WEEKLY NEWS REPORT (13 May 2018)

Vol. 1, №7

The mass media’s main functions are to divide, distract, and disinform. To consume news intelligently, we need filter out the distractions. Only then can we see how power works, in real time. This week, while the mass media was talking about Stormy Daniels, these things happened:

INTERNATIONAL

Syria

AP and Middle East Eye reported that Israel struck a military outpost near Damascus on Tuesday. The attack came an hour after President Donald Trump announced he was withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal. Six Syrian soldiers and 21 foreign fighters, including 11 Iranians, were killed in the attack.

Afghanistan

The Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) reported that only 1 of 18 reports of Commander Emergency Response Programs (CERP), met the requirements to determine whether the project was effective. In all, $1.5 billion has been spent on the CERP. Poor reporting makes it impossible to determine what effect, if any, the programs had.

Yahoo reported that the Afghan economy has slowed in the five years since the U.S. withdrew combat troops. Growth dropped from 9.4% in 2012, to 2.1% last year. Since 2012, the number of Afghanis living in under $1 a day, rose from 34% to 55%. The primary cause is the decline in security and civilian foreign aid.

Israel

Palestine News Network reported that Israel’s military exports rose by 41% in 2017, the third consecutive year of growth in military exports. Israel sold $9.2 billion in weapons last year. India was its biggest customer, at $715 million.

972 Magazine reported that one Palestinian was killed and dozens were injured, after Israeli snipers opened fire on the “Great Return March,” which is in its 7th week. According to the United Nations, since the Great Return March began nearly two months ago, Israeli snipers have shot over 5,000 Palestinian protesters, killing at least 40.

France

SputnikNews and Reuters reported that two human rights organizations have sued the government to stop arms sales to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The lawsuits allege that the sales are in breach of national and international law.

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Human Rights Watch reported that Saudi Arabia has detained thousands of people, some for over a decade, without referring them to courts for criminal proceedings. Saudi authorities claim these cases are under investigation. One critic called the practice arbitrary detention, a violation of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights. “This effectively means that Saudi authorities can detain and jail anyone they want by claiming they are investigating them, however endless the investigation.”

The New Arab reported that when asked about the Iran’s possible reactions to President Trump’s withdrawal from the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said, “If Iran acquires nuclear capability we will do everything we can to do the same.”

Lebanon

Yahoo and Al Jazeera reported that last week’s election resulted in a victory for the Hezbollah party. Hezbolla is a Shiite party, backed by Iran. The main loser was a Saudi party, represented by Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who was largely seen as a pawn of the Saudi regime. It was the country’s first general election in nine years. Sky News reported that Israeli education minister Naftali Bennett wrote on Twitter: “The State of Israel will not differentiate between the sovereign State of Lebanon and Hezbollah, and will view Lebanon as responsible for any action from within its territory.” Hezbollah won 29 seats in Lebanon’s 128-seat parliament.

Yemen

The New Arab reported that protesters held protest rallies against the United Arab Emirates’ growing presence in Socotra (suh-cot-ruh). The protesters demanded Emirati troops withdraw from the island and chanted slogans in support of Yemen’s government. Although the UAE also supports the government, the Hadi government called the UAE incursion “unjustified.” The island is a world natural heritage site.

India

Buzzfeed reported that the trial of 8 Hindi men for the rape and murder of an 8-year old Muslim girl has been moved from Jammu to Punjab. Deepika Singh Rajawat, the lawyer for the victim’s family, called the ruling a victory. Pre-trial publicity in Jammu raised strong Islamophobic sentiments. Rajawat has been physically threatened for taking the case. One news channel called her “anti-national.”

Libya

Middle East Eye reported that the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the arrest of Mahmoud al-Werfalli, who was accused of war crimes. Werfalli, a special forces commander, served in the Al-Saiqa Brigade, an elite force within military leader Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan National Army. The warrant was issued on evidence that he personally executed 33 prisoners in Benghazi last year. Recent video footage shows him executing 37 more men, who were unarmed and bound.

Malaysia

The BBC reported that 92-year-old Mahathir Mohamad of the Pakatan Harapan (PH) party, ousted Najib Razak of the the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition. BN has been in power since the nation gained its independence, over 60 years ago. Mohamad was previously prime minister, and Razak was his protégé. Mohamad ran and won on Razak’s corruption. The Guardian and Al Jazeera reported that Razak, who is accused of stealing $700 million in state funds, was denied permission to leave the country on a planned vacation.

Morocco

Reuters, the Middle East Eye and Al Arabiya reported that Morocco has severed diplomatic ties with Iran, over Tehran’s support for the Polisario Front, a Western Sahara independence movement. Morocco has become the latest Arab country to side with Riyad in the continuing power struggle between the KSA and Iran.

Nicaragua

The U.N. Office of the Commission for Human Rights reported that at least 47 people, mostly students, have been killed in connection with protests that began a month ago. The demonstrations began as a reaction to social security reforms, but have widened to include calls for accountability for these deaths, and to demand justice and democracy.

North Korea

The Hill reported that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the U.S. would be willing to offer economic help to North Korea if Pyongyang takes concrete steps toward denuclearization.

Philippines

Al Jazeera reported that Philippine Supreme Court voted to expel chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno for failure to report earnings in a financial disclosure. Activists said the dismissal was politically motivated, and that the vote signals “the death of democracy” in the Southeast Asian country. Justice Sereno has been an outspoken critic of President Rodrigo Duterte.

NATIONAL

Borders

The Hill reported that White House chief of staff John Kelly defended the Trump administration’s new “zero tolerance” policy on border-crossing immigrants, claiming that separating immigrant families was not cruel, as some critics have alleged. Masha Gessen, a columnist for the New Yorker, opined that taking children from their parents is a form of state terror. Kelly said, “The children will be taken care of — put into foster care or whatever.”

The ACLU announced that it filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security, challenging the government’s fast-growing practice of searching travelers’ electronic devices without a warrant. The lawsuit seeks to establish that the government must have a warrant, based on probable cause that there was a violation of immigration or customs laws, before DHS can conduct these searches.

Comcast

Reuters reported that there is a bidding war to purchase Twenty-First Century Fox’s film, television, and international businesses. Comcast is preparing a $60 billion all-cash bid. Disney recently made a $52 billion all-stock offer. Currently, Comcast owns NBC, Disney owns ABC.

Education

Bloomberg Law reported that the Department of Labor is planning to roll back youth labor protections, which currently limit teenagers from working under hazardous workplace conditions. The DOL will propose relaxing the decades-old rules called Hazardous Occupations Orders (HOS). The HOS prohibit 16- and 17-year-olds from receiving extended, supervised training in certain dangerous jobs, such as roofing work and operating chainsaws.

The Los Angeles Times reported that Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will shut its student lending office, according to a bureau-wide memo written by its acting director, Mick Mulvaney. The student loan office at the CFPB was responsible for administering $750 million in student loan relief. The move represents a larger Trump administration policy of pulling back on investigating and regulating abuses by lenders in the $1.5-trillion student loan market.

FBI

Al Jazeera and The Guardian reported that a US judge dismissed the indictment against Christopher Daniels, known as Rakem Balogun, ordering him to be released from pre-trial detention. He was arrested for possessing firearms in violation of probation. His lawyers successfully argued that a prior misdemeanor conviction did not make possessing firearms illegal. Daniels is considered by many to be the first person arrested under the FBI’s Black Identity Extremist (BIE) designation. Critics say the FBI’s designation was designed more to punish activists for their political activity, than to solve security issues.

Housing

The Intercept reported that the Department of Housing and Urban Development has been sued for suspending enforcement of the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing (AFFH) rule, which was enacted in 2015 after a finding that local governments were taking the benefits of federal HUD dollars, without meaningfully advancing the integration purposes of the 1968 Fair Housing Act. Prior to his appointment as HUD secretary, Ben Carson called AFFH one of other “failed socialist experiments.”

Pentagon

Foreign Policy reported that a logistics company called Kuwait and Gulf Link Transport (KGL), was awarded a large contract, despite having acknowledged it had created a “ghost structure” to do business in violation of sanctions against Iran. The Pentagon’s Defense Logistics Agency awarded a $1.38 billion contract for food supplies to a KGL subsidiary, just weeks after their lawyer acknowledged to a U.S. court that the firm had previously set up a shell company, to operate as a go-between with a U.S.-sanctioned Iranian partner.

Torture

Pro Publica reported that recently de-classified CIA documents show Gina Haspel’s involvement with the interrogation and torture of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri in a CIA black site in Thailand code-named “Cat’s Eye.” Documents show al-Nashiri was locked in a “confinement box” for nearly two days, his head and beard forcibly shaved off “while the subject grimaced and cried theatrically.” He was bashed against a wall, and was waterboarded. Haspel supervised the interrogation, which critics have called war crimes. Her nomination as director of CIA is currently being considered by the Senate.

Trade

Pro Publica reported that Leviton, a manufacturer of electrical wiring equipment, stands to benefit from a bill currently pending in congress, which would eliminate taxes the company pays to import an outlet it makes in China. The Miscellaneous Tariff Bill Act of 2018 provides for waivers on such finished products, so long as there are no competing U.S. manufacturers. Levitron qualifies for the waiver, because it closed its U.S. plant, and moved manufacturing overseas. On the campaign trail in 2016, President Trump singled out Levitron as a company that was abusing trade rules.

Unions

The Guardian reported that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), introduced the Workplace Democracy Act, which would: (1) allow workers to form unions by simply presenting employers with the signatures of a majority of workers, (2) force employers to submit to mandatory arbitration, if the union and the employer are unable to reach a union contract after 90 days of bargaining, (3) ban so-called “right-to-work” provisions of the Taft-Hartley Act, which allow workers receiving union representation to opt out of paying union dues, (4) streamline the process for seeking legal action against employers, and (5) dramatically increase penalties for employers that fire workers for union organizing. The Teamsters announced that it is endorsing the legislation.

STATE AND LOCAL

Colorado

Westword reported that the legislature is finalizing a bill that would cut teachers’ retirement benefits, and raise their required contributions, in order to make up for funding shortfalls. Assets of the Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA), much like other state public retirement funds, are increasingly being invested in exotic and risky “alternative” investments, which also happen to yield high fees for the investment managers. Over the course of 7 years, PERA paid fund managers at least $1 billion. That number is difficult to verify, though, as the state previously passed rules, written by the financial industry, barring the details of fees paid to fund managers from being revealed to the public.

Illinois

NPR reported that Tronc, the parent company of the Chicago Tribune, has recognized the employee’s new labor union. The Tribune has a century-old editorial position opposing labor unions. The successful organizing effort gained momentum after a series of revelations shed light on Tronc’s business performance, including executive compensation.

Louisiana

News Star reported that Louisiana’s Department of Health will begin sending eviction notices to more than 30,000 nursing home residents, who could lose Medicaid under the budget passed by the state House of Representatives. The budget passed by the House contains deep cuts to healthcare, to compensate for a budget shortfall caused by expiring sources of tax revenue. Senate Finance Chair Eric LaFleur (D) remarked, “This make us look heartless.”

The Times Picayune reported that a senate committee voted to allow state prisoners to work on construction projects at the Department of Corrections’ administrative buildings and the state capitol complex. Prisoners would be paid between 4 and 70 cents per hour for these jobs, or be able to earn credit toward an earlier release.

The Advocate reported that more than two dozen inmates at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola refused to go to work on the farm after two inmates attacked two prison guards. A week before, an inmate tried to run away from guards while he was working in a farm line. Guard fired two warning shots at him before he was tackled and restrained. The Department of Corrections said there was no connection between the two incidents.

Democracy Now reported that the energy company Entergy paid actors to attend, and in some cases speak, at public hearings, in support of a proposed $210 million power plant in eastern New Orleans. Actors were given so many seats at the hearings, that there were no seats left for activists opposed to the plant, who were forced to watch the hearing in the lobby, on closed-circuit television.

Maryland

The Hill reported that Gov. Larry Hogan (R) is planning to sign a bill that will give thousands of low- and middle-income students free community college tuition.

Missouri

St. Louis Today reported that Public Defender Mary Fox filed a lawsuit asking the court to force Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner to release evidence in criminal trials within 10 days, as required by local rules. Prosecutors have waited as long as 8 months to turn over evidence. In the meantime, many defendants are held in jail while their cases are stalled, because they cannot afford bail.

Oklahoma

Think Progress reported that, weeks after Oklahoma teachers ended a 9-day strike, which secured salary increases and additional education funding, legislators introduced a bill that aims to hamper membership in the teachers’ unions. The bill would require a majority vote by teachers every 5 years to keep their collective bargaining unit, and would prohibit school districts from deducting union dues from teacher paychecks, leaving teachers to make their own arrangements to make union dues payments.

Tennessee

Injustice Today reported that Walmart has an arrangement with local prosecutors where serial shoplifters are being “upcharged” from misdemeanors to felonies. Serial shoplifters are usually charged with misdemeanors when caught. Under Tennessee law, by issuing a “Notification of Restriction from Property” against a shoplifter, a subsequent crime becomes felony burglary. Penalties for felonies over misdemeanors are dramatically increased. A defendant can receive 5 years in jail for shoplifting a $5 item.

West Virginia

Raw Story reported that incumbent Sen. Robert Karnes (R) was defeated in the GOP primary by Delegate Bill Hamilton (R). Karnes had opposed a teacher’s strike earlier this year, claiming they were “abandoning” children. Hamilton won the primary with strong support from teachers, many of who changed party affiliation to vote against Karnes.

STRANGE BUT TRUE

Illinois

Pantagraph reported that Chad Larner, training director of a K-9 training academy in Macon County, said that if a law currently being considered in the legislature decriminalizing personal use of marijuana was passed, drug-sniffing dogs would have to be retired, and some would have to be euthanized. Dan Linn, of Illinois NORML, called that suggestion “ridiculous and hyperbolic.”

The purpose of these summaries is to encourage curious readers to do further research. Links to, and summaries of, these news reports is not an endorsement of the source, or a representation that the stories are adequately sourced, unbiased, or are even accurately reported. Read critically!