The Daily Jot: 2023-09-24

Monday, September 25, 2023

THIS JUST IN! CLARENCE COMES CLEAN!

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX & THOMAS FRIEDMAN IS A GREAT MAN & ANN'S MEGA DUB -- THE KOOL AID TABLE

CROOKED CLARENCE THOMAS JUST CAN'T AVOID SCANDALS. SPEAKING TO THESE REPORTERS THE SUPREME COURT (IN)JUSTICE EXPLAINED, "I'M NOT LEAVING ANY MONEY ON THE TABLE. IF IT'S THERE, I'M GRABBING IT -- LIKE A WOMAN EMPLOYEE WORKING UNDER ME, I'M GRABBING IT."

IS THAT AN ADMISSION, FINALLY, THAT HE DID HARASS ANITA HILL?

"OF COURSE I DID, FOOL!" CROOKED CLARENCE BOASTED. "IT'S HOW I FIRST LEARNED TO LIE TO THE SENATE AND THE COUNTRY. DO WHAT YOU WANT AND THEN LIE AND YOU GET AWAY WITH IT. IT HAS WORKED FOR ME OVER AND OVER."

WORKED FOR YOU? YOU DID END UP WITH THAT UGLY WOMAN GINNI THOMAS. THAT CAN'T BE MUCH OF A SUCCESS OR HAPPY ENDING.

"IF YOU THINK SHE'S UGLY NOW, IMAGINE HOW BAD SHE'D LOOKED IF SHE DIDN'T HAVE ALL THAT MONEY TO SPEND ON MAKE UP AND CLOTHES! HELL, MR. HAPPY HASN'T STOOD WAVING SINCE WILLIAM REHNQUIST DIED. I MISS HIM. I MISS THE THREE-WAYS. HE KNEW HOW TO MAKE A GUY FEEL SPECIAL. SUCH SOFT HANDS AND HIS DIRTY TALK, OH, HIS DIRTY TALK. HE'D WHISPER TO ME HIS VERDICT IN 'HUSTLER MAGAZINE V. FALWELL' AND IT WAS MULTIPLE ORGASM TIME."

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Update time. In Thursday's snapshot, we noted that US Senator Bob Menendez was yet again under federal investigation. Friday, after the snapshot posted, the Justice Dept announced Menendez was indicted (we posted the press release here). Kevin Reed (WSWS) reports:

New Jersey Democratic Senator Robert Menendez was indicted on Friday by federal prosecutors in New York, along with four others, including his wife Nadine Menendez, on multiple charges of bribery.

The US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York brought the charges against Menendez, a senior senator and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, for using “his official position” to provide favors to three businessmen and the Egyptian government “in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars” for himself and his wife which included “gold bars, cash and a luxury convertible.”

In a Department of Justice press release Friday, US Attorney Damian Williams said a grand jury charged the Menendezes for engaging in “a corrupt relationship” with New Jersey businessmen Wael Hana, Jose Uribe, and Fred Daibes and unnamed Egyptian government officials between 2018 and 2022.

Williams’ statement went on to say the businessmen “collectively paid hundreds of thousands of dollars of bribes, including cash, gold, a Mercedes Benz, and other things of value—in exchange for Senator Menendez agreeing to use his power and influence to protect and enrich those businessmen and to benefit the Government of Egypt.”

Responding eight hours after the indictment, leading Democratic Party leaders in the Garden State, including New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, called on Menendez to resign. Murphy said the allegations are “deeply disturbing” and “implicate national security and the integrity of our criminal justice system.” The governor continued, saying the “facts are so serious they compromise the ability of Senator Menendez to effectively represent the people of our state.”

Clearly, the stench of corruption surrounding the longtime federal legislator from New Jersey—Menendez held a seat in the House of Representatives from 1993 to 2006 and has been in the Senate since 2006—was so strong that the Department of Justice was forced to shut him down.

Senator Menendez was implicated in ethics violations in 2006 for renting property he owned to a non-profit agency that received federal funding. In 2015, he was indicted on bribery and fraud charges involving requests that the State Department pressure the Dominican Republic to enforce a government contract that benefited a Florida businessman, who gave the senator money and paid for his expensive vacation trips on a private jet.

At present, the senator is refusing calls to resign from his seat. He has announced a press conference later today. He is not expected to announce his resignation but instead to announce that he is seeking re-election. 41-year-old House Rep Andy Kim announced over the weekend that he was going to run against the 69-year-old (and indicted) Menendez for the Senate seat:

In other news, "Stop killing Kurds!" In Australia, a demonstration on Saturday included that chant.

Peter Boyle (GREEN LEFT) reports:

A protest on September 23 called on the Australian government to break its silence about Turkey's ongoing war on the Kurds and its recent deadly attacks in the south Kurdistan region of Iraq.

On September 18, three peshmerga (Kurdish freedom fighters) affiliated with the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) were killed and three others wounded in a drone strike on an airport in Sulaymaniyah/ Silêmanî.

At around the same time, Deniz Cevdet Bülbün, the representative the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) — Kurdish umbrella organisation — was killed in an armed attack on the KNK's Erbil (Hewlêr) office.

"This was an attack on the unity of the Kurdish people," Kurdish community representative Brusk Aeiveri told the rally.

He accused the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) authorities of collaborating with the Turkish state to facilitate attacks like these.

The protest called for a free Kurdistan. On the KRG, Azhi Rasul (RUDAW) reports:

Iraq’s Federal Supreme Court on Sunday ruled to dissolve the Kurdistan Region’s provincial councils “due to the end of their electoral cycle,” after declaring an amendment for their extension as “unconstitutional.”

The court stated that Article No. 2 in Law No. 2 of 2019, which amended the provincial councils for the provinces of the Kurdistan Region, was “unconstitutional,” it said in a statement.

According to provisions from Article 2 of the Iraqi constitution, the amendments went against the principles of democracy and infringed on basic rights and freedoms.

Elections for the Kurdistan Region’s provincial councils were last held in April 2014, and members of the council were sworn in on June of the same year to serve for four years, until June 2018.

ALMAYADEEN notes, "It is worth noting that in July 2019, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq's Parliament passed a proposal to amend the law governing provincial councils in the region, including extending the terms of the existing councils to bridge the legal gap created by the expiration of their mandates." MEDYA NEWS adds, "Journalist Fehim Işık told Medya News that the Kurdistan Regional Government is now considering how to respond to the court’s decision. However, the Kurdistan Region of Iraq has been left without a functioning legislative body since May due to disputed parliamentary elections. This impasse has prevented the parties from taking collective decisions or convening parliament."

Recommended:

"Iraq snapshot"