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Trump trashes NY Times reporting, denies WH counsel Don McGahn 'turned on him'


Liberty Headlines
Sun, 19 Aug 2018 17:59 UTC
Video Trump
© Twitter
US President Donald Trump has stepped up his attacks on special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election, likening it to “McCarthyism”
The NY Times report cited a dozen unnamed current and former White House officials and "others briefed on the matter..."

Donald Trump on Sunday angrily denounced the federal probe of Russia's 2016 election meddling as "McCarthyism at its WORST!," as he slammed a report that the White House counsel had given investigators detailed testimony about the president's actions at key moments now under scrutiny.

In a series of early morning tweets, Trump said White House counsel Don McGahn and other aides had been encouraged to be fully transparent in their testimony to Special Counsel Robert Mueller as part of an effort to bring the Russia matter to a quick close.

But he fumed at the suggestion in a front-page New York Times report that McGahn had cooperated fully to protect himself from legal jeopardy, giving Mueller's team more than the president was aware of in 30 hours of testimony over the past nine months.

Comment: NYT: White House counsel cooperates with 'Russiagate' probe, Trump says he allowed it

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Red Flag

Erdogan: US attack on Turkish economy no different from strike against flag


RT
Mon, 20 Aug 2018 18:09 UTC
Turkish national flag
© Yannis Behrakis / Reuters
Turkish national flag
An attack on the Turkish economy is no different from a strike against the flag, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, referring to US economic pressure on his country.

"The attack on our economy has absolutely no difference from attacks on our call to prayer and our flag," he said referring to the recent Turkish currency crisis, triggered by US economic pressure.

Erdogan spoke in a video message ahead of the Muslim Eid al-Adha festival.

"The goal is the same. The goal is to bring Turkey and the Turkish people to their knees, to take it prisoner."
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Vader

Brennan doubles down on charge that Trump engaged in 'treasonous behavior', yet says he didn't actually commit treason


Liberty Headlines
Mon, 20 Aug 2018 17:14 UTC
Brennan

Former CIA Director John Brennan
Former CIA chief John Brennan doubled down Sunday on his charge that Donald Trump has engaged in "treasonous" behavior and called on Congress to block the US president's attempts to strip other intelligence officials of their security clearances.

Brennan has received an outpouring of support from former top-ranking intelligence officers - but not much from Republican lawmakers - since Trump revoked his top secret security clearance last week in retaliation for what the president called "unfounded and outrageous allegations."

Trump served notice that other top former and current officials - all Democrats - also were at risk of losing their clearances, and the White House has reportedly drawn up more revocation orders, raising the chilling specter of an "enemies list."

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Cult

Lavrov: 'Secret directive' bans UN agencies from helping rebuild Syria until 'political transition'


RT
Mon, 20 Aug 2018 19:20 UTC
Yarmouk Refugee Camp
© Mikhail Voskresenskiy / Sputnik
Yarmouk Refugee Camp liberated from terrorists in Syria
Washington's "absolutely deconstructive" stance is hampering the rebuilding of Syria and constricts the UN in aiding the country until a so called 'political transition' takes place, Sergey Lavrov, Russia's Foreign Minister, said.

Washington's "absolutely deconstructive" stance is hampering the rebuilding of Syria and constricts the UN in aiding the country until a so called 'political transition' takes place, Sergey Lavrov, Russia's Foreign Minister, said.

"We addressed UNESCO on how they plan to implement the longtime talks, the longtime understanding on attracting the potential of this organization to rebuilding Palmyra," an ancient city, regarded by the agency as a World Heritage Site, Lavrov said. "From the explanations of why UNESCO has still been unable to get involved in this process actively, we took that there was some kind of a directive from the United Nations headquarters in New York."

Comment: See also: Syria's Aleppo slowly rebuilding & getting its industry back on track

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Document

DC Judge rules FBI must show documentation used to verify Steele Dossier

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Sat, 18 Aug 2018 16:13 UTC
Judge Amit Mehta

Judge Amit Mehta
The FBI has been dealt a major blow after a Washington DC judge ruled that the agency must respond to a FOIA request for documents concerning the bureau's efforts to verify the controversial Steele Dossier, before it was used as the foundation of a FISA surveillance warrant application and subsequent renewals.

US District Court Judge Amit Mehta - who in January sided with the FBI's decision to ignore the FOIA request, said that President Trump's release of two House Intelligence Committee documents (the "Nunes" and "Schiff" memos) changed everything.

Considering that the FBI offered Steele $50,000 to verify the Dossier's claims yet never paid him, BuzzFeed has unsuccessfully tried to do the same to defend themselves in a dossier-related lawsuit, and a $50 million Soros-funded investigation to continue the hunt have turned up nothing that we know of - whatever documents the FBI may be forced to cough up regarding their attempts to verify the Dossier could prove highly embarrassing for the agency.
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X

Twitter is meddling in US elections, not Russia - shadow-banning GOP candidates

Jim Hoft
Gateway Pundit
Sun, 19 Aug 2018 16:46 UTC
gop candidates

Senate candidate John James (on left) and Congressional candidate Ron Bassilian (on right)
A recent study by the leftist website VICE News found that Twitter was censoring top pro-Trump lawmakers.

Twitter is targeting pro-Trump Republican lawmakers Matt Gaetz, Devin Nunes, Mark Meadows, Jim Jordan and John Ratcliffe with the same shadowbanning technique.

Twitter is also censoring prominent pro-Trump accounts including: Mike Cernovich, Jack Posobiec, Paul Joseph Watson, TGP's Jim Hoft, TGP's Cassandra Fairbanks, TGP's Lucian Wintrich, TGP's Cristina Laila and Laura Loomer among others.

In July Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-CA) announced he was filing a FEC complaint against Twitter after he discovered his account was being throttled by the social media company.

And now this... Twitter is also censoring the accounts for Republican candidates.

Comment: No political bias? Yeah, right: NewsReal: Social Media Censorship and the Clash of Civilizations - Manufactured, Packaged, Sold

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Broom

Belarus president fires prime minister, other government members after corruption scandal


The Guardian
Sat, 18 Aug 2018 18:55 UTC
New Belarusian prime minister Sergei Rumas
© Photograph: Maxim Guchek/AP
New Belarusian prime minister Sergei Rumas
Belarus's strongman leader Alexander Lukashenko has sacked his prime minister and other key members of government following a corruption scandal that saw top officials arrested.

Andrei Kobyakov will be replaced as prime minister by former development bank head Sergei Rumas. Several vice-premiers as well as the ministers for economy and industry have also lost their posts.

"I won't name names, but in our government we had the following situation - one programme would be announced and then another programme would be carried out," Lukashenko said in comments released by his press office.
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Newspaper

Foreign militants are taking over Libya's Fezzan region

Alessandra Bocchi
The New Arab
Sun, 19 Aug 2018 19:12 UTC
Libya's Fezzan desert
© Getty
Libya's Fezzan region is largely desert
Libya's southern area of Fezzan is suffering from an influx of foreign fighters that are gradually taking over the country's tribes.
Following the overthrow of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, Libya's porous southern border has led to an influx of mercenaries and militants who are posing an increasing threat to the already highly fractured country.

Three main tribes have controlled Libya's southern Fezzan area: Tuareg, Tebu, and Awlad-Sliman. These tribes have always had a unique ethnic and cultural identity in Libya, even at the time of the country's unity under Gaddafi's more nationalist rule.

Following the 2011 revolution and Gaddafi's removal from power, the tribes have been in violent conflict over the control of oil rich areas and key cities in Libya's south.

Comment: See also:

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Quenelle

Jewish writer Gideon Levy in Haaretz: Jeremy Corbyn isn't anti-Semitic, should be UK's PM

Gideon Levy
Haaretz
Thu, 09 Aug 2018 15:06 UTC
Jeremy Corbyn
© REUTERS / Neil Hall
Jeremy Corbyn is a paragon of a leftist, one who has fought his whole life for the values he believes in. Israelis regard him as a sort of alien - the left here has never been led by an Israeli Corbyn, nor by anyone who can hold a candle to him.

Corbyn is a brave man. He voted in parliament 553 times against his party's position, and yet he took its leadership by storm. He voted against the war in Iraq, against nuclear weapons and against British rule in Northern Ireland. He was active in Amnesty against Augusto Pinochet, and was arrested in anti-apartheid demonstrations in South Africa.

With such a conscience and courage he wouldn't have gotten anywhere in Israel, apart from Breaking the Silence. In Britain he has a good chance of being elected the next prime minister. Nothing lights up the imagination and inspires hope more than that. Anyone who wants to see the world take action against the Israeli occupation should dream of Corbyn.

Corbyn has been declared the next enemy of the Jews. Viktor Orban is a righteous among the nations; the American alt-right is the rock of Israel and its savior; Rodrigo Duterte, the Philippines' leader who called to kill millions "like Hitler," is a welcome guest in Israel - and Corbyn is the enemy of the people.

Comment: See also:

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Info

Pakistan's new PM Imran Khan gives first televised speech - plans to cut servant staff from 542 to 2


RFE/RL
Mon, 20 Aug 2018 13:59 UTC
imran khan
© Reuters/ Athit Perawongmetha
Pakistan's 21-member cabinet has been sworn in, a day after newly elected Prime Minister Imran Khan vowed in a televised speech that his government would cut spending, end corruption, and repatriate public funds.

Pakistani President Mamnoon Hussain administered the oath of office to 16 federal ministers in Islamabad on August 20. Khan has also appointed five advisers to his cabinet.

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said after taking his oath of office that he was aware of foreign policy challenges ahead. He promised to tackle all key issues.

Khan took the oath of office on August 18 after his party won the most parliamentary seats in the July 25 elections but fell short of a majority, forcing it to form a coalition.

The former cricket star turned politician spoke for more than an hour in a live televised address on August 19, saying he wants to see "Pakistan a great country" with social services for the poor.

He also lamented the growing divide between rich and poor in the Muslim-majority nation of some 200 million people.

Comment: Khan seems to be Pakistan's Trump: an outsider politician seeking to make Pakistan great (again?). He has charisma, and is already using persuasion techniques to pace and lead the public in the direction he wants to take his country. Case in point: he has promised to cut his household servant staff from 542 to just 2, to set an example of how Pakistan's ruling elite should change their "lavish lifestyle". He is framing his reforms in the lingo of the people, Islamic values:
During his inaugural speech in Pakistan's capital, Islamabad, Khan said in order for the country to prosper, an Islamic welfare state must be introduced and debt must be cut via taxation of the rich. He also pledged to slash poverty and illiteracy rates.

"I want to speak about how the rich and powerful live in this country. The prime minister has 524 servants and 80 cars. The prime minister, which is me, also has 33 bulletproof cars. The prime ministers all have helicopters and airplanes to fly them. We have massive governor houses and every conceivable luxury," Khan said, Dawn reports. How could it be, the cricket star-turned PM asked, that "on the one hand we don't have money to spend on our people, and on the other we have people living like our colonial masters used to live? I want to tell my people, I will live a simple life, I will save your money," he said. As the literacy rate in Pakistan hovers above 40 percent, Khan also pledged to increase education levels across the country.
...
In a country where less than one percent pays income tax, Khan went on to outline plans to reduce debt via taxation rather than loan. "It is your responsibility to pay taxes," said Khan. "Think of this as a jihad [holy war], that you need to pay tax for the betterment of your country."
See also: Is Imran Khan's Pakistan ready to escape the clutches of the US?

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