Wednesday, July 27, 2016

The NYT:
"The World Roger Ailes Created" and "Roger Ailes Fused TV With Politics, Changing Both" are just two of the stories that the NYT printed in the last week on the media mastermind of Fox News. It's not that the articles lacked insight. In fact, several of them drew interesting parallels with Trump's basic message to the angry and disaffected in American society.   

What is missing in all the articles is the word "race." The only mention of the word was in "presidential race," not as in the racism so blatantly apparent in Fox News and in the fascist rhetoric of Donald Trump.

How to avoid the obvious? Leave it to the NYT to leave out racism even when describing Ailes' Willie Horton ads: "he produced the sleazy and effective 'Revolving Door' ad that tarred Michael Dukakis by association with murderers and rapists." 

Of course, the Horton ads were really about Black murderers and rapists. The fact that our newspaper of record can talk about Ailes, Fox News, and Trump without referring at least once to racism is a testament to how white intellectuals in our country still don't get it, or don't want to get it.

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Observer:
"Debbie Wasserman Schultz Served Class Action Lawsuit for Rigging Primaries. This is the first of many consequences the Democratic Party will face for manipulating millions of voters. ...

'The first is a claim for fraud—against the DNC and Debbie Wasserman Schultz—based on the revelations from the recent Guccifer 2.0 documents ... include internal memos in which the DNC broke legally binding neutrality agreements in the Democratic primaries by strategizing to make Hillary Clinton the nominee before a single vote was cast.

The second claim filed is for negligent misrepresentation, a legal theory based on the first claim of fraud. The third claim alleges the DNC and Wasserman Schultz participated in deceptive conduct in claiming the DNC was neutral during the Democratic primaries, when there is overwhelming evidence suggesting favoritism of Clinton from the beginning. The fourth claim of the lawsuit seeks retribution of any monetary donations the DNC to Bernie Sanders‘ campaign. The fifth claim alleges the DNC broke its fiduciary duties during the Democratic primaries to members of the Democratic Party by not holding a fair election process ...' "

-->This lawsuit was not covered by any mainstream media, which preferred personality stories about who hated who in the DNC emails. The NYT has a long article blaming the Russians, all based on hearsay evidence as usual. Maybe the most interesting story (told by Julian Assange on Democracy Now) was how Wasserman called the head of MSNBC and got the "Morning Joe" show "disciplined" for giving interview time to Sanders. Who could have imagined that the Democratic Party had that much power to subvert the media?

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Guardian UK:
"Israel’s parliament has passed a controversial law allowing MP's to expel colleagues for incitement, racism or support for armed struggle against the state that critics say is aimed mainly at Arab legislators. ...

The passage of the law brings an end to a long running saga over attempts by Israel’s rightwing to bring in the legislation, with the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, saying the law ended 'the absurd situation' whereby someone who 'supports terror against the state of Israel and its citizens' could serve as a member of parliament. ...

'This is one of the most serious legislative proposals in recent years and it harms the very building blocks of democracy – the right to freedom of expression, the right to vote and to be elected, and the right to representation,' said Debbie Gilad-Hayo of the Association of Civil Rights in Israel."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/20/israeli-parliament-passes-controversial-legislation-allowing-mp-explusion

-->Isabel Kershner covered the story for the NYT. According to her Israeli friendly version of events, the law targets "the feistiest and most provocative Arab politicians in Israel." Arabs like Hanin Zoabi, whose crime was being on the Turkish boat to Gaza that was attacked by the Israeli commandos while in international waters. According to Ms. Kershner, the boats attempted to "breach the naval blockade of Gaza in 2010, resulting in the deaths of 10 activists." Weren't the 10 just shot by Israeli commandos? Not in the NYT's world of pro-Israeli reporting. Deaths are always the fault of Arabs in apartheid Israel.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 21


The NYT:
" 'My Time With the Netanyahu Brothers' by Jeffrey Gettleman, The Times’s East Africa bureau chief"

-->Our newspaper of record does some Israeli hero worshiping when things start to look bad for the apartheid state. This article is all about the "Entebbe rescue," described in the article as one of the "most precious stories Israel has to tell." Why is the NYT telling Israel's precious stories? Especially one that is 40 years old?

On the surface, it is because Netanyahu's brother was killed in the raid. "Yoni is an icon. He was the ideal Israeli. It wasn’t simply that he was handsome, intelligent, adventurous and patriotic; he seemed to embody a sense of sacrifice, of serving a cause greater than his own." Was that greater good the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people?

Netanyahu himself, according to Gettleman, lives very simply. His plane is old with scratched-up sinks and worn carpets. No mention of his and his wife's reputation for high living. No $5,000 breakfasts or $1,600 haircuts mentioned here. No reference to  Israel's state comptroller's conclusion that Netanyahu's past expenses have been "excessive and improper."

In Gettleman's smarmy words, this story is about the "mythic land full of scholar-warriors who could overcome awesome odds and accomplish good." It is simply another NYT propaganda piece for Israel, while that country treats millions of Palestinians as subjugated people. 

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BoingBoing:
"The Republican National Convention kicks off this Sunday in Cleveland, Ohio. Most of the highest-profile activists associated with the Black Lives Matter movement are not planning to attend, but that didn't stop FBI agents from contacting them by phone, and showing up at their homes to interrogate them and their grandmothers.

Wesley Lowery at the Washington Post was first to share the scoop on a most recent round of FBI 'visits' today. Lowery knows first-hand how heavy-handed law enforcement response to the protests has been, because he was roughly arrested and jailed while covering Ferguson in 2014.

This is not the only recent report of law enforcement pre-emptively visiting activists they believe may protest at the RNC. In June, Mother Jones ran a feature about how police are targeting black human rights activists ahead of the Republican party gathering: 'Local and federal authorities have begun aggressively tracking activists—including members of the Black Lives Matter movement who have helped spotlight Cleveland's brutal policing problems.' ”

-->The FBI is still doing what it has always done, using its power to intimidate peaceful black protesters. Harassment and dirty tricks are sure to follow from an organization with a long history of suppressing dissent. No mention of this political intimidation in the NYT. 

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Common Dreams:
"President Barack Obama is poised to sign the so-called DARK Act, a GMO labeling bill critics say notches a win for the food and biotech industries but will still leave consumers in the dark about whether or not their food contains genetically modified ingredients.
After the legislation easily passed in the U.S. House on Thursday, the Wall Street Journal described it as 'a victory for food companies,' noting that it 'will supersede tougher measures passed by one state [Vermont] and considered in others.' ...

Gary Ruskin, co-director of pro-labeling group U.S. Right to Know, urged Obama to veto the legislation, saying in a press statement that it 'is a sweetheart deal for the food and agrichemical industries, who want to keep consumers guessing about the contents of their food.' "

-->The NYT did not cover this story of Big Ag crippling consumers' right to know. A Reuters story on the NYT website begins with a different take, calling the law 'legislation that would for the first time require food to carry labels listing genetically-modified ingredients.' Buried in the article is the fact that consumers will have to use an app on their cellphone to tell whether their food has been genetically modified.

Wednesday, July 13, 2016

The Guardian UK:
"The international movement to boycott Israel over its treatment of Palestinians has received backing from one of the largest Protestant churches in the US, as two other major denominations prepare to vote on whether or not to divest money from the Jewish state.

The United Church of Christ’s general assembly on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly in favor of divesting funds at its synod in Cleveland. Further votes by the Episcopal Church and the Mennonite Church USA were expected on Tuesday night and Wednesday.

Inspired by the sanctions campaign against apartheid South Africa, the Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) campaign, encourages organizations and institutions such as universities and churches to divest from Israel until 'the fundamental rights of the Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel' have been recognized.
Anna Baltzer, a Jewish American national organizer with the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, was in Cleveland for the UCC vote. 'To me it’s very symbolic to see that this is not one church, this is not two churches, this is churches of the United States moving on this issue,' Baltzer said."

-->No mention of these church votes in the NYT. Readers will have to go to an English newspaper to find out about US churches that have decided to divest from Israeli apartheid. 

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The Guardian UK:
"The US government is investigating allegations that a hitlist of activists was circulated to special forces units of the Honduran military with instructions to eliminate the targets, including Berta Cáceres, the celebrated environmental campaigner who was later gunned down in her home.

US officials have been in contact with counterparts in the Honduran government, as well as individuals and groups that monitor human rights in the country, to look into the allegations of a hitlist that were first reported in the Guardian.

The US ambassador to Honduras, James Nealon, told the Guardian: 'We take allegations of human rights abuses with the utmost seriousness. We always take immediate action to ensure the security and safety of people where there is a credible threat.' "

-->The US media doesn't take these human rights abuses with much seriousness, however. The bloodbath in Honduras is the product of US military support for another dictatorship, a fact that the NYT avoids. Hillary's bloody fingerprints are all over the killings of human rights activists in Honduras. 

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Common Dreams:
"A new leak provides further confirmation that the pro-corporate TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) between the U.S. and European Union would result in 'a giant leap backward in our fight to keep fossil fuels in the ground.'

As the 14th round of TTIP negotiations started in Brussels on Monday, the Guardian reported that the latest draft of the agreement 'could sabotage European efforts to save energy and switch to clean power.'
The draft energy chapter obtained by the Guardian 'shows that the EU will propose a rollback of mandatory energy savings measures, and major obstacles to any future pricing schemes designed to encourage the uptake of renewable energies,' wrote reporter Arthur Nelson. "

-->Readers of the NYT will never understand these disastrous trade deals because our "newspaper of record" refuses to report any of the negatives. All the news that Wall Street sees as fit to print.

Wednesday, July 06, 2016

RT:
"US military strategy could culminate in nuclear conflict. German Minister for Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier's recent criticism of NATO behavior is that of a man watching a tidal wave of destruction gathering force, similar to ones that have engulfed his country twice before in the 20th century.

'What we shouldn’t do now is inflame the situation further through saber-rattling and warmongering... Whoever believes that a symbolic tank parade on the alliance’s eastern border will bring security is mistaken… We are well-advised to not create pretexts to renew an old confrontation… [It would be] fatal to search only for military solutions and a policy of deterrence.'

[This was] German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, commenting on NATO’s recent military exercises in Poland and the Baltics. His dread is not to be dismissed since it comes from a man who is in a position to know what the US is up to. His words reflect the fears of ever more people across all of Eurasia, from France in the West to Japan in the East."

-->US media consistently avoids this point. The empire's push to encircle Russia and China is insane in a nuclear age. And that is the last thing our media would admit to, the fact that our current neoliberal leaders may well bring the age of Homo sapiens to an end. 

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The Intercept:
"Secret rules make it pretty easy for the FBI to spy on journalists. Secret FBI rules allow agents to obtain journalists’ phone records with approval from two internal officials — far less oversight than under normal judicial procedures.

The classified rules, obtained by The Intercept and dating from 2013, govern the FBI’s use of national security letters, which allow the bureau to obtain information about journalists’ calls without going to a judge or informing the news organization being targeted. They have previously been released only in heavily redacted form.

Media advocates said the documents show that the FBI imposes few constraints on itself when it bypasses the requirement to go to court and obtain subpoenas or search warrants before accessing journalists’ information."

-->If the media can be spied on without a warrant, think of you and me. We have entered the age of total government spying, and the Orwellian irony is that our own US media feels no need to even report the fact.

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Common Dreams:
"iCensor: Apple Patents Remote 'Kill Switch' for iPhone Cameras. Technology could allow police and government forces to stop citizens from recording abuses of force.

Owning an iPhone could someday mean being blocked from recording anything that someone in power doesn't want you to record. That's the potential ramification of a patent granted to Apple earlier this week for technology that remotely disables iPhone cameras by infrared sensors.

While Apple's patent application uses the example of a rock band preventing audience members from recording a concert, since the application was first submitted back in 2009 observers have noted that the technology could also be used by police, repressive governments, and anyone in power to stop citizens from recording abuses of power and other injustices. The patent was approved despite thousands of signatures on a petition seeking to block the technology from being developed."
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/06/30/icensor-apple-patents-remote-kill-switch-iphone-cameras

-->Readers of the NYT as well as the rest of the US media were not informed of this new technology. I wonder why?

RT:
"US military strategy could culminate in nuclear conflict. German Minister for Foreign Affairs Frank-Walter Steinmeier's recent criticism of NATO behavior is that of a man watching a tidal wave of destruction gathering force, similar to ones that have engulfed his country twice before in the 20th century.

'What we shouldn’t do now is inflame the situation further through saber-rattling and warmongering... Whoever believes that a symbolic tank parade on the alliance’s eastern border will bring security is mistaken… We are well-advised to not create pretexts to renew an old confrontation… [It would be] fatal to search only for military solutions and a policy of deterrence.'

[This was] German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, commenting on NATO’s recent military exercises in Poland and the Baltics. His dread is not to be dismissed since it comes from a man who is in a position to know what the US is up to. His words reflect the fears of ever more people across all of Eurasia, from France in the West to Japan in the East.

-->US media consistently avoids this point. The empire's push to encircle Russia and China is insane in a nuclear age. And that is the last thing our media would admit to, the fact that our current neoliberal leaders may well bring the age of Homo sapiens to an end. 

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The Intercept:
"Secret rules make it pretty easy for the FBI to spy on journalists. Secret FBI rules allow agents to obtain journalists’ phone records with approval from two internal officials — far less oversight than under normal judicial procedures.

The classified rules, obtained by The Intercept and dating from 2013, govern the FBI’s use of national security letters, which allow the bureau to obtain information about journalists’ calls without going to a judge or informing the news organization being targeted. They have previously been released only in heavily redacted form.

Media advocates said the documents show that the FBI imposes few constraints on itself when it bypasses the requirement to go to court and obtain subpoenas or search warrants before accessing journalists’ information."

-->If the media can be spied on without a warrant, think of you and me. We have entered the age of total government spying, and the Orwellian irony is that our own US media feels no need to even report the fact.

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Common Dreams:
"iCensor: Apple Patents Remote 'Kill Switch' for iPhone Cameras. Technology could allow police and government forces to stop citizens from recording abuses of force.

Owning an iPhone could someday mean being blocked from recording anything that someone in power doesn't want you to record. That's the potential ramification of a patent granted to Apple earlier this week for technology that remotely disables iPhone cameras by infrared sensors.

While Apple's patent application uses the example of a rock band preventing audience members from recording a concert, since the application was first submitted back in 2009 observers have noted that the technology could also be used by police, repressive governments, and anyone in power to stop citizens from recording abuses of power and other injustices. The patent was approved despite thousands of signatures on a petition seeking to block the technology from being developed.
http://www.commondreams.org/news/2016/06/30/icensor-apple-patents-remote-kill-switch-iphone-cameras

-->Readers of the NYT as well as the rest of the US media were not informed of this new technology. I wonder why?