Common Dreams:
" 'Shameful': Biden Admin Withdraws Human Rights Nomination Over Israel Apartheid Comments.
Human rights advocates are warning that the Biden administration's decision to withdraw its nomination of law professor James Cavallaro to serve on a human rights commission could be the latest incident that chills free speech regarding violent Israeli policies in Palestine, as Cavallaro said he was shut out of the position due to his condemnation of Israel's apartheid regime. ...
Cavallaro, the founder and executive director of the University Network for Human Rights (UNHR) at Wesleyan University, said he responded to the State Department's news by noting that mainstream human rights groups including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Israeli organization B'Tselem have all stated that Israel's illegal settlements, restriction of Palestinians' movement, and other policies amount to apartheid. The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Palestine also said last year that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories is apartheid."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/cavallaro-apartheid-israel
-->Well, there is more shame to go around, because the NYT didn't print any part of this important story. Neither did any major media in the US. Only Democracy Now and Mondoweiss informed its readers of Biden's nomination withdrawal. There is the shame of a US president being controlled by the Israel Lobby. There is the shame of that same Lobby having so much control over our national news. The big story, of course, is the unlimited power of the Israel Lobby to cover up the suffering and oppression of 5 million Palestinians in the Holy Land.
=====
Globalities:
"Two basic facts stand out, with or without the new revelations from Hersh’s source. The first is Pres. Biden’s stark declaration on February 7 last year that, 'If Russia invades . . . there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it… I promise you that we will be able to do it.' The second is the fact that on September 26 the two Nord Stream pipelines were indeed blown up, in an operation that investigators from nearby Sweden and Denmark later concluded had been conducted by agents of a state actor, un-named. ...
The decision makers in the U.S. corporate media, the think-tanks (except Quincy!), and both branches of government all have a more or less clear idea of which government it was that undertook the Nord Stream operation. But they don’t want to mention or discuss this in public… Because, well, undertaking an act like like that was a violation of international law and a blatant act of aggression against Russia, Germany, and a number of other gas-receiving states. Discussing this too publicly would therefore (a) make the United States look like even more of a rogue nation than it was before, and (b) portray the United States as much more deeply a party to the war against Russia than it has until now claimed to be."
https://globalities.org/2023/02/sy-hersh-and-pres-bidens-desperate-measures/
-->How our national media loves a balloon story. All spectacle with nothing actually inside. But for journalists told to drop the story of the US blowing up the Nord Steam pipeline, the balloons are a godsend. For readers, it is but another sad confirmation that all our news is crafted at the Pentagon. Or as Jeffrey St. Clair at CounterPunch wrote: "Still the lack of any follow-up reporting from the New York Times or Washington Post, to either confirm and discredit Hersh’s story, is one of the more shameful episodes in a dismal couple of decades for American journalism."
=====
The Lever:
"A looming Supreme Court decision could end up making it easier for the railroad giant whose train derailed in Ohio this month to block lawsuits, including from victims of the disaster.
In the case against Norfolk Southern, the Biden administration is siding with the railroad in its conflict with a cancer-stricken former rail worker. A high court ruling for Norfolk Southern could create a national precedent limiting where workers and consumers can bring cases against corporations.
The lawsuit in question, filed initially in a Pennsylvania county court in 2017, deals with a state law that permits plaintiffs to file suit against any corporation registered to do business there, even if the actions that gave rise to the case occurred elsewhere.
In its fight against the lawsuit, Norfolk Southern is asking the Supreme Court to uphold the lower court ruling, overturn Pennsylvania’s law, and restrict where corporations can be sued, upending centuries of precedent.
https://www.levernews.com/bidens-doj-backing-norfolk-southern-case-to-block-lawsuits/
-->There has been good coverage of the Norfolk Southern rail disaster. But the Biden complicity with the railroads is another topic that never made it into our media. His Department of Justice is supporting Norfolk Southern side.
" 'Shameful': Biden Admin Withdraws Human Rights Nomination Over Israel Apartheid Comments.
Human rights advocates are warning that the Biden administration's decision to withdraw its nomination of law professor James Cavallaro to serve on a human rights commission could be the latest incident that chills free speech regarding violent Israeli policies in Palestine, as Cavallaro said he was shut out of the position due to his condemnation of Israel's apartheid regime. ...
Cavallaro, the founder and executive director of the University Network for Human Rights (UNHR) at Wesleyan University, said he responded to the State Department's news by noting that mainstream human rights groups including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Israeli organization B'Tselem have all stated that Israel's illegal settlements, restriction of Palestinians' movement, and other policies amount to apartheid. The United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Palestine also said last year that the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories is apartheid."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/cavallaro-apartheid-israel
-->Well, there is more shame to go around, because the NYT didn't print any part of this important story. Neither did any major media in the US. Only Democracy Now and Mondoweiss informed its readers of Biden's nomination withdrawal. There is the shame of a US president being controlled by the Israel Lobby. There is the shame of that same Lobby having so much control over our national news. The big story, of course, is the unlimited power of the Israel Lobby to cover up the suffering and oppression of 5 million Palestinians in the Holy Land.
=====
Globalities:
"Two basic facts stand out, with or without the new revelations from Hersh’s source. The first is Pres. Biden’s stark declaration on February 7 last year that, 'If Russia invades . . . there will be no longer a Nord Stream 2. We will bring an end to it… I promise you that we will be able to do it.' The second is the fact that on September 26 the two Nord Stream pipelines were indeed blown up, in an operation that investigators from nearby Sweden and Denmark later concluded had been conducted by agents of a state actor, un-named. ...
The decision makers in the U.S. corporate media, the think-tanks (except Quincy!), and both branches of government all have a more or less clear idea of which government it was that undertook the Nord Stream operation. But they don’t want to mention or discuss this in public… Because, well, undertaking an act like like that was a violation of international law and a blatant act of aggression against Russia, Germany, and a number of other gas-receiving states. Discussing this too publicly would therefore (a) make the United States look like even more of a rogue nation than it was before, and (b) portray the United States as much more deeply a party to the war against Russia than it has until now claimed to be."
https://globalities.org/2023/02/sy-hersh-and-pres-bidens-desperate-measures/
-->How our national media loves a balloon story. All spectacle with nothing actually inside. But for journalists told to drop the story of the US blowing up the Nord Steam pipeline, the balloons are a godsend. For readers, it is but another sad confirmation that all our news is crafted at the Pentagon. Or as Jeffrey St. Clair at CounterPunch wrote: "Still the lack of any follow-up reporting from the New York Times or Washington Post, to either confirm and discredit Hersh’s story, is one of the more shameful episodes in a dismal couple of decades for American journalism."
=====
The Lever:
"A looming Supreme Court decision could end up making it easier for the railroad giant whose train derailed in Ohio this month to block lawsuits, including from victims of the disaster.
In the case against Norfolk Southern, the Biden administration is siding with the railroad in its conflict with a cancer-stricken former rail worker. A high court ruling for Norfolk Southern could create a national precedent limiting where workers and consumers can bring cases against corporations.
The lawsuit in question, filed initially in a Pennsylvania county court in 2017, deals with a state law that permits plaintiffs to file suit against any corporation registered to do business there, even if the actions that gave rise to the case occurred elsewhere.
In its fight against the lawsuit, Norfolk Southern is asking the Supreme Court to uphold the lower court ruling, overturn Pennsylvania’s law, and restrict where corporations can be sued, upending centuries of precedent.
https://www.levernews.com/bidens-doj-backing-norfolk-southern-case-to-block-lawsuits/
-->There has been good coverage of the Norfolk Southern rail disaster. But the Biden complicity with the railroads is another topic that never made it into our media. His Department of Justice is supporting Norfolk Southern side.
