A News Aggregator That Covers The World's Major Wars And Conflicts. Military, Political, And Intelligence News Are Also Covered. Occasionally We Will Have Our Own Opinions Or Observations To Make.
First 3 images: what @TheAtlantic said when Trump announced that the US/Saudi partnership must continue despite the murder of Jamal Khashoggi
Last image: what @TheAtlantic said when Biden announced that the US/Saudi partnership must continue despite the murder of Jamal Khashoggi pic.twitter.com/ij1N09i7Hu
WNU Editor: For more on Glenn Greenwalds analysis on this media coverage, check out his tweets below.
The excuses Biden officials are making - for why Biden vowed during the campaign to turn Saudis into "pariahs", only to now embrace them - is the same rationale Trump offered for the same decision (which caused pundits to declare the Death of US Values):https://t.co/P7PNXZqtW5
Here's Biden, as President, on what he actually did to the Saudis and the US/Saudi partnership:
Pretty much everything he said in that above video was a flat-out lie. He sold weapons to them. He refused to sanction MbS. Now he's visiting on his knees, heralding the partnership. pic.twitter.com/oeP9dCNdUz
“Google is partnering with the US Government in developing a nationwide website that includes information about COVID-19 symptoms, risk and testing information. (2/6)
Google pushed back against claims from left-wing media on Saturday after certain publications and journalists falsely claimed that President Donald Trump lied when he said that Google was building a national website to track cases of coronavirus.
“I want to thank Google,” Trump said during a press conference on Friday. “Google is helping to develop a website. It’s going to be very quickly done, unlike websites of the past, to determine whether a test is warranted and to facilitate testing at a nearby convenient location.”
Google Communications initially released a statement on Friday from Verily, a company that is owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet.
“We are developing a tool to help triage individuals for Covid-19 testing. Verily is in the early stages of development, and planning to roll testing out in the Bay Area, with the hope of expanding more broadly over time,” Google Communications tweeted. “We appreciate the support of government officials and industry partners and thank the Google engineers who have volunteered to be part of this effort.”
WNU Editor: One of my brother's closest friends (who is also a neighbour) is one of the managers for this project, and he tells em that they are very excited to be involved in this project knowing too well that it is going to be used by everyone once it is online. As for the main stream media. CTV News in Canada this morning is still carrying the fake news report that Google was surprised by the President's announcement. Sighhhh .... this is just another reminder on why we must always be skeptical on what the news is reporting on.
....say he fought back against this phony crime that didn’t exist, this horrendous false accusation, and he shouldn’t fight back, he should just sit back and take it. Could this be Obstruction? No, Mueller didn’t find Obstruction either. Presidential Harassment!
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Thursday acknowledged for the first time that Russia helped “me to get elected,” and then quickly retracted the idea.
“No, Russia did not help me get elected,” Mr. Trump told reporters as he departed the White House for Colorado Springs. “I got me elected.” He spoke less than an hour after his Twitter post.
The original comment, a clause in one of several Twitter posts this morning, is an extraordinary admission from Mr. Trump, who has avoided saying publicly that Russia helped him win the presidency in 2016 through its election interference. American intelligence agencies and federal prosecutors have long concluded that Russia tried to influence voters.
Mr. Trump has been reluctant to fully embrace the intelligence agencies’ findings that Russia was behind the 2016 election interference, but he has consistently argued that he alone was responsible for his unexpected victory. The “Russia hoax,” Mr. Trump has argued, is one fabricated by Democrats who are angry they lost the White House.
WNU Editor: Because of this blog I do read everyone of President Trump's tweets, and in the past three years I have become very familiar with his writing style. He is not admitting that Russia "helped me to get elected" in the above tweet. Far from it. But according to the New York Times .... he is. One of the faults that I have observed more than once in the media coverage of President Trump is that they take his tweets or remarks literally. Case in point .... telling the Russians in a campaign speech in 2016 to "find Hillary Clinton's emails". Then candidate Trump was mocking the media in front of a crowd who responded by laughing and agreeing with him. They understood his joke, and so did I. But many in the media and his opponents saw him as someone who was voicing support for Russia to hack Hillary Clinton's servers .... which by the way were disconnected and no longer online at the time. But will not let those pesky facts get in the way of a media narrative.
