Ann's Mega Dub: 5/6/18

Friday, May 11, 2018

A sexist woman writes She's a Rebel and distorts music history

Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "The Scope of the Investigation"was one of the three comics he posted Sunday.

I haven't posted since Tuesday. Wednesday there was church and then planning for an event this weekend. I was drafted to help with that -- didn't know that was going to happen.

This is my week to grab a gook and I spent Thursday night reading it.

So I'm posting today and I'll post this weekend.

I saw the book She's A Rebel: The History of Women in Rock & Roll and thought it would be a good read. It has an intro by Yoko Ono and the book is written by Gillian G. Gaar.

A great book? No. A good book? Sadly, no.

This was an awful book.

I'd even call it worthless trash.

Gillian G. Gaar is a sexist pig who applies the same sort of attitudes towards women that she calls out when men do the same.

Even worse, she's flat out stupid.

At one point, for example, she writes about Laura Nyro's "Midnight Blue." Or thinks she does. She says it was a hit for Melissa Manchester. No, it was not. Melissa and Carole Bayer Sager wrote "Midnight Blue" which was a hit and appeared on a 1975 album by Melissa. "Midnite Blue" is a song Laura wrote for her 1976 album Smile. They are two different songs.

Frequently, when Gaar writes about music, you are often left with the impression that she never heard the actual song.

I also felt that way reading about the Pointer Sisters. Recounting their run of hits she overlooks "He's So Shy" -- a number three pop hit. How? She gets several facts wrong there too.

In terms of Diana Ross? She's an idiot. Mary Wilson couldn't sing (still can't). She acts as though Mary was the secret weapon. She wasn't. She also makes the mistake of believing in Martha Reeves -- a hateful woman who hated Diana, Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin and just about every other woman in the business.

She treats Mary Wilson and the laughable Diana Ross-less Supremes as though they had a run of chart hits when it was Diana who had the run of chart hits. She gets the facts wrong on Diana's diana album (including the spelling -- it's a lower case "d"). It did not have three big hits. Most likely she's wrongly thought "It's My Turn" was on the album -- it wasn't. It was from the film of the same name. In addition, she misses Diana's entire RCA output. Guess it doesn't help you pretend Mary had a career without Diana if you have to note Diana's RCA hits "All Of You," "Swept Away," "Missing You," "Muscles," "Why Do Fools Fall In Love," "Mirror, Mirror," etc.

She also ignores the bulk of Diana's 70s Motown work.

Stevie Nicks she ignores completely because Gaar is a sexist posing as a feminist.

The book first came out in 1992 when the male critic had defined Stevie as untalented, a "space cadet" and so much worse.

Women coming to the forefront as major critics helped reject the male norm criticism of Stevie. It's a shame sexist Gaar couldn't have taken part in that reclaiming.

But she's just a useless bitch, Gaar is.

So women whose careers were nothing -- yes, that includes Suzanne Vega and Michelle I Used To Say I Was Gay But My Career Ended With My Homophobia Shocked -- are detailed but Stevie's ignored.

Pat Benatar's included, the Wilson sisters of Heart are, but not Stevie -- or for that matter, Christine McVie.

Stevie's responsible for classics like "Sara," "Dreams," "Stand Back," "Nightbird," "Edge of Seventeen," "Gypsy," "If Anyone Falls," "I Can't Wait," "Landslide," "Rhiannon," "Rooms On Fire," etc. But, hey, spend forever on Helen Reddy, why don't you? Christine's responsible for classics like "Hold Me," "Don't Stop," "You Make Loving Fun," "Little Lies," "Say You Love Me," etc. But she's ignored as well.

Carly Simon, one of our most gifted songwriters, is reduced to a single sentence.

It's complete bulls**t but perfectly in keeping with what most male critics at the time were saying.

She ignores Stevie but spends a page and a half on Lita Ford's 1988 and 1990 albums.

What an idiot and what a sexist.

Michelle Phillips? She co-wrote "Creeque Alley" and "California Dreamin'" but Gaar strips her of credit on "California Dreamin'" and ignores Michelle co-writing "Creeque Alley."

Gaar's got a damp pussy for John Phillips. That view hasn't aged well, has it? Now that we know John was screwing his daughter.

Equally true, John had falsely claimed to be the co-writer of "500 Miles" -- a much covered song written by Hedy West.

But a sexist pig will take John's word, right?

