Wednesday, October 18, 2017

Common Dreams:
"The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Wednesday filed a lawsuit to challenge a Kansas law that requires any company or individual who contracts with the state to sign a statement certifying that they are not actively engaged in boycotting Israel.

'This law is an unconstitutional attempt by the government to silence one side of a public debate by coercing people not to express their beliefs, including through participation in a political boycott,' said ACLU attorney Brian Hauss. The law took effect July 1, 2017. 'From the Boston Tea Party to the Montgomery bus boycott to the campaign to divest from businesses operating in apartheid South Africa, political boycotts have been a proud part of this country's constitutional tradition.'

The lawsuit could have sweeping consequences nationally. Kansas' law is similar not only to laws adopted by other states but also to the Israel Anti-Boycott Act that has been introduced in the U.S. House and Senate."

-->When it comes to Americans' freedom of speech, the NYT takes the side of the Israel Lobby. It didn't report this story.

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The Guardian UK:
"Over half of all police killings in 2015 were wrongly classified as not having been the result of interactions with officers, a new Harvard study based on Guardian data has found.

The finding is just the latest to show government databases seriously undercounting the number of people killed by police.

'Right now the data quality is bad and unacceptable,' said lead researcher Justin Feldman. 'To effectively address the problem of law enforcement-related deaths, the public needs better data about who is being killed, where, and under what circumstances.' "

-->Are the US Police hiding the number of murders being committed by them? The number of killings could easily be twice what is reported. The NYT wasn't interested in printing this story, and readers had to find it in the UK Guardian. 

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972 Magazine:
"Jewish students feel unsafe on campus? A new study says otherwise. In recent years numerous studies have created the impression that university campuses across the United States are a hotbed of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment. These studies describe Jewish student experiences on campus, painting an alarming portrait of a politically unsafe climate for Jewish students who are ill equipped to deal with these challenges. ...

A new study published by Stanford University Graduate School of Education contests these beliefs, arguing not only that campuses are a safe place for Jewish students, but also that students are alienated by the very nature of the debate on anti-Semitism and the Israel-Palestine conflict. This groundbreaking new qualitative study, called 'Safe and on the Sidelines,' is based on a 10-month study of Jewish students on five campuses across California. ...

Contrary to what we often hear about Jewish experience on campus, the report argues that 'students reported feeling comfortable on their campuses, and, more specifically, comfortable as Jews on their campuses.' ... In the study, less than 10 percent of respondents articulated the belief that anti-Israel sentiment is, by definition, anti-Semitism."

-->The NYT often conflates anti Israel sentiment on US campuses with anti-Semitism. Too bad our newspaper of record didn't report this new study.

Thursday, October 12, 2017

The NYT:
"After 78 Killings, a Honduran Drug Lord Partners With the U.S."

-->In a recent front page article, the NYT wonders how the violence got so bad in Honduras. In the long article, there is not one mention of the popularly elected reformer, President Zelaya, who had been overthrown by a military coup in 2009. Nor any mention of the US backed thugs who took over. In fact, there is no mention of the coup at all. Down the NYT memory hole, that always favors militarism and empire building.

For those interested in how the US brought down Zelaya, we would have to look at an outside publication. To the NYT, the story is all about drug lords and US efforts to arrest them. The real story of the US and Hillary Clinton's involvement with setting up a military dictatorship in Honduras has be read in Aljazeera.

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The Guardian UK:
"The US government has declared 'black identity extremists' a violent threat, according to a leaked report from the FBI’s counter-terrorism division.
The assessment, obtained by Foreign Policy, has raised fears about federal authorities racially profiling activists and aggressively prosecuting civil rights protesters. ...

The FBI’s dedicated surveillance of black activists follows a long history of the US government aggressively monitoring protest movements and working to disrupt civil rights groups, but the scrutiny of African Americans by a domestic terrorism unit was particularly alarming to some free speech campaigners.

'When we talk about enemies of the state and terrorists, with that comes an automatic stripping of those people’s rights to speak and protest,' said Mohammad Tajsar, staff attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. 'It marginalizes what are legitimate voices within the political debate that are calling for racial and economic justice.' ”

-->The mouthpiece of the FBI, our very own NYT, didn't print this story. 

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The Guardian UK:
"The speech by British Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn at last week’s annual party conference included an unequivocal declaration of solidarity with the Palestinians. 'Let’s give real support to end the oppression of the Palestinian people, the 50-year occupation and illegal settlement expansion and move to a genuine two-state solution,' he told delegates as they rose to their feet in applause. ...

In truth, Corbyn’s declaration of support for the Palestinian cause came as sections of his party’s establishment demonstrated once again that they are determined to subvert his leadership. And the issue they have selected as his Achilles’ heel relates directly to the debate about the Palestinians’ future. ... Given that they failed to be rid of Corbyn, sections of the party establishment have concentrated instead on wounding him, in the hope that the injury will eventually prove fatal.

The accusation that has gained most traction, gleefully repeated by a British media openly hostile to the Labour leader, is that, under Corbyn’s watch, anti-semitism has spread like wildfire through the party. On this view, Corbyn’s support for Palestinian rights has unleashed a dormant Jew hatred from the dark recesses of the British left."

-->This nasty story of how the charge of "anti-Semitism" is being used to wound and disable true progressives in the Labour Party wasn't covered in the NYT. Maybe that's because our newspaper of record ignores the same tactics being used in the Democratic Party here at home.

Wednesday, October 04, 2017

The Guardian:
"Nestlé pays $200 a year to bottle water near Flint – where water is undrinkable.
While Flint battles a water crisis, just two hours away the beverage giant pumps almost 100,000 times what an average Michigan resident uses ...

Despite having endured lead-laden tap water for years, Flint pays some of the highest water rates in the US. Several residents cited bills upwards of $200 per month for tap water they refuse to touch.

But just two hours away, in the tiny town of Evart, creeks lined by wildflowers run with clear water. The town is so small, the fairground, McDonald’s, high school and church are all within a block. But in a town of only 1,503 people, there are a dozen wells pumping water from the underground aquifer. This is where the beverage giant Nestlé pumps almost 100,000 times what an average Michigan resident uses into plastic bottles that are sold all over the midwest for around $1."

-->The neoliberal dream, where even the water is privatized by giant corporations. The NYT, neoliberal cheerleader for decades, didn't print this story.

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The Guardian UK:
"Shredding 'Failed Dogmas of Neoliberalism,' Corbyn Charts Bold New Vision for UK. ...

In a rousing speech at the Labour Party's annual conference in Brighton, England on Wednesday, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn took aim at the 'callous and calculating' austerity agenda of Prime Minister Theresa May, slammed the 'failed dogmas of neoliberalism' that produced the deadly Grenfell Tower fire, and argued that his party—bolstered by its ambitious 'for the many, not the few" manifesto—is now at the "threshold of power.'

'We are now the political mainstream,' Corbyn declared to a packed auditorium. 'Our manifesto and our policies are popular because that is what most people in our country actually want, not what they're told they should want.' "

-->Jeremy Corbyn, like Bernie Sanders, is rarely quoted in the pro corporate pages of the NYT. It prefers quotes from those like the Conservative Party's Philip Hammond: "We saw Labour in the raw, exposed for what it has sadly become: a party taken hostage by a clique of hard-left extremist infiltrators, people who despise Britain's values and talk down our country."

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The Guardian:
"The UN human rights commissioner, Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, has sent letters to an estimated 150 international and Israeli businesses warning them that they may be included in a UN database of companies involved with illegal Jewish settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories.

The letters have been sent as part of the legal verification and clarification process to give businesses identified as working in settlements the right of reply before the database is published in December.

Reports that the high commissioner’s office was pushing ahead with its work to publish the database by the end of this year, despite the strong opposition of the Trump administration and Israel, emerged in August."

-->No sign of this story in the NYT, the Israeli Lobby's newspaper of record when it comes to whitewashing the occupation of Palestine.

Thursday, September 28, 2017

The Guardian:
"A UN report into the death of its former secretary general Dag Hammarskjöld in a 1961 plane crash in central Africa has found that there is a 'significant amount of evidence' that his flight was brought down by another aircraft.

The report, delivered to the current secretary general, António Guterres, last month, took into account previously undisclosed information provided by the US, UK, Belgian, Canadian and German governments. ...

The Tanzanian judge [Othman] said that the most relevant pieces of information were radio intercepts and called for countries likely to have relevant information, such as the UK and US, to appoint an 'independent and high-ranking official” to comb the archives.' "

-->Of course, the UN's first secretary general was murdered, and the US and UK covered up the assassination. The NYT avoided covering this story; it makes the empire look too bad. 

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Common Dreams:
"MSNBC Panel Trolls Sanders With 'Scurrilous, Illogical' Assault on Medicare for All. Pundits are slamming the Vermont senator for helping GOP's Obamacare repeal efforts, when he is actually doing the opposite

When Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced his Medicare for All legislation last week, he anticipated a massive right-wing reaction—on cue, he got it. But it is ostensibly liberal networks, like MSNBC, that have in recent days launched some of the most aggressive—and in the eyes of critics, absurd—attacks on both Sanders' bill and his decision to debate Sens. Lindsey Graham ...

'Morning Joe' hosts and panelists charged that Sanders is 'stealing the spotlight' and giving Republicans 'an absolute gift' by pitting Medicare for All against the Graham-Cassidy repeal bill, which has been described by analysts as the most extreme iteration of Trumpcare yet. Ultimately, the panel came to the unanimous conclusion that the debate is 'politically stupid,' that Medicare for All discussions should come 'later,' and that Democrats should focus solely on pitting the GOP repeal bill against Obamacare—not more ambitious alternatives."

-->The supposedly liberal media like MSNBC often runs propaganda for the corporate controlled Democratic Party, which is so addicted to funds from the insurance industry that universal healthcare always comes later.

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Aljazeera:
"A new UN report has strongly condemned Israel for the 'de-development' and 'deteriorating humanitarian conditions' of the Palestinian territories of East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, brought about by Israel's 50-year occupation.

The report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), published on Tuesday, said the performance of the Palestinian economy is 'far below potential', while unemployment has persisted at levels rarely seen worldwide since the Great Depression. 

'2017 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Israeli occupation of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem; the longest occupation in recent history. For the Palestinian people, these were five decades of de-development, suppressed human potential and denial of the basic human right to development, with no end in sight,' the report states."

-->The NYT often omits articles critical of Israel's treatment of the Palestinians.  At times our supposed newspaper of record is little more than Zionist propaganda. It didn't cover this story.

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Common Dreams:
"While the world's richest stash trillions away for themselves, outlandish levels of inequality are increasing the suffering of the poor and hamstringing the global community's ability to address humanity's most pressing concerns.
'We are witnessing some of the greatest challenges the world has ever seen, without the global commitment to deliver change.' —Saad Alfarargi, U.N. Human Rights Council

That is the picture painted when pairing new research that shows an estimated $8 trillion—or more than 10 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP)—was stashed in offshore tax havens as of 2015 with a new report by a UN human rights expert that warns impoverished people are 'paying a heavy price' for what he calls 'negative global trends,' including climate change, financial schemes, and privatization programs that 'have their harshest impacts on the poorest sections of society.' "

-->NYT news is written for the class that stashes millions in offshore tax havens. It didn't cover this story of unbridled greed.

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The Guardian UK:
"Chelsea Manning has accused Harvard University of caving into pressure from the CIA in reversing its invitation to her to become a visiting fellow, in what the former US soldier and whistleblower described as a 'police state'.

In her first spoken comments on the Harvard debacle, Manning told a conference on Sunday that the university’s abrupt U-turn over the invitation, made in the face of fierce criticism from senior figures in the CIA, marked the end of free political debate in academic institutions.

'So this is one of the American government institutions [the CIA] telling one of the American academic institutions [Harvard], no, you cannot bring this to your school,' she said. 'And that’s what that was. This is a police state. This is a military intelligence and it is a police state in which we can no longer engage in actual political discourse in our institutions.' ”

-->The NYT didn't let Chelsea's words get in the way of pro CIA/Harvard reporting. It printed an op-ed entitled: "When Transgender Trumps Treachery." Another article featured a Kennedy School professor saying that Harvard had "struck the right balance." His liberal credentials? He had "supported Hillary Clinton in the last election."

Thursday, September 14, 2017

The NYT:
"A Search for Reason in Nature's Chaos" is a headline in this Saturday's edition, along with a number of dramatic pictures of hurricane damage and massive wildfires in the Northwest. 

But rather than trying to find any reason, our newspaper gives us encouraging words: "Spates of Hurricanes, even major ones, are common in late summer" and "Wildfires have been happening out West for millenniums." The NYT grudgingly admits that some of it may have to do with climate change, although there is no mention of fossil fuels. 

The rest of the seven column article is about how futile it is to find meaning in catastrophes. End Times religions are rolled out, as are quotes from religious teachers and professors. Anything but admit that the oil and gas industries are wrecking the planet. Nothing but corporate propaganda in this time of climate crisis.

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Common Dreams:
"As Texas and Louisiana cope with the destruction wrought by Hurricane Harvey and as Hurricane Irma continues to ravage Caribbean islands on its way to the United States, many are asking a pertinent question: Who should pay for the damage?

According to a 'landmark' study published in the journal Climatic Change on Thursday, the answer is clear: Big Oil. 'We know that the costs of both hurricanes will be enormous and that climate change will have made them far larger than they would have been otherwise,' write Peter Frumhoff and Myles Allen, two of the study's co-authors, in a piece for the Guardian.

The research also shows, they note, that massive oil companies have disproportionately contributed to rising sea levels and soaring levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide while deceiving the public about the costs of their business practices."

-->The NYT, still searching for an End Times reasons for climate change, didn't print this article.

Thursday, September 07, 2017

Mondoweiss:
"The veterans association of the USS Liberty, the intelligence ship attacked by Israel during the 1967 war, issued a press release this week reporting that the American Legion, 'the nation’s largest wartime veterans service organization,' approved a resolution at its convention last week calling on Congress to investigate the June 8 attack, which killed 34 sailors and injured scores more. ...

He credited the shift to a general change in American attitudes toward Israel for 'a whole bunch of different little reasons,' including the growth of Jewish groups that question Zionism and the 50th anniversary of the occupation, to the rising awareness among Americans about Palestinian conditions, making it difficult to suppress the truth. ...

Gallo said that Legion leadership has long opposed an investigation because it doesn’t want to rock the boat of US Israel friendship, even if that means overlooking the deaths of 34 Americans." http://mondoweiss.net/2017/08/american-congress-investigate/

-- >The US media has long hidden the murders of 34 American sailers aboard the USS Libery in 1967. It is an astounding suppression that symbolizes the control of US media by the Israel Lobby.

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Common Dreams:
"The New York Times came under fire on Wednesday for running what critics characterized as 'uncontested propaganda' in the form of an op-ed by notorious war profiteer and Blackwater founder Erik Prince.

As in his other prominent op-eds that ran recently in the Wall Street Journal and USA Today, Prince—the brother of Education Secretary Betsy DeVos—pitched his plan to largely privatize the 16-year war in Afghanistan. Many have denounced this for-profit scheme—which would place the war in the hands of an American 'viceroy' and private mercenaries—as tantamount to 'colonialism.'

On Wednesday, though, commentators began directing their ire at the outlet that 'uncritically' provided a platform for Prince's 'advertorial.' 'Why is the New York Times op-ed page publishing Erik Prince's sales pitch for more mercenaries?' asked The New Republic's Sarah Jones." https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/08/30/new-york-times-slammed-running-advertorial-notorious-war-profiteer

-- >The NYT is pitching the neoliberal privatization of even the US military. Have they no shame?

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The Guardian UK:
Rouhanicare: Iranian president's unsung domestic success. Healthcare plan has given coverage to millions previous unable to afford a doctor. ...

In the course of the past three years, Rouhani’s health ministry has insured nearly 11 million Iranians, meaning that those who were not previously covered, like the unemployed or the poor, are now protected. ...

'We have taken big steps to protect the social welfare of those with lower incomes and the nationwide healthcare plan’s implementation means all Iranians are now covered by medical insurance,' Rouhani said in his inauguration ceremony last month." 

-- >No NYT coverage of this story. Perhaps it's too shameful for the empire's newspaper to admit that Third World countries can do what we can't, give its citizens universal healthcare.

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