AFTER YEARS OF PROTECTING HIS ASSHOLE BROTHER BEN, DAVID RHODES IS OUT AS CBS NEWS PRESIDENT. REACHED FOR COMMENT BY THESE REPORTERS, DAVID ASKED, "SHOULD I HAVE KNOWN THAT CHARLIE ROSE WAS HARASSING AND MOLESTING WOMEN AT WORK? PROBABLY. BUT COVERING FOR MY BROTHER WHILE HE WAS WORKING IN THE WHITE HOUSE ALL THOSE YEARS TOOK A TOLL. YOU CAN'T LIE CONSTANTLY AND ALSO DO A GOOD JOB SUPERVISING."
DAVID RHODES PAUSED AND THEN CONTINUED, "IT'S GOING TO BE A NEW WORLD FOR ME AND I'M REALLY EXCITED ABOUT THE PATH I'M ON AND ALL THAT THE FUTURE HOLDS. IT'S A GREAT LIFE!"
REACHED FOR COMMENT, ASSHOLE BROTHER BEN REPLIED:
No. It's not.
This morning, THE GUARDIAN is offering a piece entitled "Baghdad At play: normal life returns to Iraq's capital -- in pictures." ALJAZEERA's pimping "Women in Iraq reclaiming roles in society."
Have you ever heard the sound of disappointment?
It tangles your head like a winter rose.
Comes up eager and shining
And it likes to leave a scar before it goes.
Here comes that sinking feeling
Can't keep it to myself
-- "Here Comes That Sinking Feeling," written by Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart, first appears on Eurythmics' BE YOURSELF TONIGHT
Donald Trump's talk of pulling US troops out of Syria and Afghanistan has frightened me. A lot of us aren't frightened and feel more needs to be done.
The US has been fighting wars in Iraq & Afghanistan for 18 years & Syria for many more, spent trillions of $ that could have been spent on Americans who need it. Thousands of men & women have died. Nevertheless, there is outrage when POTUS says it's time to come home. Incredible
For example, Scott Taylor (Halifax's THE CHRONICLE HERALD) offers:
Now that the unifier has been eliminated, Canada should follow Trump’s lead and get our troops out of there. We have no skin in the game and we will definitely not have a seat at the big boy table when an eventual resolution is drawn up.
Our policy makers have already illustrated their ignorance of this complex conflict in authorizing our soldiers to wear the Kurdistan flag.
Thank goodness we did not actually compound that error by pouring in another $10 million of weaponry to add to the endless killing. Simply put, if you don’t know the players, you have no place being in the game. Bring our troops home.
What if other people begin echoing Scott Taylor? Horrified at the thought that peace might break out, a number rush forward to portray Iraq as a 'turned corner.' Yet again.
Sean Smith aims the camera for THE GUARDIAN piece -- aims it just where The Rockefeller Foundation tells him too -- they are the ones signing the check, after all. And who wouldn't trust a Rockefeller? That was sarcasm.
And despite the happy title given to the Qatar funded ALJAZEERA's report, even the report doesn't match the headline.
Life is so great and it's advancing! Screams the headline, right? But the reality is that women activists in Iraq aren't seeing that. In fact, Nabil Salah (at the George Soros funded OPEN SOCIETY) notes that women aren't even in stadiums at sports events these days:
Late last month in Iraq, Al-Shorta SC faced Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya in week 9 of the Iraqi Premier League. The Al-Shaab Stadium -the venue where FC Schalke had suffered a 2-0 defeat to the Iraqi national team in a world cup preparation match in 1986- was already almost packed over an hour before kick-off. It was a crucial match for both teams' race to climb to the top of the IPL table.
In a packed 34,200-seater, I was searching for any female presence among the attendance, to no avail.
Unlike what pictures from the so-called ‘golden-era’ of Iraq often posted by Iraqi pages on social media show, the presence of women on the terraces today remains a rare sight; almost non-existent.
When asked about the absence of female football fans from Iraq's stadiums, Naba Shakir Iraqi women's national team and Al-Quwa Al-Jawiya defender says, "In my opinion, harassment on the terraces or at the gates is just one of many reasons that makes us reluctant to attend football matches in Iraq. The main reason is the uncivilized behavior of many. With all due respect to those who create a beautiful atmosphere, but many others have caused several problems in football stadiums during the recent years."
Unfortunate incidents have frequently overshadowed Iraq's football scene in recent years, such as pitch invasions, vandalizing and physical assault against players and referees.
However, there were times when football stadiums weren't only occupied by men, and when women would normally attend a football match.
Iraqi football writer Hassanin Mubarak explains that "women did attend football matches but usually the big events, like the 1966 Arab Cup and the 1979 Gulf Cup. The Iraqi footballer and national team captain Husham Atta Ajaj remembered one game which was played in the morning during the 1966 Arab Cup between Iraq and Bahrain and he stated there were no empty seats because they were occupied by female students who had come to watch the game. It was the same at the 1979 Gulf Cup."
To talk about women in Iraq honestly is not a happy story. That may be why so many choose instead to lie.
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