Blog Betty (Thomas Friedman is a Great Man was an online novel)

Tuesday, August 08, 2023

Greta

Greta Thunberg will no longer appear at a large Scottish book festival this week, saying she does not want to be "associated with events" connected to the fossil fuel industry.

The climate activist was set to appear at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, starting August 12, for an event called "Greta Thunberg: It's Not Too Late to Change the World," but said Friday she would no longer attend, accusing the main sponsor, Baillie Gifford, an investment management firm based in the UK, of "greenwashing."

Greenwashing refers to a phenomenon of companies or firms that outwardly market themselves as environmentally conscious but, in practice, fail to live up to those standards. An example is when critics accused Coca-Cola and the United Nations of greenwashing the 2022 COP27 climate talks, citing plastic pollution from the company's products.

Good for Greta. A lot of people would just go along with it or leave but leave with a question mark. Good for her for calling Baillie Gifford out.

I didn't dislike Greta but watching how much John Stauber hates her over the last year has really made me support her even more.

THE GUARDIAN adds:

Thunberg was scheduled to speak at the 3,000-seat Playhouse theatre to discuss her appeal for climate action, It’s Not Too Late to Change the World, as part of a series of “climate positive” events at this year’s festival.

Her decision came after Scotland’s investigative news site The Ferret claimed that festival sponsor Baillie Gifford had billions invested in firms that profit from fossil fuels.

In a statement released through the festival, Thunberg said: “As a climate activist I cannot attend an event which receives sponsorship from Baillie Gifford, who invest heavily in the fossil fuel industry.

“Greenwashing efforts by the fossil fuel industry, including sponsorship of cultural events, allow them to keep the social licence to continue operating. I cannot and do not want to be associated with events that accept this kind of sponsorship.”

Week 258. The UK gov & Norwegian state-owned oil giant @Equinor want to build the massive Rosebank oil field. It would produce more CO2 than the 28 lowest income countries do in a year, burning us past climate targets and do nothing to lower energy bills.#StopRosebank @stopcambo pic.twitter.com/seH7jd3CQ6
— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) July 28, 2023

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Tuesday, August 8, 2023. The Whore of Baghdad Jane Arraf gets fired again and idiots who don't know her work are outraged, Moms for Bigotry and their allies (Naomi Wolf among them) are targeting libraries, and much more.

Starting with THE NEW YORK TIMES which has fired Jane Arraf.

At SEMAFOR, Max Tani types:

Arraf occupied what was once one of the most coveted foreign postings in journalism. But her unceremonious departure came as Iraq was marking the 20th anniversary of the US invasion of the country, and with it, the continued shift of American media attention and resources away from Iraq for conflict zones like Ukraine and the deep-pocketed Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

Over the last several years, almost every major US outlet has scaled back its presence or pulled out of the country: The Times, which once had over a hundred people in its Baghdad office, has not had a bureau chief there for most of the year. The Associated Press’ Iraq correspondent was reassigned to Ukraine last year. While the Washington Post has a Baghdad bureau chief, the paper is in the process of closing down its physical bureau.

The moves are understandable. Major US news organizations have limited resources for on-the-ground foreign coverage, which is costly and often has a limited audience at home. With the US spending billions on the war in Ukraine, and with an increasing diplomatic focus on China, it makes sense that major US organizations have reoriented their international coverage to focus on these areas of national interest.

Late to the story and can't nail down the facts. MCCLATCHY NEWSPAPERS walked away. Pretty much everyone walked away following the election of Barack Obama in November 2008. The press withdrew -- the only US force that did -- and they started in December of 2008 as they insisted the war was winding down. It didn't, it hasn't. ABC NEWS announced then that it was closing shop, for example, and that they'd cover any major news out of Iraq by re-running BBC NEWS reports.

As for the ridiculous claims that they have to leave to cover Ukraine -- they're not covering Ukraine. They're part of propaganda effort, yes. But they're not covering it. Where is the investigative reporting coming out of Ukraine -- or US-based reporting on Ukraine? There is none. "Reading press releases from the Green Zone." That's what we called THE NEW YORK TIMES early post-invasion coverage because that's what it was and all that's happening with Ukraine now is US reporters reading press releases and calling it "coverage."

As for Jane Arraf?

I love how the press tries to protect The Whore of Baghdad.

Jane is a lousy reporter. Her work does not stand up. We made excuses for her for years. Then came the youth uprising in Iraq -- no, not 2019. We're talking thug Nouri al-Maliki was prime minister. It was right before ISIS became visible in Iraq. The thug had a protester shot and killed. Several, actually. But Arraf Tweeted in real time about one. But 'forgot' to include it in her written coverage or on NPR. Then the whore really showed her true colors a few weeks later when a protester was killed because the 'security' forces fired on the people -- Jane was on NPR justifying it, claiming these were peaceful responses.

She's an embarrassment who lied for CNN - -that was the point of Eason Jordan's now infamous column for THE NEW YORK TIMES "The News We Kept For Ourselves."

She has written nothing of value her entire time covering Iraq. Grasp that. Her fellow whores on Twitter are aghast that Jane was fired and go on and on about her 'experience.' She's in her fourth decade covering Iraq. She's never broken a story, you grasp that right?

She started that under Saddam Hussein. It's how she got to stay in the country -- by never reporting on anything that angered the Iraqi government. It's what she has continued to do ever since.

Many people have broken stories covering Iraq since the US-led invasion -- Damien Cave, Alissa J. Rubin, Ellen Knickmeyer, Nancy A. Youssef, Leila Fadel, Dahr Jamail, etc -- but Jane is not one of them. She never has been.

She only covers what's already public. And then she downplays violence against the Iraqi people.

A protester killed when the 'security' forces fire a tear cannister into his head? There's Jane on NPR insisting it was just a normal response.

That's The Whore of Baghdad.

But her press allies want to pretend like she's suffering now and the victim.

First off, she was already under trouble for a 'report' she filed before the money issue arose.

Second off, as the NYT person in charge in Baghdad, it's not her job to lie to her employer. They tell her X is all that's going to be paid, then X is all that's going to be paid. She can certainly try to lobby them to change their minds, but she can't overrule them. That's not allowed.

THE TIMES has made their staff smaller and smaller and cut back over and over. If Jane can't follow the budget regulations then she shouldn't be in the position.

(It's also rumore that Jane helped herself to some of the extra dollars.)

Money. In the end, that's all The Whore of Baghdad cares about. Four decades in Iraq and nothing to show for it. She didn't even expose the (government) abuse of Iraq's disabled/challenged children. No, that was CBS and, as usual, Jane's response was to come along after everyone else was covering it and to downplay it.

That's how she ends up staying in Iraq, that's why prime ministers of Iraq love her and embrace her. They get her to moderate talks for them. That's really not journalist and her (mainly female) peers that are defending her? They've never covered Iraq and they don't know Jane's own work. They only know that she's been in Iraq since the 90s -- and gone through every outlet there is in her sorry and embarrassing career.

There are real things to get upset over. Jane Arraf getting fired by THE NEW YORK TIMES isn't one. Nor was Jane Arraf getting fired by CNN. Nor was Jane Arraf getting fired by THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR. Nor was Jane Arraf getting fired by REUTERS. Nor was Jane Arraf getting fired by NPR. Nor was Jane Arraf getting fired ALJAZEERA. Get it? Let's stop pretending, after all these firings, that it's the outlets problem and not Jane herself.

Let's move to another loser. Tyler Kingkade (NBC NEWS) reports on one:

Wyoming Rep. John Bear, a Republican and chair of the state’s Freedom Caucus, said he’s pushing his state to leave the ALA [American Library Association] because he believes the association is full of Marxists who promote books that “create a sexualized child at an earlier age” and are “turning libraries into activist training grounds.”

“The ALA has allowed this political point of view to infiltrate every aspect of their training,” Bear said in an interview. “And their trainings are just completely full of things like, how to deal with parents who don’t appreciate the type of materials that are available to children in the library, how to deal with your state legislature or your local government.”

Bear’s sentiment has been echoed by his colleague, state Rep. Pepper Ottman, who claimed in a July 12 webinar that the ALA’s recommended reading lists were provided “to open children up to pornography” and to groom them for sex trafficking. And his wife, Sage Bear, is on a library board in Campbell County that recently fired its library director because she would not remove books that included LGBTQ or sex education themes.

These prigs and hate merchants never understand. Americans don't want to be told what to do. But John Bear, just another element of cancel culture, wants to dictate what people can read. That never works out well. This isn't an opinion, this is historical. It doesn't end pretty for the prigs and hate merchants. They become the joke (dirty joke) they deserve to be. Americans are very opposed to censorship. This is not a new development. In 1956, STORM CENTER starred Bette Davis as a librarian being pressured to remove books from the library. Run that up to the response to Tipper Gore. To this day, the former Second Lady is reviled for her efforts to censor music -- and, yes, Tipper, your label system was censorship.

What's really amazing is when people who should know better go along with these efforts. Moms For Bigotry? Their existence is expected. That Naomi Wolf would get behind them? I guess she's the Peter Hitchens of this century as she rushed to support banning and censorship and the overturning of ROE V WADE. I think Naomi Klein's going to have a strong selling book based just upon the sections about the now hideous Naomi Wolf. Naomi Klein's book is DOPPELGANGER: A TRIP INTO THE MIRROR WORLD is due out September 12th and addresses the world we live in today. I'm reading through it now and enjoyed the section on Naomi Wolf -- I'm sure many people will enjoy it.

The American Library Association notes these were the books of 2022 that faced the most banning attempts:

1. Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe

Number of challenges: 151

Challenged for: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit

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2. All Boys Aren't Blue by George M. Johnson

Number of challenges: 86

Challenged for: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit

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3. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison

Number of challenges: 73

Challenged for: depiction of sexual abuse, EDI content, claimed to be sexually explicit

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4. Flamer by Mike Curato

Number of challenges: 62

Challenged for: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit

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5. (tie) Looking for Alaska by John Green

Number of challenges: 55

Challenged for: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit

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5. (tie) The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Number of challenges: 55

Challenged for: depiction of sexual abuse, LGBTQIA+ content, drug use, profanity, claimed to be sexually explicit

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7. Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison

Number of challenges: 54

Challenged for: LGBTQIA+ content, claimed to be sexually explicit

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8. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Number of challenges: 52

Challenged for: profanity, claimed to be sexually explicit

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9. Out of Darkness by Ashley Hope Perez

Number of challenges: 50

Challenged for: depictions of abuse, claimed to be sexually explicit

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10. (tie) A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas

Number of challenges: 48

Challenged for: claimed to be sexually explicit

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10. (tie) Crank by Ellen Hopkins

Number of challenges: 48

Challenged for: drug use, claimed to be sexually explicit

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10. (tie) Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

Number of challenges: 48

Challenged for: profanity, claimed to be sexually explicit

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10. (tie) This Book Is Gay by Juno Dawson

Number of challenges: 48

Challenged for: LGBTQIA+ content, providing sexual education, claimed to be sexually explicit

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Spread the Word

Download the two-page 2022 Infographic

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The Top 13 Most Challenged Books of 2022 infographic was released as part of the 2023 State of America's Libraries Report on Monday, April 24. View the full report.

Find more data about 2022 book ban attempts here.

Reading is about education. I have never called for a book to be banned and I never will. That doesn't mean I read all books. I had no interest in reading AMERICAN PSYCHO but I did not call for it to be banned. We broke with WORLD CAN'T WAIT over this nonsense. They were calling for a film -- one that they had not seen -- to be banned. Whether they were being paid for that or not, I have no idea. But Harvey Weinstein, who turned the Academy Awards into a blood sport, did pay a number of people to trash that film.

I don't believe in banning. I believe you can make the decision not to read something. I believe you can make some decisions on what your children can and cannot read. Some? More often than not, your child is going to read it if you make it "no." And you should be glad about that. You should be glad your child is curious and independent and not just a little kiss-ass who will go through life doing exactly as told.

I can remember being at a library when I was seven -- public library -- and reading when a librarian came over and told me I had to go back to the children's section and could not read the books from the section I was in. I responded, "Tell it to my mother" and pointed the librarian towards her. I never, ever again heard a word about what books I needed to read from the librarian. My mother believed in reading and didn't believe there were any restrictions. I also had reading problems (dyslexic but not diagnosed then) so my mother was fine with any book I read for that reason as well. (And the book I was reading that so alarmed the librarian? Agatha Christie's DEATH ON THE NILE.)

Every book, even a poorly written one, is an experience that can enlarge our understanding of the world we live in.

From the American Library Association, here are the books with the most censorship attempts from 1990 to 1999:

Scary Stories (series), by Alvin Schwartz
Daddy’s Roommate, by Michael Willhoite
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, by Maya Angelou
The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain
Of Mice and Men, by John Steinbeck
Forever, by Judy Blume
Bridge to Terabithia, by Katherine Paterson
Heather Has Two Mommies, by Leslea Newman
The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger
The Giver, by Lois Lowry
My Brother Sam is Dead, by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier
It’s Perfectly Normal, by Robie Harris
Alice (series), by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Goosebumps (series), by R.L. Stine
A Day No Pigs Would Die, by Robert Newton Peck
The Color Purple, by Alice Walker
Sex, by Madonna
Earth’s Children (series), by Jean M. Auel
The Great Gilly Hopkins, by Katherine Paterson
In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak
The Witches, by Roald Dahl
A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle
The New Joy of Gay Sex, by Charles Silverstein
Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous
The Goats, by Brock Cole
The Stupids (series), by Harry Allard
Anastasia Krupnik (series), by Lois Lowry
Final Exit, by Derek Humphry
Blubber, by Judy Blume
Halloween ABC, by Eve Merriam
Julie of the Wolves, by Jean Craighead George
Kaffir Boy, by Mark Mathabane
The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison
What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Girls: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Daughters, by Lynda Madaras
Fallen Angels, by Walter Dean Myers
The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood
The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton
The Pigman, by Paul Zindel
To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee
We All Fall Down, by Robert Cormier
Deenie, by Judy Blume
Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes
Annie on My Mind, by Nancy Garden
Beloved, by Toni Morrison
The Boy Who Lost His Face, by Louis Sachar
Cross Your Fingers, Spit in Your Hat, by Alvin Schwartz
Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling
Cujo, by Stephen King
James and the Giant Peach, by Roald Dahl
A Light in the Attic, by Shel Silverstein
Ordinary People, by Judith Guest
American Psycho, by Bret Easton Ellis
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Sleeping Beauty Trilogy, by A.N. Roquelaure (Anne Rice)
Bumps in the Night, by Harry Allard
Asking About Sex and Growing Up, by Joanna Cole
What’s Happening to my Body? Book for Boys: A Growing-Up Guide for Parents & Sons, by Lynda Madaras
The Anarchist Cookbook, by William Powell
Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, by Judy Blume
Boys and Sex, by Wardell Pomeroy
Crazy Lady, by Jane Conly
Athletic Shorts, by Chris Crutcher
Killing Mr. Griffin, by Lois Duncan
Fade, by Robert Cormier
Guess What?, by Mem Fox
Slaughterhouse-Five, by Kurt Vonnegut
Lord of the Flies, by William Golding
Native Son, by Richard Wright
Women on Top: How Real Life Has Changed Women’s Fantasies, by Nancy Friday
Curses, Hexes and Spells, by Daniel Cohen
On My Honor, by Marion Dane Bauer
The House of Spirits, by Isabel Allende
Jack, by A.M. Homes
Arizona Kid, by Ron Koertge
Family Secrets, by Norma Klein
Mommy Laid an Egg, by Babette Cole
Bless Me, Ultima, by Rudolfo A. Anaya
Where Did I Come From?, by Peter Mayle
The Face on the Milk Carton, by Caroline Cooney
Carrie, by Stephen King
The Dead Zone, by Stephen King
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, by Mark Twain
Song of Solomon, by Toni Morrison
Always Running, by Luis Rodriguez
Private Parts, by Howard Stern
Where’s Waldo?, by Martin Hanford
Summer of My German Soldier, by Bette Greene
Tiger Eyes, by Judy Blume
Little Black Sambo, by Helen Bannerman
Pillars of the Earth, by Ken Follett
Running Loose, by Chris Crutcher
Sex Education, by Jenny Davis
Jumper, by Steven Gould
Christine, by Stephen King
The Drowning of Stephen Jones, by Bette Greene
That Was Then, This is Now, by S.E. Hinton
Girls and Sex, by Wardell Pomeroy
The Wish Giver, by Bill Brittain
Jump Ship to Freedom, by James Lincoln Collier and Christopher Collier

Okay, I've read 61 of those books. I wouldn't ban any on the list and I would recommend all 61 that I have read. I'd recommend people read whatever they want. As often as they want.

On Moms For Bigotry, BUZZLOVING notes:

A spokesperson for the extremism watchdog group wrote that Moms for Liberty was the most prominent of 12 extremist “anti-student inclusion groups” mobilizing to “attack public education, ban books, and remove any curriculum that contains discussions of race, discrimination, and LGBTQ+ identities.”

SPLC Intelligence Project Director Susan Corke added, “The movement is primarily aimed at not wanting to include our hard history, topics of racism, and a very strong push against teaching anything having to do with LGBTQ topics in schools. We saw this as a very deliberate strategy to go to the local level.”

The list includes Oath Keepers, the Three Percenters, and the John Birch Society, among others. SPLC added 11 more right-wing “parents’ rights” groups to the list of extremist groups.

[. . .]

According to SPLC, the group has risen to power by “intimidating and harassing teachers and school officials,” battling teachers’ unions, attacking corporations like Disney that are supportive of LGBTQ+ rights, and supporting and making use of laws like Florida’s so-called “don’t say gay” statute, which limits classroom discussion of gender and sexual identity.

Moms For Bigotry -- with Naomi Wolf's stamp of approval -- keeps pushing their war on 'woke' -- despite the fact that it's not helping any Republican Party candidate. Katie Balevic (BUSINESS INSIDER) reports:

Some GOP candidates and lawmakers have assembled like a crime-fighting cartoon squad ready to take on woke-ism.

The problem? Voters don't really care as much about tackling "woke" issues as Republican candidates may think, new polling suggests.

In fact, more GOP voters favored candidates who focused on law and order, a new New York Times and Siena College poll of Americans, with emphasis in Iowa — where voters will be the first to cast their ballots in the primaries.

Marina Pitofsky (USA TODAY) reports:

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ war on “wokeness” has been one of his signature political promises in the Sunshine State.

And DeSantis has vowed to carry that battle into the White House if he’s elected in 2024. But it may be hurting more than it’s helping, USA TODAY's Savannah Kuchar reports.

Multiple billionaire backers have dropped their contributions to DeSantis’ White House bid over disagreements with his stances on a slate of social issues.

Deep-pocketed hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin pulled his financial support over DeSantis’ fight with Disney fueled by education policies, namely a law opponents have dubbed “Don’t Say Gay.”

Nelson Peltz, an investor and billionaire businessman, also took a recent step back from the DeSantis campaign, taking issue with the governor’s abortion position.

THE MAJORITY REPORT addressed Ronald's faltering campaign.

Greg Owen (LGBTQ NATION) reports:

A battle over LGBTQ+ books in a Virginia county may cost teenagers their right to visit the public library.

The chair of the Board of Supervisors in rural Botetourt County has decided the best way to ensure “parental rights” in the tiny rural area, pop. 34,000, is to send parents to the library with their kids.

Acting on a campaign pledge made in June before a primary election, board chair Donald “Mac” Scothorn (R) announced a proposal at the board’s July 31 meeting to prohibit anyone under 18 from visiting the county library without adult supervision.

It’s the board chair’s solution to a long-simmering dispute over LGBTQ+ content in the county’s four public libraries, pitting Botetourt County residents associated with groups like Moms for Liberty against free speech advocates.

The “parents’ rights” activists have pursued their book-banning agenda at school board meetings, filing removal request forms at the libraries and publicizing what they believe is inappropriate content for minors on a website likely available to minors.

Their war on intelligence, on books and on libraries goes to their ignorance and their strong desire to bring us all down to their level of stupidity.

The following sites updated:

Music

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Antiwar.com Original

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Oh Boy It Never Ends

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trump dump

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Monday, August 07, 2023

Racist group gets exposed and whines about their rights?

From Saturday, this is Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Country Soft and Squishy"

I'm sorry. Do these people think we feel sorry for them:

Members of the white supremacist organization Patriot Front have filed a federal lawsuit against a leftist activist, claiming he infiltrated their group and revealed their identities as members of the racist organization.

The activist's "doxxing" of the four plaintiffs as members of Patriot Front cost them their jobs, incomes and relationships with family members, the lawsuit claims.

Filed in federal court in the Western District of Washington by a Spokane law firm, the case is an unusual new tactic from members of Patriot Front. The Texas-based group has gained notoriety for holding marches with dozens of masked young men wearing chinos, carrying American flags and chanting slogans. Last year, 31 members of Patriot Front were arrested when police pulled over a U-Haul that was allegedly transporting them to disrupt a Pride event in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. They were charged with conspiracy to riot.

Patriot Front describes itself as dedicated to "a hard reset on the nation we see today — a return to the traditions and virtues of our forefathers."

The Anti-Defamation League calls the organization a white supremacist group that "justifies its ideology of hate and intolerance under the guise of preserving the ethnic and cultural origins of its members’ European ancestors." The organization is mostly active in spreading propaganda in the form of flyers, banners and stickers that members distribute around the country.

I have no sympathy for that group and don't see anything illegal or wrong in them being exposed.

"Iraq snapshot" (THE COMMON ILLS):

Monday August 7, 2023. The Australian government's pretense of giving a damn about Julian Assange gets harder and harder to believe, climate change impacts Iraq even further, the US VA facilities are not serving the needs of all veterans, and much more.

Let's start with Julian Assange. He remains persecuted and there's often a lot of words from government officials but there's never any action. We saw this again last week when US Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke publicly in Australia with Australia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Penny Wong standing beside him and commenting as well and then this was followed by Australia's prime minister Anthony Albanese joining Penny Wong in making useless and for-show statements that did nothing to help free Julian Assange. AP reported:

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Tuesday his government stands firm against the United States over the prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, an Australian citizen fighting extradition from Britain on U.S. espionage charges.

Albanese’s center-left Labor Party government has been arguing since winning the 2022 elections that the United States should end its pursuit of the 52-year-old, who has spent four years in a London prison fighting extradition.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken pushed back against the Australian position during a visit Saturday, saying Assange was accused of “very serious criminal conduct” in publishing a trove of classified U.S. documents more than a decade ago.

“I understand the concerns and views of Australians. I think it’s very important that our friends here understand our concerns about this matter,” Blinken told reporters.

On Tuesday, Albanese said, “This has gone on for too long. Enough is enough."

The US secured their continued pursuit and persecution of Julian with the GWEO deal that Australia wanted (see last Monday's "Iraq snapshot").

The move is expected to strengthen a central Australian Defence Force framework – Guided Weapons and Explosive Ordnance (GWEO) – which underpins fundamental assets of the nation’s military including manufacturing, storage and distribution, disposal, and research and development.

By signing the monumental agreement, Australia will be able to both carve its place as a major player in weapons export and also grow domestic stockpiles through on-shore production.

The deal was finalised in a bilateral meet between Defence Minister Richard Marles and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday.

You stand up by standing up. Albanese thinks he can stay on his knees and still stand up. No. Second, the US isn't the only player.

We grasp that, right?

The US does not have custody of Julian at this point. The UK does. Nothing is stopping Australia -- specifically prime minister Albanese -- from demanding the United Kingdom hand over Australian citizen Julian to them.

The Australian government has been repeatedly disgraced on the international stage. Though their bloggers are far too obsessed over the US, their citizens are aware that the government is failing them, is failing Julian and is failing Robert Pether. And because the Australian citizens are getting angry, the politicians are making weak and meaningless statements hoping to appease them. It's not going to work.

Oscar Grenfel (WSWS) reports on what happened later in the week:

Albanese’s blithe dismissal of the significance of Blinken’s remarks underscores the Labor government’s complicity in the persecution of the WikiLeaks founder. If it were in any way defending Assange, Albanese would be compelled to refute Blinken’s obvious lies and publicly insist on the urgent necessity for Assange to be freed.

Instead, the Labor government has vaguely stated that “enough is enough” and the Assange case has “gone on too long.” At no point has it branded the prosecution a frame-up or placed demands on the US. There is no written record of any government department making representations to the US on Assange’s behalf. At the same time, the Labor government has accelerated Australia’s transformation into a frontline state for the US-led preparations for war with China.

The Blinken statement was discussed in the Australian Senate on Wednesday evening.

The Greens introduced a discussion of a “matter of public interest,” on the topic that “The Albanese Government should use our close relationship with the United States of America and the United Kingdom to free Julian Assange and bring him home.”

Greens Senator David Shoebridge outlined the decade-long pursuit of Assange by the US. He stated: “The real reason Julian Assange is still in jail is that, whether it’s Prime Minister Albanese or Prime Minister Morrison, Australian leaders are willing to trade a citizen’s liberty, their right to speak truth to power, for a close and unquestioning bear hug from a US president. They say truth is the first victim of war and, in the case of Julian Assange, that’s a truth the whole world is seeing.”

Shoebridge added: “The Albanese government, it’s true, have raised the imprisonment and extradition of Julian Assange when speaking privately with their US counterparts. They have had quiet chats, maybe a carefully worded communiqué, but they’ve never even put a single element of the Australia-US relationship on the line for Julian’s freedom.

“Days ago, in Brisbane, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken launched an extraordinary attack on Julian Assange. He backed in allegations that Julian had not only engaged in serious criminal conduct but had risked harm to US national security. All the while, Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Senator Wong, stood by mutely, not defending Julian and accepting Blinken’s lies. It was almost as though she believed them.”

Another Greens Senator Peter Whish-Wilson stated: “Mr Albanese has been able to run his line about quiet diplomacy with some success, until last week. Last week the US made it abundantly clear that they are not for the turning on this. That’s an exposure of the failure of Mr Albanese’s quiet diplomacy, and it’s an exposure of the failure of Senator Wong’s quiet diplomacy. What we need is for the prime minister and the foreign minister to make it clear to Mr Biden that freedom for Mr Assange is a non-negotiable in this relationship.”

The Labor government left it to Senator Linda White, a little-known MP elected only last year, to respond. She made vague statements of concern over Assange’s health. But the essential thrust of her remarks was that Assange was subject to foreign “legal proceedings” and there was virtually nothing the Labor government could do.

These “legal proceedings” are the extradition attempt, which have been branded as a gross violation of international law and a frontal assault on press freedom by United Nations officials, human rights groups and major publications. Labor has not issued a single diplomatic demand, or threat, nor sought to place public pressure on the Biden administration.

Labor’s sole preoccupation is with diverting the widespread support for Assange back behind the parliamentary establishment, and covering up its collaboration in the campaign against the WikiLeaks publisher.

But the same could be said of the Greens themselves. For years and years, they said virtually nothing on Assange. Even as several MPs belatedly broke their silence, the Greens rejected calls, including from within their own ranks, for a party-wide campaign fighting for Assange’s freedom.

Instead, the Greens have participated in and promoted a cross-party parliamentary grouping that purportedly defends Assange. In it, they have collaborated uncritically with Labor MPs, whose sole purpose has been to shield the Albanese government from criticism and to promote the fraud that it is doing something to secure Assange’s release, when it is patently not.

This is not an aberration. The Greens’ entire perspective is to come to a power-sharing arrangement with Labor. That was the central thrust of their campaign in the 2022 federal election, during which together with Labor they excluded the issue of Assange.

At ECHO, Hans Lovejoy writes:

Over the years, New Zealanders have shown themselves to be courageous in the face of powerful interests, namely the US.

Unlike Aussies, they have taken a principled stand against the war/death industry. Since 1984, NZ has been a nuclear free zone.

US nuclear-powered ships are not allowed to dock. The sinking of the Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior by the French in 1985 demonstrated the price of nation state independence.

Fast forward to last week, and US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, was in NZ. A joint press conference was held.

Obligatory motherhood statements were made, such as ‘shared vision’, ‘tremendous friend’, and ‘advancing economic engagement’.

When Blinken was asked about NZ’s interest in the trilateral security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States (AUKUS), he said the door was open for NZ to join.

Foreign Affairs Minister, Nanaia Mahuta, then said what Australia should say – she said no thanks.

New Zealand not prepared to compromise or change

She said, ‘New Zealand is not prepared to compromise or change our nuclear framework position’.

In the same week, Blinken was also in Australia, and the contrast couldn’t be wider, as Labor MPs and the PM revelled shamelessly in the US death-cult-military-industrial-complex.

Highlighting our unhealthy US military relationship, former Labor leader, Bob Carr, wrote in the SMH of the US submarine deal, ‘Australia will make the largest transfer of wealth ever made outside this country. This $368 billion is a whopping subsidy to American naval shipyards, and to the troubled, chronically tardy British naval builder BAE Systems’.

Local federal Labor MP, Justine Elliot, supports this madness.

Also this week, SMH reported that, ‘Australia is set to begin manufacturing its own missiles within two years’.

Meanwhile, federal Labor have been trying to convince the yanks to release imprisoned Aussie journalist, Julian Assange.

Yet Blinken dismissed the request. According to www.theguardian.com, he told reporters Assange ‘risked very serious harm to our national security’.

What would the Kiwis do if Assange was one of theirs?

They seem to know that ‘real friends’ don’t just lay down and get walked all over.

It’s an unhealthy relationship if you do whatever you are told to do, yet federal Labor is doing just that.

Thankfully, NZ is an example of a nation that looks after the interests of its citizens.

Turning to the weather, Julia Conley (COMMON DREAMS) reports:

Climate scientists on Friday said the rapidly rising temperature of the planet's oceans is cause for major concern, particularly as policymakers in the top fossil fuel emissions-producing countries show no sign of ending planet-heating oil and gas extraction.

The European Union's climate agency, Copernicus Climate Change Service, reported this week that the average daily global ocean surface temperature across the planet reached 20.96°C (69.7°F), breaking the record of 20.95°C that was previously set in 2016.

The record set in 2016 was reported during an El Niño event, a naturally occurring phenomenon which causes warm water to rise to the surface off the western coast of South America. The weather pattern was at its strongest when the high ocean temperature was recorded that year.

El Niño is forming this year as well, but has not yet reached its strongest point—suggesting new records for ocean heat will be set in the coming months and potentially wreak havoc in the world's marine ecosystems.

Samantha Burgess, deputy director of Copernicus, told the BBC that March is typically when the oceans are at their hottest.

"The fact that we've seen the record now makes me nervous about how much warmer the ocean may get between now and next March," she told the outlet.

The warming oceans are part of a feedback loop that's developed as fossil fuel emissions have increasingly trapped heat in the atmosphere.

Rising levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are warming the oceans, leaving them less able to absorb the emissions and contributing to intensifying weather patterns.

Climate change is impacting us all. Some places are experiencing it sooner and some will be harder hit but it will impact everyone. Iraq is predicted to be one of the worst effected. Already, it's impacting lives in that country.

AMWAJ MEDIA reports:

Amid hot summer months, many Iraqis await the winter rain and the arrival of truffles. The delicacies provide income to those who pick them and are an additional source of nutrients for families unable to afford meat. Iraq's truffles are also highly desired internationally, especially in the Gulf Arab states. But climate change and a lack of rain threaten supply, and have led to scarcity and higher prices.

Truffles are wild seasonal fungi. In Iraq, they grow in damp sands of deserts after heavy rains. Both professional truffle hunters and ordinary families pick the delicacy, which is abundant in large areas of the country. The fungi are widespread in the western Anbar Governorate and near Samawah in the southern Muthanna Governorate. Some pickers also scour the valleys of Iraq’s Kurdistan region.

Truffles provide a livelihood for many Iraqis. Anbari resident Othman Mufleh Al-Rawi, who has been a truffle hunter and tradesman for over 20 years, told Amwaj.media that the fungi have given him a significant second source of income.

Shivam Dwivedi (KRISHI JAGRAN) notes:

Iraq is currently grappling with a dire water shortage, putting the livelihoods of many farmers and food producers at risk. Qasem Karam, an Iraqi fish farmer from the southern province of Basra, is one of those affected. Walking across arid land in the blistering midday heat, Karam gestures towards his dried-up carp ponds, which were once nourished by the Shatt al-Arab river.

He lamented that everything was now saturated with salt due to water scarcity and pollution, pointing to nearby patches of white salt crust. He mentioned that the ponds had required significant time, money, and effort to establish, and they had a promising economic plan, but it had all been destroyed.

In July, reporting repeatedly noted the impact on fishing, the impact on farming and the impact on drinking water. For example, As Laure Al Khoury (AFP) pointed out:

With scorching temperatures and power cuts, Wissam Abed cools off from Baghdad's brutal summer by swimming in the Tigris river, but as Iraqi rivers dry up, so does the age-old pastime.

Near a bridge linking the east of the city to the west, Abed stood in the middle of the river, but the water only came up to his waist.

"I live here in Adhamiya, like my grandfather did before me. Year after year, the water situation gets worse," said the 37-year-old, referring to his neighbourhood nestled along the Tigris in northern Baghdad.

Abed waded through the water to the middle of the ancient river, as temperatures reached near 50 degrees celsius (122 Farenheit) and wind whipped through the city like a hair dryer one July afternoon.

He told AFP he comes to the Tigris "to have fun and feel refreshed".

Summer in Iraq is a prime example of the convergences of multiple crises weighing down the lives of the 43-strong population: a dilapidated electricity sector, rising temperatures and severe water shortages.

The water is disappearing. And what's in the water that Iraq still has access to? MEMO explained:

Chemicals and waste materials from various government institutions and power plants are polluting the River Tigris, causing skin diseases and colon cancer.

Sewage waters are also poured into the River Tigris, which passes through the capital, Baghdad, which has a population of approximately 9 million.

Liquids containing toxic and chemical substances coming out of Baghdad City hospitals are also released into the River Tigris. In addition, people living in neighbourhoods along the river also throw their garbage into the river.

Friday, ALJAZEERA reported:

At the emergency department of the Al-Ramadi Teaching Hospital, in Iraq’s Anbar province, Dr Ziad Tariq says he receives at least 10 to 15 patients daily suffering from heat stroke and dehydration during the summer.

“A cleaner working outdoors in Ramadi under these conditions was admitted to us last year with heat stroke,” Tariq told Al Jazeera on a short break during a busy shift, as the temperature outside peaked at about 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit).

“We admitted him to the ICU because he lost consciousness, but he died shortly after.”

Outside, the neurosurgeon added, young men are diving into the Euphrates River in an attempt to keep cool from the scorching heat. Most women, he said, stay at home to avoid the blaze of the sun. But this does not necessarily ensure protection from the temperature. “When there is no electricity, people will get into their cars to use the air conditioner.”

AFP reports:

As the alarming water crisis blamed mostly on climate change drags on, officials see the need for trade-offs in an effort to meet the country's demands.

Drastic government measures have restricted water use for some purposes, including crop irrigation, and authorities have cracked down on illegal practices they long ignored.

Since late May, unauthorised fish farms like Ziad's have become a target.

"I've worked in this industry since 2003," the 33-year-old said at his village of Al-Bu Mustafa in Iraq's central Babylon province.

He had watched helplessly as officials from the water resources ministry sealed his family's seven fish ponds.

Surrounded by fields and majestic palm trees, this was where Ziad, his father and seven brothers would rear carp, which Iraqis use to make their beloved grilled fish dish known as masguf.

Azhi Rasul (RUDAW) notes:

Iraq’s water reserves are the “lowest” in the country’s history, having reduced to almost half of last year’s amount, a spokesperson for the Iraqi water ministry told Rudaw on Monday.

“Current water reserves in Iraq are the lowest in the history of the country, and is 50 percent of last year,” Khaled al-Shamali, spokesman of the Iraqi ministry of water resources told Rudaw’s Hastiyar Qadir in a phone call.

Shamali also said that the amount of water flowing into Iraq through the Tigris and Euphrates rivers is lower than the amount being released by the retention dams on both rivers. The Mosul dam on the Tigris River receives 275 cubic meters of water per second (mcps) but releases 400 mcps, while the Haditha dam on the Euphrates River releases 200 mcps but only receives a flow of 153 mcps.

The figures and statistics offered by Shamali are alarming as the country grapples with the effects of climate change.

We'll wind down with this from Mariel Padilla (19TH NEWS) report:

It’s often not easy for veterans to receive health care at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) facilities — especially if they are not cisgender men. Not all hospitals have the equipment, or even the space, to properly treat and provide health care to women and LGBTQ+ people. There’s a shortage of specialists. And there’s the way they’re treated by staff or either other patients.

Lindsay Church, a 38-year-old trans nonbinary Navy veteran, said they have dealt with a patient advocate that kept misgendering them, a security guard who laughed at them when they voiced safety concerns and once was even harassed by a VA staff member when they tried to use the bathroom. Church was at a facility in Virginia for a radiology appointment in December 2021 when they needed to use the women’s bathroom. Suddenly, a staff member started pounding on the outside wall, yelling: “Is there a man in this bathroom?”

“I was really scared,” said Church, the co-founder and executive director of Minority Veterans of America. “It left a mark on me that I’m not welcome. I don’t even go to the VA unless I’ve used the restroom before I left my house or unless I can find a single stall bathroom somewhere in there, because I don’t feel safe. And I’m not the only one.”

Church founded Minority Veterans in 2017 in response to the Trump administration’s announcement that transgender people would not be allowed to serve in the military and the administration’s Muslim ban, which temporarily barred people from seven countries, most of which were predominantly Muslim, from entering the country. One of the organization’s policy priorities is pushing to close health care access gaps by guaranteeing access to in vitro fertilization and surrogacy programs, abortion and contraception, and gender confirmation surgery through the VA.

Women and LGBTQ+ veterans have historically accounted for a small percentage of patients receiving care at VA facilities, but as their numbers have grown, so has the awareness of gender-based disparities. As of 2017, only about 1 in 3 VA clinics and hospitals had a gynecologist on staff, according to data from Disabled American Veterans, with OBGYN services — including fertility and pregnancy-related care — being even more rare. A 2020 study published in Women’s Health Issues found that there were gendered disparities specifically when it came to chronic disease management, continuity of care, inpatient services and patient experience of care at VA facilities.

Many women and LGBTQ+ veterans have long spoken out about harassment and unique obstacles to care at VA hospitals. A 2019 study found that 1 in 4 women veterans who routinely go to VA primary care clinics reported inappropriate or unwanted comments or behaviors by men veterans or VA employees. Some locations have since created separate clinics or entrances for women, with one hospital in Texas citing harassment as a leading reason for relocating its trauma recovery program for women. A 2017 directive from the Veterans Health Administration called for all VA women’s health centers to have a “separate entrance into the clinical area” and a “separate waiting room” for women whenever possible. In 2019, Congress passed the Deborah Sampson Act, which allocated $20 million for the retrofitting of existing VA facilities to better support women’s care.

New content at THIRD:

Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "Country Soft and Squishy" went up last night. The following sites updated:

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Sunday, August 06, 2023

Casey is a work in progress as a female

BULLY BOY PRESS & CEDRIC'S BIG MIX & THOMAS FRIEDMAN IS A GREAT MAN & ANN'S MEGA DUB -- THE KOOL AID TABLE

CREEPY DOO-DOO RON DESANTIS IS FINALLY TRYING TO BE READY FOR HIS CLOSE UP. THE FAILED GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA HAS BEEN WARY ABOUT DOING MEDIA 0THER THAN THE PROPAGANDA CHANNELS BUT HE WILL APPEAR ON NBC'S TODAY SHOW ON MONDAY MORNING AND THEN LATER THAT DAY ON NBC NIGHTLY NEWS WITH LESTER HOLT.

ASKED TO EXPLAIN THE LONG DELAY (HE DECLARED HIS RUN FOR THE G.O.P.'S PRESIDENTIAL NOMINATION BACK IN MAY), DOO-DOO EXPLAINED THAT EVERYONE WANTED HIS SPOUSE CASEY TO APPEAR WITH HIM "AND IT'S TAKEN US THIS LONG TO MAKE CASEY LOOK LIKE A WOMAN. WELL . . . ALMOST LIKE A WOMAN. BUT I DID NOT MARRY A TRANSGENDER. I DID NOT. THEY'VE SLAPPED A TON OF MAKE UP ON HER AND, FROM CERTAIN ANGLES, YOU CAN'T EVEN SEE HER ADAM'S APPLE."

Li'l tough guy Ron DeSantis just said once he's elected "We're going to start slitting throats on Day One" and that drug cartels "will be shot stone cold dead." Then he told Casey, "Not you, honey" pic.twitter.com/ivJPjOJGEy
— Paul Rudnick (@PaulRudnickNY) August 3, 2023

FROM THE TCI WIRE:

Let's start with Joe Biden. US President Joe Biden has had his share of stumbles and scandals. I have an e-mail regarding the recognition of Navy Joan. Why, I'm asked, have I not called this out?

Called out the Bidens recognizing their granddaughter?

Uh, because it's good news. I know this is confusing to some people. Hate Merchant Jonathan Turley, for example, can't seem to stop Tweeting about this.

It's over. The issue has been resolved. Yes, she was not immediately welcomed. Yes, that was wrong. We actually called it out here -- more than once. We stopped because it was being addressed. I don't feel the need to do an update on this. The e-mailer says, "You are just trying to protect Biden!"

Really? Because I will offer a statement right now if it's that all important to you: Good for Joe and Jill for welcoming their granddaughter Navy Joan into the family.

Disappointed? Maybe you are. Maybe you expect me to obsess over it like Jonathan Turley who has turned himself into an even bigger joke.

Families are messy. Life is hard. I thought Navy Joan needed to be recognized. I said so. She is. That's a good thing. Again, Turley's an idiot who comes across as bitter and obsessed. It actually appears he wishes Navy Joan were being ignored. I'm happy for her and happy for the family.

On, Joe, I'm also told that I am looking the other way on the Hunter Biden scandal. Again, I'm told, this is because I'm protecting Joe. Protecting him from what?

Ruth covers Hunter at her site. I did cover it originally -- that would be going back to 2019, not waiting until the moment THE NEW YORK POST published their first story on Hunter Biden's laptop in October of 2020. I've covered it. I've done that. I'm not interested in the plea deal -- the deal that is no more. Nor is it a story that gets no attention.

When I covered it, it was being ignored but that's no longer the case.

I defended NY POST's story, defended the publishing of it, called out NYT's attack article -- I believe we're the only ones who remember that article -- where NYT attacked the POST and insisted that the POST staff was ashamed and embarrassed and opposed to the publication of the laptop story. It was filled with lies. If you want to go after the media, that's where you start. But no one wants to go there. I don't have to, I know what happened with that article.

So I haven't run from that.

The e-mailer on this says that I'm ignoring the story and ignoring it because I'm voting for Joe Biden in 2024.

I'm voting Democrat in 2024 -- regardless of who the nominee is. I made that public here and did so in order that people could factor in what goes up here with that.

If you think it's effecting coverage, there's the answer for you.

No, I don't think that. We've covered this and we covered it at length.

The e-mailer notes Tara Reade's reTweets.

I'm so very happy she's found something to do in Russia. I guess she doesn't have any friends still so she needs to obsess over the country she defected from. Or maybe she and convicted pedophile Scott Ritter aren't talking these days? You do realize her online embrace of registered sex offender Ritter is what destroyed her. Most of us, actual survivors, no longer give a s**t about her. Even her online We Believe Tara group vanished over that. And should have. This was not Donald Duck has been accused of assault/rape by Daisy Duck and we used our own common sense to figure out who we believed. This was Scott Ritter got arrested three times, had to plea agreements, third time went to court and got convicted in a court of law, sent to prison and had to register as a sex offender. This is not, Do I believe Donald or Daisy? No, the court verdict ended it. (And read the testimony from the police -- especially about him peeling out of the parking lot -- if you really want to know what a liar Ritter is.)

So I don't care about Tara. I didn't care about the recent court victory either because the woman said -- on CNN -- that rape was "sexy."

Don't care. Can't help the entire world. Can't cover everything.

Due to the e-mail, I've looked at Tara's reTweets. They are garbage. "Devon Archer confirmed Joe Biden was THE BRAND, and he brought the most value to THE BRAND."

Huh?

That was confirmed by Devon Archer?

Maybe to the brain dead.

Of course Joe was "the brand." The deals with Hunter were due to the fact that Joe Biden was vice president. That's not news. Nor is it even new gossip. Hunter had no cachet on his own and no value if his father was Generic Smith.

Hunter traded on dad's name.

We covered all of this at length. Back when it mattered. We noted -- and applauded -- back when Sarah Chayes wrote "Hunter Biden’s Perfectly Legal, Socially Acceptable Corruption" (THE ATLANTIC).

Many people were not having the conversation before the election. We were and we did.

I don't do greatest hits. I've sung that song. Is there a new reason to sing it?

Tara Reade and Jonathan Turley believe so. They also believe in supporting homophobes and transphobes and racists.

At this point, there's nothing there. Could change, so far hasn't.

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