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Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Judicial Watch: 'We Now Have Enough Evidence to Arrest Hillary Clinton' Watchdog President Tom Fitton says Clinton can now be jailed for corruption

Judicial Watch: 'We Now Have Enough Evidence to Arrest Hillary Clinton' Watchdog President Tom Fitton says Clinton can now be jailed for corruption

Read more at: http://www.theneonnettle.com/news/3666-judicial-watch-we-now-have-enough-evidence-to-arrest-hillary-clinton-
© Neon Nettle
 Judicial Watch: 'We Now Have Enough Evidence to Arrest Hillary Clinton' Watchdog President Tom Fitton says Clinton can now be jailed for corruption
Judicial Watch: 'We Now Have Enough Evidence to Arrest Hillary Clinton' Watchdog President Tom Fitton says Clinton can now be jailed for corruption

Read more at: http://www.theneonnettle.com/news/3666-judicial-watch-we-now-have-enough-evidence-to-arrest-hillary-clinton-
© Neon Nettle

http://www.theneonnettle.com/news/3666-judicial-watch-we-now-have-enough-evidence-to-arrest-hillary-clinton-

What Changes When AI Is So Accessible That Everyone Can Use It?

What Changes When AI Is So Accessible That Everyone Can Use It?: Off-the-shelf tools will shift competitive advantage.

Fr. Warren's Week Reflection


Clouds
THIS WEEK'S REFLECTION from Fr. Bob Warren, SA
Today we read about Jesus speaking in the synagogue at Capernaum. Mark does not tell us a single word that He spoke. Instead, he deals with the reaction of the listeners, and it seems they were divided. Most of the people were favorably impressed. Mark says they were spellbound by Jesus' teaching because He taught with authority.
All except one man, who screams at Jesus, "What have You to do with us? Have You come to destroy us?" Mark tells us that he was possessed by a demon, an unclean spirit. In those days that was a common explanation for almost anything. Today we would probably say that the man was emotionally disturbed.
This man did take Jesus seriously, he understood that Jesus was a threat to his present way of living. Sometimes we tend to forget what a disturbing presence Jesus could be. Take a casual stroll through the pages of the New Testament, and you will meet all sorts of people whose lives were disrupted by His influence. Even before His birth, He drastically altered the plans of Mary and Joseph.
Remember Zaccheus ‑ He was probably the wealthiest man in Jerico, a tax collector. That was, until he opened the doors of his home and heart to Jesus. That brief visit cost him most of his fortune: he ended up giving half of his money to the poor, and repaying all of his fraudulent gains with interest.
Then we have Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathie. Both had reached the pinnacle of their careers, both were wealthy. And both were changed by a meeting with Jesus, their conscience pulling them in one direction, toward Jesus, and their career pulling them in another. In fact, we read that Joseph of Arimathie secretly became a disciple of Jesus.
The pattern of disrupting people's lives did not end with the crucifixion, Jesus still changed people.
Saul of Tarsus was killing the followers of Christ. He encountered the Lord on the road to Damascus, and Saul became Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, spreading the Gospel all over the known world. It is because of him that we are sitting here today.
It is incredible, the kind of things that Christ has done to people, and is still doing, from Mother Teresa to Martin Luther King. And the countless thousands of people who, day in and day out, struggle to be His followers, good people, here tonight.... Everywhere!
That man in the synagogue was right. We can call him demon‑possessed, or emotionally unbalanced. Call him what you like, but he was aware that involvement with this Jesus would change him. I am not sure that the rest of the crowd that day knew it. O yes, they were spellbound by His teaching, but did they take that teaching to heart? Apply it to their own lives?
Perhaps, from time to time, we all need Jesus to expel demons from our lives. Demons of an unforgiving spirit, or a selfish attitude, a prejudiced mind.... Whatever it is that keeps you from a closer relationship with Christ. Those things in our lives that we know are wrong, those things that make us uncomfortable in His presence.
We know beyond doubt that we can put our faith and trust in this Jesus, He taught us not just to exist, but to live, live for Him! Because He is the only one that can speak with divine authority.
It is never too late to change, no matter what our age or background. Never too late to let go of those things that keep you from a closer relationship with Jesus. It comes down to the question, who do you allow to have authority in your life? Who controls and rules you? Someone? Something? Or worse of all, Nothing?!
There was a man on retreat at Graymoor, and on his sweatshirt were the words, "Jesus Christ is Lord." Another retreatant made fun of this man, saying that was too much and over the top. This man had the words "Calvin Klein" on his shirt.
This leads me to a question: do we follow where our culture wants to lead us? Or do we follow the one who speaks with authority? The one who said... I am the way, the truth, and life.
Fr. Robert Warren, S.A.
Yours in Christ,
Fr. Robert Warren, S.A. Signature
Fr. Robert Warren, S.A.
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Welcome to America, Terrorists! Right This Way for Student Visas!

Welcome to America, Terrorists! Right This Way for Student Visas!

by Majid Rafizadeh  •  January 31, 2018 at 4:00 am
  • "Foreign students have one of the highest rates of overstaying visas of any category -- much higher even than tourist visas. It's one of the favorite visas for terrorists to try to obtain, because it offers a longer duration of stay." — Jessica M. Vaughan, the director of policy studies for the Center for Immigration Studies.
  • According to the Department of Homeland Security, there were approximately 739,000 immigrants who overstayed their visas last year alone. Roughly 80,000 of those were foreign students.
  • Worse, jihadists do not even need to obtain a university admission to set foot in the US. They can get a student visa by obtaining an admission from a school to learn English. Many of these Islamists can alter their area of study once they set foot in the US. An agent of the Iranian regime, for instance, may get a visa to study English in the US, but once he arrives, he can switch that major to study nuclear physics, to help his regime obtain nuclear weapons.
(Image source: US State Department)
Recently, in the middle of a speech at a conference in Europe about the threats of radical jihadist groups, a young imam stood up and vehemently voiced his objection to my remarks. At the end of the conference, the imam and several of his followers came forward. The imam insisted that Americans should be educated about Sharia law.
One of the imam's followers spoke up, his voice filled with excitement as he described how they had just entered Europe and their next destination was the US. When asked what their experience was like traveling to Europe, the man responded with a tone of gloating in his voice.
"It was very easy," he said. "We came here on a student visa, and we will be in the US on another student visa!"
What the man claimed was tragically true. Many Islamists have become adept at manipulating the flaws in the immigration system and have found ways of taking advantage of any legal loopholes.

Europe: Making Totalitarianism Great Again

Europe: Making Totalitarianism Great Again

by Judith Bergman  •  January 31, 2018 at 5:00 am
  • The European Union has programs in place that seek heavily to influence mainstream news outlets and journalists with its own agendas -- such as that of continued mass-migration into Europe from Africa and the Middle East. For this purpose, the European Commission recently funded the publication of a handbook with guidelines for journalists on how to write about migrants and migration.
  • It is seemingly in the interest of these media representatives to label competition from alternative or new media, "fake news".
  • A proposed French law would allow authorities to block websites during election seasons, a draconian measure to combat political opponents, which would place France in the same category as countries such as China and Iran that block websites that do not suit the agendas of the regime.
Both European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker (left) and French President Emmanuel Macron (right) are proposing restrictions that would violate the right to freedom of expression and information that is guaranteed in the European Convention on Human Rights. (Image source: European Commission)
The European Union is intensifying its efforts to censor and marginalize voices that disagree with its policies under the convenient euphemism of combating "fake news".
"The Commission needs to look into the challenges the online platforms create for our democracies as regards the spreading of fake information and initiate a reflection on what would be needed at EU level to protect our citizens," wrote Jean-Claude Juncker, President of the European Commission, in May 2017. How considerate that Juncker, in totalitarian fashion, wishes to protect EU citizens from news that does not fit the Commission's narratives and agendas.

Meeting Demands of Millions of Job-Seekers Tops Arab Concerns | Asharq AL-awsat

Meeting Demands of Millions of Job-Seekers Tops Arab Concerns | Asharq AL-awsat: Middle-East Arab News and Opinion - Asharq Al-Awsat is the world’s premier pan-Arab daily newspaper, printed simultaneously each day on four continents in 14 cities

Victor Cha's withdrawl and Trump's tough talk on North Korea worry South Korea - The Washington Post

Victor Cha's withdrawl and Trump's tough talk on North Korea worry South Korea - The Washington Post: As Trump threatens a “bloody nose,” North Korea plans a new military parade.

The Remarkable Scale of Turkey's "Global Purge" | Foreign Affairs

The Remarkable Scale of Turkey's "Global Purge" | Foreign Affairs: Turkey's “global purge,” which mirrors the effort after the coup attempt to rid Turkey’s domestic institutions of anyone associated with Gulen, is remarkable in its speed, scale, and aggression.

Attacks Reveal What U.S. Won’t: Victory Remains Elusive in Afghanistan - The New York Times

Attacks Reveal What U.S. Won’t: Victory Remains Elusive in Afghanistan - The New York Times: In his State of the Union address, President Trump is expected to promote his strategy to win the war in Afghanistan. He’ll be the third president to do so.

The future of war - The new battlegrounds

The future of war - The new battlegrounds: IN THE PAST, predictions about future warfare have often put too much emphasis on new technologies and doctrines.

Republican response to Trump’s assault on the Justice Department: A collective yawn - The Washington Post

Republican response to Trump’s assault on the Justice Department: A collective yawn - The Washington Post: No, the dam will never break for Republicans.

The Left Goes Scorched-Earth Over the Nunes Memo | The Rush Limbaugh Show

The Left Goes Scorched-Earth Over the Nunes Memo | The Rush Limbaugh Show

Did The FBI Vouch For The Crazy Russian Deal From The Steele Dossier?

Did The FBI Vouch For The Crazy Russian Deal From The Steele Dossier?: Any FISA judge who issued surveillance warrants against Page based on this tall tale would have to have his head examined.

The Libertarian: What The Post Gets Wrong About Free Speech | Hoover Institution

The Libertarian: What The Post Gets Wrong About Free Speech | Hoover Institution

From Conspiracy Theories to Conspiracies - American Greatness

From Conspiracy Theories to Conspiracies - American Greatness

Israel just created a new type of terrorism - Opinion - Israel News | Haaretz.com

Israel just created a new type of terrorism - Opinion - Israel News | Haaretz.com: On the Knesset website appears a new category of terrorism, ‘construction terror.’ Those convicted in advance include the Palestinian Authority, the Bedouin — and the European Union.

The World the Cold War Built | The American Conservative

The World the Cold War Built | The American Conservative

How U.S. Allies Are Adapting to "America First" | Foreign Affairs

How U.S. Allies Are Adapting to "America First" | Foreign Affairs: One year after Trump’s inauguration, the liberal order has not collapsed. But it is in distress as the president turns his back on the world the United States made to embrace a nationalist and isolationist foreign policy.

Unpacking the Shadowy Outfit Behind 2017’s Biggest Fake News Story – Consortiumnews

Unpacking the Shadowy Outfit Behind 2017’s Biggest Fake News Story – Consortiumnews

The coming crash as men and women go their own way

The coming crash as men and women go their own way: Summary: Men and women are going their own way. The result might be a crisis of unimaginable size and more difficult to fix than putting Humpty Dumpty together again. Think of it as social entropy, an arrow that runs in only one direction. Emma Watson going her own way. Women going their own way. Vogue and…

The King File: Future of Work, Euro Trains, the Grammys

The King File: Future of Work, Euro Trains, the Grammys

Tuesday, January 30, 2018

China Builds Bridges and Highways While the U.S. Mouths Slogans - WSJ

China Builds Bridges and Highways While the U.S. Mouths Slogans - WSJ

The World the Cold War Built | The American Conservative

The World the Cold War Built | The American Conservative

Silicon Valley’s 2017 Report Card

Silicon Valley’s 2017 Report Card


https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609628/silicon-valleys-2017-report-card/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_content=2017-01-30&utm_campaign=Technology+Review

Judicial Watch: Why Are the Agents Who Conspired Against Donald Trump Still Working for the FBI?

Judicial Watch: Why Are the Agents Who Conspired Against Donald Trump Still Working for the FBI?

Internal DOJ probe focused on McCabe's handling of Clinton emails

 Internal DOJ probe focused on McCabe's handling of Clinton emails

https://www.axios.com/mccabe-investigated-over-clinton-emails-fae6ced1-3908-42e1-a742-37b714550004.html

How We Got Donald Trump (And How We Might Have Avoided Him)

How We Got Donald Trump
(And How We Might Have Avoided Him)
By Andrew J. Bacevich
The present arrives out of a past that we are too quick to forget, misremember, or enshroud in myth.  Yet like it or not, the present is the product of past choices.  Different decisions back then might have yielded very different outcomes in the here-and-now.  Donald Trump ascended to the presidency as a consequence of myriad choices that Americans made (or had made for them) over the course of decades. Although few of those were made with Trump in mind, he is the result.
Where exactly did Trump come from?  How are we to account for his noxious presence as commander-in-chief and putative Leader of the Free World?  The explanations currently on offer are legion.  Some blame the nefarious Steve Bannon, others Hillary Clinton and her lackluster campaign.  Or perhaps the fault lies with the Bernie Sanders insurgency, which robbed Clinton of the momentum she needed to win, or with Little Marco, Lyin’ Ted, and Low Energy Jeb, and the other pathetic Republicans whom Trump trampled underfoot en route to claiming the nomination.  Or perhaps the real villains are all those “deplorables” -- the angry and ignorant white males whose disdain for immigrants, feminists, gays, and people of color Trump stoked and manipulated to great effect.
All such explanations, however, suggest that the relevant story began somewhere around June 2015 when Donald Trump astonished the political world by announcing his intention to seek the presidency.  My aim here is to suggest that the origins of the real story are to be found much earlier.  The conditions that enabled Trump to capture the presidency stemmed from acts of commission and omission that occurred well before he rode down that escalator at Trump Tower to offer his services to the nation.
Click here to read more of this dispatch.
http://www.tomdispatch.com/post/176379/tomgram%3A_andrew_bacevich%2C_american_paths%2C_chosen_and_not_%281989-2018%29/#more

Seven Days in January

Seven Days in January: The politicization of DOJ and FBI is coming to a head.

Identity Politics and Our Racialized Government | Frontpage Mag

Identity Politics and Our Racialized Government | Frontpage Mag: Census Bureau refuses to midwife yet another identity-grievance scam.

Expected Clinton Victory Explains Federal Employee Wrongdoing | National Review

Expected Clinton Victory Explains Federal Employee Wrongdoing | National Review: What now appears clearly unethical and probably illegal would have passed as normal in a likely 16-year Obama-Clinton progressive continuum ...

Expected Clinton Victory Explains Federal Employee Wrongdoing | National Review

Expected Clinton Victory Explains Federal Employee Wrongdoing | National Review: What now appears clearly unethical and probably illegal would have passed as normal in a likely 16-year Obama-Clinton progressive continuum ...

Meet the man poised to take over the world economy - The Boston Globe

Meet the man poised to take over the world economy - The Boston Globe: Watch out, Amazon.

A public funding law that could fix campaign finance | The Sacramento Bee

A public funding law that could fix campaign finance | The Sacramento Bee: Vouchers to publicly finance election are already being tried in Seattle and South Dakota. How about a national experiment?

Monday, January 29, 2018

House Intel votes to make Nunes memo public | TheHill

House Intel votes to make Nunes memo public | TheHill: The House Intelligence Committee on Monday evening voted to make public a GOP-crafted memo alleging what some Republicans say are “shocking” surveillance abuses at the Department of Justice (DOJ).

The Trump administration says it wants to nationalize the 5G network - MIT Technology Review

The Trump administration says it wants to nationalize the 5G network - MIT Technology Review: President Donald Trump’s national security team is considering how best to build a national 5G network.

Too Many Wars. Too Many Enemies | Patrick J. Buchanan - Official Website

Too Many Wars. Too Many Enemies | Patrick J. Buchanan - Official Website

Europe to Trump: If You Want a Trade War, You'll Get One - Bloomberg

Europe to Trump: If You Want a Trade War, You'll Get One - Bloomberg: The European Union gave President Donald Trump a fresh warning about any U.S. curbs on imports from Europe by pledging rapid retaliation, highlighting the persistent risk of a trans-Atlantic trade war.

Another Long War Unfolds in Syria

Another Long War Unfolds in Syria: The U.S. plan to establish and train a majority-Kurdish border security force in the tumultuous country despite the objections of Turkey, Iran and Russia will kick off the next phase of the unending conflict.

This Leaked Government Brexit Analysis Says The UK Will Be Worse Off In Every Scenario

This Leaked Government Brexit Analysis Says The UK Will Be Worse Off In Every Scenario: Exclusive: BuzzFeed News has seen a new Brexit impact assessment, which says leaving the EU will adversely hit almost every sector and every UK region.

Remembering Investigative Journalist Robert Parry | The Nation

Remembering Investigative Journalist Robert Parry | The Nation: What made Bob Parry a trailblazer for independent journalism also made him a bridge burner with the media establishment.

Wait for it: House Intelligence Committee on cusp of vote to release allege blockbuster FISA memo

Wait for it: House Intelligence Committee on cusp of vote to release allege blockbuster FISA memo: The House Intelligence Committee has scheduled a business meeting for 5PM ET today and they may vote on a memo from Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA), which alleges

FBI Director Chris Wray and Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein Visit White House… | The Last Refuge

FBI Director Chris Wray and Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein Visit White House… | The Last Refuge: According to most media reports the Justice Department viewed the House Intelligence Committee memo yesterday; and with Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe being removed, there's a myriad of reasons why FBI Director Wray and Deputy AG Rosenstein could be visiting the White House. . Two possibilities include: •Candidate recommendations for replacement FBI Deputy Director. •Discussion…

NYT: Chris Wray put pressure on McCabe to quit after finding “something concerning” in IG report


https://hotair.com/archives/2018/01/29/nyt-chris-wray-put-pressure-mccabe-quit-finding-something-concerning-ig-report/

West Coast pro-life walk draws tens of thousands to San Francisco streets | National Catholic Reporter

West Coast pro-life walk draws tens of thousands to San Francisco streets | National Catholic Reporter: Smiling and singing "Amazing Grace" and the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," hundreds of high school and college students led tens of thousands of pro-life supporters along San Franc...

Pope’s Morning Homily: Humiliation Makes Us More Christlike

 

Pope’s Morning Homily: Humiliation Makes Us More Christlike

Francis Reminds There Is No True Humility Without Humiliation

https://zenit.org/articles/popes-morning-homily-no-humility-without-humiliation/

World faces wave of epic debt defaults, fears central bank veteran - Telegraph

World faces wave of epic debt defaults, fears central bank veteran - Telegraph: What happens when a generous donor and honorary degree recipient has been
accused of sexual misconduct? Universities are finding the path forward is
far from obvious.

To Revoke or Not to Revoke? Colleges Grapple with Honorary Degrees in the #MeToo Era — Inside Philanthropy

To Revoke or Not to Revoke? Colleges Grapple with Honorary Degrees in the #MeToo Era — Inside Philanthropy

First ‘Jackpotting’ Attacks Hit U.S. ATMs — Krebs on Security

First ‘Jackpotting’ Attacks Hit U.S. ATMs — Krebs on Security

Algorithms are making American inequality worse - MIT Technology Review

Algorithms are making American inequality worse - MIT Technology Review: In a new book, political scientist Virginia Eubanks says using computers to decide who gets social services hurts the poor.

Japan raps Coincheck, orders broader checks after $530 million cryptocurrency theft

Japan raps Coincheck, orders broader checks after $530 million cryptocurrency theft: Japanese authorities said on Monday they would investigate all cryptocurrency exchanges in the country for security gaps and ordered Coincheck to raise its standards after hackers stole $530 million of digital money from the Tokyo-based exchange.

Coincheck promises 46bn yen refund after cryptocurrency theft - BBC News

Coincheck promises 46bn yen refund after cryptocurrency theft - BBC News: Tokyo-based digital currency exchange Coincheck says it will reimburse some 260,000 victims of theft.

Coincheck Confirms Crypto Hack Loss Larger than Mt Gox - CoinDesk

Coincheck Confirms Crypto Hack Loss Larger than Mt Gox - CoinDesk

At Least Three Billion Computer Chips Have the Spectre Security Hole - MIT Technology Review

At Least Three Billion Computer Chips Have the Spectre Security Hole - MIT Technology Review: Companies are rushing out software fixes for Chipmageddon.

Intel Warned Chinese Companies of Chip Flaws Before U.S. Government - WSJ

Intel Warned Chinese Companies of Chip Flaws Before U.S. Government - WSJ: In initial disclosures about critical security flaws discovered in its processors, Intel notified a small group of customers, including Chinese technology companies, but left out the U.S. government, according to people familiar with the matter and some of the companies involved.

U.S. soldiers are revealing sensitive and dangerous information by jogging - The Washington Post

U.S. soldiers are revealing sensitive and dangerous information by jogging - The Washington Post: Strava’s Global Heat Map shows where soldiers may be sleeping, exercising, patrolling and eating in some of the most sensitive and secretive military sites in the world.

Fitness tracking app Strava gives away location of secret US army bases | Technology | The Guardian

Fitness tracking app Strava gives away location of secret US army bases | Technology | The Guardian: Data about exercise routes shared online by soldiers can be used to pinpoint overseas facilities

Republican House ‘leaders’ are complicit in obstruction - The Washington Post

Republican House ‘leaders’ are complicit in obstruction - The Washington Post: Congressional leaders are Trump flunkies.

Golden boy Robert Mueller's forgotten surveillance crime spree | TheHill

Golden boy Robert Mueller's forgotten surveillance crime spree | TheHill

Sunday, January 28, 2018

Tomgram: Danny Sjursen, Wrong on Nam, Wrong on Terror | TomDispatch

Tomgram: Danny Sjursen, Wrong on Nam, Wrong on Terror | TomDispatch: null

Peril on the sea: Why are so many megaships sinking?


Peril on the sea: Why are so many megaships sinking?

About 100 giant ships carrying metal ores sank in the last decade, often in calm seas – a frightening stat that goes to the heart of an industry hitting the rocks

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23731623-200-peril-on-the-sea-why-are-so-many-megaships-sinking/?cmpid=EMP|NSNS|2018-0128-GLOBAL-JanWk4_Shipping|button&utm_medium=EMP&utm_source=NSNS&utm_campaign=JanWk4_Shipping&utm_content=button&cmpid

The alarming reason Israeli and Palestinian activists are growing closer - Israel News - Haaretz.com

The alarming reason Israeli and Palestinian activists are growing closer - Israel News - Haaretz.com

Unpacking the Shadowy Outfit Behind 2017’s Biggest Fake News Story – Consortiumnews

Unpacking the Shadowy Outfit Behind 2017’s Biggest Fake News Story – Consortiumnews

Bishop Barron's Daily Gospel Reflection Sunday January 28,2018

Your daily Gospel reflection...
Sunday, January 28, 2018
4th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Mark 1:21-28
Friends, in our Gospel Jesus came to Capernaum and entered the synagogue on a Sabbath, where he began to teach. Then it says that the "people were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority and not as the scribes." The ordinary teachers would have appealed to their own teachers and authorities, and finally to Moses and the Torah, which were unassailable.

Now what would prevent the people from saying that he was just crazy? Well, watch what happens next. Into the synagogue there rushed a man with "an unclean spirit." And he knows who Jesus is: "I know who you are—the Holy One of God."

But then Jesus demonstrates his authority: "‘Quiet, come out of him!’ And the unclean spirit convulsed him with a loud cry and came out of him." The claim to God’s own authority is now ratified by showing power over the spiritual realm.

And now they—and we—have to make a decision. Are we with him or are we against him? If he is who he says he is and who he demonstrates himself to be, then we have to give our lives to him.

Pope’s Homily for Feast of Translation of ‘Salus Populi Romani’ Marian Icon – ZENIT – English

Pope’s Homily for Feast of Translation of ‘Salus Populi Romani’ Marian Icon – ZENIT – English

‘How Long Will the Afghan People Have to Endure This Inhumane Violence?’ Asks Pope – ZENIT – English

‘How Long Will the Afghan People Have to Endure This Inhumane Violence?’ Asks Pope – ZENIT – English

A Strategist’s Guide to China’s Belt and Road Initiative

A Strategist’s Guide to China’s Belt and Road Initiative: A new global megaproject, unparalleled in scope and ambition, presents vast opportunities and risks for multinationals.

Congress needs to take a look at constitutional use of military force | TheHill

Congress needs to take a look at constitutional use of military force | TheHill

Europe, Don’t Go All wobbly on the JCPOA! – LobeLog

Europe, Don’t Go All wobbly on the JCPOA! – LobeLog

Thousands of Syrians in the US await pivotal decision on protections | US news | The Guardian

Thousands of Syrians in the US await pivotal decision on protections | US news | The Guardian: This week Trump’s administration may revoke temporary protected status for thousands and send them back to dangerous conditions

Flooding in Paris – in pictures | World news | The Guardian

Flooding in Paris – in pictures | World news | The Guardian: Paris remained on flood alert after the Seine burst its banks, leaving streets inundated and forcing part of the Louvre to close

Jordan's King Abdullah calls for Palestinian capital in East Jeru

Jordan's King Abdullah calls for Palestinian capital in East Jeru: US President Donald Trump recognised Jerusalem as Israel's capital on 6 December and declared last week that the city was 'off the table'.

Wall Street Impunity: Why Kleptocrats Love America - The Globalist

Wall Street Impunity: Why Kleptocrats Love America - The Globalist: Those at the top of Wall Street finance know that what they do may be wrong – but not necessarily illegal. And so they carry on, under the “watchful” eye of US authorities.

Robert Parry RIP

Ray McGovern informs us that Bob Parry died last night.  Proximate cause: a third stroke.  Actual cause: shock at how corrupt his beloved profession of journalism has become.

After his first stroke on Christmas eve, greatly hindered with terribly blurred vision, he wrote an apology to his readers.  It is worth reading again.

May he rest in peace.  And may we recover from our current confusion.

An Apology and Explanation

From Editor Robert Parry: For readers who have come to see Consortiumnews as a daily news source, I would like to extend my personal apology for our spotty production in recent days. On Christmas Eve, I suffered a stroke that has affected my eyesight (especially my reading and thus my writing) although apparently not much else. The doctors have also been working to figure out exactly what happened since I have never had high blood pressure, I never smoked, and my recent physical found nothing out of the ordinary. Perhaps my personal slogan that “every day’s a work day” had something to do with this.

Journalist Robert Parry
Perhaps, too, the unrelenting ugliness that has become Official Washington and national journalism was a factor. It seems that since I arrived in Washington in 1977 as a correspondent for The Associated Press, the nastiness of American democracy and journalism has gone from bad to worse. In some ways, the Republicans escalated the vicious propaganda warfare following Watergate, refusing to accept that Richard Nixon was guilty of some extraordinary malfeasance (including the 1968 sabotage of President Johnson’s Vietnam peace talks to gain an edge in the election and then the later political dirty tricks and cover-ups that came to include Watergate). Rather than accept the reality of Nixon’s guilt, many Republicans simply built up their capability to wage information warfare, including the creation of ideological news organizations to protect the party and its leaders from “another Watergate.”
So, when Democrat Bill Clinton defeated President George H.W. Bush in the 1992 election, the Republicans used their news media and their control of the special prosecutor apparatus (through Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist and Appeals Court Judge David Sentelle) to unleash a wave of investigations to challenge Clinton’s legitimacy, eventually uncovering his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.
The idea had developed that the way to defeat your political opponent was not just to make a better argument or rouse popular support but to dredge up some “crime” that could be pinned on him or her. The GOP success in damaging Bill Clinton made possible George W. Bush’s disputed “victory” in 2000 in which Bush took the presidency despite losing the popular vote and almost certainly losing the key state of Florida if all ballots legal under state law were counted. Increasingly, America – even at the apex of its uni-power status – was taking on the look of a banana republic except with much higher stakes for the world.
Though I don’t like the word “weaponized,” it began to apply to how “information” was used in America. The point of Consortiumnews, which I founded in 1995, was to use the new medium of the modern Internet to allow the old principles of journalism to have a new home, i.e., a place to pursue important facts and giving everyone a fair shake. But we were just a tiny pebble in the ocean. The trend of using journalism as just another front in no-holds-barred political warfare continued – with Democrats and liberals adapting to the successful techniques pioneered mostly by Republicans and by well-heeled conservatives.
Barack Obama’s election in 2008 was another turning point as Republicans again challenged his legitimacy with bogus claims about his “Kenyan birth,” a racist slur popularized by “reality” TV star Donald Trump. Facts and logic no longer mattered. It was a case of using whatever you had to diminish and destroy your opponent.
We saw similar patterns with the U.S. government’s propaganda agencies developing themes to demonize foreign adversaries and then to smear Americans who questioned the facts or challenged the exaggerations as “apologists.” This approach was embraced not only by Republicans (think of President George W. Bush distorting the reality in Iraq in 2003 to justify the invasion of that country under false pretenses) but also by Democrats who pushed dubious or downright false depictions of the conflict in Syria (including blaming the Syrian government for chemical weapons attacks despite strong evidence that the events were staged by Al Qaeda and other militants who had become the tip of the spear in the neocon/liberal interventionist goal of removing the Assad dynasty and installing a new regime more acceptable to the West and to Israel.
More and more I would encounter policymakers, activists and, yes, journalists who cared less about a careful evaluation of the facts and logic and more about achieving a pre-ordained geopolitical result – and this loss of objective standards reached deeply into the most prestigious halls of American media. This perversion of principles – twisting information to fit a desired conclusion – became the modus vivendi of American politics and journalism. And those of us who insisted on defending the journalistic principles of skepticism and evenhandedness were increasingly shunned by our colleagues, a hostility that first emerged on the Right and among neoconservatives but eventually sucked in the progressive world as well. Everything became “information warfare.”
The New Outcasts
That is why many of us who exposed major government wrongdoing in the past have ended up late in our careers as outcasts and pariahs. Legendary investigative reporter Seymour Hersh, who helped expose major crimes of state from the My Lai massacre to the CIA’s abuses against American citizens, including illegal spying and LSD testing on unsuspecting subjects, has literally had to take his investigative journalism abroad because he uncovered inconvenient evidence that implicated Western-backed jihadists in staging chemical weapons attacks in Syria so the atrocities would be blamed on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The anti-Assad group think is so intense in the West that even strong evidence of staged events, such as the first patients arriving at hospitals before government planes could have delivered the sarin, was brushed aside or ignored. The Western media and the bulk of international agencies and NGOs were committed to gin up another case for “regime change” and any skeptics were decried as “Assad apologists” or “conspiracy theorists,” the actual facts be damned.
Investigative reporter Seymour Hersh
So Hersh and weapons experts such as MIT’s Theodore Postol were shoved into the gutter in favor of hip new NATO-friendly groups like Bellingcat, whose conclusions always fit neatly with the propaganda needs of the Western powers.
The demonization of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia is just the most dangerous feature of this propaganda process – and this is where the neocons and the liberal interventionists most significantly come together. The U.S. media’s approach to Russia is now virtually 100 percent propaganda. Does any sentient human being read the New York Times’ or the Washington Post’s coverage of Russia and think that he or she is getting a neutral or unbiased treatment of the facts? For instance, the full story of the infamous Magnitsky case cannot be told in the West, nor can the objective reality of the Ukrane coup in 2014. The American people and the West in general are carefully shielded from hearing the “other side of the story.” Indeed to even suggest that there is another side to the story makes you a “Putin apologist” or “Kremlin stooge.”
Western journalists now apparently see it as their patriotic duty to hide key facts that otherwise would undermine the demonizing of Putin and Russia. Ironically, many “liberals” who cut their teeth on skepticism about the Cold War and the bogus justifications for the Vietnam War now insist that we must all accept whatever the U.S. intelligence community feeds us, even if we’re told to accept the assertions on faith.
The Trump Crisis
Which brings us to the crisis that is Donald Trump. Trump’s victory over Democrat Hillary Clinton has solidified the new paradigm of “liberals” embracing every negative claim about Russia just because elements of the CIA, FBI and the National Security Agency produced a report last Jan 6 that blamed Russia for “hacking” Democratic emails and releasing them via WikiLeaks. It didn’t seem to matter that these “hand-picked” analysts (as Director of National Intelligence James Clapper called them) evinced no evidence and even admitted that they weren’t asserting any of this as fact.
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the third presidential debate in 2016, during which Clinton called Trump Vladimir Putin’s “puppet.”
The hatred of Trump and Putin was so intense that old-fashioned rules of journalism and fairness were brushed aside. On a personal note, I faced harsh criticism even from friends of many years for refusing to enlist in the anti-Trump “Resistance.” The argument was that Trump was such a unique threat to America and the world that I should join in finding any justification for his ouster. Some people saw my insistence on the same journalistic standards that I had always employed somehow a betrayal.
Other people, including senior editors across the mainstream media, began to treat the unproven Russia-gate allegations as flat fact. No skepticism was tolerated and mentioning the obvious bias among the never-Trumpers inside the FBI, Justice Department and intelligence community was decried as an attack on the integrity of the U.S. government’s institutions. Anti-Trump “progressives” were posturing as the true patriots because of their now unquestioning acceptance of the evidence-free proclamations of the U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies.
Hatred of Trump had become like some invasion of the body snatchers – or perhaps many of my journalistic colleagues had never believed in the principles of journalism that I had embraced throughout my adult life. To me, journalism wasn’t just a cover for political activism; it was a commitment to the American people and the world to tell important news stories as fully and fairly as I could; not to slant the “facts” to “get” some “bad” political leader or “guide” the public in some desired direction.
I actually believed that the point of journalism in a democracy was to give the voters unbiased information and the necessary context so the voters could make up their own minds and use their ballot – as imperfect as that is – to direct the politicians to take actions on behalf of the nation. The unpleasant reality that the past year has brought home to me is that a shockingly small number of people in Official Washington and the mainstream news media actually believe in real democracy or the goal of an informed electorate.
Whether they would admit it or not, they believe in a “guided democracy” in which “approved” opinions are elevated – regardless of their absence of factual basis – and “unapproved” evidence is brushed aside or disparaged regardless of its quality. Everything becomes “information warfare” – whether on Fox News, the Wall Street Journal editorial page, MSNBC, the New York Times or the Washington Post. Instead of information provided evenhandedly to the public, it is rationed out in morsels designed to elicit the desired emotional reactions and achieve a political outcome.
As I said earlier, much of this approach was pioneered by Republicans in their misguided desire to protect Richard Nixon, but it has now become all pervasive and has deeply corrupted Democrats, progressives and mainstream journalism. Ironically, the ugly personal characteristics of Donald Trump – his own contempt for facts and his crass personal behavior – have stripped the mask off the broader face of Official America.
What is perhaps most alarming about the past year of Donald Trump is that the mask is now gone and, in many ways, all sides of Official Washington are revealed collectively as reflections of Donald Trump, disinterested in reality, exploiting “information” for tactical purposes, eager to manipulate or con the public. While I’m sure many anti-Trumpers will be deeply offended by my comparison of esteemed Establishment figures with the grotesque Trump, there is a deeply troubling commonality between Trump’s convenient use of “facts” and what has pervaded the Russia-gate investigation.
My Christmas Eve stroke now makes it a struggle for me to read and to write. Everything takes much longer than it once did – and I don’t think that I can continue with the hectic pace that I have pursued for many years. But – as the New Year dawns – if I could change one thing about America and Western journalism, it would be that we all repudiate “information warfare” in favor of an old-fashioned respect for facts and fairness — and do whatever we can to achieve a truly informed electorate.
Investigative reporter Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories for The Associated Press and Newsweek in the 1980s. You can buy his latest book, America’s Stolen Narrative, either in print here or as an e-book (from Amazon and barnesandnoble.com).

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Saturday, January 27, 2018

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