Puppet MastersS


Bullseye

SOTT Focus: Oprah For 2020 Prez: Another Liberal Delusion

Finian Cunningham
Sputnik
Tue, 09 Jan 2018 18:06 UTC
oprah weinstein
Oprah Winfrey, the American queen of TV talk shows, is reportedly set to run for the US presidency - and liberal Hollywood and media are ecstatic at the prospect.

"Oprah for president" has broken out like a delirium across social media after the TV star made an "electrifying" speech at the Hollywood Golden Globes ceremony last weekend in which she spoke eloquently in defense of women over sexual harassment and for racial minorities.


Comment: Even Ivanka Trump tweeted in support of Oprah's speech, but the responses she received were more clear-headed among the Twitterati than the liberal airheads:


"A new day is on the horizon," declared the 63-year-old African-American Winfrey, who is one of the most recognized celebrities in America after decades hosting a top-rated talk show.

CNN and other liberal media outlets who hate Republican President Donald Trump with a vengeance, think that they have found their political savior in Oprah. She would be the "perfect anti-Trump candidate," reported CNN on breaking the news from "close friends" that Oprah is considering a run for the White House at the next election in 2020.
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USA

The land of the free - Uncle Sam is not going to save us!

John W. Whitehead
The Rutherford Institute
Mon, 08 Jan 2018 18:04 UTC
"The warlords of history are still kicking our heads in, and no one, not our fathers, not our Gods, is coming to save us."- Journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates
andrew scott
Andrew Scott
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled: it will not hear the case of Young v. Borders.

Despite the fact that a 26-year-old man was gunned down by police who banged on the wrong door at 1:30 am, failed to identify themselves as police, and then repeatedly shot and killed the innocent homeowner who answered the door while holding a gun in self-defense, the justices of the high court refused to intervene to address police misconduct.

Although 26-year-old Andrew Scott committed no crime and never fired a single bullet or lifted his firearm against police, only to be gunned down by police who were investigating a speeding incident by engaging in a middle-of-the-night "knock and talk" in Scott's apartment complex, the Supreme Court refused to balance the scales between justice and injustice.

Despite the fact that police shot and killed nearly 1,000 people nationwide for the third year in a row (many of whom were unarmed, mentally ill, minors or were shot merely because militarized police who were armed to the hilt "feared" for their safety), the Supreme Court will not act to right the wrongs being meted out by the American police state.
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Rocket

Israel launches attacks on Syrian military sites


RT
Tue, 09 Jan 2018 17:28 UTC
Syria Israel
© Menahem Kahana / AFP
Israel has launched three attacks on military targets in Syria, using jets and ground-to-ground missiles, the Syrian army has reported. Damascus also claims that it has shot down one Israeli jet and one missile.

The reported attacks were launched on Tuesday morning, the Syrian statement, broadcast on state television, said. The alleged attacks targeted Syrian military sites located in the al-Qutaifa area near Damascus. The statement said the Israeli warplanes fired at the targets in Syria from inside Lebanon's airspace, while the missiles were launched from the occupied Golan Heights.
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Hardhat

China's clampdown on bitcoin miners could alter global bitcoin and energy markets


RT
Tue, 09 Jan 2018 16:21 UTC
balloon popping
© Martin Poole / Global Look Press
China's regulatory clampdown on cryptocurrencies is sparking a mass exodus of bitcoin miners from the country, which has the potential to radically alter both global bitcoin and energy markets.

According to a document leaked online, China's internet-finance regulator has recommended that local governments squeeze bitcoin miners out of the country through electricity pricing, taxation, property law and environmental regulations.

Until now, Chinese miners have capitalized on cheap, coal-fired electricity in regions such as Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia. The document calls for monthly reports on remaining bitcoin-mining operations in each region.
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Headphones

NSA's attempt to prevent Snowden-style leaks has lead to staff exodus - whistleblower to RT


RT
Tue, 09 Jan 2018 16:17 UTC
Fort Meade, Maryland
© Gary Cameron / ReutersA police vehicle blocks an entrance into the NSA facility in Fort Meade, Maryland, US, March 30, 2015.
The NSA has been steadily shedding staff ever since the agency introduced draconian internal rules to stop potential new Snowden-inspired whistleblowers, former NSA technical director William Binney told RT.

"The NSA has launched an internal program called 'See something, say something,'" Binney, said, further explaining that the new internal code of conduct encourages agency employees to actually spy not only on their targets, but also on their fellow colleagues. The aim of this new measures were to prevent employees from becoming "another Edward Snowden,"he said.

However, the new draconian rules actually backfired as employees started leaving the agency in droves, with few people willing to fill the vacant posts. The new rules "create a very hostile, bad working environment," Binney said. He added that the extreme precautionary measures taken by the NSA to prevent internal leaks after Snowden's move "destroyed the moral of people doing work there."

This new system also created a situation, in which some employees could exploit the new directives to settle old scores with their colleagues, the former NSA technical director said. Everyone, who "had a grudge" or was waging "a personal vendetta" against another employee could just "go and say something about their colleagues without giving their [own] names, report them for something just to get them into trouble."
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Biohazard

Trump's offshore oil drilling plans ignore the lessons of BP Deepwater Horizon disaster

Donald Boesch
The Conversation
Fri, 05 Jan 2018 01:14 UTC
Skimming oil in the Gulf of Mexico
© NOAA , CC BYSkimming oil in the Gulf of Mexico during the Deepwater Horizon spill, May 29, 2010.
The Trump Administration is proposing to ease regulations that were adopted to make offshore oil and gas drilling operations safer after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster. This event was the worst oil spill in U.S. history. Eleven workers died in the explosion and sinking of the oil rig, and more than 4 million barrels of oil were released into the Gulf of Mexico. Scientists have estimated that the spill caused more than US$17 billion in damages to natural resources.

I served on the bipartisan National Commission that investigated the causes of this epic blowout. We spent six months assessing what went wrong on the Deepwater Horizon and the effectiveness of the spill response, conducting our own investigations and hearing testimony from dozens of expert witnesses.

Our panel concluded that the immediate cause of the blowout was a series of identifiable mistakes by BP, the company drilling the well; Halliburton, which cemented the well; and Transocean, the drill ship operator. We wrote that these mistakes revealed "such systematic failures in risk management that they place in doubt the safety culture of the entire industry." The root causes for these mistakes included regulatory failures.

Now, however, the Trump administration wants to increase domestic production by "reducing the regulatory burden on industry." In my view, such a shift will put workers and the environment at risk, and ignores the painful lessons of the Deepwater Horizon disaster. The administration has just proposed opening virtually all U.S. waters to offshore drilling, which makes it all the more urgent to assess whether it is prepared to regulate this industry effectively.

Comment: See also: Trump admin aims to loosen restrictions on offshore drilling put in place after BP oil spill

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Piggy Bank

Netanyahu's son to gas tycoon's son: Bro, my dad set your dad up for $20b deal, can't you spot me $115 for prostitute?


RT
Tue, 09 Jan 2018 17:08 UTC
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu son Yair
© Thomas Coex / AFPIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (L) and his son Yair.
The son of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was recorded talking to a friend, the son of a gas tycoon, about a controversial deal involving their powerful fathers.

As pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu grows over allegations of corruption, the family's public image was dealt a blow on Monday after a report aired by Israeli television. The report included a recording of a 2015 conversation that three young men, with powerful parents or connections, had had after a night at a strip club.

They were Yair Netanyahu, the son of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Nir Maimon, the son of natural gas tycoon Kobi Maimon, and Roman Abramov, an employee of Australian gambling tycoon James Packer, who has been accused in Israeli media of getting the well-paid job without having the relevant experience.
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Red Flag

Hungarian PM Viktor Orban calls refugees "Muslim invaders seeking better lives"


RT
Mon, 08 Jan 2018 16:41 UTC
refugees
© Reuters
Refugees in Europe are just "Muslim invaders" and economic migrants seeking better lives, Hungarian PM Viktor Orban has said, adding that the large number of Muslims in the EU had led to the appearance of 'parallel societies.'

Asked in an interview with the German Bildnewspaper why Budapest does not want to accept any refugees, Orban replied: "We don't consider these people to be Muslim refugees." Instead, the tough-talking politician said they were regarded as "Muslim invaders."

Asylum seekers must cross four countries to reach Hungary from Syria, all of which are not as rich as Germany but are economically stable, the PM said. He was apparently referring to Turkey, Greece, Macedonia and Serbia - a common route for migrants heading for 'wealthy' Europe.

"So, they are not running for their lives [in these countries]. They are merely economic migrants seeking a better life," Orban concluded. He stressed though, that he can only speak for the Hungarians and they "don't want" immigration. In his view, the government simply can't go against the will of the people.
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Chess

Trump reportedly agrees to be interviewed by Mueller in Russiagate probe


Sputnik
Mon, 08 Jan 2018 13:13 UTC
trump
© AP Photo/ Andrew Harnik
Donald Trump has reportedly signaled his readiness to cooperate with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who plans to sit down with the US President as part of his probe into alleged Russian interference in the 2016 US presidential elections.

The Washington Post cited a source close to the US President as saying that Donald Trump may give an interview to the Special Counsel's team in the next several weeks.

The source said that all this is "moving faster than anyone really realizes" and that Trump is ready for the interview, which he hopes "will put to rest questions about whether his campaign coordinated with Russia in the 2016 election."

Earlier, the Washington Post reported that the probe into alleged ties between US President Donald Trump's campaign and Moscow, led by US special counsel Robert Mueller, may last at least throughout much of this year.
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Jet3

Deaths by airstrikes up at least 82% in 2017


RT
Tue, 09 Jan 2018 15:37 UTC
bombing Western Mosul
© Alaa Al-Marjani / ReutersWestern Mosul, Iraq
More than 15,000 civilians were killed by explosive weapons in 2017, a 42 percent increase on last year, while deaths by airstrikes increased by 82 percent, a new study by Action on Armed Violence has found.

The research shows that, while the official stats on the numbers of people who died are high, they're still modest in comparison to the "true figures."

"The US has a habit of assuming all fighting-aged men are, in fact, fighters...This is the hammer that the US uses to establish the truth in war," the organization's Executive Director Iain Overton told RT.

Much of the increase is due to the battles to retake Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) strongholds in Mosul, Iraq and Raqqa, Syria. The Syrian conflict and the Saudi-led coalition bombing Yemen also accounted for a large proportion of civilian deaths.

The survey, found 8,932 civilians were killed by air-launched explosives in the first 11 months of 2017, compared to 4,902 during the same period in 2016.

"At least 60 countries around the world saw explosive weapons being used last year," Action on Armed Violence's Executive Director Iain Overton told RT.
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