Common Dreams:
"House Panel Quietly Drops Campaign Finance Probes. ... The bipartisan House Ethics Committee announced earlier this week that it unanimously opted to close several investigations involving alleged campaign finance violations by three Republicans and one Democrat, a move that one expert characterized as a 'New Year's Eve Ethics Massacre.' ...

Daniel Schuman, executive director of the American Governance Institute, argued that the panel's decision 'effectively legalized the conversion of campaign funds for personal use by members of the House of Representatives' by establishing 'a new weak standard' and ignoring evidence of wrongdoing provided by the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE).

'They can now take dollars from donors and put them in their pocket,' Schuman wrote in his newsletter. 'It's not what they said they did, but under the cover of the New Year's holiday, Ethics Committee Democrats and Republicans pulled a fast one, legalizing a money laundry so blatantly corrupt it would embarrass Walter White.' "
https://www.commondreams.org/news/ethics-committee-campaign-finance


-->This move to legalize the bribing of Congress was not reported in the NYT. Maybe the newspaper doesn't want the world to read about how the US oligarchy really works.

=====

The Intercept:
"U.S. Military Service Is the Strongest Predictor of Carrying Out Extremist Violence.
The mass murder in New Orleans and Cybertruck explosion in Las Vegas fit a troubling pattern among U.S. vets, research says. ... From 1990 to 2010, about seven persons per year with U.S. military backgrounds committed extremist crimes. Since 2011, that number has jumped to almost 45 per year, according to data from a new, unreleased report shared with The Intercept by Michael Jensen, the research director at the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism, or START, at the University of Maryland.

Military service is also the single strongest individual predictor of becoming a 'mass casualty offender,' far outpacing mental health issues, according to a separate study of extremist mass casualty violence by the researchers.

From 1990 through 2023, 730 individuals with U.S. military backgrounds committed criminal acts that were motivated by their political, economic, social, or religious goals, according to data from the new START report. From 1990 to 2022, successful violent plots that included perpetrators with a connection to the U.S. military resulted in 314 deaths and 1,978 injuries — a significant number of which came from the 1995 bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City."
https://theintercept.com/2025/01/02/military-veterans-extremism-attack-new-orleans-vegas/

-->Why would this story be ignored by the Empire's media, including the NYT? It may be because the true costs of US wars are always hidden from the American public

=====

Jewish Currents:
"Pro-Israel groups have remade Title VI into a tool of repression—and a second Trump term will supercharge their crusade. On January 17th, Laura Rosenbury, the president of Barnard College, called sociology professor Debbie Becher into her office to discuss an event Becher was helping plan alongside several Jewish students: a screening and discussion of the documentary Israelism, which chronicles young American Jews’ disaffection with Zionism. Joined by provost and dean of the faculty Linda Bell, Rosenbury told Becher to 'pause' the screening, according to notes of the meeting Becher kept. ...

To critics, however, the whole episode was an alarming act of attempted censorship, with Miriam Nunberg, a former staff attorney at the Department of Education (DOE)’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR)—the principal agency that enforces Title VI in educational settings—telling Jewish Currents that the Barnard president’s invocation of Title VI to interfere with a film screening was a 'misuse' of the law.

'The film is produced by a Jew; it has Jewish protagonists; it discusses different viewpoints about Israel within the Jewish community in America,' said Nunberg. 'It doesn’t seem to me that there’s anything in that film that inherently creates a hostile environment that would rise to the level of a Title VI violation for any Jewish student on campus.' Instead, Nunberg said, Title VI was being deployed as 'a pretext for violating the right of free expression on campus.' Becher agreed, adding that by trying to censor campus speech in the name of legal compliance, university administrators are capitulating to groups that have 'weaponized' Title VI to repress political expression about Israel/Palestine."
https://jewishcurrents.org/civil-rights-law-pro-palestine-speech-israel-trump

-->This story of antisemitism being used to suppress dissent wasn't covered by the NYT. It is an important story, a real harbinger of things to come. Shame on our "newspaper of record."

Common Dreams:
"Outcry After Biden Admin Pushed for Retraction of Northern Gaza Famine Report
'It sure looks like USAID is allowing political considerations—the Biden administration's worry about funding Israel's starvation strategy—to interfere,' said one human rights expert. ...

The decision by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) to retract its December 23 alert on the rapidly spiraling starvation crisis in the northern part of the besieged enclave came after the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Jack Lew, publicly criticized the report.

FEWS NET, which is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), said in its report that Israel's 'near-total blockade of humanitarian and commercial food supplies' for nearly 80 days has made it 'highly likely that the food consumption and acute malnutrition thresholds for famine... have now been surpassed in North Gaza Governorate.' "
https://www.commondreams.org/news/icc-report-no-famine-in-gaza

-->The way our government deals with famine is to hide its role in it. Shameful really. But The NYT could have restored some decency to this retraction by running the story. But it didn't, and that is shameful as well.

=====

The Hill:
"Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) published an op-ed on Fox News, slamming the political power of billionaires in the U.S. and increasing wealth concentration, arguing the country is moving down 'the path of oligarchy.' Sanders, who in November secured his fourth term in the Senate, wrote that the country is diverging in two opposite directions: the billionaire class and the rest of the the U.S.

'We are in a pivotal and unprecedented moment in American history,' he argued in the op-ed, which was published Friday. 'Either we fight to create a government and an economy that works for all, or we continue to move rapidly down the path of oligarchy and the rule of the super-rich.'

The former two-time presidential candidate slammed the top 1 percent, calling out Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg and claiming the trio 'own more wealth than the bottom half of our society — over 165 million people.' ”
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/5057810-sanders-billionaires-fox-news-op-ed/

-->The NYT, the oligarchy's newspaper of record, didn't print this story. The newspaper just doesn't cover Bernie, even when he was running for president.

=====

Common Dreams:
" 'As Palestinians Starve and Freeze, Israeli Troops Unwind at Gaza 'Beachfront Resort'
"And U.S. taxpayers are funding this," fumed one critic.

As the people of Gaza suffer hell on Earth, Israeli soldiers committing what the world increasingly recognizes as a genocide against them can now kick back and relax at a beachfront resort in the embattled strip and enjoy treated water from a desalination plant while Palestinians die from lack of water, food, and other necessities.

The Israeli outlet Ynet reported Thursday that Israel Defense Forces troops in northern Gaza are relaxing at a 'beachfront resort' located 'amid the devastation' wrought by the IDF's U.S.-backed 445-day assault, which, according to Gazan and international agencies, has left more than 164,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing; millions more forcibly displaced, starved, or sickened; and most of the coastal enclave in ruins."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/israel-beachfront-retreat-gaza

-->More shame to be hidden by The NY Times. It didn't cover this story, that could have come from the concentration camps of Nazi Germany.

Mondoweiss:
"Employees often face certain restrictions on their freedom of speech. In the past year, retaliation against employees or future employees for expressions of solidarity with Palestine has repeatedly made headlines. Law firms have rescinded their offers to graduating students. Tech companies, including Google, have fired employees for organizing. Last year, Starbucks and its union sued each other over a disputed social media post by the union.

But the response of universities, with their long standing reputations of creating space for intellectual engagement and dissent, stands out. Faculty at Columbia and other universities have described a growing climate of academic suppression. And staff, like Clara, have fewer protections.

Clara [last name withheld] is one of many students and staff at universities across the United States who have been disciplined for participating in pro-Palestinian protests. Her story shows that the crackdown on staff members extends to when staff is off the clock and reflects the uneven enforcement of murky speech policies by universities."
https://laborforpalestine.net/2024/12/10/universities-are-continuing-to-retaliate-against-staff-for-participating-in-gaza-campus-protests-mondoweiss/

-->This is a hidden crackdown. Few media sources will show the American public just how bad these violations of freedom of speech really are.

=====

Peoples Dispatch:
"Governments in Latin America have been at the forefront of opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and several of those which have done so suddenly face new threats, even including attempted coups. Adrienne Pine, a professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies, said during a recent webinar hosted by the Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition that 'Anybody who stands with Palestine is going to be attacked in Latin America by the US and by Zionists.'

Recent events appear to show the truth of her remarks. Of the 165 countries that recognize Israel, only four have officially cut diplomatic ties with the country since it began its Gaza offensive, and all of them are Latin American: Bolivia, Belize, Colombia and Nicaragua (Venezuela severed its ties with Israel in 2009 while Cuba broke off relations during the Yom Kippur War of 1973). A further eight countries have withdrawn their diplomats from Tel Aviv since October 7, 2023, of which Chile, Brazil and Honduras are from Latin America.

This article looks at the experience of three governments in the region which have strongly opposed Isreal’s genocidal war—Nicaragua, Honduras, and Colombia. All are suffering attacks that appear to be either in direct retaliation for their actions or which suspiciously coincide with them. All three have progressive governments which have historic reasons for challenging Israel, adding to their condemnation of its recent actions."
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/11/12/latin-american-governments-pay-a-price-for-challenging-israels-genocidal-war/

-->Finding this story is difficult in the US media. Could it be that the US empire is still hiding its attacks on Latin America?

=====

Mondoweiss:
"After 16 years behind bars, Mufid Abdulqader, a member of the 'Holy Land Five' has been released from prison into a halfway house. The Palestinian American is slated to spend one year at the facility.

The case of the Holy Land 5 has become a symbol of the unconstitutional overreach associated with U.S. counterterrorism since 9/11. In 2009, five Palestinian-American Muslims received prison sentences as a result of their work with the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) charity. Prosecutors claimed that HLF funneled money to Hamas and charged the men with 'material support for terrorism,' as the United States has designated Hamas as a 'Foreign Terrorist Organization.'

Abdulqader received a 20-year prison sentence. Mohammad el-Mezain and Abdulrahman Odeh were given 15 years. Ghassan Elashi and Shukri Abu Baker, 65 years."
https://mondoweiss.net/2024/12/after-16-years-in-prison-holy-land-five-member-mufid-abdulqader-has-been-released/

-->Silence in the US press. Is it just shame about a story that most mainstream media refused to touch? Five innocent men sentenced, two for 65 years each. When it comes to Palestinians in the US, the "Land of the Free" offers few protections for the innocent.

Telesur:
"On Tuesday, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez presented the 2025 Economic and Financial Budget Bill to the National Assembly (AN). The proposed budget amounts to $22.6 billion, with 77.7% of this total allocated to social investment.

'As we have stated and reaffirmed previously, this law was not drafted in an office. It was not prepared by the Ministry of Finance’s planning department. This is a law created with the people’s input. Over 100,000 assemblies defined the essential guidelines for formulating policies aimed at addressing the needs of Venezuelans,' the Bolivarian vice president stated. ...

'This will ensure that projects originating directly from the needs of the people, who are organized into communes and communal councils, are included in next year’s budget,' Rodriguez affirmed, highlighting that the budget proposal comes amid favorable expectations for her country’s economy."
https://www.telesurenglish.net/venezuela-allocates-78-of-the-2025-budget-to-social-investment

-->What a completely democratic way for selecting how a country spends its money. Contrast this with who makes the empire's decisions, the billionaires, of course. The NYT never carries stories like this, of course. News about South America is mostly Pentagon propaganda.

=====

Drop Site News:
"First, they banded together to block investing in overly political, woke businesses. Now, a coalition of state officials across the U.S. is using its power to allocate state funds to a political cause it cares about: Israel.

Since 2020, states and municipalities across the country have amassed a portfolio of  $1.7 billion in Israel Bonds—securities sold by the state of Israel to 'strengthen every aspect of Israel's economy, enabling national infrastructure development.' Since October 7th, 2023, $580 million of state and municipal investments have been invested in Israeli bonds.

In some cases, the state treasurers and comptrollers that purchased Israeli bonds are the very same officials who pushed for laws in their states against investing in firms that embrace environmental social governance (ESG), or investments based, at least superficially, on diversity, climate change, or any other criteria they deem 'woke.' Their argument: If a firm makes politically motivated investment decisions in accordance with ESG, then the firm has compromised its fiduciary duty to be a good steward of dollars and maximize returns for investors."
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/israel-bonds-biden-gaza-moodys

-->Of course, investing in Israel is one of the stupidest things that state officials could do. These investments have already cost tens of millions in loses for municipalities and retirement programs. Don't look to the NYT to point out how politicians are investing in Israel rather than doing what is best for their public funds.

=====

Common Dreams:
"Israeli Siege Leaves 130,000 Kids Trapped and at Risk of Starvation in Northern Gaza. 'With no food, no clean water, and constant fear, both my children have developed rashes, and my daughter is passing blood, but there is no medicine, no help, and absolutely nothing I can do,' said one mother trapped in the area.

An estimated 130,000 children under the age of 10 have been trapped in areas of northern Gaza almost entirely cut off from aid assistance, food and medical supplies for 50 days, a major humanitarian group said Monday."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/northern-gaza-hunger-israel

-->The Gaza genocide has full support of the US media. Occasionally stories are leaked through. But for the most part, the starving children are well hidden.

Common Dreams:
"More than 1,000 doctors and nurses are among at least 44,211 people killed in Israel's 13-month assault on the Gaza Strip, officials in the Hamas-governed Palestinian enclave said Sunday.

'Over 310 other medical personnel were arrested, tortured, and executed in prisons,' Gaza's Government Media Office also said in a statement, according to Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency. 'The Israeli army also prevented the entry of medical supplies, health delegations, and hundreds of surgeons into Gaza.'

'Hospitals have been a declared target for the Israeli army, which bombed, besieged, and stormed them, killing doctors and nurses, injuring others after directly targeting them,' the office said. The statement came after the director of the main partially functioning hospital in northern Gaza was injured in an Israeli strike."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/israel-has-killed-over-1000-doctors-and-nurses-in-gaza

-->Many news outlets in the rest of the world carried this story. But not the NYT or other major media in the empire. Does that make our media complicit in a genocide? Of course it does; it is such an important part in deceiving the American people.

=====

Mondoweiss:
"The Heritage Foundation got a lot of publicity during this election cycle for its infamous Project 2025. But that’s not the only project they intend to carry out now that Donald Trump is returning to the White House.

Project Esther is a new proposal from Heritage that claims to lay out a plan to combat antisemitism in the United States. In fact, it aims to destroy the Palestine solidarity movement as a first step in a crusade to, ultimately, restrict activism against American policy of all sorts, foreign and domestic. .

It’s not a new enterprise, of course. Disingenuous accusations of antisemitism have been weaponized by the Zionist movement and the State of Israel for a century or more but Project Esther means to unify and coordinate the cynical use of the fight against real antisemitism in order to completely destroy the movement for Palestinian rights.

But that is only its initial ambition. As the full plan makes clear, the people who produced this scheme see it as the key to devastating movements against both American imperialism abroad and white supremacy domestically."
https://mondoweiss.net/2024/11/inside-project-esther-the-right-wing-action-plan-to-take-down-the-palestine-movement/

-->Baby steps to a fascist state, where protesters are beaten and locked up. Can our country's democracy survive its military empire? This is obviously not something the NYT want to discuss. It didn't report this story.

=====

The Intercept:
"In 2002, President George W. Bush signed a bill into law that gave the U.S. president the power to invade the Netherlands — or anywhere else on earth — in order to liberate an American citizen or citizen of a U.S. ally being detained for war crimes at the International Criminal Court, based in the Dutch city of The Hague.

While no president has yet made good on this military threat, it serves as shorthand for the U.S. relationship to the international institution of justice. (President Joe Biden, then a senator, opposed the amendment authorizing a Hague invasion before ultimately voting for the bill.) 

