Puppet MastersS


Handcuffs

FBI Director Comey: 'We found classified info on Anthony Weiner's laptop'

clinton abedin weiner
Testifying in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee Wednesday, FBI Director James Comey revealed classified information was found on an unsecured personal laptop belonging to Anthony Weiner and wife Huma Abedin in October 2016.

"Somehow, her [Hillary Clinton] emails were being forwarded to Anthony Weiner, including classified information," Comey said.

When asked if Weiner accessing classified information without proper clearance would be illegal, Comey said yes and added he likely did not have authority to do so.

Eye 1

Surveillance State: How the NSA breaks the law - and lies about it

NSA, national security agency
© Dado Ruvic / Reuters
Late last week, President Donald Trump told CBS News that domestic surveillance of American citizens should be the "No. 1" topic of inquiry until we can find out "what the hell is going on" with it. Also late last week, the National Security Agency -- the federal government's 60,000-person-strong domestic spying agency -- announced that it would voluntarily hold back on its more aggressive uses of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

That section permits the NSA to capture communications between foreigners and Americans without a warrant from any court, even though the NSA has its own secret court that has granted well over 99 percent of applications for spying brought to it.

Yet the NSA has convinced the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court that when it captures the communications of a foreigner and an American and those communications refer to a third person who is an American, Section 702 extends the authority for warrantless spying to that third person, as well. And it extends to any person whom the third person is talking about -- and so forth, out to the sixth level of communication.

Eye 1

Fake News Leader NYT Cheers the Rise of Censorship Algorithms

New York times propaganda
Just days after sporting First Amendment pins at the White House Correspondents Dinner - to celebrate freedom of the press - the mainstream U.S. media is back to celebrating a very different idea: how to use algorithms to purge the Internet of what is deemed "fake news," i.e. what the mainstream judges to be "misinformation."

The New York Times, one of the top promoters of this new Orwellian model for censorship, devoted two-thirds of a page in its Tuesday editions to a laudatory piece about high-tech entrepreneurs refining artificial intelligence that can hunt down and eradicate supposedly "fake news."

To justify this draconian strategy, the Times cited only a "fake news" report claiming that the French establishment's preferred presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron had received funding from Saudi Arabia, a bogus story published by a Web site that mimicked the appearance of the newspaper Le Soir and was traced back to a Delaware phone number.

Jet3

Russian envoy says US-led coalition warplanes banned from Syria safe zones

U.S. Air Force B-1B Lancer supersonic bomber
© Reuters
The four safe zones to be established in Syria will be closed for flights by US-led coalition warplanes, said the Russian envoy to the Astana peace talks, where the zones were agreed upon.

"As for [the coalition] actions in the de-escalation zones, starting from now those zones are closed for their flights," Aleksandr Levrentyev told journalists in the Kazakh capital.

Comment: More analyses on the Astana talks: The Astana 'safe zone' memorandum is good for Syria & bad for its enemies


Eye 1

Fact Check: Did Thailand really just arrest a "top human rights lawyer?"

Prawet Prapanukul
© MatichonPrawet Prapanukul, 57, a 'human rights lawyer', is led Wednesday afternoon from a Bangkok court room and returned to custody.
A recent article published by RT titled, "Top Thai human rights lawyer faces 150 years in prison for 'royal insult'," repeats almost verbatim talking points drawn from US and European media, as well as US-funded organizations posing as "nongovernmental organizations" (NGOs).

The "top Thai human rights lawyer" mentioned in the headline is actually a representative of an armed militant group, the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) which killed over 100 and maimed hundreds more in multiple failed attempts aimed at overthrowing the Thai political order spanning form 2006-2014.

The militant group, organized and directed by ousted former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, represents yet another US-backed effort at undermining and overthrowing a political order obstructing its corporate-financier interests both within Thailand itself, and within the Asian region.

Attention

Tories smash Labour in local elections, UKIP obliterated, Labour in denial

UK ballot boxes
© Toby Melville / Reuters
The prospect of a sweeping Tory general election victory grew on Friday after early local election results showed Labour suffering heavy losses, while UKIP faced total wipeout.

UK Prime Minister Theresa May's party made significant gains in England and Wales, just five weeks before the country goes to the polls for the June 8 general election.

The Conservatives appeared to benefit from the collapse of UKIP, now that the Tories have captured the pro-Brexit demographic.

Thousands of voters across England, Wales, and Scotland went to the polls on Thursday to decide the fate of almost 5,000 council seats and to elect six new metro mayors.

Chess

The Astana 'safe zone' memorandum is good for Syria & bad for its enemies

Participants in a meeting on Syria in Astana
© Bolat Shaykhinov / SputnikParticipants in a meeting on Syria in Astana
Russia's master chess move has made things better for Syria and worse for Syria's enemies.

The controversial move has sparked a great deal of debate, some measured and some outlandishly suggesting that Russia 'sold out' its Syrian partner.

Here are the key reasons why it was a masterful geo-political move by Russia that will help keep Syria safe, stable and sovereign.

Newspaper

Republican-Led health care Bill has passed

Kevin Brady
© Unknown
It wasn't pretty, but House Republicans have finally secured enough votes to pass the American Health Care Act.

In a vote of 217-to-213, the House has voted to repeal and replace Obamacare. Twenty Republicans voted "no," as well as every Democrat.

The legislation passed despite moderate Republicans' concerns over protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions. Rep. Fred Upton's (R-MI) amendment to address that concern may have convinced some hesitant members at the last minute.

Next stop: the Senate.

Comment: Trump's deep state compromise: Free reign on domestic front, totally compromised in foreign affairs


Newspaper

Pro-Hillary NY Daily News columnist torches Hillary Clinton

Kevin Brady
© Unknown
Well, someone had to say it—and it says something when it's a Clinton supporter as well. The New York Daily News' Gersh Kuntzman seems to have had enough of Hillary Clinton's whine tour, bluntly telling her to "shut the f**k up and go away already." This comes after Clinton has emerged from her glass case of emotion to discuss how misogyny, FBI Director James Comey, sexism, and Wikileaks cost her the election. Yes, Clinton prefaces all of this by saying that she takes responsibility for losing (and that her campaign was not perfect), but then lists those four reasons for what really sunk her. It's a disingenuous attempt at an apology to her supporters for blowing a very winnable election. Even CNN's Jake Tapper took a swipe at her.

Bad Guys

Neocons got each others' back: Obama officially endorses globalist French presidential candidate Macron

macron obama
Hey Barry, not meddling in the French election process much?
Obama backs Macron.

Globalist, neo-liberals stick together.

The good news...the last two candidates/causes Obama came out to officially endorse, Brexit and Hillary, both suffered stunning loses.

Can we hope for three in a row? Let's hope.

Comment: