Josie e-mailed this to me.
Hillary Clinton went on ABC's THIS WEEK today and, when asked about the new e-mails documenting that she was telling Chelse Clinton and the prime minister of Egypt that a YouTube video had nothing to do with the attacks but, days later, told the familes of those killed in Benghazi -- such as Pat Smith, the mother of Sean Smith -- that it was because of the YouTube video -- when asked, Cranky Clinton insisted that was due to "the fog of war."
Yeah.
She lied.
And now she wants to lie about her lying.
She is addicted to lying.
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
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.
Well they also have Thursday's PROGRESSIVE FORUM and surely that two hour program devoted time to Iraq and this week's --
Oh, wait.
It didn't.
Houston's KPFT needs to raise $150,000 by the end of this year (roughly in the next 27 days).
With programming like they offer, they make it very hard to donate.
In fact, they really make the case for pulling the plug on the whole operation.
They offer nothing.
Hour after hour of nothing.
Crap.
Nothing but crap.
The announcement about Iraq was made at a Congressional hearing.
In DC, for those who don't know.
What about Pacifica's DC station?
WPFW's programs ignored the news.
But they do produce their own news, WPFW.
So, surely, as CNN and other real news outlets -- corporate or not -- were reporting on it, since this was DC, you know WPFW was all over it.
Right?
Wrong.
One hour after CNN, BLOOMBERG NEWS, NPR and other news outlets were reporting the news, WPFW did a news break that never noted it.
Apparently, you can't include fluff and still have room for news.
The news break included a lot of nonsense. Here's about as much of one 'report' in that 'news' break that I can stomach.
Askia Muhammad: First Lady Michelle Obama has kicked off the holiday season at the White House by welcoming this year's Christmas tree. Tomeka Smith reports.
Michelle Obama: Christmas! Merry Christmas! What's going on? We've got this fabulous tree!
Tomeka Smith: The First Lady welcomed a Fraiser fir, grown in Pennsylvania. It arrived by horse-drawn carriage on . . .
Robin Leach and LIFESTYLES OF THE RICH & FAMOUS lives on over the airwaves of WPFW.
Please note, this 'report' aired on WPFW 'news.'
Aired the day that the announcement was made of US troops going into ground combat in Iraq.
Aired an hour after all the real news outlets were reporting the news.
WPFW had time for that garbage but not for news about Iraq.
Again, it's past time to stop supporting beggars who need to get real jobs.
We're not done with Panhandle Media but let's look to our 'activists,' for a second, to our 'leaders.'
CODESTINK Tweeted the following Tuesday.
.@medeabenjamin and @michaela_eyes are in Congress at a hearing on military intervention in #Syria! Stay tuned for updates! #peacenotwar
There must be over 45 Tweets since that one went up.
Not one notes Iraq.
Now I was at that hearing. We've reported on it here -- and for those late to the party, I'll include links before the end of this snapshot.
But I was there and that hearing that CODESTINK falsely says was on Syria -- just Syria.
The title of the hearing was "US Strategy for Syria and Iraq and its Implications for the Region."
Thanks, CODESTINK, we can always count on you to lead the world to disappointment and ignorance.
Back to the beggar media.
Circulation for THE NATION, THE PROGRESSIVE and IN THESE TIMES has plummeted.
The lie that Katrina vanden Heuvel loves to pimp is that when Republicans are in power, circulation increases because the readers are interested in accountability.
No, the readers are always interested in accountability.
They abandon crap ass magazines like THE NATION when a Democrat is in the White House because crap ass magazines like THE NATION abandon ethics and accountability and turn themselves into pleasure maidens for the White House.
Trina's "It's disgusting," Kat's "That Crap Ass Nation Magazine" and Betty's "That useless Progressive magazine" addressed the craven silence of our so-called 'left' and 'independent' press.
Nothing's changed since the three did their posts.
But we can add that IN THESE TIMES is also ignoring the news about US ground troops in Iraq.
Now these rags and the Pacifica Radio programs have been all about attacking free speech.
They're blaming one of the multitude of shootings in the United States in the last two weeks on the Republican Party.
They're doing that because they're filthy trash.
Anything the Republicans -- and non-Republicans -- said with regard to abortion and Planned Parenthood is protected speech, it is the speech that's required in a democracy.
We are supposed to debate.
It is a free market of ideas.
It is the public square.
If you can't win the argument, that's on you.
I support abortions.
Liars and whores want to tell me I have to support Planned Parenthood.
No.
When five Planned Parenthood clinics -- or in five states, who can understand Cecile Richards ridiculous bulls**t -- are giving/donating fetal tissue?
They've betrayed women's health.
That is a whole other conversation.
I say that as someone who supports stem cell research.
But I'm smart enough to know that protecting women's health and women's health rights are important and they're under attack -- not just from Republicans.
In that climate, you don't decide you're going to also be donating fetal tissue.
You're begging for trouble.
And there's no honesty among the left on this topic.
Maybe because we're in the eternal election cycle or maybe because too many whores that should be starving instead are living off your donations and wasting them with bad coverage in print, online and over the airwaves.
Is Planned Parenthood going to be defunded?
It should be.
It should not get tax payer money while it endorses presidential candidates.
Cecile Richards needs to be held accountable.
Instead, Panhandle Media's telling us we need to rally around her.
No.
I'm not going to rally around some idiot whose stupidity is putting women's health at risk.
She should have resigned as president of Planned Parenthood.
But like Nancy Pelosi, who remained leader of the House Democrats even after overseeing the huge loss of the 2010 elections, Cecile's not held accountable.
But they're all on board, the circle jerk is, with the notion that the public discourse caused a shooting in Colorado Springs.
Political speech is protected speech.
If you can't grasp that, I don't know why you're making political comments in America unless it's just to flaunt your ignorance.
Bombings?
Bombings and shootings are not political speech.
Today, the US Defense Dept announced:
Strikes in Iraq
Bomber, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 18 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government:
-- Near Huwayjah, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL vehicles and two ISIL heavy machine guns.
-- Near Fallujah, a strike struck a large ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL building.
-- Near Mosul, two strikes destroyed an ISIL vehicle.
-- Near Ramadi, eight strikes struck three separate ISIL tactical units, denied ISIL access to terrain, and destroyed an ISIL tunnel, three ISIL vehicle bombs, nine ISIL fighting positions, two ISIL light machine gun positions, three ISIL heavy machine gun positions, an ISIL recoilless rifle, and an ISIL tactical vehicle.
-- Near Sinjar, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL heavy machine gun and two ISIL fighting positions.
-- Near Sultan Abdallah, two strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed an ISIL fighting position.
-- Near Hit, a strike destroyed an ISIL-used bridge.
-- Near Tal Afar, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit, wounded an ISIL fighter, and destroyed an ISIL vehicle, and an ISIL weapons storage facility.
Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.
Violence in the United States.
Hmm.
We're appalled that X number of Americans are shot dead in the US.
But we don't feel obligated to be outraged by the civilians in Iraq who are being killed by US bombs.
And we want to talk about actions and consequences while denying that maybe -- just maybe -- the US government's constant war, perpetual war, has an impact.
A government that resorts to dropping bombs -- not diplomacy -- over and over is a government that tells its people that violence isn't just a means, it's an answer.
Possibly, some unhinged Americans are more likely to respond to such a message?
And let's talk the very real consequence of Panhandle Media failing to speak out against war.
That is what's going on, it is what has been going on since Barack Obama was first sworn in as US president.
What are the consequences of the silence?
The never-ending silence that allows Pacifica, THE NATION, THE PROGRESSIVE, etc. to ignore Iraq and avoid calling out Barack?
Poll after poll demonstrates that this silence has allowed support for war to increase.
Click here for a series of different outlets' polls. We're going to emphasize CBS News' polling because they've asked one question since September 2014.
"Do you favor
or oppose the U.S. sending ground troops into Iraq or Syria to fight ISIS
militants?"
|
||||||
| Favor | Oppose |
Unsure/ No answer |
||||
| % | % | % | ||||
11/19-22/15
|
50 | 42 | 8 | |||
Republicans
|
66 | 29 | 5 | |||
Democrats
|
43 | 48 | 9 | |||
Independents
|
45 | 46 | 8 | |||
7/29 - 8/2/15
|
46 | 45 | 9 | |||
3/21-24/15
|
43 | 46 | 10 | |||
2/13-17/15
|
57 | 37 | 6 | |||
10/23-27/14
|
47 | 46 | 6 | |||
10/3-6/14
|
44 | 50 | 5 | |||
9/12-15/14
|
39 | 55 | 6 | |||
In September 2014, only 39% favored US ground troops.
Support has climbed to 50%.
It has climbed because cowards, smut merchants and whores have misused their positions -- and donated money -- to focus on everything but the realities of war.
It has climbed because this sewage has refused to hold War Criminal in Chief Barack Obama accountable.
Actions do have consequences.
And those consequences are evident in the polling.
It's time these cowards, smut merchants and whores were held accountable.
Stop donating to them.
Make them seek real employment.
ADDED: Tuesday's Armed Services Committee hearing was covered in Tuesday's snapshot and Wednesday's snapshot and other community coverage: Cedric's "Hank Johnson's sexual obsession with Barack" and Wally's "THIS JUST IN! HANK HIS JOHNSON!" covered US House Rep Hank Johnson wasting everyone's time to profess his strangely sexual obsession with Barack and Carter and Gen Joe Dunford refusing to indulge Johnson, At Rebecca's site, Wally reported on Ranking Member Adam Smith in "Even House Democrats are criticizing Saint Barack.(Wally)," at Trina's site Ava reported on the obsession with oil that was at the heart of the hearing in "It's still about the oil," Mike reported on US House Rep Niki Tsongas offering some realities about the so-called coalition in "US Armed Services Committee hearing offers a little bit of reality," Ruth reported on US House Rep John Kline's questioning which established that there was no cap on the number of US troops that could be in Iraq "Iraq still matters," Kat took on the surreal aspect with "The US just declared war on everyone but Santa," and Elaine covered one time anti-war US House Rep Jackie Speier making an idiot of herself in statements and dress with "The idiot Jackie Speier,"
Iraq
