Mar 17

Today’s News 17th March 2018

  • Ex-FBI Asst. Director Says Upcoming Inspector General Report Is "Pure TNT"

    Former FBI Assistant Director Chris Swecker said today that a highly anticipated report from the DOJ’s Inspector General Michael Horowitz will contain “some pure TNT.” Horowitz has been investigating the conduct of the FBI’s top brass surrounding the 2016 election for over a year. He also uncovered over 50,000 text messages between two anti-Trump / pro-Clinton FBI employees directly involved in the exoneration of Clinton and the counterintelligence operation launched against the Trump campaign. 

    Swecker: “The behavior if it’s manifested in the action with your thumb on the scale of a particular investigation, one way or the other, that’s borderline criminal behavior — manipulating an investigation. I think this IG report is going to be particularly impactful, more so than any of these useless congressional investigations. I think you’re going to see some pure TNT come out in this IG report.”

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    The Inspector General’s report is thought to include evidence of outgoing Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe ordering agents to alter “302” forms – the paperwork an agent files after interviewing someone.

    Horowitz is also reportedly homing in on McCabe’s handling of the Anthony Weiner laptop after reports emerged that he wanted to avoid taking action on the FBI’s findings until after the 2016 election. 

    The inspector general, Michael E. Horowitz, has been asking witnesses why FBI leadership seemed unwilling to move forward on the examination of emails found on the laptop of former congressman Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.)until late October — about three weeks after first being alerted to the issue, according to these people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter. A key question of the internal investigation is whether McCabe or anyone else at the FBI wanted to avoid taking action on the laptop findings until after the Nov. 8 election, these people said. It is unclear whether the inspector general has reached any conclusions on that point. –WaPo

    In January, Fox’s Sean Hannity sat down with journalist Sara Carter – who shed light on the McCabe situation, saying that FBI Director Christopher Wray was “shocked to his core” after reading the GOP-authored “FISA” memo describing FBI malfeasance surrounding the 2016 U.S. election:

    Carter: What we know tonight is that FBI Director Christopher Wray went Sunday and reviewed the four-page FISA memo. The very next day, Andrew McCabe was asked to resign. Remember Sean, he was planning on resigning in March – that already came out in December. This time they asked him to go right away. You’re not coming into the office. I’ve heard rep[orts he didn’t even come in for the morning meeting – that he didn’t show up.

    Hannity: A source of mine told me tonight that when Wray read this, it shocked him to his core.

    Sara Carter: Shocked him to his core, and not only that, the Inspector General’s report – I have been told tonight by a number of sources, there’s indicators right now that McCabe may have asked FBI agents to actually change their 302’s – those are their interviews with witnesses. So basically every time an FBI agent interviews a witness, they have to go back and file a report. 

    Hannity: Changes? So that would be obstruction of justice? 

    Carter: Exactly. This is something the Inspector General is investigating. If this is true and not alleged, McCabe will be fired. I heard they are considering firing him within the next few days if this turns out to be true. 

    Meanwhile, several Republican Senators are asking the Department of Justice (DOJ) to order a special counsel to probe the FBI’s conduct during its investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election – including the use of the “Steele dossier” in seeking a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) warrant against former Trump Campaign advisor Carter Page. The letter marks the second formal request by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

    The request comes amid controversy over Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe’s pension – which is in jeopardy after the Department of Justice’s internal watchdog found enough evidence of malfeasance to recommend firing McCabe immediately. 

    The letter also notes that Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz, who they have the “utmost confidence” in, “does not have the tools that a prosecutor would to gather all the facts, such as the ability to obtain testimony from essential witnesses who are not current DOJ employees.” 

    Senators Chuck Grassley Chuck Grassley (Iowa), Lindsey Graham (S.C.), Thom Tillis (N.C.) and John Cornyn (Texas), signed a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions as well as Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein to name a special counsel who can “gather all the facts.”

    “We believe that a special counsel is needed to work with the Inspector General to independently gather the facts and make prosecutorial decisions, if any are merited. The Justice Department cannot credibly investigate itself without these enhanced measures of independence,” wrote the senators. 

    See the letter below, and click on the tweet for more background on the ongoing investigation from Nick Short of the Security Studies Group. 

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    As Chuck Ross of the Daily Caller points out, the letter also “broke a bit of news”:

    It reveals that Bruce Ohr, the former deputy assistant attorney general, was interviewed 12 separate times by the FBI in 2016 and 2017.

    Ohr was in contact with Steele prior to the 2016 election. And shortly after the election, Ohr was in contact with Glenn Simpson, the founder of Fusion GPS, the opposition research firm that hired Steele to investigate Trump.

    Ohr’s wife, a Russia expert named Nellie Ohr, also happened to be working as a contractor for Fusion GPS for its Trump investigation.

    Senate Judiciary Republicans want to know whether the FBI and DOJ were aware of that relationship.

    The committee letter lists all of Ohr’s FBI interviews, which were summarized on what’s known as a FD-302 document. The first interview with Ohr was conducted on November, 22, 2016. The most recent occurred on May 15, 2017. –Daily Caller

    The DOJ’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) announced in January that it was opening a probe of the FBI’s handling of the Clinton email investigation. Meanwhile, Attorney General Jeff Sessions asked the OIG to explore whether FBI officials abused their authority when they used an unverified and salacious dossier from Fusion GPS to obtain a FISA warrant on Carter Page. 

    That said, Sessions has resisted repeated calls for a second Special Counsel. 

    Graham and Grassley also asked the OIG to look into the FBI’s conduct while handling the Russia probe, writing in a February letter: 

    “We respectfully request that you conduct a comprehensive review of potential improper political influence, misconduct, or mismanagement in the conduct of the counterintelligence and criminal investigations related to Russia and individuals associated with (1) the Trump campaign, (2) the Presidential transition, or (3) the administration prior to the appointment of Special Counsel Robert Mueller.” 

    The Senators also noted in their Thursday letter that if the DOJ declines to appoint a second special counsel, they want “a detailed reply explaining why not.” 

  • Trump Slams "Sanctimonious Comey" After Sessions Fires FBI's McCabe A Day Before Retirement

    Update: President Trump tweets that McCabe’s firing “is a great day for the hard working men and women of The FBI… and  democracy,” then lashes out at “sanctimonious” former FBI Director Comey’s “lies and corruption going on at the highest levels of the FBI” indicating that his actions made McCabe “look like a choirboy.”

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    Perhaps this means Trump will lay off the constant trolling of Sessions for a while?

    *  *  *

    As we detailed earlier, after a long day of what seemed like the swamp protecting one of their dirtiest creatures, Attorney General Jeff Sessions fired former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, just over 24 hours before he was set to retire and claim his full pension benefits.

    McCabe turns 50 on Sunday – the earliest he would have been eligible for his full retirement benefits.

    Sessions noted that both the Justice Department Inspector General Michael Horowitz as well as the FBI’s disciplinary office had found “that Mr. McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor – including under oath – on multiple occasions.” 

    So, McCabe was involved in leaks and he lied under oath. 

    Horowitz found that McCabe had authorized two FBI officials to talk to then-Wall Street Journal reporter Devlin Barrett for a story about the case and another investigation into Clinton’s family foundation. Barrett now works for The Washington Post. –WaPo

    “I have terminated the employment of Andrew McCabe effective immediately,” said Sessions, who said he based his decision on the findings. 

    While the move will probably cost McCabe a significant portion of his retirement benefits, he could challenge it in court.

    Former FBI officials tell CNN that McCabe could also lose out on future health care coverage in his retirement,  but the “most significant ‘damage’ to a separated FBI employee is: loss of lifetime medical benefits for self and family,” tweeted CNN law enforcement analyst James A. Gagliano, a retired FBI supervisory special agent.

    On Thursday he spent almost four hours at the DOJ to beg for his full retirement. 

    Full statement from AG Sessions:

    The FBI’s OPR then reviewed the report and underlying documents and issued a disciplinary proposal recommending the dismissal of Mr. McCabe. Both the OIG and FBI OPR reports concluded that Mr. McCabe had made an unauthorized disclosure to the news media and lacked candor – including under oath – on multiple occasions.

    The FBI expects every employee to adhere to the highest standards of honesty, integrity, and accountability. As the OPR proposal stated, “all FBI employees know that lacking candor under oath results in dismissal and that our integrity is our brand.”

    Pursuant to Department Order 1202, and based on the report of the Inspector General, the findings of the FBI Office of Professional Responsibility, and the recommendation of the Department’s senior career official, I have terminated the employment of Andrew McCabe effective immediately.

    McCabe responded to his ouster, saying that his firing, along with negative comments by President Trump were meant to undermine Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, reported the New York Times.

    “The idea that I was dishonest is just wrong,” said McCabe, adding, “This is part of an effort to discredit me as a witness.”

    Mr. McCabe was among the first at the F.B.I. to scrutinize possible Trump campaign ties to Russia. And he is a potential witness to the question of whether Mr. Trump tried to obstruct justice. Mr. Trump has taunted Mr. McCabe both publicly and privately, and Republican allies have cast him as the center of a “deep state” effort to undermine the Trump presidency. –NYT

    While McCabe’s firing is directly related to the disclosure of sensitive information to the media about the Clinton email investigation, the former Deputy Director took a leave of absence in January amid a heated controversy over the FBI’s conduct surrounding the 2016 election.

    In December, The Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee has discovered that edits made to former FBI Director James Comey’s statement exonerating Hillary Clinton for transmitting classified info over an unsecured, private email server went far beyond what was previously known – as special agents operating under McCabe changed various language which effectively decriminalized Clinton’s behavior. 

    McCabe’s team also conducted a counterintelligence operation to investigate the Trump campaign, in which they used an unverified dossier and were not forthright with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) over its political origins, in violation of FBI policy. 

    As revelations of FBI misconduct spiraled out of control last year, President Trump noted that McCabe was “racing the clock to retire with full benefits.”

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    On Thursday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said “We do think that it is well documented that he has had some very troubling behavior and by most accounts a bad actor.“

    While “background conversations with reporters are commonplace in Washington,” notes the Washington Post, “McCabe’s authorizing such a talk was viewed as inappropriate because the matter being discussed was an ongoing criminal investigation.”

    One wonders how long before McCabe writes his multi-million-dollar ‘tell-all’ book… or when he will start his new job? We hear the offers are pouring in…

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  • Mapping The Countries With The Most Billionaires

    There are roughly 36 million millionaires in the world.

    That means if you meet someone from the global population at random, there’s a 1 in 200 chance that they could be a millionaire – this makes for surprisingly good odds.

    However, as VisualCapitalist’s Jeff Desjardins notes, the billionaire on the other hand is a much rarer breed. According to Forbes, there are just over 2,000 billionaires in existence, making up just 0.00003% of the global population.

    Where do these people live, and what countries have the highest concentrations of them as citizens?

    25 COUNTRIES THAT ARE RICH IN BILLIONAIRES

    Today’s infographic comes to us from TitleMax, and it shows the 25 countries with the most billionaires in them. It also covers the richest person in each of these countries, as well.

    Courtesy of: Visual Capitalist

    Here is the list of countries, sorted by the number of billionaires:

    The United States has the most billionaires in total with 565.

    In second place is China (319) – a country that is adding billionaires at a rapid pace, but also losing some of its ultra-rich population to capital flight.

    BILLIONAIRE CONCENTRATION

    Although the United States has the most billionaires by a large margin, the country ranks 6th in terms of billionaire concentration.

    In the U.S., there is one billionaire for every 571,858 people, but it is beat out in this measurement by Hong Kong (110k), Switzerland (233k), Singapore (267k), Sweden (319k), and Israel (475k).

    Hong Kong, which has the highest rate of billionaires in the world, boasts 67 billionaires in just one city of roughly seven million.

    For comparison’s sake, if Mainland China could somehow have the same rate of billionaire occurrences as Hong Kong, the country would amass 12,575 billionaires – more than six times the total amount in the world that currently exist!

    LOWEST BILLIONAIRE CONCENTRATIONS

    With only roughly 2,000 billionaires scattered throughout the world, it’s estimated that there are over 100+ countries and dependencies that actually have zero billionaires as citizens. For example, Haiti, Lithuania, Ethiopia, Belarus, and Andorra are just a few places that have millionaires, but no billionaires.

    As for countries that made the above list, India and Indonesia are pretty scarce in terms of their billionaire concentrations – if you were to hit the street in these countries, the odds are 1 in 13 million that a random person would be a billionaire.

  • Stephen Hawking – Doomsday Prophet's Top Five Predictions

    Via GoldCore.com,

    Stephen Hawking, the visionary physicist who passed away this week at the age of 76, made five predictions about how and when mankind will face its doom.

    In a week when geo-political tensions between the world’s two leading nuclear powers, Russia and the U.S. are worsening with the UK and U.S. accusing Russia of a nerve agent attack and imposing sanctions on Russia, it is a good time to consider and heed Hawking’s doomsday predictions or warnings, especially about nuclear war.

    Below is an interesting article which looks at five of Hawking’s doomsday predictions as collated by Qt.com.au:

    WE NEED an exit strategy. Fast.

    From global warming to artificial intelligence, Professor Stephen Hawking made a number of terrifying predictions about the apocalyptic threats facing humanity.

    The celebrated late scientist said humanity is at a “tipping point”, and that our best bet will be to leave Earth completely.

    Here are five main factors he said are contributing to the end of the world.

    NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY

    In 2007, Prof Hawking fronted a campaign to cancel Trident, Britain’s nuclear weapons deterrent.

    “Nuclear war remains the greatest danger to the survival of the human race,” he said.

    “To replace Trident would make it more difficult to get arms reduction, and increase the risk.

    “It would also be a complete waste of money because there are no circumstances in which we would use it independently.”

    Prof Hawking has also identified “aggression” as the human trait will destroy us all.

    He warned it could lead to irrational actions, like sparking nuclear war.

    Prof Hawking said nuclear war remains the ‘greatest danger’ to humanity’s survival.

    “I fear evolution has in-built greed and aggression to the human genome,” he told the BBC. “There is no sign of conflict lessening, and the development of militarised technology and weapons of mass destruction could make that disastrous. The best hope for the survival of the human race might be independent colonies in space.”

    DONALD TRUMP

    Prof Hawking made it clear he was not a fan of Donald Trump.

    He was particularly critical of the US President after he vowed not to sign the Paris Agreement on climate change.

    “Climate change is one of the great dangers we face and it’s one we can prevent if we act now,” he told the BBC. “By denying the evidence for climate change and pulling out of the Paris Climate Agreement, Donald Trump will cause avoidable environmental damage to our beautiful planet, endangering the natural world, for us and our children.”

    In a Skype talk delivered at the Starmus science and arts festival last year, he made his case more urgent.

    “Unlike Donald Trump, who may just have taken the most serious and wrong decision on climate this world has seen, I am arguing for the future of humanity and a long-term strategy to achieve this,” Prof Hawking said.

    “We have given our planet the disastrous gift of climate change … When we have reached similar crises there has usually been somewhere else to colonise … But there is no new world, no utopia around the corner. We are running out of space, and the only places to go to are other worlds.”

    On ITV’S Good Morning Britain, Prof Hawking was asked to explain Mr Trump’s ascendancy to the White House.

    “I can’t,” he responded. “He is a demagogue who seems to appeal to the lowest common denominator.”

    ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

    In recent years, Prof Hawking had raised the alarm about the potential threat of artificial intelligence.

    Speaking at the Web Summit in Lisbon in November, the famous physicist said AI has the potential to be the best or worst thing humanity has ever seen and the scary reality is we just don’t know which yet.

    “We cannot know if we will be infinitely helped by AI or ignored by it and sidelined, or conceivably destroyed by it,” he said.

    While AI could be hugely beneficial for reducing poverty, disease and restoring the natural environment, it’s impossible to predict “what we might achieve when our own minds are amplified by AI”.

    “AI could be the worst invention of the history of our civilisation, that brings dangers like powerful autonomous weapons or new ways for the few to oppress the many.

    “AI could develop a will of its own, a will that is in conflict with ours and which could destroy us. In short, the rise of powerful AI will be either the best, or the worst thing ever to happen to humanity.”

    Hawking warned scientists and global governments needed to focus on maximising benefits for society rather than pure capability.

    “We need to employ effective management in all areas of its development,” he said. “We stand on a threshold of a brave new world. It is an exciting, if precarious, place to be and you are the pioneers.”

    DEATH BY FIREBALL

    Overpopulation is going to turn our planet into a red-hot fireball.

    Prof Hawking warned the Earth will be reduced to a ball of fire within 600 years when our energy consumption overloads.

    In a video appearance at the 2017 Tencent WE Summit in Beijing, he said: “By the year 2600, the world’s population would be standing shoulder to shoulder, and the electricity consumption would make the Earth glow red-hot.”

    To save ourselves, he said we must take a leaf out of Star Trek and “boldly go where no one has gone before”.The planet is eventually going to become one big, red-hot fireball.

    He has also warned that over the next 100 years, we need to look to colonise Mars and other planets.

    Speaking at the Starmus science festival in Norway last year, he said the Moon and Mars would be the best sites to begin new colonies, and said we could establish outposts on these sites within 30 and 50 years respectively, The Telegraph reported.

    ASTEROID STRIKES

    Prof Hawking has warned that if global warming doesn’t wipe us out, an asteroid strike will.

    At the Starmus festival, he said it was only a matter of time before the Earth would be destroyed by either an asteroid, soaring temperatures or overpopulation.

    “This is not science fiction. It is guaranteed by the laws of physics and probability,” he said.

    “To stay risks being annihilated.

    “Spreading out into space will completely change the future of humanity. It may also determine whether we have any future at all.”Prof Hawking warned that becoming a “cosmic sloth” was not an option.

    “Wherever we go we will need to build a civilisation, we will need to take the practical means of establishing a whole new ecosystem that will survive in an environment that we know very little about and we will need to consider transporting several thousands of people, animals, plants, fungi, bacteria and insects.”

    *  *  *
    R.I.P.

    Source @MitchellToy

  • Syrian War For Dummies – Three Versions

    As the Ghouta campaign continues to unfold, we should expect that both politicians and mainstream media will give us – in the words of philosopher and theologian Reinhold Niebuhr – “necessary illusion and emotionally potent oversimplifications” intended to shape our perceptions of events.

    It goes without saying that such “emotionally potent oversimplifications” on Syria have formed the dominant paradigm through which the American public has received its information over the past seven years of war. From the State Department officials to think tank “experts” to the Graham/McCain axis to CNN panelists to the neocon twitterati and all the usual interventionistas who cast everything in terms of Manichean good vs. evil, darkness vs. light, bloodthirsty tyrants vs. noble populace – we’ve had to endure and fight seven years of a constant stream of propaganda on Syria.

    Image source: Thierry Ehrmann via Flickr

    This worldview is what BBC filmmaker Adam Curtis accurately characterized as a ‘goodies and baddies’ dualistic vision of global events which keeps the Western public under the illusion that its own political leaders are perpetually driven by concern over human rights, defending the weak and oppressed, and spreading democracy over and against the unenlightened megalomaniac dictators of the world who are simply bent on brutalizing their own people.

    The BBC’s Curtis concluded of the “humanitarian” wars that followed in the wake of the so-called ‘Arab Spring’ (especially Libya and Syria) :

    The question at the heart of this whole story is – Who was the ventriloquist? And who was the dummy? Maybe we were the dummy? By allowing perception management with its simplifications, falsehoods and exaggerations to create a simplified vision of the world – we fell into a fake universe of certainty when really we were just watching a pantomime. 

    And now as the Arab Spring unfolds and reveals the true chaos and messiness of the real world – above all the horror of what is happening in Syria – we find ourselves completely unable to understand it or even know what to do. So those stories get ignored while we follow others with clearer and more simplified dramas which have what seem to be obvious goodies and baddies – thank god for Iran, North Korea and Jimmy Savile.

    Although the Syrian war is almost over, many Americans still don’t understand what transpired over the last seven years, because the mainstream narrative has been an embarrassing mix of propaganda, half-truths and lies.

    Below are three versions of the conflict as presented by Chris Kanthan via Sott.net.  

    Disney Version

    Once upon a time, a country called Syria was ruled by a ruthless dictator named Bashar Al-Assad. He was a cruel man who gassed his own people. His actions caused a civil war in Syria. America and Europe tried their best to stop the devastating civil war, and even generously accepted many Syrian refugees. Eventually America went to Syria, defeated ISIS, and is now trying to restore stability.

    This above version is quite popular among many Americans and Europeans and the Western mainstream media.

    * * *

    High School Version

    Oppressed by Assad’s brutal regime, the Syrian people longed for freedom and democracy. One day, people started protesting in a small city. In response, Assad killed many peaceful protesters. However, this backfired and the entire country was engulfed in protests. Soon a civil war broke out, which led to millions of refugees fleeing Syria.

    America was appalled and, for humanitarian reasons, decided to help the Syrians who were fighting Assad. When Assad gassed his own people, America intervened and removed all his chemical weapons. Unfortunately, Assad managed to gas innocent civilians again after a few years. Then, America went to Syria, defeated ISIS, and is now trying to restore stability.

    The above version is presented in most of the global mainstream media.

    * * *

    College Version

    Simply put, the Syrian “civil war” is an illegal, proxy war waged against Syria. In defiance of international laws, many countries have been sending weapons and terrorist mercenaries into Syria for the last seven years (to gain a deeper understanding of who wants to topple Assad and why, please read: Chaos in Syria: Part 1 – Three Motives and Seven Countries).

    2011

    In early 2011, US/UK special forces used Jordan’s military base to assist protests against Assad in a border town called Daraa. With the Muslim Brotherhood’s organizational skills and Saudi Arabia’s deep pockets, violent protests spread thru Syria. Soon, an organized and armed militia known as Free Syrian Army (FSA) was created by the outsiders.

    After the fall of Gaddafi in late 2011, the US State Department and US intelligence agencies organized the shipment of tons of deadly weapons such as Stinger missiles and Sarin gas from destroyed Libya to Syria, via Turkey. Even with all this help, the American proxy force known as the FSA couldn’t win the war. At this point, NATO and Neocons wanted to bomb Syria, but Russia and China vetoed the motion in the UN, so the imperial war by deception moved on to the next phase.

    2012

    In early 2012, someone dialed Al Qaeda (referred to as AQ or AQI in government documents). Zawahiri, AQ’s top leader, called for help and experienced Islamic terrorists from all over the world rushed into Syria by way of Saudi Arabia’s international jihadist recruitment agency. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, received an email from her chief adviser, saying that “Al Qaeda is on our side” .

    Al Qaeda rebranded itself as Al Nusra, and fearsome weapons such as grenade launchers, mortars, tanks and anti-tank missiles started pouring into Syria via Turkey and Jordan.

    The CIA spent $100,000 to train each rebel. Billions of US taxpayers dollars were wasted once again on supporting the same terrorist groups that attacked the USA on 9/11 .

    Watching the western media, the average person had no idea that we were supporting Al Qaeda or how heavily armed these “rebels” were.

    Western media and politicians also stuck to their talking points and referred to all these fighters as “moderate rebels.” However, many of them are ruthless Islamists who use suicide bombers, behead even children, and commit unspeakable atrocities. They are also religious fanatics who seek out and kill Christians and Shiites. This is described in detail in the book, Deconstructing the Syrian War.

    A Pentagon memo warned against this reckless policy and precisely predicted the rise of groups such as ISIS. Obviously the memo was ignored (or even happily accepted) by the White House and other officials.

    2012 was also the year when the refugee crisis became a serious international problem. By the end of the year, almost 200,000 people had fled Syria. In the coming years, it would swell to five million.

    2013

    When FSA and AQ failed to oust Assad, the “powers that be” started recruiting Sunni extremists in Iraq. In April 2013, ISIS was officially established out of the AQI insurgency. In the next year, these barbaric mercenaries would capture much of eastern Syria.

    This was also the year when Obama’s red-line was crossed – the use of chemical weapons by Assad. UN experts who went to the site soon found that it was actually the rebels who had likely used the chemical weapons. The report was quickly drowned by the western propaganda machine.

    2014-2016

    The next two years were just repetitions of the daily brutality of war, with ISIS making huge gains in the east. Whenever the rebels started to lose, either more weapons would flow in, or Israel would fly into Syria and bomb the Syrian army.

    In late 2015, the Syrian government sought Russia’s help. Within a month, the Russian air force weakened ISIS by destroying most of the oil tankers that ISIS was using to transport oil to Turkey. By the end of 2016, the Syrian government had the upper hand – Aleppo was liberated from Al Qaeda, and ISIS was running out of cash and morale.

    2017

    2017 was turning out to be a great year for Assad. By March, ISIS had lost over three hundred towns to the Syrian army. Al Qaeda was facing a similar demise, losing one big city after another.

    Furthermore, Trump had stopped arming the rebels in February. In late March, Trump and Tillerson dropped the slogan “Assad must go”.

    Finally, Assad was getting ready for an EU-UN peace conference on April 4-5.

    This was the moment (when events had turned in favor of the Syrian government) that the alleged chemical attack occurred in an area controlled by the rebels in Idlib province. Plus it happened on the very day that the peace conference began.

    Without any investigation, within an hour after the pictures and videos came out, Western warmongers declared that Assad was responsible. No independent doctors or experts were sent to the site. Anyone who took the time to critically analyze the situation could see that the chemical attack was likely either a hoax or a false flag attack.

    2018

    After Russia had effectively defeated ISIS, the US didn’t just leave Syria, since the real goal is to Balkanize Syria and prepare for a war against Iran. Thus the West is now trying to use Kurds as a proxy tool in this effort. It’s likely that the US will have military bases in Syria for a long time. As long as the US government can keep borrowing money, such wild adventures will continue.

    In their quest for hegemonic geopolitical goals, the elites are sowing more chaos around the world and irreparably damaging the western moral compass. The global mafia’s rule seems to be this: if you play by our rules, we will be nice to you. If you don’t…

    Those are the three versions of the Syrian civil war. Which one will Americans choose to believe?

    * * *

    P.S. Here are some links to read if you would like to gain a Ph.D. version of the Syrian conflict:

    • a. 1956: CIA plot to overthrow the Syrian government
    • b. 1983: CIA document on plans to obliterate Syria to enable an oil pipeline
    • c. 1986: CIA document on how to use Muslim Brotherhood to fuel a sectarian (Sunni v. Shiite) civil war in Syria
    • d. 2001: Wesley Clark told that USA will take out 7 countries in 5 years (Libya, Syria etc.)
    • e. 2005: CNN Interview. Christiane Amanpour tells Assad that the western governments are plotting a regime change in Syria
    • f. 2006: State Dept cable: Detailed discussion of various strategies to enable regime change in Syria
    • g. 2009: State Dept Email: Saudi Arabia is worried that a Shiite crescent is turning into a full moon (referring to a possible Iran-Iraq-Syria-Lebanon coalition)
    • h. 2009: State Dept Cable: Saudi Arabia is the #1 source of funding of terrorism worldwide
    • i. 2012 State Dept Email: Conquest of Syria means a weakened Iran and this is important for Israel
    • j. 2012: State Dept Email: Use Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey to arm/train rebels
    • k. 2014: Hillary Clinton admits in an email that Saudi Arabia and Qatar fund ISIS
    • l. 2015: Joe Biden says Saudi Arabia and Qatar arming/funding Al Qaeda in Syria
    • m. 2016: John Kerry in a leaked audio recording explains how the US trained/armed the opposition and was hoping to use ISIS to force Assad into negotiation
    • n. Israel’s Mossad chief admits helping Al Qaeda and says that it’s because Al Qaeda never attacks Israel

  • Male Democrat PAC Operative Arrested For Assaulting Female Trump Admin Official

    U.S. Capitol Police have arrested a Democrat staffer from the American Bridge political action committee (PAC) on Thursday for assaulting a female Interior Department communications official after a House budget hearing.

    The suspect, whose name is currently withheld, reportedly shoved the woman to the ground while chasing down Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke following his testimony to the House Committee on Natural Resources on the department’s 2019 budget proposal, according to the Daily Caller‘s Michael Bastasch. 

    Interior officials filed a police report, The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned, but it has not yet been processed, police said. It will be made public in seven to 10 days once processed. American Bridge did not respond to TheDCNF’s request for comment. –Daily Caller

    An officer told Politico that they “arrested an adult male for simple assault against another individual outside room 1234 in the Longworth House Office Building,” adding “The suspect was transported to USCP Headquarters for processing.” 

    Interior communications director Laura Rigas told Politico she was “greatly alarmed and extremely irate that a female senior member of my DOI Communications team was physically assaulted today by a Democrat staffer from the PAC American Bridge.”

    “We are appalled to hear of the events following yesterday’s hearing where a member of Secretary Zinke’s staff was victim to an assault,” committee spokeswoman Katie Schoettler told the Daily Caller News Foundation (DCNF).

    “These actions are reprehensible and have no place in this body. We thank the U.S. Capitol Police for their quick response and professionalism,” Schoettler said. “The USCP is now handling the matter.”

    American Bridge is a political action committee founded by Democratic operative David Brock in 2010 and funded in part by George Soros – who donated $2 million to the PAC in 2016. Their mandate is “holding Republicans accountable for their words and actions,” according to their website. 

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  • California Teacher Placed On Leave For Daring To Question School Walkout

    Authored by Jay Syrmopoulos via TruthInMedia.com,

    California high school history teacher Julianne Benzel is on paid suspension after engaging her students in a discussion where she shared her perspective on the politics of organized protests in anticipation of the National School Walkout, which took place on the morning of March 14.

    “We had a dialogue in class about it in Thursday and Friday. And today I received the call. So I am aghast,” Benzel told CBS Sacramento.

    Benzel said that she questioned her students as to the appropriateness of schools sanctioning a protest against gun violence and whether the school administration was willing to allow protests for other causes, but she noted that she never discouraged her pupils from taking part in the walkout.

    “If you’re going to allow students to walk up and get out of class without penalty then you have to allow any group of students that wants to protest,” Benzel said.

    “And so I just kind of used the example which I know it’s really controversial, but I know it was the best example I thought of at the time,” Benzel told CBS Sacramento.

    “[If] a group of students nationwide, or even locally, decided ‘I want to walk out of school for 17 minutes’ and go in the quad area and protest abortion, would that be allowed by our administration?”

    According to Benzel, her students understood the purpose of her discussion, but on Wednesday, she received notification that she was being placed on leave. While students were walking out of class, Benzel was informed she was being placed on paid administrative leave.

    “I didn’t get any backlash from my students. All my students totally understood that there could not be a double standard,” she said.

    School officials didn’t elaborate on the specific nature of the issue, but released a statement reading in part:

    A Rocklin High School teacher has been placed on paid administrative leave due to several complaints from parents and students involving the teacher’s communications regarding today’s student-led civic engagement activities.

    Benzel said that she hopes the national student walkout will facilitate broader discussion not focused entirely on second amendment gun rights, but also on free speech.

    Student Nick Wade, who didn’t walk out, told CBS13 that he believes the politics behind the protest played a large role – and that protests related to a more “conservative” cause would likely be denied by school officials.

    “I feel like if we were to go to school and say something like I want to walk out maybe for abortion rights, then you know they probably wouldn’t let us because that’s more of a conservative push. But someone wants to say let’s walk out for gun control then the school’s going to go with it because it’s more of a popular view,” said Wade.

    Benzel told the news station that she acquired legal counsel and plans to meet with the school administration on Thursday.

  • Kelly: No More Personnel Changes At The White House; Trump May Be Leaker

    White House Chief of Staff John Kelly told White House staff in a Friday meeting that there would be no more dismissals at this time, according to The Hill.

    The news follows a wild week of firings and speculation over who’s neck is on the block – following the abrupt ouster of Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson and his assistant. 

    “The chief of staff actually spoke to a number of staff this morning, reassuring them that there were no immediate personnel changes at this time and that people shouldn’t be concerned, that we should do exactly what we do everyday, and that’s come to work and do the best job we can,” said White House press secretary Sarah Sanders.

    “That’s exactly what we’re doing and exactly what we’re focused on.”

    The Friday announcement comes on the heels of a report by the Washington Post late Thursday that Trump was firing national security adviser H.R. McMaster – and would reportedly be looking for a “soft landing spot” for the three-star general in a position where he could earn his fourth star. 

    Sanders tamped down that rumor at the Friday briefing, telling reporters “he president said that it was not accurate and he had no intention of changing and that they have a great working relationship and he looked forward to continuing to work with him.” 

    “Our focus is not on a lot of the news stories you would like us to be focused on,” Sanders told reporters. “We’re actually focused on what the American people want us to do. That’s to come here, to do our jobs. General McMaster is a dedicated public servant and he is here not focused on the news stories that many of you are writing but on some really big issues, things like North Korea, Russia, Iran. That’s what he’s doing. And that’s what we’ll continue to be focused on every single day we show up for work.”

    Looks like that was fake news from WaPo

    Is Trump a leaker?

    Axios’ Jonathan Swan reports that John Kelly told reporters in an off-the-record briefing that President Trump is “likely speculating about staff moves to people outside the White House and that reporters are then talking to those people. And that’s how a good deal of news is likely being made about all the possible replacements.” 

    What we’re hearing:

    Kelly acknowledged to the reporters it’s likely that Trump is talking to people outside the White House and that reporters are then talking to those people. Kelly cast Trump’s own conversations as a significant contributing factor to stories about the staff changes. (Kelly was making the point that he’s not around for a lot of Trump’s conversations so can’t be sure what he’s telling people over the phone.)

    Kelly disputed the reports about H.R. McMaster imminently leaving the White House. He said there are no active plans to replace him, and added that it would be great if the Army gave McMaster a 4th star.

    Kelly also defended HUD Sec. Ben Carson, who is under pressure for spending $31,000 on a furniture set. Kelly said $31,000 sounds like a lot of money, but to put it in context he asked a reporter how much they think the chair they’re sitting on costs. Kelly said it’s probably worth hundreds of dollars but it will last a long time. He rationalized Carson’s $31,000 outlay by saying the table could last for 80 or 100 years. Kelly was pressed on whether the President was going to fire Carson. He made a military analogy. He said whenever he makes a decision, he makes sure that it’s legally permissible and from that line he takes five paces back — to allow for optics, ethical and other considerations. Kelly said he wants all decision-making across government to be like that and the impression reporters were left with was that Carson is not going to be fired. 

    Kelly said he has been telling Trump that Jeff Sessions is doing a good job. Kelly went above and beyond to defend Sessions, and told the president that the press only reports about 3% of what he does. 

    He said Deputy A.G. Rod Rosenstein and FBI Director Chris Wray are also doing good jobs. 

    Kelly also said that Larry Kudlow’s past cocaine habit won’t be a problem for his security clearance, as it is public knowledge. Kelly joked that the 1990s were “a crazy time.” –Axios

    It would seem counterintuitive for Trump to purposefully project an image of chaos within the White House. Then again, maybe it’s all part of the show. 

  • Fordham Protesters Accuse Conservatives Of "White Supremacy" (For Buying Coffee)

    Authored by Sandor Farkas via Campus Reform,

    Fordham University students protested against “white supremacy” Monday, specifically citing an incident in which conservative students tried to buy coffee while wearing MAGA gear.

    Fordham Students United (FSU), “an intersectional coalition of student leaders, activists, faculty & alumni,” staged the March 12 protest in an effort to “bring social justice on campus,” writing on the Facebook page for the demonstration that “white supremacy” is present on campus but the administration has “failed to publicly denounce it.”

    The Fordham Ram reports that the protest, clocking in at an hour and a half, consisted of students shouting chants of “hate speech is not free speech” and marching with signs stating that “Racism is a Social Sin” and “White Supremacy Kills.”

    “Fordham’s policies and protection of white supremacy is putting people at risk,” one student shouted into a megaphone, with another claiming that the goal of the protest was to inspire a response from the administration. 

    “We just want to call on the school to directly address that there is a problem of white supremacy on campus, to denounce it, and to hold the people who are propagating this message accountable,” student Reyna Wang told the Ram, while another claimed that she is “literally scared” by the situation.

    As evidence of the white supremacy on campus, the protesters referenced a recent incident in which the president of a student group that runs an on-campus coffee house was disciplined for demanding that members of the school’s College Republicans chapter leave because their pro-Trump apparel violated the shop’s “Safer Space Policy.”

    Fordham, notably, sanctioned both the president of the coffee house as well as the student who recorded the encounter, but the FSU protesters were still disappointed in the outcome, saying the College Republicans demonstrated “threatening behavior” by showing up at the coffee shop in MAGA gear and expecting to be served like normal customers.

    The group also argues in its Facebook page that the College Republicans “set her (the president) up to be a target of harassment by national right-wing news and its followers.”

    Additionally, the Facebook page points to a a student’s social media post featuring the “flag of Kekistan,” an alt-right symbol, as further evidence of the need to protest white supremacy. 

    FSU contends that the alt-right flag, patterned on the Nazi German war ensign, is “a symbol of white nationalism,” but ignored the student paper’s discovery that nine of the 10 students pictured were unaware of what the flag was and what it stood for.

    “Fordham’s response, or lack thereof, to these events shows that the only free speech Fordham is willing to protect is the violent and racist rhetoric  that actively targets and threatens students of color, LGBTQ+ folks, immigrants, Muslims, Jews, and other minority groups,” the Facebook page for the protest concludes. 

    In response to the protests, Director of Communications Bob Howe told the Ram that as much as “the administration would like to protect the university community from hate speech, we are not insulated from the culture around us, a culture that is increasingly divisive and in some cases openly hateful.” 

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