Thursday, March 31, 2016

The economy continues to suck


Please read "New study says entire regions of US will remain in slump until the 2020s                ."

I'm not highlighting it.

There's another piece I want to highlight.

And that's my ongoing problem with WSWS -- there are usually several pieces I want to highlight and I end up having to pick one.

I can -- and will -- slam an author there when I think they're wrong.

But it's also a site that has a ton to offer.

So I hope you do visit it.

I'm highlighting this from Barry Grey instead:

Citing an internal company document, the Seattle Times reported Wednesday that Boeing, the giant commercial and military airplane manufacturer, plans to slash 4,000 jobs at its Washington state-based commercial division by June, with an additional 4,000 job cuts likely to come by the end of 2016.
Boeing responded to the news report by acknowledging that it planned to slash about 4,000 jobs in its commercial airlines division by mid-year, and an additional 550 jobs in a unit that conducts flight and lab testing. However, it refused to confirm press reports that these cuts were only part of a planned 10 percent reduction at the division by year-end, which would bring the job reduction to 8,000 positions.
“There is no employment reduction target,” company spokesman Doug Alder said. “The more we can control costs as a whole, the less impact there will be to employment,” he added. The latter statement is intended to put pressure on workers to accept new concessions in the name of “saving jobs,” and provide the International Association of Machinists union (IAM) with ammunition to press its members for further give-backs.
The report sent shockwaves throughout the state, and particularly the Seattle region, where the bulk of the company’s commercial aircraft production is located. More than 9,000 Boeing jobs have been eliminated since 2012, after the IAM agreed to an extension of a sellout contract it imposed following a seven-week strike in 2008.

I'm highlighting that because it's alarming and because I hadn't even heard about it until WSWS.

Maybe it's been all over the news and I just missed it.

But I haven't seen it.

Have you?

The economy continues to suck.

In seven years, Barack's failed to improve it.


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


Wednesday, March 30, 2016.  Chaos and violence continue, a US general embraces the killer of US troops, Iraq still has no legitimate government, the White House finally releases a plan or 'plan' for addressing the Islamic State, and much more.




On the 13th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War, another US service member died in Iraq.  As the month of March draws to a close, Timothy Whiteman (WILMINGTON CONSERVATIVE EXAMINER) reports:


The earthly remains of Staff Sgt. Louis F. Cardin, USMC, have been returned home to California. As reported by KABC-TV of Los Angeles on Mar. 28, 2016, the fallen Leatherneck will nonetheless receive a hero's welcome in the Southern California town of Temecula, albeit a sad one.
The small town on the edge of California's High Desert region will honor their hometown hero with a public viewing this Friday at the Temecula City Hall Town Square. Mayor Mike Naggar in a statement, "Temecula is deeply saddened to learn that one of our hometown high school graduates, who grew up to be the bravest of warriors, died protecting our Nation's freedoms. Cardin is forever a hero to Temecula and to our Nation."

March 19th, Liz Sly and Mustafa Salim (WASHINGTON POST) explained:

A senior Iraqi army officer in Makhmour said two rockets landed about 8:20 a.m. Saturday on the U.S. camp, a small, closely guarded facility where American advisers have been based for several months helping Iraqi army and peshmerga forces battle Islamic State fighters nearby and preparing for an offensive to recapture the key Iraqi city of Mosul.
Kim Henderson (DAILY LEADER) notes Louis Cardin:


Back at home, Cardin was kown as "Louie," the second-youngest of eight siblings, a military-minded guy who joined the Marines in 2006 just two days after graduating from his Temecula, California, high school.  So while his former classmates moved into dorms that fall, Louis moved into dorms that fall, Louis moved into a different mold -- that of a field artilleryman.  He was following in the footsteps of his two grandfathers and an older brother, Vincent, who told reporters that Louis would have turned 28 next month.  Vincent said he and Louis had recently been messaging via Facebook about getting their mother a ring for her birthday, one containing all the siblings' birthstones.
Mary Pat, mother of Cardin brood, has waved away offers of condolences, preferring instead to speak of her years with Louis as a gift.  She's aware that President Obama publicly acknowledged her son's death during his visit to Cuba, but says her Louie would have wanted the attention deflected from himself and directed instead toward his fellow Marines.  That's why the two care packages Mary Pat was preparing to send to her son -- filled with desert essentials like baby wipes and over-the-calf socks -- will be sent to other recipients.  "That's what he'd want," she told The Press Enterprise, a Riverside, California, newspaper.



And no one can tell you why Cardin died.


To protect Iraq?

What Iraq?


The government that is no more?

In March 2010, national elections were held.



There is no one in the national government today who legitimately holds office.  From Iraq's Constitution:


Article 54:
First: The electoral term of the Council of Representatives shall be limited to four calendar years, starting with its first session and ending with the conclusion of the fourth year.

Second: The new Council of Representatives shall be elected forty-five days before the conclusion of the previous electoral term.


Get it?

Their terms expired in 2014.

It's 2016.

The country being helped or 'helped' has refused to hold elections.

This isn't a representative government or one that even cares enough to look that way.

This is an abusive and non-responsive government which refuses to abide by accountability.

This is why US troops have been sent to die in Iraq?

To defend this joke of a government?


And today, US President Barack Obama just made things worse.

Background comes via Human Rights Watch, here they are discussing Iraq's 'popular mobilization forces' -- Shi'ite militias:


Mostly Shia militias fighting ISIS, such as Badr Brigades, League of the Righteous, or Imam Ali Battalions, carried out widespread and systematic violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, in particular, demolishing homes and shops in recaptured Sunni areas.
Militia fighters as well as Iraqi security forces in late August 2014 succeeded in driving ISIS fighters from the Shia Turkmen and Sunni Arab town of Amerli and subsequently raided several dozen neighboring Sunni villages driven by revenge and expelled Sunni Iraqis to alter the area’s demographic. Kurdish Peshmerga fighters told Human Rights Watch of 47 villages that Shia forces methodically destroyed. Raids included looting, burning, and demolition by explosives, as well as the abduction of at least 11 local men.
After recapturing Tikrit in March 2015, militia forces torched and blew up hundreds of buildings and destroyed large sections of neighboring al-Dur, al-Bu ‘Ajil, and southern al-Alam. Militias also forcibly disappeared some 200 men and boys.

Peshmerga forces of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) also carried out, or failed to prevent, destruction of Arab homes and looting of shops in areas recaptured from ISIS. Witnesses implicated Peshmerga forces in the wholescale destruction of the village of Barzan, in Zumar district, in September 2014, as well as in nearby Bardiya town, where KRG forces, at a minimum, allowed Kurdish civilians to raze Arab houses.


Okay, so US troops are on the ground in Iraq to protect the innocent civilians from these Shi'ite militias?

Nope.

The US military is now hugging and dry humping these forces.


Ali Mamouri (AL-MONITOR) reports:


On March 12, US Consul General Steve Walker visited Al-Sadr Teaching Hospital in Basra to pay his respects to wounded members of the Popular Mobilization Units. The visit marked the first time a US official has publicly met these troops. This is particularly remarkable as until now, the official US position toward the Popular Mobilization Units was negative, and the United States had even demanded that the Iraqi government prevent the forces from taking part in the operations to liberate some areas, such as the city of Ramadi in Anbar, that were freed without their participation by US request.
Walker made it clear that the trip was not just a courtesy visit. Accompanied by TV stations such as the US-based Alhurra, which broadcast the visit and his remarks in Arabic, Walker said, “The US recognizes the important contribution of the Popular Mobilization Units under the command of Prime Minister [Haider al-Abadi], and most of the Popular Mobilization troops came from the south. This is why I would like to express my condolences to the people of Basra and the south who have lost their loved ones or friends in the war against the Islamic State.”
Walker expressed his solidarity with the wounded, who welcomed his visit. He told them, “The US and Iraqi people are very, very proud of you.” 

General Steve Walker is dry humping these Shi'ite forces?

If you're not getting how disgusting this is, you're not familiar with these forces and what they've done to US forces in the not-so-long ago past.


For just one example, we'll drop back to the June 9, 2009 snapshot:



This morning the New York Times' Alissa J. Rubin and Michael Gordon offered "U.S. Frees Suspect in Killing of 5 G.I.'s." Martin Chulov (Guardian) covered the same story, Kim Gamel (AP) reported on it, BBC offered "Kidnap hope after Shia's handover" and Deborah Haynes contributed "Hope for British hostages in Iraq after release of Shia militant" (Times of London). The basics of the story are this. 5 British citizens have been hostages since May 29, 2007. The US military had in their custody Laith al-Khazali. He is a member of Asa'ib al-Haq. He is also accused of murdering five US troops. The US military released him and allegedly did so because his organization was not going to release any of the five British hostages until he was released. This is a big story and the US military is attempting to state this is just diplomacy, has nothing to do with the British hostages and, besides, they just released him to Iraq. Sami al-askari told the New York Times, "This is a very sensitive topic because you know the position that the Iraqi government, the U.S. and British governments, and all the governments do not accept the idea of exchanging hostages for prisoners. So we put it in another format, and we told them that if they want to participate in the political process they cannot do so while they are holding hostages. And we mentioned to the American side that they cannot join the political process and release their hostages while their leaders are behind bars or imprisoned." In other words, a prisoner was traded for hostages and they attempted to not only make the trade but to lie to people about it. At the US State Dept, the tired and bored reporters were unable to even broach the subject. Poor declawed tabbies. Pentagon reporters did press the issue and got the standard line from the department's spokesperson, Bryan Whitman, that the US handed the prisoner to Iraq, the US didn't hand him over to any organization -- terrorist or otherwise. What Iraq did, Whitman wanted the press to know, was what Iraq did. A complete lie that really insults the intelligence of the American people. CNN reminds the five US soldiers killed "were: Capt. Brian S. Freeman, 31, of Temecula, California; 1st Lt. Jacob N. Fritz, 25, of Verdon, Nebraska; Spc. Johnathan B. Chism, 22, of Gonzales, Louisiana; Pfc. Shawn P. Falter, 25, of Cortland, New York; and Pfc. Johnathon M. Millican, 20, of Trafford, Alabama." Those are the five from January 2007 that al-Khazali and his brother Qais al-Khazali are supposed to be responsible for the deaths of. Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Robert H. Reid (AP) states that Jonathan B. Chism's father Danny Chism is outraged over the release and has declared, "They freed them? The American military did? Somebody needs to answer for it."

That's the League of Righteous.

That's who US General Steve Walker 'paid his respects' to.


They killed US soldiers.

And now Walker has, on behalf of the US government and military, 'honored' them with praise.


Why are US forces in Iraq?


To die for an illegitimate government and to hug the very militias that killed other US troops.


As if to make clear how fake and phony the entire operation is, the White House (finally) delivered to Congress a "Strategy for the Middle East and to Counter Violent Extremism."  PDF format warning, click here for the seven page document.


Despite invoking phrases like "whole of government approach," it's just bomb, bomb, shoot, shoot.

There's no diplomatic effort and this is the most the seven page paper can offer that doesn't involve the military:

In Iraq, we are pressing the Government of Iraq regularly to institute political reforms that promote reconciliation and inclusive governance. We are also working with the Government of Iraq to assist with stabilization and reconstruction in liberated areas. Finally, we are also leading an effort to organize financial support for Iraq, so that Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) can continue operations against ISIL notwithstanding depressed oil prices.



It's always about oil, isn't it?

Even cuter, "we are pressing the Government of Iraq regularly to institute political reforms that promote . . ."

There is no government of Iraq.

And forget political reforms, how about holding a damn election, one that's now nearly two years overdue?

Quit pretending, quit fake assing.


Republican Paul Ryan is the Speaker of the US House of Representatives.  His office issued the following in response to the White House plan or 'plan:'


This is not a real plan to defeat ISIS
On the eve of Easter weekend, the Obama administration quietly released its whopping seven-page, one-month-late “plan” to counter violent extremism and defeat ISIS. No fanfare. No announcement from the president. No campaign to sell this strategy to Congress and the American people. Why? Because this is not a real plan.
Congress mandated this report to compel the administration to finally present a comprehensive plan to eliminate ISIS. There is little mention of how we’ll work alongside our allies in this fight, or which groups will help us counter violent extremism, or how we’ll develop a capable ground force in Iraq and Syria following disastrous attempts to train and equip vetted factions in both countries.
This morning, Speaker Ryan discussed the issue further on Bill Bennett’s Morning in America radio show:
“We are not doing what we need to do to get ISIS. The president we required in law [to] deliver a plan to Congress to defeat ISIS—he was a couple months late in delivering that plan. He just gave it to us a couple of days ago. And I guess you could say that that’s a good thing that he finally gave us a plan. But what was more disheartening and just shocking about it was it was just a recitation of the status quo of what they’re doing—which is even more disturbing to me because it shows me that they are just phoning it in on the war on terror, they’re phoning it on radical Islamic terrorism, and they’re not doing anything near what we need to do. And that’s one of the reasons why I’m going over to the Middle East to talk with our allies who are combating this.”
As the speaker mentioned, he will travel to the Middle East to discuss the threat posed by ISIS and radical Islamic terrorism with several key allies. House Republicans are serious about strengthening our alliances and confronting these threats. That’s why our Task Force on National Security is working on a specific policy agenda to build a stronger, safer, and more Confident America.



Ryan's criticisms revolved around the military aspect which he feels are not strong enough.

There are many points that would back up Ryan's view.

Chief among them the fact that Barack has now set up the Iraq War as something that will continue beyond his term and be left for the next US president.


It can also be noted that the 'plan' or plan has the same thing happening over and over -- despite the lack of any noticeable success.


For example, the US Defense Dept issued the following today:

 Strikes in Iraq
Fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 20 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:
-- Near Baghdadi, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL boat.
-- Near Habbaniyah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit.
-- Near Hit, three strikes struck a large ISIL tactical unit and an ISIL safe house and destroyed two ISIL assembly areas and an ISIL vehicle bomb.
-- Near Mosul, five strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed six ISIL assembly areas, an ISIL weapons cache and an ISIL vehicle.
-- Near Qayyarah, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL tunnels and an ISIL assembly area.
-- Near Sultan Abdallah, three strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle and an ISIL fighting position and suppressed an ISIL tactical unit.
-- Near Kirkuk, a strike destroyed two ISIL assembly areas.
-- Near Kisik, a strike destroyed an ISIL assembly area.
-- Near Makhmur, a strike destroyed an ISIL tactical vehicle.

-- Near Sinjar, two strikes destroyed an ISIL assembly area and an ISIL fighting position.

Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.



They issued it today. 

And beginning in August of 2014, they've issued it every day.



And when what you are doing militarily does not work but you instead double down on it -- do the same thing but with increased assets -- what do you get?


MISSION CREEP:



For Paul Ryan, the response is to demand a more robust military plan.


But that's not going to defeat the Islamic State.

The group got its foothold in Iraq because the government was persecuting the Sunni people.

Stop that persecution and you remove the reason for the Islamic State to be in Iraq.







Wednesday, March 30, 2016

College debt

Hillary is not serious about addressing the student loan issue.

What America needs is loan forgiveness.

It is time to bail out America's future, not leave them chained down and bound to huge college debt.

Bernie Sanders gets it.

Hillary?  Not at all.




  • The vast majority of U.S. students are already working to put themselves through school. The kids are alright.




  • Yet wealthy kids under 's plan wouldn't have to work 10 hrs a week. Kids from working families would.



  • Hillary says so much s**t that after awhile even she believes it.



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


    Tuesday, March 29, 2016.  Chaos and violence continue, the persecution of Sunnis continue, an illegitimate government continues to rule Iraq, and much more.





    Two US service members are known to have died in the Iraq  War in the last months.



    Dropping back to the October 24, 2015 snapshot:


    Thursday saw the death of yet another person in Iraq -- this time a US citizen.
























  • And now dropping back to the March 23rd snapshot:



    On the 13th anniversary of the start of the Iraq War, another US service member died in Iraq.






    The USMC just released a photo of SSgt Louis Cardin, KIA Saturday in Iraq. RIP Marine.












    Barbara Starr (CNN) reports, "A U.S. Marine stationed at Firebase Bell was killed by an ISIS Katyusha rocket attack on Saturday. Eight U.S. troops were also wounded in the attack. Three were medivaced to Germany where one is described as having serious injuries a defense official told CNN."  




    Why?

    Why did they die?

    Why did US President Barack Obama send them and others into Iraq?

    To help Iraq?

    He said, before he sent US troops in, that the only answer for Iraq was a political solution.

    But there has been no political solution.

    More to the point, there is no legitimate government.

    Yes, Barack forced Nouri al-Maliki to step down as prime minister before the end of his term.

    Yes, Barack backed Haider al-Abadi to be the new prime minister.

    But we're not talking about that.

    Iraq has no legitimate government.


    This is from Iraq's Constitution:


    Article 54:
    First: The electoral term of the Council of Representatives shall be limited to four calendar years, starting with its first session and ending with the conclusion of the fourth year.

    Second: The new Council of Representatives shall be elected forty-five days before the conclusion of the previous electoral term.



    Do you get it?

    Because the White House really, really hopes you don't.

    Nouri's term should have ended in November of 2014.

    Since Haider replaced Nouri, Haider's term should have ended in November of 2014.

    Haider is no longer a member of Parliament.

    There are legally no members of Parliament* because their four year term expired in November of 2014.


    [*We can argue this all you want but when Tareq al-Hashemi was Vice President from 2005 to 2010 and before he (and anyone else) was named to the posts following the 2010 elections, he was visiting other countries to promote investment and business in Iraq and Nouri objected and insisted that Tareq was not a vice president because his term had expired.  Nouri's understanding/view was not disputed by the press, they treated it as gospel.  So if that was the case then, it's the case now.]


    The current Parliament held their first official session November 11, 2010.  So if we're generous, we can argue their term expired in November 11, 2014.

    It's March 29, 2016.

    There is no legitimate government in Iraq nor any legal one.

    Where are the elections?

    Per the Constitution, they should have taken place over a year ago.

    Where are the elections?

    And how can Barack justify sending US troops into the failed state of Iraq when it doesn't even have a government?


    At the very least, he should have made any troops being sent in, any aid -- weapons or dollars conditional upon free and fair elections.

    Iraq is a failed state.

    The US troops are in Iraq to prop up the illegitimate government of Iraq.

    In what world is this acceptable?

    In the United States, elections are not postponed.

    9/11 did not result in a loss of elections nor, for that matter, did the American Civil War.


    What is Iraq's excuse?


    As we asked in yesterday's snapshot, where are the elections?


    We know where US troops are -- in Iraq with more to be deployed shortly.

    Thomas Gaist (WSWS) observes:



    In 2014, at the outset of the latest US Iraq war, known as “Operation Inherent Resolve,” the Obama administration vowed that the US intervention would be limited to air strikes and a minimal ground role, restricted to small numbers of “advisors” embedded with Iraqi units.
    During the nearly two years of escalating US operations that followed, these promises have been continuously rolled back. A familiar pattern has emerged, whereby the US military chiefs periodically announce, without any suggestion that the civilian administration has been consulted or even informed, their plans for an imminent expansion of the quality and role of US forces in the war.
    Last June, the Pentagon unveiled plans for the indefinite stationing of US ground forces throughout Iraq in a network of “lily pad” bases. In December, Secretary Carter announced the deployment of a Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) “expeditionary targeting force,” essentially a small army of lavishly funded and equipped commando units specializing in assassination, kidnapping, and other black operations.
    The US moves toward larger ground operations have proceeded beneath a relentless bombing campaign. US-led coalition planes have pummeled Iraq with more than 7,336 strikes since the beginning of the air war in August 2014.
    The American military violence being inflicted upon Iraq in the name of fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is part of a decades-long assault on the country.



    And the pummeling of Iraq continued today with the US Defense Dept announcing/claiming/boasting:


    Strikes in Iraq

    Attack aircraft conducted four strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq’s government:

    -- Near Hit, two strikes struck an ISIL bed-down location and an ISIL safe house.

    -- Near Sinjar, a strike destroyed two ISIL assembly areas and suppressed an ISIL machine gun position.

    -- Near Sultan Abdallah, a strike destroyed three ISIL assembly areas.


    Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.



    Turning to other violence, Al Jazeera reports:


    The armed group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant has claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing in central Baghdad that police said killed seven people and wounded 27.
    The blast occurred on Tuesday near a gathering of workers in Tayaran Square, about a kilometre from a sit-in held by supporters of influential Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to demand political reforms.


    Meanwhile, Moqtada's rally behind Haider position appears to be wavering:












  • While Haider stands in danger of losing support from his fellow Shi'ites, he's done nothing to reach out to the long persecuted Sunni community.







  • One of the many reasons the Sunni youth join the Tyranny of the Rafidah Snakes








  • Iraqi Sunni civilians arrested by Shia militias without guilt or charge





  • Haider has become not just the failed leader of a failed state but the illegitimate leader as well.  When will Iraq hold elections?  When will it follow the country's Constitution?