Puppet MastersS


Black Cat

Killary campaign can't shake hubby's scandals

Catherine Lucey
Associated Press
Fri, 07 Oct 2016 16:41 UTC
Monica Lewinsky clinton
Monica Lewinsky 2016
Monica Lewinsky tends to avoid politics these days, after becoming instantly famous nearly 20 years ago as the White House intern who had an affair with President Bill Clinton.

Unfortunately for Lewinsky, the 2016 presidential race keeps getting stuck in the past.

In the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, the thrice-married Republican hinted at the Clintons' marital problems and brought up Bill Clinton's infidelities directly soon after. For now, Trump says he won't discuss the subject at Sunday's debate. But he has been known to change his mind.

"Let's see what happens," Trump said at a town-hall event Thursday in New Hampshire, referring to whether he will hold off on the topic. "I think we're all better off if we can do that because it is about issues, it is about policies."

Hillary Clinton may not want to relive this period. But Clinton spokesman Brian Fallon said any attack by Trump on the topic would backfire, showing Trump to be "combustible and erratic." Some political analysts said Trump risks showing Clinton in a sympathetic light as the wronged wife — hardly helpful as he struggles to draw support from women.

Yet it's a fraught subject for both candidates. Bill Clinton aides moved aggressively to discredit women who alleged sexual contact with him, while Hillary Clinton stood by her husband publicly in much of that era and cast his accusers as part of a "vast right-wing conspiracy."

Comment: Killary 'having a real human moment'?? About as human as cackling over Gaddafi's lynching.

Slick Willy's White House flings are small potatoes compared to the full scale of the Clinton's criminal enterprise. Ironic that they seems to be one of the few things that may actually stick to Killary.

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Dollar

US govt spends over $1bn-a-year on PR


RT
Fri, 07 Oct 2016 04:03 UTC
Obama and budget
© truthuncensored.net
The public relations industry can be baffling and a PR staffer's job often vague, but the Obama administration doesn't seem to mind, spending a half-billion dollars a year on the services. The federal government as a whole, however, dishes out a full billion.

Public relations staffers looking for a job should send their resumes over to President Barack Obama. In 2015 alone, the federal government paid $999 million on advertising and public relations, according to a study released by the Government Accountability Office on Wednesday. The federal government's spending on PR has increased dramatically with the rise of social media platforms such as Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. On average, the federal government has annually spent about $1 billion on PR for the past decade.

The Department of Defense is responsible for $591 million worth of contracts, which is 50 percent more than what all other agencies combined spent in 2015. These numbers only represent the minimum spending on PR teams, that which has been coded for the budget with public relations.

Comment: Propaganda: $999,999,999; Truth: $1. This is about as transparent as it gets.

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Laptop

WH emails reveal concern over media coverage of Clinton emails prior to campaign


RT
Fri, 07 Oct 2016 04:31 UTC
Killary, Jennifers Psaki and Palmieri
© Brian Snyder / ReutersJennifer Psaki, Jennifer Palmieri, Killary Clinton
Months before Hillary Clinton declared her bid for the presidency, her team stayed in close contact with the State Department and the White House to avoid the media's uncomfortable questions about her emails, newly obtained emails reveal. The newly disclosed emails were released to the Republican National Committee as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, and shared solely with the Wall Street Journal.

The emails particularly reveal the revolving door between the White House, the State Department and Clinton's incipient campaign leading up to the time in April 2015 she announced her intention to run for the presidency. The RNC has only shared some of the emails it obtained, specifically those that highlight friendly back-and-forths between the White House and the State Department.

Less than a month before Clinton officially announced her campaign, White House communications director Jennifer Palmieri got in touch with State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki, asking her: "between us on the shows... think we can get this done so he is not asked about email." "Agree completely and working to crush on my end," Psaki responded, as quoted by the Wall Street Journal.

Comment: How to get immunity? You make it by destroying all evidence, squashing all discussion, making others complicit.

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Heart

Colombia's President Santos awarded Nobel Peace Prize for FARC deal


RT
Fri, 07 Oct 2016 09:03 UTC
Santos and Timochenko
© John Vizcaino / ReutersColombian President Juan Manuel Santos (L) and Marxist rebel leader Rodrigo Londono (R), better known as Timochenko, shake hands after signing an accord ending a half-century war that killed a quarter of a million people in Cartagena, Colombia September 26, 2016.
This year's Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos "for his resolute efforts" to bring the country's more than 50-year-long civil war to an end, the Nobel Committee has announced in Norway's capital, Oslo. Santos received the prestigious prize for securing a peace accord with FARC rebels, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, back in September after nearly four years of negotiations.

"What we have signed [...] goes beyond a simple agreement between a government and guerilla to put an end to a conflict. [It] is a declaration by the Colombian people in front of the world to say that we are tired of war and that we do not accept any more violence as a mean to defend ideas, and that we say loud and clear: 'No more war!'" Santos said upon signing the deal. It had to be ratified by the people of Colombia in a referendum in order to come into force.

Polls ahead of the vote suggested the deal to have public approval, with the peace deal also backed by a great number of politicians in Colombia and abroad, including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

However, in a dramatic turn of events, Colombians rejected the deal, with 50.2% voting against it.


Comment: Peace...what a concept!

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Megaphone

Putin to Duma: Ratify Russia-Armenia agreement on joint air defense


RT
Fri, 07 Oct 2016 13:43 UTC
Russian radar station
© SputnikVoronezh-M early warning radar station.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has submitted to the State Duma an agreement with Armenia on a united regional air security system in the Caucasus region that, once launched, would boost the protection of southern borders of Russia and its allies.

"The main objectives behind the united regional system of anti-aircraft defense are the organization and carrying out of combat stand-by duty of anti-aircraft units in the Caucasus collective security region, and the maintenance of the combat command system and the weapons and equipment of the system in constant readiness," reads an explanatory note attached to the treaty. The note also reads that the execution of the agreement would not cause any additional budget expenditure.

The treaty on joint air defense system between Russia and Armenia was signed in December 2015 and the Armenian parliament ratified it on June 30 this year.

The document allows Armenia to use Russian anti-aircraft systems and air and space forces, including military satellites, for defense of its airspace. Russian anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense currently relies on several long-range warning stations located within the country's borders.

In May this year, Russian mass media reported the Defense Ministry's plans to restore and modernize the Soviet-era Dnepr missile attack warning station near Sevastopol, Crimea, in order to counter increasing NATO activity in the Black Sea. The new facility will be able to register launches of ballistic and cruise missiles, including the latest hypersonic models from the Black and Mediterranean Seas, effectively protecting Russian territory from the south and southeast.

Comment: See also:

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Jet3

Symbolic? German jets used in anti-ISIS mission grounded over 'loose screws'


RT
Fri, 07 Oct 2016 16:38 UTC
German air force Tornado jet
© Umit Bektas / Reuters
The German army has reportedly banned its most advanced Tornado jets from flying due to yet another technical mishap. The reconnaissance planes have been carrying out missions against Islamic State in Syria since the beginning of the year.

The Tornado ASST A3 aircraft has been grounded from October 6 "in order to avoid any risk to personnel or machinery," the Bundeswehr (German army) said in a statement on its website on Thursday.

"The ban applies to the German anti-Daesh operation contingent in Incirlik, Turkey. Experts are currently working on fixing the defect," the statement reads.

The problem is attributed to loose screws on the monitor in the cockpit of the Tornado jets, German DPA news agency reported, citing a Bundeswehr spokesman, who did not say whether the ban would be lifted or if the planes would be allowed to fly again anytime soon.


Comment: These "loose screws" are symbolic of the minds of the German government for supporting these needless wars of illegal aggression.


Comment: This highlights the poor shape the NATO allies' military is in. Germany isn't the only country facing military equipment problems. The US is struggling with multiple issues with the F-35 fighter jets, Littoral combat ships and losing the Tank Battle games.

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Attention

Syrian, Russian actions beg for war crimes investigation, says Kerry


RT
Fri, 07 Oct 2016 16:18 UTC
John Liar Kerry
© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
Washington has intensified saber-rattling rhetoric towards Russia, with US Secretary of State John Kerry calling for a war crimes probe of Moscow's anti-terrorist operation in Syria.

"Russia and the regime owe the world more than an explanation about why they keep hitting hospitals, medical facilities, children, women," Kerry said after meeting with the French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Friday. "These are acts that beg for an appropriate investigation of war crimes." Kerry called the actions of the Syrian military and the Russian air force "beyond accidental" and "a targeted strategy to terrorize civilians."

Comment: For insight into what is really going on read the following articles and news summaries.

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Eye 1

Inhuman German judge, Ulrich Herrmann, rules 2009 airstrike killing 91 Afghan civilians and children was legally valid


RT
Fri, 07 Oct 2016 15:25 UTC
Afghan hospital
© Omar Sobhani / ReutersAfghan hospital workers carry an injured Afghan villager in hospital after Friday's NATO air strike on a Taliban target in northern Kunduz September 4, 2009.
Germany's highest federal appeal court has decided that compensation claims submitted by relatives of Afghans killed in a NATO airstrike, carried out by US jets and called in by a German commander seven years ago, will not be accepted.

The Federal Court of Justice rejected a payout claim filed by a father of two children killed in a 2009 NATO airstrike near the Afghan city of Kunduz and by a widowed mother-of-six, AFP reported on Thursday. The man was seeking €40,000 (almost $45,000) while the woman asked for €50,000 (more than $55,000).

"The military decision that was taken was valid under international law," judge Ulrich Herrmann said in the ruling, according to The Local.

The court found that there is no evidence that German commander, then-Colonel Georg Klein, holds responsibility for the September 2009 bombing that claimed the lives of 91 civilians. The strike carried out by US planes hit two fuel tankers stolen by Taliban militants.

Comment: An attack that slaughters 91 civilians, to include children, is heinous enough. That the West refuses to take any kind of responsibility for their war crimes adds insult to their barbarism. Such a kind of 'civilization' is destined to fall and deservedly so.

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Info

Analysing Putin's brief speech to the State Duma


Katehon
Fri, 07 Oct 2016 15:51 UTC
Russian President Vladimir Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin made a speech at the State Duma on October 5th during the opening session of the seventh convocation.

His statement was brief, but at the same time it contained a succinct messages which immediately attract attention.

The President said that these elections to the new Duma proceeded under special conditions, and they were conducted transparently and honestly. The Duma, according to Putin, should be a permanent platform for political and social dialogue. He called for the development of ерi-parliamentary diplomacy, which will aim to work with foreign partners. The protection of national interests, including the adoption of crucial decisions must be the main purposes in the activities of the Parliament.

Obviously, the challenge for a more expansionist approach (in the legal sense) in the international arena is laid out in these words. Not only the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but the members of Parliament should understand better, deeper, and more clearly the realities of the modern challenges and respond to them.
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Arrow Down

Lame duck Obama throws in the towel - has given up on Russian foreign policy

Bryan MacDonald
RT
Fri, 07 Oct 2016 13:22 UTC
putin Obama
© Kevin Lamarque / Reuters U.S. President Barack Obama (L), Russian President Vladimir Putin (R)
The last time relations between Washington and Moscow were this lousy, Madonna and Wham! were top of the charts and Soviet leaders were dying at an alarming rate. Foreign policy has emulated 1985's most famous movie and gone Back To The Future.

Barack Obama doesn't understand Russia. This became completely obvious when he delivered probably the most poorly judged insult any American President has ever uttered toward Moscow, dismissing the country as a "regional power."

Now, you might think Ronald Reagan was pretty rude when he called the USSR an "evil empire." And it's doubtlessly true that many Russians - and Ukrainians, Latvians and Georgians etc. at the time - were upset by the "evil" segment, but at least he balanced his insult by referring to Moscow's realm as an "empire." You see empires, no matter how nefarious, are strong, but "regional powers" are weak.

Thus, Obama using these two words was a colossal error of judgement. Especially when you consider how he was taunting the only country on earth which is capable of inflicting real military damage on America. For the record, he added how he perceived Russia to be acting "not out of strength, but out of weakness." Presumably, just to double down on the affront.

Comment: Obama has never been more than the messenger boy for the real US government. With the days of his "administration" waning it appears he's just counting the days till he can hit the lecture circuit and make some real money like Bill.

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