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Snakes in Suits

Narcissistic tool: Cuomo set to release book on his Covid 'leadership'


RT
Wed, 19 Aug 2020 20:37 UTC
Andrew Cuomo
© REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, with a lack of self-awareness seldom seen outside hereditary dictatorships, is writing a book on managing the Covid-19 outbreak - after leading the state to the US' highest coronavirus death toll.


Comment: Extra points to RT for the above, accurate characterization.


Crown Publishing announced the book, titled 'American Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the Covid-19 Pandemic', on Twitter on Tuesday, and said it will be released on October 13, three weeks before the US presidential election. The book will include leadership advice and a look at Cuomo's relationship with President Donald Trump.


Its release was announced the day after Cuomo gave a speech at the Democratic National Convention, praising his state's success in dealing with the virus and blaming the Trump administration for allowing New York to be "ambushed" by the pandemic. "We went through hell, but we have learned so much," Cuomo said.


Comment: "I'm a total failure, but it's not my fault, therefore I count it as a win."


The book likely won't dwell on the fact that New York, the fourth-largest US state by population, has had nearly 33,000 Covid-19 deaths, over double the nation's second-worst death toll. Nor will it emphasize that Cuomo's own actions contributed to many of those deaths.
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Bulb

Senate Intel Panel found 'absolutely no evidence' of collusion, faced roadblocks in probe of Steele Dossier

Chuck Ross
The Daily Caller
Tue, 18 Aug 2020 12:08 UTC
Senate intel panel
The Senate Intelligence Committee said in a long-awaited report released Tuesday that there was no evidence that the Trump campaign conspired with the Russian government to influence the 2016, affirming the findings of other investigations into a possible Trump-Kremlin conspiracy.

The report, which clocks in at 966 pages, also offered a scathing assessment of the FBI's handling of the Steele dossier, which was a key document in the Trump-Russia collusion conspiracy theory.

"The FBI gave the Steele Dossier unjustified credence, based on an incomplete understanding of Steele's past reporting record," the report says.

"The Committee found that, within the FBI, the dossier was given a veneer of credibility by lax procedures and layered misunderstandings."

The report, crafted by both Republicans and Democrats, describes a series of roadblocks and hurdles that the Senate committee faced in investigating information from Steele, a former MI6 officer hired to investigate Donald Trump on behalf of the DNC and Clinton campaign.
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Syringe

March to fascism: Morrison says Covid vaccine likely to be mandatory in Australia, suggests that those who refuse it will starve

Brett Worthington
ABC.net.au
Wed, 19 Aug 2020 20:17 UTC

Comment: Again we note that it's the anglophone countries - the 'Five Eyes' plus Ireland, though Spain and France are up there with them - proving the most fascist and authoritarian of the bunch...


scott morrison
© ABC News: Adam Kennedy
Scott Morrison says he expects criticism from anti-vaccination campaigners.
Australians are likely to face mandatory coronavirus vaccinations if Prime Minister Scott Morrison gets his wish.

The nation is a step closer to gaining access to a vaccine, with the Federal Government securing an international deal to produce a vaccine frontrunner locally if trials succeed.

If that happens, Mr Morrison said Australia would have a target of 95 per cent vaccination, which would account for people with health conditions that prevented them being vaccinated.

"I would expect it to be as mandatory as you could possibly make it," he told Melbourne radio station 3AW.

"There are always exemptions for any vaccine on medical grounds, but that should be the only basis.

"We are talking about a pandemic that has destroyed the global economy and taken the lives of hundreds of thousands all around the world, and over 430 Australians here."


Comment: What an idiot. The global economy need not have been wrecked. And even if governments and media hadn't reacted like hysterical children and the economy was STILL wrecked, that wouldn't entail the necessity of mass vaccination. Recent numbers and studies suggest only 20% of the population need get the virus in order to reach herd immunity, and the vast majority of those people either experience no symptoms or recover. Remember, the virus has a 99.9% survival rate. What is Morrison smoking? Probably the same insanity all the other world leaders are smoking.

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Bad Guys

Circling the prey: EU to sanction Belarus, doesn't recognize Lukashenko as president

Amée Zoutberg
The Brussels Times
Wed, 19 Aug 2020 19:47 UTC
minsk belarus protest
© REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko
Historical white-red-white flags of Belarus are seen as people attend an opposition demonstration to protest against presidential election results, in Independence Square in Minsk, Belarus August 18, 2020.
The European Union no longer recognises the presidency of Alexander Lukashenko, the recently re-elected leader of Belarus, as of Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Lukashenko has taken steps to actively suppress the ongoing protests that have been calling for his resignation since 24 May, at the start of Lukashenko's election campaign.

The decision came following a special video conference gathering all of the EU's state leaders. According to the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, the EU delegitimised Lukashenko because it finds that the presidential elections of 14 August were unfair.


Comment: And yet they recognize and do business with countries whose leaders are not even elected. The EU just smells weakness and is circling for the kill. They have no actual values.


"The European Union stands in solidarity with the people of Belarus. And we don't accept impunity," Michel said. "This is about the right of the people to freely elect their leadership."


Comment: No, it's not. It's strictly opportunistic weaponizing of humanitarianism, same as it was in Ukraine, Syria, Libya, etc. The EU doesn't care about Belarusians any more than they cared about Libyans.


"We stand with you in your desire for justice and a peaceful, democratic future."

The Commission's council announced that top figures in the Belarus regime that were involved in violence against protestors and election fraud will be sanctioned in the near future. Currently, Belarus as a whole is already under a series of EU sanctions, including the export of goods that can be used for oppression.

Comment: The EU's Commissioner for Internal Markets, Thierry Breton, said that sanctions will "no doubt" be reinforced, but that Russia will be taken into account - acknowledging that Belarus isn't European, but intimately tied to Russia. Foreign policy chief Borrell says Lukashenko "lacks democratic legitimacy". (The EU is comprised of unelected bureaucrats.) The sanctions will reportedly target all those "responsible for violence, repression & falsification of election results", a "substantial number" of penalties, according to Michel.

Russian FM Lavrov's response is on point:
"We are concerned about [foreign] attempts to use the internal difficulties that Belarus, the Belarusian people, and the Belarusian leadership are currently facing," said the foreign minister, highlighting that outside forces are attempting to interfere with the country in order to impose a situation that could be profitable for them, but not for Belarusians.

Focusing on statements from EU members, Lavrov suggested that Western countries want to impose their own rules across the continent and in other parts of the world too.

"What we are now hearing from European capitals - first from the Baltics, and then from Poland, and the European Parliament - is not about [Belarusian President] Alexander Lukashenko, human rights and democracy, but all about geopolitics," Lavrov explained.

Russia's chief diplomat called on Belarusians to sort out their issues independently and to reject the idea that the country has to choose between partnering with Russia and partnering with Europe. He expressed the hope that the country's citizens will not be led by those who need Belarus for purely selfish reasons.

The Russian official noted that the Belarusian elections were not "perfect," but clarified that the Belarusian leadership was well aware of that and its authorities are "trying to enter into dialogue with citizens protesting against what they consider an infringement of their rights."
See also:

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Eye 2

How's Slick Willy gonna explain this one? Photos emerge of Bill Clinton receiving neck massage from Jeffrey Epstein victim

Cheyenne Roundtree
The Daily Mail
Tue, 18 Aug 2020 19:40 UTC
bill clinton chauntae davies epstein
© MEGA
Bill Clinton is seen enjoying a neck massage from a Jeffrey Epstein victim in never-before-seen photographs obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com
Bill Clinton grins with pleasure as he enjoys an intimate neck massage with a young Jeffrey Epstein victim in never-before-seen photographs obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com.

The troubling pictures are an ill-timed reminder of Clinton's links to Epstein as the former President, 72, prepares to endorse Joe Biden tonight at the Democratic Convention.

Clinton traveled numerous times on the dead pedophile's private jet, the Lolita Express, socialized with his alleged Madame, Ghislaine Maxwell, and faced a slew of sexual misconduct accusations himself during his years in public life.

Comment: Interesting to note that the majority of valuable new material being brought to light regarding Jeffery Epstein's unsavory activities and companions comes from sources like the Daily Mail and the NY Post, both of which are scorned by the "respectable" press. One wonders why the Post or the NY Times aren't falling over themselves to break new ground in such an important story?

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USA

Colin Powell says Biden will 'restore America's leadership' in convention speech

Andrew O'Reilly
Fox News
Wed, 19 Aug 2020 00:00 UTC
PowellBiden
© Getty Images
Former Sec. of State Colin Powell and Former VP Joe Biden
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell offered his full endorsement of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Tuesday night in a speech where he contrasted Biden's decades of experience in foreign policy compared to President Trump's.

"Today, we are a country divided, and we have a president doing everything in his power to make it that way and keep us that way," Powell, a Republican who served under President George W. Bush, said in a pretaped speech. "What a difference it will make to have a president who unites us, who restores our strength and our soul."

Powell, who endorsed Barack Obama's presidential bids in 2008 and 2012 and voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, has been a fierce critic of Trump - recently criticizing Trump for his handling of the protests following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. The former secretary of state under President George W. Bush also already said in June that he would be voting for Biden in this year's general election.


Comment: Good luck with that! You can't perfume the swamp - which is what the Democratic party has become - and seems mighty proud of it!

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Cross

Trump says he moved US embassy to Jerusalem 'for the Evangelicals'


The Times of Israel
Wed, 19 Aug 2020 03:39 UTC
Trump and crowd
© AP Photo/Evan Vucci
US President Donald Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally at Wittman Airport, Monday, Aug. 17, 2020, in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
US President Donald Trump said Monday that his 2017 decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem and recognize the city as the capital of Israel was done for evangelical Christians.

"And we moved the capital of Israel to Jerusalem," Trump said at a rally held at an airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, apparently referring to his decision to move the embassy from Tel Aviv. "That's for the evangelicals."

Jerusalem has been Israel's capital since its founding in 1948, although much of the international community does not recognize it as under the initial UN Partition Plan, Jerusalem was to be an international city.

"You know, it's amazing with that — the evangelicals are more excited by that than Jewish people," he said to cheers from the crowd. "That's right, it's incredible."

Trump formally recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital in December 2017, when he announced plans to move the embassy there. In May 2018, his administration opened the new facility — a move that was met with intense controversy, both in Washington and in the Middle East.
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Snakes in Suits

Bill Clinton lectures Donald Trump about his conduct in 'The Oval Office' during DNC Convention speech

Ryan Saavedra
The Daily Wire
Tue, 18 Aug 2020 00:00 UTC
Clinton Lewinsky
© Getty Images/Daniel Acker
Former US president Bill Clinton • Monica Lewinsky
Former President Bill Clinton lectured President Donald Trump on Tuesday night about his conduct in the Oval Office. Clinton, who had an affair during his presidency with then-White House intern Monica Lewinsky, made the remarks during his speech at the Democrat National Convention. Clinton said:
"At a time like this, the Oval Office should be a command center. Instead, it's a storm center. There's only chaos. Just one thing never changes — his determination to deny responsibility and shift the blame. The buck never stops there."
Clinton was impeached during his presidency for lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice about the affair that he had with Lewinsky inside the White House.

The Washington Post highlighted one of the encounters that Lewinsky had when she was summoned to the Oval Office by Clinton:

Comment: You know things aren't going well at the Democratic National Convention when the Democrats late-night host and liberal apologist Stephen Colbert mocks Bill Clinton for his 2020 DNC speech that 'lectured' President Donald Trump on his Oval Office behavior.

See also:



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Arrow Up

New Zealand's high court rules first covid lockdown UNLAWFUL


RT
Wed, 19 Aug 2020 18:04 UTC
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern new zealand
© Xinhua/Guo Lei via Global Look Press
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern imposed New Zealand's first lockdown in March.
New Zealand's High Court has ruled that the country's first nine-day, Covid-19 lockdown from March 26 to April 3 was unlawful as it infringed on people's rights and freedoms without a legal basis.

The High Court of New Zealand ruled on Wednesday that the country's stay-at-home orders, under threat of punishment, were in breach of civil liberties after lawyer Andrew Borrowdale launched a suit against the government in July.

A panel of three judges waved off a number of associated complaints but conceded that authorities should have written the order into law before using the threat of police detention to keep people inside.

Comment: Interesting how physically isolated, western-aligned nations like New Zealand and Australia seem to be running the most draconian lockdown policies. It's almost like an experiment on a captive population. But our dear leaders would never do that would they?


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Stock Down

Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau resigns, will not seek re-election

Harry Miller
Canada News Media
Mon, 17 Aug 2020 00:01 UTC
Bill Morneau
Bill Morneau, Canada's finance minister, is stepping down amid the ongoing scandal of accepting gifts from WE Charity and rumours of a growing rift with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Morneau, who has held the post for five years, announced his resignation Monday evening in a press conference from Ottawa. He will give up both his cabinet role and his seat as member of Parliament for Toronto Centre.

He announced he will make a bid to become secretary general of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Comment: See also:

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