Like Maria Said Paz: Mike Gravel

Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Mike Gravel

Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "The Scream."

Elizabeth Warren always comes across a bit simplistic and shallow. Mike Gravel tends to grasp issues in their actual complexity.

‏Verified account @MikeGravel

Militarism and climate change are twin evils - destroying one requires destroying the other. The military-industrial complex is the world's largest polluter - the mission of global hegemony is incompatible with climate justice.

Elizabeth WarrenVerified account @ewarren

Climate change is real, it’s worsening by the day, and it’s undermining our military readiness. More and more, accomplishing the mission depends on our ability to continue operations in the face of floods, drought, wildfires, desertification, and extreme cold.

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She really has been a disappointment.

Make sure to check out the interview with Mike Gravel that Michael Tracey conducted.

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Wednesday, May 15, 2019. Fears over the US government starting a war with Iran increase, Princess Bubble emerges as her campaign for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination only gets more ridiculous.

As Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Another Hat Tossed In The Ring" last night noted, Montana Governor Steve Bullock has entered the Democratic Party's presidential primary. A centrist in the Joe Biden mode, Bullock might have gotten a bit more media attention were it not for the emergence of Princess Bubble.

Elizabeth Warren, the US Senator who wants to be president, declared yesterday -- in a press statement and then on Twitter -- that she would not be doing a townhall on FOX NEWS because they were "a hate-for-profit racket." She's been called a hothead, she's been called a loud mouth, she's been called a poser (she was a Republican not all that long ago), she's even falsely called herself a Native American but yesterday her true persona emerged: Princess Bubble.

Daniel may have gone into the lion's den, Mother Teresa may have walked among the lepers but Princess Bubble is a WEST SIDE STORY song come to life, "Stick to your own kind, one of your own kind . . ."

Much is being made -- and should be -- of what a stupid move this is for the general election. If she gets the nomination or even gets on the ticket as a v.p. nominee, how is she going to woo voters -- outside of her protected bubble, of course? She has just insulted FOX NEWS and that's an insult to FOX NEWS viewers -- they're either buyers of hate or too stupid to know what's going on, by Warren's attack on the news network. Hillary Clinton shot herself in the foot in 2016 -- many times, but one of the more notable times was when she referred to some voters as "deplorable." I'd argue this is much worse.

It also makes her look like a coward -- a bullying coward but aren't most cowards bullies? (Yes, they are.) How can we expect a President (or Vice President) Warren to sit down with the leader of Saudi Arabia, Iran, North Korea or Vladimir Putin himself? In the end, does she break like a little girl? Yes, I believe it's time for us to quit. (Last two sentences are Bob Dylan's "Just Like A Woman," for any who missed it.) Can you see the GOP ads if she's on the ticket now?

This is awful for the general.

It's not really good for the primary either. It's another desperate move from a candidate who still hasn't gotten traction despite the fact that no other female candidate has received as much press for their campaign as she has -- not even Senator Kamala Harris has received as much attention as Warren. But Warren just can't pull ahead. So every week we get another desperate measure from her desperate campaign. Please note, her staff laughs at the idea that she should address the ongoing wars. They laugh at it, openly to the press, they laugh at it.

Green Party US Retweeted

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"Our defense budget has increased out of all proportion to any military threat to the United States and to our domestic social, economic & environmental needs. The U.S. government must reduce our defense budget to half of its current size." @GreenPartyUS 

 #SlashByHalfDoD 

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Elizabeth's got a lot of giveaways she's promising, she's practically Oprah. And earlier in her campaign she would address the issue above. Now? No. She's moved from reality to melodrama.

She apparently can't compete on issues so she's resorting to attacks and tabloid moves in the hope that something -- anything -- hurl that kitchen sink, Elizabeth -- will finally stick and give her some traction.

Who's in the lead right now?

Former Vice President Joe Biden.

Now he has huge name recognition -- more than any of the other 23 candidates. That is true. So he's going to be in the lead for that reason alone. And that lead traditionally lasts through August or September and then it gets chipped away bit by bit. (As Hillary discovered in 2008.)

But Joe has something else besides name recognition. He's got his public stances. Democrats are aware that he gave Bully Boy Bush an award not that long ago, they're aware that he's always brown nosing Republicans, they're aware that he reaches so far across the aisle that he almost falls over.

And yet he's in the lead currently -- among Democrats.

What might that say?

It might say that after the huge divisions of the last years, Democrats are looking for the nation to come together. The negative spin on Joe is that he's a caver. The positive spin on that same trait is that he's mature and willing to get things done. Currently, how are Democrats seeing Joe's interactions with the GOP? Apparently, they see it as his maturity and part of his ability to get things done.

And here comes Princess Bubble. She doesn't even have the nomination and already she's an obstructionist? She doesn't even have the nomination and already she's a cry baby? I ridiculed Bully Boy Bush in 2000 for his need to have his pillow on the campaign trail and how he had to be in his own bed more and more as his campaign went along. Even though this site wasn't around then, I carried that criticism over to this site and made it repeatedly while he occupied the White House. Because that's a baby move. If you want to be president, get off your candy ass and get on the road meeting as many voters as you can. In 2008, I praised Hillary for doing just that. She wouldn't miss a stop, she'd add stops and events along the way. In 2016, when apparently she thought she was going to be crowned, she pulled a Bully Boy Bush and she was tired of being on the road. Tired of being on the road? Sorry, you're running for president. Yes, in the United States, we have a ridiculously long election cycle. But everyone who declares their intent to run should already know that and be prepared.

Princess Bubble is already crying. Boo-hoo! FOX NEWS is mean! I won't go on their network. Democrats watch FOX NEWS. Sorry if that's a shock for Elizabeth. (I don't watch FOX NEWS. In all our time of reviewing programs -- 14 years and counting -- Ava and I never did FOX NEWS until earlier this year with "TV: Funny or not: SCHOOLED, Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld." The only time I watched FOX NEWS by choice was after that when Bernie Sanders did his townhall. We watched that on a campus with students.)

She's too pure for FOX NEWS. What's next? That really is the question, right? As her campaign gets more and more desperate, what's she going to do next?

I've said this before and I'll say it again, in a few more months, the candidates will not be able to define themselves. The media will run the characterizations already established. Elizabeth Warren is creating her own caricature through her own actions. She's supposed to be a US Senator but she's carrying way too much drama.

And doing so while addressing nothing.

US House Rep Tulsi Gabbard addresses real issues, life and death issues, and does so in a mature way. Senator Kirstin Gillibrand conducts herself professionally. Senator Amy Klobuchar comes off like a functioning adult. Marianne Williamson speaks to our better nature. And then there's Liz. Cranky Liz. Hung over in the trailer park, screaming at everyone to turn down the music and get off her yard.

If Elizabeth truly believes all FOX NEWS does is peddle hate, she should feel it is her civic duty to go on the air with a townhall on FOX NEWS just to offer their viewers an alternative.

But, reality, hate can be peddled by all sides and Elizabeth's got a lot of hate seeping out of her pores.

Elizabeth is demonstrating that she is not a good fit for the presidency but let's praise her for what a striking contrast she is to the other five women running and for proving that hotheads come in both genders.

As noted in Monday's snapshot, the US Embassy in Baghdad kicked off this week by telling US citizens not to travel to Iraq due to safety concerns. Today? CNBC reports:

Washington ordered the departure of non-emergency government employees from Iraq on Wednesday, after repeated U.S. expressions of concern about threats from Iranian-backed forces.
The U.S. State Department has ordered the pullout of the employees from both the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and its consulate in Erbil, the embassy said in a statement.

Is there really a threat? Who knows? It could be part of the effort to ramp up a war with Iran.

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Edward Wong‏Verified account @ewong 11 hours ago

Trump officials are having a hard time persuading allies there is a new threat with Iran. British general contradicted US  on Iran today. And Iraqi officials are skeptical, though State Dept. is about to evacuate some diplomats from Iraq. w/ @helenecooper

195 replies679 retweets1,178 likes

‏Verified account @samueloakford

This is wild. CENTCOM just put out a press release calling out the UK's top general in the anti-ISIS Coalition after he stated that there was "no increased threat from Iranian-backed forces in Iraq and Syria." 

29 replies315 retweets386 likes

Bill Van Auken (WSWS) explains:

The threat of all-out war in the Middle East is greater today than at any time since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq, and the potential consequences are far graver.
The report that the Pentagon has drawn up plans for dispatching 120,000 US soldiers and Marines to the region in preparation for a war of aggression against Iran must be taken with deadly seriousness by the working class. What is being prepared is a war for regime-change, an act of unmitigated criminality that threatens the lives of millions.
While the New York Times cited half a dozen national security officials who were briefed on the plans, on Tuesday the report was described as “fake news” by US President Donald Trump, who said he is “absolutely” prepared to send troops against Iran, but insisted that “we’d send a hell of a lot more troops than that.”
The troop threat comes on the heels of a series of escalating acts of military intimidation against Iran, with the deployment off the Iranian coast of a battleship-carrier strike group, led by the USS Abraham Lincoln, and a bomber task force, including nuclear-capable B-52s. This has been followed by the dispatch to the region of the amphibious assault warship USS Arlington, carrying US Marines, warplanes and landing craft, as well a Patriot missile battery.
The spark for an all-out conflict can come from any one of a number of incidents or staged provocations in a region where tensions have been brought to a fever pitch by decades of unending US aggression and a military buildup that has turned the southern coast of the Persian Gulf into an armed camp dominated by US air and naval bases.
US military sources are already telling the corporate media—which serves as a contemptible instrument of war propaganda—that it has determined that the alleged sabotage of four vessels, including two Saudi oil tankers, off the coast of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) reported on Sunday was the work of Iran or “Iranian proxies.” No evidence whatsoever has been provided to substantiate this claim about an incident which itself remains murky, but the supposed culpability of Iran is nonetheless echoed as fact by the “embedded” news outlets.

US Senator Bernie Sanders is also seeking the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. Grace Segers (CBS NEWS) reports, "

Sen. Bernie Sanders issued a sudden live video saying that war with Iran would be "many times worse than the Iraq War," in response to reporting by The New York Times saying that the Trump administration is reviewing a plan to send up to 120,000 troops to the Middle East.
The idea was reportedly spearheaded by John Bolton, the president's national security adviser, who served in the George W. Bush administration at the height of the conflict in Iraq.
"Sixteen years ago, the U.S. committed one of the worst blunders in history of our country by attacking Iraq," Sanders said in a video recorded live on Periscope and posted to Twitter. He called out Bolton as one of the "leading advocates" of the war, which he called the "biggest foreign policy disaster" in modern U.S. history.

He also addressed the issue with Anderson Cooper on CNN.

‏Verified account @CNN

"It would lead to endless wars...our kids and our grandchildren would never see a time when there would be peace." 

@BernieSanders can't see a scenario where sending 120K troops to the Middle East - as part of a plan to counter Iran - would be justified.

cnn.it/2W43q9Z

Anderson Cooper 360°

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US House Rep Tulsi Gabbard is also calling out war on Iran.

Tulsi Gabbard‏Verified account @TulsiGabbard 23 hours ago

Trump says he doesn't want war with Iran, but that's exactly what he wants, because that's exactly what Saudi Arabia, Netanyahu, al-Qaeda, Bolton, Haley, and other NeoCons/NeoLibs want. That’s what he put first--not America.

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Trump--Eager for War with Iran

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Ayad Allawi says a US official told him something.

Mustafa Habib‏ @Mustafa_Habib33 4 hours ago

Iraqi Former vice president Iyad Allawi: A US official told me that the Israel intelligence got photos from the ground not only satellite images of Iranian ballistic missile platforms in #Basra directed towards the Gulf, this is why Mike Pompeo suddenly visited #Iraq last week 

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Well, a US official would never lie, right? They didn't lie to you in November 2010 when they told you that The Erbil Agreement would be enforced, did they? Oh, that's right, they did. They got all of you to sign onto the agreement that gave Nouri a second term in exchange for him granting the concessions in the contract. But even though then-President Barack Obama spoke to you personally on the phone and asked you to end your Parliament walkout (which you did), the contract was never enforced.

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