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Killary's email scandal is much bigger than her warmongering self

James Corbett
corbettreport.com
Wed, 14 Sep 2016 15:43 UTC
clinton powell email servers
In yet another sign that the establishment media has completely lost any semblance of a grounding in reality, the Washington Post just opined that "The Hillary Clinton email story is out of control," whining about how much attention the story of Clinton's homebrew email system is receiving in this campaign. This despite the fact that the facts on the ground here are incontrovertible:
  • Hillary Clinton used a private (and unsecured) email server for official State Department communications during her time as Secretary of State.
  • She asked aides to "wipe her servers" after the State Department finally got around to asking her for emails related to her public record; they responded by smashing her 13 blackberries with hammers.
  • She withheld 17,500 work related emails from FBI agents.
  • She lied about receiving classified material over the server.
  • The best the FBI could do in deciding not to prosecute her (after the mysterious tarmac meeting between Loretta and Bill) was to say she was too stupid to know that "c" meant classified and that her actions were extremely careless.
  • If she had been anyone else, Hillary Clinton would have been in jail by now.
clinton bias press
© The Washington Post
But never mind all of that; the Washington Post has decided that the public is too concerned about the issue so I guess it's time to move on, right?

Wrong. Thankfully this is 2016 not 1966, and the dinosaur media no longer dictates the news cycle like they used to. CNN and the NYT can call it a "stumble" all they want, but we've seen the video; we know that Clinton's feet didn't move at all and she was literally dragged into that van. Similarly, we don't have to take the talking heads word for it; we know that Clinton broke the law with the emails, tried to lie her way out of it, and has only gotten away with it because of her political connections (and the body count, of course; let's not forget the body count).

But as it turns out, there's an even bigger story here than Clinton's illegal activities or the establishment media's willingness to cover it up.

Comment: When all else fails, Clinton tries to pin her email scandal on the black guy

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Magnify

New York Attorney-General begins investigation into Donald J. Trump Foundation


RT
Wed, 14 Sep 2016 07:19 UTC
Trump
The New York Attorney-General has opened an investigation into the Donald J. Trump Foundation, citing "impropriety" concerns.

"My interest in this issue really is in my capacity as regulator of nonprofits in New York state," New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said Tuesday, speaking to CNN's 'The Lead.' "And we have been concerned that the Trump Foundation may have engaged in some impropriety from that point of view... and we've inquired into it, and we've had correspondence with them. I didn't make a big deal out of it or hold a press conference. We have been looking into the Trump Foundation to make sure it's complying with the laws governing charities in New York."

Following news of the investigation, Jason Miller, a senior communications adviser for the Trump campaign, called Schneiderman "a partisan hack who has turned a blind eye to the Clinton Foundation for years and has endorsed Hillary Clinton for president."

This is nothing more than another left-wing hit job designed to distract from Crooked Hillary Clinton's disastrous week," Miller said.

Comment: While Trump's business dealings have a long track record of being highly dubious, it is terribly obvious that the Democratic political machine is going after him with everything they can.

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Briefcase

Détente can work: Kerry and Lavrov's Syrian talks show the value of diplomatic engagement

James Carden
The Nation
Wed, 14 Sep 2016 11:11 UTC
Kerry Lavrov syria
© Kevin Lamarque/ReutersUS Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Geneva, Switzerland, on September 9, 2016.
Serious observers understand that working with Russia to ease Syria's civil war is the only way to stop the crisis.

In Geneva on Friday, Secretary of State John Kerry and his Russian counterpart, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, announced a plan to impose a cease-fire in Syria beginning Monday evening, September 12.

Provided the cessation of hostilities holds for seven days—which is no sure thing—the United States and Russia will take, in the words of Lavrov, "coordinated steps" to target both ISIS and the extremist al-Nusra Front, recently rebranded as Jabhat Fatah al-Sham. The agreement, which the Syrian government supports, also calls for the grounding of the Syrian air force over non-ISIS held territory and for the creation of a humanitarian corridor to supply the besieged city of Aleppo.

While Lavrov correctly noted on Friday that "no one can give a 100 percent guarantee" that the plan will achieve its objective, the American war party lost little time in trying to undermine the diplomatic breakthrough. As the AP reported on Friday, the "proposed level of U.S.-Russian interaction has upset several leading national security officials in Washington, including Defense Secretary Ash Carter."

Meanwhile, the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, Texas Congressman Michael McCaul, appeared on MSNBC Monday morning, telling Joe Scarborough, "I don't really trust the Russians." One prominent neoconservative pundit sneered, "If Donald Trump wins the presidential election in November, he might want to make Secretary of State John Kerry his special envoy for U.S.-Russian cooperation in the war on terror." Whether or not hardliners like McCaul trust the Russians, securing a cease-fire would go a long way toward addressing the rapidly unraveling humanitarian crisis on the ground, while increased US-Russian cooperation might lead to the defeat of ISIS and al-Nusra in Syria.

Comment: Diplomatic discussions are better than armed aggression to be sure, but it was Russia's skill in managing the Syrian situation that more or less forced the U.S. to the table. By outmanoeuvring the U.S.' attempt overthrow Assad with its proxy army of Saudi-funded head-chopping jihadists, the Empire had no choice but to engage with Russia. To do otherwise would have blatantly exposed the hypocrisy of its actions in Syria for the world to see.

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Info

Oliver Stone: DNC hack was 'probably an inside job,' not Russia


The Daily Beast
Wed, 14 Sep 2016 15:14 UTC
Oliver Stone
© Mark Blinch / Reuters
During an interview with CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Tuesday, director Oliver Stone accused the Democratic National Committee of hacking itself. Asked by the host what he makes of the reports that Russian hackers breached the DNC's email server and fed information to WikiLeaks in an attempt to influence the U.S. presidential election, Stone called that idea a "great fiction."

The director, currently promoting his biopic of Edward Snowden, said the intelligence experts he has spoken with indicated that the DNC hack was "probably an inside job." He went on to specify that he believed the hack was perpetrated by Democrats within the committee.

The revelations from the hack led directly to the resignation of DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and other high-level officials.
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Snakes in Suits

'Parliamentary privilege': Kiwi MP says parliament screens his emails, urges inquiry


RT
Wed, 14 Sep 2016 15:03 UTC
New Zealand flag flies on Parliament building
© Marty Melville / AFP
An MP in New Zealand is calling for an urgent investigation into why an email he was trying to send to a journalist was blocked. Labour's Chris Hipkins was told he could not send the message because it contained "trigger words."

Calling the episode "a clear breach of parliamentary privilege," Hipkins, said it was "outrageous" that his emails were being screened.

"They have no right to be screening the emails being sent by Members of Parliament. It shouldn't matter where I got the information from, they've got no right to monitor my emails in the first place," Hipkins said, as cited by the New Zealand-based website Stuff.
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Snakes in Suits

'Banana republic': FBI calls Clinton email probe 'different' as key witness ditches House hearing


RT
Wed, 14 Sep 2016 14:48 UTC
US Congress
© Jason Reed / Reuters
As lawmakers continued to probe Hillary Clinton's private email use, the aide who set up the service declined to appear before the House committee. FBI officials had to be given a summons to produce documents on the investigation.

On Tuesday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee summoned contractors and former State Department officials who set up and maintained Clinton's email servers and mobile devices. However, the key Clinton aide, Bryan Pagliano, did not show up for the hearing, pleading Fifth Amendment protections against self-incrimination.

The afternoon before, the committee dressed down FBI's Acting Assistant Director for Congressional Affairs Jason Herring, who was at pains to explain his absence from a major meeting last week and the bureau's reluctance to hand over unredacted investigation documents.
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Pirates

So it begins: Brazil announces privatization plan that will sell off its resources and infrastructure to highest bidder


RT
Wed, 14 Sep 2016 13:42 UTC
Brazil
The new government in Brazil has announced a multibillion dollar privatization plan in an attempt to pull the country's economy out of the worst recession in eight decades. It plans to auction off operating licenses for oil and gas, electricity and infrastructure projects. Four airports in the cities of Porto Alegre, Salvador, Florianopolis and Fortaleza are expected to be sold by March, along with two port terminals.

The government aims to raise $24 billion from the concessions program, and will also offer contracts to private firms for a wide range of projects from building new roads to running mines. The program includes the concession of an already built railway as well as the long-delayed auction of rights to oil fields and hydroelectric dams in the first and second half of 2017.

Comment: The auctioning off of Brazil's resources is a step towards a very bleak future. While the funds might appear to provide a very short-term solution, such policies end in disaster. This has been part and parcel of neo-imperialism in the modern age. The economic downturn from the Western-based oil war will be nothing compared to what is coming. The people of Brazil are already outraged over the coup and protesting across the nation demanding, "Temer out!" Once the full force of these pro-Western economic policies get implemented, Temer may be heading for the hills.

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Info

Kremlin on Obama's Russia remarks: 'This electioneering can't help already fragile relations'


RT
Wed, 14 Sep 2016 13:58 UTC
Barack Obama
© Carlos Barria / Reuters
The "Russia card" too often gets the spotlight in the US presidential election campaign, President Putin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, adding that Obama's recent comments on Russia do not contribute to fragile trust-building efforts.

"Unfortunately, we see continued displays of often hard-core Russophobia," Peskov said Wednesday during his daily conference call with reporters. "We can only express regret in this regard."

"This rhetoric, which is being formulated in electoral campaign style... is unlikely to help fledgling fragile attempts to build at least some sort of mutual trust."
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Wall Street

Heart of the bear: Russia's Central Bank & the future of the Russian economy

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Wed, 14 Sep 2016 13:21 UTC
Russian Central Bank
© BloombergRussian Central Bank
Comments by Central Bank Chair Elvira Nabiullina confirm Russia will maintain tight monetary policy as it seeks to rein in inflation and to move from an economic model based on consumption towards one focused on investment, manufacturing and export.

With annualised inflation in Russia falling to 6.9% at the end of August, and with Russia reporting zero inflation in the first weeks of September, the strong indications are that the Russian Central Bank is preparing to cut interest rates by 0.5% to 10% at its next meeting on Friday 16th September 2016.

The Central Bank has indicated that it intends for the time being to keep its key rate 3% above the annualised rate of inflation. Since the annualised rate of inflation is now roughly 7%, following the logic of the Central Bank's own policy that should mean a cut in interest rates on Friday to 10%

Central Bank Chair Nabiullina calls interest rates of 10% against an annualised inflation rate of inflation of 6.9% and an underlying rate of inflation which may be as low as 5.5% a "moderately tight monetary policy".
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Arrow Down

Putin did it! Washington Post reports Hillary Clinton was 'poisoned by Vladimir Putin'

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Wed, 14 Sep 2016 13:11 UTC
hillary clinton
© Melina Mara/The Washington Post via Getty Images

This has gone well beyond the stupid claim that Russian hackers are breaking into Hillary's "private" emails.

It was only a matter of time before the Hillary Clinton campaign called on its surrogates and cronies to begin peddling the "Vladimir Putin is to blame" narrative.

Two days ago The Duran's Peter Lavelle asked, "When will Hillary Clinton blame Vladimir Putin for fainting at the 9/11 ceremony?"

In the post, Mr. Lavelle says it's high time Hillary Clinton come clean with her obvious, and very public, health episodes. Knowing the Clinton's disdain for the truth, we are left with this...
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