US Officials Fear Arrest Over Saudi War Crimes in Yemen

State Department has come under fire for facilitating arms sales to the Saudis and suppressing evidence of legal issues raised by Yemen war

A report from The New York Times revealed that some US officials are concerned that their role in facilitating arms sales to Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, while ignoring the harm to civilians each country has caused in Yemen, could lead to their arrest overseas for war crimes. A Congressional hearing over these arms sales is set to take place on Wednesday.

The report said that officials from both the Obama administration and the Trump administration have considered hiring lawyers to discuss the possibility of being arrested while vacationing overseas.

The Times report reads: “No episode in recent American history compares to Yemen, legal scholars say, where the United States has provided material support over five years for actions that have caused the continuous killing of civilians.”

Last week, the UN issued a report on atrocities in Yemen and asked the Security Council to bring actions by all parties in the conflict to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for possible war crimes prosecution. The Times said that legal scholars believe the ICC could charge US officials based on their knowledge of the pattern of indiscriminate killing by the parties the US supports in the conflict.

The Times story says there is evidence that shows State Department officials suppressed the legal implications over civilian casualties in Yemen. For example, in 2016, a State Department lawyer determined that some officials could potentially be charged with war crimes, and the department’s lawyers chose not to share the information with the secretary of state.

The current administration suppressed other evidence this year during an internal investigation into an arms sale the administration rushed without getting Congressional approval, citing an “emergency.” When the inspector general found the department did not consider legal risks to selling arms to the Saudis, officials made sure this information was put into a classified version of the report so even members of Congress with security clearance could not see it.

President Trump fired the original inspector general in charge of the recent internal probe at the behest of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Pompeo has a history of covering for Saudi war crimes in Yemen. After an airstrike in August 2018 killed 40 children on a school bus in Yemen, Pompeo told Congress that the Saudi-led coalition was taking “demonstrable action” to minimize civilian casualties so arms sales could continue.

The Saudi-led coalition continues to indiscriminately kill civilians in Yemen, as they always have since the war started in March 2015. In recent months, dozens of children have been killed by the coalition. The past few days have seen a heavy bombardment on Yemen’s capital Sanaa.

https://news.antiwar.com/2020/09/14/us-officials-fear-arrest-over-saudi-war-crimes-in-yemen/

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South African Intel Source Denies Report of Iranian Plot to Kill US Ambassador==

Politico reported on Sunday that Iran was weighing a plot to kill the US ambassador to South Africa in retaliation for the killing of Gen. Soleimani

After a dubiously sourced report from Politico claimed Iran is considering assassinating the US ambassador to South Africa, an intelligence source told the South African newspaper Daily Maverick that the plot was “not likely to be real.”

The source told the Maverick that while they take every threat seriously, there “appears to be, from our perspective, no discernible threat.” The source said that the “associations made are not sustainable on any level.”

The source said that with November approaching, the story could have been an effort by the Trump administration to distract the public from its failures, or as the source put it, a “weapon of mass distraction” and an instance of “the tail wagging the dog.”

The original Politico report, which was published on Sunday, cited two anonymous officials. They said Iran was considering the plot to kill the ambassador, Lana Marks, as retaliation for the US assassination of Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.

Politico speculated the reason why Marks could be the target is her close relationship with President Trump. Marks, a member of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club, was born in South Africa and has served as the US ambassador to the country since last October.

For their part, Iran denied the charge. “Such baseless claims are part of the Trump administration’s intelligence campaign against Iran,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson said.

A spokesperson for South Africa’s foreign ministry told Bloomberg that the allegations made in the Politico report took them by surprise. “We only became aware of this report this morning,” the spokesperson said on Monday.

It is worth noting that one of the authors of the Politico report, Natasha Bertrand, built her career on hyping the Steele Dossier, a now-discredited document that made unverified claims about the Russian government and the Trump campaign in 2016.

https://news.antiwar.com/2020/09/14/south-african-intel-source-denies-report-of-iranian-plot-to-kill-us-ambassador/

Lancaster protesters held on whopping $1 million bail each after alleged riots

12 adults, 1 juvenile charged for allegedly rioting early Monday

A Pennsylvania judge threw the book at several protesters – setting their bail at $1 million each – for allegedly rioting in the wake of the police shooting of a knife-wielding Lancaster man.

Lancaster police nabbed a dozen people and one juvenile for staging the riots around 3 a.m. Monday in clashes that culminated in police deploying tear gas at the crowd.

The overnight violence came on the heels of the death of Ricardo Munoz, the mentally ill 27-year-old who was seen on body cam footage charging at a cop with a knife in hand. The officer shot and killed Munoz Sunday afternoon outside his mother’s house in downtown Lancaster.

The mob marched from the scene of the shooting on Laurel Street to the police station, chucking glass bottles, rocks, brick, gallon jugs filled with liquid and plastic road barricades at cops, police said.

A county vehicle parked in front of the station was also damaged.

Twelve adults – Jamal Shariff Newman, 24; Barry Jones, 30; Frank Gaston, 43; Yoshua Dwayne Montague, 23; Matthew Modderman, 31; Talia Gessner, 18; Kathryn Patterson, 20; Taylor Enterline, 20; T-Jay Fry, 28; Dylan Davis, 28; Lee Alexander Wise, 29; Jessica Marie Lopez, 32 – face a slew of felony and misdemeanor charges, including arson, riot, institutional vandalism and criminal conspiracy.

A 16-year-old boy was also busted on riot, disorderly conduct, possession of instruments of crime, possession of a small amount of marijuana, propulsion of missiles onto a roadway and institutional vandalism.

Montague, of York, Pa., faces an additional charge of illegal possession of a firearm.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/lancaster-protesters-bail-alleged-riots

Northwestern Dean Discourages Professors From Contacting Reporters After Free Beacon Exposé

Law school dean claims 'certain corners of the internet' have 'mischaracterized' school's online diversity training

The dean of Northwestern University's law school discouraged professors from contacting reporters after a Washington Free Beacon exposé of the school's online diversity training.

In an email obtained exclusively by the Free Beacon, interim dean James Speta said that "certain corners of the Internet" have "mischaracterized" an online diversity training in which administrators confessed their own racism and said that faculty and staff should not have discussed the incident with reporters.

"Although I am not naive about technology and the privacy challenges presented in larger group and virtual events, I consider the circulation of a screenshot from the community conversation, particularly without accurate context, to be a breach of trust," Speta said. "We had hoped not to dignify these mischaracterizations with a response."

Speta also said the reports had harmful effects on both individual members of the law school community and the community as a whole but maintained that the training was justified.

"While the breach of trust and mischaracterization on the Internet might seek to exploit our community's important and impactful event, they have instead brought attention to our meaningful commitment to address racial injustice," Speta's email reads. "I stand by what we are doing."

Following the Free Beacon‘s report, Speta refused to release the recording of the virtual event to the law school community. A Northwestern insider—who spoke to the Free Beacon on the condition of anonymity—said that the school normally records events for those who cannot attend, especially since the start of the pandemic. The same insider also said that the number of administrators and faculty members who "admitted" to racism was higher than reported but that those with proof are too fearful to share any information with the press.

During the online diversity seminar, at least three administrators called themselves racists, with one referring to herself as a "gatekeeper of white supremacy." A viral screenshot of the event angered both current students and alumni, who said the school was capitulating to a handful of activists.

Northwestern's student newspaper faced a similar charge last year. In November 2019, the Daily Northwestern apologized for covering student demonstrations after protesters alleged that posting photos of the protests "hurt students." The paper also apologized for using the university's directory to contact students for interviews—a standard practice in journalism.

Northwestern University did not respond to requests for comment.

https://freebeacon.com/campus/northwestern-dean-discourages-professors-from-contacting-reporters-after-free-beacon-expose/

Democrats Shoot Down $1.5T Pandemic Stimulus Compromise

Update (1425ET): In what should be a surprise to nobody, House Democrats have completely shot down the $1.5 trillion bipartisan compromise for pandemic relief, arguing "When it comes to bolstering the public health system, supporting state and local governments, and assisting struggling families, the Problem Solvers’ proposal leaves too many needs unmet."

"… The health and economic crisis demands action. That will require President Trump and Republican leaders to come back to the table and work with Democrats to save lives and livelihoods," the Democrats continue.

Full statement here.

This is, frankly, misleading from Dem leadership today on the House Dems/House Republicans $1.5-2trillion compromise bill. https://t.co/eucfBXjCAR

— Talmon Joseph Smith (@talmonsmith) September 15, 2020

• • *

A bipartisan group of 50 House lawmakers will release a $1.52 trillion pandemic stimulus proposal, in the hopes of breaking a months-long deadlock over the next round of relief, according to Bloomberg.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/house-moderates-hammer-out-152-trillion-bipartisan-compromise-pandemic-relief

Pfizer Releases Latest COVID-19 Vaccine Trial Update; Apple Unveils New COVID-19 Research Partnership

After declaring yesterday that the comapny's COVID-19 vaccine might be given to Americans before the end of the year, the company delivered its latest update Tuesday on the trial of the COVID-19 vaccine it's developing with

The update comes as the number of new coronavirus cases counted in the US yesterday jumped to 38k, higher than last Monday’s number (which may have been impacted by the long Labor Day weekend) and broadly in line with the previous three Mondays. The 7-day average of daily new cases, at 37,140, has apparently stopped moving lower following an almost 50% decline from the peak of 69,300 reached in late July. Meanwhile, in a factor that could be contributing to the trend, the 7-day average in daily tests, at 670,000, is picking up from a low last week, with the cases-to-test ratio remaining at 5% for a second week, down from 9% in July. The 7-day average of US COVID-19 deaths, at 745, remains around its lowest level in 2 months.

In total, the US has recorded more than 6,563,903 cases as of Tuesday afternoon.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/china-seals-border-city-200000-after-2-illegal-immigrants-myanmar-test-positive-live

PRAY FOR EACH OTHER

>>10658218

>>>10657884 BREAKING: NASA says the sun has entered a new “solar cycle”. Officially named “Solar Cycle 25”……

WTF? not notable