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Measles are making a comeback & it's probably Russia's fault, says bombshell report


RT
Thu, 14 Feb 2019 17:46 UTC
measles
Russian trolls accused of meddling in the 2016 US presidential election may have contributed to a measles outbreak in Europe, according to an extremely logical, level-headed report from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

The State Department-funded conduit for unvarnished truth has concluded, after some diligent sleuthing, that rumblings on the internet about the alleged dangers of vaccines - and resulting health crises - are at least partly due to a coordinated disinformation campaign carried out by the Kremlin.

'Are Russian Trolls Saving Measles From Extinction?' reads the article's Louise Mensch-inspired headline.

While making its airtight case, the outlet consulted David Broniatowski, a professor at George Washington University, who claimed that trolls at the allegedly Kremlin-linked Internet Research Agency have fueled the vaccine debate in the United States and "eroded public consensus on vaccination" since 2014.
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Yoda

Ilhan Omar gives lying warmonger Elliot Abrams a well-deserved public smack down

Caitlin Johnstone
caitlinjohnstone.com
Thu, 14 Feb 2019 16:53 UTC
Elliot Abrmas Ilhan Omar
© C-SPAN
War criminal Elliot Abrams isn't happy about his public outing.
Days after being smashed with a vicious establishment vicious establishment smear campaign to paint her as an antisemite for accurately criticizing AIPAC, Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is already back on the horse aggressively disrupting the establishment narrative matrix that our rulers have worked so hard to construct for us.

Elliott Abrams is a monster. The atrocities that he has facilitated, covered up and whitewashed in Panama, El Salvador, Gaza, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Iraq are utterly unforgivable, and the fact that he has been appointed as special envoy to Venezuela by the Trump administration completely invalidates the US government's Venezuela narrative all by itself. Even without the blatant lies, the known oil agendas, the CIA ops, the mounting evidence of US arms smuggling to right-wing militias, and America's extensive history of utterly disastrous regime change interventionism, the fact that this administration would appoint such a ghoulish individual to spearhead its Venezuela interventionism alone is enough to show you that the US government has nothing but malevolent intentions for that nation.

So it was nice to see someone in that government calling him what he is right to his face in front of everybody.

Comment: Twitter errupted on both sides of the question:




More comment on Omar's gutsy move:
Omar's performance was soon trending on social media, with the congresswoman polarizing the country for the second time in a week. While critics of the US' never-ending regime-change operations cheered her on, conservatives looked askance at the Somalian immigrant's accent and her mispronunciations of several key words central to her questioning - including "Communist" and "contra." Her addressing of Abrams as "Mr. Adams" - whether intentional or not - also rubbed some people the wrong way.

...though fans pointed out that winning an election in one's second language was no mean feat.

Another critic insinuated that Omar's grilling of Abrams was motivated by anti-Semitism, bringing up accusations against the congresswoman from earlier this week.

...and Abrams' fellow neocons leaped to his defense.

But, it was pointed out, Abrams did plead guilty...

Lest anyone think Omar was being too harsh - the Contra revolution in Nicaragua was just one war, after all - another user took the time to write up a quick summary of Abrams' role in the Guatemalan civil war, as well.


At one point in the hearing, Abrams was heckled by antiwar activists from Code Pink, some of whom were physically removed from the chamber.
code pink elliot abrams
© Agence France-Presse / Getty Images / Alex Wong
House hearing on Venezuela: Military intervention no, regime change yes
CodePink protesters confront US Special Representative for Venezuela Elliott Abrams at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing in Washington, DC, February 13, 2019
Committee chair Rep. Eliot Engel (D-New York) made sure to assert congressional power to declare war and argue that the Democrat-majority House will not approve an armed intervention in Venezuela.

"I do worry about the president's saber rattling, his hints that US military intervention remains an option. I want to make clear to our witnesses and to anyone else watching: US military intervention is not an option," Engel said.

Most Democrats appeared on board with Trump's regime change policy, however, so long as it could be done quickly and cheaply. Brad Sherman (D-California) was particularly interested in making sure the US-backed government doesn't repay any of the loans Caracas has taken out from Russia, which Venezuela has been settling with oil shipments.

Meanwhile, Colombian President Ivan Duque was in Washington meeting with President Donald Trump.The two presidents released a joint statement pledging to "work with the Guaido government to restore freedom, democracy, and prosperity to Venezuela" and condemning the "illegitimate, former dictator of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro."

Last month, Trump recognized the opposition politician Guaido as president of Venezuela, in a bid to oust the elected President Maduro. So far, 51 US allies around the world have recognized Guaido.
Per Rand Paul, it looks as if the Neocons have managed to 'scurry in' to the Trump administration. Foreign policy is being forced back onto the 'right path' for the Empire.

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Chess

Russia, Iran & Turkey talk long-term Syrian peace in Sochi as US and allies beat war drums in Warsaw


RT
Thu, 14 Feb 2019 17:41 UTC
erdogan putin rouhani
© REUTERS / Tolga Bozoglu
Leaders from Russia, Turkey and Iran have descended on the Black Sea city of Sochi to discuss ways of ending Syria's near-eight-year civil war. Meanwhile, hostile talk is emerging from a meeting of the US and its allies in Warsaw.

Ahead of the talks, the Kremlin said the purpose of the convention would be to discuss potential "joint steps" that can be taken to bring about a "long-term settlement" in the war-torn country.

In addition to the joint forum, President Vladimir Putin is also holding separate talks with Turkey's Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran's Hassan Rouhani.

Speaking at the start of his meeting with Putin, President Erdogan said there was still uncertainty over Washington's plan to remove troops stationed with Kurdish forces in northern Syria. However, he added that Turkey was willing to move ahead with coordinating a possible 'safe zone' with Russia.
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Eye 2

Ex-CIA whistleblower: CIA finds MBS ordered Khashoggi hit, but don't expect Saudi-US relations to change


RT
Thu, 14 Feb 2019 17:24 UTC
mbs and trump
© Reuters / Jonathan Ernst
The CIA concluded that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered journalist Jamal Khashoggi killed, but the young ruler is there to stay, and so is the cosy US-Saudi relationship, a prominent CIA whistleblower told RT.

With enough information leaked from the CIA, the NSA, the FBI and the Turkish national intelligence organization, Kiriakou says there is little doubt among the analysts that it was Mohammed bin Salman (MBS for short) who had ordered the killing.

The CIA, for its part, concluded with "medium to high confidence" that Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul last October, and was never seen again, was tortured and murdered on orders coming from MBS.

But despite media outrage and pressure from some US lawmakers to cut off weapons sales to Riyadh, President Donald Trump is sticking by the embattled Saudi prince, and has cast doubt on the CIA's conclusions. Former CIA agent and whistleblower Kiriakou believes that US-Saudi relations are unlikely to change any time soon.
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Snakes in Suits

Amazon in its Prime: Doubles profits, pays $0 in federal income taxes


Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
Wed, 13 Feb 2019 17:17 UTC
Amazon & flag
© Getty Images/Igor Golovniov/SOPA Images
Amazon, the ubiquitous purveyor of two-day delivery of just about everything, nearly doubled its profits to $11.2 billion in 2018 from $5.6 billion the previous year and, once again, didn't pay a single cent of federal income taxes.

The company's newest corporate filing reveals that, far from paying the statutory 21 percent income tax rate on its U.S. income in 2018, Amazon reported a federal income tax rebate of $129 million. For those who don't have a pocket calculator handy, that works out to a tax rate of negative 1 percent. The fine print of Amazon's income tax disclosure shows that this achievement is partly due to various unspecified "tax credits" as well as a tax break for executive stock options.

This isn't the first year that the cyber-retailing giant has avoided federal taxes. Last year, the company paid no federal corporate income taxes on $5.6 billion in U.S. income.
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Vader

US warns the world against buying Venezuelan oil

Tsvetana Paraskova
oilprice.com
Wed, 13 Feb 2019 17:14 UTC
venezuela oil
© Reuters / Isaac Urrutia
US National Security Advisor John Bolton has warned countries and companies against buying crude oil from Venezuela, after the Latin American country said it wants to sell more oil to the fast-growing Indian market.

In a tweet with a Bloomberg article on Venezuelan-Indian oil relations attached, Bolton wrote: "Nations and firms that support Maduro's theft of Venezuelan resources will not be forgotten. The United States will continue to use all of its powers to preserve the Venezuelan people's azsets and we encourage all nations to work together to do the same."

"We have a good relationship with India and we want to continue this relationship. The relationships with India will continue, the trade will continue and we will simply expand all the trade and relationship," Indian outlet Business Today quoted the Venezuelan minister as saying on the sidelines of the Petrotech conference in India this week.

Comment: Does the rest of the world even bother listening to the empty proclamations of the dying American Empire anymore?

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Stormtrooper

Totalitarianism: Investigation finds US police shoot 1,000 people dead every year


RT
Thu, 14 Feb 2019 17:10 UTC
police
© Reuters / Elijah Nouvelage
A new investigation has revealed that no matter the circumstances, American cops shoot almost 1,000 people dead every year.

The line between life and death can be crossed in a split second, as was the case with 20-year-old Willie McCoy on Saturday night. Police came upon the amateur rapper sleeping in his car with a handgun on his lap outside a Taco Bell in Vallejo, California. Officers drew their weapons when McCoy stirred and woke up, and ordered him to "keep his hands visible."

When McCoy allegedly moved his hands towards his weapon, the officers opened fire. McCoy died on the scene.

Saturday's shooting was just one of the almost 1,000 fatal police-involved shootings that take place in the United States every year, according to data compiled by the Washington Post. As everything else changes, that number remains the same. 998 people were shot and killed by cops last year, up from 987 in 2017. 963 people were shot and killed by police in 2016, and 995 in 2015.

45 percent of these victims were white males, while 23 percent were black males. 96 percent of the victims were armed, half of these with guns, and 25 percent were in "mental distress" at the time of their shooting. Only five percent were women.

Comment: For comparison, Chinese police officers kill about 4 people per year.

In 2017, US police actually killed 1,147 citizens, according to the Mapping Police Violence report. Officers were charged with a crime in just 13 of these cases - about 1% of all killings.

Just in case American readers don't know this: it's not normal...

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USA

Is Tulsi Gabbard for real? America is ready for a genuine peace candidate

Philip Giraldi
Strategic Culture Foundation
Thu, 14 Feb 2019 21:55 UTC
tulsi
© Flickr
The lineup of Democrats who have already declared themselves as candidates for their party's presidential nomination in 2020 is remarkable, if only for the fact that so many wannabes have thrown their hats in the ring so early in the process. In terms of electability, however, one might well call the seekers after the highest office in the land the nine dwarfs. Four of the would-be candidates - Marianne Williamson a writer, Andrew Yang an entrepreneur, Julian Castro a former Obama official, Senator Amy Klobuchar and Congressman John Delaney - have no national profiles at all and few among the Democratic Party rank-and-file would be able to detail who they are, where they come from and what their positions on key issues might be.

Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts has a national following but she also has considerable baggage. The recent revelation that she falsely described herself as "American Indian" back in 1986 for purposes of career advancement, which comes on top of similar reports of more of the same as well as other resume-enhancements that surfaced when she first became involved in national politics, prompted Donald Trump to refer to her as "Pocahontas."

Warren, who is largely progressive on social and domestic issues, has been confronted numerous times regarding her views on Israel/Palestine and beyond declaring that she favors a "two state solution" has been somewhat reticent. She should be described as pro-Israel for the usual reasons and is not reliably anti-war. She comes across as a rather more liberal version of Hillary Clinton.
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Brick Wall

Trump: I'll find sources outside Congress for border wall money

Pete Kasperowicz
Washington Examiner
Thu, 14 Feb 2019 11:11 UTC
Donald Trump
© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
President Trump said Tuesday night that he'll find sources of money for his border wall other than Congress, which has reached a tentative deal to give him $1.375 billion for border barriers.

"Was just presented the concept and parameters of the Border Security Deal by hard working Sen. Richard Shelby," Trump tweeted. "Looking over all aspects knowing that this will be hooked up with lots of money from other sources."

"Will be getting almost $23 BILLION for Border Security," he added. "Regardless of Wall money, it is being built as we speak!"
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Chess

About time! EU finally adds Saudi Arabia to terrorism financing list


Daily Sabah
Thu, 14 Feb 2019 11:11 UTC
Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
© Nicolas Asfouri Pool/Getty Images
Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman attends the G20 opening ceremony at the Hangzhou International
The European Commission added Saudi Arabia, Panama and other jurisdictions to a blacklist of nations that pose a threat to the bloc because of lax controls against terrorism financing and money laundering, the EU executive said Wednesday.

In total 23 jurisdictions are listed. They are Afghanistan, American Samoa, the Bahamas, Botswana, North Korea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guam, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Puerto Rico, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Syria, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, U.S. Virgin Islands and Yemen.

Bosnia-Herzegovina, Guyana, Laos, Uganda and Vanuatu were removed from the list.
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