They are not known as 'weapons of mass distraction' for nothing...
In the 24 hours since FBI Director Comey dropped perhaps the biggest bombshell of the entire Presidential campaign, sending Democrats (and media) scrambling headless-chicken-like for answers (and blame-scaping), does anyone else find it odd that 'FBI Emails' does not appear to be a hot topic, trending, big deal on any social media?

Snapchat..."Hot"

h/t @CharlieKrik11

There is no getting out of the present American Depression. Private sector debt is fast approaching $20 trillion, not including the massive interest to be added over the foreseeable future. Given that war with either Russia or China would be suicidal for the US - let alone both together - the only rational reading of the Regime's provocation on both fronts is to unify the country for the sake of economic recovery. FDR did the same in 1941 against a stubborn Depression. Unfortunately, FDR had a unified nation, a basically moral people and a national, civic will. The national leadership was overwhelmingly seen as legitimate. Yes, it was abused and manipulated, ultimately destroying it, but it is something that the US today has none of.

The US has no interest in a war with anyone, and certainly should not have any military presence in south Asia or the Baltics. These countries are more than willing to trade with the US, so the purpose can only be for exploitation - to protect the massive investments ultimately destroying the US economy. This is corporate welfare of the worst kind.

The Americans, further, have no interest in who controls the South China Sea in the same way as she has no interest in the Japanese Co-Prosperity Sphere. Japan's rise to power after 1900 made her the natural leader of East Asia. China is in the same position now. There's no moral issue one way or another with a regional hegemon.

Recently, The Philippines took China to the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea over the issue. Any college sophomore should know that Manila would never take such a provocative action. Sure enough, it was the US masquerading as the Philippines, suing China though the agency of Paul Reichler of the Boston law firm of Foley Hoag. Of course, the American press took the State Department at its word as always. Since China sits on the Security Council, the "Philippine" victory was of no interest to them. The UN has no authority in the area or anywhere else, so the "legal" defeat was ignored. More recently, American arrogance towards President Duterte forced a rapprochement between China and the Philippines, showing yet against the irrationality of American foreign policy.

At least 60 people, including inmates, were killed in a Saudi-led coalition airstrike on the Houthi-controlled Yemeni port city of Hodeidah, relatives told Reuters. The prison in question is located in the city's al-Zaydiyah district and was reportedly holding 84 inmates. It was shelled three times late Saturday, Hashem al-Azizi, deputy governor of the Houthi rebel-controlled Hodeidah province of the same name, told Reuters.

A witness at the prison site told the news agency the entire building was destroyed and medics pulled bodies from under the rubble - many of them missing limbs. One of the strikes allegedly targeted the building directly, while two others hit the prison gate and nearby administration buildings.

According to Ruptly news agency, a Saudi-led coalition airstrike also hit the port of Hodeidah. The video filmed by Ruptly crew shows port infrastructure destroyed by mortars and still smoking, while firefighters try to extinguish the flames. There was no immediate comment on the airstrike from the Saudi-led coalition.

Saudi Arabia intervened in the Yemen conflict to fight Houthi rebels and restore ousted Sunni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power in March 2015. The intervention has so far claimed the lives of at least 10,000 people, including almost 4,000 civilians, according to the latest UN figures.

The majority of victims are killed in airstrikes. Since the beginning of the conflict, there have been reports of Saudi jets targeting schools, hospitals, marketplaces, and other civilian buildings.

Germany is experiencing "serious problems" with its military aircraft procurement, which may soon result in an inability to maintain the proper level of combat capability, according to Bundeswehr documents obtained by media. The German newspaper Welt am Sonntag obtained a memo, signed by German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen, which states that by 2021, the operating life of the Transal (the Franco-German C-160 transport aircraft) will end.

The operational use of the new aircraft, the A400M "Atlas" (produced by Airbus) is "unlikely to be expected before 2023," Welt am Sonntag writes, citing the document. As a result, this can lead to "a temporary gap in the demand coverage, and possibly to restrictions in order fulfillment" by the Bundeswehr.

It is believed that the decision to buy the Lockheed Martin C-130J Super Hercules (a four-engine turboprop US military transport aircraft) could provide a short-term solution. However, this comes with setbacks as it involves France.

Earlier this month, Germany and France signed an agreement to share transport planes and an air base in the French city of Orleans. The agreement outlines the two countries' intention to share C-130J Super Hercules military transport planes, French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said in Paris in early October, AFP reported. France ordered four C-130Js from US aviation company Lockheed Martin in January, and Germany has been looking to acquire four to six of the same aircraft and base them in France, German Defense Minister Ursula von der Leyen said.

James Comey's surprise announcement that investigators are examining new evidence in the probe of Hillary Clinton's email server put the FBI director back under a harsh spotlight, reigniting criticism of his unusual decision to discuss the high-profile case in front of the media and two congressional committees.

Comey's former colleagues said his public appearances last summer may have left the director feeling he had no choice but to let the public know when new information possibly relevant to the case arose — in this instance, according to a U.S. official, emails obtained during an investigation into allegations that former Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) exchanged sexually explicit messages with an underage girl.

Some former prosecutors and Justice Department officials said the stir caused by the letter Comey sent Congress Friday announcing the FBI was examining new evidence relevant to the Clinton probe underscored the risks he took when he parted with the usual practice by publicly defending and explaining the FBI's work on the case, even though no charges were filed.

"I got a lot of respect for Jim Comey, but I don't understand this idea of dropping this bombshell which could be a big dud," said former federal prosector Peter Zeidenberg, a veteran of politically sensitive investigations. "Doing it in the last week or 10 days of a presidential election without more information, I don't think that he should because how does it inform a voter? It just invites speculation ... I would question the timing of it. It's not going to get done in a week."

Wikileaks has been releasing hacked emails from the account of Hillary Clinton's campaign boss. What do they say?

The anti-secrecy website says it will release tens of thousands more emails between now and election day.

Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta, whose emails were hacked, has claimed the Russian government was behind the leak and the Trump campaign knew about it in advance.

He has refused to confirm or deny the emails' authenticity, suggesting some could have been doctored, without so far pinpointing any of the correspondence as fake.

These messages are different from the other Clinton email controversy, when she was found to have and broken government rules by exclusively operating a private server from her upstate New York home while secretary of state.

Will Trump pull a Brexit times ten? What would it take, beyond WikiLeaks, to bring the Clinton (cash) machine down? Will Hillary win and then declare WWIII against her Russia / Iran / Syria "axis of evil"? Will the Middle East totally explode? Will the pivot to Asia totally implode? Will China be ruling the world by 2025?

Amidst so many frenetic fragments of geopolitical reality precariously shored against our ruins, the temptation is irresistible to hark back to the late, great, deconstructionist master Jean Baudrillard. During the post-mod 1980s it was hip to be Baudrillardian to the core; his America, originally published in France in 1986, should still be read today as the definitive metaphysical/geological/cultural Instagram of Exceptionalistan.

By the late 1990s, at the end of the millennium, two years before 9/11 - that seminal "before and after" event - Baudrillard was already stressing how we live in a black market maze. Now, it's a black market paroxysm. Global multitudes are subjected to a black market of work - as in the deregulation of the official market; a black market of unemployment; a black market of financial speculation; a black market of misery and poverty; a black market of sex (as in prostitution); a black market of information (as in espionage and shadow wars); a black market of weapons; and even a black market of thinking.

Way beyond the late 20th century, in the 2010s what the West praises as "liberal democracy" - actually a neoliberal diktat - has virtually absorbed every ideological divergence, while leaving behind a heap of differences floating in some sort of trompe l'oeil effect. What's left is a widespread, noxious condition; the pre-emptive prohibition of any critical thought, which has no way to express itself other than becoming clandestine (or finding the right internet niche).

T.J. Coles, author of Britain's Secret Wars (2016, Clairview Books), talks to multi-awarded-winning journalist, author and filmmaker, John Pilger, about his new documentary, The Coming War on China, released in cinemas soon.

TJC: Please tell us about your new film.

JP: The Coming War on China is my 60th film and perhaps one of the most urgent. It continues the theme of illuminating the imposition of great power behind a facade of propaganda as news. In 2011, President Obama announced a 'pivot to Asia' of US forces: almost two-thirds of American naval power would be transferred to Asia and the Pacific by 2020.

The undeclared rationale for this was the 'threat' from China, by some measure now the greatest economic power. The Secretary of Defense, Ash Carter, says US policy is to confront those 'who see America's dominance and want to take that away from us'.

The film examines power in both countries and how nuclear weapons, in American eyes, are the bedrock of its dominance. In its first 'chapter', the film reveals how most of the population of the Marshall Islands in the Pacific were unwittingly made into nuclear guinea pigs in a programme whose secrets - and astonishing archive - are related to the presence of a missile base now targeting China. The Coming War on China will be released in cinemas in the UK on December 1st and broadcast on ITV (in the UK) on December 6th.

United Nations Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura said he is "appalled and shocked by the high number of rockets indiscriminately launched by armed opposition groups" that killed scores of civilians in Aleppo over the last 48 hours, a statement released by de Mistura's office says.

Scores of civilians, including several children, were killed while hundreds of others were wounded in "relentless and indiscriminate" attacks carried out by opposition groups in the western districts of Aleppo, according to the UN statement.

"Those who argue that this is meant to relieve the siege of eastern Aleppo should be reminded that nothing justifies the use of disproportionate, indiscriminate [attacks,] including heavy weapons on civilian areas and it could amount to war crimes," de Mistura said.

The big event in Aleppo on 28th October 2016 was the Al-Qaeda led Jihadi counter-offensive intended to break the siege of the Jihadi controlled eastern districts of the city.

The Russian military is reporting that it has failed to make much headway, and this seems to be confirmed by reports from the city. If so Putin may be calculating that air support from the Russian air force for the moment simply isn't needed, though he is trying to cover his position by giving the Russian military the option to intervene immediately if the situation changes.

Whilst that makes a kind of sense, it still begs many questions.