John Bolton Took Money From Banks Tied To Cartels, Terrorists, Iran

On June 12, 2018 The Washington Post ran an overlooked story where they disclosed that National Security Advisor John Bolton had accepted money from the Victor Pinchuk Foundation, Deutsche Bank and HSBC to return for his participation in speeches and panel discussions. These three entities have been linked to various kinds of corruption including sanctions evasion for Iran, money laundering on behalf of drug cartels, provision of banking services to backers of Islamic terror organizations and controversial donations to the Clinton Foundation.

The financial ties between Bolton and these institutions highlight serious ethical concerns about his suitability for the position of National Security Advisor.

I. Victor Pinchuk Foundation

John Bolton accepted $115,000 from the Victor Pinchuk Foundation to speak at multiple events hosted by the Foundation including one in September 2017 where Bolton assured his audience that President Donald Trump would not radically change US foreign policy despite his explicit campaign promises to do so.

The Victor Pinchuk Foundation was blasted in 2016 over their donation of $10 to $25 million to the Clinton Foundation between 1994 and 2005. The donations lead to accusations of influence peddling after it emerged that Victor Pinchuk had been invited to Hillary Clinton’s home during the final year of her tenure as Secretary of State.

Even more damning was Victor Pinchuk’s participation in activities that constituted evasions of sanctions levied against Iran by the American government. A 2015 exposé by Newsweek highlighted the fact that Pinchuk owned Interpipe Group, a Cyprus-incorporated manufacturer of seamless pipes used in oil and gas sectors. A now-removed statement on Interpipe’s website showed that they were doing business in Iran despite US sanctions aimed to prevent this kind of activity.

Why John Bolton, a notorious war hawk who has called for a hardline approach to Iran, would take money from an entity who was evading sanctions against the country is not clear. It does however, raise serious questions about whether or not Bolton should be employed by Donald Trump, who made attacks on the Clinton Foundation’s questionable donations a cornerstone of his 2016 campaign.

II. HSBC Group

British bank HSBC paid Bolton $46,500 in June and August 2017 to speak at two gatherings of hedge fund managers and investors.

HSBC is notorious for its extensive ties to criminal and terror organizations for whom it has provided illegal financial services. Clients that HSBC have laundered money for include Colombian drug traffickers and Mexican cartels who have terrorized the country and recently raised murder rates to the highest levels in Mexico’s history. They have also offered banking services to Chinese individuals who sourced chemicals and other materials used by cartels to produce methamphetamine and heroin that is then sold in the United States. China’s Triads have helped open financial markets in Asia to cartels seeking to launder their profits derived from the drug trade.

In 2012, HSBC was blasted by the US Senate for for allowing money from Russian and Latin American criminal networks as well as Middle Eastern terror groups to enter the US. The banking group ultimately agreed to pay a $1.9 billion fine for this misconduct as well as their involvement in processing sanctions-prohibited transactions on behalf of Iran, Libya, Sudan and Burma.

https://disobedientmedia.com/2019/04/john-bolton-took-money-from-banks-tied-to-cartels-terrorists-iran/

Monsanto loses appeal in French farmer's poisoning case

A French court on Thursday upheld a guilty verdict against chemicals giant Monsanto over the poisoning of a farmer who suffered neurological damage after using one of its weedkillers, the latest legal setback for the company over its controversial pesticides.

Cereal farmer Paul Francois has been fighting Monsanto, a formerly US company which was bought by Germany's Bayer last year, for the past 12 years.

In the first ruling of its kind against Monsanto anywhere in the world, a French court in 2012 found it guilty of poisoning Francois.

He said he began experiencing symptoms including blackouts, headaches and loss of balance and memory after inhaling fumes while using the now-banned weedkiller Lasso.

Monsanto appealed and lost in 2015 but decided to go a third round.

"I won, and I'm happy, but at what cost?" Francois told reporters after the verdict.

He denounced what he called years of "legal harassment" by Monsanto, which can still appeal Thursday's ruling by the Cour de Cassation, a top French appeals court.

The ruling, he said, was "a message to the government," which he urged to ban other toxic pesticides that contain glyphosate, used in Monsanto's top-selling Roundup.

"History will judge them for not acting," he said, referring to a campaign pledge by President Emmanuel Macron to phase out glyphosate in France, which he backed down on last year.

Monsanto is facing thousands of US lawsuits over glyphosate exposure, and last month was ordered by a San Francisco court to pay around $80 million to a retiree suffering from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

• 'Not a chemist' -

More

https://www.france24.com/en/20190411-monsanto-loses-appeal-french-farmers-poisoning-case

Now We Know the Exact Lie Google CEO Told Congress, and It’s Terrifying for Conservatives: Opinion

A nuclear political bomb has detonated in Silicon Valley, and Google is ground zero.

Late Tuesday, excerpts from a reportedly leaked internal Google document were published by The Daily Caller. The excerpts, if accurate, confirm what conservatives have long suspected — that conservatives are being actively suppressed by arguably the most powerful company in the world.

The Daily Caller reported that a Google blacklist of conservative websites includes the Conservative Tribune as well as “Gateway Pundit, Matt Walsh’s blog, Gary North’s blog ‘teapartyeconomist.com,’ Caroline Glick’s website … and the website of the American Spectator.”

The impact of this leak cannot be overstated. Google is already reeling — and panicking, as the quality of its first response to the leak reflects — because of how bad this looks for a company that has vociferously denied rigging its products against conservatives.

But far and away the most devastating part of the leak, which Google doesn’t deny is authentic, appears to confirm that Google CEO Sundar Pichai either misleadingly parsed the truth or did, in fact, lie to a committee of the United States Congress.

On Dec. 11, 2018, Pichai appeared before the House Judiciary Committee to answer questions about allegations of Google’s bias. Pichai worded his responses very carefully, but he’ll live to regret four damning words: “We don’t manually intervene on any particular search result” (emphasis added).

Conservatives have long thought that Google is suppressing their points of view, making it harder for conservative news and opinion to make it into the top section of the page Google displays when a user searches a word or phrase that might be in the news.

The leak appears to confirm that’s exactly what is happening. The most damaging item is an alleged memo obtained by The Daily Caller on how Google’s blacklist is managed.

The memo states in part:

http://www.stationgossip.com/2019/04/bombshell-now-we-know-exact-lie-google.html

Name ONE TIME a government program accomplished its goal

Illinois has the worst credit rating of any state.

It has $8 billion in outstanding bills and a $3.2 billion deficit in just next year’s budget.

But the worst part is the $250 billion they need to pay their state pensions…

When you or I have debt, the first thing we have to do is tighten the belt. We save money and cut expenses.

But imagine if instead you could just waltz up to your boss and demand a raise. And not because you’re doing more work, or because you hit a home-run with last quarter’s goals… just because you got yourself into debt.

If Illinois was an employee, they would have been fired by now. They haven’t hit any of their goals and continuously fail to deliver on the promises they have made.

But the taxpayers will once again face tax increases in order to pay for more government, more promises, and more mismanaged policy.

The Governor recently proposed a graduated income tax to raise rates on the highest earners.

This will bring in more revenue they say… when have they been wrong before?

Meanwhile, 137,000 net residents have left the state since 2013.

Somehow I’m guessing their estimates for revenue are going to be just as wrong as their pension and budgeting calculations.

Never do governments even remotely consider that the solution is to spend less.

And never does anyone ask, what about the outcome?

Why would more money solve these problems when the government has spent so much money already, and still failed to execute on their promises?

It’s the same in business. We just went through a decade of low-interest rates, which meant easy money for stupid investments. People sunk money into terrible ideas that never got executed, and destroyed value.

The difference is it destroyed value for a very select group of people: investors and business owners.

And those people made the choice to put their own money into those businesses.

Raising the money is the easy part. Show me ONE TIME a government program did what it said it was going to do.

The war on drugs, Great Society to end poverty, the war on crime, the war on terrorism…

And yet the newest crop of socialist politicians say right up front that results don’t matter.

https://www.thedailybell.com/all-articles/news-analysis/name-one-time-a-government-program-accomplished-its-goal/

Israel delivers demolition notices to 13 homes in Jerusalem

The Israeli municipality of Jerusalem delivered demolition notices to residential structures in the Issawiya neighbourhood yesterday.

Muhammad Abu Al-Hummus, member of a local follow-up committee, said that joint teams from the Israeli municipality and police raided the neighbourhood and delivered demolition notices for 13 residential structures, under the pretext that they were built without the necessary building permits.

Abu Al-Hummus pointed out that some of the buildings were erected more than 15 years ago.

Some of the buildings were identified as belonging to the Mahmoud, Darwish, Hamdan and Al-Zaatari families.

Abu Al-Hummus added that the Israeli municipality inspector took pictures of dozens of buildings and homes in the neighbourhood.

Israel uses the pretext of building without a permit to carry out demolitions of Palestinian-owned homes on a regular basis.

Occupation authorities rarely grant Palestinians permits to build in occupied East Jerusalem.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20190411-israel-delivers-demolition-notices-to-13-homes-in-jerusalem/

Same People Behind Iraq War Lies Pushed Russian Collusion

Exploiting fear and confusion after a shocking event, they warned that our country was in imminent danger at the hands of a mad man. They insisted that legitimate intelligence, including a CIA report issued a month before a national election and a dossier produced by reliable sources in the United Kingdom, proved the threat was real. The subject monopolized discussions on Capitol Hill, in the White House, and in the press.

They argued that the situation was so dire that it was straining our relationship with strategic allies. Any evidence to the contrary was readily dismissed. And anyone who questioned their agenda was ridiculed as a coward, a dupe, or a conspiracy theorist. The news media dedicated endless air time and column inches to anyone who wanted to repeat the falsehood.

But an investigative report released two years after the propaganda campaign began found no evidence to support their central claim. The CIA report was highly flawed. The official dossier, some concluded, was deceptive and “sexed-up.”

No, I’m not referring here to the Trump-Russia collusion hoax, although the similarities are nearly identical. I’m talking about the period between 2002 and 2004 when many of the very same people who recently peddled collusion fiction also insisted that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction—including material to produce nuclear bombs. On the heels of the horrors of 9/11, the United States and our allies waged war against Iraq in 2003 based primarily on that assurance.\

But in 2004, a special advisor to the CIA concluded Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. There were no stockpiles of biological or chemical agents; no plans to develop a nuclear bomb. The main argument for the war had been wholly discredited. But it was too late: The conflict officially raged on for another seven years, including a “surge” of 20,000 more U.S. troops in 2007 at the behest of the late Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.). We still have a troop presence in Iraq to this day.

In between the two scandals was more than a decade of recriminations against once-trusted experts on the Right who led our nation into battle. The Iraq war cost the lives of more than 4,400 U.S. troops, maimed tens of thousands more and resulted in an unquantifiable amount of emotional, mental, and physical pain for untold numbers of American military families. Suicide rates for servicemen and veterans have exploded leaving thousands more dead and their families devastated. And it has costtaxpayers more than $2 trillion and counting.

So, these discredited outcasts thought they found in the Trump-Russia collusion farce a way to redeem themselves in the news media and recover their lost prestige, power, and paychecks. After all, it cannot be a mere coincidence that a group of influencers on the Right who convinced Americans 16 years ago that we must invade Iraq based on false pretenses are nearly the identical group of people who tried to convince Americans that Donald Trump conspired with the Russians to rig the 2016 election, an allegation also based on hearsay and specious evidence.

It cannot be an innocent mistake. It cannot be explained away as an example of ignorance in the defense of national security or democracy or human decency. It cannot be justified as a mere miscalculation based on the “best available information at the time” nor should we buy any of the numerous excuses that they offered up to rationalize the war.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-04-10/same-people-behind-iraq-war-lies-pushed-russian-collusion

Netanyahu confirms his party spied on Palestinian voters in apparent effort at voter suppression

A few Likud activists were caught Tuesday morning as the polls opened in Israel, carrying hidden cameras (one was disguised as a pen) into poll stations in Palestinian towns. An unofficial Likud statement later said Likud deployed 1,300 such cameras in Palestinian poll stations; this number is so far unconfirmed. Netanyahu himself acknowledged the deployment of cameras, claiming they’re supposed to “keep the voting process kosher.”

The Israeli public relations firm Kaizler Inbar claimed credit for dispatching 1350 volunteers with cameras in a post on Facebook today, stating they pleaded “guilty” to suppressing Arab voter turnout and alluded to coordinating with the Likud party.

“Thanks to us placing observers in every polling station we managed to lower the voter turnout to under 50 percent, the lowest in recent years!” the post said, “After a long preparation period, an amazing logistical base and deep and close partnership with the best people in Likud, we put together an operation that contributed crucially to one of the most important achievements of the right-wing bloc: Keeping the Arab vote legal!”

https://mondoweiss.net/2019/04/netanyahu-palestinian-suppression/

Venezuela Walks from OAS as Body Violates Charter in Support of US-Backed Coup

“You have converted the OAS into an empty shell that has violated its own principles and you’re now proving that our decision to resign was the correct one. We are leaving the OAS and we will never come back. — Venezuela representative Asbina Marin

WASHINGTON — In a bid to legitimize Washington’s flailing coup attempt in Venezuela, the Organization of American States (OAS) has recognized faux-President Juan Guaido’s lackey Gustave Tarre as the new representative from Venezuela.

Reporter Anya Parampil, who was at the meeting in Washington on Tuesday, noted that “Five of the 18 countries that voted for the U.S. measure were recently taken over by pro-IMF governments.” Meanwhile, the Haitian government — currently embroiled in a popular uprising over its mismanagement and embezzlement of funds from a generous deal with Venezuela on petroleum products, known as the PetroCaribe alliance — voted for the measure in order to appease the United States and secure Washington’s support in quashing the uprising.

Parampil notes that the Guaido representative, Gustave Tarre, is a senior associate at the Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS), an ultra-hawkish D.C.-based think tank funded by defense contractors and the oil industry.

MintPress News has previously reported that Facebook’s head of cybersecurity, Nathaniel Gleicher, is a senior associate at the very same think tank. As the coup attempt was unfolding, Gleicher leveraged his power at Facebook to censor pro-government accounts. MintPress reported at the time:

764 accounts located in Venezuela, a country in which the United States has been backing a coup attempt in since last week, were banned; and another 1,196 accounts ‘which appear to be engaged in a state-backed influence campaign’ in Venezuela were also shuttered.”

Moreover, Tarre was accused by the Venezuelan government in 2014 of being a conspirator in a plot to assassinate President Nicolas Maduro.

https://www.mintpressnews.com/venezuela-walks-oas-body-violates-charter-support-us-backed-coup/257234/

‘Greatest traitor in Ecuadorian history’: Ex-President Correa slams Moreno over Assange’s arrest

Ecuador’s former president Rafael Correa has slammed his successor Lenin Moreno for “allowing” police to arrest Julian Assange at the Ecuadorian Embassy in London, calling the action “a crime humanity will never forget.”

Whereas the former Ecuadorian leader has been highly critical of his one-time political ally for a long while, Thursday’s arrest of Wikileaks co-founder and editor was a betrayal of a higher order, it has been suggested.

https://www.rt.com/news/456229-correa-slams-moreno-assange-arrest/

FL Governor DeSantis Announces Cabinet Meeting In Israel

Ron DeSantis is just fine with taxpayers and lobbyists footing the bill for the state cabinet to meet in a foreign country to conduct official state business.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced yesterday that he would hold the next meeting of the Florida State Cabinet in Jerusalem at the U.S. Embassy he fought to move there when he was in Congress.

Yes, you read that right. The business of Florida State will be conducted in a foreign country whose interests may not be entirely aligned with Florida's.

The Tampa Bay Times reports that the trip for Florida officials is hosted by a group called Enterprise Florida, a public-private partnership of business leaders and government officials. DeSantis serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors.

This is, of course, a pander to Jewish voters in Florida. It's also a pander to Bibi Netanyahu and his hard-right governnment. And also, it's a bow to dominionists who "support" Israel in order to witness its demise so the Rapture can begin. But mostly, it's ridiculous. There is absolutely no reason on earth for Florida business to be conducted in any foreign country.

Taxpayers, regardless of their religion or ethnicity, should be outraged.

https://crooksandliars.com/2019/04/fl-governor-desantis-announces-cabinet

Renewable Energy Doubles The Cost Of Electricity and Causes Poverty

New Paper: Risk Of Poverty, Lower Incomes, Increased Energy Costs ‘Directly Linked With Renewable Energies’

By Kenneth Richard on 8. April 2019

An empirical analysis using 2005-2015 data from 15 EU countries indicates that as more renewable energies (i.e., solar PV) are deployed, energy costs increase, household poverty risks rise, and incomes decline.

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/renewable-energy-doubles-the-cost-of-electricity-and-causes-poverty/

Three Men Convicted of Running Sex Trafficking Ring

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/three-men-convicted-running-sex-trafficking-ring

Uber Files For IPO, Discloses $12 Billion In Losses Since 2014

Ahead of the start of its investor roadshow on April 29 (and plans to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange on May 10), Uber has issued its first public filing, providing details on the financials of the ride-hailing app.

The decade-old US car-booking company is aiming to raise $10bn and recently told holders of its convertible debt that it could be valued at $90bn to $100bn, according to people familiar with the matter. It was last valued at $76bn in a private fundraising in August.

Uber's 2018 revenues were $11.27 billion

United States and Canada: $6.15 billion

Latin America: $2 billion

Europe, Middle East and Africa: $1.72 billion

Asia Pacific: $1.03 billion

And theoretically, the firm made almost $1 billion in 2018…

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-04-11/uber-issues-first-public-filing-ahead-ipo-3-billion-2018-operating-loss

What Happened to Julian Assange’s Dead Man’s Switch for the WikiLeaks Insurance Files?

Sudanese spill into Khartoum’s streets cheering news of president’s resignation

Thousands of the Sudanese citizens have filled the streets of the Sudanese capital, Khartoum, celebrating the apparent ouster of President Omar al-Bashir and the military seizing control. The Al Jazeera TV channel reported on Thursday that military vehicles are deployed near the Presidential palace.

Arab TV channels show crowds of people in the streets of Khartoum, many waving national flags, and chanting in support of the army, shouting that the "regime has fallen".

People have gathered near army headquarters and the presidential palace, they also have been marching or driving to the center of the city. Clashes or unrest have not been reported. There are posts emerging on social media of isolated incidents and localized shootings, but they haven’t been officially confirmed.

At the same time, both TV and social media say that there are no police units in Khartoum, soldiers are patrolling the city, and armored vehicles have been rolling through the captial’s streets. Main roads in the city are also being monitored by the military under army transport supervision. The military has taken control of TV and radio broadcasting stations, and the Khartoum international airport has been closed.

Army arrests

According to the Dubai-based Al-Hadath TV channel, both incumbent and former top Sudanese officials from the entourage of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir have been arrested, such as head of the Republican Guard and former Defense Minister Abdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein, leader of the ruling National Congress party Ahmed Haroun, as well as former First Vice President Ali Osman Taha.

Earlier reports stated that the Military Council of Sudan was making arrangements to assume power in the country for a year. According to the officially unconfirmed reports emerging from the country, the Sudanese military has staged a coup d’etat to oust President Omar al-Bashir from power, completely abolishing his authority. A statement from the military is expected to be aired by state TV and radio stations shortly. Some time ago, a closed-door meeting of the Sudanese Chief of Staff office began in Khartoum without the president.

There are no accurate reports on the whereabouts of President Omar al-Bashir. According to some reports, he has been placed under house arrest by the military who have pulled off this coup d’etat. Other reports said that he had fled the country. At the same time, the Al-Hadath TV channel stated that his jet was grounded on Wednesday morning when the president tried to flee Sudan and find refuge in a neighboring country.

http://tass.com/world/1053215