90 Miles From Tyranny

Sunday, July 1, 2018

Armed Clashes In Iran As Guiliani Calls For Regime Change: "End Is Near"

Protests in the southern Iran city of Khorramshahr turned into an armed confrontation with security forces early Sunday, resulting in injuries among protesters and police, with conflicting reports that one or more demonstrators may have died.Screenshot from social media video taken in the city of Khorramshahr showing armed clashes with police.

Iran's state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) confirmed the clashes in the historically restive Arab-majority city after large protests over clean water shortages in the region began Friday, and after 3 days of economic protests in Tehran resulted in the temporary closure of the Grand Bazaar early last week.

Though the AP confirms that gunfire erupted in Khorrmashahr, it reports multiple injuries and no fatalities as "online videos appear to show Iranian security forces shooting at protesters."

However Saudi-owned Al Arabiya reported four deaths among protesters on Saturday, and BBC Persian cited at least one death based on an eyewitness account. The Times of Israel echoed regional Arabic press and cited four deaths during the protests.

Meanwhile the AP emphasizes that police were primarily on the receiving end of the violence while citing Iranian media:

Gunfire erupted as Iranian security forces confronted protesters early Sunday amid demonstrations over water scarcity in the country's south, violence that authorities said wounded at least 11 people, mostly police.

While difficult to verify the exact nature of what's being shown, multiple social media videos from the clashes purport to show shots fired by police into crowds of demonstrators, and elsewhere armed men opposing police, including a scene of a man wielding an assault rifle on a motorcycle.

The dramatic footage of overnight events in Khorramshahr has pro- and anti-regime activists debating who is to blame for the violence; however, it's clear from video footage being circulated by...

‘An embarrassment, on multiple levels’: Fmr. CNN producer rips Acosta for giving journos a ‘bad name’

CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta made such a fool of himself Friday in screaming across the room a politically driven question for President Donald Trump that even a former CNN employee called him out for the “embarrassment.”

The president appeared at a ceremony commemorating the six month anniversary of the GOP’s historic tax reform bill, when the reporter tried to spin the shooting in Annapolis, Md., by a man who had a longstanding feud with a local newspaper, into an event centered around Trump

“Mr. President, will you stop calling us the enemy of the people, sir?” Acosta yelled, as people around him tried to hush him.

Acosta then reported on Twitter: “I tried to ask the president if he would stop calling us the enemy of the people. He did not respond.”

Even though Trump likely never heard the question as Bloomberg reporter Jennifer Jacobs noted:

Jennifer Jacobs

✔@JenniferJJacobs

Trump didn't appear to hear any of the questions we called out to him at the end of the tax reform anniversary event. Notably, when the very friendly audience realized reporters were yelling to Trump, they increased the volume of their applause and whooping to override the press.

Jim Acosta

✔@Acosta

I tried to ask the president if he would stop calling us the enemy of the people. He did not respond.

1:08 PM - Jun 29, 2018

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Amid wide scale ridicule over the stunt, former CNN senior digital producer Steve Krakauer took to Twitter to rip Acosta’s “self-serving antics,” describing his actions as “an embarrassment, on multiple levels.”

“Truly an embarrassment, on multiple levels. Jim Acosta’s self-serving antics give all good journalists a bad name,” Krakauer tweeted.

“On a day journalists could honor the memory of fellow reporters tragically killed due to a deranged person with a vendetta going back years,” Krakauer tweeted in a follow up, “Acosta tries to shift the blame to Trump, thus validating many Americans’ feelings about the Acela Media (that existed long before Trump).”

Any regular watcher of CNN can tell you, if they were being honest, that Acosta long ago got personal in his coverage of the Trump presidency — aided along by stinging criticism from the president.

But Krakauer was right on the money when he said the CNN reporter validates the feeling people have about the media.

Here’s a sampling of responses from Twitter: