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WikiLeaks vs. Donald Rumsfeld's Lies: An Eyewitness Account

Greg Mitchell
HuffPost
Wed, 25 May 2011 19:25 UTC
Donald Rumsfeld
© Agence France-Presse
Donald Rumsfeld
The new memoir by former Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld has drawn wide criticism for his failure to accept any blame on the Iraq and Afghanistan fiascoes, and his claims that when he and others promoted falsehoods about Iraq WMD they were merely minor "misstatements," not lies. But among his other misdeeds was offering misleading statements to the American public about the progress of the war in Iraq, often blaming journalists for being far too critical.

WikiLeaks' massive "war logs" release on Iraq last October exposed Rumsfeld in this regard over and over, but were quickly forgotten by mainstream journalists — even though the material was not "political" or even from the media but rather from U.S. soldiers on the ground. That's one reason I cover them in-depth (along with all the other WIkiLeaks releases and current controversies) in my new book The Age of WikiLeaks.

Comment: Another neocon warmonger down. But his evil actions reverberate to this day.

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Briefcase

Supreme Court: Ordering charities to disclose donor info violates the First Amendment

Alex Swoyer
Washington Times
Thu, 01 Jul 2021 16:09 UTC
supreme court
© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
US Supreme Court
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the state of California ran afoul of the First Amendment by ordering charities to disclose the names and addresses of donors.

The 6-3 ruling is a win for advocates of privacy rights and the freedom of association.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. delivered the opinion for the court, joined by the other five conservative justices.

"Our cases have said that disclosure requirements can chill association," he wrote. "The disclosure requirement 'creates an unnecessary risk of chilling' in violation of the First Amendment."

The three Democratic appointees disagreed with the ruling.
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Black Cat 2

Jill Biden met by HUGE PROTEST during jab tour in Phoenix, Arizona - no visit to election audit site only two miles away

Jordan Conradson
The Gateway Pundit
Thu, 01 Jul 2021 19:10 UTC
jill biden vax speech live stream

Enthusiastic audience for "Dr. Jill's" livestream
On Wednesday, First Lady Jill Biden and Second Gentleman Doug Emhoff toured the Isaac Middle School vaccination clinic in Phoenix, Arizona. This was their last stop on the Vaccine Month of Action Tour, an effort to make "every single person in America" get the jab.

They were just 2.2 miles down the street from the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, home of the historic Arizona audit. They should really tour that facility.

Comment: It's clear Jill's been tasked with the assignments Sleepy Joe is incapable of handling, in the hopes she is slightly more likeable than Kamala. It's not working.

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X

Xi Jinping has made it very clear: The days of the West bullying China are gone for good

Tom Fowdy
RT
Thu, 01 Jul 2021 13:38 UTC
Xi Jinping
© tiibetanreview.net
President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping
China's growing confidence was highlighted in a thunderous speech by Xi Jinping at an event to mark the Communist Party's centenary, at which he promised the country would no longer be oppressed by foreign powers.

If anyone needed a marker of where China has come from, where it is now, and where it is heading, it came at Thursday's event celebrating the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party (CPC), where Xi Jinping made a defiant address. Xi stated:
"no one should underestimate the resolve, the will, and ability of the Chinese people to defend their national sovereignty and territorial integrity. We will never allow anyone to bully, oppress, or subjugate China," adding that anyone who tries to do so would "have their heads bashed bloody against the Great Wall of Steel forged by over 1.4 billion Chinese people."
He also praised the accomplishment of a "moderately prosperous society," reflecting on China's rapid economic development.

The West might be keen to dismiss all this as propaganda, yet China's trajectory speaks for itself. While the speech did not cover the disruptions along the way - including the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, both inflicted on the country by Mao Zedong's power struggles and ideological adventurism - the message was clear: what the CPC has delivered is both credible and substantial.
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Stop

More than 100 groups call for Biden to cease 'unlawful' drone strikes, saying it's a 'human rights and racial justice imperative'


RT
Wed, 30 Jun 2021 16:31 UTC
Biden NATO
© Reuters/Kevin Lamarque
US President Joe Biden • NATO
A total of 113 organizations have called on President Joe Biden to "disavow" and end overseas drone strikes carried out by the US government, saying it is imperative to both ending "forever wars" and "promoting racial justice."

Numerous anti-war and human rights organizations, including ones from countries including Yemen and Somalia, have attached their names to the letter, which was released on Wednesday and organized by the Human Rights and Security Coalition.
The groups praise Biden's promise to end the "forever wars" in the Middle East - though his administration abandoned former president Donald Trump's set goal of leaving Afghanistan by May and delayed the withdrawal. They also laud Biden's administration for "promoting racial justice" and "centering human rights in US foreign policy."

"Disavowing and ending" the US' drone strikes, however, is "imperative" in meeting previously set commitments to the goals the administration has set, the letter argues.
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Arrow Up

Supreme Court sides with GOP and upholds Arizona voting rules Democrats called discriminatory

Tucker Higgins
CNBC
Thu, 01 Jul 2021 10:03 UTC
Protest/Supreme Ct
© Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images
Protesters outside the Supreme Court
The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled 6-3 along partisan lines to uphold Arizona voting rules supported by Republicans that Democrats alleged unlawfully discriminated against the state's Native American, Hispanic and Black voters.

The case concerned two Arizona voting rules that a federal appeals court found to be in violation of the Voting Rights Act, citing their disproportionate impact on minorities. In an opinion for the court's majority, Justice Samuel Alito said that neither rule violated the civil rights law.

One of the measures, known as the "out-of-precinct policy," disqualifies ballots cast in the wrong precinct on Election Day. The other measure, known as the "ballot collection law," forbids most people except for family members to collect and deliver ballots to the polls. Republicans often refer to third-party ballot collection as ballot harvesting.
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Airplane Paper

Is Harvard sacrificing science for wokeness?

Christopher Sanfilippo
RealClear Science
Wed, 30 Jun 2021 00:00 UTC
Harvard
© AP/Elise Amendola
Harvard University
There is a cultural shift underway affecting all aspects of American life. Though hard to define, it usually takes the form of an emphasis on what is known variously as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), critical race theory, wokeness, anti-racism, and the like. Several scholars and writers have been raising the alarm about its anti-intellectual and illiberal aspects. Heather Mac Donald has shown how it has permeated the university. Is there reason to be suspicious?

One might suspect that the new ideology only affects intrinsically political areas of study, such as Government and History. But in fact it has infected every area, even science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Below is a sampling of new policies at Harvard that reveal how this ideology is affecting STEM education:

Comment: Harvard is annihilating everything its previous reputation had built.
See also:

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Hammer

Judicial ruling: Just 152 official deaths from Covid in Portugal

Kent Halliburton
kenth.substack.com
Mon, 28 Jun 2021 00:00 UTC
Lisbon
© AP/Armando Franca
Lisbon, Portugal • January, 2021
Our family spent some time with Swedish friends yesterday, showing them around Sintra. As we would move from car to building, I would have to remind to have masks handy. See, in Sweden, they aren't required to use masks. Our guests are not habituated to mask-wearing like the rest of us in the western world. There were guidelines implemented to reduce risks, some folks were asked to work from home, and general precautions were given, but it was nowhere near the heavy-handed approach most of the western world implemented. Official data shows Sweden had FEWER deaths than Portugal, despite the lockdowns Portugal implemented. Listening to our friends speak about the differences between Portugal and Sweden's COVID response was fascinating and infuriating.

But things took a decidedly darker twist when a friend from Canada sent a report about Portugal. The report links to a Judicial ruling stating that only 152 death certificates in Portugal list COVID as the cause of death. You heard correctly. 152 COVID deaths in Portugal from January 1, 2020, to April 18, 2021, not 15,000, as is popularly understood. If you're like me, you're not going to take this statement at face value. So here's a link to the Judicial ruling. Section III.1, Item 4 is the damning bit of the report.

Comment: That's a more realistic Covid-19 'death toll'. Extrapolated out globally, no one 'died from Covid'. This also explains why the average age of death is at - or even above - each country's average life expectancy. Covid-19 has no discernible impact on mortality rates...

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Bizarro Earth

Bill Cosby rape case thrown out due to 'prosecutor's agreement', BBC News forced to apologise for report mixing up name with Bill Clinton

Daniel Welsh
BBC
Thu, 01 Jul 2021 09:16 UTC
Cosby
© Michael Abbott via Getty Images
Bill Cosby and his attorney speaking to reporters on Wednesday
BBC News presenter Huw Edwards was forced to apologise during Wednesday night's programme after a reporter mistakenly referred to Bill Clinton in a report on Bill Cosby's release from prison.

BBC reporter Michelle Fleury spoke live from Philadelphia following the news that a high court had thrown out Cosby's sexual assault conviction, leading to his early release from prison.

However, during her report, Fleury mistakenly told viewers: "For the last two years this is where Bill Clinton has called home but tonight he will sleep in his own bed after the bombshell decision by Pennsylvania to overturn his conviction of sexual assault."

Comment: If Bill Cosby is guilty of the assault he should be charged, regardless of any agreement a prosecutor made. As an aside, it's notable that the reporter mixed him up with another high profile name, Bill Clinton, who has been dogged by sexual assault allegations:

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Light Saber

Assange's shameful treatment shows just how the US exploits fear to silence dissent... as Tara Reade found out, too

Tara Reade
RT
Thu, 01 Jul 2021 17:22 UTC
assange leave court
© Reuters / Simon Dawson
WikiLeaks' founder Julian Assange leaves Westminster Magistrates Court in London, Britain January 13, 2020.
As Julian Assange turns 50 in a UK prison cell, it's a stark reminder how America treats those who legitimately question its activities. The aim is to silence people - even those reporting the crimes of established politicians.

There are a handful of political prisoners who have really captured the attention of our generation, and Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, is among the most prominent. His intentions have always been noble. "By bringing out into the public domain how human institutions actually behave, we can understand frankly, to a degree, for the first time the civilization that we actually have," he has said.

Alongside others like Edward Snowden and Chelsea Manning, Assange - an Australian citizen - has been persecuted for making known to the public things America wants to keep quiet, such as details of war crimes and the country's surveillance state.

Comment:

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