US to Reduce Troop Numbers in Afghanistan to 2,500 by Early 2021 - O'Brien

White House national security adviser Robert O'Brien said on Wednesday that the pace of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan could leave as few as 2,500 troops in the Central Asian country by early 2021.

"When President Trump took office, there were over 10,000 American troops in Afghanistan. As of today there are under 5,000, and that will go to 2,500 by early next year,” O'Brien told an audience at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

O'Brien's comments mark the lowest definitive number given by a Trump administration official about troop number reductions in Afghanistan since US President Donald Trump's comments in early August, when he said there would be roughly 4,000 troops in Afghanistan by November, when the US presidential election is being held.

Last month, David Helvey, the assistant secretary of defense for Indo-Pacific security affairs, told the House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on National Security that "if conditions warrant, per the US-Taliban agreement,” all US troops could be withdrawn from Afghanistan by May 2021.

In February, the US signed a peace agreement with the Taliban Islamic militant group that has formed the foundation for the US withdrawal. US troops have occupied Afghanistan since October 2001, when they invaded to overthrow the Taliban, then the government in power, in retaliation for the Taliban's allowing terrorist group al-Qaeda to operate bases and training facilities in the country. The month prior, al-Qaeda had run its terrorist attacks against the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, that killed more than 3,000 people, out of the Afghan camps.

However, the civil war in Afghanistan continues, as the Afghan government was not party to the US-Taliban deal. Negotiations have continued in Doha, Qatar, between the government and the Taliban, with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani flying to Doha earlier this week for meetings with leading diplomats.

https://sputniknews.com/asia/202010071080700812-us-to-reduce-troop-numbers-in-afghanistan-to-2500-by-early-2021—obrien/

Former Obama VP Joe Biden in a Recent Ad Disparages Police – Then Calls on Muslim Voters to Wage Jihad

Most Americans didn’t realize it or see it but Democrat Joe Biden in a recent ad called for Jihad for Muslim voters.

The former Obama Vice President called for Muslim voters to wage Jihad while attacking the police.

In the ad Obama claims 2020 is our year while showing a young black man being released by a police officer. The ad shares:

We can clearly see that America is fighting for its very soul.”

Then the Democrat Vice President says this:

The prophet Mohammad, said, whoever among you sees evil, let him change it with his hand. If he is unable to do so, then with his tongue. If he is unable to do so, then with his heart.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/10/exclusive-former-obama-vp-joe-biden-recent-ad-disparages-police-calls-muslim-voters-wage-jihad/

Citigroup Hit With $400 Million Fine Over AML Failures That Led To Mike Corbat's Downfall

The Comptroller of the Currency has finally handed down its punishment for the compliance failures that helped bring about an end to the tenure of Citibank CEO Michael Corbat.

After Citi announced that Corbat would be replaced by Jane Fraser, who will soon become the first CEO of an American megabank, it was revealed that the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency was preparing to fine Citigroup for compliance failures that had apparently become part and parcel of Corbat's executive blindness - an issue he had neglected, that ultimately lead to his downfall - or at least that's what we've taken from the press reports.

On Wednesday evening, Bloomberg reported that Citi had struck a deal with the OCC and the Fed to fix several "longstanding compliance problems" involving its risk-control and reporting measures.

As part of the deal, Citi will pay a $400 million fine. It's a slap on the wrist, but news of the settlement hit Citi's shares after hours (though at least the Feds had the decency to wait until after the close to break the news). The bank's board must also now submit a report as part of the deal outlining how it intends to fix these problems.

Citigroup Inc. has agreed to pay $400 million and must seek the government’s sign-off for major acquisitions after regulators identified several longstanding problems with its risk controls.

Citigroup Inc. has agreed to an order from the Federal Reserve to fix several longstanding problems with its risk controls, according to a statement released Wednesday. The Fed’s cease-and-desist order issued alongside a related sanction from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency directs the lender to “correct practices previously identified by the Board in the areas of compliance risk management, data quality management, and internal controls.” Citigroup was given a series of deadlines to analyze and report back to the Fed on how it’s fixing issues identified by the regulator. Within 120 days, the bank’s board of directors must submit a report detailing how it will hold senior management accountable and how executive compensation will be “consistent with risk management objectives,” the Fed said.

At the same time, the Federal Reserve issued a cease-and-desist order that directs the lender to “correct practices previously identified by the Board in the areas of compliance risk management, data quality management, and internal controls.”

As Bloomberg explained, the deal is just one more costly misstep for the bank, as it must now divert money away from lucrative technology investments and building out its cutting edge high frequency trading capabilities and instead hire more compliance officers who will hide in a basement in Sarasota or where ever and crank out SARs, as the FinCEN leaks revealed.

The bank noted it’s made structural changes to better comply with the regulators’ orders, including by hiring Karen Peetz as its new chief administrative officer to “steer these programs to completion."

The orders come just weeks after Citigroup mistakenly sent $900 million to lenders of the cosmetics giant Revlon Inc. The bank ultimately chalked the wayward payment up to employee error, noting it was in the middle of transitioning to new software for its syndicated loan business.

The ensuing legal battle was an embarrassment for the bank as many of the lenders balked at Citigroup’s pleas to return the funds. For regulators, who began scrutinizing the mistaken payment within days, the incident was illustrative of broader problems at the bank.

“We appreciate the urgency of the tasks at hand and we are committed to fulfilling our obligations to all of our stakeholders,” Citigroup said in the statement.

The fine may be a slap on the wrist, but Citi has already pledged to spent $1 billion on these costs this year. How much more will the bank be required to spend?

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/citigroup-hit-400-million-fine-over-aml-failures-led-mike-corbats-downfall

We don't want numbers on a screen we want arrests and accountability, END THE BANKING CARTELS

GOP Senator and Dem fmr. Governor: It’s time for term limits in Congress

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Penn.) and former Gov. Ed Rendell (D-Penn.) co-authored an op-ed calling for the introduction of a constitutional amendment to set term limits for members of Congress.

“Our elected representatives seem afraid to do anything that would jeopardize their reelection,” the bipartisan Pennsylvanian duo argued. “Term limits allow them to operate without that pressure, secure in the knowledge that they are not risking the position that could be a lifetime career. They would be able to cast votes knowing that the risk they are taking would not jeopardize their entire future.”

New from @GovEdRendell and me for the @PhillyInquirer: 79% of Pennsylvanians support term limits. Term limits would allow members of Congress to operate knowing that they can take risks without jeopardizing a potential lifetime career. https://t.co/lXq6uAGrwK

— Senator Pat Toomey (@SenToomey) October 6, 2020

The piece, published Tuesday in The Philadelphia Inquirer, seeks to re-energize the movement to introduce term limits for Congress. While not advocating for anything new in particular, Toomey and Rendell lay out a case for term limits and why they think they should be adopted, and they frame their argument in terms of the worsening gridlock.

“We recall a time not too long ago when the House and Senate could regularly put divisions aside to address the big issues facing our country,” they write. “Think of the early 2000s when, in response to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, Congress overwhelmingly approved several measures that created the Department of Homeland Security, established more stringent safety guidelines at airports, and helped Ground Zero first responders.”

“Now, in the midst of another crisis, members of Congress frequently focus more on blaming each other than on finding solutions,” the piece continues. “Entrenched politicians have been steering the ship of state for decades and — don’t look now — we’re about to hit a $25 trillion national debt iceberg. It’s time for a new approach.”

For a long while, congressional term limits has had broad, albeit tepid, bipartisan support.

During the 2016 campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump advocated for term limits as part of his plan to “drain the swamp.” In April 2018, President Trump met with a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers who were pushing for term limits, but the effort soon lost steam. Since then, term limits have sunk to the bottom of Washington, DC’s legislative priorities while the gridlock has worsened.

I recently had a terrific meeting with a bipartisan group of freshman lawmakers who feel very strongly in favor of Congressional term limits. I gave them my full support and endorsement for their efforts. #DrainTheSwamp

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2018

Placing term limits on members of Congress would require a constitutional amendment, according to the Supreme Court. Achieving this is the most daunting obstacle for the movement.

For this to happen: either two-thirds of Congress has to vote to ratify such an amendment, or at least 34 state legislatures have to apply for a constitutional convention to kick off the long, grueling process. Moreover, once a constitutional convention has drafted an amendment, 38 state legislatures have to ratify it before it’s tacked onto the Constitution.

However, the movement’s fiercest opposition is the very person they would need on their side to make this work: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.). The three-decade lawmaker opposed term limits, saying at a 2016 press conference, “I would say we have term limits now. They’re called elections. And it will not be on the agenda in the Senate.”

With Senate Republicans going all-in on appointing Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court before November 3, there’s likely no room on the agenda for term limits in the near future.

While using the gridlock brought about by the pandemic as a pretext for introducing term limits, the cornucopia of issues brought about by this very pandemic has denied term limits receiving even a scant moment in the spotlight. But, the pandemic won’t last forever. Once this chaos ultimately subsides, perhaps term limits will finally find their moment under the sun. But that will have to wait for now.

https://saraacarter.com/gop-senator-and-dem-fmr-governor-its-time-for-term-limits-in-congress/

Instagram Bans QAnon Accounts, But Refuses To Remove ISIS Accounts Celebrating 9/11

Facebook-owned Instagram has announced that will ban all QAnon accounts, including ones that don’t promote violence, while refusing to remove ISIS propaganda accounts that celebrate 9/11 under the justification that “people may express themselves differently.”

In an update to its policy announced yesterday, Facebook said that it was moving beyond a measure taken back in August that removed QAnon accounts which contained “discussions of potential violence.”

“We’ve seen other QAnon content tied to different forms of real world harm, including recent claims that the west coast wildfires were started by certain groups, which diverted attention of local officials from fighting the fires,” said the social media giant.

Facebook specified that it would “remove any Facebook Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts representing QAnon, even if they contain no violent content.”

Many pointed out the hypocrisy of Antifa accounts still being allowed on the platform despite the movement’s involvement in numerous violent riots over the last six months.

But not Antifa, even though they're literally a terrorist organization with cells in every major city, complete with uniforms and flags. https://t.co/mQAewCzGKW

— Mark Dice (@MarkDice) October 6, 2020

While banning all QAnon content, Instagram has simultaneously refused to remove literal ISIS propaganda accounts that celebrate 9/11.

As the Sun reveals, one such account posted an image of the World Trade Center being hit by a plane along with the caption, “One of the most beautiful scenes.”

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/instagram-bans-qanon-accounts-refuses-remove-isis-accounts-celebrating-911

United States Seizes Domain Names Used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps

Seizure Documents Describe Iranian Government’s Efforts to Use Domains as Part of Global Disinformation Campaign

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/united-states-seizes-domain-names-used-iran-s-islamic-revolutionary-guard-corps

PRAY FOR EACH OTHER

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