MEDIA ROOTS – As many of you know, I have been proudly working at RT America for the past four months. I’m really excited to announce that on September 4th, I will be debuting a premier show called ‘Breaking the Set.’
There are way too many rules set in society that prop up the establishment– an establishment that works to divide and conquer the people. With this show, I am going to work to undermine that pre-established narrative which tells the people what to think and what to care about. Tune in from 6-6:30 EST M-F and let me know what you think!
MEDIA ROOTS — Whether for healing, meditation, or recreation, psychoactive substances have played a significant role in most cultures throughout human history. The United States is of no exception.
In 1895, the Bayer aspirin company used to market Heroin as an over the counter cough syrup. Up until the 1930s, opium tincture, morphine and heroin were available over-the-counter and millions of Americans were becoming addicted. In contrast, many of these same substances are now considered highly dangerous by the Drug Enforcement Agency and in many cases are illegal altogether.
Today, there are new names for nearly equally powerful and addictive substances like Vicodin, Oxycontin, Dilauded and Fentanyl. Fentanyl, a drug far more potent than heroin or Morphine comes in convenient lollypop and patch form for easy consumption which is distributed legally by pharmaceutical companies.
Most pharmaceutical production facilities do not start with pure chemicals when manufacturing these medicines. They instead use opium latex derived from poppies to produce drugs such as Vicodin. India and Nepal, for example, maintain opium latex factories to export this material globally. This practice remains legal while natural opium consumption and distribution can carry a ten-year prison sentence in most states.
With the war in Afghanistan continuing to rage on, heroin production has actually increased because of the continued presence of the United States military. Additionally, President Obama’s recent healthcare legislation has only stimulated opiate production anddistribution by mandating consumers to buy into the health insurance industry. Consequently, profits of large pharmaceutical companies continue to grow while the ubiquity of painkillers for future Americans is ensured.
Robbie Martin for Media Roots
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Abby Martin on RT, ‘Painkiller Nation’
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RT – Approximately 100 million working American are uninsured in the US and lack of health care ranks as the seventh cause of death. President Obama has attempted to reform healthcare, but has only fallen short. Many critics believe Obama forcing people in America to obtain healthcare is a power grab from pharmaceutical companies. Dr. Darcy Smith, a licensed clinical social worker, joins us to discuss this growing trend of pill popping.
MEDIA ROOTS — One of the greatest myths perpetuated by anti-gay politicians is that children raised by a hetero-normative male/female unit turn out better than ones raised by gay parents. Statistics and facts have defeated this myth countless times–but regardless of the data–members of the religious right continue to spread this disinformation.
While Abby was working with Luke Rudkowski from WeAreChange, she happened to catch up with Rick Santorum in a DC hotel lobby. But when WeAreChange posted the video on its YouTube channel, the reaction from the organization’s base was mostly negative, ranging from people calling it a ‘distraction’ or ‘wedge issue’ to agreeing with Santorum’s viewpoint on homosexuality.
The video’s reaction revealed how a large percentage of people who associate themselves with the ‘liberty’ movement let their bigoted views trump respecting LGBT civil rights in this country. To illustrate this hypocrisy, check out the video’s top rated YouTube comments:
“Oh wow more dislikes than likes on a WeAreChange video! Probably because your asking Rick Santorum an irrelevant question on gay marriage. Go back to chasing down the power brokers of the NWO, and I wont dislike your video again.”
“Gay marriage is a NWO strategy to destroy morality and any real human values (like honor and dignity) and you are for it????”
While unfortunate that a movement focusing on the erosion of civil liberties would react so poorly to such a confrontation, other media outlets like Raw Story recognized the importance of slamming Santorum with such a question.
Robbie Martin for Media Roots
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Abby Martin confronts Rick Santorum
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RAW STORY – The socially conservative politician — who once said he was willing to die to prevent same sex marriages — was recently confronted about his views by Abby Martin of Media Roots.
“You said during your campaign that homosexual parents — that kids don’t thrive under homosexual parents, but actually studies have shown that kids thrive equally under homosexual parents as they do straight parents,” she asked Santorum. “Do you think this hateful rhetoric, you know, you’re fighting a losing battle here — as homosexuality is more accepted by the day.”
“I don’t think it’s hateful rhetoric,” Santorum answered. “I think having public policy discussions is not hateful rhetoric.”
“But it’s incorrect,” Martin interrupted.
“I think characterizing it as such is a typical tactic that those who do not want to have a real discussion about the issues,” Santorum said.
MEDIA ROOTS — Ever since the Internet took off there has been a positive push back against the corporate controlled mainstream media establishment. Many educated people now rightfully believe that they are being lied to and manipulated by these large corporate organizations that use sensationalism, fear mongering and titillation to emotionally effect the viewer into reacting on a base reptile level rather than with their higher critical brain.
In response to the criticisms about RT being ‘state sponsored propaganda,’ Abby Martin did a segment called ‘Media Wars’ for RT America where she breaks down the ownership of the corporate and state media establishment while encouraging viewers to critically think in the face of a barrage of differing media/infotainment/news bombardments.
Robbie Martin for Media Roots
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Abby Martin on RT America, ‘Media Wars’
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RT – Here at RT our motto is “Question more.” What that means is that audiences should critically think of what is being fed to viewers by the mainstream media. We like to provide a different angle to news stories and cover certain topics that are taboo to other media outlets. RT’s Abby Martin has more.
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SALON – A new news show hosted by Julian Assange debuted yesterday on RT, the global media outlet funded by the Russian government and carried by several of America’s largest cable providers. His first show was devoted to an interview with Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah (video below), who has not given a television interview since 2006. The combination of Assange and a Russian-owned TV network has triggered a predictable wave of snide, smug attacks from American media figures, attacks that found their purest expression in this New York Times review yesterday of Assange’s new program by Alessandra Stanley.
Much is revealed by these media attacks on Assange and RT — not about Assange or RT but about their media critics. We yet again find, for instance, the revealing paradox that nothing prompts media scorn more than bringing about unauthorized transparency for the U.S. government. As a result, it’s worth examining a few passages from Stanley’s analysis. It begins this way:
When Anderson Cooper began a syndicated talk show, his first guest was the grieving father of Amy Winehouse.
Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, unveiled a new talk show on Tuesday with his own version of a sensational get: the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.
That contrast — between one of America’s Most Serious Journalists and Assange — speaks volumes already about who is interested in actual journalism and who is not. Then we have this, a trite little point, impressed by its own cleverness, found at the center of almost all of these sneering pieces on Assange’s new program:
Mr. Assange says the theme of his half-hour show on RT is “the world tomorrow.” But there is something almost atavistic about the outlet he chose. RT, first known as Russia Today, is anEnglish-language news network created by the Russian leader Vladimir V. Putin in 2005 to promote the Kremlin line abroad. (It also broadcasts in Spanish and Arabic.) It’s like the Voice of America, only with more money and a zesty anti-American slant. A few correspondents can sound at times like Boris and Natasha of “Rocky & Bullwinkle” fame. Basically, it’s an improbable platform for a man who poses as a radical left-wing whistleblower and free-speech frondeur battling the superpowers that be.
Let’s examine the unstated premises at work here. There is apparently a rule that says it’s perfectly OK for a journalist to work for a media outlet owned and controlled by a weapons manufacturer (GE/NBC/MSNBC), or by the U.S. and British governments (BBC/Stars & Stripes/Voice of America), or by Rupert Murdoch and Saudi Prince Al-Waleed Bin Talal (Wall St. Journal/Fox News), or by a banking corporation with long-standing ties to right-wing governments (Politico), or by for-profit corporations whose profits depend upon staying in the good graces of the U.S. government (Kaplan/The Washington Post), or by loyalists to one of the two major political parties (National Review/TPM/countless others), but it’s an intrinsic violation of journalistic integrity to work for a media outlet owned by the Russian government. Where did that rule come from?
Also, while it’s certainly true that the coverage of RT is at times overly deferential to the Russian government, that media outlet never mindlessly disseminated government propaganda to help to start a falsehood-fueled devastating war, the way that Alessandra Stanley’s employer (along with most leadingAmericanmediaoutlets) did. When it comes to destruction brought about by uncritical media fealty to government propaganda, RT — as the Russia expert Mark Adomanis documented when American media figures began attacking RT – is far behind virtually all of the corporate employers of its American media critics.
MEDIA ROOTS — Earlier this week on Deadline Live, radio host Jack Blood interviewed our very own Abby Martin. The beginning of the conversation gravitates around Abby’s incident with Rand Paul, where Rand tried to intimidate Abby for confronting him on his Romney endorsement. This leads into a discussion on many topics including how putting your faith and energy behind any politician (even ones who say things you agree with) will ultimately lead to disappointment.
Jack Blood is unique in the ‘liberty movement’ because he was practically black balled by the reigning leader of said movement back in 2010. Jack and Abby discuss how the alternative media movement has been taking over by ‘fear porn’ and a lock step ideology that is based on sensationalism instead of facts. They explore the trap of idealizing yourself as a critical thinker and rejecting mainstream media, but then replacing your intake of information with just another alternative media establishment narrative.
Overall, it’s refreshing to hear a discussion inside this ‘movement’ which isn’t afraid to be critical of certain aspects of it, like its rampant racism (important fixtures in the movement referring to Obama as a ‘spear chucker’) and homophobia. Or, why so many people in the movement keep making excuses for both Pauls, even going so far as claiming he is being held hostage. Bohemian Grove and Bilderberg are also discussed as potential distractions away from where the seeds to actual documented public policy is formed. The conversation finishes up with how art is a vehicle for reflecting our times, and how an artist has a responsibility to inject something into the zeitgeist of culture.
Robbie Martin for Media Roots
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Jack Blood Interviews Abby Martin on Deadline Live
“Jack Blood welcomes Abby Martin (www.abbymartin.org and www.mediaroots.org) TV Host on Russia Today…. We discuss Rand Paul’s censorship of her and RT, Art as a vehicle for truth, Bilderberg’s Alt media Red carpet, No difference between Alt media and MSM, and what is Russia Today? Abby swears, and denies she is “Toyko Rose” and basically kicks ass all through the entire first hour…. Breaking news from www.deadlinelive.info”
MEDIA ROOTS — Whether for healing, meditation, or recreation, psychoactive substances have played a significant role in most cultures throughout human history. The United States is of no exception.
MEDIA ROOTS — One of the greatest myths perpetuated by anti-gay politicians is that children raised by a hetero-normative male/female unit turn out better than ones raised by gay parents. Statistics and facts have defeated this myth countless times–but regardless of the data–members of the religious right continue to spread this disinformation.
MEDIA ROOTS — Ever since the Internet took off there has been a positive push back against the corporate controlled mainstream media establishment. Many educated people now rightfully believe that they are being lied to and manipulated by these large corporate organizations that use sensationalism, fear mongering and titillation to emotionally effect the viewer into reacting on a base reptile level rather than with their higher critical brain. 
MEDIA ROOTS — Earlier this week on Deadline Live, radio host Jack Blood interviewed our very own Abby Martin. The beginning of the conversation gravitates around Abby’s incident with Rand Paul, where Rand tried to intimidate Abby for confronting him on his Romney endorsement. This leads into a discussion on many topics including how putting your faith and energy behind any politician (even ones who say things you agree with) will ultimately lead to disappointment. 