Anonymous ID: 217fd2 Jan. 29, 2020, 12:51 p.m. No.7957158   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>7209

Former School Teacher Gets 20 Years For Secretly Recording Teens In Bathroom

 

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A former Kansas City area high school teacher was sentenced in federal court Tuesday for secretly recording pornographic videos of three teenage victims in his bathroom.

 

William Derek Williams, 40, of Cameron, Missouri, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Howard F. Sachs to 20 years in federal prison without parole. The court also sentenced Williams to 10 years of supervised release following incarceration. Williams was formerly a high school language arts teacher, and was more recently a part-time high school multimedia teacher at the time of the offense.

 

Williams pleaded guilty on Aug. 26, 2019, to one count of producing child pornography. In his plea agreement Williams admitted that he secretly filmed three different victims over a five-year period from January 2013 to September 2018 while they were in the basement bathroom of his residence.

 

A then-15-year-old victim discovered a hidden camera, designed to look like a cell phone charger plug, on Sept. 6, 2018. The victim opened the device and retrieved a micro SD card, which he inserted into his cell phone in order to view its contents. The card included a secretly-recorded video of the victim.

 

The child victim later turned the device over to investigators. On Sept. 8, 2018, authorities executed a search warrant at Williams’ residence and seized a laptop computer and an SD card. Each of those devices contained pornographic videos of two more teenage victims who were secretly recorded in the basement bathroom. The laptop included five distinct videos produced on five different days of a then-16-year-old victim. The laptop and the SD card contained several pornographic videos of a third victim who was then between 14 and 16 years old.

 

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David Luna.

 

https://breaking911.com/former-school-teacher-gets-20-years-for-secretly-recording-teens-in-bathroom/

Anonymous ID: 217fd2 Jan. 29, 2020, 12:52 p.m. No.7957168   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>7320

‘Wave of Anti-Semitism’ Exaggerated

 

One of the few growth industries in Donald Trump’s United States is the protection of Jewish citizens and their property from a largely contrived wave of anti-Semitism that is allegedly sweeping the nation. Even while potentially catastrophic developments in the Middle East continue to unfold, the threat of anti-Semitism continues to dominate much of the news cycle in the mainstream media.

 

There are a number of things that all Americans should know about the anti-Semitism hysteria. First of all, the extent to which there is actual anti-Semitism and the back story to many of the incidents has been deliberately distorted or even ignored by the press and by the government at all levels. Anti-Semitism is hatred of Jews for either their religion or their ethnicity, but many of the so-called anti-Semitic incidents are actually related to the policies advanced by the state of Israel. Organizations like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which have a vested interest in keeping the number of anti-Semitic incidents high, deliberately conflate the two issues in their reports.

 

In its 2018 report, ADL reported “1,879 acts,” in the United States during the course of the year. It is not a particularly large number given the size and population of the U.S. and also with respect to what is included. There were certainly some physical attacks, including two shooting incidents at synagogues in Pittsburgh and Poway, but most of the incidents were much less kinetic, including shouting and name calling on university campuses between groups supportive of and opposed to Israel’s repression of the Palestinians.

 

https://americanfreepress.net/wave-of-anti-semitism-exaggerated/

Anonymous ID: 217fd2 Jan. 29, 2020, 12:56 p.m. No.7957204   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>7510 >>7674 >>7797

AG Barr: DOJ Will Pursue Anti-Semitic Crimes More Aggressively

 

NEW YORK—Attorney General William Barr met with a small group of Jewish leaders in Borough Park, Brooklyn, to address the recent spate of anti-Semitic attacks across the New York metropolitan area and how the Department of Justice (DOJ) is combating it.

 

Barr—who spoke to a group of about two dozen at the Borough Park Jewish Community Council on Jan. 28—pledged to crack down on anti-Semitic crimes at the federal level, as he announced new measures for Jewish residents to report hate crimes. He said the DOJ will pursue antisemitic crimes more aggressively.

 

“This morning I am putting out a written directive to all U.S. attorneys offices, and it will require each office to initiate, or to reinvigorate if they already have taken this action, their relationship and outreach to the Jewish communities in their district,” Barr said.

 

“As part of this, I want each U.S. attorney’s office to provide a point of contact for reporting hate crimes to their respective offices,” he added.

 

Allen Fagin, executive vice president and chief professional officer of the Orthodox Union, was one of those invited to attend the meeting with Barr, which he said lasted roughly an hour and a half.

 

“Knowing that our government authorities are committed to dealing with these incidents as vigorously and comprehensively as they possibly can is itself an enormously important step and an important message,” Fagin told The Epoch Times in a phone call following the meeting.

 

He said Barr conveyed “loudly and unequivocally” from the highest levels of the administration that anti-Semitism would not be tolerated in the country. Anti-Semitic incidents in New York have continued on into the new year.

 

“It was important to the community sense of well-being … and provided an enormous level of comfort, for which there was great gratitude,” Fagin added.

 

https://www.theepochtimes.com/ag-barr-doj-will-pursue-anti-semitic-crimes-more-aggressively_3219075.html

 

Special treatment!

Anonymous ID: 217fd2 Jan. 29, 2020, 12:57 p.m. No.7957214   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>7230 >>7510 >>7674 >>7797

Fed Extends "Temporary" Repo Operations From January To "At Least" April, Hikes IOER

 

While the Fed's January statement was a snoozer, with the only difference from the December statement being the downgrade in the pace of household spending rising at a "moderate" vs "strong" pace, there were far more notable changes in the latest monetary policy implementation note, which - as many expected - saw the rate which the Fed is paying on excess reserves (IOER) hiked by 5bps to 1.6% , or "10 basis points above the bottom of the target range for the federal funds rate" which currently is at 1.50%.

 

The other notable change from the December meeting is that the Fed is now extending its duration of its repo operations, which in December were supposed to conclude in January 2020, to "at least" April 2020.

 

And while there was no comment or change to the Fed's QE4, it was this extension to the deadline of repo that boosted stocks in kneejerk reaction, as it means the Fed continues to believe the crisis situation that emerged after the September repo crisis will continue through at least April, even though repo rates have long ago stabilized.

 

The Committee also directs the Desk to continue conducting term and overnight repurchase agreement operations at least through April 2020 to ensure that the supply of reserves remains ample even during periods of sharp increases in non-reserve liabilities, and to mitigate the risk of money market pressures that could adversely affect policy implementation

 

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/fed-extends-temporary-repo-operations-january-least-april-hikes-ioer

Anonymous ID: 217fd2 Jan. 29, 2020, 12:58 p.m. No.7957229   🗄️.is 🔗kun

New York public school reportedly forcing far-left ideas of gender 'choice' on preschool children

 

A stunning new report from the New York Post highlights what appears to be a very troubling agenda in one of New York City's taxpayer-funded public preschools: Encouraging children to choose their genders.

 

What are the details?

The Post's Andrea Peyser revealed Monday night that one Brooklyn "nursery" — AKA a preschool — is teaching "racism and victimhood, plus transgender and 'queer' rights," coupled with a "heavy dose of political indoctrination in the mix."

 

Peyser wrote that teacher Rosy Clark at PS 58 sent an email to parents and guardians Jan. 16 in which she laid out a lesson plan to honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day and to usher in Black History Month, which is in February.

 

To celebrate the holiday and the upcoming month? Lessons, apparently, for 4- and 5-year-olds based on Black Lives Matter's "Week of Action."

A portion of the email read, "This year, the week is Feb. 3-7. We are starting to talk about these ideas now, as we approach Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and as we prepare to get into February,

Black History Month.

Clark, who is a white teacher at the predominantly white school, added, "I am lucky enough to work at this wonderful school where we strive to help our students understand the complex world around them and think critically about how they can participate in improving it. One of the ways I do that in my classroom is by exploring the 13 Principles of the Movement for Black Lives."

 

http://www.madnesshub.com/2020/01/new-york-public-school-reportedly.html

Anonymous ID: 217fd2 Jan. 29, 2020, 1:06 p.m. No.7957290   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>7510 >>7674 >>7797

Victor Rothschild was a "Soviet" Agent

 

Here is proof that the Rothschild-controlled

world central banking cartel is behind

Communism, war and world government tyranny.

 

As the New World Order ("globalism") reveals its ugly face–censorship, gender dysphoria, migration– this article reveals who is behind it.

 

Most politicians and media are owned by the people who create money out of nothing.

 

In 1942, Sir Mark Oliphant, a leading British physicist was shocked when a messenger delivered a part from his new radar technology with a warning from MI-5 Security Inspector Victor Rothschild to "tighten up your security."

 

A few days earlier Rothschild had visited Oliphant's Birmingham University lab, quizzed him on his research, and pocketed the three-inch diameter magnetron.

 

But talk about chutzpah!

 

Baron Rothschild was himself a Soviet agent! Before returning the magnetron, he had transmitted detailed drawings to Moscow, a fact later confirmed by his KGB handlers.

 

Oliphant related this story in 1994 to Roland Perry, the Australian author of The Fifth Man (1994, Sedgwick and Jackson, 475 pp).

 

Between 1935 and 1963, the Soviet Union knew all of Britain's military and scientific secrets thanks to "The Cambridge Five" a spy ring that operated in M1-5, MI-6 and the Foreign Office. Western intelligence agencies were rendered ineffective and Allied secrets, including the design of the atomic bomb, were stolen.

 

The traitors were Kim Philby, Donald Maclean, Guy Burgess and Anthony Blunt. But there is a natural reluctance to admit that "the Fifth Man" was Nathaniel Meyer Victor Rothschild (1910-1990), the Third Baron Rothschild, the British head of the world's richest banking dynasty, which controls the Bank of England.

 

In 1993, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, six retired KGB Colonels in Moscow confirmed Rothschild's identity to Roland Perry. Col. Yuri Modin, the spy ring's handler, went on the record.

 

Perry writes: "According to …Modin, Rothschild was the key to most of the Cambridge ring's penetration of British intelligence. 'He had the contacts,' Modin noted. 'He was able to introduce Burgess, Blunt and others to important figures in Intelligence such as Stewart Menzies, Dick White and Robert Vansittart in the Foreign Office…who controlled Mi-6." (p.89)

 

You can understand the reluctance. The Rothschilds are undoubtedly the largest shareholders in the world's central banking system. Victor Rothschild's career as Soviet agent confirms that these London-based bankers plan to translate their monopoly on credit into a monopoly on everything using government as their instrument, ultimately a "world government" dictatorship akin to Communism.

 

https://www.henrymakow.com/2020/01/Was-Victor-Rothschild-a-Soviet-Agent.html

Anonymous ID: 217fd2 Jan. 29, 2020, 1:09 p.m. No.7957323   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>7329 >>7510 >>7674 >>7797

Ex-CIA chief Petraeus: Iran, Hezbollah will not risk major war with Israel

 

Ex-CENTCOM chief: Soleimani-less Iran Quds Force will not be the same

 

Iran and Hezbollah will not risk a major war with Israel, ex-CIA director and general David Petraeus said on Wednesday.

Speaking from the INSS annual international conference in Tel Aviv, Petraeus explained that a combination of US and Israeli military power had established deterrence with both Iran and Hezbollah from major risky actions, even as they might risk smaller confrontations.

Petraeus said that, “Iran will not risk a major war because it would put its survival at risk,” stating that Tehran knew Jerusalem would not hesitate to unleash massive force in a broad conflict and that even the US might get involved.

He added that he believed Russia would act to restrain the Islamic Republic from major destabilizing activities.

Regarding Hezbollah, he said, “Hezbollah will not risk a full war” with Israel “unless it is pushed into a corner.”

The former CIA director said that, “we in the US underestimated for years” the significance of the blow Israel “dealt Hezbollah during the 2006 Lebanon War.”

He said Israel’s use of force against Hezbollah in 2006 deters Hezbollah from a larger fight to this day.

In addition, he said Hezbollah may worry that Israel’s three tiered missile defense of the Arrow, David’s Sling and Iron Dome could mitigate its huge rocket arsenal, something which Israel could not do in 2006 when it had no real effective missile defense.

Speaking at the conference before Petraeus, ex-CENTCOM chief, four-star general Joseph Votel said that Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force “will not be the same” as it was under Qasem Soleimani.

Votel explained that the new IRGC Quds Force chief, Esmail Ghaani, did not have anywhere near the same stature or capabilities as Soleimani.

Soleimani was killed in a US drone strike in early January in a move that rocked the region.

Votel, who was in charge of US forces and coalition forces addressing Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and many other countries until March 2019, said that killing Soleimani had helped reestablish a balance of deterrence between the US and Iran.

The former general said that Iran was likely “to look inward” and to “consolidate power” within the country in the near future.

He expressed hope that the act of killing Soleimani, the Quds Force loss of his unique capabilities and Iran’s embarrassing mistaken shooting down of a Ukrainian airliner might get the Islamic Republic to back off from some of its more aggressive and risky activities in the region.

 

https://www.jpost.com/American-Politics/Retired-US-Army-commander-Iran-Quds-Force-not-the-same-without-Soleimani-615832

Anonymous ID: 217fd2 Jan. 29, 2020, 1:23 p.m. No.7957478   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>7510 >>7674 >>7797

NewsGuard Is the Latest ‘Truth Arbiter’ to Deceive You

 

The media is using a variety of tactics to restrict your access to the truth from websites like mine, including NewsGuard, a self-appointed internet watchdog that sells a browser plugin to rate websites on nine criteria of credibility and transparency. Before I delve further into NewsGuard and its underlying agenda, it's important to look at who funds it.

 

NewsGuard received much of its startup funds from Publicis Groupe, a giant global communications group with divisions that brand imaging, design of digital business platforms, media relations and health care.

 

Publicis Groupe's health subsidiary, Publicis Health, names Lilly, Abbot, Roche, Amgen, Genentech, Celgene, Gilead, Biogen, Astra Zeneca, Sanofi, Bayer and other Big Pharma giants as clients, which gives you an idea of where its loyalties lie.

 

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has also awarded Publicis Media a healthy piece of business, and the communications group responded by creating a custom "platformGSK" to run the drug giant's media business.

GSK Adds $400 Million to $1.5 Billion Publicis Collaboration

 

In October 2018, following a five-month review, GSK sent its $1.5 billion media account to Publicis, which beat out other media agencies vying for the account, including Omnicom's PHD and WPP's Group M.1

 

According to FiercePharma, with the creation of the "platformGSK" model, the partnership gave "Publicis Media responsibility for all offline and digital paid media strategy and planning in the Americas, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Asia-Pacific. In the U.S., that includes DTC [direct to consumer] pharma work."2 Further, the news outlet reported:

 

"Publicis Groupe client lead Laurent Ezekiel said the agency is 'excited to partner with them to establish a transformative client-agency relationship that will enable GSK to deliver on its ambition to become the best data-driven marketer in the industry.'"3

 

In January 2020, GSK awarded Publicis Media with even more business, handing over the former Pfizer Consumer Healthcare brands to Publicis. The move was decided without a review and will add Advil, Centrum, Caltrate and other Pfizer brands to platformGSK, worth an estimated $400 million. GSK holds a 68% stake in the joint venture.

 

"GSK has already announced its plans to spin off the joint venture within three years and list it as standalone company on the U.K. exchange as GSK Consumer Healthcare, leaving the pharma giant to focus on medicines and vaccines," FiercePharma reported.4

 

Meanwhile, Publicis also handles other Big Pharma media accounts, including Novartis. In August 2019, Publicis created NovartisONE2 to manage the pharma giant's global media account worth $600 million.5

Publicis Funds NewsGuard

 

While Publicis has been busy solidifying its strong ties with Big Pharma, it was also the lead investor among a group of 18 that helped make NewsGuard a reality.

 

As of March 2018, Steven Brill and Gordon Crovitz, the "media entrepreneurs" behind NewsGuard, had raised $6 million to launch the company, which was slated to "address the fake news crisis by hiring dozens of trained journalists as analysts to review the 7,500 news and information websites most accessed and shared in the United States … These sites account for 98% of the news articles read and shared in the English language online in the United States."6

 

https://www.blacklistednews.com/article/76121/newsguard-is-the-latest-truth-arbiter-to-deceive.html

Anonymous ID: 217fd2 Jan. 29, 2020, 1:26 p.m. No.7957497   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>7580

Facebook Plunges After US/Canada User Growth Slumps

 

After Facebook's biggest one-day gain since mid-November to another new record high, shares are plunging after hours following a somewhat in-line earnings report…

 

Headline data was in-line:

 

Facebook 4Q EPS $2.56 vs. $2.38 Y/Y

 

Facebook 4Q Rev. $21.08B, Est. $20.89B

 

Facebook 4Q Ad Rev. $20.74B, Est. $20.56B

 

Facebook daily active users (DAUs) were 1.66 billion on average for December 2019, an increase of 9% year-over-year, and in line with the 1.65 billion expectation.

 

https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/facebook-plunges-after-uscanada-user-growth-slumps

Anonymous ID: 217fd2 Jan. 29, 2020, 1:36 p.m. No.7957587   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>7638 >>7674 >>7797

Lindsey Graham Just Threatened Democrats With His 'Predicted' Impeachment Witness List.

 

You want witnesses? I'll show you witnesses.

 

A casual listener might have missed it, but Senator Lindsey Graham issued a colossal throw-down to Democrats in a brief interlude between sessions of the Senate impeachment trial of President Trump.

 

In an interview during a media scrum on Tuesday, the South Carolina senator and Judiciary Committee leader made a "prediction" of his desired witnesses – witnesses that, you can bet, most Democratic senators would rather not hear from.

 

Graham said, "[I]f you go down the road of witnesses, it's not going to be one, it's going to be many."

 

A reporter asked Graham about whether the GOP had 51 votes to keep the president out of trouble. Graham shot back: "I'll make a prediction. They'll be [sic] 51 Republican votes to call Hunter Biden, Joe Biden, the 'whistleblower,' uh, and the DNC staffer at a very minimum."

 

Graham brought up the "DNC staffer" who is believed to be Alexandra Chalupa, a Ukrainian-American and "contractor for the DNC" who tried to dig up dirt on Paul Manafort. The NY Post reported:

 

"Chalupa, a Ukrainian American who calls herself a “human rights lobbyist,” made a cameo minutes into the opening statement of House Intelligence Committee ranking member Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) in which he railed against the Democrats’ secretive impeachment process.

 

“Violating their own guidelines, Democrats repeatedly redacted from transcripts the name of Alexandra Chalupa, a contractor for the Democratic National Committee who worked with Ukrainian officials to collect dirt on the Trump campaign which she provided to the DNC and the Hillary Clinton campaign,” Nunes said.

 

Chalupa is the founder of a Washington political consulting firm and is co-chair of the DNC’s Ethnic Council, which reaches out to diaspora groups around the country to increase voter turnout, according to her LinkedIn.

 

But her most important role to date appears to be her investigation into Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign manager, and his ties with Russia — which she conducted with the help of Ukrainian officials. I was not an opposition researcher for the DNC, and the DNC never asked me to go to the Ukrainian Embassy to collect information,” she said in July 2017."

 

Chalupa is no friend of Trump's. Her Twitter timeline shows many retweets of Democrats' and Adam Schiff's protestations and the personal designation of Ivanka Trump as the "mafia princess":

 

Graham says that the House of Representatives blew it in its "inquiry." He said that instead of bringing impeachment counts against the president, "you could have litigated privilege in court rather than the Senate having to decide legal issues … and I think that's bad for the country."

 

No kidding.

 

https://pjmedia.com/trending/holy-crap-lindsey-graham-just-threatened-democrats-with-his-predicted-impeachment-witness-list/

Anonymous ID: 217fd2 Jan. 29, 2020, 1:37 p.m. No.7957598   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>7674 >>7797

Norwegian ship MV Osprey catches fire off UAE coast

 

An oil tanker has caught fire in the Persian Gulf near the coast of the United Arab Emirates.

 

Reports on Wednesday suggested that the tanker caught fire some 40 kilometers off the coast of Sharjah, a port in the UAE. Preliminary investigations indicate the fire broke out aboard the vessel as a result of an accident during a maintenance-related operation.

 

They said that the heavy load vessel, Norwegian ship MV Osprey, was manned when it caught fire around 4 pm local time. The number of crew was not known.

 

Sources told The National, an Emirati news website, that the UAE coast guard had assisted with the operation to put out the blaze and all the crew have been rescued.

 

The Associated Press cited US officials as saying that they were aware of the incident in the Persian Gulf, a region which has been the scene of rising tensions between Iran and the United States since Washington withdrew from an international deal on Iran’s nuclear program in 2018.

 

https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2020/01/29/617408/UAE-oil-tanker-fire-Persian-Gulf-energy

Anonymous ID: 217fd2 Jan. 29, 2020, 1:40 p.m. No.7957630   🗄️.is 🔗kun

Video: Pentagon’s ‘Mad Scientist Division’ Tests ‘Mothership’ for Gremlin Drone Swarm

 

The Pentagon’s highly anticipated Gremlin “drone swarm” was tested for the first time in November 2019, Gremlin maker Dynetics announced on Friday. The cruise missile-sized vehicle successfully deployed from a C-130 “mothership” transport plane and flew around. However, testing its ability to return to the “mothership” has yet to be attempted.

 

For years, scientists at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), not-quite-jokingly called the Pentagon’s “mad scientist division,” have been trying to develop an unmanned aerial vehicle capable of working with like UAVs to deploy from and return to another airplane. Alabama-based tech company Dynetics was awarded a contract by DARPA in 2018, and its X-61A Gremlin flew its maiden flight at the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah in November, the company said in a Friday press release.

 

However, it was also the drone’s maiden crash: a cushioning parachute failed to deploy as intended, and the drone plummeted into the Earth so fast as to be rendered unusable. Fortunately, Dynetics built five Gremlins.

 

“The loss of our vehicle validates our decision to build five GAVs [Gremlins Air Vehicle] for Phase 3,” program manager Tim Keeter said in the press release, noting, “we still have four remaining.”

 

The flight lasted 1 hour and 41 minutes, beginning with its drop from the wing of a C-130 Hercules transport modified to serve as the Gremlins’ “mothership,” or aerial base of operations. During the test, the X-61A demonstrated basic capabilities such as deployment of its cruise missile-like wings; a cold engine start; transition to stable, powered flight; deployment of its docking arm; and the basics of data connection to its ground-based command and control systems.

 

Dynetics gave no comment on whether the drones can be fed after midnight, though.

 

"This flight test validates all the engineering design work, analysis, and ground testing we have performed in the past two and a half years," Brandon Hiller, chief engineer for the X-61A, said in the press release. "We have a lot of confidence in the vehicle's performance and overall design going forward, and the telemetry data from the flight compares exceptionally well to our modeling predictions. Our team has done a superb job to achieve first flight of this unique aircraft in such a short amount of time, and we are eager to get this new capability into the hands of the DoD."

 

The next Gremlins test, expected sometime this Spring, will involve the Gremlins being recovered in mid-air by the C-130 mothership, Scott Wierzbanowski, DARPA’s Gremlins program manager, told Defense News. Recovery would involve the Gremlins flying behind the motherships while a towed capture device grabs the drones and reels them in.

 

Recovery is arguably the much harder feat to accomplish. As Extreme Tech noted, air vehicles both manned and unmanned have been deployed from aircraft in midair for decades, from NASA test aircraft like the X-15 hypersonic rocketplane to more recent projects like “firebee” gunnery target drones.

 

Using an aircraft as a mothership has been a Pentagon dream for decades as well. In the early years of flight, dirigibles sometimes carried biplanes underneath (think “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade”), which were capable of returning to the blimp later. In the years after World War II, the Pentagon tested using a Convair B-36 Peacemaker bomber as the mothership of four F-85 Goblin fighters to guard them on nuclear bombing runs; at the time, the Air Force called them “parasite fighters.”

 

The mothership concept arguably reached its zenith of absurdity in a Lockheed proposal from 1969 for the CL-1201: a truly vast plane that would have been a literal aircraft carrier in the sky, sporting a wingspan of 1,120 feet - that’s six times the wingspan of a Boeing 747 airliner. It would have sported 182 engines fed by a nuclear reactor and served as the home for 22 F-4 Phantom aircraft.

 

https://sputniknews.com/military/202001291078173936-video-pentagons-mad-scientist-division-tests-mothership-for-gremlin-drone-swarm/

Anonymous ID: 217fd2 Jan. 29, 2020, 1:55 p.m. No.7957773   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>7784 >>7838

Trump’s ‘win-win’ deal for Israel-Palestine is a bit like his ‘100 percent’ defeat of ISIS, not backed by reality

 

During self-congratulatory remarks about his “deal of the century” to solve the Israel-Palestine conflict, Donald Trump threw in another boast; he claimed US forces defeated “100 percent” of the Islamic State caliphate. Have they?

 

“Thanks to the courage of US forces, the ISIS territorial caliphate — 100 percent — not 95 percent, not 99 or any other percent — 100 percent of their caliphate, ISIS, is destroyed,” he said.

 

The irony is not lost that Trump made the comment while announcing details of what appears to be a dead-on-arrival Middle East peace deal, which he insists amounts to an “historic breakthrough,” despite plenty of evidence to the contrary. Such dramatic and exaggerated language is, after all, typical of Trump’s ‘best president ever’ brand.

 

Of course, it makes sense to boast about your deal-making skills only if both sides of a conflict have actually agreed to the deal. Likewise, with a problem like Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS), it would seem prudent to hold off on triumphant declarations of success until they can be fully backed up by reality on the ground.

 

While it is true that IS has lost its territorial caliphate, the group, experts say, is still very much active — and regaining strength. It was only weeks ago that the Pentagon was warning of a resurgence in IS activity in civil-war ravaged Libya after the chaos there, triggered by the 2011 US/NATO bombing campaign to topple Muammar Gaddafi, left an opening for the terror group to become the “third party” in that conflict, as one official said.

 

Experts have also warned that flaring tensions between the US and Iran in the aftermath of the Trump administration’s assassination of Qassem Soleimani, Iran’s top general and frontline player in the fight against IS, provide another opportunity for the group — now operating as an underground guerilla insurgency — to stage a comeback.

 

Washington put its anti-IS activities in Iraq on hold for almost two weeks to deal with an uptick in threats against its troops and bases from Iraqi militias and protesters after the Soleimani strike also took out Iraq’s high-ranking general Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis. Trump then ignored calls from the Iraqi parliament and government to prepare for a troop withdrawal, sparked by Iraqi fears that the country would become a battleground in a war between the US and Iran.

 

https://www.rt.com/op-ed/479514-trump-isis-defeated-reality/