Puppet MastersS


Smoking

Fascist: German Medical Association calls for complete ban on smoking advertising


The Local - Germany
Wed, 20 Nov 2019 21:22 UTC
Smoking is better than Fascism
© kospan13/ebay
Germany is the only country in the EU that still allows tobacco companies to advertise their products on billboards and in cinemas. Now, doctors and some politicians pushing to change this.

"The tedious and long-standing discussion about poster advertising [of smoking] is dismal," Klaus Reinhardt, president of the German Medical Association, told Spiegel Online.

"You can't accommodate the industry here. Smoking is harmful, period," said Reinhardt, who said that all tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, should fit under the ban.

Germany was one of the last EU countries to adopt a smoking ban in 2007, although rules are still relatively lax, with many pubs, restaurants and public places still allowing it within their premises.

Lighting up is still widespread throughout the country, with 18.6 percent of women, and 26.4 percent of men, over aged 15 stating that they are smokers, according to 2017 data from the Robert Koch Institute.

Comment: Historically speaking, these 'bans' on smoking mostly occur in totalitarian states - Nazi, Germany being a prime example. Hitler would be so proud. These doctors should be more concerned about the health damage from extraordinary levels of pollution in Germany.

For the truth about tobacco and why the PTB want to stamp out smoking, see:

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Cult

Best of the Web: Bi-partisan police state: While all eyes were on impeachment hearing, House quietly re-authorized PATRIOT Act


RT
Wed, 20 Nov 2019 21:21 UTC
NSA Building
© Getty ImagesSince 2007, the NSA has been under court orders to preserve data about some of its surveillance efforts.
House Democrats have slipped an unqualified renewal of the draconian PATRIOT Act into an emergency funding bill - voting near-unanimously for sweeping surveillance carte blanche that was the basis for the notorious NSA program.

A three-month reauthorization of the notorious PATRIOT Act was shoehorned into a last-minute continuing resolution (CR) funding the US government, bundling measures needed to avert yet another government shutdown with a continuation of the wildly-intrusive surveillance powers passed after the 9/11 terror attacks. Democrats voted almost unanimously for it, granting the far-reaching surveillance capabilities to the very same president they're trying to impeach.

Comment: Not the first time our overlords have pulled this off. From 2001 on, every legislator has bent the knee to the Deep State's surveillance juggernaut.

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Light Saber

Barr rips the 'Resistance': "It is the Left that is shredding norms, undermining the rule of law"

James Howard Kunstler
kunstler.com
Mon, 18 Nov 2019 21:06 UTC
Bill Barr
© Clodagh Kilcoyne/ReutersAttorney General William Barr testifies before a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., May 1, 2019.
Anyone who doubts that the Attorney General is dead serious about cleaning up the goddamned mess of sedition spawned by the Democratic Party, its agents in the permanent Washington bureaucracy, and its public relations arm in the news media, might invest a little time and attention in William Barr's speech to the Federalist Society Friday evening. (Text of speech here and video here.)

Mr. Barr declared unambiguously and in plain English that "in waging a scorched earth, no-holds-barred war of 'Resistance' against this Administration, it is the Left that is engaged in the systematic shredding of norms and the undermining of the rule of law."
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X

Why Trump appeases the wrong people

Steve Brown
The Duran
Wed, 20 Nov 2019 00:00 UTC
Trumpuppet
© Fitzpatrick Informer/WordPress.com/Facebook.com/Truthandclarity
No matter who is elected to lead the nation is of little consequence. It is the Deep Entrenched State pulling all the strings on the marionette.

Trump's policy of appeasing the Israeli lobby dates to his original courtship of evangelical voters and Israeli mega-donors during his 2016 campaign. Since his election Trump has:
  • Imposed a "Muslim ban" preventing nationals from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Sudan, and Yemen from entering the United States
  • Closed the Palestinian Mission in Washington DC
  • Ended US payments to the Palestinian Authority
  • Relocated the US embassy to Jerusalem, with a new US embassy to be paid for in part by Macao gambling magnate Sheldon Adelson
  • Reneged on the JCPOA agreement and renewed US sanctions on Iran
  • Announced that the US is the sole global authority for determining International law thus approving Israel's annexation of the Golan
  • Announced that the US will not oppose Israeli annexation of the West Bank
  • Further announced US hegemony over international law by stating that illegal settlements in the Occupied Territories of Palestine are now legal
As a result, the Israeli regime and lobby has gained more US support via Trump's leadership than it has from any other US regime. That's particularly surprising in light of Trump's address to AIPAC early on his campaign when he announced that the Zionist lobby would not support him since he did not need their money. The foregoing was widely reported by the major media as being an anti-Semitic trope however there is no doubt that Trump's implied defiance aimed at the most powerful lobby in Washington sat well with his "Deplorables".
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X

Ukraine interfering in US elections is not Russia's narrative; it belongs to US media


RT
Tue, 19 Nov 2019 22:25 UTC
PutinVindman
© Global Look Press/Kremlin Pool/CNN/commdiginews.com/KJNRussian President Putin • Lt. Col. Vindman
Mainstream US media outlets and impeachment witness Lt. Colonel Alexander Vindman have called stories of Ukrainian influence in the 2016 US election a conspiracy theory pushed by Russian president. Evidence shows otherwise.

Testifying before the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday, Vindman - a National Security Council staffer - argued that any Ukrainian meddling in the 2016 election is "a Russian narrative promoted by [President Vladimir] Putin," rejected by the entire US intelligence community.
This appears to be a reference to what President Donald Trump brought up in the July phone call with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky - which Vindman raised alarms about - involving a "server" supposedly physically located in Ukraine and somehow involved in the alleged hack into the Democratic National Committee emails. It was unclear from the transcript of the call whether Trump was referring to the actual DNC server that US authorities were never allowed to examine, or a server from which the alleged hack originated.

Rather than being a "Russian narrative," however, the story about Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election has been widely reported in mainstream US outlets - the same ones that have pushed the "Russian meddling" conspiracy for years. It doesn't deal with the server, either, but with Ukrainian officials releasing documents to hurt Trump.
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Star of David

Netanyahu doesn't miss a beat: Form a national unity government and 'annex Jordan Valley'


Sputnik
Wed, 20 Nov 2019 02:13 UTC
GantzNetanyahu
© AP/Dan BailleyFmr Israeli military chief Benny Gantz and Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called on former Israeli military chief Benny Gantz and former defense minister Avigdor Lieberman to create a government of national unity with the goal of extending Israeli sovereignty to the Jordan Valley.

On Monday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the "establishment of Israeli civilian settlements in the West Bank is not per se inconsistent with international law." Netanyahu welcomed the change in policy, saying on Monday that it "rights a historical wrong." Netanyahu said in a statement released on his official Twitter account on Tuesday:
"I have called on [leader of the Blue and White alliance] Benny Gantz and [leader of the Yisrael Beiteinu party] Avigdor Lieberman to form a government of national unity that would protect Israel and annex the Jordan Valley."
Netanyahu held a meeting with Gantz late on Tuesday. Gantz was handed the mandate to try to form a 61-seat majority last month, after Netanyahu failed to complete the task in 28 days. At the end of October, Gantz tried to get Lieberman to agree to form a majority coalition.

Secretary General of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) Saeb Erekat said in a Monday statement that the change in the US stance on Israeli settlement activity threatens global stability. Erekat emphasized that under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Israel's settlements activity in the occupied territories "falls within the definition of war crimes."

Comment: Netanyahu is worried he will be left out in the cold and at the mercy of standing indictments. He desperately needs to be integral in the next version of political leadership. To this end he has masterfully played the US and parlayed illegal actions to his advantage. Is Israel immune to international law? With the US tucked conveniently under Netanyahu's arm and in lock-step with Israel's whims and desires, so far it is. Gantz may not have as cozy a relationship with Trump. Neti is counting on it.

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Star of David

Poll reveals Trump's Israel policy is opposed even by Republicans

Eric Zuesse
The Saker
Tue, 19 Nov 2019 00:00 UTC
stolen
© Al Jazeera/KJN
On Monday, November 18th, Reuters headlined "U.S. backs Israel on settlements, angering Palestinians and clouding peace process" and reported that:
"The United States on Monday effectively backed Israel's right to build Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank by abandoning its four-decade-old position that they were 'inconsistent with international law,' a stance that may make Israeli-Palestinian peace even more elusive."
This article made clear that, of all entities Reuters could contact about the matter, only U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo thought that these illegal settlements are legal, and even Pompeo was offering no other reason than:
"'The establishment of Israeli civilian settlements is not, per se, inconsistent with international law,' Pompeo told reporters at the State Department, reversing a formal legal position taken by the United States under Carter in 1978."
It was merely his dictat, as authority for this major U.S. policy-change.

One poll was recently taken of Americans on the matter. It was done by Scarborough Research, a joint venture by The Nielsen Company and Arbitron, and its sample size was unusually large for such a poll and employed rigorous sampling techniques. Thus, its findings should be considered to be close to the reality.

Here is a summary of that poll's methodology and findings. [I add my explanations in brackets].

Comment: It isn't the voters - no matter their political allegiance - who are making these decisions. This train wreck is squarely on the administration, whose vision is myopic with hubris through the roof! Neither annexations nor occupations have legal status as there are no treaties nor agreements between the Israelis and Palestinians, and certainly no dispensations for these activities by any international body of record.

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Arrow Up

Ukraine FM: Kyiv is ready to accept a 'reasonable compromise' in upcoming peace talks


RFE/RL
Tue, 19 Nov 2019 19:57 UTC
Prystayko
© AP/Efrem LukatskyUkrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystayko
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystayko says Kyiv is ready to accept a "reasonable compromise" next month during the so-called Normandy format talks on ending the bloody five-year conflict in eastern Ukraine.

"We are going to the Normandy meeting with open ideas, an open mind, ready to accept a reasonable compromise," Prystayko told reporters on November 19 in Kyiv during a joint news conference with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.

The leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany, and France are scheduled to meet in December in an effort to end the conflict between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists in parts of the Donbas and Luhansk regions that has killed more than 13,000 people since 2014.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy came to office this year vowing to end the war, but some of his critics have accused him of making too many concessions to Moscow.

Comment: Note to RFE/RL: Russia does not have Kyiv/Ukraine in its sights for 'domination', nor did it steal Crimea.

See also: Ray McGovern offers Congress 'Ukraine for Dummies'

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Handcuffs

Andalucia: Socialist ex-presidents found guilty in €680M fraud case

Sam Jones
The Guardian
Tue, 19 Nov 2019 10:04 UTC
Griñán • Chaves
© RCJosé Antonio Griñán • Manuel Chaves
Two former socialist presidents of the southern Spanish region of Andalucía have been found guilty of misconduct and misuse of public funds over their roles in a decade-long, €680m (£582m) fraud that led to one of the country's biggest corruption trials. Twenty-one former PSOE officials stood trial in Seville over their involvement in the so-called ERE case, the Spanish acronym for a workforce dismissal plan.

Prosecutors argued that two successive PSOE administrations in Andalucía oversaw a corrupt scheme in which funds intended to help unemployed people and struggling companies were often diverted to individuals and businesses that were close to the PSOE.

Between 2001 and 2010, the fund received €855m from the Andalucían government. According to anti-corruption prosecutors, €680m was handed out fraudulently through a "totally opaque grants system" that operated free of "all the established control mechanisms".

Manuel Chaves, who was president of the regional government between 1990 and 2009 and chair of the PSOE from 2000 to 2012, was found guilty of misconduct and barred from holding office for nine years. His successor, José Antonio Griñán, who stepped down in 2013 as news of the scam emerged, was found guilty of misconduct and misuse of public funds, jailed for six years and banned from office for 15 years.

Seventeen of the other defendants were convicted of misconduct or misuse of public funds, or both, while two were acquitted.

Comment: The perks of being elected to office? Champagne socialists toasted their windfall wealth, stolen from the constituency who elected them. Perhaps 'the people' should calculate how much each vote cost them. Corruption doesn't fix itself. These high-priced scumbags should never be allowed back into positions of influence.

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Info

All eyes on judge in Michael Flynn case after weeks of shocking developments

Margot Cleveland
The Federalist
Wed, 20 Nov 2019 19:22 UTC
Michael Flynn
© AP/Susan WalshFormer National Security Advisor General Michael Flynn
After a flurry of court filings and blockbuster developments last month, the Michael Flynn criminal case has been dormant for nearly three weeks. The parties and the public now await word from presiding Judge Emmett Sullivan on the pending motion to compel and motion for sanctions filed by Sidney Powell, the lead attorney who took over Flynn's case shortly after the special counsel team disbanded.

Powell's motion seeks to force federal prosecutors to provide Flynn an array of documents withheld from his attorneys and to sanction government lawyers for their failure to provide relevant evidence to the defense team in a timely manner. When and how Judge Sullivan will rule is unclear.

A Flurry of October Surprises

In late October, Judge Sullivan issued a short order canceling a hearing on Flynn's motions previously scheduled for November 5, 2019, prompting predictions that the long-time federal judge had already made up his mind. This development also triggered a panicked filing by the government complaining that Flynn's lawyers had raised new issues in their reply brief and cautioning the court not to rule without hearing more from the prosecutors. Sullivan okayed a response by the government and a final rebuttal by Flynn's attorneys, but added a terse endnote that no more briefing would be had on the issue.

Then, mere days after the final briefing came in, federal prosecutors found themselves forced to admit that for nearly three years, they had wrongly identified the authors of the handwritten notes taken by the FBI agents during their January 24, 2017, interview of then-National Security Advisor Flynn. Prosecutors had told defense counsel (and the court) that the notes written by Peter Strozk had been compiled by FBI Agent Joe Pietka, and those taken by Pietka had been written by Strozk.

This embarrassing mea culpa surely added strength to Powell's plea for access to other withheld evidence. After all, if federal prosecutors made such a basic blunder concerning key evidence, what other mistakes lay buried in the undisclosed evidence?
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