Monthly Archives: June 2020

2020-06-24: News Headlines

Richard Armitage, Laura B Nellums (2020-06-24). [Letter] Whistleblowing and patient safety during COVID-19. thelancet.com It has been rightly noted that health workers globally must be able to speak out during COVID-19, allowing them to draw public attention to inadequate PPE supplies and unsafe working conditions, while being protected from censorship, attack, government intimidation, harassment, and arrest [1]. But such systemic failure to provide health workers with the resources they need represents only one of numerous situations in which clinicians may consider raising the alarm. Health service whistleblowing procedures that are secure and robust are of paramount importance to patient safety, and must be strengthened and prote…

Andrew Korybko (2020-06-24). Chinagate Is The Craziest Conspiracy Theory Yet. thealtworld.com It is totally unbelievable to imagine that Trump purportedly solicited China's support for his re-election campaign via international economic means and even endorsed the country's anti-terrorist policies in Xinjiang. Nothing could be further from the truth. | Former National Security Advisor John Bolton's book contains many passages that are receiving a lot of attention from the mainstream media, but one stands out among the rest. The disgraced official, who was fired by Trump last September, claims that the President sought China's help for his re-election campaign. According to Bolton, Trump asked President Xi…

Media Lens (2020-06-24). "Six Months To Avert Climate Crisis": Climate Breakdown And The Corporate Media. dissidentvoice.org In his classic science fiction novel, Foundation, Isaac Asimov posited a future in which 'psychohistorians' could predict outcomes based on past history and the large-scale behaviour of human populations by combining psychology and the mathematics of probability. Using 'psychohistory', the protagonist Hari Seldon discovers that the 12,000-year-old Galactic Empire will collapse in 500 years. He …

Caitlin Johnstone (2020-06-24). Twitter Censors Trump For "Threat Of Harm", Has No Problem With Threats To Bomb Foreigners. thealtworld.com "We've placed a public interest notice on this Tweet for violating our policy against abusive behavior, specifically, the presence of a threat of harm against an identifiable group," Twitter "There will never be an 'Autonomous Zone' in Washingt…

_____ (2020-06-24). Twitter Censors Trump for 'Threat of Harm', Has No Problem With Threats to Bomb Foreigners. strategic-culture.org Power is the ability to control what happens. Absolute power is the ability to control what people think about what happens. Our world does not widely understand this, and it is ruled by people who do. We're going to have to change this if we're to begin moving collectively toward health and harmony.

The Canary (2020-06-24). Scientists propose lifting lockdown for whole city to trial mass testing. thecanary.co Scientists have proposed lifting lockdown completely for a "medium-sized city" to see if coronavirus can be controlled through weekly testing of residents. | A paper published in the Royal Society Open Science journal argues that a demonstration study is needed to see if such regular testing, strict household quarantine, contact tracing and mobile phone apps could end the coronavirus (Covid-19) epidemic. | Researchers suggest large-scale testing of city residents could be done through examining saliva samples — a technique called RT-LAMP testing, which they said is cheaper and more viable than nasal or thro…

RT (2020-06-23). Enforcing the law is now 'threats of harm'? Twitter CENSORS Trump again. rt.com Twitter has censored another post by President Donald Trump, claiming his warning against creating an 'autonomous zone' outside the White House amounted to a "threat of harm" and violated their policy against abusive behavior. | "There will never be an 'Autonomous Zone' in Washington, DC, as long as I'm your President. If they try they will be met with serious force!" Trump Graffiti declared the set-u…

Project Censored (2020-06-23). Alternatives to Policing: Putting the Power and Money Back Into Our Communities. projectcensored.org Project Censored researcher and author Amber Yang, a Restorative Justice and Wellness Coordinator at Novato High School in Marin County, California rejoins the show along with Phoebe Smith, a long-time…

RT (2020-06-22). Statue Wars come for JESUS as activist claims Christ and Virgin Mary are 'white supremacy'. rt.com It began with Confederate generals and quickly escalated to Columbus and former US presidents; now the monument-removal crusade has come for Jesus, with racial activist Shaun King insisting the depictions are 'racist propaganda.' | "Yes, I think the statues of the white European they claim is Jesus should also come down," King tweeted on Monday. "They are a form of white supremacy. Always have been." | He also argued that all "murals and stained glass windows of white Jesus, and his European mother, and their white friends should also come down," calling them "a gross form [of] white supremacy… tools of oppr…

Andrew Korybko (2020-06-22). US Media Propaganda Claiming that Putin Supported "Left-Wing Terrorists" globalresearch.ca Politico's scandalous "report" alleging that Putin secretly supported and even possibly organized the left-wing terrorist activities of the "Baader-Meinhof Group" during his time with the KGB in East Germany is pure propaganda which is intended to serve the purpose of …

RT (2020-06-22). Fake news or about-face? Bolton DENIES he's voting for Biden after the Telegraph reports him saying so in interview. rt.com Former US National Security Advisor John Bolton has refuted a report by the Telegraph that he plans to cast his ballot for Joe Biden, the Democrat rival of his former boss, as he continues to tout his tell-all book in the media.

RT (2020-06-22). US slaps 'foreign missions' restrictions on 4 more Chinese state media outlets. rt.com The US State Department has reclassified four Chinese news outlets as "foreign missions," declaring them "propaganda outlets" and imposing strict controls on their ability to employ journalists and conduct business in the US. | Chinese outlets Global Times, China Central Television, China News Service, and People's Daily have joined a growing list of state-run outlets subjected to intensified scrutiny as the media war between Beijing and Washington heats up. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus announced the additions on Monday, proclaiming the named organizations are "effectively controlled by the gove…

RT (2020-06-22). Trump says he gave 'wacko' John Bolton a chance, just to hear 'differing points of view'. rt.com Calling him a "wacko" and a "liar," President Donald Trump has mockingly defended his decision to hire warhawk adviser John Bolton, who recently unleashed a tirade of criticism at his old boss in a tell-all book. | "I gave John Bolton, who was incapable of being Senate confirmed because he was considered a wacko, and was not liked, a chance," Trump tweeted on Monday. | "I always like hearing differing points of view," he added, before issuing a damning appraisal of the former national security advisor's time in the administration, whom he called an incompetent "liar." | I gave John Bolton, who was incapable of…

RT (2020-06-22). Murder bad, Orange Man worse? NYT 'fact checkers' excuse rampant homicide to embarrass Trump. rt.com The New York Times will seemingly disregard sky-high homicide rates in America's cities if doing so makes President Donald Trump look bad. To much of the media, the only facts that matter are those that hurt Trump. | The US president is known for his bombastic declarations, hyperbole, and generous use of superlatives. In his nearly four years in office, that has provided plenty of material for journalists to churn out 'fact checking' articles cross-examining his wilder claims in an effort to cut the larger-than-life leader down to size. | If anyone was wondering at what point 'owning the president' takes prece…

yenisafak (2020-06-22). Military standoffs apart, Chinese investments roar in India. yenisafak.com Amid the clamor to boycott Chinese goods and cut trade ties, in the wake of the killing of its 20 soldiers in a border clash, experts in India have warned that it will inflict more damage to the country itself.Out of $92 billion worth annual trade, Indian exports account for just $18 billion, according to the figures available with India's Commerce Ministry.Videos of Indians breaking and burning functional Chinese appliances, such as television sets, have been doing the rounds in social media. Ramdas Athawale, a government minister, even demanded a ban on restaurants selling Chinese food.But a fact check suggests…

_____ (2020-06-21). On Contact: Planet Of The Humans. popularresistance.org In this week's episode of On Contact, Chris Hedges discusses the criticism and censorship of Michael Moore's film Planet of the Humans with the director, Jeff Gibbs. | "Perhaps it's a form of denial to actually instead of understanding the – this civilization, the industrial civilization, the human species – we're hitting limits and we're gonna crash. We're instead hoping that this fantasy will save us. And as I discovered, and I'm not saying that all environmental leaders are on the take, but one of the things our critics ignore is that the shocking list of things that you when you divest from fossil fuels and y…

Project Censored (2020-06-21). Episode 94 — The Right Wing SnowFlakes with Steve Macek. projectcensored.org On today's episode, Nicholas Baham II (Dr. Dreadlocks), Janice Domingo, and Nolan Higdon explore right wing victimhood with Professor of Communication and Chair of the Department of Communication and Media…

sputniknews (2020-06-21). 'Something Very Disturbing About What's Going On': AG Barr on Social Media 'Censoring' Content. sputniknews.com Barr's interview, in which he shares his opinions on antitrust law, comes amid high tension between US President Donald Trump and social media, as Twitter and Facebook flag and remove his content for breaking terms of service. Trump, in response, initiated an executive order that would make it easier for social media platforms to be sued.

RT (2020-06-20). Drone captures LENIN's name spelled out in giant letters from trees in Siberia, a relic of Soviet land art propaganda. rt.com A Russian photographer used his drone to secure an unusual Vladimir Lenin-related photo opportunity. Not the Bolshevik revolutionary's preserved body, but rather his name written with trees by Soviet foresters, back in the day. | The pictures | This particular geoglyph was planted some…

ahtribune (2020-06-20). How Did Syria Control the Pandemic So Well? ahtribune.com How is it that Syria, targeted by war and economic siege, has had such striking success in controlling the COVID19 pandemic? With epidemics raging on either side — across Europe and all around the Persian Gulf — how did the embattled Syrian Arab Republic emerge (by mid-June) with so little damage, and indeed with the lowest number of cases and deaths in the entire Middle East region? | This was not due to luck, nor to a laissez-faire Swedish style practice, as some pandemic denier friends of Syria have reported. On the contrary, the Syrian government: (1) took the virus threat seriously, communicat…

WSWS (2020-06-20). Quebec film distributors censor Roman Polanski's J'accuse. wsws.org Yielding to the anti-democratic #MeToo campaign, distributors in Quebec refused to buy the rights to Polanski's remarkable film about the Dreyfus Affair.

2020-06-23: News Headlines

RT (2020-06-22). Statue Wars come for JESUS as activist claims Christ and Virgin Mary are 'white supremacy'. rt.com It began with Confederate generals and quickly escalated to Columbus and former US presidents; now the monument-removal crusade has come for Jesus, with racial activist Shaun King insisting the depictions are 'racist propaganda.' | "Yes, I think the statues of the white European they claim is Jesus should also come down," King tweeted on Monday. "They are a form of white supremacy. Always have been." | He also argued that all "murals and stained glass windows of white Jesus, and his European mother, and their white friends should also come down," calling them "a gross form [of] white supremacy… tools of oppr…

Andrew Korybko (2020-06-22). US Media Propaganda Claiming that Putin Supported "Left-Wing Terrorists" globalresearch.ca Politico's scandalous "report" alleging that Putin secretly supported and even possibly organized the left-wing terrorist activities of the "Baader-Meinhof Group" during his time with the KGB in East Germany is pure propaganda which is intended to serve the purpose of …

RT (2020-06-22). US slaps 'foreign missions' restrictions on 4 more Chinese state media outlets. rt.com The US State Department has reclassified four Chinese news outlets as "foreign missions," declaring them "propaganda outlets" and imposing strict controls on their ability to employ journalists and conduct business in the US. | Chinese outlets Global Times, China Central Television, China News Service, and People's Daily have joined a growing list of state-run outlets subjected to intensified scrutiny as the media war between Beijing and Washington heats up. State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus announced the additions on Monday, proclaiming the named organizations are "effectively controlled by the gove…

RT (2020-06-22). Trump says he gave 'wacko' John Bolton a chance, just to hear 'differing points of view'. rt.com Calling him a "wacko" and a "liar," President Donald Trump has mockingly defended his decision to hire warhawk adviser John Bolton, who recently unleashed a tirade of criticism at his old boss in a tell-all book. | "I gave John Bolton, who was incapable of being Senate confirmed because he was considered a wacko, and was not liked, a chance," Trump tweeted on Monday. | "I always like hearing differing points of view," he added, before issuing a damning appraisal of the former national security advisor's time in the administration, whom he called an incompetent "liar." | I gave John Bolton, who was incapable of…

RT (2020-06-22). Murder bad, Orange Man worse? NYT 'fact checkers' excuse rampant homicide to embarrass Trump. rt.com The New York Times will seemingly disregard sky-high homicide rates in America's cities if doing so makes President Donald Trump look bad. To much of the media, the only facts that matter are those that hurt Trump. | The US president is known for his bombastic declarations, hyperbole, and generous use of superlatives. In his nearly four years in office, that has provided plenty of material for journalists to churn out 'fact checking' articles cross-examining his wilder claims in an effort to cut the larger-than-life leader down to size. | If anyone was wondering at what point 'owning the president' takes prece…

yenisafak (2020-06-22). Military standoffs apart, Chinese investments roar in India. yenisafak.com Amid the clamor to boycott Chinese goods and cut trade ties, in the wake of the killing of its 20 soldiers in a border clash, experts in India have warned that it will inflict more damage to the country itself.Out of $92 billion worth annual trade, Indian exports account for just $18 billion, according to the figures available with India's Commerce Ministry.Videos of Indians breaking and burning functional Chinese appliances, such as television sets, have been doing the rounds in social media. Ramdas Athawale, a government minister, even demanded a ban on restaurants selling Chinese food.But a fact check suggests…

_____ (2020-06-21). On Contact: Planet Of The Humans. popularresistance.org In this week's episode of On Contact, Chris Hedges discusses the criticism and censorship of Michael Moore's film Planet of the Humans with the director, Jeff Gibbs. | "Perhaps it's a form of denial to actually instead of understanding the – this civilization, the industrial civilization, the human species – we're hitting limits and we're gonna crash. We're instead hoping that this fantasy will save us. And as I discovered, and I'm not saying that all environmental leaders are on the take, but one of the things our critics ignore is that the shocking list of things that you when you divest from fossil fuels and y…

Project Censored (2020-06-21). Episode 94 — The Right Wing SnowFlakes with Steve Macek. projectcensored.org On today's episode, Nicholas Baham II (Dr. Dreadlocks), Janice Domingo, and Nolan Higdon explore right wing victimhood with Professor of Communication and Chair of the Department of Communication and Media…

sputniknews (2020-06-21). 'Something Very Disturbing About What's Going On': AG Barr on Social Media 'Censoring' Content. sputniknews.com Barr's interview, in which he shares his opinions on antitrust law, comes amid high tension between US President Donald Trump and social media, as Twitter and Facebook flag and remove his content for breaking terms of service. Trump, in response, initiated an executive order that would make it easier for social media platforms to be sued.

Fight Back (2020-06-20). NYC marches for Juneteenth. fightbacknews.org New York, NY – At noon, June 19, several hundred gathered outside of City Hall Park to celebrate, rally and march for Juneteenth. It was the first of several dozen actions happening throughout the boroughs and was called by the December 12th Movement. | Dozens upon dozens of the red, black and green flags were waving in the hands of protesters, as music played. The organizers ensured that protesters were wearing masks and kept social distance by lining them up to march. | This year's Juneteenth has reached mainstream levels of attention as the country enters its 22nd day of protesting for Black lives. As protes…

The HALT-IT Trial Collaborators (2020-06-20). [Articles] Effects of a high-dose 24-h infusion of tranexamic acid on death and thromboembolic events in patients with acute gastrointestinal bleeding (HALT-IT): an international randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. thelancet.com We found that tranexamic acid did not reduce death from gastrointestinal bleeding. On the basis of our results, tranexamic acid should not be used for the treatment of gastrointestinal bleeding outside the context of a randomised trial.

RT (2020-06-20). Turning tables: Conservatives 'call' to cancel Yale for being named after slave trader. rt.com Conservatives got #CancelYale trending on Twitter and targeted liberals like Hillary Clinton in their effort to troll the left, calling for the Ivy League school to change its name because it's named after a slave trader. | Right-wing pundit Jesse Kelly kicked off the hashtag on Saturday by noting that Yale University is named after Elihu Yale, a British merchant and slave trader. | "Yale University was named for Elihu Yale. Not just a man who had slaves. An actual slave trader. I call on @Yale to change its name immediately and strip the name of Yale from every building, piece of paper, and merchandise. Other…

RT (2020-06-20). Drone captures LENIN's name spelled out in giant letters from trees in Siberia, a relic of Soviet land art propaganda. rt.com A Russian photographer used his drone to secure an unusual Vladimir Lenin-related photo opportunity. Not the Bolshevik revolutionary's preserved body, but rather his name written with trees by Soviet foresters, back in the day. | The pictures | This particular geoglyph was planted some…

ahtribune (2020-06-20). How Did Syria Control the Pandemic So Well? ahtribune.com How is it that Syria, targeted by war and economic siege, has had such striking success in controlling the COVID19 pandemic? With epidemics raging on either side — across Europe and all around the Persian Gulf — how did the embattled Syrian Arab Republic emerge (by mid-June) with so little damage, and indeed with the lowest number of cases and deaths in the entire Middle East region? | This was not due to luck, nor to a laissez-faire Swedish style practice, as some pandemic denier friends of Syria have reported. On the contrary, the Syrian government: (1) took the virus threat seriously, communicat…

WSWS (2020-06-20). Quebec film distributors censor Roman Polanski's J'accuse. wsws.org Yielding to the anti-democratic #MeToo campaign, distributors in Quebec refused to buy the rights to Polanski's remarkable film about the Dreyfus Affair.

RT (2020-06-19). Trump retweets his critic Max Blumenthal, who changes handle to slogans like 'US sanctions kill kids' for Trump audience to read. rt.com On Thursday, followers of Donald Trump's Twitter feed were able to read scathing criticisms of the US president, thanks to a careless retweet of a post by journalist Max Blumenthal, who seized the chance to weaponize his name. | The trolling session of the US troll-in-chief started with Blumenthal attacking former US National Security Advisor John Bolton and the left-wing figures lionizing him for writing a book that makes his former boss look bad. | John Bolton, a notoriously mendacious enemy of all living beings on the planet, is discovering what every other great Republican hope of the Resistance has: liber…

RT (2020-06-19). Twitter pulls Trump's 'manipulated' CNN parody video after media outcry, citing copyright violation. rt.com Twitter has removed a satirical video shared by US President Donald Trump — a parody CNN clip it flagged as "manipulated media" — after the broadcaster saw red over the tweet and following complaints from the owner of the footage. | The meme clip, which featured a mock CNN chyron and was meant as a dig at what Trump and his supporters see as biased media coverage of his presidency, was pulled on Friday after a company representing the original creators of the video complained to social media platforms, saying the footage was used without permission. In addition to Twitter, Facebook has also deleted…

Fight Back (2020-06-19). July 31 cutoff looms for unemployed. fightbacknews.org San José, CA – In six weeks, tens of millions of unemployed people face the end of the additional $600 a week in unemployment insurance benefits. This additional benefit that helps low income workers the most is set to expire due to its being opposed by the Republican-controlled Senate. These same workers were hardest hit by the pandemic recession, and many face the prospect of their jobs not coming back. This is just another example of how the economic relief has helped large corporations, which can aided by the Federal Reserve, while low-income workers are subject to punishment by republicans who see the aid as…

Richard Gale (2020-06-19). Wikipedia's Culture of Editorial Chaos and Malice. globalresearch.ca Perhaps the greatest farce in the modern history of technology is the perception of Wikipedia as a legitimate encyclopedia. It has none of the qualifications as such but has all of the characteristics of a compromised propaganda machine disguised as …

Peoples Dispatch (2020-06-19). More than 1% of world population is forcibly displaced, says UNHCR report. peoplesdispatch.org Busting the myth and propaganda claims about the so-called 'refugee problem' in developed countries, the UNHCR data establishes that around 85% of the total refugees in the world are hosted by developing countries…

_____ (2020-06-19). How Our Bloated Military Strengthens The Police State. popularresistance.org Nationwide uprisings over the police killing of George Floyd have forced a long overdue discussion about the injustices of U.S. policing—an institution that has consistently harassed and terrorized and, in the words of organizer, writer and educator Mariame Kaba, remains a consistent "force of violence against Black people." As demands to abolish the police are thrust into mainstream discourse, promising—if uncertain and mixed—political changes are being debated and implemented every day. We are seeing a rigorous interrogation of the systems that uphold and compound the brutality of policing: pr…