Puppet MastersS


Eye 1

Bill Gates on 'lesson' learned from Jeffrey Epstein mistake: 'Well he's dead'

Pam Key
Breitbart
Tue, 21 Sep 2021 00:01 UTC
bill gates jeffrey epstein
Wednesday on PBS's "NewsHour," billionaire Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates said "he's dead" when asked about what lesson he learned from his previously admitted "mistake" of meeting with now-deceased convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Anchor Judy Woodruff said, "You had a number of meetings with Jeffrey Epstein, who — when you met him 10 years ago — he was convicted of soliciting prostitution from minors. What did you know about him when you were meeting with him, as you've said yourself, in the hopes of raising money?"

Gates said, "You know, I had dinners with him. I regret doing that. He had relationships with people he said would give to global health, which is an interest I have. Not nearly enough philanthropy goes in that direction. Those meetings were a mistake. They didn't result in what he purported, and I cut them off. You know, that goes back a long time ago now. So there's nothing new on that."

Comment:


See also:

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Bad Guys

Maxime Bernier and the People's Party of Canada fail to win any seats

Marco Chown Oved
The Star
Mon, 20 Sep 2021 00:01 UTC
maxime bernier
After a campaign where his party became synonymous with the anti-lockdown protests that dogged opposing leaders and crowded outside hospital emergency rooms, Maxime Bernier has lost his bid to regain a seat in Parliament.

Despite a surge in nationwide support for the People's Party of Canada (PPC), none of its candidates will join elected MPs in Ottawa.

Comment: More from National Post:
The People's Party of Canada, which grew in popularity over the campaign, riding a wave of protests against vaccine and lockdown policies, picked up tens of thousands of votes nationally in Monday's federal election.

Over the course of the campaign, PPC Leader Maxime Bernier has been traversing the country, preaching to crowds of people opposed to COVID-19 public-health measures, those who are vaccine skeptics or dislike vaccine passports, as well as reaching those who came to his party for its other policies, such as a vow to cut immigration levels in half.

"More and more Canadians are coming on our side because of tyranny, medical tyranny, and the vaccine passport, that will be imposed on us in every province," Bernier told a crowd in Edmonton recently.

The pitch seemed to be working, harnessing this discontent and moving Bernier from also ran to a man who might just have had the potential to split the vote on the political right.

Erin O'Toole, the Conservative party leader, cautioned conservatives against voting for the People's Party, saying a vote for Bernier's party would help Justin Trudeau's Liberals.

"Justin Trudeau wants you to split the vote by voting PPC," O'Toole said over the weekend.

Back in 2019, Bernier's nascent party failed to win a single seat and managed only 1.6 per cent of the popular vote; Bernier, who had represented the Quebec riding of Beauce since 2006, failed to win his own seat, which was taken by Conservative Richard Lehoux.

This time around, bolstered by waves of dissatisfaction over the handling of the pandemic, Bernier, in the days leading up to the election, looked poised to receive somewhere around six per cent of the popular vote, according to the polling aggregator 338Canada, around double what the Green Party was projected to receive, and hot on the heels of the Bloc Québécois.

When polls first closed in Atlantic Canada, the PPC received 4.6 per cent of the popular vote, according to early Elections Canada data. As further polls opened across the country, they held steady around that number.

"I'm feeling good," said Bernier to a CBC reporter shortly after all polls closed. "Four, five, six per cent that's big for us in Atlantic Canada ... so I believe tonight will be a good night for us."

Bernier has said that after this election, his party was here to stay. Still, on Monday night Bernier was projected to lose his riding.


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Bullseye

Best of the Web: The AUKUS issue is not over

Andrei Martyanov
Reminiscence of the Future...
Sat, 18 Sep 2021 12:00 UTC
submarine
© CC0Alfa Class Submarine
Well, then I might as well address it. I am talking about this whole AUKUS affair and France losing huge contact on submarines for Royal Australian Navy. At this stage I am not interested in technical minutiae of this whole scandal, because it is useless anyway to concentrate on technical details of something which may change many times before, and if, it comes to fruition. I am, however, as always, interested in fundamental factors defining the framework. Le Drian and anyone in France' political top can express their frustration and play geopolitical games whatever they want, such as running to India:
On Friday, France recalled its ambassadors from Washington and Canberra after Australia scrapped a major submarine program with France in favor of acquiring nuclear-powered submarines with the help of the US and UK. Paris furiously protested the new arrangement between Australia, the US and UK, known as AUKUS. Le Drian called the ditching of French-Australian submarine program "a stab in the back."

Comment: See also:

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Network

Best of the Web: Tehran's in a tough position with the Taliban

Andrew Korybko
The Alt World
Wed, 22 Sep 2021 22:00 UTC
Iran taliban
The Taliban's lightning-fast takeover of Afghanistan last month put Iran in a very difficult position. On the one hand, the Islamic Republic has traditionally been opposed to the self-declared "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" (IEA), especially after some of its members killed Iranian diplomats in 1998 and the group's prior rule of the country saw it oppressing the Shiite minority. On the other hand, however, Iran has little choice but to acknowledge the group's de facto leadership of Afghanistan and thus pragmatically engage with it in the interests of peace, security, and development.

Tehran cannot realistically extend military support to anti-Taliban elements there like it did during their prior period of rule from 1996-2001 because the Taliban controls all of the country's international borders for the first time in its history. The modern-day iteration of this movement also claimed to have changed its ways by moderating its previously strict policies in light of changed domestic and international conditions even though observers have yet to see many tangible manifestations of this. Nevertheless, these promises add credibility to those countries like Iran that are pragmatically engaging with the Taliban in the hopes that it'll keep its word.

Comment: See also: And check out SOTT radio's:


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Sherlock

Top aide to Ukrainian president survives assassination attempt amidst crackdown on country's oligarchs

Andrew Roth
The Guardian
Wed, 22 Sep 2021 13:44 UTC
ukraine assasination zelensky
© Serhii Nuzhnenko/ReutersAn investigator examines bullet holes in the car on Wednesday.
A top adviser to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has survived an assassination attempt that officials suggest is tied to a political battle with criminal and corrupt interests, including the countries' oligarchs.


Comment: Criminals in Ukraine have accrued even more power and influence since the US-backed coup in the country.


At least 10 bullets struck the car of Serhiy Shefir, an aide and longtime friend of Zelenskiy, on Wednesday as he travelled through the village of Lesnyky toward the capital, Kyiv.

The driver was struck three times and is undergoing surgery. Shefir was not hit by the gunfire, which reportedly came from a forested area along the road.

Comment: Whilst Zelensky claims to be pushing for change on behalf of the people, the country is showing all the signs of a descent into lawlessness - both in government and outside - and its economy appears to be scraping by on Western hand outs:

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Eye 1

Far reaching 'counter-terrorism' bill passes in New Zealand, will be fast-tracked into law despite opposition & rushed reading


RNZ
Wed, 22 Sep 2021 20:49 UTC
new zealand high court
© RNZ / Alexander RobertsonLegislation that will introduce a new offence - planning a terrorist attack - is a step closer to becoming law.
Legislation that will introduce a new offence - planning a terrorist attack - is a step closer to becoming law.


Comment: Surely 'planning a terrorist attack' is already a criminal offence elsewhere on the law books? Since it likely is, one wonders what else has been slipped into this bill.


The Counter-Terrorism Legislation Bill passed its second reading in Parliament this afternoon.

ACT, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori opposed it.

Following the LynnMall attack the prime minister announced the bill would be fast-tracked through the house.

Comment: As is the case elsewhere, these new 'security' bills are written in such a way that they will essentially be used to restrict the rights and freedoms of the average citizen and at the same time they legitimize the demonisation of those that would dare protest their increasingly draconian government. It's certainly no coincidence that governments across the planet are enshrining into law the unprecedented power grab we see before us: Also check out SOTT radio's:


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Hiliter

Best of the Web: 9/11 and Afghanistan post-mortems: Lessons in safe logic

Edward Curtin
Off Guardian
Sun, 19 Sep 2021 00:00 UTC
9-11 memorial
© AdobeStock
In the wake of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the 20th anniversary of the mass murders of September 11, 2001, the corporate mainstream and alternative media have been replete with articles analyzing the consequences of 9/11 that resulted in the US invasion of Afghanistan and its alleged withdrawal after two decades of war.

These critiques have ranged from mild to harsh, and have covered issues from the loss of civil liberties due to The Patriot Act and government spying through all the wars "on terror" in so many countries with their disastrous consequences and killing fields.

Many of these articles have emphasized how, as a result of the Bush administration's response to 9/11, the US has lost its footing and brought on the demise of the American empire and its standing in the world. Some writers celebrate this and others bemoan it. Most seem to consider this inevitable.

This flood of articles has been authored by writers from across the political spectrum from the left through the center to the right.

All were outraged in their own ways, as such dramatic events typically manage to elicit much spilled ink informed by the writers' various ideological positions in a media world where the categories of left and right have become meaningless.
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Binoculars

Ron DeSantis' Biden-bashing is looking like a 2024 preview

Caleb Ecarma
Vanity Fair
Mon, 13 Sep 2021 00:00 UTC
DeSantis
© AP/Wilfredo LeeFlorida Governor Ron DeSantis
Ron DeSantis took his offensive against Joe Biden on the road this past week, appearing at a fundraising event in Nebraska to give what has the makings of a 2024 stump speech, according to Politico. DeSantis may be up for reelection next year in Florida, but his focus was national as he escalated tensions with Biden over his state's COVID-19 surge. DeSantis declared:
"My message from Florida is this: When Joe Biden violates the Constitution, when Joe Biden attacks the jobs of Floridians and Americans, when Joe Biden targets the livelihood of Florida families and American families, I am fighting back against him."
The Florida governor was not the only Republican leader to show face at the event, which was held in a Nebraska town that conveniently borders Iowa--traditionally the first state that every presidential hopeful has to trudge through en route to the White House. Mike Pence and Ted Cruz, who edged out Trump in Iowa in 2016, gave anti-Biden speeches of their own at the annual steak fry hosted by Nebraska governor Pete Ricketts.
CruzPenceChristie
© Shizuo Kambayashi/ChrisChristie Solutions 55/Business Insider/KJNFlorida Senator Ted Cruz • Former VP Mike Pence • New Jersey Governor Chris Christy

Comment: In comparison to all hell breaking loose in the global community, the focus on Biden is immaterial - a venting, an insignificant distraction, a mumble in the wind. Except for Trump, would anyone want this presidency?

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X

House Dems remove Iron Dome funding from spending bill amid pressure from progressives

Michael Arria
Mondoweiss
Wed, 22 Sep 2021 00:00 UTC
The Squad
© Cori BushThe Squad expands
House Democrats removed funding for Israel's Iron Dome defense system from the short-term government spending bill yesterday, in what activists hailed as "an unprecedented moment for Palestinian rights." The move came in response to pressure from progressive Congress members.

An eleventh hour request was tacked onto a bill that has to be passed in order to avert yet another government shutdown. It would have given Israel $1 billion to replenish its Iron Dome system, on top of the $3.8 billion in military aid that it already gets from the United States government.

According to Politico, the aid was opposed by the same group of House Democrats that tried to block a Biden administration arms sale to Israel back in May. This would include Rep. Ocasio Cortez, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI), and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). It's currently cosponsored by Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN), Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA), Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) , Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WI), and Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN).

A member of Congress told The Times of Israel that Ocasio-Cortez and McCollum pushed House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to remove the funding with mediation from Rep. Rosa Delauro (D-CT).

House Republicans weren't expected to back the spending bill with or without the funding, but that didn't stop many of them from denouncing the move. House Minority leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said that Democrats were capitulating "to the antisemitic influence of their radical members."

Comment: The Squad has managed to horrify and incite the wrath of Israel's American puppets:
Israeli occupation Foreign Minister Yair Lapid on Tuesday night spoke with US House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, slamming the Progressive Democrats pressuring on the Party to remove $1 billion for Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system from a must-pass funding bill to avoid a government shutdown.
Lapid Hoyer
© Caroline Brehman/CQ Roll Call/Oded Bality/AP visavsodor.blogspot.com/Israel Department of Defense/KJNIsraeli FM Yair Lapid • House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer D-Md
Hoyer claimed that the move was a "technical delay" related to discussions over the US debt ceiling and that the defense funding would be approved at a later date, Israeli foreign minister said in a statement. Hoyer also claimed that it was a view shared by the White House and Democrat House and Senate leaders, while pledging that the Iron Dome funding would soon be allocated.
"It is my intention to bring to this floor a suspension bill before the end of this week that will fund fully Iron Dome. I was for that. I'm still for it, we ought to do it. I talked to the foreign minister, Mr. Lapid, just two hours ago and assured him that bill was going to pass this House."
The extra $1 billion for Israel's Iron Dome was supposed to be in addition to the nearly $4 billion the US government already sends to the Israeli occupation forces every year.

Since World War II, the United States has given Israel $146 billion in aid, mostly for weapons.

The United States and Israel have an agreement under which the US government will allocate $38 billion from fiscal 2019 through 2028, including $5 billion for missile defense.


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Dollars

'10 for the big guy': Politico confirms Hunter Biden's China, Ukraine emails are legit

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Wed, 22 Sep 2021 04:44 UTC
Hunter/Mac guy
© gofundme.com/COMP-JF/KJNJohn Paul Mac Isaac • Hunter Biden
Several emails from Hunter Biden's laptop have been confirmed as legitimate, according to Politico, citing claims in a new book, along with emails released by a Swedish government agency.
Ben Schreckinger's The Bidens: Inside the First Family's Fifty-Year Rise to Power, out today, finds evidence that some of the purported HUNTER BIDEN laptop material is genuine, including two emails at the center of last October's controversy.

A person who had independent access to Hunter Biden's emails confirmed he did receive a 2015 email from a Ukrainian businessman thanking him for the chance to meet Joe Biden. The same goes for a 2017 email in which a proposed equity breakdown of a venture with Chinese energy executives includes the line, "10 held by H for the big guy?" (This person recalled seeing both emails, but was not in a position to compare the leaked emails word-for-word to the originals.)

MORE: Emails released by a Swedish government agency also match emails in the leaked cache, and two people who corresponded with Hunter Biden confirmed emails from the cache were genuine. -Politico
Recall that news of Hunter Biden's laptop was broken by the New York Post shortly before the 2020 election - resulting in a multi-week Twitter ban on the outlet, and a baseless claim spread throughout the MSM and by notable Democrats including Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) that it was Russian disinformation.

Comment: Raise your hand if you thought there was even a remote chance Hunter's laptop was a fake...not anybody?

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