After the New York Times revealed that the FBI sent a second spy to infiltrate the Trump campaign during the 2016 US election - a 'honeypot' who went by the name of Azra Turk who posed as a research assistant to the first spy they sent in, Stefan Halper - the rest of the MSM has been virtually silent.
Both the Washington Post and CNN - which breathlessly reported on their peers' anonymously-sourced anti-Trump propaganda for two years - have somehow failed to write a single article mentioning Azra Turk.
Google search results for “Trump News” shows only the viewing/reporting of Fake New Media. In other words, they have it RIGGED, for me & others, so that almost all stories & news is BAD. Fake CNN is prominent. Republican/Conservative & Fair Media is shut out. Illegal? 96% of...
....results on “Trump News” are from National Left-Wing Media, very dangerous. Google & others are suppressing voices of Conservatives and hiding information and news that is good. They are controlling what we can & cannot see. This is a very serious situation-will be addressed!
* President Donald Trump vowed to address Google allegedly using search results to show "Fake News Media" in a bid to suppress conservative voices in a manner he called "very dangerous."
* Trump has previously called out Twitter for "shadow banning" prominent conservatives, saying the practice was "illegal" and his administration would look into it.
* As Google search represents a product from the Alphabet Company, a publicly traded company, it's unclear how the US government could address or direct its largely automated service to behave differently.
President Donald Trump vowed to address Google allegedly using search results to show "Fake News Media" in a bid to suppress conservative voices in a manner he called "very dangerous."
WNU Editor: I live in Canada, and when I use Google news search with my Canadian settings .... let me put it this way .... Canadian news coverage is overwhelming anti-Trump (close to 100%), and it is reflected in Google's search results here. I can only assume the same story for other countries.
On Friday, Michelle Goldberg of The New York Times appeared on MSNBC, and made a rather shocking claim.
During a panel discussion regarding President Trump, the following conversation took place among Caitlin Huey-Burns of RealClearPolitics, John Podhoretz of Commentary, host Katy Tur, and Goldberg:
WNU Editor: Has The New York Times abdicated journalism? First hiring a racist .... Did The New York Times Editorial Board Just Hire A Racist? (August 2, 2018), and now this suggestion that President Trump wants to round people up and ‘murder’ them. It makes you wonder on what is next.
Chief Pentagon spokesperson Dana W. White and Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie, the Joint Staff director, brief reporters at the Pentagon, April 5, 2018. DoD photo by Air Force Tech Sgt. Vernon Young Jr.
Coupled with eroding access to top Defense Department officials, Pentagon reporters say it's becoming increasingly difficult to provide critical information to Americans.
The Pentagon’s top spokesperson was ostensibly seeking to make peace with the media when she headed down to the building’s press bullpen about three weeks ago for an off-the-record discussion on how to improve relations.
But the meeting quickly grew combative, according to three people who were in the room. When reporters raised issues like vanishing access to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and other top officials, Dana White pushed back by criticizing the accuracy of press corps members’ reporting.
She made clear, according to the reporters present, that she was watching what they wrote and put on-air — with the implication that there would be repercussions for stories she and her staff did not like.
WNU Editor: Reporters being "punished' for the stories that they publish .... as well as reporters being "rewarded" for the stories that they publish .... is unfortunately nothing new. During the Obama administration FOX News was persona non grata, but now they are the favorite for the administration when it comes to exclusive stories. I have also noticed this more combative nature of the Pentagon press coverage between the Pentagon and the press corps under the Trump administration. This is in contrast on what happened during the Obama administration, where in my opinion I felt the press was giving the administration a past .... especially on how the Pentagon was conducting its many wars, its drone program, and its procurement of weapon systems. Flash forward to today, the press is no longer giving the Pentagon pass, and they have returned to their roots on how to conduct their job. So where were they for the previous 8 years .... you tell me. In the case of Defense One being blacklisted by the Pentagon .... this does not surprise me. They have good sources within the Pentagon, and they have an excellent history of posting stories before anyone else usually does.
In the midst of Tuesday's historic Trump-Kim summit and accompanying myriad pundits giving their hot takes on mainstream news networks, 24-year State Department veteran and geopolitics expert Peter Van Buren began an epic rant on twitter with the following: "If you're keeping score at home, every pundit and MSM head who claimed the summit would never happen, or Trump would blow up, is now 100% and forever wrong. Still watching CNN????"
Van Buren is best known as a whistleblower who was ousted from a successful career as a foreign service officer after he chronicled the astronomical amount of US government waste, fraud, criminality and abuse in post-Saddam Iraq based on his experience leading two reconstruction teams for the State Department.
WNU Editor: What I find striking in the media coverage of the Singapore Summit are the differences in the analysis from the Western Press on what happened in Singapore .... and what the news agencies in Asia are saying. In the West ... overwhelming critical of President Trump and the summit's outcome. In Asia .... it is overwhelmingly positive on every level. So who is right?
One key moment in a two-day meeting. Five official photos. Five opposing stories.
Photographs from the Group of Seven summit provided by the German and American governments suggest contrasting images of their leaders.
In a photo released by the German Federal Government, German Chancellor Angela Merkel stands surrounded by other leaders as she peers down at US President Donald Trump, who is seated with his arms crossed and returns her gaze.
An official White House photograph from the summit shows Trump holding forth as Merkel, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan listen.
It is among several photos the White House sent to news media after the German government released the Merkel photo.
Ten minutes later, the French president’s office responded with a quite different view of the very same scene.
U.S. President Barack Obama meets with President-elect Donald Trump (L) to discuss transition plans in the White House Oval Office in Washington, U.S., November 10, 2016. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
President Trump has held three times as many short question and answer sessions with reporters than former President Barack Obama at this point in his administration, but has given half as many interviews, according to a statistical analysis released Thursday.
Trump engaged reporters in 170 short question and answer sessions during his first 465 days in office, a window that ended Tuesday, compared to Obama’s 55 short Q&As, which generally are with members of the White House press pool.
Although Trump speaks much more frequently with reporters on the tarmac before boarding Air Force One or on the South Lawn before climbing aboard a helicopter designated Marine One, he’s given far fewer one-on-one interviews. Obama gave 187 interviews in his first 465 days, compared to Trump's 95.
WNU Editor: President Obama understood that much of the media was supportive of his agenda. President Trump understands (especially now) that many are openly against his agenda and Presidency. This type of perception always frames how a President interacts with the media .... and in the case of President Trump .... do not expect to see him giving one-on-one interviews to CNN/NBC/MSNBC/etc..
Irina Van Dusen is chief of the Russian Service of the Voice of America, which runs the Russian-language television news program “Current Time America.” NBC News
Polygraph is part of a small U.S. government effort to counter the Russian propaganda machine.
WASHINGTON — When reports began to emerge last month that Russian mercenaries had attacked a U.S. base in Syria, Russia issued a flat denial, and the U.S. was silent.
Then, leaked recordings surfaced on the internet.
"We've had our asses f--- kicked. So one squadron f--- lost 200 people …the Yankees knew for sure that the Russians were coming."
The tapes seemed to show Russian guns-for-hire acknowledging a crushing defeat in the Feb. 8 incident. It was an embarrassment for the Kremlin, which was forced to admit that Russian citizens had been killed by the U.S. military — something an American general later confirmed to NBC News.
With their election interference and ongoing manipulation of social media platforms like Twitter, the Russians have been regularly outfoxing America in the information realm, U.S. intelligence officials acknowledge. Who turned the tables this time?
WNU editor: My pet peeve with the U.S. main stream media is that they avoid news stories that do not fit their own narrative. My pet peeve with Russian media is that they dump disinformation on stories that do not fit their own media. Fortunately .... there is more than enough media out there to get the story and/or alternate points of view. Unfortunately .... most of us do not have the time to locate those sources.
Media haranguing people about what they can have, what they should do, how they should feel has reached such absurd levels. It is all so far removed from simply reporting what is!
Russia interferes in every election. You didn’t care until you were told to care. Statues stood for over 100 years. You didn’t care until you were told to care. People are killed daily by guns in cities like Chicago. You don’t care about gun violence until you’re told to care
The Central Intelligence Agency said yesterday that it has the right to disclose classified information to selected journalists and then to withhold the same information from others under the Freedom of Information Act.
FOIA requester Adam Johnson had obtained CIA emails sent to various members of the press including some that were redacted as classified. How, he wondered, could the CIA give information to uncleared reporters — in this case Siobhan Gorman (then) of the Wall Street Journal, David Ignatius of the Washington Post, and Scott Shane of the New York Times — and yet refuse to give it to him? In an effort to discover the secret messages, he filed a FOIA lawsuit.
WNU Editor: What a great arrangement for the reporters and the CIA. The CIA gets their version of the story out there, and the reporters do not have to chase stories .... the stories are given to them.
CNN is getting dragged online for writing a glowing puff piece about North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s sister appearing at the Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea — with a headline claiming she was “stealing the show.”
The article, published Saturday afternoon, began with these cooing words about the woman who gave South Korean President Moon Jae-in an invite to visit North Korea:
“If ‘diplomatic dance’ were an event at the Winter Olympics, Kim Jong Un’s younger sister would be favored to win gold. With a smile, a handshake and a warm message in South Korea’s presidential guest book, Kim Yo Jong has struck a chord with the public just one day into the PyeongChang Games.”
WNU Editor: To put it bluntly .... Kim Jung-Un's sister showing up at the Olympics in South Korea is an important story. But the lack of coverage and reporting on who she really is .... what her brother has done (and is doing) .... and how she and her family has benefited from the suffering of millions of North Koreans .... words just escape me. They are being duped without even realizing it .... and this is not the first time .... Did NBC Fall For North Korean Propaganda? (January 25, 2018).
An @NBCNews exclusive: “We have been treated with respect here.” @lesterholtnbc is just a few hours outside the capital of Pyongyang with a rare look inside North Korea pic.twitter.com/xTZM6QcLEy
NBC News is reeling after “Nightly News” anchor Lester Holt appears to have been badly fooled by North Korean propagandists -- giving a cheery report from a ski resort in the Hermit Kingdom that looked to be bustling when it was widely known to actually be a ghost town.
Holt -- who returned early from North Korea after scathing reviews -- reported for “Nightly News” from the Masikryong ski resort on Monday, a facility that is the brainchild of Supreme Leader Kim Jong Un and is typically empty. The resort, built to create the appearance of a prosperous nation, was largely deserted during peak 2017 ski season, according to multiple reports.
But for Holt’s appearance, the North Korean government appears to have brought in skiers — wearing identical outfits — and staged the scene, something Holt did not appear to realize.
The Wall Street Journal stated falsely that I said to them “I have a good relationship with Kim Jong Un” (of N. Korea). Obviously I didn’t say that. I said “I’d have a good relationship with Kim Jong Un,” a big difference. Fortunately we now record conversations with reporters...
President Trump on Sunday accused The Wall Street Journal of “falsely” reporting him saying he has a “good relationship” with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and publishing so-called fake news because the newspaper wanted a big story.
“The Wall Street Journal stated falsely that I said to them ‘I have a good relationship with Kim Jong Un’ (of N. Korea). Obviously I didn’t say that. I said ‘I’d have a good relationship with Kim Jong Un,’ a big difference. Fortunately we now record conversations with reporters,” Trump said over two tweets. “And they knew exactly what I said and meant. They just wanted a story. FAKE NEWS!”
WNU Editor: When the Wall Street Journal published this story .... Trump Lawyer Arranged $130,000 Payment for Adult-Film Star’s Silence (Wall Street Journal) .... a story that both the lawyer and the adult-film star have vehemently denied .... I said to myself that President Trump was going to strike back at the WSJ.It looks like he just did.
Because they have lost the ability to cover real news when it happens
As widespread anti-regime protests in Iran continue on into their third day, American news audiences are starting to wonder why the US media has devoted so little coverage to such dramatic—and possibly history-making—events. Ordinary people are taking their lives in their hands to voice their outrage at the crimes of an obscurantist regime that has repressed them since 1979, and which attacks and shoots dead them in the streets. So why aren’t the protests in Iran making headlines?
WNU Editor: The above writer is no friend of the Iran regime and he is definitely not a supporter of President Obama's policy of outreach to the mullahs. But he does have a point on how slow and sloppy the U.S. news media has been on this story. And even today .... after 3 days of protests .... the international news media is still the place to go for in-depth stories and analysis on what is happening in Iran. And note his explanation on why this is the case ....
.... Networks like like CNN and MSNBC which have gambled their remaining resources and prestige on a #Resist business model are in even deeper trouble. Providing media therapy for a relatively large audience apparently keen to waste hours staring at a white truck obscuring the country club where Donald Trump is playing golf is their entire business model—a Hail Mary pass from a business that had nearly been eaten alive by Facebook and Google. First down! So it doesn’t matter how many dumb Trump-Russia stories the networks, or the Washington Post, or the New Yorker get wrong, as long as viewership and subscriptions are up—right?
The problem, of course, is that the places that have obsessively run those stories for the past year aren’t really news outfits—not anymore. They are in the aromatherapy business. And the karmic sooth-sayers and yogic flyers and mid-level political operators they employ as “experts” and “reporters” simply aren’t capable of covering actual news stories, because that is not part of their skill-set.
.... Anyone on Twitter could click #IranProtests and view videos and eyewitness accounts that contradicted much of Western media’s early reporting about these protests being simply about economic anxiety as was the case with The New York Times and Washington Post. ....
Earlier this week, for example, Politico Magazine published a story by Josh Meyer headlined “The secret backstory of how Obama let Hezbollah off the hook.” This epic and copiously sourced piece relates how, “in its determination to secure a nuclear deal with Iran, the Obama administration derailed an ambitious law enforcement campaign targeting drug trafficking by the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah, even as it [Hezbollah, not the Obama administration] was funneling cocaine into the United States.”
WNU Editor: One of the reason why I enjoy doing this blog is to draw attention to how the media covers the White House. During the Obama administration the media did ignore a lot of stories, and I would also say that what they did cover was overall very favorable .... which is quite a contrast to what we are seeing now. That is why this Politico story and the blow-back from the previous administration to it is a sight to see .... officials from the previous administration are angry about it, and more to the point, their ire is focused on the reporter and not on what he is reporting. And as to why they are angry about this report .... from my perspective it is obvious. For President Obama, and for those who support the former President, the Iranian deal is his foreign policy achievement. But what the Politico story does .... and why it has resulted in the reaction that we are now seeing .... is that it reveals how this policy decision was made by the administration, and (in my humble opinion) a very revealing look into the mindset and calculation that President Obama used in making sure that this policy decision moved forward. In short .... is not pretty. And more to the point .... if the Politico report is only 50% correct .... a jaw-dropping revelation of U.S. foreign policy.
On a side note .... I know that this blog is read by a number of reporters who work in Europe. I am sure that the governments of Germany, France, and the U.K. also knew of this Iran-Hezbollah drug network. Did they decide to ignore it also .... or more to the point .... decide not to prosecute?
Update: I forgot to mention it. But on the day that the Politico story broke, the major networks .... ABC News, CBS, and ABC did not cover this story.
I have been involved in numerous computer science projects since the 1980s, as well as developing numerous web projects since 1996.
These blogs are a summation of all the information that I read and catalog pertaining to the subjects that interest me.
