Puppet MastersS


Snakes in Suits

Democratic presidential 'hopefuls' are bending over backward to avoid Hillary's ethical messes

Guy Benson
Town Hall
Sat, 05 Jan 2019 11:02 UTC
Joe Biden Hillary Clinton
Political obsessives spent the holidays arguing about the (very partial) government shutdown (this point about pro-Democratic media double standards is undeniably true) and buzzing about how the Democratic presidential primary is starting to shape up. Massachusetts leftist Elizabeth Warren announced her exploratory committee on New Years Eve, a formality that merely confirmed a long-expected move. Warren has been laying the groundwork for a White House run for months, cultivating a formidable ground game among grassroots lefties, delivering "I'm running for president"-style speeches, and attempting -- very badly -- to clear up her heritage fraud problem.

After taking the next logistical step toward seeking the presidency, Warren streamed a somewhat painful live video on Instagram, in which she tried excruciatingly hard to look like a relatable everywoman who's just casually drinking some beer and running for president:
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Bizarro Earth

Hamas gunmen blamed for violent raid on Palestinian TV station


RT
Fri, 04 Jan 2019 19:33 UTC
Palestinian Broadcast Corporation
© AFP / Said KhatibA Palestinian Broadcast Corporation employee surveys the damage to the TV station
Masked gunmen ransacked the headquarters of the government-controlled Palestinian Broadcast Corporation in Gaza. The Palestinian Authority has blamed militant group Hamas for the raid.

Five masked men armed with pistols, batons, and knives stormed the network's headquarters, located in Gaza City's relatively affluent Tel al-Hawa neighborhood, on Friday morning, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported. Once inside, they trashed equipment including cameras, computers and transmission gear, according to WAFA. The assailants also destroyed the station's videotape archives and slashed portraits of PA leader Mahmoud Abbas and late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

Minister Ahmad Assaf, the PA's top media official, blamed the militant group Hamas for the attack. Another government spokesman described the raid as "barbaric attack by mercenaries and paid squads of chaos."

Comment: It's notable that in December 2018 Israeli troops raided a Palestinian news agency searching for drive-by shooting footage, and in August 2018 a devastating airstrike destroyed Gaza's cultural centre.

See also:

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Bad Guys

Where is the 'special counsel investigation' after DNC bots meddled in Alabama elections?

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Sat, 05 Jan 2019 11:02 UTC
DNCheadquarters
© Saul Loeb/AFP
A bombshell story and revelation that the only election meddling via "Russian bots" was actually being led by Democrats, the DNC and a wealthy silicon valley investor.

The Duran's Alex Christoforou and Editor-in-Chief Alexander Mercouris discuss how the DNC and a deep state social media marketing software company created fake "Russian bot" accounts on social networks to sway voters away from voting Roy Moore in Alabama's U.S. Senate race, while concurrently smearing Moore as being an agent of Russia.

Meanwhile the NYT runs cover and provides some needed damage control for the DNC and Democrats, publishing a soft exposé on what can only be defined as dirty election trickery and deception.
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Brick Wall

President Trump warns he could declare border crisis a national emergency

Sara Carter
SaraACarter.com
Fri, 04 Jan 2019 12:18 UTC
Donald Trump
© Carlos Barria / Reuters
President Donald Trump warned Friday afternoon that he's going to fight for a secure border, stressing that he won't compromise the border wall even if the government shutdown lasts years. It was his second closed door meeting with Democrats and Republican leadership but no compromise or resolution was reached.

He addressed reporters in the White House Rose Garden shortly after the meeting saying the parties made progress but were far from a resolution. The president, however, threatened that the impasse could end with a decision by him to declare the crisis at the border a national emergency. By declaring it an emergency, he could get the funding he needs to build a wall.

"We can do it," said Trump, referencing the possibility of declaring it a national emergency. "I haven't done it. I may do it. I may do it." However, he said that he would prefer to find a solution through negotiations.

His address on Friday came in the wake of a two-week government shutdown over the $5 billion he requested in the budget for the border wall, which Democrats do not support.
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NPC

SOTT Focus: The Sargon Saga: NPCs, Censorship, And How The Intellectual Dark Web Fought Back

Corey Schink
Sott.net
Fri, 04 Jan 2019 09:00 UTC
David Rubin Jordan Peterson Patreon
What does the Deep State and the run-of-the-mill NPC have in common? They both worship the Party, Mass Censorship, and the crushing of dissidents.

Today there seem to be two primary narratives driving the push for mass internet censorship. One is created for the political 'intelligentsia' - those who live on the warfare state and who want the public to continue to subsidize their parasitic lifestyles. It is the fairy tale of Russiagate. The other is created for NPCs - those who live for the welfare state and demand a socialist revolution to subsidize their own parasitic inclinations. It is the fairy tale of 'hate speech'. In the war on Donald Trump we've seen a very clumsy, and opportunistic, attempt to join both sides. By claiming that the warfare state's arch-nemesis, Russia, elevated Trump to power in order to destroy the 'welfare state' and its politically correct culture, we have witnessed the birth of a very deformed ideology.
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Star of David

Netanyahu's Likud maintains lead in upcoming Israeli elections - opposition parties continue to fragment

Yumna Patel
Mondoweiss
Fri, 04 Jan 2019 21:06 UTC
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
© Haim Zach / GPOPrime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
It has been a whirlwind of a week in Israeli politics as the country's election campaign moves full speed ahead following a call for snap elections this April.

Early prediction polls have put Netanyahu in the lead, with his right-wing Likud party expected to gain the most seats in the Knesset, Israel's parliament.

According to Israeli news outlets, as many as 15 parties forming various coalitions could be throwing their hats in the ring come April 9th.

Israel's Labor party has continued to fall in the polls, following a shocking announcement earlier this week by party leader Avi Gabbay dissolved his union with former foreign minister Tzipi Livni.

Comment: Whatever the outcome, Israel's new leader is sure to be as bad or worse for the Palestinians and the rest of the world.

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Tornado1

Pelosi rams austerity provision into house rules package, progressives object

David Dayen
The Intercept
Wed, 02 Jan 2019 10:43 UTC
NancyP
© C-SpanNancy Pelosi, House Democratic Leader
Despite pressure from progressive Democrats, the House rules package for the 116th Congress will include a pay-as-you-go provision, requiring all new spending to be offset with either budget cuts or tax increases, a conservative policy aimed at tying the hands of government.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who will be sworn in this week to represent a district in New York, will vote against the package, her spokesperson told The Intercept. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., announced Wednesday that he would oppose it.

Presumptive House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who will be sworn in on Thursday, has promised for months to restore the pay-go rule, which she instituted when first taking over the speaker's gavel in 2007. She ran into resistance from progressives, who believe that the rule would make it more difficult for Democrats to pass a host of liberal agenda items, from "Medicare for All" to a Green New Deal to tuition-free public college. Critics also argue that pay-go creates an unlevel playing field, where Republicans get to blow giant holes in the tax code, as they did with the 2017 tax cuts, while Democrats must pay fealty to the deficit.

Comment: Even with shifting financial shades of gray, and some of them almost palatable, the almost never and unlikeliest winner in the next two years is The American Public.

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Arrow Down

The reasons Trump's advisors keep quashing his realist whims

Ted Galen Carpenter
The National Interest
Wed, 02 Jan 2019 00:00 UTC
trumppodium
© ReutersPresident Donald Trump
Donald Trump has time and again allowed his advisers to talk him out of his realist foreign-policy positions.

Over a period of mere days in late December, the Trump administration made two troop withdrawal decisions that startled Washington. The first was announced in a tweet by Trump stating that the United States had accomplished its mission in Syria of defeating ISIS and that he was ordering the immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from that country. Just days later, leaks from both the White House and the Pentagon indicated that a substantial draw-down of forces from Afghanistan was imminent. Some reports suggested that 7,000-roughly half of the current deployed U.S. force-would be removed.

The reactions were predictable. Advocates of a more realistic and restrained American foreign policy praised the moves as a key step in jettisoning two frustrating and counterproductive missions. A larger faction, consisting of neoconservative hawks along with liberal proponents of humanitarian military crusades, condemned Trump's actions. They often did so in emotional and vitriolic terms about undermining crucial American interests in both countries. A frequent assertion was that the president's Syria withdrawal would hand over that country and much of the Middle East to Vladimir Putin. Matt Purple, managing editor at the American Conservative, observed correctly that the Washington foreign policy establishment was in full meltdown over the troop withdrawal. Indeed, Secretary of Defense James Mattis mentioned the president's decisions as one reason for his abrupt resignation.

Comment: Trump should act now; tell them later.

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Snakes in Suits

Democrats, taking over the House, are divided on progressive agenda


RT
Thu, 03 Jan 2019 18:11 UTC
NancyP
© Reuters/Carlos BarriaHouse Speaker Nancy Pelosi
The House of Representatives has a new Democrat majority, but Speaker Nancy Pelosi is not leading a united front. The party's new progressive wing is challenging the establishment on spending measures and climate action.

As the incoming class of 2018 make their way to Capitol Hill, the first order of business will be a vote on a package of rules to govern the 116th Congress. Already, some of the party's more progressive upstarts have registered their displeasure.

Pelosi's rule package includes a provision known as "Pay As You Go," or PAYGO. This measure would require any new government spending to be offset by cuts elsewhere, or increases in revenue through tax hikes. Tweeting on Wednesday night, incoming Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-New York) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-California) said that they would vote against Pelosi's rules package as long as PAYGO was included.

Comment: Washington's gloves are on and the match has begun. It is shaping up to be government out-of-control, hell-bent on factional victories.

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Snakes in Suits

UK forced to admit Assad to stay 'around awhile' - and it's Russia's fault (again)


RT
Thu, 03 Jan 2019 20:24 UTC
Assad-May
© Getty ImagesSyrian President Bashar Assad • British Prime Minister Theresa May
London, one of the staunchest opponents of the Syrian President Bashar Assad throughout the whole Syrian conflict, has admitted that the Syrian leader is not leaving power anytime soon...and said Moscow is responsible for it.

"Regretfully, we do think he [Assad] is going to be around for a while," British Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt said in a frank comment to Sky News during his three-day trip to Asia. However, he also clearly showed that the UK, which called on the Syrian president to be removed from his post on numerous occasions over the last years, is not quite ready to just put up with such reality.

"The British long-standing position is that we won't have lasting peace in Syria with that regime," Hunt said, referring to the government in Damascus. London never minced words when it came to the Syrian leader, who had been fighting militants and terrorist groups for the past eight years. Hunt's predecessor, Boris Johnson, once called the president a "monster," who needs "decapitating."


Comment: Reality check. UK's best-laid, nefarious, self-serving (and delusional) plans have failed. Anything learned?

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