Wednesday, October 04, 2017

DESIGNATED SURVIVOR

Didn't care that must for last week's DESIGNATED SURVIVOR.

I'll watch tonight's episode tomorrow on HULU.

I was so disappointed in what they did last week.

The show comes back.

We left at the end of last season with Maggie Q's character in a parking garage with a bomb that was about to explode.

And we come back last week and she's overseas hunting for someone.

Thanks for the cliff hanger that never went anywhere.

I'm also bored with the entire White House -- especially Kal Penn -- it's him right?  I always get Omar and what's his face confused -- like David Letterman always got Kate and Allie confused.

I was really hoping for a great return for this show.

Last week was so bad I'm not watching it tonight, I'll catch it on Hulu tomorrow.

And if that episode is bad, I'll move it to something I catch on Hulu on the weekends.

The episode was nothing, less than nothing.

It was meaningless.


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


Wednesday, October 4, 2017.  A US service member is killed in Iraq on Sunday and so many ignore it -- media, the state's governor, the city's mayor, etc.


Stupidity on CNN.  10,000 ads supposedly on FACEBOOK in 2015 and 2016 [*supposedly purchased by Russia*].  Supposedly.  The network invites Senator Richard Blumenthal on.  He's asked about the alleged ads which supposedly targeted Michigan and Wisconsin.

Blumenthal?


"They had to have some kind of highly sophisticated and technical advice."

Is Blumenthal as stupid as Hillary Clinton?

Wisconsin?

Did anyone need expert advice to know Wisconsin would be in play?

Have they not read Matthew Rothschild's hysterical Tweets and efforts over the last years?

Scott Walker, a Republican, was elected governor of Wisconsin in 2010 and again in 2014.  He also survived the 2012 recall effort Rothschild and others led.  That tells you the state is up for grabs.

Need more?

In 2013, Ava and I noted:


We were also struck by the nonsense Rothschild and Welsh offered regarding Wisconsin.  At one point, Rothschild insisted, "Well it was devastating when he [Walker] won the recall I've got to say because we had a million people sign signatures to get him out of office, all we needed was about 400,000 more people to vote against him and he'd have been out of office."

Facts are needed for an honest debate.  400,000 votes were not needed.  Walker received 1,335,585 votes while Tom Barrett received 1,164,480 votes.  171,106  was the amount of additional votes needed to defeat Walker.  Does Rothschild struggle with basic addition and subtraction?  That would explain a great deal.

(For any wondering, 939,266 registered voters did not vote in the recall.  Had Rothschild and company worked harder, they wouldn't have had to pull from Walker's support, only motivate 1/4 of the registered non-voters to vote and vote for Barrett.  All figures from the Government Accountability Board of the State of Wisconsin.)

Rothschild clearly struggles with other realities.  Despite the (small) ongoing protests against Walker, his approval rate was 48% with 46% disapproval.  Rothschild may want to portray Walker as hugely out of step with Wisconsin but the polling does not suggest that's the opinion of the state's citizens.

That doesn't mean Walker's good or great.  It does mean that despite running off national readers with their near exclusive focus on Wisconsin, The Progressive has failed to communicate effectively to the people of Wisconsin on what they see as Walker's faults.




That is the portrait of a a swing state.

In fairness to Richard Blumenthal, he doesn't know s**t about Wisconsin.  (He represents Connecticut.) But Hillary and her campaign should have.

If, IF!, FACEBOOK ads were bought to influence Wisconsin, no expertise was needed, just a basic grasp of the facts.

Here are a few more facts:  CNN isn't just promoting allegations, it's promoting an agenda.

You got the 'reporter' who did nothing but repeat what Democrat Adam Schiff told him.  No fact check, no alternative opinion.  Then they brought on Democrat Richard Blumnethal.  Both men promoted the still not proven allegations that Russia influenced the election.  Two segments, no skepticism, the very definition of Fake News.


We'll stop there on CNN except to note that Howard Kurtz looked like a media critic and Brian Stelter looks like a child molester.  In TV, looks matter.  And on CNN, they matter when it comes to women but any ugly piece of s**t man can get hired.  Oh, let's note one more point, Chris Cuomo needs to stop picking fights with guests on air and needs to stop cutting them off.  He's far too emotional and hysteria-prone to be on TV.  (He's also aged out of his limited looks.)


Let's stay with the trash that is Brian Stelter.

As noted in yesterday's snapshot, he can use Iraq as a political football on his Twitter feed -- can and did -- but he still hasn't Tweeted about the US service member who died in Iraq Sunday.  He hasn't even reTweeted Jake Tapper's Tweet.





Pentagon IDs US soldier killed by IED Sunday in iraq: Spc. Alexander W. Missildine, 20, of Tyler, Texas. RIP






Stelter is an idiot and an embarrassment.




Army Spc. Alexander W. Missildine, killed in Iraq bomb blast Sunday, was just starting first deployment:



Honoring the memory of a fallen 10th Mountain Division Soldier. Specialist Alexander W. Missildine, killed Sunday, October 1, 2017 in Iraq





Alex Horton and Dan Lamothe (WASHINGTON POST) report:



Troops learn early on to call peers by their last name. But for Pfc. Gabrielle Babbitt, she was drawn to a fellow soldier she just calls Alex, the guy with a “silly” Texas accent.

She met Spec. Alexander W. Missildine while training in summer 2015, with her coming from Fairport Harbor, Ohio, and he from Tyler in East Texas. Both were learning to become Army truck drivers.
[. . .]
“I told him, ‘You have to promise me you’ll come back.’ I had a feeling something was wrong, because normally he’d send a message throughout the day just to say hi,” said Babbitt, also 20, “and I didn’t hear from him at all.”


KLTV is the local ABC affiliate in Tyler, Texas.


Remembering a fallen East Texas soldier
02:05
KLTV.com - Tyler, Longview, Jacksonville |ETX News


And this is from KLTV Doug Murray's text report:

"Towards the end of high school, we would talk about that transition of graduating and getting to real life," former Robert E. Lee High School Band Director Robert Castillo said. "He was really excited about serving his country."
[. . .]
"I knew him when he was an 8th grader at Hubbard," Castillo said. "He took care of me, he took care of the band and he had pride in helping others."
Outside Missildine's mother's home there are yellow ribbons affixed to the mailbox and tree. His mother, Robin Goodwin, says the family does not wish to offer any official statement in relation to his death, but expresses thanks for the condolences pouring in.



KXAN notes:

Tyler ISD released the following statement on Spc. Missildine’s passing:
“Tyler ISD is saddened to learn of the passing Spc. Alexander Missildine, a 2015 graduate of Robert E. Lee High School. The District joins the Tyler community in thanking him for his service to our country. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family during this time of loss.”


Good for the school district.

How sad for the governor, Greg Abbott, that he can Tweet about carnivals but can't Tweet (or release an official statement) on the fallen.

I usually note governor's statements.  If a member of Congress notes a death and I'm aware of it, I try to note that as well.

Martin Heines.  Do you have no ethics?

The fallen is from your city.

You've got a Twitter feed and you should have already issued a proclamation.

Nothing.

I don't usually mention mayors.

I'm making an exception for Martin.

I met him in 1992 while helping the Clinton campaign.  (I believe it was with Ron Brown -- it was one day 25 years ago so that could be wrong -- I remember he was proud of a new home he'd built for himself and how he'd only put in a microwave, no stove or oven.)   I'm going to call him out here.  This is your city.  You've been elected mayor at least twice.  Get off your candy ass, step up to the plate and issue a statement on Alexander Missildine.


At some point, maybe someone can tell America when US troops get to leave Iraq?

Because the answer as of now is "never."

The US government -- regardless of who the Oval Office occupant is -- wants "stability."  Which means they want someone who does their bidding.  Bully Boy Bush installed Nouri al-Maliki.  Barack re-installed him.  Then Barack installed Hayder al-Abadi who remains prime minister.

These two men have not brought 'stability' and probably can't.

They're not Iraqis.

They're cowards.

They both fled Iraq decades ago and only returned after the US-led invasion.

No one wants to be governed by an outsider.

Add in that the outsider is picked by a foreign government.

The US government's 'plan' appears to be that they can exhaust the Iraqi people.

Thus far, it hasn't happened.

Which is why US troops remain in Iraq propping up the government that the Iraqi people do not support.

More reality?

Unbelievable! U.S. Votes Against U.N. Ban On Death Penalty For Homosexuality Joining Saudi Arabia, Qatar & Iraq







The U.S. just voted against a U.N. resolution that would ban the death penalty for gay consensual sex. No words.





US joins Saudi Arabia and Iraq in voting against UN resolution condemning the death penalty for gay sex





Maher Chmaytelli (REUTERS) notes:

Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan region announced on Tuesday it was calling presidential and parliamentary elections for Nov. 1 as the Kurdish leadership moved to capitalize on a referendum that delivered huge support for independence.
The central government in Baghdad imposed further punitive measures in retaliation for the independence vote last month by slapping sanctions on Kurdish banks and halting foreign currency transfers to the Kurdish region.  



We're going to wind down and I'm going to note there are two hearings -- one I've already attended and one I'm attending today -- that I'm planning to cover in this week's snapshots.  (That's for me to try to make sure I do it.)


The following community sites -- plus BLACK AGENDA REPORT, the ACLU and Tavis Smiley -- updated:

















  • iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq Iraq

    Tuesday, October 03, 2017

    A little on Iraq

    Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Put a Crook back in Congress" went up Monday:

    michael grimm


    2 new comics from Isaiah at THE COMMON ILLS this week.  Pretty cool.

    Alright, let me try to be a good Catholic and note this.

    “This prayer helps us forgive – not to forget, because you can't forget, but to not hate the other person.”



    Forgiveness is something we all need to work on and me more than anyone.

    I can hold a grudge, believe you me.

    That's not really something you want said about you.

    I really need to work on that.

    Staying with Iraq, this Tweet is not accurate:

    Jalal Talabani was the first non-Arab president of Iraq, serving from 2005 to 2014.



    Jalal was in office until 2014.


    He did not serve until 2014.

    At the end of 2012, he had a stroke.

    After that, he hid out of Iraq for about 18 months and he couldn't speak and couldn't do anything.

    He wasn't ruling.

    He should have been removed from office but his family lied to the Iraqi people to keep him in office.

    That's reality.


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


    Tuesday, October 3, 2017.  Chaos and violence continue, the US service member killed in Iraq Sunday is identified, former Iraqi president Jalal Talabani has died, and much more.


    Let's note two topics before we get to Iraq.



    Tom Petty has passed away.



    That's him singing "Insider" with Stevie Nicks.  The two also dueted on the hits "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," "Needles & Pins" and "I Will Run To You."  With his band the Heartbreakers, he created some of the greatest songs on radio in the last decades including: "The Waiting," "Refugee," "Breakdown," "American Girl," "Don't Come Around Here No More," "Here Comes My Girl," "Into The Great Wide Open" and "Jammin' Me."  He also had solo hits (including "Free Fallin'") and was a member of the Traveling Wilburys.  He toured constantly and often with Stevie Nicks and Bob Dylan.  He will be sorely missed.



    No single day of America's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq produced as many American casualties as were suffered last night in Las Vegas.





    So Joe Heim's arguing that assault weapons should be provided by the government to all US citizens?  He's comparing armed troops to civilians in Las Vegas.  What a stupid analogy he's tried to make.


    Does it occur to Joe Heim that the Iraqi civilians -- who don't have armor or weapons and don't travel in squads -- have died in far larger numbers?

    No.

    Because he's a fool doing a foolish Tweet that's as empty as his own head.

    The stupidity never ends.

    "More Americans were killed here last night than in any single day of fighting in the Iraq or Afghanistan wars" -- in Las Vegas





    See above but note the circle jerk.

    Now for the ultimate in stupidity and racism.


    Replying to 
    Perspective: 54 Americans were killed & 425 were wounded during the main phase of 2nd Fallujah, Nov 2004, the biggest battle of our Iraq War






    So 54 died in that battle?

    How many Iraqis died, Schindler?

    If you can wipe Ken Burns' jizz off your face for one damn minute, how many Iraqis died?

    Because many were trapped in the city.

    It's really racist of Schindler, Burns, et al to make their pronouncements of war that ignores the unarmed.

    They should all be ashamed.

    And while they try to grandstand on Iraq -- an issue they pay no attention to -- Monday brought news of another US fatality in the Iraq War.

    He's now been identified.

    Pentagon IDs US soldier killed by IED Sunday in iraq: Spc. Alexander W. Missildine, 20, of Tyler, Texas. RIP





    Will Chris Hayes, Brian Fat Boy Stelter, Joe Heim and John Schindler make time to Tweet about Alexander W. Missildine?

    They're fond of using the Iraq War as a political football.  They're just unable to cover the ongoing war -- to demonstrate caring and/or awareness.

    What a telling moment for an out of touch media.


    As noted in Monday's snapshot, one service member (Alexander W. Missildine) was killed and another was injured -- there has been no update on the injured service member.

    Meanwhile, Turkey, Iran and what passes for the Iraqi government sent troops to the borders of Kurdistan following the KRG's referendum on independence.  PRESS TV notes:

    Iran and Iraq have started out joint military maneuvers in the Islamic Republic’s west and northwest to practice providing security for their common borders.

    The drills, codenamed Eqtedar (Authority), recruit armored, artillery, and infantry units of the Iranian Army, the drone and helicopter squadrons of the Ground Forces of Iran’s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), as well as some units enlisted with the Iraqi Army, ISNA reported on Monday.


