Puppet MastersS


Bad Guys

China announces sanctions against Rubio, Cruz over Uighur Muslims

David Aaro
Fox News
Mon, 13 Jul 2020 17:08 UTC
rubio
© Andrew Harnik/Pool via REUTERS - RC2EIG91O6GIU.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) arrives for a Senate Intelligence Committee nomination hearing for Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX), on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., May 5, 2020.
China on Monday announced sanctions against a number of U.S. officials, including Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, in retaliation for legislation intended to punish senior Chinese officials over Beijing's alleged treatment of minority Uighur Muslims in Xinjiang, according to multiple reports.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the sanctions against the U.S. officials, would begin on Monday. The Republican senators -- both prominent critics of China -- were listed by Hua as targets of the "corresponding sanctions".

Others include Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, Sam Brownback, U.S. Rep. Chris Smith, and the Congressional-Executive Commission on China -- which monitors human rights and submits an annual report to President Trump and Congress, according to Reuters.

"The U.S. actions seriously interfere in China's internal affairs, seriously violate the basic norms of international relations and seriously damage Sino-U.S. relations," Hua told reporters during a daily briefing. "China will make further responses based on how the situation develops."

It's not clear what the new sanctions against U.S. officials will entail.

The measures come just days after Washington sanctioned a Communist Party secretary and other Chinese officials, over alleged human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region of China.
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Mr. Potato

Steve Bannon claims scientists from Wuhan biolab have 'defected', as he warns Brits off partnering with Huawei

Glen Owen
The Daily Mail
Sat, 11 Jul 2020 21:30 UTC
wuhan lab
© Wuhan Virology InstituteStaff are pictured above at the Wuhan Institute of Technology.
FBI gathers evidence that coronavirus pandemic was caused by an accidental leak

Experts from the Chinese laboratory at the centre of global suspicion over the coronavirus pandemic have 'defected' and are in the hands of Western intelligence, the architect of Donald Trump's presidential victory claimed last night.


Comment: Bannon was not 'the architect of Trump's victory'. He helped, maybe, but Trump was on his way to winning the moment he won over Republican grassroots with his promise to build a wall.


Steve Bannon, who was Trump's White House chief strategist and retains close links to the administration, told The Mail on Sunday that spies were building a case against Beijing on the basis that the global pandemic had been caused by a leak from the Institute of Virology in Wuhan and that the subsequent cover-up had amounted to 'pre-meditated murder'.


Comment: Would those be the same spies working to unseat the US president?


In an exclusive interview, Mr Bannon also urged Boris Johnson to scrap plans to allow the Chinese communications firm Huawei to play a role in the UK's new 5G network.

The Prime Minister is due to make an announcement within days over Huawei's future, which is expected to lead to the company's equipment being stripped from the 5G programme within the next decade.

Comment: Bannon is a class-A looper. The only question is; is he paid to be one by the 'spies', or is this simply all him?

Here he is recently reading out a 'declaration of independence', heralding the new country of the Federal State of China!


Bannon's 'spies' apparently never told him that the virus may have actually come from Fort Detrick...

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Cardboard Box

Lavrov: 'NATO aircraft are used to traffic Afghan drugs'

Drago Bosnic
Fort Russ News
Sat, 11 Jul 2020 00:00 UTC
US soldiers poppies
Russia insists that reports about the possible use of NATO aircraft to traffic drugs in Afghanistan be probed into, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Friday.

"We keep on receiving reports, including via mass media, that contraband of opiates has been organized from Afghanistan to other countries, including to Europe, with the use of military aircraft of the NATO coalition," he stated during the Primakov Readings international online forum, TASS reported.

"We cannot verify these reports 100% but such reports are coming too regularly to be ignored. If military aircraft were used over Afghanistan, they could have been only NATO's aircraft and such flights could have been performed only by the military or special services. Naturally, such information needs to be probed into, first of all in the United States," Lavrov stressed.

Comment: We have been publishing reports about the huge drug industry being fueled out of Afghanistan for years, but this may be the first time that someone with Sergey Lavrov's stature and world standing has spoken out about these criminal activities. Don't expect to hear about it from the Western corporate media though.

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Attention

American collusion: Weaponizing media, Big Tech and government

James Grundvig
WND
Fri, 10 Jul 2020 06:07 UTC
Russian Collusion
The planners quickly deployed the "insurance policy" after Donald J. Trump won the presidential election in 2016. Like an annuity, the payments to the policyholders would be small and steady at first, then lead, they hoped, to a much bigger payoff: the removal of President Trump from office.

At least that was the plan. Three and a half years later, the big day never arrived.

From the unsubstantiated Steele dossier, the discredited Russiagate investigation, to the FISA court abuses, the potholed-strewn road to impeachment circled back to the Mueller Report, which was supposed to clinch the deal. Without a smoking gun on the president, the Mueller team reached and then overreached, picking off a few Trump confidants, in an attempt to tighten the noose. The results were half-baked. That's usually what the FBI perjury trap produces. Plea deals; no evidence of collusion.

Sure, Robert Mueller collected a few big scalps in Gen. Michael Flynn and Roger Stone. But now that Flynn's indictment unraveled, the insurance claim has turned into a liability for the policyholders. Trump is still president. And now the investigation into collusion has moved in the other direction focusing on the planners of the insurance policy.
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Bulb

Looks Like Sweden Was Right After All

Mike Whitney
The Unz Review
Fri, 10 Jul 2020 00:00 UTC
Swedes celebrating
Why is the media so fixated on Sweden's coronavirus policy? What difference does it make?

Sweden settled on a policy that they thought was both sustainable and would save as many lives as possible. They weren't trying to 'show anyone up' or 'prove how smart they were'. They simply took a more traditionalist approach that avoided a full-scale lockdown. That's all.

But that's the problem, isn't it? And that's why Sweden has been so harshly criticized in the media, because they refused to do what everyone else was doing. They refused to adopt a policy that elites now universally support, a policy that scares people into cowering submission. The Swedish model is a threat to that approach because it allows people to maintain their personal freedom even in the midst of a global pandemic. Ruling class elites don't want that, that is not in their interests. What they want is for the people to meekly accept the rules and conditions that lead to their eventual enslavement. That's the real objective, complete social control, saving lives has nothing to do with it. Sweden opposed that approach which is why Sweden has to be destroyed. It's that simple.
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Bizarro Earth

Azerbaijan-Armenia border clashes, casualties reported

Emil Guliyev
International Business Times
Sun, 12 Jul 2020 15:56 UTC
Azerbaijan
© AFP / KAREN MINASYANThe two ex-Soviet republics have for decades been locked in a simmering conflict over Nagorny Karabakh, a breakaway territory which was at the heart of a bloody war in the 1990s
Arch-foes Armenia and Azerbaijan traded accusations of launching a military offensive using artillery fire along their shared border on Sunday, with Baku reporting two troops killed.

Azerbaijan's defence ministry said Armenia's "offensive" from its northern Tavush region was met with a "counterstrike" and retreated.

"Two Azerbaijani servicemen were killed and five more wounded," it added.

Comment: News Armenia reports that the Azerbaijan army attempted to seize the Armenia border position :
At around 12:30pm on Sunday, the servicemen of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces attempted to violate the state border of the Republic of Armenia, in the direction of Tavush Province, and with an UAZ-model vehicle. Shushan Stepanyan, spokesperson for the defense minister of Armenia, wrote about this on her Facebook page.

"After the warning of the Armenian side, the Azerbaijani servicemen returned to their position, leaving the UAZ-model vehicle behind.

At 1:45pm, the servicemen of the Azerbaijani Armed Forces repeated — using artillery fire — the attempt to seize the border position of the Armenian Armed Forces, but were suppressed by the Armenian side and driven back, suffering casualties. There are no casualties on the Armenian side," she added.


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Shopping Bag

Dems thrilled at Biden's $700B 'Buy American' promise; Trump's signature plan dubbed 'racist'


RT
Thu, 09 Jul 2020 16:33 UTC
TrumpBIden
© Carlo Allegri/Reuters/AFP/Brendan Smialowski/KJNUS President Donald Trumo • Former US VP Joe Biden
Joe Biden unveiled a $700 billion 'Buy American' initiative, drawing praise from both liberals and conservatives on social media, but some noted that similar plans by the Trump administration were previously framed as 'racist.'

Biden's economic pitch includes plans for a $400 billion, four-year increase in government spending on US-made goods and services - topped by a $300 billion investment in research and development for US technology.

"This will be the largest mobilization of public investments in procurement, infrastructure and (research and development) since World War II," Biden's senior adviser Jake Sullivan told the Associated Press on Thursday.


Comment: Probably because Biden couldn't be trusted to spit out the 3, 4 and 5-syllable words in this statement.


The proposal has echoes of Donald Trump's own 'Buy American, hire American' executive order signed in 2017, which some critics accused the US president of not sticking to - and which also prompted accusations of hypocrisy, given that his own businesses hire foreign workers.

Comment: Biden's campaign has duplicated this program piece because he needs to be current with Trump in promises and policies to lock in his base. He will predictably steal anything else that works for Trump.

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Footprints

Impeachment trial witness, Army Lt. Col. Vindman, retires from military, blames the President but gets his promotion

Sophie Mann
Just the News
Wed, 08 Jul 2020 02:42 UTC
Vindman
© Getty Images/Alex WongArmy Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman
Army Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman, a key witness in Congress' Trump's impeachment inquiry last year, said Wednesday that he's retiring from the military. After more than two decades of military service, Vindman says he fears that his future with the Army "will forever be limited" as a result of his congressional testimony and the resulting political retaliation. Vindman's lawyer told CNN that his client has suffered a "campaign of bullying, intimidation, and retaliation," led by President Trump and his allies.

In February, the president fired Vindman from his position as the nation's top Ukraine expert on the National Security Council. Trump also fired Vindman's twin brother who served as an NSC lawyer at the White House, while playing a role in support of impeachment hearings against the president.

Recently, the conversation surrounding Vindman has become focused on whether the White House was acting to prevent an upcoming promotion for Vindman to the rank of colonel.

Defense Secretary Mark Esper and Secretary of the Army Ryan McCarthy both reportedly approved Vindman's promotion in the last week, following a Defense Department inspector general report into allegation of "inappropriate behavior."

Vindman reportedly decided to retire from the military following conversations with senior Army officials who made it clear that continued career advancement would be difficult given the political fallout from his impeachment testimony.

Comment: Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Vindman was a willing tool. Quitting the military was his choice, not coerced as reported. His treatment by the administration was certainly better than the president received from all parties involved in the faux impeachment process. Blaming someone for something they haven't done is the signature calling card of the Democratic steamroller, eagerly embellished by MSM's CNN. Just ask Trump.

The innuendo and drama continues to muddy this situation:
Vindman was told that that there have been discussions within the Department of Defense about sending his name forward on a "list of one" or holding his name back until after the election to avoid impacting the promotions of other service members, the source said.

Vindman's nomination for a promotion proceeded with no flags from the Pentagon. "This was all handled in a normal process," the official said. Esper had already approved the list of promotions put forward by the Army, including Vindman's promotion to colonel, and that list was still scheduled to go to the White House on Wednesday.

After he was fired from the NSC in February, an Army spokesperson told CNN that Vindman had been reassigned to the Department of the Army.

The President later defended Vindman's firing from the National Security Council. Trump complained about news coverage of the firing in a tweet, saying reporting was done
"as though I should think only how wonderful he was. Actually, I don't know him, never spoke to him, or met him (I don't believe!)."
Top military leaders, including Esper, have insisted that Vindman would be protected from retaliation of any kind after he transitioned back to the Pentagon, but some Democratic lawmakers have made it clear they believe that he is still being targeted by the White House.

Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois announced last week that she is blocking Senate confirmation of 1,123 senior US Armed Forces promotions until she receives assurances that Vindman's promotion wouldn't be blocked. Vindman's name is included in a later batch. Duckworth wrote:
"Secretary Esper's failure to protect his troops sets a new, dark precedent that any Commander in Chief can interfere with routine merit-based military promotions to carry out personal vendettas and retaliation against military officers who follow duly-authorized subpoenas while upholding their oath of office and core principles of service."
John Bolton said he believed Vindman, who worked under him at the NSC, deserved to be promoted based on what he observed during his time in the administration. Bolton said to CNN's Jake Tapper:
"Based on not just his service, but his twin brother's service at the NSC, both of whom were pushed out of their assignments early, I think they certainly deserve promotion based on what I saw.

"They shouldn't be discriminated against. I hope there's nobody in the White House who's holding this up or putting bureaucratic obstacles in the way. I think this is something, this kind of corruption of this promotion process, unfortunately, typical of a number of things that have happened in the administration, I think it's a bad signal to all of our military."
It is in the Democratic Party's best self-interests, given the upcoming election, to keep reminding and reinforcing their myriad of false claims, unsupported scenarios and accusations against the president. For those who believed them then, they will remain believers no matter how obvious or proven the opposite is/was the reality.

See also:

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Life Preserver

Minnesota Gov requests riot 'disaster relief' - Trump says 'go jump in a lake!'

Bonchie
RedState
Sat, 11 Jul 2020 01:00 UTC
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz
© Glenn Stubbe/Star Tribune/APMinnesota Governor Tim Walz
Some weeks ago, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota made a request for federal disaster relief after hundreds of millions of dollars in destruction occurred in Minneapolis. That damage came at the hands of rioting and looting in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd.
Those cities burned because Walz and the local leadership refused to stop the carnage, even as people were injured and killed in the chaos. The President had urged Minnesota to deploy troops early on, something that wouldn't happen until later, after the damage was already done. Instead of accepting Trump's offering of active duty troops, Walz refused while Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey trashed the President's urging to get tough and stop the anarchy.

Now, these two figures want taxpayers from other states to help pay for their political cowardice and Trump has given them an answer that I'll summarize - Go jump in a lake.

Comment: A lesson in 'tough love' for the Gov.

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X

Best of the Web: Rob Slane: We are psychologically locked down, and there's no easy way out

Rob Slane
The Blogmire
Sat, 11 Jul 2020 18:13 UTC
covid-1984 orwell
On the first day of "lockdown", I wrote this:
"So that seems to be that. The end of Britain as we knew it. ... I must say I am astonished and saddened that this has happened to the country I love, because of an illness which will likely turn out to kill no more than might die during a very bad flu season*. Astonished and saddened by the fact that we are risking economic meltdown and the untold misery this could bring to the lives of millions in lost jobs, decimated businesses and a plunging into poverty. Astonished and saddened that a once free people are being caged like prisoners, at a huge risk to their mental health, general wellbeing and future liberties. Astonished and saddened that so many freeborn people seem to be welcoming all this."
*[Covid-19 has killed around 550,000 in more than 6 months worldwide, and the W.H.O. estimates that flu kills between 290,000 and 650,000 in a season]

Months later, and after having done all I could think of to warn people and plead with them about what is happening to them and what is being done to them, both on this blog, on Twitter, and elsewhere, through analysis of data, by pointing to true experts who are ignored by the media, and by careful argumentation, the astonishment I once had for these things has morphed into something like a shrug of resignation. Months into the most dangerous social experiment ever conducted; with no political or media opposition to be seen; with a tsunami of unemployment coming our way; with social and public life frozen due to the ongoing restrictions; with millions still petrified and panicked by a virus that has indeed turned out to be roughly as deadly as a severe flu season; with local "lockdowns" now being implemented for no rational reason whatever; and with Schedule 21 — perhaps the most sinister legislation this country has seen for centuries — being passed without a peep of controversy, and apparently millions still cannot see what is happening to them and what is being done to their lives and their country. What can one do except shrug?
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