<$BlogRSDUrl$>
Be sure to follow me on Twitter @leftiblog

Friday, March 20, 2020


 

Headlines for Mar. 20, 2020




Click here to listen to this week's segment on Loud & Clear Radio.  
Headlines with an * are the ones we managed to fit in in our allotted time slot.

Worst, Most Misleading & Funniest Headlines for Mar. 20, 2020


*The World Needs Masks. China Makes Them — But Has Been Hoarding Them.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/13/business/masks-china-coronavirus.html
This article appeared on the same day Chinese billionaire Jack Ma began shipping one million masks to the U.S. Also, one of the big factories making those masks in China is an American company, 3M! So don’t blame China, blame 3M!
By the way, yesterday California Governor Gavin Newsom addressed the state on TV, and admitted the state has a cache of **11 MILLION masks**! And that they would begin distributing one million of them.

*Virus Hits Europe Harder Than China. Is That the Price of an Open Society?
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/19/world/europe/europe-china-coronavirus.html
"To some extent, experts say, Europeans are paying a price for living in open, affluent democracies, where people are used to free movement, easy travel and independent decision-making, and where governments worry about public opinion. Governments aren’t used to giving harsh orders, and citizens aren’t used to following them.
"But China acted with a severity and breadth that stunned the West, making unpopular moves and accepting deep economic damage as the price of containing the disease."
The word that doesn't appear in this article when attempting to excuse the ineffective response of Europe and the U.S.? "Profit".

*Can Russia Use the Coronavirus to Sow Discord Among Americans?
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/16/opinion/russian-interference-coronavirus.html
The article talks about past “disinformation” efforts allegedly by the Soviet Union (note: a different country than Russia!). The problem with these efforts, from the US point of view? They tell the truth!!!
“Less than a year later, another insidious example of racial engineering appeared, this time in Africa. The 15-page pamphlet started with a one-line, all-caps cover page, inscribed “TO OUR DEAR FRIENDS.” The document purported to come from the “African Friends Association,” allegedly based in the United States. “We, Negroes living in the United States of America, are going to reveal the truth to you about the way the Americans really treat people with dark skin,” the pamphlet said. The forgers reported, for example — truthfully — that Edward Aaron, 34, had been abducted, beaten and castrated by Klansmen in Birmingham, Ala. The K.G.B. circulated and published its paper in English and French in at least 16 African countries.
“This poisonous little racist tract is a headache for our diplomatic missions in Africa,” Richard Helms of the C.I.A. told the Senate Judiciary Committee in June 1961 — a particular headache because the K.G.B. largely stuck to the facts.”
And coronavirus? “The coronavirus is sweeping right into campaign season, it is already flanked by polarizing conspiracy theories and the president’s response to the emergency is hotly contested. The virus is exposing a range of contradictions ready for sharpening — for example, a simmering generational conflict spurred by skewed fatality rates. To reach their disruptive goal, Russian planners may well calculate, as they did in 2016, that helping Mr. Trump weakens America.”

From last week, a story we didn’t get to:
*Russia Trying to Stoke U.S. Racial Tensions Before Election, Officials Say
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/10/us/politics/russian-interference-race.html
It never stops, despite this: “Russia’s primary goal…is to foster a sense of chaos in the US, though its motivations are under debate.” As I have several times recently, I ask: “Has this chaos reduced the war budget? Kept the US from opposing Nordstream? Stopped it from trying to overthrow Assad or Maduro?” They never point to any conceivable benefit to Russia from this “chaos” they’re allegedly causing, because there isn’t any. And how are they causing this chaos? Through utterly nefarious means…by reporting the truth:
“Russia’s more public influence operations, like state-backed news organizations, have continued to push divisive racial narratives, including stories emphasizing allegations of police abuse in the United States and highlighting racism against African-Americans within the military.”
Also “Last week, RT ran a story about a video of New York police arresting a black man that sparked outrage.”

Trump Now Claims He Always Knew the Coronavirus Would Be a Pandemic
Subhead: The president tried to rewrite his history with advising Americans about the coronavirus. His own words prove him wrong.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/us/politics/trump-coronavirus.html
Print edition, first page, top headline: PLAN WOULD INJECT $1 TRILLION INTO ECONOMY
Saying He Long Saw Pandemic, Trump Rewrites History
Followed by an entire article of things Trump said like “We have it totally under control.” They did leave out where he called it a “Democratic hoax”.

*Trump asks Syrian government to ‘work with us’ to free journalist who disappeared
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/trump-asks-syrian-government-to-work-with-us-to-free-journalist-who-disappeared/2020/03/19/980c5a4c-6a0e-11ea-b5f1-a5a804158597_story.html
The article itself also notes attempts to free Americans held by Venezuela and Iran. There is a brief reference to Venezuela being “devastated by U.S. sanctions”, but no mention of sanctions on Syria or Iran, much less a mention of regime change efforts in all three. The article mentions the “success” that Trump had in freeing one American held in Iran, but failed to mention that his release on medical furlough was part of a general release of 85,000 Iranian prisoners, and had (as far as we know) nothing to do with any special efforts by Trump.

U.S.-led coalition to withdraw hundreds of troops from smaller bases in Iraq
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/us-led-coalition-to-withdraw-hundreds-of-troops-from-smaller-bases-in-iraq/2020/03/16/4af2b69e-6783-11ea-b199-3a9799c54512_story.html
Where by “withdrawal” they actually mean “being shifted to larger bases where they won’t be quite as vulnerable in a country where they’re not wanted”.



This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours? Weblog Commenting by HaloScan.com High Class Blogs: News and Media