Tuesday, October 31, 2017

Judy Collins caught lying about Joni Mitchell

Hillary Clinton named Chelsea after the song “Chelsea Morning” – as recorded by Judy Collins.

Which is another clue that there’s something wrong with that woman.

Anyone choosing Judy’s performance of Joni’s song over Joni Mitchell’s performance of her own song . . .

Well, I worry about that person.

Judy’s got a few notes, I suppose, but her voice has never been full bodied, to put it mildly.

That’s why Joan Baez was always seen as Joan Baez and Judy was always seen as Jac Holzman’s Joan Baez.

Why am I writing about Judy today?

She’s done something that I think many will find interesting.

Is there some long ago moment that you can’t let go of?

I can think of a woman who wronged me in high school.

I can largely let go of it except for the fact that the woman, who I still bump into, will often bring it up only to tell me it never happened.
So I’ll call Tony’s mom (my best friend from high school) sometimes and I’ll be like, “Am I wrong?  That happened, right?”

So years ago, when Judy was trying to record an album, Al Kooper calls her up and says that he’s with a songwriter.  He puts Joni on the phone, she plays “Both Sides Now” and other songs.  Judy’s blown away.  She tells Joni she’s picking her up tomorrow morning and taking her to the Newport Folk Festival.  And Joni waits and waits and Judy never shows.  Joni was destroyed.

A little while later, Joni gets a call from Judy.  Joni’s the talk of Newport, Judy’s sending a car for her.

Judy is now saying none of that is true.

It’s “horsepuckey” and she never told Joni she’d take her.

Bat, as explained in “Put The Bitch In Her Place (Ava and C.I.),” Al Kooper backs Joni’s story.

I believe Joni, she’s stuck to that story from day one. 

She’s always had her facts right (Judy’s often gotten wrong who called her) and she’s believable. 

I don’t know why Judy’s pulling that crap – and saying Joni’s delusional – but it doesn’t endear her to me.


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


Monday, October 30, 2017.

Fake news?

You mean like this:

  Oct 28

Iraqi army won the title of the best army in the world!

Alsumaria News:
The British military magazine Jeans has named the the "best army in the world" of 2017, while Lieutenant General Abdul Wahab al-Saadi won the award of the best military commander.



YES2IRAQ might need to rethink their claims.  There's no "Jeans."  Possibly they mean JANE'S DEFENCE WEEKLY?

At any rate, no such praise has been published in the print edition of JANE'S nor has it been published online.  And if ALSUMARIA truly presented the claims, it did so in a live broadcast and not in a story it filed at its website -- which makes no sense at all.

But if the Iraqi military had to pretend on genuine praise, they'd be waiting forever.

Iraq can't defend itself.

Even now, it cannot defend itself.

A US-led coalition scrambled ISIS.  Did it defeat it?  Nope because that's not how you defeat terrorism.  But they scrambled ISIS.

To pretend that the Iraqi military is competent let alone praiseworthy requires serious delusion.

There's so much pretending going on.

In last night's "Looks like a victory for Massoud Barzani despite the pack mentality of the press," we noted that the resignation of KRG President Barzani on Sunday came at the perfect time for his legacy.  He stood up to all foreign powers and honored the Kurdish people by holding a referendum -- in which over 92% of the voters declared that they did not want to be a part of Iraq.

Barzani is now a folk hero.

The press can't see that?  Or it refuses to admit it?

We knew that our failure to address the disputed territories and conflicting Kurdish-Arab claims to places like Kirkuk was dangerous. When I was back working in Iraq again from 2008 to 2010, Ambassador Ryan Crocker predicted in a senior staff meeting that our leaving the Kirkuk issue unresolved “would destroy Iraq.” Distracted by each new crisis du jour, we never mounted a sustained, determined effort to bring Erbil and Baghdad together to resolve the smoldering problem of the disputed territories.

That's Robert Ford writing at THE ATLANTIC this morning in a piece entitled "America Never Understood Iraq: As the Kurdish crisis continues to spiral, a former diplomat laments a history of missed opportunities."  Ford writes:



But Abadi and the Baghdad government—far stronger and with Iranian and American backing—would have none of it, rejecting appeals for dialogue and threatening force. On October 19, the outnumbered Kurds unhappily relinquished Kirkuk and the oilfields without a fight. Again rejecting renewed Kurdish appeals for dialogue, Abadi demanded that Erbil cancel the referendum and turn over its airports and control of its border points. Iraqi forces and the Iran-backed Shia Islamist Popular Mobilization brigades marched into other areas in the disputed territories and the point where Turkey, Syria, and Iraq meet. The Iraqi forces and the peshmerga eventually agreed to a temporary ceasefire on October 28, but there is no resolution in sight for the disputed territories and the future of Iraq’s Kurds.
While Abadi and others in Baghdad condemned the Kurdish vote as illegitimate, there is nothing in the Iraqi constitution that expressly forbade such a non-binding referendum. Moreover, its result merely confirmed what everyone in Iraq already knew: Iraq’s Kurds don’t want to be in Iraq. 
This poses the question of how democratic Iraq could ever be when such a large segment of its population wants out. Oil revenues can help bind Iraq’s Arab and Kurdish communities. The communities are, however, very far apart politically and socially. If Iraq is to find stability, reaching a political solution to integrate Iraqi Kurdistan into broader Iraq seems unavoidable.


Over the weekend, Aziz Weysi Bani weighed in at NEWSWEEK:

 Following our vote for independence, Iraqi and regional backlash escalated with closure of our airspace, an end to financial transactions and arrest warrants for our officials. Emboldened by the total lack of international response, Iraq and Iran’s aggression culminated with an invasion of our territory by the Iraqi Army and their Iranian-backed militant counterparts. These militants include terror-designated groups such as Hezbollah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
These attacks on all fronts, from Sinjar to Kirkuk to Khanaqin, took us by surprise. It was not a complete surprise to the United States, however, which knew the attack was imminent but failed to provide us with a warning or apply adequate pressure to prevent it. Our weakness was partly due to some of our political and military leaders having made a desperate deal with Iran and Iraq, and who retreated their forces without a fight. Had the West provided us with sufficient support, we would not be as susceptible to such lethal manipulation by our common enemies.
When President Donald J. Trump was elected, Kurds were buoyed with new hope. Initially positive signals from his administration prompted babies and businesses to be named after America’s new president.
This support began to wane with President Trump’s opposition to our independence referendum and then turned to outrage when the United States stood by as our lines collapsed under the Iraqi assault. America's policy of not having a policy is all the more confusing, as President Trump only one week ago committed to decertifying the Iran deal and listing the IRGC as a terror organization.


Donald Trump was able to turn his back on the Kurds largely due to the American media.  It's a point Baria Alamuddin (ARAB NEWS) made Sunday as she reflected on her recent trip to the US:

From inside the Washington media bubble it can feel as if the outside world has ceased to exist. The liberal US media appears ill-equipped to handle any news story that doesn’t involve feigning outrage at Donald Trump’s absurd tweets. I wouldn’t want to trivialize the shocking Harvey Weinstein scandal, but is it inopportune to inquire whether anything else is going on in the world?
Americans across the political spectrum appear so consumed with their shattered and polarized national identity that they struggle to pay attention to complex international developments. The White House is obsessed with self-generated crises and own goals, dominated by a president who, if he were suddenly minded to lash out at Tehran and Pyongyang, might struggle to find them on a map.  


Trudy Rubin may have been the only journalist at a daily paper paying attention to what was taking place -- see her October 18th column "Betraying the Kurds plays into Tehran's hands" (PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER).


In other news, another journalist has been killed in Iraq.


  5 hours ago
Replying to 


journalist Arkan Sharif leaves behind three children, he was killed in his home in Daquq by Iraqi militiamen.


3 replies45 retweets33 likes





India's TRIBUNE reports:


A Kurdish video journalist with a channel backing Iraqi Kurdistan's leader Massud Barzani was stabbed to death at his home overnight in disputed Kirkuk province, a security source said on Monday.

Four armed men broke into the home of Arkan Sharif, a 54 -year-old journalist with Kurdistan TV, at 2:30 am (local time) in the Daquq area south of Kirkuk city, the source said.

Sharif, a father of three, was stabbed five times after his family were locked up in another room, the source said.


New content at THIRD:

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Friday, October 27, 2017

Vegetarian Enchiladas in the Kitchen

Saw this:

  1.   Oct 12
    Must read Frances Moore Lappe Diet for a Small Planet.   Planet would be better off with more vegetarians🥕🌽🌶🍅🍄🥜🥒
    $1.3 trillion. That's how much it's costing us to feed grain to the animals we kill for food.
     
     
     
  2.   Oct 10
    Diet for a Small Planet How Buildings Learn Mountaineer's Guide to the High Sierra Our Bodies, Ourselves Illuminatus!
    Quote tweet this with five books your partner or potential partner should read to understand you, since everybody's doin' it.
    1 reply1 retweet3 likes
     
     
     
  3.   Oct 10
    A decades old book addressed this "Diet For A Small Planet"  It's more pertinent than ever
    People think being is only about animals, but the impact for human beings is crucial for our survival:
    1 like
     
     
     

Tuesday, I was at the bookstore and saw a copy of DIET FOR A SMALL PLANET and snatched it up.

I already have the book but if you have it, you use it.

Meaning pages come loose over time.

You don't have to go vegan.

If you do, great.

But we can all reduce the amount of meat we eat -- if only for our own health.

DIET FOR A SMALL PLANET explains how much the cost of a pound of beef ends up being.  It will surprise you.

It's a great book.

It has many wonderful recipes.

If you have it in your kitchen, you may end up like me, putting rubber bands around it until you can get a new copy.

That's because you'll use it so much the pages will come loose.

It has all kinds of recipes including sweets.

I noted the book in my firstever blog post -- January 2006.

Eleven years ago!

Goodness.

I'll share the same recipe because it's great and even my meat loving husband does not complain about this dish -- it's really great.


Warning: The sauce for this is very hot. You may want to reduce the amount of hot sauce and chili powder.
Olive oil for sauteing
1 1/2 cups chopped onions
2 cups canned tomatoes
One 8-ounce can tomato sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
Pinch cayenne pepper
10 drops hot sauce
1/2 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon chili powder
1 tablespoon honey
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin seed
1/4 pound black olives, pitted and sliced (reserve some for garnish)
1 1/2 cups cooked pinto beans (1/2 cup uncooked), mashed or ground
8 soft corn tortillas
1/4 pound Monterey Jack or other cheese, grated
Salt to taste

Heat oil and saute two-thirds of the onions until translucent. Add tomatoes, tomato sauce, half the garlic, the cayenne pepper, hot sauce, 1/2 tablespoon chili powder, honey, salt, and cumin seed and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
Heat olive oil and saute remaining onions and garlic and black olives until onions are translucent. Add remaining 1 teaspoon chili powder, taste for salt, and add beans (and some sauce if mix seems too sticky). Stir well.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Fill each tortilla with 2 to 3 tablespoons filling and 1 tablespoon grated cheese. Roll up and put in a shallow baking pan. Cover with sauce, sprinkle with remaining cheese, and garnish with reserved olives. Bake until bubbling hot, about 30 minutes.
Complementary protein: beans + corn.
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for Friday:

Friday, October 27, 2017.

The Baghdad-based government in Iraq has been using US supplied weapons to attack the Kurds.  For those familiar with the law, the response required is not words of 'let's all get along.'  No, the law compels the US government to drop all support for the Baghdad-based government of Hayder al-Abadi.

Per an assortment of treaties and agreements -- as well as the Leahy Amendment -- the US must immediately cut off support with the Baghdad-based government.

This means that the administration of US President Donald Trump are currently breaking the law.


  2 hours ago

Kurds demonstrate & call for support from international community against the attacks of |i forces & Shia militias.

0:43

4 replies39 retweets70 likes






Greg Walters (VICE) updates the conflict:

 On Thursday, Baghdad spurned Kurdistan’s offer to “freeze” the results of referendum, insisting the plebiscite be cancelled outright.


The U.S. has seemed reluctant to do more than beg its Iraqi and Kurdish allies to put aside their differences and talk it out. On a surprise trip to Baghdad this week, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson asked Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi to stop using violence against the Kurds.
“We want calm, we want dialogue,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in a press briefing this week. “We don’t want any violent acts being taken by anyone on any side.”
So far, no one in Baghdad appears to be listening. 

Ranj Alaaldin (ALJAZEERA) observes:

Washington's decision to back Baghdad in its dispute with Erbil was based on its strategy to help Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi consolidate power and curb Iranian influence.
But by acquiescing to Baghdad's offensive on Kirkuk, the US inadvertently empowered the Iran-backed militias, which have dominated Iraq's security sphere since the 2014 collapse of the Iraqi armed forces.
The PMUs are supported by large segments of the Shia community in Iraq and will almost certainly alter the political map of the country in forthcoming elections in 2018. While in their ranks there are a number of state-aligned units that do not answer to Tehran, the PMUs are led and dominated by two Tehran-linked militias: the Badr Brigade and Ketaib Hezbollah.



The US government's refusal to support the Kurds has led to condemnation in some quarters.  David Shuster offers this commentary.



  10 hours ago

US abandonment of the in is a moral failure and a strategic mistake, says

1:21
Kurds
Stateside | i24NEWS

3 replies33 retweets41 likes






And:



  22 hours ago

The U.S. abandonment of the is absolutely stunning. Everyone needs to hear it. New Podcast...


18 replies141 retweets189 likes





Having sold out the Kurds and broken the law, the US government has certainly gone out on a limb for the Baghdad-based government.  And in return?  Hayder al-Abadi has attacked US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's suggestion that Iranian influence be slightly curbed.  Further, IRAQI NEWS reports:

 The Iran-backed paramilitary force fighting Islamic State alongside the Iraqi government said Friday the United State’s remarks branding one of its top leaders as “terrorist” were a transgression against Iraqi security services.
Ahmed al-Assadi, a spokesperson of the Popular Mobilization Forces, said in statements, circulated by some Iraqi media outlets, that U.S. State Department Spokesperson, Heather Nauert’s description of Abu Mahdi al-Muhanids, deputy chief of the PMF, as a “terrorist” was a transgression against Iraqi security services.
“We are waiting for the Iraqi Foreign Ministry to respond to that transgression,” Assaid stated, noting that those remarks would not discourage the PMF from its mission.



Maybe Hayder and company feel they no longer need US support?  THE DAILY TIMES reports, "Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, whose forces Thursday battled jihadists in the west of the country and Kurds in the north, won the support of Iranian leaders at talks in Tehran."



  5 hours ago

1/ Am near to Faysh Khabur now, on Iraq/Syria border. Despite Iraqi push, Kurds in control of area. Ambulances waiting to transport wounded.


10 replies102 retweets109 likes





  5 hours ago
Replying to 


2/ Kurdish doctor told me: "Yesterday we had many wounded, especially from artillery, not bullets." Today 2wounded. "It is relatively quiet"

4 replies39 retweets47 likes





  4 hours ago
Replying to 


3/ Talked to Peshmergas who just returned from front. "For now no fighting. Y'day difficult but we stopped attack. No idea about tomorrow."

3 replies18 retweets21 likes





  2 hours ago
Replying to 


4/ As peshmergas bought soft drinks in Faysh Khabur, they said: "We're alone - attacked by Isis, Iraq, Iran, Turkey & int community silent."


6 replies36 retweets22 likes






  2 hours ago
Replying to 


5/ One Peshmerga claimed: "It's a scandal that Iraqi forces use U.S. supplied guns against us which were given to them to fight ISIS."

5 replies25 retweets23 likes





  1 hour ago
Replying to 


6/ Surprising to me 2hear some Kurds near frontline use sectarian language. "Shia try to kill us Sunnis". Kurds usually secular/nationalist.

10 replies9 retweets9 likes





  50 minutes ago
Replying to 


7/ In Zakho, Kurdish civilians now putting up "banners with names &pics of our martyrs" who died y'day &today in battle with Iraqi forces.


1 reply11 retweets6 likes





  46 minutes ago
Replying to 


8/ ...and more banners of young men who will never see their own children grow up. Too many sad stories here.


1 reply11 retweets10 likes






REUTERS is reporting that a truce may have been reached.  From earlier today:



  4 hours ago

forces used drone to locate KDP and PKK locations then Federal police IRAM targets them. Full video will be released soon.


5 replies28 retweets47 likes









No truce could mean problems for Hayder al-Abadi.  The only thing propping him up has been the US government.









The following community sites -- plus Jody Watley -- updated:

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