Saturday, June 03, 2023

The crazies Marjorie and Lauren

Isaiah's The WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Tara asks WWPD -- What Would Putin Do?


fattara


Crazy Marjorie Taylor Greene.  I wonder if her constituents plan on having her committed?  They may need to:


United States Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) says rioters were forced to "commit crimes" during the Jan. 6 insurrection.

The GOP congresswoman made the false claim during the latest episode of her Battleground podcast Wednesday.

Former GOP prosecutor Ron Filipkowski shared a clip of the episode via Twitter, writing, Marge has a theory on 'what really happened on J6.' She says the FBI 'set up honeypots and traps to draw people in and take part in making these people commit crimes, and then framing these people to set up a narrative against a president.'


I don't know about you, but I really don't want to hear Marjorie talking about her honeypot.  Kids could be listening!  MTG is such a groomer.  She's always trying to sexualize the kids.  Her former roll dawg is equally crazy:


Lauren Boebert has come under fire after failing to take part in Wednesday's vote on the debt ceiling deal negotiated by President Biden and Speaker McCarthy, despite vowing to vote against it and stating "we can do better."

The agreement passed the House by 314 votes to 117, with Democratic support required to get the bill through the Republican-controlled chamber.

Some Republicans have been fiercely critical of the deal, which, they argue, doesn't go far enough in slashing federal spending. Boebert's failure to vote could see her come under pressure from her political allies.


Boe-Boe was against the debt ceiling deal.  Which is why she voted against it.  Well . . . She meant to.  She just couldn't make the vote.  That's right, one job and she can't even do it.  How do her constituents feel about that.

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Thursday, June 1, 2023.  Tara Reade's running a new con, Margaret Kimberly plays Dolly Parton in 9 TO 5 -- who's been saying it -- we all point to Tara and say in our best Lily Tomlin, "She's been saying it!", the IMF wants to further hobble Iraq, and much more.


How do we deal with insanity?


I think in this country, we practice denial.




First off, Margaret, your definition of defect is wrong as any person aware of the many artists that defected to the US from the USSR could tell you. Second, crazy Tara's the one using the term -- or did you not make it through that video broadcast?


Tara Reade from her 'press conference' in Russia: As far as, like, going to another safe haven, I mean, there are many Americans here [in Russia] --  and I don't want to out a bunch of Americans --  but there are people here that are coming to Russia -- much like back in the day when Soviet Union people defected over to the US.  Now you have the opposite,


So if you don't like people using the term, take it up with crazy herself.



 
Oh, look, it's Sabby Sabs, now our latter day Jerry Falwell.

Remember The Clinton Chronicles?  Yeah, that's the crazy Sabby Sabs is now embracing and spreading -- and I didn't think my opinion of her could go any lower.

Crazed Tara Reade departs to Russia and wants to defect claiming her life is at risk, that people want to kill her.  Maybe the one behind you in the buffet line, Tara, but the rest of us don't really care about you at all.  She's in danger!  Danger!  She must move to Russia!  And then -- so brave -- she must risk newfound safety in newfound motherland by holding a press conference!!!!!

She's a fat lying con artist.  Let's grasp that right away.

If you actually bothered to listen to that 'press conference,' it should have struck you as so familiar.

Tara is a con artist and has been all of her life.  That doesn't mean she wasn't assaulted.  It does mean she cons people and she's not a very good con artist.  She goes on RISING or whatever in 2020 and she's just glad to be there and she's so safe and feels so good and this support is just amazing and wonderful.  Then she burns these same people after she takes what she can get from them.

You may remember Sabby Sabs joined Tara in trashing AOC recently for never saying a word.  If you don't remember it, you won't find Sabby's Tweet because she deleted it after we pointed out here that AOC actually spoke up in defense of Tara in real time.



That is classic Tara Reade.  People busted their rears to defend her and she didn't care.  She was and remains a joke and an ungrateful one at that.

I love how she's got all these people cheering her on at her Twitter feed and coming up behind their cheers are their comments about how Trump needs a second term.  Her new crowd does not oppose sexual assault.  They're all for it.  But they hate Joe Biden.  So 'survivor' Tara 'believe all women' Reade gets cozy with a crowd that believes no women.  That tells you the cess pool Tara bathes in.

In fairness, a cess pool may be the only thing she can fit into, she just keeps getting fatter and fatter.  Where are they hosing her off at next -- to be Pee Wee Herman about it.


Tara's a user and a con artist.  And that Sabby deleted her Tweet instead of correcting it goes a long way towards explaining how she became the 21st century Jerry Falwell hawking The Biden Body Count.

So Tara burns her Democratic bridge -- not left, she was too stupid and insipid to be left.  So then she's on Tucker and other right-wing shows and, golly gosh, thank you all for your support, I feel so safe and trusted and I really appreciate you.

Did you catch the damn 'press conference'?  It was exactly like that -- again -- because the bad con artist just keeps playing the same con.  Thank you, Russia, for believing in me and I feel safe and welcomed and . . .

Spare us.  While the willful idiots like Sabby play along and indulge Tara's crazy, those of us who can connect the dots caught on long ago.

The kindest thing Ava and I ever did for Tara was not review her book.  Clearly, no one read it.  It was one inconsistency after another.  

Liars get assaulted and liars get raped.  The fact that she's a liar doesn't mean that she wasn't assaulted.  (Speaking of lies.  I'm finding it hard to believe that Tara -- grifter that she was -- lived in the 12th district in 2020.  She keeps insisting she wrote Nancy Pelosi about what happened because Nancy was her Congress person.  I want a former address and a voters registration card before I believe that.  She made the claim in the video and did so in her lying voice that always tells on her.)

Tara was a problem from day one.

I'm not talking about her changing stories.  A victim of assault can change her or his story.  It doesn't mean that they're lying.  It most often means that they don't feel comfortable discussing it -- for any number of reasons.  

I never found that a problem for her.

I did find her glaring stupidity a huge problem. 

She is a geopolitical analyst -- she insists this week and that's got to be the funniest line of the week.

Listening to her prattle on during her initial phase of discussing her assault -- as Tara told us how the world was -- was hearing a college freshman who never cracked a book tell you the history of the United States.  It was a bunch of cliches and a bunch of mistakes.  And it wasn't a left perspective.  It was a partisan perspective. 


She was Diane Chambers -- serving up words that don't really mean anything and in no way demonstrate that she was educated but that can fool the ones who don't know better or who are barely paying attention.

Then she was the Tucker fan and she had all of the 'insight' that only a Mother Tucker could provide.


And now she's found Russia.  In grad school, I wrote a paper about a central American country that basically thrived by pitting the US and the USSR against each other.  Tara is now that country -- probably she's a bit bigger than that country but she is that country.

Russia, watch out.  She's going to turn on you like she does everyone else.


And other people need to watch out as well.  She's claiming her life is in danger.  She started that nonsense last month -- see Mike's "The hideous Ron DeSantis, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jonathan Turley and Shamoo The Whale Reade."  No.

If Joe Biden was giving kill orders, I kind of believe that the mother of Navy Joan would be way, way, ahead of Tara on the list.  

And in what world is Tara credible anymore?

I'm serious.  She's made herself a loon over the last years and she's not believable.  She herself is not believable.  So there's no need to kill her for something she says happened in the 90s that's already been discussed at length.

She didn't get her fair share of media!  Because she's a damn fool.  We said here, the minute Alyssa Milano started Tweeting about Tara, that Alyssa was getting that from Time's Up! and that Tara needed to do a lawsuit.  

Tara and her co-horts did nothing.  Many months later, we learn what a fraud Time's Up! actually was.  

Tara blew every chance because she was a stupid idiot.  That's not fair.  She was working a con so she might have been too busy to pursue chances.

But she is a con artist.

And her latest con is that she knows so much and is so valuable that Joe Biden wants her dead and she's had to flee the country for her safety -- and probably to get away from several creditors, knowing Tara.

I'm just not in the mood for this nonsense.  I don't think any of us who lived through the 90s are in the mood for this nonsense.

Joe Biden is not coming after Tara or sending people to get Tara.

No one really believes her anymore.

It was always a tough case for her because no matter how many pictures from the early 90s she floated to the press, she was still grossly obese in the present and most people still confuse rape with sexual desire and think you have to be attractive to be raped.

That was strike one.

Strike two?  How about all the predators she spent 2022 and 2023 cozying up to?  Amber Tamblyn is not someone whose integrity is in question.  No one's disputing her claims about James Woods -- except James Woods. 

But there's Tara "I'm an assault survivor" reTweeting James Woods.  There's Tara defending registered sex offender Scott Ritter (who went to prison, who was convicted in a court of law -- after his third arrest).  

She's a con artist and that was part of her makeover for her right-wing self.  

It's one strike after another on her.

Does that mean she wasn't assaulted?

No, it doesn't.

But at this point, and now with the Russia defection, no one should waste their breath on her anymore.  She is a known liar and she lies repeatedly.  It does go to character and, yes, after awhile her actions and her lies bring into question whether anything she says is truthful.

As a witness, she's no longer believable and no one should waste their time on her.

And the 'gift' there for Tara is, since no one believes her, she can stop fretting that someone's trying to kill her and stop pretending she's a 'whistle-blower.'

She's Russia's problem now.  Sadly, we still have Sabby Sabbs.

Not a Sam Seder fan, but we'll note this clip of THE MAJORITY REPORT.




In his rundown of Ron DeSantis' latest problems, Mike noted the War Criminal remarks from FOX "NEWS" (see "Butt exercises and Ron DeSantis").


Meanwhile, Margaret Griffiths (ANTI-WAR.COM) notes, "During May in Iraq, at least 53 people were killed, and 29 more were wounded in violent incidents. In April, at least 47 people were killed, and 65 more were wounded."  At least.  In part, "at least" due to the fact that when noting the Turkish governments attacks on Iraq, she only figures in guerillas.  The Yazidis, for example, aren't part of the count.  Unless the Turkish government has labeled them "guerillas" and then she'll count them.

THE NATIONAL, presumably with a straight face, offers, "Iraq needs fiscal discipline and wide-ranging structural reforms to reduce its economic vulnerabilities as foreign exchange market volatility and a drop in crude production continue to slow its growth momentum, the International Monetary Fund has said."  What Iraq needs is not "fiscal discipline," it needs to end corruption.  Iraq is not short of money, it brings in billions.  And then, due to government corruption, that money never goes to helping the people.   REUTERS notes, "Iraq's May oil revenue was $7.3 billion with an average price per barrel of $71.30, the ministry said in a statement."  There are countries that never see that amount of income.  Iraq sees it but never gets improved due to the theft that takes place.  The IMF always preaches the same strategy and it doesn't work and it's not going to work in Iraq.  Hopefully, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani will be heeded this time and not ignored.  He earlier called out these efforts to hobble Iraq. 



In other Iraq news, AFP notes:

Iraq's shrunken and conflict-scarred Christian community is launching a new television channel as part of efforts to save their dying language, spoken for more than 2,000 years.

Syriac, an ancient dialect of Aramaic, has traditionally been the language spoken by Christians in Iraq and neighbouring Syria, mostly in homes but also in some schools and during church services.

However, Syriac-speaking communities in the two countries have declined over the years, owing to decades of conflict driving many to seek homes in safer countries. In Iraq, the Christian population is thought to have fallen by more than two-thirds in just over two decades.

"It's true that we speak Syriac at home, but unfortunately I feel that our language is disappearing slowly but surely," said Mariam Albert, a news presenter on the Syriac-language Al-Syriania television channel.

Iraq's government launched the channel in April to help keep the language alive. It has around 40 staff and offers a variety of programming, from cinema to art and history.


Meanwhile, some are bothered by the kingdom of Jordan's decision to allow the Baath Party to participate in the political process.  In Iraq, Saddam Hussein was the figurehead for the Baath Party.  The Baath Party always existed outside of Iraq -- it was a pan-Arab movement.  In Iraq and Syria, it took hold.  In other Arab countries, it might not have dominated but it was politically active.  THE CRADLE notes:


The Iraq’s Islamic Dawa Party described the decision of the Jordanian authorities to allow the Baath Party to resume political activities in Jordan as a “hostile and provocative act,” Iraqi Shafaq News reported on 26 May.

The Shia Dawa Party’s political office said in a statement that, “The Iraqis were surprised, shocked, and outraged by the news of the Jordanian government’s permission for the (Saddam’s Ba’ath) party to engage in political activity.”

On May 14, the Independent Electoral Commission in the Kingdom of Jordan approved the political participation of 27 new political parties, including the Arab Socialist Baath Party, whose Iraqi branch was led by long-time Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.



Iraqi political parties have expressed indignation after the Baath party’s licence was renewed in neighbouring Jordan. 

The Iraqi Islamic Al-Dawa party, which is the party of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, expressed “shock and outrage” at Amman’s move. 

Jordan’s Independent Electoral Commission on 14 May approved the political participation of 27 political parties, including the Arab Socialist Baath Party, after changes to its electoral law required all existing political groups to be re-licensed to resume political activities in the country. 



Dawa is usually identified with former prime minister and forever thug Nouri al-Maliki but, yes, the present prime minister Mohammed Shia al-Saudani is also a leader of Dawa.  He differs from Nouri in at least one regard -- Mohammed never fled Iraq.  Unlike the cowards before him, he didn't flee the country and didn't have to wait for the US military to invade in 2003 in order to return to Iraq.



On the topic of Iraq's neighbors, Gustaf Kilander (INDEPENDENT) notes the results of Turkey's relections:


President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose rule has grown increasingly authoritarian during his two decades in power, won 52 per cent of the vote in Sunday’s runoff election, securing another term.

At the end of his next term, he will have been at the top of the Turkish government for a quarter-century.

During his rule, Mr Erdogan restricted press freedom, imprisoned journalists, and used the LGBT+ community as a cudgel in the culture war to attract socially conservative voters as his chaotic economic policies have sent the Lira into a tailspin.


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The following sites updated:








Wednesday, May 31, 2023

Marjorie Taylor Greene and TCM both struggle with American basics



Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-GA) favorite rapper – [. . .] – has a new song out protesting Target for selling Pride merchandise, and Greene shared the bizarre video on Twitter.

The video for the song “Boycott Target” (featuring fellow conservative rappers [. . .]) opens with a shot of Blow wearing a basketball jersey and shorts with the letters “USA” emblazoned on both, drawing attention to his crotch as Jimmy Levy pushes him in a red Target shopping cart while carrying Pride-themed bottles of Stella Rosa.

And then the video, which appears to have been at least partly shot in a Target store, gets weirder.


Not advancing the names of transphobe liars -- he lies about scars on children from surgeries that did not happen.  It's cute that he also slams Caitlyn Jenner.  Like Glenn Greenwald, she thought she got a pass for being a conservative.  No, Caitlyn, these people hate you.  Sorry if that shocks you.  Anyone with a brain could have told you that -- and several in this community have warned you about that in posts.  You're an idiot.  You were an idiot before you transitioned as well.  Poor Caitlyn.  I don't think anything will or can ever make up for CAN'T STOP THE MUSIC.



On the day in which Americans remember the US troops who have fallen in combat, MTG tweeted a message celebrating that solemn. Attached to that tweet was an image of an American flag.

Upon closer examination, though, it appeared as though the flag in question had only 18 stars on it.

 

This, of course, sparked outrage from the touchy political wings of the internet.

Surely, these people on the internet emoted, that was a strategic political statement meant to drum up possible support for Rep. Greene’s ongoing calls for a “national divorce.” 


18 stars.  Hmm.  Guess literacy is important after all. 

Marjoie's not the only idiot, however, that can't understand the basics.  TCM also appears to struggle.

"Media: The Stupid, The Fake Asses and The Cowards" (Ava and C.I., THE THIRD ESTATE SUNDAY REVIEW):

The notion that a bunch of bad films -- with actors and directors who did not serve -- is somehow celebrating Memorial Day is laughable.  But leave it to TCM to take the whole thing in an even dumber and dishonest direction.


Among the films aired in their glorification of death and destruction? 


IN WHICH WE SERVE.


Some of you may be confused because -- like most war films -- this is a minor offering that few -- even film scholars -- especially fans of good films -- have ever heard of.


Noel Coward directed it.  That should raise a flag right there.


No, we're not referring to his sexuality.  We're referring to his citizenship.  He was British. 


The film itself is nothing impressive.  But pretending it was a 'big statement' allowed it to beat out CASABLANCA among the New York Film Critics Circle.  


CASABLANCA, of course, stars American Humphrey Bogart as the main character, Rick, an American stuck in Casablanca and profiting from the war around him.  


How many Americans, TCM, were featured in the cast of IN WHICH WE SERVE? 


Zero.


It's not about an American battle.  It's a play that Noel Coward has updated for the film to include an actual British event.  No Americans in the cast, no Americans at the actual events.


Can TCM explain to us how this bad movie has a damn thing to do with Memorial Day?  Repeating, Memorial Day is a federal holiday -- a US holiday -- to honor those Americans who served in war. Americans.  Not British people in British battles.


Maybe the fact that none of the hosts served in the US military is why they didn't grasp that Memorial Day is a US-only holiday?


Next up, TCM celebrates July 4th by airing 1971's THE TROJAN WOMEN.  


That would make about as much sense.  


"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Wednesday, May 31, 2023.  The hate merchants in charge of the GOP are getting crazier and crazier, Lauren Boebert either doesn't understand the concept of legislative sessions or has no idea that Nancy Pelosi was a Speaker of the House long before Lauren squeaked into Congress, Ron DeSantis continues his failing campaign for president, Iraq still can't produce a budget for 2023, and much more.


Starting with the illiterate in the House, Lauren Boebert.  Someone strung some sentences together and put Lauren's name to it so we'll hold her accountable for what CRAIG PRESS printed.  She wants her constituents to know she's serving them.  She's had this bill and that bill passed and . . .  Wait, what new laws has she authored?

Oh.

That's right.

None.

We called Bernie Sanders out for this we'll damn well call Lauren for this.  Anyone can get a bill through -- especially through a House their party controls.  But Lauren can't draft any legislation that gets approved by the Senate because she's a whack job.  The crazy wants you to know, "The numbers don't lie."  They don't.  But Lauren does.  

She's not helping anyone with her lies.  

She then wants to say:

 
Additionally, in our first 100 days, our strong Republican majority has passed more bills and have had more bills signed into law than Nancy Pelosi’s Democrat majority did in its first 100 days. 


Again, bills, not laws.  But let's stop a moment.  How stupid is Lauren?  I know she's illiterate and I know she has a fit when her child calls 911 because he's in fear of his life -- so she's as bad a mother as she is a member of Congress.  But how stupid is she? What is the bottom on her stupidity?

More than Nancy in her first 100 days?  

Which first 100?

Nancy Pelosi was Speaker of the house in 2007, in 2008, in 2009, in 2010, in 2011, in 2019, in 2020, in 2021 and in 2022.  

Idiot Lauren does realize that, right?  So is she claiming this happened in 2007 or in 2009 or in 2011 or in 2021?  Which legislative period?  


So eager to claim victory and yet she's already admitting defeat.   Ewan Palmer (NEWSWEEK) reports:

Colorado congresswoman Lauren Boebert has hit out at the debt ceiling deal negotiated between House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden, describing it as a "gift" to the Democrats.

Boebert, who is one of several Republican figures who have said they will not support the deal in Wednesday's crucial vote, said that the lack of concessions from Biden's "radical" plans means that the president has come out on top in the negotiations.

[. . .] Boebert said the bill would allow funding for the Inflation Reduction Act, viewed by many across political lines as a revised version of the Green New Deal, which the GOP had strongly opposed. The congresswoman said not enough concessions were made with regard to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) to help streamline the approval of projects such as roads and pipelines.


Oh, well.  At least she's still piss cop, right?



Staying with the topic of Republican failures, Ron DeSantis.  Jonathan Turley's crush just can't get it together to save his life or his falterning campaign for president.  Madison Hall (BUSINESS INSIDER) explains:

  • In December 2022, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis led all listed Republican candidates in a Monmouth University poll.
  • At the time, DeSantis had 39% support compared to President Donald Trump's 26%. 
  • New polling from Monmouth University shows that Trump now leads the governor by 24 percentage points.



Republican Rep. Greg Steube claimed on a podcast that presidential candidate Gov. Ron DeSantis threatened to primary members of Congress if they endorsed former President Donald Trump over him.

Steube, who represents Florida's 17th Congressional District, relitigated his apparent feelings of contempt for Florida's governor on Monday on Donald Trump Jr.'s podcast, "Triggered With Don Jr." The congressman, who previously endorsed Trump for president, said in April that DeSantis never responded to Steube's attempts to discuss political issues


And in that article, you can find a photo of his man-wife Casey.  She really does look like a man in drag.  And as Ron goes after African-Americans and LGBTQ+ members, let's remember he's targeting families and individuals and, no, this nonsense of 'family is off limits' just doesn't damn well apply.  He's destroying lives in Florida so it's not at all out of bounds to note that the person he crawls into bed with has the body of a man -- including the adam's apple.

His hate has consequences.  Joshua S. Mackey (INTO) notes:

More anti-LGBTQ+ legislation continues to arise within the United States and conservative pressure is starting to dictate what students learn within public education. Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law, ushered in by Governor Ron DeSantis, has already impacted school curricula within the Sunshine State, prohibiting education surrounding gender and identity,  including LGBTQ+ education. 

An increase in anti-LGBTQ+ legislation means a decrease in education around gender, identity, and sexual health resources for LGBTQ+ students. Unfortunately, this could change the downward trend of HIV infection rates for young gay and bisexual men. Research shows that proper sexual education exponentially decreases HIV infection rates. However, if students in public schools lose access to sexual education resources, infection rates could increase, undoing the work implemented by effective public health measures. 

According to the CDC, 1.2 million people are living with HIV in this country. And 1 in 8 people aren’t aware that they have the illness and HIV status awareness is low within younger demographics, representing 15% of new infections in 2021. So much progress has been made, but it’s evident that the GOP are nowhere near aware of the massive ramifications, including for queer health, that their legislation could have. 


Now we should remember these crazy and crazed hate merchants are defending children.  That's what they say anyway.


Jared Michael Boyce, a recently arrested member of the white nationalist anti-LGBTQ+ organization Patriot Front, has pleaded guilty to possessing images of child sexual abuse. He had previously accused LGBTQ+ people of “grooming children” and advocated for hanging pedophiles and Jews.

FBI agents reportedly found 22 images of child pornography on Boyce’s phone. The images included “children from toddlers to prepubescents performing sexual acts” and also minors “exposing their genitals,” court documents said.

Boyce admitted that the images belonged to him, the court documents added. He also told investigators that he had had “sexually-themed conversations about children” in an online chatroom, had transferred images of child sex abuse, and had sent an explicit photo of his genitals to a 16-year-old girl.

He pleaded guilty to nine felony counts of sexual exploitation of a minor and a misdemeanor of dealing in harmful material to a minor, KSL-TV reported. Though he faced up to 30 years in prison for the crimes, on Tuesday, a judge sentenced him only to a year in prison and three years probation.

Boyce was one of 31 Patriot Front members arrested last June for plotting a riot at a northern Idaho Pride event. The group had crowded into a U-Haul truck that was pulled over by police. The white supremacists were clad in identical khaki pants, dark blue shirts and masks and carried homemade riot gear. They were charged with misdemeanor charges of conspiracy to riot.


These are the children of professor and professional transphobe Jonathan Turley, the children of Turley breast fed by Ron DeSantis who had to breast feed them because his wife's boobs were too small.


Poor GOP, so many crazies in their party.  Take Tara Reade.  Or let Russia take her.

Tara is back in the news.

Tara started out a Democrat.  But then she became a raging transphobe.  Though she billed herself as an "actress," she wasn't.  She stepped forward in 2019 to state that Joe Biden made her uncomfortable when she worked at his Senate office.  Then in 2020, she stated that he had harassed her and this became his inserting his finger into her private area.  Back then, she stupidly refused to do FOX "NEWS" or anyone who would have her and the reason was her principles.  

Said principles flew out the window rather quickly and she began making transphobic and homophobic statements as she went on Tucker Carlson's program, began reTweeting Scott Ritter (Republican and convicted pedophile who went to prison for it and is a registered sex offender) -- that last bit is when she lost support and even the WE BELIEVE TARA Twitter account stopped promoting her.

Now she's in Russia.  Apparently she no longer works for Kim Iversen -- but will she still continue to reTweet her buddy Marjorie Taylor Greene?

Tara thinks she can say she's defected, request Russian citizenship and still be an American citizen.  It does not work that way.  If you say you're defecting, then you're giving up your citizenship.

Poor dumb Tara.

And dumb people and homophobic people and transphobic people can be assaulted.  So this doesn't mean Tara wasn't assaulted by Joe.  It does mean that most of us no longer give a damn one way or the other.  When you cozy up to a registered sex offender, most of us who would have defended you now won't waste our breaths. 



In 2021, Tara became the Republican Party's problem.  Now she's Russia's problem.  


Turning to Iraq, there's still no federal budget for the year 2023.  Dana Taib Menmy (THE NEW ARAB) reports:

 Negotiations on Iraq’s budget bill for 2023 have been deferred after the parliament's deputy speaker suspended the legislature's finance committee over legal irregularities the and bypassing of a joint agreement between the Iraqi federal government and the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

"Our committee has been suspended as per a document from the deputy speaker of Iraq’s parliament, because our committee members are now 24, while according to law the number should not exceed 23," Jamal Kochar, Iraqi lawmaker from the Kurdistan Islamic Union (KIU) bloc and member of the Iraqi parliament's finance committee told The New Arab in a phone interview.

"A political agreement is needed before negotiations on Iraq's budget bill for 2023 resumes. The bill has been stuck at the finance committee because the political agreement between the Iraqi government and the KRG has been violated."

The finance committee on Saturday announced some amendments to the budget bill, including a condition that the Kurdish region must first deliver 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) to the federal authorities, along with non-oil revenues, before it can receive a share of nearly 12 per cent from the federal budget.


Azhi Rasul (RUDAW) adds:


 The Kurdistan Region’s finance minister on Sunday said that the finance committee in the Iraqi parliament does not have the right to add or remove articles from bills, adding that the new amendments to the draft budget law aim to ruin Baghdad-Erbil ties. 

The Iraqi parliament’s finance committee on Thursday amended two articles of the bill that relate to the Kurdistan Region, prompting the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG| to slam the amendments as “unconstitutional,” labeling them a violation of the previous agreements between Erbil and Baghdad. 

“The Federal Supreme Court decision No. 35 prevents the parliament from changing the texts in the budget bills sent by the government,” KRG Finance Minister Awat Sheikh Janab said. 

According to Janab, the federal court decision specifies that the finance committee maintains the right to change the numbers in the bill or transfer them between articles and paragraphs, but the committee cannot add or remove any paragraph from the bill. 

“Those who truly want Kurds to remain in Baghdad, and those who value the brotherhood between Kurds and Arabs, are worried. This does not seek to help the closeness between the [Kurdistan] Region and Baghdad, but to ruin the relations between the Region and Baghdad,” Janab said. 


The budget.  It was a big deal May 18th when the United Nations Security Council heard testimony on Iraq (see the May 19th snapshot).  


UN Special Representative for Iraq Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert: Madam President, the resources needed to turn certain Government goals into realities, such as adequate public service delivery, should be unlocked with the passage of a federal budget. This is yet to happen and, these days, all eyes are on Iraq’s Council of Representatives. Needless to say: agreement on a functioning budget, sooner rather than later, is critical. Including for the timely organization of the long-awaited Provincial Council Elections, now announced for no later than 20 December this year.  


The United Kingdom's  Political Coordinator Fergus Eckersley:  The UK remains committed to supporting the Iraqi Government and the implementation of its ambitious reform agenda. In particular, passing a budget will be a crucial step in delivering the Government’s priorities including on economic reform and energy diversification.



Khanim Latif, founder and director of Asuda for Combating Violence against Women: Finally, we call on the Iraqi Government to allocate a budget for and fully implement the Yazidi Survivors Law adopted in March 2021.[9]


The only one not speaking of the budget that day to the Security Council?  US Acting Deputy Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Jeffrey DeLaurentis.


Every one else thought it was a necessary and worth noting.  Eleven days later and the budget it yet again put on hold.  It's supposed to be passed before the year starts.  That means the budget is 151 days late. 

Iraq's too late -- the whole world is -- to address climate change.  They're using a fix though, for farming, that's actually going to do even more damage.  Timour Azhari and Ahmed Saeed (REUTERS) report:

 

 Watered by sprinklers fitted to wells dug more than 100 meters under the sun-bleached earth, his land now produces double what it did compared to when he relied on ancient methods that flood fields with river water, he said.

“It’s a golden year, a golden season,” said Salah, wearing a traditional white robe and reflective sunglasses as he walked his field and noted the benefits: less money and water spent, as well as a bigger and quality harvest.

Iraq’s government says this officially supported shift has allowed the country to double areas cultivated with wheat this year to some 8.5 million dunams (850,000 hectares) compared to roughly 4 million (400,000 hectares) last year.

Agriculture Ministry spokesperson Mohammad Al-Khuzai said that has translated into a harvest of around 4 million tons of wheat — the largest in years and 80 percent of the needs of a country with a 43 million population who eat bread at almost every meal. The shift in methods is driven by necessity: Iraq’s two main rivers, along which civilization emerged thousands of years ago, have lost more than half of their flow due to reduced rainfall, overuse and upstream dams.

Drilling the desert for water could provide immediate relief in a country that the UN says is among the five nations most vulnerable to climate change in the world, and where climate-induced migration has already begun. However, heavy use of the wells could bleed desert aquifers dry, agricultural experts and environmentalists warn. Some farmers have already noted a drop in the water table.


Depleting the aquifers is not an answer, nor is it sustainable.  It will leave Iraq in a much worse situation than it currently is.  And let's remember that currently, Iraq -- if you'd stop the government corruption -- has more than enough money to import wheat.  If climate models do encourage others to finally address climate change, oil revenues will drop for Iraq.  So five, ten years from now, Iraq could find itself with depleted aquifers and with low oil revenues.  This is not sustainable and it is not an answer.



  • BP returned to Iraq in 2009 after a 35-year absence and was awarded a significant interest in the country’s largest oil field near British-occupied Basra
  • BP has pumped 262m barrels of Iraqi oil since 2011
  • Sir John Sawers, the UK’s first special representative to Iraq after invasion, has banked £1.1m since joining BP’s board in 2015
  • Other UK oil “supermajor” Shell also won Iraq contract in 2009 as lead operator developing “super-giant” Majnoon oil field

BP has pumped oil worth £15.4bn in Iraq since 2011 when it began production in the country for the first time in nearly four decades, new analysis shows.

The new information comes on the 20-year anniversary of the beginning of the invasion of Iraq, which was judged to be illegal by the UN. However, neither US president George W Bush nor British prime minister Tony Blair, the leaders who prosecuted the war, have been subjects of a criminal investigation. 

The invasion began in March 2003 and unleashed a catastrophic humanitarian disaster with an estimated 655,000 Iraqis killed in the first three years of conflict, or 2.5% of the population. 

It was widely denounced as a war for oil on the part of the US and UK: Iraq holds the world’s fifth largest proven oil reserves. Iraq had no connection to the September 11th terrorist attacks which had taken place 18 months before and initiated the so-called “War on Terror”. 

The data on BP’s post-invasion production in Iraq comes from the company’s annual reports and was calculated using the average annual price for a barrel of oil for each year of production. 

From 2011-22, BP pumped 262m barrels of Iraqi oil.


Of course it was about oil.


Alan Greenspan, the consummate Washington insider and long-time head of the US central bank, has backed the position taken by many anti-war critics - that the invasion of Iraq was motivated by oil.

His claim comes in his newly published autobiography, The Age of Turbulence, in which he also castigates George Bush's administration for making "grave mistakes" in economic policy.

Sounding more like an activist than a lifelong Republican who worked alongside six US presidents, Mr Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman, said in an interview with the Guardian that the invasion of Iraq was aimed at protecting Middle East oil reserves: "I thought the issue of weapons of mass destruction as the excuse was utterly beside the point."

Mr Greenspan said it was clear to him that Saddam Hussein had wanted to control the Straits of Hormuz and so control Middle East oil shipments through the vital route out of the Gulf. He said that had Saddam been able to do that it would have been "devastating to the west" as the former Iraqi president could have just shut off 5m barrels a day and brought "the industrial world to its knees".

In the book Mr Greenspan writes: "Whatever their publicised angst over Saddam Hussain's 'weapons of mass destruction', American and British authorities were also concerned about violence in the area that harbours a resource indispensable for the functioning of the world economy. I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil."

Asked to explain his remark, he said: "From a rational point of view, I cannot understand why we don't name what is evident and indeed a wholly defensible pre-emptive position."



On September 24, 2007, Amy Goodman (DEMOCRACY NOW!) hosted a debate between Alan Greenspan and Naomi Klein:

NAOMI KLEIN: Well, I’m just wondering if it troubles Mr. Greenspan at all that wars over resources in other countries are actually illegal. Mr. Greenspan has praised the rule of law, the importance of the rule of law, in his book. But in his statements about the reasons why this has not been publicly discussed, he has said that it’s not politically expedient at this moment. But it’s not just that it’s not politically expedient, Mr. Greenspan. Are you aware that, according to the Hague Regulations and the Geneva Conventions, it is illegal for one country to invade another over its natural resources?

ALAN GREENSPAN: No. What I was saying is that the issue which, as you know, most people who were pressing for the war were concerned with were weapons of mass destruction. I personally believed that Saddam was behaving in a way that he probably very well had, almost certainly had, weapons of mass destruction. I was surprised, as most, that he didn’t. But what I was saying is that my reason for being pleased to see Saddam out of office had nothing to do with the weapons of mass destruction. It had to do with the potential threat that he could create to the rest of the world.

NAOMI KLEIN: Yes, I realize that, but he was not simply deposed. The U.S. invaded Iraq, occupied it and took control over its resources. And under international law, that it is illegal to wage wars to gain access to other countries’, sovereign countries’, natural resources.

ALAN GREENSPAN: Yes. No, I’m fully aware of the fact that that is a highly, terribly important issue. And as I said in other commentaries, I have always thought the issue of what essentially amounts to what is often called preemptive, preventive action on the part of some countries to secure resources or something else like that, it’s an issue that goes back to the Cold War, when we had the very difficult moral dilemma of what do you do when you think a missile is coming in our direction and you’re not sure whether it’s an accident or not an accident. And that is a problem which I think is a deep moral problem in civilized society. And the issue is one which I don’t think we’re going to resolve very easily. And as you point out, yes, I am a believer in the rule of law, and I think it is a critical issue, not only for domestic economies, but for the world economy as a whole.


It was not about liberation.  It was not about freedom.  It was not about compassion or caring or humanitarian issues.  It was about oil.
 

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