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Red Flag

Florida senator warned to stop investigating Palm Beach sheriff's leniency with Epstein's work release program

Julie K. Brown, Richard Nehamas
The Miami Herald
Fri, 26 Jul 2019 13:00 UTC
Ric Bradshaw Palm Beach sherrif
© Taylor Jones / Palm Beach Post
Ric Bradshaw, sheriff of Palm Beach County when Jeffrey Epstein was incarcerated and still sheriff, said his office will investigate its own handling of the multimillionaire’s work release. Epstein was allowed 12 hours a day, six days a week of freedom despite allegations from three dozen underage girls that he had molested them.
Florida Sen. Lauren Book has reached out to Capitol police after receiving an anonymous warning connected to her demand for a state inquiry into Palm Beach Sheriff Ric Bradshaw's handling of accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein's lenient work release program, the Miami Herald has learned.

Book, a vocal advocate for child sexual assault survivors, said she also received more than a dozen calls from Bradshaw's political supporters asking her to back off on her call for an investigation by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement into Bradshaw.

On Monday, Book, a Democrat, wrote a letter to Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis asking him to authorize a probe into how Epstein, accused of molesting dozens of underage girls and a registered sex offender, was permitted to leave the Palm Beach County Jail and spend much of his 2008-2009 incarceration in an office in West Palm Beach.

DeSantis said Thursday after a Cabinet meeting that he would "certainly consider" an investigation but that he has yet to decide how the state should respond.

Comment: Epstein obviously has 'friends' in very high places...and likely incriminating evidence on many of them. He's been well-protected:

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Red Pill

Inoculate yourself from establishment's bullshit

Caitlin Johnstone
Medium
Thu, 25 Jul 2019 00:00 UTC
michelle obama
© unknown
Former First Lady Michelle Obama
In a recent interview with CBS This Morning host Gayle King, former First Lady Michelle Obama contrasted her husband's presidency with that of his successor by claiming that unlike Trump, the Obama family had had "no scandal".

"I had to sit in [Trump's inauguration] audience, one of a handful of people of color and then listen to that speech, and all that I had sort of held onto for eight years, watching my husband get raked over the coals, feeling like we had to do everything perfectly, you know, no scandal," Obama said.

"Yeah," King responded.

"No nothing," Obama said "No nothing!"

"Yes. No scandal," King said.

You hear this claim a lot from Democrats. There was a viral tweet with tens of thousands of shares shortly before the 2016 election which read, "8 years. No scandals. No mistresses. No impeachment hearings. Just class and grace, personified." It's a very common refrain which resurfaces in memes and tweets periodically, usually as criticisms of the sitting president.

Of course, the only reason anyone can attempt to claim that Barack Obama had "no scandals" is because in our bat shit crazy world, murdering, oppressing and exploiting large numbers of people isn't considered scandalous.
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Bad Guys

50 dead in Afghanistan attacks as Taliban offered part in Presidential election if peace talks start


RFE/RL
Thu, 25 Jul 2019 04:11 UTC
Afghan

The election comes at a time when militants are launching attacks on Afghan security forces almost every day.
The Taliban can take part in the September 28 presidential election if they start negotiations with the Afghan government, a spokesman for Afghan chief executive officer Abdullah Abdullah told local media outlet Tolo News on July 24.

Speaking four days before the presidential election campaign starts, the spokesman, Fraidoon Khwazoon, said "the door is open for the Taliban whenever they are willing to come and sit with the Afghan government and take part in democratic and national stages."

His comments came a day after Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said he will meet with the Taliban to try and persuade them start negotiations with the Western-backed government in Kabul.

Comment: Meanwhile RFE/RL reports on the surge in attacks that has happened of late. It doesn't make complete sense that the Taliban, who not long ago were in Moscow for peace talks, would desire to keep the country in a state of war when they're being offered a place at the bargaining table, and have shown their willingness to cooperate. Many of these attacks would be much more beneficial to other factions who seek to keep Afghanistan in a state of chaos, see: Pepe Escobar: How to kill 10 million Afghans and not win
More than 50 people have been killed in a wave of attacks across three Afghan provinces, including the capital, Kabul, despite renewed momentum in peace efforts to put an end to the country's nearly 18-year war.

Three blasts in eastern Kabul on July 25 left at least 10 dead, including five women while 41 others were wounded, Ministry of Public Health spokesman Wahidullah Mayar said.
Kabul

A wounded woman arrives for treatment at a hospital after a blast in Kabul on July 25.
The first explosion involved a suicide bomber on a motorcycle who blew himself up next to a bus belonging to the Ministry of Mines, according to Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi.

A second explosion took place in the same area while a third explosion triggered by a car bomb took place further east, Rahimi said.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid claimed responsibility for the car bomb, saying that a convoy of "foreign invaders" passing the area was targeted in the bombing.


If true, some in the Taliban have stated that there will be no real peace till the US is out of the country: Taliban sources draft deal: Foreign troops to leave Afghanistan in 18 months


The Islamic State (IS) militant group claimed responsibility for two blasts in Kabul, the group's Amaq news agency reported. It was not immediately clear which of the blasts IS claimed.

Violence in Afghanistan has intensified in recent weeks as both Afghan forces and Taliban militants attempt to increase their leverage in ongoing peace talks.

U.S. and Taliban representatives have held several rounds of peace talks since last year and Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan, is currently in Kabul to consult on the next steps in the process ahead of a new round of talks in Qatar next week.
afghanistan
© RFE/RL
While no agreement has been reached, both sides have reported progress in the talks.

The Taliban, however, has refused to meet with Kabul government officials whom they regard as U.S. puppets.

The Taliban controls or contests around half of the country, controlling more territory than any time since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 ousted the group from power.

The July 25 attack is the 13th in Kabul city alone since the beginning of the year, leaving more than 70 dead and over 510 others injured.

On the same day outside of the capital, nine civilians -- six women and three children -- were killed and four were wounded in a roadside bombing in the eastern province of Nangarhar, the provincial governor's office said in a statement.

The roadside bomb struck a minibus carrying a family that was heading to a wedding, according to the statement. The attack occurred in Nangarhar's Khogyani district.


Are the Taliban so stupid as to attack their own people knowing it will turn them against them? It's notable that the US and its allies are renowned for bombing weddings, schools and hospitals.


In the northern province of Takhar, at least 35 police officers were killed in a Taliban attack on security facilities. At least 12 people, including six police officers, were also injured in an hours-long gunbattle that took place in the Ishkamish district, former district Governor Sayed Mehrabuddin said.

There are 18 candidates competing for the presidency including current incumbent Ashraf Ghani, who is seeking a second term.

All of them are men, including a former warlord.
See also:

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Bullseye

Destabilizing Pakistan: Bookending Washington's China policy

Tony Cartalucci
New Eastern Outlook
Thu, 25 Jul 2019 12:00 UTC
Balochistan
Much is being said of US activities aimed at China. Recent protests in Hong Kong together with a US-led propaganda campaign aimed at Beijing's attempts to quell a growing terrorist threat in Xinjiang are aimed at pressuring the nation to fall back into line within Washington's enduring unipolar international order.

The latter of these two campaigns in particular - claims of Chinese authoritarianism as Beijing attempts to neutralize US-backed separatists and terrorists in Xinjiang - has also been spun as China "targeting Muslims."

This ignores the fact that one of China's closest and oldest allies in Eurasia is Pakistan - a Muslim-majority nation. It also ignores the fact that in Pakistan, the US is playing the same game aimed at cultivating violent extremism, separatism, violence, division, and even the dissolution of Pakistan's current borders.

Comment: See also:

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Bad Guys

Ilan Omar suggests people should be 'more fearful of white men' than radical jihadists, proposes racial profiling to fight white supremacy

Mark Moore
New York Post
Thu, 25 Jul 2019 17:36 UTC
Ilhan Omar
© REUTERS/Jim Bourg
Ilhan Omar
Rep. Ilhan Omar said Americans should be "more fearful of white men" when discussing the threat of "jihadist terrorism."

The Minnesota progressive was asked in a resurfaced interview with Al Jazeera from August 2018 about the rise of Islamophobia, citing the attacks that killed eight people on a Manhattan bike path in 2017 and the 2015 terror attack in San Bernardino, Calif., that killed 14.

"I would say our country should be more fearful of white men across our country because they are actually causing most of the deaths within this country," Omar answered.

"And so if fear was the driving force of policies to keep America safe — Americans safe inside of this country — we should be profiling, monitoring, and creating policies to fight the radicalization of white men," she continued.


Comment: Note, Omar isn't even saying that 'white males' should be more feared than 'Muslims'. She's saying random white men should be more feared than Islamic terrorists! If profiling and monitoring Arabs or black people based purely on their race is racist (and it is!), then so is doing the same toward white men. The new 'woke' is actually the radicalization of so-called progressives toward 'compassionate' bigotry and division.

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Blackbox

Did Trump 'blow whistle' on Epstein after threat to expose Trump as 'financial fraud' in 2005? Wolff's book suggests so

Chris Spargo
Daily Mail, UK
Tue, 23 Jul 2019 18:44 UTC
Epstein, Clinton, Trump

Left photo: Jeffrey Epstein and his partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, with Donald and Melania Trump at Mar-a-Lago in 2000, before Epstein was charged and convicted. (Fox News reports: “Trump banned Epstein from his Mar-a-Lago estate ‘because Epstein sexually assaulted an underage girl at the club,’ according to court documents filed by Bradley Edwards, the lawyer who has represented several Epstein accusers.” – also here.) Right photo: Ghislaine Maxwell at Chelsea Clinton’s wedding in 2010 (after Epstein’s conviction). Clinton flew on the “lolita Express” at least 26 times. (Composite image from American Herald Tribune post of the article)
President Donald Trump played a central role in launching the 2005 criminal investigation of Jeffrey Epstein by the Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office.

Michael Wolff, who was close with both men in the early aughts, writes in Fire and Fury that Epstein was outed to authorities soon after he threatened to expose Trump as a financial fraud.

It all started in 2004 when Epstein, who was still friends with Trump at the time, invited the real estate scion to see a foreclosed property in the tony enclave that he planned to purchase and then flip.

And it all ended with Trump pocketing more than $50 million in profits and Epstein behind bars, though both men did manage to negotiate sweet deals.

Epstein was planning to pay $36 million for the property, information he shared with Trump because he was certain the still-struggling developer would not be able to come up with the capital to submit his own bid.

That assumption proved to be wrong, and after learning of Epstein's plan to list the home at a sizable profit million after renovations, Trump snapped up the oceanfront villa by bidding $5 million more than his pal.

He would list it for $125 million after minor renovations, which resulted in an enraged Epstein threatening to expose Trump.

It was shortly after making those threats that Epstein found himself under criminal investigation writes Wolff.

Comment: Keep in mind that Wolff's book isn't an entirely trustworthy source... ...but this chain of events does present an interesting possibility. Trump was pals with Epstein - that's for sure - but so far there's nothing to suggest it was anything more than a relationship between billionaires, and not an entirely friendly one at that, if Trump really did go behind Epstein to outbid him on the Florida property. Trump doesn't show up in the flight logs to pedo island. It would be quite entertaining if Trump did actually play an instrumental role in exposing Epstein, that's for sure.

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USA

Trump got pranked — how the presidential seal behind him included a Russian eagle


National Post
Thu, 25 Jul 2019 10:44 UTC
Trump pranked
© Chris Kleponis/Pool via Bloomberg
U.S. President Donald Trump arrives on stage to speak during the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Tuesday, July 23, 2019.
At first glance, there was nothing unusual about U.S. President Donald Trump's introduction Tuesday at Turning Point USA's student summit. In many ways, it mirrored the production style that has become synonymous with Trump's campaign rallies.

Following a 12-minute video illustrating Trump's rise to the presidency, music blared as the president's name flashed across a giant screen in a bold shade of red. Trump took the stage and soaked in the raucous cheers from hundreds of young supporters packed inside the Marriott Marquis in Washington.

Charlie Kirk, Turning Point's outspoken founder and president, was on his left. But the image on the screen to Trump's right — captured in dozens of photos and videos from the event — is less familiar.
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Pirates

Ukrainians ape Western bosses' gunboat diplomacy, seize Russian tanker - UPDATE: Crew released


RT
Thu, 25 Jul 2019 12:22 UTC
port ukraine
© RIA Novosti / Vitaly Timkiv
Ukraine's security service has seized a Russia-registered oil tanker that allegedly blocked maritime traffic in the Kerch Strait. It comes as both countries discuss the release of Ukrainian sailors detained in the area last year.

The Russian-flagged ship 'Nika Spirit' was detained by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the military prosecutors after it moored at the port of Izmail in southwestern Ukraine, according to the agency's statement. Ukrainian authorities have searched the vessel, seized her logs and communications records, as well as interviewed the crew.

Comment: When asked for further comment, the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated: "Ooh-ooh, aah-aah, *grunt-grunt*..."

Here's video they published of the seizure:


UPDATE 28/07/2019: Russia slams Ukraine's 'act of piracy'. While the crew was released, Ukraine continues to hold the tanker itself.
Ukraine "should think of the consequences" after its security service (SBU) detained the Russian-flagged tanker Nika Spirit (also known as 'Neyma'), the Russian foreign ministry told media on Thursday.

However, if Russian nationals "were taken hostage" by Ukraine, "it would amount to a grave violation of international law, and ramifications will follow shortly," it added.

Several hours later the Russian embassy in Ukraine announced that "the crew is heading home, while the vessel remains in Izmail," a port city in southwestern Ukraine. The Russian Foreign Ministry then said that ten sailors from the Neyma had safely left Ukrainian territory.


The SBU explained the release by saying that the Russian sailors "didn't violate maritime law or Ukrainian legislation, therefore there were no grounds for their detention."

Meanwhile, senior Russian lawmakers labeled the incident "an act of piracy" and accused the outgoing Kiev government of staging "a provocation." Konstantin Zatulin, a high-ranking member of the State Duma's committee in charge of post-Soviet states, told the media the detention will damage already-strained relations between Moscow and Kiev.

By doing what it has done, Ukraine will be "nowhere close" to achieving the release of 24 sailors currently on trial in Russia for an alleged violation of maritime borders during last year's Kerch Strait incident.


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Better Earth

Korybko: Today, Peace in Donbas is closer than ever

Andrew Korybko
Eurasia Future
Thu, 25 Jul 2019 18:17 UTC
Volodymyr Zelensky
© Global Look Press / ZUMA PRESS/ Str
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
The parliamentary majority that new Ukrainian President Zelensky's "Servant of the People" party just obtained in the country's latest legislative elections means that peace in Donbas has never been closer, but only so long as Kiev is willing to make a politically difficult compromise with Moscow that's sure to undoubtedly unsettle its Western patrons, unless the "New Detente" ends up saving the day.

The Obama-Trump Hybrid

New Ukrainian President Zelensky has been compared to US President Trump in many respects since both leaders are politically inexperienced populists who entered office on a wave of anti-elite discontent from the masses, but he might also have a little bit of former President Obama in him too if he forgoes his country's traditional foreign policy in order to focus more on internal matters. His "Servant of the People" party just obtained a parliamentary majority in the country's latest legislative elections, which is the first time in Ukraine's post-independence history that something of the sort has happened. This speaks to the people's desire to fundamentally restructure their state, hence the unprecedented mandate that they gave Zelensky despite the fake news fearmongering campaign backed by Ukraine's oligarchs and their foreign supporters alleging that such a scenario will lead to Ukraine "selling out" to Russia.

Comment: Also see John Helmer's pre- and post-election analyses:

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War Whore

Pentagon chief claims with a straight face that US is trying to de-escalate tensions in Persian Gulf


Sputnik
Thu, 25 Jul 2019 18:32 UTC
oil tankers
© Hamad I Mohammed
Mark Esper, who has recently been sworn in as the new US defence secretary, said Washington sought to de-escalate the situation in the Persian Gulf area.

Last week, the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said the country was developing an intentional maritime security framework dubbed Operation Sentinel to enhance security in the Persian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Oman in the wake of various incidents involving tankers in the area.


Comment: Military operations and the presence of aircraft carriers are not the way to de-escalate tensions. Someone needs to tell the SecDef that the presence of the American military does the opposite of what he thinks it does.


"And so that's the purpose of Operation Sentinel, as conceived, was to avoid those situations. So we don't get in a situation where there's a provocation where there's a seizure of a ship and something like that, and then we — and then it escalates. We're trying to de-escalate," Esper told a press conference, as quoted in a transcript published on the Pentagon website late on Wednesday.
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