Puppet MastersS


Brain

Losing it: Biden seems to suggest Michael Brown was a victim on anniversary of death. Obama-Biden DOJ said officer acted in 'self-defence'

Biden
© Spencer Platt/Getty ImagesFormer VP and presidential candidate Joe Biden
Presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden portrayed Michael Brown as the victim of a police shooting on Sunday — the sixth anniversary of Brown's death in Ferguson, Missouri — despite the fact that the Obama-Biden Department of Justice determined that officer Darren Wilson had acted out of "self-defense."

"It's been six years since Michael Brown's life was taken in Ferguson — reigniting a movement," Biden tweeted. "We must continue the work of tackling systemic racism and reforming policing."

Comment: There was, actually, eye-witness testimony and evidence to the contrary in the Brown-Wilson tragedy. Biden's confusion may be a conflation of the two versions. His cognitive decline suggests he is unable to sort his facts nor filter his memories.

See also:


Bad Guys

Intel drama queens say Iran seeking to 'undermine' Trump, Russia working to 'denigrate' Biden in election

American Intelligence Community
The intelligence community warned Friday that rival nations once again are attempting to influence U.S. policy and elections in a variety of ways, declaring that Iran wants to "undermine" President Trump while Russia is working to "primarily denigrate" former Vice President Joe Biden.

In the latest election threat update, officials also said China "prefers" that Trump "does not win reelection" in November.

Last month, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence was "primarily concerned" with China, Russia and Iran "seeking to compromise" the 2020 presidential election.

Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center Bill Evanina on Friday revealed additional information on those threats.

Oscar

In the Pentagon and China's propaganda wars, greedy Hollywood is a happy helper for both - the people and art are the victims

tom cruise top gun
© Global Look Press/Paramount Pictures/ZUMAPRESS.comTop Gun (1986) Dir: Tony Scott
Hollywood won't choose between the totalitarian Sauron of China and the authoritarian Darth Vader of the US military, but instead will support both evils, and the people of the world and the art of cinema will suffer greatly.

A propaganda war is being waged by China and the US military for control of Hollywood, and therefore the minds of the public, for their own nefarious purposes.

Not surprisingly, like whores at a battlefield brothel, the morally ambiguous harlots of Hollywood are trying to profit from servicing both combatants. PEN America, a group championing free expression, recently released an exhaustive report detailing how China has taken control of Hollywood.

The report states: "The Chinese government, under Xi Jinping especially, has heavily emphasized its desire to ensure that Hollywood filmmakers - to use their preferred phrase - 'tell China's story well.'"

China strictly controls films released in its own market, which is soon to become the largest box office in the world, and Hollywood wants in on that lucrative action. So, it appeases its Chinese overlords by obeying censorial demands, like whitewashing a Tibetan character from Marvel's 'Dr. Strange', and strenuously self-censoring, like when it canceled a planned sequel to 'World War Z'.

This Orwellian sentiment of controlled storytelling to fit a government-approved narrative is not limited to the communists of China, however. The US military has long had a very fruitful arrangement with Hollywood in which it exchanges free military equipment, expertise, personnel and locations in exchange for ultimate control over scripts. Capt. Russell Coons, Director of Navy Office of Information West, sounded like Xi when he described Pentagon expectations while cooperating with a movie. "We're not going to support a program that ... presents us in a compromising way."

Comment: For more on China's role in Hollywood:

As for the Pentagon's influence, Tom Secker's work at Spy Culture is essential.


Star of David

Israeli occupation forces kill young Palestinian woman - 24th this year

jenin idf
© ODAY DAIBES/APA IMAGESISRAELI FORCES ON PATROL NEAR THE WEST BANK CITY OF JENIN IN MAY 2020.
A young Palestinian woman was pronounced dead on Friday afternoon after she succumbed to wounds sustained by Israeli military gunfire early Friday morning before dawn.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed that 23-year-old Dalia Samoudi died of a gunshot wound to her chest that punctured her aorta, liver, and pancreas, leaving her in critical condition.

After undergoing several surgeries, doctors were unable to save her, and she passed away.

Local media reported that Samoudi was injured during a violent Israeli search and arrest raid in the city of Jenin in the early hours of Friday morning.

According to reports from Wafa, the official news agency of the Palestinian Authority (PA), Israeli forces raided the al-Jaberiyyat neighborhood of Jenin where they "interrogated and threatened to re-arrest a former prisoner after breaking into his house."

In response to the army's raid, local youth clashed with the soldiers and reportedly attempted to block the army's passage further into the city, causing the soldiers to open fire on protesters.

Palestinian media said Israeli forces fired tear gas, sound bomb, and live ammunition during the raid.

X

Chinese firms that fail US accounting standards to be delisted from stock exchange as of 2022

Masked people in Shanghai
© Reuters / Aly SongPeople wearing protective face masks in Shanghai, China March 10, 2020
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Monday said companies from China and other countries that do not comply with accounting standards will be delisted from U.S. stock exchanges as of the end of 2021.

Mnuchin and other officials recommended the move to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission last week to ensure that Chinese firms are held to the same standards as U.S. companies, prompting China to call for frank dialogue.

Mnuchin told a White House briefing the SEC was expected to adopt the recommendations. "As of the end of next year ... they all have to comply with the same exact accounting, or they will be delisted on the exchanges," he said.

The recommendation is part of a push by the Trump administration to correct what it calls major imbalances in ties between the world's two largest economies. Tensions between the two countries have flared in past months over China's handling of the coronavirus outbreak, Hong Kong and human rights.

Radar

Explosions hit US coalition supply convoys in Iraq

Iraqi
© Reuters / Thaier al-SudaniFILE PHOTO: Iraqi security forces at a checkpoint into the Green Zone in Baghdad, Iraq
At least two explosions have hit convoys supplying U.S.-led coalition forces in Iraq in the last 24 hours, security sources said, the first on Monday evening near the southern border with Kuwait and the second on Tuesday north of Baghdad.

The explosions, which caused no casualties but did some material damage, are the latest in a string of such incidents in recent weeks. An attack in southern Iraq on Sunday hit a convoy carrying supplies to coalition forces, the military said.

Several thousand U.S. forces are still based in Iraq, leading a coalition whose mission is to fight Sunni Muslim Islamic State militants.

Those forces are also a target for Iran-backed Shi'ite militias, which the United States blames for regular rocket attacks on bases hosting the coalition, and on other U.S. targets such as Washington's embassy in Baghdad.

Comment: See also:


Laptop

China targeting U.S. election infrastructure with cyberattacks, says O'Brien

White House National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien
Chinese government-linked hackers have been targeting U.S. election infrastructure ahead of the 2020 presidential election, White House National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien said on Sunday, indicating a more active level of alleged Chinese interference.

O'Brien's comments appeared to go beyond a statement released on Friday by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence which said China "has been expanding its influence efforts," and that Russia was already trying to undercut Democratic candidate Joe Biden. But did not specifically accuse Beijing of hacking attempts against U.S. election-related systems.

"They'd like to see the President lose," O'Brien said on CBS' "Face the Nation." "China - like Russia, like Iran - they've engaged in cyberattacks and phishing and that sort of thing with respect to our election infrastructure, with respect to websites and that sort of thing."

Comment: Last election it was supposedly Russian hackers trying to get Trump elected. Now it's Chinese hackers trying to prevent Trump from getting re-elected.

See also:


Sheriff

'We are coming for you,' Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot warns 'criminals and vigilantes' after a night of mass looting, unrest

lori lightfoot chicago mayor
© Screenshot Twitter Mayor Lori Lightfoot, @chicagosmayor
Democratic Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot condemned a night of mass looting during a press conference Monday morning, warning "criminals and vigilantes" that "we are coming for you."

Looters and rioters descended on the streets of Chicago early Monday morning after a man was reportedly hit during a shootout involving officers, according to Newsweek. Lightfoot addressed the chaos Monday morning, calling out criminals and noting that the behavior was not protected under the First Amendment.

"These individuals engaged in what can only be described as brazen and extensive criminal looting and destruction," Lightfoot said. "And to be clear, this had nothing to do with legitimate, protected First Amendment expression."

Comment: See also:


Chess

Belarus on the brink? Unloved in Moscow, a pariah again in the West & facing protests at home, Lukashenko is running out of road

Lukashenko
© AP Photo/Sergei Grits; REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko
Alexander Lukashenko will likely ride out the gathering storm across Belarus. However, he cannot remain the president forever. Which means Russia needs to work out a realistic long term strategy toward its closest ally.

There is little that Russia's leaders like less than political instability. The 2016 Foreign Policy Concept of the Russian Federation uses the word 'stability' no fewer than 24 times, and the term has appeared regularly in the speeches of Russia's President Vladimir Putin throughout the 21 years he has been either president or prime minister. Given a choice between revolution and the status quo, the preference of most Russians runs firmly in favor of the latter.

This may explain Putin's response to Sunday's presidential election in Belarus. According to official figures (which many disbelieve), incumbent President Lukashenko won nearly 80 percent of the vote. Following the announcement of this result, violent protests broke out in cities across Belarus, with opposition activists complaining that the results had been falsified.

Snakes in Suits

Italian MPs received coronavirus relief payments meant for self-employed

Maio
© Andreas Solaro/AFP/Getty ImagesThe foreign minister, Luigi Di Maio, said the five deputies should come forward and confess.
The Italian government is seeking to discover the identities of five deputies who are alleged to have received a relief payment intended to support the self-employed during the coronavirus lockdown.

A report in the newspaper La Repubblica on Sunday also revealed that 2,000 regional and local politicians applied to receive the bonus, which ranged between €600 (£540) and €1,000, from INPS, Italy's social security and pensions agency.

The revelation has provoked outrage in Italy, with leaders of all parties calling for the identities of the parliamentarians, who are protected by a privacy law, to be made public and for them to resign.

It is suspected that three of the parliamentarians are with the far-right League party, one is with the Five Star Movement (M5S), ruling nationally alongside the Democratic party, and one is a member of Italia Viva, the party set up last year by the former prime minister Matteo Renzi.

Comment: See also: