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Senate waits until Christmas to reveal it has payed $1.5 million in harassment settlements

Kevin Daley
The Daily Caller
Mon, 25 Dec 2017 16:13 UTC
Washington senators
As the Christmas holiday weekend set in, the Senate Rules and Administration Committee released a report revealing the Senate has spent $1.5 million on workplace harassment settlements since 1998.

The data, provided by the Office of Compliance, a little known administrative body that has quietly settled dozens of complaints against congressional offices, provides little by way of details, beyond an itemized list of violations and the corresponding settlement.

GOP Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, who chairs the Rules Committee, said further particulars cannot be made public, in order to respect the confidentiality afforded to victims.
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Mr. Potato

Oops! Sen. Orrin Hatch tweets he's 'grateful' for an editorial which calls for him to step down

Aaron Colen
The Blaze
Tue, 26 Dec 2017 09:03 UTC
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch
© Chip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesSenate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) talks with reporters following a lunch meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House November 27, 2017 in Washington, DC.
It's important to read past the headline.

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) learned that the hard way Monday, when he retweeted an editorial naming him "Utahn of the Year."

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Eye 2

Macrons tightens screws on refugees in unlikely deadline to get them off the streets


Townhall
Wed, 27 Dec 2017 15:06 UTC
Paris canal refugee migrants
It's getting colder, the clock is ticking and regional authorities are scrambling to meet President Emmanuel Macron's deadline: get migrants off France's streets and out of forest hideouts by year's end.

That won't likely happen, and Macron's government is now tightening the screws: ramping up expulsions, raising pressure on economic migrants and allowing divisive ID checks in emergency shelters.

Critics contend that Macron's increasingly tough policy on migrants - though wrapped in a cloak of goodwill - contradicts his image as a humanist who defeated an anti-immigrant populist for the presidency, and has crossed a line passed by no other president in the land that prides itself as the cradle of human rights.


Comment: It's actually quite in keeping with Macron's policies: Assad tells Macron that France 'spearheaded support for terrorism' in Syria so 'they have no right to talk about peace'

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Eye 1

Biden reveals in memoirs US meddling in Ukraine


RT
Tue, 26 Dec 2017 19:22 UTC
US Vice President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich in Kiev on July 21, 2009.
© Gleb Garanich / ReutersUS Vice President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich in Kiev on July 21, 2009.
Joe Biden bluntly demanded that former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich resign back in 2014, the former US vice president revealed. He also confirmed the US was deeply involved in Kiev's affairs during that year's crisis.

From the very beginning of the Ukrainian crisis, the US sought to direct Yanukovich in his handling of the riots on Maidan Square that eventually led to a coup in Ukraine, Biden says in his new book titled "Promise Me, Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship And Purpose," which was published in November, but has now been brought into the media spotlight in connection with the US's role in the crisis. Biden reveals that he repeatedly called the then-Ukrainian president, telling him what he should or should not do.


Comment: No surprise: Obama admits US role in 2014 Ukraine coup

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Rocket

Friends in need: Russia loans Turkey 55% of cost to buy 4 S-400 missile defense systems


Sputnik
Wed, 27 Dec 2017 14:46 UTC
Russia S-400 air defense system
© Sputnik/ Sergey MalgavkoRussia's S-400 air defense system
The Russian Rostec Corporation said that the deliveries of S-400 air defense systems to Turkey will start in March 2020, with 45 percent of the contracted sum to be paid in advance by Ankara.

Turkey purchased four Russian S-400 air defense systems worth $2.5 billion with 55 percent of the sum under the contract being covered by Russian loans, CEO of Russia's Rostec Corporation Sergey Chemezov told the Kommersant newspaper in an interview issued on Wednesday.

He confirmed that Ankara had bought four S-400 systems. "Yes, [they bought four S-400 systems] worth $2.5 billion," Chemezov said.
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Arrow Up

Syrian government forces launch operation to liberate jihadist-held Idlib province

Paul Antonopoulos
Fort Russ News
Tue, 26 Dec 2017 14:21 UTC
Idlib offensive December2017
© IklamalariSAA launches offensive in Idlib Province, Syria
Today marks an important day as the Syrian Army has launched an imperative operation to liberate jihadist-held Idlib province in northwest Syria on the border with Turkey.

