Jim's World

"ISIS never went away in Iraq" did you see that?

At THE ATLANTIC?

Wow that's news.

Or it would be.

If I didn't read THE COMMON ILLS.

While every hairy ass reporter in the world was celebrating ISIS being vanquished last December when Iraq's Prime Minister Hayder al-Abadi was declaring "final victory" (as THE ATLANTIC notes), one person wasn't.

C.I. of THE COMMON ILLS.


The newspapers said it was over, the TV 'news' programs said it was over, many commentators (including Peter Van Buren) insisted it was over.

January 2, 2018, in fact, C.I. was correcting Peter's claim that it was over.

Time and again, the press is wrong.  Time and again, the gasbags they promote -- Joel Wing, Reidar Visser, etc -- are wrong.

Time and again, C.I. calls it and she's right.

Time and again.

But while she's right, a crackpot is treated as an expert.

If you missed Reider Visser's insane public meltdown, C.I. wrote about it here.

So what's really going on here?

If you're confused, I'm not.

Deborah Amos is much more of an expert on Iraq than Thomas Ricks or any other hairy assed gas bag.

But Amos is a woman.

So they don't quote her.

And C.I.?  She's also a woman.

It's the same damn circle jerk going on, the same men citing the same men citing the same men.  They're apparently fascinated by their own junk, they don't have time to note a woman -- especially not any woman who happens to be right.

ISIS never went away in Iraq.  THE ATLANTIC tells you that this weekend.  C.I.'s told it to you repeatedly throughout this year.

Read a book?

Readers have e-mailed us asking for more book coverage at community sites.  We've passed this request on.

So far, the book coverage includes:

"The Third Hotel by Laura Van Den Berg" -- Trina. 

"T.J. Berry's Space Unicorn Blues" -- Marcia.  

"HELLO GORGEOUS by William Mann" -- Stan.

"CLEOPATRA: HISTORIES, DREAMS AND DISTORTIONS" -- Mike.

"Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M.: Audrey Hepburn, Breakfast at Tiffany's and the Dawn of the Modern Woman Paperback" -- Ann.

"No one Peter Bogdanovich knows is ever gay" -- Marcia.

"Seymour Hersh meanders throughout REPORTER: A MEMOIR" -- C.I. 

"Dusty (by Karen Bartlett)" -- Marcia.

"Media critiques -- Nora Ephron's SCRIBBLE SCRABBLE" -- Mike.

"Judy Garland (the biographies)" -- Kat.

"JEAN HARLOW: TARNISHED ANGEL" -- Betty.  

"UNCOMMON TYPES: Let's kill whomever taught Tom Hanks to type" -- Elaine.

"THE YELLOW WALLPAPER" -- Marcia.

"Anne Sexton: THE COMPLETE POEMS" -- C.I.

"Charlotte Chandler's MARLENE" -- Elaine.

"A sexist woman writes She's a Rebel and distorts music history" -- Ann.

"barbara ehrenreich's 'natural causes'" -- Rebecca. 

"Weight Watchers New Complete Cookbook" -- Trina.

"IN SEARCH OF OUR MOTHERS' GARDENS" -- Elaine.

"Blackfish City" -- Marcia.

"THE CHICKEN CHRONICLES by Alice Walker" -- Ruth.

"Harry Belafonte" -- Mike.

"THE SAME RIVER TWICE (Alice Walker)" -- Isaiah.

"Elaine Weiss' THE WOMAN'S HOUR: THE GREATEST FIGHT TO WIN THE VOTE" -- Ruth.

"Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers of World War II" -- Ann.

"Dancing with Demons: The Authorized Biography of Dusty Springfield" -- Marcia.


"Good for Jimmy Stewart, bad for readers" -- Stan.

"Conversations with Toni Morrison" -- Marcia.

"Forced Into Glory: Abraham Lincoln's White Dream" -- Ann.

"He Ran All The Way" -- Trina.



And we'll also note Ann's "How a book store could stay alive in today's economy" about the book business.

Tweet of the week

1. Chase Madar‏Verified account @ChaseMadar 16h16 hours ago
   

   Tedious weekend reminder that as vile as Trump is, he has not (yet?) done anything as destructive, as stupid, as cataclysmically evil as invading Iraq.

   5 replies10 retweets46 likes

   
   

   
   

Video to catch

Janet Jackson and Daddy Yankee's "Made For Now."

This edition's playlist

1) The Cowboy Junkies' ALL THAT RECKONING.


2) Tori Amos' UNREPENTANT GERALDINES.


3) Alicia Keys' HERE.


4) Tori Amos' SCARLET'S WALK.


5) Sting and Shaggy's 44/876.



6) Janet Jackson's UNBREAKABLE.



7)  Sam Smith's IN THE LONELY HOUR DROWNING SHADOW EDITION.



8) Sam Smith's THE THRILL OF IT ALL.


9) Tori Amos' LITTLE EARTHQUAKES.


10) The B-52's' COSMIC THING.

Truest statement of the week

Glorifying McCain as a war hero allows us to imagine away the sins of Vietnam by making ourselves the victim. He encouraged unjust war in Iran, Iraq, Libya, Syria and more as a cornerstone of his career.

-- Peter Van Buren, "See Ya, John" (WE MEANT WELL).

Truest statement of the week II

If you want to see a world with more and more John McCains, with more and more US wars of aggression and regime change interventionism, then by all means play right along with his public beatification. If you want to see a world where neoconservative war whores are treated with the revulsion, disdain and rejection they deserve, then now is your chance to help create that world. Refuse to be shamed and guilted into polite silence and move in the exact opposite direction from where the establishment shepherds are herding you.


Caitlin Johnstone, "Do NOT! Let Them Make A Saint of This Asshole" (MEDIUM).

A note to our readers

Hey --

Early Monday morning  And we're done. 

Let's thank all who participated this edition which includes Dallas and the following:

The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jim, Dona, Ty, Jess and Ava,
Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude,
Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man,
C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review,
Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills),
Mike of Mikey Likes It!,
Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz),
Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix,
Ruth of Ruth's Report,
Wally of The Daily Jot,
Trina of Trina's Kitchen, Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ,
Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends,
Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts,
and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub.

And what did we come up with?

• Truest statement of the week

Peter van Buren gets a truest.

• Truest statement of the week II

As does Catlin Johnstone.

• Editorial: Deaths

The man who helped start the Iraq War died.

• TV: The flipped out flipper

Ava and C.I. look at flipping shows.  And there's a new illustration for their media pieces.

• Racist and War Monger John McCain died -- finally

Again, he's dead.

• Pig nosed Stephen King endorses racism and attacks...

Stephen King's nose.  We hadn't seen a photo until working on this, but his nose, what happened to his nose?  

• Fake Ass Goodman gets taken down on Twitter

The threads of Twitter are written on the subway walls.

• Political humor and critiques hold up

Praise for Jane Wagner.

• Read a book?

Continuing to note community coverage of books.

• She really is a bitch, isn't she?

Maggie is hideous.

• US and puppet government betray the Iraqi people

Basra.   

• This edition's playlist

What we listened to while writing.

• Highlights

A look at some of the best.


Peace,





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