Wednesday, October 14, 2020

Holly Racist Marie Combs

couple of paramedics talking

 


That's Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "A Couple Of Paramedics Just Standing Around Talking."


Charmed.  What to say?  I wanted to avoid the topic.  I saw it first either Monday or Tuesday.  A friend sent it to me at work.  


So there was some sort of Zoom event or something for the original version of Charmed and Holly Marie Combs (Piper) and Rose McGowan (Paige) participated.  And?

They piped off about the reboot.  They insulted it.  Rose admitted she hadn't seen it and it just seemed like she was being goofy and silly.  Holly Marie did not come off that way to me.


Was that fair? I wasn't sure so I was avoiding it.


Sarah Jeffrey is one of the stars of the successful reboot (the upcoming season will be its third season) and she called out both actresses for the lack of sisterhood and for not supporting women of color.


Then Rose responded:



'Dear Sarah Jeffery, I honestly have no idea who you were til you tweeted. I have been too busy fighting monsters & fighting for a massive Cultural Reset to notice who's in the reboot. Absolutely nothing to do with race, that's quite a stretch you took. I'm beyond glad any WOC has a well paying job. Hell yes to that. I'm sure you are a great actress.

'My quibble (google it) is about execs & producers & @wb network trading on years of my work & name in such a cynical and obvious way - a money grab to cash in on the Charmed name. I do not care that they remade it, I have far bigger things I'm dealing with. I do not nor will I watch a show I disagree with on principle.


Rose, I love you to death, but that's b.s.  Attacking the show is attacking the actresses.  You can get all wordy now but all you were doing when you made the comments originally was going for a cheap laugh.  Now you're worried and you're trying to back peddle.  You should have just said, "Hey, I was an asshole.  We can all be assholes sometimes.  My apologies."


I would've accepted that.  But now you've dug yourself in and you are on the wrong side of the fence.


Holly Marie Combs is always much worse because she's such an ass all the time.  And two-faced.  She went along with the firing of her friend Shannen, remember?  Well here's what White Mama Tweeted:

"That's some bulls---. And a lot of it. Clearly," Combs wrote on Twitter. "People speaking, excuse me, typing, derogatory accusations of a person's character despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary because of a difference in opinions about a tv show is just plain wrong. And also personal gain honey."

She added in a follow-up tweet, "There’s more important things happening in the world. Carry on."

Holly Marie, kiss my Black ass.


No, there's nothing more important than fairness.  And, Holly, I don't know what the f**k you think you did, White girl, but I know what you actually did: Didn't create roles for people of color.  You and Alyssa both became producers of Charmed.


Explain to me again what roles you created for people of color?  I know you didn't create any gay characters -- despite your show being set in San Francisco.  


Holly, you have repeatedly attacked their show.  That's a lot of White privilege wafting off you, bitch.  And it's hurting your show -- not the reboot.  America's watching.  We're seeing how you beat up on these three young women of color.  We're seeing how you're an aging hag who can't get work anymore so you trash young actresses.  


We see your history.  It's not one of fighting against racism and it's not one of creating jobs for people of color.


So stop fronting, bitch.  No one believes you.


Rose, you need to own up to being an ass.  That's not the end of the world.  We're all assholes sometimes.  But, Holly, you're flat out racist and your response only confirms that.

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

 Wednesday, October 14, 2020.  The media's fluffing of Joe Biden gets some media attention, militias remain an issue in Iraq, and much more.



This morning at THE NEW YORK POST, Emma-Jo MOrris and Gabrielle Fonrouge report:

Hunter Biden introduced his father, then-Vice President Joe Biden, to a top executive at a Ukrainian energy firm less than a year before the elder Biden pressured government officials in Ukraine into firing a prosecutor who was investigating the company, according to e-mails obtained by The Post.

The never-before-revealed meeting is mentioned in a message of appreciation that Vadym Pozharskyi, an adviser to the board of Burisma, allegedly sent Hunter Biden on April 17, 2015, about a year after Hunter joined the Burisma board at a reported salary of up to $50,000 a month.

“Dear Hunter, thank you for inviting me to DC and giving an opportunity to meet your father and spent [sic] some time together. It’s realty [sic] an honor and pleasure,” the e-mail reads.

An earlier e-mail from May 2014 also shows Pozharskyi, reportedly Burisma’s No. 3 exec, asking Hunter for “advice on how you could use your influence” on the company’s behalf.

The blockbuster correspondence — which flies in the face of Joe Biden’s claim that he’s “never spoken to my son about his overseas business dealings” — is contained in a massive trove of data recovered from a laptop computer.

The computer was dropped off at a repair shop in Biden’s home state of Delaware in April 2019, according to the store’s owner.

Other material extracted from the computer includes a raunchy, 12-minute video that appears to show Hunter, who’s admitted struggling with addiction problems, smoking crack while engaged in a sex act with an unidentified woman, as well as numerous other sexually explicit images.


Miranda Devine (NEW YORK POST) weighs in:


Joe Biden repeatedly has denied knowing anything about son Hunter’s lucrative work on the board of Ukrainian energy company Burisma.

“Hunter Biden is a private citizen and a lawyer. The former vice president does not endorse any particular company and has no involvement with this company,” a spokeswoman for Joe Biden said in a December 2015 statement to The New York Times.

Biden has stonewalled on the topic ever since.

“I’ve never discussed my business or their business, my sons’ or daughter’s. And I’ve never discussed them because they know where I have to do my job and that’s it, and they have to make their own judgments,” he told the “CBS Evening News” last October.

And yet, an e-mail obtained by The Post shows a senior Burisma executive thanking Hunter for the opportunity to meet Joe Biden just 12 months after Hunter joined the Burisma board at a reported salary of up to $50,000 a month.


The claims come as Mike Allen and Hans Nichols (AXIOS) observe the easy ride that Joe Biden has gotten from the press:


Since Aug. 31, Biden has answered less than half as many questions from the press as Trump — 365 compared with 753 — according to a tally by the Trump campaign, which the Biden campaign didn't dispute.

  • In that time, Biden has done approximately 35 local TV interviews, three national interviews and two town halls.
  • Biden went almost three months without taking questions from beat reporters.
  • Biden aides say one reason there's less scrutiny of Biden in the general election is that he already was examined thoroughly in the primary election and over decades in public life.
  • Andrew Bates, a Biden spokesperson, said: "Who's ‘scrutinizing’ Trump more, Maria Bartiromo or Sean Hannity?"

Biden has yet to be pinned down on an array of legitimate questions, including:

  • His blunt view of adding new justices to the Supreme Court, which will be a priority for progressives if Judy Amy Coney Barrett is confirmed. Biden, who had criticized the idea in the past, finally said he's "not a fan of court packing."
  • Biden also has mostly gotten off easy on Medicare for All, police funding, Pentagon spending, fracking, reparations for African Americans, the Green New Deal and his support for the 1994 crime bill.
  • Per Trump campaign spokesperson Andrew Clark: "Biden has been the least-scrutinized presidential candidate in modern history at great disservice to the voters, but the press still has time to rectify that.”


Click here to listen to the topic discussed in an AXIOS podcast.  Scott Jennings (LOUISVILLE COURIER JOURNAL) also  marvels over the lack of real media scrutiny of Joe, "Biden changes his stripes more than a chameleon in a Skittles factory. And he’s doing it again by claiming the mantle of unity in this election. Today’s Biden is a made-for-media candidacy untested by interactions with his base."  On court packing, Jonathan Turley points out, "A recent Rasmussen poll found that 55 percent of Americans opposed any court packing plan and only 27 percent was in favor of the idea."  John Kass (CHICAGO TRIBUNE) reminds: 


 Biden once thought court-packing would undermine the court’s independence and called it “boneheaded” years ago.

But he’s been dodging the court-packing issue on the campaign trail for weeks.

Just the other day, a reporter in Las Vegas pressed Biden, asking: “Don’t the voters deserve to know where you stand?”

“No, they don’t deserve,” Biden said. “I’m not going to play (Donald Trump’s) game.”



Mike Davis (NEWSWEEK) offers:


Another day, another crazy way Joe Biden tries to get out of answering a simple question.

When asked by reporters on October 10 whether, if elected, he would seek to create additional Supreme Court seats, a radical plan known as "court packing," the former vice president replied that "[i]t's not constitutional what they're doing." This baffling response apparently refers to President Trump and Senate Republicans, who are working to confirm Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.

This clip spread quickly, and it is easy to see why. Many Democrats have condemned Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham's plan to confirm Judge Barrett before the election, using adjectives like "wrong," "hypocritical," "shameful" and "stupid." While these comments have no basis regarding a confirmation timeframe comparable to those of many justices who came before her, "unconstitutional" carries far more serious implications. Biden must explain what he meant by this allegation.


On this issue, Jonathan Turley Tweeted the following last week:


Joe Biden just declared “You'll know my opinion on court packing when the election is over.” So the Democratic presidential candidate is telling the voters that he will not tell them if he plans to destroy a core institution in our constitutional system...

...this is an idea put forward by the Democrats, including Biden's own running mate, and a major issue in this election. The test of principle is when it is neither popular nor convenient...

...this is why James Freeman Clarke said that "a politician thinks of the next election. A statesman, of the next generation." Which is Biden thinking about in refusing to tell the voters whether he will pack the Supreme Court?


Meanwhile, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi continues to embarrass herself and look out of touch to everyone.  She scolded Jake Tapper during an interview and everyone largely looked the other way.  So now, instead of answering questions, she thinks it's acceptable to act like an ass.  Well, maybe not act.  Here she is with Wolf Blitzer.



Jimmy Dore addresses Nancy's nonsense in the commentary below.



She can't answer the question.  She just distracts and scolds.  She has nothing to offer and has accomplished nothing in her time of leadership.  Her claim to represent her constituents is a joke.  I'm one of them.  We supported marriage equality long before Nancy finally came around.  She doesn't represent us.  We were opposed to the Iraq War before it started.  She promised in the 2006 elections to win the Iraq War if the American people gave the Democratic Party control of just one house of Congress.  We gave them control of both houses.  The Iraq War continues to this day. 


Hammam Latif (ARAB WEEKLY) notes:

The relationship between the controversial Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr and the activists supporting the popular protest movement in Iraq has moved towards increased tension, after Sadr attempted to put the brakes on the momentum of the popular demonstrations by placing a number of conditions on the street movement,  described as arbitrary.

Sadr had hesitated a lot before siding with the protest movement that began in October 2019. Activists said that the Sadrists, the moniker given to Sadr’s followers, did not join in the protests until they realised that they were overwhelming; so they jumped on the wagon of the protests for fear to see their place on the street disappear.

During the months-long series of demonstrations, the relationship between the protesters and the popular current affiliated with al-Sadr was erratic at best. The two parties converged repeatedly at some points but also diverted repeatedly at some others. This relationship, however, witnessed a clear turning point when the United States killed the commander of the Quds Force in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Qassem Soleimani, and the field commander of the Popular Mobilisation Forces, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a raid near Baghdad airport in early 2020.

While the protesters welcomed the US action and saw in it an opportunity to reduce Tehran’s dominance of political, security and economic decisions in Iraq, Sadr and his followers sided with Iran and participated in a partisan demonstration demanding the condemnation of the United States, before the representatives of the Shia cleric in the Iraqi parliament participated in drafting a resolution compelling the government to remove US troops out of the country.


The protests continue.  Moqtada lost all standing long ago.  He turned on the protesters then retracted the turn, then spun around again.  After that?  He just became a sad joke.  He didn't want men and women protesting together.  He issued an order.  His order was ignored.  It was mocked.  Protesters -- men and women -- carried signs mocking him.


Moqtada has his cult.  But that's all he has right now.  He had a great deal of power; however, he lost it and became a joke.  He might regain it, he might not.  But no one's really listening to him.  Even his recent call to disband all militias got little attention from the press.


On the issue of the militias, MIDDLE EAST MONITOR notes:


Washington called on Iraqi factions to surrender their weapons to the government in Baghdad, following the Hezbollah Brigade’s announcement that it would suspend attacks on US forces in the country.

The US Department of State told Al Jazeera that America urged all armed parties in Iraq to act responsibly and surrender their weapons to the government, adding that the actions of “Iraqi militias” jeopardises the government’s attempts to attract international investment.

It added that the United States and its partners are focusing on helping Iraq face the ongoing economic crisis, security instability and the coronavirus pandemic.

Following successive missile attacks on the Green Zone, seat of US embassy’s headquarters, and military bases accommodating US and International Coalition troops, the US last month threatened to close its embassy, which many Iraqi observers considered as a prelude to launching air strikes on the factions.

 

We'll wind down with this from The Feminist Majority:


 Join us for our virtual conference Fired Up Ready to Vote this Saturday!

 

 

 

 

Dear Common Ills,

We don’t have to tell you that feminists are fired up for the election this November and ready to vote for the future that we know is possible. Join the Feminist Majority and the National Organization for Women (NOW) for a free virtual conference on October 17th and November 7th on the power of the women’s vote and what is at stake during the first 100 days of the presidency. 

REGISTER TODAY!

This exciting conference will bring together a host of feminist leaders, thinkers, speakers and activists as well as top political leaders to discuss the issues that matter most to feminists, collaborate and share ideas, and strategize for the future of the movement. 

Workshops will include facing the most consequential election of our lifetime, the fight for the Equal Rights Amendment, how the COVID-19 pandemic has disproportionately impacted women, expanding LGBTQIA+ rights after the historic June Supreme Court ruling and more. 

Our two engaging plenary sessions will feature legendary feminist activist Gloria Steinem, and many feminists already in Congress including Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), former Senator Carol Moseley Braun (D-IL) and newcomers Gina Ortiz-Jones who is running for the U.S. House in Texas and Jaime Harrison who is running for the U.S. Senate in South Carolina against Sen. Lindsey Graham. 

You won’t want to miss this opportunity to engage with important feminist leaders and organizers who are working to protect the decades of progress made and are paving the way for even more feminist victories this November. Register now!

For equality,

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Eleanor Smeal
President, Feminist Majority 
 

 

Feminist Majority
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The following sites updated:





Howie

howie

 

Four comics  Sunday? That's  Isaiah  THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS  "Howie speaks."  He did four.  I think that was my favorite since I am a Green Party member and since I am voting for Howie Hawkins.

Here's the latest news release from Howie's campaign:

For Further Information:
Virginia Rodino, Press Secretary, virginia@howiehawkins.us
Robert Smith, Deputy Press Secretary, robert@howiehawkins.us

Hawkins demands equal time on Rush Limbaugh after Trump’s “Radio Rally”

Howie Hawkins, the Green Party candidate for president, is demanding equal time on the The Rush Limbaugh Show after Limbaugh hosted a 2-hour “radio rally” for Trump on Friday.

In a letter to Limbaugh, Hawkins invoked the equal time rule of the Communications Act of 1934 to ask Limbaugh to contact him to arrange a date and programming format for equal time for Hawkins.

“Limbaugh’s audience deserves to understand that it is me, not Biden, who is the democratic socialist in this race. It is me, not Biden, who supports Medicare for All and a Green New Deal,” Hawkins said. Hawkins was the first US candidate in 2010 to campaign for a Green New Deal, which became the signature policy of the Green Party.

“Limbaugh’s listeners also deserve to hear my responses to Trump’s claims about Covid-19, so-called fake news, mail-in ballots, Black Lives Matter, immigration, fracking, and the economy,” said Hawkins who is on 30 state ballots representing 73% of American voters and 381 electoral votes. 270 electoral votes are needed to win the presidency.

Including the other states where he is an official write-in candidate, 96% of Americans representing 514 of a possible 538 electoral voters will be able to vote for the Green presidential ticket. Angela Walker, a veteran labor and racial justice activist in Florence, South Carolina, is the Green candidate for vice president.

Hawkins said he wants equal time to speak to Limbaugh listeners because many live in media markets where the only news/talk commercial radio station on the dial features arch-conservative programming 24 hours a day, as is the case in Hawkins’ home town of Syracuse, New York.

The equal time rule is not the same as the fairness doctrine, a former policy of the Federal Communications Commissions that it revoked in 1987. The fairness doctrine had required federally licensed broadcasters to present balanced points of view on controversial matters of public importance.

Hawkins’ letter to Limbaugh

Dear Mr. Limbaugh:

I am the Green Party candidate to be President of the United States. I am hereby invoking my right to equal time on your program under 47 U.S.C. 315 (a) to match the “radio rally” you conducted Friday, October 9, 2020, with Republican Party candidate Donald Trump to advance his 2020 president ambitions. Please contact me to arrange a date and programming format for your compliance with section 315 (a).

Sincerely,

Howie Hawkins


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


 Tuesday, October 13, 2020.  The children of Iraq continue to suffer but, don't worry, the US is sending approximately $2 million to Iraq to help -- help with animals, Joe Biden questions the memories of the American people during the same week where he again declares that he's currently running for the US Senate and much more.


Saturday on the latest installment of THE KATIE HALPER SAUSAGE FEST, Katie was joined by three men.  Our interest here is Chris Hedges (but good to see you washed your hair, Katie, if I'd known calling you out publicly was all it took, I would have done so long, long ago).




Chris explains that he will not be voting for Joe Biden.  Was he not allowed to say that he was voting for Howie Hawkins?  I don't know.  This seems to be a pattern with Katie Halper interviews.  


I believe we're the only ones -- here and with Ava at THIRD -- who commented on the nonsense of her USEFUL IDIOTS podcast in August with Eugene Puryear who revealed he wouldn't vote for Joe Biden.  The logical follow up?  Who will you vote for?  It wasn't pursued.  


That was embarrassing.  Eugene wasn't just a voter.  In 2008, Joe Biden was Barack's running mate.  What Katie wouldn't tell you was that in 2008, Eugene was Gloria La Riva's running mate.  That's right, he ran against Biden in the 2008 presidential election.  Kind of an important detail as he weighs in on Biden.  Kind of an important detail to establish who he is and where he is coming from.  He's not just a journalist, he's an activist and he's a politician.  Running to be vice president of the United States?  That makes you a politician.


Chris has endorsed Howie Hawkins.  That happened a long time ago.  In fact, it was long enough ago that Dario Hunter -- failed Green Party presidential candidate -- was able to go on Cindy Sheehan's podcast and trash Chris and Howie.  


While I appreciate Chris' critique of "the boutique left or boutique activism," he's for Howie Hawkins for a reason.  So why won't Katie let him discuss that?  And why does Katie have on various people but bury their connections to third parties?  (Eugene is a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.)  Is she censoring for a reason?


Were it a one time thing, we could look the other way. 


But this has become a pattern with Katie.


Speaking of patterns, last month, Amy Goodman finally discovered Howie Hawkins.  She's ignored the Green Party presidential nominee.  Ms. Go Where The Silences Are has ignored the party.  Ava and I warned you in 2008 that she was tossing out token crumbs to the Green Party.  We stated that the Green Party needed to start placing demands on her and calling her out.


They didn't.


The result?


She's done nothing to cover the party.  She hasn't had Howie on.  She hasn't done one of her mock debates where she invites the candidates for president who aren't Democrat or Republican on the show to respond.


She's been paid very well.  PACIFICA has gone into debt paying her millions for a program that they don't even own after paying all that money.


She's a con artist on the grift and you should have called her out long, long ago.


So she and Juan (shame on you, Juan) weighed in with a guest to insist that Howie's ballot access problems were his own.  Remember that, American activists.  Ballot access?  Not a systematic problem, just Howie's personal problem.


Why is Jimmy Dore the only one with a show who does not have a domestic violence relationship with the truth?  



He's not beating up the truth, he's not manipulating it.  He's doing his best to tell the truth and get it out there.  


Let's note this Jimmy Dore video too.



He's covering the Gallup poll that found voters feel they are better off now than they were in 2012 and 2004.  Emily Jacobs (NEW YORK POST) notes:


Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden questioned the memory of voters who felt they were better off economically under President Trump than under former President Obama — saying that those individuals “probably shouldn’t” support him.

Speaking during an interview with local station WKRC in Cincinnati Monday, the 2020 Democrat made the remarks after being asked about a recently released Gallup poll which found that 56 percent of voters felt that their financial situation improved under President Trump’s administration.

Biden was asked why those 56 percent of voters, who liked President Trump for his economic policies, should instead vote Democrat.

“Well if they think that, they probably shouldn’t,” the former vice president quipped before going on to incorrectly restate the poll’s findings while asking the news anchor a question.

“They think — 54 percent of the American people believe they’re better off economically today than they were under our administration? Well, their memory is not very good, quite frankly,” Biden continued in his rebuke.


Their memory is not very good?  This from the man who, on a public stage, confused his sister and his wife?  

Here's REUTERS from February of this year covering Joe's declaration that he's running for the US Senate.



That's not a one time mistake.  Harriet Alexander (DAILY MAIL) reports this week:

Donald Trump on Monday night mocked his Democrat rival Joe Biden for stating he was 'running for Senate' - using the momentary lapse as more evidence of his claim that Biden is unfit for office.

Trump, 74, has made the age and frequent gaffes of Biden, 77, a recurrent line of attack.

On Monday, campaigning in Toledo, Ohio, Biden provided the president with yet more fodder. Biden addressed United Auto Workers who represent a local General Motors powertrain plant. 


Donald Trump's election campaign has a clip with that line already up online.



And Joe wants to question the memories of others?


Hmm.  I want the press to question Joe.  Specifically, to ask him why he want from DOMA supporter to gay rights activist?  It wasn't episodes of WILL & GRACE.  It was the realization and admission of a family member.  Joe sure loves to talk about his family -- especially the ones who are dead.  But somehow this never comes out -- comes out.  Ask Joe about it, there's a story that which has not been publicly told.  For now.


Speaking of Joe's family, this morning at POLITICO, Ben Schreckinger reports:


At the same time that Joe Biden’s son-in-law, Howard Krein, has been advising Biden’s campaign on its coronavirus response, Krein’s venture capital business has been running a special initiative to invest in health care startups that offer solutions to the pandemic.

In March, as Covid-19 began spreading in the United States, the investment firm, StartUp Health, unveiled a new coronavirus initiative soliciting pitches from entrepreneurs with products that addressed the outbreak.

The next month, reports in Bloomberg and the New York Times listed Krein among those participating in daily calls to brief Biden on health policy during the pandemic, while StartUp Health announced its intention to invest $1 million across 10 startups with coronavirus applications within 30 days.“StartUp Health is putting the full support of its platform and network behind building a post-Covid world that uses technology and entrepreneurial ingenuity to improve health outcomes,” the firm said at the time.

Krein simultaneously advising the campaign and venturing into Covid investing could pose conflict-of-interest concerns for a Biden administration or simply create the awkward appearance of Krein profiting off his father-in-law’s policies. Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, the federal government has directed tens of billions of dollars in coronavirus medical spending in areas like testing and vaccine research to private firms. It is poised to spend billions more next year and possibly beyond.

The potential conflicts are not limited to the coronavirus for Krein, 53, a Philadelphia-based head-and-neck surgeon who got into venture investing not long after he began dating Biden’s daughter, Ashley, in 2010.

Since StartUp Health’s 2011 launch, when Krein came on as its chief medical officer, it has invested in more than 300 health care businesses, according to its website, which prominently features the term “moonshot” to describe its investment goals — language that echoes that of Joe Biden’s own signature Cancer Moonshot initiative. In its early years, the firm enjoyed close ties to the Obama administration and described Krein as a White House adviser.


The corruption just wafts off the Biden family.  On the coronavirus, XINHUA reports:


The Iraqi Health Ministry reported on Monday 3,107 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the nationwide infections to 405,437.

The new cases included 1,268 in the Iraqi capital Baghdad, 291 in Erbil, and 246 in Duhok, while the other cases were detected in the other provinces, the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry also reported 60 more deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 9,912 in the country.


This takes place, this pandemic and its rising tolls, as children continue to suffer in Iraq.  Mina Aldroubi (THE NATIONAL) reports:

Iraq’s most vulnerable children are facing challenges with remote education that are widening the country's learning gaps, teachers in displacement camps told The National.

Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic this year, thousands of schools have shut down, leaving more than 10 million children aged 6 to 17 without education, a study by the Norwegian Refugee Council shows.

The study of more than 6,000 children found that almost 83 per cent of children in camps across the country did not receive any type of education in April.

That spurred the charity to warn that an entire generation could be chronically uneducated as a result of the crisis.

“The outbreak of the pandemic had a huge impact on Iraq’s education sector," Tais Mejbel, a teacher from Hamman Al Alil camp in southern Mosul, told The National.

"The majority of students living in displaced camps have had little access to education since March."

Mr Mejbel, who teaches in a state school inside the camp, said it was overwhelmed with pupils and understaffed, and has now begun to teach over the internet.


But don't fret America, your tax dollars are en route to Iraq.  2.2 million dollars in fact.  That's how much the US Defense Threat Reduction Agency has just donated "to strengthen veterinary services in targeted provinces in Iraq.''  Let the kids suffer, apparently.


The United Nations noted the bleak realities for Iraqi children earlier this week:



According to the GBV Information Management System's data of the first two quarters of 2020, 23 per cent of the incidents of violence reported to the service providers were among children and adolescents, of which 6 per cent were aged between 0 and 11 years, and 17 per cent were aged between 12 and 17 years old.

Interviews conducted by the United Nations with families living in displacement camps across Nineveh governorate, affirm that child marriage remains a frequent practice and a coping mechanism for families living in poverty to reduce the financial strain.

Education and learning are some of the best ways to empower girls and protect them against violence, exploitation and social exclusion by providing them with the opportunity to build a better life for themselves, their families and their communities. To make education and learning accessible and empowering for girls, it needs to be safe and gender sensitive.

Having zero tolerance to bullying, cyberstalking, sexting and harassment should be a priority for all as part of the national COVID-19 efforts to reimagine school systems and learning, we must address violence against girls of all ages in and around classrooms and on digital learning platforms. Because girls have higher risk than boys to experience violence, verbal and sexual abuse, a multi-sectoral approach is needed to address all risk factors and cases. Youth-friendly, accessible and quality education and learning, health and social services are essential for girls' empowerment and their development.

Ending gender-based violence is not a far-fetched dream; this is a real possibility. All that is needed is for girls to have access to formal education, , skilled, civically engaged, healthy, supported, and protected at home, in institutions and at the community. The alternative is devastating with a lasting negative and damaging impact to the health, education and well-being of Iraqi girls.









The following sites updated:

Tuesday, October 13, 2020

The awful Michelle

charm

 

That's Isaiah  THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS  "Outreach." And Michelle Obama is a bully -- an ugly bully at that.  Where does she get off telling people not to vote third party?


She's an ugly woman who has no accomplishments to her name except for 'married to . . .'


Her daughter was smoking pot before she was 18 and while she was living in the White House.  This while Barack was not trying to decriminalize pot.  Hypocrisy is the family name.


And Michelle didn't have the brains to get the oldest daughter a training bra so for years we saw her getting on and off a plane in a t-shirt with her little tits showing.  Was that Michelle's gift to pedophiles or was she just trying to get her daughter nicknamed "Titsy"?


A lousy mother, a lousy First Lady.  


And now she proves it's more important to her to be seen as a Democrat than a former First Lady of America.  

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

 Monday, October 12, 2020.  NYT and CNN correspondents cover their outlets with something other than glory, the Day of the Girl goes unnoticed by the US press, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani calls for the militias to disband, and much more.


Sunday, the UN mission in Iraq noted:


Today is #DayOfTheGirl
"This year’s theme, “My Voice: Our Equal Future” calls on us to amplify the voices of adolescent girls, and put their needs at the forefront of laws, policies and practices in every country and community around the world" -
Secretary-General on the International Day of the Girl [scroll down
This year, we mark the International Day of the Girl against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, an


The OHCHR, UNFPA and UNICEF issued the following:


11 October marks the International Day of the Girl Child, a day dedicated to girls' empowerment, fulfilment of girls' rights and solving challenges that they face.

This year, the global theme is "My Voice, Our Equal Future," a reminder to listen to girls , understand the changes they want to see and to ensure that all of them have an equal opportunity for a bright, safe and healthy future.

In Iraq, the challenges experienced by girls and boys are many and complex. Violence against children, including young people is unacceptably high in Iraq, with 80 per cent facing violence at home and in schools. Many girls in Iraq, like millions of girls around the world, suffer from female genital mutilation, child marriage, sexual harassment and abuse, and other harmful practices.

Girls across Iraq continue to be particularly affected by increased insecurity, which in turn has imposed restrictions on movement that affects their access to education, protection and jobs. Young girls are keen to make the most of opportunities, have specific interests, identities and experiences and are keen to share accountability in their development, exercise of human rights and ensure their gender-differentiated needs.

The COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions on movement have elevated risks for girls to be violated and abused. The number of gender-based violence cases has increased since the onset of COVID19 pandemic in Iraq according to the Protection Cluster Monitoring in Response to COVID-19 (August 2020)

According to the GBV Information Management System's data of the first two quarters of 2020, 23 per cent of the incidents of violence reported to the service providers were among children and adolescents, of which 6 per cent were aged between 0 and 11 years, and 17 per cent were aged between 12 and 17 years old.

Interviews conducted by the United Nations with families living in displacement camps across Nineveh governorate, affirm that child marriage remains a frequent practice and a coping mechanism for families living in poverty to reduce the financial strain.

Education and learning are some of the best ways to empower girls and protect them against violence, exploitation and social exclusion by providing them with the opportunity to build a better life for themselves, their families and their communities. To make education and learning accessible and empowering for girls, it needs to be safe and gender sensitive.

Having zero tolerance to bullying, cyberstalking, sexting and harassment should be a priority for all as part of the national COVID-19 efforts to reimagine school systems and learning, we must address violence against girls of all ages in and around classrooms and on digital learning platforms. Because girls have higher risk than boys to experience violence, verbal and sexual abuse, a multi-sectoral approach is needed to address all risk factors and cases. Youth-friendly, accessible and quality education and learning, health and social services are essential for girls' empowerment and their development.

Ending gender-based violence is not a far-fetched dream; this is a real possibility. All that is needed is for girls to have access to formal education, , skilled, civically engaged, healthy, supported, and protected at home, in institutions and at the community. The alternative is devastating with a lasting negative and damaging impact to the health, education and well-being of Iraqi girls.

We call on the government, civil society organisations, the private sector, faith-based groups and the international community to accelerate their efforts to:

  • Improve equal access to quality primary and secondary education including life-skills
  • Promote access to alternative learning opportunities for out of school adolescents and youth, in the form on life skills and citizenship education, including social and business entrepreneurship for improved learning to work transition;
  • Increase capacity of the health sector to provide adolescents and youth-friendly health services across the country, with focus on girls; Ensure that girls - survivors of GBV access free and quality specialised services anchored in survivor-centred and age-appropriate approaches
  • Mobilise girls, boys, parents and leaders through civic and social engagement to challenge discriminatory gender norms and create real social, economic and civic opportunities for all girls;
  • Draft and enforce legislation, such as the anti-domestic violence law and child law, to protect girls and prosecute those who harm them;
  • Implement the recommendations by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, including to criminalise, forced, temporary and child marriage;
  • Increase availability of child protection services for girls and young women.

Girls can be powerful agents of change, and nothing should keep them from participating fully in all areas of life. We must come together and show our commitment by dedicating resources for girls to realise their rights and fulfil their full potential.

--

UNICEF Representative to Iraq, Ms Hamida R. Lasseko

UNFPA Representative to Iraq, Dr Rita Columbia

OHCHR Representative to Iraq, Ms Danielle Bell

For media queries:

UNICEF Chief of Communications, Zeina Awad, zawad@unicef.org

UNICEF Digital Communication Specialist, Innocent Kafembe,ikafembe@unicef.org

UNFPA Communications Specialist, Salwa Moussa, smoussa@unfpa.org

UNAMI Human Rights Office, Monica Michelle Kemanzi Women and Minority Rights Team Leader, kemanzi@un.org


Media queries?  Don't make me laugh.  Find the English language outlet that even bothered to note the day.  They can't even be bothered to Tweet about it.  Take the idiot Peter Baker who we called out last night.  Along with his stupid Tweet comparing the death tolls of pandemic to the death tolls of US troops in conflicts (and only US troops -- no foreigners were included, no US citizens were included), Petey managed to wag his limp noodle enough to do five Tweets about his new bad book co-written with his wife (about the equally hideous James Baker).  But people who weren't worth millions?  People like Iraqi girls?  Peter has no time or interest in them.


He couldn't even be bothered to reTweet The World Food Program:

The lives of girls are disproportionately changing in the face of conflict and hunger. On the #DayOfTheGirl
, we remind the world that peace is our only path to a better future for all.
🕊
Photo: Emilienne Malfatto
UN


The ICRC Tweeted:

“I drew our house and this is my missing brother inside.” These are the heart-breaking words of Layla, a nine-year-old #girl in #Iraq showing strength, resilience and hope for a better future. On the #DayOfTheGirl
, we salute Layla, girls in #Iraq and across
Earth globe americas
Image


UNHCR Tweeted:


On #DayOfTheGirl
let us not forget girls like 2-year-old Bedoor, who was displaced by war in Iraq
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Mosul Schoolgirls Tweeted:

Amena, 10, wants to help build a better future for Iraq as an engineer. #DayOfTheGirl
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And they Tweeted:


Zainab, 12, sees brighter days ahead. #DayOfTheGirl
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And they noted:

Fatima, 14, "wants to see permanent peace in Iraq." #DayOfTheGirl
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One more:


Hajer, 11, "wants war to end" so that she can fulfill her dream of becoming a doctor. #DayOfTheGirl
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Check out Mosul Schoolgirls Twitter feed for many more drawings and photos.  So many brave girls, living in war, raised in war and the country that started it -- that would be us in the US -- can't even take a moment to acknowledge them.





Bless the girls of Iraq.  The reporters at US outlets?  Not so much.

Alex Burns, another piece of garbage working for NYT, found time to try to rehab War Criminal Bully Boy Bush's image yesterday but not to cover the girls of Iraq.


You know what?  No news outlet has more Iraqi blood on its hands than NYT.  They sold the illegal war, they lied to sell the war, they lied to keep it going.  And yet, all these years later, still having taken no accountability, they ignore the children of Iraq.  For someone that constantly tells you how awful Donald Trump is, they themselves are pretty damn awful as well.  Not to be outdone, Arwa Damon and CNN used this Day of the Girl to report on . . . an Iraqi boy.  That's pretty embarrassing and who would have thought the reporter who already had her own TMZ headline ("CNN Sued Over Correspondent Who Bit EMTS in Drunken Rage") could get more embarrassing?


The press loves to lie -- lives to lie?  They're juking all over themselves about a 'cease fire' that really isn't.  The militias in Iraq have not agreed to stop attacking US targets.  ALJAZEERA explains:


An array of Iran-backed Iraqi armed groups have agreed to suspend attacks on United States forces on condition Iraq’s government presents a timetable for a withdrawal of US troops, according to one of the groups.

“The factions have presented a conditional ceasefire,” Mohammed Mohi, spokesman for the Iran-backed Kataib Hezbollah group, said on Sunday.

“It includes all factions of the [anti-US] resistance, including those who have been targeting US forces,” he told the Reuters news agency.

Mohi said the Iraqi government must implement a parliamentary resolution in January that called for the withdrawal from Iraq of foreign troops.


If Iraq expels US forces, then the militia would stop attacking.  Of course, if all US forces left Iraq, the militias would have to stop attacking them because they wouldn't be there.  But never count on US media to have reasoning skills.  Remember, they're glorified general studies majors with no real training in anything at all.  And it shows -- it really, really shows.  

On the topic of the militias, Hussain Abdul-Hussain (Kuwait's AL-RAI) writes:


Iraq’s top Shia cleric, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, last month called for the disbanding of all militias. This would involve the state disarming the pro-Iran Popular Mobilization Units (PMU). In turn, this would neuter Tehran’s most reliable partner in Iraq, Kataeb Hezbollah, the most dangerous alternative to state power in the country. Such then is the importance to the integrity of the Iraqi state of Sistani’s call. Indeed, the prime minister, now provided cover by the religious leadership in the Shia centre of Najaf, should act with haste. Yet, all we have witnessed thus far is an exhibition of inertia.

Kataeb Hezbollah – the Brigades of the Party of God, if you will – has been busy building a “statelet” within Iraq. If the government does not act quickly, Kataeb Hezbollah soon will become stronger than the Iraqi state itself; it will dominate Iraq in the manner in which its namesake, Hezbollah, does in Lebanon and seal Iraq’s slide into failure as a client state of Iran.


Yesterday, Isaiah posted four new THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS comics: "Outreach," "Howie speaks," "A Couple Of Paramedics Just Standing Around Talking." and "Does anyone really listen?"