Comment: Trump's is a healthy reaction to Macron's paramoralism (an insincere or deceptive moral argument or line of reasoning).

The King of Morocco's was another healthy reaction:


Here's the relevant clip from Macrons' speech:


The dictionary definition of patriotism, in English, is:

the quality of being patriotic; vigorous support for one's country.
synonyms: nationalism, patriotic sentiment, allegiance/loyalty to one's country, loyalism

And vice versa for nationalism:

patriotic feeling, principles, or efforts."an early consciousness of nationalism and pride"
synonyms: patriotism, patriotic sentiment, allegiance/loyalty to one's country, loyalism, nationality

Which means that the two terms, as commonly understood, are synonymous and thus interchangeable.

Macron's sophistry merely accentuates the fact that we're going through a 'great global culture war' - arguably the World War of our time - and that the primary faultline is that separating the globalist worldview from the nationalist worldview.

That he feels it imperative to reach for and claim 'monopoly of the moral good' on such a public stage speaks to the insecurity his 'side' feels in the face of their nationalist challengers...

Comment: He thus follows his brother, who resigned from govt in July over Brexit. Jeremy Corbyn, meanwhile, for now, is sticking to 'Brexit means Brexit', saying "We can't stop it. The referendum took place. Article 50 has been triggered."

It'll be an interesting day if the Conservative govt finds itself initiating a second referendum, and backing it, while a Labour opposition government campaigns for leaving the EU...

See also:

• Britain will remain in the EU: Why 'Brexit' outcome is a foregone conclusion
• Brexit's main goals: Oust Jeremy Corbyn and expand predatory capitalism in Europe
• Ireland, UK and Brussels reach Brexit agreement: No hard border for Northern Ireland, which effectively remains in EU

Comment: UPDATE 8 November

RT reports that local police have named the gunman as 28-year-old former US marine Ian David Long, an Afghanistan war veteran.

The Borderline Bar & Grill in Thousand Oaks, California, is known for its live country music and was packed that night with college students.

Long is reported to have opened fire there Wednesday night with a Glock 21 .45 caliber semi-automatic handgun.

The victims include a security guard outside the bar and a sheriff's deputy who was among the first to respond to the shooting. Long was also found dead at the scene, so it's assumed he killed himself before SWAT entered the building.


Police report that Long's firearm was legally purchased in Ventura County, although he "used an illegal extended magazine clip in order to carry more ammunition."

Law enforcement had several interactions with Long, most recently in April this year when police responded to a disturbance at his residence (which appears to be his mother's house).

Describing him as "somewhat irate," and "acting a little irrationally" at the time, the local sheriff said a mental health team was called to assess Long's mental health, but he was cleared and no further action was taken.

Previous incidents had included a minor traffic collision and in 2015, while Long was the victim of battery in earlier bar incident in Thousand Oaks.

UPDATES 9 November

There are contradictory reports about the use of smoke bombs/flash grenades. The authorities have dismissed such reports twice now, though eyewitnesses continue reporting that such were used...

John Hedge, who was standing at the front door with his stepdad at the time, said he saw the shooter "throwing smoke grenades all over the place."

Footage of the actual shooting:


A number of those in attendance were also in attendance at last year's mass shooting at the Route 91 country music festival in Las Vegas:


As with so many other mass shootings in the USA, there's still no apparent motive, though it could have something to do with this:

Comment: ProudBear's Twitter account is hilarious. What's even funnier is how many people seem to have been unsure whether or not it was a hoax...







The IRA "troll farm" is back in the news too. The Daily Beast, among others, are taking claims seemingly from IRA itself 'declaring victory in the U.S. election and warning the "citizens of the United States of America" that "your intelligence agencies are powerless."'

"Despite all their efforts, we have thousands of accounts registered on Facebook, Twitter and Reddit spreading political propaganda," read a statement attributed to the St. Petersburg-based organization. "These accounts work 24 hours a day, seven days a week to discredit anti-Russian candidates and support politicians more useful for us than for you."

The statement appeared on a website titled the "Internet Research Agency American Division" that popped up over the weekend. Featuring a clip art logo of a green goblin typing on a laptop, and packed with absurd boasts about the IRA's prowess, the site at first appeared to be a lampoon. But on Tuesday night it posted a previously unseen list of 100 IRA Instagram accounts that Facebook confirmed as authentic.

It's still not entirely clear if the website is intended as self-parody, a parody of U.S. perceptions of Russian information operations, or an earnest effort to terrify the American citizenry and cast doubt on the midterm results.

That's worthy of only one response: LOL. It gets funnier:

"Hundreds of your fellow citizens are our unintentional agents unaware of the fact that they actually act for the good of the Russian 'troll farm,'" the statement declared. "We have allies and spoilers intervening the political campaigns of the candidates for both parties. The victory of the Democratic party is our top priority in these midterm elections."

"Soon after November 6, you will realize that your vote means nothing," the statement reads. "We decide who you vote for and what candidates will win or lose. Whether you vote or not, there is no difference as we control the voting and counting systems. Remember, your vote has zero value. We are choosing for you."

Followed by more and more people in all seriousness taking this very, very seriously...

Comment: Well, well, well. As we said at the time: there is no real 'white supremacist, KKK, Nazi' movement in the USA. There is only a fake one controlled and used by the US deep state to tarnish Trump and his supporters.

• US Congress stops funding for Ukraine's war-criminal, neo-Nazi Azov Battalion
• Neo-Nazi Azov Battalion has received high-powered weapons and training from US military despite Congressional prohibition
• Russian OSCE envoy Alexander Lukashevich: US fosters civil war by arming Ukrainian radicals with heavy weapons
• What holocaust? Ukrainian Nazi-Banderist Azov Battalion receives arms from Israel
• Azov Battalion: NAZI ideology, NATO standards

Comment: As we now know, the Democrats picked up 27 seats in the House of Representatives - more than enough to set much of the CIA-inspired agenda of wresting political control - not only over the half-hearted Republican party - but effectively over anything Trump will try to do as well. He will now likely be faced with a ramped-up onslaught of "investigations" and calls for his impeachment.

Comment:

• Paper Tiger Sanctions on Iran Will Speed The End of Pax Americana
• There is no legit reason to impose sanctions on Iran
• UN top court orders US to lift Iranian sanctions on humanitarian goods, civil aviation

Comment: Parts 3 and 4 promise to be even more revealing.

Update: Al Jazeera has released Parts 3 & 3 of The Lobby - USA. Electronic Intifada has the details.

In the first two parts of the censored documentary The Lobby - USA, released by The Electronic Intifada this week, Al Jazeera's undercover reporter "Tony" charmed his way into pro-Israel circles.

He discovered a network of organizations acting as fronts for the Israeli state to spy on, disrupt and sabotage US supporters of Palestinian rights - especially BDS, the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement.

In the final two parts of of the film, Tony gets a deeper look at Israel's covert influence campaigns during his internship for The Israel Project.

Watch parts three and four in the videos embedded above and below.

The Electronic Intifada is releasing the leaked film simultaneously with France's Orient XXI and Lebanon's Al-Akhbar, which have respectively subtitled the episodes in French and Arabic.

In part three, Al Jazeera interviews Bill Mullen, a professor of American Studies at Purdue University in Indiana, and a leading activist in the BDS movement.

As The Electronic Intifada reported in 2016, Mullen and his family found themselves targeted by an organized smear campaign, starting in March of that year.

Several anonymous websites sprang up, containing fabricated accounts of sexual harassment by Mullen, supposedly by a student.

In the film, Mullen describes the campaign as an attempt to destroy his marriage. His wife, also a professor, was sent a link to one of the sites.

The smear campaign seems to have been manufactured by Israel's agents in the US.

"These people will do anything"

"One of the [anonymous] accounts explains that in the process of supposedly putting my hand on her, I'd invited her to a Palestine organizational meeting. And I thought, you're sort of putting your cards on the table there," Mullen says, explaining how he came to realize that pro-Israel actors were behind the smears.

Mullen recounts how the anonymous websites also used the name of his daughter, which he says was the worst moment for him, when he realized "these people will do anything, they're capable of doing anything."

A Students for Justice in Palestine activist who Mullen worked with, speaks anonymously in an interview with Al Jazeera.

She too was targeted by an anonymous smear site, which falsely claimed she engaged in "partying, drinking" and "promiscuity." She recounts how this led to tension and upset at home, with her parents telling her to end her SJP involvement.

Smear tactics have been common features of "advocacy" for Israel for decades. Israel lobbyists know they cannot win open debate on the actual issues.

Such attempts to target and sabotage activists' personal lives represent an escalation in tactics in recent years, led by Israel's Ministry of Strategic Affairs.

These tactics are more reminiscent of Israeli intelligence services' actions against Palestinian resistance organizations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, with the usage of blackmail, disinformation, rumors and sabotage.

This is not entirely surprising considering that the Ministry of Strategic Affairs is largely staffed by Israeli spies.

"It's psychological warfare"

In undercover footage seen in episode one, the Israel on Campus Coalition's Jacob Baime admitted to coordinating with the Israeli ministry.

He described his approach as "modeled on General Stanley McChrystal's counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq," explaining that they "copied a lot from that strategy that has been working really well for us, actually."

Although Baime seems confused about the country - the US general's "counterinsurgency" effort was focused on Afghanistan, not Iraq - McChrystal's strategy emphasizes "offensive information operations."

In episode three, Baime explains how his organization applies this against "the anti-Israel people" by putting "up some anonymous website" along with targeted Facebook ads.

Baime explains that as a result activists "either shut down or they spend time responding to it and investigating it, which is time they can't spend attacking Israel."

"It's psychological warfare, it drives them crazy," he claims.

He later states that the Israel on Campus Coalition has a budget of some $2 million for "research" for such smear campaigns alone.

As previously reported by The Electronic Intifada, episode three also names convicted tax evader, and multimillionaire Israel lobby financier Adam Milstein as the founder of secretive blacklisting site Canary Mission.

It also reveals the Foundation for Defense of Democracies as another agent of Israel's Ministry of Strategic Affairs.

The foundation's Jonathan Schanzer admits in undercover footage that "anti-Semitism as a smear is not what is used to be."

"The foundation that AIPAC sat on is rotting"

Episode four reveals how Israel is working against the Black Lives Matter movement.

Israel's consul-general in Atlanta is seen in undercover footage complaining that "the major problem for Israel is with the young generation of the Black community."

The Israel Project's successful attempts to influence American mainstream media are also detailed, with former CNN journalist Jim Clancy describing it as "propaganda."

Also in episode four, Tony goes along for the ride with a comically unenthusiastic group of young, conservative think tank fellows, who are compelled by their bosses to join a protest against a Students for Justice in Palestine conference.

Max Blumenthal at the Grayzone Project previously released clips from these scenes, but all the footage can now be viewed on this page.

In the undercover footage, the fellows admit to Tony that what they are doing is "astroturfing" - a term for fake grassroots activism orchestrated or paid for by an interest group.

This feeds into the film's ultimate conclusion, in the words of Eric Gallagher, Tony's boss at The Israel Project.

Gallagher describes how the bipartisan consensus in support of Israel has seriously fractured in recent years, with polls consistently showing a slide in progressive and liberal support for Israel.

Gallagher admits that the fortunes of AIPAC, Washington's most powerful Israel lobby group, and his former employer, are not what they once were.

"The foundation that AIPAC sat on is rotting," he laments.

"There used to be actual widespread public support for Israel in the United States. So I don't think that AIPAC is going to remain as influential as it is."

He adds: "I don't think that AIPAC is the tip of the spear anymore, which is worrisome, because who is?"

Comment: Since Polite is not a white, male Trump supporter, this will be swept under the Leftist rug in no time.

Fake anti-semitism, in the form of staged acts, is actually quite common, and not just in the US. Paris was recently stunned to learn that a serial vandal spray-painting homes and cars with vile messages about Jews... turned out to be an elderly Jewish couple:

Serial complainer about anti-Semitic graffiti left on and near his home in Paris... caught daubing cars with anti-Semitic graffiti