Monday evening, Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "The Set Up" went up. I'm sick of Nancy Pelosi. Democrats need a fighter and Nancy never fights for the average American. She just fights for the rich. I'm sick of apologists for the Democratic Party as well. Genevieve Leigh (WSWS) writes:
Under conditions of unprecedented political crisis in the United States, Jacobin magazine, which is politically affiliated with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), is ever more openly positioning itself as both a defender and adviser to the Biden campaign.
In one of the latest articles in this vein, David Sirota and Andrew Perez (“To Fight Trump’s Rising Authoritarianism, Dems Must Drop Their Learned Helplessness”) respond to Trump’s declaration last week that he would not accept a peaceful transfer of power in the event he loses the upcoming presidential election. The authors also condemn his attempt to rush through a Supreme Court nominee that could be a major factor in deciding the next president in the event of a contested election.
In characterizing the significance of these developments, Sirota and Perez write: “This is a crime in process—specifically, a coup that will be engineered remotely by Zoom, as Republican lawmakers now plan to leave Washington without passing a pandemic relief bill and return only for votes to install a new Supreme Court justice to throw the election.”
Trump is indeed attempting to prepare an electoral coup. He is utilizing the election campaign for this purpose, including the incitement of far-right and fascistic elements and threats to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy the military throughout the United States.
The pressing question facing workers and youth is how this descent into dictatorship and fascism can be stopped. The perspective offered by Jacobin magazine is to channel all opposition behind the Democratic Party.
Sirota and Perez spend a great deal of time reviewing and criticizing the response of the Democrats to Trump’s plotting. They criticize Chuck Schumer’s signal late last week that Senate Democrats would not be waging any serious opposition to Trump’s nomination, along with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s retreat on her empty threats to shut down the government.
Perez and Sirota conclude that the feckless prostration of the Democratic Party is the product of Democrats’ “learned helplessness.” They write that the pathology of the party is “anti-opposition” and one that “embraces any capitulation—no matter how amoral—in the name of electability, living to fight another day, and good manners.”
One could hardly have a more inane analysis of American politics than that offered by Jacobin magazine. According to Perez and Sirota, the Democrats are cast as the Cowardly Lion in the Wizard of Oz, who laments his lack of courage. If only the Democrats had the nerve! Then Dorothy would find her way home to Kansas, and American democracy would be saved from dictatorship.
Absent from the analysis of Jacobin is any reference to the class interests that the Democratic Party represents. The Democratic Party is the oldest capitalist party in the US. It represents a powerful faction of Wall Street, the military and the intelligence agencies, in alliance with privileged sections of the upper-middle class.
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Monday:
Monday, September 28, 2020. Joe Biden gets caught in another lie while the US government talks shutting down the Baghdad-based embassy.
Is Joe Biden making a mistake in not campaigning? Yes, he is. The lie has been that he's doing this due to the Coronavirus. But if that were true, if Joe were trying to set a good example, wouldn't his wife be off the campaign trail?
Jill's out campaigning. Why isn't Joe?
The idiot on the Democratic Party side needs to be called out. Instead, she gets to spew and spew. RISING really doesn't do a good job of holding people accountable.
Joe Biden does not have firm support and poor debate performances can send 'supporters' fleeing. Liz Peek (FOX NEWS) notes:
Can the Democrat candidate survive 90 minutes of an unscripted, fast-paced presidential debate without claiming to have been in the Senate for 180 years or putting the COVID-19 death toll at 200 million Americans, goofs he has made in recent days? Can he endure the challenges sure to come from President Trump without wandering off into the ether?
That is the question, the elephant in the room.
More problems for Joe? He can't stop lying. Lee Brown (NEW YORK POST) reports:
Delaware State University has denied that Joe Biden has ever been a student there — after the presidential candidate’s claim that he “got started” at the historically black college.
The 77-year-old Democrat made his claim while praising historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) during a town hall event last October before the South Carolina Democratic primary, video shows.
“I got started out of a HBCU, Delaware State,” he told pupils at Wilson High School in Florence, which was founded in 1866 by the Freedmen’s Bureau for Black children seeking an education.
Hmm. Remember when Anita Dunham and Joe Biden tried to weaponize a transcript to discredit a woman who was accusing Joe of assault? Anthony Zenkus Tweets:
Tara is highly credible. I remember when St. Beau Biden shut down the man stating he had sex with Barack Obama -- Saint Beau used his position as an AG. I have no idea whether or not the man was telling the truth. But one man went public with claims and a Democratic AG stepped forward when the press was finally interested -- stepped forward and snuffed interest. Remind you of supposed fallout that was going to come from Tara's previous court testimonies? Interesting how that story went no where after it was used to attack Tara's reputation. It's a pattern. We should all grasp that it's a pattern.
Berkley Brannon announced, as Tara's story was gaining traction, that he was launching an investigation into her credentials. That was May. It's four months later. How long does it take to investigate a resume? It was a nice distraction, an easy way to get an already reluctant press to walk away from a story they never wanted to cover.
Turning to Iraq, Sunday Isabel Coles and Michael R. Gordon (WALL ST. JOURNAL) broke the news regarding a line in the sand -- or threat -- the US government was drawing/making in Iraq, "The Trump administration has warned Iraq it is preparing to shut down its embassy in Baghdad unless the Iraqi government stops a spate of rocket attacks by Shiite militias against U.S. interests, Iraqi and U.S. officials said Sunday, in a fresh crisis in relations between the two allies." Farhad Alaaldin (RUDAW) explains, "Baghdad’s Green Zone, which includes the American embassy, was subjected to 19 attacks with Katyusha rockets and mortars in September alone, some of which reached their targets inside the embassy’s vicinity, in addition to 25 IED attacks on convoys serving international coalition forces and an attack on a British diplomatic convoy in Baghdad on 15th of September." John Davison (REUTERS) notes, "The concern among the Iraqis is that pulling out diplomats would be followed quickly by military action against forces Washington blamed for attacks." Louisa Loveluck, Missy Ryan and John Hudson (WASHINGTON POST) add:
“We hope the American administration will reconsider it,” Ahmed Mulla Talal, a spokesman for Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, said Sunday. “There are outlaw groups that try to shake this relationship, and closing the embassy would send a negative message to them.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo notified Kadhimi of the plans Saturday night, according to an official familiar with the matter. Two Western officials in Baghdad said their country’s diplomatic missions had been informed of the plan.
It was unclear on Sunday whether the White House had signed off on a possible departure and what might prompt the Trump administration to shelve the plan. If the administration moves forward, closing the embassy is expected to take 90 days, a window that would give Washington the opportunity to reassess the decision, said a diplomat familiar with the situation.
Is it a real possibility or just a weak threat that won't be backed up? How serious is the US government right now? That's open to debate apparently. Justine Coleman (THE HILL) notes:
It was unclear on Sunday whether the White House had signed off on a possible departure and what might prompt the Trump administration to shelve the plan. If the administration moves forward, closing the embassy is expected to take 90 days, a window that would give Washington the opportunity to reassess the decision, said a diplomat familiar with the situation.
And it's not just the US government calling out the attacks. Strangely enough, Moqtada al-Sadr has been making noises about this throughout last week. YENISAFAK notes, "On Friday, al-Sadr called for an investigation into repeated attacks on foreign missions in Iraq and bringing perpetrators to justice." MIDDLE EAST IN THE FIELD Tweets:
Iraqi Shia cleric “Muqtada al-Sadr” called for an investigation into repeated attacks on foreign missions in Iraq and bringing the perpetrators to justice.
On Arabic social media, this has registered and has some wondering if Moqtada is on the US payroll.
In related news, XINHUA reports:
The U.S. embassy in Iraq announced on Sunday that it will conduct a series of emergency tests and drills after a recent series of attacks.
"Over the course of the next two days, the U.S. embassy will be conducting a series of tests and drills of our emergency procedures and equipment," the embassy said in a statement.
The statement did not give further details about the drills, but observers believe such drills are meant to enhance the protection of the embassy to prevent the landing of mortar rounds and rockets.
The following sites updated:
New content at THIRD:
- Truest statement of the week
- Truest statement of the week II
- A note to our readers
- Editorial: The US' buddy Turkey
- Media: The Jane Fonda Horror Show
- Roundtable
- Tweet of the week
- The attacks on Howie Hawkins
- Impeach Pelosi
- This edition's playlist
- Highlights
