Thursday, March 26, 2020

Dylan Farrow can't stop lying

Woody Allen's APROPOS OF NOTHING is a great book.  I finished it today.  Which means I read the section about liar Mia Farrow and he fat dumpling Dylan Farrow.  Today is also when desperate for attention Dylan issued a Tweet.

Probably took a dump in her pants as well, Dylan looks the type and she had such bad impusle control as a child when it came to bodily functions.  In fairness, she did used to take her 'nap' by hoisting her ass in the air and resting her weigh on her knees and her face while she would stick her hands in her panties and rub her groin over and over until it was raw and she'd complain about the pain.  That's how I'll always remember her.  (I knew Mia, I didn't like Mia.  She was always a liar.)

I knew Mia, out of parenthesis.  I loved reading Woody's book.  I loved it because it's a good book.  I also loved it because a great deal that C.I. has touched on about Mia in her online writings was there.  The million dollars Woody gave Mia, for example.  C.I. knew all of this from Mia's side since she's known Mia for years.  So it was very interesting to read the same stories and get Woody's side on it.  (C.I. believes Mia coached Dylan and that Dylan now believes it happened.) 

I also got why Dylan pissed her filty panties and why Miss Rona Farrow had to come along to attack as well.

Woody can't be allowed to tell his story.

When Woody tells his story, the lies fall apart.

I just typed and then though, WHAT FALLS APART -- Mia's self-serving 'autobiography.' 

Woody talks about how Mia lied throughout.  He also charts when she first starts floating child molestation -- it's when she discovers his affair with the adult Soon-Yi. 

He presents things that happened and that's the real threat for Dylan.  For years, Woody has been silent.  Mia's been lying all along.  Woody's been silent and so stupid idiots, lemmings, have just listened to Dylan who honestly doesn't remember a damn thing and to Mia.

They need to silence Woody for their lies to live in.

There's Mia's lie that Dylan ran to her sister and Mia goes on and on about how the sister comforted her and then, woops!, after Mia's dramatic tale the point is raised that that sister wasn't even in the house or the state.  Mia's a liar. 

Mia's always been a cheap whore and she's always been a liar.






She claims, remember, that she cured a son -- bio -- from diagnosed autism.  She did it with lipstick and crinkly paper.  What a damn liar.


Mia's always lied and always invented to get attention.

She's a lousy mother.  One child takes their own life, others things could be involved.  Multiple children take their own lives -- Mommy Crazy Dearest.

Also, to let a daughter die alone at Christmas of AIDS?

Mia's a monster.

Dylan's a fool.

Miss Rona Farrow needs to stop pretending she's a journalist, she's just a gossip maven.

The book is hilarious and I love it.  But Woody's book also offers reality and that's why Dylan, Mia and Miss Rona wanted to kill it.

The Senate is betraying the American people.  Stream Bernie's latest because he talks about what we need as opposed to what we're being offered.



"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):
Wednesday, March 25, 2020.  The Congress continues to betray the American people, Joe Biden continues to stumble in public, Iraq suffers under the coronavirus and much more.

Starting int he US.  One time only payment of $1200 to adults.  That's what the Congress is offering.  That's the best b.s. they can come up with and this is after Nancy Pelosi finally drags her lazy ass back to Congress.


In 1987, a "rank-and-file" member of Congress earned $87,000.  Now?  $174,000.


US minimum wage in 1987?  $3.35 an hour.  Today?  $11.

They are making a minimum of $174,000 -- as Speaker, Nancy makes $223,500 and they can't work to provide for the American people.

When they think they themselves are in need, they vote themselves a raise.  That's how you go from $87,000 a year to $174,000 a year.

But it's screw the American people -- over and over again.

A community member for North Carolina asked me to note this:

I am a 'healthcare professional' - ha!  I am on the front desk of a clinic.  While others in contact with patients in this clinic -- doctors, nurses and techs -- wear masks and gloves, I wear nothing for protection.  All of us on the front desk are told that masks and gloves must be closely watched, that they don't have enough.  So we are left to fend against the coronavirus via prayer.

In our clinic, we use wristbands.  So every patient that comes in must get a wrist band that we put on, putting us further in contact with the patient.  There is no concern at all for our safety.  We take cash and credit cards and checks from these patients.  They are not six feet from us during this period.  They cough and they sneeze as we go through the screening process before they are allowed to go to the back.  

Again, our protection is prayer.  At THIRD, a piece quoted Senator Bernie Sanders talking about the "economic anxiety" that so many of us are feeling.  Thank you, always, Senator Sanders.  There's a reason I supported you last year for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination and continue to support you now.  I am expected to smile and be welcoming while I am risking my own health and while I am scared to death of the future.








If I get coronavirus what happens to me?  Well, I can get workers comp -- provided the exposure was on the job and I can prove that.  How do I prove that?  Most are not being tested for coronavirus.  In other words, I have no workers comp available.  That's reality.  

Last week, while Joe Biden was hidin' and while Nancy Pelosi felt the need for some sort of vacation in the midst of a pandemic, poor over worked dear, I was informed that our clinic, to cut costs, is reducing the hours of those of us on the front desk to 24 hours a week.  I am a full time employee and now I'm only going to be getting paid for 24 hours?

Where is the $2,000 a month for every adult in America?  Senator Sanders is right that it is needed.  I am the mother of two young children (both under the age of eleven) and I'm at my wits end.  Every day, I worry that I will catch the virus because we are not protected in any way at the front desk.  Every day, I wonder how long my family can make it on me getting paid for only 24 hours a week.  Every day, I worry about the bills, the rent, the utilities, the medications . . . 

It is too much.  I go to bed crying and in the day time I just want to scream.

Why isn't the Congress helping us?

They're up for re-election.  The easiest way int he world to turn out the vote in 2020 would be to do something for the American people, to show real leadership. 

But that's not happening.

I can't hang on like this much longer.  I come home and my kids want to hug Mommy and I have to say, "Back, back."  Then I run to the bathroom and scrub down in the shower, get dressed and only then is Mommy able to touch the kids.

This is a scary time and Congress has not made it any less scary.  We, the American people, need assistance.  Members of Congress make a fortune every year.  And that is the money we pay them but they will do nothing to help us.  I am near the end of my rope.  










That's what real people are dealing with.  Real people are not Ellen DeGeneres whining that she's bored in her mansion.  Oh, boo, hoo.  Ruth's right that some of these celebrities just need to shut the hell up.












People are suffering, people are stressed and they are worried and the Congress is doing nothing.

A JACOBIN writer Tweets:

It appears that Bernie got his unemployment provision into the Senate Bill: 100% of salary for laid-off workers up to 75K/year, and benefits to include tipped and gig workers who are not usually covered.


If it happens, good.  But that's not helping the woman above.  She has not been fired.  She is seeing her 40 hour a week job slashed to 24 hours a week.  She's wording the working the way she does, by the way, because they are supposed to be at the desk, off the clock, for their lunch and if anyone comes in they are to deal with that patient during their off the clock lunch.

IN THESE TIMES offers an article by Josh Rivers.  Why?  The average reader is not going to understand and it's not written for a general publication.  They shouldn't have offered it.

It does not address the needs of the workers or anything else.

Reality: We have class warfare in America.  You saw it months ago when the 'country' was doing better and corporate hacks and whores told you Americans didn't deserve Medicare For All -- the kind of program that members of Congress get for life, by the way.  And now you're seeing the class warfare continue as the rulers tell We The People that they're not worth $2,000 a month.

That's the sort of story IN THESE TIMES needs to be telling.

Meanwhile, Joe Biden suffers one meltdown after another on TV yesterday.  He ended up cancelling his online press briefing and that's no surprise if you caught him on ABC or CNN.  He didn't know what he was talking about.  He couldn't stop coughing.  Jake Tapper pointed out that he's supposed to cough into his elbow and Joe insisted he was alone in the room -- he wasn't, at least one camera operator was present.


Bruce Haring (DEADLINE) covers Joe's appearance on THE VIEW:



Fresh off an online appearance in which he waved off his first point about the pandemic as his teleprompter allegedly malfunctioned, Biden came to The View seeking redemption. He appeared via satellite to reveal how he would handle the current coronavirus crisis.
He did offer one gem in response to Sara Haines’s question on whether businesses should reopen very soon. 
"Are you at all concerned, as Trump said, that we cannot let the cure be worse than the problem itself?” Haines asked.
Biden noted in his reply that the COVID-19 cure “will make the problem worse, no matter what.”
No one from The View followed up for a clarification. But social media didn’t let it go, seizing on it like a dog with a meaty bone.


Meanwhile, Ryan Grim (INTERCEPT) reports:

Last April, Tara Reade watched as a familiar conversation around her former boss, Joe Biden, and his relationship with personal space unfolded on the national stage. Nevada politician Lucy Flores alleged that Biden had inappropriately sniffed her hair and kissed the back of her head as she waited to go on stage at a rally in 2014. Biden, in a statement in response, said that “not once” in his career did he believe that he had acted inappropriately. But Flores’s allegation sounded accurate to Reade, she said, because Reade had experienced something very similar as a staffer in Biden’s Senate office years earlier.
After she saw an episode of the ABC show “The View,” in which most of the panelists stood up for Biden and attacked Flores as politically motivated, Reade decided that she had no choice but to come forward and support Flores. She gave an interview to a local reporter, describing several instances in which Biden had behaved similarly toward her, inappropriately touching her during her early-’90s tenure in his Senate office. In that first interview, she decided to tell a piece of the story, she said, that matched what had happened to Flores — plus, she had filed a contemporaneous complaint, and there were witnesses, so she considered the allegation bulletproof. The short article brought a wave of attention on her, along with accusations that she was doing the bidding of Russian President Vladimir Putin. So Reade went quiet.


Read on for how Times Up betrayed her.  And wonder how much Anita Dunn played into that.

Mike covered the latest polling which found Joe Biden   It wasn't good news for Joe.  From Monmout University:

Joe Biden holds a negligible 3 point lead over Donald Trump in the race for president, according to a national Monmouth (“Mon-muth”) University Poll. The probable Democratic nominee has a larger edge, though, among voters in key swing counties across the country. The poll also finds that fewer voters say their financial situation is improving compared to a year ago, although most say it is stable for now.

 Biden has the support of 48% of registered voters and Trump has the support of 45% if the presidential election was today. Another 3% say they would vote for an independent candidate and 4% are undecided. Biden has an 89% to 6% advantage over Trump among Democratic voters, while Trump has a similar 90% to 7% lead among Republicans. Independents split 45% for Trump and 44% for Biden.


Joe should be killing it, that's what the media insisted, he was the choice.  He's not killing it.  He's not even winning tha tpoll.  The margin of error on it is +/- 3.5%.  That's why the call it "a neglibible 3 point lead."  It may not exist, it's in the margin of error.  So he's neck and neck with Donald Trump.  As those of us on the left watch and wonder what the rest of America is seeing from the White House, the reality is that they're seeing enough not to move towards Joe.

Joe should not be the candidate.  He is not up to the job.  And we know that right now.  Bernie does not need to drop out and if the DNC is so hellbent on refusing Bernie, they need to find someone other than Joe.  America can't afford that senile idiot.

Turning to Iraq, KURDISTAN 24 notes official numbers put out by the US government:

The Coalition, formally known as Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve (CJTF-OIR), “conducted a total of 18 strikes consisting of 48 engagements in Iraq and Syria” during February, the statement said.
“In Iraq, CJTF-OIR carried out 10 strikes against Da’esh targets,” the Coalition statement noted, using the Arabic acronym for the terrorist group. Those 10 strikes consisted of 38 engagements.
CJTF-OIR explained that a strike is “one or more kinetic engagements” in the same location “to produce a single, sometimes cumulative effect in that location.”
“For example,” the CJTF-OIR statement continued, “a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone Da’esh vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against a group of Da’esh-held buildings and weapon systems in a compound, having the cumulative effect of making that facility harder or impossible to use.”

The result of February’s strikes against the Islamic State in Iraq was, according to the CJTF-OIR statement, “16 enemies killed, two bed down locations and six defensive positions destroyed,” along with “eight caves closed.”

Even during the coronavirus pandemic, the Iraq War continues.  KURDISTAN 24 notes, "The number of novel coronavirus cases across Iraq has risen to 323 and the death toll from the illness climbed to 27 on Tuesday as federal authorities announced the highest infections yet recorded in a single day." RUDAW adds that there have been 99 confirmed cases in the KRG and that at least two people have died.  This morning, Arhama Siddiqa (Pakistan's EXPRESS TRIBUNE) writes:

Though the October 2019 protests brought down the government, the appointed prime minister-designate, Muhammad Tariq Allawi, failed to win parliamentary approval to form a cabinet. On March 19, Iraqi President Barham Salih was forced to reappoint the former governor of Najaf, Adnan Zurfi, as the new Prime Minister-designate. March 19 also marked 17 years to the US invasion of Iraq. The sad reality is that in comparison to the US invasion of 2003, the stability of Iraq is at greater risk now. The country’s leadership has not been able to agree on a government despite months of protests against the ruling establishment.

In essence Iraq’s situation is one of political paralysis. Without doubt the rise and spread of al Qaeda and ISIS was challenging. However, these did not shake the Iraqi state’s core foundations the way the current accumulation of political crises has. The current crises have overwhelmed the current system to a breaking point, with a replacement nowhere in sight.
An examination of key demographic indicators shows why the common Iraqi is disenchanted with the prevailing system. Take education for example. Statistics from the World Bank show that under Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship, 74% of adult Iraqis were literate in the year 2000. Eighteen years down, this number has dramatically dropped to 50%.

Concurrently, the sudden drop in oil prices mainly due to the oil-price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia, is threatening to propel an already faltering Iraq into an unparalleled crisis. Of Iraq’s revenue, 90% comes from oil and since almost half of the government’s spending is on public sector wages and pensions, a drop in oil prices means that the country cannot meet its wage scale.

Three main things help explain the grim state of affairs. The first is the US invasion in 2003 which caused power vacuums in the country. The second is the policymaking distribution in the post-invasion period. To this day, this is defined by an unwritten understanding among the ruling elites that commits them to ensure that no monopoly power prevails for the sake of protecting their interests. The third is the role of third party powerplay in Iraqi politics particularly the US and Iran. An accumulation of all three have resulted in a path dependent trajectory leading to a dysfunctional political system driven predominately by vested interests and corruption.


THE NEW ARAB adds:


Last week saw the seventeenth anniversary of the ill-fated US-led invasion of Iraq that led to the reported deaths of millions of Iraqis, the destruction of much of the country's infrastructure, and the establishment of an unstable democratic system.

Iraq's political system has been fraught with instability and has incubated almost two decades of corruption leading to several protest movements and the rise of violent Islamist militant groups, including many Shia militias who operate as part of the state security apparatus.

The Islamic State group was also born out of the sectarianism and violence that has been emblematic of the Iraqi political process since 2003, which has seen a succession of weak governments and a legislature divided along sectarian quotas.
 

Today's protest movement - ongoing since October of last year - has aimed to disrupt the cycle of corrupt political appointments, nepotism, and political actors who are beholden to both Iran and the United States.

With the appointment of the second prime minister-designate in as many months, Iraq is now facing an unprecedented political crisis that has been exacerbated by the global coronavirus pandemic.




The following sites updated:








Tuesday, March 24, 2020

When does Congress and the president plan on addressing the needs of the people?

I'm still reading Woody Allen's APROPOS OF NOTHING and still enjoying it.  He's about to discuss ZELIG in the spot I've stopped at.  It would be so much easier to read this book in a paper edition.  I'm not big on reading on laptop or tablet.  After I finish it, I'll probably start reading some of his earlier books.  WITHOUT FEATERS has always been a favorite of mine.


Okay, this is from Daniel Lazar (ANTIWAR.COM):

COVID is changing everything, including foreign policy. Just a few weeks ago, the United States thought it was a swell idea to station troops in more than 150 countries, five of them war zones. Even in Afghanistan, a hopeless quagmire if ever there was one, it found it easier to throw good money after bad rather than admit it was wrong and go home.
But that was long ago in a world that is no longer recognizable thanks to COVID-19. Now, with the stock market reeling and Goldman Sachs predicting a record 24-percent economic contraction in the second quarter, the damage is showing up not only on corporate balance sheets, but in the federal government as well.
Already running at around $1 trillion, the federal deficit could triple if a $2-trillion anti-COVID stimulus program makes it through Congress. That would boost it from five percent of GDP to fifteen, unprecedented since World War II. The pain will leave the Trump administration no choice but to cut, and pointless military adventurism is the most obvious place to begin, first and foremost in Afghanistan.

The war’s cost since October 2001 has been staggering. The death toll stands at around 157,000, including more than six thousand US military personnel and civilian contractors. Direct military outlays are upwards of $1 trillion while the cost of medical and disability payments for thousands of crippled veterans will eventually add another $1 trillion as well.


We can afford those bills but we can't give the American people $2,000 a month during this pandemic?  Congress and the president should be ashamed of themselves.


"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):
Tuesday, March 24, 2020.  Joe Biden finally emerges from hiding and Joe speaking to the public may be worse than Joe hiding.  That and much more.


Starting in the United States.  William Cummings (USA TODAY) reports on the latest primary:


Sen. Bernie Sanders handily defeated former Vice President Joe Biden among voters living outside the U.S., Democrats Abroad announced Monday. 
The group, an official arm of the Democratic Party, said Sanders received 57.9% of the vote to Biden's 22.7%. Sanders will be awarded nine delegates and Biden four. 
Voting in the Democrats Abroad primary began on March 3, aka Super Tuesday, and continued through March 10. Democrats Abroad said participation was up 15% 2016 (when Sanders defeated Hillary Clinton 68.8%-30.9%), with nearly 40,000 votes cast. 



Joe loses to Bernie in so many ways.  For example?  Yesterday Cowardly Joe finally emerged to speak to the American people and . . . no one cared.  Right now the YOUTUBE video has 82,000 views.  Bernie gets more than that when he's live.  That's Joe's total: 82,000.  No one's cares, no one's curious.  Need some perspective?



That's Bernie's most recent livestream address (Sunday night) and it has 168,855 views.   And Joe's only got 82,000.

As the Shangra-Las observed (in "I Can Never Go Home Anymore"):  "And that's called sad."


Poor, sad Joe.

And the only thing worse than the numbers?  The critical response.

Sean Philip Cotter (BOSTON HERALD) notes:

Charlie Baker is many things, but a jazz legend he is not.
That’s despite the bungled shout-out that former Vice President Joe Biden attempted to give the governor during the Democratic presidential hopeful’s livestreamed address on Monday, in which Biden referred to Baker as “Gov. Charlie Parker of Massachusetts.”
Charlie Parker — known as “Bird” or “Yardbird” — was a Grammy-winning jazz saxophonist who pioneered what became known as bebop. He played alongside fellow famed jazz man Dizzy Gillespie for years before dying young, at age 34 in 1955.
The 63-year-old Charlie Baker has been the governor of Massachusetts since 2015, and previously served as the head of Harvard Pilgrim.

Senility isn't pretty.  When the mind goes, hand over the keys, don't run for president. Brian Flood (FOX NEWS) moves beyond the Charlie Parker issue:


Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden was mocked on Monday after the gaffe-prone 2020 Democratic front-runner appeared to lose his train of thought when his teleprompter malfunctioned during remarks on the coronavirus pandemic.
Biden's remarks, livestreamed from a studio set up in his home, began with his touching his face despite ongoing warnings not to do that during the coronavirus pandemic. His remarks were also short compared with the president's near-daily coronavirus briefings, lasting less than 15 minutes in total, and featured a clear teleprompter issue that became a social media punchline.
The former vice president was detailing his plan to fight the coronavirus crisis, but appeared to lose track of his place on the teleprompter. Biden signaled to his staff that there was something wrong, before going off on an awkward ad-lib.
"And, in addition to that, in addition to that we have to make sure that we, we are in a position that we are, well met me go the second thing, I've spoken enough on that," Biden said before going on to speak about the aggressive action he would like Trump to take under the Defense Production Act.

Jeff Katz (WVRA) offers:

It was then that he seemed to lose his train of thought, saying, "We need to activate the reserve corp of doctors and nurses and beef up the number of responders dealing with this crush of cases. And, uh, in addition to that, in addition to that, we have to make sure that, we are..."
The former vice president then started tripping over his next words and made a circular motion with his right hand, asking for some sort of help.

Steven Hayward (POWERLINE) has questions: "Two observations: If you watch the whole thing, Biden doesn’t suggest a single thing that the Trump administration isn’t already doing. So why did he bother? Which leads to the second point: he is so dismal in this video that you have to wonder how his campaign staff let him go forward with it. It is clear he had difficulty with the teleprompter or whatever cueing prop he was trying to use."  Noemie Emery (WASHINGTON EXAMINER) notes how much time has changed in weeks as the coronvirus has emerged, "Biden would now have to be not only nicer than Trump, but also more capable of seeming in control without melting down amidst a crisis. Of this there has never been any proof -- in contrast, the executive Cuomo in his timely reports has quickly emerged as a modern Churchill."  Cuomo is, of course, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York, and if he should become the presidential nominee this year or during another election cycle, he'd go further than his father Mario did.  Despite the urging on many supporters and despite considering it many times, Mario never threw his hat in the wing.  Which is not to say Mario wasn't accomplished, he was elected three times to be governor of New York.  Andrew has matched that record: He was elected governor in 2010 and re-elected in 2014 and 2018.

I've noted many times that I know Andrew but I noted him yesterday and some people are e-mailing the public account upset and saying things.  Supposedly, that explains why I promoted Andrew in 2018 over Cynthia Nixon, some e-mails insist.  I don't live in New York.  I don't endorse in races if I can't vote in them.  I don't get the Alyssa Milanos who go around telling people how to vote in elections that the Alyssa can't vote in.  So there's that.  There's also the reality -- GOOGLE it because I did -- I didn't mention Cynthia Nixon.  I didn't cover that race.  Her name's appeared at this site twice -- once in a Tweet when we did a series of Tweets  (Warren Gunnels was Tweeting about her -- positively Tweeting about her) and when we reposted one of Ann and Stan's year-in movie reviews.  That's it.  I didn't think I'd mentioned her but I did check.

I didn't cover the re-election campaign of 2018 or of any of the others.  I don't cover Cynthia period. One e-mail notes I attacked Michael Bloomberg and defended Andrew Cuomo and "your friendship is why you destroyed Mr. Bloomberg's chances at the presidential nomination."

First, thank you, I didn't know I had that kind of power.  I destroyed his chances?  Me?  All by myself?  Okay, that's interesting.

Second, I attacked -- and I'll gladly cop to that verb -- Bloomberg from the beginning.  He was well into his campaign when he tried to lie and claim credit for marriage equality in the state of New York.  That was a lie, that was a huge lie.  I waited a day or two -- maybe a week actually -- for the press to call him out on that or any other lie he was telling in his ads and they didn't.  At which point, I called him out on it and noted that Andrew was one of the people who deserved credit but Bloomberg was not one of those who deserved credit.  I was already against Bloomberg by months by that point so, no, I don't see it as I attacked him and/or "destroyed" his campaign because of Andrew.

That e-mailer, however, has objections that -- I say  -- argue I should have disclosed I knew Andrew in that snapshot.  I thought it was known and Andrew was not the topic of that snapshot or even a portion of the snapshot.  Here is the full mention of Andrew:

I can see giving members of the New York Assembly credit for the vote and I can certainly see giving Governor Andrew Cuomo credit -- especially Andrew.  But Michael Bloomberg really had nothing to do with the effort.

I didn't think it need another qualifier for a number of reasons including it wasn't our focus.  I still think I'd probably do it the same if I was rushing through a snapshot today.  But due to the e-mail, I will also allow that a strong argument can be made that I should have noted in that snapshot that I knew Andrew.

Then there is the third group which claims I have been promoting Chris Cuomo because of my friendship with the family.  I do know Andrew, I do know Chris and I did know their father.

When did I ever promote Chris here?

Not in January of 2016 when I wrote "Why is Chris Cuomo on TV (it's not because of looks and its not because of brains)."  Not in the August 13, 2019 snapshot when I started the snapshot with negative criticism of him which began: "Starting with the embarrassment that is Chris Cuomo."  I go on to call him an "a**hole."  Over at THIRD, Ava and I cover TV.  I don't hold back whether I know someone or not.  If I have an opinion, I'm going to express it.  It's hurt a lot of feelings but usually friends get over it.  One who still swears his FOX program [Added -- a sitcom -- added 3 hours and 20 minutes after this originally went up due to e-mails that wrongly assume this was FOX NEWS and not FOX though it clearly says FOX] was cancelled because of our review does not forgive me and no longer considers me a friend.  If we make an exception, we note it.  We were going to trash FRINGE for being a Deanna Durbin 100 MEN AND A GIRL type program but they told us they were strengthening the women on the show and adding a sister for Olivia so we said we'd wait a few months to review it.  Which we did.  But when we said that, we also noted it at THIRD that we'd agreed to wait to review it.  That's also why THIRD is still around because waiting took us into a new year.  Our plan -- Ava and mine, anyway -- had been to end it that year.



At any rate, Chris has not gotten a pass from me because I happen to know him.  (He's much nicer off air, if anyone cares.)  Back to reality . . .



Samantha Cole (VICE NEWS) points out:

While Bernie Sanders was doing near-daily livestreams about the coronavirus pandemic, Biden has been largely absent, leading many to wonder when we were going to hear from him again. For days, sources close to Biden said he was essentially spending several days getting his webcam set up. Specifically, they have noted that the Biden team was "working on scaling up that infrastructure and dealing with the realities of Biden’s Wilmington Home, like the fact that there aren’t particularly high ceilings, which can make lighting a challenge."
Meanwhile, we got Stephen Colbert recording a show with his AirPods, Bernie’s daily streams, a bunch of celebrities singing “Imagine” to their phones, and every friend you have ever met having Zoom parties.


Breck Dumas (THE BLAZE) explains:

The New York Times reported Monday that "Biden struggles for a voice as others lead" during the coronavirus pandemic, writing that his "low profile" is "worrying Democrats who feel the president needs to be challenged more robustly."
The newspaper noted that "Democratic strategists, some state officials and even some of his own aides have said that Mr. Biden needs to be more visible at a time when Americans are looking for leadership."
One of the authors of the piece, Thomas Kaplan, tweeted, "An example of the difficulty Biden faces in breaking through: CNN, Fox News and MSNBC did not air his coronavirus speech today. They showed [Democratic New York Governor Andrew] Cuomo's briefing instead."


We need bold leadership right now and Joe is yet again failing to rise to the occasion.  By contrast, Bernie's promoting his plan everywhere.  Here are some of his Tweets.

Some of my Republican colleagues are calling for a $1,000, one-time check to Americans. Really? That'll last you two or three weeks. What happens after that? We need to give every person in this country $2,000 a month for the duration of this crisis.


We need an unprecedented legislative response that focuses on the emergency health care needs of the American people — not billions of dollars in corporate welfare to benefit CEOs and wealthy stockholders.

We must suspend rent and mortgage payments, evictions, and foreclosures across the country. We cannot abandon our people and allow families to be thrown out of their homes during a pandemic.

We not only need to put a moratorium on utility shut-offs across the country. We must restore utility services to anyone who has had their utilities shut off.



In addition, he did livestreams on Friday, on Saturday and on Sunday.  Monday?



He was on Chris Hayes' ALL IN (MSNBC).  If you need a disclosure re: Chris Hayes, see Ava and my "TV: The Lemmings" for the most recent one.  When at all possible, I will always refrain from criticizing Chris because Chris kept his word and stood up when so many others -- for example, the worthless Matthew Rothschild -- did not.

Can we talk about the $2000?  People are Tweeting about how  any check wouldn't arrive until April 6th.  April 1st is when most people's bills are due.  Rent?  Most people have a penalty payment if they don't make their rent payment when it's due.  Bernie's right it needs to be $2,000 and you can argue that it needs to be more than that.  What if it's July and you're living in Georgia?  You're going to have a huge electricity bill in the summer.

Branko Marcetic (JACOBIN) points out:

But beyond that, Biden’s address suffered from another shortcoming that all of his public addresses have shared. Instead of outlining bold, specific proposals to deal with the crisis — like, for instance his opponent’s calls for $2,000 direct payments to every American, emergency universal Medicare coverage, and an oversight agency to fight price-gouging and self-dealing — Biden prefers to criticize Republicans and issue vague calls for action and results: “We should be doing everything in our power to keep workers on payrolls … help the economy come out on the other side strong. The federal government should provide the resources to make that happen, while still protecting American taxpayers.” Other than promises to mobilize the military, Biden elides specifics, instead instructing Americans to read the nearly 7,000-word plan up on his website. 






And that plan is now obsolete. For instance, it makes no mention of using the Defense Production Act, which Biden has, in his public remarks, made a core element of his response plan. And while he now says “cash relief needs to go out as soon as possible to those who need it the most,” his plan mentions cash payments as just one option, alongside tax credits, that governors and mayors could decide to pursue by drawing on a State and Local Emergency Fund of unspecified size. There was already a contradiction between the plan’s pledge to “spend whatever it takes” and Biden’s suggestion during the debate that the GOP’s “godawful tax cut” means “the ability for us to use levers that were available before have been used up.” It’s becoming increasingly unclear what voters should be listening to: Biden’s actual public utterances, or the plan he keeps insisting has all the answers.


The Defense Protection Act?  Bernie was talking about that Sunday in his livestream:

And right now we are seeing in this country and around the world, medical professionals getting sick because of their exposure to the coronavirus.  And this is not only a tragedy for the doctors and the nurses and the other medical profession, it is a very frightening for our whole country because if our front line doctors and nurses go down and are unable to provide the care we desperately need at this moment, who's going to be there to protect the millions of people who are sick?  So what we have got to do right now is to understand that at this moment the president of the United States has got to fully utilize in an extremely aggressive way the Defense Production Act.   And what the Defense Production Act states is that the president has the right to tell a private company: 'You know what? Instead of manufacturing T-shirts or underwear or socks -- not exactly what we need right now in the midst of this crisis -- you will start production in terms of masks, in terms of gowns, in terms of gloves, in terms of the other equipment that our medical professionals need.'  Now the good news is that some in the private sector, some private companies, are already making that transformation and I applaud them.  And these companies deserve to be adequately compensated for the work that they are doing.  But what we need is, at a time when experts estimate that the United States alone -- I'm not talking about the rest of the world -- our country alone, may need a minimum of hundreds of millions of masks because they are disposable -- you don't reuse them, you should not reuse them -- of masks and gloves and gowns in order to get through this pandemic [for] the president of the United States to tell various countries that you're going to stop producing what you're producing today, we need you to produce the products that our doctors and nurses and medical personnel needs.


Bernie's offering leadership and Joe's offering nothing.  He's not the only disappointment.  That Congress cannot get it together and start helping the American people is appalling. Patrick Martin (WSWS) reports:

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell closed out the Senate session Monday night without bringing his proposed $2 trillion bonanza for corporate America to a vote. There is, however, little doubt that the legislation will be passed by the Republican-controlled Senate and the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives within a day or two.
The highly publicized wrangling between Democrats and Republicans over the exact terms of the absurdly named CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act) is only political theater, engaged in by both parties in order to disguise the highway robbery being carried out by corporate America, using the coronavirus crisis as a pretext.
This massive boondoggle has nothing to do with helping people endangered either medically or financially by the epidemic and the economic dislocation it has caused. The financial aristocracy has seized on the public health crisis as an opportunity to raid the federal treasury, plundering the American people and grabbing whatever it can.
Following the motto of Democrat Rahm Emanuel—“Never let a good crisis go to waste”—both parties are using the COVID-19 epidemic as a chance to obtain favors for their corporate masters beyond their wildest dreams and far beyond anything they carried out in the 2008-2009 bailout of Wall Street and the auto industry.
As it stands now, the bill drafted by the Republican leadership and endorsed by Trump—he urged Monday that it be passed exactly as presented by McConnell—would provide more than $1.8 trillion in financial aid and other appropriations, the bulk of it directed to the big corporations and the wealthy.
The provisions include:
* $500 billion for large corporations
* $350 billion for “small business”
* $300 billion in direct payments to households
* $250 billion for state unemployment benefit funds
* $136 billion in additional funds for federal agencies, including the military and the Department of Homeland Security
* $106 billion in payments to hospitals, the Veterans Administration and other public health agencies.
The biggest single slice, $500 billion in loans and loan guarantees for big corporations, has been widely termed a “slush fund” under the control of Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. While the money is earmarked to some extent—$50 billion to passenger airlines, $8 billion to cargo airlines, and $17 billion to firms supplying the Pentagon or intelligence agencies with critical equipment and capabilities—the bulk of is to be distributed by the Treasury as Mnuchin decides.
Companies receiving aid are required to maintain the same employment levels as prevailed on March 13, 2020, but only “to the extent practicable,” a loophole that renders the requirement completely meaningless.
Other rules prohibit companies that receive federal bailouts from engaging in stock buybacks, bonuses and other measures to enrich their executives, but Mnuchin has the authority to waive all such requirements at his discretion. In addition, the identity of the companies receiving the cash is to be concealed, so that there will be no oversight except by the Trump administration.
There is no restriction, even of a formal character, on the gargantuan salaries of the CEOs and other top executives of major companies like Boeing. The former and current top officials of Boeing should be criminally prosecuted for such crimes as manufacturing what they knew to be the defective 737 Max jet, two of which crashed on takeoff, killing a total of 356 people. Instead, they are being rewarded by having their eight-figure incomes underwritten by the taxpayers.


My plan was to open with that today but we'll do it tomorrow if Congress is still not doing their job.

Still on the coronavirus, an Iraq War veteran brings up a very important point.  This Tweet is from ChristelJGW:



I’m 38, mother of a 10 & 8 year old. I served a year in Taji, Iraq in 2006. I have asthma/COPD resulting from that service due to burn pits. I’m at an increased risk if I develop COVID-19. This is not the country I risked my life for! #NotDying4WallStreet




I have not even thought about the burnpit survivors. Thank you to Christel for getting the issue out there.   She is exactly right that they are at increased risk.  I see BURNPITS360 has two Tweets up and I'm sure they'll have more at their website in the coming days.

The following sites updated:





Read the book

I'm reading Woody Allen's new book APROPOS OF NOTHING (as is Marcia, see her "Love Woody Allen's new book!") and it's a very funny book.  Here he is writing about the books he was made to read in school and he offers this on "The Gift of the Magi:"

So she sells her hair to buy him a watch fob and he sells his watch to buy combs for her hair.  The moral I drew was you're always safer giving cash.

Sorry.  I stopped to read some more and then I closed my eyes to rest and fell asleep.  I started this over eight hours ago, this post.

In the book, I'm up to where he gets married for the first time and goes out West to work on a TV show.  It's really a book worth reading.  He's written a humorous book, which isn't a surprise except for the fact that most memoirs are not humorous -- even when they try to be.

It's only available as a KINDLE read right now at AMAZON -- they might have hard cover copies by later today but they didn't when I ordered or when Marcia ordered.




"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):
Monday, March 23, 2020.  Hidin' With Biden may emerge today but let's hope Joe doesn't see his shadow and then hide out for another week, Bernie Sanders shows leadership yet again, rumors abound that the DNC might have their eye on a new candidate, Iraq's new prime minister-designate is fending off rumors, and much more.

In the e-mails, a lot of you are noting this FOX NEWS article which opens:


Have Democrats found an alternative to Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders for the party’s 2020 presidential nomination?
Some seem to think so: The hashtag #PresidentCuomo -- referring to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo -- was trending on social media Saturday as the party’s voters continued to mull who should take on President Trump in November.
Just a day earlier, the hashtag #WhereIsJoe was trending as some wondered why Biden's national profile seemed to shrink amid the crisis -- a situation Biden said he planned to address next week.


Some of you are curious, some of you are in a panic.  I doubt that's a serious option; however, if it is, we could all do much worse than Andrew Cuomo.  Joe Biden, for example, is much worse than Andrew Cuomo.  Andrew is a leader.  I am supporting Bernie Sanders.  If Bernie does not get the nomination, I will gladly support Andrew.  If Joe gets the nomination, it is extremely doubtful I will be voting for him.

There is his Iraq War history (see Ava and my "TV: The Lemmings" because it goes way beyond just voting for the war).  There is his inappropriate behavior with girls and women and his refusal to take it seriously.  There is his crooked family profiting constantly from his holding public office.

But most of all, there is right now.

The last two weeks have been his chance to prove me and anyone else who says he's not fit to be president wrong.  We don't say he's not ready because unless we live to be 120, Joe will probably never be ready.  But we note his inability to speak accurately, his other health problems, etc and we note that he's not fit to be president.

The nation is in the midst of a crisis and it's Hidin' With Biden time.

He could have proved me wrong.  But he didn't.  He failed to show leadership.

Bernie Sanders?

Here is Bernie hosting a roundtable on coronavirus live that was streamed online.



That was Friday.  Saturday?



The live stream teach-in.

Yesterday?




"AOC, OMAR, TLAIB AND BERNIE ON CORONAVIRUS: This is an unprecedented moment and we have got to think in an unprecedented way. Join our livestream on the coronavirus response with Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, featuring musical guests including Grandson."

While Bernie's addressing the American people, it's Hidin' With Biden time.

He is unfit for office.  He has shown no leadership at all and he's no leadership because he has none to give.

THE HILL notes that he has not spoken on camera since last Tuesday and that a big donor raised the issue in a fundraising call yesterday.

So Joe's big donors are worried and that may get him off his lazy ass and he may something this morning.  Because his big donors are worried.

Otherwise, he'd be silent.

Useless Joe.

Hidin' With Biden is not leadership.

I want Bernie to get the nomination.  As the Stones long ago warned us, you can't always get what you want.  If Bernie doesn't get the nomination, I have no problem with Andrew Cuomo getting the nomination.  I know Andrew and I like Andrew.  But, whether you like him or not, I don't think you can deny that he's shown leadership in the last weeks while many others haven't.

Bernie's shown leadership.  He is my first choice.  But, yes, I could accept Andrew over Joe because Joe's done nothing -- as usual.  This is the Joe we all know, inept, rudderless, unable to lead.

The only thing America needs to hear from Joe is, "I'm closing my campaign and no longer seeking the party's presidential nomination."

He's yet to say that and may never utter those words -- but they are clearly what his actions are stating.

He's useless and he's made himself useless.

The co-chair of Bernie's campaign, Nina Turner, Tweeted:

Proud that our campaign is showing up and connecting every day. The resilience of our people has always come through in times of crisis. Together we pray, heal and inspire.
is asking us to BE about it, not just talk about it. America needs an organizer-in-chief
✊🏾




Bernie's showing up and Bernie's leading.  Joe?  He's making calls to big donors.  That's all he's doing.  Didn't Bernie and his supporters just raise money for others?  Marty Johsnon (THE HILL) notes that they raised over two million for charities that are working with coronavirus issues.  And Joe can't do that, he's too busy hitting up big donors for more cash for his campaign.


COMING HOME.  A great film that Jane Fonda produced and that she won a Best Actress Academy Award for the film and a Golden Globe as well.  Though the soundtrack was never issued on vinyl or CD or (thus far) streaming, it's a strong soundtrack which includes this song by the Rolling Stones.




You don't know what's going on
You've been away for far too long
You can't come back and think you are still mine
You're out of touch, my baby
My poor discarded baby
I said, baby, baby, baby, you're out of time

Well, baby, baby, baby, you're out of time
I said, baby, baby, baby, you're out of time
You are all left out
Out of there without a doubt
'Cause baby, baby, baby, you're out of time


It's as though Mick and Keith wrote it about Joe.

He doesn't know what's going on.  He's having a TV studio built in his home, that's what he told the mega donors, and he'll begin addressing the country that way.

He needs a TV studio in his home?

The world has truly passed Joe Biden by.  He apparently checked out some time in the 90s and is not even aware of the YOUTUBE stars that began populating the celebrity landscape in the '00s.  Or maybe he thinks they built TV studios in their homes too?

He is so out of touch.


The country is in a crisis and he'll address it . . . just as soon as the rec room's done being turned into a TV studio.

He's crazy if he doesn't think people are noticing.  Sample comments from Twitter (search "Hidin with Biden"):

Very presidential Sanders was telling people the path forward and having congress people share what they are doing. While lyin' Biden is hidin' away with staffers worried about how to prevent his gaffers. What'd he have, another aneurism?

#WhereIsJoe Nobody knows and his fans are even freaking out thinking they can pull the same with Bernie. We're seeing the guy live in stream each day while Biden is Hidin'. #WhereIsJoeBiden #WheresJoe #BernieForPresident


Bernie’s ass been everywhere this week...where you been? With hidinwith Biden??


Watching him right now. He did a live stream round table discussing plans that need to be implemented. He had AOC, Omar and Tlaib on. You know, because his brain isn't stuck in the Jim Crow south of the 1950's. Where have you been? Hidin with Biden?


Where's Bernie? He's where he always is. In the front line fighting for economic justice. Fighting to save the environment. Fighting to save American democracy. Fighting to end the greed & corruption that's destroying this country. THAT'S WHERE HE IS. #WhereIsBernie


Very presidential Sanders was telling people the path forward and having congress people share what they are doing. While lyin' Biden is hidin' away with staffers worried

The only leader that is presidential in this moment
. We need someone who will #DumpTrump and isn't #HidinwithBiden. #WeDeserveBernie


Joe has shown no leadership and the press has been fine with it.  It's the people who are calling it out and noting how non-presidential this is.  The press is acting like it's normal but that's the corporate press for you.  And, note, even Joe's mega-donors know this isn't normal and know that he can't continue to do this.

The coronavirus is an issue around the world. Iraq is now on day five of its coronavirus curfew.  UN WOMEN IRAQ notes that women are greater effected in Iraq by the coronavirus because it places burden on the healthcare system -- nearly 1 in 5 women in Iraq are employed by the healthcare system -- and because women do the bulk of the care at work and home. They also note that the healthcrisis has exacerbated gender inequalities.   MIDDLE EAST EYE reports:

Iraq has imposed a nationwide total lockdown until 28 March in order to enforce measures to fight the coronavirus pandemic.
The country has logged a total of 233 coronavirus cases and recorded 20 deaths, but there are concerns that many more are going undetected as only 2,000 people of the country's 40-million population have been tested so far. 
Most of Iraq's 18 provinces have already imposed their own local curfews, but the new measures will include the whole of the country, according to a  decision by the government's crisis cell.
Schools, universities and other gathering places would remain closed, as would the country's multiple international airports, it said in a statement seen by AFP. 
Many had feared a potential influx of cases from neighbouring Iran, where 1,685 people have died after contracting the Covid-19 respiratory illness, according to the latest official toll on Sunday. 

Iraq first shut its 1,500km border with Iran about a month ago and deployed troops to enforce the decision.


AFP adds, "Most of Iraq's 18 provinces had so far imposed their own local curfews but the new measures would include the whole of the country, according to a new decision by the government's crisis cell."  RUDAW's Lawk Ghafuri Tweets:

The latest update from #Iraq - 33 new cases confirmed today by Iraq’s Ministry of Health. - 23 died, as 3 more died today after contracting #Coronavirus. - Total #COVIDー19 cases in Iraq so far is 266. #StayHome


And AP's Samya Kullab adds, "Iraqi authorities began issuing #coronavirus-related instructions to the public via loudspeaker system that one civil defense official said hasn’t been used since wars of the 1990s.MIDDLE EAST MONITOR adds, "Meanwhile, the Iraqi Minister of Health, Jaafar Allawi, said the average number of coronavirus infections is 15 per day, stressing that the country is fully prepared to respond to any increase in the numbers of infected people."

Daniel Benaim and Michael Hanna (THE NEW REPUBLIC) offer this assessment of Iraq:

Iraq confronts coronavirus without a government in place. Iraq’s ineffectual prime minister, hamstrung by pressure from Iraqi militias and neglect from Washington, abandoned the job after the Soleimani killing. Millions of Iraq’s people live in urban slums; hundreds of thousands more Sunnis, displaced from areas once ruled by ISIS, are still living in tent camps, where social distancing will be impossible. Absent swift and affirmative action, coronavirus could spread quickly among the most vulnerable Iraqis. Yet the country’s political elites remain enmeshed in their parochial interests, unable to unite around new leadership at this critical moment. 


MIDDLE EAST MONITOR ONLINE notes:


The European Union Mission in Iraq has called for expediating the formation of a new Iraqi government in order to urgently deal with the coronavirus pandemic.
The EU Mission expressed in a statement solidarity with the Iraqi people during this unprecedented crisis, adding that it hopes that a government is urgently formed to address challenges in the areas of health, security, politics, economy and human rights and particularly the disturbing spread of coronavirus.
The mission called on everyone to deal with this threat very seriously, confirming the European Union’s unwavering support for the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iraq.

Adna al-Zurfi is the current prime minister-designate and currently attempting to form a Cabinet in the designated 30 day period.  Adil Abdul Mahdi?  He was the prime minister and remains in a 'caretaker' role.  In November, he announced his resignation.  In December, he gave his I-really-really-really-mean-it-I'm-resigning notice.  Still no new prime minister.  Iraqi president Barham Salih announced Mohammed Allawi as prime minister-designate.  He wasn't able to put together a Cabinet and he announced that he was resigning as prime minister-designate.  As noted in the  Tuesday, March 17th snapshot, Salih has now named Adnan al-Zurufi prime minister-designate.  He has 30 days, per the Constitution, to put together a Cabinet or risk Salih naming someone else as prime minister-designate. 

MEMO notes, "The Supreme Judicial Council of Iraq has disputed the appointment of lawmaker Adnan Al-Zurufi as Prime Minister-designate to form a transitional government on the grounds that the president has no constitutional right to appoint him."  Their power is questionable (as are their actions and have been for nearly two decades now), the federal court has already ruled Salih was within his rights.  ASHARQ AL-AWSAT reports he is under pressure and insisting that the US is not part of his being named prime minister-designate nor was there any backdoor deal:


He noted that holding US citizenship doesn’t mean he was chosen by the US, rejecting such an “unacceptable alibi”.


“I am mainly concerned about building balanced relations with all regional countries, as well as establishing balanced state relations with regional and international powers on the basis of shared interests while prioritizing our national interests.”


Regarding his options in light of many crises, one of which is the relationship with his Shiite partners, Zurfi said he launched Sunday official consultations to form the new government.


The Iraqi official stressed that he is working on forming a government in which all parties participate, pointing out that it is a crisis government due to the nature of the challenges it faces.


He further noted that its mission will be only for one year, during which preparations will take place for holding early elections in the country.

New content at THIRD:


The following sites updated: