Puppet MastersS


USA

A perfect storm of disinformation in the U.S. but there is truth in the eye

Demnted and Kakala
© Public Domain
The extreme weather ravaging the southeastern United States could be the proverbial October Surprise to impact the presidential election, which is only three weeks away.

Political observers often speculate on a wild card event that upends the race to the White House. Usually, it is a debacle over a sudden political scandal involving one of the candidates, or a foreign policy setback such as the failure in 1980 to release American hostages held in Iran, believed to have cost Jimmy Carter that election to Ronald Reagan.

With fears of a looming war between Israel and Iran embroiling the Biden administration, that event might seem a likely risk to damage the chances of the Democrat candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris. Her Republican rival, Donald Trump, would no doubt make plenty of political hay over the Democrats "getting us into another endless war" - at a time when American voters are weary of foreign military misadventures.

However, the annual hurricane season has wrought unprecedented destruction to multiple states in the U.S. along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. The political repercussions are piling up. As the Associated Press reported this week: "Back-to-back hurricanes are shaping the 2024 election."

Hurricanes Helene and Milton slammed into the U.S. - less than two weeks apart - and have wreaked apocalyptic devastation. Hundreds of people have been killed and hundreds more are still missing. Winds and tidal surges have destroyed millions of homes. It is estimated that the cost of infrastructure damage alone could reach $100 billion and quite possibly much more. Ominously, there are several weeks left before the hurricane season ends.

Compounding the chaos is a storm of political recrimination and disinformation. This election was already supercharged with divisive tensions and bitter polarization. The political atmosphere in the U.S. is as ugly as hell, generating fears of a civil crisis, whatever the outcome on November 7. Trump's bid for election is based on his incendiary claims that Biden and the Democrats stole the last one in 2020. If he loses this time, there are real concerns that the constitutional order of the U.S. may go into meltdown. Even if he wins, the system faces a crisis from deep-seated opposition to another Trump administration.

Stock Down

Kamala Unwinding

kamala
© Justine Goode / NBC News; Getty Images
"As the US increasingly resembles ancient Rome, being president is more and more dangerous. Something around 35 emperors met violent deaths, most from people in and around their courts. In other words, members of the Roman Deep State. An ugly situation is brewing in and around Washington DC." — Doug Casey
Don't kid yourself: Kamala Harris does not want to be President of the United States. She doesn't even want the ceremonial stuff, the incessant shuffling from one photo op to the next, the tedious Easter egg rolls, the prayer meetings, the turkey pardonings, the tiresome state banquets for men in strange headgear who are unfamiliar with using the fork and knife, and forbidden to sip chardonnay. . . .

It's obvious she has been played for a chump, that she was sandbagged into play-acting "the candidate" by an odd coalition of the distraught and the desperate — that is, the many agency blobsters who fear prison and the perfidious politicians such as Pelosi, Schumer, Mitch the Turtle, the Clintons, and Obama, paid to cover for the blob, often doing it badly, who fear the judgment of history, as well as the loss of their fortunes. Distraught and desperate characters make foolish decisions.

Dominoes

Democrats could lose control of US Senate - NYT

trump
© AP / Janie Osborne
Republicans are looking likely to "flip" a US Senate seat in Montana, according to a new poll by the New York Times, which would give them control of that chamber of Congress if all the other races go as expected.

While most eyes have been on the presidential race between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, the entire House of Representatives is also up for re-election, along with 33 seats in the Senate. Democrats currently have 51 seats in the 100-member chamber.

"The math for Senate control is pretty simple. For Democrats, it isn't adding up," the Times reported on Thursday, citing the latest poll co-authored with Siena College that showed Jon Tester, the incumbent Democrat in Montana, trailing seven percentage points behind his Republican challenger Tim Sheehy.

Sheehy is a former Navy SEAL and a businessman, who just got involved in politics. The Times/Siena poll had him at 52% to Tester's 44%. Meanwhile, Trump has a 17-point lead over Harris in Montana.

Star of David

Israeli forces target UN peacekeepers AGAIN in southern Lebanon

israel attack peacekeepers
© Aziz Taher/Reuters/FileLebanon’s Foreign Ministry said the Israeli army attacked a UNIFIL watchtower in Naqoura, October 11, 2024
The attack on UNIFIL's headquarters in Naqoura comes a day after two Indonesian peacekeepers were injured.

The United Nations peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon confirms that its headquarters in Naqoura was hit by explosions for the second time in 48 hours, a day after Israeli forces struck the same position.

Two peacekeepers from the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were injured after two explosions occurred close to an observation tower, the UN mission said in a statement on Friday.

"This is a serious development, and UNIFIL reiterates that the safety and security of UN personnel and property must be guaranteed and that the inviolability of UN premises must be respected at all times," it added.

"Any deliberate attack on peacekeepers is a grave violation of international humanitarian law."

Comment: Israel has a particular hatred for Ireland for their support for Palestine. They actually came for the Irish peacekeepers first:



The Irish tell the IDF to pound sand:



Locally, the Irish peacekeepers are particularly cherished:




Star of David

Best of the Web: Israel: Simply no red lines at all

Nasser hospital gaza
Nasser Hospital's maternity ward, Khan Younis, was bombed in December 2023
There is literally no act so vile that the UK, US and Germany will not support if perpetrated by the terrorist state of Israel.

Yesterday Israel:
  • deliberately attacked UN peacekeepers in three separate bases;
  • bombed residential central Beirut killing and maiming hundreds;
  • abducted, beat up and held an American journalist;
  • slaughtered 30 Palestinian refugees in an UNRWA school;
  • was found by an official UN Commission Report to be guilty of the crime against humanity of "extermination" in Gaza.
Any single one of these outrages would be roundly condemned if committed by any country at all except Israel, and would lead to repercussions.

But Israel can commit them all in a single day and suffer not one word of obloquy from the leading Western powers (although it does appear that the attack on UN peacekeepers may have snapped Macron's subservience - whether it's just a blip remains to be seen).

Cell Phone

Brazil restores access to X after social media platform complied with Supreme Court demands

musk brazil
© AP Photo/Eraldo Peres, FileAn ad by Valor media shows a photo of Elon Musk at a shopping center in Brasilia, Brazil, Monday, Sept. 2, 2024
The reinstatement comes after X agreed to block certain political accounts from X, pay outstanding fines, and name a legal representative for X in Brazil.

Brazilian Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Tuesday approved the reinstatement of social media platform X´s service in the South American country, after it complied with the court's demands.

Elon Musk's social media company X was banned in August after it failed to name a new legal representative by the Brazilian court's deadline, and after months of clashes over free speech and misinformation.

Dollars

Investigation into ActBlue's political fundraising expands to19 states over alleged election donation cheating

harris fundraising actblue cheating
© CF.org
A sprawling investigation into the online fundraising platform ActBlue has expanded into 19 states, as attorneys general across the country press the company on its security practices and whether Democrats might be using the platform to cheat on election donations.

An investigation that began with a few states and a House committee has now spread across nearly half the country as chief state investigators are endeavoring to determine whether Democrats have used the ActBlue to launder foreign money or craft donations in people's names without their permission, a practice known as "straw donations."

In a letter sent last week to ActBlue CEO and President Regina Wallace-Jones, the state attorneys general highlighted potential security issues with the online fundraising platform that could be allowing donations made in people's names who didn't donate.

Comment: James O'Keefe and OMG have been on the case:


Full text:

OMG Confronts ActBlue on FEC Fraud: Retirees Unknowingly Listed for Massive Donations

@OKeefeMedia uncovered suspicious contributions listed on @actblue's website as small donations, which were then reported as tens of thousands more to the FEC. Retirees across the nation were unaware of these massive contributions allegedly coming from them.

An ActBlue insider disclosed a secret ActBlue conference held at a hotel in Boston. Inside the hotel, James O'Keefe questioned ActBlue about the FEC money laundering allegations.

When confronted, ActBlue staff refused to answer questions and threatened OMG with arrest.

Full text:

Donors Across the U.S. Deny Massive ActBlue Donations Amid Attorney General Investigations

"He did not do $300,000 worth of anything in three years," exclaims Pam Fridrich, wife to Heinz Fridrich, when presented with FEC data by an OMG Citizen Journalist in Fernandina Beach, Florida, claiming the Fridrichs donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to ActBlue. When asked if they had made the contributions, Pam responds, "Not to my knowledge." The Fridrich family, overwhelmed by the allegations, remains perplexed by how such large sums could be attributed to them.

Across the country, in Las Vegas, Nevada, Elaina Bulow, a devout Democrat, is reportedly linked to around 830 donations totaling roughly $111,000. Bulow, who regularly monitors her bank statements, was outraged when presented with the FEC data, stating bluntly, "What's on that website is a lot of bullsh*t." Despite being a frequent donor, Bulow denies contributing anything close to the reported amount, saying, "Not that much... Not $111,000."

Similarly, Salt Lake City, Utah, resident Marilyn Shearer found her name tied to nearly 3,600 transactions totaling over $133,000. Shearer admits to donating regularly, stating, "I donate quite a bit, probably every day, which is frustrating." Despite her frequency in donating, she is stunned by the transactions attributed to her name. When questioned about the possibility of donating upwards of $100,000, Shearer shook her head no in disbelief.

The ActBlue donation legitimacy issue is escalating, with attorney generals from Texas, Wyoming, Missouri, Virginia, and two anonymous states launching investigations into the organization's questionable fundraising practices.



TV

Ex-CBS staffers call for outside probe of '60 Minutes' interview editing scandal

Kamala Harris
© 60 Minutes/CBSKamala Harris
Former CBS News staffers are demanding an independent investigation into 60 Minutes over the brewing Kamala Harris interview scandal — even as the network digs in its heels and refuses to release the full, unedited transcript, The Post has learned.

The long-running news show has come under fire after allegedly cleaning up the Democratic presidential candidate's answer to a question from 60 Minutes correspondent Bill Whitaker about Israel that aired during a special episode on Monday.

Her reply was starkly different from the "word salad" the vice president served up in a clip to promote the interview shown by Face the Nation the day before.

Comment: The clip speaks for itself (excuse the pun). Kamala can't string two coherent thoughts together without the help of teleprompters or a post-production team.






Brain

Prof. Schlevogt's Compass № 8: Israel risks falling into game-changing mind traps

Benji
© Justin Sullivan/Getty ImagesIsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
The ancient Greek historian Thucydides, the "father of realism," in his History of the Peloponnesian War remarked:
"The Athenian allies were making judgments based more on dim desire than on firm forethought, since humans are accustomed to hand over to unreflecting hope, what they long for, yet to thrust aside with autocratic reasoning, what they do not wish for."
This human weakness of one-sided wishful thinking can partly explain the startling historical pattern that many powerful countries have been defeated by a seemingly weaker enemy despite their material superiority. Indeed, single battles and entire wars are often lost inside the heads of politicians, generals and their troops. As regards the "inner theater" of people, where they play an inner game, there is much scientific evidence that a combination of biases and fallacies tends to distort the thinking of actors in various walks of life, prompting them to make fatally wrong decisions. The above case of blind wishful thinking coupled with the rigorous rejection of counterarguments - a counterproductive task for which reason paradoxically is given the full power of an absolute sovereign - serves as one example of such distorted thinking.

The state of Israel, in its determined geopolitical bid to permanently reorder the Middle East in its favor by sheer force, risks falling into several such treacherous mind traps and ultimately failing despite the odds, at least on the surface, being stacked in its favor. At the same time, these distortions prompt the US-led "collective West" to adopt a rather lenient attitude to Israel's crossing of an increasing number of red lines with a sense of perpetual impunity and immunity. The presence of biases and fallacies is particularly pernicious in times of war, when the judgment of many powerful decision makers, due to emotional overload and the pressures of what is perceived as "necessity," anyway tends to be more clouded than in times of peace.

Comment: A brilliant assessment worth the read.


Dollars

Who bankrolled Routh? Jim Rickards worries whether Trump will make it to the election

assasnews
© shutterstock
The second assassination attempt on the life of Donald Trump in the past two months is already being memory-holed by the mainstream media. Who's to blame for the second attempt? Beyond the obvious implications for society as a whole, the latest attempt will have major ramifications for markets and investors. That's because the economic and regulatory policies of the two candidates — Trump and Harris — could not be more different.
  • Trump wants lower taxes, less regulation, high tariffs to create high-paying U.S. jobs (a policy first advocated by Alexander Hamilton and later expanded by Henry Clay and Abraham Lincoln), an end to wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, a strong national defense and reforms to the FBI and the intelligence community (IC).
  • Harris wants higher taxes (including much higher capital gains taxes on stock profits), more regulations, open borders (which lowers average wages), a depleted defense posture, permanent wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, censorship of dissenting views (under the false label of "misinformation") and a continuation of the weaponized FBI and IC to wage war on domestic political opponents.
The choice is clear. Yet investors and voters won't have that choice if Trump is killed.

Increasingly, it appears that the U.S. government operating through the Secret Service, FBI and CIA is at least complicit in the Trump assassination attempts. They may be actively creating the conditions for an assassination through intentional gross negligence by Trump's security detail and nurturing mentally deranged Trump-haters in a way that leads directly to the sniper's nest.

Let's explore these claims in detail.