Spontaneously Combusted,
Who knew that there was a big fire at the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, also on Monday? What a coincidence!
It's easy to see how that got completely missed by all the media and charitable corporations, with all of the important news about the Notre Dame fire, ... isn't it? Thanks Eleni.
Palestine news agency, Wafa, cited a guard as saying that,“The fire broke out in the guard’s room outside the roof of the Marwani Prayer Room, and the fire brigade of Jerusalem Islamic Waqf handled the matter successfully.”
Al-Marwani prayer room is located underneath the south-eastern corner of the Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound (Haram Al Sharif).
Criticizing Israel Will Land You In Prison:
Soon, this blog will be illegal.No, I’m not selling drugs or peddling child pornography.
I write about America’s wars and the primary objective of those illegal and immoral wars—to make Israel the hegemon of the Middle East along with Saudi Arabia. All US foreign policy in that region centers on those two nations.
The following may soon be classified as hate speech and anti-semitism (as increasingly criticism of the Jewish state and its Zionist political ideology are considered crimes).
Jewish neocons found their way into the Reagan administration and later the Bush Junior White House and Pentagon. Huddled under the wing of Vice President Dick Cheney, they plotted to attack and destroy Israel’s enemies. Neocon ideologues strategized and published papers on these manufactured wars, most notably a paper presented to then Israeli president Bibi Netanyahu. It called for taking out Iraq and Syria. Israeli academics have written on this subject for decades. The nation’s early leaders engineered border provocations and false flag attacks (the Lavon Affair) to destabilize the region. Southern Lebanon is considered a valuable asset primarily for its water resources (e.g. “Operation Litani”) and the Golan Heights in Syria was occupied for its strategic value.
The following may soon be classified as hate speech and anti-semitism (as increasingly criticism of the Jewish state and its Zionist political ideology are considered crimes).
Jewish neocons found their way into the Reagan administration and later the Bush Junior White House and Pentagon. Huddled under the wing of Vice President Dick Cheney, they plotted to attack and destroy Israel’s enemies. Neocon ideologues strategized and published papers on these manufactured wars, most notably a paper presented to then Israeli president Bibi Netanyahu. It called for taking out Iraq and Syria. Israeli academics have written on this subject for decades. The nation’s early leaders engineered border provocations and false flag attacks (the Lavon Affair) to destabilize the region. Southern Lebanon is considered a valuable asset primarily for its water resources (e.g. “Operation Litani”) and the Golan Heights in Syria was occupied for its strategic value.
Why The Gulf States Are So Edgy, Alastair Crooke (I hope the link is working again when you click on it. Thanks Eleni)
The Gulf grandees have a right to be edgy, Alastair Crooke writes. They can see that Trump’s ‘war hawks’ are intent on cornering, pressurising and provoking Iran.. Algeria. Libya. Saudi Arabia.
NOT Mike-the-Slob, please!
One day after North Korea's Leader Kim reportedly oversaw the test of a "new tactical guided weapon", North Korea on Thursday demanded that Secretary of State and former CIA chief, Mike Pompeo, should be replaced for any future negotiations with the U.S., the country's media reported."Whenever Pompeo pokes his nose in, talks between the two countries go wrong without any results even from the point close to success," Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted Kwon Jong-gun as saying. Kwon is director general of the North Korean Foreign Ministry's department for American affairs. He was addressing the first session of the 14th Supreme People's Assembly of the country.
Two summits between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un since June 2018 have failed to reach an agreement over the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. In response, Kwon suggested a "more careful and mature" negotiator to take Pompeo's place.
"I am afraid that, if Pompeo engages in the talks again, the table will be lousy once again and the talks will become entangled," he said.
"Therefore, even in the case of a possible resumption of the dialogue with the U.S., I wish our dialogue counterpart would be not Pompeo but [anyone] who is more careful and mature in communicating with us," he said.
Kwon said the North Korean leader and the U.S. president had good personal relations.
North Korea tests new tactical guided weapon. (I wonder what it could be. They really need to threaten American planes and ships. The picture is taken over land, but...)
Tulsi Gabbard: "Unlike Donald Trump I will not turn our great country into the prostitute of Saudi Arabia."
The former combat veteran who served in the Iraq War has gotten visibility and vast push back even within her own party for making "ending regime change wars" her campaign focus.
“By vetoing the war powers resolution, Trump has again proven that he is the servant of Saudi Arabia, the theocratic dictatorship that spends billions of dollars every single year spreading the most extreme and intolerant form of Islam around the world,” Gabbard said in a social media video. “The very same ideology that motivated al Qaeda and other jihadists,” she added, echoing her prior theme calling out Saudi support for al-Qaedia and ISIS.
The 37-year-old had been a key mover behind the bipartisan congressional push to invoke the war powers act directing the commander-in-chief to remove US forces from the Yemen campaign within 30 days.
“By vetoing the war powers resolution, Trump has again proven that he is the servant of Saudi Arabia, the theocratic dictatorship that spends billions of dollars every single year spreading the most extreme and intolerant form of Islam around the world,” Gabbard said in a social media video. “The very same ideology that motivated al Qaeda and other jihadists,” she added, echoing her prior theme calling out Saudi support for al-Qaedia and ISIS.
The 37-year-old had been a key mover behind the bipartisan congressional push to invoke the war powers act directing the commander-in-chief to remove US forces from the Yemen campaign within 30 days.
Matt Taibbi in Rolling Stone:
The Sanders letter to CAP formalized the rift between the Democratic establishment and the labor-based movement of millions Sanders represents. That we’re talking about a petty PR battle and not the hardcore disagreement about policy and (especially) campaign funding sources that created this divide is Exhibit A proving the old propaganda method is still working.
The practice of painting dissident challenges as selfish, hypocritical acts — as opposed to the selfless altruism of corporate-funded candidates — has been going on forever. Long before Sanders was framed as a thin-skinned, cranky narcissist who’s “all about himself,” Dennis Kucinich went through the same thing.
Kucinich was/is living proof of the Bierce aphorism. When he announced his run for president in October of 2003, the Ohio congressman “stood up against corporate interests,” promised to revoke NAFTA, endorsed decriminalization of marijuana, called for universal health care and trumpeted “amnesty and legalization for illegal immigrants.” He was the only candidate promising to withdraw troops from Iraq, and in those jingoistic years after 9/11, he not only brought an imam on stage for his launch, he took a shot at Columbus Day...
The easiest way to avoid dealing with uncomfortable truths is to create an ick factor around the politician benefiting from them. That was Sanders in 2016 and it’s still him, mainly. However, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii have also been pre-emptively dipped in the ick this cycle, cast as crippled politicians whose mere presence in the race will “undermine” Democrats in the end...
What a lot of DC-based reporters and analysts don’t grasp is that if you remove Bernie Sanders from the scene, there will still be millions of people out there mad about income inequality. Remove Gabbard, and discontent about the human and financial costs of our military commitments will still be rampant. Removing Warren won’t cancel out anger about Wall Street corruption.
WAIT! This would completely negate The Pompeo Doctrine. :-o
Bernie Sanders won praise from environmental groups after releasing a climate platform that calls for a complete ban on fracking, a moratorium on all new fossil fuel infrastructure, an end to oil exports, and a Green New Deal.
Public Banking, as the Bank of North Dakota has done for 100 years, is getting noticed by populist politicians again.
Public Banking turns out to be very good for the 99% Ellen Brown has the update.
This, yet again, could go live... maybe even in California.
Charles Hugh Smith has important experienced insights on financial crises, and predictions for the one that's next.
Interestingly, modern financial crises seem to oscillate between fraud and over-reach: the S&L crisis resulted from the commoditization of mortgage fraud, the 2000 dot-com crash resulted from extremes of over-valuation and margin debt, the 2008 Global Financial Meltdown resulted from the globalized commoditization of securitization fraud, and now the pins are being set up for the next financial crisis triggered by extremes of credit and overvaluation... Extreme levels of debt and overvaluation characterize the entire global economy, and are not limited to any one nation or sector. When this crisis gathers steam, there will be few avenues of escape. Adding regulations won't stop it, adding liquidity won't stop it, waving chicken entrails and dancing the humba-humbaaround the MMT/Keynesian campfire won't stop it.Attempting to force extremes to even more extended extremes won't stop it.
Yellow Vest Democracy Update, Thanks Cat.
For example, if you are a small-town Yellow Vest and take the train to Paris on a Saturday, you are likely to be stopped several times between the station and the Champs Elysées. If you have in your backpack Vaseline, eye drops, ski goggles, a bicycle helmet, a face-scarf or God forbid a gas mask, you can be arrested, brought to summary trial, and convicted the very same day for being part of a “group organized for the purpose of destroying public order and obstructing the forces of order.”Of course, if you insist on a real trial with lawyers and everything, they will gladly hold you over in jail, but if you’re not at work on Monday you’ll lose your job and meanwhile who is minding the kids? ...
Golden Light
