Thursday, January 28, 2016

The Guardian UK:
"Ban Ki-moon calls Israeli settlement expansion an 'affront' to the world. ... In unusually strong language, Ban also questioned Israel’s commitment to a two-state solution, claiming Palestinian violence was the result of 'frustration'.

'Palestinian frustration is growing under the weight of a half-century of occupation and the paralysis of the peace process,' Ban told a UN security council meeting on Tuesday. He called the settlement building 'an affront to the Palestinian people and to the international community'."

-->The NYT couldn't avoid printing this important story. But let's look at how Isabel Kershner (whose son is in the Israeli Army and husband works for a think tank linked to the Israeli military and funded by a billionaire Zionist) presents the facts. Her piece is entitled "Netanyahu Assails UN Leader for Faulting Settlements," and most of the story covers Israeli denials and Jewish suffering. Just in case anyone misses the point, a large picture that goes with the story is of the grave of a Jewish settler attacked by a Palestinian. More pro-apartheid propaganda from our newspaper of record.

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Common Dreams:
"The fact that a majority of Americans support a single-payer, or Medicare for all, health care system is not news. Or at least it ought not to be news, especially to veteran political journalists. But enter the vaunted PBS Newshour, which bills itself as 'one of the most trusted news programs on television.' ...

Newshour co-anchor Judy Woodruff [said] '...essentially, the argument is whether you just wipe away...what we have done and you go to a single-payer health care system, which most Americans say they don’t want...'

Wait, what?  Most Americans say they don’t want a single-payer health care system?  Where did Woodruff pull that one from? According to a 2014 Program for Consultation study analyzing public polling occurring between 2008 and 2013, majorities in both 'red' (Republican-dominated) and 'blue' (Democratic-dominated) congressional districts prefer government to play a greater role in health care. 

When presented with the statement, 'Healthcare is a right, not a privilege,' 62.3% of respondents in red districts agreed, compared to 62.9% of respondents in blue. ...
Meanwhile, a 2015 Progressive Change Institute poll found over 50% of Americans support a single-payer health care system like that proposed by Sanders, including 80% of Democrats.

-->Even PBS takes the corporate approach to universal healthcare, stating falsely that Americans don't want it. Major funders of PBS don't want it, and that is not the same thing.

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Common Dreams:
"Bernie Sanders Gets Group Endorsements When Members Decide; Hillary Clinton When Leaders Decide. When it comes to what the word 'Establishment' means, there is a pattern worth noting

In the war for endorsements in the Democratic presidential primary, there is a clear trend. Every major union or progressive organization that let its members have a vote endorsed Bernie Sanders. 

Meanwhile, all of Hillary Clinton’s major group endorsements come from organizations where the leaders decide. And several of those endorsements were accompanied by criticisms from members about the lack of a democratic process."

-->This not so subtle point escaped the notice of The NYT, whose coverage of the race so far has been decidedly favorable to the elites rather than to the rank and file.