Saturday, November 23, 2019

The Rebel Hillary


 hillaryrebel

From June 1, 2017, that's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "The Rebel Hillary."  C.I. noted:



Isaiah's latest THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "The Rebel Hillary."  A woman asks, "What are you rebelling against, Hillary?"  Hillary, wearing a "FAT CATS RULE" t-shirt,  responds, "Minimum wage increases.  Whistle-blowers.  Democracy.  You name it!"  Isaiah archives his comics at The World Today Just Nuts.

Hillary, in the future, will be seen as the disappointment she was.  Her devoted fools will have died out and she will be judged on what she said and what she did.  That will earn her a failed grade.

Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


Friday, November 22, 2019.  The mess that is the US media (big and small) and protests continue in Iraq.

We noted the debate in yesterday's snapshot, let's note it again.

Why does Branko Marcetic write?  I have no idea.  He wrote a piece of narrative about how awful MSNBC is recently.  If he'd stuck to the data he could have made that point.  If he'd known the network's history, he could have made that point.  Instead he just embarrassed himself and now he's done so again.  The new piece wants you to know that Bernie Sanders was treated poorly "at Last Night's Debate."  But it focuses a large part on "the spin room" -- remarks made by talking heads before and after the debate.

It's all a huge mess and can anyone honestly defend this paragraph:

Despite the final result, at 40 minutes into the debate, the New York Times clocked Sanders at fourth from the bottom in terms of speaking time, with Booker, Harris, Klobuchar and Pete Buttigieg far ahead of him. Thirteen minutes later, he had moved up slightly in the shuffle, with Klobuchar now at the very top. Nine minutes after that, he was again fourth from the bottom, with Klobuchar sitting at third. The moderators threw it to Klobuchar after an answer from billionaire Tom Steyer about special interest money and term limits that name-checked Sanders but didn’t mention her—breaking one of the express rules of the debate format.


For those not grasping the problem, that is the textbook definition of 'horse race coverage.'  That says nothing.  It turns the whole thing into a horse race.  Who cares where he was at this point in the debate or that point in the debate?  The final results are actually the issue if speaking time is your concern.

I went to IN THESE TIMES hoping that they'd have a good strong piece on Bernie's debate performance and we could highlight from that.

All they have is Branko's nonsense.  He's such a stupid idiot.  Do we really need to birth another John Nichols on the left?

The idiot's applauding Michael Moore at the end.  Michael Moore.  Serial liar Michael Moore.  Sexist pig Michael Moore.  Bumper sticker 'wisdom' passed off as analysis Michael Moore.  He's craven and he's disgusting.  That IN THESE TIMES feels the need to praise him does not speak well to them.  Is there a bigger (not a fat joke) sheep herder than Michael Moore?  I don't think so.

Everything Branko has written in the piece is useless garbage.  One example:

MSNBC’s post-debate discussion returned to business as usual, with commentators once again covering for another poor Biden performance that saw the former vice president claim he had been picked as Obama’s running mate because “I come out of the black community, in terms of my support,” and that he had the endorsement of the “only” black woman senator in history, to which Kamala Harris laughed. (“I thought he did pretty well,” said panelist and Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson).


Actually, she noted she was the other one -- the other Black woman elected to the US Senate.  And if you're noting the above, you need to point out what followed -- no one gives a f**k about fat ass Eugene Robinson. (The joke at THE POST is: Is Eugene dead?  No, it's just his writing that died.)  No one cares about the f**king 'spin room.'  The issue here is that Joe got it wrong yet again and what did he then do? He lied.  He stood on the debate stage and insisted he said "the first."

If the spin room didn't address that, there's your case for how easy they went on Joe.  However, Branko, you went easy on him too by failing to note that not only was Joe wrong, Joe then tried to lie to cover being wrong.  On the debate stage.  In front of everyone.

That is a big deal.

That does go to character.

That does go to how someone handles stress and crisis.

Here's more Branko nonsense:

Schmidt declared that “Mayor Pete had an exceptional night” with a “pretty flawless” performance and attacked Gabbard, who had criticized Buttigieg, as “just awful,” “spectacularly bad,” and “dishonest.” (Biden, meanwhile, had “probably his strongest debate performance,” according to Schmidt).


It sure is nice of Branko to repeat the attacks on Tulsi -- without ever noting what was actually going on.  For example, Tulsi rightly called out Pete's recent announcement that he was willing to send troops, if he were president, into Mexico.

Branko's writing is awful.  I don't get how he thinks he helps anyone by not noting Tulsi's criticism of Tiny Pete  He's more than happy to repeat the insults the 'spin room' hurled at Tulsi.  Does he think that's fair?

He's written a lunatic essay and he really needs to stop a minute, take a breath and look at the garbage he wrote.  It helps no one.  It doesn't address any issues -- big or small.  It doesn't explain how Joe Biden gets caught in a lie onstage and then lies again.  It doesn't raise the issues Tulsi did about Tiny Pete's use of the US military as a personal toy.

It reads like the journal entry of a Bernie fan boy who can't convey why he supports his candidate because policy's just too tough for him.

Is MSNBC awful?  It's hideous.  Guess what, Branko, so was your article.

Maybe Branko couldn't focus on issues because Bernie was so disappointing on them?  Niles Niemuth (WSWS) finds Bernie's latest debate peformance pretty disappointing:

Wednesday night’s Democratic Party presidential debate in Atlanta, Georgia was largely unremarkable save for the degree to which the candidates sought to submit themselves to President Barack Obama’s declaration last week that the party must distance itself from “revolutionary” proposals if it hopes to defeat Trump in the 2020 elections.
The word has been sent down for the candidates to knock off the funny stuff about Medicare for All and other pie in the sky reforms and to get down to business.

Senator Bernie Sanders led the way Wednesday night with regards to political cravenness, walking back his own rhetoric about waging “political revolution” and declaring that he agreed with Obama that it wasn’t necessary to “tear down the system and remake it.”
Sanders responded to a question from moderator Kristin Welker about his oft repeated and popular slogan for a “political revolution” by solidarizing himself with the president who oversaw the greatest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in American history, deported millions of immigrants and waged war abroad for two full terms.


Niles is pretty harsh on everyone on the stage (read what he goes on to say about Tulsi, for example).  And that's fine.  He's not a fan boy.  But Branko is and wants to steer you to Bernie but somehow thinks an article that focuses zero on Bernie's policies is going to do the trick.  Branko wrote an angry I-LOVE-HIM! journal entry.  He didn't write a political column.

And Niles' column slams Bernie.  So a reader who missed the debate (or avoided it) is presented with Branko's emotional sobbing and Niles' addressing the debate itself.  Which opinion are they more likely to see as reasoned?  Branko hurts Bernie's cause with bad writing.

Who's getting the case out for Bernie?  Not Branko.  Not JACOBIN where Branko also writes.  They've got nothing about the debate.  THE PROGRESSIVE becomes a dirtier joke each year.  It's not even aware that debates are going on.  What a useless rag it's become.  It was bad at the end of Matthew Rothschild's tenure.  He was promising, for example, to cover Cindy Sheehan.  He didn't.  It was just like his lie to me that he was going to cover The Winter Soldier event and then he didn't.  What a piece of garbage.  Ruth Conniff only made the rag worse.  And now it stands as what?  The new YES!  YES! survives due to government funding (yeah, I said it and, yeah, I may say more about our 'friend' YES!, the only magazine with state-sanctioned venereal disease).  THE PROGRESSIVE's going to go under at this rate.  And, here's the thing, no one's going to miss it.  They've spent too many years making a case for just how worthless they can be.

At COMMON DREAMS, Jake Johnson notes:

"We're going to win," declared Sen. Bernie Sanders on Thursday in response to a new national Emerson poll showing the Vermont senator and former Vice President Joe Biden tied for the top spot in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary race.
Sanders and Biden are tied with 27% support, according to Emerson. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) polled in third place at 20%, and South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg trailed far behind at just 7%.



The polling goes to the fact that Bernie is electable.  And if Branko wanted to write something of use, he could start typing a piece about how, despite media attacks and media blackouts, Bernie's doing that well so imagine how much better his numbers would be right now if the media just treated him fairly?

Polls keep showing that voters see as the most trustworthy candidate in the race. Why? Because he's not just been consistent for 40 years -- he's been getting a lot of things done, even with the congressional odds stacked against him.
 
 



At THE NATION, Joan Walsh thinks she's still writing for SALON and can get away with garbage.  (Those of us in California are more apt to be familiar with Joan's long history of mistakes -- including when Kamala got elected Attorney General but Joan didn't know which office Kamala had run for.)  So she churns out a piece on what a debate run by women looks like.

Idiot, that wasn't a debate run by women.  That was a debate run by corporate suits -- and you include your beloved Rachel Maddow on that list of corporate suits.

Unlike bubble girl Joan, I get out in the real world.  Based on women on campuses alone, I can tell you a debate run by women would have led with Medicare For All, would've moved on to the need to address climate change and would have then gone into these never-ending wars and these coups.

We didn't get that on MSNBC because -- pay attention, Joan -- the debate wasn't run by women.  What a useless idiot Joan Walsh is.

And what a useless idiot some many outlets have become.  WOMEN'S MEDIA CENTER -- why do you exist?  To cover yourself?  Oh, look, a story on your report!  Oh, look a story on your own gala!  Where are the pieces about events going on, actual events?  Where's anything on the historic year this was with so many women seeking the Democratic Party's presidential nomination?

Oh, don't worry, you can do an article on it 20 years from now and calling it "Looking Back."

Then there are the idiots at WOMEN'S ENEWS.

Celebrity chasing replaces covering the news.

So they have a big article on what a feminist Carrie Fisher was!!!

I knew Carrie.  I liked Carrie.

Carrie was no feminist.

She savaged many women (I'd include Carly Simon on that list of women savaged based solely on her attacks on Carly and Carly's songwriting during the making of POSTCARDS FROM THE EDGE -- the film).  She was not a feminist.

It's hilarious to see her painted as such.  I've made one negative comment about Carrie since she died -- I did it in a THIRD roundtable -- and I'd really like to leave it at that.  But if this rewriting of Carrie and adulation passed off as critique continues, I'll be addressing the realities in depth.

In the meantime, what has WOMEN'S ENEWS accomplished with their worship of Carrie Fisher?  Well, it's allowed them to avoid any real issues.  Way to go!!!

Medicare For All.  I don't care if you think Bernie Sanders stinks and has bad breath.  Medicare For All -- all by itself -- is a reason to root for Bernie.  And, yes, we can root for Bernie and root for Elizabeth and root for Dario Hunter and anyone else that is standing up for Medicare For All.

It's what the country needs and that greedy bastards refuse to grant this to the American citizens goes to how corrupt the system has become.  It was bad before, but it's gotten so much worse.

This is a need, not a want.

Let's grasp that Bully Boy Bush gave it to the Iraqi people.  When he destroyed Iraq, he didn't give them a for-profit health system.  He knew they wouldn't stand for it.

Americans shouldn't stand for it either.

At COMMON DREAMS, Lindsay Koshgarian writes:

If you’re following the presidential race, you’ve heard plenty of sniping about Medicare for All and whether we can afford it. But when it comes to endless war or endless profits for Pentagon contractors, we’re told we simply must afford it—no questions asked.
According to one study, even if universal health insurance didn’t bring health care prices down—an unlikely worst-case scenario—we’d need an extra $300 billion a year beyond our current spending to provide full insurance for everyone.
Where can we find it? In a giant pot of money that’s already rampant with waste and abuse: the Pentagon.
Right now, only about one quarter of the $738 billion Pentagon budget goes to our troops. The rest is mainly three things: the cost of maintaining 800 military installations all over the world; lucrative Pentagon contracts, which account for nearly half of the entire Pentagon budget; and, of course, our never-ending wars in the Middle East.

According to my research, if we end those wars, shut down wasteful and failing weapons programs, and close unnecessary foreign bases, we could come up with an extra $350 billion to spend on Medicare for All—without sacrificing security.

Oh, look, a woman.  And she's addressing healthcare and endless war.

Joan Walsh, put down the booze and look over here, that's what a debate led by women would look like.

In Iraq, the protests continue.  And REUTERS reports that, already today, 2 protesters have been killed by security forces in Baghdad -- another twenty two were left injured.


the military is shedding blood on the streets by attacking the people, probably by the govt's orders. How else do you explain it when there have been protests in other countries for months but not as much bloodshed as in Iraq.
 
 
Terrific piece by Death on the bridge: The young lives cut short in Iraq's uprising
 
 


Baghdad tunnel becomes a museum for Iraq's protest movement
 
 



This morning, Mustafa Habib reports:


Today's speech was short, Sistani described the situation by saying: "the country is in big crisis"
 
 
  • Breaking: the senior cleric in Ali confirms again his solidarity with , & said that new electoral law must be passed, this law must reflect the real representation of voters, & an independent electoral commission must be established.
     
     



    The following sites updated:




    Read on ...

    Friday, November 15, 2019

    President Dunce Trump Goes To War


    duncetrump
     

    From April 12, 2017, that's "President Dunce Trump Goes To War."  C.I. noted:



    Isaiah's latest THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "President Dunce Trump Goes To War."  Donald declares, "North Korea, we are sending an armado or a gazebo whatever goes best with senseless destruction."  Isaiah archives his comics at The World Today Just Nuts.

    I have done a few Trump cartoons.  Not many.  I don't find him that humorous, sorry.

    I also don't see the point in letting anyone steal my joy.

    Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


    Friday, November 15, 2019.  Rape enabler Deval Patrick continues his pursuit of the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, protests continue in Iraq, MSNBC struggle to portray the campaigns of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren accurately or fairly, and much more.


    In the US, the race for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination continues.  Rape enabler Deval Patrick has entered the ring.  SLATE's Jim Newell offers:


    Deval Patrick
    If only theories mattered.
    Unlike certain would-be candidates considering entrances into the race whose names rhyme with Doomberg and Pillory, the former Massachusetts governor can, at least, draw up a plausible theory on paper for his newly launched candidacy. The field still lacks a formidable center-left consensus candidate who can bridge the party from Joe Biden on one end and Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders on the other. Pete Buttigieg is trying to do it, but his base is too lily-white to break out after New Hampshire. Patrick—who, like Buttigieg, is trying to push against both the center and the left in his early messaging—would, in theory, have some purchase in New Hampshire, given his history as governor of the neighboring state to which many Granite Staters commute, and, in theory, translate that into a strong finish in South Carolina, where he could, again in theory, have a relative advantage as a black American. Aren’t these neat theories? Can’t you see how an unemployed consultant needing a paycheck might excitably pitch it to Patrick? How wealthy donors, in a lather about Elizabeth Warren, might be taken with it? It’s so neat, so consultant-driven, and so pitchable to dumb donors that the Surge is comfortable predicting that Patrick is doomed to go absolutely nowhere. To wit.






    Search results
    How is No One in the lame stream media talking about this!? Deval Patrick fired leaders of the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry in 2014 for trying to register Patrick’s brother in-law for a 1993 California rape conviction.
     
     
    My goodness. No no and no again. This is a dealbreaker for me. Deval Patrick's former brother-in-law gets prison time in rape, kidnapping
     
     
  • In 2014, Deval Patrick fired the head of the state’s Sex Offender Registry Board because she questioned why Patrick’s brother in law wasn’t required to register for a 1993 spousal rape conviction.
     
     
    Former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick’s Ex-Brother-In-Law Gets Prison For Rape
     
     
    So Deval Patrick fired some ppl to protect his brother-in-law, who went on to rape (another) woman in 2019. And Mike Bloomberg said some nasty s**t about women. Bernie Sanders must be *REALLY* surging in Dems' internal numbers for them to run these two losers. Chrissakes. 😎
     
     



    Replying to 
    In 2014 Deval Patrick fired leaders of his state's Sex Offender Registry for trying to force his brother in law to register due to being convicted of rape in California in 1993. In 2019, that same rapist was sentenced to 6 years for another rape....
     
     

    Replying to 
    In 2014 Deval Patrick fired leaders of his state's Sex Offender Registry for trying to force his brother in law to register due to being convicted of rape in California in 1993. In 2019, that same rapist was sentenced to 6 years for another rape....
     
     


    Dear Kamala Harris, You didn't hear this from me but the word on the street Deval Patrick protects sexual predators, please prosecute that ass for me. Thanks, Rape and Molestation survivor
     
     
    Deval Patrick, when is rape a family matter? Your BIL raped your sister not once but twice. You demoted a whistleblower because he wanted to register him as a sex offender. If you do that what would you do as president?
     
     


    For those confused by "family matter,'' refer to this HEAVY article and how the response by Deval's campaign was to insist this was a family matter and the children!!!! the poor children!!!! They never knew and now they did wah!!! Wah!!!! Wah!!!!

    If you're convicted of a crime -- and, yes, rape is a crime, don't whine that your children found out about it because of the press.  You were convicted of a crime.  That was a public case.  Maybe you talk to your children about it.  But you don't whine, "They reported on my being convicted!!!! Oh the babies, the poor little babies!!!"

    Grow the hell up.

    And we don't need a rape enabler, a rape apologist, running for the White House.  Any person even aware of optics would be insisting Deval drop out.  That months after this rapist brother-in-law was sentenced Deval is thinking of running speaks of something far worse than mere arrogance.


    Deval Patrick spoke at my Graduation. Come to find out that he’s a rape apologist?!? Disgusted.
     
     
  • Replying to 
    Add this to the misogyny In 2014 Deval Patrick fired leaders of his state's Sex Offender Registry for trying to force his brother in law to register due to being convicted of rape in California in 1993. In 2019, that same rapist was sentenced to 6 years for another rape. 1/
     
     
    So the Democratic big donors still don't get that being a rape enabler is disqualifying, and they throw us Deval Patrick. This is why we need a Warren or a Bernie.
     
     


    Deval Patrick's former brother-in-law gets prison time in rape, kidnapping
     
     
    People out here stannin for Deval Patrick? Please go sit the f**k on down. Deval Patrick fired the leader's of the Sex Offender Registry in his state in 2014. Why? Tried to register his bro-in-law as a sex offender. Dude raped Deval's sister. Spousal rape. CANCELLED
     
     




    Meanwhile, at IN THESE TIMES, Branko Marcetik maintains:

    Once known as the lone, forthright voice of liberalism on cable news, MSNBC began a lurch to the center in 2015 with its new chairman, Andrew Lack, going on a conservative pundit hiring spree and shedding the network’s “Lean Forward” branding.
    Even so, MSNBC is positioned to have an outsized influence on the 2020 Democratic presidential primary.  According to the Norman Lear Center, liberals watch MSNBC at (respectively) three and 10 times the rate of more moderate and conservative viewers. After Fox News, MSNBC is the most-watched cable news network, beating out CNN. What’s more, the median age of MSNBC’s audience is 65—and older voters turn out in high numbers in primary contests. 
    To understand how MSNBC may be shaping the 2020 election, In These Times analyzed the network’s August and September coverage of the Democratic presidential contest’s leading candidates—Sen. Bernie Sanders, former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren. We focused on the network’s flagship primetime shows: The 11th Hour with Brian Williams, All In with Chris Hayes, The Beat with Ari Melber, Hardball with Chris Matthews, The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell and The Rachel Maddow Show.
    In These Times tallied how often the three candidates were discussed and logged whether the coverage was positive, negative or neutral. For example, while poll results by themselves (whether favorable or unfavorable to a candidate) were simply logged as neutral, commentary about a candidate “surging” was logged as positive and “stagnant” as negative. Clips and previews for upcoming segments were not included.
    The coverage quickly revealed a pattern. Over the two months, these six programs focused on Biden, often to the exclusion of Warren and Sanders. Sanders received not only the least total coverage (less than one-third of Biden’s), but the most negative. As to the substance, MSNBC’s reporting revolved around poll results and so-called electability.


    Let's hope they did better with their number crunching than they did with their research on MSNBC's 'history.'

    It was never a liberal channel.  After hitting the gutter with Mike Savage's hiring, they tried to regroup with Keith Olbermann.  Keith was a known sexist who never would have survived in today's #MeToo culture.  We didn't quote him, we didn't note him.  He was supposedly the biggest liberal on TV (he wasn't).  He gets Rachel Maddow on the channel.  That would be the same Rachel that supported the Iraq War.  That would be the same Rachel who then got an AIR AMERICA show (UNFILTERED) in 2004 where she -- like Al Franken -- would argue that you couldn't talk about withdrawal of US troops from Iraq and the troops were already there so you do nothing.  You certainly don't invite on antiwar activists.  The closest UNFILTERED came to an antiwar activist was Arianna Huffington -- and even with Arianna they were struggling.


    Randi Rhodes would rightly mock and call out Rachel's big Iraq special that she did on MSNBC.

    MSNBC got rid of Cenk Uygur in 2011.  (Cenk is not a liberal but he was too much for MSNBC.)  MSNBC launched one attack after another on Cindy Sheehan -- including Norah O'Donnell's hideous June 2006 attack.  MSNBC couldn't find war resisters when other networks could.

    They were always loud, they were just never left.



    In Iraq, the protests continue.

    Today in city Kut south east of , AlAmareh province People protest against Iran regime puppets
    />
    0:38
     
     


    A new development?

    An Iraqi protester has taken a to an anti-government demonstration in to counter the police and police dogs. At least 320 people have died and thousands have been wounded during protests demanding the departure of the ruling elite.
     
     
     12 minutes ago
    A lion joins Iraq’s protests
     
     




    MEANWHILE IN Iraqi protesters bring LION to the protesting areas after security forces intervened protests with Police dogs.
    />
    0:22
     
     


    Some may think that's comic or cute.  It's not, it's stupid.

    The lion is placed in danger, absolutely.


    Look closely. Military-grade grenades are killing protesters in Iraq.
    />
    0:52
     
     

    More to the point, tear gas and sonic booms are taking place.  How is the lion going to react to that?  If the lion panics -- a natural response -- might the lion harms people around -- such as the protesters.

    Just the fact that danger is possible from this incredibly stupid move could provide the government with cover to shut down the protests.

    This was beyond stupid.

    Over 310 protesters have been killed in the last month with another 15,000 injured.  And into that climate, you're bringing an animal?

    Beyond stupid.

    In other news, Ali Choukeir (24 MATINS) reports:

    Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani said authorities must respond quickly to the demands of the protesters who have thronged Baghdad and cities across the mainly Shiite south since early October in an outpouring of anger over rampant corruption and lack of jobs.
    “If those in power think that they can evade the benefits of real reform by stalling and procrastination, they are delusional,” Sistani said in his weekly sermon, delivered by a representative in the Shiite holy city of Karbala
    “What comes after these protests will not be the same as before, and they should be aware of that.”


    Mustafa Habib reports:

    Breaking: In a tough speech, the senior cleric in Ali slaps the whole political class:- "I support the demonstrations & condemned the killing-Kidnapping of protesters, and the govt has not implemented any real demand of the so far. (1)
     
     
    "Iraqis only found the protest and gave big sacrifices during the demonstrations is the only way to save the country form corruption and devastation by all the political class which turned the country into personal gains by keeping silent about each other's corruption" (2)
     
     
  • "If the political class thinks they can dodge and evade the real reforms, they are delusional, because the situation after the protests will not be like before it, so be careful, but there are doubts about the ability of the political class to implement real reforms" (3)
     
     
  • "A new electoral law must be passed and this law must reflecting the real voter representation, and an independent electoral commission must be established that would gain the trust of voters, this is the way to replace the political class that rules the country after 2003" (4)
     
     
  • "The Iraqi battle for reform is a national battle, not allowed to any regional or international side Interference in this" (5)
     
     



    Mustafa Habib's reporting frequently appears at NIQASH and they have a number of reports on the protests throughout Iraq on their home page.

    The following sites updated:


  • Read on ...
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