Welcome to Sott.net
Fri, 15 Oct 2021
The World for People who Think

Puppet Masters
Map

Fire

Foreign observers note 'chaos,' 'rancor' in US debate


AP
Wed, 30 Sep 2020 10:09 UTC
trump biden
© AP Photo/Patrick Semansky
In this combination image of two photos showing both President Donald Trump, left, and former Vice President Joe Biden during the first presidential debate Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020, at Case Western University and Cleveland Clinic, in Cleveland, Ohio.
"Chaos, interruptions, personal attacks and insults," one outspoken Chinese newspaper editor said of the U.S. presidential debate. An Australian counterpart said it was "swamped" by the "rancor engulfing America."

The first debate pitting Republican President Donald Trump against Democratic challenger Joe Biden was not a highlight of political oratory in the eyes of many overseas.

Yet interest ran high for its potential impact on what may be the most consequential U.S. election in years, now just over a month away.
      Read More...
Bad Guys

Netanyahu claims 'secret arms depot' in residential Beirut, Hezbollah invites media to visit sites


Middle East Eye
Tue, 29 Sep 2020 20:17 UTC
Netanyahu
© AFP/File photo
Netanyahu called on the people of Lebanon to protest in order to prevent another blast similar to the Beirut port blast
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made an unsubstantiated claim at the United Nations General Assembly that Hezbollah is storing missiles at a "secret depot" in a residential neighborhood of Beirut.

Mirroring his now-famous 2012 address when he held up a cartoonish drawing of a bomb while discussing Iran's nuclear programme, Netanyahu took the unusual step on Tuesday of brandishing a map of Beirut and a green laser pointer to identify the alleged weapons depot.

The Israeli leader said, pointing to a map of the Janah neighbourhood, that the arms storage facility is in close proximity to a gas company, a gas station, and civilian housing.

Comment: Morgan Artyukhina for Sputnik reports:
An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesperson told Reuters following Netanyahu's presentation that the IDF had reported the site "numerous times, both to the UN and additional diplomatic networks, as well as via various media channels."
"The exposure of these sites today was made with the aim of calling the Lebanese government again, with the support of the international community, to intervene in the matter; and to allow Lebanese civilians to protect themselves," the spokesperson said.
Jerusalem has often accused Hezbollah of plotting against Israel and Iran of using Hezbollah facilities as a forward staging area to also do so. However, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called Netanyahu's bluff on Tuesday.

"This is incitement of the Lebanese people against Hezbollah," Nasrallah said, according to the Times of Israel.
"If there [were] missiles there placed by Hezbollah - even a single weapon - I would not waste a minute before informing you of this matter," Nasrallah continued. "We don't put rockets, not in the Beirut port, not by a gas station. We know very well where to put our weapons."
In response, the official IDF Twitter account tweeted out the coordinates of the site, plus "two bonus sites to check afterward," adding, "Let's hope the journalists get there before Nasrallah's moving trucks do."


​However, reporters quickly flocked to the site, which is located in the Jnah district of southwestern Beirut. A quick look inside revealed the building to be nothing more than a factory for gas canisters.

​Muhammad Rammal, who owns the factory, told "The National" reporter Sunniva Rose that he was "surprised" by Netanyahu's claim, as the factory has been open for five years, but added that he is proud of Hezbollah.


​On August 4, a huge explosion equivalent to the power of 1,100 tons of TNT devastated the Port of Beirut and much of the city, killing at least 200 people, injuring thousands more and leaving at least 300,000 people homeless.
Netanyahu's focus on Lebanon is particularly notably considering recent events: Forbes asks: 'Was Israel responsible for the Beirut explosion?'

See also: Occupying Palestine is rotting Israel from inside - no Gulf peace deal can hide that

      Read More...
Eye 1

Bojo apologises for getting new coronavirus rules wrong, citizens not following "confusing" rules face fines

Aubrey Allegretti
Sky News
Tue, 29 Sep 2020 18:37 UTC
bojo
© Shutterstock
Boris Johnson has promised to rewild large swathes of Britain
The PM admits that "clearly for everyone watching this, this is one of those things people will feel is confusing".

Boris Johnson has apologised for muddling up his own coronavirus rules on social gatherings.

The prime minister was questioned about the latest COVID-19 restrictions coming into force for northeast England from midnight on Wednesday.

At first, he said people could meet indoors and outdoors in groups of six in areas where no additional coronavirus restrictions are in place.

But speaking during a news conference in Exeter, he claimed: "In the North East and other areas where extra tight measures have been brought in, you should follow the guidance of local authorities.

"It's six in a home or six in hospitality but as I understand it, not six outside."
      Read More...
Eye 1

UK PM Bojo declares he will 're-wild' one-third of Britain

Helena Horton
Telegraph
Sun, 27 Sep 2020 10:30 UTC
bojo
© Shutterstock
Boris Johnson has promised to rewild large swathes of Britain
Boris Johnson has promised to restore to nature 30 per cent of Britain by 2030 as he signs a biodiversity pledge with other UN leaders.

The Prime Minister will today unfurl plans to secure an area of land the size of the Lake District and South Downs national parks combined to make sure almost a third of the country is wild.

Existing National Parks, Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and other protected areas already comprise approximately 26 percent of land in England.


Comment: So, the claim is to add 4% to the existing total?


The announcement comes as the Prime Minister is set to sign the Leaders Pledge for Nature at a virtual United Nations event later today, committing to put nature and biodiversity on a road to recovery by 2030.

Comment: 'Renewal; the new normal; the financial reset' - evidently the destruction of the environment is a cause for concern, but it's clear that those in power are using the 'green new deal', the financial crash and the coronavirus hysteria to further a nefarious agenda that citizens have had no say in and are unlikely to benefit from:

      Read More...
Snakes in Suits

Biden dodged $500K in taxes by exploiting loophole - Where is the media outrage?


Zero Hedge
Mon, 28 Sep 2020 23:12 UTC
biden
Since the left is now in histrionics over President Trump's perfectly legal use of the US tax code to avoid paying taxes for 10 out of the last 15 years, perhaps they'll give as much attention to Joe Biden - who used another perfectly legal tax 'loophole' to avoid approximately $500,000 in payroll taxes on $15 million in income.

Of course, they ignored it in July when the Wall Street Journal reported that Joe and Jill Biden took advantage of the "S corporation" payroll tax loophole that the Obama-Biden administration unsuccessfully attempted to close.

According to the report, the Bidens routed income from book sales and speeches through S corporations - avoiding the 3.8% self-employment tax they would have paid if they had been compensated directly, and avoiding as much as $500,000 in taxes.

"There's no reason for these to be in an S corp — none, other than to save on self-employment tax," accountant Tony Nitti told the WSJ at the time.
      Read More...
Eye 2

Hillary Clinton cooked up Russiagate to smear Trump & distract from her own scandals, declassified docs suggest


RT
Tue, 29 Sep 2020 23:03 UTC
hillary
© Reuters / Kyle Grillot; Reuters / Carlo Allegri
Failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton OK'ed a plan to smear then-rival Donald Trump with accusations about Russian election-hacking to distract from her email scandal, newly-declassified papers appear to show.

Clinton approved an advisor's proposal to "vilify Donald Trump by stirring up a scandal claiming interference by Russian security services" in July 2016, according to information declassified on Tuesday by Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe. The bombshell revelation was made public in a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee chair Lindsey Graham (R-S. Carolina), in response to a request for information related to the FBI's Crossfire Hurricane (i.e. Russiagate) probe.
      Read More...
Bad Guys

Bill Gates' global agenda and how we can resist his war on life

Vandana Shiva
CounterPunch
Thu, 24 Sep 2020 00:00 UTC
Gates
© unknown
Bill Gates
In March 2015, Bill Gates showed an image of a flu viral specimen during a TED Talk and told the audience that it was what the greatest catastrophe of our time would look like. The real threat to life, he said, is 'not missiles, but microbes.' When the coronavirus pandemic swept over the earth like a tsunami five years later, he revived the war language, describing the pandemic as 'a world war'.

'The coronavirus pandemic pits all of humanity against the virus,' he said.

In fact, the pandemic is not a war. The pandemic is a consequence of war. A war against life. The mechanical mind connected to the money machine of extraction has created the illusion of humans as separate from nature, and nature as dead, inert raw material to be exploited. But, in fact, we are part of the biome. And we are part of the virome. The biome and the virome are us. When we wage war on the biodiversity of our forests, our farms, and in our guts, we wage war on ourselves.
      Read More...
Heart - Black

Assange lawyers expose politically biased medical evidence

Thomas Scripps, Laura Tieman
World Socialist Web Site
Fri, 25 Sep 2020 00:00 UTC
Assange
© Keystone/Facundo Arrizabalaga
Julian Assange
Medical evidence continued to be heard in Julian Assange's extradition hearing yesterday, with Dr Nigel Blackwood providing expert testimony for the prosecution. Blackwood is a consultant forensic psychiatrist at the National Health Service and a Reader in Forensic Psychiatry at Kings College London.

Blackwood assessed Assange in April this year and found him to be "moderately depressed." He holds that there is a "elevated risk of suicide" if there is a decision to extradite Assange to the United States, but not a "substantial" one and that this risk is "modifiable and manageable."

Referring to the findings of Professor Kopelman, the defence medical expert, Blackwood said, "I certainly agreed with Professor Kopelman that he had a recurrent depressive disorder." He disputed Kopelman's findings on the severity of that depression but admitted that there seemed to have been an improvement in the months between Kopelman's assessment and his own, accepting there was "variability in [Assange's mood] and his engagement with treatment."

Comment: Physical and mental wellbeing are not concerns when it comes to kangaroo justice involving the exposition of 'crimes' inconvenient to government corruption and the flaunt of power. To deny the most fundamental rights of a human being, should this come to pass, sets a precedent without recourse, most unjust.

See also:

      Read More...
Arrow Up

I'm no fan of Trump, but his peace deals in the Middle East are a diplomatic triumph...why is MSM virtually ignoring them?

Ken Silverstein
RT
Tue, 29 Sep 2020 11:00 UTC
whitehouse balcony Abraham Accords
© Reuters/Tom Brenner
President Trump hosts leaders for Abraham Accords signing ceremony at the White House.
Donald Trump is having more success at stabilizing some Middle Eastern counterparts than he is at settling political differences in the United States. The 'Abraham Accords' is a big deal - albeit one not just of his making.

For his efforts in the September 15 treaty between Israel, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and, later, Bahrain, the US president has gotten a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. But much as his enormous ego would absolutely love that award, it's unlikely the deal will get him across the finish line.

For starters, these talks were brewing before Trump came on the scene and the complete details have yet to be hashed out. And to his many critics, many of them in mainstream media and academia, Trump is seen as a national embarrassment who is causing civil strife in the country. For them, granting him a Nobel peace prize is seen as laughable.

Comment: See also:

      Read More...
Arrow Down

Trump used Facebook to suppress the Black vote in battleground states during 2016 election, report says

Jessica Guynn
USA Today
Mon, 28 Sep 2020 06:17 UTC
Trump prayer Black leaders
© Unknown
President Trump joins in prayer with Black leaders
Donald Trump's 2016 presidential election campaign sought to deter millions of Black Americans in battleground states from voting by targeting them with negative Hillary Clinton ads on Facebook, an investigation broadcast Monday by Channel 4 News in London claims.

Channel 4 News says it obtained a leaked database of voter profiles used by the Trump campaign that included a category called "deterrence," meaning voters who were likely to cast their ballots for Clinton or to not vote at all.

These 3.5 million voters, who were disproportionately Black, were targeted with "dark" ads to dissuade them from backing Clinton, according to the report. The report credits Cambridge Analytica, the Trump-connected data analysis firm that gained unauthorized access to tens of millions of Facebook profiles, with orchestrating the strategy.

Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh dismissed the report as "fake news," and said the president has built "a relationship of trust with African American voters," with initiatives on criminal justice reform, opportunity zones and a recent announcement to invest $500 billion in the Black community.

Comment: Ridiculous. Trump supports Black Americans. Unable to compensate for a lame candidate, the Left is desperate for leverage, real or fake. By their track record of the past four years, we can calculate which mode they prefer.

See also:

      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts