Here you go, an on-time new Open thread for you to detail the bias!

Just a bit of context to that last post where fracking was mentioned.

One of the questions that kept coming up during the programme was why do we need to frack and use gas when we have so many opportunities to use renewables.

One reason might be this:

German Utilities Bail Out Electric Grid at Wind’s Mercy

Germany’s push toward renewable energy is causing so many drops and surges from wind and solar power that the government is paying more utilities than ever to help stabilize the country’s electricity grid.

Twenty power companies including Germany’s biggest utilities, EON SE and RWE AG, now get fees for pledging to add or cut electricity within seconds to keep the power system stable, double the number in September, according to data from the nation’s four grid operators. Utilities that sign up to the 800 million-euro ($1.1 billion) balancing market can be paid as much as 400 times wholesale electricity prices, the data show.

Renewable energy sources has apparently lowered the wholesale price of energy but there is a massive hidden cost as the government pays energy companies to back up the renewables with fossil fuel and nuclear power….as well as an increasing risk of blackouts.

R4 had a phone in on fracking today, Call You and Yours: Fracking, on which they asked ‘Would you welcome fracking near you?’ but we didn’t actually hear too much of that, the show being more a question and answer session with Francis Egan, Chief Executive of Cuadrilla, in the hot seat fending off the fanatics.

One caller at 23 mins, a Jake White from London, as he was introduced, turned out to be Jake White, Friends of the Earth’s legal advisor…..Egan recognised him and blew his cover….or rather the BBC’s cover as Winifred Robinson had to admit his allegiance was on her computer screen but she had decided not to reveal it to the listeners for some reason.

Other than that little faux pas the show was actually more pro-fracking with its ‘experts’ more weighted in favour…even the ‘neutral’ academic, a geological expert, was on message for fracking.

The BBC’s David Shukman admitted that fracking could be the short term answer to reducing CO2 emissions as advised by the IPCC in its AR5 report….which the BBC at the time of the report’s publication limited itself to mentions of ‘natural gas’, making no mention of such gas coming from fracking.

Robinson finishes on the usual BBC misrepresentation…she ‘fitted in’ a last caller (52 mins)  but cut him off saying ‘I wanted to get you in because what you said summarises the huge scepticism that there is between the people and big industry.’

Curious…she told us earlier that a large majority supports fracking….off message there for a minute then.

Another programme of interest was this…National Parks:   In this week’s Shared Planet Monty Don looks at where wildlife fits into this complex mix of wilderness and human activity.

What was interesting was one of those little truisms that slip out when the BBC thought police lose total control over the message….here Monty Don concudes that there is a problem for national parks due to there being ‘so much human pressure inside and outside the national parks’…meaning of course pressure to develop, especially housing, in such a small and crowded land.

Not a message the BBC likes to expand upon normally as it brings into question mass immigration and the resultant housing and land shortages.

Another programme was typically BBC, ‘Roots Reggae and Rebellion’ in which racism (White British of course), slavery and colonialism all got a shoeing.  Interesting to hear that West Indians are still traumatised by their slavery….hadn’t realised it is still going on…oh and Rastafarianism saved the world.

The BBC could of course do a programme looking at the oppressed British workers in the factories, the mines and in the fields during the industrial revolution, or even the conscripts forced to fight and possibly die for Queen and Country…just as much slavery as any suffered by Africans shipped off to whereveer.  The BBC however is more interested in Black ‘suffering’ and how it can be used as a tool to force Whites to hand over cash and advantage.

What else did we have today…oh yes…shoplifting is on the up…due to Austerity….shoplifters are victims of this government’s callous indifference to their plight.

Shoplifting offences ‘rise over 20%’ in North Wales

Inspector Paul Wycherley from North Wales Police explained the force’s changing strategy in tackling food theft, with officers trained to guide potential shoplifters towards the use of local foodbanks.

Hmm OK……..but then there’s this example of what might be a cause from last year:

Shoplifting gang jailed after string of thefts across North Wales

A SHOPLIFTING gang have been locked up after admitting a string of distraction thefts across North Wales.

Colea Niculescu, 34, and his partner Mandria  Rostas, 29, his uncle Toie Niculescu, 40, and another woman Maria Rostas, 34, from Luton but all Romanian citizens, admitted charges of theft from jewellers shops in Ruthin and Llangefni and a Llanberis pottery in March this year.

And this from 2012:

Shoplift gang hid stolen goods in leotards

All five were arrested and one of them, Romanian national Inot Constantinescu, 25, of Bear’s Road, Birmingham, was jailed for ten months after he admitted theft and entering the country in breach of a deportation order.

Just so we know that this isn’t a local thing down to a few bad apples….

The Star (Ireland), February 18, 2008

DETECTIVES in the border counties have sparked a major alert over Romanian shop raid gangs after huge shoplifting sprees.
Gardai believe the gangs are composed mainly of young females, directed by male “bosses”
Several Romanians have appeared in courts in recent weeks throughout counties Louth, Monaghan and Cavan, in connection with shop hits.

The police are so concerned about foreign nationals shoplifting, amongst other crimes, they set up a special taskforce:

Op Trivium II – Police build on success of operation targeting foreign gangs on Britain’s roads

March 24, 2014, 12:01 am

An annual national campaign to target foreign criminals on roads in England and Wales has been launched by police.

Police officers from Romania, Lithuania and Poland have arrived in the UK to join the campaign, launched today (24 March 2014) and aimed at catching travelling criminals who use the roads to avoid detection and move around the UK.

Such gangs are thought to be involved in shoplifting, fraud, metal theft and theft from vehicles.

Immigration must contribute to this rise in shoplifting….but the BBC yet again looks away and is happily able to blame the ‘Tory’ government.

The BBC’s Jon Donnision is back in Gaza despite not having a very good reputation or track record when reporting from there previously…this is one of his efforts and is worthy of some scrutiny as he reported on the death of a friend and colleague Jihad Mashhrawic’s baby…

Note although the man’s name is actually spelt ‘Jihad’ Donnison has changed the spelling to Jehad….for obviously ‘political’ reasons…….

Gaza baby ‘only knew how to smile’

Standing in what is left of his burnt-out home this week, Jehad showed me a photo on his mobile phone.

It was of a cheeky, chunky, round-faced little boy in denim dungarees, chuckling in a pushchair, dark-eyed with a fringe of fine brown hair pushed across his brow.

“He only knew how to smile,” Jehad told me, as we both struggled to hold back the tears.

Most likely is that Omar died in the one of the more than 20 bombings across Gaza that the Israeli military says made up its initial wave of attacks.

Omar was not a terrorist.

Donnison and his colleagues all immediately blamed Israel for the death and spread the story around the world

Unfortunately that was a lie:

UN verifies that BBC reporter’s son was killed by Hamas

On 14 November, a woman, her 11-month-old infant, and an 18-year-old adult in Al-Zaitoun were killed by what appeared to be a Palestinian rocket that fell short of Israel.⁶⁹ In addition, OHCHR received reports related to an incident in which two civilians, including a child, were killed, and five persons, including three children, were injured, as a result of what appeared to be a Palestinian rocket that fell short and hit a house in Al-Quds Street, near Khilla Gas Station, Jabalya, on 16 November.

Back in the present Donnison continues the good work on Twitter:

The return of the BBC’s Jon Donnison and his tall Twitter tales

And isn’t a lot better on the job proper…here subtly cheerleading for Hamas..the same report on the website and the Today programme this morning:

West Bank Palestinians politically divided, but united in anger

Donnison gives the impression that the Palestinian Authority (Western backed as Donnison slips in), and Fatah by extension, are not popular in the Palestinian territories…..he tells us that the PA might be considered collaborators with Israel…as they work together to provide security in the West Bank….no misgivings reported about Hamas though.

Donnison shows us pictures of the PA police tackling rioters..or ‘protestors’ as Donnison prefers.

He also shows the Israelis dealing with similar events but makes no mention that the Palestinians have been using live ammuniton and petrol bombs against the Israelis….hence some get shot….Donnison instead picks up a rock from the road and tells us this is what the Palestinians have been using…indeed they have….along with guns and bombs.

Donnison then tells us that the PA has failed to capture the public mood, they do not listen to the people… they don’t launch rockets into Israel presumably….that ‘people’ who ‘all’ support Hamas we are given to believe.

The whole piece is a subtle pro-Hamas piece, anti the ‘Western backed’ PA, the people ‘united in their anger’…ie against Israel which must be doing evil things...and if the PA doesn’t reflect that anger in its actions, as Hamas does, it cannot be representative of the people and their demands….and if the people support Hamas and its policies, those demands must be to rocket Israel.

We could easily conclude that Donnison is giving implied support to Hamas’ policy of rocketing Israel here….what then does he make of Hamas’ intention to wipe out Israel?

The BBC thinks the below is a major story judging by the coverage given over to it:

England’s Moeen Ali warned over pro-Gaza Test wristbands

The BBC for some reason refrains from mentioning Moeen Ali is Muslim and yet it is an important part of his identity, symbolised by his beard apparently, and must play a major part in his support for Gaza:

“It’s a very important part of myself and the community I’m from and I’m very proud,” he added. “In terms of trying to inspire other people with faith to play and stuff I am very proud of that. I remember seeing Muslim athletes or guys with other faiths performing and still carrying the label of being a religious person and it does inspire people.”

However the BBC doesn’t seem too concerned, or at least concerned enough to report it, that Iran is threatening, once again to ‘wipe Israel off the map’ and presumably slaughter all the Jews who live there….all to be done in partnership with fellow ‘Final Solution’ enthusiasts Hamas…wonder if there is an arm band for that…..and what would it look like:

We Will Hunt Down Israelis House To House

The deputy commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards vowed revenge against Israel for its ongoing military incursion into Gaza, which has already killed hundreds of Palestinians and dozens of Israelis.

“You [people of Israel] are trees without any roots which were planted in the Islamic lands by the British,” Brig. Gen. Hossein Salami said at this week’s Friday prayer sermon in Tehran.

“We will chase you house to house and will take revenge for every drop of blood of our martyrs in Palestine,” Salami said. “and this is the beginning point of Islamic nations awakening for your defeat.”

“Imam [Khomeini] with the statement that Israel must be wiped from the face of the Earth gave a true message to the world. This message enlightened the Muslims and became the concept on the streets of Syria, Lebanon and Palestine.”

Salami, recalling previous wars Israel fought against Hezbollah in Lebanon, said: “The end of the Zionist regime [Israel] has arrived. Islamic movements are armed, missiles are positioned, and today we witness how the arms of the resistance in a corner of the Islamic world are controlling the events in the face of the tragic and barbaric attack by the Zionist regime against the oppressed and defenseless Palestinians in Gaza.”

The Islamic regime’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said that the only solution for the region is the destruction of Israel, and that the armed confrontation must expand beyond Gaza. “These crimes are beyond imagination and show the true nature of the wolfish and child killer regime, (and) the only solution is its destruction,” the ayatollah declared to his audience.

The flag of Islam will be raised.

The present clash in Gaza is not the cause of this attitude from Iran…the exact same sentiments have been repeated many times….one of the last times earlier this year by the same General….via MEMRI:

“Despite the geographical distance, we are attached to the hearts of the Palestinians. How is it that our slogans and goals are identical to the slogans and causes of the Palestinians? Why do we strive to become martyrs and risk our lives for the Palestinian cause? The answer is that the religion of Islam has designated this for us – this goal, this motivation, this belief, this energy – so that we, here, can muster all our energies in order to annihilate the Zionist entity, more than 1,400 kilometers away.”

 

 

 

Lyse Doucet is fronting a programme tonight, ‘Children of Syria’ (BBC 2  21:00)  about the children in Syria, suffering because of the war.  In her write up about the programme she of course also manages to slip in plenty about the children of Gaza…..though she neglects  to mention the children in Israel under constant Palestinian bombardment.

She tells us that ‘Over the past six months, I and director-cameraman Robin Barnwell followed the lives of six Syrian children. Their stories sketch a political and social map of their nation and provide a troubling glimpse into its future. 

In wars of our time, the games children play can be the game changers of their future.’

Odd the sudden interest in the children of the Middle East, well, some of them.  How long has the BBC ignored the truth about the conflict between the Jews and Muslims?  The conflict that carries on because the Palestinians teach their children, each new generation, to hate Jews, to kill jews.

Until that essential truth is brought out into the open on mainstream news there will be no pressure on the Palestinians to change that dynamic that consigns their children’s future to never ending war…..’the lives of its children will shape the country’s future for decades to come.’  as Doucet says …about Syria.

Until the likes of the BBC expose what the Palestinians do to their children and their minds the Israelis will always be painted as the aggressors…the truth is that the Palestinians refuse to accept and recognise Israel and teach their children that the Jews must be killed in order to turn ‘Palestine’ into a JudenFrei zone…the Children of course being the next generation of recruits to continue the war.

Hamas to establish military academy for schoolkids

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh announced on Thursday that the military academy, the first of its kind in the Gaza Strip, would prepare the children for the “phase of liberating Palestine.”

Haniyeh said that the new academy would educate and prepare children for the establishment of a Palestinian state “from the river to the sea.”

Doucet knows this and indeed it is the final thought from her piece:

In wars of our time, the games children play can be the game changers of their future.

Shame the games they play are murderous, based on hate and on the genocidal concept that the BBC always tries to ignore...a Palestine from the river to the sea.

Hamas TV teaches children to kill ‘all Jews’

Child host: “OK, so what does a policeman do?”
Nahul (adult in giant bee costume): “He catches thieves, and people who make trouble.”
Child host: “And shoots Jews. Right?”
Girl: “Yes.”
Child host: “You want to be like him?”
[Girl nods]
Child host: “Allah willing, when you grow up.”
Girl: “So that I can shoot Jews.”
[Nahul the bee cheers]
Child host: “All of them? All of them?”
Girl: “Yes.”
Child host: “Good.”

Gaza kids ‘training to kill Jews’

Salah al-Din Brigades training dozens of Palestinian children to ‘fight the Jews and kill Jewish children’. Eleven-year-old trainee: I’d rather die fighting the occupation than die at home from a missile. Islamic Jihad threatens to unleash ‘the fires of hell’ on Israel

“I am learning how to fight the Jews and kill Jewish children,” 11-year-old Muhammad told Ynet, “the parents of the Jewish children are the soldiers and officers who kill us here. I want these parents to get a taste of what it’s like to have your children killed, just as the Palestinians experience every day.

Palestinian Textbooks Teach Children to Hate and Kill Jews

PA children taught to hate Jews and Christians

I was wading through this BBC item called “Gaza crisis: Toll of operations in Gaza” and was struck by a number of things. There is the usual refusal of the BBC to call Hamas terrorists for what they are –  “terrorists”. There is the sickening adoption of Hamas supplied figures to the UN for casualties, suggesting that all the 76% of those killed are women and children. Yet this is readily refuted here. In every previous conflict, and AFTER the event, we discover that the majority of the dead were HAMAS terrorists. But the BBC pumps out this biased poison with aplomb, doing the Hamas PR department’s job for it.

Overdue but better late than never, here you go, a NEW Open Thread.

Whilst the BBC were quick to say Israel was to blame for the deaths at the UN school they’ re not so keen to say Israel isn’t to blame…merely ‘Israel rejects the blame’...

Israel rejects Gaza school shelter attack blame

The Israeli army has insisted that a mortar round it fired into a UN shelter in Gaza on Thursday in a clash with “militants” was not responsible for the deaths of at least 15 people.

The BBC curiously, for all its eager uptake of the digital revolution and use of social media, hasn’t linked to the IDF video (above).

From CIF Watch:

Within the last hour, the IDF released the following statement:

Since Thursday, July 24, 2014, the IDF has conducted a comprehensive inquiry regarding the incident in which the UNRWA school was fired upon. The inquiry concluded that during the intense fighting between IDF forces and Hamas militants, the militants operated adjacent to the UNRWA school. The militants fired anti-tank missiles at IDFsoldiers, who then responded by firing several mortars in their direction.

The inquiry and the documented footage presented here concluded that a single errant mortar landed in the courtyard of the UNRWA school, when it was completely empty.

The IDF stresses it does not operate or target international organizations in the Gaza Strip, and the ongoing coordination conducted via the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) is continuous without change, even during times of combat.

In light of the inquiry’s findings, the IDF rejects the claims that were made by various officials immediately following the incident, that people were killed in the school premises as a result of IDF operational activity.

This was BBC World journalist Julia Macfarlane’s Twitter header before the current Israel/Gaza conflict (via Wayback):

Gun-toting pro-Palestinian flag-wavers

But she’s not trying to make a statement, honest.

Just a coincidence.