Thursday, April 04, 2019

MODERN FAMILY

MODERN FAMILY is working overtime to argue that this season should be its last.  Last night's episode was funny in a few bits -- not many -- but instantly forgettable.  The writers have never been that good but they've only gotten worse.

Never been that good?  In one episode -- where Lily's locked in the car -- Cam says Mitch is a good father because he's already gotten Lily on pre-K lists.  Then a few seasons later, it's panic because they never thought of this and they call Claire to see if she can pull some strings with one that her kids went to.  Or Jay and Gloria are hiding in the closet while everyone thinks they are out of town and Mitch and Cam are in the bedroom and Gloria overhears them and thinks they are talking about the spankings she and Jay engage in.  Followed by? A season or two later when Jay thinks Gloria wants to spank him and they've never done anything like that and, more shock, he tells Cam and Mitch and they're shocked.  This happens over and over and it's bad writing.  Previously established threads are ignored.  Bad, bad writing.

I also think they're writing Lily poorly these days.  They don't know what to do with her and it's just really sad when she's on now.  Oh, kids.  Luke is a wonder because he lies and Claire and Phil are amazed.  But two or three seasons prior it was the same storyline and the same reaction to Haley lying.

So in the episode last night, that I watched this morning on HULU, Phil goes to visit Alex (whom the writers just remembered was at college and is now about to graduate) and she's embarrassed by him.  I'm embarrassed by Alex.  She's too old to be embarrassed by her father especially when Phil is a father who does no real wrong.  Claire?  She finds a six pack she's hot for.  Her friend shows her a photo of the hottie.  Claire is impressed.  It turns out that it's Luke.  Oh, Claire, you just get more and more disgusting.  Jay wants a golf foursome but people think he's asking for another kind of foursome -- yes, it was the sort of thing better left to Mr. Furley on THREE'S COMPANY.  Oh and Cam doesn't realize he's growing older.  That only would have been funny if the writers had remembered he was a Leap Year baby so he only gets a birthday every four years.

This season has been so bad.   

  1. If we treat people like animals in prison & force them to do dehumanizing things to survive that environment, we perpetuate violent behavior & increase recidivism. Goal of our prisons should be to help ppl become more caring, develop respect & compassion



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


Thursday, April 4, 2019.  More women come forward to speak about Joe Biden groping them, Joe offers a justification and much more.



On sale now via ActBlue. Creepy Joe 2020!





Former US Vice President and former US Senator Joe Biden released a video announcement yesterday.  We'll get to it.  I don't have time to watch every video in the world and rarely do.  If I'm watching the news, I'm 'watching,' meaning I'm reading and listening.  I'll watch if it's something Ava and I'll be covering at THIRD, otherwise, I am multi-tasking.  I bring that up because several videos were mentioned yesterday by college students we spoke with about the war.

Joe Biden is a natural topic in these discussions.  He's planning to announce that he's running for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.  In typical Gaffe Prone Joe, he actually already announced last month only to grasp his words moments after he said them and then pull them back.  Can't have spontaneity, everything must be part of the master plan!

Joe Biden supported the Iraq War as a US senator. He promoted the concept of splitting Iraq into three sepearate governments -- a federation.  While Barack Obama was president (January 2009 through January 2017), Joe Biden represented the US government on and in Iraq.  Barack put him over Iraq.

So any discussion of ongoing wars is going to include Joe.

But Goping Biden has been the topic the students ha e raised all week.  Yesterday was pretty much the same except several students wanted to discuss specific videos, videos of Joe with children.  I had not seen those videos before.  Boundary-free Biden needs to grasp right now -- whether he runs for president or not -- that his hands do not belong on little girl's chests.  In two different videos, a person could argue that it looks like he's rubbing/touching the girls' nipples.  Is he doing that?  I hope to hell not.  But the videos do beg that question.

