Oh Boy It Never Ends: June 2017

Thursday, June 29, 2017

That's the last thing X-Men need

Evan Peters is rejoining the X-Men.

The actor, who played the breakout character Quicksilver in X-Men: Days of Future Past and X-Men: Apocalypse, is reprising his role as the mutant speedster for X-Men: Dark Phoenix.

Quicksilver is not a break out character.

He's part of the problem, actually.

There has been far too little for females to do in the series.

The first three films offered strong women.

The women have gotten weaker.

And too much 'cool boy' bulls**t.

Can the franchise get any more out of touch?

And in a DARK PHOENIX movie, the last thing we should be doing is focusing on Quicksilver -- a minor character at best.

Going out with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Thursday, June 29, 2017. The Mosul Slog continues, despite claims from some.

Right now, there a lot of claims like this:

‏Verified account @PressTV

Iraq state TV announces Mosul liberation, ISIL fall 

45 retweets39 likes

So the Iraqi government's forces now control Mosul?

No.

ALJAZEERA reports, "Iraqi authorities expect the battle to end in the coming days as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group has been bottled up in a handful of neighbourhoods of the Old City."

That reality doesn't interfere with some.

Self-styled fortune teller Liz Sly takes the time to Tweet:

‏Verified account @LizSly

Reuters: Iraqi forces have captured the Nuri Mosque where Baghdadi declared the ISIS caliphate. The battle for Mosul is as good as over.

2 replies103 retweets61 likes

You really have to marvel over that nonsense.

Liz Sly is paid to report what is.

She clearly doesn't grasp the job.

She'd rather offer pleasing words.

Grown ups don't need fairy tales, they need the truth.

The truth is the battle continues.

But the truth is tossed to the side by the immature.

That would include those who lap at the crotches of military men (they themselves haven't usually served ever).

Amin Mursal‏ @amin_mursal 14 minutes ago

#BREAKING
 
MOSUL LIBERATED
#ISIS has fallen in #Mosul 
Lions of Iraqi forces retake the city of Mosul from ISIS completely.
#Iraq 

Those are the heroes?

I would think the people of Mosul who managed to survive three years of being occupied by the Islamic State would be the heroes.

You know, the people the Iraqi government abandoned for over two years?

The ones the Iraqi government made no effort to assist or help?

Reality: It's day 249 of The Mosul Slog.

It could end today.

It might not.

But as of right now, it continues.

ALJAZEERA offers this map:

‏Verified account @AJEnglish

As the Iraq army seizes ruins of Mosul's al-Nuri mosque from ISIL, we look at who controls what in the city aje.io/v4p3

1 reply8 retweets9 likes

More reality: once the Islamic State no longer controls any of Mosul, the focus returns to the failures of the Iraqi state which are many.

Harlan Ullman and Arnaud de Borchgrave (UPI) note that "the Sunni-Shia schism has not been reconciled. Nor have relations between Baghdad and Kurdistan been resolved."

The Islamic State has allowed many to ignore the problems with the government.

Here's another reality:

ICRC‏Verified account @ICRC 4 hours ago

500,000 people used to live in Ramadi, #Iraq. Fighting left 80% of the city destroyed.

Inside war in cities: bit.ly/2sjX1bD

5 replies36 retweets27 likes

Maybe Liz Sly could take a break from palm reading and report on what passes for post-liberation in Iraq?

The following community sites -- plus PACIFICA EVENING NEWS and GORILLA RADIO -- updated:

The Pacifica Evening News

Single Payer Supporters Urge Assembly Action on Senate Healthcare Bill

10 hours ago

10 hours ago

10 hours ago

10 hours ago

Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude

corn nuts

10 hours ago

Like Maria Said Paz

Let it go already

10 hours ago

Gorilla Radio

Gorilla Radio with Chris Cook, Robert Jensen, Nathalie Chambers, Janine Bandcroft June 28th, 2017

13 hours ago

Tuesday, June 27, 2017

2017 in film songs

That's Ariana Grande and John Legend performing the song "Beauty & the Beast" from the 2017 film of the same name.

I was wondering what might get nominated for Best Song at next year's Academy Awards and so I went to BILLBOARD's soundtracks chart.

The number one?

2016's MOANA. So forget songs from it.

Number two?

The 'mix tape' from the new GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (there may be one new song on it but most of it is from the 70s -- like Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain"), so forget it.

Number 3 is 2016's TROLLS, so forget it.

Number four is BEAUTY AND THE BEAST and it's the first one that's from 2017.

There's not much in the top ten for 2017, check it out.

I'm wondering what, besides BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, stands a chance at a nomination?

And I'm willing to bet B&TB gets two nominations for best song -- the above and Celine Dion's "How Does A Moment Last Forever."

Going out with C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"

Tuesday, June 27, 2017. Chaos and violence continue, Tony Blair's biggest groupie continues to throb for the War Hawk, and much more.

CNN International‏Verified account @cnni 9h9 hours ago

Drone video shows the immense destruction as civilians flee ISIS in Mosul, Iraq cnn.it/2sL1Ryr

54 replies350 retweets269 likes

Day 247 of The Mosul Slog.

Yes, it still drags on.

‏ @newslivenetwork

IS counterattacks in retaken parts of Mosul stall Iraq push 

0 replies0 retweets0 likes

Stall?

247 days and counting.

And it was supposed to be over in weeks (not by the end of 2016 as REUTERS maintains here).

247 days.

‏ @MT_Consult

#BREAKING #Mosul #Iraq
@Warmediacell: Iraqi PM al-Abadi is expected to announce victory in Mosul within hours. 

0 replies1 retweet2 likes

He can announce it in five seconds, won't change the fact that this operation took 247 days.

Nor will it change the fact that Mosul is destroyed from US-led coalition bombings.

Would he have done that to a Shi'ite majority city?

Of course not.

‏Verified account @AsaadHannaa

In war squeezed amongst the bombs and bullets are little bodies #syria #Iraq
@Free_Media_Hub

3 replies48 retweets39 likes

SO many look the other way as the destruction continues.

How?

‏ @DTraynier

David Traynier Ⓥ Retweeted John Rentoul

Not as dark as the skies over Iraq in 2003. 

David Traynier Ⓥ added,

John RentoulVerified account @JohnRentoul

Ten years ago today the skies darkened, and the country has been grey and miserable ever since. Tony Blair stood down as PM 27 June 2007.

0 replies1 retweet1 like

John Rentoul is a propagandist who writes for THE INDEPENDENT.

He whored for Tony Blair before the start of the Iraq War and all the way to this very day.

There's no accountability.

He's held to no standard.

And that's part of the problem.

That's in England.

In the US, MOTHER JONES hires pro-war pundits who promoted the Iraq War.

There was no accountability on any level.

And the lesson was: Look the other way.

Which is what happened on so many levels.

The DNC spent the last election cycle trying to bully and push around young people.

What they didn't get was that it's easy for old whores to look the other way but the young were not going to do the same.

We saw it on campus after campus in the last years.

We saw the young people turning against so-called 'independent media' that were nothing but propaganda mills for the Democratic Party.

This should be a time for independent media to flourish but it whored out.

Whether we're talking THE NATION or PACIFICA RADIO, they whored out.

And we spent many years warning that the young were watching.

The Iraq War demonstrated many things and it surely destroyed faith in corporate media.

But, as the years passed, it also demonstrated that so-called independent media was no better.

Norman Solomon thinks he can sneak back in.

He's laughed at on campuses, he's the punchline to a dirty joke.

They had professors who used his book on war or referenced Norman's 'activism.'

But that was long ago.

And he went into hiding when Barack Obama was president.

Eight years as the Iraq War raged.

How stupid does a Norman Solomon think people are?

And while some older people will go along, the enthusiasm and passion of the youth will not play.

They haven't been co-opted and beaten down for years the way so many have.

The following community sites updated: