(2020-10-09). FBI Foils Right-Wing Plot to Kidnap Michigan Gov. Months After Trump Urged "Liberation" of State. 18.224.45.15 
Just months after President Trump tweeted for his supporters to "LIBERATE MICHIGAN!" the FBI has foiled an alleged plot to kidnap and take hostage Democratic Governor of Michigan Gretchen Whitmer. Authorities arrested six men Thursday involved in the kidnapping plot, and seven others who were said to be planning to storm the state Capitol in Lansing with the intent of starting a civil war. "It came as a surprise to many, but not necessarily here in Michigan, because the state has a long history of militia and white nationalist ties," says Russ McNamara, a reporter at WDET, Detroit's NPR affiliate. We also speak w…
(2020-10-09). The Case Against Social Media: Mass Misinformation in the Covid-19 Era. counterpunch.org 
Americans are now witnessing a new era of conspiracy mongering and fake news via the rise of the fringe "QAnon" movement, among a plethora of paranoid claims that Covid-19 is an elite-fueled hoax and that it was secretly created by powerful people working in the shadows.
(2020-10-09). "Reimagine and Reset Our World": "COVID-19, The Great Reset" by Klaus Schwab and Thierry Malleret. globalresearch.ca "In Russia we only had two TV channels. Channel One was propaganda. Channel Two consisted of a KGB officer telling you: Turn back at once to Channel One." ~ Yakov Smirnoff | Professor Klaus Schwab founded and runs the World Economic …
(2020-10-08). 'None of It Reported': How Corporate Media Buried the Assange Trial. globalresearch.ca One of the most imposing features of state-corporate propaganda is its incessant, repetitive nature. Over and over again, the 'mainstream' media have to convince the public that 'our' government prioritises the health, welfare and livelihoods of the general population, rather …
(2020-10-08). Ukraine asks Google & Apple to make Russian social networks unavailable for download, 3 years after they were banned by Kiev. rt.com 
Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) has asked Google and Apple to ban applications subject to sanctions on Ukrainian territory, including VKontakte (VK), a Russian social network which is the most popular website in Europe. | The two US technology giants run the world's most popular application marketplaces, the Play Store and the App Store respectively. Both companies are often pressured by countries to remove censored apps, and they often comply. In particular, both Apple and Google regularly stop applications from being accessible in China. | The SBU also asked the country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs to cont…
(2020-10-08). Let's Cut the Crap about "White Supremacy" dissidentvoice.org How many times do we need to request a meaningless "denunciation" of white supremacy? We, on what passes for a left, are supposed to be critics of corporate media, so why the dog-like obedience to its idiotic framing on this non-issue? President Trump has issued such pointless denunciations before, and did so again in the …
(2020-10-08). Thought Control American Style: The Social Justice Warriors Will Destroy Our Basic Freedoms. strategic-culture.org Once upon a time it was possible to rely on much of the mainstream media to report on developments more or less objectively, relegating opinion pieces to the editorial page. But that was a long time ago. I remember moving to Washington back in 1976 after many years of New York Times and International Herald Tribune readership, when both those papers still possessed editorial integrity. My first experience of the Washington Post had my head spinning, wondering how front-page stories that allegedly reported the "news" could sink to the level of including editorialized comments from start to finish to place the stor…
(2020-10-07). US Politics Isn't 'Polarized'; It's In Almost Universal Agreement. thealtworld.com When you look at US politics, it appears as though there are two mainstream political factions that very strongly disagree with one another. "Divided" is a word that comes up a lot. "Polarized" is another. | It is of course true that a whole lot of emotion flows between these two factions, and most of it is indeed negative. The hot topics of any given news cycle in America will typically involve more than one story pertaining to the vitriolic enmity between them. | But beneath all the hurled insults and heated debates, these two factions are actually furiously agreeing with one another. They're agreeing the entir…
(2020-10-07). U.S. Politics Isn't 'Polarized'; It's In Almost Universal Agreement. strategic-culture.org Caitlin JOHNSTONE | When you look at US politics, it appears as though there are two mainstream political factions that very strongly disagree with one another. "Divided" is a word that comes up a lot. "Polarized" is another. | It is of course true that a whole lot of emotion flows between these two factions, and most of it is indeed negative. The hot topics of any given news cycle in America will typically involve more than one story pertaining to the vitriolic enmity between them. | But beneath all the hurled insults and heated debates, these two factions are actually furiously agreeing with one another. They'r…
(2020-10-07). Car bomb in northern Syrian city of Al-Bab leaves many dead and injured. middleeasteye.net 
Car bomb in northern Syrian city of Al-Bab leaves many dead and injured | UN condemns 'indiscriminate attacks' on civilians after Turkish-controlled city struck | Wed, 10/07/2020 – 07: 40 | A picture shows an aerial view of the town of al-Bab in a rebel-held area in the north of Aleppo province (AFP) | A suspected car bomb in the Turkish-controlled Syrian town of Al-Bab has killed at least…
(2020-10-07). Trump hints at 'standalone' $1,200 stimulus check bill after vowing to halt Covid relief talks with Democrats until November. rt.com 
US President Donald Trump said he would sign a bill approving another round of Covid-19 relief checks if one crossed his desk, apparently backtracking after saying he'd ended stimulus talks with Democrats until after the election. | "[If I sent] a Stand Alone Bill for Stimulus Checks ($1,200), they will go out to our great people IMMEDIATELY. I am ready to sign right now. Are you listening Nancy?" Trump tweeted on Tuesday evening amid a flurry of posts, tagging his own chief of staff Mark Meadows and leadership in both parties. | If I am sent a Stand Alone Bill for Stimulus Checks ($1,200), they will go out to…
(2020-10-07). The West's Nagorno-Karabakh Hypocrisy Is Driven by Delusion. scheerpost.com David Stanley / CC BY 2.0] By Maj. Danny Sjursen / Antiwar Something stands out in recent U.S. and most Western reporting on the ongoing bloodletting in Nagorno-Karabakh (NK). Well, two things actually: ignorance and hypocrisy. Having shuttered most of their foreign bureaus long ago, there's a distinct lack of expertise in the mainstream press on this — and many other — regional hot spots. |
(2020-10-07). Ex-OPCW Chief Jose Bustani Reads Syria Testimony Blocked At UN. popularresistance.org Jose Bustani was invited to brief the Security Council on the OPCW's cover-up of an investigation into an alleged chemical attack in Douma, Syria in April 2018. The US, UK, and France bombed Syria after accusing the Syrian government of dropping toxic gas in Douma. OPCW inspectors later found evidence that undermined the official narrative, but were censored by their superiors under US pressure. | As the OPCW's first Director General, Bustani experienced first-hand the costs of challenging pro-war narratives.
(2020-10-06). Blatant censorship: Retrospective of American painter Philip Guston delayed four years. wsws.org The decision by four major art museums in the UK and US to postpone for four years "Philip Guston Now," a long-planned retrospective of one of postwar America's most significant artists, is a cowardly act of censorship.
(2020-10-06). Far-Right Pennsylvania Politics Blog Was Mirrored by Obscure Russian Website. splcenter.org Lancaster Patriot, a partisan, reactionary Pennsylvania politics blog that first surfaced in April, is mirrored online by a Russian website with the domain oc.binaria.ru, which is affiliated with creators of the pro-Kremlin propaganda website Russia Insider.