Thursday, April 28, 2016

THIS JUST IN! WHY WAIT ON WINNING A NOMINATION?

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

TODAY, TED CRUZ CONTINUES TRAILING IN THE RACE FOR THE G.O.P.'S PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION.

THAT DIDN'T STOP HIM FROM PICKING A RUNNING MATE: CARLY FIORINA.

IN UPCOMING MOVES, TED INTENDS TO SHOW UP AT THE WHITE HOUSE FRIDAY FOR AN UNANNOUNCED EARLY BREAKFAST, FOLLOWING WHICH HE WILL MEASURE THE OVAL OFFICE FOR DRAPES AND THEN GO SKINNY DIPPING IN THE WHITE HOUSE POOL.  

REPORTERS ARE INVITED AND TED NOTES THAT THEY DO NOT HAVE TO JOIN HIM IN SKINNY DIPPING BUT THEY DO HAVE TO TAKE PHOTOGRAPHS.






As if Iraq doesn't have enough drama all by itself, THE WASHINGTON POST attempts to create some.  Loveday Morris and Mustafa Salim insist, "Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi desperately tried to steer his country out of political turmoil on Tuesday, partially reshuffling his cabinet amid stepped-up pressure as thousands of protesters threatened to storm parliament."


We'll get to the 'protesters,' first "Haider al-Abadi desperately tried to steer his country out of political turmoil"?


The 'turmoil' is created by Haider.

The US-installed prime minister is not following the Iraqi Constitution.

Why is that so damn hard for reporters at THE WASHINGTON POST to be honest about?

Oh, that's right, for US press outlets, the State Dept line becomes 'fact.'

At least it does for the immediate time.

But let there be no mistake five years from now, when Americans all know the truth, that the truth was known then but these reporters and press outlets didn't convey it and let them be forced to explain why that was.

Haider has created any 'turmoil' by insisting that he needs a new Cabinet.

He's done at the bidding of the US government.

Let's move over to 'protesters.'

Threaten to storm the Parliament, did they?

The Parliament's in the Green Zone.

That would be the heavily fortified Green Zone.

Where Iraq's politicians hide out from the people.

It was almost breached shortly after Nouri al-Maliki became prime minister in 2006.  That was very scary for those hiding out in the Green Zone (which included US officials).

This caused anxiety and a flurry of measures being added to further fortify the Green Zone.

To storm the Parliament, these 'protesters' would first have to storm the Green Zone -- something no group has managed to do in over a decade of the Green Zone's existence.

Let's say that they managed to breach the Green Zone.

And then let's forget for a moment that the orders in place would be warning shots and then firing at those civilians trying to get into the Green Zone.

Let's just say that they managed to breach the Green Zone.

They then just waltz into the Parliament?

No.

The Parliament has its own set of security.

The notion that anyone was going to breach the Green Zone today and make it into the Parliament was never a genuine possibility.


Anyone saying otherwise is lying.

Again, Iraq has enough drama, there's no need to lie in order to create more.

The 'protesters' were followers of Shi'ite cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr who have repeatedly responded to his call to turn out to show support for Haider al-Abadi's proposals.

Recommended: "Iraq snapshot"
"NINA"






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Sunday, April 24, 2016

THIS JUST IN! SHE WINS HER WAY!

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


ASKED FOR HER THOUGHTS ON THE MATTER, CRANKY REPLIED, "EVERY VOTE FOR ME IS A VOTE THAT COUNTS, A WISE VOTE, A NEEDED VOTE, AN IMPORTANT VOTE.  I WILL GLADLY ACCEPT ALL THE VOTES I WIN AND ALL THE VOTES I STEAL."



The United States still has 4,000 troops in Iraq, nearly five years after President George W. Bush agreed with the then-Iraqi government that all U.S. troops would be withdrawn by the end of 2011. President Obama pledged to end the war in Iraq as part of his 2008 election campaign, a promise he has not fulfilled, bending to pressure from the Pentagon and Washington’s other advocates of a continued U.S. military presence.
In principle, U.S. troops are in Iraq in the context of advising and supplying Iraqi armed forces, not in a combat role. However, it emerged last month that Marines maintain an independent fire base in northern Iraq and are expected to play a critical role in carrying out the plan of Iraqi forces to free Mosul, the country’s second-largest city, from Islamic State in Iraq and Syria control. ISIS has held Mosul since June, 2014.

The Iraq War never ends.

Nor do Hillary Clinton's excuses for voting it and supporting it through 2007.

By contrast, Senator Bernie Sanders voted against it.

At a Baltimore rally today, Harper Neidig (THE HILL) reports, Senator Bernie Sanders declared, "The most important foreign policy debate in the modern history of this country took place in 2002 over the war in Iraq. I listened very carefully to what President Bush and Dick Cheney and the others had to say. I did not believe them, I helped lead the opposition.  Secretary Clinton heard the same evidence that I did; she voted for that war.  As secretary of State, she initiated and helped lead the effort to help overthrow the government of Libya, which brought mass instability to that region."


Thursday, War Hawk Hillary Diane appeared on ABC's GOOD MORNING AMERICA to sputter:


Well, I guess my-my greatest regret, uhm, was, uh, voting to give President Bush authority in Iraq.  Uhm, it did not turn out the way I thought it would based on what he had said, uh, and I regret that.  I've said it was a mistake and, uh, obviously, uh, it's something I-I wish hadn't turned out the way it did.


Even she couldn't get it out in a believable manner.


Stumbling and sputtering, she tried to rewrite history yet again.


In the face of Hillary's latest revision, it's worth again noting Stephen Zunes providing reality about Hillary's Iraq history:

1. “Hillary Clinton’s vote wasn’t for war, but simply to pressure Saddam Hussein to allow UN weapons inspectors back into Iraq.”
At the time of vote, Saddam Hussein had already agreed in principle to a return of the weapons inspectors. His government was negotiating with the United Nations Monitoring and Verification Commission on the details, which were formally institutionalized a few weeks later.  (Indeed, it would have been resolved earlier had the United States not repeatedly postponed a UN Security Council resolution in the hopes of inserting language that would have allowed Washington to unilaterally interpret the level of compliance.)
Furthermore, if then-Senator Clinton’s desire was simply to push Saddam into complying with the inspection process, she wouldn’t have voted against the substitute Levin amendment, which would have also granted President Bush authority to use force, but only if Iraq defied subsequent UN demands regarding the inspections process. Instead, Clinton voted for a Republican-sponsored resolution to give Bush the authority to invade Iraq at the time and circumstances of his own choosing.
In fact, unfettered large-scale weapons inspections had been going on in Iraq for nearly four months at the time the Bush administration launched the March 2003 invasion. Despite the UN weapons inspectors having not found any evidence of WMDs or active WMD programs after months of searching, Clinton made clear that the United States should invade Iraq anyway. Indeed, she asserted that even though Saddam was in full compliance with the UN Security Council, he nevertheless needed to resign as president, leave the country, and allow U.S. troops to occupy the country. “The president gave Saddam Hussein one last chance to avoid war,” Clinton said in a statement, “and the world hopes that Saddam Hussein will finally hear this ultimatum, understand the severity of those words, and act accordingly.”

When Saddam refused to resign and the Bush administration launched the invasion, Clinton went on record calling for “unequivocal support” for Bush’s “firm leadership and decisive action” as “part of the ongoing Global War on Terrorism.” She insisted that Iraq was somehow still “in material breach of the relevant United Nations resolutions” and, despite the fact that weapons inspectors had produced evidence to the contrary, claimed the invasion was necessary to “neutralize Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction.”



Julia Sharpe-Levine (HUFFINGTON POST) adds:

 Her assertion that her vote for the Iraq War was “the best decision I [could’ve made] with the information I had” is deceitful considering that prior to voting, she neglected to read the 92-page classified National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) on Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction circulated to the Senate for review by the Bush administration. The NIE went into great detail about the objections raised by the State Department and Department of Energy to claims of nuclear-weapons in Iraq, and led multiple senators, including Bob Graham of Florida, to vote against the war resolution.


Bully Boy Bush tricked her, she whined this week.

But how stupid do you have to be to be in order to be tricked by Bully Boy Bush?

More to the point, how can you be 'tricked' when you don't even do the basic work required?

Hillary voted without doing the National Intelligence Estimate?

Well, no one's ever accused her of possessing an overabundance of intelligence.


Retired Lt Col William Astore (HUFFINGTON POST) observes:
No more nonsense about being a touchy-feely progressive like Bernie Sanders.  It’s time for Hillary the Hawk to take charge and soar, preempting any criticism by Republicans that she’ll be “weak” on defense.
But, tell me again, how did America’s wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and elsewhere go for the United States?  At least three trillion dollars lost, tens of thousands of U.S. troops killed and wounded, hundreds of thousands of “foreigners” killed and wounded, millions made refugees, and for what, exactly?
Hillary the Hawk wants to double-down on a losing hand.  That’s neither “aggressive” nor “tough”: It’s reckless and dumb.  Worst of all, she’s playing with our chips as well as the lives of our troops, not to mention the lives of all those “foreigners” seeking shelter from American bombs and bullets and drones.  (But we have a word for them: collateral damage.)



RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot"




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Wednesday, April 20, 2016

THIS JUST IN! CRANKY CLINTON LIKES BOYS!

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


REACHED FOR COMMENT, CRANKY INSISTED, "MY BOYS ARE GROWING BOYS.  I LIKE BIG BOYS.  I LIKE FOUL MOUTHED BIG BOYS.  I LIKE 'EM YOUNG.  IT'S FUNNY HOW NO ONE'S NOTED HOW LITTLE ROOM FOR WOMEN THERE REALLY IS MY CAMPAIGN -- IN MY 'I'M ALL ABOUT THE WOMEN' CAMPAIGN. I LIKE THE DIRTY MOUTHED, YOUNG, BIG BOYS.  BRING IT ON!!!!"






The War Hawk has landed?

Hillary Clinton has won the state of New York's Democratic Party primary.  That's not a shock, forget the allegations of vote suppression (though I'm sure they're true), the closed primary status means that  only Democrats could vote.  That can be good.  It can also be bad in that it doesn't reflect what will happen in a general election.


But one thing we know?


Debra Messing is not just an outright idiot, she's a nightmare.

In 2008,  I supported Hillary.  It was around the New Hampshire primary.

I know Hillary -- or knew her.

I was looking at her record and Barack's.

She said her support for the Iraq War was a mistake.

Was she telling the truth?

Barack?

Elaine and I were face to face with him in Chicago when he was seeking the Senate, at a big money fundraiser, and didn't ask about Iraq, Elaine praised him for speaking out against the Iraq War -- which friends had told us of.

And his response was that America was in Iraq now so it didn't matter.

That's when Elaine and I exchanged a look and immediately left the fundraiser without either of us writing a check.

Their Senate records were more or less the same.

Hillary was (finally) saying that the support of the Iraq War (or at least her vote for it) was a mistake while Barack had said to my face that opposition to the Iraq War was no longer important.

We'll come back to Iraq but between the two of them, I was willing to bet that Hillary was the better choice because of that face to face encounter with Barack and because she was being savaged which argued that, if she were the President, 'leaders' of the peace movement would publicly rally and make demands.

They wouldn't do that with Barack.

We saw it with our own eyes.

They lied and insisted they couldn't object or pressure now because it was a primary but that during the general, they'd be all up in his face.

Then the general election was too important to make demands (????) so they'd do so after he won.

In his two terms, has Tom Hayden ever led a protest against Barack?

Not "no," but "hell no."

They were frauds.

And we regularly cautioned here about what would happen as they ripped Hillary apart with one sexist attack after another:  They risked creating a division so hard that in a general election they might not win over her supporters.


And that did happen.

It was a given that whomever the Democratic Party candidate was, they'd win in 2008 due to outrage over the illegal war and 8 years of Bully Boy Bush.

Even with that, John McCain (and his running mate Sarah Palin) ended up with 45.7% of the vote.

Barack was a fresh face.

You can sell hope on that, you can sell novelty with that.

Hillary's been around forever.

That doesn't create excitement.

And that's before we factor in gender in the United States.


Barack was also able to peel off Republicans from their own party and to attract independents.

Hillary's unfavorables are immense and decades old.

So if Hillary's the nominee come November, she's going to need every vote available and she's going to need supporters who can carry her over the finish line because she can't do that.

She can say she's not a natural politician but she is one, she's not a likeable one.

This is not a new development.  It was true and commented on in the 2008 race (and Hillary even responded to it in the debates).

So the Debra Messings of the world need to learn grace.

I know that's hard for a woman who's damaged her face with bad plastic surgery -- clue, boys and girls, when women over forty go ridiculous painting on eye brows, they're usually hoping it will hide a bad face lift.

But they need to learn it.


RECOMMENDED:"Iraq snapshot"




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Tuesday, April 19, 2016

THIS JUST IN! FOOLED ONCE, FOOLED FOREVER!

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


HE ALSO TRUSTED HIS LATE MOTHER PATTY DUKE.

THE SAME PATTY DUKE WHO TRIED TO PASS HIM OFF AS DESI ARNEZ JR.'S SON.

HE WASN'T THOUGH.

BUT IF WE LOVE LUCY LUCILLE BALL HADN'T CALLED PATTY OUT ON HER LYING S**T, SHE MIGHT HAVE PULLED IT OFF.

SEAN TRUSTS CLINTON.

SEAN TRUSTED PATTY.

BUT THEY'RE LIARS! IDENTICAL LIARS! AS LYING AS TWO CAN BE! THEY LIE ALIKE! THEY LIE ALIKE! ALL THE TIME THEY LIE ALIKE! YOU CAN LOSE YOUR MIND . . . WHEN LIARS ARE . . . TWO OF A KIND!

WE'RE NOT SEEING HIM AS ANYONE TO LISTEN TO.





RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot"




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Sunday, April 17, 2016

THIS JUST IN! THE PIG CHORTLES!

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



THE VIOLENCE ADDICTION OF HIS WIFE IS CLEARLY SPREADING.

MORE TO THE POINT, WHEN BILL WAS PRESIDENT, HE THOUGHT HE COULD CURE ALL THE WORLD'S PROBLEMS BY SLEEPING WITH AS MANY WOMEN WHO WEREN'T HIS WIFE AS HE COULD.

ONE WONDERS WHAT STDS HE MAY HAVE PASSED ON TO HIS WIFE.



AP reports, "The US wants to do more in the fight, Carter said, and is 'only limited by our own ingenuity' and ideas. Carter expressed confidence that the White House will approve recommendations, saying nothing he has asked President Barack Obama for yet in the conflicts has been turned down."


Or AP 'reports' since that really wasn't the big news of those remarks.


Let's go to the DoD transcript for US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter's actual remarks:


SEC. CARTER:  Across the whole spectrum.  You know we're looking to do more, but it ranges from in the air to on the ground.  All consistent with our overall strategic approach, which is to enable local forces ultimately to hold and sustain the defeat of ISIL, after ISIL is defeated, but to enable them to do so and accelerate that process so we continue to look for and identify ways of accelerating that, and as we find those we will do them.  Obviously in Iraq we do that with the permission of the Iraqi government.

But we -- you should expect us to -- to see us doing more, to be consistent with the same approach, but it will be across all the domains, right up to cyber, which I mentioned earlier.

Now over the next few days I'll have an opportunity to talk to our commanders, and also to some in the region here, and obviously look for more good opportunities to accelerate the defeat of ISIL here in Syria and Iraq, which is absolutely necessary.

Q:  When you say "on the ground," do you mean more U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq?

SEC. CARTER:  Yes, I mean, I think some of these have that aspect to it, but I just want to emphasize there's a lot more that goes with this, and our -- and our presence on the ground is -- and will continue to be to enable, not to substitute, for local forces.


So the big takeaway there?

When he says "on the ground," he means "US troops on the ground in Iraq."

". . . We're looking to do more, but it ranges from in the air to on the ground" meaning "more US troops on the ground in Iraq."


The Secretary of Defense is openly addressing the desire of the administration to put more US troops on the ground in Iraq.

Meanwhile in Iraq, the Parliament follies continue. 

MIDDLE EAST EYE reports:


A group of Iraqi lawmakers said they would not take part in a Saturday parliament session to select a replacement for the speaker, apparently leaving it without the necessary quorum.
Iraq was on course to have two rival claimants to the speakership, further increasing chaos in parliament, which has already seen a vote to sack speaker Salim al-Juburi, a fistfight among MPs and a sit-in this week.



THE NATIONAL adds:

An official session planned for Saturday had earlier been postponed for “security reasons," according to parliamentary spokesman Imad Al Khafaji. The protesting lawmakers gathered at parliament anyway, but later dispersed when it became clear they did not have the numbers to topple the speaker.
The protesting lawmakers vowed to hold the vote next week. An earlier attempt on Thursday had also failed for lack of a quorum.
The lawmakers are demanding that Iraq’s top political leadership, including prime minister Haider Al Abadi, step down – accusing them of failing to reform a political system steeped in patronage. Earlier this week, MPs held a multi-day sit-in at the assembly.


US Special Envoy Brett McGurk Tweets:









    • ALL IRAQ NEWS reports that Speaker Salim al-Jubouri spoke with Shi'ite cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr today in an attempt to strengthen support for al-Jubouri.  AL MADA notesthat Moqtada is calling for the Cabinet of Ministers to be replaced with Haider al-Abadi's latest slate (which is being called a slate of "technocrats"). 


    ALSUMARIA adds that Moqtada says the quota system is depleting resources.

    Which really means that Moqtada says that the Constitutional system is depleting resources.

    REUTERS notes, "Iraq's powerful Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr said on Saturday he would re-start protests in 72 hours if the nation's leaders failed to vote on a technocrats' cabinet proposed by Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to stem corruption."  ALSUMARIA reports that Moqtada's followers pitched tents in Baghdad's Tahrir Square.

    Meanwhile IRAQ TIMES notes that the Dawa Party has called out "hollow statements and slogans" being mouthed by some politicians.  ALL IRAQ NEWS explains that was a response to Moqtada who had decried the failure of someone's third term as prime minister -- referring to Nouri al-Maliki who was forced out in August 2014 by the White House.


    Nouri is accused of working behind the scenes to destroy any movement one way or another in his efforts to bring down Haider al-Abadi so that he can return as prime minister.



    RECOMMENDED: "Iraq snapshot"



  • 17h17 hours ago
    Conferring w/Speaker Jabbouri on stabilizing areas liberated from  & upholding political stability in .
     
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