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Friday, January 10, 2020


 

Headlines for Jan. 10, 2020




Click here to listen to this week's segment on Loud & Clear Radio.  We were preempted last week, so there are "old" headlines below as well.
Headlines with an * are the ones we managed to fit in in our allotted time slot.


Worst, Most Misleading & Funniest Headlines for Jan. 10, 2020


*The reason Qassem Soleimani was in Baghdad shows how complex the Iran crisis is
Subhead: The commander is said to have been in Iraq to discuss moves to ease tensions between Tehran and Saudi Arabia – something that will have been of interest to Washington
https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/qassem-soleimani-death-iran-baghdad-middle-east-iraq-saudi-arabia-a9272901.html
The headline that did not appear (and not just in a headline) in any US corporate media outlet, meaning the American people are completely uninformed about this clearly significant information #FakeNewsByOmission
Note that this peace initiative was no secret — it was reported last month in the WSJ: https://www.wsj.com/articles/saudi-arabia-seeks-to-ease-tensions-with-iran-11576178194

*Pro-Iranian Protesters End Siege of U.S. Embassy in Baghdad
Subhead: Iran’s ability to deploy militias to attack the American Embassy, with Iraqi support, made clear how much power it wields in Iraq.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/01/world/middleeast/us-embassy-baghdad-iraq.html
Zero evidence that Iran “deployed militias”. By the next day, David Sanger was referring to the “Iranian-backed attack on the United States Embassy”, again with no evidence to back up that assertion. A demonstration of how the U.S. media helps fuel the war drive.

*US isolationism leaves Middle East on edge as new decade dawns
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/dec/29/trump-us-allies-isolationism-middle-east-rivalries-new-decade
[Appears the same day US planes kill 25 Iraqi militia members] 800 military bases and bombing seven countries and trying to overthrow governments in Bolivia and Venezuela etc etc equals…isolationism? Another case of confusing Donald Trump’s words with U.S. actions.

*Iranian General Traveled With Impunity, Until American Drones Found Him
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/world/middleeast/suleimani-iran-iraq-strike.html
As if Suleimani was like Osama bin Laden hiding in a cave, and not someone who was featured in stories in U.S. media just a few years ago. And impunity? He’s not a war criminal.
The impersonality of the headline is reminiscent of the famous NYT headline from the 2014 Israeli war on Gaza: 
Missile at Beachside Gaza Cafe Finds Patrons Poised for World Cup
https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/11/world/middleeast/missile-at-beachside-gaza-cafe-finds-patrons-poised-for-world-cup.html
Both headlines have now been changed, but the Gaza one is immortalized in the URL.
How about: Iranian General traveled openly until the US decided to assassinate him?

Qassim Suleimani, Master of Iran’s Intrigue, Built a Shiite Axis of Power in Mideast
Was: Qassim Suleimani, Master of Iran’s Intrigue and Force, Dies at 62
Subhead: The commander helped direct wars in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen, and he became the face of Iran’s efforts to build a regional bloc of Shiite power.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/03/obituaries/qassem-soleimani-dead.html
“Dies”. Also, those “wars” in Iraq and Syria were wars eradicating ISIS, but you’d never know it from the subhead.

Trump Backs Away From Further Military Conflict With Iran
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/08/world/middleeast/trump-speech.html
Bad enough, but the Mercury News runs this as a subhead under the headline “Trump: US ‘ready to embrace peace’”
Lede: “President Trump backed away from further military action against Iran and called for renewed diplomacy.” End of the third paragraph: “he dropped for now his bombastic threats of escalating force, vowing instead to increase economic sanctions while calling for new negotiations.” This could only be a written in a world that doesn’t acknowledge that sanctions are war, intended to (and do) kill people. Tulsi Gabbard frequently refers to sanctions, quite accurately, as a modern-day seige.

*Bolton Is Willing to Testify in Trump Impeachment Trial, Raising Pressure for Witnesses
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/06/us/politics/bolton-testify-impeachment-trial.html
What an empty promise. He’ll do so IF subpoenaed by the Senate. As if that’s going to happen!

*From the Brig to Mar-a-Lago, Former Navy SEAL Capitalizes on Newfound Fame
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/31/us/navy-seals-edward-gallagher-trump.html
It’s only the first week of the year, but this may hold up as the most disgusting headline and article of the year. War criminal Eddie Gallagher has a new clothing line, and the NYT happily gives him free publicity.

Facebook executive says company was responsible for Trump’s victory but warns against policy changes
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/01/07/facebook-exec-says-company-was-responsible-trumps-victory-warns-against-policy-changes/
5th paragraph: “Bosworth dismissed the idea that Russian efforts to manipulate U.S. voters over Facebook, a subject of extensive government investigation and journalistic scrutiny, were crucial to Trump’s victory.” From his actual report: “$100,000 in ads on Facebook can be a powerful tool but it can’t buy you an American election, especially when the candidates themselves are putting up several orders of magnitude more money on the same platform (not to mention other platforms).”
Proper headlines from Forbes:
Top Facebook Exec Says Trump’s Ad Strategy Won Him The Election — And Could Do It In 2020
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rachelsandler/2020/01/07/facebook-executive-says-trumps-facebook-ad-strategy-won-him-the-2016-election/#4ea04b3c737b

Will the United States Lose the Universe?
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/23/science/telescopes-magellan-hawaii-astronomy.html
First China, now the universe? And, since we’re talking about China, there’s no mention in this article of China’s recently finished FAST radio telescope, the largest in the world, nor of its planned, but not yet built, giant optical telescope. Only European telescopes still in the planning stage are mentioned. The article does feature a rare positive (or is it) reference to Tulsi Gabbard and her support for native Hawaiian objections to the Mauna Kea telescope.

Trump’s Iran Strike Hands Biden Edge in 2020 Democratic Race
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-03/trump-s-iran-strike-gives-edge-to-one-2020-democrat-joe-biden
Sure, because running the Queen of Warmongers against Trump in 2016 worked out so well.

Trump upended three decades of U.S. strategy with North Korea, but the gamble has failed to pay off
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-upended-three-decades-of-us-strategy-with-north-korea-but-the-gamble-has-failed-to-pay-off/2020/01/02/fd9afa84-2d79-11ea-bcb3-ac6482c4a92f_story.html
Another case of confusing words with actions. Trump did upend the policy of not talking to North Korea. But the strategy — make DPRK suffer via crippling sanctions until it bends to US will — never changed at all.

North Korea Is Not Done Trolling Trump
Perpetuating the notion that North Korea conducts its foreign policy not in the interests of its own people, but just to “get attention” or “troll Trump”. “The government in Pyongyang is looking to establish a new normal: One where it gets to threaten San Francisco with incineration, and we get to do nothing.” “Crippling sanctions” and maintaining 30,000 troops in South Korea is not “doing nothing”!

Pete Buttigieg raised $24.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, campaign says
Bernie Sanders campaign announces a massive cash haul of $34.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2019
Not changing headlines this time, but changing pictures. The original Sanders picture was a menacing picture of Sanders rubbing his hands together, looking uncomfortably similar to some classic caricatures of “greedy Jews”.

In 2020, will Democrats embrace vanilla?
[George Will] “[Sanders continued strength] is encouraging because Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) continue to divide, more or less evenly, the “let’s give government lots more to do” constituency. The longer this balance persists, the more time that normal — meaning not very agitated or attentive — voters have to rally ’round candidates who do not make prudent people wince.” But, contrary to the premise of the article, vanilla is actually a flavor, not the absence of one, and centrism is very much a choice — a choice to see continued wars of aggression, a choice to continue to see people die from lack of health care, and so on.

A British barrister was famous for battling Brexit. Then he beat a fox to death, while wearing a kimono.

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