We need Medicare For All. The Republicans are not the ones blocking it, believe it or not. If the Democrats in Congress (and running for Congress) could unite on this, we could have it. It's what the American people want. A promise of Medicare For All could deliver control of both houses of Congress to the Democrats as well as the White House. But some Democratic leaders do not want to help us. Patrick Martin (WSWS) reports:
In back-to-back interventions this week, the current and former top Democrats in Washington called for the party to move even further to the right. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former President Barack Obama were singing from the same hymn book, disparaging rhetorical calls for “Medicare for all” and other reform policies in favor of a conservative, pro-business approach.
Pelosi led the way in an interview with the Washington Post, in which she dismissed the “Medicare for all” proposal pushed by a number of candidates for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination as well as members of her own caucus in the House of Representatives. Accepting the $32 trillion price tag placed on the proposal by a right-wing think tank, Pelsoi said that both the cost and the potential benefits of the plan remained to be explained. “I’m agnostic,” she told the Post. “Show me how you think you can get there.”
The House speaker said she preferred a plan based on the Affordable Care Act—the reactionary program enacted under the Obama administration in 2010, which aims to cut spending on health care while safeguarding the profits of the drug and health insurance companies—to any new system.
“When most people say they’re for Medicare for all, I think they mean health care for all,” Pelosi said. “Let’s see what that means. A lot of people love having their employer-based insurance and the Affordable Care Act gave them better benefits.”
Pelosi rejected the notion that the Democratic Party had moved to the left since the Obama presidency, claiming that it was “just a few people” with high profiles and some of the “presidentials.” This was clearly a reference to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Bernie Sanders, both self-proclaimed “democratic socialists.”
The House speaker, married to a multimillionaire real estate developer, has made it clear that she is perfectly willing to tolerate left-talkers like Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders, as long as they don’t actually determine the policy of either the Democratic Party or the US government.
Again, Medicare For All is popular and is a winning issue.
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Monday:
how have recent changes in water management in southern Iraq influenced the severity of the recent floods? @RashaAlAqeedi
Over 200 families evacuated after rising river level in eastern Iraq
#Over #families #evacuated #rising #river #easternIraq #iraq #flooding #flood #Baghdad #DiyalaRiver #Kharnabat #Baquba #Huweder #Kharnabat #AbdullahalHaiyaly #Baquba
#Iraq: Iraqi Red Crescent: Displacement Of More Than 270 Families From Their Houses That Affected By Floods In Salah Al-din Districts riskmap.com/incidents/5886…
Heartbreaking video of a woman in south Iraq bewailing the loss of her annual crops due to severe flooding. # Iraq
0:07 / 0:36
The flooding in Iraq continues -- with no US media coverage. ALSUMARIA has a photo essay here. They have a video here and note that the Baquba orchids could be at risk. RUDAW notes:
High water from heavy rains and overspill from Dukan Dam has swept away tourism infrastructure along the Little Zab River. Further downstream, hundreds of people have been evacuated and aid agencies report problems accessing flooded areas.
Water in the Dukan Dam reservoir reached the bell-mouth spillway this week, for just the second time since the dam was constructed in 1959. Riverside streets are flooded and the town of Dukan has told people to avoid the area.
“We have instructed people not to use the road until the water level decreases. The manager of the dam in coordination with Baghdad and Erbil is releasing the dam's water. It’s them giving the orders and we are here on full alert,” Mayor Sirwan Sarhad said.
The high waters have also brought snakes.
The European Commission's Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations notes, "The recent floods along the Tigris River and its effluent overflow have caused displacement of people and damage across several areas of Iraq, with Salah governorate being the worst hit. As of 8 April, according to Iraqi Red Crescent, at least 270 families have been displaced in Salah, while 60 houses have been flooded. For the next 24 hours, moderate rainfall is forecast over central-western regions of the country."
In other news, ALSUMARIA reports that Shi'ite politician Ayad Allawi has given conditional support to the call for Basra to become a semi-autonomous province. Allawi also noted his support on his Twitter feed.
#Basra is ailing from corruption and this epidemic must be ended. Although in principle we do not oppose regionalism, there must: be solid institutions in place to protect the respective authorities; laws to control their performance; and their powers must be ratified.
Ayad Allawi led Iraqiya in 2010, the year it won the elections. Nouri al-Maliki, having lost, refused to step down as prime minister. An eight month political stalemate ended with the US negotiated Erbil Agreement which gave Nouri a second term that he did not earn. The will of the voters was thwarted and then-Vice President Joe Biden told a stupid analogy about Ireland (that was stupid and non-applicable). If the US government ever wanted democracy in Iraq, it would have backed the 2010 election results. Instead, they backed Nouri and saw the rise of ISIS in response to Nouri's actions.
While Allawi is backing the independence of Basra (conditionally), Shi'ite cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr is not. After several months in Lebanon, Moqtada has returned to Iraq and he's calling out Basra's call to become semi-independent of the Baghdad-based government -- semi-autonomy similar to the KRG.
The speech of Iraqi leader Al- Sayyid Muqtada Al-Sadr about (the callers for regions) on 7/4/2019
تغريدة الزعيم العراقي السيد مقتدى الصدر اعزه الله حول (دعاة الاقاليم) .. الاحد 7 / 4 / 2019
The speech of Iraqi leader Al- Sayyid Muqtada Al-Sadr about (the callers for regions) on 7/4/2019
تغريدة الزعيم العراقي السيد مقتدى الصدر اعزه الله حول (دعاة الاقاليم) .. الاحد 7 / 4 / 2019
Saturday, REUTERS reported:
Iran’s top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged Iraq on Saturday to demand U.S. troops leave “as soon as possible”, during a visit by Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi that showed off Tehran’s strong influence in Baghdad despite U.S. pressure.
RUDAW noted:
Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has urged Iraq’s Prime Minister Adil Abdul-Mahdi to remove US forces from Iraq as soon as possible and to reject closer relations with Tehran’s regional rival Saudi Arabia.
“You should take necessary measures so that the US will withdraw its troops from Iraq as soon as possible; because in any country where US maintained an enduring military presence, the process of expelling them became more complicated and problematic,” Khamenei told the Iraqi PM, according to a statement on his website.
There are roughly 5,200 US troops stationed in Iraq – officially invited back by the Iraqi government in 2014 to advise and train local forces in the fight against the Islamic State group (ISIS).
Shiite parties in Baghdad which enjoy close ties with Tehran have persistently called for a full US withdrawal, accusing Washington of treating Iraq like a colony.
This as Matthew Cox (MILITARY TIMES) reports:
The Army will deploy the 1st Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, out of Fort Wainwright, Alaska, to replace the 101st Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team in support of Operation Inherent Resolve in Iraq, according to another news release.
"We are privileged to be joining the international coalition that will defeat ISIS and set conditions for increased regional stability," Col. Matthew Brown, commander of the 1st SBCT, said in the release, referring to the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. "The Arctic Wolves are trained, equipped and exceptionally well led. ... The brigade has readied itself for any mission."
Staying in the US, Joe Biden, on Friday, mocked those who felt uncomfortable with his groping.
.@andersoncooper: In most cases if you're a public figure being accused by women of inappropriate touching the last thing you want to do is make any kind of joke about inappropriate touching. Joe Biden today made two." cnn.it/2Uq0eFW
Same reason he's drawing out the announcement of his presidential run. Forcing people to wait is a power move. It's about showing that you can get away with stuff other people can't.
I think Biden touches women in weird and unsettling ways for the same reason he made trolling jokes about it later: It's a power move and he gets a rise out of little displays of dominance that people, especially women, can't do anything about.
Biden keeps insisting that people are objecting to handshakes and hugs. But, as we see in this video, the woman is very happy to shake his hand. It's when he tries, like a weird creep, to grab her face that she flinches.
Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet reacts to former Vice President Joe Biden joking about physical contact in his first speech since allegations he made women uncomfortable: "I do not think anyone should make jokes about it" # CNNSOTU
The men who are bothered by the response to Biden should be asking themselves why their desire to hug women without asking trumps women’s desire to feel respected.
Again, it’s this idea that women are only allowed to complain about the “monsters.” That anything not rising to the level of rape or violence is unimportant.
“Why are we talking about this thing that women care about and impacts their daily lives?”
This this this
When women talk about the every day indignities we face - the too close hugs, the shoulder rubs - a huge hurdle is the fear that we'll be accused of overreacting. That we'll be laughed at. Biden is proving that fear correct.
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