It turns out that the antiterrorist squad was coordinated by a special unit in charge of spying so-called online haters and inevitably reminds us of the thought police (Thinkpol in Newspeak language) of 1984. The main charge pressed was actually based on art.278 of the Italian Penal Code which states that anyone who offends the honour and prestige of the President of Italy can be sentenced from one to five years in prison. Supposedly, the group of online haters had used their social profiles on numerous instances to post derogatory or insulting comments toward Sergio Mattarella, his conduct and his persona. Incidentally – or coincidentally- the main Prosecutor who signed the search warrants makes no mystery either of his political affiliations, which happen to be exactly the opposite of the defendants.
CAPITALIST SICKNESS
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KIM PETERSEN—Chua is sympathetic to Chinese government censorship: “Given the amount of relentless agenda-based disinformation against the Chinese government, it is not hard to understand why China needs to counter such disinformation with censorship to protect its own society from undue influence by the ill-intended and well-funded Western propaganda machine.” (76)
While I prefer to err on the side of freedom of expression; I do not fence-sit when it comes to the insidiousness of disinformation. I shared the unanimous declaration of participants at the Halifax International Symposium on Media and Disinformation that disinformation should constitute a crime against humanity.
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FRED REED—Americans are not an historically aware people and so have little idea of how or why they are regarded as they are abroad. Consider Mexico, where I live. People here know of the Mexican-American War (of which, preposterously many Americans have never heard) as well as the bombardment of Veracruz and Pershing’s incursion. Peoples remember their defeats and humiliations as the victors do not. Mexicans know they are powerless against America, resent it intensely. Latin Americans in general know of the almost endless list of invasions, coups, dictators installed, economic exploitation that Americans have never heard of. Today they see the persecution of Cuba, the attempt to starve Venezuela into giving Washington control of its oil, the coups and murder attempts against Maduro, the coup in Bolivia, other attempts in Ukraine and Byelorussia, on and on.
Many countries have endured American manipulation exploitation, invasion. Americans seldom know of these things, but the countries involved do.
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PATRICE GREANVILLE—Fiorella Isabel conducts an in-depth discussion on the plight of Palestinians with Mideast expert and longtime activist and citizen journalist Eva K. Bartlett. Few people can touch Bartlett for her comprehensive grasp of Mideast history and politics, and for the sheer bravery of her political positions. Kudos to Fiorella and the folks at Convo Couch for this indispensable interview.
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Establishment comic John Oliver breaks ranks with the zionists and all hell breaks loose
23 minutes readPATRICE GREANVILLE—It’s a well known fact that the totality of corporate journos and entertainers, under penalty of career cancellation, obediently toe the imperialist line, that’s why unless you watch or read alternative media sources (like this one) you are liable to be consuming nothing but the smelly servings of the Ministry of Truth. That’s the case therefore with all major comedians approved by the empire, a select group of extremely well paid people which includes Steven Colbert, Bill Maher, John Oliver, and others of equivalent caliber. Well guess, what, folks, it now seems that John Oliver apparently had something like a conversion—at last—or the Israeli/Palestinian issue is so obvious a crime that he simply had enough. Oliver is obviously aware that his segment would detonate an explosion of Hasbara retaliation, and this already has begun. It’s clear the pressure, as usual, is on to make him a non-person, to cancel him, and to make an example, too, lest others begin to think they can cross the invisible but very real imperial red lines with impunity. Oliver’s presentation, by the way, given his usual passion and talent to inject clarity into neglected or distorted issues, was good, but far from splendid. He is either still learning or he was pulling many of the punches that the gravity of Israel’s crimes actually merit.