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Pay to play: Donald J. Trump Foundation has 'questionable' and 'surprising' practices


RT
Sat, 17 Sep 2016 03:56 UTC
Trump
© Mike Segar / ReutersRepublican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
A new analysis of the Donald J. Trump Foundation finds a pattern of inconsistency and some unusually sized donations, including donations to an NFL charity and Citizens United, a conservative non-profit organization.

Unlike the Clinton Foundation, which often receives a regular drubbing in the media, the Trump Foundation has been less scrutinized, except recently for an illegal contribution made to a Florida politician and for questionable expenditures.

Based on an analysis of the Trump Foundation's 2014 filing of the IRS's mandatory 990 Form, however, there is more to be explored.

Former Rolling Stone editor Rob Tannenbaum tweeted at length on Thursday, detailing what stood out to him about the 990 Form, such as a $100,000 donation to the Citizens United Foundation.
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Display

The end of net neutrality brought to you by Facebook

Tony Cartalucci
New Eastern Outlook
Fri, 16 Sep 2016 17:44 UTC
spacex explosion
© ScreenshotSpaceX explosion
American-based aerospace company SpaceX is one of the few Western enterprises pursuing a greater purpose in a nation otherwise obsessed with power and profit. When its rocket was recently lost on the launch pad amidst an anomaly it took with it a satellite to be used by Facebook, an example of the latter.

The Guardian in an article titled, "SpaceX rocket explosion: Mark Zuckerberg laments loss of Internet.org satellite," would report:
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg struck a bitter tone in his response to the explosion of the SpaceX rocket carrying a satellite intended for use on his Internet.org project in Africa.

Writing on his Facebook page, Zuckerberg said: "As I'm here in Africa, I'm deeply disappointed to hear that SpaceX's launch failure destroyed our satellite that would have provided connectivity to so many entrepreneurs and everyone else across the continent."
However, while technically Facebook's Internet.org would provide "connectivity" to people across the continent, it would not be providing them with access to the actual Internet.
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Bad Guys

Study shows a third of Saudi strikes hit Yemeni hospitals, schools and other civilian targets


RT
Sat, 17 Sep 2016 14:01 UTC
Yemen rubble of a school destroyed by a Saudi-led air strike
© Naif Rahma / Reuters
In five of the last 18 months of the Saudi-led war in Yemen, the coalition hit more non-military than military targets, a Guardian study has revealed. Overall more than one-third of all strikes ended up hitting civilian sites including hospitals, schools and mosques.

After analyzing public source data for some 8,600 air raids conducted by the Saudi-led coalition between March 2015 and August this year, the Yemen Data Project concluded that only 3,577 sites were of a military nature. Some 3,158 were listed as non-military, while 1,882 strikes were classified as unknown, the Guardian said in its analysis of the data.

Furthermore, the data which has been collected from open sources and cross-referenced by the NGO using a wide range of information showed that Saudis flew 942 air raids on residential areas. The planes managed to strike 114 markets, 34 mosques, and 147 school buildings, in addition to 26 universities. The information also revealed that Riyadh targeted transportation network, striking some 37 transport sites.

Comment: Will this Yemen war be the downfall of Saudi Arabia? Saudi Finance Ministry ex-advisor claims Saudi Arabia on verge of collapse

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Stock Down

Best of the Web: Journalism disgraced: The mainstream media bet the farm on Killary - and lost

Charles Hugh Smith
Of Two Minds
Wed, 14 Sep 2016 00:00 UTC
Killary
The MSM has forsaken its duty in a democracy and is a disgrace to investigative, unbiased journalism.

The mainstream media bet the farm on Hillary Clinton, confident that their dismissal of every skeptical inquiry as a "conspiracy" would guarantee her victory. It now appears they have lost their bet. Let's do something radical and be honest for a moment: the mainstream media has smoothed the path to Hillary's coronation in countless often subtle ways.

MSM "opinion" hacks have unleashed unrelenting attacks on legitimate inquiries with accusations of "conspiracy" and obsequious kow-towing headlines such as "Can we please stop talking about Hillary's health?"

Suggestions that the Clinton Foundation engaged in "pay to play" during Hillary's term as secretary of state are glossed over; yes, it looks bad, the MSM reluctantly admits, they then hurry to add that no impropriety can be proven in court.

Given the foundation is run by attorneys who obfuscate the meaning of the word "is," do you really think they're going to leave tracks that can make it to court?

Comment: The Western media has been little more than a lapdog of the elite rulers for some time: See also:
  • WikiLeaks confirmed mainstream media works directly with Hillary, DNC

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Megaphone

Corporate corruption: Scientists that won't link pesticides to bee deaths are often funded by the agrochemical industry


Mint Press News
Wed, 14 Sep 2016 15:54 UTC
bees
A bumble bee perches on rape blossoms near Munich, southern Germany. A new study shows that scientists funded by pesticide makers downplayed the role pesticides had in decimating worldwide bee populations.
'Syngenta and Bayer have a substantial amount of influence in the debate,' said one neurobiology researcher in response to a Greenpeace analysis of corporate corruption in pesticide research.

Pesticide manufacturers have spent millions influencing researchers who are investigating the role of neonicotinoids, a nicotine-like chemical found in many major pesticides, in bee die-offs, according to a recent analysis by Greenpeace.

The analysis arrives just weeks after scientists released the results of a long-term study that shows neonicotinoids are extremely dangerous to wild bees in the United Kingdom.

Comment: Syngenta and Bayer's answer to bee decline: Just plant more flowers
Putting the pesticides industry in charge of protecting bees, is like putting a fox in charge of a henhouse. - Alice Jay, campaign director, Avaaz.org

The heat is on Syngenta and Bayer CropScience, makers of neonicotinoid insecticides, which are heavily indicated in sharp bee decline as each new study proves. The EU is still discussing a ban and the EPA is being sued for allowing the manufacturers conditional registration of their class of chemicals which include clothianidin and imidacloprid - also acutely deadly to bees. Both governmental authorities appear to have catered to corporate influence at the expense of the bee population and the future of crops...
What is their "comprehensive" plan? Guardian UK reports:
Their plan includes the planting of more flowering margins around fields to provide bee habitats as well as monitoring to detect the neonicotinoid pesticides blamed for their decline and more research into the impact of parasites and viruses.
So there you have it - world food crisis solved. More $$ into research, let the pesticide industry monitor them, and give them some flowers. Sounds like an abusive relationship.


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Chess

Moscow and Manila: Natural allies in the Pacific

Rakesh Krishnan Simha
Russia Behind the Headlines
Fri, 16 Sep 2016 15:35 UTC
Duterte Philippines
© ReutersRodrigo Duterte’s recent statements have been grabbing media headlines.
Tired of being pushed around by the Americans, the Philippines is opening out to Russia in a major way.

After a century of living under American dominance - during which the Philippines has remained one of the poorest countries in East Asia - President Rodrigo Duterte has decided to go East. On September 13, making a policy U-turn, he ordered his defense secretary to seek military gear from Russia and China.

The strategy switch wasn't entirely unexpected. Earlier this month, Duterte had attacked Barack Obama for questioning extrajudicial killings in Manila's war against drugs, and called the U.S. President a "son of a b***h". He has previously called the Pope a "son of a whore" and the U.S. ambassador a "gay son of a whore."

Duterte's resolve to pursue an independent foreign policy may be bolstered by the re-rise of Russian military power and the explosive growth of the Chinese military. In 2014 during the G20 summit in Australia, many Filipinos were impressed by the Russian show of force near their waters. A battle group of four Russian Navy ships, including the heavily armed destroyer Marshal Shaposhnikov and the guided missile cruiser Varyag, had accompanied Vladimir Putin's visit.

Comment: Russian diplomacy strikes again, with the aim of building mutually beneficial relationships. Contrast that with the U.S. which seeks to dominate countries around the world, viewing them not a societies in their own right, but merely as resources to be exploited.

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Family

Unable to 'see beyond her own lifespan:' AfD's Petry attacks Merkel for not having children


RT
Fri, 16 Sep 2016 20:53 UTC
Petry and Merkel
© AFP / ReutersFrauke Petry, leader of the AfD (Alternative for Germany) party (L) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The leader of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany party, Frauke Petry, has launched a personal attack on German Chancellor Angela Merkel, alleging she is a worse politician because she does not have her own children.

Petry blamed Merkel's childlessness for the chancellor's political failures. "I have four children and Merkel has none," the AFD's Petry told Germany's Stern daily in an interview on Wednesday. "Children help people to see beyond their own lifespan and that is exactly what Merkel does not do," she added, implying that the chancellor is pursuing policies as if there were no tomorrow.

Comment: The sight of the lone Chancellor taking the stage without her crucial partners in government would be a hugely symbolic moment, demonstrating how the effects of mass migration have pushed the unity of the German establishment beyond even its limit.

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Eye 2

Cameron's role in destroying Libya: Findings of the UK Foreign Affairs Select Committee

Dr. Binoy Kamp
Global Research
Sat, 17 Sep 2016 14:04 UTC
Former Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron
© Suzanne Plunkett / Reuters

The UK Foreign Affairs Committee was a long time coming with this judgment, but when it came, it provided a firm reminder about how far the 2011 intervention against the Gaddafi regime was not merely flawed but calamitous in its consequences. There had been no coherent strategy on the part of the Cameron government; the campaign had not been "informed by accurate intelligence."

For members of the committee, it was clear that the then UK prime minister, David Cameron, had to carry a rather large can on the issue. "Through his decision-making in the National Security Council, former prime minister David Cameron was ultimately responsible for the failure to develop a coherent Libya strategy."

The consequential nature of this bloody and ultimately catastrophic blunder of international relations triggered continental instability, with a foul global aftertaste. The collapse of Libya into territories battled over with sectarian fury and the death of Muammar Gaddafi unsettled the ground in Mali. It also propelled violence through North African and the Middle East.
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Cell Phone

FBI facing FOIA requests of information over hacking of San Bernardino terrorist iPhone


RT
Sat, 17 Sep 2016 00:09 UTC
FBI probe
© Reuters
Three news organizations filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for information from the Federal Bureau of Information how the agency was able to hack the cell phone of one of the San Bernardino killers, Syed Rizwan Farook.

"The News Organizations seek to compel the FBI to provide records of the publicly-acknowledged business transaction that resulted in the purchase of this March of the so-called iPhone access tool," stated the complaint filed by the Associated Press, Gannet and Vice media against the FBI in the US District Court in Washington, DC on Friday.

Comment: It is disturbing insight into how the State can manage a sustained campaign of fear-mongering, with the aid of mainstream media, to fog the vision of the American populace while spending incredible amounts of our tax money on an almost non-existent threat.

Perpetrators of the surveillance state don't need facts when justifying their existence. They will continue simply appealing to emotion, stoking fear and using 9/11 to spend another trillion on an almost non-existent threat.

See also: Since 9/11, U.S. gov't has spent $1 Trillion on its Police State

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Wall Street

Russia's Central Bank cuts interest rates to maintain 'tough' monetary policy

Alexander Mercouris
The Duran
Sat, 17 Sep 2016 13:53 UTC
Russia central Bank
Russia Central Bank
As inflation falls, Russia's Central Bank cuts key rate to 10% but insists its tight monetary policy intended to reduce inflation will continue.

The Russian Central Bank has, as predicted, cut its key rate from 10.5% to 10%.

This is consistent with the continuing rapid fall in inflation. With inflation zero in the first two weeks of September after being zero in the last week of July and through most of August, its annualised rate is now just 6.6%. The Central Bank has said that it intends to keep its key rate 3% above the annualised rate of inflation for the foreseeable future, so that with annualised inflation running at 6.7% it had the space to announce this rate cut.

However that is where the good news stops. The Central Bank has signalled that it intends no more cuts to its key rate this year, meaning that the earliest possible date for a further rate cut will not be before January next year. The Central Bank also says that it will maintain what it calls its "moderately tight monetary policy" - a policy which is in fact giving Russia the highest real interest rates of any major economy in the world - throughout 2017 and indeed beyond.

Comment: For more on the Russian Central Bank's strategy check out:

Heart of the bear: Russia's Central Bank & the future of the Russian economy

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