Wednesday, June 21, 2017

Real issues need to be addressed

Unprompted, Sen. Chris Murphy laments that Democrats "have spent so much time talking about Russia"




It's not even controversial.

Clearly focusing on b.s. like Russia does not move voters.

We have real issues and the Dems aren't discussing them.

They're obsessing over nonsense like Russia-phobia.

They refused to take responsibility for the 2016 losses -- including Hillary's failed campaign.

Now they waste everyone's time on non-issues and Americans are sick of it.

Why would anyone want to vote for this nonsense?

It's also been a problem when they start the impeachment nonsense.

To Americans, it looks like sour grapes over an election loss.

You don't start this nonsense when someone's sworn in, it makes you look like an obstructionist at best.

They have refused to take accountability and they have refused to focus on what America actually needs.



"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):
Wednesday, June 21, 2017.  The Mosul Slog continues and Alyssa Milano harms voters turn out.


Iraqi forces advance on Mosul mosque where IS declared caliphate
 
 


Day 245 of The Mosul Slog.


Counter-Terrorism second brigade are 100 METERS from Great Mosque of al-Nuri in Old city.
 
 



Day 245 and still it continues.

Day 245 and how many times have we been told the end is in sight?

Of course, we were also told this operation would only last weeks.

Guess the Elise Labbots are looking pretty stupid now.

Still waiting on the Tweet from CNN's Elise where she admits she was wrong and apologizes for screaming in a State Dept briefing because another reporter dared to call it a slog.

Still waiting.

While this war continues, there was an attempt to get serious last week.  Margaret Kimberley (BLACK AGENDA REPORT) was at the United National Antiwar Coalition's conference and she reports:


The nature of the American capitalist system requires that every country become either a vassal or an enemy. It gives us the rule of billionaires. The U.S created a mass incarceration system for the sole purpose of crushing the black liberation movement while also creating a profit center in the process.
All of the oppressions are intertwined. Millions of Americans toil under wage slavery or prison slavery and make fortunes for other people. But the contradictions of capitalism are growing more acute, and imperialist war is the outcome of a system trying to maintain itself. The fight for a living minimum wage and the fight against interventions abroad must therefore be addressed together because they are in fact part of a whole.

The UNAC conference also presented an opportunity to renew the African American-centered peace movement. The newly formed Black Alliance for Peace was very much present with leadership such as Black Agenda Report editor Ajamu Baraka playing key roles. Charo Mina-Rojas spoke about the struggle waged by black Colombians in the Buenaventura region of that country. Lawrence Hamm of the People’s Organization for Progress linked the history of mass rebellion with the fight against police violence.

This was global.


And much more important than sticking your nose in a losing election.  Yes, we'll get to The Alyssa Milanos in a moment.


Neither the Afghanistan War nor the Iraq War has ended.

And what's taking place in Mosul is a horror.



This what happens when cities become battlefields. was once known for tolerance, today it is a front-line.
 
 



A horror.


|i Human rights activists: Armed Shiite militias have executed ~900 civilians who attempted to fled Mosul in the last few months..
 
 



Samuel Osborne (INDEPENDENT) reports:

A record number of women were killed in US-led coalition air strikes against Isis targets in Syria and Iraq last month, a monitoring tracking civilian casualties caused by airstrikes in the Middle East has said.

At least 57 women died in coalition air strikes in May, along with a minimum of 52 children, according to Airwars, a British non-profit organisation.


Where's the alarm?

Where's the outrage?

Marius Bosch (REUTERS) reports:

The battle for the Old City is becoming the deadliest in the 
eight-month-old offensive to capture Mosul, Islamic State's de facto capital in Iraq.
More than 100,000 civilians, of whom half are children, are trapped in its old fragile houses with little food, water, medicine, no electricity and limited access to clinics.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Monday sick and wounded civilians escaping through Islamic State lines were dying in "high numbers".


In other news . . .

and the head of the in Iraq discuss the question of the referendum.
 
 



Morgan L. Kaplan and Ramzy Mardini (WASHINGTON POST) offer a primer on the referendum for Kurdish independence here.

This has been in the news for a little over a week now.

We've ignored it and that's resulted in e-mails.

Our position here has always been it's not the business of anyone outside of Iraq.

Whether it's moving to three independent regions or Kurdish independence only, that's something for Iraq to decide.  As a US senator, Joe Biden proposed a federation.  Our opposition to that, check the archives, was always that what happens to Iraq needs to be decided by Iraq, not imposed on them.

That remains our position.


Now that a vote is finally supposed to take place (this September), the topic has been avoided here because there's no real point in offering opinions in the lead up to the vote -- either my own or quoting others.  It's not my business.

Unlike some people, I do know when to butt out.

Did someone say Alyssa Milano?

The 44-year-old pain in the ass (ask anyone who's worked with her, most recently her castmates on MISTRESSES) hopes to pull off a miracle shortly: She thinks she can be a star on THE CW again -- this despite her being middle-aged.

Alyssa's grip on reality has never been that great -- part of the reason she's whining in public that she's lost her 'fortune.'  (Do another TEEN STEAM workout video, Alyssa!)

Which explains why she's never learned to butt the hell out of the business of others.


 
 



Jon Ossof has lost.

Thankfully.

For some reason, Alyssa felt this was her 'fight.'

So she and Christopher Gorman (cast anytime someone needs an impotent male -- he played the limp noodle on COVERT AFFAIRS most recently -- why he's never played the monster in Frankenstein -- with that face -- is a puzzle) were in Atlanta and felt the need to campaign for him.

Let's be clear, they don't live in Atlanta.

They were there trying to turn Alyssa into a middle-aged CW star.

They don't live there, they breezed in, and they felt the need to butt in.

I don't endorse if I'm not eligible to vote in the election.

It's about time everyone started considering doing that.

It is not your business if you don't live there.

And we were there twice this month speaking.  And what did I hear?  I heard specifically from people who were angry that Alyssa was sticking her nose into their business.

Alyssa, you helped piss off a lot of potential Ossoff supporters.

You helped depress turnout.

You may think you're coming to the 'rescue' of 'the little people.'

But the people in that area who were aware of your efforts largely felt you were butting in.

Guess what?

You were.

You do not know their district or their needs.

And your breezing in and being a know-it-all did not turn out votes.


Here's Bruce A. Dixon (BLACK AGENDA REPORT) on Ossoff:

Of course I will not apologize to Jon Ossoff, who narrowly missed being the first Democrat to represent this district in 39 years. Ossoff will face Republican Karen Handel in a June 20 runoff election, and the nation will be watching. Corporate media and corporate Democrats will portray the contest as a referendum on Donald Trump. They will encourage us to confuse the Democratic party label with opposition to the military budget and runaway privatization of roads, schools and nearly everything else in sight. They’ll trot out their old tired sainted John Lewis, who blessed Hillary Clinton. But Jon Ossoff is a corporate Democrat.
While the 6th district urgently need mass transit expansion, they’re now building privatized express lanes on interstates 75 and 575 right through the heart of the 6th district. Privatizing the interstates is apparently OK with Jon Ossoff since he doesn’t say a word about it. As far as we know, Jon Ossoff does not support Medicare For All, the only practical alternative to the high premiums and spotty coverage of Obamacare, and the meaner version of Obamacare pushed by Republican Speaker Paul Ryan. Ossoff brags incessantly about his experience in “national security” as if the national security policies of the past decade and more have the nation more instead of less secure, and touts his willingness to work with Republicans to see our money isn’t wasted. That’s codespeak for Republicans who want to sound like Republicans, and Democrats who want to sound like Republicans.
It looks like we’ll be choosing between a pro-privatization Republican and a pro-privatization Democrat, between a pro-war Republican and a pro-war Democrat, between a Republican who opposes Medicare For All and a Democrat who does the same, between a Republican who’s against free tuition and a Democrat who agrees with her.

The 6th district congressional election will be between a real Republican and a fake one. Harry Truman used to say that when you give people a choice between a real Republican and a fake one they choose the real one every time. 


That's who Alyssa endorsed.

That's someone to elect to office?

Oh, right, he had a "D" after his name and apparently that's all that matter to Alyssa.

(Before any e-mails come in, I have no interest in Jane Fonda's comments.  Jane lived in Atlanta for years and has every right to comment.  It's the same as our own Betty commenting on something in Atlanta because she grew up there.  That's different than breezing in to shoot a pilot and trying to tell the people what to do.  More importantly, in our two visits to Atlanta this month, I specifically and repeatedly heard complaints about Alyssa -- from Dem voters.)



The following community sites -- plus BLACK AGENDA REPORT and PACIFICA EVENING NEWS --  updated:

















  • Tuesday, June 20, 2017

    Fake news

    Patrick Martin (WSWS) reports:

    The CIA’s principal house organ, the New York Times, published a lead editorial Sunday on the investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election that is an incendiary and lying exercise in disinformation aimed at whipping up support for war with Russia.
    The editorial was well-timed, coming on the morning of the same day that the US military shot down a Syrian warplane, setting off a dramatic escalation in the US conflict with Russia. The editors of the Times have the closest ties with US military and intelligence officials and no doubt were aware that something was being planned, if they were not briefed about the details.
    Under the headline “Mr. Trump’s Dangerous Indifference to Russia,” the Times uses the language of war to assert: “A rival foreign power launched an aggressive cyberattack on the United States, interfering with the 2016 presidential election… The unprecedented nature of Russia’s attack is getting lost in the swirling chaos of recent weeks, but it shouldn’t be.”
    The Times presents zero evidence to back up a wild reference to “the sheer scope and audacity of the Russian efforts.” The editorial simply declares, “American intelligence agencies have concluded,” followed by a long list of allegations:
    “Under direct orders from President Vladimir Putin, hackers connected to Russian military intelligence broke into the email accounts of senior officials at the Democratic National Committee and of Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, John Podesta. They passed tens of thousands of emails to the website WikiLeaks, which posted them throughout the last months of the campaign in an attempt to damage the Clinton campaign.
    “Even more disturbing, hackers sought access to voter databases in at least 39 states, and in some cases tried to alter or delete voter data. They also appear to have tried to take over the computers of more than 100 local election officials in the days before the November 8 vote.”

    Editorial page editor James Bennet presents not a single fact that supports the Times ’ assertions. What is the evidence that there were “direct orders” from Putin, or that hackers linked to Russian intelligence raided Democratic email accounts and supplied material to WikiLeaks, or that (other?) hackers tried to access voter databases and the computers of local election officials? The entire mountain of accusations is suspended in air.


    There is no proof.

    Fake news is pretending otherwise.

    This little fantasy has played out long enough and done more than enough damage.

    We do not need war with Russia.

    Someone tell Hillary Clinton to get her fat ass back to the woods because we don't need her or her fanatics.

    We need peace.

    Hillary is a War Hawk.

    How typical that these efforts to promote her also promote war.


    "Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):
    Tuesday, June 20, 2017. Chaos and violence continue, two journalists are killed and two more injured, The Mosul Slog continues with no end in sight, and much more.



    ALJAZEERA reports:

    A landmine blast in the Iraqi city of Mosul has killed one Kurdish and one French journalist, as Iraq's forces push deeper into the last remaining areas held by ISIL fighters.
    Kurdish reporter Bakhtiyar Addad, who was working with a French team as a fixer and interpreter, was killed in Monday's explosion, according to public broadcaster France Televisions and global journalist rights watchdog Reporters Without Borders. 

    French journalist Stephan Villeneuve and two other French journalists were also wounded in the blast. Villeneuve later succumbed to his wounds, the broadcaster said in the early hours of Tuesday.


    RUDAW explains:

    Posts on his Facebook page show Haddad, 41, helping a French-language weekly magazine to publish photos of ISIS militants of French nationality.
     

    “Not everybody can find the photos of French ISIS militants who are in Mosul,” read his last Facebook post on Thursday. “[Only] experts can do it. This is again helping the Republic of France to find them again. Some of these people are back in France. The Paris Match magazine got these photos through me.”

    XINHUA notes two more French journalists were left injured in the blast.  FRANCE 24 adds:

    A video journalist who had covered a number of conflicts across the world, Villeneuve was filming a piece together with Veronique Robert on the battle of Mosul for French news programme Envoye Special, aired on public television channel France 2.
    They were both taken to a hospital on a US military base following the explosion.

    Reporter Samuel Forey, who worked for a number of French media organisations including French daily Le Figaro, also suffered light injuries.



    Two journalists killed in blast in Iraqi city of Mosul
     
     






    The Mosul Slog continues.  Day  244 of The Mosul Slog.




    Map update of Old city, the NW front which is lead by Counter Terrorism units have made gained significant.
     
     



    Still not completed.  Still ongoing.


    Bill Van Auken (WSWS) reports:


    Backed by US airstrikes, artillery and special forces “advisors,” Iraqi troops began storming Mosul’s crowded Old City, where the United Nations estimates that some 150,000 civilians are trapped under the siege.
    Iraqi commanders have issued triumphalist statements hailing the offensive as the beginning of the end for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), which took control of Iraq’s second-largest city after government troops melted away in the face of their advance in June 2014.
    “This is the last chapter” in the battle for Mosul, Lt. Gen. Abdul Ghani al-Asadi, the commander of the Counter Terrorism Service (CTS), the elite US-trained unit that has borne the brunt of the fighting, told the media Sunday. He warned that he expects a “vicious and tough fight.”
    How long this “last chapter” will last is by no means clear. Some commanders have predicted that it will take at least a month to retake the area. US-backed Iraqi forces began their siege of Mosul eight months ago. Since then, thousands of Iraqi civilians have died under US bombs, rockets and shells. The UN has confirmed the killing of 230 civilians in western Mosul during the last two weeks alone, undoubtedly a significant undercount of the real death toll. The rest of the population has been reduced to desperate conditions, without adequate food, water or medical aid.

    This final stage of the battle may well prove the bloodiest. The Old City is the most densely populated area of Mosul, with narrow alleyways that will make an advance by infantry troops difficult.



    Bloodier?



    : '1000s of children in grave danger as Mosul offensive begins' warns
     
     




    244 days later.

    The operation that was supposed to last mere weeks.

    244 days later it still drags on.

    And what has it accomplished?

    Creating more refugees and orphans?

    Killing thousands of civilians?

    What has been accomplished?


    Mustafa Habib (NIQASH) reports:


    As the extremist group known as the Islamic State is driven out of the country, the Iraqi government is facing up to a new threat to its authority – this comes from the Shiite Muslim militias, once volunteers who came together to defend their towns against the Islamic State but who have since turned into a formidable, quasi-official fighting force.
    The Shiite Muslim militias themselves are divided into three main groups, with some professing loyalty to the Iraqi government and the Shiite Muslim religious authorities in Najaf, while others openly admit they take orders from neighbouring Iran and Iranian clerics. A third group is affiliated with the Iraqi clerics, Muqtada al-Sadr or Ammar al-Hakim.
    The factions loyal to Iran differ from the others in that they are the most well-armed and more powerful than the others. They are called the Walaei militias – the word means “loyal” – and they say that they prefer to obey Iran’s spiritual leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and that they see Iraq and Syria as one military front, where they will continue to fight even after the Islamic State, or IS, group has been expelled.
    One of the around 20 different groups associated with the Walaei militias is the Khorasani Brigade, who are closely associated with Iranian General Hamid Taghavi, a member of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, who was killed fighting the IS group in northern Iraq in late 2014. Alongside pictures of Taghavi, the faction has idolizing pictures of Khamenei in its headquarters and on their military vehicles. 
    “I can openly say that we do not take our orders from the Iraqi government,” says Abu Hassan al-Atabi, one of the members of the brigade, speaking to NIQASH on the phone. “We fought in Iraq during these difficult times and we have fought to prevent the fall of Baghdad [to the IS group]. We will be present even after the extremists have been pushed out. The IS group is just one of our challenges,” he continued. “The conflict in the Middle East continues and we are ready to fight in Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, or any other country where there are terrorists.” 



    244 days -- and don't kid yourself that the Iraqi government's used this time to improve things politically.

    They can't even hold elections.

    Provincial elections were supposed to take place in April -- two months ago.

    That did not happen.

    They've now been pushed back to the fall though many observers feel even that is unrealistic and some are calling for them to take place in 2018 when national elections take place.

    As usual, Nouri al-Maliki has ensured that his interests will be protected -- one of his stooges has been put in charge of the Independent High Electoral Commission.  Nouri's regularly used this 'independent' commission to decide who can and can't run.  As usual, the inept Saleh al-Mutlaq will cover his own ass and he's on the commission as well.  (Saleh's real good about making nice with Nouri and forgetting the election cycle that Nouri kicked him out.)


    Nothing appears to have changed.

    Mahmud Yasin Kurdi (RUDAW) speaks with Sheikh Faysal Hamadi who explains how ISIS took hold in Mosul:



    “There was oppression against the people of Mosul. Sixty percent of the army and police forces were ghost employees. This made it easier for ISIS to invade Mosul in a short period of time,” he said.

    He criticizes the previous Iraqi government led by Nouri al-Maliki.

    “From time to time, they were taking a group of people to outside Mosul and killing them for connections with al-Qaeda. This made the people of Mosul help ISIS militants who could then control the city easily,” he said.



    All this time later, what's changed?



    The following community sites -- plus Tavis Smiley -- updated: