Puppet MastersS


Better Earth

Best of the Web: Finian Cunningham: Time for a United Ireland


Sputnik
Fri, 19 Oct 2018 13:22 UTC
ireland
© AP Photo / Peter Morrison
It is nearly 100 years since British rulers inflicted a grievous blow to Irish sovereignty, when they forcibly partitioned the neighboring island nation into two separate states.

Now, with the Brexit debacle intensifying, it is evidently time for Ireland to be reunited as one country, as it had been for millennia before.

This week, it is apparent again that British Prime Minister Theresa May can't get her fractious London government to agree on terms to leave the European Union.

Some within her ruling Conservative party want a "hard Brexit" - that is, a clean break from the EU - while others in, and outside, the party want a "soft Brexit". The latter would involve an ongoing trade association with Europe.

However, it is on the island of Ireland that the political squabbling in London is most manifest. A hard Brexit could mean the reimposition of an official border between the Republic of Ireland, a member of the EU, and Northern Ireland, which is under British rule and is therefore due to leave the European bloc in the coming months.

Comment: See also: And check out SOTT radio's:

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Ambulance

US Army blocks autopsy, seizes body of soldier who died mysteriously in Italy


Sputnik
Thu, 18 Oct 2018 13:37 UTC
medical equipment
© Flickr / Adrian Clark
The US Army seized the remains of Sergeant Kevin Deon Connor of the 173rd Airborne Brigade from Italian authorities last week after the soldier died on October 1. Connor and some fellow troops are suspected to have been drinking prior to his death.

Italian prosecutors were investigating whether negligence played a part in Connor's death, focusing on four paratroopers who were around him at the time.

The US Army, however, was able to gain jurisdiction in the case, effectively halting the Italians' investigation.

The Italian authorities' autopsy was called off on October 3, just a day before it was scheduled to take place after the US asserted jurisdiction.

Connor is believed to have died from alcohol poisoning or asphyxia. Under Italian law, people must notify authorities if they see a person who is incapacitated, Stars & Stripes notes.

Without an autopsy, however, there is no evidence for Italian prosecutors to move forward with in the case, the lawyer for the four paratroopers that were under investigation, Stefano Grolla, told the outlet.

The definitive cause of Connor's death remains unknown, however.
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Brick Wall

'Shocked' federal judge says State Department provided 'clearly false' statements to frustrate requests for Clinton docs

Gregg Re
Fox News
Thu, 18 Oct 2018 20:07 UTC
Cheryl Mills Hillary Clinton
© SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty ImagesCheryl Mills listens as Hillary Clinton testifies before the House Select Committee on Benghazi on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, October 22, 2015.
In a combative exchange at a hearing Friday in Washington, D.C., a federal judge unabashedly accused career State Department officials of lying and signing "clearly false" affidavits to derail a series of lawsuits seeking information about former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's private email server and her handling of the 2012 terrorist attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.

U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth also said he was "shocked" and "dumbfounded" when he learned that FBI had granted immunity to former Clinton chief of staff Cheryl Mills during its investigation into the use of Clinton's server, according to a court transcript of his remarks.

"I had myself found that Cheryl Mills had committed perjury and lied under oath in a published opinion I had issued in a Judicial Watch case where I found her unworthy of belief, and I was quite shocked to find out she had been given immunity in - by the Justice Department in the Hillary Clinton email case," Lamberth said during the hearing.
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Palette

Rank cynicism: Australian government dangled Jerusalem embassy move because it needs Jewish votes in crucial by-election

Ryan Jones
Sott.net
Thu, 18 Oct 2018 19:34 UTC
scott morrison jerusalem
Dearest subjects of Her Majesty's Crumbling English empire: be warned! One of your brethren realms - namely, the Federation of Australia - is sliding away from the beloved civilising influence of Westminster, and is headed for utter chaos! On saturday 20th October, a by-election in the Sydney electoral division of Wentworth, the seat of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, will decide the fate of current caretaker prime minister Scott Morrison (affectionately, and not-so-affectionately, known as 'ScoMo'), whose Liberal-National Party coalition government is barely hanging on. With a single-seat majority in the House of Representatives, a failure to retain this critical piece of furniture will see the current parliament well and truly hung, thus opening the door to a (gasp!) Labour government.

But never fear; loyalists have mobilised all available reinforcements to prevent such a disastrous outcome! The by-election conveniently falls on the same day that English-American royal couple Harry and Meghan begin their promotional week-long tour of Australia for the Invictus Games (one of innumerable minor sporting events, launched by Harry himself, that has gained disproportionate media attention in recent years as part of a push to provide constant distractions from political corruption and social malaise, lest people start considering anything of actual importance).
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Caesar

Putin at Valdai: Russia to use nukes only if strike launched on its territory first, and other remarks


Sputnik
Thu, 18 Oct 2018 19:52 UTC
putin valdai
© Sputnik / Sergey MamontovVladimir Putin at Valdai Discussion Club Forum
Speaking at the annual Valdai Discussion Club meeting in Sochi, Russian President Vladimir Putin has touched upon a wide array of issues, including the ongoing war in Syria, nuclear weapons, defense policy and bilateral relations with the US, China and Japan.

Daesh Took 700 Hostages in US-Controlled Area in Syria

"We now see what is happening on the left bank of the Euphrates River, our colleagues know that. This territory is under the protection of our American partners, they rely there on the Kurdish armed forces. But they obviously did not work it through, members of Daesh remained in several settlements," Putin said at the annual Valdai Discussion Club meeting in Sochi.
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Eye 1

Best of the Web: Neelam Makhija: Wrongly Accused of Being an Indian Guru by Secular French Government Fanatics

Jean-Luc Martin-Lagardette
Ouvertures.net
Thu, 18 Oct 2018 22:00 UTC
Neelam Makhija
© J-L M-LNeelam Makhija. He had the misfortune in France to have the look of an Indian guru
Retired Indo-Canadian engineer, Neelam Makhija, 71, spent two months in prison and was held against his will in France for two and a half years. His crime? Being a friend of a coach who hosted, once a year, meditation seminars. Despite his acknowledged innocence before the court, he cannot obtain compensation (financial or moral) for the way he was treated by the French state.
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Pumpkin 2

Already on campaign trail? Haley spoke to secretive neocon group a week before resigning UN post


RT
Thu, 18 Oct 2018 10:09 UTC
Nikki Haley
© Reuters / Brendan McDermid
A week before leaving the Trump administration, Nikki Haley spoke to the neocon group - Council for National Policy - lending weight to the prospect of a 2020 candidacy while touting her record as a warmonger's warmonger.

The secretive, heavily evangelical CNP has developed a reputation for anointing Republican presidents. Donald Trump and George W. Bush both spoke in front of the CNP before setting out on the campaign trail, and Trump appointed several members to his cabinet in gratitude, including Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway.

Haley revealed that, while she began 2016 as a never-Trumper, a job offer from Trump's Chief of Staff Reince Priebus was all she needed to convert to a disciple of the Donald. Mercifully, she turned down that first offer, admitting she was completely underqualified to be secretary of state. She had no such qualms about becoming ambassador to the UN, however, even though she told Trump at the time, "Honestly, I don't even know what the UN does."

Comment: Just in time for Halloween: Someone scarier than John Bolton? Think Nikki Haley for president

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Attention

The morphing of the U.S. into the U.S.S.A. - the United States of Soviet America

Jeremiah Johnson
SHTFplan.com
Tue, 09 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
StatueLib
© americanvalues/KJN
We are experiencing an ever-increasing level of surveillance over the citizenry, government censorship and closed-door policies, control and manipulation of the media, and a "hardline" shift of all institutions to the left. The institutions I'm referring to specifically are the educational system (better termed a system of indoctrination), the courts, the religious institutions...every one of them are all "leaning" toward (if not striving toward) full blown socialism. Let us recall a key quote:
"The goal of Socialism is Communism." - Lenin
Just as recently as Tuesday, 10/2/18, we have this stunning announcement as quoted by the Washington Examiner by none other than the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Here's the excerpt:
Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen warned Tuesday the public should steer clear of Russian-owned entities that pose as legitimate news outlets. "I encourage everybody, if you are reading something ... and it suddenly takes you to RT and Sputnik, be aware. I mean, those are state-sponsored news outlets. They're not independent," Nielsen said at a cybersecurity summit in Washington, D.C.
Yeah, can you imagine that? Those Russian news sources are "state-sponsored," and "not independent." So ABC, CBS, and the New York Times are independent? Freedom of the press, right?

Comment: Societal Transformation: A slow and carefully hidden process over time culminating in a rapid lock on the target outcome -- more disturbing than we might ever want to think. And, Americans are dutifully shape-shifting right on cue.

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Snakes in Suits

Capitol Hill: Glenn Simpson, Fusion GPS, pleads the 5th on dossier questions

Catherine Herridge, Alex Pappas
Fox News
Wed, 17 Oct 2018 00:00 UTC
Glenn Simpson Fusion GPS
© Getty ImagesGlenn Simpson, Fusion GPS
Glenn Simpson - the co-founder of the Fusion GPS research group that commissioned the unverified, Democrat-funded anti-Trump dossier - on Tuesday invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to testify during an appearance before the House Judiciary Committee.

On Capitol Hill, Simpson declined to answer multiple shouted questions from Fox News about his refusal to testify as he arrived to the committee room. But Simpson's lawyer, Joshua Levy, on Tuesday took aim at Republican lawmakers for compelling him to appear.
"This committee would make Sen. Joseph McCarthy proud," Levy said. "Like Sen. McCarthy, this committee has largely conducted its business through secret, confidential interviews and depositions, binding witnesses and their counsels into silence while the members walk outside to all of you the media with public and selectively leaked interviews to tell you what they want you to hear."

Comment: See also:

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Alarm Clock

Byron York: Republicans irate as Rosenstein talks to the press, not to Congress

Byron York
Washington Examiner
Thu, 18 Oct 2018 01:00 UTC
RodRosenstein
© UnknownRod Rosenstein - hoping the Republican clock runs out in November.
Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein doesn't give many press interviews. But he did, on Wednesday, invite a Wall Street Journal reporter to the Justice Department for what the Journal called an "expansive" conversation.

Rosenstein talked about the Robert Mueller Trump-Russia special counsel investigation, calling it "appropriate and independent." He stressed that he serves at the pleasure of the president. He said he tries to avoid media speculation about both the investigation and his job.

Rosenstein had time to discuss a lot of things. One thing apparently not mentioned in the interview was the fact that, at that very moment, Rosenstein was putting off appearing before the House Judiciary-Oversight task force that wants to question him, not just about the Trump-Russia investigation, but about reports that he last year suggested wearing a wire to secretly record President Trump in the White House and that he also discussed invoking the 25th Amendment in an effort to remove the president from office.

Republicans thought that Rosenstein had agreed to talk with them last week. Then they learned he would not show. That prompted House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., to threaten a subpoena.

Comment: Forget about facts and deeds. If the Republicans lose the House in the upcoming election, Rosenstein gets a free pass.
See also:

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