Welcome to Sott.net
Wed, 13 Oct 2021
The World for People who Think

Puppet Masters
Map

Eye 2

Sadist: Ex-Knesset Lawmaker says Beirut blast was 'God's gift', hopes it was Israel's strike on Hezbollah

Tim Korso
Sputnik
Thu, 06 Aug 2020 12:03 UTC
beirut blast
© REUTERS / Bader Helal
The tragic incident, which according to the first estimates was caused by an explosion of ammonium nitrate stored in the port, reportedly claimed the lives of over 130 people and injured thousands more. Countries around the world have since rushed to offer aid to Lebanon, with Israel being no exception.

Former Knesset member and founder of the right-wing libertarian party Zehut, Moshe Feiglin, sparked a major controversy in a Facebook post by calling the 4 August explosion in Beirut a "gift" from "God" to the Israeli people purportedly delivered ahead of Tu B'Av - a Jewish holiday similar to Valentine's Day.

"Today is Tu B'Av, a day of joy, and a true and huge thank you to G-d and all the geniuses and heroes really who organised for us this wonderful celebration in honour of the day of love [...] we got a fantastic fireworks show from Beirut's port", the former lawmaker said.

Comment: Meanwhile Pentagon Chief Mark Esper has claimed the blast is likely an accident, but Trump doubled down saying that it was possibly an attack:
US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the mammoth explosion that rocked Beirut was likely an accident, pouring cold water on a theory floated by the president, who claimed the Pentagon assessed that a "bomb" had set off the blast.

"[We're] still getting information on what happened," Esper told the Aspen Security Conference on Wednesday, but added that "most believe it was an accident as reported, and beyond that I have nothing further to report on that. It's obviously a tragedy."

Hours after the massive explosion tore through a port in the Lebanese capital on Tuesday, killing at least 135 people and wounding more than 4,000, US President Donald Trump told reporters that he had met with "some of our great generals," saying they felt the blast was "an attack, it was a bomb of some kind."
Beirut
© Reuters / Aziz Taher
People inspect the damage near the site of Tuesday's blast in Beirut's port area, Lebanon, August 5, 2020
Trump declined to elaborate on that assessment, and cited no evidence, but on Wednesday doubled down on his doubts.

"How can you say accident? Somebody left some terrible explosive type devices and things around... perhaps it was that. Perhaps it was an attack."

"I don't think anybody can say right now. We're looking into it very strongly. Right now, you have some people think it was an attack and some people that think it wasn't. In any event, it was a terrible event," Trump told a press conference.

Despite widespread speculation and rumors about a potential attack, which were only fueled by the president's remarks, Lebanese authorities have brushed aside any suggestion of foul play and maintain the blast was accidental, resulting from the improper storage of some 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate at a port warehouse. A probe into the exact cause of the blast is ongoing, and authorities have placed a series of port officials under house arrest as they look into those responsible for the vast store of dangerous chemicals.


      Read More...
Putin

'Putin always keeps his word' - France's ex-President Sarkozy


TASS
Fri, 24 Jul 2020 14:19 UTC
Sarkozy and Putin
© Sergei Chirikov/Pool Photo via AP
Former President of France Nicolas Sarkozy, who led the republic between 2007 and 2012, considers Russian leader Vladimir Putin a man, dedicated to his word, Sarkozy wrote in his memoirs, published in Paris Friday.

"He is easy to talk to," Sarkozy disclosed in his book, The Time of Tempests (Le Temps de temp·tes, Tome 1, Editions de l'Observatoire, 2020 ). "He listens attentively, extremely polite, accessible, sympathetic, and keen to smile. He is exceptionally devoted to his friends and his beliefs, but he can change his position if he is convinced of something."

According to Sarkozy, "it is very important and very difficult to win Putin's trust, but, as soon as this happens, he becomes a different interlocutor."

"He always keeps the word once given," the former President, who repeatedly had to negotiate with Putin, wrote. "Most of all, he hates double standards, especially in his communication with the press."

Comment: Hmmm, this reminds us of another former world leader who had a similar complementary assessment about the Russian President - which you'd never know if you had only been exposed to Western corporate media over the last several or so years.
Former President Bill Clinton described his relationship with Russian President Vladmir Putin as "brutally blunt," and said Putin never reneged on a personal agreement between the two.

In an interview set to air on CNN's Piers Morgan Live on Wednesday night, Clinton said that behind closed doors, Putin "kept his word in all the deals we made."

[...]

"You know, look - Mr. Putin is very smart," Clinton conceded.

"Smart and remarkably, um, we had a really good blunt relationship," he said.

"Brutally blunt," he added.
Putin


      Read More...
Eye 1

Tucker: What happens to New York City matters to the rest of us


Fox News
Wed, 05 Aug 2020 20:18 UTC
TUCKER
NYC setting up coronavirus quarantine checkpoints.


Comment: See also: De Blasio announces COVID-19 checkpoints on tunnels and bridges to enforce quarantine order

      Read More...
Snakes in Suits

UK recalls faulty masks worth £252 MILLION bought from company linked to government adviser


Business Insider
Thu, 06 Aug 2020 11:52 UTC
face mask faulty
© Christoph Schmidt/picture alliance via Getty Images
A man wearing a FFP2 respirator on a train in Stuttgart, Germany, on April 15, 2020.
Fifty million face masks bought by the UK government for frontline healthcare workers are being recalled because the straps aren't tight enough.

The FF2 respirators were supplied to the National Health Service (NHS) by Ayanda Capital as part of a £252 million ($331 million) deal, signed in April, to provide personal protective equipment (PPE) to health workers, court documents show.

However, the government has said that the masks use fastenings around the ears rather than the head, meaning they may not fit tightly enough, the BBC reported.

Comment: See also:

      Read More...
No Entry

There is no political solution to the Syrian conflict thanks to US and Turkey's continued belligerence

Steven Sahiounie
Global Research
Wed, 05 Aug 2020 00:00 UTC
Syria war
US Secretary of State, John Kerry, of the Obama administration, created a mantra for the media: "There is no military solution to Syria." He said it so many times, he seemed to convince everyone. However, after 9 years of conflict it appears there is neither a military, nor political solution for Syria. Despite the fact that the Syrian government under President Assad, with help from Russia, has regained 70% of the territory, and all the major cities are calm, still there is no possibility for recovery or reconstruction of hospitals, schools, homes and lives due to the US sanctions.

President Erdogan of Turkey, a close ally of President Trump, and NATO member, ensured that a military solution was impossible for Syria. By Turkey's invasion and occupation of Idlib, and the northeast region, the Syrian Arab Army was prevented from clearing out the Al Qaeda terrorists who occupy Idlib. On a second track, Turkey prevented the Kurdish northeast, who are US allies, from coming to an agreement with the Damascus government. Erdogan's invasion and continuing occupation of Syria was for Erdogan's benefit, as well as the strategic goals of his ally Trump, who has also invaded and continues to occupy the main oil and gas wells in Syria, thus preventing the Syrian government from using their own resources to recover and reconstruct after almost 10 years of war.

Comment: See also:

      Read More...
X

Blackmail: Twitter bans Trump campaign until it deletes tweet with COVID-19 'misinformation'

Zack Budryk
The Hill
Wed, 05 Aug 2020 09:15 UTC
Trump banned
© Fox Business News/KJN
Twitter bans Trump tweets until he complies.
Twitter has locked the Trump campaign's account over a clip containing 'misinformation' about the novel coronavirus, saying the account will be able to resume tweeting only if it deletes the tweet in question.

The clip comes from a Fox & Friends interview and features the president claiming children are "almost immune" from the virus. The same excerpt was removed from Facebook earlier Wednesday.

The tweet "is in violation of the Twitter Rules on COVID-19 misinformation," Twitter spokesperson Liz Kelley told the Washington Post. "The account owner will be required to remove the tweet before they can tweet again."

The campaign has the option to appeal the decision.


Comment: To twit or not to twit - is the presidential question:


Twitter, Facebook, YouTube label Trump video 'false information' on hydroxichloroquine:




      Read More...
Padlock

These two charts should land Dr. Fauci in prison

Jim Hoft
The Gateway Pundit
Mon, 03 Aug 2020 08:50 UTC
Fauci AAPS
© Getty Images/creativeneko/shutterstock/AAPS/KJN
Dr. Anthony Fauci, Dir. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) is a leading non-partisan professional association of physicians across the United States. Today the AAPS filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to compel the release to the public of hydroxychloroquine by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) and the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS).

Here are two charts that show hydroxychloroquine's effectiveness in treating the coronavirus.
chart Case 1:20
© AAPS
And here is another chart proving the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine.
HCQ effective chart
© Global HCQ studies
HCQ effectiveness study
What makes things worse is the fact that the federal government, the FDA and HHS, are withholding 100 million doses of hydroxychloroquine that were donated to these agencies from the public.

Comment: On a 'cellular' level, prison is the quintessential form of 'lockdown' and 'social distancing'.

      Read More...
Attention

Democrats' election plans are far more radical than the media will tell you

Jonah Gottschalk
The Federalist
Wed, 05 Aug 2020 00:00 UTC
Trump Swan
© HBO
President Donald Trump interviewed by Axios’ Jonathan Swan
Sending millions of ballots across states based on outdated voter rolls is just one of numerous controversial ideas being signed into law by Democrats while the media covers for them.

Democrats are planning a collection of unnecessary, dangerous, and wildly unpopular election changes for November, and you'd never even hear about it if you only read corporate media. A recent interview between President Trump and Axios journalist Jonathan Swan goes a long way toward exposing what's going on.

In it, the president alleged Democrat politicians in California plan to send unrequested mail-in ballots to every voter in the state. He then began discussing the security issues implicit in blasting off more than 20 million ballots based on outdated and inaccurate voter rolls.

Swan quickly interrupted, insisting Trump's claims were false, and that applications were of course needed to receive a ballot. In an extraordinary display, he interrupted the president five times in less than a minute, again and again insisting's Trump's argument was false.


Comment: Did the president really think he could talk logic to a mind-locked media guy baiting for reactions with agenda attached? The interview is nauseating.

      Read More...
X

UK govt. refuses to release info about Assange judge who has 96% extradition record

Matt Kennard, Mark Curtis
dailymaverick.co.za
Fri, 31 Jul 2020 00:00 UTC
Baraitser/Assange
© Instagram/Keystone/Facundo Arrizabalaga
Judge Vanessa Baraitser • Julian Assange
The United Kingdom's Ministry of Justice is blocking the release of basic information about the judge who is to rule on Julian Assange's extradition to the US in what appears to be an irregular application of the Freedom of Information Act, it can be revealed.

Declassified has also discovered that the judge, Vanessa Baraitser, has ordered extradition in 96% of the cases she has presided over for which information is publicly available.

Baraitser was appointed a district judge in October 2011 based at the Chief Magistrate's Office in London, after being admitted as a solicitor in 1994. Next to no other information is available about her in the public domain.

Baraitser has been criticised for a number of her judgments so far concerning Assange, who has been incarcerated in a maximum security prison, HMP Belmarsh in London, since April 2019. These decisions include refusing Assange's request for emergency bail during the Covid-19 pandemic and making him sit behind a glass screen during the hearing, rather than with his lawyers.
      Read More...
Mail

Jerry Nadler in 2004: 'Paper ballots are extremely susceptible to fraud'

Sean Adl-Tabatabai
News Punch
Thu, 28 May 2020 00:00 UTC
Nadler
© Unknown
Jerry Nadler in 2004, who remains blown out of proportion today.
A resurfaced C-SPAN video from 2004 shows Jerry Nadler fiercely opposing paper-based ballots during a Capitol Hill hearing.

At the hearing, a member of the public spoke in support of paper ballots, citing research by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which said hand-counted paper ballots to be "among the most reliable" voting methods.

But Nadler didn't agree with that claim:

"Paper ballots are extremely susceptible to fraud," he said.

"And at least with the old clunky voting machines that we have in New York, the deliberate fraud is way down compared to paper."

"When the machines break down, they vote on paper - they've had real problems," he warned.

"There's gotta be a way of getting the best of our methodologies," but offered no suggestion for an alternative voting method.

Comment: The Dems couldn't remove Trump with Russiagate nor their impeachment debacle. To highjack the election and assure Biden's win, the public must be convinced to endorse ballot harvesting, the opposite of their own concerns in 2004.

For more on this topic, see also:

      Read More...
Amazon Smile
Revolt! T-shirts