Congress managed to wrap-up unfinished business on Thursday a day ahead of a government shutdown deadline. Both houses voted to approve a defense policy bill, which includes more than $600 million for missile defense cooperation with Israel. The Senate passed the legislation by a wide margin of 92-7, a week after the House overwhelmingly approved the measure 375-34. It now awaits the president’s signature.
The U.S. Senate passed a bill on Friday that will effectively outlaw all forms of independent media from being accessed in the United States. The “Countering Disinformation and Propaganda Act” not only allows the U.S. government to ban outlets deemed to be “Russian propaganda,” but gives them the ability to legally spread disinformation online via social networks and mainstream media outlets. Senate.gov reports: U.S.
An anonymous online group that calls itself PropOrNot (“Propaganda Or Not”) and presents itself as a site “exposing Russian Propaganda” has itself been exposed as a CIA-run operation that employs known Ukrainian fascists aimed at trolling independent media outlets with the aim of shutting them down. Author Mark Ames found evidence that the mysterious group who published a list of so-called “Russian propaganda websites” (falsely naming the likes of InfoWars, ZeroHedge, YourNewsWire, and others) was actually itself a propaganda campaign instigated by the U.S. and Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened Canada with “retaliation” over their quietly imposed sanctions imposed against Russian citizens. New sanctions were passed on Nov. 28th by the Canadian government which will see various Russian nationals living in Canada having their assets frozen and their business dealings stopped. The harsh sanctions comes in response to the annexation of Crimea and Moscow’s ongoing support for separatists in eastern Ukraine.
