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Briefcase

John Durham set to interview John Brennan

Jerry Dunleavy
Washington Examiner
Wed, 05 Aug 2020 10:20 UTC
JohnBrennan
© Viral News NowFormer CIA Director John Brennan
U.S. Attorney John Durham will soon interview former CIA Director John Brennan, another sign that the investigation of the Trump-Russia investigators is ready to wrap up by the end of the summer.

Durham, the federal prosecutor from Connecticut appointed by Attorney General William Barr to investigate the origins of the Crossfire Hurricane inquiry and to scrutinize the conduct of the law enforcement leaders and intelligence officials involved in it, has asked to interview Brennan, according to "people familiar with the request" cited by NBC News, and the former top spy and vociferous Trump critic has reportedly agreed to the sit-down. The same report cites sources who suggest Durham's inquiry may be nearing the finish line.

Brennan has acknowledged that he is in the "crosshairs" of the criminal inquiry into the Russia investigation led by Durham. He recently claimed, and the White House acknowledged, that he asked the CIA for his official records, including his personal notes and any classified CIA documents that he had signed to help him write his upcoming memoir, but the agency denied his request.

Last year, the New York Times reported that Durham asked for Brennan's electronic communications, phone records, and other documents from the CIA, something NBC News confirmed on Wednesday.
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Document

US State Department 'Russian disinformation' report aims to stop normalization of relations, discredit alt media


RT
Sat, 08 Aug 2020 09:26 UTC
State Dept Flag
© AFP/Brendan SmialowskiUS Department of State flag, Washington DC
Donald Trump speaks of "the swamp," and now Russia's embassy in Washington believes apparatchiks at the State Department have put together a hysterical report on "Russian propaganda" to prevent politicians improving relations.

The Russian diplomats say the dispatch on the "Pillars of Russia's Disinformation and Propaganda Ecosystem." is an attempt to obstruct Moscow's proposals to resume cooperation in key areas. They also claim the communique is obviously geared to discredit alternatives to the mainstream press, which generally toes the US establishment line. It's also notable that the publication coincides with a request for $138 million in 2021 to spend on "countering" Russian media. The embassy wrote on its Facebook account:
"(The) report is an attempt to silence Russian official proposals to resume cooperation in key areas on which the security of the entire world depends. The US State Department is not very fond of the existence of alternative sources of information. Serious resources are employed to discredit them. Any voice that contradicts Washington is dubbed 'disinformation' in the service of the 'Kremlin' and Russian intelligence."
Parts of the document are absurd, the Russian diplomats noted. For example, the authors classified far-right opposition LDPR leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky and the private radio station Govorit Moskva as "Official Government Communications." The officials also cite Russian media with state funding, with headlines from Sputnik, RIA Novosti, RT and others presented as examples of 'disinformation.'

Comment: See also:

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Hammer

Failing upward? After botching Venezuelan regime-change, Elliot Abrams is now Special Representative for Iran


RT
Thu, 06 Aug 2020 18:15 UTC
ElliotAbrams
© ReutersSpecial Representative for Iran and Venezuela Elliot Abrams
The US is putting Iran on regime-change notice, appointing Iran-Contra convict Elliott Abrams as Special Representative for Iran in addition to his duties as Special Representative for Venezuela, a State Department release shows.

Abrams, who oversaw a series of failed coups in Venezuela both in the past year and during the botched 2002 coup against then-President Hugo Chavez, will take over from Brian Hook, who has "decided to step down," according to a press release from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Pompeo lauded Hook's efforts in the statement, declaring he had "achieved historic results countering the Iranian regime." The outgoing official oversaw the Trump administration's "maximum pressure" campaign against Tehran, leveling sanction upon sanction against the Islamic Republic after withdrawing the US from the JCPOA nuclear deal in 2018. Hook praised his own record to the New York Times on Thursday, declaring that "by almost every metric, the regime and its terrorist proxies are weaker than three and a half years ago. We have been very successful."

Comment: Feedback from Twitter: No high fives...not even ones!


See also:

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Target

Twitter labels RT and Sputnik - but not BBC, NPR, VOA - as it launches blitz on state media staff and government officials


RT
Thu, 06 Aug 2020 16:26 UTC
RT/Twitter
© 1 Twitter/@RT_com; Global Look Press/Keystone Press Agency/Lev Radin.jpg
Twitter has declared war on certain state-affiliated media entities, announcing accounts belonging to senior staff will be labeled and their tweets won't be amplified or recommended. The BBC and US state-funded media are exempt.

The microblogging platform announced it will label accounts belonging to key government officials in countries on the UN Security Council, as well as accounts belonging to state-linked media outlets, their editors-in-chief and senior staff.

In a Thursday blog post, it warned it will no longer show tweets from state-linked media accounts on the home screen, notifications, or search.

Comment: If certain foreign media were leaning 'left' would there be this all-out pre-election push to censor?

The Russian Foreign Ministry responded with all that needs to be said:


See also: US State Department 'Russian disinformation' report aims to stop normalization of relations, discredit alt media

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MIB

Russian ex-journalist Safronov accused of passing secret information to NATO spies using his home computer, says lawyer

Jonny Tickle
RT
Fri, 07 Aug 2020 13:50 UTC
Ivan Safronov accused spying russia czech intelligence
© Sputnik / Alexey MaishevIvan Safronov
Russian investigators believe that Ivan Safronov, the former newspaper reporter accused of spying for Czech intelligence, transferred secret data to Prague using his home computer.

That's according to Safronov's lawyer, Ivan Pavlov, who has regularly provided the public with updates as the case has progressed.

He says that investigators claim the adviser to Dmitry Rogozin, the head of national space agency Roscosmos, transferred secret information to the Czechs using VeraCrypt encryption software. They also allege that fragments of the historian Roy Medvedev's book 'Post-Soviet Russia: A Journey Through the Yeltsin Era' were used as passwords.

Comment: More background on Safronov's case:

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Bulb

Blackout hits large area of NYC, including Upper West Side and Harlem

Yaron Steinbuc
New York Post
Fri, 07 Aug 2020 13:47 UTC
NEw York blackout August 2020
© New York Post
A widespread power outage left about 130,000 customers in darkness across a large area of Upper Manhattan early Friday, a Con Edison spokesman said.

Three networks in the utility's transmission system in Manhattan lost their electricity supply at 5:13 a.m., Con Ed spokesman Philip O'Brien told The Post at 6:30 a.m., adding that the power has been restored.

"And we're back! Here's the moment electricity returned to upper Manhattan," @kendisgibson said in a tweet.

The blackout affected the Upper West Side, Upper East Side and Harlem, O'Brien said. The cause is being investigated.

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Handcuffs

Black Lives Matter protesters in Utah face charges with potential life sentence

Lindsay Whitehurst
CTV News
Fri, 07 Aug 2020 10:57 UTC
BLM protesters Salt Lake City
© AP Photo/Rick Bowmer, FileIn this July 9, 2020, file photo, protesters gather in front of district attorney's office in Salt Lake City.
Some Black Lives Matter protesters in Salt Lake City could face up to life in prison if they're convicted of splashing red paint and smashing windows during a protest, a potential punishment that stands out among demonstrators arrested around the U.S. and one that critics say doesn't fit the alleged crime.

The felony criminal mischief charges are more serious because they carry a gang enhancement. Prosecutors said Wednesday that's justified because the protesters worked together to cause thousands of dollars in damage, but watchdogs called the use of the 1990s-era law troubling, especially in the context of criminal justice reform and minority communities.

"This is so far beyond just the enforcement of the law, it feels retaliatory," said Madalena McNeil, who is facing a potential life sentence over felony criminal mischief and riot charges. Charging documents say she bought red paint at a Home Depot before the July 9 demonstration sparked by a fatal police shooting ruling. She later yelled at and shifted her weight as if to slam into police during the demonstration, charges state. "It's really frustrating and scary ... I just feel so much concern for what this means for the right to protest in general."

Comment: See also:

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Brick Wall

PM puts Melbourne into Australia's toughest virus lockdown to date


France 24
Thu, 06 Aug 2020 23:47 UTC
Melbourne lockdown australia
© William West/Agence France-PresseAustralia's second city Melbourne has entered the country's toughest lockdown to date
Australia's second-largest city entered the country's toughest lockdown yet on Thursday, sparking a fresh wave of anxiety and confusion over ever-tougher regulations.

Melbourne's streets were visibly quieter as non-essential businesses were forced to shutter under new coronavirus rules expected to be in place for six weeks. A second lockdown for the state capital of Victoria began in early July but additional regulations came into force overnight, requiring hundreds of thousands more people to stay at home.

Residents are still allowed to go out during the daytime for exercise and food, or for work if their business is deemed essential.

Comment: Let's see. Taking the number of cases and the number of deaths listed in the article, as simple calculation produces a mortality rate of (checks calculator) 0.01275 percent.

Yet, without even considering how many of the fatalities were actually due to underlying conditions such as being elderly, or comorbidities like diabetes, the entire city is put into prison. This isn't about health, it's about controlling populations, and Australia is one of the labs.

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Info

Deep State scared: Super corrupt leader of Mueller probe Andrew Weissmann writes two hit pieces on AG Barr

Joe Hoft
Gateway Pundit
Thu, 06 Aug 2020 15:15 UTC
Weissmann and Mueller
The New York Times released an op-ed yesterday by the most corrupt individual in US Deep State history, Andrew Weissmann:
Today, Wednesday, marks 90 days before the presidential election, a date in the calendar that is supposed to be of special note to the Justice Department. That's because of two department guidelines, one a written policy that no action be influenced in any way by politics. Another, unwritten norm urges officials to defer publicly charging or taking any other overt investigative steps or disclosures that could affect a coming election.

Attorney General William Barr appears poised to trample on both. At least two developing investigations could be fodder for pre-election political machinations. The first is an apparently sprawling investigation by John Durham, the U.S. attorney in Connecticut, that began as an examination of the origins of the F.B.I. investigation into Russia's interference in the 2016 election. The other, led by John Bash, the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas, is about the so-called unmasking of Trump associates by Obama administration officials. Mr. Barr personally unleashed both investigations and handpicked the attorneys to run them.

Comment: Barr, Durham and company have the Obama Administration, employees of the FBI, and others - on the proverbial ropes. And the political warfare only continues to escalate just in time for the Presidential election. Whatever the ultimate outcome, we continue to be privy to quite a show with a helleva lot at stake for many.

See also:

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Eye 2

Sadist: Ex-Knesset Lawmaker says Beirut blast was 'God's gift', hopes it was Israel's strike on Hezbollah

Tim Korso
Sputnik
Thu, 06 Aug 2020 12:03 UTC
beirut blast
© REUTERS / Bader Helal
The tragic incident, which according to the first estimates was caused by an explosion of ammonium nitrate stored in the port, reportedly claimed the lives of over 130 people and injured thousands more. Countries around the world have since rushed to offer aid to Lebanon, with Israel being no exception.

Former Knesset member and founder of the right-wing libertarian party Zehut, Moshe Feiglin, sparked a major controversy in a Facebook post by calling the 4 August explosion in Beirut a "gift" from "God" to the Israeli people purportedly delivered ahead of Tu B'Av - a Jewish holiday similar to Valentine's Day.

"Today is Tu B'Av, a day of joy, and a true and huge thank you to G-d and all the geniuses and heroes really who organised for us this wonderful celebration in honour of the day of love [...] we got a fantastic fireworks show from Beirut's port", the former lawmaker said.

Comment: Meanwhile Pentagon Chief Mark Esper has claimed the blast is likely an accident, but Trump doubled down saying that it was possibly an attack:
US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the mammoth explosion that rocked Beirut was likely an accident, pouring cold water on a theory floated by the president, who claimed the Pentagon assessed that a "bomb" had set off the blast.

"[We're] still getting information on what happened," Esper told the Aspen Security Conference on Wednesday, but added that "most believe it was an accident as reported, and beyond that I have nothing further to report on that. It's obviously a tragedy."

Hours after the massive explosion tore through a port in the Lebanese capital on Tuesday, killing at least 135 people and wounding more than 4,000, US President Donald Trump told reporters that he had met with "some of our great generals," saying they felt the blast was "an attack, it was a bomb of some kind."
Beirut
© Reuters / Aziz TaherPeople inspect the damage near the site of Tuesday's blast in Beirut's port area, Lebanon, August 5, 2020
Trump declined to elaborate on that assessment, and cited no evidence, but on Wednesday doubled down on his doubts.

"How can you say accident? Somebody left some terrible explosive type devices and things around... perhaps it was that. Perhaps it was an attack."

"I don't think anybody can say right now. We're looking into it very strongly. Right now, you have some people think it was an attack and some people that think it wasn't. In any event, it was a terrible event," Trump told a press conference.

Despite widespread speculation and rumors about a potential attack, which were only fueled by the president's remarks, Lebanese authorities have brushed aside any suggestion of foul play and maintain the blast was accidental, resulting from the improper storage of some 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate at a port warehouse. A probe into the exact cause of the blast is ongoing, and authorities have placed a series of port officials under house arrest as they look into those responsible for the vast store of dangerous chemicals.


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