PlanetaryCitizen
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Assange’s arrest comes thanks to the Trump administration’s decision to pursue WikiLeaks. The Obama administration refrained from indicting Assange for fear of establishing “a precedent that could chill investigative reporting about national security matters by treating it as a crime,” according to Charlie Savage of The York Times. Obama’s government had difficulty distinguishing between what WikiLeaks did and what traditional news media organizations like the Times “do in soliciting and publishing information they obtain that the government wants to keep secret,” Savage wrote. News organizations, including the Times, published articles that drew on documents WikiLeaks had published in 2010, including “logs of significant combat events in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION INDICTS ASSANGE. But the Trump administration decided to come after Assange. In 2017, then-CIA Director Mike Pompeo said, “WikiLeaks walks like a hostile intelligence service and talks like a hostile intelligence service.”
Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) disagreed, stating on February 4 on CBS’s Face the Nation: “I actually don’t think [the memo] has any impact on the Russia probe.” He went on to say:
There is a Russia investigation without a dossier. So to the extent the memo deals with the dossier and the FISA process, the dossier has nothing to do with the meeting at Trump Tower. The dossier has nothing to do with an email sent by Cambridge Analytica. The dossier really has nothing to do with George Papadopoulos’ meeting in Great Britain. It also doesn’t have anything to do with obstruction of justice. So there’s going to be a Russia probe, even without a dossier
How many times do I have to reiterate this point? C. Steele and Fusion GPS were hired by Paul Singer to find disqualifying dirt on Trump because he didn’t like him and wanted Marco Rubio to get the nomination. So the article is a lie and van Buren is a liar. His whole website is a fabrication of partial truths and misinformation designed to promote right wing hit pieces.
For those of you who might be interested in something with a different slant.
“And Trump champions popped the cork and declared case closed, nothing to see, end of story, no need for further investigation, Trump did no wrong.
Well, that is fake news.”
Trump Aided and Abetted Russia’s Attack. That Was Treachery. Full Stop.
Scarborough…
Great article, tapping a complex set of feelings as one reads it. I read it several times. Love the photo of Dani and Suleiman. Thanks for that!
Who among the two dozen Democrat candidates will stand up for her?
Name me one Republican who would stand up for Chelsea Manning! Name me one Republican who would stand up for Julian Assange! Who’s justice department has Manning in prison yet again? Will Trump stand up for her? Obama commuted her sentence! It’s damn sure that it wasn’t Republicans and conservatives that put pressure on Obama to get her released. And yet your attack is against the Democratic party presidential candidates. BTW, only conservatives use the term Democrat party. And they use it pejoratively.
As I’ve said before. Fusion GPS and C. Steele were hired by Paul Singer a supporter of Marco Rubio. When it was clear Trump was going to win the nomination he discontinued funding it and it was picked up by the Clinton campaign.
According to an October 27, 2017, article in the New York Times and many other media outlets, the initial sponsor of anti-Trump opposition research conducted by the controversial Washington D.C. firm Fusion GPS was The Washington Free Beacon, a conservative political journalism website that is “funded in large part” by (Paul) Singer
Also from the above mentioned CNN article.
“Sources and verification.
Val Gurvits, an attorney for Gubarev, XBT and Webzilla, acknowledged on Saturday that Steele could not answer questions during the deposition about what he did to verify the parts of the dossier unrelated to them.
But Steele also wouldn’t describe what else he did to verify the dossier’s information, or where he got it from, because of the court-ordered parameters of the interview
.
“I believe the only step I can describe within the bounds of the order is what we could call an open source search,” Steele said about his efforts to check details about the web companies. “Other efforts to verify relate to sources or sources and, therefore, are not allowed under the terms of the order.”Steele also used sources he trusted in Russia and elsewhere—some gathered over a career as a Moscow-based spy for British intelligence — to gather information in the dossier, according to the case file.
In a separate transcript released in the case, another witness testified that Steele showed him a list of names that were his sources for the dossier. The witness, David Kramer, a former US State Department official who, alongside then-Sen. John McCain, reviewed the dossier from Steele, said he recognized names of the sources because of his own work about Russia.
At least one name Kramer recognized as a “serious high-level source.” Kramer explained that he believed those sources passed the information through an intermediary before it got to Steele and into the dossier.
