He's out of the White House.
What's he doing?
Western political leaders are guaranteed massive & instant personal wealth once they leave office by key sectors
Barack is as bad as Hillary.
The only thing he wants to improve is his bank balance.
He was a con man from the word go.
And, as a country, we fell for it.
We bought into his shuck and jive.
And he did nothing to help workers, he did nothing to end poverty, he had no concern about the homeless (unless they were veterans -- in that case, he made a promise to end it but he never kept the promise).
Barack's the flim flam man -- as Laura Nyro would sing.
"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):
Tuesday, April 25, 2017. Chaos and violence continue, tensions simmer
between Iraq and Turkey, Chelsea Clinton toys with a political run, and
much more.
Let's start with politics.
Let's start with politics.
Donald Trump doesn't know where Crimea, Syria, Iraq or the White House is.
This is his World Map 
#100DaysOfShame
#100DaysOfShame
She knows where Iraq is.
She knows.
So clearly she must be Tweeting about it, right?
Wrong.
Scroll through day after day and find nothing.
But she thinks she's better than Donald Trump because she knows where Iraq is.
She knows where Iraq is and yet she chooses to ignore it.
March for science, march against Donald Trump, et al -- she can do that.
She just can't object to the ongoing Iraq War.
But don't worry, when she feels the need to use Iraq as a political football again, she will.
Otherwise, she doesn't give a damn.
Day after day, she doesn't give a damn.
Turkey has again bombed Iraq.
Turkey says it bombed Kurdish terrorists in Syria and Iraq but US Kurdish allies say they were hit telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/2…
The Turkish government always says that -- that it killed terrorists.
Then reality comes along.
And it turns out to be, for example, farmers and sheep.
But for a news cycle or two, the Turkish government gets to pretend otherwise.
And this bombing?
#BREAKING Turkish strike in Iraq kills six Kurdish security forces: official
AL JAZEERA notes the Turkish government's official statement:
The targets were hit to prevent the PKK from sending "terrorists, arms, ammunition and explosives to Turkey," the statement said, adding that the operation was conducted "within the scope of the international law".
AFP adds:
Zardasht Shingali, a spokesman for the YBS [Yazidi Protection Units], said the strikes lasted three hours and hit five of his group's positions in the area.
He told AFP that the targets included a radio station, a position in the strategic Shilo Valley west of the mountain and another in the town of Sinuni, which lies at the foot of the mountain's northern flank.
Five Iraqi Peshmerga fighters killed by mistake in raid on PKK: Kurdish sources
By mistake?
There have been a lot of 'mistakes.' And the Iraqi government has objected repeatedly to Turkey bombing Iraq.
NRT reports:
The Iraqi Parliament’s deputy speaker denounced the Turkish air raids in Sinjar saying the airstrikes have no “justification.”
“I call upon the Iraqi Foreign Ministry
to summon the Turkish ambassador to condemn the attacks,” Deputy Speaker
Aram Sheikh Mohammed said in a statement on Tuesday (April 25).
The deputy speaker added that air raids
by the Turkish government are a violation of Iraq’s sovereignty,
international agreements, as well as an agreement between neighboring
countries.
That's only one statement from a government official.
Do the statements mean anything?
Some don't think so.
is that all he has to say?
how about sending their (few) jets to defend Iraqi airspace?
It's all lip service, Iraq won't do anything to stop 
Meanwhile, the same political problems remain in Iraq, the ones that led Barack Obama to insist June 19, 2014 that the only solution to the crises was a political solution.
Iraq will be holding elections soon.
The vote for the IHEC came down to the wire.
252 #Iraqi parliament members attended.
119 not convinced
118 convinced
15 didnt voted
On the political front in the US, Chelsea Clinton is toying with running for public office.
Your father starved 576 thousand children in Iraq to death
It's not "anti-American" to be opposed to AUMF & Afghanistan war. Should've protested mom's Iraq war vote & dad's sanctions that killed 500k
New content at THIRD:
- Truest statement of the week
- Truest statement of the week II
- A note to our readers
- Editorial: The silent protester?
- TV: HBO's continued struggles
- Things To Tell Mommy
- Oh, PETA
- Film to catch next month
- Tweet of the week (domestic)
- This edition's playlist
The following community sites updated:
