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Kiev-Donbass prisoner exchange success? Kiev refuses to hand over dozens of detainees, lies and says they were already released from custody


RT
Wed, 27 Dec 2017 17:43 UTC
donbass prisoner exchange
© ReutersPrisoners exchange between Kiev and the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic outside Donetsk, Ukraine in February 2016
In Donbass, the conflict in eastern Ukraine has seen its largest exchange of prisoners, between Kiev and the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics.

The Ukrainian authorities were to hand over 306 prisoners to the self-proclaimed People's Republics of Donetsk (DPR) and Lugansk (LPR) and receive 74 prisoners in return, according to the agreement between the sides.

Ukrainian President Poroshenko's representative in the parliament, Irina Lutsenko, has confirmed that the prisoner swap was completed successfully. "Good news we can already talk about. The exchange has concluded. The Ukrainian side received 74 hostages, who were held in captivity in the occupied part of Donbass. They're returning home," she wrote on Facebook.

LPR representative Olga Kobtseva said that they have been "handed 75 people." DPR ombudsman Darya Morozova said that "the prisoner exchange was completed 80 percent, with more work on the lists to follow" as not all of the persons agreed upon with Kiev have been delivered. According to Morozova, 73 prisoners were returned to the Ukrainian side, while one opted to stay in the breakaway Donetsk region.

The Ukrainian parliament's human rights ombudsman, Valeria Lutkovskaya, said that not all of the people on Kiev's list were delivered in the exchange. "Forty-three people who should have been among the 306 prisoners from the Ukrainian side have served their sentence and were released from custody. Therefore, they didn't come," Lutkovskaya told Hromadske TV. Ten to 15 people were also "refusing to return" to the self-proclaimed republics at the exchange point, she added, with Red Cross-mediated talks reportedly held to confirm their decision.

Comment: Don't hold your breath waiting for Western governments to condemn Ukraine's arbitrary detention of "suspected separatists". Innocent people have been arrested, tortured, and killed since the war began. But Russia is bad, therefore Ukraine is good. And "good guys" can't be held accountable for torture and murder.

See also:

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Cut

Losing patience: Survey shows at least half of Germans want Merkel to step down before the end of her term


RT
Wed, 27 Dec 2017 15:21 UTC
Angela Merkel
© John MacDougall / AFP
Germans may be losing patience with Chancellor Angela Merkel, as a recent survey shows that nearly half of them would like to see her step down before her term is up. That figure is a marked increase on just three months ago.

Despite winning the most seats in September's Bundestag elections, Merkel's efforts to put together a coalition capable of running the country with her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) have so far been in vain. This fact seems to be wearing down the German public: According to the results of a YouGov poll commissioned by DPA and published in Die Welt, 47 percent of respondents said they wanted her to step down before the next election is held in 2021, up from only 36 percent who would have welcomed her early departure three months ago.

Comment: EU considers life after Merkel, as Germany struggles to form coalition amidst refugee crisis

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Stop

Russian Senate rejects Duma bill prohibiting cruelty in training of hunting dogs


Meduza
Wed, 27 Dec 2017 17:38 UTC
volodin putin
© ReutersVolodin and Putin
State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin couldn't get the Federation Council to pass his draft legislation prohibiting cruelty against animals in the training of hunting dogs, but he's got a backup plan, and the bill is now headed for a mediation committee.

On December 26, the upper house of Russia's parliament broke with the State Duma and rejected Volodin's law. The Duma's speaker insists that his bill has the support of President Putin.

The Federation Council's rejection of Volodin's bill marks just the second time since October 2016 (when Volodin became the Duma's speaker) that the parliament's upper house has voted against a draft law approved by the lower house. (The other law that failed to pass the Federation Council during this time would have banned housing and utilities advertisements on receipts.)

Senator Sergey Kalashnikov raised eyebrows by comparing Volodin's legislation to a law protecting gay rights, arguing that a prohibition on tough dog training is liberal foolishness. After his remark, Kalashnikov was reminded by a colleague at the Federation Council that comparisons between wild animals and members of the LGBT community are "impermissible."
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Binoculars

Roger Stone claims Trump cabinet members plotting to remove him from office

Joshua Caplan
Gateway Pundit
Wed, 27 Dec 2017 17:29 UTC
Roger Stone
© J. Scott Applewhite/Associated PressLongtime Donald Trump associate Roger Stone arrives to testify before the House Intelligence Committee on Capitol Hill.
Former Trump advisor Roger Stone says Cabinet members have discussed removing President Trump from office by invoking the 25th Amendment. When pressed on the specifics, Stone replied "Like you, Tom [LoBianco of the Associated Press], I cannot reveal those sources, and I'm not prepared to do so, but this is not a conspiracy theory."

Washington Times reports:
Mr. Stone claimed during a recent interview aired on C-SPAN that he heard that some members of Mr. Trump's administration have weighed whether they can invoke the 25th Amendment to take him out of office.

"Do you have any evidence that anyone is actively plotting or attempting or laying the groundwork right now inside the Cabinet - inside the administration - to make that removal?" Associated Press reporter Tom LoBianco asked Mr. Stone.

"I have sources, and I work my sources, and yes, I believe there are some who have had this discussion. This is both outside the Cabinet and in. I think it's the fallback plan for the establishment. That's why I'm trying to sound the clarion call," Mr. Stone responded.
Stone is not the only major political or media figure to argue there is plot to remove Trump from the White House. As The Gateway Pundit's Jim Hoft reported, former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton believes Trump faces a coup threat from special counsel Robert Mueller.

Comment: Stone is a thoroughbred political operative. He's right when he wants to be. But just as with the MSM, statements like this should be taken with a grain of salt. Impossible to verify. That said, it's definitely plausible. And there are certainly many establishment figures who want Trump gone no matter what. It wouldn't be a surprise if Trump's cabinet is discussing contingency measures if such plots succeed. Since before day 1, Trump has been public enemy no. 1, for the simple reason that he is an outsider, wants to implement policies that he thinks will work, and which establishment figures are dead-set against, most notably being Trump's common-sense approach to foreign policy. That is strictly verboten. Russia must be an American enemy, no matter what, even if it kills the U.S. Anti-jihadist efforts must be half-hearted, in order to utilize them as proxy forces in the Middle East, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Southeast Asia. For those reasons alone, Trump must go.

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Star of David

Honduras, Panama follow U.S. and Guatemala - plan to transfer embassies to Jerusalem

Hana Levi Julian
JewishPress.com
Tue, 26 Dec 2017 17:18 UTC
netanyahu hernandez
© Amos Ben-Gershom (GPO)Honduran President Orlando Hernandez and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
Just two days after the president of Guatemala made history as the first Central American leader to announce his decision to relocate his nation's embassy to Jerusalem, Honduras and Panama are following suit.

Israel and Honduras signed a declaration on bilateral security cooperation in December 2016, during a visit to Jerusalem by Honduran President Orlando Hernandez. It was his second time in the Jewish State.

Honduras was the other Latin American nation that had the courage to vote against the United Nations General Assembly resolution calling for a wholesale rejection of U.S. President Donald Trump's historic recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and his decision to move the American embassy to the holy city.

The Israeli free daily Yisrael Hayom quoted Palestinian Authority sources on Tuesday as saying Ramallah had been "officially informed" that an announcement would likely be forthcoming within days.

As with Guatemala, the embassies will transfer from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem only after the relocation of the U.S. Embassy, according to the report.

The announcement came barely a day after Dr. Gustavo Perednik, a well-known Spanish-language commentator on Latin American and Israeli affairs and a native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, predicted that Honduras and Panama - among others - would be next in line to follow Guatemala. Perednik said that a major shift in international politics is taking place, particularly in Latin America.

Comment: See also: Trump promises the U.S. will move their embassy in 6 months. Maybe a year. Well, maybe two years... And only then will these other countries follow suit.

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Flashlight

Kremlin to investigate call to boycott vote by Putin opponent Navalny

Andrew Osborn and Polina Nikolskaya
Yahoo! News
Tue, 26 Dec 2017 16:48 UTC
Vladimir Putin candidacy nomination 2018
© REUTERS/Sergei KarpukhinMembers of the initiative group to nominate Vladimir Putin as a candidate in the 2018 presidential election attend a meeting in Moscow, Russia December 26, 2017.
Hundreds of Russian celebrities, sportspeople and politicians nominated President Vladimir Putin for re-election on Tuesday, hours after the Kremlin said it wanted opposition leader Alexei Navalny investigated for calling for a boycott of the vote.

Navalny called for the boycott of the March 18 election on Monday after Russia's central election commission ruled he was not eligible to run for president due to a suspended prison sentence hanging over him.

The 41-year-old lawyer, who says he's being excluded on false grounds because the Kremlin is running scared, said he would use his campaign headquarters across the country to call the election's legitimacy into question and organize protests.

The Kremlin, which points to polls that show Putin is the runaway favorite with Navalny trailing far behind, on Tuesday set the scene for possible police action against Navalny and his supporters whose protests have been broken up before.

Comment: It is a mystery why Navalny thinks he can actually boycott the vote or even beat Putin in a "fair election": Putin's approval rating at 83% in August 2017

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Chess

Democrat pick for top Judiciary Committee replacement signals likely impeachment preparation for Trump

Matt Vespa
Town Hall
Mon, 25 Dec 2017 16:13 UTC
trump
If there is a blue wave next year, expect impeachment proceedings, or endless investigations into the Trump White House, from Democrats. They're already laying the groundwork for that course of action with their latest pick to fill the top minority spot on the House Judiciary Committee. With Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) exiting public life after allegations of sexual harassment, one of which involved a $27,000 settlement in 2015, Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) took his place. He's a constitutional law expert, so a fitting background for Democrats who want someone to be the point of the lance in their fight against President Trump (via WaPo):
To fill their top spot on the House Judiciary Committee, Democrats had a choice between experts in two critical policy arenas - a constitutional-law ace with firsthand experience battling Donald Trump, and an architect of sweeping immigration legislation.

By a wide margin, they chose the constitutional-law expert. Why? To ready themselves for a battle with President Trump that could end with impeachment proceedings.
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Airplane

Terrorizing the skies since '95: Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee

Philip Wegmann
Washington Examiner
Tue, 26 Dec 2017 13:34 UTC
Sheila Jackson Lee
When United booted a paying customer from first class to make room for a member of Congress, the Internet erupted with good and healthy egalitarian outrage. But don't blame the airline.

The congresswoman in question was Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas. And until she lands on the no-fly list, no airline is safe. Jackson Lee has been terrorizing the skies since coming to Congress in 1995.

The Democrat has developed a reputation for making life hell for any clerk, stewardess, or pilot unwilling or unable to make her three-and-a-half-hour flight anything less than glamorous. She takes advantage of federal travel perks to book multiple flights (only to cancel at the last minute and at no charge). She demands an upgrade to premier seats. She expects, in her words, "to be treated like a queen."

Comment: Not only is she an entitled terrorizer, with no issue making life a living hell for those in the service industry, it seems Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee isn't the sharpest tool in the box, either. See:

Texas Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee thinks the Constitution is 400 years old

This from Katrina Pierson:
United Forced to Apologize to Woman Who Was Booted for Dem Lawmaker

After a flood of negative press, United Airlines has apologized and given a voucher to the woman who accused them of booting her from her first-class seat to make way for Dem lawmaker Sheila Jackson Lee.

Originally, United claimed Jean-Marie Simon had cancelled her ticket on her own, a claim she considers ridiculous.

By now apologizing and giving her a voucher in a 180 degree turn, are they admitting they LIED to cover up their disgusting preferential treatment for Jackson Lee?

As reported by ChicagoTribune
United Airlines has apologized and given a $500 travel voucher to a passenger who accused the airline of giving her first-class seat to U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, a Houston Democrat.

An airline spokeswoman said Monday that its internal systems show the passenger, Jean-Marie Simon, canceled her Dec. 18 seat from Houston to Washington, D.C. after a weather delay.

Simon denies that she canceled the flight. She was given a seat in Economy Plus on the flight, and told the Houston Chronicle she saw Jackson Lee sitting in the seat that was assigned to her.

United says it upgraded Jackson Lee automatically and not because she was a member of Congress. The congresswoman says in a statement that she didn't ask for anything "exceptional or out of the ordinary."
Jean-Marie Simon FB post
© Facebook
Jean-Marie Simon FB post
© Facebook
Jean-Marie Simon FB post
© Facebook


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Shoe

Republican Rep. Francis Rooney calls for 'purge' of FBI 'deep state' people

Rebecca Savransky
The Hill
Tue, 26 Dec 2017 16:13 UTC
Rep Francis Rooney
© MSNBCGOP Rep. Francis Rooney
Rep. Francis Rooney (R-Fla.) on Tuesday called for a "purge" of the FBI, warning of "deep state" figures at work in the agency.

Rooney said during an interview on MSNBC that the American people have "very high standards" for the country's government agencies, and suggested they aren't being met.

He was pressed during the interview on whether he is trying to discredit the Department of Justice, and by extension the investigation into Russia's election interference.

"I don't want to discredit them. I would like to see the directors of those agencies purge it," he replied.

Comment: It is not very common that a public figure openly makes a reference to the 'deep state'.

See also:

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Bizarro Earth

EU's plot for greater integration will see creation of 'EU identity'

Zoie O'Brien
Express
Wed, 27 Dec 2017 08:18 UTC
Martin Schulz wants further EU integration and member states to follow equal rules
© ReutersMartin Schulz wants further EU integration and member states to follow equal rules
A MOVEMENT within the European Union (EU) is attempting to encourage people to adopt a "second identity" as Europhiles ratchet up plans for a "United States of Europe".

The term used by ex-European Parliament president Martin Schulz to describe the entire bloc, has been adopted by a German group which is calling for all EU nationals to see themselves as Europeans, while calling for an end to nationalism.

Pulse of Europe wants the EU to grow stronger and remain united, rather than breaking apart as more and more people become disenchanted with the bourgeoisie in Brussels.

Comment: The Truth Perspective: Weapons of Mass Migration: Interview with Michael Springmann on Europe's Migrant Crisis

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