Tuesday, June 05, 2018

The Supreme Court ruling and idiot Michael Moore

Yesterday (“That awful ruling ”), I wrote about the decision the Supreme Court made about the cake owner (he could refuse to bake a cake for a same-sex couple).  Here’s Eric London (WSWS) on that case:
 
In the second decision, Masterpiece Cakeshop Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission, the court ruled 7-2 that Colorado violated a baker’s “free speech” rights when it sanctioned him for refusing to bake a cake for a gay couple’s wedding. Five Republicans and two Democrats—Elena Kagan and Stephen G. Breyer—accepted the baker’s argument that he was the victim of discrimination at the hands of the state’s civil rights commission.
Although the decision does not specifically state that business owners can refuse to serve gay customers, it does establish the absurd rule that the “right” of the discriminator must be weighed against the rights of the people being discriminated against. The court berated the Colorado civil rights commission for comparing the baker’s bigotry to anti-Black and anti-Semitic prejudice, ruling that while “Colorado law can protect gay persons in acquiring products and services on the same terms and conditions as are offered to other members of the public, the law must be applied in a manner that is neutral toward religion.”
Under the guise of “freedom of religion”—long a straw man used by the religious right to impose bigotry and backwardness on the population—the ruling undercuts the Supreme Court’s 1964 rulings in Katzenbach v. McClung and Heart of Atlanta Motel v. United States against racist business owners who claimed the Civil Rights Act violated their “right” to refuse service to African Americans.


He makes some solid points and he also examines the other decisions handed down yesterday so be sure to check it out.
 
Let’s talk Julian Assange.  Idiots like Michael Moore turned on Julian in their efforts to elect Hillary Clinton.  Moore, the tubby mess, turned on Julian on HBO (that awful talk show on Friday nights starring the Muslim bigot Bill Maher).  I haven’t turned on Julian.  What he does is inform the public.  That’s noble.  That’s needed.  These efforts to imprison him are ridiculous.  The UK should let him go.  The charges against him were dropped.  They need to stop pursuing him. 
 
Idiots like Michael Moore are not woth listening to.  They will never be there to help you.  They will always stab you in the back.  It was one of his books in the early 00s, remember, when he wrote that Mumia was guilty.  After years of defending him, Moore turns on him – and with a cheap joke.
 
He really is a disgrace.
 
He’s also a coward.  I didn’t vote in 2000 – I wasn’t old enough.  He did.  He voted for Ralph Nader and campaigned for him.  That’s fine.  We can all vote for who we want.  But in 2004, again on TV, he got down on his knees and begged Ralph not to run.  What a coward, what a disaster. 
 

He doesn’t stand for anything.  He has no career because he has no talent.  His big documentary that he won the Academy Award for?  It was nothing.  And that’s before you grasp that he had a budget of 6 million dollars.  Six million dollars, most documentaries do not have anything like that for a budget.  On his next one it was $9 million.  That’s outrageous especially when all he does is glorified clip jobs.  He has to sell tickets and he does that by kissing up to the Democratic Party to try to get their members to see his films. He’s disgusting.

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


Tuesday, June 5, 2018.  The fakery never ends.


18 years after the ongoing Iraq War began, we finally have an answer as to why.

 11h11 hours ago
Kate Hoit Retweeted Leo Shane III
Dear , Iraq War veteran here. I don’t agree with the President (at all). Take a knee. Kneel in the face of injustice. You have the right to protest. That’s what we fought for and will continue to defend.
Kate Hoit added,
Trump won’t honor the Super Bowl champion tomorrow, instead will make another statement against the NFL.
129 replies1,241 retweets4,331 likes
 
 


Kate Hoit explains that the Iraq War was about the 'evildoer' Saddam Hussein refusing to allow American football players to take a knee.

And wherever Kate sees an evildoer refusing to allow someone to take a knee, she will be there.

Do the lies ever stop?

The Iraq War is about oil.  It has always been about oil.  It was never about Weapons of Mass Destruction -- there were none.



From THE LOS ANGELES TIMES, September 17, 2007:

 "The Iraq war is largely about oil," former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan says in his new book -- an assertion disputed by lawmakers and the U.S. Defense secretary.
"I'm saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows," Greenspan, 81, writes in "The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World."
Greenspan writes that the attention given by developed nations to the political situation in the Middle East is directly tied to oil security.
"Whatever their publicized angst over Saddam Hussein's 'weapons of mass destruction,' American and British authorities were also concerned about violence in an area that harbors a resource indispensable for the functioning of the world economy," he writes.



11 years ago, Greenspan was forced to walk those remarks back due to outrage.  The outrage should be over the fact that even now the truth cannot be discussed honestly.  Greenspan's remarks above are not off the cuff statements from an interview.  He thought about them, he wrote them down, he read them in the galleys and he okayed their publication.  He knew exactly what he was writing.

You were not fighting for freedom to take a knee, Kate.  You might have been fighting for the 'freedom' of low gas prices.  But don't ever pretend this was about some wonderful free speech issue because it was a war of lies.

It's 18 years on and people are still fighting in the Iraq War.  Don't you think it's time you got honest?  Do you seriously intend to lie your entire life?

It's an ongoing war.  It will probably continue until we can get honest.

  1.  9h9 hours ago
My dad is home safe from his deployment in Iraq!!!! I’m so happy!!!!!!! ❤️❤️❤️
3 replies2 retweets23 likes
 
 


I'm glad too, Sophie Rose.

I don't want anyone dying in this war.  And no US troops should be there to begin with.  But until we can get sanity in our government, US troops will continue to be sent to Iraq.



Say a little prayer till they all get home
Say a little prayer till they all get home
I knew when we woke up
You would be leaving
You knew when you left me
It might be too long
That kiss on your shoulder
It's me looking over
Close to your heart
So you're never alone
Say a little prayer till they all get home
Say a little prayer till they all get home
-- "Till They All Get Home," written by Melanie (Safka) and first appears on Melanie's Crazy Love



US troops need to come home.  The Iraqi people need to be allowed to sort out their future.  The US needs to stop installing puppets in Iraq.  If you believe in democracy and self-determination, then you shouldn't support this 18 year war that shows no end in sight.


IRAQI NEWS reports a clash outside Samarra left 2 militia members dead and four more injured (no reports of ISIS deaths or injuries in the clash) and, yesterday, four militia members were killed in a clash with ISIS in Salahuddin Province.


In other violence, Turkey and the PKK.    Aaron Hess (International Socialist Review) described the PKK in 2008, "The PKK emerged in 1984 as a major force in response to Turkey's oppression of its Kurdish population. Since the late 1970s, Turkey has waged a relentless war of attrition that has killed tens of thousands of Kurds and driven millions from their homes. The Kurds are the world's largest stateless population -- whose main population concentration straddles Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria -- and have been the victims of imperialist wars and manipulation since the colonial period. While Turkey has granted limited rights to the Kurds in recent years in order to accommodate the European Union, which it seeks to join, even these are now at risk."

Over the objections of the Baghdad based government, the Turkish government has repeatedly bombed norhtern Iraq and sent Turkish troops into Iraq on the ground to attack.  The US government has backed this.

Farmers and villagers have been killed as Turkey has insisted it was killing PKK.


ANADOLU AGENCY reports  today:
Turkish jets “neutralized” three PKK terrorists in northern Iraq, according to the military on Wednesday.
In a statement, the Turkish General Staff said the airstrikes targeting the terror group were carried out in northern Iraq’s Zap region.
Turkish authorities often use the word "neutralized" in their statements to imply that the terrorists in question either surrendered or were killed or captured.


And AP notes:

 Turkey has threatened to attack Iraq's Qandil region, where outlawed Kurdish rebels maintain their headquarters.
Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag told reporters Monday that militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, frequently carry out attacks against Turkey from bases in the Qandil mountains and elsewhere in Iraq.
Bozdag said "everyone knows that Qandil is a center for terror. Turkey could enter Qandil, everything is possible at any time."

At this point, it's worth noting WikiLeaks revelations on the PKK suggest that the US government also backs them from time to time.  Worth noting because YENI SAFAK is reporting:
Turkey’s possible Qandil operation has thrust the U.S. front into panic. There are claims that once Qandil, the main base of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), is cleared of terror elements, the group will relocate to Sinjar. The U.S. deployed 200 troops to Sinjar, which is being evaluated as a move to protect the PKK. This deployment was confirmed by the Sinjar District Governor.
There are claims that Special U.S. Presidential Envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh Brett McGurk, who met with members of the terror group in June 2016, pointed to Afrin as an alternate to Qandil. Once the Afrin option was off the table as a result of Turkey’s ongoing Operation Olive Branch, Sinjar was presented as an alternative.


Great.  As if the US government hasn't abused US troops enough.  Now, like toy soldiers, they're moved over to Sinjar to protect the PKK -- which the US government has always insisted they were opposed to but which, in fact, the US government has helped and aided for some time.

US troops are not used to protect freedom, they're used as toys in a destabilization operation.  That's outrageous.  They need to all be brought home.


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Monday, June 04, 2018

That awful ruling

Let's start with a comic, Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "He crawls out from under his rock"


moore


CNN reports that in a 7 to 2 ruling, the Supreme Court today said that the baker in Colorado did have the right to refuse to bake a case for a same-sex wedding.
 

 
 
And I don’t agree.  But I was willing to support the ruling thinking the argument was going to be that a business had a right to refuse service to anyone.  They are a private business.
 
And if they do that, I have the right to not do business with them – and I wouldn’t, I don’t support homophobia.
 
But that’s not what they ruled on.  They went with religious freedom.
 
I think that was a stupid move.  I believe in religious freedom (I’m Catholic).  I think we have the freedom to worship.  But the simpler position here – and I always think judges should move towards the simple – would be to say a private business could decline service.
 
Would this allow racism?  It sure would.  And any establishment that refused to serve someone due to race would be an establishment I would not support. 
 
I think We The People can police establishments.
 
But with the religious decision?  I think we’re going to see a variety of decisions branching out on this.  I don’t think it’s going to be pretty.
 
Again, I don’t agree with the overall ruling.  I don’t think they should be able to refuse service.  But if you’re going to say that they can?  Then make it because of the business itself. 
 
And we can then avoid them or stage sit-ins or whatever is needed.
 

By citing religion, I think we’ve opened up a lot of new legal issues.


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


Monday, June 4, 2018.

Starting with the Hobby Lobby of journalists Rukmini Callimachi who stole thousands of documents from Iraq.


 4d4 days ago
1. Many of you have written to ask me what will happen to the ISIS Files we recovered in Iraq? Ever since we found the first set of records, my editor & I recognized their historic value. We have some exciting news we can finally share:



Is that exciting?  It's not news.  It's propaganda.  The real news, noted in Friday's snapshot, was much more exciting.  The Iraqi government has ordered Rukmini and THE NEW YORK TIMES to return the documents immediately and to apologize for the theft.


Despite the order being posted online, Rukmini has yet to be honest about what has taken place.


A thief without honor, who would have thought such a thing could exist!!!!


Not only has she not been upfront, she's flat out lied.


 Jun 2
Next level BS from and
 
3 replies17 retweets27 likes
 
 



What a liar.  What a thief.

Not everyone's impressed with the colonial thief.

  1.  Jun 1
NYT admitted the historical values of the files, yet they insist on keeping them without even trying to apologize for how everything happened.
3 replies0 retweets3 likes
 
 
  •  Jun 1
    • Always nice to see you on my timeline . The Q & A above specifically says that we’re handing the originals to the Iraqi Embassy. At the same time, we’re giving digital copies to a university which will make them available online. Are you arguing this is a bad thing?
    2 replies1 retweet3 likes
     
     
  •  Jun 1
    • Thr documents do not belong to the NYT and therefore good or bad isn’t for you to ask let alone decide. Return them. The profit can’t be justified by the we are making them available in line refrain.
    1 reply0 retweets2 likes
     
     
  •  Jun 1
    • Respectfully, as the Q and A posted on my timeline above explains, the NYT is indeed returning them. Are you arguing that we shouldn’t make them available to the public online? How does that serve anyone except the ISIS members who will therefore be shielded from prosecution?
    2 replies0 retweets1 like
     
     
    Replying to   
    perhaps you could write a piece about what you going to do can't find Q&A in 263 comments on twitter. What about research ethics and protection of innocent here its a bit more complicated that just posting everything online. its smacks of colonial plundering hence.
    3:39 AM - 2 Jun 2018
    1 reply3 retweets5 likes
     
     
      1. New conversation
      1.  Jun 2
    Replying to   and 
    found your q&a article the point you will never get past is that they weren't yours for taking, you should return them to the Iraqi legal system and insitutions with no further debate. this volume of docs on line will endanger an innocent you will make a mistake.
    1 reply2 retweets2 likes
     
     
  •  Jun 2
    • The NYT’s justification is essentially this: without our q&a amd our podcast these documents would never have been public b/c the infrastructure is Iraq is non-existent. Basically what the British said to Pakistan/India/Africa. And you know that worked out.
    2 replies1 retweet3 likes
     
     




     3d3 days ago
    Replying to 
    Spoiler alert: She stole them.


    She did.

    But the thief does have her defenders:

      1.  Jun 1
    Dear lady, you work for a newspaper, you should know that copying/xeroxing is stealing. Can I come to your house , Xerox your personnal letters and documents and ask for your forgiveness ? Admit that you think that third world countries are your playgrounds. Arrogance.
    1 reply0 retweets0 likes
     
     
  •  Jun 1
    • You will be able to view those documents someday yourself. So will your neighbors who are scholars and researchers. Doesn’t that feel liberating?
    0 replies0 retweets1 like
     
     
    • End of conversation
    • New conversation
    1.  Jun 1
    • Replying to   and 
    Or what they want to share. Question is why she stole it? What were they searching for? Or trying to cover?
    1 reply0 retweets0 likes
     
     
  •  Jun 1
    • Iraqi Intelligence had already deemed it of no value and tossed it in the burn pile. How can you steal something that has no value?
    1 reply0 retweets1 like
     
     
  •  Jun 1
    • That's her version. Iraqi version is that it was a theft of evidence they actually want to go through. She has prevented investigation by stealing it.
    1 reply0 retweets0 likes
     
     
  •  Jun 1
    • You will be able to investigate it yourself someday soon.
    1 reply0 retweets1 like
     
     
  •  Jun 1
    • I dont believe the documents wont be altered & carrefuly selected-no value left as we know any incriminating informations they may have contained were already taken care of.I hope you understand my distrust to US authorities after million of Iraqis was slaughtered,Abu Ghraib etc.
    0 replies0 retweets0 likes
     
     
    • End of conversation
    • New conversation
    1.  Jun 1
    • Replying to   and 
    I think your argument stems from a lack of understanding of how a Constitutionally Protected Free Press is supposed to function:
    1 reply0 retweets1 like
     
     
    New conversation
  •  Jun 1
    • "Constitutionally protected press"?? Really? How about Iraq's constitution, laws she broke by stealing evidence of crimes? She committed a crime and all you have to say is that?
    0 replies0 retweets0 likes
     
     




    She was not given these papers.  She can lie all she wants.

    Nor did the military of Iraq tell her she could take them -- a claim she and her defenders make.  She was imbedded with the militia.  Read her articles from the time period.  She was not dealing with the head of the military.  She had no permission at all.  She did not consult the Iraqi government when she left with the documents -- which is more than mere theft, it's known as smuggling.

    The 'digitizing' b.s. only comes up after she's been called out for being yet another example of empire, where a nation and its inhabitants just take what they want with no regard for the law.

    She stole.  And she smuggled.

    And she lied when leaving the country of Iraq and when entering the country of the US.  She is guilty of smuggling and should be behind bars.

     3d3 days ago
    Replying to   and 
    Give back what you stole and stop arguing. You are a thief and you know it. Would you do the same at home ? No. The "third world" is not your playground.
    1 reply0 retweets0 likes
     
     


    It is theft and how sad that it's another stain on THE NEW YORK TIMES.  They can't spin their way out of this fast enough.  They're trying.  But they can't.

    1.  Jun 2
    Next level BS from and
     
    3 replies17 retweets27 likes
     
     
  •  14h14 hours ago
    • . - Could you please help clear things and confirm whether you have or haven't received such correspondence, and whether there has been any follow-up? I'd appreciate a response. Thanks!
    1 reply1 retweet3 likes
     
     
    Replying to   and 
    Hello all - Our New York office is making arrangements for delivery of the documents to the Iraqi embassy in Washington. That is moving forward. Ramadan Kareem!
    4:15 AM - 4 Jun 2018
    0 replies1 retweet2 likes
     
     


    Coker responding by refusing to answer the question is the actual answer.


    And as someone who saw through Rukmini's b.s. over two years ago, let me explain what's going on in that head of hers right now.  She thinks this will blow over.  She thinks she has beaten back the scandal -- after asking friends to Tweet her praises over the last few days -- confirmed by a friend at NYT and two who refused to Tweet in support of her now that they knew she'd stolen the papers from Iraq.

    She thinks it's all over and that, in a month, no one will remember.

    Wrong.

    Countries will remember and any time she attempts to leave one, she will find that customs will be doing extra searches on her bags and her persons.

    More to the point, this never goes away.  It is her reputation now and it will define her more and more as each year passes.  Her smugness, her sense of entitlement will be the prism through which her work is now viewed.  She is the Ugly American.

    She is a thief.

    She lied to get through customs in both Iraq and the US.

    Enjoy the name you've made for yourself, Rukmini.  As I warned everyone in early 2016, you're even worse than Judith Miller.


    Her disrespect for the rights of others and the law is hardly unique in the US.  In fact, it's the position of the US government itself. Josh Gerstein (POLITICO) reported Friday night:


     The Defense Department recorded at least 18 phone calls intended to allow confidential communication between an American citizen being held prisoner by U.S. forces in Iraq and the prisoner’s attorneys at the American Civil Liberties Union, according to a court filing late Friday.
    In at least two instances, a civilian Defense Department employee listened to the attorney-client calls, government lawyers disclosed.


    On the topic of Iraq, Friday the ACLU issued the following:

     WASHINGTON — The Trump administration today submitted to Congress a report revealing how many civilian casualties it believes resulted from U.S. military operations in Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia, Libya and Yemen. The administration provided a classified version of the report to Congress and made public an unclassified version.
    The Department of Defense’s report estimates that military operations in the first year of the Trump administration have killed approximately 499 civilians and injured approximately 169 civilians. It says it is still assessing more than 450 reports of casualties in Iraq and Syria from 2017.
    Hina Shamsi, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Security Project, issued the following statement in response:
    “Importantly, the Trump administration has recognized it needs to report publicly on the number of civilians it has killed overseas, but this death count is simply not credible. Even as the Trump administration confirms that the number of lethal strikes dramatically increased in 2017, it provides only a total number of unidentified people killed in all those countries, without any additional detail.
    “The administration’s low death claims cannot be meaningfully tested and therefore cannot be trusted. Independent media and watchdog assessments make clear that the number of civilians killed overseas is many times higher than what the Trump administration acknowledges. The administration’s explanation of discrepancies shows that it applies too high a standard for assessing whether reports of civilians deaths are ‘credible,’ and in far too many instances, the investigations it conducts are insufficient. Secrecy about the costs and consequences of Trump’s killing policies prevents meaningful public oversight and accountability for wrongful deaths. The victims of our government’s lethal actions deserve better, as does the American public in whose name the Trump administration is ordering people killed.”
    The public version of the Department of Defense’s report on civilian casualties can be found here: https://www.aclu.org/report/department-defenses-annual-report-civilian-casualties-connection-us-military-operations-june


    Iraq is a victim of its neighbors -- specifically Iran and Turkey who are denying it access to water.  RUDAW reported yesterday:

    The water crisis has spread in southern and central provinces of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region as dams built by Turkey and Iran, irrespective of international laws, slow the flow of rivers into Iraq to a trickle.

    There are growing fears up to seven million people will be displaced due to the dramatic fall in water resources.

    “Nine months ago, the Iraqi water resources ministry warned of water shortage during this summer. It called for necessary measures to be taken to tackle the issue,” Iraq’s Water Resources Minister Hassan al-Janabi told reporters on Saturday.

    “The government responded to us, forming a high level committee  comprising of many parties from agriculture, interior, defense, industry, electricity, housing and reconstruction and municipalities as well as the Iraqi Media Network in order to tackle the matter in question on a national level in case of water decrease,” he added



    Richard Spencer (TIMES OF LONDON) notes that the Iraqi Parliament held an emergency session on this issue over the weekend.  On the topic of Turkey, AHVAL adds:


    Turkey is intensifying its military presence in northern Iraq in the run up to elections, scheduled for 24th June, wrote journalist Menekse Tokyay in an article for the The Arab Weekly on Sunday.
    Turkish commandos have recently moved about 20km into Iraq’s Duhok and Erbil provinces, controlled by the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), according to local media reports quoted by Tokyay.
    The moves aim to counter the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has been fighting for self-rule in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish south-east since 1984 and which has a strong presence in the region.


    Meanwhile, facts deeply trouble AFP:
    Iraqi judicial authorities have issued an arrest warrant for a Kurdish politician at the centre of last year's failed independence bid, a source from within the provincial administration said on Sunday.
    Rebwar Talabani, head of the Kirkuk Provincial Council, was one of the architects of the September referendum in which an overwhelming majority backed independence for Iraqi Kurdistan.


    Failed independence bid?  It was a non-binding resolution.  It's only intent was to measure the public's response.  How is that a failure?  The only failure is the AFP's -- specifically, their inability to report honestly.

    I am by no means hoping for Rebwar Talabani's arrest and I hope the government is smart enough to drop the charges.  That said, there's more than a bit of karma involved here.  Jalal Talabani's son returned to Iraq from his US home in an attempt to disrupt the vote and he also ordered Kurdish security to stand down and allow Kirkuk to be taken.  So there is karma here in that a Talabani is now the one targeted with arrest.  Rebwar is currently in Erbil.  He'll probably choose to stay there for awhile.  Baghdad has no power over Erbil (demonstrated by Moussad Barzani when he gave asylum to Tariq al-Hashemi during the reign of thug Nouri al-Maliki).


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