I agree, and I tend to avoid them but I couldn't figure out how to explain the pro-war cohert who consider themselves left.

Ya, things are getting weird, and I wouldn't be surprised if every independent site is shutdown. RT wasn't just Russian media. Independent journalists flocked there after getting fired for speaking out against the Iraq war. There's rumors of shutting down Substack and it scares the crap out of me because people seem to agree with silencing others. Ugh.