ANNOTATED NEWS

CAITLIN JOHNSTONE—CNN has published a fascinatingly manipulative and falsehood-laden article titled “25 times Trump was soft on Russia“, in which a lot of strained effort is poured into building the case that the US president is suspiciously loyal to the nation against which he has spent his administration escalating dangerous new cold war aggressions.

BRYAN DYNE—The political dead end of the climate protests is also expressed by the endorsement of the current round of “strikes” by 3,024 companies, who in response to actual workers’ strikes would respond with court injunctions, mass firings, and brutal violence. In the case of the climate “strikes,” however, they are hoping that by pasting on a “green” label, they can dissipate the demonstrations and turn the millions of youth and workers away from a struggle against capitalism.

As the great fabulist prepared to close the news conference, he offered the servile media “one more question, on the economy, please”.  Knowing that most Americans know little and care less about foreign lands, but prick up their ears when the “economy” is mentioned, Trump surely wanted to use the question to brag some more about how well the economy is doing on his watch. The man may actually believe that.

When you consider Obama’s record after four years in office–a multi-trillion-dollar bailout of Wall Street, the continuing “war on terror,” more civil liberties shredded, the Employee Free Choice Act abandoned, deportations on the rise, a deepening assault on public schools–the answer has to be no. The list of broken promises and betrayed hopes goes on and on, outweighing anything that could be described as progress.

MICHAEL CORCORAN—Among the “hard-line liberal groups and unions” the article refers to in its headline and lead is the Consortium of Citizens with Disabilities, a coalition of approximately 100 national disability organizations. The “hard-line” groups include much of the grassroots movements for healthcare justice in the country: National Nurses United, Social Security Works and the Center for Popular Democracy.  These orgs—described elsewhere in the piece as “advocates on the far left”—are devoted to such “hard-line” positions as universal healthcare, protecting senior citizens and empowering voters and activists.