Monthly Archives: October 2020

2020-10-29: News Headlines

Staff (2020-10-29). Facebook Choked Traffic to Mother Jones & Other Sites While Amplifying Right-Wing Misinformation. democracynow.org Big Tech CEOs were grilled Wednesday about how they moderate election disinformation and extremist content, and were accused by Republicans of censoring conservatives. Overlooked were reports that Facebook designed changes to its news feed algorithm in 2017 to reduce the visibility of left-leaning news sites like Mother Jones. Mother Jones editors wrote in 2019 that the site had seen a sharp decline in its Facebook audience, which translated to a loss of around $600,000 over 18 months. "The fact that we are trying to do everything we can to get the truth out and Facebook is deliberately sabotaging our readership…

_____ (2020-10-29). Bolivia Needs to Guard Itself Against Further U.S. Intervention. strategic-culture.org Bolivia has managed to overturn the neoliberal agenda which the U.S. attempted to force upon the nation in the 2019 coup, which ousted former President Evo Morales to instal the far-right wing Jeanine Añez as president, or dictator. While Chile was dealing with its state violence, the Bolivian coup was out in the streets exerting its vengeance on the country's indigenous population. For months, Bolivians protested against state violence and police repression. It is now the new government's obligation to bring the perpetrators to justice, while retracing Bolivia's path to its revolutionary progress. | Mainstream p…

_____ (2020-10-29). Deception 2020: It's Not Propaganda When We Do It. popularresistance.org In this fourth installment of the Deception 2020 Series, we dig into the cesspool of propaganda — the red, white and blue kind. Joined by Mickey Huff, Director of Project Censored, we turn the camera towards the corporate media and discuss some of the things you won't hear in this election run up, and why media literacy is so vital now and especially moving forward.

Aaron Maté (2020-10-28). Draft debacle: Bellingcat smears OPCW whistleblower, journalists with false letter, farcical claims. thegrayzone.com Bellingcat claimed to have uncovered a letter that disproves OPCW inspectors and journalists who challenged the censorship of a Syria chemical weapons probe. But in one of many falsehoods, Bellingcat's "letter" was in fact only a draft that was never sent — and only further exposes the cover-up. Bellingcat, the NATO member state-funded website that has participated in a propaganda effort to accuse Syria of a chemical weapons attack in April 2018 and justify the US-led bombing that followed, has …

MEE and agencies (2020-10-28). UAE to become first Arab state to open consulate in Morocco-controlled Western Sahara. middleeasteye.net UAE to become first Arab state to open consulate in Morocco-controlled Western Sahara | The Moroccan King Mohammed VI welcomed the decision as 'historic' | Wed, 10/28/2020 – 07: 35 | Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, left, sits besides King Mohamed VI of Morocco on 2 December 2015 (AFP) | The United Arab Emirates is set to become the first Arab state to open a consulat…

C.J. Hopkins (2020-10-28). The Last Days of the Trumpian Reich. dissidentvoice.org So, according to the corporate media, this is it for Russian-backed Hitler. Game over. The walls are closing in. It's the last days of the Trumpian Reich. Get those vuvuzelas ready! Yes, apparently, the American people, who were all a bunch of Putin-worshipping, white-supremacist neo-Nazis when they elected Trump in 2016, have come to their …

Bruce Lerro (2020-10-28). "Dictatorship" and "Democracy" as Loaded Language: Anti-Communist Cold-War Propaganda. dissidentvoice.org ORIENTATION In my last article I showed how the word "totalitarian" was used as a loaded vice word to attack the Soviet Union after World War II and to red-bait communists around the world. The use of the word totalitarian began in the 1930s, but even before then in the 1920's, the word "dictator" began …

WSWS (2020-10-28). The New York Times attacks the First Amendment and embraces censorship of "disinformation" wsws.org An essay published in the October 18 edition of the New York Times Magazine argues that online "disinformation" has rendered First Amendment rights to free speech "inadequate," requiring government and social media censorship of "unfettered speech."

_____ (2020-10-28). Girls on Top. Dirty Diplomats and CNN Hacks Cast a Shadow Over London Foreign Office. strategic-culture.org CNN is arguably the most corrupt, tainted and unethical news organisation on the planet. It's also the most successful. Those two sentences shouldn't really sit comfortably together but the times we are living in are making such news giants go to remarkable lengths to stay on top. And it's not just the network which follows the doctrine do whatever it takes to stay number one. It's also CNN reporters. | Recently, mainstream

_____ (2020-10-28). The PS5, Social Media and Mass Censorship — What Can Be Done? strategic-culture.org Like an aging oil field the freedom that the Internet offered to the common man across the planet is drying up. "Deplatforming" has become a mainstream expression for describing the growing number of individuals and organizations who have lost their ability to use big social media because of their beliefs.

Kenny Stancil, staff writer (2020-10-28). 'Stuff of Tinpot Dictatorships': Trump Appointee Denounced for Move to Turn US Media Agency Into Mouthpiece for State 'Propaganda'. commondreams.org "Trump stooge Michael Pack is eliminating the legally required editorial independence of U.S.-funded news outlets abroad so they can act like Trump's Ministry of Propaganda," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

sputniknews (2020-10-27). 'War Propaganda': US Media Uses Russiagate Playbook to Demonize China. sputniknews.com The US corporate media has turned from Russiagate to demonizing China using the very same playbook, Margaret Kimberley, editor and senior columnist at Black Agenda Report and author of "Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents," told Radio Sputnik's Political Misfits on Tuesday.

Ralph Nader (2020-10-27). Don't Rush to Declare Victory: Implementing a Two-Week Grace Period After November 3rd So All Voters Can Be Counted. commondreams.org With such large stakes for our fragile democracy, we cannot afford to bypass such a course of action that will assure a peaceful transition in accord with the rule of law. (Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

RT (2020-10-27). HACKED Trump campaign website proclaims US president 'involved in origin of coronavirus' in apparent cryptocurrency scam. rt.com US President Donald Trump's website has been taken offline after a fake 'seizure' notice was posted on multiple pages, claiming the president had 'spreaded' fake news and was 'involved in the origin' of the Covid-19 pandemic. | While it featured the FBI and Justice Department logos, the announcement was written in broken English and without capitalizations, according to screenshots posted on Tuesday evening. | "[We] have evidence that completely discredits mr trump as president," the notice said, "proving his criminal involvment [sic] and coorperation [sic] with foreign actors manipulating the 2020 election."

Raul Diego (2020-10-27). From a Wealthy Socialite to an Israeli Govt Censor, Facebook's New "Free Speech Court" Is Anything but Independent. mintpressnews.com Freedom of speech on the Internet is all but extinct, and on the eve of the 2020 US elections, a de facto "free speech court" is going to make sure it never comes back. On Facebook at least.

David Swanson (2020-10-27). There Are Anti-War Candidates. zcomm.org Can we make opposing militarism mainstream, respectable, acceptable? Can we make warmongering marginal, shameful, despicable? We have to try…

WSWS (2020-10-27). Facebook deploying teams with advanced censorship tools in advance of the US election. wsws.org Citing concerns over election-related "chaos" and "violence," Facebook is preparing—in collaboration with the US intelligence state—advanced software tools for implementing a censorship regime during November 3 and its aftermath.

sputniknews (2020-10-27). China, US Censor Each Other; ACB Confirmed; Truth and Reconciliation. sputniknews.com The US wealthy "brace" for tax increases while the rest of us brace for fires, storms, pandemics and their tragic consequences.

Lucine Kasbarian (2020-10-27). 15 Artsakh War Myths Perpetuated By Mainstream Media. indybay.org From peddling false equivalence, to selectively reporting the facts, to committing sins of omission, to cherry-picking so-called experts to support a desired argument, to concluding news coverage with biased policy recommendations, these actions taken by mainstream media about the facts on the ground reveal the handiwork of master purveyors of fake news.

WSWS (2020-10-27). Australian environmental scientists face mounting censorship. wsws.org A report found that scientists in the government and private sectors are frequently compelled to modify their research and prevented from publicly-revealing their concerns.

Prof Michel Chossudovsky (2020-10-26). 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.

Simon Hooper (2020-10-26). Families demand repatriation of all foreign nationals from Syrian camps. middleeasteye.net Families demand repatriation of all foreign nationals from Syrian camps | Western governments facing mounting legal challenges with thousands of young children among those still stranded in Kurdish-controlled camps | Mon, 10/26/2020 – 13: 00 | Girls play with a bicycle in a section of al-Hol camp for foreign families in January 2020 (AFP) | Western governments are facing growing pressure to repatriate…

The Global Research Team (2020-10-26). Global Research: Over Nineteen Years of Publishing Independent Voices. globalresearch.ca Dear Readers, | As freedom of speech online continues to be curtailed, running an independent counter-current news media in 2020 is no easy feat. With recent publications appearing in the mainstream media aimed at discrediting the vital work of Global Research …

2020-10-28: News Headlines

MEE and agencies (2020-10-28). UAE to become first Arab state to open consulate in Morocco-controlled Western Sahara. middleeasteye.net UAE to become first Arab state to open consulate in Morocco-controlled Western Sahara | The Moroccan King Mohammed VI welcomed the decision as 'historic' | Wed, 10/28/2020 – 07: 35 | Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, left, sits besides King Mohamed VI of Morocco on 2 December 2015 (AFP) | The United Arab Emirates is set to become the first Arab state to open a consulat…

C.J. Hopkins (2020-10-28). The Last Days of the Trumpian Reich. dissidentvoice.org So, according to the corporate media, this is it for Russian-backed Hitler. Game over. The walls are closing in. It's the last days of the Trumpian Reich. Get those vuvuzelas ready! Yes, apparently, the American people, who were all a bunch of Putin-worshipping, white-supremacist neo-Nazis when they elected Trump in 2016, have come to their …

Bruce Lerro (2020-10-28). "Dictatorship" and "Democracy" as Loaded Language: Anti-Communist Cold-War Propaganda. dissidentvoice.org ORIENTATION In my last article I showed how the word "totalitarian" was used as a loaded vice word to attack the Soviet Union after World War II and to red-bait communists around the world. The use of the word totalitarian began in the 1930s, but even before then in the 1920's, the word "dictator" began …

_____ (2020-10-28). Girls on Top. Dirty Diplomats and CNN Hacks Cast a Shadow Over London Foreign Office. strategic-culture.org CNN is arguably the most corrupt, tainted and unethical news organisation on the planet. It's also the most successful. Those two sentences shouldn't really sit comfortably together but the times we are living in are making such news giants go to remarkable lengths to stay on top. And it's not just the network which follows the doctrine do whatever it takes to stay number one. It's also CNN reporters. | Recently, mainstream

_____ (2020-10-28). The PS5, Social Media and Mass Censorship — What Can Be Done? strategic-culture.org Like an aging oil field the freedom that the Internet offered to the common man across the planet is drying up. "Deplatforming" has become a mainstream expression for describing the growing number of individuals and organizations who have lost their ability to use big social media because of their beliefs.

David Swanson (2020-10-27). There Are Anti-War Candidates. zcomm.org Can we make opposing militarism mainstream, respectable, acceptable? Can we make warmongering marginal, shameful, despicable? We have to try…

RT (2020-10-27). HACKED Trump campaign website proclaims US president 'involved in origin of coronavirus' in apparent cryptocurrency scam. rt.com US President Donald Trump's website has been taken offline after a fake 'seizure' notice was posted on multiple pages, claiming the president had 'spreaded' fake news and was 'involved in the origin' of the Covid-19 pandemic. | While it featured the FBI and Justice Department logos, the announcement was written in broken English and without capitalizations, according to screenshots posted on Tuesday evening. | "[We] have evidence that completely discredits mr trump as president," the notice said, "proving his criminal involvment [sic] and coorperation [sic] with foreign actors manipulating the 2020 election."

sputniknews (2020-10-27). 'War Propaganda': US Media Uses Russiagate Playbook to Demonize China. sputniknews.com The US corporate media has turned from Russiagate to demonizing China using the very same playbook, Margaret Kimberley, editor and senior columnist at Black Agenda Report and author of "Prejudential: Black America and the Presidents," told Radio Sputnik's Political Misfits on Tuesday.

sputniknews (2020-10-27). China, US Censor Each Other; ACB Confirmed; Truth and Reconciliation. sputniknews.com The US wealthy "brace" for tax increases while the rest of us brace for fires, storms, pandemics and their tragic consequences.

Lucine Kasbarian (2020-10-27). 15 Artsakh War Myths Perpetuated By Mainstream Media. indybay.org From peddling false equivalence, to selectively reporting the facts, to committing sins of omission, to cherry-picking so-called experts to support a desired argument, to concluding news coverage with biased policy recommendations, these actions taken by mainstream media about the facts on the ground reveal the handiwork of master purveyors of fake news.

WSWS (2020-10-27). Australian environmental scientists face mounting censorship. wsws.org A report found that scientists in the government and private sectors are frequently compelled to modify their research and prevented from publicly-revealing their concerns.

WSWS (2020-10-27). Facebook deploying teams with advanced censorship tools in advance of the US election. wsws.org Citing concerns over election-related "chaos" and "violence," Facebook is preparing—in collaboration with the US intelligence state—advanced software tools for implementing a censorship regime during November 3 and its aftermath.

Prof Michel Chossudovsky (2020-10-26). 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.

Caitlin Johnstone (2020-10-26). Humanity Has Trolled Itself Into An Awaken-Or-Die Situation. thealtworld.com Zen Buddhism is full of stories about practitioners staring death in the face in order to cut through their mental habits and force a direct confrontation with the fundamental matter. Monks doing zazen on a cliff's edge to keep themselves alert, rōshis telling frustrated students to kill themselves if they cannot achieve satori by next sunrise, students taking death vows if they fail to awaken within a given period of time, etc. | In Helen Tworkov's Zen in America for example

Paul Haeder (2020-10-26). Adding More Dust onto a Threadbare Empire. dissidentvoice.org Barbara Lee: I'm very terrified with regard to what we see taking place. And the signs are there. When you talk about shutting down the media, putting out their alternative facts, banning dissent and opposition, criticizing people who are exercising their First Amendment rights; trying to get people to believe, really, the distortions that they're …

Simon Hooper (2020-10-26). Families demand repatriation of all foreign nationals from Syrian camps. middleeasteye.net Families demand repatriation of all foreign nationals from Syrian camps | Western governments facing mounting legal challenges with thousands of young children among those still stranded in Kurdish-controlled camps | Mon, 10/26/2020 – 13: 00 | Girls play with a bicycle in a section of al-Hol camp for foreign families in January 2020 (AFP) | Western governments are facing growing pressure to repatriate…

_____ (2020-10-26). Chomsky: OPCW Cover-Up of Syria Probe Is 'Shocking'. strategic-culture.org Noam Chomsky says that the OPCW's cover-up, under US pressure, of a Syria chemical weapons probe raises "very severe suspicions." | Aaron MATÉ | In his first public comments on the OPCW's Syria cover-up scandal, Noam Chomsky criticizes the chemical watchdog for suppressing, under US pressure, evidence that undermined the pretext for the US-led bombing of Syria in April 2018. The censorship recently extended to the UN Security Council, where the US, UK, and France blocked former OPCW Director General José Bustani from testifying in support of the inspectors whose findings were kept from the public. | "What happene…

Swiss Propaganda Research (2020-10-26). Are Face Masks Effective? The Evidence. globalresearch.ca First published August 4, 2020 | 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 …

The Global Research Team (2020-10-26). Global Research: Over Nineteen Years of Publishing Independent Voices. globalresearch.ca Dear Readers, | As freedom of speech online continues to be curtailed, running an independent counter-current news media in 2020 is no easy feat. With recent publications appearing in the mainstream media aimed at discrediting the vital work of Global Research …

Jessica Corbett, staff writer (2020-10-26). As Congress Drags Feet on Covid-19 Relief, 120+ Groups Urge CDC Director to Issue National Water Shutoff Moratorium. commondreams.org "Water is essential for disinfecting and controlling the spread of Covid-19. This is a basic matter of public health." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files…

Grant Smith (2020-10-25). Thursday 10/29: Censorship, Entanglement & Corruption: The Israel Lobby 2021 Agenda. indybay.org Webinar with participation through Zoom and YouTube. 9AM California time, Noon EDT.

Flavia K Borges, Mohit Bhandari, Ernesto Guerra-Farfan, Valerie Harvey, P J Devereaux (2020-10-24). [Correspondence] Accelerated surgery for hip fractures—the HIP ATTACK results discussed — Authors' reply. thelancet.com Daniel Pincus and Bheeshma Ravi highlight their observational study suggesting surgery for a hip fracture within 24 h of hospital arrival might result in a lower risk of 30-day mortality compared to surgery 24 h or more after hospital arrival.1 HIP ATTACK2 highlights why we need surgical and health-care system randomised controlled trials and why data from observational studies are unreliable. Moreover, other trial data have shown misleading risk adjusted time thresholds in observational studies.