Ann's Mega Dub: 4/30/23

Saturday, May 6, 2023

Scarlet Witch deserved better than Elizabeth Olsen

I just posted "There is a God: Call Me Kat gets the axe (Ann)" at Marcia's site. She and her girlfriend have a family reunion. They weren't going to go because her girlfriend had to work but at the last minute (an hour ago), her boss gave her the rest of the day off. So they were getting in the car to drive (it's a two hour drive) and Marcia called and I said, "Go for it."

The bad news? That was my big post. I'll probably pull it over here next week.

Oh, looking at the news I do have something I can write about.

WandaVision was a hideous show. Credit to Ava and C.I. who called the retrograde and anti-woman show out in real time: "TV: Can anything be worse than fall 2020?" and especially see "TV: The way things are or are thought to be" and one more is "Media: They lie."

It was insulting and it was insulting to watch critics lie and pretend that it wasn't sexist b.s.

Crazy woman can't handle her powers.

That's a trope. It starts with Jamie Sommers on The Six Million Dollar Man and runs to Jean Grey on X-Men and all over the place.

Never happens to the male heroes.

It was insulting.

Guess who's finally whining? Elizabeth Olson:

In a new video feature for Vanity Fair, Olsen sat down to rewatch key moments from her career, but it's her comments about Marvel that are sure to make all the headlines, as she comments on the lack of go-between involving the writers of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness and WandaVision, which were filmed at similar times, and having to attempt to tie the two together—except one project was written for her, and the other simply had her in it. In the video, Olsen said:

"It's a similar arc that I had to play in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. There could be parallel stories being told there, of dealing with grief and loss. Well, I proposed that to the writers who wrote Multiverse of Madness. I said 'Do you know what we're doing in WandaVision? Have you seen it?' and no, they had not seen it, because it wasn't finished yet. So I had to try and, I don't know, play it differently, right? I had to attack the same themes in order for it to be interesting for me, I think, and potentially for the audience. I had to come at it from a different point of view so that it wasn't repetitive."

Poor dumb Elizabeth. Every time she opens her mouth I cringe. Scarlet Witch was my favorite Avenger in the comic books and it has been depressing as hell to watch that character be ignored and then destroyed. Elizabeth never fought for the character and let her be useless in her first three films.

Here's reality. WandaVision was hideous and started Scarlet down the road that had to end as it did in the Dr. Strange film.

But isn't it telling that Elizabeth Olsen's commitment wasn't too Wanda. It was to finding something interesting that she wanted to play. Guess that's why she gave up on explaining what had happened in WandaVision to the people working on Dr. Strange.

Elizabeth's not happy about the Doctor Strange movie.

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

Friday, May 5, 2023. Who do you trust, how do you characterize and categorize -- a lot of topics inspired by USEFUL IDIOTS' latest video.

Running late this morning, sorry. Let's start with a video that went up a little while ago.

1) "CODEPINK, you can't say enough about them." Worthless? Aaron, you can say that they're worthless.

Susan "Medea" Benjamin accomplishes nothing.

CODESTINK is not helping. They can't focus. They fundraise on aims and plans that they don't follow through on -- they took a lot of our money in 2006 for that interaction with Iraqis that they dropped days before it was to start because the press was paying attention to Palestine. They angered many Iraqis who risked a lot to build that event and get the word out. So let's stop pretending there.

Then let's note that Julian needs attention. Julian Assange is being persecuted. I know it. If you're here reading this, you know it. But what if you're new to this?

What if you're catching that clip on the news. You're going to think, "Who is that crazy lady."

Her actions are not helping anyone but herself.

Foolish people like Aaron Mate will rush to praise her for her nonsense.

At some point, when you've been doing the same thing over and over, you have to ask yourself, "Is this working?" Susan will never do that. It's much more important to her to get publicity for herself.

Aaron and Katie decided to cover this. And they don't know the name of the woman who was also part of the protest.

Susan needs to step down from leadership because she's not accomplishing anything. And she needs to step down because the only real life in that organization is the young members. But Susan was the female figurehead in 2003 and she still is. Apparently, like Dianne Feinstein, she's going to die in office.

Are we really that pathetic?

If CODESTINK isn't just for Susan's vanity, then they should have long ago replaced her so that the organization could grow.

That said, were I a young woman in my 20s or 30s, I don't know that I'd want to be in charge because there are so many lies.

A feminist organization? Created by women?

They've web papered over reality in many ways but anyone who wants to do a real deep dive -- even online -- can find that they're not really what they pretend they are today.

And these early lies are why Susan Benjamin can feel comfortable sharing the stage with convicted pedophile and registered sex offender Scott Ritter. It took the rank and file of CODEPINK calling her out for that to keep her off the stage. She is that out of touch with young women. She needs to step aside and let the young lead.

I am sick to death of the Dianne Feinsteins, Susan Benjamins and Gloria Steinems who refuse to leave the stage. And I'm sick of the lies involved in all three. DiFi is a reactionary politician and always has been throughout her too long career. We've already talked about Susan. Been awhile since we talked about Gloria.

She can have her snit fits with THE NEW YORK TIMES and THE NEW YORKER and -- Well, everybody.

She is no longer useful and people don't feel like lying for her anymore.

She was CIA and outlets -- news outlets -- are no longer going to play.

I didn't speak to Susan Faludi about Gloria for BACKLASH.

But if I had, I would've given a variation of what Susan wrote. It's what we were told in real time. And we didn't have the internet back then.

I would've said, Gloria, in college, helped on an international project and didn't realize that there was CIA funding. That was a mistake on her part. Most universities were taking funding from the CIA for various projects and activities -- often filed under "student life."

That's what she told me. That's what she told Marlo Thomas.

I didn't live in NYC and was not plugged into that community. I did get a heads up from Ellen Willis that Gloria's version was "creative writing." I filed that away and didn't make public comments for that reason. Ellen was plugged into the NYC scene and she did know a lot, lot more than I did.

Kathie Sarachild and Gloria came into conflict because of this.

The women's movement had been a powerful force. Along comes Gloria.

She and her friends elbow out Betty Friedan for being 'too old' -- yet Gloria would hang onto leadership (self-appointed leadership) many decades older than Betty -- and the women's movement peters out.

Go to THIRD and look there I'm not in the mood to spoonfeed on this. I'm tired and struggling to breathe.

Kathie and others in The Redstockings did research and asked questions and did so publicly. And Gloria used professional connections -- including to other CIA spooks (Clay, that's all you were). She silenced it. The media walked away from it.

Early on, when I started online, we would get e-mails from people saying this or that about Gloria. I would spit back out what I thought was accurate. What the media had told us. But I can be wrong. I'm wrong all the time. I don't remember Bob's last name -- starts with an F and then too many letters for a dyslexic like me -- but he wrote several e-mails to us at THIRD and I always dictated a response through Ty and I told Bob he might be right, that there were other things I had to focus on but I wouldn't let it drop and I would continue to look into it.

Ruth Rosen told me she stood by what she wrote in THE WORLD SPLIT OPEN. It was not the airbrushed portrait that Gloria always shopped around. Marilyn French was far more specific.

I asked Marilyn how Gloria got away with it? "People wanted a leader and wanted to believe we had an honest one."

We did not have an honest one.

Bob was right and if he wants to e-mail, I'll give him credit for forcing me to look for the truth.

The kindest explanation for Gloria's incompetence is that she is stupid and caught up in victim mentality. That would explain how feminism under Gloria in the US peters out. We're no longer challenging, we're begging. We're no longer strong, we're pathetic.

But Gloria was CIA. And it went beyond her time in college. But that time in college was not what she claimed. She was actively spying on and compiling lists of dissidents and those lists were handed over by the US government to the countries the dissidents lived in. People were harmed and, yes, people died because of Gloria's actions.

That's reality.

It's also reality that she continued to work for the CIA as late as 1968 she was working for a cut-out.

This was not a mis-step in her youth. And, thanks to the internet, we now can see clips that were long buried. Gloria was a high profile journalist -- but not yet a feminist -- proclaiming her work for the CIA, her love for the CIA, how she and the CIA shared the same goals.

That stuff wasn't available when Kathie Sarachild and others were demanding answers.

Gloria misled the movement.

We would not have accepted her in any position had we known she was CIA. I should clarify that. Those of us who were not CIA would not have accpeted her. I word it that way because there are a lot of women who propped Gloria up and, as Marilyn French detailed to me, these women had a lot to hide as well. Gloria brought them in.

And maybe they did care about women's issues. But they were part of Gloria's watering down feminism.

Earlier this week, a snapshot almost included a mocking of Max Blumenthal. But I pulled it at the last minute. In it, I was mocking him for just discovering what a 'left hero' really was like. As I noted in that dictated spot, Max, that man broke my heart in college when I discovered what he was. Why did it take you so long?

There are a lot of people who act like leaders but are not, in fact, leaders. They are misleaders.

And to those who can't face the truth about Gloria, let's just note that -- CIA or not -- she was ineffective and she should have stepped down a long time ago.

The same is true of Susan with regards to stepping down. (There have always been rumors about Susan and the CIA. I have no idea on that. I spent many years vouching for Gloria only to find out I was an idiot. I'm not about to make that mistake with regards to Susan.) Why is one woman the focus of a group? And why is one woman the 'leader' for a third decade?

That's not a political group, stop kidding yourself. It may be a cult, it is not a political group.

She needs to step aside and let young women take the stage. If she can't do that, then everything I've said about her ego is true.

Back to the video. For "Republicans suck" Katie Halper offers Republicans on abortion. And they are awful. The American Taliban.

And if it doesn't apply to you and you're a Republican, let it roll off your back. I don't have time or energy to do "*" to statements right now. I'm just trying to power through each day.

But here's my issue. Katie, you're promoting Marianne Williamson.

Kat's entry from last night -- and I'll note the end with "------"

Marianne Williamson kind of supports abortion

That's Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Matt Gaetz Wet" from up last night.

Abortion. Have you read Marianne Williamson's mealy-mouth words? C.I. refers to it in today's snapshot. I know she's under the weather (she's had a bad cold) so I called Elaine (they work out together in the morning while C.I.'s dictating the snapshot) and asked her about it. She said C.I. was asked to link to the student's report and did so gladly (she always supports colleges, especially the ones she speaks at and with - with meaning on zoom conferences). But she thought she'd be able to praise Marianne and instead found this:

Williamson said that while she is pro-choice, she is not in favor of late-term abortions, calling them “misnomers,” or false cases used by those who are pro-life to ban abortion.

Appalling and shameful. Marianne, you're too weak ass to get my vote.

And this is an issue we have the support on. So much so that Republicans with sanity are pumping the brakes on the abortion issue. Poppy Noor (GUARDIAN) reports:

In one state, Republican women filibustered to block a near total abortion ban introduced by their own party. In another, the Republican co-sponsor of a six-week abortion ban subsequently tanked his own bill. On the federal level, a Republican congresswoman warns that the GOP’s abortion stance could meaning “losing huge” in 2024.

As states continue to bring in tighter restrictions on abortion following the fall of Roe v Wade, internal divisions within the Republican party on the issue are starting to show.

Divisions most clearly started to show last week in the deep red states of South Carolina and Nebraska, where Republicans roundly rejected further attempts to curtail abortion rights last week.

In South Carolina on Thursday, all five female senators – three of them Republican – led a filibuster that ultimately blocked a bill which would have banned abortion from conception with very few exceptions.

That was the third time a near-total ban on abortion has failed in the Republican-dominated senate in South Carolina since Roe was overturned last summer.

So is there a reason that Marianne can't show leadership on this issue? What's the female equivalent of a cuck? Seriously, I am appalled by her and she's damn lucky the statements she made caught C.I. unaware and on a morning when she was so congested, she could barely speak. I can't believe it.

I think Marianne's spent too much time hanging with toy radicals and has forgotten what basic voting issues are. She better get on her game and she better stop this 'abortions are icky' nonsense or she's going to polling worse than she already is.

-----------

End of Kat's entry. So USEFUL IDIOTS wants to call out Republicans but we're supposed to be embracing Marianne for her nonsense? For her use of right-wing talking points? How is her stance on late-term abortions any different from forcing women to carry to term -- the thing Katie was pointing out?

It's not.

Buy a clue.

By the way, Kat could have called me. I get a cold and everyone worries I'm dying. Which is why I'm late this morning. I have a new bed arriving today. I'm not dying but I'm not going to go out never having had a bed I actually wanted. After college, I'd given everything away to charity and lived in a crash pad and we threw mattresses on the floor. After that, I always let the man I was sleeping with pick because sleep has never been that important to me. (Lifelong insomniac going back to early childhood. My parents didn't believe in TV but got me one when I was three to keep me in my room at night because otherwise I would pop the screen off the window, hop out and walk down a few streets to my grandfather's house.) When a friend moved from the house she loved in the 70s to a nicer home, she drove the UHaul herself and I understood why. Point being, I wanted to get the bed springs, mattress, etc downstairs. Great staircase for parties and big entrances but it's not fun hauling furniture up. The new bed, mattress, et al will be hauled up by the people delivering it in a few hours. They're also going to haul off the old stuff. I wanted to get that all downstairs. So I woke up early this morning and was going to do it myself. Mike heard me and helped -- and I knew he would have if I'd asked -- but that's why the snapshot's late. And with my congestion, it probably didn't help.

Okay, back to the video above. "Great job, Hollywood."

What is your point, Aaron Mate?

Do you honestly think that the Met gala was in Los Angeles?

What the honest f**k?

I'm not in the damn mood. I generally never use the term "Hollywood." I think it's a misnomer and I think people using it don't know what they're talking about it. The friend I mentioned earlier -- with the U-Haul -- gave a great definition of "Hollywood" to PREMIERE years ago. She's an award winning actress and had to use a ton of words to describe it.

People like Aaron seem to think they saw Ginger on GILLIGAN'S ISLAND so they know all about "Hollywood."

We don't do the Met gala. Those of us in the entertainment industry in California.

I don't like the NCY crowd to begin with. And I would never go to a Met gala.

Do we have big events in California? We do. Usually for UCLA or a medical issue or what have you.

A friend, in fact, called me whatever night the gala was to laugh at E! which was providing live coverage and claiming it was part of their "Hollywood" coverage.

A few actresses who need to work on their craft instead of selecting princess gowns that push up their breasts attended.

You'll find bimbos and fashionistas in every grouping. But don't pin that on "Hollywood," Aaron. I've had a nice career and I've been very political. My friends don't go to events like that and are appalled at the amount of wealth flaunted -- borrowed wealth in most cases.

It's cos play for a lot of starlets as they wear jewelry that they don't own.

Any pretense that this is about celebrating art was long ago ripped to shreds. This is a NYC event for the shallow and the stupid who don't have the brains to grasp how much poverty is in this country.

Those of us in the entertainment industry in California take enough flack. Don't pin your greedy NYC events on us.

Honestly, what the actual f**k?

In the video above, Katie makes the point that The Twitter Files revelations do not require that you be a fan boi of Elon Musk. She is correct. So Aaron, stop dragging my industry into your problem with the glitterati in NYC. Take it up with them, don't drop it on my doorstep.

And certainly don't drop it on my doorstep when you're so pathetic that you're calling Tucker Carlson 'anti-war.' He's not and he's never been. He was for the Iraq War. His insults of the Iraqi people are offensive. How dare you tell the world that this man is anti-war?

Doing that erases their suffering.

It's not happening and you can't make it happen. You can destroy your own image by continuing down this road.

Glenneth Greenwald, your buddy, and Jimmy Dore, your buddy, have both limited their own reach and you're going to go down that road to, Aaron, if you don't wake the f**k up.

Tucker is a racist Tucker is a sexist. Tucker is not to be applauded. Are you going to applaud Bill O'Reilly next? He had on Janeane Garofalo to speak out against the Iraq War.

That doesn't mean we praise Bill and we shouldn't be praising Tucker.

"He did bring on people who disagreed with him," Aaron rushes to insist.

How stupid are you?

That's what the outlets are supposed to do. Your critique of MSNBC not doing that? Bob Somerby's being making that critique for over 15 years -- maybe even 20. You clearly do not know what you're talking about.

I don't suffer fools and I especially don't suffer fools who justify a racist, transphobic, sexist pig.

You're inability to know the critiques that came before you got pubes? Do the work.

Here's the man whose balls you're tongue bathing.

That's how he spoke of Iraqis. Do not pretend that he is anti-war. Do not praise him unless you agree with what he said about the Iraqi people. And if you do agree with what he said, state so openly so we can all know how bigoted you are.

There is no defense for the comments he made about the Iraqi people.

You know, back in college when ______ set me up for what I thought was a lunch date, I wondered about it but went on it only to discover he had set me up with the CIA. A remarkable college professor admired then and now -- Aaron, your buddy questioned that admiration this week -- and I didn't know how to process that. He had done -- and has since -- many wonderful things. But he was recruiting for the CIA. And while I might have stayed through dessert for his lonely friend if it were a date, when I found out what it actually was, I made the biggest scene. I was offended. I don't support the CIA's work. They have killed millions around the world. They work in secret, they lie, they destroy.

But what did that mean about the professor?

It's a question I could struggle with. Or I can just accept the fact that he is not actually on my side.

When you endorse Tucker, you appear to be making it clear that you are not on the side of the Iraqi people. If that is the case, how about you say it plainly?

I don't admire you. You're not a hero to me. But I'm sure you are to some people. So get honest and don't cause the pain that the CIA recruiting college professor did to me.

The following sites updated:

Thursday, May 4, 2023

Realities regarding The Green Party -- the whores, the liars and the three that mattered

"The disgusting GOP and Ajamu Baraka airs dirty laundry" resulted in some horror from some.

Oh.

My.

Let's clutch the pearls.

Not in the mood. Let's get honest. Since 1996 (some would argue 2000), we've seen a Green presidential ticket.

And they've done nothing to help at all.

You think I was tough on Ajamu yesterday? How about this? Cynthia McKinney, you were too damn scared to challenge Barack Obama when you were our nominee in 2008. And your running mate, Rosa, was going on Pacifica Radio and forgetting that you were in the race as she talked up Barack Obama.

After the election? You both failed to work on Green Party issues or building the Green Party.

It is a sad and telling reality that Cynthia is not our worst candidate.

In 2004, Greens across the country made clear that Ralph Nader had the support so, of course, the political convention was rigged to give the nomination to the worthless David Cobb. Cobb did a 'safe state' strategy -- refusing to campaign in any state he felt Democrats could lose. That's not how you do a third party.

David Cobb didn't pack it in after the 2004 election. No. He wrote bitchy e-mails to people who dared weigh in on what a lousy candidate he was. And he was awful. He was the bitch of the candidates.

So it's no real suprise that he was Jill Stein's campaign manager in 2016.

Jill showed a little life that go round -- not much. But as a bitch who hates women, she was able to campaign since Hillary Clinton was the Democratic Party's nominee. Jill did awful in 2012 and she shouldn't have been the nominee in 2016. Among other things, when Barack was getting real criticism from Mitt Romney's campaign in 2012, Jill stepped up to attack . . . Mitt Romney.

Pathetic.

We are not the kid sister of the Democratic Party. We either campaign to win or we're just posers.

Jill Stein is a poser. Her campaigns are laughable. In 2012, she did one 'action.' She only did it because Cheri Honkala had started it and Cheri was her running mate. Cheri is also the only real deal we had in the '00s other than Ralph Nader.

Instead, we get fake asses like Jill Stein and Pat LaMarche who appear to profit after being on the ticket. In other words, they used it for what they could while refusing to run real campaigns. Maybe that's why they end up rewarded after their failed campaigns?

They have faked ass their way repeatedly.

And they've done nothing to help build the Green Party.

Howie Hawkins is out there every week since the election talking about Green Party issues.

I don't need to hear Ajamu's pathetic take on Howie. Ajamu did nothing to push the ticket -- to get votes or to be brave -- in 2016.

The only three that mattered who have been on the ticket? Ralph Nader, Cheri Honkala and Howie Hawkins.

C.I. attempted to school some idiots (Jonathan Turley and John Stauber -- idiots and transphobes) in this snapshot, noting that Bud Light's poor sales are not about the right now -- that Bud Light has ticked off transgender persons and Nolan e-mailed to say that Ian Harvie (a comedian and actor who is transgender and previously did a commercial for Bud Light) is stating that the company doesn't care about diversity or being welcoming. Exactly. And that is what we're all aware of. Bud Light betrayed transgender persons with their cowardly response to the attacks on Dylan Mulvaney. Outrageous.

I am sorry but I wasn't familiar with Ian Harvey. This is from Wikipedia:

Ian Harvie is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is a trans man and often references being one in his performances.^[1] He is best known for his appearance on the television show Transparent.^[2] In 2017, transgender actors and actresses including Harvie (with the help of GLAAD and ScreenCrush) were part of a filmed letter to Hollywood written by Jen Richards, asking for more and improved roles for transgender people.^[3]^[4]

Early life[edit]

Harvie knew he was transgender at a very early age, but did not have a language for his gender identity at the time. Harvie came out as gay at nineteen and as transgender at age thirty-two. Harvie grew up on Beaver Pond in the rural mountain town of Bridgton, Maine, until the age of twelve. He has two older brothers, Rob and Jeff. Early comedy influences he has cited include The Carol Burnett Show, Flip Wilson, Rich Little, Hee Haw, Laugh-In, Dean Martin Celebrity Roast, and Saturday Night Live.

Comedy career[edit]

Harvie began his stand-up comedy career in January 2002 at a small comedy club in Portland, Maine. Three months later he began performing at a sister club in Boston, Massachusetts. Harvie moved to Los Angeles, California, in June 2006. By November 2006 he began touring with comedian Margaret Cho as her opening act. Cho cast Harvie as a permanent member of her off-Broadway burlesque comedy revue, Margaret Cho's The Sensuous Woman.

In April 2007, Harvie began producing and hosting his own self-titled comedy/talk show, The Ian Harvie Show, at Los Angeles music and comedy club Largo. The show is similar in format to other late-night talk shows but with guests who are all LGBT or connected to the LGBT community. Previous guests of the show include Margaret Cho, Leslie Jordan, Jane Lynch, Alan Cumming, Jorja Fox, Suzanne Westenhoefer, Kimberly Peirce, Rex Lee, Selene Luna, Jenny Shimizu, Buck Angel, Garrison Starr, Sabrina Matthews, and Erin Foley.

From October 2006 through October 2009, Harvie toured comedy clubs and theaters around the world with Margaret Cho. In 2007, he appeared on Logo as part of the Wisecrack Outlaugh Festival on Wisecrack. He performed on Logo again in 2009 on One Night Stand Up Episode 6 and on ABC's late night television series, Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen, in the 2009 season.

In November 2009, Harvie began his solo headlining career. His one-man show Parts Sold Separately, which features humor about sex and gender, played the Melbourne International Comedy Arts Festival in Melbourne, Australia, in April 2010. In January 2011, Harvie performed his new solo show Balls OUT with Ian Harvie at SF SketchFest in San Francisco, California.

In September 2010, Harvie and fellow sober comedians Felon O'Reilly and Amy Dresner began a three-person comedy group. They traveled around the US with their collective recovery-based standup comedy show, Laughs Without Liquor: the We Are Not Saints tour. The road show and tour were filmed by filmmaker and director Bobby R. Poirier with a planned release date of summer 2011.

Renee e-mailed to note that C.I. was right about The Five being the show Fox "News" is investing in and notes this article about how News Max is trying to copy that program with one of their own.

Tucker Carlson became more trouble than he was worth. The lawsuit Fox "News" had to settle. His inability to draw in viewers on Fox Nation (which he's blamed on the streamer and not on himself). The huge cost a new contract would have been. The less desirable advertising (which means lower rates) he brought in. He just wasn't worth it.

I got what C.I. meant right away. But then I loved Knots Landing so when she compared it to CBS cancelling Knots, it made sense. Knots was a hit TV show. But it was on for years and years and the actors and works kept getting raises (as they should) and it was so expensive to make an episode that there was little financial reward for continuing the series.

Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Matt Gaetz Wet" went up last night.

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

Thursday, May 4, 2023. Exploitation in Iraq, Antonia Juhasz returns to the topic of how oil destroys our world, a look at the three races for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, and much more.

In 2005's STRANGERS WITH CANDY (directed by Paul Dinello, screenplay by Paul, Stephen Colbert and Amy Sedaris), Amy stars as 47-year-old Jerri Blank who's gone back to Flatpoint High School to get her diploma. To get her out of his classroom, her teacher Mr. Noblet (Colbert) sends her to the grief counselor (Sarah Jessica Parker).

