C.I.: We're doing another roundtable and it wasn't planned but the Biden campaign really ticked me off so Ava and I called around and invited everyone to attend. Participating in our roundtable are The Third Estate Sunday Review's Jess, Ava, and me, C.I. of The Common Ills and The Third Estate Sunday Review; Rebecca of Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude; Betty of Thomas Friedman Is a Great Man; Kat of Kat's Korner (of The Common Ills); Cedric of Cedric's Big Mix; Mike of Mikey Likes It!; Elaine of Like Maria Said Paz); Ruth of Ruth's Report; Trina of Trina's Kitchen; Wally of The Daily Jot; Marcia of SICKOFITRDLZ; Stan of Oh Boy It Never Ends; Isaiah of The World Today Just Nuts and Ann of Ann's Mega Dub. We'll be covering Joe Biden, the allegations of assault against him, Bernie Sanders, coronavirus and much more. You're reading a rush transcript. Mike, let's start with you. Tell us about Tara Reade.
Mike: Sure. First, to reply to four e-mails I got today, no, it's not the actress Tara Reid. Tara Reade is a different person. Among other things, she worked for Joe Biden's office in the 90s when he was a US Senator. He is currently running for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. This week, Tara Reade became an issue for Joe when Ryan Grimm reported on her allegations for THE INTERCEPT and noted that TimesUp! refused to help her. He then discussed that on THE HILL's RISING with Krystal Ball. Katie Halper interviewed Tara about her story. Those late to the party can refer to my "Tara Reade was assaulted by Joe Biden" and "Joe Biden assaulted Tara Reade" and C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot," "Iraq snapshot" and "Iraq snapshot." Anna North (VOX) explains, "Reade says Biden sexually assaulted her, pushing her against a wall and penetrating her with his fingers. When she pulled away, she says, he said he thought she 'liked' him." The corporate media has been reluctant to cover the issue all week. Tossing to Ann.
Ann: Thank you. On Friday, with no real pressure from the media -- CNN, CBS, NBC, TIME, NEWSWEEK, THE NEW YORK TIMES, etc. -- none of them were covering it -- the Biden campaign finally 'responds' and now -- only now -- NEWSWEEK finds the story.
Biden's campaign team has categorically denied the allegations, which Deputy Campaign Manager and Communications Director Kate Bedingfield called "false."
"Women have a right to tell their story, and reporters have an obligation to rigorously vet those claims," Bedingfield said. "We encourage them to do so, because these accusations are false."
Marianne Baker, who served as executive assistant to then-Senator Biden from 1982 to 2000, also rejected the assertions, saying that in the nearly 20 years she worked with Biden, she had never witnessed, heard or received reports of inappropriate conduct.
Ann (Con't): C.I.?
C.I.: And that's what really pissed me off and made me call for a roundtable. Marianne Baker? No one should take that woman seriously, she spent her whole career carrying a torch for Joe and everyone made fun of her for that. But set that aside for a moment. Tara Reade has made a very significant accusation. It needs a response. Where's Joe? Don't give me 'his campaign responded for him.' Not when his buddy Glenn Kessler 'fact checks' for THE WASHINGTON POST by repeatedly allowing conflicting statements from Joe and the campaign to be smoothed over and called 'truth' as long as either the campaign or Joe was correct. Joe says the sun is purple, the campaign says orange and Glenn rushes in with "True! Because a week later the campaign said . . ." Joe is the candidate and we don't need a statement of "We" from the campaign, we need a statement from him. Why is he so scared to issue a statement in his name? The campaign is happy to issue a statement from Marianne Baker. Who the hell cares what that motivated by self-interest piece of trash has to say? She has every reason to lie. It was her job to protect the workers. Tara telling the truth means that Marianne didn't do her damn job. You don't take a statement from trash like Marianne. Her self-interest is showing. Were she an impartial person, she wouldn't be providing a statement to the campaign. This wasn't even the campaign steering the press privately to a friendly source. Again, if Tara's telling the truth, this reflects on Marianne who clearly was not doing her job which was to ensure that the office was a safe environment for all. She should not be seen as impartial or even as honest broker at this point. And I'm so tired of women stabbing other women in the back. When a charge of harassment or rape emerges, let it be sorted out. To immediately respond with this sort of nonsense? You're trying to stack the deck and people should not respect you for that. There is no reason in the world for Marianne or any woman to weigh in right now. The charge is not even a week old and it has not been investigated by the media. More to the point, Joe has not made himself available to speak to the press so we don't need to hear from anyone -- certainly not horny Marianne who always wanted Joe to herself. Ann?
Ann: When you called me about doing a roundtable, I was on the fence and then you told me about Marianne's statement and I wasn't on the fence. I did not want to do a four a.m. roundtable -- which is when this started and when you thought it would probably have to for everyone to participate. But then you told me about Marianne's statement and that pissed me off. As most of the people reading this know if they know my site, I am a rape survivor. I did take my rapist to court. I did win. But when the court date was set, a few women tried to smear me, women who knew my rapist. I wasn't telling the truth, he would never do a such thing, nonsense like that. If someone wants to offer an opinion -- anyone -- after we've had this issue before us and it has been seriously investigated by the press, fine. A woman or a man comes forward to say that they were assaulted or raped. You don't have to believe them. But take a moment to let a serious dialogue on the issue emerge. Don't try to put your finger on the scales, don't try to spin the events. Wait at least long enough for the accused to make a statement all by themselves. Not through a campaign and certainly not via a "We" statement. Tara made a serious allegation. Is it true? I don't know. But I know it's a serious allegation and we should take it seriously. We may all include that she's lying or that she's confused. We may also end up concluding that she's telling the truth. At this point, she had the courage to speak. Joe Biden has refused to speak. Until he does, I don't need to hear from his surrogates. It's insulting to any person who has come forward to make a charge. We need to hear from Joe Biden and only Joe Biden. Efforts at anything else make me distrust Joe and lean towards Tara.
Marcia: I would agree. The campaign is spinning and they issue a "We" statement on behalf of the campaign and then a personal statement from Marianne Baker but no personal statement from Joe Biden? Why is Joe unable to make a statement? Why is he unable to speak to the press about this? Someone who's innocent should be able to. They should be able to deny the charge -- all by themselves. That Joe has not done that, as Ann was noting, makes me suspect of his actions.
Kat: I want to drop in the interview Krystal Ball has done with Tara Reade for THE HILL.
Ava: Done. We're also going to include Krystal's take on the corporate media's response of silence to Tara Reade's accusations.
Stan: I'm sorry, if someone accuses me of assault, I don't need to struggle for words or time to respond. That Joe does makes him suspect to me. Wally?
Wally: I'm with you on that, Stan. If you're innocent, why is it difficult for you to make your own statement? It is suspect.
Betty: This Marianne Baker, why the hell are we supposed to believe her to begin with? What has she ever done that makes her someone we should trust?
C.I.: Nothing. She's not done a damn thing to earn anyone's trust. Her time 'supervising' and "duties with respect to human resources"? Don't make me laugh. This occurs when he's paying women significantly less than men. She took her job seriously? No, she didn't. If she wants to issue a statement, that statement needs to be, "I'm sorry that I allowed Joe to pay women 67 cents for every dollar a man made." And that was in a 'good' year for women working for Joe, it dipped much lower in some years. So if Marianne Baker wants to speak of hour she ensured HR practices were followed and blah, blah, blah, she needs to accept that she's a liar and the world knows she's a liar. She's already allowed -- in her 18 years working for Joe -- women to be discriminated in pay.
Betty: That is not a minor issue. I had no help from my ex-husband, not even child support. I had three kids. I had to work, it pisses me off that Joe Biden or anyone is paying men more for the same job.
Ann: No one can afford to toss away money and let's also note the other issue, the insult being made when you do not have equal pay for equal work and the way you destroy and undermine a person's own self-confidence by doing that.
C.I.: Using the most favorable figure for Joe -- when he was paying women 67 cents for the dollar -- that means, if Betty worked for him, that she would take home $686.40 less in a year. That would have meant that, in three years, she would have made $2059.20 less than her male co-worker working for Joe.
Betty: I mean, we're talking dentist bills, rent, school clothes, that would have been money my kids and I could have used. And, let me leave my area of need for a moment. It doesn't matter if the woman was Marcia who has no kids. Being paid less than your co-worker because of gender? That's outrageous and offensive.
Isaiah: If I can just toss this out, we're talking averages. I bring that up because I'm willing to bet Marianne Baker ensured that she herself was paid well. So she probably skews the average as a result and other women were paid far less well.
Rebecca: I'd agree that's very likely.
Marcia: Agreed and co-signed.
Elaine: I find it very telling that when Joe's accused by a woman, Marianne The Liar Baker wants to step in with a statement insisting nothing happened. But when a news outlet documents the serious and troubling discrimination in pay, she has nothing to say. I'm tired of people like that . . . person. I'll keep it clean. I'm tired of liars like Marianne. She wants to flaunt her supervision expertise and her concern over human resources to shut down Tara but we already know she has no expertise or real concern over human resources because we're talking something as basic as pay -- you don't have to do an investigation, you don't have to speak to people, you just look at the numbers and there the discrimination is. But that mattered not one bit to her. So she just needs to shut the hell up and stop pretending that's she has any area of expertise to offer or that any of us take her seriously.
Stan: I guess, if confronted on that difference in pay, Marianne Baker would insist, "Those were different times." Equally true, on office place harassment, those were different times as well. She failed on one, she likely failed on all. She has no standing and should shut her damn mouth. No one needs her, no one wants her, shut the hell up.
Marcia: Agreed.
Rebecca: But if Joe couldn't hide behind Marianne's skirt, whose skirt would he hide behind? I'm so sick of men who hide behind women when accused of assault or harassment and I am so sick of these women who provide cover for these men.
Ruth: And we should note that Ms. Reade is talking about assault and we have had other women already speak out about Mr. Biden making them uncomfortable: Lucy Flores, Amy Lappos, DJ Hill, Caitlyn Caruso, Ally Coll, Sofie Karasek and Vail Kohnert-Yount.
Rebecca: Good point. And this allegation from Tara Reade -- who worked for him -- needs to be explored and assessed and, yes, Joe's pattern is an issue. We need to figure out what is going on.
Cedric: Well no one needs to wonder for too long a Krassentein wife on Twitter explained that an expose on Tara was forthcoming.
Wally: I forget, who is the wife in that couple? Brian or Ed?
Cedric: Brian Krassentein, of course.
Wally: Oh, right. No one believes those two brothers are married to anyone except maybe each other. And the 'wife' account really comes off like a way for the brothers to fake a person and get around the ban Twitter imposed on them because they're con artists.
Cedric: Time's up, game's over. Time for Joe to address the allegation. The con artists are rushing to smear Tara. That includes Howard Dean. So many of us were once taken in by him.
Elaine: I was. I supported his 2004 run. C.I. didn't. She knew he was a fake ass even then. He is a political operative and a liar. In 2008, he refused to call out the sexism aimed at Hillary Clinton, refused to even admit it was taking place or, after she had ended her campaign, that it had. He's a liar and he's disgusting. Cute the way, though, he enriched his own brother -- crooked, crony capitalism at its worst.
Trina: We've all been fooled before. You can't live very long without a politician fooling you at least once.
Cedric: I've been fooled many times, sadly. I think being a Democrat requires that I get fooled many times, I think it's written into the bylaws or something.
Mike: The bulk are liars and they proved it this week. Americans need a minimum of $2,000 a month from the government during this pandemic. Minimum. The same Congress that's giving billions to business refuses to address the needs of the American people.
Kat: David Sirota Tweeted, "For $2 trillion, you could give $500 billion to frontline health care facilities and then cut a $10,000 check to every single worker in America. Please try to explain to me how this wouldn't be better than giving much of the emergency stimulus money to corporations."
Stan: Exactly.
Marcia: And excuse me but corporations are supposed to produce something that sales. So give the people the money and they'll buy what they want and the markets will determine how the corporations do. People need money to ease the worries and the fears. All the Congress did was enrich the corporations yet again.
Trina: They betrayed the people.
Jess: I would like to ask a rhetorical question: How did we get to this point when one of the two potential nominees for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination is accused of assault?
Ava: A very good point. And it has been worse before -- there was a time, 2016, when we had a nominee who was under criminal investigation so the FBI refused to use that term -- as though they conduct civil court investigations?
Jess: And they have worked overtime, the leaders of the DNC, to ensure that Bernie Sanders does not get the nomination. While recent weeks have only raised more questions about Joe Biden -- including is he senile? -- recent weeks have demonstrated just how right Bernie is -- for this moment, for this time -- and I say that as a member of the Green Party.
Isaiah: I would agree with that. The current pandemic makes it clear that we need Medicare For All. As Trina has always said, it is a need not a want. It is what the country needs. The coronavirus pandemic has made that clear. Currently, people are living in fear. Some have already lost their jobs and fear losing their insurance. Some are stressed every day as they wonder if they'll have a job next week and whether they'll have insurance. If we had Medicare For All, no one would suffer from stress about whether or not they have insurance. If we had Medicare For All, no one would have to fear economic wipeout if they get the coronavirus.
Rebecca: Right and, as C.I. has repeatedly pointed out, why is Bernie the only leader nationally who is talking about the "economic anxiety" that so many Americans are facing. That is the correct term but does Joe Biden even want to acknowledge it? No. The stress from the economic anxiety could be easily avoided by Medicare For All and one other issue that'll I'll bring up when we're done talking about Medicare For All.
Trina: With the pandemic, America is only as healthy as its least insured. Medicare For All would provide insurance for all and lift up our rate of health. We spend so much money on so-called defense of the country -- that money goes to bombs and other weapons. If we really want to defend our country, we need Medicare For All to ensure a strong baseline of health for every American.
Isaiah: It really is that simple.
Ruth: Senator Bernie Sanders Tweeted, "People today are dying, knowing they're sick, but they're not going to the hospital because they can't afford the bill that they'll be picking up. That is an international disgrace. We need to make health care a right."
Trina: We really do. And this really is simple. It really is. But some want to lie and keep us from having what we need. I will not forget what went down in 2019 and this year. I will not forget the various whores that started out for Medicare For All -- or gave lip service -- only to then walk away and attack those who supported it -- that's Tiny Pete Buttigieg, that's Tulsi Fake Ass Gabbard, that's so many. I hold trash like Joe Biden and Amy Klobuchar responsible. So many of us have fought for Medicare For All and we have gotten so close this year but corporate media and corporate candidates have lied and whored to try to hold us back.
Cedric: The nonsense cries of "How are you going to pay for it!" No one asked that about the defense industry, the ongoing wars, only when it's something that the American people need does that question even pop up.
Wally: Heather Gautney Tweeted, "No Dem/Rep should ever get away with saying to Bernie Sanders 'how are you going to pay for it?' w/regard to Medicare For All or his other programs. Our people are now paying dearly for decades of cuts to the safety net. We must change course and think big." She's a senior policy advisor to Bernie's campaign.
Betty: I agree with that. The safety net has been cut and gutted and no president has made an attempt to strengthen in. Bernie wants to do that and that is apparently threatening to corporate America. We should not forget that. This crisis was the perfect time to strengthen the safety net but instead Congress is sending our money -- our tax dollars -- to corporations with a token, one-time payment of $1,200 for some Americans.
Mike: Nor should we forget, getting to Jess' point earlier, the way Barack Obama pulled the strings from behind the curtain, calling Tiny Pete, Amy Klobuchar and others to get them to drop out right before Super Tuesday to clear the field for Joe. Barack's a bastard.
Cedric: Linguistically correct since his mother was not married to his father. His drunk of a father came to this country with a wife already back in Africa. We don't recognize multiple marriages in this country and bigamy is a crime. Stanley the Ford Foundation whore was never married to Barack's father. So, yes, he is a bastard. And, yes, he needs to be called out for the work he put in trying to destroy Bernie's chances to get the nomination. He is disgusting and his legacy is one of corruption and violence. The Nobel Peace Prize committee revealed themselves to be a fraud by giving him a prize he hadn't earned and would not go on to earn. He and his manly wife need to find another way to entertain because this is one African-American male who is not going to applaud Barack for his okey-dokes.
Kat: I think his ability to fool the people grows less and less each day. But a large number of hopium addicts fell for St. Barack and many have still not faced reality. They need that fix, they're addicts.
Betty: I hear the faux 'resistance' attack Donald Trump supporters and insist that they are fools to still believe him. Uh, same with Barack supporters. He was going to close Guantanamo, he wasn't going to reauthorize the Patriot Act, he was going to get US troops out of Iraq -- I'm confused, which promise did he keep? When was he ever, as he promised to be, on a picket line? When did he, as he promised to, end veterans homelessness?
Stan: Barack did nothing to help the American people and it should never be forgotten. He oversaw the greatest transfer of wealth from working people to the rich so the corporate media will lie for him so it is up to We The People to ensure that the truth about Barack is told and told frequently.
Ruth: That Mr. Obama and the corporate media worked so hard to try to destroy Bernie Sanders is the story of 2020 and probably the most important story of an election ever. He spoke to the people and was supported by the people and that was a threat to the corporations so smear campaigns and lies were used to destroy him -- in full view of the American people. It was the equivalent of an assassination.
Jess: I agree Ruth. They've been using the media to assassinate for some time now. And they did it to destroy Bernie.
C.I.: Ann and Jess are both Greens. Did either or both of you want to weigh in on any Green issues?
Jess: I'll go first! Ann wrote "I don't support Joe and I don't support Dario" this week noting she was switching from support of Dario Hunter to Howie Hawkins for the Green Party's presidential nomination. She noted that Dario is doing nothing. I like his views too but if he's not trying to campaign, he's useless. If he got the nomination, then what? Howie is going to campaign. I understand her switch and I want to note that I'm now for Howie as well.
Ann: I'm not able to be a hypocrite. I don't see how others are. Kat and Betty were talking about the addiction some people have to a politician -- be it Barack or Donald -- and I'm not that way. You're there to serve me, if you're not, you don't have my support. Howie is busting his butt to get the word out on his campaign. Dario doesn't really care. He's made that obvious. I've called Hidin' Biden out for his failure to show leadership during this pandemic, I have to call Dario out as well. Otherwise? I'm a hypocrite. I kept waiting for him to get serious and he didn't. So I'm done with Dario.
Jess: And I agree because all he's got to campaign on right now is social media and he has no presence on social media. His campaign is too inept to even manage one daily Tweet.
Ann: Not even one daily Tweet Monday through Friday. It' pathetic.
Mike: I'd like to note, speaking of people having a social media presence, Bernie did another livestream yesterday.
Kat: And let me toss out that there is a new podcast of HEAR THE BERN.
Ava: Okay, good points and we're wrapping up. Our main points are? Tara Reade needs to be listened to. Believed? That happens after we listen -- we determine whether or not we believe her. But her allegations have to get a public airing. We can't just dismiss them. Juanita Broaddrick did not get a fair hearing in the 90s and we still are grappling with how to make up for that. Tara Reade could be a liar. That's very much a possibility. However, she may be telling the truth and this issue needs to be aired publicly and aired completely. Joe Biden needs to speak to this issue and stop hiding behind campaign staff. We don't need to hear from Marianne Baker or any other person in that office that enabled gender discrimination -- they're already suspect as a result of that. Bernie Sanders was right to call for Medicare For All. Bernie continues to provide leadership throughout this pandemic. He's still in the race and we need him to be.
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Friday, March 27, 2020. The corporate media continues to ignore the
rape allegations against Joe Biden, coronavirus is a big pay day for
corporations but not the people, a day after France announces that they
are pulling their military out of Iraq four French hostages are suddenly
freed, and much more.
Earlier this month, four US troops were killed in Iraq. Tim Stanley (TULSA WORLD) reports on one of the four:
Emory Bryan (NEWS ON 6) adds:
Earlier this month, four US troops were killed in Iraq. Tim Stanley (TULSA WORLD) reports on one of the four:
The state’s ongoing COVID-19 concerns
didn’t prevent a fallen Oklahoma serviceman from receiving a stirring
welcome home Wednesday.
Family
members of late Air National Guard Tech. Sgt. Marshal D. Roberts of
Owasso, who was killed two weeks ago in Iraq, were joined Wednesday
morning by Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt, along with many friends and
supporters, at the Tulsa Air National Guard Base for the return of his
body.
After the transfer ceremony there, Roberts’ casket was transported to Floral Haven Funeral Home in Broken Arrow.
Emory Bryan (NEWS ON 6) adds:
Roberts was the first member of
the Oklahoma Air Guard killed in action. He deployed from the 138th
Fighter Wing with the 219th Engineering Installation Squadron in
January, and died in a rocket attack, March 11th.
According
to the Oklahoma Air National Guard, Roberts' wife Kristie is also a
member of the 138th. He is survived by one daughter, Paityn.
AP notes:
Ron Moseley was one of roughly 50 Patriot Guard riders who also escorted Roberts' body. He said he was “thrilled” by the turnout.
“We just want to let them know there’s still people who care,” he added.
Moseley said all the riders were instructed to comply with COVID-19 protocol, including social distancing rules, adding that he even brought “extra hand sanitizer."
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, or death.
The March 11th rocket attack that killed Roberts also claimed the life of Army Spc. Juan Miguel Mendez Covarrubias.
In other news out of Oklahoma, NEWS ON 6 reports:
One person has tested positive for the coronavirus at Fort Sill, officials at the Army post reported Thursday.
The person is a civilian employee who works for the Department of the Army and is a resident of Comanche County.
The person is isolation in their residence.
Yesterday, Senator Bernie Sanders explained some parts of the bill that passed the Senate, the bill allegedly addressing the coronavirus.
Senator Bernie Sanders: This is a time in which we've got to spend what it takes. This package provides the largest expansion of unemployment benefits in American history -- an increase of over $250 billion dollars. Average Americans who have been furloughed will be able to receive up to 100% of their salary and their health insurance for four months. Weekly unemployment benefits will increase by $600. So if you are laid off, your unemployment benefit will increase by $600 above what it would otherwise have been. And right now, the average benefit is about $364 for workers. This expansion of unemployment will include part-time workers, it will include gig workers like those who drive Uber cars, it will include tip workers and the self-employed who would otherwise not be covered by unemployment insurance. In addition, this bill provides $250 billion to go out in one-time checks of $1,200 for adults and $500 for kids. Now let me be very honest, as some of you may know, I wanted much more. I wanted every American family to be able to receive $2000 every single month that we continue to exist within the crisis. So this does not do that and this is clearly not enough to me, but that is what it is. As you may recall, Republicans originally wanted to provide smaller checks or no financial assistance to the poor or very low-income Americans. So in other words, I guess their mentality was that if you're poor, you deserve less even though you're struggling more than anybody else. But that is not going to be the case now.
Americans need that $2,000 a month. They need it to take care of the bills. They need it to keep the economy going. They need it to reduce the stress and economic anxiety that millions are feeling right now. It is appalling that Bernie is the only politician who has consistently spoken of the economic anxiety facing so many.
What got passed? Bernie, Patty Murray and other senators had to fight for. But it's not what's needed. And so much of the rest of the bill is just garbage. While some GOP members insist that we shouldn't provide welfare to the American people, they are more than willing to provide welfare -- which the American people will be paying for -- to corporations. Moe Tkacik (IN THESE TIMES) explains:
The fundamental spirit of the CARES Act, the diabolical plutocrat bailout the Senate just passed, is summed up by the fact that it was inspired by the 60 billion dollar demand of a company whose business had not yet even been impacted by coronavirus.
You read that right. When Boeing made its humble plea for $60 billion in coronavirus relief funds on Saint Patrick’s Day 2020, leading the pack of corporate supplicants, all its assembly lines unrelated to its notorious self-hijacking 737 Max jets, whose production halted in January, were still operating at normal capacity. They were still open in spite of the fact that Seattle public schools had been closed for six days at that point, in spite of the fact that every restaurant and bar in the state had been closed the weekend earlier, and in spite of the fact that the disease was quickly spreading among the factory workers, one of whom, a 27-year veteran of the company, would die within days.
And they were still running in spite of the fact that demand for Boeing planes, thanks to the 737 crashes, is at an all-time low, with the company in January, a month in which its archrival Airbus sold 274 planes, reporting its first month in history without a single order. Which is to say, I can think of a lot of reasons Boeing might need a bailout. In December a space capsule the company designed to transport astronauts to the International Space Station failed to launch into orbit during a test mission because its timer was eleven hours off, a potentially half billion dollar mistake that may cost the company billions more in lost NASA business to Elon Musk’s SpaceX. In January, the company revealed that its attempts to load a software fix onto the 737s was repeatedly crashing the planes’ computers. Not long after that, the company finally admitted that the three-year-delay on its KC-46 aerial refueling tanker was going to be, at minimum, another three years. And then of course there’s the $70 billion the company has squandered over the past decade on stock buybacks and dividend checks.
What all of these problems have in common is that none of them has s**t to do with coronavirus. And neither does the $500 billion corporate bailout the Senate appended to an otherwise vitally important relief package. It’s an audacious power grab by the same bunch of monstrous grifters who’ve spent the past 20 years reverse mortgaging the American economy to finance Third World dictator lifestyles. It’s just like the secret multitrillion dollar scramble to throw money at insolvent banks in 2008, only a hundred times more craven, and even though the American public is also considerably less naive than we were when we assumed programs with words like “home affordable relief” might actually, you know, offer some relief to homeowners hit with extortionate mortgage payments, it doesn’t matter. We don’t matter. We don’t matter because we don’t have lobbyists.
It's a strong report, read it in full. The House Democrats have not yet signed off on this bill. They have the power to change it or nix it and push their own. If Speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to see Democratic wins and gains in the House next November, the easiest way to get there is to address the needs of the American people. $2,000 a month is not extravagant -- we'll soon be in the summer months where electric bills will jump across the country, for example. And Americans knowing that income is coming in every month throughout the pandemic will be under far less stress. Stress weakens the immune system, did we forget that? We're in the midst of a pandemic, we don't need to be weakening the immune systems of the people in this country.
US House Rep Pramila Jayapal: These have been incredibly difficult days for the entire country. Across the country, what we're seeing is over 44,000 cases and 544 deaths. First case diagnosed was here in Washington, just right outside of my district. We had 2,200 cases and 110 deaths. Our state and local officials have acted very proactively and, frankly, we're very fortunate that we have a public health system in Washington state. We are still very far behind where we need to be and part of that is a far too uncoordinated federal response. We also can't keep our health workers safe, grocery store workers, bus drivers, others who have to continue to keep our systems going. But they're also dealing, you know, with "How do I take care of my mother? How do I take care of my kids? How do I pay my mortgage?"
Bernie's campaign posted two videos yesterday. That's in addition to all the work on social media that David Sirota, Nina Turner, Briahna Joy Gray and others with the campaign are doing.
What's Joe Biden doing? Fumbling around, unable to get the name of a governor he chooses to mention right, unable to make sense even when appearing on THE VIEW where the ladies all but wipe his flop-sweat for him?
Are we about to see Hidin' With Biden again? Is Joe about to disappear for a little bit again now that Tara Reade has detailed her allegations of assault by him? #IBelieveTara is more popular these days than Joe is.
As one person Tweets:
It would be irresponsible and immoral to allow him on TV without asking him about Tara Reade #IBelieveTaraReade #IBelieveTara #IStandWithTara
So far, the corporate media has pretty much blacked out the story of the assault Tara describes. See Mike's post last night for the coverage he found of the allegations. Shane Ryan has covered the story for PASTE:
Yesterday, a woman named Tara Reade appeared on a podcast with former Paste contributor Katie Halper to discuss an incident that happened while she was working as a staff assistant for Joe Biden in 1993. This was not the first time Reade came forward—she told part of her story last year after Lucy Flores accused Biden of using his power to touch her inappropriately. At the time, Reade was smeared as a pro-Russian agent due to remarks she had written in a now-deleted Medium post. Reade has come forward again, and this time, in her interview with Halper, she went into specific detail about Biden’s alleged assault. You can listen to the audio here, and you can read below for Reade’s account, which has been transcribed on Reddit. Content warning: The text below contains graphic descriptions of sexual assault.
[A superior] called me in and said, “I want
you to take this to Joe. He wants it. He wants you to bring it. Hurry.
And I said, “Okay.” And it was a gym bag. She said, you know, take the
gym bag. She called it an ‘athletic bag’. And you know she said he was
down towards the Capitol and he’ll meet you. And so I went down, and I
was heading down towards there and he was at first talking to someone. I
could see him at a distance and they went away and then um we were in
like the side. It was like the side area. And um he just said “Hey, come
here Tara and then I handed him the thing and he greeted me. He
remembered my name. And then we were alone, and it was the strangest
thing. There was no like exchange really. He just had me up against the
wall. And um I was wearing a skirt. You know a business skirt, but I
wasn’t wearing stockings. It was kind of a hot day that day, and I was
wearing heels. And I remember my legs had been hurting from the marble,
you know of the Capitol. And so I remember that kind of stuff. I
remember like I was wearing a blouse and he just had me up against the
wall, and the wall was cold. And I remember he- it happened all at once.
The gym bag – I don’t know where it went. I handed it to him and it was
gone. And then his hands were on me and underneath my clothes. And um
yeah and then he went um.. he went down my skirt and up inside it and he
uh penetrated me with his fingers. And um I- uh he was kissing me at
the same time, and he was saying something to me. He was saying several
things, and I can’t remember everything he said. I remember a couple of
things. I remember him saying first like as he was doing it, “Do you
wanna go somewhere else? And then him saying to me when I pulled away he
um got finished doing what he was doing and I kind of was pulled back
and he said, “Come on, man. I heard you liked me.”
This morning at COUNTERPUNCH, Paul Street notes:
Speaking of corporate Wall Street Democrats, I hope everyone caught the drowsy Democratic Presidential frontrunner Joe “Look Fat” Biden’s dementia-driven comment on Trump’s call for opening up the U.S. economy: “We have to take care of the cure. That will make the problem worse no matter what.” Spoken like a true “dog-faced pony soldier,” Joe-Boy!
What the Hell did he mean by that? Don’t ask Joe “Vinyl New Deal” (“record players for the poor!”) Biden: he has no idea. He just wants to know what’s for dinner last night.
Now we have credible rape allegations against Biden from the former Biden staffer Tara Reade. For this and for countless other reasons (Google me up on Biden — I’ve done numerous pieces on his abject, mind-boggling awfulness) including his obvious dementia, the right-wing clown Biden must step down NOW.
The allegations are also discussed on POLITICAL MISFITS.
Turning to Iraq, BBC NEWS reports this morning:
Four workers from a French Christian
charity who were kidnapped in Iraq in January have been freed,
President Emmanuel Macron's office said.
The three French nationals and an Iraqi were abducted in Baghdad on 20 January at a time of heightened tensions.Their release came a day after France said it would withdraw its troops from Iraq due to the coronavirus pandemic.
France's presidential Elysee Palace said it had made "every effort to reach this outcome".
"The president of the republic welcomes the release of our three nationals Antoine Brochon, Julien Dittmar, Alexandre Goodarzy and Iraqi Tariq Mattoka," it said in a statement.
Read the report in full and grasp what the BBC fails to note: The release of the four workers follows the announcement yesterday that France was pulling all of its troops out of Iraq. We covered that development in yesterday's snapshot.
William Walter Kay (ANTIWAR.COM) sees a Tet Offensive looming:
Like their Vietnamese forebearers Iraqi national-liberationists demand the U.S. leave their homeland. Like their forebearers, Iraqi militias draw support from militaries within their country, and from foreign governments; yet, remain civilian/paramilitary affairs comprised of politicized week-end warriors with deep local roots.
Iraqi militia numbers match Victor Charlie’s pre-Tet numbers i.e. 70,000 combat-available. While not as centralized, Iraqi militias exhibit collective endeavour. In 2015 a 10,000-troop militia consortium overran ISIL’s Tikrit redoubt; breaking through ISIL’s perimeter at eight locations.
On January 3, 2020, upon leaving Soleimani’s funeral services (at Soleimani’s house) Iraqi militia chief Muqtada al-Sadr summoned a war-council for January 13 in the Iranian city of Qom. Kataib Hezbollah, Al Nujaba and others heeded.
At Qom, al-Sadr called for expelling Americans in a "humiliating manner" and for all contact with Americans to be criminalized.
Post-Qom, al-Sadr’s million-man anti-US march met expectations. Many marched in martyr’s shrouds. The 5,000-strong Kataib Hezbollah is closing outposts, repositioning arsenals and donning civilian profile. Al Nujaba posted a photo of a US helicopter in rocket-launcher sites, captioned: "the countdown has begun".
Militia surface-to-air capabilities remain unknown. Much of their kit saw service in Tet (AK-47s, RPGs, Katyushas). Distinguishingly, militias possess armoured vehicles, even M1 tanks.
Thirty-five times more U.S. personnel were in Vietnam 1968 than are in Iraq 2020.
Kay is shaky on Moqtada -- most are when they don't follow Iraq daily -- maybe he'll develop this theme with an updated post that makes more sense, I'm struggling to understand what he's arguing. He thinks he has a timeline but I see no indication that he grasps what the Tet Offensive in Vietnam was or how he's arguing it's coming. I could see a Tet Offensive being carried out in Iraq -- it would be horrific -- but he doesn't seem to grasp what it was or what he's writing about. It would be Moqtada attacking an area of Iraq -- most likely the Sunni and Kurd areas would be stand-ins for South Vietnam. I don't see where he's made the case or even built the possibility in his writing. He also fails to factor in ISIS which remains active in Iraq.
The following sites updated:
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