Common Dreams:
"As journalists and free press advocates continued to condemn the Israeli government's move to shutter Al Jazeera's Jerusalem office and revoke its journalists' press credentials, the media network responded early Monday, denouncing 'this decision made by a state that claims to be 'the only democratic state in the Middle East.' ...
Rights groups as well as journalists, from Al Jazeera and other outlets, condemned the Israeli government's decision.
Magdalena Mughrabi, Amnesty International's deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa, called the decision a 'brazen attack on media freedom,' and said: 'The move sends a chilling message that the Israeli authorities will not tolerate critical coverage.' "
-->Brazen attacks on media freedom mean little to the NYT, which didn't include this story. All that news that Israel deems fit to print.
-----
The Guardian UK:
"Here’s something you may not have thought likely. A majority of American Muslims now believes that it’s fine to be gay. The latest Pew Research Centre survey, published on 26 July, tells us that most think homosexuality 'should be accepted by society'. The poll further shows how dramatically acceptance has risen, nearly doubling from 27% to 52% since 2007 (among millennial Muslims, it’s 60%). Muslims may lag behind the general public, for whom the corresponding figure on this issue is 63%, but they poll at exactly the same percentage as Protestants and far above white evangelical Christians, a mere 34% of whom believe that homosexuality should be tolerated. ...
You’d never know it if you listened to populist leaders. Whether in the US, the UK, or on the European continent, the idea that Muslims represent a civilisational threat to the west because of an intrinsic ultra-conservatism, which includes a violent hatred of gay people, is so widespread that it is seen as a truism. Not only is this tidy titbit of political wisdom false, it also ends up obscuring the degree of homophobia in other parts of society, and in our politics."
-->You would think that American media would be all over this story because it would reduce the overall level of Islamophobia in the US. What is wrong with the NYT? So pro Israel it can't report this story?
-----
Truthout:
"Ominous developments in three states this summer -- Oregon, Texas, New Jersey, and one city -- Chicago, provide a glimpse into the Pentagon's new playbook to recruit soldiers from high schools across the country. In brief, the military has been engaged in a robust lobbying campaign to lower academic standards to make it easier to recruit youth. '''
The Oregon Department of Education recently endorsed the Oregon National Guard's Credit Proficiency Program for use in high schools across the state. The program gives juniors and seniors the chance to earn academic credits while training for military service at Oregon National Guard facilities. ...
In New Jersey, where students must pass senior year exit exams to graduate, school officials will allow seniors to earn a diploma if they can manage a score of a 31 on the military's enlistment test, the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery, or ASVAB.
-->How sweet it is. A little marching and shooting helps you get a high school diploma. So that you can join the Armed Services. The mainstream media has nothing to say about this bastardization of academic standards.
