Puppet MastersS


Take 2

Rand Paul interview: Russia promised not to mess with 2018 election

Cassandra Fairbanks
Gateway Pundit
Wed, 15 Aug 2018 15:53 UTC
Rand Paul
© newsmax.com/KJNUS Senator (R-KY) Rand Paul
The Gateway Pundit spoke to Senator Rand Paul regarding his trip to Russia last week, how media hysteria impacted it, their promise to stay out of the midterms, and why it is so important that we keep communications open with another nuclear power.

Rand Paul's trip has caused uproar by hawkish partisans on both sides of the aisle who have decided that war would be better than diplomacy - but Senator Paul explained on Tuesday that the trip was a great success.
"I think it was a huge success. Our first day there we met with the Federation, which is the upper house of the Russian Parliament, and they agreed to continue our conversation by coming to Washington in November," Senator Paul told TGP. "So, we believe that we will have members of the Federation and the Duma Foreign Relations Committee come continue dialogue."
The only hitch in the visit, which would have huge potential for working towards peace, is that sanctions currently prevent several members of both committees from entering the United States. Senator Paul explained that this is something he hopes to try and remedy.
"One of the things we talked about was whether or not we could try to get to where our sanctions don't prevent their members from coming to the United States," he said. "Both the chairman of the Federation and Duma Foreign Relations Committees are banned from coming to the US."

Comment: Common sense might save the day, though common sense in Washington is hard to come by - even more so a really good and effective diversion such as Russiaphobia.

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Propaganda

SOTT Focus: Media Manipulation is Conditioning us With False Narratives

Caitlin Johnstone
The Ghion Journal
Mon, 13 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
Pinochios
© People's Daily Online
One of the weirdest things about the post-Iraq invasion world is how the mass media has actually gotten less accountable instead of more accountable for its reporting since that time.

Right now in the UK there's an amazingly viral smear campaign against Jeremy Corbyn running across all mainstream outlets, which, from what I can tell, consists entirely of narrative spin and no actual evidence. The powerful elites who control British mass media have an obvious vested interest in keeping the UK government from moving to the left, so they advance the absolutely insane narrative that Corbyn is a secret Nazi. They just keep saying it and saying it like it's true until people start believing it without feeling any pressure at all to substantiate their narrative with facts. It's been jaw-dropping to watch.


More and more we are seeing narratives about cyber-threats being used to advance reports of "attacks" and "acts of war" being perpetrated which, as far as the public is concerned, consist of nothing other than the authoritative assertions of confident-sounding media pundits. There was a recent NBC exclusive which was co-authored by Ken Dilanian, who is an actual, literal CIA asset, about the threat of hackers working for the Iranian government. The alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US elections is now routinely compared to Pearl Harbor and 9/11, despite no hard, verifiable evidence that that interference even took place ever being presented to the public.
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Snakes in Suits

Beijing, fuming at new US defense bill, warns of interfering in its internal affairs


RT
Tue, 14 Aug 2018 17:50 UTC
Trump, Troops NDAA
© WSAU.comPresident Trump signs the National Defense Authorization Act • Soldiers from US Army's 10th
The new the US $716-billion defense bill foreseeing stronger military support for Taiwan and closer scrutiny of Chinese companies, is a manifestation of "Cold War mentality" that will damage bilateral ties, Beijing warned.

China said it was "strongly dissatisfied" with the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA for 2019 recently signed by Donald Trump.

The Chinese Defense Ministry blamed the Americans of being stuck with "Cold War mentality" and exaggerating the level of differences between China and US.

Beijing is "firmly opposed" to the NDAA, which "interferes in China's internal affairs, violates the One-China principle and... damages China-US mutual trust and cooperation," the statement read.

Comment: China has not cemented Taiwan to its control in that a defiant Taipei does not refute US flirtations and weapons sales. The US is itching to increase animosity between Taiwan and China - a political conflict that could create a foothold in Asia.

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Footprints

NY Times: Sessions sends home a 'record' number of asylum-seekers

Neil Munro
Breitbart
Sat, 11 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
Jeff Sessions
© Molly Riley/AFP/Getty ImagesAttorney General Jeff Sessions
The June asylum reform set by Attorney General Jeff Sessions is quietly having a huge impact on border migration, lawyers told the New York Times.

"I haven't met a single person in the last few weeks who passed their credible-fear interview," according to Allegra Love, executive director of an immigration law firm in New Mexico, the Santa Fe Dreamers Project. "We have never seen such a high volume of denials," she told the New York Times.

President Barack Obama allowed migrants through the border whenever they claimed to a "credible fear" of abusive spouses and criminal gangs. This catch-and-release policy triggered a wave of Central American migration into the United States.

Sessions' reform has ended Obama's spouses-and-gangs loophole and has sharply reduced the number of Central American migrants who are allowed through the border to make a courtroom plea for asylum.

Comment: Individual circumstance and collective volume - two aspects that may require guidelines for regulatory balance. Sessions is tightening a regulatory loophole. Is he right in doing so?

The San Diego Union-Tribune:
Having people waiting in the system who are not eligible for asylum "undermines those with legitimate claims," Bars* said. The new [Sessions] memo applies to both asylum seekers asking for help when they reach the U.S. and refugees waiting abroad to be resettled.

*Michael Bars, spokesman for U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, the agency that employs asylum officers.


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Briefcase

Manafort Trial: US prosecutors rest their case


RFE/RL
Tue, 14 Aug 2018 04:51 UTC
Paul Manafort
© Matt Rourke/APPaul Manafort
U.S. prosecutors have rested their case against President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, Paul Manafort, after 10 days of testimony alleging how he hid millions he earned for political consulting work in Ukraine to escape taxes.

Manafort's defense team is set to decide on August 14 if it will call any witnesses. Judge T.S. Ellis said he will ask Manafort whether he wants to take the stand in his own defense, something that legal experts say is highly unlikely.

Manafort is being tried on 18 counts of tax and bank fraud. If found guilty on all charges, he may face eight to 10 years in prison.

The government says Manafort hid at least $16 million in income from U.S. tax authorities between 2010 and 2014 by disguising money he earned advising politicians in Ukraine as loans and hiding it in foreign banks.

The trial is the first courtroom test for U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who indicted Manafort in October 2017 as part of his probe into ties between Russia and the Trump campaign.

Comment: See also:

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Dollar

Qatar makes a $15B pledge of direct investments in Turkey


RT
Wed, 15 Aug 2018 15:23 UTC
Erdogan,al-Thani
© ReutersEmir of Qatar al-Thani • Turkish President Erdogan
Qatar has pledged $15 billion of direct investment in Turkey's financial markets and banks. The news comes in a statement released on Turkey's President's website following his meeting with Qatar's Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

"The Turkish President and Emir of Qatar met today [Wednesday] in the presidential complex in Ankara. They have exchanged views on bilateral relations and regional issues, Al-Thani said that Qatar intends to directly invest $15 billion in Turkey," said a press release after the meeting.

The Turkish lira firmed to 5.8699, from 6.04 to the US dollar after the news. The record low level of 7.2 against the greenback happened on Monday.

The Turkish officials did not provide any further information on the nature of the investments, according to AP. Erdogan's office said the pledge was made by Qatar's head, Al Thani.

The investment will be channeled into Turkish financial markets and banks, a government source told Reuters.

Comment: An interesting development given the Qatar-Saudi rift.

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Attention

Remember that time Omarosa was fired from the Clinton White House?

Thomas
The Political Insider
Mon, 13 Aug 2018 11:04 UTC
Omarosa Manigault Newman
© Fox NewsOmarosa Manigault Newman
Omarosa Manigault Newman is no stranger to failing in The White House. She became well known by television viewers of NBC's hit show The Apprentice with Donald Trump.

Now, after being let go for personal issues, she's using that closeness to President Trump to make millions by calling her former boss a racist and a liar. She made the situation worse by illegally recording herself in secure parts of the White House.

But this isn't Omarosa's first series of White House problems. She worked in the Clinton Administration under Vice President Al Gore. As Al Gore's former office administrator Mary Margaret Overbey said at the time, Omarosa "was the worst hire (the Office of the Vice President) ever made."

People magazine reported in 2004, she was "banished from four jobs in two years with the Clinton administration." The White House personnel office transferred her to the Commerce Department briefly. At her last short-lived administration role, Cheryl Shavers, the former Under Secretary for Technology at the Clinton Commerce Department, opined, "She was asked to leave as quickly as possible, she was so disruptive. One woman wanted to slug her." Omarosa only lasted in that final role for several weeks.

Comment: When you hire a disaster...you should expect no less.
See also:

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Bullseye

Russian and Chinese firms targeted over N. Korea sanctions breaches


RT
Wed, 15 Aug 2018 15:30 UTC
NK ship
© Reuters
The United States has imposed fresh sanctions on one individual and three entities, including Russia and China-based companies, over breaches related to North Korea sanctions.

The US Treasury said the new sanctions applied to the Russia-based Profinet Pte Ltd and its director general, the China-based Dalian Sun Moon Star International Logistics Trading Co. and the Singapore based SINSMS Pte Ltd.

In a statement on its website, the Treasury said the sanctions targeted "persons involved in facilitating illicit shipments on behalf of North Korea" and said the move was part of the US commitment to "prevent financial flows" to North Korea's "unlawful WMD programs and activities" in accordance with UN Security Council decisions.

The statement said that the tactics the entities in question had used to "evade sanctions" were prohibited under US law and that "all facets of the shipping industry have a responsibility to abide by them" or expose themselves to serious risks. "Consequences for violating these sanctions will remain in place until we have achieved the final, fully verified denuclearization of North Korea," it said.

Comment: Sanctions are the new guns, able to target the private economic sector that supplies the military might of other countries.

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Bullseye

Trump strikes back! Revokes arch criminal John Brennan's security clearance (VIDEO)

Cristina Laila
Gateway Pundit
Wed, 15 Aug 2018 00:00 UTC
John Brennan
As TGP's Kristinn Taylor previously reported, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders announced at a July press briefing that President Donald Trump is reviewing the process to revoke the security clearances of several Deep State critics for abusing their post-government retention of security clearances by lying about Trump and Russia, as well as politicizing and monetizing their security clearances.

On Wednesday, Sarah Sanders announced President Trump revoked John Brennan's security clearance during a press briefing, Politico reported.

"Historically, former heads of intelligence and law enforcement agencies have been allowed to retain access to classified information after their government service so that they can consult with their successors regarding matters about which they may have special insights and as a professional courtesy. Neither of these justifications supports Mr. Brennan's continued access to classified information."

Watch Sarah Sanders deliver the breaking news...it's music to our ears:


Comment: While this is clearly a strong, legal and justified move on the part of Trump, it should be clear to all that he has just made himself even more of a target for 'removal' in the eyes of those John Brennan represents; the pervasive and pathological Deep State.

See also:

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Blackbox

Why did PM May tell Parliament the Skripals were "in critical" condition, when they were in fact recovering?

Rob Slane
The Blogmire
Tue, 14 Aug 2018 19:04 UTC
may skripal
I would like to thank the many commenters to this blogsite, whose information and insights have been immensely valuable in putting this piece together.

I'm afraid I don't currently have much faith in the nation's MPs to hold the Government of the day to account on critical issues. This is especially the case with issues where the words "national security" are mentioned. The phrase seems to engender a dangerous sort of Groupthink, whereby it is considered to be unpatriotic and unBritish to scrutinise the actions of the Government and intelligence agencies, even when it is blatantly clear that such scrutiny could in no way constitute a threat to national security.

This is a particularly dangerous tool in the hands of Government, which can avoid having its actions properly scrutinised by simply waving the magic "national security" wand whenever it doesn't want too many questions to be asked. But it is not something that a free people, acquainted with the concepts of the rule of law and liberty should ever accept. Indeed, blind acceptance of it shows us to be halfway down the path to a totalitarian future.

Still, despite the endemic Groupthink that now characterises the chamber on incidents and events relating to "national security", I don't suppose many MPs would take too kindly if they found out that they had been misled in the course of such an issue. And yet earlier this year, this does indeed appear to have happened, as I hope to demonstrate.
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