+ Reply to Thread
Page 7 of 15 FirstFirst 1 7 15 LastLast
Results 121 to 140 of 281

Thread: Fake News and the War on Freedom and Truth

  1. Link to Post #121
    France On Sabbatical
    Join Date
    7th March 2011
    Location
    Brittany
    Posts
    16,763
    Thanks
    60,315
    Thanked 95,891 times in 15,481 posts

    Default Re: Fake News and the War on Freedom and Truth

    Trump cuts US debt by $12bn in his first month in office, accuses media of 'not reporting' it

    RT
    Sat, 25 Feb 2017 20:33 UTC


    © 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.

    Quote
    Donald J. TrumpVerified account‏@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 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.

    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 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 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.
    "La réalité est un rêve que l'on fait atterrir" San Antonio AKA F. Dard

    Troll-hood motto: Never, ever, however, whatsoever, to anyone, a point concede.

  2. The Following 9 Users Say Thank You to Hervé For This Post:

    A Voice from the Mountains (27th February 2017), BMJ (27th February 2017), Bruno (27th February 2017), Chester (1st March 2017), RunningDeer (1st March 2017), seko (5th March 2017), Sophocles (26th February 2017), TargeT (1st March 2017), uzn (26th February 2017)

  3. Link to Post #122
    France On Sabbatical
    Join Date
    7th March 2011
    Location
    Brittany
    Posts
    16,763
    Thanks
    60,315
    Thanked 95,891 times in 15,481 posts

    Default Re: Fake News and the War on Freedom and Truth

    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

    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!"
    "La réalité est un rêve que l'on fait atterrir" San Antonio AKA F. Dard

    Troll-hood motto: Never, ever, however, whatsoever, to anyone, a point concede.

  4. The Following 10 Users Say Thank You to Hervé For This Post:

    A Voice from the Mountains (27th February 2017), BMJ (27th February 2017), Bruno (27th February 2017), Chester (1st March 2017), Ewan (27th February 2017), JRS (1st March 2017), penn (1st March 2017), seko (5th March 2017), Sophocles (26th February 2017), thedood73 (13th June 2017)

  5. Link to Post #123
    Australia Avalon Member 7alon's Avatar
    Join Date
    30th August 2016
    Location
    Earth
    Age
    38
    Posts
    549
    Thanks
    2,634
    Thanked 3,568 times in 524 posts

    Default Re: Fake News and the War on Freedom and Truth

    http://lawnewz.com/uncategorized/hos...lse-reporting/

    Quote 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.

  6. The Following 11 Users Say Thank You to 7alon For This Post:

    BMJ (22nd April 2017), Bruno (27th February 2017), ceetee9 (5th March 2017), Ewan (27th February 2017), Hervé (27th February 2017), NancyV (1st March 2017), penn (1st March 2017), RunningDeer (1st March 2017), seko (5th March 2017), TargeT (27th February 2017), uzn (27th February 2017)

  7. Link to Post #124
    France On Sabbatical
    Join Date
    7th March 2011
    Location
    Brittany
    Posts
    16,763
    Thanks
    60,315
    Thanked 95,891 times in 15,481 posts

    Default Re: Fake News and the War on Freedom and Truth

    Tucker Carlson induces cognitive dissonance in Bill Nye the Science Guy over climate change

    Scott Adams Scott Adams' Blog
    Tue, 28 Feb 2017 23:19 UTC



    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.

    "La réalité est un rêve que l'on fait atterrir" San Antonio AKA F. Dard

    Troll-hood motto: Never, ever, however, whatsoever, to anyone, a point concede.

  8. The Following 10 Users Say Thank You to Hervé For This Post:

    7alon (6th March 2017), A Voice from the Mountains (1st March 2017), BMJ (22nd April 2017), Ewan (1st March 2017), Flowerpunkchip (2nd March 2017), JRS (1st March 2017), NancyV (1st March 2017), RunningDeer (1st March 2017), TargeT (1st March 2017), uzn (1st March 2017)

  9. Link to Post #125
    United States Unsubscribed
    Join Date
    24th September 2014
    Location
    Appalachia
    Posts
    2,551
    Thanks
    9,947
    Thanked 13,078 times in 2,355 posts

    Default Re: Fake News and the War on Freedom and Truth

    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:

    Quote 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/jamesta.../#6954d4e94c7c


    So much for being a settled issue.

  10. Link to Post #126
    France On Sabbatical
    Join Date
    7th March 2011
    Location
    Brittany
    Posts
    16,763
    Thanks
    60,315
    Thanked 95,891 times in 15,481 posts

    Default Re: Fake News and the War on Freedom and Truth

    Video: War on Syria: Manufactured Revolution and Fake Media Narrative

    By Eva Bartlett
    Global Research, February 28, 2017



    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)

    Eva Bartlett’s presentation in Montreal
    Excerpts from Eva Bartlett’s Sott article entitled
    Western corporate media ‘disappears’ over 1.5 million Syrians and 4,000 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.


    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 Medical Association (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.

    [...]

    Full article: http://www.globalresearch.ca/war-on-...rative/5577303


    Related:

    SYRIA: NATO'S NEXT WAR?
    "La réalité est un rêve que l'on fait atterrir" San Antonio AKA F. Dard

    Troll-hood motto: Never, ever, however, whatsoever, to anyone, a point concede.

  11. The Following 11 Users Say Thank You to Hervé For This Post:

    A Voice from the Mountains (4th March 2017), BMJ (22nd April 2017), Eram (1st March 2017), Ewan (1st March 2017), Flowerpunkchip (2nd March 2017), JRS (3rd March 2017), muxfolder (3rd March 2017), RunningDeer (1st March 2017), seko (5th March 2017), TargeT (14th April 2017), thedood73 (13th June 2017)

  12. Link to Post #127
    United States Unsubscribed
    Join Date
    15th March 2010
    Posts
    10,068
    Thanks
    12,891
    Thanked 32,308 times in 7,756 posts

    Default Re: Fake News and the War on Freedom and Truth

    We need real news...

    Something that erases an hour of hurt and fear in a few tears of people helping people...

    Last edited by Rocky_Shorz; 2nd March 2017 at 18:30.

  13. Link to Post #128
    Avalon Member norman's Avatar
    Join Date
    25th March 2010
    Location
    too close to the hot air exhaust
    Age
    68
    Posts
    8,893
    Thanks
    9,940
    Thanked 55,009 times in 8,167 posts

    Default Re: Fake News and the War on Freedom and Truth

    BBC The Moral Maze - FAKE NEWS

    A 45 minute examination of the Fake News phenomenon.

    MP3
    https://app.box.com/s/abslr2yn1s7cs2ecsi1bhbd0t7t3703i
    ..................................................my first language is TYPO..............................................

  14. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to norman For This Post:

    A Voice from the Mountains (4th March 2017), BMJ (22nd April 2017)

  15. Link to Post #129
    France On Sabbatical
    Join Date
    7th March 2011
    Location
    Brittany
    Posts
    16,763
    Thanks
    60,315
    Thanked 95,891 times in 15,481 posts

    Default Re: Fake News and the War on Freedom and Truth

    Flashback: Sensational Memos Lifted Lid on Fake News

    By Henry Makow March 4, 2017



    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 (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 but I find his work credible. He claimed to be the nephew of Gestapo Chief Heinrich Mueller and has published Mueller's diary , CIA interrogation and many other revelations.


    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.


    Washington, D.C. February 28, 2017: "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.

    Quote " 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) 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:
    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 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)
    "La réalité est un rêve que l'on fait atterrir" San Antonio AKA F. Dard

    Troll-hood motto: Never, ever, however, whatsoever, to anyone, a point concede.

  16. The Following 7 Users Say Thank You to Hervé For This Post:

    A Voice from the Mountains (4th March 2017), BMJ (22nd April 2017), Ewan (5th March 2017), seko (5th March 2017), sheme (17th March 2017), Sophocles (5th March 2017), TargeT (14th April 2017)

  17. Link to Post #130
    France On Sabbatical
    Join Date
    7th March 2011
    Location
    Brittany
    Posts
    16,763
    Thanks
    60,315
    Thanked 95,891 times in 15,481 posts

    Default Re: Fake News and the War on Freedom and Truth

    RT network beats BBC, CNN with 18 nominations in prestigious New York Festivals finals

    RT
    Sun, 05 Mar 2017 08:56 UTC


    © 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.

    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.

    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.
    "La réalité est un rêve que l'on fait atterrir" San Antonio AKA F. Dard

    Troll-hood motto: Never, ever, however, whatsoever, to anyone, a point concede.

  18. The Following 9 Users Say Thank You to Hervé For This Post:

    A Voice from the Mountains (22nd March 2017), BMJ (22nd April 2017), ceetee9 (5th March 2017), Chester (5th March 2017), Ewan (6th March 2017), Foxie Loxie (5th March 2017), seko (5th March 2017), sheme (17th March 2017), Sophocles (5th March 2017)

  19. Link to Post #131
    France On Sabbatical
    Join Date
    7th March 2011
    Location
    Brittany
    Posts
    16,763
    Thanks
    60,315
    Thanked 95,891 times in 15,481 posts

    Default Re: Fake News and the War on Freedom and Truth

    Putin spills the beans on the New World Order that Western media won't air

    Arjun Walia Collective Evolution
    Thu, 16 Mar 2017 00:00 UTC



    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)

    (And he's not the only one. You can see similar quotes in a previous article we published here.)

    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.)

    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)

    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. 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. 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)
    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.

    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)
    FBI whistle blower Sibel Edmonds told us 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.

    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.

    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, or Amber Lyon, 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.

    "La réalité est un rêve que l'on fait atterrir" San Antonio AKA F. Dard

    Troll-hood motto: Never, ever, however, whatsoever, to anyone, a point concede.

  20. The Following 8 Users Say Thank You to Hervé For This Post:

    A Voice from the Mountains (22nd March 2017), BMJ (22nd April 2017), Ewan (17th March 2017), Helene West (20th March 2017), KiwiElf (17th March 2017), Mike (19th March 2017), seko (2nd April 2017), sheme (17th March 2017)

  21. Link to Post #132
    United States Avalon Member Chester's Avatar
    Join Date
    15th December 2011
    Location
    into my third life within this one
    Language
    English
    Age
    66
    Posts
    6,069
    Thanks
    34,011
    Thanked 33,205 times in 5,691 posts

    Default Re: Fake News and the War on Freedom and Truth

    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

    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.
    All the above is all and only my opinion - all subject to change and not meant to be true for anyone else regardless of how I phrase it.

  22. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Chester For This Post:

    A Voice from the Mountains (22nd March 2017), Mike (19th March 2017), sheme (17th March 2017)

  23. Link to Post #133
    Australia On Sabbatical
    Join Date
    30th October 2014
    Location
    Great Northern Hotel, Twin Peaks.
    Posts
    3,798
    Thanks
    27,109
    Thanked 29,551 times in 3,482 posts

    Default Re: Fake News and the War on Freedom and Truth

    The CIA’s 60-Year History of Fake News: How the Deep State Corrupted Many American Writers

    Quote 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).
    Never give up on your silly, silly dreams.

    You mustn't be afraid to dream a little BIGGER, darling.

  24. The Following 7 Users Say Thank You to Innocent Warrior For This Post:

    A Voice from the Mountains (22nd March 2017), BMJ (22nd April 2017), Ewan (19th March 2017), gnostic9 (21st March 2017), Hervé (22nd March 2017), norman (30th March 2017), seko (2nd April 2017)

  25. Link to Post #134
    France On Sabbatical
    Join Date
    7th March 2011
    Location
    Brittany
    Posts
    16,763
    Thanks
    60,315
    Thanked 95,891 times in 15,481 posts

    Default Re: Fake News and the War on Freedom and Truth

    Allegations claiming French presidential candidate paid to arrange Putin meetings blasted as 'fake news' and 'orchestrated sleeze'

    Reuters
    Wed, 22 Mar 2017 11:52 UTC


    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

    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) (<---)
    Last edited by Hervé; 22nd March 2017 at 18:33.
    "La réalité est un rêve que l'on fait atterrir" San Antonio AKA F. Dard

    Troll-hood motto: Never, ever, however, whatsoever, to anyone, a point concede.

  26. The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to Hervé For This Post:

    A Voice from the Mountains (22nd March 2017), BMJ (22nd April 2017), Ewan (22nd March 2017), seko (2nd April 2017)

  27. Link to Post #135
    United States Avalon Retired Member
    Join Date
    18th September 2016
    Posts
    1,062
    Thanks
    2,208
    Thanked 5,370 times in 1,011 posts

    Default Re: Fake News and the War on Freedom and Truth

    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

  28. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Helene West For This Post:

    A Voice from the Mountains (22nd March 2017), BMJ (22nd April 2017)

  29. Link to Post #136
    United States Unsubscribed
    Join Date
    24th September 2014
    Location
    Appalachia
    Posts
    2,551
    Thanks
    9,947
    Thanked 13,078 times in 2,355 posts

    Default Re: Fake News and the War on Freedom and Truth

    Zero Hedge is reporting that "secret" polling at Le Figaro shows Le Pen farther ahead than the media is publicly publishing there:

    Quote 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.



    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.



    A score of above 30% in the first round, however, would significantly boost her chances of continuing to victory on May 7th.



    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/2017-0...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.

  30. Link to Post #137
    France On Sabbatical
    Join Date
    7th March 2011
    Location
    Brittany
    Posts
    16,763
    Thanks
    60,315
    Thanked 95,891 times in 15,481 posts

    Default Re: Fake News and the War on Freedom and Truth

    Lavrov's April Fools' Day prank - CNN can't take a joke

    Russia Insider Sat, 01 Apr 2017 16:20 UTC

    Lavrov never fails us


    A great man who leads a great ministry

    We admit that our own prank 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.

    The Ministry announced 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."
    UPDATE: Thanks to the fine work of one of our amazing commenters, we now learn that the party-poopers at CNN are not amused by this harmless prank (rushed translation from Russian)...
    "La réalité est un rêve que l'on fait atterrir" San Antonio AKA F. Dard

    Troll-hood motto: Never, ever, however, whatsoever, to anyone, a point concede.

  31. The Following 14 Users Say Thank You to Hervé For This Post:

    avid (2nd April 2017), Bill Ryan (2nd April 2017), BMJ (22nd April 2017), Chester (2nd April 2017), Eram (2nd April 2017), Ewan (2nd April 2017), Lettherebelight (2nd April 2017), Ol' Roy (3rd April 2017), onawah (2nd April 2017), Ron Mauer Sr (2nd April 2017), seko (2nd April 2017), Shannon (2nd April 2017), Sophocles (2nd April 2017), Zampano (3rd April 2017)

  32. Link to Post #138
    UK Avalon Founder Bill Ryan's Avatar
    Join Date
    7th February 2010
    Location
    Ecuador
    Posts
    34,268
    Thanks
    208,939
    Thanked 457,519 times in 32,788 posts

    Default Re: Fake News and the War on Freedom and Truth

    Quote Posted by Hervé (here)
    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.

  33. The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to Bill Ryan For This Post:

    BMJ (22nd April 2017), Bob (14th April 2017), Chester (2nd April 2017), Hervé (2nd April 2017), Sophocles (2nd April 2017)

  34. Link to Post #139
    France On Sabbatical
    Join Date
    7th March 2011
    Location
    Brittany
    Posts
    16,763
    Thanks
    60,315
    Thanked 95,891 times in 15,481 posts

    Default Re: Fake News and the War on Freedom and Truth

    Top ten reasons to doubt official story on Assad poison-gas attack

    by Jon Rappoport Apr 13, 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
    "La réalité est un rêve que l'on fait atterrir" San Antonio AKA F. Dard

    Troll-hood motto: Never, ever, however, whatsoever, to anyone, a point concede.

  35. The Following 6 Users Say Thank You to Hervé For This Post:

    Atlas (14th April 2017), BMJ (22nd April 2017), Ewan (14th April 2017), meeradas (14th April 2017), Noelle (14th April 2017), Sophocles (14th April 2017)

  36. Link to Post #140
    United States On Sabbatical
    Join Date
    30th June 2011
    Location
    The Seat of Corruption
    Age
    44
    Posts
    9,177
    Thanks
    25,610
    Thanked 53,658 times in 8,694 posts

    Default Re: Fake News and the War on Freedom and Truth

    Quote Posted by Hervé (here)
    Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov
    Hahaha, I like this guy.

    Hard times create strong men, Strong men create good times, Good times create weak men, Weak men create hard times.
    Where are you?

  37. The Following 5 Users Say Thank You to TargeT For This Post:

    Atlas (21st April 2017), BMJ (22nd April 2017), Hervé (14th April 2017), Mike (14th April 2017), Noelle (14th April 2017)

+ Reply to Thread
Page 7 of 15 FirstFirst 1 7 15 LastLast

Tags for this Thread

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts