Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Hillary Clinton sure knows a lot of creeps

Who called Bill the "big creep"?  Was it Monica?  Hillary?  He got that name from someone in the 90s.

It could have been Hillary since he was cheating on her.  Could've been Monica since he blew her off.

But one of the women dubbed him big creep.

Sadly, he's not the only creep Hillary pals around with.

There's convicted and behind bars Anthony Weiner, of course.  Huma's husband.  Hillary should have stayed away from trusted aid Huma.

And there's Harvey Weinstein who'll probably go to prison for several rapes and who was so close to Hillary he threw her a b-day party and, goodness, they dined out over and over -- including 2 months after her election loss.

There are just so many crooks and creeps she knows.  Let's add one more to the list:

Hillary Clinton Donor Clare Bronfman Arrested In NXIVM Sex Cult Case - Big League Politics

Meanwhile, the dog and pony no show of the hysteria has an update:

 Retweeted
FBI got parts of Dossier from top DOJ official Bruce Ohr. Ohr‘s wife Nellie worked for Fusion. Fusion was paid by Clinton. The Dossier was never validated and was the key to getting the FISA warrant to spy on Trump campaign. Rod Rosenstein signed the final FISA renewal.



These people should be in prison.  Misleading a nation.  Besmirching Trump's character.  Bandying around words like "treason" and "traitor."

I didn't vote for Trump but I won't pretend he hasn't been done dirty.

Others are noting too.  Check out this editorial:

As the saying goes, a fish rots from the head down. Well, so do bad governments. Recent revelations about the behavior of President Obama and his CIA director John Brennan in pushing the bogus Russian collusion investigation suggest that's been the case.
The release of the FISA application by the FBI to investigate alleged collusion between Russia and President Trump's campaign and recent comments made by top officials are eye opening.
Not only did President Obama know about the investigation, he seems to have pushed it from the very beginning.
But don't take our word for it. Here's what Obama's Director of National Intelligence, the nation's former spy master, James Clapper, told CNN's Anderson Cooper:
"If it weren't for President Obama we might not have done the intelligence community assessment that we did that set up a whole sequence of event 
which are still unfolding today, including Special Counsel (Robert) Mueller's investigation. President Obama is responsible for that. It was he who tasked us to do that intelligence community assessment in the first place."

Put them all behind bars.  I'm sick of the way they have distracted the nation for two years now.  I'm sick of the way they lied.  I'm outraged by how much attention this non-issue has taken up in the press.  Everyone who pimped it in the press should be immediately fired. 



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


Tuesday, July 24, 2018.


Let's start with stupidity because it needs to be challenged and called out.


Obama untangled us from Iraq, Afghanistan Wars, and ISIS. And the Iran Deal would have kept Iran stable for 15 years. Instead we are headed to greater instability in Iran.
 
 


Barack Obama did not untangle the US from Iraq.  Or from ISIS but we're focused on Iraq.


Before we recount the realities, let's go to a Tweet which notes continued US military action in both Iraq and Afghanistan and maybe even stupid Randy can grasp reality this go round since the Tweet is from the US military.


From ops in Afghanistan to Iraq and Syria, take a look at 's highlights for the past month:
 
 



Get it, stupid Randy?


US troops remain in Iraq.  Randy is a stupid lying idiot.

Barack did what he said he would do in 2008.

No, not that "We want out of Iraq!" cry.  He said he'd pull troops out and then send them back in.  He said that to Michael Gordon and Jeff Zeleny of THE NEW YORK TIMES.  But the paper was really busy whoring for Barack so they failed to include that pertinent detail in the published article.

When the transcript went up online, we covered reality.  See the November 2, 2007 "Iraq snapshot," and, at THIRD, "NYT: 'Barack Obama Will Keep Troops In Iraq'."  If others didn't, too bad.  Randy's an idiot.

All US troops did not leave Iraq at the end of 2011.  Some left.  It was a "drawdown" not a "withdrawal" -- DoD understood the difference even if idiots like Randy didn't.

Not only were some US troops left in Iraq but a large number were left in Kuwait.  Senator Kay Hagan grasped that.  We covered that hearing [see the November 11, 2011 snapshot for one example and the hearing was also reported on in the November 15, 2011 snapshot, and "At Trina's site last night, Ava covered an exchange with "Scott Brown questions Panetta and Dempsey (Ava)," at Rebecca's site, Wally covered economic concerns expressed over the use of contractors "The costs (Wally)" and Kat offered a look at various claims about the administration's negotiating goals and what Iraqi leaders supposedly sought with "Who wanted what?""].    Maybe if idiots like Randy had paid attention, Hagan would still be in the Senate instead of losing to a Republican?

In 2012, Barack ran for re-election as president on the false claim that he had ended the Iraq War and pulled all US troops out of Iraq.  In October the so-called presidential debates -- actually the Democratic and Republican debates -- began.

September 26, 2012 (print, it was online September 25, 2012), the New York Times' Tim Arango reported:

 
Iraq and the United States are negotiating an agreement that could result in the return of small units of American soldiers to Iraq on training missions. At the request of the Iraqi government, according to General Caslen, a unit of Army Special Operations soldiers was recently deployed to Iraq to advise on counterterrorism and help with intelligence.        


As Ava and I noted the day after the 2012 election:


Days later, October 3rd, Barack 'debated' Mitt Romney.  Again October 16th.  Again October 22nd.
Not once did the moderators ever raise the issue.


If Barack's sitting before them and he's flat out lying to the American people, it's their job to ask.  They didn't do their job.  Nor did social menace Candy Crowley who was apparently dreaming of an all-you-can-eat buffet when Barack was babbling away before her about how he wouldn't allow more "troops in Iraq that would tie us down."  But that's exactly what he's currently negotiating.

Maybe Candy Crowley missed the New York Times article?  Maybe she spends all her time pleasuring herself to her version of porn: Cooking With Paula Deen Magazine?

That is possible.

But she was only one of the three moderators.  Bob Schieffer and Jim Lehrer also moderated.  Of course, they didn't foolishly self-present as a fact checker in the midst of the debate  nor did they hit the publicity circuit before the debate to talk about how they were going to show how it was done.


In 2012, while few paid attention, Barack began sending US troops back into Iraq (just as he promised he'd do in that NEW YORK TIMES interview in 2007).  By June of 2014, he was sending more troops in openly.  US troops remain in Iraq.  They are there to prop up the rulers the US government imposes and to maintain oil production.  They are not there for freedom or democracy.


Which is why Nouri al-Maliki could and did attack and kill protesters and reporters and the US looked the other way.  Barack only gave a damn a few years later when Nouri's action had led to the rise of ISIS and ISIS had seized control of Mosul.  The secret prisons and jails, the torture carried out by Nouri?  Never mattered to the US government.

For weeks now, Iraqis have been protesting the current US puppet Hayder al-Abadi.  And the US government doesn't care.  His response to the protests was to send the Iraqi military to attack them.  And the US government doesn't care.

Last week, Emily Burchfield (Atlantic Council) observed:


It is telling that the most recent press release from the US Department of Defense regarding Iraq—on July 17, the same day Iraqi security forces were beating protesters with rubber hoses—concerned the clearing of ISIS militants in northern Iraq.

Meanwhile, when asked about on the Iraq protests during a State Department Press Briefing, Spokesperson Heather Nauert called the protests an “internal” issue and affirmed the right of the Iraqi government to maintain the security of public property. She also deferred questions about tackling corruption. The United States could benefit from a broader strategy for stabilization and peace building in Iraq that addresses the socioeconomic conditions underlying violent conflict and unrest outside of the counter-ISIS fight.




That's the US government's abuse as the protests continue.  Elijah J. Magnier (MIDDLE EAST POLITICS) explains:


People took to the streets in many southern provinces protesting about the lack of basic services the country has been suffering from for over a decade. In addition, despite an all- party agreement over the results of the last parliamentary elections, the choice of a Prime Minister is not going to be easy. And that is not all: Mesopotamia’s problems continue with the bras-de-fer between Iran and the US, which is intensifying. The actual Prime Minister Haidar Abadi is no longer Iran’s favourite candidate but to the US and its regional Middle Eastern partners he remains so. The big question remains: in the event of successfully backing “their” candidate, who would be the winner, Iran or the USA? Both are determined not to lose and are using all available means to promote their own candidate-agenda.
Interim Prime Minister Haidar Abadi is managing for now to absorb the anger of the population, who took to the streets. They were demonstrating about the lack of jobs, the rationing of fresh water in the southern city of Basra, the regular power cuts in the very hot weather in southern and central Iraq, and they were revolting against the overwhelming corruption Iraq has suffered from since the US occupation in 2003.

People are struggling for basic needs.  Demand these needs and risk death.


  Retweeted
These are the faces of the men who lost their lives in the anti-corruption protests in Iraq. May their souls rest in peace, knowing that they inspired millions to continue demanding their rights.
 
 



Those are the faces of 8 who have been killed.  They had lives, they had friends and family.  Standing up for basic needs cost them their lives.  In what world is that fair?


And the number killed has continued to increase.


14 killed in two weeks of Iraq protests...
 
 



RUDAW reports:

Protests against corruption, unemployment, and a lack of basic services in Iraq’s southern cities have left at least 14 people dead since they began two weeks ago, according to a member of Iraq’s human rights commission.

Security forces have used tear gas, water cannons, and live fire to break up protests that have raged across southern Iraq for over two and a half weeks.

Suffering under high unemployment and lack of water and electricity, angry protesters say they have had enough of government corruption and politicians’ failure to serve the people.

Fadel al-Gharrawi of Iraq’s rights commission, who was appointed by the Iraqi parliament, said there had been fatalities in Basra, Samawah, the Shiite shrine cities of Najaf and Karbala, and in the provinces of Diwaniyah and Babylon, according to Anadolu news agency.




Stupid Randy hasn't Tweeted once about the Iraqi protests.  The Iraqis don't matter to people like Randy, they never have.  Self-absorbed, sick individuals who thrive on lies and deceptions and look the other way while people suffer because of the direct actions of the US government.





A volunteer lawyer was killed to defend protesters in
 
 
Qasim al Otabi, president of ’s Bar Association confirms the assassination of prominent -i human rights lawyer Jabbar Abdul Karam.
 
 





Amnesty International has already called out the attacks on the protesters (they called out the attacks last week).  Today, Human Rights Watch calls for an investigation into the use of force against the protesters and notes:

Witnesses identified and provided photos and videos of the Interior Ministry’s anti-riot police, federal police, Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) forces, Strike Force Brigade (Liwa al-Quwa al-Thariba), and oil facilities police, all identifiable by their uniforms, policing the protests. They said they observed these security forces beating numerous protesters with wooden, plastic, and metal sticks and pipes to disperse the crowds. In two incidents, they said, security forces beat protesters in custody and a journalist conducting an interview.
 
These security forces along with members of the Badr Organization, part of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Forces, fired on protesters at six of the eight protests investigated, witnesses said. Human Rights Watch documented the deaths of at least two protesters from gunfire. The authorities confirmed both these deaths and a third.
 
Witnesses said that the 47 injured protesters had been beaten or hit with rocks and gunfire. One protester said he saw a protester hit by a Humvee armored vehicle that was chasing him. Two men are still in comas from serious head injuries caused by the security forces. With the exception of the protests at al-Qurna oil field, protesters and journalists said they did not hear any warning before security forces opened fire or used teargas and water cannons to disperse the crowds.

 

Iraq: Security Forces Fire on Protesters
 
 




The following community sites -- plus BLACK AGENDA REPORT and PACIFICA EVENING NEWS -- updated:




  • Monday, July 23, 2018

    Bernie The Caver Sanders

    Bernie Sanders. I supported him in the primary.  I think he’s disgusting.  I thought it was stupid for him to support Hillary.  That was in real time.  Now that she’s trashed him in her latest ghost written book, he really has no reason to be polite even.  But he still does and he looks stupid for it.  Hillary lost.  She lost because she was lousy. 
     
    As bad as his support for Hillary was and is, now he’s preaching the Russia hysteria and I’m sick of it.  He’s an embarrassment.  This is from Patrick Martin (WSWS):

    Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders appeared on the CBS Sunday interview program “Face the Nation” Sunday and fully embraced the anti-Russia campaign of the US military-intelligence apparatus, backed by the Democratic Party and much of the media.
    In response to a question from CBS host Margaret Brennan, Sanders unleashed a torrent of denunciations of Trump’s meeting and press conference in Helsinki with Russian President Vladimir Putin. A preliminary transcript reads:
    SANDERS: “I will tell you that I was absolutely outraged by his behavior in Helsinki, where he really sold the American people out. And it makes me think that either Trump doesn’t understand what Russia has done, not only to our elections, but through cyber attacks against all parts of our infrastructure, either he doesn’t understand it, or perhaps he is being blackmailed by Russia, because they may have compromising information about him.
    “Or perhaps also you have a president who really does have strong authoritarian tendencies. And maybe he admires the kind of government that Putin is running in Russia. And I think all of that is a disgrace and a disservice to the American people. And we have got to make sure that Russia does not interfere, not only in our elections, but in other aspects of our lives.”
    These comments, which echo remarks he gave at a rally in Kansas late last week, signal Sanders’ full embrace of the right-wing campaign launched by the Democrats and backed by dominant sections of the military-intelligence apparatus. Their opposition to Trump is centered on issues of foreign policy, based on the concern that Trump, due to his own “America First” brand of imperialist strategy, has run afoul of geostrategic imperatives that are considered inviolable—in particular, the conflict with Russia.
    Sanders did not use his time on a national television program to condemn Trump’s persecution of immigrants and the separation of children from their parents, or to denounce his naming of ultra-right jurist Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, or to attack the White House declaration last week that the “war on poverty” had ended victoriously—in order to justify the destruction of social programs for impoverished working people. Nor did he seek to advance his supposedly left-wing program on domestic issues like health care, jobs and education.
     
     
    Bernie’s selling out.  There’s no reason for him to do so.  So if he’s selling out when there’s no reason to, makes me wonder if he’d stand strong.  What I’m trying to say is that his actions since trying to get everyone to rally around Hillary have me not wanting to support him if he runs in 2020.  I don’t think he’ll stand up for me in tough times if he can’t stand up for what’s right in easy times.
     
    And I supported Bernie in the primaries.
     

    Ava and C.I. really wrote a great piece this week “TV: Twittervist Alyssa learns the internet bites back ” – they are real reporters.  But I’m also mentioning it because Olivia from FRINGE has a new show to NETFLIX – THE SECRET CITY.  Make a point to stream it.  I had to pause episode two.  I thought I could watch and blog but I wasn’t getting anything accomplished.  It is amazing.  As for MIND HUNTER?  I skipped it.  I saw the trailer on NETFLIX.  If they’d included Anna Torv in that trailer, I’d already have streamed it.  Now I’ll wait and stream it after I finish THE SECRET GOVERNMENT.


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


    Monday, July 23, 2018.  An attack in Erbil catches more attention from the western media than the attack on protesters.

    Let's start with this from Justin Raimondo (ANTIWAR.COM):

    In an unprecedented move, the Justice Department has released the FISA application submitted by the FBI to spy on Carter Page, the rather hapless would-be advisor to the Trump campaign who has been smeared as a “Russian agent” – but has not been charged after almost two years.
    We’ve never before even seen a FISA application, in which law enforcement agents explain to a judge why it is necessary for them to conduct surveillance on an American citizen, and so this is a special treat. The document that came out of this unique Freedom of Information Act request shows that the FBI had an ulterior motive in going after Page – and that they lied to the FISA court judge.
    In order to get the judge to agree to the surveillance, the FBI had to establish a fairly convincing probable cause: at a minimum, agents had to identify multiple sources indicating that an act of espionage may have occurred or is about to occur imminently. This FISA application shows that the FBI had a single source: the unverified “dossier,” compiled by “former” MI6 agent Christopher Steele, bought and paid for by the Clinton campaign to dig up dirt on Trump. The other ostensible “sources” were news articles by journalists whom Steele had leaked to. There was a clear intent to deceive the judge who read this application.

    This technique is a familiar one: remember how the neocons used to quote each other as “proof” that Saddam had “weapons of mass destruction”? It’s the old echo chamber trick, and every third-rate smear artist deploys it. The question arises: so is this how the FBI carries out its “investigations” into espionage?



    Why did we start with that?  KPFA couldn't tell us about Iraq on Sunday's KPFA EVENING NEWS but they could lie about what Justin just covered.  Woops!  They lied again.  This time their lies are so bad, you can't even defend them.  KPFA needs to get its mouth out of the gutter and its head out of its ass.  Lying to listeners does not build trust.

    If you can not lift the injustice At least tell everyone Ali. Shariati
     
     



    A good motto.  Sadly, it's not the motto of KPFA.

    Is this how KPFA will go out?  Lying to listeners?  There's no reason for anyone to donate to hear lies.

    While we're correcting the lies of cowards, let's also note this -- I saw it on ANTIWAR.COM.




    "Pornography passing as news coverage."  Stephen Cohen is exactly right.  And we're noting the above because his hideous and cowardly wife stabs him in the back.

    BREAKING: Gunmen storm the governorate building in Erbil, the seat of the Kurdistan gov't in northern Iraq
     
     


    ALJAZEERA reports on violence in the KRG where an attack in the capital (Erbil) has resulted in several deaths.  How many people are dead?




    TRT (above) reports that 1 KRG employee was shot dead by assailants and states that there were three assailants and all were shot dead.  That would be four killed.  There are conflicting reports with some identifying suicide bombers as part of the attack (FRANCE 24 says there were two suicide bombers who detonated).

    TRT notes a car bombing 3 years ago and how violent attacks are rare in Erbil.

    The attack follows by less than a week Brett McGurk's announcement of an attack on the Makhmour Mountains.


    Our supported joint coordinated operations between Iraqi Security Forces and Kurdish yesterday against hideouts in the Makhmour Mountains.
     
     



    The attack follows by two weeks the announcement by the US government that construction had started on a US consulate in Erbil (a new one, there's already one consulate in Erbil):


    The Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations Breaks Ground on the New U.S. Consulate Compound in Erbil, Iraq
    In a demonstration of enduring friendship and the important bilateral partnership, U.S. Ambassador Douglas A. Silliman and U.S. Consul General Ken Gross broke ground today on the new U.S. Consulate Compound in Erbil, Iraq.
    The new U.S. Consulate Compound will provide a secure, modern, and environmentally sustainable platform for diplomacy.  The project is expected to be completed in 2022.
    EYP of Albany, New York is the design architect for the project and B.L. Harbert of Birmingham, Alabama is the construction contractor.  
    Since 1999, as part of the Department’s Capital Security Construction Program, the Bureau of Overseas Buildings Operations (OBO) has completed 144 new diplomatic facilities and has an additional 57 projects in design or under construction.
    OBO’s mission is to provide safe, secure, and functional facilities that represent the U.S. government to host nations and support staff in achieving U.S. foreign policy objectives.  These facilities represent U.S. values and the best in U.S. architecture, engineering, technology, sustainability, art, culture, and construction execution.  
    July 7th, the KRG noted:

    Erbil, Kurdistan Region, Iraq (cabinet.gov.krd) - Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani attended the ground breaking ceremony of the new US Consulate General compound in Erbil, alongside with U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Mr. Douglas Silliman, U.S. Consul General in Erbil, Mr. Ken Gross, and a number of Kurdistan Regional Government officials.
    Prime Minister Barzani, in a speech during the ceremony, described the relations between the Kurdistan Region and the United States as important. He also commended the role of the U.S. forces in assisting the Kurdistan Region to defeat ISIS.
    He said building a new compound for the U.S. consulate in Erbil is an important step, and a sign of the U.S. interest in the Kurdistan Region. He hoped that the United States will further strengthen its relations with the Kurdistan Region and Iraq.

    The new U.S. Consulate compound is being constructed on a 51-acre with a total budget of 795 million Dollars. The environmentally-friendly compound, which also houses a permanent art collection, is anticipated to be completed in 2022.



     In Iraq, protest continues.  So does the abuse of protesters.



    THE DAILY STAR notes:

    Fresh protests hit southern Iraq Sunday as medical sources said 11 demonstrators were killed in two weeks of unrest, sparked by ire over corruption and lack of public services. Security forces remained deployed around Baghdad after struggling Friday to disperse crowds of angry protesters who took to the streets.
    Demonstrations have roiled swaths of southern and central Iraq since erupting in the oil-rich port city of Basra on July 8, when security forces opened fire killing one person.


    TRT adds:

    Shamefully, much of the international media has barely covered the eruption of popular protests that have swept mainly southern Iraq over the past few weeks. Iraqis in the oil-rich south took to the streets, calling on the federal government to end corruption, institute effective policies to ensure Iraqis had gainful employment, and to put an end to foreign interference, primarily coming from Iraq’s ever troublesome neighbour to the east, Iran. 
    In response, the protesters have faced police brutality, and abduction at the hands of pro-Iran Shia militias who have a vested interest in crippling Iraq and making sure that it continues to be a gangland that they can milk dry.



    As the protests continue, Hayder al-Abadi has so little to offer that he has to depend upon others.


    Emir of ready to assist Iraq amid protests by placing a investment worth $3 billion🇰🇼🇮🇶♥️ its time for neighbouring countries to help aid if the iraqi government itself couldn't gaf
     
     
     


    ALSUMARIA adds that the US is stating it will help as well.  "Help," promised by the US Embassy in Baghdad is left undefined.





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