Puppet Masters

Democrats plan Capitol Hill event to warn 'Trump's mentally unfit for office'

Kimberly Leonard
Washington Examiner
Fri, 07 Jun 2019 09:50 UTC

Democrats are planning to host a Capitol Hill event featuring psychiatrists who will warn that President Trump is unfit for office based on his mental health.

The event will be led by Dr. Bandy Lee, a Yale School of Medicine psychiatrist and editor of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump, a book that argues psychiatrists have a responsibility to warn the public when a president is dangerous. The position is controversial because psychiatric associations urge members never to diagnose patients they haven't personally evaluated, saying it undermines the scientific rigor of the profession.

But Lee and others who agree with her stance say that their description of the president's behavior, of his showing mental instability and dangerousness, shouldn't be interpreted as issuing a diagnosis.

Police raids escalate as the war on journalism goes worldwide

Caitlin Johnstone
Medium
Fri, 07 Jun 2019 09:50 UTC

The Australian Federal Police have conducted two raids on journalists and seized documents in purportedly unrelated incidents in the span of just two days.

Yesterday the AFP raided the home of News Corp Australia journalist Annika Smethurst, seeking information related to her investigative report last year which exposed the fact that the Australian government has been discussing the possibility of giving itself unprecedented powers to spy on its own citizens. Today they raided the Sydney headquarters of the Australian Broadcasting Corp, seizing information related to a 2017 investigative report on possible war crimes committed by Australian forces in Afghanistan.

In a third, also ostensibly unrelated incident, another Australian reporter disclosed yesterday that the Department of Home Affairs has initiated an investigation of his reporting on a story about asylum seeker boats which could lead to an AFP criminal case, saying he's being pressured to disclose his source.

Comment: As Glenn Greenwald recently pointed out, the US' war on Assange has become a blueprint for the criminalization of journalism:

"If Assange can be declared guilty of espionage for working with sources to obtain and publish information deemed 'classified' by the US government, then there's nothing to stop the criminalization of every other media outlet that routinely does the same," Greenwald wrote in a Washington Post op-ed on Tuesday, highlighting what he considers "the greatest threat to press freedom in the Trump era, if not the last several decades."

By redefining Assange's actions as "espionage" rather than "journalism" or "publishing," the Trump administration seeks to exempt him from legal protections governing speech that belong to everyone, from the Post itself to the lowliest blogger, the Intercept editor and former civil rights attorney explains.

The public smearing of Assange - as a rapist, as a "foreign agent," or any of the other epithets tossed his way over the last decade - is deliberate, designed to make the public cheer his persecution. Because once one act of journalism has been legally reclassified as espionage, a precedent has been set, and further cases become impossible to oppose.

Also see:

Rosneft CEO: Energy consumers are 'hostages' to US political games

RT
Fri, 07 Jun 2019 09:50 UTC

© REUTERS/Sergei Karpukhin
Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin attends a briefing dedicated to the signing of a contract between Rosneft and Essar Oil Ltd. companies in Ufa, Russia, July 8, 2015.

Energy consumers are already hostage to US political games as Washington uses energy as a weapon, Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin said, rejecting US claims that Russia uses its natural resources to control others.

"America's 'Golden Age' can turn into the age of energy colonialism for other participants of the market," the head of Russia's biggest oil company told the audience at the St. Petersburg Economic Forum on Thursday. "Should global energy consumers become hostage to non-stop election campaign in the US?" asked Sechin.

The Trump administration has repeatedly accused Moscow of using energy as leverage for pushing its interests, with the US president himself once calling Germany "a captive of Russia." The allegations came amid Washington's attempts to boost sales of its own LNG to Europe and pressure on overseas allies to ditch Russian supplies.

Feds contact Jeffrey Epstein's victims, may open an 'appropriate' investigation into his crimes

Kate Briquelet
The Daily Beast
Fri, 07 Jun 2019 09:52 UTC

Eleven years after billionaire Jeffrey Epstein received what amounted to a country-club jail sentence for allegedly molesting dozens of girls in Florida, his victims could be closer to justice-with a possible future federal prosecution beyond Palm Beach.

In 2007, the disgraced financier signed a secret deal with the U.S. Attorney's Office to evade a series of charges that could have sent him to prison for life. The agreement, brokered under former federal prosecutor and current Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta, allowed Epstein to plead guilty to a pair of minor state charges.

Epstein served 13 months of his 18-month sentence in a private wing of a county stockade. And, as the Miami Herald reported, he spent most of this time on "work release" at a comfortable office, for up to 12 hours a day, six days a week.

Comment: Also see:

Trump says tariffs on China could be raised by another $300 billion and will raise Mexican imports by 5%

Matt Clinch
CNBC
Thu, 06 Jun 2019 03:14 UTC

© Mandel Ngan | AFP | Getty Images
President Donald Trump speaks before boarding Air Force One at Shannon Airport in Shannon, Ireland, on June 6, 2019 and fly to Normandy, France, to attend the 75th D-Day Anniversary.

President Donald Trump told reporters Thursday that tariffs on China could be raised by another $300 billion if necessary.

"Our talks with China, a lot of interesting things are happening. We'll see what happens," Trump said, according to Reuters, without giving details on what goods could be targeted. "I could go up another at least $300 billion and I'll do that at the right time."

"But I think China wants to make a deal and I think Mexico wants to make a deal badly," he said at Ireland's Shannon Airport on his way to France for the 75th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.

Comment: Regarding more tariffs on China, as noted in US' self-righteousness will lead to nothing but failure:

Research from the International Monetary Fund finds that US importers 'almost entirely' bear the cost of tariffs, which are then passed on to the consumers.

Pentagon scrambles for rare earth supplies as China threatens to cut US off

Ernest Scheyder
KFGO
Wed, 05 Jun 2019 17:17 UTC

The U.S. Department of Defense has held talks with Malawi's Mkango Resources Ltd and other rare earth miners across the globe about their supplies of strategic minerals, part of a plan to find diversified reserves outside of China, a department official said on Wednesday.

The push comes as China threatens to curb exports to the United States of rare earths, a group of 17 minerals used in a plethora of military equipment and high-tech consumer electronics.

Although China contains only a third of the world's rare earth reserves, it accounts for 80% of U.S. imports of minerals because it controls nearly all of the facilities to process the material, according to U.S. Geological Survey data.

Comment: These desperate, prospective projects come after the US shut down its own rare earth processing plants, shipped them overseas and sold off its reserves in 1998. And what's to say that those countries with supplies and facilities will want to be party to US aggression around the world?

See also:

Mexico moves to curb migration and human trafficking after US threatens new tariffs

RT
Thu, 06 Jun 2019 22:20 UTC

Undocumented Mexican immigrants walk through the Sonoran Desert after illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border.

Mexican authorities are moving to reinforce the southern border in an attempt to stem the tide of illegal immigration and have also taken steps against human trafficking, as Mexico attempts to ward off new tariffs from Washington.

Seeking "orderly, secure and regular" immigration, Mexico will beef up security at its southern border with additional agents, the country's Interior Minister Olga Sanchez said Thursday.

This was followed up by the Finance Ministry announcing it would freeze 26 bank accounts, citing "probable links with human trafficking and illegal aid to migrant caravans."

Last week, US President Donald Trump threatened to impose new tariffs on Mexico by June 10 if its southern neighbor fails to take steps to curb the migrant crisis, on which Trump says Mexico has been too lax. Mexican officials arrived at the White House Wednesday for talks.

Comment: Previously:

US' self-righteousness will lead to nothing but failure

Xinhua
Thu, 06 Jun 2019 10:36 UTC

However, it has neglected the fact that the trade war it wages with the world could backfire.

Research from the International Monetary Fund finds that US importers 'almost entirely' bear the cost of tariffs, which are then passed on to the consumers.

Washington's recent assault on Huawei has led to a blow that battered US technology shares. The stocks of multiple American firms fell sharply as a consequence of "the cold war in tech" that was hyped up by some US politicians.

Some narrow-minded US politicians advocate that hegemony is more powerful than rules and interests are more important than pursuits, believing that to coerce and exert extreme pressure on China will come to a good end.

Comment: See also:

Russia slashes share of US dollar international reserves, increases Euro, Yuan & gold

RT
Thu, 06 Jun 2019 10:57 UTC

The Central Bank of Russia continues to work on diversifying its foreign exchange reserves, and is gradually moving away from the US dollar, the head of the regulator Elvira Nabiullina says.

According to the bank governor, Russia's slower economic growth during the two years through 2015 after Western sanctions were introduced, had a huge negative impact on the country's gold and foreign currency reserves. Back then, the holdings reportedly shrunk to $356 billion.

"However, the reserves have recovered, currently standing at $490 billion," Nabiullina said in an interview with Japanese financial daily Nikkei on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg Economic Forum. "We are currently working on diversification of the national holdings in order to use them under various economic and geopolitical conditions."

Comment: See also:

US to sell 34 surveillance drones to allies in South China Sea region

Mike Stone
Reuters
Mon, 03 Jun 2019 11:41 UTC

The Trump administration has moved ahead with a surveillance drone sale to four U.S. allies in the South China Sea region as acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Washington will no longer "tiptoe" around Chinese behavior in Asia.

The drones would afford greater intelligence gathering capabilities potentially curbing Chinese activity in the region.

Shanahan did not directly name China when making accusations of "actors" destabilizing the region in a speech at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Saturday but went on to say the United States would not ignore Chinese behavior.

Comment: See also: Far from quiet on the US vs Russia-China front

It's only censorship if you are on one side of the political spectrum, is that it?

ReRan

25 Years for malum prohibitum crimes - and that don't sound like crimes at all; more like drunks bragging. Big terror ring there.(Sarcasm.) All...

Rowan Cocoan

My own Experience. No, I'm not vaccinated but many of my friends did choose to take this route. All have suffered side effects with a week of...

Winternights3

Monsters!! Pushing that crap into children. Cuba have been jabbing 2 year olds for weeks too now.

LadyRad

Vax analysis that shows how deadly they are: [Link]

L. Wood

Puppet Masters

Democrats plan Capitol Hill event to warn 'Trump's mentally unfit for office'

Police raids escalate as the war on journalism goes worldwide

Rosneft CEO: Energy consumers are 'hostages' to US political games

Feds contact Jeffrey Epstein's victims, may open an 'appropriate' investigation into his crimes

Trump says tariffs on China could be raised by another $300 billion and will raise Mexican imports by 5%

Pentagon scrambles for rare earth supplies as China threatens to cut US off

Mexico moves to curb migration and human trafficking after US threatens new tariffs

US' self-righteousness will lead to nothing but failure

Russia slashes share of US dollar international reserves, increases Euro, Yuan & gold

US to sell 34 surveillance drones to allies in South China Sea region

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