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Gaza boat carrying wounded Palestinians trying to break the blockade intercepted by IDF navy

Meron Rapoport, Mohammed Zaanoun, and +972 Magazine Staff
+972 Magazine
Tue, 29 May 2018 16:03 UTC
march of return flotilla blockade gaza

The Gaza "Freedom Boat" in port in Gaza, before attempting to break Israel's naval blockade. May 29, 2018.
Carrying 17 people, including university students, cancer patients, and protesters wounded by Israeli forces during the Great Return March, the Gaza boat was headed towards Cyprus before IDF gunboats intercepted it.

Israeli gunships intercepted a Palestinian boat attempting to break Israel's naval siege of the Gaza Strip Tuesday afternoon. The attempt to break the blockade comes two weeks after Israeli soldiers killed at least 60 Palestinian protesters and wounded thousands of others at the Gaza-Israel separation barrier on Gaza's eastern boundary.

The boat was headed to Limassol, Cyprus, and was part of a small flotilla comprised of three boats in total. The two other boats turned back and did not breach the naval blockade line enforced by the IDF. The IDF does not allow Palestinians to venture more than nine miles off the coast of the Gaza Strip.


Comment: Still in doubt about whether Gaza is the largest open air prison on the planet?

RT adds:
[...]


The action was probably more symbolic than practical in nature, aimed at showcasing the effect that the Israeli blockade has on the life in Gaza Strip 11 years after being imposed. Three other events under the same name, which involved ships trying to reach the Palestinian territories despite the blockade, were thwarted in the past by the IDF.

The first case in 2010 ended in a controversial raid by Israeli commandos on six ships, in which 10 activists were killed. The Tuesday attempt was far less dramatic. The IDF intercepted the two passenger boats some six to seven nautical miles off the coast and seized the larger of them, arresting 12 people on board, journalist Hind Khoudary reported from the scene. The captain of the second boat was ordered to return and complied.

The IDF said they would tow the boat to a military port in the city of Ashdod to process the detained people. The Israelis said people requiring medical assistance among the passengers would receive it. Organizers say the blockade-breaking attempt was part of the ongoing Great March of Return campaign that began at the end of March and became a major controversy due to the scale of violence it is associated with.

IDF soldiers killed dozens of people protesting near the border fence and injured over a thousand, saying their use of lethal force was justified by the threat posed by the protesters. The Palestinians were burning tires, sending incendiary kites over the fence and throwing rocks at the Israeli troops.

A second attempt to break through the Gaza naval blockade is expected later this year. Another Freedom Flotilla set sail from Copenhagen last week.
Correction: The IDF didn't kill dozens and injured over a thousand. Fom a previous RT report,
As of May 21, a total of 112 people have been killed, including 13 children and two journalists, and more than 13,000 people have been injured, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
And now this:

Here comes hell again: Israel launches air strikes on Gaza after "barrage of mortar shells" fired at Israel; Netanyahu says retaliation imminent

      Read More...
Alarm Clock

US forces Cypriot banks to crack down on Russian accounts


RT
Tue, 29 May 2018 14:48 UTC
cyprus
© FELLOW / Global Look Press
Russians keeping their cash in Cypriot banks have been caught up in a massive audit of accounts by lenders and watchdogs in the island state. The step was reportedly triggered by pressure from Washington.

Banks in Cyprus now require Russian customers to confirm earnings and tax payments, to produce bank statements for the past year, as well as estate documents, title deeds of business ownership, and a detailed description of their enterprise, according to financial writer Elena Tofanyuk, as quoted by Russian daily Business FM. Previously, Russian clientele were required to produce only a passport and utility bills.

Cypriot banks offer their Russian customers a choice: either to close their accounts or to transfer their funds to Russian Commercial Bank, a subsidiary of Russian state-run lender VTB, the reporter said, citing interviewees who have bank accounts in the country.

Comment: As with other anti-Russia sanctions, this will ultimately hurt the aggressor country as the customers have little choice but to instead hold the cash in Russian banks, it also makes Cyprus look like a risky place to invest in:

      Read More...
Megaphone

Coup in Brazil falters as imprisoned Lula leads Presidential polls


teleSUR
Tue, 29 May 2018 12:00 UTC
Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
© Reuters
Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
The survey was conducted between May 19 - 23 by the Unified Worker's Central.

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva would receive 39 percent of the vote in the first round of October's presidential election according to a recently conducted poll.

According to the poll conducted by the Unified Worker's Central (CUT) and Vox Populi Lula's popularity places him over nine points ahead of the combined 30 percent support received by all other aspirants to the country's highest office.

His closest individual rival, Jair Bolsonaro, a Congressman and member of the Social Liberal Party, finished second in the poll with 12 percent of those surveyed stating that they would support him. While Marina Silva is third on six percent with Ciro Gome fourth having received four percent of the vote. Geraldo Alckmin and Alvaro Dias received three percent and two percent respectively.

Comment: In the eyes of the established powers, what Lula achieved for the people of Brazil had to be stopped:

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Propaganda

ABC fires Roseanne Barr for "racist" tweet, libtards feel vindicated

Robert Mackey
The Intercept
Tue, 29 May 2018 21:48 UTC
roseanne barr Laurie Metcalf
© Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP
Laurie Metcalf, left, listened as Roseanne Barr participated in a panel discussion of the new series of “Roseanne” during the Disney/ABC Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour in January in Pasadena, Calif.
Roseanne Barr lost her popular television show on Tuesday, when ABC decided to cancel the sitcom "Roseanne" because the actress posted a racist, Islamophobic comment on Twitter, in which she suggested that Valerie Jarrett, a longtime adviser to former President Barack Obama, looked like an ape and was part of a secret Muslim plot.

In her subsequently deleted tweet, Barr had replied to a far-right conspiracy theorist's claim that Jarrett had concealed illicit activity by Obama, like spying on Donald Trump. Jarrett, Barr wrote, was born after the "Muslim Brotherhood and Planet of the Apes had a baby."

Among those who took a screenshot of the original tweet and alerted ABC was the critic Scott Tobias.

Comment: As SOTT editors in this article point out:
Roseanne - both the show and the actress - was a nightmare for the liberal elites: a high-profile celebrity whose very presence exposed the whole Russiagate lie: that 'only Kremlin trolls say those things'.

So she had to go. This silly tweet from her was merely the pretext. All the faux indignation about it is just authoritarian followers doing whatever pleases Master.
The liberal monopoly on the media is threatened by anything that counters their narrative. This is why Roseanne Barr had to go.

More on Roseanne Barr:

      Read More...
Attention

David Sheen: 'Israel's highest court enables human trafficking'

David Sheen
The Electronic Intifada
Thu, 24 May 2018 00:00 UTC
israel african refugees
© Twitter
Since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu first announced, then quickly denounced and withdrew from, a UN-brokered plan for Western nations to absorb thousands of the African refugees living in Israel, have the fortunes of those asylum seekers improved or deteriorated?

Going forward, will Israel's reputedly liberal high court be able to ensure that the refugees' rights are protected?

In an April article, I reported on the reasons for Netanyahu's odd flip-flop, and on what to expect next.

Comment: See the articles below for more information:

      Read More...
Arrow Up

Morgan Freeman's lawyer threatens legal action against CNN, calls for retraction and apology over sexual harassment allegations


RT
Tue, 29 May 2018 17:14 UTC
Morgan Freeman
© Carlo Allegri / Reuters
Actor Morgan Freeman takes part in the opening ceremonies of the Invictus Games in Orlando Florida, U.S., May 8, 2016.
A lawyer for Morgan Freeman has demanded that CNN retract a story published last week, which included allegations of sexual harassment and inappropriate behavior towards women.

In the CNN article, eight women accused Freeman of inappropriately touching them and making sexually suggestive comments about their appearances. A number of other women also said they had witnessed the behavior.

Now, the law firm representing the actor has demanded an immediate retraction and apology. In a letter obtained by BuzzFeed news website and the Hollywood Reporter magazine, the Irell & Manella LLP firm said CNN's article was "the product of malicious intent, falsehoods, sleight-of-hand, an absence of editorial control, and journalistic malpractice."

The 10-page letter highlights the fact that one of the women named in CNN's story subsequently told TMZ that she had never accused Freeman of harassment, and said that CNN had taken her comments out of context. Freeman's lawyers also noted that most of the other women in the story were unnamed.

Comment: See also:

      Read More...
TV

Culture Wars: ABC cancels TV show 'Roseanne' after Barr tweets something politically incorrect

Jake Nevins
The Guardian
Tue, 29 May 2018 20:46 UTC
roseanne
Roseanne Barr's revived sitcom has been cancelled after she posted a racist and Islamophobic tweet that attacked former Obama White House adviser Valerie Jarrett.

The sitcom star falsely alleged that Jarrett, who was born in Iran to American parents, has connections to the Muslim Brotherhood, and compared her to an ape. Barr wrote: "Muslim brotherhood & planet of the apes had a baby=vj," using Jarrett's initials.


Comment: It's an ignorant comment for her to make of course (for starters, Muslim Brotherhood has zero traction in Iran), but this was clearly just the pretext the liberal media elites were waiting for to nix a TV show that is even mildly conservative.


ABC swiftly announced the show's cancellation. The network said in a statement: "Roseanne's Twitter statement is abhorrent, repugnant and inconsistent with our values, and we have decided to cancel her show."


Comment: Pfft, it wasn't something you'd fire someone over... unless you were politically and ideologically-motivated.

Freedom of speech, much? First Amendment?

The media doesn't just get things wrong every day - it often flat-out LIES with FAKE NEWS. Barr tweets something - however incorrect it may or may not be - and she's FIRED from completely unrelated employment??


Comment: Roseanne - both the show and the actress - was a nightmare for the liberal elites: a high-profile celebrity whose very presence exposed the whole Russiagate lie: that 'only Kremlin trolls say those things'.

So she had to go. This silly tweet from her was merely the pretext. All the faux indignation about it is just authoritarian followers doing whatever pleases Master.

      Read More...
Clipboard

Official death toll from Puerto Rico's Hurricane Maria was grossly underestimated; likely 70 times higher


RT
Tue, 29 May 2018 20:22 UTC
hurricane damage
© Alvin Baez / Reuters
A scene from Utuado, Puerto Rico, in January.
The official death toll in Puerto Rico from Hurricane Maria stands at 64, but researchers at Harvard University estimate the real figure is more than 4,600.

Around a third of those deaths are believed to derive from a lack of medical care arising from power outages and broken infrastructure, according to the new study.

The study, published this month in the New England Journal of Medicine, surveyed around 3,300 people randomly chosen from households across the Caribbean island. Respondents were asked about displacement, loss of infrastructure and causes of death. Mortality rates were then compared with the same period for the previous year. From the data, researchers estimate that there was a total of 4,645 more deaths than officially estimated. The US territory is home to more than 3 million people

"The mortality rate remained high through the end of December 2017, and one third of the deaths were attributed to delayed or interrupted health care. Hurricane-related migration was substantial," the report reads.
      Read More...
Cross

Bishop encourages students to be politically incorrect and to do away with safe spaces


RT
Tue, 29 May 2018 19:49 UTC
Bishop Robert C. Morlino
© Diocese of Madison / Facebook
Bishop Robert C. Morlino
A controversial Catholic bishop has warned Thomas Aquinas College graduates that standing up for the teachings of the Catholic Church will require doing away with safe spaces and political correctness.

Bishop Robert C. Morlino of Madison, Wisconsin, told the graduates of the California college during the commencement ceremony earlier this month that they should dare to be "politically incorrect" and the "voice of reason" amid "the darkness of our world". Morlino said that part of the problem with today's world was that people had been "taught to be offended" by everything.

"People live to be offended. That's why they need a 'safe space' and a 'cry closet,' and what they mean by that seems to be a space where they can be safe from hearing the voice of reason and truth," he told graduates. "If you speak the truth, you might not be safe," he added.

Morlino also told students that they should stand up for the Christian version of sex and marriage and recognize that artificial methods of birth control like contraceptives and sterilization are wrong in the eyes of the church, citing Humanae Vitae, the encyclical written by Pope Paul VI in 1968.
      Read More...
Attention

Terrorizing the population: France will release 40 radicalized prisoners in the coming months


RT
Tue, 29 May 2018 19:35 UTC
Vendin-le-Vieil prison
© Eric Vidal / Reuters
France's Vendin-le-Vieil prison is pictured on February 4, 2018.
France is gearing up to release 40 radicalized prisoners in the coming months, a move which the country's lead counter-terrorism prosecutor says is a "major risk," as they could have become more radicalized behind bars.

Speaking to French broadcaster BFM TV, Francois Molins confirmed that France will be releasing around 20 radicalized prisoners this year and a further 20 in 2019, while warning about the dangers of such a move.

"There is a major risk of seeing people who are not at all repentant at the end of their sentence come out of prison, who could even be more radical given their stay in prison," said Molins, who will soon leave his post after seven years as the head of France's counter-terrorism prosecution service.

"We need to do a lot more talking to ensure that they are properly monitored which requires thorough work between the prison administration, the intelligence services, the prefectures, those working in the judicial system and the prosecutor's office," Molins added.
      Read More...
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