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Silicon Valley destroys American democracy by playing political favorites, gatekeeping the message

Robert Bridge
Strategic Culture Foundation
Fri, 21 Jun 2019 00:00 UTC
Silicon Valley
© Noah Berger/ReutersSilicon Valley Apple Campus 2, Cupertino, California
Perhaps it was expecting too much that the tech giants would check their political allegiances at the door to ensure fairness. Instead, they have let their political affinities disrupt the process every step of the way and this is leading the country down a blind alley.

June 2019 may go down in the history books as the defining moment when the American IT giants - in cahoots with the limping 'legacy' media - removed their masks, as well as their gloves, revealing the real threat they have become to the institution of US democracy, fragile as it already is.

The New York Times got the ball rolling when it ran a front-page story ('The Making of a YouTube Radical') detailing the trials and tribulations of one tortured Caleb Cain, a college dropout who was "looking for direction" in life but instead tumbled headlong into a rabbit hole of "far-right politics on YouTube" where he eventually found himself "brainwashed" and "radicalized."

The article, quoting "critics and independent researchers," which I suppose could mean just about anyone, says the Google-owned platform has created "a dangerous on-ramp to extremism by combining ... a business model that rewards provocative videos with exposure and advertising dollars, and an algorithm that guides users down personalized paths meant to keep them glued to their screens."

Comment: See also:

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Brick Wall

Trump delays ICE deportations: Will Congress work out solution to border crisis?


RT
Sat, 22 Jun 2019 19:04 UTC
ICE arrests illegal immigrants
© Joshua LottReuters/File
Donald Trump has delayed a planned round-up of illegal immigrants for two weeks so that Democrats and Republicans can work out a solution to the border crisis that has been going on for months.

The US president declared that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) would start catching and deporting millions of illegal immigrants earlier this week. On Saturday, he tweeted that Democrats had asked him to put this process on hold, so he gave it two weeks to see if the parties "can get together and work out a solution to the Asylum and Loophole problems at the Southern Border."

Comment: More from the Gateway Pundit:
On Saturday morning former ICE Director Tom Homan went off on the government official who leaked the cities involved in the upcoming ICE raids. Homan outed acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan for resisting the upcoming ICE raids and for leaking the timing and location to the press.
Tom Homan: As far as these mayors from sanctuary cities, I just wish they'd just shut their mouths. Because you want to talk about separation of families? Separation of families are the Angel moms and dads who've been separated from their children forever because illegal aliens walked out of your sanctuary jail. Every one of those mayors ought to be ashamed, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, I could go on and on... You've got the acting Secretary of Homeland Security resisting what ICE is trying to do.

In the Washington Post story, and numerous media outlets, he does not support this operation. And I tell you what, if that's his position then he's on the wrong side of this issue. You don't tell the men and women of ICE a day before they go out there to do this operation. When this story was leaked, they gave the location of the cities, the day this was supposed to start, how many targets. This leak, which I know where the leak came from, I think we all know where the leak came from. That story only benefits one person. Put these officers at greater risk of harm. I know the president said we're going to do an operation, one million people in a week. He didn't give the location... He didn't give the number of targets...
Kevin McAleenan served as deputy commissioner of Customs and Border Protection from 2014 to 2017.

Via FOX and Friends Weekend:

Meanwhile, conservative commentator Candice Owens filed this Periscope report in October of 2018, detailing the near opulence of a illegal immigrant detention center in Florida (strong language warning):




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Snakes in Suits

Top security official Ali Shamkhani: 'Iran would sign no-war pact with Iraq if not for US' destabilizing role'


RT
Sat, 22 Jun 2019 08:11 UTC
Ali Shamkhani
© Azvision.azAli Shamkhani, Supreme National Security Council Secretary
Iran considers security in the Gulf as vital and does not intend to attack anybody, Secretary of the country's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani told RT, accusing the US of sowing discord in the region.

Shamkhani told RT's Salam Musafir on a visit to Moscow that his country aims to ease tensions with all of its neighbors, including Arab and non-Arab countries, since they share a common history and culture. He said that this provides a basis for exploring a comprehensive non-aggression treaty that might also include Iraq.

"There is much evidence of brotherly relations between the regional powers. This might have paved the way for an agreement or a treaty [on non-aggression]," said the top official.

However, full-fledged reconciliation between Tehran and Baghdad is being impeded by the US, which deliberately drives a wedge between regional powers, many of which are US allies hosting its military installations. "Of course, external forces that have military bases in the countries of the region do not allow this. These forces won't allow these countries to act in accordance with their own will," said Shamkhani.
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Snakes in Suits

China recalls its Canadian ambassador; Trudeau's technocrat regime is too nuts

Matthew Ehret
Strategic Culture Foundation
Fri, 21 Jun 2019 00:00 UTC
FreelandTrudeauLu
© The Canadian Patriot/shanghaiist.comCanadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau,
Chinese Ambassador Lu Shaye
As the international financial system is becoming increasingly shaped by the spirit of cooperation and long term development shaped by China's Belt and Road Initiative and the greater Russia-China alliance, Canada's adherence to the "old liberal order" has caused the Asian giant to make a tough decision: Remove its Ambassador Extraordinary Plenipotentiary Lu Shaye from the Northern Monarchy until saner heads become a factor in Canadian politics.

This has left the already beleaguered government of Justin Trudeau (and Chrystia Freeland... let's not kid ourselves here) in an embarrassing situation as Trudeau's requests to meet with Xi Jinping at the upcoming G20 have gone ignored for the past several days. Freeland has announced that her many requests to speak with China's Foreign Minister have similarly gone unheeded.

Since attaining power in 2015, the Liberal Government has demonstrated nothing but constant belligerence to China. Many then watching the Canadian political scene had hoped that Trudeau would continue the pro-China traditions which his father initiated in 1970 and which paved the way to China's opening up under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping a few years later. This did not occur.

Comment: See also:

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Arrow Up

Xi and Kim agree on friendly ties 'whatever the international situation'


Sputnik
Sat, 22 Jun 2019 00:29 UTC
Kim and Xi
© KCNA/ReutersChinese President Xi Jinping • North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday discussed ways to strengthen collaboration between their two countries, North Korean state media KCNA said on Saturday, according to Reuters.

During a luncheon on the second day of Xi's visit to Pyongyang, the leaders spoke of the "major internal and external policies" of their countries and exchanged views on domestic and international issues of mutual concern, Reuters reported, citing KCNA.

Moreover, Kim and Xi reached a consensus on "important issues", and agreed to build on their countries' friendly relations "whatever the international situation", Reuters reported, citing North Korean state media.

Xi's historic visit marks the first time in 14 years that a Chinese party and state leader has come to North Korea. The summit was organized to mark the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the People's Republic of China and North Korea. Xi last traveled to the country as prime minister in 2008. Hu Jintao, the country's previous leader, visited Pyongyang in 2005.
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Rocket

US wants low-yield nukes, not to deter Russia, but to blackmail dissident countries


RT
Sat, 22 Jun 2019 20:02 UTC
Trident II D5 missile
© Reuters/US NavyTrident II D5 missile is test-launched from the Ohio-class US Navy ballistic missile submarine USS Nebraska.
US generals are well aware that there's no way of limiting the use of nuclear weapons in a war between superpowers, so the claim that some "low-yield" nukes are needed to match Russia is an outright lie, the Foreign Ministry said.

Moscow's statement comes in response to the vice-chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Paul Selva, who vehemently promoted the modification of the warheads on Trident missiles, which are carried on Ohio-class submarines, in order for them to be able to carry low-yield nuclear weapons.

Selva argued that the US will be put in a difficult situation if Russia decides to hit an American city with a low-yield nuclear weapon. "The US doctrine says it will respond in kind, but without a low-yield nuclear weapon in its inventory, responding in kind means it will have to respond with a high-yield nuclear weapon," supposedly provoking and all-out nuclear war.

But the Russian Foreign Ministry on Saturday blasted the general's claims as "disingenuous" and pointed out that the use of low-yield nuclear weapons wasn't even a part of Russia's military doctrine. "An obvious deception is also the idea that it's possible to 'limit' the use of nuclear weapons in a clash between two nuclear powers."

The yield of an incoming enemy warhead can only be determined after it detonates and the Americans are well aware of that, the ministry said in a statement. "Therefore, any launch of a strategic nuclear carrier aimed at Russian territory... regardless of the capacity of its warhead, will be treated as an aggression with the use of nuclear weapons, and met with an appropriate response."

Comment: See also:

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Broom

Trump on Bolton: If it was up to him, we'd be fighting the whole world


RT
Sun, 23 Jun 2019 18:25 UTC
bolton trump
© REUTERS/CARLOS BARRIAJohn Bolton sits behind Donald Trump during a White House event earlier this year.
Donald Trump has confirmed that his top foreign policy adviser wants to embroil the US in multiple international conflicts. But the US president insists he retains final say on whether American missiles are to fly into Iran.

In a sit-down Meet the Press interview broadcast Sunday, host Chuck Todd asked Trump if he was "being pushed into military action against Iran" by his advisers - presumably pointing to the aggressive pronouncements from National Security Advisor John Bolton.

"I have two groups of people. I have doves and I have hawks," replied Trump. "John Bolton is absolutely a hawk. If it was up to him he'd take on the whole world at one time, okay?"


Trump then brushed away concerns about the influence of Bolton, who also served in the White House during the Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush administrations.


Comment: This is how he said it:
I disagree very much with John Bolton. His attitude in the Middle East and Iraq - going into Iraq, I think that was a big mistake and I've been proven right but I've been against that forever. John Bolton is doing a very good job, but he takes a generally tough posture. I have other people that don't take that posture, but the only one that matters is me.
"These people want to push us into a war, and it's so disgusting. We don't need any more wars", Trump is alleged to have told one confidant about his advisers, per the WSJ.


"That doesn't matter because I want both sides," said Trump.

Comment: Here's what Bolton had to say, while in Israel:
Tehran should not "mistake US prudence and discretion for weakness," Bolton cautioned.

"Our military is rebuilt, new and ready to go," he added, days after Trump called off a planned attack on Iran, a chosen response to Tehran downing a US drone on Thursday.

Citing a planned strike against Iranian targets which US President Donald Trump called off, Bolton emphasized that Trump had only stopped the attack from "going forward at this time" - an indication that the decision may only be temporary.


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Ambulance

Twitter goes bananas as Omar explains why detention centers are 'concentration camps'


RT
Sat, 22 Jun 2019 18:23 UTC
Ilhan Omar
© Reuters / Aaron P. BernsteinFILE PHOTO: Rep. Ilhan Omar addresses a rally in Washington DC
Rep. Ilhan Omar has argued that US immigrant detention centers fit the definition of concentration camps, eliciting both applause and eye-rolling on social media as debate over immigration continues to polarize the country.

Omar (D-MN) made the remarks after being asked by a reporter if she agreed with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D-NY) assertion that the White House is operating "concentration camps" on the border with Mexico.

"There are camps and people are being concentrated," Omar replied. "This is very simple. I don't even know why this is a controversial thing for her to say."

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Star of David

Former Mossad chief admits 'Israel does not want peace'


Middle East Monitor
Sat, 22 Jun 2019 18:19 UTC
Mossad Shabtai Shavit
ormer chief of Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad, Shabtai Shavit
The former chief of Israel's intelligence agency Mossad, Shabtai Shavit, has said that Israel does not want peace and that, if it had, it would have made peace with the Palestinian Authority (PA) long ago.

Shavit gave his remarks to Israeli daily Maariv, reiterating that if Israel wanted peace it would have discussed it in economic and infrastructure terms that serve the interests of both parties, Arab 48 reported yesterday.

Comment: Israel is not even bothering with its mask any more.

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Bad Guys

Far-right terrorists pose 'real threat in Germany,' just like Islamists - interior minister


RT
Sun, 23 Jun 2019 18:06 UTC
germany police far-right
© REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch
Weeks after a local politician died in what authorities described as an "execution," the German interior minister said far-right extremists were spreading across the country, and warned that they as dangerous as Islamist groups.

Ultra-right extremists are on equal footing with Islamist radicals and other violent groups, Horst Seehofer told German media. The far-right "have become a real threat for our society," which means that the government should hit back and "do everything to ramp up security."

Seehofer, a longtime ally of Chancellor Angela Merkel, was speaking roughly three weeks after Walter Luebcke, a mid-level government official, died of a gunshot wound at his home in the eastern city of Kassel.

Shortly afterwards, police had arrested a 45-year-old suspect who had committed numerous offences in past decades, including an assault on a hostel for asylum seekers back in 1993.

Comment: Looks like the 'War on Terror' is well into its second stage where the focus is on splitting apart Western countries through the stoking of the extremes of both the left and right.

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