Who profits from the Beirut blast?

Making the case that the explosion resulted from an attack

The narrative that the Beirut explosion was an exclusive consequence of negligence and corruption by the current Lebanese government is now set in stone, at least in the Atlanticist sphere.

And yet, digging deeper, we find that negligence and corruption may have been fully exploited, via sabotage, to engineer it.

Lebanon is prime John Le Carré territory. A multinational den of spies of all shades – House of Saud agents, Zionist operatives, “moderate rebel” weaponizers, Hezbollah intellectuals, debauched Arab “royalty,” self-glorified smugglers – in a context of full spectrum economic disaster afflicting a member of the Axis of Resistance, a perennial target of Israel alongside Syria and Iran.

As if this were not volcanic enough, into the tragedy stepped President Trump to muddy the – already contaminated – Eastern Mediterranean waters. Briefed by “our great generals,” Trump on Tuesday said:

“According to them – they would know better than I would – but they seem to think it was an attack.”

Trump added, “it was a bomb of some kind.”

Was this incandescent remark letting the cat out of the bag by revealing classified information? Or was the President launching another non sequitur?

Trump eventually walked his comments back after the Pentagon declined to confirm his claim about what the “generals” had said and his defense secretary, Mark Esper, supported the accident explanation for the blast.

It’s yet another graphic illustration of the war engulfing the Beltway. Trump: attack. Pentagon: accident.

“I don’t think anybody can say right now,” Trump said on Wednesday. “I’ve heard it both ways.”

Still, it’s worth noting a report by Iran’s Mehr News Agency that four US Navy reconnaissance planes were spotted near Beirut at the time of the blasts.

Is US intel aware of what really happened all along the spectrum of possibilities?

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/escobar-who-profits-beirut-blast

https://asiatimes.com/2020/08/who-profits-from-the-beirut-blast/

Big Pharma's 'Narrative' Is Failing

So now we don’t have to listen to what those doctors said in front of the US Supreme Court, because it turns out that one of them has some whacky beliefs about sex with demons causing reproductive disorders. What a relief.

I’m not going to pretend that the things Dr. Stella Immanuel has said don’t sound just a little crazy to me. They do.

But I’ve been observing this game long enough to have a pretty good idea of how this works:

Someone says something that contradicts the dominant narrative (in this case, the narrative about medical science), and the machine that supports that narrative goes into overdrive to discredit them, with whatever information they can dig up–as long as it doesn’t involve discussing the actual substance of what the person has said.

I understand that for some people, maybe even for a great many, that is the end of the conversation.

So for everyone who is satisfied with the “fringe doctors promoting hydroxychloroquine also believe demon sex causes fybroids” narrative–please, stop here. Your ride is over, and you may go on believing that this group of doctors and other professionals has been thoroughly discredited by these statements.

For everyone else, if you are at all interested in why such a coordinated effort has been launched to silence and discredit this group, why - even before the sex demon stuff was uncovered - videos of the group’s press conference were quickly yanked from YouTube, and why their own website was taken down without warning by its host, SquareSpace, (their new website can now be found here) then please keep reading.

WHAT THE AMERICA’S FRONTLINE DOCTORS GROUP SAID:

What follows is a brief summary of the key points made by the group America’s Frontline Doctors at their press conference last week. I will not comment on the validity of their claims, however founder Dr. Simone Gold has provided support for much of what the group said, in a white paper that can be found here.

1. They believe that hydroxychloroquine is an effective treatment for Covid-19.

This is the claim made by several of the speakers, including Dr. Immanuel, based on their own clinical experience, as well as on multiple published studies. Many of those studies are listed here, and here.

1. State licensing boards are using their power to forcibly prevent people from having access to this drug.

According to Dr. Gold, many states have empowered their pharmacists to not honor prescriptions for hydroxychloroquine to be used in treating Covid-19. This, she says, is unprecedented:

“It has never happened that a state has threatened a doctor for prescribing a universally accepted safe generic cheap drug off-label.”

Meanwhile, says Gold, the drug is available over the counter in many other countries, including Iran and Indonesia, where it can be found “in the vitamin section”.

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2020/08/bretigne-shaffer/the-pharmaceutical-narrative-is-failing/

Alex Azar on Taiwan: ‘Very Important Partner of United States’

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Alex Azar told Breitbart News exclusively he views his trip to Taiwan as a message from the United States to the world that Taiwan is and has been a “very important partner” with the U.S. when it comes to global health security.

Azar touched down in Taiwan on Sunday, marking the first trip from this high-ranking of a U.S. official since the United States shifted formal diplomatic recognition in the late 1970s under former Democrat President Jimmy Carter from Taiwan’s government, the Republic of China, to the People’s Republic of China (PRC)—run by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on the mainland in Beijing.

“Taiwan has been a very important partner of the United States, but also of the world community as a model of transparent, collaborative, and cooperative approaches to public health throughout the last several years, but especially during the COVID-19 crisis,” Azar told Breitbart News on Friday afternoon, ahead of his trip. “It’s important that I go to reaffirm the partnership that the United States has with Taiwan in public health, but also to hold up Taiwan as a model to the types of behaviors that are important in the international community.”

More

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/08/09/exclusive-azar-taiwan-very-important-partner-united-states/

WarnerMedia Restructuring Will See 800 Warner Bros, HBO Employees Lose Their Jobs

HBO pay TV is being deemphasized in favor of HBO Max streaming media in a new WarnerMedia restructuring

At least 800 Warner Bros and HBO employees will lose their jobs as a result of the move

New CEO Jason Kilar claims streaming and COVID-19 demands the company "act boldly and with urgency"

New WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar has announced a new strategy that will result in at least 800 employees in the Warner Bros. and HBO divisions lose their jobs.

Kilar announced a major mangement restructuring in moves designed to ensure growth amid the immense industry disruption caused by COVID-19.

Kilar, who joined WarnerMedia on May 1, also announced the departure of three top executives in the reshuffle that de-emphasizes pay TV under HBO in favor of the HBO Max video-on-demand streaming platform. HBO Max launched May 27.

The restructuring will see WarnerMedia release at least 800 employees at its Warner Bros. and HBO pay TV operations, which are the hardest hit by Kilar's move towards streaming. Some 650 Warner Bros. employees are expected to be fired Monday. HBO will let go of approximately 150 to 175 people.

Kilar announced the reorientation of the business towards streaming and the reshuffle in an email to employees over the weekend. Kilar was previously CEO of Hulu, the Over-the-top (OTT) streaming media joint venture between The Walt Disney Company and NBCUniversal.

Kilar justified WarnerMedia's wholesale shift towards streaming media by saying the company faces "one of the greatest opportunities in the history of media" where it can deliver its content directly to hundreds of millions of consumers worldwide.

Kilar said WarnerMedia's future success in streaming in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic demands the company "change how we are organized, that we simplify, and that we act boldly and with urgency."

His roadmap to the future sees the primacy of HBO Max while expanding its scope worldwide. WarnerMedia will also establish a consolidated international unit focused on scale and efficiency, and will simplify the way it organizes studios as a consequence.

Kilar also announced the departure of three former top executives: WarnerMedia Entertainment and direct-to-consumer Chairman Bob Greenblatt, content chief and TBS, TNT and TruTV president Kevin Reilly and Keith Cocozza, executive vice president of corporate marketing and communications. More structural changes are on the way, possibly including more layoffs.

Kilar's memo said Andy Forssell, HBO Max general manager, will now lead a newly created HBO Max operating business unit. Forsell's team will be responsible for the marketing, consumer engagement and global rollout of HBO Max.

https://www.ibtimes.com/warnermedia-restructuring-will-see-800-warner-bros-hbo-employees-lose-their-jobs-3025393

AUDIO: FBI Informant Stefan Halper Said Michael Flynn Was Not ‘Going To Be Around Long’

A former Bush administration official has released audio of his conversation from Jan. 10, 2017, with Stefan Halper, a former Cambridge professor who was an FBI source during the Trump-Russia probe.

Halper told Steven Schrage that Michael Flynn, the incoming national security adviser, was likely not “going to be around long.”

Schrage says he found the comment peculiar because Flynn became the target of intense media scrutiny two days later, after classified details of his conversations with a Russian diplomat were leaked to The Washington Post.

Schrage, who studied under Halper at Cambridge, has revealed other details about his interactions with the longtime FBI source.

A professor who served as an FBI informant during the investigation of the Trump campaign told one of his students in early 2017 that incoming national security adviser Michael Flynn was not “going to be around long,” according to audio that the student published Sunday.

Steven Schrage, a former Bush administration official, released audio of a conversation he had on Jan. 10, 2017, with Stefan Halper, the FBI informant.

In the audio file, which Schrage included in an essay published by journalist Matt Taibbi, Halper is heard saying that he doubted that Flynn would last long in the Trump administration.

“If you go to the [National Security Council], you have to consider very carefully if you feel it’s appropriate for you to work for Flynn. I don’t think Flynn’s going to be around long. That’s just my guess,” Halper told Schrage, according to the audio recording.

“But Flynn’s reaction to that is to blow up and get angry. He’s really fucked. I mean I don’t know where he goes from there. But that is his reaction. That’s why he’s so unsuitable,” Halper also said.

Schrage studied under Halper at the time while working on his doctoral dissertation at the University of Cambridge, where Halper served as a professor in the school’s political department.

Schrage said he found Halper’s remark about Flynn curious because of the timing and because Halper would not have had any independent knowledge about Flynn’s tenure in the Trump administration.

https://dailycaller.com/2020/08/09/stefan-halper-michael-flynn-steven-schrage-fbi-informant/