Puppet MastersS

Target

US lawmakers call for 9/11-style commission to investigate Capitol riot

Pelosi
© Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images/KJN
Democratic and Republican lawmakers have issued fresh calls for a bipartisan 9/11-style commission to investigate why government officials and law enforcement failed to stop the attack on the US Capitol in January, following Donald Trump's acquittal in his impeachment on charges that he incited the insurrection.

The commission would be modeled after a panel created in the aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks, which reviewed what caused the atrocity and laid out recommendations on how to foresee and prevent any future incursions.

Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator of South Carolina and close Trump ally who voted to acquit the former president on Saturday, said of the former president on Fox News Sunday:
"We need a 9/11 commission to find out what happened and make sure it never happens again, and I want to make sure that the Capitol footprint can be better defended next time. His behavior after the election was over the top."
Democrat Chris Coons of Delaware agreed. Speaking on ABC's This Week, he said that a bipartisan commission would
"make sure we secure the Capitol going forward and that we lay bare the record of just how responsible and how abjectly violating of his constitutional oath Trump really was."
Using harrowing video footage from the day, Democratic House prosecutors laid out their case that the former president stoked the attack with violent rhetoric and dangerous insistence on the debunked conspiracy theories suggesting he had won the 2020 presidential election, against all evidence that he had, in fact, lost.


Comment: Anyone can cherrypick video footage to support any argument.


Comment: A 9/11-type investigation would prove useless. The only investigation that would self-serve Democrats is one they can edit to justify their claims.

Others expressed the obvious Orwellian aspect clearly:



X

'There's no anonymity anymore - don't kid yourself' says InfoWatch head Natalya Kaspersky to RT

Natalia Kaspersky
© RTRT interview with Natalia Kaspersky
The best way to keep your sensitive data safe is not to upload it online, as even encrypted apps are unable to guarantee its protection, Natalya Kaspersky, the head of the InfoWatch cybersecurity company, told RT.

A modern user of digital devices must keep in mind that "all their movements are being recorded, all photos and all videos are being saved in the cloud. All text messages are being saved, too," Kaspersky said. Every social media platform is gathering "all the data it can get hold of," because access to them is free and therefore they make money only through selling this information or analyzing it for advertising purposes. "There's no anonymity. There's been no anonymity for a long time now. And don't kid yourself about it."

The users of encrypted applications such as Telegram may think they are protected, but "it's a myth," the tech entrepreneur, who co-founded prominent anti-virus provider Kaspersky Lab with ex-husband Eugene Kaspersky and used to be its CEO, insisted. The thing is that "an electronic device is itself an unprotected environment."

Every phone is equipped with an accelerometer that tracks not only the number of steps made by the user, but also their micro-movements. It's accessed automatically by every app and can be used to read any text message at the very moment it's being written on the screen, thus bypassing encryption. A neural network will decipher the micro-movements of the fingers in no time and turn them into a text, she explained.
"The most basic recommendation, which is easy to remember, is just don't do or publish on social media anything that would make you feel ashamed. It doesn't matter if you're doing it for your friends or a special individual - as soon as you put something in an electronic device you should assume that this data will be leaked."
That shouldn't pose much of a problem for an ordinary, law-abiding citizen, but "if you're some James Bond, then a push-button phone and a mask on your face is the best you can do," Kaspersky laughed.

Crusader

Impeachment: An Obituary

Pelosi w Articles Impeach
© Alex Brandon/APSpeaker of the House Nancy Pelosi displays the signed article of impeachment against President Trump
With a 57-43 Senate impeachment trial vote, the House Democrats failed to convict Donald Trump. A result that was guaranteed at the start of all of this. The end of a political trial that failed to cite to a single statutory violation (those "high crimes or misdemeanors") and presided over by a Democrat who voted to convict.

A Third Act: The House Democrats Cave

House Democrats opened the impeachment trial with charges that Trump "incited a violent insurrection" and accusations that Trump had "blood on his hands." This was, according to Representative Ted Lieu and others, "one of the darkest chapters in United States history."

