Thursday, June 17, 2021

The not-so-sad funeral

First up, Jimmy Dore:



 

It really is over for THE YOUNG TURKS.  They destroyed themselves.  They were fake asses and when people caught on to that?  They tried to lie their way out.  They could have tired to change but instead they tried to lie and everyone saw it.  It really is over for them.

 

CONVO COUCH called the time of death.

 

 

 So what happens next?  Cenk and Ana have to get real jobs?  Let's hope it's not jobs working with the public.

 

Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

 

Thursday, June 17, 2021.  The WSWS continues its war against the Kurds and more.


Let's start with garbage.  Specifically Ulaş Ateşçi piece of garbage for WSWS.  Am I counting this correctly?  An article about Turkey with 1,259 words and only once doe sthe word "Iraq" pop up?  What a load of garbage.


If you missed it, Jon Stewart appeared Tuesday night on CBS' late night program (we don't promote that idiot) and made jokes about the COVID-19 virus.  Since then, a huge number of idiots have popped up to condemn Jon.  Including a man who apparently wants us to discuss him -- I'm not referring to anyone with a TV job -- but I'm surprised he wants us to discuss him because the woman who rightly accused him of harassment and assault had to sign an NDA.  


Do you really want us to discuss you?


Back to Jon.  Jon's a comedian.  Jon has many pluses and many negatives.  I like and know Jon.  I've called him out for nonsense here from time to time over the years. But he has every right to make them and they are exactly the sort of j If he did something wrong, I'd call him out.

Expressing an opinion in a free society is not a crime.  I hav e no dog in the fight.  I don't honestly care where the virus started (how it started, I might care about, but I have too much on my plate to pursue that).  WSWS and others are slamming him and saying his opinion is wrong.


And by wrong, they don't just mean that they disagree with it, they are insisting that Jon's claims in his jokes have been deubnked.


No.


That's the problem with today's 'fact checkers.'  They're weighing in on fluid events.  Information changes daily.  The issues around the virus have not been pinned down.


Why does it matter  Jon telling a joke shouldn't matater.  And if these were pieces calling out the sitting president of the United States, they might be better.  but let's pretend that Joe Biden hasn't promoted the very thing that Jon was telling jokes about -- is that what we've decided to do?


Connecting China to the virus could be part of a larger effort at war with China.  I agree that's a possibility.  But I'm not remembering this heated outrage over any efforts of Joe to connect the two.  


So spare me your garbage about Jon Stewart.  If you didn't like his jokes, you didn't like them.   They are exactly the type of observational humor he did throughout hosting THE DAILY SHOW.  And you loved that humor once.  Now?  You've apparently become addicted to Trevor Noah's prissing and preening in the place of actual humor, his mugging at the camera to let you know what he said is supposed to be seen as funny.


So WSWS ca step into the sewer to slime Jon.  But they can't cover what's happening to the Kurds.


We've called them out for their xenophobia on this for some time.  But I want it to be very clear to future generations that, in 2021, the bias against the Kurds that the WSWS had was noted.  As Kurds were killed by Turkey, some of us did call out and a publication that pretends to be about the masses, WSWS, spent year after year looking the other way and year after year covering for Turkey's actions


What promted the coverage of Recep Erdogen by the WSWS?  This:


"I'm Joey from Scranton, an old pervert fool, but i bring you pallets of cash........so please pretend you like me" "Oh, hunter will be in touch on how we get our share" The big guy


Joe Biden making nice with the despot, grinning and joking.  


Kurds in Iraq need to be worried.  Joe betrayed them repeatedly as Vice President.  He'll betray them again.  (We were going to note a webinar in depth but I don't have time to describe nonsense and, sadly, a friend I know was pimping nonsense in the stream about how Joe is such a great friend to Iraq -- No, Peter, the actual record does not support that assertion.)  


Recep is a thug who is terrorizing the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. 


As Karwan Faidhi Dri (RUDAW) notes, Turkey continues its assault on Turkey with what many observers have dubbed its ecocide of the KRG:

The Turkish army bombarded the vicinity of five populated villages in Duhok province on Tuesday, causing a great fire which has led to the scorching of thousands of dunams of land, a local official told Rudaw English on Wednesday.

Sarbast Sabri, mayor of Kani Masi subdistrict, told Rudaw English that the vicinity of Dergelka, Ribarke, Qumri, Dashish, and Baqulke villages in the subdistrict were bombarded by Turkish forces Tuesday afternoon. 

Most of the fire has burned out so far but small flames remain, he said, adding that so far an estimated 3,000 dunams of land has been burned. “It was done by Turkey. I saw it because I was near there.”

“When the villagers put out one part of the fire, another bomb would land and spark even more fires,” said the mayor. Turkey has burned 13,000 dunams of land in Kani Masi since it launched two military operations against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in Duhok on April 23, according to Sabri. 

Captain Fuad Ahmed, head of media for the Duhok’s Forest Police and Environment Directorate, told Rudaw English in May that Turkey had burned 4,181 dunams of land in the province in the first five months of 2021. He added Ankara has also burned 56,731 dunams of land in Duhok in ten years.  

 

I think we all know by now that Status Quo Joe doesn't give a damn about the climate emergency but, the next time you read another piece of sop passed off as a report on Turkey at WSWS, remember that they don't care about the climate crisis either -- or, at least, they care more about hating Kurdish people than they do about the climate crisis.


Yousif Musa (RUDAW) reports:          


Yazidis displaced from Shingal in 2014 have now been forced to flee IDP camps in Zakho due to nearby Turkish bombardments. 

More than 3,000 people have had to leave Bersive 1, Bersive 2 and Derkar camps due to Turkish operations in the area, according to Khalat Osman, the municipal manager of Zakho's camps.

"War happens every day, with constant airstrikes. We're very scared. Each of us has struggled with mental health issues at some point," said Amira Ilyas, who lives in Bersive 1 camp.                                                                    

On the ecocide, AL-MONITOR TWEETS:


Local Kurdish officials are accusing Turkey of causing massive environmental damage with its logging and deforestation around Turkish outposts in northern Iraq. al-monitor.com/originals/2021
by
@fehimtastekin



NRT observes:


A group of activists seeking an end to the Turkish military presence in the Kurdistan Region held a press conference in Sulaimani city on Wednesday (June 16), urging the international community and local political actors to do more to stand up against aggression from Ankara.

“The invasion of the [Kurdistan Region by the] Turkish military is a blatant violation of international law and is without a doubt unacceptable,” said a representative of the group, which refers to itself as a “peace delegation.”

“We are sad to witness that the international community of states remains silent and inactive on this issue, taking no action to insist on Turkish compliance with international courts and human rights law,” she added.

The visiting delegation told reporters that they wanted to contribute to a dialogue between different Kurdish political actors and bear witness to the ongoing conflict.

In late April, Turkey renewed its military campaign in the Kurdistan Region, justifying its actions as necessary to combat the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). Since then, at least four civilians have been killed in Turkish airstrikes and four others wounded.

Christian Peacemaker Teams recently reported that at least 1,500 villagers have been displaced in less than two months.


In Friday's snapshot, we attempted to cover some of the history of the Kurds in the KRG and Turkey.  Attempted because there's so much to cover.  Unless you are WSWS and, in that case, dismiss the whole issue with a single mention of Iraq.  


AHVAL notes:

The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) wants a war between Turkey and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) to move outside its borders because the conflict threatens to weaken its authority.

“PKK’s presence in the region serves as an excuse for the Turkish military, and the main objective of it in our opinion is to weaken the Kurdistan Region as an entity," KRG spokesperson Jotiar Adil said, Rudaw reported on Wednesday.

“If the PKK leaves, there will be no excuse left for the Turkish military to come and set up bases here,” Adil said.

Turkey has more than 30 temporary military bases in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq and has advanced up to 40 kilometres into the territory, a senior Turkish official told Reuters last year. Turkey has conducted a latest series of cross-border incursions into Iraq since June 2020. Its military began operations into the Metina and Avashin areas near the region’s Dohuk governorate in May to target the PKK.



Turning to US politics, Iraq War vet Adam Kokesh hosts the program ADAM V. THE MAN.  He is a Libertarian and he notes of his upcoming broadcast:


For tomorrow's ADAM VS THE MAN debate on the issue of removing

@jbhenchman

as chair of

@LPNational

, we've got

@carynannharlos

, National Secretary, and

@angela4LNCChair

, Los Angeles LP Chair, taking the position in favor of removal (being the "highest ranking" ...


I'm hosting a debate on the petition to remove
@jbhenchman
as chair of
@LPNational
live on ADAM VS THE MAN tomorrow. I'll pick participants based on Libertarian Party activism credentials. Hoping to get at least one state chair & one LNC rep. DM to apply.


So that will be on today's ADAM V. THE MAN.


We need to quickly note three things.


First up, a new video from Chase Rice's THE ALBUM.



That's "If I Didn't Have You." 


Second, on the hideous Ana Kasparian, this is Jimmy Dore from his show last night.



As we noted yesterday, she is no feminist.  She's suddenly discovered she's a woman.  The way some accused Michael Jackson and Tiger Woods of suddenly discovering they were Black when they had legal issues and scandals emerge.  


So to try to cover for her toxic masculinity, she attacks Jimmy Dore and attempts to pretend it's for the sisterhood.  Ana's never done a damn thing for women.


Not a damn thing.  And her sexualizing the work environment with her conduct and dress made it much more difficult for other women who worked with her.  Don't fall for her nonsense.  She's a proponent of Ana-ism, not feminism.


And Holly Near, in a five minute song, covered more issues having to do with women than Ana's done in her entire time at TYT.

  




Just walking along, shopping for food
Stepping out of the line of fire when people are rude
Cheap stuff made in China, someone calls it a sale
Somebody's mama, somebody's daughter
Somebody's jail

Beat down in the market, stoned to death in the plaza
Raped on the hillside under the gun from LA to Gaza
A house made of cardboard living close to the rail
Somebody's mama, somebody's daughter
Somebody's jail


And I feel the witch in my veins
I feel the mother in my shoe
I feel the scream in my soul
The blood as I sing the ancient blue
They burned in the millions
I still smell the fire in my grandma's hair
The war against women rages on
Beware of the fairytale
Somebody's mama, somebody's daughter
Somebody's jail

The noise of elections, the promise of change
A grabbing of power at the top, a day at the rifle range
Somebody's in danger, somebody's for sale
Somebody's mama, somebody's daughter
Somebody's jail

-- "Somebody's Jail," written by Holly Near, first appears on her album SHOW UP.


Again, Holly says more in one song -- says more about women and the conditions we live under -- than Ana's done in all of her years at TYT.  I may respond to an e-mail in tomorrow's snapshot -- planned to today but there isn't time.


The following sites updated:


Posted by at

Wednesday, June 16, 2021

Ana Kasparian suffers from toxic masculinity

First up, Jimmy Dore.




TYT has no standing to slam anyone.  That just went up a little bit ago and was live about an hour before that.  C.I. called Ana out for her nonsense this morning.  So, excerpting C.I. from this morning's snapshot:

Women deal with real issue every day and around the world.  So I'm just not in the mood for bitches.  I'm less and less in the mood for bitches.  In fact, see February's "DUMB BITCHES or SISTERHOOD IS NO EXCUSE FOR PRAISING A BAD BOOK.''


Feminism is not your excuse for doing a sorry ass job.  Feminism is not a cloak that protects you from criticism.


I'm referring to the hideous Ana Kasparian who suffers from toxic masculinity but is now trying to cry and moan that she's been harassed by Jimmy Dore.  It was years ago but poor Ana didn't have the strength to speak up until now. Shudder, cry, sniffle, bad Jimmy, noted that her skirt was so short you could see her thong!  Oh the horror, oh the outrage.  It was like, Ana needs you to know, being raped.


So many ways to reply.  First off, dumb bitch, we aren't as stupid as you hope we are.


Bulls**t.  That's the call to your claim.  You wore an outfit that was inappropriate.  Not the first time.  You wore it in the workplace.


Ana, you dress like a slut.  That assessment came from one of your co-workers years ago.  I've never spoken to Jimmy Dore, I don't know him.  But I am friends with a woman you worked with.  And you were an embarrassment.  "Slutting around"?  I use that term from time to time and that friend -- I'm sure you know which woman I'm talking about -- taught me that term and applied it to you.


You came in day after day, while she and other women were trying to get a toe-in at TYT and you'd be dressing like a slut, "goodies on display," as she said, and flirting with men, hanging all over them.


That's you, Ana.


And you be you.  But don't turn around and whine that someone made a joke about your outfit. 


It was a pattern with you.


And it's not sexism.  It's you not knowing how to dress appropriately in the work place and not knowing how to keep your hands off men -- including Cenk.


Long before I could even put a face to your lousy name, I knew all about you.  And that was based on the opinion of women, actual feminists, who knew you and who worked with you.


Jimmy made a joke about your inappropriate outfit.  Get over yourself.


And stop pretending you're a feminist.  Your work demonstrates that you are not.


Women deal with real issues every day and you and TYT ignore that.  You offer smutty garbage not real issues and you do nothing for women so just drop the pretense.


Jimmy, a comedian, made a joke.  Get over yourself.


ADDED at 1:32 PM 6/16/21: And, Ana, your use of the term "f*g" not so long ago in the work place is also well known by people who worked with you -- as are your 'jokes' that speak of homophobia, so keep pulling at that strand and see where it lands you.



I'm sick of Ana and her crazy. You can also refer to Ava and C.I.'s "TV: Moments of Wonder" which was written before Ana tried to weaponize her attacks on Jimmy Dore:

Again, we wonder.

We wonder about Ana Kasparian. Specifically, why JACOBIN continues its association with her?

At the start of the year the 'star' of THE YOUNG TURKS used her JACOBIN podcast to launch a loud, nasty, shrieking attack on Katie Halper for daring to draw attention to Ana's extended down with a War Hawk.

 

Image



That's Ana pictured with her spirit lover Mad Maddie Albright. Ana chose to play footsie with War Criminal Maddie and yet is so sensitive when people point out how wrong that was.

JACOBIN, for those who don't know, promotes itself as "socialist." WSWS would beg to differ and, on that, we agree with them 100%. (We agree with them on many things but not on everything.) If you're thinking, "I'm familiar with IN THESE TIMES, THE PROGRESSIVE, THE NATION, etc, but this JACOBIN . . ."

The weirdly pronounced outlet is new-ish. It's basically the US SOCIALIST WORKER renamed. That outlet imploded due to massive internal racism and sexism. There were rumors and charges of abuse and harassment and it became so toxic we can't imagine anyone putting it on their resume for at least another ten years. In it's puddle, JACOBIN emerges.

If you're thinking, "You two really hate JACOBIN," you're wrong. We don't kiss ass. And we don't fluff.  Don't mistake that for hate. What we do hate about JACOBIN is that they pimp for the Democratic Party at election time. We think if you're a voting age adult reading a publication pitching itself as "socialist," you don't really need anyone telling you how to vote. We think a lot of outlets on the left are forgetting themselves and mistaking their readership for a cult that will follow orders.

JACOBIN has many things going for it of the positive nature and they include some very passionate writers. We'd call the addition of David Sirota a positive.

But then there's Ana.

March 21, 1973, criminal John Dean told criminal and then-president Richard Nixon, "I think that there's no doubt about the seriousness of the problem we've got. We have a cancer within -- close to the presidency, that's growing. It's growing daily. It's compounding."

For JACOBIN, Ana is both their cancer and their nasty Dick but who will be their John Dean?.

Because she really needs to go.

She has been attacking Jimmy Dore and Aaron Mate for months now. We haven't weighed in once. They're big boys and they can take care of themselves.. No, Glen (Rodney) King, we can't all get along. And we don't have to. And a critique or a slam comes with the territory.

Ourselves? We're not slamming Glenn Greenwald or Naomi Wolf these days. Both are getting a lot of slams. Both are trying to deal with serious issues. Whatever problems we may have with either in the future or have had in the past? They're trying to do real work as opposed to offering empty chatter on MSNBC. We'll stand with them against attacks.

And we're not upset that Ana's got a smart mouth and a nasty attitude. That puts her in the category of pig -- which is where easily half the men on YOUTUBE being 'political' land.

But we noted back during the attack on Katie Halper and Brihana Joy Gray that Ana was hurting JACOBIN's brand and shouldn't have pulled that stunt on a JACOBIN program.

What she's done lately she's pulled on THE YOUNG TURKS.

But it was so offensive, she should have been pulled from JACOBIN for it.

Screeching and hollering, the pig snarled "F**k you" to a non-present Aaron Mate and raised one of her hooves to flip him the bird. All of this was done in defense of . . . herself.  While others worry about war and famine, Ana gets outraged over the top results from Googling her own name.



Who exactly did she think would find that 'performance art' attractive?

We don't watch RING OF FIRE because Farron Cousins pulls out that toxic masculinity.

And, yes, boys and girls, women can possess toxic masculinity as well and, yes, boys and girls, Ana does.

As we noted in June of 2017:

The 'independent' film scene today isn't independent and is really just a farm for the studios to make their low budget dramas even cheaper than they used to.
That which stands out is either beaten down or co-opted.
Ellen Barkin's Smurf does that with her children and her grandson J (Finn Cole). She's drugging her son Pope, for example. She pulls the strings. If she can't, she's plotting to take her own children down.
Of all the masculinity on display in ANIMAL KINGDOM, the most toxic is that exhibited by the matriarch Smurf.


We don't think Ana's currently exhibiting the most toxic masculinity -- Cenk is one of the fools riding ahead of her -- but, yes, she is exhibiting toxic masculinity. It's that trait, in fact, that let her take part in TYT all these years where overgrown (and overfed) men tried to pretend they were young boys and that frat boy mentality was the norm.

We wish Ana's attack on Katie and Bri had registered more. Independent outlets have privately expressed agreement with us that Ana went to far and JACOBIN needed to replace her. But Ana's attack on Aaron Mate has registered. Because he's a man? Maybe. Maybe when a woman attacks two women some just see it as a cat fight. Her attack on Aaron is not seen that way. Aaron is seen as a journalist because that's what he is. And journalists aren't attacking Aaron. Partisans are, but journalists aren't. We heard from reporters and editors for THE NEW YORK TIMES, THE WASHINGTON POST, THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE and THE MIAMI HERALD as well as from two producers and one anchor for CNN and ABC. Ana's little stunt, her explosion, was noticed by the corporate press. This is not the time for JACOBIN to be associated with or linked to her.

So we wonder why she's still at JACOBIN and why her cozy love-fest with Mad Maddie wasn't enough to get her hall pass pulled?


Ava and C.I. are exactly right, Ana suffers from toxic masculinity.

Now this is from Bill Van Auken (WSWS):

This week marks 50 years since the publication in the New York Times of the Pentagon Papers, which played a significant role in galvanizing popular opposition to the Vietnam War. The manner in which the Times itself chose to commemorate the anniversary provides a case study in the profound shift to the right by the media and the entire political establishment in the intervening five decades.
Nowhere is this shift expressed more nakedly than in the newspaper’s stony silence on the case of the imprisoned WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange, whose persecution by the US and British governments pose the issue of basic democratic rights to free speech and a free press even more sharply than the events of 50 years ago.
The Pentagon Papers, officially known as the “Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force,” was a 7,000-page internal study conducted by the Pentagon on the policies that led to the Vietnam war and it continuous escalation. Consisting of 4,000 secret US government documents and analysis, the report exposed the war’s criminality and the lies told to the American people to justify it.
The Pentagon Papers provided a damning indictment, not primarily of the Republican administration of President Richard Nixon, who had taken office in 1969, the eighth year of the US military intervention, but of his Democratic predecessors, particularly Lyndon Johnson, for invading Vietnam and waging a brutal colonial-style war against its people that would claim the lives of 3 million Vietnamese as well as 58,000 American soldiers.
The papers were secretly copied and then leaked to the Times by former Rand Corporation Pentagon consultant Daniel Ellsberg, who had become a determined opponent of the Vietnam War, prepared to place his life on the line to make these secret documents known to the American public.

While applauding themselves, NYT ignores Julian Assange who continues to be persecuted.

 



Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"


 Wednesday, June 16, 2021.  What progress can the Iraqi government claim and look at Ana Kasparian pretending she's a sister who's been harassed.

Yesterday, the Government of Iraq Tweeted:


Cabinet Spokesperson, the Minister of Culture
@HassanNadhem
, holds a press conference in Baghdad to brief the media on today’s Cabinet meeting and developments in Iraq.
Image
1:37 PM · Jun 15, 2021


And how do you think those briefings go?


Our economy is still oil-based and we are in danger of being left behind should other countries seriously commit to renewable energy.  Part of the reason we fail repeatedly to attract foreign investment that would allow us to diversify our economy is due to our well known rampant corruption throughout the government.  The other part?  People are scared to do business with us.  Arresting and imprisoning Australian Robert Pether is not helping us there.  We have provided no real reason to the world for his arrest.  We have made no serious moves to hold a trial.  It appears to the world as though we just arrested him to either force better terms on our existing contract or to void the contract.  When we resort to kidnapping foreign business persons and throwing them in jail, we get a bad image on the stage?


Think it goes like that?  

Yesterday, DessyMac Tweeted:


Aust Eng Robert Pether & Egypt Khalid Zaghloul TRAPPED AND ILLEGALLY ARRESTED 69 days ago in Iraq. EMPLOYEES held as leverage in a CONTRACT DISPUTE. NO charges. IRAQ IS NOT A SAFE PLACE TO WORK. #FREEROBERTPETHER #zahahadid
@cbiraq
#iraq #Australia #egypt #Engineer
Image
2:35 AM · Jun 15, 2021





Think they brought up Chatham House's paper, presented tomorrow, about Iraq's "politically sanctioned corruption"?


When they got around to the issue of  security, did it go something like this?


Iraq continues to maintain a standing army.  Though we have brought the various militias into the military -- guaranteeing a salary for them -- they continue to refuse to recognize the Prime Minister as the Commander and Chief of the military.  At the end of last month, when thug leader Qasim Muslah was arrested, his co-horts responded with threats, they stormed Baghdad and they encircled the Prime Minister's compound.  


#Iraq : Who will win show of force as commander in PMF Qasim Muslah is arrested on suspicion of orchestrating assassination of prominent pro-democracy activist? First top official in Hashd al-Shaabi arrested over wave of killings of activists since October 2019 - #قاسم_مصلح
Image
Image
1:58 PM · May 26, 2021


Mina al-Oraibi Tweeted earlier this month:


Iraq releases top Iran-backed militia commander Qassim Musleh. Courts claim it was due to lack of evidence, yet thousands of innocent Iraqis languish in prisons for YEARS without trial or evidence. thenationalnews.com/mena/iraq/iraq

via

@TheNationalNews


 Adam Tweeted the following:


There is no security&no law to have fair election.Same faces if not worse (militias)will be elected this time. Imagine Qassim Musleh was freed as they provided the Judge with Musleh’s passport that he was in Iran at the time of the killings.They stamped it in the Iranian embassy
10:19 PM · Jun 11, 2021


Musleh’s has 4000 militia members under his control ,at least 100 members in his death squad . He would certainly send his thugs to commit crimes. He was freed for lack of evidence !!
10:19 PM · Jun 11, 2021



Where's the progress that they can note at any weekly meeting?  Just not feeling it.


Elections?


We're due to hold elections in October.  We still don't have basic laws in place though, like how to guarantee security during the election process.  We have, however, disqualified over 135 people from running for Parliament.  We've done little to ensure that Iraq's who have had to leave the country will be able to vote and, honestly, we don't much care about that.  We're really eager that we might be able to just not hold elections since Joe Biden is now US President.  Remember 2010?  We held elections in March of that year.  Nouri al-Maliki refused to step down despite losing.  For over eight months, the government came to a standstill until Joe Biden, then Vice President, oversaw The Erbil Agreement -- a contract that overthrew the election results and just gave Nouri a second term?  We're hoping he does something similar this year but sooner and before we have to hold elections and pay all the costs that will entail.



Over the weekend, THE NATIONAL offered:


Mr Al Kadhimi faces an uphill struggle reining in militias linked to powerful political parties backed by Iran, who gain funds from the Iraqi state and have infiltrated government ministries and the security forces.

These groups, including militias within the state-sanctioned Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF), have been working to implement Tehran’s foreign policy in Iraq. These include the ousting of US and other foreign coalition forces invited by the Iraqi government to help fight ISIS.

Iran-backed PMF groups also stand accused of killing hundreds of Iraqi protesters who are demanding an end to Iranian-influence, corruption and poor services

Mr Al Kadhimi’s attempts to hold the groups to account have often stumbled.

In June 2020 the prime minister was pressured to release 14 members of the Kataib Hezbollah militia who were accused of attempting to fire rockets at foreign forces stationed within Baghdad international airport, and had been arrested at the scene by the state's Counter Terrorism Service.

Last week, the Iraqi Higher Judicial Council ordered the release of a PMF commander, Qassem Musleh, who was accused of murdering an activist and running protection rackets.

Militias are using murder and intimidation to force Mr Al Kadhimi into a corner and preserve their powerful role in the Iraqi state.

On June 7, the campaign to undermine his government took a more ominous turn when Col Nebras Shaban, an officer in the intelligence services, was shot dead near his home.


Mustafa al-Kadhimi has been prime minister since May 7, 2020.  As noted earlier, elections are expected to be held this coming October in Iraq.  A month or a couple of months from now, they may have a prime minister.  (2010 holds their longest record for the time between elections and announcing a prime minister-designate -- 2010 saw the process take over eight months due to the political stalemate).  Mustafa has not accomplished much.

His inability to protect the activists or to hold their murderers accountable has led some to say that they will be boycotting the upcoming elections.  Mustafa had a chance to turn it around earlier this month when he ordered the arrest of a militia thug but then the man was released without a trial.

Can he win over the activists -- and the many Iraqis who support the activists -- before the elections take place?  Who knows but Sura Ali (RUDAW) reported:


Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi met on Saturday in Nasiriyah with protestors and the families of a number of activists who were killed in the October (Tishreen) 2019 movement, stating violence against activists comes as part of a “battle the state is waging against corruption.”

Kadhimi’s media office said the PM met the mother of protestor Omar Sadoun, one of dozens who were killed in the so-called Nasiriyah Massacre that occurred on November 28, 2019, one day after demonstrators torched the Iranian consulate. 

He also met with the family of Anas Malik, who died earlier in June of this year from wounds he sustained in the massacre two years ago. 

In addition, Kadhimi met the mother of a prominent Nasiriyah activist, Sajjad al-Iraqi, who disappeared on the evening of September 20, 2020, after being kidnapped by unknown gunmen. 

"The absence of activists and the assault on them comes as part of a battle waged by the state against corruption and devastation and the expansion of corrupt abusers…..the youth chose their place in the trench of confrontation with these people from the moment they went out to protest for Iraq," Kadhimi said.


Upcoming elections already carry a great deal of back door negotiating.  For example, Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr already entered a conditional agreement with Mustafa regarding possible partnership and now Moqtada's attempting to seal a similar agreement with the Kurds.  Of elections in Iraq, Guy Burton (INTERNATIONAL POLICY DIGEST)  observes:


There the connection between leaders and society has become weaker. Despite the presence of many political parties and electoral competition, many voters feel disconnected from the political process. The negotiations which take place to form governments after elections provide little space for the public while Iraq’s post-2003 governments have been perceived as distant and unrepresentative. That contributed to growing frustrations in society in relation to the lack of economic opportunities and income, poor public services, and growing public insecurity and disorder. This culminated in an outburst of protests during 2019 and 2020. As a result, when Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi came to power last year, he proposed to bring elections forward.


On the topic of upcoming elections in Iraq, Xofran el-Radi (JNHA WOMEN'S NEWS AGENCY)  reports:


Women were removed from all fields, from politics to social life, from art to economy for centuries. But women have reentered these fields after struggling for their rights all around the world. One of these fields is politics. Women have been struggling to be effective in this field. Women have been removed from this field in many countries. In many countries, women have been actively working in this field by participating in politics with the gender quota system.

In a world where women are murdered, subjected to violence, and to all kinds of injustice, women’s participation in politics is very important. Women’s participation in politics means that more laws will be enacted on issues such as violence against women, femicide, sexual abuse, suspicious deaths of women, and punishment of perpetrators. Last year, the Baghdadi government decided to hold a snap election and announced that the Iraqi parliamentary elections would be held on June 6 but were delayed as the Independent High Electoral Commission asked for more time to organize the elections. Iraqi women activists and members of the media have been carrying out awareness campaigns for the upcoming elections.


Women deal with real issue every day and around the world.  So I'm just not in the mood for bitches.  I'm less and less in the mood for bitches.  In fact, see February's "DUMB BITCHES or SISTERHOOD IS NO EXCUSE FOR PRAISING A BAD BOOK.''


Feminism is not your excuse for doing a sorry ass job.  Feminism is not a cloak that protects you from criticism.


I'm referring to the hideous Ana Kasparian who suffers from toxic masculinity but is now trying to cry and moan that she's been harassed by Jimmy Dore.  It was years ago but poor Ana didn't have the strength to speak up until now. Shudder, cry, sniffle, bad Jimmy, noted that her skirt was so short you could see her thong!  Oh the horror, oh the outrage.  It was like, Ana needs you to know, being raped.


So many ways to reply.  First off, dumb bitch, we aren't as stupid as you hope we are.


Bulls**t.  Thats the call to your claim.  You wore an outfit that was inappropriate.  Not the first time.  You wore it in the workplace.


Ana, you dress like a slut.  That assessment came from one of your co-workers years ago.  I've never spoken to Jimmy Dore, I don't know him.  But I am friends with a woman you worked with.  And you were an embarrassment.  "Slutting around"?  I use that term from time and that friend -- I'm sure you know which woman I'm talking about -- taught me that term and applied it to you.


You came in day after day, while she and other women were trying to get a toe-in at TYT and you'd be dressing like a slut, "goodies on display," as she said and flirting with men, hanging all over them.


That's you, Ana.


And you be you.  But don't turn around and whine that someone made a joke about your outfit. 


It was a pattern with you.


And it's not sexism.  It's you not knowing how to dress appropriately in the work place and not knowing how to keep your hands off men -- including Cenk.


Long before I could even put a face to your lousy name, I knew all about you.  And that was based on the opinion of women, actual feminists, who knew you and who worked with you.


Jimmy made a joke about your inappropriate outfit.  Get over yourself.


And stop pretending you're a feminist.  Your work demonstrates that you are not.


Women deal with real issues every day and you and TYT ignore that.  You offer smutty grabage not real issues and you do nothing for women so just drop the pretense.


Jimmy, a comedian, made a joke.  Get over yourself.


ADDED at 1:32 PM 6/16/21: And, Ana, your use of the term "f*g" not so long ago in the work place is also well known by people who worked with you -- as are your 'jokes' that speak of homophobia, so keep pulling at that strand and see where it lands you.


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