The move from paying for genocidal weapons to simply selling them is about buying time and misdirecting activist energy: by @ahjohnson.bsky.social

In Ep 237, "How Selective, Patronizing 'Deradicalization' Discourse Pathologizes Anti-Colonial Struggle," we break down the long history of US media reducing recalcitrant populations' grievances to "terrorism," "hate," & "radicalism" in urgent need of re-education w/ guest @premthakker.bsky.social.

Taking a break from being mad at The Devil's Chessboard by David Talbot and getting mad at the more recent book How To Sell A Genocide by @ahjohnson.bsky.social because apparently I'm not feeling enough DOOM right now.

hello people who live in the greater Chicago area! I'll be in conversation with Nashwa Bawab on the media's complicity in the Gaza genocide next Friday April 24 at 6:30pm. It's at Haymarket House. Register, come by, join us if you can. Thank you!

👇👇👇

Oh hell yeah, ready to read this @ahjohnson.bsky.social

Folks if you’re in the DC/Baltimore area I will be discussing my upcoming book with longtime friend of the pod and comrade @maximillianalvarez.bsky.social at Red Emma’s in Baltimore Saturday May 23. Join us!

Just came @ahjohnson.bsky.social

"the most consequential media scandal of the 21st century" yes

an excerpt from the first 12 pages of my upcoming book 'How to Sell a Genocide: The Media’s Complicity in the Destruction of Gaza'. It publishes in a week but evidently copies are already shipping, so

CHICAGO! You won't want to miss my good friend @ahjohnson.bsky.social & me talking about our new books HOW TO SELL A GENOCIDE (@plutopress.bsky.social) & THE OVERSEER CLASS at @pilsencommbooks.bsky.social on Thursday, May 21 pilsencommunitybooks.com/events/49852

Got my @ahjohnson.bsky.social book in the mail today. Excited to read this and feel incredibly angry.

Yes! I've been waiting to post until everything is finalized but tentatively my book events in NYC are May 7 - The Word Is Change bookstore, with Nima Shirazi (event page is TBD) May 8 - New School with Natasha Lennard (event page here: event.newschool.edu/adamjohnsonh...) May 9 - details TBD

4/6 On May 21, I'll be with @ahjohnson.bsky.social (HOW TO SELL A GENOCIDE) at @pilsencommbooks.bsky.social pilsencommunitybooks.com/events/49852

fresh @leftanchor.bsky.social episode, we've got @ahjohnson.bsky.social on to talk about his book on how US media enabled the genocide in Gaza www.leftanchor.com/e/how-to-sel...

In Ep 236, "Manufactured Austerity and the Media Assisted 'Public-Private Partnership' Rip-Off," we discuss how privatization was rebranded 'Public-Private Partnerships' and unleashed decades of raiding of the public coffers by Wall Street. with guest Donald Cohen.

If you’re in the Chicago area please come to this if you can!

I wrote about media rushing to turn Iran potentially capturing an American POW—who was bombing their country—as a “escalation” by Iran and Iran taking “hostages”, and the broader default setting of western media that turns everything our enemies do, no matter how defensive, into Sinister Terrorism

In this News Brief, “As American Troops Hide in Civilian Hotels, US Media Ignores Pentagon's Use of ‘Human Shields’,” we examine CNN, the Atlantic, Washington Post and NYT’s blatant ‘human shields’ double standard as reports emerge of US troops hiding from Iranian attacks in civilian infrastructure.

In this News Brief, we discuss a recent poll showing 70% of Americans are fundamentally wrong about the nature of Iran's "nuclear program"—including 1 in 4 who think Iran currently possesses a nuclear weapon, and detail how decades of sleazy media innuendo and fabrications got us to this point.

I received a review copy of this book. It was enraging. (All the institutions you thought were legitimating genocide were and in ways that are even more clear in hindsight.) But the reporting, data, and analysis were excellent. Buy if you can!

Here's something @ahjohnson.bsky.social wrote last year: www.columnblog.com/p/its-not-ju...

a new YouGov poll shows 25% of Americans falsely believe Iran possesses nuclear weapons and 45% believe the also false claim Iran has an active nuclear weapons program. So I examined why this misinformation is so widespread––namely sleazy, innuendo-laden Iran coverage by US media.

Hey all! I have a book coming out in exactly 4 weeks. It’s a data-driven and, I hope, thorough account of how center-left media sold the public on mass death in Gaza. Pre-ordering helps a lot so do that if you can. 100% of royalties go to @mecaforpeace.bsky.social. Thanks!

It was a pleasure to chat with @ahjohnson.bsky.social about the pervasive cancer that is sports gambling

Among dozens of other problems here it’s worth noting that Shapiro twice lies about Iran, saying then have “nuclear weapons” and a “nuclear arsenal” they, of course, have neither, something US intelligence as affirmed over and over again for 25+ years.

I wrote about congressional Democrats’ incoherent, AIPAC-friendly, lawyerly messaging strategy around Iran that largely focuses on Trump’s supposed lack of “planning” and “consulting Congress,” while deemphasizing—or outright ignoring—clear demands to immediately end the war.

I wrote about an all-time favorite media genre of mine: the Sleeper Cell Panic story. It addition to helping prop up the war effort against Iran and pressuring Dems to abandon their (token) DHS reforms, it has the added bonus of promoting mindless paranoia and racial profiling.

In Ep 235, "'Shadow Fleets,' Sanctions and Western Media's International Law-ification of Arbitrary US Dictates," we explore how unilateral US sanctions against Enemy States are given the halo of international legal legitimacy by print and cable news. With guest @msjamshidi.bsky.social .

IRAN: THE WAR THE MEDIA ALWAYS WANTED I speak with @abbymartin.bsky.social of @empirefiles.bsky.social and @ahjohnson.bsky.social of @citationspod.bsky.social on @therealnews.com youtu.be/HzE7vbFztbA?...

It’s not disingenuous to point out that the NYT did not run a single front page story of the Minab bombing. You don’t dispute this claim because it’s true. And the story that you reference on your webpage does not attribute blame to US/Israel and frames it as an allegation by “Iranian state media”

Michael was an unfailingly sweet, generous man, selfless organizer and father and a friend of Palestine. Read his obit if you have time.

I wrote about how the US and Israel carried out an attack on an Iranian girls school on par with the OKC bombing and US media relegated it to a back page story. No stand alone evening news segments, no front page stories, it made A11 in the NYT then everyone moved on.

HI ALL: we will be going live again, tomorrow on YouTube at 530ET/430CTpm to discuss Trump’s Iran attack, the media downplaying the killing of 150+ school girls in Minab, and Democrats’ bumbling hall monitor routine which still hasn’t held a War Powers vote. Link forthcoming.

"The only way to read this half-hearted response from the Democratic Party leadership is de facto support." essential writing from @sarahlazare.bsky.social and @ahjohnson.bsky.social www.thenation.com/article/poli...

Feigned helplessness, process criticism, no public statements or editorials: Liberal elites continue to let Trump do their dirty work for them: by @ahjohnson.bsky.social

In this News Brief, "What Does 'Progressive Foreign Policy' Mean in an Age of Genocide?" we break down recent "AOC Discourse," what comes after liberal interventionism, and lay out what it means to turn the page on Bidenism without first holding Biden officials accountable for backing a genocide.

In "As Trump Crushes Academia, the NYT and Atlantic Still Fight 'Woke' Wars from 5 Years Ago," we are joined by Chenjerai Kumanyika & Todd Wolfson of @aaup.org to discuss Trump's gutting of higher education, neoliberalism's college takeover and the possible end of academic independence as we know it

In this New Brief, we detail how the New York Times, Atlantic, and others are using the specter of ICE's extreme violence and kidnappings to create a narrative of successful post-George Floyd police reform that simply does not exist.

Police and their media allies are using the horrors of Trump’s ICE kidnaps squads to launder police depts’ reputations and promote a baseless narrative of successful post George Floyd “reforms”. I wrote about this is PR blitz and why it’s bullshit.

We will continue to repost this evergreen piece from @ahjohnson.bsky.social BariWeiss is doing exactly what she was chosen by the Ellisons to do.

🚨 BALTIMORE STRIKES AGAINST ICE. NEW FROM ME @therealnews.com Watch here: youtu.be/QJNpqRxDatY

In this News Brief, "ICE, Senate Dems' Counterinsurgency PR, and the Limits of Body Cam Liberalism," we detail the fundamental problems with Senate Democrats' cosmetic reforms, the strategy of letting outrage blow over and the conspicuous absence of any proposal that touches ICE's obscene budget.

I wrote about Senate Dems’ proposed “reforms,” which range from superficial to likely unenforceable to actively harmful; the grip billionaire-backed anti-“abolish” Groups have over Washington and the conspicuous absence of any attempt to touch DHS’s obscene budget.

NEW: If ICE was a national military it would be the 13th biggest in the world, IPS @nationalpriorities.bsky.social researchers found. To make ICE less deadly, Democratic leadership must focus less on weak reforms and more on cutting its colossal funding. @ahjohnson.bsky.social in @therealnews.com:

I broke down the ICE “reforms” being proposed by Dem leadership. tl;dr: They totally avoid touching ICE’s funding, in key ways actually increase ICE funding and instead focus on meaningless busywork like “body cams” and “more training”.

In this News Brief, "As Dem Leadership Waffles—Labor, Organizers, Immigrants Fight Back in Minneapolis," we break down Dem leadership's fatuous "body cam" and "training" response to ICE brutality, and how organizers in the Twin Cities are not settling for cosmetic reform. w/ guest Janette Corcelius

In this News Brief, we discuss corporate media uncritically framing a potential military attack on Iran by Trump as being motivated by concern for human rights—a premise that, while laughable on its face, has quickly morphed into elite media consensus.

Trump claims to want to bomb Iran over human rights concerns. This excuse is obviously pretextual, fake and not something Trump has ever expressed interest in until 12 days ago. Nevertheless, as I write, corporate media is uncritically reporting on it as if it’s a sincere and genuine conviction.