Daily Archives: December 20, 2019

2019-12-20: News Headlines

Staff (2019-12-20). Boeing Capsule Launches to Wrong Orbit, Skips Space Station. truthdig.com CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Boeing's new Starliner capsule ended up in the wrong orbit after lifting off on its first test flight Friday, a blow to the company's effort to launch astronauts for NASA next year. | As the company scrambled to understand what happened, NASA canceled the Starliner's docking with the International Space Station, instead focusing on a hastier than planned return to Earth. The Starliner could parachute into its landing site in the New Mexico desert as early as Sunday. | Officials stressed the capsule was stable and safe, and that had astronauts been aboard, they would have been in no da…

Staff (2019-12-20). Fiery Disagreements Erupt at Sixth Democratic Debate. truthout.org At the sixth Democratic primary debate, a smaller field displayed greater distinctions and fiery disagreements. The PBS/Politico debate at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California, opened with questions echoing GOP talking points, such as claims about the alleged economic harm of wealth taxes (which Warren rebuffed well) but eventually ventured into real substance with challenging questions about Guantánamo Bay, Israel and Pal…

RT (2019-12-20). Trump raises 'smocking' age to 21 & slams nonexistent 'ET' mag, creating thousands of proofreaders in one stroke. rt.com US President Donald Trump has excoriated Christianity Today magazine for demanding his dismissal, referring to it as "ET" in his rage. Then he bragged about raising the "smocking" age, further triggering his new editors. | Trump warned his supporters that the magazine Christianity Today, which published an editorial calling for him to leave office on religious grounds earlier this week, had degenerated into a "far left magazine" in a tweet on Friday. The periodical "would rather have a Radical Left nonbeliever, who wants to take your religion & your guns, than Donald Trump as your President," he fumed. ….h…

RT (2019-12-20). Starliner blues: NASA blames 'timing error' for Boeing spaceship missing mark in orbit. rt.com The test flight of Boeing's Starliner to the International Space Station was supposed to be a major step in the triumphant US return to crewed orbital spaceflight. Then something went wrong. | The CST-100 Starliner lifted off atop an updated Atlas V booster rocket on Friday morning, from Cape Canaveral in Florida. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and executives from Boeing and the United Launch Alliance (ULA) were in attendance. | @NASAKennedy, we're now looking forward to the arrival of @BoeingSpace's RT (2019-12-20). 'Biden impersonating child's stutter' fails to join long list of gaffes, as Huckabee Sanders bears brunt of online rage (VIDEO). rt.com Near the end of Thursday's Democratic debate, frontrunner Joe Biden impersonated a child's stutter while speaking about people he meets on the campaign, in a move initially seen as a gaffe by some. | Rather than the heartfelt moment he had perhaps intended, the mimicry seemingly missed the mark at first and confused both the audience and the online commentariat, rather than winning them over. | What is going on with Joe B…

yenisafak (2019-12-20). Twitter removes nearly 6,000 Saudi-backed accounts for platform manipulation. yenisafak.com Twitter Inc said on Friday it has removed nearly 6,000 accounts for being part of a state-backed information operation originating in Saudi Arabia.The accounts were amplifying messages favourable to Saudi authorities, mainly through aggressive liking, retweeting and replying, Twitter said. (bit.ly/2MeCSgd)…

yenisafak (2019-12-20). Turkey to unveil 1st homegrown car prototype next week. yenisafak.com Turkey will unveil the prototype of its first indigenous car on Dec. 27, the nation's president said on Friday.Erdogan's remarks came in Malaysia where he attended Kuala Lumpur summit of Muslim world leaders this week.The car publicity will be held in Gebze, a district of northwestern Kocaeli province, Erdogan told reporters.Just after Erdogan's comments, Turkey's Technology Minister Mustafa Varank shared two photographs on Twitter, showing two vehicles blanketed with covers, and bearing the logo of Turkey's Automobile Initiative Group (TOGG).In one photo, Varank poses in front of the vehicles alone, while in the…

yenisafak (2019-12-20). Beaten, electrocuted and institutionalized: Uyghur woman's tale turns into viral manga. yenisafak.com Her husband has been jailed for more than 16 years and one of her young children succumbed to death following detainment, both at the hands of the Chinese government; what follows is the heart wrenching story of one Uyghur woman has become a viral manga."What has happened to me — A testimony of a Uyghur woman" tells the tale of Mihrigul Tursun, a 29-year-old Uyghur, just one of the thousands who have been persecuted by China and its medieval methods of torture used against the Muslim minority.Little did Tursun know that her story, which was adapted into a manga, or Japanese comic book, by Tomomi Shimizu, wo…

Andrea Germanos, staff writer (2019-12-20). Trump Lashes Out at Evangelical Magazine After It Calls for His Ouster. commondreams.org The editorial in Christianity Today called Trump's Twitter feed "a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/trump-removal-christianity-today.jpg

RT (2019-12-19). Trump taunts 'do-nothing' Democrats for stalling on sending impeachment articles to Senate. rt.com President Donald Trump slammed the "do-nothing" Democrats after party leaders said they would delay sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate until they could guarantee a "fair trial" in the Republican-controlled chamber. | "Now the Do Nothing Party want to Do Nothing with the Articles & not deliver them to the Senate," Trump tweeted a day after being impeached by the House of Representatives for "abuse of power" and "obstruction of Congress." | I got Impeached last night without one Republican vote being cast with the Do Nothing Dems on their continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in American histor…

RT (2019-12-19). Tulsi Gabbard votes 'present' on both impeachment articles, stoking liberal ire on Twitter. rt.com Hawaii Democrat Tulsi Gabbard broke ranks with her party and voted "present" on two articles of impeachment, slamming the process as "partisan." The vote drew swift condemnation from Twitter's more progressive quarters. | Voting "present" instead of "yes" or "no" in Wednesday's full House vote for two impeachment articles passed in committee last week, Gabbard became one of only a tiny minority of Democrats to swim against the current in her own party. | "I could not in good conscience vote for impeachment because removal of a sitting President must not be the culmination of a partisan process, fueled by triba…

Alan Macleod (2019-12-18). BBC Director-General Calls for Media Critics to Be Purged From Social Media. mintpressnews.com The BBC has responded to criticism over its coverage of the UK's general election by calling for their online critics to be banned from social media.

Alan Macleod (2019-12-18). Whistleblower Chelsea Manning Spends Her Birthday Imprisoned. mintpressnews.com Military whistleblower Chelsea Manning spent her 32nd birthday behind bars yesterday for continuing to refuse to testify against Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange. She has been in prison since May after a U.S. District Judge ordered her incarceration for not recognizing the legitimacy of the grand jury. She tweeted that she was grateful for t…

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…

RT (2019-12-18). 1 killed in mass stabbing in Oregon shopping center, suspect detained. rt.com Several people have been stabbed at the Murray Hill shopping center in Beaverton, Oregon, according to police, who have detained a suspect. One person has been killed. | The incident took place at a Wells Fargo bank within the shopping center on Wednesday. Police report there are multiple victims in addition to the death, but that the suspect is in custody and no longer a danger to the community. | Multiple stabbing victims at the Murray Hill shopping center at SW Murray Blvd / SW Teal Ave. Washington County…

Joe Emersberger (2019-12-17). Reuters Shields OAS Over False Claims That Sparked Bolivia Coup. fair.org Reuters ( 12/4/19) highlights the findings of the Organization of American States—while omitting the criticism of those findings. | Organization of American States (OAS) election monitors published a "final report" on December 4— 22 days later than promised—on Bolivia's October 20 presidential election, won by President Evo Morales. The tardy release of the fin…

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…

2019-12-20: Social Media Postees

Please be social by posting these 'POSTEES' on social media!

Trump raises 'smocking' age to 21 & slams nonexistent 'ET' mag, creating thousands of proofreaders in one stroke
rt.com | 2019-12-20
US President Donald Trump has excoriated Christianity Today magazine for demanding his dismissal, referring to it as "ET" in his rage. Then he bragged about raising the "smocking" age, further triggering his new editors. | Trump warned his supporters that the magazine Christianity Today, which published an editorial calling for him to leave office on religious grounds earlier this week, had degenerated into a "far left magazine" in a tweet on Friday. The periodical "would rather have a Radical Left nonbeliever, who wants to take your religion & your guns, than Donald Trump as your President," he fumed. | ….h…
rt.com/usa/476515-trump-christian-mag-smocking-typos/

Twitter removes nearly 6,000 Saudi-backed accounts for platform manipulation
yenisafak.com | 2019-12-20
Twitter Inc said on Friday it has removed nearly 6,000 accounts for being part of a state-backed information operation originating in Saudi Arabia.The accounts were amplifying messages favourable to Saudi authorities, mainly through aggressive liking, retweeting and replying, Twitter said. (bit.ly/2MeCSgd)…
yenisafak.com/en/world/twitter-removes-nearly-6000-saudi-backed-accounts-for-platform-manipulation-3507923

Turkey to unveil 1st homegrown car prototype next week
yenisafak.com | 2019-12-20
Turkey will unveil the prototype of its first indigenous car on Dec. 27, the nation's president said on Friday.Erdogan's remarks came in Malaysia where he attended Kuala Lumpur summit of Muslim world leaders this week.The car publicity will be held in Gebze, a district of northwestern Kocaeli province, Erdogan told reporters.Just after Erdogan's comments, Turkey's Technology Minister Mustafa Varank shared two photographs on Twitter, showing two vehicles blanketed with covers, and bearing the logo of Turkey's Automobile Initiative Group (TOGG).In one photo, Varank poses in front of the vehicles alone, while in the…
yenisafak.com/en/news/turkey-to-unveil-1st-homegrown-car-prototype-next-week-3507930

Beaten, electrocuted and institutionalized: Uyghur woman's tale turns into viral manga
yenisafak.com | 2019-12-20
Her husband has been jailed for more than 16 years and one of her young children succumbed to death following detainment, both at the hands of the Chinese government; what follows is the heart wrenching story of one Uyghur woman has become a viral manga."What has happened to me — A testimony of a Uyghur woman" tells the tale of Mihrigul Tursun, a 29-year-old Uyghur, just one of the thousands who have been persecuted by China and its medieval methods of torture used against the Muslim minority.Little did Tursun know that her story, which was adapted into a manga, or Japanese comic book, by Tomomi Shimizu, wo…
yenisafak.com/en/world/beaten-electrocuted-and-institutionalized-uyghur-womans-tale-turns-into-viral-manga-3507919

Trump Lashes Out at Evangelical Magazine After It Calls for His Ouster
Andrea Germanos, staff writer | commondreams.org | 2019-12-20
The editorial in Christianity Today called Trump's Twitter feed "a near perfect example of a human being who is morally lost and confused." | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/trump-removal-christianity-today.jpg
commondreams.org/news/2019/12/20/trump-lashes-out-evangelical-magazine-after-it-calls-his-ouster?cd-origin=rss

Tulsi Gabbard votes 'present' on both impeachment articles, stoking liberal ire on Twitter
rt.com | 2019-12-19
Hawaii Democrat Tulsi Gabbard broke ranks with her party and voted "present" on two articles of impeachment, slamming the process as "partisan." The vote drew swift condemnation from Twitter's more progressive quarters. | Voting "present" instead of "yes" or "no" in Wednesday's full House vote for two impeachment articles passed in committee last week, Gabbard became one of only a tiny minority of Democrats to swim against the current in her own party. | "I could not in good conscience vote for impeachment because removal of a sitting President must not be the culmination of a partisan process, fueled by triba…
rt.com/usa/476241-tulsi-votes-present-impeachment/

Trump taunts 'do-nothing' Democrats for stalling on sending impeachment articles to Senate
rt.com | 2019-12-19
President Donald Trump slammed the "do-nothing" Democrats after party leaders said they would delay sending the articles of impeachment to the Senate until they could guarantee a "fair trial" in the Republican-controlled chamber. | "Now the Do Nothing Party want to Do Nothing with the Articles & not deliver them to the Senate," Trump tweeted a day after being impeached by the House of Representatives for "abuse of power" and "obstruction of Congress." | I got Impeached last night without one Republican vote being cast with the Do Nothing Dems on their continuation of the greatest Witch Hunt in American histor…
rt.com/usa/476418-trump-do-nothing-democrats/

Tories spent over £950,000 on Facebook adverts in late election blitz
The Canary | thecanary.co | 2019-12-18
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…
thecanary.co/uk/news/2019/12/18/tories-spent-over-950000-on-facebook-adverts-in-late-election-blitz/

Whistleblower Chelsea Manning Spends Her Birthday Imprisoned
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2019-12-18
Military whistleblower Chelsea Manning spent her 32nd birthday behind bars yesterday for continuing to refuse to testify against Wikileaks co-founder Julian Assange. She has been in prison since May after a U.S. District Judge ordered her incarceration for not recognizing the legitimacy of the grand jury. She tweeted that she was grateful for t…
mintpressnews.com/whistleblower-chelsea-manning-spends-her-birthday-imprisoned/263594/

BBC Director-General Calls for Media Critics to Be Purged From Social Media
Alan Macleod | mintpressnews.com | 2019-12-18
The BBC has responded to criticism over its coverage of the UK's general election by calling for their online critics to be banned from social media.
mintpressnews.com/bbc-calls-media-critics-banned-social-media/263588/

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

The War on Truth: How Israel's Social Media Trolls Conquered Facebook
Ramzy Baroud | zcomm.org | 2019-12-02
Israel may have found a way to circumvent the influence of Facebook on the discussions pertaining to Palestinian rights and the Israeli occupation…
zcomm.org/zmagazine/the-war-on-truth-how-israels-social-media-trolls-conquered-facebook/