1/02/2020

busy phillips is pretty awful

if you missed it, busy phillips is still whining about 'e' cancelling her t.v. show - back in april.

it failed.  it was a failure.  busy couldn't deliver viewers and she also couldn't host a talk show.  she thought she was chelsea handler but chelsea can make people laugh.

busy was the fat supporting actress who lost weight and looked hagged out as a result.

she had no following.  she had no base. 

and she found herself more amusing than any viewer ever could.  she was irritating.

instead of whining that 'e' axed her show, she should apologize to those of us who actually watched it.  i gave her 3 weeks before bailing.  i thought it had to get better.  it never did.  she was wrong for the format. 

and chelsea already existed.  we didn't need busy trying to copy her - and failing so miserably.

people don't like her. 

that's not a surprise.  it's also not new.  there were a lot of 'cougar town' fans who couldn't stand her on that show. 

she's just not very likable. 

she comes off petty and like she's keeping score.

she needs to learn how to let go.

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


Thursday, January 2, 2019.  A distraction from a flunky?

Two days after the US Embassy in Baghdad is stormedQueen Useless slithers out from her rock to the pages of USA TODAY.  Yes, Wendy Sherman who has never had anything to say about Iraq is now an expert because she was part of the people working on the Iran deal in the Obama administration.  Queen Piss Wendy wants you to know:



It is President Donald Trump’s failed policy toward Iran that has brought us to this combustible moment.
Iraq is a tough country under any circumstances, made more so after the 2003 U.S. invasion that upended the Middle East and cost so much in U.S. lives and treasure. But Iraq also created strange bedfellows. The U.S. troops worked alongside Iraqi and Iranian militia to destroy a common enemy, the Islamic State group. And even as the United States was confronting Iran over its nuclear program and malign behavior elsewhere, we maintained an uneasy coexistence in Iraq, where Tehran holds considerable sway.

Noticing a lot of Iran in the above?  It only gets worse as you read along.  Wendy can't talk Iraq because she's just too stupid so she talks Iran over and over and pretends she's writing about Iraq.  Some will be fooled by the whore.  Hopefully, some will catch how she's distracting.

One problem in Iraq, right now, goes to the militias (plural, Wendy) being folded into the Iraqi army.  That's got nothing to do with Donald Trump.  It does have everything to do with Barack Obama but you'll never tell that truth will you?

Another problem, the popular unrest?  It also goes to Barack.

The Iraqi people are not represented by the government.  This is not a new issue.

Iraq has been ruled by US appointed exiles who fled Iraq and only returned after the US-led invasion.  They have destroyed the country and that probably was why the US backed them to begin with -- keep the Iraqi people off balance, they can't object to the theft of their treasures.

In 2010, despite violence, despite threats, the Iraqi people went to the polls in March and voted.  They voted thug Nouri out of office.  Bully Boy Bush had installed thug Nouri in the spring of 2006 and he was installed over others because the CIA assessment was that with Nouri's paranoia issues, he'd be easy to manipulate.

The Iraqi people voted him out in March of 2010.  How'd he end up with a second term in November of 2010, Wendy?

Nouri refused to step down creating the political stalemate that lasted over eight months.

Instead of standing for democracy as many (including Gen Ray Odierno) advised, Barack and Joe decided to overturn the Iraqi people's vote and give Nouri a second term.

Election interference?  Not Barack and Joe!

They were behind the US-negotiated Erbil Agreement that gave the loser Nouri a second term.  And Joe then went to Iraq to sell it and in his usual stupidity Joe tried to lecture the Iraqi leaders about the IRA -- Irish Republican Army -- because, well, of course Joe would have a long winded story that had nothing to do with the topic.

Maybe he just should have told them about Cornpop?

The protests today stem from the fact that Iraq has been denied self-rule -- even when they vote their leaders out of office, the US government overrules them.

Want to talk about that, Wendy?  Of course, you don't.  Whores don't deal in honesty.

"Iran nuclear deal was solid progress," Wendy wants to insist as though that has anything to do with the conversation at hand.  Whores.