An "insurrection" so serious that House Democrats demanded they be allowed to call witnesses at the trial. The Senate approved this request 55-45. An "insurrection" so threatening to our democracy that House Democrats suddenly changed their minds and decided not to call witnesses. They received all the power they requested and didn't want it after all. They got to their destination, didn't like the view, and turned around and drove home. Remarkable.

A question remains, however. Were House Democrats ordered to change course?


Comment: House Democrats ended in a whimper:
Sherman tweet
© twitter
Yashar tweet
© Twitter



Arrow Down

Republican senators who voted to convict Trump already facing blowback from constituents

Sasse
© AP/Patrick SemanskyRepublican Senator Ben Sasse
You didn't exactly need to be a political Nostradamus to predict that this would happen. Senate Republicans are already facing an intense backlash from their constituents for their decision to vote in favor of convicting former President Donald Trump during his impeachment trial.

The seven GOP senators who sided with Democrats to remove Trump after he is already out of office included the usual suspects. "Sens. Richard Burr of North Carolina, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Mitt Romney of Utah, Ben Sasse of Nebraska, and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania," all voted to convict the former president according to Fox News.

Cassidy is already facing a strong rebuke from his state's Republican Party, which announced on Saturday that it unanimously voted to censure the lawmaker.

Cassidy tweeted on Saturday evening: "Our Constitution and our country is more important than any one person. I voted to convict President Trump because he is guilty."

Comment: Arms twisted? True colors? Or, swamp creatures revealed!


Star of David

Kahanism is now Israel's mainstream

Candles Image Rabbi
© Menahem Kahana/AFP/Getty ImagesCandles burn with the image of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane at his grave near Jerusalem.
Rabbi Meir Kahane is considered something of a prophet by the Israeli right-wing. He openly advocated expelling all Palestinians from historic Palestine between the river and the sea - what he called "the Land of Israel". He wrote in his 1981 manifesto:
"The Jews and Arabs of the Land of Israel ultimately cannot coexist. There is only one path for us to take: the immediate transfer of Arabs from Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel."
Although liberal Israeli elites still view Kahane as a fanatic extremist, the reality is that Kahanism has today gone mainstream in Israel.

The latest sign of that came last week, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu brokered a merger agreement between two far-right parties in next month's general election, to form the "Religious Zionism" list.

Former Transport Minister Bezalel Smotrich united with fanatical Kahanist settler and lawyer Itamar Ben-Gvir of the "Jewish Power" party. In return, Netanyahu offered Smotrich a vote-sharing agreement and chairs on the judicial appointments committee. Netanyahu wanted to avoid the right-wing vote being split too much, which would have damaged his chances of forming a ruling coalition.

Smotrich recently called for Israel to wipe the Palestinian village of Khan Al-Ahmar off the map, in revenge for the International Criminal Court's ruling that it can investigate Israel for war crimes. "What matters is not what the Gentiles will say but what the Jews will do," he said, quoting an infamous phrase attributed to Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion (who, incidentally, was supposedly on the "left").

Comment: As Kahanism rises up within the government for the world to see, there can be no doubt as to the psychopathy pervading Israel's thoughts, actions and intent.


Family

Biden's DHS to release 25.6K migrants into Texas, California communities

Migrants in line
© Paul Ratje/Agence France-Presse/AFP/Getty Images
President Joe Biden's Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is planning to release about 25,600 migrants, who have been in Mexico, into American communities in Texas and California, Breitbart News has learned.

After Biden ended the "Remain in Mexico" policy โ€” which drastically reduced asylum fraud by keeping migrants in Mexico while they await their asylum hearings in the United States โ€” DHS announced that it would begin processing the 25,600 migrants in the program on February 19.

Ultimately, the migrants will enter the U.S. interior. Internal communications Breitbart News has reviewed reveal that DHS plans to release the migrants in San Diego, California; El Paso, Texas; and Brownsville, Texas โ€” locations the Biden administration refused to divulge to the Associated Press when asked.

In San Diego, DHS plans to process and release about 300 migrants a day within two weeks of February 19. The same will be done in El Paso, the internal communications reveal. In Brownsville, DHS will process and release no more than 100 migrants a day.

Comment: On one hand, we get what we didn't vote for. On the other...(there is no other).


Vader

Unvaccinated citizens' names should be DISCLOSED, new proposal by Israeli PM suggests amid slowdown in immunization campaign

covid vaccination
© Ammar Awad / Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proposed a law that would allow the names of people who have not taken the vaccine to be sent to local authorities. The idea has raised concerns over possible privacy violations.

The PM said that the proposed "quick legislation" would allow local authorities to "receive data" on those who have not been vaccinated yet. The aim is to "encourage them to be vaccinated and save lives," Netanyahu explained at a cabinet meeting on Sunday.

According to the Haaretz newspaper, the idea was approved by the country's coronavirus cabinet and by the National Security Council. After some additional work it will be presented before Israel's parliament.

Network

Kremlin 'interested' in conversation with Elon Musk, after SpaceX founder invites Putin for chat

spacex
© Getty Images / Kevork DjansezianFILE PHOTO.
On Sunday afternoon, a tweet from billionaire Elon Musk inviting Russian President Vladimir Putin to an online conversation went viral. Now, the Kremlin has responded - and it is interested.

Speaking to the press, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov revealed that Putin might be open to the idea.

"First, we need to understand what it'll be. You know that President Putin does not use social networks, and does not personally run the accounts," Peskov said on Monday. "In general, it is a very interesting proposal, but we need to first understand what he means, what is proposed."

Comment: It's quite telling that Musk has ventured outside of the US, particularly in light of recent events:


Guinness

Czech parliament ends COVID emergency - UPDATE: Not so fast!

czech republic charles bridge
The Czech government has lost a parliamentary vote to extend a state of emergency, likely leading to the end of shop closures and curfews from next week and eliminating its main tool against a raging coronavirus pandemic.

MPs rejected the pleas of Prime Minister Andrej Babis to extend the powers beyond February 14 despite his warnings of a healthcare collapse as infections spread.

Babis's minority government said it would be unable to extend nationwide limits on movement, including a night-time curfew and public gathering ban, and the closure of retail stores and services.

Comment: It will be interesting to see how international pressure starts to be exerted on the Czech Republic to coerce them into locking down again. No countries are allowed to escape, regardless of what the people want.

See also: UPDATE (Feb. 15): That didn't last long.
The Czech government on Sunday re-declared a state of emergency for next two weeks to tackle the coronavirus pandemic in one of the European Union's hardest-hit nations.

The decision comes in defiance of the lower house of Parliament, which has refused the minority government's request to extend the powerful tool that gives the Cabinet the extra powers needed to impose nationwide restrictions and limit people's travel and rights.



Dollar

The consequences of moving from industrial to financial capitalism

Saks store
© Anthony Quintano/CC BY 2.0/Wikimedia CommonsHigh-ended retailer Saks Fifth Avenue added private security, fencing and barbed wire ahead of a Black Lives Matter protest in New York, June 7. 2020.
Pepe Escobar in conversation with Michael Hudson at the Henry George School of Social Science.

Michael Hudson: Well, I'm honored to be here on the same show with Pepe and discuss our mutual concern. And I think you have to frame the whole issue that China is thriving, and the West has reached the end of the whole 75-year expansion it had since 1945.

So, there was an illusion that America is de-industrializing because of competition from China. And the reality is there is no way that America can re-industrialize and regain its export markets with the way that it's organized today, financialized and privatized and if China didn't exist. You'd still have the Rust Belt rusting out. You'd still have American industry not being able to compete abroad simply because the cost structure is so high in the United States.

The wealth is no longer made here by industrializing. It's made financially, mainly by making capital gains. Rising prices for real estate or for stocks and for bonds. In the last nine months, since the coronavirus came here, the top 1 percent of the U.S. economy grew by $1 trillion. It's been a windfall for the 1 percent. The stock market is way up, the bond market is up, the real estate market is up while the rest of the economy is going down. Despite the tariffs that Trump put on, Chinese imports, trade with China is going up because we're just not producing materials.


Comment: An excellent and enlightening discussion!