Edward Hopper The Lee Shore 1941
Trump declassification
https://twitter.com/i/status/1557399211775336457
Trump raid judge
https://twitter.com/i/status/1557182294057705475
Fitton
Hillary/Bill/Biden/Strzok/Hunter/Obama/Schiff/Schiff/Fang-Fang Congressman/Pelosi/Comey/Clapper/Strzok all protected while Trump victimized. pic.twitter.com/RNnuOKhJCQ
— Tom Fitton (@TomFitton) August 11, 2022
Kash Patel
Kash Patel’s advice to Republicans when they take back power: Issue subpoenas and start investigations on day one, hold vote for contempt of Congress when Democrats refuse to comply and refer them for criminal prosecution.
Subscribe to The Benny Show: https://t.co/DMae2Q2ZZN pic.twitter.com/fBBwRlVxbf
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) August 11, 2022
This sounds like total baloney.
• Nuclear codes change when a new president is chosen.
• A president can’t legally declassify ‘nuclear material’.
• They waited 18 months with this raid?!
• Some even say he would sell the info to Putin. Russiagate lives!
• FBI Looking For Classified Nuclear Secrets During Mar-a-Lago Raid: Leak (ZH)
The FBI was looking for ‘classified documents relating to nuclear weapons,’ among other things, during its Monday raid at former President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence, WaPo reports, citing ‘people familiar with the investigation.’ So – we’re to believe that the FBI took several boxes from Trump in June, told him to put a bigger lock, and then two months later realized ‘oh — he might have nuclear secrets’ – justifying the raid. The leakers did not offer additional details. “Material about nuclear weapons is especially sensitive and usually restricted to a small number of government officials, experts said. Publicizing details about U.S. weapons could provide an intelligence road map to adversaries seeking to build ways of countering those systems. And other countries might view exposing their nuclear secrets as a threat, experts said.
One former Justice Department official, who in the past oversaw investigations of leaks of classified information, said the type of top-secret information described by the people familiar with the probe would probably cause authorities to try to move as quickly as possible to recover sensitive documents that could cause grave harm to U.S. security.” -Washington Post… “If the FBI and the Department of Justice believed there were top secret materials still at Mar-a-Lago, that would lend itself to greater ‘hair-on-fire’ motivation to recover that material as quickly as possible,” said David Laufman, the former chief of the Justice Department’s counterintelligence section. So we assume the narrative will now be that Trump leaked, or could have leaked, nuclear secrets to Putin – which justified “authorities to try to move as quickly as possible to recover sensitive documents” in the name of national security. Right…
“The Biden administration is only adding rocket fuel to Trump’s campaign prospects and energizing his supporters who want him to run again..”
• Trump ‘Shattering’ All Fundraising Records After FBI Mar-a-Lago Raid (ET)
Former President Donald Trump shattered fundraising efforts following the FBI Mar-a-Lago raid, according to his son Eric. “Breaking: DonaldJTrump.com is shattering all fundraising records and I’m told has raised more money in the past 24 hours than ever before in recent history! The American people are [angry]!” Eric Trump wrote on Truth Social. The former president’s second-oldest son did not say how much was raised in the past two days. After Trump confirmed the raid occurred at his Palm Beach, Florida, on Monday, he has sent out numerous emails and text messages that include links to donate. Trump and other top Republicans say the FBI and Department of Justice are acting in a blatantly political manner, with members of Congress promising investigations.
Further, they’ve accused the Biden administration of weaponizing federal law enforcement to harm Trump’s and Republicans’ chances during the midterm elections, which are only about 90 days away. “They are trying to stop the Republican Party and me once more,” Trump said in a fundraising email Tuesday, which was seen by The Epoch Times. “The lawlessness, political persecution, and Witch Hunt, must be exposed and stopped.” Trump on Tuesday also released a political ad describing the United States as a “nation in decline” and makes reference to what is described as numerous failures on behalf of the Biden administration including the fall of Afghanistan, inflation, high energy prices, and more. “We are a nation that allowed Russia to devastate a country, Ukraine, killing hundreds of thousands of people, and it will only get worse,” Trump says in the clip.
“We are a nation that has weaponized its law enforcement against the opposing political party like never before.” Stark images of FBI agents holding rifles during the Mar-a-Lago raid have since been uploaded online as Trump spokeswoman Christina Bobb confirmed about two dozen agents descended on the property Monday. She told news outlets that Trump’s team members were denied the ability to watch the agents, who took boxes of documents.[..]Some analysts say the FBI’s actions could boost his standing even more. “The Biden administration is only adding rocket fuel to Trump’s campaign prospects and energizing his supporters who want him to run again,” said Ron Bonjean, a Republican strategist in Washington, told the Reuters news agency. “There should be more transparency around the decision to have this FBI raid because it looks overly political and allows Trump to say he’s being unfairly attacked.”
“Kiev’s criminal attacks on the nuclear infrastructure facilities are pushing the world to the brink of a nuclear disaster that would rival a Chernobyl one.”
• World On The Brink Of Nuclear Catastrophe – Moscow (RT)
Kiev’s “reckless” actions are pushing the world ever closer to a major nuclear disaster, Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, told the UN Security Council at a meeting focused on the Zaporozhye power plant in southern Ukraine. The plant has been under the control of Russian forces since the start of the conflict between Moscow and Kiev and has since been shelled by Ukrainian troops on several occasions. “We have repeatedly warned our Western colleagues that, should they fail to talk sense into the Kiev regime, it would take the most heinous and reckless steps, which would have consequences far beyond Ukraine,” Nebenzia told the Security Council on Thursday. “That is exactly what is happening,” he said, adding that the Western “sponsors” of Kiev would have to bear the responsibility for a potential nuclear catastrophe.
“Kiev’s criminal attacks on the nuclear infrastructure facilities are pushing the world to the brink of a nuclear disaster that would rival a Chernobyl one. “If the Ukrainian forces continue their attacks on the power plant, a disaster can happen “at any moment,” Nebenzia warned. According to the Russian envoy to the UN, a catastrophe at the Zaporozhye power plant – the biggest one in Europe – could lead to radioactive pollution of vast swathes of territory, affecting at least eight Ukrainian regions, including its capital, Kiev, major cities like Kharkov or Odessa, and some territories of Russia and Belarus bordering Ukraine. The Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, as well as Moldova, Romania, and Bulgaria are likely to suffer as well, he warned. “And these are the most optimistic expert forecasts,” Nebenzia said, adding that the potential scale of a nuclear disaster of such magnitude was “difficult to imagine.”
The Zaporozhye plant, which is located in the Russia-controlled Ukrainian city of Energodar, has been subjected to a series of attacks over the past few weeks. Moscow has accused Kiev of launching artillery and drone strikes on the facility, branding these moves as “nuclear terrorism.” Kiev has claimed that Russia was the one targeting the plant in an alleged plot to discredit Ukraine while stationing its troops at the facility. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, told the Security Council that the situation at the plant was under control and that there was “no immediate danger” to its safety as of yet. At the same time, he called reports his agency received from Russia and Ukraine “contradictory” and urged both sides to provide the IAEA access to the facility “as soon as possible.”
“I ask that both sides cooperate … and allow for a mission of the IAEA to proceed,” he said. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for any military activities around the plant to be stopped as the Security Council was holding its meeting.
Let’s ask them, shall we? Borrell is a typical EU piece of shit.
• Europeans Must Be Willing To ‘Pay’ To Support Ukraine – Top EU Diplomat (RT)
Helping Ukraine in its fight against Russia comes at a price for Europe, which citizens should be willing to pay, the EU’s foreign policy chief has said. A Russian victory would be Europe’s loss, Josep Borrell believes. “We must explain to our citizens that this is not someone else’s war,” the diplomat said in an interview published by newspaper El Pais on Thursday. “The public must be willing to pay the price of supporting Ukraine and for preserving the unity of the EU. “We are at war. These things are not free,” he added, acknowledging that the cost should be distributed “equitably.” Borrell was referring to surging inflation and potential power shortages faced by European nations after deciding to punish Russia for attacking Ukraine by refusing to buy its energy.
Brussels wants member states to cut consumption to be better prepared for peak demand this winter, but some countries have resisted the proposal. Spain, Borrell’s home country, was among the dissenting voices. Energy Minister Teresa Ribera said last month that “imposing unfair sacrifices”was not the best way to deal with the crisis. She argued that, unlike people in some other nations, “Spaniards have not lived beyond our means from an energy point of view.” Europeans “cannot show a lack of solidarity”with such squabbles, Borrell said in the interview. He admonished Madrid for not appreciating “what this war represents to countries closest to it,” like Poland. Spain may benefit from the EU’s decoupling from Russia in the long run by becoming a major hub for supply of liquified natural gas to Europe, he added.
Borrell warned that Europe should be prepared for the conflict in Ukraine to continue for a long time. Commenting on European goals in the conflict, he said that “if Russia wins this war and occupies part of the Ukrainian territory, then we Europeans will have lost and will face a much greater threat.” The Ukrainian government says it will only talk to Russia after pushing its military to where it was before 2014, which would include capturing Crimea. Borrell said Western nations have a “moral imperative” to back Kiev. He said the US and the EU have been in “absolute cooperation” on the issue, and suggested that this would not have been the case if the conflict started with Donald Trump in power in Washington.
“..Sino-Russian relations had entered “the best period in history, characterised by the highest level of mutual trust, the highest degree of interaction, and the greatest strategic importance”.
• China Calls US ‘Main Instigator’ Of Ukraine Crisis (R.)
China, which Russia has sought as an ally since being cold-shouldered by the West over its invasion of Ukraine, has called the United States the “main instigator” of the crisis. In an interview with the Russian state news agency TASS published on Wednesday, China’s ambassador to Moscow, Zhang Hanhui, accused Washington of backing Russia into a corner with repeated expansions of the NATO defence alliance and support for forces seeking to align Ukraine with the European Union rather than Moscow. “As the initiator and main instigator of the Ukrainian crisis, Washington, while imposing unprecedented comprehensive sanctions on Russia, continues to supply arms and military equipment to Ukraine,” Zhang was quoted as saying. “Their ultimate goal is to exhaust and crush Russia with a protracted war and the cudgel of sanctions.”
The ambassador’s reasoning closely followed one of Russia’s own justifications of its invasion of Ukraine, which has resulted in thousands of deaths and the devastation of entire cities, as well as driving more than a quarter of the population to flee their homes. Russian President Vladimir Putin travelled to Beijing in February to meet President Xi Jinping as Russian tanks were massing on the Ukrainian border, agreeing what both states hailed as a “no limits” partnership superior to any Cold War alliance. In the interview, Zhang said Sino-Russian relations had entered “the best period in history, characterised by the highest level of mutual trust, the highest degree of interaction, and the greatest strategic importance”.
He railed against U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit last week to self-governing Taiwan, which China claims as its own, and said the United States was trying to apply the same tactics in Ukraine and Taiwan to “revive a Cold War mentality, contain China and Russia, and provoke major power rivalry and confrontation”. “Non-intervention in internal affairs is the most fundamental principle of maintaining peace and stability in our world,” Zhang said, applying the principle to criticise Washington’s Taiwan policy but not Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Or not. IEA=useless.
• Russian Oil Output Could Plunge – IEA (RT)
Production of crude in Russia may fall by roughly 20% by the beginning of the next year as the ban on imports of the country’s oil imposed by the EU comes into effect, according to the International Energy Agency. EU member states are set to stop purchasing crude from Russia starting December 5, while the bloc’s ban on Russian oil-product shipments takes effect from February 5. The agency projects gradual monthly declines to begin this month as Russia cuts back refining, while the embargo will quicken the process. According to IEA estimates, nearly one million barrels per day of Russian oil products and some 1.3 million barrels per day of crude oil will have to be redirected to the other markets due to the planned EU embargo.
So far, Russia managed to successfully redirect its crude flows to Asia away from the EU, historically its biggest energy customer, with oil output steadily rising over the past several months and reaching nearly 10.8 million barrels a day in July. The data compiled by the agency shows that in June China imported 2.1 million barrels of Russian oil per day, having overtaken the EU as the top market for Russia’s seaborne crude. Meanwhile, EU countries purchased some 1.8 million barrels per day. “July numbers for now are identical for the two regions, but China-bound volumes are likely to gain more as the “unknown” destination voyages are completed,” the IEA said.
“..while the US had spent three trillion on needless wars in three decades, China had spent zero and that’s why it was racing ahead.”
• The Decline of the US Empire: Lessons from the Roman Republic (AT)
Less than three centuries after its founding, the Wild West returns to American streets (and on other streets in the world), in which killing each other now resembles a national pastime, tent cities become the norm and health for tens of millions is a crowd funded commodity, in a country that has only been at peace for two decades since its founding. In a country that once sent man to the moon, Antifa ‘Red Guards’ and the cultural Marxist BLM patrol the cities as dissent becomes censored and half naked men walk the streets waving pink flags. Indeed, the recent events as the mob attacks Capitol Hill is more of an obituary than an event in a country in which Lady Gaga and Kim Kardashian have more followers on twitter than the total votes cast in the 2016 elections!
Eisenhower in his farewell speech in 1961 warned America about the threat of its “military-industrial complex.” Whilst Carter, in reference to China in 2019, told President Trump that the US is “the most warlike nation in the history of the world …” In effect he was saying that while the US had spent three trillion on needless wars in three decades, China had spent zero and that’s why it was racing ahead. Can the ramparts of the Homeland Defense Act keep the barbarian hordes at bay and can the demagogues behind “change you can believe in” or “MAGA” save the empire? The transition from a US Republic to a Roman Empire contains the same updated tribute transfers of wealth from nations in the form of the modern petrodollar and internally, the same political corruption and mob anarchy on its streets.
The ancient gladiator games now involve arming weaker nations, referred to by President Trump as “Sh**hole countries”, as modern day plebs weaned on government provided bread and reality TV show circuses cheer on the blood sports from the comfort of their armchairs. In today’s Roman arena Iraq fought NATO and the US military assisted the Saudi’s bomb Yemen into pieces as the mob roared HOO-RAR. The president gave a thumbs down and American corporations led by Wall Street moved in to deliver the coup de grâce. The modern day act of slavery is still alive and kicking as the Empire’s elite fill their industrial complexes with a slave army of defeated countries low wage foreign workers and their own incarcerated millions.
“..the equality-above-freedom political structure..”
• Democracy in America (Moglia)
There can be political systems that do not allow specific freedoms and yet where citizens can feel free. And the reverse is also true – there are systems apparently quite free, where the individual feels that he is not. Furthermore, the liberty of a citizen in one nation is not the same liberty of a citizen of another nation. And the liberty in one historical time is not the same liberty as perceived 20 or 30 years later. Tocqueville reached the following conclusion. In future there may be republics, monarchies and other mixed forms of government. But in essence only three political systems can exist. One where liberty is the most important feature, irrespective of its consequences. But if this were so, eventually there would be no political form, no state or even politics – for complete freedom is anarchy, which is the antithesis of a political structure.
The second possibility is a system where equality and liberty coexist, with a tendency for equality to be perceived as more important than liberty. But this, says Tocqueville, after anarchy would be also the worst possible political system – from which an exit to freedom would be most difficult. Of this we have recent massive historic evidence in Europe during the XXth century. The third possibility is a system where the political status-quo is daily brought into question and citizens are continuously involved. Regrettably, both in the 19th century (as Tocqueville remarked), but also in our own times it is the equality-above-freedom political structure that the world at large seems to be directed towards. Most people like and want this system because it seems most attractive on the surface – consequently it will be implemented. We could add that the Western-Zionist slogan of the New World Order admirably embodies the concept, “You will own nothing and you will be happy.”
“..and you will be happy..”
• UK Faces Steepest Real Wages Drop In A Century (RT)
Pay rises in Britain could fall behind inflation by almost 8% later this year, which will be the biggest fall in real wages for 100 years, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) said in a reportpublished on Thursday. According to the report, living standards in the country are expected to fall by an unprecedented 7.75%, given the central bank’s prediction that inflation would jump to 13% in the fourth quarter of 2022 while wages were to increase by just 5.25%. The TUC pointed out that workers had not suffered such a severe and prolonged decline in wages relative to inflation since the 1920s. “This isn’t a wage-price spiral, it’s a real pay disaster,”the union congress warned.Pay increases are expected to account for only 20% of inflation after remaining subdued through the autumn and winter at around 5.25%.
The combination of pay raises about one percentage point above the pre-Covid pandemic level of 4% and double-digit inflation amounted to “the largest decline for exactly a century,” the research showed. “Real pay has fallen by more on only one occasion, a decline of 13.3% in the fourth quarter of 1922 – as the post first world war pay and price inflation went sharply into reverse. The only other comparable figure was 7.2% in the first quarter of 1940,” the TUC said. Official figures showed that average total pay growth has fallen for the last two months to 6.2%. The government must get the economy “back in balance again,” according to the TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady. “Too much goes into profits and to those who are already wealthy, and too little goes into wages and to working families,” she stressed.
Hunger stones
https://twitter.com/Citizen09372364/status/1557665431888056320
Google translate,
“..It contains a plan to reduce the amount of nitrogen, without the livestock having to shrink.”
But that won’t do; they want the land.
• No Hard Actions Yet By Dutch ‘Farmers Defense Force’ (AD)
Farmers Defense Force suspends hard actions for the time being ‘out of goodwill’ to the cabinet. Foreman Mark van den Oever says the group is doing this as a first step in the hope that the government will opt for other plans to reduce nitrogen emissions. The immediate reason is a report by Professor Han Lindeboom of the Nitrogen Focus Group that was presented on Texel yesterday. It contains a plan to reduce the amount of nitrogen, without the livestock having to shrink. According to Lindeboom, the solution lies in, among other things, using different feed, different grass and limiting the use of fertilizer. Lindeboom is an emeritus professor of marine ecology who lives on Texel. He studied the nitrogen problem intensively and argues that the problems are a lot smaller than RIVM and the cabinet would have you believe.
Lindeboom’s views are mainly heard in the farmer’s corner. Other scientists doubt his ideas. At the beginning of July, farmers and fishermen on Texel proclaimed independence: the Free Republic of Tessel. Han Lindeboom was proclaimed Prime Minister on that occasion. Farmers Defense Force sees merit in Lindeboom’s story, and would like the cabinet to take a serious look at it. “I therefore call on Mark Rutte: repent and get to work with this report,” says Van den Oever in a video to members. “As a sign of goodwill, the FDF will take the first step and we will suspend all hard actions until further notice.” The group continues to hang inverted flags on its own farms. According to Van den Oever, public-friendly actions will also continue, such as the announced protests at the Vuelta a España cycling race, which starts next week in the Netherlands.
“Farmers in the Netherlands reduced nitrogen pollution by nearly 70%. But the government says that is not enough..”
• Green Elitism Behind Farmer Crackdowns (Shellenberger)
Farmers in the Netherlands reduced nitrogen pollution by nearly 70%. But the government says that is not enough and is demanding that they cut pollution by another 50% by 2030. By the Dutch government’s own estimates, 11,200 farms out of the roughly 35,000 dedicated to dairy and livestock would have to close under its policies; 17,600 farmers would have to reduce livestock; and total livestock would need to be reduced by one-half to one-third. The Dutch government has demanded that animal farming stop entirely in many places. Of the over $25.7 billion the government has set aside to reduce pollution, just $1 billion is for technological innovation, with most of the rest for buying out farmers. This effort has sparked a fierce backlash among Dutch farmers, who argue that the government seems more interested in reducing animal agriculture than in finding solutions that protect the food supply and their livelihoods.
“Why would you buy out farmers or reduce livestock when you have the possibility to invest in innovation?” asked Caroline van der Plas, the founder and sole Member of Parliament for the Farmer-Citizen Movement party, or BBB in Dutch. “The car industry innovated for the past 40 years. There aren’t fewer cars and the cars we have are cleaner. We even have electrical cars. That’s what I think is so crazy. Why don’t we treat the farmers just like the car industry? Give them time to develop solutions or innovate? We can produce food in a much more efficient and cleaner way if we do that. And it’s much cheaper also then by buying out farmers.” Farmer protests in the Netherlands come at a time of heightened global food insecurity created by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a major wheat exporter.
The Netherlands is the largest exporter of meat in Europe and the second largest exporter of agricultural products overall by economic value in the world, after the United States, a remarkable feat for a nation half the size of Indiana. Farm exports generate nearly $100 billion a year in revenue. Experts attribute the nation’s success to its farmers’ embrace of technological innovation. The Netherlands is just one of the countries where governments are pushing for sharp limits on farming. Canada, for example, is seeking a 30% reduction in nitrogen pollution by 2030. While the Canadian government says it is not mandating fertilizer use reductions, only pollution reductions, experts agree that such a radical pollution decline in such a short period will only be possible through reducing fertilizer use, and thus food production. The cost to farmers would be between $10 billion and $48 billion. “If you push farmers against the wall with no wiggle room, I don’t know where this will end up,” said Gunter Jochum, president of the Western Canadian Wheat Growers Association. “Just look at what’s happening in Europe, in the Netherlands. They’ve had enough of it.”
Where the world is getting stronger.
• Samarkand At The Crossroads (Escobar)
The SCO shows how China’s approach to Central Asia is defined by two central vectors: security and the development of Xinjiang. Stronger regional states such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan deal with Beijing, as with Moscow, via their carefully calibrated multi-vector foreign policy. Beijing’s merit has been to expertly position itself as a provider of public goods, with the SCO functioning as a top lab in terms of multilateral cooperation. This will be bolstered even more at the Samarkand summit next month. The destiny of what is in effect Inner Eurasia – the heartland of the Heartland – is inescapable from a subtle, very complex, multilevel competition between Russia and China.
It’s crucial to remember that in his landmark 2013 speech in Nur-Sultan, then Astana, when the New Silk Roads were formally launched, Xi Jinping stressed that China stands “ready to enhance communication and coordination with Russia and all Central Asian countries to strive to build a region of harmony.” These were not idle words. The process involves a conjunction of BRI and the SCO – which has progressively evolved into a mechanism of economic cooperation as much as security. In the 2012 SCO summit, then Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Cheng Gouping had already been adamant: China would absolutely not allow the unrest that happened in West Asia and North Africa to happen in Central Asia.
Moscow could have said the exact same thing. The recent (failed) coup in Kazakhstan was swiftly dealt with by the six-member, Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO). China is increasingly invested in using the SCO to turbo-charge a geoeconomic overdrive – even as some of its proposals, such as establishing a free trade zone and a joint SCO fund and development bank still have not materialized. That may eventually happen, as in the wake of western Russophobic sanctions hysteria the SCO – and BRI – progressively converge with the EAEU. At every SCO summit, Beijing’s loans are gleefully accepted by Central Asian actors. Samarkand next month may herald a qualitative convergence leap: Russia and China even more involved in bringing back Inner Asia to the geoeconomic limelight.
Elon better hurry.
• Twitter Rolls Out Plans ‘To Protect’ US Midterm Elections (PM)
Twitter has rolled out some new terms and policies ahead of the 2022 midterm elections, during which the Republican Party is expected to overtake the Democrats to earn a majority in the US House. The election is seen as a barometer of how the Biden administration and their leadership has performed since taking office, and so far, the pressure is definitely on. These changes are in addition to those made in the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election, in which Twitter’s suppression and censorship of information played a key role in misinforming the public. Twitter is stepping up to bolster their terms and prevent “misinformation,” that catch-all concept for anything that goes against the Democrat-driven narrative.
As such, they’ve announced “steps we’re taking ahead of the US midterms to protect civic conversation on Twitter.” As they’ve done in international elections, Twitter is now “activating enforcement” of their “Civic Integrity Policy for the 2022 US midterms.” Twitter states that their Civic Integrity Policy “covers the most common types of harmful misleading information about elections and civic events,” which include: false claims about how and where to vote, voter intimidation, and “misleading claims intended to undermine public confidence in an election,” which includes “false information about the outcome of the election.” When Twitter mods encounter information they believe comes under the “harmful misleading information” category, they will “not recommend or amplify this content,” and will provide a “prompt prior to liking or sharing labeled tweets, and in cases where there is potential for harm associated with the false or misleading claim, the Tweet may not be liked or shared to precent the spread of the misleading information.”
In the lead up to the presidential election in 2020, Twitter suppressed and censored reporting by the New York Post that tied then candidate Joe Biden to his son Hunter’s overseas business dealings, with insinuations and allegations of influence peddling. Twitter believed reports coming out of the Biden campaign, and other sources, that claimed the information had been obtained through hacking, a disallowable practice, or was “Russian disinformation.” This suppression had an impact on the US presidential election, potentially skewing results in Biden’s favor, as polls later indicated.
“He filed a multimillion-dollar defamation suit in May against Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff and a string of media outlets, including CNN, the Daily Beast and Politico..”
• Hunter Biden Laptop Repairman Says FBI Agent Threatened Him To Hush Up (NYP)
The computer repair shop owner who blew the whistle on Hunter Biden’s infamous laptop claims in a new book that an FBI agent threatened him to stay silent. John Paul Mac Isaac said two federal agents came to his Mac Shop in Wilmington, Del. in December 2019 to recoup the laptop following a subpoena, he details in his new book “American Injustice: My Battle to Expose the Truth.” The repairman, who had volunteered to hand the laptop over to the feds two months earlier, said the alleged threat came after he made a joke, telling them: “Hey, lads, I’ll remember to change your names when I write the book.” “Agent Wilson kept walking but Agent DeMeo paused and turned to face me,” Paul Mac writes of the encounter.
Isaac said the agent then told him: “It is our experience that nothing ever happens to people that don’t talk about these things.” The owner said he locked the door after the agents walked out, leaving him to “digest the encounter.” “Was I being paranoid, or had what the agent just told me been a direct threat, or at best a thinly veiled one?” he writes. Issac was left with the “laptop from hell” after President Biden’s son abandoned it at his shop in April 2019. Reportedly, the investigation has reached a “critical stage.” Eight months after giving the laptop’s hard drive to the FBI, the shop owner alerted then-President Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani who, in turn, provided a copy to The Post.
The Post’s reporting on the trove of emails discovered on the device has raised serious questions about what President Biden knew of his son’s overseas business deals. Issac said he was eventually forced to shut down his business after being harassed when his private information was leaked. He filed a multimillion-dollar defamation suit in May against Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff and a string of media outlets, including CNN, the Daily Beast and Politico, saying they falsely accused him of peddling Russian disinformation.
“If he is extradited, and placed in the type of isolation that the US government says it reserves the right to place him in, then he will commit suicide.”
• Legal Options Running Out For WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange (DW)
Julian Assange has been detained at London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison, one of the UK’s toughest detention centers, since 2019. The WikiLeaks founder has long since completed his original 50-week sentence for skipping bail in 2012. But he has remained in custody ever since, in extremely harsh conditions, in what is essentially detention pending deportation. British Home Secretary Priti Patel signed the judicial extradition order in June. Assange has one last chance to be allowed to appeal the judicial order, to the High Court in London. A ruling is expected next month. If his request is rejected Assange will be extradited to the United States within four weeks. If the judges deny her husband the chance to launch another round of appeals, Assange’s wife and lawyer, Stella, fears the worst.
“Julian’s life depends on him winning this,” she said, in an interview with DW. “Julian is clinically depressed. If he is extradited, and placed in the type of isolation that the US government says it reserves the right to place him in, then he will commit suicide.” Assange’s Australian family are also very worried. Speaking to Sky Australia last week, his father, John Shipton, described Assange’s health as “very worrying and becoming dire now.” “His health is in decline,” Assange’s brother Gabriel confirmed in the same interview. “He’s in a very, very precarious situation… It really is heartbreaking to see Julian, this gentle genius, in a maximum-security prison alongside the most violent criminals in the United Kingdom.”
The family has appealed to the new Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, asking him to intercede on behalf of his compatriot. During his election campaign, Albanese had declared, “Enough is enough,” indicating that the persecution of the WikiLeaks founder must come to an end. However, Assange’s father and brother have said no progress has been made since the new prime minister took office, and that so far they have been unable to make an appointment with the prime minister to discuss the issue. In a recent public statement, Albanese pointed out that negotiations like these must be conducted quietly and diplomatically, behind the scenes. For example: the question of whether Assange’s right to freedom of expression and the protection of journalistic work ought not, in fact, to prevent extradition.
Or whether the US made the request for political reasons. “Ultimately, once the domestic remedies have been exhausted, he can then appeal to the European Court of Human Rights,” said Stella Assange. However, it remains unclear whether the British judges would be prepared to wait for an ECHR ruling. That’s because the British government is set on a collision course with the European Convention on Human Rights. A draft bill submitted to the British Parliament at the end of June proposes to reduce protection for refugees. Instead of going through the asylum process in Britain, migrants would be sent to Rwanda to apply for asylum there. If the Tory hard-liner Liz Truss moves into Downing Street in September, Assange has little hope of a successful political intervention.
WEF vs Trump
https://twitter.com/i/status/1557553142899908608
Abandoned restaurant in Victorville, California
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