The Weekly Watch
Corporate Censorship in the Age of American Aggression
The meme of fake news is very effective. There are so many lies told again and again and again that they are accepted as truth. You now select your own truth. Examples that come to mind: the DNC HACK (not leak), recently elected Maduro is a dictator, Russia is hacking our election and they poisoned a spy in Britain, Assange is a Russian agent, Assad gases his people so we MUST bomb him, Iran the aggressor put their country in the middle of OUR military bases and on top of OUR oil, Israel is our ally and is for peace and stability in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia must battle the evil Houthis who are working with Iran to overthrown the crown prince, and on and on...
So the recent corporate censorship trick they pull involves net neutrality. They can choke down the sites and messages that don't support the corporate talking points. Then they gin up the new McCarthyism and use it as a rationale to limit others speech. RT is now a foreign agent...but not BBC nor Al Jazeera?
Yes, Everyone Is Lying About The DNC Server Scandal Jimmy w/John Kiriakou
More from these two on the WaPo's call for Deep State to overthrow T-rump
This week Alex Jones was removed from several platforms. Jimmy tells the story with Ron and Stef (21 min) Ironically or perhaps as expected, Jones popularity increases...8 min more with Jimmy and the gang. Corporate Censorship isn't new. Jimmy Dore and most progressive pundits have been seeing viewership decline as google doesn't include them in searches....and Youtube is another word for google. When there were just three major networks and a few major news papers it was pretty easy to control the narrative. TPTB are grasping at a way to maintain control of the narrative...to tell their lies again and again until you are a fool if you don't believe them.
The power of the situation can lead people to conform, or go along with the group, even in the face of inaccurate information. Conformity to group norms is driven by two motivations, the desire to fit in and be liked and the desire to be accurate and gain information from the group. Authority figures also have influence over our behaviors, and many people become obedient and follow orders even if the orders are contrary to their personal values. Conformity to group pressures can also result in groupthink, or the faulty decision-making process that results from cohesive group members trying to maintain group harmony. Group situations can improve human behavior through facilitating performance on easy tasks, but inhibiting performance on difficult tasks.
http://pressbooks-dev.oer.hawaii.edu/psychology/chapter/conformity-compl...
Sanctions abound...
So we heaped more sanctions on Russia this week...
This follows the re-imposition of Iran sanctions following Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal. The sanctions will further bleed the targeted countries, but could they backfire? We speak to journalist Max Blumenthal (video or text)
There really is no basis for the State Department to find Russia and the government of Vladimir Putin guilty for the poisoning of former Russian spy Sergei Skripal, given that British police have not drawn any conclusions in the case. The case is unsolved.
https://therealnews.com/stories/new-us-sanctions-on-russia-raise-tension...
Trita Parsi examines the complexities of Trump’s attempt to end the Iran nuclear deal with US and EU. (10 min, no text yet)
https://therealnews.com/stories/serious-consequences-to-trumps-re-imposi...
Excellent analysis by Vijay Prashad
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/the-knife-in-irans-back/
The president is failing to get sanction buy-in from allies and rivals, who pledge to keep dealing with Iran. https://www.truthdig.com/articles/europe-russia-and-china-defy-trump-on-...
CIA Agent Reveals Signs Of Imminent Iran Invasion. Jimmy Dore w/John Kiriakou (17.5 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMAoad0hQUw
Isn't it interesting that oil prices spiked after the announcement of sanctions?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aal1y17G9E4 (11 min)
Let's not forget the new sanctions against Turkey...Steely Relations: Trump doubles steel & aluminum tariffs on Turkey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmAeRpnPbTA (6 min)
The United Nation estimates that the destruction from war in Syria is valued at almost $400 billion. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yUpkAYne_ls (3 min)
Saudi Arabia is not playing well with other countries either. Canada and Malaysia are on the outs with the crown prince. (text only)
https://therealnews.com/multiple-diplomatic-spats-raise-questions-about-...
Bin Salman has his own Iraq War in Yemen. He has oppressed the Shiites. King Abdullah’s plans for a national legislature, building on the series of municipal elections, seem to have been permanently shelved. Bin Salman plotted to undo the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and crush Iran economically
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/saudi-arabias-bin-salman-savagely-lash...
On August 9, a U.S.-supported Saudi airstrike bombed a bus carrying schoolchildren in Sa’ada, a city in northern Yemen. The New York Times reported that the students were on a recreational trip. According to the Sa’ada health department, the attack killed at least forty-three people. https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/08/10/us-complicit-child-slaught...
Israeli warplanes struck dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip and three people were reported killed there, while Palestinian militants from the territory fired scores of rockets into Israel in a fierce burst of violence overnight and into Thursday morning.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/israel-launches-scores-of-airstrikes-a...
How dare they protest their open air prison.
Lying Nikki Haley is at it again - urging regional countries to overthrow Venezuela
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3j1hHNz6aE (5 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P21RpTLj3Cc (1 min)
They lied to send Lula to prison...with no evidence...but he's still leading in the polls.
http://en.mercopress.com/2018/08/05/despite-jail-sentence-lula-nominated... I bet they will declare he is ineligible.
Glenn Greenwald explains the media corruption in Brazil
https://theintercept.com/2018/08/05/brazils-disastrous-2018-presidential...
Google is creating a censored version of their search engine for use in China... and perhaps will export it to the US? https://theintercept.com/2018/08/10/google-censorship-plan-is-not-right-...
https://theintercept.com/2018/08/08/google-censorship-china-blacklist/
The FBI doesn’t want the public to know more about how its agents pose as journalists during undercover investigations. https://theintercept.com/2018/08/07/fbi-undercover-journalist-documentar...
Protests and counter protests. Guess who the police favor in these conflicts? Kind of a no brainer...(video or text)
https://therealnews.com/stories/berkeley-police-dept-persecutes-counter-...
Three kayaktivists who oppose construction of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline—the tail end of Energy Transfer Partner's Dakota Access Pipeline—are reportedly the first people to be charged with felonies under a new Louisiana law that, like a model bill crafted by the right-wing American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), criminalizes peaceful protests of fossil fuel projects.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/08/10/anti-pipeline-kayaktivists-...
Now the Koch's are ready to protest. Last week a study they paid for suggests the US would save money with a medicare for all system. This week another study of theirs confirms US citizens want progressive policies...https://theintercept.com/2018/08/09/koch-brothers-health-care-free-college/
What (if anything) was learned from this weeks elections?
The Nation’s John Nichols analyzes the results of Tuesday’s primaries in Kansas, Missouri, Michigan, and Washington, with a special election in Ohio. (video or text)
https://therealnews.com/stories/progressive-groups-tackled-tough-races-w...
Jimmy weighs in on election results (6 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgThfvuzzeE
Nick Brana, founder, executive director of Movement for a People's Party talks with journalist Chris Hedges about the US' two political party system, the need for third and fourth parties and his experience campaigning for Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential election. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PA0alykB_o (26 min)
If you missed this interview last week, it is worth a listen. Barrett Brown, publisher and journalist talks to Chris Hedges about the US government’s war on Wikileaks, Assange and other outlets exposing the inner workings of power.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EVPBwrj3RI (27 min)
Assange's lawyer Jennifer Robinson maintains that a need for his protection remains.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4Bwr1C8QH8 (5 min)
The Economy
Yes, there was yet another tax scam this week...
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/new-trump-rule-would-give-2-5-billion-...
We should worry when whole trillion-dollar pieces of our economies are effectively make-believe https://www.truthdig.com/articles/trillions-and-trillions-speculation-fu...
Older Americans filed for bankruptcy three times as often from 2013 to 2016 as they did a quarter of a century before.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/bankruptcies-are-soaring-among-elder-a...
Max and Stacy ask if the system can be unrigged and use Bezos as a test case (25 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwCsCDGOEyM
A financial shockwave ripped through Turkey on Friday, when its currency nosedived on concerns about its economic policies and a dispute with the U.S., which President Donald Trump stoked further with a promise to double tariffs on the NATO ally.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/trump-piles-on-as-turkish-currency-tum...
Pakistan's new government is playing Iran against Saudi Arabia in hopes of cheap loans.
https://therealnews.com/saudi-arabia-and-iran-woo-incoming-pakistani-pri...
Education
Betsy DeVos on Friday moved to rescind a rule which has held for-profit colleges accountable for the expensive, often fruitless degrees their students were fraudulently peddled.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/08/10/latest-shameful-abdication-...
For profit schools to be Puerto Rico's fate. https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/08/10/disaster-capitalism-strikes...
https://dianeravitch.net/2018/08/10/puerto-rico-pr-supreme-court-approve...
How did that work out in New Orleans? Oh yeah, not well.
https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/what-new-orleans-tells-us-ab...
Wealthy private foundations have contributed at least $200 million to create a new group, The City Fund, to “push cities to expand charter schools and district schools with charter-like autonomy.”
http://educationopportunitynetwork.org/democrats-who-opposed-privatizing...
The Environment
A San Francisco jury on Friday ordered agribusiness giant Monsanto to pay $289 million to a former school groundskeeper dying of cancer, saying the company’s popular Roundup weed killer contributed to his disease.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/jury-backs-man-who-says-roundup-weed-k...
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/08/10/guilty-all-counts-historic-...
Fires and floods will become more common. Catch a load of this fire Tornado in CA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sQqjQVwXBs (1 min)
About 1,600 people, most of them campers, were evacuated in three regions of southern France where heavy rain caused flash flooding and transformed rivers and streams into torrents.
https://www.truthdig.com/articles/france-1600-evacuated-as-flash-floods-...
Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune and Michael Mann discuss the CA fires and the relationship to global weather. (video or text)
https://www.democracynow.org/2018/8/9/experts_if_we_don_t_stop
Over and over and over again my friends. We are an interesting species. Did you see the film "Experimenter" about Stanley Milgram's "shocking" experiments. I found the most interesting experiment to be the set up with the obviously wrong answer, where the hired panel all give the same incorrect answer. The test subject knows the answer is wrong...but everyone else thought it was true...so the wrong answer must be true. We are by our nature sheeple. TPTB use that to their benefit. Yeah a few free thinkers will slip by but most folks will swallow the bait. Most have.
So what lies screamed at you this week? I look forward to your stories, ideas, and comments below.
Comments
Good Sunday morning, Lookout ~~
It's a beautiful morning here in the land of enchantment. Although we didn't get rain in my area yesterday, we received rain the two previous days, measuring about 3/4", which is good. Of course we need more. I feel like I sound greedy, but when one lives in the high desert, rain is important.
So much to read and listen to. I've managed to read and listen to a few of your references from this week, but what's left will fill my Sunday with lots to learn. Many thanks, as always, fot the work you put into the WW. You and joe, with his EB, really keep me on my toes and stop me from becoming a sheeple. I'm grateful for that.
More rain predicted this week, as we are full-on in our monsoon season. I hope the predictions come to fruition.
Have a beautiful day, everyone!
"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11
Good to see you!
I hope your foot is healing well and you get some more rain.
Without thoughtful media we have no choice but to be sheeple. I often hear people blame the red-necks for T-rump, but in fairness they had no real information and the MSM had 24/7 T-rump talk ...still do.
Here's the 52 min film I couldn't find last week about Dryland rain harvesting home hacks -sun, rain, food & surroundings - that I wanted to send you...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcAMXm9zITg
Same fellow from last week but more complete discussion. I got one of those hats like his this summer and I love it cool and shady...so it looks stupid...luckily I don't care.
Stay off the soccer field and let your foot heal!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Capitalism reaches its logical conclusion. Again.
And just like the Great Depression/Recession, nobody learns anything, nobody does anything, and the bullshit, rape and plunder continue unobstructed because we're all to distracted to give a shit.
Need a few examples? Here you go.
"Look over there! Far-right pigs got chewed up and spit out by the machine they defend. Let's apologize for them instead of fighting the machine because Freeze Peach!"
"Look over there! Purple haired SJWs want to take away your privilege to be a douchebag with no recourse for your victims. Oh, and they're ruining your generic action/comedy/skin flicks. Sure, they agree with the same things you do at their core, but Freeze Peach!"
Yeah, in case you can't tell, I don't give a fuck that Alex Jones and Ron Paul became the latest casualties of the very system they've spent decades defending in their own ways. If they really wanted to change the system or fight imperialism as they claim, then they would fight capitalism. But they won't. Instead, what they're really fighting for is some fantasy they gleaned from grade school history class, or so they tell their idiot followers while they laugh all the way to the Cayman Islands with the money they get.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
No doubt capitalism plays a major role...
In suppression, spin, and censorship. The goal is to make money not to inform people.
But I'm sorry you don't see that taking away people's access to platforms isn't a solution and is a slippery slope to the loss of everyone's voice...including yours.
Like the silence of the MSM on Julian's persecution. The NYT and WaPo may be next if they report on something the Gov't doesn't like.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
We don't have a voice anyway. Never have. Never will.
And that's what so many people refuse to understand while they continue to apologize for the far-right. They have held the levers of power for 70 years and it'll be a cold day in hell before they ever let go. Hell, they'll rule even in death thanks to their kids and grand kids, to be sure. And labor movements will never be able to fight back. Ever.
So a few of their own are ground up by the very system they prop up? Why should I give a shit when they've spent the last several decades doing the same to us?
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
One more attempt to get through to you
Jimmy Dore explains the problem with kicking Jones off social media.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_LlMmL6Ylk]
Again. No one is doing that! I don't understand why you keep repeating it.
Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.
I had that link but it was hidden
...under the Blitzer cartoon in hypertext rather than as an obvious link. I have mixed feelings about embedding links cause they get hidden. I did the same with a greenwald story about facebook removing Palestinians in the same paragraph.
Glad you came by SD. It is easy to be blinded by hate and despising RWNJ (right wing nut jobs) is understandable.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
You win. I'll go get my kneepads now. /s
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TtIcBT_mLyY]
We could debate this all day long. Let me say this one more time. You want real free speech? Fight capitalism. Until we do that, this shit ain't going anywhere.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
You are sharp Asp Corn
awakening is the term to use when your radar focuses so clear. Sometimes I wish i could see as vibrantly, as you express so well. Thanks for helping me to see things in that sharp contrast against the dull visuals of the media meme. Having a reminder of what is missing sparks much better considerations.
Cheers!
I wouldn't go that far.
My words tend to come out looking like rancid jello more often than not. Hence why people sometimes accuse me of moving the goal posts.
p.s.: The video isn't mine, but the guy here is pretty knowledgeable when it comes to matters of poly sci and such. Definitely worth checking out.
Modern education is little more than toeing the line for the capitalist pigs.
Guerrilla Liberalism won't liberate the US or the world from the iron fist of capital.
I only go that far out on the plank
so as to get a little spring before becoming shark food. Us pirates get used to peg legs and arm hooks. No canna swaller the choke, no joke, so gotta walk the rope. You do it well.
Good morning, Lookout. A relationship between the Watch and
a habit from many years ago stirs my fancy this morning. How like, yet unlike, it is to click onto the Watch to read the news to when i would cross the street in the Village, gab a copy of the Sunday Times and the Voice, take a sidewalk table and read over an early brunch; later to usually take a long city stroll ending up somewhere for dinner.
Many thanks for another excellent and insightful Watch.
University marching band is practicing too early for my taste this morning as their strums fill the entire village; oh well, just turn the music volume up, i suppose.
Have a good one!
Hey good to see you this AM
I'm wrapping up the project we discussed and will pm you with the piece sometime soon.
Randy and the boys are my neighbors. I taught all their kids. Thanks for the clip!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Cool :)
Morning Lookout, Happy Sunday...
A little out of sorts this morning, but that's to be expected I guess when my routine gets screwed with a bit.
So, been doing a bit of writing other than here. Just enjoying some stuff I did when I was almost 20 years younger. It's a good feeling and nice to get back to old stuff and see how far I've come as an author. And I am glad that I know longer use quite as trite methods of trying to be cute.
