Puppet MastersS


Dollar

California Democrats want businesses to give half their tax-cut savings to state

Melody Gutierrez
SF Gate
Sun, 21 Jan 2018 00:00 UTC
California Democrats want businesses to give half their tax-cut savings to state
california Assemblyman Phil Ting
© Santiago Mejia, The ChronicleAssemblyman Phil Ting on May 2, 2017, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento.
California lawmakers are targeting the expected windfall that companies in the state would see under the federal tax overhaul with a bill that would require businesses to turn over half to the state.

A proposed Assembly Constitutional Amendment by Assemblymen Kevin McCarty, D-Sacramento, and Phil Ting, D-San Francisco, would create a tax surcharge on California companies making more than $1 million so that half of their federal tax cut would instead go to programs that benefit low-income and middle-class families.

"Trump's tax reform plan was nothing more than a middle-class tax increase," Ting said in a statement. "It is unconscionable to force working families to pay the price for tax breaks and loopholes benefiting corporations and wealthy individuals. This bill will help blunt the impact of the federal tax plan on everyday Californians by protecting funding for education, affordable health care, and other core priorities."
Read More...
Rocket

German magazine to NATO: 'War with Russia is suicide'

Translated by Inessa Sinchougova
Fort Russ News / RUeconomics
Mon, 22 Jan 2018 19:37 UTC
Iskander-M tactical missile system
Iskander-M tactical missile system
The German Contra Magazin called on NATO to understand that a war against Russia is "suicide". Readers of the publication noted that Germany remembers this especially well....

In NATO, there are forces that are convinced of the correctness of a "military solution" of confrontation with Russia. However, anyone who attacks the Russians "actually commits suicide" because of the strength of Russian weapons and Moscow's readiness to use them in case of a threat to its security. An author of Contra Magazin, Ernst Planner, singles out the Iskander-M complexes, capable of "flying to Warsaw in two minutes, and four to Berlin."

In addition, NATO defense equipment is obsolete when it comes to the Iskanders, as they can fly in the mesosphere.
Read More...
Attention

Newly released texts indicate Mueller team had advance knowledge of Clinton email probe outcome

Samuel Chamberlain
Fox News
Mon, 22 Jan 2018 00:00 UTC
Strzok Mueller
© Business InsiderPeter Strzok • Robert Mueller
The Justice Department has given various congressional committees nearly 400 pages of additional text messages between two FBI officials who were removed from Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.

One of the newly discovered messages, lawmakers said, appeared to indicate that Peter Strzok and Lisa Page knew that charges would not be filed against Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as a result of the investigation into her email server -- before Clinton was interviewed by the bureau.

Strzok and Page were pulled off the probe last summer after it emerged that some of their messages to each other included anti-Trump content. Strzok, an FBI counterintelligence agent, was reassigned to the Bureau's human resources division after the discovery of the exchanges with Page, with whom he was having an affair.

According to a Saturday letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray from Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, the Justice Department provided 384 pages of messages to lawmakers on Friday. However, Johnson noted that additional texts sent between Dec. 14, 2016 and May 17 of last year were not preserved by the FBI's system.

Comment: Every misstep shows the FBI's hand. See also:

Read More...
Star of David

SOTT Focus: Gaslighting for Israel: Liberal and Leftist Zionists

Andrés Perezalonso
Sott.net
Mon, 22 Jan 2018 19:41 UTC
Zionism Israel Flag
There are some zionists in Israel and the United States who consider themselves liberals. Liberalism is generally identified as a political philosophy embracing the values of liberty and equality, as well as "ideas and programmes such as freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, free markets, civil rights, democratic societies, secular governments, gender equality and international cooperation." Zionism, on the other hand, is "the national movement of the Jewish people that supports the re-establishment of a Jewish homeland in the territory defined as the historic Land of Israel (roughly corresponding to Canaan, the Holy Land, or the region of Palestine)."

Since establishing a Jewish homeland is done at the expense of the non-Jewish people already living in Palestine, who have to face either becoming second-class citizens at best (if they are assimilated into Israel proper), eviction from their homes, a permanent military occupation or genocide at worst (if they live in the West Bank or Gaza), then the term 'liberal zionism' turns out to be an oxymoron if not a logical contradiction.

Comment: For more on this topic, see Joe Quinn's excellent 2006 article: Racism, Not Defence, At the Heart Of Israeli Politics which holds true to this day.

Read More...
Light Saber

Silencing comments: The Guardian and the White Helmets

Tim Hayward
Tim Hayward Wordpress
Fri, 12 Jan 2018 00:00 UTC
The Guardian newspaper
© Suzanne Plunkett / ReutersBritish daily newspaper The Guardian
The Guardian recently published an article claiming that critical discussion of the White Helmets in Syria has been 'propagated online by a network of anti-imperialist activists, conspiracy theorists and trolls with the support of the Russian government'. Many readers were dismayed at this crude defence of a - presumably - pro-imperialist perspective, and at the unwarranted smearing of reasoned questioning based on evidence from independent journalists.

What The Guardian did next:
  • quickly closed its comments section;
  • did not allow a right of reply to those journalists singled out for denigration in the piece;
  • did not allow publication of the considered response from a group of concerned academics (posted in full below);
  • did not respond to the group's subsequent Letter,[1] or a follow up email to it;
  • prevaricated in response to telephone inquiries as to whether a decision against publishing either communication from the group had or had not been taken;
  • failed to respond to a message to its Readers' Editor from Vanessa Beeley, one of the journalists criticised in the article.

Comment: This goes hand in hand with this recent SoTT Focus:

Manufacturing Dissent: The Guardian sez Russia Behind 'Online Conspiracy Theory About White Helmets'

Read More...
Info

Lavrov: Daesh failed to create Caliphate but terrorist pockets still active in Syria


Sputnik
Mon, 22 Jan 2018 19:06 UTC
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov
© Sputnik/ Mikhail VoskresenskiyForeign Minister Sergey Lavrov, second from left, and head of the united delegation of the High Negotiations Committee (HNC) Nasr al-Hariri, second from right, during a meeting in Moscow
On Monday at a meeting between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and head of the delegation of the Syrian Negotiation Commission (SNC) Nasser Hariri, the politicians spoke about a terrorist threat in Syria and prospects of the peace settlement in the country.

On Caliphate

The Daesh terrorist group failed to reach the goal of creating the Caliphate on the Syrian territory, but some terrorist pockets are yet to be suppressed, Lavrov noted.

The minister attributed the significant success made in fighting against terrorism in Syria to the Astana format and to the agreements that were reached between Russia, the United States and Jordan on the establishment of the southern de-escalation zone.
Read More...
Light Sabers

London mayor compares Trump's twitter antics to ISIS rhetoric


RT
Mon, 22 Jan 2018 17:34 UTC
Sadiq Khan
© Reuters
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has compared Donald Trump's Twitter attacks to tactics used by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS). Khan has been outspoken in his criticism of the US president.

In an interview with the Intercept, Khan said Trump's language is "very similar to the rhetoric used by so-called ISIS/Daesh." He added that one of the things the terrorist group wants to see is "an increase in Islamophobic attacks; they want a backlash against proud Muslims, proud Westerners."

"We are in danger of amplifying the narrative that Daesh/so-called ISIS have about a 'clash of civilizations,' 'the West hates us,' by some of the language that Donald Trump has used," Khan said, in reference to Trump's tendency to relate terrorism to Islam.

"He is, if you like, repeating what so-called ISIS/Daesh are saying: 'The West and Islam are irreconcilable,' 'You can't be a proud American and a proud Muslim.'"
Read More...
Colosseum

Senate votes to unblock temporary funding fix - US government shutdown ending


RT
Mon, 22 Jan 2018 17:50 UTC
US capitol building
Three days into a government shutdown, the Senate is voting to clear the path for funding US institutions through February 8. Democrats had blocked funding, demanding amnesty for migrants brought into the US as children illegally.

The main point of contention is the fate of some 700,000 immigrants brought into the US illegally as children, whom the Obama administration protected from deportation under the executive action known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). The Trump administration announced in September that it would phase DACA out by March 2018, but the decision is currently tied up in the courts.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) said his party would vote to fund the government in exchange for a bipartisan law resolving the status of DACA recipients by February 8.
Read More...
Footprints

Syrian troops begin Idlib province operation to eliminate Nusra Front


Sputnik
Mon, 22 Jan 2018 08:01 UTC
Syrian forces
© AFP/George OurfalianSyrian government forces on patrol at Abu Duhur airfield.
Syrian government troops and local militia units have started the operation to eliminate al-Nusra Front terrorists, who have been surrounded in the eastern part of Idlib province, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"Syrian government troops and militia units have started to eliminate a grouping of Jabhat Fatah al Sham [previously known as al-Nusra Front] terrorist organization, numbering more than 1,500 fighters and surrounded in the eastern part of Idlib province. The militants are armed with tanks, infantry combat vehicles, field artillery systems and mortars," the statement said.

According to the ministry, over the past 24 hours, the units of the Syrian army have advanced 3.7 miles to the north of Abu Duhur airfield and liberated 24 settlements from militants.

The statement comes a day after the Syrian government forces regained control over the Abu Duhur airfield in the Idlib province, which had been seized by al-Nusra Front (outlawed in Russia) terrorists in 2015. The government troops have also managed to encircle al-Nusra Front in the eastern part of the Idlib province.

The Syrian army supported by allied forces have been carrying out an anti-terrorist operation in the province for over a month.
Read More...
Star of David

Pence to Knesset: Iran nuclear deal a disaster, US to withdraw unless fixed


RT
Mon, 22 Jan 2018 13:15 UTC
Pence
© Mandel Ngan / ReutersUS Vice President Mike Pence
US Vice President Mike Pence has warned that Washington will not certify the "ill-conceived" Iran nuclear deal. He reiterated a previous threat from US President Donald Trump to withdraw from the accord unless it is fixed.

"The Iran nuclear deal is a disaster and the United states of America will no longer certify this ill-conceived agreement," US Vice President Mike Pence said Monday addressing the Israeli parliament, the Knesset. "Unless the Iran nuclear deal is fixed, President Trump has said the US will withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal immediately," Pence said, adding that Washington is working to effectively curb Iran's alleged nuclear and ballistic programs.

"I have a solemn promise... The US will never allow Iran acquire a nuclear weapon," the vice president told Israeli lawmakers.

Trump has repeatedly attacked the Iranian nuclear deal, accusing Tehran of violating the accord officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), despite the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) saying that Iran is in full compliance. Other parties of the deal - Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia - have all criticized Washington's rhetoric.

Comment: All this bravado from a country whose government is currently unfunded.

Read More...