President Trump’s nomination of Appeals Court Judge Brett Kavanaugh to fill the vacancy on the US Supreme Court has produced a predictable round of demagogic posturing and symbolic fist-shaking by Senate Democrats, vowing to fight against the confirmation of a justice who will give the ultra-right a solid five-member majority on the court for years to come.
This, however, is only the opening scene of a hackneyed stage production whose actors are going through the well-trod motions without a trace of energy or sincerity, and who all know the outcome in advance. In one month, or two, or at the most three, Kavanaugh will be sworn in as the new Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, as Trump looks on approvingly, and Kavanaugh’s co-thinkers in the Federalist Society celebrate.
There were efforts Tuesday by the Democratic Party’s media allies to present it as engaged in a terrific fight against the Trump Supreme Court pick. The Washington Post ran the banner headline, “Democrats launch all-out blitz against pick for high court,” highlighting this quote from Schumer: “I will oppose him with everything I’ve got.”
A reading of the article compels the conclusion that “everything I’ve got” is very little, except his marching orders from Wall Street, which fully backs the nomination. Schumer declares that all 49 Democratic senators would not be enough to defeat Kavanaugh and expresses the hope that two pro-choice Republicans, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine, might oppose the nomination. Meanwhile, the article goes on to explain that as many as six Democrats may defect the other way, including three who voted for Trump’s first Supreme Court nominee, Neil Gorsuch.
Kavanaugh is this year's Iraq War. The Democrats won't stop it because they want to try to use it to drive the elections. They're a useless party.
They never stopped the Iraq War, did you notice?
I wonder what Mike Gravel thinks of these do nothing Dems. He ran for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 2008 and lost -- despite having a history (see Vietnam) of working to stop war.
It's all a pose, it's all a pretense.
Us? We should be singing Melanie's "Bitter Bad."
It's bitter bad, heartsick sad
When the one that you love has lost the feel for you
If you do me wrong
I'll put your first and last name in my rock 'n roll song
It's bitter bad, he's got the nerve to get mad
When it's he who lost the feel for you
Oh what a life, what a mean low down world
You've been doing my stuff with another girl
You.ve been smoking my stuff with another girl
It's bitter bad, he's got the nerve to get mad
When it's he who lost the feel for you
He, for me, is the Democratic Party.
It's bitter bad, the Democratic Party's got the nerve to get mad
When it's the Democratic Party who lost the feel for you
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Tuesday:
Original drone footage by
All that 'success.' Hard to believe the Iraqi people didn't storm the polls on May 12th to vote for Hayder and give him a second term?
It's only hard to believe if you bought the crap the corporate media was selling in the long lead up to the Iraqi elections.
Mosul still in ruins one year after 'liberation' from ISIL aje.io/n5qe5
Today marks one year since
That's what 'liberation' looks like. What a proud moment for the whole world.
XINHUA reports that the "smell of rotting bodies comes from under the rubbles" and:
In a coffee shop, where many workers used to gather after a hard day of cleaning up ruins of devastated buildings, blames were heard for the Baghdad government's neglecting the city.
A
young man smoking a traditional water pipe, or Shisha as Iraqis name
it, said he heard media reports on funds allocated by the Baghdad
government to rebuild Mosul, but "actually we haven't seen any progress
by this money. I wonder was it true or stolen by corrupt officials?"
"Dozens
of thousands of people cannot come back to their homes, because they
don't have money to rebuild their houses, not to mention the lack of
basic public services in their neighborhoods," the young man said while
he was inhaling deeply from the mouthpiece of the Shisha and exhaling a
jet of white smoke.
"Can
you imagine the misery of the people here, they even using water wells
while the world is watching us?" the young man said, blaming the
situation on corruption and failure of Iraqi politicians.
Islamic Relief notes, "Tons
of explosive remnants are still littered all over the city and hundreds
of thousands of people remain displaced because it is too dangerous for
them to return home. Schools, hospitals and other public facilities
have been damaged and destroyed."
Liberation, or 'liberation,' resulted in what is called the worst battle
since WWII. What did that battle look like? A massacre. A massacre
where civilians couldn't be distinguished from combatants.
That's called a War Crime, by the way.
Wilson Fache (THE NATIONAL) reports on the battle and notes:
One
of the soldiers, his face scarred by shrapnel, recounted the final days
of fighting. “Around 15 per cent of the civilians managed to flee, the
others are in there,” he said, pointing to the murky waters of the
Tigris. “We had to kill everyone. We couldn't tell friends from
enemies.”
The violence never ends in Iraq. Margaret Griffis (ANTIWAR.COM) notes, of Monday's violence, "At least 34 people were killed, and 11 were wounded in recent violence."
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The following community sites -- plus Jody Watley and NPR 'Music' (it's not a music story, the Tab Hunter piece), PACIFICA EVENING NEWS and BLACK AGENDA REPORT -- updated:
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Protest?2 hours ago
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An important critique2 hours ago
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