49 People Shot In Last 72 Hours In New York As City Hits Its "Expiration Date"

The gentrified New York City that made the Big Apple the envy of billionaires, oligarchs, child molesters and money laundering criminals from around the world is no more, and in its place is the hellish New York from the 1970s.

According to Gothamist, between Thursday and Saturday, 49 people were shot in the largest city in the United States, as the uptick in gun violence continues this summer and is rushing to catch up with that other progressive paradise, Chicago.

Putting the surge in context, the number of people shot over the three days is five times more than the eight who were shot during the same days last year according to the Washington Examiner. While most of the shooting victims were merely wounded, at least six people were killed by gunshot wounds over the 3-day interval, compared to three homicides that took place during the same time last year.

Year to date, there have been 1,087 shooting victims so far in 888 different incidents throughout the city, roughly double the crime observed in 2019. Last year at this time, there had been 577 shooting victims in 488 incidents in New York City.

Among those murdered was an off-duty corrections officer who worked at Rikers Island. John Jeff, 28, had just left a party in Queens at 3 a.m. on Saturday morning when he was shot in the head and chest.

"Early this morning, the Correction Officers' Benevolent Association was notified that New York City Correction Officer John Jeff, assigned to the Anna M. Kross Center on Rikers Island, was found dead in South Jamaica Queens. He sustained multiple gunshot wounds. He was 28 years old and was on the job for just over two years with his whole life and career ahead of him. He was well-liked and highly regarded by his fellow officers,” Correction Officers Benevolent Association President Benny Boscio Jr. said in a statement.

Neighbors reported hearing multiple gunshots outside their homes, and sources told ABC 7 the killing appeared to be planned.

“I heard nine shots,” resident Raymond Leslie said. “You really don’t want to come out on these streets at night because it’s getting increasingly dangerous.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose actions - or lack thereof - have been blamed by many for triggering a historic exodus among New York residents, denounced the shooting tweeting, "This is a tragedy.”

"Chirlane and I are keeping this young man’s family, loved ones and brothers and sisters in @CorrectionNYC in our hearts today. An investigation into this cowardly attack is ongoing. If you have any information please contact the NYPD,” the mayor tweeted.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/49-people-shot-last-72-hours-new-york-city-hits-its-expiration-date

Mueller Aide Weissmann Calls On DOJ Attorneys Not To Help On Investigations

I recently wrote a column discussing how Democratic leaders, including Vice President Joe Biden, have argued against continuing the investigation by U.S. Attorney John Durham despite growing evidence of misconduct by Justice Department officials and now the first guilty plea by former FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith. Now, Andrew Weissmann, one of the top prosecutors with Special Counsel Robert Mueller, has derided the Clinesmith plea while actually calling on Justice Department attorneys to refuse to help on ongoing investigations that could implicate aspects of his own prior work.

I was among those who expressed concern when Mueller selected Weissmann due to his history of controversial prosecutorial decisions, including a pattern of prosecutorial overreach in the Enron litigation.

Weissmann’s recent statements (made before the release of his new book on the Russian investigation) have only served to reaffirm those concerns.

Recently, Weissmann wrote an extraordinary and disturbing New York Times op-ed (with former Defense Department special counsel Ryan Goodman). In the column, he appeared to call on Justice Department lawyers to undermine the Durham investigation as well as the investigation by U.S. Attorney John Bash’s investigation into the “unmasking” requests by Obama administration officials. They wrote “Justice Department employees in meeting their ethical and legal obligations, should be well advised not to participate in any such effort.”

Consider that line for a moment. Weissmann is openly calling on attorneys to refuse to help on investigations that could raise questions about his own decisions. Durham is looking at a pattern errors, false statements, bias, and now criminal conduct in the Russian investigation. There is obviously overlap with the Mueller investigation which discussed many of the same underlying documents and relied on work by some of the same individuals. The failure to address misconduct, bias, or criminal conduct by such individuals would be embarrassing to both Weissmann and Mueller. Despite that obvious conflict of interest, Weissmann is calling on attorneys to stand down.

It is the same troubling position that was once taken by Sally Yates, who told an entire federal agency not to assist the President in his travel ban.

After Weissmann called on Justice Department attorneys not to assist investigations by the Justice Department, Durham disclosed that the first guilty plea would be entered by Clinesmith. That would ordinarily cause embarrassment for someone who was calling for DOJ lawyers to effectively hinder the investigation. Not Weissmann. He has now attacked the criminal plea.

Weissmann mocked Attorney General Bill Barr to explain the difference between the Flynn plea and the Clinesmith plea.

https://jonathanturley.org/2020/08/16/mueller-aide-weissmann-calls-on-doj-attorneys-not-to-help-on-investigations/

Iran will change its approach to UAE over deal with ‘child-murdering Israeli regime’ – top commander

The freshly inked peace deal with Israel will change Tehran’s attitude towards the United Arab Emirates, a top Iranian commander has warned, saying that Abu Dhabi will now be the prime suspect for any troubles in the Persian Gulf.

“Unfortunately, the UAE has reached a deal to normalize ties with the child-murdering Israeli regime,” Chief of Staff for the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Bagheri said on Sunday.

Tehran’s approach to the UAE will change … If something happens in the Persian Gulf region and if our national security is damaged, however small, we will hold the UAE responsible for that and we will not tolerate it.

The US-sponsored peace deal, which restores diplomatic ties between Israel and the UAE, was signed earlier this week. Among other things, Israel agreed to “suspend” its plans to annex parts of the West Bank. However, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said the annexation was still “on the table.”

The agreement has sparked much anger in Iran, as well as many other Muslim nations. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said it was a “huge mistake” on the part of the UAE.

Rouhani’s words on the deal have apparently ruffled some feathers in Abu Dhabi, as on Sunday Iran’s charge d’affaires was summoned by the country’s foreign ministry and given a “strongly worded memo,” the WAM state news agency reported. The ministry described Rouhani’s speech as “unacceptable” and damaging to the stability of the whole region.

Aside from the condemnations by Iranian government officials and military top brass, the deal also triggered mass protests outside the UAE embassy in Tehran. On Saturday, scores of university students gathered outside the diplomatic facility to protest the agreement, condemning it as a treason to the Palestinians and the whole Muslim cause.

https://www.rt.com/news/498157-iran-uae-israel-deal/

The five biggest coronavirus myths BUSTED! Exposing the fear mongering, propaganda and outright lies that are plaguing the world

The coronavirus misinformation that scientists, politicians and media have fed to the public has been shocking. Take a tour through the bizarre, contradictory and downright ludicrous myths that have done more damage than Covid.

TRIGGER WARNING! Do not read this if you are a loyal member of the Branch Covidians, cravenly awaiting the pleasure-pain prick of the Covid vaccine before you will appear in your own garden without a face nappy.

Or rather, do read it, but don’t expect to like it. There is no place for assumptions here—only logical thought from first principles. The only aim is to debunk the biggest myths that the media and political establishment have propagated.

And if you can hear me out then I salute you; there are few of us left who hold open minds.

Myth 1: Slowing the spread of the virus is a good idea

This is the fundamental premise of the world’s ‘response’ to Covid, from which all else springs. But it has never been established that we should be trying to slow the virus down, not even from the blinkered point of view of just saving lives in the short term.

Slowing the spread of the virus was initially sold to us as a way of protecting health services: if everyone gets sick at once, the hospitals will fill to bursting point and people will die on gurneys in car parks outside. Remember ‘flatten the curve’? Since Covid infections are inevitable, spreading them out through time will indirectly save lives by ensuring that everyone who can be saved by medical interventions - oxygen masks and ventilators - will be.

A noble idea, but as it happened, a misguided one. Most hospitals spent the months of the outbreak as good as empty. All other medical treatments were postponed in order to prepare for the onslaught of Covid patients coughing their lungs up—an onslaught that never arrived. Even intensive care units rarely reached full capacity, and it quickly became apparent that for the people most at risk from Covid, ventilator and intensive care treatment is unsuitable. Only a tiny minority of those who have died actually died in intensive care—old people with many co-morbidities are best kept in ordinary wards.

So ‘flatten the curve’ was a dead duck, but doesn’t it make sense to slow the spread of the virus anyway? Well, only if you think that those who would die of Covid if they caught it can evade the virus until a vaccine is developed. If vulnerable people who believe that they have not caught the virus (they may be asymptomatic) want to wait for a putative vaccine, then they should be more upfront about their intentions. Because if they can’t, then there is no point to any of this.

In addition, there is at least one theory why you could be doing someone a favour by giving them the virus. Evolutionary theory tells us that as a respiratory virus spreads, it loses potency. A successful virus is a mild one, which does not kill its host before they can spread it. This is how herd immunity really works in this context: it’s about the changes to the virus itself. In contrast, when we locked down, the virus had nowhere to go. Instead of getting milder, all of the most dangerous strains came together in the only places where sick people gathered: nursing homes and hospitals. This is why I greeted news that the virus was becoming more contagious with jubilation—it is better that the virus spread freely, at least among the healthy.

Myth 2: Lockdowns slow the spread

But let’s pretend for a while that it isn’t better. Because without the fundamental assumption that spreading = bad, the rest of the discussion is flipped on its head. ‘Spikes’ become cause for relief, not concern. Masks, if they work, would become counter-productive. I am not claiming this as truth—only that it is at least as likely as the classical model.

But if you can suspend your disbelief for long enough to imagine that hindering the spread of the virus is worthwhile, then you might be forgiven for assuming that lockdowns are the way to do it. There is, however, no suggestion, let alone evidence, that lockdowns would pose a problem for a wily virus.

https://www.rt.com/op-ed/498007-covid-19-myths-lies-exposed/

At least 5 dead, 28 injured as gunmen explode car bomb & storm hotel in Mogadishu

A hotel has been attacked by gunmen in Somalia's capital Mogadishu, with at least five people killed. Video posted on social media shows a large plume of smoke emerging from the scene that suffered the explosion.

Reports of the attack emerged on local media on Sunday. Several videos circulating online show dust and smoke emerging from the location, identified as Mogadishu’s Elite Hotel, while gunfire can be heard in the background.

Local media outlets reported that a powerful explosion went off at the hotel before it was stormed by gunmen. Some pinned the blame on Al-Shabaab – a hard-line Islamist militant group, that has ties to Al-Qaeda.

“There are deaths and injuries of civilians who were passing near the hotel and others who were inside the hotel. Among the dead is one director of the Information Ministry,” said the state-run SONNA news agency, citing Information Ministry Spokesman Ismail Mukhtar Omar.

At least 28 people were injured in the attack, local media reported, citing the ambulance service. Five others were killed during the incident, a security official told AFP.

https://www.rt.com/news/498160-gunfire-explosion-mogadishu-hotel/

Audio Reveals Obama Spy Stefan Halper Was Trying to Infiltrate High Level Positions in Trump Administration

Steven Schrage joined Maria Bartiromo again for his second appearance on Sunday Morning Futures this morning.

Schrage worked with FBI spy Stefan Halper for years.

Steven introduced Stefan Halper to Carter Page back in 2016 while Halper was spying on the Trump campaign.

On Sunday he spoke with Maria Bartiromo again in his second interview.

On Sunday Shrage told Maria Bartiromo that Christopher Steele‘s old boss at MI6 Sir Richard Dearlove was at the conference in London with Stefan Halper and Carter Page back in 2016.

Shrage then released audio of FBI spy Stefan Halper, who spied on the Trump campaign, discussing his desire of being the Secretary of State in the Trump Campaign. In the audio Halper also said he would take the Deputy Secretary of State job.

Halper met with Ivanka Trump during the transition period.

The Trump administration had NO IDEA the number of traitors and spies who he was up against even after he won the 2016 election.

Via Sunday Morning Futures:

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/08/breaking-audio-reveals-obama-spy-stefan-halper-trying-infiltrate-high-level-positions-trump-administration-video/

NSA O’Brien: ‘Possible’ Saudi Arabia Could Be Next to Make Deal with Israel

Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press,” National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien discussed the deal brokered between Israel and the UAE to normalize relations.

He revealed that Saudi Arabia could be next to make a deal with Israel.

O’Brien said, “Last week was quite an accomplishment. It was the result of very hard diplomacy, much of it being quarterbacked by the president of the United States himself on calls with Bibi Netanyahu and Mohammed bin Zayed. He really pushed this over the finish line. But it took a lot of courage by the other leaders as well. As you indicated, there have only been three of these peace treaties since Israel’s founding, so it’s a historic accomplishment. We think that there’s momentum for some additional parties to join and to normalize relations with Israel. We fanned out, as soon as this was announced, and have talked to — I’ve been on the phone with leaders in the region, the president has, Jared Kushner has, Secretary Pompeo has. And so we’re quite hopeful that we can build on this momentum. I can’t give a timeline because these things are tough. You know, these are the toughest negotiations in the world to broker peace between Israel and the Arab and Islamic world, but we’re confident that we think there are a couple of other countries that are going to get on board soon, and we’re looking forward to that.”

Host Chuck Todd asked, “I’m curious, Saudi Arabia. Because they’re the guardians, if you will, of some important religious aspects of Islam, do they end up the last, do you think, to publicly do it? Or could they be next?”

O’Brien said, “Look, it’s possible that they could be next. The three great holy sites in Islam, as you know, Chuck, are Mecca, Medina, and the king of Saudi Arabia is the keeper of those two sites. But the other site is the Al-Aqsa Mosque, and King Hussein of Jordan and Jordan supervises that. One of the great things about this agreement is you’re now going to have direct flights from those fantastic airports, both in Abu Dhabi and Dubai, into Ben Gurion in Tel Aviv. And we’re going to have Arab and Muslim pilgrims coming to Jerusalem and going up to the Mount and worshiping at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. And we think that’s something that will be a great confidence builder. And so, I’m hoping that King Salman and MBS, Mohammed bin Salman, see that development and realize that this would be great for Saudi Arabia, it would be great for the Arab people and for the Islamic world as well. So, we’re hopeful. We’ll have to see what happens, but we’re talking to a number of countries in addition to Saudi Arabia.”

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2020/08/16/obrien-possible-saudi-arabia-could-be-next-to-make-deal-with-israel/

“Greater Israel”: The Zionist Plan for the Middle East "Oded Yinon Plan".

https://www.globalresearch.ca/greater-israel-the-zionist-plan-for-the-middle-east/5324815

Antifa Goons Go to Sturgis Biker Rally — Big Mistake — Need Police Protection for Their Escape

https://youtu.be/IMnReYrkcgA

https://youtu.be/eQJJrqSLobw

https://freenorthcarolina.blogspot.com/2020/08/antifa-goons-go-to-sturgis-biker-rally.html

Cologne Antifa Extremist Group Funded by University Student Fees

Cologne University students have donated at least €8,500 from their student fees towards a far-left extremist Antifa group which is under observation by the German security services.

The Cologne General Students’ Committee (AStA) has donated thousands of euros since at least 2010 to the Antifa AK extremist group, according to budget documents. Following the revelation, the local Green University group expressed their full support for Antifa.

“Antifa AK is the student body, and the student body is Antifa!” the Green group wrote on Facebook. It added that Antifa AK was “a working group of the student body of the University of Cologne and thus an integral part of it”, Die Welt reports.

According to the newspaper, the Antifa AK group is on a list of extremist groups observed by the Federal Office for the Protection fo the Constitution (BfV). Germany’s domestic intelligence agency described it as an organisation that “pursues anti-constitutional goals” and “therefore it is an extremist group”.

Students at the University of Cologne pay semester fees of €28o, €205 of which goes to the AStA which is linked to the student government.

The youth wing of the Social Democrats, the Jusos, and the Greens both dominate the student government and have always voted in favour of giving Antifa student cash. The opposition, the Christian Democrat-affiliated RCDS and the Liberal University Group, has voted against the spending but is a minority in the student government.

German security services are currently monitoring at least 47 Antifa extremist groups, with the BfV stating that there are far more extremist leftist groups not mentioned in official reports.

Earlier this month, the Federal Criminal Police Office and the BfV claimed that Antifa members were plotting attacks on police officers, populist politicians, and other political enemies. The offices noted that some members had trained with Kurdish militia in northern Syria.

In June, the BfV warned that growing Antifa violence could even result in targetted assassinations, as groups within the far-left scene become more extreme.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2020/08/16/cologne-antifa-extremist-group-funded-university-student-fees/

Better Public Compliance Through Mass Drugging

A narrative is now emerging about using chemicals to achieve consensus and “cooperation” vis a vis the coronavirus pandemic.

The overt and covert application of chemicals has been known to cause a multitude of environmental and species specific dangers. From Chernobyl to Roundup, from cancer to autism to dementia, the reckless deployment of chemicals has been the subject of articles, books, activism and more.

Grand Rapids, Michigan was the first city to fluoridate their water. The year was 1945, just following the successful use of fluoride to dose the water in Auschwitz and other concentration camps in Eastern Europe. Today, we know that the benefit of fluoride for dental health is questionable at best and that the profoundly deleterious effects of this aluminum derivative on brain function are undeniable.

Today, more than one in five Americans is reported to be taking one or more psychotropic drugs. Many of these drugs also contain fluoride. But apparently, the wholesale drugging of Americans has not achieved the desired results.

According to Parker Crutchfield, Associate Professor of Medical Ethics, Humanities and Law, Western Michigan University, Americans need a injection of “moral enhancement.” Crutchfield is concerned that Americans are not following the guidelines for wearing masks and social distancing, and states that “When someone chooses not to follow public health guidelines around the coronavirus, they’re defecting from the public good.” There seems to be no room in Crutchfield’s thinking for a debate on what constitutes the “public good” as he dismisses dissent as “Selfish and self-defeating behavior.”

The remedy, according to Crutchfield, is to dose Americans with “empathy-producing” chemicals. He writes “…like receiving a vaccine to beef up your immune system, people could take a substance to boost their cooperative, pro-social behavior. Could a psychoactive pill be the solution to the pandemic?”

Others seem to be thinking along the same lines. A recent article in The British Journal of Psychiatry explores the use of dumping the psychoactive drug, lithium, into water supplies in order to curtail suicides due to the pandemic.

“In these unprecedented times of COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent increase in the incidence of mental health conditions, accessing ways to improve community mental health and reduce the incidence of anxiety, depression and suicide is ever more important,” said Anjum Memon, lead author and epidemiology chair at Brighton and Sussex Medical School.

Dr. Memon goes on to say,

https://www.activistpost.com/2020/08/better-public-compliance-through-mass-drugging.html

Chinese Military Posts Video of Hong Kong Air Defense Drills as Warning to U.S.

The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) used social media on Wednesday to publish a short video clip of Hong Kong air defense drills.

A military analyst told the island’s leading dissident newspaper, Apple Daily, that the incongruous 48-second video was meant as a warning to the United States against interfering with China’s oppression of Hong Kong.

The analyst, Anthony Wong of the International Military Association in Macau, noted that the video was labeled with Hong Kong’s name in English instead of Mandarin, a sign that its intended audience was the United States, along with Beijing loyalists in Hong Kong who want to see the PLA sending belligerent messages to the U.S.

“There’s no question about it, it’s to show the U.S. and to show the ‘blue ribbons’ in Hong Kong,” said Wong.

Hong Kong demonstrators have a habit of wearing colored ribbons to identify with causes and political factions. Pro-democracy protesters wore yellow ribbons during the 2014 Umbrella Movement demonstrations, while supporters of the Hong Kong government and its masters in Beijing wore blue.

Wong said the PLA wanted to send a message to the U.S. that “if you come near Hong Kong, we won’t hold back.” He referenced reports that American planes have been seen flying off the coast of southeastern China several times in the past few weeks.

Those planes were most likely reconnaissance aircraft connected with U.S. freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea, but evidently the PLA thinks — or wishes to give the impression it thinks — the American military is planning to intervene in Hong Kong.

The PLA has been increasing the tempo of military drills across East Asia as relations with the U.S. deteriorate, with noteworthy surges after two American aircraft carriers held an unusual exercise in the South China Sea in July and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar visited Taiwan this week.

When Azar made his visit to Taiwan, Chinese state media angrily threatened to retaliate by holding live-fire missile drills near Taiwan and Guam, where the U.S. has a major airbase. The editorial that made this threat was re-posted on the PLA’s English-language news website.

https://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2020/08/14/chinese-military-posts-video-hong-kong-air-defense-drills-warning-us/

Disney confirms its first bisexual lead character in an animated series: The Owl House features 14-year-old girl named Luz dancing with a girl who has a crush on her at prom

Disney now has its first ever bisexual lead character, thanks to The Disney Channel animated series The Owl House.

Following the debut of a recent episode in the series, show creator Dana Terrace revealed on Twitter that the series' lead character, Luz Noceda - a Dominican-American girl - is definitely bisexual.

The Owl House, which premiered in January, centers around 14-year-old Luz who finds a portal to a fantasy world and attempts to fulfill her dream of becoming a witch while attending school there.

http://www.yourdestinationnow.com/2020/08/disney-confirms-its-first-bisexual-lead.html

Israel intelligence minister: Bahrain, Oman to follow UAE in formalising ties

Bahrain and Oman could be the next Gulf countries to follow the United Arab Emirates in formalising ties with Israel, Israel’s intelligence minister said on Sunday, reported Reuters.

“In the wake of this agreement (with the UAE) will come additional agreements, both with more Gulf countries and with Muslim countries in Africa,” Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen told Army Radio.

“I think that Bahrain and Oman are definitely on the agenda. In addition, in my assessment, there is a chance that already in the coming year there will be a peace deal with additional countries in Africa, chief among them, Sudan,” he said.

Both Bahrain and Oman praised the UAE-Israel accord, although neither have commented on their own prospects for normalised relations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has met with Omani and Sudanese leaders in the past two years.

A senior US official said on Friday that the White House has been in touch with “numerous” countries in the region, trying to see if more agreements would materialise.

The official declined to name the countries but said they were Arab and Muslim nations in the Middle East and Africa.

On Thursday, Israel and the UAE announced they would normalise diplomatic ties and forge a broad new relationship. The deal, brokered with US help, firms up opposition to regional power Iran. The Palestinians denounced the deal as a betrayal.

Israel signed peace agreements with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994. But the UAE, along with most other Arab nations, has had no formal diplomatic or economic relations with it.

Bahrain, a close ally of Saudi Arabia, hosted a senior Israeli official at a security conference in 2019 as well as a US-led conference on boosting the Palestinian economy as part US President Donald Trump’s Middle East peace initiative.

Government sources in Kuwait said its position towards Israel is unchanged, and it will be the last country to normalise relations, local newspaper al-Qabas reported.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200816-israel-intelligence-minister-bahrain-oman-to-follow-uae-in-formalising-ties/

Report: Government Tracking Software Inside Hundreds of Mobile Phone Apps

Bad news alert: there are lawsuits and recalls on several cell phone models due to illegally high levels of radiation (see 1, 2, 3) AND an investigation uncovered that government tracking software was installed in hundreds of mobile apps.

From Android Authority:

Report: Hundreds of apps have hidden tracking software used by the government

A new report exposes how a federal contractor secretly puts government tracking software into hundreds of mobile apps.

The data gleaned from this tracking is then sold back to the US government for undisclosed purposes.

This tactic is deceptive because the tracking isn’t disclosed. However, it appears to be totally legal.

A new report today from The Wall Street Journal exposes yet another concerning development when it comes to mobile phone tracking. According to the report, at least one federal contractor puts government tracking software in over 500 mobile applications.

The contractor — a Virginia-based company called Anomaly Six LLC — pays mobile developers to include its in-house tracking code within their apps. The trackers then collect anonymized data from our phones and Anomaly Six aggregates that data and sells it to the US government.

It sounds crazy, but it’s happening. What’s more, it appears it’s totally legal.

Read full article

When it rains, it pours.

https://www.activistpost.com/2020/08/report-government-tracking-software-inside-hundreds-of-mobile-phone-apps.html

Schumer: McConnell must bring Senate back early if House passes Postal Service bill

Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on Sunday that a key Senate panel should hold public hearings with U.S. Postal Service leadership and that the chamber should return early if the House passes related legislation.

Schumer, speaking a press conference in New York, said Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) should schedule a hearing with Postmaster General Louis DeJoy and USPS Board of Governors Chairman Robert Duncan.

If DeJoy refuses to testify, Schumer added that he should be removed from his job.

“I am demanding Chairman Johnson convene a hearing in his committee with the Postmaster General and the Chairman of the Postal Service Board of Governors as soon as possible for them to answer serious questions and be held accountable for the damage they have caused at one of America’s most important and sacred public institutions. And if the Postmaster General refuses to come before Congress, he should be swiftly removed by the Board of Governors," Schumer said.

House Democrats are considering coming back to Washington, D.C., as soon as this week or next week to try to pass legislation related to the Postal Service, according to multiple reports. The House is currently scheduled to be out of town until mid-September.

Schumer, on Sunday, said that if the House is able to pass legislation Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) should also bring the Senate back. The Senate is currently scheduled to be out of town before Sept. 8, and the GOP leader noted late last week that it would take consent from every senator to hold any votes before then.

“In addition to hearings, I will push for new legislation that will undo the changes that have slowed down the mail and ensure all mail-in ballots for the upcoming election are treated as First Class priority. Accordingly, if the House acts on legislation, Leader McConnell must bring the Senate back into session so we can quickly pass their legislation to reverse these harmful changes," Schumer said.

In addition to mulling stand-alone legislation, Democrats also want to include more funding for the Postal Service and election assistance in a fifth coronavirus package, talks over which have largely stalled since the negotiations collapsed earlier this month.

DeJoy is coming under growing bipartisan criticism that cost-cutting measures will leave the Postal Service ill-equipped to handle a rise in mail-in voting in the November election.

https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/512242-schumer-mcconnell-must-bring-senate-back-early-if-house-passes-postal-service

Israel Air Force prepares to train with Luftwaffe over Germany for first time

Monday exercise will be air force’s only international drill in 2020; Israeli aircraft to fly over Munich to mark 1972 Olympics massacre, and over Dachau to commemorate Holocaust

The Israeli Air Force will take part in its first ever exercise in Germany on Monday, flying dozens of sorties with the Luftwaffe and other NATO countries’ air forces, over the course of two weeks, the military said.

This will be the only international exercise to which the IAF will send aircraft this year, in light of the coronavirus pandemic.

“This exercise has great strategic importance and has immense influence on the air force, the IDF, and the State of Israel. Israeli-German relations and the arrival of Israeli Air Force planes on German soil is a historic event,” the IAF said.

On Tuesday, the IAF is also scheduled to perform a flyover with the German Air Force, flying over the Dachau concentration camp, in memory of the Holocaust, as well as over the outskirts of Munich, to commemorate the murder of 11 Israeli athletes in the 1972 Olympics, the military said.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israel-air-force-prepares-to-train-with-luftwaffe-over-germany-for-first-time/

‘Country 404’: Zelensky Administration Seeks To Ban Opposition Parties Ahead Of Local Elections

The post-2014 Ukrainian leadership continues employing best democratic practices learned from their foreign sponsors.

Now, the administration of President Volodymyr Zelensky, through its pocket ‘patriots’, is seeking to ban two opposition parties – the Opposition Platform — For Life and the Party of Shariy – just ahead of the local elections set to be held on October 25, 2020. The formal reason of the move proposed through the Public Council under the Ministry of Justice is the parties’ supposed ‘destructive actions’ against the Ukrainian sovereignty and national security i.e. calls to settle the conflict in eastern Ukraine by political measures, protect the Russian-speaking population, fight street violence and political terror (a cornerstone of the Kiev regime’s internal policy) etc.

According to local media, there are high chances that this move will get a further development and the government will really try to ban these opposition parties. The United States, which is the most democratic country around the world and the puppeteer behind the modern Ukrainian leadership, de-facto has only two political parties: the Democrats and the Republicans. So, the Zelensky administration likely feels itself obliged to follow its footsteps and create own ‘two-parties system’ led by something like the ruling “US Puppets” party and the opposition “Puppets of the US” party. Other parties that could question the current Ukrainian course that already led to the economic collapse, deep social crisis and the state of chaos across the country are not needed. In any cases, the government widely employs direct attacks, detentions and even killings of opposition figures, journalists and activists as a tool of its internal policy. So, this will only make the situation easier.

The next logical step of the ongoing ‘democratic development’ of Ukraine would be not only the bans of opposition political parties and media organizations, but even religious organizations supported by a majority of the population. For example, pro-government ‘activists’ have repeatedly called to ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) on the territory of Ukraine and seize all of its properties. The fact that this church is the only canonic Orthodox church in Ukraine that has a wide support among the nation is not being seen as any real obstacle.

At the same time, the Ukrainian leadership and its Western sponsors are not shy to claim that the Kiev regime is the democratic shield defending Europe in the front of the Russian aggression. If all what happens in Ukraine is “democracy”, this easily explains why multiple countries around the world do not support this kind of “democratic values”.

https://southfront.org/country-404-zelensky-administration-seeks-to-ban-opposition-parties-ahead-of-local-elections/

Rockets Fall On Heads Of US Troops In Iraq As Israel Bombs Gaza Strip

It seems that the UAE-Israeli peace deal did not help much to stabilize the situation in the region.

On August 16 evening, a rocket targeted the Green Zone of Iraq’s capital Baghdad, which houses government buildings and foreign missions. The strike caused no casualties. Security forces found a missile launch site and dismantled two other rockets.

This attack was one among almost a dozen of others within the last weeks apparently aimed at US forces and facilities.

Just a few hours earlier, the pro-Iranian armed group Ashab al-Kahf released a video showing an improvised explosive device attack on a US equipment convoy in the Anbar area. The group claimed that the convoy was fully destroyed.

On August 15, two rockets targeted the biggest US military base in Iraq – Camp Taji. The base is located north of Baghdad.

“On Aug 15, appx 9:15 p.m., two small rockets landed near Taji base. No coalition troops near impact,” spokesman for the U.S-led coalition, Col. Myles B. Caggins III, said on Twitter.

On the same day, a convoy carrying logistical supplies for the U.S.-led coalition was targeted on the highway between Dhi Qar and Basrah in southern Iraq. The attack was conducted by another pro-Iranian group, Usbat al-Tha’ireen. Pro-US sources denied any casualties as a result of the attack.

Meanwhile, the situation escalated in the Gaza Strip with the Israeli Defense Forces conducting strikes on Hamas targets there.

The situation escalated there amid reports about the UAE-Israeli peace deal. Under the deal Israel had to suspend its plans of occupation of Palestinian territories in the West Bank. However, the Israeli leadership already declared that it just delayed this move and is still aiming to do this.

The US detention of tankers with Iranian fuel en route to Venezuela also did not help to de-escalate the situation.

https://southfront.org/rockets-fall-on-heads-of-us-troops-in-iraq-as-israel-bombs-gaza-strip/

‘Unlock Michigan’: 60,000 Activists Circulate Petitions to Curtail Governor’s Emergency Powers

Some 60,000 Michiganders are circulating petitions to curtail the governor’s emergency powers as Gretchen Whitmer uses them to issue unilateral coronavirus orders.

“Unlock Michigan” is a political organization seeking to repeal a 1945 law Whitmer is using to justify a “state of emergency,” which she has extended repeatedly since the coronavirus pandemic hit the state in March.

If the group collects a sufficient amount of signatures, the Republican-controlled legislature could vote to revoke the law. It would not be subject to the governor’s veto powers.

If the legislature does not vote, the repeal would appear on the November 2022 ballot.

Fred Wszolek, spokesman for Unlock Michigan, said a 1976 law, which allows a governor to act in an event of a natural disaster would remain. An emergency could last, at most, 28 days.

Wszolek told The Kyle Olson Show the group has been collecting signatures for about five weeks and 60,000 activists are helping.

“They don’t wait for instructions from headquarters; they’re out there just doing this on their own,” he said.

“It’s fantastic. It’s the most exciting grassroots thing I’ve seen in a while,” Wszolek said.

He said the activists are “really frustrated” because Whitmer “just seems to be calling audibles.”

Wszolek questioned Whitmer’s decisions and what data she could be using to issue her orders.

He said Unlock Michigan needs to turn in 340,000 valid petition signatures and has set a goal of 500,000.

That is because, he said, pro-lockdown groups are organizing on Facebook, “encouraging people to sign with fake names and to sign repeatedly so those signatures can be disqualified.

“Of course, that’s election fraud,” Wszolek told The Kyle Olson Show.

He said leftists are engaging in a “systematic conspiracy” against the effort.

Wszolek said it took Unlock Michigan about three weeks to collect the first 100,000 signatures and anticipated they will hit their goal “pretty quickly.”

The group has 180 days to collect the sufficient number needed.

Once the signatures are validated by the Board of Elections, the legislature has 40 session days to pass it. If they do not, it will go on the 2022 ballot — the same election as Whitmer herself.

More information can be found at UnlockMichigan.com.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/08/16/unlock-michigan-petition-gov-emergency-powers/

STOP THE STEAL! Pelosi Employs Cloward-Piven Strategy — Accuses Trump of Crime that Democrats Are Actually Committing — Stealing the 2020 Election!

Earlier this month Nevada Democrats with the blessing of Democrat Governor Steve Sisolak called a special session with no public present and inside of 24 hours they rammed through mail-in voting and illegal ballot harvesting.

Ballot harvesting allows Democrats not related to or friends with elderly voters to fill out their ballots and turn them in to be counted!

Nevada is a swing state and a state targeted by the Trump campaign in this year’s election.

Democrats are going to cheat at all costs to keep Nevada from going to Donald Trump!

Democrats are pushing for mail-in voting across the country.

They know it’s easier to cheat with mail-in voting.

Donald Trump and the American people stand in their way.

Democrats know mail-in voting will take weeks to count. It will stir turmoil and push the Democrats to riot in the streets again like in June.

This is what Democrats want.

And now the Democrats led by the always nasty Nancy Pelosi are accusing President Trump of stealing the election.

President Trump is trying to SAVE the election!

This is how Pelosi works.

It’s the Cloward-Piven strategy of governance.

Accuse your opponent of the exact sins that you are guilty of.

Pelosi is a genius at this game.

James Simpson reported on the Cloward-Piven strategy at the American Thinker back in 2008:

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/08/stop-steal-pelosi-employs-cloward-piven-strategy-accuses-trump-crime-democrats-actually-committing-stealing-election/

Abrahamic Accord — Move Toward NWO Religion and Noahide Laws

>>10313753

been here in bulk for last 8 hours defending the indefensible