Mainstream media goes full Orwell telling readers they’re using the word ‘Orwellian’ wrong
By Helen Buyniski | RT | January 13, 2021
Complaining about authoritarian government intrusion into one’s life or surreptitious rewriting of history no longer qualify as “Orwellian,” according to an article that ironically embodies the concept in trying to redefine it.
News outlet USA Today has managed to personify the term ‘Orwellian’ in its profoundly condescending writeup scolding readers for “using the term ‘Orwellian’ wrong.” Published on Monday, the piece goes to great lengths to shame those insecure about their vocabulary by suggesting the term “Orwellian” can only be used correctly by liberals.
“Chances are, you’ve seen George Orwell’s name thrown around a lot in the past week on social media, either by conservatives invoking his name with sincerity or by liberals poking fun at conservatives for its misuse,” the article starts, smirkingly laying the groundwork for canceling out all usage of the term by those on the Right.
But the examples it holds up to mock – presidential scion Donald Trump Jr.’s complaint about the disappearance of his father’s Twitter account and Missouri Senator Josh Hawley’s blaming the “woke mob” for the cancellation of his book contract – are not as wide of the mark as the thought police at USA Today would have us believe.
Hawley’s book denouncing the “tyranny of Big Tech,” for example, isn’t just “a publisher drop[ping] your book because your brand has become toxic” – it’s a disturbing example of what are supposed to be separate industries (social media, book publishing) marching in ideological lockstep with the prevailing political ideology.
Nor is the younger Trump’s complaint about Twitter deleting his father’s account ‘just’ an example of “an internet platform enforcing its terms of service.” For better or worse, Trump’s Twitter feed was a historical document, his primary means of addressing the American public throughout his presidency. Suspending it permanently is the equivalent of throwing four years of official proclamations down the memory hole, never to be seen again, as 1984’s protagonist Winston Smith did with inconvenient historical documents as a loyal Party member.
USA Today brings in a scholar who wrote his dissertation on Orwell to connect the iconic “Two Minutes Hate” to the “social media mob mentality” and the QAnon conspiracy theory, perhaps missing the forest (four years of “Orange Man Bad!” ritualistically shouted at the top of one’s digital lungs) for the trees.
The article notes that Orwell fought fascism in Spain, strongly implying today’s conservatives are the ideological descendants of Franco’s fascists – a conclusion it doesn’t try to support with facts, but merely guilt by association. Which dovetails perfectly with the writer’s efforts to narrow the definition of “Orwellian” by the use of “the manipulation of language” to conceal reality.
After all, even this heavy-handed propaganda piece acknowledges that Orwell discovered “the failures of Soviet communism,” finding it one of “two sides of the same totalitarian coin” with fascism and disowning both extremes.
And as much as 21st century liberal revisionists would like to lay claim to the term “Orwellian” just for themselves, the dystopian future-Britain of 1984 was crafted in the image of the Soviet Union, not fascist Spain or Germany. “INGSOC,” the name of the Party’s totalitarian ideology, is short for “English Socialism.” Attempting to dismantle the author’s own intent to sell the ideological flavor-of-the-month is pretty, well, Orwellian.
Helen Buyniski is an American journalist and political commentator at RT. Follow her on Twitter @velocirapture23
Cheerleading Politicized Impeachment
By Stephen Lendman | January 12, 2021
Big media cheerlead preemptive wars, support corporate predation, and are indifferent toward world peace, equity, justice, the rule of law, and well-being of ordinary people.
They’re press agents for wealth, power and privilege, hostile toward governance serving everyone equitably.
What democracy is supposed to be, they scorn, supporting its fantasy version alone that’s none at all.
The NYT is in the vanguard of proliferating deep state-approved propaganda exclusively on major domestic and geopolitical issues, truth-telling on what matters most banned in its editions.
Managed news misinformation and disinformation drowns it out. All the news it claims is fit to read responsible editors wouldn’t touch.
Times editors, columnists, and correspondents demand Trump’s impeachment and removal from office — for unconstitutional reasons, not legitimate ones.
In its latest edition, the Times editorial board in charge of misinformation, disinformation, fake news, and Big Lies featured in daily editions screamed “Impeach Trump Again.”
A litany of bald-faced Big Lies followed — a longstanding Times specialty.
The Times : “Trump’s efforts to remain in office in defiance of democracy (sic) cannot be allowed to go unanswered, lest they invite more lawlessness from this president or those who follow (sic).”
According to Times fake news, impeaching Trump a second time is for use of constitutionally protected speech.
It’s about politicized revenge for defeating media darling Hillary, wanting him removed from office in defiance of the rule of law.
It’s unrelated to protecting democracy in America that exists in fantasy version alone.
The real thing is banned, along with peace, equity, justice, the rule of law, and governance serving all Americans equitably — notions the Times and other Big Media abhor.
The Times : Week ago Capitol Hill violence “was the culmination of a campaign waged by (Trump and his congressional) allies… to overturn the results of a free and fair election (sic).”
There’s nothing “free and open” about irrefutable brazen fraud and election theft — nor wanting the Trump team’s constitutional right to challenge the diabolical scheme denied.
The Times wants hard evidence of election theft suppressed.
It called legitimate Trump team challenges “farcical,” along with defying reality by claiming that “Joe Biden won fairly (sic).”
He lost. Trump won, politicized impeachment underway and possible conviction after returning to private life.
What’s going on plunged a dagger into the heart of an open, free and fair society, along with the rule of law — supported by Big Media instead of condemning it.
Falsely claiming Trump incited Capitol Hill violence last week by the Times and other Big Media is typical of how they proliferate Big Lies and breach the public trust.
So is calling totalitarian police state USA democratic.
Suppressing legitimate reasons to want Trump held accountable, the Times and other Big Media want him crucified for invented ones.
The Times virtually called Trump’s First Amendment right of free expression “a crime so brazen (sic) that it demands the highest form of accountability that the legislature can deliver (sic),” adding:
“(T)here is no other option but to vote to impeach (him) a second time” — no matter how unlawful and unjustifiable.
The Times disgracefully called remarks made by Trump below “the most un-American speech ever uttered by a president (sic),” saying:
“We will stop the steal. States want to revote. The states got defrauded.”
“They were given false information. They voted on it. Now they want to re-certify.”
If ballot counting is accurate instead of manipulated and corrupted in key swing states, “we become president.”
“We’re going to walk down to the Capitol, and we’re going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and-women, and we’re probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them.”
“Because you’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.”
“We have come to demand that Congress do the right thing and only count the electors who have been lawfully slated.”
“We fight. We fight like hell. If you don’t fight like hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.”
Do any of the above remarks and similar ones urge violence? Clearly not!
Do any of Trump’s above remarks and similar ones in tweets warrant impeachment for inciting insurrection?
The answer is self-evident!
What’s going on by Pelosi/Schumer-led undemocratic Dems is an old-fashioned political lynching.
Supported by the Times and other Big Media, it’s flagrantly unconstitutional without a leg to stand on.
Guilt by accusation is the law of the land in the US, Trump’s illegitimate impeachment virtually certain.
The fate of the nation and few remaining freedoms hang in the balance.
America as it once was long ago, warts and all, is long gone.
Totalitarian police state harshness replaced it — heading toward full-blown tyranny, notably by lynch mob injustice against a sitting president that endangers all Americans.
That’s the deplorable state of the nation today.
Omaha World-Herald Gets Facts Wrong Blaming Mild Nebraska Drought on Climate Change
By H. Sterling Burnett | ClimateRealism | January 6, 2021
A story in the Omaha World-Herald, titled “Drought, wildfires are Nebraska’s top weather stories of 2020,” asserts climate change caused unusual drought in Nebraska last year. In reality, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) data show Nebraska is benefiting from a long-term increase in precipitation, even if occasional drought still exists. Global warming may not completely end drought in Nebraska, but drought is becoming less frequent and less severe as the Earth modestly warms.
The World-Herald article states, “At the start of 2020, not an acre of Nebraska was in drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. Now, more than 99% of Nebraska is in drought, with half in severe to extreme drought. The state hasn’t seen a drought this extensive since the flash drought of 2012 lingered into 2013, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, based at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.”
“Through November, Nebraska was in the midst of its 15th driest year out of 126,” the World-Herald article added.
As the World-Herald admits, Nebraska had not experienced substantial drought during the previous seven years, and 2020 was not even in the top 10 percent of historic droughts. That is hardly the sign of unusual drought, let alone drought caused by climate change.
Indeed, NOAA precipitation data (see the two NOAA charts, below) show Nebraska is enjoying both a long-term increase in precipitation and a medium-term increase in precipitation. If all trends show more precipitation and less drought, how can one blame the few remaining droughts that occur on climate change?
Also, NOAA data (see the NOAA chart below) show no increase in hot summer temperatures. Indeed, hot summer days were much more prevalent throughout the first half of the 20th century than has been the case in recent years and decades. This also contradicts any assertion of more Nebraska drought.
The World-Herald cites a single source, Nebraska state climatologist Martha Shulksi, for the claim that climate change is causing more weather extremes, including drought. But even Shulksi noted, “weather extremes are normal in Nebraska because the state sits at the crossroads of continental climate patterns.” And, of course, 2020 wasn’t even that extreme – it was a fairly typical dry year.
Had the World-Herald examined Nebraska’s drought history for context, it would have found that research published by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources (IANR) states, “It is important to remember that droughts, including multiple-year droughts, are a normal part of Nebraska’s climate.”
The data graphically displayed in Figure 1 in IANR’s paper, “Multiple-Year Droughts In Nebraska,” show no increasing trend in the frequency or intensity of droughts in Nebraska over the past century, nor does it display an increased tendency for Nebraska to swing from weather extremes, wet to dry, year to year.
Data in the paper do show, by contrast, that since 1220 A.D., Nebraska has experienced 11 droughts of more than 10 years in length, but only one since 1900, and that one, ending in 1931, was 90 years of global warming ago. Indeed, Nebraska’s lengthiest droughts occurred before 1700, in the midst of the Little Ice Age, with six droughts surpassing 18 years in length during a 400-year period of cooler temperatures. Nebraska’s lengthiest droughts spanned 38 years (1275 to 1313) and 26 years (1539 to 1564), while the Earth was cooling in the Little Ice Age. Nebraska’s last drought of greater than 10 years in length ended in 1895, which was near the end of the Little Ice Age.
Data from NOAA and the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), discussed in Climate at a Glance: Drought, also demonstrate drought has not become more frequent or severe in recent decades in either the United States or across the Northern Hemisphere as a whole.
Indeed, the IPCC reports with “high confidence” that precipitation has increased over mid-latitude land areas of the Northern Hemisphere (including the United States) during the past 70 years, while IPCC has “low confidence” about any negative trends globally. Also, NOAA reports that the United States is undergoing its longest period in recorded history without at least 40 percent of the country experiencing “very dry” conditions. In 2017 and 2019, the United States registered its smallest percentage of land area experiencing drought in recorded history.
The Omaha World-Herald may be looking to sell newspapers, but it should act responsibly and not attempt to do so by publishing false and sensationalist claims about extreme drought conditions – assertedly caused by human-caused climate change – that simply do not exist.
Cold Autumn Kills Thousands of Birds – Media Blame Global Warming
By James Taylor | ClimateRealism | January 6, 2021
Google News and the corporate media are promoting claims that global warming caused the deaths of thousands of birds after a cold early autumn induced the birds to migrate south before they were ready. As common sense would suggest, the assertion that global warming causes colder early-autumn temperatures is false, contrary to climate activists’ own predictions, and ridiculous.
In early autumn, people in Nebraska, Colorado, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona reported nearly 10,000 birds – an unusually high number – to the wildlife mortality database. Scientists discovered that most were migratory birds that had died of starvation. The birds typically migrate south later in the year, but early cold weather in the Upper Midwest, Canada, and Alaska induced the birds to migrate prior to their normal migration, and prior to building up sufficient weight and strength for the migration.
“It’s really hard to attribute direct causation, but given the close correlation of the weather event with the death of these birds, we think that either the weather event forced these birds to migrate prior to being ready, or maybe impacted their access to food sources during their migration,” Jonathan Sleeman, director of the USGS National Wildlife Health Center in Madison, Wisconsin, told the UK Guardian.
Climate activists and their media allies were quick to blame global warming for the cold early autumn that led to the bird deaths.
“The unseasonably cold weather that northern states experienced early this year also worsened the die-off, causing earlier-than-usual bird migrations,” reported NBC television station KPNX in Phoenix.
“Two experts from Arizona State University see the report as another tragedy in the multiple climate change issues the state is facing,” KPNX added.
According to the UK Guardian, the bird deaths were “made worse by unseasonably cold weather probably linked to the climate crisis, scientists have said.”
Google News is promoting the Guardian article among its top search results today under “climate change.”
Climate activists have in the past attempted to blame very cold winters on global warming, but they had not previously blamed cold autumns on global warming. Indeed, climate activists have previously claimed exactly the opposite. For example, in November 2019 Yale Climate Communications published an article titled, “How is climate change affecting autumn? As temperatures warm, the fall season has been delayed.” As another example, Climate Communications published an article titled, “Autumn Falling Back.” The theme of these and many other articles is that global warming is delaying, not accelerating, the onset of cold autumn weather.
No, Google News, global warming does not cause the early onset of cold autumn temperatures, even if the cold temperatures cause politically convenient bird deaths.
James Taylor is the President of the Heartland Institute. Taylor is also director of Heartland’s Arthur B. Robinson Center for Climate and Environmental Policy.
Anti-Trump NYT Wants Him Removed from Office and Prosecuted
By Stephen Lendman | January 7, 2021
The self-styled newspaper of record has been hostile toward Trump since he announced his candidacy for president in 2015.
The broadsheet’s rage greatly intensified after he defeated media darling Hillary.
It continued virtually daily throughout his time in office — largely for invented reasons, ignoring most important ones.
It wants him tarred and feathered by impeachment and prosecution. See below.
Pre-dawn January 7, the race for the White House officially ended — after what may have been orchestrated Wednesday violence on Capitol Hill.
It shifted over half of congressional Republicans to join with Dems in formally ending Trump’s tenure by elevating Biden/Harris to power in days.
It’s all over but the postmortems that may include an attempt by undemocratic Dems and perhaps GOP collaborators to remove Trump from office despite only days remaining in his tenure.
No US president was ever removed by impeachment. Will Trump break precedent a scant two weeks before Biden/Harris replace him?
What’s inconceivable at this late stage is possible though unlikely.
The Times is leading the 11th hour jihad against him.
In its latest edition, it carpet-bombed him with a virtual blitzkrieg of calls for his head.
Its pro-war, pro-business, anti-governance of, by, and for everyone equitably according to the rule of law editors led the charge — to their disgrace.
“Trump is to blame for Capitol (Hill) attack (sic),” they falsely raged, adding:
He “incited his followers to violence (sic). There must be consequences (sic).”
Claiming he “sparked” Wednesday Capitol Hill violence was a bald-faced Big Lie — typical of how the Times operates while suppressing what’s vital for everyone to know.
Times editors want Trump held “accountable” for what he had nothing to do with, and more.
They want him “criminal(ly) prosecut(ed) (sic).”
They want congressional Republicans “bear(ing) a measure of responsibility for the attack on the Capitol (sic).”
They continue to pretend that Biden/Harris won the November 3 election they lost.
Notably they pretend that fantasy US democracy is the real thing.
They, Times correspondents and columnists consistently lie, deceive and betray the public trust.
Election 2020 and its aftermath are glaring examples of breaching journalism the way it should be, what Times management and editors long ago banned on its pages.
A same day article explained what may have been a Wednesday Capitol Hill false flag to elevate Biden/Harris to power by falsely blaming Trump for what happened.
No evidence suggests it because there is none.
The latest Times edition included the following anti-Trump hit pieces:
“Congress Confirms Biden’s Win (sic), Defying Mob Attack”
“Daily Distortions: There is no evidence that antifa activists stormed the Capitol (sic)”
“A West Virginia lawmaker was a part of the mob of Trump supporters who breached the building (sic).”
“Biden Denounces Storming of Capitol as a ‘Dark Moment’ in Nation’s History (sic)”
“Trump Told Crowd ‘You Will Never Take Back Our Country With Weakness’ ”
None of Trump’s remarks Wednesday or earlier called for inciting violence on Capitol Hill — just the opposite.
“A Mob and the Breach of Democracy (sic): The Violent End of the Trump Era (sic)”
“ ‘Be There. Will Be Wild!’: Trump All but Circled the Date (sic)”— his remark expressing no support for violence.
“Jeff Flake: My Fellow Republicans, Trump Is Destroying Us (sic)”
“Trump’s Real Claim to Fame… He’s going to be remembered by history as the Biggest Loser (sic).”
“Trump Incites Rioters (sic)” — Repeating the Times’ bald-faced Big Lie
The hit piece called him a “Benedict Arnold (sic).”
“The Pro-Trump Movement Was Always Headed Here” — falsely blaming him for Capitol Hill violence.
“Have Trump’s Lies Wrecked Free Speech?”
Indeed he’s a serial liar, but claiming he incited Capitol Hill violence by the Times is a whopper of a Big Lie.
“America’s Friends and Foes Express Horror as Capitol Attack ‘Shakes the World’ ”
How will they react if and when it’s known that Wednesday’s violence was orchestrated against Trump to assure he’s replaced on January 20?
“Impeach and Convict. Right Now (sic).”
The hit piece defied reality by calling Trump “too dangerous to leave in office for even another minute” — typical of Times contempt for truth-telling, along with insulting its readers by feeding them this rubbish.
The piece urged House and Senate members to reconvene straightaway, “remove” him from office, and “bar him from ever holding office again.”
“To allow Trump to serve out his term, however brief it may be, puts the nation’s safety at risk (sic).”
No responsible editors would permit publication of this rubbish.
Like many times before on other issues, the Times featured it.
Thursday’s anti-Trump blitzkrieg by the Times and other Big Media will likely be followed by much more as long as he remains in office, perhaps continuing after his tenure ends.
Instead of truth and full disclosure, continued managed news misinformation and disinformation ahead is certain.
A Final Comment
ABC News reported that unnamed members of Trump’s cabinet are “discussing invoking the 25th Amendment.”
Referring to presidential disability and succession, it states:
“In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.”
The amendment largely deals with presidential succession in case an incumbent dies in office or is too ill or unable to serve.
A number of former presidents died in office, including Lincoln and JFK by assassination and FDR from natural causes.
Others suffered debilitating illnesses and injuries and were unable to perform their duties.
The 25th amendment became US law to assure a smooth transition of power under the above circumstances — not for impeachment by other means.
At this time, it’s unclear what’s ahead during Trump’s remaining days in office.
What’s very clear is that an open, free, and fair US society, according to the rule of law, suffered a major body blow, perhaps a fatal one.
That’s what 1/6/21 will be most remembered for long after the dust clears.
Who To Believe About Venezuela’s Election? Firsthand Observation or PBS Newshour?
By Rick Sterling | Venezuelanalysis | January 5, 2021
In early December I traveled to Venezuela to be an election observer at their national assembly election. I was part of a group of eight persons from Canada and US organized by CodePink. There were about two hundred international observers in total, including the Latin American Council of Electoral Experts. I have previously been an official election observer in Honduras and was an unofficial observer at the 2015 Venezuela national assembly election.
Meeting Opposition Leaders
Before the election, our small group met eight leaders of the Democratic Alliance. This is the major opposition coalition. Pedro Jose Rojas of Accion Democratica said the US sanctions are not doing what is claimed; they are hurting average citizens. Bruno Gallo of Avanca Progressista said Venezuela needs negotiation not confrontation. Juan Carlos Alvarado of the Christian Democratic Party said Venezuelans have been “victims of politics” and that dialogue and flexibility are needed. Several leaders spoke about the importance of the national assembly and the road to change is through voting not violence. Several leaders expressed the wish for better relations with the US; another one said Venezuelan sovereignty needs to be respected. The common request was to end US sanctions and interference in Venezuelan politics.
We visited the factory where voting machines were assembled, tested and certified. The staff was openly proud of their work. In March this year, nearly all the pre-existing voting computers were destroyed in a massive fire at the main election warehouse. There were calls to delay the December election. But in six months, forty thousand new computers were ordered, built, assembled, tested and certified for the December election.
The Election Process
On election day, Sunday December 6, we visited many different elections sites. Typically, the election voting takes place at a school, with five or ten classrooms designated as “mesas”. Each voter goes to his or her designated classroom / “mesa”.
The voting process was quick and efficient, with bio-safety sanitation at each step. The first step is to show your identity card and prove your identity with fingerprint recognition. Step 2 was to make your voting choices at the touchscreen computer and receive a paper receipt. Step 3 is to verify the receipt matches your voting choice and deposit the receipt in a ballot box. The fourth and final step is to sign and put your fingerprint on the voting registry. The entire voting process took about 3 minutes.
At the end of the voting day, we observed the process of tabulating the votes. At each “mesa”, with observers from other parties present, the paper receipts were recorded one by one. At the end, the results were compared to the digital count. Voting results were then transmitted to the headquarters for overall tabulation.
Election results were announced by the Council for National Election (CNE) which manages the entire process. CNE leaders are not permitted to be members of any party and the CNE leadership was recently changed at the request of the opposition. In our discussion with leading opposition members, they complained about incumbent party advantages but acknowledged the election process is free, fair and honest.
PBS Newshour Special
With this firsthand experience, on December 29 I watched a PBS Newshour segment about the Venezuela election and overall situation. PBS reporter Marcia Biggs said, “Maduro’s party essentially ran unopposed in this month’s election.” As noted above, this is untrue.
In fact, there were 107 parties and over 14,000 individuals competing in the December 6 election for 277 national assembly seats. While 8 parties were in alliance with the governing United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), there were over 90 opposition parties. The strongest opposition coalition was the Democratic Alliance comprising 7 opposition parties. The Democratic Alliance won 1.1 million votes or 18% of the vote. The LEFT opposition to the PSUV, under the banner of the Communist Party of Venezuela, received 168 thousand votes.
Reporter Marcia Biggs claimed that “politics permeates everything in Venezuela and can determine whether you support Maduro and eat or go hungry.” This claim is based on a campaign statement by PSUV Vice President Diosdado Cabello encouraging people to vote. He jokingly said that women are in the forefront and can say to their family, “No vote, no food.” Video of him making the statement is here. This statement has been distorted out of all meaning and context.
The PBS story showed a fistfight in the national assembly, implying that it was the Venezuelan government. But, as reported in the “Juan Guaido surreal regime change reality show”, the fight was between competing factions of the Venezuelan opposition.
When they showed Juan Guaido climbing over a fence, that was a publicity stunt to distract from the important news that Luis Parra was elected Speaker of the national assembly one year ago. That was embarrassing because Guaido’s claim to be “interim president” was based on his being Speaker.
Election turnout was lower than usual at 31% but one needs to account for the election taking place despite covid19 with no mail-in voting. Also, millions of registered voters have had to leave the country due to economic hardship. Also, transportation is difficult due to gasoline scarcity. This was a national assembly election, equivalent to a US mid-term election, which gets lower turnout. Note that 95% of voting eligible Venezuelans are registered voters compared to just 67% in the USA. Thus a turnout of 50% registered voters in the US equates to 33% of eligible voters.
US Meddling in Venezuela
The star of the 7-minute PBS story is Roberto Patino, the Venezuelan director of a food distribution charity. The report neglects to mention that Patino is associated with a major US foreign policy institution. He is a Millennium Leadership fellow and “expert” at the neoliberal Atlantic Council where the “regime change” goals against Venezuela are clear. His food charity “Alimenta la Solidaridad” is allied with the “Rescue Venezuela” funded by the US with the apparent goal of undermining the Venezuelan government and promoting “interim president Juan Guaido”.
Roberto Patino says the Venezuelan government is “very paranoid and they see conspiracies all over.” Paranoia is a mental condition where there is fear of imaginary threats. But US threats and aggression against Venezuela are not imaginary; they are very real:
In 2002 the US supported the kidnapping and coup against the popular and elected President Hugo Chavez. The years have gone by but US hostility persists.
- In August 2018 there was a drone assassination attempt on the Venezuelan President.
- In January 2019 the US declared that it would not recognize the elected President Maduro and instead recognized Juan Guaido as “interim president”. His background is described in the article “The Making of Juan Guaido: How the US regime change laboratory created Venezuela’s coup leader”
- In February 2019 President Trump threatened military intervention against Venezuela.
- In March 2019, there was massive power blackout caused by sabotage of the electrical grid, with probable US involvement.
- In May 2020, two former US Special Forces soldiers and other mercenaries were arrested in a failed attempt to overthrow President Maduro.
- In June 2020, the US Navy warship Nitze began provocative “freedom of navigation” patrols along the Venezuelan coast.
- In August 2020, the US seized four ships carrying much needed gasoline to Venezuela.
- In September 2020, in a attempt to undermine the Venezuelan election, the US imposed sanctions on political leaders who planned to participate.
- The US 2021 stimulus bill includes $33 Million for “democracy programs for Venezuela”.
Based on the past twenty years, Venezuela’s government has good reason to be on guard against US threats, meddling and intervention. The PBS program ignores this history.
Another hero of the show is the exiled politician Leopoldo Lopez. He was imprisoned in 2014 for instigating street violence known as “guarimbas” which led to the deaths of 43 people.
Like Patino, Lopez is from the Venezuelan elite, studied in the US and has major public relations support in the US. Like Guaido, Leopoldo Lopez is more popular in Washington than his home country.
Will the US respect Venezuelan sovereignty?
If the PBS Newshour reporters had not been so biased, they would have interviewed members of the moderate opposition in Venezuela. Viewers could have heard Democratic Alliance leaders explain why they participated in the election, why they are critical of US economic sanctions and US interference in their domestic affairs. That would have been educational for viewers.
On January 5, the newly elected national assembly will commence in Venezuela. The fig leaf pretense of Juan Guaido as “interim president” of Venezuela will be removed because he is no longer in the national assembly. In fact, he was removed as speaker of the national assembly one year ago.
But viewers of the PBS special did not learn this. Instead, they received a biased report ignoring the moderate opposition and promoting a few US supported elites. The report ignores or denigrates the efforts of millions of Venezuelans who carried out and participated in an election which compares favorably with the election process in the US. You would never know it from PBS, and you might not believe it, unless you saw it with your own eyes.
Rick Sterling is an investigate journalist based in the SF Bay Area of California. He can be contacted at rsterling1@protonmail.com.
HHS Launches $250M Propaganda Campaign to Convince People to Take Experimental COVID Vaccines as Current Doses Sit Unused
By Brian Shilhavy | Health Impact News | January 4, 2021
Reporter Zachary Stieber of the Epoch Times is reporting today that President Trump’s Operation Warp Speed program for distributing COVID experimental vaccines is lagging way behind schedule.
Operation Warp Speed’s chief scientific adviser on Monday defended the federal government’s rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, but acknowledged there is a “lag” in getting the vaccines administered.
Officials with President Donald Trump’s administration said late last year that 20 million Americans would be vaccinated by the end of 2020. Instead, under 3 million people received vaccinations, out of some 12 million doses distributed to states, as of Dec. 30.
Moncef Slaoui, the operation’s adviser, said on CNN’s “New Day” that “nothing has gone wrong.” He was then played a snippet of what he said last year, when he said officials expected 40 million doses to be shipped and 20 million Americans to be vaccinated by the time 2021 hit.
“So obviously, I did say that, and, you know, that was our hope,” Slaoui said.
The operation, a federal government effort, distributes vaccine doses to states, which are then in charge of administering them.
According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tracker, most states haven’t come close to administering half of the doses they’ve received.
So why haven’t states “come close to administering half of the doses they’ve received”?
Surgeon General Jerome Adams said the delay in vaccinations stems from states not being fast enough to administer them, and hesitancy among a broad swath of the public in getting the new vaccines.
Read the full article at The Epoch Times.
America Divided Between those Who Watch and Read the Pharma-funded Corporate Media, and Those who Do Not
So what is the U.S. Government and Big Pharma going to do about all these unused experimental vaccines that Americans don’t want to take?
They are going to do the same thing they have been doing for decades: They are going to lie to the American people by giving the media $250 MILLION to produce propaganda using the “appeal to authority” technique by having “doctors” tell you how safe the vaccine is, and that it is your duty to get the vaccine for the good of humanity.
As FiercePharma reports:
Half of Americans remain skeptical about COVID-19 vaccines. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) calls that group the “movable middle,” and it plans to spend $250 million to convince them otherwise.
The first phase of the campaign, already underway in December, is an online video and radio effort to prep the market. The bulk of the effort aimed at promoting vaccinations—the “Building Vaccine Confidence” campaign—will officially kick off in late January in a bid to convince people to get the vaccine when it’s their turn.
The plans from HHS and the contracted Washington, D.C., consultancy Fors Marsh Group include paid and unpaid media elements. National and local TV, radio, print and social media buys will run concurrently with co-marketing partnership efforts with a variety of associations, nonprofits and corporations, including Google, with which HHS is currently in discussions. (Source.)
So who is the Liar in Chief that will be first up to convince the American public they should risk an experimental vaccine?
The man who has admitted to lying about herd immunity to try and trick people into getting the COVID vaccine for the “greater good,” Anthony Fauci.
As FiercePharma reports, this is a risky “double-edge” sword approach, since Fauci is so polarizing. People either love him, or hate him, and that reflects the division within America today among those who consume the pharma-funded corporate media and their watch dogs, Big Tech, and those who do not, but make the extra effort to research the truth for themselves.
The Ad Council video leads with Anthony Fauci, M.D., director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who says: “My primary message to healthcare professionals is please get vaccinated. It’s important to protect yourselves, to protect your family, but as important symbolically as healthcare providers to show confidence in the vaccine so that other people in this country follow suit and get vaccinated.”
It’s a likely to be a tough sell. Even HHS’ own data point to that. In pre-campaign surveys asking a wide cross-section of people whose advice they would trust to get a vaccine, HHS said half claimed they would get a vaccine if Fauci and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said to do so, while the other half said they specifically wouldn’t get a vaccine if told by Fauci and the CDC. (Source.)
Here is the first video produced by the Ad Council on YouTube. It is geared towards healthcare professionals, of whom up to 60% are refusing the vaccine.
After Anthony Fauci makes an appeal to guilt for healthcare workers, it is no accident that the doctors and nurses who speak next represent the next segments of society that the Globalists are targeting with these experimental vaccines: Blacks, Asians, and Latinos.
As FiercePharma reports:
The Fors Marsh strategy includes a plan to “heavy-up in vulnerable communities” of people disproportionately affected by COVID-19, including senior citizens with comorbid conditions, front-line workers and Black, American Indian and Alaska Native, Hispanic and American Pacific Islander populations. (Source.)
Here is a list of the lies that are being told to the American people through this video:
LIE #1: “It’s important to note that none of these vaccines can give you COVID19 since they only express a protein from the virus that allows your body’s immune system to generate antibodies.”
FALSE. The fact is, the COVID19 SARS virus has never been fully identified, and the PCR test to test for COVID19 is inaccurate. Even if what they say is true about there not being a COVID19 virus in the vaccine, since they can only at this point identify fragments from the faulty PCR test, who is to say that a “protein” from the virus that affects the body’s immune system would not produce symptoms of COVID19 and test positive?
Also, in Israel, which at the time of publication of this article has had the largest amount of people vaccinated with the experimental COVID vaccines, has reported that 240 people have come down with COVID right after being vaccinated. See:
So to say that “none of these vaccines can give you COVID19” is scientifically inaccurate, because the truth is these vaccines have not been studied long enough, and we just do not know.
LIE #2: “Because vaccines are given to millions of healthy people to prevent serious diseases, they’re held to very high safety standards. Both the FDA and the CDC have to ensure the safety and efficacy of the vaccines before they are recommended for use in the United States. The COVID19 vaccine, just like all others, are undergoing a rigorous process...”
FALSE. The COVID19 vaccines are NOT approved by the FDA like every other vaccine currently in the market, and the typical time it takes to bring a vaccine to market is 5-7 years. (Source.)
The experimental COVID vaccines should NOT be compared to vaccines that have full FDA approval, but to other times a vaccine was rushed to market under emergency use authorization, and the last time that happened was in 1976 with the Swine Flu “epidemic.”
But the “epidemic” never panned out. Only one death and 13 cases were attributed to the Swine Flu, while 25 people died from the vaccine and another 500 or so developed Guillain-Barre syndrome. The vaccine was withdrawn from the market after 10 weeks. See:
LIE #3: “So far, we haven’t seen any trends of serious side effects.”
FALSE. They are trying to be clever by using the word “trends” so that specific cases of serious side effects, including DEATH, can be excused as “abnormal” or not a result of the vaccine.
But they got caught in their own lie here, as even the FDA has stated that they are investigating why so many people are experiencing anaphylactic shock after receiving the vaccine, focusing on the polyethylene glycol component of the vaccine. (Source.)
Not to mention that several people have now died after receiving the experimental vaccines, including one healthcare worker in Portugal, and apparently Nurse Tiffany Dover from Tennessee as well.
There were deaths in the vaccine trials as well, before the FDA EUA was issued. (Source.)
Facts About the Experimental COVID Vaccines they Do NOT Tell You
In addition to their lies, the people in this video are failing to give full disclosure about all the facts regarding these experimental COVD vaccines.
1. These vaccines are NOT approved by the FDA.
This is stated multiple times in the vaccine guidelines that are supposed to be given to everyone. Therefore, it is illegal to require anyone to take them. They are 100% voluntary, because you are basically participating in the last part of their vaccine trials in order to get FDA approval.
2. Emergency Use Authorization was issued by the FDA illegally, because other therapeutics to treat COVID19 are available.
Hydroxychloroquine and Ivermectin are two older drugs already approved by the FDA that tens of thousands of doctors have used successfully to treat and cure COVID19.
In addition, the experimental COVID19 vaccines used the faulty PCR test in their trials, and therefore should never have been approved until accurate testing was used. An Administrative Stay of Action was filed against the FDA, but they simply ignored it. See:
3. Warnings of Potential Infertility due to These Experimental Vaccines are NOT Being Issued by the FDA
The UK guidelines for the Pfizer vaccine warn of potential infertility of women and also do NOT recommend pregnant women receive the vaccine, while neither warnings are issued for the same vaccine for Americans. See:
Unlike UK, U.S. FDA Allows Pregnant and Nursing Women to Receive Experimental Pfizer COVID Vaccine
Also, the University of Miami is investigating the effects of the COVID-19 vaccines on male fertility. See:
Study investigates effects of COVID-19 vaccine on male fertility
The other thing that the U.S. Government and Big Pharma never disclose, is the revolving door between both. Former FDA Chief Scott Gottlieb, for example, now sits on the Board of Directors for Pfizer. See:
Former FDA Director Gottlieb Now Pfizer Board Member Secures $1.95 BILLION for COVID Vaccine
The CDC, FDA, and HHS have become primarily marketing branches of Big Pharma.
The Corporate Media is Owned by Big Pharma
While in years past the primary advertisers funding the corporate media were Wall Street conglomerates heavily invested in tobacco and the oil industry, today it is Big Pharma.
See:
Protecting their financial interest in the pharmaceutical trade is Big Tech, as now even Google is a pharmaceutical company, and they filter their search results to censor anything that challenges pharmaceutical products like vaccines. See:
And now, the U.S. Government is going to give the corporate media and Big Tech a quarter of a million dollars to try and brainwash you into getting the unapproved experimental COVID vaccine, which is a mere drop in the bucket of the $TRILLIONS of American wealth that has been transferred to Big Pharma in 2020 all in the name of the “pandemic.”
Don’t be fooled by their lies! Turn off your TVs and stop watching these Hollywood-style actors and actresses posing as journalists spew forth this dangerous propaganda.
UAE rejects ‘wholly false’ reports of foiling Iranian attack against Israeli visitors
Press TV | January 5, 2021
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has vigorously rejected Israeli media reports that its security services arrested a number of Iranians purportedly conspiring to carry out an attack against Israeli tourists visiting the Persian Gulf country.
“The Government of the United Arab Emirates has denied media reports circulating today regarding the foiling of an alleged attack in Dubai,” it said in a statement on Monday.
The Emirati government described the rumors as “wholly false” and urged accuracy in reporting.
It also called upon the public and media outlets “to refer to official sources for information and to avoid circulating unverified reports.”
On Sunday night, Israel’s Hebrew-language broadcaster Channel 12 alleged that Emirati intelligence authorities had arrested a number of Iranians in Dubai and Abu Dhabi over the previous few days on suspicion that they planned to carry out an attack against Israelis.
Thousands of Israelis have traveled to the UAE after Israel’s cabinet ratified a mutual visa exemption agreement with the Arab country on November 22 last year. The UAE had earlier that month given its final okay to the agreement, which was signed after the two sides normalized ties.
The latest reports appear to be yet another attempt by Israeli news outlets to set off a media frenzy following Iran’s pledge to exact revenge for the assassination of one of its most senior nuclear scientists by suspected Tel Aviv-tied terrorists late last year.
Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, the head of the Iranian Defense Ministry’s Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research, was targeted in a multi-pronged terrorist near Tehran on November 27.
Iran says it has substantive evidence that the Tel Aviv regime has been behind the terror attack and vowed to take revenge, but it has repeatedly clarified that, unlike Israel and the US, assassinations and targeted killings have no place on its political agenda.
The Israeli report also comes at a time of heightened tensions between the US and Iran as the latter marked the first anniversary of the assassination of its top anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani by the American military in Iraq in January, 2020.
Washington has once again stepped up its campaign of military threats against Iran through deployments of warships and bombers to the Middle East under the pretext that the Islamic Republic may be seeking revenge.
Ignore Fake News, Says Fake News BBC!
By Paul Homewood | Not A Lot Of People Know That | January 4, 2021
The problem posed by disinformation online is increasingly serious, the BBC’s director general has said.
Tim Davie told the Radio Times: “Traditional journalism has been playing catchup in the disinformation world.”
He added that 2020 has repeatedly highlighted the dangers of the internet as conspiracy theories about coronavirus and the US election were circulated online.
“News sources such as the BBC need to work harder than ever to expose fake news and separate fact from fiction,” he said. “We need to take care that trusted news is not blown off course by claims that are unfounded, however widespread they become.
“And we need to recognise that we are up against the well-funded, state-backed actors who see news as an extension of state influence and a tool for disrupting our societies and democracies.”
Davie said he was proud of the BBC’s effort to “stand up for integrity in news and fight disinformation on the frontline”.
Could this be the same BBC, who rely on Greenpeace for their climate change reports?
Is it the same BBC, which has just broadcast a woefully one-sided indoctrination programme, masquerading as a “Royal Institution Christmas Lecture”?
Or which trumpeted Christian Aid’s mendacious report on extreme weather, without the slightest attempt to check or challenge it?
Or broadcast a Panorama documentary on UK extreme weather, that was so misleading it should have carried a warning label?
All these instances have occurred in just the last month, and many more examples can be found over the years of outright lies, misinformation, omission of relevant facts, bias and a stubborn refusal to report the views of those experts who don’t agree with the BBC’s climate agenda.
And that’s before we even get started on the BBC’s political and anti-Brexit bias.
What Mr Davie is really saying, of course, is that we must all get our “news” from the BBC, and ignore other sources in case we discover the true facts.
Cybersecurity group admits SolarWinds hack came from within the US, but doubles down on blaming Russia
RT | January 4, 2021
Internet security firm FireEye has revealed the enormous SolarWinds hack that left upwards of 250 agencies and businesses unprotected for weeks was launched from inside the US – but that hasn’t stopped them from blaming Moscow.
The mega-hack, which affected 250 networks including US government agencies, went undetected by Washington’s security systems because it originated within the US, FireEye told the New York Times. But while one might expect this revelation to pour cold water on the metastasizing, baseless claims that Russia was responsible for the intrusion, speculation about the country’s role has only increased.
The western media establishment has remained largely silent about the latest development in the SolarWinds saga, perhaps embarrassed to blame a foreign country for one’s own inability to safeguard clients’ data. Indeed, the US agencies supposedly tasked with detecting and preventing such attacks – the National Security Agency, the Department of Homeland Security, and the Pentagon’s Cyber Command – all missed the breach. Instead, it took FireEye, a firm that even the AP admits specializes in pinning American security fails on the Kremlin, to uncover the sprawling security snafu.
FireEye allegedly discovered the vulnerability only after those “state actors” broke into its own network to steal security tools, and the Times acknowledged the company has “a history of lackluster security for its products.” However, the same outlet’s coverage suggests such a breach could only have been accomplished with high-level hacking tools backed by a state.
Even the usual Russia hawks were baffled at why the Kremlin would go through all the trouble of infiltrating stateside servers only to – as far as experts can tell – take nothing and leave the system itself intact. “We still don’t know what Russia’s strategic objectives were,” former DHS official Suzanne Spaulding told the New York Times on Sunday – apparently unwilling to consider the heretical notion that Russia might not be the culprit.
Despite the media’s decision to take the “Russia did it” narrative and run with it, FireEye itself has shied away from explicitly pinning the attack on the Kremlin, instead merely claiming it was a government-backed hack. The Associated Press, however, stepped in to fill the blanks, declaring “industry experts” had said it “bore the hallmarks of Russian tradecraft.”
One of those “experts”, Dmitri Alperovitch, was the CEO of CrowdStrike, which famously accused Russia of hacking the Democratic National Committee and failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2016. Even though the software used to pull off those hacks was widely available and the firm itself could only muster “low to medium” confidence regarding a supposed link to the Russian government, that didn’t stop the company from presenting its conclusions as if set in stone. CrowdStrike claimed last week that it was also targeted for hacking by the latest group of “Russians,” but claimed that unlike FireEye, it had withstood the infiltration attempt.
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Patriot Missile Launcher
By William Schryver | imetatronink | January 20, 2024
… In an attempt to cover just three large airbases against a series of salvos of 100+ missiles of various types, the entire US stockpile of PAC-3 interceptors could very conceivably be exhausted in little more than a week or two. … continue
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