Society's ChildS


Light Saber

Republicans refute 'point by point' the newly-released Democratic memo on Steele dossier

Sara Carter
Sara A. Carter Blog
Sat, 24 Feb 2018 03:50 UTC
nunes
© Mark Wilson/Getty IMagesHouse Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA)(C) stands with Rep. Peter King (R-NY), (L) and Rep. Don DeSantis (R-FL)
Nunes: The FBI used political dirt paid for by the Democratic Party to spy on an American

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes said the Democratic opposition memo did not change the facts or change the outcome of the investigation's finding his committee released in their own partisan memo several weeks ago.

On Saturday the much anticipated Democratic memo written by ranking minority member of the committee Rep. Adam Schiff, R-CA, was released and surmised that former British spy "Christopher Steele's raw intelligence reporting did not inform the FBI's decision to initiate its counterintelligence investigation in late July, 2016" among other assertions. The dossier played a significant role in the investigation into President Trump's 2016 campaign and alleged that members of the Trump campaign were colluding with the Russian government against then presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Nunes, R-CA, fought back Saturday against Schiff. Nunes said the Democratic memo did not dispel the original findings of the committee, which he noted were also validated by an investigation headed by the Senate Judiciary Committee into Steele and his role in providing the FBI with the unverified dossier. Senate Judiciary Chairman Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and Senator Lindsey Graham, R-SC, made a criminal referral to the Department of Justice last month and released their findings after receiving approval from the FBI.

Comment: RT provides more information:
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump blocked the release of the Democrats' rebuttal, sending the document back to the House Intelligence Committee for revision, citing "national security concerns." The House Democrats heavily redacted the memorandum before releasing it on Saturday.

The White House called the release of the memorandum a "politically driven" attempt by the Democrats to "undercut" Donald Trump.

"While the Democrats' memorandum attempts to undercut the president politically, the president supported its release in the interest of transparency," said White House press secretary Sarah Sanders. "This politically driven document fails to answer serious concerns raised by the Majority's memorandum about the use of partisan opposition research from one candidate, loaded with uncorroborated allegations, as a basis to ask a court to approve surveillance of a former associate of another candidate, at the height of a presidential campaign."

Sanders reiterated that the FISA judge was never informed that Hillary Clinton and the DNC funded the controversial Christopher Steele dossier, which allegedly served as the basis for the FBI's surveillance request to spy on the Trump campaign aide. "As the President has long stated, neither he nor his campaign ever colluded with a foreign power during the 2016 election, and nothing in today's memo counters that fact," Sanders added.


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V

Fans make sure Russian flag flies during Olympic medal ceremony after Alina Zagitova wins gold in figure skating


Sputnik
Fri, 23 Feb 2018 20:57 UTC
russia flag olympics
© Twitter/@mjoitt
While IOC jury is still out on allowing the Athletes from Russia to bear their national flag at the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics, the tricolor already found a way to represent during Alina Zagitova's triumph.

After 15-year-old Zagitova became the first Russian to win gold with teammate Eugenia Medvedeva finishing second in the figure skating singles final, she refused to answer an NBC reporter's question about the flag controversy.

Meanwhile, some resourceful fans made sure the Russian flag was seen as Zagitova and Medvedeva stood on the podium. The boys from Vidnoe probably couldn't slip a speaker loud enough to overlap the requisite Olympic anthem with Russian national anthem, but they certainly did whatever they could.
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Brick Wall

UK minister rebukes call to compel tax havens to reveal company owners

David Pegg
The Guardian
Fri, 23 Feb 2018 11:43 UTC
Appleby, the offshore law firm
© Drew Angerer/Getty ImagesAppleby, the offshore law firm at the heart of the Paradise Papers, was criticised for bringing legal action against the Guardian and the BBC
MPs from across the political spectrum have called for action to tackle money laundering, sanctions busting, tax avoidance and tax evasion in the UK's crown dependencies and overseas territories.

Revelations from the Paradise Papers and Panama Papers investigations into offshore finance were cited extensively during a second reading of the sanctions and anti-money laundering bill, which will replace elements of European legislation after the UK leaves the EU.

The government, however, signaled that it would not force British territories to adopt new transparency measures, despite previous calls by David Cameron for countries around the world to unite in tackling corruption.
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Gold Seal

Bingo! Cindy Sheehan plans Women's March on the Pentagon: 'Women can never be 'free' without addressing war and empire'

Whitney Webb
Mint Press News
Tue, 20 Feb 2018 00:00 UTC
Women’s March
© AP/Cliff OwenWomen’s March demonstrators near the Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, Jan. 20, 2018.
In the last few years, arguably the most visible and well-publicized march on the U.S. capital has been the "Women's March," a movement aimed at advocating for legislation and policies promoting women's rights as well as a protest against the misogynistic actions and statements of high-profile U.S. politicians. The second Women's March, which took place this past year, attracted over a million protesters nationwide, with 500,000 estimated to have participated in Los Angeles alone.

However, absent from this women's movement has been a public anti-war voice, as its stated goal of "ending violence" does not include violence produced by the state. The absence of this voice seemed both odd and troubling to legendary peace activist Cindy Sheehan, whose iconic protest against the invasion and occupation of Iraq made her a household name for many.

Sheehan was taken aback by how some prominent organizers of this year's Women's March were unwilling to express anti-war positions and argued for excluding the issue of peace entirely from the event and movement as a whole. In an interview with MintPress, Sheehan recounted how a prominent leader of the march had told her, "I appreciate that war is your issue Cindy, but the Women's March will never address the war issue as long as women aren't free."


Comment: See the new SOTT Focus that addresses this point specifically:

US Wars Fund The Welfare State Which Finances The Liberal March Towards Totalitarianism


Comment: Good on Sheehan for correctly and usefully steering the women's movement in a direction that addresses one of the biggest scourges of our time.

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Arrow Down

Violent history: Police release information on numerous calls for service and warnings over behavior of Florida school shooter


RT
Sat, 24 Feb 2018 10:42 UTC
Nikolas Cruz
© Mike Stocker / ReutersNikolas Cruz, facing 17 murder charges in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, appears in court for a status hearing in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, February 19, 2018.
Police have released 23 calls made to the home of attacker Nikolas Cruz, in a bid to deflect criticism over handling the Parkland, Florida school shooting. The final call, however, shows serious concerns were not acted on.

Last week, Cruz shot dead 17 of his former classmates and teachers in his assault rifle rampage at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The Broward County Sheriff's Office published a document on Friday listing all the service calls to Cruz's home going back to 2008, when he was just nine years-old.

"In the interest of full transparency, we are making available the list of all 23 calls for service at the Cruz home," the sheriff's office said. "18 involved Nikolas Cruz. None appeared arrestable under Florida law. However, two of the calls remain under internal investigation."

Comment: Florida School Shooting: A Culture of Narcissistic Entitlement and Resentment

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Pistol

Most mass shootings targeting schools occurred after the Gun-Free School Zones Act became law

Chris Reeves
Townhall
Thu, 22 Feb 2018 23:30 UTC
Trump White House listening session
During Wednesday's White House listening session, President Trump told survivors of last week's Florida school shooting that he supported allowing teachers to carry concealed firearms to protect their students.

On Thursday morning, Trump reiterated his position on Twitter:



Comment: After 11 US school shootings this year, is it time to arm teachers?

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Light Saber

Jordan Peterson is giving hope to young men searching for answers

B.J. Bethel
The Sydney Morning Herald
Fri, 23 Feb 2018 00:00 UTC
Jordan Peterson
© Rene Johnston / Toronto Star/ FileJordan Peterson giving a lecture at the University of Toronto last year. Peterson is the author of bestselling self-help book 12 Rules for Life.


Dayton: Could the plight of today's 20-something white American male be cured with a self-help book?

For thousands, the answer appears to be a surprising yes.

The author, Jordan Peterson, is a clinical psychologist and college professor from Canada. He derives answers from theology, psychiatry and philosophy for questions about life, gender roles, and other hot button topics. His book, 12 Rules of Life: An Antidote to Chaos, is currently No. 6 on Amazon.com and is No.1 in self-help categories.

Flipping the pages, this isn't a book of Oprah Winfrey mantras on positivity. It's theme is simple - life is not supposed to be easy. In fact, life is "a catastrophe." Peterson's advice runs the gamut from the simplistic and common-sense - standup straight with your shoulders back at all times, and don't forget to make your bed and clean up your room in the morning - to the more life-changing and revelatory. Happiness is a worthless pursuit in life, according to Peterson.

Comment: Jordan Peterson is helping disillusioned boys become men - Here's why liberals hate that

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Attention

Florida governor announces proposed ban on bump stocks, raising age for buying firearms


RT
Sat, 24 Feb 2018 11:22 UTC
Florida Governor Rick Scott
© Gaston De Cardenas / AFPFlorida Governor Rick Scott
Governor Rick Scott declared that he wants to raise the age limit for buying a firearm in Florida to 21. The announcement comes after last week's mass shooting in a Parkland high school that killed 17 people.

"We will require all individuals purchasing firearms to be 21 or older," Scott said in a statement on Friday. "There will be exceptions for active duty, reserved military and spouses, national guard members and law enforcement."

The governor also announced a complete ban on the sale of bump stocks, the attachments which enable semi-automatic rifles to fire more rapidly. He did not call for the ban of any specific type of weapon.

Comment: While the new restrictions may somewhat mollify the anti-gun activists, they are probably not going to be that effective in halting future shootings. Criminal minds always find ways to circumvent laws and often doing so is a motivating factor.

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Question

Flashback Questions remain about Russia's massive underground shelters

Michael Snyder
End of the American Dream
Wed, 25 Mar 2015 17:44 UTC
metting room
Did you know that the Russians have a massive underground complex in the Ural mountains that has been estimated to be approximately 400 square miles in size? In other words, it is roughly as big as the area inside the Washington D.C. beltway. Back in the 1990s, the Clinton administration was deeply concerned about the construction of this enormous complex deep inside Yamantau mountain, but they could never seem to get any straight answers from the Russians.

The command center for this complex is rumored to be 3,000 feet directly straight down from the summit of this giant rock quartz mountain. And of course U.S. military officials will admit that there are dozens of other similar sites throughout Russia, although most of them are thought to be quite a bit smaller. But that is not all that the Russians have been up to. For example, Russian television has reported that 5,000 new emergency nuclear bomb shelters were scheduled to have been completed in the city of Moscow alone by the end of 2012.


Comment: 5,000 new emergency underground shelters built in Moscow 'in case of nuclear attack'


Most Americans don't realize this, but the Russians have never stopped making preparations for nuclear war. Meanwhile, the U.S. government has essentially done nothing to prepare our citizens for an attack. The assumption seems to be that a nuclear attack will probably never happen, and that if it does it will probably mean the end of our civilization anyway.
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Bomb

Saudi Arabia wants US deal for nuclear power - but with the option of enriching weapons-grade uranium


Middle East Monitor
Wed, 21 Feb 2018 17:47 UTC
nuclear bomb
Saudi Arabia is moving swiftly to become the next country in the Middle East with nuclear power. The Kingdom is on the verge of striking a deal with the US for the purchase of nuclear reactors despite concerns over its refusal to accept stringent restrictions against the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman, who is the de facto ruler of the country, has ambitious plans to diversify the country's energy source and is in the market to purchase nuclear power reactors. The potential for lucrative deals is too good to be missed and the Trump administration is thought to be mulling over loosening US law to win Saudi contracts, worth billions. The Kingdom has refused to be bound by stringent US regulations that restrict reprocessing and enriching uranium for the production of nuclear weapons.

With competitors like Russia and China waiting in the wings, Trump is keen to strike a deal with the Saudi's and breathe new life into the American nuclear industry.

Finalists to build nuclear power stations along the Kingdom's desolate Arabian Gulf strip will be announced in the coming months, but it's not certain if the US will be the one to strike the deal. Israel, despite having its own nuclear arsenal, is strongly opposed to any other country in the Middle East acquiring nuclear weapons and with alliances constantly shifting in the region it may try to derail any deal.
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