Puppet MastersS


Dollars

Free lunch or universal basic enslavement?

James Corbett
Corbett Report
Sat, 21 Jul 2018 17:18 UTC
UB Income
© Corbett Report
TANSTAAFL.

As you may or may not know, depending on how much anarchist sci-fi literature you consume, "TANSTAAFL" is an acronym meaning "There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch." But while TANSTAAFL may have been popularized by Robert Heinlein in his 1996 classic, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress, at base it's just a reformulation of the age-old historical wisdom that nothing advertised as "free" is ever really free. As anyone ever suckered into a high-pressure timeshare pitch on the basis of a "free weekend getaway" offer will know, there is always a hidden cost to any "free" item.

So when one particular "free lunch" idea is being pimped by a rogue's gallery of tyrants and billionaires-from Nobel Warmonger Barack Obama to rabid eugenicist Bill Gates to Facebook founder Mark Zucker-borg to serial scammer Elon Musk-you might want to ask yourself what the real cost of this manna from heaven is.

And which "free lunch" idea am I referring to, exactly? Why, universal basic income (UBI), of course.

For the few people reading this who've never heard of UBI, it refers to a program in which every* citizen receives a periodic payment from the government with no strings attached* (*more on these asterisks in a moment). The idea is promoted by organizations like the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) as a means of promoting "liberty and equality, efficiency and community, common ownership of the Earth and equal sharing in the benefits of technical progress, the flexibility of the labour market and the dignity of the poor, the fight against inhumane working conditions, against the desertification of the countryside and against interregional inequalities, the viability of cooperatives and the promotion of adult education, autonomy from bosses, husbands and bureaucrats."

In other words: Free lunch is served, everybody!
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Light Saber

Russian Navy adds 3 advanced warships & 49 Kalibr cruise missiles to fleet


RT
Sun, 22 Jul 2018 15:15 UTC
Russian warships train in St Petersburg ahead of the Main Navy Day Parade.
© Aleksandr Galperin / SputnikRussian warships train in St Petersburg ahead of the Main Navy Day Parade.
Three advanced warships and 49 Kalibr cruise missiles were among the hardware added to the Russian Navy in the first six months of the year, Russia's Defense Ministry has revealed.

The new naval acquisitions included "three newly built combat ships, two support vessels, and one warship that had undergone repairs, as well as the Bastion coastal defense missile system," Deputy Defense Minister Alexey Krivoruchko said.

A total of 49 Kalibr tactical cruise missiles and four anti-ship missiles also entered service in 2018, he added. Kalibr missiles can hit ships, submarines and coastal facilities. They travel at subsonic speeds, with several of its versions being capable of performing a supersonic sprint in the final phase of the attack, giving the target's defense systems less time to react.

Comment: Meanwhile, in America:

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Jet4

Israeli warplanes carry out airstrike in western Syria - report


RT
Sun, 22 Jul 2018 17:09 UTC
Israeli warplanes
Israeli fighter jets have carried out an airstrike near the town of Masyaf in the province of Hama in western Syria on Sunday, state-run SANA news agency reports.
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Brain

Russiagate: Pure BS, not a fact in sight

Paul Craig Roberts
Russia Insider
Sat, 21 Jul 2018 10:00 UTC
anderson cooper meme no one buys our BS
All day today the presstitute scum at NPR went on and on about President Trump, using every kind of guest and issue to set him up for more criticism as an unfit occupant of the Oval Office, because, and only because, he threatens the massive budget of the military/security complex by attempting to normalize relations with Russia.

The NPR scum even got an ambassador from Montenegro on the telephone and made every effort to goad the ambassador into denouncing Trump for saying that Montenegro had strong and aggressive people capable of defending themselves and were not in need of sending the sons of American families to defend them. Somehow this respectful compliment about the Monenegro people was supposed to be an insult. The ambassador refused to be put into opposition to Trump. NPR kept trying, but got nowhere.
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Pirates

Big surprise: Israel evacuates al-Qaeda's White Helmets from Syria to Jordan - to send to Canada, UK, Germany


RT
Sun, 22 Jul 2018 16:38 UTC
white helmets
© Rami al SAYED / AFPA member of the Syrian Civil Defence (known as the White Helmets) walks near buses as a convoy carrying opposition fighters and their families from rebel held areas south of Damascus on May 6, 2018.
Israel has evacuated some 800 members of the controversial Western-backed White Helmets from Syria to Jordan to be resettled later in the UK, Canada, and Germany, according to statements from Tel Aviv and Amman.

Emmanuel Nahshon, a Foreign Ministry spokesman, had confirmed on Twitter that "Israel has completed a humanitarian effort to rescue members of a Syrian civil organization ("the White Helmets") and [their] families." He chose not to disclose further details, adding only that the evacuees have been brought "to a neighboring country."


Jordan, for its part, has also acknowledged that it allowed the UN to arrange for the entry and passage of 800 Syrian "civil defense workers," according to Reuters, citing Mohammad al-Kayed, spokesman for the Kingdom's Foreign Ministry. Amman acceded to give them temporary asylum in the country before they settle in the West.

Comment: Once again, Israel shows where their real values are. They're willing to give al-Qaeda a helping hand, but when it comes to actual civilians, sorry, they're out of luck: Syrian refugees cling to life on Golan Heights as Assad's net tightens around Israeli-supported militants

According to Netanyahu:
"President Trump and also Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau, as well as others, requested us to help take out from Syria hundreds of White Helmets members," Netanyahu said in a video address on Sunday.

He described the White Helmets, who have been accused of cooperating with terrorists and faking chemical attacks as "people who saved lives."

The members of the controversial group were "under life-threatening danger... I therefore authorized for them to be transferred through Israel to other countries as an important humanitarian measure," the Israeli PM said.
They were under life-threatening danger because they are al-Qaeda militants, not civilians, and there is a UN mandate to kill ISIS and al-Qaeda members in Syria.

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Info

Obama's CIA director Brennen admits to inspiring the FBI's Trump-Russia probe

Kimberly Strassel
Wall Street Journal
Thu, 19 Jul 2018 16:26 UTC
Brennan
© AP/Scott ApplewhiteFormer CIA Director John Brennan
The Trump-Russia sleuthers have been back in the news, again giving Americans cause to doubt their claims of nonpartisanship. Last week it was Federal Bureau of Investigation agent Peter Strzok testifying to Congress that he harbored no bias against a president he still describes as "horrible" and "disgusting." This week it was former FBI Director Jim Comey tweet-lecturing Americans on their duty to vote Democratic in November.

But the man who deserves a belated bit of scrutiny is former Central Intelligence Agency Director John Brennan. He's accused President Trump of "venality, moral turpitude and political corruption," and berated GOP investigations of the FBI. This week he claimed on Twitter that Mr. Trump's press conference in Helsinki was "nothing short of treasonous." This is rough stuff, even for an Obama partisan.

That's what Mr. Brennan is - a partisan - and it is why his role in the 2016 scandal is in some ways more concerning than the FBI's. Mr. Comey stands accused of flouting the rules, breaking the chain of command, abusing investigatory powers. Yet it seems far likelier that the FBI's Trump investigation was a function of arrogance and overconfidence than some partisan plot. No such case can be made for Mr. Brennan. Before his nomination as CIA director, he served as a close Obama adviser. And the record shows he went on to use his position - as head of the most powerful spy agency in the world - to assist Hillary Clinton's campaign (and keep his job).
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Play

Trump is being held hostage by the deep state - Tucker Carlson

Thinker
Investment Watch Blog
Fri, 20 Jul 2018 16:06 UTC
trump
How many men and women in the military lost their commanding officer during the Obama will you do for me litmus testing? How many men and women joined the military believing they fight for the honor and pride of a nation? How many men and women in the military will stand up for their Commander and Chief, the president of the United States Donald Trump? Every commander who was forced to leave the career he or she loved because they didn't pass the Obama be my slave litmus. Best move for the sitting president would be to reactivate the commanders who chose country and people over corporate and greed. Never in the history of the United States has a losing party stooped so low, that they don't even have to put an "S" on their chests. Everyone can see it's the work of satan. Americans are watching the agents of satan expose themselves in an effort to depose the sitting president of the United States, who has disrupted the flow of the new world order.

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Key

John Pilger: Bring Julian Assange home (UPDATE)

John Pilger
Consortium News
Mon, 18 Jun 2018 00:00 UTC
John Pilger
© Radio La PrimerísimaJohn Pilger
The Australian government has an obligation to free Julian Assange, John Pilger told a rally in Sydney on June 16, marking Assange's six years' confinement in the Ecuadorean embassy in London.

The persecution of Julian Assange must end. Or it will end in tragedy. The Australian government and prime minister Malcolm Turnbull have an historic opportunity to decide which it will be. They can remain silent, for which history will be unforgiving. Or they can act in the interests of justice and humanity and bring this remarkable Australian citizen home.

Assange does not ask for special treatment. The government has clear diplomatic and moral obligations to protect Australian citizens abroad from gross injustice: in Julian's case, from a gross miscarriage of justice and the extreme danger that await him should he walk out of the Ecuadorean embassy in London unprotected.

We know from the Chelsea Manning case what he can expect if a U.S. extradition warrant is successful - a United Nations Special Rapporteur called it torture.

I know Julian Assange well; I regard him as a close friend, a person of extraordinary resilience and courage. I have watched a tsunami of lies and smear engulf him, endlessly, vindictively, perfidiously; and I know why they smear him.

In 2008, a plan to destroy both WikiLeaks and Assange was laid out in a top secret document dated 8 March, 2008. The authors were the Cyber Counter-intelligence Assessments Branch of the U.S. Defence Department. They described in detail how important it was to destroy the "feeling of trust" that is WikiLeaks' "centre of gravity".

This would be achieved, they wrote, with threats of "exposure [and] criminal prosecution" and a unrelenting assault on reputation. The aim was to silence and criminalise WikiLeaks and its editor and publisher. It was as if they planned a war on a single human being and on the very principle of freedom of speech.

Comment: The difference between Truthslayers and Truthsayers: The difficulty and courage of remaining uncompromised - come what may. Proclivity: guessing about 1,000,000 to 1.

UPDATE: Pilger addresses a rally in Sydney, Australia, to mark Julian Assange's six years' confinement in the Ecuadorean embassy in London.



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Black Cat

Obama moves further left: Slams populist 'right-wing billionaires,' touts liberal push for 'universal income'

Brooke Singman
Fox News
Sun, 22 Jul 2018 15:21 UTC
Obama
© Associated PressFormer U.S. President Barack Obama delivers his speech at the 16th Annual Nelson Mandela Lecture in Johannesburg, South Africa, July 17, 2018.
Former President Barack Obama, in a rare post-presidency speech abroad, took several thinly veiled shots at his successor and other populist "right-wing billionaires" -- while openly touting a controversial liberal push for "universal income."

In one of his biggest speeches since leaving the White House, Obama delivered the 2018 Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture in Johannesburg, South Africa on Tuesday. He used the platform to rail against populist movements, which have gained strength in the U.S. and Europe.

"Given the strange and uncertain times we are in - and they are strange, and they are uncertain - with each day's news cycles bringing more head spinning and disturbing headlines, I thought maybe it would be useful to step back for a moment and try to get some perspective," Obama began.
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Document

A Bosnian signs off weapons he says are going to Saudi Arabia but his signature turns up in Aleppo

Robert Fisk and Novi Travnik
The Independent
Thu, 19 Jul 2018 14:55 UTC
Ifet Krnjic
© Nelofer PaziraIfet Krnjic had recently retired from his position at the arms factory.
The documents, some lying amid smashed guns and shrapnel, provided the most intriguing paper trail yet discovered of just who is producing the weapons that have armed the Assad regime's most ferocious Islamist opponents.

In the basement of a bombed-out al-Qaeda arms storage building in eastern Aleppo last year, I found a weapons log book from a mortar factory in Bosnia - with the handwritten name of one of their senior officials, Ifet Krnjic, on each page. It was dispatched from the Balkans with a cargo of 500 120mm mortars in January 2016. But now, in the forested heart of central Bosnia, I have found Mr Krnjic, who says his company sent the arms to Saudi Arabia.

Sitting on the lawn of his home south of the weapons-manufacturing town of Novi Travnik, he brings his finger down onto the first page of the log book which I showed him. "This is my signature! Yes, that's me!" Krnjic exclaims loudly. "It's a warranty for the 120mm mortar launcher - this is NATO standard. It [the shipment] went to Saudi Arabia. It was part of a supply of 500 mortars. I remember the Saudi shipment well. They [the Saudis] came to our factory to inspect the weapons at the beginning of 2016."
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