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Monday, June 12, 2017

That scrubbing of Ani DiFranco -- WIKIPEDIA rewrites history

Amy Goodman is flat out evil in my book.

She promotes war.

She promoted the war on Libya, she promotes war on Syria.

She's become everything she once pretended to rail against.

We cover this at THIRD.

Hag.

War Hag.

That's Amy Goodman and all the useless ones who walked away from Iraq.

Press TV‏Verified account @PressTV Jun 10

WATCH: US-led jets ‘using white phosphorus in Syria, Iraq’ http://ptv.io/2Pkb

18 replies186 retweets79 likes

Yes, the Iraq War continues but, no, they don't care.

Ani DiFranco would rather sniff her stanky armpit -- War Hag.

They walked away.

As though the war was ended.

But they had to pretend so they could whore for Barack.

I went to Ani's WIKIPEDIA page.

Guess what?

Any controversies are expunged by the Crap folk of WIKIPEDIA.

Remember the big uproar over her 'ladies retreat' at a slave plantation?

Not in WIKIPEDIA anymore.

Here's what they took out:

Controversy

In 2013 DiFranco was criticized on social media and faced "a great deal of outcry"^[66] after the announcement that she was hosting a three-day artists' workshop billed as the "Righteous Retreat" at Iberville Parish's Nottoway Plantation in White Castle, Louisiana.^[67]^[68] Nottoway was one of the largest plantations in the South, and features the largest antebellum mansion. Its operator and founder John Randolph owned over 155 slaves in the year 1860.^[69] The grounds are now operated as a luxury resort.^[70] Critics charged that the resort's promotional material attempts to portray the plantation owner in a positive light,^[71] to downplay the suffering of the slaves, and to "sanitize" and "romanticize" the history of slavery for commercial gain.^[66]^[72]^[73]^[74]^[75] DiFranco's choice of venue for the retreat was called "a very blatant display of racism" on a petition at change.org that collected more than 2,600 signatures.^[76]^[77]

On December 29, 2013 DiFranco issued an apology and cancelled the retreat, stating that "i am not unaware of the mechanism of white privilege or the fact that i need to listen more than talk when it comes to issues of race. if nottoway is simply not an acceptable place for me to go and try to do my work in the eyes of many, then let me just concede before more divisive words are spilled. ... i think many positive and life-affirming connections would have been made at this conference, in its all of its complexity of design. i do not wish to reinvent the righteous retreat at this point to eliminate the stay at the Nottoway Plantation. at this point I wish only to cancel."^[78] The singer's statements were called "remarkably unapologetic" on jezebel.com,^[68]^[71] and "a variety of excuses and justifications" on ebony.com,^[73] and a piece at theguardian.com said the announcement made "much of the idea that this was all a mistake, with no indication of remorse."^[75]

DiFranco issued a second apology on January 2, 2014 following continued criticism. In it she wrote, "..i would like to say i am sincerely sorry. it is obvious to me now that you were right - all those who said we can't in good conscience go to that place and support it or look past for one moment what it deeply represents. i needed a wake up call and you gave it to me."^[79]

Ani DiFranco's a f**king racist.

I was fairly nice about this in 2013 and 2014.

But now that the War Hag wants to re-write history?

She's a racist and WIKIPEDIA's a joke for letting her eliminate that.

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

Monday, June 12, 2017. The Mosul Slog continues, Donald Trump still has no new approach for Iraq, and much more.

We're starting with news from last week

Poverty and the poor were not addressed in last year's presidential campaign.

We can't expect the media that ignored the topic or the duopoly candidates who refused to talk about the issue to bring it up now.

So let's do our part to break the silence by again noting Senator Patrick Leahy's opening remarks at last week's Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the proposed HUD budget:

Senator Patrick Leahy: I am very concerned about President Trump’s budget for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This budget would leave low-income, elderly and disabled Americans out in the cold. It would deny shelter to victims of domestic and sexual violence. It would bring to a screeching halt programs that spur economic development and help ensure that safe, sustainable and affordable housing is available in our communities.
Bluntly, Secretary Carson, this budget is a travesty. It slashes $7.3 billion from the work of your Department. It decimates Section 8 rental assistance grants that help keep very-low-income families, as well as elderly and disabled Americans, in decent, safe housing. It eliminates the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and the HOME programs, which help drive economic development in more than 1,200 American cities, including in Vermont. Eliminating these programs doesn’t just eliminate a Federal investment; these projects leverage other public and private sources to make them a reality. For every dollar we invest in CDBG projects $3.65 is leveraged in other public and private resources. And, while I recognize that this does not fall under the jurisdiction of your Department, the administration’s attack on housing programs is only amplified with the elimination of NeighborWorks, which in one year alone provided affordable housing for more than 360,000 families, created and maintained more than 53,000 jobs, and leveraged its appropriation at a ratio of 91 to 1. Let me repeat that leverage ratio: 91 to 1. Under this budget, all of those dollars disappear. Secretary Carson, where are the people who rely on these programs supposed to go?
The President’s budget fails to include tenant-based rental assistance for victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking. In 2013, Senator Crapo and I worked together to strengthen, expand and reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. Too often, victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault or stalking remain in dangerous living situations simply because they have nowhere to go. That in and of itself is devastating, but all too frequently families have to make the tragic decision between becoming homeless with their children, or staying in a house where either they and/or their children may be subject to physical abuse. Your Department should be working hand-in-hand with the Justice Department, which administers the successful transitional housing assistance grant program, to find effective ways to support these survivors and ensure they have access to safe and affordable housing. Secretary Carson, what will you tell these victims since you fail to support these programs in this request?
Poverty is “no state of mind.” Housing is not a political issue; it is a moral one. In Vermont, we know that housing people first is key to helping them step out of poverty. With the help of Federal investments like Homelessness Assistance Grants, states like Vermont have reduced chronic homelessness by 45 percent, but this is only possible with help from your Department. Communities across the country know that, instead, your budget will close emergency shelters and put people back on the streets. Secretary Carson, how will this budget help the Department meet its mission?
Now is the time to invest in our Nation’s affordable housing infrastructure – not to decimate it. This budget will eliminate the investments and hands-on efforts that help families succeed. This isn’t a “foundation for greatness.” This budget is a travesty.

Poverty's become the forbidden word in the US media (unless they're speaking of conditions in another country).

Meanwhile, Day 236 of The Mosul Slog.

Iraqi Day ‏ @iraqi_day Jun 11

#BREAKING
#Iraq Joint Operations officially announce that Army 9th Division have stormed Bab sinjar district north #Mosul Old city.

8 replies81 retweets121 likes

‏ @iraqi_day

#Mosul #Iraq map update. 

Green= completely liberated.
Orange= frontline clashes.
White= #ISIS control.

4 replies61 retweets95 likes

Yes, the slog continues.

Maybe today it will be concluded? Maybe tomorrow? Who knows.

But it's been 236 days so far -- an operation that was supposed to take mere weeks has taken 236 days.

And what comes next?

Apparently more of the same.

‏ @amsiiraqEn

(643)Iraqi men and children have been missed after kidnapping by Hashd Militia one year ago;we ask the PM :where are they? 

8 retweets5 likes

643 'liberated' are missing.

It's exactly this sort of crime that gave fuel to the rise of ISIS in Iraq to begin with.

Nabih Bulos (LOS ANGELES TIMES) reports:

The corpses had been tossed on both sides of a virtually deserted side road leaving the village of Hamam Alil, 15 miles south of Mosul. Shriveled and discolored by the summer sun, they barely registered a glance from drivers rumbling past.
But all seven corpses had three things in common: Their hands had been tied behind their backs; they had been blindfolded; and, though they were decomposed, one could still make out the rictus of pain imprinted on their faces.
The gruesome remains were among at least 26 blindfolded and handcuffed bodies found in government-held areas in and around Mosul, Human Rights Watch said in a report last week, in what it concluded were extrajudicial killings probably carried out by government forces since the start of the operation to retake the city from Islamic State in October.

These are the problems that created the platform for ISIS to rise in Iraq.

These problems have not been addressed to this day.

In other news, Liam Quinn (DAILY MAIL) reports:

Donald Trump is yet to meet or speak with his top commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan almost nearly five months in office.

Military.com, a veteran membership organization, detailed Trump's lack of contact with arguably the two most important US officials in the region.

The president does not communicate directly with the commanders - Lieutenant General Stephen Townsend in Iraq and General John W. Nicholson Jr. in Afghanistan - because they are 'three or four echelons below' him, a White House official told the website.

'The president does respect the chain of command and he gets the vast majority of his information from the top echelons of his national security teams,' the official said.

Oh, goody, a month later the press shows up. From May 2nd's "Editorial: The conversation that didn't take place..." at THIRD:

Control will now be placed in the hands of those who are more familiar with the military since they are a part of it.

But isn't this delegation also thwarting civilian control?

Isn't that the whole point in the president of the United States being commander in chief and not some general: Civilian control.

There are pluses and minuses to the issue -- both in terms of a President Donald Trump (who seems to alarm many) and in terms of the power structure itself.

But, strangely, it was one of last week's least noted and explored issues.

On PBS' gabfest WASHINGTON WEEK, it didn't even get a mention.

Worse, CBS' FACE THE NATION had a sit down with Trump yet failed to ask about the above.

Failed to ask about Iraq at all,

(Saturday night would bring news of another US military fatality in Iraq. In fairness, John Dickerson interviewed Trump on Saturday before that news broke.)

Setting aside that Trump has done this, if any other person in the White House had turned over this power to the military, wouldn't we see it as shirking responsibility?

Thanks for catching up (finally), DAILY MAIL, and aren't we lucky that MILITARY.COM raised the issue so DAILY MAIL could pretend this was current.

Let's steer the press to the next place it will be in a month or so.

Douglas A. Silliman:

Douglas A. Silliman is the United States Ambassador to the Republic of Iraq. He arrived in Baghdad on September 1, 2016.
He served as Ambassador to Kuwait from 2014 until July 2016. In 2013-2014, he served as a Senior Advisor in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs in the Department of State in Washington, D.C., working on Iraq issues and the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. He was Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq from 2012 to 2013 and Minister Counselor for Political Affairs in Baghdad from 2011 to 2012. He was the Deputy Chief of Mission in Ankara, Turkey from 2008 to 2011. He joined the Department of State in 1984 and is a career member of Senior Foreign Service.
Ambassador Silliman earlier served as Director and Deputy Director of the State Department’s Office of Southern European Affairs, as Political Counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Amman, Jordan, and as the Regional Officer for the Middle East in the Office of the Coordinator for Counterterrorism. Ambassador Silliman worked as political officer in Islamabad, Pakistan, in the Office of Soviet Union Affairs, as Lebanon Desk officer, and as Staff Assistant to the Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs. He began his career as a visa officer in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and a political officer in Tunis, Tunisia.
Ambassador Silliman received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science summa cum laude from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, where he was also a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He earned a Master of Arts in International Relations from the George Washington University in Washington, DC.
He has received numerous awards from the Department of State, including the Secretary’s Award for Public Outreach in 2007 and senior performance awards. The American Foreign Service Association gave Ambassador Silliman its Sinclaire Language Award in 1993 and the W. Averill Harriman Award for outstanding junior officer in 1988. He speaks Arabic and French.

Let's review: Chris Hill, James Jeffrey, Robert Beecroft, Stuart E. Jones and Douglas Silliman.

Those are Barack's confirmed US Ambassadors to Iraq. Five in eight years -- part of the reason for the instability in Iraq.

Obama also nominated Brett McGurk but Brett's nomination sunk.

Trump was sworn in back in January.

It's now June.

When does he plan to name a nominee for US Ambassador to Iraq?

Or is he farming out that duty as well?

The Mosul operation is going to end at some point.

And then there won't be anymore excuses for not doing anything about the root of Iraq's problems.

Where's the diplomacy addressing that issue?

There's not even a new team in place.

Is there a strategy?

As it is, Donald's using Barack's last ambassador as well as special envoy Brett McGurk.

For someone who wasn't happy with Barack's approach to Iraq, Donald has yet to propose any alternative.

New content at THIRD:

Friday, June 09, 2017

Creep of the week James Clapper

James Cogan (WSWS) reports on the hideous James Clapper:

Hillary Clinton lost because large numbers of Democratic Party voters either abstained—in disgust with the right-wing, pro-Wall Street character of her campaign—or voted for Trump.
Of the two big business candidates, it was Trump who made populist appeals, however fraudulent, to the broadly-felt social grievances of millions of workers. He declared he would bring back jobs and prosperity. The Democrats, in contrast, told suffering working-class voters that things had “never been better.” Clinton still won the popular vote, by a margin of over three million. Trump was elected due to the vagaries of the state-based electoral college system.
In one revealing answer, Clapper contradicted his own narrative that Trump won because of Russia’s nefarious hand. He stated: “His election was a big shock... It was actually a personal shock to me about how disconnected apparently I was from what I’ll call the flyover part of the United States. And there’s still a very, very strong body of resentment and frustration in our country with Washington, writ large.”
Clapper’s use of the term “flyover part” served only to underscore the contempt in ruling circles for the working class. It was a reference to the tens of millions of people across the US whose living standards have stagnated for decades and plummeted over the past 10 years. Barak Obama’s administration imposed the full burden of the 2007–2008 financial collapse on the backs of the working people, while bailing out the banks and corporations. Clinton was viewed rightly as a figure who would continue Obama’s anti-working class agenda, as well as escalate US wars and interventions in the Middle East and Asia.
The faction of the American establishment for whom Clapper speaks does not have the slightest concern for the conditions of the working class and makes no appeal to it. It does not oppose the devastating cuts the Trump administration is imposing to health, education, pensions and other social spending. Its opposition stems from a war-mongering insistence that Russia be dealt with as a hostile power, not, as figures around the incoming president had suggested, as a country that could be developed into a possible “friend.”
Pointing to the prospect of significant political unrest if Trump were impeached, Clapper noted with perplexity that the president still had support, despite the frenzied efforts to tarnish him as a Russian pawn.

The ex-spy chief complained: “So far the coalition of people that elected President Trump are still there. They’re still hanging in there. So, I don’t know what it will take.”

Where do they get off doing this?

And why isn't the press calling him (or John McCain earlier) out for this?

It's beyond disgusting.

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

Friday, June 9, 2017. The Mosul Slog continues as Iraq is again slammed by violence.

Day 233 of The Mosul Slog and, we are yet again told, victory is just around the corner.

233 days to turn that corner?

Actually, it's longer than that.

Tomorrow is June 10th.

June 10, 2014, the Islamic State seized control of Mosul.

They've still not been driven out of the city -- the same can't be said for the unprotected civilians who've been turned into refugees.

For over two years, the Baghdad-based Iraq government did nothing to help Mosul.

Finally, in October of 2016, they began an operation that was to last weeks.

Months later, that operation still continues.

Yes, it is very embarrassing for the government that tomorrow will be the anniversary of the seizure of Mosul -- the 3rd anniversary -- and Mosul is still in the process of being 'liberated.'

233 days and counting.

And no attempt to protect the civilians.

‏Verified account @UNICEF

#Iraq: "Shooting children as they try to run to safety" #ChildrenUnderAttack in the battle for Mosul uni.cf/2sjhFsM @TR_Foundation

7 replies127 retweets86 likes

They were told to remain in their homes throughout the bulk of the 'liberation.'

Then, when finally told to leave in the last weeks, no safe passage was provided.

At least 100,000 are said to remain in the city.

Let's check in on our decade's new Judith Miller: Rukmini Callimachi (yes, that does sound like a figure from the Brothers Grimm):

‏Verified account @rcallimachi

Replying to @rcallimachi

7. Analysts have long that the ppl running Amaq can't be just in Iraq/Syria bc of how quickly they claim attacks & bc they upload videos: 

7 replies110 retweets165 likes

Rukmini fancies herself a terrorist expert.

Isn't that cute.

Judith Miller, of course, started with THE PROGRESSIVE.

You may remember that when the magazine was celebrating its anniversary (they said the 100th, but no, it wasn't), they failed to note Judith once in their look back on the past.

Judith Miller ended up a terrorism 'expert' herself.

Remember, that's how Oprah Winfrey presented Judith on her talk show when she brought Judith on to promote the upcoming Iraq War and then Oprah attacked the audience member who dared to point out that Judith was presenting non-facts as facts.

Glenn Greenwald loved him some Judith Miller back then -- part of the reason he supported the Iraq War.

Today?

He loves him some Rukmini.

Rukmini's been hired by THE NEW YORK TIMES mainly to prove that they learned nothing from the Judith Miller fiasco.

Which is how Rukmini was in Mosul (as an embed -- as they say, "embed roughly means 'legs spread'").

And we called out her nonsense.

But there was Glenn Glenn, in love again, reTweeting her because critical abilities are in short supply apparently.

While Rukmini filed her propaganda and Tweeted her nonsense about how wonderful things were, a real reporter did real journalism.

Ali Arkady did not file fluff.

His documentation of what is taking place in Mosul has been covered by RT and ABC NEWS.

"Negative coverage will get you kicked out of Mosul."

They had nothing to worry about with regards to Rukmini, did they?

From Brian Ross' ABC NEWS report:

Officers of an elite Iraqi special forces unit, praised by U.S. military commanders earlier this year for its role in fighting ISIS, directed the torture and execution of civilians in Mosul in at least six distinct incidents caught on tape.

“That's a murder,” retired Green Beret Lt. Col. Scott Mann told ABC News after reviewing the graphic footage. “There should be punishment for anyone doing it. It's reprehensible and it shouldn't be allowed on any modern battlefield."

The alarming footage was smuggled out of Iraq by a prize-winning Iraqi photojournalist, Ali Arkady, who spent months embedded in combat with the elite Iraqi troops leading the fight against ISIS late last year. Since turning over his cache of photos and videos to ABC News, he says he has received death threats from the soldiers he once considered friends and has now fled Iraq to seek asylum in Europe.

"This is happening all the time," Arkady said of the war crimes he documented, which he recounted in an exclusive interview with ABC News’ Brian Ross broadcast Thursday on ABC's World News Tonight with David Muir and Nightline.

Am I wrong that Glenn hasn't been eager to promote this story?

I know he's got a lot of problems right now because THE INTERCEPT burned a source -- intentionally or not, it doesn't matter, they burned her.

Nothing is going to change that.

There should be an apology (not a blood letting) and they should announce how they will do their best not to burn another source in the future.

So, yes, he has problems, but so does Iraq and he needs to be Tweeting about that if he can't write about it.

He has found time to reTweet Rukmini.

It's a shame he can't use his Twitter feed to amplify real reporting on Iraq.

But that's a shame many share and part of the reason the Iraq War is on year 14 and counting (more if we backdate to the sanctions, et al).

The violence never ends.

Iraqi Day ‏ @iraqi_day 7 hours ago

First video of the aftermath of the #ISIS suicide bomber that detonated inside #Karbala bus station injuring 4 civilians. #Iraq 

3 replies36 retweets25 likes

#BREAKING
A #ISIS suicide bomber detonated his explosive vest after being surrounded by #Iraq forces inside #Karbala bus station injuring 4.

1 reply70 retweets50 likes

Four is bad -- one is bad -- but sadly the numbers have been climbing.

‏Verified account @jaketapper

At least 22 killed, 31 wounded in a suicide attack targeting civilians in al -Musayab, #Iraq. Suicide bomber in Karbala wounds at least 10.

21 replies268 retweets135 likes

Maher Chmaytelli and Gareth Jones (REUTERS) report, "A woman detonated her explosive belt in a market east of the Shi'ite holy city of Kerbala on Friday, killing at least 30 and wounding 35, Iraqi security sources said."

The following community sites -- plus Jody Watley -- updated: