Border Patrol Chief: 5,800 'Fake Families' Discovered at the Border

WASHINGTON – Acting Commissioner of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Mark Morgan told a Senate committee on Tuesday that 5,800 "fake families" have been discovered trying to enter the U.S. illegally this year.

"Our laws prevent us from holding people more than 20 days and because we can't get the information we're probably releasing them even sooner than that in many cases, correct?" Chairman Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) asked Morgan during a Senate Homeland Security hearing on the border crisis.

"With respect to family units, since March of this year, United States Border Patrol has been releasing family units directly so in some cases they're being released in under 48 hours into the interior of the United States," Morgan said.

Johnson replied, "Because it really doesn't make a whole lot of sense to try and find facilities to hold them for 20 days with this overwhelming flow so instead of border patrol turning them over to ICE for a more thorough vetting process and then ICE releasing them, border patrol is doing it directly?"

"That's correct," Morgan, who also served in the Obama administration, responded.

Johnson said releasing undocumented migrant families into the general public without thorough vetting presents a "real danger" to public safety but also to the migrants themselves.

"Especially with the amount of fake families that we are uncovering every single day," Morgan said.

Johnson said U.S. authorities "do not have the time to determine" if migrant children are with their parents or human traffickers.

"It's a challenge," Morgan replied. "As long as our laws are the way they are you are going to grab a kid because that is your passport to the United States. They know that in the Northern Triangle countries and they are exploiting that every single day."

On April 30, 2019, it was reported that the Department of Homeland Security was starting DNA testing to determine family connections at the border. Later in the hearing, Johnson asked Morgan about the number of "fraudulent families" that have been uncovered due to DNA testing pilot programs used at the border.

"I don't have the overall percentage but we do have the numbers. Right now at border patrol, 5,800 and HSI, part of ICE, they've identified hundreds since their pilot program of pushing agents forward," Morgan said.

https://pjmedia.com/trending/border-patrol-chief-5800-fake-families-discovered-at-the-border/

Micronesian Government Official Sentenced to Prison for Role in Money Laundering Scheme Involving FCPA Violations

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/micronesian-government-official-sentenced-prison-role-money-laundering-scheme-involving-fcpa

Britain Rejects Iran’s Offer to Swap Seized Tankers

Foreign Secretary says Britain will keep Iran tanker, but wants their own returned

Though it is considered virtually a foregone conclusion that the British-held Iranian tanker Grace 1, seized on July 4 and the Iranian-held British tanker Stena Impero, taken weeks later, will ultimately be traded for one another, British officials continue to insist that no such “swap” could happen under international law.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said Britain won’t consider a swap and is insisting on international law being upheld. At the same time, he’s arguing that if Iran gives Britain back their tanker, they would be accepted as a responsible member of the international community, albeit a member whose tanker Britain is still going to keep.

British officials argue that the seizure of the Grace 1 is legal based on EU sanctions, which forbid Syria buying oil. There is substantial doubt that the EU can actually enforce this on non-member nations.

Iran says the tanker they captured hit a fishing boat and then refused to contact them, which is likely more legally enforceable since it happened in Iranian waters. The Iranians, however, have made clear that swapping tankers is all they really want.

https://news.antiwar.com/2019/07/29/britain-rejects-irans-offer-to-swap-seized-tankers/

Like Jeffrey Epstein, Bullion Banks Get Sweet Deals from the Justice Department

First, a bank’s commodities trading department takes metals investors for a ride like unwitting victims in the back of Jeffrey Epstein’s “Lolita Express.”

Now federal prosecutors have extended the same sort of cozy non-prosecution agreement to shield the bank itself from a criminal indictment.

Federal prosecutors signed a non-prosecution agreement in June with Merrill Lynch Commodities, Inc. (MLCI) and Bank of America (Merrill’s parent company) for rigging the precious metals markets.

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) found gold and silver traders working at Merrill Lynch had “schemed to deceive other market participants by injecting materially false and misleading information into the precious metals futures market.”

The agreement references “thousands of fraudulent orders” – intended artificially to move the markets up or down by “spoofing” other traders and investors – over a period of 6 years.

Two traders have been indicted on criminal charges so far. The non-prosecution agreement was only for the mega bank, not for its more expendable staff.

The bank gets off with a less-than-consequential $25 million fine, a promise not to do it again, and a commitment to set up more controls… which they can self-monitor.

The generous agreement was granted in part because “MLCI has no prior criminal history.” The prosecutors who drafted the agreement must not have had access to the Department’s own files, or the internet.

Suffice it to say the malfeasance covered here isn’t the first bit of shady activity Merrill has been involved in. DOJ prosecutors also didn’t take into consideration Bank of America’s own record. Both organizations have been implicated in schemes, scandals, and frauds going back decades.

Here is a partial list of what the bankers have been accused of doing to clients, shareholders and other victims (a more complete accounting can be found here):

Screwing the State of California as its Bond Trustee

Charging excessive fees

Withholding information from shareholders

Foreclosure fraud

Deceptive sales practices

Maybe prosecutors limited their definition of “criminal history” to past criminal convictions. There would undoubtedly be a lot more of those if Justice Department prosecutors stopped settling and signing non-prosecution agreements and instead started taking the banks to trial for their role in crimes.

Bank of America has a history of cutting deals with the Department of Justice.

https://www.activistpost.com/2019/07/like-jeffrey-epstein-bullion-banks-get-sweet-deals-from-the-justice-department.html

China Covertly Subverting Trump Reelection

Dissident billionaire outlines Beijing's four-pronged influence strategy

China is conducting an aggressive disinformation and influence campaign designed to block the re-election of President Trump in 2020, according to a dissident Chinese billionaire who until recently was close to senior Beijing leaders.

Guo Wengui, an exiled Chinese real estate tycoon-turned-anti-communist critic, said in an interview that details of the influence operation were disclosed recently by Chinese Vice President Wang Qishan in Beijing.

The campaign has been underway since the 2018 mid-term election and involves enlisting pro-China elements inside the United States to end the Trump administration after four years.

"China has been protesting western powers trying to interfere in the domestic politics of China but in fact China is not only trying interfere in the domestic politics of the United States, they are interfering publicly with U.S. elections," Guo told the Washington Free Beacon.

According to Guo, who has known current Chinese President Xi Jinping for more than 10 years, the anti-Trump influence operation is being directed by Xi and Wang through the Communist Party of China (CCP) National Security Commission, a high-level body created in 2013 that since then has tightened control over all other security organs.

"For the 2020 U.S. presidential election, the security committee has given very clear instructions that it is not permissible for Trump to win the 2020 election," Guo said speaking through an interpreter.

By deploying its intelligence and influence resources in the United States, the CCP is working to exploit the harsh political divisions between Democrats and Republicans in seeking to unseat the Trump administration.

"President Trump has already caused a lot of damage to the CCP, so they have declared he will not be allowed to have another four years in power," the dissident said.

More

https://freebeacon.com/national-security/china-covertly-subverting-trump-reelection/

Baltimore police organization tears apart commissioner's proposed plan to overhaul department

The Baltimore police commissioner’s newly-unveiled plan to reduce crime and make the department more efficient is bound to fail, a group representing local cops warned Tuesday, arguing there “are not enough officers to even respond to the number of calls to 911.”

The comments from Sgt. Mike Mancuso of the Fraternal Order of Police’s Baltimore City Lodge #3 come weeks after Commissioner Michael Harrison announced his vision for a five-year overhaul of the city’s police department.

The 25-page plan sets “a new performance goal of a 10 minute response time for responding to emergency calls for service” and asks officers on patrol to spend a third of every hour on “community engagement activity” and other “proactive efforts” that Harrison believes can reduce crime.

“We will continuously evaluate this metric over the next year to ensure that it is in line with national best practices and remains an attainable goal for Baltimore given its density, geography, and our personnel staffing,” the plan reads. It also says the department will seek feedback from communities “to create micro-community policing plans that are tailored to their needs,” among other requests.

https://www.foxnews.com/us/baltimore-police-overhaul-plan-scrutiny

The One People Americans Are Encouraged to Hate

How would you react if you read the following statements and found that they were spoken by government employees who are part of the American Deep State and have a great deal of power over the nation and you? Wouldn’t the prejudice appall and disgust you?

“I do always hate the Israelis,” Lisa Page, a senior FBI lawyer on the Israel probe, testified to Congress in July 2018. “It is my opinion that with respect to Western ideals and who it is and what it is we stand for as Americans, Israel poses the most dangerous threat to that way of life.” As he opened the FBI’s probe of the Trump campaign’s ties to Israel in July 2016, FBI agent Peter Strzok texted Page: “fuck the cheating motherfucking Israelis… Bastards. I hate them… I think they’re probably the worst. Fucking conniving cheating savages.” Speaking to NBC News in May 2017, former director of national intelligence James Clapper explained why US officials saw interactions between the Trump camp and Israeli nationals as a cause for alarm: “The Israelis,” Clapper said, “almost genetically driven to co-opt, penetrate, gain favor, whatever, which is a typical Israeli technique. So we were concerned.”

Of course, readers of The Saker know that the officials quoted never actually made those remarks about the Israelis; nor did they express their hatred of Germans, Saudi Arabians, Turks, French, Libyan, Congolese, Somalians, Germans, Italians, British, Canadians, Greeks, or even Chinese. No; the actual nation and people named were the Russians. Here is the link to the original excellent piece published in The Nation. Yet it seems perhaps not with a touch of irony the speakers were engaging in projection and discussing themselves, the so-called America elites.

Unfortunately, I don’t remember how I found The Saker, originally not on this official site of his but at his Blogspot blog. Yet as an American slowly waking up to the terrible truths of the corruption and destructive actions engaged by the American government and its “Deep State” from reading LewRockwell.com (where I later became a contributor to Lew’s site via this link) and supporting Ron Paul, I was horrified to discover that American “fair play” was only an illusion. Nevertheless, I am astonished by the hatred that I quoted. In this time of extraordinary oppression against any individual who dares challenge certain dogmas, that is to say if anyone is White and a true follower of the Way of Jesus Christ especially, for example, as The Saker himself wrote recently on the whole homosexual brouhaha here, then the full force of the establishment, the powers that be, will be brought to bear—your employment, perhaps your life would be at risk. Not that Lisa Page or Peter Strozk would ever dare to criticize Israel, or look into the mirror and see themselves as they truly are, but if they did, they’d probably be taken to a CIA black site and waterboarded for their troubles.

A few years ago, I was truly haunted by a photograph posted on the Saker’s site of a beautiful young woman and her infant child; I can’t recall the link yet I believe the post was by a Saker contributor. The two were murdered by shelling from the Neo-Nazi Ukrainians. I wonder why Putin in his interview with Oliver Stone didn’t, in his usual calm yet convincing manner, discuss the terrible loss of life and the tens of thousands of refugees, the human suffering caused by the American Empire, for after all Victoria Nuland admitted that billions were poured into Ukraine in support of “regime change.” Nevertheless, what astonishes me is the complete lack of empathy, in fact the evident enjoyment in wreaking havoc and death around the world on the part of America’s political class especially.

Meanwhile, back in America, America itself is breaking apart at the seams. How can one maintain an empire when the empire itself is built on sand? As Boyd D. Cathey noted in his piece “Is It Time for America to Break Apart?”:

https://thesaker.is/the-one-people-americans-are-encouraged-to-hate/

>>7262593

>Treasonous parties helped them!

You mean (((them)))???

Holocaust, Never Again but to Palestinians

What would you do when somebody destroys your home, steal your land, murders your children, and kicks you out of your country as a refugee?

Israel is a Zionist colonial project based on the destruction of Palestinian homes and cities, the ethnic cleansing of all Christian and Moslem goyim Palestinians, and the implanting of Zionist foreign Jews in the land. Such destruction and expulsion were accomplished through terror, massacres and devastated wars; a real Palestinian holocaust.

This holocaustal expulsion ideology could be seen in the Zionist colonial ideology since the earliest stages of its foundation. The first Zionist Congress in Basle in 1897 spelled out the movement’s main objective as: “The establishment of a secured home in Palestine for the Jewish people”. Ignoring the existence of Palestinians, Zionists called Palestine “land without people for people without land.” They did not mean that there were no people in Palestine, but that there were no people worth considering in Palestine. Weizmann stated “The British told us that there are there some hundred thousand negros [kushim] and for those there is no value.”

The Ideological founder of Socialist Zionism; Nahman Syrkin proposed in his 1898 pamphlet entitled “The Jewish Question and the Socialist Jewish State”: “the liberation of Palestine from Turkish rule by inciting nationalist to repel against the empire and then subsequently evacuate Palestinian Arabs. Palestine, in which the Jews constitute today 10% of the population, must be evacuated for the Jews.”

In his book “The Voice of Jerusalem” in 1920 Israel Zangwill advocated an “Arab exodus” from Palestine to other Arab countries mainly Iraq. Haim Weizmann, though, presented the British government in 1930 an official, albeit secret, proposal to transfer Palestinians to Transjordan instead.

In a letter to an American colleague, Jabotinsky wrote in 1939 “There is no choice, the Arabs must make room for the Jews in Eretz Israel. If it was possible to transfer the Baltic people, it is also possible to move the Palestinian Arabs.” Jabotinsky was also cited by Ya’acov Shavit in his book “Zionism and the Arab Question” as saying: “We Jews, thank God, have nothing to do with the East … the Islamic soul must be broomed out of Eretz Yisrael.”

Dr. Selig Eugen Saskin; the director of the Land Settlement Department of the Jewish National Fund, stated in his memorandum to the 20th Zionist Congress in August 1937 that “Jewish state is unthinkable without compulsory transfer of the Arabs to the Arab states.”

https://www.veteranstoday.com/2019/07/30/palestinian-holocaust/

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>>7262696

This Israeli latest demolition of Palestinian homes was condemned by Arab states such as Jordan, Qatar and the Arab League calling it war crime, and crime against humanity. Last Tuesday the Security Council condemned the demolition, confirmed its support to the already obsolete and impractical two state solution, and calling on Israel to abide by Resolution 2334 and cease home demolition, land confiscation and building illegal settlements.

Since its illegal establishment Israel had never respected any international law nor any political agreement it signed with its Arab neighbors. Israel does not respect the United Nations, the Security Council, the ICC, or any other international organization. Thanks to successive American administrations, who blindly and unconditionally support Israeli crimes and shields it from any UN condemnation similar to what happened last Wednesday, when the US vetoed a UN decision to condemn Israeli demolition of Palestinian homes.

With American support and protection, all the international laws and UN resolutions against Israel have no deterring effect on Israel. When Palestinian refugees in Gaza Strip got tired waiting for the international community to help implement UN resolution 194 of December 1948 giving Palestinian refugees the right to return to their occupied home land, they decided to implement the law by themselves. Since last March 30th they organized the Great March of Return.

https://youtu.be/XaMesJM9t-U

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Information Warfare: Iran’s “B-Team” Branding Is Effective in Putting a Lot of Pressure on Bolton

Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif’s recent branding of US National Security Advisor Bolton, “Israeli” Premier Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) as part of a so-called “B-Team” of anti-Iranian hawks has been very successful in putting enormous pressure on the first-mentioned one and making Americans think twice about the whose interests would really be served by going to war with the Islamic Republic.

***

Perception management is a tactic of information warfare that’s become extremely important in the modern-day age of social media, which isn’t to render any value judgement on it one way or the other, but just to point out a fact that few are reluctant to admit. All countries, leaders, movements, and politically minded individuals engage in it, though it’s “taboo” to say so. In any case, that doesn’t change the reality of it occurring all the time, especially since it’s come to play such a prominent role in the latest American-Iranian tensions. Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif‘s recent branding of US National Security Advisor Bolton, “Israeli” Premier Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu, and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) as part of a so-called “B-Team” of anti-Iranian hawks is a case in point and deserves to be analyzed more in depth because of the tremendous success that it’s had in putting enormous pressure on the first-mentioned one.

Iranian strategists keenly understand that many Americans on both sides of the partisan aisle are deeply suspicious of Bolton, with Democrats literally hating him simply because he’s a Republican while the Republicans themselves are divided over his controversial legacy of supporting the 2003 War on Iraq. They’ve also obviously been following the US’ domestic affairs closely enough to know that there are even rumors that Bolton isn’t in the best standing with Trump, especially after popular TV host Tucker Carlson’s reported intervention in getting the President to reconsider the wisdom of striking Iran in response to its downing of an American spy drone last month. All of this suggests that there are serious fault lines inside the Trump Administration and the rest of America as a whole over Bolton’s role as the country’s National Security Advisor, which presents a unique opportunity for Iran to relieve some of the pressure that he’s putting on it.

The War Hoax Redux

Every American is aware by now of the Democrats’ “Russian collusion” conspiracy theory, which has brought the topic of foreign interference in the country’s many political processes to the front and center of domestic debate. With this in mind, Iranian strategists realized the brilliance of grouping Bolton together with Bibi and MBS as part of the so-called “B-Team” that Tehran blames for trying to provoke war with the Islamic Republic because it strongly implies that the infamous war hawk might be doing the bidding of “Israel” and Saudi Arabia instead of advancing America’s own interests. Those two aforementioned actors are very controversial nowadays after many Americans have become aware of “Israel’s” crimes against the Palestinians and Saudi Arabia’s vicious conduct in the War on Yemen, and Bolton’s unwavering support for both of them has contributed to his unpopularity and the theory that he might be their joint “agent of influence”.

Iran wants as many Americans as possible — including regular folks, government officials (both domestic and foreign), and even Trump himself — exposed to this idea in order to exacerbate the preexisting fault lines over this official and either functionally neutralize his influence or get him fired, but the only way to ensure widespread awareness of the theory that he might be “Israel” and Saudi Arabia’s joint “agent of influence” in provoking the US into war against Iran on their behalf was to get Foreign Minister Zarif to tweet about the “B-Team”. That instantly caught the international media’s attention and guaranteed that the largest number of people possible could be made aware of who Bolton might really be working for, which has put the National Security Advisor under unprecedented pressure like never before. Iran’s successful employment of perception management tactics via social media might even result in Trump tempering his position towards the latest tensions and ultimately preventing an outbreak of what Zarif warned would be the “war of the century”.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/irans-b-team-branding-effective-putting-pressure-bolton/5685052

Israel Struck ‘Iranian Targets’ In Iraq ‘Using F-35’: Reports

Israel has expanded its operations against ‘Iranian targets’ to Iraq employing F-35 jets, Asharq Al-Awsat, an Arabic-language newspaper published in London, reported on July 30 citing Western diplomatic sources.

According to the report, an Israeli F-35 warplane was behind a July 19 strike on a supposed rocket depot at the ‘Camp Ashraf’ military base of the Popular Mobilization Units.

Camp Ashraf is located around 80 km from the Iranian border and 40 km north-east of Baghdad.

The Saudi-based al-Arabiya network claimed at the time that members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps and Hezbollah had been killed in the strike. Nonetheless, these reports were denounced by Iraqi sources.

https://southfront.org/israel-struck-iranian-targets-in-iraq-using-f-35-reports/

This bomb your neighbors and claim your targeting Iran line is getting old

US Congress Approves Bipartisan Budget Act, Relegating More For Defense Than Everything Else Combined

On July 25th, the US House of Representatives passed the “Bipartisan Budget Act.”

The act is a sort of agreement between US President Donald Trump and congressional leaders, and it suspends debt limit for 2 years, while lifting the spending caps by $320 billion.

65 Republicans, about one-third of the House Republican conference, voted in favor of the measure.

“Our fundamental principle is to make sure we have fiscal house in order. We understand we live in a House that has to find compromise,” House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy said. “This is not the bill that we would write. We are not in the majority.”

The US national debt now totals more than $22.5 trillion.

“We are closing in on $23 trillion in debt, and the latest bipartisan budget ‘deal’ would continue to push us further down the dangerous and unsustainable path we’re on,” Rep. Jeff Duncan, noted in a statement after the vote. “We can’t keep making excuses while we pass this debt on to our children, recklessly throwing fiscal sanity out the window in the process.”

Democrats had enough votes, 219, to pass the bill on their own.

“By passing the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2019, we have ended the threat of harsh austerity cuts and set the stage for strategic investments in our nation’s future,” Rep. John Yarmuth, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, wrote in a statement. “Once approved by the Senate and signed into law by the President, this truly bipartisan legislation will provide much-needed certainty for our communities and our economy.”

Notably, the budget approved $1.48 trillion in military spending for 2020 and 2021.

“At $738 billion for Fiscal Year 2020 and $740 billion for Fiscal Year 2021,” wrote William Hartung, director of the Arms and Security Project at the Center for International Policy , “the agreement sets the table for two of the highest budgets for the Pentagon and related work on nuclear warheads at the Department of Energy since World War II.”

“The proposed figures are higher than spending at the height of the Vietnam and Korean Wars, and substantially more than the high point of the Reagan buildup of the 1980s,” Hartung added. “And the Fiscal Year 2020 and Fiscal Year 2021 numbers are only slightly less than spending in 2010, when the United States had 180,000 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, roughly nine times the number currently deployed.”

https://southfront.org/us-congress-approves-bipartisan-budget-act-relegating-more-for-defense-than-everything-else-combined/

It should be called the ATTACK budget as most of it is for Foreign wars of aggression for Israel's benefit, not the US

The War Party Is in Control

A few things are clear after Robert Mueller’s testimony last week. One is that the former special counsel is an out-of-touch figurehead who doesn’t even seem to have read his own report. Another is that Russiagate is a stinking sack of excrement – as California Republican Tom McClintock more or less described it (quote starts at 3:40:45) – that Democrats would never again mention if they had half a brain (which they don’t).

A third is that America is now dominated by a war party that includes everyone on Capitol Hill other than a few isolationists on the right and the Bernie Sanders-Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez faction on the left. To be sure, there’s disagreement as to whether the enemy is Russia or Iran. But such minor details aside, the logic is otherwise the same. Foreigners are out to get us. They are responsible for all our troubles. Americans must mobilize to stop them.

Elementary concepts like evidence meanwhile fall by the wayside. During a visit to India last month, Mike Pompeo described Iran as “the world’s largest state sponsor of terror” (quote at 27:15).

No one asked the secretary of state to back up his fantastic assertion, which overlooks the obvious fact that Al Qaeda and ISIS are both Sunni extremist organizations that despise Shi’ite Iran as much as they despise the United States, if not more. In June 2017, for instance, the Islamic State launched a devastating attack in Tehran that killed 17 civilians and wounded 43. In September 2018, it attacked a military parade in the southwestern Iranian town of Ahvaz, killing 25. Three months later, suicide car bombers belonging to Ansar al-Furqan, a militant Sunni group linked to Al Qaeda, killed two policemen and wounded 48 in the southeastern town of Chabahar.