The most salacious claims in the dossier are still unverified. But many of the allegations that form the bulk of the memos have held up over time. Those include the claim that Russia interfered in the 2016 election and the claim that there were contacts between Trump’s team and Russia.”
Your post the other day about the emails between Bruce Ohr and Steele appear to me to be about protecting his sources inside Russia. Also that they had a personal friendship.
Trump has Sinclair Broadcast Group, the largest owner of television stations in the U.S. Currently owning or operating a total of 193 outlets across the country in 89 markets. The stations are affiliates of various television networks including ABC, CBS, NBC & Fox. Sinclair employs “must run” content to its stations. It has retransmission agreements with providers such as Comcast, Time Warner, Mediacom, and DirecTV.
Sinclair has required “must run” segments, of Stolen Honor, Wounds that Never Heal, a film promoted by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth. Sinclair promoted a special called Breaking Point, 25 Minutes that will Change America an infomercial sponsored by the Republican National Trust Political Action Committee creating misinformation about Obama. On December 16, 2016, Jared Kushner, son-in-law of then-President-elect Donald Trump, stated that it had reached deals with Sinclair to give the company extended access to the Trump campaign.
There is considerably more but alas I have no more time for this today. Perhaps tomorrow I will go into the effect of Conservative Talk Radio and its influence on the public mind set.
After my daily dose of TAE, and yes I take exception to certain conclusions in thinking that are part of the litany of topics, I do also find no small portion to be informative and worthy of my time. I also read my twice weekly dose of Kunstler. Lord knows why I bother anymore. The sarcasm, disdain, general condescension and often the inanity of the topics along with his dozen or so coterie in the comment section leave me with little of value but an appreciation of creative word smithing. I expect it’s more habit than anything else.
I then read this by Dahr Jamail and Barbara Cecil at Truthout .org. The message, while completely dire in its scope of things yet to come, left me with such a deep appreciation of the possibility in life and the essence of what is and could be for myself, family, and humanity, along with a depathologization of passing’s. Perhaps you will enjoy it as well.
Rethink Activism in the Face of Catastrophic Biological Collapse
I’m not minimizing the actions of the U.S. I find a great deal of what the government does in our name to be reprehensible as do a great many people I know. A great many of us make efforts to change it. Your comment about a sick society and equally sick fascisti is just what I said it was, reductionist antipathy and a gross mis-characterization of American society. Your constant refrain is how wonderful the east is and how awful the west is and you do it with a vehemence that is beginning to border on tedium and banality. The government is not the people and I take offence when someone tries to claim it’s so and lumping me and people I know in with the crimes of a government captured by corporate cabals and their greed.
Ooh oweee, he called me a snowflake! Waaaa! First of all @ 70 I don’t take any prescription drugs, I don’t need them. But never mind that, it’s irrelevant.
I’m also not oblivious to the crass commercialism and the striving for material success that is the west and the U.S. in particular. I’m also not oblivious to the abuses of power that have dominated international relations among the so called colonial powers of the last several centuries. Unfortunately they are not alone. Ask the Manchurian’s, the Philippine Islander’s, the Burmese and other Pacific Islander’s how they enjoyed life under Japanese rule. Or ask the Tibetans (which for all intents and purposes doesn’t exist anymore) how life is for them under Chinese rule. Ask the Chinese how life is if you don’t have enough brownie points to be able to fly or take the train. Ask the Singaporeans how life is if you get caught chewing gum in public and what public caning is like. Ask what life is like for the untouchables in India and and the second class status of women there as well as the most of the greater Middle East. Ask Malala Yousafzai what happens if you are a girl and want to get an education in Pakistan. Or a woman what she thinks of honor killings for what ever reason some male putz in her family feels his precious ego has been wounded. Ask about what life expectancy is for journalists in Russia who criticize Putin and the oligarchy. Or what happens to people who run against them/him politically. Or what life is like there if you happen to be gay. Or what happens if you criticize the church like Pussy Riot. Believe me I can go on and on all over the globe.
This notion that the East is some shangri-la and the West is part and parcel to the 9 circles of hell… Sorry, but life for all too much of humanity is just one flavor or another of a shit sandwich and megalomaniacs aren’t in any short supply anywhere.
When it comes to criticizing the US I’ll go to the head of the line and I do so frequently, and I also do what is in my power to make things better (to the degree that I understand things), not just for the country I was born in and care about but for the planet and all life as a whole. And yes, I’ve no doubt that in the eyes of many that makes me a snowflake. But frankly, I just don’t give a damn. There are a great many people in the west and around the world trying to do the right thing and this reductionist antipathy that is so often exemplified in our relationships when we have different notions and biases is at the crux of the problem. I also don’t claim to be immune to the tendency.
Peace out!
My goodness! I don’t know! Chill pill, hand job! After all this vitriol I’m thinkin’ I’m needin’ somethin’ to get right with the world again. MAGA
What’s always been just a little interesting to me is when Trump, during his campaign rally, called on Russia (if they are listening) to find the missing 30 thousand emails and not Wikileaks. Something “odd there” don’t you think?
I think the meaning of the Escher is pretty clear. He likes to smoke a doobie and sip a bit o’ the spirit now and then.
Yes, there is no need to release the Mueller report to the public! If I say there was No Collusion then that should be enough. Convenient that I appointed an AG who agrees with me, no?
BTW Sessions was no idiot. His unforced error conveniently got himself out of the way of participation in obstruction of justice. Remember when Trump said on national TV that he fired Comey because of the Russia thing. Blimey mates!
Seems like one gets to make money off the circus whether you’re fer or agin him! amirite? So much drivel, such little time. Whatever happened to Nicole?
Medical care in the USA is indeed a racket, or market based if you prefer. Profit based medical systems have an inherent conflict of interest. It’s unavoidable. Non-profit has a better chance of attending to its mission, and I emphasize chance. And it’s demonstrably cheaper as most industrialized nations clearly demonstrate. But then that would be a lot like the democratic socialism that is the fire department and the police department etc. Imagine living next door to the guy who couldn’t afford to buy his fire insurance. Or the socialism that is the NIH the next time a major potential pandemic comes along.
Yes, yes. Zero Hedge and Russia Today, beacons of truth in reporting.
…”Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe admitted that he rushed to open the Russia probe out of fear of being fired.” Technically true but egregiously misleading. Makes it seem like he feared for himself when in fact he feared the information on Trump would would disappear if he were fired. For you foreigners, what he said is all over the damn TV.
And any “President” that has and will be in office for 24 years and is reportedly working on a constitutional amendment to make it possible to extend that period is clearly the virtuous Statesman he’s made out to be. No hanky panky there. Crimea was a referendum just waiting to happen. Please!
Great article by Greg Palast on Venezuela. The rest of his articles are worth looking at also.
https://www.gregpalast.com/in-venezuela-white-supremacy-is-a-key-to-trump-coup/
Yes it happened but one split second of changing facial expression doesn’t tell a story when the rest of the expression is saying something else. I didn’t personally see a Fuck You. But then we all project our own intent on to everything we perceive, myself included.
First of all…The fuck you clap that got shopped around the internet is a product of photo shop as is so much of the right and alt right…the ends justify the means bull shit. Try watching the actual video of it or better yet next time try watching it live. Yes, I suffered through it in spite of detesting the SOB. If you watch it yourself you won’t be hood winked by the fake news.
Secondly…23&me and Ancestry dot com do not purport nor attempt to determine whether one is Italian, French, or Sudanese. It does give percentages of probabilities of being part of a particular group and percentages of another group. They also provide a context of the known history of groups and their migrations. Your analysis is correct but complains about a non existent problem.
The SOTU speech was just so much blather about BS as they have historically been in any that I have seen in my life time and I’ve seen quite a few.
Transnational corporations want their “rightful” access to Venezuelan natural resources. Corporate captured governments (name me one with a large army that isn’t) take their marching orders from the plutocrats in charge. Socialism is ever the enemy of the corporate state. Trump will get his war and exxon will get its oil. It’s already economic warfare. Privatize every fucking thing there is! Charge that hill dogface!
Late-Night With Democrats….”What I see of it (not much)”…is exactly right – both literally and figuratively. Your attempt to cast Colbert and Trevor Noah in a negative light re the article, is in fact exactly the opposite of what the article is saying. “Colbert is building on a long tradition.” Funny how you left that out. And it would seem you know absolutely nothing about Jon Stewart. Whether one finds their humor funny or not is surely about political persuasion, but for those in similar vein it is extremely funny.
Why am I suddenly thinking about Yuri Bezmanov, eh???
The chart shows that there is an average increase of 2.75 ppm per year within the annual emission cycle. It also shows that the forecast tracks very consistently with the observed data, with one year being shy by 1 ppm. China is the greatest emitter of carbon in total. India is third. The U.S. has the greatest emissions per capita being double that of China. FYI
Galloway has been a truth teller ever since I first became aware of him during the Gulf War and 911 era.
Dr. D, your photos show that the glacier is moving. Notice the superimposed graphic line where the glacier used to be in the 2017 photo, but if you look closer at the ice itself you’ll see a portion of the break line from the earlier photo further down stream. The rest of the ice in the 2017 photo is calved ice.
This from USGS: The floating ends of glaciers like Petermann are known as ice shelves. They act as doorstops. When these ice shelves suddenly splinter and weaken, the glaciers that feed them speed up. The result is more ice flowing into the ocean,…
@ V. Arnold – The movie is King Of Hearts and a quite excellent one at that, as I recall.
Interesting that it is always the media echo chamber that is the problem with the state of affairs. Not the clinical narcissist/pathological liar tweeting a shit storm on a daily basis. A man whose only self worth is wrapped up in the adoration he can muster and rage against those who do not support his grandiose self image. Yes V., the country is certainly headed down the proverbial shit hole as evidenced by the fact that such an infantile personality could be elected President. The damage being done is immense. The bright spot might be that at least the counter clockwise swirl down the porcelain throne might be reversed when the poles shift.
Why is there no objective analysis of the policies on my once vaunted TAE? Merely the minimizing of anything negative about Trump and casting it off as the evil that is the MSM.
A factoid that is often conveniently overlooked in the Steele dossier: Fusion in 2015 began investigating Trump under a contract with the Washington Free Beacon, a conservative website financially supported by GOP megadonor Paul Singer. That assignment ended once Trump was on track to win the nomination.
“Steele, by his own account, was sufficiently alarmed by what he had been told by his Russian sources that in early July he sought out a contact in the FBI, located in Rome, to supply the memo and other information. Near the start of July on his own initiative — without the permission of the U.S. company that hired him — he sent a report he had written for that firm to a contact at the FBI.”
Has no one here heard of the phenomena of the temperature gradient between the polar region and the temperate regions and the effect of it on the stability of the jet stream. The notion that as the polar region warms faster compared to the temperate region and therefore the gradient becomes less which allows for more dramatic swings in the in the jet stream allowing colder air to come further south and warmer air to go further north.
gradient
[grā′dē·ənt]
Etymology: L, gradus, step
1 the rate of increase or decrease of a measurable phenomenon, such as temperature or pressure.“It’s time for the Fed to disappear into the Jekyll island mists it came from”.
^ I ask in sincerest ignorance…not that I necessarily disagree, but to what alternative?
This is the quote from Tlaib’s oped. Seems RT thought it best not to include it.
“We already have overwhelming evidence that the president has committed impeachable offenses, including, just to name a few: obstructing justice; violating the emoluments clause; abusing the pardon power; directing or seeking to direct law enforcement to prosecute political adversaries for improper purposes; advocating illegal violence and undermining equal protection of the laws; ordering the cruel and unconstitutional imprisonment of children and their families at the southern border; and conspiring to illegally influence the 2016 election through a series of hush money payments.
Whether the president was directly involved in a conspiracy with the Russian government to interfere with the 2016 election remains the subject of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. …”I think it’s entirely premature to attempt impeachment, not that there aren’t sufficient grounds, imo. There just aren’t sufficient grounds to get a conviction and removal in the Senate. Mueller will be the deciding factor.
I did my best to try and wade through some of the “links” that Zuesse claims prove Ukraine’s GUILT on the MH17 downing. Once I signed to on to TAE I tried to go back and get some specifics from the article. It appears it has been pulled from strategic-culture. If I were the publisher of the website I would have pulled it as well.
It’s the worst piece of journalism I can recall coming across in a long time. Most of his links were back to his previous articles on MH17. In totality they amount to so much torturous blather (and yes I mean torturous not tortuous). Hard to believe the man is a native English speaker. I couldn’t find any proof beyond assertion in any of the so called links to proof he presents, and I’ll stipulate it’s a godawful mess to wade through. If I recall correctly (why I wanted to go back to the article), in summation he put the ultimate responsibility for the event on the U.S. I don’t find the official version all that convincing either but he is clearly a person with an ax to grind. I have my suspicions about the downing but they’re likely to remain just that.
I found Greg Olear’s article to have merit and will buy his book Dirty Rubles. I used to have some respect for Rand Paul but in my observations he has become as duplicitous as Lindsay Graham. Thanks for the article by Olear.
MoFlora…thank you for posting that. That has been my thought about TAE and Kunstler as well for some time now. The constant drone of minimization of the poor unfairly maligned Mr. Trump Trump creates his own shit storm on a daily basis. The press covers it and their ratings go up. So what! Somehow this gets cast as fake news by TAE & K among others. Sorry, not buying it. Consider this…so far this year 50 journalists have been murdered and 250 have been imprisoned. For doing their jobs. This vilification and oppression of the press by Trump/Putin and other dictators & wannabe’s and the ilk that support them gives cover for their criminal activities on a multitude of levels. I could go on about a variety of things but it’s Christmas and I’m going to go back to trying to be upbeat. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas one and all.
Yet another meaning! A faggot of sticks, or bundle. Tried to post a painting by George Chinnery but didn’t have much luck. See…
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/faggotTrump takes a viewpoint consistent with the narcissistic agenda present in his excito toxin addled brain at the time. He takes a step back only when facts, and I use that word loosely with regard to Trump, force him to. The only negotiation taking place is in his own mind. That being which position keeps intact my grandiose self image best, and makes me the most money. He doesn’t give a damn which pocket it is in. Collusion (not a legal term, I know) with Russians is already a fact thanks to the emails proffered up by DJT Jr about the meeting at the Tower. You know, where the One Ring of Power is kept.
Okay, let’s be clear about a few things here! Abused women do not remember virtually all details. Trauma by definition is a state of overwhelm within the autonomic nervous system otherwise know as the fight or flight response. This state of overwhelm very often shifts from fight or flight into freeze and collapse and repressed memory. The persons nervous system is literally stuck somewhere along the experiential time line. Memories of many of the details are often forced into the unconscious. Only a few salient memories typically remain in conscious awareness or memory and recall of those memories (intentionally or not) often brings forth images and feeling states that re-trigger the original activation or overwhelm bringing on fear and anxiety or collapse into re-repression of the memory. Otherwise known as PTSD. Most memories of a traumatic event need to be coaxed back into awareness and the charged nervous system discharged in methodical resourced and non-threatening way.
I have to say my once vaunted and lauded TAE has become a real disappointment since Trump came on the scene. You say you don’t support him and yet with exception of the most rare occurrences, every article that gets posted and the comments about it do nothing but support him or cast doubt on a counter narrative. He can’t be critically evaluated because of the so called “echo chamber.” What bullshit! Your articles about the world economy are first rate and environment etc are first rate. That Trump is destroying the very checks on things you seem to care about mystifies me as to your de facto support for him. Clearly just the way I see it from where I sit.
Ford tried to derail his nomination while he was still on the short list. That she didn’t want to be a part of the circus is 100% understandable and yet felt compelled to escalate her voice as the process moved along, no doubt given her convictions about the man. No one would put themselves in that position unless it were true. She has nothing to gain but stopping a vile predator and the satisfaction that she has done a civic duty that does credit to her courage. And yes, some images are indelible.
Really, reporting it to the police requires pressing charges for sexual assault. Any attorney would advise against it under the current circumstances. Just another logic canard to deflect from a charge that should be thoroughly investigated before you put a potentially predatory drunk on the Supreme Court. Republicans have little shame or ethics when it comes to the raw exercise of power. Think Marrick Garland.
@ Zerosum: Last I heard, “slow dancing” is a consensual activity. Really, the inevitable Burqa solution to sexual assault. Give me a fucking break!
