2021-01-15: News Headlines

Sara Flounders (2021-01-15). Trump coup attempt: U.S. war comes home. workers.org A caustic commentary on U.S. policy that circulated on social media worldwide within 24 hours of the Jan. 6 events at the U.S. Capitol was: "Due to travel restrictions this year, the U.S. had to organize the coup at home." A domestic coup on the U.S. government was indeed attempted . . . |

Editor (2021-01-15). Silicon Valley Destroys Parler in a Show of Monopolistic Force. scheerpost.com By Glenn Greenwald / Reposted with author permission from Substack Critics of Silicon Valley censorship for years heard the same refrain: tech platforms like Facebook, Google and Twitter are private corporations and can host or ban whoever they want. If you don't like what they are doing, the solution is not to complain or to regulate them. Instead, go create your own social media platform that… |

teleSUR (2021-01-15). Venezuela Offers Oxygen to Attend COVID-19 in Manaus, Brazil. telesurenglish.net Venezuela's Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Arreaza Thursday informed that his country will provide oxygen to Brazil so it can face Manaus city's health emergency. | RELATED: | "On instructions from President Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela will support the brotherly Brazilian people. For our nation, solidarity is a duty," Arreaza tweeted. | On Thursday, Amazon State's governor Wilson Lima thanked the solidarity gesture that will end the…

_____ (2021-01-15). Against A Domestic Terrorism Law. popularresistance.org On Monday, Opposite Office, an "activistic architecture studio" based in Munich, released design materials for what it called "Capitol Castle," a plan that would encircle the entire U.S. Capitol with 36-feet-thick brick walls. The concept was not serious—or, at least, it was "serious" but not intended to be built. It was, depending on how charitable you feel about "activistic architecture studios," a design meant to spark a debate on democracy and division, or one meant to get written up by the architecture press and shared widely on social media. | But even if these German architects don't sincerely propos…

Jessica Buxbaum (2021-01-15). Social Media Giants Ban Trump, but the Real Censorship is of Palestinians. mintpressnews.com In the wake of the Capitol Hill insurrection, Facebook and Twitter finally took a principled stand against President Donald Trump by suspending his accounts. While Facebook, Twitter, and other social media behemoths have faced criticism over the years for allowing misinformation and dangerous incitement to run rampant on their pla…

RT (2021-01-14). 12hr Covid curfews announced for all of France for at least 15 days, PM says pressure on hospitals is 'high'. rt.com The entirety of France will be placed under a 6pm-6am curfew for at least 15 days from Saturday in a bid to ease the pressure of Covid-19 on the country's health system, Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on Thursday. | The 12-hour curfews are currently already in place for 25 of mainland France's 95 administrative areas — known as departements — but they will now be extended to the rest of the country, which is currently under an 8pm curfew. | "While the resumption of the epidemic was concentrated at the end of December in certain departments, viral circulation now concerns the entire country," th…

RT (2021-01-14). Twitter RESTORES account of Sputnik-V, Russia's coronavirus vaccine, restricted over suspicious log-in. rt.com Sputnik-V, the Russian-developed coronavirus vaccine, was back on Twitter after getting locked out of its official account on Thursday. When the official explanation finally came, it cited a suspicious log-in attempt from the US. | The account, @sputnikvaccine, showed up as "temporarily restricted" for a brief period on Thursday afternoon, due to "some unusual activity." | Users could click on a warning to see…

Yasmina Allouche (2021-01-14). Morocco: Adnane Bouchouf's killer sentenced to death for rape and murder of child. middleeasteye.net Morocco: Adnane Bouchouf's killer sentenced to death for rape and murder of child | Death of the 11-year-old boy sent shockwaves through the county amid calls for harsher sentences for predators | Thu, 01/14/2021 – 13: 17 | Bouchouf was declared missing by his family on 7 September and his body was discovered four days later buried near his home (Screengrab/Twitter) | The main suspect in t…

Jonathan Cook (2021-01-14). Twitter's ban on Trump will only deepen the U.S. tribal divide. mronline.org Anyone who believes locking President Donald Trump out of his social media accounts will serve as the first step on the path to healing the political divide in the United States is likely to be in for a bitter disappointment.

Jonathan Cook (2021-01-14). Twitter's Ban on Trump will Deepen the US Tribal Divide. counterpunch.org Anyone who believes locking President Donald Trump out of his social media accounts will serve as the first step on the path to healing the political divide in the United States is likely to be in for a bitter disappointment. The flaws in this reasoning need to be peeled away, like the layers of an

teleSUR (2021-01-14). AMLO Will Address Social Media Censorship at G-20. telesurenglish.net Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador announced that he would propose a series of actions during the next G-20 meeting to prevent private entities from censorship. This, in the aftermath of the Capitol Riot. | RELATED: | Recently the president, known as AMLO, compared the ban that Facebook imposed on Donald Trump to the Holy Inquisition and warned about the possibility of a social media hegemony. | Al margen de la ley, na…

splcenter (2021-01-14). Angry Far-Right Extremists Seek to Overshadow Biden Inauguration, Amid Growing Scrutiny. splcenter.org Facing mounting pressure from law enforcement and obstacles in the form of tech companies pushing fringe websites and prominent social media accounts offline, far-right extremists have embraced a more diffuse, chaotic response to Joe Biden's inauguration than the concentrated mob attack that engulfed the Capitol on Jan. 6.

Karen Conner (2021-01-13). A Big Jump In Gas Prices Pushes Overall CPI Up 0.4 Percent In December. cepr.net (This is a compilation of Dean Baker's quick-take analysis over Twitter. Follow @DeanBaker13 on Twitter to get his quick-take analysis of government data immediately upon release.) The pandemic has led to a real flip in price trends. Rent, medical care, and education had been sectors with higher inflation. This is no longer the case; now food and cars …

RT (2021-01-13). Estonian prime minister resigns amid corruption scandal, citing loss of public confidence in government. rt.com Juri Ratas, the Prime Minister of Estonia, announced on Wednesday that he will stand down from the role amid a row over state-backed loans and government contracts, which were allegedly offered to political donors. | In a Facebook post, Ratas said that he "made a value-based decision to resign from office over the situation." However, he argued that an investigation launched by Tallinn's public prosecutor's office did not, by itself, imply that he or his colleagues had acted "in an illegal way." But he added, "in such a situation, it seems only right that I give myself a chance to shine light on the circumstan…

Devin Cole (2021-01-13). Building an Inside-led prison abolition movement. workers.org On Jan. 5, Devin Cole spoke with Free Alabama Movement co-founder and freedom fighter Bennu Hannibal Ra Sun about the economic side of the ongoing 30-day Economic Blackout and Alabama prison strike in January, the growth of social media and prison abolition, and what it will take to build a . . . |

David Rovics (2021-01-13). Questions In the Wake of the Beer Belly Putsch. dissidentvoice.org After seeing some very strange, amnesiac discussion threads on social media, I have a few words to consign to the screen. Naturally, social media and the media media are all going nuts since the more or less successful far right siege of the Capitol. There are a variety of talking points that I've been hearing …