Thursday, May 20, 2021

Jimmy Dore, MARVEL, Ant-Man, Matthew Alford

First up, Jimmy Dore.



 Jimmy's right, fake asses fake assing their pretense of support and help.

Not a big MARVEL movie fan. I love Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in his films and the X-Men films. I liked the Sam Rami SPIDER-MAN films. But I really do like the ANT-MAN films because they are so different. And Paul Rudd's great.



The third movie is due out in February of 2023 and will feature Paul, Evangeline Lilly, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer and Kathryn Newton who are a strong cast. Jonathan Majors will be joining as Kang The Conquror and that should be great. I'm just excited that Michelle Pfeiffer's going to be back. So that'll make two Ant-Man movies and one Avengers movie. Only real regret? It reminds me that they only made one film where she played Catwoman. I really wish she and Tim Burton had been able to reteam on a Catwoman movie. I know they tried. Maybe that's for the best though if the script for the Catwoman movie Halle Berry starred in is an example of what the studio was looking for? That's not a slam at Halle, she did a great job in a really bad movie.

Okay, this is the article C.I. noted in HILDA'S MIX this week, Matthew Alford's piece at THE GRAY ZONE:

 
This is a story about how the media works. Specifically, it’s about my failed attempt to publish an article with the mainstream media about some of the things that news outlets consistently avoid when they cover US/UK foreign policy.
You’re maybe thinking, “That’s your own fault – why would you ever have thought you could get an article about what the mainstream media refuses to say into the mainstream media?”
Well, because there’s an online network of non-profit outlets called The Conversation whose remit is to give academics like me a platform to convey journalistic versions of their research. The Conversation says it sees universities as
“a giant newsroom” and the resultant articles are reprinted for free by newspapers. Operating internationally for about a decade, it has a combined reach of 40 million people.
I had already written two articles for The Conversation in 2017 and 2018 that critiqued the politics of the US film and music industries, respectively. The former piece has racked up 121,000 views and both were republished by the Independent newspaper in the UK and elsewhere.
So I decided to pitch a new article to The Conversation outlining the predictive aspects of renowned professors Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky’s “propaganda model,” identifying heavily skewed foreign policy coverage over the past half a century. I sought support from other propaganda model specialists and The Conversation assigned me an editor.
The Conversation uses special software that automatically determines the “readability” of an article. For over a week, my associates and I worked until the software ranked us at 85%, which meant we were writing for “high school students” – ie, nice, clear and simple. The editor laid up imagery and even deployed an unusually stark and dramatic headline: “How Western media amplifies and rationalizes state-sanctioned war and violence – while millions die.”
It was at this point that everything went horribly wrong. Noam Chomsky himself called our publishing experience “quite a tale” and said he was “surprised” at the outcome.
Before breaking down what happened, let me give you an idea of what I had put into the article. In doing so, I hope to highlight and even quantify the severity of the media’s misrepresentations by citing the most authoritative research in my field.

Like C.I. said, this is a really important article so be sure to read it.

 

 

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

 

 Thursday, May 20, 2021.  Turkey continues to terrorize Iraq, Mustafa al-Kadhimi remains inept one year later, and much more.


At WSWS, Andre Damon observes:


Around the world, millions of people are shocked and outraged at the brutal terror bombings, ethnic cleansing and communal violence being carried out by Israel, a US client state, against the people of Gaza.

Two hundred and twenty-seven people, including 63 children, have been killed in Israel’s ten-day-long assault on Gaza, a figure nearly 20 times higher than the number of Israelis killed in the conflict.These crimes are committed using American armaments, funded by American tax dollars, and with the approval of the American government. They are facilitated by arms deals and military alliances created behind the backs of the American population and orchestrated to facilitate the predatory interests of the US financial oligarchy.

On Monday, after a week of murderous bombardment of the Gaza’s civilian population, US president Joe Biden began a telephone discussion with Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu by declaring, in the words of the official readout, “The President reiterated his firm support for Israel’s right to defend itself against indiscriminate rocket attacks.”

When on Tuesday Biden visited Dearborn, Michigan, the city with the nation’s highest percentage of Arab American residents in the United States, he was greeted by thousands of people protesting the crimes Israel is committing with US support.

Asked if he would take a question on the conflict from a reporter as he was test-driving a new Ford truck, Biden replied, “No, you can’t. Not unless you get in front of the car as I step on it.”


Journalists laughed at his comments.  They sucked up hard.  They should have been disgusted.  But they throw their itty-bitty, baby egos out the window when the insult comes from one of their higher ups.  At that point, they just lick the boots.


So busy spit polishing, they never seemed to grasp just how offensive Biden's remarks are.  The Israeli government is terrorizing the Palestinians.  Can Joe be asked a question?  Only if you're willing for him to drive you down in the vehicle he's in.


The way, right before the start of the Iraq War, Rachel Corrie was killed?  That's how she was killed on March 16, 2003.  She was protesting on behalf of the Palestinian people and an Israeli miliatry bulldozer ran over her.


Is that what Joe's threatening?  


Oh, by all means, laugh it up.


How embarrassing.


How shameful.


Tom Elliott Tweets:


After Biden jokes about running over a reporter trying to ask him about Israel, many reporters start laughing; he then peels off and the press corps breaks into hysterical laughter
2:49 PM · May 18, 2021


Glenn Greenwald Tweets:


As you watch these reporters giggle in delight at Biden's playing with this car, remember - regardless of your view on Israel/Palestine - that there's a savage war going on for which Biden bears direct responsibility. Seems, at least, to be bad optics to being playing with toys.


So that's one point with regards to Andre Damon's article.


The second point?


Is WSWS ever going to note the Kurds in Iraq?  Is their hatred of the Kurds just going to mean they continue to be silent?


More 'reports' of Turkey 'neutralizing' Kurds in Iraq.  Murdering them.  Claiming they're terrorists.  Invading Iraq on the ground and dropping bombs from war planes.


How did we get to the point where the Israeli government could so openly and wantonly murder Palestinians?  By people looking the other way for years.  By the press ignoring the realities.


What's it going to take for the press to wake up to what the Kurds are doing?


Most of them covered for nearly 100 years -- covered for Turkey, looked the other way with regards to the Armenian genocide that Turkey carried out.  


Steve Sweeney (Australia's GREEN LEFT) reports:


Hundreds of Kurdish villagers have been forced to flee their homes in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq due to Turkish bombing — and are being replaced by jihadists imported from Syria.

An agricultural worker from Barwari Bala in the mountainous Duhok province, which borders Turkey, told the Morning Star that he had abandoned his land and home due to the intensity of the aerial bombardment.

“Every day, every night, for the past weeks we are being bombed. Our lands are being destroyed: we cannot grow our crops,” he said.

“Nearly all of us have left — there is nothing for us. Our future is being destroyed, and they give our homes to Daesh [Isis].”

“We are civilians: farmers, children. Why are they doing this? The world does nothing to help because we are Kurds. Everyone wants to kill us.”

He insisted that there had been no guerilla fighters in the villages — Turkey’s pretext for invasion — but added that the people supported the banned Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), which Turkey deems a terrorist group, as the only force preventing a genocide.

“If I see them, I hug them,” he said. “Without them, Turkey would kill us all.”

Turkey’s illegal invasion of Iraqi Kurdistan, codenamed Operation Claw Lightning, started on April 23, the anniversary of the start of the Ottoman Armenian genocide in 1915, during which 1.5 million men, women and children were systematically exterminated.


Why the silence from WSWS?  Were the Kurds anti-Trotsky or have some long ago beef with SEP?  Maybe Eric London could write an article about that -- another long winded confusing article, as Mike pointed out.


The Kurds are being attacked.  This is genocide.  Turkey is carrying it out in Iraq and Syria as well as within the Turkish borders.  


The United Kingdom's Boycott Turkey notes:


Our arms industry arms Turkey. Turkey uses these weapons in places like northern Iraq and northern Syria where civilians are regularly killed and injured.


Podcaster Peculiar Blend wonders:


How many people knows what's happening between Turkey and Iraqi Kurdish? Which military giant is using hightech machineries e.g. F16 & F4 in Northern Iraq? Where's the noise discussion outrage about what Turkish Military is doing to Kurdish people? #OperationClawLightning
5:55 AM · May 20, 2021


To hear the Turkish government tell it, they never kill or injure civilians in Iraq.  It's always terrorists, according to them.  To hear the Turkish government tell it, the Armenian genocide never happened.  Cableee3 points out:


Turkey: Soldiers shoot two Kurdish civilians in Hakkari near the Iraq border


MEDYA NEWS reports:

Turkish soldiers on 18 May reportedly shot Şahap Şendol, a 23 old shepherd and Celil Ekinci, aged 17, in the Derecik district of Turkey’s eastern province of Hakkari (Colemerg), which borders Iraq.

The incident took place at around 07:00 am on Tuesday in a rural area near the village of Hacı Bey. The soldiers on duty along the Turkey-Iraq border reportedly fired on Şendol and Ekinci ‘without warning’.

As both were wounded by the gunfire, they were taken to a hospital in Iraqi Kurdistan. Whilst Şendol was wounded in his hand and released from hospital, the treatment of 17-year-old Ekinci, who was wounded in his stomach, continues.

The Peoples’ Democratic Party’s (HDP) MP for Hakkari Sait Dede announced the incident in his social media posts, sharing the footage that was recorded at the scene of the incident.


Turkey gets away with it.  They get away with attacking anyone.  Even Americans on US soil.  Barack Obama was president then and he looked the other way.  Sorry, Barack, diplomatic immunity does not cover assaults.  Those people should have been charged and put on trial.  They should not have been allowed to slip out of the country.



Meanwhile, Mina Aldroubi (THE NATIONAL) reports:


Weapons in Iraq are not the solution to the crises the country is facing, Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi said as he encouraged citizens to participate in the upcoming elections to create a change for the better.

Iraq faces serious issues, from a dilapidated healthcare system, corruption and war-battered economy, to the task of reining in armed groups that operate outside the state's authority.

The country has witnessed dozens of assassinations and targeted killings of activists and reporters in recent months by unknown gunmen, the latest was Ihab Al Wazni who was murdered last month in the southern city of Karbala.

"There is anarchy in Iraq’s planning system that has caused the accumulation of a large number of problems. The use of weapons is not the solution, rather elections and a large voter turnout is needed to change for the better,” Mr Al Kadhimi said during a visit to the southern governorate of Wasit.


Anarchy, huh?


Well, Mustafa, you've had a year and what have you done?  


It was May 7, 2020 that Mustafa became prime minister.  A year later, what can he claim to have accomplished?


No killed of activists has been brought to justice.  The report, the government report, remains suppressed, he's the one refusing to release it -- despite repeated, public promises.  The Iraqi people continue to suffer.



Turkey has set up a base in Iraq and Mustafa won't address that.  He was supposed to be a one term prime minister -- by his own statements -- but instead he's trying to get a second term -- even going so far as to form a conditional alliance with cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.  


What has he accomplished?


Lawk Ghafuri noted May 6, 2020 what Mustafa was planning:


The highlights of Iraqi PM-designated Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s cabinet agenda:- - Improve Iraqi security forces - Improve #Iraq’s economy - Develop diplomatic ties - Fighting corruption



What has he done?  You could say "develop diplomatic ties" if you ignored that fact that his recent flurry of phone calls have to do with his attempts to shore up support for a second term.



The following sites updated:






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Wednesday, May 19, 2021

Jimmy Dore, Eric London, Patrick Martin, Fiorella Isabella

First up, Jimmy Dore.



NYT is hideous.  They're biased, they lie, they sell war.  They don't care about the people killed.  They don't care about the people wronged.

Now Eric London (WSWS):

 
The Democratic Party defensively turns to the lies of the Moscow Trials, filtering them through the DSA to poison the political atmosphere against genuine socialism. They recognize that Trotskyism, represented today by the SEP and WSWS, is the political force giving conscious expression to growing socialist sentiment in the working class and among the youth.
No organization that calls itself progressive, let alone socialist, can tolerate the legitimatization of the crimes of Stalinism and the GPU. That these crimes are being hailed by a significant section of the DSA’s leadership exposes the presence of a deeply reactionary and vile political culture within the organization.
At a time when right-wing violence is a growing threat against the left, it is the obligation of socialists to defend those threatened with political violence by far-right and fascistic forces. Despite our clear opposition to the politics of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the WSWS has consistently defended her and her staff from ongoing threats of violence by fascists, who attempted to kill her during the coup attempt of January 6, 2021.
The DSA now has a political obligation to make clear that the propagation of lies that legitimize and encourage violence against left-wing and socialist opponents of the Democratic Party will not be permitted within its organization. Local branches of the DSA should pass resolutions denouncing the anti-Trotskyist slanders. They should demand that the upcoming national convention issue an unequivocal denunciation of the neo-Stalinist campaign.
We urge all members of the DSA who are seriously interested in history, theory and the politics of socialism and Marxism to read the works of Leon Trotsky, who ranks alongside Lenin as the greatest fighter for socialist revolution in the twentieth century.

Can you follow that?

If so, that's the best part of the article. If you're going to go back eighty or so years in an article, how about making things clear. I'm not aware of all the ins and outs of the Trotskyites and others. So much of this is really old history. Is it important history? If so, then provide a real walk through. We're not all in the master class for WSWS.

I preferred Patrick Martin's article which was much more to the point:

 
Both President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris are millionaires, whose income places them in the top one percent of the US population, according to tax returns and personal financial statements that were made public on Monday. May 17 was the deadline this year for US taxpayers to file their tax returns.
Both Joe and Jill Biden and Kamala Harris and her husband Douglas Emhoff had incomes well above the approximately $539,000-a-year that puts a family into the top one percent. The Bidens made $607,336, while Harris and Emhoff reported $1,695,225.
Both the Bidens and Harris and Emhoff filed joint returns and paid tax rates at the standard percentage for their high tax brackets, according to the returns—26 percent for the Bidens, 36.7 percent for Harris and Emhoff.
President Biden and his wife Jill Biden reported the adjusted gross income of $607,336 in 2020, when he was running for president and she was a community college professor in Virginia. The bulk of their income came from two S corporations the couple established to hold royalties and fees from various books and speaking engagements.
An S corporation is a legal tax dodge regularly employed by the wealthy to shelter income from taxation. According to one analysis, the two S corporations established by the Bidens—CelticCapri Corp. for him, Giacoppa Corp. for her—reported more than $13 million in profits in 2017 and 2018, and less than $329,000 in profits in 2019 and 2020, when Biden halted most paid speechmaking to focus on his presidential campaign.
The two corporate entities, which had no function except to avoid taxes, particularly the Medicare surtax of 3.8 percent for higher incomes—a provision of the Affordable Care Act—saved the Bidens an estimated $500,000 or more in payments they would otherwise have made to the US Treasury.
The corporations also paid out $1.3 million in “salaries” to the Bidens, their nominal corporate “executives.” This was the bulk of their family income during the period when Biden was out of office, between leaving the vice-presidency in January 2017 and entering the White House in January 2021.

Joe Biden is a crook and a war monger.  Here's CONVO COUCH host Fiorella Isabel:


If you’re going to listen to tweets. Listen to those of us who are not paid & who’ve said from day 1 that Biden is the same shit as Trump & that we are way past incremental electoralism, that it’s time to take it to the streets. Bc if you stay playing this game we won’t make it.
5:57 PM · May 19, 2021


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


Wednesday, May 19, 2021.  Robert Pether remains held in an Iraqi prison, an asylum seeker in Iraq sets himself on fire, another attack on a US convoy in Iraq, and much more.


Australian citizen Robert Pether has apparently been abandoned by his own country which does nothing to object to his imprisonment in Iraq.  (The Australian Embassy staff didn't even meet with Pether until May 3rd, 26 days after he was imprisoned.)   It's now been over forty days that he's been held in a prison with no charge (they say they are holding him for "questioning").  His appeal for bail was denied on May 11th.  He was told by his own government that it was safe to go to Baghdad for a meeting.  He showed up at the meeting but there was no meeting.  Instead, he was hauled off to an Iraqi prison.  Earlier this month THE IRISH EXAMINER noted:


Robert Pether was arrested and detained on April 7 in what his wife, Desree, believes is some form of contractual dispute, involving his employer, over the building of a new Central Bank building in Iraq, reports
@aranliathroid


While Australia has done little to nothing, Irish politicians have lodged public objections.  One example is Senator Eugene Murphy:


I again raised the case of Robert Pether in the Seanad this week. I am asking the Irish Government and
@simoncoveney
to assist in a bid to have Mr Pether released from Iraq. His wife Desree and their children are Irish citizens living in Elphin for the past number of years.
10:48 AM · May 11, 2021


Robert Pether's wife Desree is Irish. She spoke with THE JOE FINNEGAN SHOW last month.   Christopher Knaus (GUARDIAN) speaks with Robert and Desree's oldest son Flynn:


Flynn said it had hit the family hard.

“I feel like it’s criminal what they did,” he said. “It’s downright inhumane the way they’ve been treating him, given he has worked tirelessly around the clock to deliver the project.”

Flynn is currently preparing for his university entrance exams in Ireland, something that brings its own enormous stress. Usually, his father would be there to support him. They were close and spoke daily, often about university and Flynn’s future.

But he has managed to speak to his father behind bars just once during the ordeal, for about 30 seconds.

“As soon as he knew that I was on the line, he was just apologising, saying ‘Sorry I can’t make it to graduation, sorry I can’t get to your birthday, I will make it up to you, I promise,’” he said.

“I said to him, ‘It’s not going anywhere without you, and it’s all being recorded anyway. You’re not missing out.’”

Robert’s wife Desree has previously told the Guardian that, prior to travelling to Baghdad for the meeting, her husband sought advice from the Australian embassy. She says he was advised there would be little risk in going to the meeting.


The 46-year-old man is having problems with dizziness and, due to COVID restrictions, cannot be seen by a doctor any sooner than May 22nd.  


In other news, we hear often of Iraqis who have sought or are seeking asylum outside of Iraq.  The US government, for example, has done damn little to assist those in need.  But Iraq is also a country in which people seek asylum.  Ghazi Ghareeb Zorab Tweets:


An Iranian Kurd who was asylum seeker in Iraq doused himself in fuel and set himself alight, while the journalists and the reporters didn't stop him. It happened near the UNHCR office in Erbil, the capital city of Iraqi Kurfistan Region in protest against living conditions.
4:16 PM · May 18, 2021


AFP reports:


Medics in Arbil treating Mohammad Mahmoudi, 27, said he was in a critical condition.

Before setting himself on fire, Mahmoudi was filmed on a video posted on social media saying he had fled Iran because he was a critic of authorities in Tehran.

“Are we supposed to live the way I live because of my political activity? Is that life?” he said. “We have been living like homeless dogs for four years”.

Friends of Mahmoudi told AFP he is a former Peshmerga and dissident originally from the Boukan region, 480 kilometers (300 miles) west of Tehran, but had sought sanctuary in neighboring Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region.

A day laborer, he submitted an application for refugee status to the United Nations four years ago, but his request was still reportedly under review, friends said.

“If I return to Iran, I will be executed,” Mahmoudi said.


Shahram Mirzaei offers this Twitter thread:

Mohammad Mahmoudi, an Iranian Kurdish political activist and #asylumseeker, has been living in Iraqi Kurdistan for four years in the worst conditions and without any right to asylum. The #UN did not activate his case and did not grant him any rights.
Image
8:21 AM · May 18, 2021


He set himself on fire to protest the situation. He had previously warned UN staff that he would set himself on fire if his asylum case was not activated and his rights were not respected.
8:21 AM · May 18, 2021


But UN officials told him, "If you set yourself on fire, do not do this here so that our building is not damaged." He only wanted the right to asylum.
8:21 AM · May 18, 2021


There is no Kurdish homeland.  The closest thing to a Kurdish homeland is the area Mohammad set himself on fire in, the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region of Iraq.  


Protests continue in Iraq.  One in Sulaimani gets some press attetion.


Second day of strikes, protests by non-contract teachers in Sulaimani, Raparin #NRTnews #Iraq #TwitterKurds #Sulaimani


NRT notes:

Wednesday's protests follow earlier demonstrations by the teachers across Sulaimani governorate the previous day and a strike in Said Sadiq on Sunday.

One teacher protesting in front of the Sulaimani Education Directorate told NRT that nearly 85 percent of positions in the Region’s public education sector are staffed by non-contract teachers.

She said that the teachers have the same duties, but fewer rights, compared with other classes of teachers.

In response to an earlier financial crisis, the KRG instituted a number of austerity measures in 2014 to save money, including by creating a status known as “non-contract,” where teachers are paid a lump sum per class and do not receive bene


Meanwhile, attacks on the US continue in Iraq.  MEHR NEWS AGENCY notes, "A US-led coalition logistics convoy was hit by a roadside bomb on Tuesday afternoon in Al-Diwaniyah province, southern Iraq."


The persecution of the Palestinians continues -- an issue that the Iraqi people care about deeply.  We'll note this from THE KATIE HALPER SHOW.





Let's wind down with this from IAVA:



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
May 17, 2021
CONTACT: press@iava.org

New York, NY – On Wednesday, May 19th, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) will host a Facebook Live celebrating the one year anniversary of the launch of IAVA’s flagship program, Quick Reaction Force (QRF). QRF is IAVA’S 24/7 peer support hotline and comprehensive care management program.

Chief Operating Officer Sean Ullman and Executive Vice President Hannah Sinoway will provide an overview of the data collected by the QRF in its first year. They will also discuss the program’s highlights and IAVA’s plan to expand QRF offerings. The full scope of the program and ways to connect to QRF can be found here.

“As a leading veteran service organization, caring for veterans and their families is our top priority, ” said Hannah Sinoway. “We launched QRF one year ago as a response to a pressing need for easily accessible mental health resources and overall support for veterans. Over the past year, QRF has helped veterans navigate transition related challenges as well as the mental health, economic, employment and social challenges brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“As members of the armed services, our veterans experience unique challenges from their time in service,” said Sean Ullman. “QRF is tailored to meet the specific mental health needs of veterans and their families by providing 24/7 peer support.”

WHO: Sean Ullman, COO, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
Hannah Sinoway, EVP, Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America
   
WHAT: IAVA Highlights First Year Success of Flagship QRF Program Live Event
   
WHEN:  Wednesday, May 19th at 11:00am EST/ 8:00am PST
   
WHERE: Join the Facebook Live event here. The event is open to the press.

IAVA is the voice for the post-9/11 veteran generation. With over 400,000 veterans and allies nationwide, IAVA is the leader in non-partisan veteran advocacy and public awareness. We drive historic impacts for veterans and IAVA’s programs are second to none. Any veteran or family member in need can reach out to IAVA’s Quick Reaction Force at quickreactionforce.org or 855-91RAPID (855-917-2743) to be connected promptly with a veteran care manager who will assist. IAVA’s The Vote Hub is a free tool to register to vote and find polling information. IAVA’s membership is always growing. Join the movement at iava.org/membership.

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The following sites updated:







 

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