Tuesday, January 11, 2022

Jimmy Dore, Ava and C.I., Alan MacLeod

First up, Jimmy Dore.



Second, I'm posting early because SUPERMAN AND LOIS airs a new episode tonight on THE CW and I want to watch live.  And I've got to figure out when that is.  :D  I'm used to watching it at home (in Hawaii).  


While I'm talking TV -- TINY HOUSE NATION.  My mom loves that show and now that it's on ROKU, my dad's watching too.  But there are only five seasons.  Someone needs to bring it back for a few more seasons.  It can't cost all that much since families are buying these Tiny Homes.  So really it's just travel and filming.  And it's an addictive show.  If my mom has it on, I will get caught up in it with her.  She'll be done with whatever she's doing -- chopping vegetables and ready to go elsewhere in the house and I'd be like, "Okay, okay but let me just see how this ends first."


Third . . . THIRD:

 

 

More was attempted than went up.  But we were tired and we said that's it.  I think that's the way it should be.  If the only thing done is Ava and C.I.'s piece, that goes up and nothing else.  I'm not trying to be mean but I get how they are tired -- Ava and C.I. -- of busting their butts and for what?  They destroy their Sundays writing and maybe it goes up Monday or Tuesday or . . .

 

I agree with them.  

 

This is from Ava and C.I.'s "Media: Don't mistake it for a film worthy of praise" about the hideous movie DON'T LOOK UP:

 

There's a lot of talk about the viewers that the film has had.  Viewers, not ticket buyers.  And it's probably had a great deal.  But here's the thing?  NETFLIX inflates its figures.


That's not news to readers of this site.


We broke the news years ago that NETFLIX was lying about its streaming.  We then broke the news that they were counting if someone stopped on the main page on a film and a scene or trailer automatically played for even three seconds as a view.  


NETFLIX is 'measuring' itself.  This is not accuracy.  We broke that news earlier thanks to friends at NETFLIX.  It helped force NETFLIX to be a little more transparent.  A little.  


DON'T LOOK DOWN?  It's streaming well.  It is not streaming as well as they are claiming.  This is part of their effort to garner Academy Award nominations.  They have to make it stand out and they're doing that by hyping it as the most streamed ever.  


No.  It's not even the most streamed of 2021.  


We thought Krystal Ball was a professional journalist.  Clearly, she has standards when she's attacking Katie Couric and then she has faux standards when she's promoting her own friends.  


DON'T LOOK UP isn't a film.  It's an ill conceived do-gooder project.


David Sirota gets a story credit with Adam McKay who takes sole credit for the screenplay despite all the input he received from others.  It's a bit hilarious to see McKay pull a Barbra Streisand ego trip until you grasp this is his big moment, this hideous LOVE BOAT like feature is his only real shot at anything.


He's broken up with Will Ferrell and that was his only meal ticket.  He didn't manage anything great there.  There are no comedy classics in his oeuvre.  He's basically spent his life directing the equivalent of ERNEST GOES TO JAIL.  And his career was floundering.



 

And remember when they warned you about Sacha Baron Cohen?  Hope you listened.  Now, years later, Alan MacLeod reports at MPN:

 

Sacha Baron Cohen is widely hailed as a comedic genius, using his sheer audacity to mock the absurdity of his targets. The creator of Ali G, Borat and Brüno has become one of Hollywood’s hottest commodities. Yet his outrageous stunts often belie his agenda and his own proximity to state power.

Baron Cohen is often reluctant to make direct political statements. But a close examination of the comedian’s background and views suggests that much of his work is pro-Israel, pro-Western propaganda masquerading as satire.

The production company’s version of events is that they lied to the National Guard in order to gain filming permission and that, after suspecting the military smelled a rat, they hastily fled the base in their vehicle, with the guards chasing them and yelling at them to stop. The car apparently just made it out in time, squeezing under a rapidly closing front gate, like the iconic escape scene from “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” As to the question of why nobody spotted one of the most well-known comedians in the world playing a character that had been around for a decade, the production team said that, because of strict discipline at the base, none of the dozens of recruits Brüno interacted with were allowed to speak freely to their superior officers, meaning they were none the wiser.

Not everybody is convinced by this explanation. Tom Secker, an investigative journalist who analyzes the connections between the Pentagon and Hollywood, commented:

If the footage was obtained illegally, by the production company deceiving the military – which they certainly did and so it certainly was – then it would have been a relatively simple matter for the Pentagon to prevent them from using it in the final movie.”

This raises the question of what sort of concessions they gave the military in order to use the footage, or whether the entire encounter was pre-scripted from the start.

“Brüno” was also made with the help of the CIA. In an interview with David Letterman in 2009, Baron Cohen casually stated that a CIA contact had arranged some of the scenes in the movies. Baron Cohen’s idea was to interview Al-Qaeda or Hezbollah members and show them images of homosexual sex to get their reaction on camera. The agent in question was John Kiriakou, who became a public figure after he blew the whistle on the agency’s use of torture in Iraq. He is now an author and radio show host.

 

For example, documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show that the Department of Defense was involved in the production of the 2009 mockumentary “Brüno,” wherein Baron Cohen plays a flamboyantly gay Austrian reporter traveling the world. In his quest to become more heterosexual, Brüno visits a military base in Alabama. The scenes on the base feel rather staged, with the officers setting him up for a glut of witty one liners.

 

Shame on Sasha and shame on those who propped him up.  And, for those who missed it, Krystal Ball has repeatedly pimped and promoted Sasha -- most recently back in October of 2020.

 

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

 

Tuesday, January 11, 2022.  The new year is young but Medea Benjamin has already spouted more stupidity than a person should have a right to.  First . . . 


Hassan Ali Ahmed (AL-MONITOR) reports that Speaker of Parliament Mohammed al-Halbusi has the approval of Moqtada al-Sadr.

Huh?

How is that news?

It was already clear on Sunday.  That's when, as things got out of hand and Moqtada was being challenged and Mahmoud Daward al-Mashhadani staged his fainting spell.  Mohammed played along with it.  That was all you needed to know.

It was interesting to read the write-ups on that fainting spell.  First, they never noted how fake it was.  Second, they never noted the fake it was coming from.  Mahmoud was once a prisoner of US forces.  Much later, when he was Speaker of Parliament, he would call Iraqis who killed US troops "heroes" and he would be eased out of the Parliament because his bodyguards attacked a Shi'ite MP.


Bringing Mahmoud in to rule over Sunday's session let you know it had all been planned ahead of time.  As for Mohammed al-Halbusi, he's a made man in Anbar.  And, yes, that is what it sounds like.  Construction was very good for many criminal elements and Mohammed was just one example.  He used his influence to become governor of Anbar Province in 2017 -- this was after the sitting governor was removed (Suahaib al-Rawi) when he began dismissing officials as part of a corruption clean up.  No such concerns with Mohammed who feels he's among friends when he's elbow to elbow with the corrupt.

That's why so many were laughing last August when Mohammed accused his rival Khamis al-Khanjar of selling Sunni land off for profit.  


Crooks in the Iraqi government?  Why not, they're in every other government as well.

Which brings us to War Criminal Tony Blair.  THE TIMES OF ISRAEL reports:

A petition to strip former British prime minister Tony Blair of his knighthood due to his role in the Iraq War has gained more than 1 million signatures and the backing of at least one Labour MP.

The petition, posted on Change.org a week ago, accuses Blair of causing “irreparable damage to both the constitution of the United Kingdom and to the very fabric of the nation’s society.”

Blair “was personally responsible for causing the death of countless innocent, civilian lives and servicemen in various conflicts,” the petition claims. “For this alone he should be held accountable for war crimes. Tony Blair is the least deserving person of any public honor, particularly anything awarded by Her Majesty the Queen.”

On January 1, Buckingham Palace announced that Blair had been made a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, the oldest and most senior British order of chivalry. The knighthood given to Blair, who served as prime minister from 1997 to 2007, was decided by the queen and made without government advice.


 

Crooked Tony.

Tony Blair claimed £7,000 in expenses for a new roof on his second home, just 2 days before leaving office.
Image
2:06 PM · Jan 6, 2022




While criminals like Tony Blair walk free, Julian Assange is imprisoned for telling the truth.  Part of the reason he's impisoned may be his helpers or 'helpers.'  Courage Foundation Tweets:

TODAY: Day of Action for #Assange Call the DOJ's comment line and tell Attorney General Merrick Garland to #DropTheCharges against Julian Assange Co-sponsored by
@WAMMwomen
,
@Roots_Action
, Veterans For Peace Chapter 27 &
@DefenseAssange
#FreeAssangeNOW assangedefense.org/press-release/


What do you think is going to happen from that?  Merrick's going to feel pressure?  Not at all.

Why are you so damn scared to drop this where it belongs?

Joe Biden. He's the one overseeing things.  He's the one Merrick answers to directly (ultimately, Merrrick will answer to the people but that's a ways off -- they usually have to be out of office before they grasp that).  So put it on Joe's doorstep.

Let him know just how many people are watching.  He's not accomplished anything.

Can we all just be honest?  He's accomplished nothing.  If history holds, he will lose at least one House of Congress in the mid-terms.  If history holds, his first year was the year to be bold and pass bold moves.  That time is now over.  

He's a useless figure.  And if you'd grasp that, you might grasp how much power a real movement to free Julian could have on Joe who has no legacy to speak of.


2021 was his best year as president.  There's no imporvement.  Not even some break through stem-cell research is going to turn 79-year-old Joe into a charasmatic and powerful leader.  It's over.

The White House staff realizes that.  The mood there is dour.  

Smart people are updating their resumes and planning to bail soon because they know it's only going to get worse.  And they grasp that, at some point, news outlets are going to stop trying to prove they're 'tough' and 'independnet' by going after Kamala and finally have to go after Joe himself.

Merrick?

You're not accomplishing anything.

Joe makes the call.  If history tries to land it at Merrick's doorstep, all he has to say is he tried privately.  When you have no real power, you can't take the real blame.  

Joe's the one with the power and attempts at holdin gthe US government accountable are laughable until they start being directed at the president of the United States and not an underling.


Staying with the US government, RUDAW reports:

The US Embassy in Baghdad released a statement on Monday welcoming the fifth Iraqi parliament, congratulating the newly elected officials, and expressing hope in the quick formation of a new government.

In the statement, the embassy highlighted the role and significance of the parliament, calling it an integral and inseparable component of Iraq’s democratic process and its national sovereignty.


Hoping for a quick formation?  Hmm.  October 10th elections and it's January 11th right now.  Hmmm.  

In other news, PRESS TV reports:

Several roadside bomb attacks have targeted convoys carrying logistical equipment belonging to the US military south of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and in the country’s southern province of Muthanna, amid strong public opposition to the prolonged presence of American occupation forces on Iraqi soil.

Sabereen News, a Telegram news channel associated with Iraqi anti-terror Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) or Hashd al-Sha’abi, reported that an explosion hit trucks belonging to US forces in Baghdad’s southern Hur Rajab area at 7:30 a.m. local time (04:30 GMT) on Tuesday.

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. 

Shortly afterward, a bomb attack targeted a logistics convoy of US forces in the town of Adwaniyah.



But remember, Jibberish spouting Joe insists that the combat mission ended for US troops.  Someone please advise the various bombs and drones of this change.  



The good news is that U.S. bombing of those 3 countries has significantly decreased from the over 12,000 bombs and missiles it dropped on them in 2019. In fact, since the withdrawal of U.S. occupation forces from Afghanistan in August, the U.S. military has officially conducted no air strikes there, and only dropped 13 bombs or missiles on Iraq and Syria – although this does not preclude additional unreported strikes by forces under CIA command or control.



"The good news"?? Dumb bitch, when you're talking about civilians being bombed, there's no "good news" and you look more stupid than ever when you try to pimp that the US "only dropped 13 bombs or missiles."


That Medea is what passes for a peace leader in the US goes a long, long way towards explaining why there's no real peace movement in the US.  


I wonder if the victims of the bombings feel Medea's spreading "good news"?  




The following sites updated:






 





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