Puppet MastersS


Snakes in Suits

Biden: McConnell refused to sign the bipartisan statement on Russian interference

Scott Neuman
NPR
Wed, 24 Jan 2018 03:24 UTC
BidenatCFR
© Alex Brandon/APFormer VP Joe Biden
Former Vice President Joe Biden says he and President Barack Obama decided not to speak out publicly on Russian interference during the 2016 campaign after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell refused to sign a bipartisan statement condemning the Kremlin's role.

Speaking on Tuesday at the Council on Foreign Relations, Biden said the Obama administration sought a united front to dispel concerns that going public with such accusations would be seen as an effort to undermine the legitimacy of the election.

However, McConnell "wanted no part of having a bipartisan commitment saying, essentially, 'Russia's doing this. Stop,' " he said.


Comment: Oh this is rich. Mum was the word because B&O thought Hillary was going to win. Then blame it on McConnell.


At that point, Biden added, he felt that "the die had been cast" and that "this was all about the political play."

"Can you imagine if the president called a press conference in October, with this fella, Bannon, and company, and said, 'Tell you what: Russians are trying to interfere in our elections and we have to do something about it,' " he said. "Would things have gotten better, or would it further look like we were trying to de-legitimize the electoral process, because of our opponent? Had we known what we knew three weeks later, we may have done something more," Biden added.


Comment: Exactly what they tried to do.


Comment: The ex-VP Gaffinator resorts to a tactic known as CMA (cover my ass).

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Snakes in Suits

The GOP escalates law enforcement probes while Russia inquiry heats up

Kyle Cheney
Politico
Tue, 23 Jan 2018 08:17 UTC
Bob Goodlatte
© Jacquelyn Martin/AP PhotoRep. Bob Goodlatte, R. VA
Amid new signs that special counsel Robert Mueller is pursuing an obstruction of justice case against President Donald Trump, Republicans in Congress have intensified their own investigations of the Justice Department's and FBI's handling of inquiries into Trump's ties to Russia.

Tuesday brought several dramatic developments in the Russia saga, including the news that Mueller recently interviewed Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the first Cabinet official known to be questioned in the investigation. The New York Times also reported that former FBI Director James Comey was interviewed by Mueller last year.

But even as Mueller showed apparent momentum, Republicans made new charges of political bias and even potential criminal misconduct in the nation's top law enforcement agencies.

On Fox News, Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), chairman of the House committee that oversees the Justice Department and FBI, alleged an anti-Trump "conspiracy" by FBI agents whose text message exchanges have been made public in selective bursts by GOP lawmakers.

"Some of these texts are very disturbing," Goodlatte said, adding, "They illustrate a conspiracy on the part of some people, and we want to know a lot more about that."

Comment: See also:

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Mr. Potato

Cameron caught admitting Brexit isn't the disaster he said it would be


RT
Thu, 25 Jan 2018 20:09 UTC
David Cameron
© Yves Herman / Reuters
David Cameron has been caught telling a steel tycoon that Brexit is not the "disaster" he expected. Unaware he was being filmed, the ex-PM also said that leaving the EU had "turned out less badly than we first thought."

The off-guard comments were captured on camera at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. In the footage, Cameron appears engrossed in conversation with Indian-British steel magnate Lakshmi Mittal, estimated to be the fourth-richest person in the UK.

In footage highlighted by Five News, Mittal observed that Brexit was the topic of the moment, and Cameron responded: "[Brexit] is frustrating. As I keep saying, it's a mistake not a disaster. It's turned out less badly than we first thought," the former PM said. "But it's still going to be difficult."

Cameron also told Mittal that in his post-political career he was keeping "busy" leading a billion-pound investment initiative agreed between the UK and China, as well as writing a book.
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Attention

Justice Dept escalates sanctuary city crackdown threatening to issue subpoenas or cut off federal grant funds

Joseph Tanfani
Los Angeles Times
Wed, 24 Jan 2018 14:43 UTC
jeff sessions
Returning to a favorite cause for President Trump and Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions, the Justice Department on Wednesday escalated a struggle with two dozen so-called sanctuary jurisdictions, demanding records proving they are cooperating with immigration enforcement agencies.

The department sent letters to 23 states, cities and counties, including California, Los Angeles and Chicago, demanding records showing whether law enforcement officers are sharing information with federal agents on the immigration status of people in their custody.

If the local jurisdictions don't comply, the department says it will issue subpoenas or possibly cut off certain federal grant funds.

A crackdown on sanctuary jurisdictions was one of the first measures ordered by Trump a year ago, and Sessions has repeatedly focused on the policies, which he says are a hazard to public safety.

But little concrete has happened.

Comment: See also:

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Star of David

Review: 'Ten Myths about Israel', by Ilan Pappe

Allan C. Brownfeld
Mondoweiss
Thu, 25 Jan 2018 17:42 UTC
Ilan Pappe
Ilan Pappe
The Middle East remains a subject of increasing examination and debate. The prospects for peace between Israelis and Palestinians seem to be receding. Early in 2018, Israel's ruling Likud Party unanimously endorsed a resolution calling for the annexation of West Bank settlements. This decision marked the latest step by Likud to distance itself from the internationally backed idea of establishing an independent Palestinian state as part of a future peace agreement. Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan declared: "We are telling the world that it doesn't matter what the nations of the world say. The time has come to express our biblical right to the land."

Much of the world's understanding of the conflicting claims to historic Palestine is confused. We have heard over the years of "an Israeli narrative" and a "Palestinian narrative." There have been too few efforts to understand what really has happened in this region, and to arrive at some agreement about where myth ends and facts begin. In this book, written on the 50th anniversary of Israel's occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, Professor Ilan Pappe, an Israeli historian now teaching at the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom, examines the most contested ideas concerning the origins and identity of the contemporary state of Israel.

The "ten myths" that Pappe explores reinforce the regional status quo. He explores the claim that Palestine was an empty land at the time of the Balfour Declaration, as well as the formation of Zionism and its role in the early decades of nation building. He asks whether the Palestinians voluntarily left their homeland in 1948, and whether June 1967 was a war of "no choice." Turning to the myths surrounding the failures of the Camp David Accords and the official reasons for the attacks on Gaza, he explains why the two state solution, in his view, is no longer viable.
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Snakes in Suits

'You should be happy to have a job': Bezos tells WaPo staffers fighting for wage increases to sit down and shut up

David Uberti
Splinter
Tue, 23 Jan 2018 20:04 UTC
jeff bezos devil
Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, richest man in the world
The narrative casting Jeff Bezos as a transformative media baron reached new heights in 2017. His Washington Post consistently set the political agenda while claiming two straight years of profitability. Bezos himself glowed on the red carpet as an improbable journalism hero when Steven Spielberg's The Post, a fictionalized account of the newspaper's publication of The Pentagon Papers, opened in December.

Bezos is worth $111 billion. He is the richest man in the world. But over the past eight months, his prized media outlet has repeatedly stymied requests for better pay and benefits from the employees who've driven its renaissance. The paper's union, the Washington-Baltimore NewsGuild, remains locked in a tense contract dispute, union reps told Splinter, with management ceding little ground in negotiations over annual raises, improved retirement plans, and other workplace protections. Hanging over the talks is the question of how to pressure an owner whose purchase of the newspaper is widely credited for pulling it back from the brink.

"Many of the employees see Jeff Bezos as a savior to the company," David DeJesus, a longtime advertising staffer who co-chairs the Post's bargaining unit of about 880 editorial and business-side employees, told Splinter. "People are a little bit hesitant to be openly critical of him because of it."

Comment: WaPo staffers who have been paying attention to what is going on at Amazon shouldn't be at all surprised:

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Yoda

Putin's advice to students - 'Don't be afraid to make mistakes, and use all the advantages of our vast country'

Inessa Sinchougova
Fort Russ News
Thu, 25 Jan 2018 20:07 UTC
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin - 'The light at the end of the night'
Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Russian students not to be afraid of mistakes, to be defiant and to take advantage of the opportunities offered by modern Russia.

The head of state today visited the student forum "Together Forward" in Kazan.
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Magic Wand

UK's former chief rabbi under fire for advising Mike Pence on Israeli speech


RT
Thu, 25 Jan 2018 18:30 UTC
Lord Jonathan Sack
© Andrew Parsons/ Global Look Press
The UK's former chief rabbi has come under fire for assisting US Vice President Mike Pence to pen a crucial speech delivered in Israel earlier this week, due to the Trump administration's perceived links to the far-right.

Lord Jonathan Sacks, who retains the title of emeritus chief rabbi and is an active speaker and writer, considered it a "great tribute to the Jewish people" that Pence had sought his help in coming up with the address he gave in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, on Monday.

"Rabbi Sacks was an instrumental part of crafting the vice president's speech," a White House source with knowledge of the speech-writing process said, according to the Times of Israel.
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Light Saber

Moscow slams Washington's transparent 'propaganda attempt' over chemical attack to derail Syria peace talks


RT
Thu, 25 Jan 2018 17:55 UTC
Tillerson State Department
© Philippe Wojazer / Reuters
Washington's attempt to pin the blame for Syrian chemical attacks on Moscow is a "propaganda attack" aimed at tarnishing the country's image and derailing the upcoming Syrian National Dialogue Congress in Sochi.

Russia is fuming at the audacity of the latest US accusations of Moscow's "ultimate" complicity in all alleged chemical attacks in Syria, voiced by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley.

"In essence, a massive propaganda attack was conducted with the purpose of slandering Russia on the world stage and undermining efforts for a peaceful settlement in Syria," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement Wednesday. Washington is continuing in its attempts to get the international community "accustomed to the idea that our country, which - unlike the US - has destroyed its stockpiles of chemical weapons, not only condones their use in Syria but in general is always guilty of everything."
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Cowboy Hat

Trump comes to rescue of pro-life doctors and nurses who are under pressure to perform abortions by their employers

Betsy McCaughey
Townhall
Wed, 24 Jan 2018 17:54 UTC
abortion protests
Last Thursday, the Trump administration came to the rescue of pro-life nurses and doctors who accuse hospital employers of pressuring them to perform abortions against their religion. A new Conscience and Religious Freedom office within the Department of Health and Human Services will hear complaints from anti-abortion medical personnel who claim they're getting fired or retaliated against for their beliefs.

Abortion rights groups are protesting that this Trump administration initiative amounts to a frontal assault on a woman's right to choose. Abortion rights advocates say doctors and nurses who don't want to perform abortions should go into another line of work. That's ridiculous.

President Trump's initiative is intended to stop what Cardinal Timothy Dolan calls the "increasing and fierce attack on conscience rights" in medicine. This is not about access to abortion. In New York, for example, abortions are fully accessible. Yet activists want to banish anti-abortion doctors and nurses from their life's work just to ensure a woman never has to hear the words, "I don't do abortions."

Pro-life isn't a fringe position. It's nearly half the nation, according to Gallup and Marist polls.
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