Translate

Friday, December 16, 2016

LIBERTY UNIVERSITY TO OPEN FIRST ON CAMPUS FIRING RANGE IN THE NATION

 http://www.ammoland.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Liberty-University-Outdoor-Shooting-Complex-600x487.jpg?29d75e
LIBERTY UNIVERSITY TO OPEN FIRST ON CAMPUS FIRING RANGE IN THE NATION 
BY HEATHER CLARK
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 LYNCHBURG, Va. — Liberty University, which heralds itself as the world’s 
largest Christian university, is set to become the first educational institution 
in the nation to open an on-campus firing range.
“We have a very pro-Second Amendment student body,” President Jerry Falwell told the Washington Post this week.
He said that one of the reasons for the shooting range is because he believes those with malicious intent are more likely to carry out their attacks at facilities that are marked as “gun free zones.”
“It’s where the terrorists are most likely to strike,” Falwell stated. “[Students and their families] don’t want to see anything happen here like at Virginia Tech, where nobody was able to fire back.”

This week, Liberty applied for a permit to begin construction on what it called a “nationally recognized, full-scale shooting, training and competition center.” The 13,000 square-foot facility will have pistol, rifle and shotgun areas, as well as outdoor archery and skeet shooting spaces, and will cost at least $1 million to construct.
School officials discussed their ideas with the National Rifle Association before proceeding with plans.
Students with concealed carry permits are currently allowed to have guns on campus, and for the past year, Liberty University has offered a free firearms course, which it states has enrolled 1,600 thus far.

However, as previously reported, Falwell generated criticism over his mindset about firearms last December when he made comments about “ending [murderous] Muslims” in light of the San Bernardino massacre in California. He urged students to obtain concealed carry permits so that they would be ready to take out Muslims intent on bloodshed should they show up at Liberty University.
“I’ve always thought, if more good people had concealed carry permits, then we could end those Muslims before they walked in and killed them,” Fawell stated to the student body, receiving unreserved applause.
“I just wanted to take this opportunity to encourage all of you to get your permit. We offer a free course,” he said. “Let’s teach them a lesson if they ever show up here.”
He went on to reTweet social media posts in support of his remarks, including one that read, “S*CK IT, Muslim extremists,” adding a link to the school’s gun course.
Falwell’s comments especially raised concern among members of the Fairfax County School Board, which urged the Virginia High School League (VHSL) to discontinue hosting state championships at Liberty University.
“We are deeply disturbed by the comments of Liberty University Chancellor Jerry Falwell, Jr. … urging more than 10,000 of his assembled students to obtain handguns and stating that ‘we could end those Muslims before they walked in,’” it said in a letter in April.
While the League did ultimately pull out of Liberty, it said it was for financial reasons and not due to the board’s letter.

TRUMP NAMES NEXT U.S. ENVOY TO JEWISH STATE WHO LOOKS FORWARD TO WORKING FROM "ISRAEL'S ETERNAL CAPITOL JERUSALEM"

 
TRUMP NAMES NEXT U.S. ENVOY TO JEWISH STATE WHO LOOKS FORWARD TO WORKING FROM 
"ISRAEL'S ETERNAL CAPITOL JERUSALEM"
BY PAMELA GELLER
 
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 
Excellent news from President-elect Trump. How glorious to throw off the dark, ugly era of the anti-Israel Obama years.
Trump promises to move the US embassy to Israel’s capital, Jerusalem. It’s exhilarating and wonderful.
Friedman went on: “The critical thing is to recognize that there is not going to be any progress on a Palestinian state until the Palestinians renounce violence and accept Israel as a Jewish state. Until that happens, there is really nothing to talk about in terms of a political process.”

Trump Announces Next US Envoy to Jewish State Will Be Attorney David Friedman, Who Says He Looks Forward to Working From ‘Israel’s Eternal Capital, Jerusalem’

Algemeiner, December 15, 2016:
President-elect Donald Trump announced on Thursday evening he will nominate attorney David Friedman to serve as the next American ambassador to Israel.
“The bond between Israel and the United States runs deep, and I will ensure there is no daylight between us when I’m president,” Trump said in a statement published on his transition team’s website. “As the United States’ ambassador to Israel, David Friedman will maintain the special relationship between our two countries. He has been a long-time friend and trusted advisor to me. His strong relationships in Israel will form the foundation of his diplomatic mission and be a tremendous asset to our country as we strengthen the ties with our allies and strive for peace in the Middle East. Nothing is more critical than protecting the security of our citizens at home and abroad.”
The 57-year-old Friedman — a Jewish Long Island native — was regularly consulted with by Trump on Israel-related matters during the presidential election campaign.
“I am deeply honored and humbled by the confidence placed in me by President-elect Trump to represent the United States as its ambassador to Israel,” Friedman said in statement on Thursday. “I intend to work tirelessly to strengthen the unbreakable bond between our two countries and advance the cause of peace within the region, and look forward to doing this from the US embassy in Israel’s eternal capital, Jerusalem.”
Friedman — a founding partner of Kasowitz, Benson, Torres & Friedman LLP — was referring to Trump’s campaign promise to move the American embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
The litigation and bankruptcy law expert will take the place of Dan Shapiro, who has served as the US envoy to the Jewish state since 2011.
In a pre-election interview with The Algemeiner in early November, Friedman said that a Trump administration would not expect Israel to uproot its citizens who now live in the West Bank and east Jerusalem as part of any future peace deal with the Palestinians.
“It is inconceivable there could be a mass evacuation on that magnitude, in the unlikely event that there was an otherwise comprehensive peace agreement,” Friedman said. “It makes no sense for Judea and Samaria to be ‘Judenrein [void of Jews],’ any more than it makes sense for Israel to be ‘Arabrein [void of Arabs].’ It’s not fair.”
This would mark a departure from the Obama administration, which criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this year after he said, as reported by The Algemeiner, that the main obstacle to peace was the demand of Palestinian leaders for the “ethnic cleansing” of Jews from the West Bank.
Friedman went on: “The critical thing is to recognize that there is not going to be any progress on a Palestinian state until the Palestinians renounce violence and accept Israel as a Jewish state. Until that happens, there is really nothing to talk about in terms of a political process.”
What a Trump administration would not do, Friedman said, “is put its finger on the scale and try to force Israel into a particular outcome, but rather will support Israel in reaching its own conclusion about how to best achieve peace with its neighbors.”
“We trust Israel,” he continued. “We think it is doing an excellent job of balancing its respect for human rights and its security needs in a very difficult neighborhood. Israel is a partner with the US in the global war against terrorism. And we want our partner to be attendant to that task and not distracted by foreign countries telling it what to do. That’s really the overall premise of the policy — to respect Israel as a partner, and not to unduly influence its decisions.”
Furthermore, Friedman said, “The only thing that makes sense now is to take small steps to try to improve circumstances on the ground and provide encouragement and assistance to Palestinians who are not pursuing a hateful agenda.”

