#10413

>>8134641 ‘Maybe it was the Belgians’: Netanyahu claims ignorance after reports of missiles fired over Damascus

>>8134665 Trump wants tax cuts 2.0 by September: Larry Kudlow

>>8134733 FEAR PORN, cabal members showing themselves CDC WHO

>>8134753 Maxine Waters: CA Should Have More Say In Primary Because Of Big Money Raised At Beverly Hills Parties

>>8134758 Three-time child sex abuser faces the same charge - again

>>8134781 Information wars: GOP lawmaker on quest to officially declare CNN and the Washington Post ‘fake news

>>8134815 “Trooper of the Year” Arrested for Producing Child Porn, Distributing It to His Own Network

>>8134821 China's top diplomat to visit Japan ahead of Xi's state trip

>>8134897 UK Labour Party leader candidates all call themselves ‘Zionist’ or sympathetic to Zionism

Distinct pattern baker of protecting the cabal many of these called none make notes!

Barr Says He Was ‘Happy’ Roger Stone Was Convicted, But Thinks 9-Year Prison Proposal Was ‘Very Excessive’

Attorney General William Barr said in an interview Thursday that he was “happy” that Roger Stone was convicted at trial last year, but that he believes that prosecutors’ initial suggestion that the longtime Trump confidante spend up to nine years in prison was too steep.

“It was very excessive,” Barr said of Stone’s sentence recommendation in an interview with ABC News.

“And I didn’t want my department to be behind that. Because I believe that each individual as unsavory as they may be, and I’m not a fan of Roger Stone, but he’s entitled to the particularized and careful application of the law to his case.”

Barr’s interview was his first since the Justice Department revised its sentencing recommendation for Stone, a longtime GOP operative convicted with obstructing the House Intelligence Committee’s Russia investigation and witness tampering.

The biggest headline from the interview was Barr saying that he was perturbed with President Trump’s tweets about the Stone case. Trump tweeted just hours after prosecutors’ submitted their prison recommendation that it was “disgraceful” and a “miscarriage of justice.”

Hours later, a Justice Department official signaled that Barr and other officials were “shocked” by the hefty prison recommendation and planned to revise it in a new court filing. Before that filing was submitted, four prosecutors withdrew from the Stone case.

Barr lamented that Trump’s tweets created the appearance that any change made to the sentencing proposal would be seen as him kowtowing to the president.

And that’s what happened.

Democrats and media pundits sounded off on Barr, accusing him of acting as Trump’s personal lawyer rather than attorney general of the United States.

Barr described what he said was a “miscommunication” that led the core team of Stone prosecutors to submit the heavy prison recommendation.

He said that Timothy Shea, the newly appointed U.S. attorney, “raised some questions” about Stone’s sentence because he was “concerned” that federal guidelines indicated that the sentence would be between seven and nine years.

Barr said that he, Shea, and other officials wanted to leave it up to the judge in Stone’s case to decide an appropriate jail term, rather than go by federal guidelines.

“I’ve heard very few people actually suggest that 7 to 9 year sentence would be appropriate in this case. Very few people,” Barr said.

“I think it was established, he was convicted of obstructing Congress and witness tampering. And I thought that was a righteous prosecution. And I was happy that he was convicted.”

Barr denied that Trump pressured him to relax the recommendation, saying that he did not need the president to tell him that nine years was too hefty a jail sentence for Stone’s crimes.

“And as I say, I could not support the 7 to the 9 year — and I didn’t need anybody to tell me that 7 to 9 years was an excessive sentence. You think I need the president’s tweet to tell me that 7 to 9 years is excessive? That was the reaction of you know the senior staff here that, you know, there’s not really a comparable situation where that kind of sentence has been used.”

"Harrowing Reality" - Central Bankers Clueless About Implications Of World Financial System Interlinkages

It’s Friday before a long weekend in the U.S. I expect that, barring any unexpected news, shortly after the University of Michigan data is out, many traders will be thinking about their Valentine’s Day plans rather than the next move in the FRA/OIS spread. Still, how risk goes out will be an important indicator of sentiment. Even if the price action of any individual asset should be taken with a grain of salt.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/harrowing-reality-central-bankers-clueless-about-implications-world-financial-system

Coronavirus Outbreak Exposes China’s Monopoly on U.S. Drug, Medical Supplies

The coronavirus outbreak has exposed the United States’ dangerous dependence on China for pharmaceutical and medical supplies, including an estimated 97 percent of all antibiotics and 80 percent of the active pharmaceutical ingredients needed to produce drugs in the United States.

The economic repercussions of the coronavirus reveal the dangers of allowing one country to have a near monopoly on global manufacturing, David Dayen explains in an article at the American Prospect:

China is a source of not only finished goods, but also of input parts and raw materials. A substantial number of the materials needed for defense and electronic systems come from China, and that nation is “the single or sole supplier for a number of specialty chemicals,” according to a recent Defense Department report. Rare earth minerals, which are critical to electronics, are largely mined in China. As a result, Chinese disruptions don’t just hit Chinese manufacturing, they hit everyone’s. Automakers have already had to slow or shut down factories globally due to supply shortages.

Perhaps the biggest concern is over medical supplies. China produces and exports a large amount of pharmaceuticals to the U.S., including 97 percent of all antibiotics and 80 percent of the active ingredients used to make drugs here. Penicillin, ibuprofen, and aspirin largely come from China. Last month, the medical supply firm Cardinal Health recalled 2.9 million surgical gowns “cross contaminated” at a plant in China; the blood pressure drug valsartan also saw shortages recently, thanks to tainted active ingredients at one Chinese plant. The combination of supply chain disruptions and increased demand at hospitals if coronavirus spreads to the U.S. could prove devastating.

In a dark irony, most of the world’s face masks—now ubiquitous in China as a precaution—are made in China and Taiwan, and even for those made elsewhere, some component parts are Chinese-sourced. Shortages have led China to declare the masks a “strategic resource,” reserving them for medical workers. U.S. hospitals are “critically low” on respiratory masks, according to medical-supply middlemen. Lack of protective gear could increase vulnerability to the virus, and the one place on earth suffering from production shutdowns is the one place where most of the protective gear originates [emphasis added].

https://www.breitbart.com/asia/2020/02/13/coronavirus-outbreak-exposes-chinas-monopoly-on-u-s-drug-medical-supplies/

Six Cartel Kidnappers Busted with Mexican Border City Victim in Trunk

Mexican soldiers arrested six cartel gunmen who were in the process of moving a kidnapping victim stuffed in the trunk of a car. The rescue comes almost a week after authorities captured a leading commander with the Cartel Del Noreste faction of Los Zetas in the border city of Nuevo Laredo.

The rescue took place on Thursday morning in the Rio Bravo neighborhood south of Laredo, Texas.

According to information released by the Mexican Army, soldiers were patrolling when they spotted a suspicious vehicle containing the kidnapping victim. Details of the takedown were not released, however, the Army noted the arrests of six suspects and seized 27 makeshift road spikes. These items are commonly used to puncture the tires of pursuing police vehicles or cause traffic jams to cover escapes.

The rescue follows less than a week after the Mexican Army arrested a leading commander with the CDN-Los Zetas. Known as “El Takia,” Pablo Cesar Guajardo Alvarez was in charge of CDN foot soldiers in Nuevo Laredo. He faces murder charges in connection with a deadly attack on five employees of the Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office.

https://www.breitbart.com/border/2020/02/14/six-cartel-kidnappers-busted-with-mexican-border-city-victim-in-trunk/

Alabama Democrat introduces bill requiring men to get vasectomies after age 50 or after third child

An Alabama Democratic lawmaker is retaliating against the state's pro-life law by introducing a bill that would require all men to get a vasectomy shortly after turning 50 years old, or after the birth of their third child, according to Yellowhammer News.

State Rep. Roland Hollis filed House Bill 238 in an attempt to place reproductive restrictions on men since the state voted to criminalize abortion. Because the law in Alabama (which is not in effect due to legal obstacles related to Roe v. Wade) makes the killing of unborn children illegal, Hollis apparently believes that men should not be able to father children after a certain point in life.

"Under existing law, there are no restrictions on the reproductive rights of men," the bill's synopsis reads. "This bill would require a man to undergo a vasectomy within one month of his 50th birthday or the birth of his third biological child, whichever comes first."

The bill specifies that the vasectomy must be obtained at the man's own expense.

The bill is clearly an attempt to make a point about so-called reproductive rights and not a legislative proposal with a serious chance at passage, and the apparent comparison of a vasectomy to an abortion is imperfect, to say the least.

Alabama's law criminalizes the performing of an abortion on the basis that a child in the womb is deserving of the same right to life as a child outside the womb, and that an abortion unjustly ends a human life. The law does not require a woman to pay for an invasive, life-changing procedure. In fact, it does the exact opposite.

In theory, a law requiring men to get vasectomies after a third child or after age 50 would hinder the reproductive rights of women nearly as much as men, considering women may also want large families or may desire to have children with a spouse or partner who is 50 or older.

During debate over Alabama's abortion law last year, Hollis made another comparison when she read a poem titled "If my Vagina was a Gun" to express her opposition to the law.

https://postnewsd2.blogspot.com/2020/02/alabama-democrat-introduces-bill.html

Federal Prosecutors Recommend 5-Year Jail Term For Corrupt Former Baltimore Mayor

Former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh could receive upwards of 5-years in jail for her criminal acts of conspiracy and tax evasion, according to The Baltimore Sun.

"The facts establish that Pugh deliberately engaged in a broad range of criminal acts while serving as Maryland state senator and mayor of Baltimore City," federal persecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Baltimore.

In Nov., we noted that Pugh pleaded guilty to four of the 11 charges, including wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the U.S., and two counts of tax evasion.

The statement from prosecutors includes allegations that Pugh used her position of power to defraud the customers of "Healthy Holly" children's book series for personal use and also to fund her mayoral campaign.

Pugh resigned last May after the FBI and IRS raided her home amid speculation, she was involved in large book sales to disguise hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks from the University of Maryland Medical System and managed-care consortium KaiserPermanente.

The Sun notes that in the sentencing memorandum were accounts from agents of the raid. It said Pugh told agents that all of her electronic devices were handed over, and her personal phone was located with her sister in Philadelphia.

However, one agent, who had enough of Pugh's bullshit, called the phone and heard it ringing from the bedroom.

Almost immediately, the agents heard a vibrating noise emanating from her bed. Pugh became emotional, went to the bed and began frantically searching through the blankets at the head of the bed. As she did so, agents starting yelling for her to stop and show her hands," prosecutors wrote.

Fraud runs deep in Baltimore City. The former mayor is about to do hard time, and it will set an example for the other corrupt politicians in the town.

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/federal-prosecutors-recommend-5-year-jail-term-corrupt-former-baltimore-mayor

Did the Israeli Prime Minister Just Openly Admit to Interfering in US Policies?

The Israeli Prime Minister's official Twitter account posted a thread attacking the UN Human Rights Council for "its bias against Israel" and revealing his government's role in "promoting laws in most US states to take action" against the international body, which triggered angry reactions from Americans.

His tweet came in response to a "blacklist" published by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights listing 112 international companies that carry out businesses in Israeli settlements in the West Bank, which are considered illegal according to international law.

https://www.albawaba.com/node/did-israeli-prime-minister-just-openly-admit-interfering-us-policies

Italy’s Salvini faces 15 years in jail following Trump-style legal circus aimed at killing off his popularity

Having voted to lift his immunity from prosecution, the Italian Senate has cynically followed the US Democrats’ playbook by creating a legal sideshow to combat the growing popularity of the League’s Matteo Salvini.

Salvini’s 14-month term as Italy’s interior minister was a rollercoaster ride, as he ruled the national political agenda and built a massive power base – much to the chagrin of his former political allies, who are now exacting their revenge.

The Senate vote to lift his parliamentary immunity, meaning a prison sentence of up to 15 years comes into play, is the first step of the traditional ruling class towards stopping the political force that is Salvini – who, even in opposition, has barely spent a day out of the headlines.

https://www.rt.com/op-ed/480794-salvini-italy-trump-jail/

Israel builds settler-only road from Nablus to Jordan Valley

Israeli occupation authorities have started construction work on a new road that would link the illegal Jewish settlements of Eli and Shilo in the north of the occupied West Bank with the Jordan Valley.

Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian official in charge of the settlements file in the northern West Bank, told Wafa news agency yesterday that the settler-only road is about eight kilometres long, and passes through fertile agricultural lands in the Palestinian villages of Duma, Telfit, Qaryut and Al-Mughair, south of Nablus all the way to the village of Fasayil in the central Jordan Valley.

He stressed that the new road is one of the most dangerous projects implemented by the Israeli government in terms of the size of the land seized to construct it and restrictions imposed on the movement of Palestinians.

In 2014, the Israeli government approved a huge plan to construct dozens of roads and bypass roads for Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank, with the aim of seizing tens of thousands of acres of Palestinian land.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200214-israel-builds-settler-only-road-from-nablus-to-jordan-valley/

Is 2020 really the year for America’s first Jewish president?

As Sanders and Bloomberg surge, here are their paths to victory.

WASHINGTON — Bernie Sanders and Mike Bloomberg have much in common besides running for the Democratic nomination for president: They’re in their upper 70s, had hardscrabble upbringings and have had contentious relations with the party whose endorsement they now seek.

And both are seeking the chance to make history as the first-ever Jewish presidential nominee.

Sanders, the Vermont senator, made a strong bid for the Democratic nomination four years and has sustained his avid supporter base into this campaign. Bloomberg, a billionaire media magnate and former mayor of New York City, is mounting his first drive for national office.

Together they represent the best chance ever for a Jewish American to hold the nation’s highest office. At one point this week FiveThirtyEight, the leading forecaster of presidential politics, gave Sanders a 1 in 2 chance of winning the nomination and Bloomberg a slim chance of his own — meaning that a Jewish candidate was seen as more likely than not to be the ultimate nominee. (The chances have declined since, even though Sanders won the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday.)

The candidates also reflect a tension within the American Jewish community. While most Jewish Americans are Democrats, some are more progressive inheritors of the left-wing activism that characterized early 20th-century Jewish politics. Others, wary of protecting their assets in uncertain times or deeply attached to Israel and the right-wing politics that have prevailed there for a decade, take a more centrist approach. For them, a candidate like Bloomberg is potentially attractive.

The path between now and November is long and winding, and it’s totally possible that neither Sanders nor Bloomberg will ultimately appear on the ballot. But here’s how they could — and why that matters for US Jews.

https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Is-2020-really-the-year-for-Americas-first-Jewish-president-617428

Thousands of Marines enter Persian Gulf with USS Bataan’s amphibious readiness group

MANAMA, Bahrain — The amphibious assault ship USS Bataan transited the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf Wednesday, becoming the first U.S. Navy “big deck” to enter these strategic waters in 2020.

“Our passage through this important strait and continued presence in the area plays a critical role in maintaining the freedom of navigation key to regional security and stability here,” said Capt. Lance Lesher, the group’s commodore in a statement.

Bataan and its amphibious readiness group comprises 2,500 Marines from the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, the transport dock ship USS New York and the dock landing ship USS Oak Hill, the statement said.

Also traveling with the group is the destroyer USS Carney and cargo ship USNS McLean.

The last big deck to transit the strait before the Bataan was the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln, which departed last November during its record-breaking 10-month deployment.

The 96-mile-long Strait of Hormuz is bounded to the north by Iran and to the south by Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Around a fifth of the world’s oil passes through the strategic shipping route, which is only 21 miles wide at its narrowest point.

Bataan’s passage through the strait was to “reassure allies” and ensure “stability and security essential to maritime commerce,” skipper Capt. Greg LeLand said.

“Our continued commitment to our partner nations lends to the strength of nations here in the Gulf and elsewhere in the region,” LeLand said.

The transit comes after a month of tension in the region following the January killing by the U.S. of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani and retaliatory rocket attacks on an airbase in Iraq that left more than 100 U.S. service members with traumatic brain injuries.

https://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/thousands-of-marines-enter-persian-gulf-with-uss-bataan-s-amphibious-readiness-group-1.618469

Ex-UK FM: Idlib is becoming ‘Gaza in Syria’

February 14, 2020 at 12:54 pm

Former British Foreign Minister and Head of the International Rescue Committee (IRG) David Miliband has raised concern over the situation in north-west Syria in the embattled province of Idlib, calling it a “Gaza in Syria” and comparing the two areas.

While in the German city of Munich for a tour for Madeleine Albright’s new book “Hell and Other Destinations”, Miliband told the French news agency AFP that “We’re seeing the creation of what some people have called a sort of Gaza in Syria, where a small but not insignificant terrorist grouping of 20,000 to 30,000 fighters are in control of an area where there are 3-plus million civilians.”

He revealed that the remaining territory in Idlib, which is held by the Syrian opposition, has a higher population density than the Gaza Strip which has been undergoing a land, air, and sea blockade for over a decade. “The density of population in the Idlib province is now greater than the density of population on the Gaza Strip which historically has been seen as one of the most confined areas in the world,” Miliband told the BBC yesterday.

His statements come as over 800,000 Syrians, primarily women and children, have been forced to flee their homes in the province to move further north towards the Turkish border.

This mass exodus of displaced Syrians has raised fears of a new wave of refugees into Turkey and subsequently into Europe. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has previously stated that the country is unable to bear the burden of another wave added onto the three to four million refugees it already hosts, and has warned that if Europe does not help with the Idlib situation then he will be forced to “open the floodgates”.

The province of Idlib, which is the last major opposition stronghold in Syria’s nine-year civil war, was originally meant to be a de-escalation or safe zone where displaced Syrian civilians and refugees could live away from the effects of the conflict, as stated under the agreement struck between Turkey and Russia back in September 2018.

That agreement, however, was violated by both the Syrian regime and its ally Russia when they launched a campaign in April last year. In recent months, the regime has made significant gains, especially with the support of Russian ground troops and Iranian forces, enabling it to retake around half of Idlib province so far, including key towns and cities and the strategic M5 highway.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200214-ex-uk-fm-idlib-is-becoming-gaza-in-syria/

Saudi Arabia accuses Turkey of supporting extremist militias in three Arab countries

Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs, Adel Al-Jubeir, confirmed that the kingdom opposes what he described as “Turkey’s incursion into Syria, and its support for extremist militias in Libya and Somalia.”

Al-Jubeir stated in a press conference on the sidelines of his visit to the Romanian capital, Bucharest, to meet officials there, on Thursday: “We oppose Turkey’s incursion into Syria, and we oppose Turkey’s support for militias in Somalia, Syria and Libya.”

He expressed his country’s concern over the transfer of foreign fighters from Syria to Libya, stressing that there will be repercussions for Europe. Al-Jubeir added that “Saudi Arabia is not biased towards a party at the expense of another in the Libyan conflict, and we have informed Haftar (Commander of the Forces of Eastern Libya) and Al-Sarraj (Head of the internationally recognised Government of National Accord (GNA)) about the vitality of reaching a political solution.”

As for Yemen, the Saudi Minister asserted: “We did not want war in Yemen; we intervened to stop Hezbollah and the Houthis, and we only want to achieve stability.”

He also announced that the Saudi Kingdom has provided $14 billion in aid to Yemen through the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KS Relief) and United Nations bodies, stressing that the war in Yemen must end by means of a political settlement.

The Saudi-Turkish relations started to deteriorate since the assassination of the Saudi writer, Jamal Khashoggi, in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2018; and collapsed even more last month, as Saudi Arabia has announced its full support for Cyprus’ (Greek) sovereignty over the entire island. As such, the Kingdom’s position led to deepening the rupture between Riyadh and Ankara, which recognises Northen Cyprus as being separate to the Republic of Cyprus.

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20200214-saudi-arabia-accuses-turkey-of-supporting-extremist-militias-in-three-arab-countries/

Senate Passes Iran War Powers Resolution

8 Republican Senators vote against Trump

In a vote of 55-45, the Senate passed the Iran War Powers Resolution on Thursday afternoon, setting out opposition to any unauthorized war with Iran, and instructing the president not to deploy troops for such a war.

Voting was heavily along party lines, with Democrats and some antiwar Republicans managing to pass the resolution in the face of mocking opposition from the Republican leadership, who insisted the resolution could never survive a Trump veto, and was a sign of weakness against Iran.

The Senate Republicans supporting were Mike Lee of Utah, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, Todd Young of Indiana, Jerry Moran of Kansas, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

Trump has opposed the resolution, arguing overwhelming support for his recent hostility toward Iran. Trump has broadly opposed war powers challenges to his wars, arguing he is allowed to launch such conflicts without Congress.

A veto has the potential to be overridden in the House, but it so far looks unlikely that the Senate could do so. That may ultimately depend on growing opposition to the war by the time the override happens.

https://news.antiwar.com/2020/02/13/senate-passes-iran-war-powers-resolution/

Germany, Hungary tell ICC they support Israeli position against war crimes probe

Like Czech Republic, Germany to argue The Hague has no jurisdiction in West Bank, Gaza as Palestine cannot be considered a state; Hungary to speak out as well

Germany and Hungary on Friday backed Israel’s position at the International Criminal Court, which is currently weighing whether to open an investigation into possible war crimes committed in Gaza and the West Bank.

Like the Czech Republic on Thursday, Berlin submitted a request to become an amicus curiae — a “friend of the court” who is not a party to the case but wants to offer its views.

Hungary also submitted an application, diplomatic officials told The Times of Israel, citing the same rational.

The deadline for states to submit legal opinions expires Friday.

All three countries were expected to submit written legal opinion positing that The Hague does not have jurisdiction to investigate the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Austria, which in recent years has become closer to the Jewish state, is also expected to file an application.

In its filing, Germany noted it was “a staunch supporter of the International Criminal Court and its organs, and a leader of the fight against impunity.” It also noted that it has long been a proponent of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But, it argued, “The scope of the Court’s territorial jurisdiction pursuant to Article 12 of the Rome Statute does not extend to the occupied Palestinian territories. Article 12 of the Rome Statute presupposes that there is a “State” that has the ability under international law to delegate territorial jurisdiction to the Court with respect to the relevant cases.

“Palestine does not possess nor did it ever possess the jurisdiction that it would need to delegate to the Court in order for the Court to exercise jurisdiction.”

Other states, including Australia, Canada and Hungary, have taken Israel’s side in the debate over jurisdiction, but have not asked to submit written legal opinions to the court.

Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein, who recently raised the issue during a visit to Germany, praised Berlin Friday, saying that “the most important power in the European Union is standing beside Israel in the face of the incitement by the Palestinians and the hypocrisy of the United Nations.

“Israel will fight for justice and will not allow (Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud) Abbas to continue his worldwide campaign of deception,” he said.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry declined to comment on the matter.

“It is really great that many countries are agreeing with our principled position,” a senior legal official told The Times of Israel on Friday. He noted that Attorney General Avichai Mandelblit and the Foreign Ministry have published lengthy statements and explanations as to why they think the ICC does not have jurisdiction to launch an investigation.

On December 20, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said she had concluded her half-decade long preliminary examination of the “situation in Palestine” and has “reasonable basis to believe that war crimes were committed” by both the Israel Defense Forces and Hamas and other “Palestinian armed groups.”

At the same time, she acknowledged that The Hague may not have the jurisdiction to deal with Israel/Palestine. Hence, she asked for a ruling by three ICC judges to determine the scope of the court’s territorial jurisdiction.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/berlin-joins-prague-in-supporting-israels-position-against-icc-probe/

When Will US Troops Leave Afghanistan? Deal With Taliban Reported

Peace negotiations began in July 2018

The agreement could open the way for the U.S. to begin withdrawing troops, which have been in the country since October 2001

President Trump has agreed to the pact in principle

The United States and Taliban reportedly reached a truce Friday that could lead to the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

A senior U.S. official at the Munich Security Conference told the Associated Press the seven-day agreement would take effect “very soon” and be followed by peace talks covering the entire country to set its political future.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Mark Esper are attending the conference and met Friday with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on the sidelines of the security forum. U.S. special envoy for Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad and Gen. Scott Miller, who heads the international military force in Afghanistan, also attended the meeting.

The official said President Trump has agreed to the deal in principle. Final details were worked out in Doha, Qatar, by Khalilzad, Taliban negotiator Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

The Taliban earlier this week issued an ultimatum, threatening to walk away from the negotiating table if the U.S. did not respond to its offer of a seven-day pause to hostilities rather than a full ceasefire that would blunt their battlefield progress should the U.S. or Kabul renege on any deal. U.S. officials denied the ultimatum had forced their hand.

U.S. troops have been in Afghanistan since Oct. 7, 2001, sent in the wake of the 9/11 al-Qaida attacks on New York and Washington that killed nearly 3,000 people. Then-President George W. Bush blamed Osama bin Laden for orchestrating the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon and targeted the Taliban, which had been in control of the Afghan government since 1996, for harboring bin Laden and his followers.

Direct peace talks began in July 2018 without the Afghan government’s involvement. A peace summit set for Sept. 11, the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, at Camp David was canceled following the death of a U.S. soldier in a car bombing in Kabul.

https://www.ibtimes.com/when-will-us-troops-leave-afghanistan-deal-taliban-reported-2922497

Corrupt US Attorney Jessie Liu Resigns From Trump Administration Following Nomination Withdrawal

The former US Attorney who oversaw the Roger Stone and Mike Flynn persecution prosecutions resigned this week after Trump withdrew her nomination for a job at the Treasury Department.

NBC reported:

The former U.S. attorney whose office oversaw the Roger Stone prosecution resigned from the Trump administration Wednesday, two days after President Donald Trump abruptly withdrew her nomination for a top job at the Treasury Department.

President Trump pulled his nomination on Tuesday of crooked Deep State US Attorney Jessie Liu to the Treasury Department.

Liu was involved in the Maria Butina case where a young woman sat in prison, due to the fact that she was set up by the Deep State FBI. The information related to the FBI’s set up was never provided to her or her attorneys in spite of numerous requests from the defense for this information which was the government’s duty to provide to her.

Liu also is involved in the Concord Management case. This case has been a mess since day one. The government alleged numerous lies about the company in order to tie the Mueller sham to Russia. Mueller’s team stated Concord and its sister company Concord Catering were involved in spreading news on Facebook that impacted the US election. The problem is Concord Catering wasn’t even in existence at the time they were indicted by Mueller and the Mueller team was never able to tie Russians to Concord Mangement which spent only $3,000 on Facebook ads that supposedly impacted the 2016 election.

The Conservative Treehouse outlines Liu’s involvement in the James Wolfe cover-up and how she dropped most charges against him allowing him to plead guilty to only one count of making a false statement to the feds.

Recall, James Wolfe was indicted for leaking classified information from the Senate Intel Committee to journalists, including Ali Watkins, a NY Times reporter who he was romantically involved with.

James Wolfe leaked classified information and he only got hit with one count of lying to the feds! Unbelievable!

CTH connects the dots between James Wolfe and Senate Intel Vice Chairman Mark Warner:

The information within the three events (Warner Text release, Wolfe Indictment release, and Carter Page FISA release) shows the connection of the events. James Wolfe took custody of the Carter Page FISA, delivered it to the SCIF, it was reviewed by SSCI Vice-Chair Mark Warner, and then leaked by James Wolfe.

Immediately after the 2018 mid-terms DC Attorney Jessie Liu dropped most of the charges against Wolfe, and he was allowed -under a plea agreement- to plead guilty to only one count of lying to investigators.

December 11th, DOJ sentencing memo [HERE], and then a very pissed-off FBI follow-up within the DOJ response to the Defense sentencing memo [HERE] dated December 14th.

In essence, after the November election, SSCI Director Wolfe was allowed to avoid prosecution for leaking top-secret classified documents; and the bigger issue was covered-up.

DAG Rod Rosenstein was in charge; the Mueller investigation was ongoing; and DC U.S. Attorney Jessie Liu signed-off on the plea deal.

Interestingly Jessie Liu was the US Attorney who recommended criminal charges against McCabe and the DOJ announced Friday there will be no charges against the former FBI Deputy Director.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2020/02/corrupt-us-attorney-jessie-liu-resigns-from-trump-administration-following-nomination-withdrawal/

Pennsylvania: Former CPS Worker Charged With Human Trafficking

With all of the reporting coming out in recent days concerning Child Protective Services (CPS), it’s no wonder that this has occurred. The only question that remains is: Why have not countless hundreds, or even thousands, also been charged? Yet, an ex-CPS social worker is now facing charges of human trafficking after recruiting a mother who was her client into prostitution in exchange for a favorable custody recommendation, according to authorities.

According to the Associated Press:

Candace Talley, 27, of Winslow, New Jersey, was working for the Division of Children and Youth Services in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, when she coerced the mother, whose children were in foster care and whose case Talley was managing, into working as a prostitute, the Delaware County District Attorney’s office announced Thursday.

Talley drove the woman to and from jobs and took more than 25% of the money that was made, authorities said. Talley also promised the woman she would help falsify her drug test results to help her case. Talley was part of an “extensive prostitution ring,” the district attorney’s office said in a press release.

Talley was arrested Thursday and charged with two counts of human trafficking for financial gain, promoting prostitution, making threats and other related charges.

Journalist Patrick Howley drew national attention with his report on allegations of prostitution in the Child Protective Services and foster care system.

https://www.dcclothesline.com/2020/02/14/pennsylvania-former-cps-worker-charged-with-human-trafficking/

>>8135724

try again Q