Puppet MastersS


Hammer

Financial bounty hunters testify: Clinton Foundation operated as foreign agent

Hillary Clinton
© Getty Image
The Clinton Foundation operated as a foreign agent 'early in its life' and 'throughout it's existence' and did not operate as a 501c3 charitable foundation as required by its and is not entitled to its status as a nonprofit, alleged two highly qualified forensic investigators, accompanied by three other investigators, said in explosive testimony Thursday to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

John Moynihan and Lawerence W. Doyle, both graduates of the Catholic Jesuit College of the Holy Cross and former expert forensic government investigators, gave their shocking testimony before congress based on a nearly two year investigation into the foundation's work both nationally and internationally. They were assisted by three other highly trained experts in taxation law and financial forensic investigations. The forensic investigators stressed that they obtained all the documentation on the foundation legally and through Freedom of Information Request Acts from the IRS and other agencies.

Former Utah U.S. Attorney General John Huber, who resigned when he was appointed by former Department of Justice Attorney General Jeff Sessions to investigate the Clinton Foundation and the issues surrounding the approval to sell 20 percent of U.S. Uranium assets to Russia, declined to attend the hearing. Chairman Mark Meadows, R-NC, who oversaw the hearing stated that it was disappointment that Huber declined, leaving Congress in the dark regarding the DOJ's investigation.

Dig

New York's incoming attorney general unveils 'huge' plan to investigate Trump and his family

Letitia James
© Drew Angerer/ Getty ImagesNew York Attorney General Letitia James
The New York attorney general-elect has unveiled plans to launch a large-scale investigation into President Donald Trump.

Letitia James, who will replace Barbara Underwood on January 1, 2019, vowed to probe not only Trump but also his family and any of his associates who might have violated the law.

Her plans include an investigation over the meeting between a Russian official and three senior members of the Trump campaign-Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and Paul Manafort-held at Trump Tower in June 2016.

Snakes in Suits

"Astonishing fraud": Pentagon stashes billions, spends it later to avoid accountability

pentagon
Congress gives the Pentagon money if they report they've spent the budget while, in fact, they stash it away in secret places to use without any accountability at all, investigative journalist David Lindorff told RT.

US President Donald Trump has reportedly agreed to a Pentagon request to increase next year's military budget to $750 billion. However, just last week he slammed this year's defense budget as 'crazy'.


Comment: So you know who's running the show.


RT spoke to David Lindorff, investigative journalist, and columnist for the Nation, who said that US military budget is now "larger than all the US debt in the history of the country."

Comment: Even after changing the rules in the accounting, for reasons of 'national security' (of course), the Pentagon still failed its audit. That, and the epic failure in many of their projects, tells you all you need to know about the overwhelming and systemic corruption within the department. Also check out SOTT radio's:


Dominoes

Combat marginalization or expel troublemakers? MEPs offer solutions to 'keep Europe safe' in wake of Strasbourg attack

french soldier
© Reuters / Christian Hartmann
The Strasbourg Christmas market shooting has fanned the flames of a debate about how to keep Europe safe, with MEPs from opposite sides of the aisle providing RT with radically different views about what must be done.

The deadly attack in the northeast French city, which killed two people and left more than a dozen wounded, seems to have had a profound effect on EU parliamentarians - many of whom were present when their Strasbourg-based headquarters was put on lockdown following the shooting.

However, serious disagreement remains over how to move forward, with conflicting views on immigration, terrorism, and borders dominating the security debate.

Russian Flag

Reports say Russia has established new base in Syria near US-occupied Al-Tanaf

Russian special forces in syria
© FileRussian special forces in Syria
Russian forces have established a base in the area of Zaza right on the 55km de-escalation zone line around the US-led coalition base in the town of al-Tanaf on the Syrian-Iraqi border, Syrian pro-government activists revealed on December 12.

A source, who is familiar with the situation, told SouthFront that several advanced air-defense systems and other military equipment were deployed in the new Russian base. More weapons, including heavy rocket launchers, are expected to arrive in the base in the upcoming few days.

Comment: The sooner the US leaves Syria altogether the better. This part of the neocon imperialist project has failed.


Handcuffs

Alleged 'Russian agent' finally worn down: Butina enters guilty plea to 'engaging in conspiracy against US'

butina
Maria Butina
Maria Butina, the 30-year-old Russian woman arrested and charged earlier this year with acting as an unregistered agent of the Russian government in the U.S., pleaded guilty Thursday in federal court after previously entering a plea of not guilty.

Butina admitted in the District Court for the District of Columbia that she and an American, known in court documents as "U.S. Person 1," conspired with and acted under the direction of a Russian government official to establish unofficial lines of communications with people able to influence U.S. politics leading up to the 2016 presidential election.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Erik Kenerson said Butina sought to use those unofficial lines of communication for the benefit of the Russian Federation.

Comment: The Deep State is desperate to find any sort of of evidence of Russian interference in US matters, no matter how tangential and false. Butina has been railroaded into her guilty plea after months of abuse in custody in the American Gulag system.

Speaking to the media in the Azerbaijani capital Baku, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said US prosecutors were deliberately trying to break Butina:
"I can understand that woman, she is being kept in the harshest conditions, for many many months now she has been subjected to a kind of torture: they would make her go for walks at night, forcibly interrupting her sleep, place her in single confinement, and many other things.

I have reasons to believe the conditions that have been created for her are intended to break her will and make her confess to something she likely didn't do. She is being kept in conditions "normally reserved for dangerous repeat offenders. "



Beaker

Austrian police question Russian biathlon team on suspicion of doping violations

Eduard Latypov
© Spitnik / Alexey FilippovRussia's Eduard Latypov at biathlon World Cup
Austrian police officers have visited the Russian biathlon team's training camp in Hochfilzen to question athletes and coaches over alleged doping violations which supposedly took place two years ago.

Russian biathletes are in Austria for the Biathlon World Cup, and talked to police regarding suspected doping manipulations during the 2017 World Championship, which was hosted in Hochfilzen.

Dmitry Guberniev, a prominent Russian TV commentator and biathlon pundit, posted the news on Instagram, where he also published a list of the team members suspected by the Austrian authorities.

Comment: Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova had this to say:
"During the night there was somewhat wild information from Austria detailing that representatives of the Austrian police visited the Russian training camp to hand over notifications regarding doping accusations against some of our leading athletes," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.

"I really don't understand what's going on in Europe and what traditions have started to emerge there to make a night raid on the Russian camp on the eve of important sports competitions. They created a strange, destabilizing and depressing situation of threats while trying to explain something and hand over some notifications," she added.

It remains unclear what kind of charges have been brought against the Russians, but Alexander Loginov, who is on the controversial list of suspects, clarified that the Austrian authorities have been investigating alleged "manipulations with blood transfusion."

Since the 2017 World Championship in Hochfilzen Russian biathletes have undergone multiple doping checks with no positive tests emerging.



Handcuffs

Second Canadian, Michael Spavor, detained in China as Huawei row continues

Michael Spavor, Michael Kovrig
© AFPMichael Spavor (L) and Michael Kovrig have been put under "compulsory measures"
A second Canadian has been detained in China on accusations of harming national security, as tension continues between the two countries.

It was confirmed on Thursday that Michael Spavor, a businessman, had been detained in addition to former diplomat Michael Kovrig.

Canada drew Chinese protests after it arrested an executive at telecoms giant Huawei at the request of the US.

Meng Wanzhou has been bailed but may face extradition for fraud.

Comment: See also: Could the arrest of Meng Wanzhou have anything to do with Huawei challenging Western cellphone monopolies?


Eye 2

Colombian hypocrisy: Hernandez criticizes Russian-Venezuelan military relations despite being US imperialist outpost

putin maduro venezuela
© Sputnik / Alexei DrushininNicolas Maduro and Vladimir Putin
For Cuban professor Roberto Henandez, Venezuela has the right to defend itself and it is hypocritical that Colombia is expressing concern about the joint military maneuvers between Venezuela and Russia.

Hernandez's analysis comes in response to accusations made by Colombia on Wednesday through Colombian President Iván Duque.

"[...] It is ironic that Colombia is concerned about joint Russian-Venezuelan maneuvers and the presence of Russian airplanes in the neighboring country, when in Colombia seven US military bases are maintained that are a real threat to the entire region," the retired professor at the University of Havana said.

Comment: Venezuela is a sovereign country, and is entitled to have relations, diplomatic and other, with any country it feels would benefit it.


Cell Phone

California mulls tax on text messaging, may lead to showdown with federal regulators

Blackberry phone
© AP Photo/Matt SaylesCalifornia regulators are considering a plan to charge a fee for text messaging on mobile phones to help support programs that make phone service accessible to the poor.
A California regulator's plan to tax texts in order to fund cellphones for the poor hit a snag Wednesday after a Federal Communications Commission ruled text messages aren't subject to the utility agency's authority.

The decision by the FCC, which categorized text messages as "information services" on par with emails and not "telecommunications services," came in an effort to combat robo-texts and spam messages. The California Public Utilities Commission now faces an uphill battle ahead of a scheduled vote on the measure next month.

Those opposed to the planned tax hailed the FCC decision a victory.

"We hope that the CPUC recognizes that taxing text messages is bad for consumers," Jamie Hastings, senior vice president of external and state affairs for CTIA, which represents the U.S. wireless communications industry, told The Mercury News. "Taxing this service would burden those who rely on and use this service each and every day."

The CPUC has not yet commented on the FCC's decision. The group is scheduled to meet next on Jan. 10 in San Francisco.