Puppet MastersS


Sheriff

Best of the Web: Victory at last! East Aleppo fully liberated, Syrians celebrate in the streets

Aleppo residents cheer victory
© Lizzie Phelan / RT
Aleppo streets have erupted in celebrations with people waving flags and shooting in the air as reports said the Syrian Army has taken control of the last militant-held areas in eastern part of the city, RT's Lizzie Phelan reports from the ground.

While an official statement on the situation is yet to emerge from Damascus, a source close to Syrian Army headquarters told RIA Novosti that the army is on the brink of liberating the city.

"The army has begun clearing out the last terrorist stronghold in the Salaheddin neighborhood. The terrorists are firing back and are trying to use mortars," the source told the news agency. "However, the complete liberation of Aleppo could happen soon, which will be officially announced."

Meanwhile people have already taken to the streets of the war-torn city in celebrations, RT's Lizzie Phelan reported from Aleppo.

Comment: The Syrian Army officially announced the liberation of Aleppo after taking the final three blocks held by the terrorist groups that have occupied the city for four years. Between 10,000 to 13,000 civilians fled the final districts in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of refugees to around 130,000 (half the number that Western media and organizations had estimated).



Update: Alexander Mercouris comments:
If the Syrian authorities have indeed at this eleventh hour refused to let the Jihadis leave Aleppo, then this is a reflection of the bankruptcy of US diplomacy. Earlier in the day Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov made the following withering statement about US diplomatic actions
"The problem is very simple. We say - let us first of all agree on what corridors will be provided to militants, given the previous experience when gunmen used any pause for regrouping, receiving replenishment from abroad and terrorising the civilian population even more furiously.

We can coordinate this with Americans very quickly. We undertake commitments to guarantee that these corridors won't be attacked by Syrian armed forces, while Americans undertake commitments together with their regional allies to get militants' consent to leave eastern Aleppo via these safe corridors.

[US colleagues first supported that concept and even committed their considerations to paper at a meeting in Rome on December 2]. But four days later they recalled these considerations and returned to their old and dead-end position, which is that before coordinating the corridors (for the withdrawal of refugees and gunmen) a pause of three, four and seven days must be declared.

We have already gone through this. This will mean that militants will once again get a respite. I hope they will stop sparing gunmen, that the United States as a serious power will use its influence on militants and on those who control gunmen apart from Washington, and that we will finally be able to solve this problem, honestly and caring first of all for the civilian population."
Jubilant Aleppans celebrate their liberation from U.S.-backed terrorist scum:


Panic and celebration in E. Aleppo:


And more videos and pics:








Vader

ISIS offensive on Palmyra could be orchestrated to give respite to militants in Aleppo - Lavrov

Razmotati mapu Evrope, rezultat istraživanja bi raspršio mit o opasnosti od Rusije, kaže Lavrov
A new Islamic State attack on Palmyra from the Mosul region could be 'orchestrated' to divert the attention of Syrian government forces from Aleppo and spare the militants entrenched in the city, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

The fact that Islamic State (IS, former ISIS/ISIL) militants launched their offensive on Palmyra from Iraq and "apparently from Mosul" and marched through the "territories patrolled by the aircraft of the US-led coalition makes one think that - and I really hope to be wrong here - that it was orchestrated and coordinated to give a respite to those thugs, who are entrenched in eastern Aleppo," the foreign minister said during a press conference in Belgrade, Serbia, as he answered a question asked by RT.

Mr. Potato

I've been making viral fake news for the last six months - it's way too easy to dupe people

Dislike
© Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast
At first, I created fake news stories stories that were meant to be head-turning: Hillary sold passport-making machines directly to ISIS. Obama won't say the words "Radical Islam" because it would break an Islamic Spell he thinks he is protected by. I did an exposé on the reason the Clintons were immune to prosecution. It was, I wrote on my website RealTrueNews.org, because they were sovereign citizens and therefore immune to the justice system.

It was silly and no one paid much attention to it. At least that's what I thought.

I didn't know about Before It's News or the ecosystem of YouTube conspiracy theorists when I wrote an "anonymous interview" with someone "inside" 538's headquarters. This interview had a source saying what "everyone knew"—that people paid for polls as a psychological tool and that Nate Silver was in trouble because the "real polls" showed Trump winning in a landslide. This was on Aug. 2 and, at the time, Trump was tanking in the polls prior to the conventions.

By that time I had a stats program up showing my traffic and I saw a huge spike—where was it coming from? Two YouTube videos, watched hundreds of thousands of times. And a vast number of conspiracy sites that copied the various explanations, all of which linked back to my page. Seeing my dialogue and screenshots come out of the mouths of people solemnly reading them was a thrill—but it was also scary.

These people believe this.

Mr. Potato

White Helmet terrorist sympathizers in east Aleppo plead for help after Syrian army advances

 member of the White Helmets
© Karam Al-Masri/AFP/Getty ImagesA member of the White Helmets stands amid the rubble of a destroyed building after airstrikes in Aleppo in October.
The Syrian White Helmets rescue group has urged international organisations to protect its volunteers in rebel-held parts of eastern Aleppo, warning that they face torture and execution.

The rescue group said it believed it had less than 48 hours before the Syrian army, backed by Iranian militia, reached the districts in which it has been operating.

"If we are not evacuated, our volunteers face torture and execution in the regime's detention centres," the group said. "We have good reason to fear for our lives."

Comment: Learn more about these so-called "do gooder" White Helmets:
  • White Helmets Fraud: Terrorist Support Group, Not Humanitarians - But West Loves Them!
  • 'Massive evidence shows 'White Helmets' are a foreign-funded group set up to support terrorist entities in Syria'



Snow Globe Xmas

Fact check! Did Obama urge U.S. soldiers to question President-elect Donald Trump?

Obama
© Wikipedia
President Barack Obama urged soldiers during a recent speech to question the authority of the president but many people on social media took this encouragement to attack President-elect Donald Trump. During a speech at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida, Obama said that Americans have the freedom to question authority which includes the right to criticize any sitting president.

However, people on social media took the speech and turned it into a story that Obama was specifically telling soldiers to question Trump's authority. Various web sites contained stories with headlines that suggested Obama had urged United States soldiers to question the authority of incoming president Trump.

While Obama did indeed tell troops gathered at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida on Dec. 6, 2016 that they have the right to criticize the president and protest authority, he did not specifically name Trump. Of course, Trump is the country's next president so it is easy for people to assume that means he is seeking people to attack Trump.

As Obama is president until Trump is sworn in on Jan. 20, 2017, he presumably could have been referring to himself. But because he said people have the right to criticize "a president" without reprisal, it is likely Obama was referring to the office of the president in general terms. You can read the passage from Obama below.
We're a nation that believes freedom can never be taken for granted and that each of us has a responsibility to sustain it. The universal right to speak your mind and to protest against authority, to live in a society that's open and free, that can criticize a President without retribution — (applause) — a country where you're judged by the content of your character rather than what you look like, or how you worship, or what your last name is, or where your family came from — that's what separates us from tyrants and terrorists.

Comment: Sowing dissent and encouraging troops to question Trump was likely the intent of his comment.


Dollars

Flashback Why did tyrannical regimes donate millions of dollars to the Clinton Foundation?

Clinton
© Hassan Ammar/AP
As the numerous and obvious ethical conflicts surrounding the Clinton Foundation receive more media scrutiny, the tactic of Clinton-loyal journalists is to highlight the charitable work done by the foundation, and then insinuate — or even outright state — that anyone raising these questions is opposed to its charity. James Carville announced that those who criticize the foundation are "going to hell." Other Clinton loyalists insinuated that Clinton Foundation critics are indifferent to the lives of HIV-positive babies or are anti-gay bigots.

That the Clinton Foundation has done some good work is beyond dispute. But that fact has exactly nothing to do with the profound ethical problems and corruption threats raised by the way its funds have been raised. Hillary Clinton was America's chief diplomat, and tyrannical regimes such as the Saudis and Qataris jointly donated tens of millions of dollars to an organization run by her family and operated in its name, one whose works has been a prominent feature of her public persona. That extremely valuable opportunity to curry favor with the Clintons, and to secure access to them, continues as she runs for president.

Comment:
Favor for a favor: Clinton Foundation found to have received donations from repressive nations at the same time Hilary's State Dept. approved arms deals


Megaphone

Ex-Trump advisor Carter Page: Trump can fix 'toxic' relations between US and Russia

Carter Page
© Anton Denisov / SputnikCarter Page
Donald Trump's election helped US and Russia step "back from the brink of nuclear war" and offers a chance to overcome hostility between the two countries created through "fake news," according to energy consultant and former Trump adviser Carter Page.

Page delivered a lecture in Moscow on Monday, focusing on overcoming the "99 problems in US-Russia relations" and specifically on the "fake news" phenomenon.

Reports that CIA was accusing Russia of hacking the US election "almost border on fake news," Page said. "Until there is serious evidence, it's very similar to what I personally have been through - a lot of speculation, but nothing there," he added.

The founder of Global Energy Capital LLC and member of the Council on Foreign Relations spent about six months advising the Trump campaign on foreign policy, before resigning in September after media reports described him as "Trump's man in Moscow."

Snakes in Suits

Pathological Liar Hillary pleads to dismiss Benghazi lawsuit calling plaintiffs liars

Hillary Clinton
What difference does it make?

Lawyers for twice-failed Oval Office aspirant Hillary Clinton have asked a federal court in Washington, D.C., to dismiss a lawsuit over her statements as secretary of state about the Benghazi terror attack that left four Americans dead.

The plaintiffs are arguing the case should to go trial because she doesn't deserve special treatment as a member of the "political elite."

Clinton narrowly averted a default judgment in the case earlier when a judge adopted claims that she wasn't properly served.

Then she argued in court filings that the case should be dismissed, claiming the plaintiffs, Patricia Smith, the mother of Sean Smith, and Charles Woods, the father of Tyrone Woods, haven't properly claimed they were injured.

Comment: Looks like the Congress will be busy investigating Hilllary: Republicans on House Oversight Committee preparing to spend years investigating Clintons


Eye 2

Obama accuses Trump of 'lucrative' ties to Russia, makes it clear the Establishment is terrified of Trump changing foreign policy

trump obama
© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
President Barack Obama's spokesman has accused President-elect Donald Trump and top members of his team of "lucrative" ties with Russia, pointing out that his national security adviser was a "paid contributor" on RT.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest made the case against Trump at the daily briefing on Monday, connecting the dots from "malicious Russian cyber activity" to top campaign officials and their past.

"It was the president-elect who refused to disclose his financial connections to Russia," said Earnest. "It was the president-elect who hired a campaign chairman with extensive, lucrative, personal financial ties to Russia. It was the president-elect who had national security advisor on the campaign that had been a paid contributor to RT, the Russian propaganda outlet."

Earnest implied that as the Republican presidential nominee Trump "benefitted" from cyberattacks on his main rival while "his campaign did not make any effort to obscure this."

Comment: More nonsense from Earnest:
"You didn't need a security clearance to figure out who benefited from malicious Russian cyberactivity," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest during a briefing with reporters Monday. "The President-elect didn't call it into question, he called on Russia to hack his opponent. He called on Russia to hack Secretary Clinton. So he certainly had a pretty good sense of whose side this cyberactivity was coming down on."

"The last several week so the election were focused on a discussion of emails that had been hacked and leaked by the Russians. These were emails from the (Democratic National Committee) and John Podesta, not from the (Republican National Committee) and Stephen Bannon," Earnest said, naming the campaign chairmen of the Trump and Hillary Clinton campaigns.

Earnest said his assessment was bolstered by perceived tied between Russia and Trump, which he said would lead to a conclusion that Russia was motivated to help him win the election.

"It was the President-elect who over the course of the campaign indicated that he thought that President Putin was a strong leader," Earnest went on, listing other examples of areas Trump and his campaign appeared closely linked to Russian interests. "The President-elect's team, his campaign, did not make any effort to obscure this."
...
"The President-elect has said one thing on Twitter. The 17 intelligence agencies have come forward with unanimous assessment about Russia's malicious cyberactivity. I'll let you and the American people judge who's in a better position to defend their argument," he said.
LOL. This is just sad. The "17 intel agencies" are unanimously inconclusive.


Attention

Uh oh! Kremlin praises Trump's pick of Exxon CEO Tillerson as Secretary of State

Rex Tillerson with Vladimir Putin
After it emerged on Saturday that Trump had tipped Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson for the role of America's top diplomat, Trump was quick to shower the 64-year-old CEO with praise. In an interview with Fox News, Trump praised Mr. Tillerson, saying: "He's a world-class player. He's in charge of an oil company that's pretty much double the size of its next nearest competitor." Trump added that Tillerson knows many of the players and he knows them well. He does massive deals in Russia."

On the other hand, as we cautioned, Tillerson's background of close proximity to Russia, and bogeyman du jour Vladimir Putin, would likely present a challenge to his confirmation. Recall that as Exxon CEO Tillerson struck a deal in 2011 giving Exxon access to prized Arctic resources in Russia as well as allowing Russia's state oil company, OAO Rosneft, to invest in Exxon concessions all over the world. The following year, the Kremlin bestowed the country's Order of Friendship decoration on Tillerson.

As the WSJ reported, "the deal would have been transformative for Exxon." Putin at the time called it one of the most important involving Russia and the U.S., forecasting that the partnership could eventually spend $500 billion. But it was subsequently blocked by sanctions on Russia that the U.S. and its allies imposed two years ago after the country's invasion of Crimea and conflicts with Ukraine.