Good morning everyone! Happy Friday to you!
Joining us for today's show, we have: Steve Rattner, Amy Holmes, Sal Lifrieri, Craig Melvin, Eugene Robinson, Catherine Rampell, Lawrence O’Donnell, Chuck Todd, Jeff Roorda, Jessica Stern, Amb. Chris Hill, Tina Tchen and more
And does anything think this has been a long week? Do ya think? It has been a long month and a long three weeks.
The jokes about the Netanyahu speech continue with Mika and she mentions how Rudy Guliani spoke out again this week saying that the police officer (Darrin Wilson) that shot Michael Brown should be commended for it. Even Amy Holmes feels that the former mayor went a bit too far with those comments. When a political leader praises the shooting of anyone is a bit much because that is not what police officers should be doing. They should be protecting people and the officer shooting people because of a theft (he did say he was scared for his life but that is up in the air today), is not that great. As (Steve) Rattner says now, when you get a political person that is just not relevant anymore, this could be why he lashes out in these ways. He should have said that the officer should be commended for protecting its people but not for shootintg anyone.
Two polls on Wednesday put Isaac Herzog, leader of the dovish Labor Party, slightly ahead and suggest that support for Mr. Netanyahu and his Likud party among working-class Jews has eroded because of their widespread perception that he has focused on nuclear threats from Iran and extremist Muslims at the expense of economic problems. “He’s talking about something that isn’t relevant—Iran and ISIS,’’ said Avi Biton, owner of a snack bar and a Likud voter in previous elections.
Israel’s election will allot seats in its parliament (the Knesset), after which the leader of the party that wins the most seats will likely form a governing coalition and become prime minister. The polls cited by the Journal anticipate that Herzog’s Zionist Union alliance will win either 25 or 24 seats out of 120, to Likud’s 21. (Herzog says he will hand over the prime minister’s job to alliance partner Tzipi Livni in two years if victorious.)
Herzog, 54, is the son of a former Israeli general who also served as the country’s president and ambassador to the United Nations. His nickname is “Bougie.”
As both the Journal and Haaretz point out, Herzog’s party’s surge doesn’t appear to be driven by particular affection for the man himself: In the Haaretz poll, 48 percent of respondents given a direct choice between Netanyahu and Herzog said the former was the “most appropriate” candidate for the prime minister’s job; only 34 percent said Herzog was. That said, Herzog has narrowed his deficit on that question from 26 points to 14 points in just the last 10 days, and since Israel doesn’t elect its leader directly, his relative lack of personal popularity might not matter in the end anyway. (Ben Mathis-Lilley edits the Slatest. Follow @Slatest on Twitter.)
The Final Poll in the Jerusalem Post say that with regard to the election on Tuesday in Israel, That 72% of the people want change compared to 20% that do not want change compared to 8% that do not care about change. That is not really goo for an incumbent and then Israeli's were asked if they still want Netanyahu as Prime Minister and 48% say no compared to 41% that say yes. Maybe that was why he did that speech. Maybe it was because his numbers were so low.
Bill Karins reports about a Hurricane that is hitting the Port Villa area as a category 5 Cyclone and the East Coast should be getting wet with rains during the days today and tomorrow. The West Coast in the U.S. has excellent weather and NYC will be nice today.
In the Morning Papers today: The Daily News reports about an arrest after some fight in a McDonalds. A group of girls attacked another girl in a Brooklyn McDonalds. One of the people arrested had been arrested 6 times for various issues. No one even called 911 let alone helped the one girl stomped on. Next, a health worker with Ebola was taken to the NIH Clinical Center. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Coca-Cola CEO Muhter Kent, turned down his bonus money last year because of the lay offs and whatnot at the company. That is a cool guy actually a great CEO. The New York Times reports that woman whom wrote the follow up to Kill A Mockingbird is sane enough to know about it. And, all stolen bourbon of Wild Turkey has been recovered somewhere in the US. They also ceases illegal steroids, cash and illegal fire arms in that raid. Wild turkey and Steroids. The SF Times reports how Will Ferrell started playing various (all 9 positions) positions for a charity. Funny guy saying his acting career should be done because a team will pick him up.
Eugene Robinson is on the show now. They are going over the Oklahoma incident and how that Chancellor did well in the aftermath. earning he swooped in to make hard decisions which he did right away. And, yes, a 20 year old should be astute enough to know what crosses any line with regard to chanting racist comments. Eugene writes an article about in the WAPO (Washington Post) about Fraternity Boys and the Long Shadow of racism. It is a good point (as Joe just said) that these kids will be in positions where they will run departments and companies. Like Amy Homes just said, I do remember there being any bad racism at Maryland or at UCLA when i stayed at the Frat house that summer in 1985. If anything, there was racism against or about the amounts of Jews (women/girls were referred to as J.A.P's (Jewish American princesses) as a generalization) at the school from the northeast. That is all i can remember about race as a kid. The black thing never came into play for me because my best friends since first grade were/are dark skinned people. So, it was never even brought into my life that anyone was different than me and actually, I can safely say that I was the different one in the bunch.
I think we will be talking about the Hilary email issue next. There was another WAPO article they refer to and I think that writer is coming on the show. The article is about the senators and people in Congress that do not use emails. I feel like Mother Jones or some other media outlet wrote about that too. Dick Durbin said on Meet The Press this week that he does not use email to communicate. I know John McCain said he does not use email and it was not Dick Durbin that said it, it was Lindsey Graham that said it on Meet The Press. Sorry. BTW, Hilary said 'why use emails' back in 2002 but that of course when that way of deal was in its infancy. I could see anyone being suspect of it. Obviously, we know she uses it now and moreover, we know she uses multiple accounts today. I think the writer is getting at the fact that how efficient can you be today by not using emails as a way to communicate to everyone.
Claire McKaskell is on the show next Monday.
Lawrence (o'Donnell) is on the show now. I was not in a Fraternity either. I stayed at one to pay low rent when I took classes at UCLA back in 1985 and I was friendly with people in them. I just never joined any and it was not for me. I am not surprised that Joe was not in one.
BTW, it is pretty counterproductive for anyone to shoot randomly during the protests in Ferguson. Let alone stupid for anyone to do but I guess the shooter used a hand gun from a top a small hill which shows us how amateur it was to act that way. He was not a sniper. He shot randomly and I guess he did enough damage to hit two police officers. Including shots to the face of one. Luckily, no one died from it. How does Ferguson move beyond it and get by this issue since it took them back a few steps after moving forward a step. Again, very counter productive for anyone to act this way. Like Lawrence says, to use the protesters is just weak. To stand behind groups of protesters to shoot anything randomly is weak. Like I said here twice, it is so counter productive to act this way. And, lucky of a shot or not, as Amy Homes says about it, it was indeed deliberate. It was a very stupid act.
And, wait a second, did someone in the Iranian government say that the U.S. politics has 'disintegrated'? Did I just hear and see that correctly? That ayatollah states that the letter shows how the U.S, Government has disintegrated and it is the collapse of political ethics which i get that what response would anyone get after getting that letter trying to undermine any deal talks between the countries, but still, this is coming from him? The ayatollah of Iran? Wasn't it the ayatollah that said in some tweet that he wants to decimate Israel? Wasn't that the same guy? Regardless, that letter being sent to them was stupid. I just wished the senators and Government officials that signed and wrote up that letter would have just waited until the terms were set.
Chuck Todd is on now. He reminds us that there are five other countries involved in these talks. Which honestly, not only did I not even think about, I had no clue there were a few nations in the mix. That is cool and therefore the letter should not affect the deal.
It also seems that Chris Christy created a Super Pac for when he runs for POTUS next year. And, Jeb Bush is hitting up donors for his run in it next year. Chucky T says that Christy is NOT getting any huge response from a larger donor base for his run. And, that Jeb is getting a lot of the Wall Street donors to put money towards his campaign. What a difference a year makes. Christy was at a high but too much happened and he had a bad February with a bad trip to the UK/Britain. Chuck claims that Scott Walker is still the front runner with regard to raising money. he says that Jeb needs Walker and 'those' guys on the conservative side to stumble a bit.
I am not sure what this next story is about but there is a class action law suit against teachers or the education organization for teachers. i am not sure about this story.
Anyway, back to ISIS and the "Sate Of Terror." The author of that book is coming up.
BTW, Obama on the (Jimmy) Kimmel show looked hilarious. The clips shown today were amazingly funny.
A non story is about some Waterloo coin and France and Belgium. Another one is about Tom Hanks helping a girl scout troop to sell cookies but anyway, Andy Samberg was tapped to host the Emmy's this year. I like him. And, Star Wars 8 will hit theatres in May 2017. Variety reports that Disney announced the sequel to frozen. Why not. That was a huge hit and many people have seen that movie multiple times. I never saw that film but I also do not have kidz. But I know people love it.
This next interview should be good. It is with the Former St Louis Police Chief Association spokesperson that I think may have said something over the top but i am not sure yet. I thought I heard Mika say something about it and him earlier today. regardless of what I thought, he seems ok so far. I agree that the police officers that were shot is nothing short of miraculous that they have left the hospital already by today. That is quite frankly. He also states that it would have been hard to view the shooter from where he had set himself up to shoot randomly into that crowd. Mika asks about this guys comments about the protesters lumping them with the shooters when he just agreed and stated that the protesters were in harms way too. He may have used the wrong wording. Oh. he said that those protesters want dead cops. Which is not that great of a thing to say. No one wants anyone dead. If they do, those people are criminals. The protesters do not want violence if for anything, what i said above about the incident being counter productive. He also says the media reports are lop sided. Which I get people would think that way if whomever wanted to get down to the truth. Being real and whatnot, sucks for some people. Overall, this (racial divide) is NOT just a Ferguson issue, it is a state wide issue and it is a national issue.
I also agree that the media fails on both sides with cops and with protesters. Soem media outlets only would show people that chant they want dead cops while they show cops beating up and killing a black kid (so to speak). Lawrence cracks me up by asking whether this guy thinks that since he called the shooter a protester itself, that he must disagree with the police conclusion in that shooter was away from the protesters. It is contradicting.
And, hush about the Rams protesting with the hands up thing they did that game. Come on. Stop harping on the Rams please. Like Lawrence says, it is still all hearsay as to what happened because after all, the main subject is dead. He cannot tell his side of the story. Hence the problem we have with cops or with anyone that has itchy trigger fingers that shoot unarmed things and people. And, the findings in that report does not say anything was definitive which is Lawrence's point here. The hands up thing came via witnesses and not the people actually involved in the shooting because again, the victim is dead. He could not talk about it after he died. We can only hear one side of the story.
Jessica Stern is the one that wrote that book about the ISIS issue. She sates it began after we invaded Iraq in 2003. And, that it came right out of Al-Qaeda. It just has a different name but it no doubt came out of Iraq and Al-Qaeda. Which ironically today, even Al-Qaeda has distanced themselves from the ISIS group, but we also know those voids have picked tightened by when the likes of Boko Haram joined forces with ISIS last month. This book sounds interesting. And,m this woman seems knowledgeable about this subject. I wish I had to read it or maybe they/we should make the book into a documentary film (for the likes of me that are lazy).
Former Ambassador to Iran, Chris Hill is on in the last half an hour and it seems like the Woman Who/that run things series features Tina Tchen today.
I am very curious to hear from Chris Hill today.
BTW, as Bill Neely and WSJ (TAMER EL-GHOBASHY in Baghdad and MARIA ABI-HABIB in Behruit) reports about battle in Tikrit, Shiite ‘Soldiers of God’ Color Tikrit Battle, Iraq prepares to retake city from Islamic State, but religious overtones of fight spark concerns. With one large section of Tikrit remaining in the hands of Islamic State militants and Iraq’s government preparing to declare victory, Shiite fighters working to retake the city said the relative ease of the battle isn’t the result of better weapons, better strategy or even a weakened opponent.
The inspiration, they said, is religious: They are engaged in a holy war against Sunni extremists for control of their lands, legitimized by a fatwa issued last year by Iraq’s highest-ranking Shiite cleric.
The religious overtones of the battle for Tikrit have stirred concerns of fresh sectarian conflict, which has plagued Iraq since a U.S.-led invasion toppled the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein in 2003.
Iraqi State television on Thursday broadcast a clip showing a Shiite militia commander purportedly speaking to an Islamic State militant over a two-way radio captured from a slain militant.
“We are the soldiers of God,” says the militiaman, who identifies himself as Sayed Adeeb.“We are followers of God. We are his soldiers on the ground.”
The purported Islamic State militant, who begins weeping while delivering his response, replies: “We won’t give you an inch of the land of Muslims. We will complete our martyrdom mission.” The offensive to recapture the Sunni city, best known as the late dictator’s birthplace, has relied heavily on an Iran-backed force of 20,000 Shiite militia fighters. Their role alongside as many as 10,000 government soldiers has also raised questions about plans for a more-ambitious effort to dislodge Islamic State militants from Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city—an operation in which the U.S. expects to play a major role.
Iraqi officials and militia leaders said it would be nearly impossible to keep the militias out of the battle for Mosul, Islamic State’s de facto capital since its capture in June. U.S. officials have said the Mosul offensive would be a partnership with Iraqi government forces, not Shiite militias. Iraqi and Western analysts add, however, that the Iraqi army would have a hard time driving Islamic State from Mosul without the help of Shiite militias, who are more adept at guerrilla warfare than Iraqi government soldiers are.
“It will be very difficult to convince the leaders of these popular mobilization groups to stay out of the most important fight after they have sacrificed blood and won in Tikrit,” said an adviser to Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi. “There is a risk of a public backlash as well.”
Security officials on Thursday said Islamic State militants remained in control of only one part of Tikrit, a large palace campus once used by Mr. Hussein. Defense Minister Khaled al-Obeidi said he expected the city to be fully recaptured within days. Iraqi officials have expressed surprise at the relative ease of the operation, which began March 2 after two attempts to retake the city last year failed within days.
In interviews, Shiite militia fighters and leaders said experience gained in previous battles against the insurgency, combined with better coordination among the militias under Iranian supervision, had facilitated their gains in Tikrit. Fighters and their commanders said they have gained battlefield advantage over Islamic State by using remote-controlled drone cameras to scout its territory and by training their own soldiers to defuse improvised explosive devices planted by the militant group. They said also credited cooperation by the local Sunni population in providing intelligence on the region’s geography.
“The development of our capabilities came gradually with experience fighting Daesh and understanding their capabilities and techniques,” said Abu Murtada Al Hattab, an official with Saraya Al Jihad, a Shiite militia, using the Arabic acronym for Islamic State. “We have completely understood their techniques.” Mr. Hattab said his forces had tapped markets throughout Iraq for sophisticated weapons and equipment such as thermal cameras.
He and other commanders pointed to religion as the motivator of their fighters—an edict issued by Iraq’s top Shiite cleric last year calling men to arms in defense of the nation. “Now it is a matter of faith,” said Abu Noor Al Jaberi, a commander with Kattaeb Sayed Al Shuhada, a large militia involved in Tikrit’s liberation. “Do your job to the best of your ability and if you die you are a martyr. You go to paradise.”
The retreat of Islamic State forces from the outskirts of Tikrit goes against the carefully cultivated image the group has projected of its foot soldiers—battle-hardened warriors willing to stand their ground and face certain death. But military analysts said the group may be pulling back forces to swell their ranks in Mosul, in preparation for an assault by the Iraqi government, which U.S. and Iraqi officials said could begin as early as the spring.
Aymenn al-Tamimi, of the Middle East Forum research group, said Islamic State’s grip on Tikrit could have been overstated and relied heavily on Baathist forces once loyal to Mr. Hussein and other Sunni militants, who share Islamic State’s opposition to Iraq’s Shiite- dominated government but not the same extremist ideology. These groups were either coerced to join Islamic State or did so out of opportunism and don’t share the extremist group’s hard-line ideology, making them less likely to hold their ground, he said.
Iran’s role leading the Tikrit offensive is also playing into Islamic State’s propaganda pitting its Sunni Muslim soldiers as the last line of resistance against Tehran and its Shiite forces, which the group deems heretical. U.S. military officials have also voiced concern about Iran’s lead role in the assault in recent days, warning it could stoke already high sectarian tensions.
“It’s brilliant for their propaganda as it confirms and plays into their narrative that the Iranians are leading a Shiite conspiracy to take over the Middle East and that the U.S. is complicit in this plot,” said Cole Bunzel, an expert on jihadist ideology at Princeton University. Military officials said the Iraqi offensive had made small-but-strategic advances on the outskirts of Tikrit, but have yet to close in on the city center. U.S. officials said only a few hundred Islamic State fighters, no more than 1,000, are believed to be fighting in Tikrit. The militant group has had difficulty sending help for their forces in Tikrit that is facing overwhelming numbers—about 30,000—from the Shiite militias and Iraqi government forces. Pentagon officials said they hadn’t received concerning reports of widespread atrocities or war crimes carried out by Shiite forces in Tikrit. What happens there with the Shiite fighters is seen as an important test of Iran’s intentions.
Although the U.S. has no role in the Tikrit offensive, American officials see the operation as a litmus test for Iran to see what its intentions are. “We’re watching carefully and assessing what effects will be of the Shiite drive,” one U.S. military official said. “There will be implications for any future Mosul campaign.” Iran’s Quds Force leader, Maj. Gen. Qasem Solaimani, has played a high-profile role in Tikrit, where he has visited troops on the front-line. U.S. officials said it is important for Mr. Solaimani to maintain control over his forces.
“Solaimani has to understand that if he doesn’t keep a tight rein on those militias it will be a problem for him too,” said a second U.S. military official. The U.S. military said it has been carefully screening out the Iraqi forces that it is working with to ensure that it doesn’t train any groups or people involved in human rights abuses or war crimes. A variety of photographs and videos that appeared to show both Sunni and Shiite military forces in Iraq involved in torture and summary executions have highlighted those concerns. Military officials said on Thursday that the U.S. training mission in Iraq has refused to work with a number of groups and individuals in Iraq because of suspected abuse. But they said that they were the exception, not the rule. “As long as the Iranians are contributing—and so far that has been the case—the better it is for us,” the first official said. “The minute they stop contributing to good and start contributing to evil, that will have to be addressed.”
Maybe we are seeing the beginning of the end for that ISIS group. The taking back of Tikrit is great on so many levels. Symbolic since it was one of the first cities taken over by the ISIS group. And, strategic because its at a key position in that country. Besides, ISIS stole it from its people.
Chris Hill is basically is so many words, agreeing with my view point. He is just way smarter than me so he says it way better than me.
Looks like we are going to get into the Secret Service mishap or I should say that latest one. The writer on that story is on next.
Regardless of it all this week, please stay in touch!PS: we have hope to have enough time in my day to make this recap show a show on TV (which was always the plan but still).
