Puppet MastersS


Bad Guys

The Saker: Will the US start two wars instead of just one?

The Saker
The UNZ Review
Wed, 20 May 2020 12:00 UTC
russia flag jet
Amidst the worldwide pandemic induced scare most of us have probably lost track of all the other potential dangers which still threaten international peace and stability. Allow me to list just a few headlines which, I strongly believe, deserve much more attention than what they got so far. Here we go:
  • Military Times: "5 Iran tankers sailing to Venezuela amid US pressure tactics"
  • Time: "5 Iranian Tankers Head to Venezuela Amid Heightened Tensions Between U.S. and Tehran"
  • FoxNews: "Iran tankers sailing to Venezuela in effort to undermine US sanctions"
Notice that Military Times speaks of "US pressure tactics", Time of "tensions" and FoxNews of "efforts to undermined US sanctions"?

I don't think that this is a coincidence. Folks in the US military are much more in touch with reality than the flag-waving prostitutes which some people call "reporters" or "journalists".

Comment: AlJazeera confirms that the Venezuelan military will escort Iran's oil shipments:
Venezuela says its military will escort five Iranian tankers, bringing oil to ease severe shortages

A new standoff could be brewing between the United States, Iran and Venezuela over a shipment of millions of dollars of fuel.

Five Iranian oil tankers are just days away from arriving in Venezuela to help ease fuel shortages there.

Venezuela's own oil refining industry collapsed; critics say that was because of underinvestment and mismanagement.


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Light Saber

White House Press Secretary stuns journos with interactive 'Obamagate' presentation on how to do their jobs

Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge
Fri, 22 May 2020 15:25 UTC
McEnany
Shortly before wrapping up an impromptu press conference in which President Trump declared places of worship essential during the pandemic, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany delivered a scorching presentation to the White House Press Corps on Friday - after accusing them of failing to do their jobs regarding 'Obamagate.'

"Did anyone take it upon themselves to pose any questions about Michael Flynn and unmasking to President Obama's spokesperson?" she asked.

One journalist stammers, "but buh but Flynn's name wasn't mas--"
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Eye 2

Sent to die: 4,300 Covid-19 patients sent to New York's vulnerable nursing homes under Cuomo directive

Bernard Condon
Associated Press
Fri, 22 May 2020 20:24 UTC
coronavirus
© AP Photo/John Minchillo, FileIn this April 17, 2020, file photo, a patient is wheeled into Cobble Hill Health Center by emergency medical workers in the Brooklyn borough of New York. On Thursday, April 23, 2020, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that nursing homes in New York must immediately report how they have complied with regulations for resident care during the coronavirus, and non-compliant facilities could face hefty fines or lose their licenses.
More than 4,300 recovering coronavirus patients were sent to New York's already vulnerable nursing homes under a controversial state directive that was ultimately scrapped amid criticisms it was accelerating the nation's deadliest outbreaks, according to a count by The Associated Press.

AP compiled its own tally to find out how many COVID-19 patients were discharged from hospitals to nursing homes under the March 25 directive after New York's Health Department declined to release its internal survey conducted two weeks ago. It says it is still verifying data that was incomplete.

Whatever the full number, nursing home administrators, residents' advocates and relatives say it has added up to a big and indefensible problem for facilities that even Gov. Andrew Cuomo — the main proponent of the policy — called "the optimum feeding ground for this virus."

Comment: New York under Cuomo is rapidly turning into a dystopia: Cuomo offers up New Yorkers as GUINEA PIGS for coronavirus vaccine, mandates face masks in public

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Bullseye

Covid-19, the replacement for Osama bin Laden as fall guy for lost liberties

Robert Bridge
Strategic Culture Foundation
Thu, 21 May 2020 00:00 UTC
Coronavirus protest
© Chris CarlsonLaw enforcement personnel on horseback keep protesters on sidewalk during coronavirus lockup protest.
The government and media have dumped at the doorstep of the coronavirus many of the political, economic and social afflictions that are now ravaging much of the global population. In reality, they need to point the finger at themselves.

As the mainstream media saturates the airwaves with a daily overdose of coronavirus fear porn, the majority of journalists have given their governments a free pass to enact any draconian measure they see fit. From the closure of public beaches to forbidding power boats on waterways, the insanity seems to have no limits or logic. And as the media would have us believe, it was the coronavirus that enacted these measures, as opposed to living, breathing, unthinking humans.

What dirty deeds does the new and improved villain of our times stand accused of? First and foremost, the coronavirus singlehandedly destroyed the global economy as only 'essential' businesses may continue to operate. Thus, thousands of small businesses have been ordered shuttered, de facto destroyed, while countless numbers of people around the world have been ordered to 'shelter-in-place' with dwindling financial reserves.

Again, this wanton destruction of a large swath of the economy is not due to bad government decision-making, at least according to the media, but Covid-19.
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Yoda

By signing $100 million deal with Spotify, Joe Rogan just blew up the Death Star

Tom Luongo
Gold Goats 'N Guns
Fri, 22 May 2020 00:00 UTC
explosion
© Star Wars
In the end it took a self-proclaimed 'meathead' like Joe Rogan to give new meaning to the phrase "Star Wars."

Because if there was ever a moment where someone with real star potential just went to war on our behalf, it is Joe Rogan signing a $100 million exclusive deal with Spotify.

Don't take my word for it. Take Alex Jones', Rogan's good friend, who was given the media exclusive to break this story and explain to all of us why he took that deal.



The short answer is he's going to war against Silicon Valley.

Comment: Alex Jones, in the video, says 'If you don't stand up for what you believe in you lose it all." In today's mental lockdown and morally devoid climate we first need to know exactly what is it we believe.

See also: Joe Rogan's $100M message to YouTube: 'Stop censoring us, Big Tech!'

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Bulb

Ukrainian prosecutors launch high treason case against ex-president Poroshenko


TASS
Fri, 22 May 2020 19:35 UTC
Pyotr Poroshenko
© EPA-EFE/SERGEY DOLZHENKOUkraine's ex-president Pyotr Poroshenko
The Office of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General has launched an investigation into high treason and abuse of office by ex-president Pyotr Poroshenko after purported records of his conversations with former US vice president and secretary of state were made public, the Ukrayinska Pravda newspaper said.

"The Office of the Ukrainian Prosecutor General made an entry in the unified register of prejudicial inquiry," the paper said, citing sources in the prosecutor general's office.

According to sources, the investigation was launched in line with the Ukrainian Criminal Code's articles on state treason and abuse of power or office.

Comment: Poroshenko is insisting the call was fabricated by Zelensky's office! He's not saying it's not his own voice or denying what he said, just that the recording was fabricated with "raw materials". If Poroshenko is indeed prosecuted, that will send a clear message of the obvious corruption involving Joe Biden. Of course, even clear messages are easily ignored by much of the media - that is pretty much their job.

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Arrow Up

'We'll spend you into oblivion' says US nuclear envoy, a 'negotiating' tactic for New START arms control deal

Nebojsa Malic
RT
Thu, 21 May 2020 23:38 UTC
YARS missile
© Sputnik/Vadim SavitskiiA Yars fifth-generation intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) at the premises the Novosibirsk Division of Strategic Missile Forces in Russia.
The new US arms control czar has laid out Washington's thinking on the last remaining nuclear pact with Russia, hoping that US threats of a new arms race will force Moscow and Beijing to negotiate a new three-way deal instead.

"We intend to establish a new arms control regime now, precisely to prevent a full-blown arms race," Ambassador Marshall Billingslea, special presidential envoy for arms control, said Thursday during a half-hour interview hosted by the Hudson Institute, a DC-based think tank.

In case there is an arms race, he added, US President Donald Trump "has made clear that we have a tried and true practice here. We know how to win these races and we know how to spend the adversary into oblivion."

This claim is based on the conventional wisdom in Washington that the US "won" the Cold War by pouring money into weapons and forcing the Soviet Union to do the same, eventually causing an economic crisis that triggered the collapse of the socialist system. It is not a standpoint widely accepted in Russia, however.


Comment: See also:

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Stock Down

Ron Paul: US economy won't recover soon; Federal Reserve 'should go out of business'


RT
Fri, 22 May 2020 11:07 UTC
Federal Reserve
© Reuters/Kevin LamarqueThe Federal Reserve in Washington DC, USA
The US Federal Reserve has said it plans to maintain low interest rates for the foreseeable future until it is confident the economy has weathered the consequences of Covid-19 and is in the process of recovery.

RT's Boom Bust spoke to former US congressman and author of 'End the Fed' Dr. Ron Paul about his outlook for the long road to economic recovery.

"I don't think the economy is going to recover, I think it is going yet to be much worse, the market policy edges on total insanity of it all," he said.

"We got into trouble because we spent too much money. The debt is out of control, the interest rates for a gimmick down to zero, they're just doing the same thing over again. The only thing they've added is what is equivalent to 'helicopter money' that Bernanke wanted."


Comment: If Paul is right, and he likely is and has been all along, the worst is yet to come.

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Snakes in Suits

Flashback Amy Klobuchar: Why she is the favorite Democrat of Senate Republicans

George Gallanis
World Socialist Web Site
Mon, 19 Aug 2019 00:00 UTC
Klobuchar
© Fox NewsSenator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
Senator Amy Klobuchar's presidential campaign exemplifies the anti-working class and right-wing politics of the Democratic Party. Her campaign platform addresses almost none of the pressing issues confronting millions of workers and youth in the United States. She is one of a group of candidates offering themselves as "center-left" substitutes in case the campaign of former Vice President Joe Biden should fall apart.

Like a company offering multiple products to saturate the market, often made using the same ingredients in minutely different proportions, she is one of many right-wing candidates fielded by the Democratic Party who is differentiated from the rest by a slightly varied hue of alleged progressive politics.

In some ways, Klobuchar seems a candidate prepared in the laboratory to meet the specific requirements of the 2020 campaign:
- years of experience in the US Senate, check;
- background as a tough law-and-order prosecutor, check;
- female, check;
- visibly younger than Biden and Trump, check;
- represents a state in the Midwest, the key battleground of 2016 and likely of 2020, check.
And one might add:
- proven defender of corporate America and US imperialism, check, check, check.

Comment: Klobuchar also thought Hillary Clinton would have made a great president, saying, "She passed every threshold."

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Briefcase

Former US attorney under Clinton signals Judge Emmet Sullivan to make trouble for the administration

Jonathan Turley
jonathanturley.org
Thu, 21 May 2020 00:00 UTC
Sullivan/Litman
© SOTT/MSNBCUS District Judge Emmet Sullivan • Former US Attorney Harry Litman
The Los Angeles Times has posted a column by UCLA Law Professor and former U.S. Attorney under Bill Clinton, Harry Litman. The column that captures just how disconnected legal analysis has become in the Trump era. Litman in the column admits, to his credit, that the precedent overwhelmingly opposes a denial of motion to dismiss. However, Litman then encourages U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan to use the hearing to "make trouble" for the Justice Department — a goal disconnected from the inescapable legal precedent (and thus the judicial obligations) presented by the motion. There is a word for using hearing to gratuitously "make trouble" for the Executive Branch: judicial activism. I have previously written about the need to dismiss the Flynn case and criticized those who dismiss new evidence of wrongdoing by the prosecutors.[Update: Professor Litman has responded on Twitter and his views are included below]

Litman's column follows the pattern of not even discussing the allegations facing the prosecutors or the new information. There is no mention of the possible false statements or withheld evidence in the case. There is no mention of new evidence showing findings of no criminality but high-level interventions to keep the investigation alive. The case is presented again in an immaculate fashion where the impropriety of the Justice Department is presented as established and beyond question. While I have admitted to coming to these disputes with the bias of a long-standing criminal defense attorney, I at least acknowledge the opposing arguments on the merits.
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