Why would Iran finance terror when it’s the victim? It doesn’t make sense. But, then, reality, as Karl Rove once put it, is something that empires feel free to make up to suit their own purposes.

Evidence-Free Terrain

Mueller’s assertion last Wednesday that Russia is interfering in U.S. elections similarly exists in an evidence-free terrain. “It wasn’t a single attempt,” he declared in reference to misleading Facebook ads placed by a St. Petersburg, Russia, troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency. “They’re doing it as we sit here, and they expect to do it during the next campaign.”

The New York Times and Jeff Bezos’s Washington Post agreed with Mueller and issued howls of concurring outrage. But how did Mueller know that Russia was hacking away “as we sit here”? What evidence does he have that they will do it in 2020? The answer is zero. To paraphrase “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre,” the attitude seems to be: “Proof? We ain’t got no proof. We don’t need no proof. I don’t have to show you any stinking proof.”

https://consortiumnews.com/2019/07/30/the-war-party-is-in-control/

US Stealing Syrian Oil. Controls About 30% of Syrian Territory

Imperial adventurism is grand theft on a global scale — seizing, controlling, and looting the resources of targeted nations, along with exploiting their people.

Operating from illegally constructed military bases in northern and southern parts of Syria, platforms for war and training of jihadists, the US controls about 30% of Syrian territory, including where most of the country’s oil reserves are located.

Pre-war, Syria was a small producer, the only Eastern Mediterranean country with significant/yet small reserves, estimated at about 2.5 billion barrels earlier by the Oil and Gas Journal, along with around 5.3 billion cubic meters of natural gas.

Looted Syrian oil by US-supported ISIS was earlier transported cross-border to Turkey for refining and sales.

President Erdogan, his family and cronies reportedly profited from the grand theft/smuggling operation.

Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Anatoly Antonov earlier said

“Turkey is the main destination for the oil stolen from its legitimate owners, which are Syria and Iraq,” adding:

“Turkey resells this oil. The appalling part about it is that the country’s top political leadership is involved in the illegal business — President Erdogan and his family.”

Like the US, NATO, Israel, the Saudis, and their Middle East partners, Turkey supports regional jihadists these countries pretend to oppose.

Antonov earlier explained that

Erdogan and other “Turkish elites conspir(e) to steal oil from their neighbors in industrial quantities along ‘rolling pipelines’ made up of thousands of tanker trucks.”

“We are certain that Turkey is the destination for stolen (Syrian and Iraqi) oil, and (have) irrefutable facts to prove it.”

The illicit trade was worth hundreds of millions of dollars on the black market. Turkey may still be involved as the destination for US-stolen Syrian oil.

On Monday, Russian General Staff/Main Operational Directorate commander General Sergey Rudskoy accused US and allied forces of “highjack(ing)” Syrian oil from ISIS, profiting from its sales — perhaps shipping it cross-border to Turkey and/or elsewhere, the Trump regime running a black market operation with looted Syrian oil, adding:

US-supported ISIS and other jihadists were also trained to destroy Syrian (and perhaps Iraqi) oil and gas infrastructure, along with continuing attacks on government forces and civilians, using heavy and other weapons supplied by Western and regional countries, including Israel, Turkey, the Saudis and UAE.

Rudskoy added that the Trump regime is arming Arab and Kurdish fighters, working with them as well in the illicit trafficking of stolen Syrian oil.

US trained and armed jihadists are also being used against Russia’s Khmeimim airbase in Syria’s Latakia province, attacking it with Western-supplied drones and rocket launchers.

They’re deployed by US transport planes and helicopters to continue endless war in Syria. Thousands are being trained at the Pentagon’s Al-Tanf base in southern Syria near the Iraqi and Jordanian borders.

The US came to Syria, Iraq, elsewhere in the region, North Africa, Central Asia, and other parts of the world to stay — part of its imperial aim for global conquest and control, endless wars its favored strategy.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/us-stealing-syrian-oil-controls-about-30-of-syrian-territory/5685056

Trump’s Coalition Commits New Massacre in Syria’s Deir Ezzor Countryside

The illegal coalition led by the United States of America outside the United Nations and without the approval of the Syrian state added a new massacre to its long list of ugly crimes against the Syrian people today by bombing a village in Deir Ezzor countryside causing mayhem.

At the early hours of dawn, the Trump coalition of evil states bombed the village of Al-Rez in Al-Busayrah area, southeast Deir Ezzor countryside. The bombing killed a number of civilians, left many others injured most of whom were women and children, as well as large destruction in the people’s homes.

Trump who failed his own election promises to withdraw his troops from Syria and elsewhere, has instead increased the level of crimes his troops and their allies commit in Syria.

This latest massacre comes just a couple of days after the same evil coalition admitted it has killed 1300 civilians in Syria and Iraq since 2014. A number that many observers mocked due to the casualties in the devastated city of Raqqa alone, which the illegal coalition obliterated and not liberated from ISIS.

Despite having a ceremonial flag exchange between US-sponsored ISIS terrorists in the city with the US-sponsored Kurdish SDF separatist militias, the US-led coalition made sure it continued bombing the city until over 80% of it became inhabitable, as per a UN investigation team.

The evil coalition did the same to Mosul in Iraq, in an apparent style thinking they’ll make more contracts for US corporations who will come for reconstruction, as they dream of.

Residents of Al-Rez village targeted earlier today by the Trump’s coalition who were not killed were left in a state of shock and panic due to the massive explosions around them, another goal of such coalitions.

The purpose of setting up coalitions of willing outside the United Nations and against international law is to make more profits for the military-industrial complex that has a large influence on the US foreign policy, and to set the stage for new contracts for rebuilding at the same time they enjoy killing the people of other nations for Satanic rituals.

The coalition operating in Syria and Iraq under the banner of fighting ISIS has fought everybody who fought ISIS including the Syrian Arab Army and the Iraqi’s PMU forces. Rarely they targeted low-level ISIS commanders who they couldn’t lift to other places for recycling.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/trumps-coalition-commits-new-massacre-deir-ezzor-countryside/5685015

Israel Has "The Most Moral Army in the World"?

The creepy French “intellectual” Bernard-Henri Levy gets it wrong

Eight days ago eleven Palestinian buildings containing seventy family apartments located in the illegally Israeli occupied East Jerusalem village of Wadi al-Hummus were demolished in a military-led operation by more than 1,000 Israeli soldiers, policemen and municipal workers using bulldozers, backhoes and explosives. Residents who resisted were beaten by the soldiers, kicked down flights of stairs and even shot at close range with rubber bullets. The soldiers were recorded laughing and celebrating as they did their dirty work. Occupants who did not resist and who held their hands up in surrender were also not spared the rod, as were also foreign observers who were present to add their voices to those who were protesting the outrage. The injuries sustained by some of the victims have been photographed and are available online.

Twelve Palestinians and four British observers were injured badly enough to be hospitalized. The British reported that they were “stamped on, dragged by the hair, strangled with a scarf and pepper sprayed by Israeli border police.” One who was hospitalized described how Israeli soldiers dragged him by his feet, lifting him up, and kicking him in the stomach, while one soldier stamped on his head four times “at full force” before standing on his head and pulling his hair. Another suffered a fractured rib after “[the policeman] then stamped on my throat and others started punching my torso. It was a sadistic display of violence…”

Yet another foreign observer was dragged out of the house, “…her hands were crushed so badly that she suffered a fractured knuckle on her left hand, and her right hand suffered severe tissue damage ‘which will be permanently misshapen unless she gets cosmetic surgery.’”

Edmond Sichrovsky, an Austrian activist of Jewish origin, who was in one of the houses, described how Israeli forces broke the door down, first dragging out the Palestinians, “knocking the grandfather to the floor in front of his crying and screaming grandchildren.” Cell phones were forcibly removed to eliminate any picture taking or filming before soldiers began attacking him and four other activists. “I was repeatedly kicked and kneed, which left a bloody nose and multiple cuts, as well breaking my glasses from a knee in the face. Once outside, they slammed me against a car while shouting verbal insults at me and women activists, calling them whores.”

https://www.unz.com/pgiraldi/israel-has-the-most-moral-army-in-the-world/

Mexican Judge Saves Cartel Boss from U.S. Extradition

A Mexican federal judge saved a top leader of Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generation (CJNG) from extradition to the U.S., where he faces several drug trafficking and money laundering charges. The decision comes as rumors spread about a possible prison rescue.

This week, Mexican Federal Judge Rosa Maria Cervantes Mejia halted the extradition of Abigael “El Cuini” Gonzalez Valencia by granting an injunction or “amparo.” The ruling held that Gonzalez Valencia faces various charges at home which must be resolved before removal–even after Mexico’s Foreign Relations Office granted the transfer for the man believed to be the second-in-command of CJNG. Gonzalez Valencia is the brother-in-law of CJNG top boss Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera.

The CJNG is now a security concern for Mexican and U.S. authorities because of their extreme violence and recruitment of former members of the Colombian guerrilla terrorist group FARC. CJNG gunmen are often involved in fierce battles with Mexican military and police. They are also responsible for shooting down a police helicopter.

In recent days, social media messages and videos circulating throughout Mexico warned of a pending rescue attempt by CJNG under orders from El Mencho. Gonzalez Valencia is the leader of a criminal organization known as “Los Cuinis,” which is controlled by his relatives and considered the financial wing of CJNG. Los Cuinis previously went by the names “Cartel Milenio” and “Cartel Valencia” before adopting the current title.

Los Cuinis and CJNG were the target of several seizures and actions by the U.S. Department of Treasury, which outed music promoters, fashion photographers, and other culturally influential Mexicans for allegedly laundering money for the organizations.

https://www.breitbart.com/border/2019/07/30/mexican-judge-saves-cartel-boss-from-u-s-extradition/

"California Should Be Embarrassed" - State Passes Law Banning Trump From Ballot Unless Tax Returns Released

We're thrilled to see the far-left in America has the same respect for the Democratic process as their forebears did (for a reference to their forebears, see here).

On Tuesday, Calif. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill requiring President Trump to either release his tax returns or he won't appear on the ballot in the state.

Under SB 27, called the "Presidential Tax Transparency and Accountability Act," any candidate running for president or governor in California must file copies of their tax returns from the previous five years to the California secretary of State, or their names will be stricken from the ballot, the Hill reports.

Newsom argued that, as the largest economic engine within the US, California has a "responsibility" to demand this additional information (for the record: the Constitution doesn't say anything about candidates releasing tax returns - though the federal income tax didn't exist back on).

"As one of the largest economies in the world and home to one in nine Americans eligible to vote, California has a special responsibility to require this information of presidential and gubernatorial candidates," Newsom said.

"These are extraordinary times and states have a legal and moral duty to do everything in their power to ensure leaders seeking the highest offices meet minimal standards, and to restore public confidence. The disclosure required by this bill will shed light on conflicts of interest, self-dealing, or influence from domestic and foreign business interest."

A Trump campaign spokesman called the new law "unconstitutional," and insisted that there was a good reason why California's last governor, Jerry Brown, refused to sign the legislation.

In a statement, Trump campaign spokesman Tim Murtaugh called the move "unconstitutional."

"There are very good reasons why the very liberal Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed this bill two years ago - it's unconstitutional and it opens up the possibility for states to load up more requirements on candidates in future elections. What's next, five years of health records?" he said.

Murtaugh said states cannot add requirements to presidential candidates' qualifications for running.

"The Constitution is clear on the qualifications for someone to serve as president and states cannot add additional requirements on their own," he said. "The bill also violates the 1st Amendment right of association since California can't tell political parties which candidates their members can or cannot vote for in a primary election."

Unsurprisingly, the bill was overwhelmingly passed by California's assembly and the state senate earlier this month. Among its more appalling provisions, the bill includes an "urgency clause", which would allow it to take effect before the 2020 vote, meaning any Californians who want to vote for President Trump might need to write his name in.

Though it has faded from the headlines somewhat, the battle over Trump's tax returns continues to rage. The administration is already suing New York State, which recently passed a law allowing the state to request Trump's tax returns, while in Congress, the Ways and Means Committee has filed a lawsuit over the administration’s refusal to release Trump's returns, which is likely the beginning of a lengthy legal battle.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-07-30/california-should-be-embarrassed-state-passes-law-banning-trump-ballot-unless-tax

Beto O’Rourke To Bring National Anthem Kneelers To Democratic Debate As Guests (VIDEO)

Tonight is day 1 of the second round of Democratic presidential debates in Detroit, Michigan.

Robert Francis “Beto” O’Rourke, who is arguably the most self-hating white liberal in the presidential race, will be bringing 3 young black men who kneeled during the National Anthem before their high school football games in Lansing, Michigan as his guests.

WATCH video below for the full story:

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/07/beto-orourke-to-bring-national-anthem-kneelers-to-democratic-debate-as-guests-video/

Malachi 3

3 “I will send my messenger, who will prepare the way before me. Then suddenly the Lord you are seeking will come to his temple; the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire, will come,” says the Lord Almighty.

2 But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears? For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring offerings in righteousness, 4 and the offerings of Judah and Jerusalem will be acceptable to the Lord, as in days gone by, as in former years.

5 “So I will come to put you on trial. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive the foreigners among you of justice, but do not fear me,” says the Lord Almighty.

Breaking Covenant by Withholding Tithes

6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.

“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’

8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.

“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’

“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.

Israel Speaks Arrogantly Against God

13 “You have spoken arrogantly against me,” says the Lord.

“Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’

14 “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? 15 But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’”

The Faithful Remnant

16 Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.

17 “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him. 18 And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.