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Post-It Note

Comey criticisms: Why FBI director was right to disclose Clinton investigation

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Tue, 01 Nov 2016 09:54 UTC
James Comey
© Joe Raedle/Getty ImagesFBI Director James Comey
The criticisms which are being made of FBI Director James Comey for disclosing the latest investigation do not bear scrutiny. The FBI did not violate the terms of the Hatch Act and far from acting contrary to due process the FBI has been careful to follow it

Hillary Clinton's response to the revelation that the FBI is investigating the emails on Anthony Weiner's computer is all that might be expected from someone of her personality.

Whilst a secure and confident person would welcome the FBI investigation, say they had nothing to hide, and offer assistance, Hillary Clinton's reaction and that of her campaign team is to release the attack dogs.

Thus over the last two days we have seen an obviously orchestrated storm of criticism of FBI Director James Comey, with claims that he is trying to influence the election, is breaching protocols, and may even have broken federal law, by informing Congress of the new investigation before the election has taken place.

Is there any basis to this?

Comment: See also: FBI Director Comey did NOT break the law by announcing email investigation

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Eye 1

Clinton, Trump prepare thousands of lawyers for possibility of election results challenge

Mark Niquette and Margaret Talev
Bloomberg
Tue, 01 Nov 2016 17:21 UTC
clinton and trump
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are arming up for a possible post-Election Day battle.

Clinton is assembling a voter protection program that has drawn thousands of lawyers agreeing to lend their time and expertise in battleground states, though the campaign isn't saying exactly how many or where. It is readying election observers in Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New Hampshire, Iowa, Nevada and Arizona to assess any concerns -- including the potential for voter intimidation -- and to verify normal procedures.

The Republican National Lawyers Association, which trains attorneys in battleground states and in local jurisdictions where races are expected to be close, aims to assemble 1,000 lawyers ready to monitor polls and possibly challenge election results across the country. Hedge fund manager Robert Mercer, one of Trump's biggest backers, has sunk $500,000 into the group, its biggest donation in at least four presidential elections, Internal Revenue Service filings show.

"We are fighting for open, fair and honest elections," the association's executive director, Michael Thielen, said in an e-mail.
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Pumpkin 2

SOTT Focus: Is Clinton finished? FBI doubles down, says no evidence of Trump-Putin collusion

Niall Bradley
Sott.net
Tue, 01 Nov 2016 17:33 UTC
clinton conspiracy theorist
Let us not tolerate outrageous conspiracy theories
While the general public might be under the illusion that Russia is nothing more than a "regional power", the terrifying truth has now been revealed: Russia is a global hegemon with the unequaled power to decide who gets to be the President of the USA. Yes, that's right, the entire exceptional USA, its population and political and economic institutions, are nothing more than pawns of the Russian government, mere putty in the hands of the tyrant Putin.

This shocking claim has been repeatedly made over the past few months by the Clinton campaign and many Democrat politicians, not to mention the leading media organs on both sides of the Atlantic. Their evidence, as incontrovertible as the claim itself, is made up of repeated statements by Hillary and her minions that Putin and Trump are best buddies and that Putin has been hacking DNC emails and releasing them to the public, just to make Hillary look bad. And just when you thought that the situation couldn't get any worse, now we are told that the FBI might be compromised too. Yes, you heard that right, there are not only Reds under the FBI's bed, but FBI Director Comey might be sleeping with one.

In truth, our very way of life is in peril from this revanchist Red Menace. We must take action, and now. Elect Hillary or you'll be speaking Russian by Christmas.

Coming back to reality...
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Pirates

Syrian forces maintain defense of gained territory in Aleppo

Bernard
Moon of Alabama
Tue, 01 Nov 2016 13:18 UTC
Aleppo
For four days now al-Qaeda in Syria (aka Jabhat al Nusra aka Fatah al-Sham) and assorted other "rebel" groups have tried to attack Aleppo from the west to break the siege on al-Qaeda associated groups in east-Aleppo. The New York Times is now openly admitting that CIA-supported groups are acting under al-Qaeda's operational command. The piece though, which belonged on page one, was in the back of the paper. There is no public outcry over this disturbing fact.

The attack on west-Aleppo had been talked about for over two weeks and the defenders are well prepared.

As can be seen on the map above the areas al-Qaeda and its allies managed to capture so far are only small rural outskirts. Every attempt to attack actual city estate under roof was repelled by the defenders. Small infiltrations like shown in the map were immediately cleaned up. The marked area is back in the hands of the Syrian army. It is estimated that the several thousand attackers have so far lost more than 500 men. A 1,000 more are likely injured. Every attack has to be carried over mostly open land and is received by heavy artillery fire. Air attacks ravage their supply and preparation ares.

Comment: According to the Russian MOD, 2,000 "moderate rebels" shelled residential areas using 22 tanks, 15 infantry fighting vehicles, 8 "jihad-mobiles" and rocket artillery, most of which were destroyed. He added, "Is this the opposition with which it is possible to negotiate?"

The Russian aerospace forces have been grounded for 16 days now. But Peskov noted today: "If you remember, we said when the president deemed it necessary to extend the humanitarian pause that, in any case, everything will depend on the position assumed by the terrorists, because continuing the humanitarian pause in the event of resumed militant offensive operations would be impossible."

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Info

International Criminal Court reportedly 'about to probe US war crimes in Afghanistan'


RT
Tue, 01 Nov 2016 16:49 UTC
US soldiers
© Mohammad Ismail / Reuters
Over the next few weeks, the International Criminal Court (ICC) could open an investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Afghan war, including those allegedly committed by American troops, Foreign Policy magazine reports.

Citing "several knowledgeable sources," the magazine claims that the ICC's chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, is several weeks from launching a thorough and comprehensive investigation into violations in conducting war that could implicate US soldiers, Taliban insurgents and, possibly, the Afghan government.

If indeed launched, the investigation would be the first of its kind. The ICC has never considered bringing war crimes charges against American army personal for acts committed in Afghanistan before.
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Stock Up

Polls taken since FBI reopened Clinton investigation show Trump leads with 46% of vote


RT
Tue, 01 Nov 2016 16:51 UTC
trump
© Mario Anzuoni / Reuters
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump shows a one percent, 46-45, lead over Democrat Hillary Clinton, according to the latest poll. Trump's resurgence follows revelations that the FBI is taking a renewed look at the Clinton e-mails scandal.

Trump's lead in the poll comes despite the Democratic presidential candidate having a lead in early voting, which shows her at 54 percent compared with Trump at 41 percent, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released on Tuesday.

One in five likely voters said they had already voted (21 percent), while about one-quarter said they plan to vote early or by mail (24 percent). Only a slight majority plan to vote in-person on Election Day.

The United States Election project said 24.7 million voters have voted early, 19 percent of the 129 million ballots cast in 2012.

Some 53 percent of Trump supporters had enthusiasm for their candidate, compared to only 43 percent of Clinton backers.
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Light Sabers

Russian MoD warns against raiding Mosul residential areas - will result in mass civilian casualties


RT
Tue, 01 Nov 2016 16:46 UTC
iraqi special forces
© Goran Tomasevic / ReutersMembers of an Iraqi special forces police unit fire their weapons at Islamic State fighters in al-Shura, south of Mosul, Iraq October 29, 2016
The plans of coalition forces and the Iraqi army to carry out an assault in residential areas of Mosul will likely result in mass civilian casualties, Russia's Defense Ministry said, while noting there are no humanitarian corridors in the Iraqi city.

"We are hearing reports about an upcoming storming of residential areas populated by civilians that are murky, but extremely alarming, given the mass casualties that could result," Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Major General Igor Konashenkov said.

He added that the US' plans for the military operation give the impression that "the city of one million residents is only populated by terrorists."

The Russian military released the statement following remarks made by the US State Department concerning the anti-terrorist operations in the Iraqi city and Aleppo in Syria, in which it maintained that the situations in Mosul and Aleppo are completely different, with State Department spokesman John Kirby claiming that only the US-led coalition's offensive in Iraq was being carried out in accordance with international humanitarian law.
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V

Wikileaks releases 25th tranche of Podesta emails, revealing Podesta's advice to 'dump all those mails'


RT
Tue, 01 Nov 2016 16:34 UTC
hillary laughing
© Brian Snyder / Reuters
WikiLeaks has released the 25th batch of emails from Hillary Clinton's campaign chair, John Podesta. The latest tranche consists of almost 2,500 emails, bringing the number released so far to almost 42,000. WikiLeaks has claimed it will publish 50,000 emails in total in the run up to the US presidential election on November 8.

Yesterday's emails revealed that Anthony Weiner was a cause for concern within the Clinton campaign as far back as 2011. Emails from the former congressman's laptop are key to the FBI's decision to reopen an investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server.

'Dump all those mails'

"We are going to have to dump all those emails," Podesta tells Clinton aide Cheryl Mills in an email dated March 2, 2015, a week before Clinton addressed the email scandal at a press conference, claiming there was no classified material sent via the private server.

It's not clear which emails Podesta is referring to in the thread, but Podesta tells Mills: "better to do so sooner than later".

Mills replies: "Think you just got your new nick name."


Comment: For the latest details on the Podesta leaks, the website Most Damaging Wikileaks is an excellent resource.

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Radar

French Army releases video showing soldiers firing artillery shells on ISIS positions


RT
Tue, 01 Nov 2016 16:26 UTC
france night vision isis
© FORCESFRANCAISES / YouTube
The French Army has released a video of its howitzers firing on Islamic State positions in Iraq. Artillery is part of a taskforce backing Iraqi troops in their advance against the jihadists.

The night footage posted on the official YouTube channel of the French Armed Forces shows Caesar howitzers as they "support Iraqi forces," a description says. Caesar is a French self-propelled 155mm artillery system installed on a 6X6 or a 10 chassis truck.

"The goal is to deliver the fire support in the shortest possible time, between five and 10 minutes after the firing order is sent to the battery. We assure the permanence of support to Iraqi troops 24 hours," a captain named Alexander (France does not disclose the full names of its soldiers for security reasons), is being quoted by AFP.

In early September, France deployed over a hundred soldiers as part of its Wagram Task force to Iraq. The group is compiled out of various units including four Caesar artillery systems. The contingent is now engaged in aiding local forces in re-taking Iraq's second-largest city of Mosul from Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), AFP reports.

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Snakes in Suits

Kiev criminals forced to declare their assets, revealing life of luxury which enrages former supporters

Ruslan Ostashko (translated by J. Arnoldski)
PolitRussia / Fort Russ
Mon, 31 Oct 2016 15:47 UTC
poroshenko
Once again, the Ukrainian electorate is being taken for a grand ride and being stirred up. Whether unfortunately or fortunately, our information field overlaps with the raging infofield of our neighbors, and we have the opportunity to observe in real time the nervous breakdown of particularly impressionable citizens in neighboring Ukraine.

Some Russian connoisseurs take pleasure in this spectacle, and this is understandable. The point is that Western advisors have forced Ukrainian politicians and officials to declare their income and assets and open up testaments of this information for public access. Due to the primitiveness of the Ukrainian political class, which loves to steal a lot openly and is also full of confidence that nothing will happen, the contents of their declarations of assets was simply extravagant.

Speaking plainly, reading the declarations of the leaders of the Maidan leaves its supporters in depression or rage. Some people particularly sensitive in nature are going mad and falling into depression at the same time. They can also be understood. It's not pleasant for anyone to feel like a sucker and loser who has been let down in the most primitive way.

In this sense, Poroshenko's declaration of assets is not so impressive, since his wealth is already widely known. Some Ukrainians are even proud that Poroshenko is richer than Putin and many American presidents. But the declarations of ordinary members of the Ukrainian political class are shocking.

Comment: The declarations of Kiev officials reveals not only loads of cash, but also a bevy of luxury items such as faberge eggs, a ticket to space, prime real estate, fast cars and fancy watches. While the average monthly income for Ukrainians hovers around $200 a month and soldiers sacrifice their health for a paltry $276 a month, the politicians who sit back safe in their armchairs are living a life of luxury built on the backs of thousands of dead Ukrainians.

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