mintpressnews--2020-08-27--The US Is Facing a Child Care Crisis as Schools Go Digital

Greater Albany Public Schools ( GAPS ) Superintendent , Melissa Goff , is calling on county commissioners to allocate funding for oversight of “ suitable child care options ” for the families of the 9,000 children enrolled in the small city ’ s K-12 system , who are now proscribed from their regular classrooms and will be forced to “ attend ” school on a screen come September .
Among other suggestions she offered municipal authorities , Goff also urged Commissioners to “ explore ” hiring more mental health therapists “ for home visits ” and the creation of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lost two-thirds of its funding due to the pandemic , according to the Corvallis Gazette-Times , and is simply throwing out ideas about how the county can work with them on “ areas related to the closure.
” The COVID-19 lockdowns that have persisted since first decreed in March , have now come home to roost , almost literally .
Summer vacation has come to an end , but the kids are still home while many parents – or at least those who are still employed – are gradually returning to work as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In early August , a group of the three Linn County commissioners , Roger Nyquist , John Lindsey , and Will Tucker , made a “ Declaration of Local Emergency ” to address school reopening issues and children , in general , citing a “ serious threat to the peace , health and welfare of the children of Linn County.
” The one-page document was a response by the County commissioners to Oregon Gov .
Kate Brown ’ s decision to keep schools closed .
“ Unfortunately , it ’ s still not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pressed about re-opening physical classrooms .
“ Our infection rate is still too high , ” she asserted .
Just north of Albany , cities are facing similar problems as a recent study carried out by the Child Care Collaborative Task Force of Washington State found .
According to the report , nearly one in five parents have turned down a job over child care issues and , of these , Black and Native American parents were affected most .
The pandemic-induced shutdowns have left “ historic ” numbers of Washington state residents @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and inconvenient circumstances at their places of employment .
But , the return of the school year adds another major complication for families , even if they can find child care or do it themselves .
“ Many workers with children , especially women , will exit the labor force without safe , affordable child care options , “ says task force member Amy Anderson , who doesn ’ t believe the state will recover economically without it .
The study reports that almost half of unemployed people ( 47 percent ) find @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is a barrier to landing a job or even an interview , further exacerbating the problems brought on by the shutdowns , which forced the closure of one in five child care providers .
According to Child Care Aware of Washington , a child care advocacy group , over half a million children under the age of 12 have no “ licensed child care ” because the state can not meet the demand of Washington state working parents , who represent 60 percent of the families with children 0-12 .
The lack of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the extraordinary measures taken to protect public health is being felt around the country and the world .
In California , the problem of meeting the child care needs of working families , the same classrooms that are forbidden to children as students are being opened to them as child care facilities .
In Australia , the lockdowns and changes to federal subsidies by the Prime Minister , Scott Morrison ’ s personal COVID-19 commission have placed the future of Melbourne ’ s child care centers in peril .
From Albany , Oregon @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of societal norms continues under the banner COVID-19 and now , as the lockdowns hit school children it is imperative that we follow Melissa Goff ’ s advice – though not her ideas , necessarily – and contact our local leaders with our own “ ideas surrounding child care.
” , if we want to avoid the worst ideas , which often come from politicians like Scott Morrison , who had to quickly retract his comments that a COVID-19 vaccine would be “ as mandatory as you can possibly make it.
” Feature @ @ @ @ @ @ @ District student raises her hand for free lunch at Boys & Girls Club of Hollywood in Los Angeles , Aug. 26 , 2020 .
Jae C. Hong | AP

Greater Albany Public Schools (GAPS) Superintendent, Melissa Goff, is calling on county commissioners to allocate funding for oversight of “suitable child care options” for the families of the 9,000 children enrolled in the small city’s K-12 system, who are now proscribed from their regular classrooms and will be forced to “attend” school on a screen come September.
Among other suggestions she offered municipal authorities, Goff also urged Commissioners to “explore” hiring more mental health therapists “for home visits” and the creation of a “child care task force.” GAPS lost two-thirds of its funding due to the pandemic, according to the Corvallis Gazette-Times, and is simply throwing out ideas about how the county can work with them on “areas related to the closure.”
The COVID-19 lockdowns that have persisted since first decreed in March, have now come home to roost, almost literally. Summer vacation has come to an end, but the kids are still home while many parents – or at least those who are still employed – are gradually returning to work as the phased “re-opening” continues.
In early August, a group of the three Linn County commissioners, Roger Nyquist, John Lindsey, and Will Tucker, made a “Declaration of Local Emergency” to address school reopening issues and children, in general, citing a “serious threat to the peace, health and welfare of the children of Linn County.” The one-page document was a response by the County commissioners to Oregon Gov. Kate Brown’s decision to keep schools closed. “Unfortunately, it’s still not enough.”, said the Governor when pressed about re-opening physical classrooms. “Our infection rate is still too high,” she asserted.
Out of chalk
Just north of Albany, cities are facing similar problems as a recent study carried out by the Child Care Collaborative Task Force of Washington State found. According to the report, nearly one in five parents have turned down a job over child care issues and, of these, Black and Native American parents were affected most.
The pandemic-induced shutdowns have left “historic” numbers of Washington state residents out of work or are facing new and inconvenient circumstances at their places of employment. But, the return of the school year adds another major complication for families, even if they can find child care or do it themselves.
“Many workers with children, especially women, will exit the labor force without safe, affordable child care options, “says task force member Amy Anderson, who doesn’t believe the state will recover economically without it.
The study reports that almost half of unemployed people (47 percent) find that having “child care issues” is a barrier to landing a job or even an interview, further exacerbating the problems brought on by the shutdowns, which forced the closure of one in five child care providers.
The child care crisis
According to Child Care Aware of Washington, a child care advocacy group, over half a million children under the age of 12 have no “licensed child care” because the state cannot meet the demand of Washington state working parents, who represent 60 percent of the families with children 0-12.
The lack of child care opportunities as a result of the extraordinary measures taken to protect public health is being felt around the country and the world. In California, the problem of meeting the child care needs of working families, the same classrooms that are forbidden to children as students are being opened to them as child care facilities. In Australia, the lockdowns and changes to federal subsidies by the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison’s personal COVID-19 commission have placed the future of Melbourne’s child care centers in peril.
From Albany, Oregon to Melbourne, Australia, the reshuffling of societal norms continues under the banner COVID-19 and now, as the lockdowns hit school children it is imperative that we follow Melissa Goff’s advice – though not her ideas, necessarily – and contact our local leaders with our own “ideas surrounding child care.”, if we want to avoid the worst ideas, which often come from politicians like Scott Morrison, who had to quickly retract his comments that a COVID-19 vaccine would be “as mandatory as you can possibly make it.”
Feature photo | A Los Angeles Unified School District student raises her hand for free lunch at Boys & Girls Club of Hollywood in Los Angeles, Aug. 26, 2020. Jae C. Hong | AP
Raul Diego is a MintPress News Staff Writer, independent photojournalist, researcher, writer and documentary filmmaker


mintpressnews--2020-08-27--Decades of Land Grabs Betray Israel’s “Terror Balloon” Justification for Latest War on Gaza

