Puppet MastersS


Heart - Black

Gaza's hospitals fall victim to power outages and shortages due to Israel's decade long blockade (VIDEO)

Hamza Saftawi
Al Monitor
Thu, 25 Jan 2018 12:00 UTC
Gazans walk along a darkened street during a power outage on April 14.
Gazans walk along a darkened street during a power outage on April 14.
Palestinians are still waiting to realize benefits from the reconciliation between Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the Fatah-led government in the West Bank. They've been waiting since October, and some Gaza residents are quickly running out of time.

Unemployment rates remain high in the Gaza Strip, sewer networks are deteriorating and power cuts have become crippling under a decade long blockade by Israel. Deadly house fires have occurred repeatedly as citizens resort to using candles to light their homes. And that's not the only lethal consequence of the power cuts.

Fawzi Mohammad Ibrahim al-Shandaghli has been desperately trying to cope with the power crisis to save his life. Shandaghli is suffering from kidney failure and has to make daily visits to Shifa Hospital in Gaza for treatment with a dialysis machine, which requires electricity to run.

Comment: Israel's crimes against humanity are legion and the world is slowly waking up to them:

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Hardhat

Draining the swamp? State Department watchdog investigating reports of 'political targeting'

Eric Katz
Government Executive
Tue, 30 Jan 2018 19:20 UTC
Department of State
© AP Photo/ Luis M. Alvarez
The State Department's watchdog is "looking into" allegations that the agency is engaged in political targeting and other prohibited personnel practices, the office said Tuesday after whistleblowers sounded the alarm about unfair treatment.

The inspector general's office said it was probing the matter after two Democratic committee leaders sent a letter to Steve Linick, the IG, asking him to open an "immediate review" into alleged illegal activities that State employees told the lawmakers were taking place at the department. The whistleblowers told the offices of Reps. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., that they were being assigned to tasks unrelated to their normal, substantive duties because of work they had conducted under the Obama administration.


Comment: Aha, they're complaining to Democratic politicians, so they're likely being targeted because they're pro-deep state/anti-Trump.


"Our staffs have been made aware of credible allegations that the State Department has required high-level career civil servants, with distinguished records serving administrations of both parties, to move to performing tasks outside of their area of substantive expertise," the ranking members wrote. "At the very least, this is a waste of taxpayer dollars. At worst, it may constitute impermissible abuse and retaliation."

Comment: Maybe these career diplomats absolutely need to be 'purged' (which every incoming president does, by the way).

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Bad Guys

Russian Foreign Ministry: US uses 'routine' aerial incidents to stir up Russophobia, avoids dialog


RT
Thu, 01 Feb 2018 20:19 UTC
US Navy Ep 3E Orion Patrol Aircraft
© US Navy / Getty ImagesUS Navy Ep 3E Orion Patrol Aircraft
The US deliberately "fusses" over ordinary plane encounters to accuse Moscow of aggression, the Russian Foreign Ministry said, responding to the latest incident over the Black Sea.

Moscow notes Washington's "repeated attempts to make a fuss over what has in fact become routine episodes of escorting each other's planes," the ministry said in a statement. It regards this approach as nothing but a desire to "stir up Russophobic sentiments in the media and to accuse Russia of aggressive actions." Such moves are "hardly compatible" with a genuine aspiration to resolve such issues "in a civilized way," it added.

Comment: See also:

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Sheriff

Judicial Watch: 'The FBI is Threatening Trump Over FISA Memo'

Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars
Thu, 01 Feb 2018 18:34 UTC
trump FBI
The FBI is "threatening" Donald Trump over the imminent release of the FISA memo, according to Judicial Watch director of investigations Chris Farrell.

The FBI is desperately trying to prevent the release of the FISA memo, which reportedly contains evidence that the Obama administration spied on members of the Trump campaign.

The agency issued a rare statement yesterday declaring it had "grave concerns" about the accuracy of the classified document, which is set to be released today.

Appearing on Fox Business with Lou Dobbs, Judicial Watch's Chris Farrell said, "The FBI is threatening the president of the United States."

Comment: Only one more day to go!

Will it be a Groundhog Day to remember?

Or are we looking into another 6 more months of Russiagate?

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Red Flag

From 'sons' to 'all of us': Canada's anthem is now 'gender-neutral'


RT
Thu, 01 Feb 2018 17:42 UTC
Canada Canadian flag
© FILE PHOTO / Reuters
'O Canada,' the country's national anthem since 1980, will now become more women-friendly after Canadian MPs overwhelmingly voted to replace the words "thy sons command" with "all of us command."

The gender debate truly reached a new level as the Canadian Senate adopted a bill on Wednesday to amend the second line of the national anthem from "in all thy sons command" to "in all of us command."

The bill, introduced by Liberal MP Mauril Belanger, maintains that changing the lyrics of the English version would make it "gender-neutral."
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Bizarro Earth

German FM to Israel: Talk to Palestinians or pay price of 'perpetual occupation'


RT
Thu, 01 Feb 2018 18:54 UTC
Palestinian man
© Mussa Qawasma / ReutersA Palestinian man passes Israeli soldiers in the West Bank city of Hebron, January 23, 2018
Israel could pay the price for "perpetual occupation and conflict" and face the prospect of being stuck in a "fully-fledged annexation" if it abandons reconciliation with the Palestinians, the German foreign minister has warned.

Speaking in Tel Aviv at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), Germany's top diplomat Sigmar Gabriel said Israel should finally begin to move things forward in the Arab-Israeli peace process or face the grim prospect of unending conflict in a state of "unequal rights."

Referring to the two-state solution, which embraces the creation of two sovereign states for Jews and Palestinians, Gabriel said Berlin, "as a friend of Israel," would like to know if the Jewish state "is not supporting a negotiated solution to this conflict anymore."


Comment: See also:

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Bad Guys

Trump was forced to talk about Russia in negative terms thanks to the 'deep state' - Senator Black to RT


RT
Thu, 01 Feb 2018 17:10 UTC
Donald Trump Vladimir Putin
© Carlos Barria / ReutersU.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin
The fact that Trump only briefly mentioned Russia during his State of the Union address means he does not want confrontation and only refers to it negatively to placate the hawks, Virginia State Senator Richard Black told RT.

Sharing his thoughts on US President Donald Trump's maiden State of the Union, Republican Senator Black said he believes that Russia as well as China receiving only one mention in the 90-minute address is not a coincidence. Black argued that "Trump was forced to refer to China and Russia in negative terms, but he moved on quickly."
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Stock Down

India continues cracking down on 'illegal' cryptocurrencies


RT
Thu, 01 Feb 2018 16:55 UTC
India rupee
© Thomas White / Reuters
Cryptocurrencies are illegal in India and the government fully intends to stamp out their use, according to the finance ministry.

"The government does not consider crypto currencies as legal tender or coin and (will) take all measures to eliminate the use of crypto assets," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday.

Comment: The market's reaction to the news:
"After today's announcement, people are getting scared," said Anshul Vashist, Delhi-based support manager at the cryptocurrency exchange Coinsecure, as quoted by Bloomberg.

"We have seen some dumping of bitcoins." Coinsecure has a volume of about 100 coins a day, he said.

Bitcoin has now fallen more than 53 percent from the record value of $20,000 seen in December 2017. January was the worst month for the cryptocurrency since 2015.

Ripple, bitcoin cash, cardano, and other leading digital currencies plunged even more than bitcoin, losing over 10 percent of their value each.

Ethereum was one of the few to survive the meltdown, trading one percent up. Only six seven of the top 100 cryptocurrencies were gaining as of 2:00 pm GMT, according to CoinMarketCap data.


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Light Sabers

Russia tells US to stop flying military planes near its borders or agree on rules of behavior


RT
Thu, 01 Feb 2018 16:53 UTC
Lockheed EP-3 plane
© WikipediaLockheed EP-3 plane
The US should either stop flying military planes near Russian borders or agree on the rules for such flights, the Russian Defense Ministry recommended after the latest complaint about an intercept by a Russian fighter jet.

The rebuke came on Thursday after the US Navy released additional footage, which it said showed an interception of an EP-3 spy plane by a Russian Su-27 fighter jet over the Black Sea. The two sides disagree on whether the Russian pilot acted recklessly during the Monday encounter.

The Russian Air Force "will continue to provide robust defense of the borders of Russian airspace," the Defense Ministry said in a statement. "If the realization of this fact by American pilots causes depression and phobias, we recommend that the American side either exclude flying near Russian borders in the future or return to the negotiations table and agree on a set of rules for such flights."
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Bullseye

British lord: It's time to end 'misinformation' aimed at Russia


RT
Thu, 01 Feb 2018 16:21 UTC
Russian flag
© Caro / Olaf Jandke / Global Look Press
The House of Lords has been asked by one of its own to boost ties with Russia. Viscount Waverley said he had grown concerned by "ill-informed" rhetoric and "misinformation and polarization" aimed at Moscow.

On Monday, Waverley told the House of Lords that "at a time of escalating rhetoric...relations with Russia must command our attention."

In recent months, British politicians have consistently laid into Russia. Despite accusations being repeatedly debunked, MPs are insisting that Facebook and Twitter keep looking for the influence of Russian bots on social media during the 2016 Brexit referendum.
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