The common refrain from the left is that
corporate censorship is not a limit on free speech
because the First Amendment only addresses
government limits on speech. That not only maximizes
the power of corporations but minimizes the
definition of free speech. Free speech is not
exclusively contained in the First Amendment. It
includes the full range of speech in society in both
private and public forums. Yet, liberals — who once
opposed the recognition of corporate free speech
rights in cases like Citizen’s
United — are now great advocates for corporate
speech rights, in order to justify the censorship of
opposing views.
Social media companies are not just any
businesses, however. They were created as neutral
platforms for communication between people when they
were given special immunity from lawsuits. Yet these
corporations now control an enormous amount of
public discourse and have become a rising threat to
the democratic process, expanding their authority to
frame the debate on issues ranging from climate
change to gender identity, from election fraud to
public health. You must espouse the “truth” as
established by these companies on certain questions
or risk being banned as “misinformation spreaders.”
Indeed, Psaki this week insisted that once people
are banned by one company, they
should be banned from all social media companies.
If these trends continue, citizens could find
themselves effectively exiled by order of corporate
governors — unable to travel or go to school while
also barred from espousing dissenting views on
social media. They would, effectively, be
“disappeared” within a shadow state that lacks any
electoral or appellate process — a dystopian brave
new world that could become all too real if we allow
elected officials to use corporate surrogates to
control the essential aspects of our lives.
Decades after Teddy Roosevelt’s warning about
corporate control, his cousin Franklin — a Democrat
— warned that the “first truth is that the liberty
of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate
the growth of private power to a point where it
becomes stronger than their democratic state
itself.” That warning is worth repeating — indeed,
worth tweeting … if Twitter will allow it.
We are at a very dangerous place in our history with regards to free speech.
Monday, July 26, 2021. The day of the meet-up is finally upon us,
look for the US media to whore on Iraq and then quickly drop the topic.
Just like they always do.
Finally, the day is upon
us. Iraq's prime minister Mustfa al-Kadhimi is in the United States and
will meet with President Joe Biden later today. Mustafa has been
puffing out his chest and declaring that Iraq does not need US "combat
troops." So troops leave? No, "combat troops." Weasel words. Mustafa
wants US troops to remain in Iraq, he just wants them to be called
something other than combat troops. On NPR's UPFRONT this morning, Ruth Sherlock explained,
"Analysts say this is actually more about [politics and diplomacy than
any real change on the ground for now. They see this as almost window
dressing to help the Iraqi prime minister with domestic politics back in
Iraq."
AFP refers to Mustafa as a "weakened leader" and notes, "Technically, there are no actual combat troops on the ground in Iraq,
where the US military has officially only deployed advisors or trainers."
ALJAZEERA pretends something is really going to take place in the meet-up.
As
Ruth Sherlock notes in her audio report, even US military brass are
saying that there is no real change taking place. But so many want to
pretend otherwise, don't they?
Douglas A. Silliman was the last US Ambassador to Iraq under then-President Barack Obama. He spoke last week with KURIDSTAN 24.
Across
Twitter you find fools and liars (and paid whores) perpetuating the lie
that US troops are leaving Iraq. That's not the case. Troops will not
be called "combat troops." There is not expected to be any real change
in numbers.
This is a shell game and con artists and
dupes are required for shell games to work. Saddest of all may be the
ones posing as Iraqis (Iraq's tiny Jewish population today does not
allow for me to be that persons with Jewish first names and last names
are Iraqis) who invoke the name of Allah to lie about what's taking
place.
If you're going to waste US taxpayer dollars on Twitter efforts at least hire more convincing people.
In October, elections are supposed to be held and this
latest spin and garbage is an attempt to help build support for
Mustafa's weakened government.
Mustafa's statements are similar to those made by Fuad Hussein, Foreign Minister of Iraq, to THE WALL ST JOURNAL. THE TEHRAN TIMES noted, "According to the American newspaper, the purpose of the statement,
current and former officials said, is to enable the Iraqi leader to
blunt the political pressure from Shiite factions who want all of the
approximately 2,500 American troops in the country to depart, while
maintaining U.S. support for Iraqi security forces."
As
elections approach, Shi'ite cleric, goon squad head and one-time
movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr pouted that he would sit out the
process. At THE NEW ARAB, Azhar al-Rubaie notes reactions to Moqtada's tantrum,
“Muqtada al-Sadr withdrew from the next
election just in the media, but nothing is official,” Ahmed Sameer, a
35-year-old Basra-based resident told The New Arab.
“The Sadrists run the Ministry of Health
and Ministry of Electricity and both sectors have corruption, so his
announcement was to clean up his movement after getting a bad reputation
since they won the majority of parliament seats,” he added.
“I will never vote for anyone in the next
elections, we all hope that Iraq will be ruled by a good person but
unfortunately all of them have an affiliation to outside [powers],
mostly supported by Iran-backed wings,” said Sameer.
He added: “The government, with or without
al-Sadr, will do nothing in favour of the people, they work in their
own favour, they have run Iraq for more than 18 years. What will they
bring to us? They bring us poverty, crime, corruption, and zero
services”.
For political analyst and activist Ghanim al-Abid, Sadr’s withdrawal leaves many unanswered questions as to his motivations.
“The Sadrist movement’s withdrawal from
the early elections has raised many question marks, considering that the
Sadrist movement was keen to hold the elections on time,” he told The New Arab.
The Iraqi government is a failure. It is unable to deliver even the basics such as potable water and electricity.
The US-Iraqi statement is expected to detail a number of non-military agreements related to health, energy and other matters.
The United States plans to provide Iraq
with 500,000 doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine under the
global COVAX vaccine-sharing program, the senior administration official
said.
The United States will also provide $5.2 million to help fund a UN mission to monitor October elections in Iraq.
In other news, Rania Khalek Tweets:
1/ After being in Iraq 2 weeks ago when the electrical grid shut down, I found the following passages in Neta C Crawford’s “Accountability for Killing” about the aftermath of America’s 1991 war on Iraq enlightening (no pun intended).
Destroying Iraq’s electricity was intentional
2/ US military leaders openly viewed destruction of Iraq’s electricity as “psychological warfare … exceptionally valuable in creating the system wide strategic paralysis we wanted to impose on Iraq … the Iraqi people would overthrow their government if they felt enough pain.”
3/ US leaders said destroying Iraq’s electricity “gives us long-term leverage …we wanted to let people know, ‘Get rid of this guy & we’ll be more than happy to assist in rebuilding. We’re not going to tolerate Saddam Hussein or his regime. Fix that & we’ll fix your electricity.”
4/ The logic behind destroying 88% of Iraq’s electricity infrastructure in 1991 was cruel & criminal. It’s also the same exact logic behind crippling sanctions today on Syria, Venezuela, Cuba & Iran: To intentionally cause pain & suffering as political leverage for regime change.
I watched that with C.I. and was thinking I needed to highlight it here. Then the man said "Free speech is at risk," and I knew I'd have to note it.
I also need to note George Ezra's "Blind Man In Amsterdam."
I have become a huge George Ezra fan in the last year or so.
Gretch The Wretch? The awful governor was supposedly a kidnap target in 2020. We have since learned it was, at best, an FBI-goaded plot. More problems for that case? Jonathan Turley explains:
The arrest of an FBI agent would always be newsworthy. Richard Trask
of Kalamazoo has gone from making cases to being a case for prosecution.
He faces up to ten years for allegedly assaulting his wife with intent
to do great bodily harm. However, Trask was also key to the arrest of
men in the alleged plot to kidnap Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. Those
defendants — and some observers — have criticized the FBI for entrapping
the men by pushing them into the conspiracy and facilitating their
efforts. The question is whether Trask’s arrest could undermine those
cases. The answer is yes.
There are legitimate concerns over the role of the FBI in the
planning and preparation for this alleged conspiracy. As a criminal
defense attorney, I have long been a critic of the degree to which the
FBI often pushes defendants to take actions to trigger criminal charges.
However, it is very difficult to make a case for entrapment and the
agents know that.
In the Michigan case, six men are charged with a conspiracy that involved kidnapping Whitmer but news outlets like BuzzFeed News
have raised serious concerns over how much of the conspiracy was
directed and facilitated by the FBI. At every critical juncture, agents
like Trask appear to push the effort along, even overcoming reluctance
of the alleged conspirators. That includes calling meetings where the
conspirators first met and structuring the planning stage for the crime.
The FBI even paid for room and foods to keep the planning going.
Reportedly, the FBI informant ultimately rose to second in command of
the conspiracy.
Courts look to two elements in entrapment cases. While the government
can encourage criminal conspirators, the courts ask whether the offense
was induced by a government agent and whether “the defendant was
disposed to commit the criminal act prior to first being approached by
Government agents.” In Jacobson v. United States, 503 U.S. 540
(1992), the Court ruled that a Nebraska man convicting of receiving
child pornography through the mail was entrapped.
Gretch The Wretch. Pretty much everything is fake, no surprise that a kidnap plot targeting her would be fake as well.
Friday, July 23, 2021. A bill moves forward in the US Senate
alarming some, DoD preps for Monday's big White House visit, and much
more.
We all move a little more towards justice and a
just society by events of this week. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's
office issued the following yesterday:
Following Nearly Ten Years of Relentless Advocacy,
Gillibrand’s Bipartisan Military Justice Improvement and Increasing
Prevention Act Added to the Senate NDAA; Gillibrand Also Successfully
Pushed To Include IRC Recommendations to Improve Climate for Sexual
Assault Survivors, Expanded Access To Health Care and Mental Health
Services, And Deadline for PFAS Testing at DoD Facilities
Today, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, a senior member of the
Senate Armed Services Committee and Chair of the Personnel Subcommittee,
announced that several of her provisions were included in the
Committee-passed National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal
Year 2022. As the leading advocate on military sexual assault reform in
the Senate, Gillibrand successfully pushed for the inclusion of her
bipartisan Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act (MJIIPA). She
also secured several provisions that would improve the quality of life
of service members and their families, including an across-the-board pay
increase for service members and civilian DoD employees, expanded
access to health care and mental health services, and the implementation
of IRC recommendations to improve the climate for sexual assault
survivors in the military.
“Congress has a responsibility to make sure we provide our service members with greater flexibility, stability, and support - and today, we delivered,” said Senator Gillibrand, chair of the Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee. “After nearly a decade of advocacy, I am grateful that this year’s National Defense Authorization Act contains the Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act,
which I introduced earlier this year, and which will move the
prosecution of sexual assault and serious crimes from the chain of
command to independent, trained, professional military prosecutors. In
addition, I am proud to have fought for and successfully included
several provisions in the FY22 NDAA that will give our service members,
their spouses, and their children access to better child care, pay, and a
military justice system worthy of their sacrifice. These monumental
programs and provisions are now on their way to becoming law.”
Below is a description of Gillibrand’s provisions included in this year’s NDAA:
Amendments to Implement
the Independent Review Commission (IRC) on Sexual Assault in the
Military’s Recommendations on Prevention, Climate and Culture, and
Victim Care and Support
Prevention of Sexual Assault and Harassment: This provision
implements all of the IRC’s recommendations on the prevention of sexual
assault in the military, including comprehensive, commonsense prevention
policies to create a robust data-based prevention infrastructure in the
military and National Guard to combat a permissive culture of sexual
assault and harassment. Specifically, this provision establishes a
dedicated primary prevention workforce and implements community-level
prevention strategies unique to the environment of service members.
Changing Climate and Culture: This provision implements the
Climate and Culture recommendations of the IRC, which would codify and
direct the use of sexual harassment and assault metrics as a part of
readiness tracking and reporting. It would also educate the force on
sexual harassment and assault, use qualitative data to select and
evaluate leaders being considered for command positions, and enforce the
2017 National Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) Act.
Victim Care and Support: According to the IRC, victims are
less likely to come forward and report a case of sexual assault or
harassment due to lack of support and fear of retaliation and
mistreatment by the military community. This provision would
professionalize and separate the Sexual Assault Response Coordinator
Program from the chain of command. It would improve victim care
infrastructure and support by expanding the victim care workforce and
service options to meet the needs of all sexual assault and harassment
survivors. It would implement the “No Wrong Door” approach to sexual
harassment and domestic abuse, which is a systemic approach to providing
health care and trauma response to ensure those seeking help are
directed to the right resources and receive better, more consistent
care. This provision will help foster an environment where victims feel
comfortable coming forward and supported during recovery.
Paid Parental Leave
Senator Gillibrand supported Senator Duckworth in her fight to ensure
that all service members are able to access paid parental leave that
will lead to more stable, healthy military families and, ultimately,
better retention, recruitment, and readiness. Increasing access to
parental leave has proven to have long-term positive effects on the
strength of both parent-child and spousal relationships. Currently, many
service members only receive 2-3 weeks of parental leave, and foster
parents do not receive any form of paid parental leave. This amendment
authorizes up to 12 weeks of parental leave for all service members in
the case of birth, adoption, or long-term foster placement of a child.
This provision will allow service members to care for their families and
take time for themselves during a critical adjustment period and will
help them achieve long-term success, both professionally and personally.
Reporting on the Use of Non-Judicial Punishment
Currently, there is no service-wide tracking of the use of
non-judicial punishment and the DoD is unable to provide widespread
demographic data on its use by commanders. Without this information,
Congress is unable to do its constitutionally mandated responsibility of
oversight when data is not available. This amendment, which had
bipartisan support, would require a statistical analysis of the
demographic data of the accused, commander and victim as well as
information on the offense, investigation and adjudication at
court-martial.
Pay Raise for Military Members
The Senate NDAA, supported by Senator Gillibrand, provides a 2.7% pay raise for service members and the DoD workforce.
Military Child Care
Along with Senator Duckworth, Senator Gillibrand pushed to include
funding that will improve the quality and availability of child care
services for service members and their families. The FY22 National
Defense Authorization Act includes funding to encourage the military
services to seek out creative solutions to solve child care availability
challenges, including exploring options to create public-private
partnerships to increase capacity and availability of quality child care
for service members and their dependents and meet the real-life needs
of military families. Service members can defer their parental leave to a
later year if occupied with a professional circumstance that is deemed
reasonable and appropriate.
PFAS
Gillibrand successfully pushed to include critical per- and
polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) provisions in the final NDAA
negotiations. Earlier this year, she introduced the Filthy Fifty Act,
which would help expedite the testing, cleanup, removal, and
remediation of PFAS at all U.S. military installations and State-owned
National Guard facilities by setting testing and cleanup deadlines for
PFAS remediation at the most contaminated DoD sites in the country. The
bill establishes a list of “priority installations” with 50 bases in the
U.S. that have among the highest detections of PFAS. The FY22 NDAA
included three provisions modeled after this important piece of
legislation, including a provision to establish a two-year deadline for
the DoD to complete testing for PFAS at all currently identified
military installations and National Guard facilities. Gillibrand also
secured a provision that requires the DoD to submit a report to Congress
with the status of efforts to remediate PFAS at 50 priority
installations, matching those listed in the Filthy Fifty Act,
that are among the most contaminated with PFAS. The final provision
establishes a schedule with proposed deadlines to complete PFAS
remediation at all military bases, National Guard facilities, and
formerly used defense sites that have been identified as having a PFAS
release related to DoD activities.
U.S-Israel Cooperative Missile Defense
Senator Gillibrand secured $500,000,000 in the Senate text for
U.S.-Israel cooperative missile defense programs, which will assist in
the development of short, medium, and long-range missile defense systems
to protect Israeli citizens. This funding is in line with the 2016
Memorandum of Understanding that includes funding for the Iron Dome,
David’s Sling and Arrow programs.
Assessment and Treatment of Traumatic Brain Injury or Havana Syndrome
Havana Syndrome is the term given to the anomalous health conditions
that were first experienced by the U.S. Embassy staff in Havana, Cuba in
2016. Gillibrand secured $30 million for the Defense Health Program to
improve the understanding and treatment of Havana Syndrome. This funding
and language would provide any U.S. government employee and their
family members experiencing symptoms access to the National Intrepid
Center of Excellence at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for
assessment in a timely manner.
Military Health Care
The bill authorizes coverage of preconception and prenatal carrier
screening tests for certain medical conditions under the TRICARE
program. It also directs the Secretary of Defense to report to Congress
on the increase of TRICARE co-pays for Group A beneficiaries. The
increased co-pays have resulted in higher costs for service members
seeking mental health care and speech, physical, and occupational
therapy. Additionally, the DoD is expected to develop a plan to ensure
that when beneficiaries are referred for mental health care they receive
direct assistance in identifying appropriate mental health providers
within the direct care system or TRICARE network. A 2020 DoD IG report
revealed barriers that have led to delays, and in some cases, the
inability to receive coverage.
Digital Service Academy
Senator Gillibrand recognizes that the development of digital and
technical talent is essential to our national security and innovation
needs, and will only grow increasingly essential in the decades to come.
To that end, she secured language directing the Secretary of Defense to
assess the Department of Defense’s cyber and information operation
requirements that includes an assessment of developing a National Cyber
Academy to train military and civilian personnel.
Military Justice
Senator Gillibrand is the lead advocate in the Senate for improving
the military justice system. Her bipartisan legislation, the Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act (MJIIPA), would
move the prosecution of sexual assault and serious crimes from the
chain of command to independent, trained, professional military
prosecutors. MJIIPA was included in this year’s NDAA, along with several
amendments based on recommendations offered by the Independent Review
Commission. Along with these reforms, several of Senator Gillibrand’s
military justice provisions were also included in the bill, including
the following:
Creates an exception to the Privacy Act to allow victims of crimes
to receive information on the administrative adjudication of their
case.
Authorizes the Department of Defense Safe Helpline to receive sexual
assault reports in both unrestricted and restricted forms, and to
provide support to victims making such reports.
Requires the Secretary of Defense to designate an office to track
allegations of retaliation by victims of sexual assault or sexual
harassment.
Requires the Secretary of Defense to include information on race and
ethnicity of victims and accused to the maximum extent practicable in
the annual Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO) Report.
This allows for the exclusion of such information, if necessary, based
on privacy concerns, impacts on accountability efforts, or other matters
of importance, as determined by the Secretary of Defense.
Directs the Secretary of Defense to conduct a legal review to
determine the constitutionality of UCMJ Article 52 in light of the
Supreme Court decision in Ramos v. Louisiana, holding that the Sixth
Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires unanimous verdicts for
criminal convictions in State criminal trials. Article 52 of the UCMJ
only requires concurrence of three-fourths of the members present to
convict an accused person on a non-capital offense.
Burn Pits
Throughout the preceding decades of deployments, more than three
million service members have been exposed to toxins due to the
widespread use of burn pits in deployed environments, with many
subsequently developing cancers and respiratory diseases. The cause of
these illnesses goes unrecognized because doctors fail to connect the
toxic exposure with their symptoms. This provision will require
Department of Defense doctors to be trained on the signs of toxic
exposure in order to receive the appropriate treatment and coverage for
these service-connected injuries.
Civilian Access to Special Victim Prosecutors
Victim attorneys have become an invaluable part of the military
justice system and ensure the survivors have a trusted guide through
every stage of the process, from report through appeals, and cannot be
denied this valuable service. Under this provision, Special Victim
Counsel and Victims’ Legal Counsel are now authorized to provide victim
services to all civilian victims of alleged sex-related offenses
committed by a member of the military. Civilian victims are much less
likely to see their case adjudicated and would benefit greatly from
legal representation throughout the process.
Sexual Assault Response Coordinator (SARC) Military Occupational Specialty (MOS)
In response to the Fort Hood Independent Review Committee, this
provision tasks the Department of Defense with evaluating options for
establishing a Sexual Assault Response Coordinator (SARC) military
operational specialty (MOS) and reporting its findings and
recommendations to Congress.
Equality in the Selective Service
Senator Gillibrand advocated for the modernization of the Selective
Service System to include all persons instead of only males, based on
the recommendation of the congressionally-mandated National Commission
on Military, National, and Public Service in their Inspired to Serve report. This provision will amend the Selective Service Act
to require women to register for selective service. This will ensure
gender equality for selective service by having men and women share the
responsibility of defense of the United States.
The New York Democrat’s bill—euphemistically misnamed the Military Justice Improvement and Increasing Prevention Act—would strip the authority from military commanders
to enforce good order and discipline for those under their command.
That, of course, is essential to accomplishing the mission.
Oh,
stick each other's members in your mouths and suck. You don't have
anything worth saying. Especially true of Tommy who acheived ranking
status in the US military but never did a damn thing with that rank to
address justice and still doesn't.
We're talking about
crimes here and a military system that has tolerated them. It has
looked the other way. Here's ar eality for the two little boys jerking
off in public, military commanders are not and should not be in charge
of legal justice. Where is the check and balance? No where to be
found. If someone commits a crime, they should be punished but for far
too long military commanders have protected 'favored sons' and for too
long they have not treated issues like beating a spouse as a crime.
They are the problem. Those type of commanders as well as Tiny Tommy and Little Cully.
What message is sent when the rules -- laws -- are not followed?
Too
many commanders think they're above the law and that they make the
law. They do not. THey're not members of Congress. They're not even
supposed to interpret the law -- they're not part of the judicial
branch. But over and over they have acted as such and the effects have
been toxic and deadly.
We all get that a church
shooting most likely would not have happened if the military followed
the law instead of acting as though it was above it, right?
Do you care about gun control? What I do not understand is why there is
always a push for more laws. Seems to me that the problem is more that
the laws aren't enforced. Case in point, Davin Kelley. No, not the
actress. This is the man who shot up the church in Sutherland Springs,
Texas on November 5, 2017. He left 25 people dead another 20 injured.
He never should have had a gun. He was in the military and was
'convicted' while in the Air Force. But military justice thinks it's
above the law. So they didn't follow the law, the US military didn't.
Though he was convicted of a violent crime by 'military justice' --
domestic violence -- the Air Force did not turn the conviction over to
the FBI. Had they done so, he wouldn't have been allowed to have a gun.
That was my 'opinion.' Today, that became the way it is because a
court ruled. AP reports:
A
federal judge has ruled that the U.S. Air Force is mostly responsible
for a former serviceman killing more than two dozen people at a Texas
church in 2017 because it failed to submit his criminal history into a
database, which should have prevented him from purchasing firearms.
U.S. District Judge Xavier Rodriguez in San Antonio wrote in a ruling
signed Wednesday that the Air Force was “60% responsible" for the deaths
and injuries at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs. The attack
remains the worst mass shooting in Texas history.
So if the military had done their job, the terror might not have taken
place. They should pay for this, they should be financially liable.
And this should make us grasp that military burying convictions for rape
and domestic abuse in the ranks is a danger to our society.
The military's refusal to follow US law has very real consequences.
And
most Americans are unaware to this day of what the military was doing
in the '00s to control (lower) the numbers of actual assault. They
weren't working to stop assault, please understand. They were working
to hide assault and to protect rapists. Raped by a military member?
Well how about we put you over here in this secret group and then no one
ever knows that your rapist never faced punishment and are statistics
we report are lower than the actual numbers. This was sold as a program
to help survivors. I sat in disbelief the day in Congress when a bitch
-- yeah, they got a woman to front that program -- with DoD babbled on
about how this helped women.
Now I can be wrong and
often am. Before I dicated that day's snapshot, I called three friends
whose expertise is rape counseling. They were shocked by what I was
saying and they had me reqad quotes to them from the DoD Queen Bee. No,
that program wouldn't help survivors and no one had bothered to include
any expert on rape because this wasn't about empowering, this was about
furthering silence, this was about imposing shame on the survivors.
They weren't being lifted up, they were being told to be silent, they
were being told to hide what happened to them.
Do the two tiny-dicked boys want to address that? Or did The Heritage Foundation not hand them a talking point for that?
Time
and again, the culture in the military has been ignored. It's a toxic
environment. That's why we have to say Post-Traumatic Stress here. If
you attach "disorder" to it, you're going to not reach a number of
people -- current members and veterans -- because a disorder is just not
something natural and it's a failing on the individual and blah blah
blah.
It's why efforts to combat military and veteran suicides continue to struggle.
The
culture itself is the problem. I'm not talking about going to war --
I'm not in favor of war -- I'm talking about the system that's in place
whether we're talking pace time service, combat or training roles in the
world.
It's why, in the middle of the Iraq War, a US
soldier, Steven D. Green, and four of his buddies, all stationed in
Iraq, could plot to gang-rape a 14-year-old girl, could plot to leave
base in the middle of the night for several hours, break into Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi ;'s home.
It's
why they thought that was something that they could get away with.
That they could break into the home, kill her five-year-old sister, kill
both of her parents, gang-rape her, murder her and then try to set her
body on fire to hide their crimes.
The two tiny dicked
boys Tommy and Cully don't know a damn thing about that and don't care
about it. They've never felt threatened and they don't really see
assault as a crime, if they did they wouldn't write such garbage.
US
military commanders are not members of three branches of the federal
government. They should not be allowed to act as though they are. A
crime is c rime. It should be treated the same in the civilian world
and the military world.
The little fellows pose as
caring about survivors but they miss the point even when they have the
space to make it. They miss the point that it's not just rape. They
don't even bring up domestic abuse. Because that's how little they
care. As they themselves are admitting -- without grasping it -- if a
man beats his wife with a tire iron but he's necessary for some
potential mission some day, the commander can give him a slap on the
wrist under the current system.
And, I reject, we all
should reject, the notion that some special skill that might be needed
some day means a commander can excuse assault or abuse.
The
little boys babble on but don't seem to grasp that this action sends a
message and says that certain crimes will be tolerated and ignored.
That sends a message. And do you really want someone in war, to inflict
that person on a unit, when he can't follow the basic laws? Maybe you
do. But don't pretend this is about team morale.
The decision to prosecute sexual assault or other serious crimes such
as kidnapping or murder would be made by military attorneys outside a
unit's chain of command under an agreement reached by the Senate Armed
Services Committee late Wednesday.
The panel, deliberating a proposed $740 billion defense policy bill
this week, agreed to include all provisions of New York Sen. Kirsten
Gillibrand's Military Justice Improvement Act, which calls for removing
prosecutorial decisions for serious crimes that aren't inherently
related to military service from unit commanders.
While there's success in the Senate, in Nancy Pelosi's House, there's so much lack of organization
that you truly have to wonder if there is a living Speaker of the
House? Maybe if she could stop trying to get press and start doing the
job (one she's too old for), the House Democrats wouldn't be struggling
to figure ou what they're going to do?
In other news, we'll note this from the US Defense Dept:
Immediate Release
Readout of the U.S.-Iraq Military Technical Talks, as Part of the U.S.-Iraq Strategic Dialogue
July 22, 2021
Pentagon Press Secretary John F. Kirby provided the following readout:
Dr. Mara Karlin, Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for
International Security Affairs, hosted Qassem al-Araji, Iraq National
Security Advisor; Staff General al-Shimary, Deputy Commander of the
Joint Operations Center – Iraq; and a military delegation from the
Government of Iraq for the next iteration of the U.S.-Iraq Military
Technical Talks, as part of the U.S.-Iraq Strategic Dialogue.
During the meeting, both parties reaffirmed the importance of the
U.S.-Iraq bilateral security relationship, their shared commitment to
the D-ISIS mission, and the need for U.S. and Coalition to be able to
safely support the Iraqi Security Forces. They also discussed the
long-term U.S.-Iraq security cooperation partnership and areas for
cooperation beyond counterterrorism.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III joined the delegation,
reiterated his commitment to the Defeat-ISIS mission, and reaffirmed his
steadfast support for the U.S.-Iraq strategic partnership.
Monday,
Iraq's prime minister, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, is set to meet with the
president of the Untied States, Joe Biden. In October, elections are
supposed to be held in Iraq. Mustafa wants a second term. The CIA
wants Mustafa to have a second term.
How do they generate excitement about someone who is a complete failure?
Maybe that's why Mustafa is visiting Joe? For tips?
Oh, we kid. We joke.
Mustafa
is supposed to be the 'victor' who gets US troops out of Iraq and a
whorish and lying press is happy to pretend that will take place.
If
any troops leave, it will be some, not all. We've seen this before.
"Combat troops." That's who is leaving if anyone leaves. Iraq is a
combat zone. That was already established years ago. If you're in Iraq
and you're a US service member, you are in combat.
But
the ones who remain -- if a deal is struck -- will be called "trainers"
and that will allow them to lie and claim US troops are out of Iraq.
They won't be.
Some may go with "combat troops" are out.
Is journalism supposed to obscure or enlighten and inform?
An
Iraqi social media influencer has attracted the attention of top
officials in Washington with a plea to President Joe Biden to help him
seek refuge outside of the country.
High
school pupil Ali Adil, 17, has been using social media platforms for
the last five years to convey the struggles of young Iraqis as they
experience few employment opportunities, electricity cuts, poor public
services and deteriorating security.
His
effort to publicise his plight was spotted by a top US diplomat in the
Middle East, Joey Hood, acting assistant secretary at the Bureau of Near
Eastern Affairs.
In
his latest video posted on Instagram, Ali is seen standing on a rooftop
on a hot summer's day with the sound of gunshots in the background,
telling Mr Biden that he will “commit suicide and jump from the
building” if he does not receive help from Washington.
“Biden
if you don’t help me I will jump, I’m not joking with you, I’m on the
rooftop, if you don’t help me I will die, can you hear the fire in the
background? This is normal in Iraq,” the teenager said.
In addition to the global pandemic, there
is widespread unemployment in Iraq, failing public services due to
widespread political corruption and ongoing security concerns.
Protests have continued in the country since 2019 over various issues including frequent electricity shortages and power outages and lack of accountability for the targeting of activists.
Acting
Assistant Secretary at the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs Joey Hood
picked up on the video, recording his own response: "Please Allawi, we
in America love you, do not jump, I'm not Joe Biden, but Joey Hood, and
life is precious."
"Iraq needs you;
your voice is important for Iraq, I cannot bring you to the US but if I
ever visit Iraq I'll make sure to see you."
Joey Hood, acting assistant secretary of the US State Department
Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, later responded to Adil, pleading with
him not to jump.
“We in America love you,” Hood said, encouraging the young Iraqi to vote in elections to change the country’s future.
Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al Kadhimi hosted Adil at his office in
Baghdad on Wednesday, stressing that he told the young man he had
“complete freedom” to criticize the government.
