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Rep. Jackie Speier: Impeachment witness transcripts to be released soon

Zachary Stieber
The Epoch Times
Mon, 04 Nov 2019 15:15 UTC
Jackie Speier
© Erin Scott/Getty ImagesRep Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) in Washington on Oct. 24, 2019.
Transcripts from former and current Trump administration officials testifying in the impeachment inquiry will be released soon, a Democratic congresswoman said over the weekend. So far, all witnesses have testified behind closed doors and none of their testimony has been released, though their opening statements have been leaked.

During an appearance on CBS's Face the Nation, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, predicted the transcripts will be released soon, saying:
"I think you're going to see all of the transcripts that are going to be released probably within the next five days. I don't know if they're all going to be released on the same day, but they're going to be very telling to the American people.

"There is no question now whether there was a quid pro quo, and now the question the Republicans are trying to throw out is, 'Well, was there corrupt intent?'"
Both parties have claimed the release of the transcript will favor them, but Speier insisted the testimonies will show the public that there "is growing evidence of grounds for impeachment."

Speier also said that public hearings will likely start after one more week of closed-door testimonies.
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Star of David

Neti's surprise: He illegally appoints his long-term foe Naftali Bennett as Defense Minister

Yossi Gurvitz
Mondoweiss
Fri, 08 Nov 2019 00:00 UTC
Naftali Bennett
© MondoweissNew Israeli Defense Minister Naftali Bennett
Benjamin Netanyahu surprised an exhausted and apathetic nation by announcing that, come Sunday, he will appoint his longtime foe, Naftali Bennett of (some amoebic rightwing party, they keep changing names), as Defense Minister. Bennett won't enjoy the office, currently held by Netanyahu, for long: The deal says he will only hold it until a new government is formed. As an aside, Bennett's (some amoebic rightwing party), with three seats, will be absorbed within Likud until the next elections.

Next elections are likely to be announced within four weeks.

And legal scholars already mentioned that, for arcane reasons, the appointment is likely illegal; but Netanyahu's zombie government has already crossed so many lines when it comes to the status of provisional governments, the legal system will probably sigh and approve it anyway.
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X

Another blind alley for Dems: Natl. Security Council staffer denies secret Ukraine conversations with Trump

Jonathan Swan
Axios
Fri, 08 Nov 2019 00:00 UTC
Patel
© theunn.comKashyap Patel, Senior Counsel for Counterterrorism
Kash Patel, a senior National Security Council official accused of running a secret backchannel to President Trump on Ukraine matters, has categorically denied ever discussing Ukraine with the president. Patel told Axios on Friday night:
"A number of media outlets have falsely reported that, as senior director for counterterrorism on the National Security Council, I have communicated with President Trump regarding Ukraine," "At no time have I ever communicated with the president on any matters involving Ukraine.

"Any reporting to the contrary, and any testimony provided to Congress, is simply false, and any current or former staff who suggest I have raised or discussed Ukraine matters with President Trump, are similarly misinformed or spreading outright falsehoods."
Why it matters: Trump's former top Russia adviser, Fiona Hill, told impeachment investigators that she heard Trump thought Patel was his Ukraine directorand that Patel was slipping Ukraine-related "materials" to the president outside of the normal NSC channels.

Patel has never been assigned to Ukraine on the NSC.

Comment: This is just another blind alley for the Democrats who desperately need, on record, some sort of incrimination to hang on Trump. Their methods have never been about laying out the facts and seeing what they indicate. They have their aim: impeachment. The rest is theater and backfill.

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Megaphone

Assad interview with RT UK: 'EU should fear the jihadists it's backing in Syria, not the refugees'


RT
Sat, 09 Nov 2019 06:20 UTC
Assad/Rattansi
© RTSyrian President Bashar Assad sat down with RT's Afshin Rattansi for an exclusive interview
In an exclusive interview with RT's Afshin Rattansi, Syrian President Bashar Assad said it's hypocrisy for European nations to fear that Ankara will send refugees to Europe, but continue to sponsor terrorism in Syria.

The Syrian leader argued that the primary concern for Europe should not be the Syrian refugees which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan now threatens to release to Europe, but the "hundreds of thousands" of jihadists Europe allied itself with.
"How can you fear those few millions, the majority of them are moderates and they have few terrorists, while you support those terrorists directly in tens of thousands at least and maybe hundreds of thousands in Syria and you don't fear that they're going to go back to your country?"
Assad told Afshin Rattansi that while there might be some extremists among those who fled the war-torn country, the majority of the refugees do not pose any acute threat, as opposed to hardened jihadists who may turn on their patrons.


Comment: See also:

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X

Hillary Clinton, establishment Democrats signal deepening panic over Democrat field

Hannah Bleau
Breitbart
Fri, 08 Nov 2019 20:18 UTC
Hillary Clinton
© Mike Cohen/Getty Images for NYT
The elite class and Hillary Clinton, specifically, are unsatisfied with the current Democrat primary field and have signaled their dissatisfaction in a variety of ways in recent weeks, from refusing to endorse former Vice President Joe Biden (D) to dismissing the ultra-far-left candidates' radical agendas.

There is no shortage of candidates in the current Democrat primary field. Democrats have, on paper, everything they have claimed to want in terms of diversity in their lineup.

They have multiple women — Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), and self-help guru Marianne Williamson (D). They have candidates who represent racial minorities — Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) and Julián Castro (D) — as well as a candidate who embodies their self-proclaimed devotion to the LGBT community.

Yet, despite that, Democrat elites like Clinton are unsatisfied, indicating a deepening divide within the Democrat Party.
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Bad Guys

Turkey slams US claims to 'keep' Syrian oil fields as contradiction of international law


Sputnik
Sat, 09 Nov 2019 19:03 UTC
US military syria
© AP Photo / Baderkhan AhmadAmerican patrols in Syria
Earlier, amid repeated claims by President Trump that Washington would be "securing" and "keeping" Syria's oil, US media reported that as many as 800 US troops would be kept in the war-torn country to keep the black gold out of the hands of both Daesh (ISIS)* and Damascus, the oil's legitimate owner.

US claims to Syria's oil fields are absolutely illegitimate and have no basis in international law, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said.

Comment: Rather rich of Turkey to be pointing the finger now. It made millions fencing Syrian oil to Israel and the EU when ISIS controlled the fields. Of course, it suited the West to support NATO member Turkey in keeping the jihadists flush with cash to bring down the Assad government: At least it suited NATO up to a point. But alliances come and go. Now, it suits Turkey to side with Russia on the matter of America pirating Syrian oil.

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Stock Down

Eurozone forecast for long period of weak economic growth

Pan Pylas
Associated Press
Thu, 07 Nov 2019 19:21 UTC
frankfurt business building
© AP Photo/Michael ProbstBusiness people stand in front of an office building they just left in Frankfurt, Germany, Monday, Nov. 4, 2019.
The European Union's executive branch has cut its growth forecasts for the 19-country eurozone for this year and next and warned that conditions could worsen in the face of an array of uncertainties.

The European Commission said Thursday that the single currency bloc is expected to grow 1.1% this year, down 0.1 percentage point from the previous forecast. Next year, growth is expected to be 0.2 percentage point lower than previously estimated 1.2%. Growth in 2021 is also forecast at 1.2%.

The commission said the manufacturing sector was baring the brunt of the slowdown and that as a result, the European economy "looks to be heading towards a protracted period of more subdued growth and muted inflation."

The slowdown in growth has already prompted the European Central Bank to reactivate its bond-buying stimulus program and to cut interest rates again, the hope being that looser monetary policy will help shore up growth and get inflation back to its goal of just below 2%.

The commission doubts that inflation will get back to that level, rising only modestly to 1.3% next year from 1.2% in 2019.

"So far, the European economy has shown resilience amid a less supportive external environment: economic growth has continued, job creation has been robust, and domestic demand strong," said Valdis Dombrovskis, a leading commissioner in the executive branch.

"However, we could be facing troubled waters ahead: a period of high uncertainty related to trade conflicts, rising geopolitical tensions, persistent weakness in the manufacturing sector and Brexit."
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Vader

Censorship 'for your own good': Facebook and Youtube will remove posts naming 'UkraineGate whistleblower', CIA analyst Eric Ciaramella

Annie Palmer
CNBC
Fri, 08 Nov 2019 19:13 UTC
eric ciaramella
Facebook announced Friday it will remove from its platform any content that purports to name the U.S. official whose whistleblower complaint led to the impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.

In a statement, a Facebook spokesperson said attempts to unmask the whistleblower violate its policies around coordinating harm, which prohibits content "outing of witness, informant or activist."

"We are removing any and all mentions of the potential whistleblower's name and will revisit this decision should their name be widely published in the media or used by public figures in the debate," the spokesperson said.

Facebook on Wednesday took down ads purporting to name the whistleblower after critics questioned the company's ability to enforce its policies. The ads were viewed several hundred thousand times, according to The Washington Post. Facebook's decision affects all posts on the site, not just ads.

Comment: Note how CNBC doesn't name the whistleblower, or link to the Breitbart piece mentioned in the second-last paragraph. Well, his name is Eric Ciaramella, and here's what you need to know: Also, YouTube are going to do likewise. No doubt Twitter will follow suit. Together, they are... The Borg.

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Nuke

Tehran ready to roll back anti-proliferation redesign of Arak reactor as US hawks' grip tightens


RT
Sat, 09 Nov 2019 19:05 UTC
arak iran
© ISNA Handout via ReutersA view of the Arak heavy-water project in 2006.
The redesign of Iran's heavy water reactor in Arak which makes it unusable for developing a nuclear weapon may be reversed, an Iranian atomic official said as US lawmakers seek to undermine the international work with sanctions.

The Arak reactor was partially destroyed as part of the 2015 nuclear deal and is in the process of refurbishment that involves Chinese, Russian and British contractors. The change is meant to greatly reduce the amount of plutonium in the spent fuel from the reactor, which can potentially be harvested and used to produce a nuclear device.

According to Behrouz Kamalvandi, the spokesman for the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), the work may be stopped and the original design of the reactor restored, "if steps are not taken quickly from the opposite side, which is engaged in the modernization of the reactor."

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Roses

Gorbachev recalls that 380,000 Soviet troops in East Germany were told not to interfere with bringing down the Berlin Wall


RT
Sat, 09 Nov 2019 18:13 UTC
Berlin Wall 1989
© Gunther Kern / AFPEast German border guards stand on a section of the Berlin Wall on November 11, 1989.
The USSR had scores of soldiers deployed in East Germany in 1989 but all of them were ordered to stand down to allow for Berlin's "wall of mistrust" to fall, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev said.

Socialist East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), remained riddled with Soviet bases after the end of WWII.

"There were 380,000 Soviet soldiers stationed in the GDR at the time. They obeyed orders to refrain from intervening," Gorbachev told Der Spiegel on Friday. "My main responsibility was to rule out the possibility of violence."


Comment: This is Gorby's way of saying "Remember me?!"

Sorry but... they don't. He has been all but excluded from the 30th anniversary commemoration events.


Comment: It is pretty shocking that Germany didn't even invite him to participate in the commemorations. That's ungrateful Western elites for you. The leaders of all the former Warsaw Pact countries were in attendance though...

berlin wall anniversary
The fall of the Berlin Wall was supposed to be the mark of the end of the Cold War. Unfortunately, NATO didn't get the memo:

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