2019-12-29: News Headlines

Multiple Organizers (2019-12-29). Protest at Facebook Headquarters. indybay.org Facebook HQ | 1601 Willow Rd, Menlo Park, California 94025…

RT (2019-12-29). Indian minister demands action after video of cop telling protesters 'go to Pakistan' went viral. rt.com India's minister for minorities has called for disciplinary measures against a police officer who told Muslims protesting a new citizenship bill to "go to Pakistan" after a video of the incident went viral. | Union Minister for Minorities Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that "immediate action should be taken against the police officer" if the allegations are true. He stressed that the government would respond if police or officials were found to have carried out "atrocities on the people." | In a video that went viral on social media and was shared by local news outlets, a senior police officer in Meerut, Uttar Prade…

RT (2019-12-29). Elon Musk gets an EARFUL after suggesting only 'SUBWAY STALINISTS' oppose creation of underground highways. rt.com Elon Musk has been bombarded with internet hate after claiming that a not-very-scientific poll shows that only a small minority are against the construction of subterranean roads. | The Tesla and SpaceX CEO conducted a survey on Twitter in which he asked his followers if they liked the idea of "super safe, Earthquake-proof tunnels under cities to solve traffic." After an overwhelming majority of e-voters responded "definitely," Musk triumphantly declared: "As expected, 69% want car tunnels! Stop whining, subway Stalinists, the people have spoken." | As expected, 69% want car tunnels! Stop whining, subway Stali…

yenisafak (2019-12-29). UN-recognized Libyan leader denies presence of Syrians. yenisafak.com Libya's UN-recognized Government of National Accord (GNA) on Sunday hit back at social media allegations on the presence of "Syrian elements" in the military headquarters in the capital.According to a statement by Prime Minister Fayez Al-Sarraj's office, the reports — issued by social media accounts affiliated with warlord Khalifa Haftar, commanding eastern forces opposing the GNA — suggesting a Syrian presence in the capital Tripoli do not reflect the truth.The statement said such baseless reports are nothing but smear campaigns targeting the UN-recognized government of the war-weary country.Since the ouster a…

yenisafak (2019-12-29). Turkey to evacuate wounded after deadly Mogadishu blast. yenisafak.com A Turkish military cargo plane landed in the Somali capital on Sunday to evacuate people badly wounded in a devastating truck bombing in the city a day earlier that killed at least 90 people including two Turkish nationals.The plane also brought emergency medical staff and supplies, according to a tweet from the Turkish embassy, adding these had been transferred to a Turkish-run hospital in Mogadishu.Somali Information Minister Mohamed Abdi Hayir Mareye told state media that 10 badly injured Somalis would be evacuated to Turkey. He added that Turkey had sent 24 doctors to treat those wounded who would not be evac…

yenisafak (2019-12-29). Dutch anti-Islam lawmaker ends Mohammad cartoon contest within hours. yenisafak.com Dutch anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders said on Sunday he had ended a contest for cartoons caricaturing the Prophet Mohammad, only hours after announcing the contentious event.In a tweet posted on Sunday morning, Wilders said international attention on the contest had enabled him to make a point about the importance of freedom of speech."Mission accomplished. End of contest", he wrote above a picture of what he said was the winning drawing, depicting an angry-looking man with a beard.Images of the Prophet Mohammad are traditionally forbidden in Islam as idolatrous. Caricatures are regarded by most Muslims as high…

RT (2019-12-29). 5 Hasidic Jews stabbed in machete attack on rabbi's house & synagogue during Hanukkah celebrations in Monsey, NY (VIDEOS). rt.com At least five people have suffered multiple stabbing and slashing injuries following a gruesome machete attack during Hanukkah celebrations at a rabbi's home next to a synagogue in Monsey, New York. | The perpetrator, allegedly a black male, broke into the house of Rabbi Rottenberg Shul around 9: 50pm local time, armed with a machete and began slashing and stabbing people, chasing the victims as they tried to flee the bloody chaos. | pic.twitter.com/wQhWp9SrdA— Motti Seligson (@mottiseligson) December 29, 2019

Verónica Dávila (2019-12-28). "Un Violador En Tu Camino" and the Virality of Feminist Protest. zcomm.org How does a song about the ubiquity of sexual and gendered violence perpetrated by the state against women become an earworm?

Alan Macleod (2019-12-27). Wikileaks Still Holding Powerful to Account as Founder Julian Assange "Slowly Dies" in Prison. mintpressnews.com Julian Assange is dying inside Belmarsh Prison in London. Those are his own words, relayed through English journalist Vaughan Smith, who revealed that the Wikileaks founder called him on Christmas Eve to share his greetings. Smith also divulged that Assange told him he is kept in solitary confinement 23 hours per day and is often sedated. | His treatment has elicited protests around the world, from journalists, news organizations, human rights groups and celebrities. Last week a group of Australian doctors asked Foreign Minister Marise Pay…

teleSUR (2019-12-27). Cuba: "We Condemn the Aggression of the Mexican Embassy" telesurenglish.net The president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, condemned the aggression to the Mexican embassy in Bolivia and reiterated his support for the Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador Government. | RELATED: | Mexico Reiterates Demand that Bolivia End Siege on Embassy | Díaz-Canel shared in his official Twitter account an article from the Cuban press that stated that the "police operation before the Mexican embassy in Bolivia 'is out of proportion." | The Aztec nation has denounced the siege of its di…

Miri Wood (2019-12-27). Trump Threatens Syria: Will POTUS Come to the Rescue of Al-Qaeda Terrorists in Idlib? globalresearch.ca Trump wished the Syrian Arab Republic a belated Merry Christmas by tweeting yet another threat, warning the Syrian Armed Forces not to liberate Idlib from the approximately 10,000 al Qaeda terrorists who have occupied this area of the country, since …

teleSUR (2019-12-27). Bolivia's De Facto Regime Harasses Spanish Diplomats. telesurenglish.net Mexico's Ambassador to Bolivia Teresa Mercado reported that Bolivian security officers harassed Spanish diplomats as they were trying to enter her official residence in La Paz on Friday morning. | RELATED: | Mexico Reiterates Demand that Bolivia End Siege on Embassy | "I am with the Spanish consul and charge d'affaires at the residence. Besides having assaulted them, they stopped their car, which has diplomatic plates," the Mexican ambassador tweeted. | The diplomats were accompan…

Morgan Artyukhina (2019-12-25). Social Media and Social Control: How Silicon Valley Serves the US State Department. mintpressnews.com Facebook isn't the only Silicon Valley firm with partisan oversight of what we see: the bipartisan billionaire class and their security state have partnered with tech firms since the dawn of the internet to control the parameters of users' thinking.

RT (2019-12-24). 'Kill them with kindness': Kevin Spacey brings back Frank Underwood in puzzling Christmas message. rt.com Disgraced actor Kevin Spacey has emerged from reclusion to post a cryptic Christmas video message, in which he channels the subtle malice of 'House of Cards' politician Frank Underwood. | The video, entitled 'KTWK' and posted to Spacey's YouTube channel on Christmas Eve, resembles a similar clip published almost exactly one year ago. In the latest one, Spacey appears as a genial old man, stoking a roaring fire as Christmas stockings hang from the mantelpiece. | "You didn't really think I was going to miss the opportunity to wish you a merry Christmas, did you?" Spacey asks, turning to the camera with Underw…

Eds. (2019-12-23). Chile: TV broadcast live when two armored cars crushed citizen. mronline.org Real-time scenes evidenced once again how the Chilean state acts with rampant and absurd violence. | Source

RT (2019-12-23). 'I've got a lot of problems with you people': Rand Paul unloads on Washington in Festivus Twitter tirade. rt.com Government waste, neocon warmongers, and the ongoing impeachment circus: Senator Rand Paul is mad about a lot of things, and channeled his inner Seinfeld to air his grievances with the world. | Republican Senator Rand Paul (Kentucky) celebrates the fictional December 23 holiday of Festivus – immortalized by 'Seinfeld' in 1997 – with an annual "airing of grievances." After releasing his annual ' Festivus Report' on government overspending last week, the deficit-hawk Senator took to Twitter on Monday to air some more p…

RT (2019-12-22). 13 people shot at Chicago house party, four critical. rt.com Thirteen people have been shot at a possible house party on Chicago's south side. All have been brought to hospital, with four in critical condition. | Police responded to the gunfire at around 12.35am on Sunday morning. According to police, the victims were attending a house party held in honor of a 22-year-old man fatally shot during an attempted carjacking in April, when a fight broke out. | Chicago: @Chicago_Police are investigating a #MassShooting after 1…

RT (2019-12-21). CIA torture is 'snow secret': Edward Snowden roasts CIA's feelgood holiday tweet. rt.com Every now and again the CIA does its best to appear relatable, and every time the agency gets put back in its place. Now, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden hijacked a festive tweet to slam the CIA's torture practices. | "It's *snow secret* that we love winter," the clandestine agency tweeted on Saturday, marking the first day of winter in the US. | Snowden was acerbic in his response. "It's *snow secret* that you tortured Gul Rahman for weeks at a black site, then chained him naked to a concrete floor until he died in the near-winter cold," he tweeted. | It's *snow secret* you tortured Gul Rahman for weeks at a…

The Canary (2019-12-18). Tories spent over £950,000 on Facebook adverts in late election blitz. thecanary.co The Conservative Party spent more than any other party on Facebook and Instagram adverts in the run-up to last week's General Election, analysis by the PA news agency has found.It largely came in a spending blitz in the final two weeks of the campaign.Across their two main pages — named Conservatives and Boris Johnson — the party spent a total of £959,329 in the four weeks up to the vote.In comparison, Labour spent £552,035 on its Labour Party and Jeremy Corbyn pages between 14 November and 12 December, the fourth most of the major UK parties.The Liberal Democrats were the second biggest spe…

Candice Yanez (2019-12-16). Viral Chilean feminist anthem reveals powerful international sentiment against sexual violence. liberationnews.org The protest song was first performed for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women on November 20 in Valparaíso, Chile.

Ramzy Baroud (2019-12-02). The War on Truth: How Israel's Social Media Trolls Conquered Facebook. zcomm.org Israel may have found a way to circumvent the influence of Facebook on the discussions pertaining to Palestinian rights and the Israeli occupation…

Matt Bruenig (2019-12-01). The Usual Incoherence on Student Benefits Is Back. peoplespolicyproject.org Of all the welfare state topics, student benefits manages to consistently attract the most incoherent and weird arguments, and the recent spate of arguments on this front are no exception. In the last week, a student benefit dustup has been instigated by Pete Buttigieg ostensibly being against free public college for millionaires and billionaires while Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders are ostensibly for it. | This has set off the usual round of commentary about how Buttigieg is arguing for means-testing while Warren and Sanders are arguing f…

Matt Bruenig (2019-11-17). CAP's Topher Spiro Is Trying to Deceive Journalists By Lying. peoplespolicyproject.org It's been fun to see how the Center for American Progress (CAP) navigates this year's presidential election. For insider political reasons, they can't support Biden or Sanders. But for a long time, it was unclear who the alternative candidate they could support would be. | When Kamala Harris was rising, CAP's staff was doing overtime boosting her on Twitter and in the press, including boosting Harris's absurd health care proposal. But Harris's collapse put an end to that strategy. Recently Warren has risen as the alternative and so CAP has been working to promote her campaign, which puts CAP in the comical positi…