“Harry
Potter” author J.K. Rowling, nearly three years after publishing a
series of tweets that was widely considered transphobic, is stating in a
new podcast that she “never set out to upset anyone.”
whether
she meant to or not, she did it. and, let's be honest, she did mean
to. that's what all the tweets of late from her have been about.
originally,
she objected because she was a woman and - she insisted - saying that
someone born 1 sex could change was disallowing everything including gay
and lesbian.
no, it never made sense.
in
fairness to her, yes, women as traditionally defined have to take a
tiny hit on this 1. guess what? that always happens to the dominant
group when we enlarge our understanding. the tiny hit - which also
alarmed bette midler - was like white people ragging on
african-americans when we grasped that not only was slavery wrong but we
weren't going to tolerate it anymore or when white people (some in both
instances) were whining about how unrestricted lunch counters might
mean that they themselves had to wait a few minutes longer to be
served.
realizing that
transgendered women are women and that transgendered men are men did not
destroy what a woman is. it expanded it.
j.k. refused to embrace expansion. and then she took to making snide remarks.
i
did not agree with her when she made her 1st remarks. i did undestand
that change takes time. (i've worked on the palestinian issue since
college and all of us around the world have moved a mountain but it's
taken years.) kat and elaine have rightly noted that if sam smith wants
to use they/them then smith needs to sing songs with those pronouns.
smith doesn't.
the only way people get comfortable with something is through exposure.
i
don't believe bette midler has tweeted or said anything anti-trans
since that 1 time. people want to learn and we need to give them a
chance to. j.k. has had several years now to get used to it. and she's
refused to move forward. she still attacks trans people and she sicks
her mob on them.
she
needs to stop whining. she was never the victim. and she has had
enough time to adapt. instead of expanding, she remains constricted and
that's on her.
she has
written some great books and i won't take that from her. i also won't
take away my hope that she will become an ally and friend. but i will
never pretend that what she is doing is not hurting a lot of people and
she shouldn't be doing it.
Wednesday, February 15, 2023. On the 20th anniversary of a global
protest, we're supposed to want to participate in an upcoming DC
'action' that would have us link arms with racists and homophobes and a
convicted pedophile (supposedly dropped out) as well as the man who
first put the false link between Iraq and 911 on the cover of THE NEW
YORK TIMES.
Starting with some e-mails.
Chrissy Lynn Hedges. Goodness me, didn't realize I'd
stepped into a ''hornets's nest'' as 15 e-mails all saying the same thing
but supposedly from 15 different people insist I have. Chris Hedges is
for the DC action, didn't I know?
Better question: Why would I care?
Honestly, are you that stupid?
I get it, education is hard. Since the system clearly failed you, let's do some remedial lessons.
First
off, I called out Chrissy Lynn -- Crazy Lynn? -- on that last book
where he was horrified and clutching the pearls over the novel 50 SHADES
OF GREY. Oh, the horror.
Talk about someone unable to big picture it.
More to the point, I have been very kind to Chris over the years but when he's nutso, I've pointed it out.
Like, sorry Maxy Pads Blumenthal, when Chris tied Iraq into the attack on 9/11.
What's that? You thought that was Judith Miller?
No,
kids, it was Chris. He got that lie on the cover of THE NEW YORK
TIMES.
The whole article is garbage and Chris typed up what he was fed:
Two defectors from Iraqi intelligence said yesterday that
they had worked for several years at a secret Iraqi government camp that
had trained Islamic terrorists in rotations of five or six months since
1995.
They said the training in the camp,
south of Baghdad, was aimed at carrying out attacks against neighboring
countries and possibly Europe and the United States.
The
defectors, one of whom was a lieutenant general and once one of the
most senior officers in the Iraqi intelligence service, the Mukhabarat,
said they did not know if the Islamic militants being trained at the
camp, known as Salman Pak, were linked to Osama bin Laden.
They
also said they had no knowledge of specific attacks carried out by the
militants. But they insisted that those being trained as recently as
last year were Islamic radicals from across the Middle East. An
interview of the two men was set up by an Iraqi group that seeks the
overthrow of President Saddam Hussein.
The
defectors said they knew of a highly guarded compound within the camp
where Iraqi scientists, led by a German, produced biological agents.
''There
is a lot we do not know,'' the former general, who spoke on condition
that his name not be printed, admitted. ''We were forbidden to speak
about our activities among each other, even off duty. But over the years
you see and hear things. These Islamic radicals were a scruffy lot.
They needed a lot of training, especially physical training. But from
speaking with them it was clear they came from a variety of countries,
including Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Algeria, Egypt and Morocco. We were
training these people to attack installations important to the United
States. The gulf war never ended for Saddam Hussein. He is at war with
the United States. We were repeatedly told this.''
Jack
Fairweather's "Heroes in Error" (MOTHER JONES, March/April 2006) debunked Chris' article and reminded everyone of how damaging those lies were:
The impact of the article and the concurrent Frontline show,
“Gunning for Saddam,” was immediate: Op-eds ran in major papers, and the
story was taken to a wider audience through cable-TV talk shows. When
Condoleezza Rice, then George W. Bush’s national security adviser, was
asked about the story at a press briefing, she said, “I think it
surprises no one that Saddam Hussein is engaged in all kinds of
activities that are destabilizing.” Vanity Fair and the London Observer elaborated on Ghurairy’s claims; another version of the story appeared in the Washington Post
courtesy of defector Khodada. The White House included the story of
Salman Pak in its “Decade of Deception and Defiance” background paper
prepared for President Bush’s September 12, 2002, speech to the United
Nations General Assembly. Along with the tale of Mohammed Atta meeting
Iraqi intelligence agents in Prague—another INC-hyped story—Ghurairy’s
account helped establish the connection between Saddam and the 9/11
hijackers, making Iraq, like Afghanistan, a legitimate target for Bush’s
war on terror. Unfortunately, the story was an elaborate scam. The purported general
had indeed met with American intelligence agents in Turkey, but
unbeknownst to Hedges the agents had dismissed his claims out of hand.
What the reporters also didn’t know, and what has never before been
reported, is that it now appears that the man himself was a fake.
According to an ex-INC official, the Ghurairy who met with the Times and
PBS was actually a former Iraqi sergeant, then living in Turkey and
known by the code name Abu Zainab. The real Lt. General Ghurairy, it
seems, had never left Iraq.
Does
Chris talk about that? Have you heard him, a speech maker, give a
speech and take accountability? Nope. He just tries to sweep under the
rug. And he was given two sources. They were both fakes and liars.
Jack Fairweather was able to expose one. Chris has never felt compelled
to come forward with the name of the other.
The false link between 9/11 and Iraq did more to move support for that illegal war than anything else.
And Chris is part of that lie.
When does he plan to take accountability?
I have no idea but it's been over 20 years now.
So
if I'm in a hornets nest -- or as all15 spelled it "hornets's nest" -- because I
disagree with Chris Hedges? Honey, I've been in that hornets' nest for
decades and I certainly won't make it a point to take advice on how to
end war from someone who spread the lie that the 9/11 hijackers were
connected to Iraq -- spread the lie and never apologized for it.
Others e-mailing want to tell me that I'm on the side of Ukraine.
Oh,
I'm sorry. Is that your talking point today? It's not accurate. I
hit back when Ann Wright -- brave Ann Wright -- was sliming and slamming
Russia. I called it -- and her -- out.
I'm
not a fan of Putin's but the attack on Russia wasn't about that. It
was the US demonizing and I don't take part in demonizing a people. Or
blaming them for their awful governments -- we have a pretty awful one
in the US, for example.
You've
got a bad action with bad actors due to take place in DC that Chris and others will be participating in and you've got -- as Ann pointed out last night -- idiots like Anaya Parampil huffing the
people of color (she means African-Americans, she's chiding Black
Alliance for Peace) should have called up WACK JOBS and said, "I want to
be part of your rally." No, that's not accurate. You're the one
supposedly trying to build a movement so it was incumbent upon you, as
the organizers, to invite people.
And, here's the thing, Anaya, you did invite who you wanted. You just didn't invite any African-Americans.
And now that's supposed to be their problem and a reflection on them and not your problem and a reflection on you.
Trash,
tell it to someone who hasn't spent the last years calling out all of
your White White White YOUTUBE programs for refusing to bring on
African-Americans as guests.
I don't work on the plantation, guys. I don't seek the approval of your White-White world.
I
survived the original online circle-jerk -- survived and exposed it --
back in the '00s. I'm the one who killed CJR's 'blog report.' The
ultimate circle jerk. It took one phone call. Then it was explained to
the CJR kids that CJR does not exist for them to highlight their
personal friends and certainly not to do that while not disclosing that
is what they are doing. That was the end of CJR DAILY doing their
circle jerk.
I survived that original circle jerk so, no, the Jimmy Dore circle jerk doesn't worry me.
And,
to be clear, again I'm not sure the problem is Jimmy Dore. The problem
is going to YOUTUBE and having to find this program and that program
with a YOUTUBE video about poor Jimmy Dore and who picked on him this
time.
Maybe Jimmy's not asking for that? Maybe people are just sucking up to him?
But it looks like a cult and it harms him more than it could ever help him.
Contrast that with Katie Halper.
Where's her cult of personality?
No where to be found. And when Ana Kasparian went after her, no one really stood up for Katie.
We
did. We immediately stopped highlighting Ana's JACOBIAN podcast. We
called her out. And we waited for others to do the same.
To
this day, people don't seem to grasp what Ana did to Katie. She didn't
just go off on her on the JACOBIAN podcast, she went off on her with
Nando Vila right next to her (Ana). One day of the week, Nando's
(again) on THE KATIE HALPER SHOW and then, days later, he's on with Ana
when she goes off on Katie.
That destroyed a working relationship.
Katie didn't cry. She didn't send out, "Please defend me" distress signals.
She dusted herself off and continued her work.
What Ana did was wrong -- and put JACOBIAN in a bad spot. But including Nando on it was even more wrong.
I
have so much respect for Katie over that. And I also have respect for
Chris Hedges because he does a lot of work worth praising. But I'm not
enlisted in anyone's army and I don't take marching orders from anyone.
That is independence.
I wish that you'd make up your mind
I wish that you'd decide That I should live as freely As those who live outside
Cause we also are entitled To the rights to be endowed And when I've got something to say, sir I'm gonna say it now
Ooh, you'd like to be my father You'd like to be my Dad And give me kisses when I'm good And spank me when I'm bad
But since I've left my parents I've forgotten how to bow So when I've got something to say, sir I'm gonna say it now
-- "I'm Going To Say It Now," written by Phil Ochs, first appears on his PHIL OCHS IN CONCERT album.
Somewhere,
Caleb Maupin is missing the point of the song, just registering the
'spank me' and moaning as he self-pleasures. Oh, well, whatever gets
you through the night, Caleb.
Sorry, I'm independent and I won't be co-opted or silenced. You picked the wrong person to try to intimidate.
And
I am on record opposing sending all that money to Ukraine. I am on
record opposing the US-installed Nazi regime. I love the people of
Ukraine but I'm no fan of their 'leaders.' And I'm not fan of Putin.
But we saw from the start that this was not just events mindlessly
taking place but a real effort by the US government to force Russia's
hand. We saw and called it out when people like Ann Wright -- now
aboard the peace train -- were attacking Russia.
So find someone else to hang that on.
I've had my say and now I'm through
I've just got to get myself away from you You've twisted and you've turned my mind Because of all the dark I find inside of you 'Side of you, got to let me lie
Burn your hatred out on someone else
I don't need the things you say You're bringing me down every day As well as you We're at the crossroads wet with tears And I don't want to spend my years hating you Hating you, got to let me lie
Burn your hatred out on someone else
-- "Burn Your Hatred," written by Graham Nash, first recorded by Cass Elliot for her album DREAM A LITTLE DREAM
I'll
never stand with Scott Ritter. A convicted pedophile. That disgusting
people like Tara Reade and Chris Hedges and Max Blumenthal and Medea
Benjamin did is a reflection of them.
"We need a big coalition." My coalition does not include people who assault others.
If your coalition includes that then you've got a lot to be responsible for.
And personally, I was in single-digit years when I was kidnapped and raped. I'm not Tara Reade.
She's so narcissistic
that her assault is just about her. Didn't learn a thing about
others. The ME in Me-Too. I'm not Tara. I know real hurt and I will
never do anything to risk that anyone else go through that.
And
if Jimmy Dore hadn't started promoting Scott Ritter, we'd still be
noting him (Jimmy) here -- whether I agreed with him or not in whichever
video. Didn't set out to be in opposition to Jimmy. And, if you'll
remember, my original complaint when they started bringing that
convicted sex offender on was only that they weren't disclosing it to
their audiences. That shows an extreme disrespect for your audience, to
bring on a registered sex offender and present him as a good and
rational voice and not as the threat that the courts see him as. And
for those of us who have suffered an assault, it's very offensive that
you think this type of a person and promoting this type of a person is
more important than supporting your audience which does include a lot of
survivors.
Male and female.
Since they were so 'triggered' -- these con artists who'd rather stand with a convicted sex offender -- by what Black Alliance for Peace said, let's note it one more time:
The Final Deathblow to Imperialism Will Only Come Under The Leadership of The Organized Colonized Masses
Efforts to marginalize, disregard, and erase the presence of radical Black-, Brown-, and Indigenous-led anti-imperialist organizations, as well as our political positions, is proving to be endemic to the politics of too many who consider themselves radical anti-imperialist and anti-war activists. For this reason, the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) reiterates that the peoples who bear the brunt of the brutal and lethal practices of U.S. imperialism are at the forefront of the struggle to dismantle the global system of white supremacist, patriarchal capitalism.
The colonized within the U.S. settler state see more clearly than the privileged the holistic nature of the system as well as the interdependencies between our domestic repression and U.S. wars abroad. Some forces that claim to be anti-war have an unsophisticated understanding of peace.
We understand that peace is not the absence of conflict, but rather the achievement, by popular struggle and self-defense, of a world liberated from the interlocking issues of global conflict, nuclear armament, and unjust war. A condition for real peace is the defeat of global systems of oppression that include colonialism, imperialism, patriarchy and white supremacy. Anyone with genuine concern for the well-being of humanity and the planet should be deeply concerned that some supposed “leftist” forces consider it easier to find common cause with right wing libertarian forces than with the Black radical movement, as BAP Coordinating Committee member Jacqueline Luqman writes in this Black Agenda Report piece.
“The white left in the U.S. is deeply delusional. Elements of the left actually believe a radical movement leading to revolutionary change will be led by white activists with Black & colonized people as backdrops. #AntiWarSoWhite”
We cannot afford any confusion, complicity, silence, or outright collaboration with some “liberal/left” forces on armed intervention into Haiti, the reactionary role of NATO, the intensification of state repression in the United States, the plight of the working class being subjected to an induced recession, and austerity. For BAP, all of these contradictions reaffirm why it is absolutely necessary for colonized people to be organized or face an inescapable subjugation and eventual annihilation. The comfortable will dismiss this as hyperbole.
We—the colonized, the exploited, the oppressed—are in the midst of a war. It is clear that the colonial-capitalist rulers will continue to deceive, mislead and co-opt to maintain their dominance. Our responsibility in opposition is to keep the focus on the imperialists and not be confused by the machinations of their supporters. That task and responsibility will continue to inform our work in 2023.
Tara
Reade, if you missed it, is now so far gone that she's reTweeting US
House Rep and professional hate merchant Marjorie Taylor Greene.
Marjie? Alex Bollinger (LGBTQ NATION) reports on MTG's latest hate spew:
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) denounced marriage equality as a sign that Democrats have “turned their backs on God.”
She then made comments about how 9/11 proves that an aircraft crashing isn’t dangerous for people on the ground.
“The truth is being canceled, it’s being attacked like never before,”
Greene told the Kootenai County Republican Central Committee in Coeur
d’Alene, Idaho, delivering the keynote speech at the group’s Lincoln Day
Dinner on February 11. “And if you don’t love the truth, then you don’t
love God.”
She said that “these people in Washington” – a group that includes
herself – have “turned their back on the truth and they turned their
back on God.”
She then said that House Democrats voted twice to pass a bill
legalizing murdering babies “up until the date of birth” as a sign of
Democrats turning their backs on God.
“They passed a bill to make it a federal law to protect gay
marriage,” Greene then complained. “Marriage is between a man and a
woman, and that’s between God and a man and a woman.”
That's
who Tara Reade is reTweeting and embracing. She thinks there's a
come-back from this? There isn't. You've made your selection and
you'll continue to the register and begin paying for your purchase. No
one is going to stand with you anymore -- no one who's not a hate
merchant. It's over, fatty, no one cares anymore. I happen to think
Joe Biden did assault you but I just don't care now that you've used the
platform and support people gave you to try to normalize a hate
merchant like MTG.
No one can say they
weren’t warned. Mass opposition to wars tends to emerge only after they
have been waged for some time, yet protests against the Iraq war reached
unprecedented heights well before it began. On 15 February 2003, the
largest demonstration in British history took place in London, attended
by an estimated 1.5 million to 2 million people. It was also part of the largest ever international anti-war protest, with perhaps as many as 30 million people demonstrating across every continent.
The
march itself was a carnival of resistance. There were people of every
age, race, religion and nationality, from huge numbers of school
students to members of the Muslim community and other faith
organisations and trade unionists. There were tens of thousands of
banners and placards ranging from “make tea not war” to “not in my
name”. Part of the reason for the sheer size of the march was that
people thought that being there in person, as individuals, really could
make a difference and convince the government not to go to war.
This
turned out not to be the case. The march and the wider anti-war
movement did not stop the war. And we still live with the consequences
of both the conflict itself, and the rejection of democratic
accountability demonstrated by the government.
That
was real action. And that didn't end the war -- US troops are still
there even though most Americans are unaware and couldn't tell you when
the last US service member died there (last December) or who it was
(Marine Staff Sgt Samuel D. Lecce). I think protests are important. I
don't believe we throw away our ethics to stand with convicted sex
offenders who prey on children. Three arrests now. It was patehtic
when it was only one known arrest back in the early '00s and you idiots
were defending him. It's now been three arrests. He's gone to prison.
He's been found guilty in a court of law. He's lied repeatedly about
what happened. And yet that's who you want to stand with and you want
to ignore his hatred and the threat that he actually is.
You
can say you're doing it for peace or 'anti-war,' but you're lying. And
it's really nice of the White White White Straight Straight Nothings to
decide that it's more important to stand with a pedophile and more
important to promote homophobes and those who attack women's
reproductive rights. You're 'big tent' has forced most of us out. And
that's on you, you planned this party, you invited the guests you
wanted.
