#presstitutes

I wish we lived in a world where Republicans never lie to us, and there was no need for the press to fact-check every fucking word they say — but we don’t. we live in the shittiest timeline. we are being lied to every day of our lives. we need a press that will rip this shit apart like a meth-tweaked pit bull. we need a press that goes ‘the fuck he did — prove it,’ every time they’re told that Mitch McConnell ‘said’ something. these are the same shit-kazoos who hounded Joe Biden every single day, and demanded he prove that he was still up to the task of presidenting. now, they’re handed on a silver platter the case of a Senator who is obviously hiding something about his own fitness for office, and the press can’t be roused from its slumber.

The Central Intelligence Agency constantly attempts to manipulate journalism on the global security state. It is part of the DNA of the spy agency to spread propaganda and spur debates undermining the truth. Yet, all too often, establishment media organizations, including their most prominent reporters, are willing accomplices in the CIA’s efforts to prevent certain stories from being told.

Nicholas Schou, an investigative journalist for OC Weekly and author of “Kill the Messenger: How the CIA’s Crack Cocaine Epidemic Destroyed Journalist Gary Webb,” returns to the subject of national security journalism in his new book, “Spooked: How the CIA Manipulates Media and Hoodwinks Hollywood.”

As Schou notes, the CIA has a long history of “spooking the news.” Schou picks up after the late 1970s, when “systematic media manipulation” was exposed and the CIA created an Office of Public Affairs, which purportedly was to handle the press in a more “transparent” manner. His book examines the varying methods the CIA has developed to influence public perceptions of the agency through “pressure, seduction, and deception” of reporters, filmmakers, and television writers and directors.

We hear each week that the talks are at risk of “collapsing” or that the “fragile truce” is at risk. Bunk. Iran, with Oman’s aid, is systematically asserting long-term control of the Strait. Trump has zero interest in returning to full-scale hostilities; the economic sanctions that have constrained Iran are already being unwound; and the entire topic is a political loser for Trump. As oil prices gradually drift downward, Trump is less inclined to restart major military operations. The war is over, as both sides know. The memorandum talks are merely the means of tallying the cost to U.S.’s international standing. Given all this, much of the Iran coverage has taken on an air of unreality. The Trump regime pretends to be engaged in grown-up statecraft; legacy media coverage regurgitates the Trump team’s assertions that Iran is desperate for a deal. The headlines take at face value the threat that the U.S. would resume a full-scale fight; but no one engaged in the talks believes that is remotely possible. Rather than frame the news of the day around what the Trump regime is saying about events (Trump ready to destroy Iran again!), coverage of the talks should lay out the facts to educate the public about the new balance of power (Iran using muscle to extract economic benefits from Strait of Hormuz).

You'd think so, but remember...

Presstitutes!