The BS Filter

We talk about the current war going on between the Australian Government and a handful of media barons on one side, and Facebook and Google. The post BFTN 89 – Aus Gov v Facebook appeared first on The BS Filter.

We look at the obviously biased reporting in the Western media about the WHO’s recent trip to China to investigate the origins of COVID. The post BFTN 88 – NYT Spinning WHO in China appeared first on The BS Filter.

We continue our look at the media coverage of China’s Uighur camps with an examination of the contradictions and the problems with, and funding of, the sources. The post BFTN 87 – China’s Uighur Camps part 2 appeared first on The BS Filter.

Today we begin a look at China’s Uighur camps and try to unpick the propaganda. The post BFTN 86 – China’s Uighur Camps appeared first on The BS Filter.

Left v Right Wing Violence. Billionaire Ray Dalio on the coming US Civil War. QAnon and the problem of epistemology and heuristics. Let’s evolve Australia Day. And Taylor Guitars goes 100% ESOP. The post BFTN 85 – The Role Of Violence appeared first on The BS Filter.

Navalny medical data. Washington troops. Trump rape. The post BFTN 84 – The Straw That Breaks appeared first on The BS Filter.

Let’s talk about the attempted US coup and about what might happen next. We also talk about Brisbane’s “snap lockdown”, how to handle a pandemic properly, and why we don’t have absolute freedom of speech. The post BFTN 83 – The Diet Coup appeared first on The BS Filter.

On this episode we discuss recent news, including Trump’s phone call to the Secretary of State of Georgia, conspiracy theories surrounding reporting of COVID deaths, Assange’s extradition hearing, Biden’s likely approach to Cuba, and how to put poison in someone’s underpants. <div class="whooshkaa-widget-player" data-episode-id="776447" data-theme="dark" data-visual="true" data-height="190" data-enable-volume="true"> </div The post BFTN 82 – Quasimodo appeared first on The BS Filter.

What will the GOP look like after January 20? I see four main scenarios. Trump remains as the leader and it’s business as usual. Trump retires from the position gracefully and they search for new leadership. Trump is pushed out. Trump sets up his own political party. Let’s talk about what might happen. Meanwhile: Trump intervening with SCOTUS Mike Pence – The Decider Hunter Biden investigation Iran assassination The UN commission reclassifies cannabis Meanwhile in Australia – the cops are going nuts busting marijuana importers and dealers In Colorado – legal since 2014 – weed brings in about 1% of the state’s budget The post BFTN 81 – The GOP After Trump appeared first on The BS Filter.

Cam and Ray talking about the US election, the Australian government’s illegal activities, the Murdoch enquiry, US hate crimes, mass shootings and Trump’s desire to bomb Iran. The Video: The post BFTN 80 – Message In A Podcast appeared first on The BS Filter.

Hunter Biden’s laptop; The American Insurgency; US COVID – Red or Blue?; OPCW cover-up; Fake Green billionaires; Bolivia decides; and the CIA get attacked in Australia… by Russians? The post BFTN 79 – Hunter Biden appeared first on The BS Filter.

Eddie Van Halen is playing with Jimi in Elysium tonight. In other stories, we talk about the “debate”, Trump and covid, mutually exacerbating catastrophes, Middle East “peace” and scenarios that could lead to a new US Civil War. The post BFTN 78 – RIP EVH appeared first on The BS Filter.

The Australian government is trying to force Facebook and Google to pay Australia news organisations free money; compare the narrative around Aussie journalists in China versus Assange; No, the CDC did *not* say only 6% of people died from COVID; Senate Report about Trump and Russia contains nothing new; who put the Novichok poison in Navalny’s tea? and how?; the Khashoggi trial concludes but what’s happening with the US lawsuit against KSA? The post BFTN 77 – NOVICHOK appeared first on The BS Filter.

My old mate Donnie Maclurcan is the CEO of the Post Growth Institute and Affiliate Professor of Economics at Southern Oregon University. He’s one of the smartest and nicest guys I know. I invited him on to chat about his views on the current state of the United States, where he has lived for the past 8 years. We talk about whether or not it’s possible to save the US before it collapses and what comes after capitalism. The post BFTN 76 – Post Growth appeared first on The BS Filter.

Or is it just failing? Today we break down some of the various definitions of a “failed state” and try to work out how the USA rates against them. And why it matters, even to non-Americans. The post BFTN 75 – Is The USA a Failed State? appeared first on The BS Filter.

Sean from St Paul joins me for a chat about protests, riots, police brutality and why he has a huge SPQR tatt across his chest. The post BFTN 74 – Riots #4 – Sean appeared first on The BS Filter.

Andrew Hout has a degree in history and lives just outside of Columbus in Ohio. We talk about why Americans are so angry and entitled. The post BFTN 73 – Riots #3 – Andrew appeared first on The BS Filter.

The world’s best travel photographer, Gary Arndt (site) has seen more of the world than most of us ever will. He joins me from his home in Minneapolis to talk about the protests, riots, America and how it is different from the rest of the world. The post BFTN 72 – Riots #2 – Gary appeared first on The BS Filter.

I want to focus for a few weeks on the current US protests and riots which started with the death by cop of George Floyd. I’ve invited a number of American friends and fans who live in riot hotspots to come on and share with me their experiences and views on how the country can move forwards. But I’m starting the miniseries with my favourite American – my wife, Chrissy Dunaway Reilly. She has lived in Australia for nearly eleven years and has a fairly rare perspective on what it’s like to be an American living in a Western country that is similar in many ways – and yet different. And why she no longer wants to return to the country of her birth. The post BFTN 71 – Riots #1 – Chrissy appeared first on The BS Filter.

Mike Snyder, long-time podcast listener, security professional and self-confessed libertarian, Fox News watcher and conspiracy theorist, joined us for a two hour chat today about his fears around the coming of the One World Government, the New World Order, Covid conspiracies, and many other fun topics. HOW TO LISTEN If you’re seeing this message, it means you aren’t logged in as a subscriber. If want to listen to the premium episodes of the series, you’ll need to become one of our Bullshit Fighters and REGISTER NOW for one of our premium accounts. The post BFTN 70 – New World Order appeared first on The BS Filter.

On this episode, we get into the conspiracies about 5G and the coronavirus – which may have started with Dr. Kris Van Kerckhoven (a Mormon) – then got connected to the new £20 note in the UK – then disgraced American physician, Thomas Cowan, talked about it at a pseudo-science conference – then there was the correlation is causation theory. More interesting to me is the role 5G is playing in geopolitics. Why Controlling 5G Could Mean Controlling the World – and how, for the first time in a long time, the United States is not the leader in a major technological sector that will underpin future innovation. It’s been called a “geopolitical turning point”. Then we get into the science – despite many hundreds of studies over the past half century, we have never been able to prove any of these non-ionising waves can cause cancer — and this applies to 5G radiation too. Who can we trust when it comes to the science around non-ionizing radiation? How about the ICNIRP? Certainly NOT these Fox Nation hosts. HOW TO LISTEN If you’re seeing this message, it means you aren’t logged in as a subscriber. If want to listen to the premium episodes of the series, you’ll need to become one of our Bullshit Fighters and REGISTER NOW for one of our premium accounts. The post BFTN 69 – 5G Conspiracies Part 2 appeared first on The BS Filter.

There are a lot of conspiracy theories going around about 5G – it gives you cancer, autism, changes your DNA, and gives you coronavirus! So in this episode, we look into the 5G conspiracies as well as the technology itself and the geopolitical battles going on around it. HOW TO LISTEN If you’re seeing this message, it means you aren’t logged in as a subscriber. If want to listen to the premium episodes of the series, you’ll need to become one of our Bullshit Fighters and REGISTER NOW for one of our premium accounts. The post BFTN 68 – 5G Conspiracies Part 1 appeared first on The BS Filter.

There are a lot of conspiracy theories going around about the idea that China withheld information about COVID-19 from the global community and punished their own whistleblowers. Today we look at the evidence to support those theories (or lack thereof). At times like of crisis like this, even more than usual, it’s important to have a fact-based mindset and not take the easy route into confirmation bias. But if I *was* going to point the finger at anyone for the virus, it would be THIS guy. HOW TO LISTEN If you’re seeing this message, it means you aren’t logged in as a subscriber. If want to listen to the premium episodes of the series, you’ll need to become one of our Bullshit Fighters and REGISTER NOW for one of our premium accounts. The post BFTN 67 – China COVID Conspiracies appeared first on The BS Filter.

HOW TO LISTEN If you’re seeing this message, it means you aren’t logged in as a subscriber. If want to listen to the premium episodes of the series, you’ll need to become one of our Bullshit Fighters and REGISTER NOW for one of our premium accounts. On BS 65 (24 March) we predicted there could be 20,000 – 50,000 American deaths within the next few weeks. The Trump Administration are now estimating 100 – 240,000. —- This guy – Guo Wengai – is claiming that China’s virus death toll is still rising, they are hiding it, and burning bodies in mobile mass incinerators. What you need to know is that he apparently fled to the United States in late 2014 after learning he was going to be arrested after allegations against him including bribing, kidnapping, money laundering, fraud and rape. He is a member of Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. The US is gearing up for a war (cold, hot or hybrid) with China and is going to be inventing propaganda to justify it, in the same way they did in the war against Saddam. Do you remember when a young girl got up in the UN in 1990 and said Iraqi soldiers were going through hospitals and throwing babies out of humidicribs? Nariyah? The world was shocked. We found out only many years later that she was the daughter of the Kuwaiti ambassador to the United States and that the entire thing was invented by the PR firm Hill & Knowlton who were paid millions of dollars by Kuwait to help get the US involved in a war with Iraq. —- Last week a Venezuelan defector is caught trying to smuggle a shipment of US weapons into VZ to assassinate Maduro. The next day the USG indicts Maduro on drug smuggling charges. Coincidence? It’s all about OIL. OPEC and Russia (and COVID) are driving oil prices down so low that American shale producers could go bankrupt. Guess which country has lots of oil? Venezuela. —— Where’s the money coming from? Oz Gov has announced $189 billion in aid. Where is it coming from? Remember 9 months ago when Scott Morrison said the Coalition will not engage in “unfunded empathy”? In the last week he’s announced $190 billion in unfunded empathy. I wonder what changed his mind? Never again let our politicians tell us “we can’t afford it”. Frog shit. You can make money appear by magic whenever you need to. It’s all part of Modern Monetary Theory. —- In the NYT on 22 January, James G. Hodge Jr., director of the Center for Public Health Law and Policy at Arizona State University, said the Chinese shutdown in Wuhan would “almost certainly lead to human rights violations and would be patently unconstitutional in the United States.” But here we are. We always choose to give up our rights if the trade-off seems worthwhile. Sometimes we aren’t even given a choice. So much for the illusion of democracy. —- Joe Biden & Tara Reade – The Story We Must Not Mention Ukraine Joe has been accused of sexually molesting a staffer, Tara Reade, back in 1993. But despite #metoo, the mainstream media won’t touch the story. We have to wonder what’s going on. Is it because her story has no legs? Isn’t that we’ve always said about such claims? I thought the new standard was to always err on the side of taking claims such as these seriously? The post BFTN 66 – Unfunded Empathy appeared first on The BS Filter.

Lots of information, disinformation and misinformation going around – People are scared Hard to know what value we can add? – Are we just making more noise? The first thing I want to talk about it Philosophy Block theory of the universe Atoms are effectively immortal Your “life” is an illusionNo more real than the characters in a comic book It’s just a story you tell yourself – Change the story As for the virus and the panic be careful of the sources you turn to Like we said in the vaccination series: – Who do you trust and why? For something like this, I turn to Bill Gates and the Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine at Oxford Chrissy likes Zubin Damania, MD, ZDOGGMD on YouTube.Choose your sources carefully. – Keep in mind that the media is all about drama and sells attention for a living Then Look at the data yourself https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OSsrvgAMtXuRoPISDB5nXbGKJbeTSVIZZBx03YplKxs/edit#gid=0When it comes to the big question – am I going to die – well the answer is YESEveryone is going to die. Eventually. As for COVID, there are three ratios we need to be aware of. – I keep reading in the media that the coronavirus’s death rate was an estimated 3.4% Case Fatality Rate, Infected Fatality Rate and Mortality Rate. CFR – is the number of reported deaths per number of reported cases IFR is how many people who are infected with the virus, including those who don’t develop symptoms, will die. MR is how many people out of the entire population will die from the virus. Let’s say the population consists of 1,000 people; 500 get infected. 100 of these people have the disease, and 3 of those die from the disease. In this case, the mortality rate for the disease is 3 in 1000 = 0.003The case fatality rate is 3 in 100 = 0.03 – The infection fatality rate is 3 in 500 = .006 One problem with COVID is that Between countries, case Fatality rates vary significantly, and over time, which suggests considerable uncertainty over the exact case fatality rates. https://www.cebm.net/global-covid-19-case-fatality-rates/ Ranging from 0.30% in Austria to 12.50% in San Marino, the tiny country in the middle of northern ItalyItaly’s has had a lot of deaths. But on 20 March, Scientific Adviser to Italy’s Minister of Health advised that all those who die in hospitals with Coronavirus will be included in the death numbers.  Apparently most of them died from other pre-existing problems – but as they happened to be infected with COVID, they were classified as COVID fatalities. “The way in which we code deaths in our country is very generous in the sense that all the people who die in hospitals with the coronavirus are deemed to be dying of the coronavirus.They were also all much older than, say, the cases in China“The age of our patients in hospitals is substantially older – the median is 67, while in China it was 46,” Prof Ricciardi says. https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/health/coronavirus/120443722/coronavirus-is-covid19-really-the-cause-of-all-the-fatalities-in-italy – Comparison with Swine Flu The overall case fatality rate as of 16 July 2009 (10 weeks after the first international alert) with pandemic H1N1 influenza varied from 0.1% to 5.1% depending on the country. The WHO reported in 2019 that swine flu ended up with a fatality rate of 0.02%. (CEBM)Diamond Princess:Only 712 out of the 3,711 (~20%) passengers and crew (average age 58) on the Diamond Princess have tested positive for the virus. Around half were asymptomatic. Only 8 (~1% – corrected) have died.IFR 8 / 712 = 0.01 And they were old. A third of the passengers were 70-79. About 6% were over 80. In Australia, only 6% of our pop is 70-79, about 2% of our pop is over 80. Australian population by ageSo the average age of the ship was far older.All deaths occurred in patients > 70. No one under 70 died. Source: https://cmmid.github.io/topics/covid19/severity/diamond_cruise_cfr_estimates.html One analysis is that 2 million Americans are already infected. An infection takes around 23-24 days to resolve. The first 5-6 days the patient doesn’t show any symptoms. It takes an average of 5 days between the onset of symptoms and hospitalization. Finally it takes about 2 weeks between hospitalization and death (about 10 days in ICU).On March 19th, the U.S. reported a total of 205 deaths. That figure was 85 on March 16th and 47 on March 13th. This means the number of deaths doubles about every 3 days. This also means that the number of infections is doubling every 3 days If the IFR is 1%, that means for every death there are 100 infections. The number of infected people doubles every 3 days.If there were 205 deaths on March 19, it means that three weeks before that – Feb 29 – there were 100 times as many infections. 20,500 infectionsWhich has been doubling every three days. So unless the lockdown have helped, there should be 2.5-5.5 million infecte

On this week’s show: Assange’s trial is a farce. The US pulls out of Afghanistan. Coronavirus. “Sodomite” is a bad word. No fraud in Bolivian election. And don’t forget to pick up your tickets to Marketing The Messiah! HOW TO LISTEN If you’re seeing this message, it means you aren’t logged in as a subscriber. If want to listen to the premium episodes of the series, you’ll need to become one of our Bullshit Fighters and REGISTER NOW for one of our premium accounts. The post BFTN 64 – The Greatest Threat appeared first on The BS Filter.

Talking about the Iowa caucus (Shadow, ACRONYM, Buttgieg, etc) and the new evidence of the CIA spying on US allies since the end of WWII. And don’t forget to pick up your tickets to Marketing The Messiah! HOW TO LISTEN If you’re seeing this message, it means you aren’t logged in as a subscriber. If want to listen to the premium episodes of the series, you’ll need to become one of our Bullshit Fighters and REGISTER NOW for one of our premium accounts. The post BFTN 63 – Friends Don’t Spy On Friends appeared first on The BS Filter.

John Pabon from strategic advisory firm Fulcrum Strategic Advisors joins me to give his perspective on China – business, political and social. John’s an American who currently lives in Melbourne, and spent the last ten years living in Shanghai. We talk about the ol’ Communism v Capitalism debate, the treatment of the Uyghurs, working conditions in factories, IP theft, and how most Chinese view their government. And don’t forget to pick up a new copy of my book, The Psychopath Epidemic, if you haven’t already! The post BFTN 6.5 – China part 5 appeared first on The BS Filter.

Alan MacLeod joins me again to discuss the latest news about Venezuela and Iran. Alan is a member of the Glasgow University Media Group. He is author of “Bad News From Venezuela: 20 Years of Fake News and Misreporting.” His latest book, Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent, was published by Routledge in May 2019. Follow him on Twitter: @AlanRMacLeod And don’t forget to pick up a new copy of my book, The Psychopath Epidemic, if you haven’t already! HOW TO LISTEN If you’re seeing this message, it means you aren’t logged in as a subscriber. If want to listen to the premium episodes of the series, you’ll need to become one of our Bullshit Fighters and REGISTER NOW for one of our premium accounts. The post BFTN 62 – Venezuela and Iran Update appeared first on The BS Filter.

We talk about Australia’s bushfires and America’s assassination of Soleimani. And my book, The Psychopath Epidemic, is finally out! HOW TO LISTEN If you’re seeing this message, it means you aren’t logged in as a subscriber. If want to listen to the premium episodes of the series, you’ll need to become one of our Bullshit Fighters and REGISTER NOW for one of our premium accounts. The post BFTN 61 – Fires and Assassinations appeared first on The BS Filter.

The oligarchs have worked out the model for getting people to vote for “killer clowns”. The Democrats gave Trump $738 billion to buy weapons. And America is using AGM-114R9X Hellfire drones to terrorize the world. George Monbiot on the killer clowns. Media Bias Chart Hellfire drones Trust No-one Manovich on why fake news isn’t the problem The Democrats give Trump a $738 billion Xmas present HOW TO LISTEN If you’re seeing this message, it means you aren’t logged in as a subscriber. If want to listen to the premium episodes of the series, you’ll need to become one of our Bullshit Fighters and REGISTER NOW for one of our premium accounts. The post BFTN 60 – Killer Clowns & Terror Drones appeared first on The BS Filter.

Colonel Huge Banzer ruled Bolivia with military support until 1978, when Siles won the election – but Banzer declared the election invalid. The same thing happened in 1979. And again in 1980. But this time General Luis García Meza grabbed the reins of power in the bloody coup. Finally in 1985, Paz was elected President again, for the fourth and final time – and immediately lurched to the Right, firing 30,000 miners from the government payroll, suppressing unions and raiding opposition meetings. In 1989, Jaime Paz Zamora became President. He’d been a Marxist in the 1970s and the victim of an assassination attempt in 1980. But in 1989 he signed an accord with Banzar and lurched to the Right. Banzar was President again in 1997, declared martial law, arrested protest leaders and shut down the media. Finally, in 2002, a poor, uneducated farmer and union leader, Evo Morales, ran for the Presidency, coming third, despite the US ambassador warning Bolivians that they would be punished if Morales won. Then, in the general election of December 2005, Morales did win, becoming the first indigenous President in a country where 62% of the population identified as indigenous. The US, of course, were furious and immediately tried to get him thrown out. HOW TO LISTEN If you’re seeing this message, it means you aren’t logged in as a subscriber. If want to listen to the premium episodes of the series, you’ll need to become one of our Bullshit Fighters and REGISTER NOW for one of our premium accounts. The post BFTN 59 – Bolivia 3 appeared first on The BS Filter.

We pick up our series on the political history of Bolivia in 1943 with the government of Major Gualberto Villarroel López, which ended in violence and his assassination a few years later. The country continued to have coup after coup. In 1967, Che Guevara tried to start a revolution in the country, which ended up with his execution by the CIA. Outrage at Che’s execution lead to a leftist coup in Bolivia under General Juan José Torres – but that was overthrown when Henry Kissinger urged the CIA to “crank up an operation, post-haste.” This resulted a new right-wing military coup, lead by Colonel Hugo Banzer. Torres was arrested, tortured and executed as part of Operation Condor, the U.S.-supported campaign of political repression by South American right-wing dictators, and which ran during the Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, and the Reagan administrations, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 60,000 people. HOW TO LISTEN If you’re seeing this message, it means you aren’t logged in as a subscriber. If want to listen to the premium episodes of the series, you’ll need to become one of our Bullshit Fighters and REGISTER NOW for one of our premium accounts. The post BFTN 58 – Bolivia 2 appeared first on The BS Filter.

Alan MacLeod joins me to discuss the propaganda model and how it applies to media bias on the coverage of Bolivia, Venezuela, Corbyn, Ukrainegate and Russiagate.  Alan is a member of the Glasgow University Media Group. He is author of “Bad News From Venezuela: 20 Years of Fake News and Misreporting.” His latest book, Propaganda in the Information Age: Still Manufacturing Consent, was published by Routledge in May 2019. Follow him on Twitter: @AlanRMacLeod The post BFTN 57 – Alan MacLeod on Media Bias appeared first on The BS Filter.

What’s happening in Bolivia? President Evo Morales was recently the subject of a coup, and has fled to Mexico. In order to provide some perspective on the current events, we take a detailed look at the political history of Bolivia – a poor country that has survived an endless number of military coups, often supported and financed by the CIA. The post BFTN 56 – Bolivia 1 appeared first on The BS Filter.

Americans were SHOCKED to discover that Russia had interfered in their 2016 Presidential elections. How dare they interfere with the democratic process of a sovereign nation! Of course, those same Americans probably have no idea that their own country has, according to the research done by my guest today, done the same thing over 80 times since the end of WWII. And this number doesn’t even include the number of times the CIA has overthrown governments by supporting coups or regime change. Today I interview Dov H. Levin Ph.D, Assistant Professor, Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Hong Kong about his research on what he calls his Partisan Electoral Intervention by the Great Powers dataset (PEIG). It shows how many times the USA and USSR/Russia intervened in foreign elections in the years 1946 – 2000. The post BFTN 55 – Intervening In Foreign Elections appeared first on The BS Filter.

It’s gloating time in the West with the suicide of ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. On today’s show we examine the history of ISIS and how the United States and their allies created the conditions for ISIS and then proceeded to fund and arm it. We look at the media’s near complete lack of skepticism and analysis regarding ISIS and Trump’s claims as they dance on al-Baghdadi’s grave. Meanwhile, some studies suggest the US has lead to the death of an estimated 20 million people since the end of WWII, which makes ISIS’ body count seem like kindergarten. We also cover the massive protests in Lebanon and Chile and ask why they aren’t getting the same kind of media coverage as similar, but less brutal, protests in Hong Kong and Venezuela. HOW TO LISTEN If you’re seeing this message, it means you aren’t logged in as a subscriber. If want to listen to the premium episodes of the series, you’ll need to become one of our Bullshit Fighters and REGISTER NOW for one of our premium accounts. The post BFTN 54 – Schadenfreude appeared first on The BS Filter.

This week we have more on the Biden business in the Ukraine including some background on the Euromaidan uprising, the role of energy supply in the regime change and Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and the role of the United States (via USAID) in the overthrow of Yanukovych. As evidence for the latter, we play the leaked phone call between Victoria Nuland, Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State, and U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, on January 28, 2014 where they discuss who the US is going to install as the new Ukrainian Prime Minister. We also play another leaked phone call from around the same time, between Estonia’s Foreign Minister Urmas Paet and E.U. Foreign Policy Chief Cathy Ashton, where they discuss who was responsible for the violence during the uprising. At the beginning of the show I play a short clip from Unauthorized Disclosure podcast 36, featuring guest Matt Taibbi where they talk about how propaganda works in the USA right now. HOW TO LISTEN If you’re seeing this message, it means you aren’t logged in as a subscriber. If want to listen to the premium episodes of the series, you’ll need to become one of our Bullshit Fighters and REGISTER NOW for one of our premium accounts. The post BFTN 53 – Regime Change In Ukraine appeared first on The BS Filter.

A lot of people have asked us, in our great and unmatched wisdom, to explain what’s going on with Syria, Trump, Turkey and the Kurds. HOW TO LISTEN If you’re seeing this message, it means you aren’t logged in as a subscriber. If want to listen to the premium episodes of the series, you’ll need to become one of our Bullshit Fighters and REGISTER NOW for one of our premium accounts. The post BFTN 52 – Trump & The Kurds appeared first on The BS Filter.

We try to go a little deeper on the Trump-Ukraine-Biden story than most of the media coverage. Apart from Trump and Joe Biden, we talk about the roles that Viktor Shokin, Mykola Zlochevsky, Viktor Yanukovich, Petro Poroshenko, Dmytro Firtash, Volodymyr Zelensky and Yuriy Lutsenko have in this story, along with American players Hunter Biden, Devon Archer and former CIA official, Cofer Black. The post BFTN 51 – Biden & Burisma appeared first on The BS Filter.

In this final episode of our China series, we talk about: How China might weaponize its holdings of more than $1.1 trillion worth of U.S. Treasuries, aka the “nuclear option”The risk of China starting a currency war with the USChina’s current position on IP protectionAnd we finish with a little more discussion about China’s theory on the “Socialist market economy” and Deng Xiaoping Theory HOW TO LISTEN If you’re seeing this message, it means you aren’t logged in as a subscriber. If want to listen to the premium episodes of the series, you’ll need to become one of our Bullshit Fighters and REGISTER NOW for one of our premium accounts. The post 6.4 China’s Economy – Part 4 appeared first on The BS Filter.

There’s been lots of talk in the media about Trump’s trade war with China. One aspect about it that I find interesting is that I never see any talk, in this context, about the fact that China is a Communist country – a Communist country that seems to be a major economic threat to the USA, the world’s leading Capitalist country. Didn’t the West win the Cold War? So over the next few episodes we’re going to be trying to understand what’s going on with China’s economy. Are they Communists? Capitalist? Or something different entirely?  HOW TO LISTEN If you’re seeing this message, it means you aren’t logged in as a subscriber. If want to listen to the premium episodes of the series, you’ll need to become one of our Bullshit Fighters and REGISTER NOW for one of our premium accounts. The post 6.3 China’s Economy – Part 3 appeared first on The BS Filter.

There’s been lots of talk in the media about Trump’s trade war with China. One aspect about it that I find interesting is that I never see any talk, in this context, about the fact that China is a Communist country – a Communist country that seems to be a major economic threat to the USA, the world’s leading Capitalist country. Didn’t the West win the Cold War? So over the next few episodes we’re going to be trying to understand what’s going on with China’s economy. Are they Communists? Capitalist? Or something different entirely?  HOW TO LISTEN If you’re seeing this message, it means you aren’t logged in as a subscriber. If want to listen to the premium episodes of the series, you’ll need to become one of our Bullshit Fighters and REGISTER NOW for one of our premium accounts. The post 6.2 China’s Economy – Part 2 appeared first on The BS Filter.

There’s been lots of talk in the media about Trump’s trade war with China. One aspect about it that I find interesting is that I never see any talk, in this context, about the fact that China is a Communist country – a Communist country that seems to be a major economic threat to the USA, the world’s leading Capitalist country. Didn’t the West win the Cold War? So over the next few episodes we’re going to be trying to understand what’s going on with China’s economy. Are they Communists? Capitalist? Or something different entirely?  HOW TO LISTEN If you’re seeing this message, it means you aren’t logged in as a subscriber. If want to listen to the premium episodes of the series, you’ll need to become one of our Bullshit Fighters and REGISTER NOW for one of our premium accounts. The post 6.1 China’s Economy – Part 1 appeared first on The BS Filter.

The plan this week was to interview Alan MacLeod about his new excellent book “Propaganda in the Information Age” but he missed the call, so we talked about it without him instead. We’ll get him on next week for a follow up. The book is an internet-era update on Herman and Chomsky’s 1988 classic “Manufacturing Consent”, and the new book opens with an interview Alan did with Noam recently. I recommend reading both the original and the new book if you want to better understand how corporate propaganda works in Western democracies. On this episode we talk about the Chomsky & Herman’s “five filters” and I break down a few recent stories in the US media. HOW TO LISTEN If you’re seeing this message, it means you aren’t logged in as a subscriber. If want to listen to the premium episodes of the series, you’ll need to become one of our Bullshit Fighters and REGISTER NOW for one of our premium accounts. The post BFTN 50 – The Propaganda Model appeared first on The BS Filter.

We finish our mini-biography on the new Prime Minister of the UK, Boris Johnson, aka “BoJo”, or, as I like to call him, “The Big BJ”.  In Ray’s absence, I’m joined again by my good friend Trevor Bell from the The Iron Fist and the Velvet Glove. HOW TO LISTEN If you’re seeing this message, it means you aren’t logged in as a subscriber. If want to listen to the premium episodes of the series, you’ll need to become one of our Bullshit Fighters and REGISTER NOW for one of our premium accounts. The post BFTN 49 – Boris Part 2 appeared first on The BS Filter.

On this episode I’m joined by Brisbane’s #1 podcaster, the fabulous Trevor Bell, co-host of The Iron Fist and the Velvet Glove (“a weekly podcast which takes a look at news, political events, culture, ethics and the transformations taking place in our society”), who is standing in for Papa Bear who is on vacation…. AGAIN. And we are doing a mini-biography on the United Kingdom’s new Prime Minister – Boris Johnson. Maybe not interesting to people inside the UK, but to the rest of us, he’s somebody we need to understand. In many ways he’s in the same mold as Trump – a buffoonish clown who has mastered the art of saying stupid things to get free media and yet it hasn’t hindered his political career. They were also both born with silver spoons in their mouths and have had a fairly easy life, coasting on a highway of old boy networks, sporting multiple marriages and high profile extramarital affairs. And yet they are unlike in many ways. Boris is an Oxford-educated, articulate history buff who has written multiple books on subjects including Ancient Rome and Churchill. Trump, on the other hand, according to people inside the White House, can’t read a memo or teleprompter without pharmaceutical assistance. HOW TO LISTEN If you’re seeing this message, it means you aren’t logged in as a subscriber. If want to listen to the premium episodes of the series, you’ll need to become one of our Bullshit Fighters and REGISTER NOW for one of our premium accounts. The post BFTN 48 – Boris Part 1 appeared first on The BS Filter.

On this week’s news show we look the recent headlines concerning Iran – their arrest of 17 CIA spies, and the seizure of oil tankers by both the British and the Iranians. Who and what should we believe? Iran detains 17 citizens accused of spying for the CIAIran Executes Defense Ministry Staffer Over Spying for CIA People want us to talk about Brexit but it’s more like a series, not something we could tackle in an hour.  Although we should talk about Boris Johnson becoming the new British PM.  Maybe with Trevor Bell next week.  Iran is still in the news.  Oil tankers being seized by both the British and Iran  Detained 17 Iranian citizens they accuse of spying for the CIA  Is it true? What does it mean?  How would they detect these people? Iran claims “Defendants serving their sentences in prison mentioning tempting promises of CIA officers including emigration to USA, a proper job in America, and money,” Others were already in possession of visas and were reportedly pressured to spy for the US in order to have them renewed. Iran claimed that the 17 spies did not know each other, but all had been trained independently in clandestine tradecraft. The training allegedly included setting up and using secret communications systems, as well as carrying out dead drops without being detected. Dead drops utilised containers made to resemble rocks, which were located in the Iranian countryside and elsewhere in the Middle East, according to Iranian officials. Some of the assets communicated with their handlers while attending science conferences throughout Europe, Africa and Asia. All of the above are standard methods of the espionage trade. Losing 17 assets in one big sweep sounds fantastical. If it is true, it would mark one of the biggest intelligence-collection disasters in the CIA’s 72-year history. Furthermore, given that — as the Iranians themselves have said — the 17 alleged spies did not know each other. It would have taken a massive amount of counter-intelligence resources to detect, build cases and apprehend 17 separate foreign assets. What is more likely to have happened is that the Iranians detected a small number of CIA spies — possibly no more than two — and then slowly extended their counter-intelligence investigation to incorporate those two individuals’ close associates, personal friends, or even relatives. Donald Trump denied it on Twitter. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said: “The Iranian regime has a long history of lying … I would take with a significant grain of salt any Iranian assertion about actions they’ve taken.” Says the guy who’s country claimed Saddam had WMD.  Says the guy who was the Director of the CIA in 2017/18.  And probably authorised the recruitment of spies in Iran at the time.  According to Al Jazeera‘s Dorsa Jabbari, reporting from Tehran, said Iranian authorities also released a documentary which they said “shows to which extent these people went to try and exchange information with their CIA operatives outside the country”. Contains photos and documents according to American ABC News. What is more worrying for the CIA is that the Iranians appear to have visually identified a number of CIA case officers, whose job is to recruit and handle foreign assets. These are official-cover diplomatic personnel who are stationed in countries such as Austria, India, Turkey and Zimbabwe. But the Iranians claim that these diplomats are in fact official-cover CIA personnel and have now publicised their names and faces. At one point during Monday’s television program, a blonde Caucasian woman is seen advising an unidentified man about how to avoid surveillance by Iranian intelligence officers in the United Arab Emirates. She is heard speaking Farsi with an unmistakable American accent. If the Iranians are right, it means that the mysterious Farsi-speaking woman, along with several other individuals, will need to be recalled back to Washington as soon as possible. It also means that their overseas careers are now at an end, since foreign counter-intelligence services know that they are in fact not diplomats, but intelligence officers. One suggestion is that Iran might use the threat of a death sentence against these spies as a bargaining chip with the US But if they are all Iranian citizens, why would the US care?  This isn’t the first time in recent history that Iran has claimed to have arrested US spies.  In April, Iran said it uncovered 290 CIA spies both inside and outside the country over the past years. In June they hanged a former staff member of the Defense Ministry’s aerospace division, Seyyed Jamal Haji-Zavareh, on charges of spying for the CIA. He supposedly “explicitly confessed to spying” in return for money “documents and espionage devices were found at his house.” His wife was also sentenced to 15 years in prison for her

How do these shell companies get used? We provide some examples. We also talk about the fallout of the Panama Papers, Operation Car Wash, the murder of Maltese journalist Daphne Galizia, why Americans didn’t show up in the Panama Papers as much as we might have expected, and how some of the world’s largest banks used Mossack Fonseca to profit from “arms dealers, bag men for Third World dictators, traffickers in blood diamonds and other international outlaws”. Follow Cameron on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter Follow Ray on Facebook. HOW TO LISTEN If you’re seeing this message, it means you aren’t logged in as a subscriber. If want to listen to the premium episodes of the series, you’ll need to become one of our Bullshit Fighters and REGISTER NOW for one of our premium accounts. The post Bullshit 5.3 – The Panama Papers (part 3) appeared first on The BS Filter.

After more than a year of analysis, the first news stories were published on April 3, 2016, by SZ and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). Some 4.8 million leaked files were emails, 3 million were database entries, 2.2 million PDFs, 1.2 million images, 320,000 text files, and 2242 files in other formats. Edward Snowden described the release in a Twitter message as the “biggest leak in the history of data journalism”. Some of the earliest stories reported on involved Siemens’ secret $500 million South American slush fund, and billions of dollars of transactions involving Sergei Roldugin, Russian virtuoso cellist… who happens to be the best friend of Vladimir Putin. Roldugin was also recently implicated in a massive money laundering scheme involving Troika Dialog, Russia’s largest investment bank. worth $9 billion US dollars, known as the “Troika Laundromat”. When the German journalists working for SZ started to dig into the leaks, they tried to contact Mozzfon for comment.  Instead they were contact by Burson-Marsteller, the PR / crisis control firm based in NY, now known as Burson Cohn & Wolfe. Another early SZ story was about a major German bank, Commerzbank, who was involved in laundering hundreds of billions of U.S. dollars out of Iran, Sudan and Myanmar, against US sanctions, via Mossfon shell companies. This episode is for Silver subscribers and above. A short clip from the show. Follow Cameron on Facebook | Instagram | Twitter Follow Ray on Facebook. HOW TO LISTEN If you’re seeing this message, it means you aren’t logged in as a subscriber. If want to listen to the premium episodes of the series, you’ll need to become one of our Bullshit Fighters and REGISTER NOW for one of our premium accounts. The post Bullshit 5.2 – The Panama Papers (part 2) appeared first on The BS Filter.