Puppet MastersS


Arrow Down

A new tactic for suppressing online speech in Africa: Taxing social media

RW
Target Liberty
Tue, 15 Jan 2019 08:57 UTC
Africans beach
© Reuters/Feisal OmarAfricans facing restrictions online
Think things are bad in the US and Europe when it comes to social media speech suppression?

Check out, Africa.

Will this be our future?

Aware of the threat that social media poses to their power, repressive regimes in Africa have employed various methods to stifle internet-based mobilization. These include internet shutdowns, targeted social media applications shutdowns, website takedowns, extensive surveillance of digital communications, online propaganda, and the detention of online critics, writes Babatunde Okunoye for Foreign Affairs.

According to Okunoye, in 2018, repressive governments adopted yet another tactic: taxes on social media usage. In countries such as Uganda, Benin, Tanzania and Zambia, there are now laws in place which impose daily taxes on social media and other over-the-top services.

Comment: It is more than stifling freedom of expression. Social media and the internet are information access tools of the people, and as such, have the means to expose corruption. Denied access, regulation, prohibitive cost structures and censorship are mechanisms to limit dissent.

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Black Magic

Government 'sneaks out' £7,000 pension cut for poorest elderly couples under cover of Brexit vote

Rob Merrick
Independent
Wed, 16 Jan 2019 10:15 UTC
Amber Rudd
© Mark Thomas/Rex/ShutterstockThe work and pensions secretary, Amber Rudd, leaves No 10. Age UK has described the changes as a ‘substantial stealth cut’.
Poorer pensioner couples will lose more than £7,000 a year, under a cut "sneaked out" while MPs are preparing for the showdown Brexit vote.

Ministers have been accused of attempting to bury the impact of the change to pension credit, which tops up the incomes of hard-up elderly people.

It means couples where only one partner is over the state pension age, which is now 65 or for both men and women depending on when they were born, will no longer receive the extra benefit.

It will take effect from 15 May, when the partner below the pension age is required to make a claim for universal credit, which merges six working-age benefits into a single payment.

Comment: Just when you thought there was nowhere left for the UK government to plunder: Also check out SOTT radio's:

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Arrow Down

Russia-US INF talks fail in Geneva - US announces withdrawal date in February


RT
Tue, 15 Jan 2019 17:25 UTC
Ryabkov
© REUTERS/POOLRussia's deputy foreign minister Sergey Ryabkov
Washington is still on course to unilaterally quit the landmark 1987-signed Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) as early as next month, rejecting new talks after negotiations in Switzerland brought no breakthrough.

"It is clear that Russia continues to violate the treaty in a substantial way," US Under Secretary for Arms Control and International Security Andrea Thompson said at the press briefing that followed Tuesday's discussions, which she called "disappointing."

Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, who led a sizeable Russian delegation comprising senior officials from all relevant departments, said that US representatives arrived in Geneva with their minds made up, with a position that was both "uncompromising and lacking in specifics."

Comment: And now the foregone conclusion:
The US will begin its withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty with Russia on February 1, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control Andrea Thompson has said.
...
In an interview published on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia "has no interest in a new arms race" with the US, but warned the Trump administration against withdrawing from the treaty, saying "such a course will have the gravest consequences."

Trump first threatened to pull out of the landmark agreement last October, telling reporters "we'll have to develop those weapons." Reacting to Trump's announcement, Gorbachev issued a similar warning to Putin, calling Trump's planned withdrawal a "dire threat to peace."


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Star of David

New IDF chief pledges to make army 'deadly, efficient'


Sputnik
Wed, 16 Jan 2019 17:15 UTC
kochavi assad
© WIKIMEDIA COMMONS & SANA/HANDOUT VIA REUTERSAviv Kochavi (L) and Bashar Assad (R).
The former Army intelligence chief earlier made headlines for his proposal to assassinate Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed Lt. Gen. Aviv Kochavi as the new military chief of staff Tuesday, according to a report by Haaretz. Kochavi replaced Gadi Eisenkot, who recently made headlines by admitting that Tel Aviv had supplied weapons to terrorists in Syria.

"I take this job upon myself in sacred reverence; I take it as an honour," Kochavi said during the ceremony, attended both by Netanyahu and Eisenkot.

"Now, as it is my turn, and I have received the responsibility of leading the army, I commit to dedicating all my energy, with a critical and demanding approach, to strengthening our defensive wall, to training for present and future threats - which focuses upon strengthening our attack capabilities towards our enemies and presenting an army that is deadly, efficient and modern, that preserves its mission and its uniqueness," he added.


​While Kochavi's speech could be perceived as humble, Netanyahu, who promoted Kochavi to chief of staff, then spoke with his trademark, much more aggressive tone.
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Bullseye

Trump's shutdown trap?

Thomas Lifson
AmericanThinker
Wed, 16 Jan 2019 17:01 UTC
trump
Has President Trump suckered Democrats and the Deep State into a trap that will enable a radical downsizing of the federal bureaucracy? In only five more days of the already "longest government shutdown in history" (25 days and counting, as of today), a heretofore obscure threshold will be reached, enabling permanent layoffs of bureaucrats furloughed 30 days or more.
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Attention

Federal court orders discovery on Clinton email, Benghazi scandal: Obama/Clinton officials to be deposed under oath


Judicial Watch
Tue, 15 Jan 2019 00:00 UTC
hillaryclinton email server
© Keven Siers/Charlotte Observer
Judicial Watch announced today that United States District Judge Royce C. Lamberth ruled that discovery can begin in Hillary Clinton's email scandal. Obama administration senior State Department officials, lawyers, and Clinton aides will now be deposed under oath. Senior officials - including Susan Rice, Ben Rhodes, Jacob Sullivan, and FBI official E.W. Priestap - will now have to answer Judicial Watch's written questions under oath. The court rejected the DOJ and State Department's objections to Judicial Watch's court-ordered discovery plan. (The court, in ordering a discovery plan last month, ruled that the Clinton email system was "one of the gravest modern offenses to government transparency.")

Judicial Watch's discovery will seek answers to:
  • Whether Clinton intentionally attempted to evade the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by using a non-government email system;
  • whether the State Department's efforts to settle this case beginning in late 2014 amounted to bad faith; and
  • whether the State Department adequately searched for records responsive to Judicial Watch's FOIA request.
Discovery is scheduled to be completed within 120 days. The court will hold a post-discovery hearing to determine if Judicial Watch may also depose additional witnesses, including Clinton and her former Chief of Staff Cheryl Mills.

Comment: See also:

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Document

Transcript reveals former top FBI lawyer James Baker subject of criminal media leak probe

Catherine Herridge
Fox News
Tue, 15 Jan 2019 16:49 UTC
james baker
© Michigan LawJames A. Baker, former general counsel for the FBI, was revealed to be the subject of a leak probe.
The former top lawyer at the FBI has been under federal investigation for leaking to the media, a letter from House Republicans revealed Tuesday.

The letter from GOP Reps. Jim Jordan and Mark Meadows cited the transcript of a congressional interview with former General Counsel James Baker and his lawyer last fall, where the probe conducted by seasoned U.S. Attorney John Durham was confirmed.

"You may or may not know, [Baker has] been the subject of a leak investigation ... a criminal leak investigation that's still active at the Justice Department," lawyer Daniel Levin told lawmakers, as he pushed back on questions about his client's conversations with reporters.

Jordan and Meadows' letter was sent to Durham, the U.S. attorney for Connecticut, and requested additional information about the probe later this month.

"As we continue our oversight and investigative work, we felt it prudent to write to you seeking an update. Without being apprised of the contours of your leak investigation and Baker's role, we run the risk of inadvertently interfering with your prosecutorial plans," they wrote.

Comment: More on Baker:

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Bullseye

Trump says time to stop 'ENDLESS WARS': So why does saber-rattling against Russia & China continue?

Robert Bridge
RT
Wed, 16 Jan 2019 16:33 UTC
us navy
© Global Look Press / Deven Leigh Ellis / Navy
Donald Trump has shown an apparent willingness to put the brakes on US military aggression abroad, notably in the Middle East and Central Asia. Yet the announcement coincided with more military moves against Russia and China.

One thing is obvious with regards to the ongoing US government shutdown - it has not affected the daily operations of the US military at all. While some 800,000 federal employees are enjoying a long unpaid vacation, members of the Armed Forces appear to be working overtime. And how could they not with the latest seasonal outbreak of Russo and Sino Phobia?

While there has been an outpouring of publicity over Donald Trump's shock announcement that he would be withdrawing US troops from Syria, and possibly in other hotspots around the war-weary world, the US military remains on the prowl.

At the weekend, the Pentagon deployed three B-2 Stealth bombers and 200 airmen to Hawaii with the stated purpose of demonstrating America's ability to "project power from anywhere in the world." The site of the US deployment was no accident. China has been on the receiving end of these cute Hallmark greetings ever since Barack Obama announced his ill-fated 'Asia Pivot'.
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Arrow Down

As US govt shutdown grinds on, most lawmakers keep their paychecks staying warm and well-fed


RT
Wed, 16 Jan 2019 15:29 UTC
US govt shutdown Jan 2019
© Reuters / Shannon StapletonThe General Grant National Monument in New York closed due to the partial government shutdown.
President Trump attacked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for taking a paycheck during a government shutdown. But Pelosi is not the only lawmaker bringing home the cash while furloughed workers scrimp and save.

"Why is Nancy Pelosi getting paid when people who are working are not?" Trump tweeted on Tuesday.


The government has been partially shut down for over three weeks, during which around 400,000 federal workers have missed their first paycheck of 2019. Despite several rounds of negotiations, Trump and Congressional Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi have failed to reach a compromise on Trump's request for $5.7 billion to build a wall along the Mexican border.

Comment: Tucker Carlson summed it up well: Tucker Carlson: Our leaders are mercenaries who feel no long-term obligation to the people they rule

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Cross

Putin on Ukrainian Orthodox schism: Forcing flock into foreign church is a risky political ploy


RT
Wed, 16 Jan 2019 16:24 UTC
Poroshenko
© Reuters / Valentyn OgirenkoPetro Poroshenko points at a decree signed by Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople granting partial independence to a Kiev-backed “Orthodox Church of Ukraine”
Kiev is risking a major crisis with its ploy to legitimize schismatic Orthodox Christian churches with the help from Constantinople, Russian President Vladimir Putin said. Telling people where to pray is a bad idea.

Last month, Ukraine's two unrecognized Orthodox churches backed by the government of President Petro Poroshenko formed a new religious organization. In January, Patriarch Bartholomew I of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople formally recognized it as a canonical entity and part of his patriarchate and granted it partial independence. Poroshenko is relying on this development to boost his approval ratings ahead of the presidential election in March, which he is likely to lose, according to polls.

Speaking to Serbian media on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin dismissed the entire affair as a purely political ploy that has nothing to do with faith and religion.

"The new church structure is a secular political project. Its main goal is to separate the peoples of Russia and Ukraine, fuel religious division in addition to national ones. It's no coincidence that Kiev declared it as an 'ultimate independence from Moscow,'" he said.
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