from Jason Goodman:
EU Chief: We Need Open Borders to Stop Populism
by Dan Lyman, Newswars:
Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, delivered remarks in Vienna in which he warned against the “destructive emotions” of those who oppose the on-going migrant invasion and denounced the rise of populism in Europe.
Following a meeting with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, whose coalition government has been implementing a series of new policies to tighten border controls and begin purging the country of undesirable illegal immigrants, Tusk issued loosely-veiled threats clearly aimed at Austrian leadership and their ideological allies in other European governments, such as Hungary and Poland, where Tusk recently served as prime minister.
“When it comes to managing illegal migration, Chancellor Kurz and I have discussed it many times already, and we have similar views,” Tusk said. “Migration will remain a challenge for many years to come, which is why we want to find a solution that makes sure that the EU – together with national states – can manage future migration flows efficiently and without creating new divisions in Europe.”
“It is possible, but naturally all sides need to compromise. Above all, we must put an end to the destructive emotions surrounding the issue of relocation, as they continue to fuel populism and divide Europe. If this issue is not resolved by ministers within the next months, we will need to find a solution at the June European Council.”
It seems that June could prove a pivotal month for the direction of Europe, and may usher in an escalation in punitive measures taken by globalists and supranational bodies against nations who refuse to bow to the demands of Tusk, Soros, and the rest of their ilk in the internationalist cabal.
Last week, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban summarized an ultimatum issued by Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel in which Michel intimated that “force” may be used against Central European countries that refuse to accept ‘refugee resettlement quotas.’
“The presidency of Fidesz has discussed yesterday the announcement of the Belgian prime minister, that they will – if necessary with force – obligate Central European countries, including Hungary, to accept migrants,” Orban said. “According to their plan, this will happen in June at the summit of the prime ministers in Brussels.”
PM Orban recently paid his first visit to Vienna since the 31-year-old Kurz was sworn in as Chancellor, and both leaders vowed to strengthen the bonds between their nations and work together to stem the invasion of predominantly Islamic migrants from Africa and the Middle East.
“We must stop illegal migration in order to ensure safety across the bloc,” Kurz said at a joint press conference with Orban. “I am glad that there has been a change in thinking in many European countries in recent years.”
Read More @ Newswars.com
Dead Male Prostitute, Piles of Meth Found in Clinton Mega-Donor’s Home—NO ARRESTS
by Matt Agorist, The Free Thought Project:
A high-profile millionaire donor to Hillary Clinton was found with a dead prostitute in his home, with witnesses saying he kidnapped him, and drugs and paraphernalia everywhere and no one has been charged.
West Hollywood, CA — The family and friends of Gemmel Moore, 26, are fighting an uphill battle to bring the man they say is responsible for his death to justice. Not surprisingly, the fact that Moore, who worked as a male escort, was found dead at the home of 63-year-old Ed Buck—who’s donated hundreds of thousands to Hillary Clinton—has received very little media coverage.
On July 27, Moore’s body was discovered inside the West Hollywood apartment of Ed Buck. Buck is a well connected and extremely wealthy political activist who gives massive amounts of money to the Democratic party. His influence is vast as he’s given hundreds of thousands to a slew of powerful Democrats including Clinton, Barack Obama, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey and a variety of state and local organizations in California—which likely explains the reason he’s yet to be charged with any crime.
According to a Los Angeles County coroner’s report, police and paramedics found Moore naked on a mattress in Buck’s living room with a “male pornography movie playing on the television.” A spokesman for the coroner’s office, Ed Winter, said Buck was inside his Laurel Avenue home at the time of Moore’s death and that drug paraphernalia was recovered from the scene.
Police found sex toys, syringes and “clear plastic bags with suspected methamphetamine in a toolbox roll-cabinet in the living room,” 24 syringes with brown residue, five glass pipes with white residue and burn marks, a plastic straw with possible white residue, clear plastic bags with white powdery residue and a clear plastic bag with a “piece of crystal-like substance.”
Even if we ignore the fact that there was a dead prostitute in his bed, the drugs found on the scene alone should’ve been enough to warrant charges as the multiple plastic bags would land anyone else with not only possession charges but intent to distribute. But there have been none.
Read More @ TheFreeThoughtProject.com
Harvard’s Laurence Tribe Has Become a Deranged Russia Conspiracist: Today Was His Most Humiliating Debacle
by Glenn Greenwald, The Intercept:
HARVARD LAW PROFESSOR Laurence Tribe did not wait even 24 hours to exploit yesterday’s tragic crash of a Russian regional jet shortly after it took off from Moscow, killing all 71 people aboard. On Twitter this morning, Tribe (pictured above in 2010 with former Vice President Joe Biden) strongly insinuated that the Russian government may have purposely sabotaged the plane, murdering all of those on board, in order to silence one of the passengers, Sergei Millian, who has been linked to a couple of figures involved in the Trump-Russia investigation.
What’s wrong with Tribe’s claims? Everything. To begin with, Millian was not on that plane. The official list of victims includes nobody with that name; as the Daily Beast’s Marlow Stern pointed out, the claim that Millian was on the plane was a simple hoax from the internet sewer, 4chan. Tribe apparently saw someone making this claim somewhere on the internet and then, without bothering to check if it was actually true, told his 289,000 followers that it was true, and then constructed a rabid, deranged conspiracy theory around it.
After dozens, if not hundreds, of people told him that what he said was false, Tribe — after more than 2,000 people retweeted it — posted a mealy-mouthed follow-up noting that he can’t “vouch” for the accuracy of the “plenty of reporting” he saw claiming this was true: “reporting” that he still has not identified.
Even if Millian had been on the plane, casually suggesting that Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, or some combination of other villains purposely murdered everyone on the plane in order to silence one witness is deranged to the point of being a clinical pathology. That sort of baseless conspiracy-mongering ought to disqualify anyone from serious company for a long time.
But it almost certainly will have no effect on Tribe’s standing. As BuzzFeed’s Joseph Bernstein documented almost a year ago, Tribe has become one of the internet’s most unhinged cranks, churning out wild conspiracy theories and, in the process, becoming a social media star and MSNBC favorite. Among his lowlights was his promoting of a story from the well-known liberal “fake news” site Palmer Report claiming that Trump paid $10 million to former GOP Rep. Jason Chaffetz.
Read More @ TheIntercept.com
Russia Claims It Has Evidence White Helmets, Nusra Planning Fake Chem Attack
by Brandon Turbeville, Activist Post:
As tensions heat up in Syria between a growing number of heavily involved participants, the Russian Center for Reconciliation in Syria has stated it has been warned by sources that Jobhat al-Nusra is planning to coordinate a staged chemical weapons attack with the White Helmets for the purpose of blaming the attack on the Syrian government.
The center stated that, on Monday, it received a phone call from a resident in Serakab in Idlib province describing the incident allegedly being planned.
According to the source as reported by the RCFRIS, terrorists from Jobhat al-Nusra brought three cars packed with over 20 cylinders of chlorine as well as “personal protective equipment” to Serakab on the afternoon of February 12.
The source also revealed that the local branch of the White Helmets, “wearing individual means of protection” rehearsed “giving first aid” to “local residents” who were supposed to have been suffering from poisoning.
While the reports have apparently only come from one source, it appears to have been credible enough for the RCFRIS to announce the possibility that a staged chemical attack was in the works.
Chemical attacks in Syria have long been suspected of having been staged by terrorists in concert with the White Helmets for some time. Notably, abundant evidence suggests that the alleged chemical attacks at Khan Sheikhoun was one of those instances.
But while many are aware that chemical weapons attacks have been staged, the issue nevertheless remains dangerous because, as in the case of Khan Sheikhoun, the United States has repeatedly used the alleged attacks as an excuse to launch military operations against the Syrian government.
Read More @ ActivistPost.com
Swedish Whistleblower Cop Put on Notice for Claiming Gang Rape ‘Cultural Phenomenon’ Linked to Mass Migration
by Chris Tomlinson, Breitbart:
Swedish police officer Peter Springare has been reported to police and will likely be investigated after he said the country’s gang rape problem is linked to migration and was a “cultural phenomenon”.
Springare, who gained global attention after blowing the whistle on the extent of migrant crime in Sweden last year commented on the issue of gang rapes earlier this month claiming such attacks were “new” and were a consequence of the last 10 to 15 years of immigration policy, Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet reports.
“There are also ethnic Swedes engaged in group violence, but not in the same numbers as foreign-born offenders,” Springare said. The comments, which were recorded by broadcaster TV4, have since been reported to Bergslagen police who have announced that an internal investigation will likely take place.
The communications manager for the police in Bergslagen confirmed that the report would be passed on to internal investigators and said that Springare’s comments could potentially harm public trust in the police.
Others were far more critical of the remarks with Secretary General of Sweden’s Law Society Anne Ramberg commenting: “It is remarkable. All civil servants and most policymakers must have better judgement and adhere to our form of government and the value base it expresses. These statements are almost racist.”
Lawyer of migrant who filmed Facebook livestream rape in Sweden claims client "did Not understand" it was rape https://t.co/uVj3UplyJe
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) 12 August 2017
Last year, Springare blew the whistle on migrant crime claiming that almost all serious crimes were committed by migrants. Many at the time labelled Springare a racist for his remarks, to which he replied: “If you can’t discuss the problem of crime among immigrants without it being called racist propaganda, things are very bad.”
Read More @ Breitbart.com
Israeli Police Recommend Netanyahu Indictment on Corruption Charges for Fraud, Bribery
from 21st Century Wire:
We’d to say this is great news, but one can sense that Netanyahu could wiggle out of this situation, perhaps by escalating hostilities with Syria and Lebanon…
Following sustained protests which have carried over since late 2017, Israeli police are now recommending an indictment for Israel’s ‘Crime Minister’ Benjamin Netanyahu be indicted on charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust.
This comes after the Israeli high court notified police of their indictment recommendations following two long-running corruption investigations into the office of the Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, the PM’s office downplayed the police report saying, “we don’t attach any importance to the recommendations, the value of which everyone now understands.”
While the charges sound impressive, there is a high likelihood that Netanyahu will be able to skirt the allegations, which are not earth shattering, and lightweight compared to what other countries consider a ‘corruption scandal’. RT International states:
“The Israeli leader is mired in two separate corruption investigations. The first, known as Case 1000, revolves around him allegedly accepting luxury gifts worth tens of thousands of dollars from an Israeli-American billionaire. The second, which is referred to as Case 2000, is focused on his rumored deal with the influential Yedioth newspaper for better coverage in return for a crackdown on its rival outlet. Netanyahu, who denies all the allegations, is likely to face charges in the first probe, Israeli media reported last week.”
Read More @ 21stCenturyWire.com
Uh Oh! General Mattis Admits No Evidence Of Assad Using Poison Gas On His Own People
by Tim Brown, Freedom Outpost:
As Rep. Thomas Massie said when it all went down, “The first casualty in war is the truth.”
I do have to say, I’m shocked that this would actually be acknowledged, but not at all surprised by the truth since we have been those pointing out that both the Obama administration and the Trump administration were lying to us about Assad using Sarin gas on his own people in Syria.
Newsweek has the story:
Lost in the hyper-politicized hullabaloo surrounding the Nunes Memorandum and the Steele Dossier was the striking statement by Secretary of Defense James Mattis that the U.S. has “no evidence” that the Syrian government used the banned nerve agent Sarin against its own people.
This assertion flies in the face of the White House (NSC) Memorandum which was rapidly produced and declassified to justify an American Tomahawk missile strike against the Shayrat airbase in Syria.
Mattis offered no temporal qualifications, which means that both the 2017 event in Khan Sheikhoun and the 2013 tragedy in Ghouta are unsolved cases in the eyes of the Defense Department and Defense Intelligence Agency.
Mattis went on to acknowledge that “aid groups and others” had provided evidence and reports but stopped short of naming President Assad as the culprit.
There were casualties from organophosphate poisoning in both cases; that much is certain. But America has accused Assad of direct responsibility for Sarin attacks and even blamed Russia for culpability in the Khan Sheikhoun tragedy.
Now its own military boss has said on the record that we have no evidence to support this conclusion. In so doing, Mattis tacitly impugned the interventionists who were responsible for pushing the “Assad is guilty” narrative twice without sufficient supporting evidence, at least in the eyes of the Pentagon.
This dissonance between the White House and the Department of Defense is especially troubling when viewed against the chorus of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) experts who have been questioning the (Obama and Trump) White House narratives concerning chemical weapons in Syria since practically the moment these “Assad-ordered events” occurred.
OK, so let’s just chalk it all up to the military industrial complex and the mainstream media feeding us the bull that we needed to be involved in Syria in the first place. It’s sort of like that line that came out of the Bush administration about “WMD’s in Iraq,” right?
In any case, Zero Hedge points out that the attacks could only have three originators.
- The Syrian government
- The fighters of whichever group, like Al-Nusra or ISIS who elected to use this to frame the Syrian government, and;
- The US, in an attempt to frame the Assad regime.
Tyler Durden writes:
The Americans were not invited to help Assad, so their presence in Syria is an inconvenient truth – Syria cannot expel them, but they were never wanted, and even by the American people, involvement in yet another Middle Eastern nation is not high on the “things I want my country to do” list for most Americans.
The loser in this situation is the United States, because of the mishandling of this conflict. While most of the conflict and the American action in it took place during the Obama era, it is probably the case that if the USA simply gathered all its troops and equipment and retreated to Israel or the Mediterranean Sea, or just plain left, the result might be a great deal worse for the Russian and Syrian national forces already there.
The problem here is that there may well be a serious intelligence breach or failure that created or allowed the decision to launch that Tomahawk strike. Russia Today also ran the Mattis piece, because to do so suits the Russian narrative that there is no way Bashar Assad would use gas on his own people. Indeed, it does not make rational sense to a Westerner how a dictator retains power when his country is already a war zone and watched by world powers. To do a mass killing of one’s own citizens under such a watchful eye seems a highly absurd course for any leader to take.
The further problem is the reality of conditions on the ground. As this report points out, the Americans may be in a situation where foolish decisions by previous administrations and maybe even this one, have created a situation where they cannot leave.
Well, I”m not convinced of that. We got involved by training, funding and arming Islamic jihadis under the Obama administration. We continually tried to stick our nose into Syria where it didn’t belong.
Then, President Donald Trump, unconstitutionally attacked Syria with a plethora of missiles due to a lie his own Defense Department couldn’t not even prove to support the claims.
Read More @ FreedomOutpost.com
Declassified: Comey Had Secret Russia Meeting With Obama Amid “Unmaskings”
from ZeroHedge:
An odd email sent moments after the inauguration by former National Security Advisor Susan Rice, apparently to herself, describes a January 5, 2017 meeting between members of the U.S. intelligence community and President Obama, while Rice and the Obama were knee deep in “unmasking” the Trump team.
We also know from recently released text messages between anti-Trump FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page that “potus wants to know everything we’re doing.”
In her email, Rice very deliberately notes that President Obama “stressed his continued commitment to ensuring that every aspect of this issue is handled by the Intelligence and law enforcement communities “by the book“. and that Obama “stressed that he is not asking about, initiating or instructing anything from a law enforcement perspective.”
Rice’s “CYA” email to herself is so bizarre in light of the fact that we now know the Trump-Russia investigation was anything but “by the book,” that Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-IA) fired off a letter asking her just what in tarnation she knows.
Grassley/Graham release a partially redacted email sent by Susan Rice to herself on Jan. 20, 2017 — 15 minutes after Trump took office — detailing a Jan. 5 Oval Office meeting w Obama about Russian hacking: pic.twitter.com/QRnYTmOfXF
— Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) 12 February 2018
“It strikes us as odd that, among your activities in the final moments on the final day of the Obama administration, you would feel the need to send yourself such an unusual email purporting to document a conversation involving President Obama and his interactions with the FBI regarding the Trump/Russia investigation,” the two senators told Rice.
Comey
In addition to Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, VP Joe Biden, Obama and Rice, the fifth participant in the Jan 5, 2017 meeting was none other than former FBI Director James Brien Comey Jr., also known as “Boyscoutish” Jim.
What’s notable about Comey’s attendance in the meeting is that it appears he misled Congress about his contact with President Obama.
Previously, Comey contended he only met with the Obama twice, once in 2015 and another “to say goodbye in late 2016,” according the former FBI director’s June 8, 2017, testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.
“I spoke alone with President Obama twice in person (and never on the phone) – once in 2015 to discuss law enforcement policy issues and a second time, briefly, for him to say goodbye in late 2016,” Comey’s opening statement read. –Daily Caller
Comey’s prepared statement to congress deliberately omits the January 5 meeting, and qualifies his meetings with Obama as “alone.” In other words, since the Jan 5 meeting wasn’t “alone,” Comey didn’t include it – thus, it appears he deliberately mislead Congress about his communications with President Obama.
So while the former FBI Director painted a picture of minimal communication between the FBI, DOJ, and the Obama Administration in his briefing to Congress – we now know that they were in virtual lockstep over their efforts to surveil Donald Trump as a candidate, an incoming President, and a sitting President.
Obama
We also learned in the last week that President Obama was far more “hands on” the FBI investigation than he previously admitted – as revealed in a batch of text messages between anti-Trump FBI agents Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, in which Page tells Strzok “potus wants to know everything we’re doing.”
Read More @ ZeroHedge.com
House Intelligence Panel Issues Seven Subpoenas as Russia Probe Ramps Up
by Byron Tau and Shane Harris, Wall St Journal:
WASHINGTON—The House Intelligence Committee issued seven subpoenas on Wednesday, in a sign that its investigation into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 election is advancing in scope and intensity, according to people familiar with the matter.
The Republican-led committee issued four subpoenas related to the Russia investigation, targeting President Donald Trump’s former national security adviser Mike Flynn, Mr. Trump’s personal attorney, Michael Cohen, and their businesses. The committee is also investigating possible ties between Trump associates and Russia.
The other three subpoenas were issued to the National Security Agency, the FBI and the Central Intelligence Agency for information about a procedure known as “unmasking.” The subpoenas are related to questions about how and why the names of the president’s associates were unredacted and distributed within classified reports by Obama administration officials during the transition between administrations.
Wednesday’s requests were the first subpoenas issued by the House committee in the Russia probe so far and showcase the continuing divide within the committee over the direction of the probe. Democrats are seeking an aggressive investigation into Mr. Trump and his associates, and Republicans are pushing for a probe into the unmasking.
Mr. Trump tweeted early Thursday: “The big story is the ‘unmasking and surveillance’ of people that took place during the Obama Administration.”
The Senate Intelligence Committee also is examining suspected Russian involvement in last year’s campaign. That panel is expected to hear testimony as early as next week from former FBI Director James Comey, who was overseeing the agency’s Russia investigation until Mr. Trump fired him on May 9. Russia has denied interfering with the election and Mr. Trump has denied that his associates colluded with the Russian government.
Mr. Comey is expected to testify Mr. Trump asked him to back off the investigation of Mr. Flynn, according to a person familiar with the matter. The panel’s request for Mr. Comey’s testimony was sparked by his abrupt dismissal by Mr. Trump and allegations that Mr. Trump may have been trying to interfere in the continuing investigation. The president has denied the allegations. Mr. Flynn was forced to resign in February after misleading senior White House officials about his conversations in December with the Russian ambassador.
The probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation is now headed by former agency director Robert Mueller, who was tapped by the Justice Department to serve as a special counsel.
The House investigation suffered a setback when its Republican chairman Devin Nunes was forced to step aside in April after an ethics complaint was filed over his handling of classified materials. Mr. Nunes remains the chairman of the committee but recused himself from the Russia inquiry.
Mr. Nunes signed all seven subpoenas despite his recusal, according to people familiar with the matter. A GOP congressional aide said that the unmasking investigation was now considered separate from the Russia probe, allowing Mr. Nunes to act on his own authority even while recused.
Democrats on the committee criticized the move, saying they didn’t consent to the unmasking subpoenas. “This action would have been taken without the minority’s agreement. Any prior requests for information would have been undertaken without the minority’s knowledge,” said a senior Democratic committee aide.
Democrats are seeking an aggressive probe of Mr. Trump and his associates, including questions about whether they had any contact with Russian agents.
Republicans on the committee are pushing for an investigation of how the names of Trump campaign officials became exposed in classified intelligence reports based off intelligence community intercepts, as well as questions about how classified information about Mr. Trump’s associates was given to the media.
Mr. Nunes first raised the issue of unmasking in March based on information he received from the White House.
Typically, information about Americans intercepted in foreign surveillance is redacted, even in classified reports distributed within the government, unless a compelling need exists to reveal or “unmask” them. Unmasking requests aren’t uncommon by top intelligence community officials but Republicans want to know whether any of the unmaskings of Trump campaign officials during the transition were politically motivated.
The most recent subpoenas to the intelligence agencies seek information on any requests made by former national security adviser Susan Rice, former CIA Director John Brennan and former United Nations Ambassador Samantha Power for names to be unmasked in classified material. The three didn’t personally receive subpoenas, the people familiar with the matter said.
Mr. Brennan, Ms. Rice and Ms. Power didn’t respond to requests for comment. Ms. Rice in April told CNN she never did anything “untoward” with intelligence collected on American citizens, including Trump aides working on the transition.
Ms. Power hasn’t previously been reported as a potential witness in the probe so her inclusion in the subpoenas may mean Republicans are broadening their areas of investigation.
Unmasking is typically restricted to high-level officials to safeguard the privacy of Americans caught up in U.S. government spy operations directed at foreign targets. Typically, only top officials within the intelligence agencies and the administration have the ability to ask for unmasking, which is approved by the agency that controls the information.
Read More @ WSJ.com
