7/28/2022

the gay gaston

 


that's 'the gay gaston.'  i'm in a mood tonight - i'm hungry and i've got a headache.  and i don't feel like blogging at all so i'm noting 'the gay gaston.'  his photos can brighten a day.







sorry not to be in the mood to write.  i need to go to bed.  i'm hungry and i've eaten.  when i've got a headache like this, i can eat everything in the house if i'm not careful.  so i've had dinner and i'm going to take a codeine and go to sleep.


marcia and i offered our takes on a book last night:


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


    Thursday, July 28, 2022.  Moqtada al-Sadr orders cult to riot and take over Parliament, Lauren Boebert can't stop spreading hate, and much more.


    Iraq today?  Protesters?  Demonstrators?  



    Think about it, we'll come back to it.

    Should we do a new feature?  TODAY'S IDIOT?  THE DAILY IDIOT would probably be a better title but I can't imagine having to deal with the nonsense of Lauren Boebert and Marjorie Taylor Greene on a daily basis. And it would be a daily basis because crazy takes no holiday.  If you missed it, the two women took time off from bullying a gay Canadian man on Twitter to mock US Vice President Kamala Harris.  Bully and hag Lauren finds it hilarious that Kamala introduced herself at a meeting.  This is what Bully Hag Lauren Tweeted:



    Kamala Harris just introduced herself with she/her pronouns at an official event, She then clarified that she was a 'woman' sitting at the table wearing a blue suit. This is what happens when your speechwriter quits and you hang around with Geriatric Joe too long.



    Maybe Bully Hag Lauren could focus on legislating and not try comedy?  For comedy to work -- pay attention, Lauren -- it needs more than an insult.  It needs grounding in truth.

    Did Kamala do something shocking?  

    No.


    Here's the White House's official read out of the Tuesday event:




    Today, on the 32nd anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Vice President Kamala Harris hosted a roundtable conversation with disability rights leaders to discuss access to reproductive health care. The meeting built on the Vice President’s engagements on reproductive rights with health care providers; faith leaders; constitutional law, privacy, and technology experts; advocates; and state attorneys general, and it followed recent meetings that the Vice President has convened with state legislators and local leaders in Indianapolis, Indiana; Richmond, Virginia; Charlotte, North Carolina; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Orlando, Florida. Vice President Harris also convened legislators from Florida, Indiana, Montana, North Dakota, and Nebraska in Washington D.C. to discuss the reproductive rights challenges in those states.

    Vice President Harris discussed how disparities in health care access continue to exist in our country for people with disabilities, and she conveyed that those challenges are being exacerbated following the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. The participants shared stories of challenges that are disproportionately facing people with disabilities as it relates to reproductive health care and abortion access.
     
    Vice President Harris emphasized the Administration’s commitment to protecting reproductive rights and shared how the Administration will continue to fight for the bodily autonomy and self-determination of all individuals with disabilities. The participants discussed how there is significant work to be done to fulfill the promise of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Vice President Harris thanked them for their leadership in shining a spotlight on the need for equity and access. She spoke about the importance of coalition-building in the movement to protect reproductive care for all people. 
     
    Participants:

    • Dior Vargas, Disability Rights and Mental Health Advocate
    • Maria Town, American Association of People with Disabilities
    • Lydia Brown, President and CEO at Autistic Women and Nonbinary Network
    • Robin Wilson-Beattie, Disability Sexual and Reproductive Health Educator
    • Sam Crane, Legal Director at Quality Trust for Individuals with Disabilities



    I don't see a thing wrong with what Kamala did.  What Lauren fails to grasp is that the meeting most likely had observers and that some of those may have needed verbal comments to participate fully.  I've  noted before that I've been at Congressional hearings and ended up signing for someone I've noticed present.  (They do make accommodations at Congressional hearings but they need to know ahead of time.)  In addition, there are people who need transcripts -- audio and video don't work for them -- due to challenges or disabilities.  For the record, it would probably be smart for all of us to do what Kamala did at any meeting -- for the meeting itself and for any record (written, visual, audio, what have you) of the meeting.   I'll publicly applaud Kamala for her actions.  

    It's something, isn't it, to watch The Bully Hag Lauren get upset whenever anyone tries to be welcoming to all.  Apparently, in Lauren's world only some Americas -- 5%? -- are worthy of rights and dignity.  Lauren is and remains TODAY'S IDIOT.  That does, of course, explain how she dresses and her attempt to hide skin flaws by caking on make up.  It also explains how Lauren acts this way while maintaining that one day she'll get into heaven and how she wrongly believes she's exhibiting heavenly behavior here on earth.

    Back to Iraq. 



    Goons follow orders to attack an institution?


    In the US we call it what it is: A riot.  In fairness, a number of idiots -- mainly in media -- call it a coup or an attempted one.  In the US, we even launch a media-geared Congressional investigation.  


    But in Iraq, when Moqtada al-Sadr orders his goons to take over Parliament, they're just "protesters" and "demonstrators" -- read the press, that's what they're calling them.


    IANS reports:


    Hundreds of followers of Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr broke into the Iraqi Parliament building in central Baghdad to protest against the nomination of Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani for the post of Prime Minister.

    The riot police fired tear gas canisters and warning shots to disperse the protesters, but there were no clashes between the protesters and the security forces, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua news agency.

    Many videos aired by TV channels and social media showed dozens of demonstrators inside Parliament building waving Iraqi flags and chanting slogans hailing Moqtada al-Sadr.

    Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi urged in a statement the protesters to withdraw from the building immediately.

    Al-Sadr told the demonstrators to end the protest in a tweet late Wednesday night, saying "your message has arrived... Go back to your homes safely".


    They broke into the building on Moqtada's orders and didn't leave until he told them the message had been delivered and to go home?


    It was a riot in a federal building and it was planned by, instigated by and overseen by Moqtada al-Sadr.  


    Riot.


    CNN, you can't have it both ways though goodness knows you try to "Hundreds of angry protesters . . ." 

    AL BAWABA notes:


    Social media users compared the Iraqi protesters who stormed the parliament and the Green Zone to American Capitol rioters. #Iraq #Green_Area #capitolhill #Capitol


    ALJAZEERA offers these bullet points:


    • The demonstrators, estimated to have been in the hundreds, oppose the nomination of a rival Iran-backed alliance’s candidate for prime minister.
    • Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, a former minister and ex-provincial governor, is the pro-Iran Coordination Framework’s pick for premier. Al-Sadr has rejected his candidacy.
    • “Al-Sudani just represents a very convenient excuse for Muqtada al-Sadr to voice his displeasure with the entire Coordination Framework and the political system in Iraq,” Marsin Alshamary, a research fellow the Harvard Kennedy School, told Al Jazeera. “He would have done this if anyone else were nominated. Al-Sudani actually represents one of the least controversial figures from the Coordination Framework.”
    • Protesters carried portraits of al-Sadr and chanted slogans in his support. They only cleared parliament and went home after he asked them to on Twitter, saying their message had been received.


    Hundreds?


    Hundreds of protesters storm Iraq parliament in support of cleric Moqtada al-Sadr



    Hundreds.  Apparently, even the cult was reluctant to show for this action.  Friday is a day of worship in Iraq.  So when Moqtada's cult comes out after Friday service, they're really not doing much at all but the international press always pumps them up.  On  a regular week day he can't even turn out thousands.


    It's been nine months (almost ten) since Iraq held elections.  Still no prime minister or president has been named.  Moqtada failed repeatedly to form a government before finally throwing in the towel -- which is always his m.o. -- a few weeks ago.  


    Maybe his cult should have been storming his headquarters months ago?


    Ali Almikdam Tweets:


    Nouri al-Maliki After the Sadrist protesters withdrew from the Green Zone, maybe that al-Maliki wants to show Muqtada al-Sadr that he is ready for any fight!!
    Image
    Image



    Former prime minister and forever thug Nouri hits the streets with a gun after the Parliament is occupied.  


    THE ARAB WEEKLY offers:


    The move was described by Iraqi analysts as an attempt by Iraqi leader Moqtada al-Sadr to block the path of his rival, former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, or any of his allies, to head the government.

    Sudani is closely linked to Maliki.

    Well-informed Iraqi sources tell The Arab Weekly that Sadr fears the repercussions that his movement might suffer from the premiership of any figure who is loyal to Maliki.

    Such repercussions might include the dismantling of the Sadrist security and political apparatus and the sidelining of Sadrists in government and curtailing their financial clout.

    By sending his supporters en masse onto the streets, Sadr seems intent on avoiding his past mistakes dealing with Maliki. Sadrists have not waited long to apply intense street pressure on their movement's main rival with whom they see the showdown as an existential battle.

    The Sadrists remember the operation launched by the Maliki government in March 2008 against the Mahdi Army militia led by Moqtada al-Sadr. The fighting at that time lasted nearly three weeks and ended with the surrender of the Mahdi Army and the defeat of Sadr.

    What has further fuelled the Sadrists’ fears were the most recent audio leaks of statements by Maliki, in which he hints at a internecine Shia war to eliminate Sadr whom he describes as ignorant, spiteful and bloodthirsty. “He is a coward who robbed the country”, Maliki is heard saying about Sadr.



    Let's turn back to the US and wind down with this from Jacob Crosse (WSWS):


    As of this writing, 28 women have filed federal civil rights lawsuits alleging they were assaulted, raped and harassed at the Clark County Jail, located in southern Jefferson County, Indiana, last October during a “night of terror” overseen by indifferent and paid off prison guards.

    In the lawsuits, the first of which was filed by 20 inmates in June, the second which was filed by eight more inmates this past Monday, the women allege that former corrections Officer David Lowe provided keys to at least one male inmate which allowed him and several other prisoners, under the watchful eye of Clark County jail officers, to enter the female pods beginning the night of October 23, 2021 and into early hours of October 24.

    The lawsuit alleges that for over two hours jail security staff did nothing to stop the male inmates from going into the female pods and harassing, intimidating, assaulting and raping the female prisoners. The lawsuit alleges that despite the security cameras working and several security officers on duty, male inmates, with their faces covered, were allowed to freely enter the women’s cells and go on a rampage.

    “Amazingly, even though there were surveillance cameras positioned in locations that showed the male detainees accessing the women’s Pods, and even though the incident involved multiple male detainees and dozens of victims over an extended period of time, not a single jail officer on duty that night came to the aid of the Plaintiffs and the other victims,” the most recent lawsuit states.

    One of the plaintiffs in the federal lawsuit, known as Jane Doe 1, alleged that “multiple male detainees using the keys obtained from Lowe, entered Pod 4 (E) where they raped, assaulted, harassed, and intimidated Jane Doe 1, resulting in significant emotional and physical injuries, including but not limited to nightmares, bleeding, vaginal tears, and genital herpes.” The lawsuit says that multiple prisoners held her in place and told her to “keep quiet” while one inmate raped her.

    Several other plaintiffs alleged similar injuries. While at least 28 women have come forward, one of the lawyers involved in the lawsuits says that there are more victims.



    The following sites updated:





    7/27/2022

    summer read: danforth prince and darwin porter's 'lana turner: hearts and diamonds take all'

    so the book marcia and i chose for our summer read this year is danforth prince and darwin porter's 'lana turner: hearts and diamonds take all.'

    what did i think?

    not one of darwin porter's better books.

    i was so bored throughout most of it.

    and we're talking about lana turner.  

    she is not an artiste.  she was a full blown movie star who partied constantly, married multiple times, had numerous affairs so how could the book be so dull?

    maybe it's due to the most infamous moment of her life?

    supposedly, lana is being beaten by mobster johnny stompanato when her daughter cheryl storms into the room and stabs him.

    maybe knowing that's coming when the book will finally get to the 1950s makes a great deal of it lag?

    possibly, it would have been better to start the book with that and then go into a flashback?

    as it is, we learn that she and ava gardner are great friends and frequently share men and, on at least one occasion, each other.  we learn about henry fonda's affair with jimmy stewart - no surprise and i believe maggie sullivan 'hinted' (all but said it) for years.  we learn that everywhere lana wanted to go - in bed with a man - she was forever cursing that joan crawford got there 1st.  

    we learn that lana loves to go out and to dance - almost as much as she enjoys bedroom activities.  she's forever referring to the size of this or that actor's member.  

    she wants for roles and at 1 point that includes scarlet in 'gone with the wind.'  her test proves her unfit.  she continues to want for better roles but she's used as an ornament by m.g.m. to dress up their shoddier projects.  

    1 of her few good roles was in 'the three muskateers' and angela lansbury wanted that role and felt she could have done it better.

    lana's most infamous role is 'the postman always rings twice.'  that really cemented her legend - especially her opening shot where her lipstick rolls on the floor in a room and the camera slowly backtracks to her and slowly up her body.  it's a film noir classic and she has a meaty role as an unsatisfied wife who plots with drifter john garfield to kill her husband.  lana's talent knocked people out.  her look did as well but it was her looks that tended to shore up and sometimes save her films.  this was a chance to really act and she tore into it.

    i would've liked more about that film.  

    1943's 'slightly dangerous' is at least a minor classic.  i discovered the film very late and only via 'turner classic movies.'  in this film, lana works at a drug store and is very popular with customers and co-workers when a new man is brought in.  they quarrel and she leaves town but people think she died and they blame the man.  she goes on to nyc and splurges on a fancy outfit and her hair.  she does not yet have a job.  she's walking into apply when she gets hit on her head and falls out.  because of how she's dressed, every 1 assumes she's rich.  she pretends not to know who she is.  and the newspapers churn up this whole story and eventually she's the kidnapped daughter of a rich man.  she's created an interesting trap for herself.

    it's funny and it's moving.

    the book really dismisses the film.  that's too bad because it is a quality film and she gets to do more than fashion wardrobe.  

    the book tells us that the love of her life was tyrone power.  that's been said before elsewhere.  the difference is, this book doesn't try to pretend ty was straight.  

    why did he reject lana in the end?  it appears she was just too clingy.  she also appeared to insist on things and perhaps he didn't like being bossed around.  

    she loathed joan crawford and not just for getting into beds before she could.  they were rivals for celebrity attorney greg bautzer.  things got ugly.  she also didn't care for jane wyman but this isn't teased out or fleshed out.  she loathed jane for years - and lana slept with ronald reagan - and the two ended up on the t.v. show 'falcon crest.'  jane would have lana fired from the show despite the fact that lana's appearances boosted ratings.  would've been nice to read about that in the book.  among the many men she slept with?  paul newman.  while he was married to ugly joanne woodard.  wait.  ugly is harsh.  change that to plain.

    point being, paul wasn't faithful to joanne until age took away his libido.  (he also had affairs with tony perkins, james dean, sal mineo .. ethan hawke's documentary is a lie. 

    there's no lana turner today.  i guess the closest equivalent would be demi moore in the 90s - someone who was a star on and off screen and was beautifully turned out whenever in public.  

    the book's not a bad 1 but not what i expected.  as for the murder of the gangster, i believe marcia's covering that part so be sure to visit her site.  (each summer, we read the same book and post our thoughts.)


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

    Wednesday, July 27, 2022.  Iraq makes its case to the United Nations Security Council, the political stalemate continues in Iraq, JACOBIN produces a groaner, and so much more


    Let's start with JACOBIN and I'd honeslty probably let this pass without comment were it not for the fact that JACOBIN can't stop pimping war on Russia.  Eileen Jones, you're not the embarrassment that IN THESE TIMES has (their JUSTICUE JUDY review was a non--stop mess of errors) but you're not the writer you think you are either.  Your review of RESPECT was fairly spot on -- with many of the same points Ava and I had made weeks before.  But you don't know the industry so don't try to write about it.

    Eileen wants you to know that NETFLIX bet big on THE GRAY MAN and NETFLIX lost.

    What the hell is she talking about?

    She's trying to write what industry papers were writing about ahead of the film streaming on NETFLIX and right after it started streaming.  The angle the industry papers were going with.

    And had she published it then, it might have been less embarrassing.


    By which point, the industry wags were silenced by reality.

    NETFLIX is not losing -- big or otherwise -- on it.

    And industry wags were stupid to have thought they would.  It was a bunch immature and ahistorical idiots who wrote that garbage to begin with.  Eileen saw it and ran with it.

    At some point, the casting is not going to work.  We saw that as the 70s progressed.  But it is still new in streaming and the casting alone was going to make THE GRAY MAN a success globally.  You grab a variety of well known actors from various regions and put them in one film together.  It does well in the global market.

    The $200 million price tag?  Does seem high but NETFLIX, as Jane Campion has already noted, is not going to stop making movies or stop making big movies.  It's going to be new talent and small films that will likely suffer as a result of any financial issues NETFLIX may face (that's a whole other story -- their financial woes -- and one Ava and I have covered in one story after another for years now).  

    The Russo brothers are a team NETFLIX wants to be in business with for prestige and for hit potential.  It's the deal they made and it paid off.

    The film is huge on NETFLIX.  The numbers came in and it's huge.  That's why the sequel to THE GRAY MAN was announced yesterday morning


    Eileen and JACOBIN don't know the industry and shouldn't write about it.  They look like idiots.  Had Eileen just written the review trashing the film that she wanted, she might have been better off.

    Should the film be trashed?  

    Alfre Woodard is wonderful in the film.  Ryan Gosling was the perfect pick having already demonstrated in THE NICE GUYS that he worked very well with a child actor.  Everyone delivers a strong performance.  Were I casting it, I would've said no to Chris Evans.  He does a strong job but Captain America's not going to be easily accepted in the role he's playing -- maybe that's why he wears that mustache in the film.  I understand his need to break out of type casting but, at present, he's too associated with Captain America and I think it would have been better with a different actor.  That said, casting Chris in the role is part of the reason the film's a hit.

    And, Eileen, it is a hit.  There will be a sequel.  People are streaming it like crazy.  You didn't understand the casting model and you didn't understand that some industry wags were finally smelling blood in the water with regards to NETFLIX (it's been bleeding for years) so you wrote your silly piece that made no sense.  Stick to reviews, not reporting, because your attempt at reporting blew up in your face because you didn't understand the models being used, industry jealousy or even industry terms.  That's how you end up writing a piece claiming NETFLIX has lost big on THE GRAY MAN when the film is a hit for NETFLIX.  Your entire premise was disproven by the time your piece was published.

    That said, I do say "thank you."  Better readers at JACOBIN should read your garbage than the other garbage that's promoting war on Russia.  And if you're not getting how stupid the pro-war garbage they're publishing is -- try substituting "Florida" for "Ukraine" and "the United States" for "Russia" and see just how weak the case they're making is.


    At JACOBIN's idealogical foe (WSWS), Andre Damon reports:


    Behind the backs of the American public, the US military is preparing a provocation against China aimed at instigating a conflict that could lead to a full-scale world war between the world’s two largest economies.

    This provocation comes in the form of a planned trip to Taiwan by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the third-ranking figure in the US government.

    Despite US President Joe Biden’s publicly stated concerns about the provocative nature of the trip, New York Times journalist David Sanger, an unofficial spokesman for the US military/intelligence apparatus, reported Tuesday that “US officials said the planning for Ms. Pelosi’s trip was moving ahead.”

    By all indications, sometime next month, the octogenarian grandmother of nine will strap herself into a C-130 cargo plane, possibly accompanied by an escort of F-35 fighters and supported by US aircraft carriers, and tempt fate by landing on Taiwan, amid warnings by Chinese military officers that they will “stop” her from entering the country.

    This level of recklessness is a testament to the deep crisis and disorientation of the US political establishment, which is desperately lashing out in all directions in the face of an intractable social, economic and political crisis.

    The dispatch of Pelosi, the highest-ranking US official to visit the island in a quarter century, is aimed at further undermining the one-China policy, which has been systematically dismantled by the Trump and Biden administrations, who have encouraged Taiwanese separatism as they have stuffed the island to the gills with weapons. Now, provocatively, Washington is acknowledging publicly a rising number of US military personnel on Taiwan. 


    Turning to Iraq, last week's attack by the Turkish governmenti continues to dominate the news.  MEDIA LINE reports:


    Six mortar rounds were fired Tuesday night at the Turkish Consulate in Mosul, in Iraq’s Nineveh province, landing nearby. There were no reported casualties and no group has claimed responsibility for the attack. It comes six days after a resort in Duhok province, in Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdistan region, was bombarded in a suspected Turkish artillery attack that killed nine tourists and wounded dozens of others. 


    We'll note this Tweet:

    Two rockets landed in the vicinity of the consulate, inflicting material damage, as reported by several media outlets, including Iran's state-affiliated Fars news agency and the GardaWorld Crisis24, bianet.org/english/world/


    There was an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council yesterday regarding last week's attack.   AP reports (it's not identified as AP by ASHARQ AL-AWSAT but it is AP):

    [Iraq's Foreign Minister Fuad] Hussein said the Iraqi government is “sure” the Turkish military was responsible for the attack. He pointed to the findings of its investigation that Turkey's army has bases in the area near the resort, PKK fighters have not been in the area for the last month and the Turkish army uses 155 mm artillery projectiles whose fragments were found at the scene.


    Hussein added that many people in the area “gave us enough information about the activity of Turkish soldiers there.”


    He called on the Security Council to urgently adopt a resolution demanding that Turkey withdraw what he said were about 4,000 combat soldiers from Iraq, and halt incursions into Iraqi airspace. 



    Hussein said that Iraq has issued 296 official notes of protests to Turkey since 2018 in response to the neighboring country’s continued violations on Iraqi land, which he numbered at 22,742 cases, calling on the council to issue an emergency decision obliging Turkey to withdraw its forces from Iraq.

    The Iraqi foreign minister stressed that there were no agreements between the Iraqi and Turkish sides which would allow the latter to roam Iraqi land under the pretext of targeting the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) as they have claimed.

    Iraq’s demands before the council were listed by Hussein, which included obliging Turkey to withdraw its forces from Iraq, the formation of an international independent team to investigate the attack and hold the perpetrators responsible, asking the council to include the Iraq-Turkey situation in its agenda, and obliging the Turkish government to compensate for the losses and damages caused by the attack.


    If the Security Council takes a pass, Iraq appears ready to address it themselves.  MEHR NEWS AGENCY reports:

    An Iraqi Parliament member announced that the Iraqi Parliament is reviewing passing a law on expelling Turkish forces from Iraqi soil.

    "The Iraqi parliament is determined to determine the task of the case of the illegal presence of Turkish army forces in the areas of northern Iraq, which is considered a clear violation of its sovereignty," the source cited.


     


    The Coordination Framework, an umbrella parliamentary bloc including all Iran-backed Shia factions, formally nominated Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani to be the new Iraqi prime minister, Iraqi state media reported Monday. 

    "Today, the leaders of the Shia framework met in positive conditions and they unanimously agreed to nominate Mr Mohammed Shia' al-Sudani for the [Iraqi] premiership," read a statement released by the Coordination Framework. 

    Al-Sudani, 52, is a Shia Iraqi lawmaker from the south-eastern Maysan Governorate. He has a Bachelor's degree in agricultural sciences. He has held several posts and ministerial portfolios in the Iraqi government, including the governor of Maysan, the minister of human rights in 2010, and the minister of labour and social affairs in 2014.   


    Doesn't that end the stalemate?  No.  As ARAB WEEKLY notes:

    The attention of Iraqis has shifted to the disagreement between Kurdish forces over the nomination of the country’s next president, after the Shia camp within the Coordinating Framework managed to reach an agreement on the selection of the Minister of Labour and Social Affairs Muhammad Shiaa Al-Sudani as its nominee for prime minister.

    Iraqi political analysts say that the approach of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) could scupper any deal with The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) to agree on a nominee for the presidency because the KDP is not looking for a compromise with the PUK and continues to pressure the pro-Iran Shia political alliance, the Coordination Framework in a way that some descibe as an "attempt at blackmail"...


    You can't jump to the prime minister.  A prime minister-designate is named by the president.  Once named, the designate has 30 days to form a Cabinet which is the test that proves the designate is up to the job and, if so, can move from prime minister designate to prime minister.

    By custom, the president is a Kurd.

    The forming of a Cabinet in 30 days has never really been held and that's why Iraq's governments have been in disarray from the start.

    So what might be considered is how much does the Constitution have to be followed?

    The Constitution is clear that a president is elected and the president's first job is to then name a prime minister-designate.  Could Iraq use the existing president to name a prime minister-designate?  It probably could attempt to but doing so would make the KDP angry and probably lose their votes.

    Another step around the impasse?

    The Coordinating Framework could nominate, in front of Parliament, a person for the presidency.  By custom, it would need to be a Kurd and it would need to be someone popular enough to get the votes.  There is no rule in the Constitution that says the PUK and the KDP get to work out who the president of Iraq is.  They can be bypassed.  But you're going to need a very popular nominee to do that. 

    So, at present, the political stalemate continues.


    We'll wind down with this:


    I need you to take action on the Equal Rights Amendment today, Common Ills.

    The Equal Rights Amendment prohibits discrimination based on sex. Given the devastating Supreme Court decision to repeal Roe in late June, it is even more obvious that the ERA is needed more than ever.

    We MUST act now to enshrine the ERA in the US Constitution.

    Tell your Representative
    you support House Res. 891

    The US House has already removed the original time limit set on the ERA. Now the House is in the process of advancing House Res. 891, which expresses the sense of the House that the ERA to the US Constitution is valid. This means that the ERA has already been ratified.

    The wording of House Res. 891 was intentionally modeled after language used to confirm the validity of the very important 14th Amendment and it’s Equal Protection Clause.

    179 members of the House have already signed on to the resolution as co-sponsors. We need 218 total co-sponsors, the majority of the House, to sign on to House Res. 891. That has to happen as quickly as possible. To do that we need your help.

    Your job is easy! We need you to urge your Representative who is pro ERA to become a co-sponsor of this historic House Res. 891. As well, please ask your Representative to urge other members of the House to become a co-sponsor of House Res. 891. To show its importance, Speaker Pelosi has become the leading cosponsor, along with chief co-sponsors Jackie Speier and Carolyn Maloney.

    Tell your Representative
    you support House Res. 891

    We can do this!

    Photo of Eleanor Smeal, President

    Ellie Smeal

    P.S. Please help be a part of this historic moment by reaching out to your Representative today!



    The following sites updated: