Like Maria Said Paz: 2023-01-08

Thursday, January 12, 2023

The crazy

Huh? File this under the crazy:

The debate around Marvel movies continues to rage on following Martin Scorsese's comments about the franchise back in 2019, with Quentin Tarantino recently stoking the fire again by saying the focus isn't on actors anymore.

"Eternals" actor Kumail Nanjiani is the latest Marvel star to weigh in on the debate in an interview with Esquire. He follows in the footsteps of fellow Marvel Cinematic Universe actors Robert Downey Jr. and Samuel L. Jackson.

Nanjiani explained that he respects both Scorsese and Tarantino, and while he disagrees with their opinions on Marvel movies, they have "earned" the right to criticize them.

Earned the right?

That's so disgusting. We all have the right of free speech.

But grasp that he is not making this ridiculous claim in regards to soldiers -- which, we've seen the push for since 9/11. No, he's talking about grown men playing superheroes.

I think he misspoke and I hope he was trying to be funny.

It didn't make me laugh. It made me feel sorry for him.

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Thursday, January 12, 2023. A major event will take place next week in defense of Julian Assange and The First Amendment, in Iraq a trial is taking place today on corruption, and much more.

Starting with this announcement from DEMOCRACY NOW!:

On Jan. 20, Democracy Now! will live-stream the Belmarsh Tribunal from Washington, D.C. The event will feature expert testimony from journalists, whistleblowers, lawyers, publishers and parliamentarians on assaults to press freedom and the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Watch here live at 2 p.m. ET on Friday, Jan. 20.

Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman and Srecko Horvat, the co-founder of DiEM25, will chair the tribunal, which is being organized by Progressive International and the Wau Holland Foundation.

Members of the tribunal include:

Stella Assange, partner of Julian Assange and member of his defense team

Daniel Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers whistleblower

Noam Chomsky, linguist and activist

Jeremy Corbyn, member of U.K. Parliament and founder of the Peace and Justice Project

Chip Gibbons, policy director of Defending Rights & Dissent

Kevin Gosztola, managing editor of Shadowproof

Margaret Kunstler, civil rights attorney

Stefania Maurizi, investigative journalist, Il Fatto Quotidiano

Jesselyn Radack, national security and human rights attorney

Ben Wizner, lead attorney at ACLU of Edward Snowden

Renata Ávila, human rights lawyer, technology and society expert

Jeffrey Sterling, lawyer and former CIA employee

Steven Donziger, human rights attorney

Kristinn Hrafnsson, editor-in-chief, WikiLeaks

Katrina vanden Heuvel, editorial director and publisher, The Nation

Selay Ghaffar, spokesperson, Solidarity Party of Afghanistan

Betty Medsger, investigative reporter

US President Joe Biden continues to persecute Julian and, for those who've forgotten, 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

Eric Lichtblau (GUARDIAN) observes:

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.

Lee Camp spoke with Stella Assange about the risks and persecution Julian continues to face for revealing the truth.

As you listen to Stella describe the inhumane conditions Julian's being held in, you really have to ask yourself why does Joe Biden continue to persecute Julian? Eric Zuesse (DISSIDENT VOICE) observes, "Julian Assange has been imprisoned by the UK on the demand by the U.S. for over a decade now, though never convicted of anything, but ONLY because he was the world’s most effective champion against censorship and for international democracy and personal accountability. To call either of these countries a democracy is to lie, and to insult the very term 'democracy'."

Okay, now we're going over to Iraq. There's an issue that we've been ignoring -- my choice to do so. We'll go into why in a minute. AL-MONITOR reports:

Iraq has not apologized to Iran after several Iranian parliamentarians slammed Iraq for using the term "Arabian Gulf" as it hosted the 25th Gulf Cup in Basra and asked for an apology.

Alireza Salimi, a member of the Board of Directors of the Iranian Parliament, attacked Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Sudani and the leader of Sadrist Movement, Muqtada al-Sadr, for what he termed a hostile action.

“I advise the Iraqi prime minister and Muqtada al-Sadr to apologize and stop these kinds of contentious actions that are against the interests of the two nations and create disputes between the two nations,” Salimi said according to Iranian media reports.

ASHARQ AL-AWSAT reports:

Observers and experts, however, said Iraq has so far ignored the complaints because it does not want to become embroiled in a diplomatic dispute with Iran, especially as Baghdad is playing a key role in achieving rapprochement between regional countries, most notably Saudi Arabia and Iran.

While Baghdad has not officially commented on the “Arabian Gulf” dispute, the Sadrist movement, led by influential cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, rejected Tehran’s summoning of the Iraqi envoy.

Leading member of the movement, Issam Hussein said on Wednesday that Tehran is not justified in summoning the envoy.

Moreover, he noted that the move gives Iran’s supporters in Iraq the “green light” to criticize the naming of the tournament.

He remarked that Iran is “greatly bothered” by the rapprochement between the Iraqi and Gulf people.

It fears that this rapprochement could develop into an increase in tourism and later development in economic and investment, he added.

First, as a US citizen, I don't have an opinion on which of the two names Iraq chooses to use for the competition. Second, I'm not Condi Rice.

The US government has too often seen Iraq and Iran as twins or as potential twins. They are neighboring countries. As we have noted for years now, they will have many disagreements -- and have had many disagreements. They may act together but they will also act in opposition.

Condi Rice, whenever things were going the way she wanted between Iran and Iraq (at odds) or at any time (like when Moqtada's influence was ebbing) would insert herself into the process. It was stupid to begin with because the disagreement then becomes with the US.

We're noting it now to explain to all those e-mailing why we aren't obsessing over this news and to again remind that neighbors will always have frictions. The two countries are not twins. They aren't individual nations that share a border and will work together on somethings and not work together on other issues. When government officials in the US fret over Iraq and Iran it's as though they're still addicted to the domino theory.

The above disagreement is not a US issue. I don't plan to comment on it and say someone's right and someone's wrong, it's not my business and I don't see how it helps. If outlets from the region choose to run columns or editorials, we may note those. But this is something that needs to be between those two counties. And, if that really makes you butt hurt because -- like Condi -- your goal is to drive a wedge between Iraq and Iran, grasp what Condi never could, a chorus of US voices is just going to turn attention towards the US and make it the target of frustration. So let it play out for that if you just can't support the notion that we don't need to stick our nose into everything.

I picked the morning paper off the floor
It was full of other people's little wars
Wouldn't they like their peace
Don't we get bored
And we call for the three great stimulants
Of the exhausted ones
Artifice brutality and innocence
Artifice and innocence

-- "The Three Great Stimulants," written by Joni Mitchell, first appears on DOG EAT DOG

Meanwhile, Maxime Collins (FOREIGN BRIEF) reports:

The trial of an adviser to the Iraq ex-Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Khadhemi on embezzlement charges will take place today.

The suspect is likely Haitham al-Juburi, who has been charged in a wider corruption scandal surrounding the disappearance of $2.5 billion worth of tax revenue. It is the biggest corruption of the previous al-Kahdimi governemnt, involving businessmen and former high-ranking officials. Al-Juburi has already returned $2.6 million, a mere fraction of the total loss.

The scandal has angered Iraqis, many of whom are dealing with poverty, decaying infrastructure, unemployment and a near total absence of public services. Corruption has long been at the core of Iraqi politics. It a serious challenge to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani and his new government, having vowed to lead a crackdown on corruption. The country ranked 157^th out of 180 in Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index in 2021.

Mustafa's adviser? Let's drop back to last month when Louisa Loveluck and Mustafa Salim (WASHINGTON POST) reported:

Kadhimi, who left office in October, came to power in 2020 after mass anti-corruption demonstrations felled his predecessor. His government’s high-profile campaign to tackle graft in one of the world’s most corrupt countries drew widespread international encouragement.

Central to the effort was a series of highly publicized night raids in late 2020 on the homes of public figures accused of corruption, conducted under the authority of the Permanent Committee to Investigate Corruption and Significant Crimes, better known as Committee 29. The architect of the raids was Lt. Gen. Ahmed Taha Hashim, or Abu Ragheef, who became known in Iraq as the “night visitor.”

But what happened to the men behind closed doors was far darker: a return to the ugly old tactics of a security establishment whose abuses Kadhimi had vowed to address. In more than two dozen interviews — including five men detained by the committee, nine family members who had relatives imprisoned, and 11 Iraqi and Western officials who tracked the committee’s work — a picture emerges of a process marked by abuse and humiliation, more focused on obtaining signatures for pre-written confessions than on accountability for corrupt acts.

Those interviewed for this story spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters or, in the case of detainees and their families, to protect their safety.

“It was every kind of torture,” one former detainee recalled. “Electricity, choking me with plastic bags, hanging me from the ceiling by my hands. They stripped us naked and grabbed at the parts of our body underneath.”

In at least one case, a former senior official, Qassim Hamoud Mansour, died in the hospital after being arrested by the committee. Photographs provided to The Post by his family appear to show that a number of teeth had been knocked out, and there were signs of blunt trauma on his forehead.

Allegations that the process was riddled with abuse became an open secret among diplomats in Baghdad last year. But the international community did little to follow up on the claims and the prime minister’s office downplayed the allegations, according to officials with knowledge of the issue. Although a parliamentary committee first revealed the torture allegations in 2021 and Iraqi media have raised the issue sporadically, this is the fullest attempt yet to investigate the claims and document the scale of the abuse.

We'll wind down with this Tweet:

The following sites updated:

Wednesday, January 11, 2023

Pack the Court

Some days, we just have to laugh, don't we? Because it's better than crying. I favor expanding the Supreme Court. I also favor a mandatory age of retirement from the Court and a term of no more than 15 years for a justice. DOBBS V JACKSON demonstrated to the country that we now have an illegitimate Court and that we need to make adjustments. That is what the bulk of Americans favor. That kind of talk has the GOP on the run:

House Republicans argued Democrats will "weaponize" the U.S. Supreme Court amid "dangerous" calls to pack the Court, during a Wednesday press conference in support of a constitutional amendment to maintain the number of justices at nine.

"What the Democrats are trying to do now in the Senate to change the Supreme Court, to pack the Supreme Court, shakes the very foundation that our country was founded on, and it destroys the Constitution," Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C. said during the press conference.

The amendment, sponsored by Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., would amend the Constitution requiring the Supreme Court to be composed solely of nine justices. The amendment was initially introduced in the House in January 2021 and was referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties a couple of months later in March.

"Weaponize"? The Republicans on the Court weaponized the Court by overthrowing precedent. Not a minor point. I firmly believe everyone of them should be impeached for that. But this war? They started it. Expand the court!!!

By the way, WILL TRENT was great last night. That was episode two for the season so far. It airs on ABC. I hope you are watching it. Ava and C.I. praised it "TV: WILL TRENT?"

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Wednesday, January 11, 2023. Ryan Murphy speaks reality at a time when so many are silent in the face of hate merchants.

Last night, NBC aired The Golden Globes. Among the winners? Ryan Murphy who was awarded The Carol Burnett TV Achievement Award. Murphy is a writer, director and producer whose credits include 9-1-1, 9-1-1: LONESTAR, AMERICAN HORROR STORY, GLEE, AMERICAN CRIME STORY, NIP/TUCK and RATCHED. He and his husband David Miller are also the parents of three children.

Ryan Murphy: When I was a young person at home in the seventies watching THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW, I never, ever saw a person like me getting an award or even being a character on a TV show. It's hard being an LGBTQ kid in America -- in fact, all over the world -- then and now. And I have one word for you: Florida. You are often told you will never become anything, you have to hide your life to survive. But, for those kids watching tonight, I offer up MJ [Rodriguez] and Billy [Porter] and Niecy [Nash-Betts] and Matt [Bomer] and Jeremy [Pope] as examples of possibility. There is a way forward, use them as your north stars. 25 years here, that's all I've ever tried to do here in Hollywood. My mission was to take the invisible, the unloved and make them the heroes I longed to see but never did in pop culture.

Those were important words at any time but certainly more important than ever at this time in American history where hate merchants surface constantly and argue that rendering LGBTQ+ persons invisible will help children -- what of the LGBTQ+ children? The hate merchants don't feel their lives matter. They've started another cultural war where they hope to use the LGBTQ+ community as a scapegoat for all the failure of the right-wing. The economy's in the tank, "Let's go after gay people!" Any distraction from reality, they quickly embrace. And there are lives at stake.

THE IREDELL FREE NEWS reports:

Two teenagers on Monday implored the Iredell-Statesville Schools Board of Education to do more to protect district students from bullying.

While sharing their experiences during the public comment period, the students detailed incidents in the schools and comments made during past school board meetings that were harmful to their mental health.

Eli Granillo, an eighth-grader who self-identified as a member of the LGBTQ community, described being tormented by other students.

“Since sixth grade I have experienced bullying in a few ways. One, I have been shoved and pushed in the hallways for being queer,” Granillo told the board. “I was always worried someone was going to hurt me at school, where I should feel safe.”

After giving a presentation about suicide prevention at school, Granillo was subjected to derogatory name-calling by other students. On other occasions, Granillo, who is Hispanic, was called “b**ner” and “border hopper” by other students.

“I am certainly not the only minority student that is singled out for my skin color or cultural background,” the teen said. “When is it enough? How much bullying does it take to cause physical or mental injury? What is the last straw?”

Gloria Rebecca Gomez and Isabela Gamez (AZ MIRROR) report:

Across the street from the state Capitol, while lawmakers gathered in advance of the new legislative session, Arizona high school students laid out 180 black body bags in protest.

“We are trying to let our legislators know that every single step they take, bill they vote on, there is a life on the line,” said Dawn Shim, the leader of Support Equality Schools Arizona, which organized the event.

The student-led group was formed last year to speak out against a record slate of anti-LGBTQ bills proposed by the Republican majority. Lawmakers approved several laws singling out LGBTQ students, including one that prohibits trans girls from joining sports teams that fit their gender identity and another that forces teachers to hand over all student records to parents, even if they contain sensitive personal information.

Some of the newest bills filed this year continue the trend, with one of them restricting pronoun use in schools and another seeking to clamp down on drag show performances by taking away state funds from the schools that host them.

Enacting these kinds of laws, said 17-year-old Shim, creates a hostile environment for LGBTQ youth.

“Once we get these kinds of political ideologies in schools that (are) banning us from carrying out activities that affirm us as individuals and people, schools no longer become a safe space where kids are able to thrive and learn as they should,” she said. “Instead, they become a place where they are marginalized and don’t feel safe. That’s something that shouldn’t be happening.”

Kristina Davis (KXXV) reports:

Many in the LGBTQ community across Central Texas feel targeted by the new bills lawmakers considered in today's 88th legislative session.

From gender affirming care for children to classroom lessons about sexuality and even drag shows, Republican lawmakers are stepping down by filing around three dozen bills — over the last week — impacting the LGBTQ community.

Many in the LGBTQ community across Central Texas feel targeted by the new bills lawmakers considered in today's 88th legislative session.

This has left many who identify with LGBTQ in Central Texas feeling uncomfortable. Many are particularly concerned by the "Don't Say Gay Bill." HB 1155 would prohibit children from receiving instruction of sexual orientation or gender identity in public education.

“If the 'Don’t Say Gay' bill passes, what about the multiple families, with same gender parents, how is that gonna be addressed in school?” Central Texas woman Carmen Saenz said.

An advocate with Waco Pride Network added her opinion: “Imagine just the fear a student could feel if they can’t talk about the existence of their parents, or the existence of themselves. There is nothing positive to achieve here.”

John Hanna (AP) reports:

Conservative Kansas legislators are pushing back more aggressively this year on LGBTQ-rights issues than in the past two years, with proposals to ban gender-affirming care for trangender youth and restrict how public schools discuss sexual orientation and gender identity.

Top Republican lawmakers on Tuesday outlined an agenda for the year that includes culture war issues pursued by Republicans in other states, including a ban on transgender athletes in girls’ and women’s K-12, club and college sports. Their broader agenda on LGBTQ-rights issues this year in Kansas also comes after Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly narrowly won reelection in November despite GOP attacks over her vetoes of two bills restricting transgender athletes.

[. . .]

State Rep. Heather Meyer, a bisexual Kansas City-area Democrat with a transgender son, said this year, for GOP lawmakers, “It sounds like that the bigots are the priority, not our children.”

“They want to make it so that it’s like we never existed, so like the LGBTQ community is invisible,” she said.

Carly Flandro (IDAHO ED NEWS) reports:

An unruly audience volleyed insults and threats at the Caldwell School Board Monday night, forcing trustees to call the meeting to an early end.

At the heart of the fracas was a draft of a potential policy that would establish rights and protections for all students, regardless of sexual orientation.

Equality and democracy are flying out the window as hate merchants peddle their nasty wares and attack LGBTQ+ persons. They want to render them invisible. They want to deny humanity and reality.

It is very much a war and it's very telling to see who choose to support those at risk and who chooses to hide or worse -- then the Glenn Greenwalds who, despite being gay, rush to defend hate merchants like Tucker Carlson. People like that must have a humiliation kink.

Reminder, US House Rep Lauren Boebert uses the term "groomers" to describe LGBTQ+ persons but not her own husband who was arrested and put on probation after exposing himself to two young women at a bowling alley. She'll point the finger at innocent people but she'll lie about her own husband and insist this story -- despite legal records -- is not true.

But then that's what the hate merchants have to do: Lie. Because they don't have truth on their side.

Turning to Iraq where they are raking in billions as oil revenues in 2022 reached a four year high. At the same time, please note, the number of Iraqis living in poverty has increased from 20% to 25%. Corruption is the reason.

Haifa Zangan (MEMO) notes:

After decades of war, siege and occupation, it is rare to see an Iraqi audience joyful; rare to see women and men laughing and singing happily together in a place that unites them. They breathe in the meaning of being Iraqi with bright colours far from the mourning black that has become the daily reluctant norm. It is rare. And yet, thousands of Iraqis and Arabs gathered in such a joyful atmosphere for the opening of the Gulf Cup this week as Iraq hosted the tournament for the first time since it was held in Baghdad in 1979.

The opening ceremony summed up the civilised history of the country and the unity of emotions that transcend religious sectarianism, national strife and everything else that has polluted the name of Iraq since the US-led invasion and occupation in 2003. It was a night made for visitors to the city of Basra to enjoy the hospitality of its people, who are known for their kindness and generosity. The opening of the tournament in the Basra International Stadium — also known as the Palm Trunk Stadium — was an emotional reminder for the locals, as the city was once proud of its 16 million palm trees, most of which were destroyed by wars between 1980 and 2003.

The opening was dazzling with the lighting in place. The Iraqi Electricity Company confirmed that it lit the roads leading to the Sports City, its surroundings and its doors with new lighting installations. The company also launched a campaign for the concept of rationing electricity, and the senior local officials supervised the mobilisation of the electricity company staff for the Gulf Cup on the ground.

This ensures that football fans and TV viewers have power during the tournament, but raises many questions. Why is the media making such a big issue about the preparations to provide adequate lighting? What is so unusual about lighting an international football stadium and the surrounding streets? Why isn't such supervision and provision made at all times to ensure that all of Basra has adequate electricity supplies? Is the area going to be plunged into darkness when the tournament is over?

If the government bodies responsible are able to meet FIFA's requirements for hosting the tournament, within a record time, why can't they make the same effort to provide the basic essential electricity supply needed by Iraqi citizens for the past 20 years, and which is their fundamental right, not a favour from officials? Or is this sudden appearance of good lighting only to invest looted resources in order to save face? Football has been called the world's new religion, so is the perfect vehicle for saving face while concealing the reality of the miserable daily life of most Iraqis.

Since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, the country has been one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Billions come in each year to the government and somehow never make it to the people. Officials and politicians stuff their pockets. Most of the time, they get away with it. MEMO notes:

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani has issued an order to suspend the governor of Diwaniyah, Zuhair Ali Al-Shaalan, while an investigation over corruption allegations is carried out, the Iraqi News Agency has reported.

"The decision was made due to the investigative procedures on suspicions of administrative and financial corruption, which the competent courts are reviewing," confirmed the prime minister's media office.

Shaalan has not yet commented on the decision, but if found guilty he could face a maximum of seven years imprisonment. "Every public official or agent who intentionally causes damage to the funds or interests of the entity in which he works or is connected shall be punished with imprisonment for a period not exceeding seven years," explains the Iraqi Penal Code.

The following sites updated: