Mikey Likes It!

Wednesday, October 14, 2020

2 videos

Another post starting with a comic, Isaiah THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Howie speaks."

He did four on Sunday.

Now here's Jimmy Dore.

Nancy Pelosi needs to retire. She really needs to go. She offers nothing, she has no leadership skills. She doesn't know anything but her bank account.

Gus e-mailed and asked me if I would highlight this Joe Rogan clip on the Clintons and sure will.

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

Tuesday, October 13, 2020. The children of Iraq continue to suffer but, don't worry, the US is sending approximately $2 million to Iraq to help -- help with animals, Joe Biden questions the memories of the American people during the same week where he again declares that he's currently running for the US Senate and much more.

Saturday on the latest installment of THE KATIE HALPER SAUSAGE FEST, Katie was joined by three men. Our interest here is Chris Hedges (but good to see you washed your hair, Katie, if I'd known calling you out publicly was all it took, I would have done so long, long ago).

Chris explains that he will not be voting for Joe Biden. Was he not allowed to say that he was voting for Howie Hawkins? I don't know. This seems to be a pattern with Katie Halper interviews.

I believe we're the only ones -- here and with Ava at THIRD -- who commented on the nonsense of her USEFUL IDIOTS podcast in August with Eugene Puryear who revealed he wouldn't vote for Joe Biden. The logical follow up? Who will you vote for? It wasn't pursued.

That was embarrassing. Eugene wasn't just a voter. In 2008, Joe Biden was Barack's running mate. What Katie wouldn't tell you was that in 2008, Eugene was Gloria La Riva's running mate. That's right, he ran against Biden in the 2008 presidential election. Kind of an important detail as he weighs in on Biden. Kind of an important detail to establish who he is and where he is coming from. He's not just a journalist, he's an activist and he's a politician. Running to be vice president of the United States? That makes you a politician.

Chris has endorsed Howie Hawkins. That happened a long time ago. In fact, it was long enough ago that Dario Hunter -- failed Green Party presidential candidate -- was able to go on Cindy Sheehan's podcast and trash Chris and Howie.

While I appreciate Chris' critique of "the boutique left or boutique activism," he's for Howie Hawkins for a reason. So why won't Katie let him discuss that? And why does Katie have on various people but bury their connections to third parties? (Eugene is a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.) Is she censoring for a reason?

Were it a one time thing, we could look the other way.

But this has become a pattern with Katie.

Speaking of patterns, last month, Amy Goodman finally discovered Howie Hawkins. She's ignored the Green Party presidential nominee. Ms. Go Where The Silences Are has ignored the party. Ava and I warned you in 2008 that she was tossing out token crumbs to the Green Party. We stated that the Green Party needed to start placing demands on her and calling her out.

They didn't.

The result?

She's done nothing to cover the party. She hasn't had Howie on. She hasn't done one of her mock debates where she invites the candidates for president who aren't Democrat or Republican on the show to respond.

She's been paid very well. PACIFICA has gone into debt paying her millions for a program that they don't even own after paying all that money.

She's a con artist on the grift and you should have called her out long, long ago.

So she and Juan (shame on you, Juan) weighed in with a guest to insist that Howie's ballot access problems were his own. Remember that, American activists. Ballot access? Not a systematic problem, just Howie's personal problem.

Why is Jimmy Dore the only one with a show who does not have a domestic violence relationship with the truth?

He's not beating up the truth, he's not manipulating it. He's doing his best to tell the truth and get it out there.

Let's note this Jimmy Dore video too.

He's covering the Gallup poll that found voters feel they are better off now than they were in 2012 and 2004. Emily Jacobs (NEW YORK POST) notes:

Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden questioned the memory of voters who felt they were better off economically under President Trump than under former President Obama — saying that those individuals “probably shouldn’t” support him.

Speaking during an interview with local station WKRC in Cincinnati Monday, the 2020 Democrat made the remarks after being asked about a recently released Gallup poll which found that 56 percent of voters felt that their financial situation improved under President Trump’s administration.

Biden was asked why those 56 percent of voters, who liked President Trump for his economic policies, should instead vote Democrat.

“Well if they think that, they probably shouldn’t,” the former vice president quipped before going on to incorrectly restate the poll’s findings while asking the news anchor a question.

“They think — 54 percent of the American people believe they’re better off economically today than they were under our administration? Well, their memory is not very good, quite frankly,” Biden continued in his rebuke.

Their memory is not very good? This from the man who, on a public stage, confused his sister and his wife?

Here's REUTERS from February of this year covering Joe's declaration that he's running for the US Senate.

That's not a one time mistake. Harriet Alexander (DAILY MAIL) reports this week:

Donald Trump on Monday night mocked his Democrat rival Joe Biden for stating he was 'running for Senate' - using the momentary lapse as more evidence of his claim that Biden is unfit for office.

Trump, 74, has made the age and frequent gaffes of Biden, 77, a recurrent line of attack.

On Monday, campaigning in Toledo, Ohio, Biden provided the president with yet more fodder. Biden addressed United Auto Workers who represent a local General Motors powertrain plant.

Donald Trump's election campaign has a clip with that line already up online.

And Joe wants to question the memories of others?

Hmm. I want the press to question Joe. Specifically, to ask him why he want from DOMA supporter to gay rights activist? It wasn't episodes of WILL & GRACE. It was the realization and admission of a family member. Joe sure loves to talk about his family -- especially the ones who are dead. But somehow this never comes out -- comes out. Ask Joe about it, there's a story that which has not been publicly told. For now.

Speaking of Joe's family, this morning at POLITICO, Ben Schreckinger reports:

At the same time that Joe Biden’s son-in-law, Howard Krein, has been advising Biden’s campaign on its coronavirus response, Krein’s venture capital business has been running a special initiative to invest in health care startups that offer solutions to the pandemic.

In March, as Covid-19 began spreading in the United States, the investment firm, StartUp Health, unveiled a new coronavirus initiative soliciting pitches from entrepreneurs with products that addressed the outbreak.

The next month, reports in Bloomberg and the New York Times listed Krein among those participating in daily calls to brief Biden on health policy during the pandemic, while StartUp Health announced its intention to invest $1 million across 10 startups with coronavirus applications within 30 days.“StartUp Health is putting the full support of its platform and network behind building a post-Covid world that uses technology and entrepreneurial ingenuity to improve health outcomes,” the firm said at the time.

Krein simultaneously advising the campaign and venturing into Covid investing could pose conflict-of-interest concerns for a Biden administration or simply create the awkward appearance of Krein profiting off his father-in-law’s policies. Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, the federal government has directed tens of billions of dollars in coronavirus medical spending in areas like testing and vaccine research to private firms. It is poised to spend billions more next year and possibly beyond.

The potential conflicts are not limited to the coronavirus for Krein, 53, a Philadelphia-based head-and-neck surgeon who got into venture investing not long after he began dating Biden’s daughter, Ashley, in 2010.

Since StartUp Health’s 2011 launch, when Krein came on as its chief medical officer, it has invested in more than 300 health care businesses, according to its website, which prominently features the term “moonshot” to describe its investment goals — language that echoes that of Joe Biden’s own signature Cancer Moonshot initiative. In its early years, the firm enjoyed close ties to the Obama administration and described Krein as a White House adviser.

The corruption just wafts off the Biden family. On the coronavirus, XINHUA reports:

The Iraqi Health Ministry reported on Monday 3,107 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the nationwide infections to 405,437.

The new cases included 1,268 in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, 291 in Erbil, and 246 in Duhok, while the other cases were detected in the other provinces, the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry also reported 60 more deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 9,912 in the country.

This takes place, this pandemic and its rising tolls, as children continue to suffer in Iraq. Mina Aldroubi (THE NATIONAL) reports:

Iraq’s most vulnerable children are facing challenges with remote education that are widening the country's learning gaps, teachers in displacement camps told The National.

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic this year, thousands of schools have shut down, leaving more than 10 million children aged 6 to 17 without education, a study by the Norwegian Refugee Council shows.

The study of more than 6,000 children found that almost 83 per cent of children in camps across the country did not receive any type of education in April.

That spurred the charity to warn that an entire generation could be chronically uneducated as a result of the crisis.

“The outbreak of the pandemic had a huge impact on Iraq’s education sector," Tais Mejbel, a teacher from Hamman Al Alil camp in southern Mosul, told The National.

"The majority of students living in displaced camps have had little access to education since March."

Mr Mejbel, who teaches in a state school inside the camp, said it was overwhelmed with pupils and understaffed, and has now begun to teach over the internet.

But don't fret America, your tax dollars are en route to Iraq. 2.2 million dollars in fact. That's how much the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency has just donated "to strengthen veterinary services in targeted provinces in Iraq.'' Let the kids suffer, apparently.

The United Nations noted the bleak realities for Iraqi children earlier this week:

According to the GBV Information Management System's data of the first two quarters of 2020, 23 per cent of the incidents of violence reported to the service providers were among children and adolescents, of which 6 per cent were aged between 0 and 11 years, and 17 per cent were aged between 12 and 17 years old.

Interviews conducted by the United Nations with families living in displacement camps across Nineveh governorate, affirm that child marriage remains a frequent practice and a coping mechanism for families living in poverty to reduce the financial strain.

Education and learning are some of the best ways to empower girls and protect them against violence, exploitation and social exclusion by providing them with the opportunity to build a better life for themselves, their families and their communities. To make education and learning accessible and empowering for girls, it needs to be safe and gender sensitive.

Having zero tolerance to bullying, cyberstalking, sexting and harassment should be a priority for all as part of the national COVID-19 efforts to reimagine school systems and learning, we must address violence against girls of all ages in and around classrooms and on digital learning platforms. Because girls have higher risk than boys to experience violence, verbal and sexual abuse, a multi-sectoral approach is needed to address all risk factors and cases. Youth-friendly, accessible and quality education and learning, health and social services are essential for girls' empowerment and their development.

Ending gender-based violence is not a far-fetched dream; this is a real possibility. All that is needed is for girls to have access to formal education, , skilled, civically engaged, healthy, supported, and protected at home, in institutions and at the community. The alternative is devastating with a lasting negative and damaging impact to the health, education and well-being of Iraqi girls.

The following sites updated:

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

Grab bag

First up, Isaiah THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Outreach."

I don't think a former First Lady needs to bully or shame Americans because she doesn't like their voting choices. That really seems beneath the ceremonial office she held. She does realize it was ceremonial, right? And that no one voted her into office? She seems to forget that a lot, that she's never held elected office.

Here's Jimmy Dore.

Jimmy Dore is the one to watch. So many people are disappointments. They sell out and they whore (Amy Goodman's a good example). Jimmy's telling the truth. Every day.

Here's some truth from Kevin Gosztola (CONSORTIUM NEWS):

Legislation proposed in Congress would amend the United States Espionage Act and create a public interest defense for those prosecuted under the law.

“A defendant charged with an offense under section 793 or 798 [in the U.S. legal code] shall be permitted to testify about their purpose for engaging in the prohibited conduct,” according to a draft of the bill Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard introduced.

Such a reform would make it possible for whistleblowers like Edward Snowden, Reality Winner, Terry Albury and Daniel Hale to inform the public why they disclosed information without authorization to the press.

The legislation called the Protect Brave Whistleblowers Act is supported by Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg.

“If this long-overdue revision of the 1917 Espionage Act had been law half a century ago, I myself could have had a fair trial for releasing the Pentagon Papers in 1971: justice under law unavailable to me and to every other national security whistleblower indicted and prosecuted since then,” Ellsberg declared.

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

Monday, October 12, 2020. NYT and CNN correspondents cover their outlets with something other than glory, the Day of the Girl goes unnoticed by the US press, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani calls for the militias to disband, and much more.

Sunday, the UN mission in Iraq noted:

Today is #DayOfTheGirl
 
"This year’s theme, “My Voice: Our Equal Future” calls on us to amplify the voices of adolescent girls, and put their needs at the forefront of laws, policies and practices in every country and community around the world" -

Secretary-General on the International Day of the Girl [scroll down

This year, we mark the International Day of the Girl against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, an

The OHCHR, UNFPA and UNICEF issued the following:

11 October marks the International Day of the Girl Child, a day dedicated to girls' empowerment, fulfilment of girls' rights and solving challenges that they face.

This year, the global theme is "My Voice, Our Equal Future," a reminder to listen to girls , understand the changes they want to see and to ensure that all of them have an equal opportunity for a bright, safe and healthy future.

In Iraq, the challenges experienced by girls and boys are many and complex. Violence against children, including young people is unacceptably high in Iraq, with 80 per cent facing violence at home and in schools. Many girls in Iraq, like millions of girls around the world, suffer from female genital mutilation, child marriage, sexual harassment and abuse, and other harmful practices.

Girls across Iraq continue to be particularly affected by increased insecurity, which in turn has imposed restrictions on movement that affects their access to education, protection and jobs. Young girls are keen to make the most of opportunities, have specific interests, identities and experiences and are keen to share accountability in their development, exercise of human rights and ensure their gender-differentiated needs.

The COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions on movement have elevated risks for girls to be violated and abused. The number of gender-based violence cases has increased since the onset of COVID19 pandemic in Iraq according to the Protection Cluster Monitoring in Response to COVID-19 (August 2020)

We call on the government, civil society organisations, the private sector, faith-based groups and the international community to accelerate their efforts to:

Improve equal access to quality primary and secondary education including life-skills
Promote access to alternative learning opportunities for out of school adolescents and youth, in the form on life skills and citizenship education, including social and business entrepreneurship for improved learning to work transition;
Increase capacity of the health sector to provide adolescents and youth-friendly health services across the country, with focus on girls; Ensure that girls - survivors of GBV access free and quality specialised services anchored in survivor-centred and age-appropriate approaches
Mobilise girls, boys, parents and leaders through civic and social engagement to challenge discriminatory gender norms and create real social, economic and civic opportunities for all girls;
Draft and enforce legislation, such as the anti-domestic violence law and child law, to protect girls and prosecute those who harm them;
Implement the recommendations by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, including to criminalise, forced, temporary and child marriage;
Increase availability of child protection services for girls and young women.

Girls can be powerful agents of change, and nothing should keep them from participating fully in all areas of life. We must come together and show our commitment by dedicating resources for girls to realise their rights and fulfil their full potential.

UNICEF Representative to Iraq, Ms Hamida R. Lasseko

UNFPA Representative to Iraq, Dr Rita Columbia

OHCHR Representative to Iraq, Ms Danielle Bell

For media queries:

UNICEF Chief of Communications, Zeina Awad, zawad@unicef.org

UNICEF Digital Communication Specialist, Innocent Kafembe,ikafembe@unicef.org

UNFPA Communications Specialist, Salwa Moussa, smoussa@unfpa.org

UNAMI Human Rights Office, Monica Michelle Kemanzi Women and Minority Rights Team Leader, kemanzi@un.org

Media queries? Don't make me laugh. Find the English language outlet that even bothered to note the day. They can't even be bothered to Tweet about it. Take the idiot Peter Baker who we called out last night. Along with his stupid Tweet comparing the death tolls of pandemic to the death tolls of US troops in conflicts (and only US troops -- no foreigners were included, no US citizens were included), Petey managed to wag his limp noodle enough to do five Tweets about his new bad book co-written with his wife (about the equally hideous James Baker). But people who weren't worth millions? People like Iraqi girls? Peter has no time or interest in them.

He couldn't even be bothered to reTweet The World Food Program:

The lives of girls are disproportionately changing in the face of conflict and hunger.

On the #DayOfTheGirl
, we remind the world that peace is our only path to a better future for all.

The ICRC Tweeted:

“I drew our house and this is my missing brother inside.” 

These are the heart-breaking words of Layla, a nine-year-old #girl in #Iraq showing strength, resilience and hope for a better future. 

On the #DayOfTheGirl
, we salute Layla, girls in #Iraq and across 

4:28 PM · Oct 11, 2020

UNHCR Tweeted:

On #DayOfTheGirl
 let us not forget girls like 2-year-old Bedoor, who was displaced by war in Iraq

6:18 AM · Oct 11, 2017

Mosul Schoolgirls Tweeted:

Amena, 10, wants to help build a better future for Iraq as an engineer. #DayOfTheGirl

7:08 PM · Oct 11, 2017

And they Tweeted:

Zainab, 12, sees brighter days ahead. #DayOfTheGirl

6:42 PM · Oct 11, 2017

And they noted:

Fatima, 14, "wants to see permanent peace in Iraq." #DayOfTheGirl

5:42 PM · Oct 11, 2017

One more:

Hajer, 11, "wants war to end" so that she can fulfill her dream of becoming a doctor. #DayOfTheGirl

10:36 PM

Check out Mosul Schoolgirls Twitter feed for many more drawings and photos. So many brave girls, living in war, raised in war and the country that started it -- that would be us in the US -- can't even take a moment to acknowledge them.

Bless the girls of Iraq. The reporters at US outlets? Not so much.

Alex Burns, another piece of garbage working for NYT, found time to try to rehab War Criminal Bully Boy Bush's image yesterday but not to cover the girls of Iraq.

You know what? No news outlet has more Iraqi blood on its hands than NYT. They sold the illegal war, they lied to sell the war, they lied to keep it going. And yet, all these years later, still having taken no accountability, they ignore the children of Iraq. For someone that constantly tells you how awful Donald Trump is, they themselves are pretty damn awful as well. Not to be outdone, Arwa Damon and CNN used this Day of the Girl to report on . . . an Iraqi boy. That's pretty embarrassing and who would have thought the reporter who already had her own TMZ headline ("CNN Sued Over Correspondent Who Bit EMTS in Drunken Rage") could get more embarrassing?

The press loves to lie -- lives to lie? They're juking all over themselves about a 'cease fire' that really isn't. The militias in Iraq have not agreed to stop attacking US targets. ALJAZEERA explains:

An array of Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups have agreed to suspend attacks on United States forces on condition Iraq’s government presents a timetable for a withdrawal of US troops, according to one of the groups.

“The factions have presented a conditional ceasefire,” Mohammed Mohi, spokesman for the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah group, said on Sunday.

“It includes all factions of the [anti-US] resistance, including those who have been targeting US forces,” he told the Reuters news agency.

Mohi said the Iraqi government must implement a parliamentary resolution in January that called for the withdrawal from Iraq of foreign troops.

If Iraq expels US forces, then the militia would stop attacking. Of course, if all US forces left Iraq, the militias would have to stop attacking them because they wouldn't be there. But never count on US media to have reasoning skills. Remember, they're glorified general studies majors with no real training in anything at all. And it shows -- it really, really shows.

On the topic of the militias, Hussain Abdul-Hussain (Kuwait's AL-RAI) writes:

Iraq’s top Shia cleric, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, last month called for the disbanding of all militias. This would involve the state disarming the pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Units (PMU). In turn, this would neuter Tehran’s most reliable partner in Iraq, Kataeb Hezbollah, the most dangerous alternative to state power in the country. Such then is the importance to the integrity of the Iraqi state of Sistani’s call. Indeed, the prime minister, now provided cover by the religious leadership in the Shia centre of Najaf, should act with haste. Yet, all we have witnessed thus far is an exhibition of inertia.

Kataeb Hezbollah – the Brigades of the Party of God, if you will – has been busy building a “statelet” within Iraq. If the government does not act quickly, Kataeb Hezbollah soon will become stronger than the Iraqi state itself; it will dominate Iraq in the manner in which its namesake, Hezbollah, does in Lebanon and seal Iraq’s slide into failure as a client state of Iran.

Yesterday, Isaiah posted four new THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS comics: "Outreach," "Howie speaks," "A Couple Of Paramedics Just Standing Around Talking." and "Does anyone really listen?"

Mikey Likes It!

Wednesday, October 14, 2020

2 videos

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

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Mikey Likes It!