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Snakes in Suits

Sen. Chuck Schumer hit with ethics complaints for threatening SCOTUS justices in verbal tirade

Joshua Caplan
Breitbart
Wed, 11 Mar 2020 00:00 UTC
Schumer
© AP/Susan WalshSenate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) faces multiple ethics complaints for threatening Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch on the steps of the high court.

Schumer declared at a Center for Reproductive Rights rally last Wednesday that the two conservative judges will "pay the price" if they vote against pro-choice advocates in a case regarding a Louisiana abortion law.
"Over the last three years, women's reproductive rights have come under attack in a way we haven't seen in modern history. From Louisiana, to Missouri, to Texas, Republican legislatures are waging a war on women, all women, and they're taking away fundamental rights. I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh, you have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won't know what hit you, if you go forward with these awful decisions."
Following blowback from Republicans, the New York Democrat offered a non-apology, saying he "shouldn't have used the words I did" while claiming conservatives were "manufacturing outrage" over the statement.

On Friday, the National Legal Policy Center filed complaints against Schumer with both the Senate Ethics Committee and New York bar. The NLPC's complaint reads:
"It strains credulity to believe that, regardless of his Brooklyn pedigree, Sen. Schumer, who is a Harvard-educated lawyer, Senator minority leader, and vocal opponent of both Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, did not intend to choose the exact words he spoke as he turned and pointed to the Supreme Court behind him to further emphasize his point. In short, his non-apology is a lame excuse for inexcusable conduct."

Comment: Schumer's behavior is symptomatic of a congressional leadership that operates as a reactionary vehicle instead of a stewardship guarding our Constitution and Bill of Rights from infringement and erosion. Using his elected power to vent vehement dissatisfaction and sling threats aimed to intimidate Supreme Court judges sets a new low bar.

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Arrow Down

US and British envoys summoned after Baghdad condemns airstrikes as 'violation of sovereignty'


RT
Fri, 13 Mar 2020 12:37 UTC
Iraqi soldier
© AFP/Mohammed SawafIraqi soldiers stand guard at a Karbala airport, which was hit by US strikes, March 13, 2020.
Iraq's military has denounced American airstrikes on several targets inside the country that allegedly killed 3 Iraqi soldiers. Baghdad has also summoned US and British envoys to answer for the attacks.

The Iraqi foreign ministry said Friday that it had demanded an audience with the US and British ambassadors over the incident, which Iraq says killed six people and wounded twelve.

Iraq's Joint Operations Command said in a statement issued on the same day that the strikes had been carried out using a "false pretext" and would lead to "escalation" rather than helping to bring stability to the war-torn country. "This action is against the will of the Iraqi state and a violation of its sovereignty, it strengthens outlaws."

The strongly-worded statement added that no party has the right to "substitute itself for the state."

Comment: Iran tells Washington: Quit finger-pointing and 'grow up'
"The US cannot place the consequences of its illegal presence in Iraq and the reaction of Iraqi people to the assassination and killing of their commanders on others," Foreign Ministry spokesman Seyyed Abbas Mousavi said on Friday, as quoted by state media.

The Foreign Ministry official suggested that instead of engaging in "risky actions and baseless accusations," US President Donald Trump should "thoroughly review the presence and behavior of his troops in the region." He urged Washington to take responsibility for its foreign policy decision, and "avoid projection and accusations to justify irrational behavior."
Iraqi airport damaged in US strikes
Photos have emerged online showing the Karbala International Airport, expected to be Iraq's largest airport once completed, having been crippled by the US airstrike on Thursday night. The strike shattered windows in what appears to be one of the airport's main buildings, and debris could be seen scattered on the ground.

An airport official confirmed to Reuters that the facility sustained a direct hit from US forces.




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Pistol

Galloway: Chelsea Manning's persecution is medieval punishment, cutting out tongues, murdering truth

George Galloway
RT
Thu, 12 Mar 2020 20:20 UTC
C Manning
© Getty Images/The Washington Post/Jahi Chikwendiu.Chelsea Manning leaves the Albert V. Bryan US District Courthouse, March 5, 2019
The US government's efforts to punish truth-tellers like Chelsea Manning is in part vengeance, but the ultimate goal is to terrify, to ensure there will never be another Manning or Julian Assange.

The woman who, as Bradley Manning, revealed some of the stark truths about the high crimes and misdemeanours of the US government which now persecutes her, has attempted to end her life.

Her leaked information to WikiLeaks provided the basis of the War Logs which in turn are the basis of the US government's persecution of the publisher Julian Assange.

Manning has already paid the price for the crime of leaking true information about war crimes, serving seven years of her 35-year sentence in a Kansas prison before being released after President Obama commuted her sentence - effectively placing her on parole for life. She was not pardoned but nonetheless her subsequent arrest and imprisonment is effectively Double Jeopardy, and runs contrary to the prohibition of being punished twice for the same crime.

Comment: See also:

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Arrow Down

Taliban rejects Afghan government's conditional prisoner release order

Drago Bosnic
FRN
Thu, 12 Mar 2020 00:00 UTC
GhaniTaliban
© Republic TVAfghan President Ashraf Ghani and members of the Taliban
The conditional prisoner release order announced by Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani is against the US-Taliban agreement signed in Doha last month, a spokesman for the Taliban armed group said on Wednesday.

"It is properly explained in the peace accord that first 5,000 prisoners would be freed and then the Afghan dialogue would be initiated," Suhail Shaheen, Spokesman for the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, stated, Al-Jazeera reported. "We never agreed to any conditional release of the prisoners. If someone claims this, it will be against the peace accord that we signed on February 29," he added.

The Taliban reaction comes after Ghani issued a decree ordering the release of 1,500 Taliban fighters, which Presidential Spokesman Sediq Sediqqi said was the first of two phases of releasing 5,000 Taliban prisoners. Sediqqi wrote on Twitter that the initial release was a goodwill gesture to kick-start peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban.
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Dollar

New lucrative military deal? Pentagon hands out contracts for portable nuclear reactors


RT
Fri, 13 Mar 2020 16:11 UTC
2 military smoke
© U.S. Department of Defense via Globallookpress.com
There's no shortage of hefty defense deals awarded by the US Department of Defense, but the $40 million contract for micro-reactors definitely stands out, as it hides safety risks and raises doubts over its economic efficiency.

The nuclear device that the DoD strategists want must have the capability to be safely and rapidly transported by road, rail, sea or air (sic!) as well as swiftly set up and shut down. The project split between three companies — BWX Technologies, Westinghouse Government Services and X-energy — calls for a "safe, mobile and advanced nuclear micro-reactor."

The safety part sounds particularly soothing, but how would it look on the ground? What if those miniature reactors, when moved by land, become targets of high-profile terrorist attacks? And will it prove to be a real alternative (which means cheaper price, of course) to conventional energy sources?

Comment: See also: Idaho advances plan to build first small US nuclear reactors

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People

Chinese official speculates Americans may have infected Wuhan at army games, calls for them to be "transparent"


RT
Fri, 13 Mar 2020 01:00 UTC
China
© Reuters / Stringer; Reuters / China DailyFILE PHOTOS: (L) Members of the US team during the opening ceremony of the 7th Military World Games in Wuhan, China; (R) A medical worker in protective suit prepares for an RNA test at Jinyintan hospital in Wuhan.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Lijian Zhao has demanded US authorities reveal what they're hiding about the origins of Covid-19, going as far as to suggest the coronavirus may have been brought to China by the US military.

Pointing to a video of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) director Robert Redfield apparently admitting the US had several deaths from Covid-19 before they were able to test for it, Zhao called on the American watchdog to come clean in a tweet posted on Thursday.

"It might be US army who brought the epidemic to Wuhan," Zhao suggested, calling for the CDC - and the US in general - to "be transparent" and share what they know about where and when "Patient Zero" was first diagnosed.

Comment: See also: Don't buy China's story: Clues that coronavirus may have leaked from a lab

Update: The Chinese ambassador was summoned to the US State Department over the "disinformation campaign" comments by the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman. The war of words between China and the US over the coronavirus continues.

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Bad Guys

Bias virus hits New York Times as double standards infect coverage of Covid-19 lockdown measures in China and Italy

Damian Wilson
RT
Fri, 13 Mar 2020 17:46 UTC
New York Times coronavirus
© Twitter / New York Times
National responses to tackling the coronavirus pandemic in China and Italy have given rise to jaw-dropping double standards at The New York Times.

For it seems that locking down around 60 million people in China is tantamount to a gross human rights violation, while doing the same to 60 million Italians is a bold step forward showing an enhanced sense of community that should be universally applauded.

The West = good. China = bad.

This rank hypocrisy, borne of a desperate liberal need to unnecessarily politicize everything, including the Covid-19 outbreak, has revealed an unflattering truth about 'The Gray Lady,' its sobriquet that once conveyed the impression the paper possessed of high virtue. No longer.
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Stock Down

World's 20 richest, led by Jeff Bezos, lost more than $78b in Thursday's market rout

Giacomo Tognini
Forbes
Fri, 13 Mar 2020 17:33 UTC
Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates et Bernard Arnault
© AP/PN/AFPThe top three of the richest people in the world: Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Bernard Arnault.
As the Dow Jones suffered its worst decline since 1987 and coronavirus fears caused markets to slide around the globe, the world's twenty richest people lost just over $78 billion combined in a single day.

Jeff Bezos, the world's richest person, saw his net worth drop by $8 billion, shedding more than 7% of his net worth as Amazon shares fell by nearly 8%. Close behind was Bernard Arnault, chairman and CEO of French luxury conglomerate LVMH, whose net worth declined by $7.7 billion. Arnault, the world's third-richest person, finished the day with $82.5 billion, after shares in LVMH closed nearly 9% lower as the luxury retail industry was hit by the effect of the coronavirus on demand for luxury goods in China and Europe.

Comment: Somehow we think they'll be just fine.



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NPC

Creepy Joe rolled to big win in Michigan, delegate lead over Sanders growing

Alex Seitz-WaldAlex
NBC News
Mon, 09 Mar 2020 20:30 UTC
joe biden
© Joshua Lott/Getty ImagesCreepy Joe may be in for a rough ride if he gets the Democratic nomination.
Six states were voting in a key night in the battle for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination.

Joe Biden extended his delegate lead over Bernie Sanders in Tuesday night's primaries, according to NBC News projections.

The former vice president now has a nearly 150-delegate lead over the Vermont senator after winning four of the six states that voted Tuesday, according to NBC News. Nationally, Biden has 837 delegates to Sanders' 689, as of 8 a.m. ET.

Biden appears on track to win Mississippi and Missouri by lopsided margins, which will lead to big delegate hauls since Democrats award delegates in proportion to the margin by which candidates win in each state. He won Idaho by a narrower margin, NBC News projected early Wednesday.

Comment: The rigged coronation continues for the running mate of the real presidential candidate, the VP yet to be announced.

Meanwhile Bernie's campaign starting to go low, though in their defense, Biden is making it awfully easy:
After a poor showing in the latest primaries, Bernie Sanders' campaign has adopted a more aggressive approach to highlighting Joe Biden's shortcomings - ahead of what could be a make-or-break debate for the Vermont senator.



Follow-up tweets expressed amazement at how Biden never apologized for the uncouth exchange, choosing instead to accuse Sanders of "joining" US President Donald Trump.

Sanders now seems set on turning the tables during Sunday's debate, with his press secretary Briahna Joy Gray stating that Americans will "finally get to see Biden defend his ideas, or lack thereof," during the one-on-one verbal match-up.


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Propaganda

Fake news starts in Washington: Perception management and influence operations manipulate public opinion

Philip Giraldi
Strategic Culture Foundation
Thu, 12 Mar 2020 00:00 UTC
Pentagon fake news
It is perhaps unusual to have a government that has as much disregard for what most would consider to be the truth as does the current group of rascals running the United States of America. To be sure, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is as shameless a liar as has ever been seen on any public platform while the president himself appears to make things up as he goes along, particularly if a certain embellishment makes him look good. Nevertheless, it is important to recognize that lying and government have a long history, possibly going back to when the first cave dwellers elected a leader to guide the tribe on a mastodon hunt.

Lying is a traditional role for intelligence services. The Romans had a spy service run out of the imperial palace that provided military and political intelligence all across their vast empire. It included what might be called deception operations carried out to confuse enemies about intentions and capabilities. In more recent centuries, the British became masters of both spying and deception. Major influencing intelligence operations run against the United States can be credited with having led to American involvement in both world wars.
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