Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Common Dreams:
"Claims that trade pacts like the pending Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) will not trump public health and environmental policies were revealed to be fiction on Tuesday after Congress, bending to the will of the World Trade Organization, killed the popular country-of-origin label (COOL) law.

The provision, tucked inside the omnibus budget agreement, repeals a law that required labels for certain packaged meats, which food safety and consumer groups have said is essential for consumer choice and animal welfare, as well as environmental and public health.

Congress successful revoked the mandate just over one week after the WTO ruled that the U.S. could be forced to pay $1 billion annually to its NAFTA partners, which argued that the law 'accorded unfavorable treatment to Canadian and Mexican livestock.' "

-->A trade pact has just undone consumer and environmental laws about packaged meats. Too bad readers can't find the story in the NYT.

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Common Dreams:
"Making Presidential Campaign History, Sanders Breaks Individual Contribution Record. The Bernie Sanders campaign announced Thursday that the Vermont senator has officially received two million contributions, putting him ahead—at this point in the election season—of every other candidate in U.S. history who was not a sitting president.

Top aides say Sanders could even beat President Barack Obama's 2012 record. 'In his run for a second term, reports indicated Obama receiving around 2.2 million contributions by the end of 2011, a figure Sanders still could surpass,' reads a campaign statement."

-->This good news for Bernie never made it into the NYT, a supporter of Wall Street and Military Industrial Complex candidate, Hillary Clinton. 

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Haaretz in Israel:
"Haaretz Investigation: Israeli Corporations Gave Millions to West Bank Settlements.  From energy giants to makers of chocolate spread, documents show public and private Israeli companies have donated millions of shekels to settlements beyond the Green Line.

In Israel, whether you are buying milk or chocolate spread, talking on the phone or using banking services, you may be unknowingly making a small contribution to Jewish settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, a Haaretz investigation has found. Documents analyzed by Haaretz reveal the extent to which private and publicly-held Israeli companies donate to Jewish communities across the Green Line, with contributions amounting to millions of shekels over the last decade."

-->The NYT, as beholding to the Zionist Lobby as it is to Wall Street, didn't report this story.

Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Common Dreams:
"New Wall Street Journal/ NBC News polling numbers out Sunday showed that Donald Trump continues to lead the wide and varied Republican presidential field and—despite increasingly inflammatory rhetoric—reached a new high with 27 percent support.

The latest survey comes on the heels of an analysis by the Tyndall Report which showed that media coverage of Donald Trump eclipses that of all his rivals from both parties.

According to the study of nightly news programs on NBC, CBS and ABC, Trump has received more network coverage than all the Democratic candidates combined and accounts for 27 percent of all campaign coverage thus far. What's more, there appears to be a concerted 'blackout' of news about Bernie Sanders, despite similar voter support."

Democracy Now:
"A new report finds the flagship news programs at major networks NBC, CBS and ABC have dedicated 234 minutes this year to stories about Donald Trump—compared to just 10 minutes for Democratic presidential candidate Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. The gap comes despite Trump and Sanders often having similar levels of support in primary polls. The Tyndall Report found ABC’s World News Tonight, for example, has devoted 81 minutes to Trump campaign stories—and less than one minute to Sanders, for the entire year."

-->Corporate owned media will do anything to Keep a candidate like Bernie out of the White House. Even promote the election of a fascist and racist like Trump.

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Common Dreams:
"Congress Reportedly Slipping CISA [Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act] Spy Bill Into Must-Pass Omnibus. ... Following publication, Sari Feldman, president of the American Library Association, told Common Dreams that librarians are 'proud to stand with groups from every part of the political spectrum to expose and oppose the latest legislative attempt to advance a new mass surveillance law.'

'Shoehorning a new version of ‘CISA’ hostile to personal privacy into a massive omnibus spending bill is troubling as a matter of substance and process,' Feldman added, saying the group calls on Congress 'to reject this latest assault on privacy and democracy.' "

-->The NYT as well as other major media doesn't care about government spying on citizens. To our newspaper of record, CISA is "China Iron and Steel Association." Without media complicity, Congress would have a much harder time destroying civil liberties in the US.

Wednesday, December 02, 2015

Common Dreams:
"Amid warnings that the proposed TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) could undermine global attempts to rein in runaway climate change, new documents reveal that EU trade officials gave U.S. oil giant ExxonMobil access to confidential negotiating strategies considered too sensitive to be released to the European public.

The documents, obtained by the Guardian, offer 'an extraordinary glimpse into the full degree of collusion between the European commission and multinational corporations seeking to use TTIP to increase U.S. exports of fossil fuels,' said John Hilary, the director of the UK organization War on Want. 'The commission is allowing the oil majors to write the proposed energy chapter of TTIP in their favor.'

According to the Guardian: 'Officials also asked one oil refinery association for concrete input on the text of an energy chapter for the negotiations, as part of the EU’s bid to write unfettered imports of U.S. crude oil and gas into the trade deal.' ... In particular, wrote War on Want campaigner Mark Dearn on Friday, 'a key aim of TTIP has been to destroy regulations that prevent high-polluting tar sand crude oil from entering Europe.' "

-->The NYT didn't cover this story. Our newspaper of record would have to get out of bed with Big Oil to let its readers know how ExxonMobil is writing international trade deals to favor the import of high polluting tar sands.

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The Guardian UK:
"JERUSALEM — Israel on Sunday suspended contacts with European Union representatives on Mideast peace issues to protest the 28-nation bloc's decision to label Israeli exports from the West Bank. ...

Israel has been up in arms since the EU announced this month that goods produced in Israeli settlements must have special labels and cannot say they were made in Israel. Israel has said the decision is discriminatory and unfairly singles out Israel, while the EU says it is a technical matter to clarify the origins of the products.

Israel's Foreign Ministry announced late Sunday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had ordered contacts frozen until a 'reassessment process is completed.' "

-->The NYT did not print this story, although it carried the Associated Press version on-line. Perhaps The NYT does not want to remind its readers of how pervasive the labeling of West Bank products is in the EU. Perhaps the US will allow its citizens to at least know the Israeli products that support apartheid.

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Common Dreams:
"Retail giant Walmart enlisted the help of a private military contractor and the FBI to spy on workers pushing for a $15 hourly wage and organizing Black Friday protests in 2012 and 2013, newly released documents reveal.
'We are fighting for all workers to be paid a fair wage and enough hours to put food on the table and provide for our families,' said Mary Pat Tifft, a Wisconsin Walmart employee of 27 years. 'To think that Walmart found us such a threat that they would hire a defense contractor and engage the FBI is a mind-blowing abuse of power.'

A document made public Tuesday by worker organization OUR Walmart reveals company testimony to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in January stating that Walmart had enlisted the help of arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin and the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force to monitor workers who were organizing for higher wages and the right to unionize.  OUR Walmart workers said they were illegally fired and disciplined for taking part in the 'Ride for Respect' strike during Walmart's shareholder meeting in June of 2013."

-->Another subject off limits to our media is the use of the FBI to spy on workers and social justice activists. Fortune and Bloomberg reported this story, but not The NYT.