Sabotabby reads the news again

[sabotabby]

Here are today's top stories, courtesy of the Star:

The IDF kills 13 Palestinian protesters. "Oh, but I bet they were Hamas members lobbing home-made rockets at Israeli civilians!" you say (well, no, you wouldn't say that). Nope, the only "attack" they were planning was against the fence at the border of Syria and Israel. Nevertheless, according to Netanyahu, "These protests aim to undermine the very existence of Israel," presumably necessitating the slaughter of (as far as I know) unarmed protesters.

Speaking of Syria, 850 people have been killed there since mid-March. This hasn't been highly publicized compared to the uprisings in Arab countries where we aren't so heavily invested in the status quo, and despite rampant and horrifying abuses of human rights, our illustrious government is keeping mum. To add a personal note, the new Minister of the Interior is the guy who arrested and tortured the father of a friend of mine, so you can imagine what the rest are probably like. Said friend suggests writing to your MP, given that Canada has been silent on the international stage.

On a happier note, Byron Sonne has, nearly a year since his arrest, been granted bail! Here's hoping that he gets off and is able to turn around and sue the bastards.

The IMF continues to screw the working class. Literally, and non-consensually.

Stay classy, Disney!

And in local news, Shorter Rosie DiManno: It's all about MEEEE. Is it just me or do her articles never make a single lick of sense?

Comments

[funnel101.livejournal.com]

There's also medical staff being tortured in Bahrain:

http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/node/905#May1111w7

"Harrowing testimony of torture, intimidation and humiliation from a doctor arrested in the crackdown on medical staff in Bahrain has revealed the lengths to which the regime's security forces are prepared to go to quash pro-democracy protests.

Interviews obtained by The Independent from inside Bahrain tell of ransacked hospitals and of terrified medical staff beaten, interrogated and forced into signing false confessions. Many have been detained, their fate unknown."

[frandroid.livejournal.com]

Wow, okay, that's pretty fucking insane.

[sabotabby]

Holy shit.

[funnel101.livejournal.com]

You'd probably enjoy signing up for Just Foreign Policy's Daily News email. It's focused on the US, but also includes links to articles like that one that are under-reported in mainstream media.

[frandroid.livejournal.com]

I didn't follow your link here, but DiManno often makes sense. She's all over the map, she tackles topics from unconventional angles at times, and more often than not I disagree with her, but she's not a nutjob like Blatchford or Wente. Zerbizias is friends with her, if that means anything. The Zerb is pretty solid.

[sabotabby]

It's mostly that her writing is incoherent. There are lots of writers who are wrong as frequently as she is, but I can't think of any other who writes stream-of-consciousness ramblings like hers.

Also, the other day she wrote an editorial justifying torture. I can't see how Zerbizias (who I greatly respect!) can hang with her.

[marnanel.livejournal.com]

Okay, so the main story with Strauss-Kahn is about the alleged rape, and nothing should get in the way of that being brought to light and investigated.

However, I would like to mention that the fact that a man who

a) runs the IMF
b) is on a salary of half a million a year
c) has at least four expensive houses in various countries

is a senior member of the Socialist Party should point out a few problems with the idea that the left can work effectively through representative democracy.

[pofflewomp.livejournal.com]

Yes, that is very worrying. I sort of assumed when I heard that that the French Socaialist Party must mean something else, not Socialist. Like social-democrat doesn't mean much.

[ltmurnau.livejournal.com]

I heard about this and thought, "Setup." Apparently the French press (the kind that makes the news, not the coffee) is alleging that Sarkozy planted S-K in with the IMF in order to see him fail, or at the very least remove him at least temporarily from the political stage, so as not to pose a threat to him.

[pofflewomp.livejournal.com]

I saw the things in Palestine on Sky News in the gym and was crying lots and had to leave! I was so angry I wanted to leap up and go to protest outside the Israeli embassy, but then depression set in and I went splat.

I avoid news things. Too upsetting. Wah.

[sabotabby]

I go on binges where I can't read the news. But then people post really awful things to LJ so it's unavoidable, really.

[terry-terrible.livejournal.com]

Prepare for victim-blaming by arch-libertarian D-bag in 3......oh wait, didn't even have to count to two:

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/05/ben_stein_writes_bizarre_defense_of_dominique_strauss-kahn.php?ref=fpb

[sabotabby]

NOOOOOOooooo!

I mean, if the guy is innocent, we all apologize. But I am pretty sure he's a rapist.

[rojonoir.livejournal.com]

What's weird is Ben Stein hears that a *French* *Socialist* is accused of a violent crime, and rather than jumping at the chance to denounce France or socialism, or to whine about how we molly-coddly criminals these days... instead gets all up in arms about the fact that they had the nerve to *arrest* him just because he was accused of a serious crime. And not only that, but they briefly took him to *jail*!

It seems that the fact that the accused is rich and an economist trump everything.