Friday, August 03, 2018
Headlines for Aug. 3, 2018
Headlines with an * are the ones we managed to fit in in our allotted 11 minutes.
Worst and Most Misleading Headlines (WAMMH) -- August 3, 2018
*Undercounting of deaths in Iraq gets worse
From MSNBC :
"THE SOLDIER, killed late Friday, was the 52nd to die in combat in Iraq since President Bush declared major fighting over on May 1. So far 167 soldiers have died in the Iraq War, 20 more than during the 1991 Gulf War." [Early days; final death toll exceeded 4400 for U.S. soldiers, only, not counting contractors, etc., and definitely not counting soldiers who later committed suicide, died while homeless, killed their spouses, etc.]
The first sentence is just the usual cover-up of the true extent of deaths in Iraq [by emphasizing a lower number], but the second sentence is an out-and-out lie. In actual fact, as of today 251 soldiers have "died in the Iraq War," not 167. 167 of those may be classified by the military as deaths "in combat," i.e., deaths directly attributable to actions of enemy soldiers, with the rest characterized variously (and, in many cases, dubiously) as "accidents." However the other 84 soldiers are no less dead, and their families no less grieving. For MSNBC to suggest that they did not "die in the Iraq War" in nothing less than an outrage.
Note also the word "soldiers" in the second sentence. For the record, British and Iraqi soldiers are human too, but here, as is all too often the case, for US media, only US lives matter.
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These kind of biases continue to this day. US killed AT LEAST 1800 civilians in Raqqa, according to HRW (not a Syria-friendly source), probably many more. Meanwhile US acknowledges 23!! And note how this permeates: Two weeks ago, interviewing Putin, Chris Wallace (http://www.foxnews.com/transcript/2018/07/16/chris-wallace-interviews-russian-president-vladimir-putin.html ): “ I don't think that there has been the bloodshed in Raqqa that there was, the hundreds of thousands of people that were killed in Aleppo and in Ghouta.” Actual number in Ghouta? 1400.
CANDIDATE FOR “BEST”:
Cuba plans 135,000 meetings to get public feedback on its proposed constitution
Not bad, not misleading, not funny, just amazing that this is a headline and an article in the notoriously anti-Cuban Miami Herald. And to demonstrate that these 135,000 meetings are meaningful and that the Cuban government wants everyone to come to those meetings informed and ready to discuss the proposed changes and offer modifications of their own: "On Tuesday, the first of about 600,000 copies of the proposed constitution went on sale for one Cuban peso (4 cents) at newsstands and post offices in Havana and the central provinces, and the government also posted an online version for download."
Incidentally there was no mention at all of this process in WaPo, which editorialized against the new Constitution (not "democratic" enough).
CANDIDATES FOR “WORST”/”MOST DISGUSTING”:
*Black Mom Collapses, Ambulance Won’t Help Because She’s Uninsured. Now She’s Dead.
Same story (not as direct a headline): https://www.wfla.com/news/hillsborough-county/mother-says-her-daughter-died-because-of-profiling-and-race/1321113124
Headline says it all. After arguing about the lack of insurance, EMS drivers finally agreed to carry the woman downstairs to her mother’s car, but by the time she got to the hospital, she was dead. Time is of the essence for stroke victims. Having to spend time arguing with EMS drivers about insurance is a direct cause of death.
*Florida teacher quits to become full-time grocery shopper and doubles his salary
A good indication of how much society values its teachers. Even before making this change, he spent 20 years teaching and working a second job to make ends meet.
Trump Now Seems Fine With Letting North Korea Keep Its Nukes
The author claims that "You may have thought [the June 12 agreement] had something to do with North Korea agreeing to “denuclearize”—to give up its nuclear weapons. While no such commitment was in the actual document the leaders signed, Trump has repeatedly implied that was what the two leaders agreed to. But North Korea is not unilaterally disarming."
Um, yeah, they're not. The June 12 agreement says: "recognizing that mutual confidence building can promote the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, President Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un state the following:" followed by four points. The first two are precisely about "mutual confidence building" and the third point, which follows, says " the DPRK commits to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula."
CANDIDATES FOR “MOST MISLEADING”:
*Facebook Has Identified Ongoing Political Influence Campaign
The word “Russia” appears in this article 8 times, despite the fact that FB “has been unable to tie the accounts to Russia”. But what was the result? FB disabled an event calling for a counterprotest to the Unite the Right DC march! And Abolish ICE is definitely suspect! They also say “domestic actors” may try to “abuse the platform” (by creating anti-fascist events?) [Interestingly that paragraph has disappeared from an updated version of the article]. A Washington Post article on the subject also warned about “domestic ideologues” (also, curiously, which has disappeared from an updated version of their article).
Facebook bans pages aimed at US election interference
There is nothing in the revealed material that has anything to do with elections, but apparently BBC is able to discern the motivations of unknown persons who created these pages.
Russian Hackers Appear to Shift Focus to U.S. Power Grid
“State-sponsored Russian hackers appear far more interested this year in demonstrating that they can disrupt the American electric utility grid than the midterm elections.” Demonstrating? Has something happened? Answer: no.
Why this? Because: “intelligence officials said they have seen little activity by Russian military hackers aimed at either major American political figures or state voter registration systems.” That just days after warnings of “red lights going off”!
Two Italian Artists Who Painted Mural of Ahed Tamimi Barred From Israel for 10 Years, Lawyer Says
Our “Headline you didn’t see” for the week. As far as I can tell, not a single Western media outlet covered this story, although BBC found space for a non-story about Pussy Riot being released from prison in Russia after their arrest for storming the field at the World Cup.
CANDIDATES FOR “FUNNIEST”:
*Crows Are Always Jerks to Ravens, Research Confirms
Living alongside a group of crows can be murder for a raven. Across North America, common ravens are regularly harassed by gangs of crows (more properly called a “murder of crows”)..
Trump could teach Ocasio-Cortez a Thing or Two About Socialism (retitled: Our Socialist President)
For the second time this month, George Will tries to smear socialism by identifying it with the sins of capitalism. And we objected when they called *Obama* a socialist. Now it’s Trump! Why a socialist? Because of $12 billion subsidy to farmers. “ the essence of socialism, which is 10-thumbed government picking winners and losers and advancing the politicization of everything .” “Protectionism — government coercion supplanting the voluntary transactions of markets in the allocation of wealth and opportunity — is socialism for the well connected.” As noted by Brian last week, socialism is about power — for the masses, for working people. “Socialism for the well connected” is an oxymoron. Favorite line from the article: “the word “socialism” is thrilling progressives who hanker to storm the Bastille, if only America had one.” No, it doesn’t have one. It has thousands.
Democratic socialist writer levels with voters: We want to ‘end capitalism’
“The eventual goal is to transform the world to promote everyone’s needs rather than to produce massive profits for a small handful of citizens." FOX thinks this will scare its viewers, and maybe it will, but thanks to them, the Jacobin story it refers to will get much wider circulation on social media than it would have, and will have the opposite effect from what they hope for.
