Friday, September 07, 2018

Einstein, DUMB-HOUNDED and more


Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "No Hero" went up this morning.

no hero




Great comic. I can't believe what Isaiah did there -- and he explained in "Barack Post-TPA Vote" that he did at on his lunch break and with crayolas.

Now let's move over to Albert Einstein with this passage from Danny Haiphong (BLACK AGENDA REPORT):


Most people living in the United States know little about Albert Einstein. What people do know of Einstein is usually confined to his many achievements in the realm of science. Fred Jerome’s updated version of The Einstein File: The FBI’s Secret War Against the World’s Most Famous Scientistanalyzes the enormous FBI file compiled on the world-renowned scientist. The book, originally published in 2002, has been updated to include contributions from fellow Black Agenda Report editor Ajamu Baraka and scientist David Suzuki as well as additional analysis on the implications of Einstein’s file for the current political situation. Jerome’s update provides readers with a glimpse into Einstein’s political life and an overview of a period of history characterized by the emergence of US hegemony, fascism, and worldwide socialist struggle.
The update of the book couldn’t come at a more pertinent time. The FBI and its intelligence partners are attempting a public relations revival under the Trump Administration. Like the first Cold War, Russia is the US intelligence apparatus’ object of scorn. Anti-Russian sentiment has justified the never-ending intelligence “investigation” into alleged political meddling by Russia in the 2016 election. The investigation has been directed mainly at alternative political ideologies and governments that the US seeks to suppress and overthrow. However, unlike the first Cold War, to be Russian is no longer synonymous with communism. Rather than subsuming all leftist forces such as Einstein under the banner of communism, these days the FBI, CIA, and its intelligence partners prefer terms such as “Russian hacker.”


That's a really important moment that we should never forget.  They are not our friends.  They have never been our friends.  The 'resistance' may think otherwise but they're a bunch of people who couldn't buy a clue if you spotted the a couple hundred.


In other news, I wish TCM showed more cartoons.  This week, I caught a ten minute one entitled DUMB-HOUNDED from 1943 starring Droopy.  "Police Bloodhound Used" to track down prison escapee -- a wolf -- proclaims a newspaper headline.  It's got funny bits throughout.

"Dog talk," Droopy explains after exchanging a few barks with a dog he bumps into.

"Enjoy your trip?" he asks the wolf at one point after -- strongly animated sequence -- the wolf goes up a series of fire escapes at break neck speed.

Later, he's reading Dick Tracy when the wolf enters thinking he's rid himself of Droopy.

"I surprise him like this all through the picture," Droopy explains.

I looked it up and it says it's seven minutes but TCM has its time as 10 minutes.  Also, it is currently in their library if you want to stream it again or missed it originally.


"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):
Thursday, September 6, 2018.


We'll start this morning with Margaret Kimberley (BLACK AGENDA REPORT) reflecting on the media circus that was the breathless John McCain is still dead coverage:


The gathering at the memorial service was a who’s who of mass murder. As Henry Kissinger, Dick Cheney, Bill Clinton, Obama, and Bush all joined in lifting up one of their confederates the coverage became more and more maudlin. The more sickening the better and the more the public ate it up.
The site of Barack and Michelle Obama among the evil doers was too much for a politically immature black community to handle. When Bush handed Mrs. Obama a cough drop the corporate media pounced. Black people got the vapors along with others who once said they hated McCain and Bush.

The sight of black people eulogizing a man whose politics were so antithetical to their interests was difficult to watch.We have been transformed in the rightward shift too and erase our history and our consciousness in a sad effort to identify with a system which should always be understood as an adversary.
In one of the ironies of this story Donald Trump is vilified for avoiding the draft while McCain was bombing the Vietnamese people. Of course this means that Trump didn’t kill anyone. McCain did and is now the hero to those who want to love the good guy. A cough drop from Bush can melt hearts, but Trump’s lack of a Vietnam body count is condemned.


New content is up at BLACK AGENDA REPORT and that includes a must-read by Ann Garrison about the sorry state of KPFA and PACIFICA.


In Iraq, the protests continue.  Lack of jobs, lack of public services, a corrupt government and so much more kicked the protests off in July.  They continue.  Aqeel Najim, Ben Wedeman and Lauren Said-Moorhouse (CNN) report:


Iraqi security forces fired tear gas and live ammunition Wednesday as demonstrators took to the streets for a third day in the southern city of Basra, activists said.
One person died and 21 others were wounded by forces using live rounds, health and security officials in Basra said.
At least five people were killed Tuesday in clashes and 68 others injured, including 41 civilians and 27 military personnel, health ministry spokesman Dr. Saif Al-Badr told CNN. One protester died Monday in clashes with Iraqi authorities.



The killing of protesters does not appear to matter on the international stage.  Early last month, the International Crisis Group noted:

: Security forces responded harshly to protests in southern , killing over 50 demonstrators ⇒




50 killed.  We noted it several times, starting August 11thAugust 18th, Dirk Adriaensens noted it in a piece for GLOBAL RESEARCH:

But the International Crisis group reported in its Global Overview for July 2018:
“Protests swept across southern Iraq, with demonstrators bemoaning poor services and unemployment and attacking government and party offices. Security forces responded harshly, in some places shooting at protesters, and killing around 50.”

Again the western press has been guilty of serious undercounting.


Who else is noting it?

KPFA isn't.  We can't have coverage on KPFA when its become an organ for centrists in the Democratic Party -- yes, PACIFICA listeners, everything you once feared Mary Ann Berry was going to do less than 20 years ago has been done to PACIFICA today and it's taken place with few even registering it -- let alone objecting.

We can't cover Iraq and the suffering that the US government has inflicted on that country because we're too busy rallying around Hillary The Killer Clinton.  Urine man Philip Maldari is still on KPFA and that's probably the funniest thing in the world.  He now laments Hillary, his gal.  But in 2008, he wouldn't play fair, would he.  He didn't just savage Hillary, he lied about her.  He even spent two hours lying about her and Ava and I called him out.  But today, Urine Man is part of the 'resistance' and embraced.  Philip, if you don't remember, is among those who accused Hillary in 2008 of calling for the assassination of Barack Obama.

Those of you who can't let go of 2016 and can't let go especially of Hillary need to grasp that her outcome in 2016 had a lot to do with 2008 and you couldn't have Urine Man and Keith Olbermann and all the rest painting Hillary as a racism and calling for the assassination of Barack and then, eight years later, have her elected.

She ran a lousy campaign in 2016, no question.  But she was never going to win.  Some of that was due to her own past actions but some of that was due to what so many said about her in 2008.  She did not suffer from sexism in 2016.  She did in 2008 and many of us, whether we supported her campaign or not, defended her from that sexism.  If you've forgotten what the response to that was, DAILY KOS ran off all Hillary supporters.  Female bloggers were savaged and, in e-mails, they were threatened.  Then Kathleen Hall Jamieson, after the campaign, tells the press she needs to think about whether Hillary suffered from sexist coverage.

That would be the same bitch -- and, no, I don't feel bad for calling Kathleen a bitch -- who used sexism to join Bill Moyers in trashing Hillary on his PBS program.

I will never take the 'resistance' seriously because they are so damn stupid and so woefully uneducated.

You have embraced the very people who lied about Hillary and who helped give her such a lousy image to the American people.  This was not one month in 2008, it was months and months and months.

Yet you embrace these people.  And now you've let them take over KPFA.  This year, Kilu Nyasha passed away.  Ahead of the 2016 elections, she wrote:



The vast majority of Americans regardless of background or ethnicity agree that this electoral campaign gives us no choice but to vote for someone we don’t like or want to govern us. The perennial “lesser evil” has become more malevolent, even ridiculous in the current presidential election.

Some folks want to “hold their noses” and vote for the “lesser” evil on the belief that one will be worse than the other. However, we’ve been doing just that for at least 50 years; that’s why we’ve come to this level of corrupt silliness with candidates Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump dodging the issues and reducing the process to trivialities, backbiting, and nonsense.

The reality is that these races have become selections not elections.  No one who is not obscenely rich or has the backing of such can run for president, let alone win office.

[. . .]

Black folks often say, “We fought and died for the right to vote.”  Yes, we have. We've always been on the front lines of struggle in this country.  From Sojourner Truth to SNCC, Fannie Lou Hamer, and all the valiant freedom fighters of the civil rights movement, we honor and revere their uncompromising fight for our right to vote.

However, while we got a Voting Rights Act passed in1965, the reactionaries in power initiated new ways to suppress and vacate our vote -- new rules and laws of redistricting, registration procedures, vote tampering, rigged voting machines, denying prisoners and felons the vote, and ID policies to disenfranchise voters, especially those of color.

Eric Nielson writes that since 2010, 11 states have passed laws that make it more difficult to vote. The Sentencing Project reports that 6.1 million people are now barred from voting because of a felony conviction, about 3.9 percent of the total population compared with 13 percent of adult black men.  I wonder what the tally would be if Black women were included.   


That's the heart of KPFA -- or should be.   Instead, it has become the weakest cup of tea -- Brian Edwards Teacup? -- on the radio dial.

It should be covering Iraq.  There's no excuse not to.  The illegal war continues.  People continue to die.  The US government is yet again attempting to install a prime minister with no regard for the Iraqi people's preference.  More to the point, coverage is not what it was in terms of cost.  They can get on a cell phone with any number of Iraqis.  But KPFA, which once did solid coverage of Vietnam, can't even do that.

KPFA should be opening the world for its listeners.  Instead, it's become a tight circle jerk.

In Iraq, people are being killed for protesting but KPFA is more concerned with Donald Trump offending the memory of John McCain.  War Monger John McCain.  Killer John McCain.

KPFA has strayed far from its mission and it's not the only one.

People need to get centered again and focused on what truly matters.  Let's note this from
"(G)et (O)ut (T)he (V)ote (GOTV) by Cindy Sheehan:"


Early at the beginning of this year, when we announced that we were organizing a Women's (peace) March on the Pentagon for October 21st, I received many panicked messages from loyal Democrat voters that we couldn't do that because it's "too close" to the midterm elections and we would "harm" the chances of the Democrats.

First of all, if you think that a peace march is going to harm your party, maybe that's a hint that you need a new party. However, if peace is not your thing, like it's apparently NOT the thing of the bourgie Women's March, then you wouldn't come to our march, anyway.

Secondly, if this millennium of rigged voting, purges, and hanging chads has taught us anything, it's shown us that voting is at best compromised and at worst useless. This quote has been attributed to many people, so I won't attribute it to any specific person, but it rings truer than ever: "If voting changed anything, they wouldn't let us do it."

Finally, there are many ways to "vote," and we at Women's March on the Pentagon are literally choosing to vote with our feet.

When we gather to march on the Pentagon in about seven weeks from this writing we are choosing to GOTV for:

A country and planet free from US imperialism;

A country and planet free from patriarchy;

A country and planet free from environmental devastastion;

A country and planet free from economic terrorism and inequality;

A country free from police state oppression, etc.

A vote at the ballot box for a member of either party of the duopoly is a vote in favor of war, patriarchy, environmental devastation, economic terrorism and police state oppression, period.

We USAians have voting shoved down our throats from an early age as the way to be involved in "our democracy" and as the way to "change" things if we don't like them. How has this essential American myth worked out for us? Politicians from both sides of the aisle are owned by special interests that are not our own and are so far away from us in geography and reality that voting is the lowest common denominator for our participation in democracy.

Vote with your feet and your commitment to human decency and positive core values by joining us for the Women's March on the Pentagon on October 21st. No worries if you cannot make it to WashedUp, DeCeit---you can organize a solidarity activity in your own community---even if it's you and your kids holding signs on the corner.

Go to: Women's March on the Pentagon for more information.

(WE ALSO NEED DONATIONS)



That's not 'from' her post, that ended up being the entire thing.  Because it's too important and it's real.  That's what we need to be focusing on.  Not the garbage that corporate media and its fools (Susan Glasser!) tell us we should focus on.  The world's not going to change by focusing on nonsense or by cheering on 'brave' Meghan McCain -- daughter of a racist, sexist homophobe that she's decided to celebrate.

We need to focus on the issues that matter.  That especially includes people protesting occupation and corruption.  ALJAZEERA notes:


Iraqi authorities have declared curfew in the southern city of Basra hours after demonstrators blocked the Umm Qasr port, considered a lifeline for Iraq, forcing it to halt all operations.
A city-wide curfew will be imposed from 3pm local time in Basra to quell weeks-long protests, Reuters news agency reported on Thursday, quoting an interior ministry spokesman.

One protester succumbed to his wounds after being shot in the head by security forces with a smoke grenade the night before, bringing the death toll this week to eight people. At least 25 people were also injured on Wednesday.

The Iraqi people continue to suffer.

What locals in Basra had coming through their public water service this morning , Tanoma district, Basra, southern Iraq. One of the richest oil cities in the world lacks fresh water.

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The Iraqi people are suffering.  The US government doesn't care.  The US continues to occupy Iraq.  The American people should care and, yes, we are responsible for the suffering of the Iraqi people.


Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "No Hero" went up earlier this morning.





The following community sites -- plus Great Britain's SOCIALIST WORKER -- updated:








  • Wednesday, September 05, 2018

    That bad NYT column


    1. Don’t worry, resisters, right-wing Republican ideologues are in the room to stand up for corporate free trade and a foreign policy even more hostile than Trump’s. The “steady state” that no one voted for promises to keep the spirit of McCain alive.


    I have a few thoughts on the NYT column.

    First, NYT should not have published it.

    They know who wrote it.  It should have been covered via an article not a column.  Is the person telling the whole truth and nothing but?  I might believe it -- or believe it more -- were it a report written by someone at the paper.  As it stands, this is a column from out of nowhere.  I know nothing about the person who wrote it -- if indeed one person wrote it.  The column has a by-committee approach/nature.

    Let's say I stumbled upon THE COMMON ILLS today without knowing C.I., okay?

    I've got fourteen years of daily posts I can go through.  I can get a sense of the person who writes there and what they stand for.

    I know nothing about this person who wrote the column.

    Second, I am not thrilled with the column.  I don't applaud it in terms of writing and I don't applaud it in terms of what it's boasting of.

    Should Donald Trump learn who wrote the column, he should fire the person immediately.

    This person is not to be trusted and conveys that in the column.  In fact, the term sedition?  That is what the column reminds me of as I read along.


    "Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):
    Wednesday, September 5, 2018.  The protests continue and the protesters continue to be killed -- who will stand up for them?



    Deadly protests rage in Iraq over lack of services as political transition deadlocks. Our round-up of a chaotic week in Iraq:
     
     
  • Basra tonight. Serious clashes in the Iraqi port city as protests escalate. Not clear who is behind the fires. Deaths and injuries reported.
     
     




    VIDEO: Protesters demonstrate outside the local government headquarters in Basra, the oil-rich city in southern Iraq shaken by two months of rallies over unemployment and the dire state of basic public services
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    Six people killed while protesting on Tuesday alone.  Things are not improving in Iraq.  Basra has led on the protests.  It is Basra where the oil makes so many in the government rich but cannot provide jobs for the people.  It is Basra where the temperature right now is 114 degrees Fahrenheit and where the Iraqi government cannot provide a steady flow of electricity (three hours a day is 'good' currently).  It is Basra where the people, hundreds, have had to seek medical treatment in the last weeks because they drank the local water.

    Basra is an example of the failures of the Iraqi government -- the continued failures.

    Here's a Tweet that's not aging well.




    I met with Iraqi Prime Minister al-Abadi. We discussed Iraq's recent elections, our countries’ joint commitment to defeating ISIS and combating terrorism in the region, and our shared desire to build a better life for the Iraqi people.
     
     



    A shared desire to build a better life for the Iraqi people?

    Hayder's had four years to do that, Elizabeth, four years, and Basra is only one example of his failure.

    So what are you doing, Elizabeth?

    You're not just a US senator, you're someone who wants to be president.

    So what are you doing?

    You claim some "desire to build a better life for the Iraqi people."

    The Iraqi people are in the streets, risking their lives, to call for basic rights.

    What are you doing?

    The Iraqi people need help, what are you doing?

    No one asked you to try to grandstand on Iraq on July 4th.  You chose to.  And Hayder was a joke already before your Tweet.  You chose to get in there so what are you going to do now?

    This isn't fun and games for the Iraqi people.

    Do you even care?  Or was it just your effort in building empire?  You're a well known fake ass who spent your life being a Republican and then suddenly drifted to the left or 'left.'  At what point do you take an action -- a real action -- the proves you mean what you say?  For someone hoping to be president in 2020, you don't have a lot of time to waste.

    Like Elizabeth Warren, the US government wants the inept Hayder al-Abadi to have four more years as prime minister.  (Barack Obama installed Hayder in 2014.  That's what happened.  We've always said it.  NPR said it too -- on air -- not all that long ago.)





    The US horse fell at the first jump in Iraq
     
     



    Elijah J. Magnier explains:


    The battle between the US and Iran came to light overtly in the first session of the new Iraqi parliament. This contest will remain open until the federal court decides which of the two coalitions holds the largest number of deputies and is therefore eligible to form a government (the Speaker – and his two deputies-, the President – and his two deputies – who will ask the Prime Minister to form a government). Haidar Abadi, the interim Prime Minister, failed to present the largest coalition but managed to gain more time to enable his ally, the US, to exert even more pressure on Iraqi politicians on Abadi’s behalf. But whatever direction the wind blows, there is no doubt that Iran now has over 150 MPs supporting it. Thus, any US attempt to isolate Tehran or unilaterally control Mesopotamia has irreversibly failed.



    Magnier outlines how the Kurds are sitting it out currently, waiting to see who will make what promise -- let's hope the Kurds have finally learned that words are empty from all the broken promises of the past.

    Hero Talabani's nonsense over the weekend was her making clear what the PUK wants (demands) for their support: The post of president.  The Talabani family is corruption defined.

    That she thinks she can make demands today is appalling.  She should be sitting in prison for deceiving the Iraqi people.


    Dropping back to the July 22, 2014 snapshot:




    December 2012,  Iraqi President Jalal Talabani suffered a stroke.   The incident took place late on December 17, 2012 following Jalal's argument with Iraq's prime minister and chief thug Nouri al-Maliki (see the December 18, 2012 snapshot).  Jalal was admitted to Baghdad's Medical Center Hospital.    Thursday, December 20, 2012, he was moved to Germany.  He remained in Germany until last weekend. 





    Amid continuing political deadlock in Iraq, the selection of the country’s next president remains mired in confusion despite the return of incumbent president Jalal Talabani from medical treatment abroad on Saturday.
    Reports say that Iraq’s Kurdish parties were unable to agree on the nomination of a single candidate for the presidency over the weekend, despite expectations that a parliamentary session to confirm the choice will take place on Wednesday.
    The Iraqi presidency, a largely ceremonial post, is reserved for a member of the country’s Kurdish minority under an informal agreement that emerged during attempts to form a new government in the wake of the 2003 US-led invasion of the country.



    From December 2012 to July of 2014, Jalal The Fat Ass Talabani was not in Iraq.  He was also not carrying out his duties as prime minister.  He couldn't speak.  He couldn't move.

    But Hero lied to the Iraqi people.  She lied to start with denying he'd had a strike.  She took part in the lies of photo ops, posing Jalal (who could not move on his own) for a series of photos (denounced on Arabic meeting as a bad rip off of WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S) to make it appear he was meeting with people and taking part in discussions.  He would be back in Iraq shortly.  She said that six weeks in, she said it three months in, she said it . . .

    Per the Iraqi Constitution, Jalal was not able to carry out his duties and should have been replaced.  But Hero lied over and over.  She deceived the Iraqi people.

    That alone is outrageous.

    But grasp that actions have consequences.

    Thug Nouri al-Maliki was given a second term as prime minister by Barack Obama (via The Erbil Agreement).  This second term found the thug becoming even more of a thug.

    Could Jalal have stopped any of that?  Maybe.  Maybe not.

    But what did happen while Iraq was without a functioning president was that Nouri persecuted the Sunnis repeatedly and constantly and ISIS was able to take root as a result.


    Hero Ibrahim Ahmed, widow of Jalal Talabani: “I find it very important for the to assume the post of [] president again and it should be done according to agreement with the brothers.”
     
     
    It’s not up to Hero Ibrahim, nor Bafel Talabani who would be next candidate for presidency, some sources claim that Qassim Sulaimani is the guy who suggested Barham Salih as the next Iraqi President candidate by PUK. Again this move is politically suicide for Barham.
     
     
  • PUK spokesperson confirms that Hero Ibrhaim Ahmed, (wife of late Mam Jalal), Qubad and Bafel Talabani recently visited KDP President Masoud Barzani to apologize for post-Oct. 16 events. Saadi Pira said that visit would help the situation in Region.
     
     
  • Hero Talabani, late Talabani’s wife and her two sons Bafel and Qubad Talabani visit Masoud Barzani to strength the ties between the two ruling clans: NRT TV. Barzani has accused Bafel and Hero of betrayal over fall of Kirkuk less than a year ago.
     
     



    Yes, Hero and her family also sold the Kurds out on Kirkuk.

    There's a reason why the PUK has gone from being, along with the KDP, the dominant party in the KRG to now running a distant third to Goran (which was built with CIA seed money).


    Let's move to another female face of empire.


    “If and vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh they will be voting to take away many of the rights and freedoms I fought to defend and uphold.” VoteVets launching $330K buy in Maine and Alaska featuring Iraq War Veteran Kate Logan.
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    First off, your military service didn't make you an expert on s**t beyond loading weapons.  You didn't build democracy.  You don't know what you're talking about.

    Second, Kate Logan, you should be on your knees begging the Iraqi women for forgiveness.  How dare you use your actions in Iraq to claim that you stood for women's rights.  The US mission was to destroy the rights of Iraqi women.  Quit whoring, you cheap trash.  You're not a hero.  You're not anyone to admire.  You took part in a criminal activity that destroyed the country of Iraq.  The women of Iraq had the best standing in the Middle East.  You helped destroy that.  You helped destroy their rights.  How dare you now lie and pretend like you were in Iraq for women's rights.  Your words would be laughable were it not for the very real suffering the Iraqi women have endured.

    I'm really tired of people who could be tried for War Crimes trying to use their military actions as ground to stand on.  You should be ashamed.  Vote Vets?  I believe the CIA idiot fails to understand who she would serve in Congress.  I've laughed at her repeatedly because she is so deeply stupid.  But I haven't felt the need to call her out because, unlike Kate Logan, she's not trying to pretend that she fought for the rights of women.

    Hey, Kate Logan, the US service members who plotted a home invasion, who killed a five-year-old girl and her parents when not taking turns gang-raping Abeer Qassim Hamza al-Janabi -- were they advancing women's rights too?

    Let's remember that the soldiers then tried to set the bodies on fire and make it look like 'rebels' had carried out the crimes.  Let's remember too that their actions were known.  Let's remember, most importantly, that if their actions hadn't resulted in an attack on US service members, it's doubtful anyone would have come forward to expose what really happened.


    "Let me be clear," Kate Logan, you need to take responsibility for the way your actions destroyed the lives of Iraqi women.  You have no defense.  You chose to join and you chose to join in 2005.  By then Iraqi women were already in the streets protesting what the US war and occupation was doing, how their rights were being slashed in the US rush to hand over control to radical despots.

    I don't care if you're scared that you may not be able to have an abortion in the future, Kate.  I do care that in the right now you have destroyed the rights of Iraqi women and you have no awareness of that.  You're a stupid idiot and yet another example of how so few learn in the military.  You learned to follow orders, Kate, you didn't learn much else.  You still feel nothing for the people of the country you invaded or for the destruction your actions caused.  Sit your tired ass down.  No one needs to here from you.  And instead of expecting us to thank you for your actions, how about thanking the American people for paying your wages and apparently increasing your vanity?

    Kate reeks of entitlement and are we surprised?  A woman who identifies with oppressors is always a freak and Kate's a super freak.  She wants us to listen to her because she helped destroy the lives of women in another country?  The only thing greater than her White entitlement is her complete lack of awareness.


    Iraq did not attack the US.  The US attacked Iraq.  It's a reality Kate wants us to all forget.  Oppressors never push for honest dialogues.


    The following community sites -- plus Jody Watley and BLACK AGENDA RADIO --  updated: