This is a republish of an important story covering the covert agenda of Facebook and outlining the dangers of uncritical acceptance of social media, The article first appeared on VoltaireNet.org by Shelley Kasli

What Alternative für Deutschland, Rodrigo Duterte, Mauricio Macri, Narendra Modi, Barack Obama, the Scottish National Party and Donald Trump have in common? They relied on their election campaigns on the advice of Mark Zuckerberg. Taking the case of the falsification of Indian elections, Shelley Kasli reveals the way Facebook manipulates democracies.

A recent Bloomberg report has revealed how a secret unit of Facebook has helped create troll armies for governments around the world including India for digital propaganda to influence elections [1]. Under fire for Facebook Inc.’s role as a platform for political propaganda, co-founder Mark Zuckerberg has punched back, saying his mission is above partisanship.

But Facebook, it turns out, is no bystander in global politics. What he hasn’t said is that his company actively works with political parties and leaders including those who use the platform to stifle opposition—sometimes with the aid of “troll armies” that spread misinformation and extremist ideologies [2]. read full story / add a comment

The Guardian published an article yesterday on how the Japanese have evaded through military technology the Sea Shepherd patrols that previously prevented them whaling and that they are now killing whales inside the internationally recognized Southern Ocean whaling sanctuary, that surrounds Antarctica.

A fleet of Japanese ships is currently hunting minke whales in the Southern Ocean. It is a politically incendiary practice: the waters around Antarctica were long ago declared a whale sanctuary, but the designation has not halted Japan’s whalers, who are continuing a tradition of catching whales “for scientific research” in the region. In the past, conservation groups such as Sea Shepherd have mounted campaigns of harassment and successfully blocked Japan’s ships from killing whales. But not this year. Despite previous successes, Sea Shepherd says it can no longer frustrate Japan’s whalers because their boats now carry hardware supplied from military sources, making the fleet highly elusive and almost impossible to track. As a result the whalers are – for the first time – being given a free run to kill minke in the Southern Ocean. read full story / add a comment

As Congress considers recovery and relief packages for hurricane-hit Puerto Rico, the island's Archbishop and national religious groups are holding a vigil in a Congressional office building on Wednesday.
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Christmas is an ancient feast that has many positive associations for people around the world. While the bible places the birth of Christ in Bethlehem it does not say when, but by the 4th century the Churches in the East were celebrating it on January 6 and the Churches of the West on December 25.

One thing is certain about Christmas is that it is rooted in many traditions and superstitions relating to nature that existed long before Christmas and many have continued in one form or another to the present day. The many strands of Christmas can be seen in the variety of different traditions associated with, or originating in, places all over Europe. These strands are, inter alia, the solstice, the Nativity, Saturnalia, Yuletide, St Nicholas, Father Christmas, and Grandfather Frost (Ded Moroz). read full story / add a comment

We carry below an official statement from the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee, the leadership of the global BDS movement. The IPSC has called an emergency lunchtime protest against the move this Friday 8th December between 1pm and 2pm: read full story / add a comment

As the Senate and House tax plans head to conference committee to reconcile tax plan differences, major religious leaders from Puerto Rico are asking Congress to protect the island from new proposed ‎taxes. read full story / add a comment

The Fine Gael / Independents government is to propose to the Dail this coming week that Ireland join the EU's Permanent Structured Cooperation on security and defence (PESCO). This will mean a new EU Defence budget starting at over €1.5 billion a year (up from €590 million). Each participating EU state, including Ireland, will be required to reach an average of 2% of its GDP to ensure that the EU becomes a global military power. read full story / add a comment

This is a repost of an recent article (Dec 1st) by economic analyst and trade unionist Michael Taft on www.tasc.ie covering the good news trend where there is now a trend in Europe of reversing privatisations. And that is certainly something positive. There is a spectre haunting Europe – the spectre of de-privatisation, re-municipalisation, and re-nationalisation. Local, regional and national Governments throughout Europe and in other countries - fed up with high costs, low investment, deteriorating quality and poor working conditions – are taking services back into public control and ownership. For many, privatisation has produced poor results; now they are starting to reverse that process. Public ownership is back on the agenda. read full story / add a comment

In 1762 Jean Jacques Rousseau published his book, The Social Contract, in which he wrote,

“In Greece, all that the populace had to do, it did for itself; it was constantly assembled in the public square.”

Rousseau was well aware of the importance of public spaces when it came to political change. Indeed, the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789 showed the power of the populace against armed guards defending the medieval fortress, armory, and political prison in Paris which at the time represented royal authority. Interestingly enough, the decision had also been taken to replace the Bastille with an open public space and the fortress was demolished within five months. Since then many open public spaces around the world have been the centres of political activity. read full story / add a comment

Speech by Hezbollah Secretary General Sayed Hassan Nasrallah on November 20, 2017, following the victory of Al Boukamal and one day after the meeting of the Arab League which again designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization read full story / add a comment

As the Senate pushes tax reform, the head of a religious development group expressed concern over parts of the House and Senate proposals that could harm low income people in the United States and people in the developing world. read full story / add a comment

Jubilee USA, a religious development group, asked the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) to require greater disclosure of what payments corporations make to governments where they operate. read full story / add a comment

Contribution to the Discussion on the Centinnial of the October 1917 Bolshevik Revolution
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The courtcase which gave the Forest of Hambach a little more time to prepeare for cutting season is lost. RWE started today with clearing bushes to prepear for total cutting.
The preparations for an massiv police action are obviously. They announced that they want to evict the whole occupation. We expect them latest on Monday for evictions. They are already in the forest protecting machinery. So we need to mobilise our forces as well. read full story / add a comment

We are reposting this story due to its importance and the way it highlights the workings of the empire work

On July 14 this year a British man from the Manchester area named Benjamin Stimson, aged 41, a man the London Times called a “socialist” to add to his crimes, was convicted under the British Terrorism Act for “facilitating” acts of “terrorism” by serving with one of the Donbass Republic militias for four months in 2015, as an ambulance driver. read full story / add a comment

Filipino left coalition condemns Trump's visit, demands end of support for Duterte's human rights abuses read full story / add a comment

Despite the Oslo Accords and the establishment of the Palestinian Authority in 1994, the Israeli state is never going to grant the Palestinians complete autonomy or independence. As recently as last week in London Netanyahu said there could never be an independent Palestine. So they have to actively maintain a state of conflict, and heightened security. read full story / add a comment

Given recent behaviour of google and facebook, Now more than ever, activists need to reduce their addiction and dependence on these corporate websites to disseminate their message and store their data. read full story / add a comment

Ireland’s hare coursing fraternity has taken a big hit. Coursing “trials” - big money spinning events in which hares are terrorized and subjected to agonizing injury or death- are to be downgraded to one- day sessions aimed purely at familiarizing hares with coursing venues. read full story / add a comment

More than 130 faith communities across the United States are praying and acting for hurricane victims ‎during religious services this weekend. read full story / add a comment