NicaNotes:
"One year ago, as both the Trump administration in the US and the Johnson government in the UK responded fitfully to the growing pandemic, the international media were looking for whipping boys: other countries whose response to the virus was even worse. ...
The media’s feeding frenzy on the Sandinista government began with the BBC. Last April, BBC World (4/4/20) claimed that President Daniel Ortega’s government had taken 'no measures at all' in the face of the virus threat. It invented a media trope: Ortega’s 'long absence' from public view. (He’d not appeared in person or on TV for three weeks, something not at all unusual.)
Two days later, the New York Times (4/6/20) was asking, 'Where Is Daniel Ortega?,' adding that his government had been 'widely criticized for its cavalier approach,' and that the public 'is deeply dubious about government claims.' ...
In September, I wrote in Popular Resistance (9/22/20) that it can only be a matter of time before Nicaragua’s effective response to the pandemic is recognized by the corporate media, especially as it is in such contrast to the experience of most other Latin American countries, and of course that of the US and the UK."
-->Surprise! The establishment media in the US and UK reported that Nicaragua was causing endless suffering by ignoring the pandemic. Yet Nicaragua has done the best in containing the virus in all of Central America. From the BBC to the NYT, propaganda against socialist leaders matters more than truth.
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The Intercept:
"IN A YEAR marked by a coronavirus pandemic that has killed millions, CVS Health financed a wave of political advocacy against measures to control health care costs and increase access.
The health care giant, which owns Aetna health insurance and operates thousands of pharmacies and walk-in clinics around the country, provided $5 million to the Partnership for America’s Health Care Future, or PAHCF.
The seven-figure donation from CVS is the largest known contribution to PAHCF, which was formed in 2018 to lobby and advocate against proposals such as Medicare for All, the public option, and similar reforms that have gained growing support in recent years. PAHCF is a 501(c)(4) and is not required to disclose donor information.
Last year, PAHCF swamped voters in Democratic primary states such as South Carolina with ads urging voters to oppose Medicare for All. In states considering the public option, the group hired local lobbyists and aired advertisements designed to discourage state legislators from voting for the plan. And just before the general election, the group again aired ads attacking the public option."
https://theintercept.com/2021/04/21/cvs-lobby-health-insurance-medicare-for-all/
-->It is outrageous how the private healthcare industry tries to destroy universal healthcare. But why doesn't our media including the NYT report such efforts to undermine healthcare reform? Because the NYT is part of the problem of corporate domination of our healthcare system.
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The Guardian UK:
"Republicans in Florida have stepped up their assault on what they call 'Marxist professors and students' in the state’s public universities and colleges with a bill that encourages the reporting of lecturers perceived to be stifling 'viewpoint diversity' on campus.
The bill, currently awaiting the signature of the Florida governor and Donald Trump ally Ron DeSantis, will allow students to make recordings of lectures without their professors’ consent, and present them as evidence of political bias.
It requires all 40 of Florida’s state-funded institutions of postsecondary education to conduct an annual survey of faculty and students to establish how well intellectual freedoms are protected on campus; and to 'shield' students from efforts to limit their 'access to, or observation of, ideas and opinions that they may find uncomfortable, unwelcome, disagreeable, or offensive.' ”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/apr/25/florida-bill-record-professors-universities
