Puppet MastersS


Marijuana

Priorities? US House passes marijuana decriminalization while clock runs out on Covid19 relief


RT
Fri, 04 Dec 2020 05:47 UTC
Decriminalization of pot
© Reuters/Steve DiPaola
The Democrat-controlled House of Representatives has finally passed a bill to decriminalize marijuana - but even supporters of the move are rolling their eyes as the country languishes without a second pandemic stimulus plan.

The historic legislation passed by the House on Friday would not only see possession of marijuana decriminalized, but requires federal marijuana convictions to be re-assessed. It passed mostly along party lines, though six Democrats voted against it and five Republicans voted in favor.

Despite the popularity of marijuana decriminalization among the American populace, however, many on social media were bewildered by the legislators' priorities. With most Covid-19 aid programs due to expire at the end of the month and the country nowhere near recovered economically, they asked, why is Congress wasting its time on the pot issue?

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Eagle

Best of the Web: James Corbett: Bretton Woods 2.0 - Your guide to the great monetary reset

James Corbett
The Corbett Report
Fri, 04 Dec 2020 00:00 UTC
Bretton Woods 2.0
Do you know what it means when the Managing Director of the IMF warns of a "new Bretton Woods moment?" How about when the head of the BIS revels in the total surveillance power that digital currencies will afford the central bankers? Well, you're about to. Don't miss this info-packed edition of The Corbett Report podcast where James peels back the layers of the great currency reset onion and uncovers the New World (Monetary) Order.


Comment: Corbett isn't alone in seeing the massive economic and political sham that the 'Great Reset' represents.

Listen to what Alberta Premier Jason Kenney has to say about it:



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No Entry

'In Defense of Our Vote': General Flynn calls for suspension of the Constitution to prevent Civil War

Thierry Meyssan
Voltaire Network
Sat, 05 Dec 2020 00:00 UTC
Flynn's Ohio ad
General Michael Flynn, former National Security Advisor to President Donald Trump, is believed to be the mastermind behind the 1 December 2020 full page ad in the Washington Times.

It consists of a petition by an Ohio-based group, We the People Convention, urging President Donald Trump to act as his most illustrious predecessor, Abraham Lincoln.

During the American Civil War, the latter suspended the U.S. Constitution, proclaimed martial law, shut down opposition newspapers, ordered the arrest of lawmakers and members of the Supreme Court.

As a Northern state, Ohio played a key role in the Civil War. Democrats look on Abraham Lincoln as the best president in history.

Comment: One can say that drastic times call for drastic measures, and given the incredibly corrupt and networked forces arrayed against Trump and the rule of law, one can see how a true draining of the swamp (as suggested above) may be the only legal remedy for what he, and most of the US, is up against. But is the cost of going into martial law and taking the steps outlined above worth the clamor and the conflict that is likely to ensue by taking such steps? Is a Civil War of some kind inevitable either way?

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Cult

Reward for a job well done? Soros appoints Lord Malloch-Brown, former chairman of Smartmatic, to lead Open Society Foundation

Jim Hoft
The Gateway Pundit
Sat, 05 Dec 2020 13:08 UTC
Lord Malloch Brown
On Saturday afternoon billionaire far left funder George Soros announced new leadership at his Open Society Foundation.

Lord Mark Malloch Brown, the former UN deputy secretary‐general and UK minister and president of Smartmatic voting systems, will replace Patrick Gaspard at the helm.


Comment: Interesting promotion, given the rigging of the US election.

Lord Malloch Brown Revealed: The British Hand Behind The US Election Coup Attempt Shows Its Scales Again

On Open Society, see:

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Stock Down

Unanimous vote: US Congress passes bill that could delist Chinese stocks from US markets

Patricia Zengerle
Fox Business
Wed, 02 Dec 2020 00:00 UTC
Chinese Stocks
© Getty Images
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a law to kick Chinese companies off U.S. stock exchanges if they do not fully comply with the country's auditing rules, giving President Donald Trump one more tool with which to threaten Beijing before leaving office.

The measure passed the House by unanimous voice vote, after passing the Senate unanimously in May, sending it to Trump, who the White House said is expected to sign it into law.

"The Holding Foreign Companies Accountable Act" bars securities of foreign companies from being listed on any U.S. exchange if they have failed to comply with the U.S. Public Accounting Oversight Board's audits for three years in a row.

While is applies to companies from any country, the legislation's sponsors intended it to target Chinese companies listed in the United States, such as Alibaba, tech firm Pinduoduo Inc and oil giant PetroChina Co Ltd.
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Padlock

US Attorney John Durham seeks jail time for ex-FBI lawyer who altered CIA email about Carter Page

Chuck Ross
Daily Caller
Fri, 04 Dec 2020 09:13 UTC
John Durham
© Screen Capture/Fox NewsUS Attorney John Durham
U.S. Attorney John Durham is seeking a prison sentence of up to six months for Kevin Clinesmith, the former FBI lawyer who pleaded guilty to altering an email from the CIA regarding former Trump campaign aide Carter Page's past relationship with the spy agency.

Durham asked a federal judge in a court filing on Thursday to sentence Clinesmith to a jail term "between the middle and upper end" of what federal sentencing guidelines recommend for the crime of making false statements in writing.

Clinesmith pleaded guilty to the charge on Aug. 19. He admitted to adding the phrase "not a 'source'" to a June 2017 email from a CIA employee who had provided information about Page's relationship with the agency.

Page served as an "operational contact" for the CIA from 2008 to 2013.
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Target

China is making super soldiers and is 'national security threat #1,' US spy chief claims in media blitz


RT
Fri, 04 Dec 2020 01:10 UTC
Chinese super soldiers
© id.linkedin.com
China wants to replace the US as master of the world and represents the biggest threat to Washington by far, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe claimed, escalating the Trump administration's rhetoric against Beijing.

The People's Republic of China "poses the greatest threat to America today, and the greatest threat to democracy and freedom world-wide since World War II," Ratcliffe wrote in an op-ed published on Thursday by the Wall Street Journal, arguing that the "challenge of our generation" is to resist "Beijing's attempt to reshape and dominate the world."

The former Texas congressman took over the ODNI in May, after being nominated by President Donald Trump and approved by the Senate. Accusing China of intending to dominate the world "economically, militarily and technologically," Ratcliffe rolled out the claims about intellectual property theft and economic espionage, already made by FBI Director Chris Wray and Attorney General Bill Barr earlier this year.

Comment: In Washington, the art of 'accuse and deflect' outstrips facts and reason. The only win-win is partnership, but US politicians will be the last to know.

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Footprints

Pentagon: Trump orders withdrawal of US troops from Somalia

Ebony Bowden
New York Post
Fri, 04 Dec 2020 06:00 UTC
US troops Somalia
© APUS Troops in Somalia
President Trump has ordered the withdrawal of almost all US troops from the African nation of Somalia, The Pentagon announced Friday.

The order will see virtually all 700 soldiers stationed in Somalia — mostly special forces troops charged with pushing back the Islamic State's advance in the Horn of Africa — "repositioned" to Kenya by Jan. 15, a defense official told the New York Times.

Withdrawing the number of US troops overseas and ending America's involvement in foreign wars has been one of the biggest tenants of Trump's presidency and a mission he has continued with despite losing the presidential election to Joe Biden.

American soldiers have been in Somalia for 13 years where they have been fighting against local al Qaeda-aligned group, al-Shabaab and training local forces.

Last week, Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller confirmed that Trump would draw down soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq to 1,500 in each country — down from 4,500 in Afghanistan and 3,000 in Iraq.

The troop draw down will also take place by Jan. 15, just days before Biden is inaugurated on Jan. 20.
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X

US blacklists Chinese chipmaker SMIC and oil producer CNOOC over alleged military ties


RT
Fri, 04 Dec 2020 09:10 UTC
electronic chip
© Getty Images/Chakrapong Worathat/EyeEm
The Pentagon has added China's largest chipmaker, SMIC, and oil giant CNOOC to a blacklist of alleged Chinese military companies. The move is part of broader attempts to reduce Chinese firms' access to the US market.

The US Department of Defense designated four additional companies as being owned or controlled by the Chinese military, the other two being China Construction Technology and China International Engineering Consulting. The four just added bring the total number of blacklisted firms to 35.

The list didn't initially trigger any penalties, but a recent executive order issued by President Donald Trump will prevent US investors from buying securities of the blacklisted firms starting next year. Specifically, the move could make it more difficult for US companies to export technology to the blacklisted Chinese companies.

In September, the Pentagon said it was considering whether SMIC should be added to the Commerce Department's entity list, which essentially restricts those companies from receiving specific goods made in the United States.
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Family

Federal judge orders Trump administration to fully reinstate DACA

Zachary Evans
National Review
Sat, 05 Dec 2020 09:37 UTC
US Supreme Court
© Reuters/Jonathan ErnstDACA supporters outside U.S. Supreme Court
The Trump administration attempted to end DACA, however the effort was stopped in July by the Supreme Court, which ruled 5-4 that the administration violated the Administrative Procedure Act in attempting to halt the program. The Court did not rule on the legality of DACA itself.

Shortly following the decision, the Department of Homeland Security ceased new applications to the program and mandated that all DACA participants (known as "dreamers") renew their status every year instead of two years.

On Friday, Judge Nicholas Garaufis of the Eastern District of New York ordered the Trump administration to accept new applicants and increase the renewal period to the original two years, vacating a DHS order by acting Homeland Security secretary Chad Wolf. Around 300,000 people could now be eligible to apply to DACA, according to lawyers working on the case.
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