Hitchhiking

"Techniques Used to Disrupt 9/11 Questioning" (Ryan).  Fetzer is bad news, always, and should come with some kind of toxic waste warning.  The 'official' 9/11 'experts' have gotten nowhere politically, so that part of the American government operation has been a huge success, even as the actual attack was a tactical mess.  By the way, what ever happened to asking Curt Weldon about #Russiagate?

"Keep Babies Out" (Shamir).  "Images of Children Crying" (Ilargi).  Gas baby, caged baby, dead baby on the beach, Bana, to hell with all the babies!  Strangely enough, what you won't see in the (((media))) are photos of all the gruesomely mutilated babies who are victims of the IDF, or of American 'smart' bomb and drone attacks done on behalf of Zionism.

"Hitchhiking to Treblinka".  Send Weiss to Poland and he turns into some kind of monster mash-up of Bret Stephens, Deborah Lipstadt and the ghost of Charles Krautheimer.  Note that the Poles are insufficiently respectful, blasphemous by not spending all their resources on worshiping his people on the altar of ancient history.

"Syria: A Major Turn of Events In the South" (Willie B).  The Israelis (and their American shabbos goyim) are strangely passive, even up to the point of the Americans explicitly abandoning their greatest (well, only) allies.  Is the big deal that Israel has to stand down while Assad fights terrorists in return for President Jared's big 'deal of the century' fucking over the Palestinians?  The Russians are playing a huge role in this campaign, and it is clear Trump's bottom line is he will not engage the Russians (what the Democrats call treason and what everybody else calls sanity, and which for Trump appears to be a solid electoral strategy for the midterms).

"Here’s why the whole Russiagate scenario set out in Trump Dossier is totally absurd" (Mercouris).  "Russiagate’s ‘Core Narrative’ Has Always Lacked Actual Evidence" (Cohen). If their obsession with Russiagate allows Trump to do well enough to block any possible impeachment attempt, do you think the Democrats will wise up and back off, perhaps going so far as offering actual material benefits - gasp! - to voters?  No, as their 'donors' still want WWIII more than they want Trump replaced.

"Why Do We Underplay the Links Between Cannabis and Psychosis?" (Cockburn).  It takes the sixth comment before somebody points out that this is correlation, not causation (and the correlation might just be already crazy people self-medicating).  Our society's bizarre obsession with treating the witch doctors known as psychiatrists as actual scientists never pays off well.

Atrocity porn

"Atrocity Porn And Hitler Memes Target Trump For Regime Change" (Jatras).  The context is always this self-satisfied but completely selfish certainty of Americans that they are personally good, well-meaning people, mis-led and misled by monsters, who they are unable to prevent from doing these terrible things.  The weirdness of American politics includes the fact that Trump himself thinks he is acting as a humanitarian, doing exactly what Barry did but publicizing it in order to dissuade families from Central America - who, in a particularly backwards form of racism, are regarded as extremely family oriented, the kind of people who would be appalled to see their children cry or be frightened - from making the journey to the United States (this is part of the general right-wing certainty that immigrants come solely for the gibs offered by Americans, and not out of a necessity caused by American atrocities in Central America).  Americans all secretly know that Trump's plan requires publicity, so the Democrats can pander to their 'base' while assisting Trump in making the US look like an undesirable place to be for immigrants (of course, the other factor is the prominent idea of Democrat officials that all these people, or at least their future children, will be permanent Democrat voters, a certainty which seems misplaced).

There is a 'debate' amongst economists whether limitless illegal immigration is bad for the people living in the receiving country, but the fact that the standard old-fashioned Republicans, and their CEO supporters/'donors', are completely in agreement with the odd American system of intentionally encouraging mass breaching of American laws, should be enough indication from the people who would know that a huge undocumented underclass suppresses wages of the lower 50% of the population, whatever other positive effects it might have.

The other issue is that it cannot be healthy, from a general political/legal point of view, to countenance a mass breaching of the laws of a country (the big undocumented underclass is specifically intended to allow for exploitation).  Eventually, just to maintain the integrity of the legal system, you have to keep them out, or formalize their relationship to the country.

It is striking how much now turns on the abuse of atrocity porn - shockingly usually very misleading or even fraudulent - by the (((media))) to manipulate voters to make bad decisions about things like immigration or wars.  It is an American thing, mostly, because of the aforementioned bad faith of Americans in considering their own mythological goodness.

Skripal: the recycling problem

"Joining Some Dots on the Skripal Case: Part 6 – Tying up the Loose Ends" (Slane).  I guess my problem with the Unified Conspiracy Theory that Skripal was involved in the creation of the Dossier is that it doesn't make sense from an operational point of view.  As far as MI6 is concerned, the Dossier was an intelligence operation that was a smashing success.  The assassination (or simulacrum of an assassination) of the Skripals was another intelligence operation, in this case a false-flag attack that could be blamed on Putin, and the victim had to be somebody who could plausibly be described as somebody that Putin would want dead.  Picking the same guy for both operations raises the issue of possibly queering both of them.  Slane almost touches on this when he discusses the silence of Skripal, as if Skripal now has to keep silent to protect the integrity of the Dossier intelligence operation, when this problem would surely have occurred to the MI6 conspirators, who would simply have picked another victim (London is crawling with Putin enemies, so it is a target-rich environment).  There is a good operational reason not to recycle agents used in intelligence operations.

For the Laker tickets

Aleppo versus Mosul, the single best tangible representation of the constant lying of the (((media))), with the contrast in the subsequent fates of the two cities exemplifying American assholery.

"North Korea Agreed to Denuclearize, But US Refuses Despite Treaty Obligation" (Cohn).

"An Elite Coalition Emerges Against a Trump-Kim Agreement" (Porter).

"The Real Reason Saudi Arabi Lifted its Ban on Women Driving: Economic Necessity" (Hvidt).  I still think that odd blow-up in arresting the woman driver activists was part of the (attempted?) coup against MbS.

"How US Policy in Honduras Set the Stage for Today’s Mass Migration" (Nevins).

"Crying Toddler in Iconic Photo Never Separated from Mother" (Zhang).  It has reached the point where we have to assume that (((media))) use of any illustrative photo is, in some way, a lie.

"Why We Westerners Are WEIRD--Less Inbreeding" and "Non-WEIRD Pakistani Children in London Die from Inbred Birth Defects" (Sailer).  Incest and politics.

More Sailer:  "Latino Electoral Tidal Wave Once Again Fails to Show as Villaraigosa Gets 13%":

"Villaraigosa is a complete mediocrity who failed the bar exam all four times he took it. He was basically an overgrown juvenile delinquent who was in politics for the Laker tickets."

and (making fun of Stephens is like shooting fish in a barrel):"Bret Stephens: America Needs More Immigrants, Like Israel Has".

"Meet Mystery FBI "Agent 5" Who Sent Anti-Trump Texts While On Clinton Taint Team" (Durden).  Even at this late date, traitors keep emerging from the FBI's rancid woodwork.  I have to say there is nothing wrong or unusual about political partisans working for the FBI.  The problem is in the consistent management decisions of placing people who were known as rabid Clinton partisans in charge of absolving Clinton of her serious email problem, and in charge of running an obviously illegal intelligence operation against Trumps's campaign, while simultaneously creating a phony casus belli for WWIII against Russia (the bigger goal of Clinton's 'donors').

"The World Transformed and No One in America Noticed" (Sieff).  It is striking for both Pakistan and India to join a group at the same time, neither one wanting to be seen as being left behind.  "Is China Stealing a March on Trump in Pakistan amid New Trade War?" (Thompson).  "Pakistan And America Are In The Throes Of A Serious Diplomatic Crisis" (Korybko).  As always, of course, Americans have to act weird about Pakistan as Israel considers Pakistan to be a threat to Israel.

"Chrystia Freeland Fails to See that It Is a Multipolar World on the March, Not Authoritarianism" (Pagliccia).  "Neoliberalism, Pipelines, and Canadian Political Economy" (Jones).  I fear that neither Trudeau nor his cabinet is smart enough to deal with the challenges.  They are just smart enough to mouth the same insipid platitudes of neoliberalism.  Of course, they have enough animal cunning to please those who will eventually reward them with board of director seats.

"Power without Scrutiny: The Jewish Privilege that Poisons Democracy" (Langdon).  "Mr. Lansman comes to Tel Aviv: Jeremy Corbyn’s senior ally wants to restrict free speech on Israel" (Neiman).  What is striking is that there is not the slightest attempt to hide this outrageous behavior, and everybody involved is secure in the knowledge that the (((media))) will ensure there are no complaints.

"The Entire Western World Lives In Cognitive Dissonance" (Roberts).

"On “Leftist Anti-Semitism”: Past and Present" (Joyce).  The woke William Cobbett.  We live in an era of no real anti-Semitism and no real leftists, but there was a time when it would have been considered odd for a true man of the left not to also be a real anti-Semite.

"$4 Billion Miami Mega-Mall Moves Ahead, Ignores "Collective Belief In Sea-Level Rise"" (Durden).  Soon, the whole thing will be a water park.  Note the big government subsidies.

Rare earth

I know this blog can be mighty gloomy, but some days are filled with pure joy.

"US Leaves UNHRC: Big Step to Isolation" (Savitsky).  Just to make a point about abject fealty to Israel, which, once made, is immediately forgotten.  Now the Council can do its thing without improper inside interference. Tweets (David Kaye).  "US not superpower, operates as colony of Israel: Author".  It is not a good look to pull out in a huff from an organization that you used to deftly use as a tool of your imperial dominance.

"Israel’s solution to global condemnation of war crimes? Punish anyone who documents them" (Johnson).

Tweet (Alex Emmons):

"Haim Saban emailed six Senators directly to reprimand them for speaking out on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza: “Do your homework, unless you have chosen to blindly follow Senator Sander’s ill advised, misinformed, simplistic, and ignorant lead.""

France, toatally cucked to the Zionists, straight-up lied to the Canadian government in the Diab case about not having exculpatory evidence, while the entire basis of extradition applications is that the extraditing government can completely rely on the statements of the applying government:  "France told Canada key evidence did not exist in Hassan Diab terrorism case".  Canada has decided to have the fuckwits who made the mistake - and let's stop to remember that this was a horrible, simply unforgivable, mistake - examine whether any mistake was made!:  "Internal review of Hassan Diab's extradition tainted by conflict of interest, says lawyer".

How could the most lovable people on earth uniquely keep facing this irrational hatred all over the world and all through time?:  "‘Ali is on the grill!’ Israeli settlers celebrate burning of Palestinian baby" (Ofir).

"The Israeli former minister spying for Iran: much bigger than Elie Cohen of Damascus" (Angry Arab).

"Colonial feminism".

"Was It All Just Pilot Error? IG Report Says No Political Bias Found in FBI Investigation of Clinton Email" (Van Buren).  Perhaps not in the way they intended!  Their bumbling incompetence is one of the reasons, besides the obvious constitutional problems, they shouldn't even try to meddle.

"The big money, lobbyists and Blairites behind Stop Brexit outfits" (Hughes). Part of the bigger Zionist attack on Corbyn.

"Sexy metal: the missing element in the Korean puzzle" (Escobar).

"Pity The Russophobe Journos Whom No One Believes" (Moon).   A repeat of the insane coverage of the Olympics, but in the era of #Russiagate, so even more ridiculous.

Ha!:  "Raised eyebrows as Madeleine Albright & Bana Alabed to be honored for ‘defending freedom’".  They seem to have missed the fact that combining them brings out the deep rottenness of each.

"Yemen: Al-Hudaydah Airport Still Remains Contested" (South Front).  More evidence that you simply can't rely on the (((media))) to tell you what is really going on.

Tweet (Thomas Juneau):

"An Arab country (Morocco) losing a soccer game against Iran because of an own goal tells you everything you need to know about Middle East politics: Iran plays defense, doesn't do much, wins."

"Internment Camps for Child Migrants" (Ahthion).  History of the root cause for all these immigrants.

Speaking of which:  "Violence flares up in Nicaragua after suspension of peace talks". What to do if you are aware enough to know you're in a color revolution sponsored by the Americans but you still want to see reforms?:  "The Students of Nicaragua’s April Uprising" (Hanson/Gomez).  The US withdrawal from the UNHRC, 'colonial feminism', and the uprising in Nicaragua, all the same story.

"USA’s ‘soft coup’ in Ethiopia" (Mountain).

MbS and MbZ are almost like Bond villains:  ""Qatar Island": Saudis Launch Massive Canal Project To Cut Off Neighbor" (Durden):  "It almost sounds too insane to be believed . . . ".

"UAE collaboration with Israel dates back to 1990s" (Nassar).

The imperialism of secrecy:  "Assange and Truth: the Deeper (Harder) Issue" (Babbitt).  "The Long Captivity of Julian Assange" (Shamir).

Using familial DNA to identify unidentified bodies:  "Finding Jane Doe's real name: Local DNA sleuth is on the case ".

"2 Investigates reignites interest in 'The Doodler' serial killer case from the 1970s".  They've 'identified' a suspect (although they are quibbling about the term 'identified') (see also). I imagine it is the same suspect they've always had, but couldn't prosecute as witnesses were afraid to 'out' themselves at the time.  Excellent background:  "The Untold Story of the Doodler Murders" (Green).

Oddly

Tweet (George Galloway):

"Oddly the multiple internet addresses simultaneously “editing” certain #Wikipedia pages are a stones throw from the Houses of Parliament and indeed the headquarters of MI5... @Wikipedia @BBCtrending #PhilipCross More follows..."

(((Who))) are you going to believe?

"Shocking Testimony: Civil Rights Attorney Asked Obama To Close Migrant "Baby Jails" In 2015" (Durden) (R. Andrew Free tweets).  Assholes!  "Why The "Abject Silence" From The Left About Child Migrant Detentions Under Obama? " (Durden).  Assholes!  "US Liberals Are Clinically Insane and Care Nothing for the American People" (Bridge).  Assholes!  There is something even morally worse about assholes who attempt to pass their essential asshole nature onto others.

It is bad enough to be an asshole, but worse when your bad faith and inability to own up to your deep moral failings allows the underlying atrocities to continue:  "Look Deeper: Child Detention and the US’s Paramilitary Politics Abroad" (Buell) and "Political asylee numbers will soon skyrocket" (Madsen).

"The Truth Behind Viral Photo Of "Immigrant Child" Crying Inside A 'Cage'".  "Russia dog cull image was actually shot in Karachi".  We could add many recent instances of the (((media))) publishing photos purporting to be of atrocities committed by the Assad government, but actually from elsewhere, and a classic "The Serbian Concentration Camps: A Case of Mistaken Identity?" (Moon).

"The West’s real interest in Chechnya isn’t gay rights" (Parry).  Much wider in scope that the title would indicate.

"Immigrants & Muslims are Trump’s Jews . . . until he comes for the actual Jews" (Wasserman).  As we all know, or ought to know, by now, the only sin - blasphemy! - is comparing any atrocity to the plight of the Jews: "Confession of a Putin-Nazi Denialist" (Hopkins).

"Kim; Trump; Migrants; Israelis; Dutch; Heaven; God" (Aangirfan).  Speaking of assholes, good links here, particularly this and this (also)

Out of step

"Once Again, It's Republicans Who Are Out Of Step With The Rest Of America".  This outrageous nonsense, the idea that Americans are basically good and kind and well-meaning people led astray from time to time by problems in the electoral system that cause them to be ruled by assholes, is the essential belief on which the United States functions, and has functioned since it was formed.  Barry and Killary did Libya and Honduras, and it is photos from Barry's administration that the (((media))) uses to prove how awful Trump is, but we're constantly told that 'this doesn't represent us'.  The cognitive dissonance that should disrupt this 'leftist' fantasy isn't allowed to appear.  Americans are all basically assholes, and the USA is, and always has been, a pure asshole country.  It is this assholery that makes the Americans such susceptible marks for the schemes of the asshole Khazars.

If The Clarification has taught us anything, it is that Republicans serve the essential purpose of doing the dick moves that all Americans want without leaving any icky moral residue on everybody else. Of course, the fact that the United States has consistently acted like a psychopath, coupled with unique geographic and physical advantages, is why it has been so successful as an empire.

Tweet (Glenn Greenwald):

"Is there any benefit or value at all in inquiring why these sorts of abuses generated so little attention and anger pre-2017, or should we just go ahead and ignore that question? See also: https://www.judiciary.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/KIND%20-%20Betraying%20Family%20Values.pdf …"

Death curse

"A New Dimension of the Conflict in Yemen" (Lvov).  Lots of information, especially the fact this is really a UAE operation, and success may not benefit the Saudis, who are bearing all the blame for the humanitarian disaster.  An indication that MbS is in over his head with the wily MbZ.  Note that the aerial bombing won't win the war - unlike in recent American 'wars', mass slaughter of civilians, essentially holding the civilian population hostage to get the leader to capitulate, won't work with the Houthis - and the invaders are going to have to fight in the streets facing well-trained soldiers using the latest asymmetrical warfare techniques (with instruction from Hezbollah, fresh from the expert schooling of fighting human organ eaters in Syria).  We shouldn't count the Houthis out, particularly in light of the fact that we are not getting a straight story from the (((media))).

"Protect Immigrant Rights; End the Crises That Drive Migration" (Zeese/Flowers).  Gets a bit commie-preachy at the end, and not coincidentally vague (they barely avoid pontificating about Marxism), but there are numerous identifiable American government actions which are the root cause of people having to flee, and they could be stopped.  Unfortunately, messing around with the lives of people in Central America - example - is so profoundly American that it is difficult to see how it might stop.

"Could Israel have cheated in Eurovision?" (Abunimah).  Enough of the people who would have voted in Eurovision are young and woke that it is impossible to believe that Israel could possibly have won.  It is telling that this bizarre result was accepted with nary a voice of complaint or suspicion.

"Former Duke “rabbi on campus” calls for death curse on Durham" (Brown). Same curse that Rabin got just before they killed him.  We always lose sight of the fact that the Khazars are an extremely primitive people.

"IDF snipers: choosing who to shoot" (Shenfield).  It's not random, and the murders are individually vetted by a commander.

Another 'mystery' attack that turned out to be, guess who?:  "Plot Thickens: Israeli Airstrike blamed for Killing 22 Iraqi Shiite Militiamen in Syria". Note the target was Iraqis.

"Trump Withdraws from UN Human Rights Council, Ordered by Israel".  Embarrassing example of imperial decline.  When the US was confidently on top, this kind of entity would have been used as a tool in imperial reach, but sadly orders have come down from your leaders, goyim.

Tweet (Glenn Greenwald):

"The claim that the 2 parties agree on so little is such utter bullshit, sustained only by purposely ignoring the vast areas of agreement. Yesterday, a bill to authorize massive military spending passed the Senate by a vote of 85-10 (check out Israel votes) https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/18/senate-defense-spending-pentagon-630261 …"

"DOJ Indicts "Vault 7" Leak Suspect; WikiLeaks Release Was Largest Breach In CIA History" (Durden). Vault 7 was recent, and infuriated the American IC.  The child porn reeks of a CIA frame-up.

Loss

"Stuart Hall and Us" (Forte) (my emphasis in red):

"Using Gramsci, Hall pointed out that class interests are not reflexive representations of immediate needs.  The aesthetic appeal of conservative ideology is its veneer of loss, masochistic austerity, and nationalist redemption.  Where there is loss, there is something to be regained. Hall saw this in Thatcherism:

    “…Thatcherism, as an ideology, addresses the fears, the anxieties, the lost identities, of a people.  It invites us to think about politics in images. It is addressed to our collective fantasies, to Britain as an imagined community, to the social imaginary.”

The feeling of loss is not necessarily a basic need, but it is also not ‘false consciousness.’  What becomes clear in “Gramsci and Us” is how the political vision of Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, and Donald Trump can be both revolutionary and reactionary:

    In our intellectual way, we think that the world will collapse as the result of a logical contradiction: this is the illusion of the intellectual – that ideology must be coherent, every bit of it fitting together, like a philosophical investigation. When, in fact, the whole purpose of what Gramsci called an organic (i.e. historically effective) ideology is that it articulates into a configuration different subjects, different identities, different projects, different aspirations. It does not reflect, it constructs a ‘unity’ out of difference.

Conservatives have a long history of appearing contradictory and inconsistent.  Their ideological peculiarities are not simply a ‘Rorschach Test’ that comfortingly reflects people’s needs.  The right uses contradiction to bring together different class interests under one banner. It reinvents the timeless conservative vision, hiding its reactionary character, and presents it as something new."

We've just seen some of this in Ontario, where Ford basically refused to present a platform, but appealed to a vague unease that something was fundamentally wrong with Ontario (the sense of loss is always that things used to be better, and have gone inexplicably off the rails).  Needless to say, The Clarification ought to allow us to apply similar analysis to the 'left', which is more or less conservatism + virtue signaling. It is instructive that the current American wailing over the plight of Central American children separated from their parents doesn't address the root cause of why they are in the United States (or why the US has immigration laws on the books which it refuses to enforce, in order to create an undocumented army of labor that is intended to drive down the cost of labor), which is based on bipartisan actions by the American government in places like Honduras and El Salvador. Conservatives have been quick to point out that 'liberal' concerns for the plight of children didn't apply when Barry was doing it (the difference between Barry and Trump is that Trump boasts about what Barry hid), or when mothers (or fathers) sentenced to jail are separated from their children, or when children lose a parent who dies fighting one of the illegal and immoral Wars For The Jews.

Deep and visceral hatred

"Harvard to Its Asian Rejects: It's Not You, It's Your Personality" (Sailer).  "Harsher treatment for dissident artists in Britain than in Israel or Jordan" (Chabloz).  "Israeli town residents take to streets in hundreds to protest sale of house to Arabs" (McKernan).

"Attacking Hodeidah is a Deliberate Act of Cruelty by the Trump Administration" (Cockburn).  If we've learned anything, it is that appeals to humanitarian feelings in the West are completely useless. It is harmful to continue to pretend that there are any soft-hearted people with enough courage to say 'no' (there will, however, be lots of crocodile tears and virtue signalling as people try to feel good about themselves).  The Houthis, and the people of Yemen, are going to have to fight their way out of this, or die. As usual always, this is another War For The Jews, part of Bibi's propaganda campaign against Iran, and is thus unassailable in the West.

"The Saudi-UAE Alliance Is The Most Dangerous Force In The Middle East Today" (Bandow).  I can think of at least one that is more dangerous.

"The Raw Truth About the UK’s Special Relationship with Israel" (Curtis). Shekels.  One big thing about these 'special relationships' is that once we start seriously enforcing laws about political corruption - neck-tie parties might be a good idea - all this wrongdoing will immediately evaporate.  The Khazars enjoy no love that isn't paid for.

"Agency: A Grassroots Nonviolent Palestinian Movement is Israel’s worst Nightmare" (Alashqar).  Is it, though?  I don't want to understate the sacrifices of the martyrs, but does Israel really care about this?  The (((media))) has either shoahed the story, or turned it into some kind of bizarre 'self-defense' against the evil Hamas and the Kites of Death.  The massacring has provided yet another chance for 'liberal' American Khazars to virtue-signal, but that just gives them another chance to pretend there is real opposition to the Zionist schemes.  Also, no:  "Will the Slaughter in Gaza Finally Prick the International Conscience for Firm Action?" (Littlewood).  Shekels, again!  Also:  "US to Leave ‘Foolish, Unworthy’ UN Human Rights Council Over Anti-Israel Bias" (also).

"Beating the US ‘Veto’: Palestinians Need Urgent Protection from Israel" (Baroud). Phony 'human rights' organizations are worse than useless, as they just provide cover for abuses.

"Trump’s Zio-Ambassador Reportedly Told State Dept to Ease Scrutiny of Israel".  Is Friedman ambassador of the US to Israel, or ambassador of Israel to the US?

The rashomonesque IG Report is carefully constructed so that either side can use it to bolster their arguments about Trump, Clinton, the election, and #Russiagate.  There is, however, a big difference in the arguments.  Trump partisans argue that the FBI put known extreme Clinton supporters in charge of both examining the Clinton email/server scandal, and illegally setting up the Trump campaign employees to crookedly obtain FISA warrants.  That is wrongful Clinton partisan activity by what should be an impartial FBI.  On the other hand, the Clintonistas also argue partisanship, as Republican supporters in the New York Field Office of the FBI had the temerity to point out what was going on (particularly about the contents of the emails illegally stored on Weiner's laptop), sometimes in secret to Nunes.  These are hardly identical scandals, with the Democrats doing really bad stuff, and the Republicans whistle blowing about it.  The distinction between partisan wrongdoing and partisan leaking of wrongdoing is lost in Clintonista PR:  "“A Deep and Visceral Hatred”, The Timeline" (Marshall).

"Italy Holds A Mirror to a Broken Europe" (Costantini):

"Nation-states are today the only institution in Europe capable of conveying any democratic preference, making it the only possible space for the political action of the electorate. But while retreating within national borders altogether might seem like an appealing solution, it would not be a guarantee of a change of direction, not least because those nation-state structures have by now been eroded by decades of neoliberal policies. Now more than ever, we need to consider the difference between formal and substantial access to decisions."

The new Italian government is taking grief for turning away refugee boats, but doesn't there have to be a time when this occurs? Removing a functioning government in Libya has removed the cork on Africa (just as Gaddafi predicted!), and there are effectively infinity refugees ready to arrive, far more than Italy, which has been set up to have to bear most of the burden, can possibly accept.  The ferries are a joint scam of commercial smuggling operations and 'human rights' organizations set up, yes, by Soros.  It can stop now, or it can stop later, but it is going to have to stop sometime.

"Here's Why Crazy Republicans Now Seem Like Crazy Personality Cultists" (No More Mister Nice Blog).  Great, but how is this any different than how Clintonistas treat Clinton?  Everybody is unhinged.

"Atlantic Council Lies Dashed “On the Rocks” in Syria" (Cartalucci).  Incompetent PR.

"How Fancy Bear Destroyed Eliot Higgins Bellingcat Credibility" (Eliason). "No one will care".

"Bring Julian Assange Home" (Pilger):

"In 2008, a plan to destroy both WikiLeaks and Assange was laid out in a top secret document dated 8 March, 2008. The authors were the Cyber Counter-intelligence Assessments Branch of the US Defence Department. They described in detail how important it was to destroy the “feeling of trust” that is WikiLeaks’ “centre of gravity”.

This would be achieved, they wrote, with threats of “exposure [and] criminal prosecution” and a unrelenting assault on reputation. The aim was to silence and criminalise WikiLeaks and its editor and publisher. It was as if they planned a war on a single human being and on the very principle of freedom of speech.

Their main weapon would be personal smear. Their shock troops would be enlisted in the media — those who are meant to keep the record straight and tell us the truth.

The irony is that no one told these journalists what to do. I call them Vichy journalists — after the Vichy government that served and enabled the German occupation of wartime France."

It's rough when your only hope is the integrity of the government of Australia. On the other hand, this is odd (it is always striking - astonishing when we're talking about politicians - when somebody leaves shekels on the table, though one has to assume that the 'liberal' shekels, who find Bibi's version of murder and land theft strategically inelegant, have prevailed):  "Australia to Netanyahu: We Ain’t Moving, Mate" (Alexis).

"With new pro-Iran Iraq Coalition, Tehran Outmaneuvers Trump-Saudi-Israeli Axis" (Cole).  You could argue that Trump's belligerence and ham-handed lack of diplomacy are just accelerating the inevitable.

"Gazprom says ready to start major gas projects in Iran". One of the most striking things about American imperial collapse is that the CEOs of the biggest American corporations are losing massive profits from lost business opportunities with, seemingly, not a whimper to politicians, who are allowed to take the shekels and carry on wrecking the US.  We see this kind of thing, with Russia or China in the catbird seat, over and over and over.

Fever, fortitude, and Finn the gas

"Board announces ‘urgent review’ into deputy, after JC reveals she promoted ‘Islamophobic’ views".  "Israeli Lawmaker: Supremacy of ‘Jewish Race’ Explains Support for Netanyahu".  "How Purdue Pharma Hooked America on a Deadly Drug" (Schulte).  "It Can Happen Here" (Sunstein).

"Norway Substantially Increases US Military Presence on Its Soil" (Gorka).  "‘Occupation’: How Norway Was Scaremongered Into Doubling US Military Presence".  "Sweden’s Military Madness" (Swanson).  "How Finland and Estonia fooled laws of nature and Russian gas, by Ruslan Ostashko".

"Drug patents could be Canada's special weapon in U.S. trade dispute" (Crowe).  "Could Ottawa slap the Trump Organization with trade sanctions?" (Edwards).

"Pundits Worry Threat of Nuclear War Is Being Reduced" (Shupak).  "Paul Jay on Trump’s Iran War Agenda and Liberals’ Korea Peace Panic".  "North Korea: Pelosi Versus Peace" (Knapp).  "Gaius Publius: Is Anti-War Fever Building in the U.S.?".

"Tales of North Korean Abuses: No Facts, All Fiction" (Cartalucci).

"The SCO and G7 Meetings Point to Different Worlds" (ONeill).  "China-hosted SCO summit 'unity' contrasts with G7 disarray". "Putin and Xi top the G6+1" (Escobar). The obvious - incredibly obvious! - contrast between the imperial collapse and a new world order.

"Europe Faces Crossroads as Atlantic System Crumbles" (Engdahl).  The tragedy is that the feckless Eurotrash politicians aren't up to the job of making the transition.

Gab (Garth Volbeck):

"What you see: FBI officials privately expressing hatred for Trump and Trump supporters.

What you don't see: FBI officials privately expressing fear of Russians.

If there were texts or internal memos full of worry over Russia, they would have been leaked by now. No one actually believed the conspiracy theory; it was only ever an excuse to spy on Americans."

"Former Bank Of Canada Head: 'Pipeline Protesters May Be Killed...So Be It'" (Germanos):  "It's going to take some fortitude to stand up."  "Canadian Oil Pipeline Could Drive Famous Puget Sound Whales to Extinction" (Kneteman).

We need to clean this up

"Real Takeaway: The FBI Influenced the Election of a President" (Van Buren):

". . . the most important conclusion of the report: there is no longer a way to claim America’s internal intelligence agency, the FBI, did not play a role in the 2016 election. There is only to argue which side they favored and whether they meddled via clumsiness, as a coordinated action, or as a chaotic cluster of competing pro- and anti- Clinton/Trump factions inside the Bureau. And that’s the tally before anyone brings up the FBI’s use of a human informant inside the Trump campaign, the FBI’s use of both FISA warrants and pseudo-legal warrantless surveillance against key members of the Trump team, the FBI’s use of opposition research from the Steele Dossier, and so on.

The good news is the Deep State seems less competent than we originally feared. But even if one fully accepts the IG report’s conclusion that all this— and there’s a lot — was not intentional, at a minimum it makes clear to those watching ahead of 2020 what tools are available and the impact they can have. While we continue to look for the bad guy abroad, we have already met the enemy and he is us."

"FBI Agents Called Hillary "President" While Investigating Her, Texted "Screw You Trump" On Election Day" (Durden):

". . . all four FBI case agents working the Hillary Clinton email investigation - the other two being Peter Strzok and Lisa Page - were ardent Clinton supporters, and at least three harbored animus towards Trump."

"DOJ IG, Horowitz, Fails to Admit What He Proves by Publius Tacitus" (my emphasis in red):

"There is more evidence of the FBI's extreme prejudice against Trump and in favor of Hillary. Again, Horowitz only mentions this in passing, put does concede that the behavior and actions are bizarre, but this is hidden in footnote 181 (which is found on page 328):

We were surprised to learn that FBI leadership decided to assign many of the key members of the Midyear team, immediately after determining that no charges should be brought against then candidate Clinton, to the Russia investigation, which touched upon the campaign of then candidate Trump. This is particularly so given the questions being raised by candidate Trump and his supporters regarding the declination decision in the Midyear investigation. While we recognize that staffing decisions are for management to make, we question the judgment of assigning agents who had just determined that one candidate running in an election should not be prosecuted to an investigation that relates to the campaign of the other candidate in the election. The appearance problems created by such a staffing decision were exacerbated here due to the text messages expressing political opinions that we discuss later in this report.

When I worked with the CIA we used to call this No Shit Analysis. Thank you Captain Obvious. Why in the world would you assign the same people who were working on the Hillary Clinton investigation on the Trump/Russia Collusion investigation when both cases were still active? This is more than a problem of appearance. This is circumstantial evidence of an attempted political coup. I give Horowitz credit for at least putting this fact on the record. But his refusal to call this out for what it is can be attributed to his caution of not appearing to be partisan. He is striving mightily to be a straight shooter."

and:

"Comey and his band of incompetents insisted, apparently, that they found no evidence of intent by Hillary Clinton to misuse classified material. That is total horseshit. The evidence is indisputable by the very fact that classified material was on  an unclassified server. How is that so? There are two types of classified computer systems throughout the U.S. Government. One handles material classified as CONFIDENTIAL and SECRET (the military calls this the SIPRNET). The other handles TOP SECRET material (it is called SOIS in the military network). You cannot send TOP SECRET material to a computer that is cleared only for SECRET. The only way to move TOP SECRET or SECRET material to an unclassified computer requires that you print off a hard copy and scan it or that you download it on a thumb drive (or other media) and then physically copy it to the UNCLASSIFIED server. This is not something that happens by mistake or is inadvertent.

Helen Keller could see this simple fact. Hillary Clinton most certainly showed intent to put classified material on an unclass system. The central question is who did this and why? Unfortunately, Horowitz does not address this point. It remains unanswered."

 "IG Report Confirms Obama Lied About Hillary Email Server" (Durden):

"What's more, FBI counterintelligence agent Peter Strzok told the Inspector General that the top brass of the agency wrestled over whether or not to include Obama's involvement in Clinton's exoneration statement - and that former FBI Director James Comey knew Obama had lied:

“A paragraph [in Comey’s "exoneration" statement] summarizing the factors that led the FBI to assess that it was possible that hostile actors accessed Clinton’s server was added, and at one point referenced Clinton’s use of her private email for an exchange with then President Obama while in the territory of a foreign adversary,” the IG report reads. “This reference later was changed to ‘another senior government official,’ and ultimately was omitted.”"

Referring to the Obama connection to Clinton emails, Cheryl Mills told Podesta "we need to clean this up".

Morally abhorrent

"The US & Nicaragua: a Case Study in Historical Amnesia & Blindness" (Kovalik).  The mysterious snipers, just like at the Maidan, seem to be the new technique.  The other noticeable feature, part of The Clarification, but not new, is that the US 'left', even those of which who should know better, sides with the CIA.

"Tales of North Korean Abuses: No Facts, All Fiction" (Cartalucci).  Another technique, as old as the CIA, is spreading CIA propaganda by 'journalists' posing as well meaning proponents of 'human rights'.

"The Babchenko False Flag Exposed The Deep State-Journalist Nexus" (Korybko):

"By now it’s taken for granted that some journalists clandestinely cooperate, and even coordinate their activities, with their de-facto handlers from the permanent military, intelligence, and diplomatic bureaucracies after witnessing how the media waged its infowar against Trump over the past 3 years, but Babchenko’s false flag “assassination” introduced a new dimension into all of this.

Surprisingly, the US-funded “Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty” platform reported that the staged photo of his “killing” was “first published on the Facebook page of a former Ukrainian reporter who says he now works for a shadowy consultancy organization based in the Washington, D.C., area”.

The only way that he could have received that was from a member of the Ukrainian “deep state” itself, which passed it along to their DC-based asset with the intent of “laundering” the picture through social media and making it “organically” go viral, representing yet another level of collaboration between the “deep state” and so-called “journalists”.

Altogether, this false flag involved two separate, but interconnected, influence operations through willing journalist participants, the first and most obvious being Babchenko himself – who can be described more as an information provocateur and even a troll instead of a journalist – and the second DC-based individual who laundered the fake pic of Babchenko’s ”assassination”."

 Tweet (Adam H. Johnson):

"you have to read the fine print to see beyond their moral preening but the WaPo editorial board has opposed all measures to actually end the US/UK/Saudi bombing of Yemen. Now it acts like a bunch of bleeding heart humanitarians. Peak liberal militarism."

"They Want to Cut the Main Vein of Yemen. US Supported Naval Blockade, Widespread Famine".  "Deadly siege of Yemeni port of Hodeidah begins with Washington’s aid and approval" (Van Auken).  "The Saudi-UAE Alliance is the Most Dangerous Force in the Middle East Today" (Bandow).  ""No Escape": Don't Expect A Yemeni Version Of The White Helmets" (Durden).  As usual, the Houthis are all on their own on this one, and will have to fight their way out, hopefully by posing a real military threat to MbS and the Saudi royals (if MbS is indeed still alive - or is that Putin smirking along with a body double?).  It appears that MbZ actually intends to steal the port.

"Desperate Poroshenko Calls Putin as War Stakes Escalate" (Popov).  I hate to say it, but it is possible that Poroshenko is a sane, patriotic guy who realizes that Ukraine is being used as a puppet to start a WWIII which is not in its best interests, and realizes he needs Putin's help to manoeuvre amongst the traitors around him.

Tweet (Michael Tracey):

"Finally Democratic senators exercise their oversight powers to ensure that Trump doesn't... withdraw troops from Korea? Amazing"

"In Their Own Words: Was Every Israeli Prime Minister A Racist?" (Inlakesh).  "The Knesset officially declares that Israeli democracy is for Jews only" (Gurvitz).  Supremacism is the thing that is never to be noticed, no matter how often the supremacists insist on it.  See also!:  "Michael Chabon’s views on intermarriage are increasingly mainstream. They are also morally abhorrent."

O Superwoman!:  "Laurie Anderson screams in Jerusalem, but has nothing to say about Gaza" (Agnon). I don't believe she's Khazar, but her husband, Lou Reed, certainly was.

"What's causing unusual bullet wounds among Gaza protesters?" (Stollar).  The non-fatal hits often require leg amputations.

My proposed game show, where the studio audience strives to tell whether a contestant is a Khazar or a psychopath, has been a complete failure as nobody can figure out how to tell the difference!:  "Gaza and the Psychopaths" (Tarrant).

"Russia, the Neoconservatives, and the Real Issues Involved" (Cathey).

"US Officially Resumes Funding For The White Helmets In Syria" (Durden).  You can track the shekel shipments as they arrive in Washington.  The Russians, who have an excellent track record at this, are predicting another false-flag chemical attack to be blamed on Assad, for which the White Helmets will be needed to produce the PR videos:  "Russia Warns "Credible Information" Of Impending Staged Chemical Attack In Syria" (Durden).

"Torture, starvation, executions: Eastern Ghouta civilians talk of life under terrorist rule" (Bartlett).

"NATO’s Terrorist Bases in Europe" (Madsen).  MEK, for which both Bolton and Giuliani work for pay.  MEK, and some terrorism in South and Central America, are the clearest demonstration of how utterly bogus the GWOT really is.

"Can the EU Become a Partner for Russia?" (The Saker).  "Is Europe Too Brainwashed To Normalize Relations With Russia?" (Roberts).  There is a massive structural problem, with all the worst Eurotrash politicians at the top of party 'lists', or appointed by those at the top of party 'lists', thus completely insulated from any possible electoral consequences - note how the Ontario Liberal party was just completely extinguished in the latest Ontario first-past-the-post elections, ruining the best job most of the members could ever hope to have - and can just lay around and take the most appealing bribes without any fear of repercussions.  It is not brainwashing - everybody knows what the only long- and short-term rational decision is - it is just corruption encouraged by utterly incompetently devised political systems (specifically imposed by the Americans after WWII to emasculate Europe, as Europeans were considered, not without reason, to be incapable of governing themselves, systems so terrible, but so successful from the point of view of oligarchs, that they are considered the political science gold standard to apply everywhere else!).

"Arron Banks Scandal: ‘Investigating’ Non-Events to Smear Russia" (Cloughley).

The red bag:  "Joining Some Dots on the Skripal Case: Part 5 – An Educated Guess" (Slane).

"War on Iran is US Policy Now According to US Secretary of State" (Boardman).

"The Trump-Kim Deal Is the First Example of the “New Washington Consensus”" (Korybko).  Writing geopolitics on the basis that the Americans have big, rational, intellectual plans to deal with their imperial collapse, and are capable of following these plans, is a business fraught with peril.

"Of Carrots, Sticks, And How The Empire Fails" (Luongo):

"Once you start with sanctions and threats, you can’t stop.  It’s go all the way or have your bluff called.  With Europe Trump holds aces.  They are dependent on the U.S. and their weakness will be the U.S.’s gain over the next year or two.  Europe’s sovereign debt crisis will explode and the U.S. will see massive foreign in-flows.

It’ll be a massive win but it won’t be the win.  And in winning over Europe it sets him up for the big loss; the fight for the Middle East and Eurasian integration.

His gambit with Russia and Iran becoming an all-or-nothing proposition.  Trump has just about pushed all-in.  Russia/Iran/China’s passivity has emboldened him. The fecklessness of the Obama administration creating dumpster fires in Ukraine and Syria, however, handed him bad cards and a dwindling stack.

He hasn’t won a hand in the Middle East yet.  Sure he’s made headlines but Putin, Rouhani, Nasrallah and Assad have won all the skirmishes that matter.  Any wins Trump has gotten were easy ones to pick up.  The framework for a deal has always been the same.  And no amount of Kissinger-style complications were going to change them.

Iran no more wants to stay in Syria than Putin wants to intervene in The Donbass. So, getting Iran out of Syria is easy.  All Trump has to do is leave.  Israel won’t like it, but it won’t be their decision.  Putin made that clear to Netanyahu when he visited Moscow.

The Kurds are the ones to make that decision for Trump, now that they are openly negotiating with Damascus after Trump backstabbed them over Manbij.

Without the support of the Kurds, the U.S. cannot stay in Syria at all.

So, when we reach the showdown hand Trump won’t have aces.  And the classic Russian cauldron will collapse in around him.  And losing there will be the end of the U.S. empire abroad.

And the world will rejoice."

"New hope in Adelaide cold case of the Somerton Man".  A hair sample from the death mask!

False-flag whistleblowing

"The Mueller Indictments Still Don’t Add Up to Collusion" (Maté).  Exemplary explanation of the state of play.  If you got your information from the Clintonista 'journalists' (e.g., Marshall), you wouldn't know any of this (though Marshall has mentioned the telling fact that Papadopoulos was pressured to take a plea through Mueller's threats to charge him with being an unregistered foreign agent of Israel - ironies abound when #Russiagate is a Khazar conspiracy to remove Putin from the scene as he is interfering in their land theft scheming - where the real possible collusion lies, though, of course, nobody dare mention it).

"On The Skripal Poisoning Case And The Questions It Leaves Unanswered" ('Adam Carter').  A summary.  See also Slane:  Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, with Part 5 yet to come.  I'm still of the opinion that attempts to tie Skripal to the Dodgy Dossier serve to obscure the real culprits, Ukrainian intelligence.

"Guccifer 2.0: Game Over" ('Adam Carter'):

"Anyone critically analysing the nature of Guccifer2.0 can see enough to identify whom he was most likely was or was serving through his activities online. - His lack of credibility and the inevitability of his Clinton Foundation server hack 'take' being exposed as nonsense makes it clear that Guccifer2.0 was a fraudulent construct intended to counter the leaks and try to take-down the credibility of Wikileaks as collaterol in the self-destruction of it's own reputation."

and:

"It seemed like there was a good chance Warren Flood had involvement at first, however, he doesn't appear to have been actively working for anyone's campaign in 2016 and it had been 6 years since he had worked at the White House. His name and the fact it's on the GSA license could suggest that the dodgy Russian template document was generated on a computer at (or previously from) the White House (from when Flood was Senator Biden's technology director).

However, Flood himself didn't appear to be someone (or likely to be working for someone) with a motive to discredit Wikileaks and have Russian hackers blamed (nor the experience to pull off the mimicry and deceptions observed).

Those with a motive mostly strongly correlating with this at the time would have been the Clinton Campaign (to mitigate damage to HRC's electoral campaign) and the DNC leadership (who also had reputations at stake from the real leaks being published)

As of June 12th, they were in a position where Julian Assange had just announced WikiLeaks' upcoming release of Clinton's emails, Clinton was still under FBI investigation, Trump was attacking Clinton for her use of a private server with his supporters frequently chanting "lock her up!" at rallies).

The campaign and the DNC were in a desperate position and really needed something similar to a Russian hacker narrative (something that leaks have since shown the DNC had started building a month or two prior to the hacking claims) and one where they would be fortunate to have a seemingly clumsy hacker that leaves lots of 'fingerprints' tainting files and bringing the reputation of leaks into question. - Sure enough, 2-3 days later, Guccifer2.0, the world's weirdest hacker was spawned and started telling lies in an effort to attribute himself to the malware discoveries & to Wikileaks.

Of course, attribution to the HRC camp or DNC leadership is difficult because what we've seen from Guccifer 2.0 suggests an operation carried out by someone with considerable cyber-security and counter-intelligence skills (the misdirection and deception fooled a lot of the cyber-security industry and had multiple intelligence agencies convinced - they knew exactly what they were doing) and while their breach claims were discredited, they still had or had been given access to files.

Who we're really dealing with requires understanding the full picture (everything outlined above for starters), knowing about CrowdStrike's activities in April of 2016 (which you'll find in additional articles provided further down this page), considering the claims they made in an article released on 14 June 2016 and then considering that there is only really one party that could feasibly have pulled of the whole fake Russian hacker persona.

Surely, it had to be those who had access to everything and that, thanks to the DNC's handling of DHS/FBI, were the only party ever allowed to directly assess the alleged crime scene of the DNC's server, didn't it?

They also issued specious claims about the "Trump Opposition Research" being targeted (never demonstrated or explained) which, in turn, actually gave the Guccifer 2.0 persona the means of "authenticating" himself to the press the very next day (on which he, of course, appeared and used a deliberately "Russia-tainted" version of the Trump opposition research document to lure the press with).

So, at present, in my personal opinion, it looks a lot like Shawn Henry & Dmitri Alperovitch (CrowdStrike executives), working for either the HRC campaign or DNC leadership were more likely to have been behind the Guccifer 2.0 operation."

"Guccifer 2’s West Coast Fingerprint" (The Forensicator).  CrowdStrike's main offices are in Sunnyvale, California.

"These Messages Show Julian Assange Talked About Seeking Hacked Files From Guccifer 2.0" (Collier).  Another embarrassing attempt (the comments are funny).  See:  "Attorneys In Seth Rich-Linked Defamation Case Demand Identifying Info Of Thousands Of Twitter Users [Updated]".  It seems obvious that people bizarrely trying to tie Seth's brother (wtf?) into this did so solely with the motive of trying to confuse the situation.

Ukrainian Americans with ties to the Clinton campaign, Ukrainian Khazar gangsters with ties to Israel, and the Khazar desire to start WWIII in order to rein in Putin's disruption of the Khazar land theft schemes, all of course tied together with the Khazar fascination with the false flag as a tool of war.

Rootless hair shafts

"VIDEO: Anthony Bourdain’s Last Interview".  Suicidal?  "Was Anthony Bourdain Murdered for Humanising Palestinians?"  Not crazy at all, as the Khazars have an obvious scorched-earth policy in dealing with even the slightest deviation from their supremacist orthodoxy.

Seemingly endless article documenting in minute detail how conventionally American Bourdain's opinions were (probably explaining why he was so universally beloved by Americans - he exemplified this idea that even though the American government does atrocious things, Americans themselves are actually kind and well-meaning people who just want everybody to get along):  "Anthony Bourdain’s State Department Smorgasbord".  Comment at OffGuardian by tutisicecream:

"Interesting insight into the underbelly of the MSM and it’s ever increasing ways to create the story in order take-in the population at large. To feed them a memes based diet at every turn.

This part grabbed my eye:

“According to Bourdain, one of the security personnel available to him was

a British guy who’s sort of in and out of public service, shall we say. Sometimes he’s helping film crews, other times he’s suddenly vacationing in Libya during the run up to the revolution. He was sending me emails saying, “Oh it’s awesome here. The kids are great. There’s like a Libyan anti-Gaddafi rap scene. It’s a really hopeful awesome place. You should totally come here.” So from that point on we were looking.

Someone doesn’t necessarily need to be a treasured asset of the Time Warner media empire in order to work with MI6 officers fomenting regime change, but it can’t hurt.”

Is this James LeMesurier and his private company Mayday of the White Helmets fame? Highly possible, it’s known he was working in Libya. This in and out of public service… involved with training/helping film crews… setting narratives [stories for public consumption] such as Little Bana… All reminds me of the other story creator for MI6 Christopher Steele his private company Orbis linked to many fake narratives and the Skripal affair."

"George Clooney’s Monsters: Read About the White Helmets".  The PR movie-making business is tough on everybody.

I guess somebody in the British intelligence unit that publishes the Guardian still thinks it is worthwhile to flog this dead horse:  "The Guardian mounts defence of British government lies over Skripals" (Shaoul).

"Israeli army edits video of Palestinian medic its troops shot dead to misleadingly show she was 'human shield for Hamas'" (McKernan) (also, isn't supremacism amazing?!).  It is funny (((they))) aren't more competent at lying, but (((they))) assume the (((media))) will have (((their))) backs. "NYT Carries IDF Attack on Murdered Medic–Reveals It’s a Smear in 20th Paragraph" (Johnson). Buchsbaum, again.

"Queen Maxima of the Netherlands' Sister, 33, Found Dead in Her Home of Apparent Suicide".  See!:  "Blind Item #6 - The Videographer" (CDaN).

David Koch, mysteriously retired (who retires from being an asshole?), gets epsteined and makes the gossip blinds:  "Blind Item #4 - A Birdie Blind Item" (CDaN). The lesson is that even the biggest asshole can fall into a trap set by bigger assholes.

"Documents reveal the vast influence of Koch brothers in US universities and public schools" (Simkins).

"More Than Just Russia — There’s a Strong Case for the Trump Team Colluding With Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the UAE" (Scahill).  I haven't got the time (who does?) to watch what is no doubt a lousy propaganda video, but the comments are mostly woke.  The Clintonistas, for the purposes of WWIII, and their need to avoid positive political policies, need the villain to be Putin, even as what evidence there is of hanky-panky points towards Israel and MbZ.  See also (it never ends, despite the fact the unceasing nonsense has obviously started to hurt the Democrats politically, and all the evidence thus far points directly to a Barry-Killary trick to subvert Trump's campaign using illegal means, while trying to jump-start WWIII):  "There’s actually lots of evidence of Trump-Russia collusion" (Yglesias).

Tweet (Malinka 🔸(Tanya P.)) on how Bellingcat works Twitter with his amen corner.  Niqnaq compilation of Tweets of a cat obsessed with its balls.  "Fancy Bear Exposed-the People Behind the Hacking Group" (Eliason):

"Let’s start at the end and then lets up the stakes again. The Russian Fancy Bear Hackers everyone is looking for are Ukrainian nationalists in Ukraine and the USA."

"Knesset foils efforts to end Israeli apartheid" (Cook).  The Clarification - universal human rights is 'anti-Semitic'.

"Why Does Imran Awan Work At His Clinton-Linked Attorney's Law Firm?" (Durden).  The Clintonistas are shamelessly flaunting the fact that nothing out of this scandal is going to harm them.

"Understanding Jewish Power" (Giraldi).  The best thing to come out of recent developments is that it is now comical when anybody tries to deny Khazar power.

"Maltese Professor Interacted With Institutions Known For Propaganda Peddling" (Craddick):

"In the latest revelation concerning the ‘mysterious Maltese Professor,’ Joseph Mifsud, and his involvement in the “Russiagate” saga, Disobedient Media can additionally reveal that Mifsud interacted on a number of occasions with individuals tied to think tanks known for engaging in “pay to play” behavior for the purposes of pushing specific policies on behalf of donors. The involvement of these institutes, which include the Atlantic Council, Brookings Institute and Open Society Foundation raises questions about whether or not certain private parties were involved with efforts to target Donald Trump’s presidential campaign for their own political benefit."

A tough row to hoe, given Soros' own public boasting, but it is done with elaborate strawmen (he wasn't a 'Nazi' as he wasn't in the SS, or wasn't a signed-up member of the Nazi Party):  "George Soros is not a Nazi, explained".

"Austrian Chancellor, Whose Deputy's Party Has anti-Semitic Roots, Visits Israel".  "Anti-Semitic Cartoon Removed From Far-right Austrian Vice Chancellor's Facebook Page".

Finally (sheesh! - are the Kurds just morons?):  "US-Backed Kurds Agree To "Unconditional Talks" With Syrian Government After Pentagon-Turkey Deal".

I wouldn't hope for any help there, despite the fact it is clearly the right and obligation of the Australian government to be screaming bloody murder in diplomatic protests over what is being done to an Australian citizen:  "Pressure Builds On Australian Government To Act On Assange Stalemate" (Tranter).  Have you noticed that the most vehement critics of Assange are 'journalists', no doubt embarrassed at how he constantly upstages their incompetence and toadying?  Some room for hope:  "Is The Zeitgeist Finally Shifting In Favor Of Julian Assange?" (Vos).

"The Democrats Out-Right the Right on North Korean Summit" (Baraka).  At least they are consistent!  Note we've come full circle back to the Scoop Jackson era, where the craziest neocons were Democrats.  Related:  "CNN’s Warm Welcome to Far-Right Pundit Shows No Limit to Trumpwashing" (Johnson).

"French Thought Police and the Creeping Dictatorship of Virtue" (Bricmont).

"American Christians' Vision of God Looks Suspiciously Like Elon Musk" (Hongo).

I assume actual girls will eventually stop bothering with athletics, giving them more time to further dominate boys in academics:  "Transgender sprinter, a biological male, runs as girl in state meet—and absolutely crushes the field":

"“A lot of people have asked, ‘Can you run a separate race, can you put an asterisk next to their name, do something that shows there is a standard that is different from that?'” CIAC executive director Karissa Niehoff noted to the CT Post. “When you get into that playing out, you have got civil rights issues.”"

"Air Force officer missing for 35 years found living in California":

"The Air Force said that Hughes had a "Top Secret/Single Scope Background Investigation" clearance at the time of his disappearance.
His mysterious disappearance during the Cold War spurred theories that he had been abducted by the Soviet Union or defected to what was then known as the USSR to work against the US.
In 1985 and 1986, several French and American rocket ships failed to launch properly and subsequently exploded, including the Challenger space shuttle. In the wake of those disasters, Los Angeles Times journalist Tad Szulc reported in July of 1986 that intelligence officers believed the rockets may have been sabotaged with Hughes' help.
"(Intelligence officers) see a clear link between Hughes and possible sabotage of the American and French launches," the newspaper reported then.
"He is worth his weight in gold to the Russians in terms of future 'Star Wars,' if we have them," one intelligence officer told the Times."

"NCCA Polygraph Countermeasure Course Files Leaked".

"Rootless hair shafts"

Unwilling to consider

"How Corporate Media Got the Trump-Kim Summit All Wrong" (Porter) (my emphasis in red):

"One of the few Americans who can speak with authority on North Korea’s calculus regarding nuclear weapons is Joel S. Wit, who was senior adviser to the U.S. negotiator with North Korea, Ambassador Robert L. Gallucci, from 1993 to 1995, and who from 1995 to 1999 was coordinator for the 1994 “Agreed Framework” with North Korea. More importantly, Wit also participated in a series of informal meetings with North Korean officials in 2013 about North Korea’s thinking on its nuclear weapons.

At a briefing on the Trump-Kim summit last week sponsored by the website 38 North, which he started and still manages, Wit made it clear that this dismissal of North Korea’s willingness to agree to denuclearization is misguided. “Everyone underestimates the momentum behind what North Korea is doing,” he said. “It’s not a charm offensive or a tactical trick.”

Wit revealed in an article last month that the North Koreans had informed the American participants in those 2013 meetings that Kim was already anticipating negotiations with the United States in which North Korea would agree to give up nuclear weapons in return for steps by the United States that removed its threatening posture toward North Korea. Wit said his North Korean interlocutors had pointed to a June 2013 statement by the National Defense Commission of North Korea—the nation’s highest policymaking body—which they stated emphatically had been ordered by Kim himself to indicate a readiness to negotiate with the United States on denuclearization. The statement declared, “The denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is the behest of our leader” and “must be carried out . . . without fail.” And it went on to urge “high-level talks between the DPRK [North Korea] and the U.S. authorities to . . . establish peace and security in the region.”

The statement came a few months after Kim had resumed nuclear testing in an intensive effort to establish a credible nuclear deterrent. In part that was because of the young Kim’s conviction that the United States believed it could “bully” his regime in the transition after Kim father, Kim Jong Il, died in December 2011, according to Wit’s North Korean interlocutors.

But those same North Korean officials also told Wit that the new buildup would be of limited duration—only until it became possible to improve relations with the United States. That explanation suggested that Kim was pursuing a military capability primarily to serve as an incentive for Washington to come to the negotiating table and as a set of bargaining chips to obtain what it really wanted—an end to the hostile policy toward the regime by the United States.

Wit revealed that in the private meetings with Americans, North Korean officials presented a concrete plan for a three-phase agreement with the United States on denuclearization in which each side would undertake a set of related steps simultaneously. The American participants were told that the first stage of North Korea’s implementation would be a freeze on its nuclear weapons development, followed by disabling key facilities and finally dismantling the facilities as well the nuclear weapons. The U.S. steps would include diplomatic recognition, ending economic sanctions and removing the U.S. military threat to North Korea, in part by finally bringing the Korean War to a formal conclusion.

It was the same approach to a denuclearization agreement to which North Korea had agreed in 1994 and again in 2005 and 2007, but which had failed primarily because of the reluctance of the Clinton and Bush administrations to commit to entering into a normal political and economic relationship with North Korea.

The political context for U.S.-North Korean negotiations has changed dramatically since 2013. The most obvious change is that North Korea has an ICBM capable of reaching the United States for the first time. Although it provoked threats by the Trump administration in 2017 to attack North Korea if it completed work on the ICBM, it also has prompted the White House to consider going further than previous administrations in meeting North Korean diplomatic demands.

Furthermore, in 2013, the South Korean government was hostile to diplomacy with the North, and the Obama administration was unwilling to consider any major political or security concessions to North Korea until after it had given up its nuclear weapons. Now South Korean President Moon Jae-in has gone further than any previous government in pushing to end the 70-year military tension and formal state of war between North and South. Moon’s commitment to a Korean peace agreement appears to be the single biggest reason that Kim switched gears so dramatically in a New Year’s Day speech that presaged dramatic diplomatic moves in 2018.

Reflecting the new political-diplomatic situation, in April Kim put forward a new strategic line calling for the bulk of the state’s resources to go to economic development. That replaced the bjungjin line that Kim had introduced in March 2013 putting economic rebuilding and military needs on an equal footing.

Kim has made major adjustments in the North Korean negotiating posture that prevailed when the 2013 meetings were held with nonofficial Americans. The North Koreans had insisted then that the United States would have to remove their troops from South Korea as part of any agreement, according to Wit. But that demand has now been dropped, as Moon told Trump in mid-April."

"Trump And Kim Sign "Comprehensive" Letter To End Historic Summit, Agree To "Follow-On" Negotiations" (Durden).

"Trump Announces The End Of Joint War Games With South Korea" (Durden): "unspecified security guarantees".

"'He Made North Korea Great Again': Twitter Erupts At Trump-Kim NoKo Show" (Red Painter).  Tweet (Mark Sleboda) (link doesn't work but he is referring to tweets like this):

"I'm having a hard time differentiating between the bitter neocons and the outraged "liberals" on outbreak of peace w North Korea...not for the first time either https://twitter.com/brianklaas/status/1006456383062138880 …"