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Eye 1

UK gov threatens to close beaches, reimpose lockdown

Thomas Burrows
The Sun
Fri, 26 Jun 2020 00:10 UTC
uk beach
© Getty Images - Getty
Tens of thousands of Brits squeezed onto the beach at Bournemouth
HEALTH Secretary Matt Hancock has threatened to shut beaches if social distancing measures are ignored after a major incident was declared in Bournemouth yesterday.


Comment: How Orwellian has the UK become when the government declares a busy day at the beach a 'major incident'? As if it was a crime.


Thousands of Brits squeezed onto the sand at Bournemouth for the hottest day of the year as temperatures reached 33.4C.

Roads leading to the coast were gridlocked, cars were dumped at the roadside and tons of litter was left strewn across the popular resort.


Comment: Cars were 'dumped' at the roadside? Does The Sun mean they were parked? Because it's likely families on a day out to the beach would want to retrieve their cars later so they can drive home...


Comment: RT has collated some responses from Twitter:





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War Whore

"Excess of arrogance": US sanctions five Iranian ship captains for bringing oil to Venezuela

Humeyra Pamuk
Reuters
Fri, 26 Jun 2020 18:02 UTC
Pompeo
© Mangel Ngan/Pool via REUTERS
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo gives a news conference about dealings with China and Iran, and on the fight against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Washington, U.S., June 24, 2020.
The United States on Wednesday imposed sanctions on five Iranian ship captains who delivered oil to Venezuela, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo reaffirmed Washington's backing for Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido.

Speaking at a news conference, Pompeo said the ships delivered about 1.5 million barrels of Iranian gasoline and related components, and warned mariners against doing business with the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whose ouster Washington seeks.

"As a result of today's sanctions, these captains' assets will be blocked. Their careers and prospects will suffer from this designation," Pompeo said in a statement later.
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Footprints

Trump claims the redeployment of US troops from Germany to Poland is a 'signal' to Russia. But is it just a tempest in a teapot?

Scott Ritter
RT
Thu, 25 Jun 2020 14:43 UTC
US Army guys
© AFP/Natalia
Camouflage: US Army's 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Div., Zagan, Poland.
President Trump has announced that thousands of US troops will be redeployed to Poland as part of a drawdown of US forces in Germany. However, this plan's a political hot potato, and its future is very much in doubt.

The Rose Garden provided the backdrop for the visit of Polish President Andrzej Duda, the first by a foreign head of state to the US since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. At a joint press conference, President Trump addressed reports that the US was planning to withdraw some 9,500 troops from Germany. "We're going to be reducing our forces in Germany," Trump said. "Some will be coming home, and some will be going to other places."

For his part, President Duda spoke up in defense of a US military presence in Europe, noting that any effort to send all of the troops scheduled to be pulled out from Germany back to the US
"would be very detrimental to European security," adding "It's deeply justified to ensure that US troops are left in Europe. Tthe American presence since the end of World War II is a huge security guarantee. If I'm asked by anybody [whether] Poland [would] receive more US troops in our country, [I'd say] of course, I'm ready."
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Fire

Democrats are seething: Trump says they're 'more unreasonable' than N. Korea, China or Russia!


RT
Thu, 25 Jun 2020 23:54 UTC
TrumpPutinXiKim
© Getty Images/KJN
President Donald Trump, Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping, Leader Kim Jong-un
US President Donald Trump paid the opposition Democrats a backhanded compliment, saying in a speech that they were tougher to deal with and "far more unreasonable" than the governments of North Korea, China or Russia.
"The Democrats in the USA are much tougher to deal with than any of these people that we deal with. They're far more unreasonable. And actually, they're a little crazy."
Trump made the comment as part of an anecdote during an address at the Fincantieri Marinette Marine in Wisconsin on Friday, prompting the DNC war room to accuse him of having "no idea what it means to be president" and daring to compare them to "murderous authoritarians" in Pyongyang, Beijing and Moscow.

Comment: At least Russia, China and North Korea find it reasonable to negotiate - unlike the hysterical Democrats: a locked cause producing little effect.

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Arrow Down

An 'anti-Semitic conspiracy theory' tweet undoes Long-Bailey, booted from UK Labour shadow cabinet


RT
Thu, 25 Jun 2020 17:30 UTC
Rebecca Long-Bailey
© Reuters/Hannah McKay
The Labour Party's Keir Starmer and Rebecca Long-Bailey in London, Britain, April 9, 2019.
The UK Labour Party's "anti-Semitism crisis" has claimed another victim, as shadow education secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey is fired for sharing an article containing a so-called "anti-Semitic conspiracy theory."

"This afternoon Keir Starmer asked Rebecca Long-Bailey to step down from the shadow cabinet," a spokesman for the Labour leader said, claiming that an article she'd shared earlier on Thursday contained an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory.

The statement went on to say that Starmer, who took over the party plagued with accusations of anti-Semitism, has been "clear that restoring trust with the Jewish community is a number one priority," adding, "antisemitism takes many different forms and it is important that we all are vigilant against it."
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Dollars

Dead or alive? Washington ups bounty to $10M on Daesh leader Mawla


Sputnik
Thu, 25 Jun 2020 19:00 UTC
Bounty announcement

Al-Mawla, also known as Hajji Abdallah, is the overall leader of [Daesh]. He was a senior terrorist leader in the [Daesh] predecessor organization, al-Qa’ida in Iraq (AQI), and steadily rose through the ranks to assume a senior leadership role as the [Daesh] deputy leader.
The US State Department has doubled its previous bounty and is now offering up to $10 million for information that leads to the "identification or location" of Daesh leader Amir Muhammad Sa'id Abdal-Rahma al-Mawla.

A news release issued on Wednesday by the department noted that Mawla, who is also known as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, Hajji Abdallah, Abu-'Umar al-Turkmanigoes and a number of additional aliases, assumed the position of Daesh leader following the October 2019 death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

While a $5 million bounty was offered for information on the Daesh leader beginning in August 2019, the State Department's Rewards for Justice Program decided to up the reward for "information leading to the identification or location" of Mawla to $10 million. This comes amid rumors that Mawla was killed within the past several days during a US-led drone strike in northern Syria.
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Eye 2

Dutch government outright lies about MH17 to pin blame on Russia

Eric Zuesse
The Saker
Wed, 24 Jun 2020 18:04 UTC
MH17 cockpit bullet holes detail

MH17 cockpit bullet holes detail
1. The Dutch Government's 279-page investigative findings on the "Crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17" were published in October 2015, and reported, on
page 84, (under 2.13.2 "Crew autopsy") that "First Officer Team A ... During the body scan of the First Officer's body, over 120 objects (mostly metal fragments) were detected. The majority of the fragments were found in left side of the upper torso." Then, it reported, on

page 85 (under 2.13.3) "the First Officer, from Team A, who was operating the aeroplane at the time of the crash."
(Note that they buried this crucial information, instead of saying clearly that "The pilot's upper left torso, immediately to the left of the area of the fuselage that had been shot out, had 120 objects that were mostly metal fragments.") (Here is a closer picture of that side-panel on the left side of the fuselage, to the pilot's immediate left, and here is that side-panel shown back on the airliner, so that one can see that this firing had to have been done from below, shooting upward into the pilot.)

This crucial physical finding, that the pilot's corpse had been loaded with "over 120 objects (mostly metal fragments)," is entirely consistent with the side-panel's having been shot through by bullets, which would have been coming from a Ukrainian military jet and aimed upward, directly at the pilot. That marksman had to have been highly proficient in order to hit the pilot so accurately with so many bullets.
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Vader

US government expanding Assange indictment to criminalize aid provided to Edward Snowden

Kevin Gosztola
Shadowproof
Fri, 26 Jun 2020 17:34 UTC
SnowdenAssange
© YouTube
Whistleblowers Edward Snowden and Julian Assange
The United States government expanded their indictment against WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to criminalize the assistance WikiLeaks provided to NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden when staff helped him leave Hong Kong.

Sarah Harrison, who was a section editor for WikiLeaks, Daniel Domscheit-Berg, a former spokesperson, and Jacob Appelbaum, a digital activist who represented WikiLeaks at conferences, are targeted as "co-conspirators" in the indictment [PDF], though neither have been charged with offenses.

No charges were added, however, it significantly expands the conspiracy to commit computer intrusion charge and accuses Assange of conspiring with "hackers" affiliated with "Anonymous," "LulzSec," "AntiSec," and "Gnosis."

The computer crime charge is not limited to March 2010 anymore. It covers conduct that allegedly occurred between 2009 and 2015.

Comment: Grasping at straws: New US indictment of Assange accuses WikiLeaks founder of 'conspiring with Anonymous' hackers... in FBI sting op?

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Bullseye

Europe's support for apartheid Israel cracking? Belgium reps to debate and vote on resolution recognizing a 'State of Palestine' - UPDATE: Resolution passed

Yossi Lempkowicz
European Jewish Press
Wed, 24 Jun 2020 17:59 UTC
Belgium house of representative

House of Representatives, Belgium’s lower chamber of Parliament
The 150-member House of Representatives, Belgium's lower chamber of Parliament, is to debate on Thursday a resolution urging the federal government to '' formally recognize the State of Palestine.''

The resolution was initiated by the Socialist, Green and extreme-left parties.

The resolution, said Socialist MP Malik Ban Achour, who authored it, urges the federal government "to formally recognize the State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel and to consider this recognition as a contribution by Belgium to the solution based on the coexistence of two democratic and independent states having the right to live in peace and security with mutually recognized, accepted and respected borders. "

It was first adopted in the foreign affairs committee two weeks ago by a short majority of 8 against 7 votes. The liberals, Flemish Christian Democrats, Flemish nationalist NV-A and the extreme right Vlaams Belang opposed the motion.

Comment: Update 26/06/2020: The Times of Israel reports:
The resolution "concerning Israel's annexation of occupied territories in Palestine," proposed by three politicians from the Greens, passed with 101 'yes' votes and 39 abstentions. No one voted against.

The motion urges the government of Prime Minister Sophie Wilmès "to take the initiative with third countries, at European and multilateral levels, to prevent the annexation [by] Israel of the Palestinian territories, or parts of them."

The resolution further calls on Brussels to play a leading role in formulating a "list of efficient counter-measures geared at responding in a proportional manner to any Israeli annexation of occupied Palestinian territory."

[...]

In its preamble, the bill twice referred to former Israeli officials having warned against Israel becoming an apartheid state in case of annexation.

On Wednesday, the parliament's foreign affairs committee will again debate the second resolution on Brussels' recognition of a Palestinian state. It will come back for a plenary vote in two weeks.

Back in February 2015, the Belgian parliament passed a resolution urging the government to seek a majority within the European Union for a recognition of a Palestinian state. But the new resolution was much more direct in its demand for immediate recognition.

It calls for the "formal recognition of the State of Palestine next to the State of Israel" and urges the government to consider this act "Belgium's contribution to the solution, based on the coexistence of two democratic and independent states that have the right to live in peace and security, with mutually recognized and respected borders."


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Pumpkin 2

The daily gaffe: Biden slammed after wrongly saying 'we have over 120 million dead from COVID'

Andrew O'Reilly
Fox News
Thu, 25 Jun 2020 14:39 UTC
biden confused dementia
© ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images
Joe Biden
Republicans are slamming Joe Biden after the presumptive Democratic nominee made a verbal gaffe during a campaign stop in Pennsylvania and said 120 million people had died from the novel coronavirus.

"People don't have a job, people don't know where to go, they don't know what to do," Biden said Thursday. "Now we have over 120 million dead from COVID."

As of Thursday, there have been more than 122,000 - not million -- coronavirus deaths in the United States, according to Johns Hopkins figures.

While Biden appears to immediately catch himself after his gaffe -- the pool video of Biden's comments cuts off after he made the remark - Republicans were quick to jump on the former vice president's comment.

Comment: Joe Biden's insistence on continuing his campaign when he is clearly (except to himself?) incapable of holding the highest office in the land is fraudulent. If he is being persuaded by his handlers, it almost amounts to elder abuse. However, as has been commented previously, "Biden, as president, would be a deep state handler's dream: seemingly oblivious to control, too daft to care, untrustworthy to a fault, a mind fog for information."

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