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Gregg Jarrett: A corrupt and dishonest FBI: Latest reports offer only more proof

Gregg Jarrett
Fox News
Mon, 14 Jan 2019 00:00 UTC
Trumpflags
© Politico
Dishonesty and corruption are endemic at the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The latest proof comes in a New York Times report that the FBI initiated an investigation in May of 2017 into whether President Donald Trump was serving as a covert Russian agent. The accusation itself was ludicrous on its face. But from a legal standpoint, the FBI's probe constituted an egregious abuse of power. The Bureau had no probable cause, no evidence, and no reasonable suspicions. They investigated Trump because they could. They defied the law, ignored or perverted facts, and debased the integrity of a heretofore-respected law enforcement agency.

Why did these rogue officials commit such an outrageous act of malfeasance? In a word, vengeance. Already incensed that Trump had defeated their preferred candidate, Hillary Clinton, they grew furious when the president fired Director James Comey on May 9, 2017. In reaction, they sought retribution. What better way to avenge Comey's firing than to launch a counterintelligence investigation of Trump under the false pretense that he committed treasonous acts for the benefit of the Kremlin and at the direction of President Vladimir Putin. Absent credible proof, information could be manipulated to frame Trump while a compliant media would gobble up the leaks and report the damaging charge. The election results could then be undone when the president was driven from office.

Comment: See also: Trump officially denies: I 'never worked for Russia,' 'Big fat hoax!'

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Mr. Potato

Assange defense team slams delusional Louise Mensch for authoring 'conspiracies' against Wikileaks founder


RT
Mon, 14 Jan 2019 17:03 UTC
Louise Mensch
© Reuters/Stefan Wermuth
Conspiracy theorist Louise Mensch
Jullian Assange's legal defense team tweeted a reminder of where the dubious accusations against him originated, pointing the finger at Russiagate conspiracy theorist Louise Mensch.

Monday's tweet from the team defending Julian Assange slammed former UK conservative MP turned conspiracy theorist Louise Mensch. The attached article is apparently aimed to remind followers of what exactly the Wikileaks legal team thinks of the woman, who's been smearing Assange for years.

The article is an Evening Standard story from 2012 which details Mensch's admission that she had taken "class A" drugs in her 20s while working in the music industry which "messed with [her] head." The defense campaign has previously fact-checked Mensch's "insane" claims against Assange, many of which were shown to be patently false.

Comment: Louise Mensch admits to taking hard drugs and one can only imagine her lifestyle being married to Peter Mensch, manager for many popular heavy metal bands. Time for "delusional" Louise to retire tweeting and seek professional help.

See also: Louise Mensch posts unhinged theory about Snowden and Putin - Wikileaks threatens lawsuit

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Eagle

Trump risks blowback with latest economic threats against NATO ally Turkey, analysts tell RT


RT
Mon, 14 Jan 2019 17:44 UTC
turkey flag
© Reuters / Umit Bektas
Donald Trump wasn't bluffing when he vowed to cripple Turkey economically if it attacks Syria's Kurds, analysts told RT. The move, however, would likely have serious negative repercussions for Washington.

The US president issued the threat amid accusations that his ordered pullout from Syria would endanger US-backed Kurdish militias in northern Syria - fighters which Turkey regards as terrorists. In one of his signature Twitter ultimatums, Trump announced that the United States would "devastate Turkey economically if they hit [the] Kurds."

The threat comes just days after Turkey said that it was actively preparing for a possible cross-border operation that would target the "terrorist" Kurdish YPG.

Take Trump at his word?

Trump's incendiary tweets regularly grab headlines - but they're typically directed at long-time US nemeses such as Iran or North Korea. While the US president hasn't shied away from threatening the European Union with tariffs, this may be the first time he's directed such strong language at a NATO ally.

Comment: See also:

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Arrow Up

Integrity Initiative sorrows: Norway too skeptical of US, not adequately Russophobic for UK propagandists


RT
Mon, 14 Jan 2019 17:54 UTC
norwegians norway flag
© AFP / Christof Stache
Integrity Initiative's crusade to create a lockstep anti-Russia narrative in Europe and the US has hit a roadblock: According to the shadowy organization, Norwegians are too skeptical of US politics and not adequately anti-Russia.

A series of leaks have revealed that Scotland-based Integrity Initiative, which bills itself as a non-partisan warrior against disinformation and propaganda, received £2.5 million from the UK government to manufacture a seemingly organic anti-Russia consensus across the Western world.

To accomplish this task, the organization enlisted "clusters" of individuals working in entertainment, politics, media, and academics to help push the desired narrative.

Unfortunately, this simple but elegant strategy has faced unforeseen obstacles. According to a leaked internal report detailing the organization's activities in Norway, the Norwegian public are too "soft" on Russia - which is obviously unacceptable.

Outlining an August 2016 conference organized by the group in Oslo, the report that was listed along the fourth wave of leaks from Integrity Initiative laments that Norwegians are "generally inclined to be soft on Russia as a near neighbor in the North (where there is a tradition of friendship and a good working relationship)."

Comment: See also:

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Attention

Why this Iraq war vet has created panic within the Democratic Party

Tyler Durden
Zero Hedge
Sat, 12 Jan 2019 16:15 UTC
Tulsi Gabbard
© Unknown
Congresswoman and Army reserve officer Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii
Hawaiian Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard's just announced 2020 presidential bid has unleashed fury from both the right and the left, but more so from within her own party, and especially from corners long focused on regime change in Syria and who generally lobby for a more muscular "boots on the ground" foreign policy from Ukraine to Syria to Afghanistan. Some pundits have already gone so far as to say"keep an eye on her finances," suggesting illegal foreign campaign funding through Damascus or Moscow.

Both neocons and liberal interventionists alike have united to slam the anti-war progressive as "Assad's mouthpiece in Washington" and an "Assad apologist" and of course there's the customary "Putin puppet" slur - the latter because as journalist Michael Tracey puts it, she "hasn't been sufficiently Russiagate-crazy for Democrats".

The former charge was regularly sounded after her early 2017 trip to Damascus to meet privately with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a diplomatic gesture to personally investigate the West's regime change efforts and its consequences for the Syrian people. The move was slammed by fellow Congressional Democrats, who raised questions over possible violation of the Logan Act.

Funny enough as a mixed race far-left congresswoman (of American Samoan descent), Hindu, and US Army reserve officer one would think she would be lionized by the left given her "impeccable identity-politics bona fides". But her unforgivable sin? She's long made it a central goal of her political career to "end America's interventionist wars of regime change that have cost our nation trillions of dollars and thousands of lives," for which she's introduced Syria-related resolutions in Congress toward that end.

Comment: Tulsi Gabbard is a breath of fresh air with a conscience, not afraid to speak up. Translation: She is the new target on both sides of the political aisle.
See also:

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Attention

Tehran claims it is designing 'modern' uranium fuel, enriched above nuclear deal limitations


RT
Sun, 13 Jan 2019 21:50 UTC
Iran nuclear
© My Future America
Iran is "on the verge" of producing fuel made up of highly enriched uranium, Iran's top nuclear power official said. While it hasn't reached weapons-grade level, the new fuel might still cross a line set by the 2015 nuclear deal.

"Initial steps have been taken to create modern 20 percent [enriched uranium] fuel and we are on the verge [of producing it]," the head of the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization (AEOI), Ali Akbar Salehi, told local media on Sunday. He added that the Islamic Republic can now create new types of nuclear fuel on its own and no longer needs to rely on reverse-engineering of foreign technologies.

The new product would be "different" from the 20 percent enriched uranium fuel, which had previously been produced in Iran and could be used to "supply fuel to any reactor similar to the Tehran Research Reactor," Salehi said. He also pointed to significant advances in reactor development, saying that "designing a reactor has now become a very possible task for the Iranian experts."

Twenty-percent enrichment is at the lower scale of the boundary set for what is known as highly enriched uranium. While this level is still far lower than the one used in nuclear weapons - where it exceeds 80 percent - such fuel is still considered dangerous as it can be potentially be used as a nuclear explosive material.

Comment: How will those countries still in the JCPOA view this new development? While Iran is still within range and confines of the agreement, it is certainly giving indications that may signal concern.

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USA

US remains in Syria to help PYD strike better deal with Damascus


Sputnik
Sun, 13 Jan 2019 16:44 UTC
Kurds hide caves
© Sputnik/Mikhail Alaeddin
Kurdish villagers hide in caves.
The United States is likely to maintain its military presence in Syria long enough to allow the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) to negotiate an acceptable deal with the Syrian government, member of the Syrian Negotiations Commission Bassma Kodmani told Sputnik.
"The United States will withdraw its military forces but they will be also maintaining the presence to protect the Kurds of PYD. Strategically, I think, they know that this military and political force would have to initially negotiate the end of its control over the area but on condition slightly better than simply surrendering and dissolving its own forces. They want to maintain a certain level of military capacity in Syria to allow them to prevent Turkish military offensive and to seek a better agreement with the Syrian regime", Kodmani said.
According to Kodmani, Washington feels moral responsibility for the Kurds, who have been instrumental in fighting Daesh* in Syria.

"Besides, they feel that if they will let them down not only they will be letting down their allies but sending a wrong message to any allies anywhere," she noted. Kodmani also underlined that the US military establishment might fear that Iran could step into a vacuum that the United States would leave in Syria after troops' pullout.

"This vacuum can be filled not by the [Syrian] regime forces but Iran-led militia. It would increase the Iranian control over Syria and this is something that the United States doesn't want and the Syrians definitely resent and fear," she concluded.

Comment: More from Sputnik:
Ayman Soussan, an assistant to the Syrian Foreign Minister, confirmed: "The Kurds are an integral part of the Syrian nation. We are sure that we are able to resolve a number of difficult issues through a dialogue, and this is guaranteed as long as the dialogue is based on the principle of territorial integrity of Syria and the unity of its people."

In December, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that the Turkish army was ready to start an offensive against the Kurdish forces on the eastern bank of the Euphrates at the earliest opportunity. However, after talks with US President Donald Trump, who informed the Turkish counterpart of the US troops withdrawal from Syria, Erdogan shelved its plans, saying that the offensive would be launched only after the complete pullout of the US forces.


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Attention

Trump threatens to 'economically devastate Turkey' if it attacks Kurds amid US withdrawal from Syria


RT
Sun, 13 Jan 2019 23:05 UTC
Trump
© AOL.com
US President Donald Trump
Donald Trump has warned its NATO ally to beware of the devastative wrath of US economic pressure if Turkey dares to attack the Kurdish allies America is leaving behind in its "long overdue" pull-out of troops from Syria.

The US military, Trump promised, will still use an "existing nearby base," apparently in Iraq, to attack the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) militants if the terrorist organization re-emerges in Syria. Using his typical mode of communication to reaffirm the withdrawal of American troops from the ground, the US president warned Ankara against seeing this as an opportunity to stage any military campaign against Syrian Kurds.

"Will devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds," Trump tweeted, urging Ankara to create a "20-mile safe zone."

Comment: See also:

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Calendar

Iran summoned Polish chargé d'affaires in protest of upcoming anti-Iran meeting


IRNA
Sun, 13 Jan 2019 09:51 UTC
someplace Iran
© Unknown
Iranian Foreign Ministry has summoned Polish chargé d'affaires Wojciech Unolt to protest over co-hosting an anti-Iran meeting. The managing director of Iranian Foreign Ministry for Eastern Europe conveyed Iran's formal protest to the Polish side for cooperating with the US to hold the anti-Iran meeting on February 13-14.

Referring to US hostile measure, the Iranian diplomat said Poland is expected to avoid accompanying US in this case. He warned Poland of taking reciprocal act [reciprocal actions] if the Polish government did not take urgent compensation measures.

Meanwhile, the Polish diplomat elaborated on the details of the upcoming meeting. He also underlined the fact that Polish officials' stances are different from Americans'.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo earlier announced holding a meeting with the focus on Iran on February 13-14. He claimed that countries from Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East will participate in this meeting. The meeting will be held in line with US efforts to promote Iranophobia policy.

Earlier on Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javq Zarif in a post on his Twitter page wrote, "Reminder to host/participants of anti-Iran conference: those who attended last US anti-Iran show are dead, disgraced, or marginalized. And Iran is stronger than ever."

Comment: See also:

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Binoculars

"The odds are nothing": Strzok's earlier acknowledgment that collusion narrative was bogus gets new significance after NYT report

Chuck Ross
The Daily Caller
Sat, 12 Jan 2019 17:35 UTC
PeterStrzok
© Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times
FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok testifies at the Committee on the Judiciary and Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Joint Hearing on, “Oversight of FBI and DOJ Actions Surrounding the 2016 Election" in Washington on July 12, 2018.
A top FBI counterintelligence official expressed concern that there was "no big there there" in the Trump collusion investigation just days after the bureau formally opened an investigation into whether President Trump was acting as a foreign agent of Russia.

"You and I both know the odds are nothing. If I thought it was likely I'd be there no question. I hesitate in part because of my gut sense and concern there's no big there there," Peter Strzok, who then served as deputy chief of FBI counterintelligence, wrote to FBI lawyer Lisa Page on May 18, 2017.

The text message took on new significance Friday after The New York Times reported that the FBI opened a counterintelligence investigation against Trump after the May 9, 2017 firing of James Comey as FBI director.

It was already known that the FBI had opened an obstruction of justice investigation into Trump over Comey's ouster, but the counterintelligence investigation had not been reported. Both components of the investigations were referred to Robert Mueller when he was appointed special counsel on May 17, 2017. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, who issued a letter recommending Comey's firing, likely approved the investigative angle. He has overseen the Mueller probe since its inception.

Comment: See also:

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