Had to take my daughter to the doctor today for a regular check up. She was glued to her device which is fine. I was too tired to do screen time myself. So I just people watched.
What do babies think? I watched a baby this afternoon with his mom, his brother with him. While he was in the stroller, he would sit up and look around and grin at somethings. He would reach for stuff from time to time. And he would look bored. I wondered the whole time what he was thinking. Sometimes his brother would kick his foot and he'd look around. Then he'd figure it out and laugh while reaching for his brother.
He would look at me and smile. I'd smile back and he'd look away and then turn back to see if I was still watching. Then he'd grin.
Or his brother would stomp his own feet on the floor and then the baby would copy him.
I wondered what he was thinking during all of this?
I asked as we were waiting to see the doctor and the baby was 10 months old. He was really aware of everything that was going on around him.
I trust babies. I don't trust politicians or people who think their job is to tell me or anyone else how to vote. Those people, as C.I. notes in today's snapshot, are the people who won't stand up for Julian Assange. Joe Biden continues to persecute Julian. It needs to stop. Glenn Greenwald notes:
Whatever else one might think of Assange, there is simply no question that he is one of the most consequential, pioneering, and accomplished journalists of his time. One could easily make the case that he occupies the top spot by himself. And that, of course, is precisely why he is in prison: because, just like free speech, “free press” guarantees in the U.S. and UK exist only on a piece of parchment and in theory. Citizens are free to do “journalism" as long as it does not disturb or anger or impede real power centers. Employees of The Washington Post and CNN are “free” to say what they want as long as what they are saying is approved and directed by the CIA or the content of their “reporting” advances the interests of the Pentagon's sprawling war machine.
Real journalists often face threats of prosecution, imprisonment or even murder, and sometimes even mean tweets. Much of the American corporate media class has ignored Assange’s persecution or even cheered it precisely because he shames them, serving as a vivid mirror to show them what real journalism is and how they are completely bereft of it. And the American and British governments have successfully exploited the petty jealousies and insecurities of their failed, vapid and pointless media servants to get away with imposing the single greatest threat to press freedom in the West without much protest at all.
Free speech and press freedoms do not exist in reality in the U.S. or the UK. They are merely rhetorical instruments to propagandize their domestic population and justify and ennoble the various wars and other forms of subversion they constantly wage in other countries in the name of upholding values they themselves do not support. The Julian Assange persecution is a great personal tragedy, a political travesty and a grave danger to basic civic freedoms. But it is also a bright and enduring monument to the fraud and deceit that lies at the heart of these two governments' depictions of who and what they are.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Monday, June 20, 2022. They don't stand up for Julian, they don't stand up for anyone. They're just Democratic Party organs to churn out the vote.
The persecution of Julian Assange continues. Oscar Grenfell (WSWS) reports:
On Friday, British Home Secretary Priti Patel announced that she has approved WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s extradition to the United States. Assange’s family, including his wife, Stella Moris, immediately declared that they would fight the decision, including through a further British legal appeal.
If Assange is extradited, he faces 18 charges under the Espionage Act and 175 years imprisonment for publishing what the American government and the British courts acknowledge was true information exposing US foreign policy.
When it comes to Ukraine, the US and its allies continuously claim that they are defending democracy against Russian “authoritarianism.” On the basis of these assertions, the Biden administration has funneled tens of billions of dollars in weaponry to the Ukrainian government, in what has become a US-NATO proxy war against Russia.
In the Asia-Pacific, Washington and its allies similarly assert that they are defending “freedom” in opposition to Chinese “autocracy.”
The persecution of Assange exposes all of these statements as complete lies used to justify a program of aggressive militarism and war.
In the heart of Britain, Assange, a journalist, is imprisoned in a maximum-security prison without charge, while the US seeks his extradition for exposing its war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Assange’s legal and democratic rights have been continuously attacked. There is clear evidence that the US oversaw a massive spying operation against Assange, while he was a political refugee in Ecuador London’s embassy. This included illegal surveillance of his privileged communications with lawyers.
Last September, Yahoo! News reported that in 2017, the Trump administration and the CIA discussed kidnapping or assassinating Assange in London. The article was based on the statements of 30 former US officials.
Outgoing United Nations Rapporteur Nils Melzer has repeatedly branded the US and British treatment of Assange as torture. Hundreds of doctors have demanded Assange’s freedom and warned of his deteriorating health.
Despite all of this, the Biden administration has continued the prosecution and the British courts have facilitated it. The contradiction between the supposed US-led campaign for “freedom” in Ukraine, and its determination to lock Assange away, is a staggering display of imperialist hypocrisy.
This persecution of Julian is about silencing the press. Monday April 5, 2010, WIKILEAKS released US military video of a July 12, 2007 assault in Iraq. 12 people were killed in the assault including two Reuters journalists Namie Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh. That is when the persecution begins. It was an intimidation carried out by multiple presidents starting with Barack Obama, continuing with Donald Trump and now the baton for killing the press has been handed off to Joe Biden. This has had the effect of scaring off many traditional news outlets. They once partnered with Julian to report and now they act as though they've never heard of him. Saving their own asses? They may think that. If they do, they're dead wrong. An attack on Julian is an attack on all. And if the attack on Julian is not loudly and publicly rebuked, you can be sure that next up will be THE WASHINGTON POST or THE MIAMI HERALD or some other institution -- despite the US Constitution -- the same one that's being ignored in this attack on Julian.
Kevin Gosztola (SHADOWPROOF) explains that Patel and the Home Office made the decision that press freedom is "an act capable of 'far more serious damage' than traditional espionage." Max Blumenthal Tweeted:
Glenn Greenwald (SUBSTACK) notes, "An extremely unusual unanimity among press freedom and civil liberties groups was formed in early 2021 to urge the Biden administration to cease its prosecution of Assange, but Biden officials — despite spending the Trump years masquerading as press freedom advocates — ignored them (an interview conducted last week with Stella Assange by my husband, the Brazilian Congressman David Miranda, on Brazil's Press Freedom Day, regarding the latest developments and toll this has taken on the Assange family, can be seen here)." Saturday, Oscar Grenfell (WSWS) reported:
Meanwhile, El Pais reported last week that Britain is obstructing the Spanish National High Court from examining other allegations of illegal spying on Assange’s legal team.
Taken together, the various abuses to which Assange has been subjected, and the protracted character of his persecution, brand it as one of the political crimes of the century.
Speaking at yesterday’s press conference, Assange’s wife Stella Moris said the British legal process was being “used to prolong Julian’s suffering.” Britain, she said, “should not be engaging in persecution on behalf of a foreign power that is out for revenge… that foreign power committed crimes which Julian put into the sunlight.”
Moris vowed, “we’re going to fight this,” including through a final appeal within the British set-up. Robinson explained that this would focus on the political nature of the prosecution, its contravention of the British-US extradition treaty and the various abuses, including the CIA plots against Assange.
Together with Moris and WikiLeaks, press groups, journalists’ associations and international rights groups warned that Patel’s decision represents a frontal onslaught on core rights that will be deployed against others.
American whistleblower, Edward Snowden, who exposed mass NSA spying, tweeted: “Hard to believe, but it looks real. Every serious press freedom group in the world has protested this. It is an appalling symbol of how far the British and American governments’ commitment to human rights has declined.”
Well-known Australian investigative journalist John Pilger posted: “Home Secretary Priti Patel has approved the extradition of Julian #Assange to an American hellhole. A new appeal will now challenge the political rottenness of British ‘justice.’ Either we raise our voices as never before, or our silence colludes in the death of an heroic man.”
I want to take this somewhere else, it'll make a lot of male and male-identifying women angry but stick around for the journey even if you don't like our first stop. Issac J. Bailey writes at NIEMEN REPORTS:
Felicia Sonmez demanded that The Washington Post live up to the highest standard — zero tolerance for sexism. She wouldn’t allow the organization to tiptoe around an issue our industry has tiptoed around for far too long. That’s why she’s no longer a reporter there. Or at least, that’s how it looks from afar.
In fairness, it’s exceedingly difficult to get the full story on a personnel issue. Privacy concerns make it difficult for an employer to be fully transparent. The Post told those who reached out last week it wouldn’t comment. I reached out to Sonmez but haven’t heard back.
According to a leaked termination letter, Sonmez was fired for, among other things, “maligning your coworkers online and violating the Post’s standards on workplace collegiality and inclusivity.” That came after several days after an internal dispute spilled out onto Twitter when another reporter, David Weigel, retweeted a sexist joke, and Sonmez called him out for it. The termination letter also cited Sonmez’s “insubordination.” Sonmez kept tweeting about newsroom culture after executive editor Sally Buzbee sent an email trying to squash the public back-and-forth.
But insubordination is a tool of necessity, used by every trailblazing journalist or activist working to change an unjust system. Sonmez was an activist trying to improve an industry long saddled by sexism. Her sin was trying to raise the bar on how sexism is treated inside newsrooms and covered by the media.
She was relentless, uncomfortably so. It’s why she stood out on the day NBA superstar Kobe Bryant was killed in a helicopter crash. While other journalists were praising his basketball legacy, she reminded people about the complexity of Byrant’s life, including a sexual assault charge. For that, she was briefly suspended by The Post and pilloried by many inside the industry and out, for daring to speak an uncomfortable truth — precisely what journalists are supposed to do. For that, and because she spoke openly about her status as a survivor, The Post prevented Sonmez from covering sexual assault cases. It was an egregious decision that spoke volumes about just how deep the roots of sexism remain.
Felicia's an object of ridicule. Manly Krystal Ball was laughing at her with Ryan Grim in segment of BREAKING POINTS posted yesterday. There was no reason to bring up Felicia except that Krystal needed a cheap laugh and needed to make sure all the boys in the room weren't nervous.
Felicia was in a hostile work environment. And the bully boys of YOUTUBE decided to attack her and defended noted liar David Weigel. They may not know that he has HR issues or that he's already been called in by HR multiple times this year. Doesn't matter. They know who Dave is -- some have been part of the circle jerk that previous got him fired from THE WASHINGTON POST -- only Jeff Bezos would invite that liar back and do so while claiming 'democracy dies in darkness.' That truly was the story that should have had comments from Krystal instead of her scracting her phantom balls.
This is related to Julian.
Oh, look. It's Hillary whore. We knew she'd be arriving.
Winning the election is the most important thing, says Hillary, rushing to sacrifice the rights of the transgender community. What does this remind you of?
If you were paying attention, it would remind you of when she sold abortion rights.
The Democratic Party loves to pretend they care about women. But in 2004, they had no woman to speak at night at the DNC in Boston until people -- largely women -- called that out and Hillary got added. Her thanks to other women. January 2005, she pushed publicly to sell out abortion rights. Even THE NEW YORK TIMES called her out while some go-alongs -- that ridiculous Chris of INTERESTING TIMES, for example -- rushed to applaud the move. They and the 'bullmoose' community were eager to cut abortion from the conversation.
Do you see where that took us? To a bunch of feckless Democrats in the Senate who went on to approve Alito and others with no real fight because, hey, Hillary says we can ease off abortion rights.
Now the fat old woman shows up, having whored everything to earn millions, and from her comfy ass, she sees no reason to support the transgender community.
Cut them loose, cries the Whore Queen, they don't matter, the next election does.
It's all related and too many YOUTUBERS are personally connected to the liars and therefore can't call them out. Those are friends of little Spency Ackerman, for example. This is all JOURNOLIST. The secret cable where a group of largely lefties -- and David Weigel -- met online to share truth that they wouldn't share with their readers. Katha Pollitt, for example, watched the GOP convention in 2008 and rushed to share her horror that Sarah Palin was, in her opinion, relatable and well spoken. But, of course, Katha didn't share at THE NATION where she ripped Sarah apart. But let's focus on the disgusting Keith Olbermann and his sexism.
From THE DAILY CALLER:
The feelings against MSNBC host Keith Olbermann, then, must run deep.
“He’s become O’Reilly on the left– completely predictable, unfunny, and arrogant,” said Georgetown University Professor Michael Kazin in May 2009. “To my mind, what they do is no different form Hannity and O’Reilly,” said the New America Foundation’s Michael Cohen, “At least Hannity and O’Reilly engage with the other side (if mainly just to yell at them). Olbermann is just an echo chamber.”
(Cohen later elaborated he was arguing that both MSNBC and Fox News play to political extremes).
Okay, no link to that story. It pops up as 'infected.' I doubt it is, GOOGLE used to do that all the time to sites they didn't want you to look at. Justin Raimondo and I used to exchange e-mails about how that would happen constantly to ANTIWAR.COM.
This is from memory so I may be wrong but what I wanted to get at with the excerpt was all these journalists privately agreeing that Keith was sexist on air and then HARPER'S Luke Mitchell shows up to insist, "Olberman is irritating and his obvious sexism is reprehensible. But yes, someone going on TV and saying that torture is bad is a net positive."
I believe that's word for word, if it's not, my apologies. That's how I remember it.
We noted this news item last week and called it out. Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi held 15 years and enters a plea. And we're supposed to believe it had nothing to do with torture.
We noted it. Where were the brave Luke Mitchells?
They insist that sexism doesn't matter because there are more important things.
But they don't deal with torture, do they.
Like Hillary, they're all about the next election and it matters so much that we must put everything on hold that a straight, White, male who is well off in today's society does not feel he is effected by personally.
That's why the Whore Queen is calling for transgender rights to be dropped. It's why people aren't rushing to defend Julian.
Calling out the Democratic Party!!! No, there's an election!!!!
There's always going to be an election.
If you can't stand up for what matters ahead of an election or during an election, you're just not going to stand up for it.
That's reality.
Kat's ''Kat's Korner: George Ezra and Rod Stewart prove the British are still invading" went up Saturday. The following sites updated:
