Each day at just after midnight Eastern, a post like this one is created for contributors and readers of this site to upload news links and video links on the issues that concern this site. Most notably, Islam and its effects on Classical Civilization, and various forms of leftism from Soviet era communism, to postmodernism and all the flavours of galloping statism and totalitarianism such as Nazism and Fascism which are increasingly snuffing out the classical liberalism which created our near, miraculous civilization the West has been building since the time of Socrates.
This document was written around the time this site was created, for those who wish to understand what this site is about. And while our understanding of the world and events has grown since then, the basic ideas remain sound and true to the purpose.
So please post all links, thoughts and ideas that you feel will benefit the readers of this site to the comments under this post each day. And thank you all for your contributions.
This is the new Samizdat. We must use it while we can.
TRUMP RIDS MAJOR U.S. CONTAINER PORT OF CHINESE COMMUNIST CONTROL
Under a long-term deal sealed by the Obama administration, a Chinese Communist company was set to control the second-busiest container port in the United States. In an unreported Trump administration victory, the Communists are out after a drawn-out national security review forced a unit of China-based COSCO Shipping Holdings Co. (Orient Overseas Container Line—OOCL) to sell the cherished container terminal business, which handles among the largest freight of imports into the U.S.
It all started with a 40-year container terminal lease between the Port of Long Beach in southern California and Hong Kong. The Obama administration proudly signed the agreement in 2012 giving China control of America’s second-largest container port behind the nearby Port of Los Angeles. One of the Trump administration’s first big moves was to get the Communists out of the Port of Long Beach. After a national security review and federal intervention, the Long Beach terminal business, which handles millions of containers annually, is finally being sold to an Australian company called Macquarie Infrastructure Partners. That essentially kills China’s decades-long contract with the Obama administration.
The deal never should have been signed in the first place considering the facility’s size, significance and the national security issues associated with a hostile foreign government controlling it. The southern California port is the premier U.S. gateway for trans-Pacific trade, according to its website, and handles trade valued at more than $194 billion annually. It is one of the few ports that can accommodate the world’s largest vessels and serves 140 shipping lines with connections to 217 seaports around the world. The facility encompasses 3,200 acres with 31 miles of waterfront, 10 piers, 62 berths and 68 post-Panamax gantry cranes. In 2018, the Long Beach port handled more than 8 million container units, achieving the busiest year in its history.
https://www.judicialwatch.org/corruption-chronicles/trump-rids-major-u-s-container-port-of-chinese-communist-control/
Incredible. Imagine the illigal drugs entering there. The lives lost. The Chicoms control many ports in Dystopia, I understand.
What I want to know is why any port in any natuion is controlled by a foreign company? I don’t care if the foreign company is from a friendly nation letting them control a port is a breach of national security.
Market economy, baby!
If they can, they will use it against us – just like they use freedom of speech to end that freedom once they are in power.
We need to be very careful with these freedoms so they can’t be used to destroy western civilization like this!
More like pay to play treason by the Dems.
At least as critical: pentetration of Port Canaveral. Check out the maps at the links below.
In 2014, the Obama White House and John Kerry State Dept allowed Gulftainer, a Middle Eastern ports company, to position itself only a few thousand feet from US Navy Trident submarines at Port Canaveral and within sight of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Gulftainer is now embedded amidst America’s most sensitive space, naval submarine, and air force defense installations.
……
America’s strategic infrastructure compromised: Did Clinton pay-to-play arrangement hand over port container operations inside national security nexus to wealthy foreign associates?
[y: yes]https://1776channel.com/2015/05/24/us/americas-strategic-infrastructure-compromised-did-clinton-pay-to-play-arrangement-hand-over-port-container-operations-inside-national-security-nexus-to-wealthy-foreign-associates/
…….
Middle East-owned “Gulftainer” bids for control of strategic port in US northeast
https://www.theunitedwest.org/2018/04/05/middle-east-owned-gulftainer-bids-for-control-of-strategic-port-in-us-northeast/
Thank You I forgot about that piece of treason.
FBI agents were stunned to find thousands of Hillary Clinton’s private emails while examining Anthony Weiner’s electronic devices for explicit text messages with a teen girl, a new book alleges.
The agents called the discovery an “oh sh-t” moment as they combed through Weiner’s iPhone, iPad and laptop after it was revealed he had been sending inappropriate messages to a minor, journalist James B. Stewart claims in his new book “Deep State: Trump, the FBI, and the Rule of Law,” out Tuesday.
Within hours of the Sept. 26, 2016, search warrant, FBI technicians noticed there were 340,000 emails on the laptop between Clinton and her top aide, Weiner’s wife Huma Abedin — many of them from domain addresses such as “hillaryclinton.com” and “state.gov.”
At an FBI briefing later that week, one participant said the revelation was like “dropping a bomb in the middle of the meeting.”
But the discovery fell through the cracks because top FBI officials were “overwhelmed” by the Russia probe, Stewart wrote.
A determined New York FBI agent was “scared” by what he had found and pressed his superiors to finish the job.
https://nypost.com/2019/10/08/oh-s-t-the-moment-fbi-agents-found-hillary-clinton-emails-on-anthony-weiners-laptop/?utm_source=reddit.com
FL Court: Cities must cooperate with ICE or elected officials will be removed from office
Posted by LET Staff | Oct 6, 2019 | Must Reads, News, Investigations, Law and Legal, Featured, Patrol
It’s a landmark ruling out of Miami, Florida that was handed down from a federal district judge.
Cooperate with ICE… or you’re out of a job.
There was a new Florida state law that put a ban on sanctuary cities. It also ordered law enforcement officers to continue full cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Miami U.S. District Court Judge Beth Bloom upheld a majority of the components of that law on Monday, just one day before SB 168 went into effect.
On top of banning sanctuary cities in Florida, it also creates a new mandate. It requires police departments to hold inmates for an additional 48 hours to give ICE enough time to take custody of them.
https://www.lawenforcementtoday.com/fl-court-cities-must-cooperate-with-ice-or-elected-officials-will-be-removed-from-office/
KINSELLA: Rumours, the truth and Trudeau
Warren Kinsella
Published:
October 9, 2019
Updated:
October 9, 2019 12:49 PM EDT
Filed Under:
Toronto SUN Opinion Columnists
RELATED
EDITORIALS
EDITORIAL: Scheer offers reasonable solution to Roxham Road
NEWS
WARMINGTON: ‘Elderly’ gang collared in cell phone caper
COLUMNISTS
BONOKOSKI: Grits leave hospitals on hook for military health care
COLUMNISTS
MULCAIR: Bill 21 could prove decisive for voters
Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau is seen during an election campaign visit to Toronto October 9, 2019. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe
Rumours. It’s more than a Fleetwood Mac album.
Rumours about Justin Trudeau have littered Canadian newsrooms like confetti since the start of this election. Rumours about Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada.
As we now know, some of the rumours about the Liberal leader turned out to be true.
So, in 2014, this writer was told there were affidavits detailing inappropriate conduct between Trudeau and various young people. I simply did not believe it, but I raised the allegation directly with Trudeau’s most-senior adviser.
To my surprise, he acknowledged the allegations had been made in affidavits, but said that Trudeau’s insular inner circle were not worried. They had rebutting affidavits of their own to respond.
Subsequently, a female parliamentarian sent me an editorial written by a B.C. reporter in which she alleged that Trudeau had groped her, quote unquote, at a beer festival. While Trudeau said he did not act inappropriately, he apologized, saying “people can experience interactions differently.”
https://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/kinsella-rumours-the-truth-and-trudeau
U.S. arrests counterterrorism analyst over leaks to journalists
Sarah N. Lynch, Andy Sullivan
5 MIN READ
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A counterterrorism analyst with the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency was arrested on Wednesday over charges he leaked classified materials about a foreign country’s weapons system to two journalists in 2018 and 2019, the U.S. Justice Department said in federal court filings on Wednesday.
FILE PHOTO: An FBI vehicle is seen outside the Federal Bureau of Investigation building ahead of the release of the Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s report in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 18, 2019. REUTERS/Amr Alfiky/File Photo
Information that 30-year-old Henry Kyle Frese passed to the journalists appeared in at least eight different news stories, the Justice Department alleged in an indictment unsealed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.
The two reporters to whom he leaked information were colleagues, and one of them was apparently romantically involved with Frese, the FBI said in court filings.
Those news stories relied on five separate intelligence reports issued between March and June 2018.
Reuters could not immediately determine if Frese had obtained a lawyer in the case.
This marks the sixth federal case involving leaks of classified information in a little over two years. A crackdown on leaking was initiated by the Trump administration in 2017 and led by then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-security-leak/u-s-arrests-counterterrorism-analyst-over-leaks-to-journalists-idUSKBN1WO2C4?utm_source=reddit.com
President Trump Executive Order Announcement and Press Conference – Video and Transcript…
Posted on October 9, 2019 by sundance
Earlier today President Trump held a White House event to sign an executive order on Transparency in Federal Guidance and Enforcement. [Details Here and Here]
In addition, President Trump took numerous questions from the media during a lengthy press conference [Video and Transcript below].
.
[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. I’ll start by saying I just spoke with Boris Johnson, and we had a good talk about a number of subjects, and we’ll maybe talk about it a little bit later. But we had an extended conversation and some pretty good ideas, I think. They want to see if we can do a couple of things, and they’ll be doing certain things for us.
I want to also thank the Minneapolis Police Department. They have been so incredible, what they’ve done. Tomorrow, we have a tremendous amount of people planned to go. I know the requests have been incredible. So, I think it’s a great state and we’re going to have a lot of fun tomorrow night. I think a lot of you are going to be with us. And then, on Friday night, we’ll be going to Louisiana, and there’s a big election on Saturday to see whether or not there’s a runoff, most likely. And I think we’ll do very well. The Republicans are doing very well despite the witch hunt that they have on Republicans.
So I just want to thank everybody for being here and coming to the White House on this important occasion. In a few moments, I’ll be signing two executive orders to expand our record-breaking regulatory reduction campaign that is helping to fuel our incredible economic boom. I guess the stock market is up close to 250 points today, and this is despite lots of trade deals that are getting done one by one.
We did a deal with South Korea — a big one, a really big one. And we did one yesterday with Japan. And that now goes into effect, and it’s tremendous for our farmers.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2019/10/09/president-trump-executive-order-announcement-and-press-conference-video-and-transcript/#more-173311
It pays to lie.
McClatchy, the newspaper chain and media conglomerate, has been caught deliberately printing easy-to-prove-false fake news regarding a key GOP congressman at the center of the hoax investigations Democrats are using to target President Donald Trump, then turning around and using said false reports to financially boost the company amid serious concerns about the company’s falling stock price.
McClatchy has seen a significant drop in stock price over the past several years, especially this year. According to investment analyst service Morning Star, it is down to $2.78 per share at the close of business on Wednesday afternoon. McClatchy’s stock opened the year in the mid-$7 per share range but has slowly but surely slid down now near its all-time-low—it was trading at a slightly lower-per-share amount back in May than it is now.
Poynter wrote in a 2018 piece about the newspaper company’s woes:
https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2019/10/09/exclusive-fake-news-industry-how-mcclatchy-uses-false-stories-to-attract-investment-amid-financial-woes/
Missile Tests… ?
Multiple Reports: Trey Gowdy Joins Trump Legal Team – Impeachment Defense…
Posted on October 9, 2019 by sundance
The initial reports came last night indicating that former South Carolina republican congressman Trey Gowdy has joined President Trump’s legal team. Reporting today confirms that Trey Gowdy is no longer a Fox News contributor.
Specifically it appears Mr. Gowdy has joined the team as a proactive measure before a House impeachment vote which then leads to a trial in the Senate.
Given Gowdy’s specific legal skillset, and considering he is well known amid Senate chambers, I would surmise Gowdy would be the primary defense orator during a senate trial.
In that regard this is a good pick.
We do not yet know who House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will select to be the House “Impeachment Managers”, for all intents and purposes the House impeachment prosecutors. However, given recent court positioning it seems possible Lawfare member Douglas Letter -current House counsel- will be one of the two impeachment managers.
Mr. Gowdy has a rather mixed past in the political sphere. Heck, to be direct, his history of purple ties and political fence-positioning has been more than a little annoying. However, the 55-year-old former prosecutor is a strong litigator known for skilled oration and quick thinking in verbal arguments.
A smart chap with a disarming southern drawl is an asset in court. Considering the public spectacle of a Senate trial, this strength outweighs his prior shortcomings.
Additionally, another benefit to Trey Gowdy is there’s no need to bring him up-to-speed on the central issues. Mr. Gowdy was one of two House members who has reviewed every bit of classified documentary evidence gathered during the republican congressional investigations of the DOJ and FBI conduct.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2019/10/09/multiple-reports-trey-gowdy-joins-trump-legal-team-impeachment-defense/
President Trump’s administration deported more than 2,500 illegal aliens in the last two months who had arrived at the United States-Mexico border and claimed to be part of a family unit.
Federal data obtained by Breitbart News reveals that since August, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has deported more than 2,500 illegal aliens who arrived as a family unit at the southern border and have final orders for removal.
Over these two months, ICE agents arrested another 275 illegal aliens who arrived as family units at the border. All of these illegal aliens arrested have final orders for removal, meaning they have gone through the asylum and immigration courts and have been found not to be eligible to stay in the U.S.
Compare these deportation numbers to that of Fiscal Year 2018, when ICE deported 2,711 illegal aliens who arrived as family units at the border for the entire year.
This indicates that about 226 illegal aliens claiming to be part of a family unit were deported every month last year compared to about 1,250 deported each month in August and September of this year — a more than 453 percent increase in illegal family unit deportations based on monthly totals.
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2019/10/09/trump-surges-deportations-of-illegal-aliens-by-453-percent-in-recent-months/
Ying Ma – at the 34-minute mark of the video … a bit out of sinc, but the message is important:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQTQNyJZo_w
I have to admit, every time I recount my past in behind the iron curtain, I get seriously ‘out of sorts’. It has been close to 4 decades, but, whenever I recount it publicly, even to today, my family members have to shake me awake from the most horrible nightmares…where I scream so loudly…or am deprived of sleep altogether for days – but am not really fully awake, either.
The first time I did this, I was giving a talk at a conference…the nightmare I had was so strong, the hotel security broke into my room because my roommates could not wake me and my screams woke people in neighbouring rooms…
I don’t know how to describe it…but not a good place to be.
A friend has pointed out that people with my experience have an obligation to speak out about it – and so I have done…but it has messed me up beyond comprehension, shaken me to the root of who and what I am, who and what I think I am…I no longer know up from down…silly, I know, I should have learned to cope by now. But bringing up buried memories like this – I just don’t know how to cope…
Yes, I know, I have to continue to speak up.
And I will, whatever the cost.
Sorry to burden you – just trying to explain myself…
You can run but you can’t hide:
https://www.theorganicprepper.com/database-dhs-hart/
PC: Loss of a father, loss of a son:
https://ottawasun.com/news/local-news/mothers-anger-spills-out-in-court-as-sons-killer-sentenced/wcm/180cabf0-f428-4861-a32b-6ceb78477b31
Trump on Pulling Support for Kurds in Syria: They Didn’t Help Us in WWII (sputniknews, Oct 10, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201910101077004733-trump-on-pulling-support-for-kurds-in-syria-they-didnt-help-us-in-wwii/
“Despite effectively abandoning the Kurdish forces ahead of an imminent Turkish offensive, Trump said he would be closely watching the situation to see if Turkey does anything “off limits”. Ankara said the incursion is meant to eliminate “terrorists” to pave the way for the creation of a buffer zone in northern Syria.
US President Donald Trump has downplayed the American alliance with Kurdish fighters in Syria, saying that there were no Kurds on Omaha Beach on D-Day.
“The Kurds are fighting for their land,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday. “And as somebody wrote in a very, very powerful article today: They didn’t help us in the Second World War, they didn’t help us with Normandy, as an example, they mention names of different battles… but they’re there to help us with their land.”
“In addition to that, we have spent tremendous amounts of money on helping the Kurds in terms of ammunition, in terms of weapons, in terms of money, in terms of pay,” he explained. “With all of that being said, we like the Kurds.”
Trump on the Kurds: “They didn’t help us in the Second World War, they didn’t help us with Normandy, as an example.” He suggests that they battled alongside U.S. forces for “their land,” and adds, “With all of that being said, we like the Kurds.” pic.twitter.com/4aFGJiQquv
— Luis Velarde (@luivelarde) October 9, 2019
The US President was apparently referring to Kurt Schlichter, an outspoken conservative commentator who praised Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Syrian-Turkish border in an earnest Tuesday column on Townhall.
“The Kurds helped destroy ISIS, true. It’s also true that the Kurds would have fought ISIS anyway, since the psycho caliphate was right next door,” Schlichter wrote. “Let’s be honest — the Kurds didn’t show up for us at Normandy or Inchon or Khe Sanh or Kandahar.”
The Kurdish Issue
Until now, Kurdish-led militias have been a key US ally in Syria, where they helped defeat Daesh*, the notorious jihadist group also known as ISIS. Kurdish forces effectively came to control around a quarter of Syria’s territory during the country’s eight-year civil war in areas adjacent to the border with Turkey.
Ankara views these forces as affiliates of the Kurdish Workers Party, a political and militant organisation pushing for greater Kurdish autonomy which has been designated as a terror group in Turkey, and says that a strong Kurdish presence near its borders poses a threat to its security.
The Failed Safe Zone
The United States and Turkey have agreed to establish a buffer zone along the Turkish-Syrian border that would stretch 30 kilometres deep into Syria.
The proposed ‘peace corridor’ will be free of heavy weapons and to be patrolled jointly by Turkish and American forces, was also meant to resettle up to 2 million Syria refugees currently living in Turkey. The government in Damascus has objected to the agreement and called it a “blatant attack” on the country’s sovereignty.
The US Pullback
The process to establish the so-called safe zone has stalled over differences between Turkey and the US, and Turkish President Erdogan launched a military offensive in the Kurdish-held territory on Wednesday. Trump ordered to pull US forces out of the area ahead of the operation, triggering concerns that this paved the way for Turkish forces to assault the Kurds. The SDF, a major Kurdish-led militia which was instrumental in eliminating Daesh strongholds including Raqqa and Manbij, described the US move as a “stab in the back”.
Ankara has denied allegations that the operation targets Kurds, and said the goal was to root out “terrorists” along its southern border to create the conditions necessary for the creation of a peace corridor and resettlement of refugees. However, Ankara uses the term to refer to the SDF/YPG military forces of the de facto government of the region, the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (NES), often referred to as Rojava.
On Wednesday, Trump said in a statement that he did not endorse the Turkish offensive and thought it was a “bad idea.” He said the US wants Turkey to comply with its commitments to protect civilians and prevent a humanitarian crisis, but did not indicate what the US response would be. Earlier this week, he threatened to “obliterate” Turkey’s economy if the country goes “off limits”.
*A terrorist organisation banned by the UN, Russia, US, and numerous other states.”
Finland Halts Arms Exports to Turkey, Condemns Military Operation in Syria (sputniknews, Oct 10, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/europe/201910101077004703-finland-halts-arms-exports-to-turkey-condemns-military-operation-in-syria/
“According to Finnish Prime Minister Antti Rinne, Turkey’s actions have exacerbated the already-complicated humanitarian situation in Syria and could potentially spark a new refugee crisis.
Finland’s centre-left government, led by the Social Democrats, has condemned the Turkish offensive in Syria, pledging to stop all arms exports to Ankara.
Just three weeks ago, the Finnish government approved drone exports to Turkey. Now, Helsinki has stopped all such weapons exports and strongly condemned Turkey’s actions.
“The situation is serious. For my own area of responsibility, I note the following: Finland does not export defence material to countries that wage wars or violate human rights”, Finnish Defence Minister Antti Kaikkonen of the Centre Party tweeted. “No new arms export licenses from Finland to Turkey will be granted for the time being. The situation is also being investigated for the arms export licenses already granted”, Kaikkonen added…”
It will be interesting to see what the other European Nations do.
Munich. Strongly worded whimpers.
How about North Cyprus?
That he’s claimed drilling rights for offshore territory of ALL of Cyprus and part of GREECE? That he’s already sent ships to disrupt work of the East Med Alliance?
Turkey’s “Second Invasion” of Cyprus: Illegal Drilling in Eastern Mediterranean
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14256/cyprus-turkey-illegal-drilling
Beyond Energy: The Significance of the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum
http://www.inss.org.il/publication/beyond-energy-significance-eastern-mediterranean-gas-forum/?offset=0&posts=1134&type=399
Iran Demands Immediate Pullout of Turkish Forces From Syria – Foreign Ministry (sputniknews, Oct 10, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201910101077006422-iran-demands-immediate-pullout-of-turkish-forces-from-syria—foreign-ministry/
“On Wednesday, Turkish troops launched ‘Operation Peace Spring’, an intervention in northern Syria which Ankara has said was aimed at clearing the Turkish-Syrian border area of terrorists and establishing a buffer zone between the two countries.
Tehran is demanding the withdrawal of Turkish forces from Syrian territory and the immediate halt to the fighting, Iran’s Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday.
“Iran’s Foreign Ministry, expressing its concern over Turkey’s military operations on Syrian territory, and taking into account the seriousness of the humanitarian situation and the ongoing dangers posed to civilians in the conflict zones, emphasises the need to immediately stop the attacks and for the withdrawal of Turkish troops from Syria,” the ministry said in a statement.
The Ministry said Iran understands Turkey’s concerns over its security, but noted that a military solution was not the way to resolve them.
Tehran also warned that the military campaign threatened to cause widespread loss of life and material damage in Syria, and reiterated its opposition to the operation.
The statement follows remarks by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani Wednesday calling on Ankara to show restraint and avoid military operations in northern Syria. Rouhani called on “a correct path” to be adopted to allay Turkish security concerns, including the withdrawal of US troops from the region, and work to ensure that Syria’s Kurds showed support for the Syrian Army and the government in Damascus…”
Our technological revolution has created massive global corporate giants. Many of these pioneering outfits may have had a normal regard for freedom and the American Way stemming from the individuals who created them. But as they’ve grown their mass has corrupted them. Look at this:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-08/apple-pulls-taiwanese-flag-emoji-from-iphones-in-hong-kong
Erdogan Warns He’ll ‘Open Doors’ for Syrian Refugees to Europe if EU Deems Turkish Op an Occupation (sputniknews, Oct 10, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/world/201910101077008536-erdogan-warns-hell-open-doors-for-syrian-refugees-to-europe-if-eu-deems-turkish-op-an-occupation/
“On Wednesday, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that Turkey must immediately end its offensive in northern Syria.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has pledged to “open doors” for Syrian Refugees to Europe if he said EU sees a Turkish military operation in northeast Syria as an occupation.
“We will open the gates and send 3.6 million refugees your way,” Erdogan said during a speech to lawmakers from his AK Party on Thursday.
He also claimed that Turkey’s military operation would add to Syria’s territorial integrity by tackling Kurdish forces’ efforts to take control of the Arab country’s northeasters areas.
The remarks come after European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that Ankara “must cease the ongoing military operation” in the area.
“It will not work. And if Turkey’s plan is to create a security zone, do not expect funding from the European Union”, Jean-Claude Juncker told the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday.
He spoke as the EU rejected Turkish plans for a safe zone for refugees, pointing out that the bloc “calls upon Turkey to cease the unilateral military action” in Syria.
“It is unlikely that a so-called ‘safe zone’ in north-east Syria, as envisaged by Turkey, would satisfy international criteria for refugee return”, the EU said in a joint statement by the 28 member-states…”
All of the people complaining about Trump pulling our troops need to take a good hard look at what Erdogan is doing, we had 2,000 people at risk and the risk factor was increasing daily. Thanks to Obama and his spending sprees the US can no longer afford to police the world (which in my opinion was one of the major goals of the spending spree).
The nations of the Middle East are choosing up sides for a regional war and we are having to decide where our limited treasure and military are best used. While this preparation for a regional war is occurring we have China preparing for some type of conflict. Yes the Trade War is weakening China and may well prevent a conflict in that region, at least one that will occur before China faces the full effects of their current economic problem. The Trade War limits the ability of China to interfere in foreign affairs which helps us but also helps Russia. (See the Brad Johnson interview on the pull out. He briefly talks about how this will help Russia and Iran) To an extent iut also helps Iran but the sanctions on Iran are hindering their capabilities to make major moves in that region. Right now they don’t appear to be wealthy enough or strong enough to make major moves in any portion of the Middle East.
For what it’s worth, more like 50-100 people in that zone. Pulling them out was the signal, the Turk’s green light, after their phone call Sunday night.
Abruptly. Via twitter.
J.E. said something to the effect of, “It is what it is. Water under the bridge. Let’s see where we are now.”
Be sure and read the Guest Editorial on today’s Liberty Unyielding. I don’t agree with all it says but I do know that we don’t have a secure base close enough to support the Kurds.
Live Updates: More Than Hundred Terrorists Killed Since Start of Operation in Syria – Erdogan (sputniknews, Oct 10, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/middleeast/201910101077006416-turkish-backed-syrian-opposition-forces-join-operation-peace-spring—reports/
“Earlier in the day, the Turkish Defence Ministry announced that the country’s forces had seized designated targets and the military operation is continuing successfully as planned.
The Turkey-backed Syrian National Army, previously known as the Free Syrian Army, has entered the territories east of Euphrates to support Ankara’s offensive, dubbed the Peace Spring Operation, Daily Sabah reported.
Earlier in the day, an official from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) said that heavy clashes continued in the Syrian villages that the Turkish forces are trying to enter….”
“14:40
Turkish Reconaissance Aircraft Downed Over Syria’s Hasakah Province
14:27
Yerevan Decries Turkish Offensive in Syria, Calls for Action to Avert ‘Mass Atrocities’
Yerevan condemns the Turkish offensive against Kurds in northeast Syria and calls for international efforts to avert “mass atrocities” and identity-based violations of human rights the military action could result in, the Armenian Foreign Ministry said on Thursday.
“Armenia condemns the military invasion by Turkey in north-east Syria, which would lead to deterioration of regional security, losses among civilians, mass displacement and eventually to a new humanitarian crisis. The plight of ethnic and religious minorities is of particular concern,” the ministry said.
The ministry warned that the military action “also creates an imminent threat of identity-based grave and massive violations of human rights.”
Yerevan, therefore, called for “effective international measures” to stop the operation and avert “mass atrocities.”
The ministry also reaffirmed full support for Syrian sovereignty and territorial integrity, vowing to continue providing humanitarian assistance to the Arab republic.
The Armenian community used to be among the largest diasporas in Syria before the latter became caught up in a violent civil conflict in 2011. Out of roughly 110,000 of pre-war Armenian population – residing mainly in Aleppo, Damascus, Latakia, Kesab and Qamishli – at least over 70,000 have since fled the country, the Armenian Ministry of Diaspora told Sputnik back in March.
14:27
Dozens of Civilians Killed in Turkey’s North Syria Offensive – Kurdish Party
Dozens of civilians were killed, hundreds injured and hundreds of thousands displaced in Turkey’s attack in the north of Syria, the Kurdish Democratic Progressive Party of Syria said in a statement obtained by Sputnik.
“As a result of a blatant attack on the Syrian sovereignty, Turkish forces on October 9 launched a full-scale offensive along the Turkish-Syrian border from Kobani (Ayn al-Arab) to Al-Malikiyah targeting safe towns and villages with artillery and warplanes. Dozens of civilians were killed, hundreds injured and hundreds of thousands of people displaced to safe areas,” the statement read.
14:16
Daesh Won’t Re-Emerge After Turkey’s Offensive in Syria, Jailed Terrorists Won’t be Released – Erdogan
“We are now asked, what we will do with the jailed IS [Daesh] militants. After we seize control over the region, we will have to make sure that the IS will not be able to operate there anymore. And then we will do what we should. We will jail those who must be jailed, and we will send foreign militants, whom their countries are ready to receive, there. The IS will not be able to conduct any activities in the region, I want to guarantee this,” Erdogan said in an address in Ankara.
Turkey has suffered from Daesh more than any other nation, according to the Turkish leader.
“As many as 17,000 IS members are detained in our country, most of them are not Turks. A total of 77,000 people from 155 countries are banned from entering the country [Turkey], 7,600 people have been expelled from the country,” Erdogan noted.
14:09
Total of 109 Terrorists Killed Since Beginning of Turkey’s Offensive in Syria – Erdogan
As many as 109 terrorists have been killed since the beginning of Turkey’s military operation in Syria’s north, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.
“We started the operation yesterday. First, it was artillery, then aviation and ground forces arrived in the late evening. As of now, 109 terrorists have been killed, and many others have been injured or have surrendered. Black propaganda against Turkey has been launched there, with Turkey being accused of bombing civilians. These are you who attack civilians, you have no shame. We are taking measures against the black propaganda, and we are briefing the society on every step we take,” Erdogan said in an address in Ankara.
14:03
50 Women Stage Protest in Syria’s Al-Hasakah Against SDF Forces – Reports
13:59
Turkey’s Military Operation in Syria’s North Will Cause No Harm to Civilians – Erdogan
Turkey’s offensive in Syria’s north will not result in any harm for civilians, as Ankara believes that none of its “Syrian brothers” must be afraid, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.
“We cannot accept any type of harm done to civilians. Those who use weapons against us, attack us … are targets. None of our Syrian brothers needs to be afraid,” Erdogan said, as broadcast by TRT.
“We will bring peace and security to everybody, and we will disperse the black clouds above the Syrian people,” he added.
13:49
At Least 50 US Troops Withdraw From Syria’s Al Hasakah Province – Reports
At least 50 US soldiers are currently withdrawing from the northeastern Syrian province of Al Hasakah along with dozens of vehicles via the Semalka border crossing, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported on Thursday.
The Semalka border crossing was set up between Iraqi Kurdistan and the areas in northeastern Syria controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces during the civil war.
13:39
Kurds Urge International Community to Recall Ambassadors From Turkey Over Syria Offensive
Ilham Ahmed, the co-chair of the Syrian Democratic Council, the political wing of the Syrian Democratic Forces, has called on the international community to recall ambassadors from Turkey amid Ankara’s operation in the north of Syria.
“We call on the countries, the international community, to retreat their diplomatic embassies from Turkey,” Ahmed said at the European Parliament….”
Nothing you read from Russian or Kurdish sources can be taken at face value.
And remember, when the Turk says “terrorists”, he means non-Turks. Kurds, Assyrians, Armenians, Yazidis, etc.
I just love having to remember the meanings of words for every geroup (sarc off).
Brother ‘who helped Manchester Arena bomber prepare for the attack’ appears in court charged with 22 murders (dailymail, Oct 10, 2019)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7558463/Brother-helped-Manchester-Arena-bomber-prepare-attack-appears-court.html
“The younger brother of the Manchester Arena suicide bomber has appeared at the Old Bailey today charged with 22 counts of murder – one for each of the people who died.
Hashem Abedi, 22, allegedly bought bomb ingredients and components as well as a Nissan Micra to store them all in before fleeing to Libya before his older sibling Salman launched the terror attack two years ago.
He detonated a suicide vest as music fans left an Ariana Grande concert, killing 22 people and injuring 260 others on May 22 2017.
Hashem Abedi, who was raised in Manchester, travelled to Libya before the attack having allegedly helped him plan it.
The defendant, who was 20 at the time of the murders, was arrested in Tripoli and was extradited to the UK in July.
It is claimed he made successful and unsuccessful attempts to buy bomb-making chemicals.
He also allegedly helped in the purchase of a Nissan Micra to store device components and made detonator tubes for use in the explosive.
Today Abedi appeared in the dock of Court 2 at the Old Bailey for a plea and trial preparation hearing before senior judge Mr Justice Baker.
The defendant was not asked to enter pleas to the charges and the hearing was adjourned to October 22.
Abedi is charged with 22 counts of murder – one for each person killed in the attack.
He also faces a single count of attempted murder for all the other victims, and conspiring with his brother to cause explosions.
The defendant, who is in custody, is due to face trial at the Old Bailey from November 11.”
Afghan migrant who stabbed ex-girlfriend, 15, to death in Germany is found dead in prison cell with ‘no signs of suicidal intent’ (dailymail, Oct 10, 2019)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7558357/Afghan-migrant-stabbed-ex-girlfriend-15-death-Germany-dead.html
“An Afghan migrant who was convicted of murdering his 15-year-old German girlfriend has been found dead in his cell.
The man, who was identified only as Abdul Mobin D due to German privacy laws, was sentenced to eight and a half years in prison last September.
Prosecutors said his body was found at a juvenile prison in Schifferstadt early on Thursday. They said in a statement that prison officials hadn’t seen any signs of ‘suicidal intent’.
But other reports also suggested the killer was found hanged.
Abdul Mobin D admitted in court to stabbing his girlfriend, identified only as Mia V, at a drugstore in the town of Kandel on December 27, 2017.
The attacker was overpowered by witnesses who restrained him until police officers arrived.
Prosecutors believe Abdul Mobin D, who claimed to be from Afghanistan, acted out of jealousy after the girl broke up with him.
Besides his nationality, doubts were raised about his age, which he said was 15 at the time of the crime.
An expert estimated him to be between 17 and a half and 20 but, given the uncertainty, the proceedings were held behind closed doors and under juvenile penal rules.
Abdul Mobin D arrived in the German state of Hesse in April 2016 as an unaccompanied refugee, telling the authorities he was 15 years old.
His request for asylum was rejected in February 2017 but he was not immediately deported.
Abdul Mobin D and Mia V had reportedly had a relationship which lasted several months, but she broke up with him early December after he became ‘jealous and mean’.
The victim’s father David V said he and his family initially welcomed Abdul Mobin D ‘like a son’ as ‘otherwise he would have had nobody’, but added that he always doubted his age.
‘He is never in a million years 15-years-old. We hope that through the procedure [age test] that we will now know his true age,’ he said.
Following the end of the relationship, Abdul Mobin D reportedly stalked and threatened Mia V which saw her parents file a complaint, accusing the Afghan national of insults, threats and coercion.
Police officers had notified the asylum seeker of proceedings over the harassment on the morning of the fatal stabbing.
Despite the doubts over his age, German doctors have resisted calls for medical testing to determine the age of young migrants, claiming it is unethical.
The case is one in a string of high-profile crimes allegedly committed by asylum seekers that have stoked popular anger against the new arrivals.
This has in turn put pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel over her liberal refugee policy, which has seen more than one million migrants enter the country since 2015.”
..and nothing of value was lost.
I guess the remains can be age-tested now, or do German doctors think that’s unethical too?
ISIS fanatic stabs Indonesia’s chief security minister and three others in university knife attack (dailymail, Oct 10, 2019)
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7558121/ISIS-fanatic-stabs-Indonesias-chief-security-minister.html
“Indonesia’s chief security minister Wiranto was stabbed by an IS radical as he stepped out of a vehicle near a university on Thursday, police have confirmed.
Television footage showed security officers restraining a man and a woman after the attack on the minister, 72, in Pandeglang, Banten province, on the island of Java.
National Police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo confirmed both suspects – identified as Syahril Alamsyah, 31, and Fitri Andriana, 21 – have been arrested.
Both are said to belong to IS-linked terror network Jamaah Ansharut Daulah.
‘We have been able to identify the perpetrators as JAD members’, intelligence chief Budi Gunawan said.
Wiranto suffered ‘two deep wounds’ to his stomach in the attack and may need surgery, but Berkah Hospital spokesman Firmansyah confirmed he was conscious and in a stable condition.
A local police chief, an army officer and an assistant also suffered non-life threatening injuries in the attack.
Wiranto was seen being carried on a stretcher to a helicopter before he was airlifted to the capital Jakarta following the incident on Thursday….”
Canada’s Justin Trudeau Describes Brexit Supporters as ‘Alt-Right’ (breitbart, Oct 10, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/10/10/justin-trudeau-describes-brexit-supporters-alt-right/
“Canadian Liberal leader Justin Trudeau has labelled those who support the UK leaving the EU as “alt-right” in a new attack against his Conservative Party rival.
Mr Trudeau wrote that the Conservative Party of Canada leader Andrew Scheer was bringing “far-right” rhetoric into the ongoing Canadian election campaign. The Canadian prime minister listed several topics he claimed were supported or opposed by both the Tories and the “alt-right”.
“Andrew Scheer is bringing far-right, American-style politics north this election season, and he must be stopped,” Trudeau wrote above the picture that listed five topics: climate change, Brexit, abortion, same-sex marriage, and immigration.
According to Mr Trudeau, supporters of Brexit, such as the Canadian Conservatives, are in line with the American alt-right. The alt-right is a loose connection of predominantly American white ethno-nationalists. They gained infamy during the Charlottesville “Unite the Right” event in 2017 that led to violence and the murder of left-wing activist Heather Heyer.
The comparison with the alt-right, who are often described by the media and others as avowed racists, comes only weeks after Mr Trudeau himself was mired in a racism scandal. It emerged he had put on blackface in at least three occasions in the past which were caught on film or photographed.
When confronted about his seeming habit of wearing blackface and asked how many times he had darkened his skin, Trudeau could not answer. He said: “I am weary of being definitive about this because the recent pictures that came out, I had not remembered.”
Trudeau is not the first person to describe the 17.4 million Brexit voters as “racists”. Many left-wing publications have also claimed that the Brexit vote has led to a surge in racist incidents and attacks on minorities.
Earlier this week, during the English-language leaders’ debate, the Canadian Tory leader Andrew Scheer had a chance to hit back at Trudeau directly. Mr Scheer said: “What is very dangerous is when you have a prime minister like Justin Trudeau who uses legitimate issues like racism and hateful language to demonise anyone who disagrees with him.”
“Calling people un-Canadian for disagreeing with his failure on the border does more to create division,” he added, likely in reference to an incident involving a woman in Quebec in August 2018.
Diane Blain, the woman called out as racist by Trudeau, has since filed a $90,000 lawsuit against Trudeau for “psychological distress and damage to her reputation and her right to freedom of expression”, according to the National Post.”
Austrian Economics:
https://mises.org/library/ludwig-von-mises-scholar-creator-hero-0
Indonesia’s chief security minister Wiranto stabbed during town visit
Why the 2008 Housing Crisis Recovery Is Just an Illusion (w/ Keith Jurow)
Google Uighurs’ protest sign confiscated at basketball game
This is what happened when I met a CHINESE fan
Migrant Gang on Trial for Robbing and Assaulting French Prostitutes (breitbart, Oct 10, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/10/10/migrant-gang-trial-assaulting-extorting-french-prostitutes/
“A gang of Moroccan migrants face trial in Rennes after being accused of robbing and sexually assaulting prostitutes in several cities across France.
The seven men, aged between 25 and 35, are said to have pretended they were clients of the prostitutes before robbing them and sometimes sexually assaulting and raping them.
The incidents are said to have occurred in Rennes, Brest, Quimper, Vannes, Angers, Le Mans, Strasbourg, and Metz, Le Télégramme reports.
Some of the suspects were accused of visiting prostitutes’ homes where they violently beat and raped the women.
The gang is said to have mostly met each other in Brest. Two of them had already been convicted of similar offences in Paris in 2018.
According to investigators, the gang stole as much as 9,000 euros in a single night by robbing the prostitutes. However, the president of the court noted it would be difficult to get testimony from many of the victims, some of whom are likely to be illegal migrants. The trial is set to last until October 18th.
The case is not the first instance of migrant gangs extorting money from prostitutes in France. In Paris, three young migrants from Egypt were arrested earlier this year after robbing several transgender prostitutes in the Bois de Boulogne park, a hotspot for street prostitution.
The case came just months after police arrested nine illegal migrants in the French capital following the fatal shooting of South American transgender prostitute Vanesa Campos, born Victor Elias in Peru.
The migrant gang was well-known in Paris’s 16th arrondissement and had made a business of extorting and robbing both the street prostitutes and their clients. Investigators said, much like the Moroccan gang, they had also raped at least one of the sex workers.”
Asim Umar, The India-Born Al-Qaeda Leader Killed In US-Afghan Raid
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGjqihr533Y
Al-Qaeda India chief Asim Omar killed in Afghanistan in a joint US-Afghan operation
https://www.opindia.com/2019/10/al-qaeda-india-chief-asim-omar-killed-in-afghanistan-in-a-joint-us-afghan-operation/
Kurdistan live stream.. sh!t is going down:
YEMEN
Ankara-backed former Syrian rebels head to Syria for Turkish offensive
Explosion smoke rises over Turkey Syria border
Erdogan warns EU against criticizing Turkish military op in Syria
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned Europe against criticizing his country’s newly-launched military incursion into Syria, claiming he could allow millions of refugees to pour into the EU if he so chooses.
“Hey EU, wake up. I say it again: if you try to frame our operation there as an invasion, our task is simple: we will open the doors and send 3.6 million migrants to you.” – Erdogan
channel 4 – Syria: Turkey threatens to send millions of refugees to Europe if war against Kurds interfered with
President Erdogan claimed today that 109 militants had been killed in the last two days of fighting, but the number was disputed by his opponents on the ground.
In northern Syria seven civilians were reported killed, including two children. Meanwhile Syrian Kurdish forces fired mortars across the border, reportedly killing six people in several Turkish towns.
Today the Turkish President warned he will open his borders and allow three and half million refugees to flood into Europe if anyone interferes with his war against the Kurds.
Majority of Swedish Parties Demand Halt to Arms Sales to Turkey Amid Military Operation in Syria (sputniknews, Oct 10, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/military/201910101077009716-majority-of-swedish-parties-demand-halt-to-arms-sales-to-turkey-amid-military-operation-in-syria/
“Over the past five years, Sweden’s arms exports to Turkey have risen more than ten-fold. ?Sweden has consistently ranked among the world’s 30 biggest arms manufacturers.
Following Turkey’s military operation in the Kurdish-dominated areas of northern Syria, five of Sweden’s eight parliamentary parties demanded that Sweden’s exports of military equipment to Turkey be stopped.
“In a Turkey that is not only increasingly authoritarian but has also ramped up its machinery to carry out a large-scale invasion of a neighbouring country, Sweden should not export military equipment there,” Liberals foreign policy spokesman Fredrik Malm told Swedish Radio.
This sentiment was shared by Janine Alm-Ericsson, foreign policy spokeswoman for the Greens, a junior government party.
“If this thing keeps developing the way it unfortunately looks like, then it is not acceptable for us to export something that can be used in a war situation,” Alm Eriksson said.
Even the Christian Democrats and the Centre Party suggested that the military operation was incompatible with new Swedish arms exports to Turkey…”
Exiled Pakistani Politician in London Charged With ‘Encouraging Terrorism’ Over Hate Speech (sputniknews, Oct 10, 2019)
https://sputniknews.com/world/201910101077010155-exiled-pakistani-politician-in-london-charged-with-encouraging-terrorism-over-hate-speech/
A Twitter thread by a Breitbart journalist, commenting on the Halle nazi’s livestream:
https://twitter.com/TomlinsonCJ/status/1181962942230749186
“that was my action, I’m a complete loser.”
He also complains about his homemade Luty submachine gun. Presumably because it jams, not because of lack of precision. I saw a photo of the front of the kebab shop, and noticed that the groupings were tight – looked like 2 bursts of 3 shots.
Turkey, Syria, and the Kurds: A nine-point survey
By J.E. Dyer October 9, 2019
A short scoping piece on Turkey, the Kurds, and Syria. None of this assuages the acute stomach-ache from seeing Turkey attacking the Kurds in Syria.
1. We should never have been embedded with one of the warring factions in Syria. That was always a strategically fatal path from which we would have to extricate ourselves. It tied our short-term interests, our national reputation, and the fate of our deployed troops to someone else’s priorities. This was foreseeable from the beginning.*
2. The alternative for engagement was to be at the settlement table for Syria, brokering agreements and outcomes for the disputants because of national interests we have in the overall outcome. Obama didn’t get that started; Trump hasn’t made such a move either.
3. Russia has been running the only settlement table in sight for Syria. It has not had any notable success, largely because it’s being run by Russia and no one trusts Russia.
https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/10/09/turkey-syria-and-the-kurds-a-nine-point-survey/
Obama’s America skulks abroad: Bad deals and weakness, on the down-low
By J.E. Dyer May 18, 2016
Unless you make the effort to follow alternative media, you won’t know about these things. If you do know about them, it’s easy to get depressed. Acting like a cynical third-world instigator-nation is not what America is for. But that’s how Obama is using our national power (to the extent it still exists in useful form).
Some readers will be aware of the news that, according to an Iranian official, we’ve been asking the Iranians to keep quiet, please, about their missile launches in violation of UNSCR 2231. Jeff Dunetz elaborates:
https://libertyunyielding.com/2016/05/18/obamas-america-skulks-abroad-bad-deals-weakness-low/
The easy way to talk about this is to say its compicated and leave it at that.
As she points out our leaving the US personal would do nothing to help the Kurds and wouldn’t deter Erdogan in any way. As J.E. states both Obama and Trump have ended up doing the right thing for the wrong reasons. If you feel like being kind to Obama he sent the trainers in because he was worried about the Kurds. In my opinion he sent the trainers in to put the US in a poor position in the future.
No matter what the resons he sent them in and there were our best allies against ISIS,. In payment they want their own nation free from foreign domination.
The Kurds insisted on first establishing a strong hold that they could (wtth help) hold against the Turks and against Syria. Once this as done they did the bulk of the fighting against ISIS and pretty much destroyed them as an organized battlefield force. The problem is that ISIS is no longer a battlefield threat and has reverted back to a terrorist threat, this means that Turkey is no longer willing to tolerate an independent Kurdish force in certain strategic locations on their border. Both Russia and Iran have their own reasons for wanting both Turkey and the Kurds weakened so they will tolerate a certain amount of fighting and death on both sides but not the total destruction of the Kurds. (Note how no one cares what Assad wants)
The US needs to get their trainers out of that region for several reasons, the big one is we can’t supply them without having a massive support effort in some neighboring nation and all of the neighboring nations would oppose our being there to support the Kurds.
Changing the subject slightly J.E. points out that one of the things we need to watch is to see what Erdogan does about the foreign ISIS fighters being held by the Kurds. The Truks shelled the prison where they are held ( https://www.reuters.com/article/us-syria-security-turkey-prison/turkey-shelled-prison-holding-is-foreign-fighters-kurdish-led-administration-idUSKBN1WP15C ) there were trained fighters from 60 nations there. This includes all of the European nations and probably all of the Islamic Nations plus any nation with a minority Islamic population.The only reason for such a shelling without a followup ground attack would be to create the situtation where a large number of the prisoners could escape. Add this with the antifa fighters that were with the Kurds and have since left the Middle East and you have a trained cadre for many home grown terrorists/revolutionary groups in all of the worlds nations.
There was an online chat with J.E., Caroline Glick, Seth Frantzman, Jonathan Spyer, other analysts. The upshot:
• It’s sickening. But may not be as bad as it’s made to appear.
• Don’t believe most of what’s reported. Video footage from 2014-15 Kobane, 2018 Afrin. Others even from Yemen!
• Stay FOCUSED on the here and now. Don’t throw it to the 4 corners of the world, or even the region – YET. Just because it’s fluid, don’t make it global soup.
• Avoid the temptation to rationalize, apologize, or condemn American policies. Past or current. However tempting, that just gets in the way.
• NOBODY can predict ANYTHING right now.
This is very good advice for the Middle East.
Two businessmen tied to Giuliani arrested on campaign finance charges
An unsealed indictment alleges Florida businessmen Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman engaged in a scheme to conceal the source or exceed the limit on political contributions; chief intelligence correspondent Catherine Herridge reports.
Feds speak on charges against Giuliani associates
United States Attorneys for the Southern District of New York to announce the indictment of Lev Parnas, Igor Fruman, David Correia and Andrey Kukushnin for various charges related to two separate schemes in which the defendants allegedly conspired to violate U.S. federal election laws.
WSJ – Two Giuliani Associates Who Helped Him on Ukraine Charged With Campaign-Finance Violations
Prosecutors say Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman were part of a conspiracy to funnel a Russian donor’s money into President Trump’s campaign
WASHINGTON—Two Soviet-born donors to a pro- Trump fundraising committee who helped Rudy Giuliani’s efforts to investigate Democrat Joe Biden were arrested late Wednesday on criminal charges stemming from their alleged efforts to funnel foreign money into U.S. elections and influence U.S. politics on behalf of at least one Ukrainian politician.
Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman, two Florida businessmen, made a brief appearance in federal court in Virginia Thursday, dressed in T-shirts. Both men are U.S. citizens born in former Soviet republics. They were arrested at Dulles Airport on Wednesday while awaiting an international flight with one-way tickets, according to people familiar with the matter, a day before one of them was scheduled to testify before House committees.
Mr. Giuliani said Thursday that Messrs. Parnas and Fruman were headed to Vienna, Austria, on Wednesday evening for reasons related to their business. He declined to elaborate on those reasons. He said the two men had also left the country about two weeks ago and had traveled to Vienna between three and six times in the last two months. He said he had been scheduled to meet with the two when they returned to Washington within days.
A federal prosecutor told a judge the government remains concerned that the men will flee. Attorneys on both sides said they would reach an agreement about the conditions of their bail and would return to the judge later Thursday or Friday.
In a 21-page indictment unsealed Thursday, federal prosecutors in Manhattan alleged Messrs. Parnas and Fruman were engaged in political activities in the U.S. on behalf of one or more Ukrainian government officials—including a lobbying campaign, targeted at a Republican congressman, to remove the U.S. ambassador in Kyiv. President Trump ordered the ambassador, Marie Yovanovitch, removed from her post in May, the Journal has reported.
Their political giving—aimed at Republicans—was funded in part by an unnamed Russian donor, the indictment alleges. Federal law bans foreigners from contributing to U.S. elections. A limited liability company created by the men was used to disguise the source of some of the money, the indictment says.
The men were charged with four counts, including conspiracy, falsification of records and lying to the Federal Election Commission about their political donations, according to the indictment.
Messrs. Parnas and Fruman assisted Mr. Giuliani’s effort to investigate Mr. Biden’s son that is now at the center of an impeachment inquiry being conducted by House Democrats.
The defendants “sought political influence not only to advance their own financial interests but to advance the political interests of at least one foreign official—a Ukrainian government official who sought the dismissal of the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said Thursday, adding that the investigation was continuing.
Since late 2018, Messrs. Fruman and Parnas have introduced Mr. Giuliani to several current and former senior Ukrainian prosecutors to discuss the Biden case, acting as key conduits of information.
The two had lunch with Mr. Giuliani at the Trump International Hotel in Washington on Wednesday, according to a person who was in the hotel and saw the three together.
Separately, hours after the indictment was announced, three Democrat-controlled House committees leading the impeachment probe of Mr. Trump issued subpoenas to Messrs. Parnas and Fruman for documents, including anything related to a meeting with former Rep. Pete Sessions (R., Texas) around May 2018; documents related to Paul Manafort, a former Trump campaign manager who has been sentenced to prison on charges related to political consulting work in Ukraine; Hunter Biden; Mr. Trump; and a slew of State Department officials. An attorney for the two men had said in an Oct. 8 letter to the committee that it would take time to gather documents, and that the two men wouldn’t be available for depositions originally scheduled for Oct. 10.
While Mr. Giuliani used the two men for finding dirt on Mr. Biden and his son Hunter, they, in turn, solicited money from Ukrainians while touting their connections to Washington, according to people familiar with their activities in Ukraine.
Mr. Giuliani, President Trump’s private lawyer, identified the two men in May as his clients. On Thursday, he said he wasn’t representing them in this case. He told Fox News on Thursday that he found their arrest “extremely suspicious.” Mr. Giuliani hasn’t been contacted by Manhattan federal prosecutors, he said Thursday morning.
John Dowd, a former lawyer for Mr. Trump who now represents Messrs. Parnas and Fruman, didn’t respond to a request for comment. Mr. Dowd has previously told Congress that the men were assisting Mr. Giuliani “in connection with his representation of President Trump.”
Jay Sekulow, a lawyer for Mr. Trump, said: “Neither the president nor the campaign nor political-action committees were aware of these transactions.”
Messrs. Parnas and Fruman had almost no history of political giving before March 2018, when they both began to spend lavishly on politics, according to the indictment, although Mr. Parnas had contributed about $100,000 to Mr. Trump’s initial campaign in late October 2016, FEC records show. They began last year donating to Republican campaigns including Mr. Trump’s reelection bid and outside groups that support him.
Prosecutors outlined a scheme by which Messrs. Parnas and Fruman made donations aimed at concealing the source of the funds.
The indictment alleges that Messrs. Parnas and Fruman conspired with two other men also named as defendants—David Correia, Mr. Parnas’s longtime business partner and No. 2, and Andrey Kukushkin—to make political donations funded by a foreign national to federal and state candidates “to gain influence with candidates as to policies that would benefit a future business venture”—a recreational marijuana business. Mr. Kukushkin was arrested on Wednesday in San Francisco but Mr. Correia hasn’t been apprehended, officials said.
The charging documents say that in May 2018 the men gave $325,000 to the primary pro-Trump super PAC, America First Action, through the LLC Global Energy Producers, according to FEC records. The way they structured that donation was meant “to evade the reporting requirements” in federal law, prosecutors said.
The indictment also alleges that Mr. Fruman intentionally misspelled his name to further evade FEC scrutiny. Fundraising records show that an “Igor Furman,” whose details otherwise match those of Mr. Fruman, made additional campaign donations totaling almost $400,000 beginning in March 2018. That would bring the pair’s contributions to about $1 million.
Attorney General William Barr discussed the case on Thursday with federal prosecutors in Manhattan, where he was making a preplanned visit. A Justice Department official said Mr. Barr was supportive of their work on the case, on which he was first briefed shortly after being confirmed as attorney general in February. He was aware on Wednesday night that the pair would be charged and taken into custody last night, the official said.
Messrs. Parnas and Fruman had dinner with Mr. Trump in early May 2018, shortly before they donated to the pro-Trump super PAC, according to since-deleted Facebook posts captured in a report published by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, a nonprofit U.S.-based media organization. They also met later that month with the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr. , at a fundraising breakfast in Beverly Hills, Calif., along with Tommy Hicks Jr. , a close friend of the younger Mr. Trump who at the time was heading America First Action. Mr. Parnas posted a photo of their breakfast four days after his LLC donated to the super PAC.
A spokeswoman for America First Action said the super PAC had placed the contribution in a segregated bank account after a complaint was filed in July 2018 with the FEC. The donation “has not been used for any purpose and the funds will remain in this segregated account until these matters are resolved,” the spokeswoman said. “We take our legal obligations seriously and scrupulously comply with the law and any suggestion otherwise is false.”
Mr. Parnas in July accompanied Mr. Giuliani to a breakfast meeting with Kurt Volker, then the U.S. special representative for Ukraine negotiations. During that breakfast, Mr. Giuliani mentioned the investigations he was pursuing into Mr. Biden and 2016 election interference, according to Mr. Volker’s testimony to House committees.
The indictment refers to a congressman, identifiable as former Texas Rep. Pete Sessions, whose assistance Mr. Parnas sought in “causing the U.S. government to remove or recall the then-U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine.” The indictment says those efforts were conducted “at least in part, at the request of one or more Ukrainian government officials.” Mr. Sessions didn’t respond to a request for comment.
In May 2018, Mr. Sessions, a Republican, sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asking for her removal, saying he had been told Ms. Yovanovitch was displaying a bias against the president in private conversations.
Mr. Sessions last week declined to say where his information about the ambassador came from. Messrs. Parnas and Fruman told the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project in July that they told Mr. Sessions last year Ms. Yovanovitch was “bad-mouthing” the president. They later donated to his campaign.
Mr. Trump moved to oust Ms. Yovanovitch this spring after Mr. Giuliani told him that she was undermining him abroad and hindering efforts to investigate Mr. Biden. House committees are seeking Ms. Yovanovitch’s testimony.
The indictment also says the men met in July 2018 in Las Vegas to hatch plans to start a recreational marijuana business in Nevada that would be funded by the unnamed Russian national. Their plan was to contribute as much as $2 million to politicians in Nevada, New York and other states with the goal of acquiring marijuana licenses, the indictment says. When they missed the deadline to apply for a license in Nevada, they made additional contributions to candidates there to try to get their business greenlighted.
Messrs. Parnas and Fruman and their business partner, Mr. Kukushkin, attended an Oct. 20, 2018, rally in Nevada, according to the indictment. That day, Mr. Trump held a rally in Elko, Nevada, to urge support for Republican gubernatorial candidate Adam Laxalt.
Nevada state fundraising records show Mr. Fruman gave $10,000 to Mr. Laxalt and Republican attorney-general candidate Wesley Duncan on Nov. 1, 2018. Both men lost to Democrats. Representatives for Messrs. Laxalt and Duncan said Thursday that they didn’t know Mr. Fruman and had no idea the donations were made unlawfully.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/two-foreign-born-men-who-helped-giuliani-on-ukraine-arrested-on-campaign-finance-charges-11570714188
Deutsche Pravda – Halle Yom Kippur attack: What we know about the shooter
DAILY MAIL – Wounded Yom Kippur shooter is taken to court still showing signs of injuries he suffered in battle with police as German prosecutor says he intended to carry out a ‘massacre’
Stephan Balliet, 27, identified as anti-Semitic shooter who killed two after failed attack on German synagogue
Germany’s top prosecutor said shooter intended to carry out a ‘massacre’ in the synagogue on Yom Kippur
He was a loner who lived with his mum, spent hours online, and ‘blamed others for his problems’, father said
Manifesto uploaded last week talked about killing ‘anti-whites’ and contained images of home-made guns
Balliet live-streamed footage of his attack in which he ranted against Jews, feminists and immigrants
Jewish community has demanded more action to combat anti-Semitism and better protection for Jewish sites
[…]Balliet was not a known extremist, Bild reported, and appears to have self-radicalised while living alone with his mother in Heldbra, a village around 25 miles from Halle, and spending lots of his time online.
[…]Video taken of Balliet during the rampage suggests he was at least familiar with combat tactics, even if he had no formal training, as he can be seen taking shelter while firing his weapons and moving around as a solider might.
In footage that he streamed online, Balliet also claims he built his weapons himself, suggesting a familiarity with mechanical engineering, though he can also be heard lamenting the fact that his guns keep jamming.
In a manifesto which was posted online as a PDF document, the author included pictures of the weapons and ammunition used in the attack, according to extremism monitoring service SITE.
[…]This manifesto document, which appears to have been created a week ago on October 1, gives yet more indication how much planning and preparation’ the gunman put into the attack, Rita Katz, director of SITE, said.
German newspaper Die Welt reported that the text, which is about 10 pages long and written in English, specifically mentions the plan to attack the synagogue in Halle during Yom Kippur.
The rampage was streamed live for 35 minutes on Twitch, and eventually seen by some 2,200 people, the online platform said.
[…]In a copy of a 35-minute video obtained by AFP the gunman filmed himself launching into a diatribe against women and Jews, before carrying out the attack.
The video’s authenticity has been confirmed by the SITE monitoring group but not by police.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7559065/Yom-Kippur-shooter-intended-carry-massacre.html
Germany: Halle shooting was ‘terror’, suspect charged with double murder – Top prosecutor
German Chief Federal Prosecutor Peter Frank said that shootings in Halle yesterday “was terror” while speaking to the press alongside German Justice Minister Christine Lambrecht in Karlsruhe on Thursday.
“What we experienced yesterday was terror. According to our findings, the accused Stefan B. set himself the goal yesterday of carrying out a massacre in the Jewish community of Halle,” Frank said.
Lambrecht echoed his remarks, saying “this was a right-wing extremist terrorist attack by a single perpetrator. We assume that he acted for anti-Semitic, right-wing extremist reasons and had the Jewish community in the synagogue in Halle as his target… only by fortunate circumstances, if one can say that in this context, he did not succeed in getting into the synagogue.”
Frank went on to say that “According to our knowledge and assessment, Stephan B. wanted to create a worldwide effect by the live footage of the crime, by his comments during the crime, by his manifesto and his plan,” and added that German authorities have accused “Stephan B. of double murder and attempted murder in nine cases and other crimes. We have requested an arrest warrant from the Federal Supreme Court’s investigating judge. Stefan B. will be brought before the investigating judge of the Federal Supreme Court here in Karlsruhe today.”
Lambrecht also spoke about the need to protect Germany’s Jewish community and said “we must make it very clear at this point that we must protect our Jewish fellow citizens much better. Our solidarity is with them and it is part of our reason of state that Jews can live safely in Germany.”
On Wednesday, two people were killed after a man opened fire near a synagogue where the Jewish community was observing the holiday of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. According to reports, one woman was shot dead outside the synagogue near a Jewish cemetery and one man killed in a nearby kebab shop.
A 27-year-old male named Stephan B. has been arrested, according to a spokesman for the German Federal Prosecutor. The attack appears to have been motivated by “extreme far-right and anti-Semitic” views, according to German reports. The suspect live-streamed the attack on Twitch, an online video-game platform, before being arrested.
DAILY MAIL – GERMANY – Afghan migrant who stabbed ex-girlfriend, 15, to death in Germany is found hanged in his prison cell
Migrant identified only as Abdul Mobin D was jailed last year for killing his ex
Admitted stabbing Mia V to death in a fit of jealousy after she broke up with him
On Thursday he was found hanged in a juvenile prison in western Germany
Prison officials say there was no suicide note, but it appears he strangled himself
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7558357/Afghan-migrant-stabbed-ex-girlfriend-15-death-Germany-dead.html
The following ad caused an 8 point swing in the Governors race, is that a sign about what will happen in 2020?
Track
It is the Kentucky Governors race.
Yes!
Evidence that Schiff knew about Ukrainian phone call long before transcript was released
By LU Staff October 10, 2019
Putting aside House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff’s own curious timeline — he received a copy of the whistleblower’s complaint on Aug. 12 but didn’t report until late September — there is much about his story that doesn’t add up. There is the fact, for example, his own phone conversation in 2018 with what he assumed to be Ukrainian operatives offering dirt on Donald Trump and there is the phraseology and precise legal language of the complaint, both suggesting that it was drafted by a team of lawyers.
Add to that the content of a tweet posted yesterday by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, which raises new questions about what Schiff knew and when he knew it:
https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/10/10/evidence-that-schiff-knew-about-ukrainian-phone-call-long-before-transcript-was-released/
Muslim doctors and engineers arriving in Spain
Martin,It doesn't SAY doctors and engineers. (They first have to get their talking points sorted out.)
er...then..can we say they are starving war widows and orphans ????that would be emotionalSure, that works!Better yet, unidentified, STARVING, widows and orphans. Emotions are more *valid* than facts. *Lived experience* trumps truth.
Hope this is false. Disgusting:
https://babylonbee.com/news/nba-requiring-players-to-stand-for-chinese-national-anthem
The Bee has done hoax news like that, the problem is we can all see the chicken shits at the NBA doing something like this.
French Police Afraid to Report Suspicious Colleagues Due to ‘Islamophobia’ Label (breitbart, Oct 10, 2019)
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2019/10/10/french-police-afraid-report-suspicious-colleagues-islamophobia-label/
“French police are said to be reluctant to report the suspicious activity of Muslim colleagues over fears of being branded Islamophobic.
Institutional failures in reporting possible extremist behaviour are in the spotlight in France after a Muslim convert working in a police support role killed four officers in Paris. Senior officers are under pressure to explain how a radicalised individual could continue to work inside the force without being identified, with unions representing rank-and-file officers demanding to know what is being done to tackle the issue of infiltration.
French newspaper Le Parisien reports part of the problem stems from fear by officers that if they report Islamic radicalisation in their colleagues, they could be flagged as potential Islamophobes by their superiors.
A spokesman for a police union said in response to the issue that the government should be preparing to “fight against radicalization in the police” and that whistleblowers within the force raising suspicions about colleagues should receive legal cover to protect them.
“An investigation has been launched into a grudge the assailant may have held against his colleagues, but terrorism cannot be ruled out,” a source said following the Paris police station attack.
It has also been revealed that radicalised Islamic convert Mickaël Harpon possessed a top-secret security clearance and had full access to the police prefecture’s directorate of intelligence (DRPP).
It was also reported that he had a USB stick in his possession that contained both Islamic State propaganda and the personal details of dozens of police officers. Investigators found the USB stick in his apartment shortly after the attack took place.
Despite his possession of Islamist materials, no terror group took credit for the attack.
Last year, investigators found in possession of a female radical Islamist a similar USB stick. It contained the names and personal details of 2,626 intelligence officials from France’s Central Directorate of Interior Intelligence (DCRI). However, the data was listed as being from 2008.
The French police force is not the only public agency to see potential infiltration by radical Islamists. In June, a report by MPs Éric Diard of the conservative Republicans and Éric Poulliat of President Emmanuel Macron’s La République En Marche! (LREM/Republic on the Move) found many public sector workers are concerned about radical Islam.”
WAYNE ALLYN ROOT: The Real Ukraine Scandal Leads to the Clinton Foundation
Trump is not getting thrown out of office. Not with his remarkable record of economic success for the average American worker. Not going to happen.
63 million Trump voters will insure that never happens. We have your back, Mr. President.
President Trump has the highest approval rating among Republicans in history. 95%. No one is impeaching this president.
Now, let’s discuss why this is happening.
Trump touched the third rail of Democrat/Deep State/DC Swamp politics. He asked Ukraine’s President to investigate massive Democrat corruption and theft of taxpayer money.
Suddenly alarm bells went off at the DNC. I believe Trump is about to expose the biggest scandal in US political history. Trump is about to put powerful people in prison. Trump is about to destroy the Democrat Party and expose the Deep State.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/10/wayne-allyn-root-the-real-ukraine-scandal-leads-to-the-clinton-foundation/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=the-gateway-pundit&utm_campaign=dailypm&utm_content=daily
Tweet from the Syrian Democratic Forces:
BREAKING NEWS: #Daesh takes advantage of Imminent #Turkish invasion
3x #ISIS suicide bombings on our military positions in Raqqa, clashes still ongoing
https://twitter.com/cmoc_sdf/status/1181707512577441792
Photos from the suicides attacks. (blurred)
https://twitter.com/cmoc_sdf/status/1181773167330766848
In-depth analysis of the patch on a Syrian rebel’s uniform, indicating a new militia.
https://twitter.com/MENAsymbolism/status/1181317209802588161/photo/1
The tweeter set up a website on MENA symbolism, very useful:
https://menasymbolism.com/
I love that MENA image site.
I collect logos of all the terrorist groups, use them as folder icons. Though they’re awfully repetitive, they help me remember who’s where, who’s allied with whom. (I used to collect stamps; it’s similar in certain respects. Like geography together with sovereignty.)
UN may run out of money by end of the month
Yahoo News (AFP) October 9, 2019
[Ed. – Wouldn’t that be a crying shame?]
https://libertyunyielding.com/2019/10/09/un-may-run-out-of-money-by-end-of-the-month/
Hindu processions receive Stonings of Peace in India:
Balrampur, UP: Stone pelting at Durga Puja Visarjan procession as music was not stopped while crossing mosque, 8 arrested
https://www.opindia.com/2019/10/balrampur-up-stone-pelting-at-durga-puja-visarjan-procession-as-music-was-not-stopped-while-crossing-mosque-8-arrested/
Video
https://twitter.com/advocatesushil9/status/1181613729483411456
https://www.opindia.com/2019/10/rajasthan-dussehra-procession-attacked-with-stones-curfew-imposed-in-tonk-as-hindus-demand-arrest-of-stone-pelters/
Video
https://twitter.com/ippatel/status/1181835149006106624
https://www.opindia.com/2019/10/stone-pelting-mosque-jehanabad-durga-idol-immersion/
Video
It’s a Hindu holiday:
Dussehra greetings countrymen.
May evil perish and good prevail.
https://twitter.com/hussain_imtiyaz/status/1181412672773902337
……
#HappyDussehra to all our followers, may your life be filled with joy, prosperity and good blessings.
https://twitter.com/IsraelinIndia/status/1181446826001457153
……
(Israel and India are having a love affair. It’s kinda sweet. And weird. MILLIONS of Indians, extremely demonstrative, with hugs and kisses.)
Denmark Sets Up Temporary Border Control with Sweden after Attacks (tasnimnews, Oct 10, 2019)
https://www.tasnimnews.com/en/news/2019/10/10/2115894/denmark-sets-up-temporary-border-control-with-sweden-after-attacks
“Denmark is to impose temporary border controls at the Swedish border next month, after Swedes were suspected of being behind a number of serious attacks this year in the Danish capital Copenhagen, the justice minister said on Thursday…”