Cheers to one of my favorite little islands of perspective in the madness of the world.
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OysgMBo8Dlw]
I do not pretend I know what I do not know.
Hey DMW
We had a late night with friends and I'm a little brain numb this AM myself.
I find writing therapeutic on many levels...what do I think about this and how can I explain it clearly? Like the song in your clip it can help clear your own mind...or at least help with the sorting of all your ideas.
Thanks for coming by and reading!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good mornin LO
https://consortiumnews.com/2018/08/11/senator-richard-burr-a-longtime-fa...
Any dissent seen done by clowngressional paid for
lackeys is all a charade, facade done for tv, BS
Newly released official documents obtained by the National Security Archive showing that CIA Director Gina Haspel directly supervised waterboarding at the first CIA “Black Site” simply confirm what Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Richard Burr (R-NC) already knew as he orchestrated the charade that was Haspel’s confirmation hearing. Burr allowed her to “classify” her own direct role in waterboarding and other torture techniques so that it could be kept from the public and secure her confirmation—-further proof that this Senate oversight committee has instead become an overlook committee.
That Haspel supervised the torture of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri at the first CIA “black site” for interrogation was already clear to those who had followed Haspel’s career, but she was able to do a song and dance when Sen. Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-CA) asked her about it. Haspel declined to reply on grounds that the information was classified. It was of course because Haspel herself had classified it. All the senators knew that only too well. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) had strongly objected to this bizarre practice only minutes before.
And as usual, that's a lotta homework you leave
I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish
"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"
Heard from Margaret Kimberley
Thanks for the link
Of course we knew she was a torturer. Ray McGovern had his shoulder dislocated as he objected in her hearing trying to tell them what they did not want to hear.
I wish it was possible to bust the CIA into thousands of pieces. Instead they run the show and would never allow such a disbandment.
Thanks for coming by and reading!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
The Big Lie Falsehood
It's ironic that the image attributing that big lie quote to Hitler is itself a big lie. Hitler never said or wrote that, it was actually Goebbels that wrote something similar in 1941: "The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous."
Falsehood indeed
...as is the Goebbels attribute -
http://www.ihr.org/other/weber2011fakequotations.html
When I was looking a clip art to include it had a graphic with Goebbels and another with Adolf. Hitler's was more visually appealing, so I used it....without research I might add.
Here's another take...
It is a paraphrase from Hitlers "book" Min Kemph. translation by James Murphy " All this was inspired by the principle—which is quite true within itself—that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying".
Vol 1 Chapter x
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100310092910AACOZuI&gucco...
Thanks for bring it to my attention. It led to interesting results. Regardless of the source, the idea is prevalent.
PS I use C99 to fact check myself as well as to participate in a community of thinking people
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
The idea is prevalent and, sadly, effective.
And even more sadly, an oft used tool of American policy and opinion makers.
Do you mean white isn't really black?
Oh the erosion of critical thinking skills...
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Just saying I was here and started to read your links
and wanted to say thank you. Your's and Joe's collections are the best around and I am so glad you stick around through thick and thin.
Have a good Sunday, all.
Thrilled to see you
I remember the day of getting the big Sunday edition of the paper. It had colored comics and that was the highlight for me as a kid. There was nothing more aggravating than not getting a Sunday paper. So even when I'm away I try to have something interesting scheduled. I don't know how Joe does it every day.
Are you still having trouble with deer on your place? I learned a new easy inexpensive trick - a fishline fence...
EDIT:
added the link in the extra comment below. Having internet issues...the joys of country living!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Thrilled to see you
I remember the day of getting the big Sunday edition of the paper. It had colored comics and that was the highlight for me as a kid. There was nothing more aggravating than not getting a Sunday paper. So even when I'm away I try to have something interesting scheduled. I don't know how Joe does it every day.
Are you still having trouble with deer on your place? I learned a new easy inexpensive trick - a fishline fence...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPbwJeDnjQI (7 min)
Take care across the pond. Wishing you the best!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”