The Common Ills: Iraq snapshot

Friday, November 29, 2024

Iraq snapshot

Friday, November 29, 2024. COMMON DREAMS platforms old man know nothing and pretends he has insight (insight? LOL -- maybe when he apologies for the dead Iraqi people), Mexico's president gets the better of Satan Trump, COMMON DREAMS struggles with journalism (if you want a hateful candidate not to get elected, try mentioning his declared rivals in the race), Miss Sassy JD Vance, and so much more.

Greg Sergant (THE NEW REPUBLIC) reports:

Donald Trump’s angry threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on all U.S. imports from Mexico—delivered Monday via the cautious diplomatic language of a Truth Social rant—is widely being depicted as a bluff. Trump declared that once in the White House, he will impose the tariffs unless Mexico stops migrants and fentanyl from “pouring” into the United States. Seen as a feint, the tactic could theoretically get Mexico to halt the migrant flow, allowing Trump to pull back on tariffs later while boasting that on the border, he has already bent Mexico to his will.

But amid all this parsing of Trump’s intentions, a crucial fact about his new move is getting lost: At the center of it is a lie. This lie is hiding in plain sight: It’s the underlying suggestion that Mexico is not doing anything to stop migrants from coming and that Trump’s threat of tariffs is needed to change that. Here we’re getting an early glimpse of how he will deceive voters about some of his most potentially destructive designs, on tariffs and immigration alike.

All this is laid bare by the sharp response to Trump’s threat that new Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum issued Tuesday. Her statement is getting attention for its barbed claim that American guns trafficked to Mexico are fueling crime and violence there among gangs supplying U.S. markets with drugs. “Tragically, it is in our country that lives are lost to the violence resulting from meeting the drug demand in yours,” Sheinbaum noted acidly, suggesting that the two countries’ interrelated national challenges underscore the need for cross-border cooperation rather than Trumpian confrontation.

That’s a harsh indictment of Trump’s whole worldview. But this dry bureaucratic bit also deserves note:

You may not be aware that Mexico has developed a comprehensive policy to assist migrants from different parts of the world who cross our territory en route to the southern border of the United States. As a result, and according to data from your country’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP), encounters at the Mexico-United States border have decreased by 75% between December 2023 and November 2024.

What this polite (and euphemistic) language says is that Mexico is already acting extensively to thwart migrants who travel through that country—originating south of Mexico—so they don’t reach our own southern border. As Sheinbaum notes, this is partly why border apprehensions in the United States have dropped sharply of late.

But that must not be a real issue. If it were a real issue, COMMON DREAMS would be addressing it, right?

Instead of offering more garbage by Ralph Nader.

Who is the stupid idiot who thinks Ralph Nader is needed today. He's 90 years old and he's an idiot and he was always an idiot.

He's not political -- though he thinks he is. He also thought he was cute in the 70s and he was wrong there too. People laughed at him when he was on THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JOHNNY CARSON because he was a joke. That's why he was invited on. He wasn't respected. He was flop sweat. He was the weirdo everyone laughed at. He was a little circus monkey that Johnny could laugh at.

And you got the idea, even as late as 1996, that Ralph grasped that. That's when he was the Green Party's presidential nominee for the first time and he didn't actually campaign.

2000 is when he did his part to destroy Iraq. A reality that both he and COMMON DREAMS pretend didn't happen.

Over a million Iraqis did not die, they try to pretend, as a result of Ralph Nader.

This is not a minor issue.

The same people who want to scream "genocide" at Joe Biden don't expect accountability from others?

Ralph Nader didn't deserve to be a candidate in 2000. One of the reasons that Bully Boy Bush got into the White House was Ralph Nader.

For those too young to remember, 2000's candidates were Ralph for the Green Party (this time actually campaigning), Bully Boy "Saddam tried to kill my daddy" Bush for the GOP and Al Gore for the Democratic Party.

Gore was not the perfect candidate -- few ever are. But he ran a good campaign. He should have chosen a better running mate (Joe Lieberman was a disaster). But a media that didn't care about realities or outcomes trashed Al over and over while giving a pass to Bully Boy Bush.

So there's the media with their constant attacks on Gore.

There's the Supreme Court that stopped the recount -- after Sandra Day O'Connor's infamous election night hissy that led other party goers to ask her husband what happened? At the time, the networks were calling it for Al. Sandra's husband explained she wanted to step down from the Court but now could not because it would mean Al could appoint her replacement. No surprise, the Court rushed in to a process that they didn't need to be involved in because the Constitution made clear how this would be resolved. The Court ignored the Constitution and rushed into to stop the recount when it became clear that Gore was gaining votes (he was the winner).

So there's the media and there's the Court.

And then there was Ralph.

Bully Boy Bush declared war on Iraq.

Iraq is in ruins to this day. Over a million and a half Iraqis are dead as a result. Women have lost nearly all rights. US troops remain on the ground all these years later.

Ralph is responsible.

He's not the only one who is. But, yes, he is responsible.

And all these years later, he continues to try to pimp himself as an expert. He continues to pimp himself. Let's be clear on that. It's all about Ralph.

And I'm saying NO.

Iraqis have suffered. Ralph could go slink off into the shadows. Wouldn't be courageous. But Ralph's not known for courage.

Instead he wants to write another column about the Democratic Party and how awful it is.

The only thing the world needs to hear from 90 year old Ralph is the acknowledgement that he is partly responsible for the Iraq War.

He's had plenty of years to address that. He refuses to. So sit his tired ass down and stop platforming him.

I'm not joking here.

Ralph should not have run.

This is not in doubt. Nor is this new. I said in 2000 when various people -- including Phil Donahue -- tried to persuade me to support Ralph.

He had no skills for the presidency.

He shouldn't have run.

Let's review.

He had no charisma.

We expect some level of charisma. Bernie Sanders has charisma.

Ralph never did.

He was always a joke.

In the seventies, he could get on THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JOHNNY CARSON. Because he was so gifted? No. Because he was flop sweat. He was the monkey that Johnny made fun of and that people laughed at. He didn't just lack charisma -- flop sweat. He turned off viewers, they laughed at him.

And he went on TV, please register this, as a consumer advocate.

Nothing wrong with being a consumer advocate. But nothing there says "President."

He knew nothing about politics or about issues. He didn't see citizens, he saw consumers. And that's why he didn't grasp issues.

He got THE ROLLING STONE INTERVIEW in 2000. That's a prestige feature. It's an in depth interview. And it was noted that Ralph really didn't connect with women. Yes, he was unmarried and that's another reason he shouldn't have run. Until 1980, no divorced candidate had won the presidency -- Ronald Reagan was the one who broke that. Jerry Brown ran in 1992 in the Democratic Party primary (I supported him) but one of his liabilities for some voters was that he wasn't married. For whatever reason, they couldn't relate to the bachelor. Now here was creepy Ralph, single, and running.

But that's not the issue I'm talking about. Women knew he was fake. And in that interview he proved he was. He dismissed reproductive rights. Worse, he slammed Gloria Steinem and others for not taking up his issue. He wanted to do away with high heels due to the effect on consumers.

I think, as women, we can make our own choices. I think we can decide for ourselves whether or not to have an abortion. I think we can also decide for ourselves whether or not to wear high heels.

But for Ralph, in 2000, reproductive rights did not matter. Those dumb women didn't get it, Ralph was sure, and he was going to save us all by taking on Big Cobbler which has been gaslighting women for centuries.

That alone said he wasn't up to the presidency. Just that alone.

However, there was so much more, so very, very much more.

His supporters ignored it -- Christopher Hitchens (Islamophobe), Ani DiFranco (better known today for her racism), Michelle Shocked (who outed herself as a vile homophobe in San Francisco in 2013), etc.

He had nothing to offer.

I said that in 2000 and I say it now.

And he has nothing to offer now. The only thing of value that he could speak to or write about was that he grasped he helped destroy Iraq.

And yet COMMON DREAMS platforms him.

He has nothing to offer.

He's attacking the Democratic Party -- again.

He has nothing to offer.

The Democratic Party is not above criticism.

That's not the issue.

The issue is he has nothing to say. His last new 'idea' was back in the '00s when he was saying that the left needed a billionaire to save it via funding.

No, it didn't. It's amazing he wants big money donations out of politics but would ever advocate publicly for the left to have a Daddy Warbucks.

Does no one see the conflict in those positions?

ONLY THE SUPER RICH CAN SAVE US -- he published that book in 2009.

Why is COMMON DREAMS platforming his garbage.

The reason the right wing requires so many billionaires is because their actual plans are a disaster to people. Without the money and the messaging, they will be defeated. They are Mr. Burns on THE SIMPSONS. And to suggest that the left needs to be saved -- excuse me, can only be saved -- by the super rich goes against every leftist belief and ideology.

We don't platform Michael Moore because he's as stupid as Ralph Nader. Both lack political convictions and drop support for various issues and both are always whining to be rescued. Rescue your own damn self. And the only way that happens is when we work together.

Ralph has nothing to offer. His political comments are insipid and shallow and make the faux insight from the Sunday chat & chews seem deep and ponderous. He doesn't understand revolution. He doesn't understand anything but consumer advocacy.

I'm sorry, Ralph, but civic duty and daily life? Those are things which go far beyond after Christmas returns to a store.

He has no background and he has no education on the issues he struggles to write about.

He also can't turn a phrase, can't invent (or even really popularize) a term, and he can't make you laugh or even smile.

So why the hell is this man who is responbile for the destruction of Iraq being platformed?

Howard Zinn was not a Democrat and he frequently criticized the Democratic Party. If he were alive today and COMMON DREAMS was platforming him? No problem. Howard Zinn was a historian. Howard wrote about what he knew and what he had expertise in.

Like Michael Moore, Ralph has no area of expertise. Moore, for those who don't know his 'activism' that well? We'll do one example. Mumia needs to be out of prison and out of prison now. At one point that was Moore's position. Then he writes -- and is shocked by the backlash -- that we all know Mumia did it.

He wrote that. And then was surprised that people were outraged by it.

Because he has no core beliefs.

He and Ralph are like MAGA.

It's phony populism with no real core beliefs.

And COMMON DREAMS is platforming him?

Texas is a border state. Though many are unaware of it -- it got some news coverage in August -- Governor Greg Asshole has implemented something new. I believe it went into effect at the end of October.

If you go the hospital? You're going to be asked whether or not you're a citizen. And, on your medical record, your answer will be noted. That's bad enough. That's outrageous in fact.

But now that it's been implemented, certain Texas hospitals are adding to it.

That includes -- most shockingly -- the Christus Health System which has multiple hospitals in Texas.

So you ask and the person says "no" and that's the end of it.

Wrong.

As it's been explained to the ones who will have to ask (the workers), they (the supervisors) better not see any photo ID in there with a "yes" to the citizenship question if the photo ID is a passport from another country or any kind of photo ID that's from another country. If they get that, regardless of what the person stated -- yes or no -- they are to mark the person -- and their medical record -- as a non-citizen. (You are supposed to scan in a photo ID when checking someone into the hospital unless they already have an account with it scanned in.)

Shocking from Christus? Until Ava and I did a piece on this for a community newsletter, I was not aware that Christus -- which will be part of the move attacking immigrants -- was based in Chile.

So a hospital system -- with hospitals throughout the US -- that is based in Chile is going to be helping Greg Asshole and Satan Trump track Latinos.

They go where the money is, I guess.

But this is a serious issue and it is a real issue.

Ralph Nader doesn't know about real issues. He regurgitates stuff that's been said over and over and he does a superficial sentence or two about a headline he read. And that passes for insight?

COMMON DREAMS is part of the problem on the left.

That's obvious in Julie Conley's most recent article -- I won't rate it trash so we will link to it.

CAIR did nothing but attack and demonize Kamala Harris. They are among the reasons Donald Trump will be sworn in next month. One of his supporters is running for Matt Gaetz's Congressional seat. Satan has endorsed the man.

This week, he Tweeted that he was coming to Congress and Rashida Talib and Ihan Omar "might consider leaving before I get there." See Marcia's "Rashida, you in danger, girl, and, Rashida, you're on your own."

I'm not getting the threat that CAIR's caterwauling about. He hashtagged it "BombsAway." Does CAIR believe he's planning on bombing the two women? Does COMMON DREAMS?

That's beyond stupid but CAIR and COMMON DREAMS have often been beyond stupid of late.

It wasn't a nice Tweet but who expects nice Tweets from MAGA.

If CAIR wanted to help, they shouldn't have been attacking Kamala during a general election.

But they did as did the Tlaibs.

As Marica notes, Rashida's on her own.

I don't give a sweet f**k what happens to her. She and her sister refused to stand with Black women. So now, we'll staycation when it comes to Rashida. Your issues are your issues.

There was this belief that we were all in it together and so we spent forever on your issues and on protecting you.

But you didn't care to reciprocate.

You made that very clear with your non-stop attacks on a Black woman. It wasn't about Palestine. If you really gave a damn about Palestine, you would have supported Kamala. Instead, you attacked and tore her down. You attacked her supporters online. You attacked people being enthusiastic and happy that she was running.

What you did was s**t the bed.

And things are probably going to be tough for you with Trump going back in the White House.

We're not going to try to make things worse for you. We're not going to be monitoring what you say and calling some tip line.

But we're also not going to expend our energies trying to help.

You s**t the bed. Now you have to sleep in it. We're not cleaning it for you.

And this notion that COMMON DREAMS has that we owe any thing to those of you who destroyed Kamala's chances? We don't owe you s**t.

Kamala against Trump? This was the time for us to all pull together.

And you refused. Racism and sexism were more important to you.

Don't pretend the Palestinians in Gaza were important to you. Your racism and sexism was so great that you sold us out. And, yes, we are learning that some of you truly sold us out -- that you actually got money for it -- and we'll be spreading that throughout the community via beauty shops and barber shops and Black churches and so much more.

You made yourself the enemy.

Some e-mails ask can't we just forgive and forget?

No, no, no.

As bad as things feel right now? Trump's not even been sworn in. You ask those of us effected by your betrayal for forgiveness four years from now after the country's suffered. That's four years you can try making amends for your actions.

You're the enemy because you put Trump in the White House. Don't come crying to us over the next four years about how we have to all pull together. The time to do that was during the 2024 election.

I will help immigrants -- especially undocumented ones. Why? Undocumented didn't vote for Satan Trump. They can't vote, they're undocumented. Nor can immigrants in this country that went through the entire paperwork process to get into this country. But the groups that went for Trump are on their own. That's where I stand. I do not speak for everyone. But, no, I don't feel the need to defend Rashida ever again. Those days are long gone.

You made the choice to put Trump back into the White House.

Don't come to me whining that we all need to pull together.

As for COMMON DREAMS?

Why are you wasting our time?

Gay Valimont and Stanley Gray. Where are those names in your report?

If you believe the Republican running for Matt Gaetz's seat is a serious threat -- I do believe he is -- then every report you write about him should include the names of the Democrats planning to run against him. Gay Valimont has announced she will run. Stanley Gray has filed his paperwork. There will be a Democratic Party primary before the special election.

Every time you cover that awful man -- whose name we're not even going to note -- you should be mentioning the Democrats who want to run against him -- and when it comes down to just one Democratic Party candidate, you should be mentioning them non-stop.

Do you not know a damn thing? Seriously. How do you expect people to get elected when you don't mention them or note their existence? COMMON DREAMS really needs to get their act together.

In other news, David McAfee (RAW STORY) noted yesterday:

A few hours later, Vance posted a meme without any additional caption. The image shows Vance and Trump in the famous Thanksgiving scene painted by Norman Rockwell, with Vance playing the part of wife.

PatriotTakes, which says it is dedicated to "researching and monitoring" right-wing extremism "and other threats to democracy," responded, "This is a real tweet from vice president-elect JD Vance depicting himself as Trump's wife."

We covered it last night and I'm copying and pasting in order to note Isaiah's two comics this week:

Elizabeth e-mailed to ask about JD Vance's Tweet.

Haven't been on Twitter. But, earlier tonight, I did post Keith Edwards' video below.

In the video, he notes JD Vance Tweeted an image. Norman Rockwell's FREEDOM FROM WANT is a famous painting -- Alex has the family recreate it for a school project in the third season of MODERN FAMILY -- episode 23 "Tableau Vivant."

That's what Elizabeth's talking about. JD Tweeted it with his face and Donald's face imposed upon the married couple and an electoral map of the US imposed over the turkey.

JD's the wife in the image.

Elizabeth, am I supposed to be shocked by it?

Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "They Don't Seem To Realize That They Host A TV Show" went up this week.

As did Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "They Don't Seem To Realize That They Host A TV Show"

Miss Sassy?

Long before Miss Sassy (a cat) popped up in JD's Ohio cat stories, Mike and Isaiah had dubbed JD Miss Sassy -- his drag name. Photos from law school leaked out of JD in drag -- only JD. The other men in the photos are not dressed in drag. He had already served in Iraq. And he chose to hang out with other men and dressed as a woman.

And his contemporaries from that time note that was not his only drag moment in law school.

So we have our first cross dressing Vice President come January. He gets to make history.

Knowing what I know, I'm not at all surprised that he would post that image and put himself in the woman's dress.

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E-mails asked about Miss Sassy the cat. Some crazy woman in Ohio was convinced her cat had been eaten by immigrants. Turned out, it had just run away -- wouldn't you if you lived with that woman? See Mike's "Miss Sassy meets Miss Sassy" for more on that.

And here are some more of the Miss Sasssy comics Isaiah has done (that's not all of them) -- and when people repost the snapshot, the Flickr images do not repost -- but there are links you can click on that do show up in the repost -- and I'm stealing this from THIRD's "Isaiah covers the 2024 presidential election:"

"He Wants To Be Your Queen."

Miss Sassy has proven to be very popular with community members and Isaiah admits he has a blast drawing Miss Sassy. It's JD's id exposed. So when Robert Kennedy Jr. was flirting with endorsing Donald, we got "Miss Sassy Puts Junior On Blast."

Having endorsed Convicted Felon Donald Trump, Junior raced to campaign for him as did Trashy Garbage (Tulsi Gabbard). Don't worry, Donald's running mate set them straight in ""Miss Sassy Will Not Be Denied Or Upstaged." "