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Snakes in Suits

Moderator bias: Lester Holt exclusively asked Trump 15 questions during presidential debate, while only asking 2 questions to Killary

Joel B. Pollak
Breitbart
Tue, 27 Sep 2016 17:34 UTC
Lester Holt
© Thos Robinson/Getty Images for The Buoniconti FundLester Holt
A close analysis of the transcript of the first presidential debate on Monday night shows that moderator Lester Holt of NBC News asked 15 questions exclusively of Republican nominee Donald Trump, and only 2 questions exclusively of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

The analysis, posted on social media and drawing intense attention on Reddit, walks through the entire 90-minute exchange and notes Holt asked six questions of both candidates, in addition to Trump's 15 and Clinton's two.

Holt, a newcomer to presidential debate moderation, faced intense pressure from the Clinton campaign and the mainstream media to be tough on Trump. Some explicitly called for Holt to "fact-check" Trump — the implication being that Trump is more ignorant or dishonest — and implied that he would face the same fate as NBC's Matt Lauer and Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon, both of whom were slammed by liberal media critics for the crime of treating both candidates fairly.

Moreover, most of Holt's questions prompts were overly friendly to Clinton's point of view, while hostile to Trump. In one of the last exchanges of the debate, for example, Holt strongly implied Trump was a sexist when asking about a past criticism he had made about Clinton lacking a "presidential look." He also introduced the opening topic of the debate by praising Obama's economic performance, ignoring the fact that growth never reached 3% under Obama and labor force participation has fallen.

Breitbart News noted that Holt intervened several times to "fact-check" Trump — often erroneously — while never checking Clinton's facts, even when she was completely wrong, as in her claim that she had never flip-flopped on the Trans-Pacific Partnership. In addition, the Washington Examiner's Eddie Scarry notes Holt asked Trump six follow-up questions, and none of Clinton, leaving Trump "having to debate the highly anticipated event's moderator as well as his Democratic opponent."

Comment: It should have been clear to anyone watching that Lester Holt was biased against Trump.

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Attention

Thailand government blocks launch of report on 'culture of torture' at the hands of police and military


RT
Wed, 28 Sep 2016 14:35 UTC
Thailand
© Chaiwat Subprasom / Reuters
Amnesty International says Thai authorities have shut down the public launch of the NGO's report which details a "culture of torture" at the hands of police and military, in what is seen as the latest move to silence rights groups in the country.

The NGO had flown members of its UK team to Bangkok for the report's launch on Wednesday. However, a group of "men wearing jackets with tags identifying them as labour officials" arrived at the event, and an hour after it was due to start, it was shut down.

Nadthasiri Bergman, a Thai legal adviser to Amnesty, said the event's speakers were told they had the wrong visas.

"[The authorities] insist that they are not closing the event down, but they qualify that if representatives of Amnesty International speak there will be consequences and they will be subject to arrest under Thai labour law," he told the Guardian.

Amnesty International says it was surprised that this action was taken, as it had met with authorities and provided them with the report weeks ago.

Despite the threat, Yuval Gimbal, a researcher for Amnesty, who has a business visa for Thailand which is valid until December 2016, stood outside the event and told reporters: "We know that the Thai government does not accept criticism very well.
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Bad Guys

Mission still not accomplished: Pentagon chief confirms 600 more US troops to be deployed to Iraq to recapture Mosul


RT
Wed, 28 Sep 2016 17:07 UTC
US soldiers Iraq
© Azad Lashkari / ReutersU.S soldiers walk on a bridge with in the town of Gwer northern Iraq August 31, 2016.
The US will provide about 600 more troops to Iraq to advise and provide logistical support to the Iraqi Army, Pentagon chief Ash Carter confirmed after a statement by Iraqi PM Haider al-Abadi on the issue.

Carter confirmed earlier statements made by US and Iraqi officials. The soldiers will provide logistics and intelligence support for the Iraqi forces to help recapture the city of Mosul from Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL), he said.

Department of Defense spokesman Peter Cook told reporters earlier on Wednesday that the additional troops will not spearhead the attack. They are to be deployed in the coming weeks, according to officials.

Earlier, the Iraqi leader said in a statement that US President Barack Obama "was consulted on a request from the Iraqi government for a final increase in the number of trainers and advisers under the umbrella of the international coalition in Iraq."

Comment: Interview with Al-Nusra commander Abu al-Ezz: "The Americans stand on our side"

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Jet4

Pakistani journalist sues US over drone strike that murdered his son and brother


Sputnik
Wed, 28 Sep 2016 08:19 UTC
US drone
© Wikipedia/ Courtesy of US Army
Pakistani journalist Karim Khan has sued the US government for the death of his son and brother, claiming that the CIA killed them both in a New Year's Eve drone strike in 2009, in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region.

Khan's son, 16-year-old Zahinullah, was a 10th grade student, and Asif Iqbal, his brother, was a local schoolteacher who had a Master's degree in modern languages. Neither had any ties to terrorist groups. "We would show their tyrannous face to the whole world...that's all," Khan told Al Jazeera. "They cannot bring back my brother or my son...but I will fight against them as far as I can."

London's Bureau of Investigative Journalism reports that, since 2004, there have been over 400 drone strikes conducted by the CIA, resulting in the deaths of up to 966 civilians, including 207 children. US Director of National Intelligence James Clapper released reports indicating only 116 civilian casualties since 2009.

Comment: Filed in two separate court cases, it is set to trigger a formal murder investigation by police into the roles of two US officials said to have ordered the strikes. They are Jonathan Banks, former head of the Central Intelligence Agency's Islamabad station, and John A. Rizzo, the CIA's former chief lawyer.

See also: Your Tax Dollars at Work: CIA chiefs face arrest over horrific evidence of bloody 'video-game' sorties by drone pilots

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Cards

Senate votes to override Obama veto of 'sue the Saudis' 9/11 bill


RT
Wed, 28 Sep 2016 16:40 UTC
9/11
© Sara K. Schwittek / Reuters
The US Senate voted to override President Barack Obama's veto of the bill that would allow Americans to potentially sue Saudi Arabia for 9/11. This is the first veto override during the Obama presidency.

Obama vetoed the bill last week, explaining that the "Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act" (JASTA) would erode the doctrine of sovereign immunity and expose the US to lawsuits around the world.

JASTA, which passed unanimously in both the House and the Senate, allows US judges to waive sovereign immunity claims when dealing with acts of terrorism committed on American soil - potentially allowing lawsuits against Saudi Arabia over the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Fifteen of the 9/11 hijackers were Saudi nationals.
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Yoda

Russian Ministry of Defense: MH17 probe relied on data only provided by Ukrainian military and the internet


RT
Wed, 28 Sep 2016 16:36 UTC
mh17 jit conference
© Emmanuel Dunand / AFPMembers of a joint investigation team present the preliminary results of the criminal investigation into the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 , in Nieuwegein, on September 28, 2016
The international investigators relied only on data provided by the Ukrainian military and from the internet, a Russian military spokesperson said Wednesday. He added that no Russian missile systems have ever crossed into Ukraine.

"No Russian missile systems including 'BUK' have ever crossed the Russian-Ukrainian border,"spokesman for the Russian Defense Ministry Major-General Igor Konashenkov said.

The official reacted to the findings of the Dutch-led Joint Investigative Team (JIT), which issued its report earlier on Wednesday. The JIT claimed that the Malaysian Boeing was downed by a BUK surface-to-air missile launched from a rebel-held area in eastern Ukraine and that the respective missile system had come from Russia.

That theory was countered in today's presentation by the Russian BUK producer Almaz-Antey, who stressed that three of its experiments showed the most likely launch site was in the area held by the Ukrainian Army.
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Star of David

Shimon Peres, the unapologetic Israeli war criminal whose victims the West ignored

Ben White
Middle East Monitor
Wed, 28 Sep 2016 16:21 UTC
shimon peres
© REUTERS/Paolo Bona/FilesShimon Peres
Shimon Peres, who passed away Wednesday aged 93 after suffering a stroke on 13 September, epitomised the disparity between Israel's image in the West and the reality of its bloody, colonial policies in Palestine and the wider region.

Peres was born in modern day Belarus in 1923, and his family moved to Palestine in the 1930s. As a young man, Peres joined the Haganah, the militia primarily responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinian villages in 1947-49, during the Nakba.

Despite the violent displacement of the Palestinians being a matter of historical record, Peres has always insisted that Zionist forces "upheld the purity of arms" during the establishment of the State of Israel. Indeed, he even claimed that before Israel existed, "there was nothing here".

Over seven decades, Peres served as prime minister (twice) and president, though he never actually won a national election outright. He was a member of 12 cabinets and had stints as defence, foreign and finance minister.

He is perhaps best known in the West for his role in the negotiations that led to the 1993 Oslo Accords which won him, along with Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat, the Nobel Peace Prize.

Yet for Palestinians and their neighbours in the Middle East, Peres' track record is very different from his reputation in the West as a tireless "dove". The following is by no means a comprehensive summary of Peres' record in the service of colonialism and apartheid.
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Bad Guys

US threatens to break off all cooperation with Russia in Syria: Moscow says US failed to separate rebels from terrorists


RT
Wed, 28 Sep 2016 15:59 UTC
John Kerry Sergey Lavrov
© Andrew Kelly / Reuters (L-R) U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
The US holds Russia responsible for the violence in Aleppo and is threatening to break off all cooperation with Moscow in Syria, the State Department said. Russia is asking the US live up to its obligation to separate US-backed opposition from terrorists.

In a phone conversation with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on Wednesday morning, the US Secretary of State John Kerry "expressed grave concern" over the "attacks on hospitals, the water supply network, and other civilian infrastructure in Aleppo" by the Russian and Syrian forces, State Department spokesman John Kirby said.

"The Secretary made clear the United States and its partners hold Russia responsible for this situation, including the use of incendiary and bunker buster bombs in an urban environment, a drastic escalation that puts civilians at great risk," Kirby added.

Comment: About why the Syrian cease-fire has failed Thierry Meyssan, founder of Voltaire Network, has the following to say: "Not only is President Barack Obama unable to impose his will on the different branches of his own administration, but he is also unable to mediate between them. Each branch pursues its own policy, both against the other branches and against exterior enemies."

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Cards

Putin ups the ante: Ceasefire sabotage triggers major offensive in Aleppo

Mike Whitney
Counter Punch
Tue, 27 Sep 2016 15:47 UTC
Aleppo destruction
© AFP 2016/ GEORGE OURFALIAN
"Syria is the summation of all the errors of a dysfunctional empire collapsing upon itself. History forgotten. Science ignored. Facts denied. Propaganda cannot hide that West is supporting and killing Islamists at the same time in a World War that risks escalating into a nuclear holocaust." Vietnam Vet, comments-line, Sic Semper Tyrannis
The attack on Deir Ezzor was a flagrant act of betrayal. For the first time in the five year-long war, US warplanes targeted an SAA military outpost killing 62 Syrian regulars. The surprise attacks — which lasted for the better part of an hour and were followed by a coordinated ground assault by members of ISIS - were intended to torpedo the fragile ceasefire agreement and send a message to Moscow that the US was prepared to achieve its strategic objectives in Syria whether it had to launch direct attacks on defenders of the regime or not.
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Info

Ex-Israeli President Shimon Peres dies aged 93


RT
Wed, 28 Sep 2016 15:27 UTC
shimon peres
© Jean-Marc Loos / ReutersFormer Israeli President Shimon Peres.
Former Israeli President and Nobel Peace Prize winner Shimon Peres has died at a hospital near Tel Aviv at the age of 93, after his condition deteriorated following a stroke, local media report.

The former leader died with his family at his bedside.

Peres was admitted to Sheba Medical Centre in Ramat Gan two weeks ago, where he was intubated and sedated. Doctors expressed cautious optimism in the days immediately following his hospitalization.

However, on Tuesday, the former top politician suffered a serious setback incurring irreversible brain damage, The Times of Israel reported.

Comment: Shimon Peres, the unapologetic Israeli war criminal whose victims the West ignored

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