Mondoweiss:
"Employees often face certain restrictions on their freedom of speech. In the past year, retaliation against employees or future employees for expressions of solidarity with Palestine has repeatedly made headlines. Law firms have rescinded their offers to graduating students. Tech companies, including Google, have fired employees for organizing. Last year, Starbucks and its union sued each other over a disputed social media post by the union.
But the response of universities, with their long standing reputations of creating space for intellectual engagement and dissent, stands out. Faculty at Columbia and other universities have described a growing climate of academic suppression. And staff, like Clara, have fewer protections.
Clara [last name withheld] is one of many students and staff at universities across the United States who have been disciplined for participating in pro-Palestinian protests. Her story shows that the crackdown on staff members extends to when staff is off the clock and reflects the uneven enforcement of murky speech policies by universities."
https://laborforpalestine.net/2024/12/10/universities-are-continuing-to-retaliate-against-staff-for-participating-in-gaza-campus-protests-mondoweiss/
-->This is a hidden crackdown. Few media sources will show the American public just how bad these violations of freedom of speech really are.
=====
Peoples Dispatch:
"Governments in Latin America have been at the forefront of opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and several of those which have done so suddenly face new threats, even including attempted coups. Adrienne Pine, a professor at the California Institute of Integral Studies, said during a recent webinar hosted by the Nicaragua Solidarity Coalition that 'Anybody who stands with Palestine is going to be attacked in Latin America by the US and by Zionists.'
Recent events appear to show the truth of her remarks. Of the 165 countries that recognize Israel, only four have officially cut diplomatic ties with the country since it began its Gaza offensive, and all of them are Latin American: Bolivia, Belize, Colombia and Nicaragua (Venezuela severed its ties with Israel in 2009 while Cuba broke off relations during the Yom Kippur War of 1973). A further eight countries have withdrawn their diplomats from Tel Aviv since October 7, 2023, of which Chile, Brazil and Honduras are from Latin America.
This article looks at the experience of three governments in the region which have strongly opposed Isreal’s genocidal war—Nicaragua, Honduras, and Colombia. All are suffering attacks that appear to be either in direct retaliation for their actions or which suspiciously coincide with them. All three have progressive governments which have historic reasons for challenging Israel, adding to their condemnation of its recent actions."
https://peoplesdispatch.org/2024/11/12/latin-american-governments-pay-a-price-for-challenging-israels-genocidal-war/
-->Finding this story is difficult in the US media. Could it be that the US empire is still hiding its attacks on Latin America?
=====
Mondoweiss:
"After 16 years behind bars, Mufid Abdulqader, a member of the 'Holy Land Five' has been released from prison into a halfway house. The Palestinian American is slated to spend one year at the facility.
The case of the Holy Land 5 has become a symbol of the unconstitutional overreach associated with U.S. counterterrorism since 9/11. In 2009, five Palestinian-American Muslims received prison sentences as a result of their work with the Holy Land Foundation (HLF) charity. Prosecutors claimed that HLF funneled money to Hamas and charged the men with 'material support for terrorism,' as the United States has designated Hamas as a 'Foreign Terrorist Organization.'
Abdulqader received a 20-year prison sentence. Mohammad el-Mezain and Abdulrahman Odeh were given 15 years. Ghassan Elashi and Shukri Abu Baker, 65 years."
https://mondoweiss.net/2024/12/after-16-years-in-prison-holy-land-five-member-mufid-abdulqader-has-been-released/
-->Silence in the US press. Is it just shame about a story that most mainstream media refused to touch? Five innocent men sentenced, two for 65 years each. When it comes to Palestinians in the US, the "Land of the Free" offers few protections for the innocent.
Wednesday, December 18, 2024
Wednesday, December 11, 2024
Telesur:
"On Tuesday, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez presented the 2025 Economic and Financial Budget Bill to the National Assembly (AN). The proposed budget amounts to $22.6 billion, with 77.7% of this total allocated to social investment.
'As we have stated and reaffirmed previously, this law was not drafted in an office. It was not prepared by the Ministry of Finance’s planning department. This is a law created with the people’s input. Over 100,000 assemblies defined the essential guidelines for formulating policies aimed at addressing the needs of Venezuelans,' the Bolivarian vice president stated. ...
'This will ensure that projects originating directly from the needs of the people, who are organized into communes and communal councils, are included in next year’s budget,' Rodriguez affirmed, highlighting that the budget proposal comes amid favorable expectations for her country’s economy."
https://www.telesurenglish.net/venezuela-allocates-78-of-the-2025-budget-to-social-investment
-->What a completely democratic way for selecting how a country spends its money. Contrast this with who makes the empire's decisions, the billionaires, of course. The NYT never carries stories like this, of course. News about South America is mostly Pentagon propaganda.
=====
Drop Site News:
"First, they banded together to block investing in overly political, woke businesses. Now, a coalition of state officials across the U.S. is using its power to allocate state funds to a political cause it cares about: Israel.
Since 2020, states and municipalities across the country have amassed a portfolio of $1.7 billion in Israel Bonds—securities sold by the state of Israel to 'strengthen every aspect of Israel's economy, enabling national infrastructure development.' Since October 7th, 2023, $580 million of state and municipal investments have been invested in Israeli bonds.
In some cases, the state treasurers and comptrollers that purchased Israeli bonds are the very same officials who pushed for laws in their states against investing in firms that embrace environmental social governance (ESG), or investments based, at least superficially, on diversity, climate change, or any other criteria they deem 'woke.' Their argument: If a firm makes politically motivated investment decisions in accordance with ESG, then the firm has compromised its fiduciary duty to be a good steward of dollars and maximize returns for investors."
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/israel-bonds-biden-gaza-moodys
-->Of course, investing in Israel is one of the stupidest things that state officials could do. These investments have already cost tens of millions in loses for municipalities and retirement programs. Don't look to the NYT to point out how politicians are investing in Israel rather than doing what is best for their public funds.
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Common Dreams:
"Israeli Siege Leaves 130,000 Kids Trapped and at Risk of Starvation in Northern Gaza. 'With no food, no clean water, and constant fear, both my children have developed rashes, and my daughter is passing blood, but there is no medicine, no help, and absolutely nothing I can do,' said one mother trapped in the area.
An estimated 130,000 children under the age of 10 have been trapped in areas of northern Gaza almost entirely cut off from aid assistance, food and medical supplies for 50 days, a major humanitarian group said Monday."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/northern-gaza-hunger-israel
-->The Gaza genocide has full support of the US media. Occasionally stories are leaked through. But for the most part, the starving children are well hidden.
Wednesday, December 04, 2024
Common Dreams:
"More than 1,000 doctors and nurses are among at least 44,211 people killed in Israel's 13-month assault on the Gaza Strip, officials in the Hamas-governed Palestinian enclave said Sunday.
'Over 310 other medical personnel were arrested, tortured, and executed in prisons,' Gaza's Government Media Office also said in a statement, according to Turkey's state-run Anadolu Agency. 'The Israeli army also prevented the entry of medical supplies, health delegations, and hundreds of surgeons into Gaza.'
'Hospitals have been a declared target for the Israeli army, which bombed, besieged, and stormed them, killing doctors and nurses, injuring others after directly targeting them,' the office said. The statement came after the director of the main partially functioning hospital in northern Gaza was injured in an Israeli strike."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/israel-has-killed-over-1000-doctors-and-nurses-in-gaza
-->Many news outlets in the rest of the world carried this story. But not the NYT or other major media in the empire. Does that make our media complicit in a genocide? Of course it does; it is such an important part in deceiving the American people.
=====
Mondoweiss:
"The Heritage Foundation got a lot of publicity during this election cycle for its infamous Project 2025. But that’s not the only project they intend to carry out now that Donald Trump is returning to the White House.
Project Esther is a new proposal from Heritage that claims to lay out a plan to combat antisemitism in the United States. In fact, it aims to destroy the Palestine solidarity movement as a first step in a crusade to, ultimately, restrict activism against American policy of all sorts, foreign and domestic. .
It’s not a new enterprise, of course. Disingenuous accusations of antisemitism have been weaponized by the Zionist movement and the State of Israel for a century or more but Project Esther means to unify and coordinate the cynical use of the fight against real antisemitism in order to completely destroy the movement for Palestinian rights.
But that is only its initial ambition. As the full plan makes clear, the people who produced this scheme see it as the key to devastating movements against both American imperialism abroad and white supremacy domestically."
https://mondoweiss.net/2024/11/inside-project-esther-the-right-wing-action-plan-to-take-down-the-palestine-movement/
-->Baby steps to a fascist state, where protesters are beaten and locked up. Can our country's democracy survive its military empire? This is obviously not something the NYT want to discuss. It didn't report this story.
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The Intercept:
"In 2002, President George W. Bush signed a bill into law that gave the U.S. president the power to invade the Netherlands — or anywhere else on earth — in order to liberate an American citizen or citizen of a U.S. ally being detained for war crimes at the International Criminal Court, based in the Dutch city of The Hague.
While no president has yet made good on this military threat, it serves as shorthand for the U.S. relationship to the international institution of justice. (President Joe Biden, then a senator, opposed the amendment authorizing a Hague invasion before ultimately voting for the bill.)
The law was meant to fend off the specter of American troops standing trial for atrocities committed during the fledgling 'war on terror,' but the U.S. horror of The Hague has its roots in the longstanding policy of unconditional support for Israel.
That same year Bush and his Israeli counterpart, Ariel Sharon, withdrew the U.S. and Israeli signatures from the Rome Statute, the treaty that formed the ICC. U.S.-Israel opposition to any attempt by the court to hold Israel accountable for possible international law violations has been ironclad ever since."
https://theintercept.com/2024/11/21/icc-netanyahu-arrest-us-war-crimes/
-->The Intercept makes the NYT look like Pentagon propaganda. Where is this back story in our "newspaper of record"?
Thursday, November 21, 2024
"The family of Malcolm X, the militant civil rights leader who was assassinated almost 60 years ago, filed a $100m federal lawsuit on Friday that accuses the FBI, the CIA and the New York police department (NYPD) of allowing his murder. The lawsuit, brought by Malcolm X’s daughter Ilyasah Shabazz and other family members, alleges the law enforcement agencies concealed evidence they knew of the plot to kill him but did not act to stop it.
'We believe that they all conspired to assassinate Malcolm X, one of the greatest thought leaders of the 20th century,' Ben Crump, a civil rights attorney who is representing the family, said at a press conference.
The wrongful death lawsuit was announced at a memorial center on the site in New York City where Malcolm X was killed in 1965. It seeks to answer questions surrounding the assassination, and paint an accurate history of the events, Crump said."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/nov/15/malcolm-x-murder-lawsuit
-Why isn't this being covered by the NYT? Of course, the US was involved in the murder. Just like Fred Hampton and Martin Luther King. Maybe our newspaper of record wants to keep us in the dark for as long as it can.
UPDATE: It took a few days to print this story in the NYT. But the newspaper got around to publishing it on page 32.
=====
Common Dreams:
" 'The complicity of international corporations and governments in fueling Israel's war machine represents the latest chapter in a long history of fossil fuel companies enabling genocide and mass atrocities,' said one campaigner.
On the fourth day of the United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP29, in Azerbaijan, green groups highlighted how fossil fuel companies 'enable and profit from Israel's genocide in Gaza,' continuing 'a long history of the industry's complicity in mass atrocities worldwide.'
'The fossil fuel industry is culpable in death and destruction around the world, not only through the climate crisis they cause but through the violence they fuel,' Oil Change International said in a statement Thursday."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/fossil-fuels-gaza-genocide
-->The NYT had a different story, entitled "Oil Giants Pump Their Way to Bumper Profits." Something missing you say? Why, the story omits any mention of the Israel/US genocide in Gaza.
=====
The Intercept:
"For decades, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee had been an influential presence on Capitol Hill, working behind the scenes to lobby politicians and their staffers in support of Israel. But ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, AIPAC made a decision that would fundamentally alter its purpose and the contours of American politics.
After 60 years of issues-based lobbying, AIPAC for the first time opted to spend directly on campaigns. Flush with millions of dollars from loyal donors, among them Republican billionaires and megadonors to former President Donald Trump, AIPAC embraced a new strategy. It would use its vast funds to oust progressive members of Congress who have criticized human rights abuses by Israel and the country’s receipt of billions of U.S. dollars in military funding.
Just two years after it started pouring money into campaigns, AIPAC has become one of the largest outside spenders in congressional elections. The Intercept has chronicled AIPAC’s power through coverage of individual races, but never before has AIPAC’s massive outflow of money been analyzed in sum. This project uses records from the Federal Election Commission — submitted by the lobbying group’s federal political action committee, AIPAC PAC, and its super PAC, United Democracy Project — to map how much money has been spent on behalf of Israel, where these groups are doling out money, and what impact those funds are having on the balance of power in Congress."
https://theintercept.com/2024/10/24/aipac-spending-congress-elections-israel/
-->The NYT would be in a perfect position to do an in depth article about how Israel bribes our elected leaders. The facts are all there, but the NYT often resists reporting on just how millions are spent buying up our Congress. Our flagship newspaper is just another pro-genocide rag.
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Common Dreams:
"The Biden Administration's THAAD Deployment and the Path to War
Far from being a stabilizing force, the deployment of these missiles raises the stakes for everyone involved, including American military personnel and bases stationed in the region.
This month, U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin authorized the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system to Israel, along with American personnel to operate it. According to observers, between October 14 and 21, a record 26 U.S. military transport flights landed in Israel, delivering personnel and equipment to set up the THAAD system. Satellite images confirm that the system is now fully operational, with all its components, including radar and missile launch platforms, positioned and ready. By placing U.S. troops and assets in a volatile conflict zone, the Biden administration risks exposing American military personnel to potential attacks, and further destabilizing the Middle East, all without explicit congressional authorization for such combat missions. ...
The United States should resist this reckless course of action. It is not in America’s interests to get entangled in another Middle Eastern war, especially one undertaken without public debate, congressional approval, or a clear exit strategy. Instead of sending more weapons and further fueling escalation, the U.S. should push for a ceasefire in Gaza, which remains the key to defusing the broader regional conflict. A ceasefire would halt the immediate bloodshed and prevent the cycle of retaliation from dragging the entire region into war."
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/thaad-israel-iran
-->The beginning a regional, and perhaps a world war. It's not what the people want, of course, but that makes no difference to the two war and genocide parties run by the billionaires and their Zionist religious fanatics. Why no national debate about WW III? Our pentagon controlled media won't allow it.
=====
The Intercept:
"The chief legal officer of the European Union’s foreign service advised the department’s top official that a new opinion by judges in The Hague does not require EU states to ban goods imported from Israeli settlements, according to a leaked analysis.
Legal experts said that the analysis contradicts the International Court of Justice, or ICJ, ruling that states should end all support for the Israeli occupation of Palestine, including the West Bank and Gaza Strip. In a seven-page memo, Frank Hoffmeister, the director of the EU foreign service’s legal department, argued that while European law required the labeling of settlement products, a ban on their import and sale was still up for debate. ...
The legal advice, which ... was sent to EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on July 22, three days after the ICJ decided that states must not 'render aid or assistance in maintaining' Israel’s illegal occupation. ... 'The ICJ has made clear that ‘all aid and assistance’ of any kind by all states to the settlement project must cease. It is my assessment that this requires the EU to revise its policy to end any and all trade, funding or other assistance that in any way supports the Israeli occupation,' said Susan Akram, the director of Boston University School of Law’s International Human Rights Clinic.
https://theintercept.com/2024/10/23/eu-israel-settlements-trade-gaza/
-->It is not just the US that is braking its own laws to perpetuate the slaughter in Gaza. The European Union also has blood on its hands. But you wouldn't learn that by reading our mainstream news. Another disappeared story.
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Green Party:
"Earlier today, Jill sat down for an interview with celebrated journalist Tavis Smiley. As the interview began, Tavis read an email written to him on behalf of the DNC that was sent with the intention of coercing him into asking their outrageous gotcha questions to Jill as if they were his own!
Tavis Smiley is a real journalist who holds himself to high ethical standards. He wasn’t going to allow the DNC to dictate how he conducts interviews. So he did indeed read off the accusations disguised as questions that the DNC had sent him, while all along making clear that he was doing this to give Jill the opportunity to respond to the anti-Democratic Party’s preferred narrative of fear-mongering about 'spoilers' instead of what they clearly had in mind – using him as a mouthpiece to advance their narrative.
It begs the question of how many interviews have Jill and Butch done in good faith, only to have the DNC meddling behind the scenes? Might this explain why we’ve been seeing the same hostile narrative from the mainstream press over and over again? Not all journalists conduct themselves with Tavis Smiley’s integrity. We’re grateful to him for blowing the cover off of the way they try to rig the media against us."
https://www.gp.org/bombshell_revelation_from_tavis_smiley
-->The US media and the two major parties are in bed together. We only smell the stench when a story like this breaks through.
Wednesday, October 23, 2024
"The use of human shields in war is not a new phenomenon. Militaries have forced civilians to serve as human shields for centuries. Yet, despite this long and dubious history, Israel has managed to introduce a new form of shielding in Gaza, one that appears unprecedented in the history of warfare.
The practice was initially revealed by Al Jazeera but, subsequently, Haaretz published an entire expose about how Israeli troops have abducted Palestinian civilians, dressed them in military uniforms, attached cameras to their bodies, and sent them into underground tunnels as well as buildings in order to shield Israeli troops. ...
The Israeli army’s treatment of Palestinian civilians as expendable might not come as a surprise given the racialised form of colonial governance to which they have been subjected for decades. The deep-seated racism explains the ease with which Israeli President Isaac Herzog publicly claimed that there are “no innocent civilians” in the Gaza Strip as well as the prevailing indifference among Israel’s Jewish public to the tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians who have been killed."
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/10/20/israel-has-taken-human-shields-to-a-whole-new-criminal-level
-->What would happen if the NYT followed such Israeli war crimes as they happen? Maybe even more Americans would oppose Israel's genocide in Gaza. Maybe candidates in the two major political parties would even talk about it.
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Common Dreams:
"73% of Young US Voters Eager to Support Candidates With Bold Climate Agenda
Over three-quarters in a new survey endorsed the idea that the 'future is frightening' and 62.9% agreed that 'humanity is doomed.'
More than half of young people in the U.S. are 'very or extremely worried' about the climate crisis and an even larger percentage are motivated to do something about it, including at the ballot box.
The data came from a poll published on Thursday in The Lancet Planetary Health, which found that concerns about the climate crisis were impacting young people's decisions about their personal and public lives, with 52.3% saying they were 'hesitant to have children' and 72.8% planning to vote for candidates who back ambitious climate policies.
'Climate change is causing widespread distress among U.S. youth and affecting their beliefs and plans for the future,' the study authors concluded. 'These effects may intensify, across the political spectrum, as exposure to climate-related severe weather events increases.' "
https://www.commondreams.org/news/youth-concerned-climate-us
-->Why didn't this story appear in the NYT? I think its because neither Trump nor Harris talk about saving the environment. Like the Israeli genocide, our political system reflects what the very rich believe, not what is really happening in the world.
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Common Dreams:
"An Oxfam report published Wednesday estimates that war-fueled hunger is likely killing as many as 21,000 people per day in dozens of countries as parties to global conflicts weaponize starvation against children and other vulnerable people in Gaza, Sudan, Nigeria, Somalia, and elsewhere.
Food Wars, published to mark World Food Day, finds that nearly 278 million people across 54 war-torn countries faced crisis-level hunger last year. That population accounts for 99% of the people facing crisis-level hunger worldwide.
War, according to the new report, was a 'major cause of food insecurity' in each of the 54 countries examined, 'although in some of them, weather extremes or economic shocks may have been the principal driver.'
'As conflict rages around the world, starvation has become a lethal weapon wielded by warring parties against international laws, causing an alarming rise in human deaths and suffering,' said Emily Farr, Oxfam's food and economic security lead. 'That civilians continue to be subjected to such slow death in the 21st Century is a collective failure.' "
https://www.commondreams.org/news/global-hunger-report
-->Again, The NYT leaves an important story out. Perhaps that's because starvation is one of the most commonly used war crimes in US sponsored wars abroad. Yes, we are starving thousands of children in Gaza. We know it, and we pay for it. That is why, when justice finally comes, most recent US presidents will be judged to be war criminals.
Thursday, October 17, 2024
"In a statement to the UN General Assembly, Lisa Doughten from OCHA warned of the dire humanitarian situation in the occupied West Bank and Gaza, saying the besieged Strip 'is home to the largest cohort of child amputees in modern history'. ‘Each day 10 children are losing 1 or both of their legs,' she said, adding that women are 3 times more likely to suffer miscarriages as a result of Israel's bombing campaign. ...
'We cannot claim ignorance to what is happening — nor can we afford to look away,' she emphasised, repeating calls for the Council and Member States to act, adding: 'These atrocities must end.'
She warned that the systematic and permanent targeting of the health sector has deprived more than two million people in the Gaza Strip of receiving basic health services, where more than 50,000 pregnant women are deprived of maternity care."
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20241011-un-gaza-home-to-largest-number-of-amputee-children-in-modern-history/
-->Hard facts like this are often missing in our pro-Zionist media. The NYT didn't cover this story, but did have a comprehensive report this Sunday from doctors and nurses in Gaza.
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Common Dreams:
"Corporate agribusinesses are playing fast and loose with the rules by choosing friendly compliant certifiers—and when they are caught in the act, the USDA often fails to take action.
Some of the oldest and largest U.S. Department of Agriculture-accredited certifiers have partnered with corporate agribusiness to change the working definition of organics, allowing large livestock factories; certified, uninspected imports; and soilless hydroponic produce grown in giant industrial greenhouses to be certified organic.
Organic certifiers are mixing lobbying, marketing, and activism with their certification responsibilities, and taking payola from the clients they certify. They are also certifying 'producer groups' in Eastern Europe, Central America, and Asia without inspecting and certifying each individual farm. This is against the law and an egregious conflict of interest—and it’s crushing U.S. farmers in the marketplace while raking in billions of dollars in profit for these large certifiers."
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/organic-certification-corruption
-->The NYT and most of our major media didn't cover this story, although the New Yorker did. I think this news makes our USDA regulatory system look bad, not something that our corporate controlled press worries too much about.
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Common Dreams:
"The Israeli military has over the past year released triumphant videos of airstrikes in Gaza that are linked to hundreds of civilian deaths, according to an investigation published Wednesday by Sky News and Airwars, a watchdog group.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) posted videos of 1,219 strikes between October 7, 2023 and August 31—the period studied—nearly half of which came from the first month of the war. The IDF often overlays captions citing Hamas targets. Most of the videos are grainy, with people on the ground not visible, deaths not directly evident, and locations unclear.
Airwars used geolocation data to match 17 of the strikes to specific incidents in which Palestinians were reported killed or injured. The newly released investigation includes detailed reports on each of the 17 strikes, which together killed 448 civilians.
'This is incredible work by Airwars clearly showing how Israeli targeting practices are way below acceptable legal standards,' Alonso Gurmendi, a human rights fellow and war expert at the London School of Economics and Political Science, wrote on social media."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/airwars-idf-tweets-videos-strikes
-->This story was not reported in the NYT. Nor was it printed in any of the US major media. Actual studies of Israel's war crimes are hard to find in the US.
Thursday, October 10, 2024
Aljazeera:
"Forces from the US Central Command (CENTCOM), the military command responsible for US forces in the Middle East, 'conducted strikes on 15 Houthi targets in Iranian-backed Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen today', it said on X on Friday.
Four strikes targeted Sanaa and seven hit Hodeidah, according to the Houthi-run Al Masirah TV network. Correspondents with the AFP news agency also reported hearing loud explosions in both cities. ...
Footage on social media verified by Al Jazeera’s fact-checking agency showed large plumes of smoke resulting from the strikes in Hodeidah. ... On Friday, thousands of people took to the streets of Sanaa to express solidarity with the Palestinians and Lebanese people amid intensified attacks by Israel.
'The aggression on the capital and Yemeni governorates after the … solidarity marches with Lebanon and Gaza is a desperate attempt to terrorise our people,' Houthi official Hashem Sharaf told Al Masirah. 'Yemen will not be deterred by these attacks and will continue its steadfastness in confronting the enemies with all its strength.' "
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/10/4/houthis-say-us-air-strikes-target-several-cities-across-yemen
-->The NYT didn't cover this story. With US bases in 800 locations throughout the world, how can one newspaper report all the wars and occupations our troops are involved in, especially when they take place in the Middle East? In fact, our newspaper of record my be purposely leaving out US military action since there is so very much of it.
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Common Dreams:
" 'I'm afraid first about my safety and about my family's safety because there's no safe place in Lebanon now,' said one physician.
The head of the United Nations World Health Organization said Thursday that Israeli forces killed 28 healthcare workers in Lebanon over the previous 24 hours, and that 73 medical personnel are among the nearly 2,000 Lebanese killed during Israel's bombing and invasion of its northern neighbor.
'In southern Lebanon, 37 health facilities have been closed, while in Beirut, three hospitals have been forced to fully evacuate staff and patients, and another two were partially evacuated,' WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said during a press conference in Geneva. 'And yet healthcare continues to come under attack. In Lebanon alone, 28 health workers have been killed in the last 24 hours.' ...
-->This is how Israel wages war, in an attempt to kill as many Palestinians as possible. Maybe that is why the NYT did not cover this story. The foremost newspaper in the US just happens to be a pro genocide rag, determined to make Israel look less like the failed state then it is.
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Savage Minds on Substack:
"My naïveté was believing in the law. When push comes to shove, laws are just pieces of paper, and they can be reinterpreted for political expediency.
They are the rules made by the ruling class more broadly. And if those rules don’t suit what it wants to do, it reinterprets them or hopefully, changes them, which is clearer? In the case of the United States, we angered one of the constituent powers of the United States, the intelligence sector, the security state, the secrecy state.
It was powerful enough to push for a reinterpretation. The US Constitution, the US First Amendment seems pretty black and white to me. It’s very short. It says the Congress shall make no law, restricting speech or the press. ...
Ultimately if it got to the Supreme Court of the United States, and I was still alive in that system, I might have won, depending on what the makeup was of the US Supreme Court. But in the meantime, I had lost 14 years, on the house arrest, embassy siege and maximum security prison.
So I think this is an important lesson that when a major power faction wants to reinterpret the law, it can push to have the element of the state, in this case, the US Department of Justice do that. And it doesn’t care too much about what is legal. That’s something for a much later day. In the meantime, the deterrent effect that it seeks, the retributive actions that it seeks, have had their effect." -Julian Assange
https://savageminds.substack.com/p/my-naivete-was-believing-in-the-law
-->Julian gets to the heart of the matter. The US Constitution be damned. If the US security/secrecy state wants you, law means nothing. The Department of Justice becomes an agency for suppressing freedom of speech. But why haven't the major media in this country bothered to print Assange's speech? More censorship, of course. You can't report on US war crimes.
Wednesday, October 02, 2024
"Maura Finkelstein never hid her support for Palestinian liberation during her nine years working as a professor of anthropology at Muhlenberg College, a small liberal arts school in Allentown, Pennsylvania. 'I have always had an ethical practice of making sure that I include Palestine in my teaching,' Finkelstein told me. 'It was never outside the bounds of what I do.'
For Finkelstein, who is Jewish, this was not always easy. More than 30 percent of Muhlenberg’s 2,200 students are Jewish, many of them vocal supporters of Israel.
Neither her longtime public support of Palestinians, however, nor the courses on Palestine she taught in her early years at the school prevented Finkelstein from earning tenure in 2021. Following the arduous tenure process, professors are supposed to enjoy lifetime job security and robust safeguards of academic freedom. The bar for dismissal from a tenured academic position is by design meant to be extremely high, requiring justifiable cause.
In late May, however, Muhlenberg told Finkelstein that she was fired. The reason? She had shared, on her personal Instagram account, in a temporary story slide, a post written not by herself but by Palestinian poet Remi Kanazi calling for the shunning of Zionist ideology and its supporters."
https://theintercept.com/2024/09/26/tenured-professor-fired-palestine-israel-zionism
-->This is an important story if you care about the new McCarthy Era. Finkelstein was fired for putting a Palestinian poem on her social media account. That's the criteria, or really the lack of criteria for firing tenured professors. This firing will set the stage for the muzzling of an entire class of people, who are hired to teach young people how to think and write. State censorship has arrived. Although no major media bothered to cover the end of freedom of speech on campuses across the country.
=====
No US publication has published some of the writings and quotes of Hasan Nasralla, the Hezbollah chief in Lebanon. Isn't murdering him enough? It was our plaines and bombs that assassinated him. Time to let him speak!
-The day will come when the Palestinian people will be free and the usurpers expelled.
-It is our duty to support all those who resist colonialism and imperialism.
-Our struggle is not just for the Palestinians; it is a struggle for justice everywhere.
-Our resistance is a beacon of hope for all oppressed peoples around the world.
-Our fight is not with the Jewish people; it is with the state of Israel.
-Resistance is not terrorism; it is a legitimate response to occupation and injustice.
-Would you allow a people to come from somewhere else and occupy a part of the United States, and set up an independent state, and, after 50 years, you would not be able to stay on this land?
-The real danger to the world's resistance movements is the attempt to distort reality and to place the blame on the resistance groups' actions without allowing them to portray their perspective, thus ignoring the reality of the occupation and the siege, like the situation in occupied Palestine.
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2024/9/28/who-was-hassan-nasrallah-2
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The Intercept:
"Faculty from seven University of California campuses took a stand against the repression of protest over Israel’s war on Gaza on Thursday, taking the historic step of filing a joint unfair labor practice charge against their employer. The professors from the top-tier California public university system alleged that their schools targeted them for speaking out on Israel’s war in Gaza and for joining students’ pro-Palestine protests in the spring.
The 581-page labor violation charge, filed with California’s Public Employment Relations Board, largely focuses on the universities’ crackdowns on the student-led Palestine solidarity protests and encampments, in which school officials called on police to arrest hundreds of students, faculty, and staff members in May and June.
In some instances, police beat demonstrators with batons, fired rubber bullets and pepper ball munitions, and sprayed chemical agents. In the aftermath of the crackdown, faculty and staff have faced punishment for their role in the protests, from suspensions to firings.
'UC’s actions to suppress speech about Palestine on our campuses, which represents an illegal content-based restriction of faculty rights, sets an alarming precedent,' said Constance Penley, president of the Council of UC Faculty Associations, which, along with faculty associations from the seven campuses, filed the labor charge. 'Our unfair labor practice filing demands they change course and follow the law, and make whole the faculty who have been harmed.'
Anna Markowitz, a UCLA faculty association member, said the school’s crackdown had one goal: 'to end Palestine solidarity activism on campus.' ”
https://theintercept.com/2024/09/20/uc-professors-palestine-protest-labor-violation
-->The violent crackdown on dissent at the nation's colleges and universities. And you are worried about a Trump fascist regime? Why you have fascism that is alive and well in the Democratic Party too.
Wednesday, September 25, 2024
"New US Attempt to Assassinate Venezuela President, Vice President, other leaders Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello, reported on the arrest of 14 mercenaries linked to a plan to assassinate Venezuelan leaders. A large batch of US-made weapons, a total of 400 rifles and pistols were seized. He added that, when these weapons were sent from the United States, the FBI had inspected the package but did not confiscate the weapons nor arrest anyone, showing a video to back up his allegations. These people had messages on their phones about the acquisition of C4 explosives to start rebellions in prisons and break prisons to join the terrorists. ...
Minister Diosdado Cabello reported the arrest of a US Navy SEAL and two Spanish citizens allegedly linked to intelligence agencies. They are accused of plotting to assassinate President Maduro and other high-ranking Venezuelan officials. In front of some of the 400 seized firearms linked to the plot, Cabello accused Wilbert Joseph Castañeda, an active duty US sailor, of leading the effort on behalf of US intelligence. “Castañeda is the head of the operation, placed here by the CIA. The US is behind this operation. The US is handing over these firearms, they allow them to freely circulate so they can arrive in Venezuela and be used in an operation.” Cabello said security forces also uncovered a conspiracy to launch grenades at the Argentinian Embassy in Caracas to generate a diplomatic incident to be blamed on the Maduro government."
https://afgj.org/venezuela-cubas-2024-un-report-on-the-us-blockade-ramon-labaninos-prison-diary
-->A failed CIA coup against Venezuela? You won't be reading about this in the NYT, the empire's go to for false news.
=====
The Guardian UK:
Prestigious US universities are raking in millions of dollars from fossil fuel interests, raising concerns about conflicts of interest. And one university even appears to have owned a petroleum company from which it has earned millions of dollars, according to a spate of new reports produced by student organizers.
The six analyses, released Wednesday, focus on American University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Princeton University, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill and University of California, San Diego. They were written by campus organizers at each respective institution and released by Campus Climate Network, an international student-led coalition that is pushing colleges to cut ties with big oil.
'Fossil fuel companies are hijacking our universities to perpetuate their own toxic industry, and we students are not having it anymore,' Will Kattrup, a research lead at Campus Climate Network, said on Wednesday.
The researchers scraped tax forms for publicly disclosed donations to universities from oil companies’ charitable arms, scoured schools’ boards for names linked to fossil fuel interests and tracked conflict of interest statements in published academic articles to document fossil fuel funding. Students from public universities also filed public information requests to obtain additional financial information."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/19/oil-donations-universities
-->You have to go to the UK for this story. The US corporate controlled media always soft-peddles corporate influence.
=====
The ministry has not responded to requests for comment. However, the German government did issue a statement after the Reuters story was published.
'There is no German arms export boycott against Israel,' government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit said.
Last year, Germany approved arms exports to Israel worth 326.5 million euros ($363.5m), including military equipment and war weapons, a 10-fold increase from 2022, according to data from the Economy Ministry, which approves export licences.
However, approvals have dropped this year, with only 14.5 million euros worth ($16.1m) granted from January to August 21, according to data provided by the Economy Ministry in response to a parliamentary question."
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/9/19/germany-has-stopped-approving-war-weapons-exports-to-israel-report
-->Newsworthy? Certainly is, because Germany has been a country that is arming the genocide in Gaza. Have't those Germans learned anything? Well, the NYT hasn't anyway. Our newspaper of record disappeared this story.
Tuesday, September 24, 2024
RT:
"Nuland confirms West told Zelensky to abandon peace deal. Ukraine-Russia talks fell apart after Kiev asked foreign backers for advice, the former US deputy secretary of state has said. The US, UK and other backers of Ukraine told Kiev to reject the deal reached at the 2022 Istanbul peace talks with Russia, former US under secretary of state Victoria Nuland has said.
In an interview with Russian journalist Mikhail Zygar, ... on Thursday, Nuland was asked to comment on reports that the peace process between Moscow and Kiev in late March and early April 2022 collapsed after then-British Prime Minister Boris Johnson traveled to Ukraine and told Vladimir Zelensky to keep fighting.
Putin said last week that the only reason the Istanbul deal failed was because of 'the wish of the elites in the US and some European nations to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia,' adding that Boris Johnson served as the messenger to quash the peace process. The negotiations in Türkiye yielded a draft agreement, which would have ended the hostilities, Putin recalled. Kiev was willing to declare military neutrality, limit its armed forces, and vow not to discriminate against ethnic Russians. In return, Moscow would have joined other leading powers in offering Ukraine security guarantees, he stressed."
https://www.rt.com/news/603708-ukraine-istanbul-us-nuland/
-->This is about as close to the truth as we are going to get from the US media. The US and Britain killed the agreement that Kiev and Russia wanted way back in 2022. What a waste of lives, and it isn't over yet. We are closer to nuclear war than we have ever been. Thanks, Democrats!
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The Guardian UK:
"Relief groups have said more than 1 million people in Gaza will not have enough food this month, while trucks loaded with fresh vegetables or meat spoil waiting to cross Israeli checkpoints, and thousands of aid packages of food, medical supplies and even toothbrushes and shampoo remain stuck in a backlog of lorries unable to enter from Egypt.
'We estimate that over a million Gazans will go without food in September,' said Sam Rose, a senior deputy director of UN’s relief agency for Palestinians (Unrwa), in Gaza. 'Over half the medicines in our health centres are running low, as is chlorine for water purification and other basic supplies.'
He added that Unrwa had resorted to trying to import single items such as soap, because kits containing a range of items such as washing powder alongside it have been blocked from entering."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/sep/12/gaza-aid-food-medical-supplies-backlog
-->What did the NYT report on? It printed a huge article entitled "Hamas Uses Brutal Tactics To Keep Its Grip on Gaza." The story takes up lots of front page space and continues on two whole pages on the inside. Isn't the IDF showing a little brutality in their slaughter of 40,000 defenseless civilians, almost half of them children? Not according to the genocide's major newspaper.
=====
Aljazeera:
"In an unsurprising yet telling development, Republican former Vice President Dick Cheney has thrown his support behind the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, over his party’s candidate, framing former President Donald Trump as an unprecedented threat to the United States. On its face, this endorsement might appear as a principled defence of democracy from a longstanding Republican stalwart. But beneath the surface lies a troubling irony.
Cheney, the architect of some of the most disastrous foreign and domestic policies of the early 21st century, now seeks to claim the moral high ground. The legacy of his policies – particularly the havoc unleashed during the Iraq War and the broader “war on terror” – continues to reverberate globally, causing suffering and instability that far surpass anything Trump has wrought to date. ...
Embracing a man whose policies left a trail of death and destabilisation in their wake as a champion of American values lacks any semblance of moral clarity. Cheney, whose hands are stained with the blood of countless innocents from Iraq to Guantanamo, who undermined American democracy and terrorised countless innocent Americans under the “war on terror”, should not be celebrated, especially by someone seeking the mantle of progressive leadership."
https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2024/9/12/cheneys-policies-as-vp-caused-immense-human-suffering-on-a-global-scale
-->The NYT didn't delve into Dick Cheney's blood splattered past. The empire's newspapers always forgives US war criminals, no matter how many they butcher. To our newspaper of record, Dick Cheney is just another "hawkish conservative."
Thursday, September 12, 2024
Hands Off Uhuru:
"Tampa, FL—The first week of the free speech trial of Chairman Omali Yeshitela, Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel left observers shaking their heads and asking how the government has dedicated 30 FBI agents over the course of 3 years, conducted military raids on peaceful U.S. residents, offered a $10 million reward for information and still has no case.
With only one witness left, the prosecution has failed to present any actual knowledge or evidence of the government’s baseless charges that the Uhuru 3 are 'secret pawns in a Russian government conspiracy to sow political discord and interfere in elections'.
The government has made the outlandish accusation that Omali Yeshitela, Chairman of the African People’s Socialist Party, as well as two leaders in the organization’s solidarity component Penny Hess and Jesse Nevel, were paid and under the control by the Russian government when they took a petition to the U.N. charging the U.S. with genocide, testified at U.N. hearings for reparations to African people, published an article opposing the ban on Russian athletes in the Olympics, ran for public office on a reparations platform and spoke out against the U.S./NATO proxy war using Ukraine against Russia.
https://handsoffuhuru.org/day-three-fbi-lies-hearsay-and-speculation/
-->With 30 FBI agents on the case, and three years worth of investigation, the government has failed spectacularly in proving that Uhuru is a Russian agent. But this case was about harassing and threatening Black activists in the US. It's the same thing that the FBI has always done. And we the people have put up with it all these years. Part of the failure is the fact that the NYT never covers a story like this.
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Common Dreams:
"UN Expert Fears 'Almost the Entire Population' of Gaza Exterminated If Israel Not Stopped. The range of presumable direct and indirect deaths could be between 15 and 20% of the population already by the end of this year,' said U.N. Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese.
Reviewing a global public health expert's analysis of the probable ultimate death toll in Gaza from Israel's relentless assault, the United Nations special rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories said Friday that without a cease-fire, the Israel Defense Forces 'could end up exterminating almost the entire population in Gaza over the next couple of years.' ...
United Nations experts warned in July that Israel's 'targeted starvation campaign' has 'resulted in famine across all of Gaza,' with at least 34 Palestinians dying of malnutrition as hundreds of aid delivery trucks were stranded in Egypt, unable to cross into the enclave. "
https://www.commondreams.org/news/gaza-2669142495
-->Why should this be a surprise to the people of the United States? We have read about the genocide, and we have watched it on any number of flat screens. Will we ever admit to backing and arming this genocide? Is that who we really are, white racist warmongers dedicated to seeking war and carnage for profit. As long as the victims are always Black, that is.
Thursday, September 05, 2024
Then a congressional inquiry applied pressure. Last week, the Republican chair of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, which has been conducting an inquiry into Columbia’s handling of the protests since this spring, published a letter blasting the school for not punishing students harshly enough and issued a subpoena for internal records.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C, accused the university of having “waved the white flag in surrender while offering up a get-out-of-jail-free card” to student protesters. She further blamed 'radical students and faculty' for interrupting the disciplinary process, and called protesters 'antisemites.' (Students are facing accusations of violating the school’s policies on protest, and not harassment or bias against Jewish students.) Foxx then subpoenaed the university later in the week for records related to the protests, including communication among administrators in handling of encampments, meeting minutes from the board of trustees, and documentation of alleged antisemitic incidents on campus."
https://theintercept.com/2024/08/29/columbia-campus-protests-gaza-subpoena
-->The NYT didn't print this story. Maybe it was just too pathetic, with another top university caving into crude attacks by Republican lawmakers. But shouldn't readers be made aware of how freedom of speech is under attack on US campuses?
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FAIR:
"I was a senior producer on Phil’s short-lived MSNBC primetime show in 2002 and 2003. It was frustrating for us to have to deal with the men Phil called 'the suits'—NBC and MSNBC executives who were intimidated by the Bush administration, and resisted any efforts by NBC/MSNBC to practice journalism and ask tough questions of Washington before our young people were sent to Iraq to kill or be killed. Ultimately, Phil was fired because—as the leaked internal memo said—Donahue represented 'a difficult public face for NBC at a time of war.' ...
But 'the suits' ruined our show when they took control and actually mandated a quota system favoring the right wing: If we had booked one guest who was antiwar, we needed to book two that were pro-war. If we had two guests on the left, we needed three on the right. When a producer suggested booking Michael Moore—known to oppose the pending Iraq War—she was told she’d need to book three right-wingers for political balance.
Three weeks before the Iraq war started, and after some of the biggest antiwar mobilizations the world had ever seen (which were barely covered on mainstream TV), the suits at NBC/MSNBC terminated our show."
https://fair.org/home/phil-donahue-changed-my-life-and-millions-of-others/
-->This quote by Jeff Cohen was hardly our mainstream media's take on Phil Donahue. In fact, the NYT used its obituary to tell one more lie about Donahue's career, that he was fired for bad ratings. But internal memos have long ago pointed out why MSNBC let him go right before the Iraq invasion. General Electric, one of the owners of the station, stood to make huge profits from this war. Donahue was fired because he questioned all the war lies, and the NYT can't get it right twenty years later.
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Aljazeera:
"The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has accused the Israeli government of 'buying ads on Google to block users from giving donations' to the agency. UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in a post on X that Israel’s attempts to defame the agency both harm its reputation and put the lives of its staff at risk.
'These deliberate efforts to spread misinformation should stop and be investigated,' Lazzarini wrote on Saturday, calling for more regulations for companies, including social media platforms, to combat disinformation and hate speech.
Israel has campaigned for years against UNRWA, the main organisation delivering humanitarian aid to Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory and providing services for Palestinian refugees in other countries since 1949, claiming it has connections with 'terrorists' and lobbying for its closure."
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/8/31/unrwa-head-accuses-israel-of-buying-google-ads-to-block-donations-to-agency
-->Israel is attacking the major relief effort for Palestine. All part of the planned genocide, and all kept out of the NYT news coverage.
Thursday, August 29, 2024
"Human rights defenders are calling out Western news outlets and political leaders for their conspicuous lack of coverage and vocalized condemnation after leaked video footage appeared to show Israeli soldiers gang-raping a Palestinian detainee in the notorious Sde Teiman prison and the release of a new report documenting systematic torture of prisoners held by Israel.
Earlier this week, Israel's Channel 12 aired a video showing Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reservists assaulting a Palestinian man at Sde Teiman, which is often called 'Israel's Guantánamo.' The victim was reportedly hospitalized with a severe anal injury, ruptured bowel, broken ribs, and lung damage. In addition to torture, former Sde Teiman detainees have described rampant rape and sexual abuse, allegedly often committed by female soldiers.
Instead of avoiding the Sde Teiman rape story, Israeli media have aired an interview with one of the IDF suspects—who are being hailed as 'heroes' by far-right Israelis including multiple Cabinet ministers—and panel discussions including one in which a journalist called for 'institutionalized' rape of Palestinian prisoners. This, as Israeli leaders demanded an investigation of the rape video to find and punish whoever leaked the footage, and as Israeli lawmakers argue that it's permissible to rape Palestinian prisoners."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/u-s-media-coverage-of-israel-palestinian-conflict
-->Any story that reveals the state supported war crimes of the Israeli government is bound to be censured in the US media. Let's face it, our media is often just propaganda when it comes to Israel.
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Common Dreams:
"US Among Nations 'Brazenly' Flouting Arms Trade Treaty, 10 Years On: Amnesty
As a treaty conference began, the human rights group called for an end to arms transfers to Israel and said that unlawful deals have led to 'devastating loss of life' in Gaza, Sudan, and Myanmar.
Amnesty International on Monday called for an end to arms transfers to countries including Israel, Sudan, and Myanmar, saying they cause "devastating loss of life" and contravene the Arms Trade Treaty, the parties to which are meeting in Geneva, Switzerland this week.
The United Nations treaty was signed by well over 100 countries in 2013 and went into effect in 2014, though 27 signatories, including the United States, the world's largest arms exporter, still haven't ratified the deal, which regulates the trade of conventional weapons including non-nuclear bombs, shells, and missiles.
'Numerous governments continue to brazenly flout the rules, leading to a huge loss of life in conflict zones,' Patrick Wilcken, an Amnesty researcher, said in a statement. 'It is time for state parties to live up to their legal obligations and fully implement the Arms Trade Treaty, to prohibit the flow of arms to countries when it is known they would be used for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes or if it could be used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international human rights or humanitarian law.' "
https://www.commondreams.org/news/arms-treaty-us-israel
-->US involvement in this genocide is never on the US media agenda.
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Common Dreams:
"Oil Change International on Tuesday released a report detailing fossil fuel transfers to Israel since its siege of Gaza began in October, arguing that the countries and companies responsible, which include the United States and U.S.-based multinationals, could be held liable for contributing to 'acts of genocide' under international law.
Azerbaijan, Kazahstan, and Gabon are major suppliers of crude oil to Israel, as are Big Oil companies such as BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Shell, according to the report, which comes from data that the U.S.-based advocacy group commissioned from Data Desk, an investigative consultancy.
... More than half were sent after the International Court of Justice ruled on January 26 that Israel must take steps to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza and that some of Israel's acts 'appear to be capable of falling within the provisions of the [Genocide] Convention'—part of an ongoing judicial process.
'Corporations supplying jet fuel and oil to Israel may be providing material support to the military, aware of its foreseeable harmful effects, and therefore risk complicity in war crimes, genocide, and other crimes under international law,' Irene Pietropaoli, a fellow in business and human rights at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law, said in a statement."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/energy-oil-israel-complicit
-->Very little US coverage of this story.
Thursday, August 08, 2024
Common Dreams:
"Maduro Victory Shows Democratic Bolivarian Socialism Continues in Venezuela. The faith of the president's supporters in the Bolivarian project is a testament to the real achievements of the socialist government in weathering the 936 sanctions placed on the country by western governments and turning adversity into opportunity.
Shortly before midnight on 28 July, Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE) announced that — with 80 percent of the over 20 million votes counted — the trend was irreversible: Nicolás Maduro had been re-elected president of Venezuela.
According to the CNE, Maduro received 51.2 percent of the vote, while his primary opponent, the little-known Edmundo Gonzales, received 44.02 percent. With that result, it was clear that the Venezuelan majority chose to continue the project of Bolivarian socialism introduced by Hugo Chavez at the end of the nineties. Recognizing the economic turn-around of the last two years and proud of their achievements in building 5.1 million housing units, securing food sovereignty, and deepening communal democracy, Venezuelans re-elected Maduro for a third six-year term.
A former ambassador to Argentina, the opposition candidate Gonzales replaced far-right leader Maria Corina Machado as the candidate of the Unity Platform after Machado was disqualified from running. Machado has long been an outspoken critic of Chavismo, supporting US sanctions and advocating foreign intervention in the country. In 2018, she asked Benjamin Netanyahu for military assistance in dismantling the Maduro government. Machado has close ties in the United States. In 2009, she was a Yale World Fellow. On June 23, 2024 she spoke at a National Endowment for Democracy awards ceremony in Washington, DC. She has been nicknamed the new 'iron lady' after her idol Margaret Thatcher."
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/venezuela-election-results-2024
-->Coverage of the recent elections had a winner, Democratic Bolivarian Socialism, and one loser, the free press in the United States. It is laughable that the entire American media would have the same opinion on Maduro. Our media standards are so low, that enemies of the US Empire are never given a fair break.
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The Guardian UK
"In August 2023, an executive at Israel Bonds – an organization that sells Israeli bonds to fund that nation’s government and buttress its military – emailed the Ohio state treasurer’s office a sales pitch: could the state of Ohio buy a batch of Israeli bonds for $5m? In less than 40 minutes, the treasurer’s office approved the purchase, bringing Ohio’s Israeli bond purchases to a total of $35m for that year.
The fast deal was made between parties that were on exceptionally friendly terms, according to a trove of emails and other records obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). And it was not the only matter being discussed with Israel Bonds. At the same time that the Ohio treasurer, Republican Robert Sprague, allocated millions in state funds to the bond purchases, he was also making arrangements with the bond seller’s business development team to join an exclusive guided trip to Israel, scheduled for later that year. ...
The more than 2,000 pages of emails and other records obtained by the ICIJ, largely through records requests, offer an unprecedented glimpse inside Israel Bonds’ extensive efforts to court public officials in the US while delivering highly personalized sales pitches in a stream of pro-Israel messaging. The documents show how some officials who buy these bonds have gained access to an often-glitzy world that includes gala dinners, cocktail celebrations and private meetings with top Israeli leaders and senior military officials – and how these dealings with Israel Bonds sometimes blurred the lines between private life and official business."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/25/us-officials-israel-bonds-ethics
-->How deeply the Israel Lobby is involved in our financial sector. And all these bribes make sure that US retirement funds are paying for the genocide in Gaza. No national coverage of this scam in our nation's media.
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The Guardian UK:
"Israeli airstrikes hit two schools and a hospital complex in Gaza on Sunday, killing at least 30 people, amid reports of heated disagreements between US and Israeli leaders about a possible ceasefire deal. Inside Israel, a Palestinian stabbed two people to death in a city near Tel Aviv, adding to tensions as the country braces for Iran’s response to the assassinations of key allies this week. ...
Israeli airstrikes on two schools in Gaza City killed at least 25 people sheltering there on Sunday, and another attack on the courtyard of al-Aqsa hospital killed at least five people and set the tents of displaced people on fire.
-->The steady genocide of the Palestinians goes on and on. The NYT doesn't even think it is newsworthy enough to report. So holocausts happen, especially when our nation's media is so closely controlled by the Military Industrial Complex.