Idlib was initially invaded by jihadist-forces who mobilized within Turkey and launched an operation to invade it in early 2015. The success of their operation saw the entirety of the province, with the exception of the two Shi'ite towns of Fua and Kefraya, come under the hands of Al-Qaeda affiliates, primarily the Al-Nusra Front, and their allies.

Today's operation marks a monumental moment on the Syrian Army to the equivalent of the operations to entirely liberate Deir Ezzor and Aleppo.

Comment: Syrian military jet shot down by militants, pilot killed

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Info

Chief of Russian General Staff: US is using its bases in Syria to retrain, rebrand and redeploy ISIS


RT
Wed, 27 Dec 2017 01:02 UTC
Free Syrian Army fighters
© Khalil Ashawi / ReutersFree Syrian Army fighters
The US is hosting training camps for militant groups in Syria, including former ISIS fighters who fled from Raqqa, said the head of Russia's General Staff, Valery Gerasimov, citing data obtained by aerial surveillance.

The US forces have effectively turned their military base near the town of al-Tanf in southeastern Syria into a terrorists' training camp, Gerasimov said in an interview to Russia's Komsomolskaya Pravda daily on Wednesday.

"According to satellite and other surveillance data, terrorist squads are stationed there. They are effectively training there," Gerasimov said, when asked about what's going on at the base.

The general also said the US has been using a refugee camp in northeast Syria, outside the town of Al-Shaddadah in Al-Hasakah province, as a training camp for the remnants of the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) terrorist group, including those evacuated from Raqqa, and other militants.
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Radar

NATO steps up its use of offensive cyberweapons

Ulson Gunnar
New Eastern Outlook
Mon, 25 Dec 2017 00:00 UTC
NATO cyberweapons
NATO members including the US, UK, Germany, Norway, Spain, Denmark and the Netherlands have begun taking public steps in defining guidelines regarding the deployment of offensive cyberweapons.

Reuters in its article, "NATO mulls 'offensive defense' with cyber warfare rules," would state:
A group of NATO allies are considering a more muscular response to state-sponsored computer hackers that could involve using cyber attacks to bring down enemy networks, officials said.
Reuters would also report:
The doctrine could shift NATO's approach from being defensive to confronting hackers that officials say Russia, China and North Korea use to try to undermine Western governments and steal technology.
The article also noted that the United States and its allies already possess and have threatened to use cyberweapons offensively, citing the 2010 Sutxnet virus deployed against Iranian nuclear infrastructure as a possible example. Other examples cited of possible applications included shutting down power plants with malware rather than bombing them.

Comment: The cyber warfare organ grinder was recently rekindled with US allegations against North Korea:

North Korea invites the US to prove Pyongyang's WannaCry connection with a show of evidence

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Clipboard

Putin submits application for 2018 presidential poll


RT
Wed, 27 Dec 2017 11:49 UTC
Putin
© RT
Vladimir Putin has submitted his application for registration as an independent candidate in the 2018 Russian presidential election.

The Central Elections Commission accepted the documents, and now has three days to check them and make a final decision on Putin's registration as a candidate.

The previous day, over 600 Russian politicians, activists and celebrities founded an initiative group backing Putin's independent candidacy for a new term, which they voted to endorse.
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Brick Wall

The FBI strategy: Stonewall Russiagate until next year's Congressional elections

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Tue, 26 Dec 2017 16:04 UTC
DevinNunes
© Crooks and LiarsChair of House Intelligence Committee, Devin Nunes
The news that FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe plans to retire next year comes as no surprise following his disastrous showing in his testimony to Congress a week ago.

The FBI's problem - and the key problem of the whole Russiagate probe - is that the evidence on which it was launched and upon which it continues to be based - Christopher Steele's Trump Dossier - cannot be verified because it is untrue.

However admitting this fact would be tantamount to admitting that there is no case for Special Counsel to investigate - which would lead to calls for Special Counsel Mueller's investigation to be terminated - and would lead to questions about the FBI's conduct during the 2016 election.

Not only would that be disastrous in itself - with questions being asked about why the FBI undertook surveillance of Hillary Clinton's opponents on the strength of a Trump Dossier paid for by the DNC and Hillary Clinton's campaign which the FBI cannot verify - but it would lead to questions about the FBI's attitude not just towards Donald Trump but towards Hillary Clinton as well.

Comment: The unravelling of FBI collusion with the Clintons and the DNC is gaining momentum. By the time of elections in 2018, who knows what revelations will have subsequently come to the surface or what the public opinion will dictate.

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