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Thursday, May 05, 2022

Superman & Lois

First up, Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "21 DUMPSTER" went up tonight.

I love that.

And I pretty much loved all of this week's SUPERMAN & LOIS (Tuesday nights on THE CW).

What I didn't like?

I was with Jon on the nonsense from his dad.

So other Jon shows up and tries to meld with our Jon. Superman manages to make it home in time to stop it. Other Jon (OJ for the rest of this post) vows it isn't over.

Jon now suffers headaches when OJ is near. He's able to give Clark a location so Clark goes to check it out and is going to confront him when Lana walks up. How has he been? It's been a month. She thinks he was away on some assignment. He was in the other dimension and it was a day or two there but on our earth it was 33 days. Lana notices he's weird and kind of out of it (because he's glaring over her shoulder at OJ who uses Lana's presence to make his escape).

Sara tells her mother that she's ignoring Jordan. Sometimes it's like he's not there. She tells him Clark was a little like that when they were a high school couple.

Sara has a new car from Lana and Kyle (Kyle wasn't on). She's excited and takes boxes to her mom's new office (remember Lana's now the mayor). Lana packs up some more stuff after Sara sees OJ and thinks he's Jon. OJ goes into Lana's home and Lana is surprised. Especially when OJ attacks her.

Clark tells Jon that he loves him. He knows they've argued -- over the drug thing at school -- but he's his son and he will always love him and always protect him.

The next time they're together, Clark's found out from Lois that the one dealing the drugs was actually Jon's girlfriend and he goes off on Jon and Jon is right that Clark is not listening to him. But he apparently hears one thing: hiding the secret (Clark is Superman) is not helping the family and their friends the way they think it is.

OJ uses Lana to trap Superman and Superman is covered with kryptonite.

While Superman is in pain and suffering, OJ rushes off to attack Jon. Jordan and OJ get into a serious superpower fight. It looks like OJ has won and Jordan's on his knees. But Jordan isn't done yet and really tears into OJ. In fact, he punches him into the air and then he's grabbing him and soaring and punching him and tossing him and . . .

Flying!

Jordan doesn't really seem to realize it until he's many miles above the earth. When he does he's unable to fly and hurtling. That's when Superman arrives and catches him as well as OJ. On the ground, Jordan walks up to the battered OJ and slugs him one more time saying, "This is for my brother."

OJ ends up in a military jail.

Clark's decided to tell Lana the truth. Lois is against it but the boys are on board.

He needs to because Lana looks like an idiot this episode.

She is alone with Superman forever. And Superman doesn't wear a mask.

She's staring him right in the face and she can't tell he's Clark.

She's telling Sara she's fine and that she just got caught up in something. (Superman explained to her that OJ wasn't Jon but a Jon from another planet.)

She is driving when she tells Sara she has to get off the phone. Why? She sees Clark up ahead.

He tells her he needs to tell her something and it's important and he should have told her a long time ago. She's telling him she's had an awful day and it's not a good time and he can't know how awful her day was --

He interrupts with yes, he can because he was there.

He takes off his glasses and she still doesn't seem to get it.

So he floats on the air and she's staring and finally she's like, "You're Superman." He uses his breath to freeze some limbs on a nearby tree.

So that's how it ends. And thank goodness because she looked like the biggest idiot in the world by not getting that he's Superman when she's around Clark constantly and Clark and Superman have the same exact face but Clark wears glasses.

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

Wednesday, May 4, 2022. Governments refuse to stand up for their own citizens (while giving their all to starting wars).

Around the world people are in need. One such person is Robert Pether, a business person who is caught in nonsense between the Iraqi government and the company he works for. Lured into Iraq over a year ago, he was promptly arrested and put behind bars. Matthew Doran (Australia's ABC) reports:

Robert Pether, 46, has been locked up in a Baghdad prison since April last year, and an investigation by the United Nations raised concerns he had been "shown torture rooms, blindfolded, insulted and screamed at" while languishing behind bars.

Mr Pether, an engineer, was arrested alongside his Egyptian colleague Khalid Zaghloul while working on the development of the new $1 billion central bank of Iraq headquarters.

Mr Pether's nine-year-old daughter, Nala, took to social media early on Wednesday to call for more help from the Australian government.

"He's been imprisoned in Iraq for over a year," she said clutching a toy rabbit.

"Please, Mr Morrison, can you help him?

"I really, really miss him."

THE JOURNAL Tweets:

Robert Pether, who lived with his family in Elphin, Co Roscommon, has been held in "dismal conditions" at a prison near Baghdad due to a contract dispute between his employer and the Iraqi government.

thejournal.ie

Efforts continuing to secure release of Irish resident imprisoned in Iraq for the last year

Robert Pether’s family has said that his health is “deteriorating” in prison.

2:54 AM · Apr 27, 2022

Ireland has done more to try to free the Australian native than has his own country's government. That's only surprising if you haven't been following the persecution of Julian Assange. The founder of WIKILEAKS is also an Australian citizen. As US President Joe Biden continues to persecute Julian, the pathetic Australian government does nothing. The message is clear, if you're and Australian citizens, you are on your own in this world because your cowardly government does not want to make waves to protect you. They're too busy cowering with their tail between their legs to defend or stand up for their own citizens. Pathetic and shameful.

Julian exposed War Crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan which is why the US government has persecuted him ever since. Joe Biden continues the persecution. He wants Julian to stand trial in the US for the 'crime' of journalism. This is the same Joe Biden who sat on his fat ass in the US Senate for years after Senate investigators discovered that torture was being carried out in the gulag on Guantanamo. His oath of office as a senator actually required that he do soething but Sleepy Joe must have been taking another nap because he did nothing.

We also need to remember what was done to Chelsea Manning -- she is the one who leaked the news of War Crimes to WIKILEAKS. Many things were done to Chelsea to humiliate her and to destroy her while in US custody. I'm focusing here on one thing only.

Chelsea had not transitioned at that point in her life.

How do you antagonize and humiliate anyone -- let alone a transgendered person? You hold them in a prison where the guards see them naked all day. The lie the US government told back then 00 which we challenged at the time (shame others didn't pick up on it) was that Chelsea was a suicide threat and so she couldn't have clothes -- she might try to strangle herself. As we pointed out in real time, paper scrubs. If youre afriad someone might harm themselves in your custody, you don't strip them naked and put them on display. You utilize paper scrubs.

This is the 'caring' US government that 'respects' human rights, the government the UK is preparing to turn Julian over to.

That's Julian's wife Sella speaking on the need to stand with her husband.

The US government is really good at destroying lives in their endless wars and at ignoring the needs of the American people. It's just not good at democracy or at human rights.

In the war torn country of Iraq, destroyed by the US government and still occupied, KURDISAN 24 notes:

The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) on Monday commended “the courage of Iraqi and Kurdistan Region media workers” on World Press Freedom Day.

UNAMI also called on “authorities to ensure their protection from intimidation and threats and to fully respect the right to freedom of expression and freedom to impart information.”

In Iraq, journalist are regularly rounded up by security forces, are regularly disappeared. They risk a lot to try to cover the basic realities. In the US, most journalists settle for being whores instead and just comfort those in power with puff pieces. KURDISTAN 24 notes:

The freedom of the press in Iraq is declining, with hundreds of journalists facing "arrests, killings, and disappearance," the Iraqi Observatory for Human Rights outlined in a report released on Tuesday, World Press Freedom Day.

"The freedom of the press in Iraq is much lower than it should be in a country that raised the slogan of democracy nearly 20 years ago," the report charges, pointing out that Iraq has a constitution that guarantees "the right to express an opinion and obliges the authorities to protect it."

"Since 2003, hundreds of journalists and media professionals were killed, arrested, and even disappeared," it said. Furthermore, media headquarters have been raided in response to their coverage or editorial lines.

"From May 3, 2021, to May 2, 2022, there has been an increase in the influence of parties that have an interest in antagonizing freedom of expression and undermining the space for journalistic work in Iraq," the report noted.

Meanwhile, the political stalemate continues. Iraq held elections October 10th. All this time later, they are still unable to name a prime minister or president. And don't look for diplomatic assistance from the US. Even were that possible, the outgoing Iraq Ambassador remains hostage to Joe Biden's lame duck status. He nominated a new ambassador to Iraq back in December. The Senate held confirmation hearings already. But there's still no vote. As the political stalemate continues, Chenar Chalak (RUDAW) notes:

The Coordination Framework has requested the Kurdish political parties to come to an understanding and agree on a candidate for the presidency of Iraq, as a part of its 18-points initiative announced on Wednesday attempting to bring an end to the political deadlock that has plagued the country, a week before Muqtada al-Sadr’s political “step-back” nears its 40-day completion.

The initiative from the Iran-backed parliamentary blocs consists of nine original points, in addition to nine further points which it requests all political parties adhere to in order to end the deadlock.

Lauding the role of the President of Iraq, referring to the position as “the protector of the constitution,” the initiative stresses that the person filling the position must be characterized by efficiency and good conduct and behavior, proceeding to urge the Kurdish parties to “make efforts to reach an understanding and agree on a candidate with these qualities and within the established contexts.”

Did you realize that the Kurds were the dominant population in Iraq? Me neither. I also didn't realize that they controlled politics. It's an easy out to scapegoat the Kurdis politicians. Not accurate, not fair, but it's easy.

Let's wind down with this Tweet from Margaret Kimberley:

I pointed out that democrats could have protected abortion rights with legislation. Their pro-choice stance is a scam to keep you voting for them.
You're welcome.
#RoeVWade 
https://blackagendareport.com/democratic-party-betrayal-abortion-and-supreme-court

2:13 PM · May 3, 2022

And she pointed that out last year.

The following sites updated:

Monday, May 02, 2022

Graham Elwood, John V. Walsh, Sabby Sabs

Starting with an interesting discussion Graham Elwood had.

I think we have all learned some reality during the pandemic. As We The People suffered, our government worked to provide millions and millions to the rich. Our government did not work to protect us. Even now, as rates of COVID have increased in Los Angeles, the federal government rushing to insist the pandemic is over.

They really screw us over and over. And maybe this will translate into us demanding more as the workers who do keep the country afloat.

This is from John V. Walsh (COUNTERPUNCH):

2014 saw two pivotal events that led to the current conflict in Ukraine.

The first, familiar to all, was the coup in Ukraine in which a democratically elected government was overthrown at the direction of the United States and with the assistance of neo-Nazi elements which Ukraine has long harbored.

Shortly thereafter the first shots in the present war were fired on the Russian-sympathetic Donbass region by the newly installed Ukrainian government. The shelling of the Donbass which claimed 14,000 lives has continued for 8 years, despite attempts at a cease-fire under the Minsk accords which Russia, France and Germany agreed upon but Ukraine backed by the US refused to implement. On February 24, 2022, Russia finally responded to the slaughter in Donbass and the threat of NATO on its doorstep.

The second pivotal event of 2014 was less noticed and in fact rarely mentioned in the Western mainstream media. In November of that year according to the IMF, China’s GDP surpassed that of the U.S. in purchasing power parity terms (PPP GDP). (This measure of GDP is calculated and published by the IMF, World Bank and even the CIA. Students of international relations like economics Nobel Laureate, Joseph Stiglitz, Graham Allison and many others consider this metric the best measure of a nation’s comparative economic power.) One person who took note and who often mentions China’s standing in the PPP-GDP ranking is none other than Russia’s President Vladimir Putin.

From one point of view, the Russian action in Ukraine represents a decisive turn away from the hostile West to the more dynamic East and the Global South. This follows decades of importuning the West for a peaceful relationship since the Cold War’s end. As Russia makes its Pivot to the East, it is doing its best to ensure that its Western border with Ukraine is secured.

Following the Russian action in Ukraine, the inevitable U.S. sanctions poured onto Russia. China refused to join them and refused to condemn Russia. This was no surprise; after all Putin’s Russia and Xi’s China had been drawing ever closer for years, most notably with trade denominated in ruble-renminbi exchange, thus moving toward independence from the West’s dollar dominated trade regime.

If you talk reality about Urkaine, they try to censor you. No one is allowed to talk about 2014, for example, not among the corporate media.

This is Sabby Sabs and I especially enjoyed the Glenn Greenwald segment.

And be sure to check out Ava and C.I.'s "TV: GRACE AND FRANKIE winds down while THE OFFER never should have started ."

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

Monday, May 2, 20225. Dust storms again in Iraq (and in Joe Biden's mind as well) and much more.

Whores got their weekend with a DC event that should have been retired long ago. Court jester Trevor Noah made joes about8 inflat8ion and US President Joe Biden lapped it up.

Yes, they are laughing at the American people. Yes, it's disgusting.

Joe's got jokes because, well, he is a joke. How wonderful that, as American struggle to deal with the out of control inflation, that he can laugh and shuck and jive.

Joe Biden is a horrible leader. And jokes about "Cinderella's castle" don't8 improve his standing, they only make him look even more senile.

May Day fell the day after Joe Biden's buffoonery. While he was shucking and jiving, David North (WSWS) pointed out):

This year’s May Day is being held under extraordinary circumstances. The world stands on the precipice of a nuclear world war that threatens the extinction of life on this planet. The challenge of May Day 2022 is to make this celebration of the international unity of the working class the beginning of a global movement of the broad mass of the world’s population to stop the criminal and reckless escalation of the NATO-Russia war toward nuclear conflict and force its end.

The organization, development and victory of this movement requires a clear understanding of the causes of the war and the interests that it serves.

The International Committee of the Fourth International, the World Party of Socialist Revolution, unequivocally denounces US and European imperialism for instigating the conflict with Russia. This is not a war in defense of democracy in Ukraine or anywhere else in the world. It is a war whose aim is the redivision of the world, that is, a new allocation of the material resources of the globe.

Russia has become a target of US imperialism not because of the Putin regime’s autocratic character, but because, first, its defense of the interests of the Russian capitalists collide with the drive of the United States for global hegemony, which is centered on its preparations for war with China; and, second, the vast expanse of Russian territory is the source of immensely valuable and strategically critical raw materials, metals and minerals—gold, platinum, palladium, zinc, bauxite, nickel, mercury, manganese, chromium, uranium, iron ore, cobalt and iridium, to name only a few—that the United States is determined to bring under its control.

The other major imperialist powers allied with the United States are, likewise, pursuing their own reactionary economic and geostrategic interests. The conflict in Ukraine has provided German imperialism—which waged a war of extermination against the Soviet Union between 1941 and 1945—with the opportunity to undertake the most massive rearmament campaign since the collapse of the Nazi regime. As always, British imperialism is eager to participate in an American-led war, hoping that its “special relationship” with the United States will entitle it to a favorable distribution of the spoils of war. The French imperialists hope that by sanctioning, however reluctantly, the American war against Russia, the United States will not interfere with French operations in Africa. Even the lesser powers of the NATO alliance expect to be repaid for their endorsement of the US-led war. Poland, for example, has not forgotten that Lviv was once the Polish city of Lwow.

As for the United States’ invocation of the sacred right of Ukraine, as a sovereign nation, to join NATO if it so chooses, Washington does not recognize the extension of that right to any country whose national defense interests are viewed as a threat to American security. Even as the crisis unfolds in Ukraine, the United States is threatening military action to stop the Solomon Islands—6,000 miles away from the American West Coast—from entering into a defensive relationship with China.

Joe supports the Nazi government in Ukraine that he and Barack Obama installed back in 2014 as they trashed the results of the election. The government is a menace to many but Joe wants to back it because, well, he's senile.

Jason Melanovski (WSWS) reports:

As the NATO proxy war against Russia rages in eastern Ukraine, the Ukrainian government is carrying out a campaign of domestic repression against alleged “collaborators” and “traitors” in order to bolster its pro-war agenda and eliminate any opposition that may favor a negotiated peace with Moscow to end the war.

Last week the Kyiv Independent reported that “a hunt for alleged collaborators is underway in recaptured parts of the country.” The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) along with the national and local police, territorial defense units and the State Emergency Service, are leading the hunt for suspects.

According to the Kyiv Independent, the SBU had already arrested 33 suspects in Kiev by April 7, and by April 15, over 300 alleged collaborators had been arrested.

It is unclear how the SBU is able to deduce exactly who collaborated with the Russian forces other than relying on the testimony of neighbors.

Such an approach leaves the door wide open for the settling of petty grievances between neighbors and the arrest and jailing—or perhaps worse—of innocent Ukrainians who are not enthusiastic supporters of a NATO-backed war that is destroying large parts of an already impoverished country.

The report comes on the heels of the revelation that Kiev was supplied with advanced face-scanning technology by the American firm Clearview AI and that such technology was already being used to identify dead Russian soldiers and scan the faces of Ukrainian citizens in order to find “traitors.”

That's the government that Joe Biden and billions of US tax dollars are supporting. It's outrageous that US tax dollars are used to prop up that oppressive regime to begin with but8 at a time when Americans are facing huge inflation, it's outrageous.

As a ma8n we did a ZOOM w8ith weeks ago pointed out, he's Diamond Joe Biden, grabbing the check to pay for dinner with his new pals while his own children are back home starving.

He's so out of touch, he doesn't even realize it.

Meanwhile, the British government is being pressured to demand the release of one of their citiens from Iraq. No, not the over 80-year-old who just died in custody and was leading the tour and no one seems to know the name of. The other one. Th eone whose family sure does get a lot of press on. Robert Pether hasn't had as much press since Iraq put him beind bars as this man has had in the last three days.

The enw move is to push him as a modern day Indiana Jone1

Problems?

Indiana wasn't British. Indiana wasn't a geologist who worked for Big Oil. Indiana had a doctorate Archaeology. The Brit was trying to leave Iraq with what he says were shards that someone gave him persmission for but which Iraq argues were historical artifacts. And anyone with a basic education, knows you dont try to leave a country with shards of anything -- especially not a country that the UK has already plundered repeatedly for decades.

Once again, dust storms throughout Iraq.

NNA reports, "Clouds of yellow dust covered most of southern Iraq, including the capital, Baghdad, and is expected to continue until Monday, according to the Meteorological Department." Australian ASSOCIATED PRESS adds, "Iraq's state news agency INA reported that five Iraqi provinces including Baghdad and Najaf were shrouded in dust storms on Sunday, causing an unspecified number of people to suffer serious breathing-related problems."

AFP is again reporting "dozens" have been hospitalized. They never learn and AFP hires journalists who lack basic counting skills. See April 9th's "AFP needs to learn to count -- over 429 is not 'dozens'." As AFP again runs with ''dozens'' despite, again, the number being much, much higher. In Najaf alone, ALSUMARIA reports 500 people were hospitalized. And the Health Department of Najaf is the source for the 500 figure. And Sal al-Din province counts 152 people hospitalized. That's just two areas and it's 652. That's not "dozens."

BOL NEWS notes, "In April, Iraq was pummelling by a succession of severe storms, which grounded flights in Baghdad, Najaf, and Irbil and hospitalized hundreds." Yes, and it's the first day of May and already hundreds have been hospitalized.

Ruth Tweets:

"In November, the World Bank said Iraq could suffer a 20% fall in water resources by 2050"

Iraq dust storm: Flights grounded in Baghdad and Najaf as skies turn orange - BBC News

An Iraqi policeman directs traffic during a severe dust storm in the capital Baghdad

bbc.com

Iraq dust storm: Flights grounded in Baghdad and Najaf as skies turn orange

A dust storm that has covered Iraq in an orange sheet is expected to continue into Monday.

12:02 AM · May 2, 2022

Marcello G Tweets:

The dust storm could be addressed by increasing vegetation and creating forests.
What are other ways that Iraq can resolve this issue and protect  their citizens? How can the U.S. help stop climate change from harming other nations?

11:26 PM · May 1, 2022

In other news, MEDYA NEWS reports:

After it’s been revealed on Wednesday that two European journalists were arrested by Iraqi troops on the 20th of April, a colleague of one of the journalists said to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) that the journalist was arrested while he was covering issues affecting the Yazidis in Iraq.

Soldiers with the Iraqi 20th Infantry Division arrested Matej Kavčič, a Slovenian freelance reporter, on the 20th of April at an army checkpoint in the city of Sinjar (Shengal), the hometown of the Yazidis.

While Kavčič identified himself as a journalist, Iraqi troops brought him to a nearby military facility, where they confiscated his phone and questioned him, according to a report by CPJ.

Marlene Förster, a German national, who was traveling with Kavčič, was also detained in the process.

Iraqi authorities allege that the pair ‘pretended to work as journalists’, and accused them of collaborating with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), designated a ‘terrorist group’ in neighbouring Turkey and in the European Union.

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