Thursday, October 18, 2018

The NYT:
"Israeli Forces Kill 7 Palestinians in Gaza Boarder Clashes." reads the NYT headline. But was it a "boarder clash," or Israeli snipers shooting unarmed protesters? Who to ask? 

The NYT reporter, Isabel Kershner, quotes seven Israeli sources for the article, and one from Hamas. Nice balance of reporting from our newspaper of record. Kershner herself has some interesting opinions as well. She blames the Palestinian Authority for the economic sanctions on Gaza, not the Israeli state. And she blames Hamas for thwarting a UN cease-fire by flying "incendiary balloons."

This is sickening reporting by one of the most blatant defenders of Israel on the NYT staff. With deep ties to the Israeli military, Kershner can be counted on to take the Israeli side no matter what the atrocity committed against the Palestinians. The question remains, how is it that the NYT allows itself to be a vehicle of apartheid Israel's propaganda?

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Common Dreams:
"With progressives still mobilized and angrier than ever following Judge Brett Kavanaugh's successful confirmation to the Supreme Court amid credible sexual assault allegations, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) provided further cause for fury—and added to already deafening calls for new leadership in the Democratic Party—by cutting a deal behind closed doors with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) late Thursday to fast-track 15 more of Trump's right-wing judges to lifetime federal court positions.

'Make no mistake, today was yet another step in the GOP's takeover of our courts, stacking the deck against women and families at every level. Immediately following Kavanaugh's confirmation and all of the energy and despair around it, this deal is especially painful,' NARAL Pro-Choice America President Ilyse Hogue said in a statement.

'Through this deal,' Hogue continued, 'Democrats allowed Mitch McConnell and Republicans in Congress to fast track 15 more of Donald Trump's nominees, including David Porter and Mark Norris, whose biased views and extreme anti-choice records indicate they will shape our country in Donald Trump's brutal image for decades to come.' "

-->Sellouts by establishment Democrats aren't often reported on the pages of the NYT. It didn't cover this story because the NTY has been selling out to corporate interests for a long time.

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Common Dreams:
"Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Claire McCaskill (Mo.) joined with Senate Republicans on Thursday to confirm Jeffrey Bossert Clark—a climate-denying former attorney for the fossil fuel industry—to lead the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division.

'Clark's blatant hostility toward environmental protection is good news for polluters, but awful news for the rest of us,' warned Environmental Working Group (EWG) president Ken Cook. 'The guy who defended the company that caused the worst oil spill in U.S. history is not likely to aggressively go after corporate environmental outlaws.'

The new assistant attorney general's nomination has been stalled for more than a year due to concerns about his history as a lawyer. Clark has represented B.P. in lawsuits that stemmed from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in suits attacking the U.S. government's authority to craft regulations that aim to cut greenhouse gas emissions."

-->A sad state of affairs for this country's climate. The polluters have been put in charge. No mention of this in the NYT, long in bed with the nation's oil industry.