Tuesday, March 08, 2022

What did Toad Gitlin do for us lately?

First up Jimmy Dore:



I think we need a Janet Jackson take on history.  Meaning, a lot of people are going to be dying who came to prominence in the 60s and 70s -- dying in the next few years.  I don't want them celebrated as wonderful leaders because for a brief moment decades ago they did something to applaud.


As Janet asks in one of her earliest hits, "What Have You Done For Me Lately?"



If you doubt it, Todd Gitlin is dead.  Susan J. Douglas writes about him here.  She's a nice person (I enjoyed a lot of her media columns in the '00s) but even she can't manage to say anything about him after 1969.  

)

Toad is worthless.  A coward who grew ever more cowardly with each passing year.  He was at war with Bernardine Dohrn and her boy toy Little Billy Ayers.  And THE NATION joined him in that.  Two years later, they dropped it -- both of them.  Why?  Because Barack Obama was friends with Billy and the media was making it an issue.


So Toad sold himself out yet again.  He was a crrep.  I met him once when I was with Elaine and C.I. and Toad came rushing over.  They knes him.  They didn't like him.  But Toad wanted to kiss ass.  I couldn't stand him.  He was a little War Bitch.  (He loved the Afghanistan War.)  And he was always trashing people that wanted to do real work (he infamously went after Natomi Klein back when she gave a damn about Iraq).


Toad was a coward and a jerk.  What he did decades before I was born?  I don't care.  I care about all the ways he attacked the left in the '00s and beyond.  


He was a craven whore.  I'm glad he's left our earth.




"I know you used to do 




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


 Tuesday, March s8, 2022.  The big mess that the war makers create.


WIKILEAKS Tweets:


Julian Assange: "Populations dont like wars...and have to be fooled into war"



Exactly which is why the US media is allowing not questionng at this time of the official narrative.


They lie, they whore, they create new 'heroes.'  Take the garbage fire that is Jennifer Griffin and the efforts by corporate media to make her someone worthy of admiration.  AP slobbers over her and her so-called 'fact' checks that she does on FOX NEWS such as here:


Griffin has pushed back on comments made by Sean Hannity, Steve Doocy, Harris Faulkner and Greg Gutfeld during appearances on their own shows. After Hannity criticized President Joe Biden on Ukraine policy, Griffin noted that every president since the fall of the Soviet Union has made mistakes there. Doocy argued on “Fox & Friends” that sanctions haven’t worked against Russia; Griffin said it was too soon to say that. When Faulkner similarly questioned whether sanctions were a sufficient step, Griffin said that sending troops to the area would have given Putin an excuse to invade. She said it was “not some wag-the-dog situation” when Gutfeld suggested on “The Five” that the Ukraine crisis had been manufactured.

This past Sunday, she took on a retired U.S. Army brigadier general, Don Bolduc, after he said that it “boggles my mind” that the United States hadn’t already gone “all in” on Ukraine. Griffin said Bolduc was a politician, not a student of history.

“To suggest that the U.S. would put indirect fire or special operations or CIA on the ground to give Putin any sort of excuse to broaden this conflict is extremely dangerous talk at a time like this,” Griffin said.

Earlier that day, she was interviewed by Trey Gowdy after an appearance by retired U.S. Army Col. Doug Macgregor, who urged the United States to stay out of Ukraine and not ship it any weapons. He said the Russians should be allowed to annex the portion of Ukraine they are most interested in.

When Griffin followed him, she said she needed to correct some of what Macgregor had said, “and I’m not sure 10 minutes is enough time because there are so many distortions.” She said that Macgregor sounded like an apologist for Putin. “That kind of projection of withdrawal and weakness is what made Putin think he could move into a sovereign country,” she said.


The AP calls that journalism and that's laughable.  nothing Griffin said was a fact.  It was opinion.  Don't call her a fact checker when she's not one.  Even though she lies and presents herself as one, she's not one.

The Joe Biden isn't the only president that . . .  SO what  Others did it too.  Are we now calling that childish excuse a fact check?


"Mommy, I stole a bar of candy but others did it too!"


"Junior, thank you for fact checking Mommy.  Doesn't change what you did and it's not really about what has me upset, but let's pretend it's a fact and give you a gold star."?


Her 'fact checks' peer into Putin soul and tells us what he will do next.


I'm sorry.  AP now believes in psychic powers.  Will they next be applauding palm reading?  She's predicting based on her opinion.  She's not fact checking.  


That AP doesn't understand the difference is appallling.


They are pimping her because she's to be the new 'hero.'  And she doesn't do fact checks.


You might agree with her opinions.  You might disagree.  That's fine.  In the AP article, she's supplying no facts.  Which would be fine if the AP and the idiot herself were not presenting her performances as fact checks.  


The world gets a little dumber every time the media decides to whore for war.  


That' statement is an opinion.  Not a fact check -- in case AP is confused.


I don't believe sanctions work.  I believe they harm people.  That's an opinion.  I can back up my opinion with examples -- such as the Clintons' lust to punish Iraq in the 90s and Mad Maddie Albright saying the deahts of all those Iraqi children was 'worth it.'  What I'm doing is presenting an argument, not a fact cehck.


You can't just use words and use them incorrectly.  They're ought be fallout from that.  AP is acting lik ethe dirtiest of cheap whores and they're doing it because it's so damn important to them to lie and promote war.  They should be ashamed of themselves.


For years now, related topic, David Swanson has e-mailed his columns to this site -- sometimes we note them, sometimes we don't.  But it's an e-mail that he sends to numoerous sites and outlets.  And this has been going on since Bully Boy Bush was in the White House.


What changed yesterday?  


YAHOO carried a banner across the top informing that this was probably SPAM and should be seen as such so click her and . . .


What changed?


Apparently, year after year, several times a week, it wasn't spam.  But his refusing to buy into the narrative on war writh Russia was too much for YAHOO.  Think about that.  Two to five times a week, every week through both terms of barack Obama's presidence, through Donald Trump's one term and nearly half-way into Joe Biden's first term and suddenly it's now spam?


Let's all pretend that they just got caught sleeping on the job and that it has nothing to do with what David's writing about.  And to be clear, his writing has been rather center-left.  He's no strayed from far from the pack as Kim Petersen notes in a response to Swanson at DISSIDENT VOICE.


Let's also pretend that the demonizing of the Russian people is acceptable when it's not, right?  That's what the media wants to do.


Joe Biden is an impotent man.  Someone who has had multiple affairs and assaulted a few women.  But that limp dick isn't rising these days.  And he's revealed as the liar who promised he could handle COVID when he couldn't.  Then the economy began collapssing.  He's expected to harm the party in the midterms.  So he needs to do something to convince the American people that he's not some demented old geezer who can't get it up.    He's too old for the job and the median age in the US is 38.1 so he really looks it now.  


So start a war and try to self-present as manly.  


He really hope it works.  And mabye it will if people will themselves into being stupid.


But reality -- facts, AP -- indicate that at another time, when he was significantly younger and in the Sente, he knew just what a misatke what he's currently doing would be.  REVOLUTIONARY BLACKOUT airs the clip in their conversation with Margaret Kimberly below -- yes, the remarks were caught on film.



David North (WSWS) observes:


On July 23, 1939, Leon Trotsky, exiled in Mexico, met with journalists and gave his appraisal of the international situation. Though confined within the walls of a villa in Coyoacan, Trotsky’s grasp of world politics was unequaled.

Speaking in English, Trotsky told the assembled reporters: “The capitalist system is in a state of impasse. From my side, I do not see any normal, legal, peaceful outcome of this impasse. The outcome can only be created by a tremendous historic explosion.

“Historic explosions are of two kinds—wars and revolutions. I believe we will have both.” All governments and the established mass parties were being overwhelmed by events. In a striking metaphor, Trotsky compared their actions to “child’s play on the sloping side of a volcano before an eruption.”

Trotsky’s analysis was soon vindicated. The volcano of the second imperialist world war erupted just five weeks later.

Trotsky’s description of the world on the very eve of World War II acquires extraordinary relevance in the present situation. All the governments are behaving with staggering recklessness.

But the most reckless of all the governments is that of the United States. Its leaders have climbed up the volcano’s side all the way to its rim and are dropping explosives into the red hot and bubbling core.



Joseph Kishore (WSWS) notes:


The risk of nuclear war is greater than at any time since 1945. Not even during the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962—which, it should be recalled, was triggered by US President John F. Kennedy's refusal to allow Soviet missiles in the Western Hemisphere—was the danger as great as it is today.

Sixty years ago, even in the midst of a major confrontation, both the US and Soviet governments were seeking to negotiate a way out of the crisis and avoid war. Not so today: Both the US-NATO and the Putin government are acting with incredible and potentially fatal recklessness.


A number of e-mails are coming in regarding disappointment with ANTIWAR.COM.  I hear you.  Why do you think we've not included it .  "Feckless" is the word that pops up most often in the e-mails.  Well, Justin's dead.  And the rest aren't really sure what to do so they take their cqueue from laughable Patty Cockburns.  Cokcubrns?  The Arab people caught on to him long before the rest of the world.  


We've noted the rality of him and his pretenses for over a decade now.  Ireland's own Patty wants to enlist in the US empire and is using his writing to do so.  What a proud moment for that embarrassing familInclude Jeffrey St. Clair in that.  He and Alexander Cockburn started COUNTERPUNH.  I think Alex would be hitting the roof if he read the garbage COUNTERPUNCH has published in the last two weeks.  It's jingositc and it's pro-Empire and it's everything he stood against.  But, hey, he's dead and Jeffy's gotta eat.


Mickey Z asks 10 questions at INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE and here are the first five:


1. Wouldn’t a new “Cold War” simply work wonders for Corporate America and keep that upward transfer of wealth thing going strong?

2. Could it be that the Russian Army is moving so “slowly” because it has no interest in destroying Ukraine but rather in transforming it into an intact puppet state?

3. Did you know that the Ukrainian government broke the Minsk Protocol first by bombing the Donbass region?

4. Did you know there’s such a thing as the Minsk Protocol or Donbass region?

5. Are you aware that Ukraine belongs to that list of “major countries with abounding mineral resources” and now that you know, do you still think this is about “democracy” and “sovereignty”?

.  


Iraq stands as an example of how the US government 'helps' -- Iraq is completely destroyed.  So the news media ignores it.  Unless they think they can score a point off it.  The suffering hasn't ended in Iraq, only the US interest in it.


The Greman Embassy in Baghdad Tweets:


Delighted to invite you to a virtual event on the status of women in Iraq’s security forces on today’s women's day at 5:00 pm for an engaging discussion covering a report based on over 50 interviews nationwide by CIVIC. #InternationalWomensDay2022
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And RUDAW reports:


Covered in black, dozens of women on Tuesday marked International Women’s Day by gathering in the center of the Kurdish capital to raise their voices in condemnation of the recent surge in femicides the Kurdistan Region has seen.

Photos and placards with faces of murdered women were raised high in Erbil’s Shar Park as dozens of activists and women's rights NGOs rallied against the spike in women killings at the hands of men they loved or those whom they grew up with across the Kurdistan Region.

“Men, why do you do this to women? A woman is your sister, a woman is your mother a woman is your daughter. Why do you discriminate against women like that? Until when?” an old woman told Rudaw’s Dlnia Rahman while holding the photos of at least five women who were recently killed.

Kurdish women marked International Women’s Day by honoring the lives which were unfairly and brutally taken in at least 11 femicides, in Erbil, Sulaimani, Duhok, and Koya so far this year.

“Aren’t women humans? Do they not have the right to live?” another woman questioned angrily.

The rallies follow the recent murder of a 20-year-old woman, who was killed in the capital on Sunday night. The details of her death remain vague as her brother and uncle are being held by the police as the main suspects. 


Alannah Travers (RUDAW) reports:

The gender gap in the Iraqi security sector and limited number of roles available to women officers is contributing to significant gaps in civilian protection - not least among the country’s female population - a new report into the status of women in Iraq’s security forces released on Tuesday to mark International Women’s Day has found.
 
A nominal percentage of women in security force roles in both federal Iraq and the Kurdistan Region combined with the lack of senior positions are filled by female officers within police and military institutions, the Center for Civilians in Conflict (CIVIC) report finds, increases the protection risks for all civilians and impacts the efficacy of security and intelligence operations across the country. 

In perhaps the most concerning finding from a security perspective, CIVIC explains how the lack of female officers conducting searches of female civilians at checkpoints increases the exposure of security forces and civilians to threats such as bombings from female militants. “Without a robust cadre of female officers throughout the security sector, security forces across the country will continually face critical mission success challenges,” the report warns.
 
Based on over 50 interviews with officers and civilians in federal Iraq and the Kurdistan Region between July 2019 and November 2021, supported in the initial stages by Paula Garcia, the research examines the status of women's participation in Iraq's security forces, obstacles that inhibit women from joining or being promoted within the military and police, and the effects of the gender gap in women's representation within Iraq's security sector. 
 
To commemorate International Women’s Day, it sets out a series of recommendations for concrete actions to improve the situation including - above all - attempts to make  Iraq’s security forces better reflective of the population and meaningful inclusion of more women in positions of influence.


At THE NATIONAL, Mina notes:


Iraq will prepare a green paper to tackle climate change as reduced water flow and high temperatures take their toll on the country's livelihood.

Iraq is one of the most climate-vulnerable places on earth. Warming is expected to cut annual rainfall there, which will increase the frequency of dust storms, diminish water supplies and take a toll on agricultural activity.

This will have a knock-on effect on the health of Iraqis and on the country’s economy.

Baghdad played host to the second International Water Conference on Saturday, and on Sunday Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi announced that a committee was set up to draft a green paper for a climate change strategy.


Oh, a paper.  So impressive.  That's sarcasm.  And he doesn't even have that.  He's announced a committee.  They'll write the paper.  


Today, UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Gillian Triggs declared:

Conflict, climate change and the Covid-19 pandemic are delivering a triple blow to the rights and safety of refugee, internally displaced and stateless women and girls, many of whom were already facing deep-rooted inequalities and discrimination.

Two years into the pandemic, we continue to see increased reports of gender-based violence, from domestic violence, forced marriages, child labour, to trafficking and exploitation.

In some contexts where families are hit by conflict, disaster, insecurity and spiraling poverty, girls are being taken out of school to work, beg, wed - and in the most extreme cases, to be sold.

Worsening socio-economic conditions aggravated by the pandemic, mean displaced women and girls are among those hardest hit. Millions are dependent on precarious employment in the informal economy – earning less and yet spending more to sustain their families. They are at greater risk of poverty and exploitation.

Gender inequality is both a root cause and a consequence of forced displacement. We know from our daily interactions that women and girls living in humanitarian crises and armed conflicts are at heightened risk.

We fear existing gender inequalities will only deepen from the impacts of climate change - from inequities in access to natural resources, legal rights, livelihood opportunities, formalized safety nets, technologies and information, and more.

As we mark International Women’s Day, we urge governments, civil society and each of us and our communities to address gender inequality in all its forms and to support and promote the leadership, inclusion, and full participation of displaced women and girls.

For its part, UNHCR is committed to support local, women-led, frontline responses and to strengthen our collaboration with women-led organizations - especially those led by refugees and stateless and internally displaced women and girls.

Unless concerted efforts are made to work in partnership with forcibly displaced women and girls, displaced communities and all stakeholders to transform systems and harmful social norms that perpetuate gender inequality and discrimination, we risk leaving refugee and forcibly displaced women and girls behind.

Notes to editors:

To further support women-led responses, UNHCR has bestowed today seven 2022 NGO Innovation Awards to women-led and girl-led organizations in Malaysia, Peru, Nigeria, DRC, France and Iraq. This year’s awardees are all working to advance gender equality and leadership for displaced and conflict affected women and girls.

These awards recognize the efforts and accomplishments of NGOs who have creatively and effectively delivered essential protection and services to refugee, forcibly displaced and stateless communities. More information on the award and the award winners is available here.


But Mustafa's got a paper!  Or will have!  As soon as ta committee gets around to writing it.  No rush, right?


The following sites updated: