Puppet MastersS


USA

Fake news? Nobody does it better than the USA

Robert Bridge
RT
Sat, 10 Dec 2016 18:47 UTC
New York
© Carlo Allegri/Reuters
The US establishment has a curious tendency of accusing outsiders of carrying out nefarious activities - cyber warfare, international spying and unwarranted aggression, for example - that in fact the US undertakes better than anybody else.

And so it is with the latest bit of Orwellian-speak being hurled at those who would dare contradict the Western narrative with what is being called - drum roll - "fake news."

The Washington Post was recently forced to distance itself from an astonishingly sloppy article that cited research from a little-known group that calls itself PropOrNot. This outfit, the members of which prefer to remain anonymous, conducted the equivalent of a modern-day witch hunt against 200 websites that, in its opinion, "echoed Russian propaganda."

Since much has already been written about that preposterous piece, not least of all by Glenn Greenwald and Matt Taibbi, for my own part I will go out on a limb and say we have not heard the end of "fake news" allegations. Not by a long shot. That nagging suspicion was confirmed by an article in ZeroHedge - one of the 200 heretical websites, incidentally, that were dragged over the coals in the Post piece.

"On November 30, one week after the Washington Post launched its witch hunt against "Russian propaganda fake news", with 390 votes for, the House quietly passed "H.R. 6393, Intelligence Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2017", sponsored by California Republican Devin Nunes (whose third largest donor in 2016 is Google parent Alphabet, Inc), a bill which deals with a number of intelligence-related issues, including Russian propaganda, or what the government calls propaganda, and hints at a potential crackdown on "offenders."

Here's the really jaw-dropping part of the article: "Curiously, the bill which was passed on November 30, was introduced on November 22, two days before the Washington Post published its Nov. 24 article citing "experts" who claim Russian propaganda helped Donald Trump get elected."

How's that for coincidence?
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Black Cat

Best of the Web: The attempted Clinton-CIA coup against Donald Trump

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Sat, 10 Dec 2016 18:33 UTC
Trump thumbs up
The CIA's latest report implicating Russia in the DNC and Podesta leaks is not founded on any evidence. Coming a few weeks before Donald Trump's inauguration it is more dangerous meddling by the US intelligence community in the US political process.
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Bad Guys

Aleppo Update: 4 Al-Qaeda chiefs arrested; one thousand Jihadis surrender

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Sat, 10 Dec 2016 18:24 UTC
Civilians flee Aleppo
Civilians flee Aleppo
Russian Defence Ministry confirms the surrender of over 1,200 Jihadi fighters on Saturday morning; Fars reports 4 Al-Qaeda commanders arrested as they try to flee. Russian military also confirms 50,000 civilians leave formerly Jihadi controlled eastern districts of Aleppo by arrangement with Russian military.

The refugee flood from eastern Aleppo is swelling, with the Russian military reporting that 50,000 people fled eastern Aleppo by arrangement with the Russian military over the course of the last 2 days, with 20,000 leaving this Saturday morning.

In addition it seems that more than 1,000 Jihadis gave up and surrendered to the Syrian military this morning.

Comment: Also see: Several Nusra commanders fleeing with civilians arrested by Syrian government forces in Aleppo

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Attention

Mexican President says army to stay in streets to combat drug violence


Yahoo News
Fri, 09 Dec 2016 18:04 UTC
Mexico military
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto said Friday troops will remain in the streets to combat drug violence after his defense minister issued a rare complaint about the controversial deployment.

Although Pena Nieto acknowledged that the soldiers and marines have been doing law enforcement tasks that "don't correspond to them in the strictest sense," he said the armed forces are "determined to continue" policing the streets.

The military deployment has allowed "cities and regions in our country to return to peace and calm," he said.

Defense Minister Salvador Cienfuegos said on Thursday that the military "didn't ask" to be fighting criminals.

Comment: See also: Anabel Hernández, author of 'Narcoland': 'Mexico's war on drugs is one big lie'

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Wall Street

Trump's bait and switch: How to swamp Washington and double-cross your supporters big time

Nomi Prins
Tom Dispatch
Thu, 08 Dec 2016 17:38 UTC
Cartoon of Trump draining the swamp
Given his cabinet picks so far, it's reasonable to assume that The Donald finds hanging out with anyone who isn't a billionaire (or at least a multimillionaire) a drag. What would there be to talk about if you left the Machiavellian class and its exploits for the company of the sort of normal folk you can rouse at a rally? It's been a month since the election and here's what's clear: crony capitalism, the kind that festers and grows when offered public support in its search for private profits, is the order of the day among Donald Trump's cabinet picks. Forget his own "conflicts of interest." Whatever financial, tax, and other policies his administration puts in place, most of his appointees are going to profit like mad from them and, in the end, Trump might not even wind up being the richest member of the crew.

Only a month has passed since November 8th, but it's already clear (not that it wasn't before) that Trump's anti-establishment campaign rhetoric was the biggest scam of his career, one he pulled off perfectly. As president-elect and the country's next CEO-in-chief, he's now doing what many presidents have done: doling out power to like-minded friends and associates, loyalists, and -- think John F. Kennedy, for instance -- possibly family.
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Vader

DHS says Georgia hack may have been rogue employee

Edmund Kozak
LifeZette
Sat, 10 Dec 2016 22:30 UTC
DHS Logo
The Department of Homeland Security told members of congress Friday that a rogue federal employee may have been responsible for a November hack-attack that targeted the Georgia secretary of state's system, LifeZette has learned.

On Friday afternoon DHS initiated a conference call with members of Georgia's congressional delegation to discuss the cyber-attack, a Capitol Hill staffer with knowledge of the call told LifeZette.

DHS officials said on the call that there were two possible explanations for the hack, the source said. Either a malicious third-party mirrored the DHS IP address linked to the hack — or someone within the department executed the attempted infiltration without authorization. DHS is currently investigating both possibilities.
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Info

Eleven non-OPEC countries agree to cut oil production by 558,000 barrels per day


RT
Sat, 10 Dec 2016 17:48 UTC
oil pumping jack
© Stringer / Reuters
Non-OPEC countries agreed to cut oil production by 558,000 barrels per day (b/d) during a meeting with members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in Vienna.

Among the non-OPEC participants at the meeting were 12 oil exporting countries - Azerbaijan, Oman, Mexico, Sudan, South Sudan, Bahrain, Malaysia, Equatorial Guinea, Bolivia, Kazakhstan and Russia.

The 558,000 b/d figure was voiced by Qatar's energy minister at a press conference following the six hour long talks.

OPEC members also confirmed their commitment to the plan to reduce the oil supply by 1.2 million b/d. This, together with the commitments made by non-OPEC states, would lead to the total reduction of oil production by about 1.7-1.8 million b/d, Russian Energy Minister Aleksandr Novak said at the press conference.

Comment: This follows Saudi Arabia announcement: OPEC deal reached: Production to be cut by 1.2 million barrels starting Jan. 1

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Dollar

Hillary's loss cost a record $1.2B

Bob Frederics
New York Post
Fri, 09 Dec 2016 02:06 UTC
Killary Trump
© AP/Patrick Semansky/John Locher/Photo montage by SalonIt's the "economy" of it, stupid!"
Hillary Clinton and her supporters spent a record $1.2 billion for her losing presidential campaign — twice as much as the winner, Donald Trump, according to the latest records. The president-elect, who confounded critics during the campaign by saying there was no need to raise or spend $1 billion or more, ended up making do with $600 million.

Clinton's expensive machine tore through $131.8 million in just the final weeks, finishing with about $839,000 on hand as of Nov. 28. Team Trump spent $94.5 million in the home stretch — from Oct. 20 to Nov. 28 — and had $7.6 million left. The figures include all spending by the campaigns, PACs and party committees.

Trump contributed $66 million from his own pocket, $34 million less than he estimated he would shell out. Brad Parscale, Trump's digital director, credited strategic last-minute investments with helping propel the political newcomer to victory.

The campaign and the Republican Party spent about $5 million in get-out-the-vote digital advertising targeted in the final few days at Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Florida. It proved critical: Some of those states were won by razor-thin margins. "You think, what if we hadn't spent that?" Parscale said. "We might not have won."

Last June, Trump shrugged off skeptics who said he needed to spend $1 billion to have a chance to win. "There's no reason to raise that," Trump said. "I just don't think I need nearly as much money as other people need because I get so much publicity. I get so many invitations to be on television. I get so many interviews, if I want them."

Comment: A loss well spent. And there lies 'the difference.'

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Propaganda

PropOrNot is evidence of a CIA psychological operation

Kurt Nimmo
Newsbud
Fri, 09 Dec 2016 00:00 UTC
CIA propaganda
© Washington Post
Alternative Media- A Very Serious Threat to the Ruling Elite

On November 24, The Washington Times published a story citing the anonymous group PropOrNot. The story accused the Russians of building a large propaganda operation that worked to defeat Hillary Clinton and elect "insurgent candidate" Donald Trump. It claimed a large number of alternative news websites are acting as Russian agents, dupes, and useful idiots.

Prior to this, in March 2015, the Voice of America insisted Russia has organized "a round-the-clock operation in which an army of trolls disseminated pro-Kremlin and anti-Western talking points on blogs and in the comments sections of news websites in Russia and abroad."


Comment: Hmm. Maybe they are thinking instead of Israel's hasboro operation. They sound remarkably similar in organisation and activity.


Voice of America is a propaganda service created by the CIA during the Cold War.

In January, the Institute of Modern Russia and its Interpreter Mag teamed up with the CIA through Voice of America to combat "Kremlin disinformation and propaganda." The Institute of Modern Russia maintains close relationships with many Russian opposition leaders.

Critics took The Washington Post to task for using PropOrNot as a source. The website and PropOrNot's Facebook and Twitter accounts give no indication who is behind the effort. Despite this, the Post cited the site to make the argument many alternative websites are "fake news" sites working in tandem with the Russians.

PropOrNot has all the hallmarks of an intelligence operation run by the CIA, FBI, or one of a number of other intelligence agencies.


Comment: The problem with countering alternate websites with false info to create false consensus is that alternative news readers are more aware and knowledgeable than the average sheeple and can generally spot troll work for what it is. If they could not, they would be ho hum MSM readers.

See also:
Modern Operation Mockingbird: "Everyone Who Disagrees with Me Is a Russian Propagandist"

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X

Trump on defense industry: Military buyers should never work for defense contractors

Jason Ditz
Antiwar.com
Fri, 09 Dec 2016 00:00 UTC
DTrump
© The FederalistShaking things up!
Policy Could Dramatically Reshape Defense Industry

Speaking today at a rally in Louisiana, President-elect Donald Trump said he is considering imposing a lifetime ban on all military officials involved in procurement from ever going to work for defense contractors, saying the idea is the result of growing cost overruns in contractor orders.

Trump said he has not yet made a decision on the idea, and needs to check out all the possible ramifications, saying that the cost of government purchases from private companies has gotten out of hand in general, and not only in the military.

Such a ban would be a massive change in the weapons industry in the United States, as virtually all of the major players in such contracts are awash in former Pentagon officials receiving cushy salaries to take advantage of their significant influence and long list of contacts.

Unsurprisingly, Pentagon officials are already criticizing the proposal, saying such lucrative jobs were a big reason why Pentagon officials took procurement jobs in the first place, and in the absence of that "career track" they might struggle to fill such positions at all.

Comment: Trump keeps bringing new insights to the public domain, undoubtedly some that officials, especially those who benefit the most, would rather remain their little secrets.

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