamed over the phone at him in the 90s when
they did a filler article about sex on TV and talked about how Matthew
Perry's Chandler Bing on an episode of FRIENDS handcuffed Rachel's boss
(Alison La Placa) while they were in a sexual relationship.
Do you see the problem?
Chandler didn't handcuff her, she handcuffed him. And I still can't let it go. All these years later.
Or
the response which was, "It's just a TV show." It's a TV show you
elected to assign a writer to write about and then elected to publish an
article about. It does matter. It's also true -- and I raised this in
real time as well -- that the culture norms of the 90s were a lot more
comfortable with a man handcuffing a woman. Look at all the 90s films
with any BDSM elements -- I'm talking mainstream films -- the worst is
Madonna's BODY OF EVIDENCE but they're all pretty awful and they all
feel the need to have the handcuffed man or the spanked man assert his
'dominance' over the woman. (Reality, many S&M relationships have
women in charge.)
So they weren't reflecting reality, NEWSWEEK wasn't, but it was lying.
And
that's the case with the media that covered Ron DeSantis lie and NEWS
NATION covering Mike Pence's lie. They're just typing up remarks.
They're not doing any real work and they're certainly not doing
journalism.
If you are a
parent or plan to be a parent or hope to be a parent and you hear a
claim about how children can't do this or that, you're natural reaction
should be, "Really?"
And,
parent or not or not ever want to be, if you're in the media and
someone's making claims about laws regarding children, you should
immediately take five seconds to GOOGLE.
Lies have fueled the attacks on the transgender community.
At this late date, I don't feel like forgiving any 'journalist' who can't do their damn job on this subject.
Pence
lied in front of a group of people, cited the Bible, tried to play
caring and understanding while endorsing parents being stripped of
rights. It's not your damn business what medical attention a parent and
a doctor decide is needed. It's not your damn business.
But
to justify this break with basic rights, to act like it's normal, Ron
DeSantis and Mike Pence both resort to the exact same lie: You can't
even get a tattoo if you're under 18!!!
LIE.
In
Indiana, as in Florida, someone under 18 can get a tattoo if the parent
gives permission (Florida also allows medical tattoos -- Indiana law
makes no mention of them).
And
that's how it should be. If your parent (or legal guardian) says you
can get a tattoo at whatever age, that's not my business.
But
they lie -- Ron and Mike -- and the media helps them lie so that we'll
all cluck and say, "Oh, can't even get a tattoo why should they be
allowed to be on hormone blockers or have surgery"? Why? Because the
parent and the doctor have made the private, medical decision that is
legal and should remain that way.
THE
NEW YORK TIMES has done so much damage with regards to the trans
community and that goes far beyond their nonsense that egged on Bette
Midler to make a fool of herself on Twitter. (I'm with Kim Brown -- I
don't work for Musk, I'll call it what it's known as: Twitter.) The
paper has lied over and over and intentionally misled. People think
"liberal paper." No, not really. It not only did not lead on climate
change, it never leads on science. Look at their archives and see how
they responded to the science on extinction level events. That's not a
pretty tale and, time and again, NYT has been reactionary with regards
to science and medicine. Look at their hideous and homophobic coverage
of AIDS and grasp that we were calling that out in real time. Don't
say, "Oh, it was the 80s." Yes, it was the 80s and, yes, their coverage
was homophobic and, no, there was no excuse for it.
And
when politicians start insisting that they have the right to interfere
in your child's medical treatment that you and the doctor you have
elected to take your child to because, they lie, you can't even get a
tattoo when you're under 18, it is the job of the press to state, "This
is not true."
Instead, they keep letting Ron DeSantis and now Mike Pence lie.
Journalism
is supposed to hold the powerful accountable and that includes calling
them out when they lie -- or, if you prefer, when they misspeak -- out
of malice or stupidity.
It's not too much, especially on a charged topic like this, to expect journalist to do their damn jobs.
When
they fail to do so, they allow the lies and misinformation that created
the culture of fear to begin with to flourish. So do your damn job. The hate merchants are very focused on the destruction they want to carry out. If you're not up to the job of covering what's going on, admit it and quit. Stop pretending you're a journalist if you're not doing your job.
Another
128 school library books here are being reviewed — and will be
permanently removed if found to have sexual content, district officials
told the School Board this week.
All
the books stem from continuing challenges made by the local chapter of
Moms for Liberty, a conservative political group, over the past two
years.
Among
the books most recently removed: Alice Walker's "The Color Purple,"
which won a Pulitzer Prize; and "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison. New
York Times best-selling author Jodi Picoult no longer comes up in a
search of books available in the district's libraries, as 20 of her 30
novels made the list of challenged books to review.
In
Chester County, Pennsylvania -- a suburb of Philadelphia -- Ronna
Dewey, a mother with a recently graduated son, was alarmed when calls
for the removal of certain books started occurring in her district in 2021.
"Two
of the books in particular that they were targeting were written by and
about people who identify as part of [the LGBTQ] community," Dewey,
whose son is gay, told ABC News. "And so, it felt really personal to me.
It felt like a direct attack on my son and my family."
If you're wondering, Shannon Grady is the hate merchant there. She's a Moms For Bigotry hate merchant. ABC notes:
Schools
in many parts of the U.S. have become a battleground and parental
involvement is one of the topics at the center. Fights in school board
meetings, including in Chester County, have erupted over how race,
sexual orientation, gender and other topics are brought up, or taught,
in the classroom.
Moms for Liberty, in particular, has come under fire over
its political ties and its calls to remove material from schools that,
critics say, feature LGBTQ+ characters and promote racial inclusivity.
The group has responded to this criticism in the past, calling it “laughable” and saying it lacks credibility.
Some
parents are arguing their children don't need to be exposed to certain
topics at certain ages while some parents on the other side of the
debate say they trust the schools and teachers to determine which topics
and materials are age-appropriate for the students.
And who's unhappy? Not most parents with kids enrolled in schools:
Despite the seemingly contentious discussion about the state of the U.S. education system, a recent Gallup poll found parents are generally satisfied with the quality of their children's K-12 education.
At
least 76% of parents of K-12 students say they are "completely" or
"somewhat" satisfied with the quality of the education their oldest
child is receiving.
Katie
Paris, a mother in Ohio, and the founder of Red, Wine and Blue -- a
progressive political mobilizing group -- said she saw these topics
coming under attack during school board meetings.
"Anything
that mentioned words like 'diversity' or 'inclusion' or 'equity' those
all of a sudden, were becoming kind of lightning bolt controversial
phrases," she told ABC News. "But just this small minority of people who
were getting very loud … and I think parents were concerned about the
impact that this was going to have on their kids."
"Our
suburban communities are becoming more diverse, and we have a lot of
pride actually in the steps for the progress that we're making together,
in terms of better understanding [what it means] to really respect our
differences and grow together in these communities and thrive in a
diverse environment," she continued. "For me, as a parent, I know that
for my kids to be successful, they need to be exposed to reality, and
diverse viewpoints, learning real accurate history."
Recent Republican efforts to curtail the preservation of LGBTQ+ history are threatening to erase the past. In June, Maigen Sullivan, PhD, cofounder of the Invisible Histories Project (IHP), gave a talk on Alabama’s Lesser Known LGBTQ History at the Alabama Department of Archives & History. The backlash was swift. Before the event even took place, state representative Jamie Kiel condemned it as part of a “woke liberal agenda”; soon after, Senator Chris Elliot authored a bill that would slash $5 million from the department’s total annual budget.
Elliot’s bill was introduced during a five-day special session that
was originally called to address redistricting legislation. Though the
bill ultimately did not make it to the floor, Elliot warned that this
would not be the end of his interest in the archives department,
telling Alabama Daily News, “What I was proposing was minor compared to what’s coming.”
“There's something insidious about coming after archives, coming after history,” Dr. Sullivan tells Teen Vogue.
“It's like, 'Let's go after the people. Let's push them back in the
closet. Let's eradicate them from public view, and then let's erase any
trace of the progress that they had made and that they were here
previously.'”
Alabama
legislators’ move to censor queer history comes at a time when a record
number of anti-trans bills have been introduced in state legislatures
nationwide, most of them targeting health care, high school sports, and school bathrooms. Archives have so far mostly flown under the radar, but censorship has been on the rise in the form of book bans and restrictions on Black history curricula, critical race theory, and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.
Says
Molly Tepera, a digital archivist at the University of Texas at Dallas,
book bans are easier for politicians to execute because they’re about
censoring individual titles, not entire collections. Dr. Sullivan says
it’s all part of a broader “anti-intellectualism” trend.
In
other news of hate merchants, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Whiner and crackpot Junior. We told
you at the start of last month his support was dropping. That was
obvious, you just had to pay attention. In the middle of August,
Katherine Fung (NEWSWEEK) had the hard numbers:
A new Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday shows Kennedy with
13 percent support from Democrats or Democratic-leaning voters, a 3.5
percentage point decrease from June's survey.
The
most recent poll, conducted from August 10 to August 14 among 1,632
likely voters, also showed a slight uptick in support for self-help
author Marianne Williamson. She received 9 percent support in August,
compared to 8 percent in June. Biden also saw a bump from 70 percent
support to 72 percent in the last two months.
Those
numbers are part of a national trend that shows Kennedy on a downward
trajectory. He had a RealClearPolitics average of 20 percent in April, a
stronger-than-expected showing that fell to 16.8 percent in June. As of
Wednesday, his average from the polling data aggregator is 13.3
percent.
Last week the RFK, Jr. Redemption Tour took him to the friendly confines of the Jimmy Dore Show, where he continued to grunt out slanders about Palestinians: “We give 800 million a year to the Palestinian Authority, which uses that money to pay bounties to Palestinians
who kill Jews. Not government officials, but civilians. So if you go to
Israel…Uhm…So if you kill a Jew anywhere in the world and you’re a
Palestinian, the Palestinian Authority will pay you money for
that…There’s this mentality, especially on the liberal left, that
portrays Israel as a kind of occupying nation sitting on Palestinian
land and the whole thing is a lie from start to end.”
Speaking
of poor polling and likely voter drop off, Ron DeSantis.
Mike covers
Doo-Doo Ron Ron Desantis at his site regularly, so be sure to check that
out. Due to poor polling, we're seeing a 'new' Ron of late. Why he
doesn't hate anyone. He's not racist, he's not homophobic, he won't
arrest women for having abortions.
In
case you forgot,
as Aretha sang, Ron was supposed to be the front
runner. He's never been. And his support has slid down so far that
last week his campaign began saying that a second place win in Iowa
would be great. (In Iowa, the GOP does a primary. The Democrats do a
caucus.) In case you forgot, when he failed to live up to the polling
promises early in the campaign, they began calling mannish Casey
DeSantis his "secret weapon." Those days are long gone. Casey couldn't
save her friend's job on his campaign and she couldn't save Ron. There
are no more "secret weapons."
There
is only reality and that reality decrees Ron needs to drop his war on
'woke' because it has run off voters and because that jibes with recent
elections where the GOP's learned the hard way that 'woke' is not an
issue animating voters. So now Ron has to say new words.
And he wants to be believed.
But should we waste our time on that nonsense?
No.
Appearing on CBS EVENING NEWS yesterday with Norah O'Donnell, he lied over and over.
Florida Gov. and presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis said the NAACP is
pulling a "stunt" by calling Florida hostile to Black Americans, other
minorities and LGBTQ+ people.
The NAACP has issued a warning that Florida is "openly hostile for
African Americans, people of color, and LGBTQ individuals." In an
interview with DeSantis, CBS Evening News anchor and managing editor
Norah O'Donnell asked if he would represent the entire country, and
whether everyone could feel welcome in DeSantis' America.
"A hundred percent," DeSantis responded.
No, he would not. A real journalist who was prepared for the interview would have immediately offered examples of how that is not his history.
Let's focus on that first part of the report. A "stunt." The NAACP is
pulling a "stunt." Yeah, sounds like he's changed (that was sarcasm).
In case you forgot, he 'revised' the Florida curriculum. This was done
by his hand picked crew. And they decided that slavery was nothing but a
government works program -- kind of like FDR's WPA? -- that imparted
valuable skills and knowledge.
And he has the audacity to accuse the NAACP of pulling a "stunt." We're
not done yet. Because of his actions, Ryan Palmeter killed three
African-Americans in a Dollar General shooting in Florida. The three
killed were 19-year-old Anolt Joseph "AJ" Laguerre Jr., 29-year-old
Jerrald De'Shaun Gallion and 52-year-old Angela Michelle Carr. At the
press event to garner attention on the backs of the dead, Ron DeSantis
was booed loudly by the majority of African-Americans present. We're
still not done. Then he ran back to the campaign trail and when an
African-American who was a veteran of the US military 'dared' to
question him, Ronald exploded and had the man kicked out of the campaign
event.
And he wants to accuse the NAACP of pulling a "stunt."
He went on to toss out figures that really have no bearing such as, "But in Florida, our unemployment rate amongst African Americans is way lower than New York, California and these blue states." Florida is tied with Maryland with 3.6% unemployment rate among African-Americans. Per the data from the Economic Policy Institute for 2023,
the following states have African-American unemployment rates lower
than 3.6%: George, Alabama (the lowest of the 50 states with 2.2%),
Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, New Hampshire and Vermont.
Maryland (which is tied with Florida) is a "blue state" as are New
Hampshire and Vermont. He continues to struggle when it comes to being
honest and truthful.
A state judge on Saturday rejected congressional district boundaries
affecting communities across North Florida, saying they
unconstitutionally restrict Black voting power and that Florida’s
Legislature must redraw them. “By dismantling a congressional district that enabled Black voters to
elect their candidates of choice under the previous plan, the enacted
plan violates … the Florida Constitution,” Circuit Judge J. Lee Marsh in Tallahassee ruled. In the 55-page ruling, he also noted that throughout history "Florida has been a state home to discrimination in voting."
Golly Ronald didn't mention that (and Norah O'Donnell didn't raise it). But it's the NAACP that's pulling a "stunt"?
Back to the report on the very bad interview:
Still, O'Donnell pointed out that because of DeSantis' policies in the
Sunshine State, some minorities and members of the LGBTQ community think
he would discriminate against them. DeSantis said some of the blame for
that lies with the media.
"Well, part of the reason they think that is 'cause of narratives that
are put out by media," DeSantis responded. "I mean, for example, when we
had the fight with Disney over the elementary education about, should
you have things about sex and gender identity telling a second grader
that their gender's fluid? We said, 'Absolutely not.' Parents in Florida
agreed. And throughout — the country I think agreed with that."
He wants to mention DISNEY?
With all the money he's lost Florida and is losing Florida because of
his war with DISNEY? Interesting.
He lies again -- did Norah not push back -- "over the elementary education." And then he wants to say second grader.
Why?
Because he's a liar who wants to make his actions seem far less extreme
than they were. If Norah didn't push back, shame on her. Here's
reality CBS NEWS viewers were deprived of:
The Florida board of education has voted to expand the so-called “Don’t
Say Gay” law, banning classroom instruction on gender identity and
sexual orientation to all grades.
Under the original Parental Rights in Education law,
which was signed into law last year, instruction on gender identity and
sexual orientation was banned for K-3 students, but teachers in grades
4-12 were allowed to offer this kind of instruction if it was deemed
developmentally appropriate. What developmentally appropriate means is
up to the Florida department of education to determine.
But under the expansion,
which was proposed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis’ administration last
month and approved on Wednesday, all public school students will be
banned from learning about these topics, unless required by existing
state standards or as part of reproductive health instruction that
students can opt out of.
If that's the case, heads need to roll among her staff. Someone should have prepared her for that ahead of the interview.
No this doesn't end in elementary school and Ronald knows that. He lied to make it seem less extreme.
He is liar, a damn liar.
And only an idiot's going to believe him when he claims that he'd be welcoming of all Americans. Let's note that again:
In an interview with DeSantis, CBS Evening News anchor and managing
editor Norah O'Donnell asked if he would represent the entire country,
and whether everyone could feel welcome in DeSantis' America.
"A hundred percent," DeSantis responded.
No, he's not going to. And let's note that American citizens are people
born in this country (as well as those who seek citizenship). I can
forgive Norah for not knowing one thing. She's paid a lot of money to
sit at that desk but she's only one person. I cannot forgive her when
the entire interview is one mistake after another. He's going to be
welcoming to all Americans?
Andressa Reis, a 29-year-old from Coconut Creek, repeatedly refers to
her U.S. citizenship status as a “privilege.” She was born in Florida
after her newlywed Brazilian parents, who were in the United States at
the time, decided to start a family.
“It was pretty common within my community to have people who were
undocumented,” Reis said in an interview with the Miami Herald. “So I
grew up recognizing the privilege I had. I didn’t have to go through a
quarter of the fight that most people do.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, however, is promising that if he is elected
president, he will eliminate the constitutional guarantee of citizenship
for children born in the United States to migrants who entered the
country illegally.
DeSantis made the promise to end birthright citizenship this week as
he unveiled a host of hardline immigration policies meant to appeal to
conservative voters. Former President Donald Trump also vowed years ago
to do so through an executive order and, though he never followed
through, has renewed the promise for the 2024 campaign.
Norah let him lie on national TV. The media doesn't do their job over
and over and it's how these hate merchants get away with so much. We
long ago noted that the backlash against them had started and it has.
But let's never forget that the media helped publicize these hate
merchants and their programs by refusing to call out lies over and
over. People around the country suffer right now because the media
refused to do its job.
Ron DeSantis is only 44, but he may already have a kind of dementia that threatens US security, given this exchange with CBS News’s Nora O’Donnell on using the US military against drug cartels in Mexico…
O’Donnell: “Would you send missiles into Mexico?”
DeSantis: “We would use all available — the tactics, I think,
can be debated. If you have something you want to accomplish, people
would brief you on the different ways you’d be able to do it. So, that
would be dependent on the situation.”
O’Donnell: “But launching military forces into Mexico is a much different standard, that’s why I’m asking the question.”
DeSantis: “The reality is they’re overrunning our border … Do we just throw up our hands and say there’s nothing we can do about it?”
Lastly, I wasn't planning on reviewing Naomi Klein's new book. I like the book but I wasn't planning on reviewing it. I'll look at my schedule for tomorrow later and see if I have time to do a review on Saturday. Warning, I don't do fluff. I have a serious problem with one aspect of the book. If I do a review, I will probably focus on that because no one else probably is. But I do think it's a good book and I do think it's worth reading.
The following sites updated:
