Michael Moore Slams Michigan Officials For Zero Criminal Prosecutions Over Flint Water Scandal

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Film Producer and Activist Michael Moore appeared on MSNBC’s Politics Nation show (11/04/23) to discuss among other things, the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict. Moore’s home state is Michigan, which is home to the largest Arab-American population in the United States. Later in the interview, the discussion moved on to another disaster that Moore got intricately involved in as an activist, and that is, the Flint water scandal, which caused lead poisoning of poor (primarily Black) families in Flint Michigan. Moore expressed frustration that to date, no Michigan state official has been criminally held responsible for the poisoning.

Here’s what Michael Moore told host Al Sharpton regarding the decision by the Michigan Attorney General to end the investigation into Flint without any criminal prosecution (8:38): “It’s so disgusting, appalling, and again, sad…Here we are, talking really about…an ethnic cleansing of a majority Black city, where the state of Michigan in order to save some money, took the city off the clean water supply from Lake Huron, and made the people of Flint, Michigan, majority Black, drink from the Flint River, a massively polluted river, for decades, and what it did was, it poisoned nearly 10,000 children. Any lead poisoning, if you’re…six years and younger, you will have permanent brain damage…And the Governor, and his people, once they knew what was going on, they tried to cover it up…and they got away with it…If this was a White town in Michigan…you never would have seen this. This is going on for seven years, and nobody convicted, nobody having to be responsible for what they knew what was going on, they knew what was going to happen…”

Moore then went on to subtly call out the current Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, for not criminally prosecuting the people responsible for the Flint water poisoning. To be clear, AG Nessel assumed office in 2019, long after the Flint water scandal broke (2014-2016). She was not the state’s AG as the crisis was playing out. Any reasonable person would conclude however, judging from Moore’s tone, that he is terribly disappointed with AG Nessel for the lack of criminal prosecutions.

Bottom line folks, unless and until we start holding public officials criminally responsible for atrocities such as Flint and many others that have happened before (MKULTRA, Cointelpro etc), atrocities that cause irreparable harm to unsuspecting citizens, we will continue to see them happen again in the future. It’s really that plain and simple.

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Jordan’s Queen Rania Slams The West Over “Glaring Double Standard” Regarding Israel-Palestine Conflict

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In an interview with CNN’s Christian Amanpour( 10/24/23), Jordan’s Queen Rania Al Abdullah took issue with the way the West (read United States) has handled the Israel-Palestine conflict, after the terrorist attacks by Hamas on 10/07/23. Queen Rania, who is of Palestinian descent, slammed the West over what she called a “glaring double standard” in the way they treat Israel vis a vis Palestine.

Queen Rania specifically said: “The people all around the Middle-East, including in Jordan, we are just shocked and disappointed by the world’s reaction to this catastrophe that is unfolding. In the last couple of weeks we have seen a glaring double standard in the world. When October 7th happened, the world immediately and unequivocally stood by Israel and…condemned the attacks that happened. But what we’re seeing the last couple of weeks, we are seeing silence in the world. Countries have stopped expressing concern, or acknowledging the casualties, but always with the preface of declaration of support for Israel. Are we being told that it is wrong to kill an entire family at gunpoint, but it’s okay to shell them to death? I mean there is a glaring double standard here, and it is just shocking to the Arab world. This is the first time in modern history that there is such human suffering, and the world is not even calling for a ceasefire, so the silence is deafening, and to many in our region, it makes the Western world complicit…Many in the Arab world are looking at the Western world as not just tolerating this, but as aiding and abetting it…and this is just horrendous, and deeply deeply disappointing to all of us.”

There is no other way to interpret Queen Rania’s remarks other than, she is calling for cessation of hostilities by both sides (Hamas and Israel) so that the world can focus on the humanitarian conditions of the desperate millions of people trapped in Gaza. It is a concern shared by many, including Yours Truly, who reflexively side with Israel. Simply put, every reasonable person wants the eradication of the terrorist group Hamas from the region. Let’s however do it in a way that does not also wipe away millions of innocent Palestinians.

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Senator Chris Murphy Wants U.S. Led Probe Into Shireen Abu Akleh’s Death

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Senator Chris Murphy(D-CT) appeared on MSNBC Prime(07/13/22) to discuss President Biden’s trip to the Middle East, and especially his trip to Saudi Arabia which has drawn condemnation, given Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s implication in Washington Post Columnist Jamal Khashoggi’s brutal murder. During his interview , Senator Murphy also delved into another controversial topic, and that is, the killing of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by Israeli troops.

An investigation conducted by the Israel government into Akleh’s killing concluded that IDF troops shot her by accident. Naturally, this conclusion has generated a lot of criticism from around the globe, and especially from press freedom advocates. Senator Murphy is calling for an independent U.S. led investigation into Shireen Abu Akleh’s death.

Asked by host Ali Velshi why it was important for the U.S. to conduct an independent investigation, Senator Murphy responded(video at 4:57):“Senator Murphy told host Ali Velshi(video at ):”First and foremost, any time an American dies overseas, we should apply the highest degree of scrutiny to make sure we get to the bottom of the story as to how an American citizen was killed, and in this case, given that it might have come at the hands of foreign security forces, that inquiry is even more important. We are simply asking that we do a thorough review that we are not confident the Israeli authorities have done themselves. So I think it’s important to get to the bottom of this even if the bottom involves some unsavory truths about what an important ally of the United States may have done, or elements of their security forces may have done to contribute to this American’s death.”

Bottom line folks, Israel has been, and remains America’s closest and dearest foreign ally. Ordinarily, Yours Truly would be inclined to accept Israel’s explanation of Shireen Abu Akleh’s death at face value but where, as here, the death in question is of a U.S. citizen, Yours Truly has no choice but to agree with Senator Murphy, that the United States needs to conduct its independent investigation. however unpleasant the results may be. Israel and the United States will forever remain close friends, so there’s no harm in finding out the truth behind Shireen Abu Akleh’s death. The Biden administration owes her family the truth regarding the circumstances of her death overseas.

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