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British MP stabbing suspect was KNOWN to counter-terrorism program, MP reported threat days before but no action was taken

Eileen AJ Connelly
New York Post
Sat, 16 Oct 2021 18:12 UTC
Amess
© REUTERS/Henry Nicholls
Floral tributes are seen outside the Houses of Parliament after British MP David Amess was stabbed to death during a meeting with constituents.
The suspect in Friday's fatal stabbing of British Member of Parliament Sir David Amess was identified Saturday as 25-year-old Ali Harbi Ali.

Police told the BBC Ali, a British national believed to be of Somali descent, was being held under the UK's Terrorism Act, after he was initially arrested at the scene on murder charges. Under British law, that allows them to keep him in custody until Friday before official charges must be filed.

Amess, 69, was killed Friday while holding a regular weekly meeting with constituents at Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, about 40 miles east of London. The Conservative MP, first elected in 1983, was stabbed multiple times.

Comment: This is just the latest incident where a potential terrorist is known to the security services, sometimes under constant surveillance, yet, somehow, they manage to 'slip' under the radar and go on to commit heinous crimes. Below are just a few examples of how this is a repeating problem: And check out SOTT radio's:

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Cult

Net Zero and Zero Covid absolutists share the same hubristic delusions

Ross Clark
The Telegraph
Sun, 29 Aug 2021 11:06 UTC
When it comes to both coronavirus and climate change, the purist route is doomed to failure
handmaid tale zero carbon
Zero Covid is dead. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said as much last week, finally accepting that the delta variant has made it impossible for one country to eradicate a disease which has become endemic elsewhere.

For the moment, New Zealand persists with its miserable cycle of lockdowns, but, with cases rising anyway, Jacinda Ardern must surely soon bow to the inevitable.

We are destined, though, to go through the same cycle with Zero Covid's cousin, Net Zero carbon emissions. Both have similar ideological underpinnings: a belief that by mandating something to happen, the means to achieve it will magically come into existence. Both involve a refusal to balance huge, open-ended costs against other considerations, and both are driven by a desire to control the population via puritanical strictures.

Some have already demanded that similar measures be applied to Net Zero as were applied to the messianic pursuit of Zero Covid: "stay local" orders, flight bans, smartphone apps to track our behaviour.
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Briefcase

Biden calls for the prosecution of anyone refusing subpoenas in the January 6th riot investigation

Jonathan Turley
jonathanturley.org
Sun, 17 Oct 2021 00:00 UTC
Biden
© Andrew Russell/Tribune-Review
US President Joe Biden
We recently discussed the troubling declaration of guilt made by President Joe Biden at the start of the investigation into border agents allegedly whipping or "strapping" undocumented Haitians trying to enter the country. The statement shattered the integrity of the investigation as well as the reputation of the federal agents. Now, President Biden has called for the Select Committee looking into the Jan. 6th riot to hold those who refuse subpoenas in contempt and for his Department of Justice to prosecute them.

During the Trump Administration, many of us criticized the President for commenting on pending investigations and crossing the line on seeking to influence the Justice Department. A chorus of legal experts declared such public comments to be an attack on the rule of law and the integrity of the Justice Department. Those voices have been largely silent on Biden's own comments.

Any contempt prosecution would be handled by the Justice Department. I have long been critical of its handling of such cases. However, Biden's call ignores the fact that most of the Democratic leadership in the House supported the Obama Administration in refusing to even submit contempt cases to grand juries. That was the case with Eric Holder who was in flagrant contempt of House subpoenas in the "Fast and Furious" investigation. If the Democrats seek the prosecution of these Trump officials, they will have to step over a mountain of hypocrisy on such cases.

Comment: Biden is a reaction machine - the change agent Dems are counting on.

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Dominoes

Damned if you do: Russia has nothing to gain by cutting off ties with Ukraine; but sadly talking to Ukraine doesn't help either

Paul Robinson
RT
Sat, 16 Oct 2021 06:58 UTC
Medvedev/Ukraine crowd
© Reuters/Valentyn Ogirenko/Sputnik/Ekaterina Shtukinack
Kiev, Ukraine • Dmitry Medvedev
There's no point talking to Ukraine, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev says, arguing Russia should wait for a friendlier government in Kiev. The only problem is there's almost no chance of that happening any time soon.

'Nedogovorosposobnyi' is a Russian word with no English equivalent, describing somebody or something that is incapable of reaching agreements. There can be many reasons why a person or an organization is like this but, whatever the cause, talking to them is a waste of time. It's never going to get anywhere.

Ukraine's political leaders are nedogovorosposobnye, says Medvedev, who was president of Russia from 2008 to 2012 and now serves as deputy chairman of the Security Council. In a blistering article published in the newspaper Kommersant on Monday, Medvedev assaulted Ukraine's leadership and laid out four reasons why speaking to them was pointless.

Comment: There is strength and wisdom in restraint.

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Propaganda

The science of propaganda is still being developed and advanced

Caitlin Johnstone
caitlinjohnstone.medium.com
Mon, 11 Oct 2021 00:00 UTC
Brain circuitry
© Unknown
We live in a far less free society than most of us think.

It looks like we're free. We don't get thrown in prison for criticizing our government officials. We can vote for whoever we want. We can log onto the internet and look up information on any subject we're interested in. If we want to buy a product we have many brands we are free to choose from.

But we're not free. Our political systems are set up to herd people into a two-party system that is controlled on both sides by plutocrats. The news media that people rely on to form ideas about what's going on and how they should vote are controlled by the plutocratic class and heavily influenced by secretive government agencies. Internet algorithms are aggressively manipulated to show people information which favors the status quo. Even our entertainment is rife with Pentagon and CIA influence.

How free is that? How free is your speech if there are myriad institutional safeguards in place to prevent speech from ever effecting political change?

It doesn't matter what you're allowed to say if it doesn't matter what you say. It doesn't matter if you're allowed to call the oligarchic puppet put in office by the last fake election a dickhead. It doesn't matter if you're allowed to Google any information you want only to find whatever information Google wants you to find.

What is the functional difference between a regime which directly censors the internet to prevent dissent and a regime which works with Silicon Valley plutocrats to control information via algorithms and has a system in place which prevents dissent from having any meaningful impact?

There is none.
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Briefcase

Lawsuits demand unproven ivermectin for COVID patients

Deepti Hajela
Yahoo News
Sat, 16 Oct 2021 09:41 UTC
Ivercare
© AP/Ted S. Warren
Mask rules, vaccination mandates and business shutdowns have all landed in the courts during the COVID-19 outbreak, confronting judges with questions of science and government authority. Now they are increasingly being asked to weigh in on the deworming drug ivermectin.

At least two dozen lawsuits have been filed around the U.S., many in recent weeks, by people seeking to force hospitals to give their COVID-stricken loved ones ivermectin, a drug for parasites that has been promoted by conservative commentators as a treatment despite a lack of conclusive evidence that it helps people with the virus.

Interest in the drug started rising toward the end of last year and the beginning of this one, when studies — some later withdrawn, in other countries — seemed to suggest ivermectin had some potential and it became a hot topic of conversation among conservatives on social media.

The lawsuits, several of them filed by the same western New York lawyer, cover similar ground. The families have gotten prescriptions for ivermectin, but hospitals have refused to use it on their loved ones, who are often on ventilators and facing death.

Comment: The hospitals are covering their collective asses, understandably so - it's in their best interests to avoid lawsuits. No one is theoretically better off if these bastions of treatment are shut down. Factor in negative narratives, the financial boon to controllers of the vaccine industry and the leverage over the people of governments that support it, means they get to choose. We get to obey.

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Airplane

Delta Air Lines CEO ditches 'divisive' vaccine mandate

Amanda Prestigiacomo
The Daily Wire
Sat, 16 Oct 2021 00:00 UTC
Delta jet
© Delta Airlines
Delta Air Lines is ditching a vaccine mandate for employees, according to company CEO Ed Bastian, who notably emphasized the "divisiveness" of such an order.

Bastian said announcing a plan to get all employees vaccinated, without enforcing a mandate, has worked, allowing the company to reach a 90% vaccination rate. The CEO, according to Fox Business, said:
"The reason the mandate was put in by [the] president, I believe, was because they wanted to make sure companies had a plan to get their employees vaccinated. A month before the president came out with the mandate, we had already announced our plan to get all of our people vaccinated. And the good news is the plan is working.

"I acknowledged that there will need to be religious and medical accommodations made for those who wish to remain unvaccinated while avoiding having to threaten employment status. By the time we're done, we'll be pretty close to fully vaccinated as a company without going through all the divisiveness of a mandate.

"We're proving that you can work collaboratively with your people, trusting your people to make the right decisions, respecting their decisions and not forcing them over the loss of their jobs."
Back in August, Bastian's memo warned unvaccinated employees enrolled in Delta's health care plan they would be subject to higher premiums to cover increased costs associated with COVID.

Comment: Whether down to earth or up in the air, airlines are bowing to Biden one way or another. Hurrah for the 'appearance' of choice.

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Dollars

Psaki defends rising prices: 'Good thing' because it means 'more people are buying goods'


The Daily Wire
Fri, 15 Oct 2021 00:00 UTC
Psaki
© Drew Angerer/Getty Images
WH Press Secretary Jen Psaki
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki partially defended rising costs on everyday goods during an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on Friday afternoon, saying that the costs were rising because demand is surging, which she called a "good thing."
"A year ago, people were in their homes, 10 percent of people were unemployed. Gas prices were low because nobody was driving. People weren't buying goods because they didn't have jobs. Now, more people have jobs, more people are buying goods, that's increasing the demand. That's a good thing.

"At the same time, we also know that the supply is low because we're coming out of the pandemic and because a bunch of manufacturing sectors across the world have shut down, because ports haven't been functioning as they should be. These are all things we're working through."
Watch:

Comment: Higher prices for less goods? Industry inflation is hostage to whomever/whatever controls supply and demand.

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Stop

'Brutal aggression': Venezuela halts talks with opposition after envoy extradited to US


The Guardian
Sat, 16 Oct 2021 23:31 UTC
Saab wall art
© Ariana Cubillos/AP
Colombian businessman and Venezuelan special envoy Alex Saab, has been put on a plane to the US to face money laundering charges.
Venezuela's government is halting negotiations with its opponents in retaliation for the extradition to the US of a close ally of president Nicolás Maduro, who prosecutors believe could be the most significant witness ever about corruption in the South American country.

Jorge Rodríguez, who has been heading the government's delegation, said his team wouldn't travel to Mexico City for the next scheduled round of negotiations.

The announcement capped a tumultuous day that saw Colombian-born businessman Alex Saab placed on a US-bound plane in Cape Verde after a 16-month fight by Maduro and his allies, including Russia, who consider Saab a Venezuelan diplomat.

The Venezuelan government in September named Saab - who was arrested in June 2020 when his plane stopped in Cape Verde to refuel - as a member of its negotiating team in talks with the opposition in Mexico, where the two sides are looking to solve their political crisis.

Rodriguez, reading from a statement, called the decision to suspend negotiations
"an expression of our deepest protest against the brutal aggression against the person and the investiture of our delegate Alex Saab Moran".
The leadership of Venezuela's opposition did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Comment: "That the U.S. can engineer the arrest of a diplomat - someone who has immunity by international law even in the time of war - is a dangerous precedent. That the arrest was extraterritorial is worse, especially because Saab is an ambassador to the African Union."

See also:

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Dollars

Pentagon offers unspecified 'condolence payments' for 7 Afghan children & aid worker murdered in botched drone strike


RT
Sat, 16 Oct 2021 05:07 UTC
Drone strike site
© Global Look Press/Xinhua/Saifurahman Safi
Site of a US drone strike killing 10 civilians including 7 children
Kabul, Afghanistan • September 18, 2021
The US military is offering "condolence payments" to a family in Afghanistan after a badly planned drone strike killed 10 civilians, including seven children, in the country's capital in August, though did not provide any numbers.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby revealed the offer on Friday, stating that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin made a "commitment" to the Akhmadi family for compensation following the August 29 drone strike, "including offering ex gratia condolence payments" and State Department assistance in relocating family members to the United States.

The offer was raised during a virtual meeting between Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl and Dr. Steven Kwon, who employed one of the Akhmadis killed in the strike at his US-based aid organization, Nutrition & Education International, long active in Afghanistan. Kirby went on:
"Kahl noted that the strike was a tragic mistake and that Mr. Zemari Akhmadi and others who were killed were innocent victims who bore no blame and were not affiliated with ISIS-K or threats to US forces."

Comment: The Biden administration's handling of this massacre was appalling and the compensation for these victims, including thousands of similar situations going back to Obama's reign of terror, is a travesty of the highest order, shameful beyond words.

See also:

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