Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "The Set Up"
Nancy was caught. Set up? She's responsible for her actions.
DISSIDENT VOICE. I used to love it. It had a lively comment section, for example. I still visit from time to time for the content but it's just not what it was. Kim Peterson used to be a big whig over there. He's not anymore. Is his departure what weakened DV? I don't know. But I'm highlighting his piece at INFORMATION CLEARING HOUSE:
The RT headline speaks volumes: “China’s Forced Rape and Slave Labor Being Excused.” The right-wing RT Eat the Press host Steve Malzberg presents the ludicrous-on-its-face charge that China has some preponderant influence over American corporations. Why ludicrous? Because ever since Donald Trump lost the vote and won the presidency in that bastion of democracy, the United States, the media wonks and White House apparatchiks have stepped up an unrelenting demonization of China. Thus China is blamed for the COVID-19 pandemic, blamed for trade frictions, accused of intellectual property theft (this while Trump tries to purloin Chinese social media phenom TikTok), criticized for undermining democracy in Hong Kong, alleged to engage in aggressive posturing in the South China Sea, and China is asserted to pose a national security risk because of Chinese apps and cutting-edge technology, such as 5G. Simultaneously, the American Establishment continues to stoke interethnic conflict in China’s Xinjiang province, an area where the US and its CIA have long sought to undermine Chinese sovereignty. [1]
All of this is being pushed by American corporate media, but it is now joined by RT via Malzberg and his guest Justin Danhof, the general counsel for the “conservative” National Center for Public Policy Research. The NCPPR is “dedicated to providing free market solutions to today’s public policy problems.” In other words, it is a right-wing think tank. It is aligned with:
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the corporate lobbyist group, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC);
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a project that bombarded senior citizens with “fright mail”;
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the ill-reputed right-wing lobbyist Jack Abramoff;
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anti-environmental protection groups and the climate-change skeptics;
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GroupSnoop, a site that attacks progressivist groups such as the Center for American Progress, the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and the Center for Media & Democracy;
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several right-wing foundations that fund NCPPR.
Danhof is also a a policy advisor for the right-wing Heartland Institute. The Heartland Institute is criticized for its climate-change skepticism. It is also loosely affiliated with the deceptively named National Endowment for Democracy — in actuality, a CIA front for instigating coups.
Read the whole thing.
"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):
Monday, September 28, 2020. Joe Biden gets caught in another lie while the US government talks shutting down the Baghdad-based embassy.
Is Joe Biden making a mistake in not campaigning? Yes, he is. The lie has been that he's doing this due to the Coronavirus. But if that were true, if Joe were trying to set a good example, wouldn't his wife be off the campaign trail?
Jill's out campaigning. Why isn't Joe?
The idiot on the Democratic Party side needs to be called out. Instead, she gets to spew and spew. RISING really doesn't do a good job of holding people accountable.
Joe Biden does not have firm support and poor debate performances can send 'supporters' fleeing. Liz Peek (FOX NEWS) notes:
Can the Democrat candidate survive 90 minutes of an unscripted, fast-paced presidential debate without claiming to have been in the Senate for 180 years or putting the COVID-19 death toll at 200 million Americans, goofs he has made in recent days? Can he endure the challenges sure to come from President Trump without wandering off into the ether?
That is the question, the elephant in the room.
More problems for Joe? He can't stop lying. Lee Brown (NEW YORK POST) reports:
Delaware State University has denied that Joe Biden has ever been a student there — after the presidential candidate’s claim that he “got started” at the historically black college.
The 77-year-old Democrat made his claim while praising historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) during a town hall event last October before the South Carolina Democratic primary, video shows.
“I got started out of a HBCU, Delaware State,” he told pupils at Wilson High School in Florence, which was founded in 1866 by the Freedmen’s Bureau for Black children seeking an education.
