Natacha Rey has been prosecuted in France for alleging that Brigitte Macron underwent a sex change | The journalist who claimed that the wife of French President Emmanuel Macron was actually born a man is reportedly seeking political asylum in Russia. In an interview with Izvestia, Natacha Rey and her lawyer, Francois Danglehant, have cited “persecution” in France as the reason for her decision. ● Rey alleged in 2021 that Brigitte Macron is actually the transgender identity of her brother, Jean-Michel Trogneux. Rey spent three years researching Macron’s supposed secret and later published a video on her findings on social media. Since then, she has been the subject of judicial action in France. ● Explaining her decision to seek asylum in Russia, Rey described the country as a great democracy compared to France, which, in her view, persecutes the political opposition and restricts freedom of speech.

In the aftermath of the Capitol riot, Facebook suspended Trump’s accounts, citing his use of the platform to spread false claims of election fraud and repeatedly insist he had won the 2020 election. | Meta has agreed to pay $25 million to settle a lawsuit with US President Donald Trump, stemming from the company's decision to suspend his accounts following the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. ● The settlement, first reported by The Wall Street Journal and later confirmed by a Meta spokesperson, resolves the legal dispute initiated by Trump in 2021. ● According to The Wall Street Journal, the majority of the settlement—$22 million—will be allocated to funding Trump’s presidential library. The remaining amount will cover legal fees and compensate other plaintiffs involved in the case. ● Trump's lawsuit against Facebook, now under its parent company Meta, was one of several legal actions he took against social media companies in response to their actions after January 6.

Eloise Goldsmith | "Physically dragging out a reporter from the State Department briefing room while preaching press freedom to the rest of the world is the perfect example of the Biden administration's love affair with double standards and duplicity," said one foreign policy observer. | Two journalists were removed from Secretary of State Antony Blinken's final news conference on Thursday after interrupting Blinken's remarks to heckle him about the United States' policy toward Gaza, a day after a cease-fire deal between Hamas and Israel was announced. One of the reporters, independent journalist Sam Husseini, was physically carried out of the briefing room by security. ■ Less than two minutes into Blinken's remarks, as he was thanking the reporters in the attendance for "asking tough questions," Max Blumenthal, the editor in chief of The Grayzone—an independent news—addressed Blinken, saying loudly in reference to the cease-fire deal:"300 reporters in Gaza were on the receiving end of your bombs. Why did you keep the bombs flowing when we had a deal in May?" On Wednesday, President Biden announced the breakthrough, saying that “this is the ceasefire agreement I introduced last spring." ■ "Why did you sacrifice the rules-based order on the mantle of your commitment to Zionism," Blumenthal continued, before being led to the door. "How does it feel to have your legacy be genocide?" he yelled. Blumenthal also called out State Department Spokesman Matt Miller, who is briefly visible in a video filmed by the journalist, who charged that Miller "smirked through a genocide."

■ ‘Why Aren’t You in The Hague?’: Journalist Sam Husseini Gets Dragged Out of Blinken’s Last Press Conference

ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt told the Israeli Knesset that the kind of "genius" behind the Jewish state's pager attack on Lebanon is now needed to fight "antisemitism." | From The Intercept, "ADL Chief Invokes Pager Attack as Inspiration for Taking on Internet Trolls": [According to Greenblatt,] Israel's backers need to think like Israeli spies who secretly installed bombs in electronics all over Lebanon, killing dozens and wounding thousands. 💬 "We need the kind of genius that manufactured Apollo Gold Pagers and infiltrated Hezbollah for over a decade to prepare for this battle," Greenblatt said. "This is the kind of ingenuity and inventiveness that have always been a hallmark of the State of Israel, that have always been a characteristic of the Jewish people. I know we can do it." [...]

Encryption prevents Meta from accessing chats, but it is powerless when someone logs directly into a user’s phone, the company’s CEO has said | Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has acknowledged that US authorities, including the CIA, can access WhatsApp messages by remotely logging into users’ devices, effectively bypassing the platform’s end-to-end encryption. ● Speaking on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast on Friday, Zuckerberg explained that while WhatsApp’s encryption prevents Meta from viewing message content, it does not protect against physical access to a user’s phone. ● His comments came in the context of a question by Rogan about Tucker Carlson’s quest to set up an interview with Russian President Vladimir Putin. In February last year, while speaking about finally succeeding in talking to Putin after three years of failed attempts, Carlson blamed the US authorities, namely the NSA and the CIA, for stalling his efforts. According to Carlson, the agencies spied on him by tapping his messages and emails, and leaked his intentions to the media, which “spooked” Moscow from talking to him. Rogan asked Zuckerberg to explain how this could have happened given encryption safeguards that are supposed to protect messages. [...] “What they do is have access to your phone. So it doesn’t matter if anything’s encrypted, they could just see it in plain sight,” he clarified. Zuckerberg mentioned tools such as Pegasus, a spyware developed by the Israeli company NSO Group, which can be covertly installed on mobile phones to access data.

■ US government wanted Facebook to censor Covid-19 memes – Zuckerberg (RT)

Keir Starmer refuses to investigate rape gangs because he is hiding “terrible things,” the billionaire has claimed | SpaceX CEO and X owner Elon Musk has hammered Prime Minister of Britain Keir Starmer for his refusal to prosecute Pakistani gangs involved in the mass rape of underage British girls, calling the PM “evil” incarnate. ● ”Starmer is evil,” Musk wrote on his social platform on Wednesday morning, above a meme condemning Starmer for demanding an investigation into former Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s lockdown-breaching parties during the Covid-19 pandemic, but declining to prosecute “politically protected UK rape gangs.”

■ Elon Musk is infuriating European leaders with his political grenades (Business Insider)
■ France calls for EU action against Elon Musk (RT)

Rhoda WilsonThe United Nations and World Health Organisation are tightening the noose on free speech. While the UN uses treaties, WHO is deploying a “social listening” technique in Pacific island nations. | The European Union is creating a committee specifically to tackle online “disinformation.” In the UK, Ofcom is tightening the noose through the Online Safety Act and is leading the global push for online censorship as it chairs the Global Online Safety Regulators Network for a second year. ■ Meanwhile, corporate media in France is using the courts to enforce French censorship globally. And Spain is proposing a law to force social media influencers to issue public corrections for “misinformation.” ■ In the US it’s more of a mixed bag with some wins for freedom of speech and some worrying developments, such as the Kids Online Safety Act which some Senators are attempting to rush through before the current Congress expires. ■ UN General Assembly to Adopt Controversial Cybercrime Treaty, Ignoring Privacy and Free Speech Concerns -- The UN General Assembly is set to adopt the UN Cybercrime Treaty, despite concerns from human rights and media organisations, as well as technology companies, that it threatens free speech and privacy.

Community pages face closure as lengthy new rules ‘create disproportionate liability’ | Hundreds of websites will be shut down on the day that Britain’s Online Safety Act comes into effect, in what are believed to be the first casualties of the new internet laws. ● Microcosm, a web forum hosting service that runs 300 sites including cycling forums and local community hubs, said that the sites would go offline on March 16, the day that Ofcom starts enforcing the Act. ● Its owner said they were unable to comply with the lengthy requirements of the Act, which created a “disproportionately high personal liability”. ● The new laws, which were designed to crack down on illegal content and protect children, threaten fines of at least £18m for sites that fail to comply with the laws.

■ UK’s Online Censorship Law Drives Small Websites to Shut Down (Reclaim The Net)
■ EU wants sanctions against “Kremlin propagandists” (FrontNieuws)

Lew Rockwell/Mises.org | The recent seizure of Syrian land on the Golan Heights by Israel is an ominous example of expansionism at its worst, in complete violation of property rights, if not a total human rights violation as well. | The international community has met the actions of Israel with cold silence. Most notably, the United States has been complicit in the aggression of Israel. The US State Department pronounced the seizure of Syrian land as “temporary” and “consistent with Israel’s sovereignty.” Without censure emanating from the international community, such aggression is bound to be encouraged and the rule of law undermined. Therefore, the seizure of the Golan Heights by Israel constitutes an aggression against Syrian territory, antithetical to liberty and property; a position libertarians must not fail to condemn.

Finian Cunningham | The reveling by the British news media over the assassination of a top Russian general in Moscow is revealing in several ways. | The reveling by the British news media over the assassination of a top Russian general in Moscow is revealing in several ways. ■ First of all, it is a sickening display of wretched so-called journalism. The celebratory tone in British media outlets at the sight of Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov’s bloodied corpse lying in the snow speaks volumes of a despicable lack of respect. It says something about the depraved depth of British culture. ■ By comparison, the reporting of the assassination by American media outlets was relatively mundane and matter-of-fact. Not so in Britain. The British media were almost euphoric in their reaction. ■ The Pentagon’s response was significant. Spokesman Patrick Ryder denied any U.S. involvement in the killing. He said the Americans were not forewarned about the assassination and he added that the United States did not support such action. Of course, such denials should always be treated with skepticism. However, while the Americans had the decency to remain reserved, the British were giddy in their ghoulishness.

✅ Who is the world's most dangerous terrorist organization? (Leo Hohmann)

■ Silver Bullet (Dr. Mike Yeadon )(Substack)(VIDEO)
■ Australian Medical Icon Breaks Down in Tears During Debate with Government Officials Over COVID-19 Vaccine Catastrophe: “The Most Uncontrolled Experimentation Ever on Humankind” (The Gateway Pundit)(VIDEO)

■ Silver Bullet (Dr. Mike Yeadon )(Substack)(VIDEO)
■ Study of 1.7 Million Children: Heart Damage Only Found in Covid-Vaxxed Kids (12/04/24)

Prominent American journalist Tucker Carlson announced on Wednesday that he had arrived in Moscow to conduct an interview with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. | Carlson noted that US diplomats could not offer any substantial insights or remarks on Russia-US relations. Consequently, the prominent American political commentator decided to engage in a conversation with Russia’s foreign policy chief.

According to Ivan Blagoy, his bureau received the corresponding documents, a 10-page report that substantiates the move, citing EU sanctions, from the German authorities on Tuesday | Germany has moved to close the local bureau of Russia’s Channel One television, ordering the bureau employees in Berlin to leave the country, a reporter with the TV channel said. [...] According to him, his bureau received the corresponding documents, a 10-page report that substantiates the move, citing EU sanctions, from the German authorities on Tuesday. "A German lawyer who analyzed the papers at our request shrugged his shoulders and said that it was a non-case. We have not violated German laws while staying in Germany and we meet all necessary criteria. And yet, we were shown the door," Blagoy lamented.

■ Russia retaliates to expulsion of journalists from Germany (RT.com)

Mint Press News conducted an in-depth investigation into who writes America's "news," and the findings are shocking, though expected. | It turns out that hundreds of former Israeli lobbyists from groups like AIPAC (American-Israeli Political Action Committee), StandWithUs, and CAMERA are pretty much running the largest media organizations in the United States, including at MSNBC, The New York Times, CNN and Fox News. ● Specifically with news related to the Israel-Palestine situation, these embedded Israeli lobbyists are steering what millions of Americans believe about what Israel really is and what is really going on in the Middle East right now. ● "Many key U.S. newsroom staff were also formerly Israeli spies or intelligence agents, standing in stark contrast to journalists with pro-Palestine sentiments, who have been purged en masse since October 7, 2023," reports Mint Press News.

The CIA is funding online troll communities to tarnish the country’s image, Chay Bowes has said | Bowes argued that the US-led disinformation campaign is using all means possible to rationalize lies and tarnish the image of Russia, including “mass bot farms like NAFO, who are funded via the CIA,” which is injecting millions of dollars into spreading fake content about the country. The journalist was referring to a collective of internet trolls identified by their fanatical support for the Ukrainian military.

Hours ago we reported an undersea cable between Finland and Germany had been cut; now ANOTHER undersea cable has also been cut. | A communication cable running along the bottom of the Baltic Sea between Lithuania and Sweden has been cut. This was reported by Andrius Šemeškevičius, a representative of the telecommunications company Telia Lietuva. “The cable was damaged. The systems report that we have lost communication.” The cable rupture is more likely to be the result of an intentional act than an accident, Tapio Frantti, professor of cybersecurity at the University of Jyväskylä, told Yle. His evaluation was based on preliminary media information.

💬 "If you look at this from the point of view of probability, then yes, this is on the side of intentionality," said Frantti. "When a cable breaks, it raises questions as to why it happened and who might have a motive to do something like this."

■ Undersea Communications Cable CUT - Finland to Germany (Hal Turner)

Satirical news publication The Onion has bought Infowars, the media organisation headed by right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, for an undisclosed price at a court-ordered auction. | The Onion said that the bid was secured with the backing of families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, who won a $1.5bn (£1.18bn) defamation lawsuit against Jones for spreading false rumours about the massacre. A judge in Texas ordered the auction in September, and various groups – both Jones’s allies and detractors – had suggested they would bid for the company. Jones founded Infowars in 1999. He has vowed to continue broadcasting using a different platform. In a rambling video message posted on Thursday morning, Jones called the takeover a “total attack on free speech”.

Patrick Lawrence | What happened in one Dutch city is the world since the Zionist regime began its limitlessly barbaric assault on Gaza: Western powers blessed it, and Western media determined to hide it from view. | In the annals of “anti–Semitism,” if not anti–Semitism in its un-weaponized form, the events before, during, and since an ill-fated soccer match in Amsterdam last week merit a prominent entry. ■ We find in these chaotic days a picture in miniature of the sickness that has overtaken “the Jewish state,” the shameless apology those purporting to lead the Western post-democracies make for the straight-out barbarities of Zionist zealots, and the full-frontal disinformation spread by corporate and state-funded media as they pose as the first line of defense against disinformation. ■ It’s a three-fer, then, the whole banana in one place and at one time —all of this in the cause of the Zionist regime as it prosecutes its yearlong genocide in Gaza and sets about expanding its campaign of murder and destruction across West Asia. Zionist Israel lost, lost big in Amsterdam. The horror it has made of itself is now plain for the world to see. The apologist pols, already hanging on for dear life in the post-democracies, lost. Mainstream media lost.

✅ The West buries a genocide – by making victims of Israel’s football thugs (Jonathan Cook) | If the West was really worried about Europe’s Nazi past, it would be better advised to stop stoking an all-too-real new antisemitism: incitement against Arab and Muslim minorities. | There has never been a harder time to do political and media analysis than right now. Each day, the western establishment unmoors itself further from reality. Its priorities are so inverted, so obscene, that the most appropriate response is ridicule. The latest example was the reaction late last week to violent clashes in Amsterdam before and after a match between Maccabi Tel Aviv and the local team Ajax. ■ The ridiculous framing from western politicians, assisted by mainstream media outlets, was that the visiting Israelis were “hunted down” in what supposedly amounted to a “pogrom” by Dutch street gangs, comprising mainly youths of Arab and Muslim heritage. ■ According to this official narrative, the violence on Amsterdam’s streets was further proof of a rising tide of antisemitism sweeping Europe and imported from the Middle East. More, the attacks were presented as having disturbing echoes of Europe’s Nazi past.

Such incidents are needed by the West to sow chaos and to advance its interests, Nikolay Patrushev says. Patrushev [said]: 💬 “According to available information, the Americans and the British are viewing the sabotage on the Nord Stream pipelines as one of many methods to advance their economic interests. They could attack other infrastructure facilities, including undersea fiber optic cables that provide communications throughout the world.” [...] “Since the hegemony of the West began to falter, Washington decided to bring chaos to the energy market, including by destabilizing maritime transportation,” the official explained. Destabilization is needed to put pressure on major consumers, including China and India, and to lay a foundation for grabbing more of the global energy market.

■ US-UK to BLOW-UP Undersea Internet Cables (Harold Turner)

The newspaper’s report about a purported conversation “absolutely does not correspond to reality,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said | US President-elect Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin did not have a phone conversation about the Ukraine conflict, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has said. ■ The Washington Post claimed on Sunday that Trump called Putin after winning a new term as US president to discuss his vision regarding how the Ukrainian crisis could be deflated. Peskov said on Monday that the article was a “vivid example of the quality of information published by even some respectable outlets.” “This absolutely does not correspond to reality. This is pure fiction. This information is simply false,” he told the press.

✅ Why Is WaPo Reporting A Trump-Putin Call That Did Not Take Place? (Moon of Alabama)

A United Nations legal expert has called for Western media to be investigated over their role in “obscuring” news coverage of the clashes on Friday between Israeli forces posing as football fans and locals in the Dutch city of Amsterdam. | In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, said that Western media has repeatedly disseminated disinformation which has served to conceal the atrocities that were being carried out by the Israelis across the globe.

💬 “Once again, Western media should be investigated for the role they are playing in obscuring Israel’s atrocities,” the Italian international lawyer said. ● “In other contexts, international tribunals have found media figures responsible for complicity, incitement, and other international crimes.”

The legal scholar, researcher, and author specializing in human rights and Arab refugee issues said media figures who disseminate false news are complicit in Israeli crimes and should be held accountable.

■ 'Pogrom' Against Hooligans Accusations Follow A Zionist Propaganda Scheme (Moon of Alabama)
■ Obnoxious, Violent, Israeli Football Hooligans Get Beaten-Down in Amsterdam - Media LIES About it (Hal Turner)

✅ A year late, the Guardian finally permits us to use the term ‘genocide’ (Jonathan Cook)
✅ What really happened at the Amsterdam "pogrom"? (Thomas Fazi)

In a letter addressed to BBC Director-General Tim Davie, more than 100 BBC employees called on the corporation to "recommit to fairness, accuracy, and impartiality" in its coverage of Israeli actions in Gaza. | More than 100 BBC employees have accused the British broadcaster of exhibiting a clear bias toward "Israel" while covering the entity's ongoing year-long war against Palestinians in Gaza. ● In a letter addressed to BBC Director-General Tim Davie and signed by over 230 members of the media industry, including 101 anonymous BBC staff, the signatories urged the broadcaster to "recommit to fairness, accuracy, and impartiality" in its reporting on Israeli actions in Gaza. ● The letter criticized the BBC for not meeting its editorial standards, citing a lack of "consistently fair and accurate evidence-based journalism" in its coverage of the situation, as reported by The Independent, which obtained the letter.

Von der Leyen Promises to 'Vaccinate' EU Population Against 'Wrong Thinking'

According to Ursula, who is currently facing a criminal case over the EU government's strange contracts with pharmaceutical companies , people in society who hold views that contradict the globalist… pic.twitter.com/fK0wKV6tUQ

— “Sudden And Unexpected” (@toobaffled) October 22, 2024

Tyler Durden | Ursula von der Leyen advocates "pre-bunking" in the public forum to "vaccinate" people against "disinformation"... | EU President Ursula von der Leyen just joined the ranks of former Senator John Kerry and other globalist ghouls in declaring war on free speech by perversely proclaiming that the EU citizenry needs to be “vaccinated against disinformation.” ■ Like every censor in history, she characterizes her censorship program as a means of expunging erroneous information and ideas from public discourse. By using the word “disinformation,” she implies that she and her clique are already the sole possessors of the truth about everything and that everyone who has and shares heterodox ideas is necessarily in error.

■ President of the European Commission Ursula von Der Leyen Likens Free Speech to Infectious Disease (GR)

Backing specific candidates reinforces a sense of bias in the media, the newspaper owner has claimed | The Washington Post has abandoned its decades-long tradition of endorsing a US presidential candidate to earn back the trust of the American public, the newspaper’s owner, Jeff Bezos, has said. The billionaire explained his reasoning in an op-ed published by the Post on Monday after facing a backlash from current and former staff. ● The newspaper had endorsed candidates since 1976, but announced the suspension of the practice on Friday, prompting several editors to resign. The Post’s editorial board endorsed Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020. According to CNN, the newspaper’s staffers had drafted an endorsement of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris ahead of the election next month, but it was ultimately not approved by the management. ● Bezos began his op-ed by citing a recent Gallup poll, which found that nearly 70% of Americans have little or no trust in the media. “Our profession is now the least trusted of all. Something we are doing is clearly not working,” the entrepreneur wrote, adding that “most people believe the media is biased.”

■ Another US outlet backs away from election endorsement (RT.com)
■ In a tight election, should newspapers be ‘neutral’ to Trump? (The Straits Times)
■ US media avoid supporting election candidates due to alleged Russian ties — MFA (Maria Zakharova/TASS)

13 strikes targeted Beirut's southern suburbs, causing multiple fatalities, injuries | The Israeli army conducted a series of airstrikes across southern Lebanon on Thursday night and early Friday, resulting in many casualties, including journalists, and the destruction of four buildings. According to Lebanon's National News Agency, three Lebanese journalists were killed early Friday in an Israeli airstrike on their residence in Hasbaya, southern Lebanon. ● In the Marjayoun district, one person was killed and two were injured when a strike hit the village of Debbine around midnight, the agency reported. The airstrikes also targeted Beirut’s southern suburbs leveling four buildings and causing a massive fire that blanketed the area in thick black smoke, it added. Anadolu correspondents reported that around 13 airstrikes targeted Beirut's southern suburbs overnight.

■ “War crime” in Lebanon: Israel kills three journalists in their sleep (Shafaq.com)
■ Journalists Deliberately and Systemically Murdered by Jewish Israel (09/10/24)
■ lsraeli occupation forces attack Palestinian journalists in northern West Bank (09/03/24)(VIDEO)

Jonathan Cook | The raid on investigative journalist Asa Winstanley isn’t about terrorism – except the UK government’s. It is about scaring us into staying silent on Britain’s collusion in Israel’s genocide | The UK government and police – the British state – made clear today they are waging a war of intimidation against the country’s independent journalists in a desperate attempt to silence them. ■ Ten Metropolitan police officers made a dawn raid on the home of investigative journalist Asa Winstanley and seized his electronic devices under the UK’s draconian Terrorism Act. A letter from the Met indicates that the associate editor of the Electronic Intifada is being investigated by the force for “encouraging terrorism”. ■ Winstanley is the latest – and most high profile – independent journalist to be targeted by counter-terrorism police in recent weeks. Earlier, Richard Medhurst was arrested at Heathrow airport on returning to the UK from a trip abroad. Then Sarah Wilkinson was arrested and her home ransacked. Winstanley has repeatedly embarrassed the British establishment by exposing its covert and deep ties to Israel and its collusion with the Israeli lobby.

He praised the Russian president for being the first world leader to speak out in the publisher’s defense | John Shipton, the father of WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange, has said that he is grateful to Russian President Vladimir Putin for supporting his son amid his persecution by Western authorities. Shipton arrived in Moscow on Sunday at the invitation of Russian journalist Mira Terada, the co-chair of the BRICS Journalists’ Association.

💬 “In 2012, President Putin became the first head of state to speak out in defense of Julian’s interests as a publisher and citizen,” Shipton told RIA-Novosti news agency. Putin came forward when only “defamatory lies” were spread about his son in the media, Assange’s father said. “For this, I express my sympathy to your president,” he added.

Assange spent five years in Belmarsh high-security prison in the UK as he fought extradition to the US, which had accused him of unlawfully obtaining and disclosing classified information, much of which was related to American war crimes. He was placed in the facility over breach of bail, after living in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, which had granted him asylum, between 2012 and 2019. In June, he struck a plea bargain with the US Justice Department, formally acknowledging some guilt and waiving his right to legal recourse in exchange for freedom. “I pled guilty to journalism,” Assange explained later.

While Ukraine still keeps resisting, that resistance is getting weaker, Andrey Kelin says | Russian Ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin told the BBC that the UK government is using Ukraine to wage a proxy war against Russia.

💬 "The UK government is waging aggressive war against Russia at the hands of Ukrainians. This is a proxy war led by the United Kingdom’s government by providing lethal weapons, with which the UK government is killing Russian soldiers and civilians," he said in an interview with the broadcaster, an excerpt of which the BBC posted to its website. (According to Kelin, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is not showing any interest in peace talks. This stance means only that Ukraine will lose more territory, he said.) "You [...] heard Zelensky yesterday. He was desperate. He fully understands that he is losing not only terrain, but he is losing the conflict," the ambassador said.