Presstitutes

Another 1.8 Million People Just Ditched Cable TV

"Another quarter, another dismal set of numbers for the TV business. About1.8 million people ended their cable TV subscriptions in Q2 2013, according to analysts at SNL Kagan. Where are all the cord-cutters going? Here's one theory: As the availability of free WiFi increases, folks whose primary access to video and the web is on mobile devices and tablets — the young and the poor, in other words — have a less urgent need for subscriber services. The pay TV business is still huge, of course. But the losses in old-fashioned cable are not being gained by telco/internet suppliers who also supply TV." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAnother 1.8 Million People Just Ditched Cable TV

Australian TV networks reject anti-Rupert Murdoch commercial

"Australia’s commercial television networks are refusing to run an advert which accuses Rupert Murdoch of printing 'misleading crap' in his newspapers ahead of national elections, the activist group behind the ad said Wednesday. The left-leaning GetUp!, which describes itself as an independent community advocacy organisation, is complaining to the competition watchdog after three major commercial networks refused to air the video which has been viewed more than 270,600 times on YouTube. Network Ten, of which Murdoch’s son Lachlan Murdoch is a director, had said it did not want to target another media organisation." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingAustralian TV networks reject anti-Rupert Murdoch commercial

David Stockman: The End of U.S. Imperium—Finally!

"Next week Congress can do far more than stop a feckless Tomahawk barrage on a small country that is already a graveyard of civil war and sectarian slaughter. By voting 'no,' it can trigger the end of the American Imperium—five decades of incessant meddling, bullying, and subversion around the globe that has added precious little to national security but left America fiscally exhausted and morally diminished. Indeed, the tragedy of this vast string of misbegotten interventions is that virtually none of them involved defending the homeland or any tangible, steely-eyed linkages to national security. They were all rooted in ideology." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingDavid Stockman: The End of U.S. Imperium—Finally!

N.Y. Times scraps AIPAC from Syria story

"A reference to the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC was mysteriously cut from a New York Times article published online Monday and in print Tuesday. The first version, published online Monday, quotes an anonymous administration official calling AIPAC the '800-pound gorilla in the room.' The original article, which is still available on The Boston Globe's site, had two paragraphs worth of quotes from officials about the powerful lobbying group's position in the Syria debate. The newer version makes no reference to AIPAC and does not include an editor's note explaining any change." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingN.Y. Times scraps AIPAC from Syria story

Obama Has Decided That It Is Safer To Buy Congress Than To Go It Alone

"The White House will bribe, cajole, and intimidate the Congress. The regime’s argument will be that with America’s prestige and credibility on the line, Congress must support the President. The President and Secretary of State have made unequivocal statements of Assad’s guilt and their determination to punish Assad. Given Washington’s insanity, the way Washington punishes Assad for (allegedly) killing Syrians with chemical weapons is for Washington to kill more Syrians with cruise missiles. If this doesn’t make sense to you, you don’t belong in Obama’s government or in the American media, and you could never be a neoconservative." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama Has Decided That It Is Safer To Buy Congress Than To Go It Alone

What Was Bradley Manning’s Sin?

"What was Bradley Manning’s sin that warrants a sentence of 35 years? It was a sin manufactured by the State against the State’s version of righteousness. A righteous person, according to the State, is a State co-conspirator who is required to keep silent when observing crimes of the State. There is a conspiracy of silence and secrecy, like the Mafia’s omerta. Manning joined the conspiracy and then broke the rule of silence. He failed to place his conscience on hold or abeyance while serving the State. Now he must pay for his 'sin', the State claims. What sin? There is no real sin here on his part, and no real crime. There is only a power play." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingWhat Was Bradley Manning’s Sin?

Libertarianism and The Congressional Vote on Attacking Syria

"MSM tends to offer up the explanation of 'war weariness,' but it is much deeper than this. After, Iraq, Afghanistan and Bengazi, the U.S. people see the USG and its military as bunglers with likely hidden agendas. It still remains unclear why some of these military efforts, and the mysterious operations at Benghazi, were really launched (Or the real reason the USG desires to launch an attack against Syria.) MSM acts as a pretty good propaganda machine for the military that promotes the idea of a spit and polish operation, more powerful than any other on earth, but when it comes to real world confrontations, as we see, the US military has problems against even a rag tag bunch of mountain men." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLibertarianism and The Congressional Vote on Attacking Syria

Bombshell: Kerry Caught Using Iraq Photos to Fuel Syrian War

"Secretary of State John Kerry opened his speech Friday by describing the horrors victims of the chemical weapon attack suffered, including twitching, spasms and difficulty breathing. Attempting to drive the point home, Kerry referenced a photograph used by the BBC illustrating a child jumping over hundreds of dead bodies covered in white shrouds. The photo was meant to depict victims who allegedly succumbed to the effects of chemical weapons via Assad’s regime. However, it was later exposed the photograph used had been taken in 2003 in Iraq. It was not related to Syrian deaths whatsoever and was later retracted." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBombshell: Kerry Caught Using Iraq Photos to Fuel Syrian War

Glenn Greenwald: David Frum, the Iraq war and oil

"Wars rarely have one clear and singular purpose, and the Iraq War in particular was driven by different agendas prioritized by different factions. To say it was fought exclusively due to oil is an oversimplification. But the fact that oil is a major factor in every Western military action in the Middle East is so self-evident that it's astonishing that it's even considered debatable, let alone some fringe and edgy idea. Yet few claims were more stigmatized in the run-up to the Iraq War, and after, than the view that oil was a substantial factor. In 2006, George Bush instructed us that there was a 'responsible' way to criticize the US war effort in Iraq, and an 'irresponsible' way to do so, and he helpfully defined the boundaries." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald: David Frum, the Iraq war and oil

Joe Biden’s Case That Waging War Without Congress Is an Impeachable Offense

"He reflected deeply on the law for almost two decades, through numerous presidencies, as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee; consulted a whole group of constitutional scholars; taught constitutional law classes on the separation of powers; and went on national TV while running for president to declare unilateral executive-branch war-making a high crime! But now that he's part of an administration openly pondering strikes on Syria without Congressional approval -- even as dozens of legislators demand to be consulted -- Biden doesn't have any public objections, and the position he and his constitutional experts once asserted is treated as a naive curiosity in the press." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingJoe Biden’s Case That Waging War Without Congress Is an Impeachable Offense