Thursday, June 25, 2020

Look at the entitled White gals

I'm not in the mood for this nonsense.  We're dealing with a pandemic and the numbers are rising.  I don't have time to also deal with entitled Karens. 

First, there's the liar Whitney Cummings.  Betty's covered it so read Betty.


  • Whitney Cummings knew -- and that's from of D'Elia's victims, not me
  • It's time to cancel Whitney Cummings
  • Shut up, Whitney Cummings


    • Short version: Whitney did not say a damn thing when the women were coming forward.  She waited days and then she insisted she never knew.  But that's not what the women say.  They talk about how while they were young girls being groomed by Chris D'Elia, he'd introduce them to Whitney.

    Whitney Cummings is a liar and she knew.  She needs to go and take her Karen ass with her.

    On the way out the door, she should grab Kristen Bell.  From CNN:
    Citing her own "pervasive privilege," Kristen Bell has announced she is leaving her role as a mixed-race character on the Apple TV+ animated series, "Central Park."
    Bell, a White actress beloved for playing Anna in the "Frozen" film franchise, voices Molly on the animated musical comedy about the Tillermans, a family that lives in Central Park. Her departure is one of the latest examples of the racial reckoning happening in Hollywood and around the world following the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd.
    "This is a time to acknowledge our acts of complicity. Here is one of mine. Playing the character of Molly on Central Park shows a lack of awareness of my pervasive privilege," Bell wrote Wednesday in the caption of a photo showing a statement from the series on her verified Instagram account.

    Now she realizes it?  Now? 

    Did she just look in the mirror and see her blond hair for the first time?

    If that hack gave a damn she never would have accepted the part.  She only cares now because people are getting in trouble.  She's trying to save her own ass -- just like Whitney Cummings.

    It was always wrong.  She didn't care.  She wanted her check, she wanted her fame.  Now she's flailing about publicly trying to save her own ass and career.

    It was always wrong.

    Always.

    From Ava and C.I.'s "TV: Animated Blackface" back in 2010:

     Two weeks ago, an episode of Family Guy aired that ended up entering into the news cycle. In the episode, a female teenager with Downs Syndrome existed as a joke to make fun of those with special needs and Sarah Palin (the character informs that her mother used to be the governor of Alaska). Seth MacFarlane hid out during the news cycle before going onto a hideous HBO show where he appeared to accuse Palin of being overly sensitive ("appeared to" because the show's host kept interrupting). Overly sensitive?
    Spoken like someone who uses the term "homosexual" to refer to gay men which, for the record, Seth does and you don't have to take our word for it, you can just listen to the audio commentary to the episode "Family Gay." You can hear all about "limp wrists" and how 'funny' it is when two straight men voice gay characters and how 'funny' it is that a gay character has to lift his hands in the air to take "two steps." In the same commentary, Seth makes fun of the "midget lobby" and how he managed to circumvent it ("those mailboxes are just too high"). That's funny, if it's not you. Seth thinks only he gets to determine what's funny and never grasps that he's just one more straight, Anglo White male reeking of entitlement. Executive producer Danny Smith briefly acknowledges the entitlement explaining, "I was talking to a friend who said, 'Your show is racist.' And I said, 'Yeah, it is, but who looks worse than the White people on our show? The Griffins are very despicable people'."

    Really? Because most fans don't see them that way. More importantly, a group of straight, Anglo White people -- largely men -- deciding to play their own (overly represented) grouping on TV for humor is one thing. It's something completely different when that same group thinks they can 'interpret' an under-represented group.

    Which is how we arrive at The Cleveland Show in which African-American Cleveland is voiced by Anglo White Mike Henry. Cleveland's the best known African-American character in the Seth MacFarlane universe. A Latina maid is the best known Latina or Latino and, guess what, those lines like "Superman no home"? They're also voiced by Anglo White Mike Henry. When it's time to portray people of color as stupid, Seth goes calling on Mike.


    Before getting his own show, Cleveland was a minor character on Family Guy. He was one of Peter's three best friends and the only African-American man. For the spin-off, he and his son Junior move back to Cleveland's old home town where . . . he's still in the minority. Other than the school's principal, Cleveland's the only African-American male adult to appear regularly. That's not to say he doesn't have any friends. Two of them are White. It's the third friend that had Betty's eldest son complaining to us.

    "They can't show Black people," he rightly complained, "but we get a talking bear?"

    We actually get two. The female is voiced by Arianna Huffington proving that type casting still thrives in the entertainment industry.

    Cleveland lives with his new wife Donna and her children Roberta and Rallo -- and Mike Henry also voices Rallo. Apparently, that's supposed to be funny. Voice actors in Blackface. Not every one finds it so funny and already the show has seen the exit of one of the few actual African-American voices they had (Nia Long).

    Nor are many people laughing when they see episode after episode where the 'joke' is Cleveland and/or his friends think Junior is gay. Strange that with two other MacFarlane shows on the air featuring teenage boys in prominent positions (Chris on Family Guy and Steve on American Dad) there's no need to constantly build 'jokes' around the adult males thinking the boys are gay but when it comes to the only teenage African-American boy, it's funny?

    It's funny? Or someone's sexually threatened by African-American males?

    On Family Guy, the bumbling and not-so-smart Cleveland had a different wife: Loretta. Loretta was forever coming on to Quagmire. Including once at a boat party when Cleveland proved just how stupid he was by not noticing the two all over each other in front of him. Loretta would sleep with Quagmire and, when Cleveland found out, that would be the end of their marriage.

    Now Bonnie and Joe are a White couple and the 'joke' there is that he's unable to sexually satisfy her ("We had what Joe calls sex") due to his injuries in the line of work (he's a police officer) that have left him wheel chair bound. And if you were looking to do a 'break the marriage up' storyline, you might think of having Quagmire sleep with Bonnie. But for some reason, MacFarlane and crew went a different way.

    Again, it's funny? Or someone's sexually threatened by African-American males?

    As you watch Cleveland and Junior be neutered in one scene after another, you're pretty much left with "someone's sexually threatened by African-American males."

    That would explain why the African-American characters do so little on the show. Lois and Francine are right in the mix on their respective shows but, except for a cat fight, Donna's pretty much given nothing to do and no one's bothered to create a personality, let alone a character, for her. There's been nothing consistent about Roberta but since the role has changed voice actresses, maybe that's part of the reason?

     [. . .]

     In the commentary for "Family Gay," the creative team reveals that the 'joke' of the episode is that the gay characters are so ridiculous. It's funny, they insist, because it's a straight guy's idea of what gay is. And looking at the writing credits for this season's The Cleveland Show we're guessing they think it's funny to use Anglo White writers for a show that's supposed to be focused on an African-American family.

    And that brings us full circle. If you don't laugh at the cruelty, you're overly sensitive. If you don't laugh at what a bunch of straight, Anglo White males think is funny, you're overly sensitive. You're spoiling their fun. Like so many straight, Anglo White males before them, they really think they and only they have a right to define 'funny' or, for that matter, the universe. And it's for that reason that no one would ever accuse them of being overly -- or even remotely -- sensitive. 

    Go read my cousin Stan's "HULU needs to cancel LOVE, VICTOR and put an end to the fakery" which is very much related to this topic.


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


    Thursday, June 25, 2020.  MSNBC trots out a War Criminal, Iraq's government still at a loss on how to diversify economy, and much more.

    Are all the War Criminals supporting Joe Biden?  It certainly seems that way -- neocons and War Criminals.  If you missed it, MSNBC NEWS GUTTER reported this week:


    When it came to Donald Trump's presidency, retired Army Lieutenant General Ricardo Sanchez bit his tongue for years. Every time Trump took another step the retired general found offensive -- the attack on Muslim Gold Star parents, Charlottesville, DACA, et al. -- Sanchez restrained himself and made no public comments.
    This month's developments, including the Lafayette Square scandal, led him to believe he had to step up and speak up. 

    That's from Rachel Maddow's staff.  Remember boys and girls, if it's about gay rights, Rachel's strong.  If it's about anything else?  She can't be trusted.


    Who is Ricardo?  Well first, let's note he was a Lt Gen and let's point out Ruth's "NN and NPR parade their bias against General Flynn" which notes NPR and CNN are happy to call everyone by their military title they retired at -- even David Petraeus -- except retired Gen Michael Flynn.  Are we not supposed to notice that?

    And are we not supposed to note who Rachel Maddow's team is now pimping?  Here's a little backstory on Ricardo that Steven Benen leaves out:

    Sánchez was commander of coalition forces during a period when abuse of prisoners occurred at Abu Ghraib and at other locations. In a memo signed by General Sánchez and later acquired by the ACLU through a Freedom of Information Act request, techniques were authorized to interrogate prisoners, included "environmental manipulation" such as making a room hot or cold or using an "unpleasant smell", isolating a prisoner, disrupting normal sleep patterns and "convincing the detainee that individuals from a country other than the United States are interrogating him."[3]
    On May 5, 2006, Sánchez denied ever authorizing interrogators to "go to the outer limits". Sánchez said he had told interrogators: "...we should be conducting our interrogations to the limits of our authority." Sanchez called the ACLU: "...a bunch of sensationalist liars, I mean lawyers, that will distort any and all information that they get to draw attention to their positions."[4]
    Documents obtained by The Washington Post and the ACLU showed that Sanchez authorized the use of military dogs, temperature extremes, reversed sleep patterns, and sensory deprivation as interrogation methods in Abu Ghraib.[5] A November 2004 report by Brigadier General Richard Formica found that many troops at the Abu Ghraib prison had been following orders based on a memorandum from Sanchez, and that the abuse had not been carried out by isolated "criminal" elements.[6] ACLU lawyer Amrit Singh said in a statement from the union that "General Sanchez authorized interrogation techniques that were in clear violation of the Geneva Conventions and the army's own standards."[7]

    That's from WIKIPEDIA.  Sanchez should be in prison for what he did.  Leave it to the always oblivious Rachel Maddow to pimp Ricardo as someone we need to hear from, as someone who's opinion on anything matters.

    Lives were destroyed at Abu Ghraib.  What took place was outrageous and it was criminal -- War Crimes.  

    The 'resistance' is a joke and always will be because they have no ethics, they have no knowledge, and they blindly root for whatever con man stands in front of them at the moment -- be it Michael Avenatti or Ricardo.  Of course, Ricardo's much worse than con man Avenatti, Ricardo's a War Criminal.  Shame on anyone who tries to rehabilitate him.

    You have ethics or you don't.

    You care about human lives or you don't.

    This is not something where you can be "yes and" on it.  People were tortured because of Sanchez.  Sy Hersh has stated repeatedly that Iraqis were raped at Abu Ghraib.

    Shame on anyone celebrating Ricardo for anything.  He belongs behind bars.  If there's an afterlife, you can be sure that he will be soundly punished.  He is not 'fixable,' he is not 'redeamable.'  He is a War Criminal.

    From a November 2007 column by Amy Goodman entitled "Have They No Shame?":

     This past Saturday the Democrats chose retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez to give their response, the same general accused in at least three lawsuits in the U.S. and Europe of authorizing torture and cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment of prisoners in Iraq. This, combined with the Democrats’ endorsement of Attorney General Michael Mukasey despite his unwillingness to label waterboarding as torture, indicates that the Democrats are increasingly aligned with President Bush’s torture policies.
    Sanchez headed the Army’s operations in Iraq from June 2003 to June 2004. In September 2003, Sanchez issued a memo authorizing numerous techniques, including “stress positions” and the use of “military working dogs” to exploit “Arab fear of dogs” during interrogations. He was in charge when the abuses at Abu Ghraib prison occurred.
    Brig. Gen. Janis Karpinski, who headed Abu Ghraib at the time, worked under Gen. Sanchez. She was demoted to colonel, the only military officer to be punished. She told me about another illegal practice, holding prisoners as so-called ghost detainees: “We were directed on several occasions through Gen. [Barbara] Fast or Gen. Sanchez. The instructions were originating at the Pentagon from Secretary Rumsfeld, and we were instructed to hold prisoners without assigning a prisoner number or putting them on the database, and that is contrary to the Geneva Conventions. We all knew it was contrary to the Geneva Conventions.” In addition to keeping prisoners off the database there were other abuses, she said, like prison temperatures reaching 120 to 140 degrees, dehydration and the order from Gen. Geoffrey Miller to treat prisoners “like dogs.”

    Again, there's a side.  You are responsible for torture?  You belong in prison.  It says a great deal about THE ATLANTIC -- and about Rachel Maddow -- that they rush to embrace Ricardo.

    Grasp that Ricardo's not even offering anything.

    He thinks Donald Trump is a racist?  Oh, wow, that's an opinion no one's ever expressed before, right?  Let's forget that Ricardo is a War Criminal because he's got this brand new idea that no one else ever had before, he's detected something no one else could!!!!

    What a load of rubbish.

    Iraq has many problems -- most of them created by Ricardo and people like Ricardo.  Their economy remains in turmoil.  Maya Gebeily (AFP) reports:


    So if they need reform, that would mean diversifying the economy.  There was a period, for example, in the early years of the war, when efforts were made to help with the date farm sector   I knocked it at the time and got a nasty e-mail from a US military official.  I knocked the fact that it wasn't a serious effort and it wasn't fixing anything.

    We haven't checked on the date farm sector since Bully Boy Bush left the White House.  Was I right?  Was I wrong?


    Iraq is to plant 70,000 date palms south of Baghdad, hoping to revive production of a crop it was famed for across the Middle East.
    The country once produced three-quarters of the world’s dates but now accounts for just 5 percent after it switched its economic focus to oil and after decades of conflict devastated its farms.
    Backed by a state loan worth 10 billion dinars($8.43 million), a Shi’ite Muslim foundation has planted 16,000 date trees outside the holy city of Kerbala, some 90 kilometers (56 miles) south of the capital Baghdad. It is the biggest state-backed farming project for the crop since the U.S. invasion toppling Saddam Hussein in 2003.
    “We plan to have more than 70,000 date trees in future,” said Faiz Eissa Abu Maali, the project’s manager, during a tour.

    So that was 2018?  Here's a video report from 2018.



    So the US tossed some money at the problem and then Barack Obama became president for two terms and then left office and Donald Trump was then president and that's when the Iraqi government decided, "Hey, maybe that project that all the money was spent on over a decade ago, maybe even though we ignored it and didn't fund it when it needed it, maybe we should try to kick start it again?"

    Nothing changes because nothing changes.
    The money -- US taxpayer money -- tossed out in the early years of the war for the date farming was a waste of money.  That had nothing to do with Iraqi farmers, it had everything to do with a corrupt government that provided no support and continues to provide no support.

    How many years is it going to take for that reality to set in?  In 2018, MIDDLE EAST EYE noted:
     The blazing sun beats down on Mohammed Khalil Ibrahim as he points to what is left of his date palms and the damage caused by a scarcity in water. Bent over his cane on his farm in the Iraqi southern city of Basra, the 73-year-old farmer describes how they are sad examples of the fruit-bearing tree. 
    “You see the trunks, they're too thin. And the dates my trees produce are barely edible," said Ibrahim.
    The Ibrahim family have been farmers for three generations. Back in the 80s, the family owned around 50,000 date palm trees in the city of Basra. Today, only a few thousand trees have survived the drought and salinity and none of Ibrahim’s sons want to take over the farm since it is no longer profitable. 
    “Many neighbouring farmers give up and look for work in the cities," Ibrahim said.
    Once a water-rich country, Iraq is facing drought, a significant drop in annual rainfall, salinity and a decline in the level of water flowing into the country, following the construction of major dams in Turkey and Iran since the 1970s.
    Additionally, a lack of funds targeting the agricultural sector is preventing the development of Iraq's infrastructure. Basra, now a crumbling city, was once dubbed the "Venice of the Middle East" for its network of canals.
    Real steps have to be taken and they have not been.  Iraqi leaders like Nouri al-Maliki have enriched themselves by stealing the public funds.  



    • Iran is pressing Iraq to expand its already game-changing oil and gas infrastructure deal with China.
    • Tehran is looking to include Iraq in the Sino-Russian power bloc in order to expand its influence in the oil-rich country.
    • Chinese money, equipment and technology should, Baghdad and Tehran think, allow Iraq to gradually increase its oil production to the 7 million bpd targeted by end-2022.


    The above could be very good for Iraq's economy, if they made the deal with China and if they used money (profits) to invest into diversifying the economic base.  But they've refused to do that.  The prime minister focuses on what foreign governments want -- the US or Iran mainly -- and stick their hands into the people's money.  


    Let's turn to the topic of the coronavirus.




    MENAFM notes, "The daily tally of cases has been rising since the holy month of Ramadan and as many Iraqis flout coronavirus lockdown measures."  XINHUA notes, "The Iraqi health ministry on Wednesday warned of serious health situation, as it recorded 2,200 new COVID-19 cases, the highest daily increase since the outbreak of the disease, bringing the total number of infections nationwide to 36,702.  The ministry also confirmed 79 more deaths, raising the death toll from the infectious virus to 1,330 in the country." 
     
    The minister's statement came during a press briefing along with and after a meeting with the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Iraq, Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert, and the World Health Organization (WHO) representative to Iraq, Adham Rashad.
    From her end, Hennis-Plasschaert warned against the lack of adherence to health regulations that are aimed at curbing the spread of the coronavirus.
    "We must commit to fighting the spread of the Coronavirus at all levels, primarily through the individual actions of each of us," said Hennis-Plasschaert.
    "The local, regional and national health authorities, as well as friends and partners of Iraq, have warned of great consequence in case of taking the virus lightly," she added. "[W]e cannot exaggerate the seriousness of the situation, but fear and misinformation is no less dangerous," stressing the need for "resistance with courage, sound information, practical advice and collective discipline."
    Meanwhile Zhelwan Z. Wali (RUDAW) reports that  Sulaimani Province's Health Dept spokesperson Dr Yad Naqishbandi has declared that he has the coronavirus and that, "My health is good and I have quarantined myself at home."  And Hardi Mohammed (RUDAW) reports:

    Photos of a coronavirus patient lying on the ground unattended in a Kirkuk hospital have angered his family, who demand answers about the treatment of the man, who later died on Tuesday.
    The disturbing photos circulating on social media in recent days appear to show Najat Rasheed, 57, lying on the ground meters away from a bed and an overturned chair. No hospital staff are seen in the photos, and it’s not known who is responsible for taking the photos.

    Rasheed, who is Kurdish, had served as a medical worker in the city for 12 years. He was hospitalized in two separate hospitals for 13 days, but died on Tuesday. His son, Sirwan Najat, remained in contact with his father via their mobile phones while he was hospitalized. After losing contact with him Thursday night Sirwan visited the hospital and found his father abandoned. The next morning, he was pronounced dead.

    “My father could not breathe. At 7 am I called to ask the medical personnel of the hospital whether he was alive or not. The doctor said that he would check on him, but he came at 10am," he told Rudaw on Wednesday. "They did not serve him at all," Najat says. 
      

    The following sites updated:






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