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Attention

Teacher at Florida school shooting: 'Shooter was in full metal garb, helmet, face-mask, bulletproof armor, shooting a rifle I have never seen before'

tactical body armor
© André Gustavo Stumpf/Flickr
How does the purported shooter exit his Uber ride, put on full body dress, helmet, assemble his rifle, load it and start firing at targets within two minutes?

Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School teacher Stacy Lippel was grazed by a hot bullet which left the chamber of the shooter's gun as she closed the door to her classroom after letting a number of students file into what would presumably be safety. However, nothing could have prepared the teacher for what she was to witness next.

"I suddenly saw the shooter about twenty feet in front of me standing at the end of the hallway actively shooting down the hallway, just a barrage of bullets, and I'm staring at him thinking 'why are the police here? this is strange', because he's in full metal garb, helmet, face mask, bulletproof armor, shooting this rifle that I've never seen before," Lippel told Good Morning America last Wednesday.

The brave teacher said she told fellow Stoneman Douglas H.S. teacher Scott Beigel, 35, to get back in his room just before the shooter fired a number of rounds into his room killing him and other students.

Comment:
How does the purported shooter exit his Uber ride, put on full body dress, helmet, assemble his rifle, load it and start firing at targets within two minutes?
He doesn't.

Even if he could get his hands on military-grade tactical gear, smoke grenades/flashbangs, a hi-tech rifle that is apparently not an AR-15, and lots of ammo, how does a 19-year-old low-IQ kid pay for it all, then how does he acquire such proficiency with the tech that he can pull off a superman stunt and magically 'suit-up' in under 2 minutes, then hit 31 targets - killing 17 - in under 5?

There's something really fishy about this mass shooting.


Pirates

Russian MoD: Five terrorist groups create joint command center in East Ghouta

Jabhat al-Nusra fighter
© AFP 2018/ RAMI AL-SAYED
Jabhat al-Nusra fighter
Despite the adoption of a UN Security Council resolution on a 30-day ceasefire in Syria, the situation in the embattled East Ghouta suburb, east of Damascus, is escalating as militant groups continue attacks on government forces, according to the Russian military.

Five terrorist factions, including Jayish al Islam and the al-Nusra Front, have created a joint leadership center in East Ghouta, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday.

"The situation in East Ghouta is worsening. In the enclave, militant groups Jayish al Islam, Jabhat An-Nusra, Ahrar al-Sham, Failak Ar-Rahman and Fajr Al-Umma have created a joint center for coordinating the actions of the groups," the ministry said.

Attention

The Russians colluded with Democrats, not Republicans

HilBar
© Infowars
Mueller scours Team Trump for Russian collusion as Dems marinate in it

Special counsel Robert Mueller and his investigators resemble axe-wielding firefighters frantically stomping through a house and not finding so much as a lit birthday candle. Meanwhile, the home next door burns to the basement.

Team Mueller's never-ending hunt for reds in October 2016 has found zero evidence of Russian collusion among Team Trump. In contrast, Russian collusion among Democrats has been as hard to miss as a California wildfire. And yet they still miss it.

Team Mueller did find Russian interference in the 2016 election - and how! The February 16 announcement of federal criminal indictments against 13 Russian nationals and three Russian companies was a Cold War flashback. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told journalists that Russians close to the Kremlin infiltrated the last presidential campaign "to promote discord in the United States and undermine public confidence in democracy."

But Rosenstein threw a bucket of wet sand onto the Left's simmering narrative that DJT = KGB. The Russian meddling began in 2014, well before Donald J. Trump's campaign commenced. The Russians promoted Vermont senator Bernie Sanders's Democratic-primary bid and Green-party nominee Jill Stein's general-election effort. After Trump won, the Russians organized pro-Trump and anti-Trump demonstrations, once in New York City on the same day. They also staged an anti-Trump rally in Charlotte.

Comment: Team Mueller has not 'missed' who 'colluded' with Russia. It hoped to delegitimize the Trump administration and by doing so, insulate the nefarious actions of government agencies and principals in the DNC and Obama administration.


Bomb

Trump, hiding rationale for bombing Syria, sets a deadly precedent

TrumpSyria
© The Dodo's Lament/KJN
Our president must be restrained before he does the same thing for North Korea.

Pressure is mounting as the Trump administration continues to refuse to reveal its legal justification for bombing Syria in April 2017, despite increased scrutiny from Democratic senators and a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) wrote a letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on February 8, 2018, requesting a copy of the State Department memo containing the Trump administration's legal justification for the US attack against Syria on April 6, 2017, when it bombed the Shayrat military airbase with 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles.

At the time of the bombing, Trump suggested that he ordered the launching of the missiles in retaliation for a sarin gas attack at Khan Sheikhoun, allegedly ordered by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

The Syrian government, however, denied responsibility for the chemical attack. Meanwhile, Defense Secretary James Mattis admitted earlier this month he has "no evidence" Assad ordered the use of sarin gas against his own people.

Comment: It is not out of context for the US to blatantly disregard rules and regulations that apply to 'other' countries, given its 'exceptionalism'. It has become a national default. Do something enough times and soon nobody really notices, but it doesn't make it right. In fact, Killary also called for US to bomb Syrian air fields, stating: "I really believe we should have and still should take out his air fields and prevent him from being able to use them to bomb innocent people and drop sarin gas on them." Complaining war hawk Tim Kaine was Killary's VP pick -- in lock-step with her perspective.


Arrow Up

US, Russia exchange barbs as UNSC adopts Syria ceasefire resolution

UNSC vote
© Unknown
UNSC ceasefire resolution vote
After days of tense behind-the-scenes negotiations, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution proposing a 30-day humanitarian ceasefire in Syria, but Russia and the US did not present a united front.

"It would be naïve to think that internal Syrian questions can be solved by a resolution," said Russia's Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia following the vote, adding that Moscow had "supported the intentions" behind the document, but that no ceasefire was possible "without agreement from warring parties."

Nebenzia criticized the "occupying ambitions" of the US-backed coalition, and said that foreign-backed militias bore responsibility for the humanitarian crisis that the resolution, adopted by 15 votes to none, was written to address. He also reiterated earlier accusations that the West was conducting a "propaganda campaign" against the government forces in Eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus, where fighting has intensified over the past week.


Comment: Nebenzia refers to organizations such as SOHR and White Helmets who control the message by assigning blame without verification, or create staged scenarios for propaganda purposes to garner Western attention and support.



Comment: According to the report, Ambassador Haley walked out of the meeting before the Syrian representative spoke advocating for the ceasefire to include other areas of Syria as well. No one was 'obstructing the voting.' All involved countries have the right to address the Security Council with their opinions and concerns.


Attention

China derides new US unilateral sanctions as 'harming cooperation' on North Korea

UncleSam in chopstick
© toonpool.com
China has called on the US to "immediately stop" unilateral sanctions targeting North Korea. Beijing has been angered after a number of Chinese businesses were included on a new sanctions list.

"The Chinese side firmly opposes the US imposing unilateral sanctions and 'long-arm jurisdiction' on Chinese entities or individuals in accordance with its domestic laws," the Chinese Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "We have lodged stern representations with the US side over this, urging it to immediately stop such wrongdoings so as not to undermine bilateral cooperation on the relevant area."

It went on to state that Beijing has been "comprehensively and strictly implementing" UN Security Council resolutions on North Korea and "fulfilling its international obligations." It said that it "never allows any Chinese citizen or company to engage in activities in violation" of those resolutions. Beijing has long spoken out against any sanctions imposed against North Korea that are not within the framework of the United Nations.

The US announced on Friday that it was imposing its largest round of sanctions aimed at getting North Korea to give up its nuclear and missile programs. Twenty-seven companies, 28 ships, and one person were sanctioned, according to the US Treasury.

Comment: The US is all for the short game, unable to see that keeping a holding pattern over a longer run is just as effective and a better diplomatic tactic.

See also:


Briefcase

Ex-Trump aide Rick Gates pleads guilty after new Mueller indictment

Rick Gates
© Joshua Roberts/Reuters
Rick Gates
Rick Gates, a former aide to US President Donald Trump, has pleaded guilty to filing false paperwork about foreign lobbying, related to his work in Ukraine before the 2016 presidential election.

Gates, a longtime political consultant and business partner of Trump's former campaign manager Paul Manafort, pleaded guilty on Friday afternoon at a federal court in Washington, DC.

"I continue to maintain my innocence," Manafort said in response to the plea, adding that he expected his business partner "would have had the strength to continue to battle" but chose to do otherwise for reasons yet unknown.

In a letter to family and friends which was obtained by ABC News, Gates wrote that he had a "change of heart" despite his initial desire to mount a vigorous defense.

"The reality of how long this legal process will likely take, the cost, and the circus-like atmosphere of an anticipated trial are too much. I will better serve my family moving forward by exiting this process," he wrote. Gates added that "the consequence is public humiliation, which at this moment seems like a small price to pay for what our children would have to endure otherwise."

Comment: See also:


Beer

Trump's 9 best ad-libs from CPAC speech - 'You sure he's a conservative?'

Trump CPAC speech
© Joshua Roberts / Reuters
US President Donald Trump speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at National Harbor, Maryland, February 23, 2018.
The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) crowd went crazy for President Donald Trump's keynote speech. But it was his casual quips that really brought down the house.

Trump became the first president to appear two years in a row before the whooping crowd of evangelical Christians, NRA members and gung-ho warhawks, at the conference in National Harbor, Maryland. But he peppered his speech with jokes, ad-libs and asides, along with plenty of audience participation to break the tedium of his 90-minute address.

Comment: RT reports on the MSM's response, specifically MSNBC's talking heads, who hit new heights of Trump Derangement Syndrome.
President Donald Trump's speech at the CPAC conference sent MSNBC TV anchors into outrage, with Ali Velshi comparing him to the current or former leaders of Venezuela, Cuba, Iran, Turkey and, of course, Russia.

"A sprawling, truly sprawling, meandering speech by the President. The likes of which - I was saying to Stephanie - I'm used to having heard from Hugo Chavez or Fidel Castro or Erdogan," Velshi said, after Trump wrapped up the speech Friday morning. "President Putin gives something like this every year, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad used to give speeches like this."

"By our executive producer's conservative count, he touched on at least 31 different topics in this speech," Velshi pointed out. "None of which were Russia, by the way. Russia didn't come up."

"Absolutely no mention of Russia," Velshi's co-host Stephanie Ruhle agreed. "When, remember, last Friday, 13 Russians were indicted. The President made no mention of it."

MSNBC has been criticized by media watchdogs for displaying an almost unhealthy obsession with Russia to the detriment of other news stories. For example, FAIR found that in 2017 the network ran nearly 5,000 percent more segments about Russia than about Yemen, where a brutal war involving US ally Saudi Arabia has killed tens of thousands.

Ruhle labeled certain comments "absurd across the board," while Velshi claimed "there were a lot of lies in the speech."

The MSNBC hosts credited former President Barack Obama for rising wages and the drop in unemployment, and argued Trump's withdrawal from Obama's flagship trade initiative, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, only benefited China.

"We couldn't see the audience," Ruhle said, "when they were cheering about when President Trump was talking about leaving TPP. Unless the audience was filled with Chinese people... I have no idea why they'd be cheering. Leaving TPP has absolutely not done anything for America or the American worker."

"Chinese factory workers in particular," Velshi interjected.

While Ruhle and Velshi's "fact checking" of the speech was lauded on Twitter as "devastating" or "eviscerating," the MSNBC anchors may have been just ever so slightly hyperbolic.

At CPAC, Trump spoke for just under 90 minutes. His acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention clocked in at 75 minutes, and his 2018 State of the Union was five minutes longer - just short of Bill Clinton's record.

In comparison, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro holds the Guinness World Book record for the longest speech at the UN General Assembly (4.5 hours), while his longest recorded speech in Cuba was seven hours and 10 minutes, delivered in 1986 at the party congress in Havana.

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin is not known for lengthy or meandering speeches, but for marathon annual question-and-answer sessions where he takes questions from journalists and people across Russia's 11 time zones. That being a tradition virtually unknown in the West, it's easy to see why some reporters might be confused.



Light Sabers

Another unsubstantiated nothingburger: Democrats release GOP counter-memo

Update 3: Shortly after the memo's release, Trump responded on twitter, claiming first that "The Democrat memo response on government surveillance abuses is a total political and legal BUST. Just confirms all of the terrible things that were done. SO ILLEGAL!"...

... followed by a tweet that in the "Dem Memo: FBI did not disclose who the clients were - the Clinton Campaign and the DNC. Wow!"

Comment: By publishing nonsense like this, the Democrats are rendering themselves entirely irrelevant as a political party in the US.


Telephone

Putin informs Merkel and Macron that Syrian truce doesn't apply to anti-terror ops

Russian President Vladimir Putin
© Alexei Druzhinin/TASS
Russian President Vladimir Putin
In the wake of the adoption of a UN resolution establishing a 30-day truce throughout Syria, Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the state of affairs in Syria's East Ghouta region with France's President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the humanitarian situation in the region has recently rapidly deteriorated.

During the phone conversation between the leaders, the situation in East Ghouta and problems of providing humanitarian access to this and other regions of Syria were discussed, according to the Kremlin's press service.

"Special attention was given to the fact that the cessation of military activity does not apply to the operations against terrorist groups," the Kremlin said.

Comment: See also: UN Security Council unanimously votes in favor of 30-day Syria ceasefire