Puppet MastersS


Bullseye

About President Trump's speech last night? A home run

Scott Adams
Scott Adams' Blog
Wed, 01 Mar 2017 17:31 UTC
trump speech congress
© Getty
I didn't see President Trump's entire speech last night. I'm catching up this morning. Looks to me as if it was a base-clearing home run. Even Democrats are having trouble criticizing it. Surveys are positive. Stock market is up. CNN's most credible anti-Trumper, Van Jones, said Trump was presidential, in a good way. Don Lemon got triggered into cognitive dissonance, hypothesizing that Trump's presidential words don't match his off-stage personality. In other words, it was a speech.

Trump pulled a Khan maneuver. You remember when Clinton invited the Khan family to talk about their fallen hero son while criticizing Trump. Trump fell for that trap by responding to it, which allowed his critics to frame him as disrespectful to a Gold Star family.

Last night, President Trump returned the favor. He wrapped part of his message around honoring a fallen hero. You can't criticize any part of that without seeming disrespectful. And persuasion-wise, saying Ryan Owen's memory is "etched into eternity" is one of the great presidential lines of all time. Simple and perfect. And thanks to President Trump's speech, Ryan Owen's name is in fact etched into eternity. The President predicted it, then he literally made it happen, right in front of us, without taking the focus off of Ryan. That's as good as it gets.
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Attention

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: ISIS terrorists try to blend with civilians fleeing humanitarian disaster in besieged Mosul


RT
Wed, 01 Mar 2017 18:33 UTC
Displaced Iraqis flee their homes, while Iraqi forces battle with Islamic State militants in western Mosul
© Zohra Bensemra / ReutersDisplaced Iraqis flee their homes, while Iraqi forces battle with Islamic State militants in western Mosul
The US-backed operation to liberate western Mosul from ISIS terrorists has caused a surge in civilian deaths and displacement, according to the UN, while Iraqi security forces tighten refugee screening process' to prevent jihadists from escaping.

Intensified fighting in western Mosul has resulted in a dramatic surge in civilian population displacement with 12,700 people fleeing the battle zone over the past two days alone, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said. Humanitarian situation worsens, as fighting approaches more densely populated areas of the city.

"So far today [Tuesday], we have around 300 displaced people - men and women and children," Iraqi Brigadier General Salman Hashem told AFP, speaking only about one checkpoint.

With the support of the US-led coalition, Iraqi forces began the operation to retake western part of Mosul from Islamic State [IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL] on February 19. Government forces have recaptured several areas on the southern outskirts of the city, including the international airport area, an army base, and two southern neighborhoods.

Some 16,500 people have been displaced during these advances, and only 8,800 of them have so far been distributed among camps and emergency sites, according to OCHA. Many of the refugees are forced to sleep in the desert during their escape from the besieged city and arrive at emergency sites "exhausted and dehydrated."

Comment: See also: HRW reports ISIS targeting civilians in Mosul, Iraqi and US coalition forces also cause civilian deaths

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Snakes in Suits

'Political assassination': French presidential candidate Fillon summonsed to face charges over payments made to his wife


RT
Wed, 01 Mar 2017 16:44 UTC
Francois Fillon
Francois Fillon
French presidential candidate Francois Fillon says he's received a summons from judicial magistrates on March 15 to face charges. Fillon has been probed over payments made to his wife. He denies all allegations against him.

"This is unprecedented," Fillon said in a speech, adding that legal procedure hasn't been followed.

Fillon also said he would carry on the presidential campaign, despite the latest developments.

"I won't give in, I won't surrender, I won't pull out, I'll fight to the end," Fillon said.


Comment:
On January 25, the semi-satirical weekly Le Canard Enchainé fired the opening shots of an ongoing media campaign designed to undo the image of Mister Clean, revealing that his British wife, Penelope, had been paid a generous salary for working as his assistant. As Penelope was known for staying home and raising their children in the countryside, the existence of that work is in serious doubt. Fillon also paid his son a lawyer's fee for unspecified tasks and his daughter for supposedly assisting him write a book. In a sense, these allegations prove the strength of the conservative candidate's family values. But his ratings have fallen and he faces possible criminal charges for fraud.
See also: The Deep State Rises to the Surface in French Elections

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Snakes in Suits

Trolling Trump's 'drain the swamp' pledge, Sanders whines 'Who's gonna take on Wall Street?'


RT
Wed, 01 Mar 2017 13:55 UTC
trump sanders
© ABC News-Go.com
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has attacked US President Donald Trump over his failure to tackle Wall Street, describing his appointment of former Goldman Sachs President Gary Cohn as chief economic advisor as evidence of him failing to "drain the swamp." Trump made his first major speech to Congress on Tuesday, addressing plans for the economy, immigration, health care reform and military spending.

The former Democratic presidential candidate took to Facebook Live following Trump's address to Congress on Tuesday. In a 14-minute tirade, Sanders was heavily critical of the president, saying his administration had "more millionaires and billionaires than any presidential administration in history."

Comment: Sanders' comment: "...but it doesn't sound so good if you dig just a little beneath the surface." Where was the 'digging below the surface' during eight years of the Obama disaster? President Trump set up his administration, began turning around industry, made evaluations and cuts regarding deals/practices/policies, and blitzed a dizzying number of initiatives and orders into motion in little over one month's time. He is, so far, efficient and decisive. Given the same 14 minutes it took for Sanders' tirade, Trump would have accomplished something. Good policy or not, could Sanders have done the equal or better?

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Post-It Note

Ivanka Trump's influence in crafting Trump's Congressional speech leads to lines on family leave, women's health and clean environment

Max Greenwood
The Hill
Wed, 01 Mar 2017 17:00 UTC
ivanka melania trump
© Getty
First daughter Ivanka Trump pushed for lines about paid family leave, women's health and a clean environment to be included in her father's Tuesday night address to Congress, Axios reported on Wednesday.

The topics ultimately materialized in the speech. A senior administration official told Axios that Ivanka worked with Senior Adviser Stephen Miller on parts of the speech and looked to give it a more hopeful tone.

"The speech was all [Stephen] Miller, but Ivanka worked hard on it with him on many of the parts, especially affirming that the president's desire to have an uplifting and aspirational speech was right," the official said in an email to Axios.
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Light Saber

Eva Bartlett interview: War on Syria: Manufactured Revolution and Fake Media Narrative

Eva Bartlett
Global Research
Tue, 28 Feb 2017 13:55 UTC
Eva Bartlett
© GRTV
Canadian independent journalist Eva Bartlett is the object of a smear campaign by Canada's mainstream media.

Listen to what she has to say and then decide who is telling the truth.

The mainstream media denies the existence of terrorists linked to Al Qaeda. According to mainstream sources, there were no terrorists in Aleppo.

Al Qaeda and the Islamic State are supported by US-NATO, Saudi Arabia and Israel. They are the state-sponsors of terrorism. We are dealing with a war of aggression. Eva Bartlett provides detailed evidence of war crimes.

The following video interview by Global Research TV was conducted in Montreal in January in the context of Eva Bartlett's Canada speaking tour.

It is followed by her presentation at the Montreal venue. (M.Ch, GR Editor)

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Snakes in Suits

Trump promotes historically black colleges & women in STEM, rolls back essential water protections


RT
Wed, 01 Mar 2017 13:13 UTC
Trump
© Joshua Roberts / ReutersU.S. President Donald Trump signs H.R. 225 in the Oval Office of the White House, in Washington, DC, U.S. February 28, 2017.
President Donald Trump has signed two new executive orders, boosting historically black colleges and rolling back environmental protections created under the previous administration. He also signed two bills that aim to increase the presence of women in STEM fields.

On the last day of Black History Month, Trump signed an executive order that will move the Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) initiative from the Department of Education's purview back to the White House.

Although every president since Jimmy Carter in 1980 has reorganized the initiative through executive orders, Trump said his White House will make it "an absolute priority." Previous administrations have "lost track because they didn't have the full force of the White House behind it."

The initiative will now be led by a person "who reports to a senior adviser to the president." One of its goals will be to promote HBCUs as "strategic partners" in the president's "urban agenda of creating jobs and making inner cities safe again," a senior White House official told reporters in a background briefing.

The executive order comes after Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and Education Secretary Betsy DeVos met with representatives of more than 60 of the country's 107 HBCUs in the Oval Office on Monday, where Trump joked that he didn't think "we've ever had this many people in the Oval Office. This could be a new record, forever."
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War Whore

Western provocation in Asia ramps up as US and its puppet state South Korea launch joint military exercise amid THAAD deployment


RT
Wed, 01 Mar 2017 16:16 UTC
navy vessels
© South Korean Navy / ReutersNavy vessels of South Korea and the United States
The US and South Korea have kicked off Foal Eagle, an annual joint military exercise that has been denounced by North Korea as a rehearsal for invasion. The exercise comes amid tensions in the region following North Korea's recent missile test.

South Korea's Defense Ministry and the US military based in the South confirmed the commencement of the joint drills on Wednesday.

The exercise is a field training exercise involving ground, air, and naval forces from both US and South Korea that will run through the end of next month. The two allies are likely to deploy their major strategic assets in the drills to deliver a warning against what they see as North Korean provocations. In March, both countries also plan to separately conduct Key Resolve practice, a computer-simulated command post exercise, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing the South Korean Defense Ministry.

US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis and South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-Koo had a phone conversation early on Wednesday, in which Mattis expressed Washington's commitment to the defense of its ally.

Comment: There certainly appears to be a ramping up of hostilities in the Asian region by the US Empire. It was also reported that Taiwan deployed PAC-3 missile systems, which is certainly going to provoke a response from China. In addition, China and Russia have agreed to work together in opposition to the THAAD missile system the US is planning to install in South Korea. The US can hypocritically accuse other countries of aggression, but it should be clear looking at the actions of the US military that it's the US Empire that provokes countries around the globe by using its puppet states to install US military weapons and encircle its enemies. Who can blame China and Russia for working together?

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Target

Syrian government forces recapture Palmyra citadel from Daesh


Sputnik
Wed, 01 Mar 2017 17:26 UTC
Palmyra
© Joseph Eid
Syrian government forces along with their allies have recaptured Palmyra citadel from Daesh on Wednesday, securing complete control of the firing range over the city of Palmyra.

The government forces also took over a palace complex to the city's southwest, the Hezbollah-run outlet reported.

"The army has regained control over the citadel in Palmyra and the mountain range to the southwest of the city. Now we are preparing to storm the city," a source told Sputnik, adding that terrorists fled the heights where the citadel is located after the army had taken the heights over the city.

The source also said that the city of Palmyra is now within firing range of the Syrian government forces.

Comment: See: Syrian forces clear ISIS out of Palmyra - RT reports from 'Pearl of the Desert' (VIDEOS)

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Muffin

World's Breadbasket: Russia may increase agricultural exports to North Africa and Mideast


Sputnik
Wed, 01 Mar 2017 16:00 UTC
Wheat crop
© Sputnik/ Sergey Venyavskiy
Russia might increase exports of agricultural products to the Gulf states, North Africa and the Middle East by more than $1 billion in 2017, the Russian Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement on Wednesday.

The statement came following the Eurasian Export briefing, held on the sidelines of the Gulfood 2017, a food and beverage commodity expo underway in Dubai. Russia's Deputy Minister of Agriculture Sergei Levin took part in the event.

"Russian agricultural production is competitive in terms of quality and price, and it also meets the preferences of the majority of the countries in the [Middle East and Africa] region. This year we are able to increase exports to the countries of the region by more than $1 billion," Levin was quoted as saying in the statement.
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