Thursday, October 21, 2021

Jimmy Dore, Luke Savage

First up, Jimmy Dore.



At JACOBIN, Luke Savage attempts to make sense of the sinking Joe Biden administration:

On its face, Congress’s ongoing reconciliation fight is a complex, inscrutable, and labyrinthine process consisting of many constantly shifting parts. At the level of granular detail, this is indeed the case and, alongside months of piss-poor media coverage, it’s a major reason why the American public still understands very little about what’s actually at stake. But, behind the facade of intricate and fluid horse trading, the basic dynamic remains fixed and unchanged — as ossified as it was the day debate over the package began.

From its very outset, the reconciliation battle has been framed as a negotiation pitting ideological progressives against pragmatic moderates, with the former pursuing a suite of ambitious spending proposals and the latter a smaller overall price tag. As per the latest developments, the figure most frequently at the center of narrative — West Virginia senator Joe Manchin — appears to have coaxed the Biden White House into radically pairing down what was already a compromise position into something still more austere and less ambitious.


Though not yet finalized, the parameters of a prospective deal now look poised to cut the standing $3.5 trillion of planned expenditures over the next ten years to something totaling less than $2 trillion — with free community college, key climate measures, subsidies for programs to help the disabled and elderly, and proposed enhancements to the child tax credit apparently on the chopping block. At time of writing, there is also new speculation that Manchin is threatening to exit the Democratic caucus unless the lacerating cuts are made, and that, even if they are, he may be planning to leave by November 2022 regardless. (Manchin denies this report).



In broad strokes, this is the current state of play in the negotiations — one that decidedly favors Manchin and his would-be centrist crusade to walk the administration back from the precipice of ideological excess. But to even call ongoing proceedings a “negotiation” is to omit the most nakedly obvious facts from the equation and, in turn, represent the process as something other than what it so clearly is. A negotiation, at least in the sense generally implied here, occurs between two or more parties with divergent positions presumed to be held in good faith.
Accordingly, the Biden White House along with many senior Democrats and members of the media, have consistently acted as if the likes of Joe Manchin and Arizona’s Kyrsten Sinema are good faith actors pursuing a coherent set of objectives with the ultimate goal of reaching a compromise. In this absurd pantomime of legislative brokerage, Manchin and Sinema get to play act as “moderates” who have “concerns” about the bill’s size and composition — a rendering of events that is at once completely fraudulent and widely accepted.
As anyone capable of comparing votes and political positions with donation and contribution records can quite easily see, what is officially a dispute between progressives and moderates is more accurately understood as a fight between one group pursuing an actual legislative agenda and another fronting for a sprawling alliance of corporate interests who want to derail it for cynically self-interested reasons.

Luke Savage's put a lot of thought into it. I don't know that a great deal of thought is required. I do not agree with the court packing scheme. But even I knew that his 'exploratory' committee was going to come back stating that court packing didn't need to happen. And I get the feeling that Joe and the Democratic Party don't want to do much of anything. And this is their excuse for doing nothing. While at the same time saying, "Elect us!" Because, we're supposed to believe, if they just had a few more members in the House and Senate, they could do what they promised. If only, right? I think we're all starting to see how truly indifferent this large political party is to the needs of the country.

Medicare For All? It's needed now more than ever. Look around and tell me what they're doing to help the American people? I see nothing. And it's beginning to really appear that this has been the plan all along.

 


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


 Thursday, October 21, 2021.  Colin Powell and Barbra Streisand and more.



That's THE KATIE HALPER SHOW.  And, yes, Colin Powell is still dead.  Let's start with an excerpt from Margaret Kimberley's latest at BLACK AGENDA REPORT:


“But we already had two firsts. Colin Powell was one of them, and Condoleezza Rice, his successor as secretary of state. How did that redound to the benefit of black people for the United States to have a black — put a black face on imperialism, on aggressive war, on violations of international law? How does that make black people look better in the world? Is that the kind of burden that black people want to carry around?” Glen Ford

The late Colin Powell certainly had a storied career. It wound through various Republican presidential administrations from Ronald Reagan, to George H.W. Bush to George W. Bush. He served as National Security Adviser, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Secretary of State. He said this about his life and work, ““All I want to do is judge myself as a successful soldier who served his best.”

His desire to justify himself shouldn’t oblige anyone else to go along. This question must be answered in assessing Powell’s career. What makes a soldier successful? This point is especially important when talking about a man who took part in every foreign policy action from Vietnam, to Iran Contra, to Panama, to Iraq, to Haiti . Simply put, a good soldier follows orders, makes operations run smoothly, and makes his bosses look good. Powell did all of those things and that is why his legacy is so dubious.

When Major Colin Powell was stationed in Vietnam in 1968 he and his superiors received a letter written by a soldier whose tour of duty was ending. Tom Glen stated that U.S. soldiers were carrying out atrocities against civilians. Major Powell was tasked with investigating, which should have included an interview of the soldier himself. Neither he nor anyone else spoke to Glen and when Powell responded he blamed the whistle blower for not reporting the crimes to people who had chosen to do nothing about them. He then wrote a classic yes-man response which concluded, “In direct refutation of this portrayal, is the fact that relations between American soldiers and the Vietnamese are excellent.”

The following year a second soldier, Ronald Ridenhour, ended his tour with an expose of the U.S. massacre of an estimated 500 civilians in the village of My Lai. Ridenhour conducted his own investigation and sent his letter off to federal officials including president Nixon. On this occasion Powell got a surprise visit from the Inspector General’s office and was asked about combat activity around the date in question. Good soldier Powell reported only what was in the falsified record and thus played a role in an attempt to cover up which fortunately proved to be futile.

Of course Powell had committed his own crimes during his first tour of duty in Vietnam. He admitted as much in his memoir, My American Journey. “We burned down the thatched huts, starting the blaze with Ronson and Zippo lighters. Why were we torching houses and destroying crops? Ho Chi Minh had said the people were like the sea in which his guerrillas swam. Our problem was to distinguish friendly or at least neutral fish from the VC swimming alongside. We tried to solve the problem by making the whole sea uninhabitable. In the hard logic of war, what difference did it make if you shot your enemy or starved him to death?” Of course, collective punishment against a civilian population is by definition a war crime, but Powell succeeded in rising to the top and as such was immune from such truthful descriptions of his activities.

If Powell would run interference for army brass in Vietnam, he would do no less for his boss, president George W. Bush. In early 2001,  Powell said of Iraqi president Saddam Hussein , “He has not developed any significant capability with respect to weapons of mass destruction. He is unable to project conventional power against his neighbors." Two years later Powell made a great show at the United Nations saying just the opposite. Bush decided to invade Iraq and good soldier Powell was tasked with making the public case for a war of aggression. He famously held up a vial which he said represented the weapons of mass destruction which he knew did not exist.

Those who remembered his assurances that Hussein posed no threat were few in number and the corporate media were ready to help the Bush administration get support for the invasion. Powell’s past statements magically disappeared as were any narratives that might contradict the Bush administration. Powell was the public face of the case for a war crime which eventually killed some 1 million people in Iraq.


No, was not Jesus despite the breathless way the media treated him especially since he died.  Elain's "Barbra Streisand is one stupid bitch" went up last night.  Read Margaret Kimberley in full and grasp that's who Barbra Streisand is praising.  Grasp all that she covers and toss in his homophobia as well.  That's who Barbra's praising.  She's standing not with the Iraqi people, not with the Vietnamese victims, she's standing with their oppressor.


An e-mail whines in the public account that Elaine was being unfair to Barbra and don't I agree?


No, I don't.  First off, stranger, I've been friends with Elaine since college and I knew her before that because I dated her brother.  Thanks for stumbling onto the public account but maybe stumble onto a doctor if you're thinking your e-mail will make me turn on Elaine as you insist that I must publicly rebuke her.  


Relinquish the fantasy.


Before we move on to Colin, let me note Barbra.  I know her.  I like her.  I applaud the art she produced with YENTL.  We promoted RLESE ME 2 here.  I've praised her performance in THE GUILT TRIP.  And I try to say nice things about her in real life.  Which is why friends were surprised when I recnetly slammed her here.  Industry friends couldn't stop calling as that was circulated.  Basically saying, "You do get it then?"  Yes, and I always have.  But I'm not a director and I never had to put up with that crap on a set and I'm smart enough never to be in a film with her.  Her image is well earned.  It has nothing to do with my interaction with her.


But when ego mania and a her need to be the center of attention at all times caused her to trash Bradley Cooper?  I know Bradley and he did not deserve her crap.  So I would have objected for that reason alone.  But I have known Joan Didion for decades now.  And to watch, while Joan's in such poor health, as Barbra stole the credit that Joan and her late husband John Gregory Dunne deserve?


No.


As I wrote, this is why she doesn't get awards.  It's why she's never won a second Academy Award for acting and never will.  It's why she's hated by so many who have worked with her and others who refuse to work with her.  Joan and John were ending their vacation in Hawaii when Joan turned to John and exclaimed something like, "A STAR IS BORN with Carly Simon and James Taylor!"  That idea popped into her head and that's how you got the 70s A STAR IS BORN.  


The script was a hot property and the studio was willing to do it with Carly and James -- but they ended up not wanting to do the film.  (Too close to home at the time as James' career was muddling.)  Various other women expressed interest and it was a go project.  It was happening.  As it was coming down to the wire, it was Cher's film.  She would be starring in it.  And the Sue and Barbra swoop in.


That film is garbage, pure garbage.  Kris isn't bad in it but he's undercut by all the focus on Barbra -- especially when he's emoting but the camera's instated trained on Barbra.  Did the crew really mix s**t in with mud for a scene where Barbra was in the mud?  I don't know.  Frank Pierson, the director of the film, told me they did.  It's not surprising if they did.  She's a terror on a set.  I'd never go on a set with her.  And you can go to YOUTUBE and see her screeching homophobia when she visits Harrison Ford on one of his film sets.  That's Barbra.  


She destroyed the script for the film.  She destroyed the balance that was needed.  And the biggest complain, which no one makes but I think everyone viewing gets, is that the film should end on Kris.  You do one wrap up scene.  Instead, Kris dies and it's Babs Babs Babs.  Oh, she's walking through the lonely mansion, oh she hears his voice on a tape recorder, oh this and oh that and then that never ending two song medley where her nose is frightening.  She who screeches about unflattering photography has allowed some of the worst video of her ever captured -- worst in terms of appearance -- and for what?  To hog the movie?  To sing bad songs.  


And she's going to slam Bradley's film?  His film works, her film does not.  


She's going to slam Brad and she's going to steal Joan and John's credit?  Slamming Brad because she made the film about singer-songwriters and blah blah blah.


She didn't do s**t with that.  She added the Orioles (which I always found racist) and she demanded that a type of feminist sensibility be put into the film -- her sense of a feminist sensibility which has always been a rather strange one.  


She made a bad film that's an endurance contest to get through and she wants to slam Bradley and she wants to steal Joan and John's credit?


As I said when I wrote about it here, this is exactly why she doesn't get awards from her peers.  It's that ego that claims credit for everything.  It's that ego that has to put others down to build herself up.  I can indulge in that in casual interactions with her but I'm smart enough never to work with her.    Carole King wasn't.  Carole's basically a nice person.  So she won't publicly slam Barbra.  But Carole was a much bigger musical act in 1972 than Barbra when they did a George McGovern benefit and ask Carole how much rehearsal time she was allowed.  Ask Quincy Jones how much time he go tot rehearse.  Ask them who monopolized the venue with rehearsal after rehearsal for what were poor and simplistic arrangements.  She has no concern or care for other artists.


So I posted that here and it gets circulated around a number of friends and then the circle gets larger and larger.  And I'm getting all these phone calls because it's the truth but people are surprised I'd say it.  Normally, I wouldn't.  But she went after Bradley and Joan.  She atacked one, she erased the other.  

I wasn't in the mood.  And I don't give her a pass because her son Jason is gay.  She's homophobic so I'm honestly not surprised that 'gay rights' Barbra would praise the homophobic Colin Powell.


On Colin Powell, THE NATION and THE PROGRESSIVE remain silent.  It's several days after Colin's death.  But?  COMMON DREAMS:



That's their top ten most read currently.  Number ten, days later, is Jon Queally's piece on Colin.


There is interest in the topic.  There's also a need for it.


Hagiography and worse is attempting to sell this vile man who destroyed so many lives as someone worthy of praise.  It's really our duty to speak up and to speak out.


When I learned of his death, I was on the treadmill dictating the snapshot.  I thought I was finished and the friend I was dictating it too asked if I was going to mention Colin Powell?  Why?  That's when and how I found out he died.  I didn't want to write about him, he's disgusting and surely others would cover it but to note it, in Monday's snapshot, we reposted Ava and My piece from 2006.


And that was going to be it.


Then Monday night, I saw all the non-stop praise and hoopla about The War Criminal and knew I'd have to cover him in the next day's snapshot. 


How?


I'm not trying to be the megaphone of what everyone else writes.  So what could I contribute?  Okay, let's talk about his homophobia.  Let's talk about what he did in 1993 and how the US government is trying to fix it now.  All these years later, LGBTQ-ers are still harmed by that.  


I knew I'd have to cover him in Wednesday's snapshot because I'd have to include Margaret on the topic.  But BAR didn't publish early Wednesday morning.  So we're including her today.  And thanks to the e-mailer who was whining about Elaine, I have a new way to write about Colin -- via the idiot Barbra.  


And she is an idiot.  She praises Frank Rich?  That's hilarious.  She's spent years linking to him.  Praising his judgments because they were on the same partisan side.  You know what?  I recommend, on behalf of Barbra, that all of Frank's work be widely re-read.  Especailly those hit pieces he did on her movies.  


Now I can look the other way here on some things.  There are people who get linked to that have trashed offline me.  During the time this site has been up, THE WASHINGTON POST wrote a very mean thing about me and I was shocked because: Why?  I mean it was untrue but I don't epect truth from the press.  I was shocked because what was the point, why were they even writing about me?  There was no reason to.  I wasn't promoting any ware or trying for attention and they just slam me out of the blue.  And I was mad.  I didn't read it but I had people calling saying, "Did you see what they said!"  And the paper had an important Iraq story.  So we still linked to it because this site, it's not about me.  But I can promise you if someone had attacked me the way Frank Rich did Barbra Streisand over and over, year after year, they wouldn't be up here.  And I wouldn't be praising him.


He was vile, sexist and brutal.  And she's praising him because he's on the same partisan side and she's so desperate to have some 'intellectual' (he wishes) in her corner.


She's uneducated and uninformed.  When she's tried to lear about a topic, she's either fired the tutor or they've been too in awe of her and pretended that she had something right when she didn't.  I don't know if she's got a cognitive issue or if she just can't absorb anything that doesn't relate to her but she can 'study' something for months and still not have a basic understanding.


And her stupidity, her need for attention and her desire to have a buddy in her partisan battles leads her to embrace Colin Powell.  


Rob Reiner?  He's a joke and I don't have anything to say about him.  The industry's tired of him -- lucky for him or skeletons would be surfacing.  He's also not that popular among the public.  No one's saying, "I wonder what Meathead thinks about this matter?"  Barbra still retains some vestiges of fame and if she's going to use it to promote War Criminal Colin, then we need to push back.


And that's how we can cover Colin for another day -- hopefully, the last time this week -- with me throwing something of my own out there and not just having to say "So and so writes and then another person . . ."


This is a War Criminal.  And he's a War Criminal that the corporate media is glorifying -- and I'd argue that crap Amy Goodman served up this week was close to glorifying since it sough to justify the actions of a War Criminal -- so we have to push back.  If we don't, don't claim to believe in peace.  If we don't, don't claim to stand with the Iraqi people or the Vietnamese.  He destroyed lives across the world and his homophobia in the US did great damage.  There's nothing to glorify.  And if you can't find some way to write about that, you shouldn't be writing.  Katrina pays a lot of people a lot of money but they can't do anything of value, can they?  You're seeing the realities of THE NATION right now.


MEMO reports:


The Turkish presidency yesterday submitted a memorandum requesting parliament extend the authority granted to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to carry out military operations in Syria and Iraq for another two years, starting from 30 October, Anadolu Agency reported.

The agency said the memorandum explained that the risks and threats to national security caused by the developments and the ongoing conflict in areas adjacent to Turkey's southern borders, are constantly escalating.


Turkey has terrorized Iraq and violated its national sovereignty.  Hundreds of civilians have died in the last years because Turkey has bombed them or shot them.  They need to be standing in a world court.  If Turkey did to the UK what it's done to Iraq -- if Turkey did for one month just what it does to Ira qfor one week -- there would be a full on war with all western countries supporting the UK.


Two Sundays ago, Iraq held elections.  The results are disputed.  Things are at a standstill currently.  Asharq al-Awsat reports:

 Efforts to calm down the situation in Iraq continued after protests against the results of recent elections turned into an open sit-in outside the Green Zone gates in Baghdad.


At the same time, forces that lost in the elections are betting on the results of the appeals submitted to the Elections Committee before they enter negotiations with other political parties.


In other news, TRADE ARABIA notes:


Learning levels in Iraq are among the lowest in the Mena region and are likely to decline even further because of the impact the pandemic has had on education service delivery, including prolonged school closures, said the World Bank.

The World Bank Group’s new report “Building Forward Better to Ensure Learning for All Children in Iraq: An Education Reform Path” says that while, now more than ever, investments are needed in education to recover lost learning and turn crisis into opportunity, these investments must be accompanied by a comprehensive reform agenda that focuses the system on learning outcomes and builds a more resilient education system for all children.

The report builds on key priorities in education recently identified in the Government of Iraq’s White Paper and the World Bank Group’s Addressing the Human Capital Crisis: A Public Expenditure Review for Human Development Sectors in Iraq report, and provides actionable reform recommendations to boost learning and skills.

Human capital is essential to achieve sustainable and inclusive economic growth. However, according to the World Bank’s 2020 Human Capital Index (HCI), a child born in Iraq today will reach, on average, only 41% of their potential productivity when they grow up.







The following sites updated:

 

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

Jimmy Dore and Tom Feeley

First up, Jimmy Dore.



Jimmy is an important voice.  So is Tom Feeley.  He runs INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE.  It's been slow in updating and I assumed it was just COVID-19 recovery on Tom's part -- and didn't blame him for that.  I just hoped he was well and taking care of himself.  I just read his note, he has leukemia.  My prayers are with him.  I hope he pulls through and is safe.  


I'm going to take a few moments to talk about INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE.  It's a website, obviously.  Back in 2004, I was a young adult and I was depressed because the Iraq War was taking place and Bully Boy Bush had not been kicked out in the 2004 election.  There wasn't a lot that fall to be happy about.  


But online, it appeared there was.  I found sites like BUZZFLASH, THE COMMON ILLS, INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE, THE NATION, DEMOCRACY NOW, etc.


By 2008, it was obvious that so many were fakes and that was disappointing.  But THE COMMON ILLS and INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE were the real deal.


They believe in what they said they did -- right now, they believe in what they said they did.  They didn't start ignoring X because suddenly the Democratic Party supported X so it was time to pretend that X wasn't a crime.


They had ethics and they told the truth.


Tom has highlighted many great voices I've loved over the years, loved and learned from.


His site is very, very important to me.


I pray he recovers but I hope he knows that his site made a difference in my life.  I'm sure that's true of a lot of people but it made a real difference in my life.  His work matters to me and I will always be grateful to him for INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE.  I owe him a lot and he helped shape the internet for a lot of us.

 



Here's C.I.'s  "Iraq snapshot:"


 Wednesday, October 20, 2021.  This just in, Colin The Blot Powell remains dead.



In breaking news, War Criminal Colin Powell is still dead.  


Despite the corporate press and other idiots presenting him as their own personal Jesus Christ, Colin has not risen.  It's day three and he has not risen.


Repeating, War Criminal Colin Powell remains dead.


He has not risen.  Apparently saddened by that development, 'leading' periodicals on the 'left' remain silent: THE PROGRESSIVE and THE NATION.  And Katrina, get better journalists for your entertainment coverage.  Click-biat garbage about shows that undermine values?  There are many reasons Donald Trump became president.  People voted for him, to be sure, and Hillary Clinton refused to take her ass where it needed to go (if campaigning tires you, don't run for office), etc.  The long list also includes what was endorsed as 'entertainment' and what the glorified.  Stop worrying about what video games kids are playing and start contemplating the real damage grown adults do when they promote certain TV shows as admirable.


Ted Rall (COUNTERPUNCH) notes:


It would be impossible to overstate the import of Powell’s February 2003 speech, in which he claimed that the United States had amassed a stockpile of evidence that proved that Iraq had retained chemical and biological weapons of mass destruction in violation of its commitments under the 1991 Gulf War ceasefire. Iraq’s government, Powell argued forcefully, presented such a clear and present danger to its neighbors that the international community—led by the U.S.—had a right, even a duty, to remove it with an invasion. President George W. Bush and his co-conspirators had spent the better part of the previous year working to convince Americans to support a second war against Iraq over WMDs. Polls showed that voters remained unconvinced.

Possibly in preparation for a 2004 White House run—hard to imagine in these polarized times, but the ex-general had long been considered a top presidential prospect by both major political parties—the even-tempered Powell had previously distanced himself from his fellow cabinet members, dominated as they were by neoconservative hotheads, throughout the first two years of his term. Powell’s credibility towered over everyone else in American politics to an extent rarely seen before and certainly never since.

When you join a gang, you’re required to prove your loyalty. “You’ve got high poll ratings,” Vice President Dick Cheney told Powell as he ordered him to support the push for war. “You can afford to lose a few points.”

Which is why Bush and Cheney sent him to the U.N. They knew that Powell alone could close the deal with a public made recalcitrant by historical precedent: the U.S. had never before launched a full-out war without a pretext that made some sort of sense. And Where the president had failed the prestigious Powell succeeded brilliantly, with the American public as well as with key allies like Great Britain and Australia. Seconds after he stopped talking, TV talking heads told us what we already knew: the fate of a million Iraqis was sealed. We were going to war.



Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) notes:

The Secretary of State also ran with the al-Qaida-Iraqi connection, another spurious link manufactured in the aftermath of 9/11 linking the terrorist attacks to Baghdad.  “Iraqi officials deny accusations of ties with al-Qaida.  These denials are simply not credible.”  His UN speech makes special reference to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, suggesting that al-Qaida “affiliates based in Baghdad now coordinate the movement of people, money and supplies throughout Iraq for his network”.

Powell spent subsequent years calling his presentation “painful”, a “blot” that would “always be part of my record.”  But ever mindful of public relations, he could find other more worthy alibis for his conduct.  Blame could be saddled and pinned down elsewhere – for instance, upon the more nefarious Donald Rumsfeld.  Or the devious Vice President Dick Cheney, whose office authored the speech.

For those keen to confine the scope of Powell’s errors and assessments, it is also worth remembering that the taste for regime change did not stop with the placing of boots in Mesopotamia.  As chair for the Bush’s Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba, Powell oversaw the production of a 2004 report advocating various ways the Cuban government might be overthrown.  These were familiar: insinuating market capitalism into the state; introducing multi-party elections; giving Cuban Americans living in the US restitution for losses suffered under the Castro regime.  Accordingly, Washington should “support the Cuban people as they … work to transform themselves” and enable them “to develop a democratic and civic culture … and the values and habits essential to both.”  Such mindful benevolence.

With the imperium in respectful lockstep and sighing deferentially to a departed soldier, Powell’s blemishes can be overlooked by glowing reference to his “service” and patriotism.  But in performing that service, Powell’s legacy will be associated with the murderous, not infrequently incompetent adventurism of US foreign policy and its messianic bent.



Colin is responsible for the deaths of over one million Iraqis.  He is responsible for encouraging hate against the LGBTQ community and for harming LGBTQ members of the US military.  He plotted to overthrow Cuba.  He lied and covered up a massacre in Vietnam.  Those are just the big marks, the well knowns.  Yet THE INTERDCEPT wants to tell you he was a "nice man."  And THE NATION and THE PROGRESSIVE don't wnat to comment and would rather spend their time 'covering' NETFLIX.  


You're not just seeing the collapse of corporate media, you're also seeing the reality of beggar media -- you know, the ones who call themselves 'independents' because they're always begging you for money to pay their bills.  And what are you paying for?  So they can cover NETFLIX?  


Certainly not so that they'll cover the Iraq War because they don't even know that it continues.  Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Zeina Karam (AP) report:



Word of his death Monday at age 84 dredged up feelings of anger in Iraq toward the former general and diplomat, one of several Bush administration officials whom they hold responsible for a disastrous U.S.-led invasion that led to decades of death, chaos and violence in Iraq.

His U.N. testimony was a key part of events that they say had a heavy cost for Iraqis and others in the Middle East.

“He lied, lied and lied,” said Maryam, a 51-year-old Iraqi writer and mother of two in northern Iraq who spoke on condition her last name not be used because one of her children is studying in the United States.

“He lied, and we are the ones who got stuck with never-ending wars,” she added.


Please, Coiln worshippers in the US, don't let the realities that Iraqis have suffered from make you enjoy your continuous moments of worship any less.  It is, after all, all about the joy you feel in the safety of the distant land and not about the people whose lives were actually destroyed by Colin Powell, right?  (That was sarcasm.)

New York Governor Kathy Hochul has declared that Colin died due to someone who did not receive the COVID-19 vaccine.  Glenn Greenwald notes:


Given that the CDC changed its masking guidelines based on its view that fully vaccinated people can still contract and transmit the virus to others, how does

know that Colin Powell got COVID from an unvaccinated person? Did she just make this up?


And:


Obviously Hochul wants to demonize unvaccinated people by claiming one of them basically murdered Powell by giving him COVID. But she can't know if the person who gave Powell COVID was vaccinated or not, she just invents a claim that suits her. This is what has destroyed trust.


It's somehow fitting, isn't it, that when a government official comments on Colin's death, they make claims that they can't back up?  As he was in life, so he is in death.










We'll continue to follow this story for any developments; however, as of today, Collie The Blot Powell, despite the constant press liturgy, has not risen and remains dead.


Turning to the land Colin helped destroy, Iraq.  Two Sundays ago, elections were held.  In useless filing after useless filing, so-called journalists yammered away about this or that but refused to note the problem Human Rights Watch had called attention to ahead of the election.  Today, Human Rights Watch's Belkis Wille writes:

In the weeks leading up to the October 10 parliamentary elections, Iraq’s Independent High Electoral Commission (IHEC) promised to take steps to ensure people with disabilities could vote.

But on election day, videos circulated suggested IHEC’s promises to make polling places accessible, with ballot boxes on the ground floor, went unfulfilled. A week later, we spoke to Haidar Jassim, 40, who has a physical disability. Here is what he said:

I was so optimistic when I heard IHEC would make polling places accessible to people with disabilities.

At 11:30 a.m. on election day, I went to the polling place in my Baghdad neighborhood, in my wheelchair, full of hope that I would be able to vote. I showed my voter ID to two IHEC staff. One looked at me and said, you have to make it to the second floor. I asked if I could vote without going to the second floor. The head of the polling place said they could not move the ballot boxes downstairs, but that I could come back later in the day and he would try to think of a solution. I told them about the IHEC announcement. He said he had no information about it.

Another staff person said, “Let me give you some advice, just go back home. Your vote won’t make a difference anyway.” I was shocked. I explained that I want to exercise and enjoy my rights like anyone else. I can only conclude that he and his colleagues do not consider us to be human beings with the same rights. He then told an older man in a wheelchair to also go home without voting, and left.

I went home and changed my electric wheelchair to a lighter, manual one, and went back to the polling place with my cousin. With help from another IHEC employee, they carried me to the second floor, and I was finally able to vote.

Sadly, I know many people with disabilities who couldn’t vote in Baghdad because the polling places were not accessible. 

The IHEC should explain to Haidar, and everyone it let down on election day, why did it not implement its limited promises around accessibility, and what it is planning to do before the next elections to make sure this doesn’t happen again.


Meanwhile ALJAZEERA reports:


Hundreds of supporters of Iraq’s powerful Hashd al-Shaabi – a pro-Iranian former paramilitary force – protested on Tuesday against “fraud” at recent parliamentary elections in which their movement performed poorly.

The Conquest (Fatah) Alliance, the political arm of the multiparty Hashd, won about 15 seats in the October 10 vote, according to preliminary results.

In the last parliament, it held 48 seats, making it the second-largest bloc.

Several hundred Hashd al-Shaabi supporters gathered on a Baghdad street leading to the entrance of the high-security Green Zone, home to the US embassy, other diplomatic missions, and government offices.


Don't be surprised if protests continue over the count.  Don't be surprised that the electoral commission has further undermined the trust of the Iraqi people.  Over the weekend,  Dilan Sirwan (RUDAW) reported, "The Iraqi electoral commission announced the official preliminary results of the Iraqi parliamentary elections late Saturday night, following the manual recount of votes from thousands of polling stations." 

So that's what they announced, now let's deal with reality.  The same commission announced ahead of the elections (last Sunday), that they would announce the results the following day.  That would have been Monday.  There was no reason to have made such an announcement or such an absurd claim.  But they made it.  And they didn't keep it.  


The Commission shouldn't have made the promise to begin with but they did.  They told the Iraqi people it would be done on Monday and it wasn't.  They did this in an environment of distrust.  Going into the election, in the months leading up, it was known that a growing distrust of the government was going to lead to a depressed turnout.  It was known.  The last thing needed was for any other government body to make a promise that they couldn't keep.  In this environment, the commission made a promise that it should have known (and probably did know) it couldn't keep.


That was dangerous, that was stupid and it was uncalled for.


Outside of Iraq, if most people even know the above, that's all they likely know.  But if you live in Iraq, you know a lot more.  More than we could ever, ever list.  But we'll note one more thing.  Three years ago, there was parliamentary election in Iraq.  The results were hotly contested.  The commission promised a manual recount.  Any of this sounding familiar because, for some reason, western outlets have amnesia and are stupidly unaware of it.  So there was going to be a manual recount.  How did that turn out?


It didn't.


The commission halted it.  Half the ballots were in a Baghdad warehouse that just happened to catch fire meaning no complete manual recount could be done.


In this environment, you do not make a promise you can't keep.


But there's no accountability in Iraq -- and the celebration and worship of War Criminal Colin Powell makes clear that there's little accountability anywhere.   

 


The following sites updated:








Tuesday, October 19, 2021

Isaiah, Jimmy Dore, Kidnapped in Haiti and more

Frist up, Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Dumber Than A Door Knob" from Monday night.


dumberthanthedoorknob



Now Jimmy Dore.



Colin was a War Criminal.




Who would have thought I'd ever with Donald Trump? Joseph Choi (THE HILL) reports:

 

Former President Trump lambasted the media on Tuesday for what he said was too-favorable coverage of former Secretary of State Colin Powell after his death on Monday.
"Wonderful to see Colin Powell, who made big mistakes on Iraq and famously, so-called weapons of mass destruction, be treated in death so beautifully by the Fake News Media. Hope that happens to me someday," Trump said in a statement.
Trump called Powell "a classic RINO," an acronym for "Republican in name only."


I agree regarding the nonsense praise the media is offering War Criminal Colin Powell. He's a disgrace. He shouldn't be celebrated. Celebrating him is how the press got in their problem to begin with.

I like funny movies. And I love the Austin Power movies. They're so over the top. Or so I thought. This news out of Haiti, reported by Matt Rivers, Anne Claire Stapleton, Tara John and Karen Smith (CNN) made me think of Dr. Evil:

 

 The gang that kidnapped a group of 17 American and Canadian missionaries in Haiti has asked for $1 million each for their release, a top Haitian official told CNN Tuesday.
The 16 American citizens and one Canadian were kidnapped by the powerful "400 Mawozo" gang on Saturday after visiting an orphanage in Croix-des-Bouquets, a northeast suburb of the capital Port-au-Prince, over the weekend.
Their abduction is part of a wave of indiscriminate kidnappings that has become more brazen as the country suffers from political instability, civil unrest, lack of quality healthcare and severe poverty.
Haitian Justice Minister Liszt Quitel told CNN the kidnappers have demanded a total of $17 million for the group's release and that they were being held in a location outside the suburb.
The missionaries are affiliated with the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries, which says the abducted group is made up of five men, seven women and five children.


Doesn't that seem like Dr. Evil? $17 million.

These people are disgusting. I hope the get caught and I hope they are mocked publicly. It's one thing to watch the Austin Powers movies and laugh at Dr. Evil and his greed but who would have thought we'd see that in real life. Shame on the kidnappers.

Needless to say, I hope the 17 are all safe and manage to be safe and returned to their families

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


Tuesday, October 19, 2021.  We spend the snapshot looking back on War Criminal Colin The Blot Powell who is now thankfully dead.


Noted War Criminal Colin Powell slipped away from this earth.  And let's remember that as the good thing that it is.  The late journalist Robert Parry (CONSORTIUM NEWS) frequently documented the realities of Colin Powell -- including regarding the My Lai Massacre in Vietnam.  Near the end of 2004, Robert Parry observed:


Colin Powell’s admirers – especially in the mainstream press – have struggled for almost two years to explain how and why their hero joined in the exaggerations and deceptions that led the nation into the disastrous war in Iraq. Was he himself deceived by faulty intelligence or was he just acting as the loyal soldier to his commander-in-chief?  

But there is another, less flattering explanation that fits with the evidence of Powell’s life story: that the outgoing secretary of state has always been an opportunist who consistently put his career and personal status ahead of America’s best interests.

From his earliest days as a junior officer in Vietnam through his acquiescence to George W. Bush’s Iraq adventure, Colin Powell repeatedly has failed to stand up against actions that were immoral, unethical or reckless. At every turning point, Powell protected his career above all else.

Yet, Powell’s charisma – and the fact that he is a prominent and successful African-American – have protected him from any clear-eyed assessment of his true record. Even when Powell has publicly defended war crimes, such as the shooting of defenseless “military-aged males” in Vietnam, national journalists have preferred to focus on Powell’s sparkling style over his troubling substance.

This infatuation with Powell’s image was perhaps best captured when New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd plunged into mourning after Powell backed away from a flirtation with a presidential candidacy in 1995.

“The graceful, hard male animal who did nothing overtly to dominate us yet dominated us completely, in the exact way we wanted that to happen at this moment, like a fine leopard on the veld, was gone,” Dowd wrote, only slightly tongue-in-cheek. “‘Don’t leave, Colin Powell,’ I could hear myself crying from somewhere inside.” [NYT, Nov. 9, 1995]

As longtime readers of Consortium News know, we always have tried to resist Powell’s personal magnetism. In one of our first investigative projects, Norman Solomon and I examined the real story of Colin Powell.

[To read the full series, start at “Behind Colin Powell’s Legend.”]

I’ve updated the series a couple of times: when Powell failed to protest Bush’s disenfranchisement of thousands of African-Americans during the disputed Florida election in 2000 and when Powell made his over-the-top presentation on Iraq in February 2003. After Powell’s UN speech – while both liberal and conservative commentators swooned over Powell’s WMD case – we entitled our story: “Trust Colin Powell?

What we found in our investigation of Powell’s legend was not the heroic figure of his press clippings, but the story of an ambitious man with a weak moral compass. He either hid in the reeds when others were standing up for what they knew to be right or he contributed to the wrongdoing (albeit often while wringing his hands and confiding to reporters that he really wasn’t entirely comfortable).


Colin Powell was human filth.  If you look around to some of your trusted organizations right now, you'll grasp that they are filth too.  Such as? THE PROGRESSIVE.  Time to post year another Donald Trump piece yesterday afternoon but not a word about Colin.  Despite claiming to be "A voice for peace and social justice since 1909," they can't be bothered calling out Powell today.  By the way, they haven't been around since 1909.  They make that claim all the time.  A precursor to THE PROGRSSIVE existed starting in 1909.  It was not THE PROGRESSIVE.  We pointed that out when they were celebrating what they called their 100 years.  We also pointed out that the huge issue celebrating that lie noted many of the famous writers who had shown up in the magazine over the years but somehow they were strangely silent on the notorious Judith Miller.


THE PROGRSSIVE is a joke -- it's the IN STYLE of the so-called left.


Moving over to those not afraid to weigh in on reality, Sarah Abdallah Tweets:


Colin Powell will be remembered as one of the war criminals who helped pave the way for the invasion of Iraq - a war that was launched on a pack of lies - a war that led to the death and displacement of millions of innocents.


And she notes that War Criminal Mad Maddie Albright Tweeted that her heart was heavy and -- wait.  Mad Maddie has a heart?  Who'd she steal it from.  Here's Sarah:


Madeleine Albright, who once said the death of 500,000 Iraqi children due to U.S. sanctions was “worth it,” mourns warmonger who lied to the world about WMDs in Iraq, helping launch a war that killed over a million people.


Weep no more, Mad Maddie, Colin will save you a seat . . . in hell.


Patrick Martin (WSWS) notices the effusive bull that's greeted Colin's death:

Much of the Democratic Party adulation focused on Powell’s role as the first African American to rise to the commanding heights of the US military machine. Congressman Jamaal Bowman, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, tweeted that “as a Black man just trying to figure out the world, Colin Powell was an inspiration” to him.

He did not elaborate on which Colin Powell was his inspiration: General Colin Powell helping rescue Ronald Reagan in the Iran-Contra scandal, or Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Colin Powell overseeing the incineration of Iraqi conscripts in 1991, or Secretary of State Colin Powell justifying the impending US invasion of Iraq in 2003. His speech at the United Nations Security Council, claiming Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction, has gone down in history as a byword for the “big lie.”

There is not a single major instance of US military aggression over four decades in which Colin Powell did not play a significant role. After enlisting in the ROTC (Reserve Officers Training Corps) at City College of New York, Powell entered the U.S. Army as a second lieutenant and was dispatched to Vietnam, first as an “advisor” for a South Vietnamese battalion in 1963, then as an operations officer in a US division in 1968, in the wake of the Tet Offensive.


The adulation, by the way, is why we're covering Powell.  I thought we'd get some honesty since he did lie to the UN and since so many columnists and commentators used his UN presentation to say "Case closed" and insist upon war on Iraq.  I thought, wrongly (not the first time), that having been made to look like fools by endorsing Colin, they'd want to get honest now.  


They can't even be honest about Don't Ask, Don't Tell.


In November 1992, Bill Clinton was elected president of the United States and one of his campaign promises was that he'd end   Bill is going to end the ban on openly gay persons serving in the US military.  And Colin Powell nearly west himself -- or maybe that was cum and not piss?  At any rate, Colin Powell is why this country ended up with the hideous Don't Ask, Don't Tell.  And it's very upsetting to see a periodical whose audience is gay men, THE ADVOCATE, try to insist that he had a transformation late in life so let's rally behind Collie.


That piece of s**t destroyed lives as a result of his circumventing a policy of allowing gay persons to serve openly in the US military.   From Trudy Ring (ADVOCATE):


When Bill Clinton became president in 1993, promising to lift the ban on lesbian, gay, and bisexual people in the military, Powell was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He opposed lifting the ban (under which many LGB people had been discharged and others served in the closet) and said in testimony to Congress that open service by LGB troops would be “incompatible” with military readiness. In notes from meetings with Clinton at the time, released by the Clinton library in 2014, it was revealed that Powell had said homosexuality would be “a problem” for the military and that parents of service members might be worried about straight and gay troops sharing quarters.

Resistance from the military and many members of Congress led to the compromise of “don’t ask, don’t tell.” The idea was that LGB service members could not come out, but the military would not try to root them out either. It was initially seen as an improvement over the outright ban but didn’t work out that way.

Clinton said in 2010 that he regretted DADT and that Powell, as one of its key supporters, misrepresented how it would work. “Now, when Colin Powell sold me on ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’ here’s what he said it would be,” Clinton told Katie Couric on CBS News. “Gay service members would never get in trouble for going to gay bars, marching in gay rights parades, as long as they weren’t in uniform. That was what they were promised. That’s a very different ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ than we got.” Indeed, under DADT the military continued to investigate service members’ sexual orientation and discharge them — about 14,000.


Trudes goes on to tell us that, in 2010, he was for repealing Don't Ask, Don't Tell.


Yea???


No, not yea.  And how about, you evil scribe, you note the suffering he inflicted continues to this day.  About 14,000 discharged?  Trudy, if you're not up to the topic you're covering, then just shut the f**k up.


First off, for every discharge, imagine the stress of the ones who managed to slip by.  And yet had to continue to worry every year until it was repealed.  Then let's talk about what was halted.


If a young gay person or bi person or lesbian had a dream to serve in the military, that dream was destroyed thanks to Colin Powell.  Get honest about that.


Most importantly, those discharged under Don't Ask, Don't Tell include many still fighting today -- to this day -- to get the benefits they earned as part of the US forces.  So, Trudy, find some click bait online to write about next time because you clearly are not up to doing much more than recaps of DANCING WITH THE STARS.


Last month, Jonathan Franklin (NPR) reported:


Thousands of LGBTQ veterans who were discharged from the military under the "don't ask, don't tell" policy have gained new access to full government benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs.

The announcement, issued Monday on the 10th anniversary of the repeal of don't ask, don't tell, will apply to veterans who were forced from service under the policy and given "other than honorable discharges" due to their sexual orientation, gender identity or HIV status.

The guidance was detailed in a blog post on the VA's website by Kayla Williams, assistant secretary for public affairs in the department's Office of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs. It provides LGBTQ veterans the opportunity to receive assistance, ranging from mental health care and disability benefits to college money and home loans.  


Grasp the years of suffering that some are enduring thanks to Powell.  Enduring?  No one's been reinstated yet.  Grasp that.


Now I'm appalled by THE ADVOCATE -- exactly whom are they advocating for.  I'm not surprised by WSWS.  As Ava and I noted, they pretty much avoid all LGBTQ issues unless someone's standing before the Supreme Court.  Until then, LGBTQ people really don't exist in the eyes of WSWS.


The LGBTQ community suffered because of Colin and his late-life 'transformation' was nothing but him belatedly grasping the shift that had taken place in attitudes years before.  He could lead the country into illegal war, he just wouldn't lead it into a better world.

Why does NASA believe they can name the new telescope after a homophobe and not suffer?  Because for all their posturing and preening, the media still looks the other way when it comes to homophobia.


At JACOBIN, Liza Featherstone writes:

Iraqis are not mourning Colin Powell. Many, however, are mourning family, friends and neighbors who died as a direct result of Powell’s lapse of integrity. “He lied, lied and lied,” an Iraqi writer and mother of two told the Associated Press today. “He lied, and we are the ones who got stuck with never-ending wars.” Muntadhar al-Zaidi, the Iraqi journalist who famously threw a shoe at President Bush during a 2008 news conference, tweeted that he was sad that Powell had died without being tried for his war crimes against the Iraqi people.

Colin Powell’s UN address and its phenomenal impact on public opinion were oddly of the moment. Powell seemed like he could be a character on The West Wing, a Bill Clinton–era TV show created by Aaron Sorkin and beloved by many liberals, in which the ethical agonies of the powerful were portrayed with unbounded empathy. The message was supposed to be a reassuring one: Your administration is run by decent people who are trying their best, and when they do terrible things, it’s because they have no choice. Powell’s Hamlet-like anguish extended that halo to the George W. Bush administration, one of the worst in the country’s history.

In his way, Colin Powell was actually worse than Donald Rumsfeld. He made it appear that even the most murderous and indefensible decisions of our elites, however distressing, are reasonable and inevitable, the result of sober deliberation. He made the killing of hundreds of thousands of civilians look justified. He enjoyed the trust of millions, yet he lied. I’m inclined to agree with al-Zaidi: The only sad thing about Colin Powell’s death is that he’ll never be punished for his crimes.


Caitlin Johnstone observes:


Powell’s other contributions to the world include covering up and participating in war crimes in Vietnam, facilitating atrocities in Central America, and destroying Iraqi civilian infrastructure in the Gulf War. But it’s hard to dispute that his greatest lasting legacy will be his immortal reminder to future generations that there is never, ever a valid reason to trust anything US officials tell us about a government they wish to bring down.

Powell’s contribution to the war effort has been considerable. But as time grinds down the tall spires of artificial insanity that the powerful are continually imposing upon our species, when all is said and done his contribution to the anti-war effort will have been greater.

Be sure to remind everyone of Powell’s sociopathic facilitation of human slaughter often and loudly in the coming hours. Public opinion is the only thing keeping western war criminals from The Hague, after all, and those war criminals are keenly aware of this fact. At times like these, they suddenly become highly invested in making sure that regular people “respect the dead,” not because they respect any human alive or dead, but because they cannot allow the death to become an opportunity to amplify and change public opinion about their egregious murderous crimes.

There is a giant narrative management exercise that will be playing out over the next few days. Be sure to enthusiastically disrupt it with the truth.


AWOL is THE NATION.  I thought Katrina would have written something but she didn't.  No one has.  They've got some articles of substance, along with click bait, but they aren't covering Colin.  And this despite the fact that there is such reader interest in a non-corporate media look at Colin that David Corn's May 2, 2001 article on Colin's real record is currently the most read article at the site according to their own top ten.

Alex MacDonald (MIDDLE EAST EYE) observes:


For millions of Iraqis, Powell will be remembered as the man who presented false intelligence before the United Nations as to the existence and threat of former ruler Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction (WMD).

Powell’s claims that Saddam had links to al-Qaeda and was hiding WMDs helped push forward the momentum for the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the resulting years of chaos and bloodshed that have continued to plague the country to this day.

Kamal Jabir, a politician with the Civil Democratic Alliance and former freedom fighter against Saddam in the 80s and 90s, saw many killed by Saddam’s administration and gave up much of his life to fighting and to exile because of him.

However, he still regards the Iraq war as having been a catastrophe.

“Since 2003, Iraqis suffered a greater deal because American administrations - Republicans and Democrats - insisted on supporting the most corrupt, most dishonest, and most disloyal officials and Islamic extremists to rise to power and ruin Iraq and slaughter Iraqis,” he told Middle East Eye.

He noted that while Powell had a reputation for decency as a politician, he failed to either object to the 2003 war or the “countless deliberate mistakes” made by Coalition Provisional Authority leader Paul Bremer during his rule over the occupied country.

“[Powell] chose to watch the massacres against Iraq and innocent Iraqis and do nothing about it. Iraqis today are busy trying to rescue their country and save tears for their young peaceful protesters, sons and daughters who got killed by the pro-Iranian militias and gangs,” he said.

“Iraqis will not shed tears for Colin Powell.”


MEE also offers this article.


Also offering truth on Colin are Margaret Kimberley and David Swanson in the video below.


 

And FRED HAMPTON LEFTISTS in the video below.






New content at THIRD:


Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Dumber Than A Door Knob" went up last night.  The following sites updated: