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Is Trump administration clearing the way for Assange release?

C. Mitchell Shaw
The New American
Thu, 11 Jan 2018 16:38 UTC
assange protest embassy
© Wise Up Action
The Trump administration has laid the groundwork for clearing the biggest obstacle keeping WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange (shown) from leaving the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. Assange has been in exile there since August 2012 and has feared leaving, since the U.S. government has considered him a criminal suspect for his role in publishing classified documents detailing sometimes criminal actions by U.S. federal departments and agents.

In a tweet last week, WikiLeaks pointed out that the U.S. government has "decided to close its eight year long grand jury proceedings against @WikiLeaks (expanded in 2017 to cover our series on the CIA)." The WikiLeaks tweet was a reference to a statement made by State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert during a press conference on January 2. Speaking about Iran, Nauert said, "We support a freedom of the press. When a nation clamps down on social media, we ask the question, 'What are you afraid of?' What are you afraid of? We support the people of Iran, and we support their voices being heard."

Comment: And:

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher: Assange has 'physical proof' that Russia did not hack the DNC
Rohrabacher has not been able to discuss the Assange meeting with President Donald Trump so far, due to special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into the 2016 election, he told Breitbart.

"I've been waiting because I know that we're not going to give this special prosecutor any more ammunition than he needs to try to destroy this president," he said, according to the Washington Times.
Now that Mueller has turned in his report, which vinidicate Trump of collusion charges, perhaps there will be some positive movement in Assange's plight.

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Blackbox

'Inadequate training & certification?' Senate panel seeks answers from FAA over Boeing 737 crashes


RT
Wed, 03 Apr 2019 16:52 UTC
boeing
© Reuters / Jason Redmond
The Senate transportation committee is seeking answers from the FAA after a number of whistleblowers alleged that the agency inspectors who'd evaluated the Boeing 737 Max had lacked proper training and valid certifications.

"In light of recent 737 crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, the committee is investigating any potential connection between inadequate training and certification of Aviation Safety Inspectors who may have participated in the FSB evaluation of the 737 MAX," Sen. Roger Wicker, chairman of the Senate committee on commerce, science and transportation, wrote to the Federal Aviation Administration's Acting Administrator Daniel Elwell on Tuesday.

After reviewing available documents and information obtained from whistleblowers, Wicker assessed that the FAA might have been aware of these deficiencies as early as August 2018, two months before the first deadly accident with the brand-new plane. The committee believes that potential lack of training "may have led to an improper evaluation of the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS)," which resulted in two fatal crashes of the Boeing flagship aircraft, last October and in March of this year.

In light of this, Senator Wicker asked Elwell to answer a number of questions concerning the allegations and what actions the FAA has taken to address the "potential deficiencies." While Elwell has yet to issue a response to the letter, the civil aviation watchdog did note that it "welcomes external review of our systems, processes, and recommendations."

After a total of 346 people were killed in two Boeing 737 MAX crashes within a five-month period, the company is currently working on a software fix for the plane's flight control systems. Investigators believe the MCAS system - which adjusts the tail to keep the plane's nose level in flight - are to blame for the tragedies. Until the issues are resolved, Boeing's best-selling jets remain grounded worldwide.
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Windsock

Hot air? Trump claims wind turbine NOISE causes cancer in latest anti-green energy remark


RT
Wed, 03 Apr 2019 16:43 UTC
trump
© REUTERS / Joshua Roberts
During an 80-minute speech at the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) US President Donald Trump made the rather outlandish claim that the noise created by wind turbines causes cancer. Twitter was not impressed.

"Hillary wanted to put up wind, wind... If you have a windmill anywhere near your house, congratulations your house just went down 75% in value," Trump said at the committee's spring fundraising dinner in Washington, DC on Tuesday evening.

"And they say the noise causes cancer, you tell me," he added.
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Briefcase

Israeli delegation to India 'lost' classified files on arms deals


Sputnik
Wed, 03 Apr 2019 16:32 UTC
top secret classified
© DNY59 / Getty Images
The delegation visited New Delhi intending to offer new arms deals to India, which is already using Israeli military equipment such as the Spice-2000 "smart" glide bombs that were used by the Indian Air Force in its air raid against an alleged terrorist camp in Pakistani territory in February.

The Israeli national security advisor's delegation lost documents containing classified information on prospective arms deals when embarking on its trip to India in January, Haaretz newspaper reported. An aide to National Security Advisor (NSA) Meir Ben Shabbat reportedly left the documents in a restaurant where the NSA's delegation had dined prior to their departure to India.
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Magnify

The incorrigible hypocrisy of conservatives on US foreign policy

Jacob G. Hornberger
The Future of Freedom Foundation
Mon, 01 Apr 2019 16:20 UTC
neocons
Last week a Wall Street Journal editorial revealed the incorrigible hypocrisy with which conservatives have long suffered. Conservatives, of course, have long suffered this malady with respect to domestic policy given their ardent devotion to Social Security, Medicare, foreign aid, and other welfare-state programs even while decrying the left's devotion to socialism. But this particular WSJ editorial revealed the incorrigible conservative hypocrisy with respect to foreign policy.

The editorial was entitled "Putin Pulls a Syria in Venezuela." The opening sentence is comical: "Vladimir Putin has made a career of intervening abroad and seeing if the world lets him get away with it."

Why is that sentence funny? Because it also describes ever single U.S. president for the last 100 years! Every president from Woodrow Wilson through today has made a career of intervening abroad and seeing if the world lets him get away with it. Indeed, the central feature of the U.S. government for the last 100 years has been and continues to be empire and foreign interventionism.
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Wolf

The level of Brexit desperation rising as the betrayal of the people deepens

Tom Luongo
Gold Goats 'n Guns
Tue, 02 Apr 2019 15:55 UTC
brexit choice EU
© iStock
British parliament is now worse than a joke. And they have no one to blame but themselves.

As I watch the desperation of these people, obviously loyal to the European Union first and their constituents a distant fourth or fifth - after themselves, their party and any corporate lobbyists - it's clear they don't have any clue as to how to get out of the mess they've made for themselves.

Yesterday the British parliament again took over the business from the government and again was incapable of providing any direction to that government as to what kind or type of Brexit would be acceptable.

Comment:

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TV

Tucker Carlson beats CNN's entire prime time line up combined. CNN isn't taking it well

Ryan Saavedra
The Daily Wire
Wed, 03 Apr 2019 16:13 UTC
tucker carlson
© Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Tucker Carlson
Fox News' Tucker Carlson absolutely dominated CNN last week, beating their entire prime time line up combined in total viewers by over 1,000,000 viewers - and CNN is not handling the news well.

CNN's entire prime time line up garnered 2,474,000 total viewers compared to Carlson's 3,475,000 total viewers.

Ratings from Nielsen Media Research for 03/25-03/29:
  • FOX News Tucker Carlson: 3,475,000 total viewers; 625,000 viewers in the 25-54 age demographic
  • CNN Cooper: 810,000 total viewers; 203,000 viewers in the 25-54 age demographic
  • CNN Cuomo: 875,000 total viewers; 217,000 viewers in the 25-54 age demographic
  • CNN Lemon: 789,000 total viewers; 228,000 viewers in the 25-54 age demographic
Fox News' ratings exploded last week after Attorney General William Barr sent his letter to Congress saying that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation found no collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia.
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Light Sabers

Erdogan disputes election results after AKP stunning loss of 3 largest cities

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Tue, 02 Apr 2019 16:00 UTC
erdogan
© Reuters/RFI
People walk past by AK Party billboards with pictures of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and mayoral candidate Binali Yildirim in Istanbul, Turkey
It's official, or maybe not quite - as perhaps predictably the AK partyplans to challenge the stunning defeat: Erdogan's party has lost Turkey's three largest cities, Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir, to the opposition Republican People's Party, or CHP.

Ballots in the crucial local election were completely tallied on Tuesday, and the upset represents a huge setback for the president and his party amid a continued bleak and worsening economic situation.

The final results now with 100% of the ballots counted as reported by the semiofficial Anadolu news agency put opposition candidate for mayor of Istanbul, Ekrem Imamoglu, at 48.79%, barely inching out rival AKP candidate Binali Yildrim's 48.51%. And in the capital of Ankara, CHP's Mansur Yavas won with 50.93% of the vote, compared to AKP's Mehmet Ozhaseki's 47.12%.

Shooting back against critics who point out the local races were clear and biting indictments of Erdogan's leadership amid an ailing and troubled economy, and further amid worsening relations with the United States and the West, a representative of the Turkish presidency tweeted: "They will never learn. AK Party won 44.3% and the coalition won 51.6% of the votes." Spokesman Ibrahim Kalin lashed out further as part of the statement: "Erdogan has his mandate until 2023. Stop presenting your wishful thinking as fact and analysis."
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Network

Duterte sees China as a menacing friend, ever since US failed to deliver promised arms


RT
Wed, 03 Apr 2019 15:56 UTC
xi and duterte
© Reuters / Mark Cristino
Manila seeks to maintain close ties with Beijing despite any potential tensions in the disputed South China Sea, President Duterte said, emphasizing that the Philippines and China have no issues that can't be resolved politically.

"If I go to war my Navy will be crushed in a matter of minutes. If I wage a war with China, in seven minutes their missile will reach Manila," Rodrigo Duterte said Tuesday, defending his good relationship with Beijing, despite recent tensions over the presence of a large number of Chinese vessels off Thitu Island in the South China Sea.

Speaking in Malabon City the day after the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) kicked off their massive annual military exercise with the United States, Duterte stressed that Beijing also remains committed to friendly relations with Manila. The special bond, Duterte believes, flourished after China (as well as Russia) answered Manila's calls to supply the country with armaments to fight Islamist insurgency, after Washington halted military shipments over 'human rights' concerns.
China just wants to be friend with us. They gave us arms, ammunition. I went there because America failed to deliver what we ordered.
"It was only when I went there and talked to them and Russia that the Americans started to take notice," Duterte said.
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Bad Guys

Theresa May just kicked the Brexit can right into Corbyn's corner: It's a trap

George Galloway
RT
Wed, 03 Apr 2019 15:36 UTC
corbyn May campaign posters Brexit
© Agence France-Presse/Isabel Infantes
As Inspector Clouseau once said in the Pink Panther "It's so obvious that it could not possibly be a trap."

Delivered in a Peter Sellers type of French accent with his gormless naivety it was perfectly obvious to the cinema audiences that a trap was exactly what it was.

Theresa May's 11th-hour 55th minute conversion to consulting Jeremy Corbyn on the type of Brexit Britain should finally enjoy is so obvious it must be a trap.

Not that Corbyn had any choice but to accept the prime minister's invitation to negotiate with her in the name of "national unity." Britain IS in a jam, but not one of the famously horticultural allotment-tending leader of the opposition's making. Just days away from the bumpy exit which, even its supporters (like me), cannot deny a WTO departure from the European Union would be, a terror (no exaggeration). Having to hold European Parliamentary elections (in which I would be a candidate), the Brexit camp would sweep with a huge majority, adding a new complication to the prime minister (and the leader of the opposition's) pickle. This, and an increasingly belligerent Brussels elite shrilly insulting us, something had to be done.

Comment: "May is done..." and yet, she's still PM.

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