Puppet MastersS


Ice Cube

DoJ blackmails law enforcement agencies, Chicago sues Trump admin. over immigration enforcement


RT
Mon, 07 Aug 2017 21:45 UTC
PoIceTrump
© Getty Images
Chicago has sued the federal government over the Trump administration's push to get local law enforcement to help federal immigration authorities go after illegal immigrants.

The Department of Justice said it would withhold federal grants to state and city law enforcement agencies unless they allow federal immigration authorities access to local jails, as well as give them 48 hours' notice before releasing anyone wanted for immigration violations.

In the lawsuit, Chicago argues that the federal policy is forcing the city to choose between its constitutional rights and funding for law enforcement.

"We are bringing this legal challenge because the rhetoric, the threats from this administration embodied in these new conditions imposed on unrelated public safety grants funds are breeding a culture and climate of fear," Reuters cited Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel's senior legal adviser as saying.

In response to the legal action, US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Monday that "No amount of federal taxpayer dollars will help a city that refuses to help its own residents."

"To a degree perhaps unsurpassed by any other jurisdiction, the political leadership of Chicago has chosen deliberately and intentionally to adopt a policy that obstructs this country's lawful immigration system," he added. "They have demonstrated an open hostility to enforcing laws designed to protect law enforcement - Federal, state, and local - and reduce crime, and instead have adopted an official policy of protecting criminal aliens who prey on their own residents."

Comment: ICE-ickles! There's an ideological blizzard happening in the US. It is shovel deep, a bitter chill is in the air and it's not even winter.

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Star of David

Amnesty International blasts Israeli closing of Al Jazeera as 'brazen attack on media freedom'


RT
Tue, 08 Aug 2017 15:41 UTC
AlJazeera
© Ahmad Gharabli/AFPOne more critical voice to be silenced.
Amnesty International's regional director has hit out at Israel's decision to close Al Jazeera's office in Jerusalem and take the channel off the air as "a brazen attack on media freedom" and an attempt to silence critical voices.

"This is a brazen attack on media freedom in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The move sends a chilling message that the Israeli authorities will not tolerate critical coverage," the organization's deputy Middle East and North Africa director, Magdalena Mughrabi, said.

In its decision "to suppress Al Jazeera," the Israeli government essentially sided with states such as Saudi Arabia that are also demanding the media outlet to be shut down amid an ongoing row between Doha and the Gulf states, the statement says.

"All journalists should be free to carry out their work without facing harassment or intimidation. Instead of initiating a repressive clampdown on freedom of expression the Israeli authorities must halt any attempt to silence critical media."

Al Jazeera blasted the plan to close the channel on Sunday, saying that the measure comes from "a country that claims to be the only democracy in the Middle East," and that the channel would "closely watch the developments that may result from the Israeli decision" and take "all the necessary legal measures."

Comment: Silence for one is freedom for another. Al-Jazeera has been a thorn in Israel's side, one it badly wants removed. Israel does not tolerate criticism, nor is it capable of hearing truth not of its own making.

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Stock Down

House of cards: Is the technology bubble getting ready to burst?

Ruchir Sharma
The New York Times
Sat, 05 Aug 2017 00:00 UTC
house of cards
At the height of a market mania in 1967, the author George Goodman captured the mood perfectly, comparing it to a surreal party that ends only when "black horsemen" burst through the doors and cut down all the revelers who remain. "Those who leave early are saved, but the ball is so splendid no one wants to leave while there is still time. So everybody keeps asking - what time is it? But none of the clocks have hands."

Every decade since, the global markets have relived this party. In the late 1960s the mania was for the "nifty 50" American companies like Disney and McDonald's, which had been the "go-go" stocks of that decade. In the late 1970s it was for natural resources, from gold to oil. In the late 1980s it was stocks in Japan, and in the late 1990s it was the dot-com boom. Last decade, investors flocked to mortgage-backed securities and big emerging markets from Brazil to Russia. In every case, many partygoers were still in the market when the crash came.

Today, tech mania is resurgent. Investors are again glancing at a clock with no hands - and dismissing the risk. The profitless start-ups that were wiped out in the dot-com crash have consolidated into an oligopoly composed of leading survivors such as Google and Apple. These are giants with real earnings, yet signs of an irrational euphoria are growing.

Comment:

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Radar

Pentagon reports Iranian drone buzzed US Navy jet in Persian Gulf


RT
Tue, 08 Aug 2017 15:51 UTC
U.S. Navy F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter jet
© U.S. Navy / Reuters
A US Navy fighter attempting to land on an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf had to maneuver to dodge an Iranian drone, which came within 100 feet (31 meters), US officials said.

The F/A-18E Super Hornet jet was on the landing approach when an Iranian drone approached, said unnamed US defense officials. The drone, identified as a QOM-1, came within 100 feet vertically and 200 feet (62 meters) laterally, the US Naval Institute reported.

The drone ignored repeated radio calls, the US officials said, describing the interaction as "unsafe and unprofessional," according to Reuters.

While the officials did not specify which unit the US jet belonged to, the only carrier currently in the Gulf is the USS Nimitz (CVN-68), according to information made publicly available by the US Navy.

The Super Hornet was part of the Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 147, assigned to the Nimitz, the US Naval Institute confirmed. It was operating in international airspace at the time of the incident, which occurred around 1pm local time on Tuesday.
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USA

Trump presidency: After the coup, what then?

Patrick J. Buchanan
Buchanan.org
Tue, 08 Aug 2017 15:19 UTC
out to get trump graphic
That the Trump presidency is bedeviled is undeniable.

As President Donald Trump flew off for August at his Jersey club, there came word that Special Counsel Robert Mueller III had impaneled a grand jury and subpoenas were going out to Trump family and campaign associates.

The jurors will be drawn from a pool of citizens in a city Hillary Clinton swept with 91 percent of the vote. Trump got 4 percent.

Whatever indictments Mueller wants, Mueller gets.

Thanks to a media that savages him ceaselessly, Trump is down to 33 percent approval in a Quinnipiac University poll and below 40 percent in most of the rest.

Comment: If a coup is successful, there might be a revolution and heads may roll.

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X

Philippines denies reports that US may intervene in Marawi against ISIS

Adam Garrie
The Duran
Tue, 08 Aug 2017 14:44 UTC
Duterte with army
Defense officials in Philippines deny reports from the United States that American military contingents are examining the possibility of a military intervention in the country due to the war with ISIS aligned terrorists and other insurgents on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao and specifically the besieged city of Marawi.

US based NBC news earlier reported that Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis stated that the US will shortly make an announcement on whether US bombers will commence military strikes in Philippines.

This recent development would imply that the US is considering and indeed may be planning a strike on targets in Philippines that may be illegal according to international law.
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Map

Syrian army 'plans to surround' remaining ISIS fighters north west of Al-Sukhnah

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Mon, 07 Aug 2017 14:19 UTC
Syrian military tank
Following capture of Al-Sukhnah sources with the Syrian military reveal plan to surround and eliminate ISIS fighters by linking up with Syrian troops in Resafa to the north.

That the Syrian army's capture of Al-Sukhnah is a devastating blow to ISIS is shown by the attempt ISIS made just a few hours later to recapture the town. The Al-Masdar news agency however reports that ISIS' counter-attack was repulsed with heavy losses, leaving the Syrian army in secure control of the town.

Yesterday I speculated that the Syrian army would hold back from advancing further east on Deir Ezzor until its hold on Al-Sukhnah is fully consolidated. Whilst this is basically correct, it seems that the form of this "consolidation" is rather more ambitious - and may take rather longer - than I had imagined.

Comment: More on the Syrian war from South Front:



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Map

Are the US and Lebanese Army joining forces with Hezbollah to fight Daesh?


Sputnik
Tue, 08 Aug 2017 14:07 UTC
Hezbollah fighters
© AP Photo/ Mohammed Zaatari
US special operations forces are teaming with the Lebanese Army to coordinate a strike against Daesh from Lebanon as the paramilitary group Hezbollah is reportedly engaging Daesh from the Syrian flank, Haaretz reported Monday.

A Pentagon spokesman confirmed that US Special Forces personnel were presently "providing training and support to the Lebanese Armed Forces that not only concentrates on operational type missions, but also tactical and strategic type missions."

Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said "the Syrian front line against ISIS will be opened," during a speech that aired on television Friday, adding that while Lebanese forces advanced against Daesh from Lebanon, the Syrian Army and Hezbollah would coordinate efforts to swarm Daesh from the south.
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Radar

Japan 'outraged' at resumed US Marine Osprey flights after fatal Australia crash


RT
Tue, 08 Aug 2017 14:00 UTC
U.S. MV-22 Osprey aircrafts
© Carlos Barria / Reuters
Japan has pushed back against continuing US military MV-22 Osprey flights on its territory, after calls to ground all the aircraft following a fatal crash off the Australian coast.

Flights of MV-22 Ospreys - the primary assault support aircraft for the US Marines - resumed in Okinawa just two days after what the Marines called a "mishap" when an MV-22 Osprey went down off the Australian coast. The crash left three servicemen dead, the military confirmed on Monday night.

"It is impossible to overcome the utmost outrage concerning the conducted flight, despite our requests [to refrain from it]," Deputy Okinawa Governor Moritake Tomikawa told the top commander of the US military in Okinawa, Lieutenant General Lawrence Nicholson on Tuesday, Japan's NHK newspaper reports citing the official.
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Snakes in Suits

Netanyahu says 'attempts to topple' him will fail as leader suspected of fraud and bribery


RT
Tue, 08 Aug 2017 13:50 UTC
Benjamin Netanyahu
© Amir Cohen / Reuters
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is a suspect in two corruption cases, has hit out at his critics in the opposition as well as his own party for conspiring to topple him "for many years," local media reports.

"They are trying to get me, attempting to topple the Right," Netanyahu, the second-longest serving leader in Israeli history, told senior members of his coalition in private conversations, as cited by Kan, the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation.

"I have nothing to fear. I don't think I have a problem," he said.


Comment: Israel's Netanyahu exudes calm in face of charges


The 67-year-old chairman of the right-wing Likud party is a suspect in two corruption investigations. The first one refers to allegations the politician received bribes from an Israeli-American businessman. In another case, Netanyahu is suspected of holding talks with an Israeli newspaper publisher about limiting competition in the news business in return for more positive coverage.
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