BRUCE LERRO—For the most part, the use of electronic media, especially television, had a debilitating impact on political rhetoric. The number of outdoor speeches declined as the politician was followed by television cameras inside the studios. The public now had to make much less effort to hear a speech as they could now watch it on television. For various reasons, over the years the attention span of the public got shorter and shorter in part because there was a lot to see on television and also because the pace of life quickened.
AMERICAN PROPAGANDA
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Bye bye, Tel Aviv? Yemen’s promised retaliation against Israel could sink the state | Ep. 35
8 minutes readEDITORS—The panel discusses how a Yemeni drone got through, considering that several neighboring countries, like Egypt and Jordan, not to mention US and EU assets, are often deployed to keep airstrikes like these from occurring. The West appears confused about Yemen’s capabilities; they certainly have great ability to hide their military assets, and absorb punishment.
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PEPE ESCOBAR—The plenum proved once more that “socialism with Chinese characteristics” – or, for the recalcitrant, Chinese-modified capitalism – is “people-centric”. The supreme values are national interest and the people’s interests – attested by the fact that large private corporations remain under the strategic control of the CPC.
It’s idle to try to find in the final communique at the end of the plenum any restrictions on private capital on the path to “universal prosperity”. The key point is that the role of capital should always be subordinated to the concept of “socialism with Chinese characteristics”.
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Noura Erakat: During Netanyahu Speech, Congress Cheered “What Is Essentially a War on Children”
20 Mins readDEMOCRACY NOW—We speak with Palestinian human rights lawyer Noura Erakat about Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress, in which he defended Israel’s brutal war on Gaza, lied repeatedly about the dire humanitarian conditions on the ground and refused to talk about how to reach a ceasefire to end the bloodshed. Although more than 100 Democrats skipped the speech, Erakat says the jubilant reaction from lawmakers in attendance showed U.S. leaders cheering “for what is essentially a war on children.”
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AMARYNTH—Former President Donald Trump – one day before meeting Benjamin Netanyahu – called for a swift end to Israel’s war on Gaza and the return of its captives, stating that the US ally is “getting decimated” by bad publicity. “I want him to finish up and get it done quickly, he’s got to get it done quickly,” Trump told Fox News. “For whatever reason you have Jewish people out there wearing yarmulkes and they’re, you know, pro-Palestine. (!) You’ve never seen anything like this…