2020-02-13: News Headlines

RT (2020-02-13). 'What are you waiting for?' Indian court tells Twitter to apologize or face fine for identifying Hyderabad rape victim. rt.com Twitter will be slapped with a fine if it fails to respond to an inquiry into its revealing the identity of the victim in a shocking Hyderabad rape case, the Delhi High Court said, urging the microblogging site to repent. | The court said Wednesday that unless Twitter formally responds to a public interest complaint within the next four weeks, it will be slapped with a fine to the tune of 1 million rupees ($14,000). | The judicial bench that heard the case said it is now waiting for written assurances from the social media giant that it would not make the same blunder again. | File an affidavit stating that yo…

RT (2020-02-13). 'Worst idea ever!' Plans for Greta mural on North Dakota bakery scrapped after community outcry & boycott threats on social media. rt.com A planned mural featuring teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg in North Dakota has been tossed to the wind after news of the project stoked outrage among locals, who flooded social media with protests and threats to boycott. | The 7-foot mural was slated to be posted on an exterior wall of the Brick Oven Bakery in the city of Bismarck, however when local media outlet KFYR-TV brought the story to its Facebook page on Tuesday night, residents were immediately up in arms, with the

RT (2020-02-13). China deploys 2,600 military medics to help fight coronavirus as Wuhan & Hubei party chiefs sacked. rt.com Hundreds of military medics will descend on coronavirus-stricken Wuhan to help tackle the epidemic as the number of confirmed cases worldwide surpasses 60,000, with the death toll leaping over 1,300. | The first installment of 1,400 military medical personnel touched down in the city in central China worst affected by the ongoing viral epidemic on Thursday, the Chinese Defense Ministry reported. | The medics represent several branches of the Chinese armed forces, including the Navy, Air Force, armed police, logistic and strategic support forces, and even the Rocket Force. | The current reinforcements are not t…

Andrea B. (2020-02-13). Wake Zuck Up at His House on President's Day! Facebook Protest. indybay.org Gather at | 21st Street and Fair Oaks | 3450 21st Street | San Francisco, CA…

d. kattler (2020-02-13). Tell Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook "Truth Matters" in Palo Alto. indybay.org Overpass in Palo Alto at Oregon Expressway/Embarcadero Road…

sputniknews (2020-02-13). Moscow Court Fines Twitter, Facebook for Failing to Move Servers With User Data to Russia. sputniknews.com In 2015, Russia's personal data law, requiring Internet companies to store the data of their customers who are Russian nationals exclusively on servers located within the country, came into force.

yenisafak (2020-02-13). Food prices surge amid worsening crisis in Yemen. yenisafak.com Food prices have significantly risen in conflict-ridden Yemen over the past few weeks, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has said."There has been another sharp increase in the price of food and other essential goods in Yemen," WFP Yemen said in a statement on Twitter Wednesday. "Prices are becoming increasingly inaccessible for millions."It attributed the food inflation to the devaluation of the local currency."The value of the Yemeni riyal has dropped 15 percent in the south and about 7 percent in the north in the last 5 weeks," it said. "This made life even harder for many families in Yemen, particula…

RT (2020-02-12). 'Dirty streets and human waste?' Twitter not buying survey claiming San Francisco is 'healthiest' US city. rt.com A new report names San Francisco, California the healthiest city in the United States, but the public seems skeptical, considering the endless coverage of the city's homeless crisis and unsanitary streets. | Though WalletHub is typically used to check credit scores, it turned its attention recently to grading cities in the United States based on how 'healthy' they are. According to their experts and number crunching, San Francisco This has come a…

RT (2020-02-12). Former Goldman Sachs CEO says Sanders presidency would 'ruin our economy,' gets blasted on Twitter. rt.com An ex-CEO of Goldman Sachs who helped cause the 2008 financial crisis has claimed Bernie Sanders would ruin the economy and "screw up the US" if elected president, prompting Twitter to remind him of the Great Recession. | Billionaire Lloyd Blankfein tweeted on Wednesday that Sanders is "just as polarizing as Trump AND he'll ruin [the American] economy and doesn't care about [the American] military," before adding: "If I'm Russian, I go with Sanders this time around." | If Dems go on to nominate Sanders, the Russians will have to reconsider who to work for to best screw up the US. Sanders is just as polarizing…

RT (2020-02-12). 'Drone dome': Israel unveils LASER weapon blasting UAVs out of the sky (VIDEO). rt.com Israeli aerospace company Rafael has released a video showing its newly-developed defense system — an UAV interceptor called the Drone Dome — literally shooting drones down with a powerful laser beam. | The footage published on YouTube shows the system, mounted on a car, shooting down quadcopters somewhere in a desert in Israel. The video demonstrates the interceptor blasting a small drone that's vigorously maneuvering mid-air and successfully shooting down several unmanned aerial vehicle flying in a formation. | Rafael boasted that its new product provides "effective detection, full identificat…

RT (2020-02-12). What about stopping endless wars? Trump urges GOP to vote down Iran war resolution because it's a partisan ploy by Democrats. rt.com US President Donald Trump says the resolution that would block him from using force against Iran is a partisan trick by Democrats, even though he campaigned on a peace platform and some of his closest allies support the proposal. | "We are doing very well with Iran and this is not the time to show weakness," Trump tweeted on Wednesday, adding that Tehran would "have a field day" if his hands were tied. | "The Democrats are only doing this as an attempt to embarrass the Republican Party. Don't let it happen!" he urged the GOP majority. ….If my hands were tied, Iran would have a field day. Sends a very bad s…

William Hartung (2020-02-12). Will Trump Ride Pentagon Spending to Reelection? counterpunch.org Donald Trump likes to posture as a tough guy and part of that tough-guy persona involves bragging about how much he's spent on the U.S. military. This tendency was on full display in a tweet he posted three days after an American drone killed Iranian Major General Qassem Suleimani in Baghdad: "The United States just

Staff (2020-02-12). Meet the Journalist Who Exposed Bloomberg's Racist Defense of "Stop-and-Frisk" truthout.org "#BloombergIsRacist." That's the hashtag that's trending on Twitter since audio of remarks made by 2020 Democratic presidential hopeful and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg surfaced earlier this week. In the clip from the 2015 Aspen Institute, Bloomberg is heard defending the New York City Police Department's controversial "stop-and-frisk" policies, saying, "Ninety-five percent of your murders and murderers and murdered victims fit one MO. You can just take the description, xerox it a…

teleSUR (2020-02-12). US: Trump Slashes Scheduled Pay Raise for Federal Workers. telesurenglish.net United States President Donald Trump slashed Monday a scheduled pay raise for millions of federal workers from 2.5 to one percent citing a "national emergency or serious economic conditions," despite on Feb. 11 tweeting that the country has the best economy in history. | RELATED: | "I have determined that for 2021 the across-the-board base pay increase will be limited to one percent," Trump said in a message to C…

Staff (2020-02-12). William Barr Is Turning the Justice Department Into Trump's Protection Racket. truthout.org The exit polls in the New Hampshire Democratic primary on Tuesday said 81% of voters were motivated to vote because of anger at President Donald Trump. Part of the reason for that is likely because of the ongoing authoritarian power grab he was staging even as they cast their ballots. | The president had tweeted out his orders in the wee hours of Tuesday morning. | By the end of the day, the Department of Justice had rescinded that sentencing recommendation and all four of the prosecutors on…

RT (2020-02-12). 'Too polite'? Bette Midler says Dems must 'toughen up' in wake of car attack on GOP volunteers. rt.com One of President Donald Trump's most vocal critics, actress and musician Bette Midler, thinks Democrats need to "toughen up" in their fight against the GOP, even after a Florida man was jailed for physically attacking Republicans. | During one of her anti-Trump tirades on Tuesday night — calling him a "fascist" and "dictator" this time — Midler lashed out at her own party as well. | "Democrats haven't learned a goddamned thing," she tweeted, shaming the party for being "too polite" and urging them to "toughen up" when taking on conservatives. "They play dirty," she said of Republicans, before addin…

RT (2020-02-11). 'Too perfect': Iowa Dem Party sign falls off podium as chair struggles to explain caucus flop, Twitter sees a metaphor. rt.com An Iowa Democratic Party sign fell to the floor as the party chairman tried to account for a disastrous caucus plagued by tech failures and bad math, creating what many netizens dubbed a perfect allegory for the botched primary. | As state party chair Troy Price fielded questions on Monday about "rounding errors" found in Iowa's Democratic primary results — which placed 2020 hopeful Pete Buttigieg ahead of Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders by a margin of 0.1 percent — a party banner gave way mid-sentence, interrupting the chair as it awkwardly crashed on the ground. | Now we take you live to the Iowa De…

RT (2020-02-11). Trump rally REPEATEDLY breaks out in '46! 46!' chant as Don Jr. comes on stage & #Resistance freaks out. rt.com A crowd at a campaign rally for US President Donald Trump in New Hampshire greeted his son, Don Jr., with a loud "46!" as he made his way on stage. The display has sparked quite a ruction on social media. | The eldest son of the 45th US president was treated to an especially warm welcome in Manchester, New Hampshire, where his dad held a rally on Monday. Warming up the crowd ahead of VP Mike Pence andTrump the Senior's entree, Don Jr. appeared to strike a chord with those gathered, prompting them to chant "46…46!" | (Don Jr. was actually about to introduce…Mike Pence when the "46" chant broke out)— I…

RT (2020-02-11). 'Sounds legit': Michael Douglas says his father Kirk's last words endorsed Bloomberg. rt.com Michael Douglas has told a crowd at a campaign event that one of the last statements from his father Kirk was an endorsement of presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg and people are left scratching their heads. | After passing away at the age of 103, messages of love and support for 'Spartacus' star Kirk Douglas flooded social media. The Hollywood legend left an unrivaled mark on the film industry, but it appears he also left behind an odd political endorsement which his son is now touting. | At the opening of a Bloomberg campaign office in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, 75-year-old Michael Douglas claimed one of th…

Whitney Webb (2020-02-11). Buttigieg Campaign Aggressively Targeting Progressive Activists, Media. mintpressnews.com Between efforts to censor information critical of Buttigieg on social media and harass independent media outlets and their reporters at his rallies, it appears that a concerted effort is underway to control the narrative around the DNC primaries…

RT (2020-02-11). Dem primary chaos: Millionaire actress roasted for stopping crowd from booing Hillary & whining about living on 'crumbs'. rt.com Former 'Sex and the City' actress Cynthia Nixon campaigned for Bernie Sanders in New Hampshire, but found herself the target of Twitter mockery for fighting off Hillary Clinton boos and complaining about living on "crumbs." | Sanders has been leaning heavily on celebrity endorsements as the race for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination heats up, from 'Dances with Wolves' star Kevin Costner to rock band The Strokes. | Nixon was one of the stars making the case for the Vermont senator in New Hampshire ahead of the state's primary on Tuesday — but her speech went viral for all the wrong reasons. T…