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Saturday, January 23, 2021

 Norwegian MP Who Nominated Trump for Nobel Peace Prize Warns About Big Brother








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In days following the US Capitol siege, Donald Trump has been banned from almost all major social media platforms; this has sparked an exodus of users to alternative platforms in an attempt to avoid what is seen as censorship.

Norwegian MP and liberal-conservative Progress Party heavyweight Christian Tybring-Gjedde has condemned the recent purge of the social media, during which thousands of accounts were deleted, including that of US President Donald Trump, and the closure of alternative social media network Parler, marketed as a “free speech” alternative to Twitter.

In a lengthy Facebook post, Tybring-Gjedde called the decision “unwise” and warned of “selective freedom of speech”.

“Firstly, there is no historical experience that gagging free speech somehow leads to less aggression and rebellion, but even more serious is that we allow a few people to act as opinion police and define which utterances can be accepted and which must be censored,” Tybring-Gjedde, who outside of Norway is most known for nominating Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, said.

Tybring-Gjedde warned of far-reaching consequences.

“They ban from actual access to the platform and justify this with the fact that the probability that Trump writes something the technology giants do not find acceptable is high and that they therefore want to be careful. A parallel can be that you arrest an alleged thief, not only for the allegation that the person has stolen, but in anticipation of the next potential theft because the probability of relapse is high. Don't even try, Big Brother doesn't only see you, but also reads your thoughts.”

Tybring-Gjedde also emphasised that the way in which this is done may seem illegal, suggesting that “such prejudice violates the principle of legal defence”.

In a subsequent comment to the news outlet Resett, Tybring-Gjedde ventured that many are reluctant to look at the issue in a principled way because “the hatred of Trump is almost total”.

“Additionally, he comes from the right. Then the principles often vanish,” Tybring-Gjedde told Resett.

The Progress Party heavyweight called for a public discussion about “the power that the media giants have usurped” and pledged to address this development at the next party meeting.

The Facebook post sparked an influx of comments, with many Norwegians agreeing with Tybring-Gjedde. Many invoked other Orwellian metaphors, drawing parallels between “Big Tech censorship” and the classic dystopia 1984.

In days following the US Capitol siege, Donald Trump has been banned from almost all major social media platforms. While Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and Reddit have all banned him, payment giant Stripe has prohibited the Trump campaign from receiving donations and Shopify has shut down two stores linked to Trump.

The social media giants' exclusion of Trump has unleashed a landslide of users switching to other social media to avoid the meddling seen as opinion policing. Social media alternatives such as Parler, Gab and Telegram have gained millions of users

REPOSTED FROM SPUTNIK VOICE OF THE GRU FOR TRUMPERS

Wednesday, January 05, 2022

ORWELLIAN POSTMODERN STALINISM
Hong Kong's Lam: Media closures unrelated to press freedom




 Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam listens to reporters' questions during a news conference in Hong Kong, Thursday, Dec. 30, 2021. Lam on Tuesday said that the recent closure of two media outlets in the city cannot be associated with the state of press freedom in Hong Kong as the decisions were made by the outlets themselves. Her comments came almost a week after authorities arrested seven people associated with pro-democracy online news outlet Stand News over sedition, with the outlet announcing that it would cease operations. Days later, another online site Citizen News also said it would stop operating. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu, File)

ZEN SOO
Mon, January 3, 2022

HONG KONG (AP) — Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Tuesday said the recent closure of two media outlets in the city does not indicate a decline in press freedom as the decisions were made by the outlets themselves.

Her comments came almost a week after authorities arrested seven people associated with pro-democracy online news site Stand News for alleged sedition, with the outlet then announcing it would cease operations. Days later, another online site, Citizen News, also said it would stop operating.

“For none of the media outlets, we did not do anything. They were never approached by law enforcement agencies,” Lam said during a news conference Tuesday.

“But if they decided to cease operation out of their own concerns, I think this is nothing out of the ordinary." She added that Hong Kong authorities do "not seek to crack down on press freedom.”

Lam said the government follows the rule of law in Hong Kong, and that when she first assumed office, she opened up government news conferences to online sites and met with the Hong Kong Journalists Association.

In response to charges that the closure of the online media indicates the “extinction” of press freedom in Hong Kong, Lam said she “cannot accept that sort of allegations.”

“Nothing is more important than the rule of law,” she said. She also said that as long as news outlets do not engage in illegal acts, they can continue to report news in Hong Kong.

She said there was an increase of 5.4% in local news outlets registered in the city, and a jump of 9.4% for overseas outlets since a sweeping National Security Law was enacted in the city in June 2020.

“So you cannot say that the freedom of press is eroded due to the closing of the two media outlets,” Lam said.

Since the security law came into effect, over a hundred people have been arrested, including many pro-democracy activists and some journalists who previously worked for the now-defunct Apple Daily and Stand News.

On Tuesday, a pro-democracy activist and key member of the now-disbanded Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China, Chow Hang-tung, was sentenced to 15 months in prison after being convicted of inciting people to join a banned vigil last year commemorating the 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in Beijing's Tiananmen Square.

She was told to serve an additional 10 months of top of a current 12-month sentence she is serving for her role in the vigil in 2020, which was also banned.

Separately, Lam said the city will tighten vaccine requirements to cover not only entertainment venues but also places such as libraries, schools and museums.

The requirement will be tightened from Feb. 24, and will require those entering such venues to have at least one vaccine dose against COVID-19.

The expansion of the vaccine mandate comes days after Hong Kong reported its first omicron COVID-19 cluster, linked to several Cathay Pacific crew members who broke isolation rules and visited dining spots and bars across the city before later testing positive for omicron.

The city was largely able to keep the delta variant from causing local outbreaks through strict quarantine rules. Hong Kong currently designates all countries with local omicron outbreaks as “high-risk” countries, requiring arrivals from those countries to serve a 21-day quarantine.


Hong Kong leader says she cannot accept claims press freedom faces 'extinction'



FILE PHOTO: Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam speaks at a news conference in Beijin

Mon, January 3, 2022

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam said on Tuesday she could not accept suggestions that press freedom in the city faces "extinction", just days after police raided an online media outlet and arrested seven people including senior editors.

Lam was speaking at a weekly news conference as another independent online outlet, Citizen News, ceased operations in the face of what it described as a "deteriorating" media environment in the Chinese-ruled former British colony.

"This morning I read news about, because of the closure of online medium, press freedom in Hong Kong faces extinction ... I just cannot accept that sort of allegations," Lam said, adding that nothing was more important than rule of law.


Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the promise that wide-ranging individual rights, including a free press, would be protected. But rights groups and some Western governments say freedoms have been eroded, in particular since Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020.

The government has repeatedly denied targeting the media and curbing freedoms in the global financial hub. China says rights advocacy is being used as an attempt to disrupt Hong Kong's progress after the national security law restored stability.

Officers raided the office of the Stand News online publication last week, froze its assets and arrested seven current and former senior editors and former board members. Two editors have been charged with sedition.

Lam has hit back at foreign governments demanding the release of the seven, saying such a move would be against the former British colony's rule of law.

The police operation against Stand News came a day after Hong Kong prosecutors laid an additional charge of sedition against jailed media tycoon Jimmy Lai, 74, of the now-shuttered, pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily.

On Monday, online publication Citizen News said its decision to cease operations from Tuesday was triggered by the closure and arrests at Stand News and to ensure the safety of its staff.

(Reporting By Edmond Ng and Donny Kwok, Writing by Anne Marie Roantree; Editing by)

Saturday, January 13, 2024

OPINION
Mr Biden, you are a war criminal



US President Joe Biden speaks at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, on January 5, 2024
 [Kyle Mazza – Anadolu Agency]

by Dr. Johannes Dragsbaek Schmidt
Middle East Monitor.
January 12, 2024 

In case you forgot Joe Biden, you are the commander in chief and the president of the United States. You are responsible for the slaughter and mass atrocities in Gaza. More than 24,000 have been killed in three months and almost 60,000 have been injured; 8,000 more are missing. About two-thirds of those figures are made up of children and women. According to the WFP, 70 per cent of the population is starving and half of the physical infrastructure, housing, hospitals etc have been bombed to rubble. You have signed the death sentence of these innocent human beings. Israel’s leaders openly promote collective punishment and without any hesitation brutally attack hospitals, schools and UN facilities. Untreated sewage and overcrowding are leading to the rapid spread of disease, with the full support of the White House in Washington.

The consequences are that your country is sinking together with Israel and your friend the war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu. Your country is isolated both diplomatically, politically and morally. Your support of the most intense bombing campaign in history is not only related to human rights, which you normally use as a weapon to coerce other countries, it is also undemocratic, goes against the Geneva Convention and is an attempted genocide and ethnic cleansing. South Africa has filed a case at the main judicial body for the United Nations, the International Court of Justice in The Hague, accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Your country is not only complicit, but in real time Israel would not be able to commit genocide without your help.
Crimes against humanity

Let us take it one by one. The crimes against humanity include mass starvation and famine. The denial of water, fuel, electricity, medical supplies and food to the 2.3 million Palestinians living in the camp, ghetto, prison or whatever you prefer, is not only a war crime it is genocidal examples of aggravated war crimes explicitly prohibited by provisions of the 4th Geneva Convention on Belligerent Occupation. Israel as the Occupying Power does not enjoy any right of self-defence against an Occupied People and is under a pervasive duty to protect the civilian population under all circumstances. Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently said: “For over two months, Israel has been depriving Gaza’s population of food and water, a policy spurred on or endorsed by high-ranking Israeli officials and reflecting an intent to starve civilians as a method of warfare.” It added: “World leaders should be speaking out against this abhorrent war crime, which has devastating effects on Gaza’s population.”


Half of the population are starving, nine out of 10 are not eating every day

According to HRW: “Providing weapons that knowingly and significantly would contribute to unlawful attacks can make those providing them complicit in war crimes.” The same organisation has called for an arms embargo to be imposed on Israel to stop its unlawful attacks.

On 25 December 2023 the Times of Israel wrote that 245 US transport planes and 20 ships have delivered more than 10,000 tonnes of military aid. The Defence Ministry has made 40 billion shekels (almost $2.8 billion) in additional purchases from the US of armaments and military equipment since the start of the conflict.

According to Bloomberg, your country has sent “2,000 laser-guided Hellfire missiles that can be launched from Apache helicopters,” as well as an array of other mortars and ammo, including “36,000 rounds of 30mm cannon ammunition, 1,800 of the requested M141 bunker-buster munitions and at least 3,500 night-vision devices.” Approximately 92 per cent of Israel’s arms industry is either financed by or delivered from the US. These weapons are used to kill Palestinian refugees including women and children in an unprecedented manner. This is not all. Other sources note that Israel is using 155mm shells and 120mm mortar shells to strike both Lebanon and Gaza with white phosphorus. Your Administration has also provided intelligence and logistics help in order to expedite a smooth genocidal war against the Palestinians.

In addition, there are at least 15 US navy ships in the region, air surveillance, American drones over Gaza, fighter squadrons and thousands of troops to project US military strength in support of Israel’s war crimes in Gaza and the West Bank and as a deterrence against Israel’s neighbours.

Mr Biden. This is your legacy

Your government cannot support a ceasefire in the UN Security Council in the unjust onslaught of the people in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. In fact, there is no war. There is no self-defence. One of the best equipped armies in the world is committing attempted genocide by using a scorched-earth annihilation strategy. There is no real war taking place. There are some 300,000 soldiers against a small group of 30,000 guerilla fighters with light weapons. This cannot be described as a war. The biggest forced displacement in history of more than two million people, or more than 80 per cent of the total population, in the shortest span of time is the disaster that will taint your records for future historians.

Your unwavering support for the genocidal regime in Tel Aviv is undermining future references to human rights and democracy by your Administration. My guess is that the Orwellian Newspeak of ‘pauses’ instead of ceasefire and ‘no visa for violent and militant settlers’ from the West Bank (implicitly recognising the illegal settlements) are blatantly clear examples of the primitive hypocrisy coming out of the White House. It is easy to see that the attempt to mislead the world by claiming that the US is trying to moderate Israel’s brutal massacre against the Palestinian people is pure propaganda and spin. This is also the case with your government’s rebuke against the fascist ministers in Israel suggesting mass deportation of Palestinians from Gaza.

May I remind you that Secretary of State Antony Blinken in the beginning of October aggressively tried to force Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Jordan’s King Adullah to take in hundreds of thousand refugees. In December, your friend Netanyahu told members of the Likud party that Israel is “working to facilitate the so-called ‘voluntary migration’ of Gaza’s Palestinians.”

Danny Danon, Israel’s former ambassador to the UN, was interviewed by Kan Bet radio and claimed he had been contacted by “countries in Latin America and Africa that are willing to absorb refugees from the Gaza Strip.”

“We have to make it easier for Gazans to leave for other countries,” he said. “I’m talking about voluntary migration by Palestinians who want to leave.”

There is no existential threat against Israel from an enemy with no army, no air force, no navy, no state and almost no civilian infrastructure, this is indeed a combat between David and Goliath. As stressed by Jeremy Scahill from the Intercept, Mr Biden you have shown unwavering and staunch support for Israel over the past 50 years. The Palestinians do not have hundreds of nuclear weapons which are in the possession of the so-called Israel Defence Forces (IDF). Israel can burn Gaza and its people to the ground because the US facilitates it, politically and militarily. It does not have hundreds of nuclear weapons. Mr Biden, you have been defending Israel’s disproportionate use of force, collective punishment and brutal massacres in plural.

READ: Erdogan accuses US, UK of ‘seeking bloodbath’ in Red Sea

Your government is also supporting the more than 60,000 American settlers in the West Bank. They believe in the heroism of the terrorists and racists Baruch Goldstein and Meir Kahane, two American citizens whose followers are part of the Likud led government. They are seen as the prophets of the settler movement and the American fanatics who compose approximately 15 per cent of the total settler population in the occupied West Bank. In addition, there are about 100,000 US citizens in occupied East Jerusalem.

During the invasion of Lebanon in 1982, as Scahill notes, in public you Mr Biden were neutral, but in private you met with then Prime Minister of Israel, Menachem Begin, and it appears from Begin’s biography that your support for the brutality of the invasion even outstripped the Israeli standpoint. According to Begin’s account, you said you would go even further, even if that meant killing women and children. Israel’s former Ambassador to the United States from 2009-2013, Michael Oren, writes that in Israel’s alliance with America, the first principle was ‘no daylight’. The second, ‘no surprises’. The US and Israel always could disagree but never openly. This is the point as he says “we are an ultimate ally for the United States.”

When elected three years ago, after four years with Donald Trump, you said that you would promise to reclaim the mantle of global leadership as “a strong and trusted partner for peace, progress and security.” But now we see your real purpose as a full time promoter of apartheid in Israel and disaster in Gaza.

Israel’s violations of international law include collective punishment, an emerging famine and diseases due the restriction of food, water, medicine and fuel. It is unprecedented and is eroding all narratives about democracy and human rights. You are even violating US law. According to the US Foreign Assistance Act section 620I “No assistance shall be furnished to any country when it is made known to the president that the government of such country prohibits or otherwise restricts, directly or indirectly, the transport or delivery of US humanitarian assistance.”
Catholicism and terror

Mr Biden, you once referred to himself as “Israel’s best Catholic friend.” A friend who supported and supplied Israel with more than 22,000 guided and unguided bombs which have been dropped on Gaza. According to reports in the New York Times, the Biden Administration is so committed to fuelling the carnage in Gaza that it has even invoked rare emergency powers for transferring tank ammunition without Congressional review. The arms shipment was put on an expedited track right after Washington vetoed a ceasefire proposal in the Security Council.

According to military historian Robert Pape: “Gaza will also go down as a place name denoting one of history’s heaviest conventional bombing campaigns,” comparable to the carpet bombing of German cities in World War II.

Mr Biden, you probably don’t care. One of your famous predecessors Eisenhower advocated “that the nation guard against the potential influence of the military–industrial complex.” This is interesting because it appears that your administration consists of the most right-wing neoconservatives in the history of the United States. Advisers and foreign policy “experts” who still believe the US is Master of the Universe.

Your Administration’s corporate ties illustrate your personal involvement as a warmonger. Your Secretary of Defence and comrade in arms, Lloyd J. Austin III, serves on the board of Raytheon, one of the world’s largest weapons makers while Blinken is affiliated with Pine Island Capital Partners, an investment firm which specialises in defence companies. Both companies have high stakes in delivering deadly weapons for the ethnic cleansing and genocide in Gaza.

The recent Memorandum on United States Conventional Arms Transfer Policy (CAT) from 23 February 2023, states clearly: “The United States CAT Policy will bolster the security of allies and partners and contribute to shared security objectives; enhance global deterrence; promote respect for international humanitarian law and human rights; adhere to international nonproliferation norms; strengthen partnerships that preserve and extend our global influence. Hypocrisy is evident and the world is watching.”

Mr President, you and your government do not comply with international humanitarian law, but it also seems as though you do not uphold your own laws. This can be seen in the light of the humanitarian tragedy unfolding in front of our eyes. The brutal massacres with lethal support from you and your government have clearly shown that you are bereft of commitment to democratic principles. 153 nations demanded a ceasefire in a UN General Assembly vote and again you were isolated when voting against, with ten smaller countries including Israel and Austria. Security Council resolutions were met with a veto from you. It is shameful and shows that you are a war criminal directly supporting famine and genocide. Mr Biden, you, your government and Congress are enabling these annihilations.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.

US quietly sent American Air Force unit to aid Israel in Gaza genocide

Middle East Monitor
January 12, 2024

Residents and civil defense teams carry out a search and rescue operation around the rubble of the building that is demolished after Israeli attacks in Deir al-Balah, Gaza on January 8, 2024
 [Ashraf Amra – Anadolu Agency]

The US is quietly providing intelligence to Israel for targeting purposes in Gaza, deploying US Air Force “intelligence engagement officers on the ground,” according to a deployment order obtained under the Freedom of Information Act and published at the Intercept.

While the administration of President Joe Biden has publicly insisted US forces are not directly aiding Israel’s military campaign in Gaza beyond the rescue of prisoners of war, the newly uncovered deployment orders suggest American personnel are secretly advising on offensive target selection and intelligence gathering.

Freedom of Information Act materials show the US Air Force dispatched officers specialising in “targeting intelligence” to Israel in late November as concerns that Israel is carrying out genocide in Gaza started to grow. The revelation contradicts assurances that US advisers are solely focused on hostage recovery.

READ: Israel’s AI system for target selection has generated ‘mass assassination factory’ in Gaza

“I’ve directed my team to share intelligence and deploy additional experts from across the United States government to consult with and advise the Israeli counterparts on hostage recovery efforts,” said Biden three days after the Hamas attack.

But several weeks later, on 21 November, the US Air Force issued deployment guidelines for officers, including intelligence engagement officers, headed to Israel, the Intercept reported.

Experts say the team would likely provide satellite imagery and analysis directly used for Israeli bombing of suspected Hamas sites in densely populated Gaza. This sensitive targeting support allows the US to coordinate with Israel’s military while avoiding public scrutiny.

The deployment order was issued by the Pentagon’s air component command for the Middle East, Air Forces Central (for Central Command). The document provides deployment instructions to airmen sent to the country, including “airmen assigned as the Intelligence Engagement Officer (IEO)” — personnel who specialise in sharing sensitive intelligence with partner militaries.

Rights advocates argue that by bolstering Israeli capabilities, Washington makes itself complicit in potential war crimes including genocide. US administration statements celebrate supporting Israel’s “self-defence” but conceal specifics of weapons supplied to the occupation state and intelligence provided to target Palestinians.

“As a general matter, US officials who are providing support to another country during armed conflict would want to make sure they are not aiding and abetting war crimes,” Brian Finucane, a former legal adviser for the State Department who now works for Crisis Group, told the Intercept.


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Sunday, August 06, 2023

The Aftermath of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir

#KASHMIR IS #INDIA'S #GAZA

 August 6, 2023
By Nimra Javed
Friday prayers in Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir. © John Isaac

Article 370 of the Indian Constitution grants Jammu and Kashmir a unique status as the only state that can define its own accession term and receive this treatment. In order to legislate and establish other contacts with the Indian Union, the state assembly and government were granted this unique status under the constitution. Article 370 was included in the Indian constitution following discussions between Kashmiri and Indian government officials. This unique status was, however, eroded over time by a number of Draconian measures. To draft its own constitution and approve applicable sections of the Indian Constitution, the IIOJK Constituent Assembly was founded in 1950. Importantly, Article 35A was included to ensure the continuation of the Maharaja’s state subject rule by giving the state government the authority to establish its own definition of permanent residents and place limits on the ability of non-residents to purchase property in the state.

Despite being subjected to Indian aggression, brutality, and tyranny, the people of Jammu and Kashmir were able to maintain their unique culture and identity because of Article 370. It gave the state legislature the power to make laws for Jammu and Kashmir, with the exclusion of the military, the media, and international relations. Article 370’s third clause stated that the J&K constitutional assembly’s approval was needed to alter or repeal the article. Since the legislature was dissolved on January 26, 1957, however, it is impossible to constitutionally revoke the special status. The BJP government unilaterally repealed this law, turning the state into a de facto prison, despite the fact that it had a permanent status. While New Delhi promised that this change would bring prosperity to the state, the reality shows otherwise. Significant shifts and difficulties have resulted from the repeal. Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh are now two independent union regions after the removal of Article 370 on August 5, 2019. With this change, the territory was no longer granted any kind of special status and instead fell under the direct control of the Indian federal government.

Concerns were voiced regarding how the elimination of Article 370 would affect the demographic make-up of the area. Mass migration and settlement by a certain group can shift the demographic balance, as was the case with Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory, which drew criticism from many. The repeal was interpreted as an effort to domesticize the international debate over Kashmir within India. As a result, the unlawful union territory authority in Jammu and Kashmir issued up to 3.5 million bogus residence certificates to foreigners.People who had previously worked for 10 years in various capacities in the territory, such as at colleges, banks, or other jobs, were now able to claim domicile under the new rules for claiming domicile in J&K. Domicile eligibility was extended to include offspring of J&K service personnel and those who had completed high school (grades 11 and 12). Some people aren’t happy with all the domiciles being given out, especially to former soldiers known as Sainiks. This has prompted concerns among locals about a possible effort to manipulate the area’s population composition and threatens their safety.

Some people are worried that the ruling party, the BJP, is trying to control the region’s majority Muslim population by settling extremist Hindus in the valley, which could lead to ethnic cleansing and the emergence of new conflicts. As a precautionary step following the revocation, some Jammu and Kashmir political figures were detained or placed under house arrest. Syed Ali Gillani, Yasin Malik, Omar Abdullah, and Mehbooba Mufti are just some of the prominent regional party leaders that were threatened with detention. The goal of this action was to silence the Kashmiri government. While visiting New York, Indian author Arundhati Roy declared, “The biggest myth of all times is that India is a democracy.” Actually, it’s not the case. Several Indian states are dangerously close to civil conflict. The number of reported rapes has been steadily rising since article 370 was repealed. IIOJK is notorious for its use of torture, sexual assault, kidnapping, nighttime raids, disappearances, and mass graves. Human rights abuses have been systematic and pervasive in J&K for at least 40 years, according to UNHCR findings from 2018 and 2019. Khurram Parvez, three of his accomplices, and Parveena Ahanger were among the prominent human rights activists whose homes and offices were raided by the NIA on various occasions in 2020. Ajay Kumar Mishra, minister of state for the home, said in the Rajya Sabha, “the cost of pursuing journalism in Jammu & Kashmir is huge.”

The executive editor of The Kashmir Times, Anuradha Bhasin, told the wire that they are under constant observation and that government policies have all but muzzled the media. Journalists in Kashmir are often subjected to ‘police verification’ requests, which can take the form of either a verbal’ summons’ and questioning, or a physical raid. She writes about the persecution of Kashmiri journalists in her book, “A Dismantled State” (The Untold Story of Kashmir after Article 379), which was written after Article 370 was revoked. This book details the ‘Orwellian policy’ of punishing, jailing, and otherwise intimidating journalists into silence, and the damage done to the fourth pillar of democracy as a result. It’s now difficult for journalists to operate without interference.There has been a surge in the number of extrajudicial executions committed by armed organizations in the region. The Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCC) has reported that since August 5th of this year, 165 people have been killed in Indian-led search and cordon operations. The economy and job market in the area have also been significantly impacted by the repeal of Article 370. The Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) reports that the jobless rate has risen to 16.2 percent, which is more than twice as high as the 6.7 percent unemployment rate in the Indian Union. The withdrawal of special status has had severe economic ramifications for the people of Jammu & Kashmir, with an estimated 500,000 people losing their jobs. Kashmir’s business community, according to the Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industries (KCCI), lost almost 40,000 crore rupees due to the current adverse environment. The Indian government has claimed that Article 370 is to blame for the state’s lack of economic progress, although the truth appears to be more nuanced and complex. Significant difficulties have arisen as a result of the abrogation, which has had an effect on the economy and other facets of regional life.

The Indian government opted to hold online auctions for mineral extraction bids during the communication shutdown in Kashmir. This, however, prevented Kashmiris from applying, therefore almost all of the permits went to Indians rather than Kashmiris. Sand, boulders, gravel, and other riverbed materials were made available for mining in over 200 mineral blocks along the Jhelum River and its tributaries, spread over all 10 districts of the region. In an interview with Anadolu Agency, local contractor Abdul Ahad voiced his concerns, saying, “It is not injustice but murder with us and our families.” Because of this, a record-breaking 70% of all mining contracts went to Native Americans. There are still many unknowns and unanswered questions concerning the future of the region as a result of these shifts. The situation in Kashmir requires our care and attention. Only sincere diplomatic efforts, with human rights and the aspirations of the people as their top priorities, will bring peace and stability to the region. As global citizens, we have a responsibility to keep an eye on the situation in Kashmir and work toward a peaceful resolution that protects the region’s distinct culture and the future of its people. True peace and reconciliation in Kashmir can only be achieved in a world where ideals of justice and fairness reign supreme and no one’s suffering goes ignored or neglected.


Nimra Javed is Researcher at CISS AJK and working on Nuclear Politics & Disarmament, Emerging Technologies and New Trends in Warfare. Writer can be reached at: @NimrahJaved_

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Harper Government (c)(tm)(r)

Welcome to the Orwellian World of the Conservative Government. The Canadian Government becomes the Harper Government (c) (tm)(r) a decision made in 2009 but only revealed this month. As they quietly implemented it across various departments in their continuous use of taxpayer programs and funding for their permanent election campaign.

The “Harper Government” moniker rose to prominence in 2009, when its use was noted in light of a controversy over Conservative MPs posing with giant, mock government cheques bearing the party logo and MPs’ signatures. The mock cheques were consigned to the dust bin, and the “Harper Government” handle went into partial hibernation.

Since December, the “Harper Government” has returned with a vengeance, sprouting like mushrooms across departmental communications.

Scores of recent news releases — from the Canada Revenue Agency to Fisheries and Oceans, Finance, International Trade, Health Canada and Industry Canada — are all headlined by “Harper Government” actions.

Even the Treasury Board Secretariat is using the term.

In this video clip former Minister for the Treasury Board, Stockwell Day deny's, denys, denys--it's the standard Government policy to deny until one is caught.

Sunday, April 24, 2022

PAKISTAN

Editorial
Imran Khan’s rallies

DAWN
Published April 23, 2022 -

AFTER three massive rallies in Peshawar, Karachi and Lahore, Imran Khan has proven that he still commands significant respect. The sudden revival of his political fortunes was quite unexpected, and it goes to show how shrewdly he has played the political hand he was dealt.

The reaffirmation of his supporters’ faith in him should give him enough confidence to proceed headlong into his campaign for early elections. As a leader, he ought to take this opportunity to turn a fresh page and rewrite his political destiny based on lessons learnt from his first stint in power. It is unfortunate that he, instead, continues to amplify a toxic narrative that risks turning the people of Pakistan against the state, its institutions and even themselves.

From between the lines of an angry speech, which has varied little from city to city, Mr Khan has demanded from the powers that be that they give him an early election. It is the only way, he says, to set right the wrong that he believes was done to him.

The call for a march on Islamabad, to be announced at a date of his choosing, is leverage for enforcing that demand. It remains to be seen how seriously and enthusiastically it is taken up by his supporters, if indeed matters come to that. However, it does have the potential to throw another spanner in the works for the new coalition government, which suddenly finds itself with everything to lose after walking itself into a political quagmire littered with economic landmines.

Editorial: Imran’s choice

Still, Mr Khan must realise that the best-laid plans often go awry.

Dharnas and jalsas alone may not be enough to sway the umpire’s finger, as they once did in 2014. His graph may be rising today, but political fortunes are fickle and subject to the vagaries of time. It would be prudent, therefore, that he finds a new tune to pipe for the people following him.

There has always been something distinctly Orwellian about Mr Khan’s vision for a ‘Naya Pakistan’, but the heady mix of religion and hyper-nationalism he has introduced in recent speeches takes it to another level. Granted that most among our political lot simply cannot resist appealing to our basest instincts when attempting to turn our loyalties against each other, but turning political differences with rival parties into grounds for hate and revulsion of the other is not only unnecessary; it is deplorable.

Mr Khan often describes Mohammad Ali Jinnah as his “only leader”, forgetting that it was statecraft and diplomacy that made Mr Jinnah ‘Quaid-i-Azam’. If Mr Khan wishes to emulate the Quaid, he needs something substantially more wholesome than a narrative that paints anyone who has ever disagreed with him as a traitor. He ought to rise above the politics of hate and adopt a narrative of inclusion and reconciliation instead.

Published in Dawn, April 23rd, 2022

Wednesday, September 27, 2023

"Trumpism imperils all Jewish Americans": Experts warn of "America's rising tide of antisemitism"


Chauncey DeVega
SALON
Mon, September 25, 2023 




Last Sunday was the Jewish New Year and High Holy Day of Rosh Hashanah. As a public figure, in his role as ex-president and now Republican 2024 frontrunner, Donald Trump could have chosen many ways to honor Rosh Hashanah. He could have issued an obligatory statement acknowledging Rosh Hashanah and its significance for the Jewish people. Of course, Trump could have simply decided to be quiet instead of being a gum beater. Instead, Trump celebrated Rosh Hashanah by threatening Jewish Americans who do not support him in a post he shared via his Truth Social disinformation platform last Sunday night:

"Just a quick reminder for liberal Jews who voted to destroy America & Israel because you believed in false narratives! Let's hope you learned from your mistake & make better choices moving forward! Happy New Year!"

Trump's threats and the distinction he makes between "good Jews" and "bad Jews", the supporters of him and his neofascist MAGA movement and those who dare to oppose him and it, are centuries-old antisemitic tropes.

Trump's threats against Jewish people on Rosh Hashanah are but one example of many where throughout his decades of public life – and especially during his time as president and after – where the ex-president has proven himself to be a white supremacist and an antisemite.

MSNBC offers these examples:

During his 2016 campaign, for example, Trump spoke to the Republican Jewish Coalition and said, "You're not gonna support me because I don't want your money. You want to control your politicians." He added, "I'm a negotiator — like you folks."

Several months later, in the runup to Election Day, the Republican promoted antisemitic imagery through social media. In the closing days of the 2016 campaign, Trump again faced accusations of antisemitism, claiming Hillary Clinton met "in secret with international banks to plot the destruction of U.S. sovereignty in order to enrich these global financial powers."

While in office, the then-president used some highly provocative rhetoric about Jews and what he expected about their "loyalties." Soon after, Trump spoke at the Israeli American Council's national summit, where he suggested Jewish people are primarily focused on wealth, which is why he expected them to support his re-election campaign.


NBC News adds:

In an interview in 2021, Trump also said, "The Jewish people in the United States either don't like Israel or don't care about Israel."

"I'll tell you, the evangelical Christians love Israel more than the Jews in this country," said Trump, who won strong support from white evangelical voters in 2016 and 2020, according to the Pew Research Center.

Trump also came under fire for his remarks in response to the 2017 violence in Charlottesville, Virginia. At the Unite the Right rally in August 2017, white nationalists and neo-Nazis carried tiki torches and chanted "Jews will not replace us," among other slogans.

CNN offers this additional context:

Trump has a long history of criticizing Jewish American voters who do not support him and of playing into antisemitic tropes.

