Sunday, October 14, 2018

FIRST MAN

FIRST MAN may be the first adult drama of 2018.  Am I forgetting one?

I would allow that BOOK CLUB was an adult movie but it was an adult comedy.

Otherwise, we've had a lot of bad, really bad, films.  And we've had way too many superhero films.  They've become the new cowboy films -- too many and too infantile.

FIRST MAN stars Ryan Gosling.  I like him most of the time and think THE NICE GUYS is an all time classic but really wasn't prepared for this performance.  He may end up with the Academy Award next year and, if he does, no one can strongly argue he didn't deserve it.

Ryan stars as Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon.  It's a difficult role because, if the film is to be believed, Neil wasn't a really nice person or, at least, not a really expressive one.  Claire Foy does an excellent job in a supporting role as Armstrong's wife Janet.  The whole cast does a great job but special praise among the supporting roles has to go to Kyle Chandler whose done strong work steadily (ARGO, ZERO DARK THIRTY, THE WOLF OF WALL STREET, MANCHESTER by THE SEA and now this).  Ethan Embry also impressed.

I don't know all the history so I'm presuming the film got it right.  If so, great.  If not, I would wonder where the other women are -- say the women of HIDDEN FIGURES.  As an African-American male, I do wonder if there weren't men and women of color and White women as well who weren't part of this story?

Again, I don't know the history so I'm accepting that the film got it right.

It's entertaining and gripping and so nice to see a film that's actually about something other than the comics teenagers read.


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

Friday, October 11, 2018.



Starting with a topic we've been covering for a week now . . .



Muhammad Al-mutairi, a 15 year old kid from Iraq was filmed being tortured, and murdered. Because they suspected he was gay.
His last words were "I want to see my mother"
May his soul Rest In Peace 😞






In Iraq, the LGBTQ community is being targeted yet again.  Ahmad Majed Mutairi was murdered because he was perceived to be part of that community.  His murder is beginning to get some serious press attention.  Sara Al Shurafa (GULF NEWS) reports:


A new shocking video of a brutal murder in Iraq went viral in the past few days around the Arab world: showing a teenage boy lying down on his side, bleeding from his abdomen, and being taunted with homosexual slurs by his killer.
Ahmad Majed Mutairi, 14, known as Hamoudi Mutairi on social media, was brutally killed last weekend because he had “feminine” looks, which made his sexuality under suspicion.


According to some media reports, the teenager was on his way home at night, in Baghdad’s Yarmouk neighborhood, when his assailant attacked him with a knife, inflicting more than 7 stabs to his stomach while documenting all in a video, which later got posted on Facebook.


Tracy E. Gilchrist (THE ADVOCATE) notes:

The victim’s assailants, who stabbed him repeatedly, allegedly for appearing too feminine, according to Kurdistan 24, can be heard asking, “Who is your boyfriend?”  
One of the murderers joked about the boy’s “guts” coming out of his body as the teen lay dying. 
Social media users called for the condemnation of such heinous hate crimes and urged the international LGBTQ community to act. 

“An innocent kid was killed in Iraq just because they suspected he was gay, I think the international community and especially the LGBTQ community should take a stand,” one Twitter user wrote. 


Sara Malm (DAILY MAIL) adds:



The government has yet to comment on the brutal murder and vile video being shared online.
Several exile Iraqis have taken to Twitter to express their outrage over what the perceive as an attack on a young boy because he defied the conservative gender norms of the country.
The murder of Hamoudi al-Mutairi, also named by some news outlets as Mohammed al-Motteri, follows the deaths of four high-profile progressive Iraqis working in social media and the beauty industry in less than a month.


Nick Duffy (PINK NEWS) explains, "It is illegal to be gay in Iraq and gay people face extreme persecution from many of the factions and militant groups that hold power across the country."





I wonder what Iraq is doing since this is the 5th murder in a row targeting people living their life openly on social media? How sick does one have to be to kill an innocent 14yr for acting gay? Are they looking for the suspects? Please someone in Iraq update me!





In Iraq, there have been waves of increased targeting of the LGBTQ community (and people suspected of belonging to it).  These attacks are a lot like the corpses dumped in streets, when they start showing up, it indicates the violence is on the rise.  It doesn't match with the latest wave of Operation Happy Talk the media offers about a 'safer' Iraq and they tend to ignore these signs as a result.  But in post-US-led-invasion Iraq, that has been the pattern.  What is taking place with the targeting of this community -- and the targeting of women -- is awful and appalling by itself.  But the indicator aspect is equally appalling.

We've been talking about Operation Happy Talk since 2004 here and it's appalling that these waves still continue.  Iraq at its supposed least violent is still violent.  Instead of using a normal baseline to grade it, the press rushes to compare it to the ethnic slaughter of 2006 and 2007.

By any realistic measurement, Iraq is a failed state and violence rules there.  But realistic measures won't keep selling continued occupation.  Fortunately, for the occupiers, the world's press is more than willing to mask what actually happens in Iraq on those rare times they bother to cover it.





Replying to  

We now have our largest embassy in the world in Iraq. Larger than Vatican city. Sounds like an occupier? The legacy of Cheney /Bush.






Oh, don't be modest.  It wasn't just Bully Boy Bush and his crotch rocket Dick Cheney.  It was Barack Obama and Joe Biden (they are the ones who overturned the 2010 election with The Erbil Agreement giving thug Nouri al-Maliki a second term).  Barack was the one who promised US troops out of Iraq and he left, after two terms as president, with US troops . . . still on the ground in Iraq.


It's all lies and pretense.  That's why Joe Biden can give Bully Boy Bush an award and why Michelle Obama can tell the world that Bully Boy Bush is her BFF.




Michelle Obama: George W. Bush is my "partner in crime"








Considering over a million Iraqi and Afghan deaths since America’s invasions and occupations, this is apposite phrasing:


Replying to 

This man is MURDERER of lacs of people in Iraq. Humanity killers are shown as they are Humanity lovers.




As Rebecca said, "stop normalizing war criminal bully boy bush."  That is what is taking place and those idiots of the so-called 'resistance' may base everything on where someone stands on Trump but that's not the reality for the rest of the world, especially those areas bombed by the US government.  Bully Boy Bush and Barack and, yes, Donald Trump are carrying out wars and too many Americans fails to use their voice to object or even note these continued wars and the way they destroy the lives of so many.  Michelle can be BFFs with Bully Boy Bush because she cheated people out of medical services in her days back in Chicago, yes, but also because she doesn't give a s**t about war.  She never spoke out against it.  Her husband continued the wars.

She has everything in common with Bully Boy Bush and not one damn thing in common with peace and anti-war activists.  Marcia covered this topic in "Michelle Obama needs to shut up" and Elaine in "F**k you, Joe Biden."

It's all a joke to them.  The American people -- people period -- are a joke to them.  Just tiny chess pawns to be moved around on the board.  They don't recognize or care about the dying that they are responsible for.  They don't care. They are removed from it all.

If you want to stand against violence, there's an action in DC later this month.





  • This is NOT a pink-pussy-hatted event to only oppose Trump and Get Out the Vote for the treacherous and warmongering Democrats (or Republicans): This is a principled non-partisan march on the bi-partisan US war machine.




    Join us at the Pentagon on October 21st. Hear from Walter Teague and others as we call for an end to the bipartisan war machine.



    We did it! 1,001 followers. Thanks for following and for supporting this movement. Head over to our website to get involved if you haven’t already!



    Please so that the can be seen by others. So they can feel the people's power & hear these mothers, sisters, wives & daughters voices.



    He sent young men and women to die for oil, ordered torture to cover it up, so yeah, this seems fitting. I wonder why half the country doesn't vote? F**king Susan Sarandon, amerite?



    Wow! We have nearly 1,000 followers. Who can help us get there? Only 31 to go!!



    One tactic among many tactics which continues building momentum now. 
    En Masse. In the Streets. 
    Women's March on the Pentagon is coming up quick.
    October 20-21.
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    The following community sites -- plus DISSIDENT VOICE, the ACLU, PACIFICA EVENING NEWS and Cindy Sheehan -- updated:










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