Truest statement of the week

So Gardner is ruling on an issue closely associated with her sister and originally ruled in favor of the group which lists her sister’s organization as its largest contributor.  At a minimum, that creates an appearance of a conflict.  I can understand Judge Gardner’s view that there is no real conflict. These two very successful women continue to work in the same state. Judge Gardner may have been concerned that a recusal would encourage endless such challenges over tangential links to her sister’s work.  Yet, she could have recused while stressing that this is a unique time and a unique set of circumstances. A recusal could have been simply a recognition of the court that her familial tie could undermine confidence in the review.

 

-- Jonathan Turley, "No Recusal But Now A Reversal? Federal Judge and Sister Of [Stacey] Abrams Changes Order On Georgia Ballots" (JONATHANTURLEY.ORG).

 

 

Truest statement of the week II

The first lesson from 2020 is that neoliberal capitalism perpetuated by both major political parties knows no limits. It will dismantle the US Postal Service, sacrifice healthcare workers, evict people from their homes, allow police to murder with impunity and continue to funnel obscene wealth to the top 1% while nearly half the people in the country live in poverty. This trajectory will not stop on its own. The corporatists have gotten away with it for too long. They don’t know how to stop.

The second lesson is that we must rely on each other for survival, not only in a time of crisis, but always. The concept of rugged individualism is a myth. Our futures on this planet are bound together. What happens in one place doesn’t stay there, as the climate crisis and COVID-19 pandemic demonstrate. We need to solve our problems together.

On a positive note, these crises have driven the rise of mutual aid networks. They are providing people with basic necessities and organizing eviction defense to keep people in their homes. They model what our path forward looks like. The future depends on restructuring our society through solidarity and cooperation.

A third lesson is that we in the United States have a lot to learn from our brothers and sisters around the world, both in how to resist the destructive forces of capitalism and imperialism and how to build alternatives to them that empower people and are sustainable. The economic war the US is waging against one-third of the global population using illegal coercive measures (aka sanctions) is also being waged against the people at home. Countries like Cuba and Venezuela, which are under an economic blockade, are showing that you don’t have to be a wealthy county to provide for your people’s basic needs like healthcare, education, housing and food. We could have universal healthcare, free education, affordable housing for everyone and local organic food production too, but it will take a revolution.

 

-- Dr. Margaret Flowers, "The 2020s Bring the Crises We Face into Clear Focus" (DISSIDENT VOICE).

 

 

 

 

A note to our readers

Hey -- 

 

Still Sunday night on the west coast.  

First up, let me (Jim) apologize.  This edition should have gone up Sunday morning.  We probably had enough to post by 11:00 am.  I didn't realize the vote for Speaker was Sunday (I didn't listen).  I wish we'd posted earlier and my apologies for delaying it.  At around 10:59 pm, I got a call from C.I. asking, "I'm not see content, why isn't it up?"  That's when I learned the vote took place hours ago.  My apologies.

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.

And what did we come up with? 

 

• Truest statement of the week

Jonathan Turley gets another truest.

• Truest statement of the week II

Dr. Margaret Flowers gets a truest.

• Editorial: Iraq and the Dinar

Corruption.

• TV: The big ripoffs

Ava and C.I. take on PEACOCK and DISNEY+.

 

• Roundtable

On Medicare For All.

• JACOBIN needs to fire Ana Kasparian

A feeling many share.

• Know your enemies

This was started last week for last week's edition -- we updated it.

• CRAPAPEDIA gets it wrong again

This was written last week and Ava and C.I. held it with the hopes that it would help this edition get published quicker.

• Burn Pits 360's 10th year anniversary of advocacy

Burn Pits 360 does important work.

• Jimmy Dore

Some Tweets from Jimmy.

• Recipe?

Done last week.

• Tweet to listen to

 Amen.

 

 Peace,


-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.

 

 

Editorial: Iraq and the Dinar

 Amnesty's Donatella Rovera Tweeted:

The recent devaluation of #Iraq's currency against the $ has pushed up prices of #food & other essentials - just as people's earnings have plummeted due to the #Covid19-induced economic crisis. An increase in #bread price would be disastrous for many.

Bakers in Sulaimani protest rising cost of gas and flour, saying cannot sustain current bread price

Bakers in Sulaimani protest rising cost of gas and flour, saying cannot sustain current bread price

Things are about to get a lot worse for the Iraqi people.  C.I. noted, " Hatem Hussein (ALMADA) reported that economist state this move will increase the percent of Iraqis living in poverty to 60% of the population."

The dinar did not have to be devalued and Iraq did not have to go into debt or accept the dictates from the IMF and World Bank.  Before they started borrowing money, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani had warned of just this but they didn't want to listen.  Who? The corrupt thieves in the government who ensured that Iraq would have to borrow money by stealing from the public coffers.

Ll

TV: The big ripoffs

In just about every way, 2020 should come with a rebate and that's very true when it comes to streaming services.

 

Streaming?  

 

In 2008, that meant you went to NETFLIX online and streamed STARZ live -- that's all they offered -- or you went to HULU and caught up on programs from FOX, ABC and NBC as well as some older films -- like Doris Day's CAPRICE and Vincent Price's DR. GOLDFOOT AND THE BIKINI MACHINE.  You needed WiFi and, after dial up, it seemed so modern and of the moment to stream on HULU or NETFLIX.  Things have certainly changed -- but NETFLIX and HULU remain the leaders -- this despite the fact that a new streaming service seems to forever be sprouting.

Despite so many new offerings, there is so little being actually offered and that's especially true of the two newest streamers.  In fact, if PEACOCK and DISNEY+, for example, had any ethics at all, they'd refund the monthly payments subscribers made in 2020 in full.  They're kidding themselves if they think they did anything to deserve those payments.

Talk to any exec at either and be told that it was hard to get new content during the pandemic.  Really?  DISNEY+ launched in 2019 and was promising MARVEL content that we never did see, did we?  PEACOCK?  It launched in July of 2020 and, if it wasn't ready, it shouldn't have launched.  They threw on a lot of programs that aired on various British channels (already had aired) and pretended that this was original content.  Original scripted programming?  They had three for all of 2020.  There was the kids show CLEOPATRA IN SPACE, the continuation of NBC's 90s kid show (SAVED BY THE BELL) and they had the awful BRAVE NEW WORLD.  And that was it.  

People paid money for this?  They were fleeced.  

 

The same is true of DISNEY+ subscribers.  2020 offered what original scripted series?  Season two of THE MANDALORIAN, season one of THE RIGHT STUFF and the 'comedy' DIARY OF A FUTURE PRESIDENT.  Not one new MARVEL program aired.  MUPPETS NOW?  A new program, yes, but DISNEY+, for some reason, classifies it as "unscripted."  They promised so much, remember?  WANDAVISION, LOKI, HAWKEYE, MS. MARVEL, THE FALCON AND THE WINTER SOLDIER . . .   None of those emerged in 2020.  (Two are scheduled for 2021.)  In the midst of the pandemic, when HBO and a few others made some content available for free, greedy DISNEY couldn't do that and they also couldn't deliver what they promised in 2020.  Where did that $500 million spent on original content go?

 

APPLE+ is a minor service but it managed to offer original series including HOME BEFORE DARK, TRUTH BE TOLD, AMAZING STORIES, DEFENDING JACOB, LITTLE AMERICA, TRYING, LITTLE VOICE, MYTHIC QUEST: RAVEN'S BANQUET, TED LASSO and CENTRAL PARK.  

 

Is there a reason that PEACOCK and DISNEY+ weren't even able to match APPLE+'s amount of new, original content?

 

Established services didn't have these problems.  

 

HULU?  They offered original scripted shows: LITTLE FIRES EVERYWHERE, MONSTERLAND, HELSTROM, THE HARDY BOYS, HIGH FIDELITY (which DISNEY+ was supposed to offer), THE GREAT, LOVE VICTOR (which DISNEY+ was supposed to offer), WOKE, CROSSING SWORDS and ANIMANIACS -- and that's not including the offerings from their joint-productions with FX (A TEACHER, DEVS and MRS. AMERICA).  

 

NETFLIX?  Original scripted series: THE CROWN, OZARK, NARCOS: MEXICO, THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY, CRIMINAL: UK, VIRGIN RIVER, LOCKE & KEY, THE LETTER TO THE KING, OUTER BANKS, SWEET MAGNOLIAS, BLOOD AND WATER, HOMEMADE, WARRIOR NUN, CURSED, YOUNG WALLANDER, RATCHED, THE HAUNTING OF BLY MANOR, SOCIAL DISTANCE, GRAND ARMY, THE QUEEN'S GAMBIT, DASH & LILY, SELENA: THE SERIES, TINY PRETTY THINGS, BRIDGERTON, ON MY BLOCK, SEX EDUCATION, AFTER LIFE, DEAD TO ME, MR. IGLESIAS, FAMILY REUNION, TEAM KAYLIE, THE POLITICIAN, MEDICAL POLICE, THE HEALING POWERS OF DUDE, GENTFIELD, THE ILIZA SHLESINGER SKETCH SHOW, BREWS BROTHERS, #blackAF, NEVER HAVE I EVER, SPACE FORCE, THE BABY-SITTERS CLUB, GAME ON: A COMEDY CROSSOVER EVENT, JULIE AND THE PHANTOMS, THE DUCHESS, SNEAKERHEADS, EMILY IN PARIS, AUNTY DONNA'S BIG OL' HOUSE OF FUN, HOW TO RUIN CHRISTMAS: THE WEDDING, F IS FOR FAMILY, BIG MOUTH, PARADISE PD, TRAILER PARK BOYS: THE ANIMATED SERIES, THE MIDNIGHT GOSPEL and THE LIBERATOR.

Again, what happened to the $500 million DISNEY+ had dedicated to new programming?

B-b-but what about movies!!!!

What about them?  Do we want to note how many original films NETFLIX delivered?  

And films is where DISNEY+ and PEACOCK should have beat NETFLIX easily.  No, not with original content but with catalogue content.  DISNEY+ has DISNEY films and a host of other films that they present as "DISNEY" (20TH CENTURY FOX's HELLO DOLLY, MGM's THE WIZARD OF OZ, etc) and PEACOCK is part of NBC-USA-UNIVERSAL which gives it all of the UNIVERSAL catalogue.  So where are the films?

NETFLIX's movie THE CHRISTMAS CHRONICLES II was a big hit and it's no surprise, Kurt Russell has quite a following (team him with Goldie Hawn, and even more so).  So why has DISNEY refused to put their classic films starring Kurt on DISNEY+?  

In the 70s, Kurt was to DISNEY what Bette Midler was to DISNEY in the 80s.  He was their biggest star. 

And, yes, the streaming service does offer two 70s hits -- THE COMPUTER WORE TENNIS SHOES and THE STRONGEST MAN IN THE WORLD.  But where's NOW YOU SEE HIM, NOW YOU DON'T?  Or THE BAREFOOT EXECUTIVE, SUPERDAD, CHARLEY AND THE ANGEL and FOOLS' PARADE?  Or his 60s DISNEY films like FOLLOW ME, BOYS!, MOSBY'S MARADUERS (with Peggy Lipton), THE ONE AND ONLY, GENUINE, ORIGINAL FAMILY BAND (Goldie Hawn's first film), THE HORSE IN THE GRAY FLANNEL SUIT and GUNS IN THE HEATHER?

 

60s DISNEY?  Where's Hayley Mills?  They offer only THAT DARN CAT!, THE PARENT TRAP and THE MOON_SPINNERS. Where's POLLYANNA?  IN SEARCH OF THE CASTAWAYS? SUMMER MAGIC? 

 

They could have more than made up for their lack of original content by digging deep into their film archives and offering more classics.  But they didn't go that.  And they now have more or less the exact same classic films that they offered when they first started streaming.

 

Again PEACOCK?  It has the UNIVERSAL movies.  But, outside of Alfred Hitchcock, you wouldn't know that by visiting the streaming service.  And should you choose to explore some of the stronger comedy offerings they have -- like an Abbott and Costello classic or two, grasp that they're going to immediately recommend -- based on your fondness for that comedy duo -- that you would enjoy SAVED BY THE BELL: WEDDING IN LAS VEGAS.  No one would enjoy that and certainly not anyone that enjoys the comedy of Abbott and Costello.

 

While some of the Alfred Hitchcock films, some of the Abbott and Costello films and some of the classic monster films are up at PEACOCK, that's not even a healthy sample of their film library.  Where's BUSTIN' LOOSE, THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, THE WIZ, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, PILLOW TALK, FEMALE ON THE BEACH, AMERICAN GRAFFITTI,T MY FAVORITE BLONDE, THE PALEFACE -- and many more?

Here's the kicker, though, even if they had those and other films, you'd have a hard time finding them.

In this, year 2021, if you want to search on PEACOCK?  You have to search by title.  You can't type in Mae West or Bob Hope or any actor's name or director's name.  Now if you type in "Alfred Hitchcock," it will produce 2 programs: ALFRED HITCHCOCK PRESENTS and THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR.  It will not, however, list the films by Hitchcock that PEACOCK carries.

This is how you run a streaming service?

B-b-but some of it's free!!!!

True of THE ROKU CHANNEL as well.  True that they have an awful search function and true that some of their content is free.  But even so, THE ROKU CHANNEL offers much more to watch and it's easier to find.  Classic TV?  THE ADDAMS FAMILY, THE FLYING NUN, THE NANNY, THE PATTY DUKE SHOW, THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW, NEWS RADIO, FLIPPER, the sixties live-action BATMAN and JUST SHOOT ME. Film?  CAT BALLOU, THE MAN FROM UNCLE, INCEPTION, SOUL FOOD, THE MISFITS, DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS, NOBODY'S FOOL, YENTL, THE CONVERSATION, CONTACT, PRIMAL FEAR, ABSOLUTE POWER, MOONSTRUCK, SHAFT,

 

Free?  PLUTO TV offers films like UPTOWN GIRLS, BRIDGET JONES'S BABY, A MOST WANTED MAN, SCREAM 3, DEAD RINGERS, THE REMAINS OF THE DAY, LEAVING LAS VEGAS, RICHARD PRYOR: HERE AND NOW, THE BELLBOY, THE AFRICAN QUEEN, MEMENTO, CLUE, ARRIVAL, FATHER GOOSE, OPERATION PETTICOAT, MOMMIE DEAREST, THAT TOUCH OF MINK, THE AGE OF INNOCENCE, HOUSEBOAT, THE PRINCE OF TIDES, TO CATCH A THIEF and THE WAY OF THE DRAGON.  TV shows?  THE NANNY, THE STEVE HARVEY SHOW, THREE'S COMPANY, DESIGNING WOMEN, DAWSON'S CREEK, 3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN, THE FACTS OF LIFE, THE RIFLEMAN, DARK SHADOWS, THE ADDAMS FAMILY, EXTANT and THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW. 

 

Free?  CRACKLE offers TV shows including THE CAROL BURNETT SHOW, BEWITCHED, CHARLIE'S ANGELS, THE CRITIC, THE MANY LOVES OF DOBIE GILLIS, JUST SHOOT ME, NEWS RADIO, WHAT'S HAPPENING!!, WHAT'S HAPPENING NOW!!, SANFORD, THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY, (original series) CHOSEN, (original series) CLEANERS and (original series) ROB RIGGLE'S SKI MASTER ACADEMY.  Films?  AFTERGLOW, THE BAD NEWS BEARS, BERNIE, BON BOYAGE CHARLIE BROWN, CARNAGE, THE DISORDERLY ORDERLY, EDDIE GRIFFIN: YOU CAN TELL 'EM I SAID IT!, FANCY PANTS, FAY GRIM, FUN WITH DICK AND JANE (the one with Jane Fonda, not the awful remake), GUILT TRIP, THE HOLLYWOOD KNIGHTS, THE NAKED GUN 2 AND 1/2,  PUNCHLINE, MINORITY REPORT, SHADE, TRAITOR, FREEDOM ROAD, THE GHOST IN THE DARKNESS, IN A LONELY PLACE, LAUREL CANYON, SUNSET PARK, WAR AND PEACE, ZODIAC, THE ART OF WAR 2: BETRAYAL, FUTURESPORT, BERSERK AND THE BLOB are among the films.

So for PEACOCK and DISNEY+ to be charging and to offer so damn little?

They were the biggest entertainment rip-off of 2020.

 

Roundtable

 [Note before this posted Nancy Pelosi was elected Speaker of the House]

Jim: This is a Medicare For All roundtable.    Remember our e-mail address is thethirdestatesundayreview@yahoo.com and we can also be reached at common_ills@yahoo.com.  Participating in our roundtable are  The Third Estate Sunday Review's Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava, and me, Jim; 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); Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix; Mike of Mikey Likes It!; Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz); Ruth of Ruth's Report; Trina of Trina's Kitchen; Wally of The Daily Jot; Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ; Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends; Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub. Betty's kids did the illustration. You are reading a rush transcript.

 

Jim (Con't):  Medicare For All.  We're the laugh of the western world because the United States does not have it.  We are the joke.  It wasn't supposed to be this way.  President Franklin Delano Roosevelt planned for us to have it.  From Stephanie Buck's timeline at MEDIUM:

President Franklin Delano Roosevelt planned for federally sponsored health insurance to be part of Social Security. It was thrown out in order to hurry the bill through Congress. [. . .] In his final State of the Union address in January 1945, FDR promised to communicate with Congress regarding expanded health security programs. Three months later, he died.

 

Jim (Con't): One thing that led many to support Senator Bernie Sanders was his support for Medicare For All.  It's an issue that many have worked hard in the last decade to address and popularize -- including -- and especially -- nurses in this country.  They are the true heroes as well as people like the late Kevin Zeese and Dr. Margaret Flowers who have also worked hard to champion it.

Jess: As has the Green Party.

Jim: Yes, as has the Green Party.  And the efforts of all of these people and many more working together resulted in Democrats having to give lip service to Medicare For All in their campaigns in 2019 for the party's presidential nomination and to raising awareness of what was possible among the American people.  

Dona: Public Citizen: "Recent polls indicate that six in ten Americans support Medicare-for-All. In addition, more than 60 percent believe that government is responsible for ensuring health coverage for all Americans. And nearly 70 percent of all voters, including battleground voters, identify health care as an important issue in upcoming elections."  Pew Research Center: "A majority of Americans continue to say the federal government has a responsibility to make sure all Americans have health care coverage.  And since last year, there has been an increase – especially among Democrats – in the share saying health insurance should be provided by a single national program run by the government."  Betty?

Betty: Yet despite this groundswell of support, our Congress, our public servants, are not demanding it for us.  Now they have it, let's be clear, whatever you want to call it -- single payer, government funded healthcare, whatever -- they have it.  It's important enough to them that they have it and that they give it to themselves -- for life.  One term in the House, one two-year term, and you've got it for life.  But We The People?  The ones they're supposed to serve, we're not good enough for it, it's not important enough to share it with us.  If we're not going to get it, I say it's time to pull it from members of Congress.  Maybe if that happened, maybe if they were in the same boat as the American people, they would realize how badly Medicare For All was needed.

Jim:  Jimmy Dore.  This is from C.I.'s "2020: The Year Long Walk Of Shame:"

So knowing how hated he was becoming may have been a gift to Jimmy and may have freed him to do what no one else could or would do: Press for a House vote on Medicare For All.

It's needed, it's 100% needed.  

But no one thought of how to do it before Jimmy did.  ("No one" includes me.)  Jimmy came up with it and he's led on this issue and, in the process, he's kept the fight for Medicare For All alive and the issue on the minds of many Americans. 

 

Jim (Con't): Jimmy Dore.  The comedian.  That's who thought this up.  Jimmy's much more than a comedian but as he likes to point out, he's a comedian and it came to him.  Why didn't all the political operatives and the various pundits who present themselves as smart and informed think of it?

 

Jess: "It" is that Nancy Pelosi refuses to allow new leadership.  The vast failure that is Nancy -- who represents me in Congress, or is supposed to -- wants to be Speaker of the House again -- for the yearbook credit, apparently, because she's never done anything with the post to better the lives of the American people.  To get their votes, Jimmy Dore is asking for progressives in the House to state that they will only vote for her if she pledges to bring Medicare For All to a floor vote in the House at the end of this month.

Jim: There are --

 

C.I.: Interrupting to note that we need to put in a link to Force The Vote, the online petition. 

Jim: Thank you, we do need that in here.   But this proposal, it's not even saying that Nancy can't be Speaker.  It's saying, "You want our votes?  This is what we need."  This is what we, as voters, are supposed to do with our candidates.  Jimmy Dore has a great idea. But he's being attacked by many.  Let's start with the ridiculous Cyberdemon531 -- a YOUTUBE non-personality due to her flat affect.

 

Rebecca: F**king idiot.  I wrote about her in "sad, sad, sad."

 

Ava: Let me say to Cyberdemon, welcome to womanhood, we're glad to have you.  But, bitch, when you say things like Jimmy Dore is a "beta male"?  Excuse the f**k out of me, but you were a man.   I'm not insulting you for it.  I'm not questioning you for it.  But as a woman who started as a man, I really don't get where you think you're calling him a "beta male" isn't begging for an aggressive pushback against you.  Can you imagine all the names you could be called?  I'm sure you can remember all the names you have been called.  Jimmy is making an important proposal so you choose to respond with name calling that insults his gender?    Now you're not just a bitch, you're also an idiot.  When you get called out, like when Rebecca called you out, you immediately turn  tail and run, and back off your position which clearly means you don't think anything out.  Maybe you need to work on your analytical skills.  And, since C.I. and I cover media here and since you do videos, let me help you out with one more thing -- you're highly unattractive.  That hair color?  If it's real, ditch it.  Get a new hair color.  You also need a make over -- stat.   I don't feel the need to be kind to you because (a) we need Medicare for All and you're standing in our way and (b) you are ripping apart Jimmy Dore who is fighting while you cower.  So let me repeat, you're a dumb idiot and you're an ugly idiot.  Work on your looks and work on actually thinking before you speak.  And after that?  Kiss my Latina ass, you White privileged piece of trash who'd rather slime Jimmy Dore than help the American people.  

 

Rebecca: Amen. 

Ty: Sadly, it's not just Cyberdemon who's trashing Jimmy.  There's also the hideous Ana Kasparian and her sewer dwelling partner Cenk Uygur.  It's important to remember that Cenk, like a lot of Republicans, crossed over to Democrat only after they realized that they could make money that way.  Cenk is a failure.  He's failed repeatedly at weight loss.  He failed when he tried to get into Congress -- he only got 5.9% of the vote.  He's failed in his efforts to deny the Armenian Genocide.   He failed at MSNBC which got rid of him because of his aggressive manner -- making his trashing of Jimmy for 'tone' all the more ridiculous.  Ana needs to go from JACOBIN.  It's past time.  Then we can go back to enjoying that site but at present most of us have walked away.  

Jim: And we'll deal with that in another feature this edition -- or we plan to.  Ryan Grim.  Trina?

Trina: I love C.I.

C.I.: Love ya too!

Trina: I do.  And when she gets mad?  I think of Marilyn Monroe.  She was on a set filming and the scene wasn't working and she stops and says something like we need to fix the script, we need to fix the lighting as she's walking off the set to her trailer and adds, "And put a rinse on the blonde in the secod row."  I always loved that story and I've probably mangled it.  But it's like -- boom, boom, boom.  And that's how C.I. is in the December 22nd snapshot where she's not that RISING still can't female guests but they can and do bring on Gerald Posner who is a serial plagiarist of many decades and then, oh by the way, "And you're also a visual medium.  Meaning?  Maybe tell Ryan Grim that the dye job's not working as is.  He needs to go to a lighter shade and he needs to do it all over his hair because the black shoe polish on top with the white sides does not look real -- it makes it look like the dark part is a toupee."  I just loved that.  And somebody needed to say it because it does look like a bad toupee.  

Dona: And we're not Ryan Grim fans here.

Marcia: Oh, no, we are not.  We can't stand that creep.  He reports on Tara Reade and then drops the story while she's being attacked?  No follow up, no nothing.

Ann: And there needed to be a follow up.  Assholes like Michael Tracey were smearing her and, Ava and C.I. put it well, your credit score doesn't determine whether or not you're going to get raped.  I'm pulling this from the May 7, 2020 snapshot:

"I believe Tara Reade, yes I do," Lucy Flores told PLANET AMERICA (Australia's ABC).  Tara has stated Joe Biden assaulted her in 1993.  And the mainstream media has largely ignored the story.  Kelly McBride weighed in with her conclusions on why NPR waited forever to cover the story.  The media's reluctance to cover it has allowed some like hypocrite Alyssa Milano to argue that the claims must not be true because the press isn't covering them and it allowed the attacker -- and his attack squad -- to set the terms of the conversation.  Why?  The people who set the terms of the conversation are people who experts in the topic.  Twitter is full of Tucker Carlson's applying 'standards' that are not standards.  As we noted yesterday,  it was C-SPAN that brought on RAINN's (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) vice president Heather Drevna.

Heather Drevna: What I can say is we shouldn't dismiss someone's allegations of assault merely because their story has changed or what they have told audiences has differed at times.  You need to take into account her explanation for why the details she described last year don't all match what she's alleging now, why the complaint might not match what she's alleging now.  You also need to take into account that she told some friends and family members at the time of the alleged assault.  It's not unusual for a survivor to take years to process the trauma that they have experienced and just because they've not come forward publicly immediately after events may have occurred doesn't mean that they did not happen. 

C-SPAN, not CNN.  Not CBS.  Not PBS.  Not NPR.  Not . . .

Survivors are being smeared by idiots who know nothing about the topic.

Ann (Con't): And I will add: Not Ryan Grim.  He was required to do that but he didn't.  He didn't pushback against the attacks on Tara Reade.  He did nothing.  He just folded like the useless piece of crap he is.  What he should have done, having covered the story, was respond to the attacks on Tara by interviewing experts, like Heahter Drevna, about survivors of rape.  That was his job.  He failed because he's a coward and he's so damn useless.  And as a survivor of rape, I take this very seriously and, yes, very personally.  I loathe Ryan Grim.

Cedric: And as Jackson Hinkle points out, now Ryan's attacking Jimmy Dore.  And since Jackson Hinkle recorded his show, Ryan has repeated his attacks on Jimmy.  Why?  Because Ryan Grim is a whore that slaves under Betsy Reed.  Gotta make sure Mama's happy, right, Ryan?  Gotta whore that ass because that's all you are and all you ever will be -- a whore -- in an ugly toupee.

Wally: He really is a whore.  And he's a lousy reporter.  It's forgotten now but when Tara read his reporting that's when she found out about Time's Up's connection to Joe Biden.  She was completely taken aback.  That shouldn't have happened.  Ryan owed it to her to let her know about that connection.  And he didn't.  Because he's a lousy whore posing as a reporter.  THE INTERCEPT needs to fold.  It's not journalism, it's press releases for the Democratic Party.

Isaiah: And what is it with Canadian Naomi Klein?  She also works for THE INTERCEPT and she can stay there, trash belongs in a trash pile.  But why the hell does Klein keep butting into the US?  She grew up in Canada because her dad fled the US military.  She's not an American -- don't give the b.s. of dual citizenship.  Her father left the country to avoid prison.  He never came back to avoid prison.  Now if Klein had bothered to lead on War Resisters in Canada right now, I wouldn't have as big a problem.  But she's never written about them -- she did manage to sign a petition.  She's useless and, by the way, another who profited off the Iraq War but fled the topic when Barack Obama got elected.  She made money off that war and she walked away when it was embarrassing for the US Democratic Party.  She's a whore.  But what I can't figure out is why this whore can't shut her damn mouth about the US?  She's got a chair at Harvard.  I'm sorry, we don't have people in the US that we can give a chair to?  We have to go with some whore from Canada?  And she can't hold Canada accountable?  Where's her writing calling out Justin Trudeau and all he's done to harm the environment?  She's a fake ass.  That's why she attacked the documentary that Michael Moore produced.  She's a useless piece of trash who needs to get her ass back to Canada and keep it there.

Stan: Agreed.  And I agree that this nonsense of attacking Jimmy needs to stop.  We need Medicare For All.  We need it.  We're in a pandemic and we especially need it.  But no American should lose their job and also lose their healthcare.  We need to stop tying the two together, it's left far too many vulnerable and it's something we need to fix now.

Ruth: Yes, we do.  And it is appalling that we are this far into a pandemic and our Congress has not acted on it.  It is appalling that people are running defense for AOC and trying to justify her inaction.  She is a member of Congress.  She needs to stand up and stop lying that she is being threatened with violence.  She is a spoiled brat, that is all she is.  A functioning adult would say, "You are right. I need to be held accountable.  Thank you."  But we do not get functioning adults in our Congress.

 

Elaine: AOC looks awful.  In 2018, while campaigning for Congress, what was she saying?  We cannot wait on Medicare For All.  Yet she is willing to wait.  This is holding her and others accountable.  This is what is needed.  The people who are fan club members and not citizens are the ones defending her.  I don't belong to your fan club -- or as Ava and C.I. always say, "We don't fall in love with politicians, we're not that desperate."  She is a public servant and needs to be treated as such.

Betty: But those who hero worship can't stand up for themselves.  They're too busy putting together fan clubs instead of demanding our rights.  Medicare For All is a need, not a want, a need.

Ruth: Good point.

Mike: I'm a big Jimmy Dore fan.  I've noted before that he's probably going to disappoint me at some point.  When that day comes, I'll just move along.  Why do I think he's going to disappoint me?  Because so many have been brave or acted brave or pretended they were brave and fooled me.  I used to love Amy Goodman.  She was telling the truth about the Iraq War.  But they paid her off, didn't they, she got paid off with foundation grants and DEMOCRACY NOW! was no longer the war and peace report -- hell, she was pitching war on Libya and on Syria.  She's a fake ass.  She's not the only one.  I'd love to be wrong and find that Jimmy's going to be a truth teller all of his life.  But I'm trying to temper my expectations based on past experience.  So while I don't know what Jimmy's going to be supporting in five years, I do know what he's doing right now: He's fighting for Medicare For All.  And I don't see the need to attack him for that.  If useless piece of trash like Ana and Cenk want to offer that they don't like his style?  Okay, heard you.  Now what are you doing to bring Medicare For All to the American people?  Oh, that's right: Nothing.

 

Wally: With some of these people, it seems like the most important thing to them is making sure Jimmy's plan doesn't work because they're jealous and don't want him to get credit.  Ana's been carrying a grudge against him for how many years now?

 

Elaine: I think you're right, Wally.  A lot of the attacks on Jimmy right now do seem to be about jealousy and these petty fools feel it is more important to damage Jimmy than it is to fight for Medicare For All.

 

Marcia: They really are that petty.  And, let's be clear, we don't think Medicare For All is going to pass in the House.  If it does, great.  But we don't think that's going to happen.  The point of the plan is to get on the record where people stand on the issue.  If you're giving lip service to Medicare For All but aren't actually going to vote for it?  We don't need you in Congress, we don't want you in Congress and we can primary you to try to get someone better in office.

 

Betty: And let's also give Jimmy credit for making Medicare For All an issue that everyone's talking about.  Cenk couldn't do it, he could never do it.  But Jimmy did it.

 

Jim: That's a good point and a strong point to end on.

JACOBIN needs to fire Ana Kasparian

 

 

Ana Kasparian is a hateful person.  She doesn't need to be associated with JACOBIN.

 

We don't normally call for people to be fired but please note that she already has income from THE YOUNG TURKS.

 

That's one of the reasons she should never have been hired.  The point of 'independent' media should be to create new voices.  

 

There are plenty of people -- including people of color -- that JACOBIN could toss a program to.  They didn't need to go circle the toilet bowl that is THE YOUNG TURKS.

 

She is harming their brand.  

 

She used the show JACOBIN gave her to, this past weekend, call out Katie Halper and Briahna Joy Gray.  This is what JACOBIN stands for?  This is why they do a weekend program?  So that some hateful hag can screech and yell about people who she thinks should have defended her?

This is the purpose of JACOBIN?

Strange, this appears to be the actual mission statement: "Jacobin is a leading voice of the American left, offering socialist perspectives on politics, economics, and culture."

That's not what Ana offers and it's certainly not what she offered this past Saturday.

Her tantrums are well known.  It's time she was shown the door before she further degrades JACOBIN.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

AnaKasparian

, on her Jacobin show, calls out

@briebriejoy

&

@kthalps

for standing idly by during

@jimmy_dore

’s insane rant on the FTV organizing call and asks them both if they think she’s paid by NATO & if they think

@SamSeder

is just a corporate shill.

 

 

 

 

Know your enemies

Nancy Pelosi was elected Speaker of the House and not one of our 'progressive' 'heroes' bothered to even threaten to withhold their support so she would be forced to bring Medicare For All to a vote.  There are no heroes, just public servants who don't, in fact, actually serve the public.

Is that a surprise to you?  

After the 2019 stimulus check, it shouldn't be a surprise to you.  As C.I. noted in "2020: The Year Long Walk Of Shame:"

The US response was not like other countries in that the US government felt no need to provide for its citizens.  Italy, France, etc -- they had measures in place to ensure the citizens didn't go under economically.  In the US?  A one-time $1,200 check was supposed to tide you over for at least eight months.  Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and other members of Congress do grasp, don't they, this comes to $150 a month?  

$150 a month, wow, you can pay rent and stock up the fridge with that amount of money -- provided you owned a really good time machine and were willing to go back in time further than 1960 because even in 1960 the average rent was $200 a month

How out of touch is this US Congress?

 

 And how out of touch are you if you continue to put up with this s**t?

AOC is not your friend.

Nor is this piece of crap.

 

 

 

That's Stinky Cenk of THE YOUNG TURKS.  They are not your friends.  They worked overtime -- especially Cenk and Ana -- to try to destroy the push for Medicare For All.

They are not your friends.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CRAPAPEDIA gets it wrong again

From the online Encyclopedia For Idiots:

 

TYT is the longest-running online news and political talk show in the world.^{[8][18][19][20]}

No.  It was a radio program first and was airing on SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO in 2002.  It only became an online program in?  2006.

 

Before 2006, it wasn't an online broadcast.

 

You know what was?  

 

Amy Goodman's DEMOCRACY NOW which is a daily news and political talk show.  They went online in 2001.  In 2005, Lizzy Ratner was writing about this (THE NATION via COMMON DREAMS).

We're not Amy fans -- we walked away from her when she walked away from the Iraq War -- but we do believe in honesty and we do believe that you give credit where it's due.

How typical of CRAPAPDEIA and Cenk Uygur to strip the actual credit from a woman and to instead give it to an undeserving man.

Five years.  That's how much longer that DEMOCRACY NOW! has been broadcasting daily online -- as well as on radio and TV -- than THE YOUNG TURKS, five years.

Cenk and CRAPAPEDIA are liars.

And if there's someone who holds a record longer than Amy Goodman, please let us know.  But she is the first who comes to mind.

Burn Pits 360's 10th year anniversary of advocacy

 

We are grateful for your support. Dear Friend, The year 2020 marked our ten-year anniversary of advocacy which began in August of 2010 after I was sent home from my state trooper job due to illnesses I was struggling with following burn pit exposure in Iraq. We continue to advocate for thousands of men and women who have been affected by toxic wounds from burn pit exposure. It is vital that we have continued support to fight the battles needed to be successful. I’m reminded daily of what we’re fighting for due to my exposure to burn pits while deployed, and I’m grateful to have my wife Rosie fighting alongside with me – but this is where we need your help. The way ahead in 2021 includes efforts to continue our programs and services to sustain our national burn pit registry, caregiver resources, advocacy for specialized healthcare and legislative efforts, and maintain our headquarters, the Warrior Support Center. On behalf of our volunteers at Burn Pits 360, Thank you for standing alongside us this year and hope to have you by our side in 2021. Have a blessed Happy New Year! Sincerely,  CPT. Le Roy Torres, U.S. Army, Ret. Texas Highway Patrol, Ret. Co-founder, Burn Pits 360 ​"THE WAR THAT FOLLOWED US HOME "

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