BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX -- THE KOOL-AID TABLE
RESPONDING TO CRITICISM TODAY FROM U.S. HOUSE REP. JEB HENSARLING THAT HE WAS ACTING AS IF HE WAS "KING BARACK," FADED CELEBRITY IN CHIEF BARRY O INSISTED THIS WAS JUST NOT TRUE.
"KINGS ARE ALL SO OLD AND WRINKLY," BARRY O INSISTED, "I'M FAR TOO YOUNG. CALL ME A PRINCE! OR AT LEAST A PRINCESS! I'M SO PRETTY!"
AS BARRY O SCAMPERED OFF, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESPERSON JOSH EARNEST INSISTED, "YOU CAN'T REPORT ANY OF THIS! NOT A WORD!"
FROM THE TCI WIRE:
Monday in Berkeley, there was a protest which included a chant, "Yemini lives matter, Afghan lives matter, Iraqi lives matter, Pakistan lives matter!"
We're noting the protest mainly because Tuesday's Flashpoints (KPFA) featured a report on the protest that Dennis Bernstein and others with Flashpoint did. The protest was at UC Berkeley School of Law.
Stephanie Tang: The Bush regime opened this torture chamber at Guantanamo not just to imprison captives after 9/11 as it expanded it's military adventures into the Middle East. The Bush regime opened Guantanamo to send a message to the world that the US could operate with impunity, outside the norms of international law. Obama made his first promise upon taking office that he would close this immoral hellhole of a prison. He's had 6 years to close it. He has had 6 years to punish those who ordered the torture and forever repudiate indefinite detention and secret renditions as American policy. But Obama has done none of this. We are here from the World Cant Wait, the National Lawyers Guild, CodePink and other people who care about justice, who stand up for justice and we demand the closure of Guantanamo immediately We demand the accountability that can only mean prosecuting the war criminals from George Bush and Dick Cheney on down. This is the only way that torture will not become a permanent part of the arsenal of the US power spreading around the world. Torture is a war crime it is never acceptable or legal under any circumstances. This is clear in international law and US law. The third reason we're here today is particular to the University of California and it's law school at Boalt Hall. There is a War Criminal on the faculty here. John Yoo is a tenured professor. He wrote the memos that enabled the Bush-Cheney regime to establish their formal official torture program. John Yoo continues to publicly promote that program, defined it and, therefore, he is still doing harm.
The report also featured an alumni informing the dean's office, "I came here in 1959 because there was a wonderful man on the faculty named Frank Newman, a great supporter of human rights became dean and became a justice and he would never permit someone like John Yoo to speak in front of his class -- let alone become a professor. And I think that it's important to understand that the reputation of this law school is based on people like Frank Newman and that the reputation, if it's going to be based on people like John Yoo people aren't going to come here."
Moving to Iraq, Ben Ariel (Israel National News) reports that Iraq has donated $28 million to the Arab League for the Palestinians. In response, the following Tweet was posted:
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Iraq's in the middle of a war - weapons are tight, KRG budget is low & they're playing mother Teresa. Good call Iraq.
Ariên
And this Tweet as well:
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The Saudis & Gulf states have enough money, let them pay for this! Iraq has refugees who are freezing to death!
Hamo
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The Saudis & Gulf states have enough money, let them pay for this! Iraq has refugees who are freezing to death!
What are they Tweeting about?
16 children have died in Iraq from exposure to the cold. Al-Shorfa reports that they died in central and northern Iraq according to Iraq's human rights commission member Masroor Aswad who couldn't wait to harness a tragedy by claiming all the dead children were homeless as a result of the Islamic State. A claim, of course, that he can't back up nor can the press truly investigate.
Of course, that reality didn't stop the US State Dept from presenting a claim as fact and spreading it.
Meanwhile, USAID wants to trumpet, "USG agencies have supported the Iraq humanitarian response with nearly $218.4 million in FY 2014 and FY 2015 funding. This includes nearly $10.2 million in FY 2015 assistance from USAID/OFDA for programs providing life-saving assistance to vulnerable Iraqis."
16 children are dead and for the governments of Iraq and the United States, this is 'wonderful' because they can use it to attack the Islamic State.
So eager are they to use these deaths, they fail to factor in how it looks to the rest of the world.
As the Tweets note, Iraq's got plenty of millions to give . . . to those outside of Iraq. While Iraqi children freeze to death, Haider al-Abadi cuts a charity check for $28 million.
And the US?
$218.4 million in humanitarian aid . . . spread out over the last fiscal year and the current one. So that's roughly $109 million a year.
But Pierre Bienaime (Business Insider) notes, "According to Defense News, the US donated $300 million in military equipment to Iraq in 2014, and will deliver 6 M1 Abrams tanks and 50 humvees to the Baghdad government at no cost." And that's just one aspect of the millions and millions of military aid the US government provided Iraq with. But only $109 million to help the refugees.
The US government funds violence full out but when it comes to humanitarian causes they play cheap and the world sees it.
Despite this, they have the gall to attempt to use the deaths of 16 children -- deaths that could have been prevented had the US government or the Iraqi government not been so cheap and shown so little value?
They don't only fail to win the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people, they spark a global outrage as they make clear how little value they place on human lives.
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