Puppet Masters
© Reuters
US embassy in Iraq
US embassy in Iraq
The missiles hit Baghdad's heavily fortified Green Zone, media report, citing security sources. One of these said that all five 'Katyusha rockets' had landed near the compound, while another put the number of projectiles at three - but described it as a 'direct hit.'
The unguided volley targeted the US mission late on Sunday. Warning systems at the facility were activated and people were advised to seek shelter, footage from the scene shows.
According to James Mitchell - one of three men authorized by the CIA to conduct waterboarding during America's war on terror - said last Thursday during a pre-trial hearing at Guantánamo Bay, that the Preacher "would at random times put one hand on the forehead of a detainee, raise the other high in the air, and in a deep Southern drawl say things like, 'Can you feel it, son? Can you feel the spirit moving down my arm, into your body?'"
According to The Guardian, Mitchell confirmed the chilling description written in his memoir, Enhanced Interrogation - confirming the Preacher's role at CIA black sites during testimony at a pre-trial hearing in the case against five defendants charged in the September 11, 2001 attacks, including mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
© REUTERS/Gretchen Ertl
Joe Biden campaigns in Salem, New Hampshire
Joe Biden campaigns in Salem, New Hampshire
"Let's be clear: Transgender equality is the civil rights issue of our time. There is no room for compromise when it comes to basic human rights," Joe Biden tweeted to his four million-plus followers over the weekend.
Such a sentiment from a politician fighting for the Democrat Party's presidential nomination would seem appropriate in today's virtue signaling times, but Biden's tweet has sparked heavy controversy for its pandering nature. Not only that, it noticeably landed in the midst of his competitor Bernie Sanders' being called out by some on the left for touting an endorsement from podcaster and comedian Joe Rogan.
"Pretty amusing to watch Biden lurch for the ultra-woke lane to try to capitalize off of this whole dumb Rogan controversy. He literally brags about his work with segregationists!" journalist Krystall Ball tweeted in response to Biden. The tweet was reposted by actor John Cusack, who has been campaigning for Sanders.
© REUTERS
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas
German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas
"Halle was my home." This is one of the saddest sentences I have heard in a long time. Max Privorozki said it, the head of Halle's Jewish community, which only barely escaped a massacre in October. His words express the utter despair at the fact that anti-Semitism has become a part of daily life for Jews in Germany once again. Every day, Jewish citizens are openly attacked on our streets or threatened and insulted online. There were over 400 such incidents in Berlin alone over a period of six months last year - more than two per day. In light of such figures, it does not surprise me that almost every second Jew in Germany has already thought about leaving the country. But it pains me even more. We urgently need to take action so that such thoughts do not become bitter reality and large numbers of Jews do not leave Germany. It is an absolute nightmare that people of the Jewish faith no longer feel at home here in Germany - and a terrible disgrace 75 years after the liberation of Auschwitz.
Comment: It's worth noting that a number of these reported attacks remain unsolved, some have been shown to be staged, 30% of those online have been shown to be bots, meanwhile we hear very little about actual attacks on Christianity: Europe: Anti-Christian attacks reach all-time high in 2019
For a long time now, words have not been enough. The lives of dozens of people in Halle were saved by a mere wooden door. We need to do more to protect Jewish institutions and communities, not only in Germany, but all over Europe. For this purpose, we will provide the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe with 500,000 euros in 2020.
Comment: See also:
- Britain's Chief Rabbi is helping to stoke antisemitism
- Anti-Semitism Pandemic!
- De-Bunking the Myth of the Jewish Conspiracy
- NewsReal #29: What Israeli Lobby? Anti-Semitism Hysteria Hits US, UK, France
- The Truth Perspective: Match Made in Heaven: The Surprising Similarities Between Radical Islam and Talmudic Judaism
- The Truth Perspective: The Mecca Mystery: The Hidden Origins of Islam and the Salafi-Jihadist Movement
- The Truth Perspective: Identity Politics on Steroids: How Zionism Outdoes Them All
A video clip featuring presidential advisor Paula White praying about "satanic pregnancies" raised eyebrows on social media on Saturday (Jan. 25).
"We interrupt that which has been deployed to hurt the church in this season. That which has been deployed to hurt this nation, in the name of Jesus," White prays in a video clip posted on Twitter by the activist group Right Wing Watch. She goes on to pray against "any strange winds that have been sent against the church, sent against this nation, sent against our president, sent against myself" and other spiritual threats.
One line late in the prayer went viral on social media.
© Evan Vucci/AP
Donald Trump supporters stand for the national anthem during a ‘Make America Great Again’ concert in Washington.
Donald Trump supporters stand for the national anthem during a ‘Make America Great Again’ concert in Washington.
What exactly do White Americans - who opened the floodgates to immigration in 1965 - need to do these days to prove they are not natural born racists? Cancel their monthly subscription to Town and Country? Stop walking their dogs, which are, of course, four-legged vehicles of "racial segregation," or stop attending their evening yoga class, the unsuspecting breeding grounds for white supremacists? Somehow I suspect that even if White people took to burning effigies of Ku Klux Klan members on their manicured front lawns that would not even put a stop to the ugly rumors. Let's just face it, the only thing that will finally stop the slanderous slurs is if all White Americans publicly denounce their support of the biggest race-hater of them all, Donald J. Trump. And should they refuse the itinerant Liberal Inquisition will be only too happy to do it for them.
Prime Minister Adel Abdel Mahdi informed all countries with military forces in Iraq — the USA, and its coalition partners the UK, Canada, France, Belgium, Denmark, etc. - of the urgency that they initiate withdrawal as soon as possible. So far, I have learned, no country has responded positively to the request via diplomatic channels. Only the US has even answered the Iraqi government, openly declaring its refusal to depart. Tremendous pressure and intimidation are being applied to the government to persuade it not to carry out the constitutional decision voted by the parliamentary majority.
"I can only see one solution ahead: to inform the country that the United States is defying the will of the Iraqi people, and to declare the US military an occupation force if all diplomatic means are exhausted", said the source.
US officials have overtly refused the lawful democratic decision of the parliament - the democracy that the US claimed to have imported to the country in 2003 - and insist on remaining in Iraq. US Secretary Mike Pompeo described the Iraqi decision as "non-binding". Nevertheless, no foreign military force can stay in a hostile society, notwithstanding the number of military bases and the massive army power under its control.
© KCNA
Kim Kyong-hui (circled) reappeared in state media reporting on Sunday, her first such appearance in over six years.
Kim Kyong-hui (circled) reappeared in state media reporting on Sunday, her first such appearance in over six years.
Kim Kyong-hui, 73, was with Kim Jong-un and other party officials when they watched a Lunar New Year's music performance, the North's official KCNA news agency reported Sunday.
The North's top newspaper Rodon Sinmun published a picture which showed the aunt, bespectacled and wearing black Korean traditional clothes, sitting next to Kim Jong-un's wife Ri Sol-ju and the leader's sister Kim Yo-jong.
It listed Kim Kyong-hui's name next to the North's No 2, Choe Ryong-hae.
"This means that her familial status within the Kim dynasty remains largely intact, despite her political difficulties following her husband's execution," Professor Koh Yu-hwan of Dongguk University told South China Morning Post.
Kim Kyong-hui's husband Jang Song-thaek, once considered the second most powerful man in the highly hierarchical state, was executed in 2013 after a special military tribunal found him guilty of treason, the North's news media has reported.
His execution came after he was stripped of all posts and expelled from the ruling Workers' Party for "criminal acts" including mismanagement of the state financial system, womanising and alcohol abuse.
Jang brought together "undesirable forces and formed a faction as the boss of a modern day factional group for a long time and thus committed such hideous crime as attempting to overthrow the state," the North's official KCNA news agency said at the time.
Impeachment: Dems cry 'dictator'; Team Trump cries 'election interference'; Trump approval up to 50%
© Reuters/Joshua Roberts/Erin Scott
Jerry Nadler • Jay Sekulow • Adam Schiff
Jerry Nadler • Jay Sekulow • Adam Schiff
The Senate impeachment trial of President Trump opened on Tuesday, and the Democrats' chosen team of prosecutors, or impeachment managers, spent much of this week reiterating their long-standing argument: Trump abused his office by withholding military aid for Ukraine to pressure President Volodymyr Zelensky into reopening a corruption investigation into the business activities of Joe Biden's son, Hunter.
Trump's defense team hit back on Saturday, arguing that the charges against Trump were hastily cobbled together by a party eager for vengeance after losing the 2016 election, and pointing out that none of the witnesses called during the House inquiry revealed direct evidence of a crime.
"They're here to perpetrate the most massive interference in an election in American history," White House Counsel Pat Cipollone said of the Democrats. "And we can't allow that to happen. They're asking you to tear up all the ballots across this country on their own initiative," he added. "Talk about abuse of power. This is a waste of time and money."
Comment: Doubling down, playing out their farce, it seems the Democrats' many tales - full of sound and fury - continue to signify 'nothing'.
Comment: See also: Guantanamo Bay: CIA waterboarding developer in legal battle defends torture