Puppet Masters

Hype and the Mueller indictment

Aaron Maté
The Nation
Thu, 22 Feb 2018 00:00 UTC

Special counsel Robert Mueller has charged 13 Russian individuals and three organizations for using social media "to interfere with the U.S. political system, including the 2016 presidential election." The Russian effort denigrated Hillary Clinton, and sought to inflame divisive social issues through fake accounts on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, as well as staging political rallies. While the use of propaganda to influence a domestic audience for any purpose is troubling, the indictment offers nothing on the e-mail hacking of the DNC and John Podesta, nor on the suspicions of Kremlin collusion that have engulfed Donald Trump's presidency. Yet, far from quelling the inflamed rhetoric surrounding Russian meddling for more than a year, one of the few areas of divergence across the political spectrum comes only in regard to which historical calamity to compare it to.

Neoconservative pundit Max Boot decries

"the second-worst foreign attack on America," after 9/11, one that "may be even more corrosive."

According to liberal Jonathan Alter, the Russians have launched "an attack that-but for the loss of life-is as bad as Pearl Harbor." Democratic Representative Jerrold Nadler concurs, explaining to MSNBC:

"They didn't kill anyone but they're destroying our democratic process.... Not in the amount of violence, but in the seriousness, it is very much on par."

Comment: One upshot of the 'nothing burger bits crisis' is the crackdown on free enterprise - another freedom lost - as there is now a demand for social media sites to document and report who is buying ads. As per Asia Times:

In November, 2017, Congress unveiled legislation that would force Facebook, Google, and other social media giants to disclose who buys online advertising, thereby closing a loophole that Russia supposedly exploited during the election.

We also might remind ourselves of who and what is really swaying the news to a particular bias and end-point, emanating from the bastions of MSM.

Did Trump cut a deal and bypass the 'collusion' charge?

Mike Whitney
CounterPunch
Mon, 26 Feb 2018 00:00 UTC

Here's your legal koan for the day: When is an indictment not an indictment?

Answer: When there is no intention of initiating a criminal case against the accused. In the case of the 13 Russian trolls who have just been indicted by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, there is neither the intention nor the ability to prosecute a case against them. (They are all foreign nationals who will not face extradition.)

But, if that's the case, than why would Mueller waste time and money compiling a 37-page document alleging all-manner of nefarious conduct when he knew for certain that the alleged perpetrators would never be prosecuted? Why?

Isn't it because the indictments are not really a vehicle for criminal prosecution, but a vehicle for political grandstanding? Isn't that the real purpose of the indictments, to add another layer of dirt to the mountain of unreliable, uncorroborated, unproven allegations of Russian meddling. Mueller is not acting in his capacity as Special Counsel, he is acting in his role of deep state hatchet-man whose job is to gather scalps by any means necessary.

Bald-face liar: Israeli Major General Yoav Mordechai claims Mohammed Tamimi, 15, was not hit in the head by a bullet

Jonathan Cook
Mondoweiss
Tue, 27 Feb 2018 20:20 UTC

The Israeli army is using all means to avenge itself on the Tamimis and Nabi Saleh for their resilience and resistance, epitomized by the imprisoned girl Ahed Tamimi who slapped a soldier.

Yesterday morning, before dawn, Israeli soldiers raided the occupied village of Nabi Saleh and detained 10 members of the extended Tamimi family - half of them children.

The forces also used what is known as 'skunk water', as can be seen in local citizen-journalist Bilal Tamimi's video (provided on +972 Magazine) - which is ostensibly designed for 'crowd control', only there is no crowd. The Israeli army is using the putrid liquid, sprayed from a truck, to collectively punish Palestinians, as it has been documented doing in the past, spraying homes and schools.

Among those arrested in the night raid was 15-year-old Mohammed Tamimi, who was shot in the head at close range by a rubber-coated bullet, just before Ahed's famous slap nearly 2-1/2 months ago. Mohammed was put in a medical coma, and had part of his skull removed, which has deformed his skull. His situation is incredibly sensitive, and one wonders just why he was not spared the violence in this night raid. He was released a few hours after the arrest and after a relatively short interrogation.

Hillary Clinton's election blame-athon zeros in on Facebook

RT
Tue, 27 Feb 2018 11:45 UTC

Hillary Clinton has a new target to blame for her losing the 2016 presidential election and, surprisingly, this time it's not the Russians. According to the Democrat, Facebook is behind her failure to win the White House.

The crux of the argument is that Facebook charged the Trump campaign team less for advertising on the platform and therefore seemed to favor his candidacy. However, this is exactly how Facebook - a commercial enterprise - works: the more impressions, clicks, interactions, shares and comments a post generates, the less Facebook relatively charges the advertiser to reach people. And this is where the Trump campaign succeeded.

Simply put, team Hillary was not as social media savvy as team Trump and was therefore charged more for advertising on the platform. Former Facebook advertising staffer Antonio García Martínez explained it all in a February 23 article for Wired entitled 'How Trump Conquered Facebook - Without Russian Ads.'

"During the run-up to the election, the Trump and Clinton campaigns bid ruthlessly for the same online real estate in front of the same swing-state voters," Martinez writes. "But because Trump used provocative content to stoke social-media buzz, and he was better able to drive likes, comments, and shares than Clinton, his bids received a boost from Facebook's click model, effectively winning him more media for less money."

Comment: No surprise, Killary found another blame victim to target.

Trump: WTO is a 'catastrophe', US is losing out, needs new deal

RT
Mon, 26 Feb 2018 19:07 UTC

US President Donald Trump has labeled the World Trade Organization a "catastrophe" in a wide-ranging attack on the international trade regulator. His administration is seeking to renegotiate all US trade deals.

Speaking with US state governors at the White House on Monday, Trump said the United States loses a lot of money to Mexico and Canada as a result of the intergovernmental organization, which makes it impossible to do business.

His rhetoric about WTO echoes Trump's pronouncements on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the US, Canada and Mexico, which he has described as "the single worst trade deal ever approved," and a catastrophe for US workers and companies. Trump threatened last year to withdraw from NAFTA if the terms of 1994 agreement are not changed to favor American interests. Negotiations are underway.

Even if the US withdraws from NAFTA, it still would not be able to impose tariffs higher than five percent, because of the WTO rules.

USAF chief warns of space war 'in a matter of years'

George Dvorsky
Gizmodo
Mon, 26 Feb 2018 11:30 UTC

Speaking to an audience of active-duty airmen, US Air Force Chief of Staff General David L. Goldfein predicted it'll only be a "matter of years" before American forces find themselves "fighting from space." To prepare for this grim possibility, he said the Air Force needs new tools and a new approach to training leaders. Oh, and lots of money.

As reported by Breaking Defense, Goldfein made the comments this past Friday February 23 while delivering a speech at the Air Force Association's 34th annual Air Warfare Symposium and Technology Exposition in Orlando, Florida.

"[It's] time for us as a service, regardless of specialty badge, to embrace space superiority with the same passion and sense of ownership as we apply to air superiority today," he said.

These are some of the strongest words yet from the Air Force chief of staff to get the Pentagon thinking about space - and to recognize the U.S. Air Force as the service branch best suited for the job. "I believe we're going to be fighting from space in a matter of years," he said. "And we are the service that must lead joint war fighting in this new contested domain. This is what the nation demands."

Comment: "That's a lot of money for something we all hope the US military will never have to actually use." If they have it...they will use it. Maybe it is time for countries to bond together instead of unending repeats of "last man standing".
See also:

Amazon paid no US federal taxes despite earning $5.6B in profits in 2017

Emma Roller
Splinter
Mon, 26 Feb 2018 00:00 UTC

It’s not crazy to expect the company owned by the wealthiest man in the world pay taxes to the government that allowed it to become so successful in the first place.

Jeff Bezos is the richest person in the world, with a personal net worth of $108 billion. In 2017, Bezos' company, the internet retail giant Amazon, reportedly took in $5.6 billion in U.S. profits.

So, how much did Amazon pay in income tax on that bounty? Hang on, we're getting some news...what? What's this? Amazon effectively paid zero dollars in federal income taxes in 2017? Oh.

Amazon is projecting a $789 million windfall from Republicans' tax bill, according to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, which may have factored into its reason for witholding taxes this year. Bezos-like many other nominally liberal capitalists-claims to disagree with Donald Trump's policies, while quietly lapping up the Republicans' regressive tax breaks.

Comment:

War economy: UK has spent £1.75 billion on airstrikes in Iraq and Syria since 2014

RT
Tue, 27 Feb 2018 03:08 UTC

The UK has spent £1.75bn ($2.44bn) on air and drone strikes in Iraq and Syria as part of the US-led campaign against Islamic State, the Drone Wars UK group said, based on data it acquired through Freedom of Information requests.

Since August 2014, the Tornado, Typhoon and Reaper aircraft of the Royal Air Force have spent a total of 42,000 hours, or almost five years, in the air. That alone cost the taxpayers around £1.5 billion, Drone Wars said. The group estimates it costs £80,000 to keep the multirole fighter Typhoon airborne for 60 minutes, and the per-hour price of operating Tornado and Reaper planes stands at £35,000 and £3,500, respectively. Besides fuel, the calculations include crew, maintenance and capital costs - which are absent from official estimates.

The cost of the munitions fired by the UK warplanes and drones during Operation Shader, which is the collective name of the ongoing UK involvement in Iraq and Syria, has reached £268 million, the information received by Drone Wars UK revealed. The British pilots have carried out 1,700 airstrikes in Syria and Iraq over the last three and a half years, dropping 3,545 bombs and missiles.

Comment: That's good old-fashioned British free trade for you.

Trump announces plan to run for re-election in 2020, liberals probably already wailing in the streets

CBS News
Tue, 27 Feb 2018 19:30 UTC

© FNA
The US has deployed troops at the border between Iraq and Syria in a bid to cut off the link between the two Mideast nations, an Iraqi source said

President Donald Trump announced that he's running for re-election in 2020, and Brad Parscale, who served as the Trump campaign's 2016 digital guru, has been named campaign manager.

In an announcement posted on the president's campaign website, his son, Eric Trump, called Parscale "an amazing talent" who was "pivotal to our success in 2016." Top Trump adviser and Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner said that Parscale "was essential in bringing a disciplined technology and data-driven approach to how the 2016 campaign was run."

The news was first reported by Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report.

The president had already filed for re-election -- he filed his Form 2 paperwork with the Federal Election Commission hours after he was inaugurated over a year ago. He has also held a number of re-election campaign rallies already.

While President Trump famously relies on Twitter, Parscale relied on Facebook during Mr. Trump's presidential campaign. Parscale told CBS News' Lesley Stahl on "60 Minutes" that he spent most of the $94 million his digital marketing firm received on Facebook ads, which he said were particularly effective in targeting rural voters.

Merkel finally acknowledges existence of 'no-go' zones, vows to eliminate them

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Tue, 27 Feb 2018 18:43 UTC

Following approval from Germany's conservatives to cooperate with the Social Democrats (SPD) on several political impasses, German Chancellor Angela Merkel sat down with Germany's RTL Aktuell where she discussed a number of policy positions - including an acknowledgement of Germany's growing "no-go" zones, and the need to do something about them.

Amid a spike in crime attributed to refugees, German officials been slowly acknowledging the negative impact of the flood of migrants taken in after the destabilization of Libya and similar regions - even going so far as to offer thousands of Euros to rejected asylum seekers.

The scheme, which the government has dubbed "Your country. Your future. Now!" will run until February next year. Individual migrants can receive up to €1,000 ($1,185) if they voluntarily return home, while families can receive up to €3,000 to do the same. The assistance is meant to help reintegrate rejected asylum seekers in their home countries. -Quartz

While on the topic of keeping Germany safe, Merkel said "It's always a point to me that internal security is the state's duty, the state has the monopoly of power, the state has to make sure that people have the right to it whenever they meet and move in a public space." (translated)

Comment: So in other words, Merkel just finally got around to realizing what the purpose of the state is. What has she been thinking all these years?

Ehret an idiot beyond belief

smertzasmert

.. .. are wheel barrel sales are up too?

Jibrish

I doubt any pureblood would object to the "vaccinated" being masked, but if they (the "vaccinated") still feel unsafe then maybe their problem is...

HashAttack2

I said this would happen...now they are looking to mandate companies with less that 100 employees...shits getting real, people[Link]

Bezel Bub

it's all a lie ! :O

cracker

Puppet Masters

Hype and the Mueller indictment

Did Trump cut a deal and bypass the 'collusion' charge?

Bald-face liar: Israeli Major General Yoav Mordechai claims Mohammed Tamimi, 15, was not hit in the head by a bullet

Hillary Clinton's election blame-athon zeros in on Facebook

Trump: WTO is a 'catastrophe', US is losing out, needs new deal

USAF chief warns of space war 'in a matter of years'

Amazon paid no US federal taxes despite earning $5.6B in profits in 2017

War economy: UK has spent £1.75 billion on airstrikes in Iraq and Syria since 2014

Trump announces plan to run for re-election in 2020, liberals probably already wailing in the streets

Merkel finally acknowledges existence of 'no-go' zones, vows to eliminate them

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