How is this not colluding with America’s enemies?

Imagine, for a moment, what the political reaction would be if a leading Republican senator met with an antagonistic foreign power, say Russia, in the midst of high-tension standoff between President Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin?

Such a scenario seems nearly ­inconceivable. Yet, it’s exactly the situation Sen. Dianne Feinstein created when hosting Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif for dinner a few weeks ago.

Politico reported on the meeting, noting that it was “a bit unusual” for a former chair of the Intelligence Committee and a member of the Senate minority to dine out with the acting foreign minister of an adversary of the United States. And by “unusual,” Politico meant completely unprecedented.

Actually, my imaginary set-up doesn’t really do the Feinstein dinner justice. Iran isn’t merely a rival of the United States — like, say, Russia — but a violent and active enemy. Like Russia, Iran has long been hacking into US institutions. But the Islamic regime, according to the past two administrations, is also responsible for the death of hundreds of American service members in Iraq.

Add to that the fact that the ruling mullahs have not only undermined US interests by attacking and threatening our allies through their proxies in Lebanon, Yemen and elsewhere, but they’ve funded terror groups like Hamas, which is directly responsible for the murder of American citizens.

Feinstein isn’t merely just any senator, either. She is one of the leading proponents of reinstituting the Obama administration’s failed Iran deal. Only recently the California senator blamed the Trump ­administration, rather than Iranian mullahs who’ve spent years taking Americans hostages and threatening our friends, of “increasing the chances of an unnecessary military conflict with Iran.”

Well, President Trump — not to mention nearly every GOP member of the majority in the Senate — has supported withdrawing from (or renegotiating) the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. And so he did.

https://nypost.com/2019/05/23/how-is-this-not-colluding-with-americas-enemies/

Sara Carter: Pay Attention To The Unmaskings

As President Trump ordered the intelligence community and others to fully cooperate with DOJ Attorney General William Barr in his investigation into the FBI’s probe of the 2016 presidential election, a key piece of evidence may reside in the early unmasking of Americans private communications, according to Sara Carter.

Carter pointed this out in her appearance Thursday night on Hannity, with guest host Dan Bongino.

Carter noted former UN Ambassador Samantha Power who unmasked nearly 300 people. These names will surprise Americans if they were to be made public, according to Carter.

Earlier, Carter reported on this news site that Trump’s order requires full cooperation from the intelligence community. “The review will be expansive,” Carter wrote.

Additionally, Carter said exculpatory evidence related to Trump campaign advisors Carter Page and George Papadopoulos will come to the surface.

https://saraacarter.com/sara-carter-pay-attention-to-the-unmaskings/

50 children have been rescued and nine people arrested after an Interpol investigation into an international child abuse ring

Fifty children have been rescued and nine people arrested after an Interpol investigation into an international paedophile ring.

The arrests were made in Thailand, Australia and the US and more are expected, Interpol said.

The investigation began in 2017 and focused on a hidden "dark web" site with 63,000 users worldwide.

Police believe 100 more children have suffered abuse and are working to identify them.

Operation Blackwrist was launched by Interpol after it detected images showing 11 boys aged under 13 being abused on a site where people can use encrypted software to maintain secrecy.

The dark net is an internet area beyond the reach of mainstream search engines.

The US Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) department traced the IP address of the website, which was hosting photos and videos of abuse.

Police say the abusers uploaded new images on a weekly basis and often masked the children's faces to make it harder for investigators to identify them.

The first arrests came last year, when the site's main administrator, Montri Salangam, was detained in Thailand, and another administrator, Ruecha Tokputza, was caught in Australia.

Salangam, who abused one of his nephews, was sentenced to 146 years in prison in Thailand, while an accomplice, a pre-school teacher, got 36 years.

Tokputza was sentenced to 40 years on Friday after pleading guilty to 51 charges against 11 babies and boys, the heaviest sentence ever handed down in Australia for child sex offences.

Police found thousands of images taken in both Thailand and Australia on his devices. In some of them Tokputza was the main abuser. The youngest victim to be identified was 15 months old.

"You are a child's worst nightmare, you are every parent's horror, you are a menace to the community," Judge Liesl Chapman said in Adelaide.

The identities of the others arrested are yet to be released, but some are residing in the US and held public positions of trust, said Eric McLoughlin, the HSI's regional attache in Bangkok.

http://www.hideoutnow.com/2019/05/50-children-have-been-rescued-and-nine.html

Here’s Exactly Who’s Profiting from the War on Yemen

And how the U.S. could stop weapon sales if it wanted to.

Priyanka Motaparthy, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, arrived at a market in the Yemeni village of Mastaba on March 28, 2016, to find large craters, destroyed buildings, debris, shredded bits of clothing and small pieces of human bodies. Two weeks earlier, a warplane had bombed the market with two guided missiles. A Human Rights Watch (HRW) report says the missiles hit around noon on March 15, killing 97 civilians, including 25 children.

“When the first strike came, the world was full of blood,” Mohammed Yehia Muzayid, a market cleaner, told HRW. “People were all in pieces; their limbs were everywhere. People went flying.” As Muzayid rushed in, he was hit in the face by shrapnel from the second bomb. “There wasn’t more than five minutes between the first and second strike,” he said. “People were taking the injured out, and it hit the wounded and killed them. A plane was circling overhead.”

Saudi Arabia, one of the world’s richest countries, has been bombing Yemen, the fifth-poorest nation in the world, since 2015—with support from the United States. Their mission is to topple the Houthis, an armed political movement that overthrew Yemen’s president, Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi, a Saudi ally, in February 2015. Saudi Arabia (a Sunni monarchy with an oppressed Shiite minority) feared that the Houthi movement in Yemen (who are Zaydis, a Shiite sect) was acting as an arm of its regional foe, Iran, in an effort to take power right across its southern border. While the Houthis have never been controlled by Iran, Iran delivers arms to the movement.

Under President Barack Obama’s administration and, now, President Donald Trump’s, the United States has put its military might behind the Saudi-led coalition, waging a war without congressional authorization. That war has devastated Yemen’s infrastructure, destroyed or damaged more than half of Yemen’s health facilities, killed more than 8,350 civilians, injured another 9,500 civilians, displaced 3.3 million people, and created a humanitarian disaster that threatens the lives of millions as cholera and famine spread through the country.

More

http://inthesetimes.com/features/us-saudi-arabia-yemen-war-arms-sales.html

Bolton’s Plans For A False Flag Op Involving MEK Are Already Underway

The United Arab Emirate’s foreign ministry did not issue details about an attack on four commercial vessels near its territorial waters on 12th May except to describe it as “sabotage operations”. However, with heightened tensions in the Persian Gulf Iran did not wait for allegations of Iranian involvement to take flight in western media and was quick to suggest that an international investigation should be launched.

Tensions increased when the scheduled return of the USS Abraham Lincoln to the Middle East on April 2nd was hyped by John Bolton as a “clear and unmistakable message” to Iran that the USA is ready for confrontation. The significance of Bolton’s wording has not been lost when he said the US would counter any attack [by Iran] with “unrelenting force”. Reporters and analysts were quick to contextualise Bolton’s rant against Iran in the demands of Israeli PM Netanyahu. In this respect, the fears of a false flag op which would be blamed on Iran are clear and present. But concerned observers do not appear to recognise the significance of a visit to the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1st by Albanian President Ilir Meta along with top Albanian military leaders and diplomats.

Why Albania matters

Albania is now home to the Iranian Mojahedin-e Khalq terrorist cult (MEK) and John Bolton has long believed he can use the MEK to facilitate regime change in Iran. One of those ways is to create false flag ops which can be blamed on Iran as a means to provoke a military response. One such event took place in Iraq when it was reported last year, falsely it turned out, that Iran had launched missiles against the US embassy in Baghdad.

In Europe, several unresolved incidents have been blamed on Iran. This author has warned that these are false flag ops meant to destabilise relations between Iran and the EU as well as to provoke Iranian reaction. This activity has now shifted to the Middle East.

https://iranian.com/2019/05/13/boltons-plans-for-a-false-flag-op-involving-mek-are-already-underway/

Lone US senator decries use of Espionage Act against Assange as establishment keeps mum

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) has become a rare voice among the US politicians to denounce the new US indictment of WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange as an encroachment on First Amendment rights.

In a statement on Thursday, hours after Assange was hit with 17 additional charges under the Espionage Act that carry a maximum total sentence of 170 years, Wyden warned that using the draconian legislation to effectively punish Assange for journalistic work might have dangerous implications on the freedom of press in the US.

"This is not about Julian Assange. This is about the use of the Espionage Act to charge a recipient and publisher of classified information. I am extremely concerned about the precedent this may set and potential dangers to the work of journalists and the First Amendment," Wyden said.

Wyden is known as a long-time advocate of privacy and civil liberties in the US legislature. He championed legislation forcing the US government to obtain a warrant before spying on Americans outside the US in 2008 and pushed for a congressional investigation into allegations of abuse and torture of prisoners by the CIA during the Bush administration.

Wyden's take on Assange's work is in stark contrast with that of the Department of Justice, which maintains that Assange "is no journalist." Numerous members of the journalistic community have vented their outrage at the indictment, describing it as an "unprecedented assault" on the First Amendment.

The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has echoed the sentiment, denouncing the charges against the Australian as a "threat to all journalists everywhere."

https://www.rt.com/usa/460127-assange-senator-first-amendment/

Pope Francis: Church Must Learn to Abandon Old ‘Traditions’

It is a mistake for the Church to try to hold onto old traditions or to have clear answers for everything, Pope Francis said Thursday.

Jesus intentionally omitted telling his disciples many things so that the Church would learn to renounce the desire for clarity and order, the pope told participants in the 21st general assembly of Caritas Internationalis, the Church’s global charitable outreach.

When pagans first embraced the Christian faith, the question arose as to if they would have to abide by all the precepts of the Jewish law, something Jesus never spoke of, the pope noted.

By not always giving “clear rules” that would quickly resolve issues, Jesus was protecting the Church from the temptation of “efficientism,” Francis said, which is the desire for the Church to have everything under control, avoiding surprises, with its agenda always in order.

This is not the way the Lord acts, he continued. He does not send answers from heaven. “He sends the Holy Spirit.”

“Jesus does not want the church to be a perfect model, satisfied with its own organization and able to defend its good name,” he said. “Jesus did not live like this, but on a journey, without fearing the upheavals of life.”

Living like Jesus demands the “courage of renunciation,” the pontiff said, a willingness to abandon traditions that are dear to us.

Changing and adapting is not about imposing something new, he said, “but leaving aside something old.”

Those early Christians had to learn to leave behind “important religious traditions and precepts, dear to the chosen people,” he said, by which their very “religious identity” was at stake.

In the end, they did not need a bunch of doctrines and traditions. but the simple announcement that “God is love,” Francis said, and in the face of this great truth, “even convictions and human traditions can and must be abandoned, since they are more of an obstacle than a help.”

“God often purifies, simplifies, and makes us grow by taking away, not by adding, as we might do,” he said.

“True faith cleanses from attachments,” he said. “As a church, we are not called to corporate compromises, but to evangelical enterprise.”

Critics of the pope have often complained that he intentionally sows “ambiguity,” and the pontiff’s words Thursday would seem to suggest that he owns this criticism as a badge of honor because he sees a desire for doctrinal clarity as anti-evangelical.

Francis famously refused to answer four cardinals who presented him with five questions or “dubia” to clarify certain purportedly unclear teachings in his 2016 teaching letter, Amoris Laetitia (The Joy of Love).

In 2017, the former doctrinal chief of the U.S. Bishops Conference (USCCB) wrote a powerful letter to the pope, criticizing his “intentionally ambiguous” teaching, derision of conservatives, and resistance to constructive criticism.

The Capuchin priest, Father Thomas Weinandy, whom Pope Francis himself named to the Vatican’s International Theological Commission in 2014, listed five points that illustrate the “chronic confusion” that seems to characterize the Francis pontificate, namely, intentional ambiguity, disdain for doctrine, the naming of heterodox bishops, sowing division in the Church, and vindictiveness in the face of criticism.

The Pope’s guidance “at times seems intentionally ambiguous,” the theologian stated, leaving the faithful confused and spiritually adrift. “To teach with such a seemingly intentional lack of clarity inevitably risks sinning against the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth,” the priest said.

While the pope accuses his critics of making doctrine into an ideology, “it is precisely Christian doctrine that frees people from worldly ideologies and assures that they are actually preaching and teaching the authentic, life-giving Gospel,” Weinandy said.

Other observers have attributed the Pope’s habitual vagueness to his training in the Jesuit order.

“For those unfamiliar with Jesuits,” wrote Dominic Lynch in The Federalist, “vague and porous doctrine is almost their raison d’être. Indeed, it is so baked into the order that finding a conservative Jesuit is more difficult than finding a liberal in West Texas.”

https://www.breitbart.com/faith/2019/05/23/pope-francis-church-must-learn-abandon-old-traditions/

Turkish Army Pullout Will Bring Peace to Northern Syria?

In mid-January 2018, the Turkish General Staff announced the beginning of Olive Branch Operation. The goal was to oust the Kurds from the outskirts of Afrin, as well as to create a buffer zone along the Syrian-Turkish border.

These steps were sharply criticized by the world community, but Ankara hastened to declare that the presence of its troops in Syria was temporary.

Erdogan promised to return these territories to Syrians. Indeed, the fighting stopped on March 20 2018, after capturing Afrin when several hundred Kurds were killed and wounded. However, now it looks like Turkey is not going to leave the occupied territory.

Kurdistan 24 TV channel recently published information that the Ankara government is building a concrete wall around the city of Afrin to isolate it from its surroundings.

“Sources on the ground in Afrin see this as another step of Turkey’s annexation of Afrin into its borders,” said Mutlu Çiviroğlu, a Syria and Kurdish affairs analyst.

Though several locals support Turkish activity, it doesn’t bring peace and stability to the region. Just remember the events of the last year.

First of all, let’s notice the terrorist attacks in Afrin that have been carried out against the Turkish Forces and Free Syrian Army (FSA) units. Among biggest attacks, the car bomb explosion in front of Ahrar al-Sharqiya headquarters is often mentioned. An investigation was initiated, but the responsible parties were never found. That demonstrates the support of the residence to the Kurdistan Workers’ Party.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/turkish-army-pullout-bring-peace-northern-syria/5678263

A Retired NYPD Officer Pleads Guilty to Running a Prostitution Ring

A former New York detective has pleaded guilty to running a major prostitution and gambling ring.

As Reason previously reported, several current and former New York Police Department (NYPD) officers were involved in the operation. Seven current members—three sergeants, two detectives, and two police officers—were arrested and stripped of their badges. The leaders of the operation were retired NYPD detective Ludwig Paz and his wife, Arelis Peralta, who is a former prostitute.

On Tuesday, both Paz and Peralta pleaded guilty. Paz also pleaded to attempted enterprise corruption and promoting prostitution, and he forfeited $20,840 in profits. Following his sentencing in June, he could possibly spend up to 12 years in prison. Peralta pleaded to corruption and was sentenced to spend less than a year in jail.

With allies on the force—and with an intimate knowledge of NYPD procedures—the police brothel survived for at least four years, and perhaps nearly a decade. And it thrived: A three-year Internal Affairs Bureau probe found that the operation brought in $2 million in a single year.

At times, prostitutes provided sex and massages to NYPD officers as a reward for their work on the streets.

Bonus links: Paz is not the first NYPD officer to run a prostitution ring. Reason's Elizabeth Nolan Brown has done extensive research on officers who have either solicited prostitution or ran their own operations.

http://www.cuzzblue.com/2019/05/a-retired-nypd-officer-pleads-guilty-to.html

New money laundering case against Pyotr Poroshenko registered in Ukraine

Earlier, the SBI launched a probe containing charges Poroshenko was responsible for high treason in connection with the Kerch Strait incident

KIEV, May 24. /TASS/. A statement containing charges of money laundering and legalizing assets in the process of acquisition of Ukraine’s television channel Pryamoi has been registered by the State Bureau of Investigation, lawyer Andrei Portnov, who under President Viktor Yanukovich held the position of deputy chief of his staff, said on Friday.

"I have registered at the State Bureau of Investigation a third statement over money laundering, legalization of illegal incomes and tax evasion by the former president, Poroshenko, who together with an organized criminal group took over the television channel Pryamoi by registering it in the name of an offshore company fictitiously owned by a former member of the Party of Regions, Vladimir Makeyenko," Portnov said in his telegram-channel.

Also, he added the SBI registered a criminal case and launched an investigation into Poroshenko’s legalization of criminal incomes in offshore manipulations $300 million worth in a deal to sell a Poroshenko-owned shipyard in Kiev. Portnov filed a corresponding statement on Thursday.

Earlier, the SBI launched a probe on the basis of Portnov’s statement containing charges Poroshenko was responsible for high treason in connection with the Kerch Strait incident. Two days ago a special anti-corruption group opened a criminal case against the former president and a group of senior official over abuse of office. The statement says that Poroshenko coordinated distribution of key posts in the management bodies and the observer council of Ukraine’s electric power utility Tsentrenergo with the aim of embezzling the funds of this company in which the state held the controlling stake.

http://tass.com/world/1059993

Be aware!

Bombshell Report Reveals British Govt Stages 'Muslim' Responses to Terrorist Attacks

"We're sending you 100 imams."

The British government staged the "Muslim" response to the 2017 Islamic London Bridge terrorist attack all the way down to the hashtags pushed on social media so that the public would focus on a "sense of unity with strangers" rather than "reacting with violence or anger," according to a bombshell new report from the London-based Middle East Eye.

After the 2017 attack at the London Bridge, video went viral showing police guiding a group of Muslims before the media's TV cameras as they presented slick signs saying "#TurnToLove," "#LoveWillWin," "#ISISWillLose," and so on.

http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=60252

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>>6579801

The British government working with Breakthrough Media also appears to have stage-managed the response to an anti-Muslim attack carried out by lone attacker Darren Osborne who carried out a truck attack against Muslims near a mosque in Finsbury Park in June 2017.

The 'hero' of Finsbury Park

A week later, in the early hours of Monday morning, an Islamophobic lone attacker, Darren Osborne, drove his van into a group of men near a mosque at Finsbury Park, north London.

A number of young men restrained Osborne, and protected him from attack by others. A little while later they were joined by Mohammed Mahmoud, the mosque’s imam.

By the following morning, the hashtag #WeStandTogether was running across Twitter, after initially being promoted by police and police commanders.

As journalists gathered at the police cordon, a number were approached by a woman who called herself Gabbie, and explained that she worked for a company called Horizon PR.

What “Gabbie” did not say is that “Horizon PR” had been created by Breakthrough Media and another communications company, M&C Saatchi PR UK, and that Breakthrough has used it to promote the messaging it creates – and disseminates through co-operating civil society groups – under the terms of its contract with RICU.

A number of journalists have told MEE that “Gabbie” offered to introduce them to a man standing nearby. This man explained that his name was Shaukat Warraich and that he was from an organisation called Faith Associates.

Warraich stressed to the journalists the role that the mosque’s imam had played in protecting Osborne until he could be handed over to police. This came to dominate news reports in the days after the attack.

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==

Congress Seeks to Stop Feds From Releasing Convicted Terrorists From Prison Early for Good Behavior==

Congress aims to stop U.S. from freeing terrorists with American Taliban Lindh set for release

Congress is seeking to prevent the federal government from releasing Americans convicted of terrorism from being released from prison for good behavior, legislation that comes in reaction to the recent release of American Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh, who was let out of prison after serving 17 years of a 20-year sentence.

The release of Lindh from prison for good behavior has riled GOP national security hawks in Congress and now prompted Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) and Republican allies to spearhead legislation to bar anyone convicted of terrorism charges from ever being released from prison for good behavior.

Lindh is one of several Americans who have been sentenced to prison on terrorism-related charges in the years since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. If passed, Cotton's bill would ensure that no other imprisoned terrorist ever gets released early.

"Our safety depends on keeping dangerous terrorists where they can't harm Americans, but right now even unrepentant terrorists are eligible for early release from prison, sometimes for so-called ‘good behavior,'" Cotton said in a statement announcing the legislation, which has already garnered support from Sen. Richard Shelby (R., Ala.). "Supporting radical Islamist groups like ISIS is savage behavior, not good behavior. Our bill would make convicted terrorists ineligible for early release."

A companion version of Cotton's bill has been introduced in the House by Rep. Bradley Byrne (R., Ala.).

"A convicted terrorist walking free before his sentence is completed should never happen again," Byrne said in a statement.

Byrne said that he has backed the legislation after requests from the Spann family, who's son Johnny was the first American killed in combat in the Afghanistan war, when Lindh and other militant prisoners staged an uprising at the prison in which they were being detained.

"The Spann family asked me to address this injustice, and I want to make sure no other family has to go through what the they have been through. The No Leniency for Terrorists Act will prevent terrorists from taking advantage of our laws to avoid paying their debt to society. We must ensure that terrorist will remain behind bars where they belong."

Spann's father, also called Johnny, called Lindh's release outrageous in recent interviews.

"It's not a slap in the face to me, it's a knife in the back," he was quoted as saying.

Lindh, while serving his prison terms, was unrepentant about supporting foreign terror organizations, writing as recently as 2015 that the ISIS terror faction was "doing a spectacular job."

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/congress-seeks-to-stop-feds-from-releasing-convicted-terrorists-from-prison-early-for-good-behavior/

Tulsi Gabbard: War With Iran 'Better Serves The Interests' of 'Netanyahu and Saudi Arabia' Than U.S.

Democratic 2020 presidential candidate Rep Tulsi Gabbard spoke out against launching a war with Iran on Tucker Carlson's show Thursday and warned the consequences could be "devastating" for America.

From Fox News:

"I know where this path leads us and I'm concerned because the American people don't seem to be prepared for how devastating and costly such a war would be," Gabbard said Thursday during an appearance on Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight."

[…] "So, what we are facing is, essentially, a war that has no frontlines, total chaos, engulfs the whole region, is not contained within Iran or Iraq but would extend to Syria and Lebanon and Israel across the region, setting us up in a situation where, in Iraq, we lost over 4,000 of my brothers and sisters in uniform," Gabbard said. "A war with Iran would take far more American lives, it would cost more civilian lives across the region."

Gabbard also said a U.S.-Iran war would likely send millions of refugees fleeing into Europe, further destabilizing that continent.

[…] "How does a war with Iran serve the best interest of the American people of the United States? And the fact is it does not," Gabbard said. "It better serves the interest of people like [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Bibi Netanyahu and Saudi Arabia who are trying to push us into this war with Iran."

Right before interviewing Gabbard, Carlson highlighting a leaked report from the OPCW which suggested Bashar al-Assad did not carry out the alleged chemical attack in Douma on April 7, 2018.

http://www.informationliberation.com/?id=60254

How Many Times Must Assange Be Proven Right?

And there it is. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been charged by the Trump administration’s Justice Department with 17 counts of violating the Espionage Act, carrying a maximum sentence of 175 years in prison. Exactly as Assange and his defenders have been warning would happen for nearly a decade.

The indictment, like the one that preceded it last month with Assange’s arrest, is completely fraudulent, as it charges Assange with “crimes” that are indistinguishable from conventional journalistic practices. The charges are based on the same exact evidence that was available to the Obama administration, which, as journalist Glenn Greenwald noted last year, declined to prosecute Assange citing fear of destroying press freedoms.

Hanna Bloch-Wehba, an associate professor at Drexel University’s Thomas R. Kline School of Law, has called the indictment “a worst-case, nightmare, mayday scenario for First Amendment enthusiasts.” Bloch-Wehba explains that the indictment’s “theories for liability rest heavily on Assange’s relationship with Manning and his tendency to encourage Manning to continue to bring WikiLeaks material” in a way that “is not readily distinguishable from many reporter-source relationships cultivated over a period of time.”

One of the versions of The New York Times‘ report on the new Assange indictment, which has since been edited out but has been preserved here in a quote by Slate, said that “officials would not engage with questions about how the actions they said were felonies by Mr. Assange differed from ordinary investigative journalism. Notably, The New York Times, among many other news organizations, obtained precisely the same archives of documents from WikiLeaks, without authorization from the government.”

https://consortiumnews.com/2019/05/24/how-many-times-must-assange-be-proven-right/

The RussiaHoaxers Are Headed for Grand Juries, and Prison - Fireworks Guaranteed

"Yes, it was a plot, even a coup. And they (expletive deleted) it up magnificently, leaving a paper trail as wide as Interstate-95. Now all that paper is about to fall over the District of Columbia like radioactive ash, turning many current and former denizens of rogue agencies into the walking dead as they embark on the dismal journey between the grand juries and the federal prisons."

Not long ago, few Americans of the thinking persuasion might have imagined that such a well-engineered republic, with its exquisite checks and balances, sturdy institutions, and time-tested traditions would end up as so much smoldering goop in a national dumpster fire, but such is the sad state-of-the-union moving into the fateful summer of 2019. The castle of the permanent bureaucracy is about to be torched by an uprising of deplorable peasants led by a Golden Golem made furious by relentless litigation. It’s Game of Thrones meets the Thermidorian Reaction with a Weimar-flavored cherry on top — really one for the ages!

https://russia-insider.com/en/russiahoaxers-are-headed-grand-juries-and-prison-fireworks-guaranteed/ri27123

FBI Lawyer Squeals Like a Pig: Implicates Comey, McCabe, and Yates for Mishandling of FISA Warrant

On Monday Rep. Doug Collins released the remaining transcripts from the House Judiciary Committee’s investigation into decisions made at the DOJ and FBI to exonerate Hillary Clinton and spy on candidate Donald Trump.

Collins released transcripts on several FBI, DOJ officials including:

Trisha Anderson

William Sweeny

Loretta Lynch

James Kybicki

Andrew McCabe

George Toscas

Jonathan Moffa

John Giacalone

Sally Moyer

On Friday Redstate posted explosive segments from FBI Attorney Trisha Anderson’s testimony. The information first appeared in the Washington Examiner.

In her testimony, she alleges that the application process for the FISA warrant was handled in an “unusual” fashion and that numerous Obama era FBI officials were involved at the highest levels in pushing it through.

But Anderson stressed “in this particular case, I’m drawing a distinction because my boss and my boss’ boss had already reviewed and approved this application.” She emphasized “this one was handled a little bit differently in that sense, in that it received very high-level review and approvals — informal, oral approvals — before it ever came to me for signature.”

Normally, a FISA application would go to the legal department first to confirm that it is indeed proper to press forward with. In this case, top officials informally “approved” the application first, signaling to Anderson that her signature was just perfunctory.

Anderson said that FISA approvals are typically “tracked in a linear fashion” and that someone in the Senior Executive Service “is the final approver on hard copy before a FISA goes to the director or deputy director for signature.” She said the Page FISA was approved outside regular procedures.

“Because there were very high-level discussions that occurred about the FISA,” Anderson said she believed that meant “the FISA essentially had already been well-vetted all the way up through at least the Deputy Director [McCabe] level on our side and through the DAG [Yates] on the DOJ side.” Yates had already signed the application by the time it made it to Anderson’s desk.

… Anderson stressed that McCabe, Yates, and Baker all played key roles in reviewing the Page FISA. “My approval at that point was really purely administrative in nature. In other words, the substantive issues — the FISA had already substantively been approved by people much higher than me in the chain of command,” Anderson said.

Anderson said it “typically would not have been the case” that people such as McCabe and Yates would sign off on a FISA application before she did.

This testimony by FBI Attorney Trisha Anderson ought to keep several corrupt Obama officials up at night.

They may want to lawyer up.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/05/fbi-lawyer-squeals-like-a-pig-points-finger-at-comey-mccabe-and-yates-for-mishandling-of-fisa-warrant/

After Helping OxyContin Maker 'Turbocharge' Sales, McKinsey Cuts Ties With Purdue Pharma

McKinsey's reputation has taken a beating over the past year, largely thanks to a flurry of New York Times' stories detailing the secretive consulting giant's work with authoritarian governments, while exposing conflicts of interest involving the firm's bankruptcy business and its internal hedge fund (the former led to a wrist-slap fine from the DoJ).

Unwilling to countenance another PR hit, McKinsey has apparently tried to head off more questions about the firm's commitment to ethical business practices by announcing that it has cut ties with Purdue Pharma and all other businesses involved in the sale of opioid pain pills.

The fact that McKinsey and other consulting firms haven't faced more of a backlash for their work with opioid makers is, frankly, surprising, as details from the Massachusetts AG's lawsuit against Purdue would suggest: During Mckinsey's decade-long relationship with Purdue, the consulting firm helped the OxyContin maker boost sales and circumvent government efforts to tighten restrictions.

According to Bloomberg, which quoted from the Massachusetts lawsuit, McKinsey even formulated a pitch that it said would help Purdue "turbocharge" sales.

But McKinsey isn't the only big firm cutting ties with Purdue this week. JP Morgan, which was among the banks that treid to 'limit' ties to gun-makers and sellers after the Parkland shooting, has told Purdue that it will need to do its banking somewhere else.

JPM's decision makes it "the most high-profile corporation known to have distanced itself from Purdue and its wealthy owners, the Sackler family," Reuters said. JPM reportedly informed Purdue back in March that it had six months to find another bank. It has reportedly tapped Dallas-based regional bank Comerica to handle its financial transactions. JPM reportedly told Purdue that its decision was motivated by 'reputational risks'. Though it never lent money to Purdue, JPM's commercial bank manged the company's cash and bill payments.

Many museums and nonprofits have already cut ties with the Sacklers, who were known for their philanthropy.

Unfortunately for Purdue (and maybe for McKinsey given its bankruptcy business), cultivating new banking relationships might not be a problem in the very near future: The company is reportedly considering filing for bankruptcy to avoid payouts in the roughly 2,000 lawsuits accusing it of misleading doctors and patients about the addictive qualities of OxyContin. The company and its owners, the Sackler family, have already reached a nearly $300 million settlement with the state of Oklahoma.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-24/after-helping-oxycontin-maker-turbocharge-sales-mckinsey-cuts-ties-purdue-pharma

Trump Bypasses Congress To Approve $8 Billion In Arms Sales To Saudi Arabia, UAE

Not long after he reportedly agreed to send another 1,500-2,000 troops to the Middle East in yet another show of strength to combat an increasingly belligerent Iran, President Trump steamrolled Congress on Friday to approve $8 billion in arms sales to the UAE and Saudi Arabia and expedite delivery, WSJ reports.

The administration invoked a rarely used provision of American arms control laws to bypass Congress and approve the weapons sales, citing the escalating tensions with Iran as justification. WSJ's sources said the $8 billion figure encapsulates a package of 22 separate deals.

Predictably, Democratic lawmakers who have opposed selling more arms to Saudi Arabia groused about the administration's latest Congressional end-run.

"If Iran’s provocations or the Syrian civil war is an emergency under the statute, then there’s a permanent emergency in the Middle East that will never allow Congress to oversee an arms sale," said Sen. Chris Murphy (D., Conn.), a critic of Trump administration policy in the Middle East.

Rep. Eliot Engel (D., N.Y.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called the decision "another slap in Congress’s face."

"Congress wrote the law so that weapon sales would reflect broad consensus on foreign policy, consistent with our values, and the notion that there’s an emergency that justified upending our checks and balances is false, plain and simple," he said.

For the past two years, Saudi Arabia has led the world in arms purchases - and the US has been its top supplier.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-24/trump-bypasses-congress-approve-8-billion-arms-sales-saudi-arabia-uae

Israel: “Wiped off The Map”. The Rumor of the Century, Fabricated by the US Media to Justify An All out War on Iran

Global Research Editor’s Note

The following text by Arash Norouzi first published by the Mossadegh Project and Global Research in January 2007 confirms that the alleged “Wiped Off the Map” statement by Iran’s president was never made.

In the light of recent US threats directed Iran, we are reposting this important article.

Iran does not constitute a threat to Israel.

The rumor was fabricated by the American media with a view to discrediting Iran’s head of state and providing a justification for waging an all out war on Iran. the article provides of media manipulation and “propaganda in action”.

Iran is blamed for refusing to abide by the “reasonable demands” of “the international community”.

In recent developments, Iran is persistently described as threatening the security of Israel. And Israel is described as instrumental in determining US foreign policy.

Realities are twisted and turned upside down. Iran is being accused of wanting to start a war.

The threat to global security comes from the US-NATO-Israel military alliance, which is now threatening Iran. The use of nuclear weapons against are contemplated.

If Iran is attacked, we are potentially in a World War III scenario.

It is essential to dispel the fabrications of the Western media.

Iran does not constitute a threat to to Global Security.

Iran does not possess a nuclear weapons program. Iran does not constitute a threat to Israel.

Michel Chossudovsky, Global Research, 25 September 2010, 24 May 2019

https://www.globalresearch.ca/israel-wiped-off-the-map-the-rumor-of-the-century-fabricated-by-the-us-media-to-justify-an-all-out-war-on-iran/21188

The Mossadegh Project

Across the world, a dangerous rumor has spread that could have catastrophic implications. According to legend, Iran’s President has threatened to destroy Israel, or, to quote the misquote, “Israel must be wiped off the map”. Contrary to popular belief, this statement was never made, as the following article will prove.

BACKGROUND:

On Tuesday, October 25th, 2005 at the Ministry of Interior conference hall in Tehran, newly elected Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered a speech at a program, reportedly attended by thousands, titled “The World Without Zionism”. Large posters surrounding him displayed this title prominently in English, obviously for the benefit of the international press. Below the poster’s title was a slick graphic depicting an hour glass containing planet Earth at its top. Two small round orbs representing the United States and Israel are shown falling through the hour glass’ narrow neck and crashing to the bottom.

Before we get to the infamous remark, it’s important to note that the “quote” in question was itself a quote— they are the words of the late Ayatollah Khomeini, the father of the Islamic Revolution. Although he quoted Khomeini to affirm his own position on Zionism, the actual words belong to Khomeini and not Ahmadinejad. Thus, Ahmadinejad has essentially been credited (or blamed) for a quote that is not only unoriginal, but represents a viewpoint already in place well before he ever took office.

Foreign Aid That Costs an Arm and a Leg – Literally

The US-funded Israeli military is shooting so many unarmed Palestinians that the UN is warning of an amputation crisis in Gaza

My friend Andrew Rubin is an amputee. He’s lost his right hand, lower arm, right foot, and lower leg.

He used to be an avid runner and cyclist. He can’t do much of that anymore, although his walking is getting much better. Soon he might be able to run with his artificial leg.

Andrew is incredibly lucky.

The medical catastrophe that left his hand and foot so terribly damaged didn’t kill him. But when his limbs never healed even after a decade, he decided to undergo the amputations. It was his choice, and it was made much easier because he knew what lay ahead: the most advanced artificial limbs ever imagined. The kids call him Bionic Man now.

Andrew is lucky for another reason: He doesn’t live in Gaza.

According to the United Nations, 1,700 young Gazans are facing amputation, mainly of their legs, in the next two years. They’re among the 7,000 unarmed Palestinians in Gaza shot by Israeli snipers over the last year.

Since last spring, thousands of Palestinians in Israeli-occupied Gaza have poured out of their teeming refugee camps and houses every Friday to join nonviolent protests, demanding an end to the siege that’s destroying their lives, and the right to return to the homes Israel displaced them from.

Even though they were nonviolent, they were met by Israeli snipers from the beginning. Children, journalists, and medics were targeted too.

International law prohibits using live fire against unarmed civilians unless the police or soldiers are in imminent danger of death. That’s not the case in Gaza. A UN investigation of 189 killings during the first nine months of the protests found that Israeli forces may have committed war crimes.

More than 220 Palestinians have been killed so far. Stunningly, more than 29,000 have been wounded – including those 7,000 by live fire. So far, 120 have had to endure amputations – including 20 children.

Anyplace else, their limbs might’ve been saved.

https://original.antiwar.com/phyllis-bennis/2019/05/23/foreign-aid-that-costs-an-arm-and-a-leg-literally/

For The First Time Ever, China Takes Over An Insolvent Bank

There was a time when in the years following the financial crisis, every Friday the FDIC would report of one or more small and not small banks failing, as their liabilities exceeded their assets, who were taken over by larger peers with a taxpayer subsidy to cover the shortfall. And while this weekly event, also known as "FDIC Failure Friday" has faded from the US for now, it has made a grand appearance in China.

China’s financial regulators said on Friday the country’s banking and insurance regulator and the central bank, will take control of the small, troubled inner Mongolia-based Baoshang Bank due to the serious credit risks it poses. The regulator’s control of Baoshang will last for a year starting on Friday, the People’s Bank of China (PBOC) and China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission (CBIRC) said on their websites.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-05-24/it-begins-first-time-ever-china-takes-over-insolvent-bank

Army to Promote Hundreds of PSYOP Soldiers at Fort Bragg

The Army's 1st Special Forces Command is scheduled to promote 300 psychological operations sergeants at a record-breaking promotion ceremony May 31 at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

"It will be the largest single promotion ceremony ever conducted for an Army Special Operations military occupational specialty," according to a recent news release from 1st Special Forces Command.

Maj. Gen. John Deedrick, commander of 1st Special Forces Command (Airborne), will preside over the ceremony, which will result in a redesign in the rank structure for PSYOP units within the command, the release states.

A recent review found that the current PSYOP rank authorizations were inadequate to account for soldiers with extensive training and education in influence theory, human dynamics, psychology, sociology, language, culture and politics, according to the release.

PSYOP noncommissioned officers are expected to operate successfully in austere environments and have a primary mission to persuade local populations to support U.S. military forces. They are expected to interact with U.S. ambassadors, senior country team members, and host-nation officials on a daily basis, the release states.

"That extensive investment in PSYOP soldiers, combined with the operating environments in which these soldiers perform and the importance and sensitivity of their missions, warranted an increase in rank," it adds.

https://www.military.com/daily-news/2019/05/24/army-promote-hundreds-psyop-soldiers-fort-bragg.html

Microsoft’s ElectionGuard a Trojan Horse for a Military-Industrial Takeover of US Elections

“The fact that we are handing over the keys of American democracy to the military-industrial complex — it’s like giving the keys to the henhouse to a fox and saying, ‘here come in and take whatever you want.’ It’s obviously dangerous.” — Investigative journalist Yasha Levine

Earlier this month, tech giant Microsoft announced its solution to “protect” American elections from interference, which it has named “ElectionGuard.” The election technology is already set to be adopted by half of voting machine manufacturers and some state governments for the 2020 general election. Though it has been heavily promoted by the mainstream media in recent weeks, none of those reports have disclosed that ElectionGuard has several glaring conflicts of interest that greatly undermine its claim aimed at protecting U.S. democracy.

In this investigation, MintPress will reveal how ElectionGuard was developed by companies with deep ties to the U.S. defense and intelligence communities and Israeli military intelligence, as well as the fact that it is far from clear that the technology would prevent foreign or domestic interference with, or the manipulation of, vote totals or other aspects of American election systems.

Election forensics analyst and author Jonathan Simon as well as investigative journalist Yasha Levine, who has written extensively on how the military has long sought to weaponize public technologies including the internet, were consulted for their views on ElectionGuard, its connections to the military-industrial complex and the implication of those connections for American democracy as part of this investigation.

In January, MintPress published an exposé that later went viral on a news-rating company known as Newsguard. Officially aimed at fighting “fake news,” the company’s many connections to U.S. intelligence, a top neoconservative think tank, and self-admitted government propagandists revealed its real intention was to promote corporate media over independent alternatives.

Newsguard was among the first initiatives that comprise Microsoft’s “Defending Democracy” program, a program that the tech giant created under the auspices of protecting American “democratic processes from cyber-enabled interference [which] have become a critical concern.” Through its partnership with Microsoft, Newsguard has been installed in public libraries and universities throughout the country, even while private-sector companies have continued to avoid adopting the problematic browser plug-in.

https://www.mintpressnews.com/microsoft-electionguard-a-trojan-horse-for-a-military-industrial-takeover-of-us-elections/258732/

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>>6580053

Another partner of Galois’ Free & Fair is the Open Source Election Technology Institute (OSET Institute, or OSETI), whose flagship initiative is called “TrustTheVote.” One of OSETI’s co-founders and its current CTO is E. John Sebes, who has previously done work for DARPA and DHS. OSETI’s strategic board of advisors includes Chris Barr of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, which is a top investor in Newsguard; former Oregon Secretary of State Phil Keisling; former Deputy Director of the NSA William Cromwell; former head of DHS’ Cybersecurity Directorate and former DARPA project manager Doug Maughan; and Norm Ornstein of the neoconservative American Enterprise Institute and co-director of the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project.

Aside from the numerous links to major corporations, government agencies and neoconservative think tanks, of particular concern to Free & Fair’s mission to develop “secure” election technology are its connections to DHS. This is because, before, during and after the 2016 election, DHS was caught attempting to hack into state electoral systems in at least three states — Georgia, Indiana and Idaho — with similar accusations also being made in Kentucky and West Virginia. In Indiana’s case, the DHS’ attempted hacks occurred nearly 15,000 times over a 46 day period. In an official answer to Georgia’s claim the DHS had tried to penetrate its electoral system’s firewall, DHS which initially denied being behind the attempted hack, later responded that the attempted breach was “legitimate business” aimed at “verifying a professional license administered by the state.” Some of the states targeted by DHS had turned down the department’s offer to “shore up” election systems prior to the 2016 election.

Compare this to the alleged Russian hacking into state electoral systems, which – to date – includes only the claim from the FBI that hackers alleged to be affiliated with Russian military intelligence penetrated voter registration data in two counties in Florida. That alleged hack, the details of which remain classified and for which no evidence of it even happening has been made publicly available, did not result in any alterations to data or other manipulation of those systems, per FBI officials. The DHS, in contrast, attempted to hack into the systems, not of individual counties, but entire states and acknowledged that it did so, even though they chose not to use the work “hack” and defended their activity. While focusing on foreign — and especially Russian — interference may make for a more patriotic story, the dangers posed by domestic actors with at least as great a stake in U.S. election outcomes appear to have been grossly underestimated and virtually ignored by the media.

Free & Fair’s partnerships with groups tied to DHS seem to further undermine its stated mission of providing secure and trustworthy election technology, in addition to its parent company’s deep ties to the Department of Defense, especially DARPA.

Russian-American investigative journalist, and author of Surveillance Valley: The Secret Military History of the Internet, Yasha Levine explained to MintPress why DARPA is likely interested in U.S. election system software like ElectionGuard and why the agency’s interest is dangerous for American democracy:

Election systems are now being increasingly seen as a theater for warfare between competing nation states. So, if you are DARPAand your reason for existence is to create hi-tech weapons for the future, then you are going to be looking at electronic voting systems as a theater of war where the country could be attacked by a foreign adversary. That explains why DARPA is involved.

But DARPA and some of these companies involved can also be seen as foes of Americans’ popular will… We can hypothesize about what’s really going on and what their intentions are, but clearly the Pentagon R&D Lab for war should not be anywhere near America’s electoral system because it represents a huge and powerful and unaccountable force in the American political system whose interests often run counter to democracy.

The fact that we are handing over the keys of American democracy to the military-industrial complex — it’s like giving the keys to the henhouse to a fox and saying, ‘here come in and take whatever you want.’ It’s obviously dangerous.”

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Faking It: How the Media Manipulates the World into War (Video)

Bibi wants a war! Iran doing stuff in Iran better watch out!!!! FFS

>>6580233

pull out the bomb graphic and have it over flowing this time