Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Beware Jillian Barron, beware and avoid


If I were you, I'd stay away from Jillian Barron if you needed legal assistance in the Seattle area. Why? She doesn't seem very bright. She wrote the following to THE NEW YORK TIMES:


To the Editor:
Taking women seriously does not mean one should accept allegations of sexual assault without a full and fair examination of the evidence.
I conduct workplace investigations of alleged misconduct, including sexual assault. Although many witnesses initially appear credible, additional evidence may reveal bias, inconsistencies, gaps or errors in their stories. Only after interviewing individuals with relevant knowledge and reviewing relevant documents can one reasonably determine whether allegations of misconduct are supported by a preponderance of the evidence.
Tara Reade’s allegations have not been put to that basic test. One need not denigrate her corroborating witnesses to ask that their potential bias and credibility be vetted before their accounts are accepted as support for believing Ms. Reade.
One must also consider the significant factors weighing against the likelihood that Ms. Reade’s current account is true — including her retweeting praise for Joe Biden and his work combating sexual assault as recently as 2017. Had she truly believed that Mr. Biden sexually assaulted her, that action would have made no sense. Nor does it seem likely she and her corroborating witnesses all would have remained silent about Mr. Biden’s alleged assault for all these years, including when he was chosen to run as vice president.
We should not be deciding accusations as serious as Ms. Reade’s in the court of public opinion.
Jillian Barron
Seattle

She works for SERBIS BUSTO JAMES.

She's not very smart. "Linda Hirshman's conclusion that she believes Ms. Reade is premature." No, it's not. A belief can come at any point in time. It's a belief, that's how it works. Is Barron really that stupid? Linda Hirshman’s conclusion that she believes Ms. Reade is premature. As for a compliment? That happens all the time. If Barron doesn't know that, she truly is stupid. She sounds like a rape denier defending Harvey Weinstein, doesn't she? Some of Weinstein's survivors had offered him a compliment or praise. It's not uncommon. That Barron doesn't know that makes me fear for any woman she might have 'helped.'

Seems like there should be a commercial on TV:

Were you assisted in a workplace environment action regarding harassment and was Jillian Barron your attorney? If so, you might want to join our class action law suit . . .

Seriously, she writes like someone who garnered all her knowledge from a really bad episode of MATLOCK.

"We should not be deciding accusations as serious as Ms. Reades in the court of public opinion." Really? Where should we decide it? The statute of limitations means we're not deciding it in court. Equally true, we are a republic practicing democracy. That means we do decide it in the public square, in the court of public opinion.

Tara's credible. She's telling the truth in my opinion. Why do I say that?

She speaks in a manner that seems genuine. I've watched the Megyn Kelly interview, the interview Amy Goodman did and listened to the interview she did with Katie Halper.

Second, she has corroborating witnesses to the fact that she spoke of this in real time. That includes one woman who plans to vote for Joe Biden. The laughable Barron ignores that.

Third, her mother called into CNN in 1993 to speak of problems Tara was having working for Joe Biden's office.

Fourth, 1996 court papers filed by her now ex-husband refer to her being harassed while she was working for Joe Biden.

Fifth, she was retaliated against and interns do remember her being removed from her supervisory role.

No witness in the public square has had that much backing. That's Anita Hill (I believe Anita Hill and consider her a genuine hero), that's anyone. If Barron's really done work in this area, she should know that.

Sixth, we have seen handsy Joe in video after video -- he's disgusting.

Seventh, he pretended to apologize without saying the words "I'm sorry." Days later he was making jokes about it as he spoke to a union crowd -- no, he wasn't sorry.

Eighth, Alexander Cockburn has been writing about Joe Biden's harassment of Senate staffers since 2008. Ava and C.I. began writing about Joe's harassment of one woman (we know who) since 2005.

Nine, cowardly Joe avoided Vietnam due to his 'asthma' -- despite playing football and baseball in high school and college. But he was more than happy to send many Americans to their deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Ten, he's okay with killing people but he draws the line at harassment?

I get it. Barron's old. The world's passed her by. She's bitter. She probably compromises 800 times a day. That's her sad lot in life. I see it on her prune face.

I'm not that way. I have ethics and faith and I believe you don't vote for a rapist. So I won't vote for Joe Biden.

Here's her resume, by the way, so you know she's a real person.

SEBRIS
BUSTO
JAMES
Jillian Barron
(425) 450-0111
jbarron@sebrisbusto.com
Jillian Barron is a shareholder with SEBRIS BUSTO JAMES. She has been with the firm since 1997, assisting employers in developing effective, legally-compliant employment policies and resolving emergent problems. She also assists employees in reviewing and negotiating employment-related agreements. She has successfully represented both employers and employees in trial and appellate courts, arbitrations, mediations, and administrative agency proceedings. Jillian also serves as a neutral workplace investigator, a mediator, an arbitrator, and a hearing officer for University of Washington faculty adjudications. She is listed in The Best Lawyers in America, is rated AV by Martindale Hubbell, and has been named a “Super Lawyer” by Washington Law & Politics magazine. Jillian also has received Avvo’s highest rating for attorneys.
PRACTICE FOCUS
• Neutral Workplace Investigations
• Serve as Mediator, Arbitrator, and Hearing Officer for Employment-Related Disputes
• Counseling on Employment Policies and Practices
• Employment, Separation, and Non-Competition Agreements
• Disability Accommodation
• Wage and Hour Matters
• Discipline and Discharge Issues
• Discrimination and Harassment Charges
PROFESSIONAL & COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES
Jillian is Co-Chair of the Alternative Dispute Resolution Committee of the Federal Bar
Association for the Western District of Washington. She serves as a mediator for communitybased dispute resolution centers, the Seattle Federal Executive Board, and the City of Seattle, and as a volunteer attorney at one of the King County Bar Association’s Neighborhood Legal
Clinics. She is a member of the American Arbitration Association’s Panel of Employment
Arbitrators, and also serves as an arbitrator for Washington State Superior Court cases subject to mandatory arbitration. Jillian is a past member of the Executive Committee of the Washington State Bar Association’s Labor and Employment Law Section. She previously served as Secretary and President of the Washington Defense Trial Lawyers and Chair of its Employment Law Section.
EDUCATIONAL & WORK BACKGROUND
Jillian attended Reed College and received a B.A. in Fine Arts from Alfred University.
She received her J.D. in 1988 from Columbia University School of Law, where she was a Kent 14205 SE 36th St., Suite 325, Bellevue, Washington 98006 | (425) 454-4233 | sebrisbusto.com Scholar, a Stone Scholar, Head Articles Editor of the Journal of Transnational Law, and was awarded the Milton B. Conford prize for Jurisprudence. In 1988, Jillian also received a Master’s Degree in International Affairs from the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs.
Prior to joining SEBRIS BUSTO JAMES, Jillian was an associate at the Preston Thorgrimson firm (now K&L Gates), then served as a career law clerk for Judge Eldon B. Mahon of the U.S. District Court in Fort Worth, Texas. Before attending law school, Jillian was a chef in several well-respected restaurants.




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


Wednesday, May 13, 2020. Big Stacey lies, Little Chuckie Schumer stomps his feet and another smear against Tara Reade gets exposed.


The attacks on Tara Reade continue.  Big Stacey Abrams, for example, took the time to tell VICE that Tara is lying -- so says the woman who regularly swears to wait staff that it's just her first time through the line and gets insulted when they explain to her it's not an all you can eat buffet.  Big Stacey is a big fish in no pond and she's also taken to telling reporters that she's up for any position in a Biden administration though not necessarily the court.  She's not fit to preside over traffic court, let alone the Supreme Court.  Big Stacey's life is a series of insignificant accomplishments.  She makes Mayor Pete look like FDR in his third term as president.

Already busted once for using the talking points put out by the Biden campaign, one wonders at what point Joe's going to sit before a real interviewer who doesn't let him slide with everyone gets to tell their story -- as George did on GOOD MORNING AMERICA yesterday -- and instead points out that Joe is hiding behind advocates who attack Tara, that he never calls them out and just sits back and pretends he's innocent.

He's not.  In 2008, Alexander Cockburn was writing about Joe Biden hitting on Senate staffers.  Joe's creepy behavior is caught on camera and all over YOUTUBE.  He's made other women uncomfortable.

Roger Sollenberger (SALON) reports on a smear that many (Michael Tracey) have been passing around about Tara Reade since she came forward to accuse Joe Biden of assault:

Last week, Guy Benson — a Fox News contributor and conservative talk radio host, as well as political editor of Townhall — published an article in Townhall headlined, "Court Records: Biden Accuser Tara Reade was Charged with Check Fraud Days Before Leaving His Senate Office." That article's central claim was based on an email chain with an officer of the San Luis Obispo County Superior Court in California.
Salon has since learned the court official's statements in the email were edited, and did not corroborate Benson's central claim, which has not been confirmed by any source.
[. . .]
The court is not able to confirm or deny the specifics of the charge, the officer said. So far, that charge has not been independently confirmed from any other source
It is unclear whether Benson altered the email himself or obtained the altered email from another source. According to a conversation with the court officer, a larger crop of the screenshot would have revealed more.


By the way, how long has it been -- a week? -- since Michael Tracey trashed Katie Halper, Krystal Ball and others for believing Tara Reade and insisted he was working on a huge expose that would prove Tara was lying?

I don't know what's funnier -- that Michael could produce something huge or that he's working.  Beggar boy is a lot like John Nichols.  We don't cite John Nichols here anymore.  In 2008, he went on DEMOCRACY NOW! when Barack Obama was in trouble for telling the Canadian government that anything he said about NAFTA and overturning it was just for show to get votes.  The AP broke that story.  John Nichols took to DEMOCRACY NOW! to insist that wasn't true and that it was actually HIllary Clinton who had been telling the Canadian government that about herself and that he was working on this story and would have a big expose soon.

He never had one.  It didn't exist.  The spotlight was on Barack and the point was to get it off Barack so John Nichols lied.

Just like Michael's lying now.

By the way, anyone noticing a trend in 2008 and right now?

How many weeks are we supposed to ponder who will be Joe Biden's running mate?  Which woman will he give the rose to?

If you've forgotten, Barack's 2008 campaign used that tactic to distract the media as well when Barack was in trouble.

This is a non-story.  When Big Stacey is on camera, it's a non-story.  Everyone backing Biden that has his ear will tell you that fat woman is a joke and will not be on the ticket.  But there she is all over the media -- fake news with a pulse.

Tiana Lowe (WASHINGTON EXAMINER) quotes Joe stating yesterday on GOOD MORNING AMERICA:

Well, that’s their right. Look, here — look: I think women should be believed. They should have an opportunity to have their case and state it forthrightly — what their case is. Then, it’s the responsibility of responsible journalists like you and everyone else to go out and investigate those. The end of the day, the truth is the truth. That’s what should prevail, and the truth is: This never happened. This never happened. I assure you. That’s the truth."



Eddy Rodriguez (NEWSWEEK) offers the same quote.  So (a) why isn't he being asked about his attack dogs and (b) why isn't he being investigated?

The ridiculous Senator Chuck Schumer wants you to know that the matter is over because . . . well, because he says so.  No, it's not over.  Nor does doing two hand picked interviews end the issue.  Joe continuing to hide in his basement does rule out press conferences for the moment.  For the moment.  But this isn't over.  And let's stop pretending he's been asked any real questions.



By the way, let's note Megyn Kelly's interview with Tara again.




It currently has over 721,000 views but, if I were THE NEW YORKER, I guess I'd just say over 500,000 (see Elaine's "THE NEW YORKER struggles to cover serious issues").

Staying with numbers, Michael Keogh (NEWSDAY) reports:

Nearly half of Democrats in the US are satisfied with former Vice President Joe Biden as the party’s presidential nominee, a new poll finds. The poll also indicated that nearly a third want to replace him.

Only 54% of Democratic voters want the party to keep Biden at the top of its presidential ticket, while 28% want to replace him with another candidate, and 18% remain undecided, according to a poll published Tuesday by Rasmussen.

The poll was conducted May 10-11 among 1,000 likely voters, and has a margin of error of roughly 3%.


Let's note this from Scott Jennings (BOWLING GREEN DAILY NEWS):

These allegations went largely ignored for weeks by the media types and Democratic politicians who pilloried Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearings. Biden finally denied them and a horde of liberal politicians and talking heads now say they “believe” Biden, or, even if he did it, so what?
“Compared with the good Mr. Biden can do, the cost of dismissing Tara Reade – and, worse, weakening the voices of future survivors – is worth it,” wrote Linda Hirshman, a well-known feminist author who believes in “sacrificing Ms. Reade for the good of the many.”
Of Kavanaugh, she demanded his impeachment: “Kavanaugh … can be unbenched. Women are simply not going to accept this monumentally unfit man remaining on the Court regardless of what the Republicans manage to ram through this week.”
Now, with Hirshman and other liberal hypocrites cheering them on, Biden and his party are doing the ramming. There was no corroborating evidence against Kavanaugh whatsoever. Biden’s creepy shoulder rubs and unwanted hair sniffs are, on the other hand, legion, not to mention Reade telling people about it at the time.
It is clear now that Democrats never cared about the truth when they were grilling Kavanaugh, a sacrifice made for the sake of abortion. And it is clear they are again willing to sacrifice any objective view of a sexual assault allegation, again for the sake of abortion.
What’s a red-cloaked “Handmaid’s Tale” protester to do with her time, I wonder?
U.S. Sen. Diane Feinstein, who detonated the Christine Blasey Ford bombshell late in Kavanaugh’s process after sitting on the allegations for weeks, made a disgusting about-face when confronted with Reade’s allegations. The California Democrat savaged Reade, blaming her for waiting too long to come forward.
“And I don’t know this person at all who has made the allegations. She came out of nowhere. Where has she been all these years? Why didn’t she say something – you know, when he was chairman of the Judiciary Committee or after that?” Feinstein said.
Her tune, of course, was far different during the Kavanaugh hearing. When Republicans raised similar questions, Feinstein said: “Victims must be able to come forward only when they are ready.”

Call it the Politics of Hypocritical Convenience, wherein you say whatever gets you through the moment regardless of what you said when the shoe was on the other foot.


Every presidential cycle finds the Democratic Party refusing to court the left.  These days, they take their orders from the neocons who can't stand Trump.  Without a left base of support, who will hand them victory in 2020?  The independents and swing voters?

No, they tend to feel the way Scott does.  Polling backs that up.  And every time a Dianne Feinstein or a Big Stacy attacks Tara, it only hardens the middle's distrust of Joe Biden.

There was never enthusiasm for him to begin with.  And that's only more true as he brings on predators like Chris Dodd to his team.

Iraq?  Over at WAR ON ROCKS, Doug Ollivant offers:

“Iraq is like a race car that has been neglected and repeatedly wrecked. Al-Kadhimi is not the race car driver. He’s the tow truck driver.” This is how Yazan al-Jabouri describes the task ahead for Iraq’s new prime minister. And it makes clear the need for all observers to take an appetite suppressant, as it were, when judging the potential — and eventually the accomplishments — of the new Iraqi government. The electoral results of 2018 still govern the universe of possible outcomes, none of which are favorable to major reform. Iraq is still a “race car” with immense potential (human capital, educational institutions, oil, rivers, fertile land, access to the sea, road networks), as anyone who visits sees clearly. But the world should expect little from this prime minister, other than setting conditions for the next prime minister’s success.
More than six months since the resignation of Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, and after failures to form a government by two previous prime minister-designates, Iraq’s parliament confirmed the majority of Iraq’s proposed ministers early in the morning of May 7, 2020. Mustafa al-Kadhimi, a former journalist and human rights activist turned spymaster, was sworn in as Iraq’s latest prime minister. Once again, Iraq has executed a peaceful transition of power, an accomplishment that — despite all the necessary caveats — must be noted and applauded. Furthermore, this transition is particularly notable as the resignation of Abdul Mahdi was caused by nationalist demonstrators. The Iraqi political system — for all its very real flaws — was able to react to this resignation in a way that appears to have modest approval from some (though by no means all) factions of the demonstrators. Finally, this government was formed in the shadow of incredible tension between Iraq’s two most important patrons: the United States and Iran. The Iraqi political system seems to have walked the tightrope to arrive at a solution that appears acceptable to both.



Let's wind down with this:


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The following sites updated:












Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Tara Reade speaks the truth

Hope you saw RISING already.




And let me note Megyn Kelly's interview with Tara Reade.



I believe Tara.  But so does most of America.  If you go to Twitter, it looks like that's not the case.  I read Ann's "The grifters attacking Tara Reade" yesterday and it suddenly made sense.  Most of those hateful idiots -- especially the so-called K-Hive -- are bots and paid operatives.  The good thing there is these attacks are vile and disgusting and only turn people off.  The more hateful Joe Biden's supporters are, the more disgusted Americans are with them and with Joe.

KHIVE QUEEN BEE -- as one of the idiots bills herself -- is just a total freaking nightmare.  But you'd have to be to support Kamala.  She's a neoliberal who is most famous for unfairly jailing people of color.  I do wonder about the same-sex attraction so many of the KHIVE has towards Kamala.  Lust after her all you want, don't confuse your sexual attraction with some great record of accomplishments on her part.

Again, they're losing.  Kyle Jones Tweets reality:

HUGE NEWS: New Hill - HarrisX Poll shows that 63% of Americans now Believe Tara Reade was Sexually Assaulted - Raped by Joe Biden, the percent who believe Tara has increased fast & will continue to, it's clear America knows just what kind of a person Biden is & that's a Rapist.


And that's the reality that has them so upset.  We believe Tara.  And that's only going to increase.  We realize Joe's a rapist.  We realize that, in 2008, Alexander Cockburn was noting how Joe was infamous for assaulting Senate staffers.  We realize he has a history of lying.  We realize so much.



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

 
Tuesday, May 12, 2020.  Joe Biden remains the worst candidate imaginable -- whether it's Iraq, Tara Reade or what have you.


Let's start with garbage.  Specifically, garbage credited to the following:

Signatories of the letter to Biden include the Center for Economic and Policy Research, CodePink, Greenpeace US, Indivisible, International Civil Society Action Network (ICAN), Jewish Voice for Peace Action, MoveOn, Our Revolution, Peace Action, the Quincy Institute, RootsAction.org, and Win Without War.

In October of last year, Iraqis took to the streets to protest a corrupt government and the presence of foreign troops on their soil.  In response, they were attacked by their own government.  Estimates that the corporate press runs with puts it at over 500 dead.  The number is much higher.  In addition to the protesters killed, many more were injured and/or arrested.




When during all this time (the protests continue) did any of the above take a moment to support the Iraqi protesters, these young people risking their own lives?  Not once.  They couldn't even offer a Tweet.  But shortly after this year began, you may remember their Chicken Little reaction -- where they mounted protests as they screeched that any second the US government was going to declare war on Iran.  That never happened and they went back to not caring about the region.

The letter is mentioned in Jessica Corbett's stenography at COMMON DREAMS.  She tells you these groups are pressing Joe Biden to end endless wars and other things.

Why would anyone listen to them?

They've demonstrated that they can't keep their eye on the ball and that they'll grouse for a moment or two and then find a shiny toy to play with.

Why would Joe Biden listen to them?

Sorry, I was in Denver in 2008.  Barack was getting pressed, there was going to be a demonstration.  They were going to make their voices heard!!!  And then?  They held off the protest because Barack was going to meet with them.  They held off the protest and rubbed their hands together excitedly as they anticipated Barack's arrival but he was already departing and they were left with a lower level flunky who had no power.  They got played.

This crowd gets played every time.  They never learn.

Now they've issued a public letter that's as meaningless as they themselves are.

For those who don't know, Roots (Non)Action is Norman Solomon's group.  That would be the same Norman who has been hectoring everyone for months now that they have to vote for Joe Biden.

If your position is that you and everyone else has to vote for a candidate, the candidate has no reason to listen to you -- he can already count on your vote regardless.

Joe Biden is incompetent and that was the case long before he became the rambling idiot we see before us today.  If you care about Iraq, you know Joe destroyed it.  I'm not referring to his vote for -- and support of -- the Iraq War.  I'm referring to his time as Vice President.  Here's how Andrew Cockburn explained it at HARPER'S:


Presumably in deference to this record, Obama entrusted his vice president with a number of foreign policy tasks over the years, beginning with “quarterbacking,” as Biden put it, US relations with Iraq. “Joe will do Iraq,” the president told his foreign policy team a few weeks after being sworn in. “He knows it, he knows the players.” It proved to be an unfortunate choice, at least for Iraqis. In 2006, the US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, had selected Nouri al-Maliki, a relatively obscure Shiite politician, to be the country’s prime minister. “Are you serious?” exclaimed a startled Maliki when Khalilzad informed him of the decision. But Maliki proved to be a determinedly sectarian ruler, persecuting the Sunni tribes that had switched sides to aid US forces during the so-called surge of 2007–08. In addition, he sparked widespread allegations of corruption. According to the Iraqi Commission of Integrity set up after his departure, as much as $500 billion was siphoned off from government coffers during Maliki’s eight years in power.
In the 2010 parliamentary elections, one of Maliki’s rivals, boasting a nonsectarian base of support, won the most seats, though not a majority. According to present and former Iraqi officials, Biden’s emissaries pressed hard to assemble a coalition that would reinstall Maliki as prime minister. “It was clear they were not interested in anyone else,” one Iraqi diplomat told me. “Biden himself was very scrappy—he wouldn’t listen to argument.” The consequences were, in the official’s words, “disastrous.” In keeping with the general corruption of his regime, Maliki allowed the country’s security forces to deteriorate. Command of an army division could be purchased for $2 million, whereupon the buyer might recoup his investment with exactions from the civilian population. Therefore, when the Islamic State erupted out of Syria and moved against major Iraqi cities, there were no effective defenses. With Islamic State fighters an hour’s drive from Baghdad, the United States belatedly rushed to push Maliki aside and install a more competent leader, the Shiite politician and former government minister Haider al-Abadi. 

That's a sweet way of putting it.  Reality, the Iraqi people voted Nouri out.  Reality, Joe and others didn't want that to happen.  Reality, The Erbil Agreement was produced to overturn the election results and give Nouri a second term.  We've covered this forever and a day.  No interviewer has ever asked Joe, "Explain to us your support for The Erbil Agreement?"  Nor did anyone supposedly moderating a debate.

The Islamic State appears in Nouri's second term.  They're wearing dark clothes and they are on the highway between Baghdad and Anbar Province.  Does no one remember that?

I'm sure Joe Biden prays you don't remember.

Nouri was already persecuting people in his first term and it only got worse in the second term -- the term the Iraqi people didn't want Nouri to have, the one that the US government -- with Joe Biden leading the effort -- gifted Nouri with.

Joe argued for a tyrant to get a second term and how did that work out?

Let's see, you had the rise of ISIS, you had US troops officially back in Iraq, you had Barack refusing to take Nouri's calls for two years (2012 through 2014) and then the process finally began of forcing Nouri out.

But somehow, Joe never gets asked about any of this.

Instead, we pretend that Joe's entire Iraq War action was voting for the Iraq War.

He gets to proclaim credit in the debate for removing (some) US troops from Iraq and no one ever notes it was his actions -- demanding Nouri get a second term -- that led to US troops being sent back into Iraq.

Iraq has a new prime minister as of May 7th, Mustafa al-Kadhimi.  This was the subject of the most recent episode of CRITICAL MOVES (TELESUR).





The government of Iraq notes:

PM
receives a phone call from
to congratulate him on assuming office, and to discuss bilateral relations, saying that Iraq is a strong nation and has a central role to play in achieving regional and international stability.


The Prime Minister's office also notes the call with US President Donald Trump.



رئيس مجلس الوزراء
@MAKadhimi
يتلقى اتصالا هاتفيا من الرئيس الأمريكي
@POTUS
هنأ فيه السيد الكاظمي بمناسبة توليه رئاسة الحكومة العراقية. وشكر رئيس مجلس الوزراء السيد مصطفى الكاظمي الرئيس الأمريكي على التهنئة، مؤكدا حرص العراق على إقامة أفضل العلاقات مع الولايات المتحدة .


YENISAFAK notes:


Trump spoke with Kadhimi "to congratulate him on his confirmation by the Iraqi Council of Representatives," White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement.
"President Trump expressed the support of the United States for Iraq during the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic and emphasized the shared interest with Iraq in achieving the enduring defeat of ISIS (Daesh)," the statement said.
"President Trump also encouraged the Prime Minister to address the Iraqi people's demands for reform and legitimate early national elections," it said.



At FOREIGN POLICY, Shelly Kittleson offers:

Despite an institutional void since widespread protests across Shiite-majority central and southern Iraq forced the previous government to resign late in 2019 and the international coalition’s recent withdrawal from several Iraqi bases, moves are afoot to more fully integrate some Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) factions into government chains of command and structures that existed prior to 2014.
If Iraq’s new government manages to do so, it could reduce the influence of powerful armed groups with questionable loyalty to the Iraqi state.
The PMU were officially formed in 2014 through a fatwa by Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani for volunteers to fight against the Islamic State in order to defend Shiite holy sites and Iraq in general. They played a key role in the country’s territorial defeat of the transnational terrorist group.
Several of the brigades within the PMU belong to armed groups that had existed for many years prior to the PMU’s formation in 2014. These factions have long been supported by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps.

Others set up in 2014 and loyal to Sistani are known as “shrine units.”


In the United States, Tara Reade continues to tell her story.  Megyn Kelly posed her interview with Tara -- posted it on Friday evening.




It's now had over 629,000 streams.

Roger Sollenberger (SALON) reports:
A 1996 filing in a California Superior Court reveals that former Capitol hill staffer Tara Reade spoke about allegations of sexual harassment with her ex-husband on "several occasions" while working in former Vice President Joe Biden's Senate office from 1992-1993.
The declaration, first reported on by the San Luis Obispo Tribune, does not mention sexual assault. Reade's ex-husband, Ted Dronen, said in the document that his ex-wife spoke to him about the allegations of harassment on "several occasions." The statements in the document, which was also obtained by The New York Times, were attributed to Biden's "office," though not the senator himself.
"On several occasions petitioner related a problem that she was having at work regarding sexual harassment in U.S. Senator Joe Biden's office," Dronen's statement said in reference to Reade. 
"Petitioner told me that she eventually struck a deal with the chief of staff of the senator's office and left her position," he added.

Kate Sheehy (NEW YORK POST) notes:

Lawyers for Joe Biden sex accuser Tara Reade on Monday demanded that the former veep open up his archives at the University of Delaware and pushed a Senate official to hand over any documents related to the case, too.
Top sex-harassment lawyer Douglas Wigdor told Biden that he must “authorize a search [of his university archives] to determine whether they contain any records related to Ms. Reade” —  evoking the former US senator from Delaware’s controversial handling of the Anita Hill controversy in 1991.







The following sites updated:







The betrayer

Important video from THE JIMMY DORE SHOW.




"We felt betrayed."  Absolutely.  In related news, see:



  • Cedric and Wally's humor post is me -- I stand with them, I'm done with Bernie.  He betrayed us. 

    Genevieve Leigh (WSWS) reports:

    On Monday, Senator Bernie Sanders gave an online interview with Washington Post reporter Robert Costa. Costa posed a broad range of questions, including on foreign policy, Joe Biden’s vice presidential candidate and cabinet appointments, and the way forward for Sanders’ supporters in the 2020 elections.
    Sanders repeated his standard calls for Medicare for All and “an economy that works for everyone,” while regurgitating the official Democratic Party line on nearly every question and reaffirming his uncritical support for Biden.
    Sanders’ rhetoric was markedly toned down compared to his presidential campaign. He largely glossed over the unfolding health and economic catastrophe facing millions of workers amid the global COVID-19 pandemic, and made no mention of the corporate bailouts for which he has voted in the Senate.
    The purpose of the event, as with all of Sanders' appearances since ending his campaign, was to tamp down the expectations of his supporters and browbeat them into supporting Biden and the Democratic Party.
    In the course of the interview, Sanders solidarized himself with the anti-China campaign being whipped up by both the Democrats and the Republicans. He stated that “in terms of the coronavirus,” China’s record was “very, very problematic, to say the least,” and “very wrong.” These comments follow a viciously right-wing campaign ad released by Biden in late April in which Biden attacks Trump for “rolling over” to Chinese President Xi and covering up his government’s supposed responsibility for allowing the virus to spread to the United States and other countries.

    The Biden ad is a clear indication that the Democratic Party, should it win the election in November, will use the worsening health crisis to escalate military tensions with China. The anti-China narrative is aimed at diverting attention away from the criminally negligent response of the Trump administration and the political establishment as a whole to the coronavirus outbreak.



    I'm not voting for Joe.  I believe Tara Reade and that alone is a deal breaker.  It's far from the only deal breaker.


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


    Monday, May 11, 2020.  The attacks on Tara Reade continue.

    Friday evening, Megyn Kelly posted her interview with Tara Reade on her YOUTUBE channel.




    Elise Swain (THE INTERCEPT) notes:


    Biden’s accuser, Tara Reade, was one of eight women who registered complaints of inappropriate touching in April of last year — before Biden ever jumped into the presidential race. As Biden appeared likely to be the Democratic nominee, Reade came forward in late March and told her story about her former boss. In an interview with podcast host Katie Halper, Reade said Biden penetrated her vagina with his fingers. She alleges the incident occurred in 1993, while she was an aide in his Senate office. What Reade describes is rape, according to the Department of Justice’s own definition. In an interview with Megyn Kelly, Reade has called on Biden to end his presidential bid and “step forward and be held accountable.”
    [. . .
    The name Lucy Flores may be all but forgotten in an exhausting year of political reporting. Flores was the first to come forward and register publicly that an encounter with Biden made her deeply uncomfortable. In a viral essay, Flores described how, in 2015, then-Vice President Biden made her feel “uneasy, gross, and confused” as she campaigned for lieutenant governor in Nevada.
    “I feel him come up close behind me, and that’s when he leans in and he lingers around my head,” Flores recounted on Intercepted. “I hear him kind of inhale. And then he proceeds to plant this low kiss on the top of my head.” (Biden denied that he had acted inappropriately toward Flores.)
    Seven more women came forward with similar stories of Biden’s manner of unwanted, inappropriate touching. Descriptions told of how his hands intimately lingered on everything from the women’s necks, shoulders, backs, or thighs. Some say his forehead pressed against theirs. Noses so close that they rubbed together. Breathing in the smell of hair. Kissing the back of the head.


     At THE GUARDIAN, Daniel Strauss points out:

    A small group of insurgent Democratic congressional candidates have begun to raise concerns that Reade’s allegations are not being taken seriously enough. Rebecca Parson, a liberal Democrat challenging the Washington state congressman Derek Kilmer, said in an interview on Friday that Biden should step down over Reade’s allegations. Parson said she believes Reade and thinks the charges create too much of a vulnerability for Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
    “I want to defeat Donald Trump in November and yes, I’m a progressive and I’m in the left-wing of the party, but something that really unites the people in the centrist wing and the progressive wing is we all want to defeat Trump,” Parson said. “I don’t think we do that with somebody who has all these allegations against him, especially because Donald Trump has assault allegations against him and unfortunately with Donald Trump, Trump doesn’t care about being a hypocrite.”
    Parson added: “I think that Biden should withdraw and any one or more of the candidates who aren’t running should restart their campaign because the Democratic primary isn’t over yet.”
    [. . .]
     But Parson is not alone in arguing that at this point Biden should drop out of the race. A Politico/Morning Consult poll found that over a third of Democratic voters surveyed say the party should switch out Biden as their presumptive nominee because of the allegations.

    On Friday, Tara Reade was attacked by sexist pig Bill Maher whose own issues with woman go way beyond the trash he tried with Rose McGowan.

    Why did Tara Reade wait so long to come forward!!!!!!

    Golly, gee, what woman wouldn't want to be attacked and smeared by one attack dog after another?  Right?  A woman who has been assaulted has to survive the original assault and then the second assault which takes place when she comes forward. 

     Ryan Grim takes on one of the lies being told about Tara here.  Michael Tracey's one of the pigs that's repeated the lie.  ("Media: Pig Boys continue their war on women" is Ava and my latest taking on pig boys Michael, Bob Somerby and Bill Maher.)  Your whole life is gone through by the media when you come forward so why come forward?

    The reality is that Joe has a long history of lying.  Joe Biden.  It's what derailed his first presidential run.  And he's continued to lie over and over.  But instead of acknowledging that, people want to smear Tara.

    Joe's the one lying in New Hampshire that he graduated top of his law school class when he was 76th out of 85.  In our piece, Ava and I include this:

    In August of 2008, Alexander Cockburn (COUNTERPUNCH) wrote:

    Biden  is a notorious flapjaw. His vanity deludes him into believing that every word that drops from his mouth is minted in the golden currency of Pericles. Vanity is the most conspicuous characteristic of US Senators en bloc , nourished by deferential  acolytes and often expressed in loutish sexual  advances to staffers, interns and the like.  On more than one occasion CounterPunch’s editors have listened to vivid accounts by the recipient of just such advances, this staffer of another senator being accosted  by Biden in the well of the senate  in the weeks immediately following his first wife’s fatal car accident.



     I guess before he died in 2012, Alex was plotting with Tara Reade and, according to Bill Maher, Putin about how to take down Joe Biden in 2020.  Alex obviously seized on the idea of traveling back in time to 2008 to write the above, right?

    Joe Biden's history is ugly and messy.  It's one lie after another.  Does the fact that he's a politician excuse that long pattern of lying?

     Nothing excuses his lying.

    But it's not even acknowledged.


    RISING is set to address the topic of Bill Maher and other things later this morning.



    Hopefully it won't be like NBC's MEET THE PRESS which 'ran out' of time for the topic of Tara Reade on Sunday.  

    May 7th, Iraq got their latest prime minister.  ALJAZEERA reports:


    Iraq's judiciary ordered courts on Sunday to release anti-government protesters, carrying out one of the first decisions of the recently inaugurated prime minister, as dozens of demonstrators burned tyres in renewed protests against the new leadership.
    Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi also promoted a well-respected Iraqi general, who played a key role in the military campaign against the armed group ISIL (ISIS) to lead counter-terrorism operations.

    THE NATIONAL adds:

    The new premier also reinstated and promoted General Abdulwahab Al Saadi, a popular military figure whose abrupt dismissal by previous premier Adel Abdul Mahdi in September had been a main catalyst of the first protests.
    [. . .]
    Protesters turned out overnight in the city of Kut, setting fire to the
    headquarters of the Iran-backed Badr Organisation and to the home of an MP affiliated with another Tehran-aligned faction, according to AFP.
    Hundreds more hit the streets on Sunday morning.
    And Mr Al Kadhimi called on parliament to adopt the new electoral law needed for early polls as demanded by the protesters.
    Still, demonstrators remained sceptical.
    "We will give him 10 days to prove himself, and if our demands aren't met, then we will escalate," said Mohammad, a student protester returning to Tahrir on Sunday.
    "Today is a message."


    In related news,  Mina Aldroubi (THE NATIONAL) reports:


    Police in Basra raided the headquarters of an Iran-backed militia accused of shooting at protesters in the Iraqi city.
    In a police statement, cited by the state-run National Iraqi News Agency, said that party members were arrested, weapons and ammunition confiscated and an investigation into the shootings launched.
    The militia group, named Thar Allah or God’s Revolution, was establish in 1995 and has been described as a “threat to Iraq’s stability.”
    Crowds in the city rallied on Sunday night, days after the formation of a new government last week. People demonstrated outside the militia’s office.

     Last night, I noted "The protesters are watching to see signs of change.  Declaring Ali Allawi (Ahmed Chalabi's nephew) to be Minister of Oil probably doesn't signal any real change."  An e-mail notes that Allawi is the Finance Minister.  Yes, he is that.  That's not all he is.  From S&P GLOBAL this morning:

    Iraq's new prime minister has appointed finance minister Ali Allawi as acting oil minister after parliament last week postponed a vote on the oil ministry post in OPEC's second largest producer, an oil ministry spokesperson told S&P Global Platts on Monday.
    Allawi, who had served in previous governments following the US invasion in 2003, was appointed finance minister last week as parliament granted its vote of confidence to Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, most members of his cabinet and his government program.
    Allawi, a former professor at Oxford University, was appointed by the Interim Iraq Governing Council in 2003 as both minister of trade and minister of defense and remained in his post until 2004. He later served as minister of finance in the Iraqi transitional government from 2005 to 2006.




     New content at THIRD:




     The following sites updated: