Wednesday, August 26, 2020

Israel Palestine News:
"Democratic bigwigs create group to promote Israel to progressives. ... New York Jewish Week reports that the group was formed 'to counter the drift — if not dive — away from support for Israel within the party.' Israel partisans are concerned at the growing support among Democrats for Palestinian human rights, as awareness of the situation has grown in recent years.

Numerous humanitarian agencies have documented Israeli human rights violations, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch (HRW), the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Christian Aid, the International Red Cross, and others.

In addition, videos of Israeli settlers destroying Palestinian crops, Israeli soldiers beating people, including children, and killing unarmed protestors have become increasingly available on the Internet."

-->Of course, this story didn't get much national media attention. The Israel Lobby seldom appears in the NYT. Our own Rep. Delgado, is nowhere on Palestinian rights, while he accepted over $25,000 from the Israeli Lobby last year. Some progressive he is.
https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/summary.php?ind=q05&cycle=2020&recipdetail=H&mem=Y

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Mondoweiss:
"Pro-Israel advocates are overjoyed at the prospect of Joe Biden becoming the Democratic nominee for president this week. They say there has Never been a nominee from any party who is so pro-Israel, that Joe Biden personally wrote the Democratic platform that is 'straight down the line' behind Israel, and that his choice of Kamala Harris as veep reflects his love of Israel. And as for the 'hypercritical' new members of Congress, that attitude will be 'defeated' under Biden.

'We’ve actually never had a nominee on any side of the aisle for president who has a longer and stronger record than Joe Biden,' Halie Soifer of the Jewish Democratic Council of America said on an American Jewish Committee zoom call yesterday. 'He was elected in 1972 to the Senate and has been working on these issues with nine Israeli prime ministers ever since. There is no one with a stronger record on Israel to run for president than Joe Biden and we can all rest assured that as president he would only strengthen the relationship.' "

-->There has been a lot of coverage of Sleepy Joe, but very little on his long standing ties to Israeli apartheid. Looks like he won't be much different than Demented Donald.

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Common Dreams:
"'Immoral, Criminal, Inexcusable': Climate Groups Furious as DNC Drops Support for Ending Fossil Fuel Handouts From Platform. 'It's outrageous that the Dem establishment is caving to big money donors and moving backwards on fossil fuel subsidies.'

Environmentalists reacted with outrage late Tuesday to news that the Democratic National Committee this week quietly removed from the final party platform an amendment calling for an end to federal subsidies to the fossil fuel industry, a longstanding demand of climate activists that both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris supported during the primary. ...

The move represents a step back from the Democratic Party's 2016 platform—which included language supporting an end to tax breaks and subsidies for fossil fuel companies—at a time when analysts say throwing taxpayer money at the flagging industry makes less sense than ever."

-->It makes sense to Big Oil which bankrolls the Democratic Party leaders. It is quite a story, and shows vividly how much this party is run by corporate America. As usual, the NYT misses this story completely.

Thursday, August 20, 2020

Common Dreams:
"Progressive Democrats led by Rep. Ilhan Omar and Sen. Bernie Sanders on Friday introduced a bill to eliminate fossil fuel subsidies and other industry giveaways, calling taxpayer support of the climate-killing business- a counterproductive and dangerous use of federal funds as the climate crisis worsens and Americans suffer through an economic downturn sparked by the coronavirus pandemic.

'It's past time we end the billions of taxpayer subsidies to fossil-fuel companies,' said Omar, a Minnesota Democrat. 'Our focus right now needs to be on getting the American people through this difficult, unprecedented time, not providing giveaways to polluters.'

'Taxpayers provide $15 billion in direct federal subsidies to the fossil fuel industry every year,' she added. 'That ends with this bill.' "

-->What a great idea! Why are we subsidizing fossil fuels? Why because Big Oil funds most candidates for Congress as well as for President. The mouthpiece for corporate American, the NYT, didn't cover this story.

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The Guardian UK:
"Donald Trump has vowed to use a contentious provision to unilaterally reinstate UN sanctions on Tehran, following what Iran’s president said was a humiliating defeat for the US in its bid to extend an arms embargo on Tehran.

A day after the UN security council overwhelmingly rejected a US resolution to extend the embargo, Trump said at a news conference at his New Jersey golf club: 'We’ll be doing a snapback. You’ll be watching it next week.' ...

'I don’t remember the US preparing a resolution for months to strike a blow at the Islamic Republic of Iran, and it garners only one vote,' the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, said in a televised speech. 'But the great success was that the US was defeated in this conspiracy with humiliation.' ”

-->The NYT doesn't report "humiliation" when it comes to the empire. Only two countries in the entire world voted to prolong the US embargo on Iran. But if you read the NYT for your news, you just might have missed this. 
(UPDATE) The NYT finally covered this story on Aug. 17

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Common Dreams:
"President Donald Trump's trade policies during his first term have 'failed to stop offshoring or the erosion of the U.S. manufacturing base,' and his administration's mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic has erased much of the progress made in the wake of the 2008 finanical crisis, according to a report released Monday.

The new report authored by Robert E. Scott, senior economist and director of trade and manufacturing policy research at the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), challenges the narrative from the president and key figures in his administration that the era of offshoring U.S. jobs is 'over' thanks to Trump's trade agenda.

In spite of claims from the Trump administration, Scott wrote, 'the United States has not begun to address the root causes of America's growing trade deficits and the decline of American manufacturing. Decades of trade, currency, and tax policies that incentivized offshoring, combined with an utter failure to invest adequately in infrastructure and good jobs at home, have contributed to growing inequality and an eroding middle class.' "

-->Words of wisdom about Trump's failed policies. Why can't you read about this report in the NYT? Maybe its because the newspaper's corporate Board of Directors like these policies. 

Thursday, August 13, 2020

Common Dreams:
"'The World Is Watching': Amnesty Report Details Human Rights Violations by US Police During Racial Justice Protests. The use of force detailed in the report 'is ultimately a symptom of the very issue that started these protests: unaccountable police violence.'

In a report titled 'The World is Watching,' Amnesty International USA revealed on Tuesday that U.S. police violated the human rights of protesters, medics, journalists, and other people at least 125 times in the first weeks of the current U.S. racial justice uprising. Between May 26 and June 5, police in 40 states and Washington, D.C. responded to protests with 'shocking amounts of excessive force,' according to the organization."

-->The NYT didn't print this story. It doesn't fit the "chaos" narrative for protesters that our "newspaper of record" is trying to establish. 

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The Daily Beast:
"or nearly a month, Riot Ribs served barbecue, tacos, jalapeno poppers—whatever they had on hand—from a series of tents near the site of ongoing protests in Portland, Oregon. Then, on Tuesday, the food collective announced an abrupt closure. ...

Beset by local police, federal authorities, right-wing trolls, and friendlies-turned-grifters, the Pacific Northwest’s protest food groups have spent the past month struggling to do what should be one of the least controversial jobs there is: handing out free food. ...

'Everyone needs to know that they’re targeting us. They slashed our cases of water bottles; broke one tent only (one of our cooks); broke open our snacks and sprayed them with tear gas as well,' the group tweeted. 'All of our grills were purposely pepper sprayed on the inside last night. We need new grills.'

-->Contrast this story with the chorus of hysteria about "chaos" in Portland once the military left. From the NYT to Fox, the corporate controlled news media has decided to come in on the side of militarism and law and order. The establishment press is united it the desire to have the police and federal goon squads in charge, rather than run the risk of real social change in America.

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The Guardian UK:
"The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is a rogue intelligence agency that needs to be shut down. It’s hard to reach any other conclusion on the heels of the DHS sending federal militarized police into Portland last month, where camouflaged and unidentified officers indiscriminately sprayed protesters with teargas and rubber bullets for more than two weeks. But even after the agency reached an agreement with Portland officials to leave, virtually every day we learn more about the DHS abusing its vast surveillance powers to spy on journalists, protesters and immigrants. ...

An intelligence report leaked to the Nation included 'a readout of these individuals’ personal information, including their social security numbers, home addresses and social media accounts, much of the data generated by the DHS’s Tactical Terrorism Response Teams'. ...

'They targeted Americans like they’re al-Qaida,' a source with knowledge of the surveillance operations told the Nation. If you think this sounds like an exaggeration, consider this: another leaked DHS document, this one posted by Lawfare’s editor-in-chief, Ben Wittes, showed that the DHS was creating 'baseball cards' of arrested protesters. As the Washington Post noted: 'Historically, military and intelligence officials have used such cards for biographical dossiers of suspected terrorists, including those targeted in lethal drone strikes.' ”

-->How refreshing this point of view would be if one could find it in a US publication. But our national media is never up to questioning the national security state. 

Thursday, August 06, 2020

 The Guardian UK:

"Dear Larry Fink: it's time to stop lavishing your wealth on the police

Morris Pearl. The CEO of one of the world’s largest financial firms gives lip service to racial justice. But his actions speak otherwise. ...


If America’s millionaires tried even one-tenth as hard to end police brutality as they’ve tried to cut their own taxes, we would be looking at a completely different world. ... Mr Fink has voiced a commitment to racial equity and said all the right things in the last few weeks, but he has not actually done what he professes to believe in. ...


Yet, at the same time as Mr Fink is sympathizing with a movement against anti-Blackness, he has remained a donor to the New York Police Foundation (NYPF), which pays for equipment and training and provides incentives for anonymous tips that lead to arrests. For the last three years, Mr Fink has served as co-chair of the NYPF’s annual gala."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/01/dear-larry-fink-its-time-to-stop-lavishing-your-wealth-on-the-police


-->It takes a newspaper from outside the empire to point out how billionaires like to talk about racial justice, as they support racist police forces. Maybe protecting their money comes first. The NYT didn't touch this story.


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The Guardian UK

"Revealed: super-rich donate to Cuomo as he rejects tax hikes for billionaires. ... Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York has stood firm against intensifying pressure to avert massive budget cuts by raising taxes on the many billionaires who live in his state.


As that campaign to tax billionaires received a recent boost from Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and New York’s Democratic state legislative leaders, Cuomo has insisted that he fears that the tax initiative will prompt the super-rich to leave the state. ...


But in defending billionaires, Cuomo is protecting a group of his most important financial boosters. More than a third of New York’s billionaires have funneled cash to Cuomo’s political machine, according to a Too Much Information review of campaign finance data and the Forbes billionaire list."

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/jul/31/cuomo-new-york-governor-billionaires-super-rich


-->The NYT didn't print this story either. Our "newspaper of record" likes the billionaires as much as Cuomo does. 


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Common Dreams:

"Bolivians Join Mass Marches Against Election Delay by Right-Wing Coup Government. Thousands of Bolivians took to the streets this week in mass demonstrations and marches against the coup government's decision to postpone the country's presidential election until October, further extending the brutal reign of unelected right-wing President Jeanine Añez as the coronavirus continues to ravage the Latin American nation. ...


'Bolivia shows how the ideologues of the free market are more than happy to toss out any semblance of democratic rule if they feel threatened,' [wrote Bolivian journalist Oliver Vargas. 'It also exposes the true character of interventions by governments like the U.S. and U.K. in international affairs to 'promote democracy.' "

https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/07/30/our-obligation-defend-democracy-bolivians-join-mass-marches-against-election-delay


-->The US was behind the coup that toppled Bolivia's elected president, Evo Morales, last year. Now the empire's newspaper of record isn't reporting the devastation that has followed. It is just like Honduras. First a US coup, then years of oppression and right wing death squads. The American way, but it never gets reported in the NYT.