To call the 2003 US invasion and
subsequent (and ongoing) occupation of Iraq a "mistake" would also be
highly inappropriate. The US war machine and its "coalition" knew
exactly what they were doing---the destruction of Iraq to seize the oil
fields and enrich the war profiteers has been highly successful for
them. The destructive US foreign policy is policy, not “oops, we just
fell into a war and made a mess.”
The consequences for today are
a horrid legacy of poverty and disease for the people of Iraq. Depleted
uranium and poisoned water and land are still killing the people there
and the US is still occupying the country despite the fraud of Commander
in Grief Obama ending the war in 2009; as agent orange and unexploded
land mines are still haunting the people of Vietnam, who "won" the war,
but have lost the peace.
-- Cindy Sheehan, "What's to Celebrate? Iraq, 15 Years Later" (CINDY SHEEHAN'S SOAPBOX).
Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Truest statement of the week II
America, the guileless behemoth, brimming with hubris, somehow cannot see
it. The sheer irrationality of the whole endeavor borders – 15 years later –
on the absurd. The only real winners in Iraq have been a chauvinist brand Iranian
Shi’ism, and the trademark Wahhabi Sunni Islamism of Saudi Arabia. Neither is
a true friend to US interests or values. Neither cares whether US soldiers live
or die. Each has its own agenda and plays US policymakers and generals like
so many fiddles. The rational move for America is to opt out; do less; and walk
away before sinking farther into the next quagmire. Unfortunately, compressed
so narrowly between adversarial forces, and obtuse as ever, American "statesman"
can’t see the way out.
These wars won’t end well for the United States, just as matters didn’t end well for my platoon, wedged, as it was, between micro-factions of these same adversaries: Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The Sunni precursors of ISIS shot Sergeant Ty Dejane through the spine – he’s still in a wheel chair. The Shia militiamen aligned with Iran exploded a massive bomb which unleashed shrapnel that tore apart three other young men. Sergeant "Ducks" Duzinskas lost most of an arm. Sergeant Alex Fuller and Specialist Mike Balsley lay dead. They never knew what hit them, just as our platoon never knew who, or what, exactly, we were fighting.
My boys were sacrificed on the altar of American hubris. That’s the war I remember, and the one the US still fights – futilely – in the Fertile Crescent. Perhaps the citizenry should ponder that…before the next escalation in Iraq.
-- US Major Danny Sjursen, "Unmitigated Failure: Operation Iraqi Freedom, 15 Years Later" (ANTIWAR.COM).
These wars won’t end well for the United States, just as matters didn’t end well for my platoon, wedged, as it was, between micro-factions of these same adversaries: Saudi Arabia and Iran.
The Sunni precursors of ISIS shot Sergeant Ty Dejane through the spine – he’s still in a wheel chair. The Shia militiamen aligned with Iran exploded a massive bomb which unleashed shrapnel that tore apart three other young men. Sergeant "Ducks" Duzinskas lost most of an arm. Sergeant Alex Fuller and Specialist Mike Balsley lay dead. They never knew what hit them, just as our platoon never knew who, or what, exactly, we were fighting.
My boys were sacrificed on the altar of American hubris. That’s the war I remember, and the one the US still fights – futilely – in the Fertile Crescent. Perhaps the citizenry should ponder that…before the next escalation in Iraq.
-- US Major Danny Sjursen, "Unmitigated Failure: Operation Iraqi Freedom, 15 Years Later" (ANTIWAR.COM).
A note to our readers
Hey --
The 15th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War.
And no end in sight.
Let's thank all who participated this edition which includes Dallas and the following:
And what did we come up with?
See you next week.
Peace,
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.
The 15th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War.
And no end in sight.
Let's thank all who participated this edition which includes Dallas and the following:
The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's Kitchen, Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's Kitchen, Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.
And what did we come up with?
- Truest statement of the week
- Truest statement of the week II
- Editorial: The ongoing war hits 15
- TV: Talk talk talk
- The Lush War Hawk
- NYT smears Woody Allen (Ava and C.I.)
- Someone explain ethics to Andrea Mitchell
- The Fake Asses
- NYT digs through everyone's garbage but their own
- Joni Mitchell's "Shine"
- Raed Jarrar Tweets
- Senator Patty Murray Demands Answers from Departme...
See you next week.
Peace,
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.
Editorial: The ongoing war hits 15
In and out, that's how Bully Boy Bush made it appears. Another one thrust on Iraq -- like what his father did in the 90s. The illegal war started in March 2003 and it continues to this day.
A number of people want to pretend that Barack Obama ended the war. He did not. He is now out of office and the Iraq War continues. In fact, in some ways it is worse now.
Grasp that. The most deadly air strike.
And it was last year. Not 2003, last year.
Or grasp that seven more US service members died in Iraq last week.
The Defense Dept released the names of those killed in the US helicopter crash in Iraq:
The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of seven airmen who were supporting Operation Inherent Resolve. They died March 15 when an HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter crashed in western Iraq. The cause of the crash is under investigation.
Killed was:
Captain Mark K. Weber, 29, of Colorado Springs, Colorado. He was assigned to the 38th Rescue Squadron at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia. For more information, media may contact the 23rd Wing public affairs office at 229-257-4146.
Also killed were:
Captain Andreas B. O'Keeffe, 37, of Center Moriches, New York.
Captain Christopher T. Zanetis, 37, of Long Island City, New York.
Master Sergeant Christopher J. Raguso, 39, of Commack, New York.
Staff Sergeant Dashan J. Briggs, 30, of Port Jefferson Station, New York.
All four were assigned to the 106th Rescue Wing at the Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base, New York. For more information, media may contact the New York National Guard public affairs office at 518-786-4581.
Also killed were:
Master Sergeant William R. Posch, 36, of Indialantic, Florida.
Staff Sergeant Carl P. Enis, 31, of Tallahassee, Florida.
Both were assigned to the 308th Rescue Squadron, Air Force Reserve, at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida. For more information, media may contact the 920th Rescue Wing public affairs office at 321-615-0329.
When does it end?
When the people say "Enough!"
But that can't happen without media coverage.
And there's very little media coverage -- especially from the so-called 'independent' media. If you doubt us, check out these:
None of these so-called left outlets -- SOCIALIST WORKER, THE NATION, IN THESE TIMES, THE PROGRESSIVE -- could be bothered to note Iraq -- not even on the 15th anniversary.
The politicians and the media pretend the Iraq War ended long ago.
It didn't. And as Andrew Bacevich (NEW YORK DAILY NEWS) points out:
They think it doesn't matter but it does.
As Robert F. Sommer (TRUTHOUT) observes:
A number of people want to pretend that Barack Obama ended the war. He did not. He is now out of office and the Iraq War continues. In fact, in some ways it is worse now.
This week in 2017, the US dropped a 500 lbs bomb on a crowded residential area of West Mosul, Iraq, unleashing a massive explosion, which killed nearly 300 civilians, many of them children. The strike was the US’s most deadly air strike for civilians in 25 years.
Grasp that. The most deadly air strike.
And it was last year. Not 2003, last year.
Or grasp that seven more US service members died in Iraq last week.
The Defense Dept released the names of those killed in the US helicopter crash in Iraq:
The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of seven airmen who were supporting Operation Inherent Resolve. They died March 15 when an HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopter crashed in western Iraq. The cause of the crash is under investigation.
Killed was:
Captain Mark K. Weber, 29, of Colorado Springs, Colorado. He was assigned to the 38th Rescue Squadron at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia. For more information, media may contact the 23rd Wing public affairs office at 229-257-4146.
Also killed were:
Captain Andreas B. O'Keeffe, 37, of Center Moriches, New York.
Captain Christopher T. Zanetis, 37, of Long Island City, New York.
Master Sergeant Christopher J. Raguso, 39, of Commack, New York.
Staff Sergeant Dashan J. Briggs, 30, of Port Jefferson Station, New York.
All four were assigned to the 106th Rescue Wing at the Francis S. Gabreski Air National Guard Base, New York. For more information, media may contact the New York National Guard public affairs office at 518-786-4581.
Also killed were:
Master Sergeant William R. Posch, 36, of Indialantic, Florida.
Staff Sergeant Carl P. Enis, 31, of Tallahassee, Florida.
Both were assigned to the 308th Rescue Squadron, Air Force Reserve, at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida. For more information, media may contact the 920th Rescue Wing public affairs office at 321-615-0329.
When does it end?
When the people say "Enough!"
But that can't happen without media coverage.
And there's very little media coverage -- especially from the so-called 'independent' media. If you doubt us, check out these:
None of these so-called left outlets -- SOCIALIST WORKER, THE NATION, IN THESE TIMES, THE PROGRESSIVE -- could be bothered to note Iraq -- not even on the 15th anniversary.
The politicians and the media pretend the Iraq War ended long ago.
It didn't. And as Andrew Bacevich (NEW YORK DAILY NEWS) points out:
On the 15th anniversary of the
start of the Iraq War, here’s a fact worth contemplating: In the
presidential election of 2016, Donald Trump got the blood sacrifice
vote. More specifically, communities
that paid a high price for the Iraq War in terms of casualties tended
to vote for Trump. In communities where the preference was for letting
someone else’s sons and daughters do the fighting, Hillary Clinton
prevailed.
Allow me to posit an
interpretation of this fact. While many issues divided the electorate in
2016, the Iraq War was prominent among them. To be clear, the division
was not between Americans who
had supported the war and those who had opposed it. Rather, the crucial
division was between those inclined to forget the war and move on and
those for whom the war still sticks in their craw.
Hillary Clinton was the preferred
candidate of the forget-and-move-on camp. Clinton had voted for the
war, then disavowed it, and even today shows little sign of grasping its
significance. Yet that
camp also included the several Republicans who unsuccessfully competed
against Trump for their party’s nomination.
They think it doesn't matter but it does.
As Robert F. Sommer (TRUTHOUT) observes:
The US presence in Iraq may be smaller now, but we are still there, as well as in Afghanistan, with no end in sight, and those countries have devolved into the very chaos about which not only civilians, but a number of high-ranking military officials warned the Bush administration. But even as most of the US discovered too late that we'd been conned on Iraq, we have continued the pattern of self-destruction that got us into both Iraq and Afghanistan in the first place.
The quagmire is now wider and deeper by magnitudes.
TV: Talk talk talk
Cheap talk
Deep talk
Talk talk talk around the clock
-- "Tax Free," written by Joni Mitchell, first appears on her album DOG EAT DOG
And that's often all it is: "talk around the clock."
Even so, there's an art to doing it.
That point's not lost on Joel McHale. Coming off COMMUNITY and THE GREAT INDOORS, McHale's back to TALK SOUP terrain in his new NETFLIX program THE JOEL MCHALE SHOW WITH JOEL MCHALE.
The title?
Yeah, we know.
We would have called it JOEL MCHALE STARRING IN THE JOEL MCHALE SHOW WITH JOEL MCHALE FEATURING THE JOEL MCHALE DANCERS.
It's actually NETFLIX's best talk show thus far. Chelsea Handler's CHELSEA had great promise but the host became consumed with politics and it didn't fit with the notion for a general topic talk show that NETFLIX had in mind. Even so, Chelsea delivered many episodes of CHELSEA that are still worth streaming. Which is much more than can be said about MY NEXT GUEST NEEDS NO INTRODUCTION WITH DAVID LETTERMAN. Thus far, Dave's return to TV is unimpressive and will leave those who never caught NBC's LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN or CBS' LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN wondering why anyone ever tuned in for Dave? They won't get that he was actually funny -- both with a monologue and behind the desk -- or that his show featured comic bits and skits that you talked about not just the next day but for months and years after. Now he's just a lethargic gnome with a weird looking beard. And there's nothing worth streaming in the three episodes of the show that aired. The show as costly for NETFLIX but all the dollars appear to have lined Dave's pocket and nothing went towards actual production values.
Chelsea didn't want to transfer her E! show over to NETFLIX but Joel's pretty much done that. No shame in that. Jackie Gleason took his sketches of THE HONEYMOONERS from THE DUPONT NETWORK over to CBS. And it's funny.
Joel gets to rif on various reality TV shows and media moments and it's hilarious. He also features guest spots. Some are not all that funny. Seth Green as a bully? Shorty goes up against six-feet-plus of Joel and we're supposed to think Seth is a bully? Even mouthing dialogue of Eddie from IF LOVING YOU IS WRONG, Seth's reminding everyone that he flopped in FOUR KINGS and DAD and that, when it comes to TV comedy, he's better as a voice only performer. Some are good sports (Kristen Bell and Jason Priestly). Some are hilarious -- chief among those, Eric Bana doing a deadpan send up of . . . Eric Bana. It was wickedly funny even before he began plugging Eric Bana's Banana Badana Cabana.
This is a 13 episode program and, if NETFLIX was smart, they'd extend the order immediately. If Joel could do 40 or 50 weekly episodes of this, they'd have a program worth paying for. It has mass appeal -- not a common factor in many programs these days.
Take Samantha Bee.
Oh, how we miss Chelsea. Chelsea with her sardonic wit as opposed to screaming Samantha Bee. Don Rickles and Phyllis Diller combined didn't get this loud. Watching FULL FRONTAL WITH SAMANTA BEE (TBS) requires not just ear plugs but also Dramamine. And we're always amazed that this woman could have landed Jason Jones who's not just four years younger than her but also attractive, apparently laid back and rational.
Jones stars in THE DETOUR (TBS) with Natalie Zea (who's already left indelible impressions on JUSTIFIED and THE FOLLOWING). The two have chemistry and click as a comedic team as well. In the third season, the show has really hit its stride. And we're often amazed at the humor on the show because it's so even-handed -- "even-handed" being the last term anyone would ever use to describe Samantha Bee's humor.
When Jones and Zea have to deal with their daughter's new boyfriend -- a social justice warrior poser -- Zea got some of her best lines and got them off repeatedly. And they're lines that you wish Samantha Bee would do because they were political and funny. They were also advanced.
Samantha Bee serves up a pre-K child's idea of funny: talk faster and faster and louder and louder and maybe work in a dirty word. It's not illuminating anything, it's a sermon masquerading as comedy.
It's one-sided and puerile.
So how is that Bee created THE DETOUR with her husband and that she's written and co-written a few episodes?
Because, it turns out, that annoying, braying Bee is not Samantha Bee. She's actually a rational person. "Samantha Bee" is a variation of the character she created on THE DAILY SHOW. It makes us wish that she'd either acknowledge that in FULL FRONTAL or else drop the character and be herself -- she's so much smarter and funnier than "Samantha Bee."
In THE DETOUR, Natalie Zea's character Robin's dropped many masks as the show's gone along. She wasn't what Nate (Jason Jones) ever thought she was. And it's allowed Zea to give one of her most complex performances yet. Who knows what dropping a mask might do for Samantha Bee?
In the meantime, make a point to enjoy the humor served up by THE DETOUR and THE JOEL MCHALE SHOW WITH JOEL MCHALE -- comedy that reminds you comedy's at its best when its not playing favorites.
Deep talk
Talk talk talk around the clock
-- "Tax Free," written by Joni Mitchell, first appears on her album DOG EAT DOG
And that's often all it is: "talk around the clock."
Even so, there's an art to doing it.
That point's not lost on Joel McHale. Coming off COMMUNITY and THE GREAT INDOORS, McHale's back to TALK SOUP terrain in his new NETFLIX program THE JOEL MCHALE SHOW WITH JOEL MCHALE.
The title?
Yeah, we know.
We would have called it JOEL MCHALE STARRING IN THE JOEL MCHALE SHOW WITH JOEL MCHALE FEATURING THE JOEL MCHALE DANCERS.
It's actually NETFLIX's best talk show thus far. Chelsea Handler's CHELSEA had great promise but the host became consumed with politics and it didn't fit with the notion for a general topic talk show that NETFLIX had in mind. Even so, Chelsea delivered many episodes of CHELSEA that are still worth streaming. Which is much more than can be said about MY NEXT GUEST NEEDS NO INTRODUCTION WITH DAVID LETTERMAN. Thus far, Dave's return to TV is unimpressive and will leave those who never caught NBC's LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN or CBS' LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN wondering why anyone ever tuned in for Dave? They won't get that he was actually funny -- both with a monologue and behind the desk -- or that his show featured comic bits and skits that you talked about not just the next day but for months and years after. Now he's just a lethargic gnome with a weird looking beard. And there's nothing worth streaming in the three episodes of the show that aired. The show as costly for NETFLIX but all the dollars appear to have lined Dave's pocket and nothing went towards actual production values.
Chelsea didn't want to transfer her E! show over to NETFLIX but Joel's pretty much done that. No shame in that. Jackie Gleason took his sketches of THE HONEYMOONERS from THE DUPONT NETWORK over to CBS. And it's funny.
Joel gets to rif on various reality TV shows and media moments and it's hilarious. He also features guest spots. Some are not all that funny. Seth Green as a bully? Shorty goes up against six-feet-plus of Joel and we're supposed to think Seth is a bully? Even mouthing dialogue of Eddie from IF LOVING YOU IS WRONG, Seth's reminding everyone that he flopped in FOUR KINGS and DAD and that, when it comes to TV comedy, he's better as a voice only performer. Some are good sports (Kristen Bell and Jason Priestly). Some are hilarious -- chief among those, Eric Bana doing a deadpan send up of . . . Eric Bana. It was wickedly funny even before he began plugging Eric Bana's Banana Badana Cabana.
This is a 13 episode program and, if NETFLIX was smart, they'd extend the order immediately. If Joel could do 40 or 50 weekly episodes of this, they'd have a program worth paying for. It has mass appeal -- not a common factor in many programs these days.
Take Samantha Bee.
Oh, how we miss Chelsea. Chelsea with her sardonic wit as opposed to screaming Samantha Bee. Don Rickles and Phyllis Diller combined didn't get this loud. Watching FULL FRONTAL WITH SAMANTA BEE (TBS) requires not just ear plugs but also Dramamine. And we're always amazed that this woman could have landed Jason Jones who's not just four years younger than her but also attractive, apparently laid back and rational.
Jones stars in THE DETOUR (TBS) with Natalie Zea (who's already left indelible impressions on JUSTIFIED and THE FOLLOWING). The two have chemistry and click as a comedic team as well. In the third season, the show has really hit its stride. And we're often amazed at the humor on the show because it's so even-handed -- "even-handed" being the last term anyone would ever use to describe Samantha Bee's humor.
When Jones and Zea have to deal with their daughter's new boyfriend -- a social justice warrior poser -- Zea got some of her best lines and got them off repeatedly. And they're lines that you wish Samantha Bee would do because they were political and funny. They were also advanced.
Samantha Bee serves up a pre-K child's idea of funny: talk faster and faster and louder and louder and maybe work in a dirty word. It's not illuminating anything, it's a sermon masquerading as comedy.
It's one-sided and puerile.
So how is that Bee created THE DETOUR with her husband and that she's written and co-written a few episodes?
Because, it turns out, that annoying, braying Bee is not Samantha Bee. She's actually a rational person. "Samantha Bee" is a variation of the character she created on THE DAILY SHOW. It makes us wish that she'd either acknowledge that in FULL FRONTAL or else drop the character and be herself -- she's so much smarter and funnier than "Samantha Bee."
In THE DETOUR, Natalie Zea's character Robin's dropped many masks as the show's gone along. She wasn't what Nate (Jason Jones) ever thought she was. And it's allowed Zea to give one of her most complex performances yet. Who knows what dropping a mask might do for Samantha Bee?
In the meantime, make a point to enjoy the humor served up by THE DETOUR and THE JOEL MCHALE SHOW WITH JOEL MCHALE -- comedy that reminds you comedy's at its best when its not playing favorites.
The Lush War Hawk
Hillary Clinton. The World's Biggest Loser. She didn't just lose the presidency, after all, she lost it to Donald Trump. How hideous do you have to be to lose to Trump?
As hideous as Hillary.
And recently she went to India where she drunk in public again.
She couldn't make it down the steps without sliding -- and this was with men holding her up.
She's an old drunk.
A lush.
A booze hound.
She's unable to deal with her guilt. She knows that there is blood on her hands. She knows that her support for the Iraq War meant and means that so many are wounded or killed. She knows she's responsible. So she drinks. Hard. Trying to bury her guilt. Trying to drink away the past.
But that's not going to happen. She will be haunted for the rest of her life by what she did.
That she's hitting the bottle feels us with joy.
We don't want an intervention. We don't want to see her dry out. She needs to be torn apart by what she's done.
And let's see more of her drunk in public so that the whole world gets the shame that forever haunts you when you support the death and destruction of so many.
Hillary's living in pain and shame? We'll drink to that!
-------------
Illustration is Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Hillary's Tainted Get Out The Vote Effort."
NYT smears Woody Allen (Ava and C.I.)
THE NEW YORK TIMES lied the country into an illegal war and it can’t stop lying.
It’s never offered an apology.
The closest anyone got to that was Maureen Dowd’s column calling out Judith Miller.
It continues to lie. Reading WSWS, we see that it also lies about Woddy Allen.
The article, by Melena Ryzik and Brooks Barnes, gleefully noted that Allen’s last four films “have flopped at the North American box office, taking in a cumulative $26.9 million—roughly half of which goes to theater owners—while carrying a collective $85 million in estimated production costs, not including marketing.
Actually, we got 27 in cumulative box office domestic. And we didn’t grade generously.
Here are the last four films Woody directed:
MAGIC MOONLIGHT
$16.8 million budget
$10.5 million domestic box office
Total box office $51 million (domestic and international)
IRRATIONAL MAN
$11 budget
$4 million domestic box office
Total box office $27.4 million
CAFÉ SOCIETY
$30 budget
$11.1 domestic box office
Total box office $43.8 million
WONDER WHEEL
$25 million
$1.4 million domestic box office
Total box office $15.2 million
Woody Allen’s domestic gross is
usually around $12 million. This is not new. This is his average and that’s
been the case since the 70s. It’s always been true, since the 80s, that
his films made more from home rental and purchase than it did
from box office.
It’s also always been known that his films do better overseas.
So why wouldn’t you include the international box office?
If you do, the total budget for the last four films is 82.8 million and the total box office is 137.4 million.
Oh, lookie there, Woody brought in more in ticket sales than his budgets.
Woop, you’re a whore, Melena! Woop, a
lying whore, Brooksie!
Now we’re not dealing with anything new above.
This is the whole issue from day one
of the big studios. This goes to net and to gross and to creative
accounting that lets the studios hide profits and so much more.
But the reality is that Woody’s film,
in their initial theatrical release, bring in more in ticket sales than
is spent on budgets.
That’s too much reality for the whores of THE NEW YORK TIMES to deal with.
Again, domestically, his films have always performed better on home media.
We found it really interesting that the paper’s two whores focused on Woody’s last four films. Didn’t you?
There’s a reason for that.
If they’d gone with the last five, they’d have to include BLUE JASMINE.
Budget? 18 million.
$33.4 million in US ticket sales and, when domestic and international are combined, the film sold $97.5 million in tickets.
When you want to lie, you distort -- NYT did that most infamously with Janet Jackon's album sales when they attacked her after the 2004 Super Bowl performance. They have no ethics, they're whores.
Woody Allen is prestige, like Bob
Dylan. His last album to sell well was MODERN TIMES (2006) which went
platinum in the US (and in Canada and the UK). Both 2009 releases
(TOGETHER THROUGH LIFE and CHRISTMAS IN THE HEART – the first went
gold in the UK, the second went silver), TEMPEST (2012, silver in the
UK), SHADOWS IN THE NIGHT (2015, no certifications in any country),
FALLEN ANGELS (2016, no certifications in any country) and Triplicate
(2017, no certificates in any country). It doesn’t
matter that he hasn’t sold a studio album in the US since 2006. He’s a
prestige act meaning that his name is supposed to be a draw and his
signing is supposed to indicate that the label wants to pursue art and
not just sell units – which is attractive to
recording artists.
Similarly, Woody Allen provides instant prestige to
any studio he’s signed with. No director has directed as many Academy
Award nominated performances: Diane Keaton (ANNIE HALL – won the Academy
Award), Cate Blanchett (BLUE JASMINE – won
the award), Mira Sorvino (MIGHTY APHRODITE, won Best Supporting
Actress), Maureen Stapleton (INTERIORS, nominated for Best Supporting
Actress), Mariel Hemingway (MANHATTAN, best supporting Actress),
Michael Caine and Dianne Weist (both won, Best Supporting
Actor and Best Supporting Actress), Martin Landau (CRIMES AND
MISDEMEANORS, won Best Supporting Actor), Judy Davis (HUSBANDS AND
WIVES, Best Supporting Actress), Jennifer Tilly and Chazz Palminteri
(BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, nominees for Best Supporting Actress
and Best Supporting Actor), Dianne Weist (BULLETS OVER BROADWAY, won
Best Supporting Actress), Sean Penn and Samantha Morton (SWEET AND
LOWDOWN, nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress) and
Penelope Cruz (VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA, won Best Supporting
Actress). That’s fifteen performances nominated for Academy Awards.
That’s amazing for one director. That’s part of the prestige. And
that’s before we get to the number of times he’s been nominated as a
writer or a director.
Again, it’s a prestige issue.
Prestige? Something THE NEW YORK TIMES doesn't possess.
Someone explain ethics to Andrea Mitchell
Ethics. It's simple to spell but apparently hard to grasp. It's especially hard to grasp when you're Andrea Mitchell. "Slut." (We're quoting her notorious 30 ROCK appearance.) You slept with Alan Greenspan and then you married him and that allowed you to have a career at NBC. "Slut." You whored out for the Iraq War even though your husband knew, at the time, that it was all about oil -- and he would even admit that years after the war started. "Slut."
Maybe it's difficult for a "slut" to grasp ethics.
But even Andrea "Slut" Mitchell should have grasped that her Tweet below crossed a line too far.
Reporters aren't supposed to influence events, they are supposed to cover them.
By electing to lobby for Andrew McCabe in a Tweet (one that paid off), we hope Andrea grasps that she's no longer able to report on a lot of DC stories for NBC NIGHTLY NEWS and that, in fact, she shouldn't be allowed to cover them on her MSNBC program either.
According to all ethical guidelines -- which include avoiding even the appearance of bias, not just avoiding bias, avoiding the appearance of it -- Andrea can no longer cover any story regarding Andrew McCabe. That means she also can't cover Robert Mueller investigation. It means she can't cover a great deal.
Unless she's to get the Al Sharpton Ethical Pass, Andrea's just Tweeted herself out of a number of stories. Maybe the 71-year-old can finally be retired?
Maybe it's difficult for a "slut" to grasp ethics.
But even Andrea "Slut" Mitchell should have grasped that her Tweet below crossed a line too far.
One suggestion from a McCabe supporter: if a friendly member of Congress hired him for a week he could possibly qualify for pension benefits by extending his service the extra days
Reporters aren't supposed to influence events, they are supposed to cover them.
By electing to lobby for Andrew McCabe in a Tweet (one that paid off), we hope Andrea grasps that she's no longer able to report on a lot of DC stories for NBC NIGHTLY NEWS and that, in fact, she shouldn't be allowed to cover them on her MSNBC program either.
According to all ethical guidelines -- which include avoiding even the appearance of bias, not just avoiding bias, avoiding the appearance of it -- Andrea can no longer cover any story regarding Andrew McCabe. That means she also can't cover Robert Mueller investigation. It means she can't cover a great deal.
Unless she's to get the Al Sharpton Ethical Pass, Andrea's just Tweeted herself out of a number of stories. Maybe the 71-year-old can finally be retired?
The Fake Asses
A lot of people pretended to care about the Iraq War. A lot of people made money off of the Iraq War. Take the late Danny Schechter who used the Iraq War to sell his books and films but couldn't be bothered to note it by 2008. So many fake asses. Looking back over the last 15 years, here's a list of some of the biggest fake asses when it comes to the Iraq War.
1) Amy Goodman. Chief beggar. Queen of Panhandle Media. Used the Iraq War as a personal p.r. campaign and quickly walked away. As war resisters quickly learned, Amy had no time for them. Then she made clear that she didn't have time for the war itself.
2) Ani di Franco. It took the '00s for Ani to be exposed as a racist but long before that everyone already knew she was a Fake Ass. She used the Iraq War to look 'involved' and 'caring.' But once the war started, Ani di Fakeass was rushing off elsewhere and, excuse us, but what song was supposed to be about Iraq?
3) Tom Hayden. The old drunk passed away but the Iraq War goes on. Tom was a professional apologist for War Hawk Barack. He was also a liar. Tom just knew that by refusing to call out the Democrats for the continued Iraq War, he was setting up his end and was about to be warmly welcomed back in. Never happened. When he was stupid enough to cheat on and leave Jane Fonda, he lost everything. As trashy as he was ugly, Tom died a disgraced loser. There may not be justice in the world, but there is karma.
4) John Nichols. The fool. He's on record defending Samantha Power and ignoring the Iraq War. It gets worse. He wrote a book calling for impeachment but then, when Nancy Pelosi declared impeachment was "off the table," he stopped pushing the notion -- and the book.
5) Barack Obama. Ran publicly in 2008 on the promise to end the Iraq War. He's been out of office since January 2017 and the Iraq War continues.
1) Amy Goodman. Chief beggar. Queen of Panhandle Media. Used the Iraq War as a personal p.r. campaign and quickly walked away. As war resisters quickly learned, Amy had no time for them. Then she made clear that she didn't have time for the war itself.
2) Ani di Franco. It took the '00s for Ani to be exposed as a racist but long before that everyone already knew she was a Fake Ass. She used the Iraq War to look 'involved' and 'caring.' But once the war started, Ani di Fakeass was rushing off elsewhere and, excuse us, but what song was supposed to be about Iraq?
3) Tom Hayden. The old drunk passed away but the Iraq War goes on. Tom was a professional apologist for War Hawk Barack. He was also a liar. Tom just knew that by refusing to call out the Democrats for the continued Iraq War, he was setting up his end and was about to be warmly welcomed back in. Never happened. When he was stupid enough to cheat on and leave Jane Fonda, he lost everything. As trashy as he was ugly, Tom died a disgraced loser. There may not be justice in the world, but there is karma.
4) John Nichols. The fool. He's on record defending Samantha Power and ignoring the Iraq War. It gets worse. He wrote a book calling for impeachment but then, when Nancy Pelosi declared impeachment was "off the table," he stopped pushing the notion -- and the book.
5) Barack Obama. Ran publicly in 2008 on the promise to end the Iraq War. He's been out of office since January 2017 and the Iraq War continues.
NYT digs through everyone's garbage but their own
Peter Baker. 50-years-old and proud to be writing garbage.
Peter Baker. So many men who knew him were so impressed with his lips.
Wonder what that news would do to his marriage to Susan Glasser?
Wonder how clean as whistle he'd come off with some of his 'platonic' pals if his sex lifewas thrown under a media microscope?
In what has to be the first legal case between a sitting president and a porn star,
Peter Baker. So many men who knew him were so impressed with his lips.
Wonder what that news would do to his marriage to Susan Glasser?
Wonder how clean as whistle he'd come off with some of his 'platonic' pals if his sex lifewas thrown under a media microscope?
Joni Mitchell's "Shine"
We'd love to say that the Iraq War at least produced some memorable music. On the whole, it hasn't. But some artists -- the Rolling Stones, Ben Harper, Neil Young, etc. -- did create something lasting. Of those who managed to create art, we argue none did so better than Joni Mitchell.
Oh let your little light shine
Let your little light shine
Shine on Wall Street and Vegas
Place your bets
Shine on the fishermen
With nothing in their nets
Shine on rising oceans and evaporating seas
Shine on our Frankenstein technologies
Shine on science
With its tunnel vision
Shine on fertile farmland
Buried under subdivisions
Let your little light shine
Let your little light shine
Shine on the dazzling darkness
That restores us in deep sleep
Shine on what we throw away
And what we keep
Shine on Reverend Pearson
Who threw away
The vain old God
kept Dickens and Rembrandt and Beethoven
And fresh plowed sod
Shine on good earth, good air, good water
And a safe place
For kids to play
Shine on bombs exploding
Half a mile away
Let your little light shine
Let your little light shine
Shine on world-wide traffic jams
Honking day and night
Shine on another asshole
Passing on the right!
Shine on the red light runners
Busy talking on their cell phones
Shine on the Catholic Church
And the prisons that it owns
Shine on all the Churches
They all love less and less
Shine on a hopeful girl
In a dreamy dress
Let your little light shine
Let your little light shine
Shine on good humor
Shine on good will
Shine on lousy leadership
Licensed to kill
Shine on dying soldiers
In patriotic pain
Shine on mass destruction
In some God's name!
Shine on the pioneers
Those seekers of mental health
Craving simplicity
They traveled inward
Past themselves...
May all their little lights shine
Oh let your little light shine
Let your little light shine
Shine on Wall Street and Vegas
Place your bets
Shine on the fishermen
With nothing in their nets
Shine on rising oceans and evaporating seas
Shine on our Frankenstein technologies
Shine on science
With its tunnel vision
Shine on fertile farmland
Buried under subdivisions
Let your little light shine
Let your little light shine
Shine on the dazzling darkness
That restores us in deep sleep
Shine on what we throw away
And what we keep
Shine on Reverend Pearson
Who threw away
The vain old God
kept Dickens and Rembrandt and Beethoven
And fresh plowed sod
Shine on good earth, good air, good water
And a safe place
For kids to play
Shine on bombs exploding
Half a mile away
Let your little light shine
Let your little light shine
Shine on world-wide traffic jams
Honking day and night
Shine on another asshole
Passing on the right!
Shine on the red light runners
Busy talking on their cell phones
Shine on the Catholic Church
And the prisons that it owns
Shine on all the Churches
They all love less and less
Shine on a hopeful girl
In a dreamy dress
Let your little light shine
Let your little light shine
Shine on good humor
Shine on good will
Shine on lousy leadership
Licensed to kill
Shine on dying soldiers
In patriotic pain
Shine on mass destruction
In some God's name!
Shine on the pioneers
Those seekers of mental health
Craving simplicity
They traveled inward
Past themselves...
May all their little lights shine
Raed Jarrar Tweets
On the 15th anniversary, we'll note these Tweets from Raed Jarrar.
- Raed Jarrar Retweeted@raedjarrar was in Baghdad during US invasion on Iraq, had to flee, saw incoming US tanks and death of civilians. He was an architect who blogged about how “the War had a very human cost”. Over 1 mill Iraqis have been killed. #CallForPeace
- Raed Jarrar Retweeted.@raedjarrar: From an Iraqi perspective, the US invasion started with bombing in 1991, continued all through the 90s with bombs and military sanctions, and has not ended now. Bombs continue. The #Iraq I lived in has been completely destroyed by the US. #CallForPeace
- Raed Jarrar Retweeted.@raedjarrar: Because of the US invasion, my family is scattered all over the world. The national identity and unity of #Iraq has been destroyed. #NoNKWar
- Raed Jarrar Retweeted.@raedjarrar closes powerful testimony about his experience witnessing the devastation caused by US invasion of his home in #Iraq with a reminder that the antiwar movement will be more effective if we work together with those working across social justice movements. #CallForPeace
- It's hard for the anti-war movement to succeed on it’s own, but if we build an intersectional movement, we can build power, and we can win. #CallForPeace
- that are now setting the rest of the region on fire. Our role as the global community that opposes wars means bearing witness to crimes committed by the US war machine, or because of it. Our role is to expose how ugly and destructive war is.
- The war has really destroyed Iraq. The US war also affected the rest of the region, whether it’s the flood of millions of Iraqi refugees to neighboring countries, or whether it is the spread of sectarian politics that were introduced by the US in Iraq in 2003...
- I wanted to tell that story to the world, so I ran the first civilian casualty survey in the country. Thousands of Iraqi civilians were killed and injured just in the first 100 days of the occupation. Now, the number is 1 million dead, and counting.
- Then, April 9th came, and I’ll never forget the first time I saw US tanks rolling down the streets of my neighborhood in Baghdad. After the fall of Baghdad, the US claimed that it was a “smart war” that only killed “bad guys” -- but I witnessed otherwise.
- Unfortunately, we couldn’t last there more than a couple weeks after the US military bombardment began. My family’s neighborhood was heavily bombed, many of my neighbors were killed or injured, and we had to leave our house and move from place to place for weeks.
- Exactly these days, 15 years ago, i was helping my dad dig a well in our backyard. My parents had turned the house into a fortress with a generator and enough food and fuel and a safe room that would last us for months, if not years.
- (Thread) While the possibility of war with North Korea looms, we must discuss the human cost of war. While it’s hard to believe that it’s been 15 years since the invasion of Iraq, i remember it like it was yesterday. #CallForPeace
