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Wednesday, December 01, 2021

Our Outrageous Congress

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., joined the growing ranks of members of Congress in issuing a warning to the Supreme Court: reaffirm Roe v. Wade or else. The “else” varies from promises to pack the Court to personal accountability for justices. For Shaheen, it is a promise of “revolution.” It is the latest demand that the justices yield to popular demand or any countervailing interpretation of the Constitution. Or else.

“So you say you want a revolution.” However, these threats are an attack on the very concept of impartial judicial review. “When you talk about destruction” of our traditions of judicial review, as the Beatles declared in 1968, “you can count me out.”

I understand that Sen. Shaneen is speaking of a political rather than actual revolution but the implication is that there would be consequences for the Court.

Threatening the Supreme Court has become something of a required public exhibition of faith for Democrats, a demonstration that abstract notions like judicial independence will not distract from achieving political results. Sen. Richard Blumenthal previously warned the Supreme Court that, if it continued to issue conservative rulings or “chipped away at Roe v Wade” it would trigger “a seismic movement to reform the Supreme Court. It may not be expanding the Supreme Court, it may be making changes to its jurisdiction, or requiring a certain numbers of votes to strike down certain past precedents.”

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also declared in front of the Supreme Court “I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price.”

The message is clear and unambiguous: vote “correctly” or you will face personal or institutional repercussions.

I think it is outrageous that elected members of Congress abuse their position -- and betray the oath that they took to the Constitution -- to threaten the Supreme Court. It's just outrageous.

If Congress wants to pass some laws regarding abortion -- and keeping it legal -- by all means go for it. But you've got no right to threaten or intimidate sitting justices in order to get a verdict that you like. It's outrageous.

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

December 1, 2021. A final election tally is finally announced in Iraq and we look at the corrupt media system which devours its own in order to protect itself.

Starting with the media. This site has not called for Chris Cuomo to be fired. Rebecca's made that call and it's a solid call (see "it's time for cnn to fire chris cuomo" and :"suspended isn't fired"). There are also solid reasons to argue against it. But those e-mailing the public account -- and noting that it was this site -- need to check their eye sight. (I can give you the numbers of several wonderful doctors.) I have not made that call nor am I closely following that story. It takes a lot to get me to call for someone to lose their livelihood. I have no idea what's going to happen to Chris.

He is now expendable. To CNN, he is now expendable. They're trying to rebrand. He is the face of so much that people do not like about CNN -- and CNN executives made him that face and encouraged him to be it -- so it is very likely that he will be fired. I'm not saying he should be. I'm not sying he shouldn't. But I have not made the call for him to be fired.

But, and this brings us to our second topic of e-mails to the public account, Lara Logan.

Lara appeared on some FOX NEWS program. She did not -- as the people e-mailing claim -- say Anthony Fauci was Josef Mengel.

She stated that she had encountered many people who saw him as that. So get your facts straight. Second, if that was shocking to you -- the way a number of people see Fauci -- you really are in a bubble. He is inept and he is hated. The White House wasted too much time and energy on him. Had they done what they wree supposed to do -- push Joe Biden's administration wish list -- they'd be more successful -- and Joe would be higher in the polls. Months ago, I pointed out here that they were expending too much enery on protecting Fauci. That was their first clue that he had to go.

And he should go. What's the difference between a Trump administration and a Biden administration? Not a whole lot apparently. He has cost the administration a great deal -- both in terms of defining itself in opposition to Donald's policies and in terms of being able to stay on message and focused.

Does no one have a brain in the administration?

He should have been told long ago, "Thank you for your work, we're going to be making some changes so we'd like your resignation." And that Fauci didn't grasp that he was an anchor for the administration, dragging them down, and leave on his own goes to Fauci's stupidity and his vanity.

Stupidity? Lara Logna was stupid and foolish. For what she said regarding Fauci? No. It is a view that many hold of Fauci. Her job isn't to censor what someone -- Ruth Bader Ginsberg? -- says, her jon is to address what is being said. If you're that offended by her, I don't understand how you watch television. Does a nanny come in and watch it with you, hug you after each broadcast?

Lara was stupid with regards to CBS.

'Lara Logan lied and CBS fired her!'

She didn't get fired. She got put on a suspension and, when it was up, CBS eased her out by making it clear that there would be no real duties again. That's probably the road that CNN will try to tke. Get them to express their desire to leave and you don't have to honor the contract. Lara was made the face of problems and Chris will likely be as well.

Chris did not take an axe to the wall of professional boundaries while CNN execs objected and told him to stop. He did what he did in full view of everyone. He should not have been covering his own brother. Things like that happen but they shouldn't. When Chris Hayes was with THE NATION, he shouldn't have been allowed to cover the Obama administration since his wife was an attorney for that administration.

Whether Chris gets terminated or not, he did not create the problem. Nor is he, honestly, the problem. The problem is the culture at CNN that allowed it to happen.

Lara Logan? I went to CRAPAPEDIA when Martha told me about the e-mails because there was so much stupidity in the e-mails, I knew it had to be coming from somewhere besides outrage junkies. Sure enough, the lies are intact at CRAPAPEDIA.

To hear CRAPAPEDIA tell it, Lara Logn did a 60 MINUTES segement that had backlash and she apologized for the inacuracies and was suspended.

Really? That's what we're going to pretend happened?

Dylan Davies' name is in the entry, but that's about all. Here are three significant words that are missing: THE EMBASSY HOUSE.

That's the 2013 book that Dylan Davies wrote, the book that THRESHOLD EDITIONS published -- THRESHOLD is a CBS imprint.

Claims were made -- I didn't watch the segment. Lara apologized for them. That was part of her stupidity.

Lara did end up losing a promising career. Who else, though?

Louise Burke was the publisher at THRESHOLD. Did she lose her job? Well, kind of. She got promoted.They moved her up the chaing to publisher of Gallery Books Group. And she stayed there, part of the CBS corporate family, until 2017. She went on to co-found another outlet (ALL SEASONS PRESS).

Set aside what was true or fale about the book for a moment (we'll come back to that) but CBS published a book. Publishers are supposed to employ fact checkers. CBS published a book that made claims that, when repeated on TV, cost Lara Logan a promising career. But no one involved in publishing the book suffered.

Lara was stupid to have promoted the book. She should have said that an on air disclosure was needed regarding CBS' involvement in the publishing of the book. She also should have said that this feels like book promotion and not reporting. She didn't. If she had, she might have been ignored, but she should have said that.

Her stupidity continued after the segment aired. "We're going to let this blow over." She was told that -- I know from the man who told her those words that she was told that. I shook my head in real time and said, "You're going to hang her out to dry." No, no, no, he insisted.

Yes, yes, yes.

And any reporter is an idiot when they believe that garbage.

No matter what you think your value is -- again, think Chris Cuomo today -- it isn't. You're product and the minute you threaten the brand, you're on your way out.

Karmicallyt Dan Rather got what he deserved when Bully Biy Bush's AWOL story blew up in his face. It was a long time coming for Dan who was a professional liar and it's sad to watch some uninformed lefties rush to defend him to this day. Or worse, celebrate him as a hero.

Dan lied for CBS over and over. And he was rewarded for that. And he thought he was untouchable and certainly indisposable. Nope. When there was embarrassment and CBS could protect itself by cutting him out, they did so. They removed him like a tumor.

Mary Mapes? I feel sorry for her. But she was stupid as well because she bought the b.s. that CBS was handing her. Don't. They have no loyalty to anything but their brand. She should have learned from what CNN did to April Oliver. You do not matter to them, their corporate bottom line does. The dumbest mistake you can make is to go silent. You need to be talking to the media and your employers needs to see the coverage. It's the only thing that can save you. When CBS wanted to dump Daniel Schorr, it was the publicity he was taking part in that kept them from doing so. Because Schorr was a liar, the attitude was, "Let him keep talking, he'll trip himself up." And he did. (Yet when he died, many tried to rewrite history and pretend that he was brave and wonderful.)

If youre silent, you're an idiot. Because they're using your silence by filling the void with whispers about you and they're damaging your credibility to protect their brand.

CBS airs a questionable report based on a CBS book that is also questionable. And Lara's the only one punished? No one at the publishing house is punished. Just Lara.

Was the book true or false?

I'd argue we don't know. I know the argument that THRESHOLD made -- which had CBS back off from punishing them. Davies was a contractor. Not a merc, but an intellignece conttractor. Benghazi was a CIA outpost (the embassy -- that came out in the first hearing we attended, US House Rep Jason Chaffetz was having a meltdown in the hearing as different thing were being said and his mike caught enough comments (asides he was making) to make clear that he felt too much was being aired publicly.

So Davies was contracted by the US government as some form of intelligence. Probably, he was to carry out activities that are crimes for the CIA to carry out. Probably he, like many others, was just there in case the whole thing blew up -- a patsy.

Daveis was 'exposed' by journalists with CIA ties as having stated that he was not present in an FBI interview. And? Did he say it? You have no idea, I don't either. If he said it, was he ordered to say it because of the nature of the mission? Ibid. They also trotted out an incident report which Davies denied having completed.

THRESHOLD didn't say, "Sure, thanks, guys, I know we can work this out." Lara Logan did. THRESHOLD said, "If you come for us, we're coming for you."

And if you don't get how many work to brand these contractors as liars, you missed Senator Idiot Supreme Dianne Feinstein in her attacks on Ed Snowden which included her claims -- presented as facts -- that he was never employed by the CIA or the NSA. "High school drop out" was her line of ridicule, for those who missed it.

The outrage junkies are after Lara Logan again.

Are they lying or just so addicted to their outrage high that they can't make sense of what was said? Lara did not say she considered Fauci to be a Nazi War Criminal. She said she encounted many people who did. If that's a shock to you, as Demi Moore says in THE BUTCHER'S WIFE, "Well you ought to get out more."

October 10th, Iraq held elecgtions. They finally have official results. ALJAZEERA notes:

The political bloc led by Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr was confirmed the winner of the October parliamentary election.

Iraq’s independent election commission announced the final results on Tuesday following weeks of recounting and intensified rejection from the losing parties.

Five seats changed as a result of the appeals and recounting process in the capital; Baghdad, Nineveh, Erbil, Kirkuk and Basra.

[. . .]

The number for the Taqadum, or Progress Party-led by current Parliament Speaker Mohammed al-Halbousi, a Sunni – remained the same, 37 seats. Former Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s State of Law party lost two seats and will have 33 in parliament.

The Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) captured 31 seats, and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) received 18.

Some issues have been turned over to the judiciary so there may be changes to come (or not) but those are the 'final' results as issued by the electoral commission.

I love some of the spin, by the way, like this Tweet:

The manual recount of contested ballot boxes in Iraq's parliamentary elections held in October have only affected five seats in five provinces, Iraq's IHEC said.

Really? Just five seats. Just? If five seats flipped in the House, Democrats would not be the majority party.

Those announced results do not build trust in the system -- nor does the laughable claim of 44% participating -- but as we noted repeatedly ahead of the election, anticipating an extremely low turnout, they changed the way they counted participation.

The following sites updated:

George Ezra

TOP OF THE POPS is a British TV show. It's sort of like AMERICAN BANDSTAND in this country -- only AMERICAN BANDSTAND ended. They take music a little more seriously in the UK. George Ezra is a favorite of mine and I'm highlighting two clips of him performing on TOP OF THE POPS.

Now just a comment or two on blogging. If I have time, I blog. If I don't have time, I don't blog.

I'm not C.I. She breaks her neck to post. Yesterday, she got four shots from doctors and she went to the dentist and had a root canal. She got home at two something and was going up to her room to nap because she was in pain but Ava dropped by because of an emergency and asked if C.I. could watch her daughter -- who wasn't feeling well. C.I. posted how much yesterday? Let me just copy and paste:

Bernie Sanders, in 2015, on why "open borders" is ...

Hillary BLAMES VOTERS For Biden's Falling Approval...

Matt Taibbi & Katie Halper: Monday Mourning Sunday...

Fauci OPENS DOOR For Omicron Lockdown | Breaking P...

Election update from Honduras.

Rand Paul BLASTS Fauci “I Represent Science” Comme...

Iraq snapshot

Ava's daughter ended up getting a fever and C.I. was taking care of that and still posting. She was poked and prodded all morning and got shots and was tired but she still posted.

She worries about people and is very considerate. I am not her. I love her. She's one of my best friends. I admire what she does and what she accomplishes. But I don't have that zeal or desire. So it is what it is at this site.

(By the way, before someone e-mails wondering why I didn't take care of Ava's daughter, it wouldn't happen. She was feeling bad -- because she was getting sick. Ava lives next to C.I. and, until the pandemic, Ava and C.I. were on the road every week from before Ava had a daughter. Ava's daughter considers C.I. family. She wouldn't have stayed with anyone else, not even Kat.)

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Tuesday, November 30, 2021. Still no final voce count released in Iraq, still no one arrested for the assassination attempt or 'attempt' on Mustafa al-Kahdimi, don't call it progress.

Hassan Ali Ahmed (AL-MONITOR) emerges from the steno pool to type:

Iraqi national security adviser Qasim al-Araji appeared at a press conference on Nov. 29 to unveil the first report prepared by a special committee tasked with investigating a drone attack on Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi's residence earlier this month.

The committee, headed by Araji, was formed a day after the Nov. 7 drone attack to investigate and find the party behind the attack that was widely condemned by the international community.

The members of the committee consist of Army Chief of Staff Gen. Abdul Amir Yarallah, deputy commander of the Joint Operations Command Gen. Abdul Amir al-Shammari, head of the National Security Service Hamid al-Shatri, deputy of the intelligence service Majid al-Dulaimi and Iraqi Foreign Minister Fuad Hussein.

The report revealed new details on the attack.

Araji disclosed that two explosive-laden drones packed with Composition C-4 targeted the prime minister's residence in the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad in the early hours of Nov. 7. Initially, the first drone aimed its explosives at the flat roof, only to be followed by the second drone immediately targeting the entry of the courtyard.

This style of attack was intended to strike Kadhimi with the second drone while he was fleeing the scene through the entry, the report noted.

Generally, the only ones who can tell you what was intended are the culprits themselves. What's Araji confessing to?

This garbage that AL-MONITOR has run is exactly why Iraqis have never bought into the notion that this was a real attack. Per AL-MONITOR, the investigating body can mind read but they can't figure out who pulled it off?

It's more garbage. That's all it is. It's not making the attack or 'attack' look real. Everyone's fully aware that this is the last day of November and that the alleged attack took place at the start of the month. They want high drama and yet the reality is that if an attempt was made on Mustafa's life, ther should have been arrests long ago. The fact that this didn't happen backs up the beliefs of many that the whole 'assault' was staged and staged to create sympathy for Mustafa.

Was the 'attack' real? I have no idea, I wasn't there. But I do understand people in Iraq rolling their eyes over this nonsense. Were the attack real, that would mean an assassination attempt took place. And yet approximately one month later no arrests?? If there was an assassination attempt, that's not the normal response.

The whole thing has felt suspicious from the start and it's now, as one Shi'ite noted on Arabic social media this morning, just looking desperate.

Where are those election results? Still not in. Can't count ballots, can't catch killers, what can Mustafa's government do?

The electoral Committee is handing complaints over to the judiciary. That's where it stands now.

Jeanine Antoinette Hennis-Plasschaert heads the United Nations' mission in Iraq. She's done a miserable job. Last week, she spoke to the UN Security Council and lied. SHe lied. The October 10th election -- that we still don't have a final tally on -- was free and fair.

She deserves the bad reputation has in Iraq. We've ignored a lot of her problems because, with that position, we largely cover what they 'testitfy' to while appearing before the United Nations. But, to recap some of her greatest hits, she oversees a staff who told a man 'just don't burn yourself in front of our mission.' He walks in and explains his problems and how the UN is not addressing them and that he's going to set himself ablaze. And the UN response -- her staff -- is fine, just don't do it in front of our building.

Then there was the man who was assassinated in public and Jeanine's refusal to meet with the mother. The mother had to protest and more before the press on this got so bad that Jeanine had to get off her lazy ass and meet with the mother.

Now there's all the issues regarding Israel that would take multiple snapshots to cover but we'll just note that she's seen as a supplicant to the government of Israel and not a represetnative of Iraq.

With that baggage and so much more, she shows up to the UN Security Council and lies that these were free and fair elections.

No.

When you disenfranchise, they aren't free elections. And many groups were disenfranchised but let's just note the most obvious one. A week before the election, on Mustafa's orders, the electoral commssion announced that a segment of the militias -- those publicly opposed to Mustafa -- would not be allowed to vote the Friday before the election. They couldn't vote on Sunday. They were being deployed around the country to protect polling stations. That was the entire reason for the early vote. And most of the security forces got to early vote. But not all.

That is discrimination and that is disenfranchisement. In addition, Layal Shakir (RUDAW) notes, "Qais al-Khazali, secretary-general of Asaib Ahl al-Haq, one of the pro-Iranian PMF militias, met with the head of the United Nations mission in Iraq earlier this month and said he presented her with evidence of electoral fraud."

Jeanine's a liar. She's not an honest broker.

Back to the assassination attempt or 'attempt,' ALJAZEERA reports:

Qais al-Khazali, leader of the Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq, an Iran-backed armed group under the Popular Mobilization Forces umbrella, had long denounced the blame as well as the election results.

In a televised speech on Sunday, al-Khazali said the investigation committee must “provide tangible and real evidence” instead of “allegations from the media and Facebook”.

Telegram channels affiliated with pro-Iran armed groups charged ahead with their campaign against al-Kadhimi, spreading unsubstantiated claims that the prime minister staged the attack to blame it on the armed groups.

Well when you fail to do the most rudimentary of forensics on the alleged crime scene, apparently all you have for 'evidence' is social media.

In other news, the PUK did poorly in the election. Hiro Talabani is upping her game after the election and has begun deploying her son Bafel to make public statements calling out 'the government' for the way protesters in Sulaymaniyah are being treated. Dilan Sirwan (RUDAW) reports:

The head of Sulaimani’s ruling party on Tuesday apologized to students for a violent crackdown on last week’s protests, two days day after he met with a group of students.

“I am deeply saddened by the unjust violence that has been executed against a number of students. I sincerely ask for pardon from my sons, daughters, sisters, and brothers who walk towards a glimmering future with hope,” read the statement from Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) co-chair Bafel Talabani on Tuesday.

He pledged to make “immense changes” and “resolve the shortcomings,” adding that they “will work closer with the youth and students.”

Student protests began a week ago at the University of Sulaimani and were met with a crackdown as police used electric batons to disperse the crowd. But the protests continued, growing in size every day and spreading to other cities and towns across the Kurdistan Region over the week and security forces used tear gas and water cannons to quell the demonstrations. There were also reports that forces used live ammunition.

We'll wind down with this from Black Alliance for Peace:

Black Alliance for Peace Statement on Venezuelan Elections

The news out of Venezuela related to the elections is that there is no news. All attempts to attack and delegitimize the process failed and the people of that beleaguered nation once again chose independence and dignity over surrendering to the imperialist gangsterism of the United States and their white supremacist, European colonial allies.

For the first time in four years elements of the political opposition participated in elections that saw nearly 70,000 candidates representing 37 national political parties and 43 regional organizations for 23 governors, 335 mayors, 253 lawmakers, and 2,471 councilors.

Demonstrating once again that it is committed to open, fair, and clean elections, the Consejo National Electoral (CNE), the governmental body responsible for organizing elections in the country, issued credentials to over 300 international observers from 55 countries and institutions such as the European Union (EU), the United Nations (UN), and the Carter Center.

The result?

The “Great Patriotic Pole” (GPP), a coalition of parties and social movements organized by the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), won overwhelmingly including 20 out of 23 key governorships in the sub-national election.

According to BAP National Organizer Ajamu Baraka, “The support of the Venezuelan people for their process demonstrates once again, like what we just saw in the Nicaraguan elections and the failed revolt in Cuba on the 15th, that the white supremacists do not understand that when a people have tasted freedom, reconnected with their pre-colonial cultural traditions of knowledge production and independence, they become immune to the political, ideological and material attempts to drive them back into subordination.”

The elections in Venezuela and Nicaragua, the abandonment of reactionary forces in Cuba by the Cuban people, and the solidarity from progressive forces globally in support of the struggles for national liberation and self-determination in the Americas, represent the upsurge of popular opposition and the growing weakness and fragility of U.S. and European imperialism.

They all forcefully affirm that the colonial realities are being reversed. It is a victory for all oppressed, colonized, and working-class peoples when a people, working to build a new society for themselves freed from the dehumanizing effects of the colonial/capitalist system, are able to withstand the systematic assaults on their democratic process and national sovereignty. BAP stands firmly with all of these attempts and proudly salutes the people of Venezuela.

No compromise, no retreat!

The following sites updated:

Monday, November 22, 2021

Turley, Ava and C.I.

Jonathan Turley:

The full acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse is now in. The result was hardly a surprise to many of us who watched the trial rather than the media coverage. The jury spent days carefully considering the evidence and could not find a single count that was supported beyond a reasonable doubt.

In rendering its verdict, the jury fulfilled its core function in our legal system. The jury was designed to protect an individual from becoming the grist of a criminal justice system. As the Supreme Court noted in Duncan v. Louisiana (1968):

“Providing an accused with the right to be tried by a jury of his peers gave him an inestimable safeguard against the corrupt or overzealous prosecutor and against the compliant, biased, or eccentric judge.”

