2020-02-25: News Headlines

Staff (2020-02-25). Pundits Unleash Their Fury as Sanders' Racks Up Wins. truthdig.com Some coverage is stuck in the denial stage about Sanders, but corporate media have mostly moved on to the next stage of grieving: anger.

RT (2020-02-25). Iran's deputy health minister tests positive for coronavirus — local media. rt.com Iran's Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi has tested positive for coronavirus, Iranian state media has reported. Harirchi has been at the forefront of the country's response to the outbreak. | A spokesperson for Iran's health ministry confirmed in a television interview on Tuesday that Harirchi has been infected and is under quarantine. | ILNA reported Monday that officials from the city of Qom had said there had been 50 coronavirus deaths there. "We prefer not to censor what concerns the coronavirus because people's lives are in danger," the outlet said. | Harirchi rejected that report, however, saying he w…

David Swanson (2020-02-25). How Are We Going to Pay for Saving Trillions of Dollars? counterpunch.org Enhanced Medicare for All — that wild scheme that Michael Bloomberg calls "untried" because it's only been tested for decades in virtually every wealthy nation on earth — would cost $450 billion a year less than the current U.S. system. In the usual propaganda terms (in which you multiply by ten and then — if asked —

Paul Street (2020-02-25). The "Liberal" Media's Propaganda War on Bernie Sanders. counterpunch.org Last week, three days before the Nevada Caucus, MSDNC's Stephanie Ruhle had on an old friend, former Diamond Resorts CEO Stephen Cloobeck, a major Democratic Party funder, to speak from Las Vegas. Asked about one of Ruhle's favorite topics, the menace of "socialist Bernie Sanders," Cloobeck called Sanders "an anarchist" who "would love to burn down the United States" " (When asked if he would support Trump if Sanders is the nominee, Cloobeck growled "anyone but Bernie, anyone but Bernie."). She later gleamed while one or her many Republican guests, Jeb Bush's former campaign manager, called for Michael Bloomberg…

P. Sainath (2020-02-25). What Tomorrow May Bring: Politics of the People. zcomm.org When people look back on the causes of this campaign's success they may find at least part of the answer in the triumph of a ground-up, crowdsourced, popular politics over a controlled, elite-focused top down one…

Nicholas Levis (2020-02-25). The Real Meaning of Red Scare 3.0. counterpunch.org The US corporate media, who had such a long run as relative monopolizers of truth, have been discrediting themselves in serial fashion since 9/11. Their lapdoggery to the Bush regime backfired on them during the WMD lie operation and the resulting war of aggression. Then came their participation in the fraudulent business reporting leading up to the 2007-2009 Wall Street crash, and their big lies afterward that "no one could have imagined." The next big rupture arrived in 2015-2016, their million-minutes spent on preemptive coronations of Trump as one candidate and Clinton as the other, and their responsibility f…

Spread The Strike! (2020-02-25). Censorship By UCSC: Administration Blocks Network Access to PayUsMoreUCSC.com. indybay.org Access to payusmoreucsc.com, the website for Striking Workers at University of California at Santa Cruz (UCSC), has been blocked on the UCSC network. | On February 23, an update posted on GoFundMe by Jane Komori states, "In addition to blocking our website on their network, EVC Kletzer took the openly authoritarian step of forcing department chairs to run all communications with students through her. These petty actions have more in common with dictatorships than universities."

Staff (2020-02-24). Sanders & Socialism: Debate Between Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman & Socialist Economist Richard Wolff. democracynow.org As Bernie Sanders's runaway win in Nevada cements his position as the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, the Democratic Party establishment and much of the mainstream media are openly expressing concern about a self-described democratic socialist leading the presidential ticket. His opponents have also attacked his ambitious agenda. Last week during the primary debate in Las Vegas, Bernie Sanders addressed misconceptions about socialism. Invoking the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Sanders decried what he called "socialism for the very rich, rugged individualism for the poor." | For more, we host a…

Alan Macleod (2020-02-24). Assange Extradition Hearing Opens with Scathing Condemnation by Mainstream Media. mintpressnews.com The extradition trial of Julian Assange began with the prosecution reading out a damning statement from five leading mainstream media organizations that once partnered with Wikileaks.

Staff (2020-02-24). Paul Krugman and Richard Wolff on Bernie Sanders's Democratic Socialism. truthout.org As Bernie Sanders's runaway win in Nevada cements his position as the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, the Democratic Party establishment and much of the mainstream media are openly expressing concern about a self-described democratic socialist leading the presidential ticket. His opponents have also attacked his ambitious agenda. Last week during the primary debate in Las Vegas, Bernie Sanders addressed misconceptions about socialism. Invoking the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Sa…

Stephen Lendman (2020-02-24). Russia Accused of Campaign Blaming US for Coronavirus Outbreak. globalresearch.ca Russia has been a prime US target since its 1917 revolution, relations between both countries uneasy at best from that time to now. | Propaganda by US officials and establishment media demonizes the country and its leadership, ongoing for over a …

David Goodner (2020-02-24). How Bernie Can Provide a Better Version of the Hope and Change Presidency of Barack Obama. commondreams.org Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks during an event to introduce the Raise The Wage Act in the Rayburn Room at the U.S. Capitol January 16, 2019 in Washington, DC. The proposed legislation, which will gradually raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2024, is unlikely to pass in the Republican-controlled Senate. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

RT (2020-02-23). 'Don't let them take it away!' Trump congratulates 'Crazy Bernie' as Sanders wins big in Nevada. rt.com Evoking painful memories, US President Donald Trump has expressed hope that his potential Democratic contender won't be robbed of the nomination this time, as Bernie Sanders heads for a decisive victory in Nevada caucus. | "Looks like Crazy Bernie is doing well in the Great State of Nevada. Biden & the rest look weak, & no way Mini Mike can restart his campaign after the worst debate performance in the history of Presidential Debates," Trump tweeted. | Looks like Crazy Bernie is doing well in the Great State of Nevada. Biden & the rest look weak, & no way Mini Mike can restart his campaign after the worst deba…

RT (2020-02-22). Trump mocks 'fake news' for running 'Russian Sympathizer Bernie' smear, but doesn't miss a chance to score points. rt.com It seems Donald Trump is yet to decide whether he would rather lampoon left-wing media for adding Democrat frontrunner Bernie Sanders to Team Russia or take the opportunity to mock his potential rival in the November poll. | Just a day apart, two steaming-hot scoops landed in the US media cycle. First, the New York Times said Russia was helping Donald Trump to get reelected. Then the Washington Post claimed Russia was helping Bernie Sanders's campaign. All based on anonymous sources, innuendos, and other traits with which even casual followers of the 'Russiagate' saga are all too familiar. | One of the princip…

CounterSpin (2020-02-21). Paul Paz y Miño, Saqib Bhatti & Beverly Bell on Environmental Justice & Cross-National Solidarity. fair.org There will only be an increasing number of frontline struggles between extractive, climate-disrupting industry and those willing to stand up to it. Corporate media's inadequate attention, and unwillingness to truly call out the moneyed interests causing present and future harms, make them more often part of the problem than the solution.

Media Lens (2020-02-20). "And Then Nothing. Silence" dissidentvoice.org If you were mad enough to judge the state of the world by the daily outpourings of 'mainstream' media, you would have no real understanding of the perilous state of the human race. Or, if you had concerns on seeing the latest news on climate breakdown, you would not be fully informed about the powerful …

Alan MacLeod (2020-02-20). Cop-Hating Vandals or Pro-Democracy Activists? – Depends whose police are being protested. fair.org The "cop-hating vandals" poured glue on three turnstiles and "placed large stickers throughout the subway station" (New York Post, The New York Police Department (NYPD) can generally rely on corporate media as allies on controversial police issues. A case in point was the New York subway protests earlier this month, in which the activist group

Staff (2020-02-17). How Bloomberg-Funded Center for American Progress Censored a Report on NYPD Surveillance of Muslims. democracynow.org Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg's self-funded campaign has flooded the airwaves with political advertisements, with the billionaire former New York City mayor having already spent more than $400 million on TV, radio and other ads — far outpacing other campaigns. But it's not just Bloomberg's unprecedented campaign spending that has raised eyebrows. As The New York Times reports, Bloomberg has also kept potential critics quiet by making major donations to progressive causes and advocacy groups around the country over the years. This may have played a part in obscuring Bloomberg's checkere…

Hatewatch Staff (2020-02-12). Neo-Confederate Attorney Accused of Mishandling Clients' Money Promoted Online Trolling, Harassment. splcenter.org Harold Ray Crews, attorney and chairman of the North Carolina chapter of the neo-Confederate hate group League of the South, must attend a hearing Feb. 21 to determine whether the state bar association will suspend his law license.

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.

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.