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$4,200 a seat to see Michelle Obama talk - do you actually expect her to say anything interesting?

michelle obama
© Getty/Per Ole Hagen
"Feelgood banalities": Obama promotes her book in Oslo earlier this year.
Michelle Obama might have been a 'classy' First Lady, but she has rarely done or said anything remarkable or even entertaining. That the media has deified her into the ultimate role model for women is depressing.

The cult of Michelle continues to grow stronger since her departure from the White House. She has just been voted the most admired woman in a worldwide opinion poll, a ranking she already holds in similar US-only surveys.

Her second autobiography, Becoming, released last November, sold over 10 million in the first six months, and stands to become the biggest-selling memoir in history, at least until her husband's is published, likely next year.

Tickets for the additional book tour dates she has scheduled - in which she recites incidents from her book after prompts from a moderator - are on sale for $2,500 apiece for a meet-and-greet during the Newark stop and up to $4,200 for a suite. The cheapest seats are offered at over $100.

Comment: Paying to see Michelle would be throwing good money after bad. She had eight years to accomplish something substantive and failed miserably. Only the brain-washed woke could see her as anything but a con artist, a perfect match for her con artist spouse.


No Entry

New York governor Cuomo announces hysterical emergency ban on most e-cigarette flavors

Gov. Cuomo
© Go Nakamura/New York Daily News
Amid growing reports of vaping-related illnesses and even deaths, Gov. Cuomo announced an emergency ban on all e-cigarette flavors other than tobacco and menthol.

"Vaping is dangerous, period," Cuomo said Sunday.

"This is a burgeoning health crisis," he added, vowing to "take action now."

Cuomo called out flavors like bubble gum and cotton candy that are aimed at young smokers.

"These are obviously targeted to young people and are highly effective," Cuomo said, pointing to federal stats from 2018 showing vaping among high schoolers had increased 160% over the past four years.

Comment: See also:


Info

Khamenei rejects talks with US, says strategy of 'maximum pressure' will fail

Khamenei
© AFP / Anadolu / Religious Leader's Press Office
Iran's religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in Tehran on February 2019.
Iran will never hold one-on-one talks with the United States but could engage in multilateral discussions if it returns to the 2015 deal on Iran's nuclear program, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday, according to state television.

U.S. President Donald Trump has said he could meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, possibly at the U.N. General Assembly in New York later this month.

"Iranian officials, at any level, will never talk to American officials ... this is part of their policy to put pressure on Iran ... their policy of maximum pressure will fail," state television quoted Khamenei as saying.

Khamenei said Iran's clerical rulers were in agreement on this: "All officials in Iran unanimously believe it.

"If America changes its behavior and returns to (Iran's 2015) nuclear deal, then it can join multilateral talks between Iran and other parties to the deal," Khamenei said.

Comment: Even though Trump actually managed to hold talks with North Korea, the situations are similar. Progress on the situation with North Korea has stalled, because the U.S. refuses to take the first steps necessary to get the process gong (i.e. stop military drills with the South, end sanctions, and provide security guarantees). Likewise with Iran, the U.S. refuses to take the necessary first steps of removing sanctions and at least supporting the UE in upholding their end of the nuclear deal, if not reinstating it in its entirety. Remember, the U.S. is the unreasonable aggressor in both cases and it's up to them to prove their good faith.

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Quenelle

On election day in Israel, Netanyahu says right-wing voter turnout disastrously low

israeli voters
© REUTERS / CORINNA KERN
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday the turnout at right-wing strongholds was "a disaster" on the day of the parliamentary election.

"The rate of voting is high in the strongholds of the left and low in the strongholds of the right, it is a disaster", Netanyahu said.


​The prime minister tweeted pictures of the voting process in two polling stations, one semi-empty and the other crowded.

The prime minister called on his supporters "to go and vote, otherwise, we will get the left-wing government with the Arab parties!"

According to the i24NEWS news agency, Netanyahu hastily summoned members of the Likud centre-right party and Knesset for an emergency meeting at his residence in Jerusalem, in light of the turnout news.

Comment: The only good thing about the prospect of Netanyahu losing is that Netanyahu might lose. But it's not like the opposition is any better:


Chess

Indian Chief Minister says Pakistan 'should be ready to lose occupied Kashmir'

Chief Minister Vijay Rupani
© ANI
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani speaking at an event on Sunday in Vadodara.
Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Sunday warned Pakistan to stop supporting terrorism and added that it should be ready to lose Pakistan-Occupied-Kashmir (PoK).

"Article 370 has been revoked. Now, Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) too is ours. Pakistan should be ready to lose PoK. For fulfilling the dream of united India, we are ready to move forward for PoK... Pakistan should stop supporting terrorism... India will not tolerate this," he said while attending a Bharat Ekta Manch rally here.

In August, Parliament had revoked Article 370 which gave special provisions to Jammu and Kashmir and also bifurcated the state into two union territories- Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh.

Comment: Also see: Kashmir is "nuclear flashpoint" says Pakistan army after India's 'no first use' remark


Newspaper

Putin endorses Netanyahu for re-election, Shoigu and Lavrov react

netanyahu shoigu
On Friday afternoon in Sochi, President Vladimir Putin kept Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu waiting for three hours, and then publicly endorsed him for re-election. Putin's endorsement was unconditional: he could have warned against Netanyahu's election pledge, revealed last week, to annex the West Bank of Palestine, but he didn't. Putin could have warned against Israeli air force and missile strikes on targets in Syria, but he didn't. "We have absolutely identical positions," Putin declared, according to the official Kremlin record. Putin was speaking only for himself.

That was made plain to Netanyahu during the Sochi session by the Russian Defense Minister, Sergei Shoigu, and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. The Kremlin publication, however, cut them out of the photographic record and official communiqué, as if they weren't there at all.

The Israeli press reported the three-hour delay to Putin's arrival. In the interval, Putin acknowledged in his open remarks to Netanyahu, "you have just had a fairly detailed discussion with the top executives of the Defence Ministry and with Russia's Defence Minister. We will now discuss everything that concerns this area."

Comment: Sputnik reports on a joint statement from the leaders of Russia, Turkey and Iran on Israel's recent aggressive actions:
Russia, Turkey and Iran consider Israeli military attacks on Syria as destabilizing and leading to increased tensions in the region, according to a joint statement by the leaders of the three countries after the summit in Ankara on Monday.

"The presidents consider Israeli military attacks in Syria as destabilizing, violating the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country, as well as leading to increased tensions in the region," the Russian-language version of document, published on the Kremlin's website, reads.

Israel has carried out scores of air attacks in Syria in recent years, saying that the strikes were aimed at countering alleged Iranian presence in the Arab country.

Damascus condemns the attacks as a blatant violation of international law, while Iran insists that its presence in Syria has been limited to military advisers helping Damascus fight terrorist groups.
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Bizarro Earth

The Saker: President Macron makes an amazing admission about Western geopolitics

Emmanuel Macron
I don't know whether the supposedly Chinese curse really comes from China, but whether it does or not, we most certainly are cursed with living in some truly interesting times: Iran won the first phase of the "tanker battle" against the AngloZionists, Putin offered to sell Russian hypersonic missiles to Trump (Putin has been trolling western leaders a lot lately) while Alexander Lukashenko took the extreme measure of completely shutting down the border between the Ukraine and Belarus due to the huge influx of weapons and nationalist extremists from the Ukraine. As he put it himself "if weapons fall into the hands of ordinary people and especially nationalist-minded people, wait for terrorism". He is quite right, of course. Still, there is a sweet irony here, or call it karma if you prefer, but for the Ukronazis who promised their people a visa-free entrance into the EU (for tourism only, and if you have money to spend, but still...), and yet 5 years into that obscene experiment of creating a rabidly russophobic Ukraine and 100 days (or so) into Zelenskii's presidency, we have the Ukraine's closest and most supportive neighbor forced to totally shut down its border due to the truly phenomenal toxicity of the Ukrainian society! But, then again, the Ukraine is such a basket-case that we can count on "most interesting" things (in the sense of the Chinese curse, of course) happening there too.

Interestingly, one of the people the Ukrainians gave up in this exchange was Vladimir Tsemakh, a native of the Donbass who was kidnapped by the Ukie SBU in Novorussia (our noble "Europeans" did not object to such methods!) and declared the "star witness" against Russia in the MH-17 (pseudo-)investigation. Even more pathetic is that the Dutch apparently fully endorsed this load of crapola. Finally, and just for a good laugh, check out how the infamous' Bellingcat presented Tsemakh. And then, suddenly, everybody seem to "forget" that "star witness" and now the Ukies have sent him to Russia. Amazing how fast stuff gets lost in the collective western memory hole...

Chess

India PM on Trump joining him at "howdy, Modi" event in Texas

trump modi india texas

'Howdy, Modi': PM Narendra Modi will address people in Texas, where Donald Trump will join him
Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted today that he was "delighted" that US President Donald Trump would join him at the 'Howdy, Modi' event in Houston on September 22, and called it a "special gesture". White House officials have been quoted as telling the Press Trust of India that when PM Modi requested a joint address in France last month on the sidelines of the G7 summit, the US president "immediately accepted" it.

"A special gesture by @POTUS, signifying the special friendship between India and USA! Delighted that President @realDonaldTrump will join the community programme in Houston on the 22nd. Looking forward to joining the Indian origin community in welcoming him at the programme," tweeted PM Modi, hours after the White House confirmed that President Trump would drop in.

Comment: So is Modi making nice with Trump to get a break in the tariff war he is waging on many trading partners? Is Trump aiming to show Modi the strength of his base in Texas? Will the Pakistan-India dispute over Kashmir create problems in terms of demonstrations? Is Trump aiming to counterbalance India's friendliness with Russia? It should be a pretty interesting event, and bears close watching.


Whistle

Ship smuggling diesel fuel to UAE seized - Iran

iran tanker
© AP Photo / Tasnim News Agency / Morteza Akhoondi
In this Sunday, July 21, 2019 photo, an aerial view shows a speedboat of Iran's Revolutionary Guard moving around the British-flagged oil tanker Stena Impero which was seized in the Strait of Hormuz on Friday by the Guard, in the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas
Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) says it has seized a ship in the Persian Gulf, accusing it of smuggling diesel fuel to the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.).

An IRGC commander said on September 16 that the vessel was carrying 250,000 liters of fuel when it was detained near Iran's Greater Tunb island, according to official media.

The ship was sailing from Bandar Lengeh toward U.A.E. waters, Brigadier General Ali Ozmayi was quoted as saying.

The vessel's 11 crew members have been detained, Ozmayi added, without saying when it happened or giving their nationality.

Comment: See also:


Light Sabers

Alleged photo of Hezbollah's 'new anti-ship missile' surfaces as US destroyer docks in Beirut as a "security reminder"

Hezbollah
© AP Photo / Bilal Hussein
The US Navy's guided missile destroyer USS Ramage became the first US warship to dock at a Lebanese port in decades on Saturday, with the US Embassy calling the port visit a "security reminder" of the US Navy's constant presence off the Mediterranean country's coast amid boiling tensions between Hezbollah and the Israeli military.

A photo has appeared online purporting to show a 'new' anti-ship missile with the Hezbollah logo emblazoned on its front half.

According to @South_thaer, the Twitter user allegedly affiliated with Hezbollah who posted a picture of the missile, the weapon was capable of "destroying all military battleships of any kind, and annihilating all onboard."

Comment: See also: