I was a huge fan of MAD MAGAZINE. I got a good e-mail about that recently and noting CRACKED. I'm reading a new book about GET LOST.
GET LOST?
It was one of the magazines that followed MAD. It came out in the 50s along with similar magazines like NUTS!, YAK YACK, CRAZY, MADHOUSE and WHACK. Ross Andru and Mike Esposito created the magazine which lasted three issues in 1954. Full title: GET LOST -- THE COMIC DESIGNED TO SEND YOU. The magazine sold but the publisher went out of business.
All three issues are collected in GET LOST THE END IN COMICS.
In issue three, Esposito explains:
It was on my living room floor. We were sitting down one day looking at MAD #1 (October/November 1952). So Ross and I are looking at each other and I said, "We can do this, we know how to write, we like good humor, we can do this." We banged it back and forth but we had no title, so I said "let's do it-but what are we going to call it?" Later that week we went to my uncle's house and we had dinner; we are talking to him and his wife; we were throwing titles back and forth, Drop Dead, all derogatory terms like Get out of Here, things like that. My uncle's wife looked down at us when she was serving coffee and says, "Why don't you call it GET LOST." So I looked at ross and said, "My God that's it" so that was the title.
I liked the vampire parody THE SEWER KEEPER and there's a good parody of the film THE THING. There are a few text features. One is about how to get rich making comic books:
There are certain mathematics that enter into the picture. You must sell your darling (ugh) little magazine for ten cents, since there is a "buyers pressure" or "Ahhh, why pay more for this when I can get the same junk down the street for a dine." You have paid five cents for the paper in each book, and one cent for the ink. Another two cents goes to the moron that colored it. You must pay one cent to ship each book and the dealer receives two cents for making the sale. This adds up to eleven cents, therefore you lose one cent on every copy sold.
Now here is the way to make money printing your own comic books. On every copy you don't sell you save one cent. The more copies you don't sell, the more money you make. Since it is very easy not to sell comics, even a beginner can not sell at least 250,000 copies a month. At this rate you will have made a cool million dollars profits in the first four months of operation.
I especially enjoyed the colors used in the illustrations and the illustrations were wonderful.
Esposito and Ross? GET LOST folded. But they continued to work together. They wrote and drew WONDER WOMAN for DC COMICS from 1958 through 1967. They also worked on, among others, THE FLASH and Spider-Man (with THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN and MARVEL TEAM UP).
Friday, June 16, 2023. Julian Assange is closer than ever to be brought
to the US where he'd face a kangaroo court and be imprisoned for life,
is self-censorship something we need to protest -- has it really come to
that, we've checked off everything else, Cornel West is out of touch,
Chris Hedges lies as a journalist and will probably get away with it as
everyone looks the other way, all that and Barbra Streisand.
A lot to try to cover. Let's start with the ongoing persecution of Julian Assange.
As Brian Becker notes above,
Julian's appeal to stop extradition to the US has again been denied and
he's looking at, if tried in the US, a lifetime sentence in prison (a
sentence of up to 175 years).
Julian is being
persecuted for the 'crime' of journalism. Julian Assange remains
imprisoned and remains persecuted by US President Joe
Biden who, as vice president, once called him "a high tech terrorist."
Julian's 'crime' was revealing the
realities of Iraq -- Chelsea Manning was a whistle-blower who leaked the
information to Julian. WIKILEAKS then published the Iraq War Logs.
And many outlets used the publication to publish reports of their own.
For example, THE GUARDIAN published many articles based on The Iraq War
Logs. Jonathan Steele, David Leigh and Nick Davies offered, on October 22, 2012:
A grim picture of the US and Britain's legacy in Iraq has been revealed in a massive leak of American military documents that detail torture, summary executions and war crimes. Almost 400,000 secret US army field reports have been passed to the
Guardian and a number of other international media organisations via the
whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.
The electronic archive is believed to emanate from the same dissident
US army intelligence analyst who earlier this year is alleged to have
leaked a smaller tranche of 90,000 logs chronicling bloody encounters
and civilian killings in the Afghan war. The new logs detail how: •
US authorities failed to investigate hundreds of reports of abuse,
torture, rape and even murder by Iraqi police and soldiers whose conduct
appears to be systematic and normally unpunished.
• A US helicopter gunship involved in a
notorious Baghdad incident had previously killed Iraqi insurgents after
they tried to surrender. • More than 15,000 civilians died in
previously unknown incidents. US and UK officials have insisted that no
official record of civilian casualties exists but the logs record 66,081
non-combatant deaths out of a total of 109,000 fatalities.
The numerous reports of detainee abuse, often supported by medical
evidence, describe prisoners shackled, blindfolded and hung by wrists or
ankles, and subjected to whipping, punching, kicking or electric
shocks. Six reports end with a detainee's apparent deat
The Biden administration
has been saying all the right things lately about respecting a free and
vigorous press, after four years of relentless media-bashing and legal
assaults under Donald Trump.
The attorney general, Merrick Garland, has even put in place expanded protections for journalists this fall, saying that “a free and independent press is vital to the functioning of our democracy”.
But the biggest test of Biden’s commitment remains imprisoned in a jail cell in London, where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
has been held since 2019 while facing prosecution in the United States
under the Espionage Act, a century-old statute that has never been used
before for publishing classified information.
Whether the US justice department continues to
pursue the Trump-era charges against the notorious leaker, whose group
put out secret information on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,
Guantánamo Bay, American diplomacy and internal Democratic politics
before the 2016 election, will go a long way toward determining whether
the current administration intends to make good on its pledges to
protect the press.
Now Biden is facing a re-energized push, both inside the United States and overseas, to drop Assange’s protracted prosecution.
The 2022 Booker Prize-winning author Shehan Karunatilaka recently
remarked: “Julian Assange, divisive figure that he may be—he is a hero
to many writers in South Asia because freedom of speech is not something
we take for granted… Journalism has been criminalised in our parts of
the world and so we are looking to the west to see how this case is
prosecuted and how it ends up.”
There is little doubt that Karunatilaka’s description is representative
of the prism through which most of the world views the case against my
husband. And that concern does not just exist outside the west.
At Unesco’s World Press Freedom Day event this year, held at the UN in
New York, the secretary general of Amnesty International, Agnès
Callamard, said: “It is not just what is happening in Iran or in Russia
that should worry us, it is also what is happening here. Who is
imprisoning Julian Assange? Sadly, the playbook of autocracy, the
playbook of control over conscience, or control over speech, has been
well learned by our so-called democratic leaders.” The president of the
Committee to Protect Journalists, Jodie Ginsberg, noted that the US case
against Julian “if brought to fruition could effectively criminalise
journalism anywhere, for journalists everywhere”.
Russia’s trumped-up “espionage” charges against Wall Street Journal
reporter Evan Gershkovich for his newsgathering activities mirror those
brought against Julian for his newsgathering and publishing. The last
US reporter to be prosecuted by Russia for “espionage” was Nicholas
Daniloff in 1986. The playbook did not originate in America, but America
has sunk to Soviet standards and revived it. It won’t stop there. That
is why the Assange case is the greatest threat to press freedom
worldwide.
Julian’s
US accusers use “espionage” as shorthand for “journalism”. They do not
allege that Julian was acting on behalf of—or colluding with—any foreign
power. The WikiLeaks publications expose the killing of tens of
thousands of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan; document evidence of
torture and assassination squads; and reveal at least one potential war
crime involving the slaughter of Reuters employees in Baghdad. The facts
of the case are well-known and uncontested: the source, Chelsea
Manning, was a US army whistleblower who acted on her conscience. She
was sentenced to 35 years. The sentence was commuted by Barack Obama on
his last day in office.
Julian
acted for the public’s benefit, and he is accused—of conspiracy to
publish, and of receiving, obtaining, possessing and communicating
“national defence” information—under a statute from 1917. The
classification system was only invented 35 years after that law was
written. There is no US “Official Secrets Act”. “National defence”
information is whatever the US government says it is.
I don’t know if he will be released, but it would be vitally important
to free him. Firstly, because Assange’s freedom means the defence of
democratic values and the right to information and freedom of the press,
secondly because it is a recognition that we owe him, because thanks to
him, everything we sensed about the illegal invasion of Iraq and the
intervention in Afghanistan, we know to a large extent what the United
States and its allies, including Spain, did. And thirdly, it is the
least we can do, bearing in mind that for us defending human rights does
not mean any risk. To defend Assange is to defend the rest of the
journalists who daily face persecution, imprisonment and murder in most
countries of the world.
ALJAZEERA
offers an illustrated history showing the links between The Pentagon
Papers and Julian Assange with a story by Danylo Hawaleshka, art
direction by Mohamed Dris and artwork by Midjourney AI.
And
let's use that to knock out one of the topics coming up in e-mails in
the last 48 hours. Matt Taibbi is in a tizzy. Censorship!
Censorship!
And why am I not weighing in?
Wasn't really following. Not a fan of trash novels. To me a trash
novel is a fake ass novel. Jackie Collins was a friend but even if she
hadn't been, I wouldn't have accused her of writing a trash novel -- she
created her own worlds in print, fully committed to them. These poser
writers like Elizabeth Gilbert? Their work never interests me. So I
don't know why I'm being asked about it to begin with. Wasn't following
it. So she's written another presumably bad book and it was supposed
to be published and she was promoting it on her Twitter account where
she now has a pinned Tweet explaining that it's not coming out.
Censorship!
Cried
Matt Taibbi. I don't know maybe he's jonesing for another EAT PRAY
LOVE fix -- someone must be, right? Well this novel was going to be set
in Russia but because of Ukraine the small town US gal doesn't feel
it's appropriate to publish right now.
Most of
us could just take the win from knowing that the world was safe from at
least one bad book for the moment but Matt wants to scream censorship.
As it's been explained by the author, she made the decision. In which case, it's self-censorship.
So
presumably . . . we're all supposed to meet Matt this afternoon outside
Gilbert's home where we will march and carry signs declaring "FREE
ELIZABETH GILBERT!" and "STOP ELIZABETH GILBERT FROM SILENCING
ELIZABETH GILBERT!"
It's self-censorship.
Let's
all relax. Is it a stupid move on her part? Completely. But it's not
shocking. Her books are nothing but poses. Why are we now surprised
that she's struk yet another pose?
Now let's
talk real censorship. A friend has a YOUTUBE video and wants me to post
it. No. I don't post stupidity unless I'm going to mock it. And
they're talking about how the world has gone to pieces (possibly) and
how you can trace it all through the last ten years and . . . No. Our
current state has been a long time coming. The friend notes the media
conglomerations among other things.
Daniel
Ellsberg was censored. Like Julian Assange, Daniel tried to bring the
truth to the people. Richard Nixon persecuted Daniel Ellsberg. Tricky
Dick is a dirty joke and a criminal and he's forever remembered for
Watergate, for his enemies list and for what he did to his enemies like
Daniel Ellsberg.
Daniel is, sadly, dying. He's
lived a life to be proud of. Joe Biden should realize that he can end
up the next Richard Nixon in history or he can do something heroic and
stop the persecution of Julian Assange.
Daniel Ellsberg was on Nixon's enemies list. Plural.
Another
person on that list was Barbra Streisand. In May of 1973, Barbra did a
fundraiser for Daniel. It was held at the home of film producer
Jennings Lang and those present could hear Barbra sing whatever
requested song they pledged money for and she also sang over the phone
at the benefit as well (also for donations). She did a lot of standards
like "You're The Top" and "Someone To Watch Over Me." She even sang a
duet with Carl Reiner. Barbra was signed to COLUMBIA RECORDS.
COLUMBIA
needed Streisand product always. They were constantly churning it
out. In 1971, for example, she released two best selling albums -- one
platinum, one gold -- studio albums STONEY END and BARBRA JOAN
STREISAND. That's 1971. 1972, it was LIVE CONCERT AT THE FORUM -- the
concert she did for the George McGovern presidential campaign. It was
now May 1973 and no product. Not even a greatest hits or compilation.
COLUMBIA needed product.
Barbra had her
performance at the benefit for Daniel recorded. COLUMBIA wanted
product. Barbra singing torch songs live? They loved the idea. But
Barbra also wanted the money the album raised to go to Daniel's defense
fund.
Problem.
COLUMBIA
was part of CBS. CBS was already facing 'issues' with the Nixon White
House over their coverage of Watergate and over Walter Cronkite's THE
SELLING OF THE PRESIDENT documentary that they had done. The corporate
order came down that they didn't need any more pressure and the album
was killed. It's still in the vaults by the way, it could be released
now as a way to honor Daniel Ellsberg while he's still with us.
But
the point is there is censorship that is imposed from outside and we
can and should protest that. Self-censorship? I've real problems and
issues to deal with. Second point is, our current situations have
evolved for decades to bring us to this point.
Now let's turn to the hot mess that is Cornel West.
The video above has a little bit of a discussion of the
interview that we included last time where BLACK POWER MEDIA
interviewed Cornel West. The video below is Renee Johnstone sharing her
take on the interview.
For
those who missed it, despite last week announcing he was a US
presidential candidate for The People's Party, Cornel is now one of
potentially many candidates for The Green Party's presidential
nomination. He's gone from candidate for president to someone seeking a
presidential nomination. It is a downgrade but they're still giving
frequent flier miles. Or at least a lot of fluffing.
He
went on Bri's show yesterday and was hysterical. If you miss the 90s,
that is. I said it before, he can't adapt. He's stuck in the past.
RFK Jr.'s must be on the crack pipe. Didn't he just say that about Joe
Biden? Yes, he did. It's his same, crusty old joke. That's never
really funny. But he can speechify and we're supposed to all chuckle
like idiots. Grow the hell up.
And for those
of you who really want him to win the Green Party nomination, buy a damn
clue. You're not helping him with your attacks on Howie Hawkins or
your other efforts. You're not of the Green Party. It is a political
party. You've sneered at it for years and years.
That's
all of left media. DEMOCRACY NOW! -- as we've pointed out since 2008 --
gives a headline -- if they're lucky -- to the Green Party's national
convention. They do a week for the Democratic Party, a whole week.
They do a week for the Republican Party. And Amy Goodman's one of the
few people that does cover it.
You're not of
that party. Stop White-manning-it into a foreign country. You are not
of that party, you do not control that party. When you start attacking a
Howie Hawkins or anyone else, as a non-Green, you're not helping Cornel
West.
Ann
has been a Green her whole life. Her parents are Greens, she was
raised a Green. While you've spent decades now ignoring that party --
or hurling abuse at it insisting it's stealing votes from your candidate
on the Democratic ticket -- the party has emerged. And it's not going
to take bullying or insulting so you're trying to do so on behalf of
Cornel is only going to hurt his campaign because, unlike you, the Green
Party turns out to support the Green Party. You're temporarily
fascinated but people have spent their lives building this party and
they're not going to take kindly to outsiders telling them what's going
to happen and who they're going to support.
Okay,
let's note Paul Rudnick and then we'll return for the climatic closing
where we explain Chris Hedges' latest bit of journalistic malpractice.
Chris Hedges. Chrissy Lynn. "Why does it matter that he lied about Iraq?" An e-mailer asked that.
Honestly, I think the answer is that it doesn't matter to you.
Why that is, you'll have to ask yourself. I don't know you. And seriously doubt that I'd want to at this point.
Over
a million Iraqis are dead because of an illegal war. I don't fake
ass. I'm not Tulsi Gabbard lying to Joe Rogan and then revealing her
real colors on the debate stage when she's finally standing next to Joe
Biden and can call him out but chooses not to and goes even further by
excusing his vote for the Iraq War and then spending the following days
repeating that excuse to anyone who will put her on camera. With that
face -- she might consider a chemical peel -- she's never going to get
many chances to be on air. FOX "NEWS" needs her so they ignore her cult
membership and the fact that the cult is extremely anti-Christian.
Remember that the next time FOX tries to pose as though they're devoted
church goers.
Over a million Iraqis are dead.
In the desert sun
Every step that you take could be the final one In the burning heat Hanging on the edge of destruction, oh You can't stop the pain of your children crying out in your head Oh, they always said that the living would envy the dead
Tina Turner singing her hit "One Of The Living" written by Holly Knight.
And
it's the truth. The dead are the luckier ones of the two, they're
gone. It's their children and friends and family that are left behind
to suffer the loss.
Or
they don't matter as much as your need to fan-boy Chrissy Lynn?
"Friend of the show," Katie Halper calls him. Do journalism ethics not
matter to Katie Halper?
I
have known Cornel for many years. We drove together, leaving at 3:00 am
from our homes in Princeton, New Jersey, to attend the trial at Fort Meade of U.S. Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning.
I was in the visitors room at the prison in Frackville, Pennsylvania,
as Cornel gripped the shoulders of the political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal and told him “You have Frederick Douglass in you, brother!” Tears streamed down Mumia’s face. Cornel and I held a People’s Hearing of Goldman Sachs in Zuccotti Park during the Occupy movement where
those who were evicted and bankrupted by big banks testified against
the heartlessness and greed of corporate capitalism. We have spoken
together at rallies in support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement against the Israeli-apartheid state. We walked three
miles on a sweltering July day in Philadelphia with thousands of
homeless people to the Wells Fargo Center during the 2016 Democratic
National Convention, because housing is a human right.
I
was with Cornel when Bernie Sanders delegates, disgusted by the
machinations of the Democratic National Committee against their
candidate and his endorsement of Hillary Clinton, walked out of the convention. Cornel turned to me and said presciently, “Bernie lost his political moment.”
We have taught classes together in East Jersey State Prison. We have spoken on stages at universities where Cornel has demanded reparations for Black people and called for a guaranteed income for all citizens. I have heard him denounce the prison industrial complex as “a crime against humanity.” I have listened to him call for universal health care, canceling student debt, free university education, freedom for Julian Assange and heard him thunderagainst those who deny women access to abortion.
Cornel officiated, along with the theologian Dr. James Cone, at my ordination as a Presbyterian minister. We spoke, and wept, at James’ funeral in 2018 at Riverside Church. James wrote that we must stand, no matter the cost, with the crucified of the earth.
Check
my math but I believe the column that's from is 30 paragraphs long.
Those are the only paragraphs in the column -- about Cornel West being
the People's Party's presidential nominee where Chris talks about
knowing Cornel. And the comments are from "when we spoke about his decision" on that car ride he mentioned in the above excerpt.
Do you see the problem?
Maybe
not. But it's a lie. It's a full on lie. When Chrissy published his
lies, he thought he could get away with it. I mean the garbage we just
quoted from SCHEER POST -- but actually, he thought he could get away
with it at THE NEW YORK TIMES as well. He got away with it at THE
TIMES. It was years before Jack Fairweather at MOTHER JONES and FAIR's
COUNTERSPIN noted Chrissy's Iraq lies. Then it was circle the wagon and
protect the creep.
Which
is why everyone knows Judith Miller's name today but no one knows Chris
Hedges in regards to pimping a war on Iraq. Judith Miller wasn't the
co-author of the piece Dick Cheney waved around on MEET THE PRESS --
Chrissy was.
Chrissy lies. It's a pattern he cannot break.
And he lied at SCHEER POST. Oh, he shared how they were friends and all the times they did this and that.
So people think he told the truth about Cornel and about the nomination. They think he did. But he lied.
And he might have gotten away with it if the nomination from The People's Party hadn't blown up in Cornel's face.
[Video added below for those who had trouble finding it on their own.]
Then go back and read Chrissy Lynn's lies. Grasp that Chrissy is just a detached observer in his 'report' on the news.
But the reality is that it's Chris who recruited Cornel for that nomination.
It's Chris who planned to be his running mate -- but Chris' wife said no at the last minute.
That's not in the 'report,' is it?
A backroom deal took place and Chrissy, in 'reporting' on the news, leaves all that out.
Again,
he didn't expect to get caught or, rather, outed. He thought he'd get
away with lying yet again. What happened though was Cornel made a huge
mistake -- huge -- and wasn't ready to sink with the ship by himself.
Or, if we're being charitable, maybe he just saw Chrissy as a life
preserver.
Floatation
device or not, Chrissy lied. If he'd done that at THE NEW YORK TIMES,
he would have been fired on the spot. If this column had been published
by THE NEW YORK TIMES when he worked there, he would be fired. Not
warned. Not written up. Fired.
You do not get away, as a journalist, with writing about a campaign that you instigated when you're not revealing that detail.
Why didn't he?
Is it somehow damaging?
Doesn't let him present himself as just an observer, no, but he flat out lied.
Robert
Scheer is a huge disappointment and has been to most on the left since
at least the mid-seventies -- which is why when THE LOS ANGELES TIMES
dumped him, no other paper came forward. Then he had TRUTH DIG until he
didn't. Now he has SCHEER POST -- however much longer that lasts. It
shouldn't last a day more since it won't correct Chrissy's lies --
there will be no needed note such as :"We were disappointed to learn --
after publishing this column -- that Mr. Hedges was actually active in
seeking and securing the presidential nomination for Cornel West. At
SCHEER POST, we take disclosure seriously and would never knowingly
attempt to deceive our readers."
My
favorite quote in that article about Chris plagiarized for a piece on
poverty that he submitted to HARPER'S? The HARPER'S fact checker
explaining, "Hedges
not only used another journalist’s quotes, but he used them in
first-person scenes, claiming he himself gathered the quotes. It was one of the worst things I’d ever seen as a fact-checker at the magazine. And it was endemic throughout the piece."
Remember
that when you're reading Chrissy Lynn or when you see him on a YOUTUBE
program. Remember that he's a liar. Not just Iraq, not just Cornel but
a serial liar in print. Over and over.
I
don't like being hustled. I don't like being lied to. And Cornel only
squealed because he was on the spot and trying to save his own ass. Do
you really think a journalist has a right to write about a presidential
campaign and not to disclose that he is the one who brokered the
nomination and, that when he did, he was planning to share the ticket
with Cornel, to be his running mate?
Those
aren't minor details. And Robert Scheer, if he doesn't issue a
correction to that column, just flushed whatever was left of his
reputation down the drain. (And he already knows a number of people are
biting their tongues until he passes at which point they plan to talk
loudly about Scheer's journalism issues.) So it's win-win for me.
Big
brave truth teller exposed as a liar? I'm loving it. Read that linked
to article and love it when the fact checker explains how Chrissy tried
to hush the whole thing down after he was caught by rushing off to Rick
MacArthur (owner of HARPER'S). You really need to read the article.
I'd forgotten how good it was. Chris even ripped off the writer's
wife. I'd forgotten how bad the plagiarism was and how he went off on a
UT professor for catching his plagiarism of Hemingway. He's a nasty
little thing, that Chrissy Lynn. Marvel over how he lies that the stuff
he stole from the wife's reporting was supposed to block quoted:
But
he never addressed why he made so many small changes to the original
text: the tweaking of some sentences and lines but not others, the
adding of a hyperlink not in the original, the changing of phrases such
as “my local reporter” to “a local reporter.”
He
even tries to lie about how his piece was rejected, blaming it on one
person, when it was an editorial decision that involved the publisher.
But
mainly note how Robert Scheer, Katrina vanden Heuvel and others deny
that plagiarism. At least Naomi Klein, whom he also stole from, just
said "No comment."
I can't stop laughing at that article. It really should be required reading for all of Chrissy Lynn's accolades.
Now, the digital age has presented an alternative to the traditional
magazine comics or “floppies” that comic book stores specialize in.
Both Marvel and DC Comics released their own monthly subscription service where readers can access every issue digitally.
While these online services provide easy access, some experts say that comics can never truly make the digital switch. In a convention,
DC comic book writer Mark Waid argued the page layout is all-important
due to the way our eyes move between panels and our devices cannot
display that accurately.
“I
like to have the art in my hand, so I can really appreciate the
physical reading,” said Grayson Molyneux, a comic book collector and
regular at The Comics Place.
There is a place for both digital and physical comics for readers.
“It is definitely a big part of the industry, but not something that’s
kicking our butt. I can’t stand reading stuff digitally,” said Colette
Penketh, store manager of The Comics Place.
Comics have been around since the turn of the 20th century when
publishers decided to combine weekly newspaper comics into a magazine
format, Lannon said.
The medium exploded in popularity with as many female readers as
males at the time. Moreover, it was progressive; one issue, for example,
showed Captain America punching Hitler nearly a year before the U.S.
entered WWII.
But during an age of censorship in the 1950s,
audiences were largely reduced to young boys who enjoyed reading
superhero stories, a readership that aged into long-time collectors.
What do you think? I really like the physical comic book in my hand. I don't enjoy it as much when I'm reading it online. Maybe I need to get a new tablet? I got a tablet back in 2014. I never use it anymore. I use my laptop. Maybe it would be different with a tablet.
I don't know. I do seem to have trouble getting the comic book store in the last two years. I miss MAD MAGAZINE.
But, honestly, I started missing it before they stopped publishing it. It died for me before that. We stopped getting drawings and got these blast of bad color comics -- poorly drawn and looked like bad computer art.
Anyway, don't see the digital replacing the traditional comic book for the near future. Maybe ten years from now.
Friday, June 9, 2023. A lunatic in Congress claims (lies) that the FBI has stated that they can't protect a witness, no-surprise Tara Always Changes Her Story Reade is yet again changing her story, the heavens open with relief as the angels realized there wasn't a snow ball's chance in hell that Pat Robertson was going to be at the Pearly Gates, and much, much more.
Well Pat Robertson finally did something good for America -- he died. Too bad he couldn't have done it years ago. For more see Kat's "Hate merchant Pat Robertson has passed away." Paul Rudnick notes:
Pat Robertson has died. He said gay people caused hurricanes and wore special rings which spread AIDS, and that gay marriage was worse than murder. He's survived by this poster on the wall of Mike Pence's bedroom pic.twitter.com/Shf5NThGZk
Let's go from crazy Pat Robertson to crazy Tara Reade. TWITTER's had to provide 'context' to a recent reTweet by Tara noting that it's a lie. Poor Tara, if she were capable of embarrassment or shame, this would be a very difficult time for her.
But all of her Tweets should come with context since she's so estranged from the truth. For example, Tara's labeled this piece by Froma Harrop to be "slut shaming." Is she that stupid or is she now on drugs? It's not slut shaming. Froma does not go into Tara's past relationships or even mention them. She's very clear that she doesn't believe Tara regarding her allegation that Joe Biden assaulted her in the nineties. I honestly do believe her but that's not "slut praising" anymore than Froma's slut shaming her. People don't have to believe her. Ruth went over this in "Tara Reade threatens to sit on George Takei and squash him" when Ruth pointed out George Takei not believing Tara was assaulted is not him slandering her. No one has to believe her and due to her own credibility issues she's made even more people doubt her.
That's not what I really want to note.
I also am not eager to point out her latest lie. Per her 'representative' (a woman who can't practice law in the US or in Russia -- apparently, Tara's such a credit risk she can't get a local attorney in either country), Tara told US Rep Matt Gaetz that she received "intelligence" in Russia. She hasn't received intelligence -- or common sense -- in any place she's lived or traveled. But Tara told Matt -- and according to her 'rep' she said so on THE HILL -- that she's received "intelligence" that her life was being threatened and he advised her to stay in Russia.
First off, if true, let me say two words I'll probably never say again: Thank you, Matt Gaetz. Now if you could encourage some other whack jobs to leave the country . . .
Here's the thing though, Tara's stated already that Matt's the one who warned her. That seemed suspect but that was her story. Matt warned her and that's why she's staying in Russia.
Now she's claiming that she got the "intelligence."
Take a moment to laugh and then we'll pick right back up.
I wish we had time to call out Sabby Sabs and all the other garbage praising Robbie of THE HILL for bringing nut job Tara Reade on. But we don't. We will note he's a transphobe and a gay basher and so, Sabby Sabs, we're not at all surprised to see you praising him.
That's not why we bring it up. Nor to ask why Tara is obviously unable to get shampoo in Russia -- but did get a really bad dye job.
No, we're bringing her up because of the crazy in Congress. And this time let's zoom in on US House Rep Anna Paulina Luna who Tara can't stop reTweeting -- Tara loves those homophobes. Anna Lunatic is someone who needs to be brought before the ethics board. Maybe if Democrats regain control of the House they do that? This Tweet should never have happened:
The FBI stated "they were afraid the informant would be killed if unmasked"? So the FBI, you insane lunatic, that has protected many witnesses against the mob, has stated they have a witness that they can't protect? Goodness that would be front page news . . . if it actually happened.
But it didn't. And Crazy Lunatic didn't make that statement on the floor of Congress, she did it in a Tweet which means she's not protected from lying.
That lie needs to be hammered and hammered. Merrick Garland needs to issue a statement noting that the FBI has said no such thing.
These people just make up crap and then those already struggling with reality -- people like Tara -- hear it and start repeating it as truth.
If the FBI told Congress that they had a witness they couldn't protect, one of two things would happen in the real world: Kevin McCarthy, as head of the House of Representatives, would be announcing that to the American people or they all wouldn't be saying a word because they were briefed on it in a closed session.
But Lunatic puts it on TWITTER. I do feel some sympathy for Anna Lunatic. If George Santos weren't in this Congress, she'd be getting a lot more attention for all of her lies -- including that "Mexican" grandfather that in fact was German. She's got her string of lies but George always manages to soak up all the attention. Your day will come, Luna Lunatic, your day will come.
And, sadly, seriously sad, we will no longer be noting Bonnie Erbe's TO THE CONTRARY. It has been a great program and has addressed many important issues -- I'm sure it will continue to do so. But I was informed last night about two panelists and I'm sorry I'm not promoting the program anymore. I had no problem with their conservative fiscal views or other conservative views. But there is a difference between conservative views and the views of hate merchants. Applause to Bonnie for her work over the years and hopefully my walking away will mean some others will be interested in promoting the show -- the longest running show focusing on women still in production.
Bonnie was attacked in 2008 for refusing to join the dogpile on Sarah Palin. Bonnie has been a brave face and voice for feminism. I applaud her.
But there is a war going on in this country, a war against the LGBTQ+ community and I will not have this site, this platform do anything to promote that war. And grasp that this means anyone can be dropped from getting noted here if I'm dropping Bonnie.
"What could we have done to stop the attacks on the LGBTQ+ community?" LGBTQ NATION asks that at their site. I have an answer for that and it's not pretty and probably not anything they want to here. But in September, those of us who are arm-in-arm with the LGBTQ+ community fled like fairweather friends and a number of LGTBQ+ members -- especially sassy young Twinks -- decided to trash the man everyone was fleeing from instead of standing up. Every tactic that now works for them when they go after Dylan or whomever, they practiced that back in September and people were too damn stupid to realize what was at stake. They're using the same tactics -- that they perfected last September -- to attack African-Americans -- and if you're struggling to see that, you are the problem.
I can't go into this right now, it would take hours and hours. I might write about it this weekend.
But that's the past and I can't change that. But what I can do to stop attacks right now is not promote or elevate hate merchants.
Let's note whistle-blower Chelsea Manning as we turn to Iraq. Monday April 5th, WIKILEAKS released US 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. Monday June 7th, the US military announced that they had arrested Chelsea Manning and she stood accused of being the leaker of the video. Leila Fadel (Washington Post) reported in August 2010 that Manning had been charged -- "two charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The first encompasses four counts of violating Army regulations by transferring classified information to [her] personal computer between November and May and adding unauthorized software to a classified computer system. The second comprises eight counts of violating federal laws governing the handling of classified information." Manning had been convicted in the public square despite the fact that she's been convicted in no state and has made no public statements -- despite any claims otherwise, she had made no public statements. Manning was now at Quantico in Virginia, under military lock and key and still not allowed to speak to the press. Paul Courson (CNN) noted [Chelsea] is a suspect and, "He has not admitted guilt in either incident, his supporters say." She was attacked repeatedly and then convicted and then pardoned. Alonso Matinez (EL PAIS) notes today:
In an interview with the Financial Times, Manning revealed that she rarely faces hecklers regarding the intelligence leaks, but occasionally experiences attacks related to her transgender identity. She expressed her resilience, stating that she has become accustomed to such criticism and that it no longer greatly affects her.
A former Miss Iraq, Sarah Idan, has officially announced her run as a Democrat for US Congress in California’s 30th District in November 2024.
Idan currently lives in Los Angeles and is the founder of Humanity Forward, a nonprofit bipartisan organisation “committed to building bridges among Muslims and Jews in order to surpass borders and promote reconciliation, tolerance, mutual understanding, and peace”.
The seat is currently held by Adam Schiff, who will be leaving to run for the Senate. Schiff, who was the House Intelligence Committee chair in 2021, had welcomed the US administration's pledge to release a declassified report on who killed Jamal Khashoggi, calling for the document to be made public "without delay".
Western oil companies are exacerbating water shortages and causing pollution in Iraq as they race to profit from rising oil prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Mahdi Mutir, 57, worked as a fisher his entire life. For years, Mutir and his wife woke at dusk, sailing along a thick network of canals in Al Khora, a few kilometres north of Basra. The harvest was meagre but enough to provide food for the family of seven.
That changed last year. Now, at the height of the rainy season, Mutir’s boat lies stranded in the mud.
“It is the water station the Italian company built: they need water for their oilfields,” Mutir said, pointing at the black smoke rising from the Zubayr oilfield on the horizon.
To help extract oil, companies pump large quantities of water into the ground. For each barrel of oil, many of which are later exported to Europe, up to three barrels of water are pumped into the ground. And as Iraq’s oil exports rise, its water has dramatically fallen.
The whole world is facing drastic climate change but climate models suggest that Iraq will be among the worst effected. Back in March, Amr Salem (IRAQI NEWS) reported:
The United Nations stressed that Iraq is suffering from a real water crisis, calling for collective action to find solutions to this crisis, the Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported. The statement was made on Sunday by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, during her participation in Iraq Climate Conference held in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. “There is an urgent need to find solutions to the water crisis in Iraq,” Plasschaert stated.
Three years ago, the vast marshlands of southern Iraq’s Dhi Qar province were flourishing. Fishermen glided in punts across swathes of still water between vast reed beds, while buffalo bathed amid green vegetation. But today those wetlands, part of the vast Mesopotamian Marshes, have shriveled to narrow channels of polluted water bordered by cracked and salty earth. Hundreds of desiccated fish dot stream banks, along with the carcasses of water buffalo poisoned by saline water. Drought has parched tens of thousands of hectares of fields and orchards, and villages are emptying as farmers abandon their land.
For their biodiversity and cultural significance, the United Nations in 2016 named the Mesopotamian Marshes — which historically stretched between 15,000 and 20,000 square kilometers in the floodplain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers — a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The marshes comprised one of the world’s largest inland delta systems, a startling oasis in an extremely hot and arid environment, home to 22 species of globally endangered species and 66 at-risk bird species.
But now this ecosystem — which includes alluvial salt marshes, swamps, and freshwater lakes — is collapsing due to a combination of factors meteorological, hydrological, and political. Rivers are rapidly shrinking, and agricultural soil that once grew bounties of barley and wheat, pomegranates, and dates is blowing away. The environmental disaster is harming wildlife and driving tens of thousands of Marsh Arabs, who have occupied this area for 5,000 years, to seek livelihoods elsewhere.
Experts warn that unless radical action is taken to ensure the region receives adequate water — and better manages what remains — southern Iraq’s marshlands will disappear, with sweeping consequences for the entire nation as farmers and pastoralists abandon their land for already crowded urban areas and loss of production leads to rising food prices.
The Mesopotamian marshlands are often referred to as the cradle of civilization, as anthropologists believe that this is where humankind, some 12,000 years ago, started its wide-scale transition from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement. Encompassing four separate marshes, the region has historically been home to a unique range of fish and birdlife, serving as winter habitat for migratory birds and sustaining a productive shrimp and finfish fishery.
Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani on Sunday kicked off an initiative to plant 5 million trees and palms across the country in an attempt to alleviate some of the deleterious impacts of climate change, a statement from his office said.
Iraq has suffered years of drought, and more than 7 million people have been effected or lost their incomes from agriculture and fishing, Al-Sudani’s office said. The war-torn, oil rich country has experienced higher temperatures, persistent drought, an increase in dust storms and a crop area cut by half, all impacts of extreme weather caused by climate change.
Real action would be addressing the use of water by the oil industry -- water that's not going to the people.
On veterans' issues, Senator Bill Cassidy's office issued the following:
WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. delivered remarks during today’s hearing on examining veterans’ access to long term care.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you to our witnesses for being here today to discuss how we can ensure veterans have access to the long-term care and support they need.
Our veterans sacrificed for us, so we owe it to them to work to identify gaps in care and find ways to improve the experience they receive when they work with VA tofulfill their long-term care needs.
Access to quality long-term care is an important part of honoring our commitment to our veterans.
It’s an issue that affects the veteran, their families, the caregiver, and the community around them.
We must improve coordination between the VA, community providers, and other stakeholders so that veterans and their families do not have to struggle to access the support they earned.
As the population of aging and disabled veterans increases, VA will need to ensure high-quality and adequate staffing for VA medical facilities, clinics, and community living centers, while also expanding its footprint in the community.
I support VA’s efforts to honor veterans’ preferences for when, where, and how they receive long-term care. Veterans should have ultimate control over their health care decisions from VA.
We must also focus on caregiver support and recognize the vital role caregivers play in the well-being of our veterans. We must provide caregivers with the necessary resources, training, and support to ensure they deliver the best care.
Our hope is that your testimony will help us figure out how to do that.
I thank you again for your testimony.
Let us honor our veterans' service and sacrifice by making sure they get the best care we can give them.
Also on veterans issues, we're going to note this from Senator Tammy Baldwin's office:
Baldwin Successfully Pushes VA to Reexamine & Pay Earned Benefits to 600 Veterans After Doctor Misdiagnosed Conditions
Doctor who misdiagnosed veterans was terminated from Tomah VA Baldwin has been advocating for new exams, proper compensation, and an investigation into doctor for 1.5 years
WASHINGTON, D.C. – After more than a year and a half of advocating on behalf of Wisconsin veterans, Senator Tammy Baldwin successfully pushed the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to identify and reexamine approximately 600 veterans whose neurological conditions were misdiagnosed by a doctor at the Tomah VA Medical Center. As a result of the misdiagnoses, these veterans had been denied proper benefits, compensation, and treatment. The VA will now work to complete reexaminations and grant equitable relief for impacted veterans. The doctor responsible for the misdiagnosis, Dr. Mary Jo Lanska, MD, has been terminated from the Tomah VA.
Since 2021, Senator Baldwin has been working with multiple Wisconsin veterans who reported that their traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and other conditions were misdiagnosed by Dr. Lanska. Senator Baldwin had been calling on the VA to investigate the pattern of misdiagnoses, ensure misdiagnosed veterans get a new exam, and get the veterans the proper compensation and benefits they are deserved.
After Senator Baldwin successfully pushed the VA to review all of the compensation and pension exams that were done by Dr. Lanska and reach out to impacted veterans, the VA announced today that they identified approximately 600 veterans who received an exam from Dr. Lanska that they plan to order reexaminations of and grant equitable relief.
“Our veterans served us and we have an obligation to serve them when they come back home. Unfortunately, many of our Wisconsin heroes did not get the care at the VA that they deserved," said Senator Baldwin. “I am glad to see that after years of working alongside some of our veterans, hundreds of Wisconsinites who have been wronged by the VA will be getting the care and benefits that they earned.”
In a March meeting, Senator Baldwin pressed VA Secretary Denis McDonough to investigate the pattern of misdiagnosis and shared the Wisconsin veterans’ concerns. In August 2022, Senators Baldwin and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) sent a letter to Secretary McDonough highlighting their concerns about TBI misdiagnosis at the Tomah VA and pushing for answers about the process for veterans who may have been improperly diagnosed and not receiving the benefits they deserve. After hearing from additional veterans, in September 2022, Senator Baldwin called on the VA to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the practices of this doctor to determine whether there is a broader pattern of her misdiagnosing patients’ neurological disorders that are preventing veterans from receiving care or benefits they earned.
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Senator Tammy Baldwin is an out lesbian and this is Pride Month so I'm going to try to note something from an out member of Congress in each of the snapshots for the rest of the month. Again, focusing on what we can do. Again, I recommend LGBTQ Nation's "What could we have done to stop the attacks on the LGBTQ+ community?" which, hopefully, we'll get everyone who cares about equality and fairness brainstorming.
