Russiagate is working it's way up the media food-chain

Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 03/09/2018 - 3:17pm

First they came for RT, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a RT.

You had to know that it was only a matter of time before this happened.

A bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers is calling on Attorney General Jeff Sessions to investigate whether Al Jazeera, the Middle Eastern news outlet chartered by the Qatari government, should register with the Justice Department as a foreign agent.
Al Jazeera “directly undermines American interests,” according to a letter sent by Representatives Josh Gottheimer, a New Jersey Democrat; Lee Zeldin, a New York Republican; and 16 other House members. Senator Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican, also signed the letter. The lawmakers added that the State Department has determined the news organization, which is headquartered in Doha, is state controlled.

So how does Al-Jazeera "directly undermine American interests"?
I'll give you a hint: the accusation is of the network conducting a "months-long spy operation on American Jews and supporters of Israel."
The lawmaker's letter calls its broadcasts “anti-American, anti-Semitic, and anti-Israel”.

To put it another way, al-Jazeera dared to film a documentary on AIPAC.

On the final day of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s policy conference, news broke that an undercover Al Jazeera documentary — about the very topic of Jewish advocacy for Israel — might lead to espionage charges against the network.
As part of the documentary, a young man went undercover to work for pro-Israel lobbying and fundraising groups. American critics have argued that this constituted “espionage” against US citizens, since Al Jazeera is funded by the government of Qatar. Al Jazeera should therefore be forced to register under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, or FARA.

Obviously al-Jazeera objected.
When documentaries are espionage, then journalism is in real trouble.
Also, the lobbying practices of Israeli groups must be very unethical.

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al-jazeera

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Comments

Submitted by HenryAWallace on Fri, 03/09/2018 - 4:39pm

This ties in with Obama's desire to create a statutory definiton

of "publisher," with the idea that only publishers statutorily-defined as "publishers" would be protected by the First Amendment. IOW, the alleged Constitutional lawyer sought to amend the Constitution with a statute.

Supposedly, he was aiming at wikileaks. This is another way of achieving that end.

I'm guessing the next step is to assert that foreign agents are not protected by the First Amendment. However, the First Amendment restrains the federal government. It does not say a thing about whom it protects.

Submitted by CB on Fri, 03/09/2018 - 3:50pm

The old al Jazeera has returned.

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uyt1FwIdb-k]

Submitted by CB on Fri, 03/09/2018 - 3:53pm

Here's Democracy Now's take on the documentary

@CB
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sf0dutJCZMk]

Submitted by Anja Geitz on Fri, 03/09/2018 - 4:46pm

The Occupation of The American Mind

@CB

Jaw dropping contrast of how the media outside the U.S. Interviews Israeli officials about the occupation. If any U.S. journalist ever grilled a proponent of Israeli occupation the way the journalist in this clip did, he would become an instant hero in progressives circles that have NOT been infected with this reprehensible occupation disease our government has sanctioned.

—

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Submitted by Mark from Queens on Fri, 03/09/2018 - 7:08pm

If you consider yourself Progressive-minded and a Pink Floyd

@CB
fan, you should be proud as fuck that Roger Waters has chosen to use the platform of his immense international celebrity to become one of the more noted and noble outspoken opponents of the atrocities committed by the fascist totalitarian government of Israel toward the Palestinians. He narrates it (and I think funded and/or helped write).

And if "Dogs" isn't one of the best anti-capitalist songs (it's my all-time favorite of theirs) about the dehumanization of human beings caught in its relentless grinder, I don't know what is:

I saw this show in 2016 in Palm Springs (the video is from Mexico City) and it was the most magnificent concert I've ever seen by far, in many ways.

From the same album, "Animals" (inspired by the Orwell novel), he used the song to target the Orange Buffoon Fascist:

"Dogs"
You gotta be crazy, you gotta have a real need
You gotta sleep on your toes, and when you're on the street
You got to be able to pick out the easy meat with your eyes closed

And then moving in silently, down wind and out of sight
You gotta strike when the moment is right without thinking.

And after a while, you can work on points for style
Like the club tie, and the firm handshake
A certain look in the eye, and an easy smile
You have to be trusted by the people that you lie to
So that when they turn their backs on you you'll get the chance to put the knife in.

You gotta keep one eye looking over your shoulder
You know it's going to get harder, and harder, and harder as you get older
And in the end you'll pack up, fly down south, hide your head in the sand
Just another sad old man All alone and dying of cancer.

And when you loose control, you'll reap the harvest you have sown
And as the fear grows, the bad blood slows and turns to stone

And it's too late to loose the weight you used to need to throw around
So have a good drown, as you go down, all alone
Dragged down by the stone.

I gotta admit that I'm a little bit confused
Sometimes it seems to me as if I'm just being used
Gotta stay awake, gotta try and shake off this creeping malaise
If I don't stand my own ground, how can I find my way out of this maze?

Deaf, dumb, and blind, you just keep on pretending
That everyone's expendable and no-one has a real friend
And it seems to you the thing to do would be to isolate the winner
And everything's done under the sun
But you believe at heart, everyone's a killer.

Who was born in a house full of pain
Who was trained not to spit in the fan
Who was told what to do by the man
Who was broken by trained personnel
Who was fitted with collar and chain
Who was given a pat on the back
Who was breaking away from the pack
Who was only a stranger at home
Who was ground down in the end
Who was found dead on the phone
Who was dragged down by the stone.

—

"If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

- Kurt Vonnegut

Submitted by Anja Geitz on Fri, 03/09/2018 - 4:17pm

Presenting Unpalatable Policies

@CB

Do you suppose the Israeli Government has matched the 6 million souls lost during the Holocaust yet in their Public Relations driven "defense" objective of the last 50 years?

—

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Submitted by HenryAWallace on Fri, 03/09/2018 - 4:51pm

Eleven or twelve million souls lost, of whom about

@Anja Geitz

million were Jews.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Fri, 03/09/2018 - 8:14pm

Have we done the same after 9/11?

@Anja Geitz

Seems to me that we've been causing 9/11's month after month in the Middle East. And they experience a "school shooting" of their own pretty much daily. But it's only sad when American children and citizens die, right?

—

Scientists are concerned that conspiracy theories may die out if they keep coming true at the current alarming rate.

Submitted by Anja Geitz on Fri, 03/09/2018 - 9:01pm

You lose the PR War in pictures

@snoopydawg

That really stuck out for me in the documentary about the Israeli occupation but could apply to all the proxy wars that go on everyday around the world. Unreported. Unmourned. Unseen. But imagine if American citizens had to sit down and watch what their tax dollars were paid to do, body by body, limb by limb? Maybe then the killing and death would no longer be "abstract". Maybe it would become the horrifyingly reprehensible crime against humanity that it is. And those who genuflect before the altar of avarice to mutilate and murder thousands of women and children each year would be seen for who they are: Inhumane monsters who view other people's children as disposable carcasses.

—

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Submitted by thanatokephaloides on Fri, 03/09/2018 - 10:32pm

inhumane monsters

@Anja Geitz

And those who genuflect before the altar of avarice to mutilate and murder thousands of women and children each year would be seen for who they are: Inhumane monsters who view other people's children as disposable carcasses.

Madeline Albright
Hillary Clinton
Henry Fucking Kissinger

just off the top of me head...... we're talking to you.......

—

"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Submitted by Anja Geitz on Fri, 03/09/2018 - 5:37pm

Thank you for posting this video

@CB

As this documentary clearly shows, we need, now more than ever, access to alternative media outlets. Israel's propaganda campaign is not working on the young precisely because they have access to alternative media outlets.

Well done. Impressive piece of work.

—

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Submitted by Mickt on Fri, 03/09/2018 - 7:00pm

I miss the old Al Jazeera

@CB Back in 200x's it was the only media I know that went out of its way to present both sides of a topic, use credible sources, and be trusted. I was so angry when it became a government tool in 2011.

Submitted by CB on Fri, 03/09/2018 - 7:25pm

We knew it was a government tool when Killary recommended

@Mickt
it when she was fomenting war in Libya. She was working with the Qatar government to bring in arms for the "peaceful protestors" in order exacerbate strife against Qaddafi followed by skilled Islamic fighters to bring the country down. These arms and fighters were then sent onward to Syria through Benghazi to repeat the same scenario there.

Submitted by gjohnsit on Fri, 03/09/2018 - 3:56pm

OT: Don't stop the war

gross

On Thursday evening, Senate staff learned that Young and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.) have filed new legislation in response to a bill unveiled last week by Sens. Murphy, Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah). (Young’s name is on a draft amendment shared with HuffPost; Shaheen’s role was confirmed by a senior Hill source.) The Sanders-Lee-Murphy bill would force a Senate vote on whether to end U.S. support for the Saudi-UAE coalition fighting Iran-backed rebels in Yemen. It’s unprecedented by design, guaranteed to come to the floor because it invokes the War Powers Resolution and the Arms Export Control Act; it represents a way for Congress to flex foreign policy muscles in a way it hasn’t in decades. It’s also a real challenge to President Donald Trump, who has grown close to Saudi Arabia and the UAE and whose lawyers are selling Congress a generous view of presidential authority over American military action abroad.
The Young-Shaheen amendment is less ambitious. It requires the secretary of state to certify to key congressional committees within 30 days that the Saudis are investing in diplomacy to end the Yemen conflict and increasing humanitarian access to the more than 20 million Yemenis who need some kind of help. The secretary would have to submit similar certifications two further times: one month later, and eight months after that. If such certifications cannot be provided, the bill says the U.S. must end the aerial refueling the Saudi-UAE coalition relies on for bombing runs ― though it says American help can flow to that coalition if it is targeting Yemen’s Al Qaeda and Islamic State branches or Iranian activity, raising the specter of an outright U.S.-funded proxy battle with the Islamic Republic.

Submitted by Crazytimes on Fri, 03/09/2018 - 5:19pm

Need to watch this

Need to watch this documentary. I was reading somewhere that there was a lot of pressure on al-Jazeera not to release this thing. I'm glad they had the balls to do it. Hopefully this isn't the "edited" version

—

If it was easy, everyone would do it.

Submitted by Anja Geitz on Fri, 03/09/2018 - 5:41pm

The last rubicon

When documentaries are espionage, then journalism is in real trouble.

Right now, in America, it feels like it's on life support.

—

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

Submitted by Mike Taylor on Fri, 03/09/2018 - 10:38pm

Just an opinion.

I think the US government violated at least the sprit of the establishment clause by being involved in the establishment of a religious state (Israel).
Even if technically incorrect, we are suffering the same kind of ignorance the establishment clause was designed to prevent.

—

Mike Taylor

Submitted by edg on Sat, 03/10/2018 - 11:41am

The biggest foreign agent in the world...

is AIPAC. They are working on behalf of the Israeli government and are often advocating for things that run counter to American interests and values. Where's the call for them and other Israeli mouthpieces to register under FARA?

Submitted by bilger on Sat, 03/10/2018 - 3:34pm

its

gjohnsit, you may be my favorite essayist here at caucus99percent.com, and I'd like to share this essay -- but the title has a grammatical error that will stop my liberal writer friends from taking it seriously. Could you replace "it's" (contraction of "it is") with "its" (possessive of it)?

Submitted by travelerxxx on Sun, 03/11/2018 - 5:07am

It's and its

@bilger

Had to laugh at this!

Originally, I didn't catch it, but when I sent this essay's link to my once-an-English-teacher-always-an-English-teacher wife, she responded in about five seconds: "I'll read it when the headline's grammar is fixed."