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Best of the Web: Inconvenient truths: Alarming things we have learned under Trump, but not always about him

Stephen F. Cohen
The Nation
Wed, 06 Nov 2019 17:21 UTC
white house storm
© AFP / SAUL LOEB
Almost daily for three years, Democrats and their media have told us very bad things about Donald Trump's life, character, and presidency. Some of them are true.

But in the process, we have also learned some lamentable, even alarming, things about the Democratic Party establishment, including self-professed liberals. Consider the following:

— The Democratic establishment is deeply and widely imbued with rancid Russophobic attitudes. Most telling was (and remains) a core "Russiagate" allegation that "Russia attacked American democracy during the 2016 presidential election" on Trump's behalf — an "attack" so nefarious it has often been equated with Pearl Harbor. But there was no "attack" in 2016, only, as I have previously explained, ritualistic "meddling" of the kind that both Russia and America have undertaken in the other's elections for decades. Little can be more phobic than the allegation or belief that one has been "attacked by a hostile" entity. And yet, this myth and its false narrative persist in the Democratic Party's discourse, campaigning, and fund-raising.
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Chess

Best of the Web: Iran is winning strategic struggle for influence, even as US cripples its economy

Darius Shahtahmasebi
RT
Fri, 08 Nov 2019 16:49 UTC
Azadi Tower
© Getty Images / Sir Francis Canker PhotographyAzadi Tower illuminated at late dusk in Tehran, Iran
A new report has confirmed what some analysts have been saying for some time: that Iran is winning the regional struggle for strategic influence.

The 217-page report, published by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), is entitled "Iran's Networks of Influence in the Middle East" and details Tehran's use of proxy forces and networks throughout the region and the effects and benefits of its "minimum output" foreign policy strategy.

It is probably worth mentioning at this point that H.R. McMaster, Trump's former national security adviser, was once an employee of the IISS. As was James Steinberg, a former US deputy secretary of state. Furthermore, at the end of 2016, the Guardian revealed that the organization had received £25 million ($32 million) from the Bahraini royal family (apparently almost half of its total income has come from Bahrain). Iran and Bahrain aren't exactly close friends.

Notwithstanding the potential motives and bias of the IISS, the report definitely arrives at some interesting conclusions.
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Attention

Sen. Kamala Harris introduces bill to lengthen school day by three hours

Yelena Dzhanova
CNBC
Wed, 06 Nov 2019 16:20 UTC
kamala harris
© Alex Edelman | AFP | Getty ImagesDemocratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris speaks with children at the Iowa State Fair on August 10, 2019 in Des Moines, Iowa.
Presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., introduced a bill Wednesday that would lengthen the school day to 6 p.m. to better align with working parents' schedules.

The proposal, first reported by Mother Jones, calls for a three-hour extension of elementary school hours during weekdays and appoints money for the creation of summer programs and activities when school is not in session.

Five-year grants of up to $5 million would go to school districts serving a high number of low-income families to push the end of the average school day from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. in 500 schools. School days typically start at 8 a.m. Teachers and faculty, the bill says, would not have to work additional hours unless they sign up for an extra shift, for which they would be compensated at the rate they get during normal school hours.

Comment: Why end the school day at all? Let the state raise your kids!

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Eye 1

Flashback MI6 officer with pornographic images of children on work computer had charges dropped

Owen Bowcott
The Guardian, UK
Tue, 26 Mar 2019 13:22 UTC
MI6 Headquarters in London, England
© Felix Clay/The GuardianMI6 Headquarters in London, England.
An MI6 officer was discovered to have child sexual abuse images on his work computer but the charges against him were eventually dropped, the intelligence service has told an inquiry.

The illegal material was found in 2006 and the official was dismissed, the independent inquiry into child sexual abuse (IICSA) heard on Tuesday. The case was referred to the police who investigated. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) brought charges but it never came to trial.

Evidence about the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), or MI6 as it is more commonly known, was given by an anonymous officer who testified at the inquiry via video link. Before 2015, he confirmed, the service had no specific policies relating to preventing or reporting suspected child abuse.

The officer, who is responsible for overseeing MI6's compliance with the law, told the inquiry that pornographic material involving children was found by SIS staff in 2006. "When this material was discovered, it was [examined] and we conducted an internal investigation to find out which employee had been responsible," he told the inquiry.

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Stormtrooper

US increases funding to White Helmets who are persecuting Syrian Christians in Idlib

Vanessa Beeley
RT
Thu, 07 Nov 2019 12:31 UTC
White Helmets
© Getty Images / Izeddin Idlibi / Anadolu Agency
US President Donald Trump has not only reversed his "withdrawal from Syria" policy, he has recently attempted to revive the flagging credibility of the terrorist-affiliated White Helmets with a $4.5 million cash injection.

This week, the UK Minister for the Middle East Andrew Murrison met the "chairman" of the White Helmets, the extremist-connected Raed Saleh, for a discussion on the situation in Idlib. Murrison highlighted the "massive disinformation campaign" being waged against the White Helmets by Russia and Syria while never addressing the multiple accusations being made by Syrian civilians against the group which include claims of child abduction and organ trafficking.

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Pharoah

Flashback Royal cover-up: Heavily redacted 2009 police interview with pedophile celebrity Jimmy Savile was sent to Buckingham Palace for vetting

Jonathan Corke
Daily Star, UK
Sun, 20 Oct 2013 22:07 UTC
charles jimmy savile
Happy days: Prince Charles and Jimmy Savile on holiday together in bonnie wee Scotland
Paedophile Jimmy Savile named the royal family in his bombshell interview with police but any mention of them was removed from the released transcripts.

The papers from a 2009 police quiz were released last week following a seven-month battle by the Daily Star Sunday. But the 26 pages - which exposed the evil pervert as a bully and a liar - came with 96 redactions (crossings out).

Today we can reveal the documents had been vetted by Buckingham Palace - and that the serial sex attacker's royal connections were removed. One reference Savile made about a cousin of the Queen was included in an internal police report released in January.

But on Tuesday, when Surrey Police published the interview transcripts, there was no mention of her. Other references to royalty were also seemingly erased - and during our fight to obtain the records, police let slip Buckingham Palace's involvement.
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Beer

Watch Russian & Egyptian soldiers take turns downing US & British drones


RT
Thu, 07 Nov 2019 07:40 UTC
Russian troops
© Russian Defense MinistryRussian and Egyptian troops during the ‘Arrow of Friendship’ exercise.
The Egyptian hosts and their Russian guests took turns manning Egypt's Russian-made air defense systems during a joint military exercise near Cairo. Each practice target required just one missile to take it down.

The unusual field experience, in which Egyptian and Russian crews could share each other's operational skills, was the highlight of the two-week 'Arrow of Friendship' exercise - the first of its kind held by the two nations.

Egypt operates several Russian-produced air defense systems, including the middle-range Buk-M2 and the short-range Tor-M2 surface-to-air missiles. They were deployed for the exercise, with Russian and Egyptian crews alternately taking control of the hardware.

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Dollars

Best of the Web: The run on the dollar: Is it due to panic or greed?

Ellen Brown
truthdig
Mon, 04 Nov 2019 00:00 UTC
fisheye/wallstreet
© Martin St-Amant/Wikimedia Commmons/CC BY-SA 3.0/KJN
What's going on in the repo market? Rates on repurchase ("repo") agreements should be about 2%, in line with the Federal Reserve funds rate. But they shot up to over 5% on Sept. 16 and got as high as 10% on Sept. 17. Yet banks were refusing to lend to each other, evidently passing up big profits to hold onto their cash — just as they did in the housing market crash and Great Recession of 2008-09.

Because banks weren't lending, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York jumped in, increasing its overnight repo operations to $75 billion, and on Oct. 23, it upped the ante to $120 billion in overnight operations and $45 billion in longer-term operations.

Why are banks no longer lending to each other? Are they afraid that collapse is imminent somewhere in the system, as with the Lehman collapse in 2008?

Perhaps, and if so, the likely suspect is Deutsche Bank. But it looks to be just another case of Wall Street fattening itself at the public trough, using the funds of mom-and-pop depositors to maximize bank profits and line the pockets of bank executives while depriving small businesses of affordable loans.
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Eiffel Tower

Vive la France! Macron's self-serve negotiations a big disappointment to EU

Damian Wilson
RT
Wed, 06 Nov 2019 17:08 UTC
XiMacron
© XinHuaChinese President Xi Jinping • French President Emmanuel Macron
When French President Emmanuel Macron returns home from his state visit to China today, he may just wonder, as he looks out of his plane's window, "Have I just been played?"

He has certainly brought home the bacon by signing trade deals between France and China worth $15 billion, but President Xi Jinping managed to avoid any unwelcome talk about Hong Kong, intellectual property theft or the accusations of the mass detention of Muslims in northwest Xinjiang region.

These were issues that the EU, in particular, had hoped Macron would take a moment to address but having been warned by the Chinese to stay off the topics of Hong Kong and Xinjiang, which they insist are internal issues, it was a chance that went missing.

For despite the presumptions of the French president, recently dubbed 'Emperor Palpatine' after the Star Wars character by a political rival, China had Macron exactly where they wanted.

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Whistle

Emails reveal alleged whistleblower Ciaramella worked with anti-Trump dossier hoaxer in Obama administration

Aaron Klein
Breitbart
Wed, 06 Nov 2019 00:00 UTC
Nuland
© Getty ImagesFrmr Asst. Sec of State for European Affairs, Victoria Nuland
Eric Ciaramella, whom Real Clear Investigations suggests is the likely so-called whistleblower, was part of an Obama administration email chain celebrating the eventual signing of a $1 billion U.S. loan guarantee to Ukraine.

That and other emails show Ciaramella interfaced about Ukraine with individuals who played key roles in facilitating the infamous anti-Trump dossier produced by Fusion GPS and reportedly financed by Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign and the Democratic National Committee. One of those individuals, then-Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs Victoria Nuland, received updates on Ukraine issues from dossier author Christopher Steele in addition to Nuland's direct role in the dossier controversy.

Also part of the email chains was Christopher J. Anderson, who was a special adviser to former special envoy to Ukraine Kurt Volker. Anderson testified to the Democrat-led House committees running the impeachment inquiry.

Ciaramella's name comes up in six Obama-era government emails that were released by the State Department as part of two previous Freedom of Information Act requests. At the time of the exchanges, Ciaramella served as the Director for Baltic and Eastern European Affairs for the Obama-era National Security Council, where he worked on Ukraine policy. He is now an analyst at the Central Intelligence Agency.

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