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Gallup: Only Republicans’ Trust in Newsmedia Plunged After 2003
Eric Zuesse
On August 25th, Gallup headlined "Republicans', Democrats' Views of Media Accuracy Diverge”, and reported that ever since America's newsmedia in 2003 tried to postpone and suppress the findings that there had been no WMD (weapons of mass destruction) in Iraq after 1998, Republicans’ trust in America’s newsmedia plunged from 35% in 2003 down to 14% today, but Democrats’ trust in America’s newsmedia actually increased from 42% in 2003 to 62% today — 14 years after the press’s deceit of the U.S. public, about that matter.
In other words, whereas Republicans despise America’s newsmedia, after those media had stenographically reported George W. Bush’s (and his Administration’s) lies such as his saying on 7 September 2002 “a report came out of the Atomic — the IAEA that they [Iraq] were six months away from developing a [nuclear] weapon. I don’t know what more evidence we need” (in order to invade Iraq as soon as possible), Democrats have even more respect for the newsmedia now, than they did when Bush & company lied this nation into that catastrophic, illegal and unjustifiable, invasion, which destroyed that country.
US Intends Increased Patrols in South China Sea
Stephen Lendman
Washington has dismal bilateral relations with Russia, China and other sovereign independent nations.
Things got worse with the ordered closure of Russia’s San Francisco consulate along with annex buildings in Washington in New York.
For the first time, the US Pacific Command developed a schedule for South China Sea naval patrols, claiming its freedom of navigation operations right (FONOPS).
Beijing considers the intrusion of US warships in or near its waters provocative. Weeks earlier, its Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lu Kang said “(u)nder the pretext of ‘freedom of navigation,’ the US (sends) military vessels into China’s territorial waters off the Xisha Islands without (its) approval.”
Venezuelans Prepare for Possible US Aggression
Stephen Lendman
Venezuela is a prime US target for regime change, opposing its social democracy, wanting control of its vast oil reserves.
Ongoing color revolution tactics for months so far failed to achieve Trump’s objectives. So did earlier Bush/Cheney and Obama coup attempts.
Is sending in the marines Trump’s next option? Will he attack Venezuela militarily, maybe terror-bomb the country like in other US war theaters?
Will he destroy vital infrastructure, target residential areas, massacre thousands of defenseless civilians to install pro-Western fascist rule?
Venezuela can’t match America’s might. It’s determined to resist Yankee imperialism, a worldwide scourge.
On Saturday and Sunday, around 200,000 soldiers along with hundreds of thousands of civilian militia members are participating in military exercises.
Regulatory Laxness Exacerbated Hurricane Harvey’s Environmental Nightmare
Stephen Lendman
Flood-prone Houston was woefully unprepared for days of torrential rainfall. Its drainage system can’t handle it.
Its regulatory policy is lax. Its overdevelopment eliminated green space. Its damaged oil refining, fuel and chemical facilities exacerbated the disaster, turning much of the area into a toxic swamp, land, air and water affected - certain to gravely harm public health.
Houston Health Department spokesman Porofirio Villarreal said there’s no need to test floodwater. “It’s contaminated. There’s millions of contaminants.” Exposure is hard to avoid.
Well water used by hundreds of thousands of residents in affected areas is contaminated. Before Harvey, Houston drinking water was ranked 6th worst in the nation.
Earlier water quality tests found 18 chemicals exceeding federal and state health guidelines. The national average is four.
Arkema Texas Plant Explodes
Stephen Lendman
On August 31, two explosions rocked the plant, causing toxic chemical fires, contaminating air and water.
The company’s web site said the “threat of additional explosions remains.”
On Friday, another explosion and massive fire occurred. More could follow. Toxic black smoke filled the air, visible for miles around the plant. More explosions and fires are likely.
Trailers with chemicals at the site require refrigeration. According to Arkema official Richard Rennard, floodwaters knocked out municipal and auxiliary power. He “expect(s) the same thing to happen with those containers that we saw today.”
Residents within miles of the plant aren’t safe. Maybe no one in Harris County - home to 4.6 million people, living in harm’s way, exposed to hazardous conditions.
A North Korean H-Bomb? Another Nuclear Test?
Stephen Lendman
Pyongyang claimed it developed a hydrogen bomb miniaturized enough to fit atop a ballistic missile, according to its KCNA news agency.
Kim Jong-un was quoted saying his country has a “thermonuclear weapon with super explosive power made by our own efforts and technology. All components of the H-bomb were 100 per cent domestically made.”
KCNA said the DPRK “further upgraded its technical performance at a higher ultra-modern level on the basis of precious successes made in the first H-bomb test.”
After the January 2016 test, scientists said the six-kiloton yield was too low for a thermonuclear bomb. Its September 2016 test reportedly had a 10-kiloton yield.
The Hiroshima bomb was a 15-kiloton device. America’s first successful H-bomb test in 1952 produced a yield exceeding 10 megatons, the equivalent of 10 million tons of TNT - 500 times more powerful than the Nagasaki bomb.
It’s unknown if DPRK technology advanced this far. It likely will eventually, given its determination to develop the most powerful weapons possible - its most effective way to deter feared US aggression.
Post-WW II history shows America only attacked nations without its super-weapon capability. North Korea has A-bombs. If able to mount them atop ballistic missiles, it potentially can deliver a robust response to US aggression - against its regional forces in South Korea and Japan.
Russian TV Reports U.S. Secretly Backing ISIS in Syria
Eric Zuesse
ussian television headlined on September 1st, "Syrian rebel defector says his US-trained unit sold arms to ISIS”, and reported statements by a defector from — a man who had quit — the U.S.-backed Maghawir al-Thawra group (the remnants of America’s New Syrian Army. The CIA-organized New Syrian Army had, in turn, been the remnants of the Free Syrian Army, which the U.S. had formed in Syria in 2011, during the “Arab Spring” uprisings across Arabia. So, this defector had quit from what was actually the straggling and failing end, of America’s proxy-army of Syrians, who were fighting to overthrow Syria’s President, Bashar al-Assad. The U.S. Government had used the uprising in Syria to bring down Assad, who is allied with Russia. Ever since 1949, the U.S. Government has been trying to take over Syria. After the “Arab Spring,” the U.S. backed Al Qaeda in Syria in order to transform that Syrian uprising into that long-sought U.S. victory. What this defector said had caused him to quit, was America’s lies about what they were fighting for, and what they were fighting against. He didn’t want to be fighting for ISIS, against Assad. That’s what the Syrian war had now come down to, and so he quit.
Trump Continues Invasions that Can’t Succeed
Eric Zuesse
Do you remember the Vietnam War, which produced somewhere between 1,450,000 and 3,595,000 deaths? What good did America’s invasion do? If America had won instead of lost, would the invasion have been good? Is any invasion, by any country, ever good?
World War II was different — and not only because it was global, and not only because our side (the U.S. and UK and Soviet Union) won.
The basic principle determining whether an invasion even has a possibility to be good, is whether that invasion is truly essential in order for the invading country even to continue at all to exist — which means, its constitution to continue in force. Only such authentic national defense can ever justify an invasion.
During WW II, the continued existence of the Soviet Union, and of Britain, and of the United States (as well as of many other countries) was, indeed, seriously threatened by Adolf Hitler’s regime, and not only because it was aided by Benito Mussolini’s regime, and by Emperor Hirohito’s regime.
Biblical Level Hurricane Harvey Rain
Stephen Lendman
Though not forecast to continue for 40 days and nights, for residents of affected areas in Houston and surrounding areas, it must feel that way.
I’ve experienced two hurricanes and one earthquake years earlier, the latter scary but mild, the fury of heavy wind and rain downing trees and knocking out power worse, but nothing like Harvey.
Recovery was quick, life returning to normal, not for weeks or months for hardest hit Texas areas - a once in a lifetime event, likely the worst weather-related rainfall in US history before it ends.
On Friday evening, Harvey made landfall near Corpus Christi, its 130-mile-an-hour winds at Category 4 strength, bringing torrential rains with it, forecast to last until mid-week.
Now tropical storm Harvey, the National Weather Service said “life-threatening flooding continues over southeastern Texas.”
Rainfall through Thursday may approach or exceed 50 inches in hardest hit areas, a catastrophe of biblical proportions, many thousands affected.
Public Health Emergency in Southeastern Texas
Stephen Lendman
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tom Price declared a public health emergency in Texas in response to Hurricane Harvey, saying:
“HHS is taking the necessary measures and has mobilized the resources to provide immediate assistance to those affected by Hurricane Harvey.”
“We recognize the gravity of the situation in Texas, and the declaration of a public health emergency will provide additional flexibility and authority to help those who have been impacted by the storm.”
Conditions are dire following six days of heavy rain and severe flooding. Over 20 Houston area hospitals evacuated patients and/or temporarily closed, others operating under emergency conditions.
Roads to the University of Texas MD Anderson’s Medical Center remain impassable. On Monday, employees were told to stay home until further notice.
Houston and surrounding areas face a likely public health disaster because of huge amounts of toxins released into the air and water, turning the area into a dangerously polluted swamp.
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