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."
Allan Lichtman, the historian who has correctly forecast the results of nine out of the 10 most recent presidential elections argued on Saturday that replacing President Joe Biden could cost Democrats the 2024 election.
[. . .]
“Debate performances can be overcome,” he said. “At the first sign of
adversity the spineless Democrats want to throw under the bus, their own
incumbent president. My goodness.”
That man
[Donald Trump] is a blatant liar, he repeats himself
incessantly, he is rude, and he refused to
answer questions repeatedly. He kept talking
about our “ruined” country, accused President
Bident of “destroying” the country, lied about
the open borders and immigrants, took credit
for Biden policies (such as $35 insulin), and
stirred up racial animus. “They are taking
Black jobs”, Trump railed, speaking of
immigrants. (By the way, what are
“Black” jobs)? He also claimed he never said
“there are good people on both sides” when
racists marched on Charlottesville. He
dithered in response to questions about
abortion and rained negative comments on the
President. If I had a dollar for every time he
said “worst”, I’d have enough for a nice
lunch.
Flash polls say
Trump won the debate by a wide margin; I
disagree. Trump won on style; Biden won on
substance.
Ava and C.I. take on a lot in this one. I (Jim) think it really needs to be underscored that BREAKING POINTS 'celebrated' Pride in their one and only Pride segment in June by bringing a know transphobe who is also a known liar to smear transgendered people and to lie and lie and lie. This is what you call journalism, Krystal Ball?
Not content to focus on destroying the United States, MAGA
Republicans wants to take their crazy international. Case in point,
Robert Gates' former butt-boi Mike Waltz. The member of Congress is
never shy about sporting his huge incompetence and now he's angering
Iraq.
Today, the Iraqi government released its response:
The Foreign Ministry followed the statements and directions of the
United States Congressman Mike Waltz, regarding the President of the
Iraqi Supreme Judicial Council judge Faiq Zidan, the Ministry affirms
its categorical rejection for these statements that undermine the person
of the president of Iraq’s Supreme Judicial Council, judge Faiq Zidan,
and the basic rights of the Iraqi state, in which the judiciary
represents the primary guarantor of rights and freedoms.
The
Ministry considers these statements a blatant interference in Iraqi
internal affairs, and affirms that the attempt to influence the Judicial
authority is a violation of the most important elements of the state
entity, which is responsible for achieving justice, equality and
stability in the country.
The Foreign Ministry regrets the
attempts to involve Congress in such issues, as it constitute an
interference in the sovereignty of states and their judicial systems.
Foreign Ministry of the Republic of Iraq
June 29, 2024
Walz
has long made critiques of Zidan over rulings that appeared to benefit
Baghdad and shortchange the Kurdistan; however, this move makes it hard
for him to be taken seriously on anything. And, for the record, I agree
that Zidan favors Baghdad over Erbil and favors Baghdad over the law.
But
now you want to fog everything up with this claim of being an agent of
Iran? That's ridiculous. A) You have no proof and B) are you ignorant
of the very deep ties that Iran ahs with Erbil -- especially with the
Talanbani family. For example, Hero Talabani could not have fooled the
people of Iraq about her incapacitated husband without the help of the
Iranian government which is why she spent more time visiting Iran after
her husband's stroke than she spent visiting her husband in his hospital
in Germany.
Jalal Talabani was the President of Iraq
when he had his stroke and was immediately taken to Germany. He never
recovered from the stroke and Hero and the others posed him for photos
to try to make it look as though he were mobile. Over a year and half
later when he returned to Iraq, they still wouldn't let him be seen in
public because he could no longer speak and had not recovered full use
of his body. Jalal should have been replaced as President immediately
but the Talabani family did not want to give up their hold on power so
they deceived the Iraqi people. Hero would not have been able to pull
that off had the Iranian government not helped and supported her.
For those late to the party on the Talabani scandal, let's drop back to the October 18, 2021 snapshot:
In 2012, Iraqi
President Jalal
Talabani suffered a stroke. The incident took place late on December
17, 2012 (see the December 18th snapshot) and resulted in Jalal being admitted to Baghdad's Medical Center Hospital. Thursday, December 20, 2012,
he was moved to Germany. He remained there for a year and a half. He
was incapacitated. But the Talabani family lied to everyone so that, as
the Iraqi Constitution requires, Jalal wouldn't be removed from office.
They lied to the country. They deceived the Iraqi people. They propped
him up and posed him for pictures -- leading Arabic media to mock it as
WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S -- but they couldn't offer video because he
couldn't speak.
The second set, months later, also showed Jalal posed with his right side to the camera.
[. . .]
Over 18 months later Jalal would return. They wouldn't be able to use
the return to pump up his party in elections because he couldn't speak.
In other words, the Talabani family lied to the Iraqi people, deceived
them. Iraq had a non-functioning president who should have been removed
from office. But the Talabanis lied to keep Jalal in a post he could
not serve.
[. . .]
They lied to the country. They deceived the Iraqi people. They propped
him up and posed him for pictures -- leading Arabic media to mock it as
WEEKEND AT BERNIE'S -- but they couldn't offer video because he
couldn't speak.
He never spoke in public again. Not even when he returned to Iraq 18 months after his stroke.
He
was not able to do any duties and he was not able to speak but the
Talabani family lied to the press and to the people so that they could
hold onto the position and the prestige. They harmed Iraq in the
process. Iraq needed a real president. It had none.
The
next election showed how much damage the Talabanis had done to the PUK
and that's been true ever since. In addition, you've got Jalal's sons
showing up to try to tell the Kurds what to do. They love that -- and
who wouldn't? One of Jalal's pampered sons who lives in the US and is
married to an American woman returning to the Kurdistan to lecture them
on how they shouldn't want independence for Kurdistan, lecturing them on
how they shouldn't vote for it in a non-binding referendum.
Back to the current issue of Mike Walz's stupidity, XINHUA notes:
The Iraqi parliament's Acting Speaker Mohsen al-Mandalawi noted
that Iraq, as a sovereign country, builds its relations with all
countries "upon mutual respect."
Al-Mandalawi said that if the
draft law is approved, it will constitute a dangerous turning point that
will affect, in one way or another, Iraq-U.S. relations.
Mike Walz, from butt=boi to creator of international incidents. THE IRAQI NEWS AGENCY notes the remarks of al-Mandalawi in a little more detail:
A statement by the media office of the Speaker of Parliament on behalf
of Al-Mandalawi was quoted as saying - received by the Iraqi News Agency
(INA): “What was reported by American media regarding the submission by
Republican Congressman Mike Waltz of a draft law amendment and its
inclusion of a clause affecting the head of the Supreme Judicial
Council, Faiq Zidan, is a dangerous precedent this is added to the
record of the actions of the Biden government, which openly supported
the most horrific mass massacre committed by Zionist gangs against the
people of Gaza, and today it threatens to attack the sovereignty of
states and their symbols without a legal justification that allows it to
do so."
According
to the statement, Al-Mandalawi called on the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs to “move through its diplomatic means and deliver a direct
message of Iraq’s rejection, with all its authorities, of such offensive
interventions, which came from the American Congressman, describing
them as tools of influence for other countries,” stressing that “Iraq is
a country with Sovereignty, and its relations with all countries are
built on the basis of mutual respect."
Al-Mandalawi
stressed, “The draft law to be submitted to Congress by the Republican
representative, and if approved, will constitute a dangerous turning
point that will affect, in one way or another, the nature of bilateral
relations between the two countries.
You'd think Mike Walz could form a circle jerk with the government of Iraq over their mutual love of homophobia. RUDAW notes:
As many in the world celebrate pride month, Iraq’s President Abdul Latif
Rashid ratified controversial amendments to the country’s
anti-prostitution law criminalizing any practice of homosexuality and
transsexuality.
The Iraqi presidency announced that Rashid has approved several bills
which recently passed parliament, including several amendments made to
the country’s anti-prostitution law that criminalize any practice of
homosexuality and sex reassignment surgeries, making them punishable by
up to 15 years in prison.
Maybe Butt-boi Mike is upset because he doesn't think the law goes far enough? RUDAW notes:
Any individual, who undergoes a sex-reassignment surgery, as well as the
doctor or surgeon conducting the operation, will face one to three
years in jail. The bill excludes cases of medical intervention to "treat
birth defects to affirm the sex of the individual," referring to
genital surgeries on intersex children, which can inflict permanent harm
on the individual and compromise sexual function and sensation."
Intersex
recognition is something avoided by the MAGA morons. The law, please
note, is not effective in the semi-autonomous Kurdistan.
In other news, ALJAZEERA reports, "Five large bombs were discovered hidden in the walls of the historic
al-Nuri Mosque in the city of Mosul in northern Iraq, a remnant of the
armed group ISIL’s (ISIS’s) rule over the region. The mosque – famous for its 12th-century leaning minaret – was
destroyed by ISIL in 2017 and has been a focal point of the UN cultural
agency UNESCO’s restoration efforts since 2020." Per AFP, UNESCO has only been able to remove one of the five bombs because four of the bombs are "connected to each other." AP adds, "Iraqi authorities have requested that UNESCO halt all reconstruction
operations at al-Nouri mosque and evacuate the entire complex until the
devices are disarmed."
The Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF) have ousted Abu Zeinab al-Lami
from his role as head of their security unit, a move that highlights his
influential standing within the organization.
“The head of the PMF has removed Abu Zeinab al-Lami from his role as
head of security and discipline directorate,” sources said Thursday.
“Ali al-Zaidi, deputy director of PMF security, has been appointed temporarily in his place,” they added.
Later Thursday, sources suggested the PMF rescinded al-Lami’s dismissal, which he reportedly contested.
Sources familiar with al-Lami’s role reveal that he made significant
decisions without consulting PMF leader Falih al-Fayyadh or Prime
Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.
From that uncertainty of al-Lami's status to the firmer topic of numbers, KURDISTAN 24 reports:
In a troubling development, seven
suicides have been reported in Iraq over the past 72 hours, highlighting
a growing mental health crisis among the population.
Iraqi security agencies attribute this
surge to the overwhelming mental fatigue caused by ongoing social,
financial, and political crises.
Experts are urgently calling for the establishment of awareness and counseling centers to address the increasing suicide rates.
Staying on the topic of suicides, rumors abound that a social influencer held in a Baghdad jail has taken her own life.
Ahmed Luaibi, the ministry's spokesman, told the local media, "Social
media circulated news about the escape of the person named Hadeel
Al-Samarrai, nicknamed Umm Al-Lul, from the prison where she is
currently serving her sentence, and a second piece of news that she
committed suicide inside the prison." "Umm Al-Lul" is an individual's
nickname.
"We deny these circulating reports and confirm that she is in a women's
prison and is in good health," Laibi said. "We are not aware of any
other information." The released news is biased and lacks nuanced
information.
Remember when THE NEW YORK TIMES --
the paper that sold the Iraq War -- pretended to be interested in the
Iraqi judicial and prison systems? Remember that? So long ago that the
reporter covering it was Michael R. Gordon. Gordon's been with THE
WALL STREET JOURNAL for seven years now. It was that long ago --
actually it was before Barack Obama was president that Gordo was
covering that topic. At any rate, KURDISTAN 24 reports:
Prisoners and detainees in Iraqi jails
are enduring severe hardships, including significant delays and
restrictions on visits from their relatives.
In some prisons, it can take up to three
months for family members to see their detained loved ones, a situation
that has drawn sharp criticism from human rights organizations and
activists.
Although there are no precise figures on
the number of detainees in Iraq, estimates suggest that there are
around 100,000 prisoners housed in facilities managed by the Ministries
of Justice, Interior, and Defense, as well as those under the control of
security agencies, national security, and counter-terrorism units.
Additionally, the Popular Mobilization
Forces (PMF or Hashd al-Shaabi) and several secret prisons also hold
thousands of prisoners.
[. . .]
The Iraqi Center for Documenting War Crimes recently reported that 50
prisoners have died from torture in Iraqi prisons this year alone.
Civil war could break out in Iraq
unless prison reforms and national unity are enforced, the country's
first prime minister since the 2003 invasion, Ayad Allawi, told The National.
Mr
Allawi, a secular Shiite Arab and former vice president, warned of the
possibility of rising sectarian tensions in the country and said a new
wave of extremism was brewing in Iraq's overcrowded jails.
"Prisons are becoming a fertile ground for extremism.
Before it was between Sunnis and Shiites, now it's involving tribes,
involving regions, involving districts. The problem, if this continues,
will be a civil war throughout the country," he told The National from his home in London. It is 20 years since he took office in Baghdad.
Mr Allawi also believes prisons are a "breeding place for ISIS" and the extremist group could be on the rise.
He
said one solution would be to "clear prisons" from those who have been
"accused of political reasons – there must be a pardon". There must be a
push for national unity and reconciliation between Iraq's various
ethnic and religious groups that are currently ruling the country, he
added.
Yemeni armed forces say they and Iraqi resistance fighters
have carried out several military operations against ships linked to the
Israeli regime.
A Yemeni statement by the Yemeni forces said the operations on Friday
were carried out in support of the oppressed people of Palestine and
retaliation to Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.
“Our Armed Forces carried out several qualitative military
operations, including a joint military operation with the Islamic
resistance in Iraq targeting the oil tanker ‘Waler’ in the Mediterranean
Sea with a number of drones,” said the statement.
Israel has been shelling different parts of Gaza City on Saturday morning following a deadly assault on Shejaiya on Friday.
Israeli shelling on the Al-Daraj and Al-Sabra neighbourhoods killed eight people, including women and children, according to Palestinian news agency WAFA.
The shelling comes as reports emerge on US
efforts to propose new language for a ceasefire deal in Gaza and to
bridge the gap between Israel and Hamas.
Hamas says there’s been no progress in ceasefire talks with Israel
over the war on Gaza as tens of thousands of protesters took to the
streets of Tel Aviv demanding the government save the captives and get a
deal done.
Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official based in Lebanon, said on
Saturday the Palestinian group is still ready to discuss any truce
proposal that ends the nearly nine-month conflict.
“Once again, Hamas is ready to deal positively with any proposal that
secures a permanent ceasefire, a comprehensive withdrawal from the Gaza
Strip, and a serious swap deal,” Hamdan told a news conference in
Beirut.
Ikram Kouachi (ANADULA AGENCY) adds, "Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate
cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its
continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7, 2023 attack by
Hamas." The slaughter continues. ALJAZEERA notes, "The Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor accused Israeli forces of 'widespread
massacres' in Gaza City, saying it has received reports from its field
teams of soldiers executing 'dozens, possibly hundreds, of victims'." Frances Madeson (TRUTHOUT) reports:
On June 1, approximately 50 medical students from Washington
University in St. Louis, Saint Louis University, and others interested
in the topic gathered at a public library in St. Louis’s Central West
End near both campuses to hear neonatal specialist Yassar Arain
describe the medical apartheid he experienced while volunteering in a
neonatal intensive care unit in Gaza this spring. Some openly wept as he
recounted tragedies he’d witnessed but was powerless to avert.
Arain is a Californian of Pakistani descent now practicing medicine
in Fort Worth, Texas. He’s also a father of young children. In
mid-April, he joined in a two-week medical mission under the aegis of
the Palestinian American Bridge,
a group of doctors that hosts foreign specialists to help provide care
in Gaza in the face of their own drastically reduced numbers. Per the
World Health Organization’s (WHO) latest monthly tally, since October 7, 2023, Israel has attacked 464 health care facilities, killed
727 health care workers, injured another 933, and damaged or destroyed
113 ambulances. Among the doctors, 55 specialists were killed, according
to a Reutersreport. Hundreds of bodies have been found in multiple mass graves at three hospitals. At the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) in Gaza, Arain was the sole neonatologist.
One of Arain’s patients was an infant who’d been shot in the head
during a surprise Israeli attack, while breastfeeding in his mother’s
arms. The bullet entered and exited his skull, making two wounds that
baby Mustafa somehow survived, but with an unknown developmental fate.
He’s since had seizures and needs long-term medical care — and, Arain
said, justice. “One of the hardest things that happens for me
internally, in my own mind,” Arain told the gathering, “is how we
reconcile this with what we promote here in America with newborn
mothers, which is skin-to-skin ‘kangaroo’ care. It helps the baby’s
temperature stay normal, develops bonding, delivers healthy bacteria to
the gut — all these nurturing things. But [think about what] we’re
putting Palestinian mothers and infants through.”
Babies in Gaza are dying needlessly due to supply shortages, babies that
would not have died if hospitals had even 50 percent of the resources
they had prior to October, Arain told the stricken audience. They’ve run
out of surefire medications like surfactant to help prematurely born
babies through respiratory ailments, and don’t have access to certain
technologies like a cooling room needed to cool down babies’ brains when
they experience oxygen deprivation. Israel has destroyed them all. One
newborn in need of cooling was delivered at 24 weeks [(typical gestation
is 36) after her mother’s house was bombed, killing her mother’s family
in the blast and sending her into preterm labor as a result of the
shock. But with no place to send babies in need of brain cooling, they
are condemned to a life of neurological impairment. Arain called it “a
crime against humanity.”
,
Gaza remains under assault. Day 266 of the assault in the wave that began in October. Binoy Kampmark (DISSIDENT VOICE) points out, "Bloodletting as form; murder as fashion. The ongoing campaign in Gaza
by Israel’s Defence Forces continues without stalling and restriction.
But the burgeoning number of corpses is starting to become a challenge
for the propaganda outlets: How to justify it? Fortunately for Israel,
the United States, its unqualified defender, is happy to provide cover
for murder covered in the sheath of self-defence." CNN has explained, "The Gaza Strip is 'the most dangerous place' in the world to be a child, according to the executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund." ABC NEWS quotes UNICEF's December 9th statement, ""The Gaza Strip is the most dangerous place in the world to be a child.
Scores of children are reportedly being killed and injured on a daily
basis. Entire neighborhoods, where children used to play and go to
school have been turned into stacks of rubble, with no life in them." NBC NEWS notes, "Strong majorities of all voters in the U.S. disapprove of President Joe
Biden’s handling of foreign policy and the Israel-Hamas war, according to the latest national NBC News poll.
The erosion is most pronounced among Democrats, a majority of whom
believe Israel has gone too far in its military action in Gaza." The
slaughter continues. It has displaced over 1 million people per the US
Congressional Research Service. Jessica Corbett (COMMON DREAMS) points out, "Academics and legal experts around the world, including Holocaust scholars, have condemned
the six-week Israeli assault of Gaza as genocide." The death toll of
Palestinians in Gaza is grows higher and higher. United Nations Women noted,
"More than
1.9 million people -- 85 per cent of the total population of Gaza --
have
been displaced, including what UN Women estimates to be nearly 1 million
women and girls. The entire population of Gaza -- roughly 2.2 million
people -- are in crisis levels of acute food insecurity or worse." THE NATIONAL notes, "The
Gaza Health Ministry said on Saturday that at least 37,834
Palestinians have been killed and 86,858 injured in Israel's war on Gaza
since October 7. In the 24 hours to noon on Saturday, 40 people were
killed and 224 injured, the ministry added." Months ago, AP noted, "About 4,000 people are reported missing." February 7th, Jeremy Scahill explained
on DEMOCRACY NOW! that "there’s an estimated 7,000 or 8,000
Palestinians missing, many of them in graves that are the rubble of
their former home." February 5th, the United Nations' Phillipe
Lazzarini Tweeted:
April 11th, Sharon Zhang (TRUTHOUT) reported, "In addition to the over 34,000 Palestinians who have been counted as
killed in Israel’s genocidal assault so far, there are 13,000
Palestinians in Gaza who are missing, a humanitarian aid group has
estimated, either buried in rubble or mass graves or disappeared into
Israeli prisons. In a report released Thursday, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor said that the estimate is based on initial reports and that the actual number of people missing is likely even higher."
As for the area itself? Isabele Debre (AP) reveals, "Israel’s military offensive
has turned much of northern Gaza into an uninhabitable moonscape. Whole
neighborhoods have been erased. Homes, schools and hospitals have been
blasted by airstrikes and scorched by tank fire. Some buildings are
still standing, but most are battered shells." Kieron Monks (I NEWS) reports, "More than 40 per cent of the buildings in northern Gaza have been damaged or destroyed, according to a new study of satellite imagery
by US researchers Jamon Van Den Hoek from Oregon State University and
Corey Scher at the City University of New York. The UN gave a figure of 45 per cent of housing
destroyed or damaged across the strip in less than six weeks. The rate
of destruction is among the highest of any conflict since the Second
World War."
As the media constantly demonstrates with its bad actions, it's not about serving the interests of the people or about telling the truth. And no one ever nailed them as strongly as Joni Mitchell.
Dog Eat Dog
It's dog eat dog
I'm just waking up
The dove is in the dungeon
And the white washed hawks
peddle hate and call it love
Dog Eat Dog
Holy hope in the hands of
Snakebite evangelists and racketeers
And big wig financiers
Dog Eat Dog
On prime time crime the victim begs
Money is the road to justice
and power walks it on crooked legs
Prime Time Crime
Holy hope in the hands of
Snakebite evangelists and racketeers
and big wig financiers
Where the wealth's displayed
Thieves and sycophants parade
And where it's made
the slaves will be taken
Some are treated well
In these games of buy and sell
And some like poor beasts
Are burdened down to breaking
-- "Dog Eat Dog," written by Joni Mitchell, title track to her 1985 album.
What is it -- a sense of tribalism, a need to belong, a desire for a non-secular church -- that causes so many otherwise intelligent people on the left to rush to cheer the serving up for reality -- treating it as an honor instead of as the media obligation that it actually is?
We started asking that question a few weeks back when, during our public speaking, we heard non-stop praise for CRAPAPEDIA.
We wondered what amazing feat was responsible for this praise.
Wikipedia has declared the Anti-Defamation League a “generally
unreliable” source on the Israel-Palestine conflict in a major PR blow
for the pro-Israel group. The majority of Wikipedia editors found the ADL to be heavily biased against Palestinian rights. The label puts the ADL
in the same category as Fox News and Amazon reviews, among other
“unreliable” sources. Editors are also considering applying the
unreliable designation to the ADL in relation to “antisemitism.”
Next up, cheers for that broken analog clock you haven't yet thrown out for still getting the time right twice a day!
CRAPAPEDIA, for those who don't know, is nothing to praise. We've long documented its sexism and racism as well as its inability to be factual.
Take the current page on Farrah Fawcett where the biggest lie is in Farrah's TV credits. At the end of them, you will find "2008 South Park Post mortem appearance in 'Dead Celebrities'."
That episode does not feature Farrah Fawcett. They do not use live footage of the actress and she is voiced by April Stewart.
The lie is from November 3, 2023 by FilmTastic who justified the edit as "Added her post-mortem appearance in the cartoon South Park."
The episode includes characters such as Farrah, Michael Jackson, Ted Kennedy, Patrick Swayze, Bea Arthur and many others. Characters. The actual people, who were all dead by the time the episode was written, do not appear, do not provide voices. Interestingly, if you're unaware of CRAPAPEDIA's long history of sexism and desire to punish any woman who ever embraced her own sexuality, it's only Farrah that they did this too. The Michael Jackson entry, for example, didn't get this nonsense -- disrespectful nonsense -- put into it. None of them have it listed as a 'credit' except for Farrah.
Some may say, "That's minor." Really because it's been up for months now and remains uncorrected and it never should have gone up to begin with. It's known at CRAPAPEDIA. They could have fixed it. They chose not to.
They make a lot of choices. Most of those choices involve lying. If they like you -- or they like the person who moderates your page -- they lie for you.
In 2013 DiFranco was criticized on social media and faced "a great deal of outcry"[65] after the announcement that she was hosting a three-day artists' workshop billed as the "Righteous Retreat" at Iberville Parish's Nottoway Plantation in White Castle, Louisiana.[66][67]
Nottoway was one of the largest plantations in the South, and features
the largest antebellum mansion. Its operator and founder John Randolph
owned over 155 slaves in the year 1860.[68] The grounds are now operated as a luxury resort.[69] Critics charged that the resort's promotional material attempts to portray the plantation owner in a positive light,[70] to downplay the suffering of the slaves, and to "sanitize" and "romanticize" the history of slavery for commercial gain.[65][71][72][73][74] DiFranco's choice of venue for the retreat was called "a very blatant display of racism" on a petition at change.org that collected more than 2,600 signatures.[75][76]
On December 29, 2013 DiFranco issued an apology and cancelled the
retreat, stating that "i am not unaware of the mechanism of white
privilege or the fact that i need to listen more than talk when it comes
to issues of race. if nottoway is simply not an acceptable place for me
to go and try to do my work in the eyes of many, then let me just
concede before more divisive words are spilled. ... i think many
positive and life-affirming connections would have been made at this
conference, in its all of its complexity of design. i do not wish to
reinvent the righteous retreat at this point to eliminate the stay at
the Nottoway Plantation. at this point I wish only to cancel."[77] The singer's statements were called "remarkably unapologetic" on jezebel.com,[67][70] and "a variety of excuses and justifications" on ebony.com,[72] and a piece at theguardian.com said the announcement made "much of the idea that this was all a mistake, with no indication of remorse."[74]
DiFranco issued a second apology on January 2, 2014 following
continued criticism. In it she wrote, "..i would like to say i am
sincerely sorry. it is obvious to me now that you were right - all those
who said we can't in good conscience go to that place and support it or
look past for one moment what it deeply represents. i needed a wake up
call and you gave it to me."[78]
In 2013 DiFranco was criticized on social media and faced "a great deal of outcry"[65] after the announcement that she was hosting a three-day artists' workshop billed as the "Righteous Retreat" at Iberville Parish's Nottoway Plantation in White Castle, Louisiana.[66][67]
Nottoway was one of the largest plantations in the South, and features
the largest antebellum mansion. Its operator and founder John Randolph
owned over 155 slaves in the year 1860.[68] The grounds are now operated as a luxury resort.[69] Critics charged that the resort's promotional material attempts to portray the plantation owner in a positive light,[70] to downplay the suffering of the slaves, and to "sanitize" and "romanticize" the history of slavery for commercial gain.[65][71][72][73][74] DiFranco's choice of venue for the retreat was called "a very blatant display of racism" on a petition at change.org that collected more than 2,600 signatures.[75][76]
On December 29, 2013 DiFranco issued an apology and cancelled the
retreat, stating that "i am not unaware of the mechanism of white
privilege or the fact that i need to listen more than talk when it comes
to issues of race. if nottoway is simply not an acceptable place for me
to go and try to do my work in the eyes of many, then let me just
concede before more divisive words are spilled. ... i think many
positive and life-affirming connections would have been made at this
conference, in its all of its complexity of design. i do not wish to
reinvent the righteous retreat at this point to eliminate the stay at
the Nottoway Plantation. at this point I wish only to cancel."[77] The singer's statements were called "remarkably unapologetic" on jezebel.com,[67][70] and "a variety of excuses and justifications" on ebony.com,[72] and a piece at theguardian.com said the announcement made "much of the idea that this was all a mistake, with no indication of remorse."[74]
DiFranco issued a second apology on January 2, 2014 following
continued criticism. In it she succumbed to the rants of these petty
little people by writing, "..i would like to say i am sincerely sorry.
it is obvious to me now that you were right - all those who said we
can't in good conscience go to that place and support it or look past
for one moment what it deeply represents. i needed a wake up call and
you gave it to me."[78]
"She succumbed to the rants of these petty little people" -- she "succumbed" to criticism of her racist decision.
From 1996 through 2012, she landed 11 studio albums in the top one-hundred of BILLBOARD's album chart. Her 2012 album made it all the way to 26 -- her second highest charting album (1998's LITTLE PLASTIC CASTLES remains her highest charting album, it made it to number 22). In 2013, she wanted to hold her racist retreat and got a ton of press attention. Which is why 2014's ALLERGIC TO WATER became her lowest charting album since 1996 and struggled to make it to 155 before quickly falling off the charts. Three years later, she tried again with 2017's BINARY which did even worse coming in at 192.
The career was over. Two studio albums failed to chart in BILLBOARD's top 200 and one live album also flopped. And each year, she becomes more and more of a reactionary. Elaine noted in 2023 that she was trying to let the past be the past only to discover, when she wanted to post a video of Ani's "Little Plastic Castles," Ani had only gotten worse:
But I don't really care and was happy to note her until I went looking
for a video of "Little Plastic Castles." I found her 're-mix' which
pissed me off because it destroyed the song. Then I found a live
version she'd done a few months back. Is the reason that two women "in
leather bras and rubber skirts" is left out because there's a small
child listening to you perform the song? I don't find it objectionable
for a child to hear the line. But if you do, don't perform the song in
front of him.
But we're not done with CRAPAPEDIA. The issue with Ani and her racist event? CRAPAPEDIA made it worse. The retreat -- the biggest news ever in Ani's entire career and the event that destroyed her career so it's historically important for both reasons? March 16, 2018, CRAPAPEDIA let a user remove the entire incident from her page with this 'defense:'
15:52, 27 December 2019 72.66.118.132talk 54,657 bytes−7,521 This
incident is unimportant and should not stay on this artist biography
and was clearly ginned up by right wing trolls. She is an atheist who
revamped a church. So, why would she (an advocate for civil rights and
human rights activist) not use a plantation for good and try to do
something good with its pain and negative history. This incident of her
own community ignoring her good works to support right- wing talking
still hurts this artist to this day and should be corrected for history.
It's unimportant? It destroyed her career. She can't even do a tour anymore without seeing rows and rows of empty seats. And that's what she gets. She posed as a lesbian and as a feminist. It brought her money and eventually fame. It led her to the womyn's circuit which made her a professional and a known artist. So isn't it interesting that, in the 90s, the label she owns, heads and controls, released albums by Arlo Lindsay, Utah Phillips, and Kurt Swinghammer? Yeah, that is strange, a feminist heads a recording label and finds success in the 90s as she tells the music press and anyone who will listen how she sees it as her role to put out albums by important artists. She releases, in the 90s, albums by three other artists -- all men.
Ani has always been eager to use feminism. She just never wants to give back. Among the reasons many of us don't see her as a feminist and haven't since she attacked MS. MAGAZINE -- and only MS. MAGAZINE -- for noting her album sales.
The retreat is an important part of the Ani DiFranco story.
Yet CRAPAPEDIA allowed it to be deleted and ignored -- see the talk section -- comments by African-Americans objecting to the deletion. Second, they allowed that ridiculous statement to stand -- it is not "an unimportant" detail, it was not "ginned up by right wing trolls" (JEZEBEL, for example, was not a right-wing site), and talk of the factual event "still hurts this artist to this day." Oh, boo-hoo.
Is that what CRAPAPEDIA stands by, that the truth can be vanished if it hurts the person the truth is being told on?
There's a reason we've long called it CRAPAPEDIA.
And there's a reason that we avoid BREAKING POINTS. There's Saager's homophobia which we've documented before. And there's the general issue that it does more harm than good.
This was yet again demonstrated Sunday when the charismatically challenged and fact-free James Li hosted a segment. Unfamiliar with the prick? To steal from John Mellencamp, "Jackie says 'Baby, you ain't missing nothing'."
And we won't highlight BREAKING POINTS. We'll highlight Kyle because he does some interesting segments and has a brain.
But BREAKING POINTS? Community wide we now boycott it.
June is Pride Month. A detail James Li wanted to remind us of on Sunday as he queued up his segment. So he wanted to cover an LGBTQ issue, he said. (He did not add "plus.")
That could be good. BREAKING POINTS ignored Pride all month -- and the LGBTQ+ community, except for one segment on the recorded homophobic remarks of Martha Alito. So, yeah, they were kind of overdue and then some.
But James Li had a funny way of covering it. He brought on Heidi Briones.
Who? Exactly. But let's help you out, here's how the transphobe describes herself online:
My name is Heidi Briones, and I consider myself a progressive for most of my adult life.
I changed my views after running for office in 2020 and experienced how the left came after me for my views on COVID and other issues that I saw as authoritarian overreach.
Since then I've naturally leaned towards libertarianism as I feel it's crucial to fight authoritarianism on all sides of the aisle.
She's naturally leaned towards the Libertarian Party . . . except when attacking the openly gay Chase Oliver whom lesbian Heidi loathes and has noted she will not be voting for him.
Yes, Heidi is a lesbian. A long closeted lesbian though she frequently lies in interviews in the last two years about this fact and claims she's been out since the 90s. She wasn't out in college. That was three phone calls -- not at her community college and not when she went onto Santa Cruz.
Let's pause for college just a moment. Heidi is a deeply stupid woman. For example, "I have a degree in politics." She said that in the April 6, 2020 interview she gave to Young Republicans for Oregon. It's political science -- yes, when she transferred from her community college she went to The University of California at Santa Cruz, she was on a campus that termed it that; however, around the country it's political science. She's really not a bright person. Or maybe she's just a liar on everything. After all, the point we're making about political science? She made it herself in a 2020 interview with Matt Skidmore. She was really ugly in that interview, by the way, physically repulsive and there's a reason to note that and we'll get to it but let's stay on college. She likes to say she was an English major in grad school but the degree is actually "Teaching English as a Second Language" -- as she notes it on her professional resume -- curiously, she doesn't note her two years of community college on her professional resume. About that resume, she claims in interviews to have a PhD in "applied holistics" yet somehow hasn't managed to include that on her resume either (or, for that matter, on her filing paperwork when she ran in the primary -- despite listing her other degrees).
She ran for the Democratic Party's Congressional seat in Oregon's first district. No surprise that she didn't bother to note that she was a lesbian, that she was married on the voters survey she completed and she didn't bother to note any LGBTQ+ issues either.
Let's underscore that, the idiot James Li brought her on to talk about LGBTQ+ for Pride month but she had no pride when she was running for office in 2020. Had nothing to say on the issue. Watch her 2020 interviews and notice how she doesn't disclose she's a lesbian. The exception is the hour-and-a-half interview with Matt Skidmore where she lets slip she was a lesbian for the Yang Gang. And that she has a wife. A half-sentence. We had to hear tons about her worship of Elon Musk, for example, or about her first job (working for a relative -- on her official resume she leaves out that it was for a relative). That interview is the exception and it's over in 15 seconds. There's her 2020 interview with Will Stern, while she has time to praise Elon Musk yet again (he's what led her to Andrew Yang), she doesn't mention a wife. Kind of strange isn't it. a candidate for office who is married and never mentions their spouse. Suzanne Bonamici -- the candidate who won the primary that Heidi lost -- didn't hide her spouse. By the way, we especially loved her 2020 FACEBOOK interview. Not for her dog face boy look but for the fact that she was on for four live minutes and never knew it and said nothing of consequence because she's honestly that stupid. "I need to go on FACEBOOK and see if I see my face" and "It's not working" when, in fact, for four minutes it worked and she came off like a buffoon.
She did a 2020 nine-minute-plus interview with The League of Women Voters and never noted that she had a wife, that she was a lesbian or addressed any LGBTQ+ issues.
And this is who James Li thinks is needed for his sole LGBTQ+ content for the month of June (and, if you're kind, BREAKING POINTS' second piece of LGBTQ+ content for the month of June).
Wait though. It gets worse. So, so much worse.
Before James Li decided to platform Heidi, she was already on record referring to Dylan Mulvaney as "it."
That's when FOX "NEWS" first started noting the grifter. Quite a step up for a candidate that got 8,000 voters. And she was a candidate for Congress. No, Heidi was running in a primary and the winner of the primary would be the candidate for Congress. Stop inflating her meager resume that includes 'legislative assistant' (intern) because she worked for her aunt who held public office.
She has a long, long history of expressing hatred towards transpeople. She made her feeling perfectly clear in a March appearance on transphobic Kim Iversen's program. And, like the idiot Iversen, it's all "Commies" to Heidi. Who the f**k let this ugly bitch out of the kennel, by the way?
If you know our writing, you know by now, we treat people the way they treat others. And Heidi loves to tweet about the looks of trans women and to tell them they should be judged by their looks since they're women (she actually says since they "want to be women"). And let's not forget her Tweet where she attacked Britney Griner and spread rumors that Britney was a man.
Heidi is physically repugnant. And her hair lightening has not helped her nor has growing it out. That nose is appalling, her beady eyes are disgusting and did she shave her face each day in high school because it's are to see a woman with so much facial damage.
U-g-l-y, she ain't got no alibi, say it with us.
And neither does James Li or, for that matter, BREAKING POINTS.
She's always been an idiot on every topic. It's why she was selling gym memberships to begin with. She's unskilled and stupid -- at least she admitted to the unskilled part in some interviews. She tried to talk economics in the past despite the fact that she has no grasp of economics. Proposing a 10% tax on goods that everyone would pay -- regardless of income -- is neither fair nor economically just. It would put a higher burden on low income earners. She's a liar and she's an idiot. In 2020, she tried to pass that garbage off as being like the oil dividend in Alaska ("I think it makes a lot of sense") while failing to grasp that the dividend has nothing to do with a flat rate task.
She became a 'feminist' publicly when she wanted to trash transwomen. So she found an African-American conservative who supports Trump and suddenly she was a feminist to do a podcast with him in 2022. She needed a conservative pig who hates women because that's the only way she could pass for a feminist and serve up one lie after another such as her claim that "radical feminists" are for "biological women's rights" but not for transrights. She called trans women "men" and "they're male bodied, they're males" and "they're big and scary."
"So I really think, conservatives and feminists, this is a good time for us to come together," she said in 2022 sucking up to conservatives who hated transgendered people as much as she did. She wants to "get things done" and "come together" with conservatives (she is one herself) to attack the rights of transgender people. "You might not have cared as much about bathrooms," she insisted but sports is "American and everyone can relate" so she joined a dogpile on Lia Thompson and passed that off as feminism.
A resounding 81 percent of self-identified feminist respondents, for example, opposed laws that prevent children from receiving medical care for a gender transition, compared with only 56 percent of Americans as a whole. While 1 in 3 Americans say it is never appropriate to teach that some people are transgender in K-12 public schools, only 1 in 10 feminists in the survey agreed.
These findings challenge the prominence of those who wrap their opposition to the transgender rights movement in the language of feminism. This group includesauthor J.K. Rowlingand columnistAbigail Shrierof the Wall Street Journal, who has called advocacy for trans rights a “war on women.” CelebritiesBette Midler and Macy Grayalso have attracted negative attention on Twitter for posting similar remarks.
That's actual fact.
Feminists are not anti-trans.
Isn't it cue how Heidi Briones, who wants to draw a line between herself and trans women, has no problem embracing -- hell, humping -- conservative men who want to destroy women's rights?
Heidi went after Lia Thomas, she explained, because "sports gets so many eyeballs." When you're a grifter, a failed politicians and someone who in 2020 was bemoaning her lack of marketable skills and education, you go where the eyeballs are.
And this is who BREAKING POINTS elected to bring on as a guest?
And they call themselves 'independent news' -- though they don't do news. They do commentary and, thanks to James Li they did very bad commentary today.
Were it a functioning 'news' outlet, they would immediately rectify that segment by bringing on someone to talk about trans issues -- someone who is actually trans. They won't do that because they have no standards. They'll bring on a transphobe to talk about trans people but they won't bring on a trans person.
Joni Mitchell's "Dog Eat Dog" song and the album itself got attacked by American media in real time. It's one of her great albums of the 80s (sorry, WILD THINGS RUN FAST is garbage). We would rank DOG EAT DOG as a classic and think it's telling that the album the American media ripped apart was also the album that . . . called American media out.
Jim, Dona, Jess, Ty, "Ava" started out this site as five students enrolled in journalism in NY. Now? We're still students. We're in CA. Journalism? The majority scoffs at the notion.
From the start, at the very start, C.I. of The Common Ills has helped with the writing here. C.I.'s part of our core six/gang. (C.I. and Ava write the TV commentaries by themselves.) So that's the six of us. We also credit Dallas as our link locator, soundboard and much more. We try to remember to thank him each week (don't always remember to note it here) but we'll note him in this. So this is a site by the gang/core six: Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I. (of The Common Ills).
