License to kill for Britain’s secret service makes UK a police state

A ruling by British judges declaring it legal for Britain’s state security service – MI5 – to shield agents or informers from prosecution for crimes committed in the line of duty is a hugely sinister development.

The ruling by the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT) last week represents a formalizing of secret British government policy of affording its internal security service unlimited powers and immunity from prosecution in the execution of activities. The policy was legally contested by four British human rights groups, calling on the IPT to ban such powers.

However, the tribunal of five judges concluded it was lawful for MI5 agents to be permitted to commit crimes if, by doing so, they were acting in the public interest of national security. Two of the judges dissented. They explicitly raised concerns that the policy sets a “dangerous precedent” and “opens the door to abuse of power”.

Daniel Holder, deputy director of the Committee on the Administration of Justice (CAJ), one of the four groups protesting the existing policy, said the narrow-majority ruling shows there is deep misgivings even within the state about the sinister potential of such unlimited power for Britain’s security forces. CAJ and the other groups are to appeal the ruling in the courts.

“We are very concerned that this ruling for now permits MI5 to continue to authorize informant or agent involvement in serious crime,” said Holder in comments for this article. “This could include crimes that constitute human rights violations. There were such experiences during the Northern Ireland conflict of informant-based paramilitary collusion, with agents of the state involved in acts as serious as murder and torture.”

During that conflict (1969-98), British military intelligence are known to have been involved in systematic levels of collusion with paramilitary agents and informers as part of a counterinsurgency campaign. The outcome was hundreds of extra-judicial killings carried out with the covert consent of British state agencies. One of the most notorious was the murder of Belfast lawyer Pat Finucane in 1989. Former British Prime Minister David Cameron admitted before parliament in 2012, following the publication of a government report into the Finucane killing, that the collusion in the case represented “shocking” abuse by Britain’s military intelligence.

What the latest ruling by the five-judge tribunal demonstrates is that there is still a policy of impunity for British state agents and their informants if their criminal activities are deemed to be essential in the service of national security. That is an insidiously low bar of subjectivity which allows for a modus operandi of “any means necessary”.

https://www.rt.com/op-ed/476643-license-kill-mi5-police-state/

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Implies Impeachment Trial Should Include Only Unbiased Senators

What if you had an impeachment trial and nobody showed up to vote on it?

That’s at least what Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is suggesting. Not in so many words, mind you — but the subtext is certainly there.

So a bit of context before the remarks by the Notorious RBG: A few days ago, basically noting the politicized nature of the debate, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that he couldn’t consider himself an “impartial juror.”

“I’m not an impartial juror,” McConnell said. “This is a political process. There is not anything judicial about it. Impeachment is a political decision.”

RBG, meanwhile, said that she thought that there should only be “impartial jurors” during an impeachment hearings.

“The House indicts, and the Senate tries. Should a trier be impartial? Of course, that’s the job of an impartial judge,” she said during an interview with the BBC before Trump’s impeachment.

http://www.madnesshub.com/2019/12/ruth-bader-ginsburg-implies-impeachment.html

Tesla Picks Pockets Of Chinese Banks As It Borrows Another $1.4 Billion

Tesla, which supposedly has lots of cash in the bank and tons of working capital (just ask David Einhorn), is tapping a group of Chinese banks for a relatively small $1.4 billion USD, five year loan, for the company's Shanghai plant. Part of the loan will be used to roll over an existing loan, according to Reuters.

Among the banks participating in the loan are China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank.

Earlier this year the banks had offered Tesla an even smaller 12 month facility of 3.5 billion yuan (about $475 million USD) that comes due in March of 2020. The new loan will help Tesla roll over the previous debt and the rest will be used on Tesla's "China operations".

Tesla broke ground on its Shanghai plant in January and has started vehicle production. The factory is the cornerstone to Tesla's ambitions of expanding globally and avoiding higher import tariffs imposed on U.S. made cars. The Shanghai government has been supportive of the project, for whatever reason, which marks China's first wholly foreign owned car plant.

The new loan's interest rate will be 90% of China's one-year benchmark, the same as the 12 month facility. It's an attractive interest rate and one that Chinese banks offer to "their best clients". it was not immediately clear how or why Tesla qualified for this preferential rate.

https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/tesla-slides-deeper-pocket-chinese-banks-it-borrows-another-14-billion

Saudi Arabia sentences five people to death over Khashoggi killing - but Crown Prince Salman's top aide is NOT charged

The five men sentenced to death 'directly took part in the killing', it is claimed

Another three men were jailed over Khashoggi's death in Istanbul last October

Saud al-Qahtani, an aide of the prince Mohammed bin Salman, was not charged

The verdicts sparked immediate claims of a 'whitewash' to protect the prince

Five people have been sentenced to death over the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018, Saudi Arabia announced today.

The five men 'directly took part in the killing' at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, the kingdom's public prosecutor said.

A further three people were jailed, but former royal adviser Saud al-Qahtani - a close aide of crown prince Mohammed bin Salman - was not charged.

The trials were held in near-secrecy and today's sentences sparked immediate claims of a cover-up to protect the prince, who denies involvement in the killing.

UN investigator Agnes Callamard, who wrote a report setting out 'credible evidence' of Prince Mohammed's involvement, today labelled the Saudi inquiry a 'travesty'.

'The travesty of investigation, prosecution and justice continues,' Callamard wrote on Twitter.

Lynn Maalouf of Amnesty International called today's verdicts a 'whitewash', saying Saudi Arabia had a record of 'grossly unfair trials'.

'This verdict is a whitewash which brings neither justice nor the truth for Jamal Khashoggi and his loved ones,' she said.

'The trial has been closed to the public and to independent monitors, with no information available as to how the investigation was carried out.

'The verdict fails to address the Saudi authorities' involvement in this devastating crime or clarify the location of Jamal Khashoggi's remains.'

Turkey also criticised today's verdicts, saying key aspects of the case such as the location of Khashoggi's body were 'left in the dark'.

The decision 'far from meets the expectations of both our country and the international community to shed light on the murder with all its dimensions and deliver justice,' the Turkish foreign ministry said.

Christophe Deloire of Reporters Without Borders said: 'When Saudis sentence five to death for Khashoggi's murder, we fear that it is a way to silence them for ever and to conceal the truth.

'We cannot consider death penalty helps to bring justice. We still expect a full accounting.'

Saudi investigators also claimed that the killing was 'not premeditated', contradicting the findings of the UN report.

Prosecution spokesman Shalaan al-Shalaan claimed that 'the decision [to kill Khashoggi] was taken at the spur of the moment'.

He claimed that when the killers saw that it would be impossible to transfer the journalist to a safe place to negotiate with him, they decided to kill him.

More

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7821257/Saudi-Arabia-sentences-five-people-death-Khashoggi-killing.html

Nancy Pelosi Won’t Select Impeachment Managers ‘Until We Know What Sort of Trial the Senate Will Conduct’

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said on Monday that House Democrats cannot choose impeachment managers until they “know what sort of trial the Senate will conduct.”

Pelosi, who has yet to transfer the articles of impeachment against the president to the upper chamber, said in a tweet the House cannot choose impeachment managers — those who will present the articles and case to the Senate — until they know “what sort of trial the Senate will conduct.”

“The House cannot choose our impeachment managers until we know what sort of trial the Senate will conduct,” Pelosi wrote.

“President Trump blocked his own witnesses and documents from the House, and from the American people, on phony complaints about the House process,” she continued. “What is his excuse now?”:

The Senate has yet to establish the parameters of the impeachment trial, as both Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) were unable to reach an agreement. This means the details will remain largely unsettled into the new year.

McConnell stated, after what he described as a “cordial” conversation with Schumer, they “remain at an impasse because my friend, the Democratic leader, continues to demand a new and different set of rules for President Trump.”

The majority leader slammed Democrats last week over their demands to “rerun the entire fact-finding investigation because angry partisans rushed sloppily through it.”

Nonetheless, McConnell confirmed the Senate has not ruled out witnesses.

“We haven’t ruled out witnesses,” he told Fox & Friends on Monday. “We’ve said, ‘Let’s handle this case just like we did with President Clinton.’ Fair is fair.”

As Breitbart News reported, the Senate can acquit the president, even if the Democrat-controlled House withholds the articles of impeachment.

“Pelosi gives us the most unfair trial in the history of the U.S. Congress, and now she is crying for fairness in the Senate, and breaking all rules while doing so,” Trump wrote following Pelosi’s tweet. “She lost Congress once, she will do it again!”:

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/12/23/nancy-pelosi-wont-select-impeachment-managers-until-we-know-what-sort-of-trial-the-senate-will-conduct/

France capitulates to illegal migrants demanding residence permits after protests

Residence permits have been granted to a group of illegal migrants who’ve camped out in front of a Chronopost sorting center in Alfortville (Val-de-Marne) for the last six months in protest.

So far, the French prefecture of the department has issued residence permits to five of the protesters while thirty more are currently said to be under review to receive theirs, Ouest-France reports.

About six months ago, the thirty or so “undocumented workers” who are employed at the site by a subcontractor of the company, began demanding residence permits. The group put up tents outside the fences which protect the Chronopost.

The illegal migrants had originally been recruited by an interim agency by presenting false identification papers.

“We will remain there until the situation of all those who worked for Chronopost is resolved,” said Christian Schweyer, the host of the group of undocumented workers that organized the protests at the site.

The five migrants who’ve been granted residence permits will now be able to claim French benefits and can send money abroad. This year, migrants sent 494 billion euros in foreign remittances.

https://voiceofeurope.com/2019/12/france-capitulates-to-illegal-migrants-demanding-residence-permits-after-protests/

Congress is using billions of taxpayer dollars to build border walls in other countries

Congress is using billions of taxpayer dollars to build border walls in other countries. One America’s Pearson Sharp explains how Americans are financing border security projects across the Middle East.

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/congress-is-using-billions-of-taxpayer-dollars-to-build-border-walls-in-other-countries/

The Attacks Now Coming At President Trump From Progressive Laodicean Evangelicals Reveals Deep Infiltration By George Soros Front Groups

Christianity Today is yet another group with ties to George Soros and have published numerous articles promoting his immigration policies.

George Soros was not a happy man in 2016. He had spent hundreds of millions of dollars to buy the election for his puppet Hillary Clinton through his myriad social justice front groups and the fake news media, and yet, he still lost. I think it is safe to say that Soros was truly stunned, blindsided even, when Donald Trump handily won the election. Lost people like George Soros don’t recognize the moving of the hand of God when they see it, but you and I who are saved certainly do. George Soros has another trick up his sleeve for 2020, and I thought you should know what it is.

“Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” 2 Timothy 3:5-7 (KJV)

Going back as far as 2010, evidence that George Soros had slithered his way into the Laodicean evangelical circles began popping up. National Review reported that a group called the Sojourners, calling themselves a “progressive evangelical” organization, had begun receiving funds from the Open Society Institute which is funded by George Soros. In addition to that, the Sojourners also take funds from multiple globalist New World Order groups. Want to know why it seems that George Soros is everywhere? Because he is.

BESIDES THE GEORGE SOROS GRANTS, FOR INSTANCE, THERE ARE TWO 2006 GRANTS FROM THE INFAMOUS TIDES FOUNDATION TOTALING $72,106; A FORD FOUNDATION GRANT IN 2008 FOR $100,000; A ROCKEFELLER BROTHERS FUND GRANT FOR $100,000 IN 2005; AND A $50,000 GRANT FROM THE WALLACE GLOBAL FUND IN 2008. THE WALLACE GLOBAL FUND ALSO SUPPORTS ACORN AND A CORNUCOPIA OF POPULATION-CONTROL GROUPS. THREE GRANTS, TOTALING $20,000 BETWEEN 2005 AND 2007, ARE FROM THE STREISAND FOUNDATION IN CALIFORNIA. YES, THAT STREISAND FOUNDATION. (THAT’S JUST FUNNY.) OTHER RECIPIENTS OF STREISAND PHILANTHROPY INCLUDE PEOPLE FOR THE AMERICAN WAY AND PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA. SOURCE

https://www.investmentwatchblog.com/the-attacks-now-coming-at-president-trump-from-progressive-laodicean-evangelicals-reveals-deep-infiltration-by-george-soros-front-groups/

Maryland mayor's wife busted buying drugs from a high school student

A teacher at James M. Bennett High School was charged with attempted possession of an illegal drug Friday.

Elizabeth Day, wife of Salisbury Mayor Jake Day, was charged with attempted possession of a controlled dangerous substance that was not marijuana, as well as contributing to certain conditions of a child, according to court documents.

Both charges are misdemeanors.

A statement on behalf of Day’s attorney, John K. Phoebus, was issued Friday afternoon.

“Mrs. Day is committed to her family, her children, and the Salisbury community," the statement reads. "While she is cooperating with the investigation, she is presumed innocent of these charges.”

Jake Day issued a statement Friday afternoon.

“This is a very difficult time for our family. My wife, Elizabeth, is a great mother to our two children and committed to this community. Liz has dealt with challenges that millions of Americans have, and though she must now live through those challenges in the public eye, I know the health and well-being of our family is the single most important thing in her life," Jake Day said. "In this moment, my role is to love and support my wife and our children, and that’s what I intend to do.

Elizabeth Day, who is a physical education teacher, asked her student to get ADHD medication for her by text messages and Snapchat, according to court documents. A report alleging the solicitation was filed Dec. 9 through Child Protective Services.

The student told investigators with the Wicomico County Sheriff's Office that Day asked if they had any ADHD medication, according to court documents. The student told Day they did not, and Day asked the student if they could get any from friends, the court documents state.

The student reported Day contacted them on more than one occasion to ask if they were able to get any medication, court documents state. The student said they were instructed by Day to not save those messages, according to court documents.

The student then contacted Day at the direction of the sheriff’s office and agreed to exchange two prescription ADHD pills for $20 in a school locker room Dec. 10. The conversation was recorded by investigators.

Day was placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of the investigation, according to a Friday statement from Wicomico schools Superintendent Donna Hanlin.

"Wicomico County public schools is working in full cooperation with the legal system in this matter. Our first priority is always the safety and well-being of our students and staff. As this is an ongoing investigation, Wicomico County public schools cannot provide any additional information," the school system's statement reads.

Day was released on her own recognizance Friday morning, according to online court records.

Day is scheduled for a Wicomico district court trial Feb. 3, court documents show.

The charge of contributing to certain conditions of a child, according to Maryland code, is an illegal act "for an adult willfully to contribute to, encourage, cause or tend to cause any act, omission or condition which results in a violation, renders a child delinquent or in need of supervision."

This is at least the fifth Wicomico County public schools educator to have been suspended and/or criminally charged in the past 12 months, according to Sheriff Mike Lewis.

http://www.hideoutnow.com/2019/12/maryland-mayors-wife-busted-buying.html

Aussie PM Scott Morrison Rejects Greta Thunberg’s Climate Advice

Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Monday rejected Swedish climate worrier Greta Thunberg and her gratuitous advice, declaring he was “not here to impress people overseas.”

Thunberg retweeted a video from Australian media outlet 9 News on Sunday, adding politicians had failed to connect “increased extreme weather events and nature disasters.”

The leader of the conservative coalition government dismissed Thunberg’s observation, saying he was focused on Australia’s interests rather than responding to observations being delivered from the safety of 12,000 miles away.

Morrison also rejected calls to downsize Australia’s lucrative coal industry, noting Australia is the world’s largest exporter of coal and liquefied natural gas and he intends to keep it that way.

“Australia and the Australian Government will set our policies based on Australia’s national interests, on what Australia needs to do,” Mr Morrison told reporters in the rural center of Mudgee.

“That’s where I keep my focus. It’s not for me to make commentaries on what those outside of Australia think that Australia should do. We’ll do in Australia what we think is right for Australia. And that has always been my guiding principle.”

Morrison, who was touring the worst hit areas to thank firefighters and see conditions for himself, then took direct aim at overseas commentators, saying he was elected to serve the Australian people not the passing fads of professional climate alarmists.

“I’m not here to try to impress people overseas,” Morrison said. “I’m here to do the right job for Australians and put them first, and that means putting the environment in which we live at the top of the agenda, along with the economy in which people live at the top of the agenda.

“And making sure that we have responsible plans to balance the issues to ensure that people have what they need going into the future and they can be confident about their future.”

Morrison took time out to thank U.S. and Canadian firefighters who have given up Christmas at home with their families to stand alongside firefighters Down Under:

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/12/23/aussie-pm-scott-morrison-rejects-greta-thunbergs-climate-advice/

>>7600081

5:5 Roger!

U.S. Navy bans TikTok from government-issued mobile devices

Earlier this week the United States Navy banned the social media app TikTok from government-issued mobile devices, saying the popular short video app represented a “cybersecurity threat.”

A bulletin issued by the Navy on Tuesday showed up on a Facebook page serving military members, saying users of government issued mobile devices who had TikTok and did not remove the app would be blocked from the Navy Marine Corps Intranet.

The Navy would not describe in detail what dangers the app presents, but Pentagon spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Uriah Orland said in a statement the order was part of an effort to “address existing and emerging threats”.

TikTok did not return a request for comment.

TikTok is hugely popular with U.S. teenagers, but has come under scrutiny from U.S. regulators and lawmakers in recent months. The U.S. government has opened a national security review of the app’s owner Beijing ByteDance Technology Co’s $1 billion acquisition of U.S. social media app Musical.ly, Reuters first reported last month.

Last month, U.S army cadets were instructed not to use TikTok, after Senator Chuck Schumer raised security concerns about the army using TikTok in their recruiting.

A Navy spokesman said Naval and Marine personnel who use government issued smart devices are generally allowed to use popular commercial apps, including common social media apps, but from time to time specific programs that present security threats are banned. He would not give examples of apps that are allowed or those considered unsafe.

The Pentagon’s Orland said the “Cyber Awareness Message” sent Dec. 16 “identifies the potential risk associated with using the TikTok app and directs appropriate action for employees to take in order to safeguard their personal information.”

http://www.hideoutnow.com/2019/12/us-navy-bans-tiktok-from-government.html

Man fatally poisoned 9-year-old girl with chloroform while trying to sexually assault her

A man was arrested for allegedly killing a 9-year-old girl by poisoning her with chloroform as he attempted to sexually assault her, an arrest affidavit from the Grand Junction Police Department says.

Jeffrey Beagley, 34, was arrested Dec. 14 and is facing multiple charges related to the girl's death as well as multiple child sex charges after police found thousands of pornographic images and videos during their investigation.

On Nov. 9, police responded to a home on Hill Avenue in Grand Junction around 7 a.m. after the affidavit says Beagley called 911 to report he had woken up and found the 9-year-old girl unresponsive.

When police arrived, they found the girl on the living room floor of the house, according to the affidavit. She was not breathing and was unresponsive. The girl was later pronounced dead.

During their investigation, police said they found a makeshift tent made out of a painted tarp inside a shed on the property. The affidavit says that under the tarp, detectives found blankets, pillows, equipment for recording video, multiple computers, a cell phone, masks, balloons, sex toys, lubricants and an empty bottle of chloroform with a rag. There were also reddish-brown stains that a detective believed might have been drops of blood, the affidavit says.

Police obtained a warrant to see what was on the computers and cell phone found in the shed.

The affidavit says police recovered 1,616 total photos and 75 total videos, most of which were pornographic and depicted children.

Some of the pictures and videos were of the victim and had apparently been taken from a hidden camera in the home's bathroom, the affidavit says.

Police also discovered that the bottle of chloroform had been ordered by Beagley and had been delivered on Nov. 8 — one day before the young girl was found dead.

A chloroform-soaked rag can be used by assailants to knock out a sexual assault victim, according to the affidavit.

The girl tested positive for very high levels of chloroform during an autopsy, the affidavit says, and her death was ruled a homicide by chloroform poisoning.

Beagley is being held on the following charges:

First-degree murder

Reckless manslaughter

Child abuse resulting in death

Sexual exploitation of children

Attempted sex assault on a child by one in a position of trust

Invasion of privacy for sexual gratification

http://www.hideoutnow.com/2019/12/man-fatally-poisoned-9-year-old-girl.html

Homelessness rose 2.7% in 2019, driven by a surge in California, HUD says

The homeless population in the US increased 2.7% this year largely because of a surge in unsheltered and chronically homeless individuals in California, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) said in a news release Friday.

The study found that 567,715 people across the nation experienced homelessness on a single night in 2019, an increase of 14,885 people compared with 2018. Meanwhile, homelessness among veterans and families with children declined in the year, dropping 2.1% and 4.8%, respectively.

The number of people experiencing homelessness dropped in 29 states and Washington, DC in 2019, the news release said. But the rise in homelessness in California and elsewhere on the West Coast "offset" the nationwide decreases, the office said.

"As we look across our nation, we see great progress, but we're also seeing a continued increase in street homelessness along our West Coast where the cost of housing is extremely high," HUD Secretary Ben Carson said in the release. "In fact, homelessness in California is at a crisis level and needs to be addressed by local and state leaders with crisis-like urgency."

An additional 21,306 people were homeless in California in 2019, up 16.4% from the previous year, HUD said.

The data comes after the Trump administration sent a team of officials on a "fact finding" trip to California in September to learn more about homelessness in Los Angeles.

The homeless population in Los Angeles County increased to almost 60,000 people in 2019, despite major investment in combating the crisis, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority said in a June report.

Thousands of people became homeless, the authority said, as a result of the economy, foster care, mental health, criminal justice and the housing market.

http://www.hideoutnow.com/2019/12/homelessness-rose-27-in-2019-driven-by.html

>>7600194

Pakistani academic Junaid Hafeez sentenced to death for blasphemy

University professor Hafeez found guilty of having insulted Prophet Muhammad and Quran verbally and on Facebook.

Islamabad, Pakistan - A court in Pakistan has convicted a university lecturer of blasphemy and sentenced him to death in a case rights groups have long cited as emblematic of fair trial concerns in such prosecutions in the country.

Junaid Hafeez, a lecturer at the Bahauddin Zakariya University in the central Pakistani city of Multan, was accused of having insulted Islam's Prophet Muhammad and its holy book, the Quran, verbally and on Facebook in 2013.

A court in Multan found him guilty and sentenced him to death on Saturday after a lengthy trial that saw frequent delays and transfers of judges.

Hafeez has been held in solitary confinement due to security concerns since 2014 when his lawyer, prominent rights activist Rashid Rehman, was murdered.

The attack came after Rehman had been threatened in open court by religious leaders and lawyers associated with the prosecution.

The trial has been held in a high-security jail since then.

Hafeez's current lawyer, speaking on condition of anonymity due to security concerns, described the atmosphere in court hearings as "intimidating" before adding that the professor would be appealing the verdict at the Lahore High Court.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/12/pakistani-academic-junaid-hafeez-sentenced-death-blasphemy-191221091139428.html