P. GREANVILLE—Jimmy and Aaron Maté discuss how Democracy Now! —once an outspoken leftist/anti-imperialist news & commentary resource—has steadily degenerated to become another platform for many of Washington’s warmongering deceptions. Indeed Democracy Now! is currently a pale reflection of its former self, notes Jimmy Dore, arguing that Amy Godman has simply sold out. DN! is now repeating the same CIA/State Dept lies found on all establishment media, from NYTimes to CNN and NPR/MSNBC, etc., not to mention the big networks. They all act as stenographers to power, facilitators of criminal US foreign policy. And at DN! these days not only are establishment flunkies allowed to soak up precious airtime with their blatant disinformation, but worthwhile guests like John Pilger or Seymour Herst are blacklisted, or derided. Maté, though as usual cogent and spot on in most of what he says, cuts Amy Goodman some slack, arguing she has been duped. Jimmy vigorously disagrees, and so do we.
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Journalists, Learning They Spread a CIA Fraud About Russia, Instantly Embrace a New One
44 minutes readGLENN GREENWALD—If you think that, upon learning yesterday’s news, there was any self-reflection on the part of the media figures who spread this, or that they felt chastened about it in any way, you would be very, very wrong. In fact, not only did few if any admit error, but they did exactly the same thing on Thursday about a brand new evidence-free assertion from the U.S. Government concerning Russia: they mindlessly assumed it true and then stated it to millions of people as fact. They are not embarrassed to get caught spreading false CIA propaganda. They see their role, correctly, as doing exactly that.
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ERIC ZUESSE—Repeating their performances regarding numerous other such lies — including against Saddam Hussein’s “weapons of mass destruction” and threat of “a mushroom cloud that was allegedly only 6 months away on 7 September 2002 — America’s trashpapers of record (the nation’s two ‘top’ ‘news’-papers) have done yeoman’s work for Lockheed Martin and other ‘defense’ industry corporations, by deceiving the American public to support a military-industrial government of perpetual war and of fake dangers, when the real dangers against the American people continue to grow domestically and to rot away America’s economy. The beneficiaries of this scam are called America’s “Deep State,” and they rule here no matter whether serving Republican Party billionaires or Democratic Party billionaires.
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KIM PETERSEN—”Practice open-minded skepticism; demand evidence; demand to know who the people involved are; scrutinize the history and backgrounds of the people, media, and places. In other words don’t allow yourself to easily be lied to…”
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CALEB MAUPIN—It must be recognized that the tone and content of human rights reports issued by the United States tends to change based on the relationship countries have with the US government. While the US claims to be benevolent, championing the human rights of all, the selective nature and biased emphasis of reports issued by the United States is widely acknowledged.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has stated “Human rights must never be a vehicle for double standards or a means to pursue hidden agendas,” but it is clear that the United States routinely weaponizes human rights for its own purposes. Impoverished countries that assert their independence face more scrutiny than US aligned countries, or countries with a higher level of development.