Puppet MastersS


Cross

Pope Francis endorses wealth redistribution, calls for end to tax cuts for the rich


RT
Thu, 06 Feb 2020 18:19 UTC
Francis
© REUTERS/Remo CasilliPope Francis speaks at a conference hosted by the Vatican on economic solidarity
Pope Francis blasted the practice of tax cuts for the rich as part of a "structure of sin" and lamented the fact that "billions of dollars" end up in "tax haven accounts" instead of funding "healthcare and education."

Speaking at the seminar set up by the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences the Pope criticized "the richest people" for receiving "repeated tax cuts" in the name of "investment and development." These "tax haven accounts" impede "the possibility of the dignified and sustained development of all social agents," claims the Pope.

He added that "the poor increase around us" as poverty is rising around the world. This poverty can be ended if the wealthiest gave more.

"The 50 richest people in the world have an equity equivalent to 2.2 billion dollars. Those fifty people alone could finance the medical care and education of every poor child in the world, whether through taxes, philanthropic initiatives or both. Those fifty people could save millions of lives every year," the Pope said.

Comment: There is likely a correlation with the ever increasing gap between rich and poor and the fact that dissatisfaction with democracy is at all time highs:

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Piggy Bank

Jerome Powell and the Federal Reserve's great betrayal of America

Michael Lebowitz and Jack Scott
Real Investment Advice
Thu, 06 Feb 2020 00:00 UTC
Jerome Powell
Lenin was certainly right. There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million is able to diagnose." John Maynard Keynes - The Economic Consequences of Peace 1920
"And when we see that we've reached that level we'll begin to gradually reduce our asset purchases to the level of the underlying trend growth of demand for our liabilities." - Jerome Powell January 29, 2020.
With that one seemingly innocuous statement, Chairman Powell revealed an alarming admission about the supply of money and your wealth. The current state of monetary policy explains why so many people are falling behind and why wealth inequality is at levels last seen almost 100 years ago.

REALity

"Real" is a very important concept in the field of economics. Real generally refers to an amount of something adjusted for the effects of inflation. This allows economists to measure true organic growth or decline.

Real is equally important for the rest of us. The size of our paycheck or bank account balance is meaningless without an understanding of what money can buy. For instance, an annual income of $25,000 in 1920 was about eight times the national average. Today that puts a family of four below the Federal Poverty Guideline. As your grandfather used to say, a dollar doesn't go as far as it used to.

Comment: But this isn't all the Fed is mucking up: The scale of the Fed's "repo" market manipulation is truly breathtaking and threatens to destabilize global economy

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Eagle

Why both Republicans and Democrats want Russia to become the enemy of choice

Philip Giraldi
The Unz Review
Thu, 06 Feb 2020 00:00 UTC
US congress
One of the more interesting aspects of the nauseating impeachment trial in the Senate was the repeated vilification of Russia and its President Vladimir Putin. To hate Russia has become dogma on both sides of the political aisle, in part because no politician has really wanted to confront the lesson of the 2016 election, which was that most Americans think that the federal government is basically incompetent and staffed by career politicians like Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell who should return back home and get real jobs. Worse still, it is useless, and much like the one trick pony the only thing it can do is steal money from the taxpayers and waste it on various types of self-gratification that only politicians can appreciate. That means that the United States is engaged is fighting multiple wars against make-believe enemies while the country's infrastructure rots and a host of officially certified grievance groups control the public space. It sure doesn't look like Kansas anymore.

The fact that opinion polls in Europe suggest that many Europeans would rather have Vladimir Putin than their own hopelessly corrupt leaders is suggestive. One can buy a whole range of favorable t-shirts featuring Vladimir Putin on Ebay, also suggesting that most Americans find the official Russophobia narrative both mysterious and faintly amusing. They may not really be into the expressed desire of the huddled masses in D.C. to go to war to bring true U.S. style democracy to the un-enlightened.
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Bullseye

Jimmy Carter says Trump's Israel deal breaches international law, undercuts prospects for a just peace


Middle East Monitor
Sat, 01 Feb 2020 00:00 UTC
Carter Sadat Begin
© AFP/Getty ImagesEgyptian President Anwar al-Sadat (L) and US President Jimmy Carter laugh during Israeli Premier Menachem Begin' speech (R), before signing the Israel-Egypt Peace Agreement on 26 March, 1979 on the north lawn of the White House, Washington DC
Former US president, Jimmy Carter, announced on Friday that current US President Donald Trump's "deal of the century" breaches international law, CNN and other international agencies reported.

According to Carter, Trump's deal: "Breaches international law regarding self-determination, the acquisition of land by force, and annexation of occupied territories."

In a statement issued by his office, Carter also affirmed: "The new US plan undercuts prospects for a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians. If implemented, the plan will doom the only viable solution to this long-running conflict, the two-state solution."

Therefore, he urged UN member-states:
To adhere to UN Security Council resolutions and to reject any unilateral Israeli implementation of the proposal by grabbing more Palestinian land.

Comment: Former President Jimmy Carter has been a stalwart voice for the moral position in many world issues since his less than perfect presidency ended almost 40 years ago. And on this issue he is no less correct in his views. Too bad there aren't more like him helping to run things now.

See also:

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Footprints

Jonathan Turley: Nancy Pelosi should resign

Jonathan Turley
The Hill
Wed, 05 Feb 2020 11:00 UTC
PelosiRip
© Getty ImagesHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi gleefully holds up her ripped copy of the SOTU speech.
The House has its share of infamies, great and small, real and symbolic, and has been the scene of personal infamies from brawls to canings. But the conduct of Speaker Nancy Pelosi at the State of the Union address this week will go down as a day of infamy for the chamber as an institution. It has long been a tradition for House speakers to remain stoic and neutral in listening to the address. However, Pelosi seemed to be intent on mocking President Trump from behind his back with sophomoric facial grimaces and head shaking, culminating in her ripping up a copy of his address.

Her drop the mic moment will have a lasting impact on the House. While many will celebrate her trolling of the president, she tore up something far more important than a speech. Pelosi has shredded decades of tradition, decorum and civility that the nation could use now more than ever. The House speaker is more than a political partisan, particularly when carrying out functions such as the State of the Union address. A president appears in the House as a guest of both chambers of Congress. The House speaker represents not her party or herself but the entirety of the chamber. At that moment, she must transcend her own political ambitions and loyalties.
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Arrow Up

Personal best: Trump job approval rating at 49%

Jeffrey M. Jones
Gallup
Tue, 04 Feb 2020 00:00 UTC
Trump
© UnknownUS President Donald J. Trump
President Donald Trump's job approval rating has risen to 49%, his highest in Gallup polling since he took office in 2017.
ApprovalChart
The new poll finds 50% of Americans disapproving of Trump, leaving just 1% expressing no opinion. The average percentage not having an opinion on Trump has been 5% throughout his presidency.

Trump's approval rating has risen because of higher ratings among both Republicans and independents. His 94% approval rating among Republicans is up six percentage points from early January and is three points higher than his previous best among his fellow partisans. The 42% approval rating among independents is up five points, and ties three other polls as his best among that group. Democratic approval is 7%, down slightly from 10%.
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Bullseye

A non-stop week of political karma for the Democrats

Julie Kelly
American Greatness
Wed, 05 Feb 2020 00:00 UTC
Rip Wethepeople
© National News'Please, please don't give this to Nancy Pelosi...'
President Trump now stands acquitted. The Democrats must confront the debacle that is their presidential primary field and run on a nonexistent record of achievement as the 2020 campaign season kicks off. Karma, indeed, is a bitch.

Donald Trump couldn't have scripted it better himself: The Democratic Party's karma knocked them right on the head this week as their countrymen watched in disgust — some, admittedly, in delight.

After three years of deception, gaslighting, and public temper tantrums, these power-hungry partisans finally got their comeuppance. An assembly of agents provocateurs, motivated by an insatiable amount of contempt not just for the president but for Americans in general, who gambled on a farcical impeachment crusade rather than build a persuasive policy case to win over voters this year, are ranting and pouting and tearing up stuff because . . . well, because they are losing. If Nancy Pelosi could have thrown a pacifier from her Capitol high chair Tuesday night, she would have.
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Arrow Up

As Syrian army captures Saraqib, emboldened Netanyahu and Erdogan up their respective games


Southfront
Thu, 06 Feb 2020 17:11 UTC
NetiErdoSYria
© Infowars/Citifmonline.com/KJN
In Greater Idlib the defences of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and other favorites of the foreign powers supporting 'Syrian democracy' are collapsing.

On February 5, the Syrian Army, supported by Russian airpower, took control of a number of villages in southeastern Idlib and southwestern Aleppo including Resafa, al-Dhahabiyah, Ajlas, Talafih and Judiydat Talafih. They besieged a Turkish observation post established near Tal Toqan and reached another one, near al-Sheikh Mansur.

Late on the same day, the army's Tiger Forces captured the eastern entrance to Saraqib and established fire control over the open roads leading from the town. According to local sources, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and other al-Qaeda so-called freedom fighters started fleeing the town. The Turkish Army had stuck several observation posts right in the area, but these apparently did not help.

Early on February 6, pro-government forces seized the area of Duwayr, cutting off the M5 highway north of Saraqib. Thus, the road through Saramin remained the only way to flee for militants remaining in the town. However, it is under the fire control of the Syrian Army.

Several hours after this government forces took full control of Saraqib.

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Chess

Lukashenko: Upcoming meeting with Putin; thaw in Belarus-US relations


South Front
Tue, 04 Feb 2020 00:00 UTC
LukashenkoPutin
© UnknownBelarus President Alexander Lukashenko • Russia President Vladimir Putin
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said that he would meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 7th.

"Most likely, on February 7 we will meet with President Putin. A moment of truth has come. We were the initiators of these relations, and we could be the ones to break them," he told reporters.

Earlier, the Kremlin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov noted that contacts with Lukashenko were not planned in the near future, but the leaders of the two countries could quickly meet if it were needed.

The presidents of Russia and Belarus last met at the end of last year. Then Lukashenko said that "there were a couple of problems" that need to be resolved at the highest level. And it primarily relates to oil supplies. Minsk and Moscow cannot yet agree on prices for oil supplies to Belarus.

Comment: Pompeo's pitch for energy sources and renewed 'friendship' may appear to Lukashenko as a bargaining chip in reshuffling Minsk-Moscow relations. If any agreements go forward they will be ones Putin clearly sees to be in Russia's best long-term financial and geopolitical interests.

See also:
Belarus President Lukashenko: 'Moment of truth has come' for a showdown with Putin this week

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X

Republican lawmakers lambaste FBI Director Wray's response to FISA abuses

Josh Gerstein, Kyle Cheney
Politico
Wed, 05 Feb 2020 06:24 UTC
Wray
© Alex Brandon/APFBI Director Christopher Wray
Republican lawmakers on Wednesday faulted FBI Director Christopher Wray for what they called a grossly inadequate response to the Justice Department's recent watchdog report on abuses in the process used to put Carter Page, the former Trump campaign adviser, under surveillance as a potential Russian agent.

Wray announced more than 40 reforms triggered by the findings of the inspector general report, but Republican lawmakers who questioned the FBI chief at a House Judiciary Committee hearing said they wanted to see more decisive actions, like firings of agents and other FBI employees involved in the shoddy Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act applications.

"What took place in this report is way past constructive criticism. This was a major screw-up," Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said. "I'm concerned you're not taking this seriously enough."

Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) said, "I'm telling you the FBI's reputation cannot be cleaned up until there are people that are held to account for the unacceptable actions here in Washington."

Comment: The FBI's level of infraction demands proof that agency behaviors and actions, as exemplified in the Russiagate debacle, have been addressed by intense scrutiny and reform. Wray seems to be skimming the top of what can or should be done. Perhaps the Durham investigation will drive the need home.

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