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Friday, August 16, 2019


 

Headlines for August 16, 2019




Click here (and go to 42:40 in the show) to listen to this week's segment on Loud & Clear Radio which, for this week only, was part of a longer "Week in Review" hour.
Headlines with an * are the ones we managed to fit in in our allotted time slot.
Worst, Most Misleading & Funniest Headlines for August 16, 2019


*Wyatt Detention Facility correctional officer put on leave after truck drives into protesters; 64-year-old Warren man seriously injured

https://www.providencejournal.com/news/20190815/wyatt-detention-facility-correctional-officer-put-on-leave-after-truck-drives-into-protesters-64-year-old-warren-man-seriously-injured
Just to emphasize the headline, the first line: “One protester was seriously injured after a black pickup truck drove into a crowd demonstrating at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility Wednesday night.” One of those self-driving trucks, evidently. Reminiscent of one of the most infamous NYT headlines during the 2014 Israeli assault on Gaza: “Missile at Beachside Gaza Cafe Finds Patrons Poised for World Cup”. No Israelis involved, apparently. (http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/11/world/middleeast/missile-at-beachside-gaza-cafe-finds-patrons-poised-for-world-cup.html?_r=0 )

*Jeffrey Epstein Commits Suicide at Manhattan Jail
Modified to (but not any better):
*Jeffrey Epstein Dead in Suicide at Jail, Spurring Inquiries (or, Officials Say)
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/10/nyregion/jeffrey-epstein-suicide.html
Definitive pronunciation, no ”apparent” or any qualification. This was before even an autopsy had been performed, much less an investigation.

*Epstein Suicide Conspiracies Show How Our Information System Is Poisoned
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/11/opinion/jeffrey-epstein-suicide-conspiracies.html
Perhaps, but the fact that the NYT and many others immediately branded Epstein’s death a suicide before even a coroner’s report was out, much less an investigation, reflects just as poorly on our information system.

*Putin’s private army — Russia tightens grip on Africa, but Moscow doesn’t want to admit it
https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2019/08/africa/putins-private-army-car-intl/
The “Africa” of the headline is basically one country, the Central African Republic, and that “grip” consists of 250 Russian mercenaries training army recruits. Evidence this has anything to do with Putin or even the Russian government? “Analysts say it’s inconceivable that Wagner  [the Russian mercenary company] would exist without Putin’s approval.” And the fact that there are 34 (known) U.S. military bases in Africa and an entire command (Africom)? Unmentioned in this article about “Russia’s grip” on Africa.

*Venezuela’s Maduro Cracks Down on His Own Military in Bid to Retain Power
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/13/world/americas/venezuela-military-maduro.html
The article talks about people who were accused of participating in coup plots including attempted assassinations of Maduro. Calling that “cracking down on the military” is absurd; it hardly constitutes “turn[ing] a brutal apparatus of repression against its own military” as the article alleges. And Maduro doesn’t need to make a “bid to retain power”; he is in power. 

Israel bars Democratic congresswomen from entering country
https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/15/politics/israel-visit-ilhan-omar-rashida-tlaib-intl/index.html
[NYT used the same headline on its home page although the actual article used a different headline]
At the time this happened, there were 41 Democratic members of Congress (along with 31 Republicans) in Israel, some of them surely women. Omar and Tlaib weren’t barred as “Democratic congresswomen”, they were barred as pro-Palestinian (or pro-BDS) congresswomen, just as so many other “regular” Americans have been.

Barring two U.S. lawmakers from Israel is un-Israeli. Trump’s cheering for it is un-American. [WaPo editorial]
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/barring-two-us-lawmakers-from-israel-is-un-israeli-trumps-cheering-for-it-is-un-american/2019/08/15/e203a368-bf86-11e9-9b73-fd3c65ef8f9c_story.html
Israel has been barring BDS supporters like Medea Benjamin for years, and Palestinians for decades. So the barring of Omar and Tlaib is hardly “un-Israeli” [The same edition of the WaPo actually carried an article headlined “Reps. Omar and Tlaib join a list of prominent figures barred by Israel” https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/08/15/reps-omar-tlaib-join-list-prominent-figures-barred-by-israel/ ]. And American support for Israel’s discriminatory actions has also been going on for decades, so Trump’s action was hardly “un-American”.

Trump wants to focus on the ‘real threat’ to elections: Not Russia, but imaginary voter fraud
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/08/14/trump-wants-focus-real-threat-elections-not-russia-imaginary-voter-fraud/
Wrong on multiple levels. First, the real threat is not Russia, as implied by the headline, but voter suppression including crosscheck, along with money in politics, gerrymandering, rules which suppress third party access, and more. And second, the author talks about Trump pushing voter ID, but rather than noting that voter ID is being pushed as a voter suppression tool, he merely notes how useless it is against the almost imaginary voter fraud.

Why Bernie Sanders Stood Out at the Iowa State Fair
Subhead: Most candidates go to the fair to establish human connections with voters. Mr. Sanders’s approach underscored how his campaign is focused primarily on championing ideas.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/12/us/politics/bernie-sanders-iowa.html
From the headline, you’d think this was a positive article about Sanders. Anything but. He gave a speech. So did every other candidate! So he didn’t spend as much time schmoozing as some others. OMG, he’s done!

US calls China a 'thuggish regime' for 'harassing' Hong Kong-based American diplomat
https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/09/politics/hong-kong-china-us-intl-hnk/index.html
A U.S. diplomat meets with protesters in Hong Kong, protesters who are waving British flags and calling for the recolonization of Hong Kong — that’s the real “thuggish” behavior. The personal information? “the names of her husband and children.”
Interestingly enough, Julie Eadeh’s Twitter account has been deleted, she has no Wikipedia entry, a State Dept. profile of her from 2011 can be found archived on the web, but no longer exists, nor does any information on her.
*Workers line up for jobs opened by ICE Raids
Changed to: Citizens line up for Mississippi jobs but fear the impact of ICE raids
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2019/08/13/citizens-line-up-mississippi-jobs-fear-ice-raids-impact-immigrants/
The real story, which should be in the headline, is how the workers who showed up expressed sympathy for the workers eliminated by the raid, even though they might have been expected to resent them for "taking 'their' jobs".



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