The Third Estate Sunday Review focuses on politics and culture. We're an online magazine. We don't play nice and we don't kiss butt. In the words of Tuesday Weld: "I do not ever want to be a huge star. Do you think I want a success? I refused "Bonnie and Clyde" because I was nursing at the time but also because deep down I knew that it was going to be a huge success. The same was true of "Bob and Carol and Fred and Sue" or whatever it was called. It reeked of success."
The propaganda campaign is in high gear on behalf of Joe Biden and
the Democratic Party. We have been told by Democratic politicians and
the media that the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act will “cut
child poverty in half.” If only that were so.
The $1,400 per child stimulus payment will certainly help distressed
families across the country. The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a boon
to the working poor, has been expanded to include childless workers.
Likewise, an additional $300 per week to the unemployed, and an
increased Child Tax Credit of $3,000 per child will bring relief to
millions. But these one-time solutions are a far cry from cutting child
poverty in half, as the Democrats spin machine would have us believe.
No one should be fooled into thinking that the American Rescue Plan
is an adequate solution to high rates of poverty. These measures are
temporary, lasting for just one year. The unemployment supplement ends
in September, as does the increase in SNAP food assistance benefits. The
small stimulus payments are a far cry from other nations that have
replaced income lost during the COVID-19 pandemic. Unless these measures
become permanent policy the help is literally of limited benefit.
In fact, Biden’s relief package does not establish a single social
reform. All of its provisions are temporary, ending by 2022. While they
provide welcome cash in the immediate term to some families reeling from
the economic impact of the pandemic, they are designed to prevent a
collapse in consumer spending until Biden’s back-to-school and
back-to-work drive, combined with expanded vaccination of the
population, can bring about a revival of economic growth. The cash
supplements will go largely to pay back rent and accumulated consumer
debt, and then disappear.
With his cash handouts to sections of
the working class and middle class, Biden and the forces on Wall Street
for which he speaks hope to avert a social explosion amid mounting
working class anger over being forced to work under unsafe conditions
and mounting social inequality, while carrying forward the brutal ruling
class policy of reopening the economy and boosting corporate profits,
regardless to cost in human lives.
Hence the accompanying
endorsement of the unionization drive at Amazon, aimed at further
integrating the unions into the state and using them to suppress working
class opposition, combined with the promotion of racial politics to sow
divisions within the working class.
The New Deal included a
series of large scale public works projects, such as the Tennessee
Valley Authority, which brought electric power to large parts of the
country. It included the Social Security Act, which provided a permanent
and universal retirement benefit as a social entitlement. Johnson’s
Great Society program, through limited and cut short by the Vietnam War,
established Medicare and Medicaid, providing basic health insurance to
the elderly and the poor.
Roosevelt’s liberal reforms were not
freely given, but wrung from the ruling elite through mass struggles of
the working class. Roosevelt represented a faction of the ruling class
that understood concessions were necessary to preserve the capitalist
system, which was widely discredited as the Great Depression devastated
workers. The threat of socialist revolution compelled the ruling class
to adopt reformist policies.
Arrest is not guilt. Trials determine guilt. But Nihad al-Jaberi was arrested and today appeared in a US District Court in Savannah Georgia. The US Justice Dept issued the following:
Nihad Al Jaberi, 41, a Clarkston, Ga., resident, is charged with Smuggling, Failure to Notify a Common Carrier, and Submitting False or Misleading Export Information, said David H. Estes, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. The smuggling charge carries upon conviction a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and substantial financial penalties. There is no parole in the federal system.
Al Jaberi, an Iraqi citizen and legal permanent resident of the United States, was arraigned Monday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Christopher L. Ray. Al Jaberi previously was ordered detained after a hearing in U.S. District Court in the Northern District of Georgia.
“The Port of Savannah is exceptionally valuable to the coastal region, and the high volume of traffic presents an ongoing challenge to law enforcement agencies enforcing import-export laws,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Estes. “Customs and Border Protection officers perform outstanding work in interdicting illegal shipments and maintaining border security.”
As described in court documents and testimony, Al Jaberi is charged with attempting in August 2020 to export three handguns and six .308-caliber long-range rifles in a shipment in which the contents were listed as “71 Pieces of Spare Auto Parts with No License Required.” The firearms, which were discovered disassembled along with used auto parts in a container at the Port of Savannah, had been obtained through straw purchases at various Atlanta-area sporting goods stores.
“This weapons seizure clearly illustrates how closely Customs and Border Protection inspects export manifests and identifies anomalies that could potentially harm others,” said Henry DeBlock, Area Port Director for CBP Savannah.
“Special Agents of The Bureau of Industry and Security’s Office of Export Enforcement will aggressively investigate and disrupt the illicit smuggling of controlled commodities in violation of U.S. export laws,” said Ariel Joshua Leinwand, acting Special Agent in Charge Miami Field Office, U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Industry and Security, Office of Export Enforcement (OEE). “Working cooperatively with our law enforcement partners, OEE Special Agents are committed to preventing firearms, firearms parts, and ammunition from potentially falling into the wrong hands overseas.”
Criminal indictments contain only charges; defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
The case is being investigated by U.S. Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security and by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and prosecuted for the United States by Southern District of Georgia Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer G. Solari and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Darron J. Hubbard, and by Northern District of Georgia Assistant U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg.
A photo introduced as evidence in the detention hearing for Nihad Al
Jaberi includes nine firearms from a shipment interdicted in the Port of
Savannah and reassembled, along with other firearms removed during a
search of the defendant’s residence.
We think everyone should be welcome to the US but we do have a caveat. US soil is not to be used to launch your attacks on your former country. We have especially felt that way regarding those who choose to leave Cuba for the US and then spend their days in the US plotting the overthrow of Cuba. Yes, it must be hard to leave your own country. But once you do, you need to work within your own country, your new country. If that means you lobby your Congress members to, for example, go to war on Cuba, we're not pleased but you have that right. But if you're arming your former country or plotting to overthrow it, we really don't think you should be on US soil.
Unless Nihad al-Jaberi is convicted, he's innocent. Right now, he's innocent and we hope he remains innocent. But we really do think this issue needs to be addressed.
We think the oath for citizenship makes it clear:
I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God.
But it might need to be made clearer and it doesn't cover residents.
As Pope Francis observed while leaving Iraq last week:
But the response to war is not another war; the response to weapons is not other weapons.
And I asked myself: Who was selling the weapons to the terrorists? Who sells weapons today to the terrorists – which are causing massacres in other areas, let’s think of Africa, for example? It is a question that I would like someone to answer.
The response is not war, but the response is fraternity. This is the challenge not only for Iraq. It is the challenge for many regions in conflict and, ultimately, the challenge for the entire world is fraternity. Will we be capable of creating fraternity among us? Of building a culture of brothers and sisters?
Or will we continue the logic Cain began: war. Brothers and sisters. Fraternity.
Queen Latifah is making history on CBS currently. Is anyone noticing? In 1974, MS. MAGAZINE did an article on the then-breakthrough of two women starring in primetime series -- Angie Dickinson in the hour long POLICE WOMAN on NBC and Teresa Graves in ABC's hour long drama GET CHRISTIE LOVE,. It was significant at a time when few women starred in hour long shows. Sadly, not a lot has changed in all the decades between then and now. As we noted last week, for example, NBC won't cast Black American women as a lead of an hour long drama. So Queen Latifah being the lead in the new EQUALIZER, just for that, is historic.
It's also historic in that she's not a damsel in distress. Nor is she hopping up on a bar to sit and kick when a villain comes near (a la Yvonne Craig's Batgirl). She's actively engaged in the action on this, an action show. And unlike a lot of action shows of the last three decades, she's not Deanna Durbin-ing it. Meaning it's not 100 MEN AND A GIRL time. The regular cast includes 3 other females besides Queen Latifah -- friend anf former Air Force sniper Mel (Liza Lapira), Aunt Vi (Lorraine Toussaint) and The Equalizer's daughter Robyn (Laya DeLeon Hayes). That's historic as well.
We weren't a huge fan of the original series that first aired in the 80s and has continued in syndication. The only episode we'd watch of that again is the one where Ashford & Simpson show up as musical guests and sing "Count Your Blessings" to promote their 1986 album REAL LOVE. Of the two Denzel Washington films, we prefer the second one because we especially enjoyed his secret room in his home. But, no, the show is not our preferred type of show. That doesn't stop us from appreciating what Queen Latifah's doing on it or what a breakthrough her character is.
Sexism.
Last week, one of us noted that Glenn Greenwald was a sexist and that was apparently big news to many judging by e-mails. Yes, sexism still exists, Virginia.
And how do we judge it? By actions. Not just by words, but also by actions. Check out, for example, Glenn's Twitter feed. Notice how many men he reTweets and how few women. Check out what he did at THE INTERCEPT. He was part of creating a new news outlet and, as we noted throughout in the early years, it was male, male, male. In fact, you could argue more men with bylines have quit the outlet than women with bylines have been hired to this day. THE INTERCEPT was created in 2014, not 1914. There's no reason it couldn't have parity. But it was -- and still remains -- pretty much a Boys Only Clubhouse. Don't bring up Betsy Reed, not to us. She's a useless person who is known as a woman hater. Sell the pro-Betsy garbage to two people who didn't compile the stats for THE NATION in 2006 when Bisty Ditsy Betsy was an editor over there. Yes, girls and boys, women can be sexist as well. Gloria Steinem long ago defined the type of woman Betsy Reed is as a "queen bee." As Gloria explains in REVOLUTION FROM WITHIN, some women want to be the token in the room -- which would explain how THE NATION published 491 male bylines in 2006 and only 149 female bylines.
It would also explain why Betsy recruited Naomi for THE INTERCEPT. We find it hilarious that Naomi got the Gloria Steinem Chair at Harvard. First, Naomi's not a feminist and has been vocal in the past about that. Second, she's a citizen of Canada where she grew up. She grew up there because her father self-checked out of the military during Vietnam and went to Canada. Despite how this benefited her, she refused to use her writing -- even once -- to champion the war resisters of today's war. In fact, before we began calling her out for her silence, most in the US and in Canada had no idea that Naomi was the child of a war resister. The closest she ever came to vocalizing that reality was on Al Franken's AIR AMERICA RADIO SHOW where she indicated she was frightened that Bully Boy Bush might put a stop to her ability to enter the US. She then clammed up and refused to elaborate. Naomi's always been in it for herself. Another reason we find it hilarious -- and telling -- would be that Harvard is the home of war and more war -- especially the Carr Center but not only the Carr Center. We'd argue Naomi is exactly where she belongs and that a chair in the name of former CIA employee Gloria Steinem is perfectly in keeping with Naomi's image.
To drop back to Glenn, we don't think he's the most sexist man or woman in media or on the face of the planet. We'd place his sexism at a two on a scale with ten being the worst.
Most sexist? That's an interesting call and we say that because a number of writers online have decided that "Wives & Lovers" is the most sexist song.
Seriously?
The song appears over the opening titles of the 90s hit FIRST WIVES CLUB and is sung by Dionne Warwick. The song was also recorded by Jack Jones back in the sixties and he won a Grammy for his vocal. Recorded by both a man and a woman. Does that make a difference? "Under My Thumb" by the Rolling Stones is often seen as a sexist song. We know it better via Tina Turner's version. Was it sexist when she recorded it?
Hal Davis and Burt Bacharach wrote the song back in 1963. Does that change the way we view it?
We're asking. We think a lot of people should be asking. We need a dialogue and we need many opinions.
One opinion we share is that songwriters -- like all writers -- need to be free to write what they want to write. That doesn't spare them from criticism. But we do wonder about how we judge the art?
Is Taylor Swift sexist when she writes a song about an ex-lover? We think she's being powerful (if it's a song that delivers). We think the same whether the writer is Taylor or Mick Jagger or Ashford & Simpson or Gregg Dulli or Sade or Carly Simon or Smokey Robinson or . . .
The dream pixie girl or whatever the term is -- we're not impressed with non-musical discussions or discussers of music? Is it sexist? May be. May not be. A writer is trying to capture something -- song, book, whatever -- to portray something. The idealized versions of girls and women (or boys and men or nature or whatever) may not be sexist on the part of the artist. We agree the audience has every right to interpret art as they see and experience it. But we're not so sure about ascribing motive. Sometimes, someone is just trying to extol praise on another person. Sometimes they're confusing love with co-dependency. There are a lot of things that can happen. And, our opinion, there are a lot more sexist songs than "Wives and Lovers." We can think of several sexist songs that promote violence against women and we'd argue those are much more harmful.
Mick Jagger? Mick's a devil (we say that fondly, we know Mick). If someone accuses him of sexism on one song, we'll he's got a long history so it's not a shock or a surprise and it's probably a good call. But on the scale, with ten being the worst, we'd put him about a three -- just a little ahead of Glenn. That's our take, others may feel differently.
"If he's a sexist," one person e-mailed THE COMMON ILLS last week, "why do you highlight him?" As already noted there, because he's an important voice. People don't have to be perfect to be highlighted -- goodness knows we're not perfect (and we never argue or dispute it when someone calls us a bitch). Glenn is an important voice on many issues, especially the First Amendment. It would be wonderful if he took a look at himself and found a way to have a more expansive view.
Do you get how important that is? Maybe not if you're a White male who's represented everywhere. Especially in animation. THE SIMPSONS was copied by FAMILY GUY (which turned hating the daughter into an art) and pretty much set a pattern for all that followed wherein the main protagonist is a male as is the main secondary character. BLESS THE HEARTS is one of the first series to break THE SIMPSON's mold and last for more than one season. THE PJS and KING OF THE HILL also lasted several seasons and had female characters who were not background players.
But look at SOUTHPARK. Great show. But sexist as hell. It started in1997 and continues to this day. We love Butters as Marjorine or Cartman having his hissy fit over an IPAD. We even think PC Principal (originally) was a good character. (He's a hollow shell in the later episodes.) They had a hilarious episode last week about COVID and vaccinations. No surprise, a woman died. A new female. They can create them, they just can't keep them. And BeBe and the other female characters might get an episode tossed out for them (the way THE SIMPSONS did for years with Lisa.) But they're never the lead characters and even something like Towlie -- a talking towel is voiced by a male.
They created the show. They determined what it would be. And the lack of females and female led episodes goes to sexism.
Trey and Matt have narrow minds when it comes to gender. They're reductive and not expansive.
At least they can shoot back, "We're artists!"
What's the media's excuse?
It's a question to ask specifically right now with regards to TO THE CONTRARY. The PBS program is celebrating its 30th year of production.
To The Contrary (TTC,) public television's successful all-female news analysis series, is now in its 27th season on air. The program was launched in 1992, dubbed the "Year of the Woman in American Politics" as women's representation in Congress blossomed. With women in the forefront of politics and on the cutting edge of national agendas, To The Contrary continues as an essential, timely forum for women to discuss national and international issues and policies. The program covers news and offers a platform to views that are rarely, if ever, available elsewhere on television. It is true appointment television.
With more women in Congress, in the Cabinet and on the Supreme Court, women's perspectives are more high-profile than ever before. Americans have cast strong votes of confidence in women leaders and leaders who promote concerns embraced by women. To The Contrary, available in 91% of television markets and a leader in women's news and perspectives, will continue to make women's voices heard as we cover all issues affecting women, families and communities of color.
To The Contrary is produced by Persephone Productions. Airing on PBS stations nationwide, in Canada, and internationally on VOA TV, To The Contrary has built a solid viewer base including more than a million viewers each week. Viewer response, media attention and strong carriage on national public television stations and elsewhere have all helped to confirm that the show does indeed fill a much-needed niche in American television programming.
Successful? That's putting it mildly. Broadcasting since 1992 makes it very successful and that's still faint praise. The show exists because it fills a huge void in the media landscape. When it was created, it filled such a void. Public affairs programming in 1992 featured male guests overwhelmingly. That's still true today, whether the program airs on a broadcast network, a cable network, YOUTUBE or some where else. That's true even when the host is a woman. That surprises some. As two who've analyzed what women do when they're in charge -- of THE NATION magazine, of THE DIANE REHM SHOW, of Teri Gross' FRESH AIR, etc -- we're not at all surprised. It's sad but not surprising. And it's true of 'new media' programs as well such as RISING and pretty much every program.
It's stupid and self-defeating. If you're a female host and you're not bringing on an equal number of women, you're saying women don't matter. That's not really helping your own cause, is it?
We have to use our spaces to promote diversity and inclusion because if we don't do it, it's not going to get done. Alice Walker always says she writes to create the world she'd like to live in. That's how broadcasting choices should be made as well -- including who gets invited on as a guest. Also including who we celebrate. We celebrate Bonnie Erbe and TO THE CONTRARY. We hope others, as they become aware of the program's 30th anniversary throughout the year will choose to celebrate that as well.
In 2018, community sites took turns covering a book every week. You can see "In 2018, we read books" to review that coverage. We didn't want to repeat ourselves in 2019 or 2020. So when Marcia
came up with a way to cover books but with a twist, we were all for
it. Marcia's idea was for us to digital books -- we're largely a
printed text crowd -- and to use AMAZON's KINDLE UNLIMITED. So for
2021, we'll be doing a book a week and trying to just use KINDLE
UNLIMITED. This week, we're talking with Isaiah about his "Marco Bonafede's WORDLESS COMICS."
You reviewed "" which is a book of cartoons. Were they color cartoons?
Isaiah: I should have noted that. The only one with color is on the cover. Inside, it's all black ink and paper cartoons.
Did you choose the book because you knew the cartoonist or because you wanted something in the genre?
Isaiah: In the genre. I'd never heard of him before. But I wanted to do a book on comics. I really hoped I would get some ideas for future comics.
And did you?
Isaiah: [Laughing] No. But I did discover something.
Okay.
Isaiah: In these conversations, people have noted how difficult it is to search KINDLE UNLIMITED. There is a way to search. You have to play with it but I found it after trying for a half hour. You pull up KINDLE BOOKS, you search whatever you want -- author, subject, title. When the results return, on the left hand side, you check a box next to KINDLE UNLIMITED and from the search results provided, it thins it down to just the books that are KINDLE UNLIMITED ones.
That is very good information. Thank you for that. You're planning to do another review -- at least one -- this year. Will you be sticking to the same genre?
Isaiah: I hope too. My plan was to find a book by a cartoonist who influenced me. But I couldn't in the early search results. It was, for example, DISNEY books and DISNEY didn't influence me one bit. I never saw a DISNEY cartoon on TV or at the movies growing up. I had two books with records -- "Ding, turn the page" -- that kind of thing. One was the soundtrack to DISNEY's ROBIN HOOD. The other was the one where Mickey Mouse fights the giant. I also had record-books of WONDER WOMAN -- MLK's speech was played in that which I always thought was cool, SUPERMAN, SPIDER-MAN, BATMAN and SCOOBY DOO -- much more influential.
Your primary influence?
Isaiah: Definitely MAD MAGAZINE. I never did stick figures, I always tried to draw people or animals from the start. After MAD, it would be various comic books and the animated opening of the sixties BATMAN TV show. I can remember putting paper up to the TV when that was on and trying to trace but it moved too quickly. Ideally, next time I'll be able to find something that inspired me -- maybe one of the Sunday comic strips or something.
Well thank you. You told us before the interview that you had something you wanted to bring up at the end.
Isaiah: Yes. My brother thinks that you should list the past interviews you've done in this series in the space below the current one. He's really enjoying the conversations and pointed out that you are making a point to do that with the book list -- to keep it updated.
Sure we can do that and we'll start doing it with this interview.
The Fraud Squad is at it again. AOC did her Beauty Shots for TIK-TOK. She explained that it wasn't her fault that this and that didn't get in the latest COVID give away bill. If you want, for example, student loan relief, you better be out there demanding it. Not to her, though. Demanding it to her upsets her. She's doing all she can and barely has time for hot oil treatments and facials and getting her nails done. You need to work, she wants you to know. She wants you to know this as she collects her $174,000 a year.
You better get to work on it because, as she's made clear, she's not going to.
Fraud Squad, they disappoint you every time. And they don't have support from citizens, they have support from fan clubs -- mental midgets who can't think for themselves.
If you missed it, these mental midgets don't want you to criticize AOC and company.. It really is getting out of control, if you think about it.
Before the primary ends, there can be no criticism of the Democratic presumed nominee. The same after the nominee has been declared. Now, they're saying no criticism at the start of a House session. So much for free speech. So much for holding politicians accountable.
Eating breakfast on the go, who hasn't been there? You're in a rush and you need something quick and easy. These days, some people think they've found an answer -- a breakfast bar . . . with cereal.
POP TARTS? You like them, we like them. But what about POP TARTS with FRUIT LOOPS? It smells like FRUIT LOOPS. Taste wise? It really just tastes like a strawberry POP TART.
CINNAMON TOAST CRUNCH cereal is a breakfast bar now as well, CINNAMON TOAST CRUNCH TREATS. Cinnamon? You can taste it. In fact, it tastes just like the cereal. We rate this one a winner but the POP TARTS with FRUIT LOOPS a loser.
Why is the world only mention the killings of protesters in Myanmar or anywhere in the world , BUT never in IRAQ
Since the protests of October 19 thousands injured in Iraq by the Iranian brutal militias &under 1 thousands Dead & tens abducted .
Here’s a some of the murdered
