Puppet MastersS


Vader

Defining the military-industrial complex: A collection of leeches, ticks and lampreys

Fred Reed
Fred on Everything
Mon, 30 Apr 2018 19:49 UTC
defense spending US
A few thoughts on our disastrous trillion-dollar military:

It is unnecessary. It does not defend the United States. The last time it did so was in 1945. The United States has no military enemies. No nation has anything even close to the forces necessary to invade America, and probably none the desire. A fifth of the budget would suffice for any real needs.

"Our boys" are not noble warriors protecting democracy, rescuing maidens, and righting wrongs. They are, like all soldiers, obedient and amoral killers. Pilots bombing Iraq or Syria know they are killing civilians. They do not care. If ordered to bomb Switzerland, they would do it. This is the nature of all armies. Glamorizing this most reprehensible trades is just a means of usefully stimulating the pack instinct which we often call patriotism.

The military is America's worst enemy. It does enormous damage to the United States while providing almost no benefit. Start with the war on Vietnam that cost hugely in money and lives, ours and their, with no benefit. Iraq: high cost, no benefit. Afghanistan: High cost, no benefit. Syria: High cost, no benefit.

Comment:

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Gold Coins

Russian Jew Roman Abramovich awarded for donating half a billion dollars to Jewish causes

Tamara Zieve
Jerusalem Post
Sun, 29 Apr 2018 19:55 UTC
Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia awards billionaire Roman Abramovich for his key role in developing Jewish life
Roman Abramovich
Roman Abramovich, January 2018
Russian businessman Roman Abramovich had poured half a billion dollars into Jewish communities in Russia, Israel and other countries around the world, over the past 20 years, The Federation of Jewish communities of Russia (FJCR) announced Sunday.

Next year will mark the 20-year anniversary of the establishment of the FJCR. Among the events to celebrate that, the FJCR are planning a number of events during the coming year to celebrate important milestones achieved during these past two decades.

As part of this effort, a special recognition has been bestowed upon Abramovich, honoring him for his contributions of over $500 million over the past 20 years to Jewish causes in Israel, Russia and elsewhere.

The award is signed by Rabbi Alexander Boroda, FJCR president and the Chief Rabbi of Russia Berel Lazar.
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Bizarro Earth

"China is ready to become a driving force" in aid and restoration of Syria - as soon as security situation improves


Sputnik
Mon, 30 Apr 2018 12:44 UTC
syria rubble bombed buildings
© REUTERS / Bassam Khabieh
The Chinese special envoy for Syria has underscored that at least 260 billion dollars in aid money is needed to restore the war-torn Arab country, a task that he said can only be fulfilled through the combined efforts of the entire international community.

Speaking at a news briefing at the Chinese Embassy in Moscow, Xie Xiaoyan, the Chinese Government' Special Envoy on the Syrian Issue, has signaled Beijing's willingness "to do its best" to contribute to ordinary Syrians returning back to normal life.

"Many people have died, millions have lost their homes or become refugees, and they all need humanitarian aid. As a member of the UN Security Council, China has always paid attention to providing humanitarian assistance both to Syrian citizens and refugees in the form of goods, medicine, food and money," Xie stressed.

Comment: While China, Russia, and even Hungary, are finding ways to support the rebuilding of Syria, the West and its cohorts are still searching for any excuse to bomb it:

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Bad Guys

Democrats' Russiagate report studiously ignores Steele dossier in stark contrast to their early rhetoric

Chuck Ross
The Daily Caller
Sun, 29 Apr 2018 19:23 UTC
schiff house intelligence committee
© YouTube/CNNCalifornia Rep. Adam Schiff and House Intelligence Committee Democrats.
What a difference a year makes.

At a House Intelligence Committee hearing just over a year ago, Democrats on the panel focused heavily on the infamous Steele dossier, the salacious and unverified report alleging that the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government to influence the 2016 election.

California Rep. Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the committee, made numerous references to Steele's claims during an opening statement for the hearing, which was held on March 20, 2017

Texas Rep. Joaquin Castro pressed then-FBI Director James Comey about specific allegations made about Trump associates in the dossier, which was written by former British spy Christopher Steele. Indiana Rep. Andre Carson and California Rep. Jackie Speier, two other committee Democrats, also hyped the dossier.

Democrats seemingly had high hopes for the dossier back then. The report, published two months earlier by BuzzFeed News, included damning allegations that if true would likely lead to Trump's impeachment.

Comment: Of course the Democrats want the Steele dossier to slide into the memory hole. It was a collection of what would have been laughable fables, except they were used to commit serious crimes. The granting of the FISA spying warrants executed against members of the Trump campaign hung on the tissue of lies that was the dossier. A lot of people should be running scared.

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Question

Were the Skripals exposed to Fentanyl drug? Another theory in the perplexing Salisbury poisoning case

Ian Shilling
IWB
Sat, 28 Apr 2018 00:00 UTC
salisbury skripal poisoning
The UK government is definitely conducting a cover up of the actual events around the alleged poisonings of Sergei and Yulia Skripal.

I say "alleged" because there is no actual hard evidence, that we would expect to see, if the Skripal's had actually been poisoned.

There are no pictures on the net of the Skripals collapsed on the park bench. We would expect members of the public to take pictures of such an unusual scene. Salisbury is an affluent mostly middle class town and its Town Centre is definitely not a "Drugs Ghetto" where you see people collapsed in the street all the time.

There are not even any to camera interviews of any members of the public, who the government claim cared for the Skripal's for 15 or 20 minutes before the Paramedics and Ambulance arrived.

There is only one written report in the State Propaganda Organ Fake News BBC of an alleged anonymous doctor, who allegedly claimed to have treated Yulia Skripal and put her in the recovery position at the park bench. The evidentiary value of this BBC report is zero. The BBC lie for the government ALL of the time.

Comment:

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Eye 2

Killary still making bank: Dems paying millions for new Clinton org's email list according to FEC documents

Walker Bragman, Michael Sainato
The Intercept
Wed, 25 Apr 2018 19:03 UTC
hillary clinton
© Jamie McCarthy/Getty ImagesFormer US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks onstage at the Paley Center for Media on Nov. 13, 2017 in New York City.
Heading into the 2018 midterms, with Democrats hoping to take back the House of Representatives and even make a run at the Senate, the party has spent more than $2 million worth of campaign resources on payments to Hillary Clinton's new group, Onward Together, according to Federal Election Commission filings and interviews with people familiar with the payments.

The Democratic National Committee is paying $1.65 million for access to the email list, voter data, and software produced by Hillary for America during the 2016 presidential campaign, Xochitl Hinojosa, a spokesperson for the DNC, told The Intercept. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has paid more than $700,000 to rent the same email list.

Clinton is legally entitled to rent her list to the party, rather than hand it over as a gift, but in 2015, Barack Obama gave his email list, valued at $1,942,640, to the DNC as an in-kind contribution. In 2013 and 2014, OFA had similarly made in-kind contributions exceeding $3.4 million for uses of the list that cycle.

Comment: Killary just can't help her thieving ways, can she? The best thing the DNC could do for itself is to recognize her for the war-mongering, psycho harpy that she is and ditch her post-haste.

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Colosseum

Flashback Anatomy of the Deep State: The more things change...

Mike Lofgren
mikelofgren.net
Fri, 21 Feb 2014 17:13 UTC
US Capitol building night
© Joshua Roberts / Reuters
Rome lived upon its principal till ruin stared it in the face. Industry is the only true source of wealth, and there was no industry in Rome. By day the Ostia road was crowded with carts and muleteers, carrying to the great city the silks and spices of the East, the marble of Asia Minor, the timber of the Atlas, the grain of Africa and Egypt; and the carts brought out nothing but loads of dung. That was their return cargo.

¬ The Martyrdom of Man, by Winwood Reade (1871)
There is the visible government situated around the Mall in Washington, and then there is another, more shadowy, more indefinable government that is not explained in Civics 101 or observable to tourists at the White House or the Capitol. The former is traditional Washington partisan politics: the tip of the iceberg that a public watching C-SPAN sees daily and which is theoretically controllable via elections. The subsurface part of the iceberg I shall call the Deep State, which operates according to its own compass heading regardless of who is formally in power. [1]

During the last five years, the news media has been flooded with pundits decrying the broken politics of Washington. The conventional wisdom has it that partisan gridlock and dysfunction have become the new normal. That is certainly the case, and I have been among the harshest critics of this development. But it is also imperative to acknowledge the limits of this critique as it applies to the American governmental system. On one level, the critique is self-evident: In the domain that the public can see, Congress is hopelessly deadlocked in the worst manner since the 1850s, the violently rancorous decade preceding the Civil War.

Yes, there is another government concealed behind the one that is visible at either end of Pennsylvania Avenue, a hybrid entity of public and private institutions ruling the country...
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Bomb

IS has claimed responsibility killing 9 journalists among 20+ in Afghan capital


RT
Mon, 30 Apr 2018 18:17 UTC
Bombing
© Omar Sobhani / ReutersAfghan security forces after the second blast in Kabul.
Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) has claimed responsibility for two bombings in the Afghan capital, Kabul that have left at least 26 people dead, including nine journalists.

The first attack was carried out by a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle, according to multiple reports. In the aftermath of the attack, journalists rushed to the scene. They then fell victim to a second suicide bomber who appeared to deliberately target the press, the interior ministry spokesman, Najib Danesh, told Reuters.

The attacker presented media credentials to the police and joined a group of journalists standing near the first blast site before detonating the second explosive. Nine were killed and several others were injured. Veteran AFP photographer Shah Marai and Radio Azadi journalist Maharam Durani were among the those killed.

Warning graphic image
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Chess

More 'art of the deal'? Trump dares Democrats, says 'we'll close down the country' if you don't fund the wall

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Sun, 29 Apr 2018 17:49 UTC
trump michigan
Trump at a Michigan rally: If we don’t have funding for the Wall by September “we’ll close down the country”
For the second year US President Trump skipped the White House Correspondents' Ball to hold an election style rally with American workers in Michigan.

What did Trump miss by not attending the White House Correspondents' Ball? Here is just a small sample...


According to The Gateway Pundit, Trump decided it was a better use of his time to be with the people from Ypsilanti rather than the White House reporters who hate him.
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Gear

Details of Israel's illegal strike in Syria

Paul Antonopoulos
FRN
Mon, 30 Apr 2018 19:25 UTC
Screen shot from a footage showing large explosion at a Syrian military base in the province of Hama
© RuptlyScreen shot from a footage showing large explosion at a Syrian military base in the province of Hama following reports of a missile attack

The following article is a series of Tweets made by Al-Ackbar journalist, Firas al-Shoufi.

1. Initial reports indicate the missiles used by Israel tonight in the attacks on Hama and Aleppo were bunker buster munitions - missiles that have the ability to penetrate underground targets.


Comment: See also:

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