If you missed it, over on SUBSTACK (no link to trash),
failed Democrat Marianne Williamson is rushing to defend and justify
Robert Kennedy Junior and insist he is a deserving nominee for Health
and Human Services.
To
which I say: Kyle and Crystal, are you still pimping Ms. Williamson.
You cannot have it both ways. Either you are anti-vax conspiracy nuts
or you make clear that Ms. Williamson is a crackpot and a joke. Failure
to do so tars you both with her beliefs.
I know this is difficult for Krystal Ball who tried to shame us all in 2023 into backing nut job Williamson.
She
and her gal posse of Katie Halper and Bri-Bri Joy Gray, along with
others, insisted Ms. Williamson was the door to freedom. She was not.
She is not. She is eager to "applaud him" -- as she writes in her awful
column about Junior. BLOOMBERG NEWS reports:
US
Ambassador to Australia Caroline Kennedy described her cousin Robert F.
Kennedy Jr.’s views on vaccinations as “dangerous,” the latest public
rebuke by a senior member of the storied family against the man Donald
Trump has tapped for a key Cabinet post.
Speaking
at the National Press Club in Canberra, Australia on Monday, the
daughter of President John F. Kennedy was asked about the skeptical
views her cousin, son of the late US Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy,
has expressed when it comes to vaccines.
“Bobby
Kennedy’s views on vaccines are dangerous,” she said. “But I don’t
think that most Americans share them so we’ll just have to wait and see
what happens.”
She then added: “I grew up with him, so I’ve known all this for a long time; others are just getting to know him.”
The
ambassador said her family is “united” in their support for improving
the public health sector and infrastructure in America, but acknowledged
that “Bobby Kennedy has got a different set of views.”
It is a shame that snake oil saleswoman Williams is more interested in conning America than in protecting it.
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today:
Monday, November 18, 2024. While Free Press, THE GUARDIAN, Jamie Lee
Curtis, Danielle Moodie and others leave the vile TWITTER, notice the
racists unable to take a similar brave stand.
The lesson? They'll always make room for a White man. Talking about the left. Talking about the nonsense Brett Wilkins wrote for COMMON DREAMS about how "progressives" are "rip"ing apart US President Joe Biden.
But you read on and "progressives" becomes one person on TWITTER and that one person is conspiracy nut and antix-vaxer Lee Camp
Journalism
standards are out the window before we even get to the Camps of Hell
and Brimstone whose biggest 'action' was taking place and signing off on
the faux nonsense Rage Against the War Machine and Jacob Crosse (WSWS) noted of that racist action:
On February 19, in Washington D.C., the Libertarian Party and “People’s
Party,” along with disoriented middle class elements and outright
fascistic individuals, organized what was marketed as the “Rage Against
the War Machine” rally.
The event, billed by organizers Angela McArdle of the Libertarian
Party and Nick Brana of the People’s Party as an attempt to bring the
“left and right” together in opposition to the war in Ukraine was, the World Socialist Web Site noted, a “reactionary political freak show.”
The World Socialist Web Site
will be further analyzing the main organizers and speakers at the
event, confirming its thoroughly reactionary character. This article
focuses on the Libertarian Party and its overt orientation to the
fascistic right.
The central political perspective behind the rally was provided by
the Libertarian Party, which was listed as the main organizer—above the
People’s Party on the official “Rage” website.
Libertarian Party
Chair Angela McArdle moderated the “Rage” rally along with Brana. Of the
19 speakers, three were or are currently members of the Libertarian
Party: Ron Paul, Scott Horton and Daniel McAdams.
Commenting on the leading role of the Libertarian Party in organizing the event, Max Blumenthal of the Grayzone,
in a February 16 podcast promoting the rally with fellow speaker Scott
Horton, noted that the event was “substantially planned by the
Libertarian Party.”
Besides providing the political perspective,
the Libertarians also financed much of the rally. The Mises Caucus
donated at least $1,000 to be one of five “Silver Sponsors” for the
rally.
While Libertarians have always advanced a far-right
hyper-capitalist economic program, following the election of Donald
Trump in 2016 and a further shift to the right by the American ruling
class as a whole, members of the party, chiefly represented in the Mises
Caucus, have made a marked turn toward fascist militias and
anti-Semitic forces.
The Mises Caucus is the largest faction
within the Libertarian Party and took control of the national apparatus
in 2022 following the national convention in Reno, Nevada. McArdle was
the California organizer for the caucus and a former board member.
As
part of her campaign to seize the chair of the party last year,
McArdle, with the backing of the caucus, spearheaded efforts to overturn
limited vaccine mandates in Los Angeles County.
After earning the
support of the anti-vaccine contingent of the party, McArdle shored up
her candidacy when she refused to condemn vicious anti-Semite Bryan
Sharpe, also known as “Hotep Jesus,” at the Libertarian Party’s Alabama
State Convention in March 2021.
Sharpe had previously been invited to the Conservative Political Action Conference and been interviewed positively on Fox News.
On
his blog, Sharpe previously praised the far right for not being “afraid
to call out the Jews.” He also defended the “Unite the Right” rally in
Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, writing that the “Blacks are so
removed from reality... this is not a demonstration against blacks. This
is a dispute between right and left—Liberal versus Conservative. Maybe
even White vs. Jew.”
At the 2021 Alabama convention, a Libertarian
Party member asked McArdle how she could have invited Sharpe to the
national convention given his history of “anti-Semitic views.”
McArdle
responded, “I reject the premise of your question. I don’t actually
think that someone who’s trying to be a truth-seeker and understand
what’s going on—and asked the question about whether or not Jews run Hollywood is an anti-Semite.” (Emphasis added)
The Mises Caucus, the Mises Institute and Jeff Deist
An
early indication of this shift to fascistic politics within the
Libertarian Party was expressed in the takeover of the party by the
Mises Caucus.
The
Mises Caucus, named after the Mises Institute, which is currently led
by Jeff Deist, was founded by Michael Heise on August 20, 2017. Several
leading Libertarian Party members, including current chair McArdle,
have been board members of the Mises Caucus, and many are “trained” by
the Institute, located in Auburn, Alabama.
The Ludwig von Mises
Institute, named after the reactionary Austrian economist, was founded
by Llewellyn Rockwell Jr. in 1982, with financial backing from Ron Paul.
A 2000 report by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) categorized the Mises Institute as “Neo-Confederate.”
In
a January 11, 2023 interview on Reason.com, Heise pointed to the “Rage”
rally as an example of the new type of “outreach” the Libertarian Party
was undertaking under the leadership of the Mises Caucus in an attempt
to grow the party.
Heise explained that the “anti-war rally” would
be an example of the “first harvest” reaped of the new “fruits”
cultivated under the far-right Mises Caucus leadership.
Jeff Deist, the president of the Mises Institute, is close to both Heise and McArdle, appearing on podcasts and right-wing events with both of them.
Deist
has been at the Mises Institute since at least 2014. Before he was the
president of the Institute, Deist, as he explained in a recent interview
with fascist Patrick Casey, a co-organizer of the Unite the Right
rally, “worked on Capitol Hill with Ron Paul.”
Casey was one of
the leaders of the neo-Nazi group Identity Evropa and assumed leadership
of the organization following the Unite the Right rally, which Identity
Evropa played a main role in organizing. After Casey took control of
the organization, in an attempt to distance the group from
Charlottesville, he tried to rebrand the group as the “American Identity
Movement.” However, this was not successful, and Casey stopped actively
organizing within the group in 2020.
In 2019, Casey teamed up
with Hitler-lover Nick Fuentes to promote the “groyper” army and launch
the “America First Political Action Conference.” Leading up to January
6, the pair backed Trump’s “Stop the Steal” campaign by mobilizing their
followers in support of the coup. Both Fuentes and Casey were at the
Capitol on January 6, though neither have been charged.
Someone
like that, you might assume COMMON DREAMS would be holding accountable
but apparently COMMON DREAMS sees its role today as promoting those
tight with neo-Nazis. Do you remember how many articles COMMON DREAMS
printed daily attacking Kamala Harris while she was running for
president but it's only rah-rahs for Lee Camp.
Again,
there's always room -- at least at COMMON DREAMS -- to pimp and promote a
White man. All Lee had to offer this election cycle was Jill Stein
promoting. Since then, the loser has jumped on Adam McKay's ship that
it's time to destroy the Democratic Party.
Hope that
works out for him better than that failed Academy Award bid. As the
person who ensured that he and David Sirota lost that category, I don't
see that happening. I don't see much happening to his tired career.
But that's the state of COMMON DREAMS today: Praise and recognize Lee Camp despite his prancing around stage with Neo Nazis.
And
we wonder why COMMON DREAMS took months to get on board with Kamala.
It's really only the last three weeks of her campaign that they stopped
attacking her in every article.
But again, the lesson,
they will always make time for a White man and that -- not his nut job
conspiracies, not his prancing around the stage with Neo Nazis and not
his attacks on Kamala Harris to promote grifter Jill Stein -- prevents
him from being covered and embraced by COMMON DREAMS.
When
the left can't stand up to racism, it's not much of a left. While
COMMON DREAMS works to make us all a little more stupid, The Free Press
issued this:
For years, Free Press has sought
to hold social-media companies accountable for amplifying hate and lies
that undermine public health, safety and democracy. We have pushed for
meaningful reforms that would protect users and have extensively documented the platforms’ failures. None of these companies has fallen so low as X under Elon Musk’s ownership.
Free Press will no longer be
posting on X, effective immediately, and we invite you to join us in
ceasing activity on Musk’s platform. We refuse to give X any legitimacy.
Free Press is committed to ensuring that people have a voice in the decisions that shape our media system. Musk, quite simply, is not.
X is now the premier platform for white supremacists and conspiracy
theorists. It is designed to amplify the ideas of racists, misogynists,
xenophobes, antisemites and transphobes. Musk’s reckless oversight of
the platform has endangered people on the receiving end of his abuse and
threatened our democracy.
Musk has reinstated the accounts
of white supremacists and conspiracy theorists who’ve repeatedly
violated X’s own inadequate standards. He has personally amplified
bigotry and normalized violent extremism. He has harassed those who seek
to shine a light on his misdeeds, filing lawsuit after lawsuit to
silence researchers and activists who have worked to hold him
accountable. He has even bullied advertisers who elect to spend their ad
dollars elsewhere.
Two years ago, in response
to Musk’s dangerous behavior, Free Press helped organize the
#StopToxicTwitter campaign. This organizing contributed to the mass
exodus of advertisers from the platform. The company subsequently lost $35 billion in value.
We have fought to reform X,
because we remember the community that it once had, which gave ordinary
people the means to speak directly to the powerful in our society. But
it’s clear that X will not correct course under Musk’s leadership, and
it’s time for Free Press to exit.
To prevent malicious actors
from impersonating Free Press, we will not delete our account. But we
will no longer post on the platform.
We hope to stay connected
with people who believe in Free Press’ vision of a more just and
democratic media system. You all have contributed so much to this
essential work. Please find us on our website or follow us on other social-media platforms.
Free Press Email List
Free Press Bluesky
Free Press Facebook
Free Press Action Instagram
Free Press Threads
Free Press TikTok
Free Press YouTube
Good for them. Good for Jamie Lee Curtis and Danielle Moodie and the others leaving TWITTER. Good to all the people leaving the hate speech site.
In
the days since the election, many Black women have made clear that a
number of groups are now on their own. Couldn't be bothered to vote for
the first Black woman president of the United States but did vote for
Donald Trump? You made your racism clear and many Black women are now
on vacation. They're not showing up for your Gaza protests or your
other actions. Black women will work on Black women's healthcare but
your marches in DC that depended so much on the work and presence of
Black women? Good look to you and maybe a few years we'll see you
again.
In reply to that, some people -- mainly White women -- have foolishly asked what they could do now?
As we noted last night in "Media: White supremacy won the 2024 election (Ava and C.I.):"
Some of the racists are asking what they can do now? In the face of
Black women saying no to free labor, no to showing up at your protests,
no to all you nonsense, some have asked: What can we do -- with the
"now" implied.
Golly gee, what could you do?
Isn't it kind of obvious?
Get the hell off of TWITTER.
And why do you have to be told that.
TWITTER is the home of racism, sexism and homophobia.
It is owned by Elon Musk who used all three and the money you help him make to destroy Democratic Party chances in the election.
Why is it that, except for Jamie Lee Curtis, this is a conversation taking place only among Black Americans?
White
Americans, you shouldn't have to ask others what you can do. You
should just be getting off TWITTER. Do THREADS, do BLUESKY, do
whatever, but get the hl off of TWITTER.
Can Bernie do
that? Can racist Katrina vanden Heuvel? In fact, how dare you purchase
a magazine started by abolitionists and then take to a racist platform
like TWITTER.
The best thing the Democratic Party
can immediately do to save itself is to get off TWITTER. And it doesn't
cost them a damn cent to do this and stand against racism, sexism and
homophobia.
[. . .]
I-I-I-I-I-I ain't gonna Tweet on TWITTER? Until you can
say that, just accept that we all see you as the racist that you truly
are.
TWITTER going under isn't going to hurt Elon
Musk's pocket book. But he didn't buy the successful social media tool
to make money, he bought it to have influence. And after what he
pulled in this election -- this non-American (I don't recognize triple
citizenship and don't believe America's founders would have either) who
grew up a racist in South Africa and never cared until apartheid was
falling and that's when he elected to flee South Africa -- his toy needs
to be severely damaged, it's reach limited.
And yet,
Katrina vanden Heuvel -- the racist who owns THE NATION and can only
see Black women as maids or mammies -- can't take a principled stand and
announce she's leaving the platform. Were it not for people being able
to take stands against racism, THE NATION magazine never would have
existed in the first place. But Katrina doesn't care about that or,
apparently, much of anything. That's why THE GUARDIAN can leave TWITTER
but THE NATION refuses to do.
What are you missing
leaving TWITTER? Glynneth Greenwald's latest hissy fit. He's attacking
right-wing feminist Bari Weiss for not cheerleading Tulsi Gabbard for
the post of Director of National Intelligence. Staying on disasters
nominated by Satanic Donald Trump, let's note this from Tom Boggioni (RAW STORY):
A late Saturday report from the Washington Post that Donald Trump's
choice to be secretary of defense paid off a woman who accused him of
sexual assault and that he was admittedly "visibly intoxicated” at the
time may have created more problems for his confirmation.
According to the Post, Fox News personality Pete Hegseth "paid
a woman who accused him of sexual assault as part of a nondisclosure
agreement, though he maintained that their encounter was consensual."
On CNN, Sunday morning, reporter Daniel Strauss claimed the latest revelation won't help with an already embattled nomination.
Today on MSNBC's MORNING JOE, the Hegseth nomination was addressed.
REMOVED. Click here. Didn't stream the video below, have no idea if it talks about more than the DoD nominee. But I'm in agreement with this take. No more videos from that program. I get it that it's scary -- for all of us -- that Trump is going back into the White House.
Video is removed. As soon as Joe and Mika had the chance, they ran to Trump to kiss the ring.
And ABC NEWS reported on Trump's disaster nominee for Attorney General.
Evan Blake (WSWS) focuses on another disaster nominee, Robert Kennedy Junior:
No other individual could be less qualified or more inadvisable for
this position. It is akin to placing Al Capone at the head of the
Department of Justice, or climate change denier and Chevron CEO Mike
Wirth to oversee the Environmental Protection Agency.
After ending
his own presidential campaign and endorsing Trump in August, Kennedy
played a central role in Trump’s campaign, especially at its final
events. Speaking at his fascist Madison Square Garden campaign rally
last month, Trump pledged to let Kennedy “go wild on health.” Trump
added, “I’m going to let him go wild on the food. I’m going to let him
go wild on medicines.”
The implications are far-reaching, as
Kennedy has openly opposed vaccines, pasteurization, water fluoridation,
and other long-established scientific practices, while promoting every
quack medicine under the sun. On October 25, Kennedy tweeted:
FDA’s
war on public health is about to end. This includes its aggressive
suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric
therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine,
vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything
else that advances human health and can’t be patented by Pharma. If you
work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two
messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags.
Under conditions in which H5N1 bird flu is spreading widely among dairy cattle across
the US and scientists have explicitly warned that the consumption of
raw milk could facilitate human infections and the danger of another
pandemic, Kennedy has continued to advocate this dangerous practice.
Historically, bird flu has a 50 percent fatality rate.
Under the
banner “Make America Healthy Again,” Kennedy and Trump will facilitate
the emergence of the next pandemic and the revival of long-eliminated
diseases like measles and polio. In fact, the same day that Trump
announced his pick of Kennedy, news reports noted that measles cases in
America are now four-fold higher than last year, primarily due to
declining vaccination rates.
Speaking at an anti-vaccine
conference last November, while still a candidate for US president,
Kennedy pledged to fire 600 workers at the NIH if elected, adding,
“We’re going to give infectious disease a break for about eight years.”
In
other words, the man ostensibly in charge of preventing pandemics and
infectious disease outbreaks has explicitly stated that he will work on
behalf of the pathogens instead of the public.
The following sites updated: