Thursday, December 28, 2017

The Guardian UK:
"UN votes resoundingly to reject Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as capital.
The United Nations body’s debate and vote highlighted for a second time in a week the international isolation of the United States over the Jerusalem issue.

The United Nations general assembly has delivered a stinging rebuke to Donald Trump, voting by a huge majority to reject his unilateral recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The vote came after a redoubling of threats by Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the UN, who said that Washington would remember which countries 'disrespected' America by voting against it.

-->Amazingly, The NYT did not cover this story in print. And our newspaper's online edition only references AP and Reuters articles. If breaking news shows how isolated the US is for its unquestioning support of Israel, well the story is just scrubbed from America's flagship newspaper. Israel counts more than freedom of the press. 

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Common Dreams:
"Americans for Tax Fairness found that Trump could save 'at least $11 million a year and perhaps as much as $22 million' from GOP tax plan he just signed.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly described the Republican tax bill he signed into law on Friday as 'an incredible Christmas gift' to low-income and middle class Americans—despite the numerous analyses showing that the legislation will ultimately raise taxes on millions in the middle class.

The president hasn't, however, called the tax bill a massive 'check to himself.' But a new study (pdf) published on Friday by Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) demonstrates that this would, in numerous ways, be a more accurate description of the $1.5 trillion plan."

-->The NYT loves to talk about Russia's influence in the Trump White House. Not so much about Trump's massive tax breaks to himself. Why no coverage of the Americans for Tax Fairness report?

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The Guardian UK:
"Donna Brazile has spent most of her life as a good soldier of the Democratic party, managing presidential campaigns, supporting the Clinton family, and (last year) stepping in to take over the Democratic National Committee after its chair was felled by scandal. But with the publication of her campaign memoir Hacks, this woman with a fondness for old-style cooking metaphors has finally succeeded in pissing off every last group on the country’s political spectrum. ...

Brazile’s present offense is that her book reveals an arrangement between the Hillary Clinton campaign and the DNC that effectively gave the campaign control over the party apparatus well before Clinton became the party’s official presidential nominee in 2016. Brazile has given serious substantiation, in other words, to the charge that Sanders and his followers threw at the Democratic party through much of last year: that the process was rigged.

Members of the punditburo blasted Sanders last year for suggesting such a thing; now they are blasting Brazile for confirming it. They vituperate even though what she and Sanders have said is, well, true."

-->Not much of the US media is willing to state that Hillary stole the nomination through fraud and dirty money. We have to read about it in a UK publication, The Guardian.

Wednesday, December 20, 2017

The Guardian UK:
"A senior UN official has said Israel’s killing of a Palestinian wheelchair user protesting against Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital was 'incomprehensible', as Israel said the man had not been targeted.

A statement issued by Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the UN high commissioner for human rights, said Ibrahim Abu Thurayeh was shot in the head by Israeli security forces close to the Gaza border fence on Friday.

Hussein said there was nothing to suggest Abu Thurayeh posed an imminent threat when he was killed, and 'the facts gathered so far by my staff in Gaza strongly suggest that the force used against [him] was excessive. ... Given his severe disability, which must have been clearly visible to those who shot him, his killing is incomprehensible – a truly shocking and wanton act.' ”

-->The NYT does not print stories about wanton murders committed by Israel. Our newspaper of record did not carry this assassination, severely limiting the reporting of this murder by the rest of the US media.

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The Guardian UK:
"A United Nations independent expert presented a searing indictment of the wealth gap in the United States, saying that 'contrasts between private wealth and public squalor abound' and that the Republican tax plan 'is essentially a bid to make the U.S. the world champion of extreme inequality.'

The recent statement by Philip Alston, U.N. Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, follows his two-week visit to Alabama, California, Georgia, Puerto Rico, West Virginia, and Washington D.C.. Based on the fact-finding mission, he said, 'The American Dream is rapidly becoming the American Illusion as the U.S. ... now has the lowest rate of social mobility of any of the rich countries.'

Regarding the tax plan Congress is considering, Alston said, 'The dramatic cuts in welfare, foreshadowed by the President and [House] Speaker Ryan, and already beginning to be implemented by the administration, will essentially shred crucial dimensions of a safety net that is already full of holes. It is against this background that my report is presented.' "

-->This unvarnished account of US billionaires stealing from the poorest of Americans didn't make it into The NYT. Criticizing Trump is OK, but the newspaper can't escape its long history of being a propaganda tool of the empire. 

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The Guardian UK:
"Rogue Nations Prevail as US Vetoes UN Attempt to Nullify Trump's Jerusalem Move. It's true that Trump just isolated the U.S. for the perceived benefit of Israel: strange behavior for an 'America First' adherent. But it's also true that the US has been isolating itself for decades for the benefit of Israel.

The U.S. once again found itself pitted against the international community on Monday when it single-handedly killed a U.N. Security Council resolution that sought to nullify President Donald Trump's recent decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Trump's move, which further normalized the occupation, sparked protests across the globe and earned the condemnation of Middle Eastern and European nations. The 14-1 vote on Monday—with every member of the Security Council uniting against the Trump administration—further solidified the status of the U.S. and Israel as 'rogue nations,' critics argued.

-->What rogue nation? The NYT didn't print this story about how America's biased support for Israel has isolated our country from the rest of the world.

Wednesday, December 13, 2017

The Guardian UK
"US seeks to quell global outrage over Jerusalem ... On Friday, 14 of the 15 members of the United Nations security council, including close friends such as Britain and France, excoriated the president’s decision. The US found no solace with allies in the Arab League, which condemned the decision as a 'dangerous violation of international law' that 'deepens tension, ignites anger and threatens to plunge region into more violence and chaos'."

-->Contrast this world reaction to the opinion page of The NYT on Saturday. "Jerusalem Denial Complex" is the title of one article that goes on to blame Arafat's reluctance at Camp David. The second article entitled "There Was NonPeace Process for Trump to Destroy" points to Palestinian "disunity and the cultivation of victimhood" for the current problem. "At least [Trump's] statement recognizes a reality" the article urges its readers. It is all the fault of the Palestinians.

After months of bashing Trump for collusion with Russia, our newspaper of record bends over backwards to defend his giveaway to Israel. It is a good lesson in how the US mainstream media protects this apartheid state.

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The Guardian UK:
"Crisis of Honduras democracy has roots in US tacit support for 2009 coup. Since the 26 November vote, at least 11 people have died in clashes with security forces, and tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in protest over an electoral process marked by suspicious delays, inexplicable irregularities – and opposition claims that the ruling party is trying to steal the election. ...

Honduras has long been a strategic partner for Washington: since 2009, the US has invested nearly $114m in security assistance to establish elite military and police units, ratchet up border security, and carry out counternarcotics operations as part of Hernández’s crackdown on gangs. ...

Despite the crisis, however, Reuters reported this week that the US had quietly certified Honduras for making progress in fighting corruption and improving human rights, freeing up millions in US assistance."

-->Finally an article that ties US support for the dictatorship and the Honduran military to the current election fraud. Honduras is a puppet of the empire, and there is no end to the suffering of its population. Don't bother finding this story in US mainstream media.

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The Guardian UK:
"Conservative Weekly Standard to aid in Facebook fact-checks, prompting outcry. A conservative news organization has been approved to partner with Facebook to fact-check false news, drawing criticisms that the social media company is caving to rightwing pressures and collaborating with a publication that has previously spread propaganda. ...

The conservative pundits Bill Kristol, Fred Barnes and John Podhoretz launched the Weekly Standard in 1995, with support from the media mogul Rupert Murdoch, aimed at countering successful liberal publications, such as the Nation. ...

Calling the magazine a “serial misinformer”, Media Matters cited the Weekly Standard’s role in pushing false and misleading claims about Obamacare, Hillary Clinton and other political stories. In recent years, the magazine also faced backlash for giving a platform to a contrarian climate scientist and for sending an anti-gay marketing email warning of the 'homosexual lobby' and its 'perverted vision for a homosexual America'. "

-->The left has no friend in Facebook. It will do whatever makes the most money, and pleases corporate interests. The NYT didn't cover this story, because it does virtually the same thing.

Wednesday, December 06, 2017

The Daily Beast:
"An investigation by The Daily Beast on the ground in Somalia appears to confirm that American soldiers were involved directly in the deaths of 10 innocent civilians. ... The US lead operation that began on Aug. 25 would result in the death of 10 civilians, including at least one child, and become the largest stain on U.S. ground operations in the country since the infamous Black Hawk Down incident in 1993.

In the operation’s aftermath, hundreds of people in the nearby town Afgoye flooded the city’s streets demanding justice for those killed, and survivors on the farm refused to bury their dead until the Somali government recanted its allegations that they were members Al Shabaab, and offered an apology. ...

Carrying the weapons out of the home, the Somali soldiers then placed them beside the bodies of the other villagers. He and Goomey also saw three of the American men, who Goomey describes as one tall man with two shorter men next to him, taking pictures of the bodies with the weapons placed beside them."

-->No mention of this massacre by the NYT, although its website includes Reuters and Associated Press stories covering US Military denials that the massacre had happened. The empire is moving into Africa, but the details are hushed up by our media.

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The Guardian UK:
"Amnesty International is calling for a criminal investigation into the oil giant Shell regarding allegations it was complicit in human rights abuses carried out by the Nigerian military.

A review of thousands of internal company documents and witness statements published on Tuesday points to the Anglo-Dutch organisation’s alleged involvement in the brutal campaign to silence protesters in the oil-producing Ogoniland region in the 1990s.

Amnesty is urging the UK, Nigeria and the Netherlands to consider a criminal case against Shell in light of evidence it claims amounts to 'complicity in murder, rape and torture' – allegations Shell strongly denies."

-->The NYT did not cover this story, but did include a Reuters report on the newspaper's website. Our newspaper of record does its best to avoid bad press about major oil corporations.

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The Intercept:
"CHILDREN AND TEENAGERS are frequent victims of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories. They face physical abuse by Israeli military forces and are shuffled through an unfair court system without access to legal counsel or even their parents. The United States has long subsidized these abuses, giving billions of dollars in military aid to Israel every year. Now, a group of Democratic members of Congress is saying enough is enough.

Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn., and nine co-sponsors on Tuesday introduced legislation that would require the U.S. State Department to certify every year that American military aid is not being used to fund the systematic abuse of Palestinian children.

If passed, the bill — titled the Promoting Human Rights by Ending Israeli Military Detention of Palestinian Children Act — would explicitly prohibit U.S. aid from being used by Israel to support the administrative detention or physical abuse of Palestinian children. The bill says that detention of Palestinian children is 'inconsistent with the values of the United States.' ”

-->There is almost no US coverage of this remarkable bill making its way through Congress. The NYT, as usual, avoided even mentioning the legislation. The story will come out in Israel before it gets picked up by American media. 
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