SICKOFITRADLZ: July 2017

Monday, July 31, 2017

Press starts to notice Little Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Little White Devil" went up Monday.

Little Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

The media's finally starting to cover the story.

POLITICO reports:

A right-leaning ethics group is pushing for a congressional probe into Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz because she continued to employ an IT staffer for months after he became the focus of a criminal investigation.

REAL CLEAR POLITICS notes:

Retired Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer said Thursday on Tucker Carlson Tonight that there is now evidence that then-Democratic National Chairwoman and current Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz used Imran Awan for "malevolent activities" and "manipulative things" against Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Democratic primary race.

Morgan Liddick (SUMMIT DAILY) offers:

We know that Awan and company had access to a wide range of communications, files and other confidential information from high-ranking Democrat congresspersons including members of the House permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Committee on Foreign Affairs, some of which was moved to the cloud; they had similar access to the Democrat National Committee's information infrastructure: Awan had an iPad belonging to Wasserman-Schultz when information about DNC actions against Bernie Sanders was given to Wikileaks. We know Awan took out a number of fraudulent mortgages to solve perpetual "money problems."

In counter-intelligence work, high debt plus access to sensitive material paints a target on one's back as big as Texas. But Awan was protected by Democrats including Wasserman-Schultz, who until last week refused to allow Federal investigators to access the laptop he used, found stashed in a sparsely-occupied House Office Building. She also prevented access to a number of smashed-up hard drives seized from a home he rented before attempting to disappear. In hearings about the Capitol Police budget, she threatened "consequences" if these devices were not returned. Why the panic?

Perhaps Ms. Wasserman-Schultz suspects — or even knows — the contents of these hard drives, and understands its potential impact on current efforts by Democrats and their Never-Trump Republican allies to overturn the results of November last? What if — as Wikileaks Julian Assange insists — information about John Podesta's loathing for the average American and the Democrat party's betrayal of one of its major presidential candidates came not from the Russians, but from someone much closer to them?

And ROLL CALL notes:

Rep. Ron DeSantis told “Fox & Friends” Monday said Congress should investigate Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s employment of a man charged with submitting a fraudulent loan application and potentially scamming his House employers.

Asked if Wasserman Schultz should be forced to testify DeSantis responded, “I think it's questionable what they were doing during that time,” referring to Imran Awan and other members of his family. “We would have to investigate that. Of course, they had access to intelligence and House Foreign Affairs Committee members’ personal email and IT accounts. There is some very sensitive information on there. This could be a significant security breach.”

Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Monday, July 31, 2017. Chaos and violence continue, the Islamic State continues, Tony Blair continues to walk on war crimes, the US government continues to fail veterans, and much more.

Starting in Afghanistan . . .

‏Verified account @BBCBreaking

Gunfire heard after several explosions hit Afghanistan's Kabul, reportedly near the Iraqi embassy 

60 replies419 retweets366 likes

‏Verified account @AFP

The Islamic State group claims responsibility for an attack on the Iraqi embassy in the Afghan capital Kabul 

1 reply61 retweets16 likes

Amir Shah (AP) reports, "The Islamic State group targeted the Iraqi Embassy in Kabul on Monday, with a suicide bomber blowing himself up outside the gates, followed by three gunmen who stormed into the building. The assault set off a four-hour firefight that ended only after Afghan security forces said they had killed all the attackers."

‏Verified account @patriciakime

Ret. Army NG Staff SGT Will Thompson has had double lung transplant - retirement pay kicks in at 60, but he is pretty sure he won't make it

0 replies0 retweets0 likes

Last week, BURNPIT 360 was in DC providing a Congressional briefing. Veteran Will Thompson was among those participating.

Will Thompson: My name is retired Staff Sgt William Joseph Thompson. I have served 23 years, 3 months, 11 days in the United States Army and the West Virginia Army National Guard. I have deployed twice with the West Virginia Army National Guard to Iraq. During my last deployment, I was stationed at Camp Striker on the Victory Complex. My symptoms of frequent coughing started on September 2009 while in Iraq. I was treated for allergies by the doctors and PAs. I returned to Fort Stewart Georgia and after I mentioned to the doctor that I had been having frequent cough, they did a chest x-ray that revealed bilateral pneumonia. They treated me with an antibiotic and sent me home to West Virginia and told me to follow up with my PCP in one week. After a week, I followed up with my doctor [. . .] and after a CATSCAN he discovered that I had coronary fibrosis with pulmonary nodules. He stated my lungs looked like an 80-year-old coal miner's lungs. He referred me to Walter Reed Army Medical Center where I was treated by Dr. Jacob Collen for six months. He admitted me to the Warrior Transition Unit at Walter Reed and, after six months of testing which included an open lung biopsy, I was informed that I had titanium, magnesium, iron and silicon in my lungs.

The ones paying for the war -- in Iraq and elsewhere -- are not the ones who started it.

‏ @a_leesha1

Tony Blair being responsible for the murder of a million Iraqi civilians should be enough to prosecute him.

1 reply12 retweets23 likes

‏ @SamiRamadani1

Disgusting decision. You could be prosecuted for harming a cat or a dog but not for killing a million #Iraqi people.

5 replies15 retweets15 likes

Tony Blair skates again.

He lied a country, a world, into war.

And he won't stand trial.

Will Thompson: My life and my family's life has changed since I returned home from deployment in 2010. Due to my low immune system now, I have to wear a mask in highly populated areas to prevent infection. I challenge you to go into a store wearing a mask like the one I have on right now and see how people treat you. I have been treated like I was contagious and I have had to explain many times that it was for my protection. And with that it's even hard to hang out with my kids during the day when they say, "Daddy, can we do this?" and I say, "No, we can't do that." Or "Daddy, let's go skiing." I can't do that. "Daddy, let's go swimming." I can't do that. "Daddy, can I have a piggy back ride?" I can't do that. "Daddy, let's go to the beach." I can't do that. I can't do that because of bacteria in the water [. . .] I don't feel like a man because my role as a husband has been taken over by my wife. She now does everything that I used to do. There are so many things that I can no longer do. I am a warrior of the United States of America. I gave my lungs for my country.

The suffering gets dispersed to the 99%.

The 1% just get dividends.

Tony's certainly gotten richer and richer since starting the Iraq War.

MINT PRESS NEWS notes:

Writing for Middle East Eye, Mansfield and Antonia Benfield, who represented the former Iraqi general at the high court, said the ruling has “brought to an end the hope of prosecuting Tony Blair, Jack Straw and Peter Goldsmith for the crime of aggression”.
They said: “On the national and international stage the failure of the British government to give a tangible commitment to the prosecution of the crime of aggression undermines the rule of law. It sets a dangerous precedent in times of global insecurity and sets an example to the rest of the world that states can wage aggressive war with impunity.

“The devastation that has been caused to millions of Iraqi civilians leaves the world with only one lesson – how to commit the most serious of crimes, and get away with it.”

Tony Blair skates again.

While the dead and the living victims continue to be scarred.

Will Thompson is still fighting for his rights with the VA.

Grasp that.

The fight continued throughout Barack Obama's 8 year presidency and continues to this day.

Grasp that the VA issues are still not fixed.

Grasp that even the basic issue of one uniform electronic record that would follow a person from service member status to veteran status didn't accomplished.

In 8 years.

What a proud moment for Barack and part of the reason veterans still have to fight so hard to get the appropriate disability ratings.

In what world is right that Barack's raking in millions while Will Thompson has to depend on charity for medical and treatment needs because the US government is still refusing to cover the disabilities their burnpits created?

This is shameful.

Politicians are seen as slime for exactly this reason -- they smile and brag about how great they are when all they do is destroy the people they are supposed to be representing.

Remember that the next time hair plugs and pot-bellied Bruce Springsteen publicly pretends to care about veterans.

No one caring about veterans would be partying on a yacht with Barack.

Meanwhile Nahwi Saeed (AL-MONITOR) writes:

In a July 19 statement, Kurdistan Regional Government President Massoud Barzani said that holding a referendum is a natural right of the people of Kurdistan that they will not back down from. According to the spokesperson for the Independent High Electoral and Referendum Commission (IHERC) in Kurdistan, around 6 million people in the Kurdistan Region and the disputed territories such as the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, Sinjar, Makhmour and Khanaqin have the right to vote in the referendum. Forty-eight percent of the Kurdistan Region’s land is still disputed between Baghdad and Erbil and some 2.7 million people live in the disputed territories.

According to Article 140 of the constitution, the territorial disputes between Baghdad and Erbil was set to be settled by the end of 2007, but the Iraqi government never implemented this article. For Barzani, the nonimplementation of the Iraqi Constitution is one of the main reasons he wants to hold a referendum Sept. 25 in the Kurdistan Region and the contested areas. However, there are many challenges that may eventually keep the referendum from happening on the scheduled date, especially in the disputed territories.
Barzani’s referendum decision was preceded by a vote of the Kirkuk Provincial Council (KPC) April 4 to hold a referendum to decide the future administration of the province. However, many of the Arab and Turkmen members of the KPC boycotted the vote altogether. The KPC’s vote came after a call March 14 by Kirkuk Gov. Najmiddin Karim to raise the Kurdistan flag over the government buildings in Kirkuk province. But the Iraqi Turkmen Front opposed this move and filed a case against the acting head of the KPC, Rebwar Talabani, in Baghdad. By the same token, the Arabs and Turkmens of the disputed territories are expected to boycott the upcoming referendum and ask Iraq’s supreme court to declare that holding a unilateral referendum in the disputed territories is illegal. If these measures fail, they may eventually resort to violence. Nationally, Baghdad is not happy about the planned referendum either.

It's interesting, can you write about this topic and not know ARTICLE 140?

Because it doesn't appear AL-MONITOR understands ARTICLE 140 at all.

Article 140 of Iraq's Constitution is rather straightforward on oil-rich Kirkuk:

The responsibility placed upon the executive branch of the Iraqi Transitional Government stipulated in Article 58 of the Transitional Administrative Law shall extend and continue to the executive authority elected in accordance with this Constitution, provided that it accomplishes completely (normalization and census and concludes with a referendum in Kirkuk and other disputed territories to determine the will of their citizens), by a date not to exceed the 31st of December 2007.

Are writers for AL-MONITOR illiterate?

ARTICLE 140 calls for a census and a referendum.

It was always to be settled by a referendum.

This isn't a Barzani creation. It's the Iraqi Constitution.

There's also a 'lightness' about AL-MONITOR's writing on this that needs to stop immediately.

Newsflash: Iraq's supposed to have held provincial elections already this year.

They have kicked it back.

And there's a good chance that, before September arrives, they'll try to do it again.

Elections are not held when you're ready -- they're to be held as defined by law.

Hayder al-Abadi is in violation of the law at present.

Treating this as a non-story is appalling.

September 25th is when the referendum is supposed to be held -- as noted in the article. Not noted in the article? That's also when the provincial elections are now supposed to take place.

That needs to be noted repeatedly.

Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Little White Devil" went up last night as did new content at THIRD:

Saturday, July 29, 2017

The bigoted Joy Reid

Joy Reid.

She's so disgusting.

And, it turns out, transphobic.

That certainly explains what she was always attacking Chelsea Manning.

And she's back to attacking Chelsea.

Colin Kalmbacher (Mediaite) explains:

Enter: MSNBC’s Joy-Ann Reid, Democratic pundit, host of AM Joy and all-around bloviator on things she probably shouldn’t.

Last night, in a string of tweets — that for some reason have yet to be deleted — Reid decided to use Chelsea Manning as a foil to make some sort of point about President Donald Trump‘s proposed transgender military ban.

[. . .]

Her first salvo was classic concern trolling. Reid pretended to care about an unnamed CNN guest using Chelsea Manning as an excuse to support the ban. Then it got ugly–and how–quick.

Let’s dissect this without mincing words.

Joy-Ann Reid is using gender dysphoria as a pathology to account for Chelsea Manning’s principled and heroic actions.

Reid suggests Manning would have been “less volatile and vulnerable” if she’d had earlier access to reassignment surgery. By this, Reid means maybe Manning would have been okay with the brutality of the U.S. military’s operations in Iraq. That’s gross and insulting. Manning’s agency is removed, U.S. crimes are excused, and Manning’s desire to live her life as she sees fit is turned into some kind of illness.

Sensing that her horrific point hadn’t been made quite clear enough, Reid dug in. Here’s another shot:

Of course, no decent person would follow up the above statement with a sentence that begins with the word “but”, but, well…here’s the chaser:

Here, Reid is peddling whole-cloth-created (and non-existent as a matter of record) sympathy for how Manning was treated by the U.S. military. Recall, Manning’s treatment while under custody was formally described by the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture as “cruel, inhuman and degrading.” That same report asserted Manning’s treatment under the Obama administration may have even risen to the level of torture itself. The report was issued in 2012.

MSNBC should pull her off the air immediately.

Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Friday, July 28, 2017.

Let's start with things that are beyond stupidity.

‏Verified account @ASlavitt

Andy Slavitt Retweeted David Corn

This vote is this decade's Iraq war vote. 

Except no Senator will be able to say they weren't warned by the experts. 

Andy Slavitt added,

David CornVerified account @DavidCornDC

GOP voting against all experts. #ShameShameShame. https://twitter.com/aslavitt/status/890759539531894785 …

66 replies1,985 retweets3,538 likes

Andy Slavitt's one of those ugly whores who wormed his way into government (via Barack) from Goldman Sachs.

He's also got a face that looks like someone ran over it with an 18-wheeler.

Which could explain the possible brain damage.

ObamaCare does not help America.

Nor will TrumpCare.

The only answer is Medicare for all -- an answer a Goldman Sachs whore will never support.

Andy's not the first ugly piece of trash to lie.

But he had to lie about Iraq.

Why?

Because he's not just a whore, he's also a War Hawk.

His comments are not just ridiculous, they're xenophobic.

The Iraq War has resulted in the immediate deaths of over a million civilians.

It has left hundreds of thousands living in a war zone with severe injuries.

Do not compare this to the US healthcare system.

The weapons used by the US and others have destroyed areas like Falluja and will result in birth defects for decades to come.

Iraq did not attack the United States.

Add to that, no one can say they weren't warned ahead of voting for the Iraq War.

They chose not to pay attention -- like Blood Thirsty Hillary Clinton -- but they were warned.

They wanted war because they're whores just like Andy.

The US government has destroyed Iraq.

Don't you dare show up at this late date pretending to suddenly care so you can do a Tweet you filthy piece of trash. But it's what he wants to do, it's what the laughable Obama whore Daniel Benaim wants to do.

Next up, watch Daniel compare his issues with the McDonald's menu to the plight of the Palestinians!
Seriously, people need to realize how stupid they sound when they liken this to an ongoing, 14-year war that has decimated a country, turned it into a country of orphans and so much more.

Let's stay with stupidity:

‏Verified account @CNN

Openly gay Iraq War veteran on transgender military ban: “I thought we were done with this” http://cnn.it/2uCb4tJ 

352 replies703 retweets2,173 likes

Gay men and lesbians are not transgendered.

CNN can't find a transgendered person to speak with?

That's insulting.

It's like bringing on an Anglo White person to discuss what it's like to be African-American.

Rob Smith is not qualified to speak and needs to sit his tired ass down.

It's like when the Native Americans told Jane Fonda they could speak for themselves and didn't need a savior to speak for them.

Rob Smith needs to sit his tired ass down and CNN needs to grasp that if you are covering transgender issues, you bring on guests who are transgender.

He is not an expert on being transgender.

Shame on CNN for refusing to invite a transgendered guest to the table and shame on Rob Smith who thinks he can speak on any topic.

There are many who could speak including Chelsea Manning.

Chelsea E. Manning‏Verified account @xychelsea Jul 26

so, biggest baddest most $$ military on earth cries about a few trans people but funds the F-35? sounds like cowardice #WeGotThis

3,459 replies18,728 retweets59,866 likes
Chelsea E. Manning‏Verified account @xychelsea 20h20 hours ago

wrote about trans ban (and war against trans) in @nytimes big setback but we will move forward #WeGotThis

165 replies1,104 retweets3,201 likes

Shame on anyone taking a seat at the table on this issue from a transgendered person. It's a bit like the way Gloria Steinem derailed feminism by refusing to step aside (she had no qualms about knocking Betty Friedan out of the way, did she?).

Even in the so-called age of diversity, seats at the table are hard to come by. If you're taking up someone else's seat, you need to step back.

And shame on CNN for the garbage they offer including "Ten years on: How Iraq's soccer stars brought warring nation together."

Was someone at CNN inhaling fumes from their dirty jock strap?

How else to explain such garbage?

They can't cover the War Crimes but they're propaganda central, aren't they?

Bill Van Auken (WSWS) reports:

Two weeks after the Iraqi government hailed the “liberation” of Mosul, the scale and criminality of the mass slaughter carried out during the US-backed siege continues to emerge.
Iraqi soldiers and officers speaking to a reporter from Middle East Eye (MEE) have revealed that during the assault on the densely populated Old City of western Mosul, the order was given to massacre everyone remaining, men, women and children.
“We killed them all,” an Iraqi soldier told MEE. “Daesh [ISIS] men, women and children. We killed everyone.”
An Iraqi major told the web site, “After liberation was announced, the order was given to kill anything or anyone that moved.” He added that most of the remaining fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the Sunni Islamist militia that took control of the city in June 2017, had surrendered to the army. “They gave themselves up, and we just killed them,” he said.
The report, one of the few from Mosul, from which US-backed Iraqi security forces have barred the media, paints a horrific portrait of what was once Iraq’s second-largest city:

To be clear, many US reporters were covering -- or miscovering -- Mosul. Including THE NEW YORK TIMES' new Judith Miller -- who, no surprise, Rachel Maddow's reTweeting.

RUDAW reminds:

Because of alleged killings committed by the 16th division of the Iraqi army in Mosul, the United States should stop assisting Baghdad militarily, argues a human rights monitor.

“The US government should make sure it is no longer providing assistance to the Iraqi unit responsible for this spate of executions but also suspend any plans for future assistance until these atrocities have been properly investigated,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch (HRW).

The group released a report on Thursday claiming two international observers witnessed “the summary killings of four people by the Iraqi army’s 16th Division in mid-July 2017.”

HRW argues that US government should suspend all assistance and support to the 16th Division pending Iraq’s full investigation of the allegations and appropriate prosecutions.

Its basis is that the Leahy Law prohibits the US from providing military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights with impunity.

Let's turn to numbers. Qassim Abdul-Zahra (AP) reports that the Iraqi government estimates there are 7,000 members of ISIS still in Iraq. Another number, via Patrick Cockburn's reporting last week, was 40,000 civilians killed in the 'liberation' of Mosul. One number getting less attention -- in fact, no attention outside Arabic and Russian media -- is 20,000.

That's the number of Iraqi forces killed in the 'liberation' of Mosul per Nouri al-Maliki.

Ahead of his trip to Russia and after reaching Russia, Nouri gave numerous interviews stressing that 20,000 Iraqi forces had been killed.

Considering that the Iraqi government had clamped down on the number and that UNAMI storpped recording the number of dead Iraqi forces at the Iraqi government's request, Nouri's 20,000 should have been big news.

The following community sites -- plus PACIFICA EVENING NEWS and DISSIDENT VOICE -- updated: