Monthly Archives: August 2020

2020-08-07: News Headlines

Alan Macleod (2020-08-07). Disbelief as Trump Appoints Disgraced Iran-Contra Criminal Elliott Abrams as Iran Envoy. mintpressnews.com Activists, the UN, and even mainstream news outlets expressed dismay at the Trump administration's decision to appoint regime-change champion Elliot Abrahams to the role of Special Representative for Iran.

Andrew Korybko (2020-08-07). Intimidation and Censorship Campaign against Online Independent Media. globalresearch.ca The heated debate within Western governments about the best way to fight what they regard as "propaganda" has recently taken a disturbing turn towards intimidation of the outlets accused of peddling such information products and even discussions about their possible …

Andrew Korybko (2020-08-07). Media Literacy, Not Intimidation & Censorship, Is The Best Way To Fight So-Called Propaganda. thealtworld.com The heated debate within Western governments about the best way to fight what they regard as "propaganda" has recently taken a disturbing turn towards intimidation of the outlets accused of peddling such information products and even discussions about their possible censorship, but if they were really sincere in combating this menace while staying true to their "democratic" principles, then they'd work on improving their citizens' media literacy so that they could make up their own minds about the veracity of the various articles that they come across expressing non-mainstream views on contentious topics. | One o…

Staff (2020-08-07). Mainstream media misses damning evidence in Blueleaks police data dump. therealnews.com The massive document dump reveals a troubling trend the mainstream media has overlooked: Tech companies monetizing criminal surveillance.

_____ (2020-08-07). Hiroshima and the Backlash Against Historical Truth. strategic-culture.org On the 50th anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1995 historians at the Smithsonian tried to present a truthful accounting of that U.S. decision-making but were stopped by right-wing politicians who insist on maintaining comforting myths, recalls Gary G. Kohls. | Gary G. KOHLS | Last week was the 67th anniversary of the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the whole truth continues to be heavily censored and mythologized, starting with the news of the event that created understandable joy because of the end of that awful war. | Most Americans took in, as gospel truth, the heavily edited stories about the en…

teleSUR (2020-08-07). Facebook Removes Foreign Pro-Trump Troll Farms. telesurenglish.net Facebook and Instagram Thursday took action to prevent their platforms from being used by U.S. President Donald Trump's supporters to promote his reelection campaign. | RELATED: | A Romania-based troll farm pushed pro-Trump content under the names of "Black People Vote For Trump" on Instagram and "We Love Our President" on Facebook. | The content published in those fake accounts and pages was allegedly managed by U.S. ci…

_____ (2020-08-07). Resisting The Propaganda Of Status Quo Defenders. popularresistance.org First came the new names—Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, Rayshard Brooks, and others—all added one by one to the long list of tragic, unjustifiable police killings of Black Americans. Then came the batons, the pepper spray, the tear gas, the flash-grenades, the helicopters, the armored vehicles, and the rubber bullets wielded against nonviolent Black Lives Matter protesters across the United States, from Minneapolis to New York City to Portland. And then came the chorus of privileged beneficiaries of our country's discriminatory status quo, denying and defending the reality of brutal, racist, militarize…

sputniknews (2020-08-07). Taiwan Deploys F-16s With Live Anti-Ship Missiles Amid China's Rumored Island Invasion Drills. sputniknews.com Taiwan's Republic of China Air Force launched two multirole F-16 fighters fitted with anti-ship missiles from Hualien Air Force Base this week following reports that forces from the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) would be holding drills simulating the capture of the Taiwan-controlled Pratas Islands, which Beijing calls the Dongsha Islands.

Staff (2020-08-06). Revealed: How U.S. Gov't & Hollywood Secretly Worked Together to Justify Atomic Bombings of Japan. democracynow.org On the 75th anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing, when the United States became the only country ever to use nuclear weapons in warfare, we look at how the U.S. government sought to manipulate the narrative about what it had done — especially by controlling how it was portrayed by Hollywood. Journalist Greg Mitchell's new book, "The Beginning or the End: How Hollywood — and America — Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb," documents how the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki triggered a race between Hollywood movie studios to tell a sanitized version of the story in a major motion picture.

RT (2020-08-06). Democrats drifting to extreme left because they are 'owned by George Soros,' claims former House speaker Gingrich. rt.com The Democrat Party continues to drift radically leftward, and its leadership will never rebuke militant elements like Antifa, because it's controlled by billionaire leftist George Soros, former US House speaker Newt Gingrich said. | "All of these Democrats are now basically owned by the left," Gingrich said on Wednesday in an interview on Fox News. "They are not going to pick any fights. They are owned by people who are financed by George Soros." | Gingrich made his comments after Democrats in a US Senate hearing on Tuesday refused to directly criticize the conduct of Antifa, whose members have been accused of…

_____ (2020-08-06). Does The US Military Assassinate Journalists? popularresistance.org As the cries of United States' 'exceptionalism' are heard from the hallowed halls of Congress, one of the alleged hallmarks is freedom of the press. No nation, the breathless masses are told, protects press freedom like the United States. This belief is similar to Santa Claus: pleasant, comforting, but having no basis in truth. | The government only allows news to be reported that is favorable to the U.S. Censorship has accompanied all its major wars, with the government actually writing articles for news outlets. Historian William Clayton Mullendore, in commenting on censorship during World War I, said…

Staff (2020-08-05). The End of Big Tech? Calls Grow to Break Up Facebook, Amazon for "Mob-Like" Behavior, Monopoly Power. democracynow.org Calls are growing to break up the Big Tech giants, with a handful of companies controlling more and more of the technology industry, crowding out or acquiring would-be competitors and exercising vast power over the U.S. economy. Lawmakers grilled the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook during a hearing last week on whether their companies are guilty of stifling competition, in a scene reminiscent of the 1994 hearing of tobacco executives who claimed cigarettes were not addictive. This came just days after Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos reportedly made $13 billion in a single day, even as the coronavirus pandemic ha…

RT (2020-08-05). Ex-NYT reporter publishes new anti-lockdown book, calls out '90% of media' on parroting same lines on Covid responses. rt.com Alex Berenson's latest chapter in a series of books about Covid-19, the first of which was briefly censored by Amazon, questions both the media's coverage of the pandemic and the effectiveness of lockdowns. | "I think it's really important, at a time when 90 percent of media… is saying the same thing, with very little pushback or smart questioning, to get different perspectives," Berenson told Fox News about the self-published 'Unreported Truths about COVID-19 and Lockdowns: Part 2: Update and Examination of Lockdowns as a Strategy.' | "Even if you disagree with me completely, it's always good to know what o…

_____ (2020-08-05). John Pilger: Another Hiroshima is Coming — Unless We Stop It Now. strategic-culture.org Hiroshima and Nagasaki were acts of premeditated mass murder unleashing a weapon of intrinsic criminality. It was justified by lies that form the bedrock of 21st century U.S. war propaganda, casting a new enemy, and target — China. | John PILGER | When I first went to Hiroshima in 1967, the shadow on the steps was still there. It was an almost perfect impression of a human being at ease: legs splayed, back bent, one hand by her side as she sat waiting for a bank to open. | At a quarter past eight on the morning of August 6, 1945, she and her silhouette were burned into the granite. | I stared at the shadow…

RT (2020-08-05). Do black Americans really support defunding the police? Over 80% want cops to stay & keep patrolling their communities, poll shows. rt.com Despite Black Lives Matter protests raging across the country and moves to defund police departments or cut back their budgets, a new poll suggests black citizens don't support the efforts to remove cops from the streets. | The Gallup A whopping 81 percent of black respondents said they want police to spend the same amount of time in their neighborhoods that they already do or to…

WSWS (2020-08-05). US imposes new sanctions on China over alleged Uyghur abuses. wsws.org US propaganda now includes allegations of Uyghur "genocide," based on sensational accounts of forced birth control and the sterilization of Uyghur women in Xinjiang province.

WSWS (2020-08-05). US teachers defy threats to cut funding for schools that delay in-person learning. wsws.org Republican-controlled legislatures in several states are moving to cut funding and outsource the jobs of teachers if schools do not open with full in-person learning.

grants.gov (2020-08-05). Small Business Transportation Resource Center – West Central Region. grants.gov USDOT-OST-OSDBU-SBTRCWC-2020-1 | Funding Opportunity ID: | 327716 | Opportunity Number: | USDOT-OST-OSDBU-SBTRCWC-2020-1 | Opportunity Title: | Small Business Transportation Resource Center – West Central Region | Opportunity Category: | Discretionary | Opportunity Category Explanation: | Funding Instrument Type: | Cooperative Agreement | Category of Funding Activity: | Business and Commerce | Category Explanation: | CFDA Number(s): | 20.910 | Eligible Applicants: | Public and State controlled institutions of higher education | Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the…

grants.gov (2020-08-05). Epidemiologic Cohort Study of Interstitial Cystitis. grants.gov RFA-DP-21-002 | Opportunity ID: | 327721 | Opportunity Number: | RFA-DP-21-002 | Opportunity Title: | Epidemiologic Cohort Study of Interstitial Cystitis | Opportunity Category: | Discretionary | Opportunity Category Explanation: | Funding Instrument Type: | Cooperative Agreement | Category of Funding Activity: | Health | Category Explanation: | CFDA Number(s): | 93.283 | Eligible Applicants: | State governments | County governments | City or township governments | Special district governments | Independent school districts | Public and State controlled institutions of high…

grants.gov (2020-08-05). Study to Explore Early Development (SEED) Follow-up Studies. grants.gov RFA-DD-21-001 | Opportunity ID: | 327720 | Opportunity Number: | RFA-DD-21-001 | Opportunity Title: | Study to Explore Early Development (SEED) Follow-up Studies | Opportunity Category: | Discretionary | Opportunity Category Explanation: | Funding Instrument Type: | Cooperative Agreement | Category of Funding Activity: | Health | Category Explanation: | CFDA Number(s): | 93.073 | Eligible Applicants: | State governments | County governments | City or township governments | Special district governments | Independent school districts | Public and State controlled institutions…

Suzanne Nossel (2020-08-05). The Censorship of 'Cancel Culture' May Ultimately Be Most Dangerous for Social Justice Champions. commondreams.org In 2014, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign community rallied in support of Professor Stephen Salaita, who was terminated from his tenured faculty position for criticizing Israel on social media. (Photo: Jeffrey Putney/flickr/cc) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

Robert Fantina (2020-08-04). Censorship. Does the U.S. Military Assassinate Journalists? globalresearch.ca As the cries of United States' 'exceptionalism' are heard from the hallowed halls of Congress, one of the alleged hallmarks is freedom of the press. No nation, the breathless masses are told, protects press freedom like the United States. This …

2020-08-06: News Headlines

RT (2020-08-06). Democrats drifting to extreme left because they are 'owned by George Soros,' claims former House speaker Gingrich. rt.com The Democrat Party continues to drift radically leftward, and its leadership will never rebuke militant elements like Antifa, because it's controlled by billionaire leftist George Soros, former US House speaker Newt Gingrich said. | "All of these Democrats are now basically owned by the left," Gingrich said on Wednesday in an interview on Fox News. "They are not going to pick any fights. They are owned by people who are financed by George Soros." | Gingrich made his comments after Democrats in a US Senate hearing on Tuesday refused to directly criticize the conduct of Antifa, whose members have been accused of…

Staff (2020-08-05). The End of Big Tech? Calls Grow to Break Up Facebook, Amazon for "Mob-Like" Behavior, Monopoly Power. democracynow.org Calls are growing to break up the Big Tech giants, with a handful of companies controlling more and more of the technology industry, crowding out or acquiring would-be competitors and exercising vast power over the U.S. economy. Lawmakers grilled the CEOs of Amazon, Apple, Google and Facebook during a hearing last week on whether their companies are guilty of stifling competition, in a scene reminiscent of the 1994 hearing of tobacco executives who claimed cigarettes were not addictive. This came just days after Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos reportedly made $13 billion in a single day, even as the coronavirus pandemic ha…

RT (2020-08-05). Ex-NYT reporter publishes new anti-lockdown book, calls out '90% of media' on parroting same lines on Covid responses. rt.com Alex Berenson's latest chapter in a series of books about Covid-19, the first of which was briefly censored by Amazon, questions both the media's coverage of the pandemic and the effectiveness of lockdowns. | "I think it's really important, at a time when 90 percent of media… is saying the same thing, with very little pushback or smart questioning, to get different perspectives," Berenson told Fox News about the self-published 'Unreported Truths about COVID-19 and Lockdowns: Part 2: Update and Examination of Lockdowns as a Strategy.' | "Even if you disagree with me completely, it's always good to know what o…

_____ (2020-08-05). John Pilger: Another Hiroshima is Coming — Unless We Stop It Now. strategic-culture.org Hiroshima and Nagasaki were acts of premeditated mass murder unleashing a weapon of intrinsic criminality. It was justified by lies that form the bedrock of 21st century U.S. war propaganda, casting a new enemy, and target — China. | John PILGER | When I first went to Hiroshima in 1967, the shadow on the steps was still there. It was an almost perfect impression of a human being at ease: legs splayed, back bent, one hand by her side as she sat waiting for a bank to open. | At a quarter past eight on the morning of August 6, 1945, she and her silhouette were burned into the granite. | I stared at the shadow…

RT (2020-08-05). Do black Americans really support defunding the police? Over 80% want cops to stay & keep patrolling their communities, poll shows. rt.com Despite Black Lives Matter protests raging across the country and moves to defund police departments or cut back their budgets, a new poll suggests black citizens don't support the efforts to remove cops from the streets. | The Gallup A whopping 81 percent of black respondents said they want police to spend the same amount of time in their neighborhoods that they already do or to…

WSWS (2020-08-05). US imposes new sanctions on China over alleged Uyghur abuses. wsws.org US propaganda now includes allegations of Uyghur "genocide," based on sensational accounts of forced birth control and the sterilization of Uyghur women in Xinjiang province.

grants.gov (2020-08-05). Study to Explore Early Development (SEED) Follow-up Studies. grants.gov RFA-DD-21-001 | Opportunity ID: | 327720 | Opportunity Number: | RFA-DD-21-001 | Opportunity Title: | Study to Explore Early Development (SEED) Follow-up Studies | Opportunity Category: | Discretionary | Opportunity Category Explanation: | Funding Instrument Type: | Cooperative Agreement | Category of Funding Activity: | Health | Category Explanation: | CFDA Number(s): | 93.073 | Eligible Applicants: | State governments | County governments | City or township governments | Special district governments | Independent school districts | Public and State controlled institutions…

grants.gov (2020-08-05). Small Business Transportation Resource Center – West Central Region. grants.gov USDOT-OST-OSDBU-SBTRCWC-2020-1 | Funding Opportunity ID: | 327716 | Opportunity Number: | USDOT-OST-OSDBU-SBTRCWC-2020-1 | Opportunity Title: | Small Business Transportation Resource Center – West Central Region | Opportunity Category: | Discretionary | Opportunity Category Explanation: | Funding Instrument Type: | Cooperative Agreement | Category of Funding Activity: | Business and Commerce | Category Explanation: | CFDA Number(s): | 20.910 | Eligible Applicants: | Public and State controlled institutions of higher education | Nonprofits having a 501(c)(3) status with the…

grants.gov (2020-08-05). Epidemiologic Cohort Study of Interstitial Cystitis. grants.gov RFA-DP-21-002 | Opportunity ID: | 327721 | Opportunity Number: | RFA-DP-21-002 | Opportunity Title: | Epidemiologic Cohort Study of Interstitial Cystitis | Opportunity Category: | Discretionary | Opportunity Category Explanation: | Funding Instrument Type: | Cooperative Agreement | Category of Funding Activity: | Health | Category Explanation: | CFDA Number(s): | 93.283 | Eligible Applicants: | State governments | County governments | City or township governments | Special district governments | Independent school districts | Public and State controlled institutions of high…

WSWS (2020-08-05). US teachers defy threats to cut funding for schools that delay in-person learning. wsws.org Republican-controlled legislatures in several states are moving to cut funding and outsource the jobs of teachers if schools do not open with full in-person learning.

Suzanne Nossel (2020-08-05). The Censorship of 'Cancel Culture' May Ultimately Be Most Dangerous for Social Justice Champions. commondreams.org In 2014, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign community rallied in support of Professor Stephen Salaita, who was terminated from his tenured faculty position for criticizing Israel on social media. (Photo: Jeffrey Putney/flickr/cc) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

Robert Fantina (2020-08-04). Censorship. Does the U.S. Military Assassinate Journalists? globalresearch.ca As the cries of United States' 'exceptionalism' are heard from the hallowed halls of Congress, one of the alleged hallmarks is freedom of the press. No nation, the breathless masses are told, protects press freedom like the United States. This …

Swiss Propaganda Research (2020-08-04). Are Face Masks Effective? The Evidence. globalresearch.ca 1. Studies on the effectiveness of face masks | So far, most studies found little to no evidence for the effectiveness of cloth face masks in the general population, neither as personal protective equipment nor as a source control. | A May …

_____ (2020-08-04). United States Stealing Syrian Oil. popularresistance.org The Kurdish-led Autonomous Administration of Northeast Syria has signed an agreement with an American oil company, well-placed sources with close knowledge of the deal told Al-Monitor. One of the sources said the agreement to market oil in territory controlled by the US-backed entity and to develop and modernize existing fields was inked last week "with the knowledge and encouragement of the White House." The sources named the company as Delta Crescent Energy LLC, a corporation organized under the laws of the state of Delaware. The sources gave no further details about the company but would only say they had been…

sputniknews (2020-08-04). 'Lacks Any Legal Status': US-SDF 'Oil Deal' Violates Syria's Sovereignty, Iran Says. sputniknews.com The deal between an unnamed American company and the Kurdish militia controlling oil-rich northeastern parts of the Arab Republic was announced on 2 August by US Senator Lindsay Graham despite the armed groups having no authority to strike deals on behalf of the Syrian government.

Julian Cola (2020-08-03). How Joeseph Goebbel's Nazi Propaganda Gave Birth to Today's Western Media. mintpressnews.com Western mass media continues to be atomized in its coverage. It thrives on soundbites. Sensationalism. Cacophony. A malnutrition of context with roots in the Nazi propaganda construct of Joseph Goebbels.

RT (2020-08-03). Right-wing academics feel threatened & censored at UK universities, says think tank demanding change. rt.com Academic freedom in the UK is in peril, with universities increasingly hostile to right-wing views, a new study claims. Complaints about campus bias and 'cancel culture' are 10 a penny, but this one carries more weight than most. | "Britain's universities are world-leading. Yet there is growing concern that academic freedom in these institutions is being undermined." opens a According to the report, one in fo…

Philip Giraldi (2020-08-03). American Troops to Leave Germany: Is It Goodbye or Just Auf Wiedersehen? globalresearch.ca The continued presence of tens of thousands of American military personnel in Europe seventy-five years after the end of the Second World War is rarely questioned either by politicians or the mainstream media. Currently there is little recollection of how, …

WSWS (2020-08-03). International Olympic Committee promotes Olympics with Nazi propaganda. wsws.org The inclusion of clips from Leni Riefenstahl's Olympia film makes clear that attempts to sanitise the crimes of the National Socialists is not limited to the spheres of politics and academia.

RT (2020-08-02). Syria says US 'stealing' oil after American energy firm signs deal with Kurdish rebels. rt.com The Syrian government has accused the US of "stealing" the country's oil reserves, which Washington claimed to be protecting from terrorists. American lawmakers admitted that a deal has been signed with Kurdish rebels. | When President Donald Trump pulled US troops out of Syria last October, it was not the full withdrawal promised in his anti-interventionist campaign speeches. Instead, a contingent was left behind in areas of north Syria controlled by the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, ostensibly to protect the region's oilfields from Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) terrorists. | Also on rt.com

RT (2020-08-02). 'Sleepy Joe' Biden 'never leaves his basement' and won't win Texas, Trump says. rt.com President Donald Trump has bashed his basement-dwelling presidential opponent, Joe Biden, and touted his own support for "Oil, Gas, Guns, & God," after a fundraising trip to the Lone Star State. | "Was in the Great State of Texas this week and explained that the Radical Left Do Nothing Democrats, headed up by their great leader, Sleepy Joe Biden (who never leaves his basement), are strongly against 'Oil, Gas, Guns, & God," Trump tweeted on Sunday. | "Must be tough to win Texas on that platform!" he added. | Was in the Great State of Texas this week and explained that the Radical Left Do Nothing Democrats, hea…

_____ (2020-08-02). Are Russia And US Different When It Comes To Election Meddling? popularresistance.org On this week's installment of "Scheer Intelligence," Robert Scheer challenges guest David Shimer on the fundamental conclusions of his new book, "Rigged: America, Russia and 100 Years of Covert Electoral Interference," regarding the "intentions" for US covert operations versus those of the Soviet Union/Russia. | Excerpted and lauded in the New York Times and elsewhere in the mainstream media, "Rigged" outlines covert operations in various countries by both nation-states, including American interference in 1970s Chile and post-World War II Italy, among others, but has been best reviewed for its deep dive into Russ…