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Monday, April 22, 2019

Iraq snapshot

Monday, April 22, 2019. We're again stuck addressing the bully that is David Cay Johnston.

We'll get to Joe Biden in a moment, first David Cay Johnston. For those who don't know him, he was never that well known, David had something of a career at THE NEW YORK TIMES. It didn't end well. As a friend at THE NATION reminded me this morning, it never ends well. (David tried to write for THE NATION after his forced retirement from NYT and that didn't work out either.) Today, whatever image he had is in tatters as he's made himself into a loony tune pursuing one conspiracy after another. He would just be a portrait of poor mental health if he weren't also so pathetic and annoying.

David wrote this site years ago. Whining about the spelling of his name. I, he insisted, had left the t out of his name. I had done no such thing. Bob Somerby of THE DAILY HOWLER had. We pulled a paragraph from TDH. David was a rude blowhard but then again he is a White man of a certain age (entitlement just wafts off him) so, no, it wasn't a surprise that he was so rude. I shared the e-mail with some of his co-workers (he was at NYT then) and we all had a good laugh at his expense.

I was kind. Well, I wrote a blistering response but then I was kind and didn't publish it (it still exists and could be published at any time -- and maybe it will if David doesn't go away). I did notice then (and I confirmed it today) that Bob Somerby, who made the mistake if there was a mistake made (he was quoting a reader) never corrected it. Again, to this day, Bob Somerby's never corrected it.

This despite David's claim in an e-mail to Ruth (she published it in full, see "F**k off, David Cay Johnston a woman hating piece of crap who thinks he can boss us around") that he has notified Bob Somerby. Bob might not be able to correct it today -- he's switched sites since then -- but he could have corrected it after it first appeared, if he was contacted, he may have felt the screeching and strident David didn't warrant a correction or he may have felt one missed letter was not the end of the world.

David thinks it is and has smoe sort of notification system (I hope) when his name goes up. Otherwise, he's just constantly Google-ing himself. And he's that pathetic and desperate so maybe that is what he does.

I just know he was rude to me and I tried to high road it. I'm not the only one looking at the e-mails (except on Sundays) and this story has always been known in the community. In our community newsletters, we talked about Harvey Weinstein and many other pigs long before the mainstream media found the stories. David was just one more little piggie in the syte.

Ruth's mentioned him at her site, in relation to this topic, many times over the years but he saw one post recently and had a fit. So he decided to tell her she was wrong. Because isn't that what every woman wants and needs? A man to tell her she's wrong?

And he couldn't just share that he thought she was wrong, he had to offer his resume. All these never ending details that, quite frankly, are meaningless. It was pathetic and I've been on the receiving end of a multi-page whine from Warren Farrell when feminism kicked his tired ass to the curb and he just knew he could convince a few of us to stand with him. I thought Warren was the most pathetic and then I read -- in Ruth's post -- David's e-mail.

In what world does a man think condescending endlessly to a woman, talking down to her, acting superior is going to result in her joy?

David's shocked that Ruth responded to him "with vile language." I didn't open the e-mails -- there are two -- but I can read the first line without opening them.

David is a smug ass who thinks the world revolves around him. Because, let's be honest, it used to. As a straight, White man, he used to run things. David, you poor fool, you're not running anything these days. Not just because you're retired, please understand, but you're also not running anything because this isn't 2003. Women have, as the cigarette add used to say, come a long way. And we don't fret over you and your blustering. You don't intimidate us. You especially don't intimidate Ruth, Betty or myself because we defended Hillary from sexist attacks in 2008, back when THE DAILY KOS was purging women and attacking women. We didn't bat an eyelash at any of the rude or threatening e-mails. We'd already been through it long before that.

Your day is over. Or, as Sylvia Plath once put it, "You do not do, you do not do, anymore black shoe [. . .]." I'm sorry that it's such a shock to you that you can't bully women. I thought you would have learned that long, long ago. But, as many of your co-workers can attest, you don't learn very easily, do you?

Last Thursday, I explained to you publicly that your e-mails would not be read and that you were not to use the public e-mail account. It is not a place ofr limp and flaccid men to rage at women. THE COMMON ILLS started as one site, my site. And we sprung up as a community. Mainly because this site values women, mainly because I don't let any man push me around -- many online bullies have tried. I didn't come to feminism yesterday. I wasn't surprised by all the men who showed up trying to be 'helpful' when the site started getting attention. I wasn't surprised and I wasn't a fool. Yes, men like David would have loved a centrist site where a woman minded her tongue and manners. To which I say, f**k off.

We built this community and we built it by standing strong. We don't get bullied. We don't buckle.

I realize your life is pathetic and pretty much over. Your name is a disgrace and you've made it such. We will not be bowing to your wishes. Yes, you are sad and pathetic but, newsflash, David, I'm not your Mommy. It' snot my job to burp you or wipe you or pretend like that awful finger paint drawing you just did shows promise.

Yes, growing up, you expected women to cater to you. That was a different time, thankfully.

I mentioned Betty before. Why bring Betty into it? Because David's not content to just bother Ruth, he's going after Betty now as well.

I've said it before, that e-mail account does not exist for you, David. I get it, you're sick and in need of mental healthcare. Your rage and anger is apparent. So get the help you need but stop clogging up my e-mail account with your crap. I don't give a f**k about you, I never did. Stop harassing the women of this community. Stop your attempts at male dominance -- and doesn't that describe the e-mail you sent Ruth? It's exhausting to read, the whole point appears to be to exhaust her.

David saw Betty's "David Cay Johnston is trash" and felt the need to correct her. As an African-American woman, clearly Betty needs David to tell her what's what, right? That's what he could have gotten away with a decade or two ago but it doesn't play that way today. David has apparently not yet discovered Ann's "Princess David Cay," Marcia's "Oh, hell no, David Cay Johnston, sit your tired ass down" or Rebecca's "dickless david cay johnston, the loony conspiracy nut."

David never learned -- as a straight, White man, he never learned -- that it might be the smartest thing to just shut up. Last Thursday, I said what I said and thought it was done. There are so many issues that need to be addressed and focused on. I thought, community wide, that's what we were going to do. But here's David yet again, this time with two e-mails.

And this notion that he will control the dialogue, he will control the conversation? He's a sexist pig and it's that attitude that allows for the wars today to start and to continue, it's that arrogance and that desire to bully.

We're not going to be nice about this anymore. I have deleted --as I said I would last Thursday -- both of David's e-mails. They will not be read. Nothing he writes to the public account will be read. He's a vain and pathetic bully who needs to learn (a) women will not be intimidated by him and (b) one letter missing from his name is not the end of the world. It really shows you just how pampered he has been his whole life that he thinks a "J" being dropped out of his last name is the end of the world.

Go away, Mr. Know It All David Cay, go away.

Moving on. Joe Biden.

That's Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Joe Biden Sniffs Around Mayor Pete" which went up Sunday along with his "She's Getting Desperate." Mayor Pete Buttigieg is the press favorite currently. They have many press cycles to fill, there will be other favorites. The press builds you up to have something to cover and then they tear you down for the same reason. But Pete's at least eanred the press attention.

Joe?

A man who served far too many terms as senator and a gaffe prone vice president who was forever off message or ahead of the roll out. He's acting as though his run is the Beatles getting back together. That the whole country is clamoring for it. The US, the world, in fact, would be just fine without a Joe Biden run. And the vanity on men, what is up with that? David Cay, Joe Biden. If you're going to run, you should have announced some time ago. There's no great clamor for you to run. You are the past, the very distant past and We The People are focused on the future.

Saturday brought news of another US service member dead in Iraq.

WAVE 3 NEWS notes, "Spc. Ryan Dennis Orin Riley, 22, was from Richmond, Kentucky. He died April 20 from a non-combat related incident in Ninawa Province, Iraq."

ssgcolavito‏ @ssgcolavito 2 hours ago

R.I.P to  Ryan Riley  who dead in Iraq         

A Kentucky soldier has died in Iraq. The Department of Defense says Spc. Ryan Riley died yesterday. His death was not combat related. Spc. Riley was from Richmond. 

6 replies14 retweets10 likes

Two U.S. servicemembers died in separate non-combat-related incidents overseas this weekend.

Staff Sgt. Albert J. Miller of the 736th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron died in Qatar on Friday.

Spc. Ryan Riley of the 101st Airborne died in Iraq on Saturday.

2 replies23 retweets36 likes

SPC Ryan Riley, a member of the 101st Airborne Division, died on Saturday, April 20, 2019 in Ninawa Province, Iraq from a non-combat related incident.

5 retweets3 likes

‏Verified account @RobertBReports

Thursday, April 18, 2019

Iraq snapshot

Thursday, April 18, 2019. As Julian Assange is persecuted, notice the useless who can't defend him.

Last Thursday, the founder and publisher of WIKILEAKS, Julian Assange, was arrested in London. Legal scholar Jonathan Turley (USA TODAY) has pointed out:

He disclosed a massive and arguably unconstitutional surveillance program by the United States impacting virtually every citizen. He later published emails that showed that the Democratic National Committee and the campaign of Hillary Clinton lied in various statements to the public, including the rigging of the primary for her nomination. No one has argued that any of these emails were false. They were embarrassing. Of course, there is not crime of embarrassing the establishment but that is merely a technicality.

For the US government, the first extreme bit of embarrassment came on Monday April 5, 2010, when WIKILEAKS released military video of a July 12, 2007 assault in Iraq. 12 people were killed in the assault including two REUTERS journalists Namie Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh. Not only was the US government responsible for that attack, they were responsible for the lies and the coverup that followed. When WIKILEAKS published the video, the truth was known.

The Iraqi people always knew the truth. That's why they wanted all foreign forces (including the US) out of their country. They lived with the violence on a daily basis. What Julian did was publish something that forced an apathetic world playing on-the-one-hand-and-on-the-other to acknowledge what actually happened in Iraq.

As US officials make gleeful comments (Senator Joe Manchin: "He is our property"), you'd expect to see more protest and outrage in the US. What you see instead is trash revealing its true nature. Margaret Kimberley (BLACK AGENDA REPORT) writes of the great do-nothings who can't speak up for Julian:

This resistance is little more than a collective hissy fit from dead ender Democrats who insist on following a party that can’t even reliably stay in office. They have spent the last three years railing against Trump but bite their tongues when he commits an act that reeks of fascist ideology.
The kindest thing that can be said is that they have been hypnotized by a combination of Democratic Party and corporate media lies. It is very difficult to determine the truth in a culture saturated with all the deformities of an imperial state in panic mode. One has to act as a detective and know which web sites to read or whom to follow on social media in order to learn anything outside of the confines of state propaganda. Ever since election night in November 2016 the public have been subjected to a relentless campaign meant to deflect righteous anger away from the Democrats while furthering imperialist goals at the same time.

Julian Assange has become the poster child for the big lie. His leaks of Democratic National Committee emails are blamed for Hillary Clinton’s defeat. But there was no computer hack of the DNC at all. Assange received leaked materials from an insider and used Wikileaks to publish it.
But that is only a partial explanation. The reality is far worse. Liberals are just as much true believers in imperialism as the right wing they claim to oppose.They are nothing if not consistent. When the Trump administration announced the coup attempt against the Venezuelan government the resistance didn’t resist at all.
Instead they repeated talking points from the New York Timesand National Public Radio which labeled the elected Venezuelan president a brutal dictator. They didn’t question the United States claim of a right to undo the will of people in another country. Some gave wishy washy criticism of military intervention but none of them questioned an intervention which is fascist by any definition.
These people will never defend Julian Assange. According to their world view he doesn’t deserve to be defended. He revealed government secrets, which runs counter to their support of the imperialist state, and they think he deprived them of a second Clinton presidency.

The useless trash includes David Cay Johnston as Betty notes. And let me be clear on something, the public e-mail was created for this site. Anyone else can use it, fine, in the community. But it's mine. Not David Cay Johston's and he can stay the f**k away from it. I've read his endless e-mail to Ruth (see Ruth's "F**k off, David Cay Johnston a woman hating piece of crap who thinks he can boss us around") and I'm not in the mood for liars.

I try to be nice but I have been very clear that I am not a nice person. When David e-mailed this site -- and, yes, piece of trash, David, you did -- I first wrote a blistering post. Like the one about a neocon, I didn't publish it. I'd spent sixteen hours on that post about Richard Perle. Now that piece and the one responding to David were not published. They were not trashed. They were saved to draft. They can be published at any time.

I tried to high road it and just change a little bitch's spelling -- we pulled a quote from THE DAILY HOWLER and that quote had David's name wrong -- and even be kind enough not to say, "Can you believe this stupid ass has nothing better to do than police the internet looking for how his name is spelled? Can you believe anyone could be so vain? Who has that kind of time!" I tried to be nice and move on.

But I'm not a nice person. I don't need to hear from you, David. Didn't need to hear from you to begin with. Demi Moore is a friend. Her name is not pronounced "Demmy." But she's not e-mailing everyone about how to pronounce her name. Your life is so pathetic that if a "j" is left out of your last name, you hound everyone. Grow the hell up. No one gives a damn about you. No one gave a damn about you when you wrote your boring pieces that were semi-fact based. Certainly, now that you've gone off into conspiracy nonsense and made it your goal to whip up hysteria, no one gives a damn about you. Martha and Shirley have been asked to delete anything you e-mail and to do it without reading it. You are not going to hijack this community and you are not ever again going to lecture a woman who never needed a lecture from your fat ass to begin with. Not in my public e-mail account, not in the community that I created. Go f**k yourself, David, no one needs to hear from you.

And let's be clear, ego maniacs like David? They're more concerned with how their name got spelled than in standing up for Julian Assange. That tells us everything we ever need to know about that piece of garbage.

It's the garbage of David and his useless peers that are responsible for the Iraq War. That's probably why they hate Julian. Julian didn't lie and sell the Iraq War. They and their outlets did (David once worked for THE NEW YORK TIMES). They sold the war with lies to start it, they sold the war with lies to continue it. Will anyone miss John Burns when he dies? Nope. He's just another cheap hustler who sold war. The war that they sold continues -- as does the suffering of the Iraqi people. Human Rights Watch notes today:

(Erbil, April 18, 2019) – Iraqi officers have committed torture at a detention facility in Mosul at least through early 2019, months after Human Rights Watch reported on the abuses and shared information about those responsible, Human Rights Watch said today. The Iraqi government did not respond to two Human Rights Watch letters requesting an update on steps taken to investigate the allegations.
“If the Iraqi government ignores credible reports of torture, it’s no wonder that the abuses persist,” said Lama Fakih, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “What will it take for the authorities to take torture allegations seriously.”
In August 2018, Human Rights Watch published a report alleging the use of torture in three facilities under the Interior Ministry in and around Mosul. It was based on statements from two former detainees and the father of a man who died during interrogation. One former detainee, who was held at the Faisaliya detention facility for four months, provided Human Rights Watch with the names of four interior ministry officers whom he said he saw torturing detainees.
Before publishing its report, Human Rights Watch sent detailed allegations including the names of the four officers implicated to the human rights adviser in the Prime Minister’s Advisory Commission. In February, Human Rights Watch wrote to Foreign Minister Mohamed Alhakim and the Interior Ministry Inspector General, Jamal al-Asadi, asking whether the government had investigated the Human Rights Watch allegations. Human Rights Watch received no reply to either letter.
A former prisoner, whose name and identifying details have been withheld for his security, described what he saw at Faisaliya detention facility in early 2019.

He said that guards took him to a section behind a metal door cut off from the rest of the cells on the evening he arrived. His description matched that of other former detainees who spoke to Human Rights Watch.
He said he saw eight detainees standing naked. Four guards were throwing water at them from a bucket, after which they pushed the detainees to the floor one by one, lifted their legs, and placed their feet through two rope loops attached to a wooden stick to keep the feet in place. He said he watched as the guards took turns beating each of the detainees on their feet with plastic piping for about 15 minutes nonstop. He said that after the beatings, six of the detainees confessed to being affiliated with the Islamic State (ISIS), with each negotiating the length of their membership they would confess.
The guards used a form of “waterboarding,” referred to as al-safina (“boat” in Arabic) on the two detainees who had not confessed, he said. Five guards and an officer strapped each detainee in turn, still naked, onto an orange gurney and tipped it backward, so that the detainee’s feet were raised above his head and covered his face with a towel. For about five minutes, they beat each one with plastic piping while pouring water over his mouth.
He said that the guards then bound the men’s hands behind their backs and suspended them from the ceiling using a hook and pulley, in a position referred to as bazoona (the word for cat in Iraqi dialect) for about one hour. He said the men had all confessed by around 2 a.m. and were taken back to their cell.
An hour later, he said, when he and the 12 other detainees were in the group cell he shared lying down, three or four guards came in and stamped on them with their boots, while singing a well-known ISIS song.
He named three of the four Interior Ministry officers overseeing that section of the detention facility, whom Human Rights Watch had identified in its August report. He also gave the name of another officer he said had overseen the torture. He said that all four officers directly participated in the torture.
Iraqi judges, despite the extensive credible reports of torture in detention, routinely fail to investigate torture allegations. On April 1, 2019, Iraq’s High Judicial Council replied to a Human Rights Watch inquiry into the judiciary’s response to torture allegations, stating that a range of Iraqi courts had investigated 275 complaints against investigative officers by the end of 2018. The High Judicial Council stated that 176 of the cases have been “resolved” while 99 were still being addressed. The council did not indicate how many of the 176 cases were being further investigated or had been dismissed.
Inspector General Jamal al-Asadi should promptly investigate the allegations at Faisaliya detention facility, including the officers implicated in past Human Rights Watch reporting
Iraq’s High Judicial Council should issue guidelines on the steps judges are obliged to take when a defendant alleges torture. Judges should investigate all credible allegations of torture and the security forces responsible, and order transfers of detainees to different facilities immediately after they allege torture or ill-treatment, to protect them from retaliation. Parliament should pass the draft Anti-Torture Law, which would require judges to order a medical examination of any detainee alleging torture within 24 hours of learning of the allegation.
Iraq’s foreign minister should also urge parliament to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture, which would allow prison visits by the United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention. Pending ratification, the government should commit to setting up a national unit to prevent torture, known as a national prevention mechanism, with the authority to inspect all detention centers in Iraq and to set up an effective complaint systems for authorities and facilities involved in detention and interrogations.
The heads of the federal intelligence agency, NSS, and the new interior minister, once appointed, should issue statements to their subordinates prohibiting the use of torture and other ill-treatment, and making clear that they will punish those responsible. Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi should publicly condemn the use of torture by all law enforcement, security, and military personnel.

“Prime Minister Abdul-Mahdi’s government should demonstrate to the Iraqi people that it is serious about ending torture in Iraq’s detention facilities,” Fakih said. “Strong actions are needed.”

Why is Human Rights Watch noting this? I'm glad that they are. My point here is where are the news outlets? I don't mean repeating what HRW has documented, I mean why are they not reporting this on their own. When Ned Parker was at THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, he did serious reports like this. But he was not the norm. And when Ned was persecuted by the Iraqi government we saw that the David Cay Johnston's couldn't speak up for him anymore than they could speak up for Julian Assange.

They can spend forever whining to anyone and everyone that a letter was left out of their name -- because, to them, this is the greatest crime. They can't spend even a Tweet defending the Iraqi people who have suffered through never-ending wars.

"Someone forgot a J in my name!" is the ultimate outrage to those useless types.

Let's start winding down with this -- an event on Saturday:

South Central Michigan Greens

=============================

Calhoun, Hillsdale, and Jackson Counties Local

https://www.facebook.com/SCMiGreens/

Peace, People, and Planet Over Profit

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 10, 2019

For more information:

--------------------

Monika Dittmann Schwab, Local Contact/SCMiGreens

Moni.schwab@icloud.com

South Central Michigan Greens to Meet 1-3pm

Saturday, April 20 at Jackson Coffee Company

============================================

The South Central Michigan Greens local will hold its monthly meeting

1-3pm on Saturday, April 20 at the downtown Jackson Coffee Company (201

South Mechanic Street in Jackson).

The meeting is an event on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/events/422824798474534/

The local serves Jackson, Calhoun, and Hillsdale Counties. But anyone

who supports the Green Party platform of Peace, Planet, and People Over

Profit -- or wants to find out about the #realDeal, the Green Party's

decade-old original version of the Green New Deal -- is welcome to attend.

We will discuss upcoming local activities and opportunities to get

involved -- including a pollution remediation proposal being started in

Jackson this spring, proposed natural-gas mega-plants in the area, and

this year's spring Labor History Walk in Marshall on Saturday, May 4,

the weekend after international Labor Day (May 1).

Co-founder John Anthony La Pietra will report on a celebration of "the

other MLK Day" held April 4 at the Marshall District Library. Local

officers and by-laws, and the results of the recent statewide membership

meeting March 16 in Muskegon, are also expected to be on the agenda.

A map of the location is available here:

http://www.experiencejackson.com/business/jackson-coffee-co.-downtown

For more details and news about the local, please visit its Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/SCMiGreens/

# # #

The Four Pillars of GPMI:

Grassroots Democracy

Social Justice

Ecological Wisdom

Non-Violence

For our Ten Key Values, add:

Community-Based Economics

Decentralization

Feminism

Future Focus/Sustainability

Personal and Global Responsibility

Respect for Diversity

The following sites updated:

Music

First Listen: Josh Ritter, 'Fever Breaks'

2 hours ago

Dissident Voice

War Versus Peace: Israel Has Decided and So Should We

6 hours ago

Antiwar.com Original

War Versus Peace: Israel Has Decided and So Should We

7 hours ago

Thomas Friedman is a Great Man

David Cay Johnston is trash

9 hours ago

Ann's Mega Dub

Princess David Cay

10 hours ago

Mikey Likes It!

Bernie

10 hours ago

Oh Boy It Never Ends

Mike Myers

10 hours ago

Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills)

Madonna and Beyonce

10 hours ago

Trina's Kitchen

Jimmy Carter

10 hours ago

Like Maria Said Paz

The International Sweethearts of Rhythm

10 hours ago

Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude

dickless david cay johnston, the loony conspiracy nut

12 hours ago

SICKOFITRADLZ

Oh, hell no, David Cay Johnston, sit your tired ass down

12 hours ago

Ruth's Report

F**k off, David Cay Johnston a woman hating piece of crap who thinks he can boss us around

12 hours ago

Center for Constitutional Rights -

Human Rights Lawyers React to Israeli Deportation Ruling on Human Rights Watch Israel and Palestine Director

15 hours ago

Blog of Rights: Official Blog of the American Civil Liberties Union

Armed Bounty Hunters Raided Our Clients’ Home to Prevent Private Companies from Losing $1,670.

16 hours ago

Sunday, July 17, 2005

FYI for the community

FYI, the plan for today is at least one entry on things being reporting from around the world.

In addition to that, a visitor has e-mailed to note that David Cay Johnston's (author and New York Times reporter) has had his name mispelled twice here.

Actually, it's been more than twice. I frequently leave out the "t" in Johnston but thanks to heads up from members like Shirley, I've caught some of those. In a quick glance over the last two hours, I've found "David Kay Johnston" appearing twice in a November entry. That will be corrected this evening. But I'm having a hard time believing a visitor would write in about a November entry yesterday. So I'm sure that my mistake occurs elsewhere. I've looked through (quick scan) last week's entry and don't see a mistake there.

If any member knows of another mistake on Johnston's name (I'm not asking anyone to go through the archives), please e-mail and steer me towards it.

Credit does matter. Typos abound at this site and always will. But names should be spelled correctly. Certainly if an entry had "the Bullie Boy," I would want to correct it. (That was a joke.)

If anyone sees an error in the spelling of a person's proper name, please drop a note when you see it.

For the record, it's David Cay Johnston. That's the only proper spelling. My apologies for the errors. (Watch, I'll have mispelled it. While attempting to correct the spelling of another Times reporter, I only made it worse.)

Isaiah is finishing his vacation. (Mid-week.) For those not clear, this is a vacation from work. A long overdue one from what Isaiah notes. Mid-week as the e-mails continued to come in praising his last The World Today Just Nuts, I told him that since it was still applicable, there'd be no problem rerunning it for this Sunday. (And members have been asking that it be repeated.) Isaiah took me up on the offer and I'm sure we all hope he's had a good rest and enjoyable vacation.

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

Thursday, November 28, 2024

Talking entry

If you celebrated Thanksgiving, hope you had a good one. Thanksgiving day is always a talking entry here -- the only exception I remember is when Bully Boy Bush rammed through the SOFA in 2008.

It sometimes goes up sooner, it sometimes goes up later. I honestly, didn't want to write today. New edition of THE BLACK COMMENTOR went up today:

The Black Commentator Issue #1018 is now Online

November 28, 2024

Thanksgiving 2024

Read issue 1018

Our email address is BlackCommentator@gmail.com

Our voicemail number is 856.823.1739

Take me off the email list

When the Thanksgiving post goes up early, it's because I'm writing the TD post while cooking. I do almost all my own cooking for TD. (Thanksgiving Day -- or Turkey Day, your pick.) I had a lot of early guests so couldn't break free -- and didn't want to -- ahead of the lunch. I then ate too much. I had 3 pieces of ham, two rolls and tons of vegetables. A regular size salad is about my speed for lunch so to have a plate full of food was more than I'm used to. That left me sluggish. I skipped turkey so I wasn't sleepy from that but I was sleepy and, each year, as soon as everyone's eaten and mingling after, I always take a nap (due to staying up all night cooking). I went upstairs and had some dreams -- and knew what I'd be writing about tonight. But when I woke up, I went downstairs to make sure everyone is fine and to say goodbyes to anyone leaving, then went back upstairs and went right back to sleep.

When I woke up, I found other ways to avoid writing -- including jamming in the music room. (I stuck to piano and bass.) Community sites posted in the last 24 hours, so there were things to read:

Trina's Kitchen

What do with that left over turkey

15 hours ago

Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills)

Katrina vanden Heuvel outs herself as anti-abortion

15 hours ago

Oh Boy It Never Ends

Programming choices

16 hours ago

Ann's Mega Dub

Elon Musk needs to go back to his home country of South Africa

17 hours ago

Thomas Friedman is a Great Man

Racist Katrina vanden Heuvel now believes men should control women's bodies

17 hours ago

Like Maria Said Paz

Cleaning and listening to music

1 day ago

Ruth's Report

The corruption never ends

1 day ago

Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude

macy's thanksgiving day parade

1 day ago

SICKOFITRADLZ

Rashida, you in danger, girl, and, Rashida, you're on your own

1 day ago

In addition, Trina did "Cooking in the Kitchen" yesterday as well. Let's note Trina -- and Elaine -- for another reason as well.

Trina's:

What do with that left over turkey

Leftover Turkey Salad in the Kitchen

Those are the same post. After she posted "Leftover Turkey Salad in the Kitchen," right after, Blogger/Blogspot put it behind a wall:

Sensitive Content Warning

This post may contain sensitive content. In general, Google does not review nor do we endorse the content of this or any blog. For more information about our content policies, please visit the Blogger Community Guildelines.

I UNDERSTAND AND I WISH TO CONTINUE I do not wish to continue

There was no sensitive content. It's the same post. And it's about how you can use any leftover turkey from today to make turkey salad.

Elaine's:

Cleaning and listening to music

Music -- Aretha, Chase Rice and more

Same posts -- the "Music -- Aretha, Chase Rice and more" has been put behind a wall.

Sensitive Content Warning

I UNDERSTAND AND I WISH TO CONTINUE I do not wish to continue

Again, the same post with a different title. Elaine reposted it immediately after Blogger/Blogspot put it behind a 'safety' wall. The new post ("Cleaning and listening to music") did not end up censored.

Elaine's post was about the two of us cleaning and listening to music. There was nothing "sensitive" about it -- unless GOOGLE is now trying to censor Aretha Franklin.

On the TD entry, I generally pull a few e-mails and respond to them.

Ralph e-mailed the public account that he watched some documentary on the late film critic Roger Ebert "and since you Ava do TV criticism, wondering what you thought of his work?"

Not much. Pauline Kael is the standard to this day. After her? Paul Rudnick did great work as Libby Gelman-Waxner. I thought Anthony Lane did some great work for THE NEW YORKER. In terms of critical studies of films -- books -- Marjorie Rosen's POPCORN VENUS remains one of the best.

Didn't dislike Ebert. Did dislike Gene Siskel who was awful to actresses over and over. But Ebert wrote shallow pieces. He also missed way too many standout moments in films he wrote about and his writing rarely went beyond thumbs up or thumbs down. He got better in the 90s and played with the form. But the bulk of his writing? Didn't care for it. I want a full meal and his writing was hors d'oeuvres.

If he spoke to you, that's great.

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.

Next up.

There are at least 17 e-mails about that Jessica Denson video -- 17 decrying my failure to note it. It posted six days ago. I did not know of it until the e-mails.

I'm not really interested in her main topic -- vote theft. I've gone into that before. I'll note that again in a moment.

I'm sorry she's had to leave MEIDASTOUCH. I certainly have no problem noting future videos -- not on election theft.

She's done some strong work -- and may do so on election theft.

She notes David Cay J -- and I'm stopping to look his name up. David Cay Johnston is having a hissy fit. She notes that and, honestly, that's reason enough to note the video above.

Maybe when I finally pack this site in, I'll note some of these trashy and disgusting people who've e-mailed over the years.

I've noted in the past when some have written if they were accusing me of things. That would include Robert Kagan who had no problem that we noted in 2004 that NPR shouldn't have allowed him to comment on the 2004 race for president since there was no disclosure that his wife was working for Dick Cheney (Victoria Nuland, see "When NPR Fails You, Who You Gonna' Call? Not the Ombudsman") but he was angry with me for writing something about him and Hurricane Katrina. Huh? I never wrote any such thing. I get really ticked off when I'm accused of things I didn't do.

Why?

Because if you tell me I got something wrong, I don't immediately say, "You're wrong!" I take you at your word. I think, "How the hell could I have been so stupid!!!!" Because I make mistakes all the time and if you tell me I did, I trust you.

My immediate response is always, "I was so wrong."

But if it turns out, after I'm taking the blame and beating myself up, that you're lying? That pisses me off.

Which is how we circle back to David Cay Johnston. Unlike sewer rat David Sirota, he didn't threaten to sue me.

He did send a nasty, rude e-mail. Fine, I'm nasty and rude here all the time.

Not fine? He screamed in text at me for not spelling his special name correctly. He savaged me for getting his name wrong.

Now most of this is dictated. I'm actually typing this post. But the snapshot is dictated and has been for years. And we have typos in it and I don't really care. If I typed it? We'd have many more because I'm dyslexic.

So apparently his name went up here as David Cay Johnson and not David Cay Johnston -- and that missing "t" was the end of the world for Davey Cay. He wrote his nasty e-mail trashing me. Which says a lot about what a bully he is and also about how vain he is -- MY NAME WAS MISPELLED!!!!!

But, here's the thing, I didn't type his name. Nor did anyone I dictated too.

Bob Somerby (THE DAILY HOWLER) had misspelled the name. We -- and it may be me -- pulled from Bob and quoted a paragraph or two from an entry Bob did.

And Davey Cay sent me a nasty e-mail where he attacked me non-stop for getting his name wrong and I'm not the one who did. It clearly noted that this was an excerpt from a post that Bob Somerby did.

And he never griped to Bob. Even though it was Bob's mistake. And Bob never corrected it.

But Bob Somerby's a man.

David Cay's abusive e-mail? That's what women have to endure online. These bullies and pigs don't write like that to men with blogs. (And I'm not the only one who had to endure one of Davey's raging e-mails. He loves to send those to women -- I doubt he knows we often share them with each other.)

Anyway.

An early attempt by Fleetwood Mac of recording Stevie Nicks' classic "Dreams" (she wrote the band's only number one hit).

Now here I go againI see the crystal visionsI keep my visions to myselfIt's only me who wants to wrap around your dreamsAnd have you any dreams you'd like to sell?Dreams of loneliness

I had two dreams during napping today. The first? Donald Trump suffered a massive heart attack and Miss Sassy JD Vance was now going to become president.

I woke up laughing from that one. Prior to that, the dream was that election theft had taken place, that the Justice Dept was aware of it, was monitoring it and was planning to arrest Satan Trump and company on January 6th after the falsified results had been introduced.

Now I would love for the second dream to become truth. But it's not going to.

Not in my opinion.

I would love to find out that the election was stolen because it's so much better than the truth: That America is a very racist and sexist country. I would give anything to be able to think better of voters and my fellow citizens.

By the way, per AP, Kamala currently stands at 48.4% of the vote and Donald's at 50%. There are votes still to be counted in New York, Oregon and Washington that might increase her percentage of the vote. They will not change the results. The reason I continue to note the percentage is to point out that it was a very close race and Satan did not get a mandate or a landslide from the American people.

But the election's over and the ugly reality is something I have to accept.

If you don't, that's you. I don't control you. I'm not trying to control you.

But I have to focus on what seems real to me and so that's what I will be doing.

Sabina pointed out in the roundtable we did for the gina & krista round-robin -- check your inboxes Friday morning -- that a lot of people in her state (Texas) were saying the vote was rigged. They were saying they knew this because -- urged by various people online -- they went to check to see if their vote counted and they couldn't find their vote at the state website. As Sabina pointed out, there's only one tool that lets you track your vote in Texas online -- and that's if it was received . . . by mail. People who voted in person were telling her that their votes was stolen because it didn't show up on the website. But that's state's website only lets you track your vote if you voted by mail. If you didn't, your vote's not going to show up through that search tool.

We're going to focus on what seems real. That doesn't mean others can't focus other things. It does mean that I'm not interested in this topic and I've said that before. If you are, pursue it and I accept your reasons for doing so, please accept mine for not pursuing it.

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

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