The law was meant to fend off the specter of American troops standing trial for atrocities committed during the fledgling 'war on terror,' but the U.S. horror of The Hague has its roots in the longstanding policy of unconditional support for Israel.
That same year Bush and his Israeli counterpart, Ariel Sharon, withdrew the U.S. and Israeli signatures from the Rome Statute, the treaty that formed the ICC. U.S.-Israel opposition to any attempt by the court to hold Israel accountable for possible international law violations has been ironclad ever since."
https://theintercept.com/2024/11/21/icc-netanyahu-arrest-us-war-crimes/

-->The Intercept makes the NYT look like Pentagon propaganda. Where is this back story in our "newspaper of record"?

The Guardian UK

"The family of Malcolm X, the militant civil rights leader who was assassinated almost 60 years ago, filed a $100m federal lawsuit on Friday that accuses the FBI, the CIA and the New York police department (NYPD) of allowing his murder. The lawsuit, brought by Malcolm X’s daughter Ilyasah Shabazz and other family members, alleges the law enforcement agencies concealed evidence they knew of the plot to kill him but did not act to stop it.

'We believe that they all conspired to assassinate Malcolm X, one of the greatest thought leaders of the 20th century,' Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney who is representing the family, said at a press conference.

The wrongful death lawsuit was announced at a memorial center on the site in New York City where Malcolm X was killed in 1965. It seeks to answer questions surrounding the assassination, and paint an accurate history of the events, Crump said."

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/15/malcolm-x-murder-lawsuit

-Why isn't this being covered by the NYT? Of course, the US was involved in the murder. Just like Fred Hampton and Martin Luther King. Maybe our newspaper of record wants to keep us in the dark for as long as it can. 

UPDATE: It took a few days to print this story in the NYT. But the newspaper got around to publishing it on page 32. 

=====

Common Dreams:

" 'The complicity of international corporations and governments in fueling Israel's war machine represents the latest chapter in a long history of fossil fuel companies enabling genocide and mass atrocities,' said one campaigner.

On the fourth day of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP29, in Azerbaijan, green groups highlighted how fossil fuel companies 'enable and profit from Israel's genocide in Gaza,' continuing 'a long history of the industry's complicity in mass atrocities worldwide.'

'The fossil fuel industry is culpable in death and destruction around the world, not only through the climate crisis they cause but through the violence they fuel,' Oil Change International said in a statement Thursday." 

https://www.commondreams.org/news/fossil-fuels-gaza-genocide

-->The NYT had a different story, entitled "Oil Giants Pump Their Way to Bumper Profits." Something missing you say? Why, the story omits any mention of the Israel/US genocide in Gaza.

=====

The Intercept:

"For decades, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee had been an influential presence on Capitol Hill, working behind the scenes to lobby politicians and their staffers in support of Israel. But ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, AIPAC made a decision that would fundamentally alter its purpose and the contours of American politics. 

After 60 years of issues-based lobbying, AIPAC for the first time opted to spend directly on campaigns. Flush with millions of dollars from loyal donors, among them Republican billionaires and megadonors to former President Donald Trump, AIPAC embraced a new strategy. It would use its vast funds to oust progressive members of Congress who have criticized human rights abuses by Israel and the country’s receipt of billions of U.S. dollars in military funding. 

Just two years after it started pouring money into campaigns, AIPAC has become one of the largest outside spenders in congressional elections. The Intercept has chronicled AIPAC’s power through coverage of individual races, but never before has AIPAC’s massive outflow of money been analyzed in sum. This project uses records from the Federal Election Commission — submitted by the lobbying group’s federal political action committee, AIPAC PAC, and its super PAC, United Democracy Project — to map how much money has been spent on behalf of Israel, where these groups are doling out money, and what impact those funds are having on the balance of power in Congress."

https://theintercept.com/2024/10/24/aipac-spending-congress-elections-israel/

-->The NYT would be in a perfect position to do an in depth article about how Israel bribes our elected leaders. The facts are all there, but the NYT often resists reporting on just how millions are spent buying up our Congress. Our flagship newspaper is just another pro-genocide rag.

 Common Dreams:

"The Biden Administration's THAAD Deployment and the Path to War 

Far from being a stabilizing force, the deployment of these missiles raises the stakes for everyone involved, including American military personnel and bases stationed in the region.

This month, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin authorized the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to Israel, along with American personnel to operate it. According to observers, between October 14 and 21, a record 26 U.S. military transport flights landed in Israel, delivering personnel and equipment to set up the THAAD system. Satellite images confirm that the system is now fully operational, with all its components, including radar and missile launch platforms, positioned and ready. By placing U.S. troops and assets in a volatile conflict zone, the Biden administration risks exposing American military personnel to potential attacks, and further destabilizing the Middle East, all without explicit congressional authorization for such combat missions. ...

The United States should resist this reckless course of action. It is not in America’s interests to get entangled in another Middle Eastern war, especially one undertaken without public debate, congressional approval, or a clear exit strategy. Instead of sending more weapons and further fueling escalation, the U.S. should push for a ceasefire in Gaza, which remains the key to defusing the broader regional conflict. A ceasefire would halt the immediate bloodshed and prevent the cycle of retaliation from dragging the entire region into war."

https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/thaad-israel-iran

-->The beginning a regional, and perhaps a world war. It's not what the people want, of course, but that makes no difference to the two war and genocide parties run by the billionaires and their Zionist religious fanatics. Why no national debate about WW III? Our pentagon controlled media won't allow it. 

=====

The Intercept:

"The chief legal officer of the European Union’s foreign service advised the department’s top official that a new opinion by judges in The Hague does not require EU states to ban goods imported from Israeli settlements, according to a leaked analysis.

Legal experts said that the analysis contradicts the International Court of Justice, or ICJ, ruling that states should end all support for the Israeli occupation of Palestine, including the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In a seven-page memo, Frank Hoffmeister, the director of the EU foreign service’s legal department, argued that while European law required the labeling of settlement products, a ban on their import and sale was still up for debate. ...

The legal advice, which ... was sent to EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on July 22, three days after the ICJ decided that states must not 'render aid or assistance in maintaining' Israel’s illegal occupation. ... 'The ICJ has made clear that ‘all aid and assistance’ of any kind by all states to the settlement project must cease. It is my assessment that this requires the EU to revise its policy to end any and all trade, funding or other assistance that in any way supports the Israeli occupation,' said Susan Akram, the director of Boston University School of Law’s International Human Rights Clinic.

https://theintercept.com/2024/10/23/eu-israel-settlements-trade-gaza/

-->It is not just the US that is braking its own laws to perpetuate the slaughter in Gaza. The European Union also has blood on its hands. But you wouldn't learn that by reading our mainstream news. Another disappeared story.

=====

Green Party:

"Earlier today, Jill sat down for an interview with celebrated journalist Tavis Smiley. As the interview began, Tavis read an email written to him on behalf of the DNC that was sent with the intention of coercing him into asking their outrageous gotcha questions to Jill as if they were his own!

Tavis Smiley is a real journalist who holds himself to high ethical standards. He wasn’t going to allow the DNC to dictate how he conducts interviews. So he did indeed read off the accusations disguised as questions that the DNC had sent him, while all along making clear that he was doing this to give Jill the opportunity to respond to the anti-Democratic Party’s preferred narrative of fear-mongering about 'spoilers' instead of what they clearly had in mind – using him as a mouthpiece to advance their narrative.

It begs the question of how many interviews have Jill and Butch done in good faith, only to have the DNC meddling behind the scenes? Might this explain why we’ve been seeing the same hostile narrative from the mainstream press over and over again? Not all journalists conduct themselves with Tavis Smiley’s integrity. We’re grateful to him for blowing the cover off of the way they try to rig the media against us."

https://www.gp.org/bombshell_revelation_from_tavis_smiley

-->The US media and the two major parties are in bed together. We only smell the stench when a story like this breaks through.