Puppet MastersS


Eye 1

Best of the Web: Never let a crisis go to waste: US lawmakers bask in coronavirus panic while quietly building the police state of their dreams

Helen Buyniski
RT
Fri, 20 Mar 2020 17:01 UTC
Coronavirus checkpoint
© Reuters / Andrew KellyCoronavirus checkpoint
As the coronavirus epidemic monopolizes the attention of the American people, government is taking the opportunity to sneak through all manner of restrictive legislation, including a law that could end the internet as we know it.

Killing the internet... to save the children?

The ominously-named EARN IT Act (short for "Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act") that quietly debuted in the Senate earlier this month is a carefully crafted weapon for crushing encryption without explicitly banning, industry professionals have warned. While this particular bill purports to be all about ending child sexual exploitation, the industry is concerned it will make their business model unsustainable - while doing nothing to protect children. So are independent media producers, who fear their speech would be declared anathema. It would in practice strip section 230 legal immunity - protection from liability for third party content - from any website that failed to comply with a set of "best practices" imposed on a supposedly voluntary basis by a 19-member "commission" run by Attorney General William Barr.
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Arrow Down

Tulsi's Biden-2020 endorsement may have cost her political future & moral high ground


RT
Fri, 20 Mar 2020 16:22 UTC
Tulsi gabbard
© Global Look / Brian CahnTulsi Gabbard
Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard has dropped out of the 2020 presidential race to endorse her ideological opposite, establishment darling Joe Biden. It's political suicide - for her, and for the idea of a progressive Democrat.

Gabbard's decision to bow out on Thursday may have made sense from an electoral perspective - with just two delegates from her native American Samoa, she wasn't exactly a serious challenger to the much-more-popular Biden or even Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, whom she supported in the 2016 race.

Shut out of the primary debates by a Democratic Party establishment afraid she might do to the frontrunner what she had done to California Senator Kamala Harris, whose juggernaut campaign began taking on water after Gabbard exposed her heinous record live on stage, Gabbard had little hope of an eleventh-hour electoral rally.

Comment: Tulsi has always said she would 'support the Democratic nominee'. Unfortunately, it's Biden. Did she have to hold her nose to do it? Was it a strategic move to secure future possibilities in 2024? Only time will tell. In any case, it throws a wrench into Killary's 'Russian asset' smear.

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Hammer

Irritated by Russia-Turkey Idlib deal, Washington is ready to undermine Syrian settlement


Sputnik
Fri, 20 Mar 2020 12:34 UTC
Syrian tanks
© AP
On 5 March, Moscow and Ankara clinched a ceasefire deal to stop an ongoing escalation between Turkish and Syrian forces in Idlib Province, and to establish joint military patrols in the area.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters on Friday that the US, which is frustrated over the Moscow-Ankara accord on the Idlib settlement, uses any pretext to promote anti-Russian hysteria.

She said that the Ministry has paid attention to "the intensification of contacts between American politicians and the quasi-humanitarian organisation White Helmets operating in Syria".
"Such contacts usually end up with big problems in the region in the form of provocations and provocative actions. On 17 March, US Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun met the White Helmets leader despite restrictions on contacts with foreigners introduced by the State Department in connection with the spread of the coronavirus", Zakharova said.

Comment: That Washington would continue to prop up the now widely discredited White Helmets demonstrates that not only do the war hawks still have Syria in their crosshairs - but are also absolutely desperate to come up with any pretense for staying involved and injecting continued chaos in the Levant.

See also:

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Eye 1

Schiffy's House lawyers assert privilege over subpoenas of impeachment phone records


Judicial Watch
Thu, 19 Mar 2020 16:21 UTC
adam schiff judicial watch subpoenas
© Judicial Watch
Schiff published private phone records of Rudy Giuliani, Devin Nunes, Journalist John Solomon

Judicial Watch announced today that Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) and the U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to dismiss the lawsuit against them for the controversial impeachment-related subpoenas for phone records, including those of Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's lawyer. Schiff and the Committee are being represented by the Office of General Counsel for the House of Representatives.

The phone records led to the publication of the private phone records of Giuliani, Congressman Devon Nunes, journalist John Solomon, Trump attorney Jay Sekulow, attorney Victoria Toensing, and other American citizens.

Comment: Schiff has been a running disaster. He should have been turfed off the Intel Committee in the first year of "Russia-gate" and then impeached. How doe he manage to hang on?

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Bad Guys

James Corbett: Geopolitical hybrid war and slow-motion 9/11

James Corbett
The Corbett Report
Fri, 20 Mar 2020 00:00 UTC
Corbett Covid 19

Comment: From sanctions to economic implosion to a massive free speech clampdown with all the usual suspects - Corbett and Pilato cover a range of fast-moving developments - and offer some crucial insights into what these events point to in the near to mid to far term.

As Corbett said in this recent video: 1929 + 1984 + 9/11 = 2020


Welcome to the 401st episode of New World Next Week — the video series from Corbett Report and Media Monarchy that covers some of the most important developments in open source intelligence news. This week:



Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed
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Snakes in Suits

US senators sold stock after coronavirus briefings in January

David Kocieniewski
Bloomberg
Fri, 20 Mar 2020 08:16 UTC
Capitol
© Alex Wroblewski/BloombergThe U.S. Capitol Rotunda in Washington.
Four U.S. senators sold stock after receiving sensitive briefings in late January about the emerging threat of the coronavirus, sparking concerns that they put safeguarding their private finances before their duty to protect public health.

Senator Richard Burr, a Republican from North Carolina, and Kelly Loeffler, a Republican from Georgia, both completed their sales at a time when the Trump administration and GOP leaders were downplaying the potential damage the virus might cause in the U.S. and before drastic stock-market plunges set off by the pandemic.

Burr is chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which receives frequent briefings about threats facing the country, and has experience responding to public-health crises. Loeffler - who was appointed to her seat in December after Senator Johnny Isakson announced that he was resigning because of health problems - is married to the chairman of the New York Stock Exchange, Jeffrey Sprecher.
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Bizarro Earth

Corona1984: California governor locks down state, Bank of America declares recession, NASA shuts down facilities


RT
Fri, 20 Mar 2020 03:27 UTC
stay at home
© Reuters / Mike Blake
California Governor Gavin Newsom has issued a mandatory "stay at home" order to all residents, shuttering all businesses beyond "critical sectors" while suggesting the state's hospitals could soon hit their breaking point.

"Everyone is required to stay home except to get food, care for a relative or friend, get necessary health care, or go to an essential job," reads a statement on California's coronavirus response website, issued following Newsom's order. "If you go out, keep at least 6 feet of distance."

Businesses to remain open during the lockdown include banks, pharmacies, gas stations, as well as grocery stores and restaurants - though the latter will be confined to carry-out and delivery only.
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Snakes in Suits

Senator Burr enabled Russiagaters for years; now they're accusing him of insider trading & coronavirus lies

Nebojsa Malic
RT
Fri, 20 Mar 2020 03:04 UTC
Richard Burr
© Reuters / Kevin LamarqueSenate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr
Richard Burr, chair of the US Senate intelligence committee, has been accused of deceiving the public about the coronavirus outbreak and seeking to profit from it by dumping stocks that are crashing due to the pandemic.

Burr (R-North Carolina) found himself under attack from two directions on Thursday. Early in the day, National Public Radio ran a story based on "secret recordings" from a speech he gave in North Carolina in late February, where he gave oddly specific warnings about Covid-19 to an elite group of donors, while keeping the rest of the American public in the dark.

The North Carolina Republican struck back later in the day, accusing NPR on Twitter of "journalistic malpractice" for "knowingly and irresponsibly" misrepresenting the speech, and calling the article a "tabloid-style hit piece."

Comment: A second US senator is also being accused of insider trading. Republican Sen. Kelly Loeffler sold stock on January 24th, the very day that her committee, the Senate Health Committee, hosted a private, all-senators briefing from administration officials, including the CDC director and Anthony Fauci, the head of the National Institutes of Health of the United States, on the coronavirus.

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Light Sabers

Trump says oil price war 'devastating' for Russia - but it's Saudis & US shale that stand to suffer most

Nebojsa Malic
RT
Thu, 19 Mar 2020 02:58 UTC
gas pump
© REUTERS/Thomas Peter
Plummeting oil prices have sparked another round of predictions about the economic collapse of Russia - this time from US President Donald Trump, who sounded a lot like his predecessor Barack Obama on the subject.

The price of crude oil has crashed to $20 this week, due to a one-two punch of Saudi Arabia flooding the market with record output and a sharp drop in global demand owing to the coronavirus pandemic. Asked about it during a press conference about the pandemic on Thursday, Trump described the price war as "very bad" for Saudi Arabia and "devastating" to Russia, but helpful in a way to American consumers as it will lower gas prices at the pump.

"We have a lot of power over the situation," Trump added, saying the US might get involved in mediating the dispute "at the appropriate time."
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Snakes in Suits

As Democrats attack Barr, Bill Clinton owns up to his 'worst mistake' at Justice

John Solomon
Just the News
Thu, 19 Mar 2020 19:00 UTC
bill clinton
© Ira L. Black/GettyBill Clinton attends opening ceremony for Veterans Day 2019 parade in New York.
In new documentary, 42nd president claims he gave 'go ahead' for DOJ to name Whitewater special prosecutor, and regrets it.

For months now, Democrats have assailed Attorney General William Barr as a flunky for President Trump who lacks the independence to make law enforcement decisions free of politics when it comes to scandals surrounding his boss.

Barr, of course, adamantly denies such accusations.

But as Democrats have upped the ante on this front heading into the 2020 election, one of their own former occupants at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue has unexpectedly acknowledged he exercised his own political sway over the Justice Department.

In fact, former President Bill Clinton states in a new Hulu documentary entitled "Hillary" that he gave the "go ahead" for then-Attorney General Janet Reno to name special counsel Robert Fiske in 1994 to investigate the Whitewater scandal that tainted his presidency.

It's a decision he now regrets, having opened the door to his own impeachment after Fiske's successor, Ken Starr, widened the probe to encompass the Monica Lewinsky affair.
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