From this day forward, he needs to never again touch a little girl's chest while 'supporting' their parents in some form.  It is disgusting and it is outrageous.  There is very real anger at Joe Biden this week and his little video yesterday did not help him.

I will say here what I said to the students who showed the videos.  I have known Joe to be a nice person.  I have never heard a whisper about him and any child -- male or female.  I have known him to be a good parent to his sons.  I would be surprised if Joe had any intention to do anything untoward to children.  But those videos are gross and that behavior is not 'presidential.'  He needs to stop touching little girls to begin with but his hands do not ever, ever need to go to a little girl's chest again.  It is gross and it is disgusting.

I also explained that former US House Rep Bob Filner (also former mayor) is someone I still have great love for.  I was shocked when the women came forward to speak against him.  I said when they came forward that they had every right to speak and be heard.  They spoke of a Bob I did not know.  And I thought I knew him very well.  As I've noted here many times, that moment made really clear that if we're not there we need to shut up.  I am very glad that I wrote what I did before Bob confessed.  I am glad I didn't Alyssa Milano him -- cover for him and insist that he couldn't be guilty because blah blah blah.  As I know Joe, he couldn't do anything to children.  But I'm not around Joe twenty-four seven and watching the videos the students showed -- CSPN footage on one -- I do understand how someone could interpret them the way the bulk of the students did.

Joe needs to do a sit down interview and the interviewer needs to show him video of his hands on the chests of little girls, of his hands moving around on the chests of little girls.  And Joe needs to state he will never touch that area on a little girl again.  This is so grotesque and so outrageous.  And disgusting.  It is uncomfortable to watch.  And no one should have to watch it because it never should have happened.

Here is the video Joe released yesterday, via NBC NEWS.




He doesn't need "to make a human connection" with children.  He needs to keep his hands off them.

In the two minute video, he speaks a lot about himself and offers a hell of a lot of justifications.

He does not, however, manage to utter the words "I'm sorry" or "I made a mistake and I apologize."

I find the video to be utter crap.  Joe needs a better team if they think that was gong to cut it.  It's not going to.

Joe keeps presenting himself as the champion of women and Alyssa Milano's howring whatever is left of her I-was-a-TV-celebrity-decades-ago reputation on this.  Joe is not a champion of women.  He failed women in the Thomas-Hill hearings.  I can remember a woman who will not -- will not! -- be endorsing Joe publicly, I can remember her crying in the halls of Congress over Joe's behavior with a Bully Boy Bush Supreme Court nominee (who was then confirmed).  I don't care how many times some bra-less airhead Alyssa insists otherwise, Joe is not a champion of women.  A champion of women does not do to Anita Hill what Joe did.  And a champion of women does not have one or two pieces of legislation to point to.  Not when they've spent decades -- decades! -- in the US Senate.

Prior to this issue -- the groping -- becoming a focus, Joe was on his Non-Apology Tour.  He was talking about Anita Hill and how he wronged her.  Or hinting around it.  But he didn't say the words "I'm sorry."  Just like he didn't offer an apology in that two minute video.

Caitlyn Caruso is one of the four women who have publicly spoken out about Joe's groping.  


As Biden considers launching a presidential campaign for 2020, Caruso said his “mistreatment of Anita Hill” is what people should consider when it comes to determining whether he’s qualified to run.
Amid the Me Too movement, there has been renewed criticism of Biden’s handling of law professor Hill’s testimony during the 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearing for Clarence Thomas. Biden has expressed regret for the treatment Hill received at the time, although Hill has called this insufficient because he did not directly address his own role in the matter.  

“If we’re really centering sexual assault survivors, we have to make sure we recognize why he made this whole movement of ‘It’s On Us,’” Caruso said, referring to Biden’s initiative aiming to end sexual assault. “What is he making up for? And that is his mistreatment of Anita Hill in ’91.” 

Before the groping became a focus in the press, people were already calling Joe out on his refusal to apologize to Anita Hill.

Come on . Just CALL Anita Hill and then GO TO HER HOUSE and APOLOGIZE to her FACE. The longer you wait the worse it gets.







Wednesday’s video didn’t significantly depart from that “hey, I’m just like this” defense. And it’s unlikely to convince many of those who have criticized Biden for his behavior that Uncle Joe should be forgiven for bringing creepy and inappropriate invasions of personal space that were condoned in his youth into 21st century politics. But the video serves its purpose brilliantly. It was written and filmed for his base, the disproportionately older Democrats who might identify more with a well-meaning man caught in the crossfire of fast-changing social norms than with the people trying to change them.       


And the four women who have come forward?  It's now seven.  Rebecca Falconer (AXIOS) explains:


Another 3 women came forward to say they had uncomfortable encounters with former Vice President Biden, The Washington Post first reported Wednesday night, bringing the total number of accusers to 7.
Details: Vail Kohnert-Yount, Sofie Karasek and Ally Coll told WashPost Biden had touched them in ways that made them feel uncomfortable.

Sophie Weiner (SPLINTER NEWS) notes:

In response to the video Biden posted earlier today, in which he said he will change his behavior, Kohnert-Yount emailed the Post.
“I appreciate his attempt to do better in the future, but to me this is not mainly about whether Joe Biden has adequate respect for personal space. It’s about women deserving equal respect in the workplace,” she wrote.


We've had to spend every day this week on Joe Biden.  It fits, he's one of the reasons the Iraq War started and certainly a reason it continues.  His behavior is important for that reason alone.  In addition, I'm a feminist so that makes it important as well.  But those of you buying into Alyssa Milano's warped view better grasp that I'm not in a bubble.  I knew Donald Trump was going to win the election and said so in September.  I knew that because I was not in the bubble.  I'm not laying around my pool ll day.  I am out in the country speaking out against these never-ending wars to various groups and I'm hearing what they are saying.

The video Joe made is going to do very little because he's already taken a hit and what he needed was a video that included an apology.  This is a very real issue and it is not going away because of his video yesterday.  If you think that, you're in for some surprises.

If Joe declares he's running, the issue may be put on hold because he's forced to answer serious questions about his role in the rise of ISIS -- chief among them, supporting Nouri al-Maliki for a second term (when ISIS took hold) after the Iraq people voted Nouri out of office (the US-negotiated Erbil Agreement overturned the vote of the people).



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What the US needs to do in order to prevent a new ISIS in Iraq





ISIS is a bigger issue today than it was when Joe was vice president.  The world has a more clearly defined view of the terrorist organization.  Biden's role in its growth is not a non-issue.

In other news . . .


Saudi Arabia gives Iraq $1 billion grant: state TV citing minister





When you think of the poor countries where people starve it is flat out offensive that Iraq is getting a billion dollar grant.  More offensive is that oil-rich Iraq needs that money -- or the people do -- because Iraqi officials keep stealing the money of the people.

Joe Biden was a US Senator and he was a vice president and yet he mainly advocated backing every fraud and theif in the Iraqi government.  (We attended the hearing where he didn't do so and it was the most poorly attended hearing -- by the press -- I've ever been at.  If Joe declares, we will be touching on that earlier reporting a lot.)


The following sites updated:





  • Wednesday, April 03, 2019

    Tulsi

    Tulsi is still my number on draft pick for the presidency. 




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  • TV talking heads love trying to goad Trump into going to war w/ Russia. Here’s just one example: is trying to get Trump to prove he's not guilty of appeasement by going to war with Russia over Venezuela.
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  • [3/4] Trump’s closing the border isn’t because he cares more about security than trade, as he falsely claims, but rather it’s because he wants to prove to his base of supporters that he is tough on immigration. But all he cares about is his political interests, and if…
  • [2/4] …and advanced nuclear tech to Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest spreader and propagator of terrorist/radical jihadist ideology; selling F-35 fighter jets to Turkey, etc. These examples expose the lie.
  • [1/4] President Trump just said he might close the border even though it will be damaging to our economy, claiming that "safety & security is more important to me than trade.” Really? Selling hundreds of billions in arms sales…
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  • Aloha to Hawai’i Army National Guard soldiers deploying to Afghanistan
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  • We need a to take the trillions of dollars spent on regime change wars and the nuclear arms race and invest them to meet the needs of the American people. Otherwise, we can't even ensure our most vulnerable communities have clean water following a disaster.
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  • She's a leader.


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


    Wednesday, April 3, 2019.  As former Vice President Joe Biden prepares to announce his run for the presidency, two more women step forward.

    And now there are four.  THE NEW YORK TIMES reported late yesterday that two more women have stepped forward to complain about Joe Biden groping them. Then 19-year-old Caitlyn Caruso was groped   Elaine offered an example of how the hideous Alyssa Milano might try to spin that:

    Hagtress Alyssa Milano will, no doubt, show up to defend Joe Biden again.  Probably insist, "Yes, he touched Caitlyn's leg but he did so at 'an event about sexual assault' and we have to give him credit for attending the event!  That's the important thing!"



    For years, we have had to endure the image of the wife standing next to the politician husband as he minimizes his actions.  Apparently, these days the Alyssa Milanos will rush forward to volunteer for the job.

    The second woman is DJ Hill who explained that Joe's hands were slipping down her back when her husband stepped in to stop it.

    RT CBSThisMorning: Four women are coming forward about former Vice President Joe Biden, saying he touched them in a way that made them feel uncomfortable.


    5:30
    323 views



    Four women have now come forward and there are more women considering coming forward.  Applause for all four who have come forward.  This is not a conversation that America has ever wanted to have -- and judging by the offensive remarks of Alyssa Milano and others (Weight Gain McCain, for example), it's a conversation that the country will be forced to have.  Boys will be boys and Biden will be Biden appears to be the position so many of them are taking.

    In contrast to the willfully stupid, Jessica Valenti (MEDIUM) observes:


    Those who believe this is simply a matter of misunderstanding must then fundamentally not trust women. But women have been dealing with these interactions since, unfortunately, before puberty. We are the utmost experts in what they mean — what’s appropriate and what’s demeaning.
    I also wonder how many men would be fine with a boss who rubbed their shoulders while deeply inhaling the back of their head. The truth is that if men had to deal with a fraction of the indignities women are expected to endure, they would revolt.
    The effect of these seemingly minor infractions is one that women know all too well: Every shoulder rub and unwanted kiss tells us how little our personal space, privacy, and dignity really mean. Women are reminded of our place again and again and again. And then, when we’re told it’s all in our heads, we’re reminded one more time.




    It’s telling that Biden has constructed his defense around the claim that he never had the “intention” of causing women discomfort. He’s placed the burden of reckoning on the recipients of his actions, the women who mistook his friendly gestures as invasive and unsettling. But good intentions that forge ahead, time after time, with no regard for the unique circumstances of each situation are no longer good—they’re careless. Any leader might occasionally offend women or step out of line in physical interactions with them. But he’d do so in spite of his sincere best efforts, not because he seemingly didn’t care enough to try. 



    It's really clear and it's really basic -- unless you're an enabler like Alyssa Milano.  If you're an enabler, you Tweet crap like this.

    4. Joe Biden’s response that he never meant to make anyone uncomfortable and that he'll listen and learn from anyone who says otherwise is exactly the leadership we need to build a culture where women are heard and are equal.




    "Listen and learn''?  He and his wife both called the Carters to get Stephanie to write that piece she wrote which, yes, is dismissing Lucy Flores.  But more to the point, he's 76-years-old and has been doing this forever.  There have been articles about it, there was Samantha Bee's infamous 2015 skit about it on THE DAILY SHOW.  At what point do we stop saying, "Oh, if only the women involved had expressly told him . . ."  No, it's his behavior and it's always been inappropriate.  He's gotten away with it and he knows he has.  He's only 'addressing' it now -- hiding behind women's skirts -- because he wants to bury it before his big "I am announcing I will seek the Democratic Party's presidential nomination" moment later this month.

    He has shown no leadership on this issue.  He has ignored it and only responded when forced to.

    I guess Alyssa's 'busy' schedule of doing nothing doesn't allow her time to brush up on issues or information.  She's got that bit part in the NETFLIX series everyone hated, remember?  She's so busy.  She's trying to punish the Georgia film industry these days but if she was serious she could announce that she won't go to Georgia to film INSATIABLE anymore, couldn't she?  She could take a stand if she wanted to but she doesn't want to give up her bi part as the middle-aged side piece.  She knows her talent is minimal and her future job prospects even more so.


    Link to headline article

    Some just don't get it.  Like this one:

    Stop this insanity. If Joe Biden or anyone else sexually assaulted you, by all means please file charges. No matter when it happened. But if someone, touching you, male or female, makes you "uncomfortable," say something... to them...at the time. Even your cheek pinching grandma.



    Randi's all about the women -- provided they're men in dresses wearing dresses for laughs.  She didn't really write a part for Sally Field into MRS. DOUBTFIRE, did she?  Just a stereotypical nag.  Well there are always women who will hate themselves and write that into their work.  Congratulations, Randi, may you soon become the man you always wanted to be -- right after you kill Mommy -- that was the point of MRS. DOUBTFIRE, after all.  And THE TOOTH FAIRY.  Let's not forget that.  Or that her body of work is all about rebuking women.  Yet she thinks she can step up and we're all supposed to listen?  Write another bad 'comedy,' Randi, channel your rage over being a woman into that -- again.

    In the real world, and in the stories being shared, women explain that they were being groped by the Vice President of the United States and didn't believe they had any power.

    But worry no more!  Randi's busy writing SISSY'S BIG MOVE.  Vin Diesel, desperate to get his 'high strung' and 'distant' ex-wife back, learns that his wife was groped by the CEO of her company and didn't feel she could speak out.  So Vin dons a dress and becomes Sissy McMatthews -- a sassy and brassy new hire from the south who shows how a man -- posing as a woman -- would handle it and -- as in all of Randi's works -- saves the day because -- in Randi's works -- that's what men do.  And his ex-wife, she'll take him back and feel more kindly towards the kitchen -- it's a Randi script which means it writes itself!  Go, Randi, go! And take your violet and blue mornings with you.




    Joe voted for the Iraq War.

    I feel like really if you set aside all the charges about Joe Biden then you’re left with a guy who greenlit the Iraq War while chairing the foreign relations committee, has apologized for his earlier work chairing judiciary, and was known as a top ally for credit card companies.




    The Iraq War continues.   The never-ending wars continue.  The Defense Dept budget is a sink hole and Americans have less and less to show for their way of life as a result.


    From David DeGraw:
    Google has once again pulled my new report from their search results. This is the second report on whistleblowers being silenced that they have censored. The first report eventually got relisted after making noise about it on social media. Let's see what happens with this one...

    Please help spread the word on Twitter here and Facebook here.
    Get the full 45-page report in PDF format here and as MS Word doc here.

    ~*~

    As you can see from these extensive reports, I have been working hard to uncover vital information on this critical National Security issue. All of this work is done independently and it is 100% reader-funded. If you appreciate my work and want to see more of it, now is the time to step up in support.
    Very Grateful for all the much needed support,
    ~ David
    Please forward this e-mail to friends >>
    Social Media Links: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
    ~*~
    If you appreciate my work, please subscribe or make a one-time donation. Every dollar helps keep me reporting...
    Here's a section of David's report:

    Blow the whistle on fraud and the Defense Contract Audit Agency will accuse you of being a mentally ill terrorist.

    When you look into Whistleblower cases, there are many reoccurring themes. To get a more in-depth understanding of what whistleblowers are up against, in one of the very rare cases when American taxpayers were able to get justice, Kirk McGill, who was a Senior Auditor for the Defense Contract Audit Agency (DCAA), blew the whistle on a $433 million contract.
    After spending over two years battling against many retaliation attacks, which led to his demotion, involuntary transfer, unpaid suspension, character assassination and eventual resignation, McGill summed up his nightmare in dealing with the DOD IG, the office that handles DOD whistleblower complaints, by saying:
      "A number of my colleagues and superiors told me that attempting to contact DOD IG as a whistleblower was futile, and they have been proven totally correct."
      "It is clear that DOD IG is either one of the most incompetent investigative agencies in the history of that profession, or is deliberately being obtuse."
      "As noted repeatedly, DOD IG was told in a disclosure that DCAA IRD [Internal Review Directorate] was compromised."
      "Yet, despite this fact, DOD IG continued to refer complaints to IRD as if nothing was wrong. In doing so, DOD IG handed the very people that were retaliating against me, related to the whistleblower disclosures, specific details of the allegations I was making against them."
      "Even Inspector Clouseau would recognize that something is wrong with this picture."
    After the DOD IG referred McGill's case to the DCAA IRD, the DCAA IRD then engaged in a series of highly scandalous actions in attempts to discredit and silence McGill. They even falsely accused him of being a terrorist who wanted to blow up the Capitol Building, and they also made false accusations that he was mentally ill.
    A Wikipedia page featuring information about McGill's case was vandalized and derogatory comments smearing his reputation were added to the website. The IP address that made those "edits" to the Wikipedia entry came from internal DCAA servers.
    In addition to all of that, McGill's social media accounts were hacked.
    Keep in mind, this all happened to a Senior DOD Auditor for the Defense Contract Audit Agency who was vindicated after multiple Congressional hearings.
    As a military spending auditor, in this case alone, McGill saved American taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars, and this is how the DOD IG and Defense Contract Audit Agency, who oversee trillions of tax dollars, tried to silence him.
    It took McGill over 10,000 hours of work, two trips to Washington D.C. and incredible personal costs — while under constant intimidation and retaliation attacks, which ultimately led to him resigning — to eventually get justice for American taxpayers.
    How many people in the military have the time or money needed to pull that off?
    McGill's heroic battle featured common obstacles that many DOD whistleblowers face. In a letter to Congress, McGill further highlighted the DOD IG's systemic failure to protect whistleblowers:
      "DOD IG closed this allegation without discussing the matter with me directly in any way. It then either closed or referred every complaint (with two exceptions) right back to DCAA-IRD.
      "I do not believe that any faith can be placed in DOD IG if it passes the buck to the very people accused of the misconduct in question, putting them on notice of exactly what they are accused of, and who did the accusing."
      "Frankly, DOD IG's conduct is, in and of itself, worthy of Congressional attention and possible action; no whistleblower with two brain cells to rub together would trust the DOD IG after this conduct, and that should seriously concern the Congress that relies on such whistleblowers to uncover Executive Branch misconduct."
    Not surprisingly, with the DOD IG working in partnership with agencies and officials who are being accused of corruption and crimes, there are now a record number of whistleblowers who have been retaliated against and silenced.
    ~ This is an excerpt from my latest extensive report, which takes an in-depth look into critical systemic breakdowns throughout the whistleblowing process.
    This excerpt was posted to Facebook here.

    (Read Full Report Here)

    ~*~



    Money for destruction but not to help people.


    1. We need a to take the trillions of dollars spent on regime change wars and the nuclear arms race and invest them to meet the needs of the American people. Otherwise, we can't even ensure our most vulnerable communities have clean water following a disaster.



    In other developments . . .

    The majority of Provincial Council members have voted for autonomy, head of the council revealed & adding that they also have sent an an official letter to PM Adil Abdul-Mahdi and the Independent High Electoral Commission for support.






    The following sites updated: