Are they right?
Lucy Flores (THE CUT) writes:
Time passed and pictures started to surface of Vice-President Biden getting uncomfortably close with women and young girls. Biden nuzzling the neckof the Defense secretary’s wife; Biden kissing a senator’s wife on the lips; Biden whispering in women’s ears; Biden snuggling female constituents. I saw obvious discomfort in the women’s faces, and Biden, I’m sure, never thought twice about how it made them feel. I knew I couldn’t say anything publicly about what those pictures surfaced for me; my anger and my resentment grew.
Had I never seen those pictures, I may have been able to give Biden the benefit of the doubt. Had there not been multiple articles written over theyears about the exact same thing — calling his creepy behavior an “open secret” — perhaps it would feel less offensive. And yet despite the steady stream of pictures and the occasional article, Biden retained his title of America’s Favorite Uncle. On occasion that title was downgraded to America’s Creepy Uncle but that in and of itself implied a certain level of acceptance. After all, how many families just tolerate or keep their young children away from the creepy uncle without ever acknowledging that there should be zero tolerance for a man who persistently invades others’ personal space and makes people feel uneasy and gross? In this case, it shows a lack of empathy for the women and young girls whose space he is invading, and ignores the power imbalance that exists between Biden and the women he chooses to get cozy with.
Who is Lucy Flores?
In 2014, I was the 35-year-old Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in Nevada. The landscape wasn’t looking good for my party that year. There were no high-profile national races to help boost turnout, and after the top candidate bowed out of the governor’s race, “None of the Above” ended up winning the Democratic primary.
So when my campaign heard from Vice-President Joe Biden’s office that he was looking to help me and other Democrats in the state, I was grateful and flattered. His team offered to bring him to a campaign rally in an effort to help boost voter turnout. We set the date for November 1, just three days before election day.
[. . .]
As I was taking deep breaths and preparing myself to make my case to the crowd, I felt two hands on my shoulders. I froze. “Why is the vice-president of the United States touching me?”
I felt him get closer to me from behind. He leaned further in and inhaled my hair. I was mortified. I thought to myself, “I didn’t wash my hair today and the vice-president of the United States is smelling it. And also, what in the actual fuck? Why is the vice-president of the United States smelling my hair?” He proceeded to plant a big slow kiss on the back of my head. My brain couldn’t process what was happening. I was embarrassed. I was shocked. I was confused. There is a Spanish saying, “tragame tierra,” it means, “earth, swallow me whole.” I couldn’t move and I couldn’t say anything. I wanted nothing more than to get Biden away from me. My name was called and I was never happier to get on stage in front of an audience.
By then, as a young Latina in politics, I had gotten used to feeling like an outsider in rooms dominated by white men. But I had never experienced anything so blatantly inappropriate and unnerving before. Biden was the second-most powerful man in the country and, arguably, one of the most powerful men in the world. He was there to promote me as the right person for the lieutenant governor job. Instead, he made me feel uneasy, gross, and confused. The vice-president of the United States of America had just touched me in an intimate way reserved for close friends, family, or romantic partners — and I felt powerless to do anything about it.
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Friday, March 29, 2019. The puppets need US forces on the ground in Iraq -- they always have.
Christian Caryl (WASHINGTON POST via GULF NEWS) reports:
Good little puppet. Barham was chosen by the US. When he went to Mosul last Friday, he found out that puppets may be propped up by foreigners but they are not beloved by the Iraqi people. The US government props him up and the US press treats him like a real president. He's not. It's a ceremonial position. With Adil Abdul-Mahdi, the actual leader of Iraq, being such a disaster (and also being installed by the US), the focus really has been on Barham for the US press.
The puppet wants the US to ''remain active'' in Iraq. And why wouldn't he? This is the man who, in the same article, grandly declares, "Every time I go out of the presidential palace in Baghdad—and I do try to go out as often as I can—I do see normalcy coming back, more and more."
"Every time I go out of the presidential palace in Baghdad --" Does it get more of the people than that? (That was sarcasm.) A puppet propped up in a cushy life, so out of touch that he doesn't even grasp how "Let them eat cake" he comes off.
And that cushy lifestyle? He has it because of the US government and the troops on the ground ensure that the Iraqi people do not rise up against their corrupt government. That's always been the concern whether it was late spring 2006 and the Green Zone was almost penetrated by the Iraqi people or whether it was summer 2014 and Barack Obama fretted that Baghdad might be seized and controlled by ISIS. The puppet government must be kept in place.
Jerrod A. Laber (INDEPENDENT) observes:
US troops remain in Iraq because the puppet government has not taken root. It was always a doubtful project. The US repeatedly ignored Iraqis who had lived in Iraq to instead install cowards who fled the country and only returned after the US invaded.
As we have repeatedly noted, if the US was invaded and the invaders installed cowards who had fled the US, we wouldn't support those people.
That's before you factor in the chips on their shoulders that so many of these cowards bring along. Nouri al-Maliki was paranoid -- so paranoid that the CIA file on him recommended he be made Prime Minister because his paranoia would make him easy to control.
On this recommendation, Bully Boy Bush installed him as prime minister in 2006 and Barack Obama gave him a second term in 2010 (via The Erbil Agreement) after the Iraqi people had voted him out.
Grasp that, not just the democracy aspect. Grasp how much hatred or indifference -- or both -- the US government truly has to the Iraqi people. Nouri's paranoia was of epic levels -- to the point where his sanity is in question. But the US government -- represented by a Republican and then by a Democrat -- was perfectly happy putting a rabid dog in charge.
Maybe they kidded themselves, for a moment or two, that they had two hands on the leash and could pull him anytime they wanted to. In the first term, Bully Boy Bush saw the rise of the secret prisons and torture centers under Nouri. He didn't yank the leash. In the second term, Barack saw Nouri attack rival politicians (attack -- send the Iraqi forces to raid their homes), attack journalists who covered the protests (in one case, to round them up and torture them -- and this was reported by NPR and THE WASHINGTON POST -- while THE NEW YORK TIMES filed a shameful non-report), attack the protesters, etc. And Barack didn't yank the leash either.
The US government put a rabid dog in charge of Iraq and the Iraqi people suffered but it was 'worth it' to the US government because this plant has to take, the roots have to go deep and, until they do, US troops will remain in Iraq. That's the position of our so-called representatives.
It's never been about democracy. You don't value democracy by overturning election results as Barack did in 2010. You don't instill faith in the ballot box by using The Erbil Agreement to nullify the votes of the Iraqi people. `
Missy Ryan (WASHINGTON POST via NATIONAL POST) notes retiring US Gen Joseph Votel feels that ISIS is not defeated (it's not) and he frets over US disengagement.
Why does the US have to protect Iraq from ISIS?
In what world does that make sense?
Yes, Nouri's forces fled in 2014 when ISIS took over Mosul. Atheel al-Nujaifi was governor of the province then and he has given a very detailed account of how Nouri's forces folded and fled.
The Iraqi forces would not fight to protect Mosul from ISIS taking over. They took over in June of 2014. When did they leave? Later that year? The next year?
ISIS remained in charge of Mosul until July of 2017.
Why is the US supposed to help?
A government that allows Mosul, one of their biggest cities, to be controlled by ISIS for three years? And grasp that this wasn't three years of fighting. Mosul was allowed to be controlled from June of 2014 with no real effort at liberation until October of 2016.
Grasp that. It's important. It goes to the reality that a puppet government has no real support.
Every other year, we're told that Iraqi forces need training -- US training. In what world? The issue isn't the training, the issue is the lack of support for the puppet government. That's why so many fled Operation Knight's Charge in 2008 (the Baghdad-based government's assault on Basra). The Iraqi forces saw huge desertion rates during that battle.
There is no real government for the Iraqi people to be vested in.
And the plan is for US troops to remain in Iraq until this puppet government or the next one or the one after finally takes root.
The kind or blind can say that this is done with 'good intentions.' Good or not, it's still stupid because it's been done over and over and it has still not taken root.
Vogel hints and pretends it has -- to Missy Ryan, yes, but in the last Congressional hearing we covered as well -- where he noted it was his last time appearing before the Committee -- and thank heaven for that because maybe the next person in charge will be a little smarter?
Or maybe that's my stupidity for not grasping that smart never enters into efforts by the US government to control other countries.
As'ad AbuKhalil (NEW AGE) observes:
IT HAS been sixteen years since the US invasion of Iraq of 2003. The event barely gets a mention in the US press or is any longer part of American consciousness. Iraq remains a faraway land for most Americans and the remembrance of the Iraq war is only discussed from the standpoint of US strategic blunders. Little attention is paid to the suffering and humiliation of the Iraqi people by the American war apparatus. Wars for Americans are measured in US dollars and American blood: suffering of the natives is not registered in war metrics.
6 women are seeking the 2020 Democratic Party presidential nomination. This is historic and will be historic regardless of the candidate -- female or male -- who eventually wins the nomination. We'll note their most recent three Tweets and for any concerned about the order, it is rotated each time.
Christian Caryl (WASHINGTON POST via GULF NEWS) reports:
“If you ask me, is the Iraqi government bureaucracy successful?
Absolutely not,” Iraqi President Barham Salih said in an interview.
“Is the Iraqi state succeeding? I think there are some prospects for
this country to be moving in the right direction. But the legacies of
the past, the problems are really, really monumental.”
He spoke at length on the need to fight a deeply entrenched culture
of corruption in the bureaucracy, the government’s failure to provide
basic public services such as water and electricity, and the challenge
of preventing a [ISIS] revival.
Good little puppet. Barham was chosen by the US. When he went to Mosul last Friday, he found out that puppets may be propped up by foreigners but they are not beloved by the Iraqi people. The US government props him up and the US press treats him like a real president. He's not. It's a ceremonial position. With Adil Abdul-Mahdi, the actual leader of Iraq, being such a disaster (and also being installed by the US), the focus really has been on Barham for the US press.
The puppet wants the US to ''remain active'' in Iraq. And why wouldn't he? This is the man who, in the same article, grandly declares, "Every time I go out of the presidential palace in Baghdad—and I do try to go out as often as I can—I do see normalcy coming back, more and more."
"Every time I go out of the presidential palace in Baghdad --" Does it get more of the people than that? (That was sarcasm.) A puppet propped up in a cushy life, so out of touch that he doesn't even grasp how "Let them eat cake" he comes off.
And that cushy lifestyle? He has it because of the US government and the troops on the ground ensure that the Iraqi people do not rise up against their corrupt government. That's always been the concern whether it was late spring 2006 and the Green Zone was almost penetrated by the Iraqi people or whether it was summer 2014 and Barack Obama fretted that Baghdad might be seized and controlled by ISIS. The puppet government must be kept in place.
Jerrod A. Laber (INDEPENDENT) observes:
President Trump has promised repeatedly
to end “endless wars,” during both his campaign and his tenure so far in
office. Despite this rhetoric, endless — and, frankly, pointless —wars
are, sadly, still the American norm.
Two more Americans were just killed
in Afghanistan — a war that the Trump administration realises needs to
end, but seems in no hurry to actually do so. In December 2018, Trump
announced that all US troops would be withdrawn from Syria, only to
later rescind that declaration in favour
of a small force of 400 to 1,000 troops to stay behind indefinitely,
complementing the more than 5,000 troops in Iraq, who are there to
satiate the administration’s obsession with Iran.
Soldiers who were children when the
Afghanistan war began are dying. It’s well past time to bring all of our
troops from Afghanistan, Syria, and Iraq home.
[. . .]
We assume that American soldiers die in defence of our
rights and freedoms, as they protect us from existential threats. We
thank veterans for their service and revere the dead as martyrs. By and
large, we never dig deep into why they actually fight and die. After
all, no grieving mother wants to think her child gave their life for
nothing. But in Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan, that’s exactly what’s
happening.
US troops remain in Iraq because the puppet government has not taken root. It was always a doubtful project. The US repeatedly ignored Iraqis who had lived in Iraq to instead install cowards who fled the country and only returned after the US invaded.
As we have repeatedly noted, if the US was invaded and the invaders installed cowards who had fled the US, we wouldn't support those people.
That's before you factor in the chips on their shoulders that so many of these cowards bring along. Nouri al-Maliki was paranoid -- so paranoid that the CIA file on him recommended he be made Prime Minister because his paranoia would make him easy to control.
On this recommendation, Bully Boy Bush installed him as prime minister in 2006 and Barack Obama gave him a second term in 2010 (via The Erbil Agreement) after the Iraqi people had voted him out.
Grasp that, not just the democracy aspect. Grasp how much hatred or indifference -- or both -- the US government truly has to the Iraqi people. Nouri's paranoia was of epic levels -- to the point where his sanity is in question. But the US government -- represented by a Republican and then by a Democrat -- was perfectly happy putting a rabid dog in charge.
Maybe they kidded themselves, for a moment or two, that they had two hands on the leash and could pull him anytime they wanted to. In the first term, Bully Boy Bush saw the rise of the secret prisons and torture centers under Nouri. He didn't yank the leash. In the second term, Barack saw Nouri attack rival politicians (attack -- send the Iraqi forces to raid their homes), attack journalists who covered the protests (in one case, to round them up and torture them -- and this was reported by NPR and THE WASHINGTON POST -- while THE NEW YORK TIMES filed a shameful non-report), attack the protesters, etc. And Barack didn't yank the leash either.
The US government put a rabid dog in charge of Iraq and the Iraqi people suffered but it was 'worth it' to the US government because this plant has to take, the roots have to go deep and, until they do, US troops will remain in Iraq. That's the position of our so-called representatives.
It's never been about democracy. You don't value democracy by overturning election results as Barack did in 2010. You don't instill faith in the ballot box by using The Erbil Agreement to nullify the votes of the Iraqi people. `
Missy Ryan (WASHINGTON POST via NATIONAL POST) notes retiring US Gen Joseph Votel feels that ISIS is not defeated (it's not) and he frets over US disengagement.
Why does the US have to protect Iraq from ISIS?
In what world does that make sense?
Yes, Nouri's forces fled in 2014 when ISIS took over Mosul. Atheel al-Nujaifi was governor of the province then and he has given a very detailed account of how Nouri's forces folded and fled.
The Iraqi forces would not fight to protect Mosul from ISIS taking over. They took over in June of 2014. When did they leave? Later that year? The next year?
ISIS remained in charge of Mosul until July of 2017.
Why is the US supposed to help?
A government that allows Mosul, one of their biggest cities, to be controlled by ISIS for three years? And grasp that this wasn't three years of fighting. Mosul was allowed to be controlled from June of 2014 with no real effort at liberation until October of 2016.
Grasp that. It's important. It goes to the reality that a puppet government has no real support.
Every other year, we're told that Iraqi forces need training -- US training. In what world? The issue isn't the training, the issue is the lack of support for the puppet government. That's why so many fled Operation Knight's Charge in 2008 (the Baghdad-based government's assault on Basra). The Iraqi forces saw huge desertion rates during that battle.
There is no real government for the Iraqi people to be vested in.
And the plan is for US troops to remain in Iraq until this puppet government or the next one or the one after finally takes root.
The kind or blind can say that this is done with 'good intentions.' Good or not, it's still stupid because it's been done over and over and it has still not taken root.
Vogel hints and pretends it has -- to Missy Ryan, yes, but in the last Congressional hearing we covered as well -- where he noted it was his last time appearing before the Committee -- and thank heaven for that because maybe the next person in charge will be a little smarter?
Or maybe that's my stupidity for not grasping that smart never enters into efforts by the US government to control other countries.
As'ad AbuKhalil (NEW AGE) observes:
IT HAS been sixteen years since the US invasion of Iraq of 2003. The event barely gets a mention in the US press or is any longer part of American consciousness. Iraq remains a faraway land for most Americans and the remembrance of the Iraq war is only discussed from the standpoint of US strategic blunders. Little attention is paid to the suffering and humiliation of the Iraqi people by the American war apparatus. Wars for Americans are measured in US dollars and American blood: suffering of the natives is not registered in war metrics.
6 women are seeking the 2020 Democratic Party presidential nomination. This is historic and will be historic regardless of the candidate -- female or male -- who eventually wins the nomination. We'll note their most recent three Tweets and for any concerned about the order, it is rotated each time.
The teacher pay gap is a national failure that’s holding America back. Our country has failed to give teachers the resources they deserve. My plan would provide a $13k raise for the average teacher.
I am committed to this fight for our teachers and our future.
Betsy DeVos wants to give teachers guns — I want to give them a raise.
I was raised by a mother who taught us that if you see a problem, you don't complain about it. You do something about it. That's why I'm running for president. We have to stand up and fight for our American values.
The people of Flint, Michigan still have to rely on bottled water. All across America, communities face challenges when it comes to access to clean drinking water. We must invest in our water infrastructure now.
Back in town-ow-own
That’s why I’m calling for a major investment in our roads, highways and bridges.
When in Congress, former Congressman Dennis Kucinich championed the creation of a US Dept. Of Peace.Where the State Dept. handles international peace efforts, the Dept of Peace will handle domestic peace issues. Now is the time. Join me in making it happen
Here is the citizen campaign call about reparations with professor William Darity and Kirsten Mullen
A handbook for revolutionary love...
I’m glad Tim Sloan got canned, but let’s be clear: if he broke the law, he should go to jail like anyone else. My Ending Too Big to Jail Act would make sure that bank executives can be held personally responsible for their banks’ cheating.
Elizabeth Warren
I kept pushing the Fed to maintain the growth cap on @WellsFargo until Tim Sloan was gone. @SenSherrodBrown and I told the @CFPB and @USOCC to use their power to fire him. Because the millions of Americans who got scammed deserve real accountability.
But @WellsFargo kept getting caught cheating – on mortgages, car loans, money laundering, and loans to service-members (just to name a few). All the while, Tim Sloan kept trying to scam regulators into thinking the bank had reformed. But we weren’t fooled.
- Kirsten Gillibrand Retweeted
President Trump just finished his rally, where he made it clear Michigan is a top target in 2020. He and his allies will spend millions to try to turn it red. We're not going to let him.
There couldn't be more at stake—join me in fighting back! secure.petersformichigan.com/Join-Team-Pete…
We must secure our borders effectively and fight terrorism relentlessly. But let's be clear: Attacking immigrants and asylum seekers, throwing babies in cages, coddling white supremacists, building a pointless wall—these things aren't just immoral. They also make us LESS safe.
Women and men should make equal amounts of money for doing equal work. What a concept. vox.com/2019/3/27/1828… #PaycheckFairnessAct
.@KimIversenShow Happy birthday! Thank you so much! This is so kind of you. Look forward to seeing you tomorrow for your show!
Mueller reported Trump did not collude with Russia to influence our elections. Now we must put aside partisan interests, move forward, and work to unite our country to deal with the serious challenges we face.
49,624! Thank you to everyone reaching out to your friends and family, being a voice for peace in your community. It takes all of us, together.
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