Anonymous ID: a2a417 Jan. 18, 2021, 10:09 a.m. No.12586359   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6762

President Trump’s Pardons Are Undoing Corrupt Actions by the Criminal Deep State While Bill Clinton Made Money Using Pardons to Set Criminals Free

 

Presidents Trump and Clinton used the pardon power for different purposes. Clinton used pardons as a vehicle to make big money from big tax evaders.

President Trump is pardoning individuals who were unjustly sentenced by the corrupt Deep State.

 

Bill Clinton famously pardoned a number of individuals on his last day in office. The entire list of all the individuals who Clinton pardoned is here. This list included gamblers, drug pushers and tax dodgers.

 

Clinton’s most famous pardons were his last day in office. The list included a number of people whom outsiders suggested paid for their pardons. One such individual was Marc Rich:

 

Rich made a large part of his wealth, approximately $2 billion between 1979 and 1994, selling oil to the apartheid regime in South Africa when it faced a UN embargo. He did deals with Khadafy’s Libya, Milosevic’s Yugoslavia, Kim Il Sung’s North Korea, Communist dictatorships in Cuba and the Soviet Union itself. Little surprise that he was on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List.

 

Facing prosecution by Rudy Giuliani in 1983, Rich fled to Switzerland and lived in exile.

 

What bothered so many was that Clinton’s clemency to Rich reeked of payoff. In the run-up to the presidential pardon, the financier’s ex-wife Denise had donated $450,000 to the fledgling Clinton Library and “over $1 million to Democratic campaigns in the Clinton era.”

 

…But while the pardon was a political mistake, it certainly was not a financial one. In the years following the scandal, the flow of funds from those connected to Marc Rich or the pardon scandal have continued to the Clintons.

 

Jim Comey came on the scene and dropped the case against Clinton investigating the Rich pardon:

 

The Clintons got rich and the Deep State got promotions.

 

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/01/president-trumps-pardons-undoing-corrupt-actions-criminal-deep-state-bill-clinton-made-money-using-pardons-set-criminals-free/

Anonymous ID: a2a417 Jan. 18, 2021, 10:10 a.m. No.12586375   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6746 >>6762 >>7161 >>7314

Russia Jails Alexei Navalny For 30 Days After Telling West To "Butt Out"

 

Moscow is telling the West to "butt out" of the Alexei Navalny case after the anti-Putin activist was detained immediately upon his arrival in Moscow Sunday night after coming from Berlin on a Russian airline Pobeda flight.

 

He's now been sentenced to 30-days in jail after a hasty court hearing, also as Europe ramps up pressure, threatening new sanctions on Russia if he's not immediately released.

 

The 44-year-old Kremlin critic and political figure returned to Russia knowing he'd be arrested while also asking his supporters to come out en masse to cheer his arrival at the airport. Over the past months he's given media interviews from Germany where's he's directly accused Vladimir Putin for ordering his alleged poisoning by a nerve agent last August - something which the Kremlin has vehemently denied.

 

Multiple reports said about 200 supporters were at the airport Sunday night to greet him, some of which were led away by police. Navalny's surprise return to Russia - where authorities have long sought to interview and investigate him over the claimed poisoning incident which saw him collapse on an Aug.20 flight over Siberia - appears to be toward garnering more popular support within the country as an 'opposition martyr' of sorts.

 

According to Reuters, he's facing prison time for leaving Russian soil unauthorized while serving probation for a 2014 embezzlement case.

 

"State prosecutors in Russia asked a judge on Monday to jail Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny for 30 days, after he was detained the previous evening at a Moscow airport when flying home for the first time since he was poisoned last summer," Reuters reports.

 

Алексея из зала «суда» pic.twitter.com/Dqsa4x0qrz

— Кира Ярмыш (@Kira_Yarmysh) January 18, 2021

 

Soon after his Sunday evening detention Navalny recorded a video from inside a police station saying his hasty court hearing was "the highest degree of lawlessness".

 

He again attacked President Putin in the video, saying the Russian leader is making a "mockery" of justice by "throwing it in the trash" according to a translation.

 

“Fear nothing,” @navalny tells followers. “Take to the streets.” https://t.co/JCV8RbrI8Y

— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) January 18, 2021

 

"The United Nations and Western nations told Russia to immediately free the opposition politician and some countries called for new sanctions," Reuters noted. "Moscow told them to mind their own business."

 

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/russia-jails-alexei-navalny-30-days-after-telling-west-butt-out

Anonymous ID: a2a417 Jan. 18, 2021, 10:12 a.m. No.12586421   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6480 >>6532 >>6585 >>6746 >>6762 >>7161 >>7314

California halts injections of Moderna Covid vaccine batch due to ‘higher-than-usual number of adverse events’

 

California health officials are asking vaccine providers to stop administering a batch of Moderna’s Covid-19 jab, after an unusually high number of adverse reactions were linked to the drug.

 

Doses from Moderna Lot 041L20A are suspected of causing a “higher-than-usual number of adverse events” and should be shelved until a proper investigation can be conducted, the California Department of Public Health said on Sunday.

 

State epidemiologist Dr. Erica S. Pan said in a statement that “fewer than 10 individuals” suffered “a possible severe allergic reaction” and required medical attention over the past 24 hours after being injected with the specific batch of vaccine. All of the incidents appear to have occurred at a single community clinic that was administering the lot. The site reportedly closed for several hours after the string of adverse reactions occurred, before switching to a different batch of the drug.

 

“Out of an extreme abundance of caution and also recognizing the extremely limited supply of vaccine, we are recommending that providers use other available vaccine inventory,” the health official said.

Read more

Boston doctor says he almost had to be INTUBATED after suffering severe allergic reaction from Moderna Covid vaccine Boston doctor says he almost had to be INTUBATED after suffering severe allergic reaction from Moderna Covid vaccine

 

More than 330,000 doses from the same Moderna vaccine batch have been distributed to 287 providers across the state, but this is the first time that health authorities have received reports detailing adverse reactions associated with the lot, according to Pan.

 

While acknowledging that “less data exists on adverse reactions related to the Moderna vaccine,” the state epidemiologist said that it’s rare for vaccines to trigger serious side effects.

 

Moderna, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) are reviewing the batch and all relevant medical data.

 

The Covid-19 jab has been linked to other cases of serious medical emergencies. In December, a physician in Boston said he suffered one of the worst allergic reactions he’s ever experienced after receiving Moderna’s vaccine, describing the episode as potentially life-threatening.

 

Similar cases linked to the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine have been referred to the CDC and FDA for review.

 

https://www.rt.com/usa/512825-moderna-california-vaccine-adverse-reactions/

Anonymous ID: a2a417 Jan. 18, 2021, 10:13 a.m. No.12586449   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6746 >>6762 >>7061 >>7161 >>7314

Twitter Executive Details Plans for Political Censorship on a Global Scale in Recording Obtained By Project Veritas

 

Project Veritas has released an alarming new video exposing senior Twitter Executive Vijaya Gadde detailing plans to replicate censorship measures around the world.

 

The new video is Part 2 in a series exposing Twitter.

 

In the first release, Jack Dorsey laid out the roadmap for future political censorship.

 

“We are focused on one account [@realDonaldTrump] right now, but this is going to be much bigger than just one account, and it’s going to go on for much longer than just this day, this week, and the next few weeks, and go on beyond the inauguration,” Dorsey said in a video recorded January 8.

 

The latest release features Gadde, Twitter Legal, Policy and Trust & Safety Lead, saying that “we’re going to actually be more aggressive in our enforcement beyond de-amplification.”

 

“One of the interesting things is a lot of the work that we’ve been doing over the last week is work that we’ve built on in other places around the world, where we’ve seen violence unfold as a result of either misleading information or coded rhetoric,” Gadde says.

 

“A lot of our learnings here [in the United States] have come from other markets. So, in that sense, you know, we do feel like it is – this is our global approach.” Gadde: “We need to be very focused on being able to enforce any of these policies or enforcement decisions we make at scale.”

 

She continues to detail their censorship efforts by saying, “we decided to escalate our enforcement of the civic integrity policy and use a label that disabled engagements to stop the spread of potentially inflammatory content, which is the content around election interference, election fraud, stealing the election, that type of thing.”

 

“We think that the severity of what’s happening on the ground, coupled with the information that’s contained in these [election fraud] tweets — misleading information about the election being stolen and massive fraud around the election are what is changing our analysis of how we should enforce this [civic integrity] policy. It [election fraud tweets] is a much more severe violation given what we were seeing on the ground.”

 

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/01/breaking-twitter-executive-details-plans-political-censorship-global-scale-recording-obtained-project-veritas-video/

Anonymous ID: a2a417 Jan. 18, 2021, 10:17 a.m. No.12586517   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6530 >>6558 >>6746 >>6762 >>7161 >>7314

Beijing urges US to stop ‘baseless’ crackdown on its firms after Trump reportedly tightens supplies to Huawei

 

China has slammed the latest US move against tech giant Huawei after the outgoing Trump administration reportedly revoked the licenses of companies working with the Chinese firm.

 

Some companies, which had earlier been cleared to continue doing business with Huawei, now face the revocation of their licenses for exports to the Chinese firm, Reuters reported, citing sources. According to the report, a total of eight licenses from four companies were annulled, including those in respect of key chip supplier, Intel, and Japanese flash memory chip maker Kioxia Corp.

 

The Commerce Department also signaled that “a significant number” of license requests for exports to Huawei, some of which were pending approval for months, are likely to be denied, Reuters said. It is believed that US government agencies were still debating whether more than 150 licenses for $120 billion worth of goods and technology should be granted, while another $280 billion of license applications for Huawei have yet to be processed.

 

American suppliers to Huawei are meant to receive special approval from the US government to continue doing business with Huawei after the company was added to the US blacklist, officially known as the Entity List.

Read more

China hits back at ‘unjustified’ foreign laws that hurt its businesses China hits back at ‘unjustified’ foreign laws that hurt its businesses

 

“We urge US to repeal the decision and stop baselessly cracking down on foreign businesses,” China’s Foreign Ministry said in response to the possible ban, according to the Global Times. Beijing also vowed to continue “to safeguard legitimate rights of Chinese businesses.”

 

Neither US officials nor any of the affected companies have officially confirmed the license revocation so far.

 

Huawei’s laptop business could be hit hard if Intel is unable to continue chip supplies to the company, the Global Times reported, citing analysts. However, the firm has enough chip inventories to keep its business running for up to two months, industry analyst Ma Jihua told the state-linked newspaper.

 

The Trump administration has been ramping up pressure on Chinese businesses in recent months, adding more and more companies to the trade and investment blacklists over alleged security threats. Earlier this month, the Pentagon claimed that nine more Chinese firms have links to the Chinese military, including major smartphone maker Xiaomi and the Commercial Aircraft Corp of China (COMAC), meaning that US investors will be prohibited from owning their stock.

 

https://www.rt.com/business/512840-us-revokes-huawei-license/

Anonymous ID: a2a417 Jan. 18, 2021, 10:19 a.m. No.12586565   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6746 >>6762 >>7161 >>7213 >>7314

Anti-Trump ‘Lincoln Project’ Funneled Over $10 Million To It’s Own Founders’ Companies

 

Financial records from The Lincoln Project – the anti-Trump group lauded by the establishment media – appear to reveal that the group funneled over $10,000,000 to enrich its own founders personally through their communications and consulting firms, The National Pulse can reveal.

 

The news comes days after co-founder John Weaver admitted sending sexually inappropriate messages to young men.

 

Launched in 2019 by a cohort of establishment, so-called “Republicans” dedicated to “defeating President Trump and Trumpism at the ballot box,” the group has routinely funneled the millions it raises to its founders and advisors, Federal Election Commission (FEC) records show.

 

Co-founder Reed Gallen’s Summit Strategic Communications LLC raked in $6,160,664.99 in 2020, representing the highest-paid entity by The Lincoln Project.

 

Following Galen’s massive haul was fellow founder and advisor Ron Steslow and his “Tusk Digital” firm which received $4,014,913.24.

 

Another Lincoln Project Founder, Mike Madrid, saw his “Grassroots Lab” firm receive $61,000.

 

Similarly, Communications Advisor Ryan Wiggins’s Full Contact Strategies received $41,000, Senior Advisor Trygve Olson’s Viking Strategies received $49,003.81, and Senior Advisor Jeff Timmer’s Two Rivers Public Affairs firm received $50,000 from two separate transactions.

 

Dan Barkuff, who appeared in an anti-Trump advertisement for the group, saw his “Veteran for Responsible Leadership” group earn $150,000.

 

And Executive Director Sarah Lenti took home a six-figure salary of $173,549.40 along with Press Secretary Nathaniel Nesbitt, who received $68,247.80.

 

The financial filings also reveal $16,461.71 spent on Vacation Rentals By Owner (VRBO) expenses, $57,897.20 on Getty Images, and $9,030.17 itemized as a “rental property” in Park City, Utah.

 

Last month, The Lincoln Project founder Steve Schmidt tweeted a patronizing and fawning thread at far-left Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes, opening with the line: “[W]e don’t look down on waitresses. We admire them. We are all the types of guys who always tip at 50% or more.”

 

Now it has become apparent that they’re tipping with donors’ money that they’re paying themselves.

 

In addition to American leftist donors, fans of The Lincoln Project include the Chinese Communist Party, which has lauded the group for its anti-Trump efforts.

 

https://thenationalpulse.com/politics/lincoln-project-funneled-10-million-to-itself/

Anonymous ID: a2a417 Jan. 18, 2021, 10:20 a.m. No.12586586   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6746 >>7161 >>7314

Kamala Harris Resigns From Senate 2 Days Before Inauguration

 

Kamala Harris finally resigned from her senate seat on Monday just 2 days before the presidential inauguration.

 

Harris formally submitted a letter of resignation for her senate seat to California Governor Gavin Newsom.

 

A 50-50 senate gives Kamala Harris a very powerful tie-breaker role as US Vice President.

 

Gavin Newsom appointed scandal-ridden California Secretary of State Alex Padilla to replace Kamala Harris in the US Senate.

 

It appears Alex Padilla illegally purchased his senate seat.

 

Alex Padilla is a crooked Democrat politician who has been swimming in the California swamp for decades.

 

Padilla’s office took grant money from a Coronavirus stimulus package and funneled it to the Biden-linked firm to influence the federal election.

 

Republicans on the House Oversight and House Administration Committees last month demanded an investigation into Alex Padilla over a “highly questionable” taxpayer-funded $35 million no-bid contract his office gave to a firm linked to the Biden campaign.

 

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/01/kamala-harris-resigns-senate-2-days-inauguration/

Anonymous ID: a2a417 Jan. 18, 2021, 10:23 a.m. No.12586648   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6746 >>6762 >>6789 >>7161 >>7314

D.C. Locks Down Ahead of Biden Inauguration: Bridges, National Mall Closed

 

Washington, D.C., is locking down in the days ahead of President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, with street and bridge closures dominating the city and “core areas” of the National Mall shutting down.

 

Virginia State Police are reportedly assisting U.S. Secret Service in shutting down bridges in the days ahead of the inauguration. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) and Democrat lawmakers — including Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), Gerry Connolly (D-VA), and Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) — made the announcement last week, adding that the inauguration ceremony will “see the strongest Capital-area security response in history.”

 

“We worked together to push for a response that balances protecting public safety in a manner commensurate with available intelligence about threats without going too far,” the politicians said.

 

“It is very important now that the U.S. Secret Service (USSS) and its partner agencies communicate road and bridge closures swiftly and clearly in order to keep disruptions to a minimum,” they continued, adding they want the “transfer of power to be as peaceful as possible.”

 

Per the agreement, the Virginia State Police will “facilitate the closure of bridges and pedestrian thoroughfares including Theodore Roosevelt Bridge, Arlington Memorial Bridge, Interstate 395 Bridge, and 14th Street Bridge, beginning at 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday, January 19, and ending at 6:00 a.m. on Thursday, January 21, at 6:00 a.m.”

 

However, D.C. closures extend far beyond that according to the U.S. Secret Service, which provided an updated map detailing the restricted access across the city:

 

D.C. essentially locked down ahead of the inauguration. Map via U.S. Secret Service. Closures effective January 17. https://t.co/VBK89X3uPn pic.twitter.com/zxorL8Aj1c

 

— Hannah Bleau 🌻 (@hannahbleau_) January 18, 2021

 

“To my knowledge, there have never been this many D.C. mainline bridges closed for such a long duration,” WTOP traffic reporter Dave Dildine said of the mass closures:

 

Memorial Bridge already closed. Tuesday/Wednesday closure of I-395 will likely put more traffic on the Beltway at the Wilson and Legion bridges. Key Bridge is not an original idea. https://t.co/bMtyqr8f4l

 

— Dave Dildine (@DildineWTOP) January 16, 2021

 

Per the Patch, street and bridge closures include:

 

Constitution Ave (23rd Street to 17th Street) – Closed

23rd Street (Virginia Ave to Independence Ave) – Closed

Henry Bacon Drive – Closed

Lincoln Memorial Circle – Closed

22nd Street (C St. to Constitution Ave) – Closed

21st Street (Virginia Ave to Constitution Ave) – Closed

20th Street (C Street to Constitution Ave) – Closed

19th Street (Virginia Ave to Constitution Ave) – Closed

18th Street (Virginia Ave to Constitution Ave) – Closed

Virginia Ave (18th Street to Constitution Ave) – Closed

17th Street (Constitution Ave to Independence Ave) – Closed

Independence Ave (23rd St to 17th Street) – Closed

Daniel French Drive – Closed

Ohio Drive (Independence Ave to Inlet Bridge) – Closed

West Basin Drive (Ohio Drive to Independence Ave) – Closed

Rock Creek Parkway (Kennedy Center to Virginia Ave NW) – Closed

Memorial Bridge – Closed

 

As Breitbart News detailed, the unprecedented shutdowns include the closure of the National Mall, which typically sees thousands flocking to witness the peaceful transfer of power. While permitted demonstrations will be allowed in “designated locations,” they will be “limited in number and participants will be screened prior to entry and escorted to their permitted location, in addition to other safety related requirements.”

 

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/01/18/dc-locks-down-ahead-biden-inauguration-bridges-national-mall-closed/

Anonymous ID: a2a417 Jan. 18, 2021, 10:24 a.m. No.12586667   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6746 >>6762 >>7161 >>7314

Former Facebook Exec: Some ‘Conservative Influencers’ Are Bigger than CNN, ‘Turn Down’ Their Reach

 

CNN has opened a new front in its efforts to blacklist its competitors. After former Facebook exec Alex Stamos told Brian Stelter that YouTube and other platforms have to “turn down the capability” of Conservatives to reach “huge audiences,” CNN’s Oliver Darcy took it one step further, calling on cable companies to stop delivering the right-leaning channels One America News Network (OANN) and Newsmax to paying customers.

 

CNN continues to give a platform to people calling for tech companies to escalate their censorship of conservatives, even after the tech platforms purged President Donald Trump, the most visible symbol of opposition to the ruling regime.

 

The network recently featured Alex Stamos, a former Facebook executive, who suggested that tech platforms should intervene to protect corporate news networks from independent competitors.

 

“We have to turn down the capability of these Conservative influencers to reach these huge audiences…” said Stamos. “There are people on YouTube for example that have a larger audience than daytime CNN.”

 

Former Facebook insider Alex Stamos tells @brianstelter: "We have to turn down the capability of these Conservative influencers to reach these huge audiences… There are people on YouTube for example that have a larger audience than daytime CNN." pic.twitter.com/gP0XtnjhCQ

 

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) January 17, 2021

 

Journalist Glenn Greenwald compared the campaign against conservative media to attempts to eliminate Islamic extremism from the internet.

 

“Here’s a former Facebook executive on CNN *explicitly urging that the same tactics that were used in cooperation with the US security state to remove ISIS from the internet now be used against “conservative influencers,” to deprogram everyone to believe the CNN/liberal consensus,” said Greenwald.

 

But CNN does not seem content with just Silicon Valley censoring conservatives. Oliver Darcy, a CNN reporter who previously helped pressure Twitter to ban President Trump, revealed that he is asking cable companies to justify carrying the two conservative networks, which have surged in popularity since the election.

 

“Just a reminder that neither [Verizon], [ATT], nor [comcast] have answered any questions about why they beam channels like OAN & Newsmax into millions of homes,” said Darcy on Twitter. “Do they have any second thoughts about distributing these channels given their election denialism content? They won’t say.”

 

Just a reminder that neither @Verizon, @ATT, nor @comcast have answered any questions about why they beam channels like OAN & Newsmax into millions of homes. Do they have any second thoughts about distributing these channels given their election denialism content? They won't say.

 

— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) January 17, 2021

 

Darcy did not acknowledge his question to the cable companies, which have never in recent memory been asked to justify carrying news channels, as unusual.

 

Nor did he acknowledge that CNN is in direct competition with Newsmax and OANN, and would be strengthened if the latter two networks were removed from cable.

 

The attempt to pressure cable providers into blacklisting CNN’s competitors is a sign that the far-left news network is looking beyond Big Tech censorship as a means of suppressing the competition and protecting the corporate media’s agenda-setting power from heterodox points of view.

 

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2021/01/18/former-facebook-exec-some-conservative-influencers-are-bigger-than-cnn-turn-down-their-reach/

Anonymous ID: a2a417 Jan. 18, 2021, 10:25 a.m. No.12586704   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6746 >>6762 >>7161 >>7314

Donald Trump’s 1776 Commission Releases Report Reaffirming America’s Founding Values

 

President Donald Trump’s 1776 Commission released its final report Monday, fulfilling the president’s request to reaffirm the importance of America’s founding principles in the daily life and education of its citizens.

 

The report notes while modern Americans are deeply divided about their county’s history, they should revisit and find value in America’s founding principles and documents.

 

“The facts of our founding are not partisan. They are a matter of history,” the commission report reads. “Controversies about the meaning of the founding can begin to be resolved by looking at the facts of our nation’s founding.”

 

The 41-page report reemphasizes the idea enshrined in the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal” and explores the dangers of modern political movements and identity politics that threaten that concept.

 

The days of December 1776 were some of America’s darkest times. Thomas Paine epically captured the moment in “The American Crisis.” https://t.co/BVDcIpDWI3

 

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) December 25, 2020

 

Movements that tackled issues of race, slavery, women’s rights, and the unborn rights, the report notes, have been successful by revisiting America’s founding principles rather than rejecting them in favor of a more subjective progressive value system.

 

“Indeed, great reforms—like abolition, women’s suffrage, anti-Communism, the Civil Rights Movement, and the Pro-Life Movement—have often come forward that improve our dedication to the principles of the Declaration of Independence under the Constitution,” the report reads.

 

The report observes how ideological movements that threatened the United States, such as slavery, progressivism, fascism, communism, and the modern focus on racism and identity politics were incompatible with America’s founding principles.

 

“The arguments, tactics, and names of these movements have changed, and the magnitude of the challenge has varied, yet they are all united by adherence to the same falsehood—that people do not have equal worth and equal rights,” the report notes.

 

The report observes the modern social justice movement based on identity politics demanding affirmative action to atone for historical is misguided. The report points to the success of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the fight for civil rights and abolitionist Fredrick Douglas in reminding Americans of their founding ideas.

 

“Identity politics makes it less likely that racial reconciliation and healing can be attained by pursuing Martin Luther King, Jr.’s dream for America and upholding the highest ideals of our Constitution and our Declaration of Independence,” the report reads.

 

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2021/01/18/donald-trump-1776-report-america-founding-values15438777/

Anonymous ID: a2a417 Jan. 18, 2021, 10:26 a.m. No.12586712   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6746 >>6762 >>6769 >>6924 >>7161 >>7314

Report: Google and Facebook Made a ‘Secret Deal’ to Dominate Online Advertising

 

The New York Times recently outlined the inner workings of a secret deal between Facebook and Google that allowed the companies to jointly dominate the online advertising market.

 

In an article titled “Behind a Secret Deal Between Google and Facebook,” the New York Times outlines a secret deal between Facebook and Google related to the online advertising market that the two companies largely dominate.

 

Facebook revealed in 2017 that it was testing a new way of selling ads online that could threaten Google’s control of the online advertising market, but just two years later Facebook announced that it would be joining an alliance of companies backing a similar effort by Google, seemingly abandoning its own plans that would have allowed the company to better compete with Google.

 

Facebook never clarified why it seemed to abandon its own project, but an antitrust lawsuit filed by ten state attorneys general last month implies that Google had extended to Facebook a sweetheart deal to be a partner.

 

Executives at six of the partners in the alliance told the NYT that their agreements with Google did not contain many of the generous benefits that Facebook received and that Google had given Facebook a significant advantage over the other partners in the alliance.

 

The deal between Google and Facebook was reportedly code-named “Jedi Blue” and pertains to a segment of the online advertising market called programmatic advertising. A new advertising method called header bidding emerged as part of a workaround to reduce reliance on Google’s ad platforms.

 

The NYT explains:

 

In the milliseconds between a user clicking on a link to a web page and the page’s ads loading, bids for available ad space are placed behind the scenes in marketplaces known as exchanges, with the winning bid passed to an ad server. Because Google’s ad exchange and ad server were both dominant, it often directed the business to its own exchange.

 

Header bidding provided a workaround that allowed news outlets and other sites to solicit bids from multiple exchanges at once, increasing competition and leading to better prices for publishers. In an attempt to prevent significant losses from the new method, Google developed an alternative called Open Bidding that allowed other exchanges to simultaneously compete alongside Google. Google would then receive a fee for every winning bid.

 

The NYT writes:

 

The threat of Facebook, one of the biggest ad buyers on the internet, supporting header bidding was a grave concern at Google. The draft of the complaint reviewed by The Times cited an email from a Google executive calling it an “existential threat” that required “an all hands on deck approach.”

 

Facebook announced in March 2017 that it was testing header bidding with publishers like The Washington Post, Forbes and The Daily Mail. Facebook also took a jab at Google, saying the digital ad industry had been handing over profits to “third-party middlemen who make the rules and obfuscate the truth.”

 

Before Google and Facebook signed the deal in Sept. 2018, Facebook executives outlined the company’s options to Mark Zuckerberg, its chief executive, according to the draft of the complaint: hire hundreds more engineers and spend billions of dollars to compete against Google; exit the business; or do the deal.

 

https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2021/01/18/report-google-and-facebook-made-a-secret-deal-to-dominate-online-advertising/

Anonymous ID: a2a417 Jan. 18, 2021, 10:27 a.m. No.12586724   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6754 >>6756 >>6829

@amuse

@amuse

Biden’s transition team has revealed there is a very real fear that members of the national guard who support President Trump might kill Biden during the inauguration so they’ve asked commanders to confiscate all ammo and magazines from the soldiers. See photo:

 

https://twitter.com/amuse/status/1350800988496687106

Anonymous ID: a2a417 Jan. 18, 2021, 10:29 a.m. No.12586774   🗄️.is 🔗kun

Biden to Visit UK First to Plot ‘Destiny of the World’ with Boris Johnson

 

President-Elect Joe Biden will reportedly make his first international trip outside of North America to the United Kingdom to plot the “destiny of the world” with Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a source close to the 77-year-old Democrat has claimed.

 

Insiders within the Biden camp have pointed to the G7 meeting in June, which will be hosted by the UK in Cornwall, as the likely time of the meeting.

 

A source cited as a “close friend” of Mr Biden told the British paper The Daily Telegraph that the president-elect will look to put aside differences over Brexit, to which Biden has long expressed his opposition.

 

“Boris is a conservative, Joe’s a moderate [Democrat] so I think they can get over it. I think they’ll end up getting along,” the source said, illustrating how far to the left the UK Tory party is on almost all matters, compared to U.S. political parties.

 

“Joe’s view will be that they’ll have the destiny of the world on their shoulders so he’ll want to overcome any political differences.

 

“I think there’ll be more empathy than there was between Boris and Donald Trump. Boris seemed to get along with Trump, but I don’t know if he really did,” the close friend of Biden claimed.

 

Despite Mr Johnson often being likened to President Trump, the British leader’s policies have been far more similar to those pushed by Democrats than the America First agenda promoted by Trump.

 

On issues such as climate change, migration, and even the government’s role during the Chinese coronavirus crisis, Mr Johnson aligns more with Biden’s neo-liberal globalist mindset than with President Trump.

 

Johnson and Biden have both taken to using the Great Reset slogan ‘Build Back Better‘, which was first used by the United Nations during the disaster relief efforts following the 2015 tsunami in Japan.

 

The phrase was later widely adopted during the 2016 Paris Climate Accord, which the U.S. left under the leadership of President Trump. Mr Biden, on the other hand, has expressed his intention to rejoin the pact.

 

Bojo calls Biden to plot 'Build Back Better', Green Agenda https://t.co/CVbm50ruLu

 

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) November 10, 2020

 

Prior to Mr Trump’s victory in the 2016 presidential election, Johnson — who was serving as the Mayor of London — was also heavily critical of then-candidate Trump.

 

“When Donald Trump says that there are parts of London that are no-go areas, I think he’s betraying a quite stupefying ignorance that makes him, frankly, unfit to hold the office of President of the United States,” he said in a 2015 interview.

 

“I would invite him to come and see the whole of London and take him round the city except that I wouldn’t want to expose Londoners to any unnecessary risk of meeting Donald Trump,” Johnson added.

 

Should Mr Biden travel to the UK before the European Union, it would be seen as a diplomatic coup of sorts for the British prime minister.

 

The president-elect has long expressed his opposition to the pro-sovereignty Brexit movement and has even previously warned Johnson that relations between the U.S. and the UK would suffer if the departure from the European Union threatened the Good Friday Peace Agreement on the isle of Ireland — the ancestral home of Mr Biden.

 

Ahead of the presidential election, an advisor to the Biden campaign and former U.S. ambassador to the EU, Anthony Gardner, said that he expected the Biden administration to announce a “declaration of support for the European Union”, as early as his first day in office.

 

A source within the UK’s Foreign Office claimed that the differences between Mr Biden and the PM have been “overblown”, explaining: “I am not going to pretend it is going to be plain sailing. There will always be differences. But fundamentally we are headed in the same direction.”

 

“Biden wants to re-engage with the world. Britain has kept America’s seat warm in some of these multilateral institutions,” the source added.

 

Boris Johnson Says Call With Biden was ‘Refreshing’, Refers to Trump as the ‘Previous President’ https://t.co/rDh4heVFCM

 

— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) November 11, 2020

 

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2021/01/18/biden-visit-uk-first-plot-destiny-world-boris-johnson/

Anonymous ID: a2a417 Jan. 18, 2021, 10:30 a.m. No.12586793   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6810 >>6831 >>6955 >>7079 >>7354

W.H.O. Chief: ‘Catastrophic Moral Failure’ Awaits in Coronavirus Vaccine Rollout

 

The world must share coronavirus vaccines more equally rather than risk taking the planet to the “brink of a catastrophic moral failure” through abhorrent “vaccine nationalism,” the chief of the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) lamented Monday.

 

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus denounced what he called the “me-first” attitude of wealthy nations and also blasted vaccine manufacturers for chasing approvals in rich countries rather than obeying calls from the W.H.O. to green-light vaccine use globally.

 

The career Ethiopian bureaucrat said the promise of worldwide equitable access to vaccines against the coronavirus pandemic was now at serious risk, in a speech in Geneva opening a W.H.O. executive board meeting as reported by Reuters.

 

Tedros said 39 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine had been administered so far in at least 49 higher income countries, noting 44 bilateral distribution deals were signed last year and at least 12 have already been signed this year.

 

“This could delay COVAX deliveries and create exactly the scenario COVAX was designed to avoid, with hoarding, a chaotic market, an uncoordinated response and continued social and economic disruption,” he said.

 

Meanwhile, “just 25 doses have been given in one lowest income country. Not 25 million; not 25,000; just 25,” he claimed as most – but not all – affected countries lurch from lockdown to lockdown with no end to the misery in sight.

 

Wuhan, China, party time! https://t.co/CEIZg2dhPo

 

— Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) December 21, 2020

 

“I need to be blunt. The world is on the brink of a catastrophic moral failure — and the price of this failure will be paid with lives and livelihoods in the world’s poorest countries.”

 

He said even as some countries pronounced reassuring words on equitable access, they were prioritising their own deals with manufacturers, driving up prices and trying to jump the line of those waiting.

 

“Ultimately, these actions will only prolong the pandemic, prolong our pain, the restrictions needed to contain it, and human and economic suffering,” Tedros concluded.

 

Despite the scolding tone taken by Tedros in addressing vaccine distribution levels, he still faces allegations both he and his organization have been negligent from the beginning in handling the crisis.

 

As far back as March questions were being asked about the suitability of Tedros for a leadership role, a man with no medical background, as Breitbart News reported.

 

Senators Ted Cruz (R-TX), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and House Foreign Relations Committee ranking member Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) were among the American critics of Tedros’ performance.

 

Cruz described the W.H.O. director’s conduct as “deeply troubling” in a Twitter statement that linked to an article describing how Tedros got the job with extensive assistance from the Chinese Communist Party:

 

It is deeply troubling @WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu is helping the Chinese Communist Party obfuscate the origins and trajectory of #COVID19, at the risk of health around the globe.https://t.co/gobeAmq7Pd

 

— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) March 25, 2020

 

“The actions of the Chinese Communist Party exacerbated the public health crisis plaguing the international community, and instead of prioritizing global health, Dr. Tedros and the W.H.O. played favoritism to China,” said Rubio.

 

McCaul said W.H.O. is a victim of the CCP’s “shadow campaign to gain and wield influence at the United Nations.”

 

“Now, hundreds of thousands are sick, and thousands have died. That does not deserve accolades from the W.H.O. It deserves condemnation,” he said.

 

A petition demanding Tedros resign from his position was launched in March and by mid-April passed over one million signatures. Tedros ignored the call and simply carried on.

 

Some 2,041,297 people have reportedly died from the coronavirus outbreak as of January 18.

 

https://www.breitbart.com/health/2021/01/18/w-h-o-chief-catastrophic-moral-failure-awaits-in-coronavirus-vaccine-rollout/

Anonymous ID: a2a417 Jan. 18, 2021, 10:32 a.m. No.12586847   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6890

Trump must declassify more files, expose Hillary Clinton

 

According to experts, President Trump’s last days in office offer a final opportunity to declassify critical information on the Russia investigation that engulfed his lone term. He must declassify more documents and expose Hillary Clinton’s emails scandal as well as how the former first lady and Secretary of State was indulged into making tons of money by offering special favor to numerous foreign individuals, including some of America’s top enemies. The experts say, there are numerous evidences about Hillary Clinton’s immoral activities being the Secretary of State, where she and her intimate staffers were playing the role of mere lobbyists, which certainly were totally illegal and punishable offense.

 

From the declassified voluminous public records – including investigative reports from Special Counsel Robert Mueller, Congress and the Justice Department’s inspector general – have established that Trump and his associates were targeted with a baseless Russian collusion allegation. The fraudulent claim originated with the Hillary Clinton campaign, was fueled by a torrent of false or deceptive intelligence leaks, and was improperly investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), potentially to the point of being criminal. Despite these disclosures, key questions remain about the origins and the spread of the conspiracy theory.

 

Before he leaves office on Jan. 20, Trump could use his declassification authority to help clear up some critical issues of the Russiagate saga.

 

The FBI says it opened its Trump-Russia investigation on July 31, 2016 after learning of a potential offer of Russian assistance to junior Trump campaign volunteer George Papadopoulos. It later emerged that the offer came from a Maltese academic named Joseph Mifsud, whom U.S. officials have suggested was acting as a Russian cutout.

 

Mueller’s team depicted Mifsud as having extensive contacts with Russia. Yet Mifsud’s closest public ties had been to Western governments, politicians, and institutions, including the CIA, FBI, and British intelligence services. Despite Mifsud’s central role in the investigation, the FBI conducted only one brief interview with him in February 2017. The Mueller team later claimed that Mifsud gave false statements to FBI agents yet, conspicuously, did not indict him for lying. The FBI’s notes on the interview show that Mifsud denied having any advance knowledge of Russian hacking.

 

Why didn’t the FBI grill Mifsud about his sources, methods and contacts? What other efforts, if any, were made to surveil him?

 

https://www.weeklyblitz.net/oped/trump-must-declassify-more-files-expose-hillary-clinton/

Anonymous ID: a2a417 Jan. 18, 2021, 10:33 a.m. No.12586870   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6917 >>6926

GRAPHIC: 12 Mutilated Bodies Dumped in Mexican Coastal State

 

Authorities in the coastal state of Veracruz are silent about 12 bound and mutilated bodies dumped in a rural community.

 

Photographs taken near Las Choapas and shared on social media show in gruesome detail how 12 victims were bound, tortured, and dumped on a dirt road.

 

https://www.breitbart.com/border/2021/01/18/graphic-12-mutilated-bodies-dumped-in-mexican-coastal-state/

Anonymous ID: a2a417 Jan. 18, 2021, 10:35 a.m. No.12586895   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6965 >>7161 >>7314

Indonesian Company Admits To Deceiving U.S. Banks In Order To Trade With North Korea, Agrees To Pay A Fine Of More Than $1.5 Million

 

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/indonesian-company-admits-deceiving-us-banks-order-trade-north-korea-agrees-pay-fine-more-15

Anonymous ID: a2a417 Jan. 18, 2021, 10:37 a.m. No.12586944   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6987 >>7161 >>7314

FBI Arrests 'Noted Anarchist Leader' For Capitol Hill Breach, While Media Still Blames Trump

 

Plaintiffs said they “averted a crisis” at the Capitol by detaining 33-year-old Daniel Baker, taking him into custody on an indictment concerning making a threat to capture or injure, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Florida announced in a news release.

 

“Baker issued a call to arms for like-minded individuals to violently confront protestors gathered at the Florida Capitol this Sunday,” prosecutors said. “He specifically called for others to join him in encircling any protestors and confining them at the Capitol complex using firearms.”

 

Protests and demonstrations are expected at state Capitols across the country ahead of and on inauguration day in a challenge to the election results.

 

“This is an armed COUP and can only be stopped by an armed community!” Baker wrote in a flyer titled “Call to Arms January 20th” posted online, a criminal complaint against him alleges.

 

“If you’re afraid to die fighting the enemy, stay in bed and live,” he wrote in the flyer, in which he called Trump advocates who intend to protest at the Florida state Capitol “terrorists.”

 

FBI agents, with help from

 

local law enforcement, took Baker into custody without conflict.

 

The Epoch Times has reached out to Baker’s defense attorney for comment on the accusations but did not receive a response.

 

Baker, a former U.S. Army Airborne infantryman who was terminated from the service in 2017 joined the People’s Protection Units, a group fighting in Syria against ISIS and the Turkish government, prosecutors said.

 

People’s Protection Units is a sub-affiliate of Kurdistan’s Working Party, which is characterized by the U.S. government as a “foreign terrorist organization.”

 

Prosecutors have called Baker a “dangerous extremist,” with the

 

criminal charge claiming he wished death to anyone whose beliefs were different from his, including U.S. military officers.

 

“Baker has made multiple violent threats to those he claims are white supremacists, fascists, United States persons with different ideologies than his, and allies of the United States. In addition, Baker has promoted the killing of United States military officers,” the complaint reads.

 

Details of interest identified in the probe against Baker show his “path toward radicalization as well as a fair probability for imminent violence,” the complaint states.

 

One of these is a Facebook post associated with Baker, which emphasizes the statement, “I don’t give a [expletive], I’m an anarchist and I want to watch capitalist society burn.”

 

Another item referenced in the complaint is an interview Baker gave for an article about the fall of Seattle’s autonomous zone, in which he identified himself as a “hardcore leftist” and said he had traveled to Seattle to take part in the “Revolution.” In the article, he displayed frustration “in the lack of violent opposition here,” referring to the occupied zone.

 

https://www.blabber.buzz/blab/pop/1023511-fbi-arrests-noted-anarchist-leader-for-capitol-hill-breach-while-media-still-blames-trump?utm_source=c-alrt&utm_medium=c-alrt-email&utm_term=c-alrt-GI&utm_content=2L-ERZmi9oxPRph_qsEzpE4oHvl5em5bV9F0.A

Anonymous ID: a2a417 Jan. 18, 2021, 10:38 a.m. No.12586976   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>6986

ADL: Doxxing Is Bad Except When We Do It

 

Apparently, the ever-enterprising ADL is setting up their own version of OnlyFans, but to fight White Supremacy:

 

There is a distinct difference between criminal doxing, a common tactic of white supremacists & others to facilitate the stalking and terrorizing of targets, and the important reporting of extremists & hateful activity. Our laws must clearly reflect that. https://t.co/CLCEWGrEyV

 

— ADL (@ADL) January 17, 2021

 

Perhaps the ADL's implicit slogan is "Donate enough to the ADL and we'll dox our sexy grrrrl doxxer just for you."

 

— Steve Sailer (@Steve_Sailer) January 18, 2021

 

https://www.unz.com/isteve/adl-doxxing-is-bad-except-when-we-do-it/

Anonymous ID: a2a417 Jan. 18, 2021, 10:40 a.m. No.12587016   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>7161 >>7314

780 West Bank Settlement Housing Units In Palestinian Lands, Approved Ahead of US Presidential Transition

 

The Higher Planning Council (HPC) of the Civil Administration approved today plans to build 780 housing units in settlements, most of them deep in the West Bank (714 units (92%) in settlements that Israel will have to evacuate under a peace agreement, according to the Geneva Initiative model). Among other things, the HPC approved for deposit the legalization of two illegal outposts: Havat Yair with 96 units of which 82 units are already (illegally) built, as a “neighborhood” of the Yakir settlement, and the outpost of Nofei Nehemiah with 118 units, as a “neighborhood” of the Rehelim settlement which itself was an illegal outpost that was legalized in recent years.

 

The plans advanced include:

 

Earlier in the day, the HPC discussed several housing plans for Palestinians in Area C, although according to reports, the Prime Minister’s Office today asked to cancel the hearing due to settlers’ pressure. This is in addition to the pressure put by settlers last week which led to the removal of three plans for Palestinian villages from the committee’s agenda.

 

No decisions were made during the discussion and the committee is expected to publish its decisions in the coming days, but the spirit of the discussion shows that:

 

  1. There is an intention to approve the plan to legalize 70 existing housing units in the Palestinian village of Hizma + an addition of 70 new housing units.

 

  1. The HPC is intending to condition the approval of the plan for the Palestinian village of Walajeh, with the approval of a new bypass road for settlers (which will “be compensated” by the construction of the plan for about 1,000 housing units for settlers in the new planned settlement of “Givat HaGamal” in Har Gilo). It is important to note that the discussion of the plan of Walajeh was forced on the HPC following the High Court’s decision that the plan should be discussed.

 

  1. Apparently the HPC did not approve the plan to legalize a school in the Bedouin community of Wadi A-Sik in the western slopes of the Jordan Valley.

 

  1. Apparently the HPC approved two hotels and an amusement park on the outskirts of Area B, and a 200 square-meter cooling building for a Palestinian farmer in the Jordan Valley.

 

These approvals are almost insignificant in terms of the true needs of the Palestinians in Area C. It should be mentioned that in 2020 alone, 12,159 housing units were approved for Israeli settlements, while only 245 housing units, many of which already exist, were approved for Palestinians (note that 245 units for Palestinians is a lot compared to previous years).

 

Peace Now: “By promoting hundreds of settlement units, Prime Minister Netanyahu is once again putting his personal political interests over those of the country. Not only will this settlement activity erode the possibility for a conflict-ending resolution with the Palestinians in the long-term, but in the short-term it needlessly sets Israel on a collision course with the incoming Biden administration.”

 

https://www.globalresearch.ca/780-settlement-housing-units-approved-ahead-us-presidential-transition/5734729

Anonymous ID: a2a417 Jan. 18, 2021, 10:43 a.m. No.12587071   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>7084 >>7161 >>7314

MSM calls for “new definition of free speech”

 

This has been face-hammer week. In fact, it’s been a face-hammer year.Part of the main duty of OffGuardian is to troll through the masses of media output and try and pick up patterns. Sometimes the patterns are subtle, a gentle urging behind the paragraphs. Sometimes they’re more like a sledgehammer to the face.

 

From “flatten the curve” to “the new normal” to “the great reset”, it’s not been hard to spot the messaging going on since the start of the “pandemic”. And that distinct lack of disguise has carried over into other topics, too.

 

We pointed out, a few days ago, the sudden over-use of the phrase “domestic terrorism” preparing us for what is, almost certainly, going to be a truly horrendous piece of new legislation once Biden is in office.

 

Well, the buzz-phrase doing the rounds in the wake of Donald Trump being banned from the internet is “the new definition of free speech”…and variations on that theme.

 

Firstly, and papers on both sides of the Atlantic want to be very clear about this, Donald Trump being banned simultaneously from every major social network is not in any way inhibiting his free speech.

 

Indeed none of the tens of thousands of people banned from twitter et al. have had their free speech infringed either. Neither have any of the proprietors – or users – of the Parler app which the tech giants bullied out of existence.

 

Free Speech is totally intact no matter how many people are banned or deplatformed, the media all agree on that (even the allegedly pro-free speech think tanks).

 

They also agree that maybe…it shouldn’t be. Maybe “free speech” is too dangerous in our modern era, and needs a “new definition”.

 

That’s what Ian Dunt writing in Politics.co.uk thinks, anyway, arguing it’s time to have a “grown-up debate” about free speech.

 

The Financial Times agrees, asking about the “limits of free-speech in the internet era”.

 

Thomas Edsall, in the New York Times, wonders aloud if Trump’s “lies” have made free speech a “threat to democracy”.

 

The Conversation, a UK-based journal often at the cutting edge of the truly terrifying ideas, has three different articles about redefining or limiting free speech, all published within 4 days of each other.

 

There’s Free speech is not guaranteed if it harms others, a drab piece of dishonest apologia which argues Trump wasn’t silenced, because he could make a speech which the media would cover…without also mentioning that the media has, en masse, literally refused to broadcast several of Trump’s speeches in the last couple of months.

 

The conclusion could have been written by an algorithm analysing The Guardian’s twitter feed:

 

the suggestion Trump has been censored is simply wrong. It misleads the public into believing all “free speech” claims have equal merit. They do not. We must work to ensure harmful speech is regulated in order to ensure broad participation in the public discourse that is essential to our lives — and to our democracy.

 

Then there’s Free speech in America: is the US approach fit for purpose in the age of social media?, a virtual carbon copy of the first, which states:

 

The attack on the Capitol exposed, in stark terms, the dangers of disinformation in the digital age. It provides an opportunity to reflect on the extent to which certain elements of America’s free speech tradition may no longer be fit for purpose.

 

And finally, my personal favourite, Why ‘free speech’ needs a new definition in the age of the internet and Trump tweets in which author Peter Ives warns of the “weaponising of free speech” and concludes:

 

Trump’s angry mob was not just incited by his single speech on Jan. 6, but had been fomenting for a long time online. The faith in reason held by Mill and Kant was premised on the printing press; free speech should be re-examined in the context of the internet and social media.

 

https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/79044/msm-calls-for-new-definition-of-free.html

Anonymous ID: a2a417 Jan. 18, 2021, 10:45 a.m. No.12587108   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>7161 >>7314

How CENTCOM Chief McKenzie Manufactured an Iran Crisis to Increase His Power

 

Seeking prestige and power within the military, CENTCOM chief Gen. Kenneth McKenzie has deployed a series of bureaucratic and PR moves to drive the latest episode in US-Iran tensions.

 

During the final two months of the Trump administration, a series of provocative U.S. military moves in the Middle East stirred fears that a war against Iran was being hatched. The atmosphere of crisis was not the result of any threat posed by Tehran, but rather the product of a campaign manufactured by the head of US Central Command (CENTCOM), Gen. Kenneth F. McKenzie Jr., to advance his interests.

 

In a bid for prestige and power within the military, and the influence over policymaking that it guarantees, McKenzie has worked to accumulate military assets. The general’s thirst for influence has been a driving factor in the latest episode of US-Iran tensions. To advance his self-serving agenda, McKenzie has deployed a calculated series of political-bureaucratic moves, combined with a PR push in the media.

 

A four-star general who previously served as director of the Joint Staff at the Pentagon, McKenzie is regarded as the most politically astute commander ever to lead Middle East Command, according to journalist Mark Perry. He has also shown himself to be exceptionally brazen in scheming to defend his interests.

 

Almost immediately after taking command at CENTCOM in March 2019, McKenzie launched his campaign of political manipulation. By requesting additional forces to contain a supposedly urgent Iranian threat, McKenzie triggered the dispatch of an aircraft carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Middle East. A month later, he told reporters he believed the deployments were “having a very good stabilizing effect,” and that he was in the process of negotiating on a larger, long-term US military presence.

 

As a result of his maneuvering, McKenzie succeeded in acquiring 10,000 to 15,000 more military personnel, bringing the total in his CENTCOM realm to more than 90,000. The rapid increase in assets under his command was revealed in a Senate hearing in March 2020.

 

During the remainder of 2020 some of those troops were shifted to East Asia or Europe, in line with the new Pentagon priority on “major power competition.” McKenzie’s determination to resist the loss of military assets was a crucial factor in artificially manufacturing the recent Iran crisis.

 

McKenzie has fought to keep thousands of US troops in Iraq, ostensibly to fight ISIS, but more fundamentally to maintain a long-term military presence in the country. But the US military presence has been extremely unpopular in Iraq. In January 2020, following the USassassination of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, Iraq’s legislature passed a resolution demanding the withdrawal of all US troops from the country.

 

https://original.antiwar.com/porter/2021/01/17/how-centcom-chief-mckenzie-manufactured-an-iran-crisis-to-increase-his-power/

Anonymous ID: a2a417 Jan. 18, 2021, 10:50 a.m. No.12587190   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>7219 >>7237 >>7314

Pelosi Sends Letter to Defense Secretary Miller Demanding Halt to Attempts to Install Trump-Loyalist Michael Ellis as NSA General Counsel

 

They’re panicked.

Speaker Pelosi sent a letter to the Secretary of Defense Chris Miller on Monday.

 

Pelosi is demanding a halt to attempts to install Trump-loyalist Michael Ellis as NSA General Counsel.

 

This is odd considering a President Biden could fire Ellis after the inauguration.

So what is this all about?

 

Via Pelosi’s website:

Speaker Nancy Pelosi sent a letter late yesterday to Acting Department of Defense Secretary Christopher C. Miller demanding an immediate halt to the improper process of installing unqualified Trump-loyalist Michael Ellis as the new National Security Agency General Counsel 72 hours prior to the beginning of the new Administration.

 

In the letter, the Speaker wrote, “Public reporting indicates that Mr. Ellis, a relatively recent law school graduate with a limited resume, was selected due to interference by the White House, and was chosen over much more qualified candidates. Moreover, Mr. Ellis has been reportedly involved in highly questionable activities that are disqualifying – including the infamous 2017 ‘midnight run’ to launder intelligence information through Rep. Devin Nunes and with efforts to shield information about President Trump’s July 2019 call with the President of Ukraine.”

 

https://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/11821-0

 

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/01/pelosi-sends-letter-defense-secretary-miller-demanding-halt-attempts-install-trump-loyalist-michael-ellis-nsa-general-counsel/

Anonymous ID: a2a417 Jan. 18, 2021, 10:50 a.m. No.12587207   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>7244 >>7314

13 Police Killed in Afghanistan Insider Attack

 

Infiltrators looted weapons from police outpost

 

On Friday evening, the long-standing Afghanistan problem of insider attacks struck again in Herat Province, with three infiltrators turning on local police in Ghorian District and killing 13 of them in an outpost.

 

As with so many insider attacks at small police posts, the attack capped off with the police dead, the attackers looting all the weapons and ammunition, and fleeing into the countryside before any reinforcements arrived.

 

These attacks are a big part of how the Taliban rearms itself nearly 20 years into the war. Unsurprisingly, both sides are using the same weapons and ammunition at this point.

 

There is no sign that the government knows where the attackers went, and that infiltrators so often get away is a big part of why it remains a popular strategy for the Taliban.

 

https://news.antiwar.com/2021/01/17/13-police-killed-in-afghanistan-insider-attack/

Anonymous ID: a2a417 Jan. 18, 2021, 10:54 a.m. No.12587270   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>7314

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov – annual Q&A press conference in Moscow

 

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s annual press conference in Moscow, summing up the results of Russian diplomacy and foreign policy during 2020.

 

Please forward the video to time marker 19:40. We will post up the transcript when available.

 

https://thesaker.is/russian-foreign-minister-sergey-lavrov-is-speaking-at-his-annual-qa-press-conference-in-moscow/