That's Jonathan Turley on attacks on free speech. I usually highlight his writing but this time? Going with a video to offer something a little different this time.
"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):
Tuesday, February 8, 2022. As the faux left enlists supposedly independent podcasters, we look at some realities on who did what.
Starting with Patrick Murphy. "Taking the Hill Event today (Tuesday)!" went up this morning and, sure enough, some are complaining. It's an action that Patrick Murphy is taking part in and I'm supposed to be embarrassed for highlighting it.
I'm not.
We're on the left. We highlight many things on the left that are to the right of me.
If you feel Patrick's action is to the right, ignore it. But I'll highlight his stuff when I see it at the public account. It's the same with Beto and his run for governor. I can't endorse him and won't. I only endorse in elections I can vote in. No one needs a bunch of outsiders telling them how to vote or telling a candidate how to act. Remember how poorly that worked out ofr the woman Ronan Farrow called "Abortion Barbie"? But Beto and Patrick both did things in Congress to fight for causes I believed in -- ending the Iraq War, veterans benefits. And if I'm sent something about them, I will highlight it.
Unlike other people, Ive been very clear about conflicts of interests and I've been very clear that I will not call out some people. I avoid calling out Chris Hayes. I believe Ava and I have called him out twice at THIRD. Other than that, I don't. And even if you're not a community member, you should, if you've read this site for long, know why that is. Iraq Veterans Against the War saged a sereis of public testimony about the reality of war in Iraq.
And one worthless bit of nonsense that was supposed to be about assualt in the ranks. However, they had no one to speak of it and what we got instead was some useless woman explaining that, at a bar, she danced with her commanding officer. And that ended upb eing so bad for her -- that dancing on the dance floor. We called that garbage out in real time. Please note that this site and every community site noted those public hearings. We covered them. And that edition of THIRD was focused on it. We criticized negatively that nonsense "Oh, I danced -- by my own choice -- with my commanding officer" and how that wasn't assault and it wasn't rape and it was embarrassing.
We got slammed by about 20 IVAW members. Now I had promoted the winter soldier events for over a month and a half. And the minute it started, we were covering it here.
There was no thanks for that. There was no, "I'm so glad you paid attention to it." No, it was just ten whiners complaining that a bimbo conference wasn't treated with kid gloves by us.
Not only did I cover it, I worked behind the scenes to get coverage for it.
People say I'm too mean to Phil Donahue's friend Jeff. I'm not too mean to him. He's an idiot who never nails down his facts. After the event -- after -- he finally writes about it. He had promised he would write a pieace about it beforehand or during to steer attention to the proceedings --. I believe the event opened on a Thursday, had its first hearing/panel on Friday, had some on Saturday and some on Sunday -- concluding on Sunday.
I argued with my lcal PACIFICA that this was more important than dee jay tunes. None of their weekend garbage needed to be heard. This was historic and it needed to be covered live. Fortunately, others were making that point with KPFA as well and every moment was broadcast live on KPFA.
After the event wraps up, here comes Jeffy Pop Cohen to name check WBAI (another PACIFICA station) and to give PACIFICA credit for airing it live on all of its stations.
That. Did. Not. Happen.
And that's why I still can't stand Jeff Cohen.
Only KPFA did it. If you were a WBAI listener? On Saturday, along with bad music programs, you got to hear a repeat of Al Lewis -- Grand Pa Munster. I don't remember now how long Al had been in the ground.-- I believe it was two years at that point -- but it was more important for WBAI to broadcast garbage like that than it was for them to offer live coverage of the Winter Soldier event.
So Jeff Cohen lying or showing how little he knew I didn't have time for it. Or any of the other liars. Matthew Rotschild swore he was going to note it ahead of the vent so that people would know that they could stream all of it on KPFA which was covering it live.
I guess he ended up having other things to do because he never kept his word. I gave him one more chance before I wrote him off. Cindy Sheehan was being persecuted by the US government. And he swore he was going to write one of his columns on it. And then he never did.
A lot of people make promises and a lot of people promised that they would cover Winter Soldier and then they didn't.
Chris Hayes was at THE NATION at the time. He kept his word. He made a promise and he kept it. So that's why I avoid inegative criticism of him. You can think I'm right or wrong on that. Btu I've been very clear for years and years why this is.
This will all loop together in a moment or two, stay with me. FRED HAMPTON LEFTISTS was a YOUTUBE program and channel. It is now REVOLUTIONARY BLACKOUT. Thursday night, I streamed the video below.
I'd planned to address that in the Friday snapshot but then we focused on Doski Azad who was murdered by her brother in a so-called 'honor' killing an there wasn't room. For any who missed that news, this is a Tweet from Salman Mustafa:
Back to REVOLUTIONARY BLACKOUT, the issues they are reaising in that video are important ones. I like Marianne Williamson. But she's not above criticism. I've called her out here for choosing to 'discuss' the plight of Afghan women by bringing on . . . a member of the US military who fought in Afghanistan. Apparently, there are no Afghanistan women who can speak for themselves.
I know that's a lie, by the way. My disenchantment with Gloria STeinem (and the end of our friendship) began when I started speaking out against the Iraq War and came across an activist from Afghanistan -- who'd also been a beauty queen in her country -- and she told me all the promises Gloria made her and how quickly Gloria walked away from the issue. Gloria had a nasty habit of doing that -- ask Sondra Locke -- but here she was doing it to a woman whose country was at war, a country the US had invaded and Gloria thought empty promises were the answer.
Marianne could have and should have brought on an Afghanistan woman to speak to that topic. To allow someone who wasn't from that country, someone who had picked up a weapon and deployed to that country, to speak on behalf of that country was outrageous.
I called her out a time before. And I'd forgotten about it until I watched the video above.
Joe Biden had yet to be elected president.
Marianne went on RISING with Krystal and Saagar as hosts. And Marianne had some truts to tell about the primary . . . and she would, she explained, after the election. But not now. It might hurt voter turnout.
I don't believe that you hold onto truths and only dole them out when no one will be embarrassed.
So we noted it that day, here, in a snapshot.
All this time later, Marianne has still not shared those stories. Is she working for the people of this country or for the Democratic Party? DOn't pretend it's the same thing. It's not.
Krystal was on the panel being called out. Ans ehs should be called out. She's had Marianne on her program since -- both RISING and now BREAKING POINT -- and never raised that issue. She needs to be called out. Brie-Brie? I don't take her seriously. I know some of you think she's a brave voice. Whatever. Then there's Katie Halper.
Katie's partner on USEFUL IDIOTS is off for a year working on a book. And the idiot move was made to bring on Aaron Mate as her co-host during that peirod. To his credit, Aaron has gotten less stiff and might actually end up being good on air.
But that doesn't justify his bringing on Katty Van Van. Katrina vanden Huevel was on last week. We didn't note it. She's a traitor to women. I shouldn't have had to spend months and months calling her out for publishing a man arrested multipe times -- and convicted for it and put in prison for it -- for atempting to have sex with underae girls. I shouldn't have had to go over that for months and months and to point out that if it were her daughter at risk, she'd care. Ava and I shouldn't have had to compile statistics on how a Katrina-led NATION magazine published less women then men. We started charting it on a weekly baiss. About six months in, THE NATION is in a tizzy and we're offered our own column and links and this and that if we will kill the story. Excuse me, we already have our own forum -- I have this site and Ava and I have THIRD. And that bribery was insulting. We're not whores who can be bought off.
At the end of the year we wrote "The Nation featured 491 male bylines in 2007 -- how many female ones?" Here's how that piece kicked off:
In one of her "I just remembered I'm a woman!" posts at The Nation's
Editor's Cut, Katrina vanden Heuvel felt the need to weigh in that 20
million women (she labels them "unmarried," we'll just note that none
are recognized as married by federal law) didn't vote in the 2004
elections and that, in 2006, the number rose to 30 million.
Oh, the humanity!
Of
course, one could argue that anyone truly concerned about the number of
women who vote would realizae it might be larger (and this is numbers,
not proportions -- there are more adult women in the US than adult men)
if women were actually invited to the table.
vanden Heuvel is both editor and publisher of The Nation magazine. So who's she had over for dinner?
For
those late to our own party, in the summer of 2006, a number of women
-- established and emerging writers -- brought to our attention that The Nation wasn't publishing women, that solid articles by women could be easily snapped up elsewhere but The Nation
was consistently sending out a message of "Men Only." We hadn't
noticed. We'd been focused on Iraq and hadn't noticed the imbalance
(which did exist). They wanted the issue addressed at The Common Ills
but (a) the site had already switched over to the Iraq focus (at the
request of members) and (b) the year was half-over. Would it be okay if
we monitored the imbalance at The Third Estate Sunday Review? It was. So we agreed that we would monitor 2007.
For those who want the quick version: 149 female bylines. 491 male bylines only 149 female.
Thatnks for the 'sisterhood,' Katty Van Van.
Then there was her refusal to cover War Resisters -- she was afraid that THE NATION's print subscription might be impacted, penalties might be imposed through the mail.
She was -- and remains -- a failure in every way.
But there she was chatting with Katie. And that just reminds me that well known liar John Nichols -- we've documented him at THIRD, Google -- is also someone Katie's had on her programs. But not John Stauber. Unlike Katty and Nichols, John Stauber's the real deal, he's not a partisan hack. If you want to talk politicis, our system, wars, etc, you go to John Stauber, not to John Nichols.
The ladies in the video cleary don't want to talk reality. They want to be partisan hacks. And that's why they are telling you to support this or that candidate. To pimp their lies, you have to believe that The Squad actually delivere4d -- or that they even tried.
They didn't.
There are real issues that need to be addressed.
How shameful that Katie, Bri-Bri, Krystal and Marianne would rather offer partisan hackery than reality.
And let me offer REVOLUTIONARY BLACKOUT a tip if they ever want to cover Katty van van. Her family sued to avoid paying inherentance taxes. Her grandfather made his millions off the backs of entertainers of color and Katty van van occupies a mansion in Harlem. While giving nothing back to the community.
I'm not surprised that Aaron Mate wants to promote her. This is the man who used to worship at the crotch of Amy Goodman. But I'm appalled that Katie Halper went along with. Skin color is how White Katty van van got to where she is. And she's done nothing to help people of color.
On Iraq, ALJAZEERA notes that no president was elected yesterday:
Monday’s session reflects the deep divisions among Iraq’s political factions that have only grown since the October 10 parliamentary elections, the results of which have been rejected by political groups supported by neighbouring Iran.
Iraqi politicians have not been able to agree on a compromise candidate for the country’s top post, and the delay raises concerns of a presidential vacuum that would also prevent the appointment of a prime minister.
According to Iraq’s post-war convention, the largely ceremonial post of the president should be held by a member of the country’s Kurdish minority, the prime minister must be a Shia and the parliament speaker a Sunni.
Iraq normally enters months of political deadlock after each general election as the political elite jockey for spots in the new government.
Iraqis are increasingly disillusioned with the political process, accusing nearly all their politicians of corruption.
Political analyst Ihsan al-Shammari said the failure to elect a president is a prelude to political crises that will continue to rage in Iraq until a consensus can be reached.
“Continuing to violate the constitution is an indication of the depth of the political differences between the political blocs and political forces in Iraq,” he said.
It's a political stalemate. We were the first to use the term in 2010 and I'll guess we'll be the first this go round as well. October 10th elections were held. In two days, it will be February 10th. There is no president. There is no prime minister.
But, goodness, didn't the US press pimp Moqtada as a king maker. That is why Joe Biden's administration gave him US tax payer dollars -- tax payer dollars to a man responsible for the deaths of so many US service members. As usual, the US government didn't know what they were doing.
And now it's political stalemate time. As interesting as it is to watch things unfold, it's equally interesting to watch how certain people make it their purpose to ignore what's happening or to just lie about what's happening.
Every obstacle post-election has been planned and most of them were deivsed by former prime minister and forever thug Nouri al-Maliki but the western press can't even seem to find his name.
It's a strange sort of world they're pretending to portray. And doing so, please remember, when they're accusing this comedian and that comedian of not telling the truth of not being able to pass fact checks. It's so very interesting what they accuse others of.
The following sites updated:
-
-
-
-
-
Jimmy Dore, Alan Macleod9 hours ago
-
-
-
-
The murder of J.F.K. still matters11 hours ago
-
Naomi11 hours ago
-
The weekend box office11 hours ago
-
-
-
-
-
