39 demonstrators shot with live ammunition, one killed, on Gaza’s 68th Friday march

Gaza

68th Great March of Return: 71 civilians injured. Including 30 children, 3 women, and paramedic by Israeli forces

PCHR 26 July — On the 68th Great March of Return, 71 Palestinian civilians were injured due to the Israeli military’s continued use of excessive force against peaceful protests along the Gaza Strip’s eastern border. At least 30 children, 3 women and a paramedic were among those injured this Friday, 26 July 2019. Thirty-nine civilians were shot with live bullets and 4 of them sustained moderate to serious wounds. Today’s protest, which lasted from 16:30 to 19:30, was titled “Palestinians Refugees of Lebanon”, and involved activities such as speeches by political leaders and theatrical performances. Dozens of civilians protested at varied distances from the border fence across the Gaza Strip, and were met with Israeli soldiers’ excessive force despite no imminent threat to the soldiers’ lives. Despite reports that the Israeli military changed their open-fire strategy against the Great March of Return protesters and ordered soldiers to aim at their ankles;[1] PCHR’s fieldworkers documented the injury of many protesters in their upper extremities, including 4 that sustained moderate to serious wounds. As such, this asserts Israel’s relentless insistence on the unjustified policy of using excessive force.

In this context, the Israeli news site Ynet revealed on Tuesday, 23 July 2019, that over the past months, the Israeli forces have been trained along the Gaza Strip borders on a new sniper weapon.[2] This means that the Israeli military uses the protests of the Great March of Return as firing ranges to test its weapons, in clear disregard for the value of human life and in violation of international human rights law and international humanitarian law.

To this date, PCHR has documented 207 killings by Israel since the outbreak of the protests on 30 March 2018, including 44 children, 2 women, 9 persons with disabilities, 4 paramedics, and 2 journalists. Additionally, 13,323 were wounded, including 2,742 children, 409 women, 221 paramedics and 207 journalists. Among those wounded, PCHR documented cases where 196 persons have become with disabilities, including 28 children and 5 women, and were as follows: 149 amputees; 21 paralyzed, 26 blind or deaf and 9 sexually disabled.

The following is a summary of today’s incidents along the Gaza Strip border:….

https://pchrgaza.org/en/?p=12727

https://mondoweiss.net/2019/07/demonstrators-ammunition-killed/

US Anti-Drug Initiatives in Afghan: Another Dubious Expense

The US has spent more than $50 million on drug treatment programs in Afghanistan, but these programs are losing money and may not even be working, a new report has concluded.

The report, by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), makes clear how difficult it is to even begin to gauge the effectiveness of the programs.

“Overall, we just found that the State Department failed to create performance standards and requirements for these programs,” said Lauren Mick, public affairs specialist for SIGAR.

“We looked at the 41 programs, and we didn’t know how to measure progress,” she added. “It was difficult to draw conclusions on what they were supposed to achieve in the first place.”

Assessing Waste in Spending on Afghanistan

The report comes at a time when the government is reevaluating its mission to help stabilize dangerous areas in Afghanistan. This comes after the US already essentially wasted billions of dollars in Afghanistan between 2002 and 2017.

The new report will do nothing to alter that viewpoint, since the SIGAR study wasn’t able to determine the effectiveness of the millions of dollars the US has poured into drug treatment programs in Afghanistan over the past five years.

https://whowhatwhy.org/2019/07/24/us-anti-drug-initiatives-in-afghan-another-dubious-expense/

US, EU and China To Revalue Gold In New ‘De Facto’ Gold Standard

Last year 22 central banks, situated largely to the east of Germany, bought the largest amount of gold since 1967, the year the London Gold Pool collapsed. The gold repatriations by many European countries of the last few years are another sign that we are reaching the end of four decades of monetary calm.

This could bring about the largest monetary changes since the closing of the gold window by U.S. President Richard Nixon in 1971.

The United States wants its fiat dollar system to prevail for as long as possible. It has every interest in preventing a “rush out of dollars toward gold,” as happened in the 1970s. Since then bankers have been trying to exercise control over the precious metal’s price.

This war on gold has been ongoing for almost 100 years but gained traction in the 1960s with the forming of the London Gold Pool, whose members included the US, UK, Netherlands, Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, and Switzerland.

During meetings of central bank chiefs at the Bank for International Settlements in 1961, the eight participating countries agreed to make available a gold pool worth $270 million. This was focused on preventing the gold price from rising above $35 per troy ounce, as set during Bretton Woods, by selling official gold holdings from the central banks’ gold vaults.

However, in March 1968 the pool was disbanded because France would no longer co-operate. This signalled the start of a 13-year “bull market” and sent gold to more than $800 per troy ounce in 1980.

Today Washington may consider it useful to bring back gold to support the dollar. Some U.S. insiders have even been calling openly for a return to the old way of doing things. Neo-conservative Robert Zoellick, the former president of the World Bank, wrote an open letter to the Financial Times in 2010 entitled “Bring Back the Gold Standard.”

A 2012 study by the Chatham House gold task force suggested that the metal could be added to the International Monetary Fund’s special drawing right. One of the members of this task force was Lord Meghnad Desai, chair of the OMFIF advisers council. During a conference in Dubai he remarked, “We could ask that gold be nominated as part of the Special Drawing Right. That is one thing I think is quite likely to happen. This will be easier if China increases its official gold holdings.”

Beijing wants to increase its gold reserves in the shortest time possible to at least 8,000 tonnes. This would put China on par, in terms of its gold-to-GDP ratio, with the U.S. and European Union. It would open the way, should the need arise, for a possible joint US-EU-China gold revaluation to support the financial system.

https://news.goldcore.com/gold-steady-stocks-fall-as-markets-eye-fed-meeting-us-china-trade-talks-2/

JP Morgan, Barclays, RBS among big banks facing UK class action over Forex rigging

Major global banks including Barclays, JP Morgan, RBS, UBS, and Citigroup are being sued by investors over allegations they rigged the global foreign exchange (Forex) market.

According to US law firm Scott + Scott, the claim which is estimated to be worth more than £1 billion (US$1.24 billion), was filed at the Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) on Monday.

The “massive” action is a “perfect” case to be brought as a so-called opt-out collective class action for breaches of UK or European Union competition law, the Scott + Scott lawyer David Scott told Reuters.

“It is a very difficult case to put together individual damages which are significant enough,” he said.

Michael O’Higgins, the former chairman of British watchdog the Pensions Regulator, who is leading the lawsuit, said the total value of the claim would depend on the number of Forex trades executed in London for UK-domiciled units.

Given the size of London’s Forex market, the total value would likely exceed a billion pounds, O’Higgins said.

“Even on a relatively conservative assumption it’s certainly a billion pounds and possibly several,” he said, adding that “Markets should be fair as well as free and in this case the markets weren’t fair.”

Forex manipulation was one of a series of rate-rigging scandals to engulf the global financial sector. Criminal traders at some of the world’s biggest banks conspired to manipulate the $5.4 trillion-a-day market, while making handsome profits in the process.

They rigged the foreign currency trades via email and online chat rooms with such names as ‘The Cartel’, ‘The Mafia’, and ‘The Bandits’ Club’, to the detriment of the companies and investors who had placed trust in them. The rogue traders then relayed instances where they bolstered their profits, while lobbying their managers for bigger bonuses.

Some of the banks have already paid more than a combined $11 billion in fines to settle US, British, and European regulatory allegations that traders rigged the currency markets.

In May, the EU fined five banks a combined €1.07 billion ($1.19 billion) for Forex rigging through cartels of traders known as ‘Essex Express’ and ‘Three Way Banana Split’.

https://www.rt.com/business/465289-barclays-jp-forex-rigging/

REVEALED: the EU plans to remove all free speech, but has no plans to deal with an econo-fiscal disaster

The new EC President doesn’t start until November, but is already planning a Federal EU in which no opposition to directives will be tolerated. At the same time, more and more evidence of economic quicksand is available for those beyond ideological space cadets to view. If Great Britain wants to survive as a genuinely democratic, free-thinking, independently trading State and important financial centre, it is absolutely vital that we shed the leaden boots of a federalising Europe, and remain fleet of foot in a world that is about to change beyond all recognition.

Like some pantomime Cruella de Ville, incoming EU Commission “President” Ursula von der Leyen has wasted no time in ensuring zat orderss vill be obeyt at all timess. Her target – surprise, surprise – is social media and (quote) ‘the removal of illegal content, including racism and xenophobia from websites’. Even the Commission itself describes the new “rule book” as introducing ‘sweeping legal powers to regulate hate speech other illegal content and political advertising’.

Ostensibly, the move is being positioned as an ‘overhaul of how the EU treats tech companies’, but the rules will be applied to every last online commentator be they big or small. Von der Leyen gleefully promised that the new legislation “will upgrade our digital rules and complete our digital single market”. Or put another way, “our single point of view”.

My new nickname for this woman is Alice Klar.

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/revealed-the-eu-plans-to-remove-all-free-speech-but-has-no-plans-to-deal-with-an-econo-fiscal-disaster/

UK taxpayers paid millions to lawyers who successfully fought government attempts to deport suspected terrorists & illegal aliens

I see we aren’t the only country spending insane amounts of tax payer dollars on criminals.

From the Telegraph: Taxpayers have had to foot a £57.5 million bill to pay off lawyers who successfully fought Home Office attempts to deport suspected terrorists, foreign criminals and illegal immigrants.

They have had to pay or settle the legal costs of lawyers who have often used European human rights laws to outflank the Home Office and win cases for their clients.

The 6,098 cases covering four years from 2014/15 to 2017/18 have involved foreign criminals, illegal immigrants and asylum seekers whom the Government unsuccessfully attempted to send back to their homelands, according to figures obtained under Freedom of Information laws.

It includes lawyers for hate preacher Abu Qatada who got £57,000 from the Home Office after they initially defeated its bid to send him back to Jordan to face terrorism charges. The Home Office paid their charges at a rate of £330 an hour.

Two former justice ministers today urge Boris Johnson and the Government to rethink the practice to end such big pay-outs. Mike Penning, a former policing and justice minister, said: “The Prime Minister needs to add this to his list of legislation that needs to be changed.

“If these people have been convicted and are not conducive to the public good, people won’t understand why we are paying out this money to lawyers abusing the legal system rather than spending it on the NHS.”

Oliver Heald, who was also a former Government law officer as solicitor general, said the Home Office should pay out where there was a serious mistake, but any awards should be “taxed on a reasonable basis so that it’s not possible to make a fortune out of these cases.

“They should be decided on a moderate basis rather than an expensive one. This is something the Ministry of Justice may wish to review.”

The £57.5 million for the 6,000 cases – equivalent to 30 every week for four years – excludes the additional £28.4 million that the Government had to pay for its own legal costs. The total of £86 million means the average case ends up costing the taxpayer more than £14,000 in legal fees.

Complex procedures around legal fees mean the Government can be forced to pay out extra payments on top of these to lawyers who successfully challenge legal rulings.

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/uk-taxpayers-paid-millions-to-lawyers-who-successfully-fought-government-attempts-to-deport-suspected-terrorists-illegal-aliens/

Germany: 8-year-old boy dies after he and his mother were pushed in front of train by African migrant in Frankfurt

An 8-year-old boy has died after he and his mother were pushed in front of an incoming high-speed train at Frankfurt’s main station, shortly before 10 on Monday morning.

Horrified witnesses say they saw the man push the child and his mother, 40, in front of an InterCity Express train.

The boy’s mother was able to save herself by rolling into a narrow gap between tracks, but she lost hold of her son who was fatally hit by the oncoming train.

Local reports say the man, dressed in black trouser and an olive T-shirt, attempted but failed to push a third victim off the platform at the busy station which eyewitnesses said was full of children at the time.

Police say a 40-year-old man, thought to be from Eritrea, was arrested near the station and that there appeared to be no connection between him and the victims.

Police told BILD: “The mother was barely able to save herself. Passersby watched the attack and ran after the fleeing man, of African descent. He was arrested in the station.”

Commuters at the station “howled” after seeing the child fall to his death, as police, fire brigades, 16 ambulances and a helicopter arrived at the busy station in Germany’s financial capital.

Several witnesses needed medical treatment after seeing the death, hessenschau.de reported, and a conductor, who saw the incident from a train, shouted as it was happening.

The station was “full of children” a witness told the publication.

Four of the busy stations tracks were closed following the attack, causing delays for many commuters.

The ICE train, traveling from Dusseldorf the Munich, is capable of running at speeds of up to 186mph (300kmph).

It comes just a week after a 34-year-old mother was killed when she was pushed in front of a train in Voerde station, near Duisburg.

A 28-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of the murder.

In that incident, the victim and the suspect did not know each other, according to police.

https://voiceofeurope.com/2019/07/germany-8-year-old-boy-dies-after-he-and-his-mother-were-pushed-in-front-of-train-by-african-migrant-in-frankfurt/

>>7245109

"ISRAEL is the sixth eye" ~Netanyahu

The Weissmann Witch Hunt

By Wayne Allyn Root

Just when I thought a week couldn’t get much better for President Trump and his 63 million fans, along comes last week. And it all got way better. Break out the champagne.

After Robert Mueller’s Waterloo, and the Democrats worst day ever, Trump just got re-elected.

Before I get to Robert Muller’s Waterloo and “the Weissmann Witch Hunt” a few news updates are necessary. President Trump just keeps winning. At least among real Americans who love this country and believe in American exceptionalism.

*The Trump Department of Justice just announced Thursday morning that it is resuming the federal death penalty, starting with the execution of five death row inmates who have been convicted of murdering children. Glory Hallelujah.

*The Trump administration announced new rules to tighten food stamp eligibility that will remove at least three million Americans from the food stamp rolls. That’s music to the ears of every hard-working taxpayer.

*The Trump administration announced a change to allow DHS to rapidly deport illegal aliens anywhere in the USA, who cannot prove they’ve been in the USA for two years or more. Finally, the rule of law matters.

*A federal judge upheld a Trump administration alternative to Obamacare, providing American consumers with the right to choose much cheaper short-term healthcare plans. Bravo.

*Trump’s DOJ announced a new probe, from its anti-trust division, into Silicon Valley social media companies. Millions of conservative warriors (like me) who have been censored, shadow-banned and silenced are cheering!

Quite a winning week for President Trump. Did you hear or see any of that in the mainstream media? Interesting.

But it happened. The news I deliver is real news, not the fake news you get from ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, PBS. Even book Akers understand that. That’s why bookmakers across the globe now have President Trump as the favorite for re-election.

That was all before Robert Mueller’s Congressional catastrophe. At this point, Trump’s week went stratospheric.

Mueller stumbled, bumbled, stuttered, looked like a confused elderly man and responded to questions with “I’m not going to answer that” 123 times.

Mueller was so dazed and confused, he couldn’t remember what president appointed him to lead the Boston U.S. Attorney’s office.

Worse, he said he wasn’t familiar with Fusion GPS. But the whole “Trump collision” case was based on Fusion GPS. It was the most embarrassing, humiliating performance by anyone in front of Congress ever.

But don’t take my word for it. ABC News senior national correspondent Terry Moran said, “Impeachment is over.” Harvard Law professor and Trump-hater Laurence Tribe called it a “disaster.” NBC’s Chuck Todd said, “On optics, this was a disaster.” CNN’s Oliver Darcey tweeted “Seems pretty clear that Mueller is not the best spokesman for his own report.” Trump-hating filmmaker Michael Moore said, “Frail old man, unable to remember things, stumbling, refusing to answer basic questions…”

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/07/wayne-allyn-root-the-weissmann-witch-hunt/

Netanyahu boasts ‘100s of anti-Iran ops’ in Syria as Russia reminds to love thy neighbor’s security

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has bragged that the Jewish state has conducted hundreds of operations in Syria in the name of national security, prompting Russia urge him to respect other nations’ sovereignty as well.

Netanyahu made it clear that Israel will stop at nothing to protect itself against any perceived threats, as he boasted about Tel Aviv’s successful raids against alleged Iranian targets in the neighboring Syria.

“Israel has acted hundreds of times to prevent Iran from entrenching itself militarily in Syria,” he said, speaking ahead of a trilateral meeting between the Russian, American and Israeli national security advisers, who met in Jerusalem on Tuesday to discuss rising tensions in the Middle East and other urgent matters.

“We have acted hundreds of times to prevent Iran from delivering increasingly sophisticated weaponry to Hezbollah, or to form a second front in the north against us from the Golan Heights. Israel will continue to prevent Iran from using neighboring territory as platforms to attack us, and Israel will respond forcefully to any such attacks.”

Such belligerent statements did not sit well with the Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, who called on the Israeli PM to respect the security of his neighbors as well, explaining that it was effectively the only way to ensure Israel’s own safety.

“We understand the concerns that Israel has and want those threats to be eliminated,” Patrushev said, explaining that Israel’s security is important for Moscow, but added that “one should also take the national interests of other regional nations into consideration.”

“If we do not … acknowledge and reckon with those interests, I doubt we can achieve any tangible result” in terms of regional security, the Russian Security Council secretary warned.

https://www.rt.com/news/462684-netanyahu-strikes-neighbors-russia/

Obama’s CIA Director Brennan in Europe at Exact Same Time Deep State’s ‘Secret Society’ Met in England with Strzok, Page and McCain Lackey Kramer

We reported that Obama’s former CIA Director John Brennan was in Portugal in late November 2016. Brennan is widely believed to be the architect of the Trump – Russia collusion hoax. We wondered – what else was Brennan doing in Europe?

We’ve now pieced together that the Deep State’s ‘Secret Society’ had a meeting in England at the exact same time! Is this why Brennan was in Europe?

As we reported former US Attorney Joe diGenova discussed his thoughts after the Mueller testimony in front of Congress last week. He confirmed much of what has already been posted and at the end of his excellent interview, he said –

By the way, just remember, John Brennan was the tip of the spear. This was his conspiracy from day one. John Brennan, don’t forget that name. He’s at the end of this entire, he’s at the beginning of the entire conspiracy.

diGenova’s interview leads nicely into breaking information we have gathered regarding Brennan’s actions under the Obama administration.

Former CIA agent Sabrina De Sousa knows Brennan’s actions well. Former President Obama and his CIA Director John Brennan ignored her pleas for help and left her to rot in an Italian prison. Lucky for her, Donald Trump was elected President. After the election, her situation was alleviated by the Trump Administration for which she is grateful.

De Sousa shared with us that John Brennan made a trip to Europe in late November 2016 shortly after the Presidential election. We know this because De Sousa found out that at the end November 2016, Brennan was present in Portugal during the transition period after the 2016 election and this resulted in a Portugal/Italy agreement to proceed with her immediate extradition from Portugal to prison in Italy. After President Trump was in power, he supported her and prevented her from going to jail in Italy.

The strange aspect from our discussion with De Sousa is that the CIA Director’s oversea’s travel is always kept secret. However, her Portuguese lawyer was notified that Brennan had been in Lisbon in regards to her case. De Sousa states –

Later, Portuguese officials speaking on condition of anonymity said my status was never discussed. A far worse signal to send, that he, Brennan, was OK with whatever the Portuguese chose to do with his former employee. What stuck me most at the time, was my lawyer asking me with some trepidation if I thought “Brennan would ever come back in power”. This spoke volumes about how foreign intelligence services view being leveraged by the CIA to act as surrogates – even reluctantly – in targeting Americans.

http://www.stationgossip.com/2019/07/exclusive-update-obamas-cia-director.html