Puppet MastersS


Megaphone

US gov't agencies conclude 'no evidence' of foreign actors influencing 2018 mid-term elections

voting
© Robyn Beck/Agence France-Presse
U.S. government agencies said foreign actors did not significantly influence the U.S. mid-term congressional elections last year, despite reports of hacking attempts leading up to the vote,

The conclusion was reached by the Justice and Homeland Security departments, which made the announcement in a joint statement issued on February 5.

"There is no evidence to date that any identified activities of a foreign government or foreign agent had a material impact on the integrity or security of election infrastructure or political/campaign infrastructure"" used in the November polls, the statement said.

Stock Down

Cuomo says NY tax revenues have dropped by $2.3 billion

Cuomo
© KPTVNY Governor Andrew Cuomo
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Monday that state income tax revenues plummeted by $2.3 billion since he introduced his new budget plan last month - a bombshell that will force him to curb spending.

Cuomo attributed the revenue drop in December and January largely to the new federal tax code, as well as volatility in the stock market and other uncertainties.

"That's a $2.3 billion drop in revenues. That's as serious as a heart attack. This is worse than we had anticipated," the governor said in Albany.

"This reduction must be addressed in this year's budget."

In a rare joint appearance with Cuomo, state Comptroller Tom DiNapoli confirmed the deteriorating finances.

"This is the most serious revenue shock the state has faced in many years," he said.

Comment: The logic of tax revenue can be counterintuitive. To many progressives, it makes sense to tax the rich more: they make more money, so they can pay more. But that only works to a degree, because when the tax rate is too high, rich people simply find a way of avoiding taxes, by moving their money somewhere with a lower tax rate or off shore. Lowering tax rates actually provides an incentive to stay local and pay taxes. That's how Russia started getting tax revenue again after the disastrous '90s, for instance: a simple flat tax rate. After just one year, tax revenue increased 26%.


Brick Wall

From concrete to steel to flesh: Trump says he 'will build a human wall if necessary'

wall
© Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon
With the budget deadline approaching and Democrats refusing to compromise on funding for a border wall, President Trump is promising to secure the border by sending thousands more soldiers in lieu of an actual barrier.

With the Democrats having rejected his "compromise" to build the wall with steel instead of concrete, Trump announced Tuesday that a different kind of material had been chosen.

The president's tweet comes in the wake of an announcement by the Pentagon last week that 3,750 additional soldiers were being sent to the US-Mexico border, bringing the total number to about 4,300. The troops will remain for at least 90 days while they assist Customs and Border protection, conduct surveillance and install miles of barbed wire fences.

Che Guevara

'Stop Trump's insane actions!' Venezuela's Maduro talks to RT about avoiding war

maduro
© Reuters / Miraflores Palace
At a time when the eyes of the world are closely watching his country, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has given an exclusive interview to RT Spanish, speaking about the threats of war and of foul play in politics.

Several EU nations have been the latest to recognize Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the country's "interim leader," and US President Donald Trump is keeping the military option on the table against the "illegitimate" Maduro, while aiming to choke Venezuela's oil trade with sanctions.

Amidst the turmoil, Maduro firmly believes he has the backing of the people - and says he doesn't care how history will remember him, as long as it's not as a traitor.

"There's one thing I know for sure: I will not be remembered as a traitor, as a weak man who reneged on his historical commitments and betrayed his nation," he told RT Spanish.

Whistle

Huge Psy-op in UK? Not interested. British media silent on Integrity Initiative months on

media
© Getty Images / RapidEye
It's been months since the Integrity Initiative was exposed as a UK-funded psyop outfit - but anyone who has been closely following the scandal will know that the British media has not joined them in that pursuit.

For reasons they don't seem interested in sharing, major media didn't bite on the story which Scottish newspaper the Daily Record called "one of the biggest political scandals of the year."

For anyone who (understandably) hasn't heard, the Integrity Initiative has been masquerading as a"completely independent" charity project aiming to highlight"disinformation" online - while using its government money to run anti-Russia "influence"operations all around Europe (including interfering in the domestic politics of other countries), conspiring with fossil fuel-friendly banks to target anti-fracking activists and smearing the opposition leader as a Kremlin asset.

Its cover was blown when leaks revealed last November that that organization was receiving funding from the British Foreign Office (FCO) and Ministry of Defense, and that it was run by people with extensive backgrounds in military intelligence. In short, it was a sneaky psyop.

Star of David

Senate passes the Orwellian 'Combating BDS Act' by vote of 77-23

Marco Rubio
Marco Rubio
This afternoon the Senate by a vote of 77-23 passed S.1, which contains the Combating BDS Act, encouraging states to pass laws that authorize economic punishments against those who support boycott of Israel. Faiz Shakir, national political director of the ACLU, says: "The Senate just passed a bill that tramples on the 1st Amendment rights of Americans. The House should refuse to take it up."

The ACLU led opposition to the bill and is already moving on to the House. It reports:
Should the House take up similar legislation, we urge members to remove the Combating BDS Act from the package of bills due to the threat it poses to all Americans' First Amendment right to boycott...

Senators who voted for the bill: we encourage you to read the Constitution, which protects against the McCarthy-era tactics this bill endorses.

Eye 1

Twitter shuts down pro-Maduro accounts as it greenlights Venezuela's pro-opposition online blitz

twitter
© Global Look Press / Jaap Arriens
As the U.S.-backed coup attempt in Venezuela continues to take shape, shady anonymous actors are waging an information war manipulating social media with automated posts in an apparent attempt to manufacture a faux consensus for regime change in the online theater.

If you've been on Twitter since January 23, you could be forgiven for thinking that the only pastimes in Venezuela are protesting and replying to anyone and everyone on the platform critical of Washington's clear collusion with the Venezuelan opposition in its quest for regime change.

Juan Guaido - who had a mere 90,000 followers on Twitter around the time of the coup attempt one year prior, and 340,000 around January 23, 2019 - has since skyrocketed on the platform, currently enjoying a following of more than 1,100,000.

Chess

Mexican gov't escorting 1700 caravan migrants to unsecured Texas border area

Mexican immigrants
© G. Arjas/AFP/Getty
Coahuila officials deployed 49 private buses and dozens of police vehicles to help transport and safeguard more than 1,700 migrants to an unsecured part of the Texas border. The caravan recently departed from Honduras.

Over the weekend, hundreds of migrants began arriving in southern Coahuila as state officials began setting up temporary shelters and providing food. Governor Miguel Riquelme oversaw operations at one of the camps. The official count from Sunday stood at 1,674 migrants.

Sherlock

Chinese & Taiwanese militaries exchange saber-rattling videos on Lunar New Year

J-20 stealth
© ReutersJ-20 stealth fighters of Chinese Air Force
After Taiwan received a video of Chinese military jets and bombers flying over the self-ruled island's landmarks as a New Year gift from Beijing, it wasted no time in firing back with a hawkish clip of its own.

China's original three-and-half minute video, entitled "My War Eagles Fly Around Formosa" (Taiwan's former name), was released by the People's Liberation Army on Sunday.

It was made up of impressive shots of Chinese warplanes and panoramas of Taiwan's most famous sights, including the 509-meter-tall Taipei 101 tower, Sun Moon Lake and Ali Mountain.

As H-6 bombers, J-20 stealth fighters and other aircraft performed aerial maneuvers, the song in the background urged the islanders to "return, reunite" with mainland China.

Comment: See also:


War Whore

The Lima Group: International outlaws of the wild West

Chrystia Freeland
The covert and overt interventions taking place against Venezuela by the United States and its allies are a form of aggression and a violation of the fundamental principles of the United Nations Charter making the nations involved international outlaws.

The attempted coup against President Maduro of Venezuela may have failed so far but the jackals that instigated it have not given up their objective of forcing the majority of Venezuelans benefiting from the Bolivarian revolution begun by President Chavez, back to the misery the revolution is trying to save them from. The United States and its allied governments and media, working with American military and civilian intelligence services, are pumping out a constant flow of propaganda about the start of affairs in Venezuela to mislead and manipulate their own peoples so that they support their aggression and to undermine Venezuelans support for their revolution.

We have seen this type of propaganda before, the fake stories about "human rights" abuses, economic conditions, the cries of "democracy," the propaganda about an "authoritarian" leader, a "tyrant," "dictator", all labels they have used before against leaders of nations that they have later murdered; President Arbenz, Allende, Torrijos, Habyarimana, Milosevic, Hussein, Ghaddafi are examples that come quickly to mind, so that the same threats against Maduro are not just propaganda but direct physical threats.

We see the same pretexts for military aggression used and same euphemisms being employed, the same cries for "humanitarian intervention," which we now know are nothing more than modern echoes of Hitler's pretexts for the invasion of Czechoslovakia, to "save the oppressed Germans."

We see the same smug lies and hypocrisy about the rule of law as they openly brag about their violation of international law with every step they take and talk as if they are gods ruling the world.

Comment: See also: Canada bars alternative media outlets from Lima Group's meeting to plot strategy against Venezuela