CNN.com’s fake news on Elizabeth Warren

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C-SPAN, CNN.com, Coretta Scott King, Elizabeth Warren, facebook, Facebook Trending, fake news, George Orwell, impugning, Jeff Sessions, journalistic dishonesty, journalistic truth, partisan rhetoric, Politics and the English Language, Republicans, Senate rules

The following is a Facebook post of mine from yesterday:

On Facebook Trending (in the upper right of your screen), I found a clip of the following headline from today on CNN.com:  “The Coretta Scott King letter Elizabeth Warren was trying to read.”  [http://www.cnn.com/…/elizabeth-warren-coretta-sc…/index.html]

Is that statement true?  Yes.  Does that statement, as a featured headline, herald the truth of the story.  No.

CNN.com ultimately tells the truth of the story, but furthers its dishonesty by purposely coloring the truth with a concoction of partisan rhetoric:  “On Tuesday night, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren attempted to read part of the letter on the Senate floor.  Republicans cried foul — charging that Warren violated Senate rules against impugning another senator.  A party-line vote upheld that decision, turning what could have been an ordinary late-night partisan floor speech for C-SPAN devotees into a national story.”

What is the uncolored truth of the story?  On Tuesday night, Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren attempted to impugn another senator, Jeff Sessions, through the use of a Coretta Scott King letter.  Republicans charged that Warren violated Senate rules prohibiting such impugning.  A vote upheld that decision, turning the attempt into a national story.

This attempt by CNN.com to color a truthful story with partisan rhetoric is a prime example of fake news.

An essential reading on writing truthful journalism is “Politics and the English Language” by George Orwell:  http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit

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Pro-life or anti-choice? Google Chrome plays politics with the English language!

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abortion, Andrea Miller, anti-choice, anti-life, Choice Language Extension, CNSNews, George Orwell, Google Chrome extension, internet browsers, James Woods, Kate Scanlon, lies, murder, National Institute for Reproductive Health Action Fund (NIRH), political language, Politics and the English Language, pro-choice, pro-life, religion, rhetoric, righteous saviors, software programs, TheBlaze.com, ThinkProgress, women's health rights

The unnamed creator of this extension should study George Orwell’s essay “Politics and the English Language,” which at one time was required reading of serious students.  [ “The essay focuses on political language, which, according to Orwell, ‘is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.'” –Wikipedia. ]  –SB

 ~

TheBlaze.com

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2016/02/22/new-google-chrome-extension-changes-the-words-pro-life-to-anti-choice-in-users-browsers/

US

New Google Chrome Extension Changes the Words ‘Pro-Life’ to ‘Anti-Choice’ in Users’ Browsers

A new Google Chrome extension has been released that will change the words “pro-life” to “anti-choice” in the browsers of users who add it.

Extensions are software programs that users may choose to add in order to change their Internet browsers’ functionality.

Here is how the “Choice Language” extension would make the user’s browser appear:

According to the liberal ThinkProgress, the creator of the extension “wishes to remain anonymous” and “she partnered with the National Institute for Reproductive Health Action Fund” in order to release the extension to the public.

“We thought it was a really interesting and creative idea,” Andrea Miller, the president of NIRH, told ThinkProgress.  “We agreed with her that the language in this discussion really matters.”

“Those who stand against a woman’s right to decide what is best for her own body prop themselves up as righteous saviors using a problematic framework of rhetoric and religion,” the extension’s website states.  “The term ‘pro-life’ is inaccurate in this argument — although it is a powerful tool in the fight against women’s health rights — as it serves to demonize individuals who are pro-choice by suggesting that in their support of a woman’s right to choose what is best for her own life, they also advocate for death in some way.”

Some reviewers applauded the extension:

Others condemned it:

Actor James Woods was not impressed by the extension.

James Woods

✔ ‎@RealJamesWoods

For those who can’t win an argument based on reasoning, changing the language will have to suffice… #abortion http://thinkprogress.org/health/2016/02/20/3751397/extension-anti-choice/ …

11:09 AM – 20 Feb 2016

thinkprogress.org

(H/T:  CNSNews)

Famous International Socialists

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Albert Einstein, American Socialist Party, Aneurin Bevan, Bertrand Russell, Bolshevik Revolution, British Labour party, Chairman Mao, Che Guevara, Clement Attlee, co-operative communities, common ownership of means of production, communism, communist party rule, communist revolution, communists, Conditions Of The Working Classes, Cuban revolution of 1959, cubism, cultural revolution, Das Capital, democratic socialists, dictatorship, equitable resource distribution, Eugene Debs, facism, Famous Socialists, Fidel Castro, Frederich Engels, Fulgencia Batista, George Orwell, Glasnost, Helen Keller, industrial proletariat, Joseph Stallin, Karl Marx, Leon Trotsky, liberals, Martin Luther King, Marxism, Mikhail Gorbachev, National Health Service, nationalisation, New Lanark factories, Pablo Picasso, pacifism, Paul B Skousen, Perestroika, POUM, revolutionaries, Robert Owen, Russian Revolution of 1917, socialism, socialist intellectuals, socialists, society, Soviet Union, Spanish Civil War, Tejvan Pettinger, The Communist Manifesto, The Naked Socialist, Tony Benn, totalitarians, trade union leaders, utopian socialism, utopian socialist thinkers, Vladimir Lenin, welfare state, Why Socialism?, workers

Celebration. Stalin-era (1950s). Painted by T.S.Naumova

https://www.marxists.org/subject/art/visual_arts/painting/exhibits/socialist-realism.htm

http://www.biographyonline.net/people/famous/socialists.html

Famous Socialists

A list of famous socialists.  From utopian socialist thinkers to leaders of Communist states.  Socialists generally believe in forming a society where resources are more equitably distributed.  This often involves common ownership of the means of production.  Within socialism there are different strands.  The biggest divergence is between democratic socialists and the one-party Communist states of the Soviet Union and China.

Early Socialist Pioneers

Robert Owen (1870-1924) – Early socialist pioneer.  His New Lanark factories were a model for giving workers better conditions.  He also advocated a form of utopian Socialism and co-operative communities.

Karl Marx (1818-1883) – Karl Marx was the foremost Socialist intellectual.  His work Das Capital forming the basis of Marxism.  With Frederich Engels, he published ‘The Communist Manifesto’ – a radical agenda for Communist revolution.

Frederich Engles (1818-1883) – Engels was a great supporter and collaborator of Karl Marx.  He helped write and publish the Communist Manifesto.  His own work ‘Conditions of the working classes’ was a landmark study into the industrial proletariat.

 

Communist Leaders

V.Lenin (1870-1924) – Leader of Russian Revolution in 1917.  He masterminded the Bolshevik revolution and became the first leader of the Soviet Union.  Lenin began the policy of suppressing any opposition to Communist party rule.

Joseph Stalin (1878 – 1953) Successor to Lenin.  Stalin ruthlessly strengthened his grip on power by eliminating any internal opposition and establishing his dictatorship.

Mikhail Gorbachev (1931 – ) Leader of the Communist party and Soviet Union.  Gorbachev sought to reform the Soviet Union through Glasnost and Perestroika.  Gorbachev stated he believed in the ideals of socialism.

Chairman Mao (1893 – 1976) – Leader of the Chinese Communist party and successful revolutionary.  Mao established his own form of Communism, which included the devastating cultural revolution.

Fidel Castro (1926-) Cuban revolutionary leader.  Castro led the Communist revolution of 1959, where he successfully ousted the US backed Fulgencio Batista.

 

Socialist revolutionaries

Che Guevara (1928 – 1967) A Latin American Marxist revolutionary.  Guevara was a key figure in the Cuban revolution, but Guevara also wanted to ferment other revolutions in Africa and Latin America and criticised many aspects of the Soviet Union for betraying Marxist principles.

Leon Trotsky (1879-1940) Marxist revolutionary.  Trotsky was a key figure in the Russian revolution.  He also advocated worldwide Marxist revolution.  He was later assassinated on the orders of Stalin in Mexico.

 

British Socialists

Tony Benn (1925 – ). The son of a liberal politician, Benn became more left wing and committed to socialism as time went on.  During the 70s and 80s he was the leading figure in the socialist wing of the British Labour party.

Aneurin Bevan (1897-1960).  A firebrand socialist.  The former miner and trade union leader, Bevan was a committed socialist and helped to implement the new National Health Service.

Clement Attlee. (1883-1867) British Prime Minister 1945-51.  Attlee presided over one of the most radical Labour governments of the Twentieth Century.  His government pushed through nationalisation and the creation of the welfare state.

 

Socialist Intellectuals

George Orwell (1903 – 1950) – English author who was leading advocate of democratic socialism.  He fought in the Spanish civil war for Marxist group (POUM) on the Republican side.  He criticised the totalitarian nature of Soviet Communism.

Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955) Revolutionised modern physics with his general theory of relativity.  Supporter of socialism, wrote article – Why Socialism? published in 1949.

Helen Keller (1880-1968) – Keller became famous for being a leading advocate for the disabled.  She was deaf-blind herself.  She was also a lifelong supporter of the American socialist party and socialist causes.

Bertrand Russell (1872 – 1970) A brilliant mathematician, pacifist and peace campaigner, Russell was also a believer in democratic socialism.

Pablo Picasso (1881 – 1973) – Spanish, modern ‘cubist’ painter.  Picasso was a committed supporter of Communism throughout his life and remained an exile from his native Spain because of Franco’s fascism.

 

American Socialists

Eugene Debs

Martin Luther King

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan. + “Famous Socialists”, Oxford, http://www.biographyonline.net, 4th April, 2012

The Naked Socialist

 

• The Naked Socialist at Amazon.com
• The Naked Socialist at Amazon.co.uk

Dispatches #2

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A Bug's Life (1998), America, Apex Cinemas, attitude adjustment, Bangkok Thailand, Barry Strauss, Beth Reinhard, Cold War, Democrats, Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964), existentialism, George Orwell, GOP, Jason Peirce, King Minos, labor, libertarianism, military-industrial complex, Minotaur, Mitch McConnell, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), nuclear annihilation, Pixar, political movements, power, Prayut Chan-o-cha, Rand Paul, Republicans, Ron Paul, Senate, Stanley Kubrick, Tea Party, The Hunger Games: 'Mockingjay' Part One (2014), Theseus, three-fingered salute, Voices of Liberty, Wall Street Journal

Within the Republican party, there appears to be a split within a split with a split.  There are the GOP adherents, split from the so-called “Tea Party” activists, which includes Libertarians, and there is a split between Libertarians, as evidenced by father and son—Ron Paul and Rand Paul.

At a recent GOP “guru,” Mitch McConnell, gathering, Rand Paul, now in league with McConnell, stated:  “Tonight, we begin to rebuild America.”  The comments followed the GOP’s grand victory in the November elections.

“Don’t expect big changes,” Ron Paul [Rand’s purist libertarian father] countered, following the election.  “The change in control of the Senate from Democrat to Republican actually means very little.”

Beth Reinhard, of the Wall Street Journal, added that Ron Paul believes “the new congress would fail to cut spending and would lead the U.S. into a protracted war in Syria and Iraq.”

As an aside to the GOP victory in the elections, Jason Peirce of Rand Paul’s online site, Voices of Liberty, published an article emphasizing ten films that show “rich insight into the heart and soul of libertarianism.”  For Pixar’s “A Bug’s Life,” Peirce states, “The productive ants work hard all year, storing for winter.   The grasshoppers produce nothing, then come to forcibly confiscate the fruits of the ants’ labor.”

For Stanley Kubrick’s “Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb,” Peirce writes:  “Libertarian in that it illustrates the absurdity of men scheming to kill men . . .  A satire of power, the Cold War, the existential madness of the burgeoning military-industrial complex, and nuclear annihilation.”

Speaking of Libertarian-themed films, “The Hunger Games: ‘Mockingjay’ Part One” warranted a ban from theatres in Bangkok, Thailand.  Apex Cinemas, in Bangkok, issued the statement:  “We feel our theatres are being used for political movements.”  Bangkok’s military leader, General Prayut Chan-o-cha, added, “The student demonstrators, identified later as . . . were grabbed by police and military security as they showed off their T-shirts and [three-fingered] salutes. They were taken to the 23^rd Military Circle’s Sri Patcharin base to undergo ‘attitude adjustment,’ according to officials.”

From a recent ABC News report, “In June police arrested a lone student reading George Orwell’s anti-authoritarian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four and eating a sandwich, while others have previously been detained for displaying the three-fingered salute.”

On another note regarding “The Hunger Games,” Barry Strauss of the Wall Street Journal writes under the article’s heading:  “the blockbuster film franchise reaches back to the myth of Theseus, ancient Greece and Rome, and the very foundation of Western culture.”  Strauss elaborates, “In Greek myth, Theseus and other young people from Athens were sent as a tribute—human sacrificial offerings—to King Minos in Crete.  The king turned them over to the Minotaur, a murderous beast who was half-man and half-bull and lived in a maze or labyrinth.  The intrepid Theseus killed the Minotaur and saved his countrymen.”

You can read my full posts on these subjects at:  Rand Paul: A sellout or a pragmatist?, Ron Paul: 10 Libertarian-themed movies, Banned in Bangkok: The Hunger Games and its libertarian themes, and “Hunger Games:” It’s Graeco-Roman roots.

Banned in Bangkok: The Hunger Games and its libertarian themes

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ABC News, anti-coup, Apex Cinemas, attitude adjustment, Bangkok Post, Bangkok Thailand, discontent, dissent, George Orwell, Khon Kaen Thailand, League of Liberal Thammasat for Democracy, libertarianism, martial law, military junta, Mockingjay, Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949), Panem, Prayut Chan-o-cha, Sri Patcharin base, Thai Lawyers for Human Rights, The Anti Media, The Hunger Games, Time Magazine, world affairs

The Anti Media

http://theantimedia.org/mockingjay-banned-in-thai-theaters-after-inspiring-real-life-dissent/

Hunger Games ‘Mockingjay’ Banned in Thai Theaters After Inspiring Real-Life Dissent

Home » Activism » Hunger Games ‘Mockingjay’ Banned in Thai Theaters After Inspiring Real-Life Dissent

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Carey Wedler
November 20, 2104 (TheAntiMedia) KHON KAEN, THAILAND- Lionsgate

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Films’ newest installment of the Hunger Games franchise, the Mockingjay, has been banned by a Thai cinema chain.  The ban follows a student protest where students against the military coup mimicked the Hunger Games salute of solidarity and resistance.

Apex Cinemas told the Bangkok Post that the company refused to play the film, explaining that

“We feel our theaters are being used for political movements.”

The League of Liberal Thammasat for Democracy, an anti-coup student group, had offered 160 free tickets to the film premiere to anyone who could answer the question:

“In what ways is the Capital in the Mockingjay similar to Bangkok?”

It is a question that can increasingly be asked of many capitals around the world.

Apex allegedly canceled the film after being tipped off to the contest by police.  They told the Post it was not under any government pressure to do so and claim it had nothing to do with the arrests of anti-coup protesters.

The student arrests were sparked on Wednesday at an event where Thailand’s military dictator was speaking.  General Prayut Chan-o-cha leads the military junta, which has been in charge of the country since the military’s most recent coup on May 22nd.  It is the 18th military coup in Thailand since 1932.

Chan-o-cha was speaking in Khon Kaen, a region in northeastern Thailand.  The students slipped into the event wearing shirts reading “We don’t want the coup,” making the three-finger salute before they were arrested.  In the Hunger Games, it is a sign of dissent against the fictional, tyrannical government, Panem.  According to the Post,

“Prayut appared to laugh off the challenge to his authority. ‘Well, that’s it. But it’s okay. Go easy on them. we will take care of the problems. Any more protests? Make them quick.’”

Sounding eerily like President Snow of Panem, the military dictator did not actually intend to go easy on the youths:

“The student demonstrators, identified later as Wasan Seksit, Jetsathit Namkot, Jatupat Boonpatraksa, Phayu Boonsophon and Wichakorn Anuchon, were grabbed by police and military security as they showed off their T-shirts and salutes. They were taken to the 23rd Military Circle’s Sri Patcharin base to undergo ‘attitude adjustment,’ according to officials.”

They were released but ordered to report back with their parents the following day to face charges of breaking martial law.  Current reports differ on whether or not students signed an agreement to halt any political activities.

Later on Wednesday, Bangkok students were arrested  for staging a protest in solidarity with the Khon Kaen saluters.  The protest was disguised as a picnic, a common tactic to hide shows of dissent in Thailand.

The arrest of “dissident” students is nothing new.  Time reported that the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights group

“has documented ‘hundreds, possibly thousands’ of people in the northeast who have been ‘summoned, monitored, followed and harassed by the military.”

ABC reported that:

“In June police arrested a lone student reading George Orwell’s anti-authoritarian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four and eating a sandwich, while others have previously been detained for displaying the three-fingered salute.”

The popularity of the Hunger Games book series and films highlights a silver lining in the midst of current world affairs.  Its strong resonance with younger (and older) generations demonstrates the growing distrust and discontent toward government by citizens around the world.

The Hunger Games books have been banned numerous times.  In a glimmer of good news for Thailand, other theater chains will still show the film, which comes out this weekend.

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