James Clapper Deflects on AG Barr’s Spygate Probe: We’re “Losing Sight” of Russian Interference – Accuses Bill Barr of Playing Politics

On Monday Attorney General Bill Barr assigned top special prosecutor John Durham to investigate the origins of the Russia probe.

John Durham, a US Attorney in Connecticut, will examine the origins of Spygate according to a new report by The New York Times, citing two sources familiar with the matter.

As Cristina Laila reported, Mr. Durham, who was nominated by President Trump in 2017, has a history of investigating potential wrongdoing among National Security officials, reported the NY Times.

HYSTERIA IS SPREADING IN THE DEEP STATE–

Former Deputy Assistant US Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel John Yoo told Laura Ingraham last night that Democrats should be quite worried.

On Tuesday morning former DNI under Obama James Clapper joined CNN to discuss this new investigation of the deep state investigators.

Clapper deflected and played stupid.

Via Mediaite:

“There is a substantial investigation, which as I understand it, is nearing completion, being conducted by the Justice Department Inspector General,” Clapper said. “I’d wait for the outcome of that to determine if there needs to be more investigations.”

Clapper went on to say “we’re kind of losing sight” of the fact that the investigation was caused by Russia’s interfere with American political institutions and their attempts to engage with President Donald Trump‘s 2016 campaign. Clapper said that the focus at the time was in figuring out what the Russians were doing, but now, “the message I almost take away from this is, ‘well, we should have ignored that.’”

In April former top spy James Clapper said Bill Barr’s accusations of spying was “stunning and scary” – Last week Clapper admitted it was true.

Clapper also accused Bill Barr of playing politics.

"You have to wonder about that," says former CIA chief James Clapper on whether or not AG Barr opened a probe into the origins of the Mueller Report for political reasons. "This obviously complies with a long-standing request of Pres. Trump that the investigators be investigated" pic.twitter.com/5yrXNVylb5

— CNN Newsroom (@CNNnewsroom) May 14, 2019

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/05/james-clapper-deflects-on-ag-barrs-spygate-probe-were-losing-sight-of-russian-interference-accuses-bill-barr-of-playing-politics-video/

NATO ally Spain pulls warship from US strike group ‘to avoid being dragged into conflict with Iran’

Spain has withdrawn a frigate which was part of a US combat group traveling to the Persian Gulf to ‘send a message’ to Iran. Madrid has signaled that the operation falls outside of its military commitments as a NATO member.

Acting Defense Minister Margarita Robles ordered the Spanish warship Mendez Nunez to break off from the armada, led by the USS Abraham Lincoln, El Pais reported Tuesday. According to the Spanish newspaper, the decision was made in order to “avoid being involuntarily dragged into any kind of conflict with Iran.”

With 215 sailors on board, the Nunez is the only non-US ship present in the strike group currently on its way to the Persian Gulf. The Spanish frigate was enlisted to tag along with the US warships more than a year ago, in hopes of improving training and logistics with Madrid’s trans-Atlantic ally. The operation was originally slated to last six months, from the end of April to October 31, when the Nunez was due to set anchor in San Diego, California.

The decision to withdraw from the strike group means that the Nunez will continue to operate in the region, but without entering the Persian Gulf. The Spanish frigate plans to rejoin the US fleet when (or if) it leaves the Gulf and continues on its planned route. The strike group entered the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Yemen, on Tuesday.

Last week, Robles stated that in relation to tensions between the US and Iran, “Spain’s commitment is to the European Union and international organizations, and from there we will always adopt our common positions.” She also stressed that Spain is a “serious and trustworthy partner” but that its military is only bound to agreements made with the EU and NATO.

https://www.rt.com/news/459292-spanish-navy-iran-us-strike/

Did The US Just Lose The Trade War?

Did the US just lose the trade war? It seems like a ludicrous question to ask at this time as the US just raised tariffs on China to increase pressure on the negotiation process. The accepted conventional wisdom is that the US has the stronger hand to play as China would suffer more from tariffs than the US. That sounds good on paper, but is that really true in a three dimensional world with moving parts and conflicting timelines?

In many a fight match up the audience can get a sense of shift in momentum during a fight and as this trade war just shifted gears I can’t help but wonder if the momentum has shifted in China’s favor.

Let’s start with the reason for the sudden tariffs. Those came about because the US side was surprised, surprised by China’s apparent withdrawal from previous commitments. At least that’s the public narrative that is spun. Unless you’re in the negotiation yourself it’s hard to know. Fact is Trump, Kudlow and team led the world believe that a trade deal was imminent. It wasn’t. This move to escalate was not planned, it happened because team Trump realized they couldn’t get the deal they wanted or expected.

Being surprised and being forced to be reactive to escalate does not indicate a position of strength, but rather a position of weakness. And by reacting with tariffs Team Trump may have actually weakened their own position. Why? Because of inflation, time, and pain.

Let’s start with inflation: Despite Donald Trump’s repeated claims that China will pay the tariffs it simply is not so. US businesses and consumers are paying for tariffs which causes consumer inflation on the one hand and margin compression on the other, and perhaps a mix of both depending on what can be passed on.

But conceptually it’s literally shooting yourself in the foot.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-14/did-us-just-lose-trade-war

WhatsApp claims spyware attack has ‘all hallmarks’ of Israeli company that aides govt surveillance

A WhatsApp spyware attack that targeted human rights activists has clear links to a company known to help governments snoop, the messaging app firm said in a statement. Israeli firm NSO is accused of being behind the exploit.

Several human rights lawyers and campaigners were targeted by the spyware, known as Pegasus. Attackers installed Pegasus on target users’ phones through WhatsApp’s call function, according to the company. Incredibly, users did not even have to answer the call to become infected. Once installed, the malicious program can turn on a target’s microphone and camera at will, peruse emails and texts, and track the user’s location – all without the target’s knowledge.

Coincidentally, one UK-based attorney targeted by the spyware is currently involved in a lawsuit against NSO Group – the Israeli company which developed the software.

The Israeli firm claims that the technology is only used by law enforcement and intelligence agencies, and that it would not use its own technology to target individuals.

WhatsApp, however, said that the targeted attack pointed to a private firm that matches NSO’s description.

“The attack has all the hallmarks of a private company reportedly that works with governments to deliver spyware that takes over the functions of mobile phone operating systems,” the company said in a statement.

“We have briefed a number of human rights organizations to share the information we can and to work with them to notify civil society.”

WhatsApp claims it has worked “around the clock” to develop a patch to protect users from the exploit, finally releasing the fix on Monday.

Human rights group Amnesty International has launched legal action to stop NSO Group from selling its spyware, claiming that Pegasus has been “linked to attacks on activists and journalists in Saudi Arabia, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates.”

https://www.rt.com/news/459322-whatsapp-israel-govt-spyware/

WATCH: Woman Tells Cop ‘I’m Pregnant’ Before He Shoots Her 5 Times, Killing Her

Houston, TX — A tragedy unfolded Monday night in Houston, Texas when a Baytown police officer approached a woman, identified by her family as 44-year-old Pamela Turner, and killed her. Turner’s last words before she was shot five times by the officer were “I’m pregnant.”

Turner was reportedly struggling with mental illness, however, her neighbors and family said she was peaceful and kept to herself, which is why the video of the incident has family members claiming that this shooting was unjustified.

Family members say the woman is Pamela Turner, 44, and she lived alone at the apartment complex. They say the shooting was unjustified. @KPRC2 #kprc2 https://t.co/IN5qVDR2l0

— KPRC Cathy Hernandez (@KPRC2Cathy) May 14, 2019

According to police, an officer approached Turner because she allegedly had outstanding warrants.

“Baytown Police Lt. Steve Dorris said an officer on patrol saw a 45-year-old woman the officer had had prior encounters with,” CBS News reported. “He knew the woman had outstanding warrants, so he approached her to arrest her.”

Her family says that Turner was on medication for schizophrenia and had a history of mental illness.

Despite the officer claiming he had a “history” with Turner, he clearly didn’t attempt to de-escalate the situation when she tried to walk away from him. And, he used dangerous escalation tactics on a person suffering from schizophrenia—which is always a terrible idea.

“I’m walking. I’m actually walking to my house,” Turner is heard saying on the video before the officer began to physically accost her. “Ow!” she screams as he grabs her neck.

“You’re actually harassing me,” Turner says as the officer pulls out his taser.

According to police, when Turner tried to walk away—otherwise known as “resisting” to them—the officer pulled out his taser and shocked her.

Clearly this did nothing to help resolve the situation and only made Turner enter into an excited and panicked state, so she tried to defend herself from her attacker by grabbing at the taser. When she was able to remove the taser from the officer’s hand, he pulled his gun and shot her five times.

The last words to leave her mouth before the cop opened fire were, “I’m pregnant.”

“During the course of the attempted arrest, the female began struggling with the officer, which forced the officer to deploy his Taser,” Baytown Police Department Lt. Steve Dorris said. “That deployment was not effective, and the female was able to get the officer’s Taser away from him. (She) actually tased the officer, which forced the officer to draw his duty weapon and fire multiple rounds at the suspect.”

While police claim Turner tasered the officer, this is not clear in the video. Also, police noted that the officer was not injured. Sadly, we cannot say the same about Turner.

Witnesses told KPRC that Turner was “not a bad person” and she would “just walk around, smoke her cigarettes and walk her dogs.”

This is what she was doing when the officer approached her and ended her life.

“Turner’s sister, Antoinette, said the woman has two children, both in their 20s, and three grandchildren. Antoinette also said the officer was Turner’s neighbor and she had previously complained about the officer harassing her,” KPRC wrote. “Turner was on medication for schizophrenia, Antoinette said.”

Dorris told the media that it was unfortunate that someone filmed the incident and uploaded it to social media.

“It’s extremely disrespectful for everybody involved,” Dorris told CBS News. “But that’s the day and age we live in with social media.”

However, the family likely disagrees as it shows that the shooting was likely unnecessary and will serve as evidence in a case against the killer cop.

https://thefreethoughtproject.com/houston-cop-kills-pregnant-woman/

Putin says wants to 'fully restore' Russia-US ties

DETAILS TO FOLLOW

https://www.rt.com/news/459345-putin-says-wants-restore-ties-us/

‘Fake news’: Trump says not considering 120,000 troops for ‘Iran threat’

President Donald Trump denied that the military was preparing to send 120,000 US troops overseas to address an alleged threat from Iran, as was previously reported by the New York Times.

While the president denied that there were any plans to send additional ground troops, he said he would not rule out that option, adding that he would send more than the 120,000 claimed by the Times in a report Monday.

“I think it's fake news, OK?” President Trump told the press at the White House Tuesday. “Now, would I do that? Absolutely. But we have not planned for that. Hopefully we're not going to have to plan for that. And if we did that, we'd send a hell of a lot more troops than that."

The White House last week accused Iran of planning an attack on US interests or allies in the Middle East, but offered little detail about the threat. The dire warnings were followed by a US military buildup in the Persian Gulf, fielding a number of warships and heavy bombers into the region. That would “send a clear and unmistakable message” to Iran, US National Security Advisor John Bolton said.

Ground troops are also part of that buildup. One of the recent deployments, an amphibious ready group headed by the USS Kearsarge, brought several thousand Marines into the fray, in addition to a Patriot missile battery.

https://www.rt.com/usa/459338-trump-not-sending-120000-troops/

Facebook bans Italian populist pages ahead of EU elections

The social media giant Facebook has banned 23 noteworthy Italian populist pages with 2.5 million followers just two weeks ahead of the highly anticipated European elections.

The vast majority of the 23 pages that were banned supported Italy’s currently governing coalition made up right and left wing populist parties La Lega (The League) and the 5-Star Movement (MS5), Italy’s La Stampa reports.

Facebooks cited ‘hate speech’ and ‘divisive content’ regarding vaccines, immigrants, and Jewish people as justification for the drastic move.

Apparently, the tech giant’s decision to ban these pages was informed by a report which was created by a leftist NGO by the name of Avaaz, which claims to focus on environmental campaigns and what they regard as ‘human rights’.

A spokesperson from Facebook commented, saying, “We thank Avaaz for sharing its research so we could investigate…We are committed to protecting the integrity of the EU elections and around the world. We have removed a series of false and duplicate accounts that violated our policies on the subject of authenticity, as well as several pages for violation of the policy on changing the name.”

“We have also taken action against some pages that have repeatedly spread misinformation. We will take further measures if we find other violations,” the spokesperson added.

In Avaaz’s report, which was presented to Facebook earlier this month, the NGO claimed that it had discovered 14 Italian networks operating on social media platform which included 104 pages, 6 groups, with a reach of more than 18.2 million individual users.

Of these networks, actions taken by Facebook this week targeted 23 of its pages – totaling nearly 2.45 million individual users and 2.44 million interactions over the past three months.

On top of this, Facebook has also apparently ‘weakened’ pages that it has arbitrarily deemed to be spreading content containing ‘fake news’ – presumably limiting their visibility to Facebook users.

Facebook asserts that its primary motivation for banning these pages was that the page creators had initially chosen page themes which didn’t cite any involvement with political parties or movements, but which had later switched the themes.

Included among the banned pages are ‘Lega Salvini Premier Santa Teresa of Riva’, ‘We want the 5-Star Movement in government’, which had 129,000 followers and nearly 700,000 interactions in just three months, ‘Lega Salvini Sulmona’ — which had 307,000 followers – ‘We Are 5 Stars’, as well as ‘Beppe Grillo for President’.

Facebook’s most recent efforts in Italy to influence this May’s European elections are only the tip of the iceberg, according to Italian media.

Earlier this month, Facebook opened up a ‘war room’ in Dublin, Ireland with 40 teams of full-time engineers, researchers, threat specialists, scientists, and experts for each country who devote their efforts to the European electoral campaign, according to the Italian La Repubblica.

Apparently, there are 500 individuals working on the elections, with the help of 21 so-called ‘fact checkers’, working in 14 different languages

https://voiceofeurope.com/2019/05/facebook-bans-italian-populist-pages-ahead-of-eu-elections/

>>6497194

Mossad/C_A mouth piece pushing war for Israel's benefit

This is true WW

Progressive-Left Teaching Methods Behind Surging Discipline Problems in UK Schools — Govt Expert

‘Child-centred’ teaching methods championed by the progressive-left have been “maximising misbehaviour”in UK schools, the Department for Education’s (DfE) behaviour tsar has warned.

Tom Bennett, who has been appointed by the government to lead a taskforce into behaviour problems at British schools, said traditional methods of education such as having a teacher stand in front of the class to impart information have been phased out, while bad behaviour in the classroom has gone unchallenged.

Progressive-left pedagogy has seen tried and tested teaching methods — derided by figures such as former PM Tony Blair’s education advisor Sir Michael Barber as “chalk and talk” — gradually replaced by ‘child-centred’ learning approaches which encourage children to learn from doing ‘group work’ and other activities with their peers, with the idea that knowledge is mainly acquired through exploration and osmosis.

“There was a massive assumption that children would behave if you simply planned lessons correctly, if you allowed them to do lots of independent work, project work, group work and so on, and that these teaching methods would create great behaviour,” he told The Telegraph this weekend.

“I think that the failure of these methods to automatically create great behaviour has resulted in a lot of people in the education system pretending behaviour wasn’t an issue.

“Progressivism rests on the idea that children want to behave and they want to learn, the teacher needs to step back and allow the child to explore their natural curiosity, which will motivate them and keep them engaged,” he added.

https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/05/14/left-education-discipline-uk-schools/

! year delta

US Stands Ready to Find Common Ground With Russia - Pompeo

At the press conference following the bilateral meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told journalists that he and his US counterpart Mike Pompeo have agreed the need to resume communication channels between the two countries.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has expressed hope that despite the disagreement, the US and Russia can continue a dialogue on Venezuela.

"Despite our disagreements, we will keep talking. I hope we can find a way forward that ends the humanitarian and political crisis that is happening. On this we both agree", Pompeo told reporters in Sochi.

The US top diplomat continued by saying that during the talks, he had urged Russia to end its support for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, but his call was flatly rejected by Moscow.

"The time has come for Nicolas Maduro to go, he has brought nothing but misery to the Venezuelan people, and we hope that Russian support for Maduro will end", Pompeo told a joint news conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The statements come after Pompeo arrived in the Russian resort city of Sochi earlier in the day. He is expected to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin after talks with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. Ahead of the talks, the top diplomat noted that he went to Sochi because US President Donald Trump was committed to improving relations with Russia.

https://sputniknews.com/world/201905141075004204-us-russia-pompeo-lavrov/

Ayatollah Khamenei rules out possibility of war with US despite tensions

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei rules out the possibility of war between the United States and Iran despite heightened tensions between the two sides, saying Washington knows engaging in such a conflict would not be in its interest.

Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks on Tuesday in Tehran, meeting with the heads of the country’s executive, judiciary, and legislative branches as well as other senior officials, parliamentarians, and important figures in the country’s political, social, and cultural spheres.

The Leader further said any confrontation between the US and Iran would not be “a military one,” and that “there was not going to be any war.”

“The Iranian nation’s definite option will be resistance in the face of the US, and in this confrontation, the US would be forced into a retreat,” Ayatollah Khamenei said. “Neither we nor they, who know war will not be in their interest, are after war.”

Ayatollah Khamenei further explained that the confrontation between the two sides is “a clash of wills,” asserting that Iran would be the ultimate victor of this battle.

The Leader ruled out any negotiation with the US as long as Washington sticks with its hostile approach against the Islamic Republic, saying Washington would be attempting to undermine Iran’s “points of strength,” such as its defensive power or its strategic regional influence, in any such interaction.

As an example, Ayatollah Khamenei said, “They (Americans) say we should negotiate over your (Iran’s) defensive weapons, [questioning] why do you build [for instance] a missile with a given range. Reduce the range [of your missiles, they say,] so you would not be able to hit our bases!”

The Leader further played down Washington’s highly belligerent rhetoric against Iran, saying its real capability did not match its loud bluster, and that it “needs to engage in [such bluster].”

Ayatollah Khamenei said Washington gives priority to Israel’s interests over the benefits of all others, adding, “The control of many affairs rests in the hands of the Zionist society.”

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/05/14/595941/Iran-Leader

The Media’s Shameful Handling of Bolton’s Iran Threat Claims Recalls the Run-up to the Iraq War

Media-savvy U.S. government officials, political operatives, and lawmakers and their staffs from all political parties and ideological persuasions have no doubt, throughout the history of our great country, duped a fair-minded but unwitting reporter into writing a juicy story in order to get a piece of information into the public bloodstream without their fingerprints on it.

This is, in large part, how the Bush administration sold the U.S. invasion of Iraq to the American people: Feeding knowingly bogus or unsubstantiated intelligence on Iraq’s (nonexistent) WMD programs to reporters, who then published it as fact, without much in the way of critical scrutiny.

Despite the lessons we’ve learned from that debacle, it’s happening again with regard to the Trump administration’s march toward war with Iran.

In one now infamous incident during the months leading up to the start of the Iraq war, then-Vice President Dick Cheney went on NBC’s Meet the Press and issued a dire warning. Saddam Hussein was trying “through his illicit procurement network, to acquire the equipment he needs to be able to enrich uranium to make the bombs. … specifically aluminum tubes.”

But Cheney made sure to point out that he wasn’t just making this assertion out of thin air (or passing on classified material), but that, in fact, the claim came from the paper of record, The New York Times.

The Times story was even the catalyst for then-National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice’s infamous assertion: “We don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.”

https://lobelog.com/the-medias-shameful-handling-of-boltons-iran-threat-claims-recalls-the-run-up-to-the-iraq-war/

Zionist gateway pundit pushing war for Israel despite what Ayatollah Khamenei said>>6497372