May You Live in Stupid, Corrupt and yet Fascinating Times

In the old days, America’s top spies would complete their tenures at the CIA or one of the other Washington puzzle palaces and segue to more ordinary pursuits. Some wrote their memoirs. One ran for president. Another died a few months after surrendering his post. But today’s national-security establishment retiree has a different game plan. After so many years of brawling in the shadows, he yearns for a second, lucrative career in the public eye. He takes a crash course in speaking in soundbites, refreshes his wardrobe and signs a TV news contract. Then, several times a week, waits for a network limousine to shuttle him to the broadcast news studios where, after a light dusting of foundation and a spritz of hairspray, he takes a supporting role in the anchors’ nighttime shows.

PoliticoThe Spies Who Came in to the TV Studio

May you live in stupid, corrupt and yet fascinating times.

– Me, paraphrasing a Chinese curse

I’ve been away the past couple of weeks taking a break with my family. I paid attention to the news, but from a distance. As usual, there’s plenty to talk about.

In the last 24 hours alone, we’ve seen political chaos erupt in Italy and hordes of pundits simultaneously lose their minds over the murder of a prominent Russian journalist that never happened. Such is the world we live in. Stupid, corrupt, yet fascinating.

Of all the things I could’ve written about, you may be surprised by today’s selection. It’s a clip many of you probably saw where Richard Stengel (who was Time Magazine’s managing editor from 2006-2013) admits he approves of government propagandizing its own citizens during a Council on Foreign Relations forum. Here’s the clip.

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

Manufacturing Resistance – The American Public is Being Manipulated Into Irrelevance

No honest person could accuse me of being a Trump fan or supporter. I refused to back his candidacy despite my total disdain for Hillary Clinton and pretty much everything she stands for. More importantly, I’ve written a multitude of articles since he was inaugurated severely taking him to task on a wide variety of subjects. I’ve tirelessly discussed how he’s outsourced his economic policy to Goldman Sachs, and condemned his burgeoning neocon foreign policy, evidenced by his disturbing coziness with the autocratic barbarians of Saudi Arabia.

Nevertheless, the most incredible aspect of the past four months is not how much of a fake populist Trump’s proven to be, but how the corporate media’s managed to disgust me even more. I’m happy to become outraged at Trump, because I find many things about Trump outrageous. That said, I find it telling that the stuff about Trump that outrages me, is never the same stuff which outrages the corporate media. Why is that?

The reason is the corporate media doesn’t mind Goldman Sachs running U.S. economic policy. It also doesn’t mind a close alliance with the terrorist state of Saudi Arabia, or our government’s endless string of disastrous neocon wars abroad. In fact, when it comes to the latter, the corporate media is reliably the primary cheerleader for unprovoked militarism.

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

Video of the Day – Woman Asks Amazon’s Alexa if It’s Connected to the CIA

The following video is making the rounds…

As everyone knows, Alexa is a product of Amazon, and Amazon is most certainly connected to the CIA.

As was detailed in an Atlantic article published in 2014:

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

Video of the Day – Jimmy Dore Dismantles Tom Brokaw and the Corporate Media in 12 Minutes

Very entertaining video. Make sure to watch the whole thing.

If you enjoyed this post, and want to contribute to genuine, independent media, consider visiting our Support Page.

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

Here’s the Best Summary of The Washington Post’s Latest ‘Fake News’ Fiasco

It’s quite ironic that the one newspaper most hysterical in warning the American public about the dangers of “fake news,” has become the most prolific publisher of it. The most recent example, of course, relates to the entirely made up story that those dastardly Russians had hacked into the U.S. power grid through a Vermont utility. The paper’s source for the story? Anonymous government officials. Unsurprisingly, the entire thing was a fairytale.

Most of you will already be aware of the story, but this is such a monumental example of journalistic malpractice, it deserve far more attention and scrutiny.

In that regard, Forbes contributor Kalev Leetaru, has done an excellent job of shining further light on how it all went down in his piece, “Fake News” And How The Washington Post Rewrote Its Story On Russian Hacking Of The Power Grid. Here are some key excerpts:

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

New Poll Shows Americans Think the Media is a Much Greater Threat to Election Than Russian Hackers

screen-shot-2016-11-03-at-4-04-58-pm

These are some pretty damning results for the mainstream media. Not only does the American public see the media as a bigger threat to election results than Russian hackers, it’s not even close.

The Washington Examiner reports:

Voters fear the media far more than Russian hackers when it comes to tampering with election results.

According to a Suffolk University/USA Today poll, 46 percent of likely voters believe the news media is “the primary threat that might try to change the election results.”

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

Americans’ Trust in Mass Media Plunges to Record Low in Gallup Poll

screen-shot-2016-09-14-at-2-10-38-pm

In yesterday’s post, The Death of Mainstream Media, I noted:

At the end of the day, I have concluded that my focus on Hillary as of late (vs. Trump) has as much to with my disgust for the mainstream media as anything else. To see these organs, which have destroyed this country by keeping the people uninformed for decades, now rally around a sickly, corrupt, oligarch coddling politician as the empire enters the collapse stage is simply too much to stomach…

The only positive thing to happen during this election season is the death of mainstream media. With their insufferable propaganda fully exposed, there is no coming back. 

Then today, we learned the following from Gallup:

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

Video of the Day – CNN Anchor Embarrasses Herself in Interview with the UK’s Daniel Hannan

Screen Shot 2016-07-01 at 1.48.32 PM

“I was bribed by billionaires, I was bribed by the Americans to report…not exactly the truth.”

–  From the post: “Non-Official Cover” – Respected German Journalist Blows Whistle on How the CIA Controls the Media

If you want a perfect example of why everyone hates the media so much, take a look at this interview, I mean interrogation, of British MEP Daniel Hannan by CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour.

Her bias is so unbelievably transparent, it’s embarrassing.

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

HBO and Snapchat are Actively Working with the U.S. Government to Create Propaganda

Screen Shot 2015-10-01 at 10.35.58 AM

In 1953, Joseph Alsop, then one of America’s leading syndicated columnists, went to the Philippines to cover an election. He did not go because he was asked to do so by his syndicate. He did not go because he was asked to do so by the newspapers that printed his column. He went at the request of the CIA.

Alsop is one of more than 400 American journalists who in the past twenty‑five years have secretly carried out assignments for the Central Intelligence Agency, according to documents on file at CIA headquarters.

The history of the CIA’s involvement with the American press continues to be shrouded by an official policy of obfuscation and deception.

– From Carl Bernstein’s 1977 article: The CIA and the Media

What is art, when the artist is working with the host government to promote a particular message?

It is propaganda, and just because it’s your government doing it with the help of your friends and neighbors, doesn’t make it any less so. Even if you agree with the message, it is still propaganda. No wonder so many movies suck.

Today, we learn that both HBO and Snapchat are actively working with the U.S. State Department to push an anti-ISIS message. Again, even if the message is a good one, make no mistake about it, it is still propaganda. This is a very slippery slope, and something that Americans shouldn’t tolerate.

The National Journal reports:

The State De­part­ment is seek­ing a counter-nar­rat­ive to the pro­pa­ganda be­ing spread by IS­IS, and it is re­portedly turn­ing to some of Amer­ica’s pree­m­in­ent storytellers for help. Ac­cord­ing to The Daily Beast, ex­ec­ut­ives from both HBO and Snapchat are part of a team of film­makers and so­cial me­dia spe­cial­ists that’s brain­storm­ing how to hamper the ef­fect­ive­ness of ISIL’s mes­saging.

Notice that when ISIS does it, it’s propaganda, but when the U.S. government does it, it’s a “counter-narrative.”

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.

First Brian Williams, Now George Stephanopoulos Has Lost All Credibility in Latest Mainstream Media Scandal

Screen Shot 2015-05-15 at 11.11.50 AMScreen Shot 2015-05-15 at 11.12.06 AM

As we turn the pages on 2015, the American mainstream media continues to unintentionally commit suicide. We all remember the NBC News mess from earlier this year when: Brian Williams was Forced to Admit His Tale of Being on a Downed Helicopter in Iraq Was Pure Fantasy. Now we have another scandal, but this one has far greater implications to the nation at large.

When I first saw the headlines that former top Clinton operative, George Stephanopoulos, had been caught donating $75,000 to the Clinton Foundation, I failed to immediately recognize its importance. That’s because I don’t pay close attention to mainstream media and the roles their various muppets play in these organizations. Once you recognize how central his “reporting,” if you can call it that, on the Clinton Foundation is to ABC News, you realize how dangerous and inappropriate his conflict of interest is.

Make no mistake about it, this is a huge scandal and Mr. Stephanopoulos should be immediately fired from ABC News. He has absolutely no credibility left whatsoever. In this post, I will explain why from several different angles.

For some background, let’s take a look at the excellent article by Erik Wemple at the Washington Post:

Read more

Like this post?
Donate bitcoins: 35DBUbbAQHTqbDaAc5mAaN6BqwA2AxuE7G


Follow me on Twitter.