Puppet MastersS

Attention

Media warning: Possible inauguration drone bombing

drone
© Today.com
The media is raising concerns about a drone bombing at the 58th Presidential Inauguration on Friday. On Thursday's Today show, a report indicated that U.S. Secret Service has put in place several anti-drone efforts out of concern that an I-inspired "flying IED" will smash into the crowd, or worse.

The report quoted an official from DroneShield, a drone countermeasure firm, saying that the Inauguration "is not something I would feel safe at."

Reports of violent protests and attacks has Washington on edge, though past threats have never come.

But the Today show report, headlined Drone Danger At Inauguration? Dealing with a new high-flying security threat, noted that drone bombs have been seen flying over coalition forces in Iraq at least once a day. "When strapped with a bomb, a worse case scenario especially with hundreds of thousands of people gathered at one spot like the Inauguration," the report said.

Comment: Is this report a public service or media fear mongering in order to diminish attendance? If there truly is a threat of drone warfare on the inauguration attendees, the Secret Service, FBI and other protection agencies would be working behind the scenes to stop or minimize the threat, not broadcast it on the Today show. Filters not flaunts. Would they be covering the inaugural in the same way if it was Killary?

This from The Political Insider and the video below from CNN:
The Today show report, combined with CNN's segment that openly wonders what would happen if a terrorist or assassination attack were to kill Trump, has to leave one questioning whether or not the media is giving lunatic leftists food for thought.



Stop

Philippines President Duterte has taunted the country's bishops and priests to drop their "hypocrisy", try meth before criticizing war on drugs

Duterte
© Erik de Castro / ReutersPhilippine President Rodrigo Duterte.
Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has taunted the country's bishops and priests to drop their "hypocrisy" and try drugs themselves to fully grasp the seriousness of the problem.

The Catholic Church got the emphatic message on Wednesday, the same day the Philippines was blessed by Pope Francis. In a speech marking the 20th anniversary of the Premiere Medical Center in Cabanatuan City, Duterte slammed the Church for its opposition to his hardline war on drugs, AFP reported.

"The church really doesn't understand. They know [the drug problem], they know that it is worst, and yet, they said that extrajudicial killing is not good," the president said, according to Sun Star Manila newspaper. "So other priests should use shabu so they would understand [that the drug problem worsens]. I recommend one or two of the bishops take it also."

Shabu is the Philippines slang term for the highly addictive crystal methamphetamine which is the most popular illegal drug in the country.

Comment: See also: 'I can declare martial law to protect my country', Duterte warns amid escalating drug epidemic


Red Flag

China urges Trump to reject Taiwan delegation from inauguration

usa taiwan flag
© Stephen Lam / Reuters
Beijing has called on Washington to bar Taiwan representatives from attending US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration on Friday, warning that the "so-called delegation" could "disturb or undermine Sino-US relations."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Beijing was opposed to Taiwan, which China considers a renegade province, sending its own representatives to "engage in activities to interfere in or damage China-US ties."

"We again urge the relevant side in the United States not to allow the Taiwan authority to send a so-called delegation to the United States to attend the presidential inauguration and not have any form of official contact with Taiwan," Hua told a news briefing on Wednesday.

"China's position has already accurately and unmistakably been given to the US administration and Trump's team," she added, noting that China's ambassador to the United States, Cui Tiankai, will attend the inauguration.

Comment: More background on the situation with Taiwan from Newsbud's Peter Lee:




Info

So sad: White House staffers pack their boxes, shed tears on their way out - deep state "angsting"

earnest obama
© AP
They line up near the Oval Office, down the hallway toward the Cabinet Room, trailed by their spouses and young kids in their finest clothes. When it's their turn, the White House staffers enter for a few private moments with President Barack Obama, a photo and a farewell hug from the boss.

There's a mass exodus underway this week at the White House. As Obama holds his last news conference Wednesday, his staff is busy packing up their offices and turning in their BlackBerrys. For some who joined Obama's team right out of college, it's the end of the only professional experience they've ever known.

The finals days of any president's administration are always bittersweet and heavy on nostalgia, as officials face the transition back to being "civilians" who will no longer have their hands on the nation's levers of power. Yet there's added sadness this time for Obama staffers who are mostly horrified by the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump.

"You're always aware that it's a special privilege to work there and not something to take for granted," said Nate Lowentheil, who worked on Obama's National Economic Council for the last three years. "It's particularly hard knowing the next wave of people coming are going to be working to reverse the things you were working to advance until your very last hour."


Comment: Isn't it sadder knowing you've done a horrible job, supporting a mass murderer?


Comment: They're not the only ones getting emotional. In Virginia, Gen. Michael Hayden is apparently "playing career counselor" at the local CIA breakfast hangout for those feeling "a special angst" for the Trump future:
In free-spirited Takoma Park, Md., a "nuclear-free zone" since 1983, a left-wing resistance movement is taking shape. Nadine Bloch, an activist and artist, is running pre-inaugural training on nonviolent protest โ€” complete with mock police officers wielding rolled up newspapers as batons.

And here in the District of Columbia, where 91 percent of voters cast their ballots for Hillary Clinton, "full-scale panic" is setting in, said John Feehery, a Republican strategist and Trump enthusiast. Leslie Harris, a liberal Democratic lawyer, uses war imagery: "I feel like my city is about to be invaded."
...
"We don't know exactly what to expect from Trump, except that he's combative," said Robert Dallek, a presidential biographer, who has lived here for 20 years. And furthermore, Mr. Dallek complained, "It's offensive to be called a swamp."

... like the rest of America, Washington is also a real place, with real people, who have lived here for decades. The permanent occupants of "the swamp" see presidents come, and see them go. And no matter what their politics, people agree with Mr. Feehery that this transition "feels different" from any in recent memory.
...
The unease runs especially deep among those General Hayden calls "Republican internationalists," who advocate engagement with other nations but possess a hawkish suspicion of Russian and Chinese intentions. Having described Mr. Trump as Russia's "useful fool" on the opinion page of The Washington Post, the general, 71, would never be offered a job.

But with Mr. Trump openly questioning the "high confidence judgment" by the C.I.A. about Russian hacking, he has been entertaining a steady stream of visitors wary of joining the new administration.

"I say, 'Yeah, by all means, if the president-elect asks you to serve, consider it seriously,' '' he said. "But don't think of it as a lifetime commitment; you remain a free agent.''



Attention

Ambassador Koren: Israel doubts Syrian territorial integrity can be preserved

Israeli ambassador Russia
© Sputnik/Vitally BelousovIsraeli Ambassador to Russia Gary Koren
Israel doubts that it will be possible to preserve Syria's territorial integrity, Israeli ambassador to Russia Gary Koren told Sputnik. "We are not against Syria being a free and democratic country, but how possible is it? It is probably not. We doubt that it is possible to preserve Syria's integrity, but it is up to them to decide," Koren said.

Israel is not intervening in the Syrian conflict because it understands that such intervention will yield no positive results, Israeli Ambassador to Russia said. "Israel is not interfering in the war in Syria because we understand that our intervention will not yield any positive result. If conditions arise that will need our military involvement, it will only complicate the situation for all, and we would not want that. The existing status quo is terrible in terms of the humanitarian situation, therefore we support any attempt that could help stopping the bloodshed," Koren said.

Israel doubts that next Monday's anticipated talks on the Syrian crisis in the Kazakh capital of Astana will prove successful, Gary Koren said, advocating for Tel Aviv's territorial interests. "We have informed Russia and other stakeholders that it does not matter what the adopted agreements are, it is important that Israeli interests, including the Golan Heights issue, are also taken into account," Koren said Thursday.

Koren said Israel wants Russia to succeed in its peacekeeping efforts in Syria, including the upcoming Astana talks, but said "we have certain doubts." "They do not concern Russian steps, but have to do with the actions and objectives of Russia's partners, in particular Iran," the envoy stressed, underscoring the possibility of Moscow's and Tehran's divergent interests in Syria.

Comment: More of the same from Israel. Its interests are always front and center. Koren's opinion, be it his or one that was given him, is an unnecessary spoiler to the upcoming Astana talks. It is a tactic to achieve what it wants, a political nudge (cloaked threat) to drive a wedge.


Arrow Down

Trump may slash 20% federal workers, 10% spending cuts

Trump drain
© longroom.com
Making good on a promise to slash government, President-elect Trump has asked his incoming team to pursue spending and staffing cuts. Insiders said that the spending reductions in some departments could go as high as 10 percent and staff cuts to 20 percent, numbers that would rock Washington if he follows through.

At least two so-called "landing teams" in Cabinet agencies have relayed the call for cuts as part of their marching orders to shrink the flab in government. The cuts would target discretionary spending, not mandated programs such as Medicare or Social Security, the sources said.

The spending reductions are expected to be used to help pay for Trump's plan to boost the Pentagon's budget, tax cuts and some pet projects, potentially including the anti-immigration wall on the nation's southern border. The teams also are looking at staffing cuts over four years through attrition, a hiring freeze and reorganization.

The plan is winning cheers in conservative, anti-tax and anti-spending corners in Washington that have long sought massive cuts in the bureaucracy.

Comment: The slashing of budgets, the 'gnashings of teeth.'


Eye 1

Does the rogue deep state have Trump's back? Armed forces a key role?

Trump Mattis
© AP Photo/Gerry BroomeDonald Trump and retired General James Mattis, appointed Secretary of Defense
Rather than being the bad guys, as per the usual Liberal world-view, the Armed Forces may well play a key role in reducing the utterly toxic influence of neocon-neoliberals within the Deep State.

Suddenly everybody is referring to the Deep State, typically without offering much of a definition. The general definition is the unelected government that continues making and implementing policy regardless of who is in elected office.

I have been writing about this structure for 10 years and studying it from the outside for 40 years. Back in 2007, I called it the Elite Maintaining and Extending Global Dominance, which is a more concise description of the structure than Deep State. I've used this simplified chart to explain the basic structure of the Deep State, which is the complex network of state-funded and/or controlled institutions, agencies, foundations, university research projects, media ties, etc.

The key point here is you can't separate these network nodes: you cannot separate DARPA, the national labs (nukes, energy, etc.), the National Science Foundation, DoD (Department of Defense), the National Security State (alphabet soup of intelligence/black budget agencies: CIA, NSA, DIA, etc.), Silicon Valley and the research universities: they are all tied together by funding, information flows, personnel and a thousand other connections.
Deepstate
© Charles Hugh Smith/www.oftwominds.com

Comment: There has likely never been a president-elect up against such unknowns, such animosity, and such a toxic political climate filled with brainwashed, biased and polarized elements as Mr. Trump. To have come this far, something must be working in his favor.


Handcuffs

Spain backing the wrong horse: Russian programmer detained at FBI's request

Handcuffs
© imago stock&people / Global Look Press
A 31-year-old Russian computer programmer has been detained by Spanish authorities at the request of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Interpol, his wife has confirmed to RT.

Stanislav Lisov was apprehended on January 13 at the airport in Barcelona in the middle of a holiday trip with his wife.

"We were detained at the airport in Barcelona, when we came to return a rented car before flying out to Lyon, to continue our trip and visit friends. When we were getting out of the car, two police officers approached showed us the badge and said they were detaining my husband," Darya Lisova told RT.

The policemen immediately searched the programmer's phone, notebook, and his tablet computer.

Comment: See also:Armenia detains Russian citizen after U.S. request, considers extradition (UPDATE: Yerevan court refuses U.S. request for detention, man returns to Moscow)


Attention

Establishment outraged as Rep. Tulsi Gabbard goes to Syria on fact-finding mission

Tulsi Gabbard
© Mike Segar / Reuters
Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii has stirred up the US foreign policy establishment by going on a private fact-finding mission to Syria. Gabbard has opposed the US policy of regime change in Syria and championed a bill to stop arming terrorists there.

Gabbard's trip to Syria and Lebanon was made public on Wednesday by Foreign Policy, a magazine close to the very interventionist establishment in Washington long criticized by the Hawaii Democrat.


A veteran of the Iraq War and major in the Hawaii National Guard, Gabbard "has long been committed to peace and ending counterproductive, interventionist wars," her spokesperson Emily Latimer said in a statement Wednesday.

Bad Guys

As ISIS offensive against Deir ez-Zor unfolds, U.S. Air Force is busy bombing oil stills and fuel trucks

Fighter bomber
Monday an ISIS offensive launched two days earlier managed to cut the besieged Syrian enclave around the eastern desert city of Deir ez-Zor in two. This leaves 120,000 people the closest they have ever been to falling into ISIS hands. As heavy fighting continues the Russian and Syrian air forces are scrambling to help the city.

Meanwhile where are the Americans who just recently claimed they are the only ones fighting ISIS at all?