Especially
appealing, in a presidential election cycle where foreign policy is likely to
be a major issue, is his purported opposition to our foreign policy of global
intervention: his votes against both Gulf wars stand out in stark contrast to
Hillary’s record.
Yet his real foreign policy record is closer to Hillary’s than he likes to
admit. Yes, he opposed the Iraq war – and then proceeded to routinely vote to
fund that war: ditto Afghanistan. In 2003, at the height of the Iraq war hysteria,
then Congressman Sanders voted
for a congressional resolution hailing Bush:
“Congress expresses the unequivocal support and appreciation of the nation
to the President as Commander-in-Chief for his firm leadership and decisive
action in the conduct of military operations in Iraq as part of the ongoing
Global War on Terrorism.”
As the drumbeat for war with Iran got louder, Rep. Sanders voted for the
Iran Freedom Support Act, which codified sanctions imposed since the fall of
the Shah and handed out millions to “pro-freedom” groups seeking the overthrow
of the Tehran regime. The Bush administration, you’ll recall, was running a
regime change operation at that point which gave covert support to Jundullah,
a terrorist group responsible for murdering scores of Iranian civilians. Bush
was also canoodling with the Mujahideen-e-Khalq, a weirdo cult group
once designated as a terrorist organization (a label lifted by Hillary Clinton’s
State Department after a well-oiled public relations campaign).
Sanders fulsomely supported the Kosovo war: when shocked
antiwar activists visited his Senate office in Burlington, Vermont, he called
the cops on them. At a Montpelier public meeting featuring a debate on the war,
Bernie argued
passionately in favor of Bill Clinton’s “humanitarian” intervention, and pointedly
told hecklers to leave if they didn’t like what he had to say.
As a Senator, his votes on civil liberties issues
show a distinct pattern. While he voted against the Patriot Act, in 2006 he
voted in favor of making fourteen provisions of the Act permanent, including
those that codified the FBI’s authority to seize business records and carry
out roving wiretaps. Sanders voted no on the legislation establishing the Department
of Homeland Security, but by the time he was in the Senate he was regularly
voting for that agency’s ever-expanding budget.
-- Justin Raimondo, "Bernie Sanders: The Ron Paul of the Left?" (Antiwar.com).
Sunday, May 31, 2015
Truest statement of the week II
By equating the Zionist state’s racial and religious policies with the U.S. civil rights movement, Obama is committing the gravest slander against African Americans. You might call it a “blood libel.” Israel is a full-fledged apartheid state, the only such governmental deformity left in the world, since the demise of the white South African regime, Israel’s close partner in crime, two decades ago. Black and white South Africans are well aware that Israel is the last bastion of the racially-based state. Bishop Desmond Tutu, who supports boycotts and economic sanctions against Israel, says segregation on Israeli highways and in housing reminds him “so much of conditions” Blacks experienced under white rule in his own country. White South African John Dugard, a former United Nations Special Rapporteur, says “Israel’s crimes are infinitely worse than those committed by the apartheid regime in South Africa.” Indeed, an article in the popular Israeli newspaper Haaretz points out that the Zionist state has elements of both “petty” and “grand” apartheid – petty apartheid in effective segregation in public accommodations and transportation, and grand apartheid in terms of where people are allowed to live and work, especially on the occupied West Bank.
-- Glen Ford, "Obama Invokes U.S. Civil Rights Movement to Defend Israel" (Black Agenda Report).
A note to our readers
Hey --
Another Sunday. First, we thank all who participated this edition which includes Dallas and the following:
The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's Kitchen,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.
What did we come up with?
And that's what we came up with.
Peace.
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.
Another Sunday. First, we thank all who participated this edition which includes Dallas and the following:
The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's Kitchen,
Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.
What did we come up with?
Justin Raimondo gets a truest.
Glen Ford gets another truest.
On Twitter, Shi'ite militias can be called out. But last week also saw AP begin referring to documented abuse as "alleged abuse."
Ava and C.I. take on Aquarius and Bernie Sanders.
Isn't it cute how the press portrayed Paul as the strange one.
The slogan that gets to the heart of the matter.
Benghazie will not go away.
The announcement.
Choices inspired by the NBC show Aquarius.
Repost.
Repost.
Mike and the gang wrote this and we thank them.
And that's what we came up with.
Peace.
-- Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess, Ava and C.I.
Editorial: Where are the news outlets?
A Tweet can tell the truth:
So why can't any of the international news outlets?
Where is there bravery?
Where is their concern with human life?
Have they confused themselves with the US State Dept?
Are they of the belief that they too must stay silent to 'help' Haider al-Abadi?
That prime minister hasn't done a thing to help Iraq.
-
Shiite militias crime with sectarian banners & slogans Detain sunnis civilians & ask their families ransom
#Iraq
#IRAQ شمرية العراق
So why can't any of the international news outlets?
Where is there bravery?
Where is their concern with human life?
Have they confused themselves with the US State Dept?
Are they of the belief that they too must stay silent to 'help' Haider al-Abadi?
That prime minister hasn't done a thing to help Iraq.
TV: The Age of New Media?
One of the most remarkable accomplishments of NBC's summer series Aquarius is how often it manages to resemble Henry Diltz photographs. Visually, it's a winner.
Otherwise?
David Duchovny's portrayal of police officer Sam is all dripping, throbbing hard-on, it's all passion and eroticism aided by the best looking partner he's had since Gillian Anderson (The X-Files): Grey Damon as Brian Shafe.
The series is set in 1967 and some reviewers have decided Sam is racist.
The LAPD's reputation (see especially the Daryl Gates era) would make it difficult for the LAPD to be portrayed as anything but.
Sam's partner Brian is married to an African-American woman and Sam's on board with not being opposed long before a real estate scheme finds Brian's family targeted with bricks and racist words painted on the garage door. The whole department has an issue with Latinos but it's Sam who the unknown Latino officer (people think Joe Moran -- Cuban Jose Moran -- is Irish) reaches out to and it's Sam who supports him. Sam's also the one who recognizes Charmain (Claire Holt) has more to offer than making coffee.
By 2015 standards, Sam's a racist.
And Brian's a homophobe.
But the characters inhabit 1967 so is it really that clear cut?
Old hippie Bernie Sanders was a disaster as the Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee -- at one point, he pointedly ignored a VA scandal (a real one, one that was later confirmed and one that saw veterans dying and veterans denied care) to explore, for an entire hearing, holistic medicine.
Bernie was in the news last week when it was revealed that an article he wrote portrayed all women as having fantasies/desires of being gang-raped.
Was it fair, in 2015, to judge Senator Bernie Sanders -- who is playing at running for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination -- by what he wrote in 1972?
On Sunday's Meet The Press (NBC), Bernie got asked about the article.
CHUCK TODD:
This week you found out what it's like to become a nationally recognized candidate for potentially, and potentially, a threat to somebody. A leaking of an essay you wrote in the '70s from Alternative Weekly, your campaign described it as satire. I'll be honest with you, Senator Sanders, it's uncomfortable to read. The only excerpt I'm going to put up is, you wrote this in February of '72, was sort of a fantasy of men and women, you said, "A woman enjoys intercourse with her man as she fantasizes being raped by three men simultaneously." Your campaign described it as satire. Can you explain this essay?
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS:
Sure. Look, this is a piece of fiction that I wrote in 1972, I think. That was 43 years ago. It was very poorly written. And if you read it, what it was dealing with gender stereotypes, why some men like to oppress women, why other women like to be submissive. You know, something like 50 Shades of Gray, very poorly written 43 years ago.
What I'm focusing on right now are the issues impacting the American people today. And that's what I will continue to focus on. And what I think the American people want to hear. And by the way, on broader issues, what I think when we talk about issues, Chuck, we need a lot more debates in this campaign. I hope very much that we can begin with the Democratic candidates at least as early as July, and also Republicans in those debates, as well.
Oh, okay, It's 50 Shades of Gray.
Which, for the record, is also deeply sexist.
That's the best he can do?
And where's the apology?
He's not a fictional character trapped in 1972.
He's a politician seeking votes in 2015.
It's 2015 and so-called 'honor killings' take place around the world -- a woman can be killed for having sex or for having been raped.
And Bernie Sanders thinks he doesn't have to apologize for a piece of trash article he wrote promoting the lie that rape -- that gang-rape, at that -- is a normal desire on the part of all women?
The thing about fake-ass Bernie and his fake-ass supporters is they're all down with the pot and with this and the that but they're never really down with equality -- which is why you don't get much Whiter than Bernie's campaign and his supporters.
Sam is a character trapped in 1967. He's a World War II veteran. A White male who's half-Irish and half-Jewish. He's a man who, when he was drunk, beat his wife.
He's also someone who's attempting to change.
Another aspect of the show is Charles Manson.
The psychopath is just emerging in the storyline which is about as factual as a Ken Burns' 'documentary' on PBS.
But by not being tied to the facts, it is able to tie in a few elements that have always been whispered of -- such as the help Manson supposedly got from certain right-wing politicians in California. Truly novel would be exploring the whispers that Manson was also part of a government program to discredit the left.
Though Manson's potential government connections aren't explored, another aspect is touched upon. Bunchy Cather (Gaius Charles) is a Black Panther and his brother Robert is killed. He asks Sam for help. Sam is able to track down the killer, an informer for the FBI. In questioning him, Sam tricks him and makes him think he'll get a raise for snitching and the FBI agent who he snitches to will get a medal if the killed includes in his statement the fact that he went to see Robert with a gun (intent to kill) as instructed by the FBI agent.
Silent film star Ramon Novarro's death turns up in a heavily disguised reinterpretation which finds him much younger, still acting in lead roles and in the midst of a fake engagement when two brothers -- male hustlers -- kill him.
This is one of those confusing moments.
Novarro's murderers were caught. Why change the actor's name? Why change the killers' names? Why change any of it?
Another question would be why is Michaela McManus cast in the role of Grace?
We have no problem with her acting, she's outstanding.
But she's playing opposite 54-year-old Duchovny and McManus is only 32.
And Grace is supposed to be Sam's ex.
See, 20 years earlier, in 1947, they danced and dance to "Time After Time" as they dated in the summer Grace was between high school and college.
That would make her 38.
A few weeks ago, 37-year-old actress Maggie Gyllenhaal revealed that she was told she was now too old to play the love interest of a 55-year-old actor.
And here's 32-year-old McManus being cast as a 38-year-old woman who is the former (and current) love of Sam played by 54-year-old Duchovny.
And, by the way, McManus is only 12 years older than the 20-year-old actress playing her sixteen-year-old daughter.
It's worth noting.
And even so, Aquarius is more than worth watching.
It's riveting television and riveting streaming. NBC is airing it on Thursday nights this summer but you can stream all the episodes on Hulu currently. This new model has tended to be the focus of The Water Cooler Set and not the content of the show itself. Even so, there's already talk of a season two and the network should explore that because it's solid entertainment. But even while marveling over the look, grasp that it's not history and doesn't pretend to be.
Otherwise?
David Duchovny's portrayal of police officer Sam is all dripping, throbbing hard-on, it's all passion and eroticism aided by the best looking partner he's had since Gillian Anderson (The X-Files): Grey Damon as Brian Shafe.
The series is set in 1967 and some reviewers have decided Sam is racist.
The LAPD's reputation (see especially the Daryl Gates era) would make it difficult for the LAPD to be portrayed as anything but.
Sam's partner Brian is married to an African-American woman and Sam's on board with not being opposed long before a real estate scheme finds Brian's family targeted with bricks and racist words painted on the garage door. The whole department has an issue with Latinos but it's Sam who the unknown Latino officer (people think Joe Moran -- Cuban Jose Moran -- is Irish) reaches out to and it's Sam who supports him. Sam's also the one who recognizes Charmain (Claire Holt) has more to offer than making coffee.
By 2015 standards, Sam's a racist.
And Brian's a homophobe.
But the characters inhabit 1967 so is it really that clear cut?
Old hippie Bernie Sanders was a disaster as the Chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee -- at one point, he pointedly ignored a VA scandal (a real one, one that was later confirmed and one that saw veterans dying and veterans denied care) to explore, for an entire hearing, holistic medicine.
Bernie was in the news last week when it was revealed that an article he wrote portrayed all women as having fantasies/desires of being gang-raped.
Was it fair, in 2015, to judge Senator Bernie Sanders -- who is playing at running for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination -- by what he wrote in 1972?
On Sunday's Meet The Press (NBC), Bernie got asked about the article.
CHUCK TODD:
This week you found out what it's like to become a nationally recognized candidate for potentially, and potentially, a threat to somebody. A leaking of an essay you wrote in the '70s from Alternative Weekly, your campaign described it as satire. I'll be honest with you, Senator Sanders, it's uncomfortable to read. The only excerpt I'm going to put up is, you wrote this in February of '72, was sort of a fantasy of men and women, you said, "A woman enjoys intercourse with her man as she fantasizes being raped by three men simultaneously." Your campaign described it as satire. Can you explain this essay?
SENATOR BERNIE SANDERS:
Sure. Look, this is a piece of fiction that I wrote in 1972, I think. That was 43 years ago. It was very poorly written. And if you read it, what it was dealing with gender stereotypes, why some men like to oppress women, why other women like to be submissive. You know, something like 50 Shades of Gray, very poorly written 43 years ago.
What I'm focusing on right now are the issues impacting the American people today. And that's what I will continue to focus on. And what I think the American people want to hear. And by the way, on broader issues, what I think when we talk about issues, Chuck, we need a lot more debates in this campaign. I hope very much that we can begin with the Democratic candidates at least as early as July, and also Republicans in those debates, as well.
Oh, okay, It's 50 Shades of Gray.
Which, for the record, is also deeply sexist.
That's the best he can do?
And where's the apology?
He's not a fictional character trapped in 1972.
He's a politician seeking votes in 2015.
It's 2015 and so-called 'honor killings' take place around the world -- a woman can be killed for having sex or for having been raped.
And Bernie Sanders thinks he doesn't have to apologize for a piece of trash article he wrote promoting the lie that rape -- that gang-rape, at that -- is a normal desire on the part of all women?
The thing about fake-ass Bernie and his fake-ass supporters is they're all down with the pot and with this and the that but they're never really down with equality -- which is why you don't get much Whiter than Bernie's campaign and his supporters.
Sam is a character trapped in 1967. He's a World War II veteran. A White male who's half-Irish and half-Jewish. He's a man who, when he was drunk, beat his wife.
He's also someone who's attempting to change.
Another aspect of the show is Charles Manson.
The psychopath is just emerging in the storyline which is about as factual as a Ken Burns' 'documentary' on PBS.
But by not being tied to the facts, it is able to tie in a few elements that have always been whispered of -- such as the help Manson supposedly got from certain right-wing politicians in California. Truly novel would be exploring the whispers that Manson was also part of a government program to discredit the left.
Though Manson's potential government connections aren't explored, another aspect is touched upon. Bunchy Cather (Gaius Charles) is a Black Panther and his brother Robert is killed. He asks Sam for help. Sam is able to track down the killer, an informer for the FBI. In questioning him, Sam tricks him and makes him think he'll get a raise for snitching and the FBI agent who he snitches to will get a medal if the killed includes in his statement the fact that he went to see Robert with a gun (intent to kill) as instructed by the FBI agent.
Silent film star Ramon Novarro's death turns up in a heavily disguised reinterpretation which finds him much younger, still acting in lead roles and in the midst of a fake engagement when two brothers -- male hustlers -- kill him.
This is one of those confusing moments.
Novarro's murderers were caught. Why change the actor's name? Why change the killers' names? Why change any of it?
Another question would be why is Michaela McManus cast in the role of Grace?
We have no problem with her acting, she's outstanding.
But she's playing opposite 54-year-old Duchovny and McManus is only 32.
And Grace is supposed to be Sam's ex.
See, 20 years earlier, in 1947, they danced and dance to "Time After Time" as they dated in the summer Grace was between high school and college.
That would make her 38.
A few weeks ago, 37-year-old actress Maggie Gyllenhaal revealed that she was told she was now too old to play the love interest of a 55-year-old actor.
And here's 32-year-old McManus being cast as a 38-year-old woman who is the former (and current) love of Sam played by 54-year-old Duchovny.
And, by the way, McManus is only 12 years older than the 20-year-old actress playing her sixteen-year-old daughter.
It's worth noting.
And even so, Aquarius is more than worth watching.
It's riveting television and riveting streaming. NBC is airing it on Thursday nights this summer but you can stream all the episodes on Hulu currently. This new model has tended to be the focus of The Water Cooler Set and not the content of the show itself. Even so, there's already talk of a season two and the network should explore that because it's solid entertainment. But even while marveling over the look, grasp that it's not history and doesn't pretend to be.
The press tries to flog Rand Paul
TIME magazine proclaims "Rand Paul Kills Patriot Act, Boosts Presidential Campaign -- For the Moment."
For the moment?
A sycophantic press is a bitter press when things don't go their betters way.
The bitches at Reuters -- Patricia Zengerle and Warren Strobel -- filed a report accusing Rand Paul of, among other things, standing against the PATRIOT Act in order to fund raise for his presidential campaign.
Yet no where in their 'report' did Bitch Zengerle or Bitch Strobel ever note that Barack ran for the presidency himself on a campaign opposing the PATRIOT Act.
It's interesting the way the bitches played it -- at every outlet -- pretending that Rand Paul was being strange or difficult.
In 2013, Caroline Houck (Politfact) could note:
"I will provide our intelligence and law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to track and take out the terrorists without undermining our Constitution and our freedom. That means no more illegal wiretapping of American citizens. No more national security letters to spy on citizens who are not suspected of a crime. No more tracking citizens who do nothing more than protest a misguided war. No more ignoring the law when it is inconvenient," Obama said in 2007, adding that "the FISA court works."
Again critiquing "the Bush administration's initial policy on warrantless wiretaps because it crossed the line between protecting our national security and eroding the civil liberties of American citizens," Obama promised to "update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to provide greater oversight and accountability to the congressional intelligence committees to prevent future threats to the rule of law."
He also vowed to "revisit the Patriot Act to ensure that there is real and robust oversight of tools like national security letters, sneak-and-peek searches, and the use of the material witness provision."
Yet in covering the Senate show down, press bitches acted as though they'd been put in a muzzle. Certainly, they couldn't have forgotten.
After all, Paul raised the issue in his May 31st remarks:
James Otis fought a famous case in the 1760's and he found against the British soldiers writing their own warrants. The interesting thing is part of the PATRIOT Act allows our police to write their own warrants. We have something called national security letters. These have been done by the hundreds of thousands.
Interestingly, when the president was in the senate, he was opposed to national security letters and said that they should have judicial warrants. Now it's kind of interesting that in this bill that will pass - it's supported by the president, supported by the Director of National Intelligence and now supported in a wide bipartisan fashion.
It concerns me that the president that supports the bulk data collection and has been performing it illegally for six years now supports this bill the devil's in the details and the question is, will the new bill still allow bulk collection by the phone companies? Will they be able to put into the search engine not an individual for whom we have suspicion but an entire corporation? This is what was revealed when we saw the warrant that was revealed that had Verizon's name on it.
For almost two weeks now, Rand Paul has been calling the shots forcing the White House to play defense just to hold their own.
Can Rand Paul govern if elected president?
He's already demonstrated he can as a US senator.
And that's the story the press bitches have avoided as they've rushed to prop up faded flower Barack Obama.
It sort of says it all
Doesn't it?
Are you ready for new leadership?
Or do you want to fall back into the Clinton - Bush trap?
Haven't we had more than enough of both?
And hasn't the life gone out of Hillary as she tries, eight years later, to again win the party's nomination?
Aren't you ready for new leadership?
Susan Rice lied or Hillary Clinton hid -- figure it out
Poor Bob Somerby -- old, ugly and oh-so stupid.
He's spent three years defending liar and War Hawk Susan Rice.
[Isaiah captures Susan Rice in one of her calmer moments in The World Today Just Nuts "Alice in Barackland."]
Rice supported the Iraq War, took to NPR to declare 'case closed' when Colin Powell made his ridiculous blot on the floor of the United Nations and yet Bob Somerby defends her.
He's been silent for a bit though.
No talky-talky about Susie Rice.
Despite the fact that Rice lied about Benghazi and Benghazi had stomped back into the news.
Sidney Blumenthal, it turns out, sent an assessment to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on 9/13/12 -- two days after the attacks and well before Susan Rice went on all four broadcast networks Sunday Chat & Chews to lie about the 9/11/12 attack in Benghazi which left over four Americans dead.
The known dead are Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods, Glen Doherty and Chris Stevens but as Hillary Clinton has revealed more died in the days after the attack.
So, to be clear for the idiotic Bob Somerby, he's going to have to choose -- as will America.
Susan Rice lied.
Or you can go with Hillary Clinton having information that she refused to share.
That would be a real dereliction of duty, not just insubordination.
And it certainly wouldn't argue that Hillary was fit for the Oval Office.
So Bob and company, figure out which it is: Susan lied or Hillary hid information from the White House.
He's spent three years defending liar and War Hawk Susan Rice.
[Isaiah captures Susan Rice in one of her calmer moments in The World Today Just Nuts "Alice in Barackland."]
Rice supported the Iraq War, took to NPR to declare 'case closed' when Colin Powell made his ridiculous blot on the floor of the United Nations and yet Bob Somerby defends her.
He's been silent for a bit though.
No talky-talky about Susie Rice.
Despite the fact that Rice lied about Benghazi and Benghazi had stomped back into the news.
Sidney Blumenthal, it turns out, sent an assessment to then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on 9/13/12 -- two days after the attacks and well before Susan Rice went on all four broadcast networks Sunday Chat & Chews to lie about the 9/11/12 attack in Benghazi which left over four Americans dead.
The known dead are Sean Smith, Tyrone Woods, Glen Doherty and Chris Stevens but as Hillary Clinton has revealed more died in the days after the attack.
So, to be clear for the idiotic Bob Somerby, he's going to have to choose -- as will America.
Susan Rice lied.
Or you can go with Hillary Clinton having information that she refused to share.
That would be a real dereliction of duty, not just insubordination.
And it certainly wouldn't argue that Hillary was fit for the Oval Office.
So Bob and company, figure out which it is: Susan lied or Hillary hid information from the White House.
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