Puppet Masters

Trump: 'Very large Phase One Deal' agreed with China

RT
Fri, 13 Dec 2019 15:32 UTC

The United States and China have reached a "very large" trade deal, President Donald Trump has announced. The accord will see China step up its imports of American products, and could end a two-year trade war.

The president claimed that under the agreement, China will make "massive purchases of Agricultural Product, Energy, and Manufactured Goods, plus much more," later specifying to reporters that he predicted the country would purchase over $50 billion in US agricultural products.

"The farmers are going to have to go out and buy much larger tractors" because China is going to be buying so many American farm goods, Trump quipped.

The agreement will increase China's US imports by $200 billion over a two-year period in the agriculture, manufacturing, energy, and services sectors, according to US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer. Agriculture in particular is set to get a boost of $16 billion in the first year alone, up from 2017's baseline of $24 billion, and China has agreed to aim for Trump's goal of $50 billion. The deal also includes binding changes to some undesirable trade practices; for example, US companies will no longer be pressured to transfer technology to China. Lower tariffs will take effect 30 days after the deal is signed.

Comment: UPDATE: RT, 13/12/2019: Reports of US-China deal, stock markets surge

Washington was expected to impose 15 percent duties on $160 billion of Chinese consumer products such as smartphones, laptops, other electronics and clothes. The levies were set to take effect on Sunday. The White House has offered to scrap those duties.

China stayed silent on whether the two sides had reached a deal, with the Foreign Ministry's spokeswoman Hua Chunying saying on Friday that an "agreement has to be mutually beneficial."

Asian stock markets rallied on Friday following the reports and in reaction to US market gains.The Hang Seng and Nikkei both gained 2.6 percent, while the Shanghai Composite was up 1.78 percent. US stocks gained for the second straight session on Friday to reach new record highs on the news.

Chinese officials are set to hold a press conference regarding the trade talks on Friday, at 10:30 p.m. Beijing time (2:30 p.m. GMT).

UPDATE: RT, 13/12/2019: US to remove tariffs 'phase-by-phase', China to cancel tax hikes

The two nations have also reached an agreement to crack down on counterfeit goods and intellectual property theft, Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen added.

China would import more US wheat, corn, and other agricultural products under the new trade agreement, Vice Agricultural Minister Qu Dongyu said, reassuring media that these imports would not create "shocks" to Chinese agriculture.

While Trump declared negotiations for phase two of the trade deal will begin "immediately," Chinese authorities cautioned that negotiations for the second stage will depend on how phase one is implemented. Both parties are still discussing when and where to sign the initial phase of the deal.

House Judiciary Committee sheds crocodile tears over 'solemn and sad day', votes to impeach Trump after sham hearing

Rebecca Shabad
NBC News
Fri, 13 Dec 2019 19:52 UTC

The measures, charging abuse of power and obstruction of Congress by the president, now go to the full House for passage.

The House Judiciary Committee, in a historic vote that fell along party lines, approved articles of impeachment Friday against President Donald Trump, charging he abused his power as president and obstructed Congress.

"Today is a solemn and sad day," Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., said after the vote in brief remarks. "For the third time in a little over a century and a half, the House Judiciary Committee has voted articles of impeachment against the president for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. The House will act expeditiously."

The measures, which will most likely be voted on by the full House on Wednesday, were passed by the committee after weeks of damaging testimony about Trump's alleged conduct from past and present diplomats and other government officials, as well as legal scholars. They asserted the president had improperly withheld security aid to Ukraine for political reasons, including seeking an investigation of the Bidens.

Comment: Trump says to bring it on:

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Friday, Trump said that he "wouldn't mind" a drawn-out impeachment process, and would like to see the whistleblower whose complaint against him kickstarted the proceedings.

"I'll do whatever I want...we did nothing wrong, so I'll do long or short," Trump said. "I'd like to see the whistleblower, who is a fraud."

"By the way, where's the second whistleblower?" Trump added, citing "corrupt media" reports that a second official had emerged with evidence of his wrongdoing. "We're dealing with a lot of very corrupt people."

"To use the power of impeachment for this nonsense, it's an embarrassment to the country."

"The people are disgusted by the vote," the president added, before warning that impeachment could one day be turned on its current proponents, were a Democrat to take power and a Republican-controlled House remember the Democrats' example.

A Senate trial will allow Trump to call his own witnesses, which was denied to the House Republicans during the impeachment hearings to date.

Liverpool ex-beauty queen found guilty of funding terrorism

LIzzie Dearden
The Independent
Fri, 13 Dec 2019 19:02 UTC

A former beauty queen has been found guilty of funding terrorism after sending her online "husband" £35.

Amaani Noor had attempted to join the Islamist fighter in Syria and prosecutors accused her of supporting violent jihad and sharia law.

The 21-year-old told Liverpool Crown Court she had become increasingly religious after breaking up with her ex-boyfriend, who was a Premier League footballer at the time.

She entered beauty competitions and became a finalist in the Miss Teen Great Britain pageant in 2014.

Noor said she had begun to focus on her religion after her relationship with a footballer in the "public eye" ended when she was 18.

Comment: Ms. Noor should count her blessings that she was only convicted of giving money to a terrorist organization while still in the UK. Her fate could have been much worse if she had gone to join her "husband".

Dems up the crazy: Invoke image of Zelensky's 15yo daughter 'DUCT-TAPED in Trump's basement' during increasingly surreal impeachment hearing

RT
Fri, 13 Dec 2019 18:18 UTC

In one of the strangest moments of the ongoing impeachment row in Washington, Democratic Congressman Hank Johnson asked fellow lawmakers to imagine the teenage daughter of Ukraine's president tied up in Trump's basement.

As the long hours of debate wore on during Thursday's impeachment hearing in the House Judiciary Committee, Johnson, a Georgia Democrat, argued there existed an "imbalance of power" between President Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart, offering a bizarre metaphor.

"They're standing there, President Trump is holding court. And he says, 'Oh, by the way, no pressure.' And you saw President Zelensky shaking his head as if his daughter was downstairs in the basement, duct-taped," Johnson said, drawing laughter from the room.

Comment: It illustrates the Democratic mindset that even when the principals on the Ukraine call are in agreement("no pressue") they simply won't/can't comprehend it. The results become wilder and wilder such as the above.It right on par with Schiff's ridiculous "parody" reading of the Trump-Zelensky call transcript.

Biden bashes influence of billionaires while relying on their money

Haris Alic
Breitbart
Thu, 12 Dec 2019 06:23 UTC

Former Vice President Joe Biden is bashing the outsize influence billionaires are having on the race for the 2020 Democrat nomination, despite his own campaign relying heavily upon their money.

In a fundraising email sent to supporters on Thursday, Biden's campaign excoriated two of his Democrat rivals for using their personal fortunes to underwrite their presidential ambitions. The email, titled "the billionaires are coming," took direct aim at Tom Steyer and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg for spending heavily to "saturate your airwaves and news feeds."

In particular, Biden's campaign lambasted Steyer for using his fortune to gain access to the Democrat debates, while attacking Bloomberg for skipping early primaries and spending $100 million in delegate-heavy Super Tuesday states.

"One billionaire is buying his way onto the Democrat debate stage, and one is buying his way out of it," Biden's campaign wrote, before proceeding to argue both billionaires were undermining "how democracy is supposed to work."

The former vice president's attack on the influence Steyer and Bloomberg are having is surprising given the fact his own campaign has relied heavily on billionaires to underwrite his White House hopes.

Comment: Biden is as crooked and creepy as they come:

Germany warns US against interfering in EU affairs, rejects sanctions threats

RT
Thu, 12 Dec 2019 12:03 UTC

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas has lashed out at Washington over continued attempts to derail Nord Stream 2, a project that will deliver Russian gas to Germany. He said Berlin "rejects on principle" extraterritorial sanctions.

"European energy policy is decided in Europe, not in the US," the German official said in a tweet responding to a Spiegel report on Washington's eleventh hour attempts to stop Nord Stream 2. The pipeline will deliver Russian natural gas directly to Germany. Berlin sees it as essential to national energy security, but Washington has been working for years to undermine it.

The irritation with Washington's habit of telling other nations what they should and shouldn't do has been building up in Berlin, which is increasingly defying US instructions. Backing the Russian pipeline, which will help Russia to meet Western European fuel needs and deny a market share to more costly American liquefied natural gas (LNG), is just one example.

Comment: See also:

Conservatives win by landslide in UK election: PM Boris promises to 'get Brexit done'

RT
Fri, 13 Dec 2019 17:19 UTC

© Pool via REUTERS / Ben Stansall
Britain's Prime Minister and Conservative party leader Boris Johnson poses with a sledgehammer, after hammering a "Get Brexit Done" sign into the garden of a supporter, in South Benfleet, Britain December 11, 2019.

Boris Johnson's promise to finally deliver Brexit resulted in a blowout victory at the polls, analysts told RT, noting that the Labour Party failed to recognize that it was a one-issue election.

Parliament's foot-dragging over leaving the EU propelled the Tories past their political rivals during Thursday's snap election, argued Alastair Donald, associate director of the Academy of Ideas.

The people have stood up to a huge amount of pressure over the past three or four years to either overturn the results or to have a second referendum. They've stood up to that pressure and they've said 'we want Brexit to be done'.

Comment: Whether they'll actually get it or not is another question. It's unlikely they'll get anything but Brexit in name only.

He pointed out that even "democratically-minded Remainers" voted for Johnson, amid growing anger at Labour and the Liberal Democrats for trying to stonewall Brexit.

Poor policy choices by the opposition bolstered Johnson's popularity at the polls, Journalist Neil Clark said.

Labour made a huge error by not supporting Boris Johnson's Brexit deal in Parliament... and then, the election which came after that would not be about Brexit, because Brexit would have been achieved.

With votes still being counted, the Tories passed the majority threshold on Friday morning.

Comment: Initial exit polls projected a win of 368 seats (a majority of 80+), with Labour losing 71 seats down to 191. But the Scottish National Party was projected to pick up another 20 seats, up to 55 (current results are 364, 202, 48 seats, respectively):

The election has been described as the "dirtiest" ever in terms of shady campaign tactics. It has also been one in which some major national issues have faded into the background as the unresolved Brexit dilemma still hangs over the UK.

Some voters were even willing to switch political parties based on Brexit stance alone, causing significant worry to both camps.

"I cautioned for the last two years that Labour would be doomed if they turned their back on their traditional supporters, who supported Brexit strongly," George Galloway, a former Labour MP, told RT.

Socialist journalist Owen Jones is 'devastated':

Farage says he's 'comfortable' with not winning any seats for the Brexit Party, as long as the UK gets Brexit:

Corbyn announced that while he would be leading Labour for now, it won't be to the next election:

"This is obviously a very disappointing night for the Labour Party with the result that we've got," Jeremy Corbyn said after winning his north London electoral seat.
I will not lead the party in any future general election campaign.
However, acknowledging that the party needs some time to reflect on the failure, Corbyn said he would continue to lead the party during this hard period.

"The pressure on those surrounding politicians is often very, very high indeed," Corbyn said, thinking his staff. "The media intrusion on people's lives is very high indeed, and the attacks that take place against the families and loved ones of politicians continue, and they're disgraceful, and frankly they are disgusting."

Johnson promises to "respect the democratic will of the British people" and "get Brexit done, and not just to get Brexit done but to unite this country and take it forward, and to focus on the priorities of the British people." His speech:

He also promised special attention to the NHS:

Trump's message to Johnson:

For the first time in Northern Ireland's history, voters elected more nationalists than pro-British unionists:

Sinn Féin, the largest nationalist party, held on to its seven seats with the fellow pro-Irish Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) winning two seats, combining to overtake the Democratic Unionist Party who lost two, leaving them with just eight seats.

The cross-community Alliance Party, which has moved to a position of neutrality on the union won the final constituency, meaning anti-Brexit MPs now form the majority in Northern Ireland.

It's the first time in Northern Ireland's history, since the partition of the island of Ireland in 1921, that Irish nationalists outnumber pro-British unionists in the UK parliament. It could lead to more calls for a vote on Irish reunification, with British PM Boris Johnson winning a massive majority across the union.

And over in Scotland, the SNP is projected to use their electoral gains to stage another independence referendum.

The Uyghur issue: How can the US dare to lecture China about the rights of Muslims?

Andre Vltchek
Dissident Voice
Tue, 10 Dec 2019 00:00 UTC

In 2019, I have written a long analysis about "the Uyghur issue"; analysis which will be soon published as a book.

For some time, I have been warning the world that the West, and the United States in particular, are helping to radicalize the Uyghurs in Xinjiang Province and outside.

And not only that: I clearly mapped movement of the Uyghur radicals through some countries like Indonesia, towards Turkey, from where they are then injected into brutal war zones like Idlib in Syria. I worked in Idlib area, with the Syrian commanders, and I spoke at length with the Syrian internally displaced people; victims of the Uyghur genocidal attacks.

The majority of Uyghur people are Muslims. They have their own, ancient, specific culture and most of them are, of course, very decent human beings. Northwest China is their home.

The "problem" is that Urumqi, Xinjiang, are located on the main branch of BRI (The Belt and Road Initiative) - an extremely optimistic, internationalist project which is ready to connect billions of people on all continents. The BRI is infrastructural as well as cultural project, which will soon pull hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and under-development.

Comment: When multiple sources outside the influence of Washington observe and share the China-Uyghur story with actual facts on the ground it certainly sounds A LOT different:

Trump's order to combat anti-Semitism makes Israel sacrosanct, sets a dangerous precedent that could rebound on Jews

Finian Cunningham
RT
Fri, 13 Dec 2019 13:37 UTC

President Trump claims to be protecting American Jews from anti-Semitism by signing an executive order this week. But it's nothing of the sort. It's a cynical attempt to shut down criticism of Israeli state violations.

What he is doing, however, is setting a dangerous precedent which may end up fueling acts of hatred against Jews.

Trump's executive ruling conflates two things: it effectively bestows on the Jewish religion a national or race identity and the rights thereof; secondly, the presidential order equates criticism of the Israeli state with anti-Semitism.

Henceforth, the US government can penalize federally funded academic institutions where courses or activities critical of Israel are identified by invoking existing civil rights laws protecting nations or races from discrimination. In the name of combating anti-Semitism, universities, colleges, and schools could be deprived of federal funds.

This will have a gagging impact on education, debate and free speech under the guise of supposedly protecting Jews from discrimination. Trump's move has grave implications for the constitutional rights of all American citizens.

Comment:

US pressures India with sanctions over citizenship curb for Muslims

Devjyot Ghoshal
Reuters
Tue, 10 Dec 2019 19:30 UTC

A policeman removes burning tires set ablaze by demonstrators during the strike to protest against Citizenship Amendment Bill (CAB), a bill that seeks to give citizenship to religious minorities persecuted in neighbouring Muslim countries, in Guwahati, India, December 10

A federal panel on religion has urged the United States to weigh sanctions against India's Home Minister Amit Shah if the south Asian nation adopts legislation to exclude Muslims from a path to citizenship for religious minorities from its neighbors.

Shah is a close associate of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose Hindu nationalist-led government is seen by critics as pushing an agenda that undermines the secular foundations of India's democracy.

On Tuesday, parliament's lower house approved the measure covering citizenship for non-Muslim minorities, specifically Buddhists, Christians, Hindus, Jains, Parsis and Sikhs, who fled Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan before 2015.

Link to the video on YT: [Link]

Jean Michel

It was probably vaccine hesitancy that killed the mammoths!

sbc

Parts shortages been happening for generations. For example how many spineless and brainless people ya know?

sbc

So shouldnt the Garland order now be rescinded? They just said they were coached into writing the letter in such a way that it was disengenuous...

sbc

There are some interesting 'coincidences' with this murder case in Moab: [Link] Kylen Schulte, the younger lady, worked at the Moonflower cafe...

Jean Michel

Puppet Masters

Trump: 'Very large Phase One Deal' agreed with China

House Judiciary Committee sheds crocodile tears over 'solemn and sad day', votes to impeach Trump after sham hearing

Liverpool ex-beauty queen found guilty of funding terrorism

Dems up the crazy: Invoke image of Zelensky's 15yo daughter 'DUCT-TAPED in Trump's basement' during increasingly surreal impeachment hearing

Biden bashes influence of billionaires while relying on their money

Germany warns US against interfering in EU affairs, rejects sanctions threats

Conservatives win by landslide in UK election: PM Boris promises to 'get Brexit done'

The Uyghur issue: How can the US dare to lecture China about the rights of Muslims?

Trump's order to combat anti-Semitism makes Israel sacrosanct, sets a dangerous precedent that could rebound on Jews

US pressures India with sanctions over citizenship curb for Muslims

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