FACEBOOK EMPOWERS FAR LEFT GROUP, SNOPES.COM, TO BURY "FAKE NEWS"

 Facebook Empowers Far-Left Group to Bury "Fake News"
FACEBOOK EMPOWERS FAR LEFT GROUP TO BURY "FAKE NEWS" 
 Snopes political "fact checker" is a mouthpiece for Hillary Clinton & the Democrats
BY PAUL JOSEPH WATSON
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 
Facebook has announced it will empower Snopes, an organization with a clear left-wing bias, to bury so-called “fake news” on its news feed, a move that clearly opens the door for the outright censorship of conservative content and opinion.
“To combat fake news, Facebook has partnered with a shortlist of media organizations, including Snopes and ABC News, that are part of an international fact-checking network lead by Poynter, a nonprofit school for journalism located in St. Petersburg, Florida,” reports Business Insider.
This network will identify stories it deems to be “fake news” and then flag the URL, ensuring the story is buried in users’ news feeds and seen by significantly less people.

One of the organizations on the list tasked with burying “fake news” is Snopes, which represents a clear conflict of interest given that Snopes is clearly not impartial.
As the Daily Caller reported, Kim Lacapria, Snopes’ main political “fact checker,” describes herself as “openly left-leaning” and a liberal. She has previously equated Tea Party conservatives with jihadists
Lacapria “regularly plays defense for her fellow liberals,” according to Peter Hasson, and has betrayed her partisan bias on numerous occasions by defending Hillary Clinton and claiming that Orlando nightclub terrorist Omar Mateen wasn’t a Democrat when he was actually a registered Democrat.
Lacapria even denied that Facebook’s burying of trending news topics was an issue after Facebook employees admitted it was happening and Facebook subsequently vowed to change the policy.
Does this sound like someone who is impartial? Or does it sound like someone who, given the power to do so, will exercise bias by burying conservative opinion as “fake news” even when such content is perfectly legitimate?
Snopes itself is run by a left-wing couple based out of California. These are the people who will be deciding what’s “fake news” and what isn’t.

The list also includes the Washington Post Fact Checker, an inclusion that will also raise concerns given that only last week the Post had to admit that it couldn’t “vouch for the validity” of a Russian propaganda blacklist that a story published by the newspaper was entirely based on.
The Post was subsequently savaged by Glenn Greenwald for promoting a “McCarthyite blacklist”.
Another name on the list of organizations that will police “fake news” for Facebook is ABC News, an outlet that still employs Brian Williams even after he spread the fake news that he was under RPG fire while helicoptering in Iraq.
Facebook has basically empowered a bunch of highly partisan left-wing mainstream media outlets to bury “fake news”.
Given that the mainstream media is distrusted by around two thirds of Americans, an image blackened further by Wikileaks revelations about innumerable journalists being in bed with the Clinton campaign, how can an institution with such low levels of trust be handed the power to flag and bury so-called “fake news” without abusing it?

Incredible: Facebook Announces Chinese Style 

Net Censorship


Facebook To Begin Chinese Communist Style Censorship



 

COMMON CORE PROPAGANDISTS ARE AT IT AGAIN WITH DIZZYING SPIN

COMMON CORE PROPAGANDISTS ARE AT IT AGAIN WITH DIZZYING SPIN 
BY JANE ROBBINS
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 In the past, I’ve written about the disingenuous information routinely put out by the 
Collaborative for Student Success (CSS) to make the Common Core national
standards look good. CSS is at it again.
 CSS is a non-profit organization financed
 by the same groups that bankrolled the Common Core propaganda campaign —
 the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Broad Foundation, 
ExxonMobil, etc. In keeping with its raison d’etre of shilling for Common Core, CSS is  
trumpeting state test scores for 3rd-graders to prove that “higher standards [i.e.,  
Common Core] are leading to better outcomes.” Not exactly.
The key point about CSS’s latest claim is that it focuses only on scores from the state Common Core-aligned tests. It doesn’t mention student performance on other tests not aligned to the national standards, such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP — the “nation’s report card”). As Erin Tuttle explains, CSS has always claimed to be vigilant about exposing the “honesty gap,” defined as “the huge gaps that have existed between state NAEP scores and what states report as their proficiency rate.” But now CSS is engaging in the same dishonesty it supposedly condemns.
A quick glance at the 2015 NAEP scores of the nation’s high-school seniors suggests why CSS hides that piece of news. Those scores declined in math performance, stagnated in reading performance, and declined in college preparation in both areas. NAEP “college-readiness” scores declined as well. These scores came on the heels of similarly dismal 2015 NAEP results for younger students.
CSS spotlights two states, Delaware and New Mexico, which it says “have seen impressive student achievement gains this past year” on their state Common Core proficiency tests. Just to keep things honest, let’s look at those states’ 2015 NAEP scores.
Uh oh. Delaware’s 4th-grade reading and math NAEP scores declined from 2013 to 2015. New Mexico’s 4th-grade math scores declined, while reading increased one point but was still down five points from the peak score achieved in 2007 (before Common Core).
Maybe things were better in grade 8. But no — both states saw declines in both math and reading scores.
So Delaware and New Mexico, like almost all other states, are seeing their students’ performance deteriorate with increased exposure to Common Core training. NAEP governing board chairman Terry Mazany described all these results as “worrisome,” while a former NAEP official lamented, “We’re stalled … We’re not making any progress.”
But the ever-sunny CSS turns those frowns upside down by ignoring NAEP — a test that, so far at least, can’t be spun — and turning instead to results from state Common Core tests. Student proficiency rates on those tests are supposedly creeping up (probably because, as former U.S. Department of Education official Ze’ev Wurman explains, teachers and students are now becoming more familiar with the tests), so all’s well in Core World. This explanation makes more sense than CSS’s “higher standards and expectations” nonsense. (For a discussion of Common Core’s shortcomings qua standards, see the research papers.)

CSS’s report didn’t include the recently released scores on international tests. Results on the Trends in International Math and Science Study (TIMSS) showed American students are still languishing in the middle of the pack, some 50 to 100 points behind students from high-achieving East Asian countries. Quoted at Breitbart.com, Ze’ev Wurman also pointed out that “[o]nly a single U.S. state — Florida — participated ‘as a country’ in TIMSS, reversing the steady increase in such participation that reached eight U.S. states in 2011...” “One has to wonder,” he continued, “if states were not discouraged from participation, to eliminate yet another point of reference to see how the spread of Common Core affected different states.”

So even on a dumbed-down math test (“shopping cart math,” according to Milgram), American teenagers are hurtling downhill.
But perhaps the most disastrous scores came from the international Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). “The U.S. average [PISA] score [of 15-year-olds] in mathematics literacy in 2015 was 12 score points lower than the average score in 2012 and 18 score points lower than the average in 2009 …” Hmm, what happened around 2009? Oh yes, that was the beginning of the great Common Core experiment. So after years of Common Core training, American students’ math test scores are cratering. Great job, Mr. Gates.
What makes this worse, according to Stanford mathematician Dr. James Milgram (one of the few Americans to have seen and analyzed the entire PISA math item set), is that PISA itself is a low-level test designed to determine not who knows enough math to handle college-level work, but rather who knows enough math to stumble through life. In an email interview, Milgram explained that PISA “includ[es] no material that even reaches eighth grade level in Common Core (which would be seventh grade or lower in the higher achieving countries) though I suppose some of the questions that refer to finding the ‘cheaper’ of two packages in a grocery store would probably benefit from skills in handling simple linear equations. Of course, it should also be emphasized that such skills are not at all necessary to handle the PISA math problems.”
So even on a dumbed-down math test (“shopping cart math,” according to Milgram), American teenagers are hurtling downhill.
CSS can’t exactly ignore this disaster, so it recently posted a spin claiming these teenaged test-takers were disadvantaged by not having had Common Core training as youngsters: “the elementary-level education they received likely lacked the strong foundation that the high standards [Common Core] put in place for math instruction.” Right. But some cohorts of NAEP test-takers have been subjected to Common Core almost all their school careers, and their scores are falling as well. As Wurman asks via email, “So when will the – predicted – failure of Common Core be OK to be acknowledged? When our kids slide to be the last in the developed world in another five years?”
When that happens, count on CSS to mimic the Black Knight of Monty Python fame – “’Tis only a flesh wound!” But at least the Black Knight was funny.

OBAMA FINALIZES RULE BANNING STATES FROM DEFUNDING PLANNED PARENTHOOD

OBAMA FINALIZES RULE BANNING STATES FROM DEFUNDING PLANNED PARENTHOOD
BY HEATHER CLARK
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 
WASHINGTON — The Obama administration finalized a rule on Wednesday that bans states from defunding family planning organizations such as Planned Parenthood because they abort unborn children.
“This rule will strengthen access to essential services like cancer screenings and contraception for some of the most vulnerable patients in this country,” Chief Medical Officer Karen Scott of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, said in a statement. “Public comments showed overwhelming support for finalizing the rule, which clarifies that all organizations able to provide these services should be eligible to compete for funds.”
A reported 145,000 comments were received about the intended rule.
As previously reported, in September, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a notice of proposed rule making, advising that intended to amend the Code of Federal Regulations to read, “No recipient making sub-awards for the provision of services as part of its Title X project may prohibit an entity from participating for reasons unrelated to its ability to provide services effectively.”

Title X was enacted in 1970 under the Public Health Service Act and authorizes the Office of Population Affairs to oversee the disbursement of federal funds for the purpose of assisting organizations that offer “family planning” services. States distribute the capital to reproductive and women’s health organizations as they see fit.
In recent years, a number of states have sought to defund the abortion giant Planned Parenthood after granting the organization funds for years, stating that they do not wish to assist groups that provide abortion services, even if the funds will not be directly used for abortion.
But the Obama administration contends that stripping abortion facilities of funding results in undesired births, and that such locations are important because they provide contraceptives.

“Reducing access to Title X services has many adverse effects. Title X services have a dramatic effect on the number of unintended pregnancies and births in the United States,” HHS said in September. “For example, services provided by Title X-funded sites helped prevent an estimated 1 million unintended pregnancies in 2010 which would have resulted in an estimated 501,000 unplanned births.”
The department made similar remarks on Wednesday, remarking that the organizations are valuable because they also provide testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including HIV, as well as other reproductive-related services. It acknowledged that its rule making effort was meant to stop states from defunding the facilities.
“In the past several years, a number of states have taken actions to restrict participation by certain types of providers as sub-recipients in the Title X Program, unrelated to the provider’s ability to provide family planning services,” HHS wrote. “This has caused limitations in the geographic distribution of services and decreased access to services.”
“The final rule clarifies the Title X program regulations by adding that no grant recipient making subawards for the provision of services as part of its Title X project may prohibit an entity from participating for reasons other than its ability to provide Title X services,” it said.
But the religious liberties group Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) decried the new regulation, remarking that there are plenty of organizations that offer the same services as Planned Parenthood, minus the child-killing. It said that states should have the freedom to fund the women’s health groups that they wish.
“Planned Parenthood isn’t superior to true, publicly-funded health care centers—which are far more numerous—simply because it claims to focus on dispensing birth control, despite being America’s largest abortion business,” said Senior Counsel Steven Aden in a statement.
“The Obama administration, even in its waning hours, has chosen to put Planned Parenthood’s Big Abortion agenda ahead of women’s health and the right of states to decide how best to prioritize public health funding so that patients and the most comprehensive health providers come first,” he lamented.
According to its annual report released at the end of December, Planned Parenthood performed 323,999 abortions nationwide during the 2014-2015 fiscal year.
The rule is scheduled to take effect on Jan. 18.


ORWELLIAN "MINISTRY OF TRUTH", EXTREME THREAT TO FIRST AMENDMENT: CRITICS SLAM CONGRESS FOR "COUNTERING DISINFORMATION & PROPAGANDA ACT"

 AMERICA'S NEW ORWELLIAN "MINISTRY OF TRUTH" (AS GOVERNMENT SEES IT)
VIDEO:
http://binaryapidev.ap.org/4f23dac55af645f99386d24a6de73c0e/512x.jpg 
 http://ctboom.com/wp-content/uploads/Screenshot-12.jpg

Senate Passes Major Portman-Murphy Counter-Propaganda Bill as Part of NDAA

SEE: http://www.portman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=3765A225-B773-4F57-B21A-A265F4B5692C; 

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:

Portman/Murphy Bill Promotes Coordinated Strategy to Defend America, Allies Against Propaganda and Disinformation from Russia, China & Others 
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) today announced that their Countering Disinformation and Propaganda Act – legislation designed to help American allies counter foreign government propaganda from Russia, China, and other nations has passed the Senate as part of the FY 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Conference Report. The bipartisan bill, which was introduced by Senators Portman and Murphy in March, will improve the ability of the United States to counter foreign propaganda and disinformation by establishing an interagency center housed at the State Department to coordinate and synchronize counter-propaganda efforts throughout the U.S. government. To support these efforts, the bill also creates a grant program for NGOs, think tanks, civil society and other experts outside government who are engaged in counter-propaganda related work. This will better leverage existing expertise and empower local communities to defend themselves from foreign manipulation.
“The passage of this bill in the Senate today takes us one critical step closer to effectively confronting the extensive, and destabilizing, foreign propaganda and disinformation operations being waged against us. While the propaganda and disinformation threat has grown, the U.S. government has been asleep at the wheel. Today we are finally signaling that enough is enough; the United States will no longer sit on the sidelines. We are going to confront this threat head-on,” said Senator Portman. “With the help of this bipartisan bill, the disinformation and propaganda used against our allies and our interests will fail.”
“Congress has taken a big step in fighting back against fake news and propaganda from countries like Russia. When the president signs this bill into law, the United States will finally have a dedicated set of tools and resources to confront our adversaries’ widespread efforts to spread false narratives that undermine democratic institutions and compromise America’s foreign policy goals,” said Murphy. “I’m proud of what Senator Portman and I accomplished here because it’s long past time for the U.S. to get off the sidelines and confront these growing threats.”
NOTE: The bipartisan Countering Disinformation and Propaganda Act is organized around two main priorities to help achieve the goal of combatting the constantly evolving threat of foreign disinformation. They are as follows:
  • The first priority is developing a whole-of-government strategy for countering foreign propaganda and disinformation. The bill would increase the authority, resources, and mandate of the Global Engagement Center to include state actors like Russia and China in addition to violent extremists. The Center will be led by the State Department, but with the active senior level participation of the Department of Defense, USAID, the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the Intelligence Community, and other relevant agencies. The Center will develop, integrate, and synchronize whole-of-government initiatives to expose and counter foreign disinformation operations and proactively advance fact-based narratives that support U.S. allies and interests.
  • Second, the legislation seeks to leverage expertise from outside government to create more adaptive and responsive U.S. strategy options. The legislation establishes a fund to help train local journalists and provide grants and contracts to NGOs, civil society organizations, think tanks, private sector companies, media organizations, and other experts outside the U.S. government with experience in identifying and analyzing the latest trends in foreign government disinformation techniques. This fund will complement and support the Center’s role by integrating capabilities and expertise available outside the U.S. government into the strategy-making process. It will also empower a decentralized network of private sector experts and integrate their expertise into the strategy-making process.
###

 CRITICS SLAM CONGRESS FOR CREATING AN ORWELLIAN "MINISTRY OF TRUTH" 
BY ALEX NEWMAN
republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 
Under the guise of countering foreign “propaganda,” the GOP-controlled Congress quietly passed a bill last week that will unleash even more government propaganda on humanity, while at the same time establishing what critics blasted as an Orwellian “Ministry of Truth.” The “bipartisan” but flatly unconstitutional scheme, dubbed the Countering Disinformation and Propaganda Act, also calls for providing tax funding and training to “journalists,” media outfits, and other propagandists willing to parrot the U.S. government's viewpoints. According to its sponsors, the goal is to help promote Washington, D.C.'s “foreign policy goals.” The potential for abuse, though, is nearly endless, and the bipartisan establishment's “foreign policy goals” are often at odds with the Constitution — not to mention common decency, human liberty, and peace. And so, critics are speaking out forcefully.
The deeply controversial legislation, approved by the U.S. Senate on December 8, was not voted on as a stand-alone bill, but was instead buried deep inside the 1,576-page National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2017. Because the NDAA funds the military and is considered “must pass” by lawmakers with little regard for the oath they took to the Constitution, Big Government-loving politicians often sneak outlandish schemes into the NDAA that otherwise would almost certainly be rejected. In recent years, for example, they snuck a purported authorization for the military to indefinitely detain American citizens without charge or trial. That same ploy to sneak through totalitarian schemes appears to have occurred with the latest NDAA, with the Countering Disinformation and Propaganda Act stuck into the conference report and approved by huge margins, likely without even the knowledge of most lawmakers.
Under the radical measure, the U.S. government will unleash a powerful new federal bureaucracy on Americans and the world dubbed the “Global Engagement Center.” Overseen by the U.S. secretary of state — likely the pro-Russia Exxon-Mobil boss Rex Tillerson, ironically enough — the unconstitutional outfit will bring together bureaucrats from the State Department, the Pentagon, various “intelligence” bureaucracies, the lawless foreign-aid bureaucracy known as USAID, foreign governments, and more. In addition to establishing what one critic described as a “propaganda factory” to pump out U.S. government-backed propaganda, the bill also authorizes spying on journalists, funding “media” outlets willing to serve as U.S. government propaganda organs, and much more.
According to the legislation, the new Global Engagement Center should “develop, plan, and synchronize ... whole-of-government initiatives to expose and counter foreign propaganda and disinformation directed against United States national security interests and proactively advance fact-based narratives that support United States allies and interests.” It should also work “to establish cooperative or liaison relationships with foreign partners and allies ... and other entities, such as academia, nongovernmental organizations, and the private sector.” So even universities, schools, businesses, and non-profit organizations will be harnessed and exploited to promote U.S. government propaganda.
Perhaps even more troubling is that the scheme aims to corrupt and co-opt existing media outlets and journalists, making all journalism suspect as Americans struggle to find out who is shilling for an increasingly radicalized Uncle Sam and who is not. The bill “establishes a fund to help train local journalists and provide grants and contracts to NGOs, civil society organizations, think tanks, private sector companies, media organizations, and other experts outside the U.S. government with experience in identifying and analyzing the latest trends in foreign government disinformation techniques.” Under the bill, then, the U.S. government will officially get into the business of buying and training propagandists to promote its agenda.
While the scheme was passed quietly, and was barely mentioned by the establishment's propaganda organs aiming to quash their competition in the alternative press, the two senators behind it were cheering about their success in a press release. “The passage of this bill in the Senate today takes us one critical step closer to effectively confronting the extensive, and destabilizing, foreign propaganda and disinformation operations being waged against us,” claimed Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio) on the same day that failed Democrat presidential candidate Hillary Clinton promoted his bill as a way for the U.S. government to respond to “fake news” and alleged propaganda.
“While the propaganda and disinformation threat has grown, the U.S. government has been asleep at the wheel,” continued Portman. “Today we are finally signaling that enough is enough; the United States will no longer sit on the sidelines. We are going to confront this threat head-on. With the help of this bipartisan bill, the disinformation and propaganda used against our allies and our interests will fail.”
Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), dubbed Portman's “partner in crime” by critics, made similarly bombastic claims in a statement. “Congress has taken a big step in fighting back against fake news and propaganda from countries like Russia,” he claimed. “When the president signs this bill into law, the United States will finally have a dedicated set of tools and resources to confront our adversaries’ widespread efforts to spread false narratives that undermine democratic institutions and compromise America’s foreign policy goals. I’m proud of what Senator Portman and I accomplished here because it’s long past time for the U.S. to get off the sidelines and confront these growing threats.”
Unsurprisingly, neither of the two chief senators behind the propaganda scheme are known for their fidelity to the U.S. Constitution they swore an oath to uphold. Senator Portman has a measly 51 percent on The New American magazine's Freedom Index, which ranks lawmakers according to the constitutionality of their voting records. Senator Murphy, meanwhile, has a 13 percent, meaning he voted against the Constitution on almost nine out of ten bills examined for the index. In the House, the lawmakers behind the scheme, dubbed H.R. 5181 in its original form, were Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), who has a 55 percent, and Congressman Ted Lieu, a California Democrat who has voted constitutionally less than a third of the time.
In recent weeks, unhinged conspiracy theorists in government and the establishment media — the primary purveyors of fake news, critics say — have blamed everything from Clinton's defeat and Trump's victory to British voters' historic decision to leave the European Union on “Russian propaganda” and “fake news.” In the real world, of course, those decisions by voters had nothing to do with Russian propaganda, according to virtually every credible expert, analyst, and lawmaker who has commented on the question. Instead, the votes had everything to do with the U.S. and U.K. electorate getting fed up with totalitarian-minded globalists subverting their nations and liberties.
“I’ll be the first one to come out and point at Russia if there’s clear evidence, but there is no clear evidence — even now,” explained Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee involved with the Trump transition team. “There’s a lot of innuendo, lots of circumstantial evidence, that’s it.” Indeed, the Washington Post and the New York Times appear to be spreading fake news and false propaganda in a bid to undermine the alternative media, President-elect Trump's administration, and the use of new media such as Wikileaks that is increasingly making the establishment propagandists and gatekeepers obsolete. And the implications are incredibly dangerous to freedom and free speech.
Among those speaking out was Daniel McAdams, executive director of the Ron Paul Institute for Peace and Prosperity. McAdams suspects that the liberty-minded non-profit he runs will be among those targeted early on under the new propaganda scheme. “The measure essentially establishes a U.S. government-funded Ministry of Truth to ferret out and silence any independent media voices not toeing the US government line,” he warned, adding that the bill appeared designed to treat any criticism of the U.S. government's foreign policy agenda — “meaning disastrous neocon interventionism” — as Russian propaganda to be extinguished.
Under the scheme, he continued, the U.S. government is going to “actively propagandize” Americans in an effort to convince people that policies such as the “liberation” of Libya, the U.S. invasion of Iraq, the 15 year war on Afghanistan, the “regime change” plot aimed at Syria, and more, “were not at all dismal failures but in fact glorious successes!” “Anyone who denies that our interventionist foreign policy is producing great things overseas is obviously a Russian intelligence asset and must be neutralized!” McAdams continued, using sarcasm to ridicule the lawmakers behind the scheme.
McAdams also criticized the plot to pay journalists to promote U.S. government propaganda while putting together “hit lists” of independent media sites that oppose or expose Washington, D.C.'s deadly “foreign policy” machinations. “We may take some comfort laughing at the ridiculous ´Putin did it´ hysteria, but slowly and behind the scenes Washington is building the infrastructure to end free speech as we know it,” McAdams warned. “Beware!”
Also blasting the propaganda scheme was analyst Jason Ditz with the liberty-minded, pro-peace, non-interventionist website Antiwar.com. “That we still don’t know much about what this new federal body will be authorized to do reflects both the vague wording of the bill itself and the fact that there was virtually no debate on the matter,” he cautioned. “This vagueness likely means future governments will be able to decide for themselves just how broadly empowered they have been, which is never a good sign.”
The propaganda measure was passed quietly amid efforts to pass another, related scheme as part of the  2017 Intelligence Authorization Act (H.R. 6393). That bill, approved by the House last month, takes aim at websites and media sources alleged to be aiding “Russian propaganda” efforts. Among other schemes, it calls for the U.S. government to “counter active measures by Russia to exert covert influence … carried out in  coordination with, or at the behest of, political leaders or the security services of the Russian Federation and the role of the Russian Federation has been hidden or not acknowledged publicly.”
Considering that the globalist establishment and its propaganda organs have been labeling anything and everything that disagrees with their pro-globalist, pro-Big Government narrative as Russian propaganda or “fake news,” the implications of the legislation should be obvious. Indeed, the Washington Post, rescued by Bilderberg billionaire Jeff Bezos, published a malicious hit piece based on anonymous sources accusing hundreds of often respected alternative media outlets, including the Drudge Report, of peddling Russian government propaganda and potentially even violating federal laws against espionage. The increasingly discredited newspaper, facing potential libel lawsuits, has since clarified with an editor's note, and backed down somewhat. But the hysteria is growing — and it is dangerous. 
Of course, none of the criticism of the new unconstitutional scheme takes away from the fact that hostile foreign powers — including those in Moscow and Beijing — regularly use propaganda and disinformation to achieve geopolitical objectives. In fact, KGB disinformation officer Anatoliy Golitsyn, upon defecting to the United States, warned Western governments that the entire “collapse” of the Soviet Union (then still in the future) was in fact a giant disinformation operation by the Kremlin aimed at facilitating an eventual takeover of the West. The overwhelming majority of his predictions have already come to pass. And yet, the establishment media continues to ignore his warnings, preferring instead to promote the demonstrably false narrative of Russia as bastion of conservatism and Communist China as free-market haven. 
Democrats, though, have been active participants in promoting Kremlin propaganda. Indeed, the Democrat Party, which former Communist Party USA boasted is “utilized” by communists to pursue their totalitarian agenda, have often collaborated with and even encouraged Kremlin propaganda efforts. As conservative firebrand Ann Coulter documented in her book Demonic: How the Liberal Mob is Endangering America, for example, the late statist Senator Ted Kennedy was among the Democrats keen on helping the savage Soviets' anti-American propaganda campaign. Indeed, Kennedy was even busted sending secret messages to Soviet mass-murderer Yuri Andropov plotting propaganda efforts.
“Kennedy said how ´very impressed´ he was with Andropov, while decrying ´Reagan's belligerence´,” Coulter explained in her book. “The communist boot licker asked for pointers on responding to Reagan's ´propaganda,´ particularly any tips on Reagan's vulnerabilities. Most perplexing for the Soviets must have been Kennedy's suggestion that Andropov embark on an American media tour to counter Reagan, with Kennedy proposing interviews with Walter Cronkite or Barbara Walters.”
In other words, a leading Democrat politician wanted to help a murderous communist dictator use the (American) establishment media for pro-communist, anti-American propaganda. Since then, not much has changed, of course. Indeed, as The New American reported some years ago, Obama even took the unprecedented step of inviting Putin's terror troops to train with U.S. military forces on American soil — for the first time in history. Communist Chinese troops were invited for similar training schemes with U.S. forces under Obama, again for the first time in history, as leading globalists such as George Soros push for Beijing to “own” what they call the “New World Order.”
So far, The New American magazine, which has been exposing the schemes of the Kremlin and Putin and the establishment media since long before it was fashionable, has not yet been smeared as “Russian propaganda.” Indeed, that would be a tough sell, considering the fact that the late chairman of TNA's parent organization, Congressman Larry McDonald, was shot down by the Kremlin's fighter jets on a commercial airliner on his way to South Korea. Indeed, the establishment and its propaganda organs once demonized TNA and The John Birch Society, which publishes it, for allegedly being overly concerned about the threat Moscow posed to America and the world. No apologies have been forthcoming despite the hysterical shrieking about Putin's alleged (but almost certainly false) role in “hacking” the Democrat Party's e-mails.
There is certainly good cause for Americans and people around the world to be concerned about government propaganda. It is ubiquitous, and incredibly dangerous. However, whether it comes from the globalist and communist totalitarians in Washington, D.C., London, Moscow, Beijing, or some other capital matters little. The solution is not to authorize unconstitutional U.S. government propaganda and censorship schemes. Instead, citizen-led educational campaigns on the Constitution and the forces seeking to subvert are the key. Once the public is educated, government propaganda becomes a much harder sell, if not completely irrelevant.   

Related articles:
Dispute Over CIA Claim Russia Tried to Get Trump Elected
War on ‘Fake News’ Part of a War on Free Speech
Trump-Russia Connection or Wild Conspiracy Theory?
Red March to Global Tyranny
Russian Troops Coming to U.S. for Terror Drills, DoD Confirms
UN Internet Summit Run by Beijing Pushes “Global Governance”
Putin: Key Player in the “New World Order”
Putin's East v. Globalist West: Merging Into a New World Order
Government Uses Psy-ops, Trolls, Propaganda to Push “Conformity”
British Surveillance Agents Create False Internet Information
Government Agents Invent False Evidence to Destroy Reputations
U.K. Launches War on “Non-Violent Extremism,” Seeking UN Help
Obama Behavior Team to “Nudge” U.S. Toward Government Goals
U.S. Military Funds Studies on How to Influence Social Media Use
Elements of Soviet Mind-control Schemes Exposed
EU Bosses Step Up Bullying, Propaganda to Combat Euroskepticism
UN and Media Plan “Sustainable Development” Propaganda Blitz
UN Plotting to “Dramatically Alter” Your Views and Behavior
Top U.S. Communist Boasts That Party “Utilizes” Democrats
U.S. Tech Giants Join EU to Censor the Internet
________________________________________________________
 Senate Quietly Passes The "Countering Disinformation And Propaganda Act"

Senate Quietly Passes The “Countering Disinformation And Propaganda Act”

Another, perhaps even more dangerous and limiting to civil rights and freedom of speech bill passed on December 8

SEE: http://www.infowars.com/senate-quietly-passes-the-countering-disinformation-and-propaganda-act/;

republished below in full unedited for informational, educational, and research purposes:
 
While we wait to see if and when the Senate will pass (and president will sign) Bill  “H.R. 6393, Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017″, which was passed by the House at the end of November with an overwhelming majority and which seeks to crack down on websites suspected of conducting Russian propaganda and calling for the US government to “counter active measures by Russia to exert covert influence … carried out in  coordination with, or at the behest of, political leaders or the security services of the Russian Federation and the role of the Russian Federation has been hidden or not acknowledged publicly,” another, perhaps even more dangerous and limiting to civil rights and freedom of speech bill passed on December 8.
Recall that as we reported in early June, “a bill to implement the U.S.’ very own de facto Ministry of Truth has been quietly introduced in Congress. As with any legislation attempting to dodge the public spotlight the Countering Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation Act of 2016 marks a further curtailment of press freedom and another avenue to stultify avenues of accurate information. Introduced by Congressmen Adam Kinzinger and Ted Lieu, H.R. 5181 seeks a “whole-government approach without the bureaucratic restrictions” to counter “foreign disinformation and manipulation,” which they believe threaten the world’s “security and stability.”
Also called the Countering Information Warfare Act of 2016 (S. 2692), when introduced in March by Sen. Rob Portman, the legislation represents a dramatic return to Cold War-era government propaganda battles. “These countries spend vast sums of money on advanced broadcast and digital media capabilities, targeted campaigns, funding of foreign political movements, and other efforts to influence key audiences and populations,” Portman explained, adding that while the U.S. spends a relatively small amount on its Voice of America, the Kremlin provides enormous funding for its news organization, RT.“Surprisingly,” Portman continued, “there is currently no single U.S. governmental agency or department charged with the national level development, integration and synchronization of whole-of-government strategies to counter foreign propaganda and disinformation.”

Long before the “fake news” meme became a daily topic of extensive conversation on wuch mainstream fake news portals as CNN and WaPo, H.R. 5181 would rask the Secretary of State with coordinating the Secretary of Defense, the Director of National Intelligence, and the Broadcasting Board of Governors to “establish a Center for Information Analysis and Response,” which will pinpoint sources of disinformation, analyze data, and — in true dystopic manner — ‘develop and disseminate’ “fact-based narratives” to counter effrontery propaganda.
* * *
Fast forward to this past Thursday, December 8, when the “Countering Disinformation and Propaganda Act” passed in the Senate, quietly inserted inside the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Conference Report.
Here is the full statement issued by the generously funded Senator Rob Portman (R- Ohio) on the passage of a bill that further chips away at press liberties in the US, and which sets the stage for future which hunts and website shutdowns, purely as a result of an accusation that any one media outlet or site is considered as a source of “disinformation and propaganda” and is shut down by the government.
Senate Passes Major Portman-Murphy Counter-Propaganda Bill as Part of NDAA
Portman/Murphy Bill Promotes Coordinated Strategy to Defend America, Allies Against Propaganda and Disinformation from Russia, China & Others 
U.S. Senators Rob Portman (R-OH) and Chris Murphy (D-CT) today announced that their Countering Disinformation and Propaganda Act – legislation designed to help American allies counter foreign government propaganda from Russia, China, and other nations – has passed the Senate as part of the FY 2017 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) Conference Report. The bipartisan bill, which was introduced by Senators Portman and Murphy in March, will improve the ability of the United States to counter foreign propaganda and disinformation by establishing an interagency center housed at the State Department to coordinate and synchronize counter-propaganda efforts throughout the U.S. government. To support these efforts, the bill also creates a grant program for NGOs, think tanks, civil society and other experts outside government who are engaged in counter-propaganda related work. This will better leverage existing expertise and empower local communities to defend themselves from foreign manipulation.
“The passage of this bill in the Senate today takes us one critical step closer to effectively confronting the extensive, and destabilizing, foreign propaganda and disinformation operations being waged against us. While the propaganda and disinformation threat has grown, the U.S. government has been asleep at the wheel. Today we are finally signaling that enough is enough; the United States will no longer sit on the sidelines. We are going to confront this threat head-on,” said Senator Portman. “With the help of this bipartisan bill, the disinformation and propaganda used against our allies and our interests will fail.”
“Congress has taken a big step in fighting back against fake news and propaganda from countries like Russia. When the president signs this bill into law, the United States will finally have a dedicated set of tools and resources to confront our adversaries’ widespread efforts to spread false narratives that undermine democratic institutions and compromise America’s foreign policy goals,” said Murphy. “I’m proud of what Senator Portman and I accomplished here because it’s long past time for the U.S. to get off the sidelines and confront these growing threats.”
NOTE: The bipartisan Countering Disinformation and Propaganda Act is organized around two main priorities to help achieve the goal of combatting the constantly evolving threat of foreign disinformation. They are as follows:
  • The first priority is developing a whole-of-government strategy for countering foreign propaganda and disinformation. The bill would increase the authority, resources, and mandate of the Global Engagement Center to include state actors like Russia and China in addition to violent extremists. The Center will be led by the State Department, but with the active senior level participation of the Department of Defense, USAID, the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the Intelligence Community, and other relevant agencies. The Center will develop, integrate, and synchronize whole-of-government initiatives to expose and counter foreign disinformation operations and proactively advance fact-based narratives that support U.S. allies and interests.
  • Second, the legislation seeks to leverage expertise from outside government to create more adaptive and responsive U.S. strategy options. The legislation establishes a fund to help train local journalists and provide grants and contracts to NGOs, civil society organizations, think tanks, private sector companies, media organizations, and other experts outside the U.S. government with experience in identifying and analyzing the latest trends in foreign government disinformation techniques. This fund will complement and support the Center’s role by integrating capabilities and expertise available outside the U.S. government into the strategy-making process. It will also empower a decentralized network of private sector experts and integrate their expertise into the strategy-making process.
* * *
In other words, the Act will i) greenlight the government to crack down with impunity against any media property it deems “propaganda”, and ii) provide substantial amounts of money to fund an army of “local journalist” counterpropaganda, to make sure the government’s own fake news drowns that of the still free “fringes.”
So while packaged politely in a veneer of “countering disinformation and propaganda”, the bill, once signed by Obama, will effectively give the government a full mandate to punish, shut down or otherwise prosecute, any website it deems offensive and a source of “foreign government propaganda from Russia, China or other nations.” And since there is no formal way of proving whether or not there is indeed a foreign propaganda sponsor, all that will be sufficient to eliminate any “dissenting” website, will be the government’s word against that of the website. One can be confident that the US government will almost certainly prevail in every single time.