Friday, November 13, 2015

THIS JUST IN! SHE'S THE ANTI-LEWINSKY!

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


FAKE TALKING CRANKY CLINTON IS GETTING CALLED OUT ON HER LATEST 'TRUTH' WHICH SOUNDS A LOT LIKE THE DEFINITION OF "LIE" IF YOU CHOOSE TO LOOK THE TERM UP IN THE DICTIONARY.


REACHED FOR COMMENT TODAY BY THESE REPORTERS, CRANKY DECLARED SHE COULDN'T COMMENT, "I CAN'T COMMENT, BOYS.  I'M FAR TOO BUSY PREPARING FOR SATURDAY'S DEBATE.  BUT I CAN TELL YOU I WILL BE UTILIZING A STRATEGY I LIKE TO CALL 'THE ANTI-LEWISNKY WAY' -- A.K.A. DON'T BLOW IT!  OH, I'M SO FUNNY.  SOMETIMES I FORGET HOW FUNNY I AM!"




And the airstrikes will continue tomorrow. 


They've gone on daily  since August . . .


of last year.


They've accomplished nothing of value and only a fool would think that they might.

At this late date, only a professional idiot would still hold out hope of something coming from these bombings.


Yesterday the United Nations Security Council heard about Iraq.  The UN notes:


Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi faces “immense challenges” to his efforts to bring reconciliation and broaden the political process in his strife-torn nation, confronting obstacles from all sides, the top United Nations official in the country warned the Security Council today.
“Since taking office (a year ago), the Prime Minister has been struggling to exercise his authority while his opponents grow bolder,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative Ján Kubiš told the Council, presenting the latest UN report on the country. “Meanwhile, the scope and impact of the reforms have not met public expectations.”
“Despite hopes that he would be able to move national reconciliation forward and bring the broader Sunni community into the political process, the Prime Minister's efforts have been obstructed by elements within all Iraqi components, the main reasons being lack of trust and vested interests.”


We'll note this from Jan Kubis' testimony:


Special Representative Jan Kubis:  In July, when the country was experiencing record high temperatures and repeated electricity cuts, popular demonstrations erupted to protest the poor delivery of services in Baghdad and the southern governorates. By early August, the demonstrations had grown in strength and numbers. The protests have recurred each Friday and are led by civil society groups and young people, who are demanding better services, better governance and an end to government corruption and mismanagement. The protesters' demands for reform gained momentum when, on 7 August, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani urged Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to take decisive action against corruption, improve the Government’s performance, reduce public sector expenditure and publicly name officials who are impeding reforms. On 9 August, Prime Minister al-Abadi announced a reform plan to address the economic and social needs of Iraq, counter corruption and strengthen democratic institutions. The plan included downsizing the Government to reduce public expenditure and improve State performance, abolishing the posts of Vice-President and deputy prime ministers as well as a number of senior officials in various ministries, reducing their salaries, protecting services, and judicial reform. The reform plan was unanimously endorsed by the Council of Ministers just hours after the Prime Minister's announcement. On 11 August, the Council of Representatives unanimously approved Prime Minister al-Abadi's first package of reforms and its own reform package to complement the Prime Minister's measures. The Council of Representatives also stated that the reforms should be in conformity with the Constitution of Iraq and other laws.  Following the endorsement by the Council of Representatives of the reform packages, Prime Minister al-Abadi began reducing the number of Government personnel. On 16 August, he ordered the immediate abolishment of his deputies' posts, the reduction of the Council of Ministers from 34 to 22 members and the dissolution of the Ministries of Human Rights, Women's Affairs, and Municipalities and Public Works. He also ordered the merging of Ministries with similar specialized functions: Science and Technology with Higher Education and Scientific Research; Environment with Health; Municipalities and Public Works with Housing; and Tourism and Antiquities with Culture. On 20 August, the Prime Minister announced a 90 percent reduction in the number of personnel dedicated to providing protection for Government officials. On 9 September, he announced the dismissal of 123 senior officials from their posts. They were to either retire or have their administrative status adjusted.  The Prime Minister also took steps to formalize the abolition of the posts of the Vice- Presidents. On 20 August, he ceased the payment of their financial entitlements and on 15 September, the Council of Ministers submitted to the Council of Representatives a draft law to aboli sh their posts. All three Vice - Presidents publicly stated that they considered the abolition of their posts unconstitutional. 8 . The Government took steps t o initiate inquiries into allegations of political corruption. On 15 August, the Presidency of the Council of Representatives referred to outstanding cases of corruption against staff in the Ministries of Defence and Commerce concerning the award of arms contracts. The day before, the Chairman of the Integrity Commission, Hassan al-Yassiri, had announced that travel bans had been instituted against those under investigation for corruption. 



So there's real movement on the political front?  That's the story?


Nope.


Special Representative Jan Kubis: Most of the priority legislation that would aid national reconciliation, however, remained pending in Parliament. Votes on the national guard law were postponed on 30 August and again on 7 September owing to disagreements between parliamentary blocs over its provisions. Additionally, no progress was made towards the enactment of a general amnesty law since its first reading on 5 July. Meanwhile, the National Reconciliation Committee of the Council of Representatives separated the Justice and Accountability and Banning of the Baath Party Act into two bills on 25 July. While the Council  of Representatives concluded, on 30 July, the first reading of the draft law on the banning of the Baath Party, dissolved entities and parties, and the activities of racism, terrorism and takfir (charge of unbelief), no voting took place on legislation that would revise de-baathification measures. On 15 September, the Council of Ministers decided to withdraw and review all draft laws submitted to the Council of Representatives by the previous Government. This amounted to some 80 draft bills, including the draft anti-terrorism law of 2005. 



Before US President Barack Obama became enthralled with airstrikes, he was fond of pointing out that the only answer to Iraq's various crises was a "political solution."  June 19, 2014, he was proud of declaring that publicly.

Yet when he began the current wave/latest wave of the Iraq War (August 2014, less than two months later), he was obsessed with bombings and completely forgot about the need for a political solution.


Bombing has passed for a 'plan.'


Who thinks Barack's 'plan' is working at this point?

Former prime minister and forever thug Nouri al-Maliki has waded into the discussion and called out the US.  He says there's no way the Islamic State could survive these bombings and fears some nations (he means the US in that "some") want to see the Islamic State succeed.


Barack looks like an idiot because he's set himself up to be.

In June 2014, he was full of talk about how this would require a political solution -- Iraq's crises -- and how this or that (military actions) would not fix the problems.

And the bombings weren't intended to.

Until Barack lost any interest in a political solution.


RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot"




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Thursday, November 12, 2015

THIS JUST IN! AT LEAST BILL LOVES HER!

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


WHILE NOT DISMISSING THE POLL, CRANKY APPEARED UNFAZED BY THE RESULTS.

"WHEN I MOVED TO ARKANSAS," SHE TOLD THESE REPORTERS EARLIER TODAY, "PROBABLY 99% OF THE PEOPLE THERE THOUGHT I WAS STUCK UP BUT I STILL BECAME FIRST LADY OF ARKANSAS.  THE MORAL HERE IS THAT THE PEOPLE DON'T MATTER.  I MATTER.  JUST ME.  NO ONE ELSE.  I SHOULD PUT THAT ON A T-SHIRT."




The bombs keep falling but the White House tries to pretend the war is over.








    • At today's US Defense Dept press briefing, Pentagon spokesperson Peter Cook was asked about the airstrikes.


    Q: And in terms of the figures that have come out in the last week that the U.S. is carrying out 95 percent of the airstrikes in Syria, 78 percent of the airstrikes if you include Iraq and Syria -- are those figures accurate? And does the U.S. still plan to shoulder the -- the -- the bulk of these airstrikes? Or are you trying to get other allies to pick up some of the air war?


    MR. COOK: Well, as you know, Jennifer, we continue to work with the -- with a substantial and large coalition, and those coalition members are contributing in a host of ways -- not just in terms of aircraft.

    But -- but some of those nations -- many of those nations -- do continue to engage in airstrikes on behalf of the coalition. But that's not all they're doing.

    Some have provided bases with which to carry out the fight against ISIL. Some have provided financial support for this effort, training, as well. So there's a whole host of ways in which these coalition members have -- have stepped up.

    Yes, it's true, the United States has conducted most of the -- a significant number of the -- of the airstrikes to date. There have been more than 8,000 to date.



    Spin, spin, spin.

    That's what Cook served up and what the American press swallowed.


    No one raised the issue of Sunday's deaths.


    National Iraqi News Agency reported "the International Coalition Aircraft" launched an airstrike in Mosul which killed "11 civilians, including six children, and wounding five others."


    Barbara Starr and her contemporaries aren't interested in shaking the boat.


    They just want to parrot whatever lie the Defense Dept feeds them.


    Spin, spin, spin.


    They don't want reality.  Earlier this week, Press TV notes, "The Pentagon is ready to compensate the families of Iraqis killed by American bombs during US airstrikes against purported Daesh (ISIL) positions there, a new report says."  They're cribbing from Kate Brannen's Daily Beast report which notes:

    The Pentagon is about to get a $5 million fund to pay the Iraqi families of civilians killed by American airstrikes. It’s a big change for the U.S. military, which has yet to publicly acknowledge accidentally killing or wounding any innocents in the country even after 3,586 airstrikes targeting the so-called Islamic State.


    The US government, repeating "has yet to publicly acknowledge accidentally killing or wounding any innocents."

    But they do and now they've got the slush fund to toss a few pennies at the family members of the dead and wounded in an attempt to shut them up.  Al Bawaba explains:



    The fund for Iraq falls under a program that is actually intended for Afghanistan-- dubbed the Commanders’ Emergency Response Program (CERP).
    Under CERP, US commanders can approve up to $2,500 per person or damaged property, but higher-ups are allowed to sign bigger sums if needed.
    This means the US could hand out up to 2,000 “condolence payments” to Iraqis over the next year.



    Pennies tossed at the families of the dead and wounded in an attempt to assuage guilt.




    RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot"




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    Tuesday, November 10, 2015

    THIS JUST IN! CRANKY CLINTON CACKLES!

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

    AT A RALLY TODAY, CRANKY CLINTON ELECTED TO PROMOTE ABUSE.


    FIORINA IS CURRENTLY RUNNING FOR THE G.O.P.'S 2016 PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION.  

    CRANKY IS RUNNING TO REPLACE KANG AND KODOS AS RULERS OF THE UNIVERSE AND TO PROVIDE SPOOKY IMAGES ON THE SIMPSON'S YEARLY TREE HOUSE OF HORROR SEGMENTS.


    REACHED FOR COMMENT, CRANKY DEFENDED HER CACKLE BY INSISTING, "CARLY WAS ASKING FOR IT."




    Today,  Press TV noted, "The Pentagon is ready to compensate the families of Iraqis killed by American bombs during US airstrikes against purported Daesh (ISIL) positions there, a new report says."  They're cribbing from Kate Brannen's Daily Beast report which notes:

    The Pentagon is about to get a $5 million fund to pay the Iraqi families of civilians killed by American airstrikes. It’s a big change for the U.S. military, which has yet to publicly acknowledge accidentally killing or wounding any innocents in the country even after 3,586 airstrikes targeting the so-called Islamic State.


    The US government, repeating "has yet to publicly acknowledge accidentally killing or wounding any innocents."

    But they do and now they've got the slush fund to toss a few pennies at the family members of the dead and wounded in an attempt to shut them up.  Justin Salhani (Think Progress) adds, "The number of casualties is also likely to increase in the coming weeks as the Obama administration steps up the air campaign against ISIS."

    What could finally end the Iraq War?

    Massive protests.

    In the meantime, some may hang their hopes on the US Congress.



    Amy Goodman (Democracy Now!) noted this morning, "A group of bipartisan House lawmakers are calling for Congress to vote on the escalating U.S. wars in Iraq and Syria. More than a year after the United States launched airstrikes against the self-proclaimed Islamic State, Congress has yet to vote on authorizing force. The Obama administration has controversially claimed their actions are covered by the 2001 congressional vote authorizing force against al-Qaeda. The open letter calling for a vote was signed by members of both parties, including Democratic Congressmembers Barbara Lee, Jim McGovern and John Lewis, and members of the right-wing Freedom Caucus. The lawmakers said they 'do not share the same policy prescriptions' but do share the belief it’s 'past time' for a vote on the wars."



    Goodman managed to put her meaty paw on the scales yet again -- while pretending to practice journalism.  Did you notice?  She gave three names.  All Democrats. 

    We'll note this press release that US House Rep Tom Cole's office issued  on Friday:


    Nov 6, 2015


    Washington, D.C. – A broad, bipartisan coalition of 35 House lawmakers called on Speaker Ryan today to schedule and debate an Authorization for the Use of Military Force (AUMF) as quickly as possible following the recent announcement by President Obama of a deepening entanglement in Syria and Iraq.
    The letter to Speaker Ryan is led by Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA), Tom Cole, (R-OK), Barbara Lee (D-CA), Walter Jones (R-NC), Peter Welch (D-VT), and John Lewis (D-GA). 
    “Last week, the president announced [that] the U.S. will deploy a U.S. Special Operations contingent into northern Syria to be embedded with and to advise opposition militant forces in that region; and U.S. military advisors and special operations forces already in Iraq will be embedded with Kurdish and Iraqi forces on the front lines of combat,” the lawmakers wrote, calling the move part of “a significant escalation in U.S. military operations in the region” that places “U.S. military personnel on the front lines of combat operations.”
    “We do not share the same policy prescriptions for U.S. military engagement in the region, but we do share the belief that it is past time for the Congress to fulfill its obligations under the Constitution and vote on an AUMF that clearly delineates the authority and limits, if any, on U.S. military engagement in Iraq, Syria and the surrounding region,” the lawmakers added. 
    “Congress can no longer ask our brave service men and women to continue to serve in harm’s way while we fail in carrying out our constitutional responsibility in the area of war and peace,” the lawmakers concluded. “As long as the House fails to assert its constitutional prerogatives and authority, the Administration may continue to expand the mission and level of engagement of U.S. Armed Forces throughout the region. We strongly urge you, Mr. Speaker, to bring an AUMF to the floor of the House as quickly as possible.”
    Other Members signing the letter are Reps. Justin Amash (R-MI), Michael Burgess (R-TX), David Cicilline (D-RI), John Conyers (D-MI), Joe Crowley (D-NY), John Abney Culberson (R-TX), Peter A. DeFazio (D-OR), John J. Duncan, Jr. (R-TN), John Garamendi (D-CA), Paul A. Gosar (R-AZ), Janice Hahn (D-CA), Richard L. Hanna (R-NY), Joe Kennedy (D-MA), Daniel Kildee (D-MI), Raúl R. Labrador (R-ID), Thomas Massie (R-KY), Mick Mulvaney (R-SC), Beto O’Rourke (D-TX), Chellie Pingree (D-ME), Bill Posey (R-FL), Charles Rangel (D-NY), Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA), Matt Salmon (R-AZ), Mark Sanford (R-SC), Janice D. Schakowsky (D-IL), Louise Slaughter (D-NY), Ed Whitfield (R-KY), Ted S. Yoho (R-FL), and Ryan K. Zinke (R-MT).
    The full letter, sent today, can be found here.




    If they were to vote, it would be the first authorization for war Congress had voted on since 2002 when they voted to authorize the Iraq War.  Shira Schoenberg (MassLive) adds, "McGovern, an opponent of expanded use of military force in Iraq and Syria, previously introduced a resolution that would have required the U.S. to withdraw troops from Iraq and Syria and end U.S. airstrikes there."


    In the meantime, Operation Inherent Failure stumbles on.


    Mitchell Prothero (McClatchy Newspapers) offers a clear-eyed look at reality, one which opens:

     Iraqi forces’ hopes of recapturing the city of Ramadi from the Islamic State have stalled, largely because their efforts to cut resupply routes into the city of nearly 1 million have failed.
    Iraqi planners had hoped a cordon around the city, the capital of Anbar province, Iraq’s largest, would prevent the Islamic State from being able to prepare for a long siege. But local military commanders, residents and analysts say the Iraqi forces were unable to maintain the cordon and that the Islamic State has been able to resupply.
    Iraqi officials have announced a new operation to retake the city nearly every week since the Islamic State routed its defenders last spring. But despite the vows, it’s become clear that the government has neither the manpower nor the training to conduct an offensive in a huge city that remains packed with civilians. The Islamic State apparently has succeeded in keeping civilians from fleeing.




    RECOMMENDED:  "Iraq snapshot"




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    Sunday, November 08, 2015

    THIS JUST IN! THE PINOCCHIO CAMPAIGN!

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




    CRANKY CLINTON, REACHED FOR COMMENT, EXPLAINED THAT SHE DID HAVE A HABIT OF 'TWEAKING' THE TRUTH BUT IT WASN'T OUT OF A DESIRE TO LIE OR DECEIVE, SHE INSISTS, BUT BECAUSE OF HER LOVE FOR DISNEY'S PINOCCHIO.

    "MY CAMPAIGN," SHE INSISTED, "IS A HOMAGE TO THAT DISNEY CLASSIC."





    The public discourse would be a lot better off if partisan whores would just sit their tired asses down and stop polluting the conversation with spin and misdirection.

    Saritha Prabhu is intellectually dishonest or just a plain idiot.  At The Tennessean she wants to whine and uses the Congressional Benghazi hearing to start her nonsense:


    But listening to the above, one wondered if the Republicans on this panel and in Congress had any sense of irony, or shame or any sense of proportion.
    What they said with utter seriousness about ignored warnings and dead Americans and uninvestigated truth seemed to many listeners to apply also on a much bigger scale to the Iraq War.
    The origins of the latter have, of course, never been investigated fully.


    You care about the Iraq War, do you, Saritha?

    No, you don't.

    You just lie and lie again.

    The reality of that is clear in the quoted passage above.

    Saritha claims that Republicans lack a sense of proportion and more.

    And they may or they may not, I'm not going down that rabbit hole.

    But cheap little whores like Saritha need to be called out.

    If you think the Republicans did the right thing or they went overboard or somewhere in between, the issue really isn't the Republicans, not when you bring up the Iraq War.

    You should be asking where is the shame of the Congressional Democrats?

    The failure to investigate the Iraq War?

    The American people used the 2006 mid-term elections to repudiate the Iraq War.

    Democrats -- including trashy Nancy Pelosi who needs to be wheeled into a nursing home and not remain leader of the House after she led the party in one losing election after another allowing the GOP to take control of the House?

    They're the ones to be outraged at.

    They had the permission of the American people to investigate.

    They campaigned on this.

    They said they'd end the Iraq War, they said control over one House -- just one -- would give them the power to hold hearings and launch investigations.

    The American people responded to that by giving them control of not just one house of Congress but both houses of Congress.

    Saritha's a two-bit whore whose stupidity or intellectual dishonesty should forbid her from writing her allegedly generic columns (one of which was truly hate speech -- her attack on Christians).  But please note, she's castigating Congressional Republicans for not focusing on Iraq when she's got a column, her own space, to write whatever she wants and she doesn't write about Iraq.

    She's a fake ass liar.

    Ava and I took on MSNBC's 'coverage' of the Benghazi hearing in "TV: The least trusted name in news" and we noted:


    And that's why MSNBC is a cesspool.
    They offered one voice after another saying the exact same thing.
    They could brook no thought or opinion that strayed from the hymnal.
    For a brief moment, as the coverage was winding, down, Tom Brokaw appeared.
    He expressed the belief that nothing changed with the appearance.
    He offered that Hillary had pleased her supporters but done nothing to pull over her detractors.
    It was a fair and objective view.
    And it's what the entire coverage should have been.


    I bring this up now because Brokaw made many outstanding points.

    Ava and I could have gone into more of that but I know Tom and like Tom and didn't want to turn his brief moments in the coverage -- we watched two hours of MSNBC coverage and he was probably on for less than six minutes -- into the entire review.

    But Tom's most important point may have been that a hearing on Benghazi does not preclude one on Iraq.

    It's not an either/or.

    And he's right.

    And the point I'm making here is if you're upset that there's been no hearing on Iraq (as we've noted before, there have been Congressional hearings on Iraq) -- or upset that it wasn't the type that the Benghazi hearings have been (pointed and often harsh) -- why is that Republican issue?

    Again, Democrats held control of no house of Congress in 2005 and 2006 and those two years found Democrats campaigning on the promise of ending the war and doing investigations if they got even one house of Congress -- control of one house.

    The American people responded to the campaign promises and gave Democrats control of both houses.

    So if you're upset that the Secretary of State (Condi Rice back then) was not immediately called before Congress or someone else to answer for the Iraq War, that's not a Republican issue.

    You can lie and whore and be intellectually dishonest.

    But the reality is that until the 2010 mid-terms, Democrats controlled both houses of Congess.

    They didn't use that power to investigate Iraq any more than they used to end the illegal war.

    In case you missed that, and Saritha appears to have missed it, the Iraq War never ended.

    Democrats in Congress pretending to care?

    That ended.

    And that's why their embrace of Cindy Sheehan ended.

    They were happy to promote Cindy when they pretended they were powerless.

    But when they had the power and the Iraq War continued?

    They turned on Cindy.

    And instead of calling the politicians out, whores and spinners found distractions to focus on.



    RECOMMENDED: "I Hate The War"




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