Media Cover-ups and Fragmentation over Gaza Policy

https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-civil-war-erupts-over-gaza-as-gop-rep-says-starve-away/

In some respects it seems like the situation in Gaza is getting less and less coverage even while the situation remains acute, with at least dozens dying every day, killed by bullets, bombs, starvation, or other forms of deprivation. The media is derelict and refuses to properly cover the story nor the fact that Israel has killed over two hundred journalists, and is clearly unwilling for anyone to do on the ground reporting.

Coverage of the new Telecom Breach

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/12/04/senators-response-chinese-hack-us-telecoms-00192728

Just as Trump prepares to enter office, the Blue Team, the Anti-China lobby has been given a gift. It's now confirmed that Beijing has been engaged in a major hacking/surveillance project within the United States. The Right-wing is calling for retaliation.

Boeing and its Place in the US Empire

https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/5/2/whistleblower-joshua-dean-ex-worker-at-boeing-supplier-dies

Boeing is too big to fail. As a member of the S&P100, the company constitutes a large and essential component within the stock market as well as the US security apparatus. Boeing builds commercial jets and does billions of dollars in military contracts. In fact it's the second biggest military contractor in the United States (and third in the world).

Some Perspective on Navalny's Death

Listening to the near breathless and morally outraged coverage of Alexei Navalny's death, several things come to mind.

The Information Gatekeepers and Assange

Western Mainstream Media continues to largely ignore the situation with Julian Assange. He has now spent more than a decade effectively (and actually) imprisoned without ever facing any kind of trial or due process – the bogus charges being used as a pretense to seize him being found without merit and dropped. But by then he was caught in a series of legal traps and in order to avoid the snares laid for him by the CIA – he became a fugitive and asylum seeker.

War and the Authoritarian Clampdown in Russia

People seem shocked that Vladimir Putin is making aggressive moves to silence dissent and punish social nonconformity. They shouldn't be and I'm not just saying that because it's Vladimir Putin. All states, whether already authoritarian-leaning entities such as Russia and China or even so-called liberal democracies like the United States, resort to some form of internal clampdown whenever the war machine is running under full steam.

The Sad Saga of Glenn Greenwald: A Tale of Abandoned Integrity

https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/05/27/apologist-for-tucker-carlsons-racism-glenn-greenwald/

I wasn't surprised to see this article. In some respects I'm surprised more people aren't commenting on this. I was glad to see Greenwald leave The Guardian in the aftermath of the Snowden revelations. The founding of The Intercept looked promising but that too began to degenerate. And then in 2020, Greenwald went out on his own – it was real display of integrity, or at least so I thought.

A Soldier Worthy of Salute and Memory

https://www.counterpunch.org/2022/05/30/memorial-day-salute-to-a-repentant-ex-marine/

The article cites the new book – Gangsters of Capitalism: Smedley Butler, The Marines, and the Making and Breaking of America’s Empire by Jonathan Katz (St. Martin's Press 2022).

This is a book that I want to read. Butler is a fascinating character and one soldier that I too would salute. He was a true hero, not for his soldiering but for his courage and willingness to tell the truth about it – something that actually took more courage and exacted a heavier price than all his battlefield exploits.

A Shocking Act: Ryanair Flight #4978

So said the US government in regard to the RyanAir flight diverted by Belarus to Minsk. Ostensibly threatened by a bomb, all admit the move was made by Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko in order to seize an opposition journalist with Western ties.

Greenwald Quits The Intercept

Greenwald's departure wasn't all that surprising apart from the fact that he was the key name associated with The Intercept's founding in 2014. The online magazine arose in the wake of the Snowden revelations and yet within a few years it began to decline.

Great Power Pawns and the Media Gamepiece

In 2013 I mused whether Putin might be willing to trade Edward Snowden for Victor Bout, the Russian arms dealer arrested in 2008. At this point Bout has done hard time and even a loyalist might be tempted to 'flip' as he still faces another fourteen years in prison.

Trump + 1107: The Real Scandal of 2016, Glenn Greenwald and the FBI

https://theintercept.com/2019/12/12/the-inspector-generals-report-on-2016-fb-i-spying-reveals-a-scandal-of-historic-magnitude-not-only-for-the-fbi-but-also-the-u-s-media/

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/21/world/americas/glenn-greenwald-brazil-cybercrimes.html

Though The Intercept continues its path of compromise and decline there are still some shining moments which, more often than not are connected to Glenn Greenwald. This article was no exception. In this piece from December, Greenwald reveals the true scandal surrounding 2016 election, the one that's getting almost no attention.

The Malta Scandal, Energy Deals and Azerbaijan

One aspect to the scandal surrounding the car-bombing death of journalist Daphne Galizia that has not been focused on, at least not so far, is the connection to Azerbaijan and the politics of the Caucasus.

The NHS and US-UK Trade: Spinning the Revelations

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-50699168

On the one hand I'm a little baffled by the 'breaking' nature of this story because there were hints of this a couple of years ago. The Brexit vote was in June of 2016 and Trump of course won the election in November of that year. There were rumours of NHS privatisation in the air coming from Tory circles, even during Cameron's tenure, and then it seems to me about 2018 there was a kerfuffle over Trump suggesting that a US-UK trade deal would require opening up the NHS to US investment and a degree of privatisation.

Well, apparently due to Corbyn's utilisation of these leaks, it's a big story again. But what's interesting is the media response.

Frontline's In the Age of AI

I recently watched the PBS Frontline documentary on AI or Artificial Intelligence. I recommend it but with qualification. It was both interesting and disturbing but it was also misleading. There were some interesting discussions to be sure. From the future of jobs to some rather questionable uses in medicine to social media and surveillance, the documentary raises numerous salient questions.

CNN: Not Left-wing but Establishment Safe

https://thegrayzone.com/2019/09/06/embassy-insider-exposes-cnn-lies-about-julian-assange/#more-14399

The fact that CNN is once again exposed as a propaganda outlet for the US Establishment should come as a surprise to no one. I suppose when the outlet first appeared in the 1980's, around-the-clock news and the level of international reporting was novel and thus we were all fascinated. That said, even the mainstream outlets had extensive international bureaus at that time and while the coverage was certainly slanted, nothing compares to what's happening today.

Falwell and the Politico Whistleblowers

https://www.npr.org/2019/09/15/761046389/liberty-university-students-react-to-falwell-scandal

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/09/09/jerry-falwell-liberty-university-loans-227914

By now many are familiar with the Politico article about the whistleblowers at Liberty University who have sought to expose Jerry Falwell Jr. as a hypocrite and something of a tyrant.

Authoritarianism and Exploitation: News when it comes to China, ignored in the West

https://www.euractiv.com/section/cybersecurity/news/huawei-admit-chinese-law-obliges-companies-to-work-with-government/

The Chinese government and the ruling CCP are deplorable. There's no need to mince words. They are enemies of Christ and Beijing represents a bestial power vying for its place on the world stage.

The Knights of Malta Controversy and Wikileaks

https://cruxnow.com/vatican/2019/01/31/wikileaks-releases-documents-on-knights-of-malta-controversy/

This is in reference to an ongoing scandal within the SMOM or Knights of Malta, a famous if secretive lay Catholic religious order that ostensibly is involved in charity work but has always been suspected to have a wider agenda. From its ties to the old Catholic nobility to its many members involved in power politics, the Establishment and often the 'Deep State', the Knights along with Opus Dei and other Vatican entities have elicited no small degree of inquiry and fascination.

The Stone-Wikileaks Syllogism

The media is desperate to perpetuate the conspiracy of Russian collusion and the latest twist involves the indictment of Roger Stone. This was hardly unexpected and has been anticipated for some time even by Stone himself.

Once again the now two year investigation struggles to find a smoking gun and the media continues to do all it can to keep the public engaged and stoke anger. Now in light of the Stone indictment we're informed once more that 'this is it', the evidence we've been waiting for.