3/09/2019

chelsea manning, nick jonas, etc

I continue to find it astounding that media stars have spent 2 years prancing around proclaiming Trump poses a grave threat to press freedom because he tweets insults at Chuck Todd, while they ignore by far the greatest press freedom threat: their attempt to prosecute WikiLeaks.


agreed.


and let's note chelsea manning and her brave stand:

  1. Chelsea Manning is back in the news. This is a reminder that she provided one of the only unfiltered glimpses into the nature of the U.S. war in Iraq, a video of laughing U.S. soldiers gunning down Reuters journalists and a family with children in Baghdad:
  2. STATEMENT: Fight for the Future calls for the immediate release of whistleblower Chelsea Manning, who has been jailed for mounting a principled opposition to testifying before a secretive Grand Jury
  3. Receiving letters of support was crucial to during her first incarceration. Show her you stand with her:
  4. ** this account will be run by friends and volunteers until Chelsea is released from jail for further updates on her grand jury resistance, follow her support committee at and please donate to her legal fund.



on a happier topic, nick jonas.





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


Friday, March 8, 2019.  It's International Women's Day.


“Because I fled from my home in and saw first-hand the havoc that war causes, I am reminded that kindness and empathy are fundamental characteristics that an obstetrician and gynecologist should possess.” - Dr. Saba, an obstetrician and gynecologist.






Today's International Women's Day.

First adopted by the UN as an international day to advance womens rights and gender quality in 1975, International Womens Day is celebrated across the world. There are a number of events scheduled across Iraq and the Kurdistan Region on Friday.









I gotta find peace of mind
I know another cord
I gotta find peace of mind
See, this what that voice in your head says
When you try to get peace of mind
I gotta find peace of mind
I gotta find peace of mind
He says it's impossible, but I know it's possible
He says it's impossible, but I know it's possible

-- "I Gotta Find Peace of Mind," written by Lauryn Hill, first appears on her MTV UNPLUGGED  NO. 2.0



Zainab met Zainab in Mosul. Both women lost a leg during Iraq's war. Neither are giving up on life. Their courage inspires us. Which women inspire you?


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An early observation event took place in Baghdad yesterday:

Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General (DSRSG) Alice Walpole addressed the meeting, along with Dr. Mahdi Al-Allaq, Secretary-General of the Council of Ministers, who represented the Prime Minister; Dr. Thikra Alwash, Mayor of Baghdad and Chair of the Standing Committee on the Advancement of Women; UN Women’s Representative, Ms. Dina Zorba and UNFPA Representative, Dr. Oluremi Sogunro; as well as the Director-General of the Directorate for the Empowerment of Iraqi Women, Dr. Ibtisam Aziz.
In her remarks, DSRSG Walpole welcomed the upcoming discussions in Parliament on updating the Anti-Domestic Violence Law. “We need to acknowledge that domestic violence diminishes and shames all of society; it is a threat not just to women but to society itself,” she emphasised.
Reflecting on the challenges facing displaced women across Iraq, DSRSG Walpole noted that “They continue to suffer the brutal consequences of the recent conflict”.


Domestic violence is global.  It's also terrorism.  US House Rep Karen Bass, on Thursday, chaired the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security.  Her opening remarks included the following:


“I am pleased that the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security is holding our first hearing of this 116th Congress about our critical duty to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act.  This law has been successful at attempting to change policies that have led to injustices, and too-often indifference to victimization and suffering, throughout our country’s history.
“It is important to review how we arrived at this moment.
“This month has a special significance that is relevant to this hearing because it is celebrated as Women’s History Month. In 1980 President Jimmy Carter first designated March 2nd through the 8th, as Women’s History week.
“Seven years later in 1987, Congress passed Public Law 100-9, designating March as “Women’s History Month.”
“Seven years after that in 1994, Congress passed Public Law 103-322, the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, which we call “VAWA,” a landmark piece of legislation, which began with bipartisan support in both the House and in the Senate. 
“This year we celebrate the 25th Anniversary of VAWA, since President Bill Clinton signed the first VAWA into law on September 13, 1994.
“On this day, March 7th, President Barack Obama signed our last VAWA in 2013.
“And today, on the 6th year anniversary of VAWA’s last passage, we are holding this hearing to address the urgency of now in reauthorizing this vital legislation, which addresses the needs of all victims and survivors of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking.
“As a result of this historic legislation, which has unarguably proven critical in the lives of so many survivors, every state has enacted laws making stalking a crime and strengthened their criminal rape statutes.
“While this legislation is named the “Violence Against Women Act”, this is a gender neutral legislation, which responds to the needs and care of all survivors—men, women, and children alike.
“For centuries, women have fought vigorously to demand changes in our federal laws, not simply for their own benefits, but for others as well, because they sought progress.  VAWA is no exception in that regard.
“As Shirley Chisolm once said, you don’t make progress by standing on the sidelines, whimpering and complaining.  You make progress by implementing ideas.
“We have made progress in VAWA 2000, 2005, and 2013 – but the statistics remain alarming and unacceptable.
“Domestic violence claims at least 2,000 lives each year. Seventy percent of the victims are women. Most “intimate partner” homicides, in which a person targets a spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend, are committed with firearms.
“An astounding 17,500 victims disclosed the use or threat of firearms being used during abuse.





The story hit the news
From coast to coast
They said you beat the girl
You loved the most
Your charitable acts
Seemed out of place
With the beauty
With your fist marks on her face
Your buddies all stood by
They bet their
Fortunes and their fame
That she was out of line
And you were not to blame
Six hundred thousand doctors
Are putting on rubber gloves
And they're poking
At the miseries made of love
They say they're learning
How to spot
The battered wives
Among all the women
They see bleeding through their lives
I bleed
For your perversity
These red words that make a stain
On your white-washed claim that
She was out of line
And you were not to blame
"Not To Blame," written by Joni Mitchell, first appears on her TURBULENT INDIGO


In the face of adversity, women persevere.  That is especially true of Iraqi women.  The ongoing war is largely forgotten by the news media.  They live in war zones, Iraqi women, they face non-stop attacks on their rights.  In January, a fire killed 8 women.  And the media dithered over how to term the facility.  "Women's shelter" was offered.  How bloody noble.  No, it was a prison.  The 'crime' -- the women were homeless.  "Lock them up"?  By the time reality had intruded on the tale, momentary media attention had largely moved on.  The moment of justifiable outrage was missed as the media 'kindly' named a prison a "women's shelter."


Dropping back to January 5th:

ALJAZEERA typed the following:
A fire at a women's shelter in Iraq's capital has killed several lodgers, according to police, who gave conflicting accounts of the tragedy.
Mohammed Jihad, Baghdad's police lieutenant colonel, called the incident a "group suicide" caused by women rioting in the shelter on Friday.

Why are women in a shelter rioting?

Apparently, they weren't in a shelter, they were in a women's prison. Whether they rioted or not is not clear.  But MIDDLE EAST MONITOR reports:



In a statement to Anadolu Agency, Police Captain Ahmed Khalaf said that the prison – which was specifically for homeless female prisoners – experienced riots, though he did not elaborate on the cause of the disturbance. The riots then seem to have sparked a fire, causing an unspecified number of inmates to suffocate.
[. . .]
Iraqi security forces take all displaced or homeless people from the streets and places them in a prison, which is run by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.


In addition, this prison also imprisoned women who had children but were not married.  How the hell do prisons like that exist in Iraq?




It's one battle after another for women in Iraq. EURONEWS notes the killing of high profile women in Iraq:


Hanaa Edwar, a women’s rights activist and co-founder and chair of the Iraqi-Amal Association for human rights, thinks it is disturbing that months after Fares' death, investigations have yet to produce any results. “Why this silence on women’s issues?” asks Edwar.
She remembers that an Interior Ministry official stated on Iraqi TV that he was aware of who was behind Fares' murder.
“He said very clearly that we know who killed Tara Fares,” says Edwar.
Iraq’s biggest militia groups are often connected to political parties and operate with a large degree of impunity.
Edwar believes that the reason Fares' murder remains publicly unsolved is because she was killed by a militia.
“I don't know exactly who, but it seems that it [the murder] was an intervention by one of the non-state groups that influence the Iraqi state.”
Edwar adds that she believes that Fares was killed by conservative groups who were angry at how freely Fares lived her life.




In the video above United Nations General Assembly President Maria Fernanda Espinosa states, "And we need more women leaders, participating in public life and taking decisions."

In the US, six women are currently seeking the Democratic Party's 2020 presidential nomination:




  • Coming up in 15 minutes on the Karen Hunter show!



    Listen to my conversation on the WICKED Podcast. Episode 7.


    Join me for campaign events in Nevada on March 14 and March 15! RSVP here:


    Truth emerges from deep within, like a small seed within our consciousness which, if nurtured and sustained, will grow into the biggest tree. A political truth-teller is someone who throws around the seeds; the soul of a citizen is the ground in which it grows.





    Join us as we work for a —taking the trillions spent on regime change & nuclear arms race & investing them to ensure for all, combat climate change, rebuild our infrastructure, & meet the needs of all Americans. Donate today.


    Thank you, , for your service to our country and for your courage in coming forward to share your story in the mission to put an end to military sexual assault.


    It's really hard for scientists to research marijuana, but 's bill could fix that.


    # of people arrested for marijuana law violation in 2017: 659,700 # of those charged with marijuana law violations arrested for possession only: 599,282 (90.8 percent) I intro'd bipartisan bill today to END THE FEDERAL MARIJUANA PROHIBITION. Congress must act now





    As a society, we cannot play politics with fundamental rights. Make no mistake: affordable and meaningful health care should be thought of as a human right and civil right.


    97% of Americans support universal background checks. 97%. These background checks can save lives. My colleagues and I are calling on Republican leadership to hold critical hearings on the background check bill that passed the House.


    People in power are trying to convince us that the villain in our American story is each other. I reject that. I believe when we come together to fight for what’s morally right, we can create change in every part of our country.


    On March 7, 1965, peaceful protestors were unjustly beaten back by state troopers as they attempted to cross the Edmund Pettus Bridge in the fight for voting rights. A brighter future requires acknowledging our painful past. Their fight for social justice lives on through us all.




    It’s time for my colleagues across the aisle to do the right thing for our country: say no to the President’s unconstitutional emergency declaration.


    My view on Manafort sentence: Guidelines there for a reason. His crimes took place over years and he led far from a “blameless life.” Crimes committed in an office building should be treated as seriously as crimes committed on a street corner. Can’t have two systems of justice!


    Today is the 54th anniversary of the bloody march in Selma. I will never forget how moving it was to commemorate this day with march leader at the Edmund Pettus Bridge in 2013. Let’s follow his example and continue to fight for voting rights for all.


    . and I came into the Senate together and I ended my book with a Sherrod story because there is no one who better exemplifies what we SHOULD be doing in DC than him (and for that matter ). Look forward to standing with him to uphold the dignity of work







  • Some military families have been living in toxic homes while the private companies that oversee them make a guaranteed profit. I’m working on a new bill to fix that broken system. In the meantime, needs to start enforcing the rules that are already on the books.

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    Are they joking? didn’t take data security seriously because it had no financial incentive to do so. That’s why we need my bill with to impose automatic fines for data breaches at companies like Equifax & stop this from happening again.


    The average student in Massachusetts graduates with $32,065 in student loans. Instead of jump-starting their lives and careers, they’re being weighed down by debt. I’m co-sponsoring ’s bill to make sure every student can build an economic future.


    DHS testified today that “never purposely put a child in a cage." False. I went to the processing center in McAllen, TX. I saw cages of people with my own eyes. Men, women, and children treated like animals. We must hold the Trump Admin accountable.





    is more than a celebration—it's also a call to action. As far as we've come, we still have barriers to tear down so we can all have equal opportunity and respect. Let's keep marching, and with every step, let's reach back and pull others up with us.


    In our modern society, a free and neutral internet is not a nice-to-have—it's a lifeline for opportunity and innovation, and a necessity for connecting to each other. We can't let corporate greed get in the way.


    President Trump's relentless and dangerous attacks on women's constitutional rights—and interference in doctors' ability to care for their patients—cannot go unanswered. If his Title X gag rule isn't overturned in the courts before then, I'll undo it on day one of my presidency.


    Voting is the backbone of our democracy. Every eligible voter should get to participate, period. Let's make Election Day a federal holiday so you don't have to take time off work to exercise your rights.






    Let's note this:

    “We are women from 🇮🇶, from Falluja, the city of 🕊️. The women of Al-Anbariya are the leaders+mentors of homes and society. I congratulate the courageous 👩, the teachers, the doctors, all Iraqi women. We, as women, want change to happen in our societies.” Said Jinan









    No walls, no war
    No cause, no weapon is formed
    No law, what for?
    You are where I go to hide
    You are where I go to heal
    You are where I go to feel
    To remember what is real, ooh
    You are my favorite place
    You are my sacred space
    Yes you are, yes you are, yes you are
    Ooh