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Best of the Web: MSNBC panelist says Bernie should embrace capitalism because his father fled Nazis. Wait, what?


RT
Sat, 09 Mar 2019 20:23 UTC
bernie trump
© AFP / Chip SomodevillaSenator Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
Corporate media criticism of democratic socialist Bernie Sanders is to be expected, but RT's Lee Camp was taken aback by MSNBC's suggestion that the senator should embrace capitalism because... his father fled the Nazis.

The news network assembled one of its panels to dissect a speech that the popular presidential candidate gave about his people-over-profits platform - and the resulting commentary was far too predictable. Political analyst Rick Tyler argued that the big "lesson" Sanders should have learned, considering his Polish father was a refugee who escaped Nazi occupation, is that "a prosperous capitalist society works for people."

To which Camp replied: "Really? I would think the takeaway would have been, 'Nazis f***ing suck!'"

He also noted that Sanders was being scolded essentially for choosing healthcare-for-all over "unfettered capitalism" - a policy stance that clearly doesn't sit well with MSNBC's corporate ownership.


Comment: From 'Bernie is Hitler' to 'Bernie should know better because Hitler' in just over one week.

What is up with some people's infatuation with Hitler??

And why is he and his legacy the benchmark for political debates about social and economic ideas in a different country almost a century later??

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Bad Guys

Best of the Web: Syria accuses US of stealing over 40 tons of its gold

Eric Zuesse
Strategic Culture Foundation
Fri, 08 Mar 2019 23:55 UTC
gold bars
The Syrian National News Agency headlined on February 26th, "Gold deal between United States and Daesh" (Daesh is ISIS) and reported that,

Information from local sources said that US army helicopters have already transported the gold bullions under cover of darkness on Sunday [February 24th], before transporting them to the United States.

The sources said that tens of tons that Daesh had been keeping in their last hotbed in al-Baghouz area in Deir Ezzor countryside have been handed to the Americans, adding up to other tons of gold that Americans have found in other hideouts for Daesh, making the total amount of gold taken by the Americans to the US around 50 tons, leaving only scraps for the SDF [Kurdish] militias that serve them [the US operation].

Recently, sources said that the area where Daesh leaders and members have barricaded themselves in, contains around 40 tons of gold and tens of millions of dollars.

Comment: See also: And check out SOTT radio's:

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Yoda

Best of the Web: Venezuelan FM Arreaza holds UN marathon for peace while usurper Guaido urges military intervention and war

Carla Stea
Global Research
Fri, 01 Mar 2019 19:44 UTC
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza
© United Nations/ScreenshotVenezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza
In a herculean effort to prevent war, and protect the integrity of his country, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza held a breathtaking schedule of events at the United Nations, including a meeting with the Secretary-General, consultations with the envoys of 60 member states supporting Venezuela's sovereignty, a press conference the evening of February 22, speaking at a Security Council meeting February 26, and presenting an address at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on February 27.

Arreaza's encyclopedic knowledge of history is one of his powerful assets, as he patiently clarified to reporters, at last Friday's press conference, the reality of US instigated economic warfare underlying Venezuela's current crisis. At one bizarre moment, a European reporter, asked, Mussolini-style, about a report that Venezuelan armed forces shot an unarmed indigenous person, and compared the incident to "what happened in China." Arreaza asked whether the reporter had seen the incident, and, evading Arreaza's question the reporter continued: "Is your government giving specific orders to shoot unarmed people, and what will happen to those who refuse to comply with these orders?" The stupefying question, less a query, and more unsubstantiated innuendo, was asked with such arrogance and grandiosity that Arriaza, fully aware of the insinuation intended, replied:
"Your question is full of venom and very poisonous. The army of Bolivar has never had orders to fire on the civilian population, and you should be the first to assess the reliability of false 'reports,' and false flag operations. It is your responsibility as a reporter to be smart, astute, and delve into the truth, and recognize propaganda."
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Yoda

Best of the Web: Chelsea Manning sent back to jail for refusing to testify in secret proceedings against Wikileaks


RT
Fri, 08 Mar 2019 17:54 UTC
Manning grand jury Wikileaks
© Associated Press/Matthew BarakatChelsea Manning was ordered to jail Friday, March 8, 2019, for refusing to testify to a Virginia grand jury investigating Wikileaks.
US army whistleblower Chelsea Manning has been taken into custody for contempt of court after refusing to testify in front of a grand jury in what's believed to be the case against WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange.

Manning received a subpoena from the US District Court in January.

She appeared before a grand jury on Wednesday and invoked her First, Fourth and Sixth Amendment rights. She said the questions pertained to her 2010 disclosures of the American military's misconduct, and she had answered those extensively during her 2013 court-martial.

Comment: More from Fox News:
Manning was ordered to jail by U.S. District Judge Claude Hilton after a brief hearing in which Manning confirmed she had no intention of testifying. She told the judge she "will accept whatever you bring upon me."

"These secret proceedings tend to favor the government," Manning told reporters before her hearing, according to The Washington Post. "I'm always willing to explain things publicly."

Manning's lawyers have asked she be confined to her home instead due to the medical complications she faces.

Chelsea Manning was ordered to jail Friday, March 8, 2019, for refusing to testify to a Virginia grand jury investigating Wikileaks. (AP Photo/Matthew Barakat)

The judge, however, concluded U.S. Marshals could appropriately handle her medical care.

Prosecutor Tracy McCormick said Manning can easily end the incarceration on the civil charge by testifying.
Chelsea Manning embodies the integrity sorely needed in the world today. She is willing to return to incarceration despite having already endured seven years of horror, in the course of upholding her principles and defending the right of US citizens to know what their government is doing in their name.

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Bulb

Best of the Web: Venezuela blames sabotage, US 'electricity war' after major power outages


RT
Fri, 08 Mar 2019 17:45 UTC
caracas blackout
© Reuters / Carlos JassoA view of Caracas during blackout.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accused the US of waging an "electricity war" against the country, as Caracas and other cities were plunged into darkness Thursday night. The government says the incident is likely sabotage.

Thousands of commuters in Caracas had to walk home as a power outage shut down the capital's subway, resulting in massive traffic jams.The lights also went out in the largest airport of Caracas.


People on social media described disruptions in most of the nation's regions and it is unclear how long the blackout will last. The government had to cancel school lessons and suspend the working day on Friday due to the emergency, Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez wrote on Twitter.

Comment: Now we get to see in action the US cyberwarfare 'kill-switch' programs Snowden warned about in 2013...

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Sherlock

Best of the Web: Trump witch hunt: Judicial Watch uncovers DOJ docs revealing Bruce Ohr was contact for Clinton operative Christopher Steele


Judicial Watch
Thu, 07 Mar 2019 17:36 UTC
bruce ohr and chris steele
Christopher Steele, Bruce Ohr, Glenn Simpson
Judicial Watch announced today it received 339 pages of heavily redacted records from the U.S. Department of Justice which reveal that former Associate Deputy Attorney General Bruce Ohr remained in regular contact with former British spy and Fusion GPS contractor Christopher Steele after Steele was terminated by the FBI in November 2016 for revealing to the media his position as an FBI confidential informant.

The records show that Ohr served as a go-between for Steele by passing along information to "his colleagues" on matters relating to Steele's activities. Ohr also set up meetings with Steele, regularly talked to him on the telephone and provided him assistance in dealing with situations Steele was confronting with the media.

Judicial Watch obtained the records through a March 2018 Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed after the Justice Department failed to respond a December 2017 request Judicial Watch v. U.S. Department of Justice (No. 1:18-cv-00490)). The lawsuit seeks:
  • All records of contact or communication, including but not limited to emails, text messages, and instant chats between Bruce Ohr and any of the following individuals/entities: former British intelligence officer Christopher Steele; owner of Fusion GPS Glenn Simpson; and any other employees or representatives of Fusion GPS.
  • All travel requests, authorizations and expense reports for Bruce Ohr.
  • All calendar entries for Bruce Ohr.
The timeframe for the requested records is January 1, 2015, to December 7, 2017.
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Star of David

Best of the Web: 3 ways of debunking the myth that anti-Zionism is anti-semitism

Ari Feldman
Forward
Fri, 08 Mar 2019 15:03 UTC
Anti israel protest orchestra
© Gill Getz
It's a bewildering and alarming time to be a Jew, both because anti-Semitism is rising and because so many politicians are responding to it not by protecting Jews but by victimizing Palestinians.

On February 16, members of France's Yellow Vest protest movement hurled anti-Semitic insults at the distinguished French Jewish philosopher Alain Finkielkraut. On February 19, swastikas were found on 80 gravestones in Alsace. Two days later, French President Emmanuel Macron, after announcing that Europe was "facing a resurgence of anti-Semitism unseen since World War II," unveiled new measures to fight it.

Among them was a new official definition of anti-Semitism. That definition, produced by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, includes among its "contemporary examples" of anti-Semitism "denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination." In other words, anti-Zionism is Jew hatred.

In so doing, Macron joined Germany, Britain, The United States and roughly thirty other governments. And like them, he made a tragic mistake.
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Handcuffs

Best of the Web: Paul Manafort sentenced to 47 months in prison for tax evasion on UKRAINIAN payments - Judge confirms 'zero evidence of Trump-Russia collusion'

Katelyn Polantz
CNN
Fri, 08 Mar 2019 11:11 UTC
manafort prison
Lobbyist and former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort learned on Thursday that he will serve almost four years in prison -- far short of what had been expected and recommended -- for financial fraud convictions obtained by special counsel Robert Mueller as he investigated Manafort's alleged collusion with the Russian government in 2016.


Comment: Even within its own articles, CNN can't keep its lies straight. Further down this article you'll learn that the judge explicitly said, at the outset, that:

"[Manafort] is not before the court for anything having to do with colluding with the Russian government."


The crimes, though serious among white-collar offenses, did not relate directly to Manafort's work as Trump's 2016 campaign chairman. Manafort, 69, had been facing up to 25 years in prison, a sentence that could have essentially kept him in jail for the rest of his life.


Comment: It was never gonna happen. The US govt, as it is, literally cannot function without middlemen like Manaforts accepting cash for access to US leaders and potential leaders. What is interesting however, is that this particular middleman got any prison time at all...


Comment: 'The mastermind behind it all! We got him! America, you are safe and free and pure again!'

Manafort's trial is the textbook definition of scapegoat.

The reason Manafort was swimming in dirty Ukie money is because he was, for over a decade, an active go-between for US meddling in Russia's neighbor, culminating in the bloody coup of 2014. That's also likely why he's getting jail-time at all (though it could yet be annulled via presidential pardon): Manafort was meddling on behalf of the Clinton State Department...

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Star of David

Best of the Web: House Democrats pull bill equating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism after 'full-scale brawl' erupts over Ilhan Omar

Allison Deger
Mondoweiss
Fri, 08 Mar 2019 10:37 UTC
Ilhan Omar
© WikimediaIlhan Omar
Divides among House Democrats exploded today beginning in a closed door session this morning where lawmakers argued with party leadership over a resolution to denounce anti-Semitism, an apparent move to condemn Rep. Ilhan Omar.

According to the Washington Post the meeting descended into a "full-scale brawl" when representatives, primarily from the Congressional Black Caucus called to cancel the vote, and in an unexpected turn, was delayed indefinitely by early evening. One source in the room said Rep. Jan Schakowsky demanded (D-IL), "Everyone stop tweeting!" as decorum fell.

The Post spoke with several lawmakers who opposed sanctioning one of their own members, while at the same time ignoring anti-Semitic comments from GOP officials. Some raised that Democrats never produced legislation to denounce the White House - comments in likely reference to President Donald Trump's statement about "good people on both sides" in the wake of the Charlottesville march in 2017 where a white nationalist killed a protester:

Comment: Wow, just wow. In the space of just 10 days, both French and US authorities have freaked out over 'anti-anti-semitism' and seriously considered passing legislation banning criticism of Israel.

Given the concurrent 'anti-anti-semitism' crisis in the UK, it is no doubt being considered there too.

What a remarkable succession of events.

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Star of David

Best of the Web: Pakistan intelligence report: India plotted dangerous attack with Israeli help

Meher Bokhari
Dawn
Tue, 05 Mar 2019 21:37 UTC
modi netanyahu
India, with the backing of Israel, and at the peak of its standoff with Pakistan had last week, planned a "dangerous attack" to be executed from its Rajasthan airbase, a highly placed government source revealed on Monday.

Timely intelligence and backdoor messaging made it clear to India that a befitting response would be given if it were to go ahead with the planned attack, one which would possibly take the countries to a "point of no return".

And as the nuclear-armed neighbours wound up a tough week in what was possibly the most near-war situation the two have been in since decades, no one is quite sure of what to expect next.

However, the top civilian source observed that the next possible escalation by India would not be in terms of ground, air or missiles - but more likely in the form of a hybrid conflict in the nature of militant attacks, economic measures etc.


Comment: Israel certainly knows all about that.


Comment: India's debasement from pro-Palestinian supporters to Israeli boot-lickers is repugnant.

But, who else are you gonna call when you want something done?

India is determined to force Pakistan to finally deal with its terrorist problem, and both India and Israel benefit from regional tension thwarting China's leading role in Eurasian integration.

'Someone' here gave the Pakistanis a heads-up. Without it, India and Israel might have escalated this flare-up into something more serious than we've seen to date.

On the other hand, the 'plan' may have been deliberately leaked as psy-op, a bluff to put the Pakistan government on notice regarding what India could do, and what powerful backing its aggressive moves potentially have.

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