6 min read

Trans Bodies, Trans Choices • Ivermectin Grifters Owned • Zizek Debates Ideology

The best of independent media from the OptOut news network.
Trans Bodies, Trans Choices • Ivermectin Grifters Owned • Zizek Debates Ideology

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I also went on Ring of Fire Radio with Farron Cousins to talk about OptOut and a recent story. Jordan Chariton of OptOut member Status Coup joined the show as well to discuss "his recent trip through Florida where he spoke with the people who are being directly, negatively impacted by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis' assaults on our rights."

Episode 636: DeSantis’ Assault on Florida; Dark Money Behind Climate Denial - Ring of Fire Radio with Farron Cousins - Fans.fm

Here's the story I wrote for Exposed by CMD: Nonprofit charities, which are subsidized by our tax dollars, are some of the biggest funders of climate misinformation. Read about the Dirty Dozen, which include several charitable money managers tied to mainstream investment firms.

The Dirty Dozen: The Biggest Nonprofit Funders of Climate Denial - EXPOSEDbyCMD
A CMD report exposes the U.S.-based nonprofits most responsible for poisoning the discourse on climate change.

Your Weekly Independent News Roundup

This week's roundup of the best content from OptOut's network of over 120 financially independent, trustworthy news outlets covers fake or former progressives' misinformation, among other topics, and features a number of great videos.

Fake Lefties on the Airwaves

Quite a few media personalities formerly, or even still, associated with the left became unhinged during the Trump era and are now squarely on the right. Whether it's making libertarian arguments against Covid lockdowns pushed by the political network of Charles Koch, defending Trump, or grifting off of unproven Covid remedies, these guys really know how to own themselves.

Along with "intellectual dark web" pals Joe Rogan and Brett Weinstein, shock jock and "Force the Vote" opportunist Jimmy Dore got on the ivermectin train early, pumping his viewers for Super Chat payments as Trump-loving doctors seemingly defrauded patients convinced that the Covid vaccine contains 5G tracking chips.

The Majority Report discusses a new study showing that, as many health officials have been saying for nearly two years now, the deworming drug does not in fact reduce Covid-19 patients' risk of ending up in the hospital.

Eric Draitser of Counterpunch reviews "the pernicious influence of fake anti-imperialism as it infects the left and poisons analysis of Russia's war in Ukraine."

So-called anti-imperialists have ended up cheering on war crimes, says Draitser, who covers deflection as a means of backhanded support for Russia, the claim that the Mariupol bombing as a "false flag," and the cynical manipulation of language, history, and culture. Some of these actors have denied genocides in Syria and China in the recent past.

Exposing Fake Anti-Imperialism on Ukraine

Libertarian Glenn Greenwald, a former hero of the left who is now a favorite guest of Fox News' white nationalist-friendly Tucker Carlson, has a new book about his experience with press freedom in Brazil, where he lives and works. But, as FAIR writes, the frequent critic of U.S. foreign policy weirdly leaves out key details about U.S. involvement in an allegedly anti-corruption task force that put former president Lula behind bars.

Greenwald’s Bombshell Brazil Scoops Have Curious Blindspot for US Involvement - FAIR
The lack of analysis of US involvement in Lava Jato is especially surprising because Greenwald has long been a critic of US foreign policy.
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In Other News

Speaking of the right, rightwing conspiracy theories are driving even more cuts to local election administration, reports Bolts.

New Right-Wing Conspiracies Threaten to Further Starve Local Election Systems - Bolts
Conservatives are sowing fears about outside funding of elections, cutting out nonprofits that help prop up poorly-funded voting systems and limiting voter outreach.

And one more on the right wing: Who What Why analyzes how the war in Ukraine is complicating Hungarian President Viktor Orbán's reelection campaign.

The Uphill Battle to Oust Orbán, Trump’s Role Model and Putin’s Ally - WhoWhatWhy
Viktor Orbán — far-right America’s favorite culture warrior — looks headed for a fourth term as leader of Hungary’s illiberal democracy.

For Prism, Alexandra Martinez reports on a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services policy—first introduced by Bill Clinton, replaced by Obama, reinstated by Trump, and maintained by Biden—is putting hundreds of thousands of asylum seekers in limbo.

Asylum-seekers ‘in limbo’ because of a Trump-era processing system
The wait has also forced thousands of asylum-seekers to live in constant uncertainty about their status

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Watch the Gravel Institute's mini-doc on the LAPD's shooting and killing Mely Corado, in the context of a pattern of other killings by the force.

TransLash Media published a three-part series called "Trans Bodies, Trans Choices." Here's one selection profiling nonbinary Californian Jack Qu’emi, whose unplanned pregnancy got worse when they encountered transphobic health professionals. The full transcript and resources are here.

Finally, check out two debates hosted by the Jacobin Show: one between New York Magazine's Eric Levitz and Jacobin contributor Branko Marcetic on how the American left should understand and respond to the Russian invasion of Ukraine; and another between theorists Slavoj Zizek and Vivek Chibber on the role of ideology in promoting capitalist stability.


Thanks as always for following the OptOut independent media network! See you later this week.


The OptOut Media Foundation (EIN: 85-2348079) is a nonprofit charity with a mission to educate the public about current events and help sustain a diverse media ecosystem by promoting and assisting independent news outlets and, in doing so, advance democracy and social justice.

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