Cedric's Big Mix: 2014-03-02

Saturday, March 08, 2014

He's got a fringe on top

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE

CALL HIM "DROOPY." FADED CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O SENDS DEMOCRATIC POLITICIANS SCURRYING.

REACHED FOR COMMENT, BARRY O ELECTED TO SING:

CHICKS AND DUCKS AND GEESE BETTER SCURRY
WHEN I TAKE YOU OUT IN THE SURREY
WHEN I TAKE YOU OUT IN THE SURREY WITH THE FRINGE ON TOP!
WATCH THAT FRINGE AND SEE HOW IT FLUTTERS
WHEN I DRIVE THEM HIGH STEPPIN' STRUTTERS

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

We've long called out the 'Center' for American Progress and the Podesta boys. For example, let's drop back to the March 28, 2007 snapshot:

Interviewed by Bonnie Faulkner (KPFA's Guns and Butter) today, professor Francis Boyle discussed how a 2003 exploration of impeachment by the Democrats was cut short when John Podesta announced that there would be no introduction of bills of impeachment because it would harm Democrats chances in the 2004 election. Speaking of the measures being applauded by much in the media, big and small, Boyle declared, "It's all baloney. All they had to do was just do nothing and Bush would have run out of money. . . . The DNC fully supports the war, that was made clear to Ramsey [Clark] and me on 13 March 2003 and nothing's changed." John Podesta, former Clintonista, is with the Democratic talking point mill (that attempts to pass itself as a think tank) Center for American Progress -- with an emphasis on "Center" and not "Progress."

Yesterday, Ziad Jilani blew the whistle on his former employers at the 'Center' noting:

Flash forward a couple years, and the Democratic Party’s lawmakers in Congress were in open revolt over the Afghanistan policy. Our writing at ThinkProgress had opened up a lot on the issue, and I was writing really critical stuff. I worked with our art and design team at CAP to put together a chart showing that Obama’s supposed “withdrawal” plan from Afghanistan would leave more troops in the country than when he began his presidency.
The post was one of the most successful things I had ever written to that point. It was featured by MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell and the Congressional Progressive Caucus used it in their briefings to criticize Obama’s plan. I felt great — like I was actually doing the right thing about Afghanistan for once at an institution that had remained quiet or supportive of Obama’s policy there, which in my view was accomplishing little but more bloodshed.
But then phone calls from the White House started pouring in, berating my bosses for being critical of Obama on this policy. Obama’s advisor Ben Rhodes — speaking of a staffer who follows policy set by others for his career path — even made a post on the White House blog more or less attacking my chart by fudging the numbers and including both the Iraq and Afghan troop levels in a single chart to make it seem as if the surge never happened (the marvels of things you can do in Excel!).

Soon afterwards all of us ThinkProgress national security bloggers were called into a meeting with CAP senior staff and basically berated for opposing the Afghan war and creating daylight between us and Obama. It confused me a lot because on the one hand, CAP was advertising to donors that it opposed the Afghan war — in our “Progressive Party,” the annual fundraising party we do with both Big Name Progressive Donors and corporate lobbyists (in the same room!) we even advertised that we wanted to end the war in Afghanistan.

CAP was begging for money -- as it always does -- and claiming they were trying "to end the war in Afghanistan" but all the little whores were doing was screaming at writers to stop blogging about the Afghanistan War because it was too much for little Barack and his pretty little feelings.

You get how it really operates on the faux left. Any asshole who didn't mention that Barack sent troops back into Iraq in fall 2012 should now be suspect to you. They don't offer the truth, they merely repeat what the White House wants them to. Here, we noted Tim Arango's September 25, 2012 report (in print September 26th):

Iraq and the United States are negotiating an agreement that could result in the return of small units of American soldiers to Iraq on training missions. At the request of the Iraqi government, according to General Caslen, a unit of Army Special Operations soldiers was recently deployed to Iraq to advise on counterterrorism and help with intelligence.

Where were the whores of Panhandle Media?

Those little bitches who pretend to care, really, really care, about informing you and insist that you give them your hard earned money so they can continue to not report, so they can continue to gas bag while doing the bidding of the White House?

It doesn't matter that it's a Democratic White House.

A kiss ass is just a kiss ass -- regardless of political party or identification.

Yes, US corporate media walked from Iraq.

That didn't mean Panhandle got an excuse to do nothing. Listen to biggest whore of all Amy Goodman self-proclaiming her greatness of going 'where the silences are.' Not on Iraq.

No, the dirty little whore had nothing for Iraq. Nouri attacked protesters. A week before he did, Goody Whore talked 'about' Iraq with a guest and neither was interested in the protesters. This week, she briefly discussed Iraq. But she wanted to focus not on the tragedy that is Anbar right now but what happened there in 2004 and as soon as Dahr Jamail said the words "Barack Obama," the Goody Whore was pissing herself as she rushed to wrap up her bad segment.

This is what the whores have done and this is why you do not let Medea Benjmain get away with her whorish remarks that the peace movement just walked out on leaders like her. No, it was Medea and the others who walked away from Iraq.

And it may just be a topic to them, but to many of us, it's a humanitarian crisis -- ongoing -- created by the US government via an illegal war, continued by Barack Obama who refused to back the Iraqi voters when they went to the poll in March 2010 and voted Nouri out.

Bully Boy Bush is a War Criminal who started an illegal war.

Also true, when he ceased his occupation of the White House in January 2009, Iraq was in a much better place than it is currently.

Violence was lower, more women served in Nouri's Cabinet, there was an increase in hope via elections on the part of the Iraqi people, the judiciary was receiving assistance and training, the mass exodus of Iraqis from their country appeared to have slowed, Iraq had two Vice Presidents in the country -- one who spoke out strongly on the human rights abuses, the other who made his key issue the issue of corruption. Jalal Talabani was President.

Today?

Start with violence. It increased and increased until now when it's back to 2007 levels. Nouri named a second cabinet which originally included no women and then found a token -- a woman who said women shouldn't have any rights in Iraq, that's the woman Nouri decided should be in charge of the Ministry of Women's Affairs. (The insufferable Hoshyar Zarbani was holding this position before Nouri could find a gender-traitor.) The Judiciary in Baghdad is a joke, all the western governments look at it in shock. Though the fleeing has yet to reach 2006 levels it has been increasing and increasing -- though only BBC World Services has felt the need to report on this in the last 12 months. Hope in the elections? When the Iraqi people voted Iraqiya over Nouri's State of Law and saw the US insist that Nouri won anyway, they saw how little votes could actually matter.

The Vice Presidents? In 2010, they had three vice presidents -- one more than before. In 2011, the one who'd focused on calling out corruption stepped down, resigned because Nouri failed to keep his Give-Me-100-Days-And-I-Will-End-The-Corruption promise. That was spring of 2011. A the end of 2011, the one who spoke out against human rights abuses, went to the KRG a day before Nouri issued an arrest warrant for him. He remains Vice President but now spends his time in surrounding countries because Nouri's kangaroo courts have sentenced him to the death penalty -- multiple times.

And President Jalal Talabani?

The punchline to every joke in Iraq.

December 2012, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani suffered a stroke. The incident took place late on December 17, 2012 (see the December 18, 2012 snapshot) and resulted in Jalal being admitted to Baghdad's Medical Center Hospital. Thursday, December 20, 2012, he was moved to Germany.

When did Jalal return?

February 2013?

No.

Not even by February 2014.

Jalal remains in Germany, he's never returned.

Yesterday, Hamza Mustafa (Asharq al-Awsat) reported

As the countdown begins for Iraq’s parliamentary elections scheduled to take place on April 30, one of the questions on everyone’s lips is about what will be done to address the failure to appoint an acting president following Jalal Talabani’s stroke at the end of December 2012.
Although the presidency in Iraq is largely ceremonial and divorced from day-to-day government, the president is considered the guardian of the constitution and has exclusive jurisdiction following the vote of 2005. The consensus-based nature of governance in Iraq also renders the role of the president indispensable as a mediator in a system of overlapping powers and authorities, in a country where offices of state are divided among ethnicities and sects.

Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, prominent Kurdish leader Fuad Masum, head of the Kurdistan Alliance in the Iraqi Parliament and one of the founders of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) along with Jalal Talabani in 1975, said Talabani’s absence from the scene left the Iraqi political system unbalanced.

“Despite the fact that, according to the constitution, the vice-president is supposed to replace the president in his absence—and this is what is happening now—from a practical point of view there is a breach of the principle of consensus,” he said. “Talabani has not filled his position for more than a year and there have been no Sunni vice-presidents [since] Tareq Al-Hashemi, who was sentenced to death in absentia. There is now one vice-president, Khodair Al-Khozaei, who belongs to the Islamic Da’wa Party led by Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, but from a practical standpoint the position belongs to the Kurds.”

Regarding Talabani’s health, Masum said: “What we know, whether we are leaders in the PUK or the Kurdish or Iraqi street, is what is relayed by those close to him. They are receiving information from his family and his personal physician, the Governor of Kirkuk, Dr. Najmiddin Kari . . . We receive assurances about his health even though his stay in Germany has been a long one. His treatment is proceeding slowly and requires time.”

The PUK isn't very smart. That's why Goran was able to seize second place (behind the KDP) in last fall's KRG provincial elections. First off, Tareq is not an ex-Vice President. Parliament can remove him from office. No one else can. Parliament has refused to remove him from office. That means he's still Vice President (and any convictions were inappropriate because he has legal immunity). Second, if I was the PUK and I had stomped my feet and insisted that Jalal hold onto his job for over a year despite not peforming it?

I think I'd down play things too.

But the reality is, Iraq's in a very dangerous spot right now, worse than it's been since the initial invasion.

Try to imagine 2010 without Jalal.

Nouri lost. He demanded a recount. He still lost. He refused to vacate the post. He brought the government to a standstill (with the help of the White House) and this continued for 8 months.

Without Jalal, what would have happened?

For those who've forgotten, in the summer of 2010, in the midst of Nouri's tantrum, Tareq refused to do nothing and went on a diplomatic tour of the neighboring countries leading to outrage from Nouri and his followers who insisted Tareq was not a vice president, that the country had no vice president. Now they didn't say that about prime minister but they did say it about the vice presidents. And it took Jalal speaking up to shut them up.

If Nouri loses this upcoming election and there's no Jalal, what the hell happens?

Jalal was the only thing that held Nouri in semi-check.

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Friday, March 07, 2014

And he also can't spell

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE

FIRST PRINCESS BARRY THINKS THERE ARE 57 OR MORE STATES IN THE UNITED STATES AND NOW OUR FADED CELEBRITY IN CHIEF CAN'T SPELL "RESPECT."

WELL HE'S NEVER SHOWN IT, WHY SHOULD HE BE ABLE TO SPELL IT.

A CHAIN SMOKING WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMODEL JAY CARNEY NERVOUSLY MUTTERED TO THESE REPORTERS, "AND THAT'S WHY WE DON'T RELEASE THE PRECIOUS' TRANSCRIPTS."

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

John Rowan: [. . .] We have just recently in conjunction with the Veterans Legal Service Clinic at Yale Law School put out a report on the illegal personality and adjustment disorder discharges by the Coast Guard. This is the tip of the iceberg of what's going on in the military with bad discharges. I-I worked on a program 40 years ago dealing with Vietnam veterans with bad discharges. Half-a-million people came out of the Vietnam era with a bad paper discharge -- most of them administrative nonsense. We overturned many of them but unfortunately there's still many of them out there and we're concerned the same thing is happening again. And as the military downsizes, it starts to throw people out, they're going to take any excuse to get people out the door. And an unsuspecting 20-year-old who doesn't know they're signing their life away, is putting a noose around their neck for the rest of their lives, is susceptible to manipulation.

John Rowan is the national president of Vietnam Veterans of America. He was speaking this morning at the joint House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committtee hearing. Also appearing to offer testimony was National Guard Association of the US's Peter Duffy, the National Association of State Directors of Veterans Affairs' Clyde Marsh, Jewish War Veterans' Robert E. Pickard, AMVETS' John Mitchell, Militatry Order of the Purple Heart's Ron Siebels, Retired Enlisted Association's Rick Delaney, Military Officers Association of America's Robert F. Norton and Blinded Veterans Association's Mark Cornell.

Last week, February 25th, the two Committee held a joint hearing as well. Many members were absent from that hearing.

Acting Senate Chair Richard Blumenthal: He [Senator Bernie Sanders] could not be here today because, indeed, he is helping to manage the bill, the comprehensive bill that's under consideration this week before the United States Senate and indeed, I may have to leave early, I will have to leave early to assist him in that effort.

The comprehensive bill was S.1982 "The Comprehensive Veterans Health and Benefits and Military Retirement Pay Restoration Act of 2014." And it failed to pass the Senate.

This morning, one of the witnesses raised that failure.

Ron Siebels: Congress has proved that it has the wisdom and compassion to accomplish great things. But for some reason, the wall between the parties often hinders progress. The military's success is achieved because the different branches work together and never let each other down. That's one of the reasons the military is well respected. We believe Congress can dramatically upgrade its own public image cordial compromise instead of carving party lines in the sand. We thank Senator Sanders and every co-sponsor of Senate bill 1982. We think that well constructed legislation would have resolved many of the issues you're being confronted with now. We fully understand there are costs and balances so Congress can meet their promise to veterans. With that in mind, I offer my personal suggestions. I would get a portion of it from bonuses paid to under performing VA executives who have not reduced the lingering backlog of VA claims. I'd get some of it from the rapidly expanding social benefits VA paid to people who have never contributed anything to anyone in America.

I want to note an exchange from the hearing.

Senator Mark Begich: On women's veterans' issues, this is a continued, growing opportunity in a way -- and I say in a positive way -- women are joining the military in greater number than before but more veterans are coming into the system and because of that there's more requirements and more issues we should be focused on. Can you each tell me -- and, Ron, I'll ask you and then I'll go to Col Norton specifically -- what are those one or two things that you think that we could be doing better specially around women veterans. Ron, I know introduced me to a woman that's running your efforts within the [Militatry Order of the] Purple Heart which I think is fantastic and I give you a lot of credit for that. So could you give me a little thought there.

Ron Siebels: Yes, Senator. Obviously MST [Military Sexual Trauma] is a big issue. The other thing is homelessness. The fastest growing segment is women veterans. I talk to a lady not long ago. She's living out of a car. She's a single mom, two kids, living out of a car. She needs help. She can't even afford to go to a hospital with a sick kid, can't even get her kids registered for school. Those women need some help. And I don't know all the answers but that's why I applaud the VSOs and staff who are bringing women's veterans issues to the forefront. Women are veterans too and they're serving this country very well. And most of the women when they get out of the service, the first thing they look at is taking care of their kids, taking care of their families. Guys like us, we want to get back with the guys, we want to get back into the groove. Well women look at those things a little different. They've veterans too, they're just like us but they do have some separate issues so I don't really have the answers but I think those answers lie within people like Wendy Buckingham who I appointed our National Women's Director and Wendy's here today and if you ever want a chance to meet a lady that's doing a terrific job for veterans spend some time with Wendy Buckingham sitting here behind me. She's doing a fantastic job, I'm so proud of her. But we need more people like that to get involved, people that care, people that know what they're doing. And if we do that, I think we'll extract the answers you're looking for, Senator. I don't know if I've answered your question but hopefully I have.

Senator Mark Begich: No, that's good, Ron. Let me also say, Col Norton, before you comment, I know when you, in your commentary, you made a note and I wanted to restate it because I know the Chairman's here now, thank you for your comment on Chained CPI. I too, like the Chairman [Bernie Sanders], don't believe we should be messing with Chained CPI, it should not be part of the equation when it comes to our Social Security, veterans benefits, I think it really does a disservice -- long term, what it does is take away benefits, pure and simple, so thank you for those that mentioned it. But on the women's issues, you had mentioned in your testimony and I just wanted to tap on that for a second if I could.

Robert F. Norton: Yes, Senator, thank you. I would say first of all it is a cultural issue to begin with overall in the VA system. As you know, it's largely a male dominated enterprise, if you will, at this point. The VA needs to be more welcoming and more responsive to the unique needs of women veterans. For example, I know Senator Sanders will probably mention the great initiative in his state where they opened up a separate entrance for women veterans at the hospital in Vermont. Unemployment is a huge issue. Higher unemployment among female veterans than among male veterans -- that is a big issue. Especially because, as Mr. Siebels mentioned, a lot of women veterans are single parents and so they have that additional complication. Thirdly, of course, is the alarming number of women veterans -- as well as male veterans -- who have been sexually assaulted in military service. So counseling, medical intervention, pyschiatric, psychological, social work support for our women veterans in the VA is very important. That's a provision in a bill that's sponsored out of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee as you know, thank you.

I'm noting the exchange for a reason. This was a solid hearing. So was last week's joint-hearing.

That's not been the case.

The joint-hearings from VSOs are the VSO making a presentation which is prepared remarks (submitted in writing ahead of time) that they read out loud. Some statements can go on for 30 minutes.

I get, I've been at these hearings for 8 years now, I get that you can just want to leave.

And in the past, that's what's really happened. Credit to House Chair Jeff Miller and Ranking Member Mike Michaud and Senate Chair Bernie Sanders and Ranking Member Richard Burr as well as everyone on the two committees. They have changed the rush to say, "Thanks for coming! You know where the exits are!"

Instead, last week's joint hearing and this week's has made a point to use this opportunity to ask the witnesses specific questions.

I don't consider this minor.

I'm already ticked off that the United Nations Security Council takes regular reports on Iraq without ever asking one single question. It's a waste of time. Stop holding the hearings, stop having people fly in to testify, just post online the written statements they plan to read.

Good for the House and Senate Veterans Affairs Committees for using this opportunity to ask questions and provide feedback. It's not minor and I say thank you and, last week, I spoke to three veterans at the joint-hearing who were also happy that the members of the Committee had questions following the presentations. It' not a minor thing and praise to the leadership of both Committees for this change.

We're not done with today's hearing.

John Rowan: One, we support Senator Gillibrand in her efforts to pass the Military Justice Improvement Act and we hope the Senate votes on that this afternoon.

That's from Rowan's opening remarks. Last week, an important bill was killed in the Senate, as we already noted above. Today, it repeated. The important bill Rowan spoke of did not pass.

Tom Brune (Newsday) reports, "Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's bill to fundamentally revamp the military justice system for sexual assault victims hit a wall Thursday when it failed to advance in a procedural vote. An unusually bipartisan majority in the Senate voted 55-45 to break a filibuster of her bill, but that fell short of the 60 votes needed to clear it for a final vote. Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) lost two co-sponsors and couldn't win over undecided senators." Donna Cassata (AP) points out, "Conservative Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Rand Paul of Kentucky backed her effort, while the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, Democratic Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan, opposed the measure."

Stacy Kaper (National Journal) reports:

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand blamed the White House's lack of support for the failure of her sexual-assault bill in the Senate on Thursday, and she vowed to keep fighting to reform the military justice system.
"I made my greatest case, I advocated for this position, this reform, and the president has been very clear: He wants to end sexual assault in the military, he wants it to be further studied, and he wants to see progress and whether it's been accomplished in the next year," the New York Democrat said at a press conference after her bill went down.
When asked if she would have succeeded if President Obama had pushed for her bill and whether she was disappointed by the White House's lack of support, she quickly answered, "Yes, yes."

Senator Gillibrand's office issued the following statement after the vote:

March 6, 2014

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand delivered the following remarks Thursday following the vote on the bipartisan Military Justice Improvement Act, which despite having the support of a bipartisan majority of the Senate, fell five votes shy of breaking a filibuster.

Senator Gillibrand’s remarks as prepared for delivery:
I want to first thank my colleagues who stood so strong and united in this effort from the very beginning. Your leadership truly made the difference to gain the support of a majority of the Senate.

From the very beginning – this was never about being a Democratic idea or a Republican idea. It was just the right thing to do – that people of good faith from both parties could unite around.

And I want to thank the retired Generals, former commanders and veterans of every rank for making their voices heard – to make the military they love so dear as strong as it can be.

And I want to especially thank all the survivors. We owe our gratitude to the brave survivors who, despite being betrayed by their chain of command, continue to serve their country by fighting for a justice system that will help make sure no one else suffers the same tragedy they did. Their struggles, sacrifice and courage inspire me every day.

They may not wear the uniform anymore, but they believe so strongly in these reforms that for a full year now, they marched the halls of this Congress, reliving the horror they endured, telling their stories, in hopes that no one else who serves our country has to suffer as they did.

Tragically, today the Senate failed them. Despite earning the support of the majority of the Senate, we fell five votes short of overcoming the 60-vote filibuster threshold. But we will not walk away, we will continue to work harder than ever in the coming year to strengthen our military.

Without a doubt, with the National Defense bill we passed, and Senator McCaskill’s Victims Protection Act, we have taken good steps to stand up for victims, and hold offenders accountable.

But we have not taken a step far enough. We know the deck is stacked against victims of sexual assault in the military, and today, we saw the same in the halls of Congress.

For two full decades, since Dick Cheney served as the Defense Secretary during the Tailhook scandal that shook the military and shocked the nation, we’ve heard the same thing: “zero tolerance” to sexual assault in the military.

But the truth is in the results, and that’s “zero accountability.”

I always hoped we could do the right thing here – and deliver a military justice system that is free from bias and conflict of interest – a military justice system that is worthy of the brave men and women who fight for us.

But today the Senate turned its back on a majority of its members.

As painful as today’s vote is, our struggle on behalf of the brave men and women who serve in our military will go on. We owe so much to those who bravely serve our country, and I will never quit on them.

For the men and women who sign up to serve our country for all the right reasons – only to be twice betrayed by their chain of command – if they can find the courage to make their voices heard to strengthen the military they hold so dear– we have to keep up this fight.

We will continue to the fight for justice and accountability. That is our duty.

The truth is there is "zero accountability." She is correct. Her bill will most likely pass. Maybe in the next Congress, in fact. And there will be a time in the near future where a Vermont VA won't need separate entrances for women. Those entrances are to keep the women from being harassed. When John Hall served in the US Congress, he explored these issues at length.

The women veterans aren't facing catcalls or abuse from veterans of the Iraq or Afghanistan War. It's from veterans a little older -- because doesn't always mean smarter. For them, female veterans aren't that common. But for veterans of today's war, it's a different story. As they age through the system, there will be less need for separate entrances. And Senator Gillibrand is so very right to connect what happened today to the 90s Tailhook scandals.

What she did today, the fight she took to the Senate floor?

There was nothing like that during Tailhook.

There was outrage. There were promises, few of which were kept.

But did you get a sense that there was a real fighter on the Senate floor for this issue back then?

I didn't.

I do with Senator Gillibrand. And when the time comes that she leaves the Senate, there will probably be at least ten more strong senators following in her footsteps because of the fight she's mounted.

I wish the bill had passed today. It should have. But her fighting for the bill -- before and after the vote -- is a victory that is making an impression on the country and on future members of the Senate.

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Thursday, March 06, 2014

Call him Miss Ross

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE

WITH RELAXED WRISTS, CROSSED LEGS AND CUTE LITTLE POUT, FADED CELEBRITY BARRY O TODAY INSISTED HE WAS "THE CHAMPION IN CHIEF OF COMPREHENSIVE IMMIGRATION REFORM."

IF SO, THE OLD GIRL'S A LITTLE WEAKER THAN EVEN HER HARSHEST CRITICS HAVE CLAIMED BECAUSE BARRY O WILL SOON HAVE DEPORTED 2 MILLION IMMIGRANTS -- A RECORD NO OTHER PRESIDENT HAS.

SPEAKING TO THESE REPORTERS AFTER HIS PUBLIC DISCUSSION, BARRY O SNARLED, WHILE APPLYING FACE POWDER, "CAN YOU BELIEVE THOSE LITTLE S**TS? HOW DARE THEY ASK ME ABOUT IMMIGRATION! GLAMOROUS ME! I HAVE HALF A MIND TO WALK BACK IN THERE AND TELL THOSE MEN TO CALL ME 'MISS ROSS'!"

THE REMARK WAS STILL HANGING IN THE AIR WHEN A WHITE HOUSE SECURITY DETAIL TEAM WHISKED BARRY O AWAY BEFORE HE COULD EMBARRASS HIMSELF FURTHER.

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

And each time I tell myself that I, well I think I've had enough
But I'm gonna show you, baby, that a woman can be tough

Fronting Big Brother & the Holding Company, Janis Joplin took "Piece of My Heart" to number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 November 9, 1968. And women can be tough and they can be tender and they can be everything under the sun. Before Janis' hit, in 1965, Nancy Sinatra had offered "These Boots Are Made For Walking." Many would come after Janis. Carly Simon would deliver "You're So Vain," Tina Turner would explain "Better Be Good To Me," Alanis Morissette would offer "You Oughta Know" and Erykah Badu would take on "Tyrone."

There are many other examples but Janis had a career and all the other women have a career because they offered varieties of strength and other things.

But then there is the one note Hillary Clinton.

We get it, you're the baddest bitch in the whole damn town.

But are you anything else? Because for the last five or so years, you've been like the worst Hillary Clinton impersonator.

Leadership is not snarling and bellowing.

Leadership is not taking an already heated topic and making it worse.

Vladimir Putin is not Adolf Hitler and its deeply insulting to the world -- let alone the Jewish community -- for Hillary to froth at the mouth and make these ridiculous claims. Who's Hitler? People may start calling her "Hillary Hitler." Glen Ford (Black Agenda Report) points out, "With the U.S. and NATO now poised at Russia’s door, as was Germany in 1941, Hillary Clinton attempts to flip the clear historical parallel by ranting that it is President Putin who seeks a 'Greater Russia.' The Kremlin has every reason to believe the barbarians are at the gate."

Her latest raving was noted by Jake Tapper (CNN) and, as he points out, Karen Robes Meek has the audio at Los Angeles Daily News. And what does Hillary do when called on it?

Refuse to own her mistake. That's not leadership either. Nor is crawling up Barack's ass thinking she can hide there. But she's not even content with that. She also thinks she can tell Americans what to do, "And it is important for us in this country to recognize the complexity of the situation as it evolves and to support the very careful diplomacy that the president and secretary Kerry and others are undertaking."

People are waving at Hillary right now across America and it's not a hello, it's a middle finger gesture that says stop trying to tell Americans what do so.

You're in trouble because you can't shut your big mouth and you then try to fix that by telling Americans what to do?

And check out the hypocrisy and sense of entitlement there. Hillary works the crowd by bringing up Hitler and then has the gall to tell Americans they have "to recognize the complexity of the situation as it evolves and to support the very careful diplomacy that the president and secretary Kerry and others are undertaking." As Barry Grey and David North (WSWS) observe, "The US-backed coup in Ukraine has triggered the most dangerous international crisis since the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962. American and European officials are denouncing Russia for sending troops into Crimea in response to the installation of an anti-Russian regime in Ukraine that has seized power through a coup d’état staged by fascist militia." And in that crowded theater of blood, Hillary wants to scream "Hitler!"?

She doesn't have what it takes to be president. Each year she devolves more and more and scares off those who support her husband who has a natural ability to communicate. We'll be talking about Bill later in the snapshot, I planned to. I didn't plan to talk about Hillary but she's one psycho meltdown after another these days.

This week's. Black Agenda Radio, hosted by Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey (first airs each Monday at 4:00 pm EST on the Progressive Radio Network), features coverage of the Urkaine. Excerpt.

Glen Ford: The United States and western Europe have succeeded in toppling the elected government of the Ukraine -- a nation on the border with Russia. Neo-Nazi thugs led the opposition forces which have for decades enjoyed financial and political support from Washington. The US has also been seeking regime change in Venezuela since at least 2002 when it backed an attempted coup against the late president Hugo Chavez. Sara Flounders of the International Action Center in New York says the United States is engaged in a general offensive of subversion and disruption across the globe.

Sara Flounders: What's happening is that with enormous US support and mobilization of the 1% in Venezuela and the upper class and the middle class and those who feel threatened, their social position is threatened by very progressive changes made in Venezuela. Venezuela is key to a whole bunch of countries in Latin America who have broken free of US domination and who were under the thumb of the US since the Monroe Doctrine, one military dictatorship after another. They've broken free and they've passed quite a bit of progressive legislation [. . .] And we could look at what is happening in the Ukraine where, again, mobilized groups are aided and funded by the US, where they give them political support and enormous media coverage for their actions. It's not to provide any solutions for the society, it's just to see what can be done to destabilize the country as a whole.

Glen Ford: And in these targeted countries NGO has become a curse word, a very bad name because of how the United States has funded NGOs to spread dissension and destabilize those countries.

Sara Flounders: Very much so. The NGOs have become a vehicle, also called civil society. Now the US bragged that before the Orange Revolution in the Ukraine ten years ago, they had established 40,000 -- that's an incredible number -- 40,000 NGOs in the Ukraine. Both US funded, they're also German, Swiss, and French and Scandinavian and all sorts of private foundations. An incredible number, a network of NGOs which at the time was actually employing 10 percent of the population. These were people who were sent to the West for training and in every way cultivated to be a dissenting force within society and one that was completely oriented to the West and an effort, also, like a brain drain, attract the most interested, young, political people to say, 'Your society has no solutions, look to the West, attend this conference in Geneva, this meeting in New York. We'll give you a scholarship, you're going to Chicago.'

For more from Sara Flounders, you can refer to her latest column at Workers World:

When Kiev’s City Hall was seized with guns and Molotov cocktails, one of the first acts of the Euromaidan street fighters was to unfurl a number of flags and insignia. Prominent among the flags were swastikas, Iron Crosses, Nazi SS lightning bolts, the Celtic cross used by the Ku Klux Klan, and the Confederate “stars and bars” flag of slaveholders in the United States. (tinyurl.com/ltfu4vq)
This is no accident. The flag of the U.S. Southern slaveholders and the Klan cross are symbols understood around the world. They stand for racism, reaction, lynchings and mass terror, for keeping oppressive institutions intact and for beating down people of color and all those who struggle for a better world.

The Voice of Russia's John Robles interviews (link is audio and text) Francis A. Boyle is an attorney and a professor of international law. He's also the author of many books including, most recently, United Ireland, Human Rights and International Law. Excerpt.

Boyle: It doesn't look good at all, John. Instead of the Obama Administration trying to sit down with president Putin and negotiate a way out of this in good faith, all the signs are that the Obama Administration is going to try to quote “cement” unquote, as Nuland put it, their neo-nazi gang of thugs in Kiev into power.

Today already rumors has it that the OSCE (The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe), they seem to be on board with this project. NATO just came out with a statement, they seem to be on board with this project, the EU under Barroso came out with an appalling statement supporting this saying, that Nuland's neoNazi thugs in Kiev 'reflect European values'.

It is simply astounding.

You saw Secretary of State John Kerry yesterday on Meeting the Press completely out of control, he does not sound to be rational at all.

He is flying over there to Kiev to cement these neo-nazi thugs in power. UK Foreign Secretary Hague was over there this weekend for the same purpose.

Obviously if people were serious about solving this problem, they would be flying over the Moscow and meeting with president Putin and Foreign Minister Lavrov. Instead they are telling president Putin that he should be negotiating with their gang of neo-nazi thugs in Kiev.

So this notion you are seeing –they are trying to find an off-ramp for Putin, it is absurd that is propaganda.

Again, they are trying to consolidate into power this gang of neo-nazi thugs who launched a coup d'état against the democratically elected government in Ukraine.

By the way, we're not linking to Ron Jacobs' nonsense. Barack's the US president. When little Ron learns to call him out, we might give a damn what the coward says. Please note, I've called out John Kerry this week and I know and like John. I've again called out Hillary above. And I've never been a little weasel who was too scared to call out a sitting president of either party. Ron Jacobs needs to grow up.

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Wednesday, March 05, 2014

He still loves Pinky

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE

FADED CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O SWEPT THROUGH 2008 ON HIS OWN VERSION OF GIRL POWER BUT NOW HE'S LEARNING LIFE'S NOT ALWAYS SO EASY.

LA RAZA PRESIDENT JANET MURGUIA FOLLOWED UP ON HER PROMISE (SEE "Look what gets floated" AND "THIS JUST IN! HE MIGHT GET CALLED OUT! MAYBE!") AND HAILED BARRY O AS THE DEPORTER IN CHIEF AND NOTED THAT HE WILL SOON HAVE DEPORTED 2 MILLION PEOPLE.

REACHED FOR COMMENT BY THESE REPORTERS, THE DAHLI BAMA INSISTED THAT HIS ACTIONS HAD BEEN MISUNDERSTOOD, "WHERE THEY SEE DEPORTATIONS, I'M REALLY JUST TRYING TO HELP THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY. PEOPLE COMPLAIN ABOUT LACK OF JOBS BUT DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY PILOTS IT TAKES TO FLY 2 MILLION PEOPLE? DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY FLIGHT ATTENDANTS IT TAKES TO SERVICE 2 MILLION PEOPLE? DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY AIR MARSHALLS IT TAKES TO WATCH 2 MILLION PEOPLE? AND THAT'S BEFORE YOU CONSIDER AIRPORT NEWS STANDS AND BARS. OR HOW ABOUT AIRPORT BATHROOMS. DO YOU REALIZE HOW MANY CUSTODIAL JOBS I AM CREATING WITH 2 MILLION PEOPLE BEING DEPORTED? I DON'T CARE THAT LA RAZA CALLED ME OUT. I STILL THINK SHE WAS GREAT AS PINKY TUSCADARO."

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Alsumaria reports that Parliament's Foreign Relations Committee announced that a private plane was charted to bring Iraqi college students studying in the Ukraine back to Iraq.

Ukraine? We've been noting events outside of the snapshots for the most part. We're bringing it into the snapshot today.

We're going to start with who Glenn Greenwald got into bed with this time, a billionaire who bought Glenn's ass and mouth. When he broke the Ed Snowden story, we gave him credit for that. And it would have been great to offer praise over and over. But he's Glenn Greenwald and his circle jerk has always been pretty nasty. Now it's apparently involved in attempting to overthrow governments.

Chris Floyd (CounterPunch) reports, "The Western intervention in Ukraine has now led the region to the brink of war. Political opposition to government of President Viktor Yanukovych — a corrupt and thuggish regime, but as with so many corrupt and thuggish regimes one sees these days, a democratically elected one — was funded in substantial part by organizations of or affiliated with the U.S. government, such as the National Endowment for Democracy (a longtime vehicle for Washington-friendly coups), and USAID. It also received substantial financial backing from Western oligarchs, such as billionaire Pierre Omidyar, founder of eBay and sole bankroller of the new venue for “adversarial” journalism, First Look, as Pandodaily reports." Marcy Wheeler of Empty Wheel fame and now part of Omidyar's First Look was speculating on who in the US might have been involved in the attempt to destabilize the Ukraine and Mark Ames (PandoDaily) pursued that angle:

Wheeler is partly correct. Pando has confirmed that the American government – in the form of the US Agency for International Development (USAID) – played a major role in funding opposition groups prior to the revolution. Moreover, a large percentage of the rest of the funding to those same groups came from a US billionaire who has previously worked closely with US government agencies to further his own business interests. This was by no means a US-backed “coup,” but clear evidence shows that US investment was a force multiplier for many of the groups involved in overthrowing Yanukovych.
But that’s not the shocking part.
What’s shocking is the name of the billionaire who co-invested with the US government (or as Wheeler put it: the “~~dark~~ deep force” acting on behalf of “Pax Americana”).
Step out of the shadows…. Wheeler’s boss, Pierre Omidyar.

Yes, in the annals of independent media, this might be the strangest twist ever: According to financial disclosures and reports seen by Pando, the founder and publisher of Glenn Greenwald’s government-bashing blog,“The Intercept,” co-invested with the US government to help fund regime change in Ukraine.

What's going on in the Ukraine? Left Voices explores that with attorney, human rights expert and international law professor Francis A. Boyle. (Click here for SoundCloud.)

Excerpt.

Andrea Sears: This is Left Voices for Monday, March 3, 2014. I'm Andrea Sears. Tonight [. . .] is the crisis in the Ukraine a popular uprising or an orchestrated coup d'etat? Russian forces have virtually occupied the Crimean peninsula without firing a shot and pro-Russian demonstrators have taken over the regional government building in the city of Donetsk in the eastern Ukraine. Secretary of State John Kerry is threatening to cast Russia out of the G8 and the newly installed government of Kiev is calling on NATO for assistance. From the protests in Kiev to the ouster of former Prime Minister Yanukovych to the military stand-off, the press is buzzing with depictions of corruption overthrown, massing troops and reported threats. In the US, Russia is being condemned on all sides. Without acknowledging any irony, [US Secretary of State] John Kerry, who voted for the invasion of Iraq, accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of "invading another country on a completely trumped-up pretext," calling it an incredible act of aggression. Meanwhile, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has called the Obama administration weak and indecisive and urged the President to do more than deliver empty threats to thugs and dictators. And Republican Senator Marco Rubio of Florida is calling Russia an enemy of the United States. At the height of the civil unrest in Kiev there were scattered reports that far right elements were playing a major role in the protests but there's been little follow up. Francis Boyles is a professor of law at the University of Illinois College of Law and author of several books including Foundations of World Order. Boyles says an audio tape that has appeared on YouTube -- allegedly a recording of a conversation between Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and Geoffrey Pyatt, the US Ambassador to the Ukraine tells part of the story that's been missing.

Francis A. Boyle: It's clear what happened was that the United States government orchestrated a neo-Nazi coup d'etat in Kiev. And the people in power there now are fascists, neo-nazis, anti-Semites. You have at least four people from Svoboda in the government including one in charge of the security policies and another from right sector that's basically neo-Nazi skinheads. So we launched a coup d'etat, put these people in power in Kiev and now it appears that Secretary of State Kerry is going over there to consolidate them in power and demonstrate the support of the US. UK Foreign Minister [William] Hague was just there. It looks like we've mobilized NATO to their defense at least in terms of statements -- so far not troops, but we'll have to see what happens, how those further developments -- I don't know. But one could certainly understand why Russia is concerned about us putting neo-Nazis in power in Ukraine and overthrowing a democratically elected government which we did do.

Andrea Sears: How much of this is the power play over the tension between Russia and the European Union and the United States over the eastern expansion of NATO into former Soviet states. Has this been a major part of the conflict?

Francis A. Boyle: Yes, of course, that's what this is really all about. As you know, Soviet President Gorbachev agreed with President Bush Sr. that, if he went along with the reunification of Germany that NATO borders would not move to the east. Unfortunately, he was so naive as to note get that written in a treaty and only accepted oral assurances. So the moment Clinton came to power, NATO was moved to the east right up to the borders of Russia and there two prizes left were Georgia and Ukraine. In fact, Ukraine under the previous administration before Yanukovych signed a partnership for peace agreement with NATO and NATO membership was -- is the next step. The European Union, this so-called association agreement, had security provisions in there which would have required cooperation with NATO. And I regret to say today the European Union pretty much functions as a stalking horse and catch-all for NATO. So this is all about extending NATO into Ukraine itself.

Fatimah (Carbonated TV) observes this is taking place on the anniversary of the start of the illegal war on Iraq (March, 2003):

It is therefore rather ironic that the US, which led the attack in Iraq, is warning Russia that it is considering economic and diplomatic options that will isolate Russia for “being on the wrong side of history.”
Around 112,017 - 122,438 civilian deaths were recorded by Iraq Body Count (IBC) between 20 March 2003 and 14 March 2013 during the Iraq War. Although the conflict came to an end in 2011, the number of deaths is constantly increasing due to the ongoing insurgency the invasion wrought.
What’s worse, the grave mistake was never acknowledged by the then or current governments of the Western countries involved in the false cause.
So, is it not an act of sheer hypocrisy when such unapologetic invaders accuse another country of “violating international law” for committing the same mistake after a decade?
When Russia decided to attack Ukraine on Saturday, President Barack Obama announced that the U.S. would consider the aforementioned action against Russia.
Secretary of State John Kerry also condemned Russia’s “act of aggression over phony pretexts” in Ukraine.

The irony and hypocrisy of both of these statements is just unmistakable, especially when the White House – despite several appeals from the United Nations – has failed to halt its illegal drone program in Afghanistan, Yemen and several parts of Pakistan.

Singer-songwriter and musician Liz Phair (Exile in Guyville being her major classic) Tweeted:

Chris Marsden (WSWS) offers:

Kerry and Obama have spent the past days consolidating a strategic alliance of imperialist and regional powers against Moscow—insisting above all that the European powers, led by Germany, take a hard line on Ukraine and on economic sanctions. In addition, Washington has repeatedly met with the leaders of Georgia and Moldova, encouraging both to make a high profile stand against Russia to encourage others to do the same.
On February 26, Kerry spoke to the US-Georgia Strategic Partnership Commission, announcing additional US assistance “to help support Georgia’s European and Euro-Atlantic vision,” while denouncing Russia’s continued military presence in the breakaway Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Dave Lindorff (CounterPunch) weighs in noting:

Of course there’s also the matter of the US role — overt and covert — in helping to fund and organize the mobs who ousted the elected government of Ukraine. That too was a violation of international law. For years now, the US has, through its National Endowment for Democracy, US AID, and other government and quasi-government bodies, been funneling money to anti-government groups in Ukraine (as it did also in Egypt and Russia itself, and as it is doing now in Venezuela and other countries whose leaders it opposes). The leaked tape of the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland and the US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt discussing how to staff the new government of Ukraine after the anticipated collapse of the elected government shows how deeply the US was involved in the undermining of the government of Ukraine. Again, this interference in another country’s political system is a horrendous violation of international law.

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Tuesday, March 04, 2014

Look what gets floated

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE

FADED CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O HAS REPEATEDLY SET RECORDS FOR DEPORTATION, BEATING EVERYONE ELSE WHO HAS OCCUPITED THE OVAL OFFICE.

TODAY, THE LITTLE PRINCESS FINALLY GOT REBUKED.

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF LA RAZA PRESIDENT JANET MURGUIA IS SET TO DECLARE BARRY O "THE DEPORTER IN CHIEF" IN A SPEECH TONIGHT.

SET TO?

CLEARLY, LA RAZA HAS LEAKED THIS PLANNED SPEECH IN AN ATTEMPT TO GET BARRY O TO PICK UP THE PHONE AND SWEAR TO ADDRESS THE ISSUE.

REACHED FOR COMMENT, THE DAHLI BAMA ASKED, "LA RAZA? DIDN'T SHE PLAY PINKY TUSCADERO ON HAPPY DAYS?"

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

The votes are in and US Secretary of State John Kerry has won the Hypocrisy Award.

Timothy McGrath (Global Post) points out:

Maybe US Secretary of State John Kerry has forgotten about the Iraq War.
How else could he appear on "Face the Nation" and, with a straight face, slam Russia for "invading another country on completely trumped-up pretext"?

International law expert Francis A. Boyle elaborates, "John Kerry is claiming to stand for international law and invokes the 1994 Budapest Agreement. Of course the U.S. has repeatedly violated international law, with the Iraq invasion (which Kerry voted for) and numerous other instances. But even in this case, if you examine the Victoria Nuland [assistant secretary of state] tape, it's clear that the U.S. was plotting a coup in the Ukraine and a coup is what happened. So Russia is only the second country guilty of violating Ukrainian sovereignty and the Budapest Agreement in response to the previous violations by the Obama administration."

Of course, the real comment here should be that Kerry needs to close his mouth and sit his ass down because, yet again, he's forgotten he's over Iraq for the US government.

Yet again, he's sticking his nose everywhere except where it should be going.

What did he do during February on Iraq?

Because Americans should be outraged by the billions the State Dept is given to carry out some secretive mission (they won't explain it to Congress and we'll only offer generalities) in Iraq.

What is that money accomplishing?

It doesn't appear to accomplish anything and Kerry doesn't appear to be engaged in Iraq at all. With the State Dept being over Iraq and it being their biggest money item after Afghanistan, the State Dept should be issuing statements on Iraq weekly and it should be a regular part of the daily press briefing.

But it's not.

And anytime Kerry speaking these days, it's as though he thinks he's president or vice president and not Secretary of State.

I voted for Kerry in 2004, I campaigned for him, I supported him in the primary.

But I can admit that didn't work out and he did not become president. It's time he learned to admit that as well because while he barks and bellows at Russia, we're left with the ongoing crises in Iraq -- plural.

Let's start with the violence.

Friday was the end of the month. As we noted at Third Sunday, "Iraq Body Count sees 930 violent deaths for February, UNAMI counts 703, Margaret Griffis and Antiwar.com count 1,705." AFP's Prashant Rao Tweeted on the death toll:

Human Rights Watch's Kenneth Roth Tweeted:

Kenneth Roth ‏@KenRoth 11h

With 703 killed in February, #Iraq is still feeling the deadly effects of PM Maliki's sectarian crackdown. http://trib.al/JU1cxGK
Expand

Exactly.

And what is the US government doing about Nouri's assault on the Sunnis?

Not a damn thing.

Wait, they keep congratulating him. They're doing that.

They're congratulating him.

They're joining in the pretense that the assault on Anbar (which no one wants to point out has crept into Salahuddin, Nineveh and Diyala provinces) is about 'terrorism.' Dahr Jamail (Truthout) explains:

Doctors, residents and NGO workers in Fallujah are accusing the Iraqi government of "war crimes" and "crimes against humanity" that have occurred as a result of its ongoing attack on the city.
Dr. Ahmed Shami, the chief of resident doctors at Fallujah General Hospital, told Truthout that since Iraqi government forces began shelling Fallujah in early January 2014, at least 109 civilians have been killed and 632 wounded.

Felicity Arbuthnot (BRussells Tribunal) notes who's backing and arming the tyrant:

However, the US and UK are seemingly remarkably selective when it comes to tyrants who "kill their own people".
Not only have they failed to censure their tyrannical Iraqi puppet, Nuri al-Maliki, but they are also arming him to the teeth with the same weapons which are linked to the horrific birth defects, and cancers throughout the country, which he is now using on "his own people".
Moreover, if allegations from very well informed sources that he holds an Iranian passport are correct, to say that US-UK's despot of choice appears in a whole new political light would be to massively understate.
To facilitate Al-Maliki's assault on Iraq's citizens, the US "rushed" 75 Hellfire missiles to Baghdad in December. On 23^rd January Iraq requested a further 500 Hellfires, costing $82 million - small change compared to the $14 billion in weapons provided by America since 2005.
The AGM-114R Hellfire II, nauseatingly named 'Romeo', clocked in at: $94,000 each - in 2012. A shopping spree on weaponry in a country where electricity, clean water, education and health services have all but collapsed since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
The re-invasion of Iraq
Two weeks ago an "American cargo jet loaded with weapons" including 2,400 rockets to arm Iraqi attack helicopters also arrived in Baghdad.
Subsequently a contract was agreed to sell a further 24 AH-64E attack helicopters to Iraq "along with spare parts and maintenance, in a massive $6.2 Billion deal."
With them comes the reinvasion of Iraq, with: "hundreds of Americans" to be shipped out "to oversee the training and fielding of equipment". Some are "US government employees" - read 'military' - plus a plethora of "contractors" - read mercenaries.
According to Jane's Defence Weekly, on 15th November 2013 Iraq also took delivery of "its first shipment of highly advanced Mi-35 attack helicopters as part of a $4.3 Billion arms purchase from Russia", out of an order of "about 40 Mi-35 and 40 Mi-28 Havoc attack helicopters".

The all to "attack his own people" in the guise of defeating 'Al Qaida' in Anbar province and elsewhere where the people have been peacefully protesting a near one man regime of torture, sectarianism, kangaroo courts which sentence victims who have also had confessions extracted under torture.

While US politicians apparently crapped on their courage and had to send it out to be cleaned, more and more Iraqi politicians are speaking their minds.

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