Democracy Now:
"NERMEEN SHAIKH We begin today’s show looking at the war in Ukraine. On Wednesday, a Russian missile hit an outdoor market in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, killing 17 and injuring 32. It was one of the deadliest attacks in Ukraine in months. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the, quote, 'utter inhumanity' of the attack."
https://www.democracynow.org/2023/9/7/hanna_perekhoda_ilya_budraitskis_ukraine_russia
-->Unfortunately, Democracy Now's look at the war in Ukraine, was one of the most distorted I have listened to in recent weeks. Amy refers to her two guests as "activists," but activists for what? Both did nothing more than spout arguments for further US militarism in Ukraine. There was no peace guest, nor anyone even encouraging negotiations. It was like listening to our mainstream media, always cheering on more weapons and billions for a war that could bring down the human race.
There must be great pressure on Democracy Now to toe the line when it comes to this war. Reading between the lines, we can see the intense need of the Pentagon to sell its latest imperialistic gamble. One might wish for our children and grandchildren that our media would take the side of nuclear sanity. But we have to assume that the inner Washington elite has already decided to risk everything on "winning" in Ukraine. We were lucky once, when JFK stood up to the warmongers in his own party. But chances are we won't be so lucky this time around.
I feel sorry for Amy and Nermeen. They must know exactly how this propaganda is forced upon them. But they are merely two people. The nuclear armageddon will engulf us all.
=====
Common Dreams:
"With Funds Opposed by GOP, IRS to Target Ultrawealthy Tax Delinquents. 'This news stands in stark contrast to the approach taken by House Republicans, who want to allow wealthy tax cheats to continue business as usual,' said U.S. Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden.
The U.S. Internal Revenue Service on Friday won praise from congressional Democrats and progressive groups for announcing "a sweeping, historic effort to restore fairness in tax compliance by shifting more attention onto high-income earners, partnerships, large corporations, and promoters abusing the nation's tax laws.
The IRS effort is enabled by some of the $80 billion in funding for the agency included in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which President Joe Biden signed into law last year. About a quarter of that money is set to be clawed back as part of his recent deal with congressional Republicans to temporarily suspend the nation's debt limit."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/irs-targeting-rich-tax-cheats
-->This is a big win for left. At last the billionaire cheaters will have to pay a little more (or maybe a lot more). It is a step away from government by the very richest. It is puzzling that most of the US media did not cover this story. Perhaps it's because so many rich media owners are in mourning.
=====
The Intercept:
"Last week, Intercept journalists Ryan Grim and Murtaza Hussain published a bombshell investigation into Pakistan’s political crisis. Grim and Hussain were provided a Pakistani intelligence document by an anonymous source, outlining how the U.S. government pressured the Pakistani government to oust former Prime Minister Imran Khan. This week on Deconstructed, Grim and Hussain discuss their reporting, the leaked cable, and the fallout from the political crisis in Pakistan.
In the past year, widespread demonstrations have rocked Pakistan, as supporters of former Prime Minister Imran Khan continue to rally in his support. Last year, Khan was ousted after a no-confidence vote in the Pakistani parliament. As people have taken to the streets in support of Khan, the military has engaged in widespread repression, leading to what many are calling the most serious political crisis in Pakistani history. Khan and his supporters have said that the U.S. State Department supported and even encouraged his ousting last year.
Khan has been pointing to a secret Pakistani intelligence document as proof of the U.S.’ role in the crisis. No one had access to it, until now. Ryan and I were provided the document by an anonymous source in the Pakistani military, who said that they had no ties to Imran Khan or Khan’s party."
https://theintercept.com/2023/08/18/deconstructed-leaked-pakistan-cable/
-->Few in the US media dared cover this story. It exposes a CIA attempt to overthrow a popular leader in the Third World. So what's the big story; the CIA has been doing that since the end World War II, and in so many countries. Maybe it is just the shame of it all that made the NYT hide this news.
Wednesday, September 27, 2023
Common Dreams:
"Manufacturing (and Massaging) Consent at the New York Times. The editors from the 'paper of record' write as if from a parallel universe in which the United States has had nothing to do with provoking and sustaining the conflict in Ukraine. ...
Evidently, any input that might undermine 'support' (which the editors go on to specify should be understood as 'full support against Russia’s unprovoked invasion') is supposed to be excluded. So, what is allowed in this debate, according to the Times editorial board? First and foremost, an admission that Ukraine is lagging on the battlefield, that polls reveal diminishing support for further U.S. investment in a losing fight, and that how to end the war has become a hot topic prompting 'sometimes nasty' discussion. Or, to put it more bluntly than the Times ever would, measures must be taken lest the public grow disenchanted with the dollar drain required to pay for endless bloodshed, particularly given the obvious failure of Ukraine’s much-hyped counter-offensive. ...
In this universe, the U.S. is not a 'decider' but only a kindly upholder of Ukrainian agency, despite having sabotaged a draft peace agreement that might have ended the war in March-April 2022 with a Russian withdrawal in exchange for a pledge of Ukrainian neutrality; despite having either perpetrated or colluded in the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines; despite having pressured an ill-prepared and reluctant Ukraine to begin its disastrous counter-offensive; and despite being the major funder of this conflict, to the profit of our military-industrial overlords."
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/new-york-times-editorial-ukraine-war
-->It is hard to have much respect for the "Gray Lady" anymore. The Ukraine war has revealed just how closely the NYT follows the Pentagon's talking points. The newspaper is little more than a propaganda instrument for the military-industrial complex.
=====
Information Clearing House:
"According to the U.S. government and the ever-obsequious New York Times, the Ukraine war was 'unprovoked,' the Times’ favorite adjective to describe the war. Putin, allegedly mistaking himself for Peter the Great, invaded Ukraine to recreate the Russian Empire. Yet last week, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg committed a Washington gaffe, meaning that he accidentally blurted out the truth.
In testimony to the European Union Parliament, Stoltenberg made clear that it was America’s relentless push to enlarge NATO to Ukraine that was the real cause of the war and why it continues today. Here are Stoltenberg’s revealing words:
'The background was that President Putin declared in the autumn of 2021, and actually sent a draft treaty that they wanted NATO to sign, to promise no more NATO enlargement. That was what he sent us. And was a pre-condition to not invade Ukraine. Of course, we didn’t sign that.' "
https://informationclearinghouse.blog/2023/09/20/nato-chief-admits-nato-expansion-was-key-to-russian-invasion-of-ukraine/
-->How much longer can the administration, and it propaganda arm, The NYT, pretend that Putin provoked this war? Here you have the NATO Secretary-General admitting that the war is all about NATO expansion. Of course, the NYT didn't print this story.
=====
Jacobin:
"Some Democrats Are Trying to Preemptively Outlaw a Billionaire Tax. Sensing its popularity, Obama’s former Supreme Court lawyer and a Louisiana Democrat are using an obscure corporate taxation case to try to make a federal wealth tax illegal before it even exists. ...
Listed on the Katyal-authored amicus brief alongside SAFE is the group’s senior adviser, former Louisiana Democratic senator John Breaux, who also lobbies for ExxonMobil, Norfolk Southern, and Boeing — corporations whose top executives could have a financial interest in the outcome of the case. Breaux also lobbies for billionaire financial magnate and Democratic megadonor James Simons. ...
Breaux, who served in Congress from 1972 to 2005, was a member of the New Democrat Coalition that had backed Bill Clinton’s neoliberal agenda. After leaving Congress, he became a corporate lobbyist — as many corporate Democrats do."
https://jacobin.com/2023/09/wealth-tax-supreme-court-katyal-safe?mc_cid=40bf85b6bd&mc_eid=487355f8cb
-->Are the Democrats in bed with the Billionaires as much as the Republicans are? No, the Republicans are worse. But many powerful Democrats also serve the interests of the filthy rich. The two party, one oligarchy political system.
"Manufacturing (and Massaging) Consent at the New York Times. The editors from the 'paper of record' write as if from a parallel universe in which the United States has had nothing to do with provoking and sustaining the conflict in Ukraine. ...
Evidently, any input that might undermine 'support' (which the editors go on to specify should be understood as 'full support against Russia’s unprovoked invasion') is supposed to be excluded. So, what is allowed in this debate, according to the Times editorial board? First and foremost, an admission that Ukraine is lagging on the battlefield, that polls reveal diminishing support for further U.S. investment in a losing fight, and that how to end the war has become a hot topic prompting 'sometimes nasty' discussion. Or, to put it more bluntly than the Times ever would, measures must be taken lest the public grow disenchanted with the dollar drain required to pay for endless bloodshed, particularly given the obvious failure of Ukraine’s much-hyped counter-offensive. ...
In this universe, the U.S. is not a 'decider' but only a kindly upholder of Ukrainian agency, despite having sabotaged a draft peace agreement that might have ended the war in March-April 2022 with a Russian withdrawal in exchange for a pledge of Ukrainian neutrality; despite having either perpetrated or colluded in the destruction of the Nord Stream pipelines; despite having pressured an ill-prepared and reluctant Ukraine to begin its disastrous counter-offensive; and despite being the major funder of this conflict, to the profit of our military-industrial overlords."
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/new-york-times-editorial-ukraine-war
-->It is hard to have much respect for the "Gray Lady" anymore. The Ukraine war has revealed just how closely the NYT follows the Pentagon's talking points. The newspaper is little more than a propaganda instrument for the military-industrial complex.
=====
Information Clearing House:
"According to the U.S. government and the ever-obsequious New York Times, the Ukraine war was 'unprovoked,' the Times’ favorite adjective to describe the war. Putin, allegedly mistaking himself for Peter the Great, invaded Ukraine to recreate the Russian Empire. Yet last week, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg committed a Washington gaffe, meaning that he accidentally blurted out the truth.
In testimony to the European Union Parliament, Stoltenberg made clear that it was America’s relentless push to enlarge NATO to Ukraine that was the real cause of the war and why it continues today. Here are Stoltenberg’s revealing words:
'The background was that President Putin declared in the autumn of 2021, and actually sent a draft treaty that they wanted NATO to sign, to promise no more NATO enlargement. That was what he sent us. And was a pre-condition to not invade Ukraine. Of course, we didn’t sign that.' "
https://informationclearinghouse.blog/2023/09/20/nato-chief-admits-nato-expansion-was-key-to-russian-invasion-of-ukraine/
-->How much longer can the administration, and it propaganda arm, The NYT, pretend that Putin provoked this war? Here you have the NATO Secretary-General admitting that the war is all about NATO expansion. Of course, the NYT didn't print this story.
=====
Jacobin:
"Some Democrats Are Trying to Preemptively Outlaw a Billionaire Tax. Sensing its popularity, Obama’s former Supreme Court lawyer and a Louisiana Democrat are using an obscure corporate taxation case to try to make a federal wealth tax illegal before it even exists. ...
Listed on the Katyal-authored amicus brief alongside SAFE is the group’s senior adviser, former Louisiana Democratic senator John Breaux, who also lobbies for ExxonMobil, Norfolk Southern, and Boeing — corporations whose top executives could have a financial interest in the outcome of the case. Breaux also lobbies for billionaire financial magnate and Democratic megadonor James Simons. ...
Breaux, who served in Congress from 1972 to 2005, was a member of the New Democrat Coalition that had backed Bill Clinton’s neoliberal agenda. After leaving Congress, he became a corporate lobbyist — as many corporate Democrats do."
https://jacobin.com/2023/09/wealth-tax-supreme-court-katyal-safe?mc_cid=40bf85b6bd&mc_eid=487355f8cb
-->Are the Democrats in bed with the Billionaires as much as the Republicans are? No, the Republicans are worse. But many powerful Democrats also serve the interests of the filthy rich. The two party, one oligarchy political system.
Wednesday, September 06, 2023
The New York Times:
"Decades After Dictatorship, Chile Mounts Search for Hundreds Who Vanished. President Gabriel Boric authorized a new national search plan ahead of the 50th anniversary of the coup that toppled the government and led to the disappearance and killing of thousands."
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/30/world/americas/chile-military-coup-disappeared-search.html?searchResultPosition=2
-->Well, it was more than thousands killed. It was more like tens of thousands. But that is a mild omission compared to the rest the the NYT article. What was omitted? Well, the fact that the coup was planned and paid for by the CIA. In fact, Kissinger and Nixon spent millions trying to bankrupt Chile its new president, Salvador Alleinde. Worst than that, the US assassinated a Chilean general who supported the president. And as the murders went on, the US press covered it all up, 17 years of brutal dictatorship.
Now I can see covering up the coup. The US likes to preach democracy, of course, but seldom follows its own propaganda. But 17 years covering up Pinochet's crimes? Even praising the military regime? Does US propaganda have no end?
Apparently not, since an article in our sorry "newspaper of record" can't even mention this US involvement in overthrowing the elected president of Chile, destroying its democratic traditions, and hiding its murders of up to 30,000 civilians. Read the NYT article again, so you can get a sense of how our media covers up US war crimes in the rest of the world. And I hope you escaped Scott Simon on NPR this weekend. His bloviating about Chile was particularly revolting, given the fact that he completely omitted any US involvement in the war crimes.
=====
Common Dreams:
"The Biden administration will, for the first time, send controversial armor-piercing munitions containing depleted uranium to Ukraine, according to Reuters. The munition can be fired from US Abrams tanks, which are expected to arrive in Ukraine in the coming weeks. ...
"Decades After Dictatorship, Chile Mounts Search for Hundreds Who Vanished. President Gabriel Boric authorized a new national search plan ahead of the 50th anniversary of the coup that toppled the government and led to the disappearance and killing of thousands."
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/30/world/americas/chile-military-coup-disappeared-search.html?searchResultPosition=2
-->Well, it was more than thousands killed. It was more like tens of thousands. But that is a mild omission compared to the rest the the NYT article. What was omitted? Well, the fact that the coup was planned and paid for by the CIA. In fact, Kissinger and Nixon spent millions trying to bankrupt Chile its new president, Salvador Alleinde. Worst than that, the US assassinated a Chilean general who supported the president. And as the murders went on, the US press covered it all up, 17 years of brutal dictatorship.
Now I can see covering up the coup. The US likes to preach democracy, of course, but seldom follows its own propaganda. But 17 years covering up Pinochet's crimes? Even praising the military regime? Does US propaganda have no end?
Apparently not, since an article in our sorry "newspaper of record" can't even mention this US involvement in overthrowing the elected president of Chile, destroying its democratic traditions, and hiding its murders of up to 30,000 civilians. Read the NYT article again, so you can get a sense of how our media covers up US war crimes in the rest of the world. And I hope you escaped Scott Simon on NPR this weekend. His bloviating about Chile was particularly revolting, given the fact that he completely omitted any US involvement in the war crimes.
=====
Common Dreams:
"The Biden administration will, for the first time, send controversial armor-piercing munitions containing depleted uranium to Ukraine, according to Reuters. The munition can be fired from US Abrams tanks, which are expected to arrive in Ukraine in the coming weeks. ...
This follows an earlier decision by the Biden administration to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine despite concerns over the dangers such weapons pose to civilians. If the US deploys depleted uranium shells to Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened to retaliate with DU rounds—which are linked to birth defects, miscarriages, and cancer...
The use of depleted uranium munitions has been fiercely debated, with opponents like the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons saying there are dangerous health risks from ingesting or inhaling depleted uranium dust, including cancers and birth defects."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/us-to-begin-sending-controversial-depleted-uranium-shells-to-ukraine
-->The NYT covers Ukraine endlessly. But no mention of this dangerous US escalation. The Pentagon calls the shots when it comes to the NYT reporting on our endless wars.
=====
FAIR:
"When wildfires tore across Maui on August 9, devastating the Hawaiian island gem, media covered the disaster extensively. Broadcast news featured dramatic photographs that showed the horrors of the island’s destruction, with online videos shared everywhere from the Weather Channel to Inside Edition. Reporting carried testimonial descriptions like 'war zone' and 'apocalyptic.'...
Most of the corporate press focused on the island’s sensational visual destruction, official responses, body counts and destroyed structures. Meanwhile, news reports largely confused or denied the climate crisis’s contribution to the fire, and ignored the connections between fossil fuel use, increased CO2 levels and planetary heating. ...
More, the Times asserted 'It’s difficult to directly attribute any single hurricane to climate change'—as though there are some weather events that are affected by the climate, and others that are not. This is the discredited language of climate denial and doubt, pushed for decades by Exxon and other mega-fossil fuel corporations. Why include it, when the next sentence acknowledges that bigger storms result from increasing temperatures?"
https://fair.org/home/maui-fire-coverage-ignored-fossil-fuel-responsibility/
-->The nation's media have simply learned to stop worrying and love fossil fuels as well as global warming.
Wednesday, August 30, 2023
The Jacobin:
"Everyone from the virulently antisemitic Republican Rudy Giuliani, to independent Michael Bloomberg and Democrat Bill de Blasio have traveled to Israel during their tenures as mayor. Given New York’s large Jewish population, the incessant work of the Israel lobby to tie together Jewish identity and the Zionist project, and the massive investments of the Zionist lobby in election campaigns and lobbying, taking any position other than salivating support for Israel could be a career-ending move.
In 2022 alone, the Israel lobby spent nearly $44 million nationally in political contributions, the majority of which went to Democratic Party candidates. In fact, according to OpenSecrets, a majority of national pro-Israel money has gone to Democratic Party candidates in every single presidential election or midterm since 1990, the year the site’s tracking begins. Recently, the Israel lobby has invested millions in Democratic congressional primaries to defeat progressives critical of the status quo in Israel, from successfully defeating Ohio’s Nina Turner to nearly defeating Summer Lee in Pennsylvania. ...
The Israel lobby’s influence on New York politics and politicians is like its national influence but on steroids. Brooklyn-based representative Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House minority leader and likely future speaker of the House, once described Jerusalem as 'the sixth borough,' which makes sense when you consider that the number-one donor to his 2022 reelection campaign was the PAC Pro-Israel America."
https://jacobin.com/2023/08/eric-adams-democratic-party-israel-lobby-new-york-idf-nypd/
-->The NYT covered Mayor Adams' trip to Israel in the usual way, shallow homage with a hint of skepticism. Here is a quote that says it all:
"Mr. Adams may have been thousands of miles away from home, but was still very much himself: high energy, highly quotable, spiritual, ideologically to the right of many Democrats in his party, wary of the press, fond of police drone demonstrations and foremost a foodie."
=====
Guardian UK:
"Two more US Department of State documents relating to Augusto Pinochet’s coup d’état in Chile have been declassified, revealing how President Richard Nixon was briefed on the impending military takeover. ...
During his bloody rule, 40,175 people were recorded as victims of executions, torture or political imprisonment, or were 'disappeared'. ...
A US state department press release said on Friday that the declassification of the president’s daily briefings 'demonstrates our enduring commitment to the US-Chile partnership and is consistent with our joint efforts to promote democracy and human rights in our own countries and around the world'.
As neither daily briefing poses any obvious threat to US national security, it is unclear why they were kept classified almost entirely for nearly 50 years."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/26/state-department-declassifies-pinochet-coup-documents-chile
-->It is also unclear why the NYT would just ignore this story. In fact, most of the US media refused to cover this release of information. Could it be that the US was complicit in the coup, and that the empire's newspapers almost always fall into line?
=====
Common Dreams:
"Researchers in Pennsylvania published a series of studies late Tuesday showing that children who live near fracking operations are roughly five to seven times more likely to develop lymphoma than kids whose homes are at least five miles away from drilling sites.
Released by the University of Pittsburgh and the Pennsylvania Department of Health, the studies also found a 'strong link' between fracked gas development and 'severe exacerbations, emergency department visits, and hospitalizations for asthma in people living within 10 miles of one or more wells' producing gas.
While the studies weren't designed to establish a causal connection between fracking and cancer or asthma, they add to the large and growing body of literature indicating that oil and gas operations pose a significant threat to public health."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/fracking-cancer
-->The NYT has always loved expensive energy sources, especially when those companies are backed by Wall Street money. The dangers of nuclear energy or fracking get little or no coverage, no matter how many children get sacrificed. Our major newspaper didn't cover this story.
"Everyone from the virulently antisemitic Republican Rudy Giuliani, to independent Michael Bloomberg and Democrat Bill de Blasio have traveled to Israel during their tenures as mayor. Given New York’s large Jewish population, the incessant work of the Israel lobby to tie together Jewish identity and the Zionist project, and the massive investments of the Zionist lobby in election campaigns and lobbying, taking any position other than salivating support for Israel could be a career-ending move.
In 2022 alone, the Israel lobby spent nearly $44 million nationally in political contributions, the majority of which went to Democratic Party candidates. In fact, according to OpenSecrets, a majority of national pro-Israel money has gone to Democratic Party candidates in every single presidential election or midterm since 1990, the year the site’s tracking begins. Recently, the Israel lobby has invested millions in Democratic congressional primaries to defeat progressives critical of the status quo in Israel, from successfully defeating Ohio’s Nina Turner to nearly defeating Summer Lee in Pennsylvania. ...
The Israel lobby’s influence on New York politics and politicians is like its national influence but on steroids. Brooklyn-based representative Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic House minority leader and likely future speaker of the House, once described Jerusalem as 'the sixth borough,' which makes sense when you consider that the number-one donor to his 2022 reelection campaign was the PAC Pro-Israel America."
https://jacobin.com/2023/08/eric-adams-democratic-party-israel-lobby-new-york-idf-nypd/
-->The NYT covered Mayor Adams' trip to Israel in the usual way, shallow homage with a hint of skepticism. Here is a quote that says it all:
"Mr. Adams may have been thousands of miles away from home, but was still very much himself: high energy, highly quotable, spiritual, ideologically to the right of many Democrats in his party, wary of the press, fond of police drone demonstrations and foremost a foodie."
=====
Guardian UK:
"Two more US Department of State documents relating to Augusto Pinochet’s coup d’état in Chile have been declassified, revealing how President Richard Nixon was briefed on the impending military takeover. ...
During his bloody rule, 40,175 people were recorded as victims of executions, torture or political imprisonment, or were 'disappeared'. ...
A US state department press release said on Friday that the declassification of the president’s daily briefings 'demonstrates our enduring commitment to the US-Chile partnership and is consistent with our joint efforts to promote democracy and human rights in our own countries and around the world'.
As neither daily briefing poses any obvious threat to US national security, it is unclear why they were kept classified almost entirely for nearly 50 years."
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/aug/26/state-department-declassifies-pinochet-coup-documents-chile
-->It is also unclear why the NYT would just ignore this story. In fact, most of the US media refused to cover this release of information. Could it be that the US was complicit in the coup, and that the empire's newspapers almost always fall into line?
=====
Common Dreams:
"Researchers in Pennsylvania published a series of studies late Tuesday showing that children who live near fracking operations are roughly five to seven times more likely to develop lymphoma than kids whose homes are at least five miles away from drilling sites.
Released by the University of Pittsburgh and the Pennsylvania Department of Health, the studies also found a 'strong link' between fracked gas development and 'severe exacerbations, emergency department visits, and hospitalizations for asthma in people living within 10 miles of one or more wells' producing gas.
While the studies weren't designed to establish a causal connection between fracking and cancer or asthma, they add to the large and growing body of literature indicating that oil and gas operations pose a significant threat to public health."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/fracking-cancer
-->The NYT has always loved expensive energy sources, especially when those companies are backed by Wall Street money. The dangers of nuclear energy or fracking get little or no coverage, no matter how many children get sacrificed. Our major newspaper didn't cover this story.
Wednesday, August 09, 2023
Geopolitical Economy:
"The new president of Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Traoré, has vowed to fight imperialism and neocolonialism, invoking his country’s past revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara and quoting Che Guevara. The West African nation has also formed close diplomatic ties with the revolutionary governments in Nicaragua, Venezuela, Cuba, and Iran, as well as with NATO’s arch-rival Russia.
In January 2022, a group of nationalist military officers in Burkina Faso toppled the president, Roch Kaboré, a wealthy banker who had fostered close ties with the country’s former colonizer, France, where he was educated.
The military officers declared a government run by what they call the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration (MPSR), led by a new president, Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba. They pledged to seek true independence from French hegemony, condemning the neocolonial policies and economic, political, and military control that Paris still exercises over Francophone West Africa."
https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/07/30/burkina-faso-ibrahim-traore-sankara-imperialism/
-->To the NYT, all this anti-imperialist militancy is nothing more than "Another Coup As Usual," which is the title of its recent article on the crisis in Niger. Although the NYT admits that "Thousands of American and French troops are stationed in Niger," the newspaper never makes the connection between foreign troops and the will of the people to control their own countries.
=====
Jacobin:
"Barack Obama Is a Climate Hypocrite. In refusing to acknowledge his past climate denial and promotion of oil interests, Obama is relying on liberals forgetting his actual environmental record. Worse, he’s telling other Democratic leaders that lip service can stand in for action. ...
Against this backdrop, former president Barack Obama and his top White House strategist David Axelrod have been publicly lamenting climate inaction and warning of the imperative to fight climate change — pretending that they are powerless bystanders who played no part in creating the escalating crisis.
In fact, the opposite is true: when they were in a position to limit future damage from climate change, they chose not to prioritize climate policy and instead expanded fossil fuel production — all while Obama and Democrats were rewarded with a gusher of campaign cash from the oil and gas industry."
https://jacobin.com/2023/08/barack-obama-david-axelrod-fossil-fuel-industry-climate-change-greenwashing-hypocrisy?mc_cid=0af751e0f1&mc_eid=487355f8cb
-->The NYT doesn't do hypocrisy when it comes to Barack Obama. Our newspaper of record will always value slick words over climate action. And most liberals will take the bait, hook, line and sinker.
=====
Common Dreams:
"Entire House Democratic Leadership Backs Anti-Choice Cuellar in 2024 Run. With well over a year before the 2024 election, and as a pro-choice immigration rights attorney is reportedly weighing a primary run, all four of the top Democratic leaders in the U.S. House on Thursday announced their support for anti-abortion rights Rep. Henry Cuellar in his reelection bid.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Pete Aguilar (Calif.), Minority Whip Rep. Katherine Clark (Mass.), and Assistant Democratic Leader Rep. James Clyburn (S.C.) all announced their endorsements of the right-wing Democrat, who has represented Texas' 28th district since 2005.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (Md.) also voiced their support for Cuellar, who in addition to being the only anti-abortion rights Democrat in the House, has an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association indicating his anti-gun control views."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/democratic-leaders-back-cuellar
-->This story certainly shows the disinterest of the Democratic Party leadership in a woman's right to choose. No wonder abortion rights has taken such a beating. Like so many issues, it has been sacrificed to corporate interests. No mention of the sellout in the NYT.
"The new president of Burkina Faso, Ibrahim Traoré, has vowed to fight imperialism and neocolonialism, invoking his country’s past revolutionary leader Thomas Sankara and quoting Che Guevara. The West African nation has also formed close diplomatic ties with the revolutionary governments in Nicaragua, Venezuela, Cuba, and Iran, as well as with NATO’s arch-rival Russia.
In January 2022, a group of nationalist military officers in Burkina Faso toppled the president, Roch Kaboré, a wealthy banker who had fostered close ties with the country’s former colonizer, France, where he was educated.
The military officers declared a government run by what they call the Patriotic Movement for Safeguard and Restoration (MPSR), led by a new president, Paul-Henri Sandaogo Damiba. They pledged to seek true independence from French hegemony, condemning the neocolonial policies and economic, political, and military control that Paris still exercises over Francophone West Africa."
https://geopoliticaleconomy.com/2023/07/30/burkina-faso-ibrahim-traore-sankara-imperialism/
-->To the NYT, all this anti-imperialist militancy is nothing more than "Another Coup As Usual," which is the title of its recent article on the crisis in Niger. Although the NYT admits that "Thousands of American and French troops are stationed in Niger," the newspaper never makes the connection between foreign troops and the will of the people to control their own countries.
=====
Jacobin:
"Barack Obama Is a Climate Hypocrite. In refusing to acknowledge his past climate denial and promotion of oil interests, Obama is relying on liberals forgetting his actual environmental record. Worse, he’s telling other Democratic leaders that lip service can stand in for action. ...
Against this backdrop, former president Barack Obama and his top White House strategist David Axelrod have been publicly lamenting climate inaction and warning of the imperative to fight climate change — pretending that they are powerless bystanders who played no part in creating the escalating crisis.
In fact, the opposite is true: when they were in a position to limit future damage from climate change, they chose not to prioritize climate policy and instead expanded fossil fuel production — all while Obama and Democrats were rewarded with a gusher of campaign cash from the oil and gas industry."
https://jacobin.com/2023/08/barack-obama-david-axelrod-fossil-fuel-industry-climate-change-greenwashing-hypocrisy?mc_cid=0af751e0f1&mc_eid=487355f8cb
-->The NYT doesn't do hypocrisy when it comes to Barack Obama. Our newspaper of record will always value slick words over climate action. And most liberals will take the bait, hook, line and sinker.
=====
Common Dreams:
"Entire House Democratic Leadership Backs Anti-Choice Cuellar in 2024 Run. With well over a year before the 2024 election, and as a pro-choice immigration rights attorney is reportedly weighing a primary run, all four of the top Democratic leaders in the U.S. House on Thursday announced their support for anti-abortion rights Rep. Henry Cuellar in his reelection bid.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Pete Aguilar (Calif.), Minority Whip Rep. Katherine Clark (Mass.), and Assistant Democratic Leader Rep. James Clyburn (S.C.) all announced their endorsements of the right-wing Democrat, who has represented Texas' 28th district since 2005.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and former House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (Md.) also voiced their support for Cuellar, who in addition to being the only anti-abortion rights Democrat in the House, has an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association indicating his anti-gun control views."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/democratic-leaders-back-cuellar
-->This story certainly shows the disinterest of the Democratic Party leadership in a woman's right to choose. No wonder abortion rights has taken such a beating. Like so many issues, it has been sacrificed to corporate interests. No mention of the sellout in the NYT.
Wednesday, August 02, 2023
Common Dreams:
" 'My fellow Americans, we are facing a climate emergency. This summer, we have seen record-shattering heat waves sweep across our nation... If we do not act urgently to curb fossil fuel pollution, these deadly heat waves will only grow worse in frequency and severity.'
That was how Fossil Free Media director Jamie Henn suggested U.S. President Joe Biden address the public on Thursday as he announced new measures to address the record-breaking heat that spread across the country from the Southwest to the Midwest and Northeast, placing more than half the U.S. population under heat advisories.
The climate campaigner was among those urging the president to make a clear connection between the extreme heat—which was expected to push temperatures to 105°F in Minneapolis and 107° in New York as Phoenix saw its 27th consecutive day with a heat index of at least 110°—and the climate crisis. Instead, Biden did not utter the words 'fossil fuels,' 'oil,' or 'gas' throughout his remarks, despite the fact that World Weather Attribution reported this week that the extreme heat seen in the U.S. and other countries would have been 'virtually impossible' without the climate crisis and continued fossil fuel extraction."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/biden-extreme-heat
-->So much for our do nothing president. He get the climate crisis, but is simply a corrupt, pro corporate stooge. But why does the NYT never mention these Biden omissions in its extensive coverage of his speech?
=====
The Guardian UK:
"A witness to the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X has come forward to claim that a comment he overheard as police were restraining assassin Thomas Hagan outside the Audubon Ball room proved to him that the New York police department and FBI knew beforehand that there would be an attempt on the civil rights activist’s life.
Mustafa Hassan said he heard an officer ask of Hagan, 'Is he one of us?'
'From my vantage point this was an attempt by police to assist in him getting away,' Hassan said on Tuesday in a statement to reporters, read mere feet away from where Malcolm X was gunned down in New York City’s Audubon Ballroom.
Appearing alongside the civil rights attorney Ben Crump, Hassan asserted that he prevented Hagan from being taken away by reaching out and grabbing the assassin by the collar.
Hassan, formerly known as Richard Melwin Jones, delivered a vivid description of his recollection of the day that the leader of the Organization of Afro-American Unity was assassinated."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/25/malcolm-x-assassination-new-witness-mustafa-hassan
-->OK, this is just hearsay from over 50 years ago. But why didn't the NYT even mention the possibility that Malcolm X was murdered by government assassins, like Fred Hampton would be three years later. In fact, the 1960s saw an overwhelming number of Black leaders being murdered. And then there was COINTELPRO, the secret FBI attack on Black activism that was exposed by the Church Committee. We need a no holds barred investigation of these government murders, not a liberal cover up by our newspaper of record.
=====
Common Dreams:
"Over 40 international and local civil society groups on Wednesday called for accountability for all perpetrators of war crimes during the nearly nine-year civil war and U.S.-backed Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, as well as reconciliation, redress, and reparations for victims of the conflict that's claimed nearly 400,000 lives and upended millions more. ...
HRW and other groups have documented human rights crimes committed by the U.S.-backed Saudi-led coalition and Yemeni government forces, as well as the Houthi rebels they're fighting and the U.S. forces conducting raids and airstrikes in the so-called War on Terror.
According to United Nations humanitarian officials, nearly 400,000 people have died during the Yemeni war, and a Saudi-led blockade has exacerbated starvation and disease in the country of 30 million people—more than 23 million of whom required assistance in 2022."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/yemen-declaration
-->The NYT doesn't do war crimes committed by US allies. Perhaps that is one reason for the fact that most American citizens don't even know how involved the US is in butchering the Yemeni people. The NYT is the empire's most reliable propaganda tool.
" 'My fellow Americans, we are facing a climate emergency. This summer, we have seen record-shattering heat waves sweep across our nation... If we do not act urgently to curb fossil fuel pollution, these deadly heat waves will only grow worse in frequency and severity.'
That was how Fossil Free Media director Jamie Henn suggested U.S. President Joe Biden address the public on Thursday as he announced new measures to address the record-breaking heat that spread across the country from the Southwest to the Midwest and Northeast, placing more than half the U.S. population under heat advisories.
The climate campaigner was among those urging the president to make a clear connection between the extreme heat—which was expected to push temperatures to 105°F in Minneapolis and 107° in New York as Phoenix saw its 27th consecutive day with a heat index of at least 110°—and the climate crisis. Instead, Biden did not utter the words 'fossil fuels,' 'oil,' or 'gas' throughout his remarks, despite the fact that World Weather Attribution reported this week that the extreme heat seen in the U.S. and other countries would have been 'virtually impossible' without the climate crisis and continued fossil fuel extraction."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/biden-extreme-heat
-->So much for our do nothing president. He get the climate crisis, but is simply a corrupt, pro corporate stooge. But why does the NYT never mention these Biden omissions in its extensive coverage of his speech?
=====
The Guardian UK:
"A witness to the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X has come forward to claim that a comment he overheard as police were restraining assassin Thomas Hagan outside the Audubon Ball room proved to him that the New York police department and FBI knew beforehand that there would be an attempt on the civil rights activist’s life.
Mustafa Hassan said he heard an officer ask of Hagan, 'Is he one of us?'
'From my vantage point this was an attempt by police to assist in him getting away,' Hassan said on Tuesday in a statement to reporters, read mere feet away from where Malcolm X was gunned down in New York City’s Audubon Ballroom.
Appearing alongside the civil rights attorney Ben Crump, Hassan asserted that he prevented Hagan from being taken away by reaching out and grabbing the assassin by the collar.
Hassan, formerly known as Richard Melwin Jones, delivered a vivid description of his recollection of the day that the leader of the Organization of Afro-American Unity was assassinated."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/25/malcolm-x-assassination-new-witness-mustafa-hassan
-->OK, this is just hearsay from over 50 years ago. But why didn't the NYT even mention the possibility that Malcolm X was murdered by government assassins, like Fred Hampton would be three years later. In fact, the 1960s saw an overwhelming number of Black leaders being murdered. And then there was COINTELPRO, the secret FBI attack on Black activism that was exposed by the Church Committee. We need a no holds barred investigation of these government murders, not a liberal cover up by our newspaper of record.
=====
Common Dreams:
"Over 40 international and local civil society groups on Wednesday called for accountability for all perpetrators of war crimes during the nearly nine-year civil war and U.S.-backed Saudi-led intervention in Yemen, as well as reconciliation, redress, and reparations for victims of the conflict that's claimed nearly 400,000 lives and upended millions more. ...
HRW and other groups have documented human rights crimes committed by the U.S.-backed Saudi-led coalition and Yemeni government forces, as well as the Houthi rebels they're fighting and the U.S. forces conducting raids and airstrikes in the so-called War on Terror.
According to United Nations humanitarian officials, nearly 400,000 people have died during the Yemeni war, and a Saudi-led blockade has exacerbated starvation and disease in the country of 30 million people—more than 23 million of whom required assistance in 2022."
https://www.commondreams.org/news/yemen-declaration
-->The NYT doesn't do war crimes committed by US allies. Perhaps that is one reason for the fact that most American citizens don't even know how involved the US is in butchering the Yemeni people. The NYT is the empire's most reliable propaganda tool.
Wednesday, July 12, 2023
Guardian UK:
"The state official in charge of Oklahoma’s schools is facing calls for impeachment, after he said teachers should tell students that the Tulsa race massacre was not racially motivated.
In a public forum on Thursday, Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s state superintendent of public instruction, said teachers could cover the 1921 massacre, in which white Tulsans murdered an estimated 300 Black people, but teachers should not 'say that the skin color determined it'.
Walters is a pro-Trump Republican who was elected to oversee Oklahoma education in November. He has consistently indulged in rightwing talking points including 'woke ideology' and has said critical race theory should not be taught in classrooms. Republicans have frequently conflated banning critical race theory with banning any discussion of racial history in classrooms."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/08/oklahoma-republican-tulsa-race-massacre
-->Here we have another shameful example of our country's perpetual racism and of its unwillingness to consider the history of Blacks in America. Is the story just too painful for our own media to report on? Let's see if the NYT gets around to printing this sickening story.
=====
Guardian UK:
"An Oklahoma judge has thrown out a lawsuit seeking reparations for the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, dashing an effort to obtain some measure of legal justice for elderly survivors. The judge, Caroline Wall, on Friday dismissed with prejudice the lawsuit which attempted to force the city and others to make recompense for the destruction of Greenwood, a once-thriving Black district.
The case involved three survivors of the attack, all now over 100 years old and who sued in 2020, in the hope of seeing what their attorney called 'justice in their lifetime'. ... The Tulsa race massacre suit said the actions of the white mob that killed hundreds of Black residents and destroyed what had been the most prosperous Black business district in the US continue to affect the city today.
It contended that Tulsa’s long history of racial division and tension stemmed from the massacre, during which a mob descended on a 35-block area, looting, killing and burning. Thousands were left homeless, living in a hastily constructed camp.
The city and insurance companies never compensated victims and the massacre ultimately resulted in racial and economic disparities that still exist today, the lawsuit argued."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/09/tulsa-race-massacre-judge-rejects-reparations-lawsuit
-->Let's see if our mainstream media can hide this disgraceful story. So far it has. What about the NYT, which so far lets the Guardian report on America's homegrown racism.
=====
Accountable US:
"WASHINGTON, DC – A new analysis from government watchdog Accountable.US found nearly 60% of incumbent U.S. representatives filed extensions in 2023 for their 2022 financial disclosure, the majority of which––54.5%––were Republicans. Accountable.US.’ review of the House Committee on Ethics’ financial disclosure database also found that among the 257 representatives that filed extensions, 80.9% asked for the maximum 90-day extension. ...
Members of Congress were required to file their annual financial disclosure reports by May 15th, 2023 under the Ethics in Government Act and STOCK Act to help identify and regulate possible corrupt conflicts of interest or instances when an 'official uses his position of influence to enhance his personal financial interests.'
Their failure to do so has fueled criticism that the 'toothless' STOCK Act does not go far enough, and elevated concerns about how many members of Congress were able to beat the S&P 500 in 2021 and 2022 amid 'the worst market since 2008.' While at least six bipartisan House bills have been introduced this Congress to restrict stock trading, the MAGA House Majority has not acted on any of the bills even as public pressure continues to mount. A 2022 poll found over 7 in 10 likely voters believed members of Congress should not participate in the stock market while in office."
https://accountable.us/watchdog-nearly-60-of-incumbent-u-s-reps-filed-extensions-on-financial-disclosures-amid-push-for-restricting-congressional-stock-trading/
-->The utter corruption of our Congress does not really make it into the US media. I would call this censorship of how our neoliberal system works. The system works great for the rich and powerful. For you, ignorance is the only way to be happy.
"The state official in charge of Oklahoma’s schools is facing calls for impeachment, after he said teachers should tell students that the Tulsa race massacre was not racially motivated.
In a public forum on Thursday, Ryan Walters, Oklahoma’s state superintendent of public instruction, said teachers could cover the 1921 massacre, in which white Tulsans murdered an estimated 300 Black people, but teachers should not 'say that the skin color determined it'.
Walters is a pro-Trump Republican who was elected to oversee Oklahoma education in November. He has consistently indulged in rightwing talking points including 'woke ideology' and has said critical race theory should not be taught in classrooms. Republicans have frequently conflated banning critical race theory with banning any discussion of racial history in classrooms."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/08/oklahoma-republican-tulsa-race-massacre
-->Here we have another shameful example of our country's perpetual racism and of its unwillingness to consider the history of Blacks in America. Is the story just too painful for our own media to report on? Let's see if the NYT gets around to printing this sickening story.
=====
Guardian UK:
"An Oklahoma judge has thrown out a lawsuit seeking reparations for the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, dashing an effort to obtain some measure of legal justice for elderly survivors. The judge, Caroline Wall, on Friday dismissed with prejudice the lawsuit which attempted to force the city and others to make recompense for the destruction of Greenwood, a once-thriving Black district.
The case involved three survivors of the attack, all now over 100 years old and who sued in 2020, in the hope of seeing what their attorney called 'justice in their lifetime'. ... The Tulsa race massacre suit said the actions of the white mob that killed hundreds of Black residents and destroyed what had been the most prosperous Black business district in the US continue to affect the city today.
It contended that Tulsa’s long history of racial division and tension stemmed from the massacre, during which a mob descended on a 35-block area, looting, killing and burning. Thousands were left homeless, living in a hastily constructed camp.
The city and insurance companies never compensated victims and the massacre ultimately resulted in racial and economic disparities that still exist today, the lawsuit argued."
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/09/tulsa-race-massacre-judge-rejects-reparations-lawsuit
-->Let's see if our mainstream media can hide this disgraceful story. So far it has. What about the NYT, which so far lets the Guardian report on America's homegrown racism.
=====
Accountable US:
"WASHINGTON, DC – A new analysis from government watchdog Accountable.US found nearly 60% of incumbent U.S. representatives filed extensions in 2023 for their 2022 financial disclosure, the majority of which––54.5%––were Republicans. Accountable.US.’ review of the House Committee on Ethics’ financial disclosure database also found that among the 257 representatives that filed extensions, 80.9% asked for the maximum 90-day extension. ...
Members of Congress were required to file their annual financial disclosure reports by May 15th, 2023 under the Ethics in Government Act and STOCK Act to help identify and regulate possible corrupt conflicts of interest or instances when an 'official uses his position of influence to enhance his personal financial interests.'
Their failure to do so has fueled criticism that the 'toothless' STOCK Act does not go far enough, and elevated concerns about how many members of Congress were able to beat the S&P 500 in 2021 and 2022 amid 'the worst market since 2008.' While at least six bipartisan House bills have been introduced this Congress to restrict stock trading, the MAGA House Majority has not acted on any of the bills even as public pressure continues to mount. A 2022 poll found over 7 in 10 likely voters believed members of Congress should not participate in the stock market while in office."
https://accountable.us/watchdog-nearly-60-of-incumbent-u-s-reps-filed-extensions-on-financial-disclosures-amid-push-for-restricting-congressional-stock-trading/
-->The utter corruption of our Congress does not really make it into the US media. I would call this censorship of how our neoliberal system works. The system works great for the rich and powerful. For you, ignorance is the only way to be happy.
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