How did Monterey Pop come about? John Phillips and Lou Adler put money in it, right? That's the story Gaar tells. But John and Michelle were married at the time -- it was their money. And Michelle worked at the LA office lining up acts. Michelle helped organize Monterey Pop, the first rock festival and you have to be a real sexist to pretend otherwise.

Monterey the festival with Otis Redding, Laura Nyro, Moby Grape, Jefferson Airplane, Janis Joplin and Big Brother, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Lou Rawls, Johnny Rivers, Simon & Garfunkle, Booker T and the MGs, Hugh Masekela, etc. Buffalo Springfield, Grateful Dead . . .

It matters that a woman was part of the organizing, planning and funding.

Unless you're a sexist pig like Gaar.

But love her whole ode to 'lesbian' Michelle Shocked. Thanks for that, Gaar, you don't look like an idiot at all.

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

Thursday, May 10, 2018. Early voting begins in Iraq and those expensive new voting machines ($100 million) are already breaking down.

As with each election cycle since the 2003 invasion, the military votes first.

‏ @IraqiSecurity

Early voting for Iraqi army officers and soldiers has begun this morning ahead of the general elections in #Iraq on May 12  #Iraq2018

0:09

2,148 views

1 reply18 retweets20 likes

The Tweet fails to reveal what actually happened. It's not a happy little story but then the truth rarely is.

RUDAW explains that these new voting machines (purchased from Korea) have already had problems. In Erbil, for example, 20 people showed to vote at 7:00 a.m. "and it took us an hour and a quarter to vote" because of mechanical issues while in Baghdad machines "in two Baghdad polling stations" had problems and resulted in some people leaving before voting after waiting and waiting.

‏ @Baskkokoy

In an attempt to not record and sabotage any complaining effort IHEC office in Suli has not provided form 110 to many voting centers in suli including the following voting stations (128750,428150,128250,128550,and127550) #IraqiElections #IraqiElections2018

0 replies1 retweet0 likes

XINHUA notes that early voting also includes those out of the country, "Meanwhile, thousands of Iraqi expatriates continued casting their ballots in some 130 polling centers in 21 countries across the world."

‏ @mofa_iraq

Photos confirming my participation in the general elections at the Voting Centre in Rotterdam to choose members of the new Iraqi Council of Representatives earlier today. 

0 replies0 retweets0 likes

‏ @Kurdistan

#Kurdistan Region Prime Minister @PMBarzani met with @USAmbIraq and discussed Iraqi elections, set for Saturday, among other issues. 

0 replies1 retweet3 likes

As with every election cycle, the whole country has to shut down for security reasons. This go round, Mina Aldroubi (THE NATIONAL) notes:

On Wednesday, the electoral security committee announced the closure of airports and border crossings for 24 hours on May 12. The shutdown will come into effect at midnight on Friday.
Security forces will also suspend travel between provinces and restrict the movement of vehicles on Saturday, before easing the measures “gradually” after polls close.

Despite earlier declarations about the group’s defeat, ISIS sleeper cells continues to carry out bombings, assassinations and ambushes, and remains active in neighbouring Syria where it has also lost most of its territory.

Some will not be voting by choice. Jane Arraf has a report on that for NPR's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. Let's pan for gold:

YASSAR JABAR: Honestly, we've seen nothing good from the candidates I voted for. So this time, I decided to vote for no one.

SHALAN ZEIDAN: Why? There is no result - no result. We feel hopeless - no government, real government. There is a tribe. A tribe control us. We have a tribe. And we have gun. Big fish eat small fish, and the big fish always win.

RANYA NASHAT: You can see, like, everything is so wrong. That's why I'm not going to elect because it's the same faces every four year. Neither my mom or my brother or my uncle or my other uncle or my aunt and friends - a lot of my friends are not going to elect this year.

There are three Iraqi voices.

You'd expect public broadcasting to provide context and truth. Maybe in another country?

Well, yes, in another country, public broadcasting can explain how the US refused to back the Iraqi voters in the 2010 elections. You don't think that has an impact? Voters turn out and their votes are overturned by Barack Obama and you don't think that impacts how they view voting?

Let's yet again note the August 2015 broadcast of Kevin Sylvester's THIS SUNDAY EDITION (CBC) which featured Emma Sky discussing Iraq:

Emma Sky: And that [2010] national election was a very closely contested election. Iraqis of all persuasions and stripes went out to participate in that election. They'd become convinced that politics was the way forward, that they could achieve what they wanted through politics and not violence. To people who had previously been insurgents, people who'd not voted before turned out in large numbers to vote in that election. And during that election, the incumbent, Nouri al-Maliki, lost by 2 seats. And the bloc that won was a bloc called Iraqiya led by Ayad Allawi which campaigned on "NO" to sectarianism, really trying to move beyond this horrible sectarian fighting -- an Iraq for Iraqis and no sectarianism. And that message had attracted most of the Sunnis, a lot of the secular Shia and minority groups as well.

Kevin Sylvester: People who felt they'd been shut out during Maliki's regime basically -- or his governance.

Emma Sky: Yes, people that felt, you know, that they wanted to be part of the country called Iraq not -- they wanted to be this, they wanted Iraq to be the focus and not sect or ethnicity to be the focus. And Maliki refused to accept the results. He just said, "It is not right." He wanted a recount. He tried to use de-Ba'athification to eliminate or disqualify some Iraqiya members and take away the votes that they had gained. And he just sat in his seat and sat in his seat. And it became a real sort of internal disagreement within the US system about what to do? So my boss, Gen [Ray] Odierno, was adamant that the US should uphold the Constitutional process, protect the political process, allow the winning group to have first go at trying to form the government for thirty days. And he didn't think Allawi would be able to do it with himself as prime minister but he thought if you start the process they could reach agreement between Allawi and Maliki or a third candidate might appear who could become the new prime minister. So that was his recommendation.

Kevin Sylvester: Well he even calls [US Vice President Joe] Biden -- Biden seems to suggest that that's what the administration will support and then they do a complete switch around. What happened?

Emma Sky: Well the ambassador at the time was a guy who hadn't got experience of the region, he was new in Iraq and didn't really want to be there. He didn't have the same feel for the country as the general who'd been there for year after year after year.

Kevin Sylvester: Chris Hill.

Emma Sky: And he had, for him, you know 'Iraq needs a Shia strongman. Maliki's our man. Maliki's our friend. Maliki will give us a follow on security agreement to keep troops in country.' So it looks as if Biden's listening to these two recommendations and that at the end Biden went along with the Ambassador's recommendation. And the problem -- well a number of problems -- but nobody wanted Maliki. People were very fearful that he was becoming a dictator, that he was sectarian, that he was divisive. And the elites had tried to remove him through votes of no confidence in previous years and the US had stepped in each time and said, "Look, this is not the time, do it through a national election." So they had a national election, Maliki lost and they were really convinced they'd be able to get rid of him. So when Biden made clear that the US position was to keep Maliki as prime minister, this caused a huge upset with Iraqiya. They began to fear that America was plotting with Iran in secret agreement. So they moved further and further and further away from being able to reach a compromise with Maliki. And no matter how much pressure the Americans put on Iraqiya, they weren't going to agree to Maliki as prime minister and provided this opening to Iran because Iran's influence was way low at this stage because America -- America was credited with ending the civil war through the 'surge.' But Iran sensed an opportunity and the Iranians pressured Moqtada al-Sadr -- and they pressured him and pressured him. And he hated Maliki but they put so much pressure on to agree to a second Maliki term and the price for that was all American troops out of the country by the end of 2011. So during this period, Americans got outplayed by Iran and Maliki moved very much over to the Iranian camp because they'd guaranteed his second term.

Kevin Sylvester: Should-should the Obama administration been paying more attention? Should they have -- You know, you talk about Chris Hill, the ambassador you mentioned, seemed more -- at one point, you describe him being more interested in putting green lawn turf down on the Embassy in order to play la crosse or something. This is a guy you definitely paint as not having his head in Iraq. How much of what has happened since then is at the fault of the Obama administration? Hillary Clinton who put Chris Hill in place? [For the record, Barack Obama nominated Chris Hill for the post -- and the Senate confirmed it -- not Hillary.] How much of what happens -- has happened since -- is at their feet?

Emma Sky: Well, you know, I think they have to take some responsibility for this because of this mistake made in 2010. And Hillary Clinton wasn't very much involved in Iraq. She did appoint the ambassador but she wasn't involved in Iraq because President Obama had designated Biden to be his point-man on Iraq and Biden really didn't have the instinct for Iraq. He very much believed in ancient hatreds, it's in your blood, you just grow up hating each other and you think if there was anybody who would have actually understood Iraq it would have been Obama himself. You know, he understands identity more than many people. He understands multiple identities and how identities can change. He understands the potential of people to change. So he's got quite a different world view from somebody like Joe Biden who's always, you know, "My grandfather was Irish and hated the British. That's how things are." So it is unfortunate that when the American public had enough of this war, they wanted to end the war. For me, it wasn't so much about the troops leaving, it was the politics -- the poisonous politics. And keeping Maliki in power when his poisonous politics were already evident was, for me, the huge mistake the Obama administration made. Because what Maliki did in his second term was to go after his rivals. He was determined he was never going to lose an election again. So he accused leading Sunni politicians of terrorism and pushed them out of the political process. He reneged on his promises that he'd made to the tribal leaders who had fought against al Qaeda in Iraq during the surge. [She's referring to Sahwa, also known as Sons of Iraq and Daughters of Iraq and as Awakenings.] He didn't pay them. He subverted the judiciary. And just ended up causing these mass Sunni protests that created the environment that the Islamic State could rear its ugly head and say, "Hey!" And sadly -- and tragically, many Sunnis thought, "Maybe the Islamic State is better than Maliki." And you've got to be pretty bad for people to think the Islamic State's better.

Emma Sky is the author of THE UNRAVELING: HIGH HOPES AND MISSED OPPORTUNITIES IN IRAQ.

In March 2010, Iraqis voted against Nouri. He refused to step down. The White House backed him. They negotiated The Erbil Agreement -- a contract that overturned the votes and gave Nouri a second term. Not only was that a blow to democracy, it also led to the rise of ISIS. Nouri's second term was as awful as voters feared, as awful as anyone with a brain could have seen -- his secret prisons had already been exposed, his hostility to Iraqis already known.

AFP notes how voters are weary today of the same faces of the candidates:

“How long have Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Ayad Allawi, Nuri al-Maliki or Haider al-Abadi been in power? One minute as MPs, the next as ministers,” said Midan al-Hamadani, listing Iraq’s foreign minister, vice president, ex-prime minister and current premier.
“The parties are always the same and the same people come back to power, whether we like it or not,” said the 40-year-old Baghdad resident. Widespread corruption combined with failings in basic services such as water, electricity and transportation have reinforced the public’s lack of faith in Iraq’s political leaders.

At the top, we noted problems with voting machines in Baghdad and the KRG. There are problems elsewhere as well.

Baxtiyar Goran‏Verified account @BaxtiyarGoran 3h3 hours ago

Reports of disruption of voting machines in Salahadin province and fraud and illegal activities in Anbar province - via @FRBIU. 
Somebody want to steal votes in the Sunni-populated provinces. 
#IraqiElections 

1 reply2 retweets3 likes

Meanwhile, Hayder al-Abadi's running on the claim that he vanquished ISIS. He didn't. Sometimes the press helps him with that lie. Maybe that's why JANE'S DEFENCE removed Derek Henry Flood's "Iraq after the 'caliphate': Islamic State insurgency re-emerges in troubled northern Iraq" this morning, three hours after publishing it? Here are the key points:

Following its territorial collapse at the end of 2017, the Islamic State has re-established itself in northern Iraq as an insurgent force.
The burgeoning Islamic State insurgency in southern Kirkuk province appears to have been planned well before the fall of Hawija.
With a good supply of surviving, well-honed fighters, coupled with a practiced propaganda arm, the Islamic State has reverted to portraying itself as a righteous insurgent movement in the cause of Sunni Islam in Iraq’s contested spaces.

There have been reports that the Islamic State will be active on May 12th in an attempt to disrupt voting.

Struan Stevenson is a member of the Scottish Conservative Party and a former member of the European Parliament. We'll note his statement on the elections:

May 10, 2018
Eighty-seven different political parties will contest the Iraqi elections on Saturday 12^th May in a country struggling to embrace democracy. It will be Iraq's fourth parliamentary elections since the 2003 US-led invasion and the first national test after the defeat of ISIS ([. . .]) in December 2017. The elections decide the 329 members of the Council of Representatives who will, in turn, elect the Iraqi president and prime minister. The election lists include Shia, Sunni and Kurdish coalitions. The prime minister will come from the Shi’ia factions. Candidates are elected to serve for four years.
The incumbent Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, on the back of defeating ISIS, is ahead in the polls, although most pundits think he will have difficulty forming a coalition following the election. Abadi caused outrage earlier this year when he attempted to create an alliance with the Popular Mobilization Forces (PMF), which includes some lethally sectarian Iranian-backed militias such as Asa’ib Ahl al-Haq (AAH), who waged a genocidal campaign against Iraq’s Sunni population under the guise of fighting ISIS.
Even the cleric Muqtada al-Sadr withdrew from an alliance with Abadi’s Nasr (Victory) Coalition in protest. Sadr is now pursuing a more moderate anti-corruption platform and is distancing himself from Iran’s intensive meddling in Iraq, making an alliance with the Iraqi Communist Party which is called al-Sairoon (The Marchers). There are also rumours indicating that Al-Sadr may form an alliance with Abadi’s list after the poll. Meanwhile Abadi has made a dangerous enemy of the former Shi’ite Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Maliki is a pro-Iranian puppet and was widely blamed for the collapse of the Iraqi army and the brutal takeover of vast swathes of Iraq by ISIS. The venally corrupt Maliki spent his two terms in office robbing the Iraqi people and faithfully carrying out instructions from Tehran to wage war on his own Sunni citizens. He now uses his plundered fortune to finance paramilitary intimidation of his political enemies. Maliki and Abadi both belong to the Shi’ite Dawa party, but this time Maliki has announced his own candidature and refused to back Abadi. He has said that Dawa supporters will be free to choose between his Dawlat al-Qanoon (State of Law Coalition) and Abadi’s Nasr Coalition.
The Sunnis are not united and have presented several lists including one led by Osama al-Nujaifi, one of Iraq's three vice presidents and another one, Wataniya Alliance, led by Vice-President Ayad Allawi, a secular Shi’ia, who is in alliance with former Deputy Prime Minister Saleh Mutlak and the Speaker of the Iraqi Parliament Salim Jabouri.
After the failed attempt at Kurdish independence through a referendum in September 2017, the Kurds have become more divided and are unlikely to have an impact on the formation of the new government.
Following the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the toppling of Saddam Hussein, the grossly incompetent American administrator Paul Bremer introduced a system that assured the Kurds are always given the post of President, while the Shi’ias get the Prime Minister’s job and the Sunnis are given the post of Speaker in the parliament. Bremer mistakenly believed that this system would prevent sectarian infighting. In fact it has had almost the opposite effect and has played into the hands of the Iranian mullahs who have exploited the on-going political turmoil to levy a stranglehold on Iraq. Choosing political leaders based on their sect or ethnicity instead of on their merits has had disastrous consequences for Iraq, where political corruption and ineptitude has left the Iraqi economy and infrastructure shattered.
Abadi now says that his country requires more than $100 billion to rebuild the major cities of Ramadi, Fallujah and Mosul, destroyed by the war against ISIS. He is holding out the begging bowl to the international community and has attracted significant pledges of aid from almost everyone except his immediate neighbour Iran, whose paramilitary forces have been largely responsible for much of the Iraqi destruction.
Abadi and other leading contenders for election on 12^th May are promising to rebuild Iraq. But the Iraqi population have heard these pledges before. They have waited in vain for 15 years for basic electricity, water and sewerage services to be restored. Iraq boasts the world’s fifth largest proven oil reserves and its landmass covers a vast ocean of gas. It is one of the most fertile Middle Eastern countries and has plenty of water, with the two biggest rivers of the Middle East, the Tigris and the Euphrates, flowing through its territory.
But endemic corruption, poor governance and weak security have left the country’s infrastructure crumbling. Major cities like Baghdad often have less than 2 hours of electricity supply daily. On-going power-cuts and water shortages leave Iraqis boiling with rage. They watch in dismay as the same old faces take power again and again and do nothing but fill their own pockets. Only 20% of the candidates registered for Saturday’s general election are newcomers, so it doesn’t look as if Iraq’s misery will end anytime soon. Even Grand Ayatollah Sistani has joined the fray by condemning past electoral experiments as failures, aiming his criticism at those who were elected or appointed to high positions in the government, whom, he says, abused their power and took part in spreading corruption and squandering public money. He is refusing to endorse any candidate.
The concept of liberty for ordinary Iraqis has become almost as rare as the concept of peace. Corruption has brought Iraq to its knees and only a major onslaught against the criminal political classes will have any chance of restoring order.
Foreign interference has also had a destructive role in the country. Since 2003, Iran has been able to exert significant influence in Iraq and is now pumping money into the Iraqi elections to aid its favoured candidates like Hadi Al-Ameri, leader of the Badr Organization from the Fatah (Conquest) Coalition in alliance with Hashd, the Iranian-backed Shi’ite militias and Nouri al-Maliki.
Iran’s ability to sway the outcome of the Iraqi elections as part of its wider strategy of destabilising the Middle East should be of deep concern to the West. Iranian hegemony in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Iraq is a threat not only to peace in the Middle East, but also to world peace. Iranian meddling, particularly by the terrorist Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), in virtually every aspect of Iraq’s political, economic and security structures, aided and abetted by years of wrong-headed American policies, will make it almost impossible to hold a free and fair election. The only way to ensure free, fair and democratic Iraqi elections is to oust the Iranians from Iraq and end their deadly stranglehold. The US Administration’s new recognition of Iran as the Godfather of international terror and the main sponsor of conflict in the Middle East is at least a promising start.
Struan Stevenson
President, European Iraqi Freedom Association (EIFA)
Struan Stevenson was a member of the European Parliament representing Scotland (1999-2014), president of the Parliament's Delegation for Relations with Iraq (2009-14) and chairman of Friends of a Free Iran Intergroup (2004-14). He is an international lecturer on the Middle East and is also coordinator of Campaign for Iran Change.

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Tuesday, May 8, 2018

Expelling Polanski

That's Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "The Mother of all G-Men" from Sunday.

David Walsh (WSWS) writes about the Academy Awards Board of Governors’ decision to remove Roman Polanski as a member of the Academy. He notes:

The decision by the AMPAS Board of Governors to expel Polanski, who has remained a member for the forty years since his 1977 guilty plea, is a capitulation to the #MeToo movement, the aggressive drive by a layer of affluent women in Hollywood for more privileges and power.
Polanski received an Academy Award fifteen years ago for The Pianist, in which regard the Associated Press noted, “the audience at the 2003 Oscars gave an absent Polanski a hearty standing ovation upon his win, [Harvey] Weinstein, Martin Scorsese and Meryl Streep among them. Nine years ago, when Polanski was arrested in Zurich and U.S. authorities attempted to extradite him, over 100 celebrities signed a petition for his release, including Woody Allen, Weinstein, Scorsese, Steven Soderbergh, Darren Aronofsky, Natalie Portman, David Lynch, Penelope Cruz and Tilda Swinton.”
Nothing has changed. The persecution of Polanski remains politically motivated. But Hollywood liberalism has lurched further to the right, abandoning in large measure even a nominal commitment to democratic rights.
The Academy did not announce the results of the May 1 vote on Polanski’s expulsion. The 55-member Board of Governors, among them three members from each of the 17 branches, includes actors Laura Dern (a #MeToo fanatic), Whoopi Goldberg and Tom Hanks, directors Michael Mann, Kimberly Peirce and Steven Spielberg, and producer Kathleen Kennedy, the president of LucasFilm. Kennedy proposed last October the establishment of a “commission” to investigate and take action against sexual harassment, a type of House Un-American Sexual Activities Committee.

This is more than stupid. It’s supposed to be about arts. I do understand the issue with regards to a conviction. However, Polanski’s issues have not changed since 1977. So why remove him? It makes no sense at all.

C.I. talks about how Jerry Brown, when he was governor of California in the 70s, nominated Jane Fonda for an arts post and people started a campaign against her over Vietnam. She eventually dropped out but not before a petition was published stating that it was about art and that should be the only issue – Ed Asner is one of the people I remember C.I. noting who signed it.

So what’s our stance?

Is it about art or not?

If the arts are about arts, then Polanski belongs in the Academy.

If they are going to police behavior, then I want to see a perp walk on every drug addict, every drunk driver, every shoplifter, every this, every that.

Either you’re about the arts or you are not.

I would write about Bill Cosby – whom Walsh ignores – but C.I. had an important idea for THIRD and I loved it – all of us who were African-American did, we got it – but there wasn’t time and I’m going to encourage her to do a short version at her site.

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

Tuesday, May 8, 2018. Only four days until Iraq hold elections.

Mohammed Ebraheem (IRAQI NEWS) reports, "Iraqi security authorities denied on Tuesday media reports about an attack against a parliamentary candidate and three policemen in Diyala governorate." Regardless of their veracity, whispers and shouts dominate Iraq as the country gears up for yet another round of national elections.

Government of Iraq‏Verified account @IraqiGovt 3 hours ago

.@ihec_offcial successfully run simulation exercises ahead of the parliamentary elections on 12 May. The tests covered the counting of votes, secrecy of the ballot and the security of the voting process #IraqVotes

1 reply3 retweets5 likes

May 12th, elections are supposed to take place in Iraq. Ali Jawad (ANADOLU AGENCY) notes, "A total of 24 million Iraqis are eligible to cast their ballots to elect members of parliament, who will in turn elect the Iraqi president and prime minister." RUDAW adds, "Around 7,000 candidates have registered to stand in the May 12 poll, with 329 parliamentary seats up for grabs." AFP explains that the nearly 7,000 candidates includes 2014 women. THE SIASAT DAILY adds, of the nearly 7,000 candidates, "According to the electoral commission, only 20 percent of the candidates are newcomers." Ali Abdul-Hassan and Sinan Salaheddin (AP) report, "Iraqi women account for 57 percent of Iraq’s population of over 37 million, according to the U.N. Development Program, and despite government efforts to address gender inequality, the situation for Iraqi women has declined steadily since 2003. According to the UNDP, one in every 10 Iraqi households is headed by a widow. In recent years, Iraqi women suffered further economic, social and political marginalization due to decades of wars, conflict, violence and sanctions." RUDAW also notes that 60 Christian candidates are competing for the five allotted minority seats. How do they elect the prime minister? This comes after the general election and is based on who won seats in the election. Abdulrahman al-Rashed (AL ARABIYA) explains, "To win the premiership, a candidate needs to win the majority of the votes, i.e. the votes of 165 MPs out of 329. Since it is a multi-party system, it is almost impossible to win these votes without sealing political alliances. The governorate of Baghdad is the most important one because it is the largest with 69 seats." The chief issues? Mustapha Karkouti (GULF NEWS) identifies them as follows, "Like in previous elections, the main concerns of ordinary Iraqis continue to be the lack of security and the rampant corruption." Sunday, RUDAW explained that the electoral commission "so far fined 210 candidates for violations of commission guidelines."

As noted in the April 3rd snapshot, pollster Dr. Munqith Dagher has utilized data on likely voters and predicts that Hayder al-Abadi's Al-Nasr will win 72 seats in the Parliament, al-Fath (the militias) will get 37 seats, Sa'eroon (Moqtada al-Sadr's new grouping) will get 27 seats, Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law will get 19 seats, al-Salam will get 18 seats (KDP and PUK parties for the Kurds), Ayad Allawi's Wataniya will get 15 seats. There are others but Dagher did not predict double digits for any of the other seats. The number are similar for the group of those who are extremely likely to vote (Hayder's seats would jump from 72 to 79 seats). Other predictions? The Middle East Insstitute's Fanar Haddad insists to Sammy Ketz (AFP) that the post of prime minister will come down to one of three people: Hayder al-Abadi (current prime minister), Nouri al-Maliki (two time prime minister and forever thug) or Hadi al-Ameria "a leader of Hashed al-Shaabi, a paramilitary network that played a pivotal role in defeating IS. Ameri comes from Diyala province and is a statistics graduate from Baghdad University. He fled to Iran in 1980 after Saddam executed top Shiite cleric Ayatollah Mohammed Baqr al-Sadr. The 64-year old is widely viewed as Tehran's favoured candidate."

Some see Hadi al-Ameria as too divisive to be prime minister yet he possess the key trait required for a prime minister in Iraq. Andrew England (FINANCIAL TIMES OF LONDON) explains:

Mr Ameri’s links to Iran date to 1981 when he left Iraq to fight Saddam Hussein’s regime in the Iran-Iraq war and helped found the Iran-backed Badr Brigade militia. Badr is the dominant force in the Hashd, which is estimated to have up to 120,000 fighters. He returned to Iraq after the US-led invasion toppled Saddam and paved the way for Iraq’s Shia majority to dominate politics. He became a MP and continued to head Badr at a time when militias proliferated in the post-invasion chaos.

No one who grew up in Iraq is good enough to become prime minister, obviously. Every person selected has been a coward who fled the country, lived outside of it for years, and only returned after the US-led invasion. Hadi al-Ameria is just as big a coward as so many others. He too can represent Iraq today . . . now that others took out Saddam Hussein.

Why do so many do like Nouri al-Maliki and nurse grudges? Because they are so pathetic -- these grown men -- that they were unable to fight Saddam and had to depend upon fighters from other countries to topple Hussein. This is an embarrassment and there's no way they can deny reality, so they nurse a grudge and try to punish others the way they wish they had been able to punish. Impotency, one of the greatest indicators of conflict.

Though 'qualified' by current standards, not everyone's buying a ticket on The Hadi al-Ameria Express. Ali Mamouri (AL-MONITOR) notes:

With Iraq's parliamentary elections around the corner, the different factions of the Popular Mobilization Units (PMU) grouped under the Fateh coalition banner face great challenges. These obstacles might eventually lead to internal divisions, decreasing the coalition’s chances of victory in the elections, to say the least.

On one level, Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most influential religious and social leader in Shiite circles, opposes PMU participation in the elections, saying the organization’s name is being exploited for electoral gains.
Sistani’s office said in a May 4 statement, “No one is allowed to exploit the religious reference’s title or any other title dear to the hearts of Iraqis for electoral gains,” in reference to the PMU’s victories against the Islamic State (IS).
This is not the first time that Sistani has clearly opposed the PMU’s participation in elections. In his Friday sermon on April 27, Sistani spokesman Abdel Mehdi Karbalai affirmed Sistani’s position and his rejection of candidates who invoke victories against IS in the elections. The PMU was formed following Sistani's 2014 fatwa calling on Iraqis to join the security forces to stop IS after the terrorist organization occupied Mosul and moved toward Baghdad.

Turning to another issue . . .

Ruwayda Mustafah‏Verified account @RuwaydaMustafah 1 hour ago

In #Iraq’s parliamentary elections, we only hear about women in the media, not from themselves. Not a single party has started a major rally led by a female politician.

1 reply1 retweet4 likes

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Female candidates have been targeted with smears; however, that's not an excuse for not interacting with potential voters.

Other issues including the continued lack of improvement in Iraq. ALJAZEERA notes:

The increasing poverty rate is among the campaign issues.
Years of war and political instability have left communities in ruins, and the oil-dependent economy is in decline.

But many Iraqis doubt the election will lead to changes they desire.

With no improvements, many lives are left at risk. RELIEF WEB notes:

Heavy rainfall and thunderstorms have been affecting the country over the past few days causing flash floods.
Media reported, as of 8 May, that four people have been killed in Dohuk city (Dohuk Governorate, Iraq) and 50 homes have been damaged due to the overflow of Hishkaro River. They also reported, as of the same date, that the flash floods also affected nearby refugee camps.
Over the next 24 hours, more heavy rain with local thunderstorms is forecast to affect the northern areas of the country, including the areas already affected.

When you spend no money to improve public infrastructure, when poor sewage means that rains result in flooding, you are not protecting the community. The corruption in Iraq has allowed various officials to get rich while the standard of living and safety has gotten worse. The flooding should stand as a reminder of how nothing has been achieved year after year.

In other news, Poland's Ambassador to Iraq is already an improvement over any US Ambassador.

‏ @KRG_DFR

Head of @KRG_DFR Minister @FalahMustafa, welcomed New Polish Ambassador to Iraq @PLinErbil Ms. Beata Pęksa, to exchange views on the situation of Iraq, process of dialogue & negotiations bt Baghdad-Erbil & Iraq's upcoming parliamentary elections. 

2 retweets12 likes

Every time you blinked during Barack Obama's two terms as president of the United States, he was naming another man to be ambassador to Iraq. Man. Somehow he couldn't find a qualified woman. Over and over, he couldn't find a qualified woman. This despite the changes it might have made in Iraq. Women's rights were stripped away by the fundamentalist thugs the US put in charge. Nouri al-Maliki, for example, refused to appoint women to his Cabinet at one point. A female ambassador could have made a difference. But Barack always had trouble finding qualified women -- this despite MS. Magazine embarrassing itself by insisting Barack was what feminism looked like.

Lastly . . .

‏Verified account @ACLU

BREAKING: A federal appeals court has blocked the Trump administration’s bid to transfer an American held by the US military in Iraq since September to another country. 