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SOTT Focus: Impeachment: What Lies Beneath And What Might Come

Jim Kavanagh
CounterPunch
Wed, 18 Dec 2019 00:00 UTC
Impeach sign crowd
© Phil Roeder/CC BY 2.0
The Raw

The Democrats have now revealed the hand they're going to play for impeachment. I have been vehemently arguing against playing this game and pointing out how futile it is, but, seeing the two cards actually laid out on the table, even I am gobsmacked at what a loser of a hand they've got.

Of course, we have to recognize Gerald Ford's correct point that "An impeachable offense is whatever a majority of the House of Representatives considers it to be at a given moment in history," and accept that the Democratic majority in the House at the present moment will determine that their two charges against Trump are impeachable offenses.

But it's equally true that an acquitable charge is whatever more than a third of the Senate considers it to be, and the issue will finally be decided by the political support the charges can muster from Republican senators and their constituents.

Given the ideological disposition of those senators and constituents, as well as the widespread reluctance of Americans generally to impeach a president — an act that does annul an election — over any but the most serious offenses, it is hard to believe the Democrats think they will sway anybody with the thin gruel they are serving up.

Comment: Trump's impeachment: Is it a travesty of justice, a connecting of dots, merely inconvenient truth or a springboard to ultimate disaster? Kavanagh explores various hidden motives, agendas and outcomes - including those we hope to never see. Is the future open or has it been decided?

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SOTT Focus: MindMatters: The Best Thing About Communism Was The Jokes

Harrison Koehli, Carolyn MC, Elan Martin
Sott.net
Sat, 21 Dec 2019 00:00 UTC
hammer tickle
A judge walks out of his chambers laughing his head off. A colleague approaches him and asks why he is laughing.

"I just heard the funniest joke in the world!"

"Well, go ahead, tell me!" says the other judge.

"I can't. I just gave someone ten years for it."

With the fall of communism in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, the world lost one of humanity's greatest cultural productions: the communist joke. Crossing cultures and borders, the jokes were unique, ubiquitous, and jam-packed with information. They were funny too. The mix of totalitarian power, propaganda, censorship, and ineptitude created the perfect climate for an underground joke-telling tradition.

In his book, Hammer and Tickle, Ben Lewis tracks down all the best jokes from the era, providing not only a handy compendium, but a cultural history of communism in the process. As communism changed, so did the jokes, revealing the different experiences and attitudes of the people during the times of Lenin, Stalin, Khrushchev, and then into the stagnation of the Brezhnev years and finally the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Note, MindMatters will be back in January. Merry Christmas, everyone!


Running Time: 01:22:14

Download: MP3 — 107 MB

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NPC

SOTT Focus: 2019 - The Year of Manufactured Hysteria

CJ Hopkins
Consent Factory, Inc
Wed, 18 Dec 2019 06:45 UTC
hysteria
Well, it looks like we've somehow managed to survive another year of diabolical Putin-Nazi attacks on democracy.

It was touch-and-go there for a while, especially coming down the home stretch, what with Jeremy Corbyn's desperate attempt to overthrow the UK government, construct a British version of Auschwitz, and start rounding up and mass-murdering the Jews.

That was certainly pretty scary ... but then, the whole year was pretty scary.

The horror began promptly in early January, when Rachel Maddow revealed that Putin was projecting words out of Trump's mouth in real-time, i.e., literally using Trump's head like a puppet, or one of those Mission Impossible masks. And that was just the tip of the iceberg, as, despite the best efforts of Integrity Initiative, Bellingcat, and other such establishment psyops, Internet-censoring sites like NewsGuard, and an army of mass hysteria generators, Putin's legion of Russian "influencers" was continuing to maliciously influence Americans, who were probably also still under attack by brain-eating Russian-Cubano crickets!

While Resistance members were still wrapping their heads in anti-cricket aluminum foil, Putin (i.e., Russian Hitler) ordered Trump (i.e., Russian-asset Hitler) to launch a coup in Venezuela (i.e., Russian Hitler's South American ally), probably to distract us from "Smirkboy Hitler" and his acne-faced gang of MAGA cap-wearing Catholic high-school Hitler Youth, who were trying to invade and Hitlerize the capital. Or maybe the coup was meant to distract us from the un-American activities of Bernie Sanders, who had also been deemed a Russian asset, or a devious "Kremlin-Trump operation," or was working with Tulsi Gabbard to build an army of blood-drinking Hindu nationalists, genocidal Assadists, and American fascists to help the Iranians (and the Russians, of course, and presumably also Jeremy Corbyn) frontally assault the State of Israel and drive the Jews into the sea.
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Bullseye

SOTT Focus: By Impeaching Trump, Democrats Have Made Him More Powerful Than They Could Ever Imagine

Nebojsa Malic
RT
Thu, 19 Dec 2019 11:08 UTC
trump
© REUTERS/Kevin LamarqueUS President Donald Trump departs the White House for a campaign rally while the House debates impeachment, December 18, 2019
From coast to coast, the Resistance is cheering the impeachment of President Donald Trump in the House. They shouldn't be. For in seeking to destroy him, they have only made him more powerful, and undercut themselves.

Let's not mince words: Wednesday's vote was the culmination of efforts that began on November 8, 2016, with Trump's shocking triumph over Hillary Clinton - or maybe even before, on whatever date the FBI actually began investigating the Trump campaign for "Russian collusion" per accusations coming from Democrats.

All those paths, from "emoluments" and "Hamilton electors," via the ill-fated Mueller Report into "Russiagate," to the "whistleblower" complaint about the Ukraine phone call, they all converged on this inevitable conclusion. The actual "high crimes or misdemeanors" never mattered - or materialized, really - all anyone needed to do is repeat the mantra, Orange Man Bad.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-California) wore black and intoned about sadness and solemnity of the day for the American Republic and its importance for "our democracy." It was a bonfire of hypocrisies, as the party that has spent years denouncing everything about America - its flag, anthem, founders, and even the political system - now claiming to be defending it all from the "clear and present danger" Trump somehow represented.

Even now, it is unclear what they sought to accomplish. There is no indication that the Republican-majority Senate will actually vote to convict the president and remove him from office - and the Democrats know this. Nor is being impeached going to somehow disqualify Trump from being on the ballot in 2020, no matter what some "Republican" commentators on MSNBC and CNN may argue.

Comment: Other analysts are in agreement: Political analyst on Impeachment: Trump will emerge stronger and more forceful in his personal popularity in America

As to the question, "Why are the Democrats shooting themselves in the foot with this impeachment charade?", the answer lies here:

Dems' Push to Impeach Trump is Merely the Latest Chapter of US Civil War 2.0
Considering that the Democrats have absolutely nothing to gain by trying to impeach Trump, another possible motive must be considered, which is that the Democrats are desperately trying to protect themselves. Unknown to many, high-level Democrats, intelligence officers, and former White House officials have been under investigation for many months by Attorney General Will Barr and federal prosecutor John Durham. The reason has little to do with Ukraine, and everything to do with Trump's promise to "drain the swamp."

In a nutshell, Barr and Dunham will soon be releasing their highly anticipated attorney general's report, which will determine whether the FBI had submitted false documents for obtaining a FISA warrant to spy on the Trump administration in 2016. The word 'treason' is even being whispered on Capitol Hill. The investigation involves a mind boggling array of top characters who played a role in creating the Steele Dossier (home of the famous pee tape), a largely debunked 'intelligence' document that ultimately failed to prove a link between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin.
Putin: Trump impeachment 'far-fetched,' Senate will acquit
Russian President Vladimir Putin called the U.S. impeachment process "far-fetched" Thursday, making a seemingly obvious prediction that Donald Trump will be acquitted in the Senate.

Putin said Thursday at his annual news conference in Moscow that the move is a continuation of the Democrats' fight against Trump.

"The party that lost the (2016) election, the Democratic Party, is trying to achieve results by other means," Putin said.

He likened Trump's impeachment to the earlier U.S. probe into collusion with Russia, which Putin downplayed as being groundless.

Putin noted that the impeachment motion "is yet to pass the Senate where the Republicans have a majority." He added that "they will be unlikely to remove a representative of their own party from office on what seems to me an absolutely far-fetched reason."
See also,

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Snakes in Suits

SOTT Focus: Dems' Push to Impeach Trump is Merely the Latest Chapter of US Civil War 2.0

Robert Bridge
RT
Wed, 18 Dec 2019 13:08 UTC
man w/sign
© Reuters/Shannon Stapleton
The US is more divided today than at any time since the historic war between North and South, and whether or not the Democrats vote to impeach Trump, Americans won't be spared a political storm looming on the horizon.

Today, millions of Washington watchers around the world are asking the same question: What happens if the Democrats go ahead and bring articles of impeachment against Donald J. Trump? The answer is twofold, and just might be the shortest story ever told: At first nothing, and then, everything. The end.

The reason nothing will happen immediately requires no degree in political science to appreciate. Should the Democrats commit the mother of all political screw-ups by voting to impeach Trump, all on the basis of hearsay, gossip and maybe reading tea leaves, the circus moves next door to the Senate, where Republicans hold a majority. This is where House efforts to impeach Trump will inevitably smack into a brick wall and disintegrate.
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Whistle

SOTT Focus: MSM Journalist on Lies, Newsweek And Control of The Media Narrative: 'Freedom of The Press is Dead'

Tareq Haddad
tareqhaddad.com
Sat, 14 Dec 2019 21:43 UTC

Comment: The following first-hand account was first published on journalist Tareq Haddad's website. It details the corrupt inner workings of what passes for 'journalism' today...


A mafia runs editors. Freedom of the press is dead. Journalists and ordinary people must stand up.
newsweek opcw
© Caitlin Johnstone/Consortium News
Introduction

Until several days ago, I was a journalist at Newsweek. I decided to hand my resignation in because, in essence, I was given a simple choice. On the one hand, I could continue to be employed by the company, stay in their chic London offices and earn a steady salary — only if I adhered to what could or could not be reported and suppressed vital facts. Alternatively, I could leave the company and tell the truth.

In the end, that decision was rather simple, albeit I understand the cost to me will be undesirable. I will be unemployed, struggle to finance myself and will likely not find another position in the industry I care about so passionately. If I am a little lucky, I will be smeared as a conspiracy theorist, maybe an Assad apologist or even a Russian asset — the latest farcical slur of the day.

Although I am a British citizen, the irony is that I'm half Arabic and half Russian. (Bellingcat: I'm happy to answer any requests.)

It is a terribly sad state of affairs when perfectly loyal people who want nothing but the best for their countries are labelled with such preposterous accusations. Take Iraq war veteran and Hawaii congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard for example, who was the target of such mud slinging for opposing U.S. involvement in Syria and for simply standing up to the Democratic Party's most corrupt politician, Hillary Clinton. These smears are immature for a democracy — but I, in fact, welcome such attacks.
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2 + 2 = 4

SOTT Focus: Surprise! Greta Thunberg BIOPIC Reveals Cameras Were Rolling From Day One of her 'Viral' Rise

Helen Buyniski
RT
Tue, 17 Dec 2019 20:55 UTC
Greta
Teenage environmental activist Greta Thunberg is the subject of a forthcoming documentary film - made by a crew that has followed her since the early days of her school strike. Still believe her rise to fame was an accident?

Thunberg, recently crowned Time magazine's Person of the Year, can add documentary film subject to her burgeoning resumé. The film, tentatively titled 'Greta,' was announced by Deadline on Monday for a 2020 Hulu premiere. Director Nathan Grossman has followed the young climate prodigy to the ends of the Earth, from her school-striking on the sidewalk in front of the Swedish Parliament, to the high seas aboard the $4mn racing yacht Malizia II. Grossman's only other IMDB credit to date is a Swedish film titled "Köttets lustar" (or "Lusts of the Meat"), which, while it sounds pornographic, purports to be the story of one man "looking over his life as a carnivore."
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Light Saber

SOTT Focus: Former FBI Chief Says Sorry for 'Sloppy' Russia Investigation, But Media Interview Exposes Him as a Liar


RT
Sun, 15 Dec 2019 15:00 UTC
comey testimony intelligence committee
© Reuters / Jim BourgFormer FBI Director James Comey testifies before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing
A report by the Justice Department's Inspector General published on Monday report found 17 irregularities, inaccuracies and omissions in the FBI's FISA warrant application, used to obtain permission to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

The warrant application was built heavily on a dossier of salacious and unproven gossip collected by former British spy Christopher Steele.

Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday, Inspector General Michael Horowitz said that the FBI's "basic, fundamental, and serious errors" amounted to a "failure" by the "entire chain of command."

Comey himself apologized to Fox News' Christopher Wallace on Sunday, saying "I'm sorry" for misrepresenting the role of the Steele Dossier in kickstarting the investigation. "I was wrong" to say that the FISA process was followed correctly, he continued, admitting to "real sloppiness" in his agency.


Comment: Comey still believes in his choirboy image, when all evidence seems to be against him. Now it's all coming out in the mainstream media, as they have no choice but to report on the tsunami of information breaking loose.

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SOTT Focus: MindMatters: Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder

Corey Schink, Elan Martin, Harrison Koehli
Sott.net
Sat, 14 Dec 2019 00:00 UTC
antifragile
Fragile things hate chaos, volatility and randomness. The slightest jolt can break them. But what is the opposite of fragility? Not resilience or robustness. Resilient things are neutral to stressors. They take a beating, but remain unchanged. So what likes from disorder? Our languages don't have a word for such a property, or at least they didn't, until Nassim Taleb came around.

Antifragile is the property of things that gain from disorder: like muscle, economies, creativity, and character. And today on MindMatters we delve into Taleb's book on the subject. Insightful, down to earth, witty and practical, Taleb's writing is one of a kind. Just like the man himself.


Running Time: 01:17:14

Download: MP3 — 70.7 MB

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Bizarro Earth

SOTT Focus: Someone Meddled in the UK Election & It Wasn't Russia

Caitlin Johnstone
Medium
Fri, 13 Dec 2019 12:00 UTC
UK news
Ladies and gentlemen I have here at my fingertips indisputable proof that egregious election meddling took place in the United Kingdom on Thursday.

Before you get all excited, no, it wasn't the Russians. It wasn't the Chinese, the Iranians, Cobra Command or the Legion of Doom. I'm not going to get any Rachel Maddow-sized paychecks for revealing this evidence to you, nor am I going to draw in millions of credulous viewers waiting with bated breath for a bombshell revelation of an international conspiracy that will invalidate the results of the election.

In fact, hardly anyone will even care.

Hardly anyone will care because this election interference has been happening right out in the open, and was perfectly legal. And nobody will suffer any consequences for it.

Comment: The evidence is damning, and yet, as the saying goes: "Every nation gets the government it deserves."

See also:

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