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Attention

Best of the Web: CrowdStrikeOut: Mueller's own report undermines its core Russia-meddling claims

Aaron Maté
RealClearInvestigations
Fri, 05 Jul 2019 14:58 UTC
Mueller/obama/report
© Twitter
At a May press conference capping his tenure as special counsel, Robert Mueller emphasized what he called "the central allegation" of the two-year Russia probe. The Russian government, Mueller sternly declared, engaged in "multiple, systematic efforts to interfere in our election, and that allegation deserves the attention of every American." Mueller's comments echoed a January 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) asserting with "high confidence" that Russia conducted a sweeping 2016 election influence campaign. "I don't think we've ever encountered a more aggressive or direct campaign to interfere in our election process," then-Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told a Senate hearing.

While the 448-page Mueller report found no conspiracy between Donald Trump's campaign and Russia, it offered voluminous details to support the sweeping conclusion that the Kremlin worked to secure Trump's victory. The report claims that the interference operation occurred "principally" on two fronts: Russian military intelligence officers hacked and leaked embarrassing Democratic Party documents, and a government-linked troll farm orchestrated a sophisticated and far-reaching social media campaign that denigrated Hillary Clinton and promoted Trump.
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Seismograph

Best of the Web: Southern California hit by 7.1 magnitude earthquake just one day after M6.4 tremor - the largest for 20 years

Chris Robertson
Sky News
Sat, 06 Jul 2019 04:48 UTC
A house burns in Ridgecrest, near the quake's epicentre
A house burns in Ridgecrest, near the quake's epicentre
A 7.1-magnitude earthquake has hit California less than two days after another strong tremor, rattling parts of LA and causing fire and building damage near its rural epicentre.

It hit at 8.19pm local time 11 miles from Ridgecrest in the Mojave Desert, the site of Thursday's 6.4-magnitude quake.

Offices in downtown Los Angeles shook for around 30 seconds and it was also felt in the Hollywood Hills, Las Vegas and parts of Mexico.

The earthquake is the strongest to hit the region in 20 years, with experts giving it an early rating of 6.9 to 7.1 on the Richter scale.

There are "significant reports of structure fires, mostly as a result of gas leaks or gas line breaks" in Ridgecrest, said Mark Ghillarducci, head of the California Office of Emergency Services.

He said the full extent of the damage would not be revealed until daybreak on Saturday.

There have been minor injuries, but no deaths reported so far.



Comment: The quake superseded the previous day's 6.4 magnitude earthquake, on US Independence Day, which was the largest in Southern California for 20 years... until this latest one. See also: 6.4M earthquake rattles LA on Independence Day: Strongest to hit SoCal in 20 years - UPDATE 5.0 aftershock recorded


This is therefore the 10th most powerful in SoCal's history. Not long until The Big One?

Locals have been posting photographs of enormous dents and cracks on roads, as well as this picture of a highway blocked by large rocks from a rockfall:




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Bullseye

Best of the Web: The Saker: Debunking the rumors about Russia caving in to Israel

The Saker
UNZ Review
Thu, 04 Jul 2019 10:34 UTC
Patrushev
Patrushev in Jerusalem
This Spring saw a sudden increase in the volume of articles in the so-called "alternative media and blogosphere" about Putin "selling out" Syria or Iran to the Israelis and their US patrons, or both. What was particularly interesting about this campaign is that it was not triggered by any kind of event or statement by Putin or any other senior Russian decision-makers. True, Israeli politicians made numerous trips to Russia, but each time they walked away without anything tangible to show for their efforts. As for their Russian counterparts, they limited themselves to vague and well-intentioned statements. Nonetheless, the "Putin sold out to Netanyahu" campaign did not stop. Every meeting was systematically interpreted as The Clear Proof that the Zionists control the Kremlin and that Putin was doing Netanyahu's bidding.

The fact that this campaign began ex nihilo did not seem to bother most observers. Soon I started getting steady streams of emails asking me to react to these articles. My reply was always the same one: let's do the opposite of what these supposed "specialists" are doing and wait for the facts to come out and only then form an opinion.

Comment: See also: And check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: Israeli-French Deception Downs Russian Spy Plane Off Syria, US Escalates 'Regime Change' Against Iran

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Eye 2

Best of the Web: The United States of America - If it cannot be loved, it will rape!

Andre Vltchek
New Eastern Outlook
Sat, 29 Jun 2019 00:00 UTC
US soldiers
No one is talking about it openly, but, let us face it: those U.S.-made planes are crashing; the performance of Apple phones and computers is falling far behind those made by Huawei and other Chinese companies. Lenovo took over IBM and is doing extremely well. NASA is absolutely incapable of building decent rockets that would be able to deliver people or even satellites to space, cheaply and safely.

In the field of electric automobiles, China is far, far ahead. In fact, anyone who visits a major or secondary Chinese city, would be shocked to see that the implementation of 'zero emission' vehicles there is not something that is in the planning stage, it has for several years been a dream come true, reality: dozens of Chinese cities already have an excellent network of metro trains, of ecological electric buses, and of enormous public sidewalks that encourage people to stroll and remain healthy. Even police cars in China are electric.

Russia is doing extremely well, in several fields. In fact, it is at the vanguard, when it comes to such grounds as science and culture. Those days of 'humiliation' of the Gorbachev and Yeltsin era are far back, when Moscow naively believed Thatcherites and Reaganites! Russia is rolling: now producing and exporting excellent, often organic food. Its icebreakers are opening new paths for both people and goods. Russian space rockets are second to none, and its passenger airplanes are back in the skies. Nuclear and other power plants are helping to supply energy to many countries, all over the world.

You name it; China and Russia are producing it, developing it, helping to create it! Both nations are cooperating, scientifically, working for people, not just for business.
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Attention

Best of the Web: Pathetic: NBC accused of putting a fake pimple on Rep. Tulsi Gabbard during Dem debate

Cassandra Fairbanks
Gateway Pundit
Thu, 27 Jun 2019 00:01 UTC
tulsi gabbard fake zit
The team over at NBC appears to have taken their 'Mean Girls' style disdain for Rep. Tulsi Gabbard to new levels — by adding a fake blemish to her face on live television.

The disappearing pimple was first reported on by TMZ, and Rep. Gabbard's press assistant tweeted a video and thank you note to them for covering it.

"The Congresswoman from Hawaii was talking foreign policy during the debate — specifically the possibility of America going to war with Iran. Important stuff, no doubt. However, as Gabbard spoke many viewers focused on her chin and what appeared to be a tiny zit — nothing that would require Dr. Pimple Popper or anything, but still ... it was there," TMZ reported. "Then it happened. Seriously, if you haven't seen it ... YOU MUST. Within a matter of seconds the blemish simply vanished ... AS Tulsi was talking!!! Remember, this is on a close-up camera, ON live television."

Comment: First NBC gets accused of turning off candidate's microphones during the debate, and now this. It seems the outlet has clear favourites and are rather unabashed in playing petty and dirty tricks to give them advantages. God forbid anyone be required to win debates based on their merit and ability. At least Gabbard seems to be taking it with poise and humor. Update from TMZ:
10:39 AM PDT -- Rep. Gabbard joined us on TMZ Live and says the red dot wasn't on her chin at all on Wednesday ... and she has no idea what the spot could have been. She's clearly not concerned about it and is ready for the rest of her campaign.

See also:

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Che Guevara

Best of the Web: Conservative snowflake Andy Ngo can't handle a peaceful beating

Jarvis Dupont
Spectator USA
Mon, 01 Jul 2019 20:51 UTC
antifa
Right-wing possible Nazi collaborator (I have no real evidence of this, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was) Andy Ngo was 'attacked' at the Portland rally on Saturday. For those unaware, Andy Ngo is a so-called 'journalist' who is apparently well-known for aggravating situations by attending political events armed with his fascist GoPro camera and 'reporting' what happens. Now, if this isn't an act of right-wing terrorism, I do not know what is.
andy ngo
Mr Ngo supposedly sustained 'injuries' after a small group of around 25 or so noble Antifa comrades bravely surrounded him and peacefully protested by throwing objects at his head. The subsequent outcry from the alt-right has been depressingly predictable. Ironically, their cries of 'Free speech!' appear to melt away like snowflakes on a George Foreman Grill the moment a few dozen freedom-fighting activists decide to exercise their free speech by spraying someone with silly string (and possibly punching them and throwing cement-laced milkshakes at him) for publicly expressing violently toxic opinions. It seems they believe it perfectly acceptable for them to cause irreparable damage to vulnerable people by disagreeing with them or saying mean things, but when Antifa retaliate with a tiny bit of physical assault (I've read reports that Andy Ngo has suffered a brain bleed, but it's most likely an exaggeration), they get all upset. Such hypocrisy. The double-standards of these precious little fascists would have me chuckling all day long if it wasn't for the fact I have PTSD from them calling me a 'fragile millennial' almost every day on Twitter.


Comment: Just in case the reader hasn't figured it out by now, this article is satire...

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Attention

Best of the Web: Soros and Koch team up to end US 'forever war' policy, fund new anti-war think tank

Stephen Kinzer
Boston Globe
Sun, 30 Jun 2019 17:03 UTC
soros koch
© ASSOCIATED PRESS/FILE PHOTOSGeorge Soros (left) and Charles Koch are teaming up on the effort.
Besides being billionaires and spending much of their fortunes to promote pet causes, the leftist financier George Soros and the right-wing Koch brothers have little in common. They could be seen as polar opposites. Soros is an old-fashioned New Deal liberal. The Koch brothers are fire-breathing right-wingers who dream of cutting taxes and dismantling government. Now they have found something to agree on: the United States must end its "forever war" and adopt an entirely new foreign policy.

In one of the most remarkable partnerships in modern American political history, Soros and Charles Koch, the more active of the two brothers, are joining to finance a new foreign-policy think tank in Washington. It will promote an approach to the world based on diplomacy and restraint rather than threats, sanctions, and bombing. This is a radical notion in Washington, where every major think tank promotes some variant of neocon militarism or liberal interventionism. Soros and Koch are uniting to revive the fading vision of a peaceable United States. The street cred they bring from both ends of the political spectrum - along with the money they are providing - will make this new think tank an off-pitch voice for statesmanship amid a Washington chorus that promotes brinksmanship.

"This is big," said Trita Parsi, former president of the National Iranian American Council and a co-founder of the new think tank. "It shows how important ending endless war is if they're willing to put aside their differences and get together on this project. We are going to challenge the basis of American foreign policy in a way that has not been done in at least the last quarter-century."

Since peaceful foreign policy was a founding principle of the United States, it's appropriate that the name of this think tank harken back to history. It will be called the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft, an homage to John Quincy Adams, who in a seminal speech on Independence Day in 1821 declared that the United States "goes not abroad in search of monsters to destroy. She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all. She is the champion and vindicator only of her own." The Quincy Institute will promote a foreign policy based on that live-and-let-live principle.
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Target

Best of the Web: US 'color revolution' and its struggles in Hong Kong

Tony Cartalucci
New Eastern Outlook
Wed, 26 Jun 2019 00:00 UTC
Hong Kong activists
© Tyrone Siu/ReutersHong Kong's opposition activists
The Western media has been boasting over recent protests in Hong Kong. Western headlines have claimed the protests have "rattled" Beijing's leadership.

The protests have been organized to obstruct Hong Kong's elected government from moving forward with an extradition bill. The bill would further integrate Hong Kong's legal system with that of mainland China's, allowing suspects to be sent to the mainland, Taiwan, or Macau to face justice for crimes committed anywhere in Chinese territory.

The protests oppose the extradition bill as a wider means of opposing Hong Kong's continued reintegration with China - arguing that the "One Country, Two Systems" terms imposed by the British upon Hong Kong's return under Chinese sovereignty in 1997 must be upheld.

Comment: See also:

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Cloud Precipitation

Best of the Web: Severe hailstorm slams Guadalajara, Mexico with 5 FEET of hail!


Vallarta Daily News
Sun, 30 Jun 2019 17:49 UTC
hail
A heavy rain and hail storm affected the municipalities of the metropolitan area of ​​Guadalajara and Tlaquepaque, around one o'clock this Sunday morning.

The accumulation of ice was unusual, in Tlaquepaque there were streets where it reached up to one meter in height, so emergency services used heavy machinery for the removal.

"We are doing hail removal work and also verifying the buildings that were affected by hail," said the head of the State Unit for Civil Protection and Firefighters of Jalisco, Víctor Hugo Roldán.


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Caesar

Best of the Web: Putin: 'The Liberal ideal has started to eat itself'


RT
Sat, 29 Jun 2019 13:55 UTC
Putin
© UnknownRussian President Vladimir Putin
Though it's attractive in general, liberalism has overreached on multiple issues, such as immigration, and is now "eating itself," Vladimir Putin said, just days after he'd suggested that the ideology has failed Western societies.

Liberalism still remains "multifaceted" and there's no need to be arguing about its overall attractiveness, the Russian president told reporters on Saturday, during a final press conference at the G20 summit in Japan. In the meantime, the philosophy has its own setbacks, he pointed out. "The liberal ideal has started to eat itself."

In Putin's view, liberal approaches to immigration is a real problem. "In some European countries, parents are told that girls should not wear skirts at schools," he asserted, adding that "people are living in their own country ... why has it come to that?"

His latest remarks summed up what he'd told the Financial Times in a much-talked-about interview this week. Speaking to FT's Lionel Barber and Henry Foy, he called liberalism "obsolete" and said it has now come into conflict "with the interests of the overwhelming majority of the population."

Comment: From RT: Putin comments on the Golunov drug arrest scandal
Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the now-dropped drug charge recently brought against investigative journalist Ivan Golunov was a clear case of "power abuse" that shouldn't go without repercussions for those responsible.

"Regarding the situation with Golunov, it's not injustice, it's lawlessness," Putin said at his final press conference at G20 summit in Osaka, Japan. "It's a complete power abuse, it must be investigated and certain decisions must be made regarding the case," the head of state added.

The charges against Golunov were dropped a short while later, with Russia's interior minister announcing that Golunov was cleared of all charges due to a lack of evidence against him.
From RT: Putin's remarks on '5 or 6' genders - should not enforce agenda on kids
There are no high tempers in Russia about LGBT groups, but they shouldn't instill their views on under-18s, Vladimir Putin said, adding the ever-growing types of genders may somehow be confusing.

Putin's latest interview with the Financial Times seems to have hit a nerve, as many public figures, among them singer Elton John, rushed to voice unease over some parts of it. Even at the G20 summit in Osaka, the Russian President couldn't avoid being challenged into explaining his stance on sexual minorities and liberalism.

Russia has "very relaxed attitude towards the LGBT community, we aren't biased against them," but the minority must not aggressively disseminate its views among minors who may not be able to decide on their own, he told reporters. "Let's give children an opportunity to grow up and decide afterwards who they want to be. Leave them alone," Putin urged. "[They] invented 6 or 5 genders. Transformers, trans... I have no idea what that even is."

Another part of the problem is that "this part of the society" is advancing their views "by force" on the majority, Putin said, citing "so-called sexual education" as an example. "Let them live as they wish. But some things do appear excessive to us."

Yet, the legendary singer accused Russia of "hypocrisy" and complained that his film 'Rocketman' was "heavily censored" by the country's distributors.

Calling Elton John "a genius musician," Putin argued: "I think he's wrong on this, we have very calm attitude towards the LGBT community, we aren't biased against them."
From RT: Claims of Russia's aggressiveness but an illusion to solve domestic problems
Moscow has no aggressive intensions against any country, but other countries' policies will always be met with a symmetrical response, Vladimir Putin said during a final press conference at G20 summit in Osaka, Japan.

"I want to tell you the good news - we don't have any intentions to carry out aggressive actions against anyone," Putin said when asked if Russia is ready to "choose a different path" in order to improve ties with the UK and the West. "[Russia's aggressiveness] is an illusion, wishful thinking to have a foreign adversary whose presence is good for solving domestic policy issues."

An enormously tense meeting between Putin and Theresa May made headlines on Friday, as did the prime minister's icy handshake and a warning that there will be no improvement of bilateral ties until Moscow stops "the irresponsible and destabilizing activity" against the UK.

While Moscow has no plans to intimidate anyone, its actions "will always mirror those of our partners," Russian president argued. "We'll treat others the same way we're treated by them. I want everyone to remember this."

That said, Russia is more than interested in "improving" ties with London and other Western countries. "Common sense" should, and hopefully will, prevail, he added.

See also:

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