Puppet MastersS


Chess

Trump transition team requested assessment on border wall construction and aerial surveillance program

Julia Edwards Ainsley
Reuters
Tue, 03 Jan 2017 18:52 UTC
Trump
© Reuters
In a wide-ranging request for documents and analysis, President-elect Donald Trump's transition team asked the Department of Homeland Security last month to assess all assets available for border wall and barrier construction.

The team also asked about the department's capacity for expanding immigrant detention and about an aerial surveillance program that was scaled back by the Obama administration but remains popular with immigration hardliners. And it asked whether federal workers have altered biographic information kept by the department about immigrants out of concern for their civil liberties.

The requests were made in a Dec. 5 meeting between Trump's transition team and Department of Homeland Security officials, according to an internal agency memo reviewed by Reuters. The document offers a glimpse into the president-elect's strategy for securing the U.S. borders and reversing polices put in place by the Obama administration.

Trump's transition team did not comment in response to Reuters inquiries. A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Customs and Border Protection declined to comment.
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People 2

Trump Effect: Ford scraps plan for Mexico plant, keeps 3,500 jobs in US


Sputnik
Tue, 03 Jan 2017 18:47 UTC
ford
© AFP 2016/ THIERRY CHARLIER
Ford is canceling plans for a new plant in Mexico that would have cost the United States 3,500 jobs, the company said in a press release on Tuesday.

"Ford today announced it is canceling plans for the new plant in San Luis Potosi, Mexico," the release stated. "This will make way for two new iconic products at Michigan Assembly Plant in Wayne, Michigan, where Focus is manufactured today — safeguarding approximately 3,500 US jobs."

The release stated Ford is adding 700 new US jobs and investing $700 million during the next four years to create the new Manufacturing Innovation Center at its Flat Rock Assembly Plant in the US state of Michigan.

The investment in the Flat Rock Assembly Plant comes from $1.6 billion the company was set to invest in Mexico, the release noted.

The new plant will build high-tech autonomous and electric vehicles along with the Mustang and Lincoln Continental, the release stated. The moves are part of Ford's $4.5 billion investment in electrified vehicles by 2020, the release noted.
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Family

Shaanxi villagers fondly remember Xi Jinping's time there as an 'educated youth'


Global Times
Mon, 02 Jan 2017 18:10 UTC
Xi Jinping
  • Xi Jinping spent seven years as an "educated youth" in Liangjiahe village, Shaanxi Province
  • While there, he led the villagers in accomplishing a few things to improve their living standards
  • The villagers have kept in touch with him till this day
In early 1969, the then 15-year-old Xi Jinping, now General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Chinese President, was sent to Liangjiahe, a small village in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province, as part of the "Down to the Countryside Movement." In this movement, educated young people from urban areas went to live and work in China's remote villages and borderlands.

Xi spent seven years in the village and became one with the villagers. They worked and ate together. He went from being a teenager with no knowledge of rural life to the village's Party secretary, leading villagers in accomplishing practical and pioneering works like building a methane pool, erecting a dam and liberating the workforce.

Shi Chunyang, the village's Party secretary today, still remembers vividly the changes Xi brought to the village and shares stories of Xi's time in Liangjiahe.

Comment: Xi Jingping and Vladmimir Putin are well-matched in their concern for their citizens' welfare. Together, it seems they will do great things for each other's country.

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Red Flag

Trump: US should eliminate transfers of "dangerous" Guantanamo prisoners


Sputnik
Tue, 03 Jan 2017 18:08 UTC
guantanamo
© Flickr
US President-elect Donald Trump stated that the US authorities should not transfer any more prisoners from the detention center at Guantanamo Bay.

The US government should not transfer any more prisoners from the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in order to stop them from committing more crimes, US President-elect Donald Trump said in a statement via Twitter on Tuesday.


Comment: Someone should remind Trump that many of the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay have never been charged of a crime nor have they had the ability to fight against their imprisonment, all the while being put through torture. Many of the prisoners that are released never get charged with any offense, so one has to wonder if Trump believes they are so dangerous, why aren't the men ever charged with a crime? The actions of the US at Guantanamo equates to war crimes. Trump should be looking to stop the illegal behavior of the US government if he wants to "Make America Great Again", not continue its deplorable actions. See:

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Chess

Philippines no longer seen as a 'geopolitical pawn of the US' - envoy to China


RT
Tue, 03 Jan 2017 03:18 UTC
Obama greets Malacanang palace employees
© Erik De Castro / ReutersVisiting U.S. President Barack Obama greets Malacanang palace employees waving U.S.-Philippine miniature flags at the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila.
Despite warming relations between the Philippines and China, Manila will not sever ties with its long time ally the United States, Philippines new envoy to China has said.

The Philippines are undertaking "a strategic shift in foreign policy," according to the country's new ambassador to China Jose "Chito" Sta. Romana.

The assurance comes despite the harsh, sometimes crude statements from Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, which led many to believe that the Philippines leader had turned away from the US and was looking toward China.

"We were one-sidedly imbalanced in favor of the US," he said. "We are not abandoning our alliance with the US ... We are basically trying to normalize our relations with China."

"The Chinese viewed the Philippines as a geopolitical pawn or Trojan horse of the US. Now they look at us as a friendly neighbor," Romana added.

Comment: See also: How a united Iran, Russia and China are changing the world for the better

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USA

Consigned to the memory hole: The content of the DNC leaks

Soapy
LIbcom Org
Mon, 02 Jan 2017 17:30 UTC
Queen Hillary
© Libcom Org
Hidden from the media narrative of Russian cyber sabotage is the content of the DNC leaks, and how the leaks revealed the arrogance and corruption of the Democratic Party elite.

Amidst the blame Russia hysteria, the actual content of the the Democratic National Committee (DNC) hacks has been consigned to the memory hole. In a veritable tidal wave of false narratives, the mainstream media has succeeded in drowning the legacy of the leaks in (not terribly convincing) accusations of Russian culpability. Erased from this narrative is the fact that the highest levels of the Democratic Party—supposedly neutral arbiters of the candidate selection process—sabotaged the Bernie Sanders campaign, and detest vast swaths of the Democratic Party constituency.

The first leaks appeared on July 22nd, when WikiLeaks released a collection of emails from the accounts of seven top DNC officials. The initial leaks confirmed what Sanders supporters had alleged for months, which was that the DNC was conspiring to sabotage the Sanders campaign. Emails implicated top officials such as DNC CFO Brad Marshall, who discussed planting a media story about Sanders' religious beliefs in an effort to undermine his campaign.

DNC Emails
© Libcom Org
Replying to the email, DNC CEO Amy Dacey writes simply "AMEN".
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Bad Guys

Syrian "rebel" groups boycott peace talks over alleged ceasefire violations


Sputnik
Tue, 03 Jan 2017 17:09 UTC
daesh weapons aleppo
© tasnimnews.com
Several Syrian opposition groups signed a statement declaring boycott of the upcoming political settlement talks in Astana, Kazakhstan, citing ceasefire violations, media reported Tuesday.

The rebel factions cited "large" ceasefire violations as cause for freezing of all peace efforts.

"The regime and its allies have continued firing and committed many and large violations. As these violations are continuing, the rebel factions announce... the freezing of all discussion linked to the Astana negotiations," the statement read as quoted by BBC.

On Saturday, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted a Russian-Turkish resolution on a ceasefire regime in Syria, as well as on holding political talks between the Syrian government and opposition groups in Astana, Kazakhstan in January 2017. A day earlier, a nationwide ceasefire between Syrian government troops and several opposition factions came into force. Russia and Turkey serve as guarantors of the deal which paves the way for negotiations between the warring parties.

The Syrian civil war, with government forces fighting various groups of militants, broke out in March 2011. According to the United Nations, about 300,000 Syrians were killed in the conflict. Russia started conducting aerial attacks against terrorists in September 2015, at the request of the Syrian government.

Comment: While the supposed "rebels" (who are really just Western-supported terrorists) claim ceasefire violations by the Syrian government, Syria claims terrorists are the ones violating the truce by attacking critical infrastructure. There are probably violations on both sides, but for the West's "rebels" to freeze the peace effort looks as though it's meant to derail any chance at peace in Syria, not to merely protest violations of the ceasefire agreement.

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Wall Street

A warning shot? Banks to reveal post-Brexit plans


RT
Tue, 03 Jan 2017 17:27 UTC
Canary Wharf and the city are seen at sunset in London
© Eddie Keogh / ReutersCanary Wharf and the city are seen at sunset in London.
Banks in the City of London will tell investors as early as next month whether they plan to move their operations out of post-Brexit Britain, it has emerged.

UK-based lenders are finalizing Brexit contingency plans to decide how much of their business they need to shift overseas to maintain relationships with the remaining 27 EU member states, according to the Guardian.

Prime Minister Theresa May intends to trigger Article 50 - the formal process for exiting the EU - in March. The local authority for the City of London Corporation has urged May to make transition arrangements "as soon as possible" to allay the concerns of businesses, which have been delaying investment decisions.
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Attention

Mouthpiece for the status quo: Snopes outed as unfit to arbiter truth

Dr. Mercola
Mercola.com
Tue, 03 Jan 2017 00:00 UTC
Snopes.com satire
© Free Thought Project
Unless you've been living under a rock or hiding beneath the covers in your bed for the past couple of months, you've undoubtedly heard the war cries against "fake news."

Facebook — being the largest social media site on which news is shared among millions — has vowed to take steps to limit the amount of "misinformation" that can be spread on its site by forwarding suspected fake news stories to fact-checkers like Snopes.1,2,3,4,5

So-called disputed stories would then be "buried" lower in people's newsfeeds. However, while verifying celebrity deaths or disputing urban legends — Snopes' specialty — is a pretty easy task, debating matters about health and nutrition is an altogether different matter.

If Snopes, whose office is reportedly filled with junk food,6 is now the arbiter of truth when it comes to health — you can expect to see massive censorship of natural health and general promotion of industry talking points.

Thomas Jefferson once wrote that if he were ever to decide between a government without newspapers or newspapers without government he would not hesitate a moment to prefer the later.

Remember that 90 percent of U.S. media is controlled by six corporations, making it virtually impossible to get any information that is not consistent with their agenda to maximize their profits. The only bastion of hope to find out the truth is the uncensored internet.

Comment:

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Snakes in Suits

House Republicans vote to strip Ethics Office of independence and limiting its power, Trump responds, GOP bails

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Tue, 03 Jan 2017 14:19 UTC
Bob Goodlatte
Bob Goodlatte (R., Va.) pushed the ethics change, which would put the nonpartisan
Office of Government Ethics under the control of the House Ethics Committee.
House Republicans abruptly voted on Monday night to eliminate the independence of the Office of Congressional Ethics, the chamber's nonpartisan ethics board which investigates lawmakers' alleged misconduct, largely stripping it of its power, leading to pushback from Democrats and government watchdog groups. House Republicans, meeting as a group Monday night, approved an amendment from House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte that would place the office under the oversight of the lawmaker-run House Ethics Committee.

According to the WSJ, the Office of Congressional Ethics is an independent entity that serves as the chamber's independent ethics watchdog by reviewing allegations against House members and staff. It is currently governed by an eight-person board of private citizens who don't work for the government. Goodlatte's measure is now part of the package of new House rules set to come up for a vote on the House floor Tuesday, when the new session of Congress convenes.

Comment: Trump tweeted out his opposition to the motion on Tuesday morning.



Update: GOP bails on ethics office overhaul after outcry from Democrats & Trump
House Republicans backtracked on plans to abolish the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) after Democrats opposed to it found an unexpected ally in President-elect Donald Trump, who has urged his party to focus on "more important things."

Plans to abolish the ethics office were included in rules changes the 115th Congress was expected to pass as it convened on Tuesday. Following backlash from both the Democrats and the president-elect, however, the Republican conference voted to drop the proposal with unanimous consent.


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