2020-02-10: News Headlines

Thomas Klikauer (2020-02-10). Climate Manipulation and Murdoch's PR Machine. counterpunch.org Western democracies and their respected societies appear to be incapable or unwilling of solving global warming. At least partly, this might be because voters in most countries have been lied to by the corporate media for decades on end. Much of this is due to one very rich and very old man — Rupert Murdoch. The shaping of public opinion takes place in a world in which very rich and very powerful men — they are always men — make their own rules, define their own issues, help getting their people elected, and make sure that global warming remains down the list of voters' most pressing concerns. <...

RT (2020-02-10). Greece to speed up creation of migrant holding centers after protests. rt.com The Greek government plans to accelerate the creation of detention centers on its outlying islands in the Aegean Sea after a backlash against overcrowded camps by some migrants and nearby residents. | Authorities in Athens said on Monday they would proceed with the purchase of land on the islands of Lesbos, Chios and Samos, and press ahead with plans to create holding facilities on state-owned land on Kos and Leros. | "The government has decided to close today's anarchic facilities and create controlled, closed facilities," spokesman Stelios Petsas said. The conservative New Democracy cabinet, elected last Jul…

Staff (2020-02-10). Pundits Refuse to Let the Inane 'Bernie Bro' Myth Die. truthdig.com The Vermont senator boasts one of the most diverse coalitions in the field, but corporate media has its narrative and is sticking to it.

Alan Macleod (2020-02-10). Journalist Abby Martin Sues State of Georgia Over Law Requiring Pledge of Allegiance to Israel. mintpressnews.com "This censorship of my talk based on forced compliance to anti-BDS laws in Georgia is just one level of a nationwide campaign to protect Israel from grassroots pressure."

Dave Lindorff (2020-02-10). Sh*t-can Perez and the DNC. counterpunch.org Hooray for Bernie Sanders! He waited until he had the numbers and now he's calling it. He won Iowa! Maybe the same corporate media that have been touting Pete Buttigieg as the "presumptive winner" in the messy Iowa Caucus, now that their story is collapsing are unwilling to call it for Bernie. Sanders, in a

Dean Baker (2020-02-10). Financial Transactions Taxes and Beyond. zcomm.org We're still far from seeing a FTT get enacted — the financial industry would probably kill to protect their profits — but it is now an idea that is treated seriously in mainstream political debates…

RT (2020-02-09). Man with knife & plan to 'assassinate' Trump detained outside White House. rt.com A man carrying a knife has been detained outside the White House in Washington, DC. He told the US Secret Service that he'd brought the weapon to "assassinate" Donald Trump. | The suspect himself approached a security officer who was patrolling outside the presidential residence Saturday afternoon, and told him of his plan. "I have a knife to do it with," he said, according to a police report seen by AP. | Police identified the man as 25-year-old Roger Hedgpeth, who was arrested on charges of making threats to cause bodily harm. The man had a 3.5-inch (around 9-cm) knife on him as well as an empty pistol holst…

Staff (2020-02-09). 'QAnon' Conspiracy Theory Oozes Into Mainstream Politics. truthdig.com MILWAUKEE—President Donald Trump was more than halfway through his speech at a rally in Milwaukee when one of his hand gestures caught the eye of a supporter standing in the packed arena. | The 51-year-old woman believed the president had traced the shape of the letter "Q" with his fingers as a covert signal to followers of QAnon, a right-wing, pro-Trump conspiracy theory. She turned to the couple on her right and excitedly asked, "Did you see the 'Q'?" | "He just did it?" asked Diane Jacobson, 63, of Racine, Wisconsin. | "Was that a 'Q'?" added Jacobson's husband, Randy, 64. | "I think it was," replied the…

Afroze Fatima Zaidi (2020-02-09). The Tory government controlling the NHS is a recipe for disaster. thecanary.co Boris Johnson is reportedly planning on introducing new legislation to If the Conservatives'

Chauncey K. Robinson (2020-02-08). 'Birds of Prey' and the emancipation of women-led comic book movies. peoplesworld.org Birds of Prey: And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn is the first mainstream R-rated female-led comic book movie. It also happens to be one of the boldest in breaking away from overused tropes viewers have come to expect from action and comic book films alike. The "lovable psycho" Harley Quinn gets a live-action …

WSWS (2020-02-08). Republican Senator Lindsey Graham introduces bill that threatens end-to-end encryption. wsws.org The assault on end-to-end encryption is part of the ongoing drive by the state to censor and regulate content on the internet.

Fight Back (2020-02-08). Sanders wins the most votes in Iowa Caucus. fightbacknews.org Minneapolis, MN – After days of delay, the results are in: Bernie Sanders won the most votes in Iowa, leading in both the initial vote, as well as after the second round where weaker candidates in each caucus are dropped. As this became clear Tom Perez, chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) called for a 'recanvass' of the caucus voting because of the chaotic reporting of results and the long delay. Ironically, this was caused by a new voting app developed by a small company founded by a former staffer of the 2016 Hillary Clinton campaign. | During the delay, the corporate media consistently declared Pe…

Dave Lindorff (2020-02-07). The Democratic Party Leadership Has Done the Impossible, Disgracing Itself! dissidentvoice.org Bernie Sanders declares victory on Thursday in chaotic (and perhaps unsuccessfully DNC-hacked) Iowa Caucus Hooray for Bernie Sanders! He waited until he had the numbers and now he's calling it. He won Iowa! Maybe the same corporate media that have been touting Pete Buttigieg as the "presumptive winner" in the messy Iowa Caucus, now that …

Alan Macleod (2020-02-07). Media, Democratic Establishment Panics as Sanders Predicted to Sweep All 50 States. mintpressnews.com No matter how much mainstream media and establishment Democratic pols attempt to spin the results, Iowa has many of those in the establishment very worried, to say the least.

Jeffrey St. Clair (2020-02-07). Roaming Charges: When Satan Quotes Scripture. counterpunch.org The caucus system has been fetishized by the political pundit class for decades as an example of small state "town hall" style democracy in action. In fact, they're anti-democratic, often controlled by party bosses, where, lacking secret ballots, people bullied into voting with the mob. Less than 10 percent of registered Democrats turn out for these spectacles, far less than 60 percent you'd expect to vote in a primary. In the last few election cycles, however, Obama, Ron Paul and Sanders figured out how to exploit some of the weaknesses of the caucus system to defeat the bosses, which has resulted in the party t…

Jim Naureckas (2020-02-06). How Corporate Media Make Pete Look Like He's Winning. fair.org If you turn to the New York Times for an On closer examination, it turns out that that is not a bar chart…

RT (2020-02-06). PHONY liberal media turns Republican Romney into HERO for sticking it to Trump (just like it did McCain & Bush). rt.com Mitt Romney is the latest token Republican being hoisted up on the shoulders of the mainstream media thanks to his "courageous" decision to defy Donald Trump by voting with Democrats to impeach the president. | You would think the Utah senator single-handedly defeated Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) and then rescued a few kittens out of trees on his way home the way the media is writing about him. | The New Yorker declared that the former presidential candidate "seized" a chance to "rewrite his own place in history" with his impeachment vote. | An opinion piece in the Washington Post deemed the decision "cou…

Staff (2020-02-05). In State of the Union, Trump Celebrates Hate & Xenophobia While Touting "Great American Comeback" democracynow.org President Trump delivered his third State of the Union address Tuesday night, just a day before the Republican-controlled Senate is expected to vote to acquit him in the third presidential impeachment trial in U.S. history. Trump's speech, which focused heavily on the economy and immigration, sounded at times like a campaign rally, with Republican lawmakers chanting "Four more years!" He never once mentioned his impeachment trial. Prior to the speech, Trump refused to shake House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's hand, and once the speech was over, Pelosi was seen on television ripping up her copy of Trump's remarks. She la…

Ben Norton (2020-02-04). HuffPost UK editor works with gov't censorship program while smearing anti-war scholars as tools of Russia. thegrayzone.com HuffPost UK ran yet another hit piece smearing academic critics of the dirty war on Syria as Russian stooges. The…

Staff (2020-02-03). "A Grand Tragedy": Democrats Slam Republican Stonewalling in Senate Impeachment Trial. democracynow.org The Republican-controlled Senate appears poised to acquit President Trump in just the third impeachment trial in U.S. history, with a final vote on the two articles of impeachment scheduled for Wednesday. On Friday, the Senate voted 51 to 49 against calling witnesses to the Senate trial. Just two Republican senators supported calling for witnesses and collecting new evidence: Mitt Romney of Utah and Susan Collins of Maine. Without new witnesses, Republicans have cleared the biggest hurdle in their drive to acquit President Trump on the two impeachment charges, which relate to his withholding of military aid to Uk…

Alan MacLeod (2020-02-03). News Flash: Billionaires Don't Like Socialism. fair.org Big news, everyone! Billionaires don't like socialism. In response to a rising progressive tide in the United States, a new genre of stories has emerged in corporate media: rich guys warning against taxing them, or really changing anything about the system at all. Just as the press are keen for you to know that …

Anya Parampil (2020-01-30). US government censorship? Social media giants disappear accounts of Iranian and Venezuelan academics, journalists. thegrayzone.com Red Lines host Anya Parampil talks with Professor Mohammad Marandi of the University of Tehran. Professor Marandi's Facebook and Instagram…

splcenter (2020-01-30). White Nationalist Podcaster Identified as U.S. Army Veteran. splcenter.org White nationalist State Department official Matthew Q. Gebert is regularly producing white supremacist propaganda with a man named Michael McKevitt, formerly of the U.S. Army, Hatewatch has determined.

splcenter (2020-01-30). White Nationalist State Department Official Still Active in Hate Movement. splcenter.org U.S. State Department official Matthew Q. Gebert has been steadily producing white nationalist propaganda in the nearly six months since he was suspended from his job, Hatewatch has learned.