Thursday, September 28, 2017

The Guardian:
"A UN report into the death of its former secretary general Dag Hammarskjöld in a 1961 plane crash in central Africa has found that there is a 'significant amount of evidence' that his flight was brought down by another aircraft.

The report, delivered to the current secretary general, António Guterres, last month, took into account previously undisclosed information provided by the US, UK, Belgian, Canadian and German governments. ...

The Tanzanian judge [Othman] said that the most relevant pieces of information were radio intercepts and called for countries likely to have relevant information, such as the UK and US, to appoint an 'independent and high-ranking official” to comb the archives.' "

-->Of course, the UN's first secretary general was murdered, and the US and UK covered up the assassination. The NYT avoided covering this story; it makes the empire look too bad. 

-----

Common Dreams:
"MSNBC Panel Trolls Sanders With 'Scurrilous, Illogical' Assault on Medicare for All. Pundits are slamming the Vermont senator for helping GOP's Obamacare repeal efforts, when he is actually doing the opposite

When Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced his Medicare for All legislation last week, he anticipated a massive right-wing reaction—on cue, he got it. But it is ostensibly liberal networks, like MSNBC, that have in recent days launched some of the most aggressive—and in the eyes of critics, absurd—attacks on both Sanders' bill and his decision to debate Sens. Lindsey Graham ...

'Morning Joe' hosts and panelists charged that Sanders is 'stealing the spotlight' and giving Republicans 'an absolute gift' by pitting Medicare for All against the Graham-Cassidy repeal bill, which has been described by analysts as the most extreme iteration of Trumpcare yet. Ultimately, the panel came to the unanimous conclusion that the debate is 'politically stupid,' that Medicare for All discussions should come 'later,' and that Democrats should focus solely on pitting the GOP repeal bill against Obamacare—not more ambitious alternatives."

-->The supposedly liberal media like MSNBC often runs propaganda for the corporate controlled Democratic Party, which is so addicted to funds from the insurance industry that universal healthcare always comes later.

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Aljazeera:
"A new UN report has strongly condemned Israel for the 'de-development' and 'deteriorating humanitarian conditions' of the Palestinian territories of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, brought about by Israel's 50-year occupation.

The report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), published on Tuesday, said the performance of the Palestinian economy is 'far below potential', while unemployment has persisted at levels rarely seen worldwide since the Great Depression. 

'2017 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem; the longest occupation in recent history. For the Palestinian people, these were five decades of de-development, suppressed human potential and denial of the basic human right to development, with no end in sight,' the report states."

-->The NYT often omits articles critical of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians.  At times our supposed newspaper of record is little more than Zionist propaganda. It didn't cover this story.

-----

Common Dreams:
"While the world's richest stash trillions away for themselves, outlandish levels of inequality are increasing the suffering of the poor and hamstringing the global community's ability to address humanity's most pressing concerns.
'We are witnessing some of the greatest challenges the world has ever seen, without the global commitment to deliver change.' —Saad Alfarargi, U.N. Human Rights Council

That is the picture painted when pairing new research that shows an estimated $8 trillion—or more than 10 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP)—was stashed in offshore tax havens as of 2015 with a new report by a UN human rights expert that warns impoverished people are 'paying a heavy price' for what he calls 'negative global trends,' including climate change, financial schemes, and privatization programs that 'have their harshest impacts on the poorest sections of society.' "

-->NYT news is written for the class that stashes millions in offshore tax havens. It didn't cover this story of unbridled greed.

-----

The Guardian UK:
"Chelsea Manning has accused Harvard University of caving into pressure from the CIA in reversing its invitation to her to become a visiting fellow, in what the former US soldier and whistleblower described as a 'police state'.

In her first spoken comments on the Harvard debacle, Manning told a conference on Sunday that the university’s abrupt U-turn over the invitation, made in the face of fierce criticism from senior figures in the CIA, marked the end of free political debate in academic institutions.

'So this is one of the American government institutions [the CIA] telling one of the American academic institutions [Harvard], no, you cannot bring this to your school,' she said. 'And that’s what that was. This is a police state. This is a military intelligence and it is a police state in which we can no longer engage in actual political discourse in our institutions.' ”

-->The NYT didn't let Chelsea's words get in the way of pro CIA/Harvard reporting. It printed an op-ed entitled: "When Transgender Trumps Treachery." Another article featured a Kennedy School professor saying that Harvard had "struck the right balance." His liberal credentials? He had "supported Hillary Clinton in the last election."

Thursday, September 14, 2017

The NYT:
"A Search for Reason in Nature's Chaos" is a headline in this Saturday's edition, along with a number of dramatic pictures of hurricane damage and massive wildfires in the Northwest. 

But rather than trying to find any reason, our newspaper gives us encouraging words: "Spates of Hurricanes, even major ones, are common in late summer" and "Wildfires have been happening out West for millenniums." The NYT grudgingly admits that some of it may have to do with climate change, although there is no mention of fossil fuels. 

The rest of the seven column article is about how futile it is to find meaning in catastrophes. End Times religions are rolled out, as are quotes from religious teachers and professors. Anything but admit that the oil and gas industries are wrecking the planet. Nothing but corporate propaganda in this time of climate crisis.

-----

Common Dreams:
"As Texas and Louisiana cope with the destruction wrought by Hurricane Harvey and as Hurricane Irma continues to ravage Caribbean islands on its way to the United States, many are asking a pertinent question: Who should pay for the damage?

According to a 'landmark' study published in the journal Climatic Change on Thursday, the answer is clear: Big Oil. 'We know that the costs of both hurricanes will be enormous and that climate change will have made them far larger than they would have been otherwise,' write Peter Frumhoff and Myles Allen, two of the study's co-authors, in a piece for the Guardian.

The research also shows, they note, that massive oil companies have disproportionately contributed to rising sea levels and soaring levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide while deceiving the public about the costs of their business practices."

-->The NYT, still searching for an End Times reasons for climate change, didn't print this article.

Thursday, September 07, 2017

Mondoweiss:
"The veterans association of the USS Liberty, the intelligence ship attacked by Israel during the 1967 war, issued a press release this week reporting that the American Legion, 'the nation’s largest wartime veterans service organization,' approved a resolution at its convention last week calling on Congress to investigate the June 8 attack, which killed 34 sailors and injured scores more. ...

He credited the shift to a general change in American attitudes toward Israel for 'a whole bunch of different little reasons,' including the growth of Jewish groups that question Zionism and the 50th anniversary of the occupation, to the rising awareness among Americans about Palestinian conditions, making it difficult to suppress the truth. ...

Gallo said that Legion leadership has long opposed an investigation because it doesn’t want to rock the boat of US Israel friendship, even if that means overlooking the deaths of 34 Americans." http://mondoweiss.net/2017/08/american-congress-investigate/

-- >The US media has long hidden the murders of 34 American sailers aboard the USS Libery in 1967. It is an astounding suppression that symbolizes the control of US media by the Israel Lobby.

-----

Common Dreams:
"The New York Times came under fire on Wednesday for running what critics characterized as 'uncontested propaganda' in the form of an op-ed by notorious war profiteer and Blackwater founder Erik Prince.

As in his other prominent op-eds that ran recently in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today, Prince—the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos—pitched his plan to largely privatize the 16-year war in Afghanistan. Many have denounced this for-profit scheme—which would place the war in the hands of an American 'viceroy' and private mercenaries—as tantamount to 'colonialism.'

On Wednesday, though, commentators began directing their ire at the outlet that 'uncritically' provided a platform for Prince's 'advertorial.' 'Why is the New York Times op-ed page publishing Erik Prince's sales pitch for more mercenaries?' asked The New Republic's Sarah Jones." https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/08/30/new-york-times-slammed-running-advertorial-notorious-war-profiteer

-- >The NYT is pitching the neoliberal privatization of even the US military. Have they no shame?

-----

The Guardian UK:
Rouhanicare: Iranian president's unsung domestic success. Healthcare plan has given coverage to millions previous unable to afford a doctor. ...

In the course of the past three years, Rouhani’s health ministry has insured nearly 11 million Iranians, meaning that those who were not previously covered, like the unemployed or the poor, are now protected. ...

'We have taken big steps to protect the social welfare of those with lower incomes and the nationwide healthcare plan’s implementation means all Iranians are now covered by medical insurance,' Rouhani said in his inauguration ceremony last month." 

-- >No NYT coverage of this story. Perhaps it's too shameful for the empire's newspaper to admit that Third World countries can do what we can't, give its citizens universal healthcare.

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)