The Pentagon Has Closed Ten Bases In Afghanistan Amid Hastened Draw Down

Amid ongoing US negotiations with the Taliban which are aimed at reaching terms that would allow for a complete American troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, which is Washington's longest running war in history, at least ten US military bases have been closed since last February, The Washington Post reports.

This also comes after President Trump controversially ordered the Pentagon earlier this month to initiate a drawdown of troops in Afghanistan and Iraq of up to 2,500 from each nation.

While the military has not formally confirmed the closure of the bases, which remains classified given the sensitive security nature of troop departures, the WaPo report cited both top US and Afghan officials.

The future status of the shuttered bases remains unclear in terms whether they were handed over to Afghan national forces, or if they were simply vacated or possibly destroyed.

"Little is known about what remains of those bases, many in Afghanistan’s most volatile provinces where U.S. support for Afghan operations has been critical in pushing back the Taliban," the Post report reads.

"Some have been completely handed over to Afghan security forces. Others may have been vacated and left in place in a way in which they could be occupied again in the future if U.S. and Afghan officials consider it necessary. It is also unclear how much equipment — more difficult to move than people — is left at each of the closed installations."

As of the start of 2020, this US had up to 14,000 troops in Afghanistan, but this number has since been gradually reduced:

In the case of small special forces bases in Syria that were vacated within the past two years - some reportedly had equipment there destroyed by departing US troops while some were promptly taken over by Syrian Army and Russian forces.

The fact that at least ten bases in Afghanistan have been closed is a good sign, however, suggesting the US is actually serious about disengaging from what many have seen as an "endless" occupation and war which has bore little fruit for US interests and has remained very unpopular in US public opinion.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/pentagon-has-closed-ten-us-bases-afghanistan-amid-hastened-draw-down

Artificial Sweetener Used in More Than 6,000 Products Linked To Host Of Serious Health Problems

Key Facts About Diet Soda Chemical

Dozens of studies have linked aspartame — the world’s most widely used artificial sweetener — to serious health problems, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, seizures, stroke and dementia, as well as negative effects such as intestinal dysbiosis, mood disorders, headaches and migraines.

Evidence also links aspartame to weight gain, increased appetite and obesity-related diseases. See our fact sheet: Diet Soda Chemical Tied to Weight Gain.

Evidence linking aspartame to weight gain raises questions about the legality of marketing aspartame-containing products as “diet” drinks or weight loss products. In April 2015, U.S. Right to Know petitioned the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the U.S.Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to investigate the marketing and advertising practices of “diet” products that contain aspartame. See FTC response and FDA response.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said aspartame is “safe for the general population under certain conditions.” The agency first approved aspartame for some uses in 1981. Many scientists, then and now, have said the approval was based on suspect data and should be reconsidered.

What is Aspartame?

Aspartame is the world’s most widely used artificial sweetener. It is also marketed as NutraSweet, Equal, Sugar Twin and AminoSweet.

Aspartame is present in more than 6,000 products, including Diet Coke and Diet Pepsi, Kool Aid, Crystal Light, Tango and other artificially sweetened drinks; sugar-free Jell-O products; Trident, Dentyne and most other brands of sugar-free gum; sugar-free hard candies; low- or no-sugar sweet condiments such as ketchups and dressings; children’s medicines, vitamins and cough drops.

Aspartame is a synthetic chemical composed of the amino acids phenylalanine and aspartic acid, with a methyl ester. When consumed, the methyl ester breaks down into methanol, which may be converted into formaldehyde.

Decades of Studies Raise Concerns about Aspartame

Since aspartame was first approved in 1974, both FDA scientists and independent scientists have raised concerns about possible health effects and shortcomings in the science submitted to the FDA by the manufacturer, G.D. Searle. (Monsanto bought Searle in 1984).

In 1987, UPI published a series of investigative articles by Gregory Gordon reporting on these concerns, including early studies linking aspartame to health problems, the poor quality of industry-funded research that led to its approval, and the revolving-door relationships between FDA officials and the food industry. Gordon’s series is an invaluable resource for anyone seeking to understand the history of aspartame/NutraSweet:

Did Searle Ignore Early Warning Signs? (10/12/87)

Seizure, Blindness Victims Point to NutraSweet. (10/12/87)

What the Critics Say about NutraSweet. (10/12/87)

NutraSweet Approval Marred by Controversy. (and part 2) (10/13/87)

Maverick Scientist at Center of NutraSweet Controversy. (10/13/87)

Sweet Corporate Victories. (10/14/87)

These stories, follow ups and response from NutraSweet Company (posted here (PDF).

More

https://www.naturalblaze.com/2020/11/artificial-sweetener-used-in-more-than-6000-products-linked-to-host-of-serious-health-problems.html

Moscow slams Pompeo’s visit to Israeli settlements in occupied Golan as neglect of Int’l Law

Russia on Friday renewed its strong criticism of the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s recent visit to the Israeli settlements in the occupied Syrian Golan, stressing that it is an evidence on Washington’s blatant disdain of the principles of the international law.

“Pompeo’s visit is another manifestation of the United States’ blatantly disdainful attitude to the globally recognized international legal principles of the Mideastern settlement,” Sputnik quoted Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova as saying.

She clarified that the US administration’s attempts to legitimize Israeli settlements “are illegal ” in this way as it is inconsistent with the United Nations charter and UN Security Council resolutions.

Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzia, during a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on the situation in Syria on Wednesday, strongly criticized Pompeo’s visit to the Israeli settlements in the occupied Syrian Golan.

He considered it as “a provocation”, and called for preserving the unity of Syria and respecting its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Zakharova reiterated Russia’s principled position regarding the illegality of establishing Israeli settlements on the lands that have been seized in 1967.

http://www.sana.sy/en/?p=211687

Infamous Jaysh Al-Izza Military Training Camp Geolocated

An infamous military camp, where Jaysh al-Izza trains its militants a few meters away from refugee camps, has been finally geolocated.

On November 26, activists on Twitter revealed that the camp was located in northern Idlib, near the al-Bab al-Hawa border crossing less than 2 km away from Turkish border. Three large refugee camps are located right near the camp.

The camp is named after Abdul Baset al-Sarout, a so-called “icon” of the Syrian opposition who was killed by the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) in 2018.

For more than two years, Jaysh al-Izza trained its militants with live ammunition and heavy weapons in the camp, a few meters away from refugee camps.

The Reverse Side of the Medal, a Telegram news channel with sources in Syria, claimed that the camp is no longer in use. This is very possible as Jaysh al-Izza lost most of its militants and assets in its recent battles with the SAA.

The Telegram channel released images of three other military camps in Idlib without clarifying by what factions they are used.

Turkey, the main backer of Jaysh al-Izza and other factions in Greater Idlib, is doing nothing to remove such dangerous facilities away from its borders. The border region is now infested with militants’ training camps, military headquarters and even ammunition depots.

https://southfront.org/infamous-jaysh-al-izza-military-training-camp-geolocated/

US political analyst call for exposing crimes and dirty secrets of United States in Syria

American political thinker James Bouffard called for exposing the crimes and “dirty secrets” of the United States in Syria, in particular the continuous attacks, the occupation of parts of its territory and the support of terrorist organizations since the beginning of the war they waged.

“To prevent the next administration, led by Joe Biden, from repeating past mistakes and preventing a new round of lies and atrocities, American past crimes in Syria must be exposed,” Bouffard noted in an article published by the Consortium News.

He called on outgoing President Donald Trump to reveal “US dirty secret files regarding Syria saying that this “will become an effective weapon in the hands of a huge number of Americans who are categorically opposed to launching new wars.”

In this regard, Bouffard cited the remark of Max Abrams, a lecturer at Northeastern University that Biden’s team has pledged to increase pressure on Syria by providing terrorist organizations that Washington calls the opposition with more weapons and money, and that every foreign policy “expert” in Biden’s team has previously supported the course of “overthrowing governments” and helping terrorist organizations including Al Qaeda, destroying countries, and displacing millions of refugees from their homes.

Bouffard inquired in his article to American voters, “How many Syrians voted to kill them on Election Day, however” Thanks to our political system, the answer to this question will be revealed over the next four years if the Biden’s administration succeeded in drawing the United States back into the war in Syria, considering at the same time that there are steps that the current US administration can take in the last months of its mandate “to deter such follies.”

The American political thinker clarified that the US policy towards Syria embodied, for a long period of time, the decay and maliciousness of politicians and political decision-makers in Washington as well as the corruption of a large part of the American mass media.

He pointed out that lies formed the basis of this policy and that the fabricated arguments that used by the US politicians to justify destruction of Serbia, Iraq and Libya were fabricated by the former US Secretary of State, John Kerry, in 2013 over Syria.

In the context of his speaking about the policies followed by the previous US administrations in the war on Syria and the lies that were circulated, Bouffard clarified that ” The lie and killing, in many cases, were two sides of the same political coin.”

The political analyst pointed out that the disclosure of documents about American intervention and crimes in Syria will provide a lot of evidence that will help opponents of war and intervention in other countries more effectively resist this policy.

Concluding the article, he stressed that no American national interest can justify the killing of people in Syria or anywhere else.

http://www.sana.sy/en/?p=211706

Queensland integrity watchdog backs review of lobbying laws amid renewed concerns

Political lobbying laws in Queensland should be reviewed, the state's integrity watchdog has declared, amid renewed concerns about the industry.

Key points:

Two key strategists employed by the Labor election campaign also run lobbying firms with regular government contact

Integrity watchers say the dual roles could lead to appearances of conflicts of interest

Politician-turned-lobbyist Evan Moorhead says there is a "clear separation" between his roles, and a Government spokesman says all lobbyists follow a code of conduct

The ABC's 7.30 program this week highlighted the regular, high-level access Annastacia Palaszczuk's Government has given to a select group of lobbyists.

The politically connected lobbying firms represent multi-million and multi-billion dollar companies hoping to influence government decisions.

Two lobbyists who were previously Labor Party powerbrokers, Evan Moorhead and Cameron Milner, also played key roles in Ms Palaszczuk's recent election victory.

The presence of the two men inside the ALP campaign — who would then be lobbying for policy outcomes from the Government they helped install — has led to calls for change.

Queensland's integrity commissioner, Nikola Stepanov, who oversees lobbyists in the state, said the current legislation should be reassessed.

Queensland Integrity Commissioner Nikola Stepanov.

Queensland integrity commissioner Nikola Stepanov says issues surrounding lobbying have become more complex.(Queensland Integrity Commission)

"There has been a pronounced rise in demand for services provided by this commission," Dr Stepanov told 7.30.

"Various issues have developed and others have become increasingly more complex.

"I acknowledge the heightened public interest in lobbying matters, and I consider there are a number of areas that would benefit from further and considered review.

"I would therefore support any overall review of the lobbying provisions of the act as part of the strategic review of the integrity commissioner's functions due next year."

Queensland's integrity act requires former ministers and staff to undertake a two-year cooling-off period between working in government and lobbying on matters that relate to their official dealings in government.

A review of the integrity commissioner's performance and functions is conducted every five years.

The Government is yet to announce who will conduct the next review or its terms of reference.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-11-28/queensland-integrity-watchdog-calls-for-review-of-lobbying-laws/12923200

Keith Raniere Most Recent Message to the World: ‘I Will Be Killed in Prison – Soon!’

For months, Keith Alan Raniere has been saying he will be killed once he is assigned to a permanent prison.

Frank Report now has exclusive audio of his statements, including ones from just these past few days, where he says he is certain to die if he is placed in general population in a maximum-security prison.

His attorneys previously asked the judge to recommend that Raniere be assigned a prison with a drop-out yard, where he would be with other prisoners who need protective custody because of the nature of their crimes, their celebrity, or the fact that they are informants.

The judge declined to make the recommendation.

Raniere was sentenced to 120 years in prison on October 27th. Now, one month later, he remains at the Brooklyn Metropolitan Detention Center, awaiting permanent placement by the Bureau of Prisons. He might be assigned to a maximum-security prison and, by all accounts, he would be unsafe there unless he opted for a life of solitary confinement [protective custody]. He might be assigned to the Supermax in Florence, Colorado, where he would be mandatorily placed in solitary for at least three years. He might also be assigned to a drop-out yard prison, as his attorneys requested, where he would be comparatively safe, far safer than at a regular maximum-security prison.

There is another possibility for Raniere. He could request to go to a facility with a high population of sex offenders so that he could undergo treatment for his ‘disease.’ This would require Raniere to admit he is a sex offender, something he is unlikely to do. Of course, the BOP could assign him to such a facility, such as the one in Tucson, Arizona.

The best-case scenario for Raniere is the drop-out yard in Allenwood, Pennsylvania. The worse case is solitary confinement at the supermax.

Over the past few months, Raniere has expressed concerns to followers that if he goes to a maximum-security prison and is placed among the general population, he will be murdered.

Let us listen to his voice, followed by transcripts of what Raniere is saying about what will happen to him.

https://frankreport.com/2020/11/25/exclusive-keith-raniere-most-recent-message-to-the-world-i-will-be-killed-in-prison-soon/

“On to SCOTUS!” Trump Legal Team Responds to Third Circuit’s Opinion in Pennsylvania Election Case

The Third Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday granted an expedited review for Team Trump’s appeal in Pennsylvania after an Obama judge dismissed their lawsuit seeking to block the state from certifying its election results.

Trump’s campaign on Friday lost its appeal in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals.

A three-panel judge (all appointed by Republican presidents) said that the Trump campaign’s “claims have no merit.”

The Trump campaign’s senior legal advisor Jenna Ellis released a statement in response to the Third Circuit’s opinion.

“The activist judicial machinery in Pennsylvania continues to cover up the allegations of massive fraud,” Ellis said.

“On to SCOTUS!” she said referring to the US Supreme Court.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/11/scotus-trump-legal-team-responds-third-circuits-opinion-pennsylvania-election-case/

>>11809663

yeah a couple of years of pic related first

There's No Reopening Plan For Closed NYC Schools, de Blasio Says

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Wednesday said that he is taking sole responsibility for closing the city’s public schools without a reopening plan in place.

“Honestly, I have to hold myself responsible,” de Blasio said during a press conference when asked why there wasn’t a school reopening plan in place when 1.1 million public school students switched to all-remote learning last Thursday after the citywide CCP virus infection rate hit the three percent threshold.

In summer, the de Blasio administration established that the city’s public schools would have to end in-person learning if the citywide CCP virus infection rate hit three percent on a rolling seven-day average. The city reached the threshold last Wednesday, causing all public schools to shut their doors the next day.

“The better situation would have been, clearly, to have that plan all worked through in advance,” the Democratic mayor said, arguing that there is no reopening plan for schools because his administration has invested most of the energy into avoiding going past the three percent threshold in the first place.

“That’s really where our energy was going, deploying the testing, trying to take actions that we thought might avert the original measure being hit,” de Blasio explained.

“I think we didn’t have a plan-B and we should’ve had a plan-B, but I also understand why we didn’t because we were really dealing with so many day-to-day, hour-to-hour issues, and trying to find a way to avert getting to that three percent,” he continued.

“The important point is getting to the three percent meant something. It meant there was a problem. It meant that we were dealing with this second wave bearing down on us. That’s a real thing.”

De Blasio also promised that the details of a staged reopening plan will be announced next week.

Meanwhile, Councilman Mark Treyger, who heads the City Council’s Education Committee, said that he has offered a re-opening plan in July, only to be ignored by the City Hall.

“I think it’s important for the public to be aware that [de Blasio] chose for it to be this way,” Treyger said, reported New York Post.

“This is not the best that New York City can do, this is the best that he can do.”

The latest data from New York City’s health department shows that the city has a 3.05 percent infection rate on a seven-day rolling average, while the daily citywide positivity rate is at 2.74 percent.

https://www.theepochtimes.com/theres-no-reopening-plan-for-closed-nyc-schools-de-blasio-says_3594869.html

Obama's 'daughters' joined summer protests against police brutality

'I could not have been prouder of them,' the former president says

Former President Barack Obama says his two daughters masked up and marched in Black Lives Matter protests over the summer, albeit in a manner that avoided publicity.

Nineteen-year-old Sasha and 22-year-old Malia joined demonstrations after the death of George Floyd, which created a social reckoning surrounding police brutality against Black people in America, with little guidance from their dad, Obama said in an interview with People magazine promoting his memoir "A Promised Land."

"They had a very clear sense of what was right and what was wrong and [of] their own agency and the power of their voice and the need to participate," Obama said. "Malia and Sasha found their own ways to get involved with the demonstrations and activism that you saw with young people this summer, without any prompting from Michelle and myself, on their own initiative."

"They didn't do it in a way where they were looking for limelight," the former president, 59, said. "They were very much in organizer mode."

"I could not have been prouder of them," he said.

The girls have largely veered from the limelight since growing up in the public eye during their father's presidency.

But Obama said they both saw "something wrong" and desired to "fix it," which motivated them to take action.

"They're reflective of their generation in the sense they want to make a difference and they think about their careers in terms of: How do I have a positive impact? How do I make the world better?" he said. "What particular paths they take in doing that, I think, are going to change and vary between the two of them."

"I think they're going to want to have an impact and their friends feel the same way," he said. "It's interesting when you talk to them in groups, the degree to which, compared to young people when I was coming out of college or you know even 20 years ago, I think people were much more focused on their finances and the perks of a job. And these kids are really focused on — how can I do something that I find meaningful, that resonates with my values and my ideals? And that, I think, is an encouraging sign for the country."

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/obama-says-daughters-joined-summer-protests-against-police-brutality

CYBER PANDEMIC

This is a discussion on what we face today - the coming World Economic Forum "cyber pandemic". Where all banks, electrical grids and transportation will be shut down, bringing the modern world to a halt.

In this talk between myself, Jeremy Rothe Kushell, Greg McCarron & the nephew of Skull & Bones, founder of FedEx, Fred Smith - Joseph Davies…we discuss what was coming via cyber pandemics instigated by the "cyber technology juggernaught" Israel.

We warned non stop for three years.

https://www.bitchute.com/video/8zBUDSORjP8p/

>>11809937

Australia pop is 25 mil they got a masonic 33 mil vax