More recently, ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, he criticized American Jews for what he argued was their insufficient praise of his policies toward Israel, including moving the US Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

In 2021, Trump claimed Jewish Americans "either don't like Israel or don't care about Israel," while also suggesting that evangelical Christians "love Israel more than the Jews in this country." In 2019, he accused Democrats of being part of an "anti-Israel" and "anti-Jewish party." And during his first campaign for president, Trump delivered a speech to the Republican Jewish Coalition in which he repeatedly referred to the audience of Jewish donors as "negotiators." He is scheduled to address the group's annual leadership summit next month in Las Vegas.

America's democracy crisis and ascendant neofascism are a state of malignant normality where antisocial and other antihuman and antidemocratic behavior becomes increasingly common as elites and the general public grow numb to it.

To that point, Trump's latest example of antisemitic behavior and the evil it represents should have been the focus of much media coverage, condemnation by the country's political leaders, and public outrage. Instead, with few exceptions, Trump's vile behavior was largely ignored, except as the latest controversy of the day in a political environment driven by the 24/7 news cycle, hyper politics, and the culture of distraction. Such is how democracy dies.

Via email, I asked antiracism activist and author Tim Wise for his thoughts about Trump's threats against Jewish people on Rosh Hashanah and how it fits into a larger context of racial authoritarianism:

This is just more of the same: "othering" distinct numerical minorities for the problems of the country. Whether brown-skinned immigrants, Black folks in cities, trans persons in schools, or Jews at the ballot box, Trumpism and MAGA ideology is all about scapegoating those deemed as somehow deviant from the white, Christian, straight norm. And by dividing Jews between the "good" conservative ones and the "bad" liberal ones, Trump is engaging a trope that has always been utilized by anti-Semites. From the "good" Jews who were willing to convert, or at least hide their Jewishness during the Inquisition to the "good" Jews who served as Kapos to the Nazis, anti-Jewish bigots have always found examples of Jews they like. But only as a cudgel to use against the rest. If this kind of signaling isn't confronted, immediately, and forcefully by all Jews, and the Christians who constantly tell us how much they love us, anti-Jewish bigotry will likely grow even stronger. And with it, all the other bigotries that are part of Trumpism.

I also asked philosopher and Holocaust scholar John Roth for his thoughts about Trump's threats against Jewish people who he is targeting because of their "disloyalty." Roth connects Trump's antisemitic threats to the ex-president's recent interview on NBC's "Meet the Press":

His reflection deficient, his repentance nonexistent, Donald Trump demonstrated how little he knows and appreciates about Judaism and Jews when his insulting New Year's jibe to Jewish Americans desecrated Rosh Hashanah and the Days of Awe by thoughtlessly accusing "liberal Jews" of voting to "destroy America & Israel."

Earlier that same day, September 17, Kristen Welker's inaugural "Meet the Press" program featured her fraught interview with the indicted former president. She questioned Trump about his often-repeated vow to take retribution against his political enemies. "When you launched your campaign in March," she said to him, " you told the crowd, quote, 'I am your retribution.' What does that mean? What does that look like?" With more candor than usual, Trump replied that "I have to protect people," making clear that he meant his staunch, anti-democratic, and often violence-prone allies. "When I talk about retribution," he insisted, "I'm talking about fairness."

That comment was cunning and deceitful at once. Trump divides the world into those who support him and those who don't. In his calculations, fairness for his supporters means—it requires—payback and revenge against his opposition. That's how his protection scheme works. In his words and calculations, in his retribution racket, Trump's transactional antisemitism is writ large.

In an email to Salon, Ethan Katz, who is Associate Professor of History and Jewish Studies at UC-Berkeley, and co-founder of the Antisemitism Education Initiative at Berkeley, historicized Trump's most recent antisemitic screed in the following way:

The idea that many Jews are "unpatriotic" and working against the interests of the nation, unless they pass a certain purity test, goes back to longstanding antisemitic notions about Jewish dual loyalty, Jewish conspiracy, and Jewish power and control behind the scenes. Speaking here of "liberal Jews" sounds to many like it is code for the likes of George Soros, which for the extreme right is very clearly code for Jewish bankers, for Jews who allegedly control the world financial system, have enormous power, and exploit the masses. And the notion is present here also that Jews should be grateful for all that the government is doing for them — as if they are a monolith separate from everyone else, defined solely by their ethnicity or religion in how they vote, and see the world, and identify.

In reality, of course, for most American Jews, Israel is only one of a number of important issues shaping their voting behavior, and views of Israel for a majority of American Jews are far more nuanced than the views President Trump represents here. Moreover, deciding to target Jews on one of their holiest days in this way also comes uncomfortably close to medieval images of Jews as religiously impure due to their alleged opposition to Christianity, and the persistent (if clearly false and discredited claim) that they had murdered Jesus Christ.

Trump's antisemitic and white supremacist threats are both contributing to and reflect a larger societal environment where hate crimes and right-wing terrorism have been escalating during his time in office and now almost 3 years since he was defeated by President Biden.

Law enforcement and other experts are continuing to warn that white supremacists and other right-wing extremists and malign actors represent the greatest threat to the country's domestic safety and security. Neo-Nazis and other white supremacists and neofascists have engaged in mass shootings and other such lethal violence targeting Jewish people, Muslims, African-Americans, the LGBTQI community, and other marginalized groups and "enemies" throughout the Trumpocene.

Hate crimes against Jewish people in America are at historic levels. This includes bomb threats against synagogues on Rosh Hashanah.

In Florida, neo-Nazis have become increasingly emboldened by Gov. Ron DeSantis, a man who they correctly see as their leader. Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump, and other leading Republican fascists and their forces are enacting an Orwellian Thought Crime regime in Florida and other parts of the country, where "un-American" and "un-patriotic" books and other materials deemed too "woke" or otherwise contaminated with the "Critical Race Theory Mind Virus", i.e. they are not right-wing indoctrination and propaganda mind killers, are being banned. These banned books (and courses) include those that focus on the Holocaust.

"Disloyal" and "dangerous" teachers and other educators are also being threatened with violence, harassed, and even fired from their jobs.19th-century German poet Heinrich Heine's warning that "those who burn books will in the end burn people" most certainly applies to the Age of Trump.

In his email to Salon, Katz also emphasized how America's rising tide of antisemitism, white supremacy, neofascism, and other attacks on multiracial pluralistic democracy and society in the Age of Trump and beyond are part of a much larger revolutionary project by the global right:

In some respects, Trump's relationship to Jews echoes that of a leader like Viktor Orban in Hungary, who is openly autocratic, and has embraced Far Right conspiracy theories about George Soros that seem unmistakably antisemitic, but also has built alliances with more conservative elements in the Hungarian Jewish community. Like the supporters of Orban and a growing number of autocrats in Europe and beyond, many in the MAGA movement appear skeptical of the importance of democratic institutions, and a significant number of these voters are openly hostile to the achievements of the Civil Rights movement and ongoing efforts to make America a more fulsome multiracial democracy. Here I'm speaking of those who really embrace white nationalism, which fixates obsessively on Jews in well-documented and terribly dangerous ways. The American Jewish community, as I mentioned, is diverse in its politics, even as more than 70% of Jewish voters supported Joe Biden, as they have every Democratic nominee for president for decades. But the role that conspiratorial thinking about Jews plays for many of Trump's most right-wing supporters is very worrisome. And Trump's willingness to single out Jews for critique about their voting behavior, on one of their holiest days, will surely be read by many of those voters as a symbol of a shared preoccupation with Jews and alleged Jewish power and influence. Whatever your politics, this should be a cause of grave concern.

Trump's antisemitic threats are not part of a separate and distinct "culture war" by the right-wing as too many among the mainstream news media and political class (especially "centrists" and "liberals" and "progressives") have reflexively and lazily suggested in their attempts to create some false distinction between "real politics" such as voting, elections, and "the economy" vs. "silly" and "dumb" and "distracting" "culture war" issues.

There is no "culture war": in reality, the so-called culture war is a fascist war where the neofascists, white right, and other illiberal and antidemocracy forces know that culture and "real politics" are closely linked as spaces where power (and the future) are contested and won (or lost).

Ultimately, those people who mock and dismiss Trump and the Republican fascist's antisemitism and larger "culture war" behavior are speaking from a lofty perch of imagined security and false safety.

For those who are being targeted, this is all very deadly serious business.

I conclude this essay with a warning from John Roth:

Attacks on some Jews don't stop there. The contagion spreads. Trumpism imperils all Jewish Americans, especially to the extent that they defend the highest traditions of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, which resist the corruption and venality that characterize the American fascism of Trump and his MAGA stalwarts. Trump's hatred of Jewish opposition to him is rooted in his disrespect—and perhaps in some fear—of commitments to justice and truth embedded in the Days of Awe and resolved to hold him accountable.

You have been warned again. We, who are the miner's canary, keep telling you to wake up. Unfortunately, too many people in America insist on not listening.

Saturday, November 14, 2020

‘I...I Am The Mainstream Media,’ Realizes Horrified Tucker Carlson Spiraling Live On Air


Wednesday 3:30PM
•https://www.theonion.com/i-i-am-the-mainstream-media-realizes-horrified-tuc-1845646901


WASHINGTON—Coming to the realization in front of millions of viewers during the broadcast of his show, a horrified Tucker Carlson stated, ‘I…I am the mainstream media’ Wednesday as he began spiraling live on air. “We’ve discovered evidence of rampant voter fraud, and the president has every right to call for an investigation even if the mainstream media thinks...” said Carlson, who trailed off, stared down at his shaking hands, and felt a sudden ringing in his ears as he looked back up and zeroed in on the production crew surrounding him. “The media says…wait. Those liars on TV will try to tell you…oh God. We’re the number-one program on cable news, aren’t we? Fox News…Fox ‘News.’ It’s the media. It’s me. This can’t be. No, no, no, no. Jesus Christ, I make $6 million a year. Get that camera off me!”
At press time, Carlson had torn the microphone from his lapel and fled the set in panic 

ONE OF THESE IS FAKE NEWS 
AND IT AIN'T THE ONION
THAT'S SATIRE

 Victor Davis Hanson to Tucker: Elites Have Turned Election Day Into an 'Entitlement'(SIC)

BLOG By Alexander Watson | November 11, 2020

Victor Davis Hanson speaks with Tucker Carlson on "Tucker Carlson Tonight." 
(Photo credit: YouTube/no one)

Hoover Institution fellow Victor Davis Hanson said that "Big Data, Big Tech, Big Pollster" and more have colluded to turn Election Day into an "entitlement" while on Monday's "Tucker Carlson Tonight." 

“I think it's a transition from a rugged individual who has to take a responsibility to know the issues, show up on Election Day, unless he's working or she’s sick, and then turning it into sort of an entitlement," Hanson told Carlson.

THE RIGHT WING PAVLOVIAN TROPE: ENTITLEMENT

"You just lay back, and whenever you contact a government agent, they’re going to send you a registration form, and somebody is even going to harvest that and knock on the door and fill it out, and the polls are going to tell you who you should vote for because they're scientific, and they have the authority of Twitter or Facebook or social media that you use," he said. "What we did was we took the prime element of citizenship, which is voting on Election Day, that has to be approved and have some authority and sanctity, and we destroyed it."



A full transcript of the quoted section of the show follows: 

Carlson: Victor Davis Hanson is one of the wisest people we ever speak to; he's a senior fellow at the Hoover Institute and he joins us tonight. Professor, thanks so much for coming on. Where do you think we are right now? What’s happening? 

Hanson: Well, I think you outlined sort of a tragic, last Orwellian convergence of Big Data, Big Tech, Big Pollster, Big Money, administrative state and what they did, Tucker, is they rendered the most hallowed date in American traditions, the first Tuesday in November, into an abstraction. It’s a construct. Even the word "absentee ballot" doesn't mean anything anymore. It's ceased to exist and what did they replace it with? This new concept of early voting and mail-in balloting. We never heard those words before and what they mean is 30, 40, 45 days before the election, you can keep voting casually, you can go in, vote, maybe not, any day, there's no one day you vote. Ballots can come in one, two, three, four days after the polls maybe. And if the rules are too oppressive, you can sue and overturn the constitutional right of the legislators who set the voting laws. And what do we miss? It used to be the last two or three weeks were the heated time of the campaign. That's when you showed the mettle of the candidate. So what did it matter if Donald Trump had a really good second debate? What did it matter if we heard about Hunter Biden when millions of people had already voted? And what did they vote on? What were the perceptions? As you said, they were massaged by polls. So they were being, their knowledge came, well, you know Wisconsin 17 down and 12 down in the national polls, and Trump’s favorability is 18 down, so, it really wouldn't be wise to give money or to vote; it's over with.

Carlson: Exactly.

Hanson: And so we really abrogated, took away that responsibility of the citizen and we outsourced it. And that wasn’t enough because we took the personal element out of it. We used to go to the polls and somebody would say "Mrs. Smith," "Mr. Jones, you didn’t sign. Your date, you got a day, remember that. Here is your address." And we just turn it over to this pseudo-scientific group of people that said, “we have computers, we’re exact. We can poll to the exact decimal point. And we dumped all these votes into these anonymous centers where there was no human contact, no transparency, no audit, and we expect them not to have 15 percent of the vote under the old absentee system, but 70, 80, 85 percent of the vote. And we expect them to get a result that's going to be accurate, audited, adjudicated. It can’t happen. And then to add insult to injury, on Election Night, we had these same pseudo-scientific experts say, “you know what? Two percent, 10 percent, this state is over with, and this state over here is not over with.” And they have nothing to do with reality but they form a narrative, a theme. So in the case of last Tuesday night, why would, if you were a Trump supporter, why would you object to what you thought was going on in Michigan and Pennsylvania when you were told that Barry Goldwater’s state, the bastion of conservatism, was lost twenty minutes after the polls closed or that Texas and Florida can’t even be called because Trump has been wiped out in his home base? That shapes perceptions even after the polls close.

So the only mystery is, what’s behind all this? And I think it's a transition from a rugged individual who has to take a responsibility to know the issues, show up on Election Day, unless he's working or she’s sick, and then turning it into sort of an entitlement. You just lay back, and whenever you contact a government agent, they’re going to send you a registration form, and somebody is even going to harvest that and knock on the door and fill it out, and the polls are going to tell you who you should vote for because they're scientific, and they have the authority of Twitter or Facebook or social media that you use. And then to add final insult, with all that, and then you’re going to be told you’re a winner or loser based on these perceived polls on Election Night and the analytics. So to finish, Tucker, what we did was we took the prime element of citizenship, which is voting on Election Day, that has to be approved and have some authority and sanctity, and we destroyed it. And without voting, you don’t have citizenship; without citizenship, you don’t have a republic. So that’s what’s at stake. And when people like Gavin Newsom and Hilary Clinton say that this COVID virus and lockdown was an opportunity to transform things, and a crisis never to go to waste, then we think maybe it wasn't accidental. Maybe it wasn’t accidental. Maybe it wasn't just the way things had to be. And that’s really scary. 

Tucker: It is scary. I don’t want to reach that conclusion but you can see how people would. Victor Davis Hanson, it's great to see you tonight. Thank you.

Hanson: Thank you.

Alexander Watson is a CNSNews intern and Christendom College graduate.

CNSNews Reader,

The media are hard at work weaving a web of confusion, misinformation, and conspiracy surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic.

CNSNews covers the stories that the liberal media are afraid to touch. It drives the national debate through real, honest journalism—not by misrepresenting or ignoring the facts.

CNSNews has emerged as the conservative media’s lynchpin for original reporting, investigative reporting, and breaking news. We are part of the only organization purely dedicated to this critical mission and we need your help to fuel this fight.

Donate today to help CNSNews continue to report on topics that the liberal media refuse to touch. 

And now, thanks to the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, you can make up to a $300 gift to the 501(c)(3) non-profit organization of your choice and use it as a tax deduction on your 2020 taxes, even if you take the standard deduction on your returns.

(SIC)

— The CNSNews Team



Tucker Carlson apologized on-air for making a false accusation of voter fraud in Georgia
insider@insider.com (John L. Dorman)
© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
 Fox News host Tucker Carlson. 

Fox News host Tucker Carlson apologized on Friday after a Georgia news station let him know that he had falsely claimed that a dead man voted illegally in the state.

The voter in question, Agnes Blalock, is the wife of the late James Blalock Jr., and her registered voter name is "Mrs. James Blalock, Jr."

"He's not voting," she told the Atlanta-based news station 11 Alive. "He didn't vote. It was me."

Carlson issued an apology on-air, saying that "we're always going to correct when we're wrong, and we were."

Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Friday apologized on-air after a Georgia news station informed him that he had falsely alleged that a dead man voted illegally in the state during the November election.

During a Thursday segment of "Tucker Carlson Tonight," Carlson said that a ballot had been cast for James Blalock of Covington, a World War II veteran who passed away in 2006. In reality, the ballot was cast by his widow, who is registered to vote under the name "Mrs. James R. Blalock, Jr."

President Donald Trump's campaign, which has issued a litany of lawsuits in a range of swing states to back up debunked claims of voter fraud, inaccurately released Blalock's name as evidence of a dead individual who cast a ballot, which would point to voter fraud.

"No one quite embodies that story like James Blalock of Covington, Georgia. Mr. Blalock was a mailman for 33 years, until he passed away in 2006," Carlson said on Thursday. "Fourteen years later, according to state records, he was still mailing things. James Blalock cast a ballot in last week's election."

Officials in Newton County, outside of Atlanta, released a statement on Thursday saying that the report was incorrect. The record that the Trump campaign touted as evidence of fraud actually revealed that the registered voter was Blalock's widow.

"Her voter registration was signed as Mrs. James E. Blalock, Jr. and that is exactly how she signed her name when she voted in the Nov. 3 general election," the officials wrote. "Newton County conducts its elections and voter registration efforts with transparency and attention to detail and hopes that any reporting on this or any other election be done [with] the same level of fact-checking and accurate information."

The local Atlanta NBC affiliate, 11 Alive, pointed out the inaccuracies of Carlson's report after county officials refuted the incidence of voter fraud. The station spoke with Agnes Blalock, a 96-year-old woman, who confirmed that she was indeed the one who voted.

"He's not voting," she said. "He didn't vote. It was me."

On Friday, Carlson issued an apology to viewers for giving them misleading information.

"We've got some good news tonight and an apology," he said. "One of the people who voted in last week's election isn't dead. James Blalock is still dead. We told you about him, but it was his wife who voted. She voted as Mrs. James Blalock. It's old-fashioned, and we missed it ... It was Mrs. James Blalock, so apologies for that, and of course we're always going to correct when we're wrong, and we were."

He also alleged that "a whole bunch of dead people did vote," but noted that "James Blalock was not among them."

A viral claim of thousands of deceased individuals voting in the election has spread across the internet in recent days and was debunked by The New York Times.

"Dead people whose identities were used to vote appear to be a popular subject for those who are spreading unsubstantiated claims of fraud about the election," The Times said.

Decision Desk HQ and Insider declared Joe Biden the winner of the presidential election on November 6 and called Georgia for the president-elect on November 14. 

Trump, who fell far short of the 270 Electoral College votes needed to win the presidency, has so far refused to concede, pointing to largely debunked cases of voter fraud in an attempt to delegitimize the election.

Read the original article on 
Business Insider


Amazing what actual investigative journalism can do as opposed to blindly repeating claims invented on the internet.
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Brendan Keefe
@BrendanKeefe
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President Trump's campaign accused four Georgia voters of fraud. Said they voted 'dead' in the presidential election. We tracked two of them down, alive & well. We simply knocked on a door and 96-year-old Mrs. James Blalock answered. @11AliveNews 11alive.com/article/news/p
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Tucker Carlson issues a correction and gives an apology after falsely claiming that a deceased individual had voted in Georgia. He goes on to assert that he was correct, however, about other dead voters even though the other report he mentioned was debunked as well.
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