Puppet MastersS


Snakes in Suits

Pollak: Ironically, Jim Acosta's victory counters media narrative about Trump

Joel B. Pollak
Breitbart
Tue, 20 Nov 2018 02:24 UTC
acosta
© NGAN/AFP/Getty Images
The mainstream media are celebrating Friday's decision by a federal judge to force the White House to restore CNN correspondent Jim Acosta's "hard pass."

Judge Timothy J. Kelly's decision is being treated as a victory for the free press, and proof that the Trump administration's decision was wrong and violated Acosta's constitutional rights. But the decision undermined the picture of the Trump administration the media have sought to portray, in three ways:
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Snakes in Suits

Gov. Jerry Brown quietly admits Trump was right, eases California logging rules

EMILY ZANOTTI
The Daily Wire
Mon, 19 Nov 2018 13:58 UTC
wildfire
© Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
California Gov. Jerry Brown appears to have quietly admitted President Donald Trump's suggestion about improving California forestry was correct and is now urging state lawmakers to loosen restrictive logging regulations put in place to appease environmentalists.

The Santa Cruz Sentinel reports that Brown is proposing one of the most significant changes to the state's logging rules in nearly half a century.

"Gov. Jerry Brown is proposing broad new changes to California's logging rules that would allow landowners to cut larger trees and build temporary roads without obtaining a permit as a way to thin more forests across the state," the paper reports.

Environmentalists in California aren't on board. They've been pushing for years to make California's logging rules more restrictive, not less, but in the wake of the deadly forest fires that ripped through the state this month, prominent lawmakers believe a change must be made before more people die from a preventable situation.
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Rocket

Israel's 'Iron Dome' air defense is a failure, Russia's systems actually work - here's why


Muraselon
Sat, 17 Nov 2018 00:00 UTC
Israeli Iron Dome
Israeli Iron Dome
During the latest round of clashes in Gaza, the Israeli 'Iron Dome' air defence system (used for repelling local rocket and mortar attacks) managed to intercept less than 25 percent of the missiles fired into Israel by Palestinian armed groups.

This was despite the fact that the Palestinian rockets were entirely primitive by modern standards of weapon design - traveling relatively slow and on a very predictable course, not maneuvering defensively and with no countermeasure electronics to jam intercepting projectiles.

According to Theodore Postol, a now retired but highly regarded professor on science, technology, and international security at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), a key failure of the 'Iron Dome' system is that its intercepting missiles attempt to catch the incoming Palestinian rockets from the rear - by comparison, the more modern Pantsir-S system made by Russia is programmed for front-on and side-on interception of an incoming projectile.
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Light Sabers

Trump announces end to foreign aid for Pakistan - Imran Kahn responds: 'Thanks for nothing'


RT
Mon, 19 Nov 2018 18:01 UTC
truck in pakistan
© Reuters / Athar HussainA truck carries military equipment near Karachi, Pakistan
President Trump has promised to cut aid to countries like Pakistan and Afghanistan that "do nothing for us," and has accused Pakistan of sheltering Osama bin Laden since 9/11.

"Of course we should have captured Osama Bin Laden long before we did. I pointed him out in my book just BEFORE the attack on the World Trade Center," Trump tweeted on Monday, seemingly hinting that he knew bin Laden was bad news before 9/11. "President Clinton famously missed his shot. We paid Pakistan Billions of Dollars & they never told us he was living there. Fools!"


Comment: Of course what Trump may already know - and cannot say - is that bin Laden not only had little to nothing to do with the attacks of 911, but likely died of natural causes in 2006.

Trump is likely trying to shore up US financial resources and/or leveraging influence in the region with these recent statements - and using the consensus-reality unholy ghost of bin Laden to do it.

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Black Cat

'Iron' Mike Pence tries to stare Putin down at ASEAN Summit

Tyler Durden
Zerohedge
Sun, 18 Nov 2018 17:50 UTC
Putin and Pence
Forget the All-Blacks 'Haka', ignore Foreman-Frasier, Drago-Balboa, and Ortiz-Liddell, the honor of the greatest (or perhaps most awkward) staredown in history now goes to US Vice President Mike Pence...

Having been blamed for everything from Trump's election victory to USA soccer team's loss to England last week, Russia faced accusations all weekend and was reportedly confronted by the US contingent over "meddling."
As The Sun reports, Pence and Putin "discussed the upcoming G20 Summit and touched on the issues that will be discussed when President Trump and President Putin are both in Argentina for the summit," according to the vice president's press secretary, Alyssa Farah.

An NBC reporter tweeted: "New per the @VP's Office-> The VP's office says Vice President Pence directly addressed Russian meddling in the 2016 election in a conversation with Vladimir Putin on Thursday in Singapore.

"The conversation took place following the plenary session this afternoon at ASEAN."
But, it was the following clash of the titans that caught most people's attention.

Comment: Reminds us of another 'tough guy' stare-down given by an American politician that was outmaneuvered by Putin at every turn. Whether these nitwits are doing it to convey the idea that they "are being tough on Putin and Russia" - or they actually think they're being "tough" - one thing's for sure, they are both weak and dumb.

Putin Obama


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Mr. Potato

Best of the Web: Projection: Bill Browder responds to Russia's accusation he may be involved in 4 assassinations


RT
Mon, 19 Nov 2018 16:18 UTC
browder senate
Bill Browder, 'human rights crusader'
UK businessman Bill Browder, who Russian prosecutors say may have ordered a hit on his employee Sergei Magnitsky, has offered some explanations for why he is being accused.

Browder, an investor-turned-rights crusader, reacted to public statements by Russian prosecutors, which said he may have orchestrated the death of his employee in police custody in 2009 to cover up his crimes.

First, he suggested that the accusations are an attempt by Russia to torpedo a discussion in The Hague about a possible EU-wide law named after Magnitsky, modeled on an American version of the legislation. The US Magnitsky Act enables personal sanctions against people accused of human rights violations by Washington.



Comment: The only thing Kafkaesque is how a criminal and con man like Browder has been taken so seriously over the years.


Comment: See also:

And of course, Alex Krainer's book on the whole story is a must-read: Grand Deception: The Truth About Bill Browder, the Magnitsky Act, and Anti-Russian Sanctions

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Attention

Best of the Web: Sunday Times: UK govt planning to 'engineer financial crash' to frighten MPs into voting for Brexit deal


RT
Mon, 19 Nov 2018 18:26 UTC
financial trader
© Reuters / Russell BoyceA financial trader reacts after Britain votes to leave the European Union in June 2016
Theresa May's government are planning to "engineer a financial crash" if parliament fails to back their Brexit deal - in an attempt to frighten MPs into voting it through at a second vote, claims a source close to the PM's aides.

Since agreeing a draft Brexit withdrawal deal with the EU on Wednesday, May has had to contend with a string of cabinet resignations and a huge backlash from rebel MPs.

The Sunday Times reports that, faced with the prospect of the deal being voted down, the UK government will attempt to plunge the financial markets into chaos - in a bid to scare MPs into eventually voting it through on a second vote.


Comment: Bloody 'ell, they don't do politics by 'alf in the UK, eh!


Comment: This makes us wonder, now that the cat's been let out of the bag, just how many past 'crises' have been engineered in service of political aims...

Btw, it wouldn't take much to send the ailing UK economy into a downward spiral: Also check out SOTT radio's: NewsReal: California Wildfires, Climate Change, And The Impossible Brexit

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Gear

Surprised? UK Business Secretary says Brexit transition could stretch until 2022


RT
Mon, 19 Nov 2018 22:35 UTC
Greg Clark
© Reuters/Toby MelvilleBritain's Secretary of State for Business Greg Clark arrives in Downing Street
The UK could ask for an even longer Brexit transition period. Business Secretary Greg Clark told BBC radio that it could now stretch until 2022 - two years after it was supposed to finish.

The UK is set to formally leave the bloc on March 29, 2019; although a planned transition period means that London will remain a member until 2020.

Clark, upon being questioned by the BBC about an extension, revealed that "it would be at our request."

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Star of David

Annexing is fine when we do it: US officially recognizes Golan Heights as Israeli territory


RT
Mon, 19 Nov 2018 02:21 UTC
israeli tank
© Reuters/Amir CohenIsraeli tank parked in Golan Heights
Israel said its sovereignty over the Golan Heights is permanent, after the US for the first time rejected a symbolic UN resolution that calls on the Jewish state to end its occupation of the Syrian territory it captured in 1967.

"Israel will remain forever on the Golan Heights, and the Golan Heights will forever remain in our hands," Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday, thanking the US leadership for voting against calls at the United Nations on Friday for the return of the Golan to Syria.

Netanyahu noted that Israel has been working with the US "for some time" towards the abandonment of Washington's passive support for the non-binding resolution titled "The occupied Syrian Golan." Previous US leadership had abstained from the vote on the symbolic document but, this year, under Donald Trump, the US became the only state to vote 'No' alongside Israel. However, with 151 votes in favor and 14 abstentions, the Special Political and Decolonization Committee's resolution passed anyway.

The document demands the end of Israeli occupation of the Golan while urging Tel Aviv to refrain from establishing settlements and from imposing Israeli citizenship on Syrians living there.

Comment: There goes the 'Russia bad because Crimea annexation' rationale for sanctioning and threatening war with Russia.

The US just gave Netanyahu his 'My Precious' moment.

See also:

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Light Saber

Germany sanctions Saudi Arabia for murdering Khashoggi - Fully halts arms exports, slaps travel bans on top Saudis


RT
Mon, 19 Nov 2018 16:25 UTC
Merkel/Saudis
© ReutersGerman Chancellor Merkel and Saudi officials
Germany has imposed travel bans on 18 Saudis suspected of involvement in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi last month, after its economic ministry confirmed all the arms deals with Riyadh have been fully canceled.

The country's foreign ministry announced that the sanctions were imposed in coordination with France and Britain. The 18 individuals will be banned from entering all 26 Schengen Area countries.

None have been named due to German privacy law, but the list more than likely includes some of the same individuals sanctioned by the US government last week. Among those sanctioned by the US are Maher Abdulaziz Mutreb, who Turkish authorities believe led a 15-man 'kill team' to Istanbul to murder Khashoggi, Saudi Consul General Mohammed Alotaibi, and Mustafa al-Madani, a middle-aged man who was seen leaving the Saudi consulate after Khashoggi's death, wearing the deceased journalist's clothes.

The news came almost one month after German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced her country would stop supplying weapons to Riyadh "under current circumstances" - referring to the investigation into Khashoggi's death.

Comment: Good for her.

See also:

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