14 May, 2022 21:39

Zelensky bans Ukrainian opposition parties

(Real title: Zelensky Bans Free Speech in Ukraine Like US is Trying To Do)

Kiev has adopted a law simplifying the process of banning political parties purported to be “anti-Ukrainian”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday signed into law a bill establishing a mechanism to outlaw political parties, who oppose his policies on western integration. The legislation is aimed at political parties deemed to be engaging into “anti-Ukrainian”activities.

The list of wrongdoings which can be used as a pretext to ban a faction suggests that challenging the official position of the Ukrainian authorities on the ongoing conflict with Moscow can lead to a ban.

Specifically, it outlaws denial of the “aggression against Ukraine,” calling it an internal conflict, a civil war and so on. Any positive remarks about those deemed to be perpetrating “aggression” are prohibited as well, including referring to the forces of the breakaway Donetsk as Lugansk republics as “insurgents.”

The new legislation also outlines a simplified procedure to ban a political party. It now requires a court ruling, with all related cases – including pending ones – transferred to a court in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv for as long as the country is under martial law. A ruling on such cases is final and cannot be appealed.

In March, Ukraine’s national Security Council suspended multiple political parties it deemed to be “pro-Russian.” The list included assorted minor, primarily left-wing parties, as well as Ukraine’s second-largest group ‘Opposition Platform – For Life’, led by Viktor Medvedchuk, a businessman with alleged ties to Russia. Having previously been placed under house arrest, in April of last year the politician ended up in custody of the country’s security services.

His initial incarceration came after his faction passed out Zelensky's Servant of the People in terms of popularity, according to polling.

https://www.rt.com/russia/555493-ukraine-parties-ban-law/

15 May, 2022 10:16

Finland officially decides to join NATO

The Nordic country's bid to join the US-led military bloc now needs approval from parliament

Finland has officially announced its intention of joining the NATO military alliance, the government announced on Sunday. During a cabinet meeting, President Sauli Niinistö and ministers “agreed that Finland would apply for membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO),” the statement read.

Finnish accession to the US-led bloc would require the unanimous approval of the existing 30 member states, including Turkey, which has suggested it could veto the move. A report on Finland’s planned membership will be submitted to the national parliament once it’s endorsed at a government plenary session, the statement went on to say.

“Our decision is historic. The most important thing is the safety of Finland and our citizens. The decision strengthens security and cooperation between the Nordic countries,” Prime Minister Sanna Marin said.

The premier added that she expects the Finnish parliament to “accept the decision [on joining NATO] with determination and responsibility.”

Niinistö and Marin are scheduled to hold a press-conference on Finland’s NATO membership bid later today, with some 90 journalists expected to be in attendance.

Finland and its neighbor Sweden stayed out of NATO during the Cold War, but the governments in the two Nordic countries have said they've reconsidered their stance after the launch of Russia's military operation in Ukraine in late February. Moscow has insisted that Helsinki’s and Stockholm’s membership in the US-led organisation would be a mistake and has promised to come up with an appropriate response to the development.

NATO initially expected a swift ratification of the Finnish and Swedish membership bids, but on Friday Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that his country could oppose their accession. Erdogan described the two nations as “guesthouses for terrorist organizations,” referring the separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) and the Revolutionary People’s Liberation Front (DHKP/C), which have been outlawed by Ankara.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s top adviser Ibrahim Kalin clarified to Reuters on Saturday that Turkey is not seeking to outright shoot down the accession of Sweden and Finland to the US-led NATO bloc. Though Ankara’s concerns about organizations it deems to be “terrorist” that are operating in these countries must be addressed, the official said.

Finland shares a 1,340-kilometer (832-mile) land border with Russia and fought a war with the Soviet Union in 1939.

Russian leaders have argued that having NATO members and strategic weapons deployed on their country's doorstep violates the principle of “indivisible security,” meaning neither the Western bloc nor Moscow should be allowed to strengthen its own security at the expense of the other party.

https://www.rt.com/news/555509-nato-finland-join-statement/

15 May, 2022 12:05

European gas prices forecast to triple

(All for the Shithole Country Ukraine)

The cost of the fuel on the continent could hit $3,500 per 1,000 cubic meters in winter, Rystad Energy says

A “perfect winter storm” may be forming in Europe, as the continent seeks to limit Russian gas flows, analysts at Rystad Energy said in a press release this week. They added there might be not enough LNG to replace Russian gas during the freezing weather. The price of gas in the EU was projected to soar to $3,500 per 1,000 cubic meters.

According to the report, last year Russia sent 155 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas to the continent, providing more than 31% of its gas supply.

“Replacing a significant portion of this will be exceedingly difficult, with far-reaching consequences for Europe’s population, economy, and for the role of gas in the region’s energy transition.”

By shunning Russian gas, Europe has destabilized the entire global LNG (Liquefied Natural Gas) market, which began the year with a precarious balance after a tumultuous 2021, Rystad explained. The decision to sharply reduce reliance on Russian gas and LNG from current levels of between 30-40% will transform the global LNG market, it added.

The report highlighted that global LNG demand is expected to hit 436 million tons in 2022, outpacing the available supply of just 410 million tons. “The supply imbalance and high prices will set the scene for the most bullish environment for LNG projects in more than a decade, although supply from these projects will only arrive and provide relief from after 2024,” it said.

According to the research, if Russian gas flows were to stop tomorrow, the gas currently in storage (about 35% full) would likely “run out before the end of the year, leaving Europe exposed to a brutal winter.” Under such a scenario, in the absence of joint buying arrangements and countries competing for limited molecules, the TTF gas price could climb to more than $100 per million British thermal units (MMBtu), resulting in industrial curtailments and widespread fuel switching in the power sector. In an extreme scenario of a severely cold winter, “not even the residential sector would be safe.”

Natural gas prices surged this week after Moscow imposed its first counter-sanctions on some European energy companies. The price of gas in Europe exceeded $1,200 per 1,000 cubic meters during Thursday trading, according to data provided by London’s ICE.Benchmark prices are almost 300% higher compared with a year ago, Reuters reports.

https://www.rt.com/business/555440-europe-gas-price-triple/

15 May, 2022 03:39

Supermarket massacre probed as hate crime

Teenage suspect pleads not guilty after mass shooting livestreamed on Twitch

An 18-year-old suspect has been detained without bail on first-degree murder charges following a mass shooting at a supermarket in New York State, that authorities have described as a “hate crime” and “racially motivated violent extremism.”

The heavily-armed shooter wearing a bulletproof vest and a tactical helmet first opened fire at a parking lot and then inside a Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo around 2:30pm on Saturday, killing 10 shoppers and employees, and injuring three others – all while livestreaming the massacre online.

When police arrived at the scene and confronted the gunman, he reportedly put the rifle to his neck, but was eventually persuaded to drop the weapon and surrender.

Authorities said 11 of those he shot were black and two were white, with Erie County Sheriff John Garcia describing the attack as “pure evil” and a “straight up racially motivated hate crime from somebody outside of our community.”

The suspect was identified as 18-year-old Payton Gendron from the New York State town of Conklin, about 200 miles southeast of Buffalo when he appeared before court later on Saturday. He was charged with first degree murder and could face life in prison with no parole under New York State laws. The next court hearing was scheduled for next week after he pleaded not guilty.

Multiple federal agencies, including the FBI and ATF are assisting local authorities in their investigation.

New York Governor Kathy Hochul called the attacker a “white supremacist who just perpetrated a hate crime on an innocent community,” expressing “sincere hope that this individual… will spend the rest of his days behind bars.”

US President Joe Biden addressed the tragedy in a written statement on Saturday night, saying that while there’s still much to learn about the motivation for the shooting – the initial information was enough to “state a clear moral truth.”

“Any act of domestic terrorism, including an act perpetrated in the name of a repugnant white nationalist ideology, is antithetical to everything we stand for in America,” Biden said. “We must do everything in our power to end hate-fueled domestic terrorism.”

https://www.rt.com/news/555498-buffalo-supermaket-hate-extremism-probe/

>>16278308, >>16278334, >>16278342, >>16278401, MORE BIO / UKRAINE NEWS - bioclandestine.substack.com and russia v ukraine news

Conclusion of Bioclandestine article make sense that the UN cannot investigate these claims from Russia because ultimately what it will reveal is every country was involved in the “Covid 19” scam thats killed millions of people WW, but not only Covid but every other fake outbreak, including the seasonal flu, ebola, hiv etc for decades

“In short, the UN Security Council is supposed to do a joint investigation, and all assist to the nation(s) who have been exposed to the biological weapon(s). But I just don’t think it’s going to happen because of the structure of the UN. The US can just simply veto any investigation.

The only other world event similar to this situation was Nuremberg. With which the US, UK, France and Russia, each provided 1 Military Judge and a team of military prosecutors, and joint-prosecuted the Nazi officials that were still alive, in an “International Military Tribunal”.

Given this whole biological weapons situation is unprecedented, I can’t really project what the next steps will be. Especially considering one of the names directly accused of being an Ideologue of this bioweapons plot is thecurrent Commander in Chiefof the most powerful military force on the planet…

The only way this is resolved is if the US MIL is disobedient to Biden, i.e. “Devolution”, and assists the Russians and Chinese in holding these people accountable. It would require a treaty between the militaries of Russia, China, and the US. That’s the only way.

Any other scenario and we are stuck in a biological Orwellian dystopia on the verge of nuclear fallout, until the status quo changes.

-Clandestine

https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/05/1118232

Ex-New York Times reporter asked that his testimony be protected in next week's Sussmann trial

Trial is set to begin Monday in a federal court in Washington, D.C.

An attorney for an ex-New York Times reporter being called to testify next week in special counsel John Durham’s case against ex-Hillary Clinton campaign lawyer Michael Sussmann is asking that his client be protected from having to testify about some matters related to the case.

The motion for protective order for journalist Eric Lichtblau was filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia by attorney Chad Bowman of the Washington, D.C., firm Ballard Spahr LLP.

The four-page court document points out that Lichtblau worked for The Times in its Washington bureau from 2002 until 2017 and was part of a Times team that won a Pulitzer Prize in 2018 for reporting on then-President Trump’s advisers and "their connections to Russia."

Bowman writes in the court request that in 2016 his client was "investigating information showing that logs of computer ‘look up’ messages showed a pattern of connection between a Trump Organization computer server and a large Russian bank with longstanding ties to Russia's president" and that Sussmann was a "confidential source for this reporting."

The possible connection between the Trump Organization and the bank, now identified as Alfa Bank, is central to the case against Sussmann, who in September 2016, just weeks before the Election Day between Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, met with then-FBI general counsel James Baker to warn him about the matter.

However, based on emails and other information, Durham’s investigation and a grand jury has concluded enough evidence exists to show that Sussmann, then a partner at the law firm Perkins Coie, didn’t tell Baker during their meeting he was representing two clients – the Clinton campaign and a technology executive with whom he worked.

The trial is set to begin Monday.

Bowman in the court documents states Sussmann, who has pleaded not guilty, has released his client from a confidentiality agreement regarding their communications and that after Lichtblau was subpoenaed by Sussmann's legal team to testify he was assured the "scope" of questions wouldn’t "implicate other, confidential news sources."

However, he writes that on May 2, after several communications with the special counsel's office, attorney Andrew DeFillipis stated theprosecution was unable to give "any assurance" that their cross-examination of Lichtblau "would be confined to discussion with Mr. Sussmann."

Bowman said DeFillipis pointed to the special counsel being inpossession of his client's emails with third parties that might be discussed.

(Sussmann having Lichtbrau as a support witness opened up lichtbrau to more dirt Durham team has on him. This will be the same with other witness Sussman called! Kek)

https://8kun.top/qresearch/res/16277717.html#16278355

AG Garland pointedly refuses to say if he would prosecute protesters outside justices' homes

Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin and members of Congress want attorney general to uphold a federal law that prohibits actions to intimidate judges at their private residences.

Attorney General Merrick Garland is pointedly refusing to say if he's open to prosecuting protesters who demonstrate outside of Supreme Court justices' homes, which a growing number of office-holders are urging him to do.

Republican Governors Larry Hogan of Maryland and Glenn Youngkin of Virginia and members of Congress want Garland to uphold federal law that prohibits actions to intimidate judges at their private residences.

According to U.S. code 1507, an individual who "pickets or parades" with the "intent of interfering with, obstructing, or impeding the administration of justice, or with the intent of influencing any judge, juror, witness, or court officer" near a U.S. court or "near a building or residence occupied or used by such judge, juror, witness, or court officer" will be fined or "imprisoned not more than one year, or both."

Garland was asked about the issue on Friday evening at the conclusion of the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund ceremony on the National Mall, but he ignored the question.

"Sorry. I'm here for the memorial," he told Just the News.

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas also attended the ceremony. He was asked about border facilities being fully stocked with baby formula while U.S. store shelves remain bare across the country but declined to answer.

"Not tonight," he said.

https://justthenews.com/government/federal-agencies/garland-wont-say-if-hes-open-prosecuting-protestors-outside-supreme

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1525305145239781377?s=20&t=uTpN9iCf0vJQqNi3VQLSBw

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1525625936007372802?s=20&t=PAYfEIhTaoHZvI8PZUCVig

Article

https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-lawyers-who-ate-california-part?r=m6c36&utm_medium=ios&s=r

>>16278870

Long but good article

The Lawyers Who Ate California: Part I

Part One: The Feds. A small group of regulators out West tests out a new theory of corporate enforcement, with disastrous consequences.

A while ago I got a tip, suggesting a look into a high-profile lawsuit. You likely know the case: video game titan Activision, makers of Call of Duty and World of Warcraft, sued by the state of California for discrimination and harassment. The firm was acquired by Microsoft earlier this year for a staggering $68 billion, and with regulators in countries around the world awaiting resolution of California’s action before approving or denying that mega-deal, Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH) vs. Activision Blizzard Inc. now becomes perhaps the most portentous lawsuit in the world.

The company filed a lengthy motion in its defense last Friday, detailing its side of a sordid-sounding case it believes should be wrapped up in its favor. However, the self-defense pleas of a leading current corporate Nosferatu received little bounce in popular press, which in the moral mania era isn’t much for “maybe they didn’t” stories.

At first, this sounded like a straightforward story in which the only question was whether Activision is run by misogynist dinosaurs who deserve their brutal public fragging, or whether they’re merely a bunch of rich gamers blindsided by unproven allegations in the latest example of social justice politics run amok. Not the kind of dispute where a disinterested party would have an obvious rooting interest. Someone would find the storyline fascinating, but that person, I guessed, was unlikely to be me.

Sometimes in journalism, however, a story you think is about one thing, turns out really to be about something very different. The tale is barely about Activision. The real protagonists are the regulators.

In the spirit of California, long the cradle of American innovation, a small group of government litigators spent nearly a decade dreaming up an aggressive new vision of corporate regulation, one that’s seen agencies like California’s DFEH act like high-end plaintiffs’ firms. They laugh off mediation, jump quick as you can to litigation they may be mandated to avoid, then couple blunt public accusations with eye-catching damage demands that open at ten or fifteen times the size of previous record awards. Also in the California spirit there are ruthless box-outs of other regulatory agencies, private attorneys, and even the agency’s own in-house lawyers for the sole rights to be claimants in each of the target firms’ stories, told by media pals who act more like production partners than journalists.

Few noticed, because this is California, where every fourth-rate character actor breaking wind makes the front pages but the inner workings of the state governing the world’s 5th most powerful economy are left to a handful of overworked reporters at the Sacramento Bee. “With all due respect to your profession,” one source unconnected to Activision quipped, “it’s kind of amazing none of you have looked under the hood here.”…

The story also turns out to be in part about why California, which had a growth streak dating back to the gold rush, saw it broken in 2020, when the population shrank by 182,000 and caused a first-ever loss of a congressional seat. More tellingly, over 265 companies moved their headquarters out between 2018 and 2021, with the rate of flight doubling just during those years.

Bear with me, for I fell way down the rabbit hole on this one. Based on interviews with current and former executives, congressional and legislative sources from both parties, past and present employment regulators, a handful of public and private litigators with knowledge of the relevant cases, and review of thousands of excruciating pages of court records,here’s the background to sensational cases like Riot Games, Activision, and Tesla that no one told you about— the story of the Lawyers Who Ate California: ..

https://taibbi.substack.com/p/the-lawyers-who-ate-california-part?r=m6c36&utm_medium=ios&s=r

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1525687262691876864?s=20&t=pEPBVlGooiIOBnMHptg4xg

https://twitter.com/emeriticus/status/1525668681472163840?s=20&t=pEPBVlGooiIOBnMHptg4xg

https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr/status/1525605988178468864?s=20&t=pEPBVlGooiIOBnMHptg4xg

https://twitter.com/ajzeigler/status/1525686119450529792?s=20&t=gCTEjflxSgsn5YDfUqWk0g

So this ruling is extraordinary. Cooper is ordering the disclosure of non-privileged emails to Durham but precluding them from being used at trial, claiming Durham waited too long to move to compel.

DOJ almost NEVER loses on that basis.

Especially after the judge actually undertakes the “in camera” review of the documents. If the judge is going to say the delay has been too long or is too close to the trial date, they usually say so when the motion for review is made & they don’t do the review.

As defense counsel, I find it laughable a judge would say letting DOJ use the documents would prejudice Sussman! He’s probably had the documents the whole time; it’s Durham who hasn’t. And judges decide stuff routinely on the eve of trial that the defense just has to roll with.🙄

Half the time, you don’t get prior statements of major govt witnesses until a few weeks or a few days before the trial starts!

This ruling is out of the norm for what a defendant would expect in a normal case.

It’s the 1st ruling in this case I’ve seen that is out of the norm.

All of that being said, I’m not sure Durham cares that much about these documents per se. His point was that Sussman had an attorney-client relationship with Fusion, HFA, & Joffe. Which this fight proved.

If Cooper thinks the same - that Durham doesn’t really care about these docs - that may well have influenced his decision to rule Durham waited too long to get them when in another case he wouldn’t have denied them to the prosecutor’s office.

https://twitter.com/McAdooGordon/status/1525212860762185730?s=20&t=gCTEjflxSgsn5YDfUqWk0g

https://twitter.com/Shem_Infinite/status/1525638960365678593?s=20&t=lj50UQT1KrMwt4gMkMcyow

>>16278568

Thats what I thought

>>16278572

They are being bullied and paid handsomely

>>16278540

They have all NATO countries paying them and forcing them, this whole war by Ukraine was about making NATO great again

>>16278537

No doubt in my mind we’ve been invaded by nazis and run by nazis in the US and a 100,000 mire of them coming under Bidan.

How you try to defeat a well armed militia, bring in crazy violent nazis.

Ukraine war was to destroy America

>>16279193

Thats why they are fighting Russia so hard on their exposure of biolabs. They will never admit it if possible