Puppet MastersS


Attention

The US Census Bureau and social media - Working hand-in-glove to censor the Internet

Jim Bovard
Jim Bovard Blog
Tue, 03 Mar 2020 22:16 UTC
The same agency that once helped the Army round up Japanese Americans has now achieved protected status on social media.
US Japanese Citiznes
© US Census Bureau
America's social media giants are rallying behind the 2020 Census. Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg recently assured a congressional committee that his company would have a "census suppression policy" to eliminate attacks on the Census Bureau. Facebook is devoted to "prohibiting census interference on our platforms," according to its vice president Kevin Martin.

By that, Martin didn't mean a government agency interfering, but comments by private citizens or groups that could spur noncompliance with mandatory Census reporting. Facebook will delete any content that suggests filling out a Census form could have "law enforcement consequences" or that census forms "will be shared with another government agency." Similarly, Pinterest public policy manager Aerica Shimizu Banks promised that if the Census Bureau "provides verified misinformation or disinformation to us, we'll look for it on our platform and take anything we find down."

Social media monoliths are seeking to place the Census on par with motherhood and apple pie. But such canonization is hard to reconcile with history.

In the early 1940s, the Census brazenly violated federal law by sharing key information from its forms on 120,000 Japanese Americans, which enabled the Army to round them up into internment camps (sometimes described as "concentration camps"). The detentions were among the worst civil liberties violations in modern American history.
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Russian Flag

Russian lawmakers approve final bill on amendments to constitution, allowing for possibility of Putin to serve as president for 16 more years


RT
Wed, 11 Mar 2020 20:38 UTC
russian lawmakers
© RIA Novosti / Alexey Nikolsky
Russian legislators have given the final nod to a package of constitutional amendments proposed by President Vladimir Putin, which include giving sweeping new powers to parliament and tightening background checks on top officials.

During the third and final reading in the State Duma on Wednesday, parliamentarians passed the bill amending Russia's basic law in a 383-0 vote with 43 abstentions - all MPs from the opposition Communist Party.

The amendments then went to the upper house - the Federation Council - where 160 members voted yes, while one objected and three others abstained.

Comment: For more details on the change allowing Putin to stay on as president, RFE/RL states:
Of all the amendments approved, one setting Putin's previous presidential term count back to zero may have the greatest effect on the country.

Putin's current term, his second consecutive six-year term, was slated to end in 2024. The previous rules forbid him from running for a third consecutive mandate, but that changes with the provisions of the amendments, meaning he can seek a fifth overall presidential term in 2024, and conceivably a sixth in 2030.
It's not hard to blame the Russian lawmakers (and by extension the Russian voters) for wanting to keep Putin as the leader of Russia. He has completely turned around a country that just 20 years ago was essentially lost as a world power.

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Chess

Russia's rejection of OPEC+: A bold and justifiable geostrategic calculation

Andrew Korybko
One World
Tue, 10 Mar 2020 00:00 UTC
PUtin
© UnknownRussian President Vladimir Putin
The world is still trying to figure out why Russia rejected its OPEC+ partners' request late last week to further curtail its oil production next month, with this surprise decision prompting the Saudis to wage their oil price war that's since crashed the price of this indispensable resource and caused panic across the global economy. The prevailing theory is that Moscow sought to simultaneously take down its American shale rivals while chipping away at some of Riyadh's gradually declining market share, timing its move to coincide with the US' campaign season and Saudi Arabia's continued political uncertainty for maximum effect. That explanation is indeed plausible but focuses almost entirely on Russia's economic motivations, leaving out what the author believes are the crucial geostrategic ones that actually played a much larger role in this decision than most observers have yet to realize.

The Russian economy has been comparatively more successful than the Saudi one in diversifying its budgetary dependence away from resource sales, but a lot of work still remains to be done, and the ambitious task of taking this trend to its envisaged conclusion of transforming the country's economy into a so-called "normal" (non-resource) one won't be achieved until sometime later this decade at the absolute earliest in the best-case scenario. For the time being, resource sales are still an important component of Russia's grand strategy, both in the sense of the billions of dollars of revenue that they generate each year and the political influence that they bestow Moscow with vis-a-vis its partners (though it should be said that its customers also exercise their own influence upon it as well which was seen most clearly during the 2005-2006 Ukrainian gas crisis). Furthermore, they're expected to help fund President Putin's signature $400 billion "National Development Projects".

Comment: Russia produces oil at a fraction of OPEC+ members' costs, undercutting all competition. An unchallengeable boon for Russia was not the outcome Western producers and OPEC+ were expecting.

See also:

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Bullseye

Just 21 words uttered by FISA court changed the Russia collusion case forever

John Solomon
Just the News
Mon, 09 Mar 2020 08:17 UTC
Comey
© Screen Shot 2020-03-09 at 7.12.10 PMFormer FBI Director James Comey testifying before Senate Intelligence Committee, March 9, 2020
Judge rules for first time FBI misled, rejecting years of excuse making and suggesting process reforms won't be enough.

For much of the last three years, key law enforcement leaders have insisted they did nothing wrong in pursuing counterintelligence surveillance warrants targeting the Trump campaign starting during the 2016 election. And, they've added, if mistakes were made, they were unintentional process errors downstream from them and not an effort to deceive the judges.

But in a little-noted passage in a recent order, U.S. District Judge James A. Boasberg, the new chief judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, took direct aim at the excuses and blame-shifting of these senior Obama administration FBI and DOJ officials.

In just 21 words, Boasberg provided the first judicial declaration the FBI had misled the court, not just committed process errors. "There is thus little doubt that the government breached its duty of candor to the Court with respect to those applications," Boasberg wrote.
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Dominoes

Putin rates Russia-US relations as a mere 'C minus' grade, a bit more bad than good

Johnny Tickle
RT
Wed, 11 Mar 2020 14:25 UTC
PutinTrump
© AFP/Brendan SmialowskiRussian President Vladimir Putin • US President Donald Trump
Since first reaching the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin has dealt with four different US presidents, and is well placed to judge the status of Russo-American relations. It's hardly surprising that his evaluation is rather negative.

"[On a scale from one to five] I would give it a three," Putin said, in an interview with Russian news agency TASS, "Between a two and a three. More like a three, though." In the Russian school system, where students are graded out of five, 3 is roughly equivalent to a C-grade, and 2 to a D-grade.

The president cited the growth in trade since the inauguration of Donald Trump as a positive aspect of the current relationship, as well as cooperation in the field of counter-terrorism. In particular, Putin singled out an episode in which a US intelligence tip-off enabled Russia to apprehend an Islamic State terrorist cell in Saint Petersburg.

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Dollar

Sell-out! Yang endorses senile Biden as Democratic nominee for 2020 race

Aris Folley
The Hill
Tue, 10 Mar 2020 09:51 UTC

Comment: In case anyone out there still hasn't figured it out yet...

The Democratic Party has no interest in running a candidate who would actually be popular with Americans, like Tulsi Gabbard, and who would thus stand a chance of beating Trump in November. Their primary interest lies in ensuring that their privileged a$$es remain in position in an unchanged system. That's why they're again rigging the Democratic nomination to keep all 'revolutionary' candidates out of contention.

Andrew Yang recently figured that out, first by joining establishment propaganda bullhorn CNN, and now by backing the senile Joe Biden, who of course is going to lose in November.


AndrewYang
© CBS News'High fives' for Andrew Yang's endorsement of Joe Biden
Andrew Yang has endorsed Joe Biden, becoming the latest former 2020 Democratic presidential candidate to throw their support behind Biden's White House bid. Yang announced his endorsement on CNN on Tuesday night, just one day after Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) endorsed the former vice president.

"The math says Joe is our prohibitive nominee. We need to bring the party together. We need to start working on defeating Donald Trump in the fall," Yang said. The tech entrepreneur, who joined CNN as a political commentator last month, announced his endorsement after Biden won several states on Tuesday, including the top prize of Michigan.

Yang's endorsement makes him one of a growing list of former 2020 rivals to endorse the former vice president in the primary race - including Booker, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), former South Ben, Ind. Mayor Pete Buttigieg (D), former Rep. Beto O'Rourke (D-Texas) and former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D).

Comment: What a lackey he turned out to be, joining CNN and now backing Biden.

For many of Yang's supporters, embracing the centrist Democrat was the last straw.







Polling in the recent six-states vote was extremely problematic. Biden claimed wins in states with tallying issues, equipment snafus and those with far from complete results.

See also:

Voters face delays as untested procedures and system failures complicate polling in six states

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Stock Up

Putin: Global market turmoil means economic opportunities for Russia


RT
Wed, 11 Mar 2020 12:15 UTC
Russia
© Pixabay
The Russian government will provide favorable conditions for businesses in the country to minimize risks amid global economic turmoil and guarantee the safety of national and foreign investments, said President Vladimir Putin. Speaking to investors on Wednesday, the Russian leader said he is
"confident that Russia will go through this turbulent period with dignity and calm. There is every chance for key Russian industries to come out of this situation much stronger and ready for further, very serious competition."
He said the turmoil in global markets, including energy, creates not only problems, but also opportunities. According to Putin, the government and the Central Bank of Russia have sufficient resources to maintain stability and macroeconomic sustainability.

The president stressed that the task of the government and the Central Bank is to ensure that all the negative effects "associated with these processes are minimized for the country's citizens."
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Arrow Down

Roger Stone jurors resist challenge from author-filmmaker Mike Cernovich over document request

Jacob Engels
The Gateway Pundit
Tue, 10 Mar 2020 00:00 UTC
Stone & wife
© AP/Jose Luis MaganaRoger Stone and wife Nydia leave federal court in Washington, November 15, 2019
The extremely biased collection of jurors, who journalist Mike Cernovich and The Gateway Pundit exposed as being hardcore anti-Trump and anti-Stone leftwing activists, is fighting Mike Cernovich's request to unseal their jury questionnaires, which include important information that will detail how frequently they committed perjury and to what ends.

It has already been well documented that the jury forewoman Tomeka Hart and her top-lieutenant Seth Cousins made a public spectacle by defending the conviction of Roger Stone and the rigged kangaroo court that allowed it.

Last week, TGP reported on the fact that corrupt and extremely unhinged Obama appointed Judge Amy Berman Jackson issued a blank check to the jurors in order to fight this document request, going as far to appoint a high-powered and very expensive lawyer to cater to their every whim.

Comment: See also:

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Target

15 rockets hit Iraqi base housing US troops in latest Soleimani revenge attack - UPDATE: 2 Yanks, 1 Brit killed


RT
Wed, 11 Mar 2020 17:42 UTC
iraq
© Reuters / Thaier Al-SudaniFILE PHOTO
Ten rockets have hit a base near Baghdad that houses US personnel, the Iraqi army has reported. It's not yet clear whether the attack on al-Taji base resulted in any casualties.

The Katyusha rockets struck al-Taji, located 27km north of Baghdad, on Wednesday, the Iraqi army reported. The base houses American forces in addition to Iraqi soldiers.

The attack is the latest of several to hit US and coalition facilities in Iraq within the past several months. Several rockets landed in and around al-Taji in January, injuring a member of Iraq's security forces, and last week two rockets reportedly struck Baghdad's Green Zone, setting off alarms at the US Embassy.

Comment: Three casualties reported so far (that's DEATHS, for those of you wondering what casualties means in this context...)
Two Americans and one British service member are dead after 15 rockets hit a coalition base outside Baghdad, US officials said citing "preliminary information," despite Iraqi claims there had been no casualties from the strike.

Wednesday's rocket attack on Camp Taji also left about a dozen people injured, Reuters reported citing the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The Anglos have responded by bombing anti-ISIS PMU forces in western Iraq and across the border in Deir-ez-Zor, Syria.

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Telephone

Trump gets flak for talking to Taliban leaders on military's secret 'kill or capture' list

Ariel Zilber
Daily Mail
Tue, 10 Mar 2020 18:29 UTC
khalilzad baradar
© EPABaradar is seen right shaking hands with Zalmay Khalilzad, the Trump administration's special representative for Afghanistan reconciliation, during a signing ceremony of the US-Taliban peace agreement in Doha, Qatar, on February 29
President Trump last week spoke on the phone with Taliban leaders who are on America's secret 'kill or capture' list, it has been reported.

National security officials are said to be concerned over what they said is an unprecedented breach of protocol by the president, who was chatting with individuals wanted by his own Defense Department.

'It's ground-shaking that the president spoke to individuals on a target list,' a senior Pentagon official told The Daily Beast.

'It was a big give from our side, towards an adversary that traditionally has never held up their side of the bargain in numerous other attempts towards de-escalation and peace.

'We made a group that lacks absolute operational control over their forces a legitimate player on the world stage.'

According to officials, Trump spoke on the phone with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.

Baradar, who was once held prisoner in Pakistan, is a co-founder of the Taliban and the head of its political bureau in Qatar.

'We had a very good conversation with the leader of the Taliban today, and they're looking to get this ended, and we're looking to get it ended,' Trump said last week when asked about the phone call.

'I think we all have a very common interest...We had, actually, a very good talk with the leader of the Taliban.'

Comment: "Breaking News! President Trump Talks to Someone Other People Don't Like on the Phone!" Reality check for the war whores: it's not a big deal. Get over it.

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