The American jury is designed to stand between the mob and a defendant; between the government and the accused. The thin line of a dozen citizens can prove the most unassailable wall for justice in our system.

The media’s guilty verdict

There was, however, a second verdict in that courtroom for those who have been maintaining a distorted or incomplete account to this trial. From the outset, politicians and media figures insisted that this was a case of murders committed by a white supremacist. Then-presidential candidate Joe Biden labeled Rittenhouse a “white supremacist” in a tweet showing his photo and demanded to know why then-President Donald Trump did not “disavow white supremacists.” Much of the media followed suit with an echo chamber of coverage that led some people to believe that these were essentially executions on the streets of Kenosha. Columnist Elie Mystal called the trial a sham.

The pressure clearly had an impact on the prosecution, which overcharged Rittenhouse (including with a count that was invalid). The case began to fall apart as the prosecution called its witnesses, who contradicted the core elements of these charges.

What happened next was even more chilling. Faced with a collapsing case in court, many of the same media outlets struck out at the judge, the jury, and the legal system. MSNBC host Tiffany Cross advocated for the judge’s removal. Rittenhouse was mocked for his “male, white tears” on national television. Georgetown law professor Paul Butler called the trial “white privilege on steroids.”

The danger of such reckless legal analysis is now evident. Judging from the coverage, one could have easily concluded that a conviction in this case was inescapable. Many reports prioritized still pictures of Rittenhouse walking menacingly with his rifle and omitted many of the countervailing facts that occupied much of the trial. Many viewers may not have learned that Rittenhouse spent his time cleaning graffiti off the high school.

We saw a lot of that, sadly, reckless legal analysis. If the media had their way, Rittenhouse would have been hanged from the Lincoln Monument.

"TV: You can learn a lot from documentaries -- more..." (Ava and C.I., THE THIRD ESTATE SUNDAY REVIEW):

She survived the scandal?

Okay, that explains everything. Eric's saying the woman didn't drown so she's a witch and she got what she deserved.

NPR really thought that garbage was worth publishing?

It's a great piece and I'll note more from it next time but really wanted to highlight that.

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Monday, November 22, 2021. Still not final count on the votes in the October 10th elections, another legal challenge heads to the court to toss the results, a 12-year-old is forced into marriage by an Iraqi court, and much more.

Reminder, Diana Ross' THANK YOU album is out but the elections results in Iraq are still hidden. "Let's Do It" is a track on Diana's new album.

MEMO notes:

Iraq's Fateh Alliance, the country's most prominent Shia coalition, yesterday announced that it had filed a lawsuit with the Federal Court to annul the parliamentary elections results.

Leader of the alliance, Hadi Al-Amiri, said "sufficient evidence" had been submitted to the Federal Court on Thursday "to annul the results of the parliamentary elections".

The Fateh Alliance includes the political wing of Asaib Ahl Al-Haq, which the United States has designated a terrorist organisation, and the Badr Organisation, which has ties with Tehran and fought alongside Iran in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.

Irregularities were noted in the lead up -- including the new manner to count how many participated. In addition there were active efforts to disenfranchise various groups. The most public was the efforts to disenfranchise the militias. Let's drop back October 3rd:

There's been a set back for one voting bloc. YENI SAFAK reports:

Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission on Saturday announced the exclusion of the Hashd al-Shaabi militia, or Popular Mobilization Forces, from the list of security forces who will vote in next week’s parliamentary elections.

"The commission formally addressed the Popular Mobilization Authority to submit the names of their members to be included in the register for the security forces eligible to vote," spokesman Jumana Al-Ghalai said in statements cited by the Iraqi News Agency.

But the Shia militia group did not submit the names of its members on the specified date, according to Al-Ghalai.

They're referring to early elections which take place October 8th. As Mina Aldroubi (THE NATIONAL) explains, "This means fighters must return to their home districts to cast their ballot."

Other groups were disenfranchised. Human Rights Watch spent the weeks leading up to the October 10th elections noting that the challenged and disabled were being disenfranchised -- and explaining how to address this. Despite their shining a spotlight on this issue, the Iraqi government -- including the electoral commission -- refused to do anything to address this issue. Assyrians were another group disenfranchised.

There were lies throughout the coverage in the west. Supposedly Moqtada al-Sadr wasn't participating which would have meant that his bloc wasn't participating. You can't announce in August you're participating and be on the ballots. Moqtada had 90 candidates running for the Parliament. Early results indicate that 70 may have won. But it was one lie after another. One distortion. The claim that the final results would be known the day after the election because they had switched to electronic voting and much more.

It has been one lie and one distortion after another. The Iraqi people were not enthused about the elections to being with -- it was the lowest turnout since the 2003 invasion -- and nothing that has happened since has instilled any trust in the process.

We'll note this Tweet.

Iraq’s Sadr condemns pressure on election commission to change results

muhabarishaji.com

Iraq’s Sadr condemns pressure on election commission to change results - Muhabarishaji News

The leader of Iraq’s Sadrist movement, Shia cleric Muqtada Al-Sadr, yesterday condemned “political and security pressure” exerted on the country’s

Miss Moqtada is not pleased. Who cares? Princess got paid off by the US government in August, paid off nicely. Who cares what Moqtada thinks. Jason Ditzy and the so-called ANTIWAR.COM club does. They live to lap at Miss Moqtada's PTM. They can't get enough of it. They shape coverage to suit Moqtada, they distort to suit Moqtada. It's a lot like all those years they spent celebrating Nouri al-Maliki. A thug who destroyed Iraq. And they've never apologized for it. They've never acknowledged how wrong they were. They just move on and pray no one notices. Part of the blame for being wrong goes to Patrick Cockburn -- you know, the "Iraq expert" who can't stop writing about US politicians because, after all, that's what an "Iraq expert" working for a UK publication does, right? No one forced them to listen to that loon. They chose to. And it led to their applauding a thug and mass murderer. When do they plan to take accountability? Considering Jason Ditzy is still distorting reality when it comes to Iraq, I think they need to get honest. Real damn quick.

And let's be clear for Jason Ditzy, no results are being changed. If the outcome is different from the projected results of October 11th? Those weren't final results. You really need to grow the hell up and grasp how damn little you understand about Iraq. Reading the occasional western report on Iraq does not inform you enough to be commenting.

As for pressure -- Moqtada condemning pressure? Anyone who knows his history has to be laughing. Remember when he conducted a poll among his cult for who he should support for prime minister? Remember who won and who lost in that poll? Jason Ditzy doesn't even know what we're talking about. ANTIWAR.COM slept through that -- like so much else. And then what did Moqtada do? Under pressure from the Iranian government, Nouri ignored the results his own followers delivered.

Only an idiot offers the commentary Jason Ditzy offers. An ahistorical idiot who never paid attention but thought listeneing to Paddy Cock-burn talk to Scott Horton counted as essential knowledge.

This would be the same Paddy Cock-burn who got the execution of an Iraqi woman wrong and, when it was pointed out loudly online for a full week, went back and corrected it without ever noting that he'd corrected how the woman was executed. Standards? Patrick has none.

War has destroyed Iraq and Iraq's been damaged by the thugs the US has put in charge of the government. They've destroyed the rights of women. Here's only one example. AFP reports:

An Iraqi court adjourned a hearing Sunday to allow a man to formalise his religious marriage to a 12-year-old girl, according to a lawyer for the girl's mother, who opposes the union.

Rights activists protested outside the Baghdad court with banners such as "the marriage of minors is a crime against childhood", while lawyer Marwan Obeidi told AFP the case had been postponed until November 28.

The legal age for marriage in Iraq is 18 but can be lowered to 15 in cases of parental or judicial consent, according to charity Save the Children.

"Religious marriages are not permitted outside civil or religious courts but these types of marriages still happen regularly and can be formalised on the payment of a small fine," it said in a recent report.

The mother, who refuses to be identified, said her daughter Israa had been "raped" and that the girl's father kidnapped her.

Layal Shakir (RUDAW) reports:

Israa was raped by the man her father forced her to wed, according to activist and feminist Yanar Muhammad. “The cleric went and married her to a rapist husband and he is here today to ratify the contract in court,” Muhammad told Rudaw’s Halkawt Aziz early on Sunday morning.

She was among a group of women protesting outside the courthouse where Israa’s mother was trying to stop the legalization of the marriage.

The Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) in a statement on Facebook demanded the abolishment of Israa’s marriage contract and called for the imprisonment of her father and the man she was forced to marry. It also called for the enactment of a law that criminalizes all marriages of minors.

Israa’s case inspired rage on social media after the community police published a statement on October 29 saying that the child, in the presence of her father, brother, and so-called husband, confirmed that the marriage took place with her consent, and “without anyone forcing her.” Social media users accused the authorities of complicity in what they described as a crime.

“Iraq is selling our daughters,” Muhammad said angrily, questioning whether the law protects girls or not.

Nisrine Jaouadi (MOROCCO WORLD NEWS) adds, "The news sparked an uproar among right activists who took to the streets to protest outside the Baghdad court, carrying banners reading 'the marriage of minors is a crime against childhood'." The Borgen Project notes:

According to The World, a public radio program, Iraq’s gross domestic product (GDP) decreased by $38 million from 2013 to 2017 due to decreasing oil prices and economic collapse in its struggle against ISIS. Many associated the decrease in GDP with an increase in the percentage of child marriages, which rose to 24% in 2016, surpassing the percentage of child marriages in 1997 by 9%. The trends in these percentages indicate that there is a correlation between the percentage of child marriage in Iraq and the country’s economic state.

According to the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO), the percentage of women aged 20-24 who married before the age of 18 was 27% in 2018, indicating that the current female population of those married before the age of 18 in Iraq consists of 5.6 million out of 20.7 million women. FIGO also reports that child marriage is more common among impoverished families who reside in rural areas, rather than among wealthy families who live in urban areas. The percentage of child marriages in rural versus urban areas differs by 1%, signifying that approximately 207,000 more young girls enter into early marriage in rural areas than urban areas.

Iraq’s Personal Status Law

Iraq’s Personal Status Law forbids child marriage and increases women’s marriage and custody rights. Despite the sound solidarity of this law, article 8 of Iraq’s Personal Status Law allows for a judge to authorize an underage marriage if the judge concludes that the action is urgently necessary or if the father of the bride gives his approval of the marriage.

Child marriage supporters in Iraq continuously push for proposed amendments to the Personal Status Law to abolish legal difficulties when forcing children into marriage. The parliament in Iraq has rejected these proposals, including an amendment that would allow for families to have their own laws in religious communities, thereby authorizing the families to offer their 8-year-old daughters for marriage.

Article 8 of the Personal Status Law allows a loophole for judges to authorize underage marriages with or without permission from a father, even though the article is noncompliant with the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), which works to gain equality for women and eliminate patriarchal norms that discriminate against women.

We'll note this Tweet:

CHILD ABUSE. #ChildRights activists protested against a marriage of a 12-yr.-old girl outside a Baghdad court on Sun. saying “the marriage of minors is a crime against childhood”. Child marriage is common in #Iraq and other Arab countries. @SavetheChildren
 https://rightscorridor.com/religious-marriage-of-12-year-old-girl-causes-outrage-in-iraq/

Women protest against the legalisation of a marriage contract for a 12-year-old girl, near the Kadhimiya court in Iraq’s capital Baghdad, Nov. 21, 2021 (Photo: Ahmad Al-Rubaye/AFP/Channels TV)

2:00 AM · Nov 22, 2021

In other news, XINHUA reports:

Although 18 years have passed since being arrested by the U.S. forces and detained in notorious Abu Ghraib prison, Alaah Karim Ahmed still keeps his identification bracelet, as a reminder of the brutality of the U.S. occupation in Iraq.

In an interview with Xinhua at Ahmed's home in the town of Duluiyah, Salahuddin province, the 39-year-old former prisoner recalled the shameful abuse and brutal torture by U.S. soldiers against detainees in Abu Ghraib prison.

On Nov. 30, 2003, Ahmed was arrested by U.S. soldiers when heading to start his campus life at the Tikrit University in Salahuddin.

Ahmed was in the wrong place at the wrong time. When the university freshman got out of his car, a roadside bomb hit a U.S. patrol on the main road. Ahmed was arrested immediately.

Ahmed recalled his traumatic experience in U.S.-run prisons in Samarra and Tikrit, before being transferred to Abu Ghraib prison to begin his misery with torture and an unknown fate.

"I was severely beaten, handcuffed and shackled. They once hung me upside down for more than an hour," Ahmed told Xinhua while showing scars of torture that are still visible on his body.

Kat: 's "Kat's Korner: If you can snap up Adele's 30, do so, if you can" went up early this morning. The following sites updated: