Puppet Masters
Mueller's charges against Concord Management & Consulting, the Russian company accused of running a "troll farm" and "sowing discord" on US social media in 2016, do not establish a link between that private company and the Russian government, US District Judge Dabney L. Friedrich pointed out.
Yet the special counsel's much-publicized final report claims to have "established" and "confirmed" Russian government activities based in part on the indictment against Concord, which is a breach of prosecutorial rules, Friedrich said.
For example, Mueller's report says that Concord CEO Yevgeny Prigozhin "is widely reported to have ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin." That's an assertion, not evidence.
Tucker Carlson hosts one of the most popular opinion shows on Fox News. On Tuesday, he had a segment calling out Omar (D-Minnesota) for accusing America of bigotry and racism in "virtually every public statement" and displaying "undisguised contempt for the US and its people."
"Ilhan Omar is living proof that the way we practice immigration is dangerous to this country," Carlson argued. "Some of the very people we try hardest to help have come to hate us passionately." Omar did not deny, or even contest, any of Carlson's claims or characterizations. Instead, she called him a "white nationalist" and threatened those who advertise on his show.
Watching this sordid spectacle unfold has left me shaking my head, because once upon a time I was just like Omar: rescued by America from the ruins of a country that US intervention helped destroy, brought into the utterly alien culture and landscape of the American Midwest, and given a lot of support but little guidance. One difference was that Omar came with her family and with the intent to settle, while I left mine behind and hoped to one day go back.
The tweet was posted in anticipation of a hearing scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, dubbed 'Kids in Cages: Inhumane Treatment at the Border', and included a dramatic photo backdrop displaying the dismal conditions at US migrant detention facilities - but it was soon deleted after conservative critics pointed out the origins of the image.
Saban, who is worth an estimated $3.2 billion, has donated millions of dollars to Democrats and pro-Israel efforts throughout the years alongside his wife Cheryl, president of their Saban Family Foundation. "The basic strategy is 50-50. Meaning for every dollar we give in America, we give a dollar in Israel," he says in the interview.
Although the couple says they have not picked a Democratic presidential candidate yet, they reserve a particular amount of scorn for Bernie Sanders' campaign. Saban tells the magazine:
"We love all 23 candidates. No, minus one. I profoundly dislike Bernie Sanders, and you can write it. I don't give a hoot. He's a communist under the cover of being a socialist. He thinks that every billionaire is a crook. He calls us 'the billionaire class.' And he attacks us indiscriminately. 'It's the billionaire class, the bad guys.' This is how communists think. So, 22 are great. One is a disaster zone."
Comment: See also:
- "Don't know how you lasted 8 months!" Israeli donor Haim Saban tells Kushner on live TV his ME Peace Team has no qualifications (VIDEO)
- Collusion with Israel - not Russia: Mega-donor Haim Saban thanks Jared Kushner for working on Israel's behalf
- Did the Onion just sell out? Top Killary supporter and Zionist now controls satire outlet
- Clinton campaign chairman urged speechwriters to take out "how Israel is treating the Palestinians"
Speaking at the Manila Hotel during the appreciation dinner for outgoing Speaker Gloria Arroyo, Duterte said he intended to leave Malacañang in 2022 with a strong Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and Philippine National Police (PNP) equipped to face the enemies of the state.
He then asked Congress to support his administration by pushing for measures to ensure a stronger AFP.
"I hope that by the time I make my exit all that would be in place. I am not belittling the events to come, or the person coming in to be the next President. I don't know who. I'd rather leave with a strong military and police [that are] equipped to challenge the enemies of the state, especially terrorism."
The President said he could feel his hands "sweating" just thinking of the possibility of dealing with terrorism on a broader scope.
"I see very dangerous times ahead. And I hope that we will be able to contain whatever there is really to... My hands sweat just thinking about [what would happen] if it would go awry outside of Sulu and Basilan Islands," the President, speaking partly in Filipino, said.
Foreign Minister Sir Alan Duncan told MPs in the House of Commons on Thursday that they are focusing their investigation on individuals within the UK system, after failing to find any evidence of outside interference.
We do not, at the moment, have any evidence that this was a hack so our focus is on finding someone within the system who has released illicitly these communications.
Comment: A political hit job? That what Trump's former communications chief Anthony Scaramucci told RT's Going Underground:
The UK diplomatic memo leak was a hit job on the British envoy to the US, while Trump is seizing the moment to "press" Britain for future talks, Trump's former communications chief Anthony Scaramucci told RT.
The leaking of the diplomatic cables was "a political hit job" on the British envoy Kim Darroch, financier and former White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci told RT's Afshin Rattansi on his show, Going Underground.Darroch resigned on Wednesday after his memos were leaked to the press, in which he described President Trump's administration as "dysfunctional" and "diplomatically clumsy and inept." Speaking to RT before the resignation was publicly announced, Scaramucci argued that it would be "a huge mistake" for London to sack the envoy who is "very well liked in Washington."The transition is going to happen in the UK government, and somebody wanted to embarrass him and knock him out of that post.
Trump lashed out at Darroch after the leak, calling the UK diplomat "a very stupid guy" and "a pompous fool." The president also said he will no longer deal with him. Trump seized the opportunity to blast Prime Minister Theresa May as well, insisting she ignored his advice on Brexit and went her "own foolish way." Britain's Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, in turn, branded Trump's outburst "disrespectful and wrong."
Scaramucci, who founded the investment firm SkyBridge Capital, stressed that Trump has "thin skin" when it comes to public criticism. "I don't think the president is actually mad at Ambassador Darroch. But that's the president's style: you hit the president [and] he's going to hit you ten times," he said.
As damaging as the leaks may be to relations between Britain and the US, professional diplomats are expected to stay blunt and not mince words in their internal correspondence, Scaramucci noted.Nevertheless, Trump wants to use the fallout from the scandal by "pressing down" on London ahead of trade talks in the future, Scaramucci said.This was an embarrassment. [But] ambassadors all over the world [operate in a way that] if they got their internal confidential assessment memos leaked, there would be a lot of embarrassing conversations. It's not a big deal.

Prosecutor Deltan Dallagnol is accused of colluding with former judge and current Minister of Justice and Public Security Sergio Moro to convict former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva
Even a casual student of history knows that the U.S. has seldom hesitated to attempt to overthrow troublesome Latin American governments. Guatemala's Arbenz in 1954, Brazil's Goulart in 1964, Chile's Allende in 1973, Panama's Noriega in 1989, Venezuela's Chávez in 2002 - the list goes on.
Since this time there were no American marines landing in Rio, no American ambassadors publicly cheerleading for the coup, no premature recognition by Washington of post-coup governments, it was hard to see what shape U.S. involvement might be taking. Since 2016 this question has come into sharper focus, and this week has added another huge piece to the puzzle, perhaps the smoking gun.
The federal minimum wage is currently $7.25, although several states have set much higher minimums. Democratic lawmakers in the House of Representatives have introduced a bill that would hike the minimum to $15.
The CBO study estimates that a hike to $15 in 2025 would boost the pay of 17 million workers who would otherwise be expected to earn less than $15 an hour. Another ten million who would earn slightly more than the minimum would also likely see pay hikes, according to the CBO.
The guest list for Trump's social media summit, due to take place this Thursday, looks tailor-made to trigger and enrage his opponents. Trump cheerleader Bill Mitchell will be in attendance, as will pro-Trump memesmith 'Carpe Donktum,' and now self-described "renegade cartoonist" Ben Garrison.
Comment:
UPDATE 11/07/19: Cartoonist Ben Garrison has been disinvited from the White House Social Media Summit after complaints about a 'blatantly anti-Semitic' cartoon he drew depicting controversial financier George Soros as a puppet master.
"Because I mentioned Soros and the Rothschilds in a cartoon, the perception from the [Anti-Defamation League] and those on the left is that I'm a 'blatantly' anti-Semitic cartoonist and they were all dancing a tantrum because Trump invited me," Garrison said in a statement on Wednesday via tweet, adding that he and the WH had agreed on Tuesday that his presence would be "a media distraction from the President's message."
The cartoon, from 2017, shows Soros as a puppet-master controlling then-National Security Adviser H.R. McMaster and retired General David Petraeus. Above Soros is the arm of another disembodied puppeteer, labeled "Rothschilds." Journalist Yashar Ali tweeted the cartoon Tuesday morning, informing his audience (who might not otherwise have realized why the cartoon was anti-Semitic) that the "Rothschilds" arm was the naughty part.
Ali's followers were split between the perplexed ("Quit stretching for something to be outraged about") and the incensed ("how is this not a national scandal?") - with a healthy dose of sarcasm ("Only Nazis criticize bankers"). It's easy to see how a reader could get lost on the road to righteous indignation, given that Soros - a favorite bogeyman of the Right whose financial speculation has devastated entire nations' economies while bankrolling progressive political causes - is also portrayed as the victim of "anti-Semitic conspiracy theories" - when he's not being attacked as an anti-Semite himself by Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and others on the Right. Further complicating matters is the fact that McMaster was, in fact, a member of the Soros-funded International Institute for Strategic Studies for 11 years.
Garrison was "disappointed" in both the White House's decision to disinvite him and its choosing to publicly announce the withdrawal of its invitation to the summit, which is scheduled for Thursday, he said. While he had initially pledged to remain silent about the invitation's withdrawal, he chose to issue his statement after the White House leaked the news to the media"It is obvious to anyone with common sense that I am not anti-Semitic," Garrison continued. "I'm not anti-Semitic merely because the ADL says I am." He accused the group of libel, pointing out that it continues to host retouched artwork of his "with the face of an offensive Jewish stereotype pasted over my cartoon," declaring it further proof of his anti-Semitism.The Fake News Media is only attacking me to attack the President. I will not let this stand.
Lawyer Robert Barnes retweeted the fake cartoon, warning the ADL that it would be a delicious irony to have to sue the group for defamation, and Garrison seconded the threat, telling the censor-happy group to "take this seriously."
"Judaism is a religion, not a race, and evil heretics like Soros and the secularist Rothschild bankers have nothing to do with my community of faith," Rabbi Joseph Kolakowski wrote to Garrison in a letter congratulating him on his invitation, one of many 'Jewish friends' Garrison cited in his statement who had come forward with their support.
"Nowadays you can't criticize Soros without getting called 'anti-Semitic.' They wouldn't care at all about this if I wasn't going to the White House on Thursday," Garrison told CulTTTure, pointing out that CNN reporter Jake Tapper - one of the first mainstream media voices to signal-boost the ADL's smear - is himself a "failed cartoonist." With the New York Times canceling its own political cartoon slot, and MAD Magazine going the way of the dodo, American political humor appears to be experiencing its death throes.














Comment: Daniel Lazare's commentary (video) cuts to the chase in analysis of Mueller's report.