C.I.'s excellent "Tara Reade and the law firm have parted" notes:
But the minute the power changed, the beggar media revealed that they wouldn't hold Democrats accountable and would rather disappear the war to protect the Democratic Party.
The few that have any integrity scatter like pigs if someone is made toxic. That's what Michael Tracey has tried to do with Tara Reade -- and what the Biden campaign has tried to do -- make her toxic so people run from her.
Apparently, Nathan Robinson of CURRENT AFFAIRS already has. Good to know. I don't have time promote shoddy websites and that's really all Nathan's is if he'll run because someone's made toxic.
I am deeply troubled by what was done to Gary Webb by professional hustlers like David Corn. They made Gary toxic and deprived him of a career in journalism. David whored for the CIA and David has blood on his hands. So does THE NATION for publishing crap attacking Gary. We really couldn't do much there here (this site started a month before Gary died). But check it out, we haven't walked away from anyone who was 'toxic.'
I don't play that game. When the US government went after Lynne Stewart, we didn't back away from Lynne. As noted before, I spoke out in favor of Lynne to Eric Holder repeatedly. Jamie Leigh Jones lost a civil lawsuit and MOTHER JONES tried to bury her. They attacked her in print.
No one defended Jamie. We didn't walk away from her. She was put on trial in that civil case and her rapist wasn't. Her life was put on trial. I've stated repeatedly since: I believe Jamie Leigh Jones. I don't care about if someone's 'toxic' or not. You're not going to scare me away from supporting someone.
With Tara? I don't know if she's telling the truth or not. I've noted that many times. I've also noted I find her credible. You're not going force me to run from her.
Amen. This is from Andrea Powell's "Will We Investigate Tara Reade's Claim? Survivors Are Watching" (REAL CLEAR POLITICS):
Many D.C. media elites, already hostile to the potential of a second term for President Trump, seem to have taken on the role of police, prosecutor, and jury, all at the same time. This hybrid of criminal/journalistic malfeasance should not replace a legitimate investigation. During my career as a survivor and an advocate, I have worked with more than 1,500 victims who survived sex trafficking and sexual violence. When we do not take assault claims seriously, the damage can be severe for the victim. If we do, we help save others from being victims in the future. Here is how:
First, there is no magic formula for coming forward to allege sexual assault. Traumatic experiences cause memory loss and erode trust. Coming forward with a well-crafted and perfectly time-lined story of events leading up to and during the assault is rare. This psychological process is what I teach when training law enforcement to interview victims of sex trafficking. So, it's perfectly reasonable for Reade to add to (i.e., not change) her story as she builds trust and gains confidence, just as we must take her allegations seriously. It's also common for the abuser to distract others with claims that the victims can't even "remember the facts" or question why they didn't come forward sooner.
By looking at Reade's allegations against Biden through the prism of politics, we miss a critical point. She has accused him of committing a sex-based crime, which is a violation of human rights. Such allegations are reported far less than half the time experts say they occur, so it is incumbent that those who do so be treated seriously and that no one "gets off the hook" regardless of political expediency or how popular the accused is. Most sexual predators and their lawyers (and in this case, seemingly media friends) assert their innocence, and Joe Biden certainly has a right to make that claim. Tara Reade has a right to her allegation. Both have a right to due process, which ought to take place in courts, not on a talk show.
Often, victims are reluctant to come forward because their abuser says "no one will believe" them, and they will "look crazy." Many do not want the label of victim hanging over them for the rest of their lives. Many survivors remember additional facts over time after the fear begins to wear off.
As this process begins, law enforcement collects evidence to build a case to turn over to prosecutors. Normally, in this phase of the investigation, they would never turn over their victim's statements to the accuser merely because he asked them to do so. Doing so could taint the investigation. But this type of special favor or investigatory malfeasance is what Biden seeks when he demands to see documents (reportedly under lock and key at the University of Delaware) of her alleged report.
More than 50% of the survivors of sex trafficking I served were arrested before being treated as victims. They were not just victimized by their trafficker but also by often hundreds of men who raped them and the courts that failed them. They are the victims and survivors who are watching again as another woman gets blasted in the media for daring to be politically inconvenient for the sake of seeking justice for herself and others.
Reade's case deserves an investigation; it may also ensure that the next time a woman makes allegations against a powerful man, we all will treat her with dignity and fairness.
And let me note this Tweet from Anthony Zenkus:People who haven't lived the life you would have preferred they lived can still be raped. In fact, they often are.
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Friday, May 22, 2020. No attack is too far when the press wants to discredit a woman's voice and corruption continues in Iraq.
Let's start with Ely Kreimendahl's hilarious parody of Women for Biden:
Let's note Pig Boy Michael Tracey who loves to attack women (especially women of color -- Maxine Waters, Kamala Harris, etc -- there's a reason Margaret Kimberley's rebuked him online).
Antioch University emphatically denies that Tara Reade ever received a degree. Unless they're lying for some bizarre reason, Tara Reade falsified her credentials in court. Again, congratulations to everyone who promoted this complete fiasco of a story
If true, what does that have to do with her allegation of assault?
More to the point -- who the hell cares?
They are throwing everything they can at her. Have you had a problem with a landlord? Guess what -- not a crime.
Have women ever lied about the academic history? Yes. It is not uncommon (or for men too). It is so not uncommon that it was a story for Mary Richards. Yes, on THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW, Mary reveals to Lou that she didn't actually graduate college as she had stated in her long ago job interview.
I didn't believe Christine Blasey Ford and I still don't. Find anything here where I ripped her apart. You won't. First off, I could be wrong. Second off, I'm not going to rip her apart for this or that event in her life that has nothing to do with her assault charge. I'm not interested in shaming or silencing women who say they were assaulted. Blasey Ford may be telling the truth, she may not. But I'm not going to rip her life apart to try to pretend that proves a point about whether she was assaulted or not.
It proves nothing.
Nothing is what Asama Khalid offered on NPR yesterday. That includes her justification for Joe Biden supporting the Hyde Amendment. She insists that Joe has evolved and "the Democratic Party has evolved on it." As Li Zhou (VOX) noted last June "until a few weeks ago , former Vice President Joe Biden was a staunch supporter of the Hyde Amendment."
Asama felt it was important to note that PBS spoke to 74 people who worked for Joe Biden but with Tara's corroborating witnesses, "these are people, I should point out, that we were connected with through Tara herself." As Ava and I noted Sunday in "Media: Lies and liars all around," PBS spoke to 74 employees the Biden campaign steered them to -- that's written in the actual report. That would be the report everyone keeps mentioning but fails to have actually read it.
Failing is all Asama has done on NPR with this story from day one.
The NPR segment offered a Patty in a soundbye insisting "we would have heard about it during the vetting" and demanding "Give me a break!"
Rebecca Traister, who was one of the panelists, rightly noted that the country has evolved on this issue since 2008. More to the point, Barack's vetting? He let one of his daughters intern for Harvey Weinstein. Are we really trusting Barack's vetting?
Democrat Hannah James is running for Congress out of California's 19th district and she Tweets:
Hey
Here's another question: When is Joe going to be vetted? These attacks have been organized by his campaign and yet he's repeatedly allowed to go on camera stating Tara has every right to tell her story and act as though he's not doing anything. He is running a campaign to trash and destroy her. When will the media get real about this?
Probably never. Ever.
When do Joe's actions in public impact the way this story is covered? When is he ever asked why did you say you apologized and days later make jokes about consent when you appeared before a largely male audience? How is that funny? How does that make it appear you took the complaints from women seriously?
When is he asked about his many lies about Anita Hill? That goes to Tara's assault charge. Joe has lied about Anita repeatedly. He has lied that he supported her. He then went to Republican senators and told them Anita was lying. When is he going to get honest about that? How many Republican senators have to talk about that before the media asks him? He has a long history of dismissing assault and harassment. That goes to this issue.
The Iraq War? It doesn't. His past lying about everything else? It really doesn't have to do with Tara. But if the media wants to dig through a citizen's life, they damn well should be digging through a public servant's life -- a public servant who somehow ends up with millions and millions of dollars. No, that's not how public service is supposed to work.
On Iraq . . .
Joe has spent 2019 and 2020 citing his being in charge of Iraq during Barack's presidency. So if he was responsible, when is he asked the tough questions?
There are a ton of tough questions that need to be asked. That interview has many lies in it.
Even to the idiots, it should be obvious that the rise of ISIS -- which Joe is responsible for -- raises the issue of how US troops left.
We were and are for all US troops out of Iraq. We argued for that to take place immediately. We argued that to Barack's transition team -- Ava and I did -- long before Barack was sworn in. Our argument was: Pull all troops now and the reason is: This is what the American people voted for.
Why does that matter?
Iraq's government was and is propped up by US troops. The US installed the government. It is not popular with the people. When US troops leave, the government most likely will topple.
Good. Let the Iraqi people determine the government that they want and need -- that is democracy.
So pull out immediately and when asked you reply: This was the will of the American people.
Fail to keep your promise of ten months and dicker around with Iraq and you own it. It's no longer Bully Boy Bush's problem, it is your problem.
And that's how it became Barack's problem. He did not keep his campaign promise. Samantha Power and Joe Biden and Susan Rice, among others, just knew they were smart to fix things. They were idiots.
And they made Bully Boy Bush's war into Barack's war. If he had kept his promise, it wouldn't have happened. But he didn't.
Hassan Ali Ahmed (ARAB NEWS) reports this morning:
That has long since changed. They no longer want to shock into submission, they just want to keep the Iraqi government in place until the Iraqi people are too exhausted to argue or fight back.
The US-installed Iraq government is corrupt and it does not serve the Iraqi people. Karwan Faidhi Dri (RUDAW) reports:
When 752 tons of wheat went missing from a state grain silo in Najaf this year, the site manager claimed it had been pilfered by flocks of hungry birds. Anti-graft officials aren’t convinced.
Iraq’s integrity commission, parliament, and provincial officials in Iraq’s holy city of Najaf have launched a probe into the alleged avian antics, which seem a little farfetched.
As the missing grain is said to be worth at least $350,000, investigators believed it was stolen by corrupt officials.
On Thursday, Iraq’s Federal Commission of Integrity (FCOI) said its officials completed an audit of the silo’s stocks between May 4, 2019 and April 1, 2020.
“The Office confirmed that there was a shortage in wheat material that amounted to (752 tons and 498 kg), and that its total value reached (421,120,000 IQD) [$353,744],” the commission said in a statement.
Investigators have submitted their findings to the Najaf Investigation Court and called for legal action against those deemed responsible.
The following sites updated:
Let's start with Ely Kreimendahl's hilarious parody of Women for Biden:
Let's note Pig Boy Michael Tracey who loves to attack women (especially women of color -- Maxine Waters, Kamala Harris, etc -- there's a reason Margaret Kimberley's rebuked him online).
Antioch University emphatically denies that Tara Reade ever received a degree. Unless they're lying for some bizarre reason, Tara Reade falsified her credentials in court. Again, congratulations to everyone who promoted this complete fiasco of a story
If true, what does that have to do with her allegation of assault?
More to the point -- who the hell cares?
They are throwing everything they can at her. Have you had a problem with a landlord? Guess what -- not a crime.
Have women ever lied about the academic history? Yes. It is not uncommon (or for men too). It is so not uncommon that it was a story for Mary Richards. Yes, on THE MARY TYLER MOORE SHOW, Mary reveals to Lou that she didn't actually graduate college as she had stated in her long ago job interview.
I didn't believe Christine Blasey Ford and I still don't. Find anything here where I ripped her apart. You won't. First off, I could be wrong. Second off, I'm not going to rip her apart for this or that event in her life that has nothing to do with her assault charge. I'm not interested in shaming or silencing women who say they were assaulted. Blasey Ford may be telling the truth, she may not. But I'm not going to rip her life apart to try to pretend that proves a point about whether she was assaulted or not.
It proves nothing.
Nothing is what Asama Khalid offered on NPR yesterday. That includes her justification for Joe Biden supporting the Hyde Amendment. She insists that Joe has evolved and "the Democratic Party has evolved on it." As Li Zhou (VOX) noted last June "until a few weeks ago , former Vice President Joe Biden was a staunch supporter of the Hyde Amendment."
Asama felt it was important to note that PBS spoke to 74 people who worked for Joe Biden but with Tara's corroborating witnesses, "these are people, I should point out, that we were connected with through Tara herself." As Ava and I noted Sunday in "Media: Lies and liars all around," PBS spoke to 74 employees the Biden campaign steered them to -- that's written in the actual report. That would be the report everyone keeps mentioning but fails to have actually read it.
Failing is all Asama has done on NPR with this story from day one.
The NPR segment offered a Patty in a soundbye insisting "we would have heard about it during the vetting" and demanding "Give me a break!"
Rebecca Traister, who was one of the panelists, rightly noted that the country has evolved on this issue since 2008. More to the point, Barack's vetting? He let one of his daughters intern for Harvey Weinstein. Are we really trusting Barack's vetting?
Democrat Hannah James is running for Congress out of California's 19th district and she Tweets:
Hey
@JoeBiden
,
Why did you sexually assault Tara Reade?
#AskBidenAnythingHere's another question: When is Joe going to be vetted? These attacks have been organized by his campaign and yet he's repeatedly allowed to go on camera stating Tara has every right to tell her story and act as though he's not doing anything. He is running a campaign to trash and destroy her. When will the media get real about this?
Probably never. Ever.
When do Joe's actions in public impact the way this story is covered? When is he ever asked why did you say you apologized and days later make jokes about consent when you appeared before a largely male audience? How is that funny? How does that make it appear you took the complaints from women seriously?
When is he asked about his many lies about Anita Hill? That goes to Tara's assault charge. Joe has lied about Anita repeatedly. He has lied that he supported her. He then went to Republican senators and told them Anita was lying. When is he going to get honest about that? How many Republican senators have to talk about that before the media asks him? He has a long history of dismissing assault and harassment. That goes to this issue.
The Iraq War? It doesn't. His past lying about everything else? It really doesn't have to do with Tara. But if the media wants to dig through a citizen's life, they damn well should be digging through a public servant's life -- a public servant who somehow ends up with millions and millions of dollars. No, that's not how public service is supposed to work.
On Iraq . . .
Joe has spent 2019 and 2020 citing his being in charge of Iraq during Barack's presidency. So if he was responsible, when is he asked the tough questions?
There are a ton of tough questions that need to be asked. That interview has many lies in it.
Even to the idiots, it should be obvious that the rise of ISIS -- which Joe is responsible for -- raises the issue of how US troops left.
We were and are for all US troops out of Iraq. We argued for that to take place immediately. We argued that to Barack's transition team -- Ava and I did -- long before Barack was sworn in. Our argument was: Pull all troops now and the reason is: This is what the American people voted for.
Why does that matter?
Iraq's government was and is propped up by US troops. The US installed the government. It is not popular with the people. When US troops leave, the government most likely will topple.
Good. Let the Iraqi people determine the government that they want and need -- that is democracy.
So pull out immediately and when asked you reply: This was the will of the American people.
Fail to keep your promise of ten months and dicker around with Iraq and you own it. It's no longer Bully Boy Bush's problem, it is your problem.
And that's how it became Barack's problem. He did not keep his campaign promise. Samantha Power and Joe Biden and Susan Rice, among others, just knew they were smart to fix things. They were idiots.
And they made Bully Boy Bush's war into Barack's war. If he had kept his promise, it wouldn't have happened. But he didn't.
Hassan Ali Ahmed (ARAB NEWS) reports this morning:
After about two months of quiet due to
pandemic concerns, Iraqi protesters returned to the streets soon after
the formation of the new government.
The protests that erupted last year
in October resulted in Adil Abdul Mahdi’s resignation and withdrawal of
the last two prime ministers. After the approval of Mustafa al-Kadhimi’s
government, the new prime minister announced plans to tackle corruption
and address the protesters' demands.
Baghdad, Wasit, Dhi Qar, Al-Muthanna, Babel, Al-Qadisiyyah and Karbala provinces have been rocked by protests since
last week. There have been several clashes between the protesters and
the security forces. On May. 18, four activists were arrested in
Diwaniya, the capital of Al-Qadisiyyah. Security forces also attacked
protesters at the Ahdab oil field in Wasit province, burning their tents
and damaging their vehicles. On May. 19, security forces fired live
ammunition at protesters in Diwaniya, killing at leat one and injuring
many others.
Protesters still complain about
activists and paramedics being abducted. Prominent activist Haidar
al-Lami was abducted on May. 18 when he was returning to Tahrir Square
in Baghdad. Though those arrested and abducted were released by direct
order from the prime minister, the protesters have not only reduced
their activities but have stepped up the protests and raised their
demands.
As summer approaches, the protests
are expanding in the southern provinces over a lack of electricity and
clean water. Hundreds of protesters gathered May. 16 in front of the
governor's office in Basra, which has suffered salinity problems for
last few years.
Iraq's government does not serve the Iraqi people. The hope of US war
mongers originally was the Iraqi people would be stunned -- shocked and
awed -- into submission. Naomi Klein wrote about that in "Baghdad Year
Zero" which originally appeared in HARPER'S.That has long since changed. They no longer want to shock into submission, they just want to keep the Iraqi government in place until the Iraqi people are too exhausted to argue or fight back.
The US-installed Iraq government is corrupt and it does not serve the Iraqi people. Karwan Faidhi Dri (RUDAW) reports:
When 752 tons of wheat went missing from a state grain silo in Najaf this year, the site manager claimed it had been pilfered by flocks of hungry birds. Anti-graft officials aren’t convinced.
Iraq’s integrity commission, parliament, and provincial officials in Iraq’s holy city of Najaf have launched a probe into the alleged avian antics, which seem a little farfetched.
As the missing grain is said to be worth at least $350,000, investigators believed it was stolen by corrupt officials.
On Thursday, Iraq’s Federal Commission of Integrity (FCOI) said its officials completed an audit of the silo’s stocks between May 4, 2019 and April 1, 2020.
“The Office confirmed that there was a shortage in wheat material that amounted to (752 tons and 498 kg), and that its total value reached (421,120,000 IQD) [$353,744],” the commission said in a statement.
Investigators have submitted their findings to the Najaf Investigation Court and called for legal action against those deemed responsible.
The following sites updated:
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