THE GOLDBERGS. OMG. I just can't. Seriously. Adam is a
functioning child. But he's supposed to be a freshman in college.
It's not funny. I doubt it's cute. It's embarrassing and hard to
watch. Having stunted him, the writers now work for dumb storylines.
Last night, he morphed into THE BAD SEED. Dave Kim was going to shoot a
movie he wrote. So Adam, jealous and bitter, worked overtime to
sabotage his best friend. It was gross. It was disgusting. It was
embarrassing. This wasn't a one minute slip. This was actively
planning for over 24 hours. This was intentional. This was fully
aware.
This is destroying the show.
The
other storyline was a man at the school wanted to date Beverly. This
upset Tim Meadows (didn't see them as a possible couple last season but
it might work this season). It also upset Barry.
Now Barry went crazy and crazed. But this wasn't Adam territory.
We
watched and admitted to ourselves that Barry's always been crazy and
crazed and we enjoyed the storyline. It helps that the actor plays the
character like a grown man. Erica was on her mom's side. Kind of.
She wanted Beverly to date. Kind of? Full on support for it.
But the 'kind of' is that Beverly didn't know she was dating.
She thought they were just meeting to discuss school stuff.
She found out right before Barry burst in on their dinner, followed by Erica.
She let the guy down easy and then told Erica that he called her gorgeous.
This
was probably to prepare us for widow Beverly getting on with her life.
Something Erica supports fully. Again, I hadn't thought of her with
Tim Meadows. They have a natural chemistry like a Lucy and Ethel. But I
could see them as a couple now that she is a widow.
Geoff
was funny and the best scene was probably when they were watching the
Oscars and Geoff kept correcting them about movies like PLACES IN THE
HEART. Causing Erica to realize that while she though, because of their
new baby, they hadn't been to the movies in over a year, Geoff has
actually been going to the movies -- maybe even weekly. He'd seen all
the nominated films. Including AMADEUS which is how they tried to build
the rivalry between Adam and Dave Kim (the one-side rivalry). That was
actually funny when it happened on THE SIMPSONS with Lisa and Bart.
Jimmy Fallon weighed in on Joe Biden's classified document scandal last night on THE TONIGHT SHOW. His jokes included, "Yeah,
this year, instead of an Easter egg hunt, they're gonna' send the kids
over to Biden's home to look for more documents. It's like: 'Found one
under the sofa!' 'Alright, hand it over."
Thursday, January 19, 2023. Tragedy in Iraq with 2 dead and over sixty
injured ahead of the final match in the Arabian Gulf Cup and tomorrow
the Belmarsh Tribunal will steer attention to the assaults on press
freedom.
As Iraqis geared up this morning for the Arabian Gulf Cup final with Iraq facing Oman, tragedy took place, GULF NEWS notes,
"a stampede between fans who had gathered in front of the Palm Trunk
Stadium in Basra that hosts the 25th Gulf Cup final." People began
filing into the stadium hours before the game which isn't surprising
since that's been the case throughout. Also the case throughout, the
crowd has been increasing. Monday, when Iraq again won, over three
hours before the soccer match began, the stadium was at capacity.
Monday night, the streets of Basra were still filled with near bumper to
bumper traffic -- double lane -- as fans demonstrated their excitement
and their pride.
This being the last match,
the authorities should have estimated the largest crowd yet and should
have prepared that the stadium would again fill to capacity before
everyone who wanted to get in could get in. Sinan Mahmoud (THE NATIONAL) notes
that Basra's Governor Asaad al-Eidnai warned yesterday that people
shouldn't gather outside Palm Trunk Satidum because "this could lead to a
stampede and [the] perfect image of our country, hosting this event,
could be tarnished only a few hours before the final ceremony." While
it was nice that words were offered the day before, it's a shame that
words weren't matched with actions -- setting up precautions to prevent
what eventually did happen.
ALJAZEERA has a photo gallery of the huge crowds here and they note, "The Iraqi interior ministry told Al Jazeera that two people had died and
about 80 have been in injured in the stampede on Thursday." Sinan Mahmoud reports, "Hamza Adnan Ahmed, 26, from Baghdad, died after being caught up in the incident, his brother Omar told The National. He had been in Basra since the beginning of the tournament. His brother, cousin and friend were injured." Celine Alkhaldi, Mostafa Salem and Aqeel Najim (CNN) note, "A video sent to CNN showed fans seated inside the stadium after the
stampede. Seating areas hosting Iraqi fans were completely full, while
the section designated to Omani fans was empty, pending their arrival
later in the day."
Some outlets are offering
statements to the effect of, 'After deliberations, the government
decided to allow today's match to take place.' Deliberations?
There
were none or should have been none. What happened was an accident due
to poor planning on the part of the government. Had the match been
called off? Rioting. That's what would have taken place -- that's in
Iraq, that's in the US, that's anywhere. The excitement level, the
expectations, you could not call off today's event for any reason other
than weather and not see a riot break out.
At THIRD on Tuesday, we noted,
"However the match goes, Iraq's accomplished a lot. [. . .] This is
their moment and they should be thrilled. Now if only the
government had the same energy and drive that the team and the fans do."
The
death of two and the injuries of many is sad and it's tragic. Safety
precautions which should have been place were not. That's on the
government.
They meet at Basra Stadium in a match titled “Promising Stars”.
Today, the attention of football fans in the “Arabian Gulf” is
directed to the “Basra International Stadium”, which will be the scene
of the upcoming final match of “Gulf 25” between the owner of the land
and the fans (the Iraqi team) and his Omani counterpart.
The Lions of Mesopotamia is looking forward to winning a fourth title
in its history, and the first in nearly 35 years, specifically since
1988 in Saudi Arabia. On the other hand, the Omani Red aspires to a
third and first title since 2018.
In other news . . .
Kevin
Gosztola addresses the plight of Julian Assange in the video above. US
President Joe Biden continues to persecute Julian and, for those who've
forgotten, Julian's 'crime' was revealing the
realities of Iraq -- Chelsea Manning was a whistle-blower who leaked the
information to Julian. WIKILEAKS then published the Iraq War Logs.
And many outlets used the publication to publish reports of their own.
For example, THE GUARDIAN published many articles based on The Iraq War
Logs. Jonathan Steele, David Leigh and Nick Davies offered, on October 22, 2012:
A grim picture of the US and Britain's legacy in Iraq has been revealed in a massive leak of American military documents that detail torture, summary executions and war crimes. Almost 400,000 secret US army field reports have been passed to the
Guardian and a number of other international media organisations via the
whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.
The electronic archive is believed to emanate from the same dissident
US army intelligence analyst who earlier this year is alleged to have
leaked a smaller tranche of 90,000 logs chronicling bloody encounters
and civilian killings in the Afghan war. The new logs detail how: •
US authorities failed to investigate hundreds of reports of abuse,
torture, rape and even murder by Iraqi police and soldiers whose conduct
appears to be systematic and normally unpunished.
• A US helicopter gunship involved in a
notorious Baghdad incident had previously killed Iraqi insurgents after
they tried to surrender. • More than 15,000 civilians died in
previously unknown incidents. US and UK officials have insisted that no
official record of civilian casualties exists but the logs record 66,081
non-combatant deaths out of a total of 109,000 fatalities.
The numerous reports of detainee abuse, often supported by medical
evidence, describe prisoners shackled, blindfolded and hung by wrists or
ankles, and subjected to whipping, punching, kicking or electric
shocks. Six reports end with a detainee's apparent deat
The Biden administration
has been saying all the right things lately about respecting a free and
vigorous press, after four years of relentless media-bashing and legal
assaults under Donald Trump.
The attorney general, Merrick Garland, has even put in place expanded protections for journalists this fall, saying that “a free and independent press is vital to the functioning of our democracy”.
But the biggest test of Biden’s commitment remains imprisoned in a jail cell in London, where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
has been held since 2019 while facing prosecution in the United States
under the Espionage Act, a century-old statute that has never been used
before for publishing classified information.
Whether the US justice department continues to
pursue the Trump-era charges against the notorious leaker, whose group
put out secret information on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,
Guantánamo Bay, American diplomacy and internal Democratic politics
before the 2016 election, will go a long way toward determining whether
the current administration intends to make good on its pledges to
protect the press.
Now Biden is facing a re-energized push, both inside the United States and overseas, to drop Assange’s protracted prosecution.
Reminder, DEMOCRACY NOW! has a special broadcast this week:
On Jan. 20, Democracy Now! will live-stream the Belmarsh Tribunal
from Washington, D.C. The event will feature expert testimony from
journalists, whistleblowers, lawyers, publishers and parliamentarians on
assaults to press freedom and the First Amendment of the U.S.
Constitution.
Watch here live at 2 p.m. ET on Friday, Jan. 20.
Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman and Srecko Horvat, the co-founder of
DiEM25, will chair the tribunal, which is being organized by Progressive
International and the Wau Holland Foundation.
Members of the tribunal include:
Stella Assange, partner of Julian Assange and member of his defense team
Daniel Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers whistleblower
Noam Chomsky, linguist and activist
Jeremy Corbyn, member of U.K. Parliament and founder of the Peace and Justice Project
Chip Gibbons, policy director of Defending Rights & Dissent
Kevin Gosztola, managing editor of Shadowproof
Margaret Kunstler, civil rights attorney
Stefania Maurizi, investigative journalist, Il Fatto Quotidiano
Jesselyn Radack, national security and human rights attorney
Ben Wizner, lead attorney at ACLU of Edward Snowden
Renata Ávila, human rights lawyer, technology and society expert
Jeffrey Sterling, lawyer and former CIA employee
Steven Donziger, human rights attorney
Kristinn Hrafnsson, editor-in-chief, WikiLeaks
Katrina vanden Heuvel, editorial director and publisher, The Nation
Selay Ghaffar, spokesperson, Solidarity Party of Afghanistan
First up, GLAAD has announced their GLAAD Media Award nominees and I'm highlighting one category:
Outstanding Kids & Family Programming — Live Action
“Better Nate Than Ever” (Disney+)
“First Day” (Hulu)
“Heartstopper” (Netflix)
“High School Musical: The Musical: The Series” (Disney+)
“Monster High: The Movie” (Nickelodeon, Paramount+)
“Power Rangers: Dino Fury” (Netflix)
“Raven’s Home” (Disney Channel)
“Rebel Cheer Squad: A Get Even Series” (Netflix)
“Trevor: The Musical” (Disney+)
“Zombies 3” (Disney+)
Per
my daughter, it has to BETTER NATE THAN EVER. That's her pick. She's
seen all of them. She does not want HEARTSTOPPER to win ("too sappy")
but she likes all the others nominated and she loves BETTER NATE THAN
EVER. I asked her if we had watched it together? We watch a lot of
programs together. But on that one, no. So I'll have to play catch
up. My pick would have been FIRST DAY or MONSTER HIGH: THE MOVIE. But
she insists that the award must go to BETTER NATE THAN EVER.
Okay,
Joe Biden and his classified documents problem. US House Rep Katie
Porter (who has announced she's running for the Senate) has stated, "Classified
documents belong in classified settings, and I think you heard me say
oversight is not a partisan thing. Good oversight means you're willing
to hold any rule breaker to account" ABC NEWS reports:
President Joe Biden on Wednesday again avoided questions about an investigation into documents marked classified found at his home and office, six days after a special counsel was named to investigate the matter.
Biden
had no public events planned for Wednesday, after spending the holiday
weekend at his Delaware home, out of the public eye, and not responding
to reporters' shouted questions during unrelated events Tuesday and late
last week.
FORBES notes, "A majority
of respondents in a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday said
they believe President Joe Biden acted inappropriately in retaining
classified records after he left the Obama Administration, but only
about a third at this point believe he should face criminal charges as a
special counsel investigation moves forward."
Wednesday, January 18, 2023. The Australian government says 'enough
is enough' as Joe Biden continues to persecute Julian Assange, Iraq gets
ready to face Oman in the Arabian Gulf Cup, Richard Branson's airline
faces a huge fine, and much more.
Starting with Julian Assange.
US President Joe Biden continues to persecute Julian and, for those who've forgotten, Julian's 'crime' was revealing the
realities of Iraq -- Chelsea Manning was a whistle-blower who leaked the
information to Julian. WIKILEAKS then published the Iraq War Logs.
And many outlets used the publication to publish reports of their own.
For example, THE GUARDIAN published many articles based on The Iraq War
Logs. Jonathan Steele, David Leigh and Nick Davies offered, on October 22, 2012:
A grim picture of the US and Britain's legacy in Iraq has been revealed in a massive leak of American military documents that detail torture, summary executions and war crimes. Almost 400,000 secret US army field reports have been passed to the
Guardian and a number of other international media organisations via the
whistleblowing website WikiLeaks.
The electronic archive is believed to emanate from the same dissident
US army intelligence analyst who earlier this year is alleged to have
leaked a smaller tranche of 90,000 logs chronicling bloody encounters
and civilian killings in the Afghan war. The new logs detail how: •
US authorities failed to investigate hundreds of reports of abuse,
torture, rape and even murder by Iraqi police and soldiers whose conduct
appears to be systematic and normally unpunished.
• A US helicopter gunship involved in a
notorious Baghdad incident had previously killed Iraqi insurgents after
they tried to surrender. • More than 15,000 civilians died in
previously unknown incidents. US and UK officials have insisted that no
official record of civilian casualties exists but the logs record 66,081
non-combatant deaths out of a total of 109,000 fatalities.
The numerous reports of detainee abuse, often supported by medical
evidence, describe prisoners shackled, blindfolded and hung by wrists or
ankles, and subjected to whipping, punching, kicking or electric
shocks. Six reports end with a detainee's apparent deat
The Biden administration
has been saying all the right things lately about respecting a free and
vigorous press, after four years of relentless media-bashing and legal
assaults under Donald Trump.
The attorney general, Merrick Garland, has even put in place expanded protections for journalists this fall, saying that “a free and independent press is vital to the functioning of our democracy”.
But the biggest test of Biden’s commitment remains imprisoned in a jail cell in London, where WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
has been held since 2019 while facing prosecution in the United States
under the Espionage Act, a century-old statute that has never been used
before for publishing classified information.
Whether the US justice department continues to
pursue the Trump-era charges against the notorious leaker, whose group
put out secret information on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,
Guantánamo Bay, American diplomacy and internal Democratic politics
before the 2016 election, will go a long way toward determining whether
the current administration intends to make good on its pledges to
protect the press.
Now Biden is facing a re-energized push, both inside the United States and overseas, to drop Assange’s protracted prosecution.
Barack Obama refused to indict Assange because of the "New York Times
problem": If Obama were to indict Assange for publishing truthful
information, he'd have to indict the New York Times as well. But Biden
has now affirmed Trump's contention that publishing the truth is a
crime. Assange is being charged under the Espionage Act of 1917. That
law is controversial enough when prosecutors use it to target
whistleblowers, but it has never been used successfully against a
publisher. What Biden is really saying by indicting Assange is that the
U.S. government can lie to the public, conceal its criminal behavior and
then destroy those who would dare seek the truth.
The Justice Department has charged Assange for receiving and
publishing truthful, newsworthy information leaked by whistleblower
Chelsea Manning, but has never charged any of the military or government
officials whose wrongdoing was exposed.
It is the 21st-century version of killing the messenger.
No one was harmed by Assange's reporting, unless you count the
bruised reputations of politicians who were caught breaking the law,
lying or concealing misconduct. Experts testified in British court proceedings
that Assange went to extreme lengths to help protect both his sources
and people who might be harmed by the disclosure of sensitive
information. Instead of investigating the wrongdoing that WikiLeaks
exposed and punishing those who broke the law or covered it up, the
government has focused on attacking whistleblowers and the journalists
who work with them.
AMYGOODMAN: And let me ask you about Julian Assange. There’s going to be a tribunal
at the end of the week at the National Press Club. Many major news
organizations are calling for the Biden administration to drop the
charges against him. He faces 175 years in prison in the United States,
if extradited, tried and found guilty. The New York Times, The Guardian, El País, Der Spiegel have called for these charges to be dropped, that freedom of the press is at stake. Do you join in that call?
REP. RO KHANNA:
Well, I have said that there’s a reason President Obama never brought
charges against Assange. Whatever you think of his moral actions — and I
have not defended those — I do not believe that you can bring charges
against someone simply for publishing information. If there were actual
evidence that Assange himself had deliberately sought and gathered
classified information through illegal means, then that is different.
But if the charges are based simply on his receiving this information
and publishing it, that, in my view, affects the entire concept of
freedom of press and has a chilling effect on publishers. And I have
said that that is overbroad.
Baby steps? That's
supposed to pass for leadership, Ro? And you want to move from your
district to having the whole state vote for you? You're not earning my
vote with what I consider the bare minimum a person should be doing.
More bravery is being shown from the Australian government (finally). ANADOLU AGENCY reports:
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday urged the US
and UK to close the extradition process against Wikileaks co-founder
Julian Assange, saying "enough is enough."
During an interview
with ABC Radio, the Australian premier said his country's position on
Assange is very clear, which he has communicated to the US and UK.
"I
agree that enough is enough. It's time this issue was brought to a
close," Albanese said, according to a transcript posted on his office’s
official website.
"And I've made that very clear to the US
administration and to the UK Government as well, that my view hasn't
changed from the view I had when I was Opposition Leader, which is that
it's time that this was brought to a close," he added.
Reminder, DEMOCRACY NOW! has a special broadcast this week:
On Jan. 20, Democracy Now! will live-stream the Belmarsh Tribunal
from Washington, D.C. The event will feature expert testimony from
journalists, whistleblowers, lawyers, publishers and parliamentarians on
assaults to press freedom and the First Amendment of the U.S.
Constitution.
Watch here live at 2 p.m. ET on Friday, Jan. 20.
Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman and Srecko Horvat, the co-founder of
DiEM25, will chair the tribunal, which is being organized by Progressive
International and the Wau Holland Foundation.
Members of the tribunal include:
Stella Assange, partner of Julian Assange and member of his defense team
Daniel Ellsberg, Pentagon Papers whistleblower
Noam Chomsky, linguist and activist
Jeremy Corbyn, member of U.K. Parliament and founder of the Peace and Justice Project
Chip Gibbons, policy director of Defending Rights & Dissent
Kevin Gosztola, managing editor of Shadowproof
Margaret Kunstler, civil rights attorney
Stefania Maurizi, investigative journalist, Il Fatto Quotidiano
Jesselyn Radack, national security and human rights attorney
Ben Wizner, lead attorney at ACLU of Edward Snowden
Renata Ávila, human rights lawyer, technology and society expert
Jeffrey Sterling, lawyer and former CIA employee
Steven Donziger, human rights attorney
Kristinn Hrafnsson, editor-in-chief, WikiLeaks
Katrina vanden Heuvel, editorial director and publisher, The Nation
Selay Ghaffar, spokesperson, Solidarity Party of Afghanistan
Betty Medsger, investigative reporter
Meanwhile,
the Gulf Cup is nearing its conclusion. Iraq hosted this year and
Basra has been the site of much excitement as the world has celebrated
the outstanding performance of Iraq's Lions.
Sinbad,
the legendary sailor from “The Arabian Nights,” rose from the darkness
to greet the crowd. Lights and lasers danced across the stadium. For an
hour, Iraqi musicians, dancers and actors took fans on a journey through
thousands of years of Iraqi history. “We are a beacon to the world,”
crooned popular singer Hussam Alrassam.
The
spectacle on Jan. 6 marked the beginning of the 25th Arabian Gulf Cup
soccer tournament, hosted by Iraq for the first time since 1979 — as the
country seeks to turn the page on decades of violence, instability and
isolation.
[. . .]
The
tournament, which is held every two years, features countries from the
Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates,
Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman), in addition to Yemen and Iraq. Much as
the recent World Cup in Doha, Qatar, served to introduce Persian Gulf
culture to the outside world, the tournament in Basra gave many gulf
citizens their first chance to experience Iraq.
For
locals, it was a rare opportunity to watch international soccer in
their own backyard and, just as importantly, to express national pride
and regional solidarity.
“Despite
the fierce competition between the gulf countries to win the
championship, what matters to us in the first place is honoring our
guests after a long absence,” said Hussam Muthana, 27, a Basra taxi
driver. “We are neighbors and cousins, even if outside political
circumstances have kept us apart.”
More
than 50,000 gulf visitors have poured into Iraq over the past two
weeks, according to Iraqi authorities, as the country eased border
restrictions and granted free visas. They made their way to the southern
port of Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city, where they were welcomed
with banners and gulf flags.
The article also features many outstanding photos so please check it out. Tomorrow, Iraq faces Oman.
Now, what's that? Is that the voice of Sandy Denny?
It's
Sandy with Led Zeppelin. And is the late Sandy now laughing at the
current plight of Richard Branson who dropped her from his label in the
70s? Phil Davies (TRAVEL WEEKLY) notes:
Virgin Atlantic has been fined more than $1 million for flying in
restricted airspace over Iraq on services between London and India.
The
penalty was imposed by the US Department of Transportation (DoT) for
operating flights under a codeshare with US partner Delta Air Lines.
The
US DoT, imposing the £1.05 million fine, said: “By carrying the DL
[Delta] code on flights in airspace in which the FAA prohibits US
carriers from flying, Virgin Atlantic operated in violation of the
conditions of its statement of authorisation and in violation of federal
law.”
The US
transport department said Virgin Atlantic had told the agency the
“prohibited overflights were inadvertent, caused by operational
disruptions and loss of personnel due to the Covid-19 pandemic”.
Virgin
Atlantic told the department that upon notification by the US
government, “it immediately rerouted flights to avoid the airspace in
question and informed its board and senior leadership of the issue”.
Virgin
Atlantic also noted that it had invested in Sentinel by Osprey, an
automated tool that “dynamically alerts airlines at the flight planning
stage or operational stage, of any regulatory restrictions impacting
their, or their codeshare partners’ flights”.
All the birds are leaving, Richard, they know it's time for them to go.
