Puppet MastersS


Attention

Obama faces humiliation: House unanimously passes bill allowing Sept 11 lawsuits against Saudi Arabia

Obama and Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz
Two days before the 15 year anniversary of the September 11 attack, moments ago the House unanimously passed - to thunderous applause - legislation allowing the families of 9/11 victims to sue Saudi Arabia in U.S. courts. The bill, which passed the Senate unanimously in May, now heads to President Obama's desk. And that's where things get tricky for Obama.

The White House has fiercely opposed the bill, arguing it could both strain relations with Saudi Arabia and also lead to retaliatory legislation overseas against U.S. citizens. Obama has lobbied fiercely against the bill, and has hinted strongly it will veto the measure.

He is not alone: the Saudi government has likewise led a vocal campaign in Washington to kill the legislation. Those efforts have been fruitless in Congress, however. Meanwhile, the legislation saw broad support from both parties, and Congress could override an Obama veto for the first time if he rejects the legislation. Such an outcome would undoubtedly embarrass Obama and divide Democrats ahead of the 2016 elections and a crucial lame-duck session of Congress.

For now, Obama is adamant: "The Saudis will see this as a hostile act," said Dennis Ross, Obama's former Middle East policy coordinator. "You're bound to see the Obama administration do everything they can to sustain a veto."

How Obama will spin such a pro-Saudi, and anti-US decision, which may be overriden anyway, to the US population is unclear.

Dollar

The Wall Street mega-banks backing the Dakota Pipeline

dakota access pipeline
Over the Labor Day weekend, while many people were celebrating and preparing for the upcoming school-year, Dakota Access, a subsidiary of Energy Transfer Crude Oil, began bulldozing American Indian burial sites. As protesters attempted to intervene in the desecration of ancestral land, private security guards used attack dogs and pepper spray, injuring dozens of people, including children.

Although the burial and ceremonial sites were identified by experts only a few days earlier, in order to stop construction on these sites, the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) needed to officially survey the area. However, before they were able to undertake a survey, Dakota Access intentionally plowed through the land, destroying unknown numbers of graves and artifacts. Activists on the ground reported construction workers deliberately dozed the site before SHPO had an opportunity to survey it.

Quenelle

Victories of Syrian Army in Aleppo signal defeat for US 'ceasefire' plan

Syrian army
The latest advances of the Syrian army in south west Aleppo mean that the Jihadis have lost all the gains they made in late July and early August.

The Syrian army's counterattack in south west Aleppo continues to gain force, with reports that its has now fully recaptured the Ramousseh neighbourhood, seized by the Jihadis in early August.

This enables the government once more to send supplies to Aleppo through the main road to its south west. As discussed previously, the government has always been in a position to send supplies to Aleppo either via the recently captured Castello road or through other routes. However the road in the city's south west was its main supply route to the city, reopened during the Syrian army's offensives at the beginning of the year, and it is now open again.

The latest advances of the Syrian army in south west Aleppo mean that the Jihadis have now effectively lost all the gains they made during their offensive in late July and early August. The only result of the offensive was to cause the Jihadis extremely heavy casualties.

Info

Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz pledging $20 million to defeat Trump

Dustin Moskovitz, a Facebook co-founder
© Eric Risberg/Associated Press
With a new promise of $20 million to help defeat Donald Trump, billionaire Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz becomes one of the top Democratic donors of the election

The Silicon Valley entrepreneur calls the Republican presidential candidate dangerous and divisive and says his appeal to Americans who feel left behind is "quite possibly a deliberate con."

By contrast, Moskovitz says, Democrats and their nominee, Hillary Clinton, are "running on a vision of optimism, pragmatism, inclusiveness and mutual benefit."

Moskovitz wrote about his planned contributions in a Thursday night posting on the website Medium titled "Compelled to Act." Until now, Moskowitz had made only one federal campaign contribution, $5,200 in 2013 to Democrat Sean Eldridge. The husband of another Facebook co-founder, Eldridge unsuccessfully ran for a New York congressional seat.

Pistol

NY state rep Bill Nojay kills himself in cemetery amidst fraud allegations

New York State assemblyman Bill Nojay
© nyassembly.gov
New York State assemblyman Bill Nojay has been found dead at a cemetery and sources claim he shot himself in the head at his family's burial plot.

In a death eerily similar to Nick Wasicsko, the former Yonkers mayor featured in HBO's mini-series "Show Me A Hero," Nojay reportedly planned to turn himself into authorities on Friday for fraud charges relating to a Cambodian rice company.

The Khmer Times of Cambodia reported that Nojay and three others convinced a woman to invest in company that would export rice to the US.

The woman claims that eight months after investing one million dollars, she discovered the company was bankrupt.

Comment: More on the tragic story:
Police tell us someone called 911 around 9:00 Friday morning for a welfare check of an individual at the Riverside Cemetery on Lake Avenue.

They say when they arrived, they witnessed an individual shoot themselves.

Police are not confirming the identity of the person at this time, pending notification of family.



Propaganda

US media freaks out about Trump's interview on 'Kremlin RT'

headlines from Trump RT interview
Republican president candidate Donald Trump's interview with Larry King, which aired on RT America Thursday night, is fueling the flames of growing US propaganda against Russia, even within his own campaign.

Not only did the US media turn the conversation into another chance to advance their conspiracy theories, but Trump's own campaign distanced itself from the Russian news channel following the backlash.

His press secretary Hope Hicks said in a statement that Trump "recorded a short interview with Larry King for his podcast as a favor to Mr. King. What Larry King does with the interview content is up to him. We have nothing to do with it."

Comment: Highlights from the show:

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump tells RT's Larry King that he doesn't dislike Hillary Clinton, but that she's not the person to make America great again - and that their televised duel Wednesday was more fun than baseball.

This is Trump's first appearance on Politicking since October 2013, when he first hinted at running for president. This time, the billionaire businessman discusses the current election, the hacking of the Democratic National Committee, his comments about the Iraq War, and Wednesday's showdown with Clinton at a veterans' forum.

Mainstream media

Opening up the interview, King asked Trump: "What surprised you the most about running for office?"

Trump pointed to the media's "tremendous dishonesty."

"I mean, they'll take a statement that you make, which is perfect," Trump said, "and they'll cut it up and chop it up and shorten it or lengthen it, or do something with it, then all of a sudden, it doesn't look like as good as it did when you actually said it."

Iraq

On the issue of defeating the Islamic State in Iraq, Trump slammed Clinton and President Barack Obama for their role in pulling US troops out of Iraq in 2013.

King then interjected: "The timetable was arranged by Bush for the leaving."

"Well, you know what, Larry," Trump countered, "I'll tell you what, let's look to the future."

King kept on the point, however, offering Trump the opportunity to criticize the Bush administration as well as Obama and Clinton.

"It's a war we shouldn't have been in, number one," Trump reiterated, "and it's a war that when we got out, we got out the wrong way. That's Obama."

Hillary Clinton

Asked about Clinton, Trump told King, "The bottom line is, Larry, she doesn't have what it takes."

That, Trump clarified, did not necessarily mean he did not like her as a person.

"No, it's not about liking or disliking," the Republican nominee said. "I mean, I wish she did a phenomenal job, and we wouldn't have all these problems."

"I wouldn't be running," Trump continued. "I'd be having dinner with you some place maybe."

Campaigning

King then asked Trump whether or not he was looking forward to the upcoming debates against Clinton.

"Nothing in life is easy," Trump answered. "It's not going to be easy, but it is something I look forward to, absolutely."

The Republican candidate shrugged off speculation that Russia may be trying to influence the 2016 US election.

"It's probably unlikely," he told King. "Maybe the Democrats are putting that out, who knows?"

"I just want to make sure that the election is 100 percent fair," Trump said.

Mexican immigration

King's final question was on immigration, specifically on Mexican immigration.

"Let's get something clear, because I've known you a long time. What are your feelings about Mexican immigrants? What in your gut do you feel about this?" King asked.

But Trump never answered, seemingly dropping off the line, despite King reassuring his audience that the phone connection was not lost.


Nuke

UPDATE: Suspected nuclear test in North Korea after 5.3 magnitude 'earthquake' recorded

suspected North Korean nuclear test
© ReutersA South Korean soldier watches a TV report on the suspected North Korean nuclear test.
North Korea is suspected of carrying out its fifth test of a nuclear bomb after a 5.3-magnitude earthquake was recorded near to its test site.

It happened at 9.30am local time on Friday and had a zero depth, with an epicentre 11 miles from Sungjibaegam in the northeastern part of the county.

South Korea's president was holding a National Security Council meeting as the country's military convened a crisis management team.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that a suspected nuclear test by North Korea could not be tolerated and that Japan would protest strongly to Pyongyang if confirmed.

Meanwhile China's environment ministry said it has begun emergency radiation monitoring along border regions in northeastern China.

Comment: Comment: Update

RT:
North Korea has confirmed it has conducted its fifth nuclear test, announcing it is now capable of mounting nuclear warheads on ballistic rockets. The statement came just hours after a powerful explosion was reported near the country's secretive nuclear test site.

"The standardization of the nuclear warhead will enable the DPRK [North Korea] to produce at will and as many as it wants a variety of smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear warheads of higher strike power," a statement from Pyongyang, posted on the website of the Korean Central News Agency, reads.

Pyongyang also claimed that no leakage of nuclear material had occurred in the test, and that there was no negative environmental impact.

A video released by North Korea appeared to show a tremor taking place near the test site.

Earlier, a powerful explosion measured 5.3 in magnitude was reported at the site of North Korea's bomb tests by the US Geological Survey (USGS), triggering reports of an apparent nuclear test.

In January this year, North Korea carried out its fourth nuclear test at the Punggye-ri Nuclear Test Site, which was registered as a 5.1-magnitude tremor by seismological organizations.

The latest test appears to be the most powerful one in the history of North Korea's nuclear program, South Korea's Defense Ministry said, adding that the yield of the previous January test was about 6 kilotons. Earlier tests were conducted in 2013 (6-9 kilotons), 2009 (2-4 kilotons) and 2006 (1 kiloton).




Cell Phone

Released emails reveal Colin Powell advised Killary to use private email to avoid "nonsense" State Dept. security rules

clinton powell
© Jim Watson / AFPFormer US Secretaries of State Colin Powell (L) and Hillary Clinton
Colin Powell advised Hillary Clinton, his successor as US Secretary of State, to use a private email "without going through State Department servers" and avoid basic security rules he described as "nonsense," their seven-year-old exchange reveals.

The complete email exchange between Colin Powell and Hillary Clinton - full of stunning details - was released late Wednesday by Elijah Cummings, top Democrat of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

"I hope to catch up soon [with] you, but I have one pressing question which only you can answer! What were the restrictions on your use of your blackberry?" Clinton asked Powell in her first email sent two days after she took office in 2009.

Clinton apparently wanted to keep using her BlackBerry smartphone, once famous for its encryption capabilities.

Powell, who served as Secretary of State under the George W. Bush administration, said that he did not own one, adding that he used instead an "ancient" system allowing him to reach addressees in the US and beyond, bypassing his own agency's servers.

Vader

24 hours of destruction in Yemen: UN, US, UK Devastation, Complicity and Double Standards

Yemen battle map
Yemen
"Let me ask you one question. Is your money that good? Will it buy you forgiveness? Do you think that it could?" (Bob Dylan, b 1941, Masters of War.)

On Tuesday 6th September, twenty-four hour monitoring by the country's Legal Centre for Rights and Development (LCRD) recorded the bombings by the Saudi led "coalition", armed by the US and UK and advised by their military specialists, thus collusion and co-operation of both countries render them equally culpable for the carnage.

Yemen has a population of just 24.41 million (2013 figure) and according to the Rural Poverty Portal: " ... is one of the driest, poorest and least developed countries in the world. It ranks 140 out of 182 countries on the United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Index (2009). An estimated 42 percent of the people are poor, and one Yemeni in five is malnourished. Poverty is endemic, particularly in more remote and less accessible areas."

In the one day and night period covered here, attacked were the capital Sana'a and Sa'dah, Marib, AlJawf, Hajjah, Hodeidah.

Comment: Yemen is a strategically important area with respect to the West's ability to control access to Middle East oil resources. Profits run a close second to this goal. Despite the massive assault by the US vassal states, Yemen continues to bravely resist.


Wall Street

Looking at 9/11 in the context of the 2008 Wall Street bailout

BBC Correspondent Jane Standley Reported the Destruction of WTC 7
© Courtesy of Architects and Engineers for 9/11 TruthBBC Correspondent Jane Standley Reported the Destruction of WTC 7 Before It Collapsed – Even Though the Building Could Be Seen Behind Her.
This Sunday will mark the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy - one of those seminal events in human memory that is seared forever on the brain. Because of the emotional toll 9/11 took on the human psyche — watching U.S. commercial airline planes converted to killing machines on U.S. soil — America's collective memory of exactly what happened on 9/11 has more to do with repetitive TV clips of the Twin Towers collapsing and a rush to war than specific details of the actions of those pulling the monetary levers on Wall Street.

The day's events were so bizarre and triggered such cognitive dissonance that millions of Americans did not realize for years that a third World Trade Center skyscraper had collapsed in lower Manhattan that day. World Trade Center Building 7, a 47-story skyscraper not hit by a plane, collapsed at 5:20 p.m. on 9/11 in an almost identical fashion as World Trade Centers One and Two had collapsed in the morning. The organization, Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, which consists of more than 2,000 licensed architects and engineers, do not believe the official version of how these buildings collapsed and have signed a petition calling for a new, independent investigation of 9/11 by a body with full subpoena power.