She's a whore stroking her War On and bound and determined that no US troops will leave Iraq.


Kata'ib Hezbollah, she tells us, "want the 5,000 American troops out of the country. But perhaps even Pompeo understands that a longer term challenge remains, and thus his change of travel plans. Trump has repeatedly said he wants to withdraw American troops from just about everywhere. However, a withdrawal from Iraq at this moment only serves Iran’s desire to exert greater control over Iraq. To much of the world, it would signal U.S. disengagement and weakness -- not strength."

If whores were forced to tell the truth, the world would be better off.  If the garbage that is USA TODAY would fact check their opinion columnists, the world would be better off.


Kata'ib Hezbollah wants US troops out of Iraq?  Yes, and the Iraqi people do as well.

The Iraqi people?  As usual, a whore like Wendy leaves them and their needs out of the picture.

She can whine for paragraphs about her Iran deal -- and she does -- but heaven forbid she use a paragraph to address the needs of the Iraqi people.  They'll do what she tells them to, apparently.

And that, after all, is how we've arrived at this point.  Whores like Wendy who are going to tell another country what to do.  Whores like Wendy who will risk the lives of the children of America so that the Iraqi people can be bossed around.

And whores like Wendy will then pass off the terror they inflict as 'liberation' and 'democracy.'

There's no reason for US troops to be in Iraq.

Wendy Whore wants to blame Donald Trump.  His crime, as she notes, is that he "has repeatedly said he wants to withdraw American troops from just about everywhere."

Bullies like Wendy Whore use the presence of US troops to intimidate, to blackmail, to coerce.

How fitting that Wendy Whore served under 'reporting for duty' John Kerry.  The toy soldier of the State Dept who never believed in diplomacy and thought he was actually Secretary of Defense.

Grasp that the US Embassy in Baghdad is the most fortified US embassy in the world.  Grasp that it was supposedly impenetrable.  Turns out, not really.  That's why the US Ambassador was evacuated from it this week.

This reality should lead people to ponder the mission -- forever undefined -- and the continued presence of US troops.

Wendy Whore doesn't want anyone to ask questions.  She certainly doesn't want anyone to say, "Hey, Wendy Whore, you were part of the State Dept so why aren't you writing a column about diplomacy instead of insisting that US troops must be on the ground in Iraq?"

Wendy Whore really hopes you don't make that connection.

She's a tiny-minded 'warrior' who wants to send our children to physically fight battles that her soft, cushy ass will never take part in.

Wendy Whore is a cancer on democracy.



Kata'ib Hezbollah was defined as a terrorist organization by the Obama administration July 2, 2009 so, Wendy Whore, where were the objections when they were made a part of the Iraqi military?  That happened under Barack.  Many objected -- we objected here -- and it wasn't an issue to Barack or any of his underlings -- not even Wendy Whore.  Now the chickens come home to roost, to quote Barack's one-time pastor, and Wendy Whore thinks she can show up and pretend like this whole bloody history didn't take place.

Wendy Whore, your bravado is embarrassing.


US Embassy in Baghdad fire damage seen in new photos following militants' attack


  1. Iraqi Badr Corps Chief Who Led Today’s Raid On US Embassy In Baghdad — Was Once Invited To White House By Barack Obama via Department Watch

US embassy in Baghdad




The United States authorized the deployment of an infantry battalion from the Immediate Response Force (IRF) of the 82nd Airborne Division to the US Central Command area of operations in response to recent events near the US Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, announced Secretary of Defense Mark Esper.

In a statement, Esper indicated that approximately 750 soldiers will deploy to the region immediately and additional forces from the IRF are prepared to deploy over the next several days.







Greg Myre and Larry Kaplow (NPR) offer:

Since early October, hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have been protesting against their government. Many are young citizens seeking real representation in a political system dominated by sectarian parties with corrupt leaders. They decry the stagnant economy. And they rally against foreign influence — namely Iran. Some demonstrators burned down an Iranian Consulate in southern Iraq in November.
Those protesters are not the same as the militia members and supporters who attacked the U.S. Embassy. In fact, the Iranian-backed militias have opposed and even opened fire on the popular protests. Hundreds have been killed since October.
Iraqi security forces appeared to go easier on the militias on Tuesday, letting them into the Green Zone. The Iraqi government forces have opened fired on the other protesters attempting the same thing.

One result of last week’s U.S. airstrikes against the militia was this: Whereas many Iraqis had focused their anger on Iran, the airstrikes helped shift that anger back at the U.S. The airstrikes were widely condemned throughout Iraqi politics and made America look like it was once again a foreign power meddling in their affairs.

That last paragraph?  Yeah, the Condi Rice effect.  When you don't know how to leave well enough alone so you end up blowing your advantage.   Zoe Drewett (UK MIRROR) notes:


Clashes continued on Wednesday when demonstrators hurled stones while US forces fired tear gas. But the demonstrators finally ended their siege after commanders of the Popular Mobilization Force (PMF), of which Kataeb Hezbollah is a member, asked its supporters to stand down. It said in a statement: ‘You delivered your message.’

Emma Sky (THE NATIONAL) observes:

So far, over 521 Iraqi protesters have been killed by sniper shots to the heart and gas canisters to the head fired by Iraqi security forces and pro-Iranian Shia militias. Around 21,000 have been wounded.
The outcome of this confrontation will have consequences not only for the Iraqi people but also for the region.
To date, the protests, now in their fourth month, have brought about the resignation of the prime minister, the passing by parliament of a new election law, and the torching of Iranian consulates and buildings of pro-Iranian groups.

The contest between Iraq’s people and its politicians is likely to come to a head in 2020. And while the first round may have been won by the people – there is no guarantee that they will triumph in the end.
In the largest grassroots mobilisation since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003, young Iraqis have taken to the streets of Baghdad and southern cities to express their frustration at government corruption, poor public services, unemployment and Iranian interference. The protesters were initially young men from the deprived Baghdad neighbourhood of Sadr City. However, following the violent response of the Iraqi government and Iranian-backed militias, they were joined by students, civil society groups and middle-class professionals. Through the organisation of food, security, media, music and murals – and with the participation of women – the protesters are creating the sort of society they wish to live in, and building a new sense of citizenship and belonging from the bottom up.

The demonstrators are calling for not only a change of politicians but also for the replacement of the political system which they hold responsible for keeping the country in a cycle of repression and insurgency. Introduced by the US-led coalition, the post-2003 order was supposed to ensure pluralism but instead institutionalised sectarianism with positions allocated according to quotas, muhassassa. The system evolved into a kleptocracy in which Iraq’s political elites divide up the country’s oil wealth between them, with ministries serving as fiefdoms to provide patronage to those connected to parties and militias. Large contracts are awarded to companies that are close to the politicians – and fraud results in poor delivery of basic services.



Search in vain for Wendy Whore addressing any of the above issues.  But USA TODAY serves her up as a valid voice.

Doug Silliman is a former US Ambassador to Iraq and he spoke with Mary Louise Kelly on NPR's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED yesterday.  And he notes that it was the host country's duty to protect the embassy and that they failed to do so.

Some rush in with stupidity.  We once had such high hopes for Chris Murphy.  Once.  The Senator's stupidity knows no bounds.


Really hard to overstate how badly Trump has bungled things in the Middle East. One of the only good things going - anti-Iran street protests in Iraq - have now morphed into anti-U.S. protests thanks to Trump's mishandling of Iran policy.
 
 


These are two different sets of protesters.  It's really stupid to condense them into one group.  It's also insulting to those real protesters who have risked their lives for months to demand freedom.

Chris Murphy should really try to inform himself before speaking.



The following year end pieces went up in the community:




  • 2019: The Year For Dummies
  • Kat's Korner: The decade in music
  • Ruth's Radio Report Morphs Into Ruth's Streaming R...
  • 2019 in music

  • 2019 in Books (Martha & Shirley)



  • And the following sites updated:






  • 1/01/2020

    10 sexiest men of 2019


    the hottest guys of 2019?

    1) at the top of the list? taron egerton. 


    1. taron egerton finding out what bussy means is the funniest thing that happened in 2019.
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      3,052 views
      0:09 / 0:09


    1. God: How much beauty do you want? Taron Egerton: Yes
       


    2) the cincinnati reds' jose iglesias.


    Welcome to the Cincinnati Reds, Jose Iglesias!



    3) michael b. jordan.  he gets sexier each year.  at this rate, he may be number 1 for 2020.

    Vogue: Snapshots of Snoh Aalegra & Michael B. Jordan from her music video “Whoa” by Haitian photographer Leonardo Volcy. 📸
     


    4) henry cavill.  i can't stand the silver wig he wears in 'the watcher' but he's still hot.


    1. I highly enjoy watching The Witcher just because Henry Cavill is so damn hot.
      />


    5) our 2nd athlete on the list?  boxer anthony joshua

    1. Is this Anthony Joshua’s mum? She’s really cute💕



    how does a boxer get a face like that?  obviously a lovely mother. 



    6) tom hardy.  tom hardy should be on every yearly list.  he's yet to make a movie i loved but i've seen pretty much every movie he's been in.  i'm buying tickets for something other than the films.

    it’s almost 2020. it’s time that we as a society recognize that tom hardy is, in fact, extremely hot.
     



    7) channing tatum. and he's newly single.  let the night dreams begin again.


    1. Channing Tatum figured it out - no tie with those black dress shirts. And dialing in the fit is key. 👌



    8) john mulaney.  proving that funny can be sexy.

    john mulaney, high on antibiotics, saying "take me for supermarket sushi or leave me the hell alone!" on loop
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    0:06
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    9) there are many reasons to be upset that this is the last season of 'how to get away with murder' - 1 of them is jack falahee.

    let me bless your tl with jack falahee
     


    how will we make it through without a weekly dose of jack as connor?

    10) nicholas hoult.  he's the beast in the x-men movies. 


    1. Tony - Nicholas Hoult
       
    2. Replying to 
      How about Nicholas Hoult.
      />



    those are my picks for the 10.


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


    Tuesday, December 31, 2019.  The US Embassy in Baghdad is stormed.  If you're not an adult, please don't join the conversation, we don't have time for the faux 'resistance' to try to turn this into another obsessive Donald Trump Twitter thread.


    Well who didn't see this happening?  Basically the entire western press who makes a point to masturbate daily on the public's time when not pontificating about all things small and petty while ignoring reality.

    The US Embassy in Baghdad has been stormed today.

    What's going on?

    Well since the press wouldn't tell you let's watch them scramble.

    In the meantime, you can refer to this from Sunday and Monday:

  • Iraq snapshot
  • Joe hits bumpy waters on the campaign trail and th...


  • As we pointed out, attacking Kata'ib Hezbollah was attacking the Iraqi military.

    Last Friday, there was a rocket attack that killed 1 US contractor and left four US service members injured.  Now they were disappeared from the story, the four wounded.  Apparently, it was too 'messy' for the press.  The way Mark Bingham was disappeared from the 9/11 coverage when it was discovered he was gay.  Not saying the four were gay, just that they 'embarrassed' the press -- remember there's no war in Iraq, Barack ended.

    That lie is embraced by so many.

    On Sunday, the US government bombed Kata'ib Hezbollah reportedly killing at least 25 members.

    Kata'ib Hezbollah -- and all the militias -- were folded into the Iraqi military.  Nouri al-Maliki had wanted to do that.  Hayder al-Abadi formally did that.  Both were installed by the US government.  Now many of us were outraged that these thugs were being made a part of the Iraqi military.  Barack was president and he didn't opposed a damn thing so take that party to his house.

    No surprise, many in Iraq are outraged.  Yesterday afternoon came news that the prime minister of Iraq (that's a whole other story -- we'll get to it) was calling out the US government.




    Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi on Monday condemned U.S. air strikes on bases of Iranian-backed Iraqi militia, a move that could plunge Iraq further into the heart of a proxy conflict between the United States and Iran. 

    [. . . ]

    “The prime minister described the American attack on the Iraqi armed forces as an unacceptable vicious assault that will have dangerous consequences,” his office said.

    Merrit Kennedy (NPR) reported yesterday:

    "We stress that Iraq is an independent country, and its internal security takes priority, and serious attention, and will not be allowed to become a battlefield, or a route for launching attacks," Iraq's Foreign Ministry said in a statement about what it planned to tell the U.S. ambassador.
    [. . .]
    Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi's office said in a statement that he received a call from U.S. Defense Secretary Mark Esper shortly before the airstrikes and asked for them to be called off. Abdul-Mahdi decried the strikes as a unilateral act by the U.S.-led coalition that is considered a violation of Iraq's sovereignty.

    She doesn't note what other reports do, Mahdi has stated that as soon as he was informed, he attempted to contact Kata'ib Hezbollah to warn them.

    That's a key detail.

    It will have a huge impact, going forward, on US government interaction with Mahdi.

    A huge detail like that needs to be reported, not ignored.

    Falih Hassan and Ben Hubbard (NEW YORK TIMES) report:

    Thousands of protesters marched into Baghdad’s heavily guarded Green Zone on Tuesday after prayer services for the militia fighters killed in the American strikes. While few of them were armed, many were members of Kataib Hezbollah and other groups that are technically overseen by the Iraqi military. The militia is separate from the Hezbollah movement in Lebanon, although both groups are backed by Iran and oppose the United States.
    At the United States Embassy, protesters broke security cameras, covered the compound walls with anti-American graffiti and lit a guardhouse on fire. After breaking open a compound entrance, dozens of men entered and lit more fires inside while embassy security guards fired tear gas.
    The demonstrators did not break into the embassy buildings, but their ability to storm the most heavily guarded zone in Baghdad prompted speculation that they had received at least tacit permission from Iraqi security officials sympathetic to their demands.


    The report has already resulted in two responses on Twitter.

    Replying to 
    The militias try to storm the US embassy in Baghdad, NOT "IRAQ PROTESTERS "
     4 minutes ago
    Replying to 
    These “protestors” do not represent Tahrir Square, they represent the PMF and some political parties, meanwhile the true protesters still in their positions and they’re worried about an attack from the same exact people who are attacking the US embassy.
     
     
      
     



    Kareem Khadder, Arwa Damon and Angela Dewan (CNN) report:

    The pro-Iranian demonstrators were mostly from Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), a coalition of predominantly Shiite militias, and three leaders of powerful militia groups were also seen at the protest.



    55 minutes ago, President Donald Trump Tweeted:

    Iran killed an American contractor, wounding many. We strongly responded, and always will. Now Iran is orchestrating an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Iraq. They will be held fully responsible. In addition, we expect Iraq to use its forces to protect the Embassy, and so notified!
     
     



    So when you see liars and whores Tweeting something from five minutes ago, grasp that they are shameless liars and whores who hopes no one checks on them.

    While Iranian-backed Shiite militia belonging to Hezbollah masquerading as "Iraqi protesters" are storming the largest US embassy in the world in Baghdad, Trump is tweeting about "sleepy Joe Biden" and his son Hunter. 🙄🙄




    Lying whore.  Grasp it, remember it.


    The US embassy in Iraq was attacked by protesters, gunfire was heard and a guard tower was set on fire. Not sure who is in the embassy, supposedly some military. The first tweet by is about Joe Biden. Good to know what his priorities are.
     
     


    And good to know that you have no ethics and a difficult relationship with the truth.

    There is a whole swarm of liars who are bound and determined to lie.  Why?  Because this can't be about Iraq for even one moment.  The faux 'resistance' must live their lives through a Donald Trump prism.  They're obsessed and they are liars and whores who are destroying the county.  Imagine if they'd used that time to work on ending wars, on addressing climate change, on actually doing something.  Instead, like rabid dogs, they foam at the mouth and show the entire world that they will lie in their efforts to smear Donald Trump.

    I've known Donald for years and, honestly, I'm shocked that anyone has to work so hard to say bad things about him.  They really have to work hard and they have to lie.  Every time they lie and get exposed, it just shows how unethical they are.  It also allows the pro-Trump faction to point out that they were caught lying on this and then argue so they must be lying about something else.

    The US Embassy in Baghdad was attacked and they want to play political football with it.

    I seem to recall the press and a lot of the public attacking Mitt Romney for doing that with Benghazi.

    There's much to address in what is happening right now -- including should US forces still be on the ground in Iraq -- a much larger issue than Donald Trump.

      Retweeted
    Important.. The Iraqi National Security Council headed by the PM Abd Mahdi considers the US bombing of the headquarters a violation of the Iraqi sovereignty, and this pushes the government to reconsider the relation with the led by the US.
     
     


    There's the fact that Mahdi is strutting around as prime minister again.  Supposedly, he was going to be in the background until replaced.  There's the anger over the attack on the Iraqi military -- that's what Sunday's bombing was -- which has many Iraqis outraged.



    Iraqis throwing stones at US Embassy. This comes after Iraqis have put up with US occupation, rape, murder and meddling for decades. Time the western imperialists leave.
    />
    1:03
     
     


    Kata’ib supporters wearing an |ian flag attempting to break down a CCTV Camera at the Embassy I’m ,
    />
    0:35
     
     



    "(Qasem) Soleimani is my leader." Outside the US Embassy in 's $GreenZone.
     
     





    The Iraqi people do not want to be controlled by the US government or by the Iranian government.  There is, for some, an anti-Iranian government aspect to the ongoing, months long protest.

    The strike on Sunday was not smart in a large number of ways.  I'd noted Condi Rice here and how every time it seemed Moqtada al-Sadr was on the ropes in the early years of the Iraq War, she'd make some stupid remark that elevated him instead of letting him hang himself.  Now Moqtada's one of the country's most popular leaders.  Thank Condi for that.

    And thank Donald Trump for blowing the moment where strong divisions were emerging between Iran and Iraq.

    There are real issues at stake here, including the future of Iraq.

    So if you think you're helping anyone by lying that Donald Trump hadn't Tweeted about the attack, you're not.

    The world can't afford you.  You may have the luxury of lying and indulging in sloth but the world is suffering and if you can't address that you really need to stop pretending you're part of a grown up conversation.


    There are real issues here and maybe the immature 'resistance' can't handle real issues?  Who know.  A Tweet from a guy who served in the US Navy exhibits outrage that Donald is saying Iraq must protect the Embassy.

    Any US Embassy has a small number of military support for protecting.  But it is always the host country's job to protect an embassy on their soil.  And what was the Iraqi government's response?  Did they send forces to attempt to disrupt the crowd attacking?  If not, why not?

    They may have sent some contingent of forces (they should have) but what they did needs to be known and discussed.

    BREAKING: Iraqi supporters of a Shiite militia have broken into the U.S. embassy compound in Baghdad after smashing a door and storming inside, prompting tear gas and sounds of gunfire. The attack on the compounds follows deadly U.S. airstrikes.
     
     



    Protesters set fire to guard tower of US embassy compound in Baghdad in unrest over recent US air strikes - reports
     
     



    Kataib Hezbollah protesters breaching the gates of the US embassy in Baghdad. They say they will stay till US troops leave. It’s the biggest US embassy in the world & supposedly secure but hard to see how diplomats can remain now
    />
    0:35
     
     


    These are real issues.

    The best video of the storming of US Embassy in Iraq is not coming from America but from , an Iranian based media outlet. US media showing handful of protesters burning trees and throwing rocks. Deception to the very end
     
     


    Our latest on the storming of the gates of US embassy Baghdad, with an eyewitness account by the great
     
     






    We don't need to be sheltered, we need to have an adult conversation.

    Violent Mob Storms, Burns Embassy in — American Soldiers Seen Trapped on Roof .S.Embassy...
     
     



    Is that true?  I have no idea.  But it's a scary thought, "American Soldiers Seen Trapped on Roof."  If that's true, it needs to be reported.  If it's true, we need to seriously look at what's going on.  I'd argue for Congressional hearings.  That image, I would argue, demands Congressional hearings.



    The following sites updated: