Tuesday, May 12, 2020

Black Bean Hummus in the Kitchen

2 things you must read:

  • Media: Pig Boys continue their war on women
  • Natalie Wood: The lies that remain repeated (C.I.)...

  • In the first article, Ava and C.I. are taking on the pig boys Michael Tracey, Bob Somerby and Bill Maher and the attacks on Tara Reade.  In the second one, C.I. -- a friend of Natalie Wood's -- weighs in on the Natalie Wood documentary.

    I was exhausted this weekend, sorry for not posting.  I did a double on Friday and also grabbed a shift on Saturday so I was in no place to blog.  :(  I am getting a lot of e-mails about Boston supposedly having grocery jackings and other things.  I haven't seen it.  I go to the grocery store myself.  I don't have time to order online.  No one's bothered me or tried to 'hijack' my groceries on the way out of the store.  I am in my scrubs though, so maybe people are giving me a pass.  I will ask at work tomorrow and see if anyone has heard of this.

    C.I. slid this over:

    RECIPE: Nelson German’s black bean hummus served with curried yam (Serves 10, makes lots of leftovers)
    INGREDIENTS
    Sofrito
    • Red onion – 1
    • Garlic – 12 cloves
    • Green bell pepper – 1
    • Cilantro – 1 bunch
    • Canola oil – 1/2 cup
    • Kosher salt – 1 tbsp
    Beans
    • Dry Black beans – 1.5lbs (Soak overnight if possible)
    • Sofrito – 1/2 cup
    • Soy sauce – 1/4 cup
    • Tomato paste – 1/4 cup
    • Veggie stock – 2qts
    • Adobo seasoning – 2 Tbsp
    Hummus
    • Cooked Black beans – 2 qts
    • Tahini (sesame paste) – 2 Tbsp
    • Pureed Chipotle – 1 Tbsp
    • Limes – 3, zested & juiced
    • Salt & pepper to taste
    Curried Yam
    • Yam – 1 yam small diced
    • Sofrito – 1 Tbsp
    • Curry – 1.5 Tbsp
    • Cumin – 1 tsp
    • Brown sugar – 1 Tbsp
    • Salt – 1 tsp (add more to taste)
    • Black pepper to taste
    • White wine or veggie stock for deglazing and slight pan braising –  ½ cup
    Directions
    Sofrito 
    Rough chop all ingredients. Then blend everything together in a food processor until pureed.
    Beans
    In a sauce pan add 2 Tbsp of canola oil. Let it heat up at medium high. Add sofrito and sauté for 20 seconds until aromatics come through, then add beans. Stir fry for 30 seconds. Add soy sauce, also the stock, and bring to a boil. Add tomato paste, seasoning and mix well until paste is dissolved. Lower heat to medium low and cover. Let cook for 45 mins but gently stir every 10 mins. If after 45 mins it needs more time, add an extra 10 mins.
    Hummus 
    Make this while beans are still hot/warm. Just blend everything together in a food processor until pureed. Add a little stock to thin out if need be. Then pass through a chinois (fine strainer).
    Curried Yams
    In a sauté pan at medium heat add, 1 Tbsp canola oil. Add sofrito and stir fry for 20 seconds. Bring up heat to medium high, then add yams, salt, brown sugar, and sauté for 1 minute. Deglaze with the wine or stock, add curry and cumin. Lower heat to medium low, cover and let fully cook for 2 to 3 mins. Once cooked, let cool on a sheet pan, then refrigerate.
    Plating:
    Plate hummus in a semi deep bowl, spoon around the curried yams in a circular motion. Then garnish with thinly sliced cilantro.


    That is from KPFA's Upfront and C.I. noted the recipe's discussed on the program (30 minutes into the program, after the newsbreak) and she thought I might also enjoy the discussion with Malkia Devich-Cyril about Tara Reade (about one hour and eight minutes into the program). Ms. Devich-Cyril argues that part of the story -- a part that the media is ignoring -- is why the voters are now placed between two "rapey'' White, elderly candidates.  The interviewer noted that the voters are faced with voting for a devil or voting for a devil.  "Black people have always faced that kind of choice," says Ms. Devich-Cyril.  I think many people will enjoy this conversation.

    I enjoyed Ms. Devich-Cyril's observations.  I do not need her -- or anyone -- to tell me how to vote though.  I'm a grown ass woman, I've raised eight kids.  And we do have more choices than Joe Biden or Donald Trump.  Joseph Kishore is running for president.  He is the SEP candidate.  This is from his latest at WSWS:

    Yesterday, the US Labor Department released its April unemployment report, revealing a level of joblessness that is without historical precedent. On the same day, the stock market rose sharply, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average finishing up more than 450 points, or nearly two percent. Wall Street continues not only to feast on death, as the toll from the coronavirus continues to grow, but to profit from the mass social misery that the pandemic has produced.
    The Labor Department report recorded a drop of employment of 20.5 million people. Not only is this the largest monthly collapse in history, it exceeds the previous record more than 10 times over. The official unemployment rate increased from under 4 percent to 14.7 percent, far above anything seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
    As bad as these numbers are, they significantly underestimate the scale of the social dislocation. The April report is based on estimates calculated during the middle of last month, so they do not take into account the millions of people who have lost their jobs over the last three weeks. Some 33.5 million have filed for unemployment claims since the beginning of state and federal lockdowns seven weeks ago.
    According to the report, moreover, 6.4 million additional workers have left the labor force entirely and are not counted as unemployed, bringing the labor force participation rate to its lowest level since 1973. Another 11 million workers reported that they were working part time because they could not find full-time work, an increase of 7 million people since before the pandemic.
    When all factors are taken into account, something in the area of one third of the work force is out of work.
    Mass joblessness is impacting nearly every sector of the working class. Employment in the leisure and hospitality sector was the most extreme, falling by nearly 50 percent, or 7.7 million people. There were 2.1 million job losses in business and professional services, 2.1 million in retail, 1.3 million in manufacturing and 1 million in construction.
    Stunningly, amidst an expanding pandemic, there were 1.4 million job cuts in health care. And under conditions of an enormous social crisis, there were 650,000 job cuts in the social assistance sector.
    The report notes, moreover, that mass unemployment has impacted workers of all races and genders. The unemployment rate among adult men soared to 13.0 percent, adult women to 15.5 percent, and teenagers to 31.9 percent. The rate was 14.2 percent for whites, 16.7 percent for blacks, 14.5 percent for Asians and 18.9 percent for Hispanics.






    This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Monday:


    Monday, May 11, 2020.  The attacks on Tara Reade continue.

    Friday evening, Megyn Kelly posted her interview with Tara Reade on her YOUTUBE channel.




    Elise Swain (THE INTERCEPT) notes:


    Biden’s accuser, Tara Reade, was one of eight women who registered complaints of inappropriate touching in April of last year — before Biden ever jumped into the presidential race. As Biden appeared likely to be the Democratic nominee, Reade came forward in late March and told her story about her former boss. In an interview with podcast host Katie Halper, Reade said Biden penetrated her vagina with his fingers. She alleges the incident occurred in 1993, while she was an aide in his Senate office. What Reade describes is rape, according to the Department of Justice’s own definition. In an interview with Megyn Kelly, Reade has called on Biden to end his presidential bid and “step forward and be held accountable.”
    [. . .
    The name Lucy Flores may be all but forgotten in an exhausting year of political reporting. Flores was the first to come forward and register publicly that an encounter with Biden made her deeply uncomfortable. In a viral essay, Flores described how, in 2015, then-Vice President Biden made her feel “uneasy, gross, and confused” as she campaigned for lieutenant governor in Nevada.
    “I feel him come up close behind me, and that’s when he leans in and he lingers around my head,” Flores recounted on Intercepted. “I hear him kind of inhale. And then he proceeds to plant this low kiss on the top of my head.” (Biden denied that he had acted inappropriately toward Flores.)
    Seven more women came forward with similar stories of Biden’s manner of unwanted, inappropriate touching. Descriptions told of how his hands intimately lingered on everything from the women’s necks, shoulders, backs, or thighs. Some say his forehead pressed against theirs. Noses so close that they rubbed together. Breathing in the smell of hair. Kissing the back of the head.


     At THE GUARDIAN, Daniel Strauss points out:

    A small group of insurgent Democratic congressional candidates have begun to raise concerns that Reade’s allegations are not being taken seriously enough. Rebecca Parson, a liberal Democrat challenging the Washington state congressman Derek Kilmer, said in an interview on Friday that Biden should step down over Reade’s allegations. Parson said she believes Reade and thinks the charges create too much of a vulnerability for Biden in the 2020 presidential election.
    “I want to defeat Donald Trump in November and yes, I’m a progressive and I’m in the left-wing of the party, but something that really unites the people in the centrist wing and the progressive wing is we all want to defeat Trump,” Parson said. “I don’t think we do that with somebody who has all these allegations against him, especially because Donald Trump has assault allegations against him and unfortunately with Donald Trump, Trump doesn’t care about being a hypocrite.”
    Parson added: “I think that Biden should withdraw and any one or more of the candidates who aren’t running should restart their campaign because the Democratic primary isn’t over yet.”
    [. . .]
     But Parson is not alone in arguing that at this point Biden should drop out of the race. A Politico/Morning Consult poll found that over a third of Democratic voters surveyed say the party should switch out Biden as their presumptive nominee because of the allegations.

    On Friday, Tara Reade was attacked by sexist pig Bill Maher whose own issues with woman go way beyond the trash he tried with Rose McGowan.

    Why did Tara Reade wait so long to come forward!!!!!!

    Golly, gee, what woman wouldn't want to be attacked and smeared by one attack dog after another?  Right?  A woman who has been assaulted has to survive the original assault and then the second assault which takes place when she comes forward. 

     Ryan Grim takes on one of the lies being told about Tara here.  Michael Tracey's one of the pigs that's repeated the lie.  ("Media: Pig Boys continue their war on women" is Ava and my latest taking on pig boys Michael, Bob Somerby and Bill Maher.)  Your whole life is gone through by the media when you come forward so why come forward?

    The reality is that Joe has a long history of lying.  Joe Biden.  It's what derailed his first presidential run.  And he's continued to lie over and over.  But instead of acknowledging that, people want to smear Tara.

    Joe's the one lying in New Hampshire that he graduated top of his law school class when he was 76th out of 85.  In our piece, Ava and I include this:

    In August of 2008, Alexander Cockburn (COUNTERPUNCH) wrote:

    Biden  is a notorious flapjaw. His vanity deludes him into believing that every word that drops from his mouth is minted in the golden currency of Pericles. Vanity is the most conspicuous characteristic of US Senators en bloc , nourished by deferential  acolytes and often expressed in loutish sexual  advances to staffers, interns and the like.  On more than one occasion CounterPunch’s editors have listened to vivid accounts by the recipient of just such advances, this staffer of another senator being accosted  by Biden in the well of the senate  in the weeks immediately following his first wife’s fatal car accident.



     I guess before he died in 2012, Alex was plotting with Tara Reade and, according to Bill Maher, Putin about how to take down Joe Biden in 2020.  Alex obviously seized on the idea of traveling back in time to 2008 to write the above, right?

    Joe Biden's history is ugly and messy.  It's one lie after another.  Does the fact that he's a politician excuse that long pattern of lying?

     Nothing excuses his lying.

    But it's not even acknowledged.


    RISING is set to address the topic of Bill Maher and other things later this morning.



    Hopefully it won't be like NBC's MEET THE PRESS which 'ran out' of time for the topic of Tara Reade on Sunday.  

    May 7th, Iraq got their latest prime minister.  ALJAZEERA reports:


    Iraq's judiciary ordered courts on Sunday to release anti-government protesters, carrying out one of the first decisions of the recently inaugurated prime minister, as dozens of demonstrators burned tyres in renewed protests against the new leadership.
    Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi also promoted a well-respected Iraqi general, who played a key role in the military campaign against the armed group ISIL (ISIS) to lead counter-terrorism operations.

    THE NATIONAL adds:

    The new premier also reinstated and promoted General Abdulwahab Al Saadi, a popular military figure whose abrupt dismissal by previous premier Adel Abdul Mahdi in September had been a main catalyst of the first protests.
    [. . .]
    Protesters turned out overnight in the city of Kut, setting fire to the
    headquarters of the Iran-backed Badr Organisation and to the home of an MP affiliated with another Tehran-aligned faction, according to AFP.
    Hundreds more hit the streets on Sunday morning.
    And Mr Al Kadhimi called on parliament to adopt the new electoral law needed for early polls as demanded by the protesters.
    Still, demonstrators remained sceptical.
    "We will give him 10 days to prove himself, and if our demands aren't met, then we will escalate," said Mohammad, a student protester returning to Tahrir on Sunday.
    "Today is a message."


    In related news,  Mina Aldroubi (THE NATIONAL) reports:


    Police in Basra raided the headquarters of an Iran-backed militia accused of shooting at protesters in the Iraqi city.
    In a police statement, cited by the state-run National Iraqi News Agency, said that party members were arrested, weapons and ammunition confiscated and an investigation into the shootings launched.
    The militia group, named Thar Allah or God’s Revolution, was establish in 1995 and has been described as a “threat to Iraq’s stability.”
    Crowds in the city rallied on Sunday night, days after the formation of a new government last week. People demonstrated outside the militia’s office.

     Last night, I noted "The protesters are watching to see signs of change.  Declaring Ali Allawi (Ahmed Chalabi's nephew) to be Minister of Oil probably doesn't signal any real change."  An e-mail notes that Allawi is the Finance Minister.  Yes, he is that.  That's not all he is.  From S&P GLOBAL this morning:

    Iraq's new prime minister has appointed finance minister Ali Allawi as acting oil minister after parliament last week postponed a vote on the oil ministry post in OPEC's second largest producer, an oil ministry spokesperson told S&P Global Platts on Monday.
    Allawi, who had served in previous governments following the US invasion in 2003, was appointed finance minister last week as parliament granted its vote of confidence to Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, most members of his cabinet and his government program.
    Allawi, a former professor at Oxford University, was appointed by the Interim Iraq Governing Council in 2003 as both minister of trade and minister of defense and remained in his post until 2004. He later served as minister of finance in the Iraqi transitional government from 2005 to 2006.




     New content at THIRD:




     The following sites updated: