Tag: propaganda

In Defense of Conspiracy Theorists

Full disclosure: I am a fellow at Brownstone Institute.

I’ve recently become aware of at least one “gatekeeper of the news” who’s becoming increasingly concerned that groups like Brownstone Institute have gone overboard advancing “conspiracy theories.”

I definitely disagree with the opinion that Brownstone’s writers are becoming “conspiracy theorists,” a common pejorative used to dismiss the views of those skeptical of “authorized narratives.”

Now, more strongly than ever, I believe “conspiracies” exist and, indeed, it’s proper and imperative for writers to point out where they do exist.

Quick aside: This essay was motivated by a news curator, a person I consider a friend, who chose to not run my recent essay “Why the placebo nation of Sweden didn’t matter.” The editor mentioned his concerns that Brownstone “has gone off the deep end with all of its conspiracy theories.”

It doesn’t hurt my feelings when an editor chooses to not publish a piece I’ve submitted, especially editors who have run many of my articles and someone who, on many issues, shares my views. Editors can publish (or not publish) pieces for whatever reasons they think are important to their organizations.

With this piece, I’m not trying to anger a friend who has gone against the “pack” by publishing many contrarian essays and articles. However, the fact that this editor chose not to publish this particular essay does give me an opportunity to address the “conspiracy theorist” charge.

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Thomson Reuters, a Far-Left Propaganda Arm, Receives Funding from the U.S. Department of Defense for ‘Active Social Engineering Defense Large-Scale Social Deception’ — Elon Musk Responds

Thomson Reuters Corporation, the parent company that both owns Thomson Reuters Special Services LLC (TRSS) and the far-left propaganda arm Reuters News, has been funded by none other than the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD).

Recent investigations have revealed that Thomson Reuters Special Services LLC was awarded a contract by the Department of Defense titled “Active Social Engineering Defense (ASED) Large Scale Social Deception (LSD).”

Thomson Reuters Special Services LLC (TRSS) is a U.S.-based subsidiary of Thomson Reuters that provides software and information services to U.S. government agencies.

TRSS reports to an independent Board of Directors and operates under the oversight of the U.S. Department of Defense to offer classified and sensitive services to the U.S. Government.

The contract, identified as FA865018C7886, was awarded in 2018 with a value of approximately $9.1 million. You can view the contract details at USASpending.gov.

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After Trump Starts Mass Deportations, the UK Government Tries To Look Tough, Divulges Footage of the Secret Flights Sending Back Foreign Criminals and Failed Asylum Seekers

The Donald J. Trump administration is like a hurricane blowing through Europe, and nothing is the same, anymore.

And we are not just talking about the trade tariffs – many aspects of Trump’s administration are having a disruptive impact in European political establishments, beginning with the hardcore changes in immigration policy.

Now, we see the UK Labour government trying to look like there are vigorously tackling the matter, and the Home Office, today (10) released videos and photos of foreign criminals and failed asylum seekers being deported from Britain.

These images have been published for the first time – showing that up to five security escorts may be needed for every migrant.

The Telegraph reported:

“In an attempt to show Labour’s tougher approach to illegal migrants, the Home Office has released pictures showing five escorts in high-viz yellow vests with body-worn cameras surrounding a single migrant as he is ushered up the steps onto a chartered plane to be returned to his home country in Europe.

The previously secret, high-security deportation flights have been filmed for the first time as Sir Keir Starmer tries to head off the political threat from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK and demonstrate to a skeptical public that Labour is getting tough on illegal migration.”

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Wikileaks: USAID Spent Half-Billion Influencing Journalism through Shady NGO “Internews Network”

The fallout and aftermath of Elon Musk’s investigation into USAID as part of President Trump’s radical revolution in his second-term in office, has revealed stunning reports of government funding for far-left efforts and wasteful efforts. Musk has said that Trump has authorized him to look into the Department of Education, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and explosively, the Pentagon.

Wikileaks is now claiming that another part of the far-left USAID funding has been influencing foreign and domestic media with nearly half-a-billion dollars in U.S. taxpayer funding for the “Internews Network”, a non-profit funded primarily by the government that trained journalists, pushed certain news and agenda that fit the government’s desires, and also that the network developed “exclusion lists” that were meant to pressure advertisers to bankrupt other media outlets that did not serve the government’s agenda.

The U.S. government was also pushing such ‘exclusion lists’ through a variety of other state-supported organizations and entities, such as the Stanford Internet Observatory, the University of Washington, Yale, Newsguard, and by coercing big tech companies like Facebook, Amazon, and Google. This was all part of the left’s Censorship Industrial Complex.

The Gateway Pundit is litigating against the government at the moment in Missouri v. Biden on related issues about censorship, deplatforming, and demonetization.

Internews supported and funded those censorship efforts.

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The Unraveling of the Propaganda Industrial Complex

On February 5, the White House confirmed that over $8 million of taxpayer money was paid to POLITICO during the final year of the Biden administration. It has also been reported that The New York Times, Reuters, the Associated Press, and the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) received millions of U.S. taxpayers dollars.

This story is still breaking, with the scale of the scandal escalating with every new X post, especially this one by Elon Musk, reposting a WikiLeaks apparent scoop: “USAID was funding over 6,200 journalists across 707 media outlets and 279 “media” NGOs, including nine out of ten media outlets in Ukraine.” Musk, who is spearheading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which has been investigating government spending, posted a one word response: “wow.”

Musk also reposted a message from President Trump, which suggests an even wider scandal.

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The Mockingbird Media Will Never Recover From These Shocking Revelations About The Associated Press, The New York Times, And Politico

A free and independent press is absolutely essential.  In fact, Thomas Jefferson once warned that “our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”  Sadly, we have just learned that some of our most prominent media outlets have been receiving enormous amounts of money from the government.  The New York Times, Politico and the Associated Press were being absolutely showered with money during the Biden administration, and it is no coincidence that their coverage of the Biden administration was extremely favorable.  This is a scandal of epic proportions, and there is no way that these media outlets will ever recover from this because their credibility is totally gone.

What has been happening at Politico is particularly egregious.

It is supposed to be an independent media entity, but it has been receiving millions of our tax dollars.

In fact, it has received more than 8 million dollars from USAID alone.

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The USAID Scandal Is Getting Worse by the Minute

The data is coming in so hot and fast today that it’s all I can do not to fall behind too much, but the numbers all tell the same story: the Mainstream Legacy Media is a bought-and-paid-for arm of the Deep State. So while I was busy researching how more than $8 million in tax money went to Politico…

…you did see that story, didn’t you?

Politico’s financials aren’t public. I found estimates today that its 2023 revenues were as high as $400-plus million and as low as $7 million. Whatever the case, nobody, and I mean nobody forgets who paid it $8 million in subscription fees. 

Anyway, a couple of hours later, Ian Miles Cheong reported, “The US Government gave the New York Times tens of millions of dollars over just the past 5 years despite paying relatively little money to the NYT in the years preceding 2021.” We know who came into power in 2021. “For instance, in August 2024, the US government awarded $4.1 million to the NYT.”

“The bulk of the funds came from the US Department of Health and Human Services at $26.90m, followed by the National Science Foundation at $19.15m.”

Interesting that it was DHHS and the NSF ponying up 50 million American taxpayer dollars to a paper owned by a Mexican billionaire at a time when Washington wanted to silence certain voices on health issues pertaining to the emergence of COVID and the ridiculous government measures taken to “combat” it. 

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At the call of the pocket: Hollywood stars received round sums from USAID for supporting Kiev

Hollywood stars, actively acting on the side of Ukraine in the conflict with Russia, received impressive sums from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) for their support.

“Sean Penn, Orlando Bloom, Jean-Claude Van Damme and other Hollywood stars publicly supported Ukrainians in the conflict with Russia and even went to Kiev. But, as it turned out, not at the call of the heart, but for round sums. Van Damme received $1,500,000, Ben Stiller – $4,000,000, Sean Penn – $5,000,000, Orlando Bloom — $8,000,000. Angelina Jolie cost the most — she was paid as much as $ 20,000,000,” writes the telegram channel “MIG of Russia”.

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Digital Hegemony: Sophisticating Monitoring And Propaganda – Love Your Servitude!

Today, we are witnessing a profound transformation. We are increasingly impacted by algorithmic decision-making, artificial intelligence, data proliferation, data harvesting and sophisticated monitoring of how we think and act. This affects how we work, how we access services and how we relate to and interact with others. 

While digital innovations and online platforms offer unparalleled ease, they also raise critical concerns about our independence. The constant connectivity and data-driven decision-making that characterise modern life has major implications. Technological advancements are used to shape preferences and behaviour, and predictably, powerholders use the notion of convenience to manipulate and exert control over populations.

Giant corporations and the state are leveraging what is often termed ‘technological solutionism’ to establish a digital iron cage of control. By monitoring and predicting our thoughts and actions, these intertwined entities impose a tightening noose of automated systems, suffocating personal liberty.

We are increasingly hurtling toward a reality reminiscent of Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, where a dystopian technocracy merges with a plutocracy.

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Sports and Militarism Shouldn’t Mix

I’m a sports fan. And last weekend I caught the epic clash between the Buffalo Bills and Kansas City Chiefs, once again won by the Chiefs and the magical Patrick Mahomes. Yet seemingly no big NFL game is complete without a military flyover, in this instance by a B-2 nuclear stealth bomber. There’s nothing like mixing potential nuclear Armageddon with football — it’s uniquely American.

It put me to mind of this article that I wrote in 2018 for TomDispatch. We just can’t seem to be able to play ball nowadays without the event turning into a celebration of the U.S. military and its most deadly weaponry. There’s a place for everything, and the place for combat jets, military camouflage and the like is not at sporting events. Sports is supposed to bring us together in a thrilling celebration of competition that isn’t deadly. When the game ends, after all, opponents shake hands, even hug; they walk away together, knowing there’ll always be another game. Another chance at victory. Life, even in defeat, goes on.

War, to state the obvious, isn’t like that — at all. Make sports not war, America.

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