c.i. has always noted that the best front for hillary was the down-low.
long before the 2016 campaign, c.i. would tell you that when the american people see hillary talking about herself, they start to dislike her.
so maybe her little stunt with the c.n.n. media whore earlier this week will do her in?
robert parry ('consortium news') takes on hillary clinton:
It was also somewhat ironic that Clinton sat before a slogan, #SheBringsPeace, given her militaristic approach toward American foreign policy, including her infamous celebration of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s grisly murder in 2011, when she declared, “we came, we saw, he died” and clapped with joy.
Despite her off-putting passive-aggressive attitude for much of the half-hour interview, Clinton was at her best toward the end when she began discussing detailed domestic policies and the future challenges to the jobs of Americans from robotics and other high-tech developments.
Only then did the viewers get a sense of Clinton’s greatest strength, her wonky interest in the nitty-gritty of what the government can do for people, a favorable contrast to President Trump’s surprise at how complicated many of the issues are that land on the President’s desk.
But the bulk of the interview focused on blame-shifting her defeat largely onto Russia as she presented herself as a new fighter in the anti-Trump #Resistance. “I’m now back to being an activist citizen and part of the Resistance,” Clinton declared.
martin schram ('tribune) calls her out on her claim that she couldn't talk about the economy because no debate moderator asked her about it:
We all know the bottom line of this blame game: If Clinton had great solutions and wanted to be America’s Jobs President, all she had to do was give a speech and say them. Better yet, many speeches. Also, every rookie candidate knows Debate Trick No. 1: If you’ve got something you want to say, simply twist any question toward your topic — and say whatever you want!
But in Campaign 2016, Clinton didn’t even need to pull Debate Trick No. 1. Because in the very first question of the very first fall campaign debate, NBC’s Lester Holt asked her: “Beginning with you, Secretary Clinton, why are you a better choice than your opponent to create the kinds of jobs that will put more money into the pockets of American workers?”
Clinton began with a bromide — the importance of building for the future. Then this: “Today is my granddaughter’s 2nd birthday, so I think about this a lot.” She wallowed, wandered and tap-danced on a quicksand of cliches and generalities — but no solutions. All un-memorably, for the nation’s voters and — quite obviously — for herself.
And now she’s apparently still wallowing in the muck of strained rationales and self-denial.
s.e. cupps ('cnn') has a hilarious mocking column:
Taking it even one step further, "I was
the person who was on the ballot," she said, revealing that she doesn't
believe anyone else's name was on the final ballot but hers. I know!!
In the biggest revelation yet, though, she asks and answers the
question: "Did I make mistakes? Oh my gosh, yes." That is huge. We can't
know for sure if by mistakes she means nibbling on that questionable,
shellfish platter at the Polk County meet-and-greet -- or not going to
Wisconsin and Michigan to campaign.
But,
as she said following up that admission, and with zero air of that old
Clinton condescension, "you'll read my confession and my request for
absolution," in her forthcoming book.
hillary should have gone away.
by refusing to do so, she's probably just upped her negatives yet again.
let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'
Thursday, May 4, 2017. The Mosul Slog continues -- despite a lack of interest from the corporate press.
Day 197 of The Mosul Slog.
And here's what the mainstream press runs with.
Day 197 of The Mosul Slog.
And here's what the mainstream press runs with.
Iraqi forces open front in west Mosul, aiming to squeeze ISIS after earlier push is stalled nyti.ms/2qHHePI
Iraqi forces launch new operation northwest of Mosul aje.io/zd4k
"New"?
Day 197.
Maybe Day 197 should be in the headline.
The original plan was this would take just a few weeks, remember?
Dropping back to the August 1st snapshot:
POLITICO asserts that US President Barack Obama is planning an October Surprise to influence the outcome of this year's presidential election.
For those late to the topic, refer to Robert Parry's reporting on the 1980 October Surprise at CONSORTIUM NEWS.
POLITICO'S Mark Perry reports that Barack is planning to start the battle to retake Mosul in early October and, "If Mosul is retaken, it would both mark a major political triumph for Barack Obama and likely benefit his party’s nominee at the polls, Hillary Clinton, undercutting Republican claims that the Obama administration has failed to take off the gloves against the Islamic State."
Mosul was seized by the Islamic State in June of 2014.
Barack's 'answer' since August of 2014 has been to drop bombs on Iraq daily.
That was the plan.
Of course, Iraq's Prime Minister Hayder al-Abadi couldn't pull it together enough to even get it started in early October.
Even if he had, the notion that Mosul could be retaken in a matter of weeks shows just how out of touch the Iraqi government and the White House was with reality on the ground in Iraq.
And out of touch also describes the press.
Elise Labott screamed "NO!" in the middle of a press conference when another reporter, Said Arikat of AL QUDS DAILY, referred to the Mosul operation as a slog near the end of October.
Elise works for CNN.
QUESTION: Okay. Can we stay on [the Islamic State] and the battle of Mosul?
MR KIRBY: Sure, sure.
QUESTION: Okay. Is it turning out to be like a slog, or how are things moving? How are they progressing?
QUESTION: No!
MR KIRBY: Elise, do you want to come take the podium?
QUESTION: Not today.
Elise's little outburst shocked even then-spokesperson John Kirby.
But that's how the western media has played it -- denial, denial and more denial.
Yesterday, the US Defense Dept announced:
Strikes in Iraq
In Iraq, coalition military forces conducted four strikes consisting of 39 engagements against ISIS targets:
-- Near Mosul, four strikes engaged three ISIS tactical units and a sniper team; destroyed two fighting positions, two artillery systems, a heavy machine gun, a medium machine gun, and an ISIS staging area; and suppressed nine mortar teams.
Additionally, three strikes were conducted in Iraq on May 1 that closed within the last 24 hours:
-- Near Mosul, May 1, three strikes destroyed three vehicle bombs and three ISIS fuel tankers, and suppressed three mortar teams.
These daily strikes having been going on since August of 2014.
A fact the corporate press also tries to bury.
Of the strike last month which killed 100s in Mosul, Jason Ditz (ANTIWAR.COM) notes:
Witnesses and survivors of the US strike say the whole US story about ISIS putting them in the homes never happened.
Rather, they insist airstrikes had been leveling houses in the area for days, and ultimately everybody ended up collected into just three houses close together, hundreds of people from scores of families, when major US airstrikes came and brought the buildings down on top of them.
Indeed, the whole reason the houses had been so popular with fleeing civilians is that they were relatively far away from the fighting, and they assumed there’d be no reason for them to be attacked, since they were small and isolated. The Pentagon has yet to respond to the eyewitness accounts, which radically differ from their own version of events.
Also noting that reality is Amnesty International's Donatella Rovera:
No #ISIS & no human shields say survivors & witnesses of deadliest #USA coalition bombardment in #Mosul battle abcn.ws/2qsqQ6p #Iraq
From Monday's snapshot on an AP story by Susanna George:
As for national reconciliation, dropping back to Friday's snapshot:
THE BAGHDAD POST reports that MP Mohamed al-Ja'fari has said that the reconciliation is "doomed to failure."
This is just one opinion, right?
Wrong.
He's a member of State Of Law.
State Of Law is the political coalition created by Nouri al-Maliki to avoid running with his political party (Dawa). So State Of Law is making clear that they remain opposed to reconciliation.
And Hayder al-Abadi, the current prime minister?
He's also a member of Nouri's State Of Law coalition.
Which explains why he does nothing to bring about reconciliation either.
So get ready because the never-ending Iraq War is never going to end.
As long as the government persecutes a group, some organization will rise up -- it's the basic reaction to persecution.
But don't worry, George tells us, with money, there will be reconciliation.
Remember that lie?
Nancy Pelosi was Speaker of the House, it was 2007. And Iraq promised reconciliation.
Why?
To keep getting billions.
They never met the benchmarks then-prime minister Nouri al-Maliki signed off on.
But they kept getting money, remember?
And arms.
And no strings attached.
Even though, remember, Nancy Pelosi, failure to live up to the benchmarks was supposed to result in pulling all funding.
Monday, Peter Van Buren (ANTIWAR.COM) weighed in:
Iraq’s Foreign Minister this week asked the United States to develop a financial plan for the reconstruction of the country after ISIS, similar to a program developed for Western Europe after the Second World War.
In discussions with Special Presidential Envoy to the Coalition Brett McGurk, Ibrahim al-Jaafari stressed the need for “collective support from the international community to contribute to the reconstruction of infrastructure after the defeat of terrorism.” Jaafari suggested “the adoption of a project similar to the Marshall Plan which contributed to rebuilding Germany after the Second World War.”
Iraq will need billions of dollars to rebuild after ISIS. Large portions of major cities were destroyed in the war, infrastructure was neglected under ISIS, villages are riddled with mines and booby-traps. The deputy governor of Anbar estimated that his province would need $22 billion alone for reconstruction.
Um, never mind invoking the Marshall Plan. What needs to be cited here is that the United States already spent billions to reconstruct Iraq, from 2003-2010. I know. I was there. It was my job to help spend some of those billions. We accomplished less than nothing. In fact, our failure to reconstruct Iraq then lead in a direct line to the Iraq of now. I cannot believe I am writing this. Again.
See, in fact, I wrote a whole book about it: We Meant Well: How I Helped Lose the Battle for the Hearts and Minds of the Iraqi People, in 2011.
At some point, you'd expect the corporate press would be required to note these basic details -- even if only for context.
But proper context is the one thing the corporate press no longer wishes to convey.
It's all about opinion and personalizing these days. Hotheads distracting the American people from the real issues.
The Mosul Slog will soon hit 200 days and that alone is news.
Equally newsworthy is how little has been accomplished.
The operation, for those who've already forgotten, was supposed to be about rescuing the citizens of Mosul, improving their lives.
But they are the ones who have suffered the most during this operation.
An estimated 118,000 (35%) of IDPs from #Mosul are #School -age #Children - reliefweb.int/sites/reliefwe… - #Iraq
Maybe someday the corporate media will do its job?
The following community sites -- plus GORILLA RADIO and BLACK AGENDA REPORT -- updated:
iraq
