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02.22 Report: Climate Denier to Lead White House Climate Panel [“Stupid is as stupid does.” –Forrest Gump] 02.22 The Uninhabitable Earth [Lots more important than all other problems put together] 02.22 Europe faces 'biodiversity oblivion' after collapse in French birds, experts warn 02.22 World's food supply under 'severe threat' from loss of biodiversity 02.22 Venezuela crisis threatens disease epidemic across continent - experts 02.21 'Moment of reckoning': US cities burn recyclables after China bans imports 02.20 Young climate strikers can win their fight. We must all help 02.20 Voyage to the Garbage Patch: the female sailors taking on plastic 02.19 Bees brought Bavarians together. And they have a lesson for us all 02.19 Florida is drowning. Condos are still being built. Can't humans see the writing on the wall? [Fear that Trump & Fox News incite makes us avoid unpleasant information we need to know] 02.18 Tesla big battery is holding its own in a burgeoning energy storage market 02.18 Trump administration condemned over delaying action on toxic drinking water 02.16 New experimental drug rapidly repairs age-related memory loss and improves mood 02.16 Toxic black snow covers Siberian coalmining region [0:49 video; If its killing us, stop doing it] 02.16 Renewable energy will be world's main power source by 2040, says BP [But in America's capitalistic bubble, bribed-to-be-biased media and government defy reality] 02.16 My generation trashed the planet. So I salute the children striking back 02.16 US coastal businesses hit by everyday impact of climate change, study shows 02.16 What the pesticides in our urine tell us about organic food [What does inaction tell us about capitalism and our government?] 02.14 Exposure to Glyphosate-Based Herbicides and Risk for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma: A Meta-Analysis and Supporting Evidence [If its killing us, make it illegal] 02.14 To avoid environmental catastrophe, everything must change [Consider why this headline is laughable or confusing to many, if not most, Americans...]02.13 Study Shows Toxic Pesticide Levels in Families Dropped by 60% After One-Week Organic Diet [2:10 video; Produce and canned vegetables laced with toxic chemicals—from fertilizers and herbicides, too—must be quickly phased out to use safe organic alternatives] 02.12 Biggest offshore windfarm to start UK supply this week 02.12 Scientists Are Totally Rethinking Animal Cognition 02.12 Politicians are complicit in the killing of our insects – we will be next News Media Matters
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02.22 So How's Your Tax Refund? Thanks to GOP Tax Scam, Big Banks Made Extra $28 Billion Last Year 02.21 Why Bernie Sanders Matters More Than People Think 02.21 Bezos Says Amazon Drones Ready to Deliver Mueller Report to Every American Household 02.21 Devin Nunes Was Trump’s Mole Inside the Gang of Eight 02.21 Alec Baldwin fears for family's safety after Trump 'retribution' threats [0:40 video] 02.20 ‘Sustained and ongoing’ disinformation assault targets Dem presidential candidates [If you can sense them, block them!] 02.20 The 2020 U.S. Presidential Race: A Cheat Sheet 02.20 Why Bernie Sanders' radicalism can take out Trump 02.20 Why vote for Sanders when you can have Elizabeth Warren instead? Justice Matters
02.19 California Leads 16 States Suing to Block Trump Border Plan 02.19 Fighting pollution: Toledo residents want personhood status for Lake Erie [Hurrah!] High Crimes?
02.20 Despite the slaughter in Yemen, Britain is still chasing arms sales [and the Great-Again-America is too...Capitalism without morality is horrible] 02.16 Elliott Abrams Defends War Crimes As Happening Back In The ’80s When Everyone Was Doing It Economics & Corrupting-Capitalism
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Sanders Has an Advantage, and It’s Not [Just] About Economics02.22 When multilateralism crumbles, so does our rules-based order [this enables easier corruption by banks and oligarchs and may result in complete societal breakdown, chaos and war] 02.22 Trump has turned foreign aid into shabby political theatre [Psychopaths are a sub-human species without empathy or morals.] 02.21 John Oliver Compares Brexit ‘Disaster’ to Will Smith’s Genie in Live-Action ‘Aladdin’ (Video) [21:26 video; we’re approaching an Idiocracy-type of society, where stupidity is “normal”] 02.20 House report lays bare White House feud over Saudi nuclear push [Its hard to keep up with all the criminal crap going on...] 02.20 My grandfather was a Nazi. I’ve seen why we need the EU 02.19 Centrism isn’t the solution to the mess we’re in 02.19 Renewables need urgent investment to ease Australia's transmission bottlenecks, experts warn We are a non-profit Internet-only newspaper publication founded in 1973. Your donation is essential to our survival. You can also mail a check to: Baltimore News Network, Inc.
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REPORT:End the Gaza SiegeTuesday, 15 June 2010
Words alone won't work, only popular and growing direct action in a nonviolent struggle for "freedom, self-determination and human rights," demanding the major media report siege conditions of extreme poverty, unemployment, depravation accurately.
Millions worldwide demand it. So does the Arab League, according to an Al Jazeera June 13 report quoting Amr Moussa, Arab League secretary-general, saying:
On June 13, Moussa commented after visiting Gaza for talks with Hamas Prime Minister, Ismail Haniyeh, Haaretz reporting he's the highest Arab official to do so since Hamas' 2006 election, after which an Israeli/West embargo followed, then the June 2007 siege. Moussa entered through Rafah after Egypt reopened it following the Freedom Flotilla massacre, saying it will continue indefinitely. According to Haaretz:
Mousa said he didn't come to support one political faction over the other, but to meet Palestinians and end their suffering, conditions in what UNRWA Commissioner General, Filippo Grandi, calls the "largest open-air prison in the world." An outrageously different view came from New York Times writer Ethan Bronner in his June 11 article, headlined "Gaza Through Fresh Eyes," saying:
Human rights activists and 1.5 million Gazans know otherwise - decades of occupation misery, worsened by the humanitarian crisis under siege, what none of them call "ordinary," what no legitimate journalist would ever say. None report for the major media, specializing in disinformation and "junk food news," why Project Censored highlights a "truth emergency," especially about Occupied Palestine or Israeli criticism, censored and not allowed. Mahmoud Abbas Wants It Both Ways
On June 10, Haaretz quoted him contradicting himself in two separate reports, first saying (after meeting with Obama at the White House) he's against lifting the siege because it would bolster Hamas, then reversing himself, saying:
After Israel's June 2007 siege, Tel Aviv and Washington armed him to control the West Bank, supplant Hamas in Gaza, and act as Israel's enforcer. As a result, suspect everything he says about reconciliation after years of confrontational opposition. His roots aside, he's no Palestinian friend. He's a quisling president, a duplicitous self-serving liar, in office months beyond his term, refusing to step down or call elections until "we (Fatah and Hamas) sign an agreement," then he'll "immediately" set a date, he says, what he's avoided so far without authority. ICRC Condemns the Gaza Siege
Saying it violates Fourth Geneva on June 14, the ICRC harshly criticized Israel's siege for causing "acute hardships," saying:
ICRC's Gaza health coordinator, Eileen Daly, said "The state of (its) healthcare system....has never been worse." The organization's West Asia head, Beatrice Megevand-Roggo, explained the siege "is having a devastating impact on the 1.5 million people living in Gaza," adding that Israel's security concerns aside, "Palestinians (have a) right to live normal, dignified lives," what Israel willfully denies them. ICRC also condemned the Flotilla massacre and Israel's preventing Gaza's economic development. Resisting the Occupation and Siege
Activists worldwide demand it, including the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), committed to "nonviolen(ce), direct-action methods and principles." Co-founded by Huwaida Arraf and Adam Shapiro in August 2001:
Words alone won't work, only popular direct action - steadfast, redoubtable, international, and strengthened by growing numbers worldwide in a nonviolent struggle for "freedom, self-determination and human rights," demanding the major media report it accurately, spreading the word on their own, and offering hope to a beleaguered, long-suffering people.
The Palestine Solidarity Movement (PSM) is ISM's student arm, "an umbrella group of Palestine-related groups, primarily on campuses, across North America." Its aims include support for boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS), Palestinian self-determination, the Right of Return, and ending US aid to Israel, most for its military to wage war on the region and Palestine, funded with US taxpayer dollars. Dark Forces Against ISM and PSM
Stop the ISM.com is one, a pro-Israeli front group, calling them terrorists like the PLO under Arafat, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), Hamas, and others like them - resistance groups struggling for liberation, not bogusly labeled terrorists. The group calls Huwaida Arraf and Adam Shapiro "two of the most disgusting human beings who would condone murder while claiming they are 'peace activists.' " Accusing them of "wish(ing) to see Israel destroyed," it labels Shapiro a product of his "dyed-in-the-wool Stalinist parents....raised on a steady diet of Israel hatred at home." Acting as ISM "spokewoman," Arraf is accused of "control(ling) propaganda media reports....endorsing and assisting Palestinian terrorists in their anti-Israeli endeavors...organiz(ing) demonstrations around the West Bank, (and) frequently lectur(ing) and recruit(ing) in the United States at fundraisers and at anti-Semitic, anti-Israel conclaves." The group also says ISM activists "serve as human shields for armed Palestinian terrorists, (act as) couriers for terrorists, and smuggl(e) explosives and bomb-making materials into Israel for the PLO," the same type propaganda Israel and Washington generate, dutifully echoed in major Western media reports. Stop the ISM.com calls the "totalitarian Arab world's educational system (a) cesspool of hate brought to American culture and shores via our colleges and universities," saying ISM uses them to "recruit every anti-American pervert and malcontent it can find....in solidarity to destroy Israel and in the long run America too." They also attack the Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA), a former US senator, attorney general, Oakland mayor, Edward Said, and two current congresspersons among its founding advisors - a dedicated organization providing aid to regional families, including food, medicine, medical supplies, clothes, books, school supplies, and toys, part of its charitable work, including scholarships for Palestinian students. Stop the ISM.com calls them a "terrorist-supporting enterprise....claim(ing) to be raising money for 'charity' or children, then sen(t) to America's and Israel's enemies to protract the War on Terror....MECA collects and launders money for pro-PLO and (other) groups all over the USA by taking in checks made out to 'ISM-USA.' " Sadly, many people believe it and support the group's extremists, its site not naming them, apparently out of shame. They also ignore horrific conditions in Gaza, a frequent topic this writer addresses accurately in articles and on air. On June 14, the Gisha Legal Center for Freedom of Movement provided a snapshot of a "paralyzed economy" under siege:
Netanyahu on the Couch, Out-of-Control
On June 8, author and dissident historian Michael K. Smith headlined a Legalienation News Bureau article, "Psychiatrist of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Commits Suicide," explaining:
Yatom very likely was overwhelmed by his "waterfall of lies, self-serving rationalizations, (and) a black hole of self-contradiction(s)," causing him to become depressed. A series of strokes followed - the first after Netanyahu said the 9/11 attacks "were good," the second when he compared Iran to Nazi Germany, and the third after he called its nuclear program "a flying gas chamber, (and that all Jews) lived permanently in Auschwitz." Elaborating in a diary, Yatom explained the emotional toll it took failing to change such extremism, saying:
Below is an except from Yatom's unfinished book on Netanyahu from a chapter titled, "Psychotic on Steroids:"
Throughout its history, Israel has been belligerent, lawless, and out-of-control, reigning terror on Palestine and the region. Under Netanyahu, the danger is global, given its nuclear and missile delivery system capability, and stated intention to use them if threatened, now under an extremist, very unstable leader if Yatom's analysis is accurate. If he and Obama escalate regional or global war, the Flotilla massacre, by comparison, will look inconsequential. A Final Comment
On June 14, Reuters headined, "Who's who on Israel's committee on the Gaza flotilla raid," exposing it as a Washington-endorsed sham, not acknowledged in the report. Called an Independent Public Commission, Netanyahu said it will demonstrate clearly "to the entire world that the state of Israel acts according to law, transparently and with full responsibility." In his released statement, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs endorsed the announcement as an "important step forward," saying "the structure and terms of reference of Israel's proposed independent public commission can meet the standard of a prompt, impartial, credible and transparent investigation." The administration was silent after the May 31 massacre, only saying it regretted the loss of life, its usual boilerplate cover for Israeli belligerence, partnered with our own globally. Commission Members Former Israeli Supreme Court Justice, Jacob Turkel, will head it, described as a conservative jurist with little experience in inquiry commissions, but a great deal handling military court appeals always ruling for Israel, virtually never for victimized Palestinian plaintiffs. Amos Horev is Israel's other member, an 86-year old retired major general and prominent military-industrial complex figure, active in its nuclear and high technology programs. Two non-voting foreign observers are: David Trimble, head of Northern Ireland's Ulster Unionist Party, First Minister of the Good Friday Agreement's power-sharing government, and current Conservative Party life peer, a man Sean McPhilemy discussed in his book titled, "The Committee He was involved (on a sinister level) in the unionist ferment, aligned with a tightly organized group of (Ulster's) most powerful Protestant businessmen and professionals, along with with loyalist death squads and Royal Ulster Constabulary killers (RUC), until the Police Service of Northern Ireland replaced it in 2001. Together, they murdered republicans and others considered a threat to union with Britain under Protestant Northern Ireland rule, often killing people for being Catholic. For this, he won the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize, given to war criminals, not peacemakers, past winners including Henry Kissinger, four Israeli warlord prime ministers, and Barack Obama, at the same time he escalated war in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen, and threatens more in other regions. General Ken Watkin (ret.) is the other observer, former head of Canada's military judiciary and legal advisor to a Canadian military/civilian board of inquiry investigation into the Canadian Airborne Regiment Battle Group's early 1990s Somalia atrocities, its resolution absolving high-ranking officers and top government officials, the ones always most guilty. Like past Israeli and Washington commissions, whitewash is assured this time, the bogus investigation to produce lies, distortion, omissions, false conclusions, and exoneration of cold-blooded murder, ordered by top government and military officials who'll walk away scot- free, no matter that world public opinion knows it and acknowledges their guilt, but they have no voting authority. With it, justice would finally be served, what can't come a moment too soon. ![]() Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net. His blog is sjlendman.blogspot.com. Listen to Lendman's cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening. Mr. Lendman's stories are republished in the Baltimore Chronicle with permission of the author. Copyright © 2010 The Baltimore News Network. All rights reserved.
Republication or redistribution of Baltimore Chronicle content is expressly prohibited without their prior written consent. Baltimore News Network, Inc., sponsor of this web site, is a nonprofit organization and does not make political endorsements. The opinions expressed in stories posted on this web site are the authors' own. This story was published on June 15, 2010. |
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