    In the KRG, the referendum was extremely popular -- approximately 92% of voters voted for it.  The threats being made against the KRG have not weakened the internal support.  Histyar Qader (NIQASH) reports:

    Almost immediately the Iraqi government presented the Iraqi Kurds with a post-referendum list of demands, saying they needed to give up control of their border posts, including airports, as well as oil exports. They also demanded that the results of the referendum be annulled and said they would not recognize said results, although as some pundits have pointed out, the referendum was always non-binding.
    As Abdullah al-Zaidi, a representative of the ruling Shiite Muslim political alliance that runs the country, told NIQASH, the Kurds should have been expecting that kind of reaction.
    “We will not negotiate on the basis of the Kurdish independence referendum and we informed the Kurds of this position before the referendum was held,” says al-Zaidi, who is responsible for the Kurdish portfolio in Baghdad. “We also told the Kurdish delegation that negotiations before the referendum would be different from negotiations after the referendum.”
    Asked what would bring all parties to the table, al-Zaidi told NIQASH that Iraqi Kurdistan needed to “annul the referendum results and the consequences, or face internal isolation”.
    There have also been threats of external isolation from neighbouring countries upset by the referendum, such as Turkey and Iran.
    “We consider that any kind of collective punishment by these countries against the Kurdish region to be illegitimate,” Safeen Dizayee, the spokesperson for the Iraqi Kurdish government, told NIQASH. “We hope these threats do not become reality.”

    In fact, Dizayee  believes that shared economic, security and political interests will prevent Iraqi Kurdistan from being isolated by international allies and enemies alike. However, he concedes that the region’s relationships with Iran and Turkey are going to be more complicated from now on, and that certainly they will be different than before the referendum.


    Externally?

    Oh, cowards line up behind Hayder al-Abadi -- the puppet Barack installed in 2014.

    Cathrin Schaer (NIQASH) reports:


    The list of friends and enemies who oppose this Kurdish example of direct democracy grows longer by the day.
    European media have found it particularly notable that this time, the US – generally a staunch ally of Iraqi Kurdistan – couldn’t do the back room deals their envoys usually do, to postpone the referendum. Many analysts noted that the statement the US eventually issued on the topic was unusually harsh.
    Turkish and Iranian opposition is also always explained by reporters: Both fear Kurdish independents in their own countries.
    Germany is home to the largest Kurdish diaspora in the world and the Germans are feted in Iraqi Kurdistan for helping the local military with weaponry to fight the extremist group known as the Islamic State. Yet the German foreign office has also expressed disapproval of the referendum.

    In some German media, the referendum was praised. But often in these opinion pieces, the semi-autonomous Kurdish zones in Syria are also a focus, possibly because many left-wing Germans are admiring of the brand of politics known as “democratic confederalism” practised by the mostly Syrian Kurds present in those areas.


    And in the Iraqi Parliament . . .

    Iraq parliament votes to halt transactions with Kurdistan - state TV via






    In other news, Jalal Talabani has passed.


    - Jalal Talabani has passed away today. Former President of between 2005-2014 and President of the party






    Jalal's death is not surprising in the least.

    Bully Boy Bush was still president when we reported here on what happened as Jalal left an American hospital, pigged out and collapsed.

    He refused to follow doctor's orders.

    He also lied about his health.

    Such as when then US-vice president Joe Biden asked Jalal to torpedo the resolution for a no confidence -vote on Nouri al-Maliki.

    Jalal did as he was told/bribed.  And since the no confidence vote was favored by Sunnis, Shi'ites and Kurds, Jalal quickly high tailed it out of Iraq.  He fled to Germany and lied that he needed life threatening surgery.  In reality, he had elective surgery on a knee.


    But karma bit him in the ass for that.

    Months later, December 2012,  in Baghdad, he got into an argument with Nouri and Jalal suffered a stroke.   The incident took place late on December 17, 2012 following Jalal's argument with Iraq's prime minister and chief thug Nouri al-Maliki (see the December 18, 2012 snapshot).  Jalal was admitted to Baghdad's Medical Center Hospital.    Thursday, December 20, 2012, he was moved to Germany.  He could not speak, he could not move -- but the Talabani family disguised that and lied to the Iraqi people.


    To further the lie, they staged photo ops.

    The first time was in May. Jalal was posed for a series of photos that appear to indicate his body was present but that was all.

    jalal



    The second set, months later, also showed Jalal posed with his right side to the camera.

    The first set of photos led to comparisons to the film Weekend At Bernies (where two men use Bernie's corpse to pretend Bernie's still alive).  

    Over 18 months later Jalal would return.  They wouldn't be able to use the return to pump up his party in elections because he couldn't speak.

    In other words, the Talabani family lied to the Iraqi people, deceived them.  Iraq had a non-functioning president who should have been removed from office.  But the Talabanis lied to keep Jalal in a post he could not serve.

    How fitting that Jalal passed away when the KRG was closer than ever to independence.  It was 2009 when he angered many by declaring, "The idea of a united Kurdistan is just a dream written in poetry."


    Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Put a Crook back in Congress" went up yesterday.
    New content at THIRD:



    The following community sites -- plus Cindy Sheehan -- updated:


















  • iraq iraq iraq iraq iraq Iraq