Puppet MastersS


Dominoes

Trump Admin. Communications Director Hope Hicks resigns day after admitting to telling 'white lies' to media


RT
Thu, 01 Mar 2018 16:02 UTC
Hope Hicks
© Leah Millis / ReutersHope Hicks
White House communications director Hope Hicks is resigning. This comes a day after she testified before the House Intelligence Committee that she had told "white lies" on the job, according to media citing inside sources.

"There are no words to adequately express my gratitude to President Trump. I wish the president and his administration the very best as he continues to lead our country," Hicks said in a statement released by the White House on Wednesday afternoon.

According to White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Hicks had made plans for her departure prior to her marathon testimony before the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday. The testimony took place behind closed doors. Hicks reportedly admitted to telling "white lies" to the media on behalf of the Trump campaign and the administration, but said she never lied to investigators in the probe led by special counsel Robert Mueller, according to the New York Times.

"Hope is outstanding and has done great work for the last three years," President Donald Trump said. "I will miss having her by my side but when she approached me about pursuing other opportunities, I totally understood. I am sure we will work together again in the future."
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Russian Flag

Putin thanks Russia's hockey gold medalists for singing national anthem during medal ceremony


RT
Thu, 01 Mar 2018 15:53 UTC
putin
© Grigory Dukor / Reuters
President Vladimir Putin has thanked Russia's ice hockey gold medalists for singing their national anthem during the PyeongChang Winter Olympics medal ceremony. The team did so in defiance of a ban imposed by the IOC.


Comment: See: Team Russia wins hockey gold at Olympics for first time in 26 years - Players and fans defy IOC by singing national anthem


During Wednesday's awarding of state honors to the Olympic medal winners, Putin praised the ice hockey players for their "respect to the country."

"We heard our players singing the national anthem. Thank you very much for your respect to the country and for your attitude towards the sport to which you have dedicated your lives. Millions of people celebrated your victories as much as you did," Putin said, according to TASS.

"Our athletes said that we had been stripped of many things. That's true, you can be deprived of anything, including national emblems, but it's impossible to take away your character.
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No Entry

Reality Check: No sarin gas used by Assad in Syria

Paul Antonopoulos
Fort Russ
Thu, 01 Mar 2018 13:18 UTC
Reality Check Assad Syria
It was a stunning announcement, stunning because of what was said and maybe equally as stunning because it was honest.

Secretary of Defense James Mattis says there is no evidence that the Syrian government used sarin gas on its own people.

It is a narrative we have been pushing back on for years. So what does this mean for U.S. policy in Syria? And will President Trump continue to push for war in Syria, or will he return to the positions of candidate Trump who said the U.S. should stay out of it?

Comment: Former French Secretary of State Thierry Mariani has also noted how ridiculous 'Assad gassing his own people' is. Fort Russ reports:
Every time the Syrian Army is on the point of carrying out a notable success against the jihadists, up pops some gas attack (without any military logic) with coordinated video footage from the "White Helmets" #manipulation

But who verifies your informations? There haven't been any western journalist for the last several months in East Aleppo, for fear (understandable) of being taken hostage by the terrorists. Who do you have today in #Ghouta where the risks are the same?


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Bad Guys

Russian analysts: US threatens prolonged 'guerrilla warfare' in Syria


Sputnik
Thu, 01 Mar 2018 13:18 UTC
US Army
© REUTERS/ Rodi Said
The Trump administration is seeking to continue arming and training Syrian opposition forces through 2019, although Daesh (ISIS/ISIL) has been nearly entirely defeated in Syria. According to Russian analysts, the US-backed proxies could be used by the US against Damascus and Moscow.

The US is ready to provide military aid to any force fighting the legitimate Syrian government, Ivan Konovalov, director of the Moscow-based Center for Strategic Studies, says, commenting on the Trump administration's proposal to allocate $300 million "to train, equip, sustain, and enable elements of the Vetted Syrian Opposition (VSO) eligible for support under current law " in Syria in FY2019.

"The weapons appeared to be transferred to the moderate opposition, but somehow found their way into the hands of radical militants which the US itself recognizes as terrorists," Konovalov told Sputnik. The other day the al-Nusra Front militants destroyed the bulldozer of the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) by the US-made TOW anti-tank system in Eastern Ghouta. The United States controls neither the direction where its money goes nor those who get arms. This is a very dangerous approach."
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Rocket

East Ghouta residents' requests to Syrian human rights groups increase as Western-backed militants continue shelling during Russia-brokered ceasefire


Sputnik
Thu, 01 Mar 2018 10:59 UTC
East Ghouta Residents asking Rights Groups For Evacuation Help - Russian Military
© REUTERS/ Bassam Khabieh
Civilians residing in Syria's Eastern Ghouta are massively contacting representatives of Syrian human rights organizations with a request to assist their evacuation from the territories held by militants, spokesman for Russian center for Syrian reconciliation Maj. Gen. Vladimir Zolotukhin said Thursday.

"According to the information received, over the 24 hours, the number of appeals from residents of Eastern Ghouta to human rights activists has increased by several times, with requests to help and assist in their evacuation from the territory controlled by militants," Zolotukhin told reporters.

According to the spokesman, militants continue mortar shelling of the humanitarian corridor in Muhayam-al-Wafedin.

Earlier in the day, at 09:00 a.m. Damascus time (07:00 GMT) the third five-hour "humanitarian pause" began in Eastern Ghouta, while Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu sent an explanation of Russian initiatives on Eastern Ghouta to UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura.

Comment: That would be the Western-sponsored terrorists who continue to threaten civilian lives during what was intended to be a ceasefire. It began on the 27th February 2018 and it seems the situation is becoming even more desperate: This is exactly how the liberation of Aleppo unfolded. Hysterics in the Western media as Russia and Syria patiently and carefully freed the city, in stages, providing maximal opportunity for both residents and terrorists to escape or relocate.

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Gear

Russian Security Council: US gave Kurds modern arms, made Turkey launch Afrin op


RT
Thu, 01 Mar 2018 09:37 UTC
Kurdish fighters
© Goran Tomasevic / Reuters
Washington provoked Ankara into launching a military offensive on Syria's Kurdish-controlled Afrin by "boosting" the Kurds with advanced weapons, according to the Russian Security Council.

"The Kurds are being boosted with advanced weaponry. The deliveries of modern weapons and encouragement of separatist sentiments among the Kurds have in fact provoked Turkey into carrying out the military operation in Syria's northern Afrin region," the Assistant to the Secretary of the Russian Security Council Alexander Venediktov told Ria Novosti.

READ MORE: Turkey deploys special forces to Afrin, Syria in 'preparation for new fight'

Comment: The US has established as many as 20 military bases in the part of Kurdistan that lies within Syria, the Russian National Security Council has stated according to Russian media.
The establishment of peace in war-torn Syria is impeded by external - in particular, American - interference in the crisis, Assistant to the Secretary of the Russian Security Council Alexander Venediktov told Ria Novosti.

"The return of peace and stability to Syria is hampered by continued external interference in the Syrian crisis. For example, in the territory controlled by the people's self-defense units of Kurdistan, some 20 US military bases have been created," the official said.


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Briefcase

Trump slams AG Sessions over FISA abuses probe: 'Disgraceful' to let IG handle investigation


RT
Wed, 28 Feb 2018 20:21 UTC
jeff sessions Donald trump
© Reuters
President Donald Trump lashed out at Attorney General Jeff Sessions, criticizing his decision to let the inspector general, who can't prosecute, handle the investigation into alleged FBI surveillance abuses.

Sessions said on Tuesday that the internal watchdog at the Department of Justice (DOJ) would be assessing allegations of FBI abuse.

"We believe the Department of Justice must adhere to the high standards in the FISA [Foreign Intelligence Service Act] court," Sessions said. "Yes it will be investigated. And I think that's just the appropriate thing the inspector general will take that as one of the matters he'll deal with."

Allegations that the FBI used biased evidence emerged in January when the 'Nunes' memo was published by the House Intelligence Committee despite opposition from Democrats and the FBI.

Comment:

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Snakes in Suits

McCain associate pleads 5th Amendment on Trump dossier

Randy DeSoto
The Western Journal
Mon, 26 Feb 2018 12:27 UTC
McCainKramer
© McCain InstituteSenator John McCain • David Kramer
Sen. John McCain associate David Kramer, who passed along the Trump dossier to McCain, who in turn gave it to the FBI, reportedly pleaded his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination rather than testify before the House Intelligence Committee.

Fox News reported that Kramer, a State Department official under President George W. Bush, traveled to England in mid-November 2016, following then-President Elect Donald Trump's upset win over Hillary Clinton, to meet with dossier author Christopher Steele.

Kramer, who currently leads the McCain Institute, ultimately received a physical copy of the document from Fusion GPS co-founder Glen Simpson back in the United States and then gave it to McCain, according to The Washington Post.

Fusion GPS is the opposition research firm paid by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee to produce the dossier.

McCain denied passing the document filled with unverified information along to the media, claiming he had only shared it with one other person. "I gave it to no one except for the director of the FBI," the senator said in what The Daily Caller described as a testy exchange last October. "I don't know why you're digging this up now."

Comment: One would be daft to think McCain didn't know what to make of the dossier and what its usefulness would be. He could have thrown it in the trash. Instead, he beelined it to the FBI. Kramer was more than a courier. There is no mention of the alleged meeting in Halifax, at the international security conference, between McCain, Kramer and Sir Andrew Wood, former British Ambassador to Russia, who briefed the two on the dossier and its implications.

See also:

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Headphones

Newly released surveillance orders reveal even with individualized court oversight, spying powers misused

Aaron Mackey, Andrew Crocker
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Wed, 07 Feb 2018 01:42 UTC
FISA702
© Numerique Traffic
Once-secret surveillance court orders obtained by EFF last week show that even when the court authorizes the government to spy on specific Americans for national security purposes, that authorization can be misused to potentially violate other people's civil liberties.

These documents raise larger questions about whether the government can meaningfully protect people's privacy and free expression rights under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which permits officials to engage in warrantless mass surveillance with far less court oversight than is required under the "traditional" FISA warrant process.

The documents are the third and final batch of Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) opinions released to EFF as part of a FOIA lawsuit seeking all significant orders and opinions of the secret court. Previously, the government released opinions dealing with FISA's business records and pen register provisions, along with opinions under Section 702.

Although many of the 13 opinions are heavily redacted - and the government withheld another 26 in full - the readable portions show several instances of the court blocking government efforts to expand its surveillance or ordering the destruction of information obtained improperly as a result of its spying.
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X

MSM dutifully complies with Obama's request to attend speech but not report on it

Teri Webster
The Blaze
Sun, 25 Feb 2018 06:44 UTC
Obama
© Saul Loeb/Getty ImagesSee no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil...?
A funny thing happened on the way to an Obama forum on Friday, and free speech supporters aren't laughing.

Former President Barack Obama invited people - including reporters - to attend a speech he made during the annual Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan Sports Analytics Conference. The topic at hand was reportedly Obama's reflection on his presidency and his future plans.

But everyone, including media, was forbidden from reporting on anything he said. Punishment was promised for anyone who failed to follow the guidelines. Namely, they'd be barred from attending future sports conferences. The Boston Globe explained:
"During Obama's panel, photography; video recording; streaming; and social media posting, including on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and other platforms will not be permitted - "without exception," the warning spelled out.

The regulations went for after the event, too.

Following the panel, the sharing or reporting of its contents on public platforms, including social media, will not be permitted," the notice read. "Those who fail to adhere to this policy will be subject to removal from the conference and denied tickets to future SSAC conferences."

After the Globe inquired about the rules, a second e-mail said 'sharing or reporting of its contents' is strictly forbidden.

Comment: Unless it is a damn good confession, are we even interested in what Obama had to say?

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