Monthly Archives: July 2020

2020-07-03: News Headlines

Hashim Hashim, Jo Worthington, Paul Abrams, Grace Young, Hilary Taylor, Sian M Noble, Sara T Brookes, Nikki Cotterill, Tobias Page, K Satchi Swami, J Athene Lane, UNBLOCS Trial Group (2020-07-04). [Articles] Thulium laser transurethral vaporesection of the prostate versus transurethral resection of the prostate for men with lower urinary tract symptoms or urinary retention (UNBLOCS): a randomised controlled trial. thelancet.com TURP and ThuVARP were equivalent for urinary symptom improvement (IPSS) 12-months post-surgery, and TURP was superior for Qmax. Anticipated laser benefits for ThuVARP of reduced hospital stay and complications were not observed.

Rob J Hallifax, Edward McKeown, Parthipan Sivakumar, Ian Fairbairn, Christy Peter, Andrew Leitch, Matthew Knight, Andrew Stanton, Asim Ijaz, Stefan Marciniak, James Cameron, Amrithraj Bhatta, Kevin G Blyth, Raja Reddy, Marie-Clare Harris, Nadeem Maddekar, Steven Walker, Alex West, Magda Laskawiec-Szkonter, John P Corcoran, Stephen Gerry, Corran Roberts, John E Harvey, Nick Maskell, Robert F Miller, Najib M Rahman (2020-07-04). [Articles] Ambulatory management of primary spontaneous pneumothorax: an open-label, randomised controlled trial. thelancet.com Ambulatory management of primary spontaneous pneumothorax significantly reduced the duration of hospitalisation including re-admissions in the first 30 days, but at the expense of increased adverse events. This data suggests that primary spontaneous pneumothorax can be managed for outpatients, using ambulatory devices in those who require intervention.

Helena Hui Wang, Esther Lau, Richard Horton (2020-07-04). [Comment] The Wakley—Wu Lien Teh Prize Essay 2020: Chinese health workers' experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. thelancet.com "I feel deeply the burden of the honour placed upon me in being chairman of this Medical Conference, which is unique in our history, powerful in its representation, and which gives China a strong position amongst nations seeking the welfare of the people", wrote Wu Lien Teh in his first publication in The Lancet,1 on his inaugural address delivered at the International Plague Conference in Shenyang, China, in 1911. Wu was elected as the chair of the conference for his work in controlling the pneumonic plague epidemic outbreak in 1910—11 in northeastern China, which ultimately claimed about 60‚Ä&a…

Nigel Lee, Yu Gao, Sally L. Collins, Lena B. Mà•rtensson, Wendy Randall, Toni-Marie Rowe, Sue Kildea (2020-07-03). Caesarean delivery rates and analgesia effectiveness following injections of sterile water for back pain in labour: A multicentre, randomised placebo controlled trial. thelancet.com Compared to placebo, injections of sterile water did not reduce rates of caesarean delivery. For the main secondary outcome of pain relief the intervention did result in significantly more women reporting at least 30% and 50% reduction in pain for up to 90 min. Water injections have no effect on birth outcomes though can be an effective treatment for the relief of labour-related back pain.Funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council.

Jon Skolnik (2020-07-03). Hollywood and the Pentagon are cheating on the American public. mronline.org Most propaganda machines are not observable to the naked eye, but the military-entertainment complex hides in plain sight. Long have Hollywood and the Pentagon worked together in what has been called a relationship of "mutual exploitation," producing war agitprop for the masses. Who is the victim amid all this exploitation?>

John Feffer (2020-07-02). Time to Rethink the US-ROK Alliance. counterpunch.org North Korea has blown up the inter-Korean liaison office in Kaesong. It is threatening an all-out pamphlet war in response to defectors sending anti-regime propaganda to the north. South Korea's unification minister has stepped down after failing to meet with his North Korean counterparts during his 14-month tenure. Pyongyang is not happy about the balloons

RT (2020-07-02). Mueller report redactions unlikely to be revealed before presidential election after Supreme Court agrees to hear Trump appeal. rt.com The US Supreme Court agreed to hear the Trump administration's bid to keep parts of prosecutor Robert Mueller's report on alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election redacted, likely ensuring the material won't sway 2020 votes. | Tuesday's Supreme Court decision hands congressional Democrats at least a temporary defeat in their effort to force disclosure of secrets that they hope can be used to damage President Donald Trump politically. The case won't be heard until the court's next term, which begins in October, so it won't likely be decided until after the November 3 election. | The Democrat-controlled US…

WSWS (2020-07-02). Reddit bans 2,000 communities in major censorship action. wsws.org On Monday, the news aggregation site Reddit banned the pro-Trump r/The_Donald and the left-radical r/ChapoTrapHouse, along with hundreds of other subreddits, in a censorship move aimed at satisfying the demands of advertisers.

yenisafak (2020-07-02). 3-year-old Kashmiri boy caught in political web of words. yenisafak.com Disturbing images of a toddler sitting on the chest of his slain grandfather in the Indian-administered Kashmir have stirred a debate, with former government officials, journalists and analysts saying the child has been made a "propaganda tool."Omar Abdullah, former chief minister of the region, said that everything becomes a "propaganda tool" in the bloody violence in Kashmir."A three year old toddler has to have his misery broadcast to the whole world to drive home the "we good they bad" message. We would have got the point without his misery being filmed shared so please don't," Abdullah wrote on Twitter.Amnes…

_____ (2020-07-02). How 'News'-Media Lie and Get Away With It. strategic-culture.org Eric ZUESSE | Lots of U.S. invasions are based on blatant lies by the U.S. Government and its stenographic 'free press' (which is just as controlled by On 26 May 2004, the New York Times published an editorial headlined

Antonio Mastroianni, Sonia Greco, Giovanni Apuzzo, Salvatore De Santis, Carmela Oriolo, Alfredo Zanolini, Luciana Chidichimo, Valeria Vangeli (2020-07-01). Subcutaneous tocilizumab treatment in patients with severe COVID-19—related cytokine release syndrome: An observational cohort study. thelancet.com Tocilizumab administered subcutaneously to patients with COVID-19 and CRS is a promising treatment for reduction in disease activity and improvement in lung function. The effect of tocilizumab should be confirmed in a randomised controlled trial.

Vijay Prashad (2020-07-01). Venezuela's borderlands have been assaulted by COVID-19. peoplesdispatch.org Over 70,000 Venezuelan migrants have returned to the country due to the uncontrolled coronavirus outbreaks in the neighboring countries. Venezuela has welcomed them and provided free testing and treatment…

RT (2020-07-01). Trump resumes attack on NYT's 'Russian bounty' story, says 'secret source probably doesn't even exist'. rt.com US President Donald Trump has again attacked the "discredited" New York Times over its disputed story that Russia offered bounties for the killing of US troops in Afghanistan, blasting the story as a "fake news tale". | In a tweet on Wednesday morning Trump said the story was made up to damage him and the Republican Party. | "The Russia Bounty story is just another made up by Fake News tale that is told only to damage me and the Republican Party," the president wrote. | "The secret source probably does not even exist, just like the story itself. If the discredited @nytimes has a source, reveal it. Just another…

RT (2020-07-01). Trump promises to VETO defense budget bill if military bases honoring Confederate officers are renamed. rt.com President Trump threatened to reject next year's National Defense Authorization bill if lawmakers go ahead with Confederate name changes for army bases, including Fort Bragg, Fort Benning, and others. | "I will veto the Defense Authorization Bill if the Elizabeth 'Pocahontas' Warren (of all people!) Amendment, which will lead to the renaming (plus other bad things!) of Fort Bragg, Fort Robert E. Lee, and many other military bases from which we won two World Wars, is in the Bill!" US President Donald Trump tweeted. | I will Veto the Defense Authorization Bill if the Elizabeth "Pocahontas" Warren (of all people!

Andrew Korybko (2020-07-01). The Truth About Russian-Taliban Ties Is as Intriguing as the Fake News About Them. globalresearch.ca Russia doesn't exploit the Taliban as a proxy for killing Americans, but seeks to nurture equally close relations with it along the lines of the ones that it presently enjoys with Pakistan. Moscow seems to believe that the group will …

WSWS Repost (2020-07-01). Another anti-Russian smear from the New York Times. indybay.org Patrick Martin at the World Socialist Web Site describes the New York Time's ongoing aversion to facts. [Illustration shows how a current Google Search simply amplifies the propaganda.]…

_____ (2020-07-01). Russia Bounty-Hunter Story Another Pulp Fiction Release. strategic-culture.org The main peddlers of the alleged Russian-sponsored bounty-hunter scheme in Afghanistan against U.S. troops are the New York Times, Washington Post and CNN. All three have excelled in publishing a series of pulp fiction-style stories over the past four years to discredit President Trump and demonize Russia. | From Russian meddling in elections to Putin having blackmail on "agent Trump" thanks to hookers in a Moscow hotel. And much more besides. | That dubious record of propaganda-as-journalism serves as foghorn alert about the latest yarn without even delving into the details. | The story "broke" on Friday with th…

Alan MacLeod (2020-06-30). Bombing People Is Not Feminist, No Matter How You Spin It. thealtworld.com Have you heard the good news, ladies? You too can bomb the Middle East! | Some corporate media have recently been taken with the "inspirational" story of Emily Thompson, the first woman to pilot the The New York Post (

Staff (2020-06-30). Trump Is Either Lying or Out of the Loop on Afghanistan. Both Are Bad. truthout.org The corporate media has been straining at its collective leash since the weekend, firing a volley of barks our way about Russian intelligence agents paying the Taliban to kill U.S. soldiers, and my God, did Donald Trump know? The high dudgeon in these reports is unmistakable; one CNN It's a story that has everything, if you l…

Renee Parsons (2020-06-30). Lockdowns: Essential to the Master Plan. globalresearch.ca If given the choice between maintaining a toxic world of fear, pollution and violence controlled by the State or a

Paul Craig Roberts (2020-06-30). The Collapse of the United States Is No Longer Avoidable. thealtworld.com Within the last few days two commentators I respect—The Saker and Dmitry Orlov—have written that the United States is now undergoing systemic collapse. | My view, reflected in my articles published over the years, is that the United States ceased to exist decades ago. It is only the foundational strength of the country put in place by great men, such as Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and James Madison, that has kept the image alive of a functioning country. The house that sat on the foundation long ago washed away in the flood of anti-American propaganda from the self-hating white liberal elites…

_____ (2020-06-30). This Russia-Afghanistan Story Is Western Propaganda at Its Most Vile. strategic-culture.org It really is funny how the most influential news outlets in the western world will uncritically parrot whatever they're told to say by the most powerful and depraved intelligence agencies on the planet, and then turn around and tell you without a hint of self-awareness that Russia and China are bad because they have state media.

2020-07-02: News Headlines

Project Censored (2020-07-02). Project Censored's 2020 Summer Reading List. projectcensored.org From COVID-19 to unprecedented unemployment levels and nationwide protests against police brutality and systemic racism, the Summer of 2020 is like none other in recent history. In the midst of…

John Feffer (2020-07-02). Time to Rethink the US-ROK Alliance. counterpunch.org North Korea has blown up the inter-Korean liaison office in Kaesong. It is threatening an all-out pamphlet war in response to defectors sending anti-regime propaganda to the north. South Korea's unification minister has stepped down after failing to meet with his North Korean counterparts during his 14-month tenure. Pyongyang is not happy about the balloons

George Ochenski (2020-07-02). Trump's Contagion Road Show Heads West. counterpunch.org It's like a Stephen King horror novel where a nation is swept by a deadly and uncontrollable disease, sickening millions and killing over 100,000 citizens. Ignoring the advice of top infectious disease specialists who say, "Don't go to large-scale gatherings," a crazed president insists on holding rallies for the sole purpose of boosting his rapidly

yenisafak (2020-07-02). 3-year-old Kashmiri boy caught in political web of words. yenisafak.com Disturbing images of a toddler sitting on the chest of his slain grandfather in the Indian-administered Kashmir have stirred a debate, with former government officials, journalists and analysts saying the child has been made a "propaganda tool."Omar Abdullah, former chief minister of the region, said that everything becomes a "propaganda tool" in the bloody violence in Kashmir."A three year old toddler has to have his misery broadcast to the whole world to drive home the "we good they bad" message. We would have got the point without his misery being filmed shared so please don't," Abdullah wrote on Twitter.Amnes…

_____ (2020-07-02). How 'News'-Media Lie and Get Away With It. strategic-culture.org Eric ZUESSE | Lots of U.S. invasions are based on blatant lies by the U.S. Government and its stenographic 'free press' (which is just as controlled by On 26 May 2004, the New York Times published an editorial headlined

Antonio Mastroianni, Sonia Greco, Giovanni Apuzzo, Salvatore De Santis, Carmela Oriolo, Alfredo Zanolini, Luciana Chidichimo, Valeria Vangeli (2020-07-01). Subcutaneous tocilizumab treatment in patients with severe COVID-19—related cytokine release syndrome: An observational cohort study. thelancet.com Tocilizumab administered subcutaneously to patients with COVID-19 and CRS is a promising treatment for reduction in disease activity and improvement in lung function. The effect of tocilizumab should be confirmed in a randomised controlled trial.

Vijay Prashad (2020-07-01). Venezuela's borderlands have been assaulted by COVID-19. peoplesdispatch.org Over 70,000 Venezuelan migrants have returned to the country due to the uncontrolled coronavirus outbreaks in the neighboring countries. Venezuela has welcomed them and provided free testing and treatment…

Andrew Korybko (2020-07-01). The Truth About Russian-Taliban Ties Is as Intriguing as the Fake News About Them. globalresearch.ca Russia doesn't exploit the Taliban as a proxy for killing Americans, but seeks to nurture equally close relations with it along the lines of the ones that it presently enjoys with Pakistan. Moscow seems to believe that the group will …

WSWS Repost (2020-07-01). Another anti-Russian smear from the New York Times. indybay.org Patrick Martin at the World Socialist Web Site describes the New York Time's ongoing aversion to facts. [Illustration shows how a current Google Search simply amplifies the propaganda.]…

RT (2020-07-01). Trump resumes attack on NYT's 'Russian bounty' story, says 'secret source probably doesn't even exist'. rt.com US President Donald Trump has again attacked the "discredited" New York Times over its disputed story that Russia offered bounties for the killing of US troops in Afghanistan, blasting the story as a "fake news tale". | In a tweet on Wednesday morning Trump said the story was made up to damage him and the Republican Party. | "The Russia Bounty story is just another made up by Fake News tale that is told only to damage me and the Republican Party," the president wrote. | "The secret source probably does not even exist, just like the story itself. If the discredited @nytimes has a source, reveal it. Just another…

RT (2020-07-01). Trump promises to VETO defense budget bill if military bases honoring Confederate officers are renamed. rt.com President Trump threatened to reject next year's National Defense Authorization bill if lawmakers go ahead with Confederate name changes for army bases, including Fort Bragg, Fort Benning, and others. | "I will veto the Defense Authorization Bill if the Elizabeth 'Pocahontas' Warren (of all people!) Amendment, which will lead to the renaming (plus other bad things!) of Fort Bragg, Fort Robert E. Lee, and many other military bases from which we won two World Wars, is in the Bill!" US President Donald Trump tweeted. | I will Veto the Defense Authorization Bill if the Elizabeth "Pocahontas" Warren (of all people!

_____ (2020-07-01). Russia Bounty-Hunter Story Another Pulp Fiction Release. strategic-culture.org The main peddlers of the alleged Russian-sponsored bounty-hunter scheme in Afghanistan against U.S. troops are the New York Times, Washington Post and CNN. All three have excelled in publishing a series of pulp fiction-style stories over the past four years to discredit President Trump and demonize Russia. | From Russian meddling in elections to Putin having blackmail on "agent Trump" thanks to hookers in a Moscow hotel. And much more besides. | That dubious record of propaganda-as-journalism serves as foghorn alert about the latest yarn without even delving into the details. | The story "broke" on Friday with th…

_____ (2020-06-30). Silence Is Not An Option": Black Women Make History. popularresistance.org Mainstream media and politicians have paid almost exclusive attention to ideas and images of Black men — whether as victims of police violence or as protesters against it. Yet Black women, who are no less subject to structural racism and violence, have been at the forefront of the multi-racial Black Lives Matter Movement for years. | ROAR associate editor Eleanor Finley had the opportunity to explore some of these subjects with Dr. Keisha N. Blain, an award-winning historian and Black feminist scholar at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Blain is also president of the African American Intellectual History S…

_____ (2020-06-30). Silence Is Not An Option: Black Women Make History. popularresistance.org Mainstream media and politicians have paid almost exclusive attention to ideas and images of Black men — whether as victims of police violence or as protesters against it. Yet Black women, who are no less subject to structural racism and violence, have been at the forefront of the multi-racial Black Lives Matter Movement for years. | ROAR associate editor Eleanor Finley had the opportunity to explore some of these subjects with Dr. Keisha N. Blain, an award-winning historian and Black feminist scholar at the University of Pittsburgh. Dr. Blain is also president of the African American Intellectual History S…

Posted By Lynda Carson (2020-06-30). Monday June 29 – Protest to Stop Eviction of 1921 Walnut St. Tenants. indybay.org Protect The Tenants During The Coronavirus Covid-19 Pandemic: | The tenants at 1921 Walnut St are facing eviction and displacement from their rent-controlled apartments and unwittingly find themselves in a "David v's Goliath" struggle with the Regents of the University of California!

_____ (2020-06-30). The Russia-Afghanistan Story Is Western Propaganda At Its Most Vile. popularresistance.org All western mass media outlets are now shrieking about the story The New York Times first reported, citing zero evidence and naming zero sources, claiming intelligence says Russia paid out bounties to Taliban-linked fighters in Afghanistan for attacking the occupying forces of the US and its allies in Afghanistan. As of this writing, and probably forevermore, there have still been zero intelligence sources named and zero evidence provided for this claim. | As we discussed yesterday, the only correct response to unsubstantiated claims by anonymous spooks in a post-Iraq invasion world is to assume that they are lyi…

Staff (2020-06-30). Trump Is Either Lying or Out of the Loop on Afghanistan. Both Are Bad. truthout.org The corporate media has been straining at its collective leash since the weekend, firing a volley of barks our way about Russian intelligence agents paying the Taliban to kill U.S. soldiers, and my God, did Donald Trump know? The high dudgeon in these reports is unmistakable; one CNN It's a story that has everything, if you l…

South Front (2020-06-30). Video: Russian Private Military Contractors Took Control of Libya's Largest Oil Field. globalresearch.ca Washington is concerned by the growing Russian influence in Libya as Turkish-led forces are preparing to storm the port city of Sirte, controlled by the Libyan National Army. | On June 26, the US embassy in Libya released a statement claiming …

Rep. Ron Paul (2020-06-30). The Media Is Lying About the 'Second Wave'. globalresearch.ca For months, the Washington Post and the rest of the mainstream media kept a morbid Covid-19 "death count" on their front pages and at the top of their news broadcasts. The coronavirus outbreak was all about the number of dead. …

Alan MacLeod (2020-06-30). Bombing People Is Not Feminist, No Matter How You Spin It. thealtworld.com Have you heard the good news, ladies? You too can bomb the Middle East! | Some corporate media have recently been taken with the "inspirational" story of Emily Thompson, the first woman to pilot the The New York Post (

Renee Parsons (2020-06-30). Lockdowns: Essential to the Master Plan. globalresearch.ca If given the choice between maintaining a toxic world of fear, pollution and violence controlled by the State or a

Paul Craig Roberts (2020-06-30). The Collapse of the United States Is No Longer Avoidable. thealtworld.com Within the last few days two commentators I respect—The Saker and Dmitry Orlov—have written that the United States is now undergoing systemic collapse. | My view, reflected in my articles published over the years, is that the United States ceased to exist decades ago. It is only the foundational strength of the country put in place by great men, such as Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and James Madison, that has kept the image alive of a functioning country. The house that sat on the foundation long ago washed away in the flood of anti-American propaganda from the self-hating white liberal elites…

_____ (2020-06-30). This Russia-Afghanistan Story Is Western Propaganda at Its Most Vile. strategic-culture.org It really is funny how the most influential news outlets in the western world will uncritically parrot whatever they're told to say by the most powerful and depraved intelligence agencies on the planet, and then turn around and tell you without a hint of self-awareness that Russia and China are bad because they have state media.

_____ (2020-06-29). Update On Assange: The Most Important Press Freedom Case Of This Era. popularresistance.org This past week, just as public sentiment and corporate media attention were shifting in favor of Julian Assange, the United States issued another superseding indictment in his extradition case. The indictment doesn't add any charges, it merely uses public information to smear Assange's reputation and attempt to portray him as a hacker instead of the journalist and publisher that he is. This shows that the US government has a weak case against Assange. Joe Lauria, an investigative journalist and senior editor of Consortium News, explains the new indictment and provides an update on Julian Assange. The Assange case…

Project Censored (2020-06-29). Fake News With Special Guest Nolan Higdon. projectcensored.org On this week's Project Censored Show, Mickey Huff and Nolan Higdon discuss the topic of fake news and how it relates to Higdon's forthcoming book, "The Anatomy of Fake News: …

Michael T. Hertz (2020-06-29). Facebook is not playing fair. nationofchange.org The problem with Facebook is that it established so-called "Community Standards," and it uses these "standards" to censor posts by its members and then block them for a few days or a month from further posting.

Caitlin Johnstone (2020-06-29). Only Idiots Believe The CIA, And Other Notes From The Edge Of The Narrative Matrix. thealtworld.com ~ | Mainstream media outlets which publish anonymous intelligence claims with no proof are just publishing CIA press releases disguised as news. | ~ | The most influential news outlets in the western world uncritically parrot whatever they're told to say by the most powerful and depraved intelligence agencies on the planet, then tell you that Russia and China are bad because they have state media. | ~ | Imagine if a compulsive liar who you know for a fact constantly deceives people in order to hurt and exploit them told you your neighbor is going to kill you if you don't kill him first, and you go and kill your n…