Friday, March 22, 2019
Headlines for March 22, 2019
Headlines with an * are the ones we managed to fit in in our allotted time slot.
Worst, Most Misleading & Funniest Headlines for March 22, 2019
*Progressives Should Learn to Love the Pentagon Budget
The military creates middle-class jobs, provides health care and spreads liberal values.
The military creates middle-class jobs, provides health care and spreads liberal values.
“The greatest long-term threat to America's ability to invest in infrastructure, education and other progressive priorities is not the Pentagon. It is the combination of insufficient tax revenues (a problem progressives did not cause) and runaway entitlement spending (Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid) that progressives have so far shown scant interest in containing.”
“the Pentagon budget also serves as a huge jobs program and source of economic security for the middle class”
“It is true that money spent on defense could theoretically be spent instead on other programs that might also benefit the middle class.” Programs whose products (health care, education, infrastructure) would benefit not only the producers but everyone, unlike building missiles & bombs which may benefit the workers but produces nothing of value other than promoting imperialism and killing its targets.
Ultimately he’s really arguing for imperialism: “liberalism in the U.S. will be most secure in a world where liberalism is predominant - and that requires the liberal powers to maintain an overbalance of military might.”
*Why America Needs a Stronger Defense Industry
Investing in the sector means more jobs at home and improved security abroad.
Investing in the sector means more jobs at home and improved security abroad.
Remarkable; a second nearly identical article!
*Amy Klobuchar defends her staff treatment, says toughness needed when dealing with Putin
Huh? (Reports claimed: “Staffers said they were subject to outbursts over little matters and even office objects were thrown.”) So she’s practicing so she can be mean to Putin? Throw paper clips at him? Her claim: “When you're out there on the world stage and dealing with people like Vladimir Putin, yeah, you want someone who's tough.” I think she’s confusing “tough” with “being an asshole”.
*As Trump escalates rhetoric, Iran's wartime preparations include terrorist attacks and assassinations
Author is Zach Dorfman, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs and someone who publishes in a wide range of publications. Mixed in with the obvious (Iran conducts espionage), the article rehashes a long series of unproven slanders such as alleged Iranian targeting of U.S. and Israeli intelligence officers in Europe along with unproven past allegations such as the bombing of a Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires.
Remarkably, it refers to the 1983 bombing of a U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut as "terrorism", but calls the centrifuge-destroying Stuxnet virus and the Israeli murder of Iranian scientists "intelligence operations." The article refers to Iran's alleged plans for terrorism as "asymmetric warfare", but I'd say the article itself is "asymmetric journalism".
Schiff: Real question is if Trump is under the influence of a foreign power
With Trump having moved the US Embassy to Jerusalem and possibly on the verge of recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, it would seem the answer is obviously yes. But no, of course Schiff is talking about Russia, not Israel. Russia, the country whose interests Trump has supposedly served by withdrawing from the INF, opposing Nordstream II, trying to overthrow the Venezuelan government, sending heavy weapons to Ukraine, and much much more.
*Abrams Can't Explain How Guido is "President"
I call Abrams' explanation the Schroedinger's Presidency — Maduro is simultaneosly not President, but also President, because that's the reason why Guaidó's 30-day interim Presidency hasn't started yet.
After Rockets Are Fired at Tel Aviv, Israel and Hamas Quickly Pull Back
An infuriating headline, which omits any mention of the 100 airstrikes (with orders of magnitude more effect) on Gaza. A brief mention in the article that Israel “retaliated swiftly” and later referring to how Israel retaliated “in a measured way” give a completely misleading impression of the Israeli response to what the Israeli military itself concluded was the mistaken launch of two rockets from Gaza.
*A shadowy group trying to overthrow Kim Jong Un raided a North Korean embassy in broad daylight
A shadowy group called the CIA? It has been reported in Spanish media that “At least two of the 10 assailants who broke into the embassy and interrogated diplomatic staff have been identified and have connections to the US intelligence agency,” although what those connections are wasn’t made public. The article presents the usual denials/no comments, but attempts to convince the reader why the CIA wouldn’t have been involved: “Any hint of U.S. involvement in an assault on a diplomatic compound could have derailed the [Trump-Kim] talks, a prospect the CIA would likely be mindful of.” But actually, given the hostility of the establishment to Trump’s efforts at peace with the DPRK, that’s actually a reason why they would be involved.
