SILENCING and REPRESSION

JOHN VAROLI—Five months remain before the elections in November, and no election in modern America is complete without a witch hunt for “Russian spies and agents of influence”. If you believe the White House, these extraordinary super-agents can dupe millions of Americans into voting for ‘right-wing’ candidates just by posting videos on websites that few people have seen, as well as humorous memes on social media.

Our fragile American democracy is easily subverted by these nefarious ‘Russian agents’. They hate us for our freedoms and want to enslave us with their communist ideology. If you listen to U.S./ NATO officials, these Russian agents are everywhere; so always be vigilant. How to discern a ‘Russian agent’? One clear sign, of course, is that they criticize the White House’s policies and agitate for peace on Earth.

Kim Iversen criticizes PayPal for choosing to cut off their services to some independent media organizations and journalists. We reached out to PayPal for comment, they provided the following statement: We regularly assess activity against our long-standing Acceptable Use Policy and carefully review actions reported to us, and will discontinue our relationship with account holders who are found to violate our policies. We work hard to achieve the right balance and to ensure that our decisions are values-driven and not political. Per company policy, PayPal does not disclose specific account information for current or former customers.

MARGARET KIMBERLEY—We are living in an era when every person on the planet is under surveillance, regardless of their ideology or political activity. The National Security Agency (NSA) has records of every email and every phone call made in the country. The Boston Globe recently revealed the existence of a program called Quiet Skies , which has the power to put any air traveler under direct, physical surveillance from federal air marshals. Behavior such as “Reversing or changing direction and/or stopping in transit in an airport, boarding last, or observing the boarding gate from afar,” can guarantee that a traveler will unknowingly be accompanied by an air marshal on their next flight.

STEPHEN LENDMAN—Censoring content diverging from mainstream views constitutes a slippery slope toward undermining First Amendment rights altogether, a step toward greater totalitarian rule than already. Facebook considers what it calls “false narratives (content diverging from establishment views) intentionally divisive headlines and language that exploit disagreements and sow conflict” – a vague standard only censors could love, giving themselves latitude to do what they please extrajudicially.

MOON OF ALABAMA—The British government insinuates that Russia is the only country that could make ‘Novichok’ agents and must therefore have attacked the Skripals. This is obviously nonsense. The U.S. and the UK were deeply involved in the ‘Novichok’ issue. They certainly tried and succeeded to re-create these substances. After the formulas of the nerve agents were published by Mirzayanov the U.S. and the UK suppressed discussion of the issue.