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WASHINGTON (Sputnik) Googles new fact-checking program is a bid tocontrol the news bythe old and increasingly discredited corporate-owned media establishment.

"I see this asan effort tocontrol news inthe new digital age," Executive Intelligence Review senior editor Jeff Steinberg told Sputnik.

The international fact-checking community currently consists of115 organizations, according toGoogle.

AP Photo/ Virginia Mayo, File

"The ability ofmainstream media toabsolutely control how people think and what facts they take asvalid is much more challenging thanwhen there were three TV networks and a few major daily newspapers [in the United States," he pointed out.

Steinberg expressed skepticism that the so-called "international fact-checking community" Google relied uponwas truly independent and unbiased.

"I am leery aboutthe international fact-check community withoutgetting a better idea ofwhich groups they are. I know the case ofWikipedia and their fact checkers are neocon ideologues who scrub content foranything that deeply critiques their ideology and boosts their enemies list," he said.

Steinberg cited an example a recent website that claimed toidentify "fake news" outlets.

"They noted that the only trustworthy sources of facts are the BBC [British Broadcasting Corporation], the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and NPR [National Public Radio]," Steinberg added.

University ofLouvain Professor Jean Bricmont, an eminent philosopher and author agreed that Google was likely touse the New York Times and other major establishment outlets todiscredit facts and interpretations presented byother sources and thereby severely limit freedom ofexpression.

REUTERS/ Goran Tomasevic/Files

The Western media establishment tried toclaim it was incorruptible and unbiased, Bricmont noted.

"This is all based onthe prejudice that mainstream media do not lie, do not make mistakes, do not select information, only alternative media do. This makes this fact checking a tool ofpropaganda ofcourse," he said.

However, Bricmont predicted that the fact-checking plan would fail withthe public.

"I doubt that this sort ofsoft censorship will induce them toregain faith inthe MSM [mainstream media] People do not ingeneral liketo be told what toread and people who trust alternative sites do so because they have lost trust inthe MSM," he said.

Bricmont expressed skepticism that the new Google policy would succeed instrengthening the hegemony ofthe mainstream media.

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Google's Fact-Checker Deemed to Give Corporate Media Power to Control News - Sputnik International

Prudhoe Bay. (Photo courtesy of BP)

UPDATE Saturday, April 15, 5:30 p.m.:

BP is still struggling to contain anout-of-control productionwell on the North Slope, after a failed attempt to shut it downFriday night.Thewell continuedto vent natural gas Saturday evening, more than a day and a half afterBP first reporteda gas release and spray of crude oil.

Thearea near the well remained too unsafe forworkers to approach Saturday.But BP said flights over the areasuggestedthat oil from the well waslikely contained to the drill pad, and may not havereachedthe surrounding tundra. The companyconfirmed there havebeen no injuries, and no reports of impacts to wildlife.

The focus today is on developing plans to fully and safely secure the well, BP said in a statement.

Representatives from the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC), U.S. EPA and the North Slope Borough had traveled to Prudhoe Bay to forma unified command with BP to manage the response.

In a situationreportreleased Saturday afternoon, ADEC said it wastoo soon to pinpoint why BP lost control of the well.Butthe reportidentified two separate leaks in the well, and noted that the well itself had jacked up, or risen several feet out of the ground.

This is a continuing story. Check back for updates.

ORIGINAL STORY Friday, April 14, 5 p.m.:

BP is working to contain an out-of-control production well at the Prudhoe Bay oil field on the North Slope. The well is currently venting natural gas and has released at least some crude oil into the environment.

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State regulators say they dont yet know how serious the incident is, or what amountof oil or gas has been released.

In an emailed statement, BP said nobody was near the well at the time of the release, and there have been no injuries.

Regulators were still waiting for details Friday afternoon.

Its been spewing gas and some amount of crude, and some of its getting onto the surrounding tundra, Dan Seamount said. Hes a commissioner with the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.We dont have any volumes yet.

Seamount said its been years since an incident like this took place on the North Slope. The drill site, DS2, is about five miles from the industryhub of Deadhorse.

On Friday afternoon, BP wasworking to depressurize the drill site to reduce the amount of gas venting from the well. Regulators said no workers werebeing allowed near the welluntil that happened, because of the fire hazard.

When a well has lost control, it becomes unpredictable, and we want to make sure that the people that respond to the site do so in a safe way, Ashley Adamczak, with the state Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) in Fairbanks, said.

Adamczak said once workers are able to approach the well, the company and regulators will be able to get a better sense of what caused the incident and how much oil and gas was released.

BPfirst noticed the release at about 7:30a.m. Friday, according to a situation report from ADEC. The report said representatives of ADEC, EPA and the North Slope Borough wouldestablish a unified command with BP to develop cleanup plans.

But asof 4 p.m. Friday, there was no word on when BP expected to have the well under control. Seamount said it could be hours, or days.The company hadnt yet submitted a plan for shutting in the well to the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission for approval.

It sounds like the problem is going to be taken care of,Seamount said, adding after a pause: Not sure when.

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BP working to contain well on North Slope - Alaska Public Radio Network

by WorldTribune Staff, April 13, 2017

The centrist and nationalist wings within President Donald Trumps National Security Council (NSC) are battling for ultimate control of the most pressing foreign policy decisions, according to D.C. media outlets.

But is the fight for real or is it media factions outside the White House that is obsessed with power?

Chief strategist Steve Bannon, who was removed from the NSC shortly before the U.S. missile strikes on a Syrian airbase, continues to have the backing of much of the populist base that carried Trump to the White House, including the influential Mercer family, The Washington Post reported on April 12.

Meanwhile, Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner is driving the centrists and has taken aggressive action to micro-manage the NSC, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

Bannon told friends that everything is fine and that the excitement is mainly media-generated. The Post compared is continued tenure as hospice care.

Related: Trump: Before Steve Bannon was, I am, April 12, 2017

Bannon, who not long ago was referred to as the shadow president is struggling to keep his job with his portfolio reduced and his profile damaged, according to the Post, which cited interviews with 21 of Trumps aides, confidants and allies.

Some colleagues described Bannon as a stubborn recluse who had failed to build a reservoir of goodwill within the West Wing, the report said.

To his supporters, Bannon remains an essential conduit between the president and his nationalist, populist base.

The wealthy Mercer family, which has nurtured Bannons political rise and infused Trumps campaign and allied groups with millions of dollars, is closely monitoring Bannons falling fortunes, the Post report said. Rebekah Mercer, who directs the familys political activities, is unnerved and worried about losing her best link to a president her family takes credit for helping get elected but believes Bannon will be able to maintain his influence, people close to the family said.

Kushner, meanwhile, has overshadowed even recently installed National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster, the Free Beacon reported, citing sources both inside and outside the White House.

Never before has a White House permitted such a figure to intervene in the NSC, which is traditionally given leeway to investigate foreign policy matters and bring advice to the president, the report said, noting Kushners influence over foreign policy portfolios such as Iraq, Israel, Mexico, Saudi Arabia and China.

Kushner is meddling in a lot of things, said an NSC official who spoke to theFree Beacon only on background. Such direct control of foreign policy from the West Wing has never happened before. It just creates a lot of drama. People just dont know how to deal with it. Were respectful of his position, but its confusing the policymaking process.

Officials working at the NSC, State Department, and Department of Defense are not happy that Jared is so powerful in foreign policy, said one White House official. They are expected to implement the presidents agenda, but have no input or ability to get ideas in front of Jared. Its a one-man show and thats creating a lot of frustration.

The installation of Dina Powell, aconfidant of Kushners wife Ivanka, to the NSC is said to have been orchestrated by Kushner in order to solidify his power over the foreign policy organization, sources told the Free Beacon.

A White House spokesperson told theFree Beaconthe NSC was running smoothly: The NSC is running beautifully under the leadership of Gen. McMasterwho has installed an exceptional team to execute on behalf of the president.

Fight for control of the Trump administrations NSC? Warring narratives rage in DC media, Fight for control of the Trumps NSC? Warring narratives rage in DC media, H.R. McMaster, Jared Kushner, Mercer family, nationalists vs centrists, Steve Bannon, WorldTribune.com

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Fight for control of the Trump's NSC? Warring narratives rage in DC media - World Tribune

It seems to be the season for videos on social media to cause a stir in the abortion debate in Ireland. A few days ago, LifeNews reported on a video that challenged arguments for repeal of the Eighth Amendment which has received almost 600,000 views to date on Facebook. (The Eighth Amendment is Irelands last remaining constitutional protection for unborn children).

Now, another video is starting to gather pace. Posted by the Hear Both Sides organisation, the video, entitled RTE Views Dressed Up As News was posted online just a few days ago but already it is striking a chord with the public. It documents effectively just how out of control media bias has become on the abortion issue.

Even though aspects of the video are presented in a slightly tongue-in-cheek way, the video has a very serious message. On its youtube channel, the Hear Both Sides group highlight the biased, distorted, one-sided reporting that RTE engages in, and unfortunately this will not come as any surprise to people who follow the debate in Ireland closely.

Just one of the examples in the video shows this clearly. In one month alone, RTE dedicated 81 minutes to presenting the case for removing the Eighth Amendment and just 4 minutes were given to the pro-life side during the same month.

As Irelands National Broadcaster, RTE is in a privileged position. It receives close to 200 million of taxpayers money every year. But just as with all privileges, it also has responsibilities including the requirement to produce fair and objective current affairs programmes. Its this area where RTE is falling down, time and time again, when it comes to abortion. Instead of providing both sides of the argument and facilitating a situation where the public is able to come to an informed conclusion on how they feel about the rights of unborn children and the place they should hold in our society, RTE constantly pushes one side of the narrative only and as a result, the public lose out.

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It isnt just social media groups like Hear Both Sides that have pulled RTE up on this. The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, which is tasked with ensuring that RTE meets its requirements as National Broadcaster, has upheld complaints against shows on RTE a remarkable 3 times where it was found to be failing in its obligations in this regard. Each one of these is a serious matter because each complaint upheld highlights a failure on the part of RTE to provide the kind of service that the taxpayer is funding.

One aspect that the Hear Both Sides video aptly represents is RTEs determination to stereotype the pro-life movement in Ireland. Instead of presenting it accurately as the diverse, motivated and growing movement which crosses all age groups, all faiths and none, RTE prefers to pretend that the only people interested in protecting unborn children are those who want an old-fashioned society. In reality, pro-life supporters know that their movement is genuinely modern, one that acknowledges the humanity of the unborn child in the womb, so clearly identified by advances in science.

Its time that RTE stopped its campaign of painting pro-lifers as people stuck in the dark ages. As tax-payers, supporters of the Eighth Amendment deserve to have their voices heard on the National Broadcaster and shouldnt have to feel that RTE is lining up with pro-choice campaigners to bring about the removal of the last remaining constitutional protection for unborn children.

LifeNews readers are encouraged to watch the video and share it with a friend to help to highlight the problem of media bias in Ireland. Its available here:

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Video Shows Just How Out of Control Irish Media Bias is on Abortion - LifeNews.com

The historic Mission Control room at the Johnson Space Center is one of two that were in operation when Apollo 11 put the first man on the moon. The goal is to make the room look exactly as it did when Neil Armstrong stepped on the lunar surface in 1969.

The $3.5 million donation will be funded by the hotel occupancy tax. Hotels expect the control room restoration will attract more overnight stays from visitors to the area. William Harris is president and CEO of the non-profit Space Center Houston.

Currently its one of our most popular stops on the behind-the-scenes tram tour of Johnson Space Center, and you can go into the visitation area and we do an orientation so people can see the actual room through the glass, exactly.

The control room on the floor below continues to be used for the International Space Station. Space Center Houston is raising $5 million for the renovation to the second floor control center, which was declared a National Historic Landmark and taken out of operation in 1995.

Our goal is to restore it to the Apollo era. So, restore the consoles, illuminate them, add other artifacts, so it looks like a working space as it did, you know, forty, fifty years ago.

Curators can look at old pictures and film to see how the control room once looked, and retired control center employees are helping to convey what the environment was like. The Space Center hopes to complete restoration by 2019, in time for the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing.

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Webster Donation Puts JSC Mission Control Restoration Into Hyperdrive - Houston Public Media