Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude: 02/27

3/04/2022

is he hot?

denise e-mailed that she's becoming obsessed with twitter personality j and wonders is he hot or not?

cute? not sure.

hot? f- yeah!

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

Thursday, March 3, 2022. If a woman says she doesn't want to speak about harassment or an assult, why is a man taking it as his job to speak for her? And why are we acting like that's okay?

Last Thursday, the snapshot included, "And one of Joni's best known songs has had 24,000. Pink's "Try" will hit the 500,000,000 mark by the end of March." Pink didn't need until the end of the month. Yesterday, she reached 500,000,000 stream mark with the "Try" video posted to her official YOUTUBE channel.

You've gotta get up and try, try, try
Gotta get up and try, try, try
You've gotta get up and try, try, try

Gotta get up and try, try, try
Gotta get up and try, try, try
You've gotta get up and try, try, try
Gotta get up and try, try, try

You've gotta get up and try, try, try
Gotta get up and try, try, try

That's what you've got to do. That's what we've all got to do.

Yesterday, REVOLUTIONARY BLACKOUT posted this video.

I don't need to see something like that again and Ive lost a great deal of respect for Tony Zenkus as a result of the video.

At this point, I just don't care what happened because i don't give a damn about Madam X.

Stop playing, stop fronting, stop the bulls**t.

If she was harassed or raped or whatever she's telling people at this moment of the hour today, I don't care. And no one should.

She has refused to make her comments publicly. She hasn't made them in a criminal complaint. She's had every opportunity to tell her side of the story and she's refused. Sabby Sabs noted, when she interviewed Nick Brana last week, that she had reached out to the woman -- who no one wants to identify despite the fact that Nick's been identified as a creep, a rapist and everything else -- and the woman didn't want to appear.

You're not doing journalism with the video above.

Tara Reade came forward and I believed her and I still believe her. That's not because I believe all women because I truly do not. Not do I believe all who claim they have been harmed. People lie. Men lie, women lie, non-binary people lie.

If you're not coming forward, there's a reason that you're not coming forward.

Not coming forward doesn't make you a liar. There's a man who attacked me, tried to force himself on me and we note him from time to time. Why? He lives in fear that I'm going to out him and he reads this site. When he went on my local radio PACIFICA radio station, he trashed me and thought I would respond here. I waited several years (this year) until I did. (Elaine ripped him apart in real time.) I toy with it here. What he did was awful and vicious -- the attempted assault, not his bitchy remarks on KPFA, Knowing that he's upset and worried that his name might be blighted in his final years? I like to toy with that fear and let him feel nervous and fearful of what happens next, the way he did to me when he tried to rape me.

But, honestly, unless I get really mad -- and he's not a part of my life -- I probably won't because I don't want my name connected to his for all eternity.

But who knows, when he dies and people start lying about how wonderful he supposedly was, what I'll feel then. So ____, I may out you uet. And we both know it's only going to take one of us -- one woman -- to come forward and all the others will as well. For all your applause on the left and all your accolades, you're nothing but a rapist.

If I wanted to take him to court, I would. Back then, I did not. I was shocked, honestly. He had such a good reputation and he loves that wife, that mother of his children that's been with forever. And, of course, I was wodnering did I send the wrong signals -- although what signals say when a woman's screaming "no!" and pushing you off them, she's really saying, yes?

That was a few decades back and things have changed.

Everyone wants to act like the failed MeToo Movement was something new and novel and it wasn't. There was already an online list of men who were predators. And before the internet there were other actions.

There was an MSNBC commentator at the turn of the century, for example, who beat and raped a woman. And thought he could get away with it. He was confronted by a friend of mine and laughed that no one would believe the surivovr. (My friend I'm referring to was the survivor's aunt.) Maybe that was true. Maybe it was false. But what was real was he lost his TV appearances. He lost his upward trajectory. In the end, he lost everything. And we didn't need the courts for that nor did we need the internet. There are various ways to ensure that attackers pay.

Now in the case of the woman raped and beaten by MSNBC analyst, she didn't come forward because he was so sure that he was powerful enough (in the Clinton circle) that he couldn't be touched and that she wouldn't be believed.

That's one reason not to come forward. There are many reasons not to come forward. Long before the truth was told in print about Harvey Weinstein -- while various left groups were taking his money and doing his bidding -- we were calling him out because I knew what he had done to so many. And I knew that so many were not able to come forward for various reasons.

There will always be reasons to come forward. And we will always be protetive of our friends and our family.

So I can undertand's Tony' s impulse in the above video and I can even say he has good intentions.

But it needs to stop.

If you're not going to come forward, your case does not deserve a video. There are certainly more important things to focus on. But equally true, I'm not believing you.

I have no reason to. I haven't heard you and I cannot determine whether you are telling the truth.

At the end of the day, that's what we base things are. Is the person convincing?

That doesn't mean: Was she a nun? That means when I see her (or him) speak, do I buy it?

Tony was not there, Sabby was not there.

Whatever took place in private is now being spoken of in the public square -- and not as gossip or as an aside but as a topic to debate. Tony wants to.

I don't.

I'm not staking my reputation on someone who won't come forward.

Jamie Leigh Jones. I believed her. When she lost her case in court, I didn't stop believing her. I still believe her. Telling the truth doesn't mean you get to win and justice is awarded.

It does mean you get to share publicly and people can decide on their own. With Jamie, I found her truthful. She came forward and she told her story and I believe she told the truth. I know the trash whores of MOTHER JONES don't and didn't it take two fat and ugly non-feminist women to go after Jamie?

Never forget that the two bitches running and ruining MOTHER JONES decided to do a hit piece on the woman standing up to the KBR corporation. That's how they defined their role.

I have no regrets about standing with Jamie. I still believe her. I think she told the truth and at a later date -- maybe after we're all dead and gone -- it will be known. She did a brave thing. I supported her and I support her to this day.

As Pink sings, "You've got to try."

Madam X is not trying. She's hiding and that alone makes me doubt her. Nick is not all powerful. He's not really connected to a power structure. I have never met him personally. I am not a champion of his movement.

He wants to create a new party. I'd have to go back in my ind to remember all this but we noted some of their stuff ahead of their convention but not all of it and I remember at one point telling Martha and Shirley not to even bother opening the stuff being sent about it. It had reached the point of, "They just don't get what they're trying to do."

Didn't mean I hated them or disliked them, but did mean that they didn't understand the task they were trying to accomplish. That doesn't mean, "It's futile o they shouldn't try!" No one knows the outcome of anything. We're all just guessing. But there are certain mistakes you make that doom you and they were already doing that. Yesterday's snapshot noted how idiotic the Green Party was for doing a 'response' to Joe Biden's State of the Union Address on Tuesday night -- a live response -- and it was stupid because Wednesday morning, when the speech was at its high water mark in terms of interest, the Green Party hadn't posted the video (or even a written statement in response) online. You're just jerking off and wasting everyone's time. And when you're wating my time, you're pissing me off.

I'm not a Green. I note Green things here when I can because we should be noting everyone in a democracy, all parties. But when I'm making the effort to help your party and you're not even making the effort to help your party, then I'm pissed because that's time I've wasted that I am not getting back.

Jamie Leigh Jones? The time I spent in snapshots here covering what was done to her and what she survived was not wasted time. She came forward, she did everything she could. I applaud her.

Madam X wants to make claims about Nick but doesn't want to make them herself so she sends Tony out to do it for her or Tony takes it upon himself to do it for her (he recently came into contact with her he insists in the video).

Hey, Tony, what's Nick's cock like? Is it big? Is it thick? I picture it really skinny but long. The base, where it meets the nuts, I picture that it's highly populated with wispy, long black hairs. Is that what it's like, Tony?

What's that? You don't know?

That's because you don't know s**t.

You need to stay the f**k out of it.

If Madam wants to go public, we can evaluate her story. I'm not trusting you.

F**k you. I hope that's clear: F**k you.

If she wants to make a case, she needs to make it herself.

When the lunatic claims against Bob Dylan were made by that psycho woman, I didn't just note that they were impossible chronologically. I also pointed out that she's claiming to be a teen in the 60s who was assaulted then and it's decades later. If you're going to amke the charges, you should come forward but she wants to pretend like she's eight years old and hide behind an attorney.

No. I don't believe her. She comes off like a greedy,d eceptive hustler who wants to extort money.

Could she be a victim? She could be. If she is, she's victimizing herself.

Same with Madam X. She needs to tell her story or we need to move on.

I have no idea what happened.

If you'd asked me about Nick a month or two back, I would've told you I had no idea, I didn't know him and that he struck me as a gay bottom -- and not a power bottom at that. I was honsetly surprised when we watched Sabby (Ava and I covered it here) to learn he wasn't gay. I don't mean that in a mean way as anyone who knows me would know. I thought he was a cute guy and I thought he was gay. I thought the coolest thing about him was that he was gay. The only cool thing. So the interview stripped that away.

I believed Anita Hill when she came forward. A lot of time has passed sinc ethen so some may not know or may have forgotten but Anita was not as widely believed back then. But she came forward and she told her story and her truth grew as a result. It made a difference in real time but it made an even bigger difference as the years passed.

Tony playing telephone isn't helping anyone. BAck when Larry King had his CNN show and someone would go on and speak for someone else, it was obvious they were liars. That's why they couldn't speak for themselves. Bill clinton raped Juanita Broaddrick and that's why he has hid behind his attorneys and never spoken of the issue on his own.

I don't want to hear Madam X's story from Tony. I want to hear it from her. I want to judge her credibility myself and determine whether or not I believe her. I'll need to watch how she speaks as well as what she says. Tony can't give me that. And sicne Tony wasn't there and Madam X refuses to speak publicly, Tony needs to shut up.

With Sabby, I saw Nick nearly lose it repeatedly. He didn't alsh out, he didn't get mad, the typical behaviors of men who assault. And, yes, criers can rape.

But one person told their story publicly. Nick told it to Sabby. He also spoke to Jimmy Dore (whic I only saw days after I'd seen the Sabby interview). I saw a scared man who was trying to answer questions -- and do a victory lap on Jimmy Dore's show.

That's not meant as an insult. He has every right to want to do a victory lap. Someone tried to destroy him and a body did not agree that her claims had merit. It had to be a relief to him.

Sabby didn't pull punches and she didn't give him an easy interview. (Should the woman go on air with Sabby, I'd expet her to be as tough with that woman as she was with Nick.)

I don't believe all victims because people lie.

I saw Nick was deeply hurt by the whole matter. I know that he came fowrad and spoke to the issue. Madam X hasn't and I don't really give a damn what she and Tony whisper about and I'm surprised that he thinks he can get away with going around and doing itnerviews like that. It cheapens him and it harms his reputation.

If she doesn't want to talk, MAN Tony, don't talk for 'the little lady.' She's a grown up and she can speak for herself. I don't need you MANsplaining what happened when you weren't even there.

You're a good person, Tony, but sometimes your gender entitlement is just too much and leads you to take steps you shouldn't be taking.

Which is the other thing about that interview. Two men, discussing a woman's supposed assault. Two men.

Men can be assaulted, yes.

Were either of the two men assaulted in the past. Is there a reason that time and again we don't get women even in segments that demand their presence?

"So, Tony, what was it like when Nick grabbed your hand and stuck it down the front of his pants?"

"Well, Compton Jay, it was scary. I didn't know what was going on. I thought, at first, maybe Nick had a hernia and he needed a second opinion. But then my hand grazed something hard, I later realized it was the tip of his penis, and it was leaking something, I thought it was blood at the time and my eyes were darting around for a first aid kit . . ."

"Did you -- did you think maybe he just had a blackhead on his glans?"

"Yeah, Compton, I honestly did. Back in college, that happened to me once and it too me about 15 minutes before I squeed it the right way to get the blackhead to pop so --"

It's nonsense (and the above parody has more value than anything offered in that long bideo).

Madam X does not want to speak on camera. Fine. Let's all move on. It's not fair or right for Tony to be presented as Madam X. He's not Madam X. He wasn't there. He doesn't know anything other than what she told him and he's only recently encountered her and only over the phone.

He doesn't even make a good character witness at this point.

And he betrays his training and his reputation by personalizing this case. He really needs to take a look at his actions. He's not helping actual victims by going out on this limb for a woman who won't go out on it herself.

More to the point, Madam X is saying case closed by refusing to speak publicly. The last thing women need is another man taking it upon himself to speak for us. Fiand another way to get on camera, Tony.

Iraq. A number of e-mails to the public account about two 'big' stories. Covered a lot does not make them big. The oil issue? We're not interested. That the Baghdad-based court would rule in favor of the Baghdad-based government against the Kurdistan is not surprising. It's a historical pattern. Where have you been? Second, it's not surprising that Kurdistan is rejecting the verdict. It's not suprsiging because it's happened over and over and is one of the flashpoints that Brookings long ago identfied as an issue that had to be resolved or conflict would continue. And Brookings made that identification when? Back when Bully Boy Bush occupied the White House. That long ago.

A company may have helped ISIS! Or been in business! Or something! We covered that. We didn't obsess over it and because there's nothing new to it we haven't covered it since the snapshot we made it the main thrust of. When details, not opinions, emerge, new details, we'll probably revisit the topic.

We've repeatedly noted (since Saturday) western media remarks about how Urkanians are 'our kind of people' -- unlike those in Iraq and Afghanistan who just aren't this or that.

We've noted it because it's racism that needs to be called out.

We've noted it because it's racism that impacted the coverage. The march to war/? Absolutely. But even more so, the coverage that happened after the war started, the coverage that rendered Iraqis invisible and refused to tell their stories.

The racims involved resulted in selling the war and it resulted in continuing the war. That CBS NEWS has not announced they have broken off with an employee goes to how they tolerate racism in the news department. It was rank and it was offensive. And, no, a Tweet of 'woopise' does not make everything all right.

It's a serious issue and we will continue to note it. Here's Richard Medhurst addressing it.

For those who don't know, CBS NEWS is currently attempting to contain yet another sexual abuse scandal of their own. Now is really not the time for their failure to address their correspondent's on-air remarks. At the very least, Charlie should be having some sort of remedial training and be assigned a what-I've-learned essay to write and post to CBS' website.

On videos, an e-mail to the public account feels we should have noted this video.

We have noted that video. We haven't noted it in a snapshot but we have noted it. It's important so we will note it again.

And here's Sabby's interview with Nick Brana from last week.

The following sites updated:

3/03/2022

barbra streisand: color her tired and over

veronica e-mailed about my walk away from babs and noted that i's probably easier to do tht now when she's not making films and her albums are so forced and formulaic. probably true. she's not made a good film in years ('the guilt trip' was a real performance from her). and has she done a good album in years?

i don't think so. but i'm re-evaluating her entire catalogue. for example, i never thought 'the broadway album' was a great album but i don't even think it's a good 1 anymore.

back when he made it, it was supposed to be brief foray from pop.

instead, it really ended up becoming her on-stop act.

the voice is gone - that's why she keeps going to the vaults for material to release. she knows her vocals aren't up to recording currently. . she couldn't do 'stoney end' today - not the song, not the lbum. her voice would not sound beautiful singing 'if i could red your mind ...'

'stoney end' found barbra actually having to reach to do nw material. after that, nothing was too important.

i think she has 5 and only 5 must listen to albums.

1) the 2nd barbra streisand album'

This is a classic and her finest album she recorded.

2) ''funny girl'

the soundtrack for the film. listen to the broadway cast album and notice how different. she's lived with the material (most of is is from the play) and finds a new way of delivering it and also happens to find a way to make the meanings deeper.

3) 'yentl'

this is bascially a monologue - yentl doesn't share and she doesn't do give and take. barbra really sings it like she means it. and there are leaps across the musical landscape. she also includes some humor which she should learn to do more.

4) 'wet'

eclectic as hell an far more so than 'emotion,' 'wet' is 1 of her best albums. for 'niagra' alone it would be among her finest. add in the classic duet with donna summer. and there is the title rack. in the minor masterpiece mode, check out her performance of 'on rainy afternoons.'

5) 'guilty.'

her last great studio album.

let me know if you think that's too harsh. but i really have been re-evaluating all of her work of late.

yes, she has tremendous talent but she's not used it very well.

and i prefer a failure album like 'emotion' to the formulaic crud like 'higher ground,' for example.

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

Wednesday, March 2n, 2022. Joe Biden war mongers on TV and the media plays out like an episode of AMERICAN DAD -- only AMERICAN DAD is supposed to be funny.

Fading and senile Joe Biden gave a speech last night. Some have called it a State of the Union address which has led to a bit of confusion: The State of the Union tradicitionally takes place in January but yesterday was the first of March? Since FDR, that's when the State of the Union is delivered.

Old and senile, Joe couldn't even manage to deliver the SOU address on time. He was too old for the job. Age was weaponized to attack Sarah Palin, do we remember that? John McCain was too old, too old!!!! He could die in office! He could die!!!!! That was 2008. He was 71.

In November, Joe Biden will turn 80.

When Ronald Reagan won re-election in 1984, he was 73. And, until Joe won in 2020, Reagan was the oldest person to win the presidency. Joe was too old to run and he's way too old to run for re-election.

He should be encouraged to resign so that Kamala could run as a sitting president in 2024.

He's too old. He has no idea what's going on. His corruption has become as well known as his son's and, as Ruth noted, it is past time a Special Counsil was created to investigate Hunter Biden. He remains the subject of a grand jury inquiry, he remains the target of a criinal investigation by the FBI. Joe has repeatedly lied insisting that Hunter did nothg wrong -- even after the election which was a clear violation of his duties as president. (The proper resonse is always, "I cannot comment on an ongoing ivestigation.") This is Jonathan Turley commenting on the most recent Hunter Biden scandal:

For those of us who have covered the Hunter Biden scandal for years, one of the most prominent figures in his alleged influence peddling efforts is Devon Archer, his close friend and partner. Archer was sentenced yesterday by federal District Judge Ronnie Abrams to a year in jail. Archer is shown (far left) in this 2014 picture with Joe Biden and Hunter Biden.

Archer was convicted of defrauding the Wakpamni Lake Community Corporation of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in the handling of a $60 million bond offering. Hunter Biden was not implicated in those dealings.

Abrams was previously reversed after she set aside his 2018 jury conviction. In United States v. Archer, the Second Circuit found that Abrams abused her discretion in tossing out the verdict.

Abrams actually gave a lighter sentence than the 30 months requested by prosecutors, citing the pandemic conditions in prison as “extraordinarily difficult.” The lower sentence may have practically undermined any interest of federal prosecutors to reach a cooperation deal with Abrams in their ongoing investigation of Hunter Biden.

Archer was involved with Hunter as a board member on Burisma Holdings, an Ukraine-based energy company. He was also featured in the controversial picture with now President Joe Biden.

Joe Biden has repeatedly denied knowing anything about his son’s foreign dealings, even though Hunter Biden himself contradicted that account and a key witness Anthony Bobulinski has refuted the denial.

After the photo above was posted on the Burisma website, Demetra Lambros, the VP’s Chief Counsel, later called for the photo to be removed.

One of the most extraordinary exchanges found in Hunter’s text messages reportedly dealt with Archer complaining that he was arrested by Biden “appointees.” According to press accounts, Hunter Biden responded by assuring him that he was covered and “family” [. . .]

Here's Joseph Kishore (WSWS) on Joe's embarrassing SOU speech:

US President Joe Biden delivered his annual “State of the Union” address on Tuesday evening. His speech, as could be expected, was full of lies and self-delusions, punctuated by standing applause from the assembled members of Congress.

Biden’s State of the Union was the first to begin with foreign policy since George W. Bush’s “axis of evil” speech in 2002, twenty years ago. Bush spoke in the aftermath of the US invasion of Afghanistan and in the run-up to the war against Iraq. Biden spoke in the midst of an escalating campaign against Russia over Ukraine.

What emerges from the speech above all else is that the drive for war against Russia, along with the extreme bellicosity coming out of the Biden administration and the media, is motivated more than anything else by the social and political crisis within the United States.

“Last year, COVID-19 kept us apart,” Biden began his remarks. “This year, we are finally together again. Tonight, we meet as Democrats, Republicans and Independents. But most importantly, as Americans.” He concluded his speech with an impromptu statement, not included in the official transcript put out by the White House: “Go get him.”

One cannot help but ask, if it were not for the crisis in Ukraine, how would Biden have begun his speech? Perhaps by asking for a moment of silence to honor the memory of 1 million Americans who have died from COVID-19? The pandemic, which has dominated the lives of the entire world’s population over the past two years, was relegated to a minor issue.

I don't care enough about Joe Biden nad his lies to spend two days on that nonsense speech last night. Meaning? I don't ahe time to nurture and feed you, Green Party. Get your sh**ty act together. Last night they delivered a live response to Biden. Most Americans didn't even know about it. Because people will be talking about Joe's speech this morning, it could get some attention if it was posted.

If it was posted.

There's no excuse for this nonsense. It's still not up. It didn't need editing, it just needed posting. Stop wasting people's tiem. If you're not going to work to be a real political party, just get of the stage.

Why go to the point of making a response video if no one can see it in a timely manner when it might actually matter?

I don't have time for this crap. Don't send me it when it posts. You should have been prepared this morning when people were talking about the speech. You failed. You failed again.

There are lot of people -- Sabby Sabs most recently -- who want to whine tht mean old Howie hawkins stole the nomination from former fake wrestler Jesse Ventura. But Jesse didn't run for the nomination. I don't get the hate for Howie. While the national Green Party can't get its own act together, Howie has continued to post content at his YOUTUBE channel every week and sometimes twice a week since the 2020 election. That's how you bild a party, that's how you make change.

Cindy Sheehan wanted to let a bad candidate whine about how it was 'funair' the way the process worked out and Howie got the nomination. This is the man, remember, who slimed Kevin Zeese's wife.

This is also the man, Darius, who inspired people who heard him speak. But he thought he could run for the Green Party's presidential nomination without . . . running. He refused to Tweet on a regular basis, he refused to post videos. He barely hit the road to speak to groups. That's not campaign.

They have no written statement up, they have failed to post their video from last night.

This is life or death -- for the Green Party, sure, because it's sending a message that it can't keep up with othe others and will drop out of the marathon about thirty seconds after it starts. But for the people living in Russia and Unrkaine? It's life or death. It's a real damn shame that whomever was responsible for recording last night's livesstream couldn't have spared an additional five minutes to get it posted after it aired. Again, no one cares what you had to say about the speech on Thursday. You should have been prepared today. You need to get your act together.

Sarah Abdallah Tweets:

The war in Ukraine didn't start 5 days ago.

It started in 2014 when the democratically elected Ukrainian government was overthrown by Obama in an illegal coup and replaced with an anti-Russian regime that would go on to commit daily war crimes against ethnic Russians in Donbass.

1:19 PM · Feb 28, 2022

In her weekly coluymn at BLACK AGENDA REPORT, Margaret Kimberley observes:

By now everyone knows that Ukraine’s flag is blue and yellow. It is impossible to miss as the Empire State Building in New York, the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, and the Eiffel Tower in Paris have all been bathed in those colors. Nearly every city and town across the United States has followed suit and politicians ranging from local legislators to members of congress shout “Stand with Ukraine!” at every opportunity.

Yet it must be pointed out that those blue and yellow motifs and pleas for solidarity are all about white supremacy. Ukraine is upheld as a bastion of “civilization” which is supposed to put it off limits for war and suffering. The quiet part is now being spoken out loud. We are told that Ukrainians are more deserving of concern because they are Europeans.

Ukraine’s deputy chief prosecutor said as much in a BBC interview. “It is very emotional for me because I see European people with blue eyes and blonde hair being killed…" He wasn’t alone in his assessment. An NBC reporter was asked why Poland was willing to admit Ukrainians even as it turned away other refugees. "Just to put it bluntly, these are not refugees from Syria, these are refugees from neighboring Ukraine. That, quite frankly, is part of it. These are Christians, they are white, they're ... um... very similar to the people that live in Poland.”

CBS followed suit, "This isn't a place, with all due respect, like Iraq or Afghanistan who has seen conflict rage for decades. This is a relatively civilized, relatively European - I have to choose those words carefully - city where you wouldn't expect that or hope that it was going to happen."

The narrative that only white people deserve peace and security is all the more shameful because the global south suffers from war and privation as a direct result of US/NATO actions. It is NATO that destroyed the nation of Libya, NATO which attempted to do the same in Syria, NATO that occupied Afghanistan, NATO which wages war across African countries with US, French and British troops deployed across the continent. The white world causes suffering and then says that the people of the global south are “uncivilized” with no rights that need to be respected.

A Watson Institute of Brown University study showed that more than 37 million people in North Africa, Western and Central Asia, and the Horn of Africa have been displaced by the US and its allies since 2001. The humanitarian disasters begun years ago are ongoing, as refugees use the Mediterranean and even the US border with Mexico as points of escape. After experiencing wars of aggression these nations are then subjected to punishment as the United States steals Afghanistan’s assets and keeps Syria under the thumb of Caesar Sanctions. These thefts cause more suffering and even death as nations are robbed of the ability to care for their people. Who is civilized and who is not?

Over the weekend, the media couldn't help sporting its racism and making it clear that the push for this war was about racism. The whole thing played out like Genevieve Vavance on AMERICAN DAD>

This isn't some ugly kid who went missing, no. This is a person who matters.

Gloria Methri notes:

The biggest news of the past week has been Russia's invasion of Ukraine amid strong condemnation from the rest of the world. As news channels scrambled to provide round-the-clock coverage of the crisis, many people have pointed out "racism" in the way reports are presented.

Some Twitter users have alleged that media coverage for the Middle East, Asian and African conflict zones does not receive as much footage as the European conflict.

A Twitter thread by journalist Alan MacLeod detailed some of the instances of "racist" media coverage of the Ukraine crisis. The thread points out shocking terms used by leading news organizations including BBC, CBS News, Al Jazeera, BFM TV, The Daily Telegraph, and the ITS (UK).

On BBC News, Ukraine’s deputy chief prosecutor David Sakvarelidze said he was very emotional seeing “European people with blue eyes and blonde hair being killed every day”.

On CBS News, foreign correspondent Charlie D’Agata while reporting from Kyiv said, “This is a relatively civilized and European city where you wouldn’t expect or hope that it is going to happen.” He also said this wasn't "Iraq or Afghanistan" – countries that have been suffering endless conflict. D'Agata later apologized in a broadcast.

READ | Russia-Ukraine War News LIVE Updates: Russia hints at severing ties with the UK

On NBC, a correspondent was asked what has changed in Poland since the last refugee crisis in Europe in 2015, at which time the country had been hesitant to accept refugees.

She shockingly replied, "Just to put it bluntly, these are not refugees from Syria, these are refugees from neighboring Ukraine. That, quite frankly, is part of it. These are Christians, they’re white, they’re very similar people."

On Al Jazeera, Peter Dobbie, while talking about Ukrainians fleeing the country said, "What’s compelling is just looking at them, the way they are dressed. These are prosperous middle-class people. These are not obviously refugees trying to get away from areas in the middle east that are still in a big state of war. These are not people trying to get away from areas in North Africa. They look like any European family that you would live next door to..."

Black Alliance for Peace issued the following:

Black Alliance for Peace Statement on the Situation in the Ukraine

The Black Alliance for Peace emphatically declares that the conflict in the Ukraine emerges from the ceaseless and single-minded drive of the U.S., NATO, and the European Union for global economic and political dominance. The genesis of the current crisis, as BAP has previously asserted, is in the 2014 US-backed coup of Ukraine’s democratically elected government – and in the determination of the U.S./EU/NATO “axis of domination” to convert Ukraine into a heavily-militarized NATO member nation, lurking on the border of the Russian Federation. NATO’s expansion has been a well-known security concern for Russia since 1999, when Bill Clinton inaugurated the official process of growing NATO’s membership to include former nations of the Warsaw Pact. Today, as the conflict escalates, NATO’s expansion has become an existential threat to African people and all oppressed and colonized people around the world. For peace to arrive in the region and in the world, the expansion of this “axis of domination” must be halted and NATO must be dismantled.

But what is peace? For BAP, peace is not merely the absence of conflict. Peace means the achievement, through popular struggle and self-defense, of a world liberated from militarism and nuclear proliferation, imperialism and unjust war, patriarchy, and white supremacy. Indeed, the resurgence and celebration of Nazism in the Ukraine, as well as in the United States, Canada, and elsewhere, represents a global consolidation of white supremacy as part of the project of imperialism. This consolidation also appears through invocations of and appeals to white, “civilized” nations and peoples and the entrenchment of an unabashedly racist pan-European world. Peace also means dismantling a military-industrial complex that is clearly profiting from endless war and intervention and reinvesting bloated “defense” budgets into education, health and child care, housing, and the battle against global warming. We need to dismantle NATO for the same reasons we need to abolish the police: both serve the interests of capital and empire at the expense of the global working classes.

The Black Alliance for Peace is mindful of the loss of life in Ukraine, but also in Somalia, Yemen, and every nation suffering under NATO wars of domination. We offer our unwavering solidarity with the people of these places. As BAP Coordinating Committee member Rafiki Morris argues:

“Our concern for the people of Ukraine must be added to our overarching concern for those in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Libya; coups in Egypt, Honduras, Ukraine, Bolivia, Brazil; subversion in Venezuela, Nicaragua, Cuba; coups across the African continent with soldiers trained by AFRICOM.”

We note, for example, that as the U.S. condemned the military actions of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, its armed drones bombed Somalia. Moreover, as Black immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean were abandoned and mistreated in the Ukraine, the 200th deportation flight of the Biden administration sent 129 Haitians to Port-au-Prince, adding to the 21,000 already deported in one year.

To secure the interests of the Russian and Ukrainian people, there must be good faith negotiations between the Russian Federation, representatives of the peoples of Donbas, and the Ukraine. The EU and the U.S. must end their continuous shipments of arms and other “lethal aid” to Ukraine. Ukraine and Russia must enter into serious discussions with the peoples of the Donbas in order to determine if the Minsk agreement, which was unanimously approved by the United Nations Security Council in 2015, is still applicable. And NATO must be disbanded.

A cloud of confusion has settled on many people, as the lusty calls for war with Russia grow louder and the propagandistic appeals to patriotism, racial nationalism, and the defense of “white civilization” intensify. For BAP, there is no confusion. The conflict in the Ukraine has only exposed the hypocrisy and contradictions of imperialism, war, and militarism – and the demand for peace means to fight against U.S. imperialism and the U.S./EU/NATO axis of domination.

On this strategic focus, BAP says once again that there will be No Compromise and No Retreat!

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3/02/2022

'the cleaning lady'

on this week's episode of 'the cleaning lady,'thony and arman took luka to have the surgery. the man over the whole thing was dicking thony around so she floated the fact that arman is mafia and that settled things.

meanwhile, garrett (oliver hudson) was trying to find thony and tried to intimidate fiona who wasn't having it and wasn't forgiving him for having her friend deported and almost having her deported as well.

garrett went to nadia and told her that arman had gone off with thony - arman and naida are husband and wife. we saw just what a liar garrett is. ''and that thee's real chemstiry between arman and thony.

here's 'the gay gaston.'

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

Tuesday, March 1, 2022. If only MINT PRESS NEWS was worthy of Alan Macleod's reporting and other sad tales of the same media constructs trying to pass themselves off as "new."

The late Nanci griffith performing her song "It's A Hard Life Wherever You Go" which first appears on her studio album STORMS. And it's true. A neo Nazi regime has the corporate media's sympathies and that about says ti all.

Well not uite.

Not sure why Alan Macleod -- a strong writer -- thinks he has any place to call Tucker Carlson out? I'm confused. Alan writes for MINT PRESS NEWS. They feature this video.

"A really great guest. Someone who knows what war is. Who has been in war." Oh, Scott knows much more than that, Dan. Why be so modest?

Dan Cohen, maybe the firt thing to do is to get honest with your viewers?

Scott Ritter has been arrested multiple times for attempting to have sex with underage girls. When Bully Boy Bush occupied the White House,, the claim was that this was all political and it was Republicans going after Scott. Then he got arrested after Barack Obama was president. And this time, he wasn't given a plea deal or a slap on the writst. This time, he went on trial and was convicted for his actions. He's a registered sex criminal.

And you're not telling people that, Dan?

And Alan youre off on Tucker Carlson when your own outlet is promoting Scott without noting that he's a sex offender?

Is Scott such an important voice and analyst that we need him in public disccusion? I'm not seeing it. But I can be wrong.

We've included the video. We've also included reality: That he's been arrested multiple times for attempting to engage in sex with underage girls. That he was convicted of that -- and cried in court as he admitted he did it -- and was sentenced and sent to prison for it.

Apparently, MINT NEWS PRESS doesn't give two s**ts about the safety of young girls.

Big surprise -- that's sarcasm. There's nothing at their website that indicates that they value women. They're like so many 'left' sites in the '00s who don't get caught in 'idnetity politics' -- their excuse for ignoring the rights of women and girls and for ingoring racism.

Alan's a good writer. But he looks like a hypocrite as he goes after Tucker Carlson while his own site promotes Scott Ritter.

They don't warn anyone. And any 14 year old girl that Scott targets next who knows of Scott from MINT PRESS NEWS -- and only from MINT PRESS NEWS -- just knows that he's someone to be 'trusted' per MPN.

Long ago I made the proposal that Scott Ritter should come with a warning lable. Arianna took that over to her own site and then tried to apply it to Republicans running for office.

This was not about political differences between myself and Scott Ritter. This is about him being a convicted sex offender who has a history of attempting to have sex with underage girls. I have no idea why his wife stayed with him. I don't care, honestly. But even before the conviction, we told the truth about Scott. We did that because a CNN friend -- who was against the Iraq War, by the way -- warned me. I was told that there were two arrests. Unlike Sy Hersh, we told the truth and walked away.

I don't like him. I don't like anyone who tries to prey on children.

Does he have anything of value to add to the discussion. I'm not hearing it in the video above. Maybe you are. But we noted what he was convicted of and we provided the needed public warning.

MPN hasn't.

Before he was arrested the last time (and convicted) we called out a number of outlets for promoting Scott and acting irresponsible. It is irresponsible to promote him without nting what he is -- someone convicted of attempting to prey on children.

We noted that Ktrina vanden Huevel, Amy Goodman and all the rest were proving just how little they gave a damn about young girls. Katrina eventually dropped him at THE NATION. Not because of what we were saying but because what we were saying was hurting her in newsrooms and limitng her media appearances. She wanted her TV time and she knews she wasn't getting it and why.

And now it' hilarious to watch her try to work 'littl emedia' after big media got done with her. See her on Katie Halper because Katie wants to promote the Council of and for Foreign Relations? Is that it, Katie? Do you even know who you bring on? Do you even know that Ava and I tracked Katty's record at THE NATION and saw her publis 149 female bylines in the same year she published 491 male bylines? Does that count as equality to you, Katie? I'm confused what it is that you think Katrina has to offer to the conversation?

Maybe it's her skin color/ Maybe you don't feel that you have enough White people on your show and bringing on Katrina lets you reach 99%. I'm nost sure.

But Katty Van Van burned her bridges at ABC -- viewers didn't like her and THIS WEEK producers and crew found her problematic and dictatorial I dug a few inches of her grave, yes, but I didn't dig the grave by myself. She's done. And so now she wants to be on emerging media and Katie's either a whore or stupid and wants to promote her.

I think Katie needs to figure out where she stands. I support war resisters, for example. Katty Van Van doesn't and saw to it that they were not covered by THE NATION.

I support artists. Katty is rich because her grandfather exploited them -- especially artis of color. She's also rich because she refused to pay the required taxes and took the matter to court. Remember that when she's playing her just-folks-Katty.

Katrina's led on nothing. She betryaed her own husband during Russiagate. Had to appear neutral. Excuse me "HAT TO APPEAR NEUTRAL!" That's what Stephen yelled in disbelief over the phone at me. He was furious and rightly so. Aaron Mate sucks up to her because she published his writings.

Of course she did. He has a penis. She's never had a problem publishing men. She's never had a problem discriiminating against women.

So excuse the f**k out of me, Katie halper, if I'm appalled by your deicsision to promote her. There are qualified guest sho have something to offer. Katrina has vague, pie-in-the-sky pronouncements. Nothing more.

I've streamed the video with Scott. I don't see the point of bringing him on. I wonder if all these people bringing on Katty and Scotty took the time to bring on, for example, Ajamu Baraka, if the world might move towards a better place?

Thing is, the way things are going right now, we'll never know.

The people who say they want to change the system, the podcasters and the YOUTUBErs -- are simply recreating the same discriminating world and they're either too damn dumb to notice or they really don't care.

Alan, you're a great writer. But before you pick on Tucker Carlson again (I pick on him all the time and have for years -- check out what Ava and I have written at THIRD -- most recently about his nipple obsession), ask your outlet why it is that they have a convicted felon on, someone who remains a threat to girls, and they don't feel the need to air a warning?

Again, there's a reason we don't live in a better world.

Racism was on full display in the coverage of Ukraine. We called it out Saturday and Monday.

Richard Medhurst did an excellent commentary on it below.

Where are the others?

Katie? Bri-Bri? Marianne? Gilligang?

The news personalities got away with their on air racism because to the people thty ewere talking to, it was normal and acceptable. And we see that on YOUTUBE as people rush to ignore what happened.

The racism alone is frightening. But there's also the fact, that as we have repeatedly noted, the western coverag of Iraq left out so much. Now we know why. The people the corporations had covering Iraq saw the people as less-than. They weren't real people. Not to the western press. They were, apparently, 'savages' like in the DISNEY 'kid's musical' POCAHONTAS.

The Iraqi people have never gotten their due from the western press and now we have a good reason why that's the case: Racism.

Marianne Williamson knows all about racism. After all, it was racism that led her to bring on non-AFghans to address AFghanistan. Remember that show? SHe brought on a woman from the US who ivnaded Afghanistan. All these years later, it was still too much for Marianne to allow the Afghan people to tell their own story. Instead, she needed someone who invaded tehir country -- some dumb bitch who thought she had a right to speak for the Afghan people. Racism is the term for what you did Marianne. You owe everyone an apology.

Self-dterimination and democracy are just buzz words for the 'little media' which doesn't care about the principles involved anymore than corporate media does to judge by their own actions.

The US government installed neo-Nazis in the government of Ukraine. It's ab asic fact. But it's one everyone works overtime to avoid.

That's not me saying that the people are all Nazis. They're not. But the ones in charge are, the ones that the corpoarte media is backing and that's because the corporate media is ab unch of Nazis as well. When CBS refuses to fire a staff member who makes racist statements on air? They're making clear that they agree with those statements. They're saying those statements are their own belief. And suddenly you understand why the same press obsessed with blone hair and blue eyes -- as another one of the corporate press said on air -- is bacing neo-Nazis. Hilter was also obsessed with blue eyes and blond hair, he just used terms like "Ayran."

It was a very revealing moments, watching the press speak its mind over the weekend.

The second revealing moment? Watching so many in 'independent' media feel that this was nothing to comment on. Oh well, maybe Bri-Bri and Katie and Mariane can drive tehir Carava of the Useless onto another fundraiser for politicians. Hey, the ones that they promoted last time failed you but send moneyt his time because the gals want you to.

Big news out of Iraq today. No, the political stalemate has not ended. Elections were held October 10th. Still no president, still no prime minister. The Parliament is currently in violation of the country's Constitution, having missedt he last day possible by which they should declare a president.

The court declred that Hoshyar Zebari couldn't run for president. Everyone rushed to make up a new list of presidential candidates. And? Dilan Sirwan (RUDAW) reports the latest:

Iraq's Federal Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled the parliament's decision to re-open registration of presidency candidates as "unconstitutional".

The decision came following a closed hearing by the court which no media was allowed to attend. The court's session came after the case was adjourned on February 23.

The session reviewed the Iraqi parliament's decision to reopen the registration for presidential candidates after the parliament failed to meet quorum to elect a president last month.

The parliamentary speaker announced the reopening of registration for presidential candidates on February 8, as the legislature failed to vote in a new president a day earlier due to the absence of prominent parties.

The court set the grounds for its decision on the fact that "there is no constitutional or legal text giving the Parliamentary speaker the power to reopen the registration of candidates," Iraqi state media reported, adding that the possibility of once again re-opening registrations would be in accordance to a decision from the parliament, and not the speaker alone.

,Basim Khashan filed the motion that led to this verdict. He's an MP whom the press idnentifies as independent but he teamed with Mahmoud al-Mashhadani back in January to try to remove the Speaker of Parliament. Back then, Arabic social media was noting his close ties to Nouri al-Maliki. Who? You know, the former prime minister and forever thug that has worked hard to defeat 'king maker' Moqtada al-Sadr in the post-election period. Blood in the water these days. Enough to make the sharks circle Moqtada? Maybe not yet but Nouri keeps delivering body blows to Moqtada and is making Moqtada look dumb, unskilled and inept. How long do you think Moqtada can keep his exasperated coaltion together? Clearly, Nouri thinks he can exhaust them.

Never forget that in 2010, Nouri lost the election. But he refused to step down as prime minister. For oever eight months, he refused to step down. And then Joe Biden, on behalf of the US government, oversaw The Erbil Agreement that gave loser Nouri a second term. Moqtada may not grasp it but the press should -- Nouri fights a long and slow war of attrition.

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