Puppet MastersS


Pocket Knife

46 U.S. states seek help from Homeland Security to prevent election cyberattacks


RT
Mon, 31 Oct 2016 21:49 UTC
Cyber attack
© Jim Urquhart/Reuters
To date, almost every state has called on the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to help defend their voter registration systems from been hacked. However, a few states have argued that federal interference could disenfranchise voters.

The majority of states, 46, have called on the DHS to try and bolster the cyber defenses of their voter registration systems after the government raised the alarm about foreign hackers ahead of the election, according to CNN.

The number of states asking for federal assistance has grown from 33 states in mid-October.

Nearly half US states have had their voter registration systems targeted by foreign hackers, and four systems were successfully breached, sources told ABC News. Among them were Arizona, Florida and Illinois.

On Friday, however CBS reported 11 states, including the battlegrounds of New Hampshire and Michigan, had not accepted DHS help, fearing that voters would think it was a federal takeover and could lead to voter disenfranchisement. Seven states have declined the offer outright: Alabama, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Of those 11, now only four have rejected federal help.
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Bad Guys

Donna Brazile out at CNN, busted by Wikileaks sharing questions with Hillary Clinton in plot to crush Bernie Sanders

Alex Christoforou
The Duran
Mon, 31 Oct 2016 21:37 UTC
Donna Brazile Clinton
© ReutersDemocratic National Committee Chair Donna Brazile and U.S. Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.
Wikileaks delivers on its Donna Brazile surprise.

Wikileaks just blew apart DNC Chair Donna Brazile.

Remember when DNC Chair and former CNN employee Donna Brazile emailed the Clinton campaign ahead of a town hall meeting to give the heads up that...
"From time to time I get the questions in advance".
Brazile advance questions Hillary
© Wikileaks

Comment: Killary's losing her media plants. From RT:
Democratic party chair Donna Brazile is no longer at CNN, as WikiLeaks revealed that she sent debate questions to Hillary Clinton's campaign at least twice. Confirming Brazile's dismissal, CNN said it was "completely uncomfortable" with her conduct.

Brazile's role as a Democratic pundit at CNN was suspended in July, when she took on the role of interim chair for the Democratic National Committee following the scandal-ridden departure of Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. She resigned from the network on October 14, after revelations that she had given advance notice to the Clinton campaign of questions to be asked at a CNN-hosted debate.
[...]
"We are completely uncomfortable with what we have learned about her interactions with the Clinton campaign while she was a CNN contributor," the network said in a statement Monday, announcing Brazile's dismissal and maintaining that they never gave her any questions or other materials in advance of debates.
For more Wikileaks fun check out Most Damaging Wikileaks.

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Popcorn

WikiLeaks announces 'phase 3' of U.S. election coverage

Joe Uchill
The Hill
Sun, 30 Oct 2016 06:42 UTC
Hillary Clinton
WikiLeaks announced on Twitter that it would soon launch "phase three of [its] election coverage."

The anti-secrecy site put politicians on notice Sunday evening in a tweet that also included a plea for donations.

"We commence phase 3 of our US election coverage next week. You can contribute: https://shop.wikileaks.org/donate @WLTaskForce," wrote the site.

It did not provide information about what the third phase entails or if there are still more revelations to come.

WikiLeaks supporters, now including a number of supporters of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump and former Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders, immediately replied with tweets expressing hope that phase three would ultimately damage Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's campaign.

A new archive of Clinton-related documents would further irk a campaign still reeling from FBI Director James Comey's announcement on Friday that new emails related to the Clinton server probe had been discovered.

Comment: See also: Most Damaging WikiLeaks

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Snakes in Suits

Could the U.S. and Western countries be bluffing about military intervention in Syria?

Vijay Prashad
AlterNet
Wed, 26 Oct 2016 20:49 UTC
US soldier firing manpad
© DVIDS Hub/Sgt. Mark Fayloga/Creative Commons
Paying the price for a high-octane media push for war.

Five years ago, a high-octane media campaign pushed for war on Libya. Voices in the Gulf Arab press, in particular, cried out for blood. Al-Arabiya, the media conglomerate owned by the Saudi kingdom, led the way. It suggested that genocide was on the horizon in Libya's eastern cities. The forces of Muammar Qaddafi, it said, had moved swiftly against the rebellion. Qaddafi's legions would not only crush the rebellion, it suggested, but it would kill a great number of civilians.

The Western press echoed al-Arabiya, with far less understanding of the dynamics that involved Qaddafi and the Gulf Arab sheikhs. After all, in 2009, at the Arab League summit in Doha (Qatar), Qaddafi looked directly at the King of Saudi Arabia and said, "You are propelled by fibs towards the grave. You were made by the British and protected by the United States." King Abdullah, furious, said to Qaddafi, "the grave is before you." Personal animosity from the Gulf Arab emirs should not be underestimated. Only someone with little understanding of the Arabic media would have given al-Arabiya any credibility.

Comment: The West may not intervene in Syria with their militaries but that won't stop them from keeping the war going with their proxies:

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Info

Long time Saudi finance minister Al Assaf fired on Royal decree

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Mon, 31 Oct 2016 20:40 UTC
Saudi Arabia's King Salman Bin Abdulaziz
While mostly taking place behind the scenes, it has been a rather calamitous month for developments in Saudi Arabia: one day before the record, inaugural $17.5 billion Saudi bond priced, news broke that for the first time, a member of the Saudi Royal Family, had been executed for murder in what until then had been an unprecedented fall from grace for a member of the chosen royal elite.

The very next day, as virtually everyone in the bond market knows, Saudi Arabia priced a massively oversubscribed - the first of its kind - international bond issue, taking advantage of rising oil prices on the back of Saudi jawboning about an OPEC production freeze deal which now appears unreachable (oil is down 4% as of this moment). The deal was seen by most as a major success for the Kingdom, one whose proceeds the local authorities had started to spend just as soon as the wire transfers were executed to get thousands of government staffers back to work.

So it is surprising that less than 2 weeks after this historic bond sale, moments ago we learned that the long-serving Saudi finance minister had been relieved of his post on Royal orders.
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Wolf

Killary drags out her 'vast right-wing conspiracy' playbook

Jim Stinson
LifeZette
Mon, 31 Oct 2016 15:38 UTC
Hillary Clinton
Clinton camp set to wage effort to discredit FBI Director Comey and criminal probe as politically motivated

Before even 24 hours had passed since the FBI director informed Congress on Friday that it was reopening the probe into Hillary Clinton's emails, Clinton suggested the director was in cahoots with the Republican Party.

"We've made it very clear that, if they are going to be sending this kind of letter that is only going originally to Republican members of the House, that they need to share whatever facts they claim to have with the American people," Clinton said on Friday, after initially being blindsided by the FBI's announcement.

The claim wasn't true. All you had to do is turn the page and find Democratic members of Congress who had also received the letter from the FBI. But it shows how ready Clinton is to fight anyone in the government who dares investigate or question her. It is likely a habit Clinton picked up when she was first lady, from 1993 to 2001.

Clinton's opening salvo, though weak, is a sign of more to come. Her coming attack on the FBI and its director, James Comey, will likely begin in earnest on Monday, with her operatives using the letter to Congress as proof Clinton is the victim of a political conspiracy.

Clinton previewed her attack in Daytona Beach, Florida, on Saturday, when she said the letter was "unprecedented and deeply troubling."

Clinton will also turn the issue into one of "transparency" — even though FBI investigations are inherently not transparent. In Daytona, she called on Comey to "explain everything right away, put it all right on the table" — a demand she knows will go unheeded.


Comment: Pity she didn't take her own advice about all her paid speeches. Wikileaks had to bring us those.

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Info

New Great Game: China ups Security Role in Central Asia

Christoph Germann
The New Great Game
Mon, 31 Oct 2016 19:54 UTC
China's Growing Security Role in Central Asia

chinese troops
China appears to be taking a more proactive role in maintaining security and stability in Central Asia amid rising concerns over the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan and threats to Chinese assets and interests in the region.

At the end of August, Beijing's worst fears came true when an ethnic Uyghur crashed a car through the gates of the Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan's capital Bishkek before detonating an explosive device inside the vehicle, killing himself and injuring three embassy staff.

According to Kyrgyzstan's state security service, the attack "was ordered by Uighur terrorist groups active in Syria and affiliated to the terrorist organization the Nusra Front whose emissaries ... financed the terrorist action." The GKNB security service also said that the attack was coordinated through a native of Kyrgyzstan living in Turkey.
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Handcuffs

FBI Director Comey did NOT break the law by announcing email investigation


Washington's Blog
Mon, 31 Oct 2016 19:17 UTC
comey
Rock, meet hard place. Don't mind Comey.
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid alleges that FBI Director Comey has violated the law by announcing the re-opened investigation into Clinton emails so close to the presidential election.

Is he right?

One of the top constitutional law experts in the United States (and a liberal), Professor Jonathan Turley, says no:
[Reid's] allegation is in my view wildly misplaced. Reid is arguing that the actions of FBI Director James B. Comey violates the Hatch Act. I cannot see a plausible, let alone compelling, basis for such a charge against Comey.

In his letter to Comey, Reid raised the the Hatch Act, which prohibits partisan politicking by government employees.

5 U.S.C. § 7323(a)(1) prohibits a government employee from "us[ing] his official authority or influence for the purpose of interfering with or affecting the result of an election."

Comment: Further reading: James Corbett interviewed Michel Chossudovsky about the case. He has some intriguing insights as to what's really going on:



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Take 2

FBI Director James Comey - as seen through the persuasion filter

Scott Adams
blog.dilbert.com
Sun, 30 Oct 2016 16:38 UTC
If you're following the news, you know FBI Director James Comey announced that the FBI found a bunch of emails on Anthony Weiner's laptop.

Wait...hold on...the Gods of Humor demand that I pause here to insert a few Weiner jokes before I get to my point about Comey.

scott adams

Comment: Former prosecutors shocked over Comey's latest disclosure of new evidence compounds criticism

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Smoking

WHO to discuss monitoring movement of tobacco around the globe

Pete Kasperowicz
Washington Examiner
Thu, 27 Oct 2016 23:01 UTC
No smoking sign
© Zest Magazine
The World Health Organization, which is the United Nations' health policy arm, will meet in India next month to discuss a plan that would give the organization the technical means to monitor the movement of tobacco products around the world.

The WHO's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control was created to consider policies aimed at reducing tobacco use and reducing the flow of black market tobacco across the world's borders.

In November, its members will meet to discuss a proposal from Kenya and Burkina Faso that would impose a new system of tracking tobacco products around the world, for the purpose of fighting the illegal tobacco trade.

According to a copy of the agenda for this month's regional tobacco meeting that was obtained by the Washington Examiner, the two African countries are pushing for the anti-tobacco group to oppose any track and trace program for tobacco that is "under the influence, designed, facilitated or owned by the Tobacco Industry."

Such a plan, if implemented and enforced, would require tobacco companies in any country that ratifies the proposal to submit to WHO-approved technology that would track their products around the world.

Comment: Let's All Light Up!

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