Saturday, August 24, 2013

THIS JUST IN! CAMPUS CATFIGHT!

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

WHY DOES COLORADO STATE UNIVERSITY SATELLITE AT PUEBLO EMPLOY THE HACK TIM MCGETTIGAN?

'PROFESSOR' TIM 'TEACHES' CLASSES SUCH AS "CRIME & FILM," "POPULAR CULTURE," AND "FILM & SOCIETY" -- PROOF POSITIVE HE WASTED HIS TIME IN HIGHER LEARNING.

ADDITIONALLY, HE'S REDUCED OPPOSITION TO THE DALIBAMA TO THE 'FACT' THAT BARRY O'S OPPONENTS ARE "GRUMPY OLD WHITE MEN."

TIM'S ONE OF THOSE GRUMPY OLD WHITE MEN WHOSE REACHED THE AGE WHERE HIS EYE BROWS DISAPPEAR WHICH DOES EXPLAIN HIS OBSESSION WITH THE YOUNGER AND MORE ATTRACTIVE PROFESSOR MATT HARRIS WHOM TIM'S BEEN ALLEGED TO DECLARE "FARTS IN CLASS AND WEARS SOCKS THAT DON'T MATCH!"

REACHED FOR COMMENT BY THESE REPORTERS, 'PROFESSOR' TIM INSISTED HE'D HEARD PROFESSOR HARRIS HIGHLIGHTS HIS HAIR AND "BESIDES GOOD LOOKS DON'T LAST FOREVER!  AND DON'T GET ME STARTED ON INSTRUCTOR JAMES BALL!  THERE'S NO WAY THAT FINE ASS IS ALL HIS OWN!  I CAN'T HELP THAT MY ASS SAGS TO BELOW MY KNEES NOW!  IT'S CALLED AGING!"

FUELED BY HIS CAMPUS CATFIGHTS, 'PROFESSOR' TIM SWEARS HIS 'INSIGHTFUL' ANALYSIS WILL ONLY BECOME BETTER.


FROM THE TCI WIRE:



Today protests continued in Iraq.  Iraqi Spring MC notes protests took place in Baquba, Tikrit, Baji, Mosul, Falluja, Baghdad's AdhamiyaSamarra, Rawah, Jalawah, and Ramadi.


This wave of protests has been going on since December 21st. and this week marked eight months of continued protests.




This is the 8th month of continued protests.


As part of the Pride and Dignity campaign, protesters participated in a blood drive for the victims of bombings in IraqIn Ameria, a preacher spoke to those assembled and stated that it is not enough for Nouri al-Maliki to say he recognizes the crimes committed against the people, he must release the innocentNational Iraqi News Agency reports:

Preacher of the unified Friday prayer in Samarra, Sheikh Khaled Hatem al-Samarrai called on Iraqis to end silence towards what is happening in Iraq that took a long time without getting an answer from the Government of unfair and kill of Sunni component without mercy under the name of /revenge of the martyrs / in a Baghdad belt areas specially.


Sheikh Khaled Hatem al-Samarrai decried the targeting of Sunnis.   Where is the United Nations?  They have yet to decry this.  Not only that but UN Secretary-General has yet appoint someone to be his Special Representative to Iraq. (Martin Kobler's gone and "acting" Special Representative is not the same -- the current acting official is doing a strong job but does not have the authority he would have if he was named the Special Representative by Ban Ki-moon.)  NINA also reports:

Preacher Sheikh Hussein al-Dulaimi said in his Friday sermon in Ramadi sit-in Square: " The security forces in Baghdad belt deliberately violating human rights, even these forces confiscate illegally livestock of citizens and practice torture,kill or arrest them, wondering if such a practices are security measures?.
 

NINA notes that thousands turned out in Ramadi and Falluja:

 Sheikh Mohammed Fayyad, one of the organizers of Anbar sit-ins ,said to NINA reporter : "The citizens participated in the prayers that held in the courtyard northern Ramadi and eastern Fallujah cities , stressing that the goal of this trickle is to send one again a message to the governing in Baghdad that our demonstrations are peaceful and backed by citizens deep conviction.






Al Mada reports that protests took place in multiple provinces and a Samarra preacher called on Nouri to empty the prisons of the innocents and also decried the international silence (from the UN and the Arab League) while pointing out that the government is deliberating violating the rights of peaceful assembly in Baghdad.  Tuesday,  Human Rights Watch issued another in their ongoing reports about the assault on basic freedoms and protesters in Iraq:


Baghdad’s new governor, Ali al-Tamimi, should immediately declare that he will support Iraqis’ right to exercise free assembly, Human Rights Watch said today. He should revoke regulations that allow police to prevent peaceful protest. On August 2, 2013, security forces invoked the regulations, which breach safeguards contained in Iraq’s constitution, to detain 13 people who attempted to protest against corruption and Iraq’s continuing slide into violence. Al-Tamimi became governor of Baghdad a month ago.
Soldiers detained three protesters, held them for 36 hours and then released them. The police arrested 10 more as they gathered in a central Baghdad square, then charged them with “disobeying police orders,” a criminal offense based on the 2011 regulations, because they had failed to obtain official permission to demonstrate. On August 4, al-Rusafa criminal court threw out the charges, declaring them “fabricated.”
“These latest arrests show just how far Iraqi authorities will go to prevent peaceful protests despite the major problems engulfing the country,” said Joe Stork, acting Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The new governor should start fresh, revoking these unfair regulations to show that he supports the right of people to express their grievances peacefully. It would go a long way to restoring trust in the government.”
The regulations effectively give authorities unfettered power to determine who may hold a demonstration.
Human Rights Watch spoke separately to five of the 13 detained protesters, all of whom said that federal police and soldiers arrested them when they and others tried to gather in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square at around 7 a.m. on August 2. The soldiers detained Ahmed Suhail, his cousin Hussein Abbas, and a third man, took them to the headquarters of the 11th division, and held them there until their release late the following day. By then, the men’s families had “started to ask powerful people to intervene,” Suhail told Human Rights Watch.
Police arrested the other 10 after initially warning demonstrators who were making their way to the square that “the army will arrest you and maybe hurt you” and then telling them that they could not enter the square because they did not have an official permit to demonstrate. A federal police general offered to help the demonstrators get a permit, but instead took four protesters who agreed to accompany him to seek the permit to Bab al-Muatham police station, where police arrested them. Police then brought in six others they had arrested, including two news cameramen who had been among the demonstrators.
Three of these six told Human Rights Watch that soldiers from the army’s 11th division assaulted them before police arrested them. One said soldiers forced them to the ground, beating two of them, after first tying an Iraqi flag around his head to prevent him from seeing. The soldier “beat and kicked us, and called us ‘traitors,’’’ he told Human Rights Watch, and “asked us, ‘Who paid you to come demonstrate?’”




Al Mada added that the Samarra preacher noted the eagerness with which the government now attacks the Iraqi people and notes Nouri didn't feel such a need when the American occupier was present in large numbers in Iraq.  Sheikh Mohammed al-Jumaili noted that the Parliament passes laws to protect the animals but seems unconcerned about the protesters' safety.  He noted that violence and militias will not force the protesters to retreat.

And why would it?

After eight months of threats, arrests, gunshots and more, they haven't stopped protesting.  They've seen leaders assassinated and that hasn't led them to retreat.  Even the Tuesday, April 23rd massacre of the sit-in in Hawija by Nouri's federal forces didn't stop them.  Alsumaria noted Kirkuk's Department of Health (Hawija is in Kirkuk)  announced 50 activists have died and 110 were injured in the assault.  UNICEF informed the world that 8 of the dead were children and twelve more children were left injured.

 When they started, eight months ago, many in the (international) press felt it would last a month or two.  Then they assumed the brutal summer or Ramadan would stop the protests.  Nope and nope.  The Iraqi spirit is alive and well in the protesters.  They do not give up.

Al Mada, Iraqi Spring MC and NINA are among the very few covering today's protests.  No Western media could be bothered, not even to Tweet.  You'd think on the eight month anniversary, they'd manage to at least take a moment to note the protests.



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