Daily Archives: December 27, 2019

2019-12-27: News Headlines

RT (2019-12-27). India shows the door to German student & Norwegian tourist who joined protests against citizenship law. rt.com Two Europeans were sent packing by India this week after they took up placards and joined the crowds protesting the new Citizenship Amendment Act. | Janne Mette-Johannson, a 74 year-old Norwegian citizen who arrived in India on a tourist visa in October, was asked by the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) on Friday to leave the country, she reported on her Facebook page. The Indian authorities say her tourist visa does not allow her to take part in organized protests, so she was in violation when she took part on Monday. | "Now pretty soon on my way to the airport. A friend fixing a flight ticket t…

RT (2019-12-27). WATCH 1st VIDEOS from passenger jet crash site in Almaty, Kazakhstan. rt.com 12 people have been killed after a Bek Air passenger jet en route to the capital, Nur-Sultan with up to 100 people on board crashed on take-off in Almaty. | Rescuers and emergency personnel were seen working at the scene of the crash amid the wreckage of the aircraft and rubble of a brick house in multiple photos and videos shared on social media. | The plane crashed shortly after taking off and smashed into a two-story building. Rescue workers and medics are at the scene of the tragedy searching the rubble. The local rescue service confirmed that there was nobody inside the building as it was under cons…

RT (2019-12-27). 5.1 quake strikes 50km off Iran's Bushehr nuclear power plant — USGS. rt.com A magnitude 5.1 earthquake rocked Iran's southern coast, centered just 53 kilometers east of Bushehr nuclear plant, the US Geological Survey reports. | The relatively shallow quake, which could potentially cause considerable damage, struck around 5: 23am local time. There were no immediate reports of casualties. | Felt #earthquake ( #ÿ≤ŸÑÿ≤ŸÑŸá) M5.1 strikes 58 km E of Bandar B&a…

RT (2019-12-27). Israeli PM Netanyahu wins Likud party vote in boost ahead of new general election. rt.com Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu easily won a vote to keep the Likud party helm, the party said on Friday. The result is seen as a boost ahead of what is likely to be a hard-fought general election in March, Reuters said. | Netanyahu received 72.5 percent of the votes in Thursday's party ballot, against 27.5 percent for challenger Gideon Saar. Netanyahu's rival conceded defeat, tweeting that he would now back the incumbent "for the sake of a Likud victory" in the general election. | The challenge by Saar, a former education and interior minister, added to pressures that have mounted this year on the f…

teleSUR (2019-12-26). Trump Warns Syria, Russia, Iran Over Idlib Campaign. telesurenglish.net U.S. President Donald Trump took a shot at the governments of Syria, Iran, and Russia on Thursday, warning them against renewing their assault on the Idlib province. | RELATED: | Syria: Trump Administration Builds Military Base in Oil Field | Trump, who praised Turkey in the tweet, was relatively silent during Ankara's "Operation Peace Spring" in northeastern Syria, despite the fact it displaced thousands and killed and wounded many civilians. | "Russia, Syria, and Iran are kill…

The New Arab (2019-12-26). 'Blinding the Truth': Israeli Snipers Target Gaza Protesters in the Eyes. globalresearch.ca Media coverage and social media posts went wild when Palestinian photojournalist Muath Amarneh was blinded in his left eye after he was hit by a rubber bullet while covering a protest in the West Bank. | However, Amarneh was far from …

teleSUR (2019-12-26). Colombian Attorney Asks to Stop Murder of Social Leaders. telesurenglish.net The Colombian attorney general, Fernando Carrillo, urged the government of Colombia led by Iván Duque to stop the systematic murder of social leaders in that country. | RELATED: | Colombia: Farmers Leader Shot to Deat in Front of His Family | The official urged the Government, through his Twitter account, to convene the National Security Guarantees Commission "immediately and ensure its operation." | He added that the threat against social leaders in Colombia "is latent and must…

Cyntoia Brown-Long (2019-12-26). I Was Jailed for my Trafficker's Death. I'm Free Now—But Other Women Languish. commondreams.org For every injustice we see in the criminal-justice system, there is a law, practice or policy that allowed it to happen. (Photo: @CBSNews/Twitter) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/cyntoia.jpg

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.

teleSUR (2019-12-25). Michael Moore: Sanders Can Beat Trump in 2020. telesurenglish.net The American documentary filmmaker and activist Michael Moore, a frequent critic of President Trump, said Tuesday that he believes Senator and Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders could defeat the president in the 2020 election. | RELATED: | US: AOC Endorses Sanders at 'Bernie's Back' Rally in Queens, NY | During an interview with the MSNBC television network, the renowned documentary filmmaker said this could happen because of t…

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…

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…

2019-12-27: Social Media Postees

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

India shows the door to German student & Norwegian tourist who joined protests against citizenship law
rt.com | 2019-12-27
Two Europeans were sent packing by India this week after they took up placards and joined the crowds protesting the new Citizenship Amendment Act. | Janne Mette-Johannson, a 74 year-old Norwegian citizen who arrived in India on a tourist visa in October, was asked by the Foreigners Regional Registration Office (FRRO) on Friday to leave the country, she reported on her Facebook page. The Indian authorities say her tourist visa does not allow her to take part in organized protests, so she was in violation when she took part on Monday. | "Now pretty soon on my way to the airport. A friend fixing a flight ticket t…
rt.com/news/476933-india-expells-european-protesters/

WATCH 1st VIDEOS from passenger jet crash site in Almaty, Kazakhstan
rt.com | 2019-12-27
12 people have been killed after a Bek Air passenger jet en route to the capital, Nur-Sultan with up to 100 people on board crashed on take-off in Almaty. | Rescuers and emergency personnel were seen working at the scene of the crash amid the wreckage of the aircraft and rubble of a brick house in multiple photos and videos shared on social media. | | The plane crashed shortly after taking off and smashed into a two-story building. Rescue workers and medics are at the scene of the tragedy searching the rubble. The local rescue service confirmed that there was nobody inside the building as it was under cons…
rt.com/news/476907-kazakhstan-plane-crash-video/

Israeli PM Netanyahu wins Likud party vote in boost ahead of new general election
rt.com | 2019-12-27
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu easily won a vote to keep the Likud party helm, the party said on Friday. The result is seen as a boost ahead of what is likely to be a hard-fought general election in March, Reuters said. | Netanyahu received 72.5 percent of the votes in Thursday's party ballot, against 27.5 percent for challenger Gideon Saar. Netanyahu's rival conceded defeat, tweeting that he would now back the incumbent "for the sake of a Likud victory" in the general election. | The challenge by Saar, a former education and interior minister, added to pressures that have mounted this year on the f…
rt.com/newsline/476932-israel-netanyahu-likud-leadership/

Trump Warns Syria, Russia, Iran Over Idlib Campaign
telesurenglish.net | 2019-12-26
U.S. President Donald Trump took a shot at the governments of Syria, Iran, and Russia on Thursday, warning them against renewing their assault on the Idlib province. | RELATED: | Syria: Trump Administration Builds Military Base in Oil Field | Trump, who praised Turkey in the tweet, was relatively silent during Ankara's "Operation Peace Spring" in northeastern Syria, despite the fact it displaced thousands and killed and wounded many civilians. | "Russia, Syria, and Iran are kill…
telesurenglish.net/news/Trump-Warns-Syria-Russia-Iran-Over-Idlib-Campaign-20191226-0009.html

'Blinding the Truth': Israeli Snipers Target Gaza Protesters in the Eyes
The New Arab | globalresearch.ca | 2019-12-26
Media coverage and social media posts went wild when Palestinian photojournalist Muath Amarneh was blinded in his left eye after he was hit by a rubber bullet while covering a protest in the West Bank. | However, Amarneh was far from …
globalresearch.ca/blinding-truth-israeli-snipers-target-gaza-protesters-eyes/5698746

Colombian Attorney Asks to Stop Murder of Social Leaders
telesurenglish.net | 2019-12-26
The Colombian attorney general, Fernando Carrillo, urged the government of Colombia led by Iván Duque to stop the systematic murder of social leaders in that country. | RELATED: | Colombia: Farmers Leader Shot to Deat in Front of His Family | The official urged the Government, through his Twitter account, to convene the National Security Guarantees Commission "immediately and ensure its operation." | He added that the threat against social leaders in Colombia "is latent and must…
telesurenglish.net/news/colombian-attorney-asks-to-stop-murder-of-social-leaders-20191226-0010.html

I Was Jailed for my Trafficker's Death. I'm Free Now—But Other Women Languish
Cyntoia Brown-Long | commondreams.org | 2019-12-26
For every injustice we see in the criminal-justice system, there is a law, practice or policy that allowed it to happen. (Photo: @CBSNews/Twitter) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/cyntoia.jpg
commondreams.org/views/2019/12/26/i-was-jailed-my-traffickers-death-im-free-now-other-women-languish?cd-origin=rss

Social Media and Social Control: How Silicon Valley Serves the US State Department
Morgan Artyukhina | mintpressnews.com | 2019-12-25
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.
mintpressnews.com/social-media-control-how-silicon-valley-serves-us-state-department/263267/

'Kill them with kindness': Kevin Spacey brings back Frank Underwood in puzzling Christmas message
rt.com | 2019-12-24
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…
rt.com/usa/476779-kevin-spacey-underwood-christmas/

'Surveillance Valley' author Yasha Levine's Twitter frozen after post objecting to US pushing for war with Russia in Ukraine
rt.com | 2019-12-23
Yasha Levine, a journalist who exposed the US government surveillance origins of the internet and its symbiotic relationship with Big Tech, was locked out of Twitter after criticizing Washington's Ukraine policy with clear satire. | "We gotta kill Russians in Ukraine or they'll come and kill us here!" Levine tweeted on Saturday, mocking what he described as the US' policy of using Ukraine as a "forward operating base" — a policy expressed in only slightly more euphemistic terms during the impeachment hearings earlier this month. The journalist even included a link to an article he'd written excoriating th…
rt.com/usa/476687-yasha-levine-twitter-censored-ukraine/

'I've got a lot of problems with you people': Rand Paul unloads on Washington in Festivus Twitter tirade
rt.com | 2019-12-23
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.com/usa/476693-rand-paul-festivus-grievances/

CIA torture is 'snow secret': Edward Snowden roasts CIA's feelgood holiday tweet
rt.com | 2019-12-21
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…
rt.com/usa/476580-cia-snowden-snow-secret/

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/

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/