Incendiary balloons , or as Israel calls them , “ terror balloons , ” have been part of the Gazan resistance toolkit since 2018 , and a frequent sight in the skies in the last few weeks .
Palestinians fashion these “ weapons of grass destruction ” from everyday materials , tie them to gasoline-soaked rags or perhaps a homemade explosive , then ignite and release them when the wind is blowing to the east .
Sometimes the contraptions land on Israeli farmland or forests and cause fires .
Occasionally a balloon lands in a populated area .
The incendiary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ; in the 19 years that rockets have been launched out of Gaza , about 30 Israelis have been killed – the last one was 15 months ago .
Gaza ’ s resistance groups have also fired a handful of rockets in recent days .
Yet these balloons and rockets have brought massive attacks by Israeli warplanes and tanks every night for the last two weeks and Israel ’ s propaganda industry is now setting up “ terror balloons ” as a rationale for another major incursion into Gaza .
But just like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Gaza ’ s Hamas leadership , Israel ’ s stated motive – to stop the projectiles – conceals its long-term ambition : more land with fewer Palestinians .
The Palestinians behind the balloons have a goal too .
In the words of Ahmed Abu Artema , a writer who lives in Gaza and organizer of the Great March of Return , Gaza has suffered under a punishing blockade since 2013 – a form of collective punishment , forbidden under international law .
Peaceful protesters and resistance groups have been pressuring Israel to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ blockade , but with little success .
Israel has a long list of “ prohibited ” items that changes slightly from time to time , but not by much .
It has included food items like flour , yeast , rice , salt , and sugar ; sanitary items like soap , toothpaste , toilet paper , and diapers ; school supplies like textbooks , writing paper , and pens ; and other staples , including blankets , light bulbs , clothing , seeds , and fishing rods .
Hamas , the elected @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Israel relax the restrictions on imports , reinstate the twenty-nautical-mile fishing zone required by the Oslo Accords ( Israel currently forbids any fishing off of Gaza ’ s coast ) , opening of the commercial crossing to let certain necessary , but banned goods in ; and opening the pedestrian crossing to allow Gazan laborers to enter Israel .
Ultimately , Gazans are demanding the lifting of the entire blockade .
Israel sees the balloons as another form of Palestinian terrorism and has responded with its usual harsh rhetoric and disproportionate military action @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the situation as an Iran problem – fueling his ongoing push to war with that country .
“ 95 % of these threats [ to Israel ] come from Iran , ” he said , “ I want to make clear to all of Iran ’ s proxies , including Gaza – there will be a heavy price to the balloon terror.
” In addition to nightly bombings , Israel has closed the single commercial border crossing where food and fuel enter the Gaza Strip ; the enclave ’ s only power plant @ @ @ @ @ @ @ enclave ’ s two million residents with less than four hours of electricity a day .
Israel has also halted all fishing in the Mediterranean Sea .
And Israeli leaders indicate a willingness to go to war if necessary , vowing violence “ in multiples ” of the last incursion – which , in 2014 , killed 2,200 Palestinians and 83 Israelis .
Israel ’ s recent threats and attacks predate the use of so-called “ terror balloons , ” by Palestinian activists , suggesting the most recent bout of violence is not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ land , preferably without people .
Israel may not have its sights set on annexing Gaza , but as Palestinian American attorney and activist Noura Erakat explained in a 2016 editorial for The Nation , The airstrikes of the last two weeks are a familiar sight to Gazans .
Israel has initiated three major wars on the Strip in the last twelve years , killing a total of about 4,000 Palestinians ; less than 100 Israelis were killed during the same period .
During the 2014 conflict , the Obama administration authorized Israel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stockpile the U.S. keeps in Israel – this in addition to the $ 3.8 billion in yearly military aid that the U.S. gives to the country .
The Electronic Intifada reported that , at a bare minimum , Israel used 39,000 tank shells , 34,000 artillery shells , and 4.8 million bullets against a virtually unarmed Gazan population of 1.8 million , packed into an area the size of Detroit .
By the end of the fifty-day war , almost half a million Gazans had been displaced , 20,000 homes and 250 schools @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as infrastructure decimated .
That scale of destruction is what Netanyahu is now threatening to repeat .
In between wars , Gazans face constant adversity at the hands of Israel .
Children die alone when parents are not allowed to accompany them for cancer treatments ; thousands live with permanent disabilities and amputations after being hit with sniper fire ; hundreds of more families deal with death , and one million are on the edge of starvation and illness .
Over one-third of the agricultural land in Gaza has been appropriated by Israel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ regularly sprays the area with herbicides to keep it clear – and the wind frequently carries the chemicals well beyond , poisoning Palestinian crops and bodies – and fundamental human rights .
Gaza is tiny and crowded – but much of the Palestinian West Bank is fertile , and Palestinian East Jerusalem real estate is priceless .
Dispossession in these areas has taken many insidious , if slightly less aggressive , forms .
The first and largest land theft occurred in 1948 when 78 percent of historic Palestine became the State of Israel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ aggressive policy of depopulating Palestinian villages , evacuating and bulldozing over 500 of them , and rebuilding many as Jewish neighborhoods for the new state .
Neighborhoods in larger cities were also cleared of their Palestinian residents so that Jews could be moved in .
750,000 Palestinians became refugees and Israel coveted the property of those who remained .
In the ensuing years , the new Israeli government crafted ( illegal ) “ Land Laws ” to gain control over much of it .
Most cunning perhaps was the Absentees Property Law , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from returning to their homes , and then take over their property because it was vacant .
In 1967 , Israel occupied all of the Palestinian lands it had not won in 1948 .
One of its first orders of business was to begin constructing Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem .
The illegal practice has continued unabated ever since , and Israel plans to annex the land it has appropriated over the years , adding another layer of illegality .
Settlement-building often begins when Israel earmarks a piece of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ farming or grazing land – as needed for “ security purposes.
” Palestinian inhabitants are evicted and an Israeli military outpost is established .
Later , the area is repurposed as a civilian settlement ( documents prove that at least in some cases , this was the plan all along ) .
Additional land is then appropriated for Jewish-only roads to the settlements ( for example , Shufa ) and checkpoints .
Elsewhere ( as in Yatta or these twelve villages ) , land is poached by the Israeli military for “ live-fire @ @ @ @ @ @ @ military took over a large area of Palestinian farmland for this purpose and burned down 2,000 acres of crops .
Settlements now cover almost 10 percent of the land of the West Bank , about 125,000 acres .
In between and around the settlements themselves , another 400,000 acres are classified as belonging to Israeli regional councils .
All total , the Israeli settlement enterprise has confiscated approximately about 42 percent of the Palestinian West Bank and destroyed one million olive trees .
Extremist Israeli settlers are also well known for their share @ @ @ @ @ @ @ down entire olive groves – often in full view of and complicity with Israeli Defence Force soldiers .
Just last weekend , several Palestinian communities were attacked by settlers , their olive trees destroyed and a mobile home erected on their land .
In 2000 , again under the guise of “ security , ” Israel began another chapter of massive expropriation .
Palestinians , frustrated by the failure of the Oslo Accords to deliver on five years of promises for self-determination made in 1995 among other provocations , began an uprising that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the issues , Israel began building a wall around the West Bank and East Jerusalem , purportedly to end the attacks .
Suicide attacks indeed decreased , but not due to the wall .
Thousands of Palestinians still enter Israel every month without permission because the wall is still not finished and has a number of gaps .
The route of the wall , which reaches deep inside Palestinian territory , has enabled a land grab of 191,000 acres – 13.5 percent of the West Bank , and some of its most fertile @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Court of Justice declared the wall illegal and demanded its removal , but Israel has continued to build .
Thousands of Palestinian farmers have been separated from their farmland by the wall .
For these , Israel has created a system designed to ultimately wrest their land too .
Israeli bureaucracy regularly blocks them from tending their crops through an agricultural permit system choked with red tape .
Family members , vehicles , and animals must all receive permission to accompany the landowner .
Israel allows each farmer a certain number of entries @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and the type of crop – for example , forty trips per year for onions , fifty for figs .
The number of workers allowed is based on the plot size and crop as well , an impediment to employment for desperate Palestinian laborers .
As a further complication , out of eighty-four gates in the wall , only a handful are open every day .
In a recent twist , Israel began forcing families to divide their land among the heirs when the father dies ( a procedure that has a fee @ @ @ @ @ @ @ allowing them to care for the land collectively .
But another law declares that plots under 400 square yards are too small to farm , and their owners may not get permits .
Eventually , when Israel deems a piece of land “ abandoned , ” it is reverted to the state .
Scholars and human rights activists have compared Israel ’ s permit regime to South Africa ’ s pass laws – only “ even more complex and ruthlessly enforced than the pass system of the apartheid regime.
” In May , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sites , at least one of which is slated for the West Bank to service the large Jewish-only settlement of Ma ’ ale Adumim .
The waste plant would be located just a few hundred yards from several Palestinian herding communities .
Israel ’ s Environment Protection Minister has been busy this summer studying ways to begin incorporating the EU Commission ’ s new Circular Economy Action Plan , an effort that may highlight the little-known story of environmental injustice in the West Bank .
It is a story of land and people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ occupying power .
Israeli regulations intentionally make it more cost effective to operate waste treatment facilities in the West Bank than inside Israel .
Consequently , waste ( including hazardous waste ) from Israel and its settlements , is brought to about fifteen West Bank locations , called “ sacrifice zones ” because they are “ irrevocably impaired by environmental damage or neglect.
” One researcher summed up the situation thusly : “ Israel has turned the West Bank into a garbage dump.
” Several waste treatment facilities operated inside the settlements but @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stench .
Israel ’ s actions contravene multiple international laws and are responsible for yet another land loss for Palestinians .
Ast the Israeli human right group B ’ Tselem declared in a 2017 report : The international principles on hazardous waste management are based on values of environmental justice , public consultation and transparency .
An expression of basic human decency , they strive to codify the simple notion that military , political , or economic power disparities should not be abused by the powerful in order to dump their pollution and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Israel ’ s dispossession machine is devious .
Like the Separation Wall , it twists and winds , gobbling up whatever it wants and leaving a trail of adversity .
Palestinians can barely keep up with the financial and emotional burdens that the occupation heaps on them , as well as the dangers involved in the simple act of trying to make ends meet .
This intricately designed system of injustice – arguably worse than that of apartheid South Africa and condemned by nearly every other country in the world – is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ photo | A volunteer attempts to extinguish a fire started by a so-called “ terror balloon ” launched from the Gaza Strip , on the Israeli side of the border between Israel and Gaza , Aug. 24 , 2020 .
Ariel Schalit | AP Kathryn Shihadah writes for MintPress News and If Americans Knew .
She speaks regularly about the injustice and demonization Palestinians face at the hands of Israel with complicity from the United States , especially to Christian audiences .
Kathryn has lived in the Middle East for ten years and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ PalestineHome.org .

Incendiary balloons, or as Israel calls them, “terror balloons,” have been part of the Gazan resistance toolkit since 2018, and a frequent sight in the skies in the last few weeks.
Palestinians fashion these “weapons of grass destruction” from everyday materials, tie them to gasoline-soaked rags or perhaps a homemade explosive, then ignite and release them when the wind is blowing to the east. Sometimes the contraptions land on Israeli farmland or forests and cause fires. Occasionally a balloon lands in a populated area.
The incendiary balloons have never killed or injured anyone; in the 19 years that rockets have been launched out of Gaza, about 30 Israelis have been killed – the last one was 15 months ago.
Gaza’s resistance groups have also fired a handful of rockets in recent days. Yet these balloons and rockets have brought massive attacks by Israeli warplanes and tanks every night for the last two weeks and Israel’s propaganda industry is now setting up “terror balloons” as a rationale for another major incursion into Gaza.
But just like the last three major conflicts between Israel and Gaza’s Hamas leadership, Israel’s stated motive – to stop the projectiles – conceals its long-term ambition: more land with fewer Palestinians.
The Palestinians behind the balloons have a goal too. In the words of Ahmed Abu Artema, a writer who lives in Gaza and organizer of the Great March of Return,
These youths, crushed by the Israeli occupation and deprived of their fundamental rights, still feel the urge to scream at their jailers. They want to make noise so that they do not die in silence.”
Gaza’s grievances
Gaza has suffered under a punishing blockade since 2013 – a form of collective punishment, forbidden under international law. Peaceful protesters and resistance groups have been pressuring Israel to lift, or at least loosen the blockade, but with little success.
Israel has a long list of “prohibited” items that changes slightly from time to time, but not by much. It has included food items like flour, yeast, rice, salt, and sugar; sanitary items like soap, toothpaste, toilet paper, and diapers; school supplies like textbooks, writing paper, and pens; and other staples, including blankets, light bulbs, clothing, seeds, and fishing rods.
Hamas, the elected government of Gaza, is demanding that Israel relax the restrictions on imports, reinstate the twenty-nautical-mile fishing zone required by the Oslo Accords (Israel currently forbids any fishing off of Gaza’s coast), opening of the commercial crossing to let certain necessary, but banned goods in; and opening the pedestrian crossing to allow Gazan laborers to enter Israel.
Ultimately, Gazans are demanding the lifting of the entire blockade.
The Israeli response
Israel sees the balloons as another form of Palestinian terrorism and has responded with its usual harsh rhetoric and disproportionate military action.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu frames the situation as an Iran problem – fueling his ongoing push to war with that country. “95% of these threats [to Israel] come from Iran,” he said, “I want to make clear to all of Iran’s proxies, including Gaza – there will be a heavy price to the balloon terror.”
In addition to nightly bombings, Israel has closed the single commercial border crossing where food and fuel enter the Gaza Strip; the enclave’s only power plant has consequently shut down, leaving the enclave’s two million residents with less than four hours of electricity a day. Israel has also halted all fishing in the Mediterranean Sea.
And Israeli leaders indicate a willingness to go to war if necessary, vowing violence “in multiples” of the last incursion – which, in 2014, killed 2,200 Palestinians and 83 Israelis.
Israel’s recent threats and attacks predate the use of so-called “terror balloons,” by Palestinian activists, suggesting the most recent bout of violence is not about rockets and balloons, but about land, preferably without people.
Gaza: total destruction
Israel may not have its sights set on annexing Gaza, but as Palestinian American attorney and activist Noura Erakat explained in a 2016 editorial for The Nation,
Israel does not have a Hamas problem; it does not have a Gaza problem; it has a Palestine problem.”
The airstrikes of the last two weeks are a familiar sight to Gazans. Israel has initiated three major wars on the Strip in the last twelve years, killing a total of about 4,000 Palestinians; less than 100 Israelis were killed during the same period.
During the 2014 conflict, the Obama administration authorized Israel to replenish its weapon supply from a stockpile the U.S. keeps in Israel – this in addition to the $3.8 billion in yearly military aid that the U.S. gives to the country.
The Electronic Intifada reported that, at a bare minimum, Israel used 39,000 tank shells, 34,000 artillery shells, and 4.8 million bullets against a virtually unarmed Gazan population of 1.8 million, packed into an area the size of Detroit.
By the end of the fifty-day war, almost half a million Gazans had been displaced, 20,000 homes and 250 schools destroyed or severely damaged, as well as infrastructure decimated.
That scale of destruction is what Netanyahu is now threatening to repeat.
Gaza: daily hardships
In between wars, Gazans face constant adversity at the hands of Israel. Children die alone when parents are not allowed to accompany them for cancer treatments; thousands live with permanent disabilities and amputations after being hit with sniper fire; hundreds of more families deal with death, and one million are on the edge of starvation and illness.
Over one-third of the agricultural land in Gaza has been appropriated by Israel as a “buffer zone.” Israel regularly sprays the area with herbicides to keep it clear – and the wind frequently carries the chemicals well beyond, poisoning Palestinian crops and bodies – and fundamental human rights.
Gaza is tiny and crowded – but much of the Palestinian West Bank is fertile, and Palestinian East Jerusalem real estate is priceless. Dispossession in these areas has taken many insidious, if slightly less aggressive, forms.
Historic land theft
The first and largest land theft occurred in 1948 when 78 percent of historic Palestine became the State of Israel. Israel’s military had an aggressive policy of depopulating Palestinian villages, evacuating and bulldozing over 500 of them, and rebuilding many as Jewish neighborhoods for the new state.
Neighborhoods in larger cities were also cleared of their Palestinian residents so that Jews could be moved in. 750,000 Palestinians became refugees and Israel coveted the property of those who remained. In the ensuing years, the new Israeli government crafted (illegal) “Land Laws” to gain control over much of it.
Most cunning perhaps was the Absentees Property Law, which permitted Israel to bar Palestinian refugees from returning to their homes, and then take over their property because it was vacant.
West Bank: land theft by settlement
In 1967, Israel occupied all of the Palestinian lands it had not won in 1948. One of its first orders of business was to begin constructing Jewish-only settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The illegal practice has continued unabated ever since, and Israel plans to annex the land it has appropriated over the years, adding another layer of illegality.
Settlement-building often begins when Israel earmarks a piece of land – often a large swath of farming or grazing land – as needed for “security purposes.” Palestinian inhabitants are evicted and an Israeli military outpost is established. Later, the area is repurposed as a civilian settlement (documents prove that at least in some cases, this was the plan all along).
Additional land is then appropriated for Jewish-only roads to the settlements (for example, Shufa) and checkpoints.
Elsewhere (as in Yatta or these twelve villages), land is poached by the Israeli military for “live-fire training.” In June, the Israeli military took over a large area of Palestinian farmland for this purpose and burned down 2,000 acres of crops.
Settlements now cover almost 10 percent of the land of the West Bank, about 125,000 acres. In between and around the settlements themselves, another 400,000 acres are classified as belonging to Israeli regional councils. All total, the Israeli settlement enterprise has confiscated approximately about 42 percent of the Palestinian West Bank and destroyed one million olive trees.
Extremist Israeli settlers are also well known for their share of this travesty, burning or chopping down entire olive groves – often in full view of and complicity with Israeli Defence Force soldiers. Just last weekend, several Palestinian communities were attacked by settlers, their olive trees destroyed and a mobile home erected on their land.
West Bank: land theft by Separation Wall
In 2000, again under the guise of “security,” Israel began another chapter of massive expropriation.
Palestinians, frustrated by the failure of the Oslo Accords to deliver on five years of promises for self-determination made in 1995 among other provocations, began an uprising that included suicide attacks.
Rather than addressing the issues, Israel began building a wall around the West Bank and East Jerusalem, purportedly to end the attacks. Suicide attacks indeed decreased, but not due to the wall. Thousands of Palestinians still enter Israel every month without permission because the wall is still not finished and has a number of gaps.
The route of the wall, which reaches deep inside Palestinian territory, has enabled a land grab of 191,000 acres – 13.5 percent of the West Bank, and some of its most fertile land.
In 2004, the International Court of Justice declared the wall illegal and demanded its removal, but Israel has continued to build.
Thousands of Palestinian farmers have been separated from their farmland by the wall. For these, Israel has created a system designed to ultimately wrest their land too. Israeli bureaucracy regularly blocks them from tending their crops through an agricultural permit system choked with red tape. Family members, vehicles, and animals must all receive permission to accompany the landowner. Israel allows each farmer a certain number of entries based on the size of his plot and the type of crop – for example, forty trips per year for onions, fifty for figs. The number of workers allowed is based on the plot size and crop as well, an impediment to employment for desperate Palestinian laborers.
As a further complication, out of eighty-four gates in the wall, only a handful are open every day.
In a recent twist, Israel began forcing families to divide their land among the heirs when the father dies (a procedure that has a fee attached to it), instead of allowing them to care for the land collectively. But another law declares that plots under 400 square yards are too small to farm, and their owners may not get permits. Eventually, when Israel deems a piece of land “abandoned,” it is reverted to the state.
Scholars and human rights activists have compared Israel’s permit regime to South Africa’s pass laws – only “even more complex and ruthlessly enforced than the pass system of the apartheid regime.”
West Bank: “sacrifice zones” for sewage
In May, Israel announced plans for new waste management sites, at least one of which is slated for the West Bank to service the large Jewish-only settlement of Ma’ale Adumim. The waste plant would be located just a few hundred yards from several Palestinian herding communities.
Israel’s Environment Protection Minister has been busy this summer studying ways to begin incorporating the EU Commission’s new Circular Economy Action Plan, an effort that may highlight the little-known story of environmental injustice in the West Bank. It is a story of land and people at risk with no recourse under an occupying power.
Israeli regulations intentionally make it more cost effective to operate waste treatment facilities in the West Bank than inside Israel. Consequently, waste (including hazardous waste) from Israel and its settlements, is brought to about fifteen West Bank locations, called “sacrifice zones” because they are “irrevocably impaired by environmental damage or neglect.” One researcher summed up the situation thusly: “Israel has turned the West Bank into a garbage dump.”
Several waste treatment facilities operated inside the settlements but were closed due to complaints about the stench.
Israel’s actions contravene multiple international laws and are responsible for yet another land loss for Palestinians. Ast the Israeli human right group B’Tselem declared in a 2017 report:
The international principles on hazardous waste management are based on values of environmental justice, public consultation and transparency. An expression of basic human decency, they strive to codify the simple notion that military, political, or economic power disparities should not be abused by the powerful in order to dump their pollution and waste in their disempowered neighbors’ backyards.
Israel’s dispossession machine is devious. Like the Separation Wall, it twists and winds, gobbling up whatever it wants and leaving a trail of adversity.
Palestinians can barely keep up with the financial and emotional burdens that the occupation heaps on them, as well as the dangers involved in the simple act of trying to make ends meet.
This intricately designed system of injustice – arguably worse than that of apartheid South Africa and condemned by nearly every other country in the world – is funded by American tax dollars.
Feature photo | A volunteer attempts to extinguish a fire started by a so-called “terror balloon” launched from the Gaza Strip, on the Israeli side of the border between Israel and Gaza, Aug. 24, 2020. Ariel Schalit | AP
Kathryn Shihadah writes for MintPress News and If Americans Knew. She speaks regularly about the injustice and demonization Palestinians face at the hands of Israel with complicity from the United States, especially to Christian audiences. Kathryn has lived in the Middle East for ten years and has traveled extensively. She blogs at PalestineHome.org.


mintpressnews--2020-08-27--Lee Camp: How News of a Cure for Cancer Got Lost in Our Nightly Political Theater

This is what fills our field of vision .
It consumes our thoughts , overflows our brains with anti-intellectual mud .
Yet most of these things are the bug splatter across the windshield .
They are not the actual highway , the path forward , actually deserving of our focus .
Looking beyond these distractions , one can see what really matters .
The true stuff of life and death and oppression and justice .
Most of it is not “ trending ” on Twitter .
Most of it doesn ’ t get the meme treatment .
None of it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ viral on Tik-Tok .
But it ’ s there .
Waiting .
Waiting for most of us to care .
Waiting for us to evolve .
I believe one of those issues is the fact that scientists just cured cancer… well , not quite .
But kinda .
They found a way to detect cancer years before symptoms arise , which generally means when it ’ s exponentially more treatable .
Hypothetically this could save millions upon millions of lives .
So why is it not plastered all over our nightly news ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ cable news show without hearing about this ?
?
The cold hard truth is there ’ s not enough money in stopping cancer quickly .
No , not much money at all .
Far better to drag cancer ooouuuuut — keep it goin ’ — like a bad relationship .
Why get divorced quickly and move on ?
Better to make each other miserable for a couple years , arguing over who gets stuff neither of us cares about — like that old armchair , cookbooks we ’ ve never used , torn @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I ’ ll get to how scientists can now predict cancer in a moment .
But let ’ s back up .
According to the National Cancer Institute , “ In 2020 , roughly 1.8 million people will be diagnosed with cancer in the United States .
And an estimated 606,520 people will die of cancer this year in the U.S. ” Six hundred thousand people .
That ’ s more than watched the Avengers movies !
( Not really .
Actually way more watched the Avengers .
But still , you get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ let ’ s ignore that a lot of that cancer is caused by massive corporations utterly destroying our natural world , dumping oil and toxins in our faces .
( I ’ ll cover that some other time when , you know , it ’ s a slow news day or I have , like , a Tuesday off for a little “ me-cation , ” as I call it when I like to paint my toenails . )
Second only to eating White Castle and then listening to a Kanye West presidential @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a lot of people .
Many of the most fatal cases are because people don ’ t realize they have it until it ’ s too late .
Well , Scientific American reports a new experimental blood test detects cancer four years before symptoms emerge .
Four full years .
They tested “ …more than 123,000 healthy individuals in Taizhou , China , which required building a specialized warehouse to store the more than 1.6 million samples they eventually accrued.
” ( That must be a truly gross warehouse .
Samples of what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , around 1,000 participants got cancer and using the new blood test , the researchers knew up to four years in advance which participants would get it with a 90 percent accuracy .
They knew !
The researchers looked at the test and said , “ This person will get cancer years from now.
” I find this utterly incredible and you should too .
Having the capability to know who is going to get cancer long before symptoms arise would save millions of lives .
So why aren ’ t we rushing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lives than curing Coronavirus .
Why have I only seen one article about it ?
Why is it not plastered across Brian Williams ’ forehead or Sean Hannity ’ s tits ?
Could it be — hypothetically — that there ’ s not wall-to-wall reporting on this because there ’ s too much money in treating cancer ?
Most people can not comprehend how much Americans spend on cancer treatment .
A 2018 study in the American Journal of Medicine found that 42 percent of new cancer patients spent their whole life savings @ @ @ @ @ @ @ got their diagnosis .
Furthermore , “ …the direct medical costs from cancer exceed $ 80 billion [ per year ] in the United States .
…more than 50 % of cancer patients at some point experience bankruptcy and house repossession… ” Spent every year by Americans trying to survive cancer .
For the people making money from this , getting rich from this , buying gourmet steaks for their pure-bred dog that wins contests that shouldn ’ t exist — for those people , letting go of that money is not on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ would look bad to run around chanting , “ Don ’ t cure cancer !
I have three mortgages and yacht payments !
What do we want ?
CANCER !
When do we want it ?
NOW !
” They know that looks bad .
So instead big pharma and big insurance and the big Wall Street players — they quietly avoid funding the kind of research that would help end cancer as opposed to treating cancer .
And this is not a conspiracy theory .
We have the proof .
The leaked @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them not to invest in cures because curing illnesses is bad for business .
And cancer doesn ’ t only destroy people without health insurance .
Back to the study in the American Journal of Medicine , “ Even for those with health insurance , ” the researchers wrote , “ Deductibles and co-payments for treatment , supportive care , and nonmedical or indirect costs ( e.g.
, travel , caregiver time , and lost productivity ) may be financially devastating even with health care coverage.
’ “ Furthermore , this is not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ don ’ t hear about in America .
For example , Cuba has a lung cancer vaccine that Americans can ’ t get .
One of the few mainstream articles about it gave the example of an American named George Keays .
USA Today reported , “ Keays has stage 4 lung cancer .
As his treatment options appeared to be dwindling this fall , he went to Cuba for a vaccine treatment despite a federal law that prohibits Americans from going there for health care.
” This caught me off guard .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ a psychopath who loves his mom so the neighbors assume he ’ s a nice guy .
But I didn ’ t know we had a federal law prohibiting Americans from getting healthcare .
I can only assume that was passed the same day they passed that law requiring daycares send children to play with the used needles under the wharf by the condemned asbestos plant .
Where does the “ Don ’ t Get Healthcare Law ” fit on our freedom matrix ?
Shouldn ’ t we have the freedom to get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ t even Republicans support that ?
If someone thinks they ’ ll fix the arm they lost in a wheat thresher accident by shoving a magic crystal up their ass , shouldn ’ t they have the freedom to do it ?
I mean , it ’ s not for me , but I ’ m not going to stop you ( assuming you scrub down the crystal afterwards ) .
Point is — we aren ’ t free .
We aren ’ t even free to get good healthcare .
So @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cancer science , where is Congress ?
Congress will stop everything to make sure more money gets unceremoniously dumped into our Military Industrial Complex each year .
They ’ ll come back from vacation , skip their daughter ’ s graduation , and miss out on their father ’ s funeral just to pour more cash into fighter jets or to pass bills designed to destroy the people of Venezuela and Syria .
They ’ ll come sprinting back to Congress — leaving their toddler sitting on the swing-set , lightly blowing in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people in other countries die from our economic brutality .
But they can ’ t be bothered to speed up approval of blood tests that prevent cancer .
Neither can our corporate media .
Because they don ’ t serve us .
They serve corporate state interests .
And curing cancer is not in the interest of the corporate state .
Feature photo | The Fox News building in New York City clad in scaffolding , June 8 , 2020 .
John Nacion | STAR MAX via IPx Lee Camp is the host @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Redacted Tonight.
” His new book Bullet Points and Punch Lines is available at LeeCampBook.com and his stand-up comedy special can be streamed for free at LeeCampAmerican.com .
This article was published with special permission from the author .
It originally appeared at Consortium News .

Donald Trump speeches. Celebrity tweets. Corporate news repetition. Chaos. Vapidity. Manufactured dissent. Graphic fighting sports.
This is what fills our field of vision. It consumes our thoughts, overflows our brains with anti-intellectual mud. Yet most of these things are the bug splatter across the windshield. They are not the actual highway, the path forward, actually deserving of our focus.
Looking beyond these distractions, one can see what really matters. The true stuff of life and death and oppression and justice. Most of it is not “trending” on Twitter. Most of it doesn’t get the meme treatment. None of it is matched with dance numbers, going viral on Tik-Tok. But it’s there. Waiting. Waiting for most of us to care. Waiting for us to evolve.
I believe one of those issues is the fact that scientists just cured cancer… well, not quite. But kinda.
They found a way to detect cancer years before symptoms arise, which generally means when it’s exponentially more treatable. Hypothetically this could save millions upon millions of lives. So why is it not plastered all over our nightly news? Why can I still flip on a cable news show without hearing about this??
The cold hard truth is there’s not enough money in stopping cancer quickly. No, not much money at all. Far better to drag cancer ooouuuuut — keep it goin’ — like a bad relationship. Why get divorced quickly and move on? Better to make each other miserable for a couple years, arguing over who gets stuff neither of us cares about — like that old armchair, cookbooks we’ve never used, torn drapes, the kids, etc.
I’ll get to how scientists can now predict cancer in a moment. But let’s back up. According to the National Cancer Institute, “In 2020, roughly 1.8 million people will be diagnosed with cancer in the United States. And an estimated 606,520 people will die of cancer this year in the U.S.”
Six hundred thousand people. That’s more than watched the Avengers movies! (Not really. Actually way more watched the Avengers. But still, you get the point.) And for now let’s ignore that a lot of that cancer is caused by massive corporations utterly destroying our natural world, dumping oil and toxins in our faces. (I’ll cover that some other time when, you know, it’s a slow news day or I have, like, a Tuesday off for a little “me-cation,” as I call it when I like to paint my toenails.)
In 2017, globally 9.6 million people were estimated to have died from the various forms of cancer. Every sixth death in the world is due to cancer, making it the second leading cause of death…”
Second only to eating White Castle and then listening to a Kanye West presidential campaign speech. Point is cancer kills a lot of people. Many of the most fatal cases are because people don’t realize they have it until it’s too late. Well, Scientific American reports a new experimental blood test detects cancer four years before symptoms emerge. Four full years. They tested “…more than 123,000 healthy individuals in Taizhou, China, which required building a specialized warehouse to store the more than 1.6 million samples they eventually accrued.” (That must be a truly gross warehouse. Samples of what?)
Over the following 10 years, around 1,000 participants got cancer and using the new blood test, the researchers knew up to four years in advance which participants would get it with a 90 percent accuracy. They knew! The researchers looked at the test and said, “This person will get cancer years from now.” I find this utterly incredible and you should too. Having the capability to know who is going to get cancer long before symptoms arise would save millions of lives. So why aren’t we rushing this through? This could save more lives than curing Coronavirus. Why have I only seen one article about it? Why is it not plastered across Brian Williams’ forehead or Sean Hannity’s tits?
Could it be — hypothetically — that there’s not wall-to-wall reporting on this because there’s too much money in treating cancer?
Most people cannot comprehend how much Americans spend on cancer treatment. A 2018 study in the American Journal of Medicine found that 42 percent of new cancer patients spent their whole life savings in just two years after they first got their diagnosis. Furthermore, “…the direct medical costs from cancer exceed $80 billion [per year] in the United States. …more than 50% of cancer patients at some point experience bankruptcy and house repossession…”
Eighty billion fucking dollars.
Spent every year by Americans trying to survive cancer.
For the people making money from this, getting rich from this, buying gourmet steaks for their pure-bred dog that wins contests that shouldn’t exist — for those people, letting go of that money is not on the agenda. And they know it would look bad to run around chanting, “Don’t cure cancer! I have three mortgages and yacht payments! What do we want? CANCER! When do we want it? NOW!” They know that looks bad. So instead big pharma and big insurance and the big Wall Street players — they quietly avoid funding the kind of research that would help end cancer as opposed to treating cancer. And this is not a conspiracy theory. We have the proof. The leaked Goldman Sachs memo to top investors telling them not to invest in cures because curing illnesses is bad for business.
And cancer doesn’t only destroy people without health insurance. Back to the study in the American Journal of Medicine, “Even for those with health insurance,” the researchers wrote, “Deductibles and co-payments for treatment, supportive care, and nonmedical or indirect costs (e.g., travel, caregiver time, and lost productivity) may be financially devastating even with health care coverage.’“
Furthermore, this is not the only advancement in cancer research we don’t hear about in America. For example, Cuba has a lung cancer vaccine that Americans can’t get. One of the few mainstream articles about it gave the example of an American named George Keays. USA Today reported, “Keays has stage 4 lung cancer. As his treatment options appeared to be dwindling this fall, he went to Cuba for a vaccine treatment despite a federal law that prohibits Americans from going there for health care.”
This caught me off guard. I knew our federal government behaved like a psychopath who loves his mom so the neighbors assume he’s a nice guy. But I didn’t know we had a federal law prohibiting Americans from getting healthcare. I can only assume that was passed the same day they passed that law requiring daycares send children to play with the used needles under the wharf by the condemned asbestos plant.
Where does the “Don’t Get Healthcare Law” fit on our freedom matrix? Shouldn’t we have the freedom to get whatever healthcare treatment we want? Shouldn’t even Republicans support that? If someone thinks they’ll fix the arm they lost in a wheat thresher accident by shoving a magic crystal up their ass, shouldn’t they have the freedom to do it? I mean, it’s not for me, but I’m not going to stop you (assuming you scrub down the crystal afterwards). Point is — we aren’t free. We aren’t even free to get good healthcare.
So when it comes to incredible advancements in cancer science, where is Congress? Congress will stop everything to make sure more money gets unceremoniously dumped into our Military Industrial Complex each year. They’ll come back from vacation, skip their daughter’s graduation, and miss out on their father’s funeral just to pour more cash into fighter jets or to pass bills designed to destroy the people of Venezuela and Syria. They’ll come sprinting back to Congress — leaving their toddler sitting on the swing-set, lightly blowing in the wind — just to make sure people in other countries die from our economic brutality. But they can’t be bothered to speed up approval of blood tests that prevent cancer. Neither can our corporate media. Because they don’t serve us. They serve corporate state interests. And curing cancer is not in the interest of the corporate state.
Feature photo | The Fox News building in New York City clad in scaffolding, June 8, 2020. John Nacion | STAR MAX via IPx
Lee Camp is the host of the hit comedy news show “Redacted Tonight.” His new book Bullet Points and Punch Lines is available at LeeCampBook.com and his stand-up comedy special can be streamed for free at LeeCampAmerican.com.
This article was published with special permission from the author. It originally appeared at Consortium News.


mintpressnews--2020-08-26--Cyber Command Gets New Surveillance Powers Under Guise of Battling Election Meddling

China doesn ’ t want Trump to win in November , according to William Evanina , Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center ( NCSC ) .
Russia , on the other hand , is “ using a range of measures ” to undermine Joe Biden ’ s candidacy .
The intelligence official also accuses China of “ expanding its influence ” ahead of the 2020 U.S. presidential election , but only to “ deflect and counter criticism ” as opposed to a direct attack on the incumbent .
As the election nears , calls for bolstering cybersecurity efforts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ quarters are intensifying .
Former head of the NSA , Mike Rogers , leaned into the Russian meddling narrative in a recent interview with NPR to justify increased surveillance and more proactive approaches to the ostensible “ threat ” posed by social media memes and hashtags to the American electoral process .
In early February , the top three cyber chiefs pitched a social media hashtag of their own , # Protect2020 , which has been posted enthusiastically by FBI twitter accounts , but few others .
Rogers ’ successor at the NSA @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Foreign Affairs article published Tuesday , that he had received authorization to carry out operations against Russian “ interference ” in the 2018 U.S. midterm elections and had sent “ an undisclosed number of defensive cyber-operators ” to countries bordering American adversaries for the purposes of defending against foreign meddling .
Domestically , the potential targeting of American citizens as foreign actors or agents was moved forward by Bill Barr ’ s Justice Department in June , in response to the Minneapolis riots , Barr released a statement naming “ Antifa and other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ its 56 regional FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces ( JTTF ) offices .
In the same statement the top prosecutor invoked the National Guard , which would be “ deployed on the streets to reestablish law and order ” if necessary .
Now , the National Guard has been taken under the wing of U.S. Cyber Command , which will coordinate a new DHS program called the Election Security Group ; a “ partnership between federal , state and local government and private sector entities ” , that among other things , directs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ funds for the procurement of updated voting equipment ” and “ administer statewide voter registration databases.
” Mission “ hunt forward ” was first described in the DoD Cyber Strategy for 2018 , which called for countermeasures against the “ persistent campaigns ” of enemy nations like China , Russia , North Korea and Iran .
The 2018 operation included “ partner ” nations Montenegro , Ukraine and ( North ) Macedonia where U.S. cybersec troops went to work to “ find [ hacking tools on networks ] ” .
The information is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Security Group – a “ partnership between federal , state and local government and private sector entities ” – that assesses the data to determine if a threat exists and communicates it to DHS , FBI and , notably , to the National Guard , which allows the Pentagon “ to potentially look at something that may be occurring in the United States ” , according to Army Brig .
Gen. William Hartman , Cybercom ’ s election security lead .
Cybercom is located at Fort Meade , Maryland and “ directs , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ operations in defense of the U.S. and its interests ” .
Created in 2010 , the military agency was elevated by the Trump administration in 2017 on then-Defense Secretary James Mattis ’ recommendation to promote Cybercom to a “ Unified Combatant Command ” , responsible for cyberspace operations , instead of a sub-unified command under USSTRATCOM .
The Russiagate narrative was established early on in the 2016 presidential election and U.S. intelligence agencies have been sounding the alarm bells for a repeat of supposed Russian interference in the 2020 election since then .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ ramping up the rhetoric pointing to potential cyberattacks and election interference from their enemies .
Nakasone asserts that the “ Chinese government uses cyber capabilities to steal sensitive data , intellectual property , and personal data from the U.S. government ” , while Russia uses “ cyberspace for espionage and theft and to disrupt U.S. infrastructure while attempting to erode confidence in the nation ’ s democratic processes.
” Iran , North Korea , and other non-aligned nations all have their particular bone to pick with the United States , according to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ responsibility of Cyber Command to thwart all of these threats .
As part of the election security strategies , an information exchange program ( IEP ) called Cyber 9-Line was established to monitor domestic cases of potential election interference through the National Guard , which will coordinate with its National Guard Cyber Protection Team , Cybercom and the FBI “ enabling the defense of elections ” by tracking down cases of election meddling and interference by “ foreign actors ” in the United States .
Cyber 9-Line works in partnership with the Joint @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) office , “ which aims to provide commanders with enhanced situational awareness and to assist in battle management as it relates to cyber.
” Feature photo | A guard stands at the entrance of the Montenegrin Defense Ministry in Montenegro ’ s capital Podgorica where a group of U.S. military cyber experts are purportedly in a fight against potential Russian cyberattacks ahead of the 2020 American and Montenegrin elections .
Risto Bozovic | AP

China doesn’t want Trump to win in November, according to William Evanina, Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center (NCSC). Russia, on the other hand, is “using a range of measures” to undermine Joe Biden’s candidacy. The intelligence official also accuses China of “expanding its influence” ahead of the 2020 U.S. presidential election, but only to “deflect and counter criticism” as opposed to a direct attack on the incumbent.
As the election nears, calls for bolstering cybersecurity efforts from the U.S. military establishment and other quarters are intensifying. Former head of the NSA, Mike Rogers, leaned into the Russian meddling narrative in a recent interview with NPR to justify increased surveillance and more proactive approaches to the ostensible “threat” posed by social media memes and hashtags to the American electoral process. In early February, the top three cyber chiefs pitched a social media hashtag of their own, #Protect2020, which has been posted enthusiastically by FBI twitter accounts, but few others.
Rogers’ successor at the NSA, Gen. Paul Nakasone revealed in a Foreign Affairs article published Tuesday, that he had received authorization to carry out operations against Russian “interference” in the 2018 U.S. midterm elections and had sent “an undisclosed number of defensive cyber-operators” to countries bordering American adversaries for the purposes of defending against foreign meddling.
Domestically, the potential targeting of American citizens as foreign actors or agents was moved forward by Bill Barr’s Justice Department in June, in response to the Minneapolis riots, Barr released a statement naming “Antifa and other similar groups” as possible targets of its 56 regional FBI Joint Terrorism Task Forces (JTTF) offices. In the same statement the top prosecutor invoked the National Guard, which would be “deployed on the streets to reestablish law and order” if necessary.
Now, the National Guard has been taken under the wing of U.S. Cyber Command, which will coordinate a new DHS program called the Election Security Group; a “partnership between federal, state and local government and private sector entities”, that among other things, directs state and local governments to “disburse funds for the procurement of updated voting equipment” and “administer statewide voter registration databases.”
Hunt forward, look backwards
Mission “hunt forward” was first described in the DoD Cyber Strategy for 2018, which called for countermeasures against the “persistent campaigns” of enemy nations like China, Russia, North Korea and Iran. The 2018 operation included “partner” nations Montenegro, Ukraine and (North) Macedonia where U.S. cybersec troops went to work to “find [hacking tools on networks]”.
The information is passed on to the newly established Election Security Group – a “partnership between federal, state and local government and private sector entities” – that assesses the data to determine if a threat exists and communicates it to DHS, FBI and, notably, to the National Guard, which allows the Pentagon “to potentially look at something that may be occurring in the United States”, according to Army Brig. Gen. William Hartman, Cybercom’s election security lead.
Cybercom is located at Fort Meade, Maryland and “directs, synchronizes, and coordinates cyberspace planning and operations in defense of the U.S. and its interests”. Created in 2010, the military agency was elevated by the Trump administration in 2017 on then-Defense Secretary James Mattis’ recommendation to promote Cybercom to a “Unified Combatant Command”, responsible for cyberspace operations, instead of a sub-unified command under USSTRATCOM.
From Russiagate with love
The Russiagate narrative was established early on in the 2016 presidential election and U.S. intelligence agencies have been sounding the alarm bells for a repeat of supposed Russian interference in the 2020 election since then. As November approaches, U.S. officials are ramping up the rhetoric pointing to potential cyberattacks and election interference from their enemies.
Nakasone asserts that the “Chinese government uses cyber capabilities to steal sensitive data, intellectual property, and personal data from the U.S. government”, while Russia uses “cyberspace for espionage and theft and to disrupt U.S. infrastructure while attempting to erode confidence in the nation’s democratic processes.” Iran, North Korea, and other non-aligned nations all have their particular bone to pick with the United States, according to the NSA chief, and it is the responsibility of Cyber Command to thwart all of these threats.
As part of the election security strategies, an information exchange program (IEP) called Cyber 9-Line was established to monitor domestic cases of potential election interference through the National Guard, which will coordinate with its National Guard Cyber Protection Team, Cybercom and the FBI “enabling the defense of elections” by tracking down cases of election meddling and interference by “foreign actors” in the United States. Cyber 9-Line works in partnership with the Joint Cyber Command and Control program (JCC2) office, “which aims to provide commanders with enhanced situational awareness and to assist in battle management as it relates to cyber.”
Feature photo | A guard stands at the entrance of the Montenegrin Defense Ministry in Montenegro’s capital Podgorica where a group of U.S. military cyber experts are purportedly in a fight against potential Russian cyberattacks ahead of the 2020 American and Montenegrin elections. Risto Bozovic | AP
Raul Diego is a MintPress News Staff Writer, independent photojournalist, researcher, writer and documentary filmmaker.


mintpressnews--2020-08-26--Video Shows British Soldier Being Arrested for Opposing UK Arming of Saudi Arabia

A British soldier has been arrested for opposing the United Kingdom ’ s role in the Saudi-led war against Yemen .
Video shows Lance Corporal Ahmed Al-Babati of the Royal Signals being led away by military police from his protest outside Britain ’ s Ministry of Defense in London .
Al-Babati earlier released a video explaining his decision to risk his freedom rather than participate in what he feels is a grossly immoral war .
“ Our government continues to arm and support Saudi Arabia , ” he said .
“ We tried to make our voices heard by protesting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many other cities .
We ’ ve even tried to email our MPs , but clearly our words mean nothing to [ Prime Minister ] Boris Johnson.
” I joined the army in 2017 and took an oath to protect and serve this country , not to be part of a corrupt government that continues to arm and support terrorism .
What made this decision so easy for me and why I choose to sacrifice a lot of things including possibly my freedom is for the simple fact that me , myself as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ I could have easily fell victim to one of those air strikes or died out of hunger .
I ’ ve seen enough not to speak out and I ’ d rather sleep peacefully in a cell than stay silent for a paycheck.
” Yemen is suffering through what the United Nations calls “ the world ’ s worst humanitarian crisis , ” the organization estimating that 14 million people — over half the country ’ s population — are at risk of famine , and 20.5 million need help accessing drinkable water @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the five year conflict , misleadingly labeled the Yemeni Civil War , which , in reality , is largely a Saudi-led struggle against the Houthi rebels , situated in the west of the country .
Between 2014 and 2015 , the Houthis overthrew the government of Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi , with the Saudi government spending five years attempting to reinstall him as the leader of a united Yemen .
Eschewing diplomatic solutions or boots on the ground , however , the Saudis have largely resorted to sustained bombing campaigns , which have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ infrastructure .
A recent report from Oxfam calculated that there had been almost 200 air raids on hospitals , clinics , wells or water tanks since the conflict began in 2015 , around one every ten days .
As a result , Yemen is beset with twin epidemics of COVID-19 and cholera , their stretched medical system unable to cope with either .
The war is estimated to have killed almost a quarter of a million people to date .
“ It is clear this government has blood on their hands , so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ continue my military service until the arms trade with Saudi Arabia has been put to an end .
It is reported that a child dies every 10 minutes in Yemen , so I ’ ll be standing outside 10 Downing Street blowing a whistle every 10 minutes so that they can hear every time a child dies due to a war they continue to arm and support , ” Al-Babati said .
He was reportedly arrested after protesting for 9 hours and 30 minutes , blowing his whistle 57 times during that period @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s anguish is well documented .
The United Kingdom is a key ally of the Kingdom , supplying it with billions of dollars worth of military equipment .
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute , Saudi Arabia is by far Britain ’ s most important arms customer , responsible for 49 percent of total weapons purchases , buoying the booming industry .
In addition , Britain has around 200 military personnel in the country , responsible for training , repairing and maintaining the Saudis ’ costly warplanes , keeping the conflict @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Corbyn had promised to put an immediate end to U.K. sales to Saudi Arabia if elected .
However , the Conservative victory in the December elections effectively put an end to the debate , sending the stocks of British weapons manufacturers soaring .
Al-Babati has now not been seen for two days , with the Army refusing to discuss the matter with the media .
His fate remains unknown .
However , Al-Babati clearly did not make the decision lightly and knew what his fate could be .
In 2010 , British soldier @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in prison after he refused to return to Afghanistan on conscientious grounds .
Whether Al-Babati is given the same treatment remains to be seen .
Feature photo | Screenshot from video posted to Instagram shows the arrest of Ahmed Al-Babati by Britsih military police outside of Britain ’ s Ministry of Defense in London .
Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News .
After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books : Bad News From Venezuela : Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting , The Guardian , Salon , The Grayzone , Jacobin Magazine , Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary .

A British soldier has been arrested for opposing the United Kingdom’s role in the Saudi-led war against Yemen. Video shows Lance Corporal Ahmed Al-Babati of the Royal Signals being led away by military police from his protest outside Britain’s Ministry of Defense in London.
Al-Babati earlier released a video explaining his decision to risk his freedom rather than participate in what he feels is a grossly immoral war. “Our government continues to arm and support Saudi Arabia,” he said. “We tried to make our voices heard by protesting in London, Manchester, Liverpool and many other cities. We’ve even tried to email our MPs, but clearly our words mean nothing to [Prime Minister] Boris Johnson.”
I joined the army in 2017 and took an oath to protect and serve this country, not to be part of a corrupt government that continues to arm and support terrorism. What made this decision so easy for me and why I choose to sacrifice a lot of things including possibly my freedom is for the simple fact that me, myself as somebody that was born in Yemen, I could have easily fell victim to one of those air strikes or died out of hunger. I’ve seen enough not to speak out and I’d rather sleep peacefully in a cell than stay silent for a paycheck.”
Serving British soldier Ahmed al Batati is refusing to continue his military service until the UK stops arming Saudi Arabia which is pursuing a brutal war on his native Yemen. Al Batati has since been arrested by military police after demonstrating in front of Downing St. #Yemen pic.twitter.com/8EBpG7C8P3 — 5Pillars (@5Pillarsuk) August 26, 2020
Yemen is suffering through what the United Nations calls “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” the organization estimating that 14 million people — over half the country’s population — are at risk of famine, and 20.5 million need help accessing drinkable water. The situation is largely the result of the five year conflict, misleadingly labeled the Yemeni Civil War, which, in reality, is largely a Saudi-led struggle against the Houthi rebels, situated in the west of the country. Between 2014 and 2015, the Houthis overthrew the government of Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, with the Saudi government spending five years attempting to reinstall him as the leader of a united Yemen.
Eschewing diplomatic solutions or boots on the ground, however, the Saudis have largely resorted to sustained bombing campaigns, which have destroyed the country’s already limited infrastructure. A recent report from Oxfam calculated that there had been almost 200 air raids on hospitals, clinics, wells or water tanks since the conflict began in 2015, around one every ten days. As a result, Yemen is beset with twin epidemics of COVID-19 and cholera, their stretched medical system unable to cope with either. The war is estimated to have killed almost a quarter of a million people to date.
“It is clear this government has blood on their hands, so with that being said I refuse to continue my military service until the arms trade with Saudi Arabia has been put to an end. It is reported that a child dies every 10 minutes in Yemen, so I’ll be standing outside 10 Downing Street blowing a whistle every 10 minutes so that they can hear every time a child dies due to a war they continue to arm and support,” Al-Babati said. He was reportedly arrested after protesting for 9 hours and 30 minutes, blowing his whistle 57 times during that period.
The British role in Yemen’s anguish is well documented. The United Kingdom is a key ally of the Kingdom, supplying it with billions of dollars worth of military equipment. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Saudi Arabia is by far Britain’s most important arms customer, responsible for 49 percent of total weapons purchases, buoying the booming industry. In addition, Britain has around 200 military personnel in the country, responsible for training, repairing and maintaining the Saudis’ costly warplanes, keeping the conflict going. Former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn had promised to put an immediate end to U.K. sales to Saudi Arabia if elected. However, the Conservative victory in the December elections effectively put an end to the debate, sending the stocks of British weapons manufacturers soaring.
Al-Babati has now not been seen for two days, with the Army refusing to discuss the matter with the media. His fate remains unknown. However, Al-Babati clearly did not make the decision lightly and knew what his fate could be. In 2010, British soldier Joe Glenton was sentenced to 9 months in prison after he refused to return to Afghanistan on conscientious grounds. Whether Al-Babati is given the same treatment remains to be seen.
Feature photo | Screenshot from video posted to Instagram shows the arrest of Ahmed Al-Babati by Britsih military police outside of Britain’s Ministry of Defense in London.
Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent. He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary.


mintpressnews--2020-08-26--Police Told Right-Wing Kenosha Killer “We Appreciate You” Just Before Deadly Shootings

Three people were shot and two died last night in Keshona , Wis , as right-wing militias hit the streets , shooting demonstrators protesting the police shooting of Jacob Blake on Sunday .
After two nights of angry demonstrations , Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers , who originally described the event as a “ merciless ” act of police cruelty , called in the National Guard and declared a state of emergency .
However , along with the National Guard came large numbers of right-wing militia groups , existing relatively harmoniously with law enforcement .
Far-right news organizations and websites had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s call for reinforcements to come to “ protect lives and property.
” Last night ’ s killings were filmed and immediately posted on social media .
In one video , protesters fight with an armed militiaman , who fires at three people at point blank range , killing two .
He then hurries from the scene , “ repeating “ I just killed someone , ” retreating back towards police lines , still carrying his rifle .
Even as the crowd shout to the police that the killer is coming towards @ @ @ @ @ @ @ instructing the protesters to get out of the way .
The shooter has been widely identified as a 17-year-old boy .
From his public Facebook page , it is clear that he idolizes the police , his profile picture being a “ Blue Lives Matter ” logo with him in the center , holding a rifle .
Virtually every post he made is about either the police or guns .
As of Wednesday morning , he is still at large .
Footage taken earlier in the night shows the teenager bragging that he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have non-lethal ” ammunition with them .
Another video shows them fraternizing with heavily militarized police , who offer them water and tell him “ we appreciate you guys , we really do , ” evidence which might explain why he was neither shot nor even arrested after killing two people right in front of dozens of law enforcement officers .
Speaking about the shooting , Lieutenant Governor of the State of Wisconsin , Mandela Barnes said that “ we can ’ t even act surprised that this happened.
” Barnes said that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ armed militia in public , adding , Coordination between police and far-right groups is far from abnormal .
During the George Floyd protests , Oregon police associated with groups such as the Proud Boys , video showing one officer asking the group to hide in a building because they were about to start gassing protesters , but to do it “ discreetly , ” as they did not want to be seen as “ playing favorites.
” Another Oregon officer was caught on camera flashing the “ White Power ” hand gesture at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a Seattle man drove his car at high speed into anti-racist protesters , opening fire at the crowd .
He then calmly leaves his vehicle and walks over to police lines , where they shield him , turning their backs on the armed killer to face the crowd .
That they appeared totally unconcerned at this is a sign of how confident they were that they were in no danger .
As activist news outlet It ’ s Going Down noted , “ Such a relationship allows the police to use far-right groups @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” A study published last year by Injustice Watch found that 20 percent of police officers nationwide have shared egregiously racist material or content glorifying police violence against protesters on their public Facebook accounts .
This figure rises to 40 percent of retired cops .
Rarely is any action taken against officers sharing this content .
On the other hand , a Massachusetts officer was recently fired for sharing a pro-Black Lives Matter social media post .
The events of last night were sparked by an incident on Sunday , where an unarmed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shot from point blank range in the back at least seven times by police officers , the shooting occurring in front of his friends and children .
Miraculously , Blake survived but is now paralyzed after one bullet severed his spinal column .
Blake ’ s father , also called Jacob , wept as he described the incident as “ senseless attempted murder , ” and said he had no faith that the police officers involved would be held to justice .
The suspects are currently on administrative leave , a status which @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shooting was denounced by a great number of human and civil rights groups .
The American Civil Liberties Union , for instance , described it as a “ disgusting act of police brutality.
” “ With each of the seven shots fired , police made their intent clear—they believed they had the right to kill an unarmed Black man for the crime of walking away from them , ” said Jeffery Robinson , director of the ACLU ’ s Trone Center for Justice and Equality .
Seeing as the teenage militiaman has not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ groups might also be able to kill with impunity in Trump ’ s America .
Feature photo | Police in riot gear clear a park during clashes with protesters outside the Kenosha County Courthouse late Tuesday , Aug. 25 , 2020 , in Kenosha , Wis. David Goldman | AP Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News .
After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books : Bad News From Venezuela : Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age : Still Manufacturing Consent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Accuracy in Reporting , The Guardian , Salon , The Grayzone , Jacobin Magazine , Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary .

Three people were shot and two died last night in Keshona, Wis, as right-wing militias hit the streets, shooting demonstrators protesting the police shooting of Jacob Blake on Sunday. After two nights of angry demonstrations, Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, who originally described the event as a “merciless” act of police cruelty, called in the National Guard and declared a state of emergency. However, along with the National Guard came large numbers of right-wing militia groups, existing relatively harmoniously with law enforcement. Far-right news organizations and websites had earlier signal boosted the Kenosha Guard militia’s call for reinforcements to come to “protect lives and property.”
Last night’s killings were filmed and immediately posted on social media. In one video, protesters fight with an armed militiaman, who fires at three people at point blank range, killing two. He then hurries from the scene, “repeating “I just killed someone,” retreating back towards police lines, still carrying his rifle. Even as the crowd shout to the police that the killer is coming towards them, they ignore him, instead instructing the protesters to get out of the way.
Kenosha killer walks right up to police. People are yelling, loudly at cops that he shot someone. Police ignore him. 6 vehicles full of police ignore him. Despite fact he has a long gun. Despite fact he has hands up. Despite fact cops know people have just been shot. https://t.co/qV3dlJ1dxM — Arun Gupta Flatten the Ruling Class (@arunindy) August 26, 2020
The shooter has been widely identified as a 17-year-old boy. From his public Facebook page, it is clear that he idolizes the police, his profile picture being a “Blue Lives Matter” logo with him in the center, holding a rifle. Virtually every post he made is about either the police or guns. As of Wednesday morning, he is still at large. Footage taken earlier in the night shows the teenager bragging that he and his crew “don’t have non-lethal” ammunition with them.
https://twitter.com/abolishICE___/status/1298579143760556033
Another video shows them fraternizing with heavily militarized police, who offer them water and tell him “we appreciate you guys, we really do,” evidence which might explain why he was neither shot nor even arrested after killing two people right in front of dozens of law enforcement officers.
#KyleRittenhouse was offered water from the Kenosha police and told
"We appreciate you being here." as he roamed the streets armed. #MorningJoe pic.twitter.com/su6QyXnVKL — THE CONNET (@THEAlleyeceeing) August 26, 2020
Speaking about the shooting, Lieutenant Governor of the State of Wisconsin, Mandela Barnes said that “we can’t even act surprised that this happened.” Barnes said that it had become normal to see heavily armed militia in public, adding,
In many instances, these people have been led on by various conspiracy theories that have ruminated on the internet, and these people are demanding to have their country back. And to assume that nothing bad is going to happen, to assume that these people are up to — or, have the most fine intentions, is completely ridiculous.”
Wow. Black shop owner in #Kenosha describes the moment he gave shelter to #JacobBlake protesters after armed right wing "militia" showed up in 10-15 pickup trucks + opened fire on activistspic.twitter.com/IiANxV0f2b — Wyatt Reed (@wyattreed13) August 26, 2020
Not an isolated incident
Coordination between police and far-right groups is far from abnormal. During the George Floyd protests, Oregon police associated with groups such as the Proud Boys, video showing one officer asking the group to hide in a building because they were about to start gassing protesters, but to do it “discreetly,” as they did not want to be seen as “playing favorites.” Another Oregon officer was caught on camera flashing the “White Power” hand gesture at right-wing counter demonstrators.
In June, a Seattle man drove his car at high speed into anti-racist protesters, opening fire at the crowd. He then calmly leaves his vehicle and walks over to police lines, where they shield him, turning their backs on the armed killer to face the crowd. That they appeared totally unconcerned at this is a sign of how confident they were that they were in no danger. As activist news outlet It’s Going Down noted, “Such a relationship allows the police to use far-right groups as an auxiliary force against social movements.”
A study published last year by Injustice Watch found that 20 percent of police officers nationwide have shared egregiously racist material or content glorifying police violence against protesters on their public Facebook accounts. This figure rises to 40 percent of retired cops. Rarely is any action taken against officers sharing this content. On the other hand, a Massachusetts officer was recently fired for sharing a pro-Black Lives Matter social media post.
The shooting of Jacob Blake
The events of last night were sparked by an incident on Sunday, where an unarmed black man, Jacob Blake, was shot from point blank range in the back at least seven times by police officers, the shooting occurring in front of his friends and children. Miraculously, Blake survived but is now paralyzed after one bullet severed his spinal column. Blake’s father, also called Jacob, wept as he described the incident as “senseless attempted murder,” and said he had no faith that the police officers involved would be held to justice. The suspects are currently on administrative leave, a status which amounts to a paid vacation.
The shooting was denounced by a great number of human and civil rights groups. The American Civil Liberties Union, for instance, described it as a “disgusting act of police brutality.” “With each of the seven shots fired, police made their intent clear—they believed they had the right to kill an unarmed Black man for the crime of walking away from them,” said Jeffery Robinson, director of the ACLU’s Trone Center for Justice and Equality. Seeing as the teenage militiaman has not even been apprehended, it appears far-right groups might also be able to kill with impunity in Trump’s America.
Feature photo | Police in riot gear clear a park during clashes with protesters outside the Kenosha County Courthouse late Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2020, in Kenosha, Wis. David Goldman | AP
Alan MacLeod is a Staff Writer for MintPress News. After completing his PhD in 2017 he published two books: Bad News From Venezuela: Twenty Years of Fake News and Misreporting and Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent. He has also contributed to Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, The Guardian, Salon, The Grayzone, Jacobin Magazine, Common Dreams the American Herald Tribune and The Canary.