Puppet MastersS

Briefcase

Best of the Web: Trump's red-line demands on lockdown relief bill: Increase payments to $2000, end or revise Section 230, investigate voter fraud

trump
© AFP / Getty Images; Spencer PlattDonald Trump
President Trump signed the COVID-19 Stimulus Relief Bill last night as we reported earlier:
"I will sign the Omnibus and Covid package with a strong message that makes clear to Congress that wasteful items need to be removed. I will send back to Congress a redlined version, item by item, accompanied by the formal rescission request to Congress insisting that those funds be removed from the bill," Trump said.
As the news of the signing comes to light, we see that the President used a decades-old piece of legislation to make edits to the bill and require additional actions from Congress.

Comment: Trump made it clear he signed this monstrosity in order to bring relief to ordinary Americans. The Democrat House majority and self-interested Republican senators had him backed into a corner.


Syringe

When in Russia... Get yourself a dose of Sputnik V, Foreign Ministry tells US envoy who asked Santa for VACCINE

US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan
© Sputnik / Evgeny Biyatov; Reuters / Anton Vaganov; Sputnik / Valeriy Melnikov(L) US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan
US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan has asked for a hockey stick, running shoes, and a Covid-19 vaccine in his letter to Santa - and Russia's Foreign Ministry was there to suggest Russian-made goods to satisfy all his wishes.

Earlier this week, Sullivan shared a photo on Facebook of his handwritten letter to Santa Claus. The ambassador insisted he had been "very nice" in 2020 and had followed all the coronavirus precautions. For his good behavior, he asked St Nick to bring him a new hockey stick and running shoes plus a coronavirus vaccine as presents.

It's unclear whether Santa saw the letter, but it definitely caught the eye of the Russian Foreign Ministry. The diplomats took to Twitter, saying if Sullivan's wishes somehow remained unfulfilled, they were eager to play the role of Grandfather Frost, Russia's counterpart to Santa Claus.

Comment: Apparently he declined the Russian Sputnik V vaccine and would prefer one of the US made varieties. What an idiot.
From RT:
US envoy who asked Santa for vaccine declines Sputnik V jab offered by Russian hosts - but says he has other requests for Moscow
27 Dec, 2020 15:10

US Ambassador to Russia John Sullivan has turned down Moscow's offer of a Christmas Covid jab, noting that there are already two American-made drugs on the market, but said he has something else to ask the Russian government for.
...

In a series of tweets, a spokeswoman for the US Embassy in Moscow explained that Sullivan was grateful for the offer but would have to take a raincheck.

The ambassador "would not want to take a Sputnik V dose meant for a Russian citizen. We're grateful that two US vaccines are now approved, and already helping people fight COVID-19 across the EU, UK, Latin America, and US," the spokeswoman explained, referring to the Pfizer and Moderna variants that are currently being rolled out in the US and other countries. The Pfizer formula was developed in collaboration with Germany's BioNTech.

...

The embassy said that if the Foreign Ministry was intent on granting its Christmas wishes, it should release two former American servicemen currently jailed in Russia, Trevor Reed and Paul Whelan.

...



Eye 2

Covid 'expert' Fauci says pandemic's "WORST YET TO COME" (yet again)

Anthony Fauci
© Reuters / Patrick SemanskyAnthony Fauci speaks at the National Institutes of Health, in Bethesda, Maryland, December 22, 2020
Infectious diseases expert Dr. Anthony Fauci has warned Americans that the worst ravages of the coronavirus pandemic are yet to come. But the government physician's proclamation is not his first doom-laden prediction.

Speaking on CNN's 'State of the Union' on Sunday, Fauci was asked whether he believes the "worst is still yet to come" in the ongoing pandemic.

"I do," Fauci replied, predicting a "post-seasonal - in the sense of Christmas, New Years - surge."


"We're really at a very critical point," he continued, "if you put more pressure on the system by what might be a post-seasonal surge because of the traveling and the likely congregating of people."

Comment: Does anyone even listen to this guy anymore? See also:


Newspaper

Biden demands Trump sign Coronavirus Relief Bill, while POTUS wants more for tax payers

Joe Biden
Joe Biden blasted President Donald Trump late Saturday ver the president's decision not to sign a coronavirus relief bill before funding for the federal supplemental unemployment benefit ran out Saturday night. Biden called Trump's veto an "abdication of responsibility," though both Democrats and Republicans agreed to the $600 stimulus checks the president finds objectionable.

"It is the day after Christmas, and millions of families don't know if they'll be able to make ends meet because of President Donald Trump's refusal to sign an economic relief bill approved by Congress with an overwhelming and bipartisan majority," Biden said in a statement.

"This abdication of responsibility has devastating consequences. Today, about 10 million Americans will lose unemployment insurance benefits" Biden continued. "In just a few days, government funding will expire, putting vital services and paychecks for military personnel at risk. In less than a week, a moratorium on evictions expires, putting millions at risk of being forced from their homes over the holidays."

Comment: See also:


Attention

Delingpole: German economist says 'great reset will cause a crash worse than 1930s'

Ben F. and clock
© NomadCapitalistThe Global Currency Reset
The Great Reset is real, it's happening now and will lead to devastation worse โ€” "much, much worse" โ€” than the Weimar Republic, a German economist has warned.

Dr. Antony Mueller, Professor of Economics at the Federal University of Sergipe in Brazil, says that the Chinese coronavirus 'pandemic' is being used as cover by the globalist elite to destroy small businesses and hasten a new world order based on "expertocracy, climate green religion, and brutal depopulation".

This globalist elite โ€” inspired by the World Economic Forum's 'Build Back Better' campaign for a 'Fourth Industrial Revolution' and by the United Nations' Agenda 2030 โ€” are killing Main Street, together with thousands of jobs, by keeping economies across the Western World in near-permanent lockdown.
"Most people have not noticed yet because at the moment governments can afford to give them subsidies and welfare payments. But the question is: 'For how long?' We know this money is coming to an end and that it will soon be over. Next you will see massive unemployment all over Europe as one country pulls down another country."
The coming economic crisis will be worse than any the world has seen before because all the countries in the Western world will become impoverished simultaneously and be unable to help one another.

Comment: It won't get much more transparent than that. You can see the full interview here.


Light Sabers

Trump criticizes Senate Republicans ahead of election results vote, urges a 'fight'

Trump
© AP/Evan VucciUS President Donald Trump
President Trump on Saturday ramped up his criticism of Senate Republicans over their unwillingness to aid his efforts to overturn the election, pressing them to "fight" before President-elect Joe Biden is sworn into office.

Trump called out Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and other Republicans, asserting they are doing "NOTHING" as Congress heads toward a vote early next month to certify the Electoral College results. Trump tweeted:

The comment marked the latest broadside in Trump's attempt to get at least one GOP senator to back a challenge to the Electoral College results when Congress meets to certify them on Jan. 6.

Comment: Are elections, as Trump says, far more secure in Afghanistan than the USA? Proof of identity is not required throughout the US, where only six states have a strict photo ID policy. In 23 states and territories, no documents are required to vote.
Elections are run a little differently there: Afghan government requires voters to present identification, and poll workers check their fingerprints off a national database.
All good to vote in Afghanistan? Let's check:
In areas where machines are unavailable to check fingerprints, election workers fingerprint voters using the traditional ink and paper method. During the country's 2009 and 2014 elections, Taliban militants threatened to cut off any ink-stained fingers they saw, in a bid to suppress voter turnout.



Attention

'This is really going to blow up': Giuliani predicts election challenge triumph after Christmas

RGiuliani
© AP/Jacquelyn MartinRudy Giuliani, lawyer for President Trump
Rudy Giuliani says he is ready to plan next steps for the fight to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's victory.

The former New York City mayor traveled to Palm Beach, Florida, on Wednesday night, as did President Trump, who is staying at his private club, Mar-a-Lago, for the Christmas holiday.

Upon exiting the airport, Giuliani said he was in town for talks about legal challenges to the election, which so far have seen little success, according to the Palm Beach Post. This follows Trump huddling with conservative lawmakers who are planning a long-shot bid to object when the House and Senate meet on Jan. 6 to certify the Electoral College results.

Asked what his next move will be, Giuliani said, "I can't tell you that."

In a video posted to his YouTube page on Wednesday afternoon, Giuliani claimed that legislatures in several battleground states that went for Biden, including Arizona and Georgia, will be reviewing their decisions to certify the election results "based on newly discovered evidence" during the period after Christmas. "Starting after Christmas, this is really going to blow up," he pledged.


Comment: Pulling out all the stops, the president had this to say:

See also:


Arrow Up

Top aide's brother takes Amazon lobbying job, as Biden packs his government with tech industry players

Biden
© The NationalFormer VP Joe Biden
Joe Biden has staffed his transition team with a host of former Silicon Valley players, and now a brother of his top White House aide has landed a lobbying gig with Amazon. Can Biden be trusted to rein in big tech?

Jeff Richetti, the brother of Joe Biden's White House counsellor Steve Richetti, has landed a lobbying job with Amazon Web Services, CNBC reported on Saturday. According to documents seen by the news outlet, Richetti registered as a lobbyist for the e-commerce giant's cloud services division on November 13, the same day TV networks called the election in Biden's favor, after a trickle of late-arriving ballots put the former vice president ahead of Donald Trump in a number of key swing states.

CNBC's sources reassured readers that Jeff Richetti's work as a lobbyist wouldn't influence Steve and, in turn, Biden.

"Jeff has never and will never lobby his brother on behalf of any of his clients, and Steve has had no role in his brother's business since he sold his stake in the firm in 2012," the source reportedly said. "Steve and Jeff keep their professional activities distinctly separate."

Yet some readers were left unconvinced, with reporter Patrick Howley calling the "globalist" Biden administration "an alliance between [Amazon CEO Jeff] Bezos and the multinational corporate class and the politicians who have no clue what is going on but just want money."

Comment: This melding is no big surprise. Expect no separation of state from this confluence, nor will this power union serve the people.
See also:


Yoda

Sidney Powell: Wants to fight for Trump โ€” but his aides are blocking her

Sidney powell press conference
© Drew Angerer/GettyAttorney Sidney Powell speaks to the press about various lawsuits related to the 2020 election November 19, 2020 in Washington, DC.
President Donald J. Trump says he wants a lawyer to probe "election theft," but the president's leading candidate, Sidney Powell, says she has been barred from the White House by the president's own chief of staff.

While Powell and the president discussed the role last Friday in a contentious four-and-a-half-hour Oval Office meeting, she says, insiders opposed her appointment, sometimes shouting defiantly at the president. Powell's on-the-record account reveals a White House riven by internal feuding, and a growing divide between the president's most senior staff and his most devoted outside supporters.

By Saturday morning, Powell says, the president's most senior aides had declined to give her a Secret Service-issued pass to come and go from the West Wing. "I've been blocked from speaking to or communicating with the president since I left the Oval Office on Friday night," she says, "by apparently everyone around him."

Comment: Trump reportedly met with Powell and Flynn in Oval Office - discussed deploying military, naming Powell as special counsel on election fraud


Light Sabers

Russia may leave Open Skies Treaty, thinks other signatories are sharing data with US which pulled out of deal

Antonov An-30B
© Global Look Press / CTK Photo / Alexandra MlejnkovaFILE PHOTO: Russian aerial survey plane Antonov An-30B in Pardubice, Czech Republic carrying out a mission under the Treaty on Open Skies.
The Open Skies Treaty that lets nations legally spy on each other is hanging in the air, as Russia is yet to hear from the incoming US administration if it wants to rejoin the deal, and its allies may be leaking the snooping data.

Moscow also has some of its own concerns about the treaty, having not yet received assurances that other Open Skies signatories who are also members of the NATO military alliance won't secretly share their data with the US.

The agreement, effective since 2002, allows signatories to fly unarmed flights over the territory of other participants, essentially meaning the parties can openly monitor each other without any escalation. If Washington, which withdrew from the treaty in November, is receiving its allies' intelligence, then the US is reaping all of the treaty's rewards without being surveilled itself.

Comment: See also: