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Trump proposes 'overhaul' of USPS retirement & health benefits in savings package

Eric Katz
Government Executive
Sat, 17 Feb 2018 13:16 UTC
global cooling California snow ice
© Rich Pedroncelli/APPostal worker Rex Harrison unloads his vehicle at the post office at Soda Springs, Calif., in 2016.
President Trump proposed overhauling the U.S. Postal Service in his fiscal 2019 budget released Monday, calling for a slew of changes that would provide the agency with an additional $80 billion over 10 years.

Trump's proposals largely mirrored those submitted in his last budget, as well as legislation that has been introduced in Congress. While lawmakers have sought to maintain delivery standards, however, Trump would allow USPS to "reduce mail delivery frequency from six days to five days where there is a business case for doing so." That proposal would likely face pushback in Congress, especially from lawmakers representing rural areas, and even postal management has dropped its proposal to eliminate mail delivery on Saturdays.
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Mr. Potato

Makes sense? Mueller says Russian 'agents' organized rallies for both Hillary and Trump


Sean Hannity
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 11:56 UTC
FBI Robert Mueller
The mainstream media's year-long narrative that the Trump campaign "colluded" with Russian officials continued to crumble Friday, with special counsel Robert Mueller's indictment claiming foreign agents held anti-Trump, pro-Hillary rallies in 2016.

Mueller's court filings show 13 Russian nationals attempted to sow chaos throughout the election cycle and beyond; holding competing events for both Trump and Clinton on the same day in the same city.

"On one day, Nov. 12, 2016, the defendants organized a rally in New York to 'show your support for President-elect Donald Trump' while at the same time organizing a 'Trump is NOT my president rally' that also was held in New York," writes CNBC.

NBC News also reports that the Russian agents held a "Support Hillary" rally in July 2016 in Washington, DC.

The bombshell revelations throw even more cold water on the liberal conspiracy theory that President Trump and his staff "colluded" with Russian officials to steal the election from Hillary Clinton; just one of many excuses commonly touted by the former Secretary of State following her stunning defeat.

Comment: The Mueller team's narrative is that the Russians conspired to 'create chaos' (as if America needed any help with that), thus their alleged support for both parties. However, as Virginia State Senator Richard Black told RT, if you want to influence an election you do it in favour of one or another party; "creating chaos" simply does not achieve anything.

More on the indictments story:

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Quenelle

Hungary rejects the UN's position that mass migration has a positive effect


Voice of Europe
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 12:00 UTC
Migrants arrive in Italy
© photofilippo66 / Shutterstock.comMigrants arrive in Italy
Janos Lazar, Hungary's chief of the prime minister's office, said he rejects the UN's position that migration has a positive effect on the economy.

Although there's a difference of opinion, the chief of the government office said his country will continue talks with the UN about the current migrant package.

According to Lazar the plans to "remove legal or physical barriers and open up borders" are unacceptable. He added that "making migration organised, continuous, and legitimate" is against Hungary's interests.

Comment: Hungary isn't the only country defying the destructive mass migration policies of the UN and EU: Also check out SOTT radio's: The Truth Perspective: Weapons of Mass Migration: Interview with Michael Springmann on Europe's Migrant Crisis

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Bullseye

Virginia State Senator Richard Black: Mueller indicted 13 Russians to drag probe out and keep his position (VIDEO)


RT
Sat, 17 Feb 2018 11:33 UTC
Muellerfingers
© Win McNamee/Getty ImagesFBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller
By indicting Russian nationals and entities for meddling in the 2016 US election, FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller seeks to drag the probe out for his own gain, Virginia State Senator Richard Black told RT.

Thirteen Russian individuals and three entities, were accused of attempting to advance the presidential bid of Donald Trump and tarnish the reputation of Hillary Clinton with the ultimate goal to "spread distrust towards the candidates and the political system in general." However, none of the activities described in the indictment were able to sway the vote, US Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein told media.


Comment: More on this latest round of anti-Russian hysteria:

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Cult

Mueller indictments: Insane anti-Trumpists call for yet more escalations against nuclear superpower Russia

Caitlin Johnstone
Medium
Sat, 17 Feb 2018 10:58 UTC
United States trends Russians
US empire loyalists are so close to telling the truth when they babble about "Russian propaganda". They are openly admitting that it is wrong to use media to manipulate the ways that Americans think and vote. Now all we need is for them to admit that they themselves do this constantly, and we'll be on the right track.

The word "Russians" is America's top trend on Twitter at the time of this writing because of a Mueller indictment of thirteen alleged members of a Russian troll farm, those nefarious supervillains who posted pictures of puppies and promoted Bernie Sanders to "sow discord in the U.S. political system, including the 2016 U.S. election." Predictably, no evidence is added to cohesively tie the establishment Russia narrative together with allegations of Russia hacking the Democratic party and giving their emails to WikiLeaks, meeting with Donald Trump Jr at Trump Tower, any shenanigans with well-hydrated Russian prostitutes, or indeed anything tying the troll farm to Trump or the Russian government at all.

The focus instead is on people disguising their identities to troll Americans on social media, which we have now learned constitutes a "conspiracy to defraud the United States." As Disobedient Media's Elizabeth Lea Vos rightly points out, it is also behavior that the Hillary Clinton campaign is known to have funded and engaged in extensively.


Comment: See also: Mueller indicts 13 Russians, 3 companies for trolling the US election, saying mean things about Killary

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Dollar

George Soros spending big money against Texas DA who opposes sanctuary cities

Peter Hasson
The Daily Caller
Wed, 14 Feb 2018 08:19 UTC
George Soros
© UnknownBillionaire George Soros
Left-wing billionaire George Soros is flooding yet another district attorney's race with massive out-of-state donations.

Soros has already spent just under $70,000 backing a primary challenge to Bexar County District Attorney Nicholas LaHood, according to campaign finance documents reviewed by The Daily Caller. LaHood is a Democrat but opposes sanctuary cities and said he supports Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's crackdown on cities that defy federal immigration law.

Soros has been boosting LaHood's challenger, attorney Joe Gonzales, through a political action committee (PAC), Texas Justice & Public Safety. The PAC's spending included more than $30,000 on mailers attacking LaHood.

One of the mailers attacked LaHood as "bigoted," "racist" and "Islamophobic" in both English and Spanish. LaHood fought back by displaying the mailer in one of his own campaign ads and accused Soros of trying to purchase his seat.

"We know George Soros is a billionaire who has purchased at least 10 other district attorney's offices around the country, not to mention other political positions," LaHood said in the ad, titled, "Your DA's Office is Not For Sale."

Comment: Deep pockets, wide reach. Soros is rebuilding the US legal apparatus to his liking and ideology, creating a personal network of stooges.

According to The Washington Free Beacon:
Soros has pushed millions into district attorney races in Florida, Ohio, Illinois, Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Mississippi and others.

Soros, who has quietly pushed cash into a number of district attorney races in recent years, tends to operate the same way in each city he targets: The billionaire financier establishes Super PACs, floods them with money, refunds himself any leftover cash at the conclusion of a race, and shuts down the PAC.


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Cow Skull

White House accuses Russia of having launched NotPetya cyber attack 'to destabilize Ukraine'

b
Moon of Alabama
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 04:30 UTC
Powell
Late last night the White House accused the Russian military of having launched the destructive "NotPetya" malware which in June 2017 hit many global companies:
Statement from the Press Secretary

In June 2017, the Russian military launched the most destructive and costly cyber-attack in history.

The attack, dubbed "NotPetya," quickly spread worldwide, causing billions of dollars in damage across Europe, Asia, and the Americas. It was part of the Kremlin's ongoing effort to destabilize Ukraine and demonstrates ever more clearly Russia's involvement in the ongoing conflict. This was also a reckless and indiscriminate cyber-attack that will be met with international consequences.
The statement has the same quality as earlier statements about Spain sinking the Maine or about Saddam's Weapons of Mass Destruction had.

Comment: The US has to come up with some cockamamie reason to keep supporting Ukraine - as Kiev continues to violently attack civilians and infrastructure in Russia-supported Donbass. Not to mention: 'cause Russia'.

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War Whore

Assessment: US cold war-era nukes in Europe are not only almost useless, but pose a catastrophic risk of terrorism


RT
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 13:49 UTC
Europe nukes
© Jörg Carstensen / Global Look Press
The US plans to spend $10 billion upgrading 150 Cold War-era nuclear bombs stationed in Europe, even though the weapons may be more of a security liability than a strategic deterrent, according to a new report by arms experts.

Assumptions about the safety and security of US nuclear weapons stored in Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Turkey have been undermined by "recent terrorist attacks and political instability," the report, published by arms control advocacy group the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), claims.

A third of the B61 bombs in Europe under joint US-NATO control are believed to be stored at Turkey's Incirlik Airbase - which was locked down and had its electricity cut during the 2016 coup attempt against Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The Turkish commanding officer of the base was later arrested for his alleged role in the plot.

Noting "just how quickly assumptions about the safety and security of US nuclear weapons stored abroad can change," the report argues that "forward-deployed US nuclear weapons in Europe increase the risk of accidents, blunders, or catastrophic terrorism and invite pre-emption. Given these added risks, it is past time to revisit whether these forward-based weapons are essential for military deterrence and political reassurance."

Comment: Weapons spending; another reason why the successful demonization of Russia is so crucial to the military-industrial complex. See also:

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Info

Mueller indicts 13 Russians, 3 companies for trolling the US election, saying mean things about Killary

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 20:50 UTC
Mueller time
Shortly after noon on Friday, U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller announced an indictment of 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities, accusing them of interfering in the 2016 presidential election and operating fake social media accounts.

In the indictment announced on Friday - the first criminal case to accuse Russians of seeking to influence the outcome of the U.S. election and support Donald Trump - Mueller describes a sweeping, years-long, multimillion-dollar conspiracy by hundreds of Russians aimed at criticizing Hillary Clinton and supporting Senator Bernie Sanders and Trump. He charged 13 Russian nationals and three Russian entities and accused them of defrauding the U.S. government by interfering with the political process.

Mueller charges "defendants knowingly and intentionally conspired with each other (and with persons known and unknown to the Grand Jury) to defraud the United States by impairing, obstructing, and defeating the lawful functions of the government through fraud and deceit for the purpose of interfering with the U.S. political and electoral processes, including the presidential election of 2016."

The indictment adds that the Russians "were instructed to post content that focused on 'politics in the USA' and to 'use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest (except Sanders and Trump - we support them)'."

It gets better: the defendants reportedly worked day and night shifts to pump out messages, controlling pages targeting a range of issues, including immigration, Black Lives Matter, and they amassed hundreds of thousands of followers. They set up and used servers inside the U.S. to mask the Russian origin of the accounts.

Comment: RT adds:
The defendants, according to the indictment, were advised to "focus their activities on purple states like Colorado, Virginia, and Florida."

US Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said during a press conference that the defendants engaged in "information warfare against the US, with the stated goal of spreading distrust towards the candidates and the political system in general."


...
He went on to say that they "recruited and paid real Americans" to engage in political activity by pretending to be grassroots activists, adding that those Americans did not know they were working with Russians. Rosenstein noted, however, that "there is no allegation in the indictment that it had any effect on the outcome of the election."
Some Russian responses:
"Turns out, there've been 13 people, in the opinion of the US Justice Department. 13 people interfered in the US elections? 13 against billions budgets of special agencies? Against intelligence and counterespionage, against the newest technologies? Absurd? - Yes." Zakharova said in a Facebook post. The indictment, however, is the "modern American political reality," Zakharova added, jokingly suggesting that the number 13 was picked due to its negative associations.

One of the indicted, Russian businessman Evgeny Prigozhin, said he was not really upset by the accusations.

"The Americans are very emotional people, they see what they want to see. I have great respect for them. I am not at all upset that I am on this list. If they want to see the devil, let them," Prigozhin told RIA Novosti.



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X

DACA is unconstitutional, Obama admitted it

Hans A. von Spakovsky
The Heritage Foundation
Fri, 16 Feb 2018 01:54 UTC
tiltfence
© F. Otero PerandonesOverturning DACA
President Donald Trump has caught a lot of heat for rescinding the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program with a six-month wind-down. Few people seem aware that he's ending an administrative amnesty for illegal aliens that President Barack Obama lacked the constitutional and legal authority to implement.

How do we know? Because even Obama admitted it - repeatedly.

Responding in October 2010 to demands that he implement immigration reforms unilaterally, Obama declared, "I am not king. I can't do these things just by myself." In March 2011, he said that with "respect to the notion that I can just suspend deportations through executive order, that's just not the case." In May 2011, he acknowledged that he couldn't "just bypass Congress and change the (immigration) law myself. ... That's not how a democracy works."

Yet in 2012, he did it anyway. He put DACA in place to provide pseudo-legal status to illegal aliens brought to the U.S. as minors, including as teenagers. He promised them that they wouldn't be deported and provided them with work authorizations and access to Social Security and other government benefits.

And he did this despite the fact that the immigration laws passed by Congress do not give the president the ability to do this. Indeed, Congress specifically rejected bills to provide such benefits.

Comment: Finally some legal parameters on this issue with clear guidelines as to who and how it should be approached and concluded. Congress needs to read up on its duties before it strikes out at those upholding the laws it has created and tasked with cleaning up the mess it has made.

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