I always get a kick out of US media describing their counterparts in countries the US is demonizing as “state-controlled.” Just as the US pretends not to be an empire or a fascist economy, so it pretends to have a free press. In fact, the US media are almost entirely unfree, except at the margins.

For example, US print and television, in their endless repeating of foreign war propaganda on Gaza, never mention the almost total trade blockade that land of poverty has suffered from. The conservatives don’t mention it either. After all, such a barrier stimulates local businesses and jobs, doesn’t it? According to protectionist lore, Gaza should be a paradise of prosperity, thanks to its being cut off from the international division of labor.