Monday, January 20, 2020

Those corrupt Bidens


Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Keep Falling In And Out Of Iraq" went up Sunday.

iraq

That is a wonderful comic and, of course, I love the inclusion of Diana Ross and the Supremes.  Isaiah is doing a nod to their hit "Keep Falling In And Out Of Love." 

Joe Biden keeps falling in and out of something.  The former Vice President is nothing but an embarrassment and that is with well over half the media propping him up.  Left to his own devices, he will crumble.  Eddie Scarry (WASHINGTON EXAMINER) observes:


Joe Biden’s campaign knows that he’s going to be a casualty of this impeachment, and that’s why it sent out a warning to the national media, effectively telling reporters to be sure to clear him of any wrongdoing.
The former vice president’s campaign published a memo Monday telling the media that any reporting they do on the impeachment as it relates to Biden should be sure to state unequivocally that neither he nor his son Hunter did anything wrong.
“It is not sufficient to say the allegations [against the Bidens] are ‘unsubstantiated’ or that ‘no evidence has emerged to support them,’” the memo said. “Not only is there ‘no evidence' for Republicans’ main argument against the vice president — there is a mountain of evidence that actively debunks it. And it is malpractice to ignore that truth.”
This is awfully defensive for a campaign that insists its candidate did nothing wrong. And the impeachment isn’t centered on the question of whether Biden or his son did do something wrong. It’s centered on President Trump’s belief that either one or both of them may have, and maybe Ukraine’s government could have shed some light on the answer.
Yes, it would have hurt Biden politically to have Ukraine announce that it was looking into whether he or his son Hunter, or both, did anything corrupt during Hunter’s time on the board of a Ukrainian gas company (performing a lucrative and unexplained role). And yet that doesn’t make Biden exempt from questions about his record in office or about whether his son was using his father’s White House connection for profit (he likely was).
The Biden campaign memo asserts over and over again that the matter involving the candidate, his son, Ukraine, and the energy company Burisma has been put to rest and that no wrongdoing has ever been found.
By whom? Well, by the news media, of course!
Oh, please. The only national news publication to have investigated Hunter Biden and Burisma is the Washington Post, and that paper came up with more questions than it did answers. 


Some Tweets on those 'ethical' Bidens.

  1. “Your son was working for the [credit card] company at the same time. In retrospect, wasn’t it inappropriate?” —Tom Brokaw, 2008, quizzing Biden on the work he did for MBNA in the Senate while Hunter was on their payroll.

Let's remember that Joe Biden got his failson Hunter appointed to the board of Amtrak, a federally-owned corporation, despite having no qualifications to speak of. The idea that we should stick our head in the sand about this open corruption is absurd.

Jeffries is repeating the flawed claim that Hunter Biden is not relevant. That is unsupportable under federal rules and case law. The House cannot maintain this clearly conflicted position.



From ZERO HEDGE:

Clinton Cash author Peter Schweizer is out with a new book, "Profiles in Corruption: Abuse of Power by America’s Progressive Elite," in which he reveals that five members of the Biden family, including Hunter, got rich using former Vice President Joe Biden's "largesse, favorable access and powerful position."
While we know of Hunter's profitable exploits in Ukraine and China - largely in part thanks to Schweizer, Joe's brothers James and Frank, his sister Valerie, and his son-in-law Howard all used the former VP's status to enrich themselves.
Of course, Biden in 2019 said "I never talked with my son or my brother or anyone else — even distant family — about their business interests. Period."
As Schweizer puts writes in the New York Post; "we shall see."
James Biden: Joe's younger brother James has been deeply involved in the lawmaker's rise since the early days - serving as his the finance chair of his 1972 Senate campaign. And when Joe became VP, James was a frequent guest at the White House - scoring invites to important state functions which often "dovetailed with his overseas business dealings," writes Schweizer.


The Bidens are a portrait in Corruption.

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

 
Monday, January 20, 2020.  What if you campaigned for the presidency and no one showed up at your scheduled events (poor Deval!), War Hawk Joe Biden remains a menace, protests continue in Iraq and at least one protester has been killed by security forces in Baghdad . . .

In the US, the race for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination continues.  In one of the more embarrassing moments, no one turns out for Governor Who.  Let's include Isaiah's "Pro-rape Deval."




Maybe you forgot he was in the race, maybe you never knew but Governor Who is making as much of an impression nationally as he did when he was governor.  Pro-rape Deval Patrick had a campaign event.  Paul Duke's article (STEADFAST DAILY) e-mailed to the public e-mail account explains what happened next:   Patrick showed up at his scheduled event at Morehouse College in Atlanta only to discover only two students showed up for his event (and Duke says they were stopped in the hall and corralled in).  At that point, Deval cancelled the event.  Governor Who indeed.

And then there's War Hawk Joe.

Seriously tho How is Joe Biden really the Democratic frontrunner? He doesn't know where he is, he can barely speak, and he inappropriately touches women and girls
 
 



Joe is the choice of the corporate media and they prop him up.

‘Middle Class’ Joe Biden has a corruption problem – it makes him a weak candidate | Zephyr Teachout
 


At THE GUARDIAN,  Zephyr explains:

It looks like “Middle Class” Joe has perfected the art of taking big contributions, then representing his corporate donors at the cost of middle- and working-class Americans. Converting campaign contributions into legislative favors and policy positions isn’t being “moderate”. It is the kind of transactional politics Americans have come to loathe.
There are three clear examples.
First, Biden’s support for finance over working-class Americans. His career was bankrolled by the credit card industry. He delivered for it by spearheading a bankruptcy bill that made it harder for Americans to reduce their debts and helped cause the financial crisis. He not only authored and voted for that bill, he split with Barack Obama and led the battle to vote down Democratic amendments.

His explanations for carrying water for the credit card industry have changed over time. They have never rung true.
The simplest explanation is the most likely: he did it for his donors. At a fundraiser last year, Biden promised his Wall Street donors that “nothing would fundamentally change” for them if he became president. Now the financial world is raising huge money for his campaign. It clearly thinks he’s going to be its friend if elected. Most Americans, who get ripped off by the financial sector on a daily basis, aren’t looking for a candidate who has made their life harder.
Second, healthcare. On 25 April, the day he announced his campaign, Biden went straight to a fundraiser co-hosted by the chief executive of a major health insurance corporation. He refuses to sign a pledge to reject money from insurance and pharma execs and continues to raise money from healthcare industry donors. His campaign is being bankrolled by a super Pac run by healthcare lobbyists.
What did all these donors get? A healthcare proposal that preserves the power of the insurance industry and leaves 10 million Americans uninsured.


And, of course, there's Joe's decade long war against Social Security.  David Sirota deserves strong credit for getting this important news into the media cycle.

Joe Biden wasn’t being sarcastic — pass it on
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This video now has 1 million views
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If Biden refuses to acknowledge his past positions on Social Security and explain how he has changed his views then he deserves all the wrath that Sanders and others can dump on him. It is that simple.
 
 
    1. Joe Biden is trying to distract attention from his longtime crusade to cut Social Security - and hes doing that at the same time Mitch McConnell says he wants to work with the next Democratic president to cut Social Security. We're not letting it happen.




    Turning to Iraq . . .


    . . . where the months long protests continue this morning.  ALJAZEERA reports:

    Security forces have fired tear gas and live fire in an attempt to clear roads in Iraq's capital, Baghdad, as hundreds of protesters again took to the streets to express their anger at the embattled government's slow pace of reforms.
    Demonstrators a week ago had given the government until Monday to act on their demands, which include the holding of a snap poll under a new electoral law, the appointment of an independent prime minister and the prosecution of officials suspected of corruption.
    Starting on Sunday and continuing on Monday, young demonstrators in Baghdad and the south began sealing off highways and bridges with burning tyres.
    "We blocked the road to demand our rights ... the rights of young people to get a job," said one of the protesters in the capital, who wished to remain anonymous. 

    "We demand the central government go to early elections and the nomination of a new independent prime minister. If that doesn't happen, we will escalate and block all the highway and centres of the city." 

    The response?  ALJAZEERA's Imran Khan notes that the security forces are firing bullets into the crowd and at least one protestor has been killed.


    Tear gas near 's Tiyaran square today as security forces try to push back protestors from the highway. A 21-year-old protestor dead after being shot by security forces. With no movement on new government, protests escalating. Photo by Ahmed Qusay.
     
     



    At least 13 wounded in violent protests in Baghdad: officials
     
     





    What are they demanding?  It's right there in the report above.  So let's note the whore that's waddling his fat ass into the discussion.  Ladies and gentlemen, the one, the only  Raed Jarrar.

    While some corrupt politicians and militias try to hijack the protest movement in , Iraqis in , , and other cities took to the streets to protest all foreign interventions, including those of the and .
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    Yes, Iraqis want both US and Iran troops out -- actually, they want all foreign troops out which does include Turkish troops though no one wants to hear Iraq when they make that last call.

    To be fair to Raed, whom I don't care for, I did go through his Tweets, this morning.  He never notes -- going back a month -- the demands of the Iraqi people who are protesting.  He notes the issue of Iraq and US troops.  That's why Raed really isn't the person to speak to this issue though, it turns out, PACIFICA is again making him the go to.  There are many reasons that is a problem but you can refer to 2013's "Media: The Collapse of Indymedia and its Queen."  I will give Raed credit for not falling into the 'St. Soleimani was killed!' crowd.  That's not a minor point if you remember how high the crazy was cranked by a number of loud voices on that issue.

    Raed wants US troops out of Iraq.  I do as well.  My wants and my desires do not allow me to reduce a months long protest and its goals to one issue, especially when it isn't the primary issue.

    You have many Iraqis on Arabic social media, Iraqis who protest, who are very nervous about this Friday.  Shi'ite cleric and movement leader Moqtada al-Sadr has called for Friday's protest to be about expelling foreign troops.  They're not wanting to be hijacked by Moqtada.  Some of that is starting to bubble up in the media.  Gareth Browne (ALJAZEERA) notes:

    Many of the people in Baghdad’s Tahrir Square are deeply sceptical of Sadr’s motives, fearing he may attempt to hijack the popular protest movement for his own gain.

    “Sadr has nothing to do with us, we don’t want him, we don’t want his militia, he is a part of the problem,” Hozam Hunaidi, 24, told Al Jazeera.

    “I will die before I march behind his banner. I have been here for three months, sleeping in the cold, facing danger - I did not do that for him,” he added.

    “He [Sadr] will try to wipe us off the map, if the Sadrists come to Tahrir, we will fight back,” warned Hamoud Ali, 32.





    Qassem Abdul-Zahra and Samya Kullab (AP) add:

    The U.N. envoy to Iraq, meanwhile, urged Iraqi political elites to resume pushing for reforms and for protests to remain peaceful.
    “Any steps taken so far to address the people's concerns will remain hollow, if they are not completed,” said Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert in a statement issued by the U.N. “Violent suppression of peaceful protesters is intolerable and must be avoided at all costs. Nothing is more damaging than a climate of fear.”

    In the southern city of Nasiriyah, protesters blocked the highway linking the city to the southern oil-rich province of Basra. At least six protesters were wounded when an unknown gunmen fired at them from a speeding car, a medical official said. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity under regulations.



    Disheartening reports that security forces once again meet protesters with violence in . It is the right of every to be allowed to protest peacefully. It is the duty of Iraqi security forces to protect that right.
     
     








    Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Keep Falling In And Out Of Iraq" went up last night.  New content at THIRD:



    The following sites updated: