From Sunday, that's Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "2 Partisans Talking."
With the nonsense that was choose rapist Donald or rapist Joe for president over, maybe WSWS can get back to reality? I would recommend Genevieve Leigh's piece and Eric London's piece. But I will quote from Kate Randall's article because it's a good piece and she's a strong writer:
President-elect Joe Biden on Monday announced the members of his coronavirus task force. The convening of the panel comes as COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations continue to soar across the US, with predictions that the coming winter will see a dramatic rise in cases and deaths.
The US has now seen more than 10 million coronavirus cases and is approaching 240,000 deaths. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) now estimates that there will be 2,600 to 13,000 new COVID-19 hospitalizations per day by the end of November.
As had been expected, the transition task force will be co-chaired by three familiar figures in government and academia: David Kessler, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration in the George H.W. Bush and Clinton administrations; Dr. Vivek Murthy, surgeon general under Barack Obama; and Dr. Marcella Nunez-Smith, a professor of public health at Yale University.
The 13-member Biden-Harris coronavirus transition team has been hailed by Democratic Party-leaning news outlets as a dramatic departure from the performance of the Trump administration’s White House Coronavirus Task Force.
While it is true that the Democrats’ virus transition team is not populated by open advocates of “herd immunity” like Dr. Scott Atlas, an examination of both the team and the president-elect’s policies reveals that the next administration’s approach will be based on the drive to reopen schools and businesses, and will continue to subordinate the government response to the pandemic to the defense of corporate profits at the expense of the health and lives of America’s working population.
Included among the Biden team’s members are advocates of the rationing of health care and proponents of the further privatization of health care delivery. The selection of the panel’s top officials also signals that, in keeping with the Democratic Party’s focus on identity politics, a Biden administration will seek to present the inequities in health care primarily as a racial, rather than a class, question.
Of particular note is the inclusion on the panel of Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, the chair of the Department of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania and brother of Rahm Emanuel, former mayor of Chicago and White House chief of staff under Obama. The World Socialist Web Site has written extensively on Dr. Emanuel’s promotion of class-based, rationed medical care for the majority of Americans, particularly the elderly.
In an especially foul piece published in the November-December 1996 Hastings Center Report, Emanuel wrote that “services provided to individuals who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens are not basic and should not be guaranteed. An obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with dementia.”
So Joe's for rationed healthcare? Okay, then, let's start with him. Should he, like Donald Trump before him, end up with covid, let's 'honor' Joe and not provide treatment.
If you don't get that I'm being sarcastic, I am.
I'm a nurse. I do not support rationing healthcare. I do support patients being informed and making informed decisions (including a patient's right to stop treatment). But I do not support rationing healthcare.
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" on Monday:
Monday, November 9, 2020. The press declares Joe Biden the winner of the US presidential election (electoral college will actually decide on December 14th), Donald Trump insists the vote is wrong but keeps begging for money while refusing to detail any wrongs, an Iraqi protester was killed in Basra on Friday and the US media finally discovers what we noted about the displacement camp closing in Iraq -- what we noted over a week ago.
It's a Battle of the Duopoly War Hawks at present. On Saturday, the press called the election for Joe Biden -- the Democratic Party's War Hawk. Donald Trump, the sitting president and the War Hawk for the Republican Party, has not taken the call well. At 7:22 am this morning, the Trump campaign sent out an e-mail entitled "Update on the vote" which is fundraising for the "OFFICIAL ELECTION DEFENSE FUND." "Fight back now," the e-mail advises, and to fight back, you can contribute $220, $165, $110, $55 or "CONTRIBUTE ANY AMOUNT." This follows their 6:21 e-mail this morning entitled "For Patriots ONLY" -- anytime caps are used in quotes, that is their use, FYI -- which informed:
The Radical Left is UNHINGED.
President Trump will easily WIN the Presidency of the United States
with ONLY LEGAL votes cast, but Election observers are not being allowed
to do their jobs. It’s madness.
Every single Patriot from across the Nation must step up RIGHT NOW if
we’re going to successfully DEFEND the integrity of this Election. We
need YOU to join the Election Defense Task Force.
That second e-mail followed the one entitled "You've never let me down before" which was sent out at 5:14 this morning -- an e-mail that followed the one sent out at 12:18 this morning entitled "Mysterious Ballots." Sadly, that e-mail just listed amounts to donate and nothing to do with the actual title of the e-mails. I'm being a little sarcastic here but when a friend told me they were forwarding all this stuff, I thought, "Okay, good. He's a sitting president, he's saying the count is wrong, let's present whatever his argument is." But, thus far, the argument boils down to: Send money. Lots and lots of money.
Among the many e-mails his campaign sent out on Sunday, there was one entitled "STOP COUNTING ILLEGAL BALLOTS" which stated:
Joe Biden has NOT been certified as the winner of any states, let alone any highly contested states headed for mandatory recounts, or any states where our campaign has valid and legitimate legal challenges that could determine the ultimate victor.
The American People are entitled to an honest Election; that means counting all legal ballots, and not counting any illegal ballots. This is the only way to ensure the public has full confidence in our Election.
I can't disagree that the count is not state certified, I can't disagree that Joe has media allies and I can't disagree about the need for "an honest Election"; however, though the e-mail makes plenty of space for you to choose an amount to donate, it fails to explain anything.
It's crass -- but certainly in keeping with Donald -- to just have his hand out trying to take your money. Where's the time being taken to explain his argument?
For all I know, there may be a valid legal argument regarding this election -- there may be several. But if there are, you make those in every e-mail. Donald's certainly willing to beg for cash in every e-mail. Is there a reason that, in the twelve e-mails I've looked over this morning, not one makes a legal argument? "Illegal ballots" where? What state? Why are they illegal?
I don't like Donald but I'm certainly willing to be fair and, if he's telling his side, we'll note it here. Out of fairness and also because if a sitting president argues that election results are wrong, that's news. But despite having read multiple ballots, I haven't seen his campaign offer one example of what they think is wrong/illegal/whatever about the vote count.
If he thinks it's wrong, say so. Say so loudly and publicly. Don't be a little bitch like John Kerry who went on and on insisting that the 2004 election was stolen but wouldn't say so publicly. Forgotten that? One example, Mark Cripsin Miller on the November 4, 2005 broadcast of DEMOCRACY NOW!:
Speaking of John Kerry, I have some news for you. On Friday, this last Friday night, I arranged to meet Senator Kerry at a fundraiser to give him a copy of my book. He told me he now thinks the election was stolen. He said he doesn’t believe that he is the person who can go out front on the issue, because of the sour grapes, you know, question. But he said he believes it was stolen. He says he argues about this with his Democratic colleagues on the Hill. He had just had a big fight with Christopher Dodd about it, because he said, you know, ’There’s this stuff about the voting machines; they’re really questionable.’ And Dodd was angry. 'I don't want to hear about it,’ you know, 'I looked into it. There's nothing there.’
John Kerry betrayed those who voted for him. If Donald thinks the election was stolen, he owes his voters a fight. But that requires more than begging for money over and over.
Let's switch topics. Last week, Cher decided to steal the old torch song "Happiness Is A Thing Called Joe" and try to whore the song for Joe Biden. Why? She long ago recorded her own Joe Biden song.
"Hey Joe" -- she recorded it for her 1967 album WITH LOVE, CHER. And it's a much more fitting song for Joe Biden. "Hey, Joe, where you going with that gun in your hand?"
That's the unasked question, right?
Elect Joe to better the lives of people of color!
That was the claim -- as long as we stuck with people of color in the US only. Joe's history is one of persecution and targeting people of color around the world. It was Joe and Barack who overthrew the leadership in Libya. The result? Among other things, open markets where slaves were sold -- in the 21st century. Sarah Abdallah Tweeted about Bully Boy Bush congratulating Joe:
Bush, the destroyer of Afghanistan and Iraq, offers up congratulations to Biden, the destroyer of Libya, Syria, Yemen and Ukraine. How adorable.
Solomon Comissiong (BLACK AGENDA REPORT) in December 2017:
Many of the people who are crying out for the ending of slavery in Libya are the same people that supported the lethal Obama/Clinton tag-team that orchestrated the destruction of what was once the African nation with the highest living standards -- Libya! Many of these folks unconditionally supported BarackObama and Hillary Clinton despite their nefarious actions. Many even made excuses for the bombing of Libya knowing that if George W. Bush or Donald Trump were doing the same, they would be crying bloody murder! The hypocrisy is quite pathetic and beyond reprehensible.
In 2011 the Obama administration bombed Libya into oblivion while using racist and terrorist rebel groups to do their dirty deeds on the ground. These terrorists often targeted Black Africans for rape, torture, and public lynchings, simply because they were seen as allies to Muammar Gaddafi -- who had provided a safe haven for those same Black Africans.
The Obama administration knew all of this. They used the CIA to deliver arms, advice and even cash to terrorist rebels, in an effort to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi and the Libyan Jamahiriya. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton desperately wanted to halt the advancements of Gaddafi and his government.
Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama lied to the public regarding Muammar Gaddafi and Libya in order to create a “justification” to topple Gaddafi and his government. There was not a shred of credible evidence that he was planning to murder Libyan civilians. However, he was resistant to the United States’ neo-colonial machinations with Africom. And, knowing that the US dollar was rapidly dropping in value, he wanted the US to purchase oil from Libya in the form of gold. He called for a United States of Africa. He also wanted to rid his country of terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda. Muammar Gaddafi and the Libyan Jamahiriya was just the kind of leader (and government) the United States hates and historically loves to overthrow.
Under Gaddafi, Libya also had free education and free healthcare -- things US citizens don’t even have. The nationalized oil reserves, which helped Gaddafi pay for these social programs, has since been exploited by many of the same Western players (NATO) who assisted the US in the savage destruction of Libya.
As Ajamu Baraka noted last week at BLACK AGENDA REPORT:
What is this “new fascism” the latte-left talks about? What is this “existential threat”? For most of us, the threat has always been existential. When colonial Nazism that was inspired by the U.S. Jim Crow South was applied in Europe—with its violence and racism—it was only then that it took on a different moral and political characterization.
The racist French government launches a domestic terror campaign against Muslims in the country, while bombing Africans in Africa and overthrowing their governments. The European Union gives a human rights award to a political opposition in Venezuela that burns Black people alive because those people are seen as Maduro supporters. Meanwhile, NATO, the military wing of U.S. and European white supremacy, expands into South America to support the Monroe Doctrine that morally justifies U.S. regional domination. But fascism is coming to the U.S., they cry!
For those of us who reside in the colonized spaces of empire, leading with uncritical emotionalism as we confront and attempt to deal with the Trump phenomenon, is a self-indulgent diversion we cannot afford. That is because, for us, the consequences truly are life threatening.
In occupied Palestine, Venezuela, Yemen, the South-side of Chicago, Haiti, the concentration camps for Indigenous peoples called “reservations,” as well as “Cancer Alley” in Louisiana, our survival depends on seeing this violent, barbarian behemoth for what it is. We must have no sentimental delusions about the difference between the governance of either of the two ruling class-dominated parties.
For us, both parties are ongoing criminal enterprises that are committed to one thing and one thing only: Ultimately serving the interests of the capitalist ruling class—by any means necessary!
Caitlin Johnstone (ICH) notes, "Liberals are heaving a sigh of relief around the country, not because their actual lives have gotten much worse as a result of Trump’s presidency (they have not), but because it means at long last they’ll stop being psychologically abused by the mass media who’ve been screaming hysterical nonsense in their faces and making them feel crazy."
She also notes David Corn's Tweet that, for the last four years, he only wore black ties because he was in mourning. Golly, David, what color of tie did you were after you destroyed Gary Webb's career and he took his own life? You never want to talk about that, do you? Or get honest about it.
Let's drop back to October 31st:
It's amazing how the western press misreports. Earlier this week, it was 'concern' for the people in camps -- the displaced in Iraq. Supposedly, everyone, including the UN was concerned. I ignored the story because it felt false on the face of it. And it was. DAR ADDUSTOUR gives you the truth about this 'concern' that western media left out. The 'concern' is only that they exist. The 'concern' doesn't translate into finding homes for the displaced or meeting the needs of the displaced. What the 'concern' means, DAR ADDUSTOUR reports is that the camp in Baquba, the sole camp for the displaced, will be closed in five weeks. 150 families will be evicted from the camp. Where are they to go? No one cares. Certainly, no one in the western press cares because they couldn't take a moment from acting as a megaphone to tell you what was really going on. Again, just on the face of it, it was obvious that there was no 'concern' for the displaced.
This morning, Louisa Loveluck (WASHINGTON POST) Tweets:
It was obvious when the western media was treating it as good news that it wasn't good news. Closing displacement camps while the displaced remain displaced? Only a fool couldn't have seen this would be a problem.
In other news, AP reports, "Iraqi security forces opened fire during clashes with hundreds of protesters in the southern city of Basra on Friday, killing one demonstrator and wounding several others as tensions flared once again, hospital officials said." ALJAZEERA identifies Omar Fadhel as the man shot dead for the 'crime' of protesting. Zeidon Alkinani Tweets:
Amnesty International's Donatella Rovera Tweeted:
He was buried on Saturday. Azhar al-Rubaie Tweeted Saturday:
ASHARQ AL-AWSAT notes, "Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi vowed on Saturday that the government will be unyielding in dealing with any member of the security forces found guilty of using live fire against the Iraqi people." Yes, he did. He 'vowed' in a Tweet:
The state will not tolerate any security personnel who disregard orders which explicitly forbid the use of bullets against demonstrators, as happened in Basra. Also, the security services are serious about not allowing offenders to tarnish their image. (1/2)
The alleged killer of Omar Fadhil has been arrested, and he will receive a fair trial. We trust the Iraqi people, the Iraqi Security Forces, and our heroic Army, and together we will overcome these types of challenges. (2/2)
I guess, for some, that passes for bravery. Equally true, he'd already said publicly -- twice since May, that he wouldn't tolerate security forces killing protesters. He 'vowed' then too. Of course, as Omar Fadhil's death demonstrates, that didn't stop the killings.
Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "2 Partisans Talking" went up Sunday.
