Reader’s Links, Nov. 1, 2018

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In order to preserve the flow of conversation about various posted items, and also in order to make it easier for visitors to find the list of related links being shared by other readers, regulars and interested parties in one place, each day a post is automatically created at a minute past midnight ET.

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Thank you all for those that take the effort to assist this site in keeping the public informed. Below, typically people can find the latest enemy propaganda, news items of related materials from multiple countries and languages, op-eds from many excellent sites who write on our topics, geopolitics and immigration issues and so on.

About Eeyore

Canadian artist and counter-jihad and freedom of speech activist as well as devout Schrödinger's catholic

139 Replies to “Reader’s Links, Nov. 1, 2018”

  1. Oman says time to accept Israel in region, offers help for peace (memo, Oct 27, 2018)
    https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20181027-oman-says-time-to-accept-israel-in-region-offers-help-for-peace/

    “Oman described Israel as an accepted Middle East state on Saturday, a day after hosting a surprise visit by its prime minister that Washington said could help regional peace efforts.

    Oman is offering ideas to help Israel and the Palestinians to come together but is not acting as mediator, Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, the sultanate’s minister responsible for foreign affairs, told a security summit in Bahrain.

    “Israel is a state present in the region, and we all understand this,” bin Alawi said.

    Maybe it is time for Israel to be treated the same [as others states] and also bear the same obligations.

    His comments followed a rare visit to Oman by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu which came days after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas paid a three-day visit to the Gulf country. Both leaders met with Oman’s Sultan Qaboos.

    “We are not saying that the road is now easy and paved with flowers, but our priority is to put an end to the conflict and move to a new world,” bin Alawi told the summit.

    Oman is relying on the United States and efforts by President Donald Trump in working towards the “deal of the century”, he added.

    Bahrain’s foreign minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa voiced support for Oman over the sultanate’s role in trying to secure Israeli-Palestinian peace, while Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir said the kingdom believes the key to normalising relations with Israel was the peace process…”

  2. Anger in Libya after Belgium is Accused of Funding Militias from Frozen Gaddafi Accounts (aawsat, Nov 1, 2018)
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1445371/anger-libya-after-belgium-accused-funding-militias-frozen-gaddafi-accounts

    “Libyan officials demanded Wednesday Belgian authorities to reveal the fate of interest and dividends on accounts frozen under United Nations sanctions in 2011 amid reports that Brussels had financed Libyan militias from these funds.

    Public broadcaster RTBF said Monday that up to 5 billion euros ($5.7 billion) could have been disbursed to people controlling Libyan accounts, including militia groups in the country accused of human rights abuses.

    Dr. Abdulsalam Nasiya, of the Libyan parliament’s dialogue committee, called on authorities to exert efforts to salvage those funds.

    “The Libyan Investment Authority (LIA), general prosecutor and audit authorities are demanded to find out how those funds have been disbursed and who received them,” he said.

    “Libya is fueling its crisis out of its own resources,” he lamented.

    Meanwhile, head of the LIA Ali Mahmoud Hassan denied that the frozen accounts had been tampered with.

    Brussels is respecting the UN Security Council sanctions, he stated.

    After the overthrow of Libyan ruler Moammar al-Gaddafi’s regime in 2011, the Security Council issued an order to freeze the LIA’s sovereign funds, estimated at the time at around 150 million to 170 million euros.

    Head of Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) Fayez al-Sarraj had said in July that these funds were actually around 67 million euros.

    Former LIA chairman Mohsen al-Derregia said that there have been frequent reports about the Libyan accounts in Belgian banks.

    “We have never received any transparent answer from Authority officials to inquiries about them, starting from the GNA chief, LIA board of directors and its chairman,” he told Asharq Al-Awsat.

    The funds in Belgium belong to the LIA, which is operating from Jordan and is not controlled by the GNA, he revealed.

    “The Belgian general prosecutor must reveal the fate of the funds that have been deposited in the Euroclear Bank.”

    Head of Libya’s organization for economic competitiveness Fawzi Ammar al-Lawlaki said that it is forbidden to trade with the Libyan assets, but their interests are not frozen.

    These interests are being transferred to the LIA and other agencies, he told Asharq Al-Awsat, demanding that the international community exert efforts to reveal the size of these funds and where they have gone.

    RTBF said that when the UN agreed to freeze deposits held by Gaddafi’s administration abroad, Belgium had done so but had not halted payments of interest and dividends.

    RTBF said that the Belgian government financed Libyan militias, including those accused of human trafficking.

    In 2012, then Belgian Finance Minister Steven Vanackere had permitted Euroclear Bank to release the Libyan funds in October of that same year at the request of the deputy treasurer.

    Prosecutors, the government and Belgian banks did not comment on the report, which cited an unidentified source.”

  3. Bahrain Thwarts Escape of Terror Fugitives (aawsat, Nov 1, 2018)
    https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1445931/bahrain-thwarts-escape-terror-fugitives

    “Bahrain announced on Thursday that it had thwarted the escape of six terrorist fugitives.

    The interior ministry said that the convicts were trying to escape through a boat that was set to sail from the coastal Samaheej region.

    Investigations with the detainees revealed that they were in contact with terror fugitive in Iran. The fugitive had abetted their efforts to escape arrest and later arranged for their smuggling outside the Kingdom.

    A number of their accomplices have been arrested, added the ministry.

    The necessary legal measures are underway to refer the detainees to the general prosecution.”

  4. Crown Prince meets American Evangelical delegation (saudigazette, Nov 1, 2018)
    http://saudigazette.com.sa/article/546971/SAUDI-ARABIA/Crown-Prince-meets-American-Evangelical-delegation

    “Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense, met with a delegation of American Evangelical Christian leaders here on Thursday. The delegation is currently on a visit to the Kingdom as part of a regional tour.

    During the meeting, they affirmed the importance of exerting joint efforts in promoting co-existence, tolerance and combating extremism and terrorism.

    The meeting was attended by Prince Khalid Bin Salman, Saudi ambassador to the United States; Dr. Muhammad Al-Isa, secretary general of the Muslim World League (MWL), and Adel Al-Jubeir, minister of foreign affairs”

  5. The Taliban is stronger now than at any time since Afghanistan war began in 2001 (alaraby, Nov 1, 2018)
    https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2018/11/1/afghan-forces-losing-kabul-control-to-taliban-us-watchdog

    “Afghan security forces’ control of the capital Kabul has slipped in recent months as it also suffers record-level casualties fighting against the Taliban, a watchdog reported.

    Resolute Support, the US-led NATO mission in Afghanistan, released figures on Wednesday that showed Afghan forces controlled or influenced 55.5 percent of the capital.

    The figure is down 0.7 percent from the previous quarter, according to the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), and marks the lowest level since records were first kept in November 2015.

    SIGAR added that a full 12 percent of Kabul’s districts were under Taliban control or influence, with 32 percent considered “contested”.

    Last year, US President Donald Trump unveilled a new Afghan war strategy that recommitted thousands of troops there and scrapped any timeline for a withdrawal.

    The US has fought in Afghanistan since 2001, now America’s longest war, and has roughly 15,000 troops deployed.

    Although the US agreed last year to classify the number of Afghan casualties, more than 5,000 have been killed each year according to figures SIGAR published before the blackout.

    But SIGAR still acknowledged in its latest report that the death toll is at the highest its ever been.

    “From the period of May 1 to the most current data as of October 1, 2018, the average number of casualties the (Afghan forces) suffered is the greatest it has ever been during like periods,” it said.

    The report also noted that “the Taliban now controls more territory than at any time since 2001”.

    Earlier this week, US Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis said more than 1,000 “Afghan lads” were killed or wounded in just August and September.

    This year broadly has also proved to be the deadliest for Afghan civilians. Suicide bombs caused more than 2,300 civilian casualties so far, more than any other tactic, including ground fighting, according to a recent UN report.”

  6. 18 takfiris killed, 129 suspects arrested during Egypt’s ongoing anti-terrorism operation (ahram, Nov 1, 2018)
    http://english.ahram.org.eg/NewsContent/1/64/315513/Egypt/Politics-/-takfiris-killed,–suspects-arrested-during-Egypts.aspx

    “The Egyptian Army issued on Thursday the 29th communiqué on the anti-terrorism ‘Operation Sinai 2018,’ saying 18 takfiris have been killed and 129 suspects have been arrested in the recent period as part of the country’s war on terrorism.

    Eight takfiris were killed by military forces in different raids in central and northern Sinai, and 10 high-risk others were killed in special operations by national security forces in the North Sinai capital of El-Arish, the army said.

    “One army officer was killed during the heroic raids by the army and the police that targeted terrorist infrastructure with the aim of maintaining the security of the homeland,” the video statement added.

    The air force carried out airstrikes in the western border area and destroyed 25 off-road vehicles laden with weapons and other contraband.

    Military engineers have located and destroyed 141 bombs planted to target security forces.

    On 9 February, the anti-terrorism effort dubbed Operation Sinai 2018 was launched in northern and central Sinai, parts of the Nile Delta and desert areas west of the Nile Valley, according to the first Armed Forces communiqué on the operation.

    Last July, the army spokesperson said that more 321 terrorists were killed since the launch of the operation.”

    • VICE News – Trump’s Troop Surge On The Mexican Border Is Unprecedented

      President Trump announced late on Wednesday that his military surge along the border with Mexico could eventually see 15,000 troops deployed, three times the number previously been reported.

      If he follows through on that promise, iIt would be the largest domestic deployment of active duty military in modern American history, and eclipse the number of troops currently stationed in Iraq. And it raises major questions about how that many active soldiers and Marines could possibly be used.

      In simple terms, the scale and nature of Trump’s deployment along the southern border is unprecedented, but history offers a few hints at what might come next.

      Presidents have deployed the military along the border a number of times in the past, but they’ve almost always used the National Guard

      In 2010, Barack Obama sent 1,200 National Guardsmen to the border for 15 months, as part of a mission he called Operation Phalanx. It cost roughly $160 million. But the most comparable example can likely be found under George W. Bush, who in 2006, sent some 6,000 Guardsmen to the border for a two year period starting in 2006, a cost to taxpayers of $1.2 billion.

      Once down there, the troops largely worked behind the scenes.

      “They were not patrolling the border,” said Adam Isacson, the director of the defense oversight program at the nonprofit Washington Office on Latin America, “They were monitoring the sensors, they’d be doing oil changes for the Border Patrol vehicles and maintaining equipment. And just a lot more of them also were sitting under tents in lawn chairs with binoculars looking at the border looking for anyone suspected of the crossing.”

      Still, those jobs were not entirely inconsequential. Michael Fisher, who was Chief of the Border Patrol from 2010 to 2015, said that during his time in office, Guardsmen mostly focused on tasks that allowed Border Patrol agents to better do their own jobs, including surveillance and intelligence gathering missions.

      “That would free up Border Patrol agents who in the absence of the military would be doing those types of missions,” Fisher said.

      • Idiots, the troops are for the most part MPs who will be used to police and maintain the tent cities that the illegals are housed in, and since protecting our borders is a primary duty of the military they can be used to patrol and stop people. The invaders aren’t US citizens so the military can be used to catch and arrest them, the left wing reporters are doing all they can to make it look like this is just a publicity stunt. This is serious and PT is responding to a national security threat with the military, and he has said that if the invaders start throwing rocks (lethal weapons) at the troops they are free to shoot back. PT is taking this invasion by foreign forces as a serious matter, something the left will never do.

  7. “Nobody needs to know” Beto Campaign Appears to Illegally Spend Funds on Supplies for Caravan Aliens

  8. Facebook Promises More Active Censorship Ahead of Midterms

    This is PRECISELY what the First Amendment is supposed to protect us from, and if Congress won’t act, it will be up to We The People to preserve our rights.

    Now that Facebook has committed their massive, 800-entity purge of political voices with no legal recourse, the social media platform is undoubtedly feeling emboldened.

    Weeks ago, Facebook sharpened their axe. They decided, along with Twitter and Google congruently, that We The People shall not be allowed to promote our political discussions on their platforms. Instead, only those outlets chosen by the Silicon Valley Overlords would be allowed to promote discourse and conversation online, thereby negating any possibility of refuting the mainstream narrative. This purge was committed on both sides of the political spectrum, in a bipartisan culling of the American people’s influence on their own elected officials.

    In short: This was barnyard excrement of the highest order, and Facebook is simply succumbing to the same financial pressures that corrupted the 24 “news” channels.

    https://flagandcross.com/facebook-promises-more-active-censorship-ahead-of-midterms/

    • Pay attention to the man, he is getting information that we are having trouble getting, the second caravan has used guns and bombs against the Mexican police, which doesn’t sound peaceful to me.

  9. Man admits sex attack on young girl in Malmö (thelocal, Nov 1, 2018)
    https://www.thelocal.se/20181101/man-admits-sex-attack-on-young-girl-in-malmo

    “A 30-year-old man has admitted to raping a young girl in Malmö and is in custody.
    The man, a Libyan national according to court documents seen by The Local, is suspected of a sexual attack on a ten-year-old girl in Malmö last week.

    The child was cycling home from school at around 5.30pm on Thursday when the man is said to have approached her and then attacked her in a bicycle shed attached to an apartment block.

    The man reported himself to the police, a prosecutor told a remand hearing today, and confessed to the allegations. The court remanded him in custody and ordered him to undergo a minor psychiatric evaluation.

    According to previous charges he is also suspected of exposing himself to a woman in her 50s in August and asking to buy sex, and of having touched a 14-year-old girl’s bottom in the northern city Skellefteå…”

  10. Germany’s migration commissioner urges ‘severe punishment’ for Freiburg rape (DW, Nov 1, 2018)
    https://www.dw.com/en/germanys-migration-commissioner-urges-severe-punishment-for-freiburg-rape/a-46120318

    “Migrants should be taught that Germany has “zero tolerance” for violence and sexual abuse, migration commissioner Annette Widmann-Mauz has said. Previously, police arrested seven Syrians on suspicion of rape in Freiburg.

    The alleged rape of a teenager in Freiburg is a “despicable” crime, Germany’s migration commissioner Annette Widmann-Mauz said on Thursday, a week after seven asylum-seekers and one German citizen were arrested on suspicion of drugging and raping the 18-year-old girl.

    “The perpetrators must be brought before court and severely punished,” Widmann-Mauz told the German RND company, which provides content to a series of local and national newspapers. “Those who come to our country and commit such acts need to be expelled.”

    German politicians have been facing tough questions about migrants’ attitudes towards women and sexual violence since mass sexual assaults in Cologne during the New Year celebration some three years ago.

    ‘Zero tolerance’

    On Thursday, Widmann-Mauz said the state was educating male mentors to combat the problem.

    “Men who have been living here for a long time need to talk clearly about sexuality and equal rights in Germany to men who have just arrived — if necessary in their native language,” she said.

    “All asylum-seekers need to get orientation courses about living together in Germany as soon as they arrive to their first accommodation center, and that also includes that there is zero tolerance for sexual abuse and other violent acts,” she said.

    In 2015, over 1.1 million migrants entered Germany, most of them coming from the Middle East and North Africa. While the number of new entries has since dropped, the government’s handling of the crisis has fueled the rise of far-right elements, including the populist AfD party.”

  11. France’s Macron warns Europe of a return to 1930s (thelocal, Nov 1, 2018)
    https://www.thelocal.fr/20181101/frances-macron-warns-europe-of-a-return-to-1930s

    “The French President has warned Europe of a return to the 1930s because of the spread of a nationalist “leprosy” across the continent, in an interview published Thursday.
    He also warned that Europe risked losing its sovereignty if it is “pushed around by foreign powers.”

    “I am struck by similarities between the times we live in and those of between the two world wars,” he told the newspaper Ouest-France, urging people to be aware of the threats.

    “In a Europe divided by fears, the return of nationalism, the consequences of economic crisis, one sees almost systematically everything that marked Europe between the end of World War I and the 1929 [economic] crisis,” the paper quoted him as saying.

    “You must bear that in mind, be clear-headed and know how to fight back,” he added.

    Macron, who is about to start a week-long visit to north and eastern France to mark the centenary of the end of World War I, has recently criticized fellow European Union members for giving up on EU principles.

    He has notably singled out Hungary and Poland whose nationalist governments have clashed with Brussels, as well as Italy which has a populist government including the far-right League party figures.

    Looking ahead to his tour of World War I battlefields, the president said he was looking for the lessons of history, while seeking to promote “a more sovereign and multilateral” Europe.

    “Europe faces a risk – that of being broken up by nationalist leprosy and of being pushed around by foreign powers. And thereby losing its sovereignty,” he said.

    “That is to say having its security depend on U.S. choices, having China play an ever greater role when it comes to essential infrastructures, and Russia sometimes tempted to try its hand at manipulation, and have financial interests and markets sometimes play greater roles than that of states.”

    Macron, who has been losing ground in the opinion polls, is attempting to position himself as the champion of centrist politics and multilateralism in the run-up to European parliamentary elections in seven months’ time, saying he expects the duel to be one between “progressives” and “nationalists.”

    According to the latest Vivavoice poll, released Tuesday, Macron has lost 10 points since August with his approval rating now at 26 percent.

    The poll, carried out between Oct. 19 and 22, with a margin of error of between 1.4 and 3.1 percent, also suggested that nearly two out of three people have a “poor opinion” of him.”

  12. Are Trump and Mueller Locked in SECRET Battle? Evidence Says Maybe

    10/31/2018 The Hollywood Conservative Staff

    President Trump and his lawyers have stated firmly and publicly that the President cannot be forced before a Grand Jury and forced to testify. However, many liberals (and supposedly Robert Mueller) believe he can.

    So many have wondered why Mueller hasn’t issued a subpoena against the President, and taken the battle to the courts.

    Well thanks to some sleuth reporting over at Politico, we now have evidencce he may have done that MONTHS ago, and that Mueller has been a secret court battle with the White House ever since–which may end in a verdict as early as December.

    http://thehollywoodconservative.us/articles/are-trump-in-mueller-locked-in-secret-battle-evidence-says-maybe

    ———————————————————————————————————————–

    Has Mueller Subpoenaed the President?

    A careful reading of court filings suggests the special counsel hasn’t been quiet. Far from it.

    By NELSON W. CUNNINGHAM

    October 31, 2018

    Nelson W. Cunningham has served as a federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York under Rudy Giuliani, general counsel of the Senate Judiciary Committee under then-Chair Joe Biden, and general counsel of the White House Office of Administration under Bill Clinton.

    These months before the midterm elections are tough ones for all of us Mueller-watchers. As we expected, he has gone quiet in deference to longstanding Justice Department policy that prosecutors should not take actions that might affect pending elections. Whatever he is doing, he is doing quietly and even further from the public eye than usual.

    But thanks to some careful reporting by Politico, which I have analyzed from my perspective as a former prosecutor, we might have stumbled upon How Robert Mueller Is Spending His Midterms: secretly litigating against President Donald Trump for the right to throw him in the grand jury.

    As a former prosecutor and Senate and White House aide, I predicted here last May that Mueller would promptly subpoena Trump and, like independent counsel Kenneth Starr back in 1998, bring a sitting president before his grand jury to round out and conclude his investigation. What Trump knew and when he knew it, and what exactly motivated his statements and actions, are central to Mueller’s inquiry on both Russian interference and obstruction of justice.

    As the summer proceeded, we certainly heard a great deal from Rudy Giuliani, the president’s lawyer, about purported negotiations with Mueller’s office regarding the propriety and scope of Trump’s potential testimony. On August 15, Giuliani said Trump would move to quash a subpoena and went so far as to say, “[W]e’re pretty much finished with our memorandum opposing a subpoena.”

    And then—nothing. Labor Day came and went without a visible move by Mueller to subpoena the president, and we entered the quiet period before the midterms. Even the voluble Giuliani went quiet, more or less. Mindful of the time it would take to fight out the legal issues surrounding a presidential subpoena, and mindful of the ticking clock on Mueller’s now 18-month-old investigation, many of us began to wonder whether Mueller had decided to forgo the compelling and possibly conclusive nature of presidential testimony in favor of findings built on inference and circumstantial evidence. A move that would leave a huge hole in his final report and findings.

    But now, thanks to Politico’s reporting (backed up by the simple gumshoe move of sitting in the clerk’s office waiting to see who walks in and requests what file), we might know what Mueller has been up to: Since mid-August, he may have been locked in proceedings with Trump and his lawyers over a grand jury subpoena—in secret litigation that could tell us by December whether the president will testify before Mueller’s grand jury.

    The evidence lies in obscure docket entries at the clerk’s office for the D.C. Circuit. Thanks to Politico’s Josh Gerstein and Darren Samuelsohn, we know that on August 16 (the day after Giuliani said he was almost finished with his memorandum, remember), a sealed grand jury case was initiated in the D.C. federal district court before Chief Judge Beryl A. Howell. We know that on September 19, Howell issued a ruling and five days later one of the parties appealed to the D.C. Circuit. And, thanks to Politico’s reporting, we know that the special counsel’s office is involved (because the reporter overheard a conversation in the clerk’s office). We can further deduce that the special counsel prevailed in the district court and that the presumptive grand jury witness has frantically appealed that order and sought special treatment from the judges of the D.C. Circuit—often referred to as the “second-most important court in the land.”

    Nothing about the docket sheets, however, discloses the identity of the witness. Politico asked many of the known attorneys for Mueller witnesses—including Jay Sekulow, another Trump lawyer—and each one denied knowledge of the identity of the witness. (What, of course, would we expect a lawyer to say when asked about a proceeding the court has ordered sealed?)

    But for those of us who have been appellate lawyers, the brief docket entries tell a story. Here’s what we can glean:

    The parties and the judges have moved with unusual alacrity. Parties normally have 30 days to appeal a lower court action. The witness here appealed just five days after losing in the district court—and three days later filed a motion before the appellate court to stay the district court’s order. That’s fast.

    The appeals court itself responded with remarkable speed, too. One day after getting the witness’ motion, the court gave the special counsel just three days to respond—blindingly short as appellate proceedings go. The special counsel’s papers were filed October 1.

    At this point an unspecified procedural flaw seems to have emerged, and on October 3, the appeals court dismissed the appeal. Just two days later, the lower court judge cured the flaw, the witness re-appealed, and by October 10 the witness was once again before appellate court. Thanks to very quick action of all the judges, less than one week was lost due to a flaw that, in other cases, could have taken weeks or months to resolve.

    Back before the D.C. Circuit, this case’s very special handling continued. On October 10, the day the case returned to the court, the parties filed a motion for expedited handling, and within two days, the judges had granted their motion and set an accelerated briefing schedule. The witness was given just 11 days to file briefs; the special counsel (presumably) just two weeks to respond; and reply papers one week later, on November 14 (for those paying attention, that’s eight days after the midterm elections). Oral arguments are set for December 14.

    At every level, this matter has commanded the immediate and close attention of the judges involved—suggesting that no ordinary witness and no ordinary issue is involved. But is it the president? The docket sheets give one final—but compelling—clue. When the witness lost the first time in the circuit court (before the quick round trip to the district court), he petitioned, unusually, for rehearing en banc—meaning the witness thought the case was so important that it merited the very unusual action of convening all 10 of the D.C. Circuit judges to review the order. That is itself telling (this witness believes the case demands very special handling), but the order disposing of the petition is even more telling: Trump’s sole appointee to that court, Gregory Katsas, recused himself.

    • Why did he recuse himself? We don’t know; by custom, judges typically don’t disclose their reasons for sitting out a matter. But Katsas previously served in the Trump White House, as one of four deputy White House counsels. He testified in his confirmation hearings that in that position he handled executive branch legal issues, but made clear that apart from some discrete legal issues, he had not been involved in the special counsel’s investigation. If the witness here were unrelated to the White House, unless the matter raised one of the discrete legal issues on which Katsas had previously given advice, there would be no reason for the judge to recuse himself.

      But if the witness were the president himself—if the matter involved an appeal from a secret order requiring the president to testify before the grand jury—then Katsas would certainly feel obliged to recuse himself from any official role. Not only was the president his former client (he was deputy counsel to the president, remember) but he owes his judicial position to the president’s nomination. History provides a useful parallel: In 1974, in the unanimous Supreme Court decision United States v. Nixon, which required another witness-president to comply with a subpoena, Justice William Rehnquist recused himself for essentially the same reasons.

      We cannot know, from the brief docket entries that are available to us in this sealed case, that the matter involves Trump. But we do know from Politico’s reporting that it involves the special counsel and that the action here was filed the day after Giuliani noted publicly, “[W]e’re pretty much finished with our memorandum opposing a subpoena.” We know that the district court had ruled in favor of the special counsel and against the witness; that the losing witness moved with alacrity and with authority; and that the judges have responded with accelerated rulings and briefing schedules. We know that Judge Katsas, Trump’s former counsel and nominee, has recused himself. And we know that this sealed legal matter will come to a head in the weeks just after the midterm elections.

      If Mueller were going to subpoena the president—and there’s every reason why a careful and thorough prosecutor would want the central figure on the record on critical questions regarding his knowledge and intent—this is just the way we would expect him to do so. Quietly, expeditiously, and refusing to waste the lull in public action demanded by the midterm elections. It all fits.

      https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/10/31/has-robert-mueller-subpoenaed-trump-222060

  13. Richard: A lot of people say that we can’t use military force because that would cause an International Incident. We already have an International Incident, the other natinos are funding the invasion of the US by the members of the caravans.

    Mattis, when asked if troop deployment to border is a stunt: ‘We don’t do stunts’

    Defense Secretary Jim Mattis emphatically denied a reporter’s suggestion Wednesday that the deployment of thousands of active-duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border is part of a political stunt ahead of next week’s midterm elections.

    “We don’t do stunts in this department. Thank you,” Mattis told a reporter who posed the question after a Pentagon meeting with Mattis’ South Korean counterpart. The defense secretary added the deployment was to provide “practical support” to the Department of Homeland Security and was based on a request from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

    The deployment is in response to the approach of a caravan containing an estimated 4,000 Central American migrants. The Pentagon said late Wednesday that it had identified 7,000 who will be participating in the mission at the border. Approximately 2,000 National Guard members previously have been dispatched to the frontier over the past six months.

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mattis-when-asked-if-troop-deployment-to-border-is-a-stunt-we-dont-do-stunts

    Richard:

    Federal law prohibits the military from acting as a domestic police force, which means the troops going to the border cannot detain immigrants, seize drugs from smugglers or have any direct involvement in stopping the caravan. Instead, their role largely will mirror that of the existing National Guard troops, including providing helicopter support for border missions, installing concrete barriers and repairing and maintaining vehicles.

    We can use the military to stop the members of the Caravan from entering the US. They aren’t US Citizens or here legally thus they are illegal invading the US and the original mission of all military forces was to protect the borders and prevent entry of people who don’t have premission to enter. And if the Second Caravan is armed with firearms and bombs that is an armed invasion of the US by bandit forces from foreign nations, stopping them is a military mission. Look at the expedition let by Black Jack Pershing into Mexico to chase Pancho Villa after he raided a town in the US. The fact that previous Presidents haven’t had the guts to use the military as they are suppose to be used doesn’t mean we can’t do it, it just means that the previous Presidents didn’t have guts enough to protect the US.

  14. Manhunt is launched as boy, 15, dies after being ‘repeatedly stabbed’ on southeast London street as capital’s year of carnage continues (dailymail, Nov 2, 2018)
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6344511/Boy-15-stabbed-death-southeast-London-capitals-year-carnage-continues.html

    “A 15-year-old boy has died after being ‘repeatedly stabbed’ in London, prompting a police manhunt.

    Police and an ambulance were called at around 5.22pm to reports of a stabbing on Randlesdown Road in Bellingham, southeast London.

    There, they discovered the 15-year-old with stab wounds and he was rushed to a south London hospital.

    Despite the best efforts of medical staff, he was later pronounced dead at 8.15pm

    His next-of-kin have been made aware of his death.

    Officers from the Homicide and Major Crime Command have also been informed and officers are working to establish the circumstances.

    A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: ‘At this early stage officers are working to establish the circumstances.’

    No arrests have yet been made and a crime scene remains in place.

    Anyone with information that may assist the investigation is asked to call police on 101 quoting CAD 5890/1 Nov.”

  15. O’Keefe Asks Gillum Staffer Why “it’s not for [voters] to know” “fairy tale” Policies Won’t Happen

  16. #SpyGate – Collusion Scandal bigger than Watergate [Part 1/2] Those Involved to Take Down Trump

  17. Johnnyu enjoy I haven’t had time to watch all of it but she is normally real close to what really happens.

    #FED – It Causes Crises it Claims to Fix

  18. [OT, but NR might enjoy]
    Israel Introduces New Farming and Water Technology to Hanoi

    The Israeli embassy has introduced new technology in Hanoi. The “vertical rice field” was developed by Israel-based Vertical Field that designs and builds modular, lush, green vertical gardens and fields.

    An exhibition celebrating the 25th anniversary of Vietnam-Israel diplomatic relations on Saturday night featured a vertical rice field covering 100 square meters that combined the deployment of soil-based technology for water conservation and plant nutrition.

    Also displayed was Israeli technology developed by Watergen that provides a low-cost, abundant and renewable source of fresh and clean drinking water by extracting it directly from the atmosphere.

    https://vietnamnews.vn/economy/468760/israel-introduces-new-farming-and-water-techs-to-ha-noi.html#SiS7Xut6PiAl1hW0.97

  19. Illicit Procurement Network Used Firms in China, Portugal, and Turkey to Supply Iran

    A recently unsealed indictment provides details on Iran’s use of deceptive practices to procure export-controlled items with military applications from the U.S. and elsewhere. The indictment details an elaborate, multi-year conspiracy directed by Iranian-born Canadian Ghobad Ghasempour, Chinese national Yi Xiong, and Iranian national Reza Rejali, to procure such items for an Iranian firm, with help from co-conspirators in China, Portugal, and Turkey. Ghasempour was sentenced to 42 months in prison on August 20, 2018.

    Using a network of agents and front companies, the conspirators were able to falsify shipping documents and mislead U.S. manufacturers by claiming that the procured items were intended for end users in Portugal and Turkey. Furthermore, this network enabled the Iranian end users to pay for the items and finance the scheme using Chinese front companies.

    https://www.iranwatch.org/our-publications/international-enforcement-actions/illicit-procurement-network-used-firms-china-portugal-turkey-supply-iran

  20. How Israel Is Responding to the Worldwide Water Shortage

    In 1937, before they had a state, Jews in Mandatory Palestine had Mekorot, a national water authority. During Israel’s infancy, Mekorot was tasked with diverting water from sources such as the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River in the wetter north to the more barren south.

    Nearly two-thirds of Israel is desert. Rainfall is scarce and devastating droughts are commonplace. If Israelis were to thrive, they’d have to provide water security to a people cornered in one of the most arid strips of land on Earth. Moreover, Israel’s rainfall has been cut in half since 1948, while its population has increased tenfold.

    Israel reuses more than 90% of its water; next in the world is Spain at 20%. Using drip irrigation, Israel made its desert bloom. More recently, it added desalination of the Mediterranean to the mix. By 2014, Israel was able to export water to neighboring Jordan and Palestinian territories. Today, Israeli-developed water technology is being used in more than 100 countries.

    “Sustainable Nation” is a new Israeli documentary that follows three Israeli water-sector innovators who are attempting to bring their expertise to water-starved or water-challenged parts of the world such as South Asia and Africa. Sivan Yaari is CEO of Innovation: Africa, which has brought solar-powered water pumps to hundreds of rural African villages. Eli Cohen is an aquatic farmer trying to bring his revolutionary natural filtration methods to India, where the water supply remains mired in pollution problems.

    http://jewishjournal.com/cover_story/240746/israel-helping-worldwide-water-shortage/

    • Eli Cohen is an aquatic farmer trying to bring his revolutionary natural filtration methods to India, where the water supply remains mired in pollution problems.

      India and Israel are two this world’s biggest flashpoints. Wherever water is involved, pay close attention, because conflict is almost guaranteed. Of extra interest—with major advances in desalination technology—will be the evolution of geographical location and political power.

      Essentially, landlocked nations will be at the mercy of their beachfront neighbors.

      Water-related energy use represents 19 percent of California’s electricity consumption, using 30 percent of the state’s natural gas and burning 88 billion gallons of diesel fuel annually …

      Moving water around usually has some immense overhead involved with it. Pumping osmotically pre-treated water for long distances gets really expensive. Especially when it has to lifted up and over major mountain ranges, where international borders usually lie.

      In turn, this aquatic transportation system will automatically engender hydroelectric dams. On every major down-slope, to capitalize upon all of that energy “enriched” water, will be hydro structures to “claw back” that power. All of this gets complicated at warp speed.

      Look for very curious payment (or barter) arrangements between made twixt even stranger bedfellows. All this oil-based conflict will be a popgun by comparison to what awaits humanity. Competent energy and resource management will the yardstick for the future.Here’s a mindbending glimpse of things to come:

      The colossal African solar farm that could power Europe

      With 330 days per year of direct sunlight, Noor 1 power station will have incredible power generation capacity (to pump around all of that water). Every single day the sun delivers 970 trillion kilowatt hours to the earth’s surface. Converting just a tiny fraction of that could meet decades if not centuries of future energy needs.

      The real trick will be inventing a low cost, energy-efficient technology that reprocesses waste water back to potable drinking supplies. At present, most of the world’s water management methods are unbelievably inefficient. Worst of all, locations of extreme water poverty typically practice some of the poorest resource management. All of this has “massive conflict” written all over it. Plug in Islam, and everything becomes rife with strife.