Buttigieg and Biden Are Masters of Evasion
Norman Solomon | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-06
In a recent New Yorker profile of Pete Buttigieg, one sentence stands out: "Watch Buttigieg long enough and you notice that he uses abstraction as an escape hatch." Evasive platitudes are also routine for Joe Biden, the other major Democratic presidential candidate running in what mainstream journalists call "the center lane." Jim Hightower has observed that…
counterpunch.org/2020/01/06/buttigieg-an…
Buttigieg and Biden Are Masters of Evasion
Norman Solomon | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-06
In a recent New Yorker profile of Pete Buttigieg, one sentence stands out: "Watch Buttigieg long enough and you notice that he uses abstraction as an escape hatch." Evasive platitudes are also routine for Joe Biden, the other major Democratic presidential candidate running in what mainstream journalists call "the center lane." Jim Hightower has observed that…
counterpunch.org/2020/01/06/buttigieg-an…
Censorship in Canada? Vanessa Beeley's Talks on Syria
John Ryan | dissidentvoice.org | 2020-01-06
White Helmets Vanessa Beeley is a British journalist who was invited to Canada in the fall of 2019 to present talks in seven cities on the conflict in Syria. The sponsors of her speaking tour were several anti-war groups, including the Geopolitical Economy Research Group, the Hamilton Coalition to Stop the War, and Peace Alliance …
dissidentvoice.org/2020/01/censorship-in…
WhatsApp and fake news, or how to kill democracy
Eds. | mronline.org | 2020-01-06
Fears and anxieties are used to create and diffuse fake news and manipulate the electorate. This is what happened at the last Brazilian election. A group of researchers studied the case in order to develop a method to deal with fake news. | Source…
mronline.org/2020/01/06/whatsapp-and-fak…
Conservative satire as popular as mainstream news, journalists and cyberwarriors furious
rt.com | 2020-01-06
A satirical article claiming the Democratic Party is officially mourning the death of Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani has been shared more times than most CNN and New York Times articles, annoying the joke police. | Soleimani, who commanded the Iranian military Quds Force, was killed in an American airstrike last week, an assassination which raised already high tensions between Washington and Tehran to boiling point. Democrats criticized Trump for ordering Soleimani's killing, prompting conservative satire site the Babylon Bee to put its own spin on events. | "Democrats call for flags to be flown a…
rt.com/usa/477584-babylon-bee-cnn-soleim…
America Escalates Its "Democratic" Oil War in the Near East
Michael Hudson | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-06
The mainstream media are carefully sidestepping the method behind America's seeming madness in assassinating Islamic Revolutionary Guard general Qassim Suleimani to start the New Year. The logic behind the assassination this was a long-standing application of U.S. global policy, not just a personality quirk of Donald Trump's impulsive action. His assassination of Iranian military leader Suleimani was indeed a unilateral act of war in violation of international law, but it was a logical step in a long-standing U.S. strategy. It was explicitly authorized by the Senate in the funding bill for the Pentagon that it pa…
counterpunch.org/2020/01/06/america-esca…
Trump Says Tweets Serve as 'Notification' to US Congress
telesurenglish.net | 2020-01-05
United States President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday that his tweets will serve as notification to the U.S. Congress in case he decides to strike Iran. | RELATED: | Thousands Mourn Iranian General as Quds Force Unfurls Red Flag | "These Media Posts will serve as notification to the United States Congress that should Iran strike any U.S. person or target, the United States will quickly & fully strike back, & perhaps in a disproportionate manner. Such legal notice is not required,…
telesurenglish.net/news/Trump-Says-Tweet…
'Supermani': CNN contributor falls for obvious Iran satire as US journos struggle to understand who Soleimani really was
rt.com | 2020-01-04
Neoconservative mainstream media favorite Michael Weiss appears to have fallen for a satirical piece on Qassem Soleimani that claimed the man did not cast a shadow and was nicknamed "Supermani." | Daily Beast senior editor and frequent CNN guest Michael Weiss is earning plenty of mockery on social media following him appearing to fall for a clearly satirical story on the legend of Qassem Soleimani, the late Iranian general recently assassinated by the US military. | "It was a well cultivated (and mythologized) aura, which the…
rt.com/usa/477487-soleimani-supermani-mi…
The Syrian Conflict is Awash with Propaganda, Chemical Warfare Bodies Should not be Caught Up in It
Robert Fisk | counterpunch.org | 2020-01-03
In the very early spring of this year, I gave a lecture to European military personnel interested in the Middle East. It was scarcely a year since Bashar al-Assad's alleged use of chlorine gas against the civilian inhabitants of the Damascus suburb of Douma on 7 April 2018, in which 43 people were said to have been killed. Few…
counterpunch.org/2020/01/03/the-syrian-c…
Outlaw Añez regime in Bolivia targets Indigenous for more terror
Albert Bender | peoplesworld.org | 2020-01-03
Bolivia is greatly ignored by the corporate media, but the news reports that do filter out indicate state terror reigns. In November, President Evo Morales and other top leaders were, in effect, pushed out by a coup, as military and police leaders withdrew their support from his elected government. The replacement leader, Jeanine Añez, comes …
peoplesworld.org/article/outlaw-anez-reg…
Union busting? It's a crime! — a WW editorial
Editor | workers.org | 2019-12-31
The corporate media constantly tell us that the United States is a great democracy because of its "free elections." Never mind that Donald Trump became president with fewer votes than his main opponent. Never mind that the U.S. Senate has long been described as a "millionaires' club." And never mind . . . | Continue reading Union busting? It's a crime! — a WW editorial at Workers.org…
workers.org/2019/12/45225/
The Top 5 Mainstream Media Myths That Perpetuate Income Inequality
Staff | therealnews.com | 2019-12-27
The Real News takes aim at the top 5 mainstream myths that bolster income inequality and tout the ultra-rich.
therealnews.com/stories/the-top-5-mainst…
Australia's most populous state declares wildfire emergency
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2019-12-19
Australia's most populous state, New South Wales (NSW) has declared a seven-day state of emergency as oppressive conditions fanned around 100 wildfires.Around 2,000 firefighters were battling the blazes, half of which remain uncontrolled, with the support of US and Canadian backup teams and personnel from the Australian Defence Force.The last state of emergency ran for seven days in mid-November amid "catastrophic" fire risk and was the first implemented in NSW since 2013.Central Sydney reached a maximum of 39 degrees Celsius (102 Fahrenheit) on 19 December while outer suburbs scorched at 42 Celsius (108 F). | A…
thecanary.co/discovery/news-discovery/2019/12/19/australias-most-populous-state-declares-wildfire-emergency/