Friday, March 08, 2019
Headlines for March 8, 2019
Headlines with an * are the ones we managed to fit in in our allotted time slot.
Worst, Most Misleading & Funniest Headlines for March 8, 2019
*Juan Guaidó: If Maduro arrests me, it ‘would be a coup d’etat’
The headline is laugh out loud funny, but the article and the situation are deadly serious. The whole article is the WaPo enabling him to spread absurd lies about Venezuela, and in fact in doing its own part in that process. "80% of the military supports Guaidó", even though he admits he has a hard time communicating with them, partly because "Cuban agents torture the armed forces if they try to even contact the opposition", which was actually a leading question asked by the interviewer to which Guaidó readily agreed (“Is it true that the Cuban agents torture the armed forces if they try to even contact the opposition?”). The interviewer, it should be noted, is not some random journalist, but a “senior associate editor for The Washington Post”.
*Ilhan Omar's dual loyalty charge was about more than anti-Semitism
No, it's not about anti-Semitism at all. Astonishingly, the author *correctly* quotes Omar saying "I should not be expected to have allegiance/pledge support to a foreign country in order to serve my country in Congress," but then goes from there to conclude "A Muslim congresswoman who is openly hostile to Israel uses a charge of dual loyalty against Jewish Americans," about whom she said *absolutely nothing*. She spoke only of herself!
*Will John Bolton Bring on Armageddon—Or Stave It Off?
The national security adviser could be our best hope for protecting the world from Donald Trump’s impulses.
The national security adviser could be our best hope for protecting the world from Donald Trump’s impulses.
Impulses like negotiating peace with North Korea or pulling US troops out of Syria and Afghanistan. Those impulses. One of Bolton’s “great passions in life”, says the article, is “getting America out of treaties.” Like getting out of the INF, which is one of Trump's "impulses" that Bolton will definitely not be protecting us from.
*U.S. Army Assures Public That Robot Tank System Adheres to AI Murder Policy
“Yes, the Defense Department is still building murderous robots. But those murderous robots must adhere to the department’s “ethical standards.””
I’m assured, but definitely not reassured. The DoD has “ethical standards”? LOL. They claim that there will always be a “human is making the final decision about whether to kill someone”, but their specs call for tanks that can “acquire, identify, and engage targets at least 3X faster than the current manual process.”
*A former Russian spy was poisoned in Britain one year ago. The Kremlin still denies everything.
Alternative headline: A former Russian spy was poisoned in Britain one year ago. The evidence is so flimsy that no one has yet been charged.
*Pope prays for tornado victims as Trump prepares to visit
Even the Pope knows how deadly a Trump visit can be!
Bernie's Democratic Socialism Isn't Socialism, It's Social Democracy
An accurate headline which surprises for two reasons — one, its source (Forbes), and two, because the article is written by someone who isn’t a socialist or even a social democrat.
*Disputed N.S.A. Phone Program Is Shut Down, Aide Says
The headline does say “aide says” (whose aide?), but the entire article is written as if this is a fact, based not on any statement from the NSA or the Administration but solely on the basis of a *single* source, Luke Murry, the House minority leader’s national security adviser. An aide to a Congressman.
Paul Manafort, Trump's onetime campaign chairman, to be sentenced on fraud charges
Fifth paragraph: "None of the charges involved Manafort's work on the Trump campaign in 2016."
