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Bullseye

Best of the Web: Reality check: CNN's claim that Trump has been unwilling to confront Putin is total bulls**t

Bryan MacDonald
RT
Tue, 02 Apr 2019 19:57 UTC
trump and putin helsinki
© Sputnik / Sergey GuneevDonald Trump and Vladimir Putin
Fareed Zakaria is a veteran Putin conspiracy theorist. And you can assume he feels this obsession has helped further his career, especially at CNN.

Back in 2017, he made a pseudo-documentary on Russia's president, titled "The most powerful man in the world," which was widely pilloried. Indeed, the Kremlin labeled it "hysterical" and "odious," and dismissed it as "often complete fiction."

Russia expert Dominic Basulto summed it up as "what slick propaganda for the masses looks like in the digital era." Further pointing out how Zakaria failed to disclose his own "Russian collusion" as a host at the 2016 St Petersburg Economic Forum. An appearance which didn't go very well for the CNN anchor.

Over the past couple of years, Zakaria has been one of the loudest voices pushing the "Trump/Russia" hoax. But, instead of accepting reality after Robert Mueller's report kiboshed the yarn, he doubled down. And his latest video is unhinged.
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Bullseye

Best of the Web: Pepe Escobar: The Pentagon's obsession with China, and Putin's strategy

Pepe Escobar
Strategic Culture
Mon, 01 Apr 2019 12:00 UTC
boat light
Chinese nuclear bombers. Chinese hypersonic missiles. Chinese carrier killer missiles. Chinese cyberattacks. Chinese anti-satellite weaponry. Chinese militarization of the South China Sea. Chinese Huawei spying.

So many Chinese "malign intentions". And we're not even talking about Russia.

Few people around the world are aware that the Pentagon for the moment is led by a mere "acting" Defense Secretary, Patrick Shanahan.

That did not prevent "acting" Secretary to shine in the red carpet when presenting the Trump administration's 2020 Pentagon budget proposal - at $718 billion - to the Senate Armed Services Committee: the top US national security threat is, in his own (repeated) words, "China, China, China".

Comment: See also:

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Propaganda

Best of the Web: Can the EU survive its own censorship?

Tom Luongo
Gold, Goats 'n Guns
Wed, 27 Mar 2019 00:01 UTC
article 13 meme
The EU's new, comprehensive new Copyright Directive passed the European Parliament ensuring the way we use the Internet will change in the future.

And not for the better.

The controversial parts are Articles 11 and 13, the "link tax" and the "upload filter" requirements. For a good run down of how terrible these new rules are look anywhere on the internet but this article at Gizmodo (who I hope doesn't charge me a link tax for doing so!) will do.

Comment: Very good point! What is abundantly clear is that these EU bureaucrats really have no clue what they're doing and are simply lashing out in an attempt to regain control of a beast that fled the pen ages ago. Their flailing, as the above article illustrates, makes evident they really haven't thought this thing through.

See also:

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Bullseye

Best of the Web: 'UK is most deeply flawed democracy in the West' - Ken Livingstone on chaos in Parliament

Ken Livingstone
RT
Mon, 01 Apr 2019 17:16 UTC
parliament
© REUTERS
For two and a half years, the British people were promised that we were leaving the European Union on March 29. But we're still there.

Theresa May's government suffered another humiliating defeat last Friday when for the third time Parliament rejected her deeply flawed exit deal with the EU.

In all my life I have never seen our Parliament in such a state of chaos. Every single proposal about leaving the EU has been rejected by the majority of MPs, not just Theresa May's deal, but all the alternatives that were put forward last week. The only majority in the House of Commons is for not leaving without a deal, but MPs can't agree on what the deal should be.

Britain could leave in just under two weeks without a deal, but the EU may grant an extension of our remaining until the end of June or even into next year. Nobody knows and Theresa May is flying off to meet the other 27 EU governments to try and sort this out next week.
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Control Panel

Best of the Web: Collective punishment? Zuckerberg's call for internet regulation is aimed at competitors - analyst


RT
Mon, 01 Apr 2019 11:23 UTC
zuckerberg
"Share whatever you want on my platform! Except anything that might infringe ideological boundaries..."
Mark Zuckerberg's support for more internet regulation is aimed at keeping Facebook competitive by forcing the government to punish all of Silicon Valley for the tech giant's dismal track record, an analyst told RT.

In a seemingly counter-intuitive move, the Facebook CEO has asked governments to step up supervision of tech giants such as his own, and impose sanctions if they refuse to honor stricter rules regarding privacy and political or harmful content.

Investigative journalist Dave Lindorff explained that Zuckerberg isn't motivated by accountability, but rather the desire to keep Facebook intact - and protect the company's bottom line.


Comment: The Free Speech hot potato:

Facebook: "You do the censoring!"

Govt: "No, you do it! We can't be seen to be doing it!"

And so CorpGov collectively worms its way to 'a happy medium'.

The Zuck knows it's evil but will do whatever it takes to keep his eyes on the gold: the mass of data needed to power 'AI innovation' in the new 'data economy'.

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Gold Seal

Best of the Web: Maria Zakharova Places Russiagate Blame Squarely on American Presstitutes

Seraphim Hanisch
The Duran
Sat, 30 Mar 2019 18:06 UTC
Maria Zakharova Russiagate
© Vesti NewsMinistry of Foreign Affairs spokesperson Maria Zakharova
Zakharova: "When you say the right rests with those who are strong, you imply that the strong is also smart."

During this last week, most of the reaction from Russian news media to the conclusion of the Russiagate (hoax) investigation was rather factually based, simply with reports on what happened, and the reactions of people within the United States.

However, there certainly is a reaction to this mess from the halls of power in Russia, and on March 27, Maria Zakharova, the Director of the Information and Press Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, gave hers on Russia One's Vesti News' program 60 Minutes. She had a lot to say:
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Hardhat

Best of the Web: French people defy Macron's diktats: Yellow Vests flood streets of France for 20th straight weekend


RT
Sat, 30 Mar 2019 19:54 UTC
france yellow vests
French people protest for the TWENTIETH week in a row, despite protests being outlawed, blazing a trail for Westerners and illustrating just how difficult it's going to be to bring about real democracy
Thousands of protesters are rallying across France as Yellow Vest demonstrations show no sign of abating on their 20th week despite authorities banning many locations. A heavy police presence can be seen throughout the country.


In Paris, protesters gathered in two locations, forming a joint column and marched towards towards Trocadéro square.


Several skirmishes broke out between protesters and police present in large quantities in riot gear. A thick plume of smoke was observed occasionally but it's not immediately clear what was its source.


At least 32 people have been detained in Paris, according to official figures from the city's police.

Comment: Another massive turnout all across France. Officially, it's "just a few thousand." But to us it looks more like several hundred thousand - maybe even a million - in over two dozen cities nationwide.

The police, as always, are ruthlessly beating the shyet out of as many as they can because they've been ordered to clear the streets and make it look like the protest movement is finished.

Here's footage from Rennes today:


St. Etienne:


Toulouse (also banned). They're singing: "we are here, we are here, even if Macron doesn't want it, we are here..."


Montpellier:




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No Entry

Best of the Web: March 29th 2019: Britain has left the European Union! Oh, wait...


RT
Fri, 29 Mar 2019 22:17 UTC
brexit farce clown
Two years ago, the British government invoked Article 50, starting the countdown to its break away from the European Union. The deadline has now arrived, but the coveted exit is nowhere near to materializing.

In a perfect world, the Leavers would be celebrating their wish come true today, shaking hands and toasting the newfound independence of Great Britain from the money-sucking, overreaching bureaucracy of Brussels. Sure, there'd be some caveats - bad divorces tend to hit one in the pocket - but nothing that this resilient nation couldn't handle.

Remainers might have shed a tear or two before moving on. After all, their opponents had won the referendum fair and square, and democracy is supposed to resolve issues at the ballot box instead of causing riots and civil wars.

Back to reality, Brexit Day has been postponed until at least April 12. Instead of saying goodbyes and see-you-agains to people on the continent, British legislators are franticly voting for a third iteration of the Brexit deal. If approved, it would postpone the departure day by 40 more days, which hopefully would be enough for parting ways with the EU with a semblance of order. Earlier, MPs rejected all alternative options that the government suggested on how to move forward.


Comment: We told you they would never leave.

So, what next?

Nigel Farage: 'Only a revolution can save British politics now'

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Che Guevara

Best of the Web: Nigel Farage: 'Only a revolution can save British politics now'

Nigel Farage
The Telegraph, UK
Fri, 29 Mar 2019 20:30 UTC
nigel farage
When Brexiteers wake up tomorrow, the ghastly reality that Britain is still a member of the EU will sink in. Those empty promises made by Theresa May that we would leave the bloc at 11pm this evening - deal or no deal - will doubtless echo in their minds. The sense of betrayal will be palpable.

I have never known such levels of anger and disgust at our political class as exist now. Remain-backing MPs seizing control of the House of Commons agenda this week marked a new low. And yet even after hijacking Parliament in that horribly arrogant way, these anti-democrats could not find a majority for anything! I don't know whether to laugh or to cry.

The irony is that since June 23 2016 there has been a clear majority for something in this country, if only MPs would remove their heads from the sand. Brexit voters are more resolute now than they were 33 months ago.

Some say there is light at the end of the tunnel regarding the catastrophic premiership of Mrs May. In a desperate attempt to get a new European treaty through the Commons, she has offered to quit in return for MPs' votes. But what is the use of that? Her "deal" is the modern-day equivalent of the Treaty of Versailles: a bad peace after a great victory. It even involves a reparations payment of £39 billion and proposes the annexation of UK sovereign territory in Northern Ireland. Not only is it the worst deal in history, it will guarantee years of acrimony.
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Bullseye

Best of the Web: Tucker Carlson: CNN is really a super PAC, colluding with the Democratic Party on the news you hear

Tucker Carlson
Fox News
Thu, 28 Mar 2019 17:48 UTC
We want to tell you a story about collusion, a real one -- an actual collusion that's currently in progress.

There are no shadowy hackers or imaginary rendezvous in Prague. In this story, there's not a single Russian spy or secret sex tape. There's nothing shadowy about the collusion we're going to tell you about. It takes place right out in the open on live television. This is a story about where your news comes from.

This past Sunday afternoon, we learned that the Trump campaign did not collude with the government of Russia. That was the conclusion of Robert Mueller's investigation, an investigation that spent two years exhaustively looking into the question. This was very good news for America -- we don't have a spy in the White House. But it was apocalyptic for the Democratic Party and their press agents in the news media.

These are the people who would stake their reputations and their fortunes on the collusion hoax -- and they were stunned. Befuddled politicians stammered on television, trying to figure out what to say about the news. Viewers of liberal media outlets didn't want to hear anything about it. Huge numbers of them just quit watching immediately. On Tuesday night, CNN's 8 p.m. show lost nearly 50 percent of its viewers.
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