Reposting this because it's important and also because Krystal Ball took to whoring yet again. I was dictating a reply that was going to go up here and Ava was chiming in when the person we were dictating it to asked, "Do you realize that this is a TV commentary?" No, we hadn't. But it is and it'll be finished and go up at THIRD. But I can't let Krystal's whoring today go by without us noting that you don't pimp a lie. A known lie. Abby Martin is right and she was right to call out the nonsense. It's a shame Krystal elected to promote lies instead.
Movement for a People's Party held the People's Convention 2020 on Sunday, August 30th. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Chris Hedges explains the importance of creating a viable third party. Following his speech, commentary from host of The Radical Democracy Show, Kahmali Rose.
This clip originally aired on Tuesday, September 1, 2020 as part of The Radical Democracy Show Episode #8 - People’s Convention 2020 Highlights.
Full episode: https://youtu.be/fDglpL0yzm4
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Friday, September 4, 2020. The UN announces a public dialogue with Iraq over the issue of the disappeared and we look at the candidates for US president.
Sunday was the International Day of Victims of Enforced Disappearances (see "The number of the disappeared only increases"). The disappeared are victims around the globe. People disappear, they are disappeared, and who stands up for them, who calls for their release and return (if they're still alive)? The US-led war and ongoing occupation of Iraq continues and it has created and aided in the numbers of the disappeared. In fact, it's helped turn Iraq into a land of widows and orphans. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights issued the following yesterday:
Enforced disappearances: UN Committee to hold special online dialogue with Iraq GENEVA (3 September 2020) - The
UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances
(CED) will hold a special public dialogue with Iraq during its upcoming
online session to discuss what the country is doing to address the
issue of enforced disappearances.
Iraq ratified the
International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance
in 2010. Its initial report was examined by the Committee in 2015. The
dialogue, due to be held on 14 and 15 September at 3:30 pm Geneva
time, will focus on selected issues related to the measures adopted by
the State to implement its obligations under the Convention. This will
include the evolution of State’s strategies to prevent enforced
disappearances, and to search for disappeared persons and investigate
alleged enforced disappearances.
The overall CED session begins
on 7 September at 4pm Geneva time, with a victim from Gambia addressing
the opening. The session will last for three weeks until 25 September.
Among its activities, the Committee will also co-host a public webinar with the
Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances
on the search and investigation of enforced disappearances. The year
2020 marks the 40th anniversary of the Working Group, and the 10th
anniversary of the entry into force of the Convention. The Committee
and the Working Group will work together to strengthen advocacy and to
support all those who are seeking the truth about the fate and
whereabouts of disappeared persons.
The meeting schedule and details of the session, including information submitted by Iraq, are now available
online. The public meetings will be webcast at this
link. For media accreditation.
ENDS
For media inquiries, please contact Vivian Kwok at +41 (0) 22 917 9362 / vkwok@ohchr.org or the UN Human Rights Office Media Section at +41 (0) 22 928 9855 / media@ohchr.org
Background
The Committee on Enforced Disappearances monitors States parties’ adherence to the Convention for the Protection of all Persons from Enforced Disappearance. The Committee is made up of 10 members who are independent human rights
experts drawn from around the world, who serve in their personal
capacity and not as representatives of States parties. The Committee’s
concluding observations are an independent assessment of States’
compliance with their human rights obligations under the treaty.
As we have noted this week, Sunday's day of the disappeared was ignored by US outlets, completely ignored. Will the session be covered? Or do the privileged in the US just feel that the disappeared should remain disappeared and ignored?
Iraq is supposed to hold elections next June. These early elections have been announced and they are in response to the non-responsive government that fails to meet the needs of the Iraqi people. This failure has been true of every administration since 2003. Each administration has vowed to rid Iraq of corruption and to improve the lives of the average Iraqi. Each administration has, thus far failed. Some really didn't try. Graft and corruption was so 'normal' under the two terms of thug Nouri al-Maliki (installed in 2006 by Bully Boy Bush based upon the CIA assessment that Nouri's paranoia was so great he would be easy to control and then re-installed by Barack Obama and Joe Biden in late 2010 after the Iraqi people voted him out of office in the March 2010 elections), it was so normal under Nouri that even the lazy and do-nothing US Congress had to hold hearings on the corruption.
They didn't do anything other than hold hearings.
Nouri got rich, his idiot son got rich, his whole family got rich.
The Iraqi people?
They lost out. They lost basic needs, the items available through their ration cards were greatly reduced, the employment sector didn't really exist, basic needs like potable water and electricity were iffy throughout Iraq.
May 7th, Iraq's latest prime minister was installed, Mustafa al-Kadhimi. Weeks later, GREAT GAME INDIA noted:
Former Iraqi intelligence chief Mustafa al-Kadhimi was installed as the prime minister of Iraq as a result of a secret US Iran deal. The deal was that Iranians would back Kadhimi and in return US would unfreeze Iran’s assets targeted by US sanctions. Kadhimi has a history of working as an agent of the US intelligence services who provided false reports about Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction. The US’s withdrawal of Patriot missiles from Saudi Arabia last week was also part of the secret US Iran deal.
As per the deal, the US will not change its policy of exerting “maximum pressure” on Iran but agreed to de-escalate militarily in the Gulf. Americans also agreed to look the other way if any European country would release Iranian money frozen by US sanctions. The details of the deal were revealed by senior Iraqi political sources to Middle East Eye.
On 4 August, Iraqi activist Ridha Al-Igaili’s home in Amara, the capital of Maysan province, was attacked by militiamen who fired a rocket-propelled grenade and sprayed the building with bullets. This was the second attempt
on his life this year. Luckily for Al-Igaili, a pharmacology student
and member of the Maysan Students’ Union, no one was injured. News of
the attack reverberated quickly on social media. Barely two weeks later,
fellow activists Reham Yacoub and Tahseen Osama were assassinated.
These cold-blooded attacks were the latest in a wave of targeted violence and kidnappings by shadowy gunmen seeking to silence advocates
of free speech and those speaking against Iraq’s corrupt,
militia-dominated system of ethno-sectarian power sharing. They dampen
any optimism for reform resulting from Prime Minister Mustafa
Al-Kadhimi’s announcement of early elections next June.
I have spoken recently with Iraqi
activists who have been part of the pro-reform protest movement in Iraq
since last October about their views on the election. Uniformly, these
courageous young protesters were less concerned with the election date
and much more interested in the conditions under which candidates and
voters would campaign and go to the polls.
Their
concern is justifiable. Within the first four months of the protests,
government forces and gunmen believed to be affiliated with party
militias killed at least 600 protesters, injured thousands and subjected scores
to forced disappearances and torture. To outsiders, these are grim
statistics, but to many Iraqi protesters, the victims of government
violence such as Safaa Al-Sarray, or Hussein Adil and Sara,
are friends-turned-martyrs. The memory of these icons of the “October
revolution” inspires Iraq’s young protesters to keep struggling,
peacefully, for reforms, and fair elections are their gateway.
Holding elections next June before the term of the current parliament
expires will be a challenge. The government needs to address the conditions
set by Iraq’s electoral commission (IHEC); finalise annexes to the new
election law to define the contested borders and number of electoral
districts; find $300 million
from the country’s depleted purse to organise the polls; and take
legislative action to rectify the legal status of Iraq’s top court (in
questionable condition following an arguably illegal 2019 appointment
of a court member) so that it can ratify the results. An even harder
challenge will be to persuade sitting MPs to dissolve Parliament before
June 2021 and forego months’ worth of pay, perks and power. Even if
Kadhimi overcomes these obstacles, it will be even harder to create
conditions for genuinely free and fair elections for all Iraqis.
Elections are scheduled for November in the US. The GOP candidate will be incumbent President Donald Trump. Many are hoping to defeat him. The Democrats are offering up Joe Biden Joe turns 78 in November. His task is to attempt to convince American voters that he can process and that his senility has not progressed as far as it has. Hidin' With Biden is the campaign strategy. They broke it to have him meet with the family of a victim of police violence. The victim doesn't have to defend himself in terms of the violence. If he was attacked unfairly, there's no excuse for that. However, it's also true that he has charges against him for assaulting a woman.
Not really sure that's the photo-op for Joe who has groped and sniffed women, creeped everyone out, and who has credible charges of assault made against him by Tara Reade.
There are plenty of victims of police violence who aren't facing trial for rape. It's a shame Joe refused to meet with the families of any of those victims.
Just as there are many, many victims of police violence not accused of rape, there are candidates for president in this race not accused of rape. Gloria La Riva, for example. She is the nominee from the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
Gloria is, of course, bilingual. So she wouldn't need an interpreter when meeting with foreign leaders who spoke Spanish. Nor does she need a written script of an encounter before she can appear before the cameras -- as so many have accused Joe Biden of needing.
Her campaign issued the following statement:
Three massive wildfires are currently
raging in northern California surrounding the densely populated San
Francisco Bay Area on all sides with a total of 700 fires burning
throughout the state. Two of these Bay Area megafires are the second and
third largest in California history. The largest in history occurred
just 2 years ago north of the Bay Area in Mendocino County. Every year,
wildfires are becoming more frequent, larger and more destructive, yet
the state has done little to prepare and protect the population in
advance.
The current fires were sparked by
over 11,000 dry lightning strikes within 72 hours that were triggered
by a tropical cyclone off the coast colliding with onshore extreme
temperatures from an extended statewide heatwave. This rare weather
anomaly created an unstable atmosphere and the barrage of lightning
during a drought year when vegetation was prime to ignite.
Cal Fire crews were sorely stretched
thin for the first week of the fires. This is partly due to the immense
number of fires occurring within a few days — 367 fires were sparked
just from the storm — in addition to lack of support from fire crews
from other western states due to fires throughout the region. Cal Fire
annually relies on hundreds of inmates to supplement firefighting
efforts, but many of these inmates have received early release due to
COVID-19 risks in prisons and are now unavailable to assist. This points
to a cruel contradiction within the system. While these formerly
incarcerated men and women have extensive training and experience in
fighting California wildfires, and are desperately needed, they are
unable to get jobs on fire crews post-release due to their record of
felony convictions.
Cal Fire in recent years has
increased efforts to clear vegetation in advance of fire season, but
with climate change, aging electrical infrastructure and extreme weather
events like the one that caused the current fires, those efforts fall
short. Until the 1800s when colonizers banned the practice, the
indigenous people of California annually held controlled burns to clear
vegetation and reduce the spread of wildfires. Controlled burns are now
again being utilized by the state, but in order to expand and improve
these efforts, partnerships with California tribes could increase the
number of annual controlled burns and bridge indigenous knowledge with
fire science.
As of Aug. 25, 136,000 people had
been evacuated and over 800,000 acres have burned in the three largest
Bay Area fires — that’s an area twice the size of Los Angeles.
Evacuation centers are distancing people but there is still a high risk
of COVID spread by being indoors with others for an extended period of
time. Some are seeking refuge in discounted hotels rooms to avoid
possible COVID exposure, but many cannot afford this option,
demonstrating the class divide surrounding climate change impacts.
As the climate crisis unfolds, it is
imperative to address land use policies. More and more areas on the edge
of fire-prone forested areas are being developed for housing, putting
populations at great risk. Developers are only concerned with profits
and the state has done nothing to address land use despite the evidence
that wildfires are becoming more severe, causing more loss of life and
driving many into complete destitution when they lose their homes.
Immigrant farmworkers throughout the
state are being forced to work through, not only extreme temperatures,
but also in wildfire smoke. Despite air quality regulators urging
everyone to stay indoors to protect themselves from smoke, these super
exploited workers face eviction and starvation if they don’t go to
work.
Under a socialist program, the
priority of the government would be to mitigate the effects of climate
change and do everything possible to prepare for catastrophe, protect
all sectors of the population from smoke and fire, and rehouse all those
who lose their homes.
The La Riva/Freeman campaign demands:
Funds for expanded wildfire prevention efforts
Partner with California tribes on controlled burns
Increase the number of permanent CAL FIRE crews and allow formerly-incarcerated fire crews to be employed
Provide free hotel rooms for evacuees during the pandemic so families can safety distance
Real
relief for residents who lose homes and can’t afford to rebuild — seize
vacant units and investor-owned properties and house the houseless!
Reform land use policy — relocate people from high-risk areas and end wildland development
Make Big Tech pay! Tax the corporations to pay for climate change mitigation and wildfire prevention!
I saw the genocide committed against the Iraqi people, due to George H. W. Bush's bombing war in 1991, Bill Clinton's sanctions that killed over a million Iraqi people and Madeleine Albright's despicable claim that it was worth those 500,000 dead children by total blockade.
Joseph Kishore is running on the Socialist Equality Party's ticket. He Tweeted:
They are "extremely fearful of any criticism from the left, under conditions where the Biden-Harris campaign is openly appealing for right-wing support... and seeking to compete with Trump in law-and-order denunciations of protests against police violence."
"The Russians are stoking divisions in the US" line by the Democratic Party is the most obvious intelligence misinformation operation since "Weapons of Mass Destruction."
Jo Jorgensen is the Libertarian Party's candidate. Like Joe and Gloria, Jo is not accused of rape. Her campaign's most recent press release is this:
GREENVILLE, S.C.— Libertarian vice-presidential
hopeful Jeremy “Spike” Cohen will visit the east bay on Thursday, to
share the Jorgensen–Cohen ticket’s plan to protect civil liberties by
reducing the size and scope of the federal government. This includes
ending both the racist war on drugs and qualified immunity for police
officers.
Their platform also calls for bringing U.S. troops home from
overseas, creating a truly free market in health care, and removing
governmental barriers to competition in the energy industry, allowing
for innovation in clean energy solutions, such as nuclear.
“Having challenged injustice, corruption, and prejudice in our
government institutions, I’m excited about our 2020 ticket,” said
Nickolas Wildstar, a 2018 Libertarian Party (LP) candidate for governor
who plans to run again, should the ongoing petitioning effort to recall
Gov. Gavin Newsom succeed. “Mr. Cohen ignites the American spirit of
revolt against tyrannical leaders, and Dr. Jorgensen has the experience
and principles to guide our nation to become greater—freer—than ever.”
Wildstar added that together, the pair offers real solutions to racially
biased policies, economic instability, and imperialism.
Wildstar will join Cohen, along with James Just, the Libertarian
candidate for State Assembly (Dist. 7), as featured speakers at the
campaign rally, which will kick off at 5:30 P.M. at Empowerment Park. LP
Alameda Secretary Terry Floyd will emcee.
The Jorgensen–Cohen ticket is on track to appear on the ballots of all 50 states plus D.C.
Cohen’s events will feature selected officials and
down-ticket candidates, include media availability, and are scheduled as
follows (subject to change; times shown in local time zone):
Thursday, September 3 12 – 3 P.M.: Supporter luncheon (private ticketed event); Castro Valley 3 – 4:15 P.M.: Media availability (by appointment) 4:30 – 8 P.M.: Campaign rally at Empowerment Park, 462 Bellevue Ave., Oakland
For a full list of the candidates’ upcoming campaign events, visit Jo20.com/events.
Media advisory: Rain or shine! The candidate will
have media availability at most tour stops. A mult box will be available
at the rallies, although no risers. Personal distancing protocols will
be followed; hand sanitizer and masks will be provided.
For questions or to schedule interviews during these campaign stops, contact:
Thurs., Sept. 3: Elizabeth Stump, Jorgensen–Cohen 2020 media coordinator, via e-mail at CA@Jo20.com, or by phone at (510) 828-2281
And here is her campaign's most recent ad.
Howie Hawkins is also not accused of rape and he's also running for president. Howie's the nominee from the Green Party.
Howie Hawkins Files Suit Against Election Commission In Wisconsin Supreme Court For Ballot Access
Today, the Green Party campaign of Howie
Hawkins and Angela Walker filed suit against the Wisconsin Elections
Commission in the Wisconsin Supreme Court. The suit filed by the
Milwaukee law firm of von Briesen & Roper, s.c., asks the court to
place Hawkins and Walker on the ballot for the November 3, 2020 general
election.
Howie Hawkins said, “Thousands of voters in
Wisconsin signed petitions to put the Green Party on the ballot. These
voters want more choices than the Democratic and Republican Party. Our
campaign stands with the majority of voters and calls for Medicare for
all, a Green New Deal, taxes on the wealthy and an end to ongoing wars,
and neither President Trump or former Vice President Biden supports
those issues.”
Two thousand signatures are required to
place candidates on the ballot. The Commission agreed that
Hawkins/Walker submitted 1,789 valid signatures. In dispute were 1,834
more signatures where the staff of the Commission certified that they
were qualified Wisconsin voters. The Commission voted 3-3 failing to
sustain a challenge to the validity of those signatures. Under the law,
those signatures should be presumed valid because the complaint filed by
Allen Arnstein did not provide clear and convincing evidence that the
petitions were invalid.
The issue in the case is around the address
of Angela Walker, who said, “Throughout this process I lived in
Florence, SC. My address in Florence changed, and the Commission has my
current address.” The Hawkins/Walker campaign contacted the Commission
for advice on how to proceed regarding Walker’s address and followed the
Commission’s advice, submitting a statement of candidacy with the
signatures with her current address.
“We hope the court will uphold the right of
voters to vote for the Green Party since we submitted far more than
enough valid signatures,” Hawkins said.
The suit asks for expedited action because the deadline for finalizing the ballot is rapidly approaching.
