Puppet Masters

US Office of Special Counsel charges Trump aide Kellyanne Conway with violating Hatch Act and recommends her removal

Daniel Chaitin
Washington Examiner
Thu, 13 Jun 2019 20:40 UTC

White House counselor Kellyanne Conway violated the Hatch Act on "numerous occasions" and should be removed from the government, a United States federal office announced Thursday.

The recommendation was made by Henry Kerner, head of the Office of Special Counsel, in a letter and report sent to President Trump recommending she be removed from federal service.

Federal employees are prohibited by the Hatch Act from using their jobs to campaign for or against political candidates. The president and vice president are exempt from the Hatch Act, but employees of the White House are not.

The Office of Special Counsel, led by Kerner, whom Trump nominated to the post, is charged with enforcing the Hatch Act and is not connected to now-former special counsel Robert S. Mueller's Russia investigation.

Press Secretary Sarah Sanders is leaving White House - Trump

RT
Fri, 14 Jun 2019 20:17 UTC

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders will leave the White House at the end of June, President Donald Trump has announced.

"After 3 1/2 years, our wonderful Sarah Huckabee Sanders will be leaving the White House at the end of the month and going home to the Great State of Arkansas," Trump tweeted on Thursday. "She is a very special person with extraordinary talents, who has done an incredible job! I hope she decides to run for Governor of Arkansas."

Sanders herself had not yet announced her departure at time of writing, nor are the circumstances of her apparent resignation known.

Named as Deputy Press Secretary after Trump's election, Sanders was promoted to her most recent position in July 2017, replacing Sean Spicer. In her post, she sparred regularly with an often vicious Washington press corps, and was subjected to scathing media criticism, along with her boss.

Israel goes on rampage after 'rocket' devastates small portion of exterior tiles on building

Jack Khoury
Haaretz
Fri, 14 Jun 2019 19:59 UTC

A view of the 'devastating' rocket attack on Israel

The Israeli army hit targets in the Gaza Strip Thursday overnight, hours after a rocket fired from Gaza hit a building in the southern Israeli city of Sderot.

The military said in a statement that "several terror targets" were hit, including a military compund used by Hamas' naval force. Earlier reports in Palestinian media indicated the strikes occurred along the Gaza City beach and in the southern city of Khan Yunis. No casualties were reported.

In light of the rising tensions, UN Special Envoy Nickolay Mladenov arrived in Gaza through the Erez crossing Friday morning, according to reports from the southern Strip.

Thursday's rocket fire comes less than 24 hours after a fire exchange between Israel and Gaza that began when a rocket was fired at Israel from the coastal enclave on Wednesday night.

Breitbart: Leaked doc reveals Facebook monitors offline behavior to determine if you're a 'hate agent'

Allum Bokhari
Breitbart
Fri, 14 Jun 2019 19:26 UTC

Facebook monitors the offline behavior of its users to determine if they should be categorized as a "Hate Agent," according to a document provided exclusively to Breitbart News by a source within the social media giant.

The document, titled "Hate Agent Policy Review" outlines a series of "signals" that Facebook uses to determine if someone ought to be categorized as a "hate agent" and banned from the platform.

Those signals include a wide range of on- and off-platform behavior. If you praise the wrong individual, interview them, or appear at events alongside them, Facebook may categorize you as a "hate agent."

Facebook may also categorize you as a hate agent if you self-identify with or advocate for a "Designated Hateful Ideology," if you associate with a "Designated Hate Entity" (one of the examples cited by Facebook as a "hate entity" includes Islam critic Tommy Robinson), or if you have "tattoos of hate symbols or hate slogans." (The document cites no examples of these, but the media and "anti-racism" advocacy groups increasingly label innocuous items as "hate symbols," including a cartoon frog and the "OK" hand sign.)

Facebook will also categorize you as a hate agent for possession of "hate paraphernalia," although the document provides no examples of what falls into this category.

Comment: Carl Benjamin (aka Sargon of Akkad) on the news:

Putin strikes again! EU claims 'continued, sustained' online disinformation coming from 'Russian sources'

RFE/RL
Fri, 14 Jun 2019 18:36 UTC

The European Union says that it has gathered evidence of "continued and sustained" disinformation activity by Russia aimed at influencing the results of May's elections for the European Parliament.

The European Commission report said "Russian sources" tried to suppress voter turnout and influence voters' preferences.

It did not elaborate on what it meant by "Russian sources," and it said it was not yet able to identify a "distinct cross-border disinformation campaign from external sources specifically targeting the European elections."

Comment: In other words ... they've got nothing?

"The number of disinformation cases attributed to Russian sources...doubled as compared to the same period a year ago," Security Commissioner Julian King told a news conference in Brussels highlighting the report.

Comment: Anyone can 'attribute'. What are the criteria, if they even have any?

"So almost 1,000, as compared with over 400," King said, adding that EU steps to counter disinformation might have also had "some sort of deterrent effect."

Justice Commissioner Vera Jourova told the same news conference that there was "no big-bang moment" -- like the Cambridge Analytica scandal -- to draw attention to organized manipulation.

Twitter shores up Pompeo's 'Gulf of Tonkin' fairy tale with a massive online propaganda campaign - deleting thousands of pro-Iranian accounts

Helen Buyniski
RT
Fri, 14 Jun 2019 17:26 UTC

Twitter has announced that it is removing 4,779 accounts associated or backed by Tehran, the latest strike in the ongoing anti-Iran campaign perfectly timed to coincide with the attack on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was already blaming Iran hours after the incident, offering not a shred of proof aside from a few other dubious incidents in the Middle East that the US has previously pinned on Iran, without evidence. Even the mainstream media has initially been reluctant to take his word for it, mostly because the narrative is so improbable. Japan's PM Shinzo Abe was in Tehran, promising to use his "utmost effort" to de-escalate tensions, when as if on cue, a Japanese ship was hit along with a Norwegian vessel.

Convenient 'tanker attacks' as US seeks war with Iran

Tony Cartalucci
New Eastern Outlook
Thu, 13 Jun 2019 16:47 UTC

...it would be far more preferable if the United States could cite an Iranian provocation as justification for the airstrikes before launching them. Clearly, the more outrageous, the more deadly, and the more unprovoked the Iranian action, the better off the United States would be. Of course, it would be very difficult for the United States to goad Iran into such a provocation without the rest of the world recognizing this game, which would then undermine it.

- Brookings Institution, "Which Path to Persia?" 2009

For the second time since the United States unilaterally withdrew from the so-called Iran Nuclear Deal, Western reports of "suspected attacks" on oil tankers near the Stait of Hormuz have attempted to implicate Iran.

The London Guardian in an article titled, "Two oil tankers struck in suspected attacks in Gulf of Oman," would claim:

Two oil tankers have been hit in suspected attacks in the Gulf of Oman and the crews evacuated, a month after a similar incident in which four tankers in the region were struck.

The article also claimed:

Gulf tensions have been close to boiling point for weeks as the US puts "maximum economic pressure" on Tehran in an attempt to force it to reopen talks about the 2015 nuclear deal, which the US pulled out of last year.

Iran has repeatedly said it has no knowledge of the incidents and did not instruct any surrogate forces to attack Gulf shipping, or Saudi oil installations.

The Guardian would admit that "investigations" into the previous alleged attacks in May carried out by the UAE found "sophisticated mines" were used, but fell short of implicating Iran as a culprit.

The article would note US National Security Advisor John Bolton would - without evidence - claim that Iran "was almost certainly involved."

Middle East attack jolts oil-import dependent Asia

Foster Klug
Associates Press
Fri, 14 Jun 2019 16:39 UTC

© AP Photo/Jae C. Hong
Yutaka Katada, president of Kokuka Sangyo Co., the Japanese company operating one of two oil tankers attacked near the Strait of Hormuz

The blasts detonated far from the bustling megacities of Asia, but the attack this week on two tankers in the strategic Strait of Hormuz hits at the heart of the region's oil import-dependent economies.

While the violence only directly jolted two countries in the region - one of the targeted ships was operated by a Tokyo-based company, a nearby South Korean-operated vessel helped rescue sailors - it will unnerve major economies throughout Asia.

Officials, analysts and media commentators on Friday hammered home the importance of the Strait of Hormuz for Asia, calling it a crucial lifeline, and there was deep interest in more details about the still-sketchy attack and what the United States and Iran would do in the aftermath.

In the end, whether Asia shrugs it off, as some analysts predict, or its economies shudder as a result, the attack highlights the widespread worries over an extreme reliance on a single strip of water for the oil that fuels much of the region's shared progress.

Here is a look at how Asia is handling rising tensions in a faraway but economically crucial area, compiled by AP reporters from around the world:

Turkey says would retaliate against U.S. sanctions over Russian S-400s

Tuvan Gumrukcu
Reuters
Fri, 14 Jun 2019 16:33 UTC

Turkey will "take reciprocal steps" if the United States imposes sanctions over its purchase of Russian S-400 defenses, the Turkish foreign minister said on Friday, marking the latest step toward a standoff between the NATO allies.

"If the United States takes any negative actions towards us, we will also take reciprocal steps," Mevlut Cavusoglu, the minister, said when asked about possible U.S. sanctions in an interview broadcast on Turkish TV.

Ankara and Washington have sparred publicly for months over Turkey's purchase of the S-400 missile systems, expected to be delivered as early as next month. Washington has said that would trigger U.S. sanctions and sent a letter warning that Ankara would be pulled out of the F-35 jet program.

Iran has little to gain from Oman tanker attacks

Julian Lee
Bloomberg
Thu, 13 Jun 2019 16:19 UTC

Two oil tankers have been damaged in a suspected attack in the waters between the United Arab Emirates and Iran as they were leaving the Persian Gulf. This is the second incident in four weeks, and raises the question of who gains what from them.

Fingers will certainly be pointed at Iran as the mastermind behind these events. But the potential benefits to the Persian Gulf nation are outweighed by the risks. And even if Tehran isn't responsible, it will still suffer the consequences.

The first tanker to report a problem was the Front Altair. It was reported to be carrying 75,000 tons of naphtha, loaded in Abu Dhabi, to Japan, although it was signaling a destination of Kaosiung in Taiwan when it was damaged. The second vessel was the Japanese-owned Kokuka Courageous, which was sailing from Saudi Arabia to Singapore with a cargo of methanol.

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Puppet Masters

US Office of Special Counsel charges Trump aide Kellyanne Conway with violating Hatch Act and recommends her removal

Press Secretary Sarah Sanders is leaving White House - Trump

Israel goes on rampage after 'rocket' devastates small portion of exterior tiles on building

Breitbart: Leaked doc reveals Facebook monitors offline behavior to determine if you're a 'hate agent'

Putin strikes again! EU claims 'continued, sustained' online disinformation coming from 'Russian sources'

Twitter shores up Pompeo's 'Gulf of Tonkin' fairy tale with a massive online propaganda campaign - deleting thousands of pro-Iranian accounts

Convenient 'tanker attacks' as US seeks war with Iran

Middle East attack jolts oil-import dependent Asia

Turkey says would retaliate against U.S. sanctions over Russian S-400s

Iran has little to gain from Oman tanker attacks

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