Wednesday, July 18, 2018

KPFA embarrasses itself on THE PACIFICA EVENING NEWS

Let me join C.I. (see snapshot below) in praising FLASHPOINTS Tuesday broadcast where guest host Kevin Pena spoke with Joe Lauria (CONSORTIUM NEWS).
 
This was a lively discussion.  Juan Gonzalez attempted to have a lively discussion on Tuesday’s DEMOCRACY NOW but Katrina vanden Heuvel wasn’t going for it.  Mr. Gonzalez brought up the timing of the indictment announcement and how that could be seen as interference (a point I have made here myself) but Ms. Vanden Heuvel is a useless idiot and unable to speak intelligently.
 
Joe Lauria did not have that problem.  So we got an intelligent discussion of the herd mentality of the media.  How gossip and personality was trumping discussions of actual issues.  The re-starting of the Cold War was noted.  It was intelligent and free wheeling and everything we hope public radio will be. 
 
Everything we hope public radio will be but, face it, public radio so rarely is.  Listening to the next segment with Bill Binney was also a treat. He talked reality about the hacking of John Podesta e-mails and that was great.  Mark Mericle is an embarrassment for KPFA.  He really should not anchor the evening news.  He needs to be put out to pasture.  As C.I. notes in the snapshot, these jobs – unlike the Supreme Court – are not lifetime appointments.  We need new blood and that is especially the case when, like Mr. Mericle, they have confused themselves with the corporate media and no longer are willing to report the news we need.
 
As Andre Damon (WSWS) reports:
 

 
Speaking at the White House Tuesday, US President Donald Trump attempted to walk back statements he made just 24 hours earlier at his summit in Helsinki, Finland with Russian President Vladimir Putin in which he questioned claims by US intelligence agencies that the Russian government “meddled” in the 2016 election.
Trump’s about-face followed a full-court press campaign by all US media outlets, the US intelligence agencies, the Democrats, and leading figures in the Republican Party, who demanded that he reaffirm the US government’s confrontational stance toward the world’s second most powerful nuclear power.
 
 
A full-court press campaign by all U.S. media outlets?
 
That is exactly what happened.  And, sadly, this includes the behavior of THE PACIFICA EVENING NEWS.  Mr. Mericle should be ashamed of himself.  His behavior and performance were disgusting.
 
On FLASHPOINTS right before Mr. Mericle’s performance, they were speaking of the deplorable performance by the media.  And then along comes Mark Mericle to demonstrate that it is not just the corporate media.
 
Mr. Damon also notes:
 
This entire sordid episode expresses the degree to which there is overwhelming institutional commitment within the US ruling elite for conflict with Russia, if necessary to the point of nuclear war. This war drive, which aims at the transformation of Russia into what would be for all intents and purposes a colony of American imperialism, has become an unchallengeable pillar of American foreign policy. Trump can commit any violation of human rights, can traduce constitutional norms at will, but he may not question this axial precept of American politics.
 
 

These are real and serious issues.  And they are not being questioned or noted by the likes of Mr. Mericle.  As far as I am concerned, his broadcast on Tuesday should be read as a resignation   He needs to go.

This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today:


Wednesday, July 18, 2018.  Sleazy gossip passes for news even on Panhandle Media as they continue to ignore Iraq.


We're going to address a few issues at the start.

First off, nonsense like this.

 20 hours ago
“I liked Assad. I thought he improved a lot as I met him. He never did enough on human rights but he was moving. He was getting better. He was much more confident every year. You could speak out against him a little bit.”
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Seymour Hersh.

Yesterday, I noted Bill Moyer's reporting.  I'm not a Bill Moyers fan (and dislike him as a person).  But I do believe in giving people credit for what they did.

Sy is not above criticism and I've offered criticism here.  I've also offered it to his face.  In the early 70s, for example, I left a protest -- a day before it -- because the government was getting updates on the protest and it could have only come from four people -- one of which was Hersh.

Did I think he was a snitch?  I thought he was someone who used sources for his stories and might share with his sources information they didn't have to get better stories.


Journalists have no ethics as a group.

I know Seymour.  I criticized him to his face on that and have on other things.  He's not an angel.  He's not a saint.

(He also maintained he was innocent on the issue addressed above.  And he may have been.  But everything was being leaked by someone.)

He is a journalist and his reporting has stood up and he's been there for some of the most important stories for about fifty years now.

Borzou?  He writes a good e-mail -- don't worry, Borzou, I plan to leave it at that.

He doesn't write good stories.  He doesn't write informed stories.  He doesn't do anything to break stories even when he knows about them.

He's useless.

He's not the only one attacking Sy presently.

Let's deal with the 'quote Borzou doesn't offer in full.

I don't know Bashar Assad.  I've never met him.  I wouldn't stake my reputation on him.  Sy's met him.  If he thinks Bashar isn't the pure evil that so many have painted him as?  He could be right.  There are many Syrians who support Bashar and the US government has spent decades trying to discredit Bashar.  But the quote is not a blanket endorsement of Bashar.

Why is Borzou rushing in on this?

Because he's a failure.  Life didn't turn out the way he wanted.  (It rarely does.)

So he has to run with the herd.

THE AMERICAN PROSPECT is and always will be a joke.  And their little pissy war with Sy has nothing to do with Syria or Bashar.  It has to do with a 90s book Sy published and, no, no, JFK didn't ever choke a woman during sex!!!! Oh, no!!! Oh, how awful!!!!

Tiny cocks have long memories and they're still grudge f**king Sy over that.

So I'm not surprised by their nonsense nor do I feel it needs to be called out.  It is petty and their usual garbage.  But the attacks on Sy, check out so-called 'journalists' on Twitter, are worrisome.  It reminds me of the gang-pile on Gary Webb among others.  And that needs to stop.  They are trying to defame and destroy a journalist.

Sy may have been leaking to the government (Coretta Scott King had the same concerns I did -- she did not finger Sy or anyone but she also was aware that there was someone leaking and she also walked away from the action).  He may not.  He denied it.  I have no idea whether it was him or not.  But I can -- and always have -- set that aside and addressed the work he produced.

These people, these Borzous, cannot do that.  And they're trying to shut Sy down and destroy his reputation.

 21 hours ago
Finally, a someone questions Seymour Hersh about falling off the deep end with his Syria stories.


Shane Bauer works for the embarrassing rag MOTHER JONES.  Shane Bauer has no standing. He is the David Corn of this century (Corn also works at the rag MOTHER JONES).  This is not acceptable.  This is an attempt to destroy the work and we've seen it before.

The pack destroys and it's trying to destroy Seymour Hersh.  That's outrageous.  I'll try to read his new book and write about it here shortly.  I support his work -- regardless of any disagreements we've had over the years (and we've had serious disagreements).  I do not support the Shanes and Borzous who have never accomplished anything and never will.

Check out Borzou's lousy Twitter feed.  He takes time to join in the public stoning of Sy Hersh but this 'reporter' paid to cover Iraq for over 15 years can't offer anything serious on the protests in Iraq and the violent response the government's offering.

That tells you everything you need to know about Borzou.

 Jul 14
Protests are ongoing in Southern incl’d in & , due to lack of jobs, water/electricity & opposition to Iran’s influence in Iraq. Christians have closed down all of their church/school activities in S. Iraq; & will do same.

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  1.  Jul 16
Iraq's SWAT forces clamping down on protests in the southern city of Samawa:


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  •  Jul 14

    • BREAKING ALERT: Internet and cell service has been shut down in southern and central Iraq, including Baghdad, as protests continue to spread throughout the country.
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    Yesterday, former US President Barack Obama gave a speech.

     19 hours ago
    Hashd_ Al_Shabi militant's Hummers supported by 's regime, run over protesters


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    Mark Mericle.  Tired, dried up s**t draining public radio.  KPFA needs to sweep the moldy oldies out the door.  Mark's been around since at least the 90s.  Public radio needs new life.  He's not on the Supreme Court.  This isn't a lifetime assignment.  One of the reason KPFA looks so, so White is that it has refused to update with the times.  They have all these useless people who should have been swept aside long ago.

    Mark made it clear that he's part of that trash that needs to be taken to the curb yesterday on PACIFICA EVENING NEWS.

    Please note, the weekday show has refused to address what's taking place in Iraq.

    Mark's been on hysterical binge of late and continued it yesterday.  In the first 10 minutes, for example, trashing Trump was so important that Mark used a significant amount of time to play an interview with the laughable Luke Harding -- he replayed an interview with that hack from a broadcast earlier that morning on KPFA.  At length.  That's not news.  It's certainly not how you lead off an alleged news program.

    In his rush to trash Donald Trump -- and be the tiny poodle running with the herd -- keep yapping, Mark, he declared that Barack "took aim at what he called strong man politics" in his speech.

    Hmm.

    He said Barack was "urging people around the world to respect human rights."

    Hmm.

     11 minutes ago
    Dear I hope you’ve seen what’s happening in nowadays.. There is No Rights, Humanity, and no one is watching..
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    If you don't spend every night beating off while staring at your poster of Donald Trump, you might stop a moment and ask, who is a threat to human rights currently?

    Maybe you'd notice that Hayder al-Abadi is using the Iraqi military to attack protesters right now in Iraq.  Has been for days now.


     6 hours ago
    Very sad picture This picture is real in and not in action films.

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    I have no idea what Barack Obama was speaking of.  Mainly because this speech -- which was news -- wasn't broadcast.  We got the ridiculous Luke Harding talking about the liar Christopher Steel and rumors of a tape that never existed and blah blah blah.  We didn't get Barack, a former US president, speaking out about human rights abuses.

    Barack may have been trashing Donald Trump.  I don't know.  Mark couldn't do his job.

    But Barack is the reason Hayder al-Abadi became prime minister of Iraq.  After Barack gave Nouri al-Maliki a second term as prime minister (over ruling the Iraqi people), thug Nouri went to town becoming a tyrant.  Barack was disgusted.  Not disgusted enough to ease him out or publicly object, but disgusted enough not to take his post-election day November 2012 phone call -- Barack had it sent to Joe Biden.  Finally in June 2014, Barack had to walk away from thug Nouri and replaced him with Hayder.

    Was Barack speaking of Hayder?  He may have been, he may not have been.  But KPFA is supposed to provide the insight that Mark ignored.  And Mark ignored what's going on in Iraq.

    Iraq didn't walk up to the US with a 2x4 and hit it.  The US government attacked Iraq.  It still occupies Iraq and determines its government (or tries to).  All of that is the reason Lew Hill created PACIFICA to begin with -- so that those stories would be covered, so that those points of view would be presented.

    Instead, Mark wants to run with the herd mentality.

    (For a better take on Donald, check out FLASHPOINTS -- including yesterday's show when Kevin Pena interviewed Joe Lauria of CONSORTIUM NEWS.)


    ANADOLU AGENCY reports:
    According to Hussein Allawi, an Iraqi political analyst and academician, the demonstrators are articulating “legitimate grievances”.
    “But the timing of the demonstrations happens to coincide with the final days of Iraq’s outgoing government,” he told Anadolu Agency.
    He added: “Planned reforms and solutions will depend entirely on the country’s next government, the features of which remain unclear until now.”
    “The political groups that won the [May 12] parliamentary poll must be involved in the solution process,” he said.
    Allawi went on to warn: “Any delay in forming the next government will only serve to exacerbate the demonstrations.” 


    ARAB WEEKLY notes, "Police in Iraq wielded batons and rubber hoses to disperse about 250 protesters gathered at the main entrance to the Zubair oilfield near Basra on Tuesday as unrest across southern cities over poor basic services gathered pace."  Though Mark Mericle can't grasp it, this is a news story.  STRATFOR offers:

    The future looks bleak for Iraq's water supply. Long-term pressures are conspiring with an acute drought and a tricky transition in the political system to make for a full-blown crisis. Water shortages have added to public dissatisfaction over economic issues such as high unemployment, fueling mass protests in southern Iraq. Bans on crop planting and the impending filling of a reservoir in Turkey will further rile up the populace, some of whom will be forced out of rural areas and into cities because of the drought. The problem, however, is only likely to worsen. Given its lingering security challenges and political instability, Iraq won't be able to solve the current water crisis on its own, and its neighbors will do more to hurt than help the situation.


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