Society's ChildS


Eye 1

The hypocrisy behind Pulitzer Prizes

Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize
The late Alex Cockburn called its awards "the Pulitzer farce...reminding the world that...the nation is well served by its premier east coast newspapers, the New York Times and the Washington Post."

Both broadsheets long ago abandoned legitimate journalism, functioning as press agents for wealth, power and privilege - notably when America goes to war and in their run-up, along with malicious Russia bashing.

The Times and WaPo both won Pulitzers for their coverage of (nonexistent) Russian US presidential election meddling, whether Trump's team colluded with Moscow during the campaign, and whether the president obstructed justice.

America's two leading broadsheets were again honored for flagrant disinformation, Big Lies and fake news - manipulating public opinion and manufacturing consent for what demands denunciation.

Family

British MPs, MEPs, former ministers, trade unionists: Time for government to take a stand on killings in Gaza

gaza Land Day protest
© Mohammed Saber/European Press AgencyPalestinians protest near the border with Israel in the east of Gaza City on 13 April 2018.
MPs, MEPs, former ministers, trade unionists and other political and cultural figures call on the British government to ensure that UK arms, finance and trade are not used to support unlawful actions by Israel

For several weeks you have reported the killings by Israeli forces in Gaza. Each week Israel has placed troops on the security border with Gaza with the intention to shoot to kill Palestinians demonstrating. So far 35 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,500 injured with live ammunition. Instructions to shoot to kill were given in advance (Deaths in Gaza will haunt Israeli snipers, Letters, 13 April; Letters, 17 April).

It is right for the British government to comment on hostile actions by foreign states in breach of international law wherever they occur - on UK territory, in Syria or in Yemen. But the silence of the prime minister and the foreign secretary on Israel's premeditated killings is deafening. Moreover, the UK government continues to approve arms exports to Israel despite its own guidelines prohibiting any sales of weapons that risk being used in violation of international law.

Cow Skull

'Liar & Leaker' Comey's book falls as flat as its cover

comey book
© Associated Press/Mark LennihanThe book, "A Higher Loyalty" by former FBI Director James Comey is displayed at a Barnes & Noble bookstore in New York.
The new memoir by James Comey, former FBI director, is light on new information but heavy on petty insults. It is being marketed by a typical rage-fest on President Trump's Twitter feed. A bestseller is guaranteed.

But Comey's name-calling makes for an unpersuasive condemnation of this presidency. It won't convince Trump supporters, or wavering conservatives, or Democrats (perhaps especially those who previously voted for President Barack Obama) to change their minds

Comey's observations about Trump's orange-ness, his hand size, and the length of his tie, aren't even original, let alone amusing except to that corps of haters who giggle at any show of disrespect to the chief executive. Perhaps the only impact they will have is to engender among disaffected conservatives a certain sympathy for a president whose substantive policies have been a pleasant surprise.

Attention

Vienna historian claims Austrian doctor who first documented symptoms of autism aided Nazis in slaughtering disabled children

Austrian pediatrician Hans Asperger
© WikipediaAustrian pediatrician Hans Asperger
A Vienna historian has made the disturbing claim that renowned Austrian pediatrician Hans Asperger, the first to document the symptoms of autism, aided the Nazis in slaughtering disabled children.

The Austrian doctor, who identified autism in 1938, and gave his name to a form of "high-functioning" autism, was complicit in the Nazi euthanasia program in Austria, Herwig Czech, a historian at the Medical University of Vienna, has claimed.

According to the newly uncovered documents, children with disabilities of various degrees were identified by Asperger to be sent to the Spiegelgrund psychiatric clinic, notorious for housing a euthanasia center.

Beaker

Belgian companies deliver chemicals to Syria illegally

Chemicals
Three companies from Belgium illegally delivered hundreds of tons of industrial chemicals to Syria. And one of the substances can be used for the production of chemical weapons. Why didn't anyone notice anything suspicious for so long?

Over 2 years, 24 illegal deliveries were noted: hundreds of tons of isopropanol, acetone, methanol and dichloromethane. Chemicals were sold to private firms in Syria and Lebanon. Allegedly - for the production of paint and varnish products.

All would be well, if not for one thing. Since 2014, such operations require a special permit, which none of the Belgian companies had. And one more important detail: isopropanol is one of the constituent elements for the production of poison gas sarin. As the chemicals were exported to private vendors, the substances could easily be obtained by terrorist groups. By the way, the firms that bought these chemicals, immediately after the scandal began, ceased to exist.

Comment: See also: Chemical weapons from Germany and smoke bombs from UK found in liberated Eastern Ghouta - Russian Foreign Ministry


Briefcase

Federal Election Commission hit with lawsuit for ignoring complaints exposing Clinton, DNC money laundering scheme

hillary DNC money laundering 2016 election campaign
Officials with the CDP say that Clinton should be held accountable for what they claim are illegal methods used to finance her war chest for the 2016 presidential campaign.
The Hillary Clinton Campaign and the Democratic National Committee allegedly used state chapters as strawmen to launder as much as $84 million in an effort to circumvent campaign donation limits, and the Federal Election Commission ignored complaints exposing the practice, a lawsuit filed Monday claims.

The Committee to Defend the President (CDP), a political action committee formally known as Stop Hillary PAC, filed its complaint with the FEC in December 2017 with the claims that the Hillary Victory Fund (HVF) solicited cash from big-name donors, and allegedly sent that money through state chapters and back to the DNC before ending up with the Clinton campaign.

As first reported by Fox News at the time, the CDP alleges in its complaint that about $84 million was funneled illegally from the DNC through state party chapters and back into the war chest of the Clinton campaign. The political action committee claims that even though the FEC acknowledged receipt of the complaint and claimed that an investigation would be conducted, the needle has barely moved.


Comment:


Heart - Black

California professor gloats over death of Barbara Bush, boasts she will never be fired

Professor Randa Jarr
Professor Randa Jarr
On Tuesday, a professor at Fresno State made highly outrageous comments celebrating the death of former First Lady of the United States Barbara Bush and taking delight in the pain that George H.W. Bush is experiencing as a result of his wife's death.

According to her bio page at Fresno State, "Professor Randa Jarrar is an award-winning novelist, short story writer, essayist, and translator" and serves as the "executive director of RAWI, the Radius of Arab American Writers."

Jarrar's first tweet on Bush's death stated: "Barbara Bush was a generous and smart and amazing racist who, along with her husband, raised a war criminal. F**k outta here with your nice words."
Barbara Bush was a generous and smart and amazing racist who, along with her husband, raised a war criminal. Fuck outta here with your nice words.

- Randa Jarrar (@randajarrar) April 18, 2018

Comment: Pride goeth before a fall: Ms. Jarrar is now reporting she is "currently on leave from Fresno State." The University's president has made a public statement:
In a public statement, Fresno State President Joseph Castro said that he was concerned by the remarks Jarrar made about Bush on Twitter.
On behalf of Fresno State, I extend my deepest condolences to the Bush family on the loss of our former First Lady, Barbara Bush. We share the deep concerns expressed by others over the personal comments made today by professor Randa Jarrar, a professor in the English Department at Fresno State.

Her statements were made as a private citizen, not as a representative at Fresno State.

Professor Jarrar's expressed personal views and commentary are obviously contrary to the core values of our University, which include respect and empathy for individuals with divergent points of view, and a sincere commitment to mutual understanding and progress.



Propaganda

Robert Fisk tests the free-press myth in Douma: Press fails abysmally

Robert fisk douma tunnels
© Yara IsmailIndependent Middle East Correspondent Robert Fisk in one of the miles of tunnels hacked beneath Douma by prisoners of Syrian rebels
Here's how a free press, one owned by a handful of corporations, uses its freedom. It simply tells you what it is good for its business interests, or more generally for the political and business environment it operates in. It's not interested in truth or airing all sides, or even necessarily basic facts.

The only restraint preventing the corporate media from outright lying to promote its material interests is the fear of being found out, of readers starting to suspect that they are not being told the whole truth.

If that sounds like conspiratorial nonsense to you, consider this single example (there are lots more if you trawl through my past blog posts). Let's take the matter of veteran Middle East reporter Robert Fisk arriving in Douma this week, the first western correspondent to get there. Fisk is like some relic from a bygone era, when journalists really sought to arrive at the truth, often at great personal danger, not simply win followers on Twitter.

Comment: The article in question: Veteran British Journalist Visits Hospital That Treated "Patients of Syrian Chemical Weapon Attack"

The medical staff's account:




Blackbox

Best of the Web: Who is really stalling the OPCW investigation in Syria? Blame the UN and the jihadis

OPCW Syria
© Associated Press / Bassem Mroue
Why has the fact finding mission (FFM) of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) not visited Douma?

The OPCW inspectors are held up by the United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) which has a say about any movement of UN aligned organizations in areas that might be dangerous. The UNDSS is led by an Australian police / intelligence officer. The holdup seems to be intended.

On Sunday April 8 videos were published of an alleged 'chemical attack' in Douma near Damascus. At that time the area was under control of Jaish al-Islam, a Salafi terrorist organization financed by Saudi Arabia. The various videos from terrorist supporters like the 'White Helmets' were unconvincing. They showed obviously arranged scenes of an alleged 'barrel bomb' and manipulated bodies of dead children that had been moved and decorated with shaving foam to superficially fit the claims of a 'chemical incident'. Another video showed people in a hospital being doused with water for no apparent reason.

An often quoted opposition news outlet, the Syrian Observatory in Britain, denied that a 'chemical attack' had happened. It reported on April 8 of suffocation after a shelter collapsed due to bombing:
[I]n among the casualties there are 21 civilians including 9 children and 3 women were killed as a result of suffocation caused by the shelling which destroyed basements of houses as a result of the violence bombardment that stopped about an hour ago on Douma area.
The 'chemical incident' was likely faked. It suspiciously happened just a few days after U.S. President Trump had announced the he wanted the U.S. military to leave Syria. A year earlier a similar incident was claimed to have happened after a similar announcement by Trump. The U.S. had responded to the 2017 incident by bombing an empty Syrian airfield.

Comment: MoA seems to be implying that the UNDSS fabricated the attack on their reconnaissance team. Perhaps that's the case. But regardless, the Russians are going with it, because assuming it is true, the conclusion is still obvious, as Russian Deputy FM Bogdanov stated today:
"There are militants who terrorize citizens and, among other things, impede the normal work of representatives of the international community - the UN and the OPCW [Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons]. Someone does not want an objective professional investigation [to be carried out]," the diplomat told RIA Novosti on Thursday.

When asked if there is a security threat to the OPCW mission, the deputy minister said: "As events show, there is."
It's not the Russians or Syrians who want to block the investigation. Who stands to lose if it is carried out successfully? Lavrov has the answer:
"At the time when they were in the area, shooting began from the part of the town where there were still a few dozen extremists, who were clearly warned ahead about who specifically will be arriving in the area and for what purpose," Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said.



Passport

End of multiculturalism? Swedish voters say immigration is top issue ahead of election

migrants sweden
© Stig-Ake Jonsson / ReutersA group of migrants in Hyllie district, Malmo, November 12, 2015.
Immigration is the most pressing issue facing Sweden, according to a poll conducted ahead of September's election. The poll's findings suggest there is growing concern over Stockholm's open-door migrant policy.

Some 20 percent of Swedes listed immigration as the main issue ahead of the country's elections, followed by healthcare (19 percent), law and order (12 percent) and integration (10 percent).

Comment: