Monday, May 16, 2022

Isaiah and Jacob Crosse

From Saturday, Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Elderly Celebrity Is As Confused As Joe" 


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Also Kat's "Kat's Korner: Freewheelin' Jewel" -- review of Jewel's new album -- went up Sunday.

Let me note this from Jacob Crosse (WSWS):


Thousands of demonstrators in over 300 cities marched Saturday in support of the basic democratic right of women to obtain an abortion. The protests were in response to the May 2 leak of the Supreme Court draft decision confirming that the right-wing majority on the court is set to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which declared state laws banning abortion were unconstitutional.

Most of the rallies were held under the auspices of the “Bans Off Our Bodies” group, which included liberal organizations such as Women’s March, MoveOn and the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

The rallies drew thousands of attendees, with the two largest, in New York City and in Washington D.C., each drawing an estimated 20,000 participants.

Thousands more attended rallies held Austin and Houston, Texas; Atlanta, Georgia; Fort Myers and Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Boise, Idaho; Chicago, Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix and Seattle among other cities.

Estimates from the Guttmacher Institute estimate that at least 26 states, including Idaho, would be “certain or likely” to ban abortion when Roe v. Wade is overturned. This would effectively outlaw the right to an abortion for over 36 million people, according to Planned Parenthood. In anticipation of the overturning of the 1973 court decision, within the last year Republican-led states such as Florida, Arizona, Kentucky, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Idaho, Wyoming, Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas have passed legislation or signed into law bills that would ban abortions, in some cases as soon as six weeks, well before most women would even know they are pregnant.

These reactionary measures, appealing to the Christian-fascist base of the Republican Party, are deeply unpopular. In addition to the thousands who marched over the weekend in opposition to the imminent Supreme Court decision, an NBC News opinion poll conducted earlier this month found that 60 percent of those surveyed agreed that abortion should “always” or “most of the time” be legal, while only 5 percent said the medical procedure should be “illegal, without any exceptions.”

While there is massive support in the working class for this basic democratic right, for the second weekend in a row, Democratic Party-affiliated organizations, politicians and their appendages in the trade union bureaucracy, dominated the protests. This is part of an ongoing effort to channel the mass opposition to the unpopular court decision behind the Democrats and the thoroughly bankrupt perspective that voting for “pro-choice” Democrats in November would protect the right to an abortion.

What a fraud! The same party that has been unwilling and unable in the last 50 years to codify Roe v. Wade expects workers and youth to believe that this time, they will do something. 

Exactly.


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


Monday, May 16, 2022.  Stalemates all over Iraq.


October 10th, elections were held in Iraq.  The turnout was low n-- the lowest since the US  invasion.  the US government feared a low turnout which is  why they cash-bribed Moqtada al-Sadr .  Taking his cash pay out, Moqtada suddenly declared he was all for elections and hat everyone should vote in them and blah blah blah.  

All this time later, there's still no government.   A political stalemate is what Iraq remains in all this time later -- seven months and counting.

The western press -- especially the US press -- spent the first months after the election insisting that Moqtada was a kingmaker.  Moqtada leads a cult.  It's dwindled in the last three years.  A clear reason would be his leadership has failed to deliver.  When the us first invaded in 2003, Sadr City was a slum of Baghdad and, all these years laer, it remains a slum.  Between that and attacks on Shi;ite youths, Moqtada has harmed his own image and reputation.


The western press, which barely pays attention to Iraq, was caught unaware and caught trying to push the US State Dept's aims -- without revealing that's what they were.  They have been wrong.  They were wrong before the election, they remain wrong all these months later.


Ahead of the election, we ntoed that former prime mnister and forever thug Nouri al-Maliki remained a player in the political process.  We noted it, the US media ignored it.


Nouri has managed to hold Moqtada in check for months.  But, again, you'd never know that to read the US press.


They can't get it right because they can't get honest.


Will they get honest now?  Sinan Mahmoud and Robert Tollastand (THE NATIONAL) reports:


Iraq's Federal Supreme Court says Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi's caretaker government has no authority to create legislation to present to parliament, or strike agreements that could influence Iraq's future.

Sunday's ruling throws into doubt government efforts to meet urgent needs during a transitional period, including the passing of a law that Mr Al Kadhimi says is vital to stem a rise in food poverty.

Iraq held elections on October 10, the fifth parliamentary vote for a full-term government since the 2003 US-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein, in response to one of the core demands of a nationwide, pro-reform protest movement that erupted in 2019.

But since then, political rivals have been at loggerheads over the formation of the new government, delaying ratifying the federal budget.



Now the US press doesn't have to get honest.  They can just ignore this news like they've ignored anything factual that's repudiated their non-stop propaganda.  


But if you're watching, you should be aware of this.


This echoes decisions the same Court handed down from 2010 through 2012.  


And it's not surprising.  A government should have been formed by  now per the Iraqi Constitution.  


Seven months later and the western press has pretended this is normal.  And that it's not a problem.  Which is why they'll probably ignore the Court's verdict.  The Court's verdict proves them to be a liar.   And, again, this ruling is not unexpected.


In the fall of 2008, Barack Obama and Joe Biden insisted that they would oppose any SOFA that Bully Boy Bush might push for in the final days of his administration.  The majority of Democrats in Congress at the time were on record stating that they would also opposed any such contract.


The first week of November saw Barack elected president.  It also saw that promise to oppose any SOFA Bully Boy Bush  negotiated disappear from their campaign website.


End the war in ten months!!!!


That was Barack's campaign promise.  By accepting the SOFA, they were no longer bound to their promise, they had an out.  So their objections to it instantly vanished.


They had been right to object.  And there were no fiery editorials denouncing them when they were in the objecting stage.


That's because it is not fair for an outgling administration, in its final days, to saddle an incoming administration with policity promises and goals.  


And yet the 'caretaker' prime minister continues to try to force through deals and agreements.  


He should have been gone in November.  


The paralysis in the government is no excuse to allow him to continue to make policyy and implement long range planning.


There's another stalemate regarding Iraq and, as we've noted, this goes to Joe Biden's lame duck status as a president.  You usually are in your second term when you're viewed as a lame duck but Joe's senility makes his lame duck status a lot more obvious in his first term.  


KURDISTAN 24 reports:


The Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani on Monday received the outgoing US Ambassador to Iraq Matthew Tueller and discussed bilateral ties between Erbil and Washington. 

Barzani extended his appreciation to Tueller for his efforts in developing relations between the United States and the Kurdistan Region, according to a statement from the prime minister's office. He wished the US diplomat success in his future endeavors. 

They discussed the current state of affairs in Iraq and the Middle East as well as bilateral relations between Erbil and Washington, particularly in trade and investment, the statement added. 

Alina Romanowski is expected to replace Tueller. 


Alina Romanowski.  Confirmed March 24th.  March 24th.  It's May 16th.  How is she traveling to Baghdad?  By burro?  At what point does a functioning US press wake up and stop the propaganda.  If it's May and you were confirmed in March, your ass should be in Iraq by now.


Joe noinated the woman in December.  And the Senate practiced feet dragging.  They waited until March 2rd to hold a hearing on Joe's December 8th nomination.  And now that she was confirmed two months ago, she still can't get her ass to Iraq.


The UK ambassador has been working with the UN on attempting to break the poltiical stalemate.  The US has no real voice in this because everyone has known for months now that Tueller was leaving.



Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Elderly Celebrity Is As Confused As Joe" and Kat's "Kat's Korner: Freewheelin' Jewel" went up overr this weekend.  The following sites updated:







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