Second, an e-mail asks why I'm not noting RISING? Why would I? I note Jimmy because he's not a partisan hack. I did watch RISING. But I stopped. I don't like partisan hacks. Krystal Ball seems to think I'm stupid enough to be tricked by her conversion tale and that I'll follow her over to Joe Biden. To which I say, "F**k you, Krystal."
Elaine and I have a daughter. If Elaine writes "Is Krystal Ball trying to Dick her Cheney? Not into sell outs." -- and she did -- you better believe we're on the same page. We addressed Krystal's nonsense at THIRD with "Editorial: War Hawk Joe is a threat to Muslims:"
And speaking of looks, it looks like Krystal Ball's edging on over to Joe. She's to be our come-to-Jesus moment. As she slowly makes and details her conversion, we're supposed to go along.
Sorry, it's not happening.
Just like RISING refuses to cover the fact that Joe's support is coming from his fellow War Hawks -- Bill Kristol, Collie Powell, Condi Rice, Bully Boy Bush, etc.
I'm not interested in liars. And I'm at the age where I really find it insulting when someone who depends on viewers for income thinks they can trick me, thinks I'm so stupid I won't realize what they're doing.
I don't need a whore trying to lead me somewhere. She doesn't respect me and she doesn't respect herself.
Bye, Felicia.
If you want truth, Nigel Clarke serves up a lot of truth at DISSIDENT VOICE:
These, the derisive words of then-President Obama to an unruly crowd at a campaign stop for Hillary Clinton in 2016. They would become, in the years that followed, a calling card for Democratic operatives, printed on stickers and hats and coffee mugs, taken up as organizational slogan and event title. They are words which would become particularly relevant after the murder of George Floyd at the hands of four Minneapolis police officers and subsequent protests which erupted in the Twin Cities and across the country and world. As people poured into the streets, Democrats like 71-year-old white millionaire Senator Ron Wyden, insisted, don’t protest, vote!
Of course, when Democratic politicians like Obama and Wyden say ‘vote,’ they don’t simply mean ‘participate in the electoral process.’ They mean, vote for Democrats.
Perhaps nowhere in the country has this advice been taken to heart quite like the state of Minnesota and the city of Minneapolis. The state is led by a Democratic Governor and has had a Democratic Attorney General, that is, a Democrat as its chief legal officer, since 1971. The Mayor of Minneapolis is a Democrat, and has been since 1978, while 12 out of 13 seats on the Minneapolis city council are held by Democrats (the final seat is held by the Green Party).
‘Minnesota Nice’ may or may not involve booing, but it has certainly included voting for Democrats.
The results of this approach are well documented. A 2015 study revealed Minnesota to have “some of the worst racial disparities in the country,” gaps larger than most or all other states in education, employment, household income, home ownership, and poverty. African Americans in Minneapolis are nearly five times more likely than their white counterparts to live in poverty, and nearly three times more likely to be unemployed. They are nearly ten times more likely to be arrested for low level offenses and 13 times as likely as white Minnesotans to be killed by police, a disturbing fact born out in the high-profile killings of Jamar Clark in 2015, Philando Castile in 2016, and now, George Floyd.
It is telling to note that the state’s current Democratic Senator, and, perhaps until this week, the presumptive vice-presidential frontrunner to join Joe Biden atop the Democratic ticket, has been an integral part of the construction of the way Minneapolis functions today. From 1999-2007, Amy Klobuchar was the chief prosecutor for Hennepin County, encompassing the city of Minneapolis. During this period, Klobuchar declined to bring charges in over two dozen cases where people were killed by police, instead, focusing her attention on aggressively prosecuting low-level offenders, disproportionately people of color, for whom she sought longer-than-recommended sentences. Summed up by longtime Minneapolis community activist Michelle Gross, “she’s a racist who basically made our prisons the blackest place in this state.”
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Yesterday at the US State Dept in DC, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo declared:
On Iraq: The Government of Iraq has agreed to the Strategic Dialogue
proposed in April, beginning tomorrow. Under Secretary Hale will lead
that discussion with the representatives from Department of Defense,
Treasury, Energy, and other agencies, and their Iraqi counterparts.
In keeping with previous dialogues based on our 2008 Strategic Framework Agreement, the dialogue will cover all of the areas of interest between our two countries: politics, economics, security, culture, and energy.
With new threats on the horizon, including the global coronavirus pandemic, collapsed oil prices, and a large budget deficit, it’s imperative that the United States and Iraq meet as strategic partners to plan a way forward for the mutual benefit of each of our two nations.
In keeping with previous dialogues based on our 2008 Strategic Framework Agreement, the dialogue will cover all of the areas of interest between our two countries: politics, economics, security, culture, and energy.
With new threats on the horizon, including the global coronavirus pandemic, collapsed oil prices, and a large budget deficit, it’s imperative that the United States and Iraq meet as strategic partners to plan a way forward for the mutual benefit of each of our two nations.
Yesterday a dialogue started between the governments of Iraq and the United States. It continues today.
On the verge of crucial strategic talks between the United States and
Iraq set to take place on June 10, former Iraqi Foreign Minister
Mohamed Ali Alhakim said the process is a necessary, long-planned step
in ongoing bilateral ties between Baghdad and Washington.
But he took pains to call the process a dialogue involving the US government and the sovereign state of Iraq, one which will define the Pentagon’s future presence in Iraq as well as non-military aspects of the relationship including education, energy, culture, trade, and foreign investment.
“Here in the local papers, they’re calling it negotiations, but we are not negotiating anything,” Alhakim said. “It’s an agreement signed by the two sides. The only thing we need to do is figure out the bits and pieces.”
Speaking June 9 in a webinar with Abbas Kadhim, director of the Atlantic Council’s Iraq Initiative, Alhakim noted that because of COVID-19, the upcoming talks will be held virtually—a departure from the long-standing arrangement of alternating the sessions every six months between Washington and Baghdad.
But he took pains to call the process a dialogue involving the US government and the sovereign state of Iraq, one which will define the Pentagon’s future presence in Iraq as well as non-military aspects of the relationship including education, energy, culture, trade, and foreign investment.
“Here in the local papers, they’re calling it negotiations, but we are not negotiating anything,” Alhakim said. “It’s an agreement signed by the two sides. The only thing we need to do is figure out the bits and pieces.”
Speaking June 9 in a webinar with Abbas Kadhim, director of the Atlantic Council’s Iraq Initiative, Alhakim noted that because of COVID-19, the upcoming talks will be held virtually—a departure from the long-standing arrangement of alternating the sessions every six months between Washington and Baghdad.
AFP quotes
the Middle East Institute's Robert Ford who declares, "The entire
US-Iraq bilateral relationship will not be fixed in a
single day. But for once, we seem to have the right people in the right
place at the right time." May 7th, Mustafa al-Kahdemi became the latest
prime minister of Iraq. Ali Mamouri (AL-MONITOR) notes that the talks were accompanied with a rocket attack on Baghdad.
Ali Mamouri also notes that unlike Adel Abdel Mahdi, the previous prime minister, al-Kahdemi "included the strategic
dialogue with the United States as part of his plan of action presented
to the parliament. The plan, which was approved by the parliament, does
not mention the departure of US troops from the country." MIDDLE EAST ONLINE cites two
unnamed Iraqi government officials who state "Kahdemi has been invited
to the White House this year, a diplomatic olive branch his predecessor
Adel Abdel Mahdi had never received." Mahdi did call for US withdrawl
but did so only after he had resigned (and over a month after Parliament
accepted his resignation). While that might explain the lack of
invitation to the White House since January (when he called for
withdrawal of US forces), it doesn't explain why there was no invitation
since October 2018 (when he became prime minister). Mahdi had huge
support in the US from the intelligence community which had been pimping
him as the answer to Iraq ('liberating' it or just controlling it)
since 2006. ALJAZEERA offers the following prediction:
The main event will be the fate of US-led troops, deployed in Iraq from
2014 to head a military coalition fighting the Islamic State of Iraq and
the Levant (ISIL or ISIS) group.
"Whatever comes out of the dialogue is going to set the future of our
strategic relationship," an American official from the coalition told
the AFP news agency.
"Am I still going to fly surveillance drones or not? Do you still want our intelligence?" he added.
The coalition has already consolidated to just three bases in recent
months, down from a dozen, and the talks would likely bring a further
drawdown.
"There are no details yet on troop levels, but the US draft on a joint statement mentions a 'reduction of US forces'," one senior Iraqi official told AFP.
"There are no details yet on troop levels, but the US draft on a joint statement mentions a 'reduction of US forces'," one senior Iraqi official told AFP.
ALJAZEERA also offers this video report by Simona Foltyn.
Simona
Foltyn explains in the video above, "The US and the Iraqi governments
both appear to favor a partial reduction of troops but the question is
whether they will agree on the terms that will govern their future
presence. Whatever the outcome, the dialogue is likely to usher in a
new chapter of US - Iraqi relations." So the withdrawal -- not drawdown
-- that the world wants, that Iraq needs, is not likely to happen
according to the media.
John Davison (REUTERS) accompanied the current prime minister of Iraq to Mosul yesterday. He reports:
Three years ago, the world
rejoiced when Iraqi forces backed by the United States and Iran
liberated this ancient city from the brutal rule of Islamic
State. The people of Mosul hoped to rebuild their shattered
lives.
Today, a different battle plays out.
Taking place largely behind the scenes, from legislative
halls that overlook the city's bombed-out streets to hotel
meeting rooms in Baghdad, it is a power struggle among parties,
politicians and militiamen. Some are backed by Iran. Others
favour the United States.
At stake: political control of Nineveh province, of which
Mosul is capital – a region rich in natural resources and a link
in a supply route from Tehran to the Mediterranean. The route
serves Iran-backed militias, Washington's fiercest enemy here
since the defeat of Islamic State.
Iran's allies had been winning. They installed a governor
favoured by Tehran a year ago. But then anti-government
protests, U.S. sanctions and the assassination of Iran's
military mastermind Qassem Soleimani challenged Iranian
influence. The pro-Western camp replaced the Nineveh governor
with a longtime U.S. ally.
The contest mirrors a wider struggle over the future of Iraq
itself.
Speaking to Reuters over the span of a year, around 20 Iraqi
officials involved in the political tussle over Nineveh
described how Iran and its allies developed the networks to
influence local government, how pro-Western officials tried to
hit back, and how this tug of war has crippled Mosul's recovery.
If any side prevails, many of these insiders believe, it will
ultimately be the side aligned with Iran. Iran helps its allies
with money, political backing and sticks with them, explained
Nineveh councilor Ali Khdeir. The United States, in contrast,
"has left no real mark on Iraq."
Dropping back to the May 28th Iraq snapshot:
MIDDLE EAST MONITOR ONLINE reports
that Iraqi Brigadier General Yahya Rasoul is insisting that ISIS "has
already been vanquished, no longer poses a threat to Iraq."
Unfortunately, reality slaps Rasoul in the face. ISIS has never been
vanquished.
Monday, ALMASDAR NEWS reported, "The Iraqi security forces announced on Monday that an Iraqi military plane was hit by terrorist forces in the Al-Rutbah Desert during an operation to destroy Islamic State" Iraqi security forces said a member of ISIS had "14.5 mm mono weapon and fired at one of the planes, lightly wounding the plane." Doesn't sound like it's been vanquished or that it no longer poses as a threat. Monday night, David Rose (THE AUSTRALIAN) reported:
Monday, ALMASDAR NEWS reported, "The Iraqi security forces announced on Monday that an Iraqi military plane was hit by terrorist forces in the Al-Rutbah Desert during an operation to destroy Islamic State" Iraqi security forces said a member of ISIS had "14.5 mm mono weapon and fired at one of the planes, lightly wounding the plane." Doesn't sound like it's been vanquished or that it no longer poses as a threat. Monday night, David Rose (THE AUSTRALIAN) reported:
Islamic State
has waged its deadliest terrorism campaign in Iraq for nearly two years,
raising fears jihadists are staging a resurgence.
In
the past month, since the start of Ramadan, Islamic State (also known
as ISIS) has claimed responsibility for more than 260 attacks across
Iraq, allegedly killing or wounding 426 people.
The
attacks form part of the group’s self-proclaimed “battle of attrition”
campaign, which also has inspired violence by Islamic State branches in
Syria, Egypt, Nigeria, Niger, Congo and Mozambique in recent weeks.
The assailants came at dusk, creeping on
foot through the dusty palm groves near the Tigris River, armed only
with a rocket-propelled grenade, a light machine gun and Kalashnikovs.
They had laid roadside bombs to kill anyone who rushed to help the
unsuspecting local guards, who were in their sights.
When
the attack on the village last month was over, nine members of a Sunni
tribe that had opposed the Islamic State were dead and four were
wounded, one of them nearly burned to death.
This
is the Islamic State in Iraq in 2020: low-tech, low-cost, rural, but
still lethal. And while it has not carried out attacks on the scale that
it did a few years ago, the number of attacks has begun to grow again.
As
American and Iraqi negotiators begin a new round of strategic talks on
Thursday, the question of how to respond to the Islamic State’s quiet
resurgence — and how much American help is required to do so — will be
at the center of the discussion.
We called
out the lie on May 28th because it was a lie. It's a shame the military
spokesperson felt he could lie, it's a bigger shame that no one in the
press called him out in real time.
Calling
out? Some have called Tara Reade out. She's the woman with the
credible allegation that Joe Biden assaulted her in 1993 when she was
working in his office. Rubbish like Michael Tracey have tried to attack
her because they can't attack her charges. They pretend that talking
about her unpaid bills somehow tells you whether or not she was raped --
in their biased minds, only women of wealth can be raped.
A narrative has emerged from this
reporting that ties questions of Reade’s trustworthiness to her
financial background. Economic class is brought in as character
evidence. At JEZEBEL, Tracy Clark-Flory observes:
In May, the New York Times published
a lengthy report that forwards this framing. It spins Reade’s economic
background, financial struggles, and history of intimate partner
violence into a tale of a “messy life,” a “tumultuous journey,” a
“shambolic life.” As the article puts it, “If the national stage is new
for Ms. Reade, the sturm and drang is anything but.” Much of that “sturm
and drang” relates to abuse and poverty, yet the piece includes no
discussion of how these two things are cyclical and interconnected.
Instead, in the Times piece and others like it, a case is made
for the way that trouble has followed Reade around—the implication being
that she creates it.
Reade’s class permeates the Times’
discussion of Reade’s time working in Biden’s office in the 1990s.
“The Biden Senate world was populated by striving Type A’s, and had a
small-c conservative culture in which Ms. Reade didn’t quite fit,” the
piece reads. “Former aides remember her as prone to storytelling and
oversharing personal information.” It continues to note that she “rarely
socialized with colleagues after work” and chafed “at the Ivy League
tilt of the staff” while :arguing for more interns from state schools.”
These facts set the stage for interpreting Reade through the lens of an
outsider, that she didn’t gel with the staff is seen as a telling detail
of her character.
Additionally, the Times
reports that Biden’s office manager “admonished [Reade] to dress more
modestly,” which not only has potential class insinuations but also
recalls the long history of sexual assault victims being assessed by
their clothing. This is not the first time reporters have clung to the
subject of Reade’s attire in Biden’s office. Previously, in late May, Buzzfeed interviewed
former Biden staffers and “two people brought up the clothes [Reade]
wore to work—specifically recalling that she wore capes and dressed in a
‘hippie’ style.” Cara Ameer, then a legislative correspondent, said,
“You were in a professional environment, so you wanted to be
professional in every way—to look and act that way.” Ameer added, “She
definitely seemed to me to march to her own drum. Maybe she didn’t like
us. Maybe she thought we were a bunch of preppy Capitol Hill staffer
types. If there was a mold of a Capitol Hill staffer, I would kinda say
we probably fit it. We were well dressed.”
The assessment of her dress is not merely aesthetic but rather mired in class-based assumptions.
This evaluation recalls Paula Jones, who in 1994 alleged that Bill
Clinton exposed himself to her. (Note that Jones’ allegation came a year
after Reade alleges that she was assaulted by Biden. ) In return, she
was relentlessly mocked as low class: James Carville famously responded
to her allegation by saying, “If you drag a $100 bill through a trailer
park, you never know what you’ll find.” A journalist from Newsweek referenced
her reputation as “just some sleazy woman with big hair coming out of
the trailer parks.” Four years later, Jones got a makeover and the Washington Post’s Robin Givhan wrote:
“Her braces are gone. She has smoothed the frizzy mane of curls that
once reached to such dazzling heights. Her makeup is now subtle and
based on natural, not neon, hues. Her clothing is inspired by the
boardroom instead of the secretarial pool.” By modeling herself on the
aesthetics of DC’s professional set, Givhan wrote that Jones had
“embraced the markers of dignity, refinement and power.” Most
relevantly: the markers of class. “She is not white trash. She is not a
big-haired floozy,” her spokesperson said of the image overhaul.
The Times
continues its focus on Reade as an outsider in discussing a later job
as an aide for State Senator Jack O’Connell, reporting that “two people
familiar with her tenure said she regularly failed to appear at
constituent meetings.” Then, “as the complaints about her work
continued, Ms. Reade confessed that she was having a hard time at home,
these people recalled.” Those hard times are unspecified, but the Times
notes that Reade had feared for her safety after her then-husband, Ted
Dronen, responded to news of her pregnancy by “slamming things around
the house.” The Times continues, “She was given a lighter
schedule, but when the behavior repeated itself, she and the office
agreed to part ways.” The “behavior repeated itself” is an awfully
blameful way to refer to a woman who is, it is implied, struggling at
work alongside fear of her own husband. The Times fails to note research showing, as a Purdue University report puts it, that the impacts of domestic violence can “lead to tardiness, absenteeism and lack of productivity.”
Tara
Reade's allegation was credible and remains credible. Assaults and
smears on her do not change her allegation. Assaults and smears do not
erase the corroborating witnesses she has. The attacks and smears on
her have taken place with far too many feminists either staying silent
or joining in (Joan Walsh, Katha Pollitt and others have joined in).
How this is supposed to help survivors is beyond me and a lot of people
should be ashamed. Nick Givas (FOX NEWS) notes, "Former Colorado governor and current Senate candidate John Hickenlooper said Wednesday that he believes allegations made by Tara Reade against 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden are true but will still be voting for him anyway."
A
lot of people are covering for 'innocent' Joe Biden. They appear
unaware of what he's done to the world and unaware that politicians
serve us, not the other way around.
We'll note that video again tomorrow.
We
started with Mike Pompeo, we'll close with him. His remarks about Iraq
(quoted at the start) were made at the press briefing he gave for the
release of the 2019 International Religious Freedom Report.
SECRETARY POMPEO: Good morning, everyone. It’s
great to be with you all today. I’m here one more time, proudly, to
talk about freedom and free societies. And while America is not a
perfect nation by any means, we always strive towards that more perfect
union, trying to improve. We remain the greatest nation in the history
of civilization.
One of the good things that we do in this administration is our dedication to the protection of religious freedom all around the world. Last week, President Trump signed the first ever executive order that instructs the entire U.S. Government to prioritize religious freedom.
Here at the State Department, I’ve hosted the Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom now twice. We’ve launched the International Religious Freedom Alliance. We’ve trained our Foreign Service officers to understand religious freedom issues much more deeply.
And today, I’m proud to release the 2019 International Religious Freedom Report. There is no other nation that cares so deeply about religious freedom, that we gather accounts from all across the world – it’s an enormous, it’s a comprehensive accounting of this fundamental human right.
Let me highlight a few positive developments we’ve observed in this past year:
The Gambia, an International Freedom Alliance member, has courageously brought a case before the International Court of Justice regarding crimes against the Rohingya.
The United Arab Emirates, long an ally for religious freedom in the Middle East, has become the first country in the Middle East to permit the construction of a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In Uzbekistan, steps have been taken to improve its record on religious freedom, and those steps continue. I had a great chat with religious leaders where I was there earlier this year.
We documented no police raids of unregistered religious group meetings during 2019, compared with 114 such raids in 2018, and 240 – 240 the year before that. These are great strides, real progress, the efforts of our State Department team showing or bearing fruit.
But there’s also a great darkness over parts of the world where people of faith are persecuted or denied the right to worship:
The Nicaraguan Government harasses and intimidates religious leaders and worshipers and desecrates religious spaces, often using proxies.
In Nigeria, ISIS and Boko Haram continue to attack Muslims and Christians alike. ISIS beheaded 10 Christians in that country just this past December.
And in China, state-sponsored repression against all religions continues to intensify. The Chinese Communist Party is now ordering religious organizations to obey CCP leadership and infuse communist dogma into their teachings and practice of their faith. The mass detentions of Uighurs in Xinjiang continues. So does the repression of Tibetans and Buddhists and Falun Gong and Christians.
I commend the report released today to everyone. Its very existence is evidence of our strong resolve to defend human dignity.
One of the good things that we do in this administration is our dedication to the protection of religious freedom all around the world. Last week, President Trump signed the first ever executive order that instructs the entire U.S. Government to prioritize religious freedom.
Here at the State Department, I’ve hosted the Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom now twice. We’ve launched the International Religious Freedom Alliance. We’ve trained our Foreign Service officers to understand religious freedom issues much more deeply.
And today, I’m proud to release the 2019 International Religious Freedom Report. There is no other nation that cares so deeply about religious freedom, that we gather accounts from all across the world – it’s an enormous, it’s a comprehensive accounting of this fundamental human right.
Let me highlight a few positive developments we’ve observed in this past year:
The Gambia, an International Freedom Alliance member, has courageously brought a case before the International Court of Justice regarding crimes against the Rohingya.
The United Arab Emirates, long an ally for religious freedom in the Middle East, has become the first country in the Middle East to permit the construction of a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In Uzbekistan, steps have been taken to improve its record on religious freedom, and those steps continue. I had a great chat with religious leaders where I was there earlier this year.
We documented no police raids of unregistered religious group meetings during 2019, compared with 114 such raids in 2018, and 240 – 240 the year before that. These are great strides, real progress, the efforts of our State Department team showing or bearing fruit.
But there’s also a great darkness over parts of the world where people of faith are persecuted or denied the right to worship:
The Nicaraguan Government harasses and intimidates religious leaders and worshipers and desecrates religious spaces, often using proxies.
In Nigeria, ISIS and Boko Haram continue to attack Muslims and Christians alike. ISIS beheaded 10 Christians in that country just this past December.
And in China, state-sponsored repression against all religions continues to intensify. The Chinese Communist Party is now ordering religious organizations to obey CCP leadership and infuse communist dogma into their teachings and practice of their faith. The mass detentions of Uighurs in Xinjiang continues. So does the repression of Tibetans and Buddhists and Falun Gong and Christians.
I commend the report released today to everyone. Its very existence is evidence of our strong resolve to defend human dignity.
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