Friday, June 08, 2018
Headlines for June 8, 2018
Click here to listen to this week's segment on Loud & Clear Radio.
Headlines with an * are the ones we managed to fit in in our allotted 11 minutes.
CANDIDATES FOR “WORST”/”MOST DISGUSTING”:
*A Woman Dedicated to Saving Lives Loses Hers in Gaza Violence
Actually a decent article, even with an accompanying video including an interview with murdered medic Razan al-Najjar, but the headline is the usual outrage on two grounds — no indication of HOW she “lost her life”, and the utterly misleading phrase “Gaza violence”. If anything, it should read "Israeli violence". What’s wrong with “Israeli snipers murder Palestinian dedicated to saving lives”?
*Israeli Video Portrays Medic Killed in Gaza as Tool of Hamas
Reducing this horrendous war crime to a he-said, she-said situation based on Israeli propaganda.
@IDFSpokesperson edited a video of the murdered medic Razan al-Najjar to say "I am a human shield," when what Razan ACTUALLY says is, "I'm here as a rescuing human shield to protect and save the wounded at the frontlines." And, in something the video uses to portray her as some kind of terrorist, she throws a tear gas canister, which came originally from Israel, away from her (maybe 20 yards at most) into an empty field, not at anyone. And of course Israel accuses her of being “Hamas”, just like Donald Trump labels everything that puts him in a bad light as “Fake News”.
US envoy to reporters: ‘Keep your mouths shut’ on criticizing Israel over Gaza
“David Friedman says the media should either figure out how anyone could have better dealt with the border protests or stop its negative coverage of the Jewish state.” Anyone with any suggestions? And by the way, why the media’s job is to report on the protests, not to “figure out how Israel should deal with them”. No coverage of this direct attack on the press in the US media, by the way.
*Kim Jong-un’s Image Shift: From Nuclear Madman to Skillful Leader
It wasn’t Kim who “shifted”; it was the corporate media. Kim was never a “nuclear madman”.
Will Trump Raise North Korea's Human Rights Abuses At Summit With Kim Jong Un?
Will Kim raise the subject of Guantanamo? Cops murdering unarmed Black and Brown people? Homelessness? People freezing to death because they can’t afford to turn on the heat? People dying from lack of health care? NPR doesn’t want to know. Nor are they concerned with the fact that US sanctions are a major contributor to the suffering of the Korean people, just as they are with the Iranian people, the Cuban people, and others.
CANDIDATES FOR “MOST MISLEADING”:
*North Korea's three new military leaders are loyal to Kim, not policies
Says who? Says “a senior U.S. official and North Korea leadership analysts in Seoul”. It could be true. Or it could be as true as the 2016 report from the BBC that “North Korea has executed its army chief of staff Ri Yong-gil,” the man who was just named as the Army’s Chief of General Staff.
Days after Taliban assault in western Afghanistan, allegations of an Iranian role
But zero actual EVIDENCE. A headline (and article) produced for one reason only — to advance the anti-Iran agenda.
Pentagon: ‘No one will ever know’ how many civilians U.S. has killed in fight against ISIS
On the one hand, this isn't misleading at all. The Colonel in charge says "I am just being honest, no one will ever know. Anyone who claims they will know is lying, and there’s no possible way." And he's right. But it's also a way of covering up the fact that they just don't care to know, just like in Afghanistan or Iraq, despite his claim of "the U.S. military’s best efforts to assess civilian casualties." Also a way to pretend that "“We adhere to a meticulous targeting and strike process that always aims to minimize harm to noncombatants and civilian infrastructure."
Ivanka Trump Was In Contact With A Russian Who Offered A Trump-Putin Meeting
But from the article: "There is no evidence that Ivanka Trump’s contact with the athlete — the former Olympic weightlifter Dmitry Klokov — was illegal or that it had anything to do with the election. Nor is it clear that Klokov could even have introduced Trump to the Russian president. But congressional investigators have reviewed emails and questioned witnesses about the interaction, according to two of the sources, and so has special counsel Robert Mueller’s team, according to the other two."
At least 100 killed in Nicaragua as political violence intensifies
100 is the total “since the uprising began” (in April), and the article contains no information about how many of the 100 were government supporters vs government opponents (or who killed them).
CANDIDATES FOR “FUNNIEST”:
*American Airlines to debut smaller bathrooms for North American flights
How is that even possible??? “bathrooms on the new Boeing 737-Max airplanes will now be only 24 inches wide, which many have said is too small for most adults”. Most caskets? 28” wide!!!
*Israel Responds With 'Mean Girls' GIF After Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei's Nuclear Threats
Rachel McAdams (as Israel) saying “Why are you so obsessed with me?” Gee, I wonder. The real (and probably unintended) insult—in this analogy, Iran is Lindsay Lohan. Incidentally Khamenei did not make any “nuclear threats”. He ordered increased enrichment (within the scope of the JCPOA) and said “Israel is a malignant cancerous tumor in the West Asian region that has to be removed and eradicated”, which is actually a threat, but not a nuclear one.
A Kentucky crowd cheered a valedictorian for quoting Trump. Then he told them it was Obama.
Funny for what it says about the polarization in America, but for sure it could have also been the other way around. Like this Trump quote about deporting unaccompanied minors: “They should be sent back as soon as it can be determined who responsible adults in their families are.” Oh wait, that was Hillary Clinton.
New report finds no evidence that having sex with robots is healthy
Maker of sex robot says: “Roxxxy, our sex robot, provides what every adult needs — unconditional love and support. The ability to feel the loving embrace of a lover is a right every adult should be granted. We provide a solution to help adults meet their social as well as sexual needs.”
Ethics professor: “It offends me that they think a hu
