Jake
Tapper has people who hate him. I don't happen to hate him. I think,
for a mainstream journalist, he tries harder than most to be fair. So he is in the news:
CNN
host Jake Tapper is moving out of the 9 p.m. Eastern time spot he
briefly occupied in the cable news channel’s prime-time lineup.
He
is slated to exit that post after the midterm elections, which take
place Nov. 8. Tapper will continue doing his afternoon program “The
Lead,” which he started in 2013.
“As
part of a special lineup, Jake agreed to anchor the 9 (p.m.) hour
through the midterm elections,” a network spokesman said in a statement
to the New York Daily News. “At the completion of that schedule, he’ll
be returning to his award-winning program ‘The Lead.’ We will announce
post-election plans for that time slot in the coming days.”
Good. I didn't think that slot was a good fit for him. He shouldn't be on past 7:00 pm. He's news focused.
On
that, it's really past time that CNN rethought their night schedule.
For years, Larry King's talk show anchored it. Larry is dead but it's
really past time that they went back to that sort of live talk show.
Sometimes, they can have celebrities, sometimes news makers, sometimes
journalists can be the guest to talk about the events of the day. Also,
it should be a call-in show, like Larry did.
There
is way too much political yammering at night. Excuse me, partisan
yammering at night. An old school talk show would probably be seen as a
relief to many viewers. It is worth a try.
I
do not want a political stooge, no Jimmy Kimmel, or Colbert or other
partisan garbage. A talk show where people can relax and maybe learn a
little.
I would not suggest Jake
for that. He's a news person and he needs to continue doing hard news
programming. It's his strength and his gift. I don't have as many nice
things to say about Andrea Mitchell but it would be like wasting her in
non-news spot.
CNN’s new-look morning show needs an early jolt of caffeine. The ratings are in for “CNN This Morning” with Don Lemon,
Poppy Harlow, and Kaitlan Collins, and they got off to a rough start,
lagging behind not only rivals like “Fox & Friends” and “Morning
Joe” but also its predecessor on CNN, “New Day.”
The
problem is Don Lemon. That is not, "Fire him!" That is talk to him
about what he needs to project. A morning show is not a night show.
People are waking up and they want to like the people they wake up
with. Don can be likeable. He's got the added bonus that he's
attractive. But he needs to stop thinking he's doing news. He's not.
He's there to joke and laugh -- generic jokes, jokes that may make
viewers grown -- they're fine with that. He's trying to act like he's
hard news and that's not the morning show.
It
reminds me of when ABC, CBS and NBC all landed their first interview
with Diana Spencer after she became Princess Diana. She was in the US
and she was willing to talk to all the press. (I don't have C.I.'s
memory, watch this turn out to be Prince Charles after their wedding --
Prince Charles being on all three morning shows.)
The rule was not to ask about certain topics. Two morning hosts followed it. One did not. The network let that woman go.
No
one wanted to watch a British princess be grilled in the morning. But
one woman thought she was going to prove her news bonafides and all she
demonstrated was that she did not belong on morning network TV.
"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):
Thursday, November 3, 2022. Joe Biden delivers a national address
about the state of the economy and -- No, just joking. He goes on the
national airwaves to try to turn out the vote for the Democratic Party.
In Iraq, the stalemate be over but other problems continue -- such as
an MP dying in the Parliament building.
Tuesday, Jake Johnson (COMMON DREAMS) reported:
A group of 10 congressional Democrats and
Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday asked Federal Reserve Chair
Jerome Powell to estimate how many millions of U.S. workers will be out
of a job next year due to the central bank's rate-hiking frenzy, which
is expected to continue this week as the Federal Open Market Committee
meets to discuss further increases.
In a letter
led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Rep. Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.),
the lawmakers point specifically to Powell's "disturbing warning to
American families" in August
that "they should expect 'pain' over the coming months as the Fed takes
'forceful and rapid steps' to 'get supply and demand back into
alignment... by slowing the economy.'"
"You continue to double down on your commitment to 'act aggressively'
with interest rate hikes and 'keep at it until it's done,' even if
'[n]o one knows whether this process will lead to a recession or if so,
how significant that recession would be,'" the letter reads, further
quoting the Fed chair. "These statements reflect an apparent disregard
for the livelihoods of millions of working Americans, and we are deeply
concerned that your interest rate hikes risk slowing the economy to a
crawl while failing to slow rising prices that continue to harm
families."
The letter, also signed by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.)
and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), was sent as Fed policymakers convened
in the nation's capital to decide on the size of the next interest rate
increase, which is set to be announced Wednesday. A 75-basis-point hike
is widely expected, marking the fourth consecutive increase of that size
even as a growing chorus of experts and analysts raise concerns about mass job loss.
As expected, the Fed announced a hike on Wednesday. Brett Wilkins (COMMON DREAMS) notes:
Accountable.US spokesperson Liz Zelnick noted in a statement
that "a chorus of economic experts have warned hiking interest rates
again is a recipe for millions of Americans receiving pink slips, yet
the Fed has decided to triple down on what is not working."
"Throughout the pandemic, the Fed should have been acting as stewards of
the fragile economic recovery but instead have prioritized demands from
big banks, hedge funds, and other Wall Street special interests at the
great expense of average working families," she contended.
Last
night, Joe Biden addressed the nation. Did the US president finally
talk to the American people about the awful economy? Nope. Did he
explain how his actions were taking us to the brink of nuclear war? No,
he continues to save that conversation for fundraisers. Eric London (WSWS) explains he talked about 'threats' to democracy, "If only the president and the party controlling both houses of Congress
had the power to do more than wish away the threat of fascism! He was in
effect telling American voters, send more Democrats to Washington
although they can do nothing about the danger of dictatorship."
Remember America, we have nothing to fear but . . . everyone!!!!
Not exactly FDR but it's Joe after all. If he's standing and his dentures don't slip in his mouth we call it a win.
Back to Eric London:
Biden’s speech was riven with contradictions. This is the product of
the Democratic Party’s desire to avoid saying anything that might (1)
trigger the development of protests from below against the far-right
threat or (2) undermine the “bipartisan unity” the Biden administration
requires to prosecute US imperialism’s war against Russia in Ukraine.
He
asserted that those who wish to disrupt the vote are a “tiny minority”
of American society, yet he stated that they pose a massive threat to
the entire country. He twice said that “MAGA Republicans” represent
“only a minority of that party” but said that Republicans are running
over 300 candidates for office who “question not only the legitimacy of
past elections, but elections now and in the future.” He said, “We can’t
take democracy for granted any longer” but professed blind confidence
that “democracy will prevail.”
But most importantly, Biden’s
speech presented a version of American “democracy” that has nothing to
do with the social reality confronting masses of people. To the extent
that this is the presentation the Democrats make of the current
state of American democracy, they will fail miserably to mobilize
popular support for it. Polls showing the likelihood that Republicans
will win the House testify to this danger.
“America is not a
zero-sum society,” Biden said, adding that “America is big enough for
everyone to succeed.” But three billionaires have as much wealth as the
poorest 160 million people.
“We
should leave no one behind,” Biden said, even though hundreds of
thousands go homeless every night, a majority of the working class is a
paycheck away from poverty and one million people have been left behind
to die of COVID-19 so far in the US alone.
America is ruled by
“the people,” Biden declared. In America “the aspirations of the many”
prevail over “the power of the few.” It is not an “autocracy,” where
“one interest” controls society. Who does he think he is kidding? There
are two political parties, and both are controlled by Wall Street.
Biden’s
concern about election fraud is real. But the truth of the matter is
that polls show Republicans might win back the Congress even without
committing fraud. The fact that this is even possible shows the
Democratic Party has been totally incapable of mobilizing the population
against the Republicans’ ongoing plot. Inflation is nearing 10 percent,
the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates in order to slash real
wages, and the Biden administration is working tirelessly with the trade
union bureaucracies to prevent the outbreak of strikes and social
struggles that might threaten corporate profits.
As for Biden's
claims to represent “democracy,” his administration and the Democratic
Party-controlled Congress are preparing to override the democratic will
of 120,000 railroad workers to block them from striking and threatening
corporate profits.
While claiming to stand for democracy, Joe's Homeland Security Dept is moving towards censoring speech. Jake Johnson (WSWS) reports:
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden said Wednesday that
the U.S. Department of Homeland Security should be shut down after
reporting shined light on the agency's sweeping campaign to police what
it deems disinformation online, an effort that raised alarm among civil
liberties groups.
"It's time to talk about shutting down the
Department of Homeland Security," Snowden, a former NSA contractor who
exposed the agency's illegal mass spying program in 2013, wrote on Twitter.
DHS, formed in 2002 in the wake of the September 11 attacks, "was
always a mistake, a costly artifact of the hysteric post-9/11
authoritarianism that left us no more safe, but much less free," Snowden
continued. "Its plan to become the Speech Police is the final straw."
Snowden was responding to an in-depth story by The Intercept
on Monday detailing secretive DHS attempts to "curb speech it considers
dangerous" by trying to pressure and "influence tech platforms" such as
Twitter and Facebook. The department's "stepped up
counter-disinformation effort" began under former President Donald Trump
and has continued under President Joe Biden, the outlet noted.
"According
to a draft copy of DHS' Quadrennial Homeland Security Review, DHS'
capstone report outlining the department's strategy and priorities in
the coming years, the department plans to target 'inaccurate
information' on a wide range of topics, including 'the origins of the
Covid-19 pandemic and the efficacy of Covid-19 vaccines, racial justice,
U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the nature of U.S. support to
Ukraine," The Intercept's Ken Klippenstein and Lee Fang reported.
"How
disinformation is defined by the government has not been clearly
articulated, and the inherently subjective nature of what constitutes
disinformation provides a broad opening for DHS officials to make
politically motivated determinations about what constitutes dangerous
speech," Klippenstein and Fang stressed.
"DHS justifies these
goals—which have expanded far beyond its original purview on foreign
threats to encompass disinformation originating domestically—by claiming
that terrorist threats can be 'exacerbated by misinformation and
disinformation spread online," they added. "But the laudable goal of
protecting Americans from danger has often been used to conceal
political maneuvering."
Fake ass Joe Biden using the national
airwaves to do a partisan voter rally. He's so disgusting and
shameful. At least last night's lies didn't include him claiming -- as
he did in Florida -- that he had gone to the historically Black college of Delaware State University (he went to University of Delaware).
Next up, Joe claims he was briefly on the first season of A DIFFERNT WORLD and dated Jaleesa for two episodes!
In the real world, Turkey continues bombing Iraq. MEHR NEWS AGENCY reports:
Local Iraqi media including Shafaq have said that the Turkish
airplanes targeted several PKK positions in Kani Masi district on
Wednesday.
Today's warplanes' attacks came after the Local media in Iraq
reported on Saturday evening that Turkey conducted a drone attack on the
Sinjar town located in the Iraqi Nineveh province.
The Turkish drones targeted a residential area in Sinjar town in the
north of the country near Mosul, according to local Iraq news sources.
Under the guise of fighting PKK, Turkey has deployed its troops in
areas of northern Iraq and Syria and is conducting aerial and artillery
attacks on parts of the northern areas of these countries.
Turkey's actions are acts of war -- so, of course, Joe Biden's never condemned them.
Iraq
held elections October 10, 2021. Over a year later, Prime
Minister Mohammed Shia’ al-Sudani formed a cabinet. With that aspect of
the political stalemate over, will Iraq's new government finally become
responsive to the people?
Some don't see that happening. One such person speaks with THE NATIONAL:
Haider Al Mirjan says the life-changing injuries he sustained during the October 2019 pro-reform protests were a sacrifice made in vain as the parties he was rallying against solidify their hold under the new government.
Like other protesters, Mr Al Mirjan says he is disappointed and frustrated about the makeup of the new government formed on October 22, in which Iran-backed political factions made a significant comeback.
“The day when this government was endorsed by the parliament was a gloomy and miserable one for all of us,” Mr Al Mirjan told The National from Germany, where he lives as a political refugee.
IRAQI NEWS notes one effort being made towards inclusion:
The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the United Nations
Entity for Gender Equality and Women Empowerment (UN Women) in Iraq
signed on Monday a one million USD partnership agreement in Baghdad to
support women’s political participation and representation in Iraq,
according to a press statement issued by the United Nations Assistance
Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).
The joint project focuses on addressing the constraints on women’s
political voice, strengthening women’s decision-making and leadership in
elected spaces and increasing leadership in civic spaces, the statement
mentioned.
The partnership aims to strengthen elected female leaders and
potential candidates’ ability to influence decisions, demand their
rights and actively engage in decision-making at all levels, the
statement elaborated.
The agreement will increase the use of special measures, such as
quotas, to improve women’s leadership and representation within
political parties in Iraq, according to the UNAMI statement.
The partnership will contribute to mitigating obstacles to female
participation in public life by addressing violence against women in
politics, the statement explained.
Yesterday, Iraq's Parliament lost one member. Sinan Mahmoud (THE NATIONAL) reports:
A Shiite politician died on Wednesday while inside the Parliament building.
Mahmoud
Shakir Al Salami, a member of the State of Law Coalition established
and led by former prime minister Nouri Al Maliki, was from the southern
governorate of Thi Qar.
Mr
Al Salami’s health condition deteriorated while he was holding regular
meetings inside the parliament building, the Coalition said.
He was later transferred to Ibin Sina hospital inside the Green Zone where he was pronounced dead.
The cause of his death is so far unknown.
RUDAW notes:
Iraq’s President Abdul Latif Rashid on Wednesday said that the country’s
new cabinet has a lot of responsibilities to deliver on after a long
overdue government formation process.
Rashid attended the 31st Arab Summit in the Algerian capital of Algiers,
addressing Iraq’s recent government formation, security issues, and
prospects for the future during his speech.
“The Iraqi government has a lot of responsibilities that it will work on
to respond to the will of our people for reform, construction, and
enhancing Iraq’s interaction with its regional and international
surroundings,” said the Iraqi president, expressing his hopes that the
efforts of the government would receive “positive interaction” from its
regional neighbors.
It's Movember. What is Movember? Well it's not a typo:
Movember is an annual event involving the growing of moustaches
during the month of November to raise awareness of men's health issues,
such as prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men's suicide. The
Movember Foundation runs the Movember charity event, housed at
Movember.com
Here's Billy Eichner noting this yearly event and his film BROS.
The following sites updated:
