THIS JUST IN! IT'S FUNNY TO HER WHEN WESLEY DOES IT!

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

CRANKY CLINTON'S CLOSE PAL WESLEY CLARK HAS CALLED FOR MUSLIMS TO BE INTERNED.

AS CRANKY HERSELF MIGHT SAY, "I NO LONGER FIND WESLEY CLARK FUNNY."

CRANKY WAS ON NBC'S LATE NIGHT INSISTING THAT DONALD TRUMP WAS NO LONGER FUNNY DUE TO HIS ISLAMOPHOBIA.

BUT AFTER SHE GOT DONE GRANDSTANDING, AS AMERICANS WAITED FOR HER TO REPUDIATE WESLEY CLARK, CRANKY WAS DONE WITH THE TOPIC.

"I AM A BUSY WOMAN," SHE SNAPPED AT THESE REPORTERS AND A FEW SMALL CHILDREN WHO HAD GATHERED AROUND HER.

"BUSY!" SHE SAID DROP KICKING THE SMALLEST OF THE CHILDREN BEFORE DOING A VICTORY END ZONE DANCE ON HER WAY OUT.

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Let's start with bitchy.

US State Dept spokesperson John Kirby flaunted his own stupidty when he unleashed his bitchy at today's State Dept press briefing and launched his attack on RT [RUSSIA TODAY].

RT ‏@RT_com 8m8 minutes ago

State Dept. dodges RT’s question about Turkish troops in Iraq, gets personal http://on.rt.com/6z72                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      

 

21 retweets 14 likes

Gayane Chichakyan is the RT journalist who dared to ask a question.

It was a basic question and John Kirby turned into a full on bitch.

As shameful as he was, equally shameful was REUTERS whose 'reporter' rushed in to change the subject and rescue the State Dept.

Let's jump in to where Chickakryan attempts to get answers to her questions.



QUESTION: I have one more question on Turkey, please.

MR KIRBY: Okay, go ahead.

QUESTION: Thank you. Well, you were saying that it’s up to Turkey and Iraq to figure out the situation with the uninvited Turkish troops. But the U.S. does take upon itself to invite forces from other countries into Iraq and in Syria. Ash Carter was telling Congress yesterday that he personally reached out to 40 countries asking them to commit special ops for the fight and other support. The Iraqi parliament is concerned that their country is becoming this ground where different countries do what they want. The Iraqi parliament’s Security and Defense Committee is calling for the review or cancelation of the U.S. security agreement with Iraq. What does the U.S. do to address their concerns?

MR KIRBY: Address whose concerns?

QUESTION: The Iraqi parliament’s Security and Defense Committee that is now calling to review or cancel the agreement with the U.S.

MR KIRBY: I haven’t seen those reports, ma’am. We continue to work with the Iraqi Government. The troops that Secretary Carter referred to, that decision was done in full coordination and cooperation with the Iraqi Government. If you’re trying to suggest that somehow U.S. military assistance against ISIL is untoward or being done without full coordination with the Iraq Government, it’s just a completely baseless charge. And I don’t think it’s worth having any more discussions about it.

QUESTION: But you’re saying – are you saying that you’re not aware of the Iraqi parliament’s – this Security and Defense Committee’s initiative that they want to --

MR KIRBY: I haven’t seen that, no. I haven’t seen that.

QUESTION: Okay. What – the situation where the U.S. invites forces --

MR KIRBY: I’m going to give you just one more, honestly, and then that’s it. Okay?

QUESTION: Sure.

MR KIRBY: Go ahead.

QUESTION: The situation where the U.S. invites forces to Iraq and the U.S. is leading this coalition, but when something goes wrong, the U.S. says it’s none of our business, like with the Turkish troops. Let – you have to figure it out between yourselves. Should it be of no concern to Iraq?

MR KIRBY: Should what be of no concern? I love these questions that are 10 minutes long then I’m supposed to get the grain of it out of there. Should what be of no concern?

QUESTION: The fact that when something – you have this cooperation, you have this agreement, but when something goes wrong, the U.S. says it’s none of our business, like with what’s happening with the Turkish troops.

MR KIRBY: Oh, come on. Again, another ridiculous question. When have we ever said it’s none of our business?

QUESTION: You are saying that about the Turkish troops.

MR KIRBY: What I’m – no. No, I’m not. I’m saying that – I’ll say it again, okay? We want this to be worked out bilaterally between Turkey and Iraq. And the way you’re trying to twist all of this around to make it look like we’re doing something nefarious or that we’re – we’ve got some sort of inappropriate relationships here, I mean, it’s just so silly. And I can’t believe --

QUESTION: Well, am I really twisting it? You – have you --

MR KIRBY: I can’t believe, honestly, that you aren’t embarrassed to ask these questions. You have to be looking at these questions and almost laughing to yourself, don’t you? I mean, they’re absolutely crazy.

QUESTION: So --

MR KIRBY: So we are working very closely with the Abadi government, right. We are working inside a coalition of 65 nations – 65 nations that have signed up to go after ISIL in Iraq and in Syria – let me finish. You’ve had your moment. Sixty-five nations. And what we have said from the very beginning – I said it when I was at the Pentagon in uniform – is that we want any action against ISIL inside Iraq, specifically, to be done with full cooperation and coordination with the Iraqi Government and with their sovereign permission. That hasn’t changed one whit. Now there’s this dispute between Turkey and Iraq over the presence of a small number of troops, okay?

QUESTION: Should --

MR KIRBY: And we – I’ve said – I said it over the last several days and I’ll say it again: Nothing’s changed about our position about the sovereign nature of Iraq and the fact that troops operating against ISIL inside Iraq needs to be done with the Iraqi Government’s permission. And we’ve stated that publicly, we’ve stated that privately, to every member of the coalition. Nothing’s changed about that.

QUESTION: Sir --

MR KIRBY: And we want Turkey and Iraq to work this out, and they are. You are trying to find a way to make this some big divisive issue, and even the Turks and the Iraqis know that it’s not and they’re working their way through it. So let’s let them work their way through it and let the rest of everybody keep focusing on ISIL, which is what we should do, and which, by the way, the Russians aren’t doing.

QUESTION: If I may – if I may – if I may --

QUESTION: Is it – I’m sorry, should I not – should I not ask --

QUESTION: If I may – if I may --

QUESTION: Should I not be asking what the U.S. assessment of Turkey’s actions is?

MR KIRBY: You – ma’am – I’m going take this one, Arshad, then I’m going to come to you. You can – you can --

QUESTION: Should I not be asking that question? Exactly which question should I be embarrassed about, sir?

MR KIRBY: You can ask me whatever you want. I’m just stunned that you’re not embarrassed by some of the questions you ask. And I notice that --

QUESTION: Exactly which question?

MR KIRBY: I notice that RT very rarely asks any tough questions of their own government. So you can ask whatever you want. That’s the beauty of this setting, right, here at the State Department. You can come in here and ask me whatever you want, and you can be as – just as challenging as you want to be and accusatory in your questions – some of those today, absolutely ridiculous. You can do that here in the United States, but I don’t see you --

QUESTION: Which question was ridiculous, sir?

MR KIRBY: I don’t see you asking those same questions of your own government about ISIL in Syria.

QUESTION: Which of my questions was ridiculous?

MR KIRBY: And I would love to see those questions get asked.
Arshad.


QUESTION: I’d like to switch to just saying one quick word about Barry Schweid.


First, way to go Arshad Mohammed.  You're a little suck ass, aren't you?

Arshad is periodically selected as the go-to when the State Dept wants to leak and Arshad, like a declawed house tabby, earns those leaks (billed as "exclusives" and "scoops") by refusing to ever press the State Dept or practice actual journalism.


Now let's go to John Kirby's stupidity.  One more time:


QUESTION: Thank you. Well, you were saying that it’s up to Turkey and Iraq to figure out the situation with the uninvited Turkish troops. But the U.S. does take upon itself to invite forces from other countries into Iraq and in Syria. Ash Carter was telling Congress yesterday that he personally reached out to 40 countries asking them to commit special ops for the fight and other support. The Iraqi parliament is concerned that their country is becoming this ground where different countries do what they want. The Iraqi parliament’s Security and Defense Committee is calling for the review or cancelation of the U.S. security agreement with Iraq. What does the U.S. do to address their concerns?

MR KIRBY: Address whose concerns?

QUESTION: The Iraqi parliament’s Security and Defense Committee that is now calling to review or cancel the agreement with the U.S.

MR KIRBY: I haven’t seen those reports, ma’am. We continue to work with the Iraqi Government. The troops that Secretary Carter referred to, that decision was done in full coordination and cooperation with the Iraqi Government. If you’re trying to suggest that somehow U.S. military assistance against ISIL is untoward or being done without full coordination with the Iraq Government, it’s just a completely baseless charge. And I don’t think it’s worth having any more discussions about it.

QUESTION: But you’re saying – are you saying that you’re not aware of the Iraqi parliament’s – this Security and Defense Committee’s initiative that they want to --

MR KIRBY: I haven’t seen that, no. I haven’t seen that.




Is he unable to do his damn job?

He hasn't seen the reports?

As of Thursday afternoon, he knew nothing of this?



Wednesday morning at 7:56 a.m., we posted "Turkey's invasion of Iraq continues" which included:

SPUTNIK reports:

The Security and Defense Committee of the Iraqi Parliament has called for a review or cancellation of an agreement with the United States on security over Washington’s lack of a clear reaction to the worsening situation in the country, committee member Hamid al-Mutlaq told Sputnik on Wednesday.


Wednesday morning, we were aware of this.

Thursday afternoon, the US State Dept is still ignorant of it?

John Kirby looks like a stupid fool.

His ignorance does not speak well for himself or for his department.

How can they counter terrorism or practice diplomacy if they can't even follow the news cycle?  If 32 hours after a major bit of news makes it into the cycle, they still don't know what's going on, what does that say about their knowledge base or their efforts to carry out their core job functions?


John Kirby should curb his inner bitch and instead apply himself towards following the news cycle.

Not only was it in the news Wednesday morning, it is major news that the State Dept should have been following:  A member of the Iraqi Parliament's Security and Defense Committee is stating that the Committee is going to review the security agreement with the US and the State Dept is unaware of that?

This is further proof that the State Dept is unable to carry out their diplomatic mission in Iraq because they've mistaken themselves for an annex of the Defense Dept (Kirby, after all, is the former Pentagon spokesperson -- so much for rewarding diplomacy or career diplomats at State).

Whose war on women?

John Kirby decided to go full on bitch and, it's worth noting, he's never done that to a man.

But, on the State Dept payroll, he thought he had the right to attack and attempt to humiliate a journalist for asking a question.

That sort of sexism certainly applied at the Defense Dept which -- all these years later -- still can't honestly address violence against women, let alone harassment.

What a wonderful way to be an ambassador to the world: Kirby's attack on Gayane Chichakyan and attempt to humiliate her -- and to use humiliation to try to silence her -- on the world stage with the whole world watching.

That's not diplomacy.

It's also unacceptable.

There is also the issue of the revived tensions between the US government and the Russian government.  In that environment, the world doesn't need a bitchy US spokesperson attacking a Russian reporter.

Before we close this topic out, let's zoom in on this part of the exchange:


QUESTION: The situation where the U.S. invites forces to Iraq and the U.S. is leading this coalition, but when something goes wrong, the U.S. says it’s none of our business, like with the Turkish troops. Let – you have to figure it out between yourselves. Should it be of no concern to  Iraq?

MR KIRBY: Should what be of no concern? I love these questions that are 10 minutes long then I’m supposed to get the grain of it out of there. Should what be of no concern?

QUESTION: The fact that when something – you have this cooperation, you have this agreement, but when something goes wrong, the U.S. says it’s none of our business, like with what’s happening with the Turkish troops.

MR KIRBY: Oh, come on. Again, another ridiculous question. When have we ever said it’s none of our business?


She's not wrong at all.

The US has done that repeatedly.

The State Dept has been one of the worst offenders.

Oh, we don't want to get into the oil disputes in Iraq -- but the central government out of Baghdad is right!!!!!!

Do you now how many times Victoria Nuland pulled that crap when she was spokesperson for the State Dept?

(To Nuland's credit, she never tried to shame a reporter -- or serve her up for public ridicule -- just for asking a question.)


Or how about the Hawaija massacre?

On one hand, you had peaceful demonstrators staging a sit-in.

On the other hand, you had the forces Nouri al-Maliki sent in to surround the square and attack the protesters.


For those who've forgotten (or maybe never knew to begin with), The April 23, 2013 massacre of a sit-in in Hawija which resulted from  Nouri's federal forces storming in.  Alsumaria noted Kirkuk's Department of Health (Hawija is in Kirkuk)  announced 50 activists have died and 110 were injured in the assault.   AFP reported the death toll eventually (as some wounded died) rose to 53 dead.   UNICEF noted that the dead included 8 children (twelve more were injured).

The State Dept's response?

To call for both sides to be civil.

Both the unarmed protesters practicing civil disobedience and the thugs who murdered them.

And, go to the archives, the Sunday before the slaughter, I wrote about the State Dept contacting me with their concerns.  They knew where this was headed: Violence.

And they did nothing.

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

CRANKY CLINTON IS RUNNING FROM HER LIES AT AN ALARMING RATE.

THE LATEST RUN?

HER LIE THAT SHE NEVER TOLD THE FAMILIES OF THE 9/11/12 FALLEN THAT THEY WERE KILLED BECAUSE OF A VIDEO.

REACHED FOR COMMENT, BILL HAD THIS TO SAY ABOUT HIS WIFE, "I HOPE SHE KEEPS LYING BECAUSE THAT KEEPS HER RUNNING AND SHE COULD AFFORD TO DO A FEW LAPS AND BURN SOME CALORIES."

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Sunday night, US President Barack Obama gave his third speech from the Oval Office since being sworn in back in January of 2009 ("Watch the full video and read the President’s remarks:").


What did he say?

Nothing of any value.

A lot to scare any actually paying attention.


For example, let's note these bullet points the White House prepared.









That's how you defeat the Islamic State?

Only if you're an idiot.


Barack's a failure.

He's a failure because he can't speak the truth, he's a failure because he can't speak up, he's a failure because he wanted the title of president but didn't want to do the work.

Over a year ago, June 19, 2014, Barack told the world a political solution was needed.


Now he's too chicken to even note that reality.

So he offers a lot of b.s. that's supposed to make him look tough but only makes him look pathetic.

The only way you defeat the Islamic State is by robbing it of is very reason for existence -- the persecution of the Sunnis.

Quentin Sommerville (NEW STATESMAN) explains:


As Britain makes a decision on whether to bomb IS in Syria, as we are already doing in Iraq, we appear to have little understanding of why IS has become so strong and, indeed, why its support is growing. In our disgust at its medieval methods of torture and killing, it is easy to forget that IS is not merely tolerated but welcomed in its strongholds in Iraq and Syria. It is true that there are many foreign fighters in both cities but there are also Sunni Arab populations that regard IS rule as a better alternative to the Shia-led government of Iraq, Iranian-funded militias, the Kurds or the regime of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad.



The point is one Barack grasps verbally but one he fails to provide action for.  Instead of providing a diplomatic infusion, bringing all the agents to the table and hashing things out, he prefers to drop bombs and send in troops.

None of which will erase the Islamic State or what pops up to replace the Islamic State -- which popped up to replace al Qaeda in Mesopotamia.

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

CRANKY CLINTON BETTER PULL OUT HER COPY OF LYING FOR DUMMIES.

A JUST RELEASED E-MAIL SHOWS THE DEFENSE DEPARTMENT OFFERING TROOPS DURING THE 9/11/12 ATTACK IN BENGHAZI -- A COMPLETE CONTRADICTION OF CLAIMS CRANKY AND OTHERS HAVE MADE AS THEY HAVE INSISTED THERE WERE NO AVAILABLE FORCES AND NONE THAT COULD GET THERE IN TIME.

WHEN THESE REPORTERS ATTEMPTED TO CONTACT CRANKY FOR A COMMENT, THE RESIDENCE PHONE WAS ANSWERED BY BILL WHO PASSED ON THE QUESTION TO CRANKY.

THOUGH SHE DID NOT COME ON THE LINE, WE COULD HEAR HER HISSING, "HANG UP THE PHONE! DAMN IT, BILL, HANG UP THE PHONE NOW!"

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

At Tuesday's US House Armed Services Committee hearing, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter declared:


 Next, in full coordination with the government of Iraq, we're deploying a specialized, expeditionary targeting force to assist Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces and put even more pressure on ISIL.  These special operators will, over time, be able to conduct raids, free hostages, gather intelligence and capture ISIL leaders.   


With all the hours and hours of Pacifica Radio -- all the time they use of the public airwaves, only SOJOURNER TRUTH WITH MARGARET PRESCOD devoted a segment to it -- we noted this in Thursday's snapshot (the Tuesday broadcast) and that Friday's show would also feature the topic.

Friday, Margaret Prescod was joined for her news roundtable by University of Houston's Dr. Gerald Horne, activist and politician Jackie Goldberg and Tom Hayden.


At the top of the show, Margaret Prescod observed, "The US is increasing special operations forces on the ground in Iraq which would also be that would also be involved in raids in Syria."


Tom Hayden shared his belief that 2016 would result in a war president -- and said that would be true if it was Senator Marc Rubio or Senator Bernie Sanders or former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

We'll note this section of the exchange.


Jackie Goldberg:  I think at some point or another, we have to see the situation in the Middle East as a battle between Sunni and Shia, not our battle, not the United States' battle.  And we should be working very hard, I believe, to get the nations of the Middle East who have a stake in this -- Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Republic, Turkey, Egypt, Sudan, Pakistan, Iraq -- all of them -- all of them, Iran, they all have -- Hezbollah -- they all have a stake in the outcome of this.  And in my view, I think we should be backing away from the war that Tom was talking about rather than continuing it and, instead, pushing very hard internationally to say to the folks that are involved in this that this is a struggle that you have over territory.  It's not too different from the Christians and the Muslims and the Crusades.  This is between two versions of-of Islam but they are mostly about the issues of power and control of resources and control of oil and control of government.  And those are issues that, in my opinion, should be settled amongst themselves.  If the United States does not wish to continue to be attacked, it has to look at its own policies.  It has to look at why - why would we be seen as an enemy of one side or the other?  And that is because we arm everybody, we make it possible for these wars to go on by selling arms to everybody.  And who we don't sell arms to, the Russians sell arms to.  So, at some point or another, if there is no possibility that those who are arming all of the sides don't disengage from the possibility of arming all the sides, I don't see an end to this.  And I don't see a role for the United States, to be very honest.  I know I'm probably very unique in all of this, but I don't think our role is to be there.   This is a fight -- it's an age old fight.  It's not new, it's thousands of years old and it is not, in my opinion, a fight that we should be taking on.


Margaret Prescod:  Yeah.  And, Jackie Goldberg, I think there are quite a lot of people that will agree with you.  I mean, there was a contentious debate that happened in the British Parliament just a couple of days ago on a vote on the UK joining the bombing of ISIS.  And Jeremy Corbyn, who is the new leader of the Labour Party, put himself out there and totally opposed the bombing.  A number of the more mainstream members of the Labour Party rebelled against Corbyn and went along with Cameron -- the Conservative, Tory government.  So now the UK has in fact already be bombing and Germany is apparently now in on the act, you know, France has been in it for a very long time. There has been a very strong moment, Jackie, in the UK 

Jackie Goldberg:  Oh, yeah.

Margaret Prescod (Con't):  -- opposed to this bombing.

Jackie Goldberg:  Oh, yeah.  And there's a peace movement in the United States opposed to our continued involvement with drones and strikings and all of this.  You know, if you are a young man living in San Bernardino and you are Pakistani and you see the United States continuously using drones on somebody who is "a target" but also other folks who get caught up in this -- civilians who had no role in this -- you begin to, you know, think, 'Well if civilians there are going to be targeted, then civilians here ought to be targeted.'  That's how you get to where we are in the United States today -- our policy has to change and if it doesn't change, well the war will come home.

Margaret Prescod:  Yeah.

Jackie Goldberg:  And it has.

Margaret Prescod:  Yeah.

Jackie Goldberg:  And it will continue to come home. 

Margaret Prescod:  Right and we are going to be talking, a little later on, after our station break, about that San Bernardino shooting and the various implications.  What I would like to do now -- because I am assured that the sound is back -- and I'd really like to play this clip, it is from a PBS NEWSHOUR, Dr. Horn, before we go to you.  And it gives some reaction to the reality of the US increasing special operations on the ground in Iraq and also some more about what is happening in the region, reaction to that.  Let's go to that clip now.

Gwen Ifill: Many Iraqis -- led by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi didn’t appear to welcome the news that U.S. is sending additional special ops forces in an effort to root out ISIS strongholds.

Salah al-Rikabi, Baghdad resident (through interpreter): We do not need any foreign forces, whether they are American, Danish, Italian or French ones. The Iraqi people are capable.

Fadhil Abu Firas, Baghdad resident (through interpreter): U.S. forces have no credibility and no good intentions. I consider this a new invasion.


Gwen Ifill: At NATO headquarters in Brussels, Secretary of State John Kerry denied that Iraqi leaders were not briefed about the new force in advance.


John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State: We will continue to work very, very closely with our Iraqi partners on exactly who would be deployed, where they would be deployed, what kinds of missions people would undertake, how they would support Iraqi efforts to degrade and destroy ISIL.


Gwen Ifill: In London, British Prime Minister David Cameron made his final appeal in Parliament to expand the current British air campaign in Iraq to Syria.

[. . . edit from PBS broadcast made by Prescod's show]

Gwen Ifill:  Separately, Russia released satellite imagery purporting to show trucks delivering Islamic State oil in Turkey and accused Turkish leaders of profiting from the illicit trade. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dismissed the claims as slander.
Later in the day, an Islamic State video appeared to show the beheading of another hostage. The militants said he had spied for Russia in Syria and Iraq.


Margaret Prescod: Alright, so there you go, Dr. Horn. I mean apparently these new forces, at least the some that we heard in that clip, not welcome.  We heard from people in Iraq and, of course, there's the growing mentions over the shoot downs by Turkey of the Russian military jet.  And everybody pretty much knows that Turkey wouldn't have shot down the Russian military jet without a heads up from the United States -- even though there's that and on the other hand analysts are saying, 'Well the Obama administration really doesn't want to ramp it up any further -- from where I sit, it seems, "Okay, go ahead and do the shoot down but then let's try to dampen it down."  Dr. Horn, give us your view on what's happening in all of that.

Dr. Gerald Horne: Well during the war in Vietnam, there was a very useful debate as to whether or not that war was a blunder by Washington or whether it flowed illogically from US imperialism. And I think we need to have a sort of similar debate today. Particularly in light of the fact that the NEW YORK TIMES reported just a few days ago that Sirte which under Col [Muammar] Gaddafi [the late leader of Libya] was slated to be the capital of the African Union is now the capital of ISIS in Africa. And we need to ask some very difficult questions as to whether or not this is just another blunder by Washington or whether this flows illogically from a certain assumption and a certain kind of logic, particularly given that Barack Obama was elected in 2008 on the premise that he would not allow another type of an Iraqi fiasco to take place and yet he's presided over a similar fiasco in Libya, in north Africa, which has given a shot in the arm to ISIS.  I think we need to recognize that it's very difficult for the United States, which is now in relative decline, to buck it's so-called allies, particularly Saudi Arabia which it is dependent upon both for oil and capital flows.  And Saudi nationals, as we know, are major supporters of ISIS and, somewhat oddly, it's difficult for it to buck Turkey which, as you know, is in bed with ISIS as we speak. I think we should also recognize that with the close relationship with Israel, it's very hard for the United States to align with Iran against ISIS.  And we also know that with this anti Moscow sentiment in Washington -- which is a hangover from the Cold War period -- and it is difficult to engage in what President Putin has called for -- which is a United Nations international alliance against ISIS.  In fact, we know that just a few days ago the United States helped to twist the arm of Montenegro and entice it to enter the anti-Moscow alliance that is a North Atlantic Treaty Organization -- that is to say that NATO is expanding at the same time that NATO should be shrinking because the United States should be allied with Moscow against ISIS if it is sincere in its anti-ISIS thesis. So this is the problem we face and I don't think we can get out of this problem until we have an honest, far reaching debate as to whether or not these so-called blunders are not blunders but flow from a certain kind of illogic,

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"THIS JUST IN! CRANKY CLINTON SWINGS BOTH WAYS!"

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THIS JUST IN! CRANKY CLINTON SWINGS BOTH WAYS!

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

CRANKY CLINTON DECLARED TODAY THAT THE U.S. WAS NOT WINNING THE WAR AGAINST THE ISLAMIC STATE.

IN AN EFFORT TO CONTINUE TO BE ALL THINGS TO ALL PEOPLE, CRANKY THEN ISSUED A STATEMENT DECLARING THE U.S. WAS WINNING THE WAR AGAINST THE ISLAMIC STATE AND CONDEMNING ANYONE WHO SAID OTHERWISE WHILE INSISTING THAT SUCH CLAIMS "EMBOLDEN TERRORISTS!"

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

At Tuesday's US House Armed Services Committee hearing, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter declared:


 Next, in full coordination with the government of Iraq, we're deploying a specialized, expeditionary targeting force to assist Iraqi and Kurdish Peshmerga forces and put even more pressure on ISIL.  These special operators will, over time, be able to conduct raids, free hostages, gather intelligence and capture ISIL leaders.   

Such huge news would surely result in massive coverage from the collective that self-describes as "independent media"; however, they made sure to affirm Ava and my charge that they're the beggar media, whores and smut merchants who couldn't get work elsewhere and are nothing but Panhandle Media begging you for money so that they can continue their worthless actions which include insisting on accountability for the corporate media while having no ethics of their own.

It's nothing but talking points as a circle jerk takes place in an echo chamber.

And they want free speech  . . . when not attacking free speech.

Free speech actually translates to the smut merchants wanting to embrace their hatred of women -- that's what goes on at  Pacifica's WPFW where Scooter played a hideous 'song' that was an attack on the vagina and a demonization of women but which Scooter insisted was a song that "told the truth."  At WPFW, homophobia and sexism reign free on the airwaves.  I don't know if that's because the idiots on the air are considered too stupid to be held accountable or just because they think the audience is that vile.

Let's move to Pacifica's high point when it came to the news about Iraq.

Margaret Prescod:  And we are now going to shift our attention to Syria, Turkey and Russia.  It's being reported that the Pentagon will increase special operation forces in Iraq.  And, according to the NEW YORK TIMES, they further said that these new forces would be involved in targeted raids in Syria.  And that a slow ramp up of forces should be repeated.  This is in stark contrast with what President Barack Obama has said about limiting boots on the ground in the region.

Prescod was speaking on Tuesday's broadcast of SOJOURNER TRUTH WITH MARGARET PRESCOD which airs on Pacifica's KPFK out of Los Angeles.  She was then joined for the segment by Gareth Porter who wanted to talk about everything but Iraq.

Even so, she tried.  And she actually noted Barack Obama (something the co-opted and corrupted Amy Goodman couldn't and wouldn't do when she reduced the major news to a headline -- not even the lead headline -- on Wednesday's DEMOCRACY NOW!).

Equally true, she plans to have the news as one of her topics for Friday's roundtable discussion on SOJOURNER TRUTH.

That was Pacifica Radio's highpoint of 'coverage.'

You might think, for example, that KPFA's FLASHPOINTS would be all over the news.

You would be wrong.

Dennis Bernstein had other issues this week -- no, not more charges of sexual harassment -- he was interested in Korea and climate change and this and that and blah blah blah.

Well FLASHPOINTS isn't the only show on Pacifica Radio's KPFA, right?

There's the hour long, weekly VOICES OF THE MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA.

Certainly, that show, which airs Wednesdays, would be all over this news, right?

Wrong.

Well that's the Bay Area.  What about Houston?  Home to Pacifica Radio's KPFT.

Wednesday nights, they offer ARAB VOICES.

Right away, you knew this was going to be a serious broadcast as you were informed that they weren't going to spend time on the community calendar because they had so much to cover.

So much to cover.

Exactly.

This announcement is major, ground troops in Iraq --

Oh, wait.

They didn't address that.

They used the entire hour to air recordings of a gala.

Such bad radio as an old, tired man saying his wife told him -- after his warblings -- not to quit -- yes, you know this is coming because it's so old and so damn tired -- his day job.

In times of war, never forget, the most important thing is to air a recording of a gala.

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