Wednesday, August 03, 2022

Jonathan Turley

This is from Jonathan Turley about how the media can no longer ignore the Hunter Biden crimes so they're trying to control how it's covered and limiting its scope:


That is why the media is now recalibrating. That was most evident in the recent statement of New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman that “I know The New York Times felt it didn’t pursue it originally as much as it wanted to; then it followed up, as I recall.” Friedman does not explain what overrode that journalistic interest in the story or why the “follow up” came a year after the election of Joe Biden.

It appears that President Biden is no longer seen as a political asset with most Democrats refusing to publicly support him in his promised reelection bid. Biden now  could endanger Democratic control of Congress. The question is how to drop Hunter (and even his father) without causing damage to the media, the Democrats, or others in Washington. It requires a controlled demolition.

The most important thing is to control the blast. By refusing to appoint a special counsel, Merrick Garland has effectively blocked the risk of a report on the extensive influence peddling, including the repeated references to President Biden. the “Big Guy” is discussed in emails as the potential recipient of a 10 percent cut on a deal with a Chinese energy firm as well as other benefits. Emails also refer to Hunter Biden paying portions of his father’s expenses and taxes. Recently, there was additional support showing that “the Big Guy” was indeed Joe Biden.

The problem is that embarrassing evidence is mounting by the day. That includes the recent disclosure new open influence peddling by Hunter, referencing access to his father.  Some emails show Hunter using trips with his Dad to arrange meetings with business associates like Magnani. Indeed, in one exchange with Magnani, Hunter complains that he is not getting responses on his business dealings, objecting

“I have brought every single person you have ever asked me to bring to the F’ing White House and the Vice President’s house and the inauguration and then you go completely silent,. I don’t know what it is that I did but I’d like to know why I’ve delivered on every single thing you’ve ever asked – and you make me feel like I’ve done something to offend you.”

The cringeworthy email only adds to the embarrassment not of Hunter Biden but the media struggling to control the damage from the scandal.


Ruth covers this topic in the community.  She also does the overwhelming number of obits in the community.  Tonight, she had to do an obit ("Pat Carroll") so I told her I'd note Jonathan here.  


On passings, from THIRD:


2022 deaths

Each year, people are born and people die.  Reader Troy Montgomery e-mailed noting that many community sites note passings and thought we could keep a running link page on that.  That's a good idea.  We'll try to include this in future editions this year as sites cover additional deaths.  You'll note a lot of links go to Ruth because she tends to cover passings more than anyone else in the community.  The list may not be complete and the only order for the first twelve is the order of what we remembered while we were doing this -- the order we remembered the deaths in. 

 

 

1) Sally Kellerman -- see Ruth's "Sally Kellerman"

 

 2) Ronnie Spector -- see Betty's "Ronnie Specter," Ruth's "Ronnie Spector" and C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot"


2) Naomi Judd -- see Kat's "Grace Slick, Naomi Judd," "One more time honoring Naomi Judd" and "Naomi Judd"

 

3) Sidney Poitier -- see Betty's "A great actor passed -- not a great person, not a great lover, not a great activist"

4) Ray Liotta -- see Ruth's "Ray Liotta"


 5) Peter Bogdanovich -- see Stan's "Peter Bogdonavich"


6) Andy Fletcher -- see Kat's "Andy Fletcher"

 

7)  Bo Hopkins -- see Ruth's "Bo Hopkins"

 

8) William Hurt -- see Ann's "Not sure if I believe Marlee Matlin now"

 

9) Meat Loaf -- see Kat's "Meat Loaf"

 

10) Howard Hessman -- see Ruth's "Howard Hessman"

 

11) Rosa Lee Hawkins -- see Ruth's "Rosa Lee Hawkins"

 

12) Dwayne Hickman -- see Ruth's "Dwayne Hickman"

 

13) William Hart -- see Ruth's "William Hart of The Deflonics has passed away" 


14) Mark Shields -- see Ruth's "Mark Shields"

 

15) Nichelle Nichols -- see Ruth's "Nichelle Nichols" 


16)  Bob Rafelson -- see Ruth's "Bob Rafelson has passed away"

 

16 deaths and 10 were noted by Ruth.  That's what I mean when I point out that she does the overwhelming number of obits in the community.


Now for Jonathan Turley.  I believe in free speech.  We share that, Turley and I.  This is from a "Roundtable" at THIRD that will do a better job of explaining why I'm not into highlighting him here of late:

Ty: In the US Senate, Senator Tammy Baldwin is working very hard reaching out to her Republican peers.  As an out senator, she can put a face on the issue.  I'm very thankful for her.  

Marcia: Me too.  And I'm glad the measure passed the Senate.  

Cedric: This goes to why we need term limits.  People my age and younger have no problem with LGBTQs.  But it's a huge shock for some of the elderly.  They're out of step.  I don't want to turn this into hatred on Jonthan Turley but I join Elaine in being very disappointed in him.  Clarence Thomas' concurring opinion is offensive and there's no way to justify it.  If Turley also believes that gay rights don't matter, wish he'd said that years ago before I took him seriously.  If he does believe that gay rights matter, he needs to find his voice because he's losing me.


Ty: On that topic.  In a snapshot, C.I. called out Glenn Greenwald when Glenn went on FOX NEWS to praise Clarence Thomas as a great guy.  A great guy does not want me to lose my rights.  It was appalling to watch him justify and excuse Clarence.  I think it's appalling that C.I., who is not personally effected by this, is a stronger voice on this issue than Glenn Greenwald.  


Rebecca: Ty, I agree completely.  When Glenn did that, I was appalled and remain appalled.  He has two children and a husband.  If he won't stick up for himself, at least stick up for your family.  Someone who makes clear that they want to destroy you is not a good person.


Ruth: And, if I am remembering correctly with regards to what C.I. wrote, that is before you get into the reality that Justice Thomas sexually harassed Anita Hill. 

Jess: With regards to Turley, I don't think Jonathan grasps that a number of us who read him and watch his reaction to Thomas' opinion are in need of a statement if not a full post.  I think he's assuming that we all know where he stands.  We don't.  Maybe we're reeling from ROE still but we need some words on this.  As for Glenn, we knew he wasn't left.  We didn't expect him to be.  When he and that ugly woman were roll dogs -- Jane what's her name -- don't supply it, I don't care -- we knew he was a Libertarian and other than his hatred for women, we puzzled over why he was trashing Hillary in 2008.  But it's one thing to be a libertarian and it's another to refuse to defend your own family.  Shame on him.  I have no respect for him.

Isaiah: I feel sorry for his husband David but at least his husband is an adult.  What must it look like to his children if they're aware of his defense of Clarence Thomas?  

Ty: I know.  I don't see Glenn as a man anymore.  I see him as a little boy.  Because, if nothing else, a man is going to fight for his family.  Same thing with a woman.  If Glenn were female, I'd say he was a girl because a grown ass woman is going to fight to protect her family.  It's only the immature who won't. 


Ava: We need to read something into this transcript.  The RFMA, Respect For Marriage Act, was explained by Mark Joseph Stern (SLATE) as follows:



None of these descriptions fully captures the scope of the RFMA. The bill would not require every state to license same-sex marriages, as they are currently obligated to under Obergefell v. Hodges. So it does not codify Obergefell, as some commentators—including Glenn Greenwald—have incorrectly asserted. The RFMA would repeal DOMA, directing the federal government to recognize same-sex couples’ lawful marriages. But it also goes further, compelling states to recognize same-sex marriages performed elsewhere—even if the Supreme Court overturns Obergefell and restores states’ authority to refuse marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

Put simply, the RFMA creates a backstop to ensure that every same-sex couple can retain protections after Obergefell’s demise if their own state nullifies their marriage. And it does so on strong constitutional grounds that should withstand any legal challenge.




Marcia: The Senate needs to support that.  I hope enough Republicans will join Democrats in passing this.


"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Wednesday, August 3, 2022.  Moqtada's calling on his goons to leave the building, oil giants are getting rich while the people suffer, the FBI's targeting activists and much more.



Over the past week, the six major multinational oil giants—ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, TotalEnergies and Eni—reported combined profits of over $64 billion in the second quarter alone. The orgy of profiteering is not limited to the six major oil companies. The smaller US companies Valero, Phillips 66 and Hess posted a massive combined quarterly profit of $8.62 billion.

In total, these nine companies reported over $72 billion in profits over three months. The oil companies, by and large, have refused to increase production, driving gas prices in the United States earlier this summer to an average of $5 a gallon and siphoning billions from working class families into their coffers. While the price of a gallon of gas has dipped somewhat in the last month to a nationwide average of $4.19 a gallon, this is still over a dollar more than the $3.17 recorded at this same time last year.

Every day during this period, the oil companies made $800 million in profit, or about $33.3 million an hour.

An analysis by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an environmental lobbying group that tracks the profits of the 15 largest oil and gas companies in the United States, found that compared to the same period in 2021, oil company profits grew “a staggering 242 percent.”

The largest private oil company in the United States, ExxonMobil, reported a second-quarter profit of nearly $17.9 billion, which represents a year-to-year increase of 226 percent, according to the NRDC. Overall, ExxonMobil has reported over $23.3 billion in profits this year alone.

Chevron reported a second-quarter profit of $11.62 billion, a 277 percent year increase from a year ago. The United Steelworkers union played a key role in the company’s massive profit increase through its isolation and betrayal of Chevron workers’ struggles for improved wages and working conditions, including its sellout in June of a strike by 500 oil workers in Richmond, California.




:

As working class families the world over struggle to afford basic necessities amid historic inflation, driven by the pandemic and the US-NATO war against Russia in Ukraine, the world’s largest multinational oil corporations are announcing record profits.




Depending on the western outlet, Iraq is currently in a crisis, a power struggle, an "explosive political crisis" or something similar.  I think I enjoy THE ECONOMIST's use of "plague" best.  But here's the thing,as Diana Ross and Marvin Gaye once sang,  "nothing's changed and it's the same as it used to be."


Moqtada's loon goons are occupying an empty building that no one's using.  And?

I guess that's the twist that finally caught the interest of the western press.  We are seven days away from ten months since the elections were held and still no prime minister, still no president.

That's what the struggle is about and the western press didn't see it as an issue months ago or even last month.  

The occupying has apparently awakened them.

Most of us were aware of the struggle months ago.  

And Iraq has passed 2010.  That's the year it set the record for the longest time between elections and forming a new government.  The world record.  The following year, Belgium took that record and, more recently (2020), Belgium's broken its own record.  But Iraq has now gone longer than it did in 2010 and no one noticed or cared in the western press until last week when Moqtada's cult began occupying an empty building -- as if that's what's important.  There's no budget, for example, no government budget and I'd argue that's a lot more important.  


In normal times Iraq’s parliament can be a desolate place: many mps do not bother to show up for work. Today it is full--though far short of a quorum. On July 30th supporters of Muqtada al-Sadr, a cleric and politician, stormed parliament. They have settled in for what they promise will be an open-ended sit-in. Volunteers have been bringing meals and tea; juice vendors roam the aisles. For once, mps have a legitimate reason for staying at home.

Iraq has been without a proper government for almost ten months, the longest period of paralysis since 2005; Mustafa al-Kadhimi has been hobbling along as the caretaker prime minister. Such deadlocks are nothing new. But the events of the past week have pushed the country in an ominous direction. 



I'm sure that they're quite proud of that first paragraph - it would explain how they overlooked their mistake in the second.  2005?  Parliamentary elections were held twice in 2005.  The first, held in January, resulted in the group that wrote Iraq's Constitution.  By April 5th, three months later, they were naming a president and a prime minister-designate.  The second, held in December, resulted in a long delay between the elections and the naming of a prime minister-designate (who then has 30 days to create a Cabinet and then can become prime minister, per the Constitution).  It would be six months before a prime minister-designate was named (one picked by the US government).  That was long.  But it was not eight months and a few days which was what took place in 2010 and is "the longest period of paralysis."  That was the political stalemate.  Nouri al-Maliki had lost and refused to step down and, despite insisting initially that the votes would be respected, the votes were tossed out by the US government which brokered a contract, The Erbil Agreement, that gave Nouri a second term.  In exchange, Nouri agreed to various concessions in this contract.  Despite Barack Obama telling Ayad Allawi over the phone that The Erbil Agreement had the full backing and support of the US government (he told Allawi that to get Allawi to order his MPs back into Parliament), Nouri used the contract to get his second term and then refused to honor any of the promises made in exchange for that and the US government acted like The Erbil Agreement never existed.

Even without bringing in tubby Jalal Talabani into the story, there's a lot there and it's surprising that THE ECONOMIST forgot it was 2010 that Iraq had previously gone the longest between elections and the formation of a government.

Previously.

And now it's a crisis, to the western press.  Now.  Not when they hit the eight month mark.  Not when they passed the previous political stalemate.  

But now.

As Moqtada's cult occupies an empty building and apparently is served catered meals.


Journalist Rasha al-Aqeedi offers this take:

The chaos in Baghdad created by Sadrists is the biggest service to the Coordination Framework and Nouri al-Maliki. Images of livestock grazing in Iraq's parliament,the cooking,littering, and destruction of facility will cause social amnesia at the crimes committed by the militias
10:47 AM · Jul 31, 2022



While THE NEW ARAB insists:



No one's talking about the leaked audio anymore.  And the western media pretty much ignored those leaks.  They were meant to destroy Nouri -- and the consensus on Arabic social media is that the US provided the recordings -- but they didn't.

Moqtada initially dismissed them until he was egged on to say something more and then started screaming that the courts must hear these recordings, the courts, the courts!!!!

The courts?  Nouri's always had the support of the judiciary.  So that's one.  Two, the recordings aren't that bad.  More were supposed to come.  They never did.  Nouri trashed Moqtada in the recordings.

And?

The two have never gotten along.  Moqtada used to run like the coward he is from Iraq to Iran at just the possible chance that Nouri might arrest him.  The two hate each other.  

What's Nouri saying in the recordings?

Basically, that things are tense and Moqtada's causing tension.

And these were released before Moqtada decided to have his goons occupy Parliament.

The recordings don't make Nouri look out of touch the way some had hoped.  Moqtada's latest actions have ensured that.

That's not an endorsement of Nouri.  He's a thug and always will be.  But, no, the tapes, and Nouri's concerns that Moqtada's actions could lead to strife and war in Iraq do not look that extreme now -- if they ever did, even before Moqtada's latest public relations move to get more attention for himself.

Moqtada's not at the protest.  Like many a cult leader, he sends his followers off to places he's too scared to go himself.

Five days Moqtada's goons have remained in the empty building -- even though Parliament's not due to hold any sessions.  And somehow this compares to nearly ten months without forming a government?  To the western press it does.

Moqtada's goons are being catered to by more than just those bringing them meals.

And a message is being sent by Mustafa al-Kadhimi, the 'caretaker' prime minister.  If you occupy Tahrir Square, you will be attacked by Iraqi forces, you will risk your life.  But if you occupy a government building, for days, we will just look the other way.

Mustafa is supposed to be the outgoing prime minister and he doesn't want to be.  Presumably, that's among the reasons he's backing Moqtada currently.  Equally true, he hates Nouri and the militias  because they have publicly called him a coward and a traitor.  That's why he disenfranchised so many of them when he changed the rules at the last minute and refused to let them vote in October's early election.  

Is there a legal reason that Mustafa's refused to eject the squatters from inside a government building?  

Mustafa is only prime minister because of The October Revolution.  And yet all he did for that group was offer some insincere words.  He didn't prevent them from being attacked.  And, again, they were protesting in the square, they hadn't seized a government building.

Mustafa's allowing Moqtada's boys to stay in the building and he's allowing the press to visit.  That wasn't the case for The October Revolution.  He barred journalists from entry into those protests.  He used COVID 19 as his excuse for destroying their camp sites.

COVID hasn't gone away.  Not around the world, not in Iraq. 

Per The World Health Organization, Iraq had 1000 new COVID cases in the last 24 hours.  That's been the average, more or less, for the last two weeks.  COVID was concern enough to destroy the property of the protesters who were protesting outside but now you have people in an indoor building and there's no social distancing taking place but the government's okay with it?

That says a great deal to Iraq's young Shi'ites who took to the streets to try to make a better Iraq in 2019.  


Between that reality sinking in and the images harming Moqtada's 'movement,' Moqtada's made the call to get his embarrassing goons out of the building.


Senior #Sadr supporters were urged to abandon the sit-in inside the parliament, but they were encouraged to keep protesting inside the Green Zone. #Iraq #Iraqprotest
Image
5:17 AM · Aug 3, 2022





Moqtada has always been more of a press creation.  He is not revered.  He has a cult following.  He is not the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.  



Senior Sadr supporter Mohamed Saleh al-Iraqi instructed hundreds of his followers through tweet to leave the capital city of Baghdad’s parliament building within 72 hours and join other Sadrists at a “encampment in front of and around the building.”

“The pursuit of the sit-in is very significant because it will solidify your demands,” al-Iraqi said in the tweet on Tuesday, recommending that protesters take it in turns to remain at the protest site.
The protestors will stay inside the Green Zone, which contains Iraq’s parliament, government buildings, and foreign embassies.

He added that there would be a sizable prayer gathering on Friday in the Green Zone.

The declaration led to confusion inside the parliament building, where some authorities said demonstrators could stay in the main chamber and a conference room despite the directives to remove them.


So they'll remain in the Green Zone?  The Green Zone has been breached -- something that was never supposed to happen.  The US has civilians and military personnel in the US Embassy in the Green Zone and has always insisted it was a safe area.  Yet no one in government is commenting on this development, not the White House, not the State Dept and not the Pentagon.  I guess Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin doesn't know anything about Iraq?  Sudden case of amnesia?


We'll wind down with this from Peter Symonds (WSWS):

In a reckless provocation that deliberately heightens war tensions with China, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi landed in Taiwan late last night aboard a military aircraft accompanied by her congressional delegation.

Despite concerns over the potential for a military clash or conflict with China, the Biden administration came together with the entire US political and military establishment in backing Pelosi’s trip. As Pelosi landed in Taipei, an aircraft carrier strike group led by the USS Ronald Reagan, with its full complement of fighter aircraft, attack helicopters and other weapons systems, was positioned in waters off Taiwan’s east coast.

The USS Ronald Reagan was accompanied by a guided missile cruiser USS Antietam and a destroyer USS Higgins. The US Navy also reported that the amphibious assault ship, the USS Tripoli, was also operating in the area. Two US Air Force planes were reportedly sent to Malaysia, where Pelosi held talks yesterday as part of the military preparations for her trip to Taiwan.

US officials, the American media and Pelosi herself promoted the lie that her trip and the accompanying military operation was “routine,” and her presence in Taipei did not deviate from decades of American policy and diplomacy.

Pelosi’s trip is anything but routine. She is the highest-ranking US official to visit Taiwan in more than a quarter century. Her visit is just the latest in calculated steps taken by the Trump and Biden administrations to undermine the One China policy that has been the foundation of political relations between the US and China since formal diplomatic ties were established in 1979.

Under the One China policy, Washington de facto recognised that Beijing as the legitimate government of all China, including the island of Taiwan. It broke off diplomatic relations with the military dictatorship in Taipei and withdrew its military forces from the island. At the same time, the US Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act to allow unofficial, low-level contact with Taipei and the sale of so-called defensive weapons to Taiwan.

Over the past six years, all that has dramatically changed. Top-level talks and visits have been openly resumed; the US has for the first time publicly acknowledged the presence of American troops on the island; and arms sales, including of manifestly offensive weaponry, has escalated along with the frequency of US warships passing through the narrow Taiwan Strait.

Biden has deliberately ignored repeated Chinese warnings that US actions were jeopardising the relations between the world’s two largest economies and profoundly destabilising the Indo-Pacific region. In a phone conversation with Biden last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping warned that the US was “playing with fire,” if it allowed the Pelosi’s trip to take place.

Shortly after Pelosi landed in Taipei, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi again warned that the actions of American politicians were incendiary over the issue of Taiwan. “This will definitely not have a good outcome. The exposure of America’s bullying face again shows it as the world's biggest saboteur of peace,” he said. 



On July 29, 2022, the FBI raided the Uhuru House in St. Petersburg, Florida and the Uhuru Solidarity Center in St. Louis, Missouri. The raids were connected with the indictment of a Russian national who is accused of attempting to “cause turmoil in the United States” by engaging with “Unindicted Co-Conspirators” to act as agents of the Russian Federation.

The African People’s Socialist Party (APSP) is the organization targeted by the FBI for a very simple reason. It is a Black organization which has dared to confront and oppose U.S. imperialism. The alleged connection with the Russian government kills two birds with one stone. The Russiagate hoax is continually resuscitated as it gives new life to claims of election and other interference and Black people’s organizations are as always the first to be targeted by the State.

Every individual and organization calling itself socialist, anti-imperialist, Black nationalist, or anti-war should be in support of the APSP at this moment. The APSP has done what they have every right to do, travel anywhere in the world they choose, even to countries said to be “adversaries” of the United States. They communicate with the people they want to be in contact with and they espouse their beliefs freely. As an anti-imperialist organization the APSP vehemently critiques both U.S. foreign policy and its domestic regime, particularly as it engages in continued oppression against Black people. All of these actions put it firmly in the crosshairs of law enforcement and ensure that it will be made an example of as the state cracks down on all those who oppose its actions.

These witch hunts are not new. They go back to the Palmer Raids of the Woodrow Wilson administration, and the anti-communist attacks which persecuted Paul Robeson and Claudia Jones among others. They morphed into the CounterIntelligence Program, COINTELPRO, which destroyed the liberation movement by killing and imprisoning leadership, and creating intra-group dissension.

But now the danger is somewhat different. In 1971 a group of anti-war activists broke into an FBI office in Media, Pennsylvania. Would the Washington Post, which was alone in printing the papers they had stolen, and who ended up revealing the existence of COINTELPRO, now analyze the facts in the case of APSP? Now the Washington Post is in the hands of one of the richest people in the world, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, who also has contracts with the CIA. The old media wasn't always reliably interested in journalistic investigation, but could occasionally make good on the dictum of comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable. Those days are no more.





The following sites updated:






Posted by at

Tuesday, August 02, 2022

Guess who doesn't trust Zelenskyy

Not a fan of Thomas Friedman for obvious reasons.  But this is interesting:



"The Ukraine war is not over. And privately, U.S. officials are a lot more concerned about Ukraine’s leadership than they are letting on. There is deep mistrust between the White House and Ukraine President Volodymyr [Zelenskyy] — considerably more than has been reported," Friedman wrote. 

Friedman, in May, called Ukraine "marbled by corruption" and added "my sense is that the Biden team is walking much more of a tightrope with Zelenskyy than it would appear to the eye — wanting to do everything possible to make sure he wins this war but doing so in a way that still keeps some distance between us and Ukraine’s leadership."

The left-leaning columnist's words carry weight given his comparative closeness to Biden among media members; he had a private lunch with the president in May and afterwards gushed over his foreign policy chops.




Hang it around their damn necks.  I mean the idiots that wanted to invite Zelenskyy to the Oscars (that includes Sean Penn) and the idiots that did invite him to the Grammys.  You worshipped him and even Joe Biden knows that he's corrupt.  Even Joe Biden's trying to maintain a distance.  But you worshiped him.  You slobbered over him.  You didn't know him and you fell for propaganda.  You cheered on war.  Remember that the next time you try to pretend you care about humanity -- or that you care about the arts.  Sean?  We're still waiting for you to melt your Academy Awards as you promised to do if Zelenskyy wasn't invited to speak. 

 "TV: UNCOUPLED" (Ava and C.I., THE THIRD ESTATE SUNDAY REVIEW):

Equally true, the whole Michael is hurt works a lot less when Michael both hurts another person and acts like Queen Priss.

We're not fond of drama queens -- whether they use the pronouns he and him, she and her or they and them, we're not fond of drama queens.  You may remember we lost a lot of sympathy for Ryan in SPECIAL when he ignores his boyfriend repeatedly until suddenly wanting to have sex with him -- and have it right then -- and then Ryan turned all priss because he got a bit of fecal matter on his penis.  

Something much milder happens to Michael.

He briefly decouples from the caboose on the pity train long enough to meet Luke -- a 3rd grade school teacher played by Dan Amboyer.  Luke is wonderful and great for Michael's ego . . . until a friend puts a bug in Michael's ear -- six days in a row, isn't that a lot to spend with someone.  Michael dismisses it because they'll be apart the next night due to the poker game.  But then Michael invites Luke to the poker game.  And Luke wanting to be the couple they've been being for a week but, now, in front of Michael's friends leaves Michael tense.  Luke and he are discussing everyone while doing the dishes after and suddenly Luke farts.

And.

That.

Is.

It.

He breaks up with Luke on the spot.

Luke can't believe it.  

Nor could we.

We couldn't believe that someone in the NYC gay scene -- where what blow jobs were to the 20th century, tossed salads are to the 21st one -- would be such a prude.  And we couldn't believe it as Luke expressed his disbelief and Michael kept insisting that they just met, that this was no relationship, they just met.


"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Tuesday, August 2, 2022.  Joe continues to persecute Julian, Nancy sews chaos and the international press pretends not to notice that Muatafa al-Kadhimi's government has different responses to protesters.


Another case of COVID or not, US President Joe Biden continues to make time to persecute Julian Assange for the 'crime' of journalism.  Binoy Kampmark (COUNTERPUNCH) observes:


They really do want to kill him.  Perhaps it is high time that his detractors and sceptics, proven wrong essentially from the outset, admit that the US imperium, along with its client states, is willing to see Julian Assange perish in prison.  The locality and venue, for the purposes of this exercise, are not relevant.  Like the Inquisition, the Catholic Church was never keen on soiling its hands, preferring the employ of non-church figures to torture their victims.

In the context of Assange, Britain has been a willing jailor from the start, guided by the good offices of Washington and none too keen in seeing this spiller of secrets released into the world.  Bail has been repeatedly, and inexcusably, refused, despite the threats posed by COVID-19, the publisher’s own deteriorating health, and restrictions upon access, at regular intervals, to legal advice from his team.  Just as some banks are deemed too large to fail, Assange is considered too large a target to escape.  Let loose again, he might do what he does best: reveal government venalities in war and peace and prove the social contract a gross deception and mockery of our sensibilities.

The UK legal system has been the ideal forum to execute the wishes of Washington.  Each legal branch that has examined the extradition case has assiduously avoided the bigger picture: the attack on press freedom, exposing war crimes, illegal surveillance of a political asylee in an embassy compound, the breaches of privacy and legal confidentiality, the encroachments upon family life, the evidence on proposed abduction and assassination, the questionable conflicts of interest by some judicial members, the collusion of State authorities.


ANTIWAR.COM's Scott Horton notes:


On the 8th of August at 3:00 Eastern, Roger Waters will be joined by retired U.S. Army major Todd Pierce in an event to support Wikileaks’ Julian Assange and his resistance to being extradited to the U.S. on bogus espionage charges.

RSVP here.


Meanwhile, in Iraq, thousands turned out.  FRANCE 24 notes, "Thousands of demonstrators opposed to Iraq's powerful cleric Moqtada al-Sadr staged a protest on Monday at the edge of Baghdad's fortified government zone, where Sadr's supporters were holding an open-ended occupation of Iraq's parliament."  Thousands.  Thousands to Moqtada's hundreds.


Moqtada controls Sadr City, a slum in Baghdad.  He's controlled it for roughly two decades now.  It was a slum then and it's a slum now.  That's what's peeled off a number of his cult followers.  They're aware Moqtada lives large and, of course, they're aware that they don't.  Year after year, the slum has seen no improvement.  All Moqtada has is his cult and the promise that he can awe the press by turning them out.  But occupying the Parliament?  He only got hundreds to turn out this go round.  


And the Shi'ite opposition to him turned out thousands.  Martin Chulov (GUARDIAN) types:


Demonstrators from Iran-backed groups, known as the Coordination Framework, joined the fray as concerns grew of spillover violence among the country’s Shia communities and even deeper chaos for a country battered by a series of socio-economic crises.

The unpredictable Sadr performed strongly in a national election held last October, but ordered his MPs to resign and has recently begun rallying his formidable numbers on the Iraqi streets – posing a mounting threat to the political establishment.

Iranian-linked groups on the other hand performed poorly in the poll and have since been trying to claw back losses, refusing attempts to name a president, or prime minister and insisting that their influence remains strong in the 329-seat parliament.


All these months later, Martin, is still too difficult to be honest.  Mustafa al-Kadhimi, who is very unpopular with the Coordination Framework (they openly accused him of treason ahead of the elections and did so outside Mustafa's home), made a decree right before the election that these militia members would not be allowed to participate in early voting.  Since they were required to guard polling stations the day of the election, this disenfranchised many.


Why can't you be honest about that, Martin?  Why do you have to lie?  Once upon a time when Nouri went after you, we defended you here.  I don't think I'd defend you today as you go out of your way to mislead your readers.


And please note what happened when these people protested, "The demonstrators gathered near the fortified government zone with clashes breaking between the protestors and security forces, who set up roadblocks, firing a water cannon at the crowds to keep them away from the parliament."

Oh, so they will still use force.


Just not on Moqtada's cult.  


So it does back to the issue of a stand down as Arabic media has noted since Sunday.  Mustafa is currying favor with Moqtada and he's refusing to have the security toss Moqtada's cult out of the Parliament.  Just like he refused to order them to follow basic procedures and disperse Moqtada's cult when they began dismantling barriers around the Green Zone to enter it.  The normal response to that, tearing down the barriers, is to open fire.  That has been the standing response since the summer of 2006 when Iraqis first attempted to get into the Green Zone.  Somehow, when Moqtada's supporters try to tear down the barricade and actually manage to enter the Green Zone, the standing response is tossed aside.  


I see REUTERS also reports that a water cannon was used on these new protesters but REUTERS also fails to note the obvious: This wasn't done to Moqtada's cult.  


Two different groups of protesters and two different responses.  


Used to be that was exactly the topic that would inspire journalists to produce a lot of copy.  


Here we just get silence.


Let's also note that the counter-protesters were not attempting to enter the Green Zone.  They had been told by their leaders not to and the closest they came was too approaching a bridge.  But they were fired on -- with temperatures over one hundred degrees, they were fired on with hot water.  


But Moqtada's cult was just allowed to break in and enter the Green Zone with no push back at all -- twice allowed in one week.


AL MAYADEEN reports:


Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi called Monday on all parties to sit at the table for a national dialogue in order to reach a political solution to the current crisis.

Al-Kadhimi considered that "Our dear Iraq is witnessing great political tension that may threaten - God forbid if the wise do not interfere - with dire consequences."

"We call on all parties to calm down and reduce escalation, to start an initiative for a solution on national grounds, calling on everyone not to be drawn into accusations, the language of treason, the instigation of hostility and hatred between the Brotherhood in the same country," the Iraqi Prime Minister expressed.


A liar's going to save the country?  Not only is he enforcing one standard for Moqtada's cult and another for others who protest, he's the liar who took Iraq here.  The October Revolution forced the resignation of a prime minister.  Mustafa was then inserted as prime minister and he was supposed to bring early elections -- that did not mean a few months earlier.  He was supposed to bring them about before he had a year in office.  He was supposed to call for elections, make it happen, let the people vote and let a new prime minister take over.


But corrupt Mustafa decided he wanted to stay prime minister.  So he delayed the start of early elections.  He is part of the problem, The October Revolution identified him as such.  


If you think things can't get more absurd, note this from TRT:


Türkiye has urged "common sense and restraint" as opposing demonstrations in Iraq over the nomination of a new prime minister are feared to further escalate tensions.

Türkiye follows the developments in Baghdad with "concern," the Foreign Ministry said on Monday in a written statement, adding that it hopes the current political uncertainty is settled soon.

It urged that "an inclusive and representative government" should be established without delay in line with the expectations of the Iraqi people.


Or what?  The Turkish government will fire on another resort killing people including children?  Yes, events have been extreme in Iraq over the last few days, but, no, Recep, the world has not forgotten that you are a killer and you fired on civilians -- including children.


Yesterday, at ARAB NEWS, Dr. Mohammed Al-Sulami pointed out:


The artillery shelling of Zakho, a mountain tourist resort in the Iraqi Kurdistan region of Dohuk, on July 20, which killed or injured dozens of innocent civilians, raised questions about the significance of the timing and the parties responsible.
There are also many questions about the objectives of the attack at this delicate juncture in the Iraqi arena, with tensions already high between various political factions and alliances. Iraqi-Turkish relations are also strained by differences over water and security issues, not to mention an additional layer of volatility from the worsening Turkish-Iranian rivalry in northern Iraq.
The timing of the attack on Dohuk could barely have been worse, coming as it did when the Iraqi arena is mired in a complex and precarious political deadlock involving various Shiite factions and a scandal over a potentially explosive leak. In a leaked recording, Nouri Al-Maliki, the notorious former Iraqi prime minister, secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party and head of the State of Law Coalition, is heard remarking on his “good” relations with Qais Khazali, the leader of the controversial pro-Iranian Asa’ib Ahl Al-Haq militia, which is designated as a terrorist entity by the US. Al-Maliki also confirms that the Fatah Alliance, the Iraqi Hezbollah Brigades and Sayyid Al-Shuhada factions are all affiliated with Iran, among other things. The contents of the recording brought the Shiite factions to the verge of infighting.
The Dohuk attack also took place only a day after the whistleblower who leaked the recording predicted that, if published, Al-Maliki’s supporters would “blow up” the Iraqi arena to distract Iraqis from the contents of the recording. Furthermore, the attack occurred as Turkey was preparing for a new military campaign in northern Syria and just days after a tripartite summit involving Turkey, Russia and Iran, during which Moscow and Tehran attempted to exert pressure on Ankara to dissuade it from the military operation — efforts it vehemently rejected.
The attack also added an unwelcome complexity to Turkish-Iraqi relations, resulting in a new atmosphere of escalatory diplomacy between the two neighbors, which has already had an adverse effect on their trade relations. This quickly became evident from the Iraqi government and people’s rapid and hostile reaction against Turkey. Ankara was immediately accused of involvement in the attack and official Iraqi responses hinted at the possibility of summoning the Turkish ambassador in Baghdad, withdrawing the current Iraqi charge d’affaires from Ankara and suspending measures to appoint a new ambassador there. Iraq also submitted a dossier to the UN Security Council, containing the dates and details of consecutive Turkish attacks against Iraq, with the goal of putting an end to such acts that violate UN norms.
In addition, Iraq rejected Turkey’s denial of involvement in the attack and its allegations accusing the PKK of responsibility, as well as rebuffing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s warnings not to fall into what he insisted was a trap. Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein announced that his country has recorded more than 22,700 Turkish transgressions against Iraqi territory since 2018, saying that the country has lodged 296 protest notes as a result of such interventions.


We'll wind down with this from Andre Damon (WSWS):


US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will arrive in Taiwan in the next 24 hours, flanked by a US aircraft carrier, a destroyer, a cruiser and dozens of F-35 aircraft in a deliberate effort to provoke an escalation of the US-China conflict.

Pelosi's arrival in Taiwan is deliberate and calculated provocation against China. The consequences are potentially catastrophic.

Working people in the United States must oppose this deliberate provocation, carried out with the imprimatur of the White House, which threatens to spiral out of control, risking countless lives in Taiwan, China, the Asia/Pacific region and the United States itself.

Figures within the US political establishment have made clear that any Chinese military response would be met with a military response by the United States. Zack Cooper, former National Security Council official, told the Washington Post, “If the Chinese intentionally take action or if there’s some sort of accident that leads to a real clash—ships or aircraft touch each other, or if you get a radar lock on an aircraft or a missile that flies very close over Taiwan—I think that you’d see that the United States feels it has to respond quite forcefully to that.”

“The risks of escalation are immediate and substantial,” warned Evan Medeiros, a former Asia adviser to President Barack Obama, in a statement to the New York Times. “This is an exceptionally dangerous situation, perhaps more so than Ukraine.”

For their part, Chinese officials have said that they see Pelosi’s visit as crossing a “red line.” Famously, U.S. President Joe Biden declared in December 2021, “I don’t accept anybody’s red lines,” leading to the US-NATO war against Russia over Ukraine.

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said, “If the United States insists on going ahead, China will have to take firm and forceful measures to defend its national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

China’s Global Times newspaper, speaking for significant factions within the Chinese state and military, responded to the planned visit by declaring that the response from China would be “military but also strategic.”

In a phone call with Biden last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping told Biden that “Those who play with fire will perish by it,” the most open threat of military retaliation by a Chinese president in recent history.  

The claim that the White House cannot stop Pelosi from traveling to Taiwan is a lie. Pelosi will be traveling on a military aircraft, supported by at least a half-dozen warships, and will likely be escorted by fighter jets. As “commander-in-chief,” it is entirely within Biden’s purview to withhold these military assets.



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A question for the ages

 

Why did Cary Grant and Randolph Scott live together?  A question for the ages if you're unfamiliar with the term  "love nest."  Cary Grant sleeping with Randolph Scott does not alter my opinion of him.  I think he's one of the greatest movie stars of the 20th century.  Wish he could have been as public about his love for Randolph as he was about his love for Dyan Cannon and other women.

 

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Monday, August 1, 2022.  Moqtada continues to make a mess in Iraq.


Looking at the AP photo by Anmar Khalil with this article, my first thought was, "I've never seen a gayer bunch of men."  Moqtada's goons clearly are projecting self-hatred on others.  The men in the photo say they're in for the long haul and, judging by the excitement they're building being around each other -- and only each other, they're going to be some interesting nights.  Those rumors about Moqtada have always circulated so it's probably not that big of a surprise to finally realize why he and his followers don't want women to participate in the protests or 'protests.'

My second thought was, "They're occupying an empty building.  How is this news?"  Breaking into the Green Zone?  I argued that was news twice last week.  Occupying an empty building?

My third thought: How?


How did the photo get taken?


The October Revolution -- which Moqtada was not a part of though he briefly tried to glom on it --  existed largely though photos that were taken by participants.  We know why that is, right?


Long ago, the Iraqi government began the crackdown on the press covering protests.  They would secure the main square from reporters.  


But they can't do that with Moqtada's love goons?


Easily over 600 participants in The October Revolution were killed for protesting in a public square.  But, note, Moqtada's goons are all soft and ready for their night of passion with another.  Anyone who thinks it's being laid onto thick -- I don't think so.  Moqtada's a notorious homophobe who terrorizes Iraq's LGBTQ community -- and those thought to be LGBTQ.  He also follows what's said here so we'll never be done with this topic.  


Real protesters, brave ones, risked their lives in The October Revolution.  Moqtada's goon squad just wants to sleep in mass with one another 


It is the hollowest of hollow protests.  And it's also very futile.  


Moqtada is self-presenting as he's keeping the government from being formed and some will believe that.  He's not keeping it from being formed.  The Kurds have to decide on the president which, at this point, they still haven't.  After the president is voted on -- and that has to be done in a gathering but that gathering doesn't have to take place in the official Parliament building and, due to COVID, it could, in fact, take place virtually.  


But should cry baby Moqtada get his way and a new vote be held, he is aware he probably won't get his way then.  Meaning?  Moqtada saw his own cult -- after he instructed them to vote -- turn out in their lowest numbers ever.  Let's say he and his goons were granted a revote that took place this fall.  What has he accomplished to up those numbers?


Nothing.


By contrast, there are a number of non-Sadrists who sat out the vote that now feel they shouldn't have.  It's much more likely that the same low number is all Moqtada will be able to turn out in a re-vote whereas many others could show up to vote.  Equally true, Mustafa al-Kadhimi will be stopped if he tries to prevent the security forces from voting this go round.  He'll be stopped by the court.  He pulled that one out of thin air and surprised observers back in October.  It was announced right before the elections.


There's already a court ruling ready to be released if there's a revote.  He's not going to be able to deny Iraqis from voting this time just because they're close to Iran and just because they're in the security forces.


All security forces were supposed to be entitled to turn out in early voting.  But then Mustafa announced that the paramilitaries couldn't.  These militias were supposed to work election day -- often far from home -- to protect election polling places and then return to their own districts in time to vote before the polls closed.  


It was Mustafa's attempt (goaded by the US government) to prevent the militia members close to Iran from voting.  


It shouldn't have happened -- and a lot of non-Iraqis aren't aware it did because the western press ignored it.  They only care about a fair vote when they're personal pets don't suffer.  I don't like the militias, we were against them ever being made part of the Iraqi military.  But I won't pretend that a fair election took place when they were disenfranchised.


Many did pretend, many western outlets.  They would include the fact that the militias were saying the elections were not fair and then these 'fair' outlets would insist that there was no evidence of fraud.  No evidence?  They were prevented from voting with the rest of the security forces in the early election that is held just for the security forces.  Then they were still expected to protect polling places on election day for their assigned shift -- often requiring several hours of travel to get to the polling place they were assigned -- and were supposed to somehow make it to their own polling place to vote.  


This did not happen by accident.  It was a means to suppress the vote.  


Again, there is already a court ruling in place should this tactic be attempted again.


Most of the electorate that sat out was of the opinion that nothing was changing.


At least a third that sat out for that reason has voiced that they would vote in a revote.  That means a higher turnout.  The Shi'ite militias been enfranchised in a new election means a higher turnout.  


How does a do-over election help Moqtada?


Again, he ordered his subjects to vote.  And he had the lowest turnout he's ever seen.  


He hasn't exactly done anything to impress anyone since the election.  He repeatedly failed to form a government, over and over.  Now he's sending his goon boys into the Green Zone where they are very lucky that security forces are not just opening fire on them.  By the rules, they could.  The Green Zone is a heavily protected area and if you're not supposed, you're not supposed to be there.  If this were The October Revolution entering the Green Zone in 2019, you better believe that they would have been shot on sight.  At some point, that move may be made towards Moqtada's goons.


Should that happen, his cult would have to admit that yet again Moqtada was safe while others were harmed carrying out his actions.  And some of the internal complaints within his cult that really haven't surfaced since he last fled to Iran to hide out would surface.


Moqtada should worry that others have done the calculations I have.  That might explain why the same government that cracks down on real protest in Tahrir Square is allowing AP's Anmar Khalil to take as many pictures as possible.


Moqtada had less of turnout in October than he ever has.  And due to the never-ending corruption, The October Revolution, Mustafa refusing to call elections immediately as he promised he would, and so many other factors, the general population (non-Moqtada supporters) sat out in record number.  By recalculating how they would count turnout, the government saved a little face and managed to call it a 41% turnout of registered voters.  


Non-Moqtada supporters who didn't vote have seen how much havoc failure Moqtada caused -- months and months of being unable to form a government so that Iraq still has no prime minister and still has no president.  And they've seen that when the Coordination Framework (Moqtada's foes) were given the chance, they stepped up with a nominee for prime minister quickly (and that now it's Moqtada trying to block the government from forming).  It's not a surprise that all these months later . . . they would vote in a do-over.  


Where Moqtada gets the idea that he can have a do-over and have it in October 2021, I have no idea.  But it doesn't work that way.  And a do-over would have potential voters thinking this might not be the time to sit it out.  


In the meantime, news value may arrive shortly.  There's a call for a counter-protest.  AP notes:


Al-Sadr's chief rival, former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, the head of the Framework alliance, and Shiite leader Qais al-Khazali, appear to be leading the push for protests. Meanwhile, Fatah Alliance head Hadi al-Ameri is urging control and moderation, two Shiite political officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.

Kataib Hezbollah, another Iran-backed militia group, has also suggested it will not participate.

If the protests escalate, it would be the closest followers of al-Sadr and al-Maliki will come to a confrontation since 2008, when the former prime minister lead Iraq's army to drive the cleric's previous militia, the Mahdi Army, out of the southern city of Basra.


As we noted Saturday, the big news that day wasn't that Moqtada's love goons were occupying the Parliament, the big news was that they had breached the Green Zone again.   EURASIA REVIEW included this, "The demonstrators breached the fortified barriers around the Green Zone, the INA said. The highly-secured Green Zone in the capital is home to several government buildings and diplomatic missions."  THE LIBYAN EXPRESS noted Mohammed al-Halbusi, Speaker of Parliament, "Halbusi also called on Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi to take necessary measures to protect state institutions and demonstrators."

The United Nations also had no trouble noting that the Green Zone was breached:


In a statement issued late Saturday night, the UN chief appealed to all relevant actors “to take immediate steps to de-escalate the situation, avoid any further violence, and ensure the protection of peaceful protesters and State institutions”. 

For the second time in a week, on Saturday protesters stormed the parliament in Baghdad, breaching the high-security Green Zone and injuring more than 120 people, news media reported.

Issue at hand

Following nine months of a political deadlock that has prevented the creation of a new government, on Wednesday hundreds of people first broke into the parliament.

News reports said that the  unrest has been triggered by supporters of Iraqi cleric Muqtada al-Sadr – whose block won the majority of seats last October and who opposes the nomination of a pro-Iran rival candidate for prime minister.

Respect fundamental rights

Mr. Guterres noted that “freedom of expression and peaceful assembly are fundamental rights that must be respected at all times”.

“The Secretary-General urges all parties and actors to rise above their differences and form, through peaceful and inclusive dialogue, an effective national government that will be able to deliver on longstanding demands for reform, without further delay,” the statement concluded.


The White House needs to speak.  Twice last week, the Green Zone was breached.  


Rockets fall in the Green Zone last January and the US State Dept rushes to tell CNN that Americans are safe in the Green Zone.  For the first time ever, a mob has twice broken into the Green Zone and the White House has nothing to say to the public?


Meanwhile ALMADA reports on how nothing has been done to rebuild Sinjar (they're covering a US article, by the way) and they cite former US House Rep Frank Wolf has visited Sinjar repeatedly since it was 'liberated' from ISIS and each time finds no sign of improvement.


In the US, over the weekend we learned Joe Biden had COVID again.  Benajmain Mateus (WSWS) observes:


The turn of events is a setback for the White House, which had hoped to bank on the president’s illness and quick recovery to assure Americans that coronavirus was now a walk in the park, given the use of the current vaccines and anti-viral therapeutics. Biden’s testing positive for COVID again coincides with Dr. Anthony Fauci’s similar rebound in late June, which has many questioning the complication's rarity.

There is a clear sense of damage control on the part of the administration’s health advisers to downplay the “rebound.”  The corporate media cooperated, barely mentioning in the Sunday interview programs that the 79-year-old US president had come down with a second infection from a disease whose most lethal effects have been on his age group.

Nor was anyone so rude as to suggest that having the 81-year-old Nancy Pelosi, second in line of succession to the presidency, traveling to a potential war zone around Taiwan at this time was a reckless endeavor.

Biden left isolation on Wednesday and triumphantly removed his mask before the media and cameras at a staged Rose Garden rally to celebrate his negative test. He boastfully declared his symptoms had always been mild, and his quick recovery was evidence of his administration’s progress in bringing the pandemic to heel. After giving thanks to God for his swift recovery, he said, “The entire time I was in isolation, I was able to work, to carry out the duties of the office without any interruption. It’s a real statement on where we are in the fight against COVID-19.” 

Since declaring his personal victory against the coronavirus, Biden has been recklessly attending public events unmasked, contrary to even the dubious and reckless guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) , which recommends that after five full days after testing positive and without any fevers for at least 24 hours, isolation can be ended, but that a “well-fitting mask must be worn for ten full days any time you are around others inside your home or in public. Do not go to places where you are unable to wear a mask.” The CDC specifically wrote, “If your test is negative, you can end isolation, but continue to wear a well-fitting mask around others at home and in public until day ten.”

Jean-Pierre, when asked why Biden had violated CDC guidelines, particularly when he addressed CEOs during a Thursday meeting at the White House complex, side-stepped the issue by saying, “They were socially distanced. They were far enough apart. So, we made it safe for them to be together, to be on that stage.” Clearly, she didn’t receive the memo that COVID is an airborne pathogen. 

White House officials are, however, conducting extensive contact tracing, which has been essentially abandoned by all public health officials and directly conflicts with the precept being put forward by the White House that every American will get COVID and that the pandemic will be with humanity forever. Apparently, top US government officials deserve greater protection from an infected president than school teachers from children who bring COVID into the classroom.

As for workers in offices, factories, warehouses and other workplaces, Biden’s smug declaration that he was able to work throughout his infection is clearly aimed at setting an example. Stay on the job no matter how sick you are or how many people you may infect!

It is worth recalling that the CDC had halved its isolation guidance back in December 2021 not based on any science but on the behest of Delta Airlines CEO Ed Bastian to decrease the isolation period to five days “to address the potential impact of the current isolation policy” on their bottom dollar. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky noted at the time that her decision to change guidelines were made to “keep the critical functions of society open and operating.” She added, “We can’t take science in a vacuum. We have to put science in the context of how it can be implemented in a functional society.”

In a study published in a preprint in March 2022, Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital found no difference in viral kinetics [length of time someone remains infective] between people infected with Delta or Omicron with non-severe symptoms regardless of vaccine status. The authors wrote, “Over 50 percent of individuals had a replication-competent, culturable virus at day five, and 25 percent had a culturable virus at day eight.” 



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