‘Completely Crazy’: Lighthizer Denies Bolton’s Claim That Trump Asked China For Election Help

U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer denied Wednesday that President Donald Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping in June 2019 for help in the upcoming presidential election, an allegation that former national security adviser John Bolton levels in his forthcoming memoir.

“Absolutely untrue, never happened. I was there, I have no recollection of that ever happening. I don’t believe it’s true, I don’t believe it ever happened,” Lighthizer testified during a Senate Finance Committee hearing.]

New Jersey Sen. Robert Menendez had asked Lighthizer, a well-known critic of the Chinese government, about an excerpt from Bolton’s book in which he alleged that Trump asked Xi for election help during a meeting in Japan on the sidelines of the Group 20 summit in June 2019.

“Trump then, stunningly, turned the conversation to the coming U.S. presidential election, alluding to China’s economic capability and pleading with Xi to ensure he’d win,” Bolton wrote in an excerpt published by The Wall Street Journal.

https://dailycaller.com/2020/06/17/lighthizer-john-bolton-donald-trump-xi-jinping/

Trump Says Bolton Broke The Law, Says China Could Have "Easily" Stopped The Virus Spread

Shortly after lengthy excerpts of neocon John Bolton's upcoming book were leaked to various media outlets, President Trump accused his former National Security Advisor of breaking the law by trying to publish a book on his time in the White House, even as his administration was seeking an emergency restraining order to halt its publication.

"He broke the law, very simple. As much as it’s going to be broken," Trump told Sean Hannity on Fox News Wednesday night. “This is highly classified."

Among the various claims by Bolton is that Trump encouraged China's president Xi to build detention camps in the Xinjiang region to imprison hundreds of thousands of Uighur Muslims; not coincidentally just hours after the leaks, Trump signs a bill punishing Chinese officials over Uighur internment camps, which in turn prompted an angry response by China which vowed to retaliate if the US uses the Bill and asked the asks the to stop using the bill to hurt its interests and interfere in China’s internal affairs. "Otherwise, China will for sure firmly retaliate."

Trump also responded that Bolton had been a "washed up guy" when he brought him into the administration. "I gave him a chance, he couldn’t get Senate-confirmed, so I gave him a non-Senate confirmed position, where I could just put him there, see how he worked. And I wasn’t very enamored."

Speaking to Hannity by telephone, the president said that "nobody has been tough on China and nobody has been tough on Russia like I have. And that’s in the record books and it’s not even close. The last administration did nothing on either."

In the lengthy interview Trump also touched on several other topics, including the ongoing virus pandemic, claiming the US was in great shape to deal with the virus, and claiming that China should have kept the virus where it was as it could have "easily" stopped the virus spread.

https://youtu.be/VV9MdgfuXp8

Trump also covered the ongoing protests, said that he will be visiting the border wall "very soon", and called for schools to reopen by the fall.

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/trump-says-bolton-broke-law-says-china-could-have-easily-stopped-virus-spread

Atlanta Police Union Head: ‘It’s the Worst Day in Law Enforcement in the City of Atlanta That’s Ever Been’

The fallout from the Rayshard Brooks’ saga continued in Atlanta on Wednesday night on the heels of Fulton County, GA District Attorney Paul Howard’s announcement that former Atlanta Police Officer Garrett Rolfe, the suspect in Brooks’ death, was facing 11 charges.

Vince Champion, southeast regional director of the International Brotherhood of Police officers, who functions as the head of the police union for the city of Atlanta, acknowledged during an interview with Atlanta’s FOX 5 morale within the Atlanta Police Department had hit a low, which backs up a similar claim made by Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms on CNN earlier.

“It’s the worst day in law enforcement in the city of Atlanta that’s ever been,” Champion said.

Champion declined to give an opinion on the incident based on the video.

“I’m not going to make an assumption based on a video that I don’t know anything about,” he added. “I’ve been a cop for 30 years. We go with the evidence leads us. Looking at videos and not knowing the whole thing, I don’t have an opinion.”

FOX 5’s Brian Hill said “multiple sources,” including social media had reflected the reports of a walkout by some police but maintained the city’s police department itself had downplayed the situation.

https://www.breitbart.com/clips/2020/06/17/atlanta-police-union-head-its-the-worst-day-in-law-enforcement-in-the-city-of-atlanta-thats-ever-been/

It All Comes Back To The Federal Reserve: The NWO Is Being Shoved Down Our Throats

The coronavirus was a heck of a cover for the Federal Reserve’s failings, and the riots are laying even more cover for what’s to come. While the masses focus on what’s happening on the surface, the real criminals laugh at our ignorance from their metaphorical ivory towers.

As we fight amongst ourselves and try to figure out which violence is more acceptable looting or police brutality, the ruling class is tightening the chains of our enslavement. With the help of the mainstream media, we are distracted from the core of the problem while dividing ourselves as the masters command.

Americans Are Too “Idiotic To See How Enslaved They Are” Even As the Gates of Hell Open Up

“We need to direct our attention and our fury at the Federal Reserve,” says Brian of the YouTube channel High Impact Vlogs. This channel is being heavily censored by YouTube for speaking truth to power. But Brian keeps on making videos to try to wake people up. Watch this one before it’s removed. The video starts at 6:30.

“The corporate entity, known as mainstream media, is LITERALLY, the propaganda arm for the military-industrial complex, so they WILL NOT expose lies. The lies that lead us into devastating wars. Devastating and costly wars that we cannot afford. So you can’t trust CNN.”

https://youtu.be/1u0d7t19vaI

“If there is anything that we’ve learned from history…it is that we do NOT learn from history. CNN (this so-called “authoritative” source for news) has consistently lied to us as they’ve pushed their agendas and promoted banker wars,” wrote Brian in the pinned comment on this video.

An In-Depth Look At American Propaganda, Operation Mockingbird, & Mind Control

“You cannot trust CNN. You cannot trust lamestream, fakestream media. We know that they have an agenda. We know that they cherry-pick facts. And we know they lay down heavy deception. They are there to distract, deceive, and divide the masses. And what’s really going on in this country, remember, make no mistake; the Federal Reserve is laying cover for their operation to get rid of the dollar and move us all into a one-world digital reserve currency. And once we get rid of physical currency, guys, that is the granddaddy of them all as far as a surveillance state. Because they will be able to detect every single purchase by every single person every moment of the day.”

https://youtu.be/V90IjB3OHhs

https://www.shtfplan.com/headline-news/it-all-comes-back-to-the-federal-reserve-the-nwo-is-being-shoved-down-our-throats_06162020

Multiple Reports: Atlanta Cops Walk Out in Protest

Swathes of police officers in Atlanta, GA, are “walking off the job,” according to multiple reports published Wednesday evening.

Todd Starnes tweeted, “BREAKING NEWS: Georgia police sources tell me only two police precincts are staffed in the entire city of Atlanta. Entire zones of officers are walking off the job. Zones 1,3,5 and 6 have left their posts. Zones walking off the job. #BlueLivesMatter.”

Atlanta’s CBS affiliate reported that it had confirmed the walkout through its own sources:

Several Atlanta Police officers have reportedly walked off the job at precincts across the city. The claim comes hours after charges were filed against ex officer Garrett Rolfe and Officer Devin Brosnan in the Rayshard Brooks’ case.

The buzz of patrol officers staging walkouts and refusing to answer calls from Precincts 3,5,6 and others began circulating social Wednesday evening. CBS46 confirmed the walkout through sources at 8:30 p.m.

The Atlanta Police Department acknowledged a “higher than usual number of call outs” on Wednesday evening while claiming that it had the resources necessary to “respond to incidents.”

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/06/17/multiple-reports-atlanta-cops-walk-protest/

700 million men and boys: China builds mega DNA surveillance database

https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/700-million-men-and-boys-china-builds-mega-dna-surveillance-database-20200618-p553vz.html

‘No foreign interference allowed’: China slams US bill allowing sanctions over alleged Uighur abuses, vows retaliation

Beijing has come out swinging after US President Donald Trump signed a law paving the way for sanctions against Chinese officials for the alleged oppression of Uighur Muslims, accusing the US of a “malicious attack.”

In a statement on Thursday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry accused the Trump administration of an attempt to smear China with a new bill that alleges rampant human rights abuses by the Chinese government of ethnic Uighur minorities in the predominantly-Muslim Xinjiang Province.

Previously passing Congress with flying colors, Trump signed the bill on Wednesday. In an accompanying statement, he accused Beijing of “systematic use of indoctrination camps, forced labor, and intrusive surveillance” to encroach on the rights of Uighurs and “other minorities.”

Firing back, the ministry advised that the US “immediately corrects its mistakes” and “stops using …the Xinjiang-related bill to harm China’s interests and interfere in China’s internal affairs.”

Unless Washington is willing to make amends and change its rhetoric on the issue, it should brace itself for potential repercussions, the ministry said.

China will definitely resolutely resist, and all consequences arising therefrom will be fully borne by the US.

Beijing has repeatedly brushed off allegations that it operates “concentration camps” in the area, instead maintaining that the facilities where some of Xinjiang’s Uighurs are interned are “vocational centers” needed to provide job and language training, as well as uproot “extremist elements.” As a proof that the controversial endeavour has been a success, the ministry said that Xinjiang has seen no major unrest in three years.

The ministry also accused the US of applying “double standards” when it comes to China and its efforts to eradicate “terrorism.”

Trump signed the Uighur bill on the eve of the release of a memoir by his former National Security Adviser John Bolton. Hours before the bill’s signing, excerpts from the book – which the White House is seeking to keep off the shelves – were leaked to several major US outlets. In one of the excerpts, Bolton claimed that Trump told Chinese President Xi Jinping that building the camps was “exactly the right thing to do,” in what many mainstream media pundits saw as an attempt to curry favor with Xi.

https://www.rt.com/news/492193-china-response-uighur-bill/

Operation In(ter)ception: Hackers are targeting European aerospace and military companies, tech security experts warn

Cybersecurity experts have uncovered highly targeted malware attacks against aerospace and military companies in Europe and the Middle East, highlighting how effective spear phishing can be when targeting individuals.

The spear-phishing attacks, which the Slovakian internet security company ESET has dubbed Operation In(ter)ception, involved the attackers directly contacting executives on LinkedIn.

Spear phishing is the practice of sending emails from a known or trusted sender in order to induce the targeted victim to reveal confidential information.

The In(ter)ception attacks – which take their name from a related malware sample named “Inception.dll” – were found to have taken place from September to December 2019, with the aim of stealing both information and money from military and aerospace executives.

Initially, hackers would pose as recruiters from well-known existing companies in the aerospace and defense industry and offer lucrative jobs to their victims. The LinkedIn or email conversation would begin as a friendly overture, but the attackers would quickly increase the pace of questions to the target, pressuring them to answer and reveal key information, such as what system the executive was using.

The hackers would then sneak malicious files disguised as documents relevant to the ‘job’ with the expectation that the victim would download them. For example, the attacker would send a PDF containing salary information for the reputed job positions. This decoy, once downloaded, would actually execute a command prompt on the target’s computer, which would set off a chain reaction allowing the hackers to secure a foothold on the machine from which to spy.

https://www.rt.com/news/492189-hackers-operation-interception-military/

NYPD Withdraws From Offices of Prosecutors Going Soft on Protesters, Hard on Police

Shortly after Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said he would not prosecute protesters for unlawful assembly and disorderly conduct, the New York Police Department (NYPD) pulled officers away from his office and redeployed them to help with crowd control. While Vance and other district attorneys have gone soft on protesters, they are aggressively prosecuting police accused of assaulting protesters.

Police also pulled away from the four other New York City district attorneys’ offices shortly after four of them made similar announcements, The New York Times reported. Police Commissioner Dermot F. Shea insisted that the timing was coincidental, but the event highlighted the prosecutors’ anti-police activism.

“There are no more law-and-order district attorneys,” Joseph L. Giacalone, a retired N.Y.P.D. sergeant and professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, told The Times. “The pendulum has swung so far left.”

While The Times‘ article emphasized the district attorneys’ decisions not to prosecute protesters, it downplayed their activism against the police. Buried far down in the article comes this admission:

Not only have the district attorneys declined to prosecute protesters charged with unlawful assembly, disorderly conduct and curfew violations, but they have been aggressively going after police accused of assaulting protesters. About 40 officers are under investigation, officials have said.

The Times did acknowledge that “demonstrations turned violent as police officers and protesters clashed in the streets. Images of burning police vehicles and looting led the mayor to impose a curfew.” Yet the author was quick to add, “But videos of officers using excessive force on demonstrators also appeared on social media and on the evening news, and after the curfew was imposed, officers were filmed using batons on peaceful demonstrators who appeared to have done little more than march past the deadline.”

The Violence Against This Civil War Monument Captures Just How Badly the George Floyd Riots Have Gone Wrong

Marching past the deadline is also known as “unlawful assembly.” Due to the damage and destruction of the riots, Mayor Bill de Blasio imposed a curfew, one of his tools to bring order amid such destruction. Violating curfew in order to protest is a minor offense, but it is an offense nonetheless. When district attorneys choose not to prosecute that law, they are arguably violating their oaths of office.

In many cases, the law is too harsh. In those cases, local legislatures should change the law. New Yorkers can organize and vote to change these laws. Instead, these prosecutors became activists, choosing which laws they would enforce and which they would not.

The district attorneys chose not to enforce a legal curfew, declared by the mayor, but they aggressively enforce alleged police abuses.

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/tyler-o-neil/2020/06/17/nypd-withdraws-from-offices-of-prosecutors-going-soft-on-protesters-hard-on-police-n544744

Florida Man Says He Sent Photos of His Penis To 10-Year-Old Girl “To Be Nice”

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office arrested a Lake Wales man on Tuesday, June 16, 2020, after an investigation showed that he manipulated, threatened, and extorted a 10-year-old girl into sending him nude images of herself.

19-year-old Simon “Pete” Anderson used the social-media platform Facebook to communicate with the victim, and he admitted to knowing that the girl was only 10-years-old.

The investigation began on April 30th when a parent of another child was told that Anderson was sending the girl photos of his penis.

During a forensic interview with the victim, she revealed that Anderson (whose Facebook account used the name Pete Anderson), had sent her inappropriate messages and pictures of his penis.

The PCSO Computer Crimes Unit searched the victim’s cell phone and discovered multiple messages and images that had been sent from Anderson’s Facebook account.

The messages on the phone revealed Anderson’s aggressive efforts with the victim. He tried coercing her into sending him nude pictures of herself by threatening to report her to law enforcement, as well as threatening to kill her and himself if she didn’t comply. The girl admitted to sending Anderson photos because she was in fear of his threats.

When a PCSO detective from the Special Victims Unit interviewed Anderson, he admitted that he sent her images of his penis. He told the detective that they were “kind of in a relationship, but not really.” He claimed that he didn’t want to send her the photos of his penis, but he did so, Simon Anderson mugshot“to be nice.”

Sheriff Grady Judd said, “As a parent, this kind of a story has got to break your heart, scare you, and make you angry, all at the same time. Sick creeps like this are out there folks…going after innocent children. This is exactly why I say that parents need to be all-up in their child’s business. You need to monitor who they’re communicating with online.”

Simon Anderson was arrested and transported to the Polk County Jail. He was charged with Extortion (F2), Possession of Child Pornography (F3), 3-counts of Transmitting Material Harmful to a Child (F3), and Aggravated Cyberstalking (F3).

The investigation is ongoing. Anderson’s electronic storage devices were collected, and they will be searched. Any additional evidence found on those devices could lead to additional charges.

https://breaking911.com/florida-man-says-he-sent-photos-of-his-penis-to-10-year-old-girl-to-be-nice/

Donald Trump, John Bolton, rogue regimes and the implications for Israel

Excerpts revealed the president’s personalization of foreign affairs and the way he intertwines US domestic politics with foreign affairs.

The full truth about US President Donald Trump’s relations with rogue and rebel regimes may not be understood until he leaves office or his close officials are willing to talk. However, excerpts publicized late Wednesday from former National Security Adviser John Bolton's upcoming book, if true, confirmed some of the worst suspicions about Trump’s foreign policy.

The excerpts revealed the president’s personalization of foreign affairs, the way he intertwines US domestic politics with foreign affairs and raised concerns about the sharing of security information with Trump.

Thought not all of these concerns are tied directly to Israel, they can have relevance to the Jewish state:

CHINA:

When the “Ukraine scandal” broke, one of Trump's first defenses was that he had the right to seek foreign intervention against Joe Boiden, who he presumed would eventually be his presidential opponent.

On October 3, he said Ukraine, “should investigate the Bidens,” and that, “Likewise, China should start an investigation into the Bidens, because what happened in China is just about as bad as what happened with Ukraine.”

Trump said that “I haven’t” asked Chinese President Xi Jinping to do so, “but it’s certainly something we should start thinking about.”

According to Bolton, Trump had already asked China back in June 2019 to help him in various ways to win reelection in the US.

How Israel balances the ongoing geopolitical competition between the US and China is a highly complex issue. Virtually all security officials agree that the US is by far the more important partner. At the same time, when Israel feels that it can gain advantages from building relations with China and the US is pushing against this opportunity, it is difficult to hear of Trump's alleged doubletalk with China.

It should be noted, however, that Trump’s alleged June 2019 comments and his public October 2019 comments were made before the coronavirus crisis.

Trump has had previous trade wars with China, which were questioned by top US and Israeli officials. Yuval Steinitz, who has worked in several ministerial roles on the Iran issue has expressed concern that US-China conflicts could undermine sanctions on Iran and many would say his concerns have proved true.

Trump’s October comments not only were misaligned with his conflict approach toward China, they seemed to encourage foreign intervention in US elections.

It is not too hard to imagine a point where Trump might once again offer Beijing reduced pressure in the fight over the corona issue, if it can find some way to assist in the 2020 presidential election.

https://www.jpost.com/international/rogue-countries-in-the-trump-era-and-bolton-revelations-analysis-631881

Berlin politicians knowingly sent children to live with PEDOPHILES for decades, new report reveals

Berlin authorities orchestrated a crackpot scheme to place foster children into the care of known pedophiles, a new report says. Dreamed up by an infamous pederasty advocate and supported by politicians, it only ended recently.

Berlin’s Green Party called on Tuesday for an investigation into a massive child abuse scandal that saw foster children placed into the care of pedophiles for more than 30 years – all the way up to 2003. According to a new report published on Monday, the city’s educational authorities and Senate knew what was taking place, and the practice was “accepted, supported, [and] defended” by left-wing politicians and academics throughout the 1970s, 80s and 90s.

“There were and are networks,” Green politician Marianne Burkert-Eulitz told the Berliner Zeitung on Tuesday, calling on the left-wing SPD and FDP parties to own up to their responsibility for the scandal.

Burkert-Eulitz and her party colleagues likely know a thing or two about opening up. The party’s predecessor, the Alternative List, was a clearinghouse for lunatic liberationist ideologies in the 1970s and 80s. At the party’s convention in 1985, a splinter group calling itself ‘Gays and Pederasts’ demanded the legalization of adult/child sex. The Greens have spent nearly a decade repudiating this sordid slice of their history, but according to Monday’s report, their activity was just the tip of the iceberg.

House of horrors

Fritz H. was a convicted pedophile who lived alone in West Berlin. Despite his criminal record, the city’s youth welfare authorities repeatedly placed children in his care. The first arrived in the early 1970s, with the last leaving in 2003. The children, some as young as six or seven, suffered unspeakable horrors, with at least nine raped and abused, and one disabled boy dying in Fritz’s care.

Two of Fritz’s victims have sued the state for their trauma, but the Berlin Senate – where the SPD still governs as part of a coalition – has thus far denied them a trial, arguing that the statute of limitations has expired on Fritz’s alleged abuse.

Fritz was not the only pedophile who was, literally, gifted vulnerable children by Berlin authorities. The report – compiled by researchers at Hildesheim University after Fritz’s two victims initially came forward – discovered that at least three pedophiles were given children to look after, while a network of high-ranking members of the Max Planck Institute, Berlin’s Free University, and the Odenwald School in Hesse – where children were sexually abused for decades – oversaw the program.

https://www.rt.com/news/492170-berlin-pedophiles-foster-children/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=RSS

At least 3,000 children fell victim to sex abuse at hands of French Catholic Church

The president of a commission set up to investigate child abuse in the French Catholic Church has revealed that at least 3,000 children have fallen victim to sex abuse by clergy and other church officials.

France’s Catholic bishops set up the independent commission in 2018 to shed light on sexual abuse committed by French clerics after a number of scandals shook the Church in the country.

Its president, Jean-Marc Sauve, said on Wednesday that preliminary figures indicated that some 1,500 clergy and other church officials carried out the abuse over the course of several decades.

The commission, which is made up of 22 legal professionals, doctors, historians, sociologists and theologians, is due to deliver its conclusions by the end of the year.

In March, a French priest was jailed for five years for sexually abusing dozens of children in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

During his trial, 74-year-old Bernard Preynat admitted to abusing boy scouts while he was a scout leader in Lyon, telling the court that he had not understood how serious his crimes were.

https://www.rt.com/news/492134-france-catholic-church-child-sex-abuse/

Yemen Outraged by Removal of Saudi-Led Coalition From UN Blacklist

SANA’A – A member of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council censured the United Nations over its decision to remove the Saudi-led coalition from a blacklist for killing and injuring children in the conflict-plagued Arab country, saying the crime that cannot be effaced from its record.

RevContent InArticle SOLO

“Delisting Saudi Arabia from the annual UN report confirms the chaos in the world body and its disregard for humanitarian standards,” Mohammed Ali al-Houthi wrote in a post published on his official Twitter page on Tuesday, PressTV reported.

He denounced the UN’s step as an “ineffaceable crime”, adding it took place at the same time as Saudi Arabia perpetrated a new massacre in Yemen’s northwestern province of Sa’ada. The Yemeni official was referring to the Saudi-led air raids that targeted a civilian car in Sa’ada on Monday, killing 13 people, including women and children.

On Monday, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres took away the Saudi-led coalition engaged in an atrocious military campaign against Yemen from a blacklist, several years after it was first named and shamed for killing and injuring children in the impoverished country.

The move prompted immediate protests from human rights groups worldwide. Jo Becker, the advocacy director of the children’s rights division at Human Rights Watch, argued that Guterres “is adding a new level of shame to his ‘list of shame’ by removing the Saudi-led coalition and ignoring the UN’s own evidence of continued grave violations against children”.

Adrianne Lapar, director of Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, also stated by removing the Saudi-led coalition “the secretary-general sends the message that powerful actors can get away with killing children”.

Saudi Arabia and a number of its regional allies launched the devastating war on Yemen in March 2015 in order to bring former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi back to power and crush the Houthi Ansarullah movement.

The US-based Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project (ACLED), a nonprofit conflict-research organization, estimates that the war has claimed more than 100,000 lives over the past five years. More than half of Yemen’s hospitals and clinics have been destroyed or closed during the war by the Saudi-led coalition, which is supported militarily by the UK, US and other Western nations.

https://www.fort-russ.com/2020/06/yemen-outraged-by-removal-of-saudi-led-coalition-from-un-blacklist/

Turkish Military Is Using Old Stock Footage To Promote New Operation In Northern Iraq

The Turkish Ministry of National Defense has been recycling old footage to promote its new operation against the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, Ruptly Verification Unit revealed in a Twitter thread on June 15

The operation, dubbed “Claw-Eagle,” took place on June 15. Turkish warplanes and combat drones targeted a number of PKK positions in the Kurdistan Region.

Ruptly revealed that the Ministry of National Defense edited old combat footage and CG videos, and then used them to promote the operation in northern Iraq.

One of the many examples is the use of old promotion videos of Turkish drones. The video was originally published by Ismail Demir, President of Defence Industries, on May 8. The Turkish military reedited the footage, adding a green filter, and released them as an official video from Operation Claw-Eagle.

In another example, old footage of Turkish F-16 warplanes taking off from 2018 were reused by the Turkish military for the new operation.

Last week, SouthFront revealed that the Turkish military is reusing old footage to promote its defensive operations not only in northern Iraq, but also in northeast Syria.

The Turkish Ministry of National Defense came under fire several times recently for publishing inaccurate information. The ministry was even accused of fabricating videos on a few occasions.

https://southfront.org/turkish-military-is-using-old-stock-footage-to-promote-new-operation-in-northern-iraq/

Pompeo Slipped Note to Bolton Saying Trump 'Full of S***' During North Korea Summit, Tell-All Claims

Former national security aide John Bolton’s explosive memoir, "The Room Where It Happened", gives his vision of developments in US foreign policy during his less than two-year stint in the Trump administration, as well as the presidential impeachment proceedings last December.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo jeered at President Trump behind his back, slipping John Bolton a note reading "He is so full of s**t" when the American delegation met with Kim Jong-un for negotiations in 2018, according to an excerpt from Bolton's book obtained by The New York Times on Wednesday. Pompeo’s predecessor Rex Tillerson also reportedly once called Trump a "moron" behind his back.

It is unclear from Bolton’s upcoming memoir, "The Room Where It Happened", what exactly Trump said or did to trigger such a reaction from his top officials.

In the memoir, the now former national security adviser says that a month after the 2018 meeting with Kim, Pompeo dismissed Trump's diplomatic efforts with North Korea saying there was "zero probability of success", Bolton wrote.

Bolton described several instances in which Trump expressed a willingness to stop criminal investigations "to, in effect, give personal favours to dictators he liked", mentioning cases involving big Chinese and Turkish market players.

"The pattern looked like obstruction of justice as a way of life, which we couldn't accept", Bolton wrote, adding that he shared his concerns with Attorney General William Barr.

Further in the book, Bolton reportedly alleged that the president blatantly used trade negotiations to fulfill his political goals. According to The New York Times, citing the memoir, Bolton claimed Trump sought to talk Chinese President Xi Jinping into buying massive amounts of US agricultural products to help him win farm states in the upcoming vote.

The president was "pleading with Xi to ensure he'd win. He stressed the importance of farmers, and increased Chinese purchases of soybeans and wheat in the electoral outcome", the 592-page memoir is cited as saying by The New York Times.

Bolton's bombshell book also purportedly details a number of Trump’s foreign policy gaffes, from not being aware that Britain is a nuclear power, to asking whether or not Finland, a Scandinavian country, was a part of Russia.

https://sputniknews.com/us/202006181079647475-pompeo-slipped-note-to-bolton-saying-trump-full-of-s-during-north-korea-summit-tell-all-claims/

Huawei Involved in 'Practices That are Unacceptable in National Security', Former Google Boss Says

Huawei has repeatedly denied US accusations that the company is collaborating with the Chinese government to allow it to spy on those who use the tech giant’s equipment.

In an interview with the BBC, former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt accused the Chinese telecom giant Huawei of engaging "in some practices that are not acceptable in national security".

"There's no question that information from Huawei routers has ultimately ended up in hands that would appear to be the state. However that happened, we're sure it happened", Schmidt claimed.

He also argued that the Chinese tech titan can be seen as a means of "signals intelligence", in an apparent nod to the intelligence and security organisations, such as the UK's Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) or US National Security Agency (NSA).

According to Schmidt, Huawei should first of all be viewed in the context of the company’s challenge to the US government

"It's extremely important that we have choices", the former Google boss said, adding, "the answer to Huawei […] is to compete by having a product and product line that is as good".

US Crackdown on Huawei

The interview comes amid the ongoing US crackdown on the Chinese firm, which kicked off in 2019, when the Department of Commerce blacklisted Huawei, accusing the company of cooperating with China's intelligence services, allegations that both Beijing and the company vehemently reject.

"It is simply not true", Victor Zhang, Huawei's UK chief said in a separate interview with the BBC, referring to the US accusations.

"Huawei is a private company, 100% owned by its employees. Huawei is independent from any government, including the Chinese government", he underscored.

Earlier, he insisted that "it's clear that market position, rather than security concerns, is what underpins America's attack on Huawei".

The US clampdown on Huawei takes place amid the UK’s current review of Huawei’s participation in creating Britain’s 5G infrastructure.

In late February, the British government announced that it would give the company a limited role in building the UK's 5G network, despite previous warnings from Washington that the move could potentially compromise Britain's security and hamper intelligence-sharing between the US and the UK.

At the same time, London stressed that Huawei would be excluded from the 5G network's "core" parts, such as safety-related areas.

https://sputniknews.com/business/202006181079647495-huawei-involved-in-practices-that-are-unacceptable-in-national-security-former-google-boss-says/

>>9656256

Former Japanese Justice Minister and Wife Arrested for Suspected Vote Buying, Reports Suggest

A former Japanese justice minister and his lawmaker wife have been arrested on suspicion of vote-buying, according to the public broadcaster NHK.

According to media reports, prosecutors suspect former justice minister Katsuyuki Kawai and his wife Anri Kawai of offering millions of yen in cash to people prior to the upper house elections in 2019, in which his wife won a seat.

Voter support for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who had close ties to the minister, has declined over his handling of the coronavirus outbreak, uproar over efforts to extend top prosecutors' retirement age, and some questions about the government’s support of tourism and smaller companies.

Earlier, Shinzo Abe called on residents not to relax with the onset of hot weather, since high temperatures do not mean the absence of the coronavirus infection, and cited the situation in Qatar with a traditionally hot climate.

The overall number of COVID-19 cases in Japan has reached 17,628, including 931 fatalities, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

https://sputniknews.com/asia/202006181079647407-former-japanese-justice-minister-and-wife-arrested-for-suspected-vote-buying-reports-suggest/

Vermont Principal Put On Leave For Not Agreeing With Black Lives Matters

We have yet another teacher suspended or put on leave for merely expressing her opinion of Black Lives Matter on her personal Facebook page. After Tiffany Riley wrote that she does not agree with the BLM, the Mount Ascutney School Board held an emergency meeting to declare that it is “uniformly appalled” by the exercise of free speech and Superintendent David Baker assured the public that they would be working on “mutually agreed upon severance package.” The case magnifies concerns over the free speech rights of teachers on social media or in their private lives.

As we have previously discussed (with an Oregon professor and a Rutgers professor), there remains an uncertain line in what language is protected for teachers in their private lives. There were also controversies at the University of California and Boston University, where there have been criticism of such a double standard, even in the face of criminal conduct. There were also such an incident at the University of London involving Bahar Mustafa as well as one involving a University of Pennsylvania professor. Some intolerant statements against students are deemed free speech while others are deemed hate speech or the basis for university action. There is a lack of consistency or uniformity in these actions which turn on the specific groups left aggrieved by out-of-school comments. There is also a tolerance of faculty and students tearing down fliers and stopping the speech of conservatives. Indeed, even faculty who assaulted pro-life advocates was supported by faculty and lionized for her activism.

Most recently, we discussed the effort to remove one of the country’s most distinguished economists from his position because Harald Uhlig, the senior editor of the Journal of Political Economy, criticized Black Lives Matter and Cornell Law School professor William A. Jacobson is reportedly facing demands that he be fired because he wrote a blog about the Black Lives Matter movement.

So what is the act that uniformly appalled the school board? Riley wrote:

“I do not think people should be made to feel they have to choose black race over human race. While I understand the urgency to feel compelled to advocate for black lives, what about our fellow law enforcement? What about all others who advocate for and demand equity for all? Just because I don’t walk around with a BLM sign should not mean I am a racist (sic).”

She said that she actually does believe that black lives do matter but was motivated to write to object to “the coercive measures taken to get to this point across; some of which are falsified in an attempt to prove a point.” One can certainly disagree with that view. Indeed, it could be the foundation for a substantive discussion on how to best protect black lives and how to deal with police abuse. However, it was declared “tone deaf” because Riley was challenging an approved or orthodox position.

Simply because she shared her view of BLM in her private life, Baker declared ““They don’t see any way that she’s going to go forward as the principal of that building given those comments and that statement. It’s clear that the community has lost faith in her ability to lead.”

What about the faith and tolerance of free speech? There is not even a nod of concern over the right of people to support reforms but not necessarily the BLM movement or some of its more controversial positions.

https://jonathanturley.org/2020/06/16/vermont-principal-put-on-leave-for-not-agreeing-with-black-lives-matters/

How Federal Courts Gave us Qualified Immunity and Forced it on All 50 States

A legal doctrine first created out of thin air by judicial fiat went unchallenged – and the court did what it does so well, it eventually forced that same doctrine on all 50 states.

https://www.activistpost.com/2020/06/how-federal-courts-gave-us-qualified-immunity-and-forced-it-on-all-50-states.html

Housing Market Outside New York City Booms As City Dwellers Flee

While observing national housing trends, we have recently found wealthy Americans – and anyone else who has the economic mobility – are selling real estate in big cities and have fled to rural communities amid fresh concerns of the second coronavirus wave and ongoing social unrest.

We’ve documented this phenomenon, in several pieces, is happening across several major metropolitan areas:

Real Estate agents told The Wall Street Journal that people are leaving New York City for rural communities and small towns, such as places in Hudson Valley to southeast Connecticut, due to virus concerns. The Journal did not touch on riots that plague the city, and we’re assuming that was a compounding factor of why people are fleeing.

Living in a high-rise or cramped apartment in Lower Manhattan must have been mentally draining for folks with several months of confinement due to strict lockdowns to mitigate the virus spread.

In the early days of the lockdowns (mid/late March), urbanites fled to suburbs around New York City, looking for rentals to temporarily escape city-wide lockdowns. Now the stay is becoming more permanent as their taste for land, fresh air, and peace of mind outweighs the dumpster fire unfolding in the city.

https://www.activistpost.com/2020/06/housing-market-outside-new-york-city-booms-as-city-dwellers-flee.html