Vital truths are systematically suppressed. Willful disinformation, distortions and bald-faced lies substitute—why Western media are called presstitutes, making street whores look good by comparison. More on this below. Continue reading
This week’s charges against Washington Post and Huffington Post journalists arrested last year while covering protests in Ferguson are the latest sign that even high-profile reporters are not immune from the ongoing police crackdown on press freedoms and civil rights in this St. Louis suburb. Continue reading
Political conservatives with a high degree of business savvy are able to see through the facade which Fox News has become. The recent orchestration of the Republican presidential debate was a huge ratings success hitting a record 24 million viewers. The early debate gained 6.1 million eyeballs. The contrast between the two venues could not be greater. The high level of discourse among the seven second tier candidates far surpassed the P.T. Barnum spectacular, which was scripted as an episode of desperately seeking jumbo. The GOP establishment elephant was center stage, but the RINO’s suffer from myopia as they disrespect grassroots conservatives. Continue reading
Previous articles explained no credible evidence suggests Russia or Donbass freedom fighters had anything to do with downing MH17. Continue reading
I’m forced to reach the conclusion that certain sectors of the English-language Western media would come up with negative comments about Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi, even if he singlehandedly constructed a replica of the Giza Pyramids, block by block, on the moon. By contrast, the French, Italian and Spanish papers overall ran congratulatory headlines. Continue reading
Naftali Bennett is a Netanyahu coalition partner. He heads the fascist Habayit Hayehudi (Jewish Home) party. He’s ideologically over-the-top. Continue reading
Ted Rall is a lying, fantasist scumbag. Continue reading
Jonathan Pollard, a paid spy for Israel described by Michael D. Shear as “one of the country’s most notorious spies,” has been pardoned from his life sentence. It strikes me as hypocritical for the US government to sentence anyone to prison for spying when the government itself spies on everyone everywhere. All Americans including members of the House and Senate, congressional staff, military officers, foreign governments, including the leaders of Washington’s closest allies, and foreign businesses are spied upon. No one is exempt from Washington’s spying. Continue reading
Haaretz reported recently that a spokeswoman for the Israeli embassy in Berlin told Israeli journalists it was ‘in the country’s interest to maintain German guilt about the Holocaust, and that it isn’t seeking full normalization of relations between the governments.’ Continue reading
It wouldn’t be difficult to imagine The New York Times journalists as a stuffy band of blue bloods sitting around a men’s clubhouse some place, puffing cigars, sipping scotch, and fiddling with their monocles as they composed the day’s news—only the news fit to print. At least one participant snoozes softly in an armchair. Such is the level of excitement one gets reading the Times. By design, all traces of righteous anger, the furies of injustice, and the ire of the powerless have been erased from the (paper of) record. No emotional response is permitted, regardless of the crime. Continue reading
Russia has always fascinated me—the stern heroes who defended Muscovy against the Golden Horde, the ornate and mysterious orthodox faith, the vast spaces, the remarkable learning and philosophy, the Bolshevik Revolution against imperialism . . . It’s clear the West has always been jealous of a race of genius, highly deserving respect. Continue reading
President George W. Bush’s national security advisor, Condi Rice, warned Americans that Saddam Hussein’s (nonexistent) weapons of mass destruction could result in a mushroom cloud going up over an American city. No such threat existed. But today a very real threat exists over all American cities, and the national security advisor does not notice. Continue reading
Recent reporting on illegal tax evasion by the world’s second largest bank, HSBC, opens a window onto the pivotal role of Western banks in facilitating organised crime, drug-trafficking and Islamist terrorism. Governments know this, but they are powerless to act, not just because they’ve been bought by the banks: but because criminal and terror financing is integral to global capitalism. Now one whistleblower who uncovered an estimated billion pounds worth of HSBC fraud in Britain, suppressed by the British media, is preparing a prosecution that could blow wide open the true scale of criminal corruption in the world’s finance capital. Continue reading
Times editors deplore democracy. They consider sham US elections legitimate ones. Continue reading
So NBC’s evening news anchor, Brian Williams, has been caught telling untruths about various events in recent years. What could be worse for a reporter? How about not knowing what’s going on in the world? In your own country? At your own employer? As a case in point I give you Williams’ rival, Scott Pelley, evening news anchor at CBS. Continue reading
Despite the all-encompassing belief in democracy and a free press, Americans have very little democracy left and perhaps the worst media in the world. Even people who make efforts to be informed don’t know what is happening domestically and internationally because of the constant lies and disinformation they are exposed to by the corporate media. They act as spokespersons for the powerful instead of providing analysis and information for readers and viewers. The result is a world turned upside down, with lies being sold as the truth. Libya is just the latest example of press malfeasance. Continue reading
There was snow in Washington, DC, Thursday morning, which always throws the federal capital into tailspins. So the marching band that the media reform group Free Press had hired to throw a parade for Federal Communications Commission Chairman Tom Wheeler canceled, the wimps. Nevertheless, a small, hearty group of activists braved the flurries and slippery streets to gather outside the FCC before the day’s historic meeting. They were there to thank Wheeler and celebrate the imminent passage of new rules to protect Net neutrality and preserve a free and open Internet. Continue reading
Brian Williams, American television network news anchor, caught telling his audience a fantasy version of his experience on a foreign assignment, has unintentionally provided us with a near perfect allegory and tale of caution about American journalism and the role it plays in politics and foreign affairs. Continue reading
Virtually all MSM sources march to the same drummer. Viciously, irresponsibly and disgracefully bashing Putin. Continue reading
Americans love their reality TV shows—the drama, the insults, the bullying, the callousness, the damaged relationships delivered through the lens of a surveillance camera—and there’s no shortage of such dehumanizing spectacles to be found on or off screen, whether it’s Cops, Real Housewives or the heavy-handed tactics of police officers who break down doors first and ask questions later. Continue reading
Yesterday, we witnessed a major step forward in the campaign for Net neutrality. In an op-ed piece for Wired magazine, Federal Communications Commission Chair Tom Wheeler officially announced, “After more than a decade of debate and a record-setting proceeding that attracted nearly 4 million public comments, the time to settle the Net Neutrality question has arrived. This week, I will circulate to the members of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) proposed new rules to preserve the internet as an open platform for innovation and free expression. This proposal is rooted in long-standing regulatory principles, marketplace experience, and public input received over the last several months.” Continue reading
Washington’s attack on Russia has moved beyond the boundary of the absurd into the realm of insanity. Continue reading
Mass killer Chris Kyle should have been forgotten when he was killed by another Iraq war veteran in 2013. Kyle became rich and famous after he spoke and wrote publicly about the record 160 kills he committed in America’s war of terror in Iraq. He was the subject of the book, American Sniper: the Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in U.S. Military History, and enjoyed celebrity status until his death. Continue reading
Over the last few months, things have been looking good for keeping the Internet open to everyone. A little too good, as far as Congress is concerned, which is why members and the corporate lobbyists who write them hefty checks have launched a last-ditch legislative effort to scuttle Net neutrality. Continue reading
After Paris, condemnation of religious fanaticism is at its height. I’d guess that even many progressives fantasize about wringing the necks of jihadists, bashing into their heads some thoughts about the intellect, about satire, humor, freedom of speech. We’re talking here, after all, about young men raised in France, not Saudi Arabia. Continue reading
Only the most ignorant consider Fox News to be a legitimate news network. And when it comes to issues dealing with terrorism and Islam, Fox News is not only a font of disinformation and blatant propaganda but also flat out lies. Continue reading
Press freedom has been under attack with the deaths in Paris of nine Charlie Hebdo employees, including editor Stephane Charbonnier, and the continued incarceration in Cairo of three Al Jazeera journalists. The circumstances of the victimization of the journalists are starkly different. Continue reading
HarperCollins says it’s sorry. It says it regrets not including Israel on a map of the Middle East in an atlas it published and distributed in the Middle East. It says all remaining copies of the atlas will be pulped. Continue reading
History will mark 2014 as the year of shifting global alliances and the beginning of the end of America’s self-styled unipolar dominance under the rubric of the “New American Century.” The corporate media is largely using the same “bucket list” of 2014’s most memorable events but the relative overall importance of these news stories are in the eyes of the beholder. Continue reading
Wow! After listening to the Stephen Harper’s interview with Peter Mansbridge and now having listened to Canada’s Foreign Minister John Baird’s interview with Evan Solomon (CBC), it is apparent that they both have their talking points down pat. They could have exchanged places and the comments would have come out pretty much the same. Continue reading
It is the time of year for the mainstream media to make its lists, check them twice with the pundits, and find out who is naughty and who is nice. While not officially a year end review, I have recently commented on Evan Solomon’s interview with General Breedlove in which mostly softball questions without curves or spins were gently lobbed at the General—who did a reasonably intelligent job of responding considering the knuckleball attempts on some of the questions.(1) The next year end interview I viewed was between Peter Mansbridge, CBC’s senior correspondent, and Stephen Harper, Canada’s neo-Conservative head of state. As with the former interview, the Mansbridge interview was rather innocuous, with responses essentially reflecting Conservative canards about the economy, climate change, and foreign affairs. Continue reading
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Gullible Americans forever
Posted on August 20, 2015 by Paul Craig Roberts
Listening to NPR news Monday, I was reminded how thoroughly this once independent voice has sold out. Continue reading →