Betty's right this is serious

Last week, Hillary Clinton just wanted to have fun . . . with a very serious issue.  Betty's right, Hillary needs to shut up.

Shut up, Hillary Clinton

In 2007 and 2008, I supported Hillary Clinton's run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.

I believed in her.  I would gladly have voted for her had she gotten the nomination.  In fact, her campaign was when I stopped this from being an online comic novel revolving around Bettina.  I dropped that to show my support for Hillary -- just as Marcia started her site that year to support Hillary.

I did not support her in 2016.

She really tried for the 2008 nomination.  She got out there, she mingled, she was voters, etc and etc.  In 2016, she wasn't herself.  She thought she could be Barack.  His 2008 campaign was all about celebrity support.  Hillary didn't do that in 2008.  She talked about real kitchen table issues.

In 2016, she was just an embarrassment and the woman who went to every bar and eatery in Pennsylvania, for example, to mingle with voters just couldn't be bothered.

I have no idea why she became who she became.  But I do know that she's only getting more irritating with each day.  THE HILL notes:

Hillary Clinton is reacting to former President Trump’s federal indictment by making a pitch for her “But Her Emails” merchandise.

The 2016 Democratic presidential nominee took to social media Friday — just hours after Trump announced Thursday that his legal team had been told he was indicted following an investigation into his handling of classified documents — with a plug for her tongue-in-cheek swag.

First, your e-mails were an issue and, despite your lying and getting the press to go along with it, you were under criminal investigation when you ran in 2016.  That is no minor thing.  Second, your measly words of sorry are meaningless as you continue to make a joke of this.

As they say on THE CATHERINE TATE SHOW in the Lauren sketches, "Take the shame."

You should be ashamed.  Your own actions -- no one else's -- led you to be the first major presidential candidate running for election to be under a criminal investigation.  That's not credit and it's nothing to brag about.

Second, if Donald Trump has done what they say he did, this is no time to life.  This is horrible and it is a crime.  And he needs to face legal consequences.

That's much harder to do if idiots like you are making jokes about it.

I'm sure Bill's told you this many times but listen to me:  You need to shut your mouth.  Now.

You're not funny nor are the charges facing Trump funny.  This is serious and stop treating it as a joke or using it as an excuse to justify your sorry 2016 campaign.

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Friday, June 9, 2023.  A lunatic in Congress claims (lies) that the FBI has stated that they can't protect a witness, no-surprise Tara Always Changes Her Story Reade is yet again changing her story, the heavens open with relief as the angels realized there wasn't a snow ball's chance in hell that Pat Robertson was going to be at the Pearly Gates, and much, much more.

Well Pat Robertson finally did something good for America -- he died.  Too bad he couldn't have done it years ago.  For more see Kat's "Hate merchant Pat Robertson has passed away."  Paul Rudnick notes:

Pat Robertson has died. He said gay people caused hurricanes and wore special rings which spread AIDS, and that gay marriage was worse than murder. He's survived by this poster on the wall of Mike Pence's bedroom pic.twitter.com/Shf5NThGZk

— Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) June 8, 2023

Let's go from crazy Pat Robertson to crazy Tara Reade.   TWITTER's had to provide 'context' to a recent reTweet by Tara noting that it's a lie.  Poor Tara, if she were capable of embarrassment or shame, this would be a very difficult time for her.  

But all of her Tweets should come with context since she's so estranged from the truth.  For example, Tara's labeled this piece by Froma Harrop to be "slut shaming."  Is she that stupid or is she now on drugs?  It's not slut shaming.  Froma does not go into Tara's past relationships or even mention them.  She's very clear that she doesn't believe Tara regarding her allegation that Joe Biden assaulted her in the nineties.  I honestly do believe her but that's not "slut praising" anymore than Froma's slut shaming her.   People don't have to believe her.  Ruth went over this in "Tara Reade threatens to sit on George Takei and squash him" when Ruth pointed out George Takei not believing Tara was assaulted is not him slandering her.  No one has to believe her and due to her own credibility issues she's made even more people doubt her.  

That's not what I really want to note.

I also am not eager to point out her latest lie.  Per her 'representative' (a woman who can't practice law in the US or in Russia -- apparently, Tara's such a credit risk she can't get a local attorney in either country), Tara told US Rep Matt Gaetz that she received "intelligence" in Russia.  She hasn't received intelligence -- or common sense -- in any place she's lived or traveled.  But Tara told Matt -- and according to her 'rep' she said so on THE HILL -- that she's received "intelligence" that her life was being threatened and he advised her to stay in Russia.

First off, if true, let me say two words I'll probably never say again: Thank you, Matt Gaetz.  Now if you could encourage some other whack jobs to leave the country . . .

Here's the thing though, Tara's stated already that Matt's the one who warned her.  That seemed suspect but that was her story.  Matt warned her and that's why she's staying in Russia.

Now she's claiming that she got the "intelligence."  

Take a moment to laugh and then we'll pick right back up.

I wish we had time to call out Sabby Sabs and all the other garbage praising Robbie of THE HILL for bringing nut job Tara Reade on.  But we don't.  We will note he's a transphobe and a gay basher and so, Sabby Sabs, we're not at all surprised to see you praising him.

That's not why we bring it up.  Nor to ask why Tara is obviously unable to get shampoo in Russia -- but did get a really bad dye job.

No, we're bringing her up because of the crazy in Congress.  And this time let's zoom in on US House Rep Anna Paulina Luna who Tara can't stop reTweeting -- Tara loves those homophobes.  Anna Lunatic is someone who needs to be brought before the ethics board.  Maybe if Democrats regain control of the House they do that?  This Tweet should never have happened:

The FBI stated "they were afraid the informant would be killed if unmasked"?  So the FBI, you insane lunatic, that has protected many witnesses against the mob, has stated they have a witness that they can't protect?  Goodness that would be front page news . . . if it actually happened.

But it didn't.  And Crazy Lunatic didn't make that statement on the floor of Congress, she did it in a Tweet which means she's not protected from lying.  

That lie needs to be hammered and hammered.  Merrick Garland needs to issue a statement noting that the FBI has said no such thing.

These people just make up crap and then those already struggling with reality -- people like Tara -- hear it and start repeating it as truth.

If the FBI told Congress that they had a witness they couldn't protect, one of two things would happen in the real world:  Kevin McCarthy, as head of the House of Representatives, would be announcing that to the American people or they all wouldn't be saying a word because they were briefed on it in a closed session.  

But Lunatic puts it on TWITTER.  I do feel some sympathy for Anna Lunatic.  If George Santos weren't in this Congress, she'd be getting a lot more attention for all of her lies -- including that "Mexican" grandfather that in fact was German.  She's got her string of lies but George always manages to soak up all the attention.  Your day will come, Luna Lunatic, your day will come.

And, sadly, seriously sad, we will no longer be noting Bonnie Erbe's TO THE CONTRARY.  It has been a great program and has addressed many important issues -- I'm sure it will continue to do so.  But I was informed last night about two panelists and I'm sorry I'm not promoting the program anymore.  I had no problem with their conservative fiscal views or other conservative views.  But there is a difference between conservative views and the views of hate merchants.  Applause to Bonnie for her work over the years and hopefully my walking away will mean some others will be interested in promoting the show -- the longest running show focusing on women still in production.  

Bonnie was attacked in 2008 for refusing to join the dogpile on Sarah Palin.  Bonnie has been a brave face and voice for feminism.  I applaud her.

But there is a war going on in this country, a war against the LGBTQ+ community and I will not have this site, this platform do anything to promote that war.  And grasp that this means anyone can be dropped from getting noted here if I'm dropping Bonnie.

"What could we have done to stop the attacks on the LGBTQ+ community?"  LGBTQ NATION asks that at their site.  I have an answer for that and it's not pretty and probably not anything they want to here.  But in September, those of us who are arm-in-arm with the LGBTQ+ community fled like fairweather friends and a number of LGTBQ+ members -- especially sassy young Twinks -- decided to trash the man everyone was fleeing from instead of standing up.  Every tactic that now works for them when they go after Dylan or whomever, they practiced that back in September and people were too damn stupid to realize what was at stake.  They're using the same tactics -- that they perfected last September -- to attack African-Americans -- and if you're struggling to see that, you are the problem.

I can't go into this right now, it would take hours and hours.  I might write about it this weekend.

But that's the past and I can't change that.  But what I can do to stop attacks right now is not promote or elevate hate merchants.  

 

Let's note whistle-blower Chelsea Manning as we turn to Iraq. Monday April 5th, WIKILEAKS released US military video of a July 12, 2007 assault in Iraq. 12 people were killed in the assault including two Reuters journalists Namie Noor-Eldeen and Saeed Chmagh. Monday June 7th, the US military announced that they had arrested Chelsea Manning and she stood accused of being the leaker of the video. Leila Fadel (Washington Post) reported in August 2010 that Manning had been charged -- "two charges under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The first encompasses four counts of violating Army regulations by transferring classified information to [her] personal computer between November and May and adding unauthorized software to a classified computer system. The second comprises eight counts of violating federal laws governing the handling of classified information." Manning had been convicted in the public square despite the fact that she's been convicted in no state and has made no public statements -- despite any claims otherwise, she had made no public statements. Manning was now at Quantico in Virginia, under military lock and key and still not allowed to speak to the press. Paul Courson (CNN) noted [Chelsea] is a suspect and, "He has not admitted guilt in either incident, his supporters say."  She was attacked repeatedly and then convicted and then pardoned.  Alonso Matinez (EL PAIS) notes today:

In an interview with the Financial Times, Manning revealed that she rarely faces hecklers regarding the intelligence leaks, but occasionally experiences attacks related to her transgender identity. She expressed her resilience, stating that she has become accustomed to such criticism and that it no longer greatly affects her.

Turning to Iraq-related issues, MIDDLE EAST EYE notes:

A former Miss Iraq, Sarah Idan, has officially announced her run as a Democrat for US Congress in California’s 30th District in November 2024. 

Idan currently lives in Los Angeles and is the founder of Humanity Forward, a nonprofit bipartisan organisation “committed to building bridges among Muslims and Jews in order to surpass borders and promote reconciliation, tolerance, mutual understanding, and peace”. 

The seat is currently held by Adam Schiff, who will be leaving to run for the Senate. Schiff, who was the House Intelligence Committee chair in 2021, had welcomed the US administration's pledge to release a declassified report on who killed Jamal Khashoggi, calling for the document to be made public "without delay".

Over the weekend, Sara Manisera and Daniela Sala (GUARDIAN) report:

Western oil companies are exacerbating water shortages and causing pollution in Iraq as they race to profit from rising oil prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Water scarcity has already displaced thousands and increased instability, according to international experts, while Iraq is now considered the fifth most vulnerable country to the climate crisis by the UN. In the oil-rich but extremely dry south, wetlands that used to feed entire communities are now muddy canals.

Mahdi Mutir, 57, worked as a fisher his entire life. For years, Mutir and his wife woke at dusk, sailing along a thick network of canals in Al Khora, a few kilometres north of Basra. The harvest was meagre but enough to provide food for the family of seven.

That changed last year. Now, at the height of the rainy season, Mutir’s boat lies stranded in the mud.

“It is the water station the Italian company built: they need water for their oilfields,” Mutir said, pointing at the black smoke rising from the Zubayr oilfield on the horizon.

To help extract oil, companies pump large quantities of water into the ground. For each barrel of oil, many of which are later exported to Europe, up to three barrels of water are pumped into the ground. And as Iraq’s oil exports rise, its water has dramatically fallen.

The whole world is facing drastic climate change but climate models suggest that Iraq will be among the worst effected.  Back in March, Amr Salem (IRAQI NEWS) reported:

The United Nations stressed that Iraq is suffering from a real water crisis, calling for collective action to find solutions to this crisis, the Iraqi News Agency (INA) reported.
The statement was made on Sunday by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Iraq and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, during her participation in Iraq Climate Conference held in the southern Iraqi city of Basra.
“There is an urgent need to find solutions to the water crisis in Iraq,” Plasschaert stated.

Urgent and it only gets more urgent each day.  Already problems are evident.  January 10th, Yale's School of Environment published Wil Crisp's article which opened:

Three years ago, the vast marshlands of southern Iraq’s Dhi Qar province were flourishing. Fishermen glided in punts across swathes of still water between vast reed beds, while buffalo bathed amid green vegetation. But today those wetlands, part of the vast Mesopotamian Marshes, have shriveled to narrow channels of polluted water bordered by cracked and salty earth. Hundreds of desiccated fish dot stream banks, along with the carcasses of water buffalo poisoned by saline water. Drought has parched tens of thousands of hectares of fields and orchards, and villages are emptying as farmers abandon their land.

For their biodiversity and cultural significance, the United Nations in 2016 named the Mesopotamian Marshes — which historically stretched between 15,000 and 20,000 square kilometers in the floodplain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers — a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The marshes comprised one of the world’s largest inland delta systems, a startling oasis in an extremely hot and arid environment, home to 22 species of globally endangered species and 66 at-risk bird species.

But now this ecosystem — which includes alluvial salt marshes, swamps, and freshwater lakes — is collapsing due to a combination of factors meteorological, hydrological, and political. Rivers are rapidly shrinking, and agricultural soil that once grew bounties of barley and wheat, pomegranates, and dates is blowing away. The environmental disaster is harming wildlife and driving tens of thousands of Marsh Arabs, who have occupied this area for 5,000 years, to seek livelihoods elsewhere.

Experts warn that unless radical action is taken to ensure the region receives adequate water — and better manages what remains — southern Iraq’s marshlands will disappear, with sweeping consequences for the entire nation as farmers and pastoralists abandon their land for already crowded urban areas and loss of production leads to rising food prices.

---

The Mesopotamian marshlands are often referred to as the cradle of civilization, as anthropologists believe that this is where humankind, some 12,000 years ago, started its wide-scale transition from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement. Encompassing four separate marshes, the region has historically been home to a unique range of fish and birdlife, serving as winter habitat for migratory birds and sustaining a productive shrimp and finfish fishery. 

AP has observed, "Climate change for years has compounded the woes of the troubled country. Droughts and increased water salinity have destroyed crops, animals and farms and dried up entire bodies of water. Hospitals have faced waves of patients with respiratory illnesses caused by rampant sandstorms. Climate change has also played a role in Iraq’s ongoing struggle to combat cholera."  And now action? Or what might pass for it.   Khalid Al Ansary (BLOOMBERG NEWS) reported:

Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani on Sunday kicked off an initiative to plant 5 million trees and palms across the country in an attempt to alleviate some of the deleterious impacts of climate change, a statement from his office said.

Iraq has suffered years of drought, and more than 7 million people have been effected or lost their incomes from agriculture and fishing, Al-Sudani’s office said. The war-torn, oil rich country has experienced higher temperatures, persistent drought, an increase in dust storms and a crop area cut by half, all impacts of extreme weather caused by climate change.

Real action would be addressing the use of water by the oil industry -- water that's not going to the people.  

On veterans' issues, Senator Bill Cassidy's office issued the following:

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. delivered remarks during today’s hearing on examining veterans’ access to long term care.

 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

 

Thank you to our witnesses for being here today to discuss how we can ensure veterans have access to the long-term care and support they need.

 

Our veterans sacrificed for us, so we owe it to them to work to identify gaps in care and find ways to improve the experience they receive when they work with VA to fulfill their long-term care needs. 

 

Access to quality long-term care is an important part of honoring our commitment to our veterans.

 

It’s an issue that affects the veteran, their families, the caregiver, and the community around them.

 

We must improve coordination between the VA, community providers, and other stakeholders so that veterans and their families do not have to struggle to access the support they earned.

 

As the population of aging and disabled veterans increases, VA will need to ensure high-quality and adequate staffing for VA medical facilities, clinics, and community living centers, while also expanding its footprint in the community.

 

I support VA’s efforts to honor veterans’ preferences for when, where, and how they receive long-term care. Veterans should have ultimate control over their health care decisions from VA.

 

We must also focus on caregiver support and recognize the vital role caregivers play in the well-being of our veterans. We must provide caregivers with the necessary resources, training, and support to ensure they deliver the best care.

 

Our hope is that your testimony will help us figure out how to do that.

 

I thank you again for your testimony.

 

Let us honor our veterans' service and sacrifice by making sure they get the best care we can give them.

 

Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I yield.

 

Watch his remarks here.

Also on veterans issues, we're going to note this from Senator Tammy Baldwin's office:

Baldwin Successfully Pushes VA to Reexamine & Pay Earned Benefits to 600 Veterans After Doctor Misdiagnosed Conditions

Doctor who misdiagnosed veterans was terminated from Tomah VA Baldwin has been advocating for new exams, proper compensation, and an investigation into doctor for 1.5 years

WASHINGTON, D.C. – After more than a year and a half of advocating on behalf of Wisconsin veterans, Senator Tammy Baldwin successfully pushed the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to identify and reexamine approximately 600 veterans whose neurological conditions were misdiagnosed by a doctor at the Tomah VA Medical Center. As a result of the misdiagnoses, these veterans had been denied proper benefits, compensation, and treatment. The VA will now work to complete reexaminations and grant equitable relief for impacted veterans. The doctor responsible for the misdiagnosis, Dr. Mary Jo Lanska, MD, has been terminated from the Tomah VA.

Since 2021, Senator Baldwin has been working with multiple Wisconsin veterans who reported that their traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and other conditions were misdiagnosed by Dr. Lanska. Senator Baldwin had been calling on the VA to investigate the pattern of misdiagnoses, ensure misdiagnosed veterans get a new exam, and get the veterans the proper compensation and benefits they are deserved.

After Senator Baldwin successfully pushed the VA to review all of the compensation and pension exams that were done by Dr. Lanska and reach out to impacted veterans, the VA announced today that they identified approximately 600 veterans who received an exam from Dr. Lanska that they plan to order reexaminations of and grant equitable relief.

“Our veterans served us and we have an obligation to serve them when they come back home. Unfortunately, many of our Wisconsin heroes did not get the care at the VA that they deserved," said Senator Baldwin. “I am glad to see that after years of working alongside some of our veterans, hundreds of Wisconsinites who have been wronged by the VA will be getting the care and benefits that they earned.”

In a March meeting, Senator Baldwin pressed VA Secretary Denis McDonough to investigate the pattern of misdiagnosis and shared the Wisconsin veterans’ concerns. In August 2022, Senators Baldwin and Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) sent a letter to Secretary McDonough highlighting their concerns about TBI misdiagnosis at the Tomah VA and pushing for answers about the process for veterans who may have been improperly diagnosed and not receiving the benefits they deserve. After hearing from additional veterans, in September 2022, Senator Baldwin called on the VA to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the practices of this doctor to determine whether there is a broader pattern of her misdiagnosing patients’ neurological disorders that are preventing veterans from receiving care or benefits they earned.

###

Senator Tammy Baldwin is an out lesbian and this is Pride Month so I'm going to try to note something from an out member of Congress in each of the snapshots for the rest of the month.  Again, focusing on what we can do.  Again, I recommend LGBTQ Nation's "What could we have done to stop the attacks on the LGBTQ+ community?" which, hopefully, we'll get everyone who cares about equality and fairness brainstorming.

The following sites updated:

• 
  Music

  Christine and the Queens' new album is an operatic exploration of grief and angels

  2 hours ago
• 
  Antiwar.com Original

  Hypocrisy, Thy Name Is Wall Street Journal

  7 hours ago
• 
  Dissident Voice

  For Argentina’s Small Farmers, the Land Is Predictable but the Markets Are Not

  11 hours ago
• 
  Ruth's Report

  Dennis Quaid

  11 hours ago
• 
  Thomas Friedman is a Great Man

  Bryan Singer's wet-dreaming of a comeback (and the boys he can harass)

  11 hours ago
• 
  SICKOFITRADLZ

  Hank Azaria's fine with being a beard and a stereotype

  11 hours ago
• 
  Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude

  i know where i stand (and i applaud wanda)

  11 hours ago
• 
  Mikey Likes It!

  Graham Elwood, Maren Morris and Evil Little Ronnie DeSantis

  12 hours ago
• 
  Like Maria Said Paz

  Boe-Boe gets even trashier

  12 hours ago
• 
  Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills)

  Hate merchant Pat Robertson has passed away

  12 hours ago
• 
  Oh Boy It Never Ends

  WILL & GRACE podcast is coming

  12 hours ago
• 
  Trina's Kitchen

  Avocados and I dish on an enemy

  12 hours ago
• 
  Ann's Mega Dub

  If you want to stream some garbage . . .

  12 hours ago
• 
  The Diane Rehm Show from WAMU and NPR

  The crowded GOP field vying for the 2024 nomination

  14 hours ago
• 
  The Official Jody Watley Website

  Jody Watley Welcomes Kenny Lattimore To The Jody Watley Show

  19 hours ago
• 
  Gorilla Radio

  Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Nick Mottern, Mickey Z. June 7, 2023

  1 day ago 

Highlights

 

This piece is written by Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude, Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix, Kat of Kat's Korner, Betty of Thomas Friedman is a Great Man, Mike of Mikey Likes It!, Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz, Ruth of Ruth's Report, Marcia of SICKOFITRADLZ, Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends, Ann of Ann's Mega Dub, Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts and Wally of The Daily Jot. Unless otherwise noted, we picked all highlights.  

 "Priorities?" -- most requested highlight by readers of this site.

"Iraq snapshot," "Iraq snapshot," "Iraq snapshot," "Iraq snapshot," "Iraq snapshot," "That Mother Tucker," "If you want to stream some garbage . . .," "Cornel West morons, the issue is ballot access, pa...," "I can't stop laughing," "White supremist Norman Finklestein needs to be in assisted living," "Idiot of the week . . .," "Graham Elwood, Maren Morris and Evil Little Ronnie DeSantis,""Graham Elwood, Little Ronnie DeSantis and Idiot of the Week,""Graham Elwood and Jared Ball weigh in on Cornell's announcement," "Matteo Lane, Sonali Kohlatkar," "Avocados and I dish on an enemy," "Matt Taibbi needs to stop lying," "Paul Krugman tries to tidy up the Nazis," "Dr. Gayle," "hideous john stauber, stupid sarah shahi," "i know where i stand (and i applaud wanda)," "women who are disgusting," "crazy john stauber blocked me," "does sharon stone ever stop lying?," "Micro penised John Stauber 'celebrates' Pride," "Dennis Quaid," "Tara Reade threatens to sit on George Takei and squash him," "The Secret Service and the JFK Assassination," "How sad," "Boe-Boe gets even trashier," "Kari Lake and other hate merchants," "Boe-Boe," "Hate merchant Pat Robertson has passed away," "Shut up, Hillary Clinton," "Bryan Singer's wet-dreaming of a comeback (and the boys he can harass)," "Crooked Clarence," "Margaret Kimberely has found her audience among homophobes," "Racist Marjorie Taylor Greene," "Pride Month finds LA sheriff's department assaulting people," "Julian," "The sweaty pig shows his massive teets," "Busted and busty Ron DeSantis," "Ron DeSantis needs a bra" and "THIS JUST IN! DOO-DOO RON RON IS A BREASTY BOY!" -- news coverage in the community.

 

 "Comics" and "Austin Breakfast Tacos: The Story of the Most Important Taco of the Day" books.

 

 "Seein' Double (best Newhart episode ever)," "Hank Azaria's fine with being a beard and a stereotype," "John Mulaney continues his slide down the ladder," "TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEAST," "WILL & GRACE podcast is coming," "Do we need another live-action HOCUS POCUS?" and "Weekend box office -- and correcting the lie that THE LITTLE MERMAID is bombing" -- TV and movie coverage.

 

 "10 great songs that Cynthia Weil co-wrote,"  "PJ Harvey -- also Roger Waters as a solo act is not, has never been, a star," "Cynthia Weil," "Lauryn Hill and the Fugees," "Kylie Minogue" and  "Very disappointed in Madonna and Sam Smith's 'song'" -- music coverage in the community.

"Kat's Korner: Simply Red's just marking TIME" and "Kat's Korner: Summer means Miley and The Jonas Brothers" -- Kat's latest album reviews.

 

Media: Why Max Blumenthal targeted Rachel Maddow?

"We're here, we're queer we won't disappear." So chanted transgender high school students on ABC earlier tonight in the documentary SOUL OF A NATION: THE FREEDOM.  These are the kids actually effected by the hate and scare tactics grown adults are using.  

In what has to pass as a moment of pride for Sidney and Jacqueline Blumenthal, due to his having given them so little,  last week Max Blumenthal confronted/heckled Rachel Maddow.   You may remember Max's ugly wife screeching -- like a fish monger's wife -- at people who objected to a so-called peace or anti-war event that invited racists, pedophiles, homophobes and transphobes on stage.  Nothing mattered, she insisted, but preventing a nuclear war she just knew was coming.

So you may think that "blogger" Max showed up at Trucon where MSNBC personality Rachel Maddow was delivering the keynote speech to press her on that issue.  No.  He showed up at the centrist Truman Center for National Security's four-day event to call Rachel out for . . . media coverage of Russia-gate and the Steele Dossier.

 

These are events that date back to 2016.

 

They have  nothing to do with any of his wife's deranged nuclear war fantasies.  They don't have to do with much of anything at this point.  The media lies about Iraq?  They matter which is why Maxie and his cronies ignore Iraq.  The media lies about Iraq egged on and started a war.  And US troops remain on the ground on Iraq.  And the UN Security Council is egging the IMF to take even more control of Iraq's economy.

 

But there was Max Blumethal kicking off Pride Month with an attack on one of the country's most well known lesbians. 

 

We called out the nonsense and the lies of Russia-gate in real time, back when they were being pimped.  Hillary Clinton's campaign was too lazy to have Hillary visit every state on the mainland to campaign for the presidency but they did have time to lie and spin and create false rumors.  And when Hillary's lazy campaign failed, it was time to blame Russia and time to talk about pee tapes and other things, to treat these lies as fact instead of confronting a weak and pathetic candidate.  

 

And she wasn't going to deal with reality anymore than her fan base.  She knew she was lazy, Bill even told her that in real time.  He told her she was taking too much for granted and needed to get out and in the mix the way she did when she was running for the 2008 Democratic Party's presidential nomination.  She didn't listen to him and she ended up a failure.  But neither she nor her cult could admit reality, hence the nonstop push by so many to blame the results on Russia.

 

The Steele Dossier was paid for and pimped by the Clinton campaign.  It claimed that Russia had the dirt on Donald Trump and would use that to blackmail him.  It's most infamous lie was that they had video of Donald peeing on a prostitute.  The 'reporter' pushing that?  David Corn. 

 

Which means a lot of people in the CIA were pimping it because David types what his CIA pals dictate to him.  It's always been that way -- when he went after Gary Webb, when he fretted and cried over the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame, so many other times.  

 

The pee tape and much more were Tweeted about by David Corn, blogged about by David, gas bagged on cable by David, he even co-wrote a really bad book in 2018 with Michael Isikoff -- RUSSIAN ROULETTE: THE INSIDE STORY OF PUTIN'S WAR ON AMERICA AND THE ELECTION OF DONALD TRUMP.  Isikoff gets air kisses from Max and Glenn and the others.  Isn't it funny how that happens?  He was the man behind Monica-gate, remember?

But in March of 2019, as Michael began backing off from the lies of Russia-gate and the pee tape, Max and his cronies began praising him.  Why?  By that time, the damage was done.  But, you know this, they always give men a pass.  We've covered it here many times before.  So the fact that Isikoff was a talking bobble head for years on this topic, doing great damage and even wrote a book -- with David Corn -- on it, it didn't matter.

Yet all this time later, it's necessary for Max to go after Rachel?

We're not Rachel Maddow fans.  We've never been.  Rachel supported the Iraq War.  AIR AMERICA RADIO gave her a job knowing that.  She's is not and never has been The Great Liberal Hope.  In 2005, Arianna Huffington learned that she was to the left of Rachel.  It was always there for anyone who wanted to see it but few did.  As UNFILTERED fell apart on AAR, Rachel resorted to doing what her bosses told her -- lying to the listeners.  Lizz Winstead was sick, Rachel explained, out sick.  No, Lizz walked out on the show.  And the listeners had every right to know that -- and to know why.  (Why? AAR had decided to cancel UNFILTERED and replace the show with Jerry Springer.  Lizz said "Hell no" and walked.  Rachel stayed on the air and lied.)

She lied before that as well.  She used to show up, for example, on a Tuesday with a WASHINGTON POST article to reference.  It would be a week old but Rachel would insist on air that it had just been published.  At first, people working on the show tried to correct her.  Rachel soon made it clear that they need not bother.  If she was talking about it on air, she was going to intentionally lie and claim it was published in the last 24 hours.

Rachel knowingly brought on a veteran who had beaten his wife and glorified him.  The listeners of UNFILTERED took to the show's chat room to complain about this and Rachel's response?  To bring him back for the Friday show that week and praise him again.  That's how Rachel defends women.

 

We could go on and on and certainly there's the moment when she went after Elaine on air.  Or tried to.  Peace really wasn't a topic on AIR AMERICA RADIO.  Al Franken and Rachel Maddow were both war hawks.  (Al even trashed Meg Ryan for calling for end to the war.  Waited until after she left -- his program was airing from a college -- and then trashed her.  Stated she was "just an actress" -- and what the f**k was he? -- and didn't understand all the complications involved. And, yes, we're aware of the effort to rewrite history on Rachel and Iraq -- shop those lies somewhere else.)  Randi Rhodes and Janeane Garofalo were the only ones worried about peace.  (You can throw in Chuck D but he wasn't on air that much.)  One day, Elaine (a regular on the UNFILTERED chat room -- she listened to an hour each day while she was taking lunch) pointed out that Rachel would bring on pro-war vets and would bring on 'vets' that were veterinarians but never any veteran who was speaking out against the war.  And other regulars agreed that was a problem.  Rachel saw the discussion taking place and had a meltdown on air.  She trashed the person who raised this issue.

But Rachel being such an idiot, she didn't understand the names were at the bottom of the post and trashed a man for what Elaine was writing.  Trashed him, talked crap about him, just lost it on air.

We still listen to it and laugh and laugh.  It's the real Rachel Maddow -- a short-fused liar.

So we're not friends of Rachel and we're not defenders of her.  

But even we were shocked by Max Blumenthal's attack on her.  

For one thing, Rachel was not the only one preaching lies about Russia.  She was part of a huge system that was spreading propaganda.  Equally true, she's not the most prominent today.  She now appears once a week on MSNBC.  Lawrence O'Donnell, for example, also pimped the lies in prime time (and created some of his own) and also did it on MSNBC where he still broadcasts five nights a week.  Why go after Rachel and not him?

The transphobia of Max's wife leads many to believe that Rachel was targeted because she's a lesbian.  We think it might be because she's a lesbian or because she's a woman.  Remember little Maxi as a toddler taking  off his pants or pulling his little penis out through the fly and walk around his parents' visitors insisting this was his favorite toy?

 

Why Rachel?  

 

Not only was she one of many but, again, we're talking about events that are not even pertinent.  By all means, use them as an example of how the media lies.  But let's not pretend this is a pressing issue.

 

The four-day event that Rachel was speaking at?  Sponsored by War Profiteer Lockheed Martin.  And filled with Russia-gaters.  People like Gil Cisneros.  The lottery winner ended up in Congress and never shied from using claims about Russia to attack Donald Trump.  Probably why he was only a one-term member. No sooner had he lost re-election, than his friend Joe Biden put in the Defense Dept where he is now Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness.  Seems like there's a lot to confront Gil on -- both the historical issue of Russia-gate and the current issues of readiness, wars and -- his wife's big ticket issue -- nuclear war.  

 

Max heckled Rachel three-hours-and-fifteen-minutes after Gil finished his panel at Trucon.  Rachel was really the best he could do?  The biggest threat?

 

State after state attempts to strip transgender persons -- children and adults -- of their rights.  And the media that should be calling it out either ignores it or joins in.  MSNBC has many problems currently including, as THE ARI DRENNEN SHOW points out below, Joe Scarborough's habit of lying about transgendered people -- and Mika's habit of smiling and finding it cute.

An actual war -- not Ms. Blumenthal's thus far imaginary nuclear war -- has been going on for some time.  It's a war on the transgendered community -- a war that the right intends to expand to include gay people, transgenders are only the first wave of targets.  

And Max and his wife?  They've joined the side that ridicules and hates transgender people.  

 

They didn't have to do that.  But that's the choice they made.  The same one their friend Glenn Greenwald made.  He ridicules the transgender community.  And he ridicules the staff of THE NEW YORK TIMES which has rightly called out the paper for its one-sided and reactionary work on this issue.  The paper has ignored science to instead push and further attacks on the transgender community.  

Ari Drennan, in the video above, notes that if you're not at the table, you're being served up.  And yet NYT was happy to provide one-sided and hateful 'coverage.'  

 

Tonight, SOUL OF A NATION: THE FREEDOM aired on ABC.  It's rare to get a documentary on one of the big three these days and its even rarer to see a serious discussion of the effects of hate impacting the transgender community.  

 

"All trans kids are kids and that they deserve to be loved.  They deserve to feel joy."  So true but so rare to hear from the media.  Instead, we get hate merchants like Jonathan Turley claiming that children are being harmed!  We need to respect these hateful people, the hate merchents in the media tell us, because they're trying to protect children!  No.  They are not.

Tyler Monroe (MEDIA MATTERS FOR AMERICA) notes:

• Fox News aired more than 2 hours of coverage of the backlash to Target’s Pride Month displays, while running less than a minute of coverage on a new report detailing sex abuse in the Catholic Church in Illinois. 

  Fox added to the right-wing media backlash against Target’s LGBTQ Pride displays as part of a recent crusade against corporate Pride Month campaigns. The company decided to pull some merchandise celebrating Pride Month from store shelves after receiving threats against the safety of its workers.

• From May 23 through 9 a.m. ET May 30, Fox aired over 2 hours and 12 minutes of coverage of the Target controversy. In comparison, Fox reported for just 22 seconds on the Illinois attorney general’s recent report that Catholic Church clergy members and lay religious brothers had abused nearly 2,000 children in the state since 1950.

  Much of Fox’s extensive coverage of the Target boycott included expressions of outrage that children were exposed to clothing with positive messages about the LGBTQ community. While Fox repeatedly fearmongered about this supposed threat to children, the network almost completely ignored the reports of sexual abuse in the Illinois Catholic Church, airing only one segment on the attorney general’s report. 

  Target is just the latest brand Fox has taken aim at in its anti-LGBTQ coverage, adding to attacks on Bud Light for its Dylan Mulvaney promotional content and Disney, which the network falsely accused of grooming and sexualizing children. The repeated targeting of pro-LGBTQ products and sentiments, thinly veiled as defenses of children’s innocence, fit into Fox and right-wing media’s larger homophobic campaign to conflate the LGBTQ community with grooming and child abuse.

But few want to address that reality.  One of the few who has is Karen Hunter.

It's never been about protecting children.  On ABC's documentary, Nicole Maines declared, "I hope the future for transkids is one where they can just be themselves."  That's not asking too much but in the climate of hate we currently live in, it seems near impossible as one phony lie after another is spread by hate merchants intent upon destroying LGBTQ+ members.  Let's again note John Russell (LGBTQ NATION) reported:

Amid recent, highly publicized conservative backlash to several corporations partnering with LGBTQ+ artists and activists, two far-right commentators are saying the quiet part loud: Their goal is to make support for the LGBTQ+ community “toxic” to brands.

On Wednesday, Matt Walsh, a host for far-right media outlet The Daily Wire and one of the most virulently anti-trans voices in the country, kicked off a tweet storm about recent calls to boycott brands like Bud Light and Target by explicitly outlining what he says has been the goal from the start.

“The goal is to make ‘pride’ toxic for brands,” Walsh tweeted. “If they decide to shove this garbage in our face, they should now that they’ll pay a price. It won’t be worth whatever they think they’ll gain. First Bud Light and now Target. Our campaign is making progress. Let’s keep going.”

On his own Daily Wire show, host Michael Knowles reiterated Walsh’s point. “This has been the point that has been building for months now, which is we need to make that symbol toxic, the Pride flag symbol, we need to make that toxic,” Knowles said. “We need to have companies think twice about it.”

“Everyone was talking about the Dylan Mulvaney incident as being harmful to the Bud Light brand,” he continued. “That’s true. But more importantly, it was harmful to the Dylan Mulvaney brand. Now, other companies are going to think twice before sponsoring Dylan Mulvaney because they don’t want to lose $6 billion in market cap in two days. That’s what we got to do. And then once we make these things culturally toxic or as we’re making these symbols culturally toxic, we’ve got to bring in the cavalry, we’ve got to come back in with more political force to ban some of this stuff and to say no.”

The Bud Light debacle started in early April, when the beer brand partnered with Mulvaney, a trans influencer and popular target for anti-trans trolls, sending her a one-off commemorative beer can with an image of her face on it. Transphobes both online and in the media quickly called for a boycott of parent company Anheuser-Busch’s products. The corporation’s lackluster response to the backlash drew criticism from the LGBTQ+ community and led the Human Rights Campaign to downgrade Anheuser-Busch’s previous 100 percent rating on the organization’s corporate equality index.

On Wednesday, Walsh also tweeted that, “The Bud Light boycott will prove to be one of the most significant conservative victories of this decade. It was never just about Bud Light. It was about sending a message.”

 

 

Max Blumenthal, Glenn Greenwald, Aaron Mate, Jonathan THE LIAR Turley and others refuse to defend transgender young adults but can't stop kissing the ass of that Mother Tucker Carlson.  

 

"We all need to decide what kind of a world we want to live in," explained a person on the ABC special.  Yes, we do.  And Max and his crowd appear to have made their decision regarding which side they are on.  That's why his attack on Rachel Maddow is suspect.  She's one of thousands in the media who pimped the Russiagate lies and she wasn't the most powerful person speaking at the Truman Center's event.  But she ended up the one targeted by Max.  People are right to look at his choices and those of his friends and his first wife and come to the conclusion that his attack on Rachel Maddow had a great deal to due with the fact that she's a lesbian.  That's how Max celebrate Pride -- how very FOX "NEWS" of him.

 

George Washington University, why do you let one of your professors lie

Noted transphobe and FOX "NEWS" personality Jonathan Turley blogged the following, "The company is being slammed for hiring a transgender artist, Erik Carnell, who is famous for his Satan-loving products, to create the line. Target is now down $9 billion."

That's not reality.  

Janay Kingsberry explains in "Trans designer dumped by Target explains how he got smeared as Satanist" (WASHINGTON POST):

“For starters, I don’t believe in Satan,” he said. “If I believed in Satan, I’d have to believe in the Bible — and I consider myself an atheist.”

He is hardly the first person to embrace satanic imagery to make a political point. The U.S.-based Satanic Temple — largely a collection of atheists and humanists — towed an eight-foot sculpture of the horned deity Baphomet to the Arkansas Capitol building several years ago, to call attention to conservative attacks on the separation of church and state.

Carnell said he used satanic imagery in some of his art to subvert a homophobic narrative that queer people are sinful, evil or otherwise ungodly. “It’s no different to people reclaiming slurs and trying to remove the power from it to try and use it to benefit them.”

Why does George Washington University continue to allow Jonathan Turley to lie and to lie repeatedly?  It's clear that the transphobe has no ethics -- that's why he plugs his other employer FOX "NEWS" on Twitter and on his blog without disclosing each time he plugs them that they pay him.  He loves to lecture the Bidens about ethics but, when it comes to his own actions, he lives in an ethics-free zone.

The lie we quoted him on?  We don't expect that THE NEW YORK POST would correct the error.  We do think he should be made to correct the slander on his own website (he published the lie both at NYP and at his website).  

P.S. As we've repeatedly pointed out -- and as CNN has noted (after us) -- the backlash against Bud Light includes the LGBTQ+ a community and their allies.  Yet Jonathan wrote a column on May 29th, weeks after this was known, celebrating the success that conservatives and their boycott had.  He never tells the truth and when some form of truth emerges in one of his bits of writing, it's a half=truth.