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Ben Norton @BenjaminNorton
, 5 tweets, 3 min read Read on Twitter
Pro-US lobby group Human Rights Watch joined the corporate media in whitewashing extreme war hawk John McCain as a "human rights champion."

This is a testament to how "human rights" "NGOs" are largely a fig leaf for advancing US foreign policy interests.
fair.org/home/john-mcca…
Human Rights Watch (which refused to oppose the wars in Iraq & Yemen and supported intervention in Libya) praised right-wing war hawk McCain for his supposed "defense of human rights" & "compassionate voice."

McCain used that voice to call for war nonstop
hrw.org/news/2018/08/2…
Days after his org lionized extreme warmonger John McCain, Human Rights Watch Supreme Leader Ken Roth is gloating about the economic strangulation of Venezuela—which is suffering under crippling US sanctions and internal economic sabotage by the opposition
While Honduras' right-wing, US-backed government was stealing the election and killing left-wing protesters, Human Rights Watch was silent.

Instead, HRW was spending its time loudly condemning Venezuela and other leftist governments in Latin America.
alternet.org/grayzone-proje…
Here's a 2003 quote from "human rights champion" John McCain, cheering on the Iraq invasion. It has aged very well:
"when the people of Iraq are liberated, we will again have written another chapter in the glorious history of the United States of America"
mccain.senate.gov/public/index.c…
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(Movie Review Thread) I just saw Peter Jackson's new film They Shall Not Grow Old, a documentary on World War I. The film is technically breathtaking, but I was shocked to see a film on WWI that is completely apolitical. It's about political mass slaughter but it avoids politics!
They Shall Not Grow Old does not even try to explain why WWI was fought — let alone why it was an entirely preventable, pointless inter-imperialist bloodbath that led to the unnecessary deaths of tens of millions of (almost entirely poor) people!
Instead the whole point of the film is to humanize the soldiers fighting in WWI and show what day-to-day life was for them. And that's great; it's important to see the mind-boggling horrors of WWI and trench warfare. But that must be done *in historical and political context*.
Read 14 tweets
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I just saw @ViceMovie, and it's brilliant. The film shows how well-made narratives can capture the zeitgeist and politics of an era not only more captivatingly but even more accurately than documentaries. Because it's not just about the facts; it's about the tone and attitude.
.@GhostPanther masterfully captured the essence of Cheney and the Bush admin -- and the facts, yes, but more importantly the spirit.

Christian Bale and Amy Adams used their bodies as instruments, like musical virtuosi, to forge a sick world in which reactionary power intoxicates
Vice does much more than just retell the story of Cheney/Bush's crimes; it offers profound human insight into how right-wing aspiring autocrats think about and see the world, and their place in it

By humanizing blood-soaked Dick Cheney, it makes his crimes all the more monstrous
Read 6 tweets
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I interviewed peace activist @MedeaBenjamin of @CODEPINK, who stressed that US support for the Saudi monarchy must be fundamentally challenged.

Some US officials want a cosmetic change, simply replacing Crown Prince MBS, but the problem runs much deeper
.@MedeaBenjamin: "It's our job now to say this is not just about MBS... We have to use this time to re-evaluate the entire relationship. But it’s very difficult then, because there’s so much money that is involved in this."
therealnews.com/stories/the-re…
Back in early 2016, @CODEPINK organized the first-ever summit calling for an end to the "suicidal death pact between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia" salon.com/2016/03/10/ins…
Read 3 tweets

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Some people have shown interest once again in Benghazi, to me this tragedy is still very important. I'm not talking about Susan Rice hitting the Sunday Morning circuit lying about the attack, however it is important but all the things leading up to Benghazi, & why they were there
On July 25, 2012 Taliban fighters in Kunar province Afghanistan successfully targeted a US Army CH-47 helicopter with a new generation Stinger missile. The terrorists didn't properly arm the missile, so it didn't explode, it only downed the chopper. #Benghazi
The next day, an EOD team arrived to pick through the wreckage and found unexploded pieces of a missile casing that could only belong to a new generation Stinger missile. Lodged in the right nacelle, they found one fragment that contained an entire serial number.
Read 132 tweets
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.@realDonaldTrump is such a disgrace to what America stands for, John McCain banned him from his funeral. Everyone’s there—Presidents Obama, Bush, Clinton—now at the National Catherdral to honor a great American. Trump? In his safe place—watching FoxNews and tweeting propaganda.
John McCain's pallbearers – including Russian dissident Vladimir Kara-Murza, Democrat Russ Feingold, former VP Joe Biden, actor Warren Beatty, former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, William Cohen—stand in attendance at the late senator's memorial service at National Catherdral in DC
Meghan McCain went there, fiercely: “We gather here to mourn the passing of American greatness—the real thing—not cheap rhetoric from men who will never come near the sacrifice he gave so willingly…nor opportunistic appropriation by those who lived lives of comfort and privilege
Read 8 tweets
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John McCain’s memorial service in Phoenix is a moving testament to a great man and to America’s greatest strength—our diversity. Native American music, remembrances from young and old, black, white & brown, Republicans & Democrats. Even in death, he’s serving his country’s needs.
Former VP @JoeBiden: McCain's heroism doesn't fully explain why the country's been so taken by his passing. I think it's something more intangible. I think it's because they knew, John believed so deeply and so passionately in the soul of America.
Very moving to hear Vladimir Kara-Murza @vkaramurza on @CNN discuss McCain’s commitment to the cause of freedom, human rights & democracy in Russia. McCain helped pass the Magnitsky Act w/ Boris Nemtsov, punishing abusers & corrupt kleptocrats. A true friend to the Russian people
Read 3 tweets
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1) theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/06/21/stu…

Continued from my last tweet series ... STUNNING!

Loose Lips Sink UniParty Scheme Ships
Against, the backdrop of new information which proves the UniParty, both dems/republicans, benefited from the targeting of the Tea Party and oppositional forces;
2) and with the full comprehension that MITCH McCONNELL and the republican leadership organized a post Citizens United strategy to work around their financial dependency on the electorate via Super-PACs; aren’t you just a little bit curious what the purpose was to assemble a
3) data-base or “Secret Research Project“?

Lerner’s & other IRS officials’ concerns about how to handle these donor lists came on the heels of an advisory from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) to her & other IRS officials in late March 2012 of “an
Read 13 tweets
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1) theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/06/21/stu… It has long been suspected; the footprints & fingerprints were always present; #McCain repeatedly denied it…. now the evidence surfaces.

For those who remember the issues when the IRS, White House & DOJ organized the post 2010 election “shellacking”
2) targeting of Tea Party groups, the latest discovery from Judicial watch is confirmation of a long-held opinion. John McCain was instrumental in supporting the weaponization of the IRS to target tea party groups.

WASHINGTON DC – […] In the full notes of an 4/30, 2013, mtg,
3) #McCain’s high-ranking staffer [Henry] Kerner recommends harassing non-profit groups until they are unable to continue operating. Kerner tells Lerner, Steve Miller, then chief of staff to IRS com., Nikole Flax, & other IRS officials, “Maybe the solution is to audit so many
Read 20 tweets
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After 70 years of imperial/neoliberal indoctrination the web of lies is so obviously absurde (9/11, Skripal, WH = ISIS, etc.), that it is dissoluting. The empathetic humanity connects, closes ranks and sends their eternal psychopathic rulers and their lackeys into nowhere land.
The "evil empire" is a lifelong three year old child. I certainly loved my children at that age too, however only because they created not only a surreal mess, but also made steady progress.

A great documentary about psychopathy and society:
The elite invented "democracy" to protect them from the empathetic people. The media are their means for misleading the people sedated by "democracy". This is definitely a bad thing since the people have become educated and the elite almost totally insane.
Read 209 tweets

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