Outing official opiniasters: omissions, obfuscation or obscurantism...

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BBC = Ministry of Truth. Irony lost on BBC

...or indeed all of the above! The UK's state broadcaster (Auntie, The Beeb, the BBC) "says its new Verify service will subject its own journalism to more rigorous fact-checking. But a far less neutral agenda appears to be concealed beneath this lofty aspiration". Laughable to anyone who cares to even scratch the surface. 

"The BBC isn’t exposing disinformation. It's peddling it" writes Jonathan Cook; he's 100% correct. 

 "Why the BBC is launching its Verify service is all too clear. Trust in the establishment media, and the BBC in particular, has hit an all-time low. That itself poses a threat to the broadcaster’s Reithian [*] purpose: to impress a national consensus on the public mind that serves the British state." 

[*] Lord Reith, founder of the BBC:

'They [the government] know they can trust us not to be really impartial.' (C. Stuart, ed., 'The Reith Diaries', 1975)
[Media Lens Twitter LINK]

Outing official opiniasters: omissions, obfuscation or obscurantism...

---

BBC = Ministry of Truth. Irony lost on BBC

...or indeed all of the above! The UK's state broadcaster (Auntie, The Beeb, the BBC) "says its new Verify service will subject its own journalism to more rigorous fact-checking. But a far less neutral agenda appears to be concealed beneath this lofty aspiration". Laughable to anyone who cares to even scratch the surface. 

"The BBC isn’t exposing disinformation. It's peddling it" writes Jonathan Cook; he's 100% correct. 

 "Why the BBC is launching its Verify service is all too clear. Trust in the establishment media, and the BBC in particular, has hit an all-time low. That itself poses a threat to the broadcaster’s Reithian [*] purpose: to impress a national consensus on the public mind that serves the British state." 

[*] Lord Reith, founder of the BBC: 'They [the government] know they can trust us not to be really impartial.' (C. Stuart, ed., 'The Reith Diaries', 1975) [Media Lens Twitter LINK]

Obvious obedientiaries...

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Posted without comment...amazing; presumably not an April Fool prank...:

This is what mind control looks like. pic.twitter.com/WVHFy9qDZ0

— Steve Franssen 🇺🇸 (@SteveFranssen) 31 March 2018

Obvious obedientiaries...

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Posted without comment...amazing; presumably not an April Fool prank...:

This is what mind control looks like. pic.twitter.com/WVHFy9qDZ0

— Steve Franssen 🇺🇸 (@SteveFranssen) 31 March 2018

Ostensible oligarchic overlords...

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"With each passing day I grow happier and happier that I voted for Brexit." Me too. "Ireland, the EU is playing you like a fiddle", so writes Brendan O'Neill in today's (yesterday's on UK time) Spectator. He is so, so right. The EU is being true to form: "cynical, divisive and dangerous"; I would add sinister, single-minded and cuntish. The Irish are being soft but trying to find some way of buffering the fact that, as of 2016, actually have to contribute to the EU coffers, instead of being a net recipient for the previous forty odd years; I guess that is easy to understand.

All that was exacerbated today with a plethora of fake news. She said, he said they said...all without any quotes at all, just hear-say about what would happen re the Irish border. A whole day of complete made-up shit. Instant access 24 hour round the clock ticker-tape news is getting worse. The tail is now wagging several dogs! Just wait for the news then give the facts please. Also, you. utter. twats. (apologies for so many Twatter links).



Update: double twat khant!

Ostensible oligarchic overlords...

---

"With each passing day I grow happier and happier that I voted for Brexit." Me too. "Ireland, the EU is playing you like a fiddle", so writes Brendan O'Neill in today's (yesterday's on UK time) Spectator. He is so, so right. The EU is being true to form: "cynical, divisive and dangerous"; I would add sinister, single-minded and cuntish. The Irish are being soft but trying to find some way of buffering the fact that, as of 2016, actually have to contribute to the EU coffers, instead of being a net recipient for the previous forty odd years; I guess that is easy to understand. All that was exacerbated today with a plethora of fake news. She said, he said they said...all without any quotes at all, just hear-say about what would happen re the Irish border. A whole day of complete made-up shit. Instant access 24 hour round the clock ticker-tape news is getting worse. The tail is now wagging several dogs! Just wait for the news then give the facts please. Also, you. utter. twats. (apologies for so many Twatter links).

Update: double twat khant!

Obduracy of obfuscation...

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How fake news spreads: look at the three images of screen clips taken from the BBC yesterday (click on images to link); the left hand image was on their main news page on Saturday afternoon (yesterday), the other two are from the article on the Europe News page that the first story linked to (since updated: Newssniffer).






1. First link, main news page: "Dutch Populist calls Moroccans 'scum'"

2. Article: Europe News: "Dutch populist Geert Wilders calls some Moroccans 'scum'". The first line iterates this: "Dutch populist leader Geert Wilders has launched his election campaign by calling some Moroccans "scum"."

3. What Wilders said: "There is a lot of Moroccan scum in Holland who make the streets unsafe".



...needless to say that the number of visitors who read the first headline would be far, far more than read the 2nd; the numbers reading the 2nd would be far, far more than those that actually read the whole article and get to what Wilders actually said. There is an improvement for the BBC Online: a couple of years ago the pertinent quote would have been further down, below the scroll line and under at least one photo and they would have called him 'far-right'.



1 = fake news; 2 = on the verge of fake news; 3 = news.  It's not complicated or difficult to get right. As usual, today it isn't on the main news page and the Europe News headline has been 'down-faked' to "Geert Wilders talks of Moroccan 'scum'" but by now most who would read it have read the fake news. 

Obduracy of obfuscation...

---

How fake news spreads: look at the three images of screen clips taken from the BBC yesterday (click on images to link); the left hand image was on their main news page on Saturday afternoon (yesterday), the other two are from the article on the Europe News page that the first story linked to (since updated: Newssniffer).

1. First link, main news page: "Dutch Populist calls Moroccans 'scum'"
2. Article: Europe News: "Dutch populist Geert Wilders calls some Moroccans 'scum'". The first line iterates this: "Dutch populist leader Geert Wilders has launched his election campaign by calling some Moroccans "scum"."
3. What Wilders said: "There is a lot of Moroccan scum in Holland who make the streets unsafe".

...needless to say that the number of visitors who read the first headline would be far, far more than read the 2nd; the numbers reading the 2nd would be far, far more than those that actually read the whole article and get to what Wilders actually said. There is an improvement for the BBC Online: a couple of years ago the pertinent quote would have been further down, below the scroll line and under at least one photo and they would have called him 'far-right'.

1 = fake news; 2 = on the verge of fake news; 3 = news.  It's not complicated or difficult to get right. As usual, today it isn't on the main news page and the Europe News headline has been 'down-faked' to "Geert Wilders talks of Moroccan 'scum'" but by now most who would read it have read the fake news. 

Ostrobogulous opening...

---

First 100 days? Well what about the first 100 hours...what a first week with Trump seeming to break all political moulds by starting to do nearly everything he campaigned on...and as soon as possible! Well, that was intense. You'll note those first two links are from CNN and BBC; both reasonable pieces but also lacking much positive detail. After the first press conference and after the questions at the Trump/May meet this week the BBC especially needs to stop being a 'wet protester', a mouthpiece for protest groups. By all means be neutral (it's in your Charter FFS) but cut the emotive partisan shite and start reporting the news without the obvious hostility.



What we are seeing is simply unheard of, anywhere, EVER. And it is so good to watch. I am just back from Mexico and even there the reaction isn't what you'd expect: they understand Trump is defending his own, and 'shokeando' for the best deal. Many Obama mistakes are being righted, many sneaky last minute actions stopped. Obviously there are dozens of Executive orders.  The great meeting with Theresa May ("A free and independent Britain is a blessing to the world") was really the icing on the cake from a UK perspective.



The current crowing that various judges have stepped in this weekend due to issues arising from Trump's immigration/refugee (Executive Order: Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements [LINK], "This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations") changes (from BBC: "His executive order halted the entire US refugee programme and also instituted a 90-day travel ban for nationals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.") fails to grasp that this is EXACTLY what should happen.  If you were mid flight when the order became effective or if you have legal residency etc then of course they are exceptions. Same as the rigorous vetting of asylum seekers etc. It is what should have always happened. So many 'red-flags' being triggered in record numbers entering the country calls for 'extreme vetting'. Also, from Chris Kyle's Iraqi translator: "ISIS's strongholds are in Iraq and Syria. We all know what they want to do to Americans"' it's not racist or a 'Muslim ban'. Last night in a CNN interview the lady interviewer was repeatedly trying to get the government spokesman to answer "How many Syrian refugees have caused terrorism in the USA?"...I was screaming at the TV: what a dumb question: 'Why look for traffic when you cross the road? You haven't been hit by a lorry before'...Even some of his mates (Piers Morgan) only partly get it.



The bust is back: Action this day!

Ostrobogulous opening...

---

First 100 days? Well what about the first 100 hours...what a first week with Trump seeming to break all political moulds by starting to do nearly everything he campaigned on...and as soon as possible! Well, that was intense. You'll note those first two links are from CNN and BBC; both reasonable pieces but also lacking much positive detail. After the first press conference and after the questions at the Trump/May meet this week the BBC especially needs to stop being a 'wet protester', a mouthpiece for protest groups. By all means be neutral (it's in your Charter FFS) but cut the emotive partisan shite and start reporting the news without the obvious hostility.

What we are seeing is simply unheard of, anywhere, EVER. And it is so good to watch. I am just back from Mexico and even there the reaction isn't what you'd expect: they understand Trump is defending his own, and 'shokeando' for the best deal. Many Obama mistakes are being righted, many sneaky last minute actions stopped. Obviously there are dozens of Executive orders.  The great meeting with Theresa May ("A free and independent Britain is a blessing to the world") was really the icing on the cake from a UK perspective.

The current crowing that various judges have stepped in this weekend due to issues arising from Trump's immigration/refugee (Executive Order: Border Security and Immigration Enforcement Improvements [LINK], "This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations") changes (from BBC: "His executive order halted the entire US refugee programme and also instituted a 90-day travel ban for nationals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.") fails to grasp that this is EXACTLY what should happen.  If you were mid flight when the order became effective or if you have legal residency etc then of course they are exceptions. Same as the rigorous vetting of asylum seekers etc. It is what should have always happened. So many 'red-flags' being triggered in record numbers entering the country calls for 'extreme vetting'. Also, from Chris Kyle's Iraqi translator: "ISIS's strongholds are in Iraq and Syria. We all know what they want to do to Americans"' it's not racist or a 'Muslim ban'. Last night in a CNN interview the lady interviewer was repeatedly trying to get the government spokesman to answer "How many Syrian refugees have caused terrorism in the USA?"...I was screaming at the TV: what a dumb question: 'Why look for traffic when you cross the road? You haven't been hit by a lorry before'...Even some of his mates (Piers Morgan) only partly get it.

The bust is back: Action this day!

Ongoing overt omissions...

---

They are really so corrupt and bias it's getting to be a joke. Many people are just beginning to realise: the constant anti-Brexit juggernaut has opened many people's eyes to what some of us have known for years/decades: the BBC news gathering/broadcast and political content is bias, follows several agendas, omits facts, omits many stories altogether, stealth edits and lies. Every single day it breaks its Charter. How many times now have they been caught inventing news or accidentally on purpose rebroadcasting fake news. Then the story becomes obscured and the facts unnecessary. The current case in point: a commercial push by accountants becomes the news because it was reported by The Times as a government memo.* The Times can print what it likes; the BBC should be impartial (ha!)



I wish they'd have reported Theresa May's speech last night [LINK to text of speech in full]. Actions speak louder than words Theresa, get on with it. Some may be worried by her support for Liberalism and globalisation [but which Liberalism...and which globalisation! See seemingly contradictory article and comments HERE] etc but I'm not:

"When you fail to see that the liberal consensus that has held sway for decades has failed to maintain the consent of many people, you’re not the champion of liberalism but the enemy of it.

When you dismiss the very real and deeply felt concerns of ordinary people, whether here at home or abroad, you are not acting to defend your world view but to undermine it." ... ..."So let us seize the moment. And let us do so together."

Indeed, and now we have a Trump card.



 *One wonders if the memo news was an intentional distraction...

Ongoing overt omissions...

---

They are really so corrupt and bias it's getting to be a joke. Many people are just beginning to realise: the constant anti-Brexit juggernaut has opened many people's eyes to what some of us have known for years/decades: the BBC news gathering/broadcast and political content is bias, follows several agendas, omits facts, omits many stories altogether, stealth edits and lies. Every single day it breaks its Charter. How many times now have they been caught inventing news or accidentally on purpose rebroadcasting fake news. Then the story becomes obscured and the facts unnecessary. The current case in point: a commercial push by accountants becomes the news because it was reported by The Times as a government memo.* The Times can print what it likes; the BBC should be impartial (ha!)

I wish they'd have reported Theresa May's speech last night [LINK to text of speech in full]. Actions speak louder than words Theresa, get on with it. Some may be worried by her support for Liberalism and globalisation [but which Liberalism...and which globalisation! See seemingly contradictory article and comments HERE] etc but I'm not:

"When you fail to see that the liberal consensus that has held sway for decades has failed to maintain the consent of many people, you’re not the champion of liberalism but the enemy of it. When you dismiss the very real and deeply felt concerns of ordinary people, whether here at home or abroad, you are not acting to defend your world view but to undermine it." ... ..."So let us seize the moment. And let us do so together."

Indeed, and now we have a Trump card.

 *One wonders if the memo news was an intentional distraction...

Optimus "outing"...

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Just received this (after asking for it!) : "Welcome to the first daily Brexit Briefing from me and the team at BrexitCentral - and thank you to the thousands of you who have already signed up to receive this email each morning. I hope you like it and find it of interest and use - and if you do, please encourage friends and colleagues to sign up to receive it too by clicking here."



Sign up: looks like it's going to be good! [LINK]

Optimus "outing"...

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Just received this (after asking for it!) : "Welcome to the first daily Brexit Briefing from me and the team at BrexitCentral - and thank you to the thousands of you who have already signed up to receive this email each morning. I hope you like it and find it of interest and use - and if you do, please encourage friends and colleagues to sign up to receive it too by clicking here."

Sign up: looks like it's going to be good! [LINK]

Boom!...

---

Wow...just WOW! [edited] The Conservatives ended up with 331 seats, a wafer thin working majority. Paint the town red; paint the country blue. Highlights: turnout was 66%. Miliband, Clegg and Farage all quit in the last hour. UKIP third biggest vote haul: they got 1.5 million more than LDs and they got 2.4 million votes more than the SNP. The SNP got 4.7% of the vote and 50 seats; UKIP got 12.6% of the vote and 1 (one) seat.

Ed Balls lost his seat (haha), George Galloway lost his seat (hahaha) and along with a host of Lib Dems losing their seats, party grandee Paddy Ashdown will have to eat his hat.

Boom!...

---

Wow...just WOW! [edited] The Conservatives ended up with 331 seats, a wafer thin working majority. Paint the town red; paint the country blue. Highlights: turnout was 66%. Miliband, Clegg and Farage all quit in the last hour. UKIP third biggest vote haul: they got 1.5 million more than LDs and they got 2.4 million votes more than the SNP. The SNP got 4.7% of the vote and 50 seats; UKIP got 12.6% of the vote and 1 (one) seat. Ed Balls lost his seat (haha), George Galloway lost his seat (hahaha) and along with a host of Lib Dems losing their seats, party grandee Paddy Ashdown will have to eat his hat.

Out of office III...

---

Not scandalous...and not Brooks.

King dong, the bitch is read, or red as the case may be. Not sure if there is much of a sex scandal about the latest sex scandal. At least Brooks Newmark (a member...of parliament) doesn't have a double entendre name associated with 'the crime' as in the similar A. Weiner case in the USA.



Interestingly there is clearly a 'conspiracy' afoot by the Sunday Mirror to ensnare Conservatives as Newmark isn't the only one...he was just the fish that took the bait. Maybe the lefty rag and the 'freelance' ("male reporter, a freelance ­journalist who passed the information to the Sunday Mirror" [ha!], set up false twitter account and,posing as a "twenty-something Tory PR girl" called Sophie Wittams, "was carrying out an undercover probe into claims by sources that MPs were using social media networks to meet women"; of course he was) are trying to recreate the continuous wave of scandals that helped Tony Blair to his '97 landslide (itself orchestrated by the BBC and New Labour amongst others). Or maybe they are members/fighters for left-wing charities and green totalitarianism have got their man.




Very late (travelling!) update: very surprised to read this from Guido re the above mentioned 'male reporter'; agree with THIS from Writerlywitterings. 

Out of office III...

---

Not scandalous...and not Brooks.

King dong, the bitch is read, or red as the case may be. Not sure if there is much of a sex scandal about the latest sex scandal. At least Brooks Newmark (a member...of parliament) doesn't have a double entendre name associated with 'the crime' as in the similar A. Weiner case in the USA.

Interestingly there is clearly a 'conspiracy' afoot by the Sunday Mirror to ensnare Conservatives as Newmark isn't the only one...he was just the fish that took the bait. Maybe the lefty rag and the 'freelance' ("male reporter, a freelance ­journalist who passed the information to the Sunday Mirror" [ha!], set up false twitter account and,posing as a "twenty-something Tory PR girl" called Sophie Wittams, "was carrying out an undercover probe into claims by sources that MPs were using social media networks to meet women"; of course he was) are trying to recreate the continuous wave of scandals that helped Tony Blair to his '97 landslide (itself orchestrated by the BBC and New Labour amongst others). Or maybe they are members/fighters for left-wing charities and green totalitarianism have got their man.

Very late (travelling!) update: very surprised to read this from Guido re the above mentioned 'male reporter'; agree with THIS from Writerlywitterings. 

Open-mindedness over oligophrenia...

---

Don't be an April Fool: Question Everything. There is not much better advice for anyone these days: the more we think we know the less we probably really do know: "many Westerners feel that, without this [24 hour news] constant input, they would be woefully uninformed", so writes Jeff Thomas at International Man:

"The average news programme features a commentator who provides 'the news,' or at least that portion of events that the network deems worthy to be presented. In addition, it is presented from the political slant of the controllers of the network. But we are reassured that the reporting is 'balanced,' in a portion of the programme that features a panel of 'experts.'"

No prizes for guessing who I'm thinking of but of course there are more. Especially true is the chapter Evolution of Indoctrination:  "In bygone eras, the kings of old would tell their minions what to believe... 

...Today, a far more effective method exists...In a democracy, there is always an "A" and a "B." This illusion of choice is infinitely more effective in helping the populace to believe that they have been able to choose their leaders and their points of view."...

"To consider that the event that is being discussed may not only be being falsely reported, but that the message being provided by the pundits may be consciously planned for our consumption."

Question Everything...

Open-mindedness over oligophrenia...

---

Don't be an April Fool: Question Everything. There is not much better advice for anyone these days: the more we think we know the less we probably really do know: "many Westerners feel that, without this [24 hour news] constant input, they would be woefully uninformed", so writes Jeff Thomas at International Man:

"The average news programme features a commentator who provides 'the news,' or at least that portion of events that the network deems worthy to be presented. In addition, it is presented from the political slant of the controllers of the network. But we are reassured that the reporting is 'balanced,' in a portion of the programme that features a panel of 'experts.'"

No prizes for guessing who I'm thinking of but of course there are more. Especially true is the chapter Evolution of Indoctrination:  "In bygone eras, the kings of old would tell their minions what to believe... 
...Today, a far more effective method exists...In a democracy, there is always an "A" and a "B." This illusion of choice is infinitely more effective in helping the populace to believe that they have been able to choose their leaders and their points of view."...

"To consider that the event that is being discussed may not only be being falsely reported, but that the message being provided by the pundits may be consciously planned for our consumption."

Question Everything...