Comment: Morons, we're ruled by utter morons.

Comment: RT adds

Johnson and his Tory government have stated that they will not permit another vote on Scotland leaving the union, but Sturgeon - whose Scottish National Party (SNP) won 48 of Scotland's 59 seats in the UK parliament in the recent snap general election - said that the matter isn't up to the prime minister. The pro-independence first minister argued that if Johnson is so sure that preserving the union is the best course of action, "he should be confident enough to make that case and allow people to decide."

Scotland held an independence referendum in 2014, but the motion was rejected by voters.

Actually, there were some serious questions around the the vote, with many reports of irregularities. Ms. Sturgeon may well be right in her call for another referendum.

• Scottish independence is winning over uncommitted, says SNP
• Sources warn of vote rigging in Scotland's independence vote
• Thousands gather in cities across Scotland to protest vote rigging and rally for independence
• One year on, still YES: Tens of thousands rally for Scottish independence from London
• Ensuring Scottish sovereignty
• Brexit fallout: Scottish government considers 2nd independence referendum

Comment: WikiLeaks has released a new set of documents including the ones Hitchens references in the article above:

• Newly leaked evidence OPCW suppressed, altered findings on Douma 'chem attack'

Aside from the Daily Mail, the only other mainstream western publication which has covered the story is the Italian la Repubblica:


The Newsweek journalist whose piece was suppressed by his editors published the following: Lies, Newsweek and Control of the Media Narrative: First-Hand Account. Moon of Alabama provides some excerpts, including on Haddad's editor Dimi Reider:

I glanced at his resume and was honored to be working with such an accomplished foreign affairs journalist. I had genuinely hoped to build a closer relationship to him.

That was why I was so bewildered when he flatly refused to publish the OPCW revelations. Surely any editor worth their salt would see this as big? Of course, I understood that the implications of such a piece would be substantial and not easy to report — it was the strongest evidence of lies about Syria to date — but surely most educated people could see this coming? Other evidence was growing by the day.

But no. As the earlier messages showed, there was no desire to report these revelations, regardless of how strong the evidence appeared to be. Dimi was simply happy to defer to Bellingcat — a clearly dubious organization as others have taken the time to address, such as here and here — instead of allowing journalists who are more than capable of doing their own research to do their job.

It was this realization that made me start to question Dimi. When I looked a little deeper, he was the missing piece.

MoA comments: "It turns out that Dimi Reider is a creature trained by the Council of Foreign Relations, the Wall Street's Think Tank, and was the founder and editor of a magazine funded by the Rockefeller Brother's Fund. He is a member of the insider club."

...
The U.S. government, in an ugly alliance with those the profit the most from war, has its tentacles in every part of the media — imposters, with ties to the U.S. State Department, sit in newsrooms all over the world. Editors, with no apparent connections to the member's club, have done nothing to resist. Together, they filter out what can or cannot be reported. Inconvenient stories are completely blocked. As a result, journalism is quickly dying. America is regressing because it lacks the truth.

Comment: See also: Inept ABC 'searching staff emails' 'pressuring colleagues to turn against each other' as they freak out over the identity of the Amy Robach video leaker

Comment: Germany can sorely afford to suffer the threats and the meddling of the US for much longer:

• Alastair Crooke: Germany stalls and Europe craters
• 'No need to panic': Eurozone may need €20 billion cash injection as economies stagnate - Lagarde
• Russia ready to build Nord Stream 3 & provide Europe with as much gas as it needs

Comment: See: MindMatters: How Universities Are Destroying Young Minds With Pathological Thinking

Comment: Dayum, that was crazy. Even for the USA.

Gangsters at work?

They're sure quick to rule out terrorism...

UPDATES 11 Dec

The gunfire lasted FOUR HOURS, and HUNDREDS of rounds were fired. Altogether, 6 people were killed, including 'the two suspects'. Some media suspects say there was a third suspect, but no word about what happened to him.

Today it emerges that the crime scene where the major shooting scene took place was a Jewish kosher store, located next to a synagogue. Three of the victims were Jews, part of a community of Brooklyn Jews who had only recently relocated there.

Jewish outlet Forward reports that the kosher store "serves as the de facto social center of an embryonic Hasidic community in the town."

Initially, the media and police said this was not a terror attack/hate crime, but 24 hours later, that tune is changing.

What's clear is that the police response - including snipers on rooftops - was MASSIVE relative to the 'accidental intervention of a suspect wanted for murder' they claimed first motivated a police response.

We suspect the authorities were tipped off about something major, but for some reason they're playing this down for now.

RT has a rundown of the timeline, with tweets and videos. After shooting and killing Seals, the suspects drove away, chased by police, who followed them to the kosher store where the rest of the shooting apparently went down. Jersey City's mayor said there is reason to believe the shop was deliberately targeted:

"Based on our initial investigation (which is ongoing) we now believe the active shooters targeted the location they attacked," the mayor said on Twitter late Tuesday. "Due to an excess of caution the community may see additional police resources in the days/weeks ahead. We have no indication there are any further threats."

The shooters have been identified as David Anderson and Francine Graham, with Anderson at least a "one time" member of the "Black Hebrew Israelites" (you may remember these folks from the "smirking MAGA hat kid" controversy - they were the loonies harassing the Covington students).


Anderson had apparently posted anti-Jewish and anti-police messages on social media:

Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop said Wednesday that the pair of gun-wielding attackers were captured on CCTV footage "slowly" rolling up to the Jersey City Kosher Supermarket in the Greenville neighborhood in a van before they stopped in front, "calmly opened the door with two long rifles" and "began firing from the street" into the store.

A note with religious writing was recovered by investigators from inside the stolen U-Haul van that the shooters were in, sources said.

UPDATE Dec 13

RT reports that the incident is now being treated as an 'act of domestic terrorism motivated by anti-Semitism and police hatred':

The investigation into the shooting at JC Kosher Supermarket is now a domestic terrorism probe, Attorney General Gurbir Grewal and New Jersey US Attorney Craig Carpenito told reporters on Thursday, adding that the violence was believed to be motivated by anti-Semitism and hatred of law enforcement.

"The evidence points towards acts of hate," Grewal said.

One of the shooters, identified as David Anderson, was linked on Wednesday to the Black Hebrew Israelites, a fringe black supremacist group. Anderson made anti-Semitic and anti-police posts online before embarking on the shooting spree, according to law enforcement. A "manifesto-style note" was also found in the stolen U-Haul Anderson and his companion, a woman named Francine Graham, were driving. [..]

This is the same fringe group that attacked the Covington Catholic High School students

While the attack was initially thought to be random, surveillance footage showed the pair deliberately targeted the kosher market, driving there after gunning down a detective who attempted to question them about a recent murder in which they were also suspects.

Comment: For more on the numerous ways in which imperial propaganda tool Bellingcat lies - and has actually gotten caught out on them, see:

• Busted: Propaganda outfit Bellingcat fabricated evidence, deliberately hid documents to push new 'Russian spy plot'
• Russian Embassy: Bellingcat's connections to special services are 'apparent'
• How Bellingcat and neocons promoted & collaborated with most influential ISIS propagandist on Twitter: ShamiWitness
• Anatomy of a NATO troll: Eliot Higgins of Bellingcat
• Bellingcat & Atlantic Council actively promoted ISIS recruiter as 'Syria expert'
• Twitter user dismantles Bellingcat's claims on Russian suspects of Skripal poisoning
• MIT professor accuses Bellingcat's Higgins of enabling war criminals to walk free in Syria
• Bellingcat claims FSB tried to influence UK visa process - another 'fantasy gone wild'
• Did this Russian cause Brexit, too? Deep State mouthpiece Bellingcat names '3rd GRU officer' in Skripal poisoning saga

Comment: Trump pointed out the absurdity of TIME's cover choice:

"So ridiculous," Trump tweeted on Thursday while commenting on a tweet by actress and producer Roma Downey, in which she congratulated Thunberg on topping the TIME list of most influential people for 2019.

"Greta must work on her Anger Management problem, then go to a good old fashioned movie with a friend! Chill Greta, Chill!"

Trump and Thunberg briefly crossed paths on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September, where both of them delivered impassioned speeches. They did not speak to each other but the teenage activist was spotted giving Trump a now-iconic cold glare, which quickly spurred a plethora of memes online.