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Camcorder

Best of the Web: 'Deeply troubling': Jail video of Jeffrey Epstein's first suicide attempt was deleted, prosecutors reveal. Literally no one is surprised

Dan Mangan and Kevin Breuninger
CNBC
Thu, 09 Jan 2020 17:01 UTC
Jeffrey Epstein
© New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services | Handout | ReutersU.S. financier Jeffrey Epstein appears in a photograph taken for the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services’ sex offender registry March 28, 2017 and obtained by Reuters July 10, 2019.
Surveillance video footage from outside the jail cell of accused child sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein during his first reported suicide attempt in July has been inadvertently deleted, federal prosecutors revealed Thursday.


Comment: Inadvertently? Give. Us. A. Break.


Prosecutors, in a filing in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, said the video was deleted as the result of a jailhouse computer error about the location of Epstein's cellmate at the time Epstein tried to kill himself.

A lawyer for Epstein's former cellmate said that it was "deeply troubling" to learn that the footage no longer exists. That lawyer, Bruce Barket, has been trying since July to obtain the video.

Comment: So they'd like us to believe that a 'computer error' lead to the loss or erasure of the tape and its backup? How stupid do they think we are? Either Epstein committed suicide and a series of next-to-impossible coincidences have stood in the way of confirming this, or there is some kind of foul play. Only the most ardent coincidence theorist could possibly buy the former.

See also:

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Light Saber

Best of the Web: Iranian airstrikes on US bases in Iraq provide a window for peace

Craig Murray
craigmurray.org.uk
Wed, 08 Jan 2020 07:48 UTC
missile attack iraq
© reuters
There is this morning a chink of light to avoid yet more devastation in the Middle East. Iran's missile strikes last night were calibrated to satisfy honour while avoiding damage that would trigger automatically the next round. The missiles appear to have been fitted out with very light warhead payloads indeed - their purpose was to look good in the dark going up into the night sky. There is every reason to believe the apparent lack of US casualties was deliberate.

Even more important was the Iraqi statement that "proportionate measures" had been "taken and concluded" and they did not seek "further escalation".

I agree their response was proportionate and I would say that I regard the Iranian action so far, unlike the assassination of Soleimani by the US, legal in international law.

The entire world should congratulate Iran for its maturity in handling the illegal assassination of its General, who was on a peace mission, travelling as a civilian on a commercial flight, carrying a mediation message the US had been instrumental in instigating. If as seems possible the US actively manipulated the diplomatic process to assassinate someone on a diplomatic mission and traveling on a diplomatic passport, that is a dreadful outrage which will come back to haunt them. Life insurance rates for US diplomats no doubt just went up.

Comment: See also:

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Bad Guys

Best of the Web: Iran didn't want to kill US troops with its strike, it wanted to make point to Trump about its missile tech & resolve. It did that

Scott Ritter
RT
Thu, 09 Jan 2020 16:50 UTC
Iran missile
© AFP / BBC Persian
Iran's anticipated retaliation for the US assassination of Qassem Soleimani sent a clear signal to Donald Trump that while the current round of violence may be over, Iran stands ready to respond to any future US provocation.

Tehran warned Iraq to spare US soldiers

On Tuesday night, the Iranian nation buried the body of Qassem Soleimani, the charismatic senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) officer assassinated by the US this past week. In the early hours of Wednesday morning, that task completed, Soleimani's IRGC comrades, acting on the orders of Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, launched some 22 ballistic missiles from Iranian territory into neighboring Iraq, targeting the huge US air base Al Asad, in western Iraq, and the US consulate in the city of Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan.

Comment: Yes, it seems likely that Iran happy to display its high tech-missiles, but the fact that these attacks were coordinated with the US points to something more going on. See Joe Quinn's SOTT Focus: What War Was Trump Trying to Stop by Killing Iranian General Soleimani? and his appearance on PressTV:



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Question

Best of the Web: The more we find out about Tehran plane crash, the more questions we have. Here are the main ones

Finian Cunningham
RT
Wed, 08 Jan 2020 17:22 UTC
plane crash
The crash of the Ukrainian plane in Iran so soon after the country launched a missile strike would have been a geopolitical event no matter what. Then came the strangely certain statements, and the retractions.

Iran blames technical issues, Ukraine not so sure

Iranian authorities were quick to blame a technical fault for the fatal crash of the Ukrainian airliner which took off from Tehran bound for Kiev Wednesday morning, with all 176 onboard losing their lives.

Ali Abedzedah, head of Iran's civil aviation authority, attributed the cause of the crash to engine failure, and said there was no involvement of terrorism.

While Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky warned against "speculation and unchecked theories", his prime minister Oleksiy Honcharuk told a press conference that he was not ruling out the possibility that a missile could have brought down the plane.
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Sherlock

Best of the Web: America escalates its "democratic" oil war in the Near East

Michael Hudson
Counter Punch
Mon, 06 Jan 2020 12:00 UTC
oil rig
© CC BY-SA 3.0 / www.dragonoil.com
The mainstream media are carefully sidestepping the method behind America's seeming madness in assassinating Islamic Revolutionary Guard general Qassim Suleimani to start the New Year. The logic behind the assassination was a long-standing application of U.S. global policy, not just a personality quirk of Donald Trump's impulsive action. His assassination of Iranian military leader Suleimani was indeed a unilateral act of war in violation of international law, but it was a logical step in a long-standing U.S. strategy. It was explicitly authorized by the Senate in the funding bill for the Pentagon that it passed last year.

The assassination was intended to escalate America's presence in Iraq to keep control of the region's oil reserves, and to back Saudi Arabia's Wahabi troops (Isis, Al Quaeda in Iraq, Al Nusra and other divisions of what are actually America's foreign legion) to support U.S. control of Near Eastern oil as a buttress of the U.S. dollar. That remains the key to understanding this policy, and why it is in the process of escalating, not dying down.

Comment: See also: What War Was Trump Trying to Stop by Killing Iranian General Soleimani?

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Seismograph

Best of the Web: Major quake strikes near Iranian nuclear power plant as Iran launches airstrikes against US bases in Iraq

Millie Bull
The Express
Wed, 08 Jan 2020 03:39 UTC

Comment: Just a coincidence, nothing to worry about!

Or was it?


Iran earthquake Jan 2020
© USGSThe earthquake had a magnitude of 4.9
An earthquake has struck near the Bushehr nuclear power plant on a crucial day for Iran which has seen tensions in the Middle East erupt.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the earthquake struck 10km southeast of Borazjan in Iran with a magnitude of 4.9. The quake also struck at a depth of 10km. Borazjan is a almost a 70km drive away from Bushehr.

The quake struck at 3.19am this morning.

Comment: Hmmm. This could have been the result of some hi-tech response by the 'deep state/Usual Suspects' to Iran's ballsy response to the American assassination of Soleimani... or it could have been the cosmos itself chiming in on the portentous events afoot in that region.

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Attention

Best of the Web: Iran launches revenge attack on US military in Iraq - 2 waves of missile launches strike Ain al-Asad and Erbil bases - UPDATES

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Wed, 08 Jan 2020 01:55 UTC
iran missile iraq
© Fars News AgencyA photo circulating in Iranian media purporting to show a missile fired at a US base in Iraq in retaliation for the recent killing of a top Iranian general.
Summary:
  • President Trump has tweeted that "All is well!"
"Missiles launched from Iran at two military bases located in Iraq.
Assessment of casualties & damages taking place now. So far, so good!
We have the most powerful and well equipped military anywhere in the world, by far!
I will be making a statement tomorrow morning."
  • Iranian foreign minister Javid Zarif has tweeted:
"Iran took and concluded proportionate measures in self-defense under Article 51 of UN Charter targeting base from which cowardly armed attack against our citizens and senior officials were launched."
  • Iran has launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles against multiple bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq, and have threatened "more crushing responses" if Washington carried out further strikes.
  • Initially, nine rockets hit the sprawling Ain al-Asad airbase in the country's west, the largest of the Iraqi military compounds where foreign troops are based. The attack came in three waves just after midnight, AFP reported.
  • Iran swiftly claimed responsibility for the attack, with state TV saying it had launched "tens of missiles" on the base.
  • Iranian sources are claiming that the operation has a name: 'Operation Martyr Suleimani'. Iran's airforce has reportedly been deployed.
  • Iraqi PMF announced the start of military operation "Overwhelming Response."
  • No confirmed details on injured/casualties - "working on initial battle damage assessments." According to social media sources, the Pentagon has said that the Iranian missile attack resulted in casualties among Iraqis only
  • President Trump "has been briefed" is "monitoring the situation closely and consulting with his national security team," and despite initial reports from CNN he was set to address the nation, the press secretary has denied that Trump will address the nation tonight.
  • The FAA has imposed restrictions for civilian flights over the Persian Gulf.
  • Markets are turmoiling: Safe-haven assets are soaring (bonds, bitcoin, and gold), Oil prices are jumping, and Stocks are getting slammed

Comment: The IGRC made the following statements:
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran reportedly confirmed their missiles struck a US base in western Iraq, calling it revenge for the killing of General Qassem Soleimani and warning more strikes might be coming.

"The brave soldiers of IRGC's aerospace unit have launched a successful attack with tens of ballistic missiles" on the Al-Asad base, in the name of General Soleimani, the IRGC said in a statement early on Wednesday morning, adding:
We call on Americans to recall all their soldiers back home to prevent more damage.
The IRGC also warned all US allies in the region that they will be targeted if any aggressive action is undertaken from their territory, putting Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel on notice.
...
The strike on Al-Asad and several other US bases in Iraq took place at 01:20 local time, the exact time Soleimani's convoy was struck.
More videos and images:







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Chess

Best of the Web: Putin makes surprise Orthodox Christmas visit to Syria, discusses security situation with Assad


RT
Tue, 07 Jan 2020 20:34 UTC

Comment: We were wondering, since Trump blew Soleimani to kingdom come, what Putin's next move would be. The contrast couldn't be any greater...


Assad Putin
© Instagram / syrianpresidency
Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a surprise visit to Syria, holding talks with his counterpart, Bashar Assad, at the Russian military command center.

Putin "rode through the streets of Damascus" on his way to the command center, where he headed after landing at the city's airport, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said.

The Russian president met with Assad there as the two leaders listened to reports by military officials on the conditions on the ground in various regions of the country. Russia has been assisting Syria in the fight against terrorists since 2014.

Comment: And it's Russia's Christmas, incidentally, so this visit is apparently the Russian version of making a 'surprise visit to inspect the troops'. Except that, in this case, his visit is actually welcomed by the host country...

RT reports:
Russian President Vladimir Putin spent his Christmas day in Damascus, a city that is closely tied to early Christianity, home to Syria's oldest Orthodox Church and a mosque that keeps the relics of John the Baptist.

Putin's plane touched down in Syria on Tuesday, to everyone's surprise, as the president was last spotted in St. Petersburg the evening before, attending the Orthodox Christmas Eve service.

His unannounced trip included not only talks about fighting terrorism with Syrian President Bashar Assad, but also visits to the city's historic religious sites. After the talks, Putin and Assad took a walk through the center of Damascus, stopping at the Umayyad Mosque, also known as the Great Mosque.


One of the largest and oldest mosques in the world, it hosts the head of John the Baptist, who is also venerated in Islam as Prophet Yahya. The relic was shown to the Russian leader, who responded in the manner of a good guest, presenting the mosque with a 17th-century copy of the Koran.

The two leaders than headed to the oldest Orthodox church in Syria, the Mariamite Cathedral, built during the second century. It's the seat of John X, the Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, who greeted the high-ranked guests.

The Patriarch thanked Putin for sending the Russian military to assist Syria in the fight against the terrorists. Without this help, the church could've now been the headquarters of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi or some militant warlord, he said.

John X also described Syria as a tolerant place "where different religions - both Christians and Muslims - coexist peacefully and enjoy the same rights." The Russian president had a gift for him as well, an icon of the Virgin Mary painted in Russia.


After a brief busy stay in Damascus, Putin flew to neighboring Turkey, where he is scheduled to hold security and trade talks with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and attend the ceremonial opening of the 'Turk Stream' gas pipeline.
So many winning deals to make - and so many USraeli-started fires to put out - so little time...

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Bullseye

Best of the Web: Comedian Ricky Gervais, man of the people

Bridget Phetasy
Quillette
Mon, 06 Jan 2020 01:50 UTC
Ricky Gervaise golden globes
Ricky Gervaise hosts the Golden Globes of 2020
In a room filled with self-absorbed narcissists, one brave, slightly less self-absorbed narcissist had the balls to speak truth to power — and his name is Ricky Gervais.

If courage had a face, it would be a slightly overweight, pasty British multi-millionaire drinking a pint. Taking the stage to host his fifth and final (allegedly) Golden Globe Awards, Ricky spoke for us, the oppressed, six-figure earning, working middle-class, little guy.

I may not have ever flown on a private jet to a private island with a temple, but I got an upgrade to First Class once, and those warm nuts have a way of seducing you into believing anyone cares about your shitty takes. In fact it was on that flight I was inspired to become an opinion writer. I appreciate your hypocrisy, Hollywood, it makes me feel better about my own.

Comment: Ricky Gervais divides social media after he eviscerates 'woke' Hollywood hypocrites in scorching opening monologue at the Golden Globes

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Heart

Best of the Web: 'Commander of Hearts': Millions upon millions of Iranians bid farewell to General Soleimani


RT
Sun, 05 Jan 2020 09:11 UTC

Comment: US leaders want us to believe that the Iranians are dancing in the streets at Soleimani's death.

Instead, an ocean of mourners in black are crying their eyes out.

5 million attended the funeral in Tehran today, according to one estimate.

Once the last one is held in Soleimani's hometown on Tuesday 7th January, the total attendance at all 7 funerals in Iraq and Iran will be in the tens of millions, making it easily the most attended funeral in history.


Iranians cross bridge
© Hossein Mersadi/Fars News Agency/WANA/Reuters
Massive crowds of mourners have gathered for a farewell procession dedicated to Quds Force commander Major General Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a US drone strike in Iraq earlier this week.

The solemn procession began at 7am at the Rumi Square in Ahvaz, the capital of Iran's western Khuzestan Province, which borders Iraq. Hundreds of thousands of black-clad mourners have completely filled both the streets and a bridge over the Karun River to pay their last respects to the major general.


Comment: This was the scene in Iran's parliament yesterday:


After the funeral at Ahvaz, the caskets were taken to the city of Mashhad:


Today there was another funeral, this time in the capital Tehran:



There is another day of mourning and funerals to come...

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