This week's list of articles, news items, opinion pieces and videos that I see as a must if you are looking for a roundup that should be of interest to The Left Chapter readers.
This list covers the week of August 11 - 18.
1) By Barring Omar and Tlaib, Netanyahu Did BDS a Huge Favor
Eric Levitz, New York Intelligencer
In deference to the wishes of the United States government, Israel has barred two members of the U.S. Congress from entering its borders. Or at least that’s how Thursday’s bizarre developments in American-Israeli relations appear to have played out.
2) Now is the time for the Democratic Party to stand up to Israeli racism
Nada Elia, Mondoweiss
The lines dividing Progressives and supporters of apartheid are becoming clearer, and they are not along Democratic and Republican party lines.
3) ‘Tlaib and Omar gave us hope’: Decision to bar entry to congresswomen sparks anger and disappointment amongst Palestinians
Yumna Patel, Mondoweiss
Palestinians are joining the chorus of international condemnation facing Israel for barring entry to US Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar ahead of their planned delegation to the occupied Palestinian territory.
4) Did Netanyahu Just Kill Washington’s ‘Pro-Israel’ Consensus?
M. J. Rosenberg, The Nation
Let the Likudniks, the lobby, the bought members of Congress, and the neocons cry. For those of us who want to see Israelis and Palestinians living in peace, in one country or two, with full security and sovereignty for both, Netanyahu’s stupid move is good news. It’s time someone tore the mask off the Israeli government and its fellow travelers in Washington. Perhaps, after the 2020 elections, the United States will serve as an honest broker between Israelis and Palestinians. Perhaps it will recognize that Palestinians deserve the same rights as Israelis in the land both peoples call home. Perhaps it will condition US aid to Israel on its negotiating an end to the 52-year occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. After all, there’s a first time for everything.
5) Argentina Primaries: Fernandez Wins Landslide Victory Over Macri With 15-Point Lead
Telesur
Argentinian President Mauricio Macri conceded defeat Sunday night in the country’s primaries, leading to Oct. 27 general elections, against opposition ticket Alberto Fernandez and Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
6) Communists in Canada organizing international solidarity against plunder in Kaz Mountains
SOL International
In a meeting that took place at the Greek Workers' Association, immigrant people from Turkey living in Montreal, representatives of the Communist Party of Canada, the Quebec Movement for Peace and the Greek Workers' Association met to discuss the actions to be held against the destruction in the Kaz Mountains, resulting in releasing a press statement on 16th of August.
On Monday, August 5th, thousands of protestors stormed the site of te Kirazli Gold mine project in North-Western Turkey. This project will have a heavy invornmental impact as 195,000 trees have been cut to access the gold resources present in this open-pit mine. To extract gold, it is said that 20,000 tons of cyanide will be needed as well as a considerable amount of other toxic elements such as arsenic. Particularly shocking to the population is the fact that this mining project is located at the fringe of the Kaz Mountains Natural Park.
7) You Must Be This Conservative To Ride: The Inside Story of Postmedia’s Right Turn
Sean Craig, Canadaland
New CEO Andrew MacLeod has a plan to muffle moderate voices at Canada's largest newspaper company. It's created confusion and uncertainty in newsrooms across the country.
8) A&W Tells Anti-Union Conference It Keeps a Secret ‘Watch List’ To Make Sure Workers Don’t Unionize
Press Progress
Fast food giants tell anti-union conference they monitor ‘high risk’ restaurants fearing the spread of unions in the service sector.
9) 'I take responsibility,' Trudeau says in wake of damning report on SNC-Lavalin ethics violation
John Paul Tasker, CBC News
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he accepts full responsibility after Ethics Commissioner Mario Dion found he violated the Conflict of Interest Act by trying to influence then-justice minister Jody Wilson-Raybould and get her to overrule a decision to not grant a deferred prosecution agreement to Quebec-based engineering firm SNC-Lavalin.
10) People’s Party wants to axe Multiculturalism Act, eliminate funding
Kerri Breen, Global News
Maxime Bernier‘s new political party, which plans to run candidates in every riding in the upcoming federal election, is calling for the end of “official” multiculturalism in Canada and the preservation of “Canadian values and culture.”
11) Hong Kong protesters have their flags backward
Ian Goodrum, People's World
There’s been a whole lot of controversy over flags lately.
12) Epstein’s Death Should Generate Investigations, Not Conspiracy Theories
The Real News Network
Anti-Clinton/Trump hashtags will not get to the bottom of Epstein's death, or how the rich and powerful's involvement in child sex abuse, The Nation's Jeet Heer explains.
13) Jeffrey Epstein's Autopsy Is Raising Even More Questions About His Death
Tim Marcin, Vice News
Jeffrey Epstein’s autopsy reportedly revealed broken bones in his neck — a finding that raises questions about how, exactly, he died.
14) With Epstein's Death, Accusers Seek New Legal Recourse
Cat Schuknecht, NPR
With Jeffrey Epstein's death by apparent suicide on Saturday, his accusers lost any chance to watch him stand trial on sex trafficking and conspiracy charges brought by federal prosecutors in Manhattan last month.
15) Jay-Z Helped the NFL Banish Colin Kaepernick
Jemele Hill, The Atlantic
Yesterday the hip-hop mogul Jay-Z and National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell held a joint media session at the Roc Nation offices in New York to seal a once-implausible partnership that isn’t being received as positively as both parties probably hoped.
16) Cuts by Doug Ford Conservatives leave city’s long-term care homes short $550,000
Joanna Frketich, The Hamilton Spectator
Upcoming provincial cuts to long-term care funding will leave the city's two homes short more than $550,000 a year.
17) Here Are Five Lies About Iran That We Need to Refute to Stop Another Illegal War
Mehdi Hasan, The Intercept
Last month, the Trump White House put out a typically Orwellian statement, chock-filled with lies, distortions, and half-truths about Iran and the 2015 nuclear deal. One line in particular stood out from the rest: “There is little doubt that even before the deal’s existence, Iran was violating its terms.”
18) Women Glitter Mexico City to Protest Rape, Gendered Violence
Telesur
“We travel daily with the fear that when we leave home we will be harassed in the streets, harassed in public transport, work, or school. Violated by our partners, friends or bosses. Raped by our boyfriends, husbands, parents, brothers , uncles, grandparents or the police themselves," read a petition addressed to all levels of public security, state authorities, and Mexican society in general.
19) End Seattle’s inhumane sweeps of homeless camps!
Andrea Bauer, Freedom Socialist Party
The Seattle area is home to the world’s two richest people, Jeff Bezos and Bill Gates. It is also a place where those who have no homes are treated with inhuman callousness. The city regularly evicts them from their tent encampments with sweeps that force them to scramble for other shelter and often destroy their few possessions in the process.
20) New Zealand: Outrage over babies taken by the state
John Braddock and Tom Peters, World Socialist Web Site
On July 30, several hundred people gathered outside parliament in Wellington for a protest titled “Hands Off Our Tamariki [children].” They delivered a petition with 17,000 signatures calling for the government to stop “stealing Maori children.” Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson, a partner in the ruling Labour-led coalition government of Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, accepted the petition.
21) Boris Johnson risks triggering riots with rollout of blanket stop-and-search powers, Diane Abbott warns
Lizzie Deardon, The Independent
The expansion of blanket stop and search powers that let police challenge people without reasonable suspicion could provoke unrest, the government has been warned.
22) Boris Johnson’s law and order proposals are a scam
Eleftheria Kousta, Counterfire
In a letter published in the Daily Mail, Boris Johnson has pledged to introduce a number of measures to shore up the law and order regime. His main promises are staff increases in the police department by 20,000 over the next three years, expanding the prison network by 10,000 places, increasing in-prison security, expanding Stop-and-Search, and allocating £85 million to the the Crown Prosecution Service.
23) Homegrown hate
Ryan Thorpe, Winnipeg Free Press
A Free Press reporter posed as a white nationalist to gain inside access to a neo-Nazi paramilitary group attempting to gain a foothold in Winnipeg and across the country.
24) Militant Neo-Nazi Group Actively Recruiting Ahead of Alleged Training Camp
Mack Lamoureux and Ben Makuch, Vice News
The Base, a neo-Nazi group aiming to provide military and survivalist training to fellow white supremacists, has been ramping up its activities including a massive recruitment campaign and a planned "hate camp."
25) Police Keep Arresting Young White Men For Trying to Copycat El Paso
Yess Owen, Vice News
In the past week, police across the country have investigated or arrested at least six men, most of whom are young and white, for making terroristic threats, stockpiling weapons, or plotting attacks.
26) It's Snowing Microscopic Plastic Particles in Arctic: Study
Telesur
Winter is around the corner and with falling snowflakes come microscopic plastic particles, at least that’s what scientists say is happening in the Arctic right now in a new study published in the journal Science Advances.
27) Climate Change Is Taking a Bigger Toll on Our Food, Water, and Land Than We Realized
Rebecca Leber, Mother Jones
As the planet warms, parts of the world face new risks of food and water shortages, expanding deserts, and land degradation, warns a major new report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Those effects are already underway, and some of them could soon become irreversible.
28) British Columbia's dirty natural gas secret
Peter McCartney, Canada's National Observer
When I told people I was heading to northeastern British Columbia to check out fracking sites, the most common response was: “We do that here?”
29) The Planet's Real Overpopulation Problem: Too Many Rich People
Joe Sandler Clarke, Vice News
If the world as it is does have an overpopulation problem, it's that there are too many rich people using too much stuff.
30) Indian Communist leader slams ‘denial of basic democratic rights’ over Kashmir detention
The Morning Star
COMMUNIST Party of India-Marxist general secretary Sitaram Yechury has protested to Indian President Ram Nath Kovind over his detention in Srinagar on Friday, when he and Communist Party of India leader Doraisamy Raja were held at the city’s airport while trying to visit party members in Jammu and Kashmir and denied entry to the state.
31) The Silence Is the Loudest Sound
Arundhati Roy, The New York Times
As India celebrates her 73rd year of independence from British rule, ragged children thread their way through traffic in Delhi, selling outsized national flags and souvenirs that say, “Mera Bharat Mahan.” My India is Great. Quite honestly, it’s hard to feel that way right now, because it looks very much as though our government has gone rogue.
32) A New Trump Policy Could Deny Green Cards To Immigrants Who Use Public Benefits
Hamed Aleaziz, BuzzFeed News
The Trump administration introduced a sweeping policy Monday that will allow the government to deny permanent residency to immigrants who use or are likely to use public benefits, such as food stamps, housing vouchers and Medicaid.
33) Trump Is Now Going to Make Life Hell for Immigrants With Disabilities
Emma Ockerman, Morgan Baskin, and Gaby Del Valle, Vice News
The Trump administration’s new “public charge” rule will force immigrants with disabilities to choose between receiving health care and staying in the U.S., advocates warn — and it’ll favor wealthy, able-bodied immigrants instead.
34) Trump 'Embodies Nearly Every Aspect Of A Racist,' Author Says
Rachel Martin, NPR
The writer Ibram X. Kendi has made a name for himself by tackling one of the most important — and one of the most sensitive — topics in America today.
35) Steve King Is Racist, Misogynist—and Not that Different From Other Republicans
Elie Mystal, The Nation
Republicans should be awarded no points for calling on Iowa Congressman Steve King to resign. Pointing out that this racist misogynist has no business serving in Congress is like pointing out that you shouldn’t make toast in a bathtub. It doesn’t mean you are insightful; it means the people who disagree with you are enfeebled.
36) Unequal Outcomes: Most ICE Detainees Held In Rural Areas Where Deportation Risks Soar
Yuki Noguchi, NPR
Yoel Alonso sat in a cell for 10 months before he ever met with a lawyer. His wife had to travel 1,000 miles to visit him at the remote Louisiana facility where he was detained.
37) A Prison Guard Drove A Truck Through A Group Of Jewish ICE Protesters, Injuring Several
Julia Reinstein, BuzzFeed News
"If they're willing to do that to us, we can't imagine the violence the ICE detainees behind those walls may be subject to every day," an organizer said.
38) Why a Banking Heiress Spent Her Fortune on Keeping Immigrants Out
Nicholas Kulish and Mike McIntire, The New York Times
She was an heiress without a cause — an indifferent student, an unhappy young bride, a miscast socialite. Her most enduring passion was for birds.
39) Getting killed by police is a leading cause of death for young black men in America
Amina Khan, Los Angeles Times
About 1 in 1,000 black men and boys in America can expect to die at the hands of police, according to a new analysis of deaths involving law enforcement officers. That makes them 2.5 times more likely than white men and boys to die during an encounter with cops.
40) AG Barr said there must be 'zero tolerance for resisting police' and went after 'social-justice reformers' in a heated speech to the US's largest law-enforcement organization
Sonam Sheth, Business Insider
His comments come when law enforcement is under heightened scrutiny in the US over allegations of systemic brutality and bigotry in some communities.
41) Insurance Companies Are Paying Cops To Investigate Their Own Customers
Kendall Taggart, BuzzFeed News
A cozy alliance between insurers and law enforcement has turned the justice system into the industry’s hired gun and left innocent customers facing prison.
42) Family Wants Independent Probe In Fatal Police Shooting Of Teen In Colorado
Brakkton Booker and Richard Gonzales, NPR
"In my humble opinion, the black and brown citizens of Colorado Springs are not safe with these officers on the street," Terry Thomas, pastor of Lifting Up Jesus Church, said, as quoted by the Associated Press.
See also: El Paso Aftermath, Venezuela Embargo, Kashmir, ICE Raids & more -- The Week in News, Opinion and Videos August 4 - 11
Radical Farrakhan-nists and Free-Palestine bigots:
ReplyDeleteDo Brown Black Lives matter...if they're Israelis?
BLACK, BROWN, WHITE, YELLOW ISRAELIS
Since color has become a language somehow, and anti-Israel bigots distort, then let's remind facts, most Israelis are "brown," in terms of stats. You have also many Ethiopian Jews.
No wonder the propagandists will never show democratic multiracial Israel in day to day lives.
Or elaborate on anti-black racism in the Goliath Arab world. Though all non Arabs have been through racism in that world.
SECURITY VS RACISTS
But of course Israeli security concerns are just that. Unrelated to any "color" or "race." Actually, speaking of racism, yes, Arab Muslim attackers target only Jews. Talk about real racism.
BACKGROUND ON HIJACKING TERMINOLOGY
True, hijacking of term 'it's racism," is as old as Palestine propaganda emerged by holocaust denier Issa Nakhleh who began in June-17-1949 the "like the Nazis and worse than nazis" line (and by Nov-14-1972 said all 6,000,000 were alive and Hitler "didn't" kill, and represented 'Muslim Congress' at Holocaust deniers convention in 1981), then picked up in 1960 by Nazi Tacuara saluter Ahmad Shukairy who by Oct-17-1961 added that garbage-touch apartheid slur too and questioned Catholic Uruguayan rep. Enrique Fabregat's loyalty, stating because he's (supposedly) a Jew. And both, of course were Hitler's ally ex-mufti Islamic leader al-Husseini avid fans. With Shukairy his aide.
Speaking of ex Mufti's admirers... Sufi Abdul Hamid, infamous 'Black Hitler' in NY who called to drive out Italians and Jews in the 1929-30, was also his admirer.
RE FARAKHANNISTS & FAKE "PRO-"
One might begin to argue there is such a thing as "pro Palestine", (only) when Farrakhan linked Ilhan Omar / Linda Sarsour / Rashida Tlaib will have a routine of decrying Arab Muslim suffering when it's not in context of Israel (who has been facing existential threat ever since) but suffering when by Arab Muslim entities. One would then hear about a real en-masse massacre. Such as hundreds of thousands in Syria, current example. And if they begin to do anything along the line, then no lip service please. But with that same "passion" as in fake "sympathy" played at the 'other' case.
The absentee reason is clear. Self explanatory. Because pro Palestine is a cover for anti Israel and often anti ALL Jews.
A note re L Farrakhan, that guy with his "blue eyes are the devil," when he uttered his "termites" venom, his genocidal hint was clear under the veil. For more about Dehumanization in radical Islamic Arab or even mainstream racist "Palestinian" education and sermons, search for "apes and pigs, Palestinians". Or see PalWatch and MEMRI.