Jerri Blank : Are you the grief counselor?

Peggy Callas : Oh, god, it never ends. Have a seat. I should tell you up front, each student gets ten minutes, that last student took fifteen, so you get five.

Jerri Blank : Well, that's not fair!

Peggy Callas : Take it up with Les. He's the one that's frigid.

Jerri Blank : I'm Jerri Blank and my daddy's in a coma.

Peggy Callas: You know what, Jerri? I wish my daddy was in a coma. He's dead, Jerri. He was executed for War Crimes -- but for insurance purposes, we say he was eaten by wolves. Anyway, my point is, Jerri, somebody's always got it worse.

Anyway, my point is, Jerri, somebody's always got it worse. And it's true. Even in Iraq.

THE CABLE reports:

The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) says Nigerian women working as domestic workers in Iraq are being exploited.

Fatima Waziri-Azi, director-general of the agency, raised the alarm in a statement released on Wednesday by Vincent Adekoye, the NAPTIP spokesperson.

Waziri-Azi said most of the women are requesting assistance to return home.

The DG said the women were trafficked to Iraq under the guise of greener pastures, adding that most of them were young.

THE PEOPLE'S GAZETTE adds:

The NAPTIP also mentioned that awareness by the agency and other partners of the well-known destination countries across the globe had now made traffickers shift their attention to Iraq.

“We are inundated with pleas for rescue and repatriation from female victims trafficked to Iraq, especially to the cities of Baghdad and Basra, where they are distributed to homes by their recruiters to a hard life of domestic servitude,” stated Ms [Fatima] Waziri-Azi.

She added, “Available information shows that many of these victims have been admitted to hospital many times due to long work hours under harsh conditions they are forced to undergo. Most of them have complained of deteriorating health resulting from the weight of work.”

The NAPTIP explained that they “are constantly under threat of being harmed either by their direct employers or the Iraqi agents, each time they complained of unbearable workload.”

In other news, Human Rights Watch posts a piece by Antonia Juhasz:

Ali Hussein Jaloud, an Iraqi man barely in his 20s, died April 21 of leukemia, a disease Ali and his family attributed to the pollution from the oil production and constant gas flares that surround their community in the southern Iraqi town of Rumaila, about 50 kilometers from the port city of Basra.

Many of us around the world felt we knew Ali and suffered his death personally, having followed his story in BBC and Unearthed investigations of the human and environmental toll of fossil fuel operations in Iraq, focusing on the devastation caused by flaring.

Flaring occurs when fossil fuel companies burn off excess methane gas from oil operations rather than capturing the gas in pipelines. When burned, the powerful greenhouse gas – more than 80 times more potent at global warming than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period – is released into the atmosphere. After Russia, Iraq accounts for the most flared gas in the world.

Flaring also releases toxic pollutants known to harm human health, including benzene, a human carcinogen that can cause leukemia. An Iraq Health Ministry report leaked to the BBC attributed pollution from the oil industry, among other sources, as the cause of a 20 percent rise in cancer in Basra between 2015 and 2018, and revealed cancer cases in the region to be three times higher than publicly disclosed figures.

Iraqi government officials have acknowledged a link between the oil pollution from flaring and cancer. Iraq’s former environment minister, Jassem al-Falahi, told the BBC that pollution from oil production is the main reason for increases in cancer rates in Basra. Similarly, Luay Al-Khateeb, Iraq’s former oil minister, told Unearthed that unregulated oil operations in southern Iraq and “poisonous gases being flared in the air” are the link to rising cancer rates.

Flaring is a global crisis with clear solutions. The Iraqi government should start by moving beyond simply acknowledging the problem to enacting and enforcing tight regulations to restrict flaring, providing proper health services to impacted communities, and making polluters compensate those who have suffered, as required by Iraqi law. To address the full harm to local communities and the global climate, the government should transition away from fossil fuels.

Ali’s was a tragic yet predictable death. “I hope in the future that these companies go away,” Ali says in the film. “That the emissions stop, so children can live in peace.”

Iraq will be one of the hardest hit by climate change according to current models. The effects are already being felt. Sinan Mahmoud (THE NATIONAL) observes:

Climate change, mismanagement and conflict have contributed to the depletion of water resources, affecting agriculture and food security.

One of the most pressing issues is dwindling flows of the two main rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, mainly as a result of upstream dams in Turkey and Iran, as well as poor water management.

The country is experiencing its worst drought in decades, with temperatures exceeding 50°C last summer. Many of Iraq’s lakes have also shrunk — in some cases revealing ancient cities previously thought to have been lost to the water.

This morning, Tim Stickings (THE NATIONAL) reports:

Germany on Thursday pledged to help protect Iraq’s drinking water as Chancellor Olaf Scholz travelled to Africa with his sights on clean energy.

Berlin is to invest €62 million ($68.5 million) to shield water supplies in Iraq’s southern Muthanna province from the effects of climate change, Germany said after two of its senior officials visited the country.

It comes after a climate summit in Berlin heard calls to help the developing world tackle global warming.

A lack of clean water compounded by climate change is threatening livelihoods, public hygiene and food security in Iraq and other countries across the Middle East, as The National found in a special report.

Let's move over to the US and remember the Sarah Jessica Parker line about how someone's always got it worse. I didn't think it could get much worse, however, QUEERTY reports:

Florida has thrown LGBTQ+ people under the bus again… and this time they’d better not be hoping for hospital treatment for their injuries.

Yesterday evening the state’s House approved SB 1580/HB 1403. The Senate approved the legislation last week. It allows healthcare providers and insurers the right to refuse patients in line with their conscience. It’s officially called the “Protections of Medical Conscience” Act.

The legislation includes clarification stating healthcare providers cannot turn anyone away based on their “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.”

Notice what’s missing from that list?

Yes, there’s nothing about sexual orientation or gender identity. Democratic lawmakers pushed for amendments to include LGBTQ+ protections but they were all rejected in the Republican-majority House and Senate.

During a heated debate on the issue, Democrat Anna Eskamani offered up potential ramifications.

“A nurse could refuse to provide a doctor’s prescription for fertility drugs to a single woman or someone who identifies as a lesbian,” she said. “Nursing homes could refuse to provide elderly, transgender residents for their ongoing hormone treatment.”

The American Taliban has got to be stopped. I don't have time for idiots right now. I'm 100% with Trina on this -- see her "My problems with Anthony Zenkus" -- and I don't understand if Anthony thought he was being cute or what -- more to the point, I don't give a damn. Screw you, Anthony, if you're not in the fight. I don't need your little attempts at clever. I need you to be defending the rights of the people. If you can't do that, just say so and we'll know your an enemy to democracy and the people. This isn't minor. The Republicans have declared a war on all of us. It's against women (DOBBS), it's against African-Americans (the targeting of school curriculums), it's against LGBTQ+, stop making your "cultural war" 'jokes.' They aren't funny and they only reveal how shallow and empty your mind is.

We're talking about people potentially being refused care. These are basic rights that were long ago established and the American Taliban wants to destroy them.

I don't have time for your 'silly,' Zenkus. Get on board or you've made it clear that you are foe. We have enough of those already.

I really don't want to do the horse race so I'm only weighing in when something strikes me as worth commenting on. In the Democratic Party field, Joe Biden, Marianne Williamson and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are all running for the party's presidential nomination.

I don't get Fiorella Isabel and that's why I'm commenting today. She's a host on THE CONVO COUCH. People accuse her of being a 'Russian agent' because she's on RT. Being on RT doesn't make her a Russian agent. Being in love with Vladimir Putin, however, might. I am against the US proxy war on Russia and it didn't take months for me to say it. I called it out in real time. I also called out some of the 'lefties' in real time who couldn't find a voice but now have one and try to pretend like they weren't offering justifications for the war.

I don't love Vladimir Putin -- or any world leader. I like Daniel Ortega. I don't love him. I enjoy talking music with Daniel. This site isn't a celebration of Daniel or a fanzine to him.

I bring this up because Fiorella has a problem with RFK Jr.:

A lot of people have rose-colored glasses about RFK Jr simply for his stance on COVID. But that’s not enough when foreign policy drives the entire world. The same insiders and institutions behind COVID’s nefarious policies for profit & control are behind US foreign & military…

In the video she posts with her Tweet, he says "Putin is a bully and a thug."

Unlike Tara Reade, I've never had sexual fantasies about Putin. Ava and I love to point out, "We don't fall in love with politicians. We're not that desperate."

So my point here is: SO?

Who cares what Robert thinks about Putin? (Disclosure, I know all three running for this nomination.) I don't need a politician who is in love with another politician. The fact that Fiorella is so butt hurt over what Robert said makes me wonder how involved with Putin she is? Is she subscribing to his JUST FANS channel? Does she suggest content?

Robert is against the proxy war. That should be the issue. Not that he won't bow down before Putin.

It's this sort of 'logic' that makes people roll their eyes when Fiorella speaks.

Let's note Joe Biden. Bringing TJ Ducklo onto his campaign staff? While he kept his word by dismissing Ducklo from the administration, it's a weasel move to bring Ducklo back now. I don't know why you would do it. You're trying to put forward an image of the one who does the right thing. Bringing Ducklo back is not the right thing. You either take the threats he made against journalist Tara Palmeri seriously or you don't. This is about leadership and character. I see neither in bringing Ducklo onto the campaign.

What Joe is getting right is the threat that the American Taliban is. I wish I could say the same for Marianne Williamson. I was all eager to note her on the topic when Spencer Friedland's article was slid over to me. Her 'remarks' were uninspiring (and her comments on abortion should really make us pause). Add to that the fact that she didn't lead on the trans issue and only commented because she was directly asked.

This is leadership, Marianne. Lizzo's shown more leadership than you.

John Russell (LGBTQ NATION) reports:

Out pop star Hayley Kiyoko says she was told by police that bringing drag performers onstage at her show in Nashville, Tennessee could result in legal action. She brought the queens onstage anyway.

In a long Instagram post, Kiyoko explained that after attending a drag show at Nashville gay club Play ahead of her May 1 tour stop in the city, she decided to invite some of the performers to appear onstage with her the following night at Marathon Music Works. But, she writes, “At soundcheck the day of, I was advised by local law enforcement that having a drag performance at my all ages show could result in legal action. They warned us to not bring any drag performers on stage.”

People are standing up. Marianne isn't one of them currently. Strange because, at her website, she can post this:

Our Declaration of Independence holds that the inalienable rights of, “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” are endowed to ALL humans by their creator at birth. In 2015, marriage equality became the law of the land, yet there is still no federal law explicitly protecting the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) communities from discrimination. These communities, therefore, do not enjoy the full breadth of freedoms that this country espouses to guarantee to each and every citizen.

This is in direct violation of our founding principles.

Generation after generation, people have fought to rid our country of the “except for’s.” “Except for blacks,” “except for women,” and so forth. Today, we are challenged by the ongoing prejudice that seeks to repudiate the fundamental American dedication to freedom and equality for all. The idea that there should be God-given life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, “except for them,” is a stain on our national character.

The ability to pursue a livelihood free from discrimination is a right denied, every day, to members of the LGBTQIA+ communities. It is estimated that roughly 7% of the US Population identifies as LGBTQIA+. But this large percentage of our population still does not have full legal rights and due process rights in many aspects of their life.

Unfortunately, the problem is now even worse than that. Certain parts of the LGBTQIA+ population, particularly transgender women of color, are at higher risk for marginalization and even violence. This makes them a population that needs not only equal rights but the specific status of special protection. Under a Williamson administration, they would have that.

The Lack of LGBTQIA+ Protections Today

Currently, LGBTQIA+ citizens are not included in the non-discrimination protections provided by the federal Civil Rights Act, and in 30 states, there are no state laws that protect LGBTQIA+ Americans from discrimination.

A report from the Center for American Progress found that more than half of LGBTQIA+ individuals have experienced discrimination at work, and 68.5% of respondents said that anti-LGBTQIA+ discrimination has impacted their mental health.

Hypothetically, you can legally enter into a same-sex marriage on Saturday. Then, on Sunday, you can be refused service at your local restaurant, denied partnership rights at your local hospital, fired by your employer for your orientation, and evicted from your home by your landlord – with little or no legal protections or recourse available.

According to the Human Rights Campaign, today, more than 320 bills described as “anti-LGBTQIA+” were introduced across 35 states, including adoption laws and so-called bathroom bills. A frightening percentage of these types of bills have become law over the last few years.

Every American deserves to live free from fear of discrimination, regardless of who they are and whom they love.

There have been ongoing efforts for over 60 years to change these “except for” legal loopholes. There has been meaningful, bipartisan legislation in the US House ever since 1974, and one version of this reform legislation has been introduced in every Congress since 1994.

Unfortunately, through the 118th Congress, all these reforms remain unpassed.

Additionally, violence against gay and transgender populations internationally should be of specific concern to the United States. Special asylum status should be granted based on patterns of violence against those now seeking refuge in this country. Unfortunately, there have been reports of violence against transgender persons in American custody, including ICE facilities. Such behavior would not be tolerated in a Williamson administration, and all perpetrators would be held accountable to the full extent of the law.

Live what you post and we'll give you some applause, Marianne.

We don't have time for the closet case running from LGBTQ+ because he's afraid people will know that when the press isn't around he's a power-bottom forgetting his wife and his marriage. Maybe we'll have time for that politician tomorrow.

But we need to wind down. While I'm weighing in on things, if "all" Jen Psaki wanted was "to be a cable host," that would be pretty pathetic, I agree, Megyn Kelly. How pathetic she would be. The only thing sadder? If Jen was a failed cable host. I'm thinking of someone. Who is it that's a failed cable host? Who left FOX "NEWS" as her ratings were in downfall? Oh, that's right Megyn Kelly. Yeah, Megyn, that would be pathetic, like you're pathetic.

I've taken Jen Psaki to task many times over the years going back to when she and Marie Harf were spokespeople for the US State Dept but, when I called them out, I always had a reason -- something that they said or did. I never called them out for their dreams.

And if I burned my bridges at FOX "NEWS" and was run off from NBC NEWS, if my career went up in flames to the point that I had nothing impressive to point to and now had to make do with a YOUTUBE program, I don't know that I'd be picking on Jen. I also should point out that Jen still looks like a human being.

Megyn, I remember you asking Jane Fonda about her plastic surgery. She's had it. I don't remember you asking Robert Redford -- who was in the same interview -- about his plastic surgery (he's had a ton) or about that ridiculous wig he had on his head that looked like road kill. Tip for you, Megyn, sassy senior men in their 80s? Their hair isn't naturally strawberry blonde at that age.

Seems like you're real good about attacking women but you freeze up when it comes to men. Is that why you had those problems at FOX "NEWS"? Who knows, right? Why don't you stick to talking about how Santa's really White? I mean it's crazy talk but clearly you believe it.

Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Matt Gaetz Wet" went up last night. The following sites updated: