Fake News and the War on Freedom and Truth [Archive] - The Project Avalon Community Forum

Hervé

5th December 2016, 16:10

My interview with former CBS star reporter: fake news (https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2016/12/05/my-interview-with-former-cbs-star-reporter-fake-news/)

by Jon Rappoport (https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/author/jonrappoport/) Dec5 (https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2016/12/05/my-interview-with-former-cbs-star-reporter-fake-news/), 2016

CBS is now publishing the names of sites they claim are fake news. Well, what about CBS itself?

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you’re aware that a film, Vaxxed, has been showing in theaters across America and overseas—and audiences are stunned by its revelations.

Vaxxed exposes a huge scandal at the CDC, where a long-time researcher, William Thompson, confessed (2014) that he and colleagues committed gross fraud in a study of the MMR vaccine.

Thompson admitted the evidence showed the vaccine led to a higher risk of autism in children—but that finding was intentionally buried, and the vaccine was given a free pass.

Of course, mainstream reporters have been mercilessly attacking Vaxxed, and a segment of the population finds it impossible to believe that the CDC would ever commit this kind of fraud.

So, as a mind-changer, let me take you back to the late summer of 2009, and the Swine Flu epidemic, which was hyped to the sky by the CDC. The Agency was calling for all Americans to take the Swine Flu vaccine. Remember?

The problem was, the CDC was concealing another scandal.

At the time, star CBS investigative reporter, Sharyl Attkisson, was working on a Swine Flu story. She discovered that the CDC had secretly stopped counting cases of the illness—while, of course, continuing to warn Americans about its unchecked spread.

Understand that the CDC’s main job is counting cases and reporting the numbers.
What was the Agency up to?

Here is an excerpt from my 2014 interview with Sharyl Attkisson:

Rappoport: In 2009, you spearheaded coverage of the so-called Swine Flu pandemic. You discovered that, in the summer of 2009, the Centers for Disease Control, ignoring their federal mandate, [secretly] stopped counting Swine Flu cases in America. Yet they continued to stir up fear about the “pandemic,” without having any real measure of its impact. Wasn’t that another investigation of yours that was shut down? Wasn’t there more to find out?

Attkisson: The implications of the story were even worse than that. We discovered through our FOI efforts that before the CDC mysteriously stopped counting Swine Flu cases, they had learned that almost none of the cases they had counted as Swine Flu was, in fact, Swine Flu or any sort of flu at all! The interest in the story from one [CBS] executive was very enthusiastic. He said it was “the most original story” he’d seen on the whole Swine Flu epidemic. But others pushed to stop it [after it was published on the CBS News website] and, in the end, no [CBS television news] broadcast wanted to touch it. We aired numerous stories pumping up the idea of an epidemic, but not the one that would shed original, new light on all the hype. It was fair, accurate, legally approved and a heck of a story. With the CDC keeping the true Swine Flu stats secret, it meant that many in the public took and gave their children an experimental vaccine that may not have been necessary.

—end of interview excerpt—
I’ll add a few details. It was routine for doctors all over America to send blood samples from patients they’d diagnosed with Swine Flu, or the “most likely” Swine Flu patients, to labs for testing. And overwhelmingly, those samples were coming back with the result: not Swine Flu, not any kind of flu.

That was the big secret. That’s what the CDC was hiding. That’s why they stopped reporting Swine Flu case numbers. That’s what Attkisson had discovered. That’s why she was shut down.

But it gets even worse.

Because about three weeks after Attkisson’s findings were published on the CBS News website, the CDC, obviously in a panic, decided to double down. If one lie is exposed, tell an even bigger one. A much bigger one.

Here, from a November 12, 2009, WebMD article is the CDC’s response: “Shockingly, 14 million to 34 million U.S. residents — the CDC’s best guess is 22 million — came down with H1N1 swine flu by Oct. 17 [2009].” (“22 million cases of Swine Flu in US,” by Daniel J. DeNoon).

Are your eyeballs popping? They should be.

In the summer of 2009, the CDC secretly stops counting Swine Flu cases in America, because the overwhelming percentage of lab tests from likely Swine Flu patients shows no sign of Swine Flu or any other kind of flu.

There is no Swine Flu epidemic.

Then, the CDC estimates there are 22 MILLION cases of Swine Flu in the US.

So…the premise that the CDC would never lie about important matters like, oh, a vaccine increasing the risk of autism…you can lay that one to rest.

The CDC will lie about anything it wants to. It will boldly go where no person interested in real science will go.

It will completely ignore its mandate to care about human health, and it will get away with it.

And CBS will conveniently forget how it aided and abetted the CDC, by censoring real news, and instead opted for egregious and titanic fake bull****.

Jon Rappoport

awakeningmom

5th December 2016, 17:04

I find it so disappointing that everything is framed within the left right paradigm. It is such a massive stumbling block to spreading truth. This article wasn't bad, and certainly raised some important facts, however because it is written from an 'alt right' perspective it will not be appreciated by those half of those who need to hear it. I try to avoid taking a left/right position because I believe that the truth does not lie on either side and that both sides hold important aspects. What I find frustrating though is the echo chamber effect, where it seems almost everything is created for consumption by those who are of a similar alignment. For example today I was in a discussion with someone who was promoting the whole 'fake news' business, stating that fake news was dangerous because it was what made Hilary lose the election (basically a popular left narrative ATM), however when I went looking for some good sources of information to present a wider perspective, I was at a loss to find anything that didn't play into the left right dynamic. Though I can easily get past the propaganda of each side and focus on what I perceive as truth... I know that most people immediately shut down and disengage when they recognize that what they are reading is aligned with a pole that is in opposition to their own.

I agree with you 100% enfoldeblue, and always appreciate your balanced approach. Please, since you do not see any articles that are untainted with the false left/right paradigm, please keep writing them yourself. I too need those kinds of articles to show friends who will reject anything that seems to be coming from the opposite pole.

On a related note, it is so disturbing to me when I read that people on this site think that Donald Trump somehow "bucked" the system and was able to overcome a powerful, deeply entrenched, likely centuries old, oligarchy, one that supposedly officially took over the country in 1963 by killing a sitting President in public view, one that was able to pull off 9-11 and deceive most of the world -- and still, 15 years later, has gotten away with it, thanks to a corrupt fourth estate. This group of people clearly have control over the electronic voting machines and would never agree to a "peaceful transfer of power" in the unlikely event that either of the two deeply divisive candidates offered were actually really chosen and not selected. It is all more illusion. There will be no "transfer of power," and it's distressing that those who should know better, who know we have been played over and over again, somehow think everything's different this time.

I don't care how much money DT has personally, or what he said during his campaign, his "power" is a drop in the bucket compared to what "they" have, and so unless he truly has some equally powerful faction of the Military/Corporate America behind him ready to fight back (unlikely) -- there is no way he has bucked the system and can drain any swamp. He is either a useful idiot or part of the system itself, helping to further divide everyone -- including those who think they know what's really going on, but some of whom now think that "real change" has finally happened. Change is happening all right -- but IMO, it was intended change, and will not be good for the majority of us 7 billion souls unless we all suddenly awake and say no more.

Sorry, but until I start seeing main stream media coverage and mass arrests of those behind 9-11, which will never happen because they are all still in power, DT is just more of the same. Just look at how the entire Podesta creepy coded email scandal is being easily managed -- a few "fake news" stories, some sympathy drummed up for the 49th most powerful man in DC pizza guy, a lone nut coming in with a rifle (sure it was) and you have all the MSM-reliant citizens shaking their heads at the violence-prone tinfoil hat wearers. Psychopathic power preserved, and any movement of rebellion easily marginalized, divided, and conquered.

awakeningmom

6th December 2016, 21:28

Here's a good article by Glenn Greenwald about the propaganda campaign against a number of alternative media sites on both the right and the left.

https://theintercept.com/2016/11/26/washington-post-disgracefully-promotes-a-mccarthyite-blacklist-from-a-new-hidden-and-very-shady-group/

Unbelievable what is going on right now -- can't believe more people aren't seeing through this "fake news" onslaught.

Bill Ryan

6th December 2016, 22:11

Here's a good article by Glenn Greenwald about the propaganda campaign against a number of alternative media sites on both the right and the left.

https://theintercept.com/2016/11/26/washington-post-disgracefully-promotes-a-mccarthyite-blacklist-from-a-new-hidden-and-very-shady-group/

Yes. Part of this is worth quoting in full: :facepalm:

(This is a screenshot, so the links don't work)

***

Russian Propaganda Targets All Americans

http://projectavalon.net/PropOrNot_listed_sites.gif

Hervé

6th December 2016, 22:27

Paul Craig Roberts response:

Dear President Putin (http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2016/11/28/dear-president-putin/)

By Paul Craig Roberts November 28, 2016 (http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2016/11/28/)

Valdimir Putin
President of Russia
Moscow
28 November 2016

Dear President Putin,

Now that CIA agent Craig Timberg posing as a Washington Post reporter has blown my cover and exposed me as a Russian agent, I was wondering if I might ask you for a Russian passport and a bit of diplomatic cover, perhaps assistant press officer at the Russian embassy in Washington, until I can get out of the country. I saw that you gave a passport to Steven Seagal, so I am hopeful that being a Russian agent is as important as teaching martial arts to Russians.

I don’t know what the pay scale for Russian agents is, but whatever I have coming to me please deposit in a Russian bank. The Swiss banks are no longer useful as the Swiss government allowed Washington to write its banking laws. Perhaps also you could line me up with a publisher for my memoirs—“My Life As A Putin Stooge.”

We need to get on with this ASAP as the Washington Post has the FBI on my tail. They will be very angry at me for deceiving them all those years when I held top secret and higher security clearances while I was a Russian agent. Any day now the Washington Post might discover that my fellow KGB agent Ronald Reagan and I cut taxes on the rich in order to make capitalism so oppressive that the American people would rise up and overthrow it. Boy did we fool the left-wing!

I regret that the Washington Post got wise to me being a Russian agent, but it wasn’t my fault. I think the leak came from one of those Atlanticist Integrationists you are stuck with in your government. Better check up on it as 200 of the Russian financed websites have already been exposed.

Better have someone bring me the passport and diplomatic appointment. I would be nabbed by TSA if I fly to Washington to collect the documents. A diplomatic appointment is better than asylum, because Washington, like the old Soviet Union, doesn’t recognize political asylum. Just ask Julian Assange.

Don’t let the Atlanticist Integrationists convince you that my exposure as a Russian agent is just a CIA ruse to plant an agent on you. My criticism of Washington’s policy of raising tensions between nuclear powers and support of your policy of reducing tensions is not spy cover. I really do prefer that the world not be blown up in thermo-nuclear war. This is a suspect view in the US, but I hope it is an acceptable one in Russia.

Looking forward to that passport.

Paul Craig Roberts

====================================================

Those damn Russians:

http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/5aba5a1142c9bd6365ee2cf5637cd489fd30c54f/c=231-0-3866-2733&r=x404&c=534x401/local/-/media/2016/11/25/USATODAY/USATODAY/636156738005718519-EPA-epaselect-RUSSIA-PUTIN-SEAGAL.jpg

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2016/11/26/world/26russia2_xp/26russia2_xp-master315.jpg

ponda

7th December 2016, 02:11

James Corbett joins Dan Schultz of New Culture Radio to discuss the new Fake News and Russian propaganda memes by which the establishment is fighting back against the independent media. But as the independent media rises, can it resist the lure of power, or will it just be absorbed by the powers-that-shouldn’t-be? And what role does the public have to play in this?

"The power is within the viewers and listeners themselves"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Db80x_lDiw8&feature=youtu.be

https://www.corbettreport.com/mp3/2016-12-06%20James%20Corbett.mp3

mp3 link: https://www.corbettreport.com/mp3/2016-12-06%20James%20Corbett.mp3

ExomatrixTV

7th December 2016, 14:20

~the mainstream media (msm) War on "Fake News" is all about censoring Real News & issues, thus controlling the narrative! ... Orwellian style "Thought Police" aka '1984 Ministry of Truth' bs.

Hervé

7th December 2016, 14:24

...

:bigfish:

The bigger the lie...

Hervé

7th December 2016, 14:36

Why I named my web site no-more-fake-news in 2001 (https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2016/12/06/why-i-named-my-web-site-no-more-fake-news-in-2001/)

by Jon Rappoport (https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/author/jonrappoport/) Dec6 (https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2016/12/06/why-i-named-my-web-site-no-more-fake-news-in-2001/), 2016

This article is thanking you for your continued support.

As you know, these days mainstream news outlets are carrying out a ferocious attack against “fake news.”

They are composing lists of sites that disseminate “fake news.”

Of course, this is their attempt to find scapegoats for their own failure to predict the winner of the presidential election—the winner they supported with every ounce of strength they could muster, Hillary Clinton—who lost.

Why did Hillary lose? Because, they say, web sites published and spread negative “fake news” about her. And these sites actually got their fake news from, wait for it, Russia. That’s right. Russia.

So…mainstream outlets are floating an absurd and laughable conspiracy theory.

The mainstream emperor has no clothes, and everyone can see it.

Back in 2001, when I started nomorefakenews.com, I was 19 years into a career as a reporter, and it was clear to me that mainstream news was the dedicated purveyor of fake stories from one end of the planet to the other.

In particular, I had published a book, AIDS INC., Scandal of the Century (1988), which concluded that HIV had never been proved to be the cause of AIDS. In fact, AIDS was not one disease or syndrome. It was a fake label that had been applied to numerous conditions arising from immune-system failure; and that failure had many different causes, none of which was a virus.

Writing the book was a final crossing of the line. I was into territory no mainstream editor wanted to touch or think about.

Several reporters told me I couldn’t go back. I would never have a career in the mainstream. They weren’t paying attention. I never wanted that kind of career.

I’d already had a taste of editors assigning me stories that could write themselves and I’d felt like a sleepwalker turning them out.

Experiencing intense boredom was not my goal.

So, in 2001, when I decided to abandon my manual typewriter for a keyboard and a mouse, naming my new site was pretty much a no-brainer; nomorefakenews.com would do just fine.

I’ve never looked back.

Since then, I’ve seen mainstream reporters who were on their way up—potential stars—drop off the radar and disappear. Edged out by more photogenic competitors, they’ve gone into selling real estate and cars. I’ve watched good reporters leave their prestigious outlets and start their own online operations, because they couldn’t get “controversial” stories published or aired.

I’ve watched the see-saw tilt toward independent news and away from elite print and television outlets. I’ve watched the mainstream eat a whole lot of crow. They don’t enjoy the experience, because they believe they own the news. They believe the news is what they say it is.

So be it. They live and die by that faith—and now they’re dying.

I could claim I take no pleasure in this, but I’d be lying. I take a great deal of pleasure in it. I’m not a glazed-over New Age “humanitarian.” When the bad guys and chronic liars go down, that’s a good thing. That’s a victory.

When primped, coiffed, blown-dry elitist liars can’t punch their way out of a wet paper bag any longer, because they’re surrounded by independent reporters who are exposing them at every turn, that’s pure gold.

More and more independent reporters are realizing this. They’re realizing that their individual efforts to make the truth known are adding up to a revolution, and the revolution is a blooming success.

Who would have thunk it?

I’ll tell you who. Individual reporters and researchers.

You could say such individuals have excessive egos, but you know what? That’s a lie. All along, these reporters have known there was a chance of victory, a glint of light in the darkness. And they haven’t backed down. They’ve doubled and tripled down.

I’m one of those reporters. In case you’re interested, there are a few qualities you need to pursue this course. You need the knowledge that exposing corruption and crime is good, feels good, and it cracks the egg of passive acceptance. You want to crack that egg. This is isn’t just a duty. It’s an excitement. You wake up to it every day. You wake up with the possibility that you can find a new way to put a new crack in the egg.

People aren’t taught that, which is why I’m mentioning it. People are taught, these days, to be nicer than nice, as if somehow that will save the world. Baloney. That will save nothing. It’ll clog the bloodstream of society.

An independent reporter worth his salt goes on offense with no apology. He has nothing to apologize for.

If he feels moral outrage—and he does—he channels it into his work. He doesn’t let up.

Contrary to what, again, many people are taught, this outrage doesn’t eat you up. That’s a lie. That’s a piece of programming, mind control. That’s another New Age crock. Designed to keep people in a passive cage. No, moral outrage makes you stronger. It points the way. It carves out new space where there was no space before. It separates you from the herd of the self-absorbed who have been indoctrinated to be afraid of their own shadows.

And by the way, what we are seeing from mainstream news defenders of the crown these days is a significant amount of fear. They’re trying to lash out (https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2016/11/20/major-media-crash-they-need-a-scapegoat/), but they’re trembling, because they’re trapped. Their placid front is crumbling, and underneath that, they’ve got nothing.

This is a marvel to behold.

I’m waiting for the Washington Post to report that all these “fake news” sites are getting their information piped in from dangerous ETs in the Orion Belt.

I’m ready for that one. Just last week, a few of those ETs printed out a message on my digital thermostat: “Hey, don’t blame us. We’re neutral. We like to watch. We’re peeping Toms. We don’t take sides.”

No More Fake News. Yes, that was a good name for my site in 2001, and it still is.

Thank you for your support.

Jon Rappoport

Flowerpunkchip

10th December 2016, 01:14

Fake news by ABC
(apologies if already posted)
ABC News Caught Staging 'Crime Scene' with Fake Police Tape
By Tim Graham | November 5, 2016
http://newsbusters.org/s3/files/styles/blog_body-50/s3/images/gmafake07_11_49_am.jpg?itok=THjnbgxR
http://newsbusters.org/s3/files/styles/blog_body-90/s3/images/linsey-fake-us.jpg?itok=CGlVYOsD
CNN media reporter Dylan Byers relayed that ABC News was caught putting a reporter in front of its own fake yellow police tape on Friday's Good Morning America, according to a photograph obtained by CNN.

Davis solemnly told George Stephanopoulos a massive search was under way for as many as four dead bodies at the scene.

ABC News correspondent Linsey Davis stood in a field in Woodruff, South Carolina, and relayed the gruesome details of how a 30-year-old woman had been held captive in a storage container allegedly by a registered sex offender.

Behind her, yellow police tape with the words "SHERIFF'S LINE DO NOT CROSS" flapped in the wind, indicating the scene of the crime.

In fact, the police tape was tied to ABC News' own equipment just off-camera, a photograph obtained by CNNMoney shows. Sources with knowledge of the matter say the tape was placed there by ABC News for the purpose of its inclusion in the live shot.

The photograph, sent by an anonymous source, shows the tape running no more than 30 feet and tied to camera stands at both sides. In Davis' segment, which was broadcast on ABC's Good Morning America, it is impossible to tell where the tape ends.

ABC spokesman Julie Townsend insisted to CNN this scheme was "completely unacceptable and fails to meet the standards of ABC News...As soon as it was brought to our attention, we decided to take the producer out of the field, and we're investigating further."

Byers noted this isn't new in recent times for ABC News.

In April, ABC News producer David Fazekas created a fake reservation list for a segment about a restaurant in upstate New York that was thought to be among the most exclusive in the world.

Fazekas later told The New Yorker that the chef "wouldn't let us see his actual list, so I wrote it myself—like a reenactment in a documentary."

Oops. But veterans will recall ABC being caught at this in the past as well. I think of the pointlessly doctored Cokie Roberts shot the night after President Clinton's State of the Union speech in 1994. ABC anchorman Peter Jennings introduced Roberts, wearing a coat, appearing in front of what looked like the Capitol. But without the knowledge of network viewers, she was actually inside the ABC News Washington bureau near the White House with a photographic image of the Capitol projected behind her.

http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/tim-graham/2016/11/05/abc-news-caught-staging-crime-scene-fake-police-tape

Flowerpunkchip

10th December 2016, 01:25

Is this fake news footage or just a training exercise?

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/videos/does-this-video-show-iraqis-staging-the-aftermath-of-a-fake-car-bombing/85180714/

CRZyHUr9YWM

Maybe used for fake news, check it out... same wall it seems.
http://globalnews.ca/video/3035393/raw-video-aftermath-of-deadly-car-bombing-in-baghdad-that-left-at-least-10-dead

Hervé

10th December 2016, 18:54

PropOrNot: Evidence of a CIA Psychological Operation (http://www.newsbud.com/2016/12/09/propornot-evidence-of-a-cia-psychological-operation/)

Kurt Nimmo (http://www.newsbud.com/author/kurt-nimmo/) | December 9, 2016

Alternative Media- A Very Serious Threat to the Ruling Elite

http://www.newsbud.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/120916_KNPost1.png

On November 24, The Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/2016/11/24/793903b6-8a40-4ca9-b712-716af66098fe_story.html?utm_term=.c75cd5bd60db) published a story citing the anonymous group PropOrNot. The story accused the Russians of building a large propaganda operation that worked to defeat Hillary Clinton and elect “insurgent candidate” Donald Trump. It claimed a large number of alternative news websites are acting as Russian agents, dupes, and useful idiots.

Prior to this, in March 2015, the Voice of America (http://www.rferl.org/a/russia-trolls-headquarters-media-internet-insider-account/26904157.html) insisted Russia has organized “a round-the-clock operation in which an army of trolls disseminated pro-Kremlin and anti-Western talking points on blogs and in the comments sections of news websites in Russia and abroad.”

http://www.newsbud.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/120916_KNPost2.png
Voice of America is a propaganda service created by the CIA during the Cold War.

In January, the Institute of Modern Russia and its Interpreter Mag (http://www.interpretermag.com/starting-january-1-the-interpreter-will-be-a-special-project-of-rferl/) teamed up with the CIA through Voice of America to combat “Kremlin disinformation and propaganda.” The Institute of Modern Russia maintains close relationships with many Russian opposition leaders.

Critics took The Washington Post to task for using PropOrNot as a source. The website and PropOrNot’s Facebook and Twitter accounts give no indication who is behind the effort. Despite this, the Post cited the site to make the argument many alternative websites are “fake news” sites working in tandem with the Russians.

PropOrNot has all the hallmarks of an intelligence operation run by the CIA, FBI, or one of a number of other intelligence agencies.

Following the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, the official narrative pushed by the government and echoed dutifully by the establishment media claimed Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda masterminded the attack from a cave in Afghanistan. This and other elements of the official narrative were criticized, primarily by the alternative media. The government and its propaganda media dismissed the criticism of the official narrative and began characterizing critics as conspiracy theorists.

http://www.newsbud.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/120916_KNPost3.png

In early 2008, Cass Sunstein, a Harvard scholar and later the Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the Obama administration, wrote a paper with colleague Adrian Vermeule titled simply “Conspiracy Theories.” (https://projectavalon.net/Conspiracy_Theories_Cass_R_Sunstein_Adrian_Vermeule.pdf)Sunstein and Vermeule argue the existence of conspiracy theories “may create serious risks, including risks of violence, and the existence of such theories raises significant challenges for policy and law.”

In addition to proposing outright censorship of information the government considers“extremist theories,” Sunstein and his co-author suggest using “cognitive infiltration” of groups and networks.

Instead of a covert operation resembling the FBI’s Operation COINTELPRO using physical infiltration to disrupt and discredit political groups, Sunstein proposed attacking targeted groups in cyberspace.

Sunstein and Vermeule write that “whatever the tactical details, there would seem to be ample reason for government efforts to introduce some cognitive diversity into the groups that generate conspiracy theories.”

In 2011, The Guardian (http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/mar/17/us-spy-operation-social-networks) reported the US military was developing software that would allow it secretly manipulate social media sites by using fake online personas to influence internet conversations and spread pro-American propaganda.

General and later CIA director David Petraeus suggested using online psychological operations aimed at “countering extremist ideology and propaganda.” The objective of the Pentagon effort was “to create a false consensus in online conversations, crowd out unwelcome opinions and smother commentaries or reports that do not correspond with its own objectives,” according to the report.

http://www.newsbud.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/120916_KNPost4.png

The effort to counter alternative websites is not limited to the United States. In September 2014, writes noted researcher and author Thierry Meyssan (http://www.voltairenet.org/article194324.html#nb5), the British government created the 77th Brigade, a unit established to counter foreign propaganda.

“The brigade will be made up of warriors who don't just carry weapons, but who are also skilled in using social media such as Twitter and Facebook, and the dark arts of ‘psyops’—psychological operations,” the BBC (http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-31070114) reported last January.

The unit works with British intelligence through MI6 and collaborates with the 361st Civil Affairs Brigade of the US Army. “These military units were used to disrupt Western websites trying to establish the truth… on September 11 [and] the war against Syria,” writes Meyssan.

MI6 is also involved in a European effort to undermine Russian and alternative media. In March 2015, the European Council asked High Representative Federica Mogherini to prepare a plan of "strategic communication" to denounce the disinformation campaigns of Russia about Ukraine.

http://www.newsbud.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/120916_KNPost5.png

The following month, Mogherini created within the European External Action Service a strategic information unit headed by Giles Portman, a British MI6 agent. It provides anti-Russian propaganda to European news services.

Others have called for an outright ban on what European governments consider “fake news” dispensed by Russia and its supposed operatives and dupes. In February 2015, the think tank of the French Socialist Party called for censorship and the French minister of education organized workshops to warn students about supposed conspiracy theories.

The Center for European Policy Analysis, a Washington think tank dedicated to the study of Central and Eastern Europe, also set-up an information warfare unit directed against the Russian Federation.

Its advisory council includes Zbigniew Brzezinski (former national security advisor and virulent Russophobe), Eliot Cohen (Bush era neocon and former adviser to secretary of state Condoleezza Rice), and Madeleine Albright (Clinton administration secretary of state who said killing 500,000 Iraqi children was “worth it”).

Although PropOrNot strives to remain anonymous, it does reveal connections to Modern Russia and its Interpreter Mag and thus, through Voice of America, its association with the CIA. Interpreter Mag is listed under “Related Projects” (http://www.propornot.com/2016/10/introducing-propornot-be-aware-of-and.html) on its website.

PropOrNot also collaborates with Polygraph Fact-Check, a purported fact-checking website produced by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and Voice of America (http://www.polygraph.info/p/5981.html), in other words the CIA.

http://www.newsbud.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/120916_KNPost6.png

Another so-called fact-checking operation is listed, Politifact. It is a project of the Tampa Bay Times and the Poynter Institute and shares a donor with the Clinton Foundation, the Omidyar Network, created by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. He is a major donor of Kiev-based Hromadske TV, “the symbol of the info wars between Moscow and the Western world,” according to Forbes (http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=newssearch&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjF-43DoOXQAhWJllQKHcDaB6cQqQIIGygAMAA&url=http%253A%252F%252Fwww.forbes.com%252Fsites%252Fkenrapoza%252F2016%252F04%252F27%252Flook-who-funds-ukraines-anti-putin-internet-tv%252F&usg=AFQjCNG4i4Dx-pIzoAMfld7PuDIcutvkJg&sig2=ul8BXcV6U70AYQS2K-SCJQ). The effort is also supported by the US State Department, a number of European governments, and NGOs involved in Ukraine prior to and after the US-sponsored coup.

PropOrNot’s connections indicate the website and its effort to take down alternative media is a project initiated by the establishment and likely a psychological operation directed by the CIA either directly or through its circle of private contractors.

The defeat of Hillary Clinton has nothing to do with the effectiveness of Russian propaganda. More accurately, Clinton’s election loss is a direct result of her corruption and deep insider status. The alternative media played an instrumental role in exposing Clinton’s criminality and her penchant for war and mass murder, primarily in Libya and Syria.

The alternative media has done an effective job of exposing the crimes of the elite and its political class and this news coverage did in fact have an impact on the election. Alternative media is a serious threat to the ruling elite. It no longer controls the flow of information and its propaganda is now directly challenged on a daily basis.

The Washington Post and the establishment media have latched on to the ludicrous PropOrNot campaign to denounce alternative media as some sort of nefarious Russian plot to undermine the political system in the United States. Despite this, millions of Americans continue to read alternative news and make their own informed decisions, a trend that has set off alarm bells in the deepest recesses of the establishment.

# # # #

Kurt Nimmo, Newsbud Producer & Author, is a writer, editor, producer and researcher based in New Mexico. His research centers on international geopolitics and national politics in the United States. He is the former lead editor and writer for Infowars and now edits Another Day in The Empire. His most recent books are Donald Trump and the War on Islam and Another Day in the Empire: The Reign of George W. Bush and the Total War Neocons. Visit Kurt Nimmo’s website here (http://anotherdayintheempire.com/)

Hervé

11th December 2016, 20:24

Graphic shows how MSM's fake news strategy was designed to short-circuit Pizzagate (http://themillenniumreport.com/2016/12/google-graphic-proves-how-the-msm-fake-news-strategy-was-implemented-to-short-circuit-pizzagate-scandal/)

The Millenium Report (http://themillenniumreport.com/2016/12/google-graphic-proves-how-the-msm-fake-news-strategy-was-implemented-to-short-circuit-pizzagate-scandal/) Sun, 11 Dec 2016 17:34 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/363235/large/Screen_Shot_2016_12_04_at_5_39.png (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/363235/full/Screen_Shot_2016_12_04_at_5_39.png)

The Google graphic posted above is worth a million words...that essentially constitutes a scathing indictment of the Mainstream Media (MSM).

For those who are not good at reading graphs, may we spell it out for you?

The top RED line shows that the 'Fake News' meme was quite purposefully disseminated throughout the World Wide Web just 2 or 3 days before the PIZZAGATE scandal broke wide open. The bottom BLUE line shows the trending of PIZZAGATE on Google just after 'Fake News' was made to go viral (see how the RED line clearly dominates the BLUE line) In other words the new meme was deliberately planted in stories everywhere across the Internet. Even Obama went to Europe to talk about the "spread of fake news online" when he was in Germany in mid November. (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/18/world/europe/obama-angela-merkel-donald-trump.html)

In other words, the ruling elites, who are literally up to their eyeballs in pizza[GATE], ordered the MSM magnates to blitz the worldwide media with the 'Fake News' narrative just days before PIZZAGATE exploded on the scene. That's how really afraid the Deep State is of PIZZAGATE going supernova.

PIZZAGATE: A Complex and Convoluted Conspiracy at the Highest Echelons of the U.S. Federal Government is Exposed (http://stateofthenation2012.com/?p=58142)

They knew that they had no choice but to go totally ballistic on the Alt Media, as we were getting way too close to the most radioactive truth. After all, just how desperate must the MSM be to call everything that is not mainstream pap and piffle fake news. Talk about reckless, and hubris, and D E S P E R A T E! So desperate they are now carrying out false flag operations in D.C.

False Flag At Comet Ping Pong Pizza Restaurant Predicted By Alt Media (http://stateofthenation2012.com/?p=58937)

This occurred right after Weinergate went prime time, as it was that scandal that provided the grist (read leaked emails) for the global citizen's investigation that is now going on full bore. Thank you, Anthony Weiner!

It Was Weinergate That Broke Open Pizzagate (http://stateofthenation2012.com/?p=56142)

Back to the Golden Google Graphic above. Truly, they don't come any better (read incriminating) than this. Many thanks to our super-sleuth for even thinking of conducting such a brilliant statistical exercise .

It's high time for the PIZZAGATE citizen investigators and journalists to perform more of this outside-the-box research.

Every Citizen Journalist Ought To Investigate And Report On PIZZAGATE (http://stateofthenation2012.com/?p=59052)

Special Note:
It should quite evident to every journalist in the world that the MSM, led by the premier American newspapers of record — The New York Times and The Washington Post — as well as Great Britain's BBC, have taken an ultra-extreme and unparalleled initiative against their competition. Taking such unprecedented action as to call all other news outlets outside of the mainstream 'Fake News' is both shockingly reckless and doomed to fail. However, this unparalleled journalistic misconduct reflects a very deep concern and felt trepidation on the part of the NWO globalists.

They all know that there is NO other scandal in world history more serious than PIZZAGATE. They also know that, were the truth to be widely disseminated on the Internet, TPTB's primary control mechanism will collapse in a day and a night.

Hence, the Global Control Matrix would dissolve, just as the Democratic Party is soon to dissolve because of its deep involvement in PIZZAGATE. (PIZZAGATE: The Scandal That Will Take Down the Clintons, the Democratic Party and the U.S. Federal Government (http://stateofthenation2012.com/?p=56142))

Hervé

11th December 2016, 23:07

And now... for the champion winner of all times in holding the title of fake good news and its good book:

What Does Plato Have To Do With the Bible? The Truth Perspective: (https://www.sott.net/article/336354-The-Truth-Perspective-Interview-with-Russell-Gmirkin-What-Does-Plato-Have-To-Do-With-the-Bible)Interview with Russell Gmirkin (https://www.sott.net/article/336354-The-Truth-Perspective-Interview-with-Russell-Gmirkin-What-Does-Plato-Have-To-Do-With-the-Bible)

Sott.net (https://www.sott.net/article/336354-The-Truth-Perspective-Interview-with-Russell-Gmirkin-What-Does-Plato-Have-To-Do-With-the-Bible#) Sun, 11 Dec 2016 17:00 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/362832/full/9781138684980.jpg

Just how old is the Old Testament?

If Moses didn't write the Pentateuch, who did?

For millennia, people have thought the Hebrew Bible was as old as many of the events it depicts. In recent generations, scholars have thought it was created over a long period of time, with various authors and editors. But the writings in the Hebrew Bible may not be as ancient as we've been led to believe.

On this episode of the Truth Perspective, we'll be interviewing Russell Gmirkin, independent researcher, scholar, and author of two of the most revolutionary books in biblical studies:

Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus: Hellenistic Histories and the Date of the Pentateuch (https://www.amazon.com/Berossus-Genesis-Manetho-Exodus-Hellenistic/dp/0567025926/) (New York-London: T&T Clark, 2006)

Plato and the Creation of the Hebrew Bible (https://www.amazon.com/Creation-Hebrew-Copenhagen-International-Seminar/dp/1138684988/) (London-New York: Routledge, 2016)

Russell's work radically challenges our understanding of the history of the Hebrew Bible. He demonstrates that there is simply no evidence that the Bible existed prior to the time of Alexander the Great (ca. 325 BC). All the evidence indicates that the collection of books we know of as the Hebrew Bible was written around the year 270 BC. And not only that: they relied heavily on Greek literature, particularly Plato's final work: Laws.

Listen in as we discuss how, when, and why the Bible was created.

You can visit Russell's website here: russellgmirkin.com (http://russellgmirkin.com/)

Running Time: 01:56:09

Download: OGG (https://media.sott.net/srn/20161211ttp-interview-with-russell-gmirkin-what-does-plato-have-to-do-with-the-bible.ogg), MP3 (https://media.sott.net/srn/20161211ttp-interview-with-russell-gmirkin-what-does-plato-have-to-do-with-the-bible.mp3)

https://media.sott.net/srn/20161211ttp-interview-with-russell-gmirkin-what-does-plato-have-to-do-with-the-bible.mp3

Listen live, chat, and call in to future shows on the SOTT Radio Network (https://radio.sott.net)!

Well, that gives enough of a paradigm shift to throw the towel in about books...

http://img1.izismile.com/img/img7/20140227/640/people_who_have_literally_thrown_in_the_towel_on_life_640_30.jpg

(http://www.addthis.com/bookmark.php)

Hervé

12th December 2016, 17:26

If you can afford the 2 hours it takes to listen to the above interview, I would recommend you do: worth its weight in gold!

If you do, you may come out with a better understanding of why there is a set of rules for the "rulers/elite" and another, completely different, set of rules for the "populace."

One might also understand what that "NWO" is all about... as well as that all and ever elusive "Experiment" is all about.

Finally, one may also understand why that "pizzagate" cover up is all so important for the elite as it relates to this article: "Athens: Cradle of Pedophilia and Mind Control (http://henrymakow.com/2016/11/athens-cradle-of-pedophilia.html)" which all gets back to Plato and his "bright" experiment.

Also, why that "Fake News" meme is so ironical...

Related blog:
David, an Ideal Greek Hero — and other Military Matters in Ancient Israel (http://vridar.org/2016/11/12/comparing-greek-and-biblical/)

Foxie Loxie

12th December 2016, 23:09

WOW! Herve....thanks for introducing me to where exactly the Bible came from!! The mind control coming down thru' the centuries is still going on today; bigtime!
Since I was raised in it I can see it for what it is; I just never knew about the Plato connection. Amazing! :clapping:

Chester

15th December 2016, 02:04

What They're NOT Telling You About Fake News

xMX4NmCJGm0

Hervé

15th December 2016, 12:42

Civilians making social media pleas from Aleppo actually bloggers with MSM primetime access (VIDEO) (https://www.rt.com/news/370364-anissa-aleppo-twitter-shelling/)

Published time: 15 Dec, 2016 09:27
Edited time: 15 Dec, 2016 12:16
Get short URL (http://on.rt.com/7xrw)

https://cdn.rt.com/files/2016.12/original/58526177c36188566e8b45a1.jpg
© OGN

Social media coming out of Aleppo has gone into overdrive. Well-articulated video pleas alleging near-death snake their way into the mainstream. There’s just one issue: these aren’t civilians, but bloggers and filmmakers – with spots on primetime TV.

And according to the host of RT’s ‘In the Now’, Anissa Naouai, it barely takes an internet search to quickly verify their identities.

The narrative is the same each time: that an all-out genocide is taking place; that the Assad forces are going from city to city killing their own people and taking no prisoners; and that Aleppo’s rebels valiantly look death in the face as they endure alleged Russian bombardment.

RT found nothing to indicate that any of the people appearing in the mobile videos were actual civilians experiencing the hyped 'Russian and Syrian shelling'. Rather, these were everything from bloggers to independent filmmakers who’ve made public commitments to the rebel cause to their thousands of followers on Twitter and elsewhere.

[go to https://www.rt.com/news/370364-anissa-aleppo-twitter-shelling/ to watch the video... worth watching, CC included]

Most recently, CNN interviewed one of them, Bilal Abdul Kareem – a documentary filmmaker and journalist who’s had unprecedented access to the rebels in eastern Aleppo, including their new leader Aby Al Abd, whom he interviewed just three days ago.

Related:
‘When camera gone they leave people under rubble’ – Aleppo residents on Western-backed White Helmets (https://www.rt.com/news/370344-white-helmets-aleppo-residents/)

Hervé

15th December 2016, 17:58

MSM using children in Western information campaign against Syria – RT report (https://www.rt.com/news/370365-aleppo-children-tools-war/)

Published time: 15 Dec, 2016 09:31
Edited time: 15 Dec, 2016 11:52
Get short URL (http://on.rt.com/7xrx)

https://www.rt.com/news/370365-aleppo-children-tools-war/
@AlabedBana / Twitter

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/781885035867766785/qdfYp8Kt_bigger.jpg Bana Alabed Verified account ‏@AlabedBana (https://twitter.com/AlabedBana)

Someone save me now. - Bana #Aleppo (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Aleppo?src=hash)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CyMPu0OXUAEEmKi.jpg

Heartbreaking stories of children in the Aleppo warzone seem to be a useful tool in the mainstream media campaign against Syria and Russia. Bana al-Abed, aged 7, is one such medium – despite questions over her tweets' agenda and who’s really behind them.

Bana’s account, which has been verified by Twitter, was set up three months ago and has since gathered some 300,000 followers, along with global media coverage. The tweets, purportedly written by both Bana and her mother, Fatemah, depict life under siege in eastern Aleppo.

In his report, RT’s Murad Gazdiev asks why Bana’s family is always headed for the hottest spots in besieged Aleppo, instead of evacuating, and why despite the understandably faltering internet connection in the city, Bana’s account was somehow tweeting, and posting videos, almost 24/7.

Related:
Doubts raised over Aleppo girl Bana al-Abed’s Twitter account (https://www.rt.com/viral/369693-bana-alabed-doubts-raised/)

Hervé

15th December 2016, 18:06

Woman who claimed to be attacked by anti-Muslim Trump supporters has been arrested for filing false police report (https://www.rt.com/usa/370388-woman-arrested-lied-trump-attack/)

RT (https://www.rt.com/usa/370388-woman-arrested-lied-trump-attack/)
Thu, 15 Dec 2016 16:52 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/364168/large/585268acc36188566e8b45c3.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/364168/full/585268acc36188566e8b45c3.jpg)
© The Nassau County Police Department / Facebook

Seweid claimed the men yelled "Donald Trump!" as they attacked her.

New York Police arrested a woman who claimed she was the victim of an anti-Muslim attack by men screaming "Donald Trump" after it emerged she had fabricated the entire story.

Student Yasmin Seweid, 18, claimed she was verbally attacked by "three drunk, white men" shouting "Donald Trump" at her during a subway ride on December 1.

"They kept saying, 'You don't belong here, get out of this country, go back to your country,' and finally they came really close and they were like, 'Take that rag off your head,'" Seweid told CBS at the time (http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/12/03/muslim-woman-harassed-on-subway/), adding that one of the men tried to pull off her hijab before she fled.

It's understood that at one point police had been close to finding one of the fabricated attackers, based on a description provided by Seweid. The teen wrote in a now-deleted (http://people.com/crime/muslim-teenager-missing/) Facebook post that she found the incident "dehumanizing" and that she couldn't speak about it "without getting emotional."

Seweid also described how president-elect Donald Trump "just promotes this stuff and is very anti-Muslim, very Islamophobic, and he's just condoning it."

Protests were held at New York's Grand Central station in response to the alleged attack.

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/796340907842895872/88_8rNNj_bigger.jpg Brad Lander ‏@bradlander (https://twitter.com/bradlander)

Right now: BK residents saying #NotInOurCity (https://twitter.com/hashtag/NotInOurCity?src=hash) at Grand Central to respond to attack on Yasmin Seweid. We must stand up to hate together.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cy29PnhW8AE_qcX.jpg

Days after the alleged attack Seweid was reported missing by her parents before being found safely two days later.

Police confirmed on Wednesday that the story had been fabricated by Seweid and she had been arrested on charges of filing a false police report and obstructing government administration.

Seweid broke down on Wednesday admitting the attack did not happen after police failed to find any witnesses or security video footage to back up her allegations, reported (http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/muslim-woman-reported-trump-supporter-attack-made-story-article-1.2910944) New York Daily News.

"Nothing happened, and there was no victim," a police source told the newspaper, claiming she made up the story to avoid getting into trouble for breaking her curfew and drinking.

Speaking to reporters her father said he had "no idea" why she made up the story. "She's the one that can speak for herself," he said.

She appeared in court late on Wednesday night with her head shaved for her arraignment. If found guilty Seweid could face up to one year in jail for each charge.

Hervé

15th December 2016, 18:45

Does the media lie? 91% of French respondents say yes in a Twitter poll (https://www.rt.com/news/370430-france-media-lies-rt/)

RT (https://www.rt.com/news/370430-france-media-lies-rt/)
Thu, 15 Dec 2016 17:48 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/364200/large/585297a4c461883c668b4586.jpg
© KENZO TRIBOUILLARD / AFP A camera bearing the French television channel "BFMTV" logo in Paris.

A French journalist created a stir on Twitter after launching an open poll which asks if people think the media lies. At least 91 percent of the respondents said 'yes,' adding that the media hides information, and even comparing journalism to prostitution.

The poll was launched by French journalist Jean-Jacques Bourdin, editor-in-chief of RMC radio, earlier in December. He asked one simple question: "Does the media lie to you? Vote."

Almost 8,000 people answered, and on Tuesday, Bourdin unveiled the final results, with 91 percent of the respondents saying, "Yes, the media lies to us."

"Media are partisan and distribute biased information," one person wrote under Bourdin's post.

"Media lie to us regularly but over time we learned to sort out truth and falsehood," another person said.

People accused the media of manipulating the opinions of the public and spinning the news.

"The media no longer have an information role but [a role of] opinion makers," added one more person.

Some were even more outspoken than that.

"Journalist at the scene is like a prostitute at her place of work," one wrote.

"Take off your pantaloons, you will be journalists at TF1, BFMTV, iTELE, Canal+," another said (https://twitter.com/jesigne3/status/808615262220091396?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw), with a somewhat explicit visual accompanying the comment.

Of course, Bourdin, being a journalist, was no better in the public eye.

"You are the first to lie,""Bournin is not an exception," angry people wrote.

The good news is that one media outlet can be trusted after all, and it's RT! Well... at least according to one of the respondents.

"Here is the truth," the person wrote, adding a link to an RT YouTube video picturing a Canadian journalist who has recently made headlines after blasting MSM Syria coverage at the UN.

58% say Assad should stay in power - Figaro poll

At least 58 percent of respondents in a poll by the French paper Le Figaro said (http://www.lefigaro.fr/actualites/2016/12/13/01001-20161213QCMWWW00108-souhaitez-vous-que-bachar-el-assad-reste-a-la-tete-de-la-syrie.php)that Syrian President Bashar Assad should stay in power.

The Wednesday poll asked: "Would you like Bashar Assad to remain in the lead of Syria?"

About 90,000 people took part in the survey.

The fate of Assad remains a stumbling block for international peace talks on Syria. The US and its allies, including Saudi Arabia, repeatedly say the Syrian president, whose term expires in 2021, must resign as a precondition for any settlement.

Rocky_Shorz

15th December 2016, 18:50

Well it would be nice if we could ask all Muslims to step forward proud they have done what Mohammad asked and spread his faith and peace to every corner of the earth...

I see the ones who are left as Islamist who believe they were told to conquer the world erasing all other religions...

How do Muslims share with Islamist, they are winners already...

Now it is time to heal from 1400 years of fighting...

TargeT

15th December 2016, 19:27

I see the ones who are left as Islamist who believe they were told to conquer the world erasing all other religions...
.

Muslims follow the Quran, the 2nd half of the Quran is very very violent and bloody and "open ended" (not confined to historical context).

The Quran contains at least 109 verses that call Muslims to war with nonbelievers for the sake of Islamic rule.. Some are quite graphic, with commands to chop off heads and fingers and kill infidels wherever they may be hiding. Muslims who do not join the fight are called 'hypocrites' and warned that Allah will send them to Hell if they do not join the slaughter.Unlike nearly all of the Old Testament verses of violence, the verses of violence in the Quran are mostly open-ended, meaning that they are not restrained by historical context contained in the surrounding text (although many Muslims choose to think of them that way). They are part of the eternal, unchanging word of Allah, and just as relevant or subject to interpretation as anything else in the Quran.

The context of violent passages is more ambiguous than might be expected of a perfect book from a loving God. Most contemporary Muslims exercise a personal choice to interpret their holy book's call to arms according to their own moral preconceptions about justifiable violence. Their apologists cater to these preferences with tenuous arguments that gloss over historical fact and generally do not stand up to scrutiny. Still, it is important to note that the problem is not bad people, but bad ideology.

Unfortunately, there are very few verses of tolerance and peace to balance out the many that call for nonbelievers to be fought and subdued until they either accept humiliation, convert to Islam, or are killed. Muhammad's own martial legacy, along with the remarkable stress on violence found in the Quran, have produced a trail of blood and tears across world history.
Quran
Quran (2:191-193) - "And kill them wherever you find them, and turn them out from where they have turned you out. And Al-Fitnah [disbelief or unrest] is worse than killing... but if they desist, then lo! Allah is forgiving and merciful. And fight them until there is no more Fitnah [disbelief and worshipping of others along with Allah] and worship is for Allah alone. But if they cease, let there be no transgression except against Az-Zalimun(the polytheists, and wrong-doers, etc.)" (Translation is from the Noble Quran) The verse prior to this (190) refers to "fighting for the cause of Allah those who fight you" leading some to claim that the entire passage refers to a defensive war in which Muslims are defending their homes and families. The historical context of this passage is not defensive warfare, however, since Muhammad and his Muslims had just relocated to Medina and were not under attack by their Meccan adversaries. In fact, the verses urge offensive warfare, in that Muslims are to drive Meccans out of their own city (which they later did). Verse 190 thus means to fight those who offer resistance to Allah's rule (ie. Muslim conquest). The use of the word "persecution" by some Muslim translators is disingenuous - the actual Arabic words for persecution (idtihad) - and oppression (a variation of "z-l-m") do not appear in the verse. The word used instead, "fitna", can mean disbelief, or the disorder that results from unbelief or temptation. This is certainly what is meant in this context since the violence is explicitly commissioned "until religion is for Allah" - ie. unbelievers desist in their unbelief.

Quran (2:244) - "Then fight in the cause of Allah, and know that Allah Heareth and knoweth all things."

Quran (2:216) - "Fighting is prescribed for you, and ye dislike it. But it is possible that ye dislike a thing which is good for you, and that ye love a thing which is bad for you. But Allah knoweth, and ye know not." Not only does this verse establish that violence can be virtuous, but it also contradicts the myth that fighting is intended only in self-defense, since the audience was obviously not under attack at the time. From the Hadith, we know that this verse was narrated at a time that Muhammad was actually trying to motivate his people into raiding merchant caravans for loot.

Quran (3:56) - "As to those who reject faith, I will punish them with terrible agony in this world and in the Hereafter, nor will they have anyone to help."

Quran (3:151) - "Soon shall We cast terror into the hearts of the Unbelievers, for that they joined companions with Allah, for which He had sent no authority". This speaks directly of polytheists, yet it also includes Christians, since they believe in the Trinity (ie. what Muhammad incorrectly believed to be 'joining companions to Allah').

Quran (4:74) - "Let those fight in the way of Allah who sell the life of this world for the other. Whoso fighteth in the way of Allah, be he slain or be he victorious, on him We shall bestow a vast reward." The martyrs of Islam are unlike the early Christians, who were led meekly to the slaughter. These Muslims are killed in battle as they attempt to inflict death and destruction for the cause of Allah. This is the theological basis for today's suicide bombers.

Quran (4:76) - "Those who believe fight in the cause of Allah…"

Quran (4:89) - "They but wish that ye should reject Faith, as they do, and thus be on the same footing (as they): But take not friends from their ranks until they flee in the way of Allah (From what is forbidden). But if they turn renegades, seize them and slay them wherever ye find them; and (in any case) take no friends or helpers from their ranks."

Quran (4:95) - "Not equal are those of the believers who sit (at home), except those who are disabled (by injury or are blind or lame, etc.), and those who strive hard and fight in the Cause of Allah with their wealth and their lives. Allah has preferred in grades those who strive hard and fight with their wealth and their lives above those who sit (at home).Unto each, Allah has promised good (Paradise), but Allah has preferred those who strive hard and fight, above those who sit (at home) by a huge reward " This passage criticizes "peaceful" Muslims who do not join in the violence, letting them know that they are less worthy in Allah's eyes. It also demolishes the modern myth that "Jihad" doesn't mean holy war in the Quran, but rather a spiritual struggle. Not only is this Arabic word (mujahiduna) used in this passage, but it is clearly not referring to anything spiritual, since the physically disabled are given exemption. (The Hadith reveals the context of the passage to be in response to a blind man's protest that he is unable to engage in Jihad, which would not make sense if it meant an internal struggle).

Quran (4:104) - "And be not weak hearted in pursuit of the enemy; if you suffer pain, then surely they (too) suffer pain as you suffer pain..." Is pursuing an injured and retreating enemy really an act of self-defense?

Quran (5:33) - "The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His messenger and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement"

Quran (8:12) - "I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them" No reasonable person would interpret this to mean a spiritual struggle. The targets of violence are "those who disbelieve" - further defined in the next verse (13) as "defy and disobey Allah." Nothing is said about self-defense. In fact, the verses in sura 8 were narrated shortly after a battle provoked by Muhammad, who had been trying to attack a lightly-armed caravan to steal goods belonging to other people.

Quran (8:15) - "O ye who believe! When ye meet those who disbelieve in battle, turn not your backs to them. (16)Whoso on that day turneth his back to them, unless maneuvering for battle or intent to join a company, he truly hath incurred wrath from Allah, and his habitation will be hell, a hapless journey's end."

Quran (8:39) - "And fight with them until there is no more fitna (disorder, unbelief) and religion is all for Allah" Some translations interpret "fitna" as "persecution", but the traditional understanding of this word is not supported by the historical context (See notes for 2:193). The Meccans were simply refusing Muhammad access to their city during Haj. Other Muslims were allowed to travel there - just not as an armed group, since Muhammad had declared war on Mecca prior to his eviction. The Meccans were also acting in defense of their religion, since it was Muhammad's intention to destroy their idols and establish Islam by force (which he later did). Hence the critical part of this verse is to fight until "religion is only for Allah", meaning that the true justification of violence was the unbelief of the opposition. According to the Sira (Ibn Ishaq/Hisham 324) Muhammad further explains that "Allah must have no rivals."

Quran (8:57) - "If thou comest on them in the war, deal with them so as to strike fear in those who are behind them, that haply they may remember."

Quran (8:67) - "It is not for a Prophet that he should have prisoners of war until he had made a great slaughter in the land..."

Quran (8:59-60) - "And let not those who disbelieve suppose that they can outstrip (Allah's Purpose). Lo! they cannot escape. Make ready for them all thou canst of (armed) force and of horses tethered, that thereby ye may dismay the enemy of Allah and your enemy."

Quran (8:65) - "O Prophet, exhort the believers to fight..."

Quran (9:5) - "So when the sacred months have passed away, then slay the idolaters wherever you find them, and take them captive and besiege them and lie in wait for them in every ambush, then if they repent and keep up prayer and pay the poor-rate, leave their way free to them." According to this verse, the best way of staying safe from Muslim violence at the time of Muhammad was to convert to Islam: prayer (salat) and the poor tax (zakat) are among the religion's Five Pillars. The popular claim that the Quran only inspires violence within the context of self-defense is seriously challenged by this passage as well, since the Muslims to whom it was written were obviously not under attack. Had they been, then there would have been no waiting period (earlier verses make it a duty for Muslims to fight in self-defense, even during the sacred months). The historical context is Mecca after the idolaters were subjugated by Muhammad and posed no threat. Once the Muslims had power, they violently evicted those unbelievers who would not convert.

[Note: The verse says to fight unbelievers "wherever you find them". Even if the context is in a time of battle (which it was not) the reading appears to sanction attacks against those "unbelievers" who are not on the battlefield. In 2016, the Islamic State referred to this verse in urging the faithful to commit terror attacks: Allah did not only command the 'fighting' of disbelievers, as if to say He only wants us to conduct frontline operations against them. Rather, He has also ordered that they be slain wherever they may be – on or off the battlefield. (source)]

Quran (9:14) - "Fight against them so that Allah will punish them by your hands and disgrace them and give you victory over them and heal the breasts of a believing people." Humiliating and hurting non-believers not only has the blessing of Allah, but it is ordered as a means of carrying out his punishment and even "healing" the hearts of Muslims.

Quran (9:20) - "Those who believe, and have left their homes and striven with their wealth and their lives in Allah's way are of much greater worth in Allah's sight. These are they who are triumphant." The Arabic word interpreted as "striving" in this verse is the same root as "Jihad". The context is obviously holy war.

Quran (9:29) - "Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued." "People of the Book" refers to Christians and Jews. According to this verse, they are to be violently subjugated, with the sole justification being their religious status. Verse 9:33 tells Muslims that Allah has charted them to make Islam "superior over all religions." This chapter was one of the final "revelations" from Allah and it set in motion the tenacious military expansion, in which Muhammad's companions managed to conquer two-thirds of the Christian world in the next 100 years. Islam is intended to dominate all other people and faiths.

Quran (9:30) - "And the Jews say: Ezra is the son of Allah; and the Christians say: The Messiah is the son of Allah; these are the words of their mouths; they imitate the saying of those who disbelieved before; may Allah destroy them; how they are turned away!"

Quran (9:38-39) - "O ye who believe! what is the matter with you, that, when ye are asked to go forth in the cause of Allah, ye cling heavily to the earth? Do ye prefer the life of this world to the Hereafter? But little is the comfort of this life, as compared with the Hereafter. Unless ye go forth, He will punish you with a grievous penalty, and put others in your place." This is a warning to those who refuse to fight, that they will be punished with Hell.

Quran (9:41) - "Go forth, light-armed and heavy-armed, and strive with your wealth and your lives in the way of Allah! That is best for you if ye but knew." See also the verse that follows (9:42) - "If there had been immediate gain (in sight), and the journey easy, they would (all) without doubt have followed thee, but the distance was long, (and weighed) on them" This contradicts the myth that Muslims are to fight only in self-defense, since the wording implies that battle will be waged a long distance from home (in another country and on Christian soil, in this case, according to the historians).

Quran (9:73) - "O Prophet! strive hard against the unbelievers and the hypocrites and be unyielding to them; and their abode is hell, and evil is the destination." Dehumanizing those who reject Islam, by reminding Muslims that unbelievers are merely firewood for Hell, makes it easier to justify slaughter. It also explains why today's devout Muslims have little regard for those outside the faith.

Quran (9:88) - "But the Messenger, and those who believe with him, strive and fight with their wealth and their persons: for them are (all) good things: and it is they who will prosper."

Quran (9:111) - "Allah hath purchased of the believers their persons and their goods; for theirs (in return) is the garden (of Paradise): they fight in His cause, and slay and are slain: a promise binding on Him in truth, through the Law, the Gospel, and the Quran: and who is more faithful to his covenant than Allah? then rejoice in the bargain which ye have concluded: that is the achievement supreme." How does the Quran define a true believer?

Quran (9:123) - "O you who believe! fight those of the unbelievers who are near to you and let them find in you hardness."

Quran (17:16) - "And when We wish to destroy a town, We send Our commandment to the people of it who lead easy lives, but they transgress therein; thus the word proves true against it, so We destroy it with utter destruction." Note that the crime is moral transgression, and the punishment is "utter destruction." (Before ordering the 9/11 attacks, Osama bin Laden first issued Americans an invitation to Islam).

Quran (18:65-81) - This parable lays the theological groundwork for honor killings, in which a family member is murdered because they brought shame to the family, either through apostasy or perceived moral indiscretion. The story (which is not found in any Jewish or Christian source) tells of Moses encountering a man with "special knowledge" who does things which don't seem to make sense on the surface, but are then justified according to later explanation. One such action is to murder a youth for no apparent reason (74). However, the wise man later explains that it was feared that the boy would "grieve" his parents by "disobedience and ingratitude." He was killed so that Allah could provide them a 'better' son. [Note: This parable along with verse 58:22 is a major reason that honor killing is sanctioned by Sharia. Reliance of the Traveler (Umdat al-Saliq) says that punishment for murder is not applicable when a parent or grandparent kills their offspring (o.1.12).]

Quran (21:44) - "We gave the good things of this life to these men and their fathers until the period grew long for them; See they not that We gradually reduce the land (in their control) from its outlying borders? Is it then they who will win?"

Quran (25:52) - "Therefore listen not to the Unbelievers, but strive against them with the utmost strenuousness..." "Strive against" is Jihad - obviously not in the personal context. It's also significant to point out that this is a Meccan verse.

Quran (33:60-62) - "If the hypocrites, and those in whose hearts is a disease, and the alarmists in the city do not cease, We verily shall urge thee on against them, then they will be your neighbors in it but a little while. Accursed, they will be seized wherever found and slain with a (fierce) slaughter." This passage sanctions the slaughter (rendered "merciless" and "horrible murder" in other translations) against three groups: Hypocrites (Muslims who refuse to "fight in the way of Allah" (3:167) and hence don't act as Muslims should), those with "diseased hearts" (which include Jews and Christians 5:51-52), and "alarmists" or "agitators who include those who merely speak out against Islam, according to Muhammad's biographers. It is worth noting that the victims are to be sought out by Muslims, which is what today's terrorists do. If this passage is meant merely to apply to the city of Medina, then it is unclear why it is included in Allah's eternal word to Muslim generations.

Quran (47:3-4) - "Those who disbelieve follow falsehood, while those who believe follow the truth from their Lord... So, when you meet (in fight Jihad in Allah's Cause), those who disbelieve smite at their necks till when you have killed and wounded many of them, then bind a bond firmly (on them, i.e. take them as captives)... If it had been Allah's Will, He Himself could certainly have punished them (without you). But (He lets you fight), in order to test you, some with others. But those who are killed in the Way of Allah, He will never let their deeds be lost." Those who reject Allah are to be killed in Jihad. The wounded are to be held captive for ransom. The only reason Allah doesn't do the dirty work himself is to to test the faithfulness of Muslims. Those who kill pass the test.

Quran (47:35) - "Be not weary and faint-hearted, crying for peace, when ye should be uppermost (Shakir: "have the upper hand") for Allah is with you,"

Quran (48:17) - "There is no blame for the blind, nor is there blame for the lame, nor is there blame for the sick (that they go not forth to war). And whoso obeyeth Allah and His messenger, He will make him enter Gardens underneath which rivers flow; and whoso turneth back, him will He punish with a painful doom." Contemporary apologists sometimes claim that Jihad means 'spiritual struggle.' Is so, then why are the blind, lame and sick exempted? This verse also says that those who do not fight will suffer torment in hell.

Quran (48:29) - "Muhammad is the messenger of Allah. And those with him are hard (ruthless) against the disbelievers and merciful among themselves" Islam is not about treating everyone equally. This verse tells Muslims that there are two very distinct standards that are applied based on religious status. Also the word used for 'hard' or 'ruthless' in this verse shares the same root as the word translated as 'painful' or severe' to describe Hell in over 25 other verses including 65:10, 40:46 and 50:26..

Quran (61:4) - "Surely Allah loves those who fight in His cause" Religion of Peace, indeed! The verse explicitly refers to "rows" or "battle array," meaning that it is speaking of physical conflict. This is followed by (61:9), which defines the "cause": "He it is who has sent His Messenger (Mohammed) with guidance and the religion of truth (Islam) to make it victorious over all religions even though the infidels may resist." (See next verse, below). Infidels who resist Islamic rule are to be fought.

Quran (61:10-12) - "O You who believe! Shall I guide you to a commerce that will save you from a painful torment. That you believe in Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad), and that you strive hard and fight in the Cause of Allah with your wealth and your lives, that will be better for you, if you but know! (If you do so) He will forgive you your sins, and admit you into Gardens under which rivers flow, and pleasant dwelling in Gardens of'Adn- Eternity ['Adn(Edn) Paradise], that is indeed the great success." This verse refers to physical battle in order to make Islam victorious over other religions (see verse 9). It uses the Arabic root for the word Jihad.

Quran (66:9) - "O Prophet! Strive against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be stern with them. Hell will be their home, a hapless journey's end." The root word of "Jihad" is used again here. The context is clearly holy war, and the scope of violence is broadened to include "hypocrites" - those who call themselves Muslims but do not act as such. Other verses calling Muslims to Jihad can be found here at AnsweringIslam.org

http://www.thereligionofpeace.com/pages/quran/violence.aspx

greybeard

15th December 2016, 19:59

The Old Testament of the Bible is not all honey and roses either.
However the message of Jesus was entirely different.

Chris

Hervé

15th December 2016, 21:04

Russian Hacking? Not likely: DNC docs were leaked, not hacked, intelligence veterans say (https://www.rt.com/usa/370447-russia-hack-intelligence-dissent/)

RT (https://www.rt.com/usa/370447-russia-hack-intelligence-dissent/)
Thu, 15 Dec 2016 18:31 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/364247/large/worker_at_NSA.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/364247/full/worker_at_NSA.jpg)
© Jason Reed / Reuters A worker at the National Security Agency (NSA) sits at her computer terminal in the Threat Operations Center.

Anonymous allegations that Russian government hackers interfered with the US elections are "evidence-free," several retired intelligence professionals argued in an open letter. Any hack would have been noticed by the NSA, which has stayed silent, they say.

Last Friday, the New York Times and the Washington Post cited anonymous sources claiming the CIA believed Russia was behind hackers who exposed emails and documents from the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and Hillary Clinton's campaign chair John Podesta, with the intent of aiding the campaign of Donald Trump. Several Democratic senators have called for a special investigation into the allegations, while Trump dismissed it (https://www.rt.com/usa/370055-trump-cia-conspiracy-theory/) as a "conspiracy theory."

"Reading our short memo could save the Senate from endemic partisanship, expense and unnecessary delay," wrote the former CIA and NSA spies, part of the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (http://www.commondreams.org/views/2016/12/15/us-intel-vets-dispute-russia-hacking-claims) (VIPS), adding that "harder evidence of a technical nature points to an inside leak, not hacking - by Russians or anyone else."

A hack, the group explained, is when someone remotely enters a computer system and extracts data. Any such attempt, however, would have been detected by the NSA.

"Thanks largely to the material released by Edward Snowden, we can provide a full picture of NSA's extensive domestic data-collection network including Upstream programs like Fairview, Stormbrew and Blarney," they wrote. This gives the agency "unparalleled access to data" being transmitted both inside and outside the US.

Pointing out that the statements by anonymous intelligence officials contain equivocating phrases such as "our best guess" or "our opinion" or "our estimate," the veterans argued that the NSA has not produced evidence of hacking. Such evidence can be easily produced "without any danger to sources or methods," they added.

"In sum, given what we know of NSA's existing capabilities, it beggars belief that NSA would be unable to identify anyone - Russian or not - attempting to interfere in a US election by hacking," the group wrote, drawing the conclusion that servers allegedly hacked "were, in fact, not hacked" and that the emails disclosed by WikiLeaks and other sites were leaked.

In one example of such equivocating, three anonymous officials from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) told Reuters on Monday that their agency did not dispute the CIA's reported opinions, yet it would not accept them either.

Clinton, who was considered to be a hands-down favorite to win the election, lost the Electoral College vote to Trump, garnering only 232 electors to his 306. The electors are scheduled to assemble on December 19 and formally cast their votes. However, a number of Democratic electors have requested an intelligence briefing concerning the accusations of "Russian hacking."

With the CIA depending on NSA for communications intelligence, "it remains something of a mystery why the media is being fed strange stories about hacking that have no basis in fact," the veteran intelligence officials wrote.

The letter was signed by retired NSA technical director and whistleblower William Binney, former Senator and counterintelligence agent Mike Gravel, former CIA intelligence officer Larry Johnson, former CIA and military intelligence analyst Ray McGovern, retired CIA intelligence officer Elizabeth Murray, and former NSA SIGINT analyst Kirk Wiebe.

Hervé

17th December 2016, 15:05

FB’s new ‘Ministry of Truth’? Controversial 3rd party outlets among those to filter out ‘fake news’ (https://www.rt.com/usa/370472-facebook-fake-news-fact-checkers/)

Published time: 16 Dec, 2016 04:33Edited time: 17 Dec, 2016 09:26
Get short URL (http://on.rt.com/7xuw)

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/360508/large/15211712_1503367453025198_3062.jpg

Facebook’s News Feed will defer to third parties such as ABC and Washington Post to more closely police for hoaxes and fake news posts, but there are no Russian companies among the fact-checkers, that include two Ukrainian groups, one of which is hardline Russophobic.

The preliminary list of fact-checkers published (http://www.poynter.org/fact-checkers-code-of-principles/) online includes news corporations and agencies such as AP, ABC News, and the Washington Post, as well as some controversial choices such as VoxUkraine.

And the list isn’t going to be updated anytime soon, a statement said.

[...]

Full article: https://www.rt.com/usa/370472-facebook-fake-news-fact-checkers/

Hervé

17th December 2016, 21:00

Syrian activist believes Aleppo Twitter girl Bana is the 'ultimate propaganda stunt' (https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201612161048599179-aleppo-bana-twitter/)

Sputnik (https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201612161048599179-aleppo-bana-twitter/) Sat, 17 Dec 2016 19:46 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/364693/large/1048648801.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/364693/full/1048648801.jpg)
© AFP 2016/ Thaer Mohammed - Syrian Bana al-Abed is filmed by her mother as they prepare to post on Twitter in English about life in the besieged eastern districts of Syria's Aleppo, on October 12, 2016

A Syrian activist Maytham Al Ashkar contacted the 7-year-old Twitter star, Bana Alabed, on November 27, offering to evacuate her family from eastern Aleppo. After a month, someone who identified herself as Bana's mother responded. "What happened after, convinced me that Bana's account is the ultimate propaganda stunt," Maytham told Sputnik.

Bana's account, designated by Twitter as "verified", was set up three months ago, and has since gathered over 310,000 followers. The tweets, written by both Bana and her mother, Fatemah, who says she taught her daughter to speak English, depict life under siege in east Aleppo.

Bana Alabed Verified account ‏@AlabedBana (https://twitter.com/AlabedBana)

Good afternoon from #Aleppo (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Aleppo?src=hash) I'm reading to forget the war.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CtRskvoW8AA60AB.jpg
Many have called the authenticity of the account into question, pointing to videos where Bana appears to be reading from a prompt. It is also unclear whether Bana's posts are genuine, since any user, anywhere in the world can post from the account, as long as they have the password.

AFP Photo Department Verified account ‏@AFPphoto (https://twitter.com/AFPphoto)

#syria (https://twitter.com/hashtag/syria?src=hash) Bana al-Abed is filmed by her mother as they prepare to post on Twitter about life in #Aleppo (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Aleppo?src=hash) on October 12 #AFP (https://twitter.com/hashtag/AFP?src=hash) by @THAER__MOHAMEED (https://twitter.com/THAER__MOHAMEED)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CzAVJoDXgAQBV34.jpg
Due to extensive media coverage, Bana became a sort of Syrian war icon and was even called "Aleppo's Anne Frank."

Pro-government activist Maytham Al Ashkar is originally from Al-Zahraa in northern Syria, currently in Beirut, but often traveling to Damascus and Aleppo. He offered to help evacuate Bana and her family, contacting Bana's Twitter account on November 27.

At the end of the day you are civilians. You are our people. We care for you," Maytham said in his message.

On December 12, Maytham was contacted by a Twitter user in Arabic, who asked him if the offer to help Bana's family still stands. Once Maytham confirmed his proposal, the user told Maytham he would next be contacted by Bana herself. "This person was contacted by Bana, who told him she wanted my offer. Once he got my approval, Bana (the account) contacted me directly," Maytham explains. "When I got contacted by Bana's account, I started to chat in Arabic since we are all Syrians and Arabic is our mother tongue. However, it was obvious that the person behind the account preferred English as a language of communication."

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/364694/large/1048606050.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/364694/full/1048606050.jpg)
© Maytham Al Ashkar Twitter conversation between Maytham Al Ashkar and al-Abed's account.

According to media reports, Bana's father, Ghassan works for the "legal department of the local council" and her mother, Fatemah, is a teacher.

Ali ‏@Ali_Kourani (https://twitter.com/Ali_Kourani) Nov 28 (https://twitter.com/Ali_Kourani/status/803346365870964736)
Hey @AlabedBana (https://twitter.com/AlabedBana) can you ask your dad why he's friends with jihadists from Jabhat Nusra and Ahrar Sham?

Ali ‏@Ali_Kourani (https://twitter.com/Ali_Kourani)
How do you overcome getting blocked by a 7 year old with fibre optic broadband and perfect English in forlorn Aleppo
However, it seems lack of Arabic on the part of Bana's mother is just as unlikely as Bana's flawless English.

"According to the media, Bana's mother studied law. This means that she has studied the Syrian curriculum for 12 years, which is all in Arabic, plus 4 years at university, where all the subjects are taught in Arabic," Maytham told Sputnik. Maytham got hold of the city authorities and the Syrian Army to facilitate Bana's evacuation from Aleppo. "Everything was set for their evacuation, and the governor of Aleppo was following up with me personally," Maytham told Sputnik.

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/364697/large/1048646648.png (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/364697/full/1048646648.png)
© Maytham Al Ashkar

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/364698/large/1048646726.png (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/364698/full/1048646726.png)
© Maytham Al Ashkar

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/364699/large/1048646860.png (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/364699/full/1048646860.png)
© Maytham Al Ashkar

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/364700/large/1048643738.png (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/364700/full/1048643738.png)
© Maytham Al Ashkar

"The Syrian authorities even agreed to settle the legal status of the father who happens to be a member of al-Safwa Islamic Brigade. The Syrian authorities too agreed to evacuate them from eastern Aleppo to any destination of their choice even out of Syria."

"I even invited all the media to contact me or the governor so the made could cover the evacuation which is an excellent guarantee to ensure that no one will hurt her."

In the end, having complained that Maytham was "rushing" her, Bana refused the offer. "The one who contacted me via that account was not scared," said Maytham. Who is Behind Bana's Account? "There is no such a thing as Bana's tweets. The girl is just a face, a tool used by the British intelligence, and I am saying British, because of the strong relationship between the Bana's account and the White Helmets, who are funded and sponsored by the UK," Maytham argues.

[B]Bana Alabed ‏@AlabedBana (https://twitter.com/AlabedBana) Dec 4 (https://twitter.com/AlabedBana/status/805481415458623489)
We are sure the army is capturing us now. We will see each other another day dear world. Bye.- Fatemah #Aleppo (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Aleppo?src=hash)

Staatenlos.info ‏@kommission_146 (https://twitter.com/kommission_146) Dec 4 (https://twitter.com/kommission_146/status/805483018068590592)
@AlabedBana (https://twitter.com/AlabedBana) Dear banana , why is your twitter account registered in the UK and why are you banning ppl for asking this?

Pinsnowes11 ‏@Pinsnowes11 (https://twitter.com/Pinsnowes11) Dec 4 (https://twitter.com/Pinsnowes11/status/805484658356088834)
@kommission_146 (https://twitter.com/kommission_146) @AlabedBana (https://twitter.com/AlabedBana) where do you can see that?

Staatenlos.info ‏@kommission_146 (https://twitter.com/kommission_146)

@Pinsnowes11 (https://twitter.com/Pinsnowes11) @AlabedBana (https://twitter.com/AlabedBana) Some dude read out the metadata of her account, asked the same question and got banned

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Cy2o0IiXcAAsRdL.jpg:small
"I believe that the girl was in Aleppo, but not anymore. Her role was to take same photos and videos, and once that was done she left."

Another question is why would Bana's account approach a pro-government activist? "I believe that this account approached me to prove me as a liar. They thought that I was not serious, so they wanted to present me as a "regime propagandist" liar. I tweeted my offer to Bana a month ago and may be they wanted to drag me into threatening them or saying something inappropriate to be used against the Syrian authorities". "To their surprise, I was not lying. I genuinely tried to help a child who is being used and abused, and the Syrian authorities were more than cooperative!" Maytham concludes.

Hervé

18th December 2016, 13:11

A reprint from:

[...]

On Scaremongering and The Importance of Keeping the Real Agenda From the Masses — by Russell O’Phobe
(http://www.theblogmire.com/on-scaremongering-and-the-importance-of-keeping-the-real-agenda-from-the-masses-by-russell-ophobe/)
November 6, 2015 (http://www.theblogmire.com/on-scaremongering-and-the-importance-of-keeping-the-real-agenda-from-the-masses-by-russell-ophobe/) Rob Slane (http://www.theblogmire.com/author/)

From Russell O’Phobe to all journalists working on Russia-related stories in the media

Dear Friends & Colleagues,

I want to begin this missive by pointing to some of the success stories that we have seen over the past few weeks, before going on to issue what I believe is a necessary warning about some of the challenges that lie ahead.

I must say that it has been particularly pleasing for me personally to see many of the rules I set out for you in my Primer on the Art of Writing Russian Scare Stories (http://www.theblogmire.com/a-media-primer-on-the-art-of-writing-russian-scare-stories/) and in my last letter (http://www.theblogmire.com/reclaiming-the-media-narrative-after-russian-intervention-in-syria-by-russell-ophobe/) being followed so judiciously by so many of you. The exercise was clearly valuable and it seems that many of the points I made have been thoroughly imbibed. That is to your credit.

Let me draw your attention to one such example, which I think we can all learn from. The Huffington Post recently ran a wonderful piece entitled “What Would Happen If Russia Cut The Transatlantic Data Cables? (http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/11/02/what-would-happen-if-russia-cut-the-transatlantic-data-cables_n_8450116.html)”

Now that’s a great start, is it not? Fear? Check! Disturbing question ungrounded in anything resembling reality? Check! Presupposing that the Russians are so unutterably sinister that they want to shut down the internet? Check! The perfect headline to start a scare story.

The piece itself was a masterpiece in the art. I urged you in my Primer to make good use of submarines in your articles — gives them a very Cold War feel — and I also went on to encourage the use of phrases such as “Fears are growing that…”. Well HuffPo really exceeded all my expectations of the sort of thing we can conjure up if we put our minds to it. Here’s an excerpt:

“Recent reports have suggested that deep beneath the ocean, something ominous is taking place. According to sources inside the US intelligence community there is an increased fear that Russia could have the power to take down the world’s internet…Some have even postured that these deep sea cloak and dagger manoeuvres could be the start of a ‘new Cold War’”. Got that? Recent reports! From where? Doesn’t say. Why not? Doesn’t need to! Are they credible? Who cares! You see how it works? Try making something up off the top of your head — say, Russians have developed technology that can cause mental illnesses at targeted people groups — and then all you have to do is refer to some other “reports” add a few spicy phrases like “cloak and dagger manoeuvres” or “sinister movements” into the mix, and you’ve got your story.

So how about: “Disturbing reports have suggested that deep within Kholat Syakhl — Mountain of the Dead — Russia under Vladimir Putin has for years been developing ‘WMD’s – Weapons of Mass Depression’. These weapons, can apparently cause mass depression amongst Westerners at a range of up to 1,500 km. It is thought that this might explain the increasing prevalence of depression and possibly even dementia in the West. According to sources inside the US intelligence community blah blah blah.” Job done.

But back to that business of cutting internet cables. I have to say we did have a chuckle in our office about that, since the obvious answer to the question of what would happen if Russia cut the transatlantic data cables is that they’d be cutting their nose to spite their face, as we’d at last be able to get our narrative out there unchallenged by all those pesky citizen sites that irritatingly keep on questioning what we write. Come to think of it, that’s not a bad idea, you know. Cut the cables. Blame it on the Russkies. And no wretched internet around for anyone to challenge the narrative! Must remember to run that by the chaps up at GCHQ.

On the theme of telecommunications — and by the way it’s always good practice to try to get a “Barbaric Russians interfering with modern technology” meme going in your pieces — there was another issue which I think is a wonderful demonstration not only of what we can do, but also of what we can get away with. You may or may not recall the hacking of the UK telecommunications company, TalkTalk, back in October. When I first heard of it, my eyes lit up at the plethora of headline opportunities that this presented us with: “Was Putin behind the TalkTalk hack?” “Russia suspected of hacking Telecom company”. Or my favourite, especially for the trashy tabloids: “Putin’s Crack Hacks in Max Attack.” The headlines were practically writing themselves.

But when I looked at my MSN newsfeed, what did I see: “Islamic Jihadists claim responsibility for cyberhack.” I was livid, I can tell you. An open goal and we missed it. Surely someone could have had the sense to allege Russian involvement for pity’s sake?

Then, lo and behold, I clicked into the article to see this (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/talktalk-cyber-attack-russia-based-islamic-jihadists-claim-responsibility-for-hack-a6705366.html):

“TalkTalk cyberattack: ‘Russia-based Islamic jihadists’ claim responsibility for hack action”. Dear friends, I must confess that I have rarely laughed so hard. Even now it brings tears of laughter to my eyes. There they are bombing the living daylights out of Islamic jihadists in Syria to stop Islamic jihadists coming back to Russia, and this genius of a headline writer in one foul swoop comes up with a line that makes it look to the uninitiated and clueless as if Russia is actually harbouring Islamic jihadists who hack British telecoms companies.

But just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, I went over to our friends at HuffPo again and saw this (http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2015/10/23/talktalk-cyber-attack-islamic-cyber-jihadi-group-claim-responsibility-_n_8366556.html):

“The TalkTalk cyberattack that has potentially affected four million customers around the UK could have been caused by an Islamic jihadi group, a former detective in the Met’s cybercrime unit has said. Speaking to the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Adrian Culley said the perpetrators posted a message online last night claiming to be part of an Islamic group based in Soviet Russia.” Yes it really did say “Soviet” Russia. My colleagues were almost picking me up off the floor at that point. The line about Soviet Russia apparently came from this semi-literate email posted online:

“We Have adapted To The Security measures Of The Web. We Cannot Be Stopped. We Have Made Our Tracks Untraceable Through Onion Routing, Encrypted Chat Messages, Private Key Emails, Hacked Servers. We Will Teach our Children To Use The Web For Allah.. Your Hands Will Be Covered In Blood.. Judgement Day Is Soon. Our One Childrens Name Is Mohammed. Your Women Are being Taken Over By Us. Your Children are being Killed By Us For Being S**t On Earth. WE Are In The Soviet Russia And Near Place, Your Europe, WE control Asia, We Control AMERICA. Prepare, Secure Your Websites, Secure Your Borders, Secure Your Country, But Jihad From Us Is Coming.” Kudos to the journalist and her editor for their bravery and ingenuity in deciding to report that as if it were to be taken seriously and not as patently absurd drivel. And of course the punchline is that since then, police have arrested several people in connection with the hack, including a 15-year-old in — no not Soviet Russia, funnily enough — but Northern Ireland. Goes by the name of Vladislav Mikhailovich O’Donnell :)

But all joking aside...

[...]

Full article: http://www.theblogmire.com/on-scaremongering-and-the-importance-of-keeping-the-real-agenda-from-the-masses-by-russell-ophobe/

Hervé

18th December 2016, 13:35

Another reprint from here:

[...]

Facebook manipulated users' emotions as part of psychological experiment – study (http://rt.com/news/169124-faceebok-users-emotions-experiment/)

Published time: June 28, 2014 20:06
Get short URL (http://rt.com/news/169124-faceebok-users-emotions-experiment/)

http://cdn.rt.com/files/news/29/4a/40/00/000_dv262882.si.jpg
AFP Photo / Leon Neal

Facebook conducted a psychological experiment on its users by manipulating their emotions without their knowledge, a new study reveals.

Researchers toyed with the feelings of 689,003 randomly selected English-speaking Facebook users by changing the contents of their news feed, according to a paper published (http://www.pnas.org/content/111/24/8788) in the June edition of the journal 'Proceedings of the National Academy of Scientists' (PNAS).

During a week-long period in January 2012, researchers staged two parallel experiments, reducing the number of positive or negative updates in each user's news feed.

"When positive expressions were reduced, people produced fewer positive posts and more negative posts; when negative expressions were reduced, the opposite pattern occurred. These results indicate that emotions expressed by others on Facebook influence our own emotions, constituting experimental evidence for massive-scale contagion via social networks," said the authors of the paper, who include researchers from Facebook, Cornell University, and the University of California.

“We also observed a withdrawal effect: People who were exposed to fewer emotional posts (of either valence) in their News Feed were less expressive overall on the following days.”

The researchers indicated that the successful study is the first to find that moods expressed via social networks influence the emotions of others.

“These results suggest that the emotions expressed by friends, via online social networks, influence our own moods, constituting, to our knowledge, the first experimental evidence for massive-scale emotional contagion via social networks, and providing support for previously contested claims that emotions spread via contagion through a network.”

The Facebook users were not notified of the experiment. However, according to Facebook's terms of service (to which every person agrees when they register on the social network), users’ data may be used “for internal operations, including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, research and service improvement.”

The researchers argue that their experiment was consistent with Facebook’s Data Use Policy.

The paper also stated that the researchers never saw the content of the actual posts; instead, they relied on a computer which counted the occurrence of positive and negative words in more than three million status updates. Those posts contained a total of 122 million words; four million of those were positive (3.6%) and 1.8 million were negative (1.6%).

The significance of the research was reduced to a very small percentage, as the “emotional contagion” was estimated at only 0.1 percent. However, one can argue that with more than 1.3 billion Facebook users worldwide, that small percentage still includes a significant amount of people.

Hervé

18th December 2016, 13:52

So... why does IT (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?94731-Fake-News-and-the-War-on-Freedom-and-Truth&p=1121274&viewfull=1#post1121274) work?

No Statistics for Inner Poverty (http://henrymakow.com/2016/12/no-statistics-for-inner.html)

by Henry Makow Ph.D.
(Updated and revised from May 18, 2014)
Re-post: December 17, 2016

http://henrymakow.com/upload_images/addicted.jpeg

Most of us are beggars and feel-good junkies, addicted to society to make us happy.

"They are but beggars that can't count their own worth."
― with apologies to William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Excellent records are kept for material poverty.
For example, 16% of Americans live below the poverty line which is $24K for a family of four, This includes almost 20% of American children.

However, a more serious epidemic is sweeping the nation: inner poverty.

While I estimate 95% of the population lives below the spiritual poverty line, this squalor garners absolutely no attention.

Inner poverty is a spiritual vacuum at the core of our being. Its symptoms are a sense of emptiness, sadness, meaninglessness and lack of direction. It's like the soul has gone AWOL.

What do people want?

We want to feel good.

How do we know if we are spiritually impoverished? We need the world to make us feel good.

We´re addicted to getting "fixes" like drug addicts.

INDICATORS OF SPIRITUAL IMPOVERISHMENT
Love or sex addiction.
You catch a glimpse of a beautiful creature in the distance and imagine a life of bliss together if only... You see a couple strolling hand-in-hand and feel envious..

Stinginess.
Why are so many well-off people so stingy? They feel poor.

Schadenfreude.
You derive some satisfaction or comfort from the misfortune of others.

http://henrymakow.com/upload_images/sflike.jpg
(Sally Field)

We desperately seek recognition, acceptance and encouragement to feel good. This may take the form of sales, "likes," followers," "smiles,' or hits. One young friend was despondent because he texted three girls about "hanging out" and none replied.

Money makes us euphoric or miserable. We measure our day in terms of how much we made or lost. Another friend was burned up because potential clients were waffling. He had done work on spec for a client who wasn't even answering his emails.

We've been programmed to be beggars, feel-good junkies, addicted to the world to make us happy.

As a result, we feel like beggars. How can we stop?

HOW TO STOP FEELING LIKE A BEGGAR
Beggar behavior is habitual; these habits are ingrained, programmed by society, and very difficult to change.

The key to not feeling like a beggar is to stop acting like one.

Check your stocks just once a day instead of every five minutes.

If you can't do this, sell them all. Thoreau said, "We are rich in the number of things we can let alone."

Check your email or Face Book just 2-3 times a day.

Give. Encouragement. Money. Help. People in beggar-mode never give. Giving destroys this programming.

Mortify yourself to the world.

In religious terms, this means renounce the world. You refuse to gain your primary happiness from any other source but God, i.e. your soul connection.

http://henrymakow.com/upload_images/solitude.jpeg

You become indifferent to praise or blame except your own. It's funny that we place so much value on other peoples' opinion, and so little on our own. We make so much effort to gain respect from others, and so little effort earning our own. We need to learn to make ourselves feel good. Enjoy your Self. What an art that is.

We've been programmed to deny ourselves and conform to others. We have been programmed to disdain ourselves, to feel inadequate.

We need to reprogram ourselves, whether by constant prayer, meditation or by repeating affirmations. The mind is like a steering wheel. If we don't control it, someone else will.

We get a temporary thrill when the world puts a nickel in our cup, but the mind soon needs another "fix."

The organ of "feeling" is the soul not the mind. The soul is the entity that hears the thoughts. Our feelings usually correspond to thoughts. If we still the mind, as in meditation, we can experience the soul. Thus, the soul should determine the thoughts, not the world. Think uplifting thoughts. That's what faith is about.

CONCLUSION
The key is submitting mind to soul. We need to transfer our sense of self from the thoughts to the soul (http://henrymakow.com/2015/01/Thinking%20-is-a-Bad-Habit%20.html). Soul is the real Self. Soul, our connection to God, is our real identity.

We need to be Self-possessed. Self-controlled. Self-directed. Self-motivated. Self-sufficient. i.e. God-centered. By Self, I mean soul, not ego. Loving God is really loving your own essence.

People will treat you like you treat ("serve") your Self, our true identity and path.

Beyond the necessities, we don't need anything from the world. If we live within our means, we can turn our focus inward. We don't have to be beggars.

---
Note: Those interested in learning more about this approach can check out Eckhart Tolle's YouTubes and books.

Related - Makow -
How's Your Inner Beggar? (http://www.henrymakow.com/hows_your_inner_beggar.html)
Thinking is a Bad Habit (http://henrymakow.com/2015/01/Thinking%20-is-a-Bad-Habit%20.html)
Cohabiting With a Monkey
(http://henrymakow.com/cohabiting_with_a_monkey.html)

First Comment from Jim:
This is the very reason I closed my Facebook account.

I was very reluctant but my mother badgered me into joining FB, so I did. And it didn't take long for it to consume me.

I would rush home, log in, and read what people said about my latest post... or didn't say.

If there were no comments or 'likes', I was crushed. My day was ruined.

One day I had an epiphany. I had become an attention-seeking whore, or a beggar as you put it. I realized that constant pursuit of everyone's approval, rather than just living my life, was damaging to me.

Certainly, there are times when we need to be affirmed and advised by the people we respect but their opinions shouldn't be the guiding force in our lives.

===============================================

Now... where the hell has that inner poverty been inculcated into one? ... beside being hopeless sinner or infidel or goyim or... which leads to spiritual capitalism and the hoarding of brownie points (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownie_points)...

Ewan

18th December 2016, 14:53

That is a very GOOD post.

Hervé

18th December 2016, 19:17

Regarding Bana, here:

Syrian activist believes Aleppo Twitter girl Bana is the 'ultimate propaganda stunt' (https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201612161048599179-aleppo-bana-twitter/)

Sputnik (https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201612161048599179-aleppo-bana-twitter/) Sat, 17 Dec 2016 19:46 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/364693/large/1048648801.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/364693/full/1048648801.jpg)
© AFP 2016/ Thaer Mohammed - Syrian Bana al-Abed is filmed by her mother as they prepare to post on Twitter in English about life in the besieged eastern districts of Syria's Aleppo, on October 12, 2016

[...]

From Jim Stone (http://82.221.129.208/baasepageh8.html):
Before the war, depending on the month, I'd get 500 - 1, 500 monthly visits from Syria. Syria was not huge for this site, but it definitely showed up.

DEAR TROLLS, THEY ARE NOT RUNNING AROUND ALL HAPPY AND SNAPPY WITH IPHONES NOW, BECAUSE NOW I GET 0 - 3 HITS A MONTH FROM SYRIA. That nation is WIPED OUT, and yes, when I tried to post that it went straight into the digital abyss, BLOCKED BY GOOGLE.

Google's captcha popped up even though I have never seen it on that site before and would not let me post and instead opted to tell me I could not identify a photo with tea in it! GREAT CENSORSHIP METHOD. It then hung my computer until a reboot.

So I can independently state just from what happened in the stats for this web site, SYRIA IS DEVASTATED BEYOND BELIEF.

No civilian can get anything posted to the web from there, most likely it is the top of the government structure that generates those 0-3 hits now.

That stupid girl they had on TV who was chit chatting on her web cam about how bad Russia was yesterday had to have been BULL**** because NO ONE has the internet there anymore. She probably did that a room away from the interviewer at CNN. They pull that crap ALL THE TIME.

Hervé

19th December 2016, 12:23

'Two Chicago ordinary moms' behind #StandWithAleppo revealed to be professional propagandists (https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201612181048717861-standwithaleppo-origins-analysis/)

Sputnik (https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201612181048717861-standwithaleppo-origins-analysis/) Mon, 19 Dec 2016 10:05 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/364988/large/Assad.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/364988/full/Assad.jpg)
© REUTERS/ Omar Sanadiki People walk past a billboard depicting Syria's President Bashar al-Assad at Saadallah al-Jabri Square, in the government controlled area of Aleppo, Syria December 17, 2016

In the run-up to eastern Aleppo's liberation by the Syrian army last week, #StandWithAleppo (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23StandWithAleppo&src=typd) was turned into an extremely popular Twitter hashtag, users joining the Western mainstream media in condemning the Syrian government and accusing it of committing war crimes in the city. In spite of numerous stories (https://sputniknews.com/world/201612151048592055-syria-western-media/), photos (https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201612161048671274-syrian-army-captain-interview/) and video (https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201612171048696018-citizens-liberated-aleppo-recall-terrorist-oppression/) materials by alternative media showing that the city's residents were actually mostly relieved by their liberation, the hashtag has effectively become a rallying cry for the anti-Assad, anti-Russian narrative (https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201612151048595589-aleppo-civilians-welcome-soldiers/) pushed by the mainstream media and Western governments.

But as one very observant Twitter user searching for the origin story behind the viral #StandWithAleppo campaign has since discovered, Becky Carroll and Wendy Widom, the "two ordinary moms" (http://www.today.com/parents/standwithaleppo-how-unlikely-friendship-sparked-movement-t104237) who launched the campaign, are anything but ordinary.

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1461948096/desmoulins2_bigger.jpg Club des Cordeliers ‏@cordeliers (https://twitter.com/cordeliers) Dec 15 (https://twitter.com/cordeliers/status/809457885608448000)
1. Current #StandWithAleppo (https://twitter.com/hashtag/StandWithAleppo?src=hash) propaganda campaign was launched by "strategic affairs consultant" Becky Carroll http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/stevens/ct-stand-with-aleppo-chicago-moms-balancing-1006-20161006-column.html … (https://t.co/144eu8ajvK)

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1461948096/desmoulins2_bigger.jpg Club des Cordeliers ‏@cordeliers (https://twitter.com/cordeliers)

2. Described by Chicago Tribune as a "Chicago mom," Carroll is in fact CEO of "public affairs & strategic communications firm " C-Strategies

The Chicago Tribune, which interviewed the two women in October, described (http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/stevens/ct-stand-with-aleppo-chicago-moms-balancing-1006-20161006-column.html) Carroll as a strategic affairs consultant who "decided it was time to do something" to help the suffering people of the city.

But there's a twist. According to her website (http://cstrategiesllc.com/#who-we-are), Carroll runs C-Strategies LLC, a Chicago-based consulting firm with extensive experience in the public sector. In fact, the site's 'about us' section says Carrol was the National Director of the Women for Obama Campaign during his 2008 presidential campaign, and later served as CEO of Chicago Forward, a Super PAC that raised millions of dollars for Chicago Mayor and former Obama White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel's mayoral reelection campaign.

As for Wendy Widom, she's a self-described (https://twitter.com/wendywidom) social media editor for CBS Chicago, part of a broadcast television network whose recent coverage of the situation in Aleppo features the kinds of bias to be expected from mainstream media sources.

In other words, a basic investigation of the women and their job descriptions shows that these 'ordinary moms' are actually political and media veterans contributing to spinning the msm narrative regarding the Syrian war, including the situation in Aleppo.

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1461948096/desmoulins2_bigger.jpg Club des Cordeliers ‏@cordeliers (https://twitter.com/cordeliers)

7. "Two ordinary moms." One is CEO of a strategic communications firm; other is a social media manager for CBS. http://www.today.com/parents/standwithaleppo-how-unlikely-friendship-sparked-movement-t104237 … (https://t.co/ox8NaQK3Ar)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CzvMHvsVEAQxti4.jpg
Last week, the Syrian army declared victory in Aleppo, ousting militants from most of their remaining bastions of resistance. Soon after, Western media quickly began spinning horror stories, accusing (https://sputniknews.com/cartoons/201612141048538953-syria-aleppo-liberation/)the Syrian and Russian militaries of atrocities in the liberated territories - allegations which both Syrian and Russian officials, and independent observers (https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201612131048516966-aleppo-liberation-civilian-eyewitness-stories/) on the ground have dismissed as propaganda.

Independent journalists and observers have since started investigating (https://sputniknews.com/columnists/201612141048547481-aleppo-atrocities-media/) the shady nature (https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201612161048599179-aleppo-bana-twitter/) of some of the most popular social media accounts documenting the situation in the city, and pointing out the outright disinformation campaigns (https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201612151048579672-aleppo-media-war/) engaged in by Western and Gulf State media (https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201612111048424532-eva-bartlett-press-conference-syria/) - including the use of photos from the Gaza Strip and showing the 'evidence' of organizations like the White Helmets, who have been discredited as radical militants engaging in spreading propaganda during their time off from fighting the government.

Ultimately, there is no doubt that the battle for Aleppo has caused civilian suffering. The problem, according to observers (https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201612171048689298-west-syrian-war-one-sided-story/) seeking a more or less objective picture, is that the mainstream media and many of their social media followers have taken a propaganda-based view of realities on the ground. Worse yet is the fact that there are those who consciously create this skewed image, even when they themselves know it to be untrue.

Baby Steps

20th December 2016, 22:19

34723is the following real?

http://archive.is/IDBh5

Bill Ryan

21st December 2016, 00:10

bennycog

21st December 2016, 02:41

This another Rudy Twitter account that seems to be a real one. I cannot imagine Rudy saying anything about what he knows about 9/11. He would be one of the fall men if anything came out in my opinion.
Though I so wish it was all true and he would come out.. Shed his illuminati skin..

https://twitter.com/RudyGiuliani

Hervé

21st December 2016, 12:35

5 Arrested After Egyptian Police Bust Staged Photo Shoot Of "Wounded Aleppo Children" (http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-12-20/5-arrested-after-egyptian-police-bust-staged-photo-shoot-wounded-aleppo-children)

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/pictures/picture-5.jpg (http://www.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden)by Tyler Durden (http://www.zerohedge.com/users/tyler-durden) Dec 20, 2016 11:02 PM

Readers who have been following the crisis in Aleppo have seen media reports of videos and photos allegedly originating from innocent children victims, pleading against the advance of the Assad forces. And while there have been various accusations that these clips, like the infamous "chemical attack" YouTube clip from 2013, were staged, such reports were promptly slammed by the mainstream media as "fake news" and roundly ignored. However, if one ever needed a reason to be skeptical of claims, photographs, and/or videos coming out of the region, and the MSM's appeals to readers emotions based on fabricated facts, Egyptian authorities have just provided it.

http://www.veteranstoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/139509301124387199498934.jpg

Egyptian police arrested (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/aleppo-fake-footage-children-five-peopele-arrested-egyptian-police-a7486541.html)five people in Port Said, Egypt for making staged "wounded children" photos, which they were planning to use to misrepresent on social media as photos of destruction and injured people in Syria's Aleppo, the Egyptian Interior Ministry said on Monday (https://www.facebook.com/MoiEgy/videos/1266875293356131/). The group also made fake videos that purport to show the wreckage of air strikes in Aleppo.

The shooting team, which included the photographer's assistants and parents of the children, was detained in the Egypt's province of Port Said," the Ministry said on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/MoiEgy/videos/1266875293356131/).

According to the Ministry, the police witnessed the shooting process, which was taking place near the vestiges of a building destroyed as illegal under the decision of the local authorities. A girl standing in a white dress covered in "blood" that later proved to be paint, drew attention of a police officer driving by. The girl held a teddy bear covered in the same "blood" and had her arm "bandaged".

The Facebook statement said the videographer (https://www.facebook.com/MoiEgy/videos/1266875293356131/), his assistants, and the parents of two children who appear in the footage were detained after a trail led police to them at a building site awaiting demolition. The five have reportedly admitted they were planning to distribute their footage on social media, which was supposed to show an eight-year-old girl in a white dress and bandages, covered in red stains while holding a teddy bear.

“A 12-year-old boy is also interviewed about what life is like under intensive Russian-backed Syrian government air strikes,” reported The Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/aleppo-crisis-syrian-war-bashar-al-assad-isis-more-propaganda-than-news-a7479901.html)

The photographer also admitted that he was going to publish these photos on social media as pictures of Aleppo.

To be sure, this one instance does not mean all footage coming out of the region is fake. It also does not mean every claim made by Russian, Syrian, and Iranian officials about the conflict is true in comparison. Still, the fact remains that journalists aren’t going to rebel-held areas for fear of execution (http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/fall-aleppo-trapped-us-journalist-feared-execution-if-captured-1916360416). Instead, they rely on the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which is run by one anti-Assad dissident in Coventry, England (http://theantimedia.org/media-syrian-source-t-shirt-shop/). So-called Syrian activists and the shady group known as the White Helmets make up the rest of the reports in Syria, even though they both have also been largely criticized (http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/how-white-helmets-became-international-heroes-while-pushing-us-military) and discredited (https://consortiumnews.com/2016/10/23/the-white-helmets-controversy/).

Also troubling is the willingness of the conventional media to accept most of these reports at face value without ever questioning their authenticity.

The fact the mass media disproportionately focuses on Aleppo while turning a blind eye to the horrendous crimes being committed in Yemen (https://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/yemen_85651.html)courtesy of the United States, the United Kingdom, and an inexperienced Saudi-led coalition indicates the media’s concerns for human rights in Syria are disingenuous, as the AntiMedia correctly notes (http://theantimedia.org/5-arrested-fake-aleppo-video/).

Baby Steps

21st December 2016, 14:23

is the following real?

http://archive.is/IDBh5

Of course not. :)

Here are three large red flags. To see them, imagine that you're Giuliani yourself, 'confessing' for real.

The real Giuliani would immediately state, show, produce or reveal something to prove that it was really him. (How about even a selfie, with today's New York Times, showing the date?)
The real Giuliani would offer new information that could be corroborated and checked. He'd show how that could be done.
The real Giuliani would NOT link to former Infowars reporter Joe Biggs' Twitter feed. (Jeez!)

There's three. ^^ Smart readers can probably think of quite a number of other things that the real Giuliani certainly would or would not do, if this weren't a(nother) cheap hoax.

:focus:

Sorry for sharing nonsense!

Interesting that someone took the trouble to create the account, and build up followers over several months.

Am not a twitter user, I am surprised that faked people are allowed to tweet. this kind of archived page catches people like me who are too quick to share, then we inevitably lose credibility with friends etc if we share (luckily I did not...)

What interests does that serve? Well if one communicated the correct narrative, but was always the boy who cried wolf, the correct narrative is undermined.

In the flurry of poor on-line info, SUPPOSE the real Rudy DID have a twitter melt down, the plethora of debunking pieces (of the fake tweet) would undermine the power of the real tweet.

So that may be why someone would go to that effort...

Rocky_Shorz

22nd December 2016, 03:32

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kjj8PC5BGho

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YvySNNAVTVU

ceetee9

22nd December 2016, 05:03

Here's another great article (https://www.lewrockwell.com/2016/12/joachim-hagopian/msm-fake-news-vs-truth/) (IMO) from LewRockwell's Joachim Hagopian regarding "fake news" and the government's and MSM's latest frantic attempts to subvert free speech and censor anything that goes against the "official" party line.

December 20, 2016 article titled "The Information War: Western Crime Cabal and MSM “Fake News” vs. Truth from Alternative News."

Virtually every current headline unequivocally shows how US Empire and its Ministry of Propaganda are lying to the American people. Those in power have been so exposed by alt-media in 2016 that they are growing more desperate by the day. Right now their biggest lie is blaming Putin and Russia for being behind everything gone wrong in the world according to the Obama-Clinton-Bush-CIA-Rothschild crime cabal. The latest claims assert that Putin’s hackers overturned the presidential election results in favor of Donald Trump and this whopper is currently being pushed as the flimsiest, last gasp excuse to spearhead its hollow “fake news” crusade in order to both outlaw the truth and derail Trump’s January 20th inauguration.

Longtime State Department veteran psychiatrist Steve Pieczenik, CIA/NSA whistleblower William Binney, CIA whistleblower Ray McGovern, and former UK ambassador Craig Murray have all stated that there is zero evidence showing that the Russians “hacked” emails or interfered with the election outcome in any way. Credible former CIA officers emphatically state that the emails were leaked, not hacked and that Putin had nothing to do with it. The 17 US intelligence agencies remain conflicted with the verdict still out, unable to even arrive at a consensus, despite the FBI’s latest cave-in to pressures to feebly present a belated united front against Russia. Flip flopper Comey’s at it again. Up until a day or so ago, the FBI maintained that there was not enough evidence to conclude the Russians hacked into DNC records or emails. The Clintons, Obama and their “intelligence” minions are fast growing irrelevant and impotent as the yearend days count down. What’s perfectly clear is the CIA/MSM liars are acting on orders from the Clinton et al cartel deceitfully politicizing this meme because they cannot accept the fact that Hillary lost her “anointed” election. The feds’ unending war agenda may soon be collapsing.

Before rushing to lynch mob judgment demonizing Putin once again, an important reminder worth noting is the historic track record of the Clintons, Obama, the Bushes and the CIA is that they lie all the time, both pathologically and professionally as full blown certifiable psychopaths. They all played a major part in creating and continuing to back the terrorists al Qaeda, al Nusra and ISIS in the Middle East and beyond. With perhaps the exception of the Saul Alinsky-Bill Ayers, “terrorist-inspired” community organizer and then Illinois state senator Obama, it’s worth mentioning that they all bear guilt in murdering 3000 American citizens on 9/11 and then shamelessly promoting the boldface lie that Saddam Hussein had WMD’s and direct links to terrorists. But let’s not leave out Pinocchio-nosed Barrack who promised to be the most open and transparent president in US history and then proceeded to be the most secretive, least transparent, and perhaps most incompetent president in US history. But then given the mission to destroy America from within by the ruling elite that groomed and launched his meteoric rise, his puppet masters no doubt are very pleased with his record. And as far as the Central Intelligence Agency goes, as the elite’s private mercenary army, from its very get-go the CIA’s very purpose and everyday business have always been made of lies and propaganda.

Instead of blindly blaming the Russians, far more credible sources have posited that at least one DNC insider – Seth Rich – leaked documents and then likely paid for it with his murdered life. Additionally, if you believe Steve Piecnezik, intelligence operatives launched a soft anti-Clinton counter-coup handing over the thousands of Clinton-Podesta emails to WikiLeaks. And now we’re even learning that USHomeland Security has been trying to hack into the Georgia state election apparatus at least ten times. So all these alleged hacks and leaks seem to surfacing internally from sources within the United States, mostly from operatives working either directly inside the government or political apparatchik.

Another relevant point worth raising is the indisputable fact that the US government is the most notoriously guilty entity in the world for constantly meddling and interfering in other sovereign nations’ internal elections and affairs, engaging in crime after crime assassinating foreign leaders, and executing dozens of coups overthrowing sovereign governments. And let’s face it, all the major players on the global stage are guilty of spying on one another, particularly in cyber-espionage, again with the US the main culprit. So this whole notion of using the blame game to falsely accuse other countries of the very same hideous aggressions that Washington is most guilty perpetrating for well over a century is extremely hypocritical in the least and downright diabolical to the max. Yet for centuries now this kind of duplicity and hubris is exactly how American exceptionalism has criminally operated around the globe with total impunity.

The “blame the Russian” game is an old cold war propaganda tactic from way back. History just keeps repeating itself because the powers-that-shouldn’t-be exploit and count on Americans having a short attention span. Those who witnessed or pay attention to history can recall the cold war era of the early 1950’s and the Red Scare of McCarthyism when many people’s lives were ruined by dishonestly branding them as so-called communists and communist sympathizers. Deep state USA is at it once again, unjustly singling out and punishing those who speak the truth online by again falsely accusing them of being agents of Russian propaganda. Blacklisting alt-media sites that legitimately report accurate accounts of news events and world developments by again falsely accusing them as “fake news” sources when the corporate media liars themselves are infamously guilty of fake news propaganda is just more of the same bogus modus operandi that the government and mainstream media have been redeploying indefinitely for decades.

Project Mockingbird flourished throughout the cold war from the 1950’s right into the 1970’s and beyond when the CIA influenced if not controlled all the biggest news outlets (25 newspapers and wire agencies) using them to spread Washington’s own cold war propaganda. This sinister collusion between the feds and the press resulted in the imperialistic division of two Asian ethnicities – the Koreans andVietnamese people each split into two enemy nations fighting two costly wars killing up to over 7 million Asians (not to mention 95,000 American soldiers). And when the Senate Church Committee finally exposed Mockingbird, in 1976 then CIA director George Bush senior was forced to proclaim on paper at least its “official” end. But subsequent planting of disinformation in the foreign press that by design would then spread to the US was yet another covert means by which the deceitful CIA continued its propaganda control over both US and foreign news markets.

This unholy nexus has also persisted right up till today through such common ties as the all-powerful Council on Foreign Relations. For many decades the CFR strategically courts and recruits prominent members from mainstream media as well as the entertainment industry for the exact same PR purpose of using them to promote deep state propaganda and collude in corrupt cover-ups to willfully deceive the American public. Then in recent years the corporatized merging of government and mass media utilizing US military, CIA and FBI liaisons in Hollywood has only consolidated power and media control into fewer and fewer hands, with 6 oligarchs in control of the 6 largest mega media giants controlling the outflow of over 90% of today’s news. Virtually every TV show and film out of Hollywood now is pure deep state propaganda serving for a full century as the best recruitment venue for brainwashing the next generation of GI’s dying on foreign soil battlefields. Hence, what’s emerged today is a fascist government cabal maintaining illegitimate control and authority through false propaganda delivered 24/7 by deep state surrogate the mainstream media.

But during this US presidential election year, largely due to WikiLeaks, social media and alternative and independent news, citizens of the world have discovered how corrosively evil in its criminality this existing crime cabal is, personified by the Clintons, Obama, and their minions in Washington, Wall Street and the corporate media. Over the last couple months the Clinton-Podesta connection has been directly tied to a global child sex trafficking ring operating from the “life insurance” laptop of Hillary’s closest, 20-year aide-Saudi operative Huma Abedin’s husband, disgraced former congressman Anthony Weiner. But the pedophilia network has more recently expanded to include an infamous block of sinister pizza parlors and front offices in upscale Northwest Washington operating eerily close to the White House (perhaps even closer through DC’s network of underground tunnels). Enter #Pizzagate.

And through thousands of internet sleuths working together online 24/7, the crumbling, gaping cracks of this crime cabal wall have been exposed like never before, threatening to bring down the most powerful Luciferian worshipping pedophiles at the top of this planet’s demonic food chain. And this raw naked exposure of the diabolical matrix has the guilty party – the Obamas, Bushes, and Clintons panicking and resorting to extreme desperate measures to hide and conceal the filthy truth of who and what they are. Hence, in this age of deception and culture of evil, we are now living in a new era of McCarthyism frantically unleashed to justify their latest attack campaign on steroids to censor and ban all blacklisted alternative media news sites that provide much needed counterbalancing truth to the official false narrative lies. The aim here is to eliminate and silence all truth tellers so that the evildoers – as naked and exposed as they already are, can attempt to hold onto their waning power, slipping fast now from their control.

By deep state egregiously accusing alt-news of being “agents of Russian propaganda,” it intends to shut down America’s First Amendment right to a free press – the alternative news, which regularly exposes NSM and gov.corps’ propaganda lies. The totalitarian agenda now being rushed through prior to Trump becoming president has already passed “anti-Russian propaganda” bills in both chambers of Congress aimed at banning over 200 targeted alt-news sites on their bogus blacklists. Additionally, the EU has threatened further tyrannical censorship if co-opted internet ponds Facebook, Google, Twitter, Microsoft, and Reddit don’t eliminate the so-called “fake news” from its social media and search engines. In effect, a final power grab is being played out right now attempting to usurp, control and silence the last voice of honest and accurate news accounting of what goes on in this world. But the crime cabal will fail as the world knows too much already.

Since 9/11 those who question authority refusing to believe the deep state lies have been customarily discarded as “conspiracy nuts.” Though for decades this strategy was quite effective, it’s now wearing thin as more people every day are beginning to realize the truth about the previously concealed criminality endlessly committed by DC puppets and their masters. As a result, deep state’s agenda has been to increasingly criminalize dissidents as potential homegrown terrorists and radicalized enemies of the state. What we’re currently witnessing is the systematic targeting of both dissenting individuals and alternative news organizations as “dangerously” unwanted truth tellers posing the single largest threat to the crime cabal’s continued power and control.

And with only a few remaining weeks, for that reason alone Obama and the Clintons are moving at breakneck speed to neutralize opposing forces bent on seeking justice by sending them to rot in prison. Since Soros’ post-election riots have fizzled, Stein’s recount failed and stealing the presidency through pro-Hillary death threats against Trump electoral voters have one by one fallen short of overturning the election, silencing alt-news and igniting a war against Russia are their last, “best shot” ploys that would manufacture the needed national crisis to prevent Trump from assuming office next month. Who knows? In the few days prior to January 20th, a false flag perpetrated by Washington neo-crazies as a last gasp effort to blame Russia “justifying” war against the nuclear power may still be up their pathetic evil sleeve. That’s how desperate these despots are, terrified their pedo-crimes will soon be their ruin.

In the meantime, yet another draconian law HR 4919 was just passed in the House. Using the benignly logical rationale of tracking lost victims suffering from autism or dementia, deep state is now pushing for RFID chips to be implanted in all people diagnosed with autism and dementia. Similar past measures have authorized the government to round up the homeless or those afflicted with respiratory ailments during the Ebola scare. Operating under the auspices of the Center for Disease Control (CDC), in mid-August, the CDC proposed to grant itself the unlimited unconstitutional power to round up and detain citizens en masse without reason or due process, kind of like the medical bookend to the 2013 FDAA that also obliterates citizens’ legal rights and civil liberties. The feds are becoming increasingly over-the- top in their totalitarian oppression, knowing that for good reason more people are opposing mandatory vaccinations for both children and adults as well as proposed mandatory microchips. Recall that a couple years ago NBC was predicting that next year every American would be micro chipped.

Like the regretful German pastor Martin Niemoller’s famous quote decrying each group targeted and taken away by the Nazis without his speaking out, after the communists, socialists, trade unionists and the Jews, by the time they came for him it was too late. How far will the government go with its growing hit list of expendable throwaways? What’s to stop the deep state from making microchips mandatory for anyone diagnosed with a mental disorder? Or the entire world population for that matter?

The insane DSM-5 has recently expanded the number of mental illnesses into absurdity, making sure to include practically anyone and everyone. The Diagnostic Statistical Manual has become the official tool and vehicle by which the government is moving to criminalize abnormality. This slippery slope may soon include every human on the planet.

As a former diagnostic clinician, I can tell you that the criteria by which people can be diagnosed with a dangerous label from a vast array is extremely arbitrary and subjective. There’s nothing scientific or foolproof about it. Mislabeling citizens who may pose “trouble or a threat” to the authoritarian state is wide open for overreaching, widespread abuse as the convenient false pretense for microchipping and controlling a growing segment of “undesirables” within the population. Branding any individual who does not trust authority figures with “Oppositional Defiant Disorder” or anyone who appears “overly” health conscious and selective about what they eat as “suffering” from orthorexia nervosa could simply be deep state’s way of branding us all with certifiable labels. Deep state has co-opted the psychiatric profession which is largely owned and controlled by Big Pharma, using its Diagnostic Statistical Manual’s unlimited mental disorders as yet another weapon of mass destruction playbook for diabolical population control purposes.

In recent years MSM has clearly become Washington’s ministry of propaganda. And adding insult to injury, Congress is busily passing bills designed to outlaw the real truth, so as to empower its propaganda ministry to become its “truth” ministry. We are living the Orwellian nightmare come true, as “useless eating” victims of a fascist totalitarian oligarchic police state bent on perpetrating democide as well as human genocide as part of its demonic eugenics plan to drastically reduce the world pop. from 7.4 billion to anywhere from a half to one billion depending on which globalist you listen to. We are the most invasively surveilled and controlled population in human history by a centralized tyrannical government controlling a centralized financial debtor-slave system. Deep state and corporate media together engage in covert concealment of secret, heinously deplorable brutality protecting the elite’s systemic criminality perpetrated we now know on a massive colossal scale.

A century ago the ruling elite known as the internationalists envisioned a one world government. Now that same ruling elite controlled by the same tainted bloodlines are called globalists and they’re rushing to suppress the truth on their way to bringing on the perfect storm that will usher in the violent tyranny of their global governance. Outside of technology that enables increasing power and control, little has otherwise changed over the course of the last century. That said, never before have more citizens of the world become aware of the treasonous and demonic crimes committed by those psychopaths in power. Before closing a final reminder warrants stating. Regardless of the figurehead occupying the White House, the same demonic power elite is still holding power over this earth. And the battle for truth, justice, and our very lives will continue after January 20th. The doomsday clock that’s been ticking under the Bush-Clinton-Obama cabal is only ticking shorter now and our struggle is hardly over.

onawah

25th December 2016, 05:51

OBEY This is from 2013, but very prophetic, and relevant to today
http://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/obey-the-death-of-the-liberal-class/
hH6UynI5m7Y

This 2013 film, OBEY by British
filmmaker, Temujin Doran is
based on the book, The Death
of the Liberal Class by Pulitzer
Prize-winning journalist, Chris
Hedges.

This film about you, me and the
routine of obedience. It is an
attempt to show what it means to
be obedient, at a time in which
our habits will shape a world, in
which we will no longer wish to
live.

It explores the rise of the corporate
state and the future of obedience in
a world filled with unfettered
capitalism, worsening inequality and
environmental changes.

Its predictions have almost come true.

Video: (42 mins):

OBEY: The Death of the Liberal Class - Full Film

http://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/obey-the-death-of-the-liberal-class/

norman

27th December 2016, 17:40

FAKE NEWS FAKE OUT - MAINSTREAM MEDIA ATTACKS! DARK JOURNALIST & ALEXANDRA BRUCE

OgI-IJVMYco

Published on Dec 16, 2016
Support this Channel: http://www.DarkJournalist.com/contrib... (http://www.DarkJournalist.com/contribute.php)

Desperate Mainstream Media Attacks Independent Journalists
In this Media Attacks Special Report, Dark Journalist Daniel Liszt welcomes back dynamic author and the publisher of the ForbiddenKnowledgeTV website Alexandra Bruce. In the wake of the desperate attempts by the Corporate Media to portray the Alternative Media as dangerous to try and stave off their own massive plunge into irrelevance, the media establishment is now trying to hide their failed attempts to manipulate the Presidential Election and put Neocon Democrat Hillary Clinton into the White House with the help of fake polls, biased reporting, behind the scenes collusion and false memes.

Their solution, coordinated at a high level with Social Media figures like Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and funded by shady covert actors, like billionaire activist George Soros, was to create a new meme called ‘Fake News’ to label independent sites and citizen journalists who expose their unethical behavior and report news in an unfiltered way to the public as a threat to democracy.

Smear Campaign
Their slanderous smear campaign has reached a new low with the publication of a McCarthyite list of Alternative Media websites in the Washington Post that were supposedly in league with Russia according to a discredited website called PropOrNot (Washington Post eventually added an addendum to the article featuring the list saying they couldn’t vouch for the source). The pathetic attempt to create a conspiracy theory that paints the brave independent voices who give the real truth to their readers with minimal resources as somehow traitorous, harkens back to the red scare tactics of the 1950’s and shows that the Mainstream Media is caught in a death spiral.The shocking disinformation tactics show they are unsure of how to redeem their falling numbers, bailing advertisers, and destroyed reputation that is in tatters especially since they unabashedly lied to the American people during the election in order to curry favor with the corporate power brokers that are attempting to install a Global Government.

Alexandra sees a coordinated campaign targeting Independent Media financially, and trying to shut as many of them down as possible by blocking them on Facebook, Twitter and other Social Media outlets. Whether you’re a Liberal Democrat shocked by the media character assassination of Bernie Sanders, a Libertarian repulsed by the intrusion of the CIA into the limelight with false propaganda about Russia, an Independent disturbed by the use of the Green Party and Jill Stein as puppets with behind the scenes Clinton-funded recounts to delegitimize the election, or a Republican shocked by the threatening pressure on electors and 24/7 negative coverage of President-Elect Trump, now is the time to unmask the cowardly trolls in charge of the Corporate Mainstream Media and reveal them as the true purveyors of 'Fake News.'

Shocking, eye-opening, and overflowing with powerful implications, don’t miss this exciting part 1 Dark Journalist episode!

Hervé

30th December 2016, 14:05

From Jim Stone (http://82.221.129.208/baasepagek5.html):

Drudge report down, up, down, RT on cable in the U.S. is down.

UPDATE: Drudge just tweeted he's under the biggest DDOS attack in his site's history. https://twitter.com/drudge The Drudge report has been accessible, then not accessible then back up and now it is down. People have had comments in the past about a secret Drudge signal. This time, ----> appeared at the top left corner of the page the last time it came up. Make of it what you will. Update: Just checked, still down. Confirmed nothing wrong with my connection.
Update: Drudge still down. Now RT went down on cable networks in the Washington DC area, but the web site is still up. This is one to watch for sure, especially with recent aggressions towards Russia.

UPDATE: RT is apparently down everywhere in the U.S. but not the rest of the world. Drudge is down for everyone. Drudges last big headline was "RUSSIA MOCKS AMERICA'S LAME DUCK" with a picture of Obama above it. This was the page that had the ----> at the top left corner, possibly a distress signal. That was the last page I saw, and it showed after the site went down the first time. Now, an hour later, Drudge is still down.

Domp4547

30th December 2016, 14:22

TargeT

30th December 2016, 17:36

Even the most sophisticated DDOS attacks never last for more than a day or two, it's too noisy and easy to circumvent (if your paying attention) I think a DDOS attacks are only effective at getting attention and costing the victim a bit of money (ad revenue, or sales revenue).

Of all the cyber attacks out there, I'd rather have a short duration DDOS attack.

The attack on Drudge only lasted 90 min (http://www.ibtimes.com/us-government-attacks-drudge-report-conservative-website-down-because-distributed-2467391)

so my question is, is this a part of the agenda? more false drama built up to keep us engaged and distracted?

Ba-ba-Ra

30th December 2016, 18:15

Obama Quietly Signs The "Countering Disinformation And Propaganda Act" Into Law

Just like that, the US Ministry of Truth is officially born.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-12-24/obama-signs-countering-disinformation-and-propaganda-act-law

Joseph Farrell's take: . . .

"The heart of the concerns is reflected in these paragraphs:

Recall that as we reported in early June, "a bill to implement the U.S.’ very own de facto Ministry of Truth had been quietly introduced in Congress. As with any legislation attempting to dodge the public spotlight the Countering Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation Act of 2016 marks a further curtailment of press freedom and another avenue to stultify avenues of accurate information. Introduced by Congressmen Adam Kinzinger and Ted Lieu, H.R. 5181 seeks a “whole-government approach without the bureaucratic restrictions” to counter “foreign disinformation and manipulation,” which they believe threaten the world’s “security and stability.”

Also called the Countering Information Warfare Act of 2016 (S. 2692), when introduced in March by Sen. Rob Portman, the legislation represents a dramatic return to Cold War-era government propaganda battles. “These countries spend vast sums of money on advanced broadcast and digital media capabilities, targeted campaigns, funding of foreign political movements, and other efforts to influence key audiences and populations,” Portman explained, adding that while the U.S. spends a relatively small amount on its Voice of America, the Kremlin provides enormous funding for its news organization, RT.

“Surprisingly,” Portman continued, “there is currently no single U.S. governmental agency or department charged with the national level development, integration and synchronization of whole-of-government strategies to counter foreign propaganda and disinformation.”

Long before the "fake news" meme became a daily topic of extensive conversation on such discredited mainstream portals as CNN and WaPo, H.R. 5181 would task the Secretary of State with coordinating the Secretary of Defense, the Director of National Intelligence, and the Broadcasting Board of Governors to “establish a Center for Information Analysis and Response,” which will pinpoint sources of disinformation, analyze data, and — in true dystopic manner — ‘develop and disseminate’ “fact-based narratives” to counter effrontery propaganda.

In short, long before "fake news" became a major media topic, the US government was already planning its legally-backed crackdown on anything it would eventually label "fake news."

...

And so, with the likes of WaPo having already primed the general public to equate "Russian Propaganda" with "fake news" (despite admitting after the fact their own report was essentially "fake"), while the US media has indoctrinated the public to assume that any information which is not in compliance with the official government narrative, or dares to criticize the establishment, is also "fake news" and thus falls under the "Russian propaganda" umbrella, the scene is now set for the US government to legally crack down on every media outlet that the government deems to be "foreign propaganda."

Now I don't know about you, but all sorts of images and thoughts are running through my mind. Not the least of these is Josef Goebbels, the Third Reich's Propaganda Minister. Goebbels was nothing if not cunning. Goebbels knew that outright lies would never work. For propaganda to be effective, it had to contain enough truth to sell the lie, which is the purpose of propaganda: sell the lie. How to do it? Wrap it in truth. Thus, the old Deutsche Wochenschau newsreels would show the decimation of the German cities as Allied and Soviet bombers were pummeling them into rubble. That was the truth part. It would not have done to say the bombing effort was unreal, or ineffective, since millions of Germans could easily see otherwise. The lie was contained in the pledges of "final victory", in the rumors of secret weapons, strategies, reserve armies, and so on. The technique, at its most basic, is a human one: tell (or show) the truth, inculcate trust, then sell the lie.

The bottom line? I'm less worried about some American version of Dr Goebbels (after all, we had those and still have them with the talking heads on the corporate controlled media). I'm more worried about how we will see an explosion of such techniques on the internet, and how many will succumb to those efforts and start believing them, even as the bombs are falling, and we're reassured of final victory...

...and of course, we need such a law, don't we, because after all, we need to counter the growing propaganda threat from the Russians, who just hacked our election (so we're told)...

Remember the Maine!"

https://gizadeathstar.com/2016/12/new-department-truth-signed-law/

Hervé

31st December 2016, 12:47

From Jim Stone (http://82.221.129.208/baasepagek6.html):

HEADS UP: CONFIRMATION PEOPLES COMMUNICATIONS ARE BEING CUT (http://82.221.129.208/baasepagek6.html)

Chris Kitze sent another message. Chris is one of the front runners in the information wars, and runs both Unseen.is and Beforeitsnews. If he speaks on this topic it is PRIME INFO, HERE IT IS: Chris sent:

Jim, Chris Kitze from Unseen and BIN here. Personal communications are starting to be cut and this is obviously in conjunction with the cyber attacks on Drudge and other sites. Several people have reported that they can't get through to my cell phone for the past couple of days. One person connected with me on a voice call using Unseen.is, which works fine and my phone was sitting on the desk in front of me (two bars, so decent signal). He called me with his speakerphone on so I could hear everything he heard as he dialed my phone. It played a message that "this caller is not available". This was Verizon and I have had a second contact have the same difficulty reaching my phone. Everyone needs to have back up communications and multiple accounts and formats. Get extra free accounts with different email and chat/calling services and share the info with others so you can communicate. Many of these accounts are free (like those at Unseen.is). Everyone should double check their bugout bags and be ready to go.

We are now at the most dangerous time, as the bad people try to disrupt the inauguration and do the military coup. The only question now is how much control Obama can exercise over the military command structure. I was told that this time it won't be like Benghazi, where the 2nd in command who were CIA plants "kept things in line" and stopped things in their tracks. The good guys know who these people are and what they are up to and they will be taken out along with their families, if necessary, that's how serious it is.

Things could go hot very soon."

My response: A very well established political lawyer in Mexico has stated directly to this Mexican family that the crap is going to hit the fan BADLY in early January and he has insider contacts in the Mexican government that told him. It is all part of a huge plan. He did not know what it was exactly, but he said BUY GAS, FOOD, AND ALL SUPPLIES YOU POSSIBLY CAN. He kept repeating it, and he said only that it was "Because you won't be able to get it anymore". Spooky. Don't know what to say about the food part of his warning, other than "spooky". I have enough food to go for a couple months. What more can I do on short notice?

He made it perfectly clear that the situation was 100 percent rooted in corruption, and that it did not need to happen but they were going to do it for reasons he did not know. He said it is related to the gas games they have been playing which are only games and nothing more.

I have BIG internet problems today. That might be related to the problems you are having. I can connect, but at a cost of $50 USD per gigabyte. That is really bad when you have to do a site like this one. I did it anyway, because what else can I do? I have system monitor open and am being careful, that is all I can do.

As far as cell phones, within two months of publishing the Fuku report every cell I have ever used has been denied incoming calls and everyone thought I was full of crap. And if I carried a phone, all I ever did was dodge cars that almost hit me and get followed. So I stopped paying for cell service just to give them a way to kill me and have not had a phone for years. I could talk to only ONE person I was in constant contact with for a short time in the beginning of it all, and no one else. Then, 4 years ago, even that person was gone. Cell phones are worth ZERO now as far as I see it. If they are cutting yours off now, we are probably in DEEP SH*T.

I will be VERY difficult to take down, because I have so many ways to play. As far as others go, well, I don't know. Your .is sites will probably stay up provided they are actually hosted overseas. You had better put re-directs in and cache BIN in Iceland RIGHT NOW. You might be one of the last few standing if you prep NOW and get everything put on a server there so it is a simple redirect, or you can tell people ahead of time to go to beforeitsnews.is if the main site goes down. I'll certainly post any changes you or anyone else manages to do if they really do pull the plug. I plan to be here or at least be the last one standing.

Hervé

1st January 2017, 21:50

Fake News: Washington Post forced to correct false claim Russia hacked US power grid (https://www.rt.com/usa/372448-washingtonpost-retracts-russian-hackers/)

RT (https://www.rt.com/usa/372448-washingtonpost-retracts-russian-hackers/) Sun, 01 Jan 2017 19:52 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/367867/large/58693420c46188c14b8b462b.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/367867/full/58693420c46188c14b8b462b.jpg)
© Stelios Varias / Reuters

The Washington Post has corrected an article in which it said that Russian hackers had infiltrated the US power grid at a Vermont utility. The newspaper now says authorities have no such "indications" as people on social media claim the outlet promotes "fake news."

On Friday, Burlington Electric, a Vermont-based power company, raised an alarm after finding malware code on a company laptop. Referring to undisclosed officials, the Washington Post then ran a damning headline, saying that "Russian operation hacked a Vermont utility" which posed a risk "to US electrical grid security."

Yet it turns out that the laptop that was penetrated wasn't even attached to the power network, according to a statement from Burlington Electric. "We detected suspicious internet traffic in a single Burlington Electric Department computer not connected to our organization's grid systems," the message reads (https://www.burlingtonelectric.com/).

No evidence of a Russian trace has been released either. Eventually, the Washington Post issued a correction (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/russian-hackers-penetrated-us-electricity-grid-through-a-utility-in-vermont/2016/12/30/8fc90cc4-ceec-11e6-b8a2-8c2a61b0436f_story.html?utm_term=.1f905962240f) to its article. "An earlier version of this story incorrectly said that Russian hackers had penetrated the US electric grid. Authorities say there is no indication of that so far," the statement said. The headline, blatantly accusing "Russian hackers" of breaching the US power grid, remains, though.

Glen Greenwald, a prominent US journalist who was among those breaking the story on Edward Snowden's leaks on the NSA spying scandal, said the case suits America's anti-Russian agenda. "It matters even more because it reflects the deeply irrational and ever-spiraling fever that is being cultivated in US political discourse and culture about the threat posed by Moscow," Greenwald wrote (https://theintercept.com/2016/12/31/russia-hysteria-infects-washpost-again-false-story-about-hacking-u-s-electric-grid/).

It's not the first time the Washington Post has had to correct a report containing ill-founded allegations. On November 24, an article (https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/russian-propaganda-effort-helped-spread-fake-news-during-election-experts-say/2016/11/24/793903b6-8a40-4ca9-b712-716af66098fe_story.html?utm_term=.920a0ab5f501) by the newspaper alleged that Russia is in fact behind a massive spread of "fake news" which affected the US presidential campaign in November last year.

One of the experts cited by the newspaper was a group called PropOrNot, which "identified" over 200 websites as spreading Russian propaganda. Yet the article drew serious criticism from people on social media as well as journalists over PropOrNot's own dubious credentials.

In return, the Washington Post issued a lengthy editor's note, saying that some of the sites included by PropOrNot "have publicly challenged the group's methodology and conclusions." The group later deleted them and Washington Post on its part said that does not "vouch for the validity of PropOrNot's findings."

In October, the US officially accused Russia of hacking computers of individuals and organizations of the Democratic campaign ahead of the US elections. Moscow rebuffed the accusation as "nonsense."

Following the victory of the Republican candidate Donald Trump, the Washington Post, citing a CIA report, said (https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/obama-orders-review-of-russian-hacking-during-presidential-campaign/2016/12/09/31d6b300-be2a-11e6-94ac-3d324840106c_story.html?utm_term=.da273c872523) that Moscow specifically helped Trump to get into the White House.

The President-elect called (http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2016/12/11/trump-claims-russian-interference-in-2016-race-ridiculous-dems-making-excuses.html) the allegations "ridiculous" and labeled them yet "another excuse" by the Democrats for the loss of Hillary Clinton. Speaking to RT, a former member of the British MI5 intelligence agency, Annie Machon, said that rolling out with a bright headline and later issuing a correction is part of the Washington Post's tactics.

"Time after time after time, we are seeing this fake news coming out in the Washington Post," she said. "And every time they put these fake stories out they have to put [out] a disclaimer afterwards. But of course, the seed is then sown," Machon said.

=========================================

Moreover, it turns out that the malware is an obsolete Ukrainian code (https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2016/12/russia-malware-ip-hack/)...If it were me, I would start to look for that agitator mole...

PS: See this post (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?69621-Ukraine-Crimea-Syria-Israel-Iran-Putin-and-World-War-III&p=1124197&viewfull=1#post1124197) (<---) as well.

Chester

2nd January 2017, 00:23

fake documentary fortunately halted prior to airing

KKK Leaders Allege Producers Paid Them to Fake Scenes in Canceled A&E Documentary (EXCLUSIVE)

http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/kkk-leaders-allege-producers-paid-them-to-fake-scenes-in-canceled-ae-documentary-exclusive-1201950078/

Some KKK leaders divulged that they were paid hundreds of dollars in cash each day of filming to compel them on camera to distort the facts of their lives to fit the documentary’s predetermined narrative

Hervé

2nd January 2017, 12:54

Aghast... appalled... floored...

It was planned and orchestrated that way, all of it:

[They said (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?69621-Ukraine-Crimea-Syria-Israel-Iran-Putin-and-World-War-III&p=1124188&viewfull=1#post1124188),]

"Keep in mind that everything you do in reality will be manipulated by a media campaign, which will cancel out the results of your work.

You're going to fight terrorists?

You will look like the aggressor."
Any wonder, anyone, why the new "Media" campaign on "Fake News"?

It seems like 2017 will see a resurrection of pitch forks and blazing torches...

Systematic ‘fake news’ Planted By Britain’s Intelligence Services (http://truepublica.org.uk/united-kingdom/systematic-fake-news-planted-britains-intelligence-services/)

By Jonathan Cook – True Publica Org (http://truepublica.org.uk/united-kingdom/systematic-fake-news-planted-britains-intelligence-services/) 2nd January 2017 / United Kingdom (http://truepublica.org.uk/category/united-kingdom/)

http://truepublica.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Screen-Shot-2016-12-31-at-05.45.45.png

Is the CIA editing your newspaper? Here is a great overview (https://www.opendemocracy.net/uk/ed-jones/five-reasons-why-we-don-t-have-free-and-independent-press-in-uk-and-what-we-can-do-about) by Ed Jones of OpenDemocracyUK of why corporate media are the arch-exponents of “fake news”. The media are overwhelmingly owned and controlled by billionaires and gargantuan corporations, who depend on the support of other corporations for ad revenue, and employ journalists from a narrow, privileged class whose careers depend on maintaining access to elite sources. It would be simply astounding in these circumstances if we had anything resembling a pluralistic media.

The data concerns UK outlets, but the same principles apply in the US.
One section makes especially disturbing reading. It is the little-discussed matter of the intelligence services’ deep penetration of most western, and in some cases non-western, media organisations. In short, US intelligence services – and to a lesser extent British ones – have for many decades fed information to sympathetic journalists in key positions inside the “free” media, working with them hand in glove. Additionally, the CIA has sought to put its own people into publications to shape directly editorial content and influence public opinion. In some cases, these people may have reached very senior positions.

Nick Davies, of the Guardian, dedicated a whole chapter of his book Flat Earth News to documenting these practices. Strangely, that chapter is rarely mentioned. Journalists who praise the book instead concentrate on his less revealing concept of “churnalism” – journalism compromised by constraints of time and resources.

Jones adds other sources who make much the same point: Richard Keeble, professor of journalism at the University of Lincoln, … has written on the history of the links between journalists and the intelligence services. … He quotes Roy Greenslade, who has been a media specialist for both the Telegraph and the Guardian [and is a former editor of the Mirror newspaper], as saying: “Most tabloid newspapers – or even newspapers in general – are playthings of MI5 .” Keeble goes on to say:
[B]“Bloch and Fitzgerald, in their examination of covert UK warfare, report the editor of ‘one of Britain’s most distinguished journals’ as believing that more than half its foreign correspondents were on the MI6 payroll [the British equivalent of the CIA – my emphasis]. And in 1991, Richard Norton-Taylor revealed in the Guardian that 500 prominent Britons paid by the CIA and the now defunct Bank of Commerce and Credit International, included 90 journalists.”
Keeble has given many more examples in his book chapter of the intelligence services infiltrating the media and changing the politics of the time, including around the miners strikes and Arthur Scargill in the 1980s and during the lead-up to the Iraq war in 2003. …

David Leigh, former investigations editor of The Guardian, wrote about a series of instances in which the secret services manipulated prominent journalists. He claims reporters are routinely approached and manipulated by intelligence agents and identifies three ways – providing examples for each in his article – in which they do it:
They attempt to recruit journalists to spy on other people or themselves attempt to go under journalistic “cover.”

They allow intelligence officers to pose as journalists “to write tendentious articles under false names.”

And “the most malicious form”: they plant intelligence agency propaganda stories on willing journalists who disguise their origin from readers.
Remember that those who should be exposing the intelligence services’ manipulation of the mainstream media are the very same mainstream media that are already compromised.
In other words, this story is almost impossible for the media to tell because it would expose a very uncomfortable reality: that they are not, as they claim, watchdogs on power, but rather the lapdogs of the powerful.
If all this still seems hard to believe, please watch this video of a senior German journalist admitting that he was recruited by the US intelligence services (h/t Antonio Nascimento). Udo Ulfkotte covered the Middle East for the Frankfurter Allgemeine for 12 years, and says he regularly acted as a conduit for CIA propaganda. He adds that many of his colleagues were doing the same, willingly promoting CIA disinformation.

sGqi-k213eE

Hervé

6th January 2017, 18:14

MSM desperation: Daily Mail horrified as Russian sappers 'vandalize' Aleppo by clearing the city of deadly mines (http://russia-insider.com/en/despicable-russian-sappers-are-vandalizing-aleppo-clear-mines-graffiti/ri18395)

Marko Marjanovic Russia Insider (http://russia-insider.com/en/despicable-russian-sappers-are-vandalizing-aleppo-clear-mines-graffiti/ri18395)
Fri, 06 Jan 2017 00:00 UTC

Something horrible is happening in Aleppo. Check out this introduction to a Daily Mail photo essay:
These harrowing pictures, released by the Russian (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/russia/index.html) Ministry of Defence, show the utter devastation left behind by troops in Aleppo.

The haunting images show tanks driving through streets littered with rubble and lined with crumbling buildings, and Russian soldiers making their mark by daubing graffiti on walls in besieged the [sic] Syrian (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/syria/index.html) city.

Some pictures show desperate Syrian women and barefoot children receiving handouts of food from Russian troops, while others show dogs picking through the wreckage of buildings.

Dozens of images show rows of weaponry lined up on the ground, or huge explosions shaking the earth of the dusty city.

Together the images offer paint [sic] a stark picture of what is left of the ancient metropolis - one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Harrowing pictures, utter devastation, haunting images, Russian tanks driving through streets littered with rubble, Russian soldiers making their mark on the ruble with mysterios cyrilic graffiti. Desperate Syrian women and barefoot children, among dogs picking through the wreckage of buildings. Rows of weaponry mysteriously lined on the ground and huge explosions shaking the earth!

Oh my, this is horrible! What disaster has befallen this long-suffering city now?!

It turns out Aleppo has been invaded by an army of Russian sappers combing the city for mines. The hearts & minds operation (PR stunt, psy ops, whatever...) has Russian military engineers sharing their canteen food with civilians, leading specially trained dogs looking for explosives, handling and collecting dangerous unexploded ordnance and disposing of it in controlled explosions. In areas which they have cleared they leave a graffiti saying "MIN NET" or "clear of mines".

Most of the press has for some reason declined to pay this any mind at all, but the Daily Mail has decided to republish a Russian Defense Ministry photo essay depicting these Aleppo horrors -- equipped with its own caption comments that point out just how haunting all of this is.

In the 37 captions Daily Mail has found enough space to point out that Aleppo "has suffered heavy bombardment from Putin's forces", has been "partially reduced to rubble by Putin's troops" and that heavy civilian losses resulted from Russian troops battling Islamic State insurgents [according to the Daily Mail] in the city. It did not find the space to point out the Russian photos are depicting a mine-clearing operation.

Let's see some of the best ones:

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368849/large/3BD02DF700000578_4084990_image.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368849/full/3BD02DF700000578_4084990_image.jpg)

Photo shows unexploded bombs collected by Russians to be destroyed. The Daily Mail caption reads:

Missiles daubed with Arabic writing are lined up on the ground by Russian troops, who have been backing Syrian government forces in their brutal assaults on rebel-held areas of Aleppo Russians are not collecting unexploded ordnance to be disposed of. They are merely "lining up" missiles daubed with Arabic writing on the ground for some unexplained reason. Also something about "brutal assault".

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368851/large/3BD02E7700000578_4084990_image.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368851/full/3BD02E7700000578_4084990_image.jpg)

Photo shows a Russian sapper unloading a mine clearing vehicle. The Daily Mail caption:

A soldier stands behind an Uran-6 remote operated mine vehicle, which separates him from the shell of what was once a building The Russian soldier is not preparing to clear mines. He is merely "standing behind" a "mine vehicle"(??).

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368853/large/3BD02E1B00000578_4084990_image.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368853/full/3BD02E1B00000578_4084990_image.jpg)

A bomb detection dog rests on the knee of a sapper. Daily Mail:

A bomb detection dog rests its head on a soldier's knee in Aleppo, where Russian troops have been heavily involved in fighting No indication whatsoever that the soldier with a bomb detection dog might be involved in mine clearing. Instead something about "Russian troops" and "heavily involved in fighting".

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368854/large/3BD02E4F00000578_4084990_image.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368854/full/3BD02E4F00000578_4084990_image.jpg)

The Daily Mail:
A member of Russian military preparing for a mine to be blown up, behind the thorny Syrian ground The Russian soldier is not handling a leftover mine here. He is merely "preparing" for a mine to be blown up by some unspecified force.

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368855/large/3BD02DF300000578_4084990_image.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368855/full/3BD02DF300000578_4084990_image.jpg)

A mine clearing vehicle detonates a mine combing a mine field. The Daily Mail:

Clouds of smoke and clumps of earth fly into the air as Uran-6 drives over a buried landmine No indication the mine clearing vehicle deliberately detonated a mine as part of a mine clearing effort. A Uran-6 simply happens to "drive over" a buried land mine.

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368856/large/3BD02CB800000578_4084990_image.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368856/full/3BD02CB800000578_4084990_image.jpg)

We see a sapper with remote controls to a mine clearing vehicle. The Daily Mail:

A Russian soldier studies his equipment as an Uran-6 remote operated mine vehicle drives past him No acknowledgment the soldier is clearing mines at all. The soldier is merely "studying his equipment" as a mine clearing vehicle just happens to drive by.

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368857/large/3BD02B6000000578_4084990_image.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368857/full/3BD02B6000000578_4084990_image.jpg)

Daily Mail:
A Russian soldier holds an explosive as he sits besides beside empty grenades and weaponheads The Russian soldiers is not defusing bombs. He merely happens to be holding an explosive next to defused grenades.

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368859/large/3BD02B5700000578_4084990_image.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368859/full/3BD02B5700000578_4084990_image.jpg)

Daily Mail:
Empty explosives lie on the ground, lined up by Russian soldiers who shared this picture from the frontline Russian soldiers are again lining up unexploded ordnance on the ground for some mysterious and unexplained reason. Also "Russian soldiers" and "frontline".

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368860/large/3BD02B5C00000578_4084990_image.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368860/full/3BD02B5C00000578_4084990_image.jpg)

The Daily Mail:
This picture, shared by the Russian Ministry of Defence, shows a huge explosion among the rubble The Russians have not set off unexploded ordnance they had previously collected and lined up. They merely shared a picture of a huge explosion.

Continued below...

Hervé

6th January 2017, 18:17

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368852/large/3BD0293000000578_4084990_image.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368852/full/3BD0293000000578_4084990_image.jpg)

Daily Mail:
Russian soldiers pick through the rubble on this Aleppo street, which has been severely damaged in the bombardment, while the remains of a burnt-out car stand in the background Picking through the rubble for what?

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368858/large/3BD02A4C00000578_4084990_image.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368858/full/3BD02A4C00000578_4084990_image.jpg)

Daily Mail:
A soldier holds a dog on a lead as they scan the ground next to crumbling buildings in the war-torn city. They are scanning the ground for what?

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368862/large/3BD02A4000000578_4084990_image.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368862/full/3BD02A4000000578_4084990_image.jpg)

Daily Mail:
Russian soldiers pick their way through a barren field in Aleppo, which has borne the brunt of fighting in Syria Picking their way through a barren field why? Or are they combing the barren field for mines?

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368863/large/3BD02AC000000578_4084990_image.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368863/full/3BD02AC000000578_4084990_image.jpg)

Daily Mail:
A soldier leads a military dog through the broken bricks, old tyres and rusted metal that litter the ground Leading a military dog through rusted metal that litters the ground or leading a bomb detection dog on the look out for explosives?

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368864/large/3BD0292800000578_4084990_image.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368864/full/3BD0292800000578_4084990_image.jpg)

Daily Mail:
Soldiers use a dog to help them pick through broken buildings in the heart of the ancient city Sappers with a military dog picking through rubble why?

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368865/large/3BD02ACC00000578_4084990_image.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368865/full/3BD02ACC00000578_4084990_image.jpg)

Daily Mail:
A heavily armed Russian soldier works on the ground in the deserted streets of the Syrian city The "heavily armed Russian soldier" who is "working on the ground" is clearly a sapper preparing to pull out a mortar mine or a bomblet from the ground.

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368868/large/3BD02B1C00000578_4084990_image.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368868/full/3BD02B1C00000578_4084990_image.jpg)

Daily Mail:
Russian troops handle heavy weaponry in front of a near-collapsed building on the streets of central Aleppo Russians are not collecting unexploded ordnance. They are "handling heavy weaponry".

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368867/large/3BD02A2000000578_4084990_image.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368867/full/3BD02A2000000578_4084990_image.jpg)

Daily Mail:
A soldier scans the ground, searching for buried landmines hidden beneath the sparse grass and broken stones In the 37-photo essay this is the one and only time that Daily Mail recognizes that the Russian on the photo is actually engaged in a mine clearing operation. Bravo??

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368847/large/3BD02B7C00000578_4084990_image.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/368847/full/3BD02B7C00000578_4084990_image.jpg)

This is the best one of all. The caption now reads "A soldier writes 'no mines' in Russian on a wall in Aleppo with the area having been secured", however, originally when the article was published it read (https://www.google.com/search?q=%22A+soldier+daubs+graffiti+written+in+Russian+on+a+wall+in+Aleppo%2C+underneath+previous+g raffiti+written+in+Arabic.%22&oq=%22A+soldier+daubs+graffiti+written+in+Russian+on+a+wall+in+Aleppo%2C+underneath+previous+graffit i+written+in+Arabic.%22&aqs=chrome..69i57.1167j0j4&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8):
"A soldier daubs graffiti written in Russian on a wall in Aleppo, underneath previous graffiti written in Arabic." The soldier isn't marking a building which has been cleared of mines. Instead the Russians are leaving their mark by overwriting previous Arabic graffiti with mysterious Russian letters.

Hervé

7th January 2017, 20:12

"Dear CIA!": RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan mocks intelligence report calling RT 'Kremlin propaganda' (https://sputniknews.com/russia/201701071049356450-sputnik-simonyan-report/)

Sputnik (https://sputniknews.com/russia/201701071049356450-sputnik-simonyan-report/)
Sat, 07 Jan 2017 19:25 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/369148/large/1013216378.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/369148/full/1013216378.jpg)
© Sputnik RT Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan

A declassified US intelligence report released on Friday directly accused RT and Sputnik of waging a campaign to influence the US presidential vote by helping Donald Trump's election chances and harming his rival, Hillary Clinton.

"Russia's state-run propaganda machine—comprised of its domestic media apparatus, outlets targeting global audiences such as RT and Sputnik (https://sputniknews.com/military/201701051049303062-sputnik-rt-liar-james-clapper/), and a network of quasi-government trolls—contributed to the influence campaign by serving as a platform for Kremlin messaging to Russian and international audiences," the report (http://sputniknews.com/us/20170104/1049242632.html), jointly prepared by the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Security Agency, said.

It directly accuses RT and Sputnik Editor-in-Chief Margarita Simonyan (https://sputniknews.com/us/201701061049312247-rt-clapper-simonyan/) of links to the Kremlin.

Simonyan was quick to mock the report as "shallow," failing to name the sources and based on dated and/or false intelligence.
"Dear CIA! Nothing of what you wrote here (https://sputniknews.com/us/201701071049343650-us-intelligence-report-obama-election/) holds any water.

In 2001, I was 21 and was covering Crimean elections. Back in those days, pro-Russian sentiment there was as high as always. My two-week stint over, it didn't go anywhere. Consider this.

We have Sputnik branches working across the former Soviet Union. They are run by my deputy and onetime boyfriend Andrei Blagodyrenko. I offered him the job after we broke up. It was on his guard that Sputnik's popularity there went through the roof in fresh proof of the well-known fact that Russian propaganda is made in bed. Consider this.

I've had several meetings with Julian Assange - a hard fact, CCTV cameras outside the Ecuadorean embassy in London can attest to. We met in London. Consider this.

In 2013, RT became the first news channel ever to get 1 billion views on YouTube. Looks like YouTube users worldwide already had their accounts all hacked by Russian net runners, because if they hadn't then how come so many people are ready to buy what 'Russian propaganda' tells them? Consider this.

[First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Russian Presidential Administration] Alexei Gromov is really my contact in the Kremlin. We often see each other, sometimes at a bar. I prefer German beer, he goes for Russian vodka. Consider this.

Once he gave me a basket of mushrooms. Then a State Department staffer dropped by to enjoy a plateful of fried mushrooms, which I made him believe was a traditional Russian delicacy. Consider this.

A year ago we showed that after they retired, Obama and Kerry would be watching RT at home and crying (https://sputniknews.com/videoclub/201512031031201259-rt-promo-2035-parody/). This video is available online. Consider this.

And last but not least, at the tender age of 15 I went to study in the US as part of a school exchange program paid for by US taxpayers. Donald Trump was a very big taxpayer then. Consider this too," Simonyan wrote in her livejournal (http://m-simonyan.livejournal.com/151693.html). The report, jointly prepared by the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Security Agency, also accused RT and Sputnik of "consistently casting President-elect Trump as the target of unfair coverage from traditional US media outlets subservient to a corrupt political establishment."

"We also assess Putin and the Russian Government aspired to help President-elect Trump's election chances when possible by discrediting Secretary Clinton and publicly contrasting her unfavorably to him," the CIA/FBI/NSA report claimed.

Chester

8th January 2017, 20:53

Fake News Plus Fascism: New York Times Urges Boycott of Breitbart (http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/01/08/new-york-times-aims-breitbart-misses-badly/)

In two op-ed articles for the New York Times‘ Sunday Review, the Gray Lady attacks Breitbart News and its founder, Andrew Breitbart, and encourages an effort to “destroy” the company by appealing directly to advertisers not to support the website.

recommend reading the whole article

TargeT

8th January 2017, 21:57

Why don't we investigate Saudi Arabia for the contributions to teh Clinton campaign?

I'd say that's a far more clear "influence" to the election..... and it's already admitted to.

Hervé

10th January 2017, 19:34

Abby Martin responds to New York Times propaganda outlet (http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Abby-Martin-Responds-to-New-York-Times-Allegations-20170108-0030.html)

Abby Martin teleSUR (http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Abby-Martin-Responds-to-New-York-Times-Allegations-20170108-0030.html)
Sun, 08 Jan 2017 00:00 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/369614/large/Abby_Martin_Responds_to_New_Yo.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/369614/full/Abby_Martin_Responds_to_New_Yo.jpg)
© teleSUR

Abby Martin, the host of teleSUR's "Empire Files," issued the following response to the Jan. 7 New York Times article falsely representing her work at RT America.

The long-awaited report by the Director of National Intelligence (DNI), allegedly proving Russian "interference" in the US election, includes a section solely dedicated to bashing RT, and specifically calls out my former show Breaking the Set, which ended two years ago, as a propaganda vector marking the beginning of the Kremlin attempt to subvert American democracy.

Desperate to push this US intelligence narrative, The New York Times called the report "damning and surprisingly detailed," while adding that it includes no actual evidence.

The very next day, on Jan. 7, the Times published another piece titled "Russia's RT, The Network Implicated in U.S. Election Meddling."

In the article, NYT journalist Russell Goldman used two blatantly false statements about my work at RT to support the argument that the network is simply a Putin-dictated propaganda outlet.

First, he stated "...two anchors who quit during live broadcasts say the network is a propaganda outlet."

I did not quit during a live broadcast, nor did I say that the network is a propaganda outlet.

He goes on to say "...Abby Martin, who said before quitting, 'What Russia did was wrong.'"

Any cursory research into the referenced quote—when I spoke out against Russia's military entrance into Crimea and the network's glorification of it—will find that not only did I not quit on air, but that I continued my show for an entire year afterward.

I was interviewed about my on-air statement on many major news stations, from BBC to CNN, where I defended my editorial freedom and also called-out the double standards and hypocrisies in their coverage.

RT issued an official statement in support of my freedom to state my opinion on the network. Over the course of the next year, I continued to voice my concerns and opinions about Russia, from MH-17 to the Ukraine crisis, unfiltered.

I quit the network on my own terms in February 2015 because I wanted to do more in-depth investigative reporting, not because I believed it to be a propaganda outlet.

LLMwN1S6D0M
The Times issued a correction after these false accounts were featured prominently on their website for over 19 hours. But their correction still misrepresents the facts to push their narrative.

The correction reads "this article misstated when the RT anchor Abby Martin left the network. She quit sometime after denouncing on air Russia's war in Ukraine, not during the live broadcast."

The error in their article was not simply about when I quit, but the reason and circumstances for leaving the network. The article still implies that I left over this political disagreement.

Additionally, they removed from the article the line "two anchors who quit during live broadcasts say the network is a propaganda outlet," but they do not note that change in their correction addendum, as is standard.

The article now includes a modified sentence: "Abby Martin quit some time after denouncing Russia's incursion on air. 'What Russia did was wrong,' Ms. Martin said."

This new line twists the truth, omits the facts, and ironically contradicts their entire argument.

The glaring fact is that I spoke out about the actions of Putin, Russia and RT's coverage of it on air, and not only was I not fired, but I still had the prime time opinion show on the network for another year.

That begs the question to the NY Times: if RT is simply a Kremlin mouthpiece, how was I allowed to do this and still be featured prominently on the network?

It appears that the Times is, once again, working to push a false perspective being promoted by US government officials and agencies. To paint RT in such a cartoonish, totalitarian fashion—and to promote the idea that it is subverting US democracy—is the dangerous state propaganda that we should be worrying about.

Abby Martin

Related:
'Insane, ridiculous, embarrassing': Abby Martin blasts ODNI report and NYT for bashing RT and misrepresenting facts (https://www.sott.net/article/339136-Insane-ridiculous-embarrassing-Abby-Martin-blasts-ODNI-report-and-NYT-for-bashing-RT-and-misrepresenting-facts)

Ewan

11th January 2017, 10:47

Once again they accuse others of what they themselves do. Such a dangerous foolhardy game.

TargeT

11th January 2017, 12:58

Looks like it's on a few threads... should be though.. haha such an ironic twist...
http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?90590-Transition-into-Trump&p=1126547&viewfull=1#post1126547

This is worth tracking, Drudge is carrying it in bright red ;)

4Chan Claims To Have Fabricated Anti-Trump Report As A Hoax
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2017/01/01/ZmsO6afG5fxZ9_FK1xRBvHDerRK5tcShO4Hxh9LG8wo_0.png

On january 10, Buzzfeed posted a story under the byline of Ken Bensinger, Mark Schoofs and Miriam elder titled “these reports Allege Trump Has Deep Ties To Russia” and posted a link to a document alleging, among other things, that russia has been cultivating trump for 5+ years, that trump has been in constant contact with the kremlin for information on his opponents, and perhaps most inflammatory, that there are many recorded instances of blackmail of trump in sexual misconduct. A prominent claim is that trump rented the presidential suite of the Ritz Carlton Hotel in moscow, where he knew that the Obamas had slept in; he them hired a number of prostitutes to perform a 'golden shower' (pissplay) on the bed and in the room. https://www.buzzfeed.com/kenbensinger/these-reports-allege-trump-has-dee...
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/3259984/Trump-Intelligence-Al...

Noted #nevertrump voice Rick Wilson later commented on twitter, stating that the report “gave a new meaning to Wikileaks” (https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/818982395202379777) and that the report was the reason everybody was fighting so hard against the election of Trump. (https://twitter.com/TheRickWilson/status/818983514335047680)

The remarkable thing? It's all fake. And not only fake; it's a prank perpetuated by 4chan, on Rick Wilson himself. A post on 4chan on october 26 stated “mfw managed to convince CTR and certain (((journalists))) on Twitter there'll be an October surprise on Trump this Friday” along with a picture of a smug face with a hash name. http://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/94704894/#94705224

on november 1, a person without a picture but is assumed to be the same person posted “So they took what I told Rick Wilson and added a Russian spy angle to it. They still believe it. Guys, they're truly ****ing desperate - there's no remaining Trump scandal that's credible.” https://archive.4plebs.org/pol/thread/95568919/#95571329

on january 10, moments after the story broke and began to gain traction on social media, a person with the same smug grin face, and the same hash title for the picture, stated “I didn't think they'd take it so far.” http://boards.4chan.org/pol/thread/106514445#p106520376

This story has taken on something of a life of it's own. Going through Rick Wilson's twitter, you can find many different stories from the time that he had shown the story to a wide number of anti-trump news sources, trying to find a news organization that would actually publish the story. During that time period, he referred to it often as 'the thing', and often playing coy with followers on the content with the story with anybody who was not also a #Nevertrumper. Unconfirmed sources has people as high up as John McCain giving the story to FBI Director James Comey to attempt to verify the story. Given that Rick Wilson runs in Establishment circles, it is not an impossible scenario that long-serving senators are falling for what amounts to a 4chan troll trump supporter creating an ironic October Surprise out of wholecloth to punk a GOPe pundit who derogatorily referred to them as single men who masturbate to anime.
While this entire incident is laughable, and even more so if the 4Chan account is accurate, what makes it quite tragic, is that it is no longer possible to dismiss the "fake news" angle to an intelligence report. And if the CIA is compromised, what is left for "news outlets" like CNN and BuzzFeed, which were all too eager to run with the story without any attempt at verification?

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-10/4chan-claims-have-fabricated-anti-trump-report-hoax

Did 4Chan Troll The CIA? (http://townhall.com/tipsheet/christinerousselle/2017/01/10/did-4chan-troll-the-cia-n2269811)

4chan Claims It Invented the Trump Golden Showers Story (http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/01/10/4chan-claims-they-invented-the-trump-golden-showers-story.html)

Hervé

12th January 2017, 14:34

Why fake news matters (https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2017/01/12/why-fake-news-matters/)

By Jon Rappoport (https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/author/jonrappoport/) Jan 12 (https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2017/01/12/why-fake-news-matters/), 2017

Notes on major media blowing away in the wind

For the past 34 years, I’ve been working as a reporter, in order to expose fake news. My target: major media. Right from the beginning; and always.

The premise is simple: these liars are in the business of putting people into a false reality and keeping them there. How does that audience move out into truth if they’re basing their own ideas on a synthetically created artifact called The News?

Now we have a president-elect who, as I write this, is holding a press conference and calling CNN fake news (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkIk31t_YUM). Regardless of who Trump is, that is a moment people should understand as a wild departure from what happens in politics. It never happens. But it is happening.

This is shaking the egg until it cracks.

It’s called an opportunity.

—An opportunity for all of us to keep shaking the egg and exposing the liars, until there is no more egg.

Some of my joy comes from knowing reporters and editors in the mainstream who have been parading around, for decades, believing they are untouchable and vital and necessary and beyond reproach. They never thought this day would come. But it is here.

And they know it now. That’s what makes them so crazy.

Out of view, “their children” (audience) have grown up, and aren’t buying what “the adults” are selling. Trump has simply brought all that to a head. He went over the edge with it. He didn’t care. You tell me that some other candidate, who presented himself as more balanced, more measured, more mature, could have pulled this off, and I’ll tell you you’re wrong. A wild cowboy was necessary, and he showed up. Hate him, love him, he showed up.

Don’t let this moment be wasted.

Part of the reason the major media are pulling out all the stops in attacking Trump and blasting him? They want to paint a portrait of a man who isn’t really president. “See, the guy who has been defaming us isn’t a president at all. He’s just a nut. Therefore, don’t take his assault on us seriously. It means nothing.”

Good luck with that strategy. It’s another fail. It’s another goof in a long history of media goofs. The media are saying: “Don’t look at us. We’re fine. We’ve always been fine. Instead, look at Trump. He’s the villain. He’s the loon.”

Yesterday, he was a Russian agent. Today, he’s a John with hookers he paid to desecrate a hotel bed Obama slept in. Tomorrow, he’ll be an alien from the Orion Belt who arrived in a space ship.

“His flying saucer landed on the US-Mexico border. Why wasn’t he vetted by Customs&Immigration? Why was he allowed into the US?”

Well, why is the NY Times in such bad shape that Carlos Slim has to be its largest investor? And why is Jeff Bezos, whose parent company, Amazon, has a $600 million contract with CIA to provide computing services, the sole owner of the Washington Post?

Because those two venerable papers were going down the toilet.

For that matter, why does David Rhodes, the president of CBS News, have a brother, Ben Rhodes, who is Obama’s deputy national security adviser for strategic communication?

Almost without exception, major media are liberal. This means, among other things, they are staunch (covert) supporters of Globalism, which means: a new planetary economic and political order, in which sovereign nations cease to exist—having being supplanted by mega-corporations and mega-banks.

The stories that major media spin have two basic aims: conceal the advances of Globalism, and support those advances under different names.

Working for these media outlets is a snap: aid in the cause and pick up a paycheck, while selling your soul.

No one will ever know what you’re really doing.

But that has changed. The operation has been exposed.

The egg has cracked.

And as in one of those remarkable Hieronymus Bosch paintings, all manner of strange and grotesque creatures are spilling out of the egg and showing their true colors.

Here is a quick quiz. All the following items are part and parcel of the Globalist agenda, because they imply far-reaching measures that help install planetary governance. On which item are major media most insistent and supportive? On which item do outside critics sustain the most virulent media attacks? The green economy. Sustainable growth. The Smart Grid. Climate change.

Yes, of course: climate change.

It is the lynch pin for the radical plan forcing all nations to reduce their energy production, in order to “restrain global warming.” It is the most direct tactic for undermining and torpedoing economies.

Induce more drastic worldwide poverty and suffering; release a necessary plan for solving the crisis; make the plan embrace the whole world; quite naturally form an international body of “representatives” (elite Globalist partners) to put the plan into effect. You have a global management system.

So major media double down on global warming. Only morons, evildoers, fake scientists, and the selfishly rich would deny that “the science is settled.” The campaign is relentless. Even Hollywood stars are brought into the mix. They personally know as much about climate as ants know about building BMWs, but they’re given generous space in which to bloviate and signal their virtuous concern.

Whatever Trump is or isn’t, whatever he is going to do or not do, big media are now more vulnerable and exposed than they’ve ever been—and this is the moment.

Exposing their fake news operations is taking the blinders from the eyes of millions of people who never dreamed they would doubt the Egg.

Let us double down and triple down.

Jon Rappoport

Hervé

13th January 2017, 16:07

...

:dance:

‘Are you all Washington lackeys?’ French screen legend Fanny Ardant slams Western media bias (https://www.rt.com/news/373588-france-fanny-ardant-lackey-america/)

Published time: 13 Jan, 2017 14:42
Get short URL (https://on.rt.com/809g)

https://cdn.rt.com/files/2017.01/original/5878e384c461883c238b45ef.jpg
French actress Fanny Ardant © Aristidis Vafeiadakis / www.globallookpress.com (http://www.globallookpress.com)

Famous French actress Fanny Ardant has questioned the Western media’s bias, asking whether they are all “Washington lackeys” as they choose to treat Russia as a scapegoat. The comments were saluted on Twitter, with the French praising Ardant’s frankness.

The movie star was speaking to French show ‘28 minutes’ on the Arte TV network on Wednesday, where she discussed her new film about USSR leader Joseph Stalin.

The conversation touched upon modern-day politics, with questions about Russia in particular. Though Ardant’s film was purely about Stalin and his mistress, the screen behind the journalists depicted only current Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I think that the West likes giving lessons, it is authorized to give ‘good’ or ‘bad’ grades,” Ardant said. “And journalists need to demonize someone. But no one tries to demonize America.”

JNZe0WF6rhk

The media always have “scapegoats,” according to the French actress – and this time they are targeting Russia.

“Are you happy that there is a counter-power to America, or are you lackeys of the United States?” she asked ‘28 minutes’ journalists, apparently in reference to those working in the media.

Ardant’s words were highly praised by people on social media.

“Bravo to Fanny Ardant who courageously denounced ‘Western lessons’, lackey journalists of America,” one person tweeted.

Others said that Ardant’s comments will be “a lesson for journalists who brainwash us every morning.”

“Fanny Ardant denounces Russophobia,” wrote another Twitter user, while one added: “May God bless you and your speech.”

Scyne ‏@s_cyne (https://twitter.com/s_cyne) @Fanny_ardant (https://twitter.com/Fanny_ardant) , may God bless u and ur speech https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/72x72/1f54a.png

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C2AQUYdXgAAGDSD.jpg

“Fanny Ardant says aloud what everyone thinks in a low voice,” one more person wrote.

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/378800000477380389/14915bd076c231633c0fa052e3f220a8_bigger.jpeg AntoineArdant ‏@AntoineArdant (https://twitter.com/AntoineArdant)

.@28minutes (https://twitter.com/28minutes) Fanny Ardant dit tout haut, ce tout le monde pense tout bas... "Pensée unique sur les mêmes hommes et les mêmes faits ...#28min (https://twitter.com/hashtag/28min?src=hash)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C19hDG0XAAEt58L.jpg

“Excellent,” “Magnificent,” “Brave” Fanny Ardant, exclaimed people on social media in chorus.

Fanny Ardant is a veteran actress revered all around the world. She has appeared in more than 80 films and has received the coveted César Award for Best Actress.

Hervé

14th January 2017, 00:01

RT editor-in-chief mocks hysterical claims RT hacked C-SPAN: "Do you now see the long arm of RT?" (https://www.rt.com/news/373642-rt-cspan-hacking-simonyan/)

RT (https://www.rt.com/news/373642-rt-cspan-hacking-simonyan/) Fri, 13 Jan 2017 21:12 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/370558/large/5879487fc3618825778b4585.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/370558/full/5879487fc3618825778b4585.jpg)
© Michael Klimentyev / Sputnik Editor-in-Chief of the RT (Russia Today) television channel Margarita Simonyan

RT's editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan criticized the mainstream media for a "hysterical" reaction to a broadcasting error on Thursday, when the RT transmission suddenly cut into a live feed of C-SPAN, the American public service network.

C-SPAN said that the incident was the result of an "internal routing error," but not before dozens of media outlets reported that the channel may have been "hacked," and made links to recent mentions of RT in the ODNI report on Russia's influence in the past US presidential election. Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who was addressing the House of Representatives when the 10-minute interruption occurred also called the incident "odd" and "strange."

"I am starting to believe that Russian hackers have infiltrated the heads of the US establishment," Simonyan told RIA news agency. "C-SPAN itself has already said the feed interruption was an internal malfunction, but mainstream media is still going into hysterics saying we hacked them. Our newsroom ran out of popcorn watching this unfold."

"Now do you see the long arm of RT?" Simonyan, who has overseen RT since it began broadcasting in 2005, posted on her Russian-language Twitter.

A seven-page annex in the declassified version of the ODNI report were dedicated exclusively to the growing influence of RT, focusing on its coverage of issues as diverse as Occupy Wall Street and fracking, as well as accusing it of one-sided anti-Hillary Clinton coverage of the 2016 election.

Hervé

16th January 2017, 17:09

We're puppets on a string: German journalist who spoke out about CIA control of media dies of heart attack (http://russia-insider.com/en/media-criticism/german-journalist-who-blew-whistle-cia-media-control-drops-dead-56/ri18544)

Paul Kaiser Russia Insider (http://russia-insider.com/en/media-criticism/german-journalist-who-blew-whistle-cia-media-control-drops-dead-56/ri18544) Mon, 16 Jan 2017 00:00 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/371030/large/1280_1.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/371030/full/1280_1.jpg)
Udo Ulfkotte

Nothing to see here....natural causes....move along

Udo Ulfkotte, a German journalist and former editor of Germany's prestigous newpaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung who spoke out in recent years about the control of his profession by the CIA and US government, has died of a heart attack. He was 56.

Russia Insider conducted an exclusive interview (http://russia-insider.com/en/germany/our-exclusive-interview-german-editor-turned-cia-whistleblower/ri531) with Ulfkotte in October 2014. Here is an excerpt:

We're talking about puppets on a string, journalists who write or say whatever their masters tell them to say or write. If you see how the mainstream media is reporting about the Ukraine conflict and if you know what's really going on, you get the picture. The masters in the background are pushing for war with Russia and western journalists are putting on their helmets.

I'm ashamed I was part of it. Unfortunately I cannot reverse this. Although my superiors at the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung approved of what I did, I'm still to blame. But yes, to my knowledge I am the first to accuse myself and to prove many others are to blame. In November 2014 he said the following in an interview (http://orientalreview.org/2014/11/07/german-politicians-are-us-puppets/) with Oriental Review:

I didn't get money - I got gifts. Things like gold watches, diving equipment, and trips with accommodations in five-star hotels. I know many German journalists who at some point were able to take advantage of this to buy themselves a vacation home abroad. But much more important than the money and gifts is the fact that you're offered support if you write pieces that are pro-American or pro-NATO. If you don't do it, your career won't go anywhere - you'll find yourself assigned to sit in the office and sort through letters to the editor.

When you fly to the US again and again and never have to pay for anything there, and you're invited to interview American politicians, you're moving closer and closer to the circles of power. And you want to remain within this circle of the elite, so you write to please them. Everyone wants to be a celebrity journalist who gets exclusive access to famous politicians. But one wrong sentence and your career as a celebrity journalist is over. Everyone knows it. And everyone's in on it. Also the same year, Ulfkotte spoke to RT about his career and the corruption of German media:

sGqi-k213eE

In July of 2016 he appeared on RT again to discuss Facebook's censorship of him for writing a book criticizing Merkel's open door migrant policy:

I6xQ_yEYrwA

A Voice from the Mountains

16th January 2017, 17:17

Once again they accuse others of what they themselves do. Such a dangerous foolhardy game.

And an increasingly stupid game since they're not the dominant voice anymore. They immediately discredit themselves with hypocrisy every time they do this now.

Whichever MSM exec came up with the words "fake news" is probably so pissed at himself right now.

Hervé

19th January 2017, 13:28

Lavrov slams "triple standards," names those who REALLY interfered in the US elections (http://www.fort-russ.com/2017/01/lavrov-slams-triple-standards-names.html)

January 18, 2017 - Fort Russ News -
RT (https://russian.rt.com/world/article/351282-lavrov-vmeshatelstvo-vybory-ssha), translated by J. Arnoldski -

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HEw-jfMroqo/WH9vU7nKYlI/AAAAAAAAF6A/ie5Zp8yduggSxgwypBMbjoaQDFPHjdG5gCLcB/s640/1033931157.jpg (https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-HEw-jfMroqo/WH9vU7nKYlI/AAAAAAAAF6A/ie5Zp8yduggSxgwypBMbjoaQDFPHjdG5gCLcB/s1600/1033931157.jpg)

During the US election campaigns, a whole number of leaders of countries allied with Washington openly campaigned for Hillary Clinton, Russian Foreign Minister, Sergey Lavrov, says. Lavrov also remarked that all the accusations hurled at Moscow of “interfering” in the American electoral process are unfunded and slanderous.

The minister emphasized that even the White House didn’t hesitate to demonize and criticize Donald Trump. “Frankly speaking, we are already starting to get tired of discussing the topic of Russian interference in the domestic affairs of the United States, especially in regards to the election campaign which ended in the election of President Trump,” Lavrov stated at a press conference following a meeting with Austrian Foreign Minister, Sebastian Kurtz.

The Russian foreign minister called the accusations that “continue to surface” against Moscow “unfounded, unsubstantiated, and slanderous.”

“The cynicism of the situation is that we are being blamed by those who most actively interfered in the election campaign,” the diplomat stated. Lavrov added that, unlike Russia, a whole number of world leaders openly campaigned for Hillary Clinton. “Angela Merkel, Francois Hollande, Theresa May, and other European leaders were noted as actively doing this,” the minister continued, emphasizing that many did not hesitate to demonize the Republican candidate.

In addition, Lavrov recalled how a few days ago, when Trump expressed his opinion on Germany’s immigration policy, that US Secretary John Kerry called this “unethical interference” in Germany’s internal affairs.

“This is being said by people who try to ‘teach’ other countries, including Europe, not only in words. Obama, for example, personally campaigned against Brexit. They also interfere in others’ affairs in much more concerning ways, such as with military force with the aim of regime change,” the Russian foreign minister stressed.

“These are not double standards, but triple standards. We believe that those making such accusations against us by trying to shift the blame onto others should be ashamed,” Lavrov stated.

At the press conference, Lavrov noted that Moscow is not interfering in the “ongoing disputes within the United States between the outgoing administration and Trump’s team” as a matter of principle. “But attacks by Barack Obama’s team's representatives on the president-elect look hypocritical,” Lavrov summarized.

Hervé

23rd January 2017, 14:49

"They" have been at it for a long while, those news fakers... :check that date:

¬ Reply by the U.S. President to John Norvell, 1807
To your request of my opinion of the manner in which a newspaper should be conducted so as to be most useful, I should answer, 'by restraining it to true facts and sound principles only.'

Yet I fear such a paper would find few subscribers. It is a melancholy truth, that a suppression of the press could not more completely deprive the nation of its benefits, than is done by its abandoned prostitution to falsehood.

Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper.

Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle.

I will add that the man who never looks into a newspaper is better informed than he who reads them; inasmuch as he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind is filled with falsehoods and errors. He who reads nothing will still learn the great facts, and the details are all false.

- Thomas Jefferson

... check that date again...

Hervé

23rd January 2017, 15:11

MSM caught faking inauguration crowd size as CNN's president warns Trump his network will deliberately discredit him (https://www.sott.net/article/340388-MSM-caught-faking-inauguration-crowd-size-as-CNNs-president-warns-Trump-his-network-will-deliberately-discredit-him#)

Joe Quinn Sott.net (https://www.sott.net/article/340388-MSM-caught-faking-inauguration-crowd-size-as-CNNs-president-warns-Trump-his-network-will-deliberately-discredit-him#) Sun, 22 Jan 2017 23:52 UTC

Anyone who thought that the Western media would cease in its efforts to trash the image of President Trump after inauguration day was sorely mistaken. Trump had not even been sworn in before NY Times' Washington correspondent Binyamin Appelbaum (https://twitter.com/BCAppelbaum/status/822478866035986435?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw) disingenuously tweeted an image of the number of people at the inauguration, before Trump had even arrived, and negatively compared it to an image of Obama's inauguration in 2009.

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/372354/large/Trump_Obama_inauguration_pics.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/372354/full/Trump_Obama_inauguration_pics.jpg)

Note that the 2009 image is a Getty photo, whereas the 2017 image is a screenshot from a live video feed, which you can tell by the graphic across the bottom of the screen. When questioned about the relative timing of the two images, Appelbaum claimed that the 2009 image was taken at 11:30am, thus half an hour before the commencement of inauguration proceedings, and the 2017 image taken at 11:15am.

The 'story' and image was then picked up and carried by other "news" outlets. PBS published this timelapse video, which they used to support the case for 'large white empty spaces' at Trump's inauguration:

Did you notice what they did at the end of the video? They 'wrapped up' the timelapse - as if to suggest that those final moments showed the full extent of Trump's crowd - even as people were clearly still arriving. PBS - like most mainstream media do when they know they're selling fake news - disabled comments under the video.

The reality is that the areas available for public attendees at Trump's inauguration were full to about 90% capacity. Check out this interactive gigapixel image (http://edition.cnn.com/interactive/2017/01/politics/trump-inauguration-gigapixel/) of the scene, taken during Trump's inauguration speech. Here are some screenshots from that wide-angle image, clearly showing large numbers of people all the way back towards the Washington Monument:

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/372363/large/Trump_inauguration_3.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/372363/full/Trump_inauguration_3.jpg)
© CNN

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/372364/large/Trump_inauguration_2.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/372364/full/Trump_inauguration_2.jpg)
© CNN

One or two of the blocks of designated viewing areas are thinner, but those large empty white blocks Appelbaum passed off as the extent of Trump's crowd are gone. Obviously, it's possible to quibble over the total numbers, and when you look at the crowd at Obama's 2009 inauguration (http://gigapan.com/gigapans/17217), it certainly looks like more people came to see Obama take the oath of office. Nevertheless, Trump still drew between 700 and 900 thousand people.

And that fact in itself is remarkable.

92% of electors in Washington, DC voted for crooked Hillary Clinton. Do we expect that many of them came to see their nemesis Trump take office? Conversely, most of those who voted for Trump live far from DC (and the East coast in general), so the fact that so many people actually made the trip is evidence of the high level of support the new president enjoys. The alternative view on this is that Trump enjoys far more support than the election results would have us believe.

Then there are TV viewings (http://ew.com/tv/2017/01/21/trump-inauguration-ratings/). The mainstream media doesn't dispute that Trump's inauguration is second only to Obama's 2009 ratings, but what they neglect to mention is that, these days, about the same number again watch TV on the internet. If we add just CNN's online viewings to the official TV viewings, Trump's inauguration was indeed the most-watched in history.

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer justifiably called out this borderline treasonous media propaganda at his first press briefing yesterday, and also lambasted Time Magazine White House reporter Zeke Miller — who Spicer did not mention by name — for falsely reporting on Friday evening that President Trump had removed the bust of Martin Luther King Jr. from the Oval Office.

The widespread and consistent media attacks against Trump are clearly deliberate. To underscore that point, in an interview (http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/01/cnns-zucker-on-covering-trump-past-present-and-future.html) published on Thursday by New York Magazine, CNN President Jeff Zucker warned US President Trump that if he continued to call out the mainstream media on its use of fake and distorted news, CNN (at least) would negatively shape the perception of the Trump to people around the world.
"One of the things I think this administration hasn't figured out yet is that there's only one television network that is seen in Beijing, Moscow, Seoul, Tokyo, Pyongyang, Baghdad, Tehran and Damascus — and that's CNN," Zucker said. "The perception of Donald Trump in capitals around the world is shaped, in many ways, by CNN. Continuing to have an adversarial relationship with that network is a mistake." Just to remind our readers, the establishment media, in particular outlets like CNN, The NY Times, The Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal, are outlets with a long track record (that continues to this day) of deceiving the public over issues that serve the interests of the Washington political elite while ignoring the interests of the American people. Specifically we can refer to the lies these media tools peddled about the Iraq war (Saddam's WMDs), Libya (the real reason for the NATO destruction of the country and the death of Ambassador Stevens), Syria (including CIA funding of Muslim terrorists in that country), and their continuing flagrant misrepresentation of Vladimir Putin and Russia's role in Syria (destroying the CIA's jihadi terrorists). The cherry on this fake news pie being the bogus allegations about Russian 'hacking' of the US election and connections between Trump and Putin. (https://www.sott.net/article/339583-A-Tale-of-Two-Dodgy-Dossiers-Putin-Trump-MI6-and-the-CIA)

The point, then, is this: if these media scoundrels are anti-Trump, then we can assume that Trump must, in one way or another, represent a threat to the Washington political elite warmongers and pedophiles and their yellow journalism lackeys. That, in itself, is reason enough for all people of good will to, at the very least, oppose the scurrilous and duplicitous attacks against Trump.

Hervé

23rd January 2017, 15:19

An addendum to the above from Jim Stone (http://82.221.129.208/baasepageq6.html):

NOW WE HAVE IT: UNDENIABLE, TRUMP'S INAUGURATION WAS THE LARGEST IN HISTORY, AND EVEN CNN PROVED IT

Here it is folks! Prior to Trump, the largest inauguration in history was Reagan, with 41 million viewers. The second largest, up until Trump, was Obama in 2009, with 37 million viewers. On TV, Trump took in 30.9 million viewers, but on CNN ALONE, THEIR LIVE STREAMS, logged 16.5 million viewers. That would put Trump at 47.3 million viewers if you count ONLY CNN's live stream, and there were MANY live streams. In all reality, when all are added, my guess (and it is obviously only a guess) is that Trump topped 70 million viewers.

Obviously the rain cut down the inauguration crowd, and the extremely heightened security due to an umbrella gun threat and countless other threats EVERYONE KNOWS ABOUT prevented at least 500,000 who tried to enter from entering. There were countless people stuck in line that never got in. Obama faced no such problems because white conservatives are so much less violent than liberals of all colors. Face it, that's a FACT.

There is a troll who keeps calling me an idiot for saying an umbrella gun could have threatened Trump. That's a load of BUNK. How about a .223 barrel with standard peep sight set up as a single shot to get it to fit in an umbrella, aimed by a guy with 20/08 vision. That will get you deadly at 600 yards, with great predictability. Just had to say that, because a troll is adamantly calling me a fool for the umbrella gun story, but it is a fact IT HAPPENED, even people who were in DC wrote to this web site saying it happened and as a result they took everyone's umbrellas. And it is stupid to argue with that when the fact security stifled attendance has been stated many places, not just here.

At any rate, extreme security threats cut Trump's attendance, but the TV ratings and live streams pretty much say it ALL, on TV alone, Trump topped Bush jr, Bush sr, and Clinton. Hardly a nobody, and the live streams put him WELL ahead of Reagan and Obama. Oh, I still have a headache so I forgot, Here is the link. (http://ew.com/tv/2017/01/21/trump-inauguration-ratings/) The article does not state Trump was the largest outright, but even a monkey could do the math with what they provide.

Hervé

24th January 2017, 12:53

Reporters tell me the truth off the record: the fake news business (https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2017/01/23/reporters-tell-me-the-truth-off-the-record-the-fake-news-business/)

By Jon Rappoport (https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/author/jonrappoport/) Jan 23 (https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2017/01/23/reporters-tell-me-the-truth-off-the-record-the-fake-news-business/), 2017

During my 34 years of working as a reporter, I’ve had many informal conversations with mainstream journalists. They were illuminating.

Here, from my notes (1982-2011), taken after the conversations, are what these guardians on the watchtower revealed:

ONE: “Investigative reporting has been dying. There’s no money for it. If I work on a piece for three months, while my paper is paying me, suppose at the end I come up dry? It happens. I can’t make my case. I’ve got nothing to show for it, and my paper is out whatever they’ve been paying me. They don’t like that. The other thing is, investigative work makes my bosses nervous. They don’t know where it’ll lead. Worst case, I might come up with something that’ll put the paper in a bad light. It’s like an intelligence agent in the field who wanders off the reservation. He’s got an assignment, but he sees something better, more important, and that’s where he goes. He ends up finding out something about his own agency. Something bad. I’ve seen that happen. A reporter finds out his own paper has been covering up a heavy scandal. It’s an intrinsic part of the story. What’s he going to do now? Go to his editor and tell him what’s going on? Chances are, his editor already knows. Now the reporter’s jammed up. He’s in a bad spot. A guy I know came to me with that exact problem. You know what I told him? Burn your notes. That’s what I said.”

TWO: “Most reporters who cover major issues are de facto intelligence assets. Some know it, most don’t. They’re all taking their information from controlled sources. It’s like somebody giving you talking points as if they’re the honest truth. In these talking points, you’re told who the players are in a story and what they’re doing. But they aren’t the important players, and what they’re doing is just a cover for what’s really going on. It’s all about misdirection. I’ve managed to get a few stories published about illusion vs. reality. But the thing is, no one follows up on that. It’s in print, and then it dies. One night, I had a little heart to heart with my editor. I told him it would be a lot easier if I just had a desk at the CIA in Langley. He agreed. He said we could move the whole paper there. But then the spooks would realize they didn’t need us at all. They could put out the paper themselves.”

THREE: “We’re in a business. We’re selling a product. That’s our role. If our bosses don’t like what we’re submitting to them, they let us know we’re giving them the wrong product. Our company makes product A and we’re giving them product B. Most reporters wouldn’t even understand what I’m saying, because they’re mentally in the camp of product A. That’s where they live. So as far as they’re concerned, they have lots of leeway. I don’t like talking to those guys. They’re dumb.”

FOUR: “I can write an article that’s critical of what a drug company is specifically doing, but I can’t criticize the company. If I did, my editor would read me the riot act. He knows if he published that article, his boss would get a visit from the company. They would threaten to pull their advertising. Everybody would be in serious trouble. There is a fine line. Sometimes, the evidence against a drug company is huge, and we can get away with a critical article. But most of the time, it’s a no-go area. I could lose my job. If I did, I would have a hell of a time trying to find another position on the same level. I might be subject to an industry-wide demotion.”

FIVE: “I thought I could quit working for my paper and get hired by somebody else, who would give me more freedom to write the stories I wanted to. I made a few quiet inquiries. Turned out I was wrong. They’re all pretty much the same. I could get hired by some small paper and write whatever I wanted to, but I would make very little money. I’d be screwed. They don’t cover this in journalism school.”

SIX: “Sometimes an order comes down. By the time I get it, it isn’t sounding exactly like an order. It’s more like ‘this is what we’re doing’. We need to go after a politician and bury him. That kind of thing. Nobody is complicit. You can’t find somebody and blame him for issuing the order. It’s vague enough that everyone escapes blame. And you don’t want to talk to your colleagues too much about it. You don’t want to be seen as making waves. It’s sort of like a game plan in football. You’re going to execute the plan. You’re not going to start talking about what a lousy plan it is.”

SEVEN: “I’m a guy who’s expected to put out baloney for our audience. I can slice it a few different ways, but it’s the same basic thing. After a few years, I can do it in my sleep. I know the routine.”

EIGHT: “You talk about who’s really running things behind the scene. I know something about that. But I can’t write it in a story. That would be called original research. I’m not allowed to do that. I can only quote authorities on two sides of an issue. And the guy I quote first—he carries the point of view of the story. The other guy is the doubter. I place him in the weaker position. I get to choose, but I already know what’s needed and required.”

NINE: “Reporters in my business have two choices. They can lower their IQs and become cynics, or they can maintain their intelligence and get booted out. That’s what it comes down to. Anybody with an IQ over 90 can see we have agendas. The whole business is agenda-driven. The main job of a reporter who wants to keep working is developing a cover—pretending he’s speaking the truth. This is a cover for his real identity. A guy who pleases his bosses. Several of us had the whole Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky story before it was published. We wanted to go with it, but we were told to sit on it. So it was our job to agree with that assessment. We had to pretend we didn’t have enough proof yet. We had the proof, but we had to make it seem like we were responsible journalists and needed more. That was a bunch of crap. The agenda was to protect ourselves from the wrath of the White House. That’s what the editors and the publishers were talking about among themselves. Sure—protect the president. But the real thing was the fear that he and his people would strike back at us and do us damage.”

TEN: “My decision to get out of the news business was pretty easy. I wanted to write a story about the influence of the Council on Foreign Relations on government policy, since World War Two. The way I was told to forget about it was like a cop talking to a drug dealer. All of a sudden, I was the bad guy. I really got into it with my editor. I saw what a phony he was. The thing is, I knew he had a cozy thing going with the CIA. Several people knew it. In my years in the business, I got a first-hand education in what selling out means. I came pretty close to the edge. There’s a weird adrenaline kick to it. You see your whole future laid out in front of you. It’s very rewarding, in terms of money and status. If you just play ball, it’ll be a smooth ride.”

ELEVEN: “What the teachers told me in journalism school was a load. All I needed was one honest talk with a professor, and I never would have bothered with the whole thing. I was naïve. During my career, there were days I thought we were really on the right track. Somebody wrote a great piece, and it was published. But then we fell back. We put out provable lies. And they were big ones. It was like being psychologically whipsawed. A few great days, and a lot of bad ones. The worst thing for me was government sources. I was like a horse with a feed bag on, and they were filling it up with rotten food. They knew it, I knew it, and we just kept doing it.”

TWELVE: “I saw what I called ‘the inch-below’ thing. An inch below what we were reporting was the real story. It was about power players and what they were doing to make profit for major corporations. It kept coming up. Crimes. People should have been arrested. I could have written great stories. But nobody wanted them. I would have proved intent. I’m talking about wars. Not little stuff. Whole wars, and the money. The profits. In court, a lawyer could have taken what I had and made a great circumstantial case. The jury would have been convinced. When you can’t publish these stories, you sink into boredom after a while. Tremendous boredom. That’s why some reporters become drunks.”

Jon Rappoport

TargeT

31st January 2017, 21:12

oh it's just disgusting sometimes...

Y0IaAZxG0g4

Chester

31st January 2017, 23:12

Post #80 (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?94731-Fake-News-and-the-War-on-Freedom-and-Truth&p=1129627&viewfull=1#post1129627) one of my top ten "Best Posts" ever on the forum

Hervé

4th February 2017, 18:57

From Jim Stone (http://82.221.129.208/baasepageu3.html):

DEAR DAVID BROCK:

You did a fine job of writing a strategy to destroy alt media and destroy Trump, and I am sure you are proud of it. In honor of your hard work, I solemnly swear to make it as accessible as possible, in better and better ways as time goes on.

NOW HERE: PDF download (http://www.matrixfiles.com/DavidBrock/index.html)(compliments of JudgeDredd with his Matrixfiles.com web site) HA, Judge Dread, how fitting!

UPDATE: THE LINK IS BLOCKED ALREADY, IF IT DOES NOT WORK COPY AND PASTE THIS: www.matrixfiles.com/DavidBrock/index.html (http://www.matrixfiles.com/DavidBrock/index.html)

and I am going to sit down right now, DAVID, and get those five pages I missed posted for people who have trouble with PDFs and will also insert jump points so people don't have to arrow their way through 50 pages one page at a time or scroll a huge PDF. This will be followed by "jump by topic" so people can admire you that much more.

THANK YOU FOR THE INSPIRATION DAVID, you can call yourself my mentor!

To view the page by page version as it is now, CLICK HERE (http://www.jimstone.is/mediawar/4.html)

DAVID BROCK STRATEGY NOW FINISHED IN UNIVERSALLY COMPATIBLE BOOK FORM

Dear David Brock: You can go **ck yourself, I don't need to make a billion to have a mission.

While converting it to easy access book form, occasionally I would take a look at a page. THIS DOCUMENT IS TERRIFYING. I am absolutely stunned to see what is in it.

This document outlines a perfect strategy for destroying alt media that will probably work. It also outlines a complete strategy for the impeachment of President Trump, that will probably work.

THIS NEEDS TO GO VIRAL, PEOPLE ON OUR SIDE NEED TO GET TOGETHER AND USE THIS AS A GUIDE BOOK FOR FIGHTING BACK. If we do not do what is in this document in return, to counter it, we probably will be destroyed. This link will land you on page 4, which is the first meaningful page. GET STARTED (http://www.jimstone.is/mediawar/4.html)

UPDATE: THEY HAVE SOMEHOW JAMMED THE LINK. IT DOES WORK. IF IT IS JAMMED, COPY AND PASTE THIS: www.jimstone.is/mediawar/4.html (http://www.jimstone.is/mediawar/4.html) I noticed a couple days ago that somehow someone is causing links to not work on this web site. That could only be accomplished via AI interference (or something of the sort)

THE FIRST BACKLASH FROM DAVID BROCK HAS PROBABLY HAPPENED

I NEVER SAID TO SHOOT FEDERAL JUDGES!!!

DEAR WATCHMAN AT RUMORMILLNEWS: PLEASE POST THIS REPORT SO IT COMES TO THE ATTENTION OF THE RUMORMILLNEWS ADMINISTRATORS, THANKS!

http://www.jimstone.is/pages/backlash.gif

Someone is obviously pissed, because they are writing stuff claiming to be me, that is calling for killing of federal judges and other government officials. This post here, to the left, which was posted to rumormillnews.com purports to be quoting me.

PROBLEM: I never wrote that.

This is written in a style that is not even mine. And this is precisely the type of thing David Brock said he'd do to destroy people who support Trump. Obviously he calls it telling the "truth" but we all know what that means.

It is highly probable that one of David Brock's organizations did this after I posted the enormous bust of their plans to destroy Trump and wipe out alt media.

I am now going to ask Rumormillnews to ban your contributor "infoeditor" who posted this. He has never posted anything from this site that I have seen, and obviously knows this is crap, and probably wrote it himself.

UPDATE: GOOGLE HAS CONFIRMED THAT THE ONLY PLACE THIS TEXT EXISTS IS AT RUMORMILLNEWS, WHICH PROVES INFOEDITOR WAS THE SOURCE. BAN HIM.

THANKS MRFUSION (at Rumormillnews.com) he handled this. Thanks a bunch!

PS: For some of the connections between David Brock, Pizzagate and the Podestas, see this post (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?95499-Clinton-Foundation-Fraud-Unraveled-Lionel-Interviews-Charles-Ortel-video&p=1129695&viewfull=1#post1129695) (<---)

ThePythonicCow

5th February 2017, 05:32

From Jim Stone (http://82.221.129.208/baasepageu3.html):

DEAR DAVID BROCK:

You did a fine job of writing a strategy to destroy alt media and destroy Trump, and I am sure you are proud of it. In honor of your hard work, I solemnly swear to make it as accessible as possible, in better and better ways as time goes on.
Pamela Williams, in a post MEDIA MATTERS/DAVID BROCK/DEMOCRAT’S Plan To Destroy President Trump – Must Be Made Public – I Think It Is Treason! (http://investmentwatchblog.com/media-mattersdavid-brockdemocrats-plan-to-destroy-president-trump-must-be-made-public-i-think-it-is-treason/) has similar criticisms of this Media Matters plan by David Brock to destroy Trump.

She writes:

=========

I have followed David Brock, ex-partner of the notorious James Alefantis, and founder of Media Matters supporter of Hillary Clinton since a WIKILEAKS dump long before the 2016 Election. He colluded with the Hillary Clinton campaign throughout her Presidential run against Donald Trump. NO ONLY THAT he was accused of the following:
This is serious!

David Brock operates over a dozen pro-Clinton organizations from his office in Washington DC.
Uncovered records expose a constant flow of money between his organizations.

1) Brock’s unregistered Professional Solicitor, the Bonner Group, receives a 12.5% cut every time money is moved
2) David Brock’s Media Matters gave a $930,000 cash grant to David Brock’s Franklin Education Forum
3) David Brock’s Franklin Education Forum credited the Bonner Group for raising those funds, triggering the 12.5% commission
4) David Brock paid the Bonner Group a $124,250 commission to solicit a cash grant … from himself!

To understand this background in Brock’s money laundering scheme go to:

http://www.thecitizensaudit.com/2016/09/19/money-laundering-david-brock/

NOW, although Hillary Clinton lost her Presidential run against President Donald Trump, David Brock continues to delve into matters that, in my opinion, should be considered treason. Isn’t he conspiring to overthrow the President of the United States? YES, HE IS!

The Washington Free Beacon attended a retreat in Florida held by Brock and obtained his private and confidential memorandum from the meeting. The memo, “Democracy Matters: Strategic Plan for Action,” outlines Brock’s four-year agenda to attack Trump and Republicans using Media Matters, American Bridge, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), and Shareblue. I want to congratulate THE WASHINGTON FREE BEACON for penetrating Brock’s gathering of around 100 Democrats conspiring to attack President Donald Trump. It is imperative that the memo of the plan be circulated and reaches President Trump’s White House desk.

All David Brock knows how to do with his time is to conspire against the Republicans and the American people. In reality he is also attacking the voting process in the United States. I have said this a million times that Donald Trump won the Presidency fair and square, and it has been proven. Now that Donald Trump is the 45th President of the United States, those who conspire against him are plotting to overthrow the government of the United States. Is this not true?

I have had it with these people who cannot accept that Hillary Clinton lost the election! There must be some way to arrest and charge those plotting against President Trump and the American people. WE THE PEOPLE must not allow this to go unnoticed.

https://www.scribd.com/document/337535680/Full-David-Brock-Confidential-Memo-On-Fighting-Trump#from_embed

http://www.trump-conservative.com/tag/media-matters/
=========

Hervé

5th February 2017, 11:34

Social media hive mind: How Twitter 'throttles' content that disagrees with their political views (http://blog.dilbert.com/post/156806516721/the-social-media-hive-mind)

Scott Adams
Scott Adams Blog (http://blog.dilbert.com/post/156806516721/the-social-media-hive-mind) Sat, 04 Feb 2017 15:57 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/373193/large/58897998c361882a478b457b.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/373193/full/58897998c361882a478b457b.jpg)
© Dado Ruvic/Reuters

You might have clicked on my misleading tweet to get to this page. I had to disguise the content so Twitter wouldn't throttle it.

Here's why...

This morning I tweeted a link to a great video that describes in detail how Twitter "throttles" the tweets of any content that disagrees with their political views. The video describes how Twitter gives a fake message that some tweets are no longer available, to discourage you from clicking to them. The tweets still exist, and you can access them by directly clicking the links in the tweets, but most people would not think to do that.

If you don't think that's a real thing, here's my tweet about the video. They did it to me. And this is common for my tweets about Trump or climate science. They throttle me to prevent them from going viral. And it only happens with certain types of content.

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/375407/large/tumblr_inline_okv2btuphV1t63aj.png (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/375407/full/tumblr_inline_okv2btuphV1t63aj.png)

And it isn't just me.

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/375408/large/tumblr_inline_okv7mo5TFJ1t63aj.png (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/375408/full/tumblr_inline_okv7mo5TFJ1t63aj.png)

I would argue that the human mind has recently evolved to include the thinking process of social media as a whole. We're connected to social media like a great hive mind. And thanks to scientific advances in datametrics, the social media companies now have almost perfect mind control technology. We connect to the hive mind, the social media giants decide who sees what messages, and they program us individually. You get different persuasion than I do.

I no longer have freedom of expression in the way that most of you still do because the social media platforms throttle my ideas. And you know why this isn't the biggest story in the world?

LOOK OVER THERE! IT'S HITLER!

That's the hive mind distracting you. Here's the video Twitter didn't want you to see. (http://t.umblr.com/redirect?z=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DdAAUD7jtFas&t=MzA2NzYxNTRhMzhjNTcwNzVkNDdlODRiMDJhY2ViZGVhMzNkMzEyZSxJcUNYSm1wUg%3D%3D&b=t%3ATA_nNgSP4kCXBxItG5afUg&p=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.dilbert.com%2Fpost%2F156806516721%2Fthe-social-media-hive-mind&m=1)

By the way, I don't think Twitter or any other social media platform have evil intent. But apparently they think I do. That's a big perceptual problem.

Update: The misleading tweet that brought many of you to this page skirted Twitter's throttle filter.

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/375409/large/tumblr_inline_okv7igsqPY1t63aj.png (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/375409/full/tumblr_inline_okv7igsqPY1t63aj.png)

dAAUD7jtFas

Hervé

9th February 2017, 17:01

Amnesty International admits Syria's 'torture prison' report fabricated entirely in UK (http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2017/02/amnesty-international-admits-syrian.html)

Tony Cartalucci
Land Destroyer (http://landdestroyer.blogspot.com/2017/02/amnesty-international-admits-syrian.html)
Thu, 09 Feb 2017 16:13 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s14/289902/large/4bhi196237c708199s_800C450.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s14/289902/full/4bhi196237c708199s_800C450.jpg)

Amnesty International's 48 page report titled, "Syria: Human Slaughterhouse: Mass Hangings and Extermination at Saydnaya Prison, Syria (https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/mde24/5415/2017/en/)," boasts bold claims, concluding:
...the Syrian authorities' violations at Saydnaya amount to crimes against humanity. Amnesty International urgently calls for an independent and impartial investigation into crimes committed at Saydnaya. However, even at a cursory glance, before even reading the full body of the report, under a section titled, "Methodology," Amnesty International admits it has no physical evidence whatsoever to substantiate what are admittedly only the testimony of alleged inmates and former workers at the prison, as well as figures within Syria's opposition.

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/376603/large/saydnaya_1_jpeg.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/376603/full/saydnaya_1_jpeg.jpg)

What you are looking at is a 3D model fabricated entirely in the United Kingdom, based solely on satellite pictures and hearsay. Passed off as evidence this technique of "forensic architecture" may soon become a new tool in the dissemination of war propaganda if it is not exposed.

Within the section titled, "Methodology," the report admits:
Despite repeated requests by Amnesty International for access to Syria, and specifically for access to detention facilities operated by the Syrian authorities, Amnesty International has been barred by the Syrian authorities from carrying out research in the country and consequently has not had access to areas controlled by the Syrian government since the crisis began in 2011. Other independent human rights monitoring groups have faced similar obstacles. In other words, Amnesty International had no access whatsoever to the prison, nor did any of the witnesses it allegedly interview provide relevant evidence taken from or near the prison.

The only photographs of the prison are taken from outer space via satellite imagery. The only other photos included in the report are of three men who allege they lost weight while imprisoned and a photo of one of eight alleged death certificates provided to family members of detainees who died at Saydnaya.

The alleged certificates admittedly reveal nothing regarding allegations of torture or execution.

Articles like, "Hearsay Extrapolated - Amnesty Claims Mass Executions In Syria, Provides Zero Proof (http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/02/amnesty-report-hearsay.html)," provide a detailed examination of Amnesty's "statistics," while articles like, "Amnesty International "Human Slaughterhouse" Report Lacks Evidence, Credibility, Reeks Of State Department Propaganda (http://www.activistpost.com/2017/02/amnesty-international-human-slaughterhouse-report-lacks-evidence-credibility-reeks-of-state-department-propaganda.html)," cover the politically-motivated nature of both Amnesty International and the timing of the report's promotion across the Western media.

However, there is another aspect of the report that remains unexplored - the fact that Amnesty International itself has openly admitted that the summation of the report was fabricated in the United Kingdom at Amnesty International's office, using a process they call "forensic architecture," in which the lack of actual, physical, photographic, and video evidence, is replaced by 3D animations and sound effects created by designers hired by Amnesty International.

Amnesty Hired Special Effects Experts to Fabricate "Evidence"

In a video produced by Amnesty International accompanying their report, titled, "Inside Saydnaya: Syria's Torture Prison (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysgnadic3Yo)," the narrator admits in its opening seconds that Amnesty International possesses no actual evidence regarding the prison.

The video admits:
There are almost no pictures of its exterior [except satellite images] and none from inside. And what happens within its walls is cloaked in secrecy, until now. Viewers are initially led to believe evidence has emerged, exposing what took place within the prison's walls, but the narrator continues by explaining:
We've devised a unique way of revealing what life is like inside a torture prison. And we've done it by talking to people who were there and have survived its horrors...

...and using their recollections and the testimony of others, we've build an interactive 3D model which can take you for the first time inside Saydnaya. The narrator then explains:
In a unique collaboration, Amnesty International has teamed up with "Forensic Architecture" of Goldsmiths, University of London, to reconstruct both the sound and architecture of Saydnaya prison, and to do it using cutting-edge digital technology to create a model. In other words, the summation of Amnesty International's presentation was not accumulated from facts and evidence collected in Syria, but instead fabricated entirely in London using 3D models, animations, and audio software, based on the admittedly baseless accounts of alleged witnesses who claim to have been in or otherwise associated with the prison.

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/376604/large/AI_ForensicArch_Syria.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/376604/full/AI_ForensicArch_Syria.jpg)

Eyal Weizman, director of "Forensic Architecture," would admit that "memory" alone was the basis of both his collaboration with Amnesty International, and thus, the basis for Amnesty's 48 page report:
Memory is the only resource within which we can start [to] reconstruct what has taken place. What does it feel like to be a prisoner in Saydnaya? Weizman's organization, "Forensic Architecture," on its own website (http://www.forensic-architecture.org/), describes its activities:
Forensic Architecture is a research agency based at Goldsmiths, University of London. It includes a team of architects, scholars, filmmakers, designers, lawyers and scientists to undertake research that gathers and presents spatial analysis in legal and political forums.

We provide evidence for international prosecution teams, political organisations, NGOs, and the United Nations in various processes worldwide. Additionally, the agency undertakes historical and theoretical examinations of the history and present status of forensic practices in articulating notions of public truth. In other words, special effects experts and their tools - usually employed in the creation of fictional movies for the entertainment industry or for architectural firms to propose yet-to-exist projects - are now being employed to fabricate evidence in a political context when none in reality exists.

While the work of "Forensic Architecture" may be of interest to developing theories, it is by no means useful in providing actual evidence - evidence being understood as an actual available body of facts or information indicating whether a belief or proposition is true or valid - not a fabricated body of supposed facts or information.

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/376605/large/Saydnaya_Syrian_Torture_Prison.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/376605/full/Saydnaya_Syrian_Torture_Prison.jpg)

Technology used for creating Hollywood dinosaurs and aliens, or an architectural proposal for a vacant lot, is now being used to fabricate evidence for politically motivated reports when no actual evidence exists.

The work of "Forensic Architecture" and the witness accounts gathered by Amnesty International - all of which were admittedly gathered outside of Syria - would form the basis of an initial inquiry, not a final report nor the basis of a conclusion that human rights violations not only took place, but that they constituted crimes against humanity and demanded immediate international recourse.

Amnesty International's report lacked any actual evidence, with its presentation consisting instead of admittedly fabricated images, sounds, maps, and diagrams. Amnesty - lacking actual evidence - instead abused its reputation and the techniques of classical deception to target and manipulate audiences emotionally. What Amnesty International is engaged in is not "human rights advocacy," but rather politically-motivated war propaganda simply hiding behind such advocacy.

Exposing this technique of openly and shamelessly fabricating the summation of an internationally released report - promoted unquestioningly by prominent Western papers and media platforms, including the BBC, CNN, the Independent, and others - prevents Amnesty and other organizations like it from continuing to use the trappings of science and engineering as cover to deliver monstrous lies to the public.

Related:
Propaganda alert: Amnesty International's report on Syria's Saydnaya prison executions lacks evidence (https://www.sott.net/article/342047-Propaganda-alert-Amnesty-Internationals-report-on-Syrias-Saydnaya-prison-executions-lack-evidence)

uzn

9th February 2017, 20:28

If what I posted is already on the Thread please Admins delete it. I had no time to read the whole Thread. Sorry, limited time.

Actor says he impersonated Russian mercenary in Syria for Sky News report

A Russian actor claims the recent Sky News documentary about undercover Russian mercenaries in Syria was staged. RT spoke a man who claims to have impersonated one of the fighters the British outlet spoke to.
In a recently-aired Sky News investigation the channel claimed it uncovered facts about Russian mercenaries in Syria operating undercover.
One of the key pieces of evidence provided was an interview conducted by Sky News’ Moscow correspondent, John Sparks, who spoke to two males who allegedly comprised part of a secret Russian force, called “Wagner” operating in Syria.
One of them, named Dmitry said that some 500 to 600 people of the unit died while serving in the country. The faces of the men were hidden and voices changed “to protect their identities.”
Following the report, Russian television channel, NTV, aired its own investigation, claiming to have found Dmitry, who apparently turned out to be a Russian actor living in Moscow.
RT also contacted a man, whose real name is Aleksandr Agapov, and he said that he played the role of a “Wagner” fighter at the request of the Sky News.
“They said we have this information. You simply need to prepare yourself based on that information and make out you were in the military in Syria in a service of a private company,” Agapov told RT.
In the interview, Agapov said he had been told by the clip would be part of a movie. However after getting suspicious Agapov decided to record a conversation with Sparks that supposedly took place in a Moscow hotel. The recording was initially passed to NTV.
RT went on to check this claim as well. Our channel forwarded the recording to an acoustic analysis laboratory in Moscow for detailed information. Audio analyst Ivan Ursov said that the outcome clearly pointed to one of the voices belonging to Aleksandr Agapov.
"The results of the analysis demonstrate a 75.5 percent match between the recordings. That's good enough to conclude they are indeed the same person," Ursov said.
While analyzing the second voice the specialist found that with “85 percent certainty” it was that of Sky News correspondent John Sparks.
To clarify Agapov’s allegations we reached out to the Sky News representatives. Sky News maintained its journalistic integrity.
“Sky News stands fully behind the story which is the product of a detailed investigation over many months,” the media outlet said in an email.
Another request on social media addressed to Sky News as well as personally to John Sparks did not yield any results.

@ramsaysky You will have to face trial! Good luck. Valentin Jucan, Secretary of State, Romanian National Audiovisual Council
— Valentin-A. Jucan (@ValentinJucan) August 10, 2016
It’s not the first time that the media outlet has found itself in hot water over such a case.
Recently, the outlet triggered outrage in Romania after suggesting in one of its reports that there was a thriving illegal arms trade in the country. In that case a Sky News reporter Stuart Ramsay spoke to two masked men, who was selling a number of weapons, including semi-assault rifles.
According to Romanian officials, the outlet paid the men some £5,000 ($6,600) in what they called a “faked report”. Ramsay denied the allegations.
Romania’s Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos reacted to the case saying that it is “unacceptable to denigrate a country without proof.” Romania’s Secretary of State at National Audiovisual Council, Valentin Jucan, even vowed to bring Ramsay to court, posting a message on his Twitter feed.

Source RT:
Good Video about it if you follow the link
https://www.rt.com/news/356422-russia-skynews-syria-actor/

Hervé

10th February 2017, 14:49

More on Media Matters and David Brock (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?94731-Fake-News-and-the-War-on-Freedom-and-Truth&p=1132117&viewfull=1#post1132117):

Media Matters conspiring with Facebook & Google to censor alternative media-leaked docs expose (http://thefreethoughtproject.com/leaked-docs-expose-media-matter/)

Jay Syrmopoulos
Free Thought Project (http://thefreethoughtproject.com/leaked-docs-expose-media-matter/)
Thu, 09 Feb 2017 13:35 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/376815/large/media_matters.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/376815/full/media_matters.jpg)

A recently leaked briefing document (http://freebeacon.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/media-matters-donor-pitch.pdf) from political operator David Brock's ultra-liberal, self-proclaimed media watchdog, Media Matters, has exposed the hard-left activist group conspiring with Facebook and Google to create a strategy to marginalize and ban political thought outside of the progressive neoliberal paradigm - essentially censoring libertarian and conservative political speech.

For those uninitiated, Brock is the key cog in the hard-left neo-liberal political media attack machine (http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-20/money-laundering-scheme-exposed-14-pro-clinton-super-pacs-non-profits-implicated) that attempts to propagandize the public into accepting a progressive political narrative as fact. Essentially, Brock acts as the tip of the spear (https://www.google.com/search?q=tip+of+the+spear&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=tip+of+the+spear+meaning) in the left's culture war - forwarding a divide and conquer paradigm based largely on identity politics.

To give some perspective into this strategy one need only look back to the teachings of ancient Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu and his seminal treatise, The Art of War. He proposed that indirect warfare is one of the most efficient ways of fighting an enemy. It allows an opponent to defeat their adversary without directly engaging them, thereby saving themselves the resources that would have to be expended in a direct confrontation.

This dynamic of indirect warfare is clearly at work, as the hallmarks of an information war are unmistakable in Media Matters methodology and approach described in the leaked document.

The employment of hybrid warfare (http://orientalreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/AK-Hybrid-Wars-updated.pdf) will unmistakably be marked by "protests," as we have already seen in the form of "The Women's March," and insurgents, such as the Anitfas presence at the UC-Berkley riots. Fifth columns, such as Media Matters, will be formed by non-state actors, like Brock, which publicly behave as civilian organizations, but operate with vested political motives and strategic militant-like precision. Social media and similar technologies will come to replace precision-guided munitions as the "surgical strike" capability of the aggressive party, and chat rooms and Facebook pages will become the new "militants' den."

Besides the tactical advantages of this hybrid warfare, there are also strategic ones as well. In this case, indirect warfare, in the form of information warfare, is clearly being employed in an effort to destabilize any messages that are outside of the neoliberal globalist paradigm.

The leaked briefing book, entitled "Media Matters: The Top Watchdog Against Fake News and Propaganda — Transforming the Media Landscape" (obtained exclusively by the Free Beacon) was privately published by Brock in January to solicit donors, and lays out the strategy for controlling the U.S. media narrative.

The briefing book advances the narrative of "Fake News," which actually began with Media Matters, and reveals Brock is attempting to launch what the hard-left calls "a meme." A "meme" is essentially a narrative designed to discredit news organizations that dare report from anything other than a neoliberal perspective. The goal is to discredit any organization that doesn't toe the neoliberal line.

The main thrust of this narrative Brock is forwarding is to paint anyone who opposes the neoliberal agenda as "alt-right" - with a direct implication that they are racist, anti-Semitic, or misogynistic. It must be noted that this blanket term is used to intentionally marginalize anyone that disagrees with their ideological stance. Make no mistake that conflating neo-Nazis and racists, with constitutionalists, libertarians and conservatives is a strategic maneuver meant to marginalize the voice of large segments of the U.S. population.

Brock implicates both Google and Facebook as co-conspirators in forwarding this "Fake News" narrative against independent media organizations like The Free Thought Project.

Brock clearly articulates this strategy, as laid out on page two of his briefing book:

"Over the next four years, Media Matters will focus on achieving the following outcomes:

"Serial misinformers and right-wing propagandists inhabiting everything from social media to the highest levels of government will be exposed.

"Internet and social media platforms, like Google and Facebook, will no longer uncritically and without consequence host and enrich fake news sites and propagandists.

"Toxic alt-right social media-fueled harassment campaigns that silence dissent and poison our national discourse will be punished and halted." This clear attempt to consolidate control over the informational narrative Americans are exposed to is dangerous, and nothing less than a true threat to freedom. In essence, Brock is attempting to create a more effective "propaganda model," as forward by academic Noam Chomsky (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_model), to prevent people having any perspective outside of the one the hard-left wants seen by the public — using social media as the weapon.

The narrative of "fake news" had a creeping, but clear, drive to delegitimize alternative media outlets, such as us here at The Free Thought Project, likely due to our reporting on U.S. hegemony/imperialism and topics like the contents of WikiLeaks' releases of the DNC and Podesta emails during the election - while the mainstream media largely refused to do so.

Revealing the origins of this soft-censorship regime, Lachan Markay reported in the Washington Free Beacon (http://freebeacon.com/politics/media-matters-says-secretly-working-facebook-fight-fake-news/) that during the 2016 presidential campaign Media Matters launched a petition drive aimed at pressuring Facebook into prohibiting "fake News" websites and to "adjust its model to stem the flow of damaging fake news from its platform pages."

There was a clear trickled down agenda enacted after a secret post-election meeting of progressive elites (http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-17/hillary-attack-dog-david-brock-plotting-billionaire-donors-kick-trumps-ass?page=5) with the Democratic Alliance, co-founded by Soros in 2005 (http://www.politico.com/story/2014/06/inside-the-vast-liberal-conspiracy-108171), with Media Matters acting as the propaganda arm by issuing a press release about "fake news" - and, like clockwork, numerous publications, such as the Washington Post, began running articles about "fake news." (http://thefreethoughtproject.com/mainstream-corporate-press-dead/)

In the leaked briefing book, Brock acknowledged that Google was a relatively easy sell on the "fake news" narrative, but Facebook was a much harder sale — with Mark Zuckerberg initially calling the notion that "fake news is a problem" is "crazy."

So, how did Media Matters handle this?

According to the briefing documents:

"In November, we launched a campaign pressuring Facebook to:

1) acknowledge the problem of the proliferation of fake news on Facebook and its consequences for our democracy and

2) commit to taking action to fix the problem." Brock subsequently reported that "as a result of our push for accountability," Facebook would now toe the neoliberal/globalist line and implement a soft-censorship regime under the guise of ridding Facebook of "fake news."

In the wake of this full-court press by the neoliberal establishment, President Obama disingenuously proclaimed "fake news" a threat to our democracy during a speech in Berlin. In turn, Mark Zuckerberg caved to the pressure and announced a fact-checking regime, laughably announcing the use of Politifact, Snopes and ABC News to fact-check and flag disputed stories — which would then result in disputed stories being given a lower algorithm ranking, thus not as often appearing in people's newsfeeds.

Make no mistake that this is simply an attempt by the corporate oligarchy to regain control of the informational gates of society, which they have lost due to the rapid rise of social media, in an effort to soft-censor any dissenting world views.

Brock believes that the only truth is that which supports a neoliberal-globalist agenda, and that all other points of view must be marginalized. It's painfully obvious that Media Matters, Brock and his oligarchic ilk have no respect for free speech, as they attempt to create an echo chamber for neoliberal globalism, while attempting to silence all other voices.

These actions, by the oligarchic left, are simply war by other means.

uzn

13th February 2017, 07:52

Apple is clearly signalising where they stand:
Fake news is killing people's minds, says Apple boss Tim Cook

Quote:
“It has to be ingrained in the schools, it has to be ingrained in the public,” said Mr Cook. “There has to be a massive campaign. We have to think through every demographic."
Quote:
“The [rise of fake news] is a short-term thing - I don’t believe that people want that at the end of the day.”
A new approach was required in schools, he said. “It’s almost as if a new course is required for the modern kid, for the digital kid.”
But he is optimistic. “In some ways kids will be the easiest to educate. At least before a certain age, they are very much in listen and understand [mode], and they then push their parents to act. We saw this with environmental issues: kids learning at school and coming home and saying why do you have this plastic bottle? Why are you throwing it away?”

Me:
The last time I checked the Schoolbooks where full of Fake News !

Source:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/2017/02/10/fake-news-killing-peoples-minds-says-apple-boss-tim-cook/

onawah

14th February 2017, 15:51

Half of NY Times Traffic is FAKE (Web Bots)! Same at WaPo + Guardian (Lying MSM Fraud, Fake News)!
http://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/half-of-ny-times-traffic-is-from-fake-chinese-bots-wapo-guardian-too-fake-news/
Published on Feb 9, 2017

We have previously discussed that the New York Times is renting out eight floors of their Manhattan headquarters to anyone who can afford to pay their rent.

Why?

Because The New York Times is broke and they owe their controlling owner, Mexican Sinaloa Cartel drug money-launderer, Carlos Slim more than $200 million.

Recently, the Gateway Pundit and Zero Hedge revealed that according to Alexa.com, the traffic monitoring service, half of The New York Times’ suddenly-increased web traffic is fake traffic coming from Chinese web bots.

How do they know this? Because The New York Times is blocked in China. Apple, Inc. was even forced to remove The New York Times app from their devices being sold in the Chinese market. Also, less than one percent of the people in China speak English. This equals roughly 10 million people. However, the official estimate is that about 30 to 40 million unique visitors for the above English-language site are all coming from China (!)

This is not just happening with half of The New York Times’ traffic; it’s also happening with half of the UK Guardian’s traffic and with almost 60% of the web traffic for Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post.

The only way that this would be possible is via fake web bots – or worse (in the case of the non-NY Times news services listed above) – click slaves, who get paid to click on the sites to which they are assigned for pennies per day.

The Washington Post’s web traffic from China used to constitute 2.5% of their traffic. Suddenly, in early 2017 that traffic has leaped by 259%. More than half of all their traffic is coming from China.

These phony, fake traffic numbers are being orchestrated to defraud their investors and to give the appearance that they are solvent – or at a minimum, that they’re not completely irrelevant.

This is garbage.

Please share this story about the #FAKENEWS emanating from the bogus Mainstream Media!

The creator of this video also suggests that you cancel your fake and evil cable service.

oozMGTzd2X8
From the youtube page:

HALF OF NEW YORK TIMES TRAFFIC IS CHINESE WEB BOTS (FAKE HITS)!
IT'S EVEN WORSE AT WASHINGTON POST AND GUARDIAN!

FAKESTREAM MEDIA NEWSPAPERS ARE A HOAX -- PROPPED UP BY MILLIONS OF FAKE DAILY VIEWERS -- TO TRICK YOU INTO READING GLOBALIST PROPAGANDA SPEWED BY MSM.

EVERYONE KNEW THE NEW YORK TIMES WAS FAILING WHEN THEY RENTED OUT 8 FLOORS OF THEIR MANHATTAN HEADQUARTERS BUILDING. BUT THIS SUDDEN SURGE IN CHINA WEB TRAFFIC IS HALF OF THE NEW YORK TIMES TOTAL WEB READERSHIP.

THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE, SINCE ONLY 1 MILLION PEOPLE IN CHINA SPEAK ENGLISH -- THAT'S NOT ENOUGH ENGLISH SPEAKERS TO GENERATE HALF THE HITS AT NYTIMES, WASHINGTON POST, AND GUARDIAN UK WEBSITES.

IS THIS FAKE CHINA WEB TRAFFIC A RUSE BY BANKRUPT NEWSPAPERS TO FOOL INVESTORS -- OR A SCHEME BY THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT TO PROTECT ITS COMMUNIST PROPAGANDA PLATFORMS INSIDE THE USA?

Hervé

14th February 2017, 22:09

NATO falls flat on its face by using fake news to warn people about fake news (https://www.rt.com/op-edge/377327-nato-fake-news-myths-russia/)

By Finian Cunningham
RT (https://www.rt.com/op-edge/377327-nato-fake-news-myths-russia/) Tue, 14 Feb 2017 18:17 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/377824/large/58a31987c36188b57e8b4578.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/377824/full/58a31987c36188b57e8b4578.jpg)
© Ints Kalnins / Reuters

News media organizations in NATO member countries have no qualms about repeating unfounded, reckless claims of an imminent invasion of Europe by the Russian military, even threatening to ignite World War Three.

Yet when it comes to Russian media presenting valid alternative perspectives on a range of international issues, the Western alliance chokes up with accusations of Russian "fake news."

"NATO says it sees a sharp rise in fake Russian news since the seizure of Crimea," reported (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-russia-media-idUSKBN15Q0MG?il=0) Reuters recently, ignorant of the fact that its own headline was itself purveying fake news.

Such ignorance is rampant among Western media and symptomatic of massive group-think demonizing Russia.

For a start, Russia did not seize Crimea, as is routinely stated in Western media as if fact. The people of the Crimean Peninsula voted in a legally constituted referendum in March 2014 to join Russia's jurisdiction. But Reuters in the above headline uses the words "seizure of Crimea" without any qualification as if the historic referendum to join Russia was airbrushed out of history.

This is just one example of the daily distortion about Russian relations that is perpetrated in the Western media. If any side is guilty of peddling fake news, it is the Western news media of the NATO military alliance. And on an industrial scale.

For instance, earlier this month, CNN's Christiane Amanpour conducted an interview (http://edition.cnn.com/videos/world/2017/02/01/france-intv-amanpour-marine-le-pen-b.cnn) with Marine Le Pen, the French leader of the Front National. Amanpour was aghast when Le Pen expressed the view that Russia did not annex Crimea and that the Maidan protests in Kiev in February 2014 were a coup d'état against an elected government. Amanpour's shocked demeanor was understandable because she has on countless occasions asserted the opposite, as well as claiming Russia has "invaded Ukraine." In each case, it can be argued the CNN celebrity journalist is wrong in her assertions about Russia-Ukraine relations, which means that she and her cable news employer are guilty of habitually churning out fake news.

Another instance of casual fake news presented as professional journalism was the BBC program GMT presented by Stephen Sackur on 3 February. Sackur, like Amanpour, is another celebrity journalist with preening self-importance. His program was reporting on the surge in violence in eastern Ukraine. Specifically, the report aired by the BBC implicated pro-Russian rebels in Donetsk region for shelling the town of Avdeevka. The insinuation was that Russia was stoking the violence. But only days before, the BBC broadcast video footage showing (https://www.rt.com/news/376217-ukraine-avdeevka-tanks-evidence/) tanks belonging to the Kiev regime's military taking up positions near homes in Avdeevka - in violation of the Minsk ceasefire.

Furthermore, the BBC's Sackur then ran an interview with Kiev's former prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, in which he was permitted to spout claims purporting as facts without ever being challenged. Those claims included: "Russian aggression in Ukraine" and "Russia shot down the Malaysian MH17 civilian airliner in July 2014 over eastern Ukraine."

Again, the point here is just how casually, and routinely Western mainstream media commit acts of fake news, which are presented as if fact by their "star journalists."

Whatever Russian news media are accused of regarding fake news it is incomparable to the massive, systematic scale of fabrications and distortions churned out by the news media in NATO member countries.

NATO claims (http://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_111767.htm) that it has listed over 30 "myths" the Russian news media have published. Unhelpfully, the NATO list does not provide links to original Russian news articles where the alleged myths are said to have been published. But a cursory reading of the list quickly shows that the so-called myths are nothing more "offensive" than Russian counter-arguments or what may be deemed as counter-perspective. Is NATO saying that to have a different point of view is somehow illegitimate?

For example, NATO counts Russian "fake news" to include claims that:

NATO tried to "drag" Ukraine into its membership;

NATO provoked the Maidan protests;

NATO is trying to encircle Russia;

NATO's operation in Afghanistan was a failure;

NATO's operation in Libya was illegitimate;

These points and more besides are not falsifications or baseless propaganda. They are serious contentions that can be substantiated with documented facts and legal argument as well as maps of proliferating NATO military bases on Russia's borders.

Indeed, such perspectives completely confound the stereotype views that are promulgated on a daily basis by the Western media. But that in no way qualifies the contrarian Russian view as "fake." Moreover, one can say that such views presented by Russian media are vital to proper public interest and understanding.

It is an astounding reflection of Western hubris and indoctrination that NATO members' news media have published the following news stories which are patently false or turn reality on its head.

For instance, Russian and Syrian forces were allegedly committing wholesale slaughter (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/theresa-may-atrocities-syria-russian-warships-aleppo-putin-a7372446.html) of civilians in the city of Aleppo. For weeks the Western news media were screaming about the alleged massacre, only for the Syrian city to be eventually liberated from Western-backed illegally armed militants, including proscribed terrorist groups. No such civilian massacre occurred, and Western media have not bothered since to visit Aleppo to report on the return to normal civilian life thanks to the liberation by Russian and Syrian forces.

Another instance of rampant fake news carried in Western media is that Russian hackers (http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-us-russia-cyber-20161031-story.html) subverted the US presidential election to get Donald Trump into the White House. No proof of these tendentious claims has ever been presented.

Yet the same claims are now being aired over alleged Russian interference in European elections - even though German state intelligence recently reported there was no evidence of interference.

Let's put the issue into perspective. Over the past year, British news media have published story after story claiming Russia was about to invade Europe and start World War III.

The Daily Express ran (http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/680356/World-War-Vladimir-Putin-ramp-up-Russia-military-training-NATO-soldiers-warning) three such stories in June, July, and September.

It wasn't just throw away tabloids that indulged in such reckless scaremongering. The supposedly more serious Independent ran at least two stories (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-could-invade-europe-within-48-hours-warns-ex-military-chief-a7315976.html) in May and September citing top military officials claiming that nuclear war could break out in 48 hours with Russia because of the latter's "secret" invasion plans.

In November, the Guardian and other British news outlets, including the Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, BBC, and Sky, echoed (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/oct/31/andrew-parker-increasingly-aggressive-russia-a-growing-threat-to-uk-says-mi5-head) the view of MI5 chief Sir Ian Parker that "Russia is a growing threat to the UK."

If British media reports were to be believed, then Europe and the whole northern hemisphere should have gone up in nuclear smoke several months ago.

Dealing in false news by NATO members' media, as exemplified above, is not just wildly erroneous and unethical. It is illustrative of an orchestrated propaganda campaign to demonize Russia and recklessly create an atmosphere for global war.

In this context, to accuse Russian news media of "fake news" is a flagrant inversion of reality.

That NATO chiefs, Western governments, and the dutiful news media can get away with making such accusations is a disturbing sign of collective indoctrination. The irony of Western self-declared "free and independent" politicians and media behaving like an army of robots marching to war while accusing Russia of fake news is too much for words.

=======================================

The "war" cries sound more and more like prayers for abundant funding for a cash-strapped military... you know, like grant hunters and fear mongers do when applying the time-tested template:

https://fwtinw-dm2305.files.1drv.com/y3pcchxnF5FdvYsR57pBUiBGz5qxK4ChiHmqCt6VP9k1cvJ2sjU_b3_Y4hHcBPHgaryH6sQMgoLj4dJNbRbrP9-PLVgC1TexeFV5YGPiV4eJag5ZtU_UegxP3NycADw5FgQuhsndkq1yhKsuwJZwrpKMFrWIiuHDUn9aU1TkkfcqVI/2017-02-14%20at%2023-51-01.jpg?psid=134986
(click on picture to enlarge)

https://cdn2.img.sputniknews.com/images/105054/75/1050547573.jpg
The entire British attack submarine fleet is reportedly non-operational at the moment and cannot protect the UK waters, the Sun reported, citing a source in the Royal Navy.

https://cdn3.img.sputniknews.com/images/105067/46/1050674679.jpg
Sergei Artamonov, captain of the Admiral Kuznetsov, said that during some stages of its lengthy voyage the ship was followed (https://sputniknews.com/russia/201702141050654855-russia-nato-kuznetsov/) by 11 NATO vessels simultaneously.

... otherwise known as "Making it Real."

Hervé

16th February 2017, 13:30

Venezuela shuts down CNN for ‘misinterpreting & distorting truth’ (https://www.rt.com/news/377495-venezuela-kicks-cnn-out/)

RT
Published time: 15 Feb, 2017 22:36
Edited time: 16 Feb, 2017 05:11
Get short URL (https://on.rt.com/839z)

https://cdn.rt.com/files/2017.02/original/58a4d5d7c36188e8088b464d.jpg
© Carlos Eduardo Ramire / Reuters

Venezuela’s media watchdog has ordered CNN’s Spanish-language channel off the air across the country, accusing it of engaging in a propaganda war. Nicolas Maduro said earlier the channel is “sticking its nose” in the country’s internal affairs and “manipulating” information.

The Venezuelan National Telecommunications Commission (Conatel) has opened an “administrative sanctioning proceeding” against the CNN Español news channel for allegedly attempting to violate the “peace and democratic stability” of the country.

The sanctions were imposed “due to the content” that has been disseminated by the international news outlet in a “systematic and repeated way” in the channel’s daily programming, said a statement released by Conatel.

Conatel has ruled that CNN’s reporting often “lacks proof” and fuels a “climate of intolerance” by distorting the truth in an “inadequate manner” – in contradiction to the provisions of article 58 of the Venezuelan constitution, which states that everyone has the right to timely and impartial information.

The move comes after a joint investigation by CNN and CNN Español claimed to have uncovered serious irregularities in the issuing of Venezuelan passports and visas inside the embassy in Baghdad. On February 6, CNN Español broadcast a report fingering Venezuelan Vice President Tareck El Aissami as one of those allegedly responsible for the scheme.

The Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Delcy Rodriguez, accused CNN of launching a “propaganda war” against her country, after the channel reported about alleged passports sales to people linked to terrorism and drug trafficking. She accused the channel of spreading “an absolute lie” calling such an approach “a pity.”

“CNN en Español launched a psychological warfare operation, a war propaganda operation, mounted absolutely on falsehoods,” she said. Rodriguez also demanded action from the broadcast authorities and the legal team.

Prior to Conatel’s announcement, President Nicolas Maduro indicated that he wants the channel “out” of the country for its “manipulation” of news.

“CNN, do not get into the affairs of Venezuelans. I want CNN well away from here. Outside of Venezuela. Do not put your nose in Venezuela,” Maduro said, as cited by El Nacional. “Some media like CNN tried to manipulate. [???].”

Related:
‘Keep out, CNN’: Venezuelan president blasts network for ‘sticking nose in’ (https://www.rt.com/news/377313-venezuela-maduro-cnn-out/)

Hervé

16th February 2017, 14:23

‘Mass sex assaults’ by refugees in Frankfurt on New Year’s Eve were made up – police (https://www.rt.com/news/377411-migrants-not-assaulted-women-frankfurt/)

RT
Published time: 15 Feb, 2017 11:35
Edited time: 15 Feb, 2017 12:01
Get short URL (https://on.rt.com/837n)

https://cdn.rt.com/files/2017.02/original/58a437abc46188da568b45b7.jpg
A man sets off a firecracker from his hand on the Roemerberg in Frankfurt, Germany, 31 December 2016. © Boris Roessler / www.globallookpress.com (http://www.globallookpress.com)

Reports of mass sexual assaults on women in Frankfurt on New Year’s Eve allegedly committed by dozens of drunken refugees, and which initially appeared in Germany’s Bild newspaper, were made up and are “completely baseless,” police said.

The story about mass sexual assaults by refugees in the Fressgass Street area in downtown Frankfurt was reported by Bild earlier in February. The article has since been taken down.

One of the victims, Irina A., 27, told Bild: “They [the migrants] grabbed me under the skirt, between my legs, my breasts, everywhere….More and more of these guys came. Their hands were everywhere,” the Express said (http://www.express.co.uk/news/world/764433/They-grabbed-me-everywhere-More-than-900-migrants-carried-out-Germany-NYE-sex-attacks), quoting the original report.

Her words were supported by Jan Mai, a local pub owner, who said that a mob of Arabs was “highly aggressive, there was shouting and hand gestures.”
“When I came in, the whole place was full with a group of around 50 Arabs. They did not speak German, drank our guests' drinks and danced towards them. The women asked me for help because they were being attacked. The mood changed completely,” he told Bild, as cited by the Express.
It was claimed the migrants came from a refugee center in Hesse state, where Frankfurt is located, the Local said (https://www.thelocal.de/20170214/mass-sexual-assaults-by-refugees-in-frankfurt-completely-made-up), citing the original report.

Police started an investigation into the alleged incidents and on Tuesday released a report (http://www.presseportal.de/blaulicht/pm/4970/3560139)stating that the allegations of mass sexual assaults had been invented.

“There were no massive mob-like attacks by masses of refugees in Fressgass [Street]. The allegations were groundless,” police said.

In the article several people “reported about sexual assaults, bodily injuries, thefts and extremely aggressive behavior of masses of refugees. Media interest in these descriptions was very high. The police were not aware of these circumstances,” the statement said.

According to police, “interviews with alleged witnesses, guests and employees led to major doubts with the version of events that had been presented.

“One of the alleged victims was not even in Frankfurt at the time the allegations are said to have taken place,” the report said.
The Bild editorial team quickly apologized (https://t.co/nbyExKc2NO)“for this inaccurate reporting and the accusations against those concerned.”

“This reporting does not correspond in any way to the journalistic standards of Bild,” the newspaper said in a statement.

Bild said that the alleged witnesses – the pub owner and his staff– talked of mass sexual assaults to other media outlets.

“We apologize for our own work. I’ll shortly announce what Bild will do about it,” online editor-in-chief Julian Reichelt tweeted.

The Bild story appeared to prompt comparisons with the Cologne attacks committed on New Year’s Eve in 2015. Back then, groups of North African men sexually assaulted hundreds of women in the city.

A German police report from November revealed (http://www.express.de/news/politik-und-wirtschaft/geheim-papier-wie-die-polizei-neue-sex-mobs-im-oeffentlichen-raum-verhindern-will-25178532)the latest figures on the crimes committed on New Year’s Eve 2015 across Germany: 881 sexual offenses involving over 1,231 women. The victims were almost all young women.

Apart from Germany, similar sex attacks allegedly took place on New Year’s Eve that year in Sweden, Austria, Finland and Switzerland.

Related:
Fact Check: Daily Express Publishes Fake Cologne Assault Video (http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2016/01/28/fact-check-daily-express-cologne-assault-video-a-fake/)
Cologne sex assaults: Muslim rape myths fit a neo-Nazi agenda (http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/cologne-sex-assaults-muslim-rape-myths-fit-a-neo-nazi-agenda-a6872566.html)
The Truth About The New Years Eve Refugee Attacks On Women In Germany (http://www.mintpressnews.com/213793-2/213793/)
Fake photos flood Internet after sexual assaults in Germany (http://observers.france24.com/en/20160113-assaults-migrants-germany-rape-fake-photos)

Ewan

16th February 2017, 18:08

There were videos of some attacks, I don't recall if it was Frankfurt in particular though, certainly cannot say there were none.

Hervé

16th February 2017, 18:11

Ewan

16th February 2017, 18:44

There were videos of some attacks, I don't recall if it was Frankfurt in particular though, certainly cannot say there were none.Any of those:

Related:
Fact Check: Daily Express Publishes Fake Cologne Assault Video (http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2016/01/28/fact-check-daily-express-cologne-assault-video-a-fake/)?

Yes, that was ONE of them.

Taharrush isn't made up too is it? I can understand the MSM being complicit in printing crap but there job is mostly to exaggerate and sensationalise. We're not saying there have never been any attacks ever are we. I see elsewhere RT is claiming police covered up the extent of rapes in Sweden.

Hervé

16th February 2017, 18:58

What "I" am talking about is the impact of MSM's First Strikes unleashing emotional wars (as seen on this forum with the few threads it generated about rapes, Muslims, immigrants, etc...), giving answers to not-yet-started investigations which take months to get to some bottom... you know... "Putin's Missile"...

All that with about everyone covering up something... whether it be their own or someone else's @ss.

The upshot of the scheme is to get the public majority in utter confusion and maintain it there.

TargeT

17th February 2017, 22:59

22nd most popular website in the world : www.reddit.com, EASILY manipulated (see: Psychological manipulation).

YjLsFnQejP8

Popular social media is TV 2.0? (ultimate social manipulation tool)

uzn

17th February 2017, 23:25

RunningDeer

18th February 2017, 00:35

A Video about the dropping of PewDiePie by Disney and the following campaign against him in the media.
Not a major political Thing, but it Shows really good how MSM can discredit someone.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLNSiFrS3n4&t=0

No doubt there are more layers to this story. PewDiePie is the world's highest earning YouTuber, and has a following of over 53 million subscribers. When I heard Disney dropped him, I wondered if it’s a way to keep people away from the news of child trafficking, abuse and pizzagate. (not to mention how Disney may fit in.) Just flood the airwaves with PewDiePie, PewDiePie, PewDiePie.

Out of curiosity last evening, I made a screen shot of the video stats of PewDiePie explaining how he’s taken out of context. In less than 24 hours, PewDiePie gained almost 104,000 new subscribers to his already 53 million. Another almost 5 million watched this one video (below). Not included in these stats are the other YouTubers that’ve shared clips of it on their channels as well.

http://avalonlibrary.net/paula/Photoshop/PewDiePie_zpseuajtq8r.JPG

My Response
lwk1DogcPmU

Published on Feb 16, 2017
ヅ

A Voice from the Mountains

18th February 2017, 01:09

A tweet from Trump today:

The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/832708293516632065

I like where this is going.

Chester

19th February 2017, 15:10

CNN’s Don Lemon Triggered After Guest Calls His Segment ‘Fake News’ (http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-02-18/senator-mccain-falls-absurd-russian-prankster-pretending-be-ukrainian-prime-minister)

jcjZMInOXJQ

Hervé

20th February 2017, 15:33

RT Chief Editor on Bullying: The More They Pick on Us the More Publicity We Get (https://sputniknews.com/art_living/201702181050829759-rt-western-bullying-publicity/)

Sputnik (https://sputniknews.com/art_living/201702181050829759-rt-western-bullying-publicity/)
Mon, 20 Feb 2017 14:51 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/379017/large/1049574902.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/379017/full/1049574902.jpg)
Margarita Simonyan, the editor-in-chief of RT and Rossiya Segodnya © Sputnik

RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan has said that constant attacks on the network from Western mainstream media are good for publicity, as they help to increase the channel's audience.

Western attacks on the RT news network are good for its publicity, editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan said Saturday in an interview to a Russian television channel.
"The more they pick on us the more publicity we get and the more people ask themselves: What did they do wrong? What if I go and see for myself?" Simonyan said in an excerpt from the interview, to be aired by NTV on Monday night.
She said RT dominated US media headlines during last year's presidential elections.
"There was hardly any outlet that did not throw mud at us. It's election time in France and the story is repeating itself. We are the main heroes again."
She accused the West of trying to gag the channel by passing regulations and even pressuring Google into curbing the circulation of links to RT stories.

The European Parliament passed a resolution last November where it described the RT as a threat to Europe's unity and drew a parallel between it and propaganda disseminated by Daesh, a terrorist group outlawed in Europe, Russia and many other countries.

In a comment on the EP motion, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised the channel for doing a good job and said the resolution showed that the Western concept of democracy was apparently degrading.

Related:

RT under attack from 'all sides' as West cracks down on free speech (https://www.sott.net/article/340737-RT-under-attack-from-all-sides-as-West-cracks-down-on-free-speech)
Well-known liar James Clapper calls RT reporting on US a part of "multifaceted Russian campaign" to undermine America at Senate hearing (https://www.sott.net/article/338716-Well-known-liar-James-Clapper-calls-RT-reporting-on-US-a-part-of-multifaceted-Russian-campaign-to-undermine-America-at-Senate-hearing)
Support floods in for RT following NatWest accounts closure notice (https://www.sott.net/article/331396-Support-floods-in-for-RT-following-NatWest-accounts-closure-notice)
Oliver Stone defends RT over bank account closure: "It's a media war and the truth is being sacrificed" (https://www.sott.net/article/331418-Oliver-Stone-defends-RT-over-bank-account-closure-Its-a-media-war-and-the-truth-is-being-sacrificed)

uzn

22nd February 2017, 13:40

The russian Ministry for external Affairs has now set up a Website where the Russians will Show "Fake News" that regard Russia in foreign Media.
The Goal is to Point out and Show Publications that clearly are fabricated "Fake News" in order to inform and stop the spreading, said Maria Sacharowa. For example the: Russia will give Snowden to the US. By the Way, the Avalon Thread about that can be moved to the "Hoax" section now for sure !

http://1.f.ix.de/scale/geometry/695/q75/imgs/18/2/1/4/6/7/2/0/fake-news-f35ec54c84d71601.jpeg
Website:
http://www.mid.ru/nedostovernie-publikacii

Hervé

22nd February 2017, 22:38

Couldn't help but have a good chuckle fit with this one:

Lavrov deep-fries Merkel: US tapped your phone, but you're whining about 'Russian hacking'? (http://russia-insider.com/en/lavrov-slays-merkel-its-confirmed-us-tapped-your-phones-so-show-us-facts-russian-hacking/ri19016)

Matthew Allen Russia Insider (http://russia-insider.com/en/lavrov-slays-merkel-its-confirmed-us-tapped-your-phones-so-show-us-facts-russian-hacking/ri19016)
Wed, 22 Feb 2017 22:07 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s18/379690/large/lavrov_bomb.png (https://www.sott.net/image/s18/379690/full/lavrov_bomb.png)
Russia's Foreign Minister points out the obvious. Again.

It's not even up for debate — Sergei Lavrov is in a league of his own. Russia's Foreign Minister mutilates Washington soundbites in his sleep and eats NATO press releases for breakfast — no salt.

As you are well aware, Sergei dropped a payload of painful truth (http://russia-insider.com/en/lavrov-tells-it-right-pences-smug-face-russia-will-end-us-led-world-order/ri18980) on Mike Pence's smug, smarmy face during the Munich Security Conference on Saturday. But that was just a warm-up. Pence is a small fish in a big ocean of idiots.

On the sidelines of the Munich conference, Lavrov participating in a meeting with top diplomats from the Normandy Four (Russia, Germany, France and Ukraine).

Angela Merkel used this opportunity to lecture Lavrov and the rest of the audience about the dangers of Russian hacking.

You think Lavrov just sat there and took it on the chin? No (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1jRpDN0G8M). When it was his turn to speak, he reminded the entire world that Angela Merkel's phones were tapped by her "ally", and that this is a confirmed fact, and that Angela Merkel is a sad puppet:
The German story was shown to be a fact. You know when it happened, several years ago. It was confirmed that top officials had had their phones tapped. And the other day there was a leak showing that the 2012 presidential election campaign in France coincided with cyber-espianage on the part of the CIA. And talking to a journalist today, a CIA representative said that he had no comments to offer. So I repeat: show us the facts. So basically Lavrov can check "told Merkel to her face that she's a miserable witch" off his bucket list.

A true hero. Watch (starts around 6:40):

m1jRpDN0G8M

TargeT

22nd February 2017, 23:48

This belongs here...

https://i.redd.it/1atvxpythfhy.jpg

Rocky_Shorz

23rd February 2017, 01:43

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMWcq83GJD4

President Bush admits explosives were used in the world trade center...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpcJyn3N5ks

So now the terrorist not only maneuvered a plane better than any professional pilot could, but the sneaky buggers spent a few months planting Thermo nuclear weapons to go off at the same moment the planes hit.

These guys are good, maybe the CIA should hire em... 😉

Sophocles

23rd February 2017, 10:02

Freedom of speech under attack – where are the reactions? (http://steigan.no/2017/02/22/freedom-of-speech-under-attack-where-are-the-reactions/)

by Pål Steigan • 22. februar 2017
Translation: Anne Merethe Erstad

A massive campaign to reduce freedom of speech is conducted all over Europe. It started out under the pretext of fighting “hate speech” on the Internet. In the aftermath of Hillary Clinton’s election defeat in the U.S., the concept of “fake news” has come into fashion, and is now being used as the main excuse to reduce freedom of speech. This isn’t merely a political campaign. The EU has passed radical guidelines and in several countries there are now draft legislations to introduce extensive fines and even imprisonment for statements. Europe hasn’t faced such grave threats against democracy since the days of fascism – but where are the reactions?

EU fronting censorship

The EU commission and the IT giants Facebook, Twitter, Google and Microsoft have agreed to a Code of Conduct, according to The Guardian, May 2016 (http://uk.reuters.com/article/us-eu-facebook-twitter-hatecrime-idUKKCN0YM0VJ).

Under the pretext of fighting racism and xenophobia, they introduce regulations which make swift and effective censorship of social media and other Internet platforms possible. The IT companies commit to remove “illegal hate speech” within 24 hours and make such content unavailable. So, they start out saying it’s all about fighting “racism and hatred against peoples”, but further on it becomes rather hazy: “content that promotes incitement to violence and hateful conduct”. What does that mean? Promoting demonstrations or protests which the authorities deem as “incitement to violence”? And what is “hateful conduct”?

https://i1.wp.com/steigan.no/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/facebook-sensur.jpg?w=644

After Hillary Clinton’s defeat in the U.S. presidential election, the globalists claimed the spreading of “fake news” had caused the outcome. “Fake news” in social media, that is. However, they have not been able to present any serious research to support their claim.

Less than a month after the U.S. election, the EU and NATO agreed to start fighting “fake news”.

The Norwegian news agency NTB wrote:

“A joint analysis describing how disinformation is spread, including via social media, shall be compiled within the end of the year.

The two offices will cooperate on training and seminars, and they will make a joint effort to “improve the quality and range of a positive narrative”.

Last year the EU External Action Service (EEAS) established a work group against disinformation from Russia. This work group – East Stratcom – receives help from experts, journalists, civil servants, think tanks and organisations from more than 30 countries in order to crush myths and fact check articles.”

Here the EU and NATO state that they shall integrate journalists, civil servants and organisations in what cannot be referred to as anything but a propaganda war.

https://i2.wp.com/steigan.no/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/merkel-big-brother.jpg?w=750

Extreme draft legislations

The coalition government in Germany has launched draft legislations which will make it possible to issue fines at the size of 500.000 Euro each time “fake news” published on Facebook aren’t removed within 24 hours. We’re talking 4.5 million Norwegian kroners – in every single case – which must qualify as extreme.

This is happening without anyone even attempting to reflect upon the concept of “fake news”. The story about the incubators in Kuwait was false, and the consequences were grave, because it justified the first war against Iraq. The story of Saddam Hussein’s “weapons of mass destruction” was “fake news”, which laid the foundation for the second war against Iraq and lead to massive loss of lives and horrible destructions. Both these stories were published time and time again, with no critical distance, by de large media corporations. CNN, BBC, and, in Norway; “Aftenposten”, NRK (The Norwegian Broadcasting System), NTB and so on.

The legislators haven’t offered any assessment as to how large fines should be issued against these media organisations for publishing such fake news. And of course they haven’t, because the draft legislations do not aim for main stream media. They target anyone who tries to undermine the campaigns of lies, distortions and concealments in the most powerful news outlets. The Internet and social media have – at least for a little while – undermined the media monopoly of the political and economic elite. This is the monopoly the extreme draft legislations try to win back, by suggesting the most dictatorial legislations since the age of Hitler.

https://i1.wp.com/steigan.no/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/mussolini-fake-news.jpg?w=700

Denmark and Italy

Both Denmark and Italy have proposed similar bills.

A cross-party draft legislation in the Italian Senate suggests huge fines and even imprisonment of individuals or media that “undermine” democracy and publish “false, exaggerated or biased” news online and refuse to change the content within 24 hours.

Ordinary reporting of “fake news” qualifies to 5000 Euro fines, while “hate campaigns against individuals” or stories “that aim to undermine democratic process” can lead to a 10.000 Euro punishment. News that may “cause public fear” or “harm common interests” may be punished with “no less than two years in prison”.

January 12th the Danish Department of Justice sent a proposal out for comment concerning a new law on blocking web sites. Jesper Lund, member of EDRi IT-Pol, Denmark, writes:

“This step has been expected for a couple of months as part of the government’s action plan against extremism and radicalism on the Internet. Denmark holds opt-outs from European Union policies in relation to justice and domestic policies, so the new EU counterterrorism directive including an optional right to block web sites, does not apply to Denmark.

In spite of the focus on extremism and radicalism on the outside, the draft legislation comprises a wide range of possible criteria for blocking web sites. The bill entails that a web site may be blocked if there is reason to believe its content breaks Danish criminal law. Any breach on the criminal legislation, including a new, extensive part defined in paragraph 119a concerning harassment of public servants – which includes far more than insults and libels – may be reason to block.”

Where are the reactions?

Extreme fines, censorship, militarising of the opinion-formers (NATO), banning, blocking and imprisonment – for speech. These are extraordinary steps towards dictatorship. So, one would expect a storm of protests from politicians on the left, or perhaps just as much from politicians on the right, protecting conservative values. One would expect PEN clubs, and in Norway; “Fritt ord” (a foundation supporting free speech), “Journalistlaget” (The Norwegion union of journalists) and newspapers like “Klassekampen” (Class struggle) to enter the barricades for free speech – against the authorities’ eagerness to censor. One would expect that at least the Norwegian political parties on the left, such as SV (The Socialist Left Party) and Rødt (The Red Party) chose the fight against censorship and “forced opinions” as main issues in their political struggle.

Perhaps I don’t pay attention well enough. Perhaps there have been some protests I didn’t discover. I would be pleased to stand corrected. On this point I really wish I was wrong. But from what I can see, there is no movement of protests against this massive attack on freedom of speech and democracy. I do have some thoughts on the issue, why it has come to this. But I will get back to that point later.

Source (http://steigan.no/2017/02/22/freedom-of-speech-under-attack-where-are-the-reactions/)

TargeT

23rd February 2017, 12:49

"Last night in Sweden"
:clapping:
kPtNON6sHXw

Honesty

23rd February 2017, 13:03

..........

TargeT

23rd February 2017, 19:02

Get your popcorn ready... this WILL be interesting.

xf-0_dFnl-Y

See more at: http://www.cnnleaks.com/

Project Veritas released 119 hours of raw audio in a WikiLeaks style dump, with over 100 more hours still yet to be released. The audio was secretly recorded in 2009 by an anonymous source inside CNN’s Atlanta headquarters who we are identifying as Miss X. The tapes contain soundbites from current and previous CNN employees Joe Sterling, Arthur Brice, and Nicky Robertson, as well as numerous others. Project Veritas is also offering a $10,000 award for content that exposes media malfeasance.

Satori

23rd February 2017, 21:50

The links below will take you to two articles well worth reading and understanding.

The first article speaks to the revival of America under Trump. The second article, by Jon Rappoport, speaks to how the "deep state" is hell-bent upon "Watergating" Trump all in the name of globalism and corporatism, because Trump is, like Nixon was, a threat to the globalist. (Note: I suspect that if they can't "Watergate" Trump, they will attempt to "Kennedy" him.)

Rappoport also makes a brief reference to the recently formed Organization For Action that is headed up by Barry Sotero, a/k/a Barack Hussein Obama. There is much significance in the fact that this organization is called "Organization For Action", and not "Organization For America." Please do some looking into that. OFA is where Obama the usurper, and his handlers, intend to continue the destruction of America by taking action against it.

http://canadafreepress.com/article/deconstruction-of-america-has-stopped

https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2017/02/22/trump-watergate-nixon-rockefeller-the-real-lesson/

RunningDeer

24th February 2017, 15:22

Podesta joins the WA Post http://avalonlibrary.net/paula/Recovered/watching-you_zpsnijevdey.GIF
QA2T_t0NL10

Published on Feb 23, 2017

THE COMMON SENSE SHOW
Freeing America One Enslaved Mind At A Time
 WEBSITE: http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com/

RunningDeer

25th February 2017, 13:32

Skippy-Boy Podesta must think the public is stupid.

Podesta Falsely Accuses Infowars and Trump of a Conspiracy Against Him
xfrGcNgP-ZY

Published on Feb 24, 2017

THE COMMON SENSE SHOW

Freeing America One Enslaved Mind At A Time
WEBSITE: http://www.thecommonsenseshow.com/

The Ultimate Insult - May God Have Mercy On Your Soul - Billy Madison
5hfYJsQAhl0

norman

25th February 2017, 13:45

Podesta is a highly skilled lawyer.

He's introducing blocking memes into the case against him ( and others ).

KiwiElf

25th February 2017, 14:02

Somehow, I don't think Skippy Boy will have the job for very long... but an orange jumpsuit should go well with his tan ;)

RunningDeer

25th February 2017, 14:59

................................http://avalonlibrary.net/paula/Recovered/thinker_zpsqrb4vjo3.GIF

http://i1262.photobucket.com/albums/ii610/WhiteCrowBlackDeer/skippy-boy_zpsxjaosllw.gif

Somehow, I don't think Skippy Boy will have the job for very long... but an orange jumpsuit should go well with his tan ;)

uzn

25th February 2017, 16:31

Having a Name for his evil alter ego, that´s a clear sign of a true Psychopath.

Honesty

25th February 2017, 21:59

..........

uzn

26th February 2017, 20:28

One of the Major german News Papers (Der Spiegel) is trying to connect Trump and Alex Jones directly:

Their Headline (translated):

Conspiracy Theorist Alex Jones
The Man that puts the Lies in Trumps Ear

Moderator Alex Jones is Americas highest Conspiracy Theorist. His most powerful Listener: US President Trump. The Story of an alarming Alliance.

(Then they Show the worst Picture they could find of Alex Jones):
http://cdn3.spiegel.de/images/image-1111512-860_galleryfree-tgxq-1111512.jpg

And then the Article rants and rants on ....

It´s a premium Article that one has to pay for, but the first two pages are accessable for everyone:
http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/donald-trumps-finsterer-berater-der-verschwoerungstheoretiker-alex-jones-a-1136222.html

That fits the Storyline that Podesta is trying to push (or is it Skippy Boy ?, I am confused here).

Hervé

26th February 2017, 20:31

Trump cuts US debt by $12bn in his first month in office, accuses media of 'not reporting' it (https://www.rt.com/usa/378613-trump-us-debt-cut/)

RT (https://www.rt.com/usa/378613-trump-us-debt-cut/)
Sat, 25 Feb 2017 20:33 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s19/380337/large/58b1c8a8c461885b258b45e3.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s19/380337/full/58b1c8a8c461885b258b45e3.jpg)
© Yuri Gripas / Reuters

The US President Donald Trump has tweeted that he managed to decrease the US total public debt by US$ 12 billion during his first month in office while the former President Barack Obama increased it by US$200 billion over the same period.

Trump has also accused the media of turning the blind eye to this fact.

"The media has not reported that the National Debt in my first month went down by $12 billion vs a $200 billion increase in Obama first mo," he said in his Twitter post.

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1980294624/DJT_Headshot_V2_bigger.jpg Donald J. TrumpVerified account‏@realDonaldTrump (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump)

The media has not reported that the National Debt in my first month went down by $12 billion vs a $200 billion increase in Obama first mo.

5:19 AM - 25 Feb 2017
46,095 replies 54,820 retweets 175,606 likes He then added that he has "great optimism for future of the US business and jobs" and promised "big tax and regulation cuts."

The figures presented by Trump coincide with the data issued (https://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/debt/search?startMonth=01&startDay=20&startYear=2017&endMonth=02&endDay=25&endYear=2017)by the US Treasury Department, according to which, on January 20th, the day of Trump's inauguration, the overall US debt stood at $19,947 billion. On February 21st, a month later, the total US debt load amounted to $19,935 billion.

Moreover, between February 22 and February 23, the US debt fell by further $ 22 billion from $ 19,935 billion to $ 19,913 billion.

The US public debt really grew by more than US$ 200 billion from US$ 10,626 billion to US$ 10,838 billion in Obama's first month in office, according to the US Treasury data (https://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/debt/search?startMonth=01&startDay=20&startYear=2009&endMonth=02&endDay=20&endYear=2009).

According to the website USdebtclock.org, which tracks how much the US debt grows in real time, the debt had grown by $ 9 trillion or by 86 percent from $ 10.7 trillion to $ 19.6 trillion during Obama's two terms in office, hitting a record high.

The largest budget item is Medicare/Medicaid which has seen over $1.1 trillion added to US debt. Social Security accounted for $900 billion, while $585 billion was spent on defense and war.

However, the New York Times reported (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/us/politics/20budget.html) in 2009 that Obama banned four accounting gimmicks that President George W. Bush used to make deficit projections look smaller. This decision led to a situation, in which the spending seemed to grow to a larger degree previously.

Trump's statements (http://www.cfr.org/united-states/trump-national-debt/p38857)come just a day after the Council on Foreign Relations predicted that "Trump's policies would be likely to significantly widen the budget deficit."

In November 2016, after the US elections, the Tax Policy Center (TPC) also said that the federal debt would rise by $7.2 trillion n ten years and by $20.9 trillion by 2036.

Trump vowed to reduce the US debt and to eliminate deficit spending during his presidential campaign. On Wednesday, he once again addressed this issue and pledged to make Washington stop wasting taxpayers' money.

"The finances of our country are a mess, but we're going to clean them up," the president said, adding that "we won't let your money be wasted anymore."

"We must do a lot more with less," he said (https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2017/02/22/remarks-president-trump-budget-meeting).

Hervé

26th February 2017, 20:35

Anyway, this is a good reminder of how "news" and information from "undisclosed" sources are actually shaping "opinions" into facts:

A lesson in how to "brainwash" intelligence analysts who then forward their conclusions to all media:

Case 12: The Exorbitant Cost of Cooking Intelligence (http://pauljackson.us/sue_arrigo/US_Corruption_%20Cases_%201-17_UD_with_photos_%204%20Jun%2008.pdf)

Submitted to Waxman’s Congressional Committee on Govt. Oversight and Reform on Monday 26 May 2008.

Shortly before Tenet announced his resignation on June 3, 2004, I submitted evidence to the GAO that the intelligence reports at the CIA were being cooked at ridiculous cost.

[Note: For a brief overview of this topic please see an 8 minute You Tube at http://
www.youtube.com/watch?v=EP18L0PtKS0, including that Chalibi, a convicted bank swindler, was paid $345,000.00 a month to provide intelligence to the CIA.]

What I sent the GAO included evidence that selected people inside the CIA were paying “independent” think tanks and scholars very high fees for articles. The independents had been contracted to have a particular point of view or conclusion. It was one way that the neo-cons used to shift the CIA’s analysts and foreign policy in the direction that they wanted. The corruption case that I sent the GAO had to do with exorbitant fees being paid for these cooked “independent” articles.

I documented that one 5-page article had been written in 2 days to re-iterate a self-serving view; the CIA and thus the US taxpayer had paid over a million dollars for it. It was not a report on a scientific study that had taken time to complete. The author of it was not a scientist. I looked at that article myself. It had not a single reference in it. It faithfully followed the handwritten notes of the author from the call which gave him the assignment.

The person who called him was a staffer at the White House. The author was an academician at an Ivy League college, Harvard, if I remember correctly. The opinion took on a respectable patina after passing through the typewriter of that professor. The CIAs analysts then reference the opinion as if it were fact in their own reports.

The article was on how Middle Eastern countries were financially incompetent to manage their own accounting and banking affairs. No evidence was given for that assertion. It recommended that loans made to and from Middle Eastern banks to US corporations/banks under a certain size should be forced to go through banking structures that the US could control. The staffer calling in that assignment to the Professor had received a call within the hour from David Rockefeller. The staffer’s hand written notes from that call showed that he had faithfully transmitted Rockefeller’s instructions to the Professor. Those instructions included recommending that the World Bank and the Bank of International Settlements in Basel be used to give “the US oversight control”.

But as both of those institutions were controlled, not by the US govt. but by David Rockefeller, it gave the control to him, not the US Govt.. That is, unless one made the mistake of thinking that David Rockefeller was the US Govt.. It was a mistake that perhaps he had made subconsciously.

I guessed that the point of that propaganda stunt by Rockefeller was to set the stage for his taking over many banks in the Middle East later. It also seemed designed to cut out smaller companies from being able to compete with his own enterprises. It later prevented Iraqis and Afghanis from getting the loans they needed to rebuild themselves. It forced them to wait for US reconstruction by large US corporations. It was part of a set of US policies which put a stranglehold on their economies in practice. That often forced them to work for the US occupation of their country or watch their children starve to death.

[...]

Bush was out of the White House during the hour of the transmission of that part of the economic strangle hold proposal and there was no evidence of a call to him. Cheney was in the White House in a meeting. I could find no security camera footage to show that the staffer had sought or received Cheney’s input on the matter. And no extra points were added to the staffers notes that were not covered in the phone call from Rockefeller.

That staffer had a title like White House researcher. But, when I looked into what he actually did by watching his computer screen and emails, he did not research topics. What he did was take the opinions of neo-cons and ‘create the research’ citations to support them. More than half of his inputs were coming from David Rockefeller--about 55%. About 15% were coming from Bush, Jr. and 20% from Cheney. Also disturbing to me from a counter-intelligence point of view was that most of the rest were coming from foreign sources, including the Saudi Ambassador to the US. That meant that even foreign agents were cooking CIA’s Dept. of Intelligence’s reports and thus shaping US foreign policy.

I then looked into who was overseeing that staffer’s work. That was not encouraging. He was being bribed by the Saudis and 2 other foreign agents, one from Libya and one from Egypt. The oversight of him had not been sufficient to detect that. It had not even attempted to ensure that most of his work was being done for those whom the taxpayers had purportedly elected.

Next I went to talk to 3 CIA analysts whom I respected. I showed them the 5-page article and asked them to speculate on how that Professor had come to write the content in it. Two of them said that he likely wrote it as a result of his academic interest in the area.

They considered that what he said was ‘probably right and probably based on a lot of in depth research’. I pointed out that he was in the Political Science dept., not the Business School. That was a fact that any analyst could have by searching on his name on the internet. But it was not a fact that appeared in the citation of his article in the CIA’s reports. They then said, “Well, that makes it less convincing, unless he had the help of a person in business administration.” I then pointed out that unless he had the help of many spies in many Middle Eastern banks that the help of a business person was pointless.

[...]

These analysts turned off their usually excellent analytical skills after reading that a respected expert from Harvard wrote the article. They accepted his writing as truth without further proof because they assumed that he must have done his homework well to stay at Harvard. But his colleagues at Harvard never saw those articles he sent to the CIA.

The 3rd analyst had seen the article before. He said to me, “Oh, that professor writes whatever the US Administration wants us to tell them.” We take our clues as to what to write from his articles and that gets us promoted”. I asked him how many articles of that professor’s he had read. He pulled them out of a file drawer within easy reach of his desk and handed them to me. There were over 20 articles. I copied them and looked them over.

Then I called up the Professor and I asked him to write an article for me. Before I even told him on what topic, he asked me how much I would pay him. I said that I was at the CIA. He said that the CIA paid him different amounts according to who at the CIA called him. He wanted a dollar figure and whether it would go into a tax free Swiss account or a US account. I cited him a figure of $10,000 for a 3 page report and he hung up on me. I called him back and asked him how much he wanted for a 3 page report. He said that with his reputation to protect, he needed $100,000 a page. I said that seemed steep to me.

He said, “Then find someone else.” I agreed to pay $100,000 for a 3-page report and we bargained over price. He agreed to write 3 full pages for $120,000. He had still not asked the topic! Then he asked me what I wanted him to say in the article. I said that I wanted a follow up article on the 5-page one which dealt with a single Middle Eastern Bank. I asked him which bank had been the worst of those he knew about. He could not give the name of a single Middle Eastern Bank, let alone name one that the State Dept. had already listed as suspect and not worthy of US investments. I had that State Dept. list in front of me. I waited assuming that he would rifle through his papers to find his copy of it. It was not classified information. But instead he asked me to name the bank that should be the subject of his report. I gave him a name--I knew that no such bank existed. He agreed and again asked me what the article should say. I told him the I wanted to know what banking practices it used that were substandard and the scandals that had resulted from it.

I said that any scandal probably had forced people are of their homes in a foreclosure and had forced people to be homeless. I told him that I had heard of a case of a 4-year-old Israeli girl dying on the streets in Jerusalem because an Arab bank associated with this one had gone bankrupt. He said to me, “Now you are talking. I can give you what you need but I needed to know what that was.”

He sent me the article the same afternoon. It appeared that he was a faster typer than I was. Given the time it took him to get it to me he had to have over a 90 words a minute typing skill. The article sounded well founded. It included 3 scandals at the bank and ended on the note of the Israeli girl dying on the street after her family was forced out of their home.

I then sent that article and a survey to many of the CIA’s analysts. I tried to send it to every CIA analyst at Headquarters, but a few later complained that they had not gotten ‘the great banking article’ from me. When I looked into how many analysts did not get that survey, it was less than 4%. Since I offered to send them another article if they would send me back a completed survey, I got about an 80% response rate after personally walking the halls of the analysts to remind them. The results of that survey showed that CIA analysts were quick to adopt opinions without investigation. About 10% went on line looking for more about the scandals. Even after finding nothing about them on the internet, 60% still believed that the article had been based on fact. Only 20% of the analysts said that the article was hearsay without supporting references that they could check. And this was in the CIA’s Intelligence Dept.! It was a dreadful performance for intelligence analysts.

The article I passed out was a four page one on how their reports were being cooked by feeding them material like that article. It included who was behind the writing of the articles, including foreign agents, how much it was costing the US taxpayer to launder those neo-con opinions into presumed facts, and the results of the survey showing how successfully they were being duped. It had taken me four days of very hard work and long hours to write those 4 pages.

Tenet demanded that I “stop taking up the time of the analysts.”! I pointed out that the amount of time I had taken up was the amount required to read 7 pages and fill out a 2 page multiple choice questionnaire. He replied that analysts had ‘lost days of work’ trying to find that bogus company and its scandals. I challenged him to find me a single case where an analyst had lost over 4 hours. He sent a bigwig in Intelligence “down to have a talk with me”. I lambasted the man for running a shoddy dept. He had been the person at the CIA calling the professor the most and paying him the highest rates, up to $200,000 a page for a “rush case”. All of the professor’s articles were rushed through as fast as he could type. He expected me to sit by and idly twiddle my thumbs while he destroyed the integrity of US intelligence. About 40% of his time was spent ‘outsourcing’ CIA intelligence analysis assignments--that is finding who to bribe to write up the US Administration’s opinions as academic or well-founded facts. He was the counterpart of the White House Researcher. What they ‘researched’ was how to cook the CIA’s intelligence to make it say what the US Administration wanted to hear. He was the one who had gone to Tenet saying that I had wasted the time of his analysts.

When I looked into who he took assignments from it was not primarily Tenet. The pattern was much the same as for the White House researcher. Most of his assignments, about 60% were coming from David Rockefeller. Only 10% were coming from Tenet. About 15% were coming from Bush and Cheney. Most of the rest were coming from the White House researcher. That piqued my interest. Why was the White House researcher not commissioning the studies directly?

When I looked into the reports that had been written on request of the White House researcher to the CIA’s Intelligence researcher, a pattern emerged. The pattern I detected first was the illegal arms trade. The White House appeared to be unwilling to directly commission articles on the illegal trafficking of drugs, weapons, and human slaves. I called up the White House researcher. He assumed that Tenet had directed me to call as I was seen by many people as Tenet’s go-fer. I asked him for a list of good independent researchers and what they would or would not write about. He sent me over his computer reference file that he used to select writers. I then compared it to a similar list from the computer of the CIA’s Intelligence bigwig. The main difference appeared to be that the underworld figures were left off the White House’s list. The CIA’s Intelligence bigwig was having the Mafia write the articles on the Mafia! And he was paying them big bucks to let them write what they wanted about themselves! That “professional courtesy” was extended also to big drug running outfits, big arms traders, and big slavers. I located 10 articles in each of these categories that had been written by ‘the insiders’, the criminals themselves. Then I ‘wasted my time’ reading them. That was a real eye opener. It was not a waste of my time once I understood that the articles were written by the criminals to help the CIA cover-up their crimes.

I went to the bigwig in Intelligence and showed him my 30 articles and asked him who in his dept. had ‘commissioned them from the criminals’. I already knew the answer. He had been responsible for every one of those articles being written and submitted to the CIA’s analysts. Usually they were inserted as from ‘an anonymous CIA informant whom we trust”. I wondered who had decided to ‘trust’ those criminals enough to pay them big bucks to mislead CIA analysts. In the face of the evidence, that man confessed that he had been cooking the intelligence.

Then I took his confession up to Tenet expecting him to be fired. Tenet did not fire him. Not even after I explained that Libya and other countries on the list of terrorist states were feeding the CIA analysts lies through this man. 3 of the men on his list were also on a list of Al-Queada terrorists. He had them listed as experts in illegal weapons and had used two of them to feed information into the CIA’s analysts.

It is not wrong to ask criminals to write articles, if something they knew could not be learned another way that was important for the CIA to know. It is not necessary to identify them by name, a consistent alias will do, if they are a covert source. But their background needed to be listed honestly, so that the analysts could properly evaluate it. Everyone should be paid fairly and in an amount that the taxpayer would approve. It is completely unreasonable to list someone as a professor of a University, if their colleagues are not peer reviewing that article and ensuring it meets the standards of that institution. It was that bigwig Intelligence Analyst’s job to ensure that the articles his analysts wrote were true and based on reliable sources. What he had done was as bad as a bank manager embezzling funds. In the civilian world, had he embezzled the amount of money he wasted, he would have ended up in prison. But what he had done was much worse. US soldier’s lives and the fate of the nation, not just tax dollars hung in the balance.

It deeply concerned me that Tenet did not fire that man. I copied the calls between Tenet, Cheney, and Bush discussing whether to fire him based on my evidence. There were two such calls made in the hour after I spoke to Tenet. Cheney recommended ‘holding tight’ and ‘letting the storm pass by’. Bush said, “this doesn’t look good”... “we could replace him and keep going”. Tenet did not offer much of his own opinion. Cheney apparently won out in Tenet’s thinking, because the man was not fired.

Then I sent out a one page article to the analysts explaining my findings on how their opinions were being shaped by criminals in the underworld. I offered to give anyone who showed up at my office the 30 articles and the proof of what I said if they promised in writing to read it ‘on their own time’. That was a bit of a joke as many analysts worked long hours without overtime. The CIA did not pay overtime. Anything they did after 40 hours a week was automatically on their own time and they already knew it.

My office was overrun by requests and I had to station a secretary outside my door to pass out the articles after analysts signed the promise. The analysts did want the truth of how they were being fed lies. Many of them asked me to keep exposing the corruption. Others shook their heads sadly and said, “We have to cook the intelligence so as not to lose our jobs, or worse.” (see Cases 8 and 9). One man asked me who was behind the cooking of the intelligence. When I explained what I knew already, he said to me; “There has to be more to it than that. Feeding us lies doesn’t require much effort, but keeping us from reading the truth must take a lot of work and people. Look into that next.”

I sent all of that information over to the GAO along with many records from the CIA’s accounting office showing what the bogus ‘independents’ had been paid for what they wrote. The costs were staggering. The Dept of Intelligence was spending more to pay for bogus reports to cook the intelligence than they were spending on the salaries of CIA analysts!

==================================================

From there, the world is propagandized via twitter... howling "Russia did it! It's all Putin's Fault!"

7alon

27th February 2017, 12:41

http://lawnewz.com/uncategorized/hospital-ceo-wins-major-court-ruling-after-accusing-cnn-of-false-reporting/

Those who accuse CNN and other mainstream media outlets of “fake news” will probably revel in a recent decision by a federal judge in Atlanta, Georgia. While Judge Orinda Evans didn’t all out declare that CNN was peddling in falsehoods, she did take aim at the network in an initial judgment in favor of a former hospital CEO who sued CNN accusing them of purposely skewing statistics to reflect poorly on a West Palm Beach hospital. Judge Evans didn’t mince words in her 18-page order allowing the case to move forward, and dismissing CNN’s attempt to get it thrown out of court.

The 18 page document with the ruling can be seen via the link provided.

Hervé

1st March 2017, 01:28

Tucker Carlson induces cognitive dissonance in Bill Nye the Science Guy over climate change (http://blog.dilbert.com/post/157823678756/tucker-carlson-induces-cognitive-dissonance-in)

Scott Adams Scott Adams' Blog (http://blog.dilbert.com/post/157823678756/tucker-carlson-induces-cognitive-dissonance-in)
Tue, 28 Feb 2017 23:19 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s19/380931/large/tucker_bill_nye.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s19/380931/full/tucker_bill_nye.jpg)

Here is the best (and weirdest) example of cognitive dissonance you will ever see. The set-up is that Bill Nye, an engineer by training, and a proponent of science, is defending climate science on Tucker's show.

The first weird thing is that Bill Nye starts by talking about cognitive dissonance being the only reason that anyone would be skeptical of global warming. But he seems to not understand the concept of cognitive dissonance because he believes only the other side could be experiencing it. The nature of cognitive dissonance is that you don't know you're in it when you're in it. It is only obvious to observers. If Nye had been objective, he would have noted two equal possibilities: Either the skeptics are experiencing cognitive dissonance or the proponents of climate science are experiencing it. But whoever is in it can't know. It is only obvious to the other side. That's how it works.

Yes, I do the same thing all the time. I call out my critics for being in cognitive dissonance and act as if the problem couldn't be on my end. But in my case, the context is usually that I'm teaching you how to spot it. And I also talk about the specific triggers and "tells" so you can check my work. This video has a clear trigger and an enormous tell. Best example you will ever see.

The set-up for the trigger is that Nye's self-image is that of a rational supporter of science with a command of the facts about climate science. He has made a career recently of defending science, and climate science in particular. Nye's ego depends on being consistent with his pro-science, rational stance. That's who he is.

Tucker then asked Nye a simple question about climate science. He asked how much of the warming is caused by human activity. Nye's entire ego depended on knowing whether human activity is contributing to climate change in a big way, a medium way, or a small way. Tucker wanted some details. How much difference do humans make? After all, Nye had said this was settled science. Tucker just wanted to know what that settled science said.

Nye didn't know. And by not knowing that simple answer about the percentage of human contribution to warming - the only issue that really mattered to the topic - he proved in public that his opinions on science are not based on facts or knowledge. Nye tried and tried to dodge the question, but Tucker was relentless. That was the trigger. Nye could plainly see, thanks to Tucker's simple question, that his belief in science was just a belief, because he didn't actually know the science. When your self-image and ego get annihilated on live television, you can't simply admit you have been ridiculous all along. Your brain can't let you do that to yourself. So instead, it concocts weird hallucinations to force-glue your observations into some sort of semi-coherent movie in which you are not totally and thoroughly wrong. That semi-coherent movie will look like a form of insanity to observers.

Look for Nye to go totally mental in the last minute of the clip, changing the topic to political leaks for no apparent reason. That's your tell. His brain just sort of broke right in front of you.

People do and say dumb things all the time, and it isn't always cognitive dissonance. That's why you look for the trigger to make sure the "tell" was what you thought it was.

To be fair, spotting cognitive dissonance is more like bird-watching than science. Sometimes you misidentify a bird. But this example is like an ostrich sitting on your lap. Hard to miss. Enjoy.

LKMxmYcfw8Q

A Voice from the Mountains

1st March 2017, 03:25

Bill Nye the mechanical engineer whose claim to fame is teaching kids basic science using baking soda and vinegar, apparently is either unaware or dishonest about this:

Peer-Reviewed Survey Finds Majority Of Scientists Skeptical Of Global Warming Crisis

It is becoming clear that not only do many scientists dispute the asserted global warming crisis, but these skeptical scientists may indeed form a scientific consensus.

Don’t look now, but maybe a scientific consensus exists concerning global warming after all. Only 36 percent of geoscientists and engineers believe that humans are creating a global warming crisis, according to a survey reported in the peer-reviewed Organization Studies. By contrast, a strong majority of the 1,077 respondents believe that nature is the primary cause of recent global warming and/or that future global warming will not be a very serious problem.

The survey results show geoscientists (also known as earth scientists) and engineers hold similar views as meteorologists. Two recent surveys of meteorologists (summarized here and here) revealed similar skepticism of alarmist global warming claims.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamestaylor/2013/02/13/peer-reviewed-survey-finds-majority-of-scientists-skeptical-of-global-warming-crisis/#6954d4e94c7c

So much for being a settled issue.

Hervé

1st March 2017, 17:41

Video: War on Syria: Manufactured Revolution and Fake Media Narrative (http://www.globalresearch.ca/war-on-syria-manufactured-revolution-and-fake-media-narrative/5577303)

By Eva Bartlett (http://www.globalresearch.ca/author/eva-bartlett)
Global Research, February 28, 2017

http://www.globalresearch.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Eva-Bartlett-400x224.jpg

Canadian independent journalist Eva Bartlett is the object of a smear campaign by Canada’s mainstream media.

Listen to what she has to say and then decide who is telling the truth.

The mainstream media denies the existence of terrorists linked to Al Qaeda.

According to mainstream sources, there were no terrorists in Aleppo.

Al Qaeda and the Islamic State are supported by US-NATO, Saudi Arabia and Israel. They are the state-sponsors of terrorism.We are dealing with a war of aggression. Eva Bartlett provides detailed evidence of war crimes.

The following video interview by Global Research TV was conducted in Montreal in January in the context of Eva Bartlett’s Canada speaking tour.

It is followed by her presentation at the Montreal venue. (M.Ch, GR Editor)

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Eva Bartlett’s presentation in Montreal

BOmaxtuL3F4
Excerpts from Eva Bartlett’s Sott article entitled
Western corporate media ‘disappears’ over 1.5 million Syrians and 4,000 doctors (https://www.sott.net/article/325238-Western-corporate-media-disappears-over-1-5-million-Syrians-and-4000-doctors#)

Doctors In Aleppo Refute Media Lies
In the first week of July 2016 I traveled by car to Aleppo. When entering the southern Ramouseh district of the city, the car sped along a road known for terrorist snipers. Three weeks later in Ramouseh, a woman was sniped by a terrorist and killed (http://sana.sy/en/?p=83711).

https://www.sott.net/image/s16/337588/large/Ramouseh_road.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s16/337588/full/Ramouseh_road.jpg)

Oil barrels line Ramouseh road to protect Syrian civilians against Western-backed terrorist snipers © Eva Bartlett

In Aleppo, I met with doctors from the Aleppo Medica (https://www.facebook.com/Aleppodoctors.org/)l (https://www.facebook.com/Aleppodoctors.org/) Association (https://www.facebook.com/Aleppodoctors.org/) (established in 1959), including Dr. Zahar Buttal, Dr. Tony Sayegh, and Dr. Nabil Antaki.

One question I posed to the doctors was regarding the other oft-repeated lie of the “last pediatrician” in Aleppo, a startling allegation designed to shock western readers and rally them against the Syrian government. And one which has no basis in truth.

Dr. Zahar Buttal, Chairman of the Aleppo Medical Association, refuted such allegations, noting that Aleppo has 180 pediatricians still working in the city. Of one of the alleged lone pediatricians he said: “The media says the only pediatrician in Aleppo was killed in a hospital called Quds. In reality, it was a field hospital, not registered.” As for the pediatrician, “We checked the name of the doctor and didn’t find him registered in Aleppo Medical Association records.”

Indeed, the Quds hospital referenced was central to the April/May frenzy of media lies regarding Aleppo and the Syrian government, and Russian allies. Claims around the building called al-Quds hospital contradicted one another, the fallacies and serious discrepancies outlined in this article (http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-aleppo-hospital-smokescreen-covering-up-al-qaeda-massacres-in-syria-once-again/5524250).

[...]

Full article: http://www.globalresearch.ca/war-on-syria-manufactured-revolution-and-fake-media-narrative/5577303

Related:
SYRIA: NATO'S NEXT WAR? (http://www.globalresearch.ca/indepthreport/syria-nato-s-next-war)

Rocky_Shorz

2nd March 2017, 18:26

We need real news...

Something that erases an hour of hurt and fear in a few tears of people helping people...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WO7TmKgPMBQ

norman

4th March 2017, 13:07

BBC The Moral Maze - FAKE NEWS

A 45 minute examination of the Fake News phenomenon.

MP3
https://app.box.com/s/abslr2yn1s7cs2ecsi1bhbd0t7t3703i

Hervé

4th March 2017, 19:26

Flashback: Sensational Memos Lifted Lid on Fake News (https://www.henrymakow.com/000188.html)

By Henry Makow March 4, 2017

https://www.savethemales.ca/rather.jpg

Recently I looked up an old friend and discovered to my delight that he is still alive and kicking.

This is Walter Storch (aka Peter Stahl or Gregory Douglas?) of tbrnews.org (http://www.tbrnews.org/) (tbr stands for the Barnes Report.) He is still exposing the fake news mainstream media. I post his article from last Tuesday and one from 2003 by way of introducing him to you. He was a stalwart source of mine for many years but somehow fell off my radar about 10 years ago. His bonafides have been questioned by many (http://www.fpp.co.uk/docs/Irving/Peter_Stahl/index.html) but I find his work credible. He claimed to be the nephew of Gestapo Chief Heinrich Mueller and has published Mueller's diary (https://www.henrymakow.com/001699.html), CIA interrogation and many other revelations (https://www.henrymakow.com/001836.html).

Makow Comment- Isn't it odd that the three US network TV newscasts are identical? That wouldn't happen if CBS, NBC & ABC were independent. In fact, as Storch demonstrates below, the news is carefully controlled just like it was in the USSR. This has become painfully apparent in the media's coverage of Trump. We live in a de facto Communist society where Communist is defined by the Illuminati Jewish bankers exercising a satanist monopoly over money, politics, culture and belief.

(http://www.tbrnews.org/?p=2191)
Washington, D.C. February 28, 2017: (http://www.tbrnews.org/?p=2191) "The news usually comes in clumps, great excitement, frenzies of supposition, abounding theories, creative fictions, waning interest, silence and then another round.

The American media is living under the misapprehension that they are the voice of the people whereas they are now nothing more than the vice of the people.

Once a determining factor in American social and political life, the media is now reduced to discussing new pizza restaurants, bad weather and heart warming stories about shabby minorities who have made great strides in new hairstyles.

Before the last presidential election, the media boosted the Clinton woman (?) and ignored a Trump that could never, ever win the election because they wouldn't support him.

Trump won and the post-election wailings of the media would have deafened a tornado.

And when Trump entered the Oval Office, the media, like a pack of starving Chihuahuas, yapped and squeaked about him as if he had stepped on their food bowl.

Which, in essence, he had.

When Trump retaliated by booting the worse ones out of his press conferences, one would believe the Constitution was being burnt in public by a legion of hooded dwarves.

The media and its owners lost.

Get used to it."

from Aug 3, 2003
By Henry Makow Ph.D.

" Protestors are to be shown to be "die-hard Baathist supporters of the evil Saddam" and show pictures of a "commando" camp with pictures of Saddam and anti-US slogans." (June 12) Since April (2003), TBR News web site (www.tbrnews.org (http://www.tbrnews.org)) has posted memos like this from an executive at a major TV network to selected News Division staff.

If they are authentic, these memos represent the most important revelation of government deception since the Pentagon Papers, and suggest the "news" is little more than mass psychological control. There are shocking references to cover-ups of government domestic terrorism, SARS, Mad Cow, and events in Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea, Iran and much more.

In mid-March TBR Webmaster Walter Storch received an email from a man who claimed to be a mid-level executive at a major U.S. TV network. He said he had "serious doubts" about the strict control of the media by the government.

He sent Storch a disc containing 1500 pages of memos dating back to 2001. All were on corporate stationery signed by the sender and recipients in the News Division.

Storch asked for current directives and was able to ascertain that they were followed both in print and on TV. He posted the memos in excerpt or in full and watched "as ordained news was created before our eyes."

"We are now printing the more outrageous and serious aspects of the incoming papers with the hopes that this will cause serious public relations problems [for] those directly involved," Storch wrote recently.

The memos so far have created a minor sensation. TBR news gets 3,000-10,000 viewers of this item per day, about half foreign. About 95% of the email response is positive while 5% are from government and press people who are "outraged by the implications. "

The memo writer is probably an executive at a media conglomerate in New York charged with coordinating with government. His directives seem to be followed by other networks and newspapers, although he refers to "unreliable" newspapers (June 2).

He decides what to suppress ("blackout"), what to promote ("puff pieces"), what angle to take on anything controversial. About SARS, which did spread to the US but was called pneumonia, he says," Get the usual medical people and give them the usual script." (May 25)

He has a cynical, conspiratorial, chatty style and makes the newsmen feel they are "in the know." They do not include the public in this charmed circle.

RECENTLY A CHANGE OF TONE
In July, the memo writer starts to distance himself from Bush policy in Iraq, which is becoming a quagmire like Vietnam. He implies that "our circle" predicted this from the start. This suggests that his master may be the Rockefeller-CIA-Mossad-CFR elite network.

For the first time, the writer urges a "completely neutral position" in case Bush goes the way of Richard Nixon. On July 12, he tells the executives to follow the example of "bellweather" New York Times. On August 1, the New York Times described Bush's performance at a recent news conference as "vague and sometimes nearly incoherent.... [he gave] rambling non answers."

On July 17, the writer says, "The White House is moving into a bunker mentality, very much like Nixon during the end of the Watergate business." The elite media may be getting ready to dump George W. Bush. Why would they report every U.S. casualty in Iraq when they have blacked out Afghanistan?

Iraq may be Bush's Watergate. He may have been tricked into invading Iraq, just as Nixon was tricked into sanctioning Watergate. The whole affair from Sept 11 to the Iraq war may be designed (like Vietnam) to bleed the U.S. taxpayer, destroy American morale and undermine the US's stature in the world.

SHOCKING REVELATIONS FROM WWW.TBRNEWS.ORG: (http://WWW.TBRNEWS.ORG:)
Ultimately you will make your own mind up about the authenticity of this material.

For me it reads like the script of a play I have been watching. "Play down North Korea. Black out Rachel Corrie." It's all followed. I have always been disturbed by the uncanny uniformity of the three TV network newscasts and CNN.

Go to www.tbrnews.org (http://www.tbrnews.org) and click on "Controlling the News". Here is a selection:
"Speculations of the actual nature of SARS are not under any circumstances to be permitted. Keep in mind the currently in- place rules following the outbreak of "Legionnaires Disease." (March 30)

"If this gets any credence, it could wreak havoc with the US cattle industry, not to mention the fast food and restaurant business. Mad-cow has been in the US before and kept very quiet. Let's see if we can't repeat this now." (May 24)

"Regarding North Korea, it is urgently requested by the White House that any reference to the President's determination to remove the existing leadership of that country be downplayed. It should be mentioned as an "option" rather than the intention of the President." (April 19)

"Re. Enormous amounts of US currency found in Iraq. Under no circumstances, it has to be stressed, should any mention of amounts in excess of the publicly stated $600 million be made. And absolutely no mention of the possibility of these $100 bills being counterfeit." (May 3)

"The decision to proceed against Iran has been taken." (May 25)

MARTHA STEWART: "BETTER THE SMALL FRY GET COOKED"
Re. Martha Stewart:
"Better the small fry get cooked than the really important ones. Campaign funding? Hah, hah!" (June 7)

"There is a black-out on guerrilla attacks in Afghanistan. The fear is that these are part of a coordinated attack in the Arab world." (June 12)

"The Administration has gotten burned by attacking [Ariel] Sharon. It won't happen again." (June 13)

"North Korea is a back issue for now. We are pulling troops away from the DMZ in case we have to nuke Pyongyang..." (June 13)

"SARS is officially dead. Monkeypox is replacing it. We have beaten SARS to death so it is best to keep the file footage for when it comes back with a bang this winter. With no vaccine in sight, buy masks, kids! If SARS combines with something else, watch out on this one..." (June 14)

"Unemployment is soaring but let's keep this minor key unless some trouble breaks out over it. Justice has evidence of serious labor unrest, especially among ghetto minorities." (June 15)

"Serious problems with the growing resistance movement in Iraq... Iraqi oil is being interdicted before it can be shipped out of the country. Casualties cannot be concealed but can be minimalized....[No pictures of] Iraqis that appear to have been beaten." (June 15)

"THE IRAQIS WOULD GET NONE OF THEIR OIL SALES"

"The major disaster for the White House is that they cannot get oil out of Iraq. The plan always was to root out Saddam, occupy the country after securing the oil fields first and then put a CIA trained and controlled local governments into place. This puppet government (let's face it gentlemen, that is what it would be but we can call it Iraqi autonomy) would graciously grant to the US the right to protect their oil resources and assist them in recovering their pre-Desert Storm production levels. In fact, the Iraqis would get none of the proceeds of the oil sales...(July 13)

"The Administration is over a barrel on this [prior warnings of Iraqi guerrilla resistance] because if they try to make too many scapegoats, someone will let the cat out of the bag over who really knew what and what kind of specific warnings the White House had actually received?the same scenario as the 9-11 warnings..." (July 13)

"There is a growing fear in counter intelligence circles that if the resistance movement in Iraq is not stopped, the resulting very bad PR might cause an "incident" somewhere in the US just before election time to whip the voters up to vote for Bush as a "wartime leader" who can put a number of draconian laws and edicts in place to "protect the American people." Someone in the FBI said to one of our people, entirely off the record, that "it will probably be the Statue of Liberty."

"There must be no speculation on this subject under any circumstances. If some rigged incident does happen and we comment on it in advance, new regulations could cause us serious problems... If this happens, it will be Rumsfeld who plans and executes it. This will give the President the usual deniability. It is more than likely that we will get some advance notice of such an action and then decisions can be made relative to going to the public. On one hand, it would be a magnificent media coup guaranteeing ratings off the chart and on the other, a death sentence..." (July 14)

Hervé

5th March 2017, 15:21

RT network beats BBC, CNN with 18 nominations in prestigious New York Festivals finals (https://www.rt.com/news/379477-rt-ny-festivals-finals/)

RT (https://www.rt.com/news/379477-rt-ny-festivals-finals/)
Sun, 05 Mar 2017 08:56 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s19/381766/large/rt.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s19/381766/full/rt.jpg)
© Mikhail Voskresenskiy / Sputnik

The RT network has been nominated in 18 categories of the New York Festivals awards for the world's best TV and film work. It is now competing for the main prizes in more categories than some of the other major international channels, such as BBC and CNN.

RT made it to the finals of the international awards competition with a number of projects, including news reports, online programs, and documentaries.

The work of the Russian channel's correspondents in the war-torn countries of the Middle East has not gone unnoticed by the festival, and RT received nominations in different categories for reports from both Syria and Libya.

RT's Murad Gazdiev, who has extensively covered the struggle against terrorism in Aleppo, Syria, has been nominated for the Best News Reporter/Correspondent award, while RT correspondent William Whiteman is among the Special Report finalists for a series of exclusive reports he delivered from the frontline in Libya.

MNuiy5P3lMQ

In addition, RT's coverage of the Flydubai plane crash in southern Russia in March 2016 has been picked for the finals in the Best Coverage of Continuing News Story category. The tragic crash of a plane belonging to Dubai's low-cost carrier claimed the lives of 62 passengers and crew members. Subsequently, numerous Flydubai pilots revealed that pilot fatigue could have been a contributing factor, with some of the whistleblowers telling RT that they had been complaining for years that the airline was scheduling exhausting rosters and turning a blind eye to employee complaints.

Larry King's The Interview show on RT America, Anissa Naouai's In The Now online news program, RT America's special report on the US' Guantanamo military base in Cuba, and three RT documentaries are also in the finals of New York Festivals' World's Best TV and Films 2017 competition (http://www.newyorkfestivals.com/tvfilm/main.php?p=2,38).

p6bhWMIq3V4

RT has previously won prestigious prizes at the international competition. In 2014, RT's documentary on vendetta traditions in Chechnya, Blood and Honor, received an award at the New York Festival, while Julian Assange's program for RT won a prize the year before. Last year, RT grabbed top prizes in four categories.

This year's awards ceremony will take place in Las Vegas on April 25.

Hervé

17th March 2017, 01:50

Putin spills the beans on the New World Order that Western media won't air (http://www.collective-evolution.com/2017/03/16/putin-the-russian-president-says-something-about-the-new-world-order-that-western-media-wont-air/)

Arjun Walia Collective Evolution (http://www.collective-evolution.com/2017/03/16/putin-the-russian-president-says-something-about-the-new-world-order-that-western-media-wont-air/)
Thu, 16 Mar 2017 00:00 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s19/384223/large/putin_759x500.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s19/384223/full/putin_759x500.jpg)

George Orwell once said that "in a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act." Since he offered those words decades ago, we have seen deceit become a pervasive and global problem, where the general public really has no clue what is happening around the world. The truth is, we live in a world of secrecy, and many prominent figures throughout history have been trying to tell us this for years. Even President Theodore Roosevelt warned us of the secret government, revealing that "behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government, owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people." (source (https://www.google.ca/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=AS73VZnhNOmM8QfOwYKwCQ#q=Behind+the+ostensible+government+sits+enthroned+an+invisible+government+ owing+no+allegiance+and+acknowledging+no+responsibility+to+the+people))

(And he's not the only one. You can see similar quotes in a previous article we published here (http://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/10/18/15-quotes-on-false-flag-terrorism-the-secret-government-that-will-make-you-rethink-your-patriotism/).)

More people became aware of the world of secrecy when Edward Snowden, a former intelligence contractor, leaked the very first documentation that proved the existence of clandestine black budget operations. These programs go far beyond surveillance and have no oversight from Congress. (You can read more about that topic here (http://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/06/29/the-black-budget-this-is-what-the-secret-government-doesnt-want-you-to-know/).)

To become aware of these hidden truths, one must be curious about our world and capable of thinking critically. It's hard to know who to trust, especially when it comes to international politics. Personally, I examine information and go with what resonates with me; after that, I can look at what different politicians are saying, determine how it fits in with everything I've looked at, and connect the dots accordingly.

When it comes to geopolitics, things have become quite clear within the past few years for many, and there is a general consensus among many political leaders and academics that, for a long time, there has been a deliberate manipulation of the opinions of the masses, and that those who manipulate this "unseen mechanism, constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power" of global geopolitics. Our minds are "molded, our tastes formed" and our ideas are "suggested, largely by men we have never heard of." (Edward Bernays (https://archive.org/details/Propaganda1928ByEdwardL.Bernays))

This was the sentiment expressed by multiple speakers, most notably Russian President Vladimir Putin, at the 13th annual meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club, whose theme this year was "The Future in Progress: Shaping the World of Tomorrow."

He began his speech by arguing that the oligarchic '1 percent' that dominate our world "abandoned substantive and equal dialogue with other actors in international life, chose not to improve or create universal institutions, and attempted instead to bring the entire world under the spread of their own organisations, norms and rules. They chose the road of globalisation and security for their own beloved selves, for the select few, and not for all."

He is referring to the fact that the global elite continue to push their desire for a new world order (http://www.collective-evolution.com/2015/10/27/professors-politicians-gather-to-warn-us-about-the-new-world-order-nwo/). This, in my view, is most evident by what's taken place in the Middle East, especially in the past decade. The United States has completely infiltrated and destroyed countries, all while manufacturing false events to justify these invasions. This is known as false flag terrorism (http://www.collective-evolution.com/?s=false+flag+terrorism). The Middle East is now full of U.S. military bases. But more on this later.

According to Putin,
"If the powers that be today find some standard or norm to their advantage, they force everyone else to comply. But if tomorrow these same standards get in their way, they are swift to throw them in the bin, declare them obsolete, and set or try to set new rules." (source (http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/53151#sel=56:40,56:44))
Later on, he mentions that the "the powers that be" continue to
"churn out threats, imaginary and mythical threats such as the 'Russian military threat,' "

explaining how it's a "profitable business that can be used to pump new money into defence budgets at home, get allies to bend to a single superpower's interests, expand NATO and bring its infrastructure, military units and arms closer to our borders."

He then goes on to describe the anti-Russian propaganda the U.S. has spread in recent years:
"Another mythical and imaginary problem is what I can only call the hysteria the USA has whipped up over supposed Russian meddling in the American presidential election. The United States has plenty of genuinely urgent problems, it would seem, from the colossal public debt to the increase in firearms violence and cases of arbitrary action by the police."
For years we've relied on mainstream media, but more people are starting to realize that it cannot be trusted, especially when it comes to covering major events like 9/11, the so called 'war on terror,' and other critical topics. Global corporate media has become a tool of deception and misinformation, and many of us still have yet to wake from our slumber and realize that this source of 'information' is simply an elite owned tool meant to push an agenda that has little to do with public interest.

More on These Mythical Threats, Going Beyond One Politician
"In our mind, real leadership lies in seeing real problems rather than attempting to invent mythical threats and use them to steamroll others. This is exactly how Russia understands its role in global affairs today."
The fact that Putin, along with many others, continues to point out that many of the threats used by the Western military alliance are completely fabricated, resonates with the research out there. Even those who have contributed to the Western propaganda machine have outed their own countries. One example would be former Four Star General Wesley Clark, who was the Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO from 1997 to 2000. Clark told the world that ISIS was created by the Western military alliance. You can hear it straight from his mouth here (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojcoKnTGf4s).

Putin offered similar revelations, stating that
"they created and armed terrorist groups, whose cruel actions have sent millions of civilians into flight, made millions of displaced persons and immigrants, and plunged entire regions into chaos."
We saw the same thing with Al-Qaeda.
"The truth is, there is no Islamic army or terrorist group called Al-Qaeda, and any informed intelligence officer knows this. But, there is a propaganda campaign to make the public believe in the presence of an intensified entity representing the 'devil' only in order to drive TV watchers to accept a unified international leadership for a war against terrorism. The country behind this propaganda is the United States." (source (http://www.globalresearch.ca/al-qaeda-the-database-2/24738))
FBI whistle blower Sibel Edmonds told us (http://www.collective-evolution.com/2014/10/21/u-s-is-reviving-terror-scare-to-promote-the-terror-war-industry-fbi-whistleblower/) that ISIS was created to be the next threat from Al-Qaeda, specifically for the purpose of reviving the terror war industry.

Canadian economist Dr. Michel Chossudovsky, who is the University of Ottawa's Emeritus Professor of Economics, also gave a great speech at the International Conference on the New World Order. You can check that out and read more about it here (http://www.collective-evolution.com/2015/10/27/professors-politicians-gather-to-warn-us-about-the-new-world-order-nwo/).

The point is, these "mythical and imaginary threats" that Putin alludes to have been known about for a long time. Even the Pentagon was outed for paying a PR firm half a billion dollars to create fake terrorists videos. (http://www.collective-evolution.com/2016/10/03/pentagon-paid-pr-firm-over-500-million-to-create-fake-terrorist-videos/)

As you can see, we have to move beyond simple claims by politicians and do our own research. This makes it much easier to discern the truth from the lies.

In his speech, Putin also pointed to the fact that we don't really live in a democracy anymore, explaining how
"modern countries have all the attributes of democracy: Elections, freedom of speech, access to information, freedom of expression. But even in the most advanced democracies the majority of citizens have no real influence on the political process and no direct and real influence on power."

Putin Calls Out the Mass Propaganda Machine

In his speech, Putin also referred to the mass propaganda machine that is mainstream media. He pointed to the huge gap that is growing between the interests of the people and those of the elite, but also to the fact that the interests of the elite will continue to be catered to over those of the public. He called out Western propaganda, referring to mainstream media, again emphasizing that he would like to have "such a propaganda machine" there in Russia, and that they "have not even global mass media outlets of the likes of CNN, BBC and others." Russia "simply do[es] not have this kind of capability."

Dr. Udo Ulfkotte, a top German journalist and editor for more than two decades, went on television to confirm this fact, stating that he was forced to publish the works of intelligence agents under his own name. He also added that noncompliance with these orders would result in him losing his job. Another great example would be former CBC News reporter Sharyl Attkisson (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bYAQ-ZZtEU), or Amber Lyon (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFDC7zmJgQg), a three-time Emmy award winning journalist who outed CNN, explaining that they are routinely paid by the U.S. government and foreign governments to selectively report and even distort information on certain events. She has also indicated that the government has editorial control over content.

It's a long list, and there is more than enough evidence and opportunity for people to discern fact from fiction and determine who is trustworthy and who is not.

You can view the full speech below. You can read the full English translation from the Kremlin HERE (http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/53151#sel=56:40,56:44).

GWKtoSza8lM

Chester

17th March 2017, 16:35

I have floated the idea of a "Watchdog Site" for the alternative community. Unfortunately this idea will go nowhere because to create one that would reach that point of where it could sustain itself and cover the entire "alternative media community" is all but impossible to attain.

Yet could this be done with "Fake News"? And I do not mean some shill site for the very fake news creators... we know who these sites are.

But perhaps there's hope or at least the start of hope -

http://www.twoweeksagonews.com/

about (http://www.twoweeksagonews.com/about.html)

Tomorrow never comes. That's true.

But here at Two Weeks Ago News, we don't concern ourselves about tomorrow. No, we believe much more strongly in the value of what happened yesterday. Or more specifically, what happened two weeks* ago. In fact, our goal here is to do little more than recall that news story, that headline, that sound bite...whatever it was that all of us lamenting the end of days, the coming apocalypse or the approach of something truly malevolent, like a new HGTV millennial couple, showing us how they live independently and with endless joie de vivre in a 312-square-foot Tiny House they park on family property.

Make no mistake. This isn't about history or learning from history. The web is littered with brilliant people writing brilliantly about the events of our past - recent and ancient - and what we might take away from them as thinking, evolved, compassionate people. If that's your thing, you won't find it here.

No, this is simply one repository for all the antics, every bit of mayhem, the interminable injustice, the relentless chaos and formidable challenges that outraged all of us on facebook and twitter just two weeks ago.

So pour yourself a little something and take a scroll through the REMINDERS you'll find on the next page. (For a longer trip down memory lane, click on the Archives under that tab.) Remember the good old days? When all we did was watch each other take ice bucket challenges and quarrel merrily about the color of a dress? Good times.

We're Two Weeks Ago News. Striving to be on the correct side of (very, very recent) history.

Innocent Warrior

19th March 2017, 02:56

The CIA’s 60-Year History of Fake News: How the Deep State Corrupted Many American Writers

In this week’s episode of “Scheer Intelligence,” Truthdig Editor in Chief Robert Scheer interviews Joel Whitney, author and co-founder of Guernica magazine.

Whitney’s new book, “Finks: How the C.I.A. Tricked the World’s Best Writers,” explores how the CIA influenced acclaimed writers and publications during the Cold War to produce subtly anti-communist material. During the interview, Scheer and Whitney discuss these manipulations and how the CIA controlled major news agencies and respected literary publications (such as the Paris Review).

Their talk comes at a particularly tense time in American politics, as accusations of fake news and Russian propaganda fly from both sides of the aisle. But the history detailed in Whitney’s book presents a valuable lesson for writers hoping to avoid similar manipulations today.

Scheer opens the discussion with the question: “Were they really tricked?”

“It could have been ‘paid,’ it could have been ‘subsidized,’ it could have been ‘used,’ it could have been ‘collaborated with,’ ” Whitney responds. “So yeah, it might have been any other verb there besides ‘tricked.’”

The two then delve into the tactics used by the CIA to influence writers. Whitney notes that the fearful political atmosphere at the time led to “secrecy being used to preside over and rule over the free press—which we’re supposed to be the champions of.”

“They drank the Kool-Aid and thought they were saving freedom,” Scheer agrees.

The discussion underscores the need for analysis of Cold War-era media as a way to avoid propagandized journalism today. Scheer says, “I look at the current situation, where we don’t even have a good communist enemy, so we’re inventing Russia as a reborn communist power enemy.”

“I call it superpolitics,” Whitney concludes, “where essentially there’s something that’s so evil and so frightening that we have to change how our democratic institutions work.”

Listen to the full interview below. Don’t have time to stream the full interview? Download it and listen on the go by clicking on the “arrow” button. You can also read a full transcript of the conversation below.

Source (including interview and transcript) (http://www.truthdig.com/avbooth/item/joel_whitney_cia_propaganda_cold_war_scheer_intelligence_20170317).

Hervé

22nd March 2017, 12:58

Allegations claiming French presidential candidate paid to arrange Putin meetings blasted as 'fake news' and 'orchestrated sleeze' (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-election-russia-idUSKBN16T14M)

Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-election-russia-idUSKBN16T14M)
Wed, 22 Mar 2017 11:52 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s19/385312/large/download.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s19/385312/full/download.jpg)
François Fillon, former French Prime Minister, member of the Republicans political party and 2017 presidential election candidate of the French centre-right delivers a speech at a campaign rally in Caen, France March 16, 2017. © Reuters/ Philippe Wojazer

A French media report alleging that presidential candidate François Fillon was paid to arrange introductions to Russian President Vladimir Putin is "fake news," Russia's Kremlin said on Wednesday.

"It is what in English we call 'fake news,'" Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, when asked to comment on the report.

Fillon camp decries 'soap opera' of sleaze reports (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-france-election-idUSKBN16T0V1)

François Fillon's campaign chief on Wednesday denounced what he called a daily "soap opera" of media leaks designed to hurt the conservative French candidate's prospects of becoming president.

Bruno Retailleau, Fillon's campaign coordinator, dismissed a further slew of media reports suggesting conflicts of financial and political interest, saying that Fillon's lawyers would meet magistrates who are investigating the former prime minister.

"It's clear that these are orchestrated leaks," he told RTL radio. "We're being dragged into a soap opera."

Once the frontrunner, the 63-year-old conservative former prime minister has fallen to third place in polls and risks being eliminated in the first round of the presidential election a month from now in favor of a runoff between far-right leader Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron, an independent centrist.

Retailleau spoke out after media reports said magistrates had broadened a judicial inquiry into hundreds of thousands of euros Fillon paid to his wife Pénélope and children as well as his business consultancy activities.

"There's a problem when there's a conflict of interest ... but that is not the case with François Fillon," said Retailleau, who said a drip-feed of sleaze allegations was derailing the pre-election competition between candidates.

A source close to the Fillon investigation said on Tuesday that the inquiry had been widened to include suspicion that false documents had been presented to justify the employment of Fillon family members.

Additionally, Le Canard Enchaîné, the newspaper which broke initial allegations that Fillon may have paid his family large sums of public money for minimal work, reported in its latest edition that a Lebanese billionaire paid a company owned by Fillon $50,000 in 2015 to arrange introductions to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Total TOTF.PA CEO Patrick Pouyanne.

No comment was immediately available from Total on that.

The favorite in opinion polls to win power on May 7 is now Macron, who is ardently pro-European and seeks to transcend traditional left-versus-right political cleavages. He is tipped to convincingly beat Le Pen, leader of the anti-EU, anti-immigrant National Front party.

[see this post for more accurate polls data: (here) (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?p=1141746#post1141746)(<---)

Helene West

22nd March 2017, 13:30

Herve

Do you trust these polls?
I'm tempted to ask the rhetorical - why are caucasians so self-defeating but I'll stick with the more mundane - Why would the French in your opinion vote for macron over le pen? thx

A Voice from the Mountains

22nd March 2017, 18:13

Zero Hedge is reporting that "secret" polling at Le Figaro shows Le Pen farther ahead than the media is publicly publishing there:

French Presidential Race: Marine LePen Far Ahead Of Rivals In Secret Polling

An editor at French daily, Le Figaro, has alluded to secret polling data which show the Front National’s Marine Le Pen polling close to 34% among those with intentions to vote in the first round of the French presidential election.

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user3303/imageroot/2017/03/21/20170320_france1.jpg

Surveys in the public domain consistently have populist LePen ahead of her rivals in the first round, at 26-28% of intentions to vote but losing to whichever rival she faces in the second.

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user3303/imageroot/2017/03/21/20170320_france2.jpg

A score of above 30% in the first round, however, would significantly boost her chances of continuing to victory on May 7th.

http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user3303/imageroot/2017/03/21/20170320_france_0.jpg

In his recent article on the failing efforts of the media and political classes to thwart LePen’s continued rise, editorialist Ivan Rioufol cites ‘sous le manteau’, or hidden surveys in circulation which show LePen likely to score double her father, Jean-Marie LePen’s 2002 score of 16.86%.

The politically correct ‘Maginot line’ of France’s elites can no longer hold out against the popular anger of the French public, Rioufol writes, arguing that the threats by leftist intellectuals and celebrities to quit the country in the event of a LePen victory are actually boosting her campaign. Likewise for scare-mongering media warnings on a ‘return to the 1930s’.

The French media and political establishment are now openly contemplating a LePen victory, with frequent reference to the Front National ‘at the gates of power’, an eventuality until recently considered impossible.

Outgoing president, François Hollande, who describes it as his ‘final duty’ to keep LePen from winning, and who is actively campaigning with government ministers in Front National strongholds to keep LePen from power, has recently admitted that she may win. Privately, Hollande is said to fear that LePen’s support is under-estimated in the opinion polls and that the momentum of a high score in the first round could make it difficult for any rival candidate to beat her in the second.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-03-20/french-presidential-race-marine-lepen-far-ahead-rivals-secret-polling

Looks like a rigged poll situation just like in the US campaign.

The polls here were so blatantly rigged that nobody should have taken any of the big corporate media networks seriously after the election. 98% chance of Clinton victory, some of them said.

Hervé

2nd April 2017, 15:36

Lavrov's April Fools' Day prank - CNN can't take a joke (http://russia-insider.com/en/lavrov-wins-april-fools-day-amazing-russian-foreign-ministry-prank/ri19393)

Russia Insider (http://russia-insider.com/en/lavrov-wins-april-fools-day-amazing-russian-foreign-ministry-prank/ri19393) Sat, 01 Apr 2017 16:20 UTC

Lavrov never fails us

https://www.sott.net/image/s19/387390/medium/098c1e6020fbe6a72ee10b096d55e5.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s19/387390/full/098c1e6020fbe6a72ee10b096d55e5.jpg)
A great man who leads a great ministry

We admit that our own prank (http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/obama-gives-best-speech-his-life/ri19390) wasn't very inspired, but thankfully the Russian Foreign Ministry never disappoints.

How could it? Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is well-versed in the teachings of YOLO (http://russia-insider.com/en/sergei-lavrov-receives-black-belt-internet-trolling/ri19050).

The Ministry announced (https://www.facebook.com/MIDRussia/videos/1008139769285464/) on its official Facebook page this morning:
The Ministry of foreign affairs of Russia, has developed a pilot for a taped answering machine for Russian diplomatic missions abroad. Sounds harmless enough. Until you remember what day it is.

This "answering machine" is pure, Siberian gold (skip to 0:30 for English):
"You have reached the Russian Embassy. Your call is very important to us. To arrange a call from a Russian diplomat to your political opponents, press 1. To use the services of Russian hackers, press 2. To request election interference, press 3 and wait until the next election campaign. Please note that all calls are recorded for quality improvement and training purposes."
[video at link: https://www.facebook.com/MIDRussia/videos/1008139769285464/]

UPDATE: Thanks to the fine work of one of our amazing commenters, we now learn that the party-poopers at CNN are not amused (http://rusvesna.su/news/1491049293) by this harmless prank (rushed translation from Russian)...

Bill Ryan

2nd April 2017, 20:45

This "answering machine" is pure, Siberian gold (skip to 0:30 for English):
"You have reached the Russian Embassy. Your call is very important to us. To arrange a call from a Russian diplomat to your political opponents, press 1. To use the services of Russian hackers, press 2. To request election interference, press 3 and wait until the next election campaign. Please note that all calls are recorded for quality improvement and training purposes."
Hilarious! Siberian gold, indeed. :bigsmile:

Hervé

14th April 2017, 12:42

Top ten reasons to doubt official story on Assad poison-gas attack (https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2017/04/13/top-ten-reasons-to-doubt-official-story-on-assad-poison-gas-attack/)

by Jon Rappoport (https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/author/jonrappoport/) Apr 13 (https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2017/04/13/top-ten-reasons-to-doubt-official-story-on-assad-poison-gas-attack/), 2017

The sarin-gas attack story prompted the US missile strike on a Syrian runway. Here are the top ten reasons for doubting that story, and instead calling it a convenient pretext:
ONE: Photos show rescue workers treating/decontaminating people injured or killed in the gas attack. The workers aren’t wearing gloves or protective gear. Only the clueless or crazy would expose themselves to sarin residue, which can be fatal.

TWO: MIT professor Thomas Postol told RT, “I believe it can be shown, without doubt, that the [US intelligence] document does not provide any evidence whatsoever that the US government has concrete knowledge that the government of Syria was the source of the chemical attack in Khan Shaykhun…Any competent analyst would have had questions about whether the debris in the crater was staged or real. No competent analyst would miss the fact that the alleged sarin canister was forcefully crushed from above, rather than exploded by a munition within it.” How would a canister purportedly dropped from an Assad-ordered plane incur “crushing from above?”

THREE: Why would President Assad, supported by Russia, scoring victory after victory against ISIS, moving closer to peace negotiations, suddenly risk all his gains by dropping sarin gas on his own people?

FOUR: In an interview with Scott Horton, ex-CIA officer Philip Giraldi states that his intelligence and military sources indicate Assad didn’t attack his own people with poison gas.

FIVE: Ex-CIA officer Ray McGovern states that his military sources report an Assad air strike did hit a chemical plant, and the fallout killed people, but the attack was not planned for that purpose. There was no knowledge the chemicals were lethal.

SIX: At consortiumnews.com, journalist Robert Parry writes,
“There is a dark mystery behind the White House-released photo showing President Trump and more than a dozen advisers meeting at his estate in Mar-a-Lago after his decision to strike Syria with Tomahawk missiles: Where are CIA Director Mike Pompeo and other top intelligence officials?”

“Before the photo was released on Friday, a source told me that Pompeo had personally briefed Trump on April 6 about the CIA’s belief that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was likely not responsible for the lethal poison-gas incident in northern Syria two days earlier — and thus Pompeo was excluded from the larger meeting as Trump reached a contrary decision.”

“After the attack, Secretary of State Tillerson, who is not an institutional intelligence official and has little experience with the subtleties of intelligence, was the one to claim that the U.S. intelligence community assessed with a ‘high degree of confidence’ that the Syrian government had dropped a poison gas bomb on civilians in Idlib province.”

“While Tillerson’s comment meshed with Official Washington’s hastily formed groupthink of Assad’s guilt, it is hard to believe that CIA analysts would have settled on such a firm conclusion so quickly, especially given the remote location of the incident and the fact that the initial information was coming from pro-rebel (or Al Qaeda) sources.”

“Thus, a serious question arises whether President Trump did receive that ‘high degree of confidence’ assessment from the intelligence community or whether he shunted Pompeo aside to eliminate an obstacle to his desire to launch the April 6 rocket attack.”

SEVEN: As soon as the Assad gas attack was reported, the stage was set for a US missile strike. No comprehensive investigation of the purported gas attack was undertaken.

EIGHT: There are, of course, precedents for US wars based on false evidence—the missing WMDs in Iraq, the claims of babies being pushed out of incubators in Kuwait, to name just two.

NINE: Who benefits from the sarin gas story? Assad? Or US neocons; the US military-industrial complex; Pentagon generals who want a huge increase in their military budget; Trump and his team, who are suddenly praised in the press, after a year of being pilloried at every turn; and ISIS?

TEN: For those who doubt that ISIS has ever used poison gas, see the NY Times (11/21/2016). While claiming that Assad has deployed chemical attacks, the article also states that ISIS has deployed chemical weapons 52 times since 2014.
I’m not claiming these ten reasons definitely and absolutely rule out the possibility of an Assad-ordered chemical attack. But they do add up to a far more believable conclusion than the quickly assembled “Assad-did-it” story.

These ten reasons starkly point to the lack of a rational and complete investigation of the “gas attack.”

And this lack throws a monkey wrench into Trump’s claim that he was ordering the missile strike based on “a high degree of confidence.”

Jon Rappoport

TargeT

14th April 2017, 18:19

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov

Hahaha, I like this guy.

8H7aKGOpSwE

Hervé

17th April 2017, 18:16

Assad points out the obvious: No gloves, masks or sarin; gas attack first responders either liars or wizards (http://russia-insider.com/en/assad-rudely-points-out-sarin-attack-first-responders-are-either-liars-or-magic-wizards/ri19603)

Russia Insider (http://russia-insider.com/en/assad-rudely-points-out-sarin-attack-first-responders-are-either-liars-or-magic-wizards/ri19603)
Fri, 14 Apr 2017 00:00 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s19/390434/large/sarin.png (https://www.sott.net/image/s19/390434/full/sarin.png)
White Helmets are Hogwarts-trained wizards

No gloves, no masks, no sarin: That's usually how it works — unless you want to be a brave but very dead first responder

Syrian President Bashar Assad made an extremely rude and wonderful observation on Thursday during an interview that was heavily edited by responsible western news outlets.

Here's Assad, pointing out what is painfully obvious (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-qXa9yQlEY):
The fabricated videos that we've been seeing in Khan Sheikhoun when the rescuers try to rescue the victims — or the supposedly dead people or inflicted people — but actually, they weren't wearing any masks, or any gloves. How? Where is the sarin? They should be effected right away. We've written about this oddity before (http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/gloves-are-sissies-photographs-show-white-helmets-are-immune-sarin/ri19458), but it's definitely worth repeating: The White Helmets are extremely brave for diving headfirst into a sarin swamp without even basic protective gear such as "gloves".

Yes, their fearlessness while surrounded by sarin has been well-documented by the likes of AFP:

http://russia-insider.com/sites/insider/files/medialib/u289/sarin-lol.png

These guys have sarin-soaked balls the size of watermelons.

Or maybe something isn't quite adding up?

As usual, AntiWar.com's Justin Raimondo (https://twitter.com/JustinRaimondo) has distinguished himself with his "basic critical thinking skills" — quite rare for Twitter, as we're sure you are well aware:

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/833230933155131392/XFbcFhJ-_bigger.jpg Justin Raimondo‏ @JustinRaimondo (https://twitter.com/JustinRaimondo)

You don't handle sarin-saturated bodies *without gloves* - unless you're a Syrian rebel trying to pull off yet another hoax.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/C8rpBatVYAAN_-G.jpg

3:17 PM - 5 Apr 2017 464 replies 4,783 retweets 5,165 likes

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/833230933155131392/XFbcFhJ-_bigger.jpg Justin Raimondo‏ @JustinRaimondo (https://twitter.com/JustinRaimondo)

"Dead" victim of "sarin gas attack" in Syria opens her eyes.
This media may contain sensitive material. Learn more (https://support.twitter.com/articles/20169200-media-settings-and-best-practices)
3:31 PM - 5 Apr 2017 554 replies 4,756 retweets 4,194 likes Speaking at the Security Council meeting on Wednesday, Russia's deputy UN ambassador Vladimir Safronkov said (http://russia-insider.com/en/russia-calls-out-west-guided-regime-change/ri19452) that the US-drafted resolution blaming Assad for Tuesday's "gas attack" in Idlib province was based on "falsified reports from the White Helmets", an organization that has been "discredited long ago (http://www.alternet.org/grayzone-project/how-white-helmets-became-international-heroes-while-pushing-us-military)".

He's right. And so is Assad.

Related:

MIT Professor eviscerates White Helmets 'evidence' of Syrian chemical weapons attack (https://www.sott.net/article/348296-MIT-Professor-eviscerates-White-Helmets-evidence-of-Syrian-chemical-weapons-attack)
Faked news: White Helmets handle deadly toxic 'sarin gas' without gloves, masks and having a smoke (https://www.sott.net/article/347943-Faked-news-White-Helmets-handle-deadly-toxic-sarin-gas-without-gloves-masks-and-having-a-smoke)

Hervé

21st April 2017, 20:12

"Russia Today" cancels contract with Reuters, too many lies (http://www.fort-russ.com/2017/04/russia-today-cancels-contract-with.html)

RIA Novosti / Fort Russ News (http://www.fort-russ.com/2017/04/russia-today-cancels-contract-with.html)
Fri, 21 Apr 2017 20:37 UTC
Translated by Inessa Sinchougova

https://www.sott.net/image/s19/391261/large/reuters_v1.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s19/391261/full/reuters_v1.jpg)

"Russia Today" is cancelling their contract with Reuters after the British news agency published an article titled "Russian intervention in US elections" with unsubstantiated accusations against News agency Sputnik (https://sputniknews.com/) .

https://www.sott.net/image/s19/391259/large/RT.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s19/391259/full/RT.jpg)
Building of "Russia Today" - Russian version. © RIANOVOSTI

The contract for the purchase of video was previously agreed by the parties and was to come into effect on May 1.

Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-russia-election-exclusive-idUSKBN17L2N3) published in "exclusive" material, stating that the Russian Institute of Strategic Research developed the intervention strategy in the US election. One of the alleged documents prepared by the Institute involves the formation of a positive image of the candidate favorable to the Kremlin, and the second - the spread of violations of the election information. RT, Sputnik and other Russian media were apparently charged with propagating this image.

It is noteworthy that as a source, Reuters names "three current and four former" American officials. No agency name is not specified.

RT Editor in Chief Margarita Simonyan said: "Western journalism has hit another low, Reuters writes that they knows the seven guys that have seen a secret Russian report. Reuters should be given an Oscar for best screenplay, they deserve it."

Press Secretary of President Vladimir Putin, Dmitry Peskov, stated that "seven anonymous sources are not worth one real one."

https://www.sott.net/image/s19/391260/large/Margarita.png (https://www.sott.net/image/s19/391260/full/Margarita.png)

Hervé

11th May 2017, 15:43

Russians Strike Again (https://sputniknews.com/cartoons/201705111053503207-trump-lavrov-tillerson-photos-zakharova/)

Cartoons (https://sputniknews.com/cartoons/)17:27 11.05.2017
(updated 17:29 11.05.2017)

A recent meeting between US President Donald Trump and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov sparked intense speculations in the US media as apparently only the Russian side has published the protocol photos made during the event, while no US reporters were allowed into the meeting.

https://cdn3.img.sputniknews.com/images/105350/31/1053503159.png

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova dismissed the media hype (https://sputniknews.com/politics/201705111053507248-trump-lavrov-meeting-photos/) sparked by the photos and explained that the meeting's format was set up by its host, the White House.

"There were exactly as many photographers at the meeting as Washington permitted," she said, pointing out that US photo correspondents did attend the event.

Hervé

10th June 2017, 16:08

NBC Butchered Putin's Thoughtful Replies to Megyn Kelly: Here's the Video of What They Censored (http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/nbc-butchered-putins-thoughtful-responses-megyn-kelly-good-ratings-and-warmongers/ri20062)

Gilbert Doctorow Russia Insider (http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/nbc-butchered-putins-thoughtful-responses-megyn-kelly-good-ratings-and-warmongers/ri20062)
Thu, 08 Jun 2017 18:44 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s20/400082/large/316037672.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s20/400082/full/316037672.jpg)

Dear NBC News Team,

Congratulations! You have graduated from fake news to falsified news, arriving at a journalistic level that is identical to that in the Soviet Union in its heyday.

A couple of days ago, the political talk show moderated by Vladimir Soloviev on state television channel Rossiya 1 broadcast two versions of a segment from Megyn Kelly's interview with Vladimir Putin last Friday in the St Petersburg on the sidelines of the International Economic Forum. One was the complete, uncut version that was aired on RT. The other was the cut-to-shreds version that you put on air for the American audience. (Watch here, beginning 4 minutes into the program (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxqGoXNI_gw).)

The segment was Megyn Kelly's aggressive question to Putin, asking his response to what she said was Americans' understanding of his government, namely one that murders journalists, suppresses political opposition, is rife with corruption, etc., etc. In the NBC version, Putin's answer has been cut to one empty introductory statement that "Russia is on its way to becoming a democracy" bracketed by an equally empty closing sentence. In the full, uncut version , Putin responds to Kelly's allegations point by point and then turns the question around asking what right the USA and the West have to question Russia's record when they have been actively doing much worse than what was in Kelly's charges. He asks where is Occupy Wall Street today, why US and European police use billy clubs and tear gas to break up demonstrations, when Russian police do nothing of the sort, and so on.

In a word, you intentionally made Putin sound like an empty authoritarian, when he is in fact a very sophisticated debater who outranked your Megyn at every turn during the open panel discussion in the Forum, to the point she was the laughing stock of the day.

Who wins from these games? You are only preconditioning the American public for the war that is coming, whether by intention or by accident. And there will be no one left to have the last laugh after the first day of that war. So you can forget about your stock options and retirement schemes, ladies and gentlemen of the News Team.

have a nice day

Gilbert Doctorow

Brussels

mrpwnqh5jCs

Related:
On the sidelines of the St Petersburg International Economic Forum: NBC News anchor Megyn Kelly interviews Vladimir Putin (https://www.sott.net/article/352954-On-the-sidelines-of-the-St-Petersburg-International-Economic-Forum-NBC-News-anchor-Megyn-Kelly-interviews-Vladimir-Putin)

uzn

10th June 2017, 17:17

My new favorite Meme
https://truthundergroundcom.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/img_0049.jpg?w=712

thedood73

13th June 2017, 00:04

The Weaponization of Information in the War of Terror
FmXl6IOOc24

onawah

17th June 2017, 02:30

Proof CNN Is a Military Psyop
Truthstream Media
http://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/proof-cnn-is-a-military-psyop/
1ZHifTobAgYTRUTHStream

Media's Melissa
Dykes revisits a story I posted
about 5 years ago regarding
hard evidence that has emerged
over the years of US military
psychological operations
involvement in the production
of this country's news media.
US Government propaganda
against US Persons was illegal
until Barack Obama officially
legitimized it in the 2012 NDAA
(National Defense Authorization
Act), the annual budget for the
US Department of Defense. This
story was first reported by the
late Michael Hastings on BuzzFeed,
before that independent news
service was co-opted in 2015 by
the propaganda behemoth,
NBCUniversal with a $200 million
investment.
Dykes' piece includes a
cringeworthy 1996 clip of Anderson
Cooper, who interned at the CIA for
two summers prior to joining CNN,
reporting that TWA Flight 800 had
been "Shot down" and then after
the commercial break, correcting
himself with the CIA's official line
that the 747 had been brought
down by a "center fuel tank
explosion".
There are more excellent cringeworthy
moments here. It goes into things that
are no longer reported on in the
Mainstream Media in our post-9/11
world. CNN is hardly the only culprit in
the dissemination of US Government
propaganda. Moreover the concerted
penetration by US military/intelligence
of the media goes back to at least 1951
with President Harry Truman's creation
of Psychological Strategy Board, under
the premise that "Wars could not be
won through bloodshed but by winning
the hearts and minds of people."
In 2000, a Dutch journalist at the
Belgrade office of the Netherlands'
most influential newspaper, the
Trouw ("Loyalty"), Abe de Vries
reported that PsyOps "Personnel,
soldiers and officers" had "Helped in
the production of some news stories,"
while they worked for several weeks at
CNN's TV, radio and satellite
operations. De Vries discovered this in
the French newsletter, Intelligence
On-Line. The French newsletter
reported on a Pentagon symposium,
in which US Army Colonel Christopher
St. John, Commander of the 4th
Psychological Operations Group had
called for "Greater cooperation between
the armed forces and media giants."
De Vries' story was picked up by the
late great Alexander Cockburn at the
Los Angeles Times in his March 22,
2000 article, "Today's News is Brought
to You by Big Brother".
Evidently ashamed by this 2000
disclosure, CNN discontinued the
internship program and publicly
stated: "It was inappropriate for
PsyOps personnel to be at CNN, they
are not here now and they never
again will be at CNN." However, CNN
went back on their word, according
to this US Army broadcast, when
CNNMoney.com hosted a PsyOps
officer in 2007 and 2008. This would
lead one to suspect that CNN's 2000
announcement was purely one of
Public Relations damage control.
In 2012, a Freedom of Information Act
request revealed that the US Army's
"Training with Industry" program has
been placing soldiers from the 4th
Psychological Operations Group as
interns at several local US television
stations since "at least" 2001 (a year
after the story broke in the Dutch
newspaper and in the LA Times about
the "Personnel, soldiers and officers"
helping "In the production of some
news stories"). The Army openly
admitted to the "Training with Industry"
program, after this 2012 FOIA request
became public.
The stated purpose of the program
is to train the soldiers to "...
influence the emotions, motives,
objective reasoning, and ultimately,
the behavior of foreign audiences."
The Army additionally reported that
other branches of the military have
sought to manage the perceptions
of US audiences, citing a post on
Yahoo's News blog, TheUpshot about
how the US Marine Corps placed
Public Affairs officers at the Chicago
Tribune "For several years...in order
to better understand how to
influence and work with the news
media."
The "Training with Industry" program
remains alive and well at CBS affiliate
stations, WRAL5 in Raleigh-Durham, NC
and WTOC11 in Savannah, GA which
regularly hosts soldiers from the Army's
4th Psychological Operations Group.
US Army Lt. Col. Stacy Bathrick
commented that "Both of those stations
are very supportive of the military and
think very highly of the program."
by Alexandra Bruce

norman

26th June 2017, 15:40

Is this funny or scary ?

eZVv2AOCnaA
Published on 14 Nov 2013
Proof that the news is scripted.
6 corporations control 90% of all media:
GE, NewsCorp, Disney, Viacom, Time Warner and CBS.

Foxie Loxie

26th June 2017, 16:07

Too funny!!!! :ROFL::ROFL::ROFL: Now I know why I don't watch The News!! :facepalm:

Hervé

29th June 2017, 19:41

Ten basic forms of fake news used by major media (https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2017/06/28/ten-basic-forms-of-fake-news-used-by-major-media-2/)

by Jon Rappoport (https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/author/jonrappoport/) Jun 28, (https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2017/06/28/ten-basic-forms-of-fake-news-used-by-major-media-2/) 2017

The basic purpose of these ten forms: the presentation of a false picture of reality.

You could find more forms, or divide these ten into sub-categories.

The ten basic forms are:
* Direct lying about matters of fact. (This sometimes includes doubling down on lies already told, or telling a bigger lie after the first one.)

* Leaving out vital information.

* Limited hangout. (This is an admission of a crime or a mistake, which only partially reveals the whole truth. The idea is that by admitting a fraction of what really happened and burying the biggest revelations, people will be satisfied and go away, and the story will never be covered again.)

* Shutting down the truth after publishing it—includes failing to follow up and investigate a story more deeply.

* Not connecting dots between important pieces of data.

* Censoring the truth, wherever it is found (or calling it “fake news”).

* Using biased “experts” to present slanted or false “facts.”

* Repeating a false story many times—this includes the echo-chamber effect, in which a number of outlets “bounce” the false story among themselves.

* Claiming a reasonable and true consensus exists, when it doesn’t, when there are many important dissenters, who are shut out from offering their analysis.

* Employing a panoply of effects (reputation of the media outlet, voice quality of the anchor, acting skills, dry mechanical language, studio lighting, overlay of electronic transmissions, etc.) to create an impression of elevated authority which is beyond challenge.
These are all traditional forms and methods.

Here’s an example of a big story that deployed all ten forms of fake news: the Swine Flu pandemic of 2009.

In the spring of 2009, the World Health Organization (elevated authority whose pronouncements are beyond challenge) announced that Swine Flu was a level-6 pandemic—its highest category of “danger.” In fact, there were only 20 confirmed cases at the time (direct lying about “danger”). And W.H.O. quietly changed the definition of “level-6” so widespread death and damage were no longer required (another aspect of direct lying).

The story was, of course, picked up by major media outlets all over the world (echo chamber effect, fake consensus, never connected dots re W.H.O. lies), and quite soon, Swine Flu case numbers rose into the thousands (direct lying, as we’ll soon see).

Medical experts were brought in to bolster the claims of danger (biased experts; important dissenters never given space to comment).

In the early fall of 2009, Sharyl Attkisson, then a star investigative reporter for CBS News, published a story on the CBS News website. She indicated that the CDC had secretly stopped counting the number of Swine Flu cases in America. No other major news outlet reported this fact (omitting vital information).

Attkisson discovered the reason the CDC had stopped counting: the overwhelming number of blood samples taken from the most likely Swine Flu patients were coming back from labs with: no trace of Swine Flu or any other kind of flu. Therefore, a gigantic hoax was revealed. The pandemic was a dud, a fake.

Despite Attkisson’s efforts, CBS never followed up on her story (shutting down the truth after exposing it). Never probed the lying by the CDC (failure to connect dots). In a sense, CBS turned Attkisson’s story into a limited hangout—a further investigation would have uncovered acres of criminal behavior by both the CDC and the World Health Organization, to say nothing of the governments and media outlets that supported these lying agencies. The mainstream press essentially censored Attkisson’s revelations.

Then, about three weeks after CBS published Attkisson’s story, WebMD published a piece in which the CDC claimed that its own (lying) estimate of 10,000 or so cases of Swine Flu in the US was a gross understatement. Truly, there were 22 MILLION cases of Swine Flu in the US (doubling-down on lying).

And that was that.

And these mainstream sources are currently shouting and bloviating about independent media spreading fake news. I guess you could call that number 11: accusing their opponents of committing the crimes they are, in fact, committing.

Jon Rappoport

======================================

the presentation of a false picture of reality.I, personally, would rephrase that statement into: "... the presentation of erroneous interpretations of reality." or, even, "A Photoshoped picture of reality."

... because, otherwise, other echo chambers further confuse and muddy the issue with their: "Reality is not real!" or "It's not real, just a hologram." etc... which then leads, by reductio ad absurdum, to "Neither psychopathic serial/mass murdering, cannibalism nor pedophilia are real! It's all an illusion!"

Hervé

28th July 2017, 15:32

Big Brother Google designs algorithm that restricts access to anti-war web sites (http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/07/27/goog-j27.html)

Andre Damon and Niles Niemuth
World Socialist Website (http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/07/27/goog-j27.html)
Thu, 27 Jul 2017 00:00 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s20/410016/large/Google_is_watching_you.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s20/410016/full/Google_is_watching_you.jpg)

In the three months since Internet monopoly Google announced plans to keep users from accessing "fake news," the global traffic rankings of a broad range of left-wing, progressive, anti-war and democratic rights organizations have fallen significantly.

On April 25, 2017, Google announced that it had implemented changes to its search service to make it harder for users to access what it called "low-quality" information such as "conspiracy theories" and "fake news."

The company said in a blog post that the central purpose of the change to its search algorithm was to give the search giant greater control in identifying content deemed objectionable by its guidelines. It declared that it had "improved our evaluation methods and made algorithmic updates" in order "to surface more authoritative content."

Google continued, "Last month, we updated our Search Quality Rater Guidelines to provide more detailed examples of low-quality webpages for raters to appropriately flag." These moderators are instructed to flag "upsetting user experiences," including pages that present "conspiracy theories," unless "the query clearly indicates the user is seeking an alternative viewpoint."

Google does not explain precisely what it means by the term "conspiracy theory." Using the broad and amorphous category of fake news, the aim of the change to Google's search system is to restrict access to alternative web sites, whose coverage and interpretation of events conflict with those of such establishment media outlets as the New York Times and the Washington Post.

By flagging content in such a way that it does not appear in the first one or two pages of a search result, Google is able to effectively block users' access to it. Given the fact that vast amounts of web traffic are influenced by search results, Google is able to effectively conceal or bury content to which it objects through the manipulation of search rankings.

Just last month, the European Commission fined the company $2.7 billion for manipulating search results to inappropriately direct users to its own comparison shopping service, Google Shopping. Now, it appears that Google is using these criminal methods to block users from accessing political viewpoints the company deems objectionable.

The World Socialist Web Site has been targeted by Google's new "evaluation methods." While in April 2017, 422,460 visits to the WSWS originated from Google searches, the figure has dropped to an estimated 120,000 this month, a fall of more than 70 percent.

Even when using search terms such as "socialist" and "socialism," readers have informed us that they find it increasingly difficult to locate the World Socialist Web Site in Google searches.

https://www.sott.net/image/s20/410012/large/image.png (https://www.sott.net/image/s20/410012/full/image.png)
Referals from Google searches to the WSWS have fallen by about 70 percent

According to Google's webmaster tools service, the number of searches resulting in users seeing content from the World Socialist Web Site (that is, a WSWS article appeared in a Google search) fell from 467,890 a day to 138,275 over the past three months. The average position of articles in searches, meanwhile, fell from 15.9 to 37.2 over the same period.

David North, chairperson of the International Editorial Board of the WSWS, stated that Google is engaged in political censorship.
"The World Socialist Web Site has been in existence for nearly 20 years," he said, "and it has developed a large international audience. During this past spring, the number of individual visits to the WSWS each month exceeded 900,000.

"While a significant percentage of our readers enter the WSWS directly, many web users access the site through search engines, of which Google is the most widely used. There is no innocent explanation for the extraordinarily sharp fall in readers, virtually overnight, coming from Google searches.

"Google's claim that it is protecting readers from 'fake news' is a politically motivated lie. Google, a massive monopoly, with the closest ties to the state and intelligence agencies, is blocking access to the WSWS and other left and progressive web sites through a system of rigged searches." In the three months since Google implemented the changes to its search engine, fewer people have accessed left-wing and anti-war news sites. Based on information available on Alexa analytics, other sites that have experienced sharp drops in ranking include WikiLeaks, Alternet, Counterpunch, Global Research, Consortium News and Truthout. Even prominent democratic rights groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International appear to have been hit.

https://www.sott.net/image/s20/410014/large/image_1.png (https://www.sott.net/image/s20/410014/full/image_1.png)
A broad range of left-wing, progressive, and anti-war sites have had their traffic rankings fall in recent months

According to Google Trends, the term "fake news" roughly quadrupled in popularity in early November, around the time of the US election, as Democrats, establishment media outlets and intelligence agencies sought to blame "false information" for the electoral victory of Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton.

On November 14, the New York Times proclaimed that Google and Facebook "faced mounting criticism over how fake news on their sites may have influenced the presidential election's outcome," and they would be taking measures to combat "fake news."

Ten days later, the Washington Post published an article, "Russian propaganda effort helped spread 'fake news' during election, experts say," which cited an anonymous group known as PropOrNot that compiled a list of "fake news" sites spreading "Russian propaganda."

The list included several sites categorized by the group as "left-wing." Significantly, it targeted globalresearch.ca, which often reposts articles from the World Socialist Web Site.

After widespread criticism of what was little more than a blacklist of anti-war and anti-establishment sites, the Washington Post was forced to publish a retraction, declaring, "The Post, which did not name any of the sites, does not itself vouch for the validity of PropOrNot's findings."

On April 7, Bloomberg News reported that Google was working directly with the Washington Post and the New York Times to "fact-check" articles and eliminate "fake news." This was followed by Google's new search methodology.

Three months later, out of the 17 sites declared to be "fake news" by the Washington Post 's discredited blacklist, 14 had their global ranking fall. The average decline of the global reach of all of these sites is 25 percent, and some sites saw their global reach fall by as much as 60 percent.

"The actions of Google constitute political censorship and are a blatant attack on free speech," North stated. "At a time when public distrust of establishment media is widespread, this corporate giant is exploiting its monopolistic position to restrict public access to a broad spectrum of news and critical analysis."

A Voice from the Mountains

28th July 2017, 15:57

According to Google Trends, the term "fake news" roughly quadrupled in popularity in early November, around the time of the US election, as Democrats, establishment media outlets and intelligence agencies sought to blame "false information" for the electoral victory of Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton.

This is a lie.

The term "fake news" wasn't coined to explain why Hillary lost the election. It was coined to cover-up "pizzagate" stories that were trending on Twitter and redpilling millions of people to the Satanism, child trafficking and torture language included in many of John Podesta's leaked emails. The MSM only mentioned it at all because of the massive online attention it was gathering, but their instant label was "fake news" with no investigation.

Anyone now saying that the "fake news" meme was started by MSM because of Clinton's loss is revising history, whether they realize it or not. This is how people rewrite history.

Every time Trump says "fake news" he is implicitly drawing our attention back to that term and its origin and the stories that caused the MSM to push it. It has to do with Satanism and pedophilia in the establishment. This is what we are fighting.

thunder24

28th July 2017, 16:03

A Voice from the Mountains

28th July 2017, 16:06

True, previous instances of it exist, but if anyone from the future studies the etymology of the words "fake news" they are mostly going to be concerned with 2016 moving forward, because the past usages of "fake news" were not culturally/socially significant by comparison. In the study of language these are the kinds of historical events that mark major impacts in the connotations society shares about words.

And the knee-jerk reaction from the MSM that caused them to spurt out this phrase was the mass exposure of pedophilia and Satanism online, not simply an election loss.

The two are related because they both have to do with leaked information, but this pedophilia/Satanism stuff was only barely just breaking out in the details in places like 4chan and Reddit by election day, and realistically would have had no major impact on the election results.

Also for historical note, the reason this all was about to go nuclear around election day itself, rather than some time earlier (in order to give the information time to spread and do maximum damage before election day), was allegedly because exposure of all of these crimes was being used as leverage to prevent the outright theft of the election. It was only going to be exposed as part of a military counter-coup if this election was stolen by voter fraud and the media on election night. Since everything went relatively smoothly during the transition (aside from massive illegal sabotage that will only end in additional prosecutions), even people getting inside information from the Trump campaign (such as Alex Jones) began downplaying and backing off the story because it was "not yet" (words relayed to Milo) the time for it.

thunder24

28th July 2017, 16:16

I understand...i was just pointing out the quoted article didn't say it was coined for Hilary's loss.

Hervé

29th July 2017, 15:54

'The story that never was': Washington Post forced to admit Russia 'collusion just isn't there' (http://theduran.com/the-washington-post-forced-to-admit-russia-collusion-just-isnt-there/)

Alex Christoforou The Duran (http://theduran.com/the-washington-post-forced-to-admit-russia-collusion-just-isnt-there/)
Sat, 29 Jul 2017 12:53 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s20/410190/large/kushner_flynn.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s20/410190/full/kushner_flynn.jpg)

CIA backed, Jeff Bezos owned Washington Post today admitted that the Russia election meddling story is a pack of lies.

The WaPo op-ed by Ed Rogers has of course been ignored by the main stream media and the liberal left.

Here is the full op-ed here (https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/07/27/the-quest-to-prove-collusion-is-crumbling/?utm_term=.266b238c60b9).

Via The Gateway Pundit (http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/07/wapo-admits-quest-prove-collusion-crumbling/)...
In a stunning op-ed in The Washington Post (https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2017/07/27/the-quest-to-prove-collusion-is-crumbling/?utm_term=.266b238c60b9) titled, "The Quest to Prove Collusion is Crumbling", the writer actually admits that the whole Russian collusion narrative is 'the story that never was'.

Ed Rogers penned this piece following Jared Kushner's testimony. Rogers said, instead of igniting the Russian collusion narrative, Jared Kusner's testimony stifled it, causing the media to "quietly back out of the room unnoticed". The Washington Post explains how Kushner squashed the entire Russian election fake news fairytale concocted by Hillary Clinton...
While everyone is fixated on President Trump's unbecoming and inexplicable assault on Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the media has been trying to sneak away from the "Russian collusion" story. That's right. For all the breathless hype, the on-air furrowed brows and the not-so-veiled hopes that this could be Watergate, Jared Kushner's statement (http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/national/read-jared-kushners-statement-on-russian-collusion/2508/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_kushner620am%3Ahomepage%2Fstory) and testimony before Congress have made Democrats and many in the media come to the realization that the collusion they were counting on just isn't there.

As the date of the Kushner testimony approached, the media thought it was going to advance and refresh the story. But Kushner's clear, precise and convincing account of what really occurred during the campaign and after the election has left many of President Trump's loudest enemies trying to quietly back out of the room unnoticed.

Cable news airtime and in-print word count dedicated to the nonexistent collusion story appear to be dwindling. Democrats and their allies in the media seem less eager to talk about it, and when they do, they say something to the effect of "but, but, but ... Kushner didn't answer every question ... He wasn't under oath ... There are still more witnesses ... What about this or that new gadfly?" They are stammering. And it hasn't taken long for news producers and editors to realize that the story is fading.

At last, the story that never was is not happening. According to The Gateway Pundit (http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2017/07/wapo-admits-quest-prove-collusion-crumbling/), the entire hoax was made up out of thin air and the fake news media has talked about it round the clock in order to keep the story alive.
The Russian hoax always was and always will be a way for the Democrats to deflect from their many crimes.

onawah

1st August 2017, 21:18

Google Turning into Censorship Engine (https://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/google-turning-into-censorship-engine/)

by Alexandra Bruce 8/1/17

https://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/google-turning-into-censorship-engine/

07unP-i--xQ

Last April, Google (https://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/tag/Google/) announced changes to its algorithm, aiming to sideline “fake news”, conspiracy theories and other content that it claimed was not “advertiser friendly”. Publishers from the so-called “Alt-Right (https://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/tag/alt-right/)” immediately cried foul. 90 days later, a study conducted by André Damon (https://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/tag/andre-damon/) of the World Socialist (https://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/tag/Socialist/) Web showed that the traffic rankings of the top left-leaning anti-war sites in the US were down by as much as 70% (https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2017/07/27/goog-j27.html). (see post # 151 (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?94731-Fake-News-and-the-War-on-Freedom-and-Truth&p=1169638&viewfull=1#post1169638))

I can personally vouch for the veracity of these findings, having observed this trend on my own site, which I don’t consider to be either Right or Left, as much as it is anti-war and anti-corruption. Roughly 50% of visitors to ForbiddenKnowledgeTV.net (http://forbiddenknowledgeTV.net) arrive here through Google (https://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/tag/Google/) Search results. With the search results for my site now curtailed by Google (https://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/tag/Google/), visits to the site (i.e., “traffic”) are down. I’ve been voicing my suspicions of this to anyone who will listen so it’s something of a relief to find solid confirmation of this disturbing trend.

As André Damon (https://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/tag/andre-damon/) explains very clearly, “Peoples’ opinions, if they don’t line up with the interests of Google (https://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/tag/Google/), which is one of the most politically-connected corporations on the planet, having given more in lobbying (https://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/tag/lobbying/) donations over the recent period than any other corporation; if they don’t line up with the interests of Google (https://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/tag/Google/), if they don’t line up with the interests of the Government, if they don’t line up with the interests of the military and intelligence establishment (https://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/tag/establishment/), they will be censored. And the vision outlined in that document is entirely consistent with the statistics that we’ve seen.”

It is dangerous enough to democracy, to Net Neutrality and to the First Amendment when a monopolistic behemoth that’s a defacto branch of the Deep State/intelligence apparatus (https://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/tag/intelligence-apparatus/), like Google (https://forbiddenknowledgetv.net/tag/Google/) is suppressing bonafide search results. It’s even scarier that this leviathan should be allowed to remain in one gargantuan piece.

Hervé

3rd August 2017, 17:19

Sy Hersh comments in leaked tape: Russiagate a CIA-planted lie, "It's a Brennan Operation" (http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/sy-hersh-leaked-tape-russiagate-cia-planted-lie-its-brennan-operation/ri20568)

Russia Insider (http://russia-insider.com/en/politics/sy-hersh-leaked-tape-russiagate-cia-planted-lie-its-brennan-operation/ri20568)
Thu, 03 Aug 2017 16:24 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s20/411122/large/john_brennan.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s20/411122/full/john_brennan.jpg)
Brennan was also the chief architect of US regime change attempt for Syria

"It's a Brennan operation...they even started telling the press...that we even know who in the GRU [did it]. I mean all bull****."

A tape has surfaced (http://bigleaguepolitics.com/audio-seymour-hersh-states-seth-rich-wikileaks-source/) of the legendary investigative journalist Seymour Hersh discussing Seth Rich and the manufactured "Russiagate" scandal in a private conversation. Hersh refuses to confirm (http://bigleaguepolitics.com/emails-ed-butowsky-pleads-sy-hersh-go-public-knows-seth-rich/) the voice heard on the tape is his, which is exactly what he should do.

He made the comments in confidence, not knowing he was being recorded and that they would be made public. Why would he reward the betrayal of trust with a confirmation?

That said, we can't help but find the things he said very, very interesting. Speaking about Russiagate he says he has a trusted source who told him it was started, or at least fueled, by a conspiracy between the CIA chief Brennan, NSA chief Rogers, and the Director of National Intelligence Clapper. The trio colluded in telling the media that they had overwhelming evidence that Russia hacked the DNC - something that was absolutely not true.

See, and read, for yourself. The tape (Russia stuff starts halfway in):

gYzB96_EK7s

And the transcript:
I don't know whether you- Anyways, Wikileaks got access, and before he was killed- I can tell you right now Brennan is an asshole. Uh, I've known all these people for years. Clapper is sort of a better guy but not rocket scientist, the NSA guy's a ****ing moron, and they don't- you know the trouble with all of those guys is that the only way they're going to make it to a board or two and get hired by (?) and get some fat cat contracts is if Hillary stayed in.

With Trump they're gone, they're done, they're going to live on their pension, they're not going to make it. And I gotta tell you guys, they don't want to live on their pension, they want to be on boards.

I have somebody on the inside, you know I've been around a long time, and I write a lot of stuff. I have somebody on the inside who will go and read a file for me. This person is unbelievably accurate and careful, he's a very high-level guy and he'll do a favor. You're just going to have to trust me. I have what they call in my business a long-form journalism,

I have a narrative of how that whole ****ing thing began, it's a Brennan operation, it was an American disinformation and ****ing the ****ing President, at one point when they, they even started telling the press, they were back briefing the press, the head of the NSA was going and telling the press, ****ing cock-sucker Rogers, was telling the press that we even know who in the GRU, the Russian Military Intelligence Service, who leaked it. I mean all bull****.

They were telling the stup- I worked at the New York Times for ****ing years, and the trouble with the ****ing New York Times is they have smart guys, but they're totally beholden on sources. If the president or the head of the (???) to actually believe it. I was actually hired at the time to write, to go after the war in Vietnam War in 72 because they were just locked in.

So that's what the Times did. These guys run the ****ing Times, and Trump's not wrong. But I mean I wish he would calm down and had a better a better press secretary, I mean you don't have to be so. Trump's not wrong to think they all ****ing lie about him.

Hervé

11th August 2017, 18:03

German journalist who exposed government instruction in media coverage faces backlash (https://www.rt.com/news/399260-german-reporter-govt-pressure-coverage/)

RT (https://www.rt.com/news/399260-german-reporter-govt-pressure-coverage/)
Fri, 11 Aug 2017 16:44 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s20/412845/large/598d54bedda4c833348b4567.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s20/412845/full/598d54bedda4c833348b4567.jpg)
Claudia Zimmermann © RT

Rejected contributions, boycott calls and a public letter refuting her words were some of the tactics freelance reporter Claudia Zimmermann faced after exposing her employer, German public broadcaster WDR, for sticking to pro-government narrative on migrant crisis.

Speaking to RT Deutsch (https://deutsch.rt.com/inland/55476-exklusiv-wdr-journalistin-regierungsfreundliche-berichterstattung/), Zimmermann said she fell out of grace with the bosses of WRD, which is part of the ARD group of Germany's regional public-service broadcasters, after she revealed the pressure on the employees to refrain from criticism of German Chancellor's Angela Merkel controversial "open door" policy towards refugees.

"We are a public broadcaster, we are paid with tax money and that means we interpret the government's view and not that of the opposition," Zimmermann said (http://www.1limburg.nl/duitse-omroep-moest-positief-berichten-over-vluchtelingen?context=section-1) in an interview to Dutch radio station L1 Limburg in January 2016, adding that it was expected from WRD to cover Merkel's migrant policy "in a more positive way."

"There are various committees that determine the program policies, which instructed the editors to support the Merkel government policy," she said.

'I stand by what I said on migrant coverage'

The interview went on air on the heels of New Year's Eve sexual assaults in Cologne that were initially blamed on asylum seekers of North African and Middle Eastern origin. The violent attacks sparked outrage with the German public and opposition, highlighting the growing dismay with the "welcoming" approach, personally propelled by Merkel.

After Zimmermann's insight into the WRD's story selection started making rounds in German and international media, she was contacted by the broadcaster which sought to "minimize the damage" to its reputation. Although Zimmermann agreed and apologized (https://presse.wdr.de/plounge/wdr/unternehmen/2016/01/20160118_fluechtlinge_berichterstattung.html), saying that she was "talking nonsense" while being "under pressure of live broadcast", she told RT Deutsch that her repentance refers only to her failure to clarify the functions of Germany's Broadcasting Council during the interview.

As for the essence of her message, Zimmermann says she stands completely by her words.

"In the media, not only in WDR, Merkel's migrant policy received a very strong backing by journalists. Some journalists, including me, tried to offer more critical topics, but they weren't approved," she said.

"I haven't apologized for my actual words. I have never disavowed them and I don't disavow them now," she said, noting that contrary to reports by some media, she has never mentioned receiving any "written instructions" from the government.

"It would have been too obvious and would have sparked a protest. The thing is, as I have already said before, pressure comes from above. Unfavorable topics are simply not greenlighted. So a journalist does not have even a chance to offer such a topic," she said.

'Colleagues advised to boycott'

While WDR publicly vowed not to sack Zimmermann and followed through with its promise up to this moment, many of her contributions have been since turned down. She noticed that some of her rejected topics were handed to other WRD journalists.

"I even complained about it," Zimmermann said, noting that the topics she had covered for years, completely unrelated to politics, like international art fairs, suddenly changed hands.

Moreover, the journalist noted that she has been silently ostracized by WDR, saying that the broadcaster recommended her colleagues to steer clear of her and sign a public letter praising the company's integrity and denouncing her remarks.

"The funniest part in this story was that half of all employees did not sign this letter. There was a heated internal discussion among the employees," Zimmerman said, adding that despite the majority refused to put down their signatures, some media outlets portrayed it as through it was a unanimous condemnation.

"I know that they, in WRD, asked that employees don't have any contact with me, don't talk to me. I was told so," she said, adding that some of her colleagues have continued to back her in private while having to keep a distance in public.

'One-sided coverage on Russia & Syria'

Speaking on instances of biased coverage in German media in general, Zimmermann said she believes the media are telling only one side of the story when covering Russia-related topics and its reunification with Crimea, in particular.

"I would like the coverage of this issue to be far more substantial and balanced," she said.

The same could be observed in the way the German media is handling the Syrian conflict, Zimmermann said. She spoke about a colleague who last year proposed to make a story about the other side of Syria's life, not scarred by the war.

"She wanted to tell about a beautiful Syria. About its beauty, about the way they celebrate holidays and that the war is not everywhere," Zimmermann said, adding that her colleague was discouraged by the rejection.

"It means they needed only war reports on Syria, not beautiful images. I believe it is also a kind of a one-sided coverage."

Hervé

15th August 2017, 13:37

The Radical Left and Silicon Valley are working together to kill free speech and end the unfettered exchange of ideas (http://www.lifezette.com/polizette/silicon-valley-tightens-its-grip-on-free-speech/)

Edmund Kozak Lifezette (http://www.lifezette.com/polizette/silicon-valley-tightens-its-grip-on-free-speech/)
Mon, 14 Aug 2017 19:08 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s20/413379/large/google2_1_1140x420.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s20/413379/full/google2_1_1140x420.jpg)
© Austin McKinley, Flickr

Political totalitarianism is coming to America, and it is being ushered in not by government thugs in jackboots but by progressive activists and their allies in Silicon Valley.

In a chilling oped published in The New York Times on July 14, Lisa Feldman Barrett, a professor of psychology at Northeastern University, argued that so-called "hate speech" is the same thing as physical violence because it may possibly cause emotionally fragile individuals stress - and should be made illegal.

Thankfully, the First Amendment prohibits the federal government from following such advice, but online companies are taking it upon themselves to stamp-out so-called "hate speech," strangling free speech and the free exchange of ideas in the process.

A number of troubling actions by internet companies - Google most prominent among them - are making it increasingly clear that some in Silicon Valley have proclaimed themselves defenders of the progressive, politically correct faith, and that those firms will silence any and all heretics who challenge those beliefs.

"Silicon Valley lives in a politically regressive, exclusive bubble. They are not aware of their own biases in how they talk, have a limited understanding of the philosophy behind free speech, and find it difficult empathizing with other points of view," said Aaron Ginn, co-founder of the Lincoln Network, a think tank that seeks to promote libertarian ideas in the tech industry.

But Google not only has difficulty empathizing with other points of view - it is also actively trying to suppress them. Google recently made the controversial decision to fire engineer James Damore for authoring an internal memo questioning the company's ideologically motivated diversity practices and highlighting sound scientific research suggesting that possible biological differences between men and women, not discrimination, could be a factor in the tech field's high percentage of men.

In the aftermath of Damore's firing, a number of anonymous current and former Google employees have come forward to reveal the full extent of the company's efforts to silence right-wing voices. One anonymous employee identified as "Hal" told Breitbart News last week that some employees in Google's ad sales department are "openly encouraging Adwords customers to pull their ads from Breitbart and Rebel Media."

Another anonymous employee under the alias "Emmet" confirmed this with Breitbart News, and also revealed the existence of "efforts to demote anything non-PC, anti-Communist, and anti-Islamic terror from search results."

"Emmett says he personally witnessed efforts from leftists within Google to bias YouTube's algorithms to push anti-PC content off the platform's 'related videos' recommendations," Breitbart reported. "The software could just 'astroturf' your Related Videos section [an effort to hurt overall ratings], and you would be none the wiser," said Emmet.
"Sure, if you know what to look for, perhaps you'd notice," he continued.

"But the vast majority of the viewership would never ever know. That's the whole point of such a disinformation program, right? If you can tell it's disinformation, you would never, ever believe it."
People familiar with the process have told reporters recently that YouTube, a subsidiary of Google, is also laboring to cleanse its platform of alternative voices that challenge the mainstream liberal narrative. The social media video-sharing site has in the past few months systematically demonetized videos of right-wing commenters and journalists, such as Infowars editor-at-large Paul Joseph Watson and former Rebel Media reporter Lauren Southern.

But the latest commentators to fall victim to this practice are far less controversial: YouTube celebrities and vocal Trump supporters Diamond and Silk. The duo discovered last week that a number of their videos - including one that is two years old - were suddenly demonetized. They have vowed to fight YouTube's efforts to suppress conservative voices and have even raised the possibility of legal action.

"The same video that is being demonetized has been monetized for two years, so how was it suitable for our advertisers for two years and now all of a sudden there's an issue?" Silk told LifeZette in an exclusive interview.

The pair say the demonetization is a transparent attempt at censorship. "How can [YouTube] oust us and say [we're] not suitable for all advertisers?" said Diamond. "Have you spoken to each and every one of you hundreds of thousand of advertisers and said, 'Hey do you want to advertise around Diamond or Silk, yes or no?' or are you as YouTube making this decision for your advertisers?"

YouTube is "a social media platform, and a social media platform is a platform for ideas, for all ideas," said Diamond. It's a place "for people to be able to come together and collaborate with those ideas."

"So even though people want to call YouTube private, it's open to the public, so when it's open to the public, you cannot discriminate against conservative voices or against people that chose to support the president," she argued.

"We're being discriminated against because first of all, we're two black people, we don't fit the norm - we're black, Republican conservatives, and we support our president," said Diamond. "What they want to do is control the narrative."

"They're putting our videos in a category now as being extremist or 'hate speech,'" said Silk.

"And that's not fair because now that's defamation," Diamond added.

The duo, which gained even more recognition for their consistent support of Trump during the presidential race, wants YouTube to remonetize not just their videos, but also those of other right-wingers who have had their livelihoods altered in a similar fashion.

"We want to give YouTube the opportunity to make this right, to be inclusive instead of exclusive. We want them to include people and not leave out conservative voices," Diamond said.

But "if YouTube does not make this right, then we have to take this a step further," said Diamond. On Thursday the two tweeted, "We Smell A Class Action Lawsuit," and confirmed with LifeZette that they are prepared to follow through on the threat.

"Listen, they can regulate, but you can't discriminate while you regulate," she said.

"Because what they're trying to do is dominate, and that's unfair," Diamond said. "It's unfair that we allow Google and YouTube to team up together and really monopolize a sector of the internet."

Unfortunately it's not just Google. On Thursday, Watson of InfoWars posted a YouTube video titled "I Won't Be Around Much Longer," in which he revealed that "they banned me on Facebook because of a video I posted 18 months ago," and went on to posit that if digital platforms continue at the current rate, Silicon Valley will have soon entirely purged all right-wing voices from mainstream social media.

But although social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are already known among conservatives for suppressing even mainstream right-wing voices, despite allowing controversial content from the far Left and even radical Islamists to remain online unmolested - non-social-media sites have also begun to target right-wing dissidents.

A number of online right-wing commentators - including Southern and former Students for Trump director and independent journalist James Allsup - have even had their Paypal, GoFundMe, or Patreon accounts canceled because of their perceived "support" for "hate speech."

These attacks, not just on people's free speech, but also on their livelihoods, represent a fundamental and chilling acceleration of the progressive Left's attempts to control thought and debate within society.

"Liberals can't have this one-sided. This works both ways," said Diamond.

"We have a conservative voice, we support our president, we support our country, and we want our voices heard, and if we have fans we want our fans to hear our voices," she said.

==============================================

"They" managed to control the press and publishing houses during the last century and, now, they acquired the means to control the internet... done, over done and charred!

There was that preacher - Kumbaya's palm or something - who kept clamoring: "The Internet 2.0 is coming..." Well, it seems it's here to stay: One is either "Truth Ministry" compliant or starving to death...

---------------------------------------------------------

Related:
See this post: How the Elite Bastards will control the Wild Wild Web. (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?93499-How-the-Elite-Bastards-will-control-the-Wild-Wild-Web.&p=1173398&viewfull=1#post1173398)

this one (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?97320-Google--s-First-Draft-Project-Ministry-of-Truth-has-been-set-up-by-Google&p=1173049&viewfull=1#post1173049) (<---)

and this other one (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?97320-Google--s-First-Draft-Project-Ministry-of-Truth-has-been-set-up-by-Google&p=1173154&viewfull=1#post1173154) (<---) ...

Hervé

10th September 2017, 12:28

Document turns up showing CIA's plans to penetrate and influence academia (http://www.collective-evolution.com/2017/09/03/document-surfaces-showing-cias-plans-to-infiltrate-academia-change-universitycollege-curriculums/)

Arjun Walia Collective Evolution (http://www.collective-evolution.com/2017/09/03/document-surfaces-showing-cias-plans-to-infiltrate-academia-change-universitycollege-curriculums/)
Sun, 03 Sep 2017 00:00 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s20/418609/full/Screen_Shot_2017_09_03_at_10_5.png

There's no doubt about it: three letter agencies like the NSA, FBI and CIA and the ones we don't yet know about are full of great people who want nothing but the best for their fellow human beings. People join these agencies because they have good hearts, and want to see the world thrive in a state of peace, equality, abundance and freedom. That being said, the "disastrous rise of misplaced power" to which President Eisenhower referred when referencing the military industrial complex, has taken a hold of these agencies, which now comprise what's known as the Deep State (http://www.collective-evolution.com/2017/06/01/the-deep-state-institutions-that-control-america-they-dont-care-who-you-vote-for/). The Deep State is a covert network of powerful and influential people who continue to manipulate, lie, and deceive the public for their own interests.

Oh, by the way, it's safe to assume that the Deep State also includes, as mentioned above, the agencies we don't yet know about. We know this from looking at history: The National Security Agency (NSA) was founded in 1952, its existence was hidden until the mid 1960s; Another great example is the National Reconnaissance Office, which was founded in 1960 but remained completely secret for three decades.

Several presidents and politicians have also referenced this secret government (http://www.collective-evolution.com/2015/09/15/10-presidents-politicians-who-told-us-that-a-secret-government-controls-the-world-what-they-said/), which doesn't seem to be so secret anymore. That being said, it's still important to reference given the fact that the average Joe still might consider the secret government to be a mere conspiracy theory. It's a shame that anything associated with secrecy seems to garner an instant conspiracy response, especially when secrecy is rampant in our world, with "National Security" constantly being used to justify it.

But times are changing, thanks to efforts by a number of researchers, academics, journalists, whistleblowers and more, and information is rapidly spreading. So much so that internet censorship is on the rise, and platforms like Google and Facebook are now actually censoring information and deciding what is real and fake for the people, instead of letting people decide for themselves. For example, Google had to recently admit (http://www.collective-evolution.com/2017/04/19/google-confirms-that-their-contractors-suppressed-alternative-media/) that their contractors suppress information, like the info provided by alternative media, not mainstream media.
"The problem of fake news isn't solved by hoping for a referee, but rather because we as citizens, we as users of these services, help each other. We talk and we share and we point out what is fake. We point out what is true. The answer to bad speech is not censorship, the answer to bad speech is more speech. We have to exercise and spread the idea that critical thinking matters, now more than ever, given the fact that lies seem to be getting more popular." - Edward Snowden (source (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7HOsKYdzwc)) But still, information is continuously pouring out for those who are sparked by curiosity, and now even more interesting information has emerged in the form of declassified documents, which can now be found in the national archives, or on the agencies own website, whichever agency it is.

In this case, it's the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the document in question, written up in 1984, shows how the agency had definite plans to infiltrate academia and change/influence the curriculum, specifically journalism.

As Emma Best from Muckrock reports (https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2017/aug/01/cia-ig-bm/), recently Tweeted by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden (https://twitter.com/snowden?lang=en), memos from the CIA Inspector General's (IG) office reveal the agencies perspective on the press and how to handle them. It's from 1984, approximately three decades prior to when the Agency declared Wikileaks a hostile non-state intelligence service. It shows how the CIA viewed the media the same way.

Are organizations like Wikileaks really a threat to National Security? Or are they simply a threat to a small group of powerful people who make millions, billions, or even trillions of dollars via government secrecy? Are they a threat to the global national security agenda that is taking place, disguised under the guise of globalization? Was president Vladimir Putin right when he said "imaginary" and "mythical" threats are being used to impose the Deep State's way on the entire world? Perhaps truth and transparency are a threat yes, but not to national security. If we continue to ignore these questions, the national security state will continue to be heightened, one in which our rights are constantly violated, with our right to privacy being one of many great examples.

Several weeks prior, CIA Director Casey had asked the IG to weigh in on officer Eloise Page's (https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/people-of-the-cia-eloise-page.html) paper on unauthorized disclosure. The IG passed the task onto someone on his staff, who produced a four page SECRET memo for IG James Taylor, who passed it on to Director Casey. The IG specifically endorsed the proposal for a program where the Agency would intervene with journalism schools.

See for yourself:

https://www.sott.net/image/s20/418610/large/CIA_1024x233.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s20/418610/full/CIA_1024x233.jpg)

You can view the full document here (https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP88B00443R001500080042-1.pdf).

In the document, the press are also viewed as "principal villains:"
"To the Inspector General's office, the reason that the press were the "principal villains" was simple: "absolute power corrupts absolutely" and "the power of the media to publish in this country is nearly absolute." As a result of the media's "absolute power,' argued the Agency that had been involved in mind control attempts (https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2017/jun/21/cias-six-most-dangerous-foia/), illegal surveillance (https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2017/apr/07/justice-department-refused-prosecute-cia/), tampering in foreign elections (https://www.muckrock.com/tags/cias-guide-to-other-countrys-elections/) and dozens of assassinations (https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2016/dec/08/fbi-file-offers-insight-cias-gentlemanly-planner-a/), assassination attempts (https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2016/nov/28/cia-assassination/) and coups (https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2016/jun/20/cia-guatemala/), they had been corrupted absolutely. The member of the IG's staff then suggested that they compare the media to the "opposition," a reference to hostile intelligence services. This could be backed up by citing "precise parallels in methods and results, if not in motivations, between the media's attempts to penetrate us and the opposition's attempts to do the same." - Emma Best The document then goes on to list some proposed "do's and don'ts," as well as expresses the belief that "a sanitized list of foolish media disclosures that have cost the country or individuals substantially." But again, as discussed above, have they really cost the citizenry, or have they simply cost some powerful interests?

The document also urges the Director to "remember" that "the organization has official contacts with influential people outside the Community - people in leadership posts in this society; academia and the media concluded; and remember that we undoubtedly have in the organization many who know such people unofficially and who could help provide access if needed."

Quite revealing isn't it?

https://www.sott.net/image/s20/418611/large/Distorting.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s20/418611/full/Distorting.jpg)

Another document (https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/CIA-RDP88B00443R000100290001-2.pdf), relating to the same one discussed above shows an initiative to "call in media leaders," whatever that means, and a system for screen disclosures by the media, and also mentions "centralized control of all press contacts," as well as "control of press access."

It's quite ironic that this document is from 1984. George Orwell's 1984 (https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/nineteen-eighty-four/9780141036144-item.html?&mkwid=sdpVyd5pw_dc&pcrid=174862547009&pkw=george%20orwell%201984&pmt=e&s_campaign=goo-Books+-+Bestsellers&gclid=CLHdsM6L49ECFYe3wAod3ZAKTg), a classic book depicting a populace ruled by a political regime that persecutes individualism and independent critical thinking as "thoughtcrimes" that must be enforced by the "thought police" was also released that year. This party seeks power above all, and, through the propagandist Ministry of Truth, presents the people with their version of truth. Sound familiar? This is basically one of many tools used by the Deep State today. Sometimes, it seems that our thoughts, feelings and emotions are given to us, and we are so occupied with our lives that when certain individuals of groups become concerned with what is happening in the world, they come across enormous amounts of secrecy.

How many pages of documents does the US government classify every year? Some historians peg it at half a billion pages per year. For any journalist or researcher interested in the history of the country, how are they expected to really know anything when so much of it remains hidden from public view?

American Author, and former State Department employee once said, "no matter how paranoid or conspiracy-minded you are, what the government is actually doing is worse than you imagine." (Rogue State: A Guide to the World's Only Superpower) (https://www.amazon.ca/Rogue-State-Guide-Worlds-Superpower/dp/1567513743)

It's unfortunate that the CIA's control over media and academia is used today not for defense and freedom, but to deceive and push forth agendas in that which the public is completely unaware of. A great quote from Mark Twain comes to mind here:
"The statesman will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them: and thus he will by and by convince himself the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception." - Mark Twain (source (https://books.google.ca/books?id=ElrBj9ZcW50C&pg=PA477&lpg=PA477&dq=The+statesmen+will+invent+cheap+lies,+putting+the+blame+upon+the+nation+that+is+attacked,+and+eve ry+man+will+be+glad+of+those+conscience-soothing+falsities,+and+will+diligently+study+them,+and+refuse+to+examine+any+refutations+of+them;+a nd+thus+he+will+by+and+by+convince+himself+that+the+war+is+just,+and+will+thank+God+for+the+better+s leep+he+enjoys+after+this+process+of+grotesque+self-deception&source=bl&ots=x809ODyTu8&sig=C09TCR2EtyMITUnSqBVAAGpP4iA&hl=en&sa=X&ei=enqdVZG8AoyGyATn45ywBg&ved=0CCMQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=The%20statesmen%20will%20invent%20cheap%20lies%2C%20putting%20the%20blame%20upon%20the%20nation%20 that%20is%20attacked%2C%20and%20every%20man%20will%20be%20glad%20of%20those%20conscience-soothing%20falsities%2C%20and%20will%20diligently%20study%20them%2C%20and%20refuse%20to%20examine%20 any%20refutations%20of%20them%3B%20and%20thus%20he%20will%20by%20and%20by%20convince%20himself%20tha t%20the%20war%20is%20just%2C%20and%20will%20thank%20God%20for%20the%20better%20sleep%20he%20enjoys%2 0after%20this%20process%20of%20grotesque%20self-deception&f=false)) After 1984, The CIA's Relationship With Media & Academia

It's interesting to glance at the information/documents above, and then look at another from 1991.

A declassified document from the CIA archives in the form of a letter from a CIA task force addressed to the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency details the close relationship that exists between the CIA and mainstream media and academia.

The document states (https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/DOC_0005524009.pdf) that the CIA task force "now has relationships with reporters from every major wire service, newspaper, news weekly, and television network in the nation," and that "this has helped us turn some 'intelligence failure' stories into 'intelligence success stories,' and has contributed to the accuracy of countless others." Furthermore, it explains how the agency has "persuaded reporters to postpone, change, hold, or even scrap stories that could have adversely affected national security interests or jeopardized sources and methods."

https://www.sott.net/image/s20/418613/large/Screen_Shot_2017_09_02_at_10_4.png (https://www.sott.net/image/s20/418613/full/Screen_Shot_2017_09_02_at_10_4.png)

https://www.sott.net/image/s20/418614/large/Screen_Shot_2017_09_02_at_10_4.png (https://www.sott.net/image/s20/418614/full/Screen_Shot_2017_09_02_at_10_4.png)

The document not only outlines the CIA's role in media, but also the entire entertainment industry in general, lending further weight to revelations offered by celebrities like Jim Carrey. He appeared as a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live, saying (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eG9i7d8yfKQ) that, "For years now, talk show hosts, people on television, people in sitcoms have been hired by the government to throw you off the tracks, to distract you, to make you laugh and stuff like that, make you happy and docile so you don't know what's really going on." Perhaps he wasn't joking?

After all, it's no secret that the agency maintains a close relationship with the entertainment industry (https://www.cia.gov/offices-of-cia/public-affairs/entertainment-industry-liaison).

Perception control? Movies used as propaganda? Something to think about.

It's good to see an effort from those within mainstream media create awareness about this as well.

Dr. Udo Ulfkotte, a prominent German journalist and editor for more than two decades,is one example. He blew the whistle on public television, stating that he was forced to publish the works of intelligence agencies under his own name and that noncompliance with these orders would result in him losing his job. (source (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGqi-k213eE))

Sharyl Attkisson and Amber Lyon, both well-known mainstream media reporters and journalists, have also exposed funded movements by political, corporate, and other special interests, and have revealed that they are routinely paid by the US government as well as foreign governments to selectively report and distort information on certain events. (source (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bYAQ-ZZtEU))(source (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFDC7zmJgQg))

Let's not forget about Operation Mockingbird (https://www.google.ca/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=xX9gVsrVKcWC8QfIjqkg#q=operation+mockingbird), a CIA-based initiative to control mainstream media.

James F. Tracy is a PhD from the University of Iowa. A former professor of communications at Boca Raton, Florida Atlantic University, he is also one of many who reports on this type of thing. He emphasizes:
"Since the end of World War Two the Central Intelligence Agency has been a major force in US and foreign news media, exerting considerable influence over what the public sees, hears and reads on a regular basis. CIA publicists and journalists alike will assert they have few, if any, relationships, yet the seldom acknowledged history of their intimate collaboration indicates a far different story-indeed, one that media historians are reluctant to examine." He published a great article going into more detail about the close relationship between the agency and the media:

50 Facts the World Should Know About The CIA's Relationship With The Media (http://www.collective-evolution.com/2017/01/08/the-cia-the-media-50-facts-the-world-should-know/)

Hervé

11th September 2017, 13:08

'Freedom of Speech Killed by Those Who Created It' - Sputnik, RT Editor-in-Chief (https://sputniknews.com/world/201709111057285292-sputnik-rt-symonyan-comment/)

Sputnik World (https://sputniknews.com/world/)
14:58 11.09.2017
(updated 15:41 11.09.2017)

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/490152415513944064/BI_nPRDK_400x400.jpeg
© Sputnik

Sputnik, and RT’s editor-in-chief, commenting on the FBI interrogation of Sputnik former employee Andrew Feinberg, said that if an investigation against the agency is being held, Russia can do the same in response.

Earlier it was reported that the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) questioned former Sputnik (https://sputniknews.com/world/201708031056158018-service-sputnik-truth-monopolization/) employee Andrew Feinberg as part of the investigation of reports that the agency allegedly acted as a Russian propaganda agency in violation of the US Foreign Agents Act (FARA).

At the same time, the portal claimed that the FBI also received access to Sputnik's working correspondence of Feinberg and another former employee of the agency's Washington bureau, Joseph John Fionda.

"There is no doubt that Russia will respond to the FBI investigation in the same way and will check the work of American journalists in Moscow. It's disgusting. Freedom of speech is turning in its grave. It was killed by those who created it," Margarita Simonyan (https://sputniknews.com/art_living/201709081057227189-simonyan-us-media-rt-foreign-agent/) told RIA Novosti.

Earlier, a bill was submitted to the House of Representatives of the US Congress to amend requirements for registration of foreign agents under the FARA. The project involves the allocation of additional powers to the US Department of Justice, which includes the FBI, to identify and prosecute organizations that "illegally" try to influence the political processes in the United States. The FBI itself did not respond to the official inquiry on whether it conducted an investigation against the agency within two days, Mindia Gavasheli, editor-in-chief of the Sputnik Bureau in Washington DC, said.

According to Gavasheli, "the request was sent on Saturday to the National Security Division of the US Justice Department to confirm or deny information that an investigation is underway in relation to Sputnik." Gavasheli specified that he indicated the willingness to answer FBI's questions, if any arise.

"There had been no reply yet. Unfortunately, the media reports that an investigation is being conducted against us are not surprising, since the atmosphere of hysteria in relation to everything that belongs to Russia has been created in the country, and everything with the word 'Russian' is seen through prism of spy mania. We are journalists, and mostly Americans work here. We believe that any assumption that we are engaged in anything other than journalism is an absolute lie and fabrication," Gavasheli pointed out.

Related:
Haters Gonna Hate: Sputnik's Facebook Page Attacked by Troll Army (https://sputniknews.com/politics/201708231056730164-sputnik-facebook-trolling-campaign/)

uzn

23rd October 2017, 02:51

new Evidence surfaced that the Berlin Terror-Attack of Anis Amri was coordinated and supported by the german LKA ( Landes Kriminal Amt ):

According to media reports, the V-man in the Salafist group, with whom Anis Amri had close contact, had persuaded Anis to do the attack

http://1.f.ix.de/scale/geometry/700/q75/tp/imgs/89/2/3/0/1/3/2/9/Terroranschlag-Berlin-Breitscheidplatz-2016__2___31731061626___square_crop_-ad3b2ae793aef26f.jpeg

The Stimulator VP-01
Now it is much more bizzarer. The latest news about the Amri case suggests that the attack, not only not hindered, but possibly prompted or instigated by a V-man - an approach known from the FBI work or attributed to a suspicious genre , which is usually dismissed as "conspiracy theories" in the common sense - a little ground will be kept in these crazy times ...
This contradicts the statement from researches of the rbb and the Berliner Morgenpost, according to which "an important reference person of the terrorist Anis Amri in the militant Islamistenszene was a V-man of the Landeskriminalamt North Rhine-Westphalia" and particularly the claim that these searches "prove. ..) that the so-called trust person VP-01 should have instigated Islamists early on in attacks in Germany, according to a witness.

The direct connection to the attack is not documented, therefore, that V-man Anis Amri has instigated the Christmas market on the road to the murder of a truck. This accusation is relativized in the rbb report by "possibly":
According to the investigation, the investigators, who have been attacked by the Landeskriminalamt Nordrhein-Westfalen (LKA) on the terrorist Anis Amri, have encouraged various members of the IS-based Abu-Walaa group and perhaps also Amri himself.
rbb24
There is talk of "inciting". "The V-man is said to have incited the group around Amri to attacks," it says in the heading to the article. And the facts? From the investigations, which the investigators could clearly see, it can be seen that a member of the group had already said shortly after the attack against the LKA that the trust person with the abbreviation VP-01 "repeatedly stated" that " to commit attacks in Germany ".

"Come on, you have no passport anyway, do something here, do a stop"
To this end, a former supporter of the Abu-Walaa group is quoted, who told the journalist that VP-01 was even "the most radical". The man had said several times to members of the group: "Come, you have no passport anyway, do something here, make a stop."
The group members are described as not very interested from the perspective of this source. They wanted to go to Syria to fight and not to talk about attacks in Germany (Abu Waala was indeed a kind of travel agency to the IS). But, according to the source of the rbb report, VP-01 has repeatedly said to members of the group, "Come, you do not have a passport anyway, do something here, do a stroke."
In addition, LKA's "trustworthy person" had frequently traveled with Amri and drove him to his accommodation. "
The source
The LKA North Rhine-Westphalia, which is apparently connected to the Abu-Walaa group and is reported as a "witness" in the investigation, suggests that the statements of the man "are not correct". They were made with the intention of "distracting from their own criminal acts".

Confirmations of the behavior of the V-man
According to journalists, three attorneys would, in principle, confirm the allegations against the VP-01 trustworthy person independently: the Düsseldorf prosecutor John Pausch, the Frankfurt attorney Ali Aydin and the lawyer Michael Murat Sertsöz.
Pausch confirms that the said V-man should have shown a "promoting behavior" against his client. It is not clear from the rbb report whether and how the client, who was convicted of preparing an explosive article, is involved in the Amri case.
Aydin, on the basis of his own research and several sources, confirms a statement by the V-man to several persons from the Abu Walaa group: "Let us kill these unbelievers, we need good men, so that we can commit attacks in Germany." This makes it clear that the V-man has "incited" to attacks. It was now necessary to determine whether there was a direct impact of VP-01 on Amri with regard to the Berlin attack.
Sertsöz confirms that his client also reported that the V-man had repeatedly asked him to get a gun and carry out 'actions'. "As Mikail described the behavior of VP-01, the latter acted as an agent provocateur in the service of the state," Sertsöz is reproduced. According to rbb, the client of the Bonn criminal lawyer was recently convicted of the spread of terrorist propaganda. The extent to which he relates specifically to the case of Anis Amri is not mentioned
The LKA North Rhine-Westphalia did not receive any information with reference to current court proceedings and the investigation committee in the case of Amri, according to the research group of the Rundfunks Berlin Brandenburg and the Berliner Morgenpost.
(by Thomas Pany) (translated from german)

(V-man is the german term for undercover operative.)

KiwiElf

23rd October 2017, 03:18

"They" have infiltrated everything & fully intend to take over the internet... and freedom of speech. Part of that plan is to ban alternative websites like Avalon as "they" cannot presently totally control anyone who goes against "their" false narrative.

When you look at why & how the CIA was formed (and by whom, hint: Nazi 3rd Reich intelligence operatives imported under Paperclip & Allen Dulles), it's pretty easy to see what's happening here (and why the CIA in its present form, should be "disbanded" exactly as JFK said;

“splinter(ed) the C.I.A. in a thousand pieces and scatter it to the winds.”

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-10-19/former-fec-chair-demands-internet-disinformation-crackdown-major-threat-free-speech?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+zerohedge%2Ffeed+%28zero+hedge+-+on+a+long+enough+timeline%2C+the+survival+rate+for+everyone+drops+to+zero%29

Former FEC Chair Demands Internet "Disinformation" Crackdown In Major Threat To Free Speech

by Tyler Durden
Oct 19, 2017 2:05 PM

Authored by Jonathan Turley via JonathanTurley.org,

In one of the most reckless and chilling attacks on free speech, the former chair of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and Berkeley lecturer Ann Ravel is pushing for a federal crackdown on “disinformation” on the Internet - a term that she conspicuously fails to concretely define.

Ravel is pushing a proposal that she laid out in a a paper co-author with Abby K. Wood, an associate professor at the University of Southern California, and Irina Dykhne, a student at USC Gould School of Law. To combat “fake news,” Ravel and her co-authors would undermine the use of the Internet as a forum for free speech.

The regulation would include the targeting of people who share stories deemed fake or disinformation by government regulators. The irony is that such figures are decrying Russian interference with our system and responding by curtailing free speech - something Vladimir Putin would certainly applaud.

In addition to new rules on paid ads, Ravel wants fake news to be regulated under her proposal titled Fool Me Once: The Case for Government Regulation of ‘Fake News.” If adopted, a “social media user” would be flagged for sharing anything deemed false by regulators:

“after a social media user clicks ‘share’ on a disputed item (if the platforms do not remove them and only label them as disputed), government can require that the user be reminded of the definition of libel against a public figure. Libel of public figures requires ‘actual malice,’ defined as knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth.

Sharing an item that has been flagged as untrue might trigger liability under libel laws.”

Without clearly defining “disinformation,” Ravel would give bureaucrats the power to label postings as false and harass those who share such information. Of course, this would also involve a massive databanks of collections ads and discussions by the government.

The authors of the proposal see greater government regulation as the solution to what they describe as “informational deficits” in the largely free exchanges of the Internet. There is a far dosage of doublespeak in the article. Rather than refer to the new regulation as guaranteeing greater government control, the authors insist that “government regulations . . . improve transparency.” Rather than talk of government controls over speech, the authors talk about the government “nudging” otherwise ignorant readers and commentators. Here is the worrisome section:

Government regulations to help voters avoid spreading disinformation

Educate social media users. Social media users can unintentionally spread disinformation when they interact with it in their newsfeeds. Depending on their security settings, their entire online social network can see items that they interact with (by “liking” or commenting), even if they are expressing their opposition to the content. Social media users should not interact with disinformation in their feeds at all (aside from flagging it for review by third party fact checkers). Government should require platforms to regularly remind social media users about not interacting with disinformation.

Similarly, after a social media user clicks “share” on a disputed item (if the platforms do not remove them and only label them as disputed), government can require that the user be reminded of the definition of libel against a public figure. Libel of public figures requires “actual malice”, defined as knowledge of falsity or reckless disregard for the truth. Sharing an item that has been flagged as untrue might trigger liability under libel laws.

Nudge social media users to not view disputed content. Lawmakers should require platforms to provide an opt-in (or, more weakly, opt-out) system for viewing disputed content and periodically remind users of their options. We think the courts should uphold this as a constitutional regulation of political speech, but we acknowledge that it is a closer question than the more straightforward disclosure regulations above. The most analogous cases are to commercial speech cases (AdChoices and Do Not Call Registry, which was upheld). Commercial speech receives less protection than political speech.

I have been writing about the threat to free speech coming increasingly from the left, including Democratic politicians. The implications of such controls are being dismissed in the pursuit of new specters of “fake news” or “microaggressions” or “disinformation.” The result has been a comprehensive assault on free speech from college campuses to the Internet to social media. What is particularly worrisome is the targeting of the Internet, which remains the single greatest advancement of free speech of our generation. Not surprisingly, governments see the Internet as a threat while others seeks to control its message.

What Ravel and her co-authors are suggesting is a need to label certain views as “false” while giving not-so-subtle threats of legal action for those who share such information. Once the non-threatening language of “nudges” and “transparency” are stripped away, the proposal’s true meaning is laid bare as a potentially radical change in government regulation over free speech and association.

TargeT

1st November 2017, 18:41

The fake news even deceives when there's ZERO POINT...

Check out this "remote broad cast" from the NY truck terror incident ....
https://i.imgur.com/eCyfRcD.jpg

Ewan

3rd November 2017, 10:02

The fake news even deceives when there's ZERO POINT...

Check out this "remote broad cast" from the NY truck terror incident ....

:bigsmile: Are they supposed to be talking to each other, with updates and the like? They could have done it face to face, clearly.

TargeT

3rd November 2017, 13:17

:bigsmile: Are they supposed to be talking to each other, with updates and the like? They could have done it face to face, clearly.

I think it would have been great if one of them finished, then turned and just tossed the microphone over to the other.. haha.. looks like they aren't more than 10 feet from eachother

ceetee9

3rd November 2017, 13:30

The fake news even deceives when there's ZERO POINT...

Check out this "remote broad cast" from the NY truck terror incident ....
Well it's the Concocted News Network, so what more could we expect. ;)

Hervé

16th November 2017, 14:57

'Put the Boot Into Corbyn': UK Journo Accidentally Exposes Paper Editorial Bias (https://sputniknews.com/europe/201711161059155242-journalist-corbyn-accident-media-bias/)

Sputnik Europe (https://sputniknews.com/europe/)
15:58 16.11.2017
(updated 16:00 16.11.2017)

https://cdn1.img.sputniknews.com/images/105370/08/1053700822.jpg
© REUTERS/ Darren Staples

An editor at the UK newspaper paper The Daily Express told a journalist to take anti-Labour stance - instructions that were mistakenly emailed to the Party's press office.

The online newsite BuzzFeed on November 15 published (https://www.buzzfeed.com/jimwaterson/a-daily-express-journalist-accidentally-revealed-how-he-was?utm_term=.pp7V6DooQ#.ghVkN3jjL) an email provided by the British Labour Party purportedly showing instructions from an editorial figure at the Murdoch-owned newspaper The Daily Express that a journalist make clear to the readers that "Labour is NOT the solution" to the British economy's debt problems.

The journalist then mistakenly forwarded the instructions on to the Labour Party's press office while seeking comment on the issue of the UK's increasing debt-burden.

The instructions from the unknown editor directed the journalist to, "Put the boot into Corbyn (who wants to plunge us into even DEEPER debt)."

Jeremy Corbyn's supporters have long claimed that he has received hostile treatment (https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201506171023468807/) from the British media, in particular from publications owned by Australian-born US media mogul Rupert Murdoch who owns publications accounting for at least 89.7 percent of daily circulation in the UK, according to a 2015 report (http://www.mediareform.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/Who_owns_the_UK_media-report_plus_appendix1.pdf) on concentration of ownership.

Ewan

28th November 2017, 17:29

Don't think it deserved its own thread so I tagged it on here as I sincerely believe that the whole politically correct theme is agenda driven..

Steve Hughes, a down to earth Aussie comedian, talks in a podcast about how the "politically correct" ruin everything.

Caution: Language

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZhcQhkfkQ8 (35m)

-------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------------

A reminder (or introduction) to what Steve was joking about nearly 10 years ago..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceS_jkKjIgo

-or the whole 7m 48s- (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j89mEHL6Y74)

Valerie Villars

29th November 2017, 02:45

I majored in Journalism, back in college at USL in Lafayette, Louisiana. I realized very quickly that journalism was yellow and I excused myself. Writing was all I ever really wanted to do, but I wasn't going to sell out and therefore wasn't going to be allowed in the "boy's club". So, I said screw them and started writing letters when I objected to some nitwiited bull I ran across. No wonder I have always been poor.

God Bless the USA.

Hervé

1st December 2017, 01:35

This one takes the cake:

Swiss Press Club gives floor to critics of White Helmets despite censorship demands from Reporters without Borders (https://www.rt.com/news/411373-white-helmets-switzerland-rsf/)

RT (https://www.rt.com/news/411373-white-helmets-switzerland-rsf/)
Thu, 30 Nov 2017 20:30 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s21/435900/large/5a1f0dbdfc7e93403c8b4567.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s21/435900/full/5a1f0dbdfc7e93403c8b4567.jpg)

A member of the Civil Defence, also known as the 'White Helmets' © Abdalrhman Ismail / Reuters

The Western media can't admit they were wrong in their portrayal of the White Helmets, Guy Mettan, head of the Swiss Press Club, told RT, explaining why Reporters Without Borders demanded to cancel the club's press conference featuring critics of the controversial Syrian group.
"It was very surprising and very disappointing to see a journalists' association asking for a kind of censorship," Mettan told RT. He commented that Reporters Without Borders (RSF[Reporters Sans Frontières]) are "supposed to protect the freedom of speech and the freedom of the media... and they just wrote to me and to all the committee members of the Swiss Press Club to ask for cancelling the press conference about the White Helmets, which is completely in contradiction with their charter; with their goal."
The Swiss Press Club head said that he replied to RSF, specifying that their demands were in violation of the country's principal law. "We're here in Switzerland, a country, which is democratic; which believes in the freedom of the press. It's written in our Constitution," he said, adding that in the letter he was "asking them (RSF) to respect the freedom of speech and the Swiss Constitution."

According to Mettan, the Swiss Press Club is "accustomed to get pressures from everywhere in the world and mainly from dictatorial countries - like Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and others - because they don't accept that we give the floor to political opponents or to human rights' defenders." However, it was "the first time in 20 years" when such calls were coming from a journalists' association, he said.

"But I never was tempted to cancel [the press conference] because I never cancel any press conference, whatever the demands for doing it," the Swiss Press Club head said. The event, entitled, "They don't care about us: About White Helmets true agenda" was held in Geneva on Tuesday as scheduled and saw Independent journalist Vanessa Beeley, who has done extensive reporting from inside Syria, French journalist Richard Labeviere and Marcello Ferrada de Noli, chair of Swedish Doctors for Human Rights (SWEDHR), speaking on the topic.

In their letter, Reporters Without Borders "attacked the speakers" and presented the topic of the event as "pro-Russian propaganda; propaganda in favor of [Syrian President Bashar] Assad," Mettan said. The issue was "disturbing" to RSF [Reporters Sans Frontières] because "the Western media have described the White Helmets as a neutral, fully independent humanitarian organization, which isn't exactly the case... Now they can't admit they were wrong and that the reality isn't exactly as what they've written or said in the past years," he explained.

A documentary describing the White Helmets as heroes and saviors in Syria won an Oscar in February. But witnesses have accused the controversial group of links with terrorists, filming fake reports of their rescue work, engaging in looting and other criminal activities.

Reporters Without Borders also warned that the press conference on the White Helmets could damage the Swiss Press Club's image, but Mettan turned the notion down. "In my view, what's damaging my image is to succumb to the censorship demands, because the real goal of the Press Club is to give the floor to anybody, any organization, which wishes to express its concerns," he said.

The journalist stressed that over the years he invited to the Swiss Press Club "many people, criticizing Russia - for instance, [opposition figure and former chess champion] Garry Kasparov; Mrs Nemtsova [the wife of murdered opposition figure, Boris Nemtsov]. But I have also the right to accept people, who are supporting Russia. That's a goal of every press club and not politically correct association."

Mettan also said that [he] received "dozens of messages from all around the world - from Sweden, the US, UK, Australia, Canada," supporting the Swiss Press Club for "staying firm" to the ideals of free speech and hosting the press conference about the White Helmets, regardless of the pressure.

Related:
Preview of upcoming RT interview with Oliver Stone: 'Blaming Russia for everything is insane & reminiscent of McCarthyism' (https://www.sott.net/article/369573-Preview-of-upcoming-RT-interview-with-Oliver-Stone-Blaming-Russia-for-everything-is-insane-reminiscent-of-McCarthyism-VIDEO)

So much for 'press freedom': Reporters Without Borders demands cancellation of press event critical of White Helmets (https://www.sott.net/article/369335-So-much-for-press-freedom-Reporters-Without-Borders-demands-cancellation-of-press-event-critical-of-White-Helmets)

RSP: Reporters Without Principles? (https://www.sott.net/article/369425-RSP-Reporters-Without-Principles)

Sultan Erdogan arrests three Reporters Without Borders activists for disseminating terrorist propaganda (https://www.sott.net/article/320694-Sultan-Erdogan-arrests-three-Reporters-Without-Borders-activists-for-disseminating-terrorist-propaganda)

RT editor-in-chief asks Reporters Without Borders to clarify who 'enemies of journalism' are (https://www.sott.net/article/360771-RT-editor-in-chief-asks-Reporters-Without-Borders-to-clarify-who-enemies-of-journalism-are)

Valerie Villars

1st December 2017, 13:01

I sensed the falseness back in the 70's. Another blow to my ego, which wanted truth and thought everyone else did too. What a baby I am.

Foxie Loxie

1st December 2017, 13:33

Villival....you WERE....now you KNOW!!! ;)

Valerie Villars

2nd December 2017, 22:29

Foxie, I just didn't realize most people don't want to know the truth until I was about 51. Way behind the curve.

Michelle Marie

3rd December 2017, 01:39

I stopped watching TV years ago. I just knew it was bad; did not resonate. Then I learned about control only belonged to 6 big companies who were in control.

BUT, I didn't know the details or the extent of it until recently.

36569

36570

36571

🙋MM

Michelle Marie

3rd December 2017, 01:42

Foxie Loxie

3rd December 2017, 14:35

Villival....I didn't "wake up" til around age 70 so you are waaaay ahead of me!!! :ROFL:

Hervé

4th December 2017, 00:28

Brian Ross receives suspension without pay for reporting 'fake news' about Trump (http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2017/12/02/abc-suspends-brian-ross-four-weeks-without-pay/)

Jeff Poor Breitbart (http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2017/12/02/abc-suspends-brian-ross-four-weeks-without-pay/)
Sun, 03 Dec 2017 23:37 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s21/436664/large/Ross121_640x480.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s21/436664/full/Ross121_640x480.jpg)

Late Saturday, ABC News announced (http://abcnews.go.com/US/abc-news-statement-michael-flynn-report/story?id=51536475) it was suspending network investigative reporter Brian Ross four weeks without pay for an inaccurate report (http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2017/12/01/michael-flynn-report-trump-white-house-caught-off-guard-flynn-plea-counsel-didnt-know/) that aired Friday.

The report claimed Donald Trump had directed his eventual National Security Adviser Michael Flynn to contact the Russians while running for president as a candidate.

Ross followed up his reporting later that day with a "clarification," (http://www.breitbart.com/video/2017/12/01/abcs-brian-ross-issues-air-clarification-correct-report-candidate-trump-ordered-contact-russians/) claiming it was not while Trump was a candidate, but as president-elect.

Statement as follows:
We deeply regret and apologize for the serious error we made yesterday. The reporting conveyed by Brian Ross during the special report (http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/michael-flynn-charged-making-false-statements-fbi-documents/story?id=50849354&cid=clicksource_4380645_1_hero_headlines_bsq_related) had not been fully vetted through our editorial standards process. As a result of our continued reporting over the next several hours ultimately we determined the information was wrong and we corrected the mistake on air and online.

It is vital we get the story right and retain the trust we have built with our audience -- these are our core principles. We fell far short of that yesterday. Effective immediately, Brian Ross will be suspended for four weeks without pay.

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/874276197357596672/kUuht00m_bigger.jpg Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump (https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump)

Congratulations to @ABC (https://twitter.com/ABC) News for suspending Brian Ross for his horrendously inaccurate and dishonest report on the Russia, Russia, Russia Witch Hunt. More Networks and “papers” should do the same with their Fake News!

6:22 PM - 2 Dec 2017
22,224 replies 25,260 retweets 94,623 likes

Valerie Villars

18th December 2017, 13:51

Foxie, I thought you were in your fifties! You go girl! Give them (whoever they are) hell!

Hervé

24th December 2017, 14:36

Greenwald schools Guardian's new Moscow chief over 'Snowden app' conspiracy (https://www.rt.com/news/414079-snowden-haven-conspiracy-greenwald)

RT (https://www.rt.com/news/414079-snowden-haven-conspiracy-greenwald)
Sun, 24 Dec 2017 13:08 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s22/440974/large/5a3edfa2fc7e930e688b4567.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s22/440974/full/5a3edfa2fc7e930e688b4567.jpg)
Edward Snowden appears live via video with journalist Glenn Greenwald. February 2, 2015. © Mark Blinch / Reuters

Journalist Glenn Greenwald has schooled the Guardian's newly appointed Moscow bureau chief after he "accidentally" joined a chorus of hysteria which mocked Edward Snowden's new security app as an "FSB trap."

Continuing in the vein of MSM coverage of Russia, journalist Andrew Roth was quick to jump on the bandwagon after a tweet by the Russian Embassy in Canada highlighting Edward Snowden's new app 'Haven' (https://freedom.press/news/introducing-haven-open-source-security-system-your-pocket/) was trolled.

"A Russian embassy touting an RT article about a security app advertised from an undisclosed location by Snowden,"
tweeted Roth, who most recently worked as the Washington Post's Moscow Bureau reporter, and was revealed (https://www.theguardian.com/guardian-us-press-office/2017/dec/21/guardian-appoints-new-moscow-and-beijing-bureau-chiefs) as the Guardian's new Moscow Bureau chief earlier this week.

His comments was quickly taken to task by The Intercept's Glenn Greenwald, who originally broke the story of Snowden's NSA leaks for the Guardian in 2013, before leaving the newspaper later that year.

Greenwald pointed out that WAPO is among a number of US news outlets, including the New York Times and Politico, that already uses and promotes Secure Drop - an application designed to encrypt communications and obscure a computer's IP address. The system is maintained by the Freedom of the Press Foundation of which Snowden is president.

Greenwald continued in a second tweet that "the super clever in the know journalists mocking the new Snowden app because RUSSIA! are revealing ignorance."

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/659383028771364869/G9HHnjiI_bigger.jpg Glenn Greenwald‏Verified account @ggreenwald (https://twitter.com/ggreenwald)

The super-clever, in-the-know journalists mocking the new Snowden app because RUSSIA! are revealing ignorance; 1) it's open source; 2) your newsrooms use Secure Drop, which he helps maintain & develop through @FreedomofPress (https://twitter.com/FreedomofPress); 3) he has asylum in Russia and criticizes it often.

12:26 PM - 23 Dec 2017
16 replies 142 retweets 353 likes He highlighted that the app was open source and reminded the scorned journalists in question that although the NSA whistleblower has asylum in Russia, he is often critical of its politics.

Roth quickly backtracked, clarifying he was "poking fun at the optics of those tweets but should have been more careful."

He stated he had nothing against 'Haven' and admitted he could see himself using it at one point. 'Haven' is described (https://freedom.press/news/introducing-haven-open-source-security-system-your-pocket/) as a "personal security system" for journalists and human rights defenders.

Engaging in further discussion with Greenwald, Roth continued that "surveillance was a priority for RT" but said he was "wrong to suggest the app was compromised because of that."

Speaking of his appointment with the Guardian, Roth said in a statement, "Amidst the extraordinary accusations of Russia's meddling in foreign elections and the ongoing war in Ukraine, the goal here remains the same: providing coverage that tries every day to hold those in power to account."

Hervé

25th December 2017, 17:54

Beware: Robots work in US journalism - the literal kind (http://www.fort-russ.com/2017/12/beware-robots-work-in-us-journalism.html)

RIA (https://ria.ru/society/20171225/1511654777.html) -
December 25, 2017 - FRN -
translated by Inessa Sinchougova (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeix8jbmQnS6FprsJIsjVyQ/about)

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MPifW_qEJt4/WkDihXtp3DI/AAAAAAAAHF4/tgcmXLntYhUUox9mKezCF0SlTJLrKD0LQCLcBGAs/s640/rob.jpg (https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MPifW_qEJt4/WkDihXtp3DI/AAAAAAAAHF4/tgcmXLntYhUUox9mKezCF0SlTJLrKD0LQCLcBGAs/s1600/rob.jpg)

The chances of the mass emergence of robots in journalism are high, believes the head of the State Duma Information Policy Committee, Leonid Levin.

"There are already examples when a robot journalist, if I'm not mistaken, in the Washington Post last year wrote about 800 notes, and they published them on the site, without stating that this note was written by a robot journalist, and only informed of this at the end of the year," Levin said at a press conference in Moscow.

"Given that, in general, the trend in society is that people stop reading large materials, and only read short notes, then the chances of robots in journalism, unfortunately, are extremely high," the parliamentarian said.

Hervé

4th January 2018, 12:31

From Jim Stone (http://82.221.129.208/.zm3.html):

BLOCKBUSTER: IT IS NOW PROVEN THERE ARE NO IRANIAN PEOPLE RIOTING AGAINST THE "REGIME" (http://82.221.129.208/.zm3.html)

"Uprising in Iran" is now a proven pure work of fiction fronted by the United States, Israel, and Saudi Arabia. I thought it was awful strange for there to be an uprising against the Iranian government from the Iranian people, with the country having a very good standard of living and certifiably honest and open political system (read the Iran post farther down this page) and as it turns out, I was right.

Iran does not have a state run press any more than the U.S. has PBS. Iran has a totally free press, that has accountability if it intentionally lies. And here is what Iran's press is saying:

There were enormous marches in several major cities, where absolute teeming masses of people marched to show their solidarity with the Iranian government, which every single Iranian can confirm is legitimate because they get a copy of their ballot after voting that matches a tracking number that proves their votes were tabulated without corruption.

THE IRANIAN PEOPLE THEREFORE KNEW THE VIOLENT PROTESTS WERE STAGED B.S. AND TOOK TO THE STREETS, SHOUTING DEATH TO AMERICA, SAUDI ARABIA, AND ISRAEL FOR STAGING IT ALL!!!! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA, EPIC BACK FIRE!

So while truthful genius TRUMP, who can't be a master of everything and got suckered by the neocons sits at his desk babbling the bull**** they fed him about how Iran is so repressive, real Iranians are out in droves proving they are very happy with the way the country is being run (they ought to be) and proclaiming that they will fight to the death to defend their nation. Not a peep about this from oh so honest Fox, CNN, and everyone else in the MSM, it is times like this when they prove they are all part of the same coat of many colors.

Well, it is time for a reality check.

P.O.S. Press TV, the rock sucking bottom of Iranian media that panders to the west at least got this story right. (http://www.presstv.com/Detail/2018/01/03/547679/Iran-Demonstrations-Violence) And then there is IRNA, which is pretty flat line boring reliable with zero spice saying the same thing (http://www.irna.ir/en/News/82784942) and WOW, if you hit their front page (http://www.irna.ir/en/) where it is all being discussed from all angles they REALLY nail it.

And then there is Fars News (which sort of sits between IRNA and PressTV) saying the EXACT SAME THING (http://en.farsnews.com/player.aspx?nn=13961013000700) (and their report is beautiful and gives you really good context).

And Low and Behold, Tasnim news, which is so far right the Ayatollah may as well run it is in lock step with left leaning PressTV with exactly the same outlook on the protests, (https://www.tasnimnews.com/fa/media/1396/10/13/1618978) (really nice extensive photo collection there that really proves Iranians love their country) which can only mean Iranians ARE NOT STUPID, they saw everyone else around them go down after getting sucked under by a wave of Western sponsored "change" and they are buying NONE OF IT.

After all, if you live in a nation which is a virtual paradise compared to elsewhere and have enough left over cash to travel (many Iranians do) it is pretty damn hard for the West to make you think you live in a hell hole.

And it is a sweet thing to see if you don't want a war, let me tell ya!

http://82.221.129.208/iranianlove.jpg

Contrary to the camel dung that gets slung on scam media venues, Iranians travel all over the place completely freely, no one needs permission to leave. So if you read all about how Iranians are trapped and can't leave and therefore hate the "regime" - if you saw that posted anywhere (I have, lots), remember the source and throw it straight in the trash. People who post that type of thing can't ever reach above c-rate "truth" with anything and if Iran is the topic, they fail straight into a black hole.

It is really really good to see that yet again, in lock step, the entirety of the American MSM lied.

Prediction: Iran got strengthened by a Western fronted psy op and will now be 5x as hard to beat. Way to go CIA!

================================

Related:
UK intelligence actively plotted social disruption in Iran top secret docs reveal (https://sputniknews.com/world/201801031060484534-uk-intelligence-agency-plotted-disruption-iran/)

For an idea on the "big" picture (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?25102-For-an-idea-on-the-big-picture&p=1199110&viewfull=1#post1199110)

ThePythonicCow

4th January 2018, 18:49

From Jim Stone (http://82.221.129.208/.zm3.html):

BLOCKBUSTER: IT IS NOW PROVEN THERE ARE NO IRANIAN PEOPLE RIOTING AGAINST THE "REGIME" (http://82.221.129.208/.zm3.html)
...
THE IRANIAN PEOPLE THEREFORE KNEW THE VIOLENT PROTESTS WERE STAGED B.S. AND TOOK TO THE STREETS, SHOUTING DEATH TO AMERICA, SAUDI ARABIA, AND ISRAEL FOR STAGING IT ALL!!!! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA, EPIC BACK FIRE!
...

Thanks for posting this, Hervé.

I trust Jim Stone on this one (much) more than I trust our Western media.

It is ridiculously outrageous that Western media would present peaceful pro-Iranian, anti-American protests in Iran as being exactly opposite, violent anti-Iranian, pro-American protests.

Our Western peace seeking military/intelligence/politicians/news-media war mongering tyrannical, insane, oppressive propagandists are stirring up more war, using more lies.

That's what they do.

Pray soon I will be writing that in the past tense ... that's what they did, before we tossed them aside.

Helene West

4th January 2018, 19:12

ThePythonicCow

5th January 2018, 02:05

strange. Journalist mike cernovich's wife is Persian (Iranian) and she was on the vid below speaking about the protests. She said the people of Iran do not want the current theocracy they want a secular government and the protests now are about food (the price of eggs have gone up 5x recently) and employment for a very young population, more than half are under 35 yrs old according to her.

https://youtu.be/EmFVyBRRIDg

Tom Luongo, in his post a couple of days ago Protests in Iran – Target of Opportunity or Necessity? (https://www.halseynews.com/2018/01/02/protests-iran-target-opportunity-necessity/), might have figured out what's going on with these conflicting reports.

His post begins:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

From the moment reports of protests in Iran surfaced I was skeptical of the narrative. It only makes sense to be. So many things are coming together in the first half of 2018 that the timing of these protests warrants scrutiny.

The earliest reports were of legitimate and peaceful protests of changes in law creating huge price spikes in certain foods and commodities. But, that was quickly hijacked by forces both internal and external to foment wider strife and violence.

I recommend Moon of Alabama’s commentary on the early days of these protests to get up to speed with how complicated the situation may be in Iran (here (http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/12/iran-regime-change-agents-hijack-economic-protests-.html) and [url=http://www.moonofalabama.org/2017/12/iran-early-us-support-for-rioters-hints-at-a-larger-plan.htmlhere[/url]). In short, what started as normal grievance airing has blossomed into something uglier but that still hasn’t reached anything close to the critical mass needed to replicate successful regime change operations in Libya and Ukraine.

And with very good reason. Iranians are not as fractious in their opinion of their government as simplistic narratives spun by the U.S., Saudi Arabia and Israel would have you believe.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What Luongo writes sounds very credible to me. The ordinary citizens of Iran might legitimately rise up in protest over dramatically rising prices of some key food products and other such issues; then the covert agents of the bastards in power might hijack those protests to try to stir up another color revolution and to provoke war.

Those speaking with their relatives in Iran, a week or more ago, would know of the original, legitimate, causes of the protests. Those such as Jim Stone, who has a sharp eye for the conspiratorial dark side of events, would quickly see the makings of another color revolution.

This sounds about right to me ... unless and until I see yet more evidence in some contrary direction.

Omni

5th January 2018, 02:17

Hi Paul, thanks for the analysis. One thing I'm curious about is what does the phrase: color revolution mean?

ThePythonicCow

5th January 2018, 02:27

Hi Paul, thanks for the analysis. One thing I'm curious about is what does the phrase: color revolution mean?

From Google :):

Colour revolution or color revolution is a term that was widely used by worldwide media to describe various related movements that developed in several countries in the former Soviet Union and the Balkans during the early 2000s.
In other words, the Anglo-American intelligence and covert ops have been starting protests, which turn violent, in various north African, Middle Eastern, southern Asian, and eastern European nations, since the early 2000's, with the apparent intention, and often the result, of overthrowing the current government and instituting chaos.

Hervé

5th January 2018, 02:31

Also, see Alexander Mercouris' article in The Duran (http://theduran.com/protests-in-iran-coming-to-an-end/): Iran's riot wave comes to an end? (http://theduran.com/protests-in-iran-coming-to-an-end/) posted here (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?69621-Ukraine-Crimea-Syria-Israel-Iran-Putin-and-World-War-III&p=1199690&viewfull=1#post1199690) (<---)

Hervé

6th January 2018, 15:52

These fake images of ‘Iran’ are being shared on social media (https://www.rt.com/news/414915-iran-protest-fake-news-videos/)

RT
Published time: 3 Jan, 2018 17:58
Edited time: 4 Jan, 2018 10:06
Get short URL (https://on.rt.com/8w5f)

https://cdni.rt.com/files/2018.01/article/5a4defa6fc7e9301558b4567.jpg

Protests in Bahrain, 2011, footage of which are currently being shared on social media as though of the 2017 Iran protests. © Hamad I Mohammed / Reuters

With more than 20 people dead following anti-government protests across Iran, footage of mass demonstrations and violent clashes involving police and protesters have been shared liberally across social media in recent weeks.

First among these is a post from conservative media contributor Kambree Kawahine Koa who published a video to her Twitter feed that purported to show a mass anti-government demonstration in Iran. Kawahine Koa told her more than 83,000 followers: “Whoa! 300,000 March for democracy in Iran! Incredible!”

However, Twitter users were quick to debunk the claim, pointing out that the video is actually of protests in Bahrain in 2011. In a series of tweets posted on New Year’s Day, the Bahrain-based Twitter user who re-posted the video said that she had been surprised to find that it was viewed 50,000 times in just two hours. Up to then, it had been viewed a mere 18,000 times in seven years.

“I wanted to know what was causing this sudden interest & I discovered that US press & American activists had picked it up & republished it as depicting protests in Iran even though my original Arabic tweet clearly stated the protest was in 2011 [in] Bahrain,” the user’s post read.

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/938918162292191232/gP51qbbW_bigger.jpg BAHRAINDOCTOR‏ @BAHRAINDOCTOR (https://twitter.com/BAHRAINDOCTOR) Jan 1 (https://twitter.com/BAHRAINDOCTOR/status/947779753234268160)

1. Thread on the video that went viral yesterday & was watched by nearly half a million people in 10 hours. The video was of a mass protest in Bahrain in 2011 - the biggest in the Gulf with approx. 300,000 protestors.

32 replies 887 retweets 863 likes

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/938918162292191232/gP51qbbW_bigger.jpg BAHRAINDOCTOR‏ @BAHRAINDOCTOR (https://twitter.com/BAHRAINDOCTOR)

2-The video was on youtube since 2011 ie for 7 years with 18,000 views only. I re-uploaded it to twitter yesterday & was surprised that it was suddenly viewed 50,000 in two hours.. https://youtu.be/CqPoeLlHnjc (https://t.co/MPxEMNL7ws)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DScwrTNW0AAiw0_.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DScwrUQW0AA19y_.jpg
2:41 AM - 1 Jan 2018 The video has now been viewed more than 1.25 million times on YouTube. The user believes that the popularity of the video is indicative of the American media’s double standards, saying: “No one was interested in the video when it was about the Bahraini people but within minutes it spreads across the US & the world when the video was claimed to be of the current Iranian protests.”

In another misleading post, journalist Emran Feroz published a picture of a woman in a headscarf launching herself at police in protective riot gear. The picture, which was posted on New Year’s Eve, was simply captioned “Iran.”

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/940150540729688069/1vvG66TT_bigger.jpg Emran Feroz‏Verified account @Emran_Feroz (https://twitter.com/Emran_Feroz)

Iran.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DSZGgXbWsAA6f5P.jpg
9:38 AM - 31 Dec 2017
106 replies 85 retweets 127 likes

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/940150540729688069/1vvG66TT_bigger.jpg Emran Feroz‏Verified account @Emran_Feroz (https://twitter.com/Emran_Feroz) Jan 2 (https://twitter.com/Emran_Feroz/status/948168606134734848)
For those who cry around here: I posted a thread on this to make things clear. I shared a symbolic picture from a movie on NYE and as it seems, that wasn't really smart. Happy New Year to all of you and long live the resistance, also in Iran.

27 replies 1 retweet 11 likes Later it emerged the picture was taken from an Iranian movie called Gold Collars. Responding to his critics Tuesday, Feroz was unapologetic, saying the picture was “symbolic.” Some commentators, however, were quick to mock Feroz’s claim.

There have also been reports of pictures of pro-regime demonstrations being passed off as anti-government protests, with another popular post purporting to be an aerial shot of a demonstration in Kermanshah in western Iran. In fact it’s a protest in Buenos Aires.

This week, too, Twitter suspended a fake account on behalf of Al Jazeera after the company complained (http://pr.aljazeera.com/post/169236302270/aljazeera-deplores-attempts-to-tarnish-its) that @Aljazeerairan was being used to spread “misleading and false news content” on the ongoing protests.

Related:
'Stop wasting time on posting useless and insulting tweets’ – Iranian FM to Trump (https://www.rt.com/news/414867-trump-iran-twitter-insults/)

‘Leader, we’re ready!’ 10,000s march in Iran in support of govt & Khamenei (PHOTO, VIDEO) (https://www.rt.com/news/414900-iran-rallies-support-government/)

Time for (regime) change? Neocons press Trump to sanction Iran over protests (https://www.rt.com/usa/414852-neocons-iran-protests-trump/)

Hervé

11th January 2018, 19:41

Watch RT Chief Margarita Simonyan Turn The Tables on Lesley Stahl in 60 Minutes Hit-Piece Fail (VIDEO) (https://www.sott.net/article/373779-Watch-RT-Chief-Margarita-Simonyan-Turn-The-Tables-on-Lesley-Stahl-in-60-Minutes-Hit-Piece-Fail-VIDEO#)

Zoya Klebanova Sott.net (https://www.sott.net/article/373779-Watch-RT-Chief-Margarita-Simonyan-Turn-The-Tables-on-Lesley-Stahl-in-60-Minutes-Hit-Piece-Fail-VIDEO#)
Thu, 11 Jan 2018 19:01 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s22/443847/large/Margarita_Simonyan.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s22/443847/full/Margarita_Simonyan.jpg)
Margarita Simonyan, 37-year-old RT Editor-in-Chief, mother-of-two, and toppler of mighty regimes the world over.

On the January 6 episode of 60 Minutes, CBS correspondent Lesley Stahl 'interviewed' (or rather, attempted to frame) Margarita Simonyan, head of supposed global election-meddling behemoth RT.

Without even a whiff of irony (Stahl had freely traveled to 'the belly of the beast' in Moscow to conduct the interview), the 60 Minutes report managed to cram in every piece of fake intelligence on Russia thus far dished out to Western media by the 'US intelligence community'.

You can read a transcript of the brief exchanges here (https://www.sott.net/article/373448-60-Minutes-interview-with-RTs-editor-in-chief-on-election-meddling-being-labeled-Russian-propaganda), but first watch Simonyan attempt to pierce Stahl's armor-plated reality-bubble:

61cgdldy4Vc

As you can tell from the way 60 Minutes edited and narrated the 'interview', the purpose of Stahl's visit to RT HQ in Moscow was to execute another hit-job on Russia and Putin. Thanks to Simonyan's professionalism, the effect (on normal people anyway) was quite the opposite.

All Stahl really achieved was to expose herself and her deep state-funded employer as mere mouthpieces for the Establishment's agenda, derisively ignorant of concepts like context and fact-based evidence, and demonstrating that - man-to-man... excuse me, woman-to-woman - they are hopelessly outmatched by the wit and intelligence of Russian journalists like Simonyan and Russian media like RT.

https://www.sott.net/image/s22/443775/large/DTMkQBjXUAA7Ppf.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s22/443775/full/DTMkQBjXUAA7Ppf.jpg)

There are, of course, no prizes for guessing what Stahl's lead topic was; Russia's 'interference' in the 2016 US presidential election. But no amount of careful editing by 60 Minutes' producers could twist Simonyan's simple truths in response to Stahl's second-hand lies:
Lesley Stahl: Let's talk about Russian interference in our election.

Margarita Simonyan: Uh-huh.

Lesley Stahl: Which our intelligence agencies tell us happened. And - I believe...

Margarita Simonyan: And you believe them. Just like you believe that there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Didn't you believe that? Continue to believe that Russian interference in American elections happened. In five years, you will know that it didn't. But the most interesting part of this interview was Simonyan's remarks about the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999:
Lesley Stahl: I get the impression though that your views of the United States have kinda curdled.

Margarita Simonyan: It didn't just happen to me. It happened to more or less all Russians in 1999 when you bombed Yugoslavia. We found that absolutely unfair, outrageous, illegal because it wasn't approved by the United Nations. It was a shock. America had Russia wrapped around its little pinky through the whole '90s. We did everything you told us. And we were eager to do more and more. The whole Russian nation was like, "Tell us what else we can do to please you. We want to be like you. We love you." And then in 1999, BAM! You bomb Yugoslavia. And that was the end of it. In one minute, in one day, that's when you lost us, unfortunately.
https://www.sott.net/image/s22/443844/large/belgrade_bombing.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s22/443844/full/belgrade_bombing.jpg)

American democracy comes to Europe in 1999: NATO 'shock-and-awe' in Belgrade, capital of Yugoslavia before it was dismembered at gunpoint by Washington.

In one simple answer Simonyan summed up the entire backstory to why Russia decided to go its own way - to become a truly sovereign nation invested in a multi-polar world as opposed to a lackey for the 'exceptional nation', and to become cautious, as opposed to dutiful, about American diktats.

Something all Westerners need to get into their heads about Russians is that fairness and justice are more than just words to us. Sure we have psychos in our country, like anywhere else, but we are damned if we're going to sit back, do nothing and watch totalitarianism unfold all over again. By all means, go right ahead and experiment with the joys of implementing radical ideologies and 'world revolution', over there preferably, in your own back yard, but we are DONE with that.

Being family- and community-oriented, we Russians understand that the happiness of one is contingent on the happiness of others. Seeing our 'American idol' act so deceitfully and unfairly towards a country that is culturally close to us (and a European one at that) pulled the scales from our eyes and made us realize that 'the American Way' - certainly its modern expression anyway - is incompatible with the Russian psyche.

Later that same year of course, like a godsend, Putin became Prime Minister, and then президент (prezidient), and Russians got busy with rebuilding their country from the ashes.

I'll leave you with a cracking smack-down of the 60 Minutes hit-piece by RT America's Ed Schultz:

4-OtzPNbWpM

[PS. If you'd like to learn more about warrior woman Margarita Simonyan, her interesting background, and what drives her success, read this (https://alchetron.com/Margarita-Simonyan).]

FreeURmind

11th January 2018, 20:20

..............

Praxis

11th January 2018, 23:11

Any Iranian who calls themselves a Persian is typically one who had to leave, or left, when the revolution happened because they were associated with the Shah or his security forces, who were not good people.
Im sure many normal people who just didnt want to live under a theocracy also left which I totally understand.

Just keep this in mind when taking views from Iranians or Persians. The title they use will tell you alot from the start about their politics.

Hervé

15th January 2018, 16:05

norman

17th January 2018, 05:09

Today, 16th Jan 2018, a British Parliament House of Commons Committee has been discussing Fake News probably with an intention to legally define it, control it or ban it.

a short snipped from Today in Parliament:

MP3
https://app.box.com/s/er2w6xfzl24v5viu55jvmy8rjob441v8

Bill Ryan

17th January 2018, 20:39

Today, which is Fake News Awards Day, had me looking at some interesting fake news exposés.

Here are two which readers may well be familiar with already, but which kind of boggle the mind:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DTvkwp0UMAEvMWY.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DTvjxooUQAEsri2.jpg

Carmody

17th January 2018, 21:08

Watch RT Chief Margarita Simonyan Turn The Tables on Lesley Stahl in 60 Minutes Hit-Piece Fail (VIDEO) (https://www.sott.net/article/373779-Watch-RT-Chief-Margarita-Simonyan-Turn-The-Tables-on-Lesley-Stahl-in-60-Minutes-Hit-Piece-Fail-VIDEO#)
[...]
Lesley Stahl: I get the impression though that your views of the United States have kinda curdled.

Margarita Simonyan: It didn't just happen to me. It happened to more or less all Russians in 1999 when you bombed Yugoslavia. We found that absolutely unfair, outrageous, illegal because it wasn't approved by the United Nations. It was a shock. America had Russia wrapped around its little pinky through the whole '90s. We did everything you told us. And we were eager to do more and more. The whole Russian nation was like, "Tell us what else we can do to please you. We want to be like you. We love you." And then in 1999, BAM! You bomb Yugoslavia. And that was the end of it. In one minute, in one day, that's when you lost us, unfortunately. [...]

A little more about Yugoslavia:

WATCH: FSB Director Putin outs 'New World Order', 1999 (http://www.fort-russ.com/2018/01/watch-fsb-director-putin-outs-new-world.html)

Sputnik

by Inessa Sinchougova (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeix8jbmQnS6FprsJIsjVyQ/about)

January 15, 2018 - FRN -

https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FV6nDygrW5s/WlzLnr6oSxI/AAAAAAAAHjI/glGAXZCQzj0y7RQNelMcyJ9mtTMsXQemgCLcBGAs/s640/thumb3.JPG (https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FV6nDygrW5s/WlzLnr6oSxI/AAAAAAAAHjI/glGAXZCQzj0y7RQNelMcyJ9mtTMsXQemgCLcBGAs/s1600/thumb3.JPG)

An excerpt out of a 1999 interview, when Russian President Vladimir Putin was the Director of the FSB, Federal Security Service. The subject at hand was international security and the unfolding situation in the former Yugoslavia. While many of us consider that the Iraq or Libyan wars were the turning points in the public perception of ‘the wars for freedom’, it is evident that Putin pinpointed the attempt to ‘change the world order’, on behalf of some Western leaders, as early as 1999.

The illegal NATO bombing of Yugoslavia lasted from March 24, 1999 to June 10, 1999. Interestingly, the war is said to have ended on 11 June 1999, when a column of Russian armoured vehicles carrying 250 Russian troops arrived in Serbia, who were part of the international peacekeeping force in Bosnia. The column was heading for Pristina (Kosovo) International Airport ahead of the arrival of NATO troops.

Upon hearing of the deployment, American NATO Supreme Commander for Europe, General Wesley Clark, ordered a contingent of British and French paratroopers to be flown in by helicopter to seize the airport by force. While this resulted in a tense stand-off between Russia and NATO - eventually, a joint NATO-Russian peacekeeping force was to be installed in Kosovo. In this way, NATO bombardment of the former Yugoslavia finally ceased, having to work together with the Russians on a peaceful resolution.

Wlk3JQEzRDQ

Europeans get it as well. Most definitely the people in the UK do. The name of what stopped what might have been a war, is...James Blunt.

James blunt told the story openly on the BBC show, Top Gear. Which you can find on Youtube. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfEl92LzWQU)

So General Clark was trying to FORCE the UK forces in Kosovo to start WWIII. Blunt stated flat out that when queried multiple times, that Clark replied, every time... that he wanted those troops to go into the airport and use total absolute (lethal) force on the Russians who were already there... Each time Blunt Refused, and waited for confirmation from an officer he trusted. Which finally came. It was a British officer who finally managed to get on the line and said hell no!!!

This video used to be found on the web with a simple search. In multiple places. With hundreds of thousands of views each.

Note that a video THAT IMPORTANT.... has...disappeared.

So an American General, involved with NATO, attempting to embroil Europe in another huge European war.

And the US public is unaware how the wall street and fed reserve bankers bankrolled Hitler.

Bill Ryan

19th January 2018, 02:24

From Infowars today:

https://infowars.com/full-video-president-trumps-fake-news-awards

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30iJL81etcA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyNWJ58W-_0

(It was really hard to find anything at all about this that wasn't heavily tainted and spun by the Fake Media itself. We really are living with one foot in a 1984-like future.)

TargeT

19th January 2018, 15:32

Fake news, Fake bombs... what's real anymore?

A TV crew tried to sneak a fake bomb through airport security. It didn’t work.
https://img.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=https://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_960w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2017/05/06/National-Enterprise/Images/312231686_0-7.jpg&w=1484
A film crew tried to pass a phony explosive device through a security checkpoint Thursday at Newark Liberty International Airport — and capture the moment on camera, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

TSA spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said in a statement Friday that nine people had been arrested after some of them tried to sneak “an item in a carry-on bag that had all of the makings of an improvised explosive device.”

Others in the group “covertly” filmed it, she said.

“The group did not make it past the checkpoint because TSA officers detected the item, which was concealed in a roller bag,” Farbstein said in the statement.

“The preliminary investigation has determined that the group wanted to ascertain if they could get the item through the security checkpoint while filming themselves doing so,” she added. “They failed” and were arrested on numerous charges.

The Port Authority could not immediately be reached for comment on the incident.Farbstein, with TSA, posted a photo of the device Friday on Twitter, showing what appeared to be a motor connected to a hose surrounded by tubing. She said it “had all of the makings of an IED.”

She told The Washington Post it was composed of “electronics, wires and PVC pipes.”TSA said the film crew members, who were not publicly identified, claimed to work for a TV network.

It’s not known which TV network the group may work for or which TV show they may have been filming the encounter for. An unnamed person told NJ.com that the crew members were from a Dutch production company called Endemol Shine Group, which is responsible for “The Biggest Loser,” “Deal or No Deal,” “Fear Factor” and “MasterChef.”

A spokesman for Endemol Shine North America could not immediately be reached for comment but said in a statement to NJ.com: “We are looking into the details of what happened as a matter of priority and are in contact with relevant authorities on the ground. While this process is ongoing we are unable to comment further but in the meantime, we sincerely apologize for any disruption caused.”

An unnamed law enforcement official told NJ.com that the group will likely be charged by the Essex County Prosecutor’s Office. The prosecutor’s office did not immediately comment on possible criminal charges.

TSA said they could also face civil penalties of more than $13,000 for each security violation.

“This type of stunt is reckless, dangerous, uninformed and totally insensitive to the reality of the terror threat we face. It is the equivalent to yelling ‘Fire!’ in a crowded theater or using a toy gun to rob a bank and then claiming that it was just a toy, just to see what happens,” Tom Carter, TSA’s federal security director for New Jersey, said Friday in a statement. “There is simply no excuse for trying to do something like this knowing it had the great potential to cause panic with the intention of turning that panic into a reality show. The reality is that all of these individuals were arrested and face heavy civil penalties as well.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2018/01/19/a-tv-crew-tried-to-sneak-a-fake-bomb-through-airport-security-it-didnt-work/?utm_term=.ce472b818deb

norman

1st February 2018, 10:38

If you can read between lines, this is quite a depressing listen.

It's a 5 minute chat on BBC Radio 4 this morning about Facebook's new policy, only thinly disguising what a cosh on free speech it really is.

It's not what we ''want'' to hear, but it's what we need to be aware of because we are grossly out numbered by people who either think like this or blindly will support this kind of mentality.

MP3
https://app.box.com/s/7vklrwzpds2ga4y0w4xfx6ybxnqkbj03

TargeT

3rd February 2018, 19:02

http://thepythoniccow.us/twitter_bots_mccain_nunes_memo_DVELvDzX0AATKcj.jpg

Valerie Villars

11th February 2018, 21:27

They forgot to add cleavage.

TargeT

23rd February 2018, 12:54

CNN doesn't script town hall meetings... Never!

https://i.redd.it/xmkn3y2fwjey.jpg

norman

14th March 2018, 02:09

Google/Youtube sent an 'idiot' to answer questions from a parliamentary committee in London today Tuesday March 13th.

The committee questions are almost more depressing than the answers.

It sounds to me like they are relying very heavily on algorithms, and that this person knows almost nothing about the targeting or the politics.

MP3
https://app.box.com/s/obhmamxdifjflv8iy09a688d40jyx27g

TargeT

28th March 2018, 19:16

Probably a repost.. if it's not it needs to be here....

TV is BS ;)

jH8dejYGa5A

Ba-ba-Ra

28th March 2018, 21:25

From Health Ranger, Mike Adams:

YouTube bans pandemic preparedness video that teaches people how to survive a deadly outbreak.

According to YouTube, teaching people how to survive a pandemic and remain calm “violates our guidelines” and gets banned.

The video is on this website: https://www.naturalnews.com/2018-03-28-breaking-youtube-bans-pandemic-preparedness-video-that-teaches-people-how-to-survive-a-deadly-outbreak.html

Tintin

3rd April 2018, 11:55

Probably a repost.. if it's not it needs to be here....

TV is BS ;)

jH8dejYGa5A

Mike Adams' quick capsule review of Paul Joseph Watson's recent compilation here as well. I nearly started a new thread but no need as this sits quite tidily here I think.

It would be funny - well, it kind of is anyway - were it not so terrible. :facepalm:

Stunning video reveals how local news TV journalists are nothing but human puppets (presstitutes) reading propaganda scripts

Sunday, April 01, 2018 by: Mike Adams

A stunning video posted by Paul Joseph Watson reveals the extent to which local TV journalists are presstitute puppets who deliver the exact same lines read from scripts.

This video exposes just how fake the legacy media really is, and adding to the irony, this stunning demonstration of coordinated fake news was intended to be an attack against fake news. (h/t to Gateway Pundit (http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/04/paul-joseph-watson-shows-fake-news-talking-about-fake-news-which-is-fake-news/))

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zve_TXOXz8

Foxie Loxie

3rd April 2018, 16:03

TargeT

3rd April 2018, 19:04

Social media colludes to bash false news, with the exact same words over hundreds of stations.... this is a great clip... haha

cabD_0h5mcA

Ivy23

3rd April 2018, 21:52

Tintin

4th April 2018, 16:12

Social media colludes to bash false news, with the exact same words over hundreds of stations.... this is a great clip... haha

cabD_0h5mcA

Folks, don’t forget.... this is extremely dangerous to our democracy. Excellent clip!

This is the same Paul Joseph Watson video posted here, isn't it? http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?94731-Fake-News-and-the-War-on-Freedom-and-Truth&p=1217959&viewfull=1#post1217959

Tintin

4th April 2018, 20:57

Has anyone watched the old movie, "Citizen Kane"? At one point, Kane says, "The people will believe what I tell them to believe"!(newspaper) Think WWII era, didn't most people believe what their governments told them, fight & die for it?! :facepalm:

It is encouraging that at this point in time so many have become aware of The Hidden Hand so we can unmask what is REALLY going on! :clapping:

I have Foxie and it truly is a masterpiece.

It has definitely been shared here before - well, at least references to, I know I have - but the movie 'Network' from 1976 and a particular scene in that (where the character Howard Beale is metaphorically mown down by the 'Corporaion' spiel, somewhere towards the end) kinda sums things up too.

In the meantime enjoy one of these :cocktail:

Tintin

5th April 2018, 12:46

@Foxie Loxie:

Here's the memorable narrative from 'Network' that I mentioned in a very recent post here. I think you'd agree - a remarkable piece of scripting, and still so continually relevant over forty years later.

Arthur Jensen: You have meddled with the primal forces of nature, Mr. Beale, and I won't have it! Is that clear? You think you've merely stopped a business deal. That is not the case! The Arabs have taken billions of dollars out of this country, and now they must put it back! It is ebb and flow, tidal gravity! It is ecological balance! You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immane, interwoven, interacting, multivariate, multinational dominion of dollars. Petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars, reichmarks, rins, rubles, pounds, and shekels.

It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today! And YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and YOU... WILL... ATONE! Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale? You get up on your little twenty-one inch screen and howl about America and democracy. There is no America. There is no democracy. There is only IBM, and ITT, and AT&T, and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today. What do you think the Russians talk about in their councils of state, Karl Marx? They get out their linear programming charts, statistical decision theories, minimax solutions, and compute the price-cost probabilities of their transactions and investments, just like we do. We no longer live in a world of nations and ideologies, Mr. Beale.

The world is a college of corporations, inexorably determined by the immutable bylaws of business. The world is a business, Mr. Beale. It has been since man crawled out of the slime. And our children will live, Mr. Beale, to see that... perfect world... in which there's no war or famine, oppression or brutality. One vast and ecumenical holding company, for whom all men will work to serve a common profit, in which all men will hold a share of stock. All necessities provided, all anxieties tranquilized, all boredom amused. And I have chosen you, Mr. Beale, to preach this evangel.

Howard Beale: Why me?
Arthur Jensen: Because you're on television, dummy. Sixty million people watch you every night of the week, Monday through Friday.
Howard Beale: I have seen the face of God.
Arthur Jensen: You just might be right, Mr. Beale.

Foxie Loxie

5th April 2018, 12:54

Thanks, Tintin! :highfive:

Tintin

5th April 2018, 13:22

Ahead of another terrifically salient and poignant reminder blog post from Jon Rappoport I am going to take the liberty of continuing a brief 'Network' (1976) theme and lead off this post with a scene from this absolute titanic classic of a movie.

IMDb information on the film can be found here: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0074958/?ref_=ttqt_qt_tt

The script sparkles, and the performances from the whole ensemble in this movie are really quite something. I absolutely recommend that any reader or guest here watch it as it will provide searing insight and may help cement relevant commentary.

The character Howard Beale is a one-time news anchor for a 'fictional' tv network who has a Damascean moment one night and becomes a somewhat messianic champion of freedom of thought and individualism.

Here's another classic scene, one which you may well have come across before:

Howard Beale: [laughing to himself]

But, man, you're never going to get any truth from us. We'll tell you anything you want to hear; we lie like hell. We'll tell you that, uh, Kojak always gets the killer, or that nobody ever gets cancer at Archie Bunker's house, and no matter how much trouble the hero is in, don't worry, just look at your watch; at the end of the hour he's going to win. We'll tell you any **** you want to hear. We deal in *illusions*, man! None of it is true! But you people sit there, day after day, night after night, all ages, colors, creeds... We're all you know. You're beginning to believe the illusions we're spinning here. You're beginning to think that the tube is reality, and that your own lives are unreal.

You do whatever the tube tells you! You dress like the tube, you eat like the tube, you raise your children like the tube, you even *think* like the tube!

This is mass madness, you maniacs!

In God's name, you people are the real thing! *WE* are the illusion! So turn off your television sets. Turn them off now. Turn them off right now. Turn them off and leave them off! Turn them off right in the middle of the sentence I'm speaking to you now! TURN THEM OFF...

[collapses in a prophetic swoon as the audience erupts in thunderous applause]

Now, back to Jon Rappoport (Tintin Q]

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fake news, staged reality, no context, and the programmed viewer
By Jon Rappoport

Every television newscast: staged reality.

The news is all about manipulating the context of stories. The thinner the context, the thinner the mind must become to accept it.

If you want to visualize this, imagine a rectangular solid. The news covers the top surface. Therefore, the viewer's mind is trained to work in only two dimensions. Then it can't fathom depth, and it certainly can't appreciate the fact that the whole rectangular solid moves through time, the fourth dimension.

Focus on the network evening news. This is where the staging is done well---until recently.

First, we have the studio image itself, the colors in foreground and background, the blend of restful and charged hues. The anchor and his/her smooth style.

Then we have the shifting of venue from the studio to reporters in the field, demonstrating the reach of coverage: the planet. As if this equals authenticity.

Actually, those reporters in the field rarely dig up information on location. A correspondent standing on a rooftop in Cairo could just as well be positioned in a bathroom in a Las Vegas McDonald's. His report would be identical. (my emphasis - TQ)

The managing editor, usually the elite news anchor, chooses the stories to cover and has the final word on their sequence.

The anchor goes on the air: "Our top story tonight, more signs of gridlock today on Capitol Hill, as legislators walked out of a session on federal budget negotiations..."

The viewer fills in the context for the story: "Oh yes, the government. Gridlock is bad. Just like traffic on the I-5. A bad thing. We want the government to get something done, but they aren't. These people are always arguing with each other. They don't agree. They're in conflict. Yes, conflict, just like on the cop shows."

The anchor: "The Chinese government reports the new flu epidemic has spread to three provinces. Forty-two people have already died, and nearly a hundred are hospitalized..."

The viewer again supplies context, such as it is: "Flu. Dangerous. Epidemic. Could it arrive here? Get my flu shot."

The anchor: "A new university study states that gun owners often stock up on weapons and ammunition..."

The viewer: "People with guns. Why do they need a dozen weapons? I don't need a gun. The police have guns. Could I kill somebody if he broke into the house?"

The anchor: "Doctors at Yale University have made a discovery that could lead to new treatments in the battle against autism..."

Viewer: "That would be good. More research. Laboratory. The brain."

If, at the end of the newscast, the viewer bothered to review the stories and his own reactions to them, he would realize he'd learned nothing. But reflection is not the game.

In fact, the flow of the news stories has washed over him and created very little except a sense of (false) continuity.

Therefore, every story on the news broadcast achieves the goal of keeping the context thin---night after night, year after year. The overall effect of this staging is: small viewer's mind, small viewer's understanding.

Next we come to words and pictures. More and more, news broadcasts are using the rudimentary film technique of a voice narrating what the viewer is seeing on the screen.

People are shouting and running and falling in a street. The anchor or a field reporter says: "The country is in turmoil. Parliament has suspended sessions for the third day in a row, as the government decides what to do about uprisings aimed at forcing democratic elections..."

Well, the voice must be right, because we're seeing the pictures. If the voice said the riots were due to garbage-pickup cancellations, the viewer would believe that, too.

We see Building #7 of the WTC collapse. Must have been the result of a fire. The anchor tells us so. Words give meaning to pictures.

Staged news.

It mirrors what the human mind, in an infantile state, is always doing: looking at the world and seeking a brief summary to explain what that world is, at any given moment.

Since the dawn of time, untold billions of people have been urging a "television anchor" to "explain the pictures."

The news gives them that precise solution, every night.

"Well, Mr. Jones," the doctor says, as he pins X-rays to a screen in his office. "See this? Right here? We'll need to start chemo immediately, and then we may have to remove most of your brain, and as a follow-up, take out one eye."

Sure, why not? The patient saw the pictures and the anchor explained them.

Eventually, people get the idea and do it for themselves. They see things, they invent one-liners to explain them.

They're their own anchors. They short-cut and undermine their own experience with vapid summaries of what it all means.

And then, of course, when the news cuts to commercial, the fake products take over:

"Well, every night they're showing the same brand names, so those brands must be better than the unnamed alternatives."

Which devolves into: "I like this commercial better than that commercial. This is a great commercial. Let's have a contest and vote on the best commercial."

For "intelligent" viewers, there is another sober mainstream choice in America, a safety valve: PBS. That newscast tends to show more pictures from foreign lands.

"Yes, I watch PBS because they understand the planet is interconnected. It isn't just about America. That's good."

Sure it's good, if you want the same thin-context or false-context reports on events in other countries. Instead of the two minutes NBC might give you about momentous happenings in Syria, PBS will give you four minutes.

PBS' experts seem kinder and gentler. "They're nice and they're more relaxed. I like that."

Yes, the PBS experts are taking Valium, and they're not drinking as much coffee as the CBS experts.

There are various forms of mind control. The one I'm describing here---the thinning of context---is universal. It confounds the mind by pretending depth doesn't exist and is merely a fantasy.

The mind, before it is trained away from it, is always interested in depth.

Another way of putting it: the mind naturally wants more space, not less. Only constant conditioning can change this.

Eventually, when you say "mind," people think you're referring to the brain, or they don't know what you're talking about at all.

Mind control by eradicating the concept of mind.

That's quite a trick.

But now, on the national evening news, something has changed. The quality of the elite anchors has plummeted. These mind-control pros are less and less capable of delivering: the voice of authority.

In the old days, you had Water Cronkite, Harry Reasoner, Chet Huntley, Tom Brokaw, and (before he crashed and burned) Dan Rather. Big-time fakers.

Eventually, this devolved into a B-team of bench players: Dianne Sawyer, Brian Williams, Scott Pelley. Less believable---but still fairly effective.

However, now, at the three major networks, it's androids on parade. Two pretty boys, David Muir and Jeff Glor, and the NBC cadaver, Lester Holt.

The ship is sinking.

Instead of trying to label their competition Fake News, the networks should look to themselves and try to figure out why they can't find father figures to deliver their no-context broadcasts.

The audience is wising up. The correct notes on the scale of mind control aren't being struck.

The system is falling apart.

When I named this site No More Fake News 17 years ago, I could see a fatigue factor setting in---not only in the mainstream news audience, but in the networks themselves. They were playing out the string, hoping to coast on their prior reputations. They weren't just putting their viewers to sleep (their covert goal), they were slowly falling asleep themselves.

In the following years, the situation grew worse. The networks were moving on auto-pilot.

And now, they're reaching the end of the line. They're focusing on the only story that can deliver them ratings: Trump.

They fear him, they hate him---and they love him, because he gives them the numbers that justify their advertising rates.

It's always problematical when the only thing maintaining your survival is your enemy. Especially an enemy whose whole method of attack is to accuse you of subverting your basic mission.

Since the dawn of time on this planet, news has been controlled, for good reason. The people who own the news are able to paint an overall surface of reality for the masses. Which has been their intent.

In a last-ditch attempt to save themselves now, the major networks are enlisting the help of big social media, in order to censor independent media. But even here, there is a problem. Millions and millions of people know where independent news sites are. They don't have to go through Facebook and Twitter and You Tube (or Google) to find them.

Efforts at censorship strengthen the rebellion against major news outlets.

There are signs that social media are reaching the point of exhaustion. Their users are becoming fed up with the debilitating effects of playing the game. Accumulating followers and likes hasn't turned out to be the key to happiness.

If these behemoths fall, what is left?

Two options: stay asleep and keep crawling over the fake surface mainstream news creates;

Or wake up.

Hervé

13th May 2018, 16:47

Big surprise: Politicians and corporations hire actors to signal support that doesn't actually exist (https://thefreethoughtproject.com/politicians-admit-paying-actors-show-fake-support/)

John Vibes The Free Thought Project (https://thefreethoughtproject.com/politicians-admit-paying-actors-show-fake-support/)
Fri, 11 May 2018 16:03 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s23/467359/large/paid_actors_696x366.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s23/467359/full/paid_actors_696x366.jpg)

In an age where most politicians have very little support for their campaigns and causes, they have been known to resort to desperate measures to improve their public image. While this practice is disregarded by some as a "conspiracy theory," many politicians have been caught hiring actors to fill the crowds of their campaign speeches - corporations too.

In fact, just this week in Ontario, Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford's campaign was forced to admit that they hired actors for at least one of their events. Ford's staff acted like this was not authorized by them, but instead blamed a local candidate for arranging their actors. Campaign officials for Toronto Centre Tory candidate Meredith Cartwright reportedly hired the actors to support Ford at a rally in Dundas Square.
"We were very confused by this situation because we are getting record numbers of supporters to every event across Ontario. This was done by a local candidate and it won't be continuing," Ford's spokeswoman, Melissa Lantsman, said in an email to the Toronto Star (https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/canada/doug-ford-campaign-confirms-actors-were-hired-to-play-the-part-of-pc-supporters-at-monday%E2%80%99s-debate-rally/ar-AAwXxT0?ocid=spartanntp).
A number of these actors reached out to the press about the event to blow the whistle, including artist and performer Devanshu Narang.

Narang told The Star that he was offered $75 to appear at the rally between 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. wearing the candidate's t-shirt, but he turned down the gig.
"I was shocked to see this happen in Canada, in Toronto. I find it offensive even to the Canadian democracy. The main thing was that, you know, the moment I saw that I kind of felt odd about it. You know, politicians hiring actors to play supporters is like the way it works in the Third World," Narang said.
Ford's campaign is insisting that this is an accident and that it won't happen again, and that they have "no need" for these types of services because their candidates are so popular.
"We don't need to pay anyone. When we have events, we're packed, we don't need that," Ford said (http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/doug-ford-debate-protesters-1.4653301) at a press conference.
It is interesting to note that Doug Ford is the brother of late Rob Ford (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/11/world/canada/doug-ford-conservatives-ontario.html), the former Toronto mayor who was famous for smoking crack on video. Doug Ford promised in his brother's eulogy (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RoLU71rDbI) that "Ford nation will continue." When Rob Ford was alive, the brothers famously got into a screaming match (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6JLHDXb894) with the public at a city council meeting.

kcRFrXmQyus

The practice of hiring actors to astroturf campaigns is more common than most people would expect. Even current US President Donald Trump was found to be hiring actors to cheer him on at early campaign events. Although the Trump Administration initially denied these reports, FEC documents (http://www.fec.gov/press/press2017/digests/20170120digest.shtml) released in 2017 revealed that a casting agency was paid to send supporters to the event. During the same campaign, Hillary Clinton was accused of paying a child actor (https://thefreethoughtproject.com/clinton-campaign-busted-using-child-actor-pennsylvania-town-hall-event/) to ask a scripted question during a town hall event.

This trick is not limited to political campaigns either, earlier this month it was reported that at least 50 actors were hired (https://thelensnola.org/2018/05/04/actors-were-paid-to-support-entergys-power-plant-at-new-orleans-city-council-meetings/) by an energy company to support the construction of a new power plant at a town hall meeting.
"They paid us to sit through the meeting and clap every time someone said something against wind and solar power. I'm not political, I needed the money for a hotel room at that point," said Keith Keough, who was one of the actors hired.
The actors were even asked to sign non-disclosure agreements (https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/4450791-22450478-10209665066210350-1404230592-O.html), which prohibited them from speaking to the media or telling anyone that they were paid to support the power plant. The company still denies any accusations that it hired any actors to support them at the meeting.

It is also common for war propaganda (https://thefreethoughtproject.com/crisis-actors-isis-propaganda-bombing/) to be carried out with actors since it is now fairly easy to stage a war scene and get away with it.

Hervé

28th June 2018, 20:38

Have the White Helmets just been caught staging a False Flag? (https://www.fort-russ.com/2018/06/have-the-white-helmets-just-been-caught-staging-a-false-flag/)

By Joaquin Flores (https://www.fort-russ.com/author/joaquin-flores/) On Jun 28, 2018

The White Helmets, what amounts to the media and PR wing of ISIS, have been discovered by the residents of Idlib, preparing to ‘be there just in time’ for an upcoming surprise chemical attack from the ‘Assad Regime’ which somehow they know about, and are getting ready to stage a real horror show to underscore. Tass (http://tass.com/world/1011225) covered the story today, what’s a very good sign is that this is being called out before hand, before things can happen. Hopefully this alone will mean that such a plan is foiled, dead on arrival.

https://www.fort-russ.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/DbELWhBUMAA0tSn-300x204.jpg (https://www.fort-russ.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/DbELWhBUMAA0tSn.jpg)

Apparently the long and short of it is that these White Helmet boys have been caught red handed preparing a provocation, where they’d naturally have some inconveniently Israeli or European chemical substances on standby, ready to create a huge scene in Idlib. The Chief of the Russian Center for Reconciliation of the Opposing sides, let this be known yesterday.
https://www.fort-russ.com/2018/06/have-the-white-helmets-just-been-caught-staging-a-false-flag/ (https://www.fort-russ.com/2018/06/have-the-white-helmets-just-been-caught-staging-a-false-flag/)
This part is particularly interesting, because it has been Russia – there on the ground – who has for some time been outing, on an increasingly official level, these White Helmet sorts. It’s been well proven that a White Helmet is just another job for an FSA or ISIS fighter. Pay rate’s about the same, risks to life a bit lower. Not a bad gig overall.

What the Russians have officially reported through their various media vehicles, as saying, is that based on a phone call from local residence in the province, White Helmets were spotted with a convoy of six cars, which all had the White Helmets logo on them. There also was reportedly a truck that had been loaded with protective gear, containers for liquid, seven rockets, and video equipment. If true, pretty damning evidence.

Despite this, no one captured any photos. Should the claim be believed? The main point, probably should be believed. How the Russians came about their intel, probably has nothing to do with local reports from those in the area by Maaret al-Numan, within Idlib. For sure we would have seen a photo of this had this scene been seen by a real resident.

This is the greatest sign that perhaps it was someone working inside who leaked this to the Syrians or the Russians. We have to keep in mind that in the last week, there have been other areas were FSA units had surrendered, then others fight side by side allied with the Syrian Arab Army, against ISIS formations. A pretty bizarre scenario, but it would have been just one of many scenarios in which a friendly enough FSA type with some authority on the ground-level organization, would have had the opportunity to have let this one out.

Valerie Villars

3rd July 2018, 18:48

"I NEVER SAID THAT!

Hi-tech deception of 'deepfake' videos

WASHINGTON (AP) — Hey, did my congressman really say that? Is that really President Donald Trump on that video, or am I being duped?

New technology on the internet lets anyone make videos of real people appearing to say things they’ve never said. Republicans and Democrats predict this high-tech way of putting words in someone’s mouth will become the latest weapon in disinformation wars against the United States and other Western democracies.

We’re not talking about lip-syncing videos. This technology uses facial mapping and artificial intelligence to produce videos that appear so genuine it’s hard to spot the phonies. Lawmakers and intelligence officials worry that the bogus videos — called deepfakes — could be used to threaten national security or interfere in elections.

So far, that hasn’t happened, but experts say it’s not a question of if, but when.

“I expect that here in the United States we will start to see this content in the upcoming midterms and national election two years from now,” said Hany Farid, a digital forensics expert at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. “The technology, of course, knows no borders, so I expect the impact to ripple around the globe.”

When an average person can create a realistic fake video of the president saying anything they want, Farid said, “we have entered a new world where it is going to be difficult to know how to believe what we see.” The reverse is a concern, too. People may dismiss as fake genuine footage, say of a real atrocity, to score political points.

Realizing the implications of the technology, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is already two years into a four-year program to develop technologies that can detect fake images and videos. Right now, it takes extensive analysis to identify phony videos. It’s unclear if new ways to authenticate images or detect fakes will keep pace with deepfake technology.

Deepfakes are so named because they utilize deep learning, a form of artificial intelligence. They are made by feeding a computer an algorithm, or set of instructions, lots of images and audio of a certain person. The computer program learns how to mimic the person’s facial expressions, mannerisms, voice and inflections. If you have enough video and audio of someone, you can combine a fake video of the person with a fake audio and get them to say anything you want.

So far, deepfakes have mostly been used to smear celebrities or as gags, but it’s easy to foresee a nation state using them for nefarious activities against the U.S., said Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., one of several members of the Senate intelligence committee who are expressing concern about deepfakes.

A foreign intelligence agency could use the technology to produce a fake video of an American politician using a racial epithet or taking a bribe, Rubio says. They could use a fake video of a U.S. soldier massacring civilians overseas, or one of a U.S. official supposedly admitting a secret plan to carry out a conspiracy. Imagine a fake video of a U.S. leader — or an official from North Korea or Iran — warning the United States of an impending disaster.

“It’s a weapon that could be used — timed appropriately and placed appropriately — in the same way fake news is used, except in a video form, which could create real chaos and instability on the eve of an election or a major decision of any sort,” Rubio told The Associated Press.

Deepfake technology still has a few hitches. For instance, people’s blinking in fake videos may appear unnatural. But the technology is improving.

“Within a year or two, it’s going to be really hard for a person to distinguish between a real video and a fake video,” said Andrew Grotto, an international security fellow at the Center for International Security and Cooperation at Stanford University in California.

“This technology, I think, will be irresistible for nation states to use in disinformation campaigns to manipulate public opinion, deceive populations and undermine confidence in our institutions,” Grotto said. He called for government leaders and politicians to clearly say it has no place in civilized political debate.

Crude videos have been used for malicious political purposes for years, so there’s no reason to believe the higher-tech ones, which are more realistic, won’t become tools in future disinformation campaigns.

Rubio noted that in 2009, the U.S. Embassy in Moscow complained to the Russian Foreign Ministry about a fake sex video it said was made to damage the reputation of a U.S. diplomat. The video showed the married diplomat, who was a liaison to Russian religious and human rights groups, making telephone calls on a dark street. The video then showed the diplomat in his hotel room, scenes that apparently were shot with a hidden camera. Later, the video appeared to show a man and a woman having sex in the same room with the lights off, although it was not at all clear that the man was the diplomat.

John Beyrle, who was the U.S. ambassador in Moscow at the time, blamed the Russian government for the video, which he said was clearly fabricated.

Michael McFaul, who was American ambassador in Russia between 2012 and 2014, said Russia has engaged in disinformation videos against various political actors for years and that he too had been a target. He has said that Russian state propaganda inserted his face into photographs and “spliced my speeches to make me say things I never uttered and even accused me of pedophilia.”

____

Associated Press video journalists Padmananda Rama in Washington, D.C., and Terry Chea in Palo Alto, California, contributed to this report.

http://apnews.com/.../I-never-said-that!-High-tech-deception-of-'deepfake'-videos

Tintin

12th July 2018, 16:28

".....it's all a cartoon. On both sides. Broadcasters and audience. You may not like it that I take a hard line on the audience, but too bad. The audience is faking it just as much as the newscasters. You have to admit there are levels to the mind." | Ellis Medavoy being interviewed by Jon Rappoport

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In an excerpt from Jon's recent "The Matrix Revealed" series he shares a most interesting interview with a 'whistleblower' --Ellis Medavoy-- and there are here some really thought provoking statements, which provide, amongst many others, a doorway into the psychology of those involved in the mainstream news circus.

As he (Ellis) states in this exchange:

"Why do you think all this research on the brain is being done? To home in on the best frequencies for the insertion of information. That's what we're discussing here. But good newspeople already understand the frequency game. Intuitively. They understand it better than the brain researchers. "

There really is, as most of you reading this may already be well aware, a LOT of thought and research that goes into the hypnosis --it's very very cleverly crafted and presented; it is an art form.

(Linking back to this earlier post here (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?94731-Fake-News-and-the-War-on-Freedom-and-Truth&p=1218281&viewfull=1#post1218281) for some flow of continuity.)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Theatrical dance: the fake news mainstream reporter and his audience -
And the deeper implications behind it

By Jon Rappoport (https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2018/07/11/theatrical-dance-the-mainstream-reporter-and-his-audience/), May 2012

by Jon Rappoport

May 2012

Q & A with Ellis Medavoy:

It's rare, these days, for me to get messages from retired propaganda master, Ellis Medavoy. He's always been a difficult man. Now, he's even tougher to coax out of his cave.

Nevertheless, because I'm persistent, I interview Ellis 28 times (290 pages) in my new collection, THE MATRIX REVEALED. The quality of his information on the nuts and bolts of The Matrix is priceless.

Q (Jon): So the job of the propagandist is to make fiction look and feel like fact.

A (Ellis): Propagandists know who they're feeding, and they know what morsel will be snapped up by these newspeople. They know how to shape the morsel and color it and flavor it so that it becomes a drug.

Q: The memories of these newspeople...

A: Are data banks. Their memories are all data all the time. The memories form their reality. INTERRUPTION of reality is the primary sin. It can't be tolerated.

Q: What do you mean by interruption?

A: A place in the mind where a corrosive question or doubt is inserted about the nature or character of a fact. For the regular human, this can be dealt with, at least to some degree. For the newsman, this is like a hammer blowing time to pieces. The flow is interrupted. It would be like one of those old stock brokers, when he followed the second-to-second transmission of stock prices by looking at a narrow piece of paper tape. He'd hold the tape in his hands and read it as it came through, yards and yards of it. But suppose the tape came out of the machine blank for a few minutes. This is why some people can't meditate. They're instinctively afraid they might come upon a silent moment where thought stops.

Q: So to ask your own question back to you, where DO these newspeople come from?

A: They, at an early age, see power as the capacity to know "what's going on." They plug into that kind of power.

Q: It's strange.

A: It's superficial. It's all about surface flow of information. They stick to the surface. What they're looking at, what they're fascinated by is a kind of theater. They're looking at theater. I've known that for a long time. It was part of my job to know it, because then I could present stories that would get through to reporters in a form that would have that theatrical feel.

Q: The players know their roles.

A: The reporters know, their editors know, their reliable sources know, and people like me, who feed those reliable sources, are like directors. It's hard to describe this, but there is a certain pulse and pace and feel to the way you should supply stories to sources or reporters or editors. You know when to go fast and when to go slow. You know how to plug into their sense of theater. Their need for theater.

Q: So the addiction of these newspeople has a theatrical dimension to it.

A: Have you ever seen a junkie operate? A great deal of his action and talk is theater. He presents theater and he wants theater back. The newsman confuses theater with facts. It's all rolled up into a big space. I've sold stories to reporters based purely on the theatricality of my presentation. See, let me tell you something. When I talk to a reporter, I know I'm walking into a theater where the play is ALREADY underway. It never stops for a reporter. So I hit the ground running. I enter the scene mid-stream. I don't think, "Now, I'm starting to pitch my lines, now the scene is beginning." No. I'm intuiting and seeing where he [the reporter] is right now, in the middle of one of his scenes, so to speak, and I plug directly into that place, that moment. Do you understand? This is the subtlety of the art.

Q: You understand his psychology.

A: Yes, and I understand his flow. I read the signals. Oh, this is Death of a Salesman or Streetcar Named Desire, or Hamlet, and they just shoved me out on the stage, and I have to know how to match the emotions of the moment, where the scene has already been going on for five minutes. It sounds a little odd, but that's how you play the game if you want to win. It could be a very quiet moment in the scene, and then I need to talk in a whisper. It could be the peak of the scene, where the emotions are running high, and I have to drive right in and be there for it, with my feelings turned on high, too.

Q: But behind that, you were doing something quite different.

A: Of course. I had my marching orders and my agenda.

Q: You know, it's almost like you're talking about frequencies.

A: I am. Propaganda runs on carrier waves. What are you using to transmit messages? What wave? I knew my targets: reporters and editors and their reliable sources. So I had to understand and tune into the frequencies they would accept. If you watch the best television news anchors, you see they're adopting several tight emotional frequencies, and they use them to transmit, with their voices and demeanor, the news to the public. They use a nearly perfect imitation of several things: concern, objectivity, dignity, intelligence, with a bit of a rosy glow of sincerity and humanity. That's the recipe.

Q: Imitation, you say.

A: Yes. They're a cartoon. They create a cartoon persona. A very well crafted one. And the audience is a cartoon, too.

Q: Why is the audience a cartoon?

A: Because, underneath it all, they know they're being conned. At some level, they realize it's a show. So they pretend, and they do it well. They pretend they're very involved.

Q: You can see that?

A: See it? I lived by it for many years. I staked my reputation on all of this, on everything I'm talking about here. It wasn't just theory. I went into the trenches with my understanding, and I made it succeed.

Q: You're talking about using your skills on people who report the news, who tell the public what's going on.

A: As I just said, it's all a cartoon. On both sides. Broadcasters and audience. You may not like it that I take a hard line on the audience, but too bad. The audience is faking it just as much as the newscasters. You have to admit there are levels to the mind.

Q: Meaning?

A: On one level, the audience appears to accept what the mainstream news is telling them. But on another level, as I'm saying for the third time, the audience knows it's a fake. And why don't they admit it? Why don't they say, 'I'm sitting here at night buying what I know is fake. I'm watching the screen and the anchor is giving me the news and I know it's cooked.' Why don't people do that? Because they refuse to look at their own little drama of stimulation, in which they are titillated by what the newspeople are giving them. They don't want that professionally produced titillation to go away.

Q: You may have heard of something called the Internet. It's changing things.

A: Sounds vaguely familiar. Yes. The ground is splitting beneath the audience's feet. I'm not a praying man, but I do something close to that every day, as regards The New York Times and NBC. I ask for them to go bankrupt. The Times is on the road to perdition and insolvency. If they go, it will make an interesting sound.

Q: Is your blood pressure okay? You're a retired senior citizen.

A: I think I can hold my own.

Q: If you need to take a break, we can do that.

A: (laughs) Everybody needs to take his medicine.

Q: I can think of two or three meanings for that sentence.

A: See, I'm a little sick of people saying that the great unwashed masses of very fine people are being fooled and duped by the big bad controllers. It's a mutual dance. I knew that thirty years ago. Everybody has to own up to his part in the cartoon, in the theatrical presentation. I know the difference between real victims and fake victims.

Q: What is that difference?

A: The real victims, in certain countries, are being taken out by massive corporations with their assisting government troops and all sorts of other support. The fake victims are sitting in front of television sets eating sugar and tuning right into the frequencies of the presentation of the news. They're frequency addicts, and I'm very serious about that. This is exactly what they're hooked on. Why do you think all this research on the brain is being done? To home in on the best frequencies for the insertion of information.

That's what we're discussing here. But good newspeople already understand the frequency game. Intuitively. They understand it better than the brain researchers. [My emphasis - Tintin]

And the audience needs that human face and voice to transmit the addicting frequencies to them. It isn't just the old flicker rate of the TV or the frames per second or the illuminated screen. It's the person delivering the news. He's the prime force. He's addicted to the frequencies he's using! He's addicted, too, and he's transmitting and sharing his addiction with the audience.

Q: And what's the cure for this addiction?

A: The world is resonating every day with what humans want. Here is what they want: they want to ingratiate themselves with each other. Ingratiation. Acceptance. Those are the frequencies. That's the theme of the play. Those are the resonating frequencies. That's how information is built and fabricated to invoke belief and faith. That's the carrier wave, the resonance.

Q: When did you realize this?

A: When I was nine. But that's a whole other story. Realizing it pushed me into the work I did. It also rescued me from continuing to do that work. I got out. You know what getting out means? It means I don't any longer accept what I was doing, AND I refuse to accept the conditions that made it possible to do that work. I didn't just get out part way. I got out all the way. I don't buy the basic theme of the play or the ingratiating resonance anymore. I offloaded the whole thing.

You know what? Tomorrow, if I wanted to, I could start a new religion. And it wouldn't really involve any of the factual deceptions I used to use in my work. I could start a non-denominational religion based, say, entirely on charity. That's all.

And it would look like a very good thing. But I WOULD be using my ability to put out my messages on frequencies and resonances that would attract people. See? That's how I'd build my audience. And I won't do that. I know how to do it very, very well, but I won't do that. That's what getting out all the way means.

Q: You know---

A: I know a few solid truths. You can get people to sleepwalk from "bad things" to "good things" and they're still sleepwalking. And that's the real problem. That's one element of The Matrix.

Q: Scientists tend to believe in operant conditioning. They believe people think and act according to one type of operant conditioning or another, and there are no other choices.

A: That's right. That's the problem.

Smell the Roses

13th July 2018, 14:15

Most people are very happy with the charade. This is a key point. It took me a while to realize this. I used to try to convince people, to use logic or other means to try to allow them to see that this or that thing was a total deception or injustice. All that does is make the person dislike or hate you, the messenger. They don't want you taking away their candy.

The Rappoport interview above illustrates this idea of the media Stockhom syndrome beautifully.

The frequencies of ingratiation and acceptance that Medavoy mentions relate perfectly to the thoughts I have been having lately. All humans want to be made to feel special, and in a way they are each special. However, the problem comes in that they are all looking for an outward confirmation of their own unique DNA stamp. Media has indeed in a scientific way been able to appease this need to a large extent.

There are two problems with finding the outward confirmation in that artificial way of media stimulation. One is that the media purveyor can steer the participant in a direction of the choosing of the media corporation and its partners. The other is that the target audience rarely learns how to find confirmation from within, which is the only lasting advancement of the human condition.:heart:

Hervé

13th July 2018, 16:15

Smell the Roses

13th July 2018, 16:35

I affectionately call those deeply entranced people the "Toilet Flushers (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?59804-My-Almost-Zero-Success-At-Awakening-People-Advice-Needed&p=683950&viewfull=1#post683950)" ... it totally, completely fits with Jon Rappoport's interviews with Ellis Medavoy and/or Jack True (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?100690-Hypnotherapy-the-Pros-and-Cons&p=1192263&viewfull=1#post1192263) :)

Thanks for referring me to this anecdote regarding the toilet flushers. This hypnotism method can't be foolproof, because some people can and have broken out of it. But the hypnotizers must be pleased at their widespread success so far.

Tintin

26th July 2018, 14:54

"Big media attacks “fake news.” Independent reporters rightly point the finger at big media as the predominant purveyor of fake news."
- Jon Rappoport, July 25th 2018

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Drilling into this article --- and not ever so far --- the livelier minds amongst our readership will be able to tie-up to the mysterious and sad demise of Dr. David Kelly (http://dr-david-kelly.blogspot.com/), amongst other events.

It begs a question: is the real reason for his murder by the state because he found the true origin of WMDs (https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/03/the-novichok-story-is-indeed-another-iraqi-wmd-scam/)?

Some assert that he may not have found any at all.

Whichever way you look at it the way things were spun by the PR behind the then Blair administration, and then presented to the public at large would fit the blueprint of "fake news" --- what Dr. David Kelly described at the time as "...sexed up.."

Jon Rappoport reports on the traceable and evidenced trail of biowar material supply to Iraq and the deliberate and wilful neglect of the mainstream media to dig deeper and expose the real truth behind the sources.

In a more contemporary setting one can then very simply draw another link to how easy it would be to be able to draw the sensible conclusion that sources of chemical weapons/bio-weapons, however deadly or not, could originate from really just about anywhere (https://trud.bg/350-diplomatic-flights-carry-weapons-for-terrorists/) and may be even linked to the corporations cited here, as it may relate to the recent Skripal - Rowley/Sturgess (http://projectavalon.net/forum4/showthread.php?102079-Sergei-Skripal-who-was-behind-the-Salisbury-poisoning&p=1222316&viewfull=1#post1222316) episodes in Salisbury, England.

As it is also so very relevant to the continuing concerns over state meddling in attempts to stifle the free flow of information that doesn't conform to the Establishment narrative I'm also including a link to Richard Dolan's KGRA Radio show of April 2nd, 2018 where he discusses "The war against fake news." (http://kgraradioarchives.com/Shows/richard-dolan-show/2018/RDS040218KGRA%20-%20The%20Richard%20Dolan%20Show%20-%20The%20War%20Against%20Fake%20News.mp3)

Here's Jon's article (https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2018/07/25/us-shipped-biowar-materials-to-iraq/):

US shipped biowar materials to Iraq
Mainstream fake-news: the devious limited hangout

by Jon Rappoport

July 25, 2018

Big media attacks “fake news.” Independent reporters rightly point the finger at big media as the predominant purveyor of fake news.

Here I want to comment on one of the most devious forms of MSM fake news: the limited hangout.

When necessary, news outlets will do a PARTIAL EXPOSURE of a hidden crime. The assumption is, once the story is published and broadcast, everyone will shake their heads and say, “That’s terrible,” and move on. The whole thing will be forgotten in a matter of days, as if the whole truth has been revealed. Limited hangout.

From media’s point of view, a limited hangout means: “We won’t do any further digging. We’ll shut down further investigation.” Vital questions won’t be asked:
Why did the criminals do what they did? Why are they still at large? Who is refusing to press charges and make arrests? What deeper crimes are still secret?

The mainstream press could set their hounds loose and build a story into a huge wave. Over time, they could bring hidden players out into the open and expose them and wring confessions out of them. They could get some of these players to roll over and point to higher-level criminals. The story could achieve tsunami status, at which point the government would have to make arrests and lay on trials in open courtrooms.

But that doesn’t happen.

Limited hangout rules the day.

I’m going to present a story about a crime now. It’s big. Very big. It was covered, to a degree, by the mainstream press. The coverage seemed to be significant. But it was a limited hangout.

As you read on, imagine what might have happened if the press had decided to go in with guns blazing and investigate all the way, over a period of months, releasing new revelations as they discovered them. Imagine the repercussions. Imagine the public outcry. Instead of a limited hangout, we would have seen…well, I’ll leave it to you to fill in the blanks.

In 1975, the US signed on to an international treaty banning the production, use, and stockpiling of biological weapons. Ditto for chemical weapons, in 1993. Another treaty.

Here’s a quote from the Washington Post (9/4/13,

“When the US looked the other way on chemical weapons”): “…The administrations of Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush authorized the sale to Iraq of numerous items…including poisonous chemicals and deadly biological viruses, such as anthrax and bubonic plague…”

Between 1985 and 1989, a US 501C3 firm, American Type Culture Collection, sent Iraq up to 70 shipments of various biowar agents, including 21 strains of anthrax.

Between 1984 and 1989, the CDC (Centers for Disease Control!) sent Iraq at least 80 different biowar agents, including botulinum toxoid, dengue virus, and West Nile antigen and antibody.

Then we have a comprehensive article by William Blum (one of the good investigators in this whole story) in the April 1998 Progressive called “Anthrax for Export.” Blum cites a 1994 Senate report confirming that, in this 1985-1989 time period, US shipments of anthrax and other biowar agents to Iraq were licensed by…drum roll, cymbal crash…the US Dept. of Commerce.

Blum quotes from the Senate report:

“These biological materials were not attenuated or weakened and were capable of reproduction. It was later learned that these microorganisms exported by the United States were identical to those the United Nations inspectors found and removed from the Iraqi biological warfare program.”

This 1994 Senate report also indicates that the US exported to Iraq the precursors for chemwar agents, actual plans for chemical and biowar production facilities, and chemical-warhead filling equipment. The exports continued until at least November 28, 1989.

Blum lists a few other biowar agents the US shipped to Iraq.

Histoplasma Capsulatum, Brucella Melitensis, Clostridium Perfringens, Clostridium tetani—as well as E. coli, various genetic materials, human and bacterial DNA.

Blum also points out that a 1994 Pentagon report dismissed any connection between all these biowar agents and Gulf War Illness. But the researcher who headed up that study, Joshua Lederberg, was actually a director of the US firm that had provided the most biowar material to Iraq in the 1980s: the American Type Culture Collection. (https://www.lgcstandards-atcc.org/?geo_country=gb)

Newsday revealed that the CEO of the American Type Culture Collection was a member of the US Dept. of Commerce’s Technical Advisory Committee. See, the Dept. of Commerce had to license and approve all those exports of biowar agents carried out by the American Type Culture Collection.

Get the picture?

Now, as to other US companies which dealt biowar or chemwar agents to Iraq—all such sales having been approved by the US government—the names of these companies are contained in records of the 1992 Senate hearings, “United States Export Policy Toward Iraq Prior to Iraq’s Invasion of Kuwait,” Senate Report 102-996 (https://www.gulfwarvets.com/arison/banking.htm), Senate Committee on Banking Housing and Urban Affairs, 102d Congress, Second Session (October 27, 1992):

• Mouse Master (Georgia),
•

Sullaire Corp (Charlotte, North Carolina),
• Pure Aire (Charlotte, North Carolina),
• Posi Seal (Conn.),
• Union Carbide (Conn.),
• Evapco (Maryland),
• BDM Corp (Virginia),
• Spectra Physics (Calif.).

There are about a dozen more.

This also from the Blum article:

“A larger number of American firms supplied Iraq with the specialized computers, lasers, testing and analyzing equipment, and other instruments and hardware vital to the manufacture of nuclear weapons, missiles, and delivery systems. Computers, in particular, play a key role in nuclear weapons development. Advanced computers make it feasible to avoid carrying out nuclear test explosions, thus preserving the program’s secrecy. The 1992 Senate hearings implicated [Hewlett Packard, Palo Alto, CA — among others].”

Hewlett Packard said that the recipient of its shipments, Saad 16, was some sort of school in Iraq. But in 1990, the Wall St. Journal stated that Saad 16 was a “heavily fortified, state-of-the-art [Iraqi] complex for aircraft construction, missile design, and, almost certainly, nuclear-weapons research.”

If you review and think about all these WMD shipments from the US to Iraq, you understand there were many US officials and corporate employees who knew about them. Knew about them then, in the 1980s, and knew about them later, during 2 US wars in Iraq, when American soldiers were sent to Iraq, and could have been exposed to the bio/chem weapons.

And these officials and employees said nothing.

Officials at the CDC and the Dept. of Commerce said nothing. People at the American Type Culture Collection said nothing. People at the Pentagon and the CIA and the NSA said nothing. Presidents said nothing. Employees of the corporations who supplied germs and chemicals said nothing.

—Now imagine the NY Times and the Washington Post releasing their hounds to dig deeper into this boggling story.

Interviews with the players. Investigations into the role of the CDC. The cover-ups.

After a year of relentless probing and publishing, this would have built into an unstoppable tidal wave. The whole country (and the world) would have been agog.

Prosecutions would have followed.
But it didn’t happen.

Instead, the story dissolved and went away.

The history that could have been made…

Wasn’t made.

This is fake news at its finest; by omission. By limited hangout.

A Voice from the Mountains

26th July 2018, 19:28

One of the biggest victims in the Fake News war over the past 200 years has been the entire field of anthropology. It can also be the most disturbing to people who have drank way too much of the Kool-Aid already.

Whenever you see articles in the news advocating for banning politically incorrect/insensitive or even "racist" science, chances are they're talking about the field of anthropology and anthropological studies.

onawah

4th December 2018, 18:04

NewsGuard
BEWARE: New Plan to Censor Health Websites
Written by Dr. Joseph Mercola
December 04, 2018
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2018/12/04/newsguard.aspx?utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_campaign=20181204Z1_UCM&et_cid=DM251411&et_rid=486328489
-GddtlrE8iw
"STORY AT-A-GLANCE
NewsGuard will rate online news brands based on nine criteria of credibility and transparency, ostensibly to help readers judge what is true in order to avoid fake news. It is currently focusing on U.S.-based media brands, but plans to expand online site reviews globally
NewsGuard received much of its startup funds from Publicis Groupe, a global communications group whose history of clients includes the drug and tobacco industries
NewsGuard, clearly influenced by Wall Street and indebted to big industries through its funding, is being positioned to eliminate competition, which will allow Big Industry to reign as the leading shaper of public opinion and government health policies
Americans’ trust in the media is at an all-time low. According to a 2017 Survey on Trust, Media and Democracy by the Knight Foundation, 43 percent of Americans have a negative view of news media
Sixty-six percent believe “most news media do not do a good job of separating fact from opinion”
Americans' trust in the media is at an all-time low. According to a 2017 Survey on Trust, Media and Democracy1 by the Knight Foundation, 43 percent of Americans have a negative view of news media compared to 33 percent reporting a positive view, while 66 percent believe "most news media do not do a good job of separating fact from opinion."

Seventy-three percent believe the proliferation of "fake news" on the internet is a major problem, and only half feel confident that readers can get to the facts by sorting through bias.

However, individual perception about what is true and what actually constitutes fake news varies. As reported by Medium,2 "A majority of Americans believe people knowingly portraying false information as if it were true 'always' constitutes fake news."

NewsGuard — The New Strategy Used to Deceive You
All of this brings me to the topic at hand, and the strategy the media is using to restrict your access to the truth from websites like mine, namely the latest self-appointed arbiter of trustworthiness in online media, NewsGuard.3 According to the group's website:4

"NewsGuard uses journalism to fight false news, misinformation and disinformation. Our trained analysts, who are experienced journalists, research online news brands to help readers and viewers know which ones are trying to do legitimate journalism — and which are not.

Our Green-Red ratings signal if a website is trying to get it right or instead has a hidden agenda or knowingly publishes falsehoods or propaganda."

Currently, the NewsGuard "SWAT team" is only focusing on U.S.-based media brands, but is planning on expanding "to serve the billions of people globally who get news online."

In other words, NewsGuard is setting itself up as the self-appointed global arbiter of what information is "trustworthy" — based on nine "credibility and transparency" factors — not only for information viewed on private electronic devices, but also for information accessible in public libraries and schools. Librarians will even provide instructions to patrons on how to install the NewsGuard extension on their personal computers, tablets and cell phones.

Once you've installed the NewsGuard browser plugin on your computer or cellphone, the NewsGuard icon rating will appear on all Google and Bing searches and on articles featured in your social media news feeds:

Green icon — Sites that follow "basic standards of accuracy and accountability" based on nine criteria,5 which include full disclosure of possible conflicts of interest, financing, and "notable ideological or political positions held by those with significant financial interests in the site"
Red icon — Sites that do not fulfill NewsGuard's criteria for credibility and transparency
Orange icon — Satire and humor sites that mimic real news
Blue icon — Sites that primarily host user-generated content
Gray icon — As yet unrated site
These icons are meant to influence readers, instructing them to disregard content with cautionary colors and cautions. While the warnings may be enough to prevent someone from clicking these links, I believe the true intent will be to bury this content entirely from search results and social media feeds.

It is very likely Google, Facebook, Twitter and other platforms will use these ratings to lower the visibility of content — making nonconformist views disappear entirely.

NewsGuard's Own Transparency Is Wanting
Fake news is certainly a problem. But determining who should have the final word on credibility and what is "truth" is not a simple one. Who is going to verify the credibility and transparency of the verifiers, i.e., NewsGuard?

It was hard to believe multibillion-dollar companies would rely on the likes of Snopes or Web of Trust to be the guardians of truth and credibility, and in fact they didn't. Over time, most people using the internet learned to disregard article and website ratings dispensed by either Snopes or Web of Trust.

But now, enter NewsGuard, which for all its promises to vet any and all independent online media for conflicts of interest, credibility and transparency, apparently does not expect you to put them under that same scrutiny. On NewsGuard's United States Securities and Exchange Commission Form D filed March 5, 2018, there is an option for disclosing the size of its revenue, but that box was checked, "Decline to disclose."6

Shouldn't a corporation setting itself up as the judge and validator of the transparency of others be 100 percent transparent as well? NewsGuard also claims a Rule 506(b) exemption,7 which among its benefits allows for an unlimited amount of money to be raised from an unlimited number of accredited investors.8

Well, in doing some digging of our own, aside from internet giants Microsoft9 and Google — one of the largest monopolies in the world — it appears NewsGuard is backed by companies that are presently involved, or have been in the past, in advertising and marketing of pharmaceutical products, cigarettes and unhealthy junk food to kids.

Are we to believe that the profit preferences of such entities will have no influence on NewsGuard's ratings of individuals, organizations and companies that criticize the safety or effectiveness of those products?

If this conflict of interest and lack of transparency concerns you I urge you to contact NewsGuard now and let your voice be heard. Click on the button below to send NewsGuard a message today.p>

Contact NewsGuard
NewsGuard and Microsoft are also partners in the Defending Democracy Program, a program aimed at safeguarding electoral processes by working with government.

According to Microsoft's April 2018 announcement,10 "The Defending Democracy Program will work with all stakeholders in democratic countries globally" to protect campaigns from hacking, increase transparency in political advertising, exploring technological solutions to protect electoral processes and remediate cyber threats, and ward against disinformation campaigns.

Overall, it appears NewsGuard is just another big business aimed at keeping the chemical, drug and food industries, as well as mainstream media, intact by discrediting and eliminating unwanted competition, which likely includes yours truly and many others who empower you with information that helps you take control of your health.

What You Need to Know About NewsGuard Backer, Publicis Groupe
NewsGuard's $6 million startup was funded in part by the Publicis Groupe,11 the "third largest global communications group," according to the Publicis website.12 Publicis was founded in 1926 by Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, a French entrepreneur, with the goal of improving the image of advertising and turning it into "a real profession." In fact, Publicis Groupe's name is derived in part from the French word for advertising.13

The Publicis Groupe has been manipulating what people think about commercial products for nearly a century. Over that century, this advertising and communications firm bought or partnered with targeted advertising avenues, beginning with newspapers, followed by radio, TV, cinema and the internet. Some of its self-described accomplishments include:

The first press advertising appeared in 1927

In 1930, Bleustein-Blanchet pioneered the first radio advertising

In 1935 Publicis started acquiring cinemas

In 1958, after becoming heavily involved in newspapers and expanding into partnerships with major industry names like Colgate, he created the "industrial information" department

In 1972, he entered the technology world

In 1983, he introduced the concept of global communication driven by marketing

With revenue avenues secured, Publicis' clients and partners built a global presence that dominated the advertising world. Be it tobacco or junk food, Publicis Groupe found a way to promote and strengthen big industries. Within the Publicis Groupe are four networks serving its clients,14 including Publicis Health,15 which boasts its clients are "some of the biggest and most exciting names in health and wellness."

The wallpaper on the Publicis Health site shows Lilly, Abbot, Roche, Amgen, Genentech, Celgene, Gilead, Biogen, Astra Zeneca, Sanofi and Bayer, to name a few of those clients. The Publicis Health board also consists of a power pack of high-profile individuals with Big Pharma position backgrounds or affiliations.16,17,18,19,20,21

Leo Burnett, the ad company famous for creating the Marlboro man ad campaigns that made Marlboro the best-selling cigarette in the world and led to the nicotine addiction of millions, many of whom died from smoking, is also part of Publicis.22,23

If a company such as NewsGuard has such atrocious conflicts of interests, they should take their own advice and be transparent about their investors' sources of income. How can you trust a group associated with funders known for promoting cigarettes, drugs and junk food?

The Fourth Estate
While pro-industry advertising worked well for decades, there was still the irksome problem of the Fourth Estate, a term that refers to the press.

The problem was that professional investigative journalists working for magazines, newspapers and broadcast outlets would write in-depth exposés, outing the truth behind deceptive advertising and countering industry propaganda with science, statistics and other documented facts — and when a free press with honest reporting based on verifiable facts actually does its job, ineffective or toxic products are driven off the market.

So, the answer that industry came up with in the late 20th century to combat truth in journalism was, pure and simple: Control the Fourth Estate with advertising dollars. By partnering with the "big guns" of media, such as The Paley Center for Media, Publicis and its industry clients were able to influence and, essentially, control the press to restrict or virtually eliminate your ability to ever hear the truth on many important issues, especially ones that affect your health.

The Paley Center, by the way, is composed of every major media in the world, including Microsoft, AOL, CBS, Fox, Tribune Media and entertainment — and those are just a handful of the big-name media. One of The Paley Center's activities is to sponsor an annual global forum for industry leaders.24

NewsGuard, founded by journalists Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz, is housed in The Paley Center in New York City and, in November 2015, Publicis' chairman of North America, Susan Gianinno, joined the Paley Center's board of trustees.25 Additionally, Brill's and Crovitz's former business partner in a different venture, Leo Hindery,26,27 was a prior trustee and director of The Paley Center, adding up to some fairly influential connections that NewsGuard has with the Center besides being a tenant in their building.

Publicis and Google are also partners, forming an interlocking triangle with NewsGuard. Publicis and Google joined forces with Condé Nast in 2014, creating the marketing service La Maison, "focused on producing engaging content for marketers in the luxury space."28

The Rise of Fake News
In the 21st century, industry advertorials are looking more like editorial writing in mainstream publications, while news stories increasingly parrot press releases with no probing questions to balance industry perspectives. And, when news reporters like Sharyl Attkisson dare to tell the truth, they are bullied, threatened and/or fired to prevent damage to the bottom line.

Simultaneously, another proverbial fly in the ointment for industry has emerged — the growth of alternative internet media, beginning in the early 1990s. It's easy to imagine how these independent, online news sources posed problems for the brand marketing initiatives that Publicis and similar mass communication corporations had worked so hard to develop for their industry clients.

So, consider how distraught those industry giants must have grown over time, as alternative internet media grew into a whole New Fourth Estate, with sourced analyses and investigative reporting that reflected what the old Fourth Estate used to do. Additionally, this alternative internet media has become a place where news and exchange of opinions are free, and where people all over the world can talk to each other in real time without being controlled by advertising dollars.

These alternative online news sources attract people who want to know more than what they see on TV or in paid subscription magazines and newspapers — they are people who don't take everything at face value and who intelligently question marketing and propaganda tactics.

But, as more and more independent-thinking people gravitate toward alternative journalism in ever-growing numbers, everything these Wall Street corporations have built to influence mainstream media is at stake. Again, you can imagine what they were thinking: They had to come up with a way to stop the wide reach of these New Fourth Estate internet sites.

Their answer was to create a policeman, an arbiter of truth and credibility who appears upstanding and trustworthy but who, under the radar, with a single tap on a keyboard, can "undercut" those alternative websites, independent journalists and consumer advocates. That policeman is NewsGuard. And better yet, when they chose a policeman, they made sure those heading up this final arbiter of "truth" and "fake news" came from the original Fourth State itself.

This trend of industry infiltrating the Fourth Estate — the press — was in many ways the very root and beginning of the fake news problem. So, it's ironic that NewsGuard, fronted by Publicis, connected to The Paley Center, is now cashing in on the fake news trend the press itself fostered.

Another irony is that NewsGuard's cofounders, Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz, have both written in the past, or supervised articles, about Big Pharma's influence on the health care industry (Brill as an award-winning journalist and Crovitz as publisher of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Wall Street Journal — which is a business-friendly publication as it is.29,30,31

But now, drug industry money is being used to fund the "fact-checking" Brill and Crovitz do of websites that expose the abuse of the people's trust and health by the pharmaceutical industry.

Is NewsGuard Industry's Ace Up the Sleeve?
We already have evidence that those of us providing free information and perspective that do not conform with what industry and media giants like Publicis want the people to think, believe and do, have been targeted for elimination by big search engines and social media platforms that label our information as "fake news."

Is NewsGuard a very clever new media strategy influenced by industry and designed to further discredit and block public access to websites like ours? Is their real purpose a plan to squelch websites like ours that publish referenced information questioning the safety and effectiveness of commercial products aggressively marketed by industry, government and mainstream media? It appears that it is.

As I already mentioned, NewsGuard was founded by two Fourth Estate veterans: Gordon Crovitz32 is an attorney and former Wall Street Journal publisher and executive vice-president of Dow Jones; Steven Brill33 is an attorney "journalist-entrepreneur" who founded The American Lawyer magazine and the Court TV cable channel.

With plans of world domination as the arbiter of the "trustworthiness" of information published online, NewsGuard completes industry's ring of power. With the help of NewsGuard, Wall Street-dominated media firms like Publicis can go on as before and industry can keep selling products to an unsuspecting public that has no clue they're just pawns in the game.

While many fake news sites will be eliminated by the Google and Microsoft-backed NewsGuard rating system, many legitimate news sources and information-based nonprofit organizations publishing online will also get buried by it.

The Wheel of Industry Fortune
To make sense of why NewsGuard may not be in the best interest of truth seekers, it's important to realize the key role of Publicis Groupe. By methodically acquiring and partnering with media, it has kept the wheel of industry profits going.

With the addition of the school system (Google's domination in schools being one example), the circle was nearly complete when the stumbling block in the form of alternative media emerged. That's where NewsGuard comes in — to destroy alternative media that might detract customers from Publicis Groupe's clients — industry and their products, which include but are not limited to vaccines, drugs and junk food.34,35

The Wheel of Industry Fortune
At the center of this circle is industry — from agriculture to junk food to the drug and technology industries, and more. The Paley Center for Media is connected to all the major media companies, while the Fourth Estate represents the press at large, both big and small.

The school system is an important cog in this wheel, as that's where indoctrination and generation of new customers begins. With NewsGuard's partnering with public libraries and schools, this lagging cog is now being brought fully into the fold.

To this wheel you could add a number of other players as well, such as the legislative branches of government, government health agencies and governmental consumer protection agencies, the medical community, the internet as a whole, and institutions of higher education.

But regardless of how many spokes you add, Publicis Groupe is the organizer and therefore the anchor of this wheel of industry fortune. It helps pave the way in various ways to allow industry to generate revenue. As mentioned, Publicis Groupe consists of four separate but interconnected networks that service industry clients:36

Publicis Communications, where the client's brand image and message are skillfully and creatively crafted37
Publicis Sapient, specializing in the design of digital business platforms38
Publicis Media, where "the power of the modern media landscape" is harnessed "to drive business transformation"39
Publicis Healthcare Communications Group
Now add NewsGuard, funded by Publicis and physically headquartered in The Paley Center.

Indebted to Big Industry through its funding, it appears that NewsGuard is being positioned as a "competition eradicator" that will allow Publicis and Big Industry to maintain their undisputed reign as shapers of public opinion about health-related issues, including the safety of food, air and water, medical devices and products, prescription drugs and vaccines, as well as public health policies that endorse the use of those products.

If I'm right about this, the influence of NewsGuard's ratings of websites could pose a serious threat to freedom of the press across the world. With a simple check mark, this Wall Street corporation will have the power to direct online readers to industry-approved sources of information, and to block readers from accessing sources of information that enable them to make fully informed decisions about how to take control of their health.

Blowback from censorship and bias has plagued many of these platforms for years. NewsGuard is the third party the media and social platforms have been looking for to make nonconformist views disappear altogether.

The age of electronic book burning is advancing quickly as corporate elitists are losing control of the people. NewsGuard has become the latest weapon to fortify the crumbling walls of the Wall Street castle."

Contact NewsGuard: https://www.newsguardtech.com/feedback/give/

+ Sources and References
Sources and References
1 Knight Foundation January 16, 2018
2 Medium January 15, 2018
3 Publicis Grupe March 5, 2018
4 Newsguardtech.com
5 Newsgtuardtech.com 9 Criteria
6, 7 United States Securities and Exchange Commission Form D, NewsGuard
8 Syndication Attorneys PLLC May 18, 2017
9 axios.com August 23, 2018, NewsGuard Launches First Product With Help From Microsoft
10 Microsoft April 13, 2018
11 Washington Post March 3, 2018
12 Publicis Groupe
13 Publicis Groupe History
14, 36 Publicis Groupe, The Power of One
15 Publicis Health
16 Bloomberg, Alexandra von Plato
17 LinkedIn, Andrew Adams
18 Bloomberg, Philip Chin
19 Bloomberg, Kathy Delaney
20 LinkedIn, Shannon Boyle
21 MarketScreener, Michael du Toit
22 Adage.com March 29, 1999
23 Leo Burnett
24 The Paley Center for Media 2018 Agenda
25 Paley Center for Media November 23, 2015
26 The Paley Center for Media
27 USCC.gov
28 The Drum June 20, 2014
29 Time, “Why Medical Bills Are Killing Us,” August 4, 2013
30 The Wall Street Journal, July 14, 2008
31 AdAge, February 22, 2006
32 Wikipedia, Gordon Crovitz
33 Wikipedia, Steven Brill
34 Publicis Groupe, 2017 Annual Results
35 Publicis Groupe, Wall of Creation
37 Publicis Communications
38 Publicis Sapient
39 Publicis Media

Tintin

15th December 2018, 21:02

Amongst its many other activities consider the "Integrity Initiative" (https://www.integrityinitiative.net/about) a shady and suspicious organisation indeed (Think "Media Matters, "Atlantic" etc..) And do please keep a close eye wherever these may be mentioned in future as they are very much tasked with censoring as well.

I did a little digging around a couple of weeks ago and had a read through The Institute for Statecraft list of fellows (https://www.statecraft.org.uk/fellows).

What's in a name (or several dozen)?! "Statecraft" in itself would be enough to send a chill down the spine.

There may be plenty of skullduggery ahead of course and some of these names are sure to pop up at some point.

Craig Murray writes an interesting piece in his blog (https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives/2018/12/british-security-service-infiltration-the-integrity-initiative-and-the-institute-for-statecraft/), below.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"By sleuthing the company records of this “Scottish charity”, and a couple of phone calls, I discovered that the actual location of the Institute for Statecraft is the basement of 2 Temple Place, London. This is not just any basement – it is the basement of the former London mansion of William Waldorf Astor, an astonishing building (https://twotempleplace.org/). It is, in short, possibly the most expensive basement in London."

"The Integrity Initiative offers us a glimpse into the very dirty world of surveillance and official disinformation. If we actually had a free media, it would be the biggest story of the day."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

British Security Service Infiltration, the Integrity Initiative and the Institute for Statecraft

13 Dec, 2018 in Uncategorized by craig

The British state can maintain its spies’ cover stories for centuries. Look up Eldred Pottinger, who for 180 years appears in scores of British history books – right up to and including William Dalrymple’s Return of the King – as a British officer who chanced to be passing Herat on holiday when it came under siege from a partly Russian-officered Persian army, and helped to organise the defences. In researching Sikunder Burnes,

I discovered and published from the British Library incontrovertible and detailed documentary evidence that Pottinger’s entire journey was under the direct instructions of, and reporting to, British spymaster Alexander Burnes. The first historian to publish the untrue “holiday” cover story, Sir John Kaye, knew both Burnes and Pottinger and undoubtedly knew he was publishing lying propaganda. Every other British historian of the First Afghan War (except me and latterly Farrukh Husain) has just followed Kaye’s official propaganda.

Some things don’t change. I was irresistibly reminded of Eldred Pottinger just passing Herat on holiday, when I learnt how highly improbable left wing firebrand Simon Bracey-Lane just happened to be on holiday in the United States with available cash to fund himself, when he stumbled into the Bernie Sanders campaign.

"Recent university graduate Simon Bracey-Lane took it even further. Originally from Wimbledon in London, he was inspired to rejoin the Labour party in September when Corbyn was elected leader. But by that point, he was already in the US on holiday. So he joined the Sanders campaign, and never left.

“I had two weeks left and some money left, so I thought, **** it, I’ll make some calls for Bernie Sanders,” he explains. “I just sort of knew Des Moines was the place, so I just turned up at their HQ, started making phone calls, and then became a fully fledged field organiser.”"

It is, to say the least, very interesting indeed that just a year later the left wing, “Corbyn and Sanders supporting” Bracey-Lane is hosting a very right wing event, “Cold War Then and Now”, for the shadowy neo-con Institute for Statecraft, at which an entirely unbalanced panel (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/cold-war-then-and-now-tickets-49756355599#)of British military, NATO and Ukrainian nationalists extolled the virtues of re-arming against Russia.

Nor would it seem likely that Bracey-Lane would be involved with the Integrity Initiative. Even the mainstream media has been forced to give a few paragraphs to the outrageous Integrity Initiative, under which the MOD-sponsored Institute for Statecraft has been given millions of pounds of taxpayers’ money by the FCO to spread covert disinformation and propaganda, particularly against Russia and the anti-war movement.

Activities include Twitter and Facebook trolling and secretly paying journalists in “clusters of influence” around Europe. Anonymous helpfully leaked the Institute’s internal documents. Some of the Integrity Initiative’s thus exposed alleged covert agents, like David Aaronovitch, have denied any involvement despite their appearance in the documents, and others like Dan Kaszeta the US “novichok expert”, have cheerfully admitted it.

The mainstream media have tracked down the HQ of the “Institute for Statecraft” to a derelict mill near Auchtermuchty. It is owned by one of the company directors, Daniel Lafayeedney, formerly of D Squadron 23rd SAS Regiment and later of Military Intelligence (and incidentally born the rather more prosaic Daniel Edney).

By sleuthing the company records of this “Scottish charity”, and a couple of phone calls, I discovered that the actual location of the Institute for Statecraft is the basement of 2 Temple Place, London. This is not just any basement – it is the basement of the former London mansion of William Waldorf Astor, an astonishing building. It is, in short, possibly the most expensive basement in London.

Which is interesting because the accounts of the Institute for Statecraft claim it has no permanent staff and show nothing for rent, utilities or office expenses. In fact, I understand the rent is paid by the Ministry of Defence.

Having been told where the Institute for Statecraft skulk, I tipped off journalist Kit Klarenberg of Sputnik Radio to go and physically check it out. Kit did so and was aggressively ejected by that well-known Corbyn and Sanders supporter, Simon Bracey-Lane. It does seem somewhat strange that our left wing hero is deeply embedded in an organisation that launches troll attacks on Jeremy Corbyn.

I have a great deal more to tell you about Mr Edney and his organisation next week, and the extraordinary covert disinformation war the British government wages online, attacking British citizens using British taxpayers’ money. Please note in the interim I am not even a smidgeon suicidal, and going to be very, very careful crossing the road and am not intending any walks in the hills.

I am not alleging Mr Bracey-Lane is an intelligence service operative who previously infiltrated the Labour Party and the Sanders campaign. He may just be a young man of unusually heterodox and vacillating political opinions. He may be an undercover reporter for the Canary infiltrating the Institute for Statecraft. All these things are possible, and I have no firm information.

But one of the activities the Integrity Initiative sponsors happens to be the use of online trolls to ridicule the idea that the British security services ever carry out any kind of infiltration, false flag or agent provocateur operations, despite the fact that we even have repeated court judgements against undercover infiltration officers getting female activists pregnant.

The Integrity Initiative offers us a glimpse into the very dirty world of surveillance and official disinformation. If we actually had a free media, it would be the biggest story of the day.

As the Establishment feels its grip slipping, as people wake up to the appalling economic exploitation by the few that underlies the very foundations of modern western society, expect the methods used by the security services to become even dirtier. You can bank on continued ramping up of Russophobia to supply “the enemy”. As both Scottish Independence and Jeremy Corbyn are viewed as real threats by the British Establishment, you can anticipate every possible kind of dirty trick in the next couple of years, with increasing frequency and audacity.

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POST UPDATE: To view the leaked Anonymous batches of Integrity Initiative internal documents please see here (https://archive.org/details/TheIntegrityInitiative).

Example: Integrity Initiative Handbook V2 (https://archive.org/stream/TheIntegrityInitiative/Integrity%20Initiative/II-Handbook-v2#page/n1/mode/2up)

Alternative download options via Anonymous here (https://www.cyberguerrilla.org/blog/operation-integrity-initiative-british-informational-war-against-all/) - scroll to the pdfarchive clusters as the Scribd links no longer work.

Moon Of Alabama writes a (typically) good article here (https://www.moonofalabama.org/2018/11/british-government-behind-secret-anti-russian-disinformation-campaign.html).

From that article an extract, below:

The Initiative has a black and white view that is based on a "we are the good ones" delusion. When "we" 'educate' foreign national audiences through a secretive government operations it is a legitimate operation. When others do similar, it its disinformation. That is of course not the reality. The Initiative's existence itself, created to secretly manipulate the public, is proof that such a view is wrong. If its work were as legit as it wants to be seen, why would the Foreign Office run it from behind the curtain as an NGO?

Hervé

19th December 2018, 18:55

UK-funded 'Integrity Initiative' Exposed Infiltrating European Media Through Fake News Factories (https://www.rt.com/news/446809-integrity-initiative-third-leak-uk/)

RT (https://www.rt.com/news/446809-integrity-initiative-third-leak-uk/)
Wed, 19 Dec 2018 16:20 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s25/502318/large/Integrity.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s25/502318/full/Integrity.jpg)

It's been over a month since hackers began exposing the Scotland-based 'Integrity Initiative' as a UK government-funded propaganda outfit - and gradually new details of the organization's clandestine activities have come to light.

The documents were leaked by a group which claims to be associated with the Anonymous hackers. The first batch (https://www.cyberguerrilla.org/blog/operation-integrity-initiative-british-informational-war-against-all/) of leaks revealed the Integrity Initiative (II) was stealthily operating "clusters" of influencers across Europe working to ensure pro-UK narratives dominate the media.

The second batch (https://www.cyberguerrilla.org/blog/operation-integrity-initiative-british-informational-war-against-all-part-2/) showed that the organization was also running disinformation campaigns domestically - specifically a smear campaign against Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn; all done under the guise of combatting "Russian propaganda."

Now, a third batch (https://www.cyberguerrilla.org/blog/operation-integrity-initiative-british-informational-war-against-all-part-3/) of leaks has exposed that the project allegedly operated much like a modern-day version of Operation Mockingbird - a secretive 1950s project whereby the CIA worked hand-in-glove with willing journalists in major media outlets to ensure certain narratives were adhered to. Only this time, it's a UK-funded organization with deep links to the intelligence services and military passing itself off as a non-partisan "charity."

1. A "vast and ambitious infowar campaign"
In one of the most revealing leaks yet, a French company called Lexfo (https://www.lexfo.fr/en/) allegedly offers a "strictly confidential" (https://www.pdf-archive.com/2018/12/13/combatting-russian-disinformation/combatting-russian-disinformation.pdf) proposal to spread propaganda for II across "several hundred existing and credible" news sites in "multiple languages." Lexfo even offers to create news sites to serve II's objectives - sites which it says will be "ostensibly independent to assure their credibility."

Lexfo also suggests monitoring and editing Wikipedia pages, launching aggressive campaigns to "discredit and intimidate" websites or outlets deemed to be promoting "fake news" - including through legal action and encouraging advertisers to abandon those platforms, the documents show. Ultimately, Lexfo offered a "vast and ambitious infowar campaign" which would be "untraceable."

In a December 16 editorial, the Scotland-based Daily Record, which has been one of the only major outlets reporting on the scandal, suggested that if the II was "gift-wrapping intelligence for journalists desperate enough to pass it off as their own work without proper attribution" then that is "worthy of further investigation."

Indeed, these new links seem to reveal that this is exactly what has been happening.

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/825188281222586368/Rsr28ke0_bigger.jpg Tim Hayward‏ @Tim_Hayward_ (https://twitter.com/Tim_Hayward_)

Ever feel you missed something? When did the military's role shift from defending us to "influencing" us? Was there ever public discussion? Isn't it an important constitutional matter what the military is for? #IntegrityInitiative (https://twitter.com/hashtag/IntegrityInitiative?src=hash)

1:22 AM - 17 Dec 2018
55 replies 459 retweets 768 likes
2. Military intelligence cut out?
The new leaks also unveiled more detail about Chris Donnelly, a key player at the Institute for Statecraft (IfS) - the 'parent' of the Integrity Initiative. Donnelly boasts an extensive background in military intelligence. One document, which appears to be a summary of a trip Donnelly took to Paris confirms that the II sought to enlist supposedly independent journalists into their activities. Donnelly gives a list of journalists he feels the project can "safely involve" and "who see things our way."

https://www.sott.net/image/s25/502323/large/chris_donnelly.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s25/502323/full/chris_donnelly.jpg)

Another document reveals that Donnelly had drafted a list of suggested "military measures" (https://www.rt.com/news/446728-uk-psyops-mine-crimea/) that he would implement during the height of the Crimean crisis in 2014 if he was "in charge" - including laying mines in Sevastopol Bay. The question should be asked: Why would a disinformation-busting charity be drafting proposals on UK military measures?

Perhaps because it seems the UK military had a keen interest in promoting the II's activities. Not only was the project receiving funding from the British Foreign Office, but also the British Army and Ministry of Defense - something which the MoD had denied (https://www.ukcolumn.org/article/integrity-initiative-ministry-defence-parliamentary-answer-now-doubt) before a leaked invoice (https://www.ukcolumn.org/sites/default/files/article-images/k0584-00_Page_1.jpg) proved it.

In a summary of a "private discussion" between Donnelly and retired British Army officer Gen. Sir Richard Barron, the British Army's Twitter and Facebook wing, the 77th Brigade is praised for its "exploitation of social media."

In a document published on the IfS website, Donnelly also suggested special training programs (https://www.statecraft.org.uk/projects-programmes/%E2%80%9Ccyber-guardian%E2%80%9D-cyber-responsibility-programme-children) to instill "moral and ethical values" into children as young as eight-years-old, in what appears to be some kind of 1984 Orwell-style effort to indoctrinate children with a pro-government bias.

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/798025048166727680/4KCVXN_v_bigger.jpg Rachel Pirani‏ @Liberty5380 (https://twitter.com/Liberty5380)

So the Mental Terrorists at the #IntegrityInitiative (https://twitter.com/hashtag/IntegrityInitiative?src=hash) are targeting children 8-16 to instill “morals” and “ethics” to prevent them from being radicalized by “Russia or ISIS.” Kid you not...@CraigMurrayOrg (https://twitter.com/CraigMurrayOrg) @Tim_Hayward_ (https://twitter.com/Tim_Hayward_) @haloefekti (https://twitter.com/haloefekti) @Ian56789 (https://twitter.com/Ian56789) @yashalevine (https://twitter.com/yashalevine) @ukcolumn (https://twitter.com/ukcolumn) @KitKlarenberg (https://twitter.com/KitKlarenberg)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DukhJ_CU0AEifQF.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DukhJ_DVsAAAFP8.jpg

2:10 PM - 16 Dec 2018
12 replies 79 retweets 78 likes 3. Skripal 'monitoring campaign'
The II leapt into action after the poisoning of ex-Russian spy Sergei Skripal in March and supposedly put together a proposal (https://www.pdf-archive.com/2018/12/13/150318-ios-proposal1293/150318-ios-proposal1293.pdf) to monitor social media discussion to "evaluate how the incident is being perceived" across Europe. The goal was to establish "key influencers" on social media and determine who is "friendly" to the UK.

Lists of tweets on the Skripal affair were put together, along with country reports detailing how journalists in Europe were responding, the leak suggests. One report noted that in Italy, doubts about the UK narrative had been raised by "high-quality newspapers" and suggested that an "effective, discrete and articulated information campaign" must be directed at key figures in Italian politics and media.

4. Scotland at risk: 'Nutcases in kilts'?
Some of the leaks also reveal worries about fissures within the UK itself, particularly in relation to Scotland and Northern Ireland. "Will the current relationship survive, or will we have a federal relationship, or will some become independent?" one document reads.

In a summary of a meeting with David Leask, a chief reporter at the Herald in Scotland, the II writes that a "looser federal nature" is forming between the UK's four parts and that the English don't realize it. Leask feared that some odd "nutcase in a kilt" might go to a separatist conference held in Moscow, but was relieved when that did not happen. There are also concerns that "satisfaction with BBC" is now low among ordinary Scottish people.

Recent reporting by the Grayzone Project suggested (https://grayzoneproject.com/2018/12/17/inside-the-temple-of-covert-propaganda-the-integrity-initiative-and-the-uks-scandalous-information-war/) that the offices belonging to the IfS seem to be in the basement of a building at Two Temple Place in London - but any effort by journalists to approach staff there have been aggressively rebuffed.

Labour MP Chris Williamson has said the government has "serious questions to answer" about why it is funding "dubious groups that interfere in the affairs of European democracies and distribute misinformation about the Labour Party and Jeremy Corbyn" - a reference to earlier leaks showing an orchestrated smear campaign against Corbyn.

The Daily Record has called the II revelations "one of the biggest political scandals of the year."

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1073379847639052288/_AFVdN9d_bigger.jpg Danielle Ryan‏Verified account @DanielleRyanJ (https://twitter.com/DanielleRyanJ)

The #IntegrityInitiative (https://twitter.com/hashtag/IntegrityInitiative?src=hash) story is insane. If this was a shady org set up in the basement of a building in Moscow it would have been instantly blasted across the pages of the WaPo and NYT. But it's just a British gov-funded disinfo outfit so...silence.

12:19 AM - 18 Dec 2018
10 replies 186 retweets 223 likes It is a wonder then, that the story has not attracted the attention of most of the mainstream media. In Britain, a handful of high profile outlets, including the Guardian, have done the bare minimum in reporting the controversy, but most have shied away. In the US, there has been near total silence on the issue.

Hervé

10th January 2019, 13:01

Is Deep State Ruled From Britain? How British Intelligence-Linked Integrity Initiative Drafted US For New Cold War (https://www.rt.com/news/448420-integrity-initiative-washington-cold-war/)

RT (https://www.rt.com/news/448420-integrity-initiative-washington-cold-war/)
Wed, 09 Jan 2019 22:33 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s25/505018/large/MI6_London.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s25/505018/full/MI6_London.jpg)

Shortly after Donald Trump's election, the UK-funded covert influence group proposed opening a new office in the US to train "younger generation of Russia watchers" and "strengthen" American role in countering Moscow, leaks show.

The latest tranche of documents, anonymously uploaded (https://www.cyberguerrilla.org/blog/operation-integrity-initiative-british-informational-war-against-all-part-4/) online last week, include an outline for "developing a US arm of [the] Integrity Initiative Program" and a schedule for a visit to Washington of its director, which details meetings with former senior Trump advisor Sebastian Gorka, and top diplomats and officials.

'West badly needs US leadership'
Despite the elected White House administration tentatively attempting a rapprochement with the Kremlin at the time, the group, effectively a foreign agent on US soil, suggests in the first document, dated to August 2017, that Washington needs to go in a radically different, if familiar, direction, "before it is too late."
"The West is badly in need of a reassertion of US leadership. The EU has been unable to generate any strategic thinking or to exercise convincing leadership. Russia (& China) are successfully driving wedges between EU Member States and between Allies within NATO," reads the plaintive precis.

"The US needs to rebuild its understanding of Russia and how to deal with it," while

"the UK needs reminding how to play its key role of encouraging/enabling US leadership in Europe/NATO."
To serve these aims Integrity Initiative plans to "bring together academics, think tankers, journalists, civil servants, politicians, business people," who understand "the problem" of Russia, but "have not been working coherently."

This is a facsimile of the model Integrity Initiative unrolled in the UK after its founding in 2015, where it used its "cluster" of influential public voices to discreetly sway, manipulate or outright dictate Russia coverage on such issues as cyber warfare, Syria, and the Skripals. Or as the text euphemistically puts it, their function is "to ensure the popular support for governments that democracies require."

With many of the original Cold Warriors now of pensionable age, a vital responsibility of the recruits would be "attracting a new generation of younger analysts to learn from the older generation."

https://www.sott.net/image/s25/505013/large/5c365702dda4c85d5e8b45fb.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s25/505013/full/5c365702dda4c85d5e8b45fb.jpg)
Screenshot from the leaked US office proposal

There also appears to be implicit criticism of how the actual chosen US president is handling foreign policy, with the document urging the US to "improve its own governance at a time of transition."

But luckily for America, it doesn't have to fear foreign meddling, as "the cluster will work completely impartially and not become involved in US party politics."

Goulash with Gorka
The second document contains the dates and locations of a trip by Chris Donnelly, the UK military intelligence veteran and director of Integrity Initiative, to the American capital between September 18 and 22 of an unstated year. In the same upload folder, there are several support documents related to some of the events he was set to attend.

https://www.sott.net/image/s25/505014/large/5c365430fc7e93f14e8b460b.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s25/505014/full/5c365430fc7e93f14e8b460b.jpg)
Deep State tool © REUTERS/JOSHUA ROBERTS

The trip is wall-to-wall with meetings, dinners, lectures and workshops, and comprises separate visits to the State Department, National Defense University, and the Pentagon, but several names stand out.

One is breakfast with Sebastian Gorka, the hawkish TV intelligence pundit, who served as a deputy assistant to Donald Trump between January and August 2017, and was credited as a key foreign policy inspiration prior to that. Another is a meeting with McCain Institute director Kurt Volker, a former US ambassador to NATO, who currently represents the US in the Ukrainian peace negotiations.

https://www.sott.net/image/s25/505015/large/5c3657fedda4c85a5e8b45f5.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s25/505015/full/5c3657fedda4c85a5e8b45f5.jpg)
Kurt Volker meddling in Ukraine in 2017 © REUTERS/VALENTYN OGIRENKO

There is a meeting with officials from the State Department's Global Engagement Center, an official counter-propaganda department, which, perhaps not coincidentally, has recently switched (https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/dec/11/state-department-global-engagement-center-targets-/) from fighting jihadis online, to combating Russia, having received a boost in funding. On the last day of the four-day trip, Donnelly was due to talk to Dorothy Rayburn, an official at USAID, the civilian aid agency, which has previously been accused by foreign governments of operating as an arm of US intelligence, and has been expelled from Russia since 2012.

https://www.sott.net/image/s25/505016/large/5c365726fc7e937e4f8b4616.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s25/505016/full/5c365726fc7e937e4f8b4616.jpg)
Screenshot from leaked file

It's not meddling when Integrity Initiative does it
Integrity Initiative has acknowledged that its private documents were "hacked" though has not confirmed or denied the authenticity of any that have been made public in four separate tranches starting from November.

So, with only partial evidence available, it is not possible to conclude if Integrity Initiative did open an office in the US, or whether the talks held by Donnelly resulted in a shift in Russia policy.

Nonetheless, the first leak did contain a document listing a dozen names under the heading "US Cluster," including several Donnelly was due to meet. There is also an exchange with an FCO official in which Integrity Initiative says that it is in the process of opening a non-profit in the US, and as well as a "simple office" in Washington, plans to create several clusters "in key states, not in DC." It is not clear what would constitute a "key state" for an agency with Integrity Initiative's apparently boundless remit.

What does appear certain is that the outfit was setting up its networks of influence covertly, and without declaring its true purpose, despite operating in an allied state. While the meeting with government figures seem to give it a sheen of legitimacy, it is also notable that none of those it met are representative officials, but rather narrowly-known but influential members of various Washington letter agencies. Its policy aims are not democratically-vetted, and possibly even at odds with those officially pursued by the United States.

Nonetheless, while a Russian outfit operating in "key US states" - even if it cultivated peaceful engagement - would surely command the attention of the Mueller investigation, the activities a UK organization advocating a return to Soviet-era tensions are almost sure to be allowed to continue, without so much as a peep from Washington.

Hervé

10th January 2019, 13:37

How the Integrity Initiative spun the West's highly improbable Skripal narrative (https://21stcenturywire.com/2019/01/05/how-the-integrity-initiative-spun-the-wests-improbable-skripal-narrative/)

21st Century Wire (https://21stcenturywire.com/2019/01/05/how-the-integrity-initiative-spun-the-wests-improbable-skripal-narrative/)
Sat, 05 Jan 2019 11:59 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s25/505073/large/1_Skripal_Integrity.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s25/505073/full/1_Skripal_Integrity.jpg)

One of the biggest and most under-reported stories of 2018 (https://21stcenturywire.com/2018/12/31/year-in-review-2018-top-ten-conspiracies/) was also one of the most dazzling propaganda operations ever conducted in modern history. The narrative went something like this: a retired former Russian spy and UK double agent, Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were having lunch in a sleepy Wiltshire town, before being brutally poisoned by an alleged "military grade chemical weapon" known as Novichok.

What followed was a textbook, state-managed media operation. Incredibly, within only 48 hours, the UK government had already attributed blame to the Russian Federation and its president, Vladimir Putin. The motive: no apparent reason, just Putin being mean. "There's no logic in it; it doesn't make sense, and I don't think it needs to make sense, because essentially what the media is doing is propagandizing the population in favor of the madman theory. That's critical to do when you're trying to start aggression against a country," said (https://www.moonofalabama.org/2018/03/she-is-risen-last-act-of-novichok-drama-revealed-the-skripals-resurrection.html) Moon of Alabama at the time.

How can the state and the mainstream media coordinate in a way that would make the inconceivable become the accepted 'official' western consensus reality narrative? Enter the British government-funded anti-Russian propaganda effort ironically named, the Integrity Initiative (https://www.ukcolumn.org/article/integrity-initiative-look-deep-state). A bona fide deep sate agency working under the guise of an anodyne 'think tank,' this clandestine government-media complex network not only helped craft the mainstream Skripal Affair narrative, but it also coordinated and organized attacks against any dissenting persons in the alternative press and on social media who dared to challenge their 'official' western propaganda line.

The level of Kafkaesque corruption in this government-funded psy-op is simply breathtaking...

RT International (https://www.rt.com/news/448103-integrity-initiative-new-documents/) reports...

The Integrity Initiative, a UK-funded group exposed in leaked files as psyop network, played a key role in monitoring and molding media narratives after the poisoning of double agent Sergei Skripal, newly-dumped documents reveal.

Created by the NATO-affiliated, UK-funded Institute for Statecraft in 2015, the Integrity Initiative was unmasked (https://www.rt.com/news/444737-uk-funded-campaign-russia-leaks/) in November after hackers released documents detailing a web of politicians, journalists, military personnel, scientists and academics involved in purportedly fighting "Russian disinformation." The secretive, government-bankrolled "network of networks" has found itself under scrutiny for smearing (https://www.rt.com/uk/446695-labour-mp-statecraft-institute/) UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn as a Kremlin stooge - ostensibly as part of its noble crusade against anti-Russian disinformation.

Now, new leaks (https://www.cyberguerrilla.org/blog/operation-integrity-initiative-british-informational-war-against-all-part-4/) show that the organization played a central role in shaping media narratives after Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were mysteriously poisoned in Salisbury last March. It's notable that many of the draconian anti-Russia measures that the group advocated as far back as 2015 were swiftly implemented following the Skripal affair - even as London refused to back up its finger-pointing with evidence.

'Operation Iris'
Days after the Skripals were poisoned, the Institute solicited its services to the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, offering to "study social media activity in respect of the events that took place, how news spread, and evaluate how the incident is being perceived" in a number of countries. After receiving the government's blessing, the Integrity Initiative (II) launched (https://www.pdf-archive.com/2018/12/28/110418---op-iris---report/110418---op-iris---report.pdf) 'Operation Iris,' enlisting "global investigative solutions" firm Harod Associates to analyze social media activity related to Skripal.

However, Harod's confidential report (https://www.pdf-archive.com/2018/12/28/110418---op-iris---report/110418---op-iris---report.pdf) did more than just parse social media reactions to the Skripal affair: It compiled a list of alleged "pro-Russia troll accounts" accused of "bombarding the audience with pro-Kremlin propaganda and disinformation relevant to the Skripal case."

Among those who found themselves listed as nefarious thought-criminals were Ukrainian-born pianist Valentina Lisitsa, and a gentleman from Kent who goes by Ian56 on Twitter.

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/987759800166600704/V5T9_nTO_bigger.jpg Ian56‏ @Ian56789 (https://twitter.com/Ian56789) Jan 4 (https://twitter.com/Ian56789/status/1081256538788876290)

#IntegrityInitiative (https://twitter.com/hashtag/IntegrityInitiative?src=hash) "Top Kremlin Trolls" aka Truth Tellers. Congratulations if you made the list. https://www.pdf-archive.com/2018/12/28/appendix-o---russian-propaganda-troll-sites-for-monitoring/appendix-o---russian-propaganda-troll-sites-for-monitoring.pdf … (https://t.co/rcBYYMBYcm) Neocon Fascist, al-Qaeda Supporting Treasonous Scumbag @Benimmo (https://twitter.com/benimmo) is having a laugh with £2m of Taxpayers money. Nimmo should be IN JAIL for Fraud & Treason

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DwFkv8QWoAEh4R4.jpg

17 replies 107 retweets 121 likes

Ian56‏ @Ian56789 (https://twitter.com/Ian56789)

#IntegrityInitiative (https://twitter.com/hashtag/IntegrityInitiative?src=hash) examples of Logical, Critical Thinking & Objective Analysis by yours truly Ian56. https://www.pdf-archive.com/2018/12/28/appendix-r---ian56789-example-tweets/appendix-r---ian56789-example-tweets.pdf … (https://t.co/mwGEOUBjaX) They didn't even include my best ones and they didn't show the pic that went with each tweet. I wonder why? #Skripal (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Skripal?src=hash) #Novichok (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Novichok?src=hash) #FalseFlag (https://twitter.com/hashtag/FalseFlag?src=hash)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DwFnJEpX4AAFjsL.jpg

10:39 AM - 4 Jan 2019
2 replies 32 retweets 42 likes
https://twitter.com/ValLisitsa/status/1081284566239899649

Pushing a narrative
Another document (https://www.pdf-archive.com/2018/12/13/sergei-skripal-affair-ii-response-110318/sergei-skripal-affair-ii-response-110318.pdf), dated March 11, 2018 - and titled "Sergei Skripal Affair: What if Russia is Responsible?" - contains a "narrative" of the Skripal incident, which blames Russia and President Vladimir Putin personally, as well as containing a number of recommended actions. These included boycotting the 2018 World Cup, starting campaigns to boycott the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany, blocking Russian access to the SWIFT international banking system, and banning "RT TV and Sputnik from operating in the UK."

Other suggestions included propaganda directed at British Muslims "to publicize what has been happening with their Muslim brethren in Crimea since the Russian invasion [sic]" and getting members of parliament to publicize the "threat Russia poses."

It's not clear who the document was drawn up for, but it may have been provided to II-affiliated journalists in the UK and other countries. This would certainly explain the evidence-deficient echo chamber that emerged in the aftermath of Skripal's poisoning - which the UK and its allies unanimously blamed on Moscow.

Ahead of its time?
One of the more intriguing revelations from the fresh leaks is a document (https://www.pdf-archive.com/2018/12/28/sanctions-and-the-russian-federation/sanctions-and-the-russian-federation.pdf) from 2015, in which Victor Madeira of the Institute for Statecraft proposes a series of measures targeting Russia, including mass expulsion of diplomats along the lines of 1971's Operation Foot.

Coincidentally, more than 100 Russian diplomats were expelled from 20 Western countries in an apparently show of solidarity with the UK following the Skripal attack. At the time, UK Prime Minister Theresa May welcomed what she said was "the largest collective expulsion of Russian intelligence officers in history."

Former MP George Galloway noted that the documents, written long before the Salisbury events, also call for the arrest of RT and Sputnik contributors (such as himself), adding: "Makes you think..."

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1024810562214146049/jplo_oQE_bigger.jpg George Galloway‏Verified account @georgegalloway (https://twitter.com/georgegalloway)

So: #IntegrityInitiative (https://twitter.com/hashtag/IntegrityInitiative?src=hash) funded by the British Govt called for the arrest of people like me like @afshinrattansi (https://twitter.com/afshinrattansi) @JohnWight1 (https://twitter.com/JohnWight1) @NeilClark66 (https://twitter.com/NeilClark66) et al in the event of an “incident” like the #Skripal (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Skripal?src=hash) affair. Written incidentally before the #Salisbury (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Salisbury?src=hash) events. Makes you think...@RT_com (https://twitter.com/RT_com)

9:53 AM - 4 Jan 2019
56 replies 554 retweets 693 likes
A curious connection
The new trove of hacked documents also revealed an unexplained link between the II and Skripal himself - a connection made all the more noteworthy by the group's central role in coordinating an evidence-free campaign to blame and punish Moscow for the alleged nerve-agent attack.

A document from July 2018 contains contact details for Pablo Miller, Skripal's MI6 recruiter, handler and (conveniently) neighbor in Salisbury. Miller, it seems, had been invited to a function hosted by the Institute.

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1632088489/moalogo_bigger.jpg Moon of Alabama‏ @MoonofA (https://twitter.com/MoonofA)

Moon of Alabama Retweeted Kit Klarenberg
It was already known that Pablo Miller, the MI6 handler of Sergej Skripal, attended #IntegrityInitiative (https://twitter.com/hashtag/IntegrityInitiative?src=hash) meetings. There is now more material to draw a connection. It is indeed possible that IfS/II initiated the affair.

Moon of Alabama added,
Kit Klarenberg @KitKlarenberg
What role did #IntegrityInitiative play in the #Skripal affair? I looked for answers from a brief look at the newly released files. More very much to follow.... https://sputniknews.com/europe/201901041071225427-skripal-integrity-initiative-miller/ … #SergeiSkripal #Disinformation #Propaganda #InformationWar

11:38 AM - 4 Jan 2019
7 replies 234 retweets 283 likes

Fvnk‏ @WhatTheFvnk (https://twitter.com/WhatTheFvnk)

EXPLOSIVE: @DanKaszeta (https://twitter.com/DanKaszeta) of @Strongpoint_UK (https://twitter.com/Strongpoint_UK) invoiced @InitIntegrity (https://twitter.com/InitIntegrity) #IntegrityInitiative (https://twitter.com/hashtag/IntegrityInitiative?src=hash) £2,276.80 in July 2018 during the #Skripal (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Skripal?src=hash) #Novichok (https://twitter.com/hashtag/Novichok?src=hash) affair for writing articles on the subjects of poison gas; nerve agents; treatment; nerve agent persistency & #PortonDown (https://twitter.com/hashtag/PortonDown?src=hash) @RTUKproducer (https://twitter.com/RTUKproducer)

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DwFgo9XWkAIo7P5.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DwFgpzSXQAIRnnL.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DwFgrErXQAEI_tS.jpg

10:24 AM - 4 Jan 2019
34 replies 165 retweets 170 likes
It's not clear to what degree Miller is or was involved with the group, but his appearance on an Integrity Initiative guest list adds another layer of mystery to a coordinated campaign which sought to impose punishments on Moscow that were drawn up years in advance.

Related:

Is Deep State Ruled From Britain? How British Intelligence-Linked Integrity Initiative Drafted US For New Cold War (https://www.sott.net/article/404542-Is-Deep-State-Ruled-From-Britain-How-British-Intelligence-Linked-Integrity-Initiative-Drafted-US-For-New-Cold-War)

Labour MP to RT: The media isn't covering the Integrity Initiative scandal because they might be 'involved' (https://www.sott.net/article/404488-Labour-MP-to-RT-The-media-isnt-covering-the-Integrity-Initiative-scandal-because-they-might-be-involved)

Shock Files: What Role Did Integrity Initiative Play in Sergei Skripal Affair? (https://www.sott.net/article/404216-Shock-Files-What-Role-Did-Integrity-Initiative-Play-in-Sergei-Skripal-Affair)

MI5's temple of covert propaganda: Integrity Initiative and the scandal of the UK's information war (https://www.sott.net/article/403633-MI5s-temple-of-covert-propaganda-Integrity-Initiative-and-the-scandal-of-the-UKs-information-war)

Hervé

10th January 2019, 18:59

How Integrity Initiative's German cluster aims to end Berlin's ties with Moscow (https://sputniknews.com/europe/201901091071339115-integrity-initiative-german-cluster/)

Sputnik (https://sputniknews.com/europe/201901091071339115-integrity-initiative-german-cluster/)
By Kit Klarenberg
Thu, 10 Jan 2019 16:09 UTC

https://www.sott.net/image/s25/505115/large/1071187167.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s25/505115/full/1071187167.jpg)
Integrity Initiative logo © Screenshot Integrity Initiative

In my previous report (https://sputniknews.com/europe/201901071071265270-integrity-initiative-germany-criminal/) on the Integrity Initiative's German cluster, I outlined why the country was a "most important" target for the shadowy information warfare effort. In this article, I discuss the various individuals cluster chief Hannes Adomeit, a political scientist and "cold warrior of the old school", has sought to recruit to the effort.

The Initiative's overseas clusters are networks of politicians, businesspeople, military officials, academics and journalists who "understand the threat posed to Western nations" by Russian "disinformation", and work in support of the "Anglo-Saxon worldview", and a "tougher stance" towards the Russian state.

Its German operation is no different - in fact, its target membership is among the most influential and sizeable of any cluster I've yet come across, perhaps a reflection of the vital significance of Germany to the Initiative's objectives, and the vast scale of the organization's plans for the country.

'Full Engagement'
Its chief, political scientist Hannes Adomeit - who on January 4 (https://sputniknews.com/europe/201901071071265270-integrity-initiative-germany-criminal/) menaced me with promises of "criminal charges" - produced an 'interim report' (https://www.pdf-archive.com/2018/11/28/-interim-report/-interim-report.pdf) on the cluster on October 3 2018.

In his opening remarks, Adomeit commits to "full engagement" with the Initiative, having been hitherto obliged to withhold his full, undivided attention from the organization in order to meet "prior commitments" connected to his role as Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Security Policy at Kiel University (IPSK).

https://www.sott.net/image/s25/505109/large/1071277250.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s25/505109/full/1071277250.jpg)
German Cluster Chief Adomeit's Discussion of 'Specifically German Conditions'

This primarily concerned a paper (https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/sirius.2018.2.issue-4/sirius-2018-4005/sirius-2018-4005.xml?format=INT) - Nach dem Helsinki Gipfel: Trübe Aussichten für eine Verbesserung der russischamerikanischen Beziehungen (After the Helsinki Summit: Dim Prospects for an Improvement of Russian-American Relations) - published under the auspices of the ISPK. Adomeit goes on to note "affiliation to ISPK and access to the journal is important" - as remarks elsewhere make clear, he intends to write and commission articles for the resource moving forward, so he continues to be involved with both "without taking on significant new commitments" for either.

A review of the 'paper' reveals the work to be far from academic in tone or content - it's pure polemic, with a perhaps predictably extremely negative stance towards Russia. Adomeit strongly condemns the country's "intransigence" while bemoaning the "absence of a coherent Washington approach to Moscow", and in conclusion fulminates that Trump missed a golden opportunity to "reject the Kremlin's narrative", "address [Russia's] malicious behavior", and try to secure "fundamental change in Russian politics".
"The effectiveness of this could have been enhanced if he'd sought strong European backing at the NATO summit in Brussels...[instead] Trump has further devalued the transatlantic relationship...he placates Putin's Russia. American policy [must] set boundaries for Russia...it's not clear the Kremlin wants improved relations with Washington," he writes.
Cluster Meetings
As of October 3 2018, the only confirmed members of the Initiative's German cluster 2018 are Harold Elletson - a long-time MI6 operative (http://guerillawire.org/politics/private-eye-on-the-integrity-initiative-and-its-links-to-american-intelligence/), who conducted espionage operations in the former Soviet Union - and Joachim Krause (https://www.ispk.uni-kiel.de/en/staff/ispk-man/krause), Adomeit's "close friend" and former Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (Institute for International and Security Affairs) colleague, currently Director of the Institute for Security Policy at the University of Kiel.

Krause is chief editor of Germany's "only journal on strategies studies" - Zeitschrift fur Strategische Analysen (https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/sirius), where Adomeit's Helsinki summit attack appeared - and the cluster chief stresses the "importance of this connection", as articles will appear in the periodical expressly "for the benefit of the Initiative".

https://www.sott.net/image/s25/505110/large/1071339197.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s25/505110/full/1071339197.jpg)
Hannes Adomeit Outlines the German Cluster's Makeup

At time of writing though, Adomeit had met with three others, scheduled rendezvous with three more, and intended to secure meetings with 12 further prospective members "after London and Vilnius" (it's unclear when these trips occurred).

The three individuals Adomeit met prior to authoring the document were Marieluise Beck (German Green MP 1994 - 2017 and founder of think tank Zentrum Liberale Moderne), Claudia von Salzen (journalist at Der Tagesspiegel), and Susanne Spahn (academic). Each was provided of an outline of "what the Initiative is all about" and "what [their] role in it might conceivably be".

Despite the Initiative's handbook indicating cluster members are compelled to sign non-disclosure agreements, I reached out to the trio, asking whether they joined and if so, what their responsibilities within it will be - as of January 8, Beck and Spahn haven't responded, while von Salzen replied in the negative.

Nonetheless, it's abundantly clear why she was a person of interest for Adomeit - her journalistic output output is rife with articles highly critical of Russia, which directly and indirectly advocate a harsh government line on Moscow not merely in Germany but throughout Europe. One article published November 26 2018 - Europe must set clear boundaries for the Kremlin - even has direct echoes of Adomeit's writing on the Helsinki summit.

Had von Salzen become part of the German cluster, the Initiative would've secured an intimate relationship with a prominent journalist writing for Berlin's "most serious and biggest daily newspaper" - which boasts a daily circulation of 148,000 - through which the organization could "pass on information by way of research papers, articles, presentations, individual conversations and personal contacts", without Initiative input being publicly disclosed.

Moreover, as the activities of the Initiative's Spanish cluster make clear, cluster members have been mobilized to influence government policy in concerted operations - and an individual with a significant national media platform and sizeable social media following could be particularly influential in this regard.

https://www.sott.net/image/s25/505111/large/1071339014.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s25/505111/full/1071339014.jpg)
Hannes Adomeit's 'Interim Report' on the German Cluster

A review of the professional and political history of Beck likewise amply demonstrates why she made such an attractive candidate for cluster recruitment. While in the Bundestag she was a consistent and voluble critic of Vladimir Putin and modern Russia, and via Zentrum Liberale Moderne (LibMod) she's continued her crusade. The organization convened its first event in March 2018, The Putin System and the Kremlin's Influence in Europe (https://libmod.de/en/the-putin-system-and-the-kremlins-influence-in-europe/), at which participants apparently agreed Russia was an "authoritarian kleptocracy" attempting to destroy liberal democracy in Europe, and influencing and manipulating the continent with ease due to "Western weakness" - all points of view resonating closely with the Initiative's own.

Intriguingly, as an MP Beck was an outspoken supporter of controversial US financier Bill Browder - named as being part of the Initiative's UK cluster (https://www.pdf-archive.com/2018/11/02/uk-cluster/uk-cluster.pdf). Browder has long-claimed the Moscow wing of his firm Hermitage Capital Management was stolen by Russian authorities in service of a vast tax fraud and his lawyer Sergei Magnitsky was jailed for trying to expose the crime, where he later died.

However, when documentarian Andrei Nekrasov, himself a long-time Putin critic, presented Beck with strong evidence to suggest Browder was himself in fact behind the fraud, and Magnitsky - in reality an accountant - had potentially facilitated it, she was left lost for words. Nekrasov subsequently made a film about the affair - The Magnitsky Act Behind the Scenes (http://magnitskyact.com/)- and Beck played a significant role in the cancellation (https://russia-insider.com/en/politics/empty-seat-william-browder-once-again-takes-charge-european-parliament/ri14127) of its scheduled April 2016 premiere at the European parliament, and subsequent shelving of its broadcast on French and German TV.

How High?
Of the 15 remaining cluster candidates Adomeit had scheduled meetings with or intended to in future, it's likewise unclear who was receptive to his advances, as few have deigned to respond to my enquiries. Alice Bota, Editor of Der Zeit, said nobody had asked her to join, she was "not involved in any initiative", and had "no intention to do so in the future". Stefan Meister, of the German Council on Foreign Relations, said Adomeit (https://twitter.com/Meisterdgap/status/1080859837955784705) "only wrote" to him about the Initiative, and he wasn't interested as there "[wasn't] enough information on the project [and] partners".

Still, again it's clear why Adomeit was interested in Meister - as the Council's Head of the Robert Bosch Center for Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia, he contributed to a virulently anti-Russian November 2016 report (https://sputniknews.com/europe/201901091071339115-integrity-initiative-german-cluster/The%20Kremlin's%20Trojan%20Horses) published by the NATO-funded Atlantic Council, The Kremlin's Trojan Horses.

https://www.sott.net/image/s25/505112/large/1071338909.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s25/505112/full/1071338909.jpg)
Cover of Atlantic Council Report, 'Kremlin's Trojan Horses' - Gerhard Schroeder Features Prominently

The document claimed a number of individuals the world over - including former German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder - are used by Russia to "destabilize European politics", in exactly same manner as German cluster coordinator and MI6 operative Harold Elletson's 'report' on Russian information warfare in Germany (https://www.pdf-archive.com/2018/11/28/englishversionhigh/englishversionhigh.pdf) claimed 'Russlandvesteher' (including Schroeder) had been "cultivated" to propagandize for Kremlin interests, with similarly absent supporting evidence.

However, perhaps the most high-profile names included in the document are Barbara and Arndt Freytag-Loringhofen - Barbara previously worked for the German government's coordinator for Russia policy, Andreas Schockenhoff, and her husband is NATO's first Assistant Secretary General for Intelligence and Security, having previously been Germany's ambassador to the Czech Republic and worked as a diplomat at the German Embassy in Moscow.

Adomeit notes - possibly with some relish - Arndt is "responsible for providing intelligence support to the North Atlantic Council and the Military Committee as well as for advising the Secretary General on intelligence and security matters". He planned to "travel to Brussels at some time", and brief and interview both, "preferably simultaneously and privately".

The nature of the targets further underlines the degree to which the Initiative is a military intelligence operation in all but name - but while it's unclear whether the pair did eventually meet with Adomeit, their inclusion in his plans for the cluster is also a palpable demonstration of how high up the organization intends to, and potentially could, spread its international network.

'Actual and Potential'
Furthermore, in his bullying email to me, Adomeit made clear I'd been contacting both "actual" and "potential" members of the German cluster, in the process revealing at least some of the "well-informed people from the political, military, academic, journalistic and think-tank spheres" he approached did join the cluster.

https://www.sott.net/image/s25/505113/large/1071276529.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s25/505113/full/1071276529.jpg)
Integrity Initiative's German Cluster Chief Hannes Adomeit Threatens Sputnik Journalist Kit Klarenberg with 'Criminal Charges'

While it's unclear who he's referring to, there are some clues sprinkled throughout the interim report. For instance, he writes of a 'tentative project' involving "commissioning, updating and translation" of a paper by academic Susanne Spahn - who he met September 28 2018 - on Russian media in Germany.

Spahn is said to be "prepared to make the paper available" to the Initiative, for the sum of US$1,280 (£1,000), and Adomeit offers to translate it "also for a fee" - he adds "a decision is needed on this" from "Chris", presumably referring to Institute for Statecraft chief Chris Donnelly. It's uncertain whether Donnelly acquiesced, but an English-language version was certainly published in December (https://disinfoportal.org/russian-mass-media-in-germany-independent-journalism-or-political-weapon/).

Even more significantly, in a section marked 'examples of networking in progress', Adomeit refers to another project by Spahn on the "political orientation of the more than three million Germans with a post-Soviet migration background", including "the 2.3 million Russlanddeutsche and their family members, i.e. persons with German ethnic roots deported in 1944 to Siberia and Kazakhstan".

He notes she received funding for the project from the German government, but when they met had been unable to find an academic or research institution that would "ostensibly monitor the soundness of the research and affix its stamp of approval". In response, Adomeit discussed the issue with his "close friend" and former colleague Joachim Krause, who agreed the IPSK "would be ready to provide the necessary institutional affiliation", and presumably publish it in Zeitschrift fur Strategische Analysen (https://www.degruyter.com/view/j/sirius).

These comments offer much cause for alarm. Evidently, despite state backing, Spahn couldn't find a single research outlet willing to verify, support or publish her 'research', seemingly suggesting it fell far short of scholarly and/or scientific standards - yet Adomeit enthusiastically secured the superficial "stamp of approval" and publication for the paper from an academic institution closely connected to another cluster member, despite being acutely aware of its potentially dubious probity.

It's not hard to see why he did so though, for it's highly probable - if not certain - the paper would very much "benefit the Initiative". While Spahn's work is seemingly yet to appear in Krause's specialist journal, in May 2018 (http://www.css.ethz.ch/content/dam/ethz/special-interest/gess/cis/center-for-securities-studies/resources/docs/ISPSW-548%20Spahn.pdf) Berlin's Institut für Strategie, Politik, Sicherheits und Wirtschaftsberatung (Institute for Strategic, Political, Security and Economic Consultancy) published a brief paper she wrote, Russischsprachige im Fokus: Wie Russland und die AfD Einfluss nehmen (Russian Speakers in Focus: How Russia and the AfD Influence).

The document has very, very close parallels with Harold Elletson's aforementioned 'report' on Russian information warfare in Germany (https://www.pdf-archive.com/2018/11/28/englishversionhigh/englishversionhigh.pdf) - just as he claimed 'Russlandvesteher' were a core part of Russian 'information warfare' operations in Germany, so too does Spahn allege Russia "[exploits Germany's] Russian speakers for its political goals", using them to "spread a negative image of Germany and its western allies."

https://www.sott.net/image/s25/505114/large/1071338855.jpg (https://www.sott.net/image/s25/505114/full/1071338855.jpg)
MI6 Operative Harold Elletson Discusses 'Russlandvesteher'

Evidence for her incendiary assertions is either absent or extremely suspect indeed, the only citations offered typically mainstream media articles, or papers she herself has written. For instance, the alleged "socialization in authoritarian systems" of Russlanddeutsche is claimed to account for the group's high receptivity to populist parties such as the AfD - but the only supporting basis for this notion is polling data suggesting 30 percent of such individuals think Germany needs a "strong leader", versus 18 percent of the wider population.

Likewise, she finds Russlanddeutsche viewing AfD leader Alexander Gauland "slightly negatively, but not as negatively as Germans without a migration background" somehow highly significant.

"These results suggest a positive attitude towards President Putin and his foreign policy," she concludes, declining to elaborate on how and why any of the data she's presented could possibly support such a conclusion.

Amused to Death
Laughable as her findings may appear to some, what's not remotely amusing is the prospect of such venomously anti-Russian propaganda being given a legitimizing "stamp of approval" by a questionable academic institution "for the benefit" of a secretive British state and NATO-funded organization, passed to high-ranking journalists, politicians and military figures - both connected and unconnected to the Initiative - and disseminated publicly under the guise of 'independent' and/or 'expert' research.

It's even more sobering that such papers are just one way in which the Integrity Initiative is seeking to worsen relations between Germany and Russia - and indeed Germany is just one country in which the Initiative has constructed or is seeking to construct a network to impact domestic and international government policy in its own interests, and the political, financial and military interests of those who fund it.

Moreover, while it'll surely be a relief to many Adomeit wasn't apparently successful in getting all his targets 'on-side', it's still troublingly unclear who became an "actual" cluster member, and whether he reached out to anyone comparable to those who rejected him in their place - and if so who.

Related:

Must-Watch Russian Documentary, Banned in The West: 'The Magnitsky Act - Behind the Scenes' (https://www.sott.net/article/391848-Must-Watch-Russian-Documentary-Banned-in-The-West-The-Magnitsky-Act-Behind-the-Scenes)

Inside Integrity Initiative's desperate attempt to sabotage Russian-German relations (https://www.sott.net/article/404581-Inside-Integrity-Initiatives-desperate-attempt-to-sabotage-Russian-German-relations)

Is Deep State Ruled From Britain? How British Intelligence-Linked Integrity Initiative Drafted US For New Cold War (https://www.sott.net/article/404542-Is-Deep-State-Ruled-From-Britain-How-British-Intelligence-Linked-Integrity-Initiative-Drafted-US-For-New-Cold-War)

How the Integrity Initiative spun the West's highly improbable Skripal narrative (https://www.sott.net/article/404560-How-the-Integrity-Initiative-spun-the-Wests-highly-improbable-Skripal-narrative)

Shock Files: What Role Did Integrity Initiative Play in Sergei Skripal Affair? (https://www.sott.net/article/404216-Shock-Files-What-Role-Did-Integrity-Initiative-Play-in-Sergei-Skripal-Affair)

Hervé

14th January 2019, 12:33

Bellingcat activist fails to ban blogger who exposed his ties to UK propaganda outfit on Twitter (https://www.rt.com/news/448743-bellingcat-blogger-integraty-initiative-twitter/)

RT
Published time: 14 Jan, 2019 08:59
Edited time: 14 Jan, 2019 10:38
Get short URL (https://on.rt.com/9m93)

https://cdni.rt.com/files/2019.01/xxs/5c3badbddda4c8f7108b4582.JPG
FILE PHOTO © Reuters / Kacper Pempel

An activist of the controversial investigative site Bellingcat has tried to make Twitter ban a Canadian blogger, who highlighted his links to a UK-backed covert influence network.

A recent Twitter post by a Canadian blogger, Stephen McIntyre, apparently did not sit well with Dan Kaszeta, an active contributor (https://www.bellingcat.com/author/dankaszeta/) to the self-styled “citizen journalism” investigative website Bellingcat. The Canadian apparently drew the ire of the activist by highlighting some of his connections to the Integrity Initiative (II), a clandestine propaganda outlet funded by the UK government.

McIntyre posted an invoice sent by Kaszeta’s firm, Strongpoint Security, billing II’s parent organization, the Institute for Statecraft, for about $800 for an article penned by the man. The document is part of a trove of II’s data leaked online. The former US Marines veteran apparently got pretty annoyed and turned to the Twitter administration, demanding that the blogger be banned for exposing his personal data. He argues that posting personal data is banned by Twitter rules.

https://cdni.rt.com/files/2019.01/original/5c3c65d7dda4c8f7108b45e2.jpg
© Twitter / @ClimateAudit

McIntyre was briefly banned on Twitter, but promptly appealed his case by arguing that he violated no rules as he simply wrote about Kaszeta’s employment, which is not prohibited on Twitter. His arguments appeared to be convincing enough for the social media giant to lift the ban without any preconditions and leave all the information posted by the Canadian as it is.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DwwqoUUVYAAXnB_?format=jpg&name=small (https://twitter.com/ClimateAudit/status/1084289225732702209/photo/1)

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/629685735939948544/PJ6cF6rA_normal.jpg (https://twitter.com/ClimateAudit) Stephen McIntyre @ClimateAudit (https://twitter.com/ClimateAudit)
Replying to @ClimateAudit (https://twitter.com/_/status/1084288267422334976)
2/ on the grounds that my tweet observing that my tweet did not violate their privacy policy and, in particular, that my observatino that Kaszeta had been employed by a "UK government propaganda campaign" was squarely within their policy for permitted speech

5:21 AM - Jan 13, 2019 (https://twitter.com/ClimateAudit/status/1084289225732702209)
36 people are talking about this (https://twitter.com/ClimateAudit/status/1084289225732702209)

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/629685735939948544/PJ6cF6rA_normal.jpg (https://twitter.com/ClimateAudit) Stephen McIntyre @ClimateAudit
(https://twitter.com/ClimateAudit)
Replying to @ClimateAudit (https://twitter.com/_/status/1084289225732702209)
3/ In their suspension notice, Twitter required me to remove tweet about Kzszeta as condition of return of service. Much to my surprise, Twitter accepted my appeal and restored my account with no condition on removing the tweet about Kaszeta. Good for Twitter.

102 (https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=1084291173475209216)
5:28 AM - Jan 13, 2019 (https://twitter.com/ClimateAudit/status/1084291173475209216)
The two men’s spat apparently attracted some attention as new people joined in McIntyre’s investigation, and starting speculating which of the articles Kaszeta wrote (http://strongpointsecurity.co.uk/resources/downloads/) for II was the work to which the invoice related. The latter rushed to file more complaints with Twitter, but these were to no avail.

https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1083679075162640387/TXAFhhtb_normal.jpg (https://twitter.com/DanKaszeta) Dan Kaszeta @DanKaszeta
(https://twitter.com/DanKaszeta)
Please delete my invoices. I’m not kidding. I’ve been filing complaints all day.
Emmy B @greekemmy
Replying to @ClimateAudit

This must be the article: https://www.integrityinitiative.net/articles/demolishing-kremlins-absurd-theories-about-novichok-and-porton-down … published on the Integrity Initiative website on 20th July 3 days before invoice date, it is also 1556 words long, so the word count matches. If you have any other invoices you can match them to articles in a similar way.
(https://twitter.com/greekemmy/status/1084345150988537856)
8:24 PM - Jan 13, 2019 (https://twitter.com/DanKaszeta/status/1084516500373938176)The Integrity Initiative appeared on the public radar following a series of leaks by a group which claims to be associated with the Anonymous hackers group. Documents published by the group showed that the network was stealthily operating “clusters” of influencers across Europe, who were working to ensure that pro-UK narratives dominate the media. Ostensibly, the outfit is fighting against “Russian propaganda.”

TargeT

17th January 2019, 06:37

IT'S
ALL
LIES
1vUq5fKTtm4

TargeT

21st January 2019, 19:51

another great example of blantant lies and media manipulation:

CY-vU5d__aQ

and

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media is in a bit of a panic and seems to be in full damage control mode:

NT38rpbBwe0

A Voice from the Mountains

21st January 2019, 22:51

IT'S
ALL
LIES

Now a watch company has put out an ad in response:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_HL0wiK4Zc

There's a successful businessman on YouTube, "Coach Red Pill," that gives free advice on various subjects. He's one of many I've seen predicting this trend of companies explicitly siding with a given set of values in order to attract a loyal customer base.

In the past, most companies tried to avoid politics and ideologies in general in order to appeal to the largest market possible. As companies start coming under pressure to explicitly conform to new social diktats, first we see junk like the Gillette ad, and then we see a reaction to it. Or deplatforming, or boycotts. Companies are being forced into choosing an ideological position in order to satisfy their customer base, or else face backlash. We can expect marketing to increasingly take this turn. In other words, free market capitalism is going to prevail as people begin to "vote" with their wallets.

TargeT

24th January 2019, 01:57

another great example of blantant lies and media manipulation:

its getting so much better.... these kinds of blows to the MSM are exactly what is needed for "normies".

rrl6wVkWk-w

Tintin

24th January 2019, 12:05

[I]“By showing the real sources of information on which they rely, newspapers like El País or El Mundo are exposed as conduits of the intelligence services to support the suppression of maverick political viewpoints… Last year, El País carried out a frenzied and paranoid campaign claiming that the Catalan crisis was not sparked by the Popular Party government’s violent repression of the secessionists, but was the result of Moscow and its “fake news.” It quoted experts and specialists working for Spanish think tanks like Instituto Elcano and Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB), and the European Council on Foreign Relations. The leaked documents show that many members of these think tanks are members of the “Spanish Cluster” of the Integrity Initiative.”

[Elizabeth Vos in Disobedient Media] (https://disobedientmedia.com/2019/01/integrity-initiative-and-affiliates-behind-multiple-attacks-on-disobedient-media/)

Integrity Initiative And Affiliates Behind Multiple Attacks On Disobedient Media

January 15, 2019 Elizabeth Vos

Last month, an anonymous hacking group published a slew of documents that revealed a vast operation by the Integrity Initiative and its parent group, the Institute for Statecraft. The organizations and their slew of affiliates sought to propagandize a Western audience by crafting false narratives, creating smears out of whole cloth, and in all of these efforts, backed by the UK intelligence community. In other words, make psychological warfare sound like journalism, while accusing Russia of the same.

The influence of the group and its contacts stretches from news outlets in Europe to Washington DC insiders to Silicon Valley. Multiple reports published by Grayzone, the World Socialist Website and others map this infinite array of relationships, which we will not endeavor to outline in full here.

The revelation is not merely an embarrassment to some factions within the British intelligence community, but represents a glimpse into the inner workings of the propaganda machine that keeps the plutocratic class in control of the public (http://archive.is/xmlj5).

John Pilger once wrote of Edward Bernays, the founder of modern propaganda:

“Bernays’ influence extended far beyond advertising. His greatest success was his role in convincing the American public to join the slaughter of the First World War. The secret, he said, was “engineering the consent” of people in order to “control and regiment [them] according to our will without their knowing about it. He described this as “the true ruling power in our society” and called it an “invisible government.”

It is this same invisible controlling force that has been exposed at work in the anonymous hack of the Integrity Initiative.

Grayzone’s Mohamed Elmaazi and Max Blumenthal summarized the scandal (https://archive.vn/XQ2lj#selection-549.0-566.0), writing:

“Recent hacked documents have revealed an international network of politicians, journalists, academics, researchers and military officers, all engaged in highly deceptive covert propaganda campaigns funded by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), NATO, Facebook and hardline national security institutions… The whole operation appears to be run by, and in conjunction with, members of British military intelligence… The exposing of the Integrity Initiative has just scratched the surface of what appears to be a much more sophisticated, insidious, and extremely online version of Operation Mockingbird.”

In the weeks following the hack, major narratives pushed by the legacy press in the last two years have been exposed as state-friendly propaganda, including but not limited to: Russiagate, the Skripal poisoning, the smearing of Jeremy Corbyn, and the pushback against the Catalan independence movement. Grayzone also illustrated the group’s ties to Trump-insiders Katharine and Sebastian Gorka and neoconservative interests, detailing the direct involvement of the State Department’s Todd Leventhal.

The Integrity Initiative was not only involved with propagandizing against Russia. The group also interfered in American politics, according to Grayzone (http://archive.is/1SICF):

“It is clear that the influence operation has already been activated in the US. Hacked documents reveal that the Integrity Initiative is cultivating powerful allies inside the State Department, top DC think tanks, the FBI and the DHS, where it has gained access to Katharine Gorka and her husband, the fascist-linked cable news pundit Sebastian Gorka.”

As commented on by Jimmy Dore, the leaked documents reveal the identity of a probable British intelligence asset, Bracey-Lane, who worked for the 2016 Bernie Sanders campaign. Again, this suggests that the group was not simply aimed at scare-mongering against Russia, but also actively worked to interfere in American politics while blaming Russia for the same thing.

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The World Socialist Website described the sources of funding for the Initiative, writing:

” … with £1.96 million from the FCO and the rest from the US State Department, NATO and the American neoconservative Smith Richardson Foundation. Facebook, which plays an integral role in imposing censorship on behalf of US imperialism, donated £100,000.”

The larger-than-life quality of the story included in Grayzone’s discovery of a fake, derelict location and real offices located in an area known as “the Temple,” that is filled with “barristers’ chambers and used to serve as the precinct for the Knights of Templar.”

Grayzone also cites UK Parliament Member Chris Williamson, who directly compared the machinations of the Integrity Initiative with the CIA’s cold-war Operation Mockingbird:

“These tactics resemble those deployed by the CIA in Operation Mockingbird that was launched at the height of the cold war in the early 1950s. Its aims included using the mainstream news media as a propaganda tool.”

Despite the story’s historic significance of the scandal, Western corporate media’s glaring refusal to cover the story requires little explanation. Disobedient Media’s William Craddick noted last year that Richard Stengel, a former Editor of Time Magazine revealed in the leak to be tied to the Integrity Initiative via the Global Engagement Center and Todd Leventhal, had publicly advocated for the use of domestic propaganda.

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Video address:https://twitter.com/i/status/995026256214179840

That the Integrity Initiative would be unmasked as a front for state-backed propaganda is not without precedent. In the series Decipher You, this writer and President of the Internet Party of New Zealand Suzie Dawson noted the use of NGOs as proxy organizations used by intelligence agencies.

Virtually simultaneous to the revelations stemming from the anonymously hacked documents, Disobedient Media‘s William Craddick also reported allegations that a British intelligence asset had infiltrated right-wing outlets including the Voice of Europe. The report was not the first time that British influence has been noted interfering in various US affairs.

In April last year, Disobedient Media (https://disobedientmedia.com/2018/04/all-russiagate-roads-lead-to-london-as-evidence-emerges-of-joseph-mifsuds-links-to-uk-intelligence/) reported on Joseph Mifsud’s ties to UK intelligence figures, and other connections suggesting British influence at the heart of the Trump-Russia collusion narrative, concluding:

“Is British intelligence involvement in RussiaGate, as outlined above, the international version of CrowdStrike and former FBI figures manufacturing the Guccifer 2.0 persona specifically to smear WikiLeaks via false allegations of a Russian hack of the DNC? Have we been looking in the wrong place – at the wrong country – to unearth the so-called ‘foreign meddling’ in the 2016 US election all along?”

In light of evidence (https://disobedientmedia.com/2018/05/chris_blackburn_discusses_legacy_press_coverage_of_joseph_mifsud/) showing that Mifsud’s real ties are to British intelligence, not the Russian government, the possibility arises that the UK made efforts to subvert the Presidency of Donald Trump by creating false evidence of Russian interference in the 2016 US Presidential election. In this vein, former Reagan NSC staff-member Richard Levine discussed the role of the GCHQ (https://disobedientmedia.com/2018/10/evolution-of-the-russian-collusion-narrative-%E2%94%80-part-three/) in the evolution of the Trump-Russia collusion narrative, explaining the context in which Trump’s election to the US Presidency would have been seen as totally unacceptable in British establishment and intelligence circles:

“As perceived throughout 2016, Donald Trump and his enunciated views on Muslims constituted a threat to cohesion within the United Kingdom as well as to its external affairs, for if Trump became President, a continuance of the special relationship between Britain and America could undercut Britain’s position vis-à-vis the nation’s burgeoning Muslim population as well as its relations with Muslim-majority nations. If Britain were to suspend its special relationship with America in the wake of a Trump presidency, the island nation’s economy and security could suffer grievous harm. Further, the next British monarch might be precluded from becoming the head of the Commonwealth of Nations due to friction with Muslim-majority members incensed by Washington. Thus, both courses appeared unacceptable.”

Levine (https://disobedientmedia.com/2018/10/evolution-of-the-russian-collusion-narrative-%E2%94%80-part-three/) added:

“It may therefore be contended that former or current operatives, with decades-long associations with American and British intelligence, took part in activities, which one of these individuals alleged was penetrated by Russia. Of course, these persons were not part of the Trump campaign or presidency: rather they are connected to the CIA, the FBI, and MI6.“

Grayzone writes of the Integrity Initiative’s focus on drumming up specifically neo-mccarthyist fervor:

“The Integrity Initiative has sought to organize journalists across the West into an international echo chamber hyping up the supposed threat of Russian disinformation—and to defame politicians and journalists critical of this new Cold War campaign.”

Small independent outlets including Disobedient Media were among those targeted by proxies and partners of the Integrity Initiative and its parent organization, the Institute for Statecraft. One of the earliest attacks on Disobedient Media came from the Atlantic Council’s controversial DFRLab, which infamously partnered with Facebook to help shape the social media giant’s censorship policy. The Atlantic Council was also revealed to be a partner of the Integrity Initiative. Disobedient Media co-founder William Craddick wrote (https://disobedientmedia.com/2017/02/george-soros-funded-think-tank-attacks-disobedient-media-over-eu-coverage/) of the Council’s attack on this outlet:

“On February 10th, 2017, an article distributed by the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensics Lab (https://archive.is/0GQ9g) attacked research published by Disobedient Media concerning the EU and added the Atlantic Council to a line of media houses and other outlets who deny the Wikileaks and Harvard Human Rights Journal supported research collected and published by Disobedient Media exposing the role that the Clintons and Department of State played in helping Laura Silsby and her co-conspirators off the hook after they were caught smuggling children illegally out of Haiti.”

Disobedient Media’s (https://disobedientmedia.com/2017/01/angela-merkels-eu-army-poses-the-greatest-threat-to-world-peace-in-2017/) coverage of the EU Army in particular noted the role of NATO in supplying the new fighting force with equipment and weaponry that was being shipped to Europe under the auspices of Operation Atlantic Resolve. Atlantic Resolve is an ongoing NATO operation intended to counteract Russia, a major geostrategic opponent of the United Kingdom. It should be of little surprise to anyone that British government propaganda programs would attack Disobedient Media’s coverage of operations that have allowed them to use the United States as a proxy in their centuries-long competition with Russia for political dominance both in Europe and around the globe.

An even closer proxy of the Integrity Initiative attacked this writer in 2017, shortly after Disobedient Media covered the violent suppression of the Catalan independence movement by authorities in Spain. The Spanish paper of record El Pais then published a hit piece against this outlet, representing our coverage as a Russian disinformation front. Never mind that all individuals associated with Disobedient Media are US or UK citizens with no ties, financial or otherwise, to Russia. We are proud to accept zero financial incentive from anyone, Russian or not. We decline to so much as include Google advertising on our site, to maintain total independence.

After being translated electronically from Spanish to English, the passage reads:

“The digital armies of the Kremlin operate with the same pattern: viralize exaggerated or false messages and news to exacerbate a crisis and encourage division in the US or Europe, something that ends up benefiting the position of Moscow. For that, these guerrillas use websites that look like serious diaries that create or host the news that is later shared. One of the most popular is DisobedientMedia.com, which is presented under the guise of a research journalism website, but which has been dedicated to promoting all sorts of false conspiracy theories such as the one that linked Hillary Clinton to a pedophile network. According to the Atlantic Council think tank, the employees of that supposed newspaper have also spread false news in the German campaign, as Angela Merkel allowed the entrance of ISIS jihadists in Europe to achieve greater military power.” [Emphasis added]

The smear attempt continued:

“Now that same medium and those same employees have launched to disseminate information about the Catalan crisis, often interacting with Assange himself. On September 15 they published a new in which they made false claims that the cancellation of the referendum has cast doubt on the permanence of Spain in the EU, that the Spanish government has restricted press freedom or that Amnesty International has condemned the illegal vote on the independence. The news ends with a photo of Francisco Franco on horseback and its author refers to “the enduring influence of the fascist dictator Francisco Franco in Spanish politics.”

That same author, Elizabeth Lea Vos (@ElizabethleaVos) shared his information in Twitter seven days ago with messages like “Where is the EU’s response to Spanish authoritarianism?”

Unsurprisingly, Grayzone has described El Pais as a specifically “friendly host” to the Integrity Initiative, and the World Socialist Website reported that a key focusing of the Integrity Initiative included meddling in Spanish affairs, specifically regarding Catalan independence:

“By showing the real sources of information on which they rely, newspapers like El País or El Mundo are exposed as conduits of the intelligence services to support the suppression of maverick political viewpoints… Last year, El País carried out a frenzied and paranoid campaign claiming that the Catalan crisis was not sparked by the Popular Party government’s violent repression of the secessionists, but was the result of Moscow and its “fake news.” It quoted experts and specialists working for Spanish think tanks like Instituto Elcano and Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB), and the European Council on Foreign Relations. The leaked documents show that many members of these think tanks are members of the “Spanish Cluster” of the Integrity Initiative.”

It appears that El Pais’s attack on this author and Disobedient Media was likely a part of the now-unmasked efforts of the Integrity Initiative’s to propagandize against anyone critical of the West or their allies. El Pais’s attempt to tie this author and Disobedient Media to the so-called “digital army of the Kremlin” didn’t so much as attempt to provide a single tie between this author or Disobedient Media and Russia, much less the Russian government. However, it would not be the last time that this outlet would be accused of acting on behalf of Russia despite all evidence to the contrary.

Last year, Disobedient Media’s technical correspondent was shamelessly doxxed and attacked in a hit-piece authored by Duncan Campbell. Campbell, much like the Atlantic Council, similarly attacked Disobedient Media’s coverage of the EU Army and ties between certain British officials and organizations linked to terrorist networks. While multiple writers have since thoroughly debunked the claims made in Campbell’s farce of an article, Carter informed this writer that shortly before the piece was published, a photographer and journalist from the Sunday Times appeared at his residence unannounced. This would suggest that the journalists in question had been tipped off as to Carter’s real identity and address, as well as the imminent publication of Campbell’s report. Carter added that shortly after Campbell’s article was published, he received a follow-up email from Sunday Times reporter Ian Williams.

Fascinatingly, Ian Williams is part of the ‘Russian Outer Core group of II‘ described in the Integrity Initiative scandal. While Carter cannot confirm that Ian Williams was the same reporter who appeared on his doorstep just prior to the publication of Campbell’s article, it is nonetheless relatively predictable that a reporter associated with the Integrity Initiative’s efforts to propagandize against Russia would seize on Campbell’s ad-hominem-drenched hysteria.

It goes without saying that Disobedient Media is far from the only outlet targeted by organizations and individuals associated with the Integrity Initiative. However, by discussing the targeting of this single, minor independent outlet, one realizes the gravity of state-backed resources devoting to smearing domestic, independent voices. It provides a piece of a larger pattern seen repetitively across the independent media sphere, wherein critical thinkers are attacked viciously under the guise of “protecting democracy” and “countering pro-Russia talking-points.”

These groundbreaking revelations documented meticulously by Grazyone and others form the latest in a series of reports linking British intelligence to meddling in US political affairs, a twisted reflection of the reality deflected from in the Russiagate saga. That state-sponsored organizations targeted the leader of a political party is a revelation whose shockwaves should reverberate for a long time to come.

If the incestuous relationship between the State and corporate world hadn’t already been proven, the revelation of this nefarious project should put the final nail in the coffin of the separation between technocracy, plutocracy and governance.

Disobedient Media will continue to report on this story as it develops.