2020-09-26: News Headlines

_____ (2020-09-26). Leaked Docs Expose Massive Syria Propaganda Operation Waged by Western Govt Contractors and Media. strategic-culture.org Western government-funded intelligence cutouts trained Syrian opposition leaders, planted stories in media outlets from BBC to Al Jazeera, and ran a cadre of journalists. A trove of leaked documents exposes the propaganda network. | Ben NORTON | Leaked documents show how UK government contractors developed an advanced infrastructure of propaganda to stimulate support in the West for Syria's political and armed opposition. | Virtually every aspect of the Syrian opposition was cultivated and marketed by Western government-backed public relations firms, from their political narratives to their branding, from what th…

_____ (2020-09-26). Throw Sand In The Gears Of The Machine. popularresistance.org Humanity will continue along its self-destructive trajectory until the masses use the power of their numbers to force real change. Humanity will not use the power of its numbers to force real change as long as it's being successfully propagandized not to do so. The oligarchic propaganda machine is therefore the primary barrier to our transition from our self-destructive patterns into a healthy collaborative relationship with each other and with our ecosystem. | So throw sand in the gears of the machine. If enough of us throw enough sand, we can cause the whole thing to break down.

Richard Horton (2020-09-26). [Comment] Offline: COVID-19 is not a pandemic. thelancet.com As the world approaches 1 million deaths from COVID-19, we must confront the fact that we are taking a far too narrow approach to managing this outbreak of a new coronavirus. We have viewed the cause of this crisis as an infectious disease. All of our interventions have focused on cutting lines of viral transmission, thereby controlling the spread of the pathogen. The "science" that has guided governments has been driven mostly by epidemic modellers and infectious disease specialists, who understandably frame the present health emergency in centuries-old terms of plague.

Andrew W Horne, Katy Vincent, Catherine A Hewitt, Lee J Middleton, Magda Koscielniak, Wojciech Szubert, Ann M Doust, Jane P Daniels, GaPP2 collaborative (2020-09-26). [Articles] Gabapentin for chronic pelvic pain in women (GaPP2): a multicentre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. thelancet.com This study was adequately powered, but treatment with gabapentin did not result in significantly lower pain scores in women with chronic pelvic pain, and was associated with higher rates of side-effects than placebo. Given the increasing reports of abuse and evidence of potential harms associated with gabapentin use, it is important that clinicians consider alternative treatment options to off-label gabapentin for the management of chronic pelvic pain and no obvious pelvic pathology.

sputniknews (2020-09-26). Biden Compares Trump to Nazi Propaganda Chief, Says Prepared For 'Lies' on Debates. sputniknews.com As the US November presidential election race between Democratic candidate Joe Biden and Republican rival Donald Trump intensifies, next week on 29 September, will see the two holding their first presidential debate.

James ONeill (2020-09-26). Australia Ill-Equipped to Face the Challenges of the Emerging New World Order. globalresearch.ca The American writer Mark Twain once observed that there were three kinds of lies. Lies, damn lies and statistics. In the 21st century that list might usefully be added to and include lies of omission. The modern mainstream media do …

Derek Royden (2020-09-25). The (flawed) case against Julian Assange. nationofchange.org The many mainstream journalists cheering on his extradition may come to regret in the future when the American government comes for them or their sources.

MEE staff (2020-09-25). US cuts $20m in funding for group helping pro-democracy efforts in Iran. middleeasteye.net US cuts $20m in funding for group helping pro-democracy efforts in Iran | Open Technology Fund supports activists operating in Iran, Belarus and Hong Kong, helping them bypass internet censorship and state surveillance | Fri, 09/25/2020 – 16: 33 | Iranian protesters run for cover from riot police (unseen) during an anti-government demonstration in Tehran in 2011 (AFP/File photo) | The Trump administration bloc…

Johanna Ross (2020-09-25). Hack Reveals UK's Propaganda Campaign to Drive Syrian Regime Change. globalresearch.ca When I

Project Censored (2020-09-25). Episode 109 — RBG, The People's Party & RussiaGate with Jeremy Kuzmarov. projectcensored.org On today's episode, Nicholas Baham II (Dr. Dreadlocks), Janice Domingo, and Nolan Higdon discuss the life of RBG, The People's Party and RussiaGate with Jeremy Kuzmarov Along The Line is… | By Nolan Higdon It was just another day in 2020: COVID-19 continued ravaging communities; we were still on lockdown; police and protesters were clashing in cities across the US; and…

Project Censored (2020-09-25). The Virus Came From A Chinese Lab? Headlines and Pre-pubs, Oh My! Documenting The News Literacy Process. projectcensored.org By Nolan Higdon It was just another day in 2020: COVID-19 continued ravaging communities; we were still on lockdown; police and protesters were clashing in cities across the US; and…

Nora Barrows-friedman (2020-09-25). YouTube, Zoom and Facebook censor Leila Khaled for Israel. zcomm.org "They are bothered by the ways in which we are focusing on questions of Black liberation, Palestinian liberation and prison abolition, and the connections between these movements"

Reuters (2020-09-24). Venezuela Launches London Appeal in Battle for $1 Billion in Gold. globalresearch.ca The Nicolas Maduro-backed Venezuelan central bank launched a landmark appeal in London on Tuesday over $1 billion ( £785.21 billion) of gold reserves held in the Bank of England's underground vaults. | The Banco Central de Venezuela (BCV) board controlled by the …

commondreams (2020-09-24). Thousands Call on Facebook to Stop Censoring Palestine. commondreams.org ______________________________…

Julia Conley, staff writer (2020-09-24). Advocates Demand Facebook #StopCensoringPalestine After Platform Blocks Livestream Featuring Palestinian Rights Defenders. commondreams.org "When it comes to speech advocating for Palestinians. Facebook swiftly censors and removes content, often with no explanation." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

_____ (2020-09-24). VIDEO: The Propaganda Campaign Against Russia Is Gathering Momentum. strategic-culture.org Russia does everything that any normal sovereign power should do. The problem is that Washington doesn't want any competition for their global monopoly on power. Watch the video and read more in the

_____ (2020-09-23). 'Confirmed' Has Become a Meaningless Word in Mainstream News Reporting. strategic-culture.org Caitlin JOHNSTONE | Last week Politico published a The claim was nonsensical on its face; the idea that Iran would see the assassination of some random ambassador to an irrelevant country as a proportionate…

_____ (2020-09-23). As Assange Faces Extradition, the State of U.S. Prisons Grows Worse. strategic-culture.org John KIRIAKOU | The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is in a state of chaos. Leadership changes, Covid-19, and criminal activity on the part of BOP officers and staff members has plunged the Justice Department's largest and best-funded bureau into a scandal that, while it has not made the mainstream media, has harmed thousands of prisoners. | [The issue was raised last week in the hearing of Julian Assange in London as the state of mental health care for prisoners, cited in a BOP report, came up in witness testimony in the defense's argument against sending Assange to the U.S. to face time in a U.S. prison.] Micha…

Workers World Party (2020-09-23). Workers World Party demands "Stop Censoring Palestinian Resistance!" workers.org Sept. 23 — Today, three media platforms, Facebook, Zoom and YouTube, collaborated to censor a Palestinian program featuring Palestinian revolutionary Leila Khaled and U.S. political prisoners. Workers World Party condemns this censorship and expresses its solidarity with the struggle of the Palestinian people for self-determination and freedom. The WWP Facebook . . . |

Brijana Prooker (2020-09-23). In Covering the West Coast Fires, We Can't Ignore People with Chronic Illnesses. progressive.org My autoimmune disease symptoms are flaring uncontrollably from the smoke, and I'm not alone in my plight.

Michael T. Hertz (2020-09-23). Trump tweets another t*rd. nationofchange.org Can you see where we're headed? Down a slippery slope to where true liberty dies.

_____ (2020-09-23). Guo Wengui — Too Anti-Chinese Even For Western Establishment. popularresistance.org In some very rare cases, it is better to read British conservative, right-wing press, like The Economist or the Telegraph, instead of the mainstream liberal sheets like The Independent or The Guardian. That is if one wants to come somehow closer to the truth. | The Economist is extremely biased; it is pre-historically conservative, anti-Russian, anti-Chinese, and laughably cold-war-style – anti-Communist. But it has some breaks and limits, which the liberal mainstream media already lost many years ago. And it does not forgive what it considers 'bad manners' and 'bad taste.'