Hmm. Remember when Anita Dunham and Joe Biden tried to weaponize a transcript to discredit a woman who was accusing Joe of assault? Anthony Zenkus Tweets:
Tara is highly credible. I remember when St. Beau Biden shut down the man stating he had sex with Barack Obama -- Saint Beau used his position as an AG. I have no idea whether or not the man was telling the truth. But one man went public with claims and a Democratic AG stepped forward when the press was finally interested -- stepped forward and snuffed interest. Remind you of supposed fallout that was going to come from Tara's previous court testimonies? Interesting how that story went no where after it was used to attack Tara's reputation. It's a pattern. We should all grasp that it's a pattern.
Berkley Brannon announced, as Tara's story was gaining traction, that he was launching an investigation into her credentials. That was May. It's four months later. How long does it take to investigate a resume? It was a nice distraction, an easy way to get an already reluctant press to walk away from a story they never wanted to cover.
Turning to Iraq, Sunday Isabel Coles and Michael R. Gordon (WALL ST. JOURNAL) broke the news regarding a line in the sand -- or threat -- the US government was drawing/making in Iraq, "The Trump administration has warned Iraq it is preparing to shut down its embassy in Baghdad unless the Iraqi government stops a spate of rocket attacks by Shiite militias against U.S. interests, Iraqi and U.S. officials said Sunday, in a fresh crisis in relations between the two allies." Farhad Alaaldin (RUDAW) explains, "Baghdad’s Green Zone, which includes the American embassy, was subjected to 19 attacks with Katyusha rockets and mortars in September alone, some of which reached their targets inside the embassy’s vicinity, in addition to 25 IED attacks on convoys serving international coalition forces and an attack on a British diplomatic convoy in Baghdad on 15th of September." John Davison (REUTERS) notes, "The concern among the Iraqis is that pulling out diplomats would be followed quickly by military action against forces Washington blamed for attacks." Louisa Loveluck, Missy Ryan and John Hudson (WASHINGTON POST) add:
“We hope the American administration will reconsider it,” Ahmed Mulla Talal, a spokesman for Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi, said Sunday. “There are outlaw groups that try to shake this relationship, and closing the embassy would send a negative message to them.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo notified Kadhimi of the plans Saturday night, according to an official familiar with the matter. Two Western officials in Baghdad said their country’s diplomatic missions had been informed of the plan.
It was unclear on Sunday whether the White House had signed off on a possible departure and what might prompt the Trump administration to shelve the plan. If the administration moves forward, closing the embassy is expected to take 90 days, a window that would give Washington the opportunity to reassess the decision, said a diplomat familiar with the situation.
Is it a real possibility or just a weak threat that won't be backed up? How serious is the US government right now? That's open to debate apparently. Justine Coleman (THE HILL) notes:
It was unclear on Sunday whether the White House had signed off on a possible departure and what might prompt the Trump administration to shelve the plan. If the administration moves forward, closing the embassy is expected to take 90 days, a window that would give Washington the opportunity to reassess the decision, said a diplomat familiar with the situation.
And it's not just the US government calling out the attacks. Strangely enough, Moqtada al-Sadr has been making noises about this throughout last week. YENISAFAK notes, "On Friday, al-Sadr called for an investigation into repeated attacks on foreign missions in Iraq and bringing perpetrators to justice." MIDDLE EAST IN THE FIELD Tweets:
Iraqi Shia cleric “Muqtada al-Sadr” called for an investigation into repeated attacks on foreign missions in Iraq and bringing the perpetrators to justice.
On Arabic social media, this has registered and has some wondering if Moqtada is on the US payroll.
In related news, XINHUA reports:
The U.S. embassy in Iraq announced on Sunday that it will conduct a series of emergency tests and drills after a recent series of attacks.
"Over the course of the next two days, the U.S. embassy will be conducting a series of tests and drills of our emergency procedures and equipment," the embassy said in a statement.
The statement did not give further details about the drills, but observers believe such drills are meant to enhance the protection of the embassy to prevent the landing of mortar rounds and rockets.
The following sites updated:
New content at THIRD:
- Truest statement of the week
- Truest statement of the week II
- A note to our readers
- Editorial: The US' buddy Turkey
- Media: The Jane Fonda Horror Show
- Roundtable
- Tweet of the week
- The attacks on Howie Hawkins
- Impeach Pelosi
- This edition's playlist
- Highlights
