9/24/2019

renee does judy! at the palace and elsewhere!

renee zellweger has apparently demonstrated she was right to take the role of judy garland - she's winning huge praise:


Zellweger, who sings in the film about one of the most legendary singers of all time, is already garnering early Oscar buzz for her performance as the grown up version of “The Wizard of Oz” star.
“I never want to put her away. I fell in love and I’m there to stay,” she said of playing the complicated character who died tragically at age 47 caused by a drug overdose.
“There was a sort of conjuring every day just hoping that she would understand what our intentions were. It was a love letter to her.”


the film, 'judy', comes out october 2nd.



  1. Renee Zellweger says filming the Judy Garland movie was a 'celebration' even though she had to wear 'ageing makeup'
  2. unexpectedly broke our hearts with an astonishing performance by Renee Zellweger and a deep understanding of who Judy Garland really was and what she meant to the gays. Our review:
  3. She’s already being tipped for an Oscar for her role as Judy — but what did playing the great singer teach Renée Zellweger about fame, burnout and the big comeback
  4. Judy Garland was called the greatest performer of her generation, so we asked Renée Zellweger who's the greatest performer now... starts its theatrical run this weekend. 🎟️
  5. Thank you for the screening pass of . We were treated with the riveting performance of Renee Zellweger as Judy Garland. We truly enjoyed the movie!
  6. The actress received applause during — and a giant ovation at the end of — the Hollywood premiere of the new film in which she plays Judy Garland...
  7. Renée Zellweger, who plays Garland in the last year of her life, hopes will help people realize "how truly spectacular" the late icon was
  8. Without Renee Zellweger’s remarkable Oscar-worthy performance, "Judy" is standard-issue biopic fare – with her, the cultural icon comes to life again, warts and all.



will you see the movie?

i will.  i love judy garland and i'm interested in every movie or mini-series they make about her.


let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'


Tuesday, September 24, 2019.


Starting in the US where the race for the Democratic Party's persidential nomination continues.

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Link to headline article



US House Rep Ilhan Omar speaks for many with that call about Joe Biden.  Joe is out of touch and out of date.  Most of all, he's become human filth.  That's the reality when the President of the United States, Barack Obama, puts you over Iraq, entrusts you with that country and you allow your brother to use your name to sign a $1.5 million reconstruction contract.  It's unethical.  It should have resulted in Congressional hearings.  A sitting vice president is put in charge of Iraq and then his brother signs a $1.5 million contract?

That's business as usual.  "As a Biden," he gives his word, that's business as usual.

He's in trouble over Ukraine and his son's dealings currently.  Natasha Korecki, Marc Caputo and Michael Calderone (POLITICO) note he's currently at war with the media as he tries to control their coverage of Ukriane.  Well, it's not like Joe ever supported a free press.  Those who support a free press don't usually lock a reporter in a room in Miami.  POLITICO notes:

Since Friday alone, Biden’s team has adopted a new in-your-face approach, including repeatedly singling out journalists behind unfavorable coverage, tweeting out taunts that accuse reporters of carrying Trump’s water and rolling out a series of fact-checking memos.
It’s all designed to focus coverage squarely on allegations that Trump asked a foreign leader to investigate the Biden family — and away from the president’s attempts to highlight Biden’s son Hunter’s business activities in Ukraine. Biden himself has taken on a more confrontational tone in addressing the subject, including in a fiery, finger-pointing exchange with a Fox News reporter caught on camera.

Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s communications director, tweeted the clip and, repeating her boss’ demand in the exchange, wrote: “ASK. THE. RIGHT. QUESTION.” 


The media shouldn't be controlled by any candidate.  And anytime a candidate tries to tell the media to look over there instead of here, the media should immediately look here to prove they are independent.

As it stands, all Ukraine is doing is allowing tired fossils like Dianne Feinstein -- yeah, she's still alive and kicking, not really aware of her surroundings but . . .  -- to rush to Joe's defense and create a lot of smoke screen while Joe goes about being human trash.

How so?

Eion Higgins (COMMON DREAMS) reports:

Sen. Bernie Sanders hit back Monday after news broke that the centrist group Third Way is focus-testing attacks on Medicare for All to see what will stick, using a firm with close ties to former Vice President Joe Biden's 2020 Democratic presidential campaign.
"It is unfortunate but not surprising that Vice President Biden's polling firm is helping distort what Medicare for All is about," Sanders said in a statement. "My Medicare for All legislation eliminates all premiums, copayments, deductibles and out of pocket expenses that crush millions of Americans, which not only saves people money, it will allow all Americans to go to any doctor or hospital they want with no one expending more than $200 a year for prescription drugs."



Joe and Torture Queen Dianne need to find a retirement home with a sex dungeon so they can play with one another.  America doesn't need a president who doesn't believe in Medicare For All.  Joe's is bought and paid for by the corporations --  that's how he's made $15 million in the last two years.  He's a whore who put a price tag above his ass crack that said "Open for Business."  That's not who the country needs.  He's disgusting.  He made sure his tawdry family raked in millions in unethical deals but he's not going to let the American people have the healthcare that they need.

Matt Bruenig (JACOBIN) explains:

If you want to estimate how many people lose their employer-sponsored health plan every year, you need two figures: 1) the total number of people with employer-sponsored insurance, and 2) the percentage of those people who transition off their health plan every twelve months.
For the first figure, we can go to the latest Census health insurance figures that were released earlier this week. Those figures show that, in 2018, there were 178,350,000 people who had employer-sponsored insurance.
For the second figure, we have to be somewhat more creative because, as far as I know, there are not regular surveys that track people over time to see how often they switch off their current health plan. The most recent study I know of that did this was conducted in Michigan between 2014 and 2015. That study found that only 72 percent of people who were on an employer health plan at the beginning of the study remained on that same plan for twelve continuous months. This means 28 percent had lost their initial health plan over the year with some going into uninsurance and others going onto other health plans.

If 178,350,000 people are on employer-sponsored insurance and 28 percent of people on such insurance lose their current plan each year, then that means 49,938,000 lose their employer health insurance plan every year. This rounds up nicely to fifty million, which is the number Sanders gave.
Thus, Sanders’s statement, read literally on its face, is actually correct, according to the best data we have on this subject.



Put Joe before a labor crowd and he'll pretend he's friend of the workers but the reality is clear, Joe only holds hands with corporations.  We don't need more corruption.  We need a fresh start and there's nothing fresh about Joe and his tired ideas.

Robert Schroeder (MARKETWATCH) points out, "Elizabeth Warren overtook Joe Biden in a poll of Iowa voters released over the weekend, in what’s being called a major shakeup for the state that holds the first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses."  Matthew Rozsa (SALON) explains:

Twenty-two percent of likely Democratic caucus-goers pick Warren as their first choice for president in the new Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll, which is considered to be the "gold standard." This marks the first time that any candidate other than Biden has taken in the lead in the first-in-the-nation state, indicating that the former vice president's support among Democratic voter could be vulnerable. In addition to being the most preferred candidate, Warren also has the highest favorability rating (75 percent), followed by South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg (69 percent) and Biden (66 percent).



War Hawk Joe Biden?  America deserves better.


100 years ago, Jews comprised over 25% of Baghdad, Iraq 🇮🇶 population. They were leaders in many fields and contributed loyally to country. Following severe persecution and riots, they were ethnically cleansed out of Iraq. 1,000,000 of their descendants outside Iraq today.
 
 
 




Does that bother you?  Joe Biden didn't do a damn thing to help the Jews in Iraq -- or the Christians, or the Muslims.  He supported a war that was illegal.  He talked in April of 2008 about how Iraq didn't have a real government but then, in 2010, insisted that thug Nouri al-Maliki must remain prime minister even though the Iraqi people voted him out.

When does the press plan to ask him about that?

We're all so damn concerned about 'stolen' elections but Joe Biden was part of stealing Iraq's 2010 election and overturning the results.  When is he held accountable?  Hell, when is he even forced to go on the record about this issue?


RUDAW reports:


A mortar attack struck the outskirts of Baghdad’s Green Zone on Monday night, reportedly targeting but missing the US embassy in the second attack of its kind since May. No casualties as a result of the strike were reported.

“Two mortar shells fell. One [fell] in an empty dirt field at the outskirts of the Green Zone, and the second in the Tigris river in Baghdad,” Iraq’s Security Media Cell said in a post late on Monday, adding that no losses were incurred from the attack.

The Security Media Cell belongs to Iraq’s Joint Operations Command, composed of personnel from a number of Iraqi Army units.

Iraqi media outlet al-Sumaria reported prior to the Cell announcement that the two mortars fell near the US embassy in the Green Zone, and that two Green Zone checkpoints were temporarily closed as a precaution. Sirens wailed in response to the attack, al-Sumaria added.



It's so interesting how Joe can stand on stage at any debate and claim credit for Iraq and no one ever asks him a critical question because Iraq is a failed state.



The following sites updated:




9/23/2019

how stupid is alyssa milano?

i'm reading cedric and wally's latest:



  • and failed child actor alyssa milano is trying to push around voters in texas.

    i honestly think people need to learn to shut the f**k up.

    america doesn't need alyssa milano telling them how to vote.  i like c.i.'s approach which is she's not going to endorse any 1 that's in a race she can't vote for.  but alyssa butts into every 1's life and every 1's business. 

    she's so stupid.

    so she's hell bent on defeating henry cuellar - a democrat in congress.

    and she wants you to know - gasp! - he has an a-rating from the nra.

    does she really think most people in texas - let alone in the 28th district - are going to give a sweet s**t? 

    she's so stupid.  i'd guess they'd be more interested in his anti-abortion stance.  i'd guess they'd be more interested in many other issues.

    but, hey, alyssa never got even a basic education.  she was a child actor who was 'taught' on the set.  she didn't go to a real school and once the sitcom she was a 4th banana on finally got cancelled, she didn't go to college.

    she's as dumb as a turnip.

    you'd think that her stupidity and lack of education would cause her to shut her mouth.  but nothing does, does it?

    she's so stupid.

    and the more she and other outsiders try to influence a race, the more local voters are going reject her candidate.

    can alyssa ever not try to barge through and become the center of attention?

    you'd think she would have grown out of it by now but she's still convinced fame will be coming for her.  her career is over.  there will never be an emmy, let alone an oscar.

    let's close with c.i.'s 'Iraq snapshot:'


    Monday, September 23, 2019.  Droopy Joe Biden loses support, the press refuses to get serious about asking Joe about that million dollar plus deal in Iraq his brother got when Joe was vice president, more bombings of Iraq (again from Israel?), and much more.




    Starting with the race in the United States for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.

    A surging Sen. Elizabeth Warren is challenging Joe Biden's lead in the race for the Democratic nomination, according to a new CNN/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll of likely Iowa caucusgoers. looks at the latest numbers.
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    3:19
     
     



    Yes, Joe's support is flaccid.  Over the weekend, Stephen Gruber-Miller (DES MOINES REGISTER) reported:

    Joe Biden’s support in Iowa has eroded as the former vice president has reintroduced himself to Iowans as a presidential candidate — and faced criticism from campaign rivals.
    U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, at 22%, leads him by 2 points in the new Des Moines Register/CNN/Mediacom Iowa Poll, after Biden had topped three earlier polls this caucus cycle. The only other contender in double digits is Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, at 11%.
    The poll of 602 likely Democratic caucusgoers was conducted Sept. 14-18 by Selzer & Co. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points.
    Biden’s standing has fallen in each of the Iowa Polls conducted since last year.


    Joe Biden's in trouble and his insane supporters aren't helping him.  To be clear, not all of his supporters are crazy.  But the ones crying "treason!" over President Donald Trump discussing Joe with Ukrainian leaders?  That's not treason.  And your stupidity is both amazing and appalling.  Your knee jerk moves betray just how uneducated you are and how willing to lie you are.  The president of the United States, if she or he thinks a crime has been committed or may have been committed, can speak to that privately to any world leader.  There's nothing in the Constitution that prevents that.  And if they are the president, they can argue they have a duty to raise the issue.

    Thus far, no action rises to the level of treason, let alone high crimes and misdemeanors.  The rhetoric is outrageous and it is damaging to the national dialogue.

    There are questions Joe Biden needs to answer.  He was Vice President and his trashy brother -- who leaves one lawsuit after another in his wake -- got a reconstruction contract in Iraq.  Despite the fact that, as Joe never tires of saying, Barack Obama tasked Joe with overseeing Iraq.

    “During the Obama years, several months after James [Biden] joined a construction firm as an executive, the firm received a contract worth more than a billion dollars to build houses in Iraq while Joe oversaw the U.S.-led occupation of that country.”
     
     



    That is unethical.  Joe needs to answer for it.  Crony capitalism -- remember how we all hissed that (rightly) at Dick Cheney once upon a time?

    Reality -- support for Joe was always iffy and it's only getting worse.  Ukraine is not an issue in this, Joe's own actions on the campaign trail cause him more problems with voters.  What kind of idiot goes off on a woman for asking him questions and then calls her "sweetheart" on his way out?  And, by the way, she's a lesbian.

    Biden called the moderator of an LGBTQ forum "a lovely person" while onstage, and she says he called her "a real sweetheart" backstage. She called the comments "a little condescending," and said, "It’s 2019, you shouldn’t be calling women sweethearts."
     
     


    He is a pompous jerk -- and that's the nicest thing you can say about him.


    Calling women "sweetheart" in professional settings only serves to diminish them.
     
     



    As a candidate, he's so entitled that even being asked about his own public record on LGBTQ rights leads him to lose it.  Can you imagine that as a president?  It would be a nightmare.


    We should note that Joe's not against all women.  He likes a certain kind of woman.

    Cokie Roberts was a pioneer. Relentless in her pursuit of the truth and steadfast in her commitment to breaking down barriers for women in journalism—our country is better because of it. and I send our prayers to her loved ones at this time.


    War whore Cokie is his type of gal.  War whore Cokie never earned any position she held.  As the daughter of a member of Congress, she was given jobs at ABC and NPR and she did nothing of value with those jobs.  Instead, she used them to whore for war.

    None that mattered?

    Has everyone forgotten that?

    From Jonathan Lawson, Susan Gleason and Daniel Hannah (INDYMEDIA NOTES):

    The mainstream press, more often than not, takes administration rhetoric at face value, relying on official sources to describe current events, and allowing its claims to go unchallenged. As recently reported by the watchdog group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (www.fair.org), mainstream networks CNN and FOX instituted official wartime policies requiring journalists to downplay reports of Afghan civilian casualties. Reporting on domestic approval of the US bombing, NPR's Cokie Roberts was asked by the host whether there were dissenting views among the public. Her reply: "None that matter."



    In the wake of the Gulf War, Cokie was calling for the draft to be re-instated.

    She was a war whore.  That's why she existed.  She was not a feminist.  She was not a breakthrough.  She was a war whore who sold war repeatedly.

    It's appalling how weak we are on the left that everyone wants to pretend otherwise.

    She cheerleaded and called for the Iraq War.  I'm sorry but the Iraqi people have suffered.  I don't give a damn about some whorish woman born into wealth who used her connections to get jobs and created no body of work worthy of praise.  She was a whore and now she's a dead whore.  I'll save my tears for the innocents in Iraq not the people who pimped the war.



    Here is how you fight US and other imperial powers whom have been destroying our children and environment. New research reveals footprint of depleted uranium in Iraqi children, with birth defect, who live near a U.S. military base in Iraq.
     
     





    David Swanson (DAVIDSWANSON.ORG) notes:

    In the years following 2003, the U.S. military dotted Iraq with over 500 military bases, many of them close to Iraqi cities. These cities suffered the impacts of bombs, bullets, chemical and other weapons, but also the environmental damage of open burn pits on U.S. bases, abandoned tanks and trucks, and the storage of weapons on U.S. bases, including depleted uranium weapons. Here’s a map of some of the U.S. bases:
    This map and the other illustrations below have been provided by Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, one of the authors of a forthcoming article in the journal Environmental Pollution. The article documents the results of a study undertaken in Nasiriyah near Tallil Air Base. Nasiriyah was bombed by the U.S. military in 2003 and in the early 1990s. Open-air burn pits were used at Tallil Air Base beginning in 2003. See a second map:
    Now take a look (do not turn away) at these images of infants who were born between August and September of 2016 to parents who had continuously lived in Nasiriyah. The visible birth defects include: anencephaly (A1 and A2 , B), lower limb anomalies (C), hydrocephalus (D), spina bifida (E), and multiple anomalies (F, G, H). Imagine if these tragic birth defects had been caused by a natural disaster or the misdeeds of the next government targeted by the United States for “regime change” — would not the outrage be widespread and thunderous? But these horrors have a different cause.
    Here’s another illustration, of hand and foot abnormalities in children in Nasiriyah, and in the ancient city of Ur, near the U.S. base:
    The study now being published found an inverse relationship between the distance one lived from Tallil Air Base and the risk of birth defects as well as of levels of thorium and uranium in one’s hair. It found a positive relationship between the presence of thorium and uranium and the presence of birth defect(s). Thorium is a decay-product of depleted uranium, and a radioactive compound.
    These results were found near this particular base rather than dozens of others, not because it is necessarily unique; no similar studies have yet been conducted near each of the other bases. The results found by this study are likely to be identical to results that could be found by a similar study next year, or next decade, or next century, or next millennium, at least in the absence of major efforts to mitigate the damage.

    Depleted uranium (DU) weapons were not just stored in Iraq, but also fired in Iraq. Between 1,000 and 2,000 metric tons of DU was fired in Iraq according to a 2007 report by the U.N. Environment Program. While not at the same level, the U.S. military has also poisoned the Washington, D.C., area, among other parts of the United States and the globe with DU. The Pentagon to this day claims the right to use DU. Depleted uranium is permanently hazardous waste from the production of nuclear energy, a source of energy marketed by its lobbyists as environmentally beneficial. Here’s a description of DU from Iraq Veterans Against the War, a group (later renamed “About Face: Veterans Against the War!”) many of whose members are familiar with the damage that DU does to people directly, not just to their offspring:




    I'll worry about the children of Iraq, not a war whore responsible for death and destruction.


    In other news, Israel continues to bomb Iraq.

    Israel has bombed Syria, Lebanon, Gaza and Iraq repeatedly in the past month. Israel continues stealing land carrying out ethnic cleansing across Palestine. Israel has hundreds of nukes and refuses to sign the NPT. Israel is the region’s aggressor and terrorizer... Not .
     
     


    Yesterday, XINHUA reported, "An unknown aircraft Sunday carried out an airstrike on a paramilitary Hashd Shaabi base in Iraq's western province of Anbar, a local official said. The incident took place in the early hours of the day when an unidentified aircraft bombarded al-Murassanat Camp, where the Hashd Shaabi forces were stationed in a desert area near the border with neighboring Syria, the official told Xinhua on condition of anonymity."  Elijah J. Magnier offers:


    In the last month, Israel has violated Iraqi airspace and its sovereignty, targeting its security forces, warehouses and even its military commander. The reason why Israel feels free to attack is simply because it can count on many friends and has common enemies and joint political opponents among Iraqi politicians and in the Arab world: Hashd is the common enemy. 
    Indeed, Bahrein’s Foreign Minister hailed the Israeli “ attack on Hashd, brandishing the identical narrative adopted by Israel when attacking a an enemy country or a potential threat, i.e. “self-defence”. It is, after all, an essential strategic component of Israel’s deterrence policy adopted by Moshe Dayan since 1955. 
    Israel Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu confirmed the attack in Iraq, and his Foreign Minister Yisrael Katz proclaims that Israel is “the only one working against Iran in Iraq”. Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi has no political power behind him and therefore is considered “under the armpit” of Hashd. Although the Marjaiya in Najaf and other key Shia leaders stand against Israel, they and many Shia, Sunnis, and Kurds in Erbil would like to see Hashd free from Iran’s influence, melting within the other security forces and even disappearing once and for all. Moreover, Israel’s presence in Iraq-Kurdistan is not new and Israeli-Kurdish military collaboration is often discussed. Also, to hit Iran’s allies Israel can rely on its sworn US ally in the White House and the logistical facilities US forcesoffer in Iraq, and the US military facilities in the north-eastern occupied area of Syria.
    Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi ordered the formation of three security committees to investigate the attacks on the Iraqi security forces warehouses and commander. Members of these committees confirmed to me that strong evidence leading to an Israeli involvement have been collected and the results are in the hands of Abdel Mahdi who must decide if he will announce these conclusions publicly.
    But Hashd has decided to form its own “air force unit” whose function is to down drones – whether Israeli or American – and to stand against Israel and its ally the US when the opportunity comes. There is little doubt among Iraqi officials that US officials in Iraq were informed in Baghdad about the Israeli movements in Iraqi airspace. There is also little the Iraqi government can do to protect US forces if further attacks against Hashd are sustained. In fact, the US may end up paying the price for Netanyahu’s adventure in Iraq.
    Israel is expanding its military activity, violating several states’ sovereignty by attacking selected targets and executing target-killings beyond its borders- with the objective of “cutting off the head of the snake (Iran).” The Iraqi government of Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi – as a decision maker in his office told me “is convinced Israel was behind the attack, with the US support, but is trying to avoid a direct accusation and therefore further embarrassment from refraining to respond”. Abdel Mahdi himself said in a private meeting that “the US Embassy personnel is terrorised by the idea of becoming Hashd’s target, saying it is not the US’s responsibility but Israel’s, and promising to put an end to it”. These are the Prime Minister’s exact words. The questions are: why does Israel believe it can hit Iraq and remain unpunished, and what are Iran’s objectives in Iraq?
    Friday, on KPFA's FLASHPOINTS, As'ad AbuKhalil observed, "And the entire corrupt political system that was set up by the occupiers in Iraq is now largely embarrassed about their inability to even protest at this flagrant violation of their sovereignty.  The United States has 5,000 troops in Iraq.  And, trust me, they have more influence on the so-called prime minister of that country."