Tag: mainstream media

CNN Recruits Washington’s Worst Warmonger The Instant He Leaves Congress

CNN has shattered the speed of light in its haste to recruit former representative Adam Kinzinger to its punditry lineup the millisecond he left congress.

Kinzinger, who prior to being redistricted out of his House seat received handsome campaign contributions from arms manufacturers Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Raytheon, and Northrop Grumman, was arguably the most egregious warmonger on Capitol Hill.

Nobody in congress lobbied as aggressively to start World War Three as Kinzinger did last year; he tried to advance a bill authorizing hot war against Russia if Moscow crossed specified red lines in Ukraine but couldn’t get cosponsors because even his fellow congressional hawks thought it was too insane. He was the loudest voice in the US government publicly advocating a no-fly zone over Ukraine in the early weeks of the war, an idea that was slammed by the mass media as it would necessarily have entailed the US military shooting down Russian war planes and aggressively tempted nuclear war.

Kinzinger was such a demented omnicidal maniac in 2022 that while still in office he became an official member of the empire-backed online troll farm known as “NAFO”, which was founded by an actual neo-Nazi whom Kinzinger openly supported both before and after revelations emerged of the founder’s expressions of hatred for Jews and fondness for Hitler. While still a sitting congressman he was flagging trolls with hashtags inviting them to swarm the social media comments of critics of US foreign policy who opposed his psychopathic warmongering.

Before the war in Ukraine Kinzinger was calling for the re-invasion of Afghanistan immediately following the US troop withdrawal and raging about public opposition to “endless war.” Before that he was cheerleading Trump’s assassination of Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani, calling for US interventionism in Venezuela, defending the US-backed war on Yemen, calling for the invasion of Syria, and just generally pushing for more war and militarism at every opportunity. Before that, he was helping the empire kill Iraqis as a member of the US Air Force.

Kinzinger is such an obnoxious warmonger online that I myself have called him “the single worst Twitter account that has ever existed,” long before his CNN gig was a twinkle in his eye.

So it’s no wonder a warmongering propaganda network snapped him up the instant he became available, ensuring that his warmongering receives as large a platform as possible. As Antiwar’s Dave DeCamp quipped regarding CNN’s hire, “All those calls for WWIII must have landed him this gig.”

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‘The View’ is the biggest source of misinformation in America

Barbara Walters died last week at 93, but the legendary journalist’s legacy lives on: “The View,” the daytime-TV talker she created in 1997, is the most-watched — and most-talked-about — show in its genre.

Some legacy, though: What Walters envisioned as “women of different generations, backgrounds and views” discussing “the topics of the day, mixing humor with intelligent debate,” devolved after she departed as co-host in 2014 into a four-against-one daily catfight with few laughs and even fewer smarts.

The New York Times calls it “the most important political TV show in America.” If so, America is in trouble — because “The View” is the biggest source of misinformation in the country.

More than 2.4 million people watch “The View” every day — and are less informed for it every day.

The show’s moderator is one of its worst offenders. Whoopi Goldberg made headlines last year by declaring “the Holocaust isn’t about race.” Her co-hosts gave her little pushback. Sara Haines added a “No” in agreement while Joy Behar asked her what it was about. “This is white people doing it to white people. So, this is y’all go fight amongst yourselves,” Whoopi said. Sunny Hostin remained silent, and the show’s producers — recognizing a train wreck — played exit music and broke to a commercial.

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Twitter Files: Company Exaggerated Russian Influence to Appease Media, Democrats

Twitter deliberately exaggerated the extent of Russian influence on its platform in an attempt to appease the media and Democrats, even after internal investigations into the matter proved a “dud,” according to journalist Matt Taibbi, who released another batch of the Twitter Files today.

Twitter initially tried to stay out of the spotlight on the Russia issue in 2017, hoping Facebook would remain the main target of scrutiny from the media and Democrats. Twitter’s PR department even agreed on a media strategy to “keep the focus on FB.”

But after being slammed by Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) for an “inadequate” response to allegations of Russian meddling, Twitter’s public policy VP said the company should “keep producing material” on Russian interference to satisfy the Democrats. As a result, Twitter formed a “Russia Task Force,” to investigate Russian influence on the platform.

But the task force found little evidence of significant Russian involvement on the platform. In October 2017, the task force reported that it had found “no evidence of a coordinated approach, all of the accounts found seem to be lone-wolf type activity (different timing, spend, targeting, <$10k in ad spend).”

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Second ABC News Producer Dies Suddenly by Undisclosed Causes

Another producer for ABC 10News in San Diego, California, died suddenly last week by undisclosed causes.

Erica Gonzalez, one of ABC’s talented morning show producers, passed away last week.

“As some of you have heard, our dear family member, Erica has gained her Angel wings, unexpectedly,” according to her fundraising campaign.

“Our family is hurting and in disbelief. We are currently in the process of bringing her home from San Diego to El Paso, TX,” it reads.

The cause of her death was not disclosed by ABC 10News or her family.

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New Yorker publishes insane ‘case for wearing masks forever’

An activist group calling themselves the “People’s CDC” are calling on all levels of government to reenact mask mandates, claiming that “the vaccine-only strategy promoted by the CDC is insufficient,” according to a profile by the New Yorker.

The group has made it their mission to distribute widely what they claim to be “real” information about the pandemic, often going against CDC recommendations. The article, titled “The Case for Wearing Masks Forever, written by Emma Green and published Wednesday, describes the People’s CDC as a “ragtag coalition of public-health activists” who “believe that America’s pandemic restrictions are too lax.”

The group sends out a weekly “Weather Report,” as they call it, which gives a summary of the data they want to publish to support their case. These reports often include a call to action for readers to petition governments to reinstate mask mandates and to fight for free tests and treatments.

They have recently argued that all events should be held outdoors with high-grade masking rules in place. 

With nearly 20,000 Instagram followers, the group prides itself as a resource for people who want to petition their governments for more Covid restriction.

The organizer of the group’s media team, Lucky Tran, recently argued on Twitter that “a lot of anti-mask sentiment is deeply embedded in white supremacy,” the kind of accusation that is quite commonly seen coming from far-left activist groups.

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‘What’s next? Proper nutrition is a KKK plot?’ Time magazine is mocked for saying EXERCISE is racist as interview claims women lifting weights in early 1900s was ‘a white supremacy project’

Time magazine has been ruthlessly mocked for an article saying the origins of exercise are rooted in racism.

The piece, titled ‘The White Supremacist Origins of Exercise,’ preaches the activity as a pastime started in the early 1900s by white Americans who sought to strengthen their race amid increasing immigration and the abolition of slavery.

Those statements were made by progressive private school teacher Natalia Petrzela, who was interviewed by the publication after engaging in an in-depth study into the origins of calorie-burning activities in the US.

The Columbia grad, a self-professed ‘fitness scholar’ who works as a history teacher at a famously progressive private school in Manhattan, supports movements such as Defund the Police and Black Lives Matter.

She has penned books expressing her ideals, in which she preaches the use of terms like ‘cisgender’ and ‘white privilege.

Released on Thursday, the article was heavily mocked on Twitter, with dozens taking to the platform to insist stories like these are destroying the publication’s reputation.

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14 Signs of Totalitarianism

We all know the cons of Twitter, but one of the pros is discovering new and interesting people.

One of my favorite new follows is Benjamin Carlson, a public relations guru and former editor at The Atlantic. Carlson’s tweets are among the best you’ll find on Twitter, and he clearly has a keen understanding of the intersections between media and government, power and propaganda (both current and historically).

One of his recent tweets caught my eye, and I share an adaptation of it below.

1. Dissent is equated to violence

2. Media is controlled

3. The legal system is co-opted by the state

4. Power is exerted to quash dissent

5. State police protect the regime, not the people

6. Rights—financial, legal, and civil—are contingent on compliance

7. Mass conformity of beliefs and behaviors is demanded

8. Power is concentrated in inner ring of elite institutions and people

9. Semi-organized violence is permitted (in some cases)

10. Propaganda targets enemies of the state regime

11. Entire classes singled out for persecution

12. Extra-legal actions are condoned against internal regime opponents

13. Harsh legal enforcement against unfavored classes

14. Private and public levers of power are used to enforce adherence to state dogmas

The list is a bit troubling. At the very least, some of these techniques are playing out before our eyes. This is certainly not to say that the US is a totalitarian state, however.

There are many definitions of totalitarianism, and I don’t believe one can seriously argue that the United States has arrived there. But authoritarianism is certainly in the air, and it emanates most strongly from our nation’s capital.

While both the political Right and the political Left accuse each other of harboring tyrannical ambitions, the philosopher Karl Popper offered a clue as to when a legitimate government crosses the line and becomes a tyrannical one.

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NY Times Goes Mega-Karen Over Formerly-Banned Twitter Discussion

The New York Times‘ Stuart. A Thompson, who covers ‘misinformation and disinformation’ for the once-respected rag, has gone full ‘Karen’ over free speech on Twitter.

So, what are people freely discussing on the platform?

“Covid-19 misinformation and vaccine doubts“

Karen please.

Other topics that Stuart and the Times feel should be verboten;

“Election fraud”

and…

“QAnon”

“On Twitter, reinstated users have returned to familiar themes in QAnon lore, raising questions about prominent Democrats and their association with Jeffrey Epstein, a former financier who was charged with child sex trafficking and is a central figure in QAnon conspiracies,” Thompson writes.

Why shouldn’t people be able to talk about prominent Democrats who hung out with a giant convicted pedophile, Stuart?

Nice ratio guys. Way to read the room.

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Massive Omnibus Bill Includes Funding For Monuments To DC Journalists

Congress has an absolutely horrible approval rating and so does the media. This story is a perfect explanation of why those two things are true.

The massive omnibus bill currently making its way through congress includes funding for a monument to the media in Washington, DC.

Why? Who among the American people asked for such a thing? Who does this help?

Breitbart News reports:

Omnibus Bill: Taxpayers to Erect Monument to Journalists in D.C., Give over $1B Subsidy to Media

Taxpayers will fund the erection of press statues in Washington, D.C., along with handing out media subsidies worth over $1 billion, if the Omnibus bill is passed into law in the coming days.

According to section 708 of the bill, the establishment media will be given a “commemorative” location in Washington, D.C., to honor “journalists”:

The location of a commemorative work to commemorate the commitment of the United States to a free press by honoring journalists who sacrificed their lives in service to that cause within Area I, as depicted on the map entitled ‘‘Commemorative Areas Washington, DC and Environs’’, numbered 869/86501 B, and dated June 24, 2003, is approved.

The statues will be located in “Area I,” according to the bill, which appears to encompass areas of the Mall in Washington, D.C., along with the White House, Tidal Basin, Theodore Roosevelt Island, and the Potomac shoreline in Virginia.

No budget or allocation of money was disclosed in the bill.

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US Military Thanks And Praises Retiring CNN “Journalist” For Her Service

The US military has been showering CNN’s retiring Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr with effusive thanks and praise for her lifetime of service, giving some insight into the cozy working relationship between the media and the war machine inside the US empire.

“Today closes a remarkable career for CNN’s Barbara Starr, a leader in the Pentagon Press Corps,” reads a post by the Twitter account for US Central Command. “Her aggressive reporting and tireless commitment to the truth brought this Nation closer to its military. She will forever be missed.”

Starr received a standing ovation at a Pentagon press briefing on Tuesday after Pentagon Press Secretary Pat Ryder sang her praises and thanked her for two decades on the job.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to say farewell to our media colleague, Miss Barbara Starr,” Ryder said. “Barbara has reported for CNN for over 20 years, and has been a fixture in the Pentagon Press Corps, and today marks her final day with CNN after a storied and fully-impressive — excuse me — truly impressive career.”

“So Barbara, on behalf of Secretary of Defense Austin, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Milley and the entire Department of Defense, I would like to extend a special congratulations and thank you for your many years of timely, insightful and important reporting on our nation’s most pressing defense issues,” Ryder continued. “And as someone who has worked with you for many of those last 20 years and someone who has had to take your late-night phone calls and emails and answer your tough, but fair questions, I can say from personal experience that the U.S. public and audiences worldwide have been well served by your in-depth reporting from the Pentagon, your journalistic integrity and your determination to tell the stories of service members worldwide, and to ensure the government and DOD remain transparent and accountable to the taxpayers and the American public they serve. Congratulations again, and we wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors.”

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