2020-11-07: News Headlines

_____ (2020-11-07). Media Silence Marks Ongoing OPCW Cover-Up Of Syria Chemical Weapons Scandal. popularresistance.org This should be a global scandal," said journalist Aaron Maté on the suppression of evidence from experts from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in order to push for war in Syria. "This is the U.S. government bombing Syria based on allegations that were later found by the investigating team to be false. But then once that team came back to write their report they were pressured by the U.S. government and had their evidence censored." | Unfortunately, it has not become a global scandal.

MEE and agencies (2020-11-07). Iran temporarily releases jailed rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh. middleeasteye.net Iran temporarily releases jailed rights lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh | Release follows warnings by rights groups that Sotoudeh's health had severely deteriorated after a hunger strike | Sat, 11/07/2020 – 13: 43 | Nasrin Sotoudeh, pictured after being freed in 2013 after serving around half of a six-year jail sentence for spreading propaganda and conspiring to harm state security, charges she den…

Prof Michel Chossudovsky (2020-11-07). Who is Behind "Fake News"? Mainstream Media Use Fake Videos and Images. globalresearch.ca The mainstream corporate media is desperate. They want to suppress independent and alternative online media, which they categorize as "fake news". Readers on social media are warned not to go onto certain sites. Our analysis confirms that the mainstream media are routinely involved in distorting the facts and turning realities upside down.

WSWS (2020-11-07). FBI seizes internet domain names it claims are part of Iranian influence campaign. wsws.org The DoJ made vague assertions of "covert influence" and "pro-Iranian propaganda," but presented no evidence of its allegations.

Richard Horton (2020-11-07). [Comment] Offline: Managing the COVID-19 vaccine infodemic. thelancet.com If you read News Punch (aka "Where mainstream fears to tread"), you will be familiar with a series of articles about the prospects for a COVID-19 vaccine. With headlines such as "Big Pharma Exec: We Are Exempt From COVID-19 Vaccine Liability Claims", the website has published report after report casting doubt on the integrity of vaccine science and even the likelihood of a vaccine becoming available. You will find similar pieces on other websites, such as Infowars and AlterNet. The arguments these articles peddle seem deliberately designed to sow uncertainty.

Andrew Korybko (2020-11-06). Facebook's Censorship Spree Is VK's Time To Finally Shine As A Free Speech Alternative. thealtworld.com The censorship spree that Facebook's been on since the US' contentious elections is the golden opportunity that its Russian competitor VK has been waiting for in order to finally present itself as a credible and easy-to-use free speech alternative, but it can only do so if the awareness and will exist at its leadership level to seize the moment through a clever marketing strategy aimed at Facebook's politically minded audience. | Facebook isn't even hiding the fact that it's censoring its users in the aftermath of the US' contentious elections. It used to just shadow block them, but now it adds a so-called "fact-…

Alan Macleod (2020-11-06). Did Media Spiking the Ukraine-Burisma Story Win Joe Biden the Election? mintpressnews.com Whatever one thinks about Biden or Trump, or the veracity of the Burisma story, the way in which corporate media and social media giants unilaterally decided that Americans would not be able to decide for themselves raises profound questions about the nature of power and freedom of speech in society.

Eve Ottenberg (2020-11-06). U.S. Foreign Policy is a Failure, Whoever's President. counterpunch.org The world recognizes what U.S. elites don't: the utter, total American failure to contain Covid-19 has damaged U.S. standing and will do so until the virus is controlled. Meanwhile, regional powers, China and Russia, cooperate and share resources, particularly vaccines. Cuba provides treatments, but the U.S. turns up its nose at Cuban medicine, even if it means more American covid patients die — this, though Cuba's pharmacopeia for this plague appears superior. China sends doctors and medicines across the globe. Russia opts for sane herd immunity — through vaccination. These countries act like adults.

_____ (2020-11-06). Twitter Double Downs on Censorship With Renewed Warnings on Trump Tweets. strategic-culture.org Jonathan TURLEY | We have been discussing the rising private censorship on the Internet

Kevin Barry (2020-11-06). The True Story of the 1918 "Spanish Flu" globalresearch.ca For long version of original Kevin Barry article, click For over a century, various entities that are involved in the propaganda machinery that has been tasked by the powers-that-be to advance American patriotism and corporate profiteering …

WSWS (2020-11-06). Social media platforms implement aggressive censorship during the 2020 US elections. wsws.org The major social media platforms took their political censorship operations into high gear on election day, including Facebook placing a fact checking label on every single post by anyone on their platform who is commenting or sharing content about the election in any way.

WSWS repost (2020-11-05). Google admits to censoring the World Socialist Web Site. indybay.org In an extraordinary public admission, Google CEO Sundar Pichai stated during congressional testimony on October 28 that the online search giant has been censoring content from the World Socialist Web Site.

RT (2020-11-05). Hefty fines for Twitter, Facebook & Google? Russian social media users ask state to punish US websites that censor Russian news. rt.com A group of Russian social media professionals have asked the Ministry of Communications to fine foreign companies who censor Russian media, after it was revealed that US tech giants have restricted around 20 Russian outlets. | In an open letter, the Association of Professional Users of Social Networks and Messengers (APPSIM) proposed a fine of 10 million rubles ($130,000) for the offending parties, with their sights set on American firms, such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter. | The notice cites data from Russia's federal censor, Roskomnadzor, which claims that the trio have blocked access to material from abo…

Ralph Nader — Bruce Fein (2020-11-05). How Trump, Hannity and Limbaugh Violated Election Law. counterpunch.org Conservative media celebrities Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh have flagrantly violated the federal election law prohibition of donating anything of value exceeding $2,800 to a presidential candidate. The ongoing strategic collaboration between Trump, Hannity and Limbaugh is obvious and has been widely documented in newspapers and books. Both Hannity and Limbaugh have collaborated with President

Anthony Hall (2020-11-05). Censorship: US Department of Justice (DOJ) Closes Down Canada's Independent Media Site AHT. Professor Anthony Hall. globalresearch.ca Global Research Editor's Note | . | We stand in firm support of The American Herald Tribune and Professor Anthony Hall, who has the courage to confront the US corporate media. | . | The tendency is towards online media censorship in derogation …

Dave DeCamp (2020-11-05). Online Censorship: DOJ Seizes 27 Domains, Claims They are Controlled by Iran. globalresearch.ca The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Wednesday …

Prof. Ruel F. Pepa (2020-11-05). Controlling Information to Protect Us? globalresearch.ca "The control of information is something the elite always do, particularly in a despotic form of government. Information, knowledge, is power. If you can control information, you can control people." —Tom Clancy | "Information is not knowledge." —Albert Einstein…

Jacob G. Hornberger (2020-11-05). Don't Forget LBJ's Election Theft. globalresearch.ca The mainstream pro-Biden media is poking fun at Donald Trump's suggestion that there could be fraud involved in…

Khaled Iskef (2020-11-05). The Arab World and the US Elections. Who Will Succeed in Controlling the White House? globalresearch.ca The exit of the American forces from Iraq and Syria, finding a solution to the Palestinian issue and the Syrian and Libyan crisis and ending the war in Yemen is what the Arab World wants, in addition to ending the …

Brian Shilhavy (2020-11-05). Brainwashing the Masses: 6 Companies Own Almost All of the Media in the U.S. — Using Medical "Doctors" to Sell Their Message. globalresearch.ca The current "war against the Coronavirus" is primarily an information war, with the corporate media putting forth a unified message they want the public to believe, and any efforts to present alternative information is vigorously opposed and ridiculed. | Six …

_____ (2020-11-05). DOJ Seizes 27 Domains, Claims They Are Controlled By Iran. popularresistance.org The US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Wednesday that it seized 27 online domains, claiming the websites were controlled by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). The DOJ seized the domains under the guise of enforcing US sanctions against Iran and the IRGC. | Wednesday's announcement followed the seizure of 92 domains in October that the DOJ also claimed were operated by Iran. The DOJ purports that the domains were being used to spread "Iranian propaganda" and "disinformation."

Staff (2020-11-04). The media learned nothing from 2016. therealnews.com TRNN Editor in Chief Maximillian Alvarez talks with Parker Molloy, Media Matters editor at large, about why mainstream media keeps getting played by Trump.

Raul Diego (2020-11-04). It Not About Right or Left, Its About Neoliberalism. Mickey Huff on Big Tech's Efforts To Purge Dissent. mintpressnews.com "If Republicans and conservatives are really concerned about money in Silicon Valley and impacting elections," says Huff, "they should look in the mirror."

Alan MacLeod (2020-11-04). The knives come out as Greenwald splits from the Intercept citing censorship. mronline.org Funded by a billionaire oligarch and increasingly seen as a mouthpiece for the neoliberal establishment, The Intercept suffered its biggest blow yet with the very public departure of Greenwald.

_____ (2020-11-04). Amazon Bans Book Exposing US COVID-19 Chaos. popularresistance.org A decision by the Amazon company to block a book focused on a scientific and cooperative approach to COVID-19 amounts to corporate information control operating at a new intensity. This censorship occurs while almost every form of U.S. media permits and promotes racist, unscientific and thoroughly confusing information. | The censored book is "Capitalism on a Ventilator: The Impact of COVID-19 in China & the U.S." This anthology of 55 articles by a broad range of social justice authors discuss the importance of free health care, social distancing, testing, protective equipment, education and social mobilizat…

_____ (2020-11-04). Canadian Military Wants To Use Propaganda, Other Techniques Domestically. popularresistance.org The Canadian Forces wants to establish a new organization that will use propaganda and other techniques to try to influence the attitudes, beliefs and behaviours of Canadians, according to documents obtained by this newspaper. | The plan comes on the heels of the Canadian Forces spending more than $1 million to train public affairs officers on behaviour modification techniques of the same sort used by the parent firm of Cambridge Analytica, as well as a controversial and bizarre propaganda training mission in which the military forged letters from the Nova Scotia government to warn the public that wolves were wan…