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Caracas: Lawmakers taking part in coup attempt shall be stripped of immunity


Sputnik
Mon, 06 May 2019 09:37 UTC
Teargas canister
© REUTERS/Carlos Garcia RawlinsMilitary member throws tear gas canister near Generalisimo Francisco de Miranda Airbase La Cariota in Caracas, Venezuela.
Caracas will remove immunity from lawmakers who took part in the recent coup attempt in the country, the leader of Venezuela's Constituent Assembly Diosdado Cabello said.

As quoted by the broadcaster NTN on Sunday, Cabello said:
"The Prosecutor's office has opened the case. All requests on the stripping of parliamentary immunity come to the Constituent Assembly, and... we will certainly take measures to remove parliamentary immunity from all those who actively participated in this [coup attempt]".
The statement comes after on 30 April, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido urged Venezuelan civilians and servicemen to take to the streets to help depose President Nicolas Maduro.

In response, Maduro said that the commanders of all regions and zones of integral defence had reiterated their full loyalty to the people, the Constitution and the homeland. The coup attempt turned violent and resulted in some 240 people being injured, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Comment: See also:

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Bullseye

Turkish FM Cavusoglu accuses Israel of targeting the Anadolu Agency news bureau in Gaza


RT
Sat, 04 May 2019 18:37 UTC
Cavusoglu/Erdogan
© Rava/AFPTurkish FM Mevlut Cavusoglu • Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has accused the Israeli military of targeting a building housing the Turkish Andalou news agency in its strikes on the Gaza Strip.

The agency shared a video on Saturday purportedly showing rescuers combing through the rubble of the ruined building. Cavusoglu described the alleged attack as a "new example of Israel's unrestrained aggression."

"Israeli violence against innocent people w/out distinction is a crime against humanity. Those who encourage Israel are also guilty," the minister added.


Comment: More from RT: Erdogan: Turkey to keep exposing 'Israeli terrorism' despite airstrike on Anadolu bureau in Gaza
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has condemned Israel for hitting the office of Anadolu Agency during its airstrikes in Gaza, saying that it won't prevent Turkey from reporting on atrocities committed by the Jewish state.


The Turkish news agency shared a video on Saturday, purportedly showing rescuers combing through the rubble of the ruined building which had hosted its bureau. The ministry called on the international community to "to act swiftly in order to reduce the tension in the region with Israel's disproportionate actions."



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Bad Guys

Why the powerful always paint their side as the victims

Caitlin Johnstone
caitlinjohnstone.com
Mon, 06 May 2019 18:38 UTC
Israel bombs Gaza
On Friday Israel began a two-day attack on Gaza which as of this writing has left a total of 27 Palestinians dead, including a pregnant woman and a baby.

Moon of Alabama documents how the mass media have been consistently depicting this attack as a "response" to a Hamas rocket attack, suggesting that Hamas were the initial aggressors and Israel merely responded in self-defense, yet Hamas is very open about the fact that the rocket attack was done in retaliation for two Palestinian civilians who were killed by Israeli snipers. MoA cites an excerpt from a 2011 Louis Allday blog on Israel's extensive history of painting all of its aggressions as acts of self-defense:
If one consults only mainstream media for information on the conflict in Palestine, what is immediately striking is that Israel appears to be in a permanent state of "retaliation" - a phrase which immediately confers at least a modicum of legitimacy or justification upon the act to which it refers. Israel is never presented as the aggressor and however much its actions are condemned - which they are by some mainstream sources - they are invariably portrayed as a reaction to some form of provocation. Conversely, missiles launched from the Gaza Strip or southern Lebanon are habitually portrayed as "attacks" - never "retaliations," even if Israel has launched a devastating missile strike immediately prior to the event - as so often is the case.
The public is subliminally conditioned to understand that Israel is a permanent victim that on occasion is forced to lash out in response to the ostensibly irrational and unruly aggression of illegitimate non-state actors that encircle it.
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Eye 1

James Clapper admits FBI's actions 'meet the dictionary definition' of 'spying'

Jerry Dunleavy
Washington Examiner
Tue, 07 May 2019 17:59 UTC
James Clapper
Following revelations that the FBI sent an undercover agent to meet with George Papadopoulos in London in 2016, James Clapper was forced to backtrack on his prior comments and admit that this was "spying."

Earlier in April, Attorney General William Barr had told Congress that "I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal", and Clapper had immediately slammed the suggestion that the Trump campaign may have been spied on as "stunning and scary." But last Friday, Clapper, who'd been the director of national intelligence under President Obama, conceded that what the FBI had been doing "meets the dictionary definition" of "spying."

Speaking in front of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on April 10, Barr told the Department of Justice oversight panel that "for the same reason we're worried about foreign influence in elections, I think spying on a political campaign is a big deal." Barr also said he was "not suggesting those rules were violated" but that he does believe "it's important to look at."

"I think it's my obligation," Barr said.
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Red Flag

CNN buys out hundreds, Brian Stelter insists 'no layoffs'

Jennie Taer
saraacarter.com
Tue, 07 May 2019 17:47 UTC
cnn center
Hurting in ratings, CNN is now pushing for 'voluntary layoffs'. CNN says roughly 100 employees have accepted voluntary buyouts a month after an overhaul by parent company AT&T.

Brian Stelter, also confirmed the rumor, trying to spin it as "hundreds of staffers leaving CNN, as voluntary buyouts."

In a tweet, Brian Stelter said:
There's a rumor making the rounds today about big impending layoffs at CNN. A CNN spokeswoman is knocking it down on the record: "No layoffs." There WERE voluntary buyouts throughout the organization, and about 100 people opted for it.

Comment: CNN's capitulation to the radical left continues to hurt its bottom line, yet there is zero likelihood that they change their current philosophy. CNN shareholders need to voice their displeasure loud and clear.

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Bad Guys

Best of the Web: US State Department publishes, then deletes, sadistic Venezuela hit-list boasting of economic ruin

Anya Parampil
The Grayzone
Tue, 07 May 2019 17:38 UTC
Pompeo
© AP/Sait Serkan GurbuzUS Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
The Grayzone has obtained a list of "key outcomes" on Venezuela deleted out of apparent embarrassment by the State Department. It boasts of wrecking the nation's economy, destabilizing its military, and puppeteering its political opposition.

On April 24, six days before self-proclaimed Venezuelan "interim president" Juan Guaido's attempt to violently overthrow Venezuela's democratically elected government alongside a handful of military defectors, the U.S. State Department published a fact sheet that boasted of Washington's central role in the ongoing coup attempt. After realizing the incriminating nature of its error, the State Department quickly acted to remove the page.

The Grayzone has obtained a full copy of the expunged report. The deleted page puts to bed any claims of Guaido's independence from Washington, as the State Department emphasizes the fact that he "announced his interim presidency... in January" at the the top of a section dedicated to breaking down "key outcomes" of U.S. efforts with regard to Venezuela.
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Bulb

Texas bill seeks to protect against social media censorship


Breitbart
Tue, 07 May 2019 17:26 UTC
Facebook
© Nasir Kachroo / www.globallookpress.com
A newly proposed Texas bill aims to prevent the social media Masters of the Universe including Facebook and Twitter from infringing on free speech.

The Texas Tribune reports that a newly proposed bill before the Texas Senate aims to protect the free exchange of ideas on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

Senate Bill 2373, proposed by State Sen. Bryan Hughes (R-Mineola) aims to hold social media websites accountable for the restriction of users speech based on personal opinions. Hughes stated that the bill would apply to social media sites which claim to support free speech and advertise their platform as unbiased but repeatedly censor users. The bill was unanimously approved by the Senate State Affairs Committee last week.
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Pistol

Gun confiscation on the table as Booker, Swalwell lead 2020 Democrats leftward

Emily Larsen
Washington Examiner
Tue, 07 May 2019 17:26 UTC
booker and swalwell
Democratic presidential candidates are headed sharply left on gun control as New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and California Rep. Eric Swalwell sought Monday to one-up each other with calls for the government to confiscate firearms.

Booker pledged to take executive action on his first day in office "closing dangerous loopholes in gun sales, cracking down on unscrupulous dealers and gun manufacturers, and investing in communities impacted by gun violence."

Booker also went far beyond many of the other candidates' gun control stances in his plan with a call for federal licenses for gun owners. His campaign called the plan the "most sweeping gun violence prevention plan ever put forth by a presidential candidate."

Swalwell, who has made combating gun violence a key issue in his presidential campaign, told the Washington Examiner in a statement Monday that he also supports gun licensing and suggested that his proposed policies that go further than Booker's plan.
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Light Saber

China calls out Pompeo's 'ulterior motive' in misrepresenting their position on Arctic affairs


PressTV
Tue, 07 May 2019 17:14 UTC
Mike Pompeo
© Reuters / Yuri Gripas
China says what US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claims about its role in the Arctic rests on "ulterior motives" that lead Washington to contradict the facts.

Speaking on the eve of a meeting of the eight members of the Arctic Council, Pompeo said in northern Finland on Monday that the US plans to beef up its Arctic presence to keep Russia's and China's "aggressive behavior" in check in the region.

On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a regular press briefing in Beijing that the remarks were "a misrepresentation of the facts that has ulterior motives."

China will "not intervene" in matters between Arctic countries, but it will also "not be absent" from global issues on the Arctic, he added.
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Che Guevara

Best of the Web: Tulsi Gabbard has proved she is ready for America. Is America ready for her?

John Wight
RT
Mon, 06 May 2019 17:14 UTC
tulsi
© Global Look Press / KC McGinnis
Since announcing her bid for the Democratic Party nomination in 2020, Tulsi Gabbard has been on a one-woman quest to confront America with reality.

In speech after speech, interview after interview, and in social media post after social media post, the Democratic Party congresswoman from Hawaii has served up a merciless indictment of US militarism, making the elementary point that Washington's obscenely inflated defense budget and its addiction to regime change wars, military interventions and the subversion of sovereign governments in pursuit of the full spectrum dominance that lies at the heart of the malignant creeds of neoconservatism and liberal interventionism, is harming rather than protecting the interests of the American people.

The harm is measured in an 'official' poverty rate of 12.3 percent, in other words 39.7 million people. It is measured in a homelessness crisis of indictable proportion, affecting over 500,000 people. And it is measured in the fact that as one of the richest countries in the world, tens of millions of its citizens are without healthcare.
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