Puppet Masters
After Clinton dismissed Google's sizable role in swaying undecided voters in 2016 as "debunked," Epstein urged the former Secretary of State to listen to his congressional testimony "for the sake of our democracy," unleashing a torrent of tweets in an effort to set her straight. Enumerating the sins of Google, the psychologist implored Clinton to think of her "legacy."
Trump has repeatedly called for closer ties with Moscow and it's a move he backed last year. But Western democracies have said no, citing Russian aggression in Europe and in particular Ukraine.
President Trump said Tuesday at the White House:
"I think it's much more appropriate to have Russia in. A lot of the things we talk about have to do with Russia, I could certainly see it being the G8 again, if someone would make that motion, I would be disposed to think about it favorably."In 2014, President Barack Obama and other the member nations booted Russia out of what was then the G8 as a rebuke to Russia's illegal occupation of Crimea and its support for Russian-led separatists in eastern Ukraine.
But Trump suggested Tuesday that Obama wanted Putin out because he had been "outsmarted" by Putin.
"I guess President Obama because Putin outsmarted him. President Obama thought it wasn't a good thing to have Russia in, so he wanted Russia out."
Comment: From a year ago June 8, 2018: Trump states his case for reinstatement of Russia in G7
Beijing's "recent escalation of efforts to intimidate others out of developing resources in the South China Sea is disturbing," Bolton wrote in a tweet on Tuesday. He accused China of "coercive behavior and bullying tactics which threaten regional peace and security."
Bolton did not specify any incidents in particular, but his tweet appears to indicate that the White House is throwing its weight on the side of the Philippines, whose claims on the South China Sea overlap with China's. Over the weekend, Manila protested after a Chinese warship sailed through what the Philippines considers a part of its exclusive economic zone (EEZ) - and Beijing a part of its own.
Meanwhile, Washington has been flaunting its own maritime forces in the face of Beijing, regularly launching what it calls freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs), dispatching warships to sail the South China Sea - which apparently doesn't count as bullying in Bolton's books. Such passages aim to challenge China's "excessive maritime claims," as per the spokesperson for the US Seventh Fleet, Commander Clay Doss.
The Pentagon also stepped up its naval drills in the area and sent B-52 strategic bombers to fly over the disputed island held by China.

Conventional ground-launched cruise missile test, San Nicolas Island, CA, August 18, 2019
Russia warned of a new "costly arms race" which it says it's seeking to avoid. Russia's deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, told state news agency TASS:
"The US has obviously taken a course towards escalation of military tensions. We won't react to provocations. We will not allow ourselves to get drawn into a costly arms race."Interestingly, given the Pentagon test of a previously banned land-based intermediate cruise missile - which took place at a range in California on Sunday - came a mere 17 days after the final and formal US pullout of the landmark Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty, Ryabkov further said this was clear evidence that the United States had already been in breach of the treaty prior to its official end, given the technology development and extensive preparations that went in to such a test.
On August 18, North Korea tested a previously banned ground-launch missile with a range of over 500km, sending the entire world into an enormous, frenzied panic. Oh no, it was the United States which in fact tested the missile to the sound of crickets over Western media discourse.
The missile in question was likely a Tomahawk missile (at a cost of at least $1.4 million per missile, but then again you can't put a price on wanton death and destruction), which is typically launched from ships and submarines - as we saw in Trump's infamous April 2017 Syria strike.
It sounds like a waste of money (to me, anyway) but there's a reason why Tomahawks cost a fortune. According to Popular Mechanics, a modern-day Tomahawk is guided by GPS and has the capacity to store coordinates for several targets. If a primary target was destroyed by friendly strikes, it can "take a picture of the damage done and loiter nearby until planners decide to re-attack the target or send the missile to attack an alternate."
The Maricopa County Superior Courts in Maricopa, Arizona, awarded Mayra Rodriguez $3 million in a wrongful termination suit against Planned Parenthood after she was fired in October 2017.
Planned Parenthood terminated Rodriguez after 17 years at the organization during which she ran three different clinics, she told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
And some jackboots. People love those jackboots.
Seriously, the Resistance needs to get their official narrative optics in order, and they need to do it without delay. Millions of liberals are standing by to be brainwashed into a year-long frenzy of manufactured mass "fascism" hysteria, but they are going to need some halfway convincing Nazis to spastically freak out over. A few hundred bozos in MAGA hats parading around with American flags does not exactly a Sturmabteilung make.
The approval of the $8 billion sale by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DCPA) came just days after plans to supply 66 fighter jets to Taipei were greenlighted by the White House. In approving the proposed deliveries, the DCPA reasoned that additional arms will help maintain "political stability, military balance, and economic progress" in the region.
"This proposed sale serves US national, economic, and security interests by supporting the recipient's continuing efforts to modernize its armed forces and to maintain a credible defensive capability."The prospects of yet another weapons sale by the Trump administration to Taiwan, which still has to be approved by Congress, drew ire from Beijing, which repeatedly slammed all US attempts to arm the enclave, that China considers an integral part of the mainland.
Comment: Followup from RT: 21/8/2019: China threatens sanctions against US firms providing F-16 jets to Taiwan
Beijing has urged Washington to cancel the sale of American F-16 fighter planes to Taiwan, vowing sanctions against US companies that take part in the deal in order "to protect [China's] interests."See also:
"We demand from the United States to adhere to joint agreements and immediately cancel the supply plan. Otherwise, Washington will have to answer for all the consequences," Gen Shuang, official representative of China's Foreign Ministry, said at a news briefing on Wednesday.
He stressed that the Taiwan issue relates to purely internal problems of China, and Beijing will firmly defend its interests on the matter, even if it comes to sanctions.
"China will take all possible measures to protect its own interests, including sanctions against US companies that will participate in these arms transfers to Taipei," he summed up.
- Taiwan may risk new 'hottest flashpoint': Purchase US Abrams tanks to counter China
- US greenlights $2.2bn sale of tanks & missiles to Taiwan despite China's protests
- China demands US halt arms sale to Taiwan
- Taiwan wants advanced arms, produces military budget to counter 'China threat'
- Satire? US Accidentally Ships Missile Parts to Taiwan, Accidentally Ships Back Money
Trump thanked PM Mette Frederiksen for being "so direct" and sparing "a great deal of expense and effort" for both countries, which apparently have few pressing matters to discuss absent the gigantic and seemingly absurd real-estate purchase. The meeting, scheduled for two weeks into the future, would be postponed "for another time," the president tweeted on Monday.
"The government has decided that it is in Australia's national interest to work with our international partners to contribute," Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Wednesday morning. "Our contribution will be limited in scope and it will be time-bound."
Following the US and UK lead, the former British colony will reinforce the sparse coalition with a P-8A Poseidon maritime surveillance plane this year and will dispatch a frigate next January for at least six months' patrol, foreign affairs minister Marise Payne and defense minister Linda Reynolds said in a statement.
Besides this 'limited' contribution, Canberra also agreed to provide intelligence and other assistance, as the US faces an uphill battle trying to muster support for its "maritime policing" initiative. Previously, only the UK and Israel had volunteered to battle the much-hyped Iranian threat, following a series of mysterious attacks on oil tankers that were pinned on Tehran and reciprocal vessel seizures by Iran and the UK.
The Islamic Republic, meanwhile, believes the US is simply trying to enforce its unilateral oil sanctions through military pressure after failing to do it via political extortion.














Comment: See also: