2020-07-12: News Headlines

RT (2020-07-12). Gun store offers free rifle to Missouri couple seen guarding their home from BLM ers, after police confiscate theirs. rt.com Mark and Patricia McCloskey, now infamous for a video in which they're seen brandishing firearms at Black Lives Matter supporters, were offered a free AR-15 by a local gun store, after their own was confiscated by police. | "This couple did what they needed to do to protect private property, as the property was being ambushed. I've seen videos, and some of these so-called ers were carrying firearms, and they clearly broke the gate to make way on to the private property (A THREAT)," the owner of Alien Armory Tactical, in St. Charles, Missouri, posted on Facebook, asking followers to share his message so…

RT (2020-07-12). Jake Tapper says Trump would have 'saved lives' if he'd worn mask earlier, is shown 'no need for masks' clip from his own show. rt.com CNN's Jake Tapper was confronted with coverage from his own show claiming masks were "not needed" during the Covid-19 pandemic, after he tweeted Donald Trump may have saved lives if he'd worn them in public months ago. | "Some day someone will do a study on how many lives might have been saved if this happened in February or March," Tapper tweeted, reacting to the president being pictured for the first time wearing a mask. | Shaming citizens for refusing to wear masks in public — despite many states and businesses requiring them — has become commonplace on social media, but in "February or March," he…

RT (2020-07-12). Burning barricades, 'sound weapon': at Oregon courthouse continues as arrests, injuries mount. rt.com The now-nightly standoff between BLM ers and officers guarding the courthouse in downtown Portland remains intense. On Saturday, s attempted to block the area, and accused their opponents of using a 'sound weapon.' | The Hatfield Federal Courthouse in Portland, Oregon has been in the focus of s against racism and police brutality for more than 40 days, with tension escalating into violence on numerous occasions. On Saturday night, the demonstrators used benches to block streets around the courthouse and lit several small fires. | #BlackLivesMatter teleSUR (2020-07-12). Colombia: Another FARC ex-Combatant Killed in Meta. telesurenglish.net Colombia's Revolutionary Alternative Force of the Common (FARC) political party Saturday announced the murder of another ex-combatant in the municipality of La Uribe, department of Meta. | RELATED: | "We denounce another murder. Fredy Fajardo Avila was killed in La Uribe, Meta. With this comrade, 217 signatories have been murdered in the last years," the political party announced on its Twitter account. | FARC deman…

Register & Freedom or Green (2020-07-12). Unemployment Claims Still Not Paid; Picketlines Needed. indybay.org Today's check of the Twitter, twitter.com/search?q=%23EDDFailOfTheDay&src=typed_query&f=live, shows that the Unemployment office is still not paying claims dating back to March and private profit contractor Deloitte is still allowed to touch confidential information and pretend to process these basic claims when Deloitte should be fired immediately for obvious violation of its contract to pay the claims immediately.

yenisafak (2020-07-12). Libya, UN discuss reform of security sector. yenisafak.com Libya's Interior Minister Fathi Bashagha held talks via video conference on Sunday with the acting head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya, Stephanie Williams, to discuss Libyan plans to reform the security sector."We are determined to move forward in implementing the reform programs in the security sector, which must be locally-designed and nationwide under the Libyan leadership for the security and welfare of the citizens," Bashagha said on Twitter.Since April 2019, warlord Khalifa Haftar's illegitimate forces have launched attacks on the Libyan capital, Tripoli, and other parts of northwestern Liby…

Caitlin Johnstone (2020-07-11). Liberals Are Crazy Idiots. thealtworld.com Whenever John McCain is trending on Twitter I like to try and float a reminder of what a disgusting warmonger he was on top of the trend to disrupt the worshipful hagiography within the mainstream liberal echo chamber. | John McCain was a bloodthirsty warmongering psychopath and the world is better off without him. Death is nature's cancel culture. | — Caitlin Johnstone (@caitoz) It's a provocation. I freely admit this. But it's a provocation with a fuse that should not exist (nobody should object to som…

RT (2020-07-11). Bollywood legend Amitabh Bachchan hospitalized with Covid-19. rt.com Amitabh Bachchan, a Bollywood megastar who is widely considered in India as the country's greatest living actor, has been diagnosed with coronavirus and hospitalized. | "I have tested Covid positive [and been] shifted to hospital," Bachchan announced on Twitter to his 43.2 million followers. | The 77-year-old said all his family members had since been tested for coronavirus, and were awaiting their results. He urged everyone with whom he'd been in contact over the past 10 days to get tested too. | T 3590 -I have tested CoviD positive .. shifted to Hospital .. hospital informing authorities .. family and staff…

RT (2020-07-11). 'Heinous and unprovoked' stabbing spree on New York subway caught on VIDEO. rt.com Passengers on board a New York subway carriage were subjected to a brutal and unprovoked knife assault in broad daylight. The shocking incident was caught on video, and comes amid a crime surge in the Big Apple. | In the grisly footage, the suspect viciously attacked two men, knocking both to the floor of the carriage and slashing as they tried to fight back. One victim managed to get to his feet and drive the attacker away, but had a knife thrust into his torso in the scuffle. | WARNING: DISTURBING VIDEO | pic.twitter.com/wMdEDtUt4R— Andrea Catsimatidis (@AJ_Cats_) RT (2020-07-11). Anti-Trump camp in meltdown over VIDEO of dancing Roger Stone after his prison term's commuted. rt.com Political huckster Roger Stone celebrated the commutation of his prison sentence in typically flamboyant style: by gyrating to music in a video that went viral and hit a raw nerve with his opponents and those of President Trump. | Ensnared by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's 'Russiagate' probe, Stone was sentenced in February to three years in prison for interfering with the investigation and tampering with witnesses — charges the long-time Republican maintained were baseless. Trump commuted his sentence on Friday — a move that doesn't overturn his conviction, but spares him a stint behind bars. | Fa…

RT (2020-07-11). Pizzagate 2.0? Wayfair forced to deny bizarre rumors its 'overpriced cabinets' are child trafficking front. rt.com Furniture marketplace Wayfair was forced to address accusations of sex trafficking after an elaborate Pizzagate-esque conspiracy drawing connections between the names of 'overpriced' items and 'missing children' went viral. | The speculation was apparently kicked off on Reddit with user PrincessPeach1987 posting a screenshot of the furniture seller's WFX Utility cabinet collection to the site's r/conspiracy forum that highlighted the sky-high prices (between $12,699.99 and $14,499.99 for a single cabinet) and the odd names — like Samiyah, Alyvia, Yaritza, and Neriah — which allegedly matched the name…

Fight Back (2020-07-11). Workers and community supporters racist practices. fightbacknews.org Oshkosh, WI – 30 community members came out, July 8, to the leadership of the Boys & Girls Club of Oshkosh. Community s, artists, teachers, parents and children gathered fully on a corner armed with chalk, chants and messages of anti-racism and solidarity with the pro-Black Lives Matter workers. | When s erupted around the country in late May over the police killings of George Floyd and countless others, the Boys & Girls Club released a statement of solidarity for the Black Lives Matter movement on their social media accounts in early June. The workers, who have been impacted by these…

teleSUR (2020-07-11). Russia Offers Latin America a Drug to Cure COVID-19. telesurenglish.net Russia's Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) director Kiril Dmitriyev Saturday announced Latin American countries will be the firsts to receive the drug Avifavir for COVID-19 treatment. | RELATED: | The Russian Embassy in Guatemala, along with with the RDIF, officially presented Avivafir for Latin America and the Caribbean. | "Many countries don't have any antiviral drugs, and Russia is prepared to meet those nations' needs," Dmitriyev assured…

yenisafak (2020-07-11). UK 'stands with' all feeling Srebrenica genocide pain. yenisafak.com British administration on Saturday "reiterated the UK's commitment to supporting reconciliation across the Western Balkans," on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Srebrenica Genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina."Today (11 July) marks twenty-five years since the Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the worst atrocity in Europe since the end of the Second World War," a Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) statement said."Today I stand with all who continue to feel unimaginable pain from the genocide 25 years ago at Srebrenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina," Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said on Twitter…

Alan Macleod (2020-07-10). Private Prison Simulation Game Goes Viral on Apple App Store. mintpressnews.com With over two million people locked up across a sprawling network of private and public prisons, the US has by far the highest incarceration rate in the world, significantly worse than brutal dictatorships in Africa, Latin America or Central Asia.

Glenn Greenwald (2020-07-10). Media Continue to Ignore That Both Parties Almost Always Agree That More War Is Good. commondreams.org Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) with her father, former Vice President Dick Cheney. (Photo: Rep. Liz Cheney/Facebook) | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/views-article/thumbs/cheneys1.jpg

Janine Jackson (2020-07-10). 'Hate Speech and Disinformation Flow on Facebook' – CounterSpin interview with Jessica González on Facebook's promotion of hate. fair.org Janine Jackson interviewed Free Press's Jessica González about Facebook promoting hate for the Media…

RT (2020-07-10). Trump threatens to defund universities for 'Radical Left Indoctrination'. rt.com President Donald Trump has announced that the Treasury Department will examine the tax-exempt status of the US' universities and schools, accusing them of indoctrinating children with "Radical Left" ideology. | "Too many Universities and School Systems are about Radical Left Indoctrination, not Education," Trump tweeted on Friday. "Therefore, I am telling the Treasury Department to re-examine their Tax-Exempt Status and/or funding, which will be taken away if this Propaganda or Act Against Public Policy continues." … and/or Funding, which will be taken away if this Propaganda or Act Against Public Policy c…

RT (2020-07-10). Twitter data-mining tool Dataminr fed police real-time info on Black Lives Matter ers, despite promises not to spy. rt.com An analytics firm parsing Twitter data in real time for law enforcement and media has been caught funneling detailed info on anti-police-brutality marches to the very agencies users are ing, despite promises not to. | Dataminr, a CIA-funded artificial intelligence startup that mines Twitter's real-time content stream for behavioral patterns and other analytics, has been caught feeding info on police brutality ers from that "firehose" stream back to law enforcement. While the developers had promised they wouldn't enable domestic surveillance after a series of scandals in 2016, Dataminr is once aga…

Louis Proyect (2020-07-10). Harper's and the Great Cancel Culture Panic. counterpunch.org You can imagine my chagrin when I discovered that Harper's, a magazine that I have subscribed to since the early 80s, provided a platform for "A Letter on Justice and Open Debate." The open letter was a denunciation of "cancel culture" in the name of liberal values as if angry Tweets by mostly powerless young

teleSUR (2020-07-10). Sudan: Female Genital Mutilation Officially A Crime. telesurenglish.net Sudan's Sovereign Council, the highest ruling institution in the country, ratified on Friday a law criminalizing female genital mutilation (FGM). | RELATED: | The Justice Minister, Nasredeen Abdulbari, announced on his twitter account that a series of laws had been finally approved by the council, among them, the amendment to the Criminal Law article 141. | The draft law, which criminalizes Female Genital Mutilation…

_____ (2020-07-10). Trump Threatens To Cut Funding For Schools That Don't Reopen. popularresistance.org President Donald Trump and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos are threatening to cut off federal funding to schools that do not open their doors this fall due to coronavirus concerns. | In a recent Tweet he suggests it is a Democrat ploy to hurt him politically by tweeting: "In Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and many other countries, SCHOOLS ARE OPEN WITH NO PROBLEMS. The Dems think it would be bad for them politically if U.S. schools open before the November Election, but is important for the children & families." In a conference call with governors across the country, Devos stated: "Risk is involved in ever…

Ricardo Vaz (2020-07-10). [UPDATED] Venezuela: Oil Minister, PSUV Vice President Test Positive for COVID-19. venezuelanalysis.com The senior Chavista figures made the announcement on Twitter.

Mark Gruenberg, John Wojcik (2020-07-09). Supreme Court rules today: Trump is not above the law! peoplesworld.org President Trump took to Twitter in a rant today after the Supreme Court, in two 7-2 decisions. said the president is not entitled to immunity from congressional and grand jury subpoenas for his tax and financial information. In his rant, Trump called the rulings rejecting his claims that he is essentially above the law "unfair." …

RT (2020-07-09). Not a 'racist' plan anymore? Democrats rejoice over Biden's $700bn 'Buy American' promise. rt.com Joe Biden unveiled a $700 billion 'Buy American' initiative, drawing praise from both liberals and conservatives on social media, but some noted that similar plans by the Trump administration were previously framed as 'racist.' | Biden's economic pitch includes plans for a $400 billion, four-year increase in government spending on US-made goods and services — topped by a $300 billion investment in research and development for US technology. | "This will be the largest mobilization of public investments in procurement, infrastructure and (research and development) since World War II," Biden's senior advise…

Éric Toussaint (2020-07-09). Reply to the letter by Philippe, King of the Belgians, about Belgium's responsibility in the exploitation of the Congolese people. mronline.org On 30 June 2020, on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the former Belgian Congo's independence, the news went viral over the planet: Philippe, King of the Belgians, had conveyed regrets for the colonial past, and particularly for the time when Leopold II owned the Congo as a personal possession (1885-1908), to the Congolese …

RT (2020-07-09). Series of 'explosions & power outages' reported near Tehran. rt.com A series of explosions have rocked the outskirts of the Iranian capital Tehran, as well as the cities of Garmdareh and Quds, Iranian media reported amid speculation that missile depots were the intended target. | Citing social media, official news agency IRIB reported an explosion in western Tehran in the early hours of Friday local time. More explosions were reported in Garmdareh and Quds, the Mehr News Agency added. | Saudi-based Al-Arabiya television reported that the explosion took place in missile depots of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), southwest of Tehran. Iranian officials have neithe…

RT (2020-07-09). 'Pull up your pants & finish school': Would CNN's Don Lemon cancel himself over shockingly unwoke 2013 tips to black community? rt.com A vintage clip of CNN anchor Don Lemon telling black people to act civilized and disregard "street culture" has the woke pundit's detractors' jaws on the floor, wondering what happened to him over the intervening seven years. | In the 2013 clip, Lemon praises Fox News host Bill O'Reilly as the Republican pundit decries the "disintegration of the African-American family," even arguing O'Reilly "doesn't go far enough" when he denounces "street culture." The video was posted to social media by "Panda Tribune" on Wednesday and quickly circulated among conservatives, who had a hard time reconciling this Lemon with…

RT (2020-07-09). 'Much higher' death rate than Covid-19: Chinese embassy in Kazakhstan warns of dangerous local pneumonia. rt.com The Chinese embassy in Kazakhstan has warned its citizens in the Central Asian country to exercise caution amid a large outbreak of viral pneumonia, which appears to be deadlier than the new coronavirus. | Between Covid-19 and the pneumonia outbreak, the diplomats described the health situation in Kazakhstan as "very grim." Since the start of the year, 1,772 people have died of pneumonia in the country. In June alone, there were 628 fatalities, including Chinese citizens, a statement on the embassy's website reads. | "The mortality rate of the disease is much higher than that of the new coronavirus pneumonia,"

Eric Alterman (2020-07-09). Facebook Fuels Its Users' Ignorance With Lies. thenation.com Facebook Fuels Its Users' Ignorance With Lies…

John Logan (2020-07-09). Facebook and Its Big Tech Cronies Are Upgrading Their Anti-Union Tools. zcomm.org If workers continue to organize, it's possible that Big Tech's big brother surveillance tools may not be sufficient to quell these collective voices of …

teleSUR (2020-07-09). Venezuela: Diosdado Cabello Has Tested COVID-19 Positive. telesurenglish.net Venezuela's National Assembly (ANC) president Diosdado Cabello Thursday reported he has tested COVID-19 positive. | RELATED: | "Dear comrades, I would like to inform you that after taking the corresponding tests I have tested positive for COVID-19," Cabello tweeted. | Cabello suspended Wednesday broadcasts of his TV show "Con el Mazo Dando," alleging he had allergies. After testing results, he remains in isolatio…

teleSUR (2020-07-09). Bolivia: Interim President àÅñez Tests Positive for COVID-19. telesurenglish.net Bolivia's de facto president Jeanine àÅñez Thursday announced via her Twitter account that she had tested positive to COVID-19 while other members of her team are infected as well. | RELATED: | "I feel well, I feel strong, I am going to keep working remotely from my isolation, and I want to thank all the Bolivians who are working to help us in this health crisis," àÅñez said as COVID-19 cases have spiked in the…

Jessica Corbett, staff writer (2020-07-09). Humanity on Track to Soon Hit 1.5 ∫C Paris Accord Limit as Atmospheric CO2 Nears Level Not Seen in 15 Million Years. commondreams.org "It's still not too late to avoid the worst effects of the #ClimateEmergency. But governments need to act NOW," tweeted Green. | www.commondreams.org/sites/default/files/styles/cd_special_coverage/public/headline/thumbs/gettyimages-11526646731.jpg

yenisafak (2020-07-09). Pakistan slams 'mischievous' rumors of official's death. yenisafak.com Pakistan on Thursday denounced "mischievous" attempts to change the Wikipedia page of its top diplomat to say he had died a day after testing positive for the novel coronavirus."We strongly condemn attempts by mischievous elements to hack Wikipedia page of FM Shah Mahmood Qureshi spread rumours on social media about his health well-being," tweeted Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Aisha Farooqui, underlining that Qureshi was quickly recovering from the virus.The ministry posted the screenshot of the edited version of Qureshi's page reading that he died on July 4.On July 3, Qureshi tested positive for the coronavirus a…

yenisafak (2020-07-09). Fashion giant apologizes for selling Muslim prayer mats with Kaaba motif as 'Greek carpets'. yenisafak.com Online fashion retailer Shein has issued a public apology after facing fierce backlash for selling Muslim prayer mats as a home decorative item on its official site, despite many of the rugs bearing motifs of Islamic holy sites.The fast-fashion retailer came under fire after its products caught the eye of a journalism student from the University of Salford, Khadija Rizvi, who posted now-viral screenshots of the mats on social media. Many of the Muslim mats, which were advertised as "frilled Greek carpets," bore motifs of mosques and the Ka'aba, which is considered the most sacred Islamic site by Muslims around th…

commondreams (2020-07-08). Facebook's Civil Rights Audit Shows Need for Reforms. commondreams.org ______________________________…