First up, Jimmy Dore.
The Bidens are a weird family -- to put it mildly.
Weird is also the word for Joe's Secretary of State, Antony Blinken. Glenn Greenwald (SUBSTACK) writes:
Continuing his world tour doling out righteous lectures to the world, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday proclaimed — in a sermon you have to hear to believe — that few things are more sacred in a democracy than “independent journalism.” Speaking to Radio Free Europe, Blinken paid homage to "World Press Freedom Day”; claimed that “the United States stands strongly with independent journalism”; explained that "the foundation of any democratic system” entails "holding leaders accountable” and “informing citizens"; and warned that “countries that deny freedom of the press are countries that don't have a lot of confidence in themselves or in their systems.”
The rhetorical cherry on top of that cake came when he posed this question: "What is to be afraid of in informing the people and holding leaders accountable?” The Secretary of State then issued this vow: “Everywhere journalism and freedom of the press is challenged, we will stand with journalists and with that freedom.”
[. . .]
That the Biden administration is such a stalwart believer in the sanctity of independent journalism and is devoted to defending it wherever it is threatened would come as a great surprise to many, many people. Among them would be Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks and the person responsible for breaking more major stories about the actions of top U.S. officials than virtually all U.S. journalists employed in the corporate press combined.
Currently, Assange is sitting in a cell in the British high-security Belmarsh prison because the Biden administration is not only trying to extradite him to stand trial on espionage charges for having published documents embarrassing to the U.S. Government and the Democratic Party but also has appealed a British judge's January ruling rejecting that extradition request. The Biden administration is doing all of this, noted The New York Times, despite the fact that “human rights and civil liberties groups had asked the [administration] to abandon the effort to prosecute Mr. Assange, arguing that the case . . . could establish a precedent posing a grave threat to press freedoms” — press freedoms, exactly the value which Blinken just righteously spent the week celebrating and vowing to uphold.
Hypocrisy? Really should be the theme of the Biden administration.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Tuesday, May 11, 2021. More assassinations in Iraq.
We'll open with this from IAVA:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 5, 2021
CONTACT: press@iava.org
Washington, DC — On May 5, IAVA Government Affairs Director Travis Horr, a U.S. Marine Corps Veteran, testified before the House Veterans Affairs Committee (HVAC) in support of the organization’s top legislative priority for 2021, establishing VA disability and healthcare benefits for veterans suffering from military toxic exposures like burn pits.
“The War Fighters Act is incredibly important landmark legislation which will create a presumption of service-connection for illnesses of veterans that have deployed since 1990, such as respiratory diseases or cancers,” said Horr at the hearing. “The TEAM Act will ensure that all veterans are able to access high quality VA care for any toxic related issues and the Veterans Burn Pits Exposure Recognition Act would concede exposure for all veterans that have served in areas where burn pits were used.” Horr and others called for passage of all three measures without delay. The full testimony can be found here.
At the start of the hearing, HVAC Chairman Mark Takano (D-CA) said that although the VA says that they need more research, “it is absolutely clear that we need to act now,” and he said that addressing toxic exposures is a top priority that he wants to advance this year. Takano’s position echoes that voiced the previous week by Senate Veterans Committee Chairman Jon Tester (D-MT), who said he wants to see legislation this year. The VA was pressed for action and answers by Members from both parties who appeared to have grown impatient with the agency’s refusal to take positions on toxic exposure legislation being considered at both hearings.
Just days ago, IAVA joined with House and Senate sponsors of the Presumptive Benefits for War Fighters Exposed to Burn Pits and Other Toxins (Warfighters) Act, which will establish a presumptive service connection for VA disability benefits for those who are suffering toxic exposure injuries – a top legislative priority for IAVA. The Toxic Exposures in the American Military (TEAM) Act, which provides for VA health care for those exposed, is also a priority for IAVA this year.
IAVA is the voice for the post-9/11 veteran generation. With over 400,000 veterans and allies nationwide, IAVA is the leader in non-partisan veteran advocacy and public awareness. We drive historic impacts for veterans and IAVA’s programs are second to none. Any veteran or family member in need can reach out to IAVA’s Quick Reaction Force at quickreactionforce.org or 855-91RAPID (855-917-2743) to be connected promptly with a veteran care manager who will assist. IAVA’s The Vote Hub is a free tool to register to vote and find polling information. IAVA’s membership is always growing. Join the movement at iava.org/membership.
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Sunday in Iraq (still Saturday in the US), activist Ihab Jawad al-Wazni was assassinated in front of his home in Karbala.
This is a major story . . . unless you're counting on the US media or the US 'spokespeople' on Twitter, etc. The rise of ISIS was not a surprise. We predicated it was coming. Not because of any crystal ball but because of paying attention and understanding rebellion, resistance and revolution. ISIS was always going to arise and, under Nouri al-Maliki, it was going to flourish.
Yet again, the US media and the people who made a name for themselves decrying the Iraq War aren't paying attention and aren't understanding the pressure cooker atmosphere right now.
ALJAZEERA's Simona Foltyn has covered the story.
Here's the video if it doesn't show in the Tweet above.
Where is CodeStink? Where are any of the people who stole your money by claiming to care about the Iraq War. Amy Goodman's a whore and that's now well known. She took millions from PACIFICA when they couldn't afford it. The scheme was overseen by her friend Leslie Cagen. But think about all the attention from the media she got pretending to care about the Iraq War -- shed' go on Charlie Rose and other programs. Think of all the money she begged for to cotninue the coverage of Iraq. And yet she offered nothing. ;
Nor did her guests. In a previous pressure cooker moment, she brought on Raad Jarrar and he didn't know what the hell he was talking about and reality immediately slapped them in their faces. Time and again, they ignore what's going on and then rush to play catch up when the corporate media covers it.
The corporate media hasn't covered the assassination -- not THE NEW YORK TIMES, not THE WASHINGTON POST, no one.
And Ihab's death is part of a wave of assassinations taking place in Iraq.
WORKERS AGAINST SECTARIANISM Tweets:
Again, what does it take for this wave of assassinations to get attention?
We'll note this thread from Amnesty Iraq:
Now to deal with an issue that three e-mailed the public account (common_ills@yahoo.com) about. Yesterday's snapshot I railed against people who just wasted your time and didn't deal with real issues.
The essence of the three e-mails: B-b-b-but you wrote about a sitcom!
"TV: Another bone headed move from AB" is written by Ava and myself. We cover TV at THIRD. Here I am covering Iraq every day. There? People are shocked right now, shocked that Bill Gates didn't give away all that money like he promised, they're shocked that is actions resulted in a tax break, they're shocked . . .
Why?
We covered that ridiculous 60 MINUTES 'report' by Charlie Rose that was blowing smoke up Bill's ass and we noted that this was nothing but a tax write off. That was in real time. Do you realize how long it's been since Charlie Rose's predatory behavior kicked him off television?
I can go into this at length if necessary but we've done hard hitting TV pieces. We're planning on doing gay porn, by the way, on Sunday. Ty, Ava and I were talking last week trying to pull together an edition and we came up with a theme and Dona said hold it so we can have it up for a full week.
There are a million things I could go on about but I'll leave it for that unless there are more e-mails.
The following sites updated:
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Not Always About The Money1 hour ago
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Once there was hope for change . . .7 hours ago
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These days?7 hours ago
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Richard Wolff7 hours ago
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Science post11 hours ago
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Cam Gordon's running for re-election11 hours ago
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'Mr. Personality' Lloyd Price Dead At 8816 hours ago
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