As Elaine and Mike have made clear, we are not all in this together. I have said that here as well. If you doubt it, while we are trying to just make it through this pandemic, the over rich are getting even richer. Gabriel Black (WSWS) reports:
“Never allow a crisis to go to waste,” said Rahm Emanuel, former
investment banker, Chicago mayor and White House chief of staff to
President Barack Obama, in response to the 2008 financial crisis.
Emanuel and Obama led the reorganization of class relations in the
United States, cutting social services, education, health and pensions,
and accelerating a shift to temporary and low-paid work. As a result
they created the largest stock market boom in history. Today, this catchphrase is once again on the lips of the ruling
class. The largest financial and corporate powerholders are seeking to
use the global health emergency to expand their wealth and increase the
exploitation of the working class. The billionaires in the United States have increased their wealth by
$282 billion since the mid-March stock decline, according to a new
report by the Institute for Policy Studies. While more than one fifth of
the American population is now unemployed, and millions are deprived of
basic needs and confront an uncertain future, the fortunes of the
ultra-rich have not only recovered, they are improving substantially. Jeff Bezos’s fortune increased by $25 billion between January 1 and
April 15. Never in history has any individual made so much wealth so
quickly. As the report noted, “this is larger than the Gross Domestic
Product of Honduras, which was $23.9 billion in 2018.” Eight billionaires, so-called “pandemic profiteers,” have increased
their wealth, each, by over $1 billion during this time: Jeff Bezos
(Amazon), MacKenzie Bezos (Amazon), Eric Yuan (Zoom), Steve Ballmer
(Microsoft), John Albert Sobrato (Silicon Valley real estate), Elon
Musk, Joshua Harris (Apollo, financial asset management) and Rocco
Comisso (Mediacom, cable and internet).
This is outrageous. It is a sign of how corrupt our society is, how justice doesn't really exist under our current system.
But, hey, we see how corrupt our system is when Joe Biden hasn't been forced to step down despite the fact that he clearly assaulted Tara Reade. Read Rich McHugh's latest on another person stepping forward to say Tara told them about the assault.
Monday, April 27, 2020. Support for Tara Reade builds, calls for Joe
Biden to drop out continue, one of the fallen is remembered in
California, protests continue in Iraq, and much more.
Ryan Grim has a scoop at THE INTERCEPT: In interviews with The Intercept, Reade also mentioned that her
mother had made a phone call to “Larry King Live” on CNN, during which
she made reference to her daughter’s experience on Capitol Hill. Reade
told The Intercept that her mother called in asking for advice after
Reade, then in her 20s, left Biden’s office. “I remember it being an
anonymous call and her saying my daughter was sexually harassed and
retaliated against and fired, where can she go for help? I was
mortified,” Reade told me. Reade couldn’t remember the date or the year of the phone call, and
King didn’t include the names of callers on his show. I was unable to
find the call, but mentioned it in an interview with Katie Halper,
the podcast host who first aired Reade’s allegation. After the podcast
aired, a listener managed to find the call and sent it to The Intercept. On August 11, 1993, King aired a program titled, “Washington: The
Cruelest City on Earth?” Toward the end of the program, he introduces a
caller dialing in from San Luis Obispo, California. Congressional
records list August 1993 as Reade’s last month of employment with
Biden’s Senate office, and, according to property records, Reade’s
mother, Jeanette Altimus, was living in San Luis Obispo County. Here is
the transcript of the beginning of the call:
KING: San Luis Obispo, California, hello. CALLER: Yes, hello. I’m wondering what a staffer would do besides go
to the press in Washington? My daughter has just left there, after
working for a prominent senator, and could not get through with her
problems at all, and the only thing she could have done was go to the
press, and she chose not to do it out of respect for him. KING: In other words, she had a story to tell but, out of respect for the person she worked for, she didn’t tell it? CALLER: That’s true.
King’s panel of guests offered no suggestions, and instead the
conversation veered into a discussion of whether any of the men on set
would leak damaging personal information about a rival to the press.
Tara Reade has accused Joe Biden of assault. Along with telling her
brother and a friend in real time (both have verified they were told in
1993 when the assault happened), Tara had stated she told her mother who
has since passed away. Now we have the above.
The allegations are not going away and Tara's case is only getting stronger.
Daniel Ponti (SLATE) explains: A video that has recently come to light from 1993 appears to show the
mother of Tara Reade, who has accused former Vice President Joe Biden of
sexual assault, calling the Larry King Show to discuss problems her daughter experienced while working for “a prominent senator.” The Intercept was first to report on the video and the conservative Media Research Group later quickly published the relevant clip. Reade then confirmed
that it was her mother’s voice on the call. “I’ve been crying because I
haven’t heard my mom’s voice in a few years. So it’s been a little
emotional,” Reade told CNN. “I miss her. I miss her voice.” Reade’s mother died in 2016.
Liz Peek is a name familiar to the community when wowOwow was an active
website (Women On the Web, was what the site was known on). She weighed in on Tara Reade this morning: The liberal media has naturally tried to minimize coverage of the
Reade accusation; she leveled the charge on March 25, but most major
news outlets ignored it until April 12, fully 19 days later. Criticized
over the delay, the New York Times’ editor Dean Baquet explained that
the paper wanted to have enough information about the charge that
readers could “understand” the story. But the Times even
edited its own story about Reade. It originally reported that, “The
Times found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Biden, beyond the
hugs, kisses and touching that women previously said made them
uncomfortable.” In later editions it dropped the last (and
most damaging) part of the sentence. Baquet explained, “The
campaign thought that the phrasing was awkward and made it look like
there were other instances in which he had been accused of sexual
misconduct.” Since when do newspapers run a story by a “campaign” for
approval? Nonetheless, the new video has given Reade’s
allegations new legs. In part, that is because Joe Biden has a troubling
history of inappropriately touching women – a record his backers
ascribe to his “folksy” manner and old-fashioned “tactile” politics. But,
one also wonders whether Democrats are beginning to face up to what
many have seen for months: Biden is not a strong candidate.
In a recent interview with Vice President Biden, CNN’s Anderson Cooper
discussed a wide array of topics, but one issue that was not addressed
is the allegations aimed against him, This, Tara Reade says, made her
lose respect for the journalist. Speaking to Fox News,
Reade expressed that “it’s shocking that this much time has passed and
that he is an actual nominee for president and they’re not asking the
questions.” Reade added that Biden has “been on ‘Anderson Cooper’ at least twice where he was not asked.” She further questioned, “if this were Donald Trump, would they treat it the same way? If this were Brett Kavanaugh, did they treat it the same way?”
Reade concluded that “it’s politics and political agenda playing a role in objective reporting and asking the question.”
CNN? They finally mentioned Tara on air Saturday. As Ava and I explained in "TV: Journalism isn't supposed to be melodramatic or provoke belly laughs,"
they did so because Ryan Grim reported Friday on the clip from the 1993
episode of CNN's LARRY KING LIVE where Tara's mother called in. But
they forgot to note that Ryan Grim had reported on the clip and instead
acted as though CNN had just suddenly discovered the clip all on their
own.
The Charmed actress may perhaps not feel like a heavyweight
who could inflict injury on a big political vocation. But because
previous Biden staffer Tara Reade alleged that the prospect sexually
assaulted her almost 3 decades ago, McGowan has turn into a 1-woman
military contacting out the hypocrisy of Hollywood and media elites, in
particular Alyssa Milano, who have backed the #MeToo and #TimesUp
actions but are nevertheless supporting the presumptive Democrat
nominee. The actress has now added her voice to the #DropOutBiden groundswell,
demanding this weekend in an excoriating community statement that the
applicant stop the race. “Fellow citizens, use your electric power, use
your social media voice,” McGowan tweeted late Saturday. “Tweet at Joe
Biden to close his marketing campaign efficient right away.” In her assertion, McGowan called out the mainstream media, women’s
groups, LGBTQ information retailers, Oprah Winfrey, and even feminists
like Gloria Steinem for their continued backing of Biden’s marketing
campaign.
As support builds for Tara, the people notice not just the silence of
the media and various celebrities but also the silence of Joe Biden
himself. March 24th is when Katie Halper's interview aired with Tara.
It's now April 27th and Joe Biden has refused to make any statement to
the American people on this topic. He has hid behind campaign staff --
hid behind female campaign staff.
Joe hides a lot. He's got a lot to evade -- that includes the
destruction of Iraq and the many dead. 34-year-old Diego Pongo was
killed in Iraq March 8th. Pongo was a Gunnery Sergeant in the Marines.
WTHR reports: Due to coronavirus restrictions on large gatherings, his family couldn't honor his life with a formal funeral or memorial. After
Diego’s brother Andres and his wife Andrea posted online asking for
support from the community, the city showed up in a big way. Thousands of people drove past the family's home to pay their respects to the fallen hero. Numerous emergency vehicles cruised by the home to honor Sergeant Pongo's life, too.
The Iraq protests are not a flash in the
pan. Rather, they represent a historical turning point for a new
generation that has tired of government ineptitude, politicized
sectarianism, corruption, and an unequal society. As long as these
symptoms persist in Iraqi society, so will the protests. The movement
has been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic however, though its spirit
continues in smaller sit-ins in Tahrir Square in Baghdad and smaller
gatherings in Nasiriyya and Basra. Those still holding the fort are
helping to sanitize public spaces and distribute provisions to those in
need. The message from these camps remains resolute: Once the threat
from the coronavirus is contained the revolution will be back bigger and
stronger.
Yet two threats represent the greatest
impediments to the movement’s survival. First, repression by the state
and militias continues, including the targeting of activists and
assassinations. Only recently a female activist was killed in Nasiriyya.
Second, the unknown longevity of the coronavirus will test the ability
of the movement to maintain its momentum. For now at least the protests
have certainly been stalled, but they most certainly have not been
silenced.
Meanwhile the third prime minister-designate this year, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, struggles as much as the previous two. MIDDLE EAST MONITOR ONLINE reports:
Shia parties in Iraq have rejected the ministerial nominations of Prime Minister-Designate Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed
reported on Sunday. The London-based website said that Al-Kadhimi had
agreed to at least 12 ministerial nominees proposed by the Shia party
officials.
According to one anonymous
Iraqi MP, the leaders of the Shia parties met on Saturday night at the
home of former Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, and then told the
PM-designate that they rejected a lot of his nominees. The MP said that
they would nominate new candidates for each ministry from which
Al-Kadhimi can choose.
The same source
claimed that Al-Maliki, the leader of the State of Law Coalition, and
Hadi Al-Ameri, the head of Al-Fatah Coalition, are the “prominent
obstacles” in the efforts to form a new government in Iraq.
Elaine is my daughter-in-law. I always enjoy reading her posts but she's been addressing realities that we're not getting everywhere. She's talked about the way Congress is failing America during this pandemic. She's talked about how in these stressful times we all find some small joy we can zoom in on to try to get through these days. They've been some needed posts and I wanted to be sure that I applauded her publicly for them.
Mike's one of my four sons. He and Elaine are married. Mike's also being recognized by me and that's because he's talking about the failure of Congress as well, among other things. I want to applaud him as well.
They did a great job. First let me note C.I. individually, though. Since the Tara Reade story broke (Tara has stated that Joe Biden assaulted her), C.I. has covered it. She has covered in the Iraq snapshots, she's usually covered it in her Saturday night post as well. Sometimes in her Sunday post, sometimes now. She's reposted videos of discussions about this case. She's done everything she can to draw attention to this case -- including the roundtable she moderated in the community.
Covering it every day in the snapshot is not easy. She has to find a new way to cover it, a new way to tell this story. In Friday's snapshot, written before Ryan Grim's story broke (she added that to the snapshot, as she notes, later that day when it broke), she drew attention to the case by, for example, taking on a lunatic woman who wanted you to know -- in a video -- that it's our responsibility to redeem rapists. No, it's not you stupid idiot. That woman was an idiot and C.I. was right to call her out. But C.I. did things like that every day, day after day, to draw attention to Tara's case. And I applaud her for that and for the heavy lifting she's done, day after day.
Now with Ava. Ava and C.I. cover the media for THIRD and have done that -- and done a wonderful job of that -- for 15 years. They have an amazing body of work. Since Tara came forward with her story, Ava and C.I. have covered it every week at THIRD. They have done an amazing job.
Today, Friday afternoon (sorry, I haven't been to sleep yet), so yesterday, Ryan Grim broke the news that there is more evidence backing Tara's story.
A lot of bitches -- Amanda Marcotte, Joan Walsh, Baby Jessica Valenti, Michelle Goldberg, etc -- have refused to support Tara. And, oh, it's too bad because her mother's dead and we can't prove that she told her mother what she said she did.
Friday afternoon, Ryan Grim broke the news that they found Tara's mother on a 1993 Larry King episode (that would have been Larry King Live, which was Larry's CNN talk show -- a show I miss today and can't stand the garbage CNN offers today). She calls in and explains her daughter has a story to tell. Read Ryan's report.
Tara already had enough proof. Her brother remembers it, a friend remembers it -- both from 1993, hearing it then. Another friend remembers her talking about it in the '00s, several interns remember her being removed from her duties as Tara had said happened (it was retaliation). Most 'he-said/she-said' never has that amount of support. And now we have the mother talking about it as she called into Larry King in 1993.
Joe's a rapist. Stop pretending. He's a damn rapist.
Now his cult is going to ignore this and try to attack Tara like they always do.
How do you get the word out?
Ava and C.I. use Alyssa The Liar Milano as their opening, as their entry.
People don't get what they do. They're not just writing to write. They cover things to raise awareness and get the word out. Making Tara the headline would result in Tara supporters reading it. Only. Making Alyssa -- an attention whore supreme who more and more people loathe each day -- the focus of the headline ensures that people who haven't followed the Tara Reade story are going to see what they wrote and learn about Tara.
Ava and C.I. know what they're doing. They've been doing it for 15 years. Applause to them, applause for them.
Tina e-mailed me to ask if I liked Taste of Home recipes? I do. I don't highlight them here very often. When I do, it tends to be their recipes for diabetics and I am selecting those recipes. But outside of when I'm trying to note diabetes (I'll get back to that), I'm also not selecting very much myself. I started this site forever ago. 2006, I had to look it up on the side where the previous posts are listed. I ran out of my own favorite recipes by 2009 if not sooner. I'm a nurse. I'm at the Mayo Clinic and other medical sites all the time so I will see a recipe or two there every year and I'm highlighting those. But the bulk of the recipes here are what readers are e-mailing me.
Let me do the diabetic thing before I forget. (I had to do clinic today and then fill in at the hospital due to shortages -- a double shift and I'm exhausted.) In better times -- remember those? we will see them again? -- I was doing two recipes a week. One was my regular Friday recipe where I note what readers have sent in. The other was another day during the week where I noted diabetic recipes.
The point of starting this site was the Iraq War was going on -- it still is -- C.I. produces content on Iraq every day. By reposting that here, I was doing my part to get the word out. But besides reposting, what could I offer?
I have eight kids. Money was always tight. (I just corrected that sentence, it read "Monday was always tight." I mention that because I am very tired so if I did something like that elsewhere in this post, please forgive me. I'm trying to post before I go to bed because I'm going to be worn out still when I wake up. Double shifts are something for a woman much younger than me.) So since money was always tight, I do know how to stretch a dollar. And we were in the midst of a very bad economy -- I don't think it's improved all that much. So what I could offer was recipes. Things you could cook at home -- even if you were just beginning to cook. Things that would save you money and would be healthy for you.
So that's why Trina's Kitchen came to be. (And thank you to C.I. who stayed with me on the phone and helped me set it up. I could not have handled Blogger/Blogspot by myself back then. I would've given up and just said, "Well, I tried.")
And when things are better, I do hope I can go back to doing the diabetic recipes each week as well. Diabetes is out of control in this country. Some of that can be addressed through nutrition. That's not blaming anyone, by the way. Type II or Type I, we're looking at genetics and other issues. C.I. has talked about her diabetes so I'll note her as an example. She's underweight. You don't have to be overweight to get diabetes. Nick Jonas (I like his music) and others have promoted a very negative image of Type II diabetics. I don't encourage that. People have diabetes due to many issues. For C.I., the stress. Her blood sugar levels can leap due to the stress. I've seen it happen. She's been in my physical kitchen and just fine when a call comes in -- say from a journalist who's not able to get a story on the air or whatever -- and she'll go from fine to almost fainting. And if she takes her blood sugar -- because I'm nagging -- at that moment, she's gone from normal to over 300 and done so in 15 or so minutes. I know stress is factor but I have never seen anything like that before. And there was a month when she had to have surgery and her blood sugar was too high the morning of the surgery (because a rude nurse stressed her out) so to be sure that didn't happen again she used a device with a sensor and was taking it constantly just to learn about it. Her stress levels are what effect her blood sugar.
Some people are born with it, some people develop it. It's not anyone's 'fault.' Diseases and medical conditions should not be seen as 'fault' conditions.
And, like the United Kingdom, we are seeing so many more cases of diabetes these days. So I do want to return to offering those recipes.
But let me get real here, the way I applauded Elaine and Mike for doing it.
This is so stressful right now. I've noted that if you're going to a clinic or a hospital, you should be thanking the custodial staff because, without them, the place you are at would not be clean.
And that's stress that they have to deal with. They are wiping down and sweeping up and empty trash that has been touched by everyone. They could easily be exposed. And they know that. And they're doing their jobs and I applaud them for it.
Then there are the non-medical workers who admit you or check you in for your appointment. They are also at risk and deserve applause. I have a friend, Sandy, who basically is on the phone at a clinic all day. She has other duties but that's really what she's doing. She's calling every patient with an appointment to be sure they know what's required (masks must be worn) and to make sure they are comfortable coming into a clinic for an appointment. She talks to people who are in their 80s and 90s and she's often the only person they talk to that day due to the isolation. And some are worried and some are sick and it so stressful for her. She feels for everyone of those people who is basically alone. I applaud her for the work she's doing.
An I applaud our techs and our doctors and you know I applaud the nurses. (I'm a nurse, as I've explained before -- I hope I noted it above but I'm not scrolling through to find out.)
So many people are giving so much so that our healthcare system in this country does not collapse in the midst of this pandemic. They deserve applause.
Elaine applauded a woman at her McDonalds this week. We need to applaud everyone like that, people going into work that allow us to go through the drive thru or to have food delivered. We need to applaud the grocery store workers who are keeping our grocery stores open and our access to food possible.
So many people are giving so much, risking so much. And that's why it really pisses me off that our Congress is not in session. I'm a nurse who honestly should be retired by now. I've put in my time. But I'm at work. Why the hell is Congress not in session? Where is their leadership, where is their sacrifice? I'm so sick of them.
Anyway, Tina offers this recipe which is "Enchilada Casser-Ole!" and is from Taste of Home magazine:
Ingredients
1 pound lean ground beef (90% lean)
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups salsa
1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup reduced-fat Italian salad dressing
2 tablespoons reduced-sodium taco seasoning
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
6 flour tortillas (8 inches)
3/4 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1 cup shredded reduced-fat Mexican cheese blend
1 cup shredded lettuce
1 medium tomato, chopped
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
Directions
In a large skillet, cook
beef and onion over medium heat until meat is no longer pink; drain.
Stir in the salsa, beans, dressing, taco seasoning and cumin. Place 3
tortillas in an 11x7-in. baking dish coated with cooking spray. Layer
with half of the meat mixture, sour cream and cheese. Repeat layers.
Cover and bake at 400° for 25 minutes. Uncover; bake until heated
through, 5-10 minutes longer. Let stand for 5 minutes; top with lettuce,
tomato and cilantro.
Friday, April 24, 2020. Joe Biden maintains his silence on the rape
accusation, Iraq's prime minister-designate still struggle to come up
with a portfolio, Barbara Slavin sees US troops leaving Iraq, and much
more.
ADDED 4/24/203:28 EST: Ryan Grim has a scoop at THE INTERCEPT: In interviews with The Intercept, Reade also mentioned that her
mother had made a phone call to “Larry King Live” on CNN, during which
she made reference to her daughter’s experience on Capitol Hill. Reade
told The Intercept that her mother called in asking for advice after
Reade, then in her 20s, left Biden’s office. “I remember it being an
anonymous call and her saying my daughter was sexually harassed and
retaliated against and fired, where can she go for help? I was
mortified,” Reade told me. Reade couldn’t remember the date or the year of the phone call, and
King didn’t include the names of callers on his show. I was unable to
find the call, but mentioned it in an interview with Katie Halper,
the podcast host who first aired Reade’s allegation. After the podcast
aired, a listener managed to find the call and sent it to The Intercept. On August 11, 1993, King aired a program titled, “Washington: The
Cruelest City on Earth?” Toward the end of the program, he introduces a
caller dialing in from San Luis Obispo, California. Congressional
records list August 1993 as Reade’s last month of employment with
Biden’s Senate office, and, according to property records, Reade’s
mother, Jeanette Altimus, was living in San Luis Obispo County. Here is
the transcript of the beginning of the call:
KING: San Luis Obispo, California, hello. CALLER: Yes, hello. I’m wondering what a staffer would do besides go
to the press in Washington? My daughter has just left there, after
working for a prominent senator, and could not get through with her
problems at all, and the only thing she could have done was go to the
press, and she chose not to do it out of respect for him. KING: In other words, she had a story to tell but, out of respect for the person she worked for, she didn’t tell it? CALLER: That’s true.
King’s panel of guests offered no suggestions, and instead the
conversation veered into a discussion of whether any of the men on set
would leak damaging personal information about a rival to the press.
Joe Biden thinks he deserves to be president. But he doesn't think he
has to answer publicly when a woman accuses him of assault or rape.
Tara Reade has come forward to accuse Joe of assault. Katie Halper
interviewed Tara about the assault. At THE GUARDIAN this morning, she writes: You can hear and read
Reade’s heart-wrenching account yourself, but to summarize her claims:
she says she brought Joe Biden his gym bag as she’d been instructed. The
two of them were alone and that is when she says “he just had me up
against the wall and his hands were on me and underneath my clothes. And
then he went down my skirt, but then up inside it and he penetrated me
with his fingers ... Everything shattered in that moment.” Reade’s good friend Jane
(not her real name), who lived at the same residence and interned for
another senator at the time, told me that Reade called her after the
incident: “When I said, ‘Did you feel like you could walk away?’, [Tara]
said no. And that his hand went where it shouldn’t below the belt...He
said something that made [Tara] feel like a grain of dust… small and
insignificant. On the phone...you can’t see someone’s facial expression…
but you can tell when someone’s voice is shaking... She was definitely
confused, disoriented.” Reade’s brother also remembers learning about the incident: “First my
mom told me about it. She was up in arms. And I was like I don’t know
what happened. I think my sister was trying to spare me.” Indeed, Reade
did try to spare her younger brother somewhat but, as he told me, “I
remember my sister being specifically asked to handle a gym bag... And
there was a moment he had her up against the wall and made a hand move
under her clothes.” [. . .] Political leaders, the media and victims’ advocates for months have
refused to honor Reade’s request to be heard, sacrificing not only one
woman but basic principles at the heart of the Democratic party and the
survivors’ justice movement that brave Democratic women helped build.
The corporate media has done an appalling job covering the story. College newspapers, however, have led on this story. Genna Edwards (THE PITT NEWS) observes: Biden, like Trump, has been accused of sexual misconduct and assault by multiple women. And like Trump, he and his campaign deny these claims.
Biden’s history as a “Democratic” politician is littered with choices
that are incredibly un-Democratic. He’s more of a centrist than
anything, going wherever the money and power want him to go. He wavers on abortion, having supported the Hyde Ammendment. He is not an LGBTQ+ ally. He voted for the Iraq war. He is anti-Social Security and anti-Medicare. Tara Reade, a former staff assistant to Biden, has accused him of sexual assault — I believe her. I’ve seen the videos of Biden inappropriately touching and sniffing young girls. So.
As both a leftist and a queer woman, I am appalled. Losing Sanders robs
us of any dignity the American people may have had left. If I have to
choose between two unfit men in the fall to lead my country out of a
historic pandemic that neither are fit to fix given their policies, well
— I’m moving to an underground bunker. If
I thought myself naive for believing in politics before this, boy, is
that smacking me in the face now. I try to have hope, stupid white woman
hope, and I’ve tried to have hope again and again. I thought Sanders
was it this time, that we could escape this Trump hell and feel at least
marginally better about living in this country.
I disagree with Joe Biden on many issues. I believe that there were
better choices in the Democratic primary, and I voted that way. With his
ever-increasing delegate lead, though, I was begrudgingly becoming
accustomed to the idea of casting my vote for him in November. As much
as I remain opposed to much of his past and current work, I believed
fewer people would be harmed by his presidency than would be harmed by
another four years of Donald Trump in office. I still believe that. But I now know that no matter what happens in November, the Oval
Office will almost certainly be occupied for the next four years by a
perpetrator of sexual assault. This is not the first election where voters have had to choose
between two candidates who have caused direct harm. Black, Brown and
Indigenous voters have had to choose between the lesser of two evils—the
person less likely to rob them of their freedom and dignity—in nearly
every election where they have even been able to cast a ballot.
It would be politically convenient for me to forget Tara Reade, to
ignore the harsh reality about this member of my team. Many people on my
team have already made that choice. I understand it. But I will not do
the same.
Such
is the case for Alannah Raitt, a 25-year-old bus driver and barista
who’s also a volunteer aide for Joshua Collins, a Democratic candidate
for Congress in Tacoma, Wash. “I will not support people who can’t seem
to respect people’s bodily autonomy or can’t seem to understand the
concept of consent,” says Raitt, who identifies as a victim of sexual
assault. “I don’t understand how so many people can say ‘Oh, well,
Trump’s done it too.’ That’s the lowest bar on the planet, and that’s
not an excuse.”
The same goes for Sarah Ann Masse, who was one of the first women in October 2017 to allege sexual misconduct
by disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein. It doesn’t matter
which party the accused stands for, she says: “For me, sexual violence
is not a partisan issue. If we’re going to believe survivors, we have to
believe them regardless of the politics of their abuser and regardless
of whether we like their policies.”
Survivors are watching what happens. They are seeing this unfold and
they are fully aware that this is harmful to all women, to all
survivors. Instead of reporting, most outlets are attacking Tara
Reade. It sends a message. Fake asses like Alyssa Milano have used
#MeToo to cover for their failed careers. But when they could be of any
value at all, the Alyssa Milanos refuse to support women.
I might not be ready to tell my story, but I am sharing this anyways.
Nothing Tara did in the subsequent years after Joe Biden digitally
raped her disqualifies her story. Nothing I did in the years following
my assault changes what happened to me. Holding such a secret for so
long, living a lie as truth is a defense mechanism for those of us who
are not ready to tell. It is a way to pretend that “that thing” never
happened. That defense mechanism kicks into overdrive when the
perpetrator is a public figure. You become smaller, so you do more to
deny the truth. You share a different face publicly than the emotionally
scarred one.
As George Orwell said, if you want to keep a secret, you
have to hide it from yourself. Shame on everyone for trying to
psychoanalysis a victim that is still concealing their truth. Shame on
the Democrats for forcing Biden on all the women and men who can see
their story in Tara’s story. Who now see a version of their attacker in
what liberals claim is the “women’s rights” candidate for the President
of the United States. Biden is a secret the party is trying to hide from
themselves, and it is going to cost us all dearly in the end.
THE TAKEAWAY spoke to VOX's Anna North about the charges against Biden.
On THE KATIE HALPER SHOW this week, Katie offers an interview with
Tara's friend who corroborates Tara's story and was told of it in real
time -- after that she speaks with THE INTERCEPT's Ryan Grim and with
journalist Rich McHugh.
On the one hand, I can see what she's going for, healing. On the other,
I'm damn tired of women being the world's punching bag, the canary in
the coalmine. I'm tired of it.
Would INFINITE LUNCHBOX do a video about the need to help killers find
their way back? It's only when women are the targets that we have to
think about the criminals and the suffering of the criminals. Let a
woman be raped and the supposed 'fair' reaction is to think about the
suffering that the rapist is going through.
Assault is a crime.
It's not my job to humor or defend Joe Biden if he assaulted Tara
Reade. It's not my job to do that for anyone who assaults a woman.
I do get the whole let's-heal-America which, let's be honest, is largely
bulls**t. But I am going to repeat, we only have this attitude when
it's women.
We only have this attitude when it's women and man might suffer for his actions.
How is the nonsense INFINITE LUNCHBOX offers any different from the earlier nonsense of "boys will be boys"?
It's not. It's a new twist on rape culutre.
Danny Schechter used to bother me all the time for money. And then he
got his little feelings hurt when I said no more. That was after
terrorist Ike Turner died. I know Tina. I love Tina. She lived
through terrorism. But Ike dies and there's Danny claiming that Tina
forgives Ike or has to if she doesn't because . . . STFU. I told him
not to ask me for money anymore, not to bother me anymore. He was a fan
boy and that supposed to mean that a man gets to wipe away all of his
crimes.
Time and again, that's what happens to women. Ike abusing and
terrorizing Tina is well established. Even then, it becomes a case of
"Oh, well, he had a hard life and Tina's forgiven him or should . . ."
No one says that about a Palestinian who's been terrorized -- nor should
they -- or someone who was tortured at Guantanamo (nor should they).
But let a woman be attacked by a man and it becomes a case of the woman
has to soothe the delicate feelings of the male criminal.
Only women are expected to make things better for their attacker. That's bulls**t.
Four forged ministerial lists were circulated and were said to
represent the composition of Iraqi Prime Minister designate Mustafa
al-Kadhimi’s government, yet it was reported that the fifth list that
has been circulating for the past two days is the legitimate one.
The list which includes 14 ministers could be passed by the
parliament, while the rest of the portfolios are to be discussed between
Kadhimi and the political blocs that represent the three main
components in the country (Shiites, Sunnis, Kurds).
The PM-designate has not yet named figures who would head the defense and security portfolios.
Reasons behind this postponement vary. Some say differences over the
interior and defense portfolios are limited between Sunnis and Shiites,
while others suggest that Kadhimi wants to nominate both ministers
himself without resorting to blocs or components.
Mustafa al-Kadhimi remains prime minister-designate. He is the third
prime minister-designate so far this year. Will he succeed where the
other two failed?
At THE ATLANTIC COUNCIL, Barbara Slavin offers: A withdrawal of most US military forces from Iraq seems likely
this year as the Iraqi government seeks to maintain some sort of diplomatic and
economic relationship with the United States without alienating its powerful
neighbor Iran. How this withdrawal is managed will help determine future US
influence not only in Iraq but in the Middle East as a whole. Iranian support for Prime Minister-designate Mustafa
al-Kadhimi—who has had good relations with the United States—appears to be
predicated on his agreeing to negotiate a new Status of Forces agreement (SFA)
with Washington, which aims to remove the bulk of the several thousand US
troops still deployed in Iraq. The Americans’ mission was ostensibly to prevent the
resurgence of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and to train Iraqi
armed forces. However, the US jeopardized their continued presence in the
country by breaching the terms of a 2008 SFA; they targeted Iran-backed Shia
militias and the leader of Iran’s Quds Force, Qasem Soleimani, on Iraqi soil
after a spate of attacks on American military and diplomatic targets last year.
Even if the US actions were justified both to defend Americans and to deter
future attacks, they represented a significant escalation in the rules of the
game—an unprecedented targeting of a senior Iranian official in a foreign
country. The attack near Baghdad, when Soleimani was on an
official visit, put Iraq in an untenable position. Iraq cannot afford to
alienate a powerful neighbor with which it shares a 1,400-kilometer border and
which has deep relations with a variety of Iraqi armed groups. If forced to
choose, Baghdad will choose Iran, not the United States. It is, therefore, not
in US interests to force Iraq to make such a choice. While Tehran has long sought an exit of US forces from Iraq,
Iran-backed militias did not attack US forces in Iraq while the US remained in
compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal. The situation deteriorated after the US
withdrew unilaterally from that deal in 2018 and sought to put a total embargo
on Iran’s oil exports in 2019. That was when Iran commenced a series of
retaliatory actions in the Persian Gulf and Iraq that prompted the
assassination of Soleimani in early 2020. Also killed by the drone strike near
Baghdad airport, were several Iraqis, including Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the
leader of the Kataib Hezbollah militia and deputy commander of all of the
Popular Mobilization Forces that had battled ISIS. The assassinations led the
Iraqi parliament to pass a non-binding resolution expelling American forces. Tensions abated somewhat after Tehran accidentally shot down a
Ukrainian civilian airliner on January 8, mistaking it for a hostile US
missile. The outbreak of the coronavirus in Iran and its neighbors also
took attention away from US-Iran strains. However, a second spate of
tit-for-tat attacks occurred in March, leading to the death of two more
Americans and a British citizen, as well as three Iraqi soldiers, an
Iraqi civilian, and several militia members. US forces have now been
withdrawn from three isolated outposts in Iraq and consolidated in the
relatively safe Kurdish city of Erbil and at the al-Assad air base
outside Baghdad. The United States also brought in Patriot missile batteries to defend these bases against militia rockets. This author has argued
elsewhere that the decision to kill Soleimani and Muhandis was an
overreaction to Iranian provocations that would make a long-term US
military presence in Iraq very difficult—if not untenable. That the
crisis came at a time when Iraqis had been protesting in the streets
against Iran’s excessive influence in their country made assassination
even more strategically questionable. Overnight, the issue became the
United States, not Iran. However, it is still possible to retain US influence in Iraq and
to offer Iraqis an alternative to complete domination by Iran. This goal would
be advanced by an effort to de-escalate tensions with Tehran; at a minimum, to
deal with any provocation by Iran-backed groups in a way that does not
humiliate Iraqi politicians by violating their country’s sovereignty. Ideally, the United States should re-examine its policy of
“maximum pressure” toward Iran, which has not and will not achieve its stated
goals. Iran is more, not less, aggressive in the region, continuing its
development of ballistic missiles—including its first successful satellite
launch—and has accelerated its nuclear program. More pressure will either lead
to war, strengthen Iranian hardliners, or both. Even a botched initial response
to the coronavirus does not appear to have increased the chances for regime
change. If anything, these crises have increased the Iranian Revolutionary
Guard Corps’ economic and political dominance. The United States could use the pandemic as an opportunity to make
goodwill gestures toward Iran. While the Iranian government has rebuffed such
offers, they resonate with the Iranian people, whose views of America and its citizens
have historically been much more positive. The neutral US reaction to the first
transaction by INSTEX was a good first step and further guidance from OFAC
facilitating the supply of medicine and medical devices to Tehran was welcome.
Iran should, also, be allowed to receive the emergency loan it requested from
the International Monetary Fund and have access to revenue frozen in foreign
banks for medical supplies. However, even in the absence of any real improvement in US-Iran
ties, it should still be possible to remove Iraq from the middle of
hostilities. This will oblige the United States to significantly reduce its
forces in Iraq and restrict the remaining troops’ role to training and
counter-ISIS operations. Iran, in turn, should restrain its Iraqi proxies from
attacking US targets and give Kadhimi a solid chance to stand up a new government. Since 2003, little has happened in Iraqi politics without Iran
playing a role, which is predictable, given Iran’s long association with the Iraqi
Shia and Kurds that opposed the rule of Saddam Hussein. The US lost
opportunities to cooperate with or, at least, avoid antagonizing Iran, swayed
by those in the administration who hubristically believed that they could instigate
regime change in Tehran. Other mistakes—such as dissolving the Iraqi army,
failing to protect Iraqi infrastructure from looting, and installing a Lebanon-like
system in Iraq, with top positions for ethno-religious factions—doomed the
country to sectarian strife and increased Iran’s ability to manipulate
political developments. Nevertheless, as memories of
the 2003 invasion fade, young Iraqis are more focused on constructing a less sectarian
society that delivers jobs and other tangible economic benefits. They resent
Iran’s meddling and want to reconnect with the Arab world and beyond.
The United States can support this trend by keeping Iraq out of
its fight with Iran to make it easier for Iraqi politicians, businesspeople,
and security officials to maintain some sort of constructive relationship with
Americans. US intervention in Iraq has cost thousands of American and tens of thousands of
Iraqi lives as well as billions in US taxpayer funds. For those who died and
sacrificed on all sides since the invasion, the United States should find a way
to withdraw most of its military forces with dignity. Otherwise, US credibility
and influence throughout the region will fade to the benefit of Iran, China,
Russia and ISIS.
Scores of multi-million- and billion-dollar corporations are
receiving free handouts from the government under the “small business”
relief fund grotesquely misnamed the “Paycheck Protection Program”
(PPP). The program was launched last month as part of the $2.2 trillion
CARES Act, with $349 billion in taxpayer funds. Billed as a lifeline to small businesses and their employees, the
program has been exposed as a cynical fraud. Multiple reports have
emerged showing that it is first and foremost a cash cow for large
businesses and the Wall Street banks. It is yet another example of how
the corporate-financial elite is exploiting the coronavirus catastrophe
to further enrich itself at the expense of society and at the cost of
human lives. The CARES Act was passed with the unanimous support of the Democrats
in the Senate—including the votes of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth
Warren—and by voice vote in the House, with no effort by so-called
“progressives” such as Democratic Socialists of America members
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib to stall, let alone defeat,
its passage.
Related, Sarah Lazare and Adam Johnson (In These Times) report:
Democratic Party leaders have repeatedly brushed off urgent calls for
radical climate action by declaring that they—the Serious Adults in the
Room—should be trusted to fix the situation. Yet their utter failure to
rise to the COVID-19 crisis and catch the millions of people in
free-fall right now should dispel any notion that current political
leadership will save us from the climate crisis—poised to be far worse
than the global pandemic if the status quo continues unabated. In February 2019, when Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) was confronted
by young organizers from the Sunrise Movement about her opposition to
the Green New Deal, she told them to step back and let her take care of
it. “That resolution will not pass the Senate, and you can take that
back to whoever sent you here and tell them,” she declared, adding,
“I’ve been in the Senate for over a quarter of a century and I know what
can pass and I know what can’t pass.” That same month, Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, derided the
Green New Deal as, “The green dream or whatever they call it, nobody
knows what it is, but they’re for it right?” Her remarks suggested that
she, the pragmatist, should hold the levers of power—not radicals who
have proven themselves naive and foolish by demanding too much. And then, when Trump’s NAFTA 2.0—known as the United
States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA)—passed with no climate
provisions, despite the outcry of climate activists, Pelosi insisted
that the concession was necessary, in light of Trump’s control of the
White House, and we should entrust the Democrats with fixing this issue
at some later date. “There’s only so far an administration that doesn’t
believe in the climate crisis or science will go, but the changes
Democrats secured in USMCA put us on a firm footing for action when we
have a president who brings us back into the Paris accord,” Pelosi
spokesperson Henry Connell said in a statement.
They have offered no leadership. None.
Thursday, April 23, 2020. Struggling Joe Biden continues to attempt to
avoid the rape allegations Tara Reade has lodged against him while Iraq
remains in chaos.
Weeks ago, Tara Reade came forward to detail an alleged assault by Joe
Biden. The media? "See how they run like pigs from a gun, see how they
run" -- as the song goes. Mary Sanchez (TRIBUNE SYNDICATE) observes:
Biden holds up his work crafting and supporting the Violence Against
Women Act as his defense — as if someone who introduced and guided such
groundbreaking legislation can’t also be an abuser. Fortunately, women know better. They know that Biden wouldn’t be the first man that women trusted in a
professional sense, as someone who had guided and aided their careers
and aspirations, only to be exposed later for salacious behavior. Most must also concede this: Reade’s account strikes chords of
believability. Sadly, it does so because so many women have endured
similar circumstances. The assault to your body and dignity happens quickly. The victim is
caught off-guard, in a compromising situation that she walked into
unaware, a fact that will be used to shift responsibility back on her
later. The man, when rebuffed, first choses to blame the woman.
According to Reade’s account, after being rejected, Biden reportedly
said in the moment, “‘Come on, man, I heard you liked me.'” The
narrative lends itself to the typical development of sexual harassment
and abuse of power. In her initial podcast interview with Katie Halper, Reade’s
convincing. She describes being young, thrilled to be in such circles of
power, planning on a career in politics. For some in many circles, that is all women should need to hear.
They’re expecting women, as a collective, to stand firmly with Biden’s
accuser, or turn in any feminist cred for not agreeing that women should
be believed as a starting point.
#BelieveWomen is a baseline, a starting point because so often women
still are not believed. It doesn’t mean that every story can’t also be
scrutinized, that it isn’t necessary to also expect, or at least try to
obtain corroborating evidence. But this lack of scrutiny appears to be
what Biden opponents appear to be counting on as a means to a political
end.
If you missed Katie Halper's interview with Tara back in March, Katie's now put the interview up on YOUTUBE:
The corporate media has refused to ask Joe Biden to speak to this
allegation. He comes onto their programs and stumbles around on other
topics and they never get a comment from him. Bill Clinton was accused
of rape two decades ago by Juanita Broaddrick. He had a spokesperson
blah blah some words. Bill never commented then or since. Joe appears
to think that's the standard when accused of assault. So does the
media. The accusations against Joe come not as he's in the twilight of
his second term as president. The accusations arrive as Joe is seeking
to become president. As Kennedy Bennett (YALE DAILY NEWS) observes,
"The recent sexual assault allegations from Tara Reade add onto
preexisting hesitations many voters express about Biden." Biden's
response appears to be: Vote for me without asking any questions. REASON's Cathy Young notes at THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, "Biden isn’t the only one with a hypocrisy problem. Feminist pundits such
as Salon writer Amanda Marcotte and New York Times columnist Michelle
Goldberg, usually found in the “Believe women” camp, are now doubters
who treat Reade’s allegation mainly as an inconvenience.
Actress/activist Alyssa Milano, who used to tweet about the importance
of supporting women’s #MeToo stories, now backs Biden and says believing
women shouldn’t come at the expense of fairness to men. Major media
outlets such as The New York Times and The Washington Post waited a long
time to report on Reade’s allegation and subjected it to much more
skeptical scrutiny than the accusations against Kavanaugh." And John Krull (TRIBUNE STAR) lays it out, "This will come as a shock to the most ideologically blinded fanatics on
the left and right, but right and wrong aren’t partisan issues."
Senator Bernie Sanders has been asked by the media about Tara Reade's
accusation against Joe Biden as has Senator Amy Klobuchar. But the
corporate media just can't seem to ask Joe Biden about it. Is it that
difficult a question to ask?
Below, Emma Green (THE ATLANTIC) interviews Briahna Joy Gray, the journalist who was the press secretary for candidate Bernie Sanders' campaign:
Green: But we're moving into general-election season now, right?
Gray:
But we’re not! The Democratic Party would like us to believe that’s the
case, and they behaved that way even before Bernie Sanders dropped out
of the race. But we are, in fact, still in a Democratic-primary season.
Biden is only the presumptive nominee.
We’re expected to
be giving parades for policy positions that are more conservative than
were offered up four years ago? We are living the status quo. At a
certain point, voters are tired of having people—excuse the
expression—piss on their leg and tell them that it’s raining.
And
there’s all kinds of whispers and rumors about whether or not something
might happen at the convention, which might mean Joe Biden isn’t even
the nominee.
Gray:
There’s a lot of reasons why Democrats might want to substitute a
different person for Joe Biden as the nominee. The Tara Reade allegation
has been handled abysmally by the press. If anyone looks at this
closely, then they will see reason for concern.
Oh my goodness. Is Emma Green okay? Did they have to call paramedics?
I mean, read the above, she managed to do an interview where she asked
about Tara Reade. Anderson Cooper has spoken to Joe how many times and
he still can't ask him about Tara Reade's accusation.
“The
disgusting behavior that Christine Blasey Ford had to deal with from the
right is the disgusting behavior that Tara Reade is having to deal with
from many on the left,”said Sarah Ann Masse, one of the
numerous women who accused Hollywood film producer Harvey Weinstein of
sexual misconduct. “Survivors in the world watch this, and those who
have not come forward publicly, those who have not shared it with their
family or gone to the police or sought out mental health support, they
see this and it silences them.”
Reade’s
allegations against Biden, [. . .], have even led to
scrutiny of the TIME'S UP Legal Defense Fund, which was founded in 2018
to help victims of sexual harassment and assault. The group said it
helped connect Reade to attorneys, but determined it could not fund a
lawyer or public relations for her because Biden is a candidate for
federal office and it believed its nonprofit status could therefore be
threatened.
“It really bothers me,” said former actress Louisette Geiss, another
woman who accused Weinstein of harassment, of its decision not to help
Reade financially. “What we're saying here in the #MeToo movement is
that's it, time's up, if you will. You cannot engage in this behavior
anymore no matter who you are — Trump, Biden, Harvey.”
Tara Reade’s allegations seem believable. She reported the incident
to others following the incident and later, and she has suffered trauma
in ways that are commonly reflected in this kind of assault. Even a casual observer has to weigh in on the insensitivity involved
in endorsing someone like Biden when this most serious of allegations
was made. A few days following Bernie Sanders grand capitulation,
Elizabeth Warren followed suit, saying she would accept the office of
vice president if asked by Biden. Left sufficiently reeling from these
pronouncements of falling into line with neoliberalism, one wonders if
anything political is sacred to these people? Certainly, integrity is
not one of those scared values!
When will those on the political left learn that electoral politics
in the US is a zero-sum “game?” The liberal Vice President, Henry
Wallace, was dropped from the Democratic ticket in 1944, as he was
getting too close for comfort to the serious corridors of power. Lyndon
Johnson blindsided the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party at the
Democratic Convention in 1964. Hubert Humphrey dragged the Democratic
Party to certain defeat in 1968, as he refused to take a bold stand
against the Vietnam War and break with Lyndon Johnson. In 1972, antiwar
progressive George McGovern won the Democratic Party nomination, and
because of his defeat those with the levers of power in the Democratic
Party vowed that another liberal candidate would get nowhere near the
presidency. The latter became obvious through the neoliberal Clinton’s
nomination by the Democrats in 2016 and her loss at the polls. The
Democrats would rather lose electorally and continue as lapdogs of the
power elite.
The only thing worse than endorsing Biden? A woman becoming his running
mate. Earlier this week, we noted a woman writing about Joe assaulting
her. That didn't surprise me. A New York outlet is weighing going
forward with another woman. By the time summer rolls around, Tara may
not be the only woman publicly accusing Joe of assault. Imagine how
Senator Amy Klobuchar or Kamala Harris will look -- or any other woman
but especially those two 'tough on crime' women -- if they're the
running mate and you've got six or eight women publicly accusing Joe of
assault. I believe that's called "career suicide." You don't overcome
that. You don't get to show up in 2024 and say, "Look America, trust my
judgment. Sure, four years ago, I was on the ticket with a man accused
of rape by multiple women, but trust my judgment this time. In four
years, I've learned, I've really, really learned."
I refuse to vote for Biden because he has consistently favored the
wealthy elite over the working class. At a time in which radical policy
changes are the only way to prevent climate catastrophe and mass deaths
from COVID-19, Biden’s platform instead includes
a want to not “demonize” the wealthy and have “no one’s standard of
living change,” as he told rich donors at a fundraiser last June. When
he attempts to glorify former President Barack Obama’s years in office,
he notably neglects those who suffered the most as a result of the
administration’s mass deportations, record civilian drone strikes and infamous Wall Street bailout.
These policies have most directly affected low-income communities of
color, communities Biden has not been particularly sensitive to. Biden
has idealized his work with segregationists as work of “civility,” opposed integrated busing and worried such desegregation policies would cause his children to grow up “in a racial jungle.” He also authored
the 1994 crime bill, which led to mass incarceration of
disproportionately black and brown Americans. Just a few months ago,
Biden gave a speech in Iowa claiming
“poor kids are just as bright as white kids.” We have always known
Biden was a racist, but Democrats only care about racial oppression when
it’s their opponents who perpetrate it. Just as horrifying is Biden’s longtime pattern of sexual harassment, and now, Biden has an allegation of sexual assault. Regardless of who you decide to vote for, I implore you to listen to Tara Reade’s story. Any Democrat who dismisses these allegations as uncredible or illegitimate is a hypocrite. I believe Reade, just as I believed Christine Blasey Ford and E. Jean Carroll. And as much as Democrats want me to, I do not believe in voting for the “lesser” of two rapists. We must not forget that Biden voted for the Iraq war, voted
for NAFTA, has consistently supported corporate bailouts and opposes
Medicare for All amid a pandemic (one that he has been largely absent from).
The Iraq War. Yes, Joe voted for the Iraq War. Every presidential
cycle since the start of the Iraq War (2003) has seen the Democratic
Party run at least one supporter of the Iraq War on the national ticket
-- in 2004, they ran two. They just don't seem to learn, do they? This
is considered the worst fiasco (the proper term is "crime') when it
comes to foreign policy in the 21st century. And, of course, Joe did
more than just vote for it. He attacked those opposed to it. He
repeatedly attempted to split Iraq up into three different governments
-- he only gave that up in February of 2008. As Vice President, he took
part in tossing out the votes of the Iraqi people in 2010 when they
said no to a second term for thug Nouri al-Maliki. Joe sold not only
the legal contract that overturned the votes (The Erbil Agreement), he
also went to Iraq to explain to leaders why they had to support Nouri
for a second term. As he babbled away, it all had something to do with
Ireland. (Emma Sky does a perfect recap of that moment and how absurd
it was and how stupid Joe came off to the Iraqi leaders.) He did a lot
including dismissing ISIS early on. Joe's been no friend to the Iraqi
people although he has managed to do his part to ensure that the war
never ended.
The protests that started in October 2019
ushered in a new political era in Iraq. For the first time in the post-2003
process of democratic transition, a government was forced to resign due to popular
pressure. The resignation of Prime Minister Adil
Abdul-Mahdi’s cabinet forced the Iraqi political leadership to face contentious
constitutional and procedural questions about government formation. Iraq’s constitution
contains many ambiguities about the prime minister selection process even under
usual circumstances (i.e. following a regularly scheduled election). The challenging
situation was exacerbated by a reckless combination of both politicizing the
interpretation of the constitution and circumventing it entirely. Prime Minister Abdul-Mahdi prophetically advised
his opponents to agree on his successor before he submitted his
resignation, for he knew that the Iraqi political framework would not
function in the vacuum that would result from his absence. His fears
were well-justified. The chaos that ensued following his resignation
nearly paralyzed Iraq’s leadership, as they struggled to deal with mass
gatherings of angry protesters with a broad list of demands, a dangerous
escalation of the US-Iran conflict that played out on Iraqi soil over
recent months, and the COVID-19 pandemic. After exceeding the constitutionally mandated deadline to choose a
new prime minister and transparently exhausting all the loopholes to buy
time to create a political consensus, President Barham Salih designated
Mohamed Tawfik Allawi to form a government. Despite the selection,
objections from various powerful political blocs ground the process to a
halt. The Council of Representatives failed to reach a quorum twice and
Allawi’s cabinet was not put up for a vote. Salih, then, designated
Council of Representatives Member Adnan Alzurfi to form a cabinet, but
Alzurfi’s candidacy caused deep cleavages within the Shia political blocs and he was forced to withdraw his nomination before a confirmation session could be scheduled.
Salih, next, designated a third candidate, National Intelligence
Chief Mustafa Al-Kadhimi to form a cabinet. Al-Kadhimi was supported by a
Shia consensus and, absent any major disputes over the negotiations of
“who gets what,” he will be confirmed as Iraq’s new prime minister. But
this will only be the beginning of the formidable challenges Al-Kadhimi
will face.
Not only did Joe Biden support the war, he supported every decision that
led to the current shambles Iraq is in. He can't stop telling America
that "Barack put me in charge of Iraq." Yes, Joe, he did. And how does
that speak to your qualifications?
Iraq is a failed state.
And ISIS remains active in Iraq. Lawk Ghafuri (RUDAW) reports: Eighty-two Iraqi civilians were killed and 120 injured between January 1
and April 15 as a result of the conflict between the Iraqi Security
Forces (ISF) and Islamic State (ISIS) militants, the ministry of defense
acknowledged on Tuesday evening.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic and coalition withdrawal from several
bases across the country, the ISF has conducted 1,060 operations and
killed 135 targets since January 1, defense ministry spokesman Yehia
Rasool said in a series of tweets.
According to these latest figures, operations took place in every Iraqi
province aside from those in the Kurdistan Region over the first 15
weeks of 2020, to clear bomb factories, arms caches, and secret tunnels
used by the jihadists, Rasool said.
At least 88 ISF soldiers were